Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Thrilladrome?" the Drifter asked as they were leaving the main library in Neomuna. "Did I hear that right?"

"Yeah!" Nimbus spun around and began walking backwards.

"Oh I like the sound of that. Sounds like my kinda place."

Nimbus laughed, looking down at the human whose head only came up to just above their waist. "It is so much fun! Used to be the best way to spend a free afternoon before the invasion. I would take you but it's unfortunately powered down right now and filled with Vex. The Guardian keeps clearing it out but it's been a while and the Vex are back in there again trying to hack into the city's backend."

"You got tactical intel, or better yet, any recordings of those clears?" The Drifter stopped walking and looked up at Nimbus, his eyes gleaming with mischief.

"Yeah." Nimbus also stopped walking. "How come?"

"Ya know, Vex ain't very creative. When they camp out somewhere they been previously they tend to just redo what they had before. There's spots on Europa where Moondust, the Stranger and I had 'em memorized. Could literally do the run and take 'em all out with a blindfold on. An actual blindfold, mind you, not like what Three-Eyes wears. She can see through that. Well, I mean not see-see, but she can Hive-see which is very different from see-seeing if you get my drift."

A coin appeared in one of the Drifter's hands and he started tumbling it across his knuckles as he talked.

"You lost me."

"That's fine." The Drifter bounced the coin off of the edge of a fountain. The pookas floating around the water all turned to watch as it flew back to his hand with a metallic 'ding.' "Anyway, the point is if you got data on previous runs to clear the Vex outta this Thrilladrome we can probably use that to make clean up real easy."

"You mean you and me? Together?"

"Yeah! Long as you're up for that my overly large and very shiny new friend."

The Drifter's toothy grin was infectious. Nimbus found themselves smiling back.

"Awesome! Uh... should we tell Eris and Osiris where we're going?"

"Nah." The Drifter smirked. "She's in a new library. She's gonna forget to eat if we don't drag her away for food later. She's got an ocean of books to look through and that Quinn lady to talk to. Let her swim. She won't even notice we're gone. Show me your Thrilladrome. Drifter's all about the thrills."

***

As he skidded his sparrow sideways to a stop next to Nimbus in the entrance to the Thrilladrome the Drifter pulled out Trust and fired twice. Two Harpies floating above a platform near the other end of the building fell to the ground in pieces. The Cloud Strider nodded appreciatively.

"So... you got keys to this place?" The Drifter started to examine the exposed electronics on an advertising billboard.

"No, but there's a vent up there." Nimbus pointed.

"That's more my style of entry anyway."

"Yeah, we have to go through the back way. Sorry about that." Nimbus said as they jumped up to the second story platform, crouched, and reached down a hand to help the Drifter up. "When you first step inside the entrance used to have these giant screens full of advertising for the latest games. It always made you feel like you were entering another world. Air vents aren't as cool but if it wasn't boarded up like this, the Vex would have an easier time locking down this area."

"Sorry for crawling through air vents? Do you have any idea how much time ol' Drifter's spent crawling through air vents? And here I figured this was just you tryin' to make me feel at home. Not to mention, these are huge. I can stand up in 'em. This is like the deluxe version of a air vent."

"Ha ha!" Nimbus' laugh was joyous and free. The Drifter started laughing too.

"Damn! I almost forgot what it was like to have someone laugh at my jokes. Moondust is... the bees knees as far as I'm concerned but... it's like pullin' teeth tryin' to get her to crack so much as a smile."

"No sense of humour?"

"Oh she has one. Pretty damn twisted one too. But she almost never laughs..."

"She's been through a lot, huh?" Nimbus had to slide on their back under pipes that the Drifter was able to crouch under.

"And then... on top of that... she's got two laughs," the Drifter continued, climbing up a set of pipes like they were a ladder.

Nimbus had simply reached up and pulled themselves into the higher tunnel.

"Her evil laugh that freaks everyone the fuck out is the more common one... that's her vengeance laugh... equally terrifying as it is simultaneously hot as hell. She laughs like that when someone does something really cathartic 'an brutal, like when the guardian uses that scythe she made for them to cut through nightmares like they're paper and explode everythin' in fire."

