Chapter Text
What I once believed to be the end of my journey, has changed direction. Rapidly, quickly, and without my knowing.
I deeply thought and accepted where I would lie until my body decomposed and rusted for the centuries to come. Next to Cayde-6, both of us, together, with the bullet holes from his Ace of Spades severing vital components to an Exo’s wellbeing. And the Scorn and Uldren, severing Cayde from his Light and Ghost. I was at peace with this. I found this ending…acceptable. I spoke my truth, I told him my… sensuality towards him.
Those words and phrases which once mocked me were spoken. Free from my lips. Free from the cage of my metal mind. Free from this subconscious which is more human than machine than some wish to believe…
But as it seems, my life—my life isn't over…
These next couple parts you’re about to witness, Venj told me later on…for…it led me to believe, the Light, the gift I was given, wiped parts of my mind clean…this I learned is normal for Guardians, nonetheless Exo’s like myself. Those who stand around the Vanguard Table informed me of my choice before touching down in the Prison of Elders.
How I didn’t wish to reset due to the memory and love of Cayde.
Ironic, isn’t it…
But anyways, let us continue…
I drifted into a great abyss, arms, and legs free from gravity, strain, and ache. In a space where time is no matter. In a space where silence reigned, I gave no care. I was dead. I am dead. That is the short and simple truth. Slain by someone who freed themselves of their shackles and those who followed under their rule. They would roam free across the Tangled Shore again, but I am sure the Awoken would handle those post-Fallen rascals.
Or at least, they have to.
They must… But with Mara gone… I don’t have the faintest idea if Petra survived Uldren and his Barons…
I mean… I can’t… Cayde can’t… I am gone… Cayde is gone… His Light was drained from his hardware frame… and I… I was a lowlife to begin with… I deserve to die in this hole… but Cayde… no… not him…
But… my unconscious caused this single remark to orbit in my mind, as Earth once danced around the Sun…
There is no one to strike against the Barons in the Sol System…
My eyes shuttered open, somehow gaining strands of light to focus on my surroundings. Surely there is only so much one can see in the dark. But this dark, this shadow, this void was continuous. Never-ending, but still, calming, yet affliction soared through my circuits.
Those circuits which… I believed were disconnected due to Uldren’s lethal blow… but, if I feel such things… does that mean… I am…alive?
This thought shakes my—supposed soul.
My hands fervently press into the hollow area around my chest. The wound is still open, metal bent, and wires ruptured, but no sparks or complications arise from the brutality. What is this… complexity I don’t understand?
Alive, but not? Dead, yet awake? Or deceased, but conscious? Or restrained in a pocket of space between what one called “life” and what comes “after death”? A debate or discussion Cayde once told me about he had with Ikora. It was… very eventful… from what I can recall in this suspended moment.
In the deep space, a flicker or glimmer gleams, what one could compare to a kindling flame. In my crippled and crushed metal frame, something from within me stirs. A pull. What I could call an invisible string or cord latches into the breach of my chest. But there is no pain. I feel no discomfort as I float or am guided to this… mysterious source.
This foreign glint in the emptiness.
As I… move closer to the glow, the containment around me, or I may be hearing things, begins to whisper. A multitude of voices overlap, some stretched, pitches change, and a low hiss is heard. That I know I heard. That I cannot deny. But in this place, this puzzlement, it recoils.
In a silent moment, a distressing fire sets my chest ablaze. My eyes are forced shut as I am able to sense a bullet wedging itself into me. This is no phantom pain. This is no memory. This is real. This abrupt misery wreaks havoc as the facade of comfort vanishes. My hardware face contorts into one of suffering as my voice rings out loud and clear. Strangely enough, my tone has been modified. The voice which I once knew now stoops low.
My body jolts forward, eyes frantic and wide, arms and fists trembling. I glance down at my chest plate to see a bolt of silver explode into the void. The unmistakable shell of Ace drifts in front of me. The burning sensation dulls as I can breathe once again.
What happens next, still makes my consciousness question everything I truly know…
The sterling casing of the bullet begins to… maneuver.
From the glint, what could be called a hand, and connected to that hand, an arm, reaches out and grasps the round. A blinding light pierces the darkness, but I stare into that luminous source. What could be named an explosion, sends out a thunder wave of lucent sparks. From the enclosed fist, an odd shape takes form.
The hand hovers in front of me as a lone and brilliant blue eye stares me down. I gaze at the golden and ivory shape as it becomes molded into—something I believe I know.
What could be called a soft breeze swirls around the glint’s hand. The newly forged object gasps. Without hesitation, I extend my arms out and catch them. They land in my hands and they look up at me. Their attention is solely focused on me and warmth spreads throughout my chest.
What they said next, I still couldn’t believe it…
“Guardian..? You’re… you’re my Guardian… I… It’s finally you… my Guardian…”