"That sounds... really cool."

"Oh it is. It's bloodthirsty, that particular laugh of hers, and vicious. Ain't never felt like someone cranked it from zero to a hundred in both the turned on department and the fear department at the same time as when I hear her laugh like that."

Nimbus smiled up at the Drifter as they crouched next to a grating in the floor, lifting it up and to the side.

"But there's another laugh she has," the Drifter continued as he jumped down onto a pile of shipping crates and then slid down to the floor. "It's a quiet laugh... low... almost a chuckle but more of a hmmhmmhmm... and ol' Drifter's one of the only people who's heard it in the past... over a hundred years." He licked his lips and looked up at Nimbus with a proud smile.

"I made her laugh like that. Me. No venom. No pain. Just... that human thing of findin' somethin' genuinely funny."

They checked over their weapons before proceeding.

"What did you say to her?"

"Heh. I was jokin' 'bout the Vanguard wantin' to throw me off the Tower."

"Do they?"

"Nah. They put Ikora at the top of my staircase so she can Nova Bomb my ass. If they ever get tired of my shit I'm gonna be on the receiving end of a personally delivered Drifter-sized black hole courtesy of the Vanguard spymaster herself. She won't though. Eris wouldn't like it. She loves the shit outta Eris and Eris loves the shit outta me so we've got a stalemate goin' on there."

He grinned up at Nimbus, nodded, and then they both stepped through the doorway, weapons drawn.

"But Eris..." he continued aiming down the sights of his weapon while scanning the room. "When I got her to laugh like that, I knew I had a chance. But.. I also knew I was completely fucked..."

The next room was, predictably, empty. A hole in the floor lead down to more crates. Nimbus looked at the Drifter questioningly.

The rogue Lightbearer smirked at the Cloud Strider across the opening the floor. "Best damn high of my life makin' gloomy Three-Eyes laugh. As soon as I heard it I knew I had to hear it again."

Nimbus nodded in understanding.

"I realized I could be genuinely happy if all I did for the rest of all my lives was make Eris Morn laugh. Ain't nobody been able to do that since her time in the Hellmouth... 'cept me." His voice got quiet and he looked away briefly. "Of all the things I done, that's probably my greatest accomplishment." He looked back at Nimbus with a wistful smile. "Makin' the sad lady laugh."

"You really are a sweetheart for her."

"Now don't go tellin' anybody else that. It'll ruin my image. I'm just the sketchy guy in the basement nobody talks about." He winked.

"Ha, don't worry, Terran, your secret's safe with me."

"Terran, huh? I like it."

Chapter Text

"What's in these glowy tanks here?" The Drifter tapped on a large glass tube going from the floor to the ceiling that was almost as wide as he was tall. It held some sort of iridescent liquid.

"Uh... I don't have an Earth Warlord translation for this for you."

"Now hold up. I'm gonna stop you right there, kid." The Drifter's face was serious.

"What?"

"That word you used, 'Warlord'?"

"Yeah?"

"Do me a favor."

"Sure."

"Don't ever use that word in reference to me again." There was an edge to his voice. "Not ever. Ok?"

"Ok." Nimbus blinked and tilted their head, listening.

"That's a sore spot. Eris is always goin' on about how healthy relationships need boundaries, and I like your style, kid. I don't wanna get mad at ya. So here's a boundary. I know you mean well but that..." He stopped for a moment, chewing his lip, and then continued. "Callin' me that has to be one of the fastest ways to get ol' Drifter to mood swing from friendly to wanting to watch someone repaint the floor with your face, if you know what I mean."

"Whoa." Nimbus held up both hands, palms out. "Sorry. Didn't know."

"I know. That's why I'm tellin ya. Dark Age was wild times. And a lot of them weren't good times."

"Wait... You were there?"

"Yeah. The shit I seen would take longer to tell than your lifespan, kid. But the Warlords were a special kind of Risen. A kind I, personally, helped to kill a lot of. Permanently."

The Drifter's eyes flashed angrily and the grin on his face became sinister. Nimbus blinked and stepped back, confused and concerned.

"Lotta things I regret in my past. Lot of 'em. Most of 'em. But that..." He paused and looked away before looking back at Nimbus, his eyes cruel and vengeful, his voice even and quiet. "That was just takin' out the trash."

"Whoa. Sorry."

"Apology accepted." The Drifter took a deep breath and his body language changed. He leaned back against the wall and his eyes and smile were relaxed again, all venom had left him. "Now, let's go kill some Vex and play video games shall we?"

Nimbus laughed nervously and nodded, thankful the Drifter's strange harsh mood had passed.

The rogue Lightbearer returned the nod, gave Nimbus a wink, and moved forward into the next room.

***

"What's all these boxes here for anyway?" the Drifter asked, peeking around the corner of one of them.

"Shipping crates I think."

"What's in 'em?"

"I don't know. My guess is something for the Thrilladrome but I don't keep track of that."

"They got vents. Looks like it's for air circulation. That's interesting." He scanned the empty room and began to circle one of the crates while he talked.

"I think they may just come standard like that. We have them all over Neomuna."

"But you don't know what's in 'em."

"Not these ones specifically, no."

"You know," the Drifter tapped one fingertip on top of a crate between himself and Nimbus with an eyebrow raised. "We could find out."

"Uh... Pretty sure that's private property. If we need to know we can consult the city records."

"Ah ok." He lifted his finger up off the crate, took a step and started to walk backwards toward the door. "You're uh... pretty much what passes for the Law around here, aren't ya?"

"Law enforcement is an entirely different branch but... I am the only one not in the Cloud Ark right now."

"Gotcha. I'm a law abidin' citizen. Just wanna make sure I'm not breakin' any laws. But uh..." He leaned closer to Nimbus and spoke more quietly with a toothy smile. "If someone did sneak in here and opened the crates, how would anyone know it wasn't the Vex that done it?"

"Oh that's easy. The Cloud Ark lets citizens walk around the city virtually. You can see their digital traces everywhere you look, like the ones right over there, and there."

Nimbus pointed out shimmering lights in two corners of the room.

Drifter's smile widened and he waved at first one and then another. The second one warbled a bit in a way that almost looked like a wave back.

"I see. So we're... always bein' watched."

"Yeah pretty much. These ones are using their visibility setting. They don't need to have that on but most people want you to know they're there."

"Huh." The Drifter's eyes flicked around the room. "...not in people's like... bedrooms or anything though, right? That'd be creepy."

"Oh no." Nimbus answered quickly. "That would not be cool. There's a projection dampening field generator we have in place for privacy when it's needed. I made sure you and Eris had one in the apartment we set up for you next to Osiris. Osiris has one too."

"Really? A dampening field generator, you say. That's interesting. You're gonna have to show me that when we get back so I know what it is."

"Sure."

"Out of curiosity, how uh... portable are they?"

"Why?'

"No reason." The Drifter gave them a mischevious smile. "Just curious."

***

"Ok here's our first one," the Drifter whispered. "What's nuts is that Goblin really does look like it's playin' that game. Wild. I wonder if it actually is. Can't be for fun. I don't think the Vex have a concept of fun. Probably doesn't fit within their Convergence or whatnot."

"From what we've been able to tell they kind of are trying to play, but only to try and gain access to the Cloud Ark. Many of these consoles are hardwired in."

The Drifter paused a few feet away from the Goblin. It made no move to attack.

"This one really is oblivious," the Drifter whispered. "I wonder how close we can get before it'll notice us." He held up his finger to Nimbus to wait and sauntered right past the Goblin into the corridor. The Vex did not respond.

The Drifter spun around, smirking and waved back at Nimbus. The Goblin seemed intent on its game.

Walking up slowly, the Drifter reached out a hand to tap the Vex on the equivalent of its shoulder. It stood upright and raised its weapon.

The Drifter and Nimbus moved simultaneously and the broken Goblin fell in pieces to the floor.

"That was interesting," the Drifter muttered.

"The others won't be as easy." Nimbus cautioned.

"Oooh hey." The Drifter walked over to the transparent wall running along one side of the room they were in. It looked out into the arcade floor area. Multiple Goblins, a Hobgoblin and a Minotaur were either standing still or slowly milling about. "Is this one way glass or something? How do they not see us?"

"I think the other side is advertising billboards." Nimbus replied. "So I guess it does work a bit like one-way glass."

"Nice. We can scout out the whole room from here. Well... the ones that are there now. Vex are notorious for teleportin' in backup as soon as ya start shootin'."

"Yeah. The records we have show far more numbers than what we're currently seeing in that room." Nimbus confirmed, checking their datapad. "I don't even see the Hydra."

"Still a good look-see," the Drifter mumbled as he watched the Vex on the other side of the wall. "I like being able to plan out my options. Lets try and keep the bullets away from that one in the middle back there." He pointed to a console that had two seats with round steering wheels and a rainbow track painted on the side. "I wanna play that one when we're done."

"The racing game?"

"Yeah. You any good at that one, kid?"

"Ha! I'm gonna kick your ass old man. You're on."

"Hehehe. We'll see about that."  The Drifter pointed through the glass at a small disk moving around the floor, bumping into the feet of some of the Vex. "You got them floor cleaning robots too. Ever wonder if the Vex consider the floor robots to be like... distant cousins or something?"

"Huh," Nimbus rubbed their chin with their thumb and index finger. "I never thought of it before, but I'm thinking of it now."

"Well then... shall we?" the Drifter asked, pointing to the door with the end of his hand cannon.

"After you," Nimbus bowed courteously and made a small flourish with their well-muscled and shiny arm.

Chapter Text

As expected, there was a slight delay between when the motion sensor on the door detected them and when it slid open. Nimbus crouched in front as the Drifter willed a Stasis grenade into his hand behind them.

When the door opened, Nimbus ran out, taking out the Goblin in front of them with one punch.

The Drifter tossed his grenade over Nimbus' shoulder and it landed on the raised platform farther ahead of them, freezing the Hobgoblin there before it could shoot Nimbus with its line rifle and immobilizing several Goblins along with it. The Drifter followed up with several shots from his hand cannon and everything he had just frozen shattered into small shards.

Nimbus slid along the floor, laughing as they wielded their skyboard like a scythe against the legs of several Vex Goblins who were shooting, and missing, the Drifter who was scampering erratically along behind them with a smile on his face.

The Drifter raised an eyebrow and lobbed a Glacier grenade to the top of the small staircase Nimbus was approaching, providing the Cloud Strider with cover as a Vex Minotaur, a Hydra, two Hobgoblins and several Goblins all materialized on the raised platform in front of them.

"They sure got here fast!"

"Yeah, they're quick." the Drifter agreed as he holstered his hand cannon and pulled out a machine gun. "But so are we." His eyes glinted in amusement as he began to tap the trigger lightly, using it to take single shots, conserving ammunition.

Each of his shots turned the hostile he was aiming at purple before they collapsed with a small 'fwoomp' sound.

Nimbus grabbed a nearby Hobgoblin in both of their large hands and held it sideways like a shield, using it as a barrier between themselves and the Vex shooting them.

Behind them, the Drifter smirked and sat down on a corner couch, putting up one leg and then the other in a nonchalant and lazy pose, like a cat. He continued to fire single shots from the machine gun on his lap as he watched Nimbus tear through the Vex. Each one of the Drifter's shots found its mark.

The large form of a Vex Minotaur stepped out. It was tall enough to almost look Nimbus in the eye. As soon as it stepped out in front of the Cloud Strider, the Minotaur's Void shield was dissolved by the Drifter's machine gun, followed shortly by the Minotaur itself, surprising Nimbus when they swung and there was nothing left to hit but a purple aura.

"Hey! I had that one."

"You snooze, you lose, kid," the Drifter called laughingly from the couch. He then cursed as the Hydra locked on to his position and began firing. The rogue Lightbearer tumbled forward along the floor away from the couch to avoid the blast from the Hydra's Aeon Maul. The couch erupted behind him in an explosion of charred foam sponge bits and Void energy. He rolled along the ground and came up to his feet in time to watch Nimbus step inside the large floating centipede's rotating shield and punch.

The Hydra's head sailed off the raised platform to land among several consoles in the sunken area of the floor below. As the rest of the Hydra's body, along with its shield, collapsed, the decapitated Hydra head detonated in a small but powerful explosion. It took out several pieces of equipment around it, sending shards of glass and bits of half-melted electronics flying through the air.

Both the Drifter and Nimbus looked away, instinctively shielding their faces from the Hydra death blast, and then scanned the room for any additional threats.

There was no longer anything shooting at them.

"Not bad for round one," Nimbus said.

"Not bad? You punched the head right offa that thing!"

"Ha ha! Yeah. You're not so bad yourself."

The Drifter walked back toward where they'd come in. An armless twitching Goblin was caught in some cabling. He put it down with a single shot from Trust.

"Oh good!" he said.  "No one shot the floor bot. I always feel a little bit sad when someone shoots the floor bot."

The Drifter stepped over to where the circular disk-shaped janitorial unit was bumping against several broken Vex limbs, trapped between twisted metal and cabling. He kicked a Minotaur head out of the way so the bot could escape.

"Sorry, little robot," the Drifter said to it cheerfully. "We made a mess."

Nimbus examined the console for the racing game the Drifter had previously pointed out. "Looks like we will have racing in our future!"

"Fantastic," the Drifter called back. "Oooh! On Europa you could ride 'em. I wonder... Yeah! See?"

Nimbus looked back to see the Drifter standing on top of the floor bot, waving his arms around to keep his balance as the small disk-shaped robot turned, moved forward, and turned around again. They both laughed.

"Well, at least I can ride 'em. You might be a little too heavy."

"Yeah I'm even heavier than I look. The augs are pretty weighty. Oh man, I wish you'd been here when the Guardian first showed up. You're so much more fun than Osiris."

"Yeah, well, let's be real, kid," the Drifter said as he stepped off the floor cleaner and walked across the room toward them. "That ain't hard."

"I guess when you're that old you lose your sense of humour."

"Funny story," the Drifter stood next to Nimbus and looked up at them with a smirk. "I'm older than him."

"Wait. Seriously?"

"Yup. Not by a lot but uh... yeah, I'm older than you think, kid. Got some spring in my steps still. That's all."

"Well you certainly don't seem like it."

"Ha! Flattery will get ya everywhere!" He winked and then his eyes slid to the side, looking behind the Cloud Strider. "Hold up," his voice was suddenly quiet. "We missed one."

The Vex Goblin in the corner behind Nimbus had gone unnoticed because, like the first one they'd encountered, it was entirely focused on the console in front of it.

The Drifter snuck up behind it and peeked over its shoulder, watching it play. The Goblin appeared to be guiding a long snake-like avatar through a maze. The goal seemed to be to avoid running into itself, but each time it ate something the snake-avatar's tail got longer.

"Why'd you go right? You should'a gone left!" The Drifter said behind it.

The Goblin's head swiveled 180 degrees and looked the Drifter in the eye. Behind, on the screen, the snake-avatar exploded. The Vex's hands opened, releasing the controls and its torso swiveled around to face the Drifter as a slap rifle appeared in its arms.

Before it could fire, The Drifter had fired Trust three times from his hip point-blank into the Goblin's glowing core. It collapsed in a heap at his feet. The console the Vex had been playing sparked and the screen was now dark. Smoke puffed out of the single hole where all three of the Drifter's bullets had embedded themselves in the video game display.

The Drifter shook his head. "You'd think a robot would be better at video games."

Nimbus shrugged, eyeing the single hole from the Drifter's bullets appreciatively.

"Do you ever miss?"

"Not when I can help it." The Drifter smirked. "Wastes ammo. No scarcity of it now, but old habits die hard and bullets don't grow on trees. When you don't know when you're next gonna be able to find more, you learn to make every shot count."

"I bet."

Chapter Text

"What's this thing here?" The Drifter crouched down between two gaming consoles. "Looks like it's growin' outta the floor."

The strange lattice-like structure shimmered slightly.

"Oh that? That's a cloud accretion. When the city isn't being invaded there's automated maintenance frames to clear those out on a routine basis. Buuuut we disabled that along with everything else nonessential when the attacks from the Shadow Legion started. Cloud accretions don't actually damage anything. They're just an eyesore."

The Drifter ran his fingers along one of the curved outcroppings. "What they do with it when they clean it?"

"I think we have a recycling plant to turn it into useful material?" Nimbus watched as the Drifter turned his wrist and a knife appeared in his hand, seemingly out of nowhere.

"So it's just like... garbage?" The Drifter asked, pressing the point of his blade against the side of the strange substance and dragging it a short distance. It left a small scratch. He ran a fingertip along the mark he'd just made.

"Pretty much, why?"

"It's pretty."

"I guess if you've never seen it before it might be. I've grown up with it just being an annoyance."

"So... you don't mind if I take it right?" The Drifter's eyes sparkled as he looked up at Nimbus.

Nimbus laughed. "Be my guest. Once we finally get these Shadow Legion cleared out it's going to take forever to get rid of them and clean up the city again.

"So if I pick this stuff up, I ain't stealin' or anything, I'm just helping make a clean spot, yeah?" The Drifter's hand moved in a fluid motion and the knife disappeared.

"Yeah."

"Perfect." He licked his lips and placed one hand on either side of the flat almost ribbon-like structure. The accretion broke off from its base with a twist and the Drifter stood, holding it in his hands.

"What are you going to do with it?"

"Don't know yet, but it's a new material from a far away place that nobody back home has ever seen, and... it's pretty. Someone's gonna want it. Feels like it might take a carving knife ok."

"You do carving? Like, art?"

"Sort of. I'm thinkin' it might make a nice inlay for some guns. It's got nice colours that shift in the light. Could make a weapon look pretty snazzy, or some armour. Yeah... if I can shape it and it's durable enough, this'd look nice on a Warlock bond... maybe some buttons... If ya crush it up does it glitter? Looks like it might."

"Yeah it does."

"Excellent. I'm already gettin' ideas for prettifying weapons." The Drifter snapped his fingers as Nimbus looked away. Nimbus heard the soft sound of a transmat and looked back. The ghost was gone before Nimbus could even see it, taking the cloud accretion with it. At least, that's what Nimbus assumed had happened. Unlike most Lightbearers Nimbus had encountered, they'd never actually laid eyes on the Drifter's ghost.

"Guardians sure do seem to like fancy guns."

"Oh yeah. When you're an undead near-demigod with magic powers hellbent on defending the universe, the real end game is fashion."

Nimbus nodded. "You know, I never thought about it that way but I think you're right."

"Drifter knows his target demographic, kid. You want someone to go apeshit over a piece of gear? First, make it functional. Then, make it pretty. And third? Make it hard to get. Not too hard, mind you, but enough so they gotta work for it. Gets 'em every time."

"I didn't have you pegged for a businessman."

"Pegged huh? You?" The Drifter looked Nimbus look up and down with a smirk on his face. "Hmmm..." He tilted his head, considering something, then tilted his head to the other side before quietly saying "Maybe..." with a smirk.

"And... you lost me again."

The Drifter's eyes glittered with amusement and he winked at Nimbus. "Tell ya when you're older," he said before sauntering down the hall with a chuckle, his hand cannon pointed at the ceiling.

"Hey I think there's Minotaurs up ahead."

"Good point." He holstered Trust and readied his machine gun.

"Pretty sure they have those purple shields."

"I got purple for 'em right here." The Drifter tapped his machine gun and grinned.

Sure enough, as soon as they stepped through the doorway the Vex began to swam. The Drifter tapped the trigger of his heavy weapon and popped the Minotaur shields one by one.

Nimbus rode their skyboard into the room just a few inches above the floor, weaving and swishing around the smaller Goblins on their way to the first Minotaur. They stepped off the board and spun it in their hand like a windmill, deflecting incoming fire from the Minotaur to strike several of the smaller Goblins around it.

Most of the Goblins and one of the Minotaurs were still fixated on the Drifter in the doorway. He waited until Nimbus was in position and then held down the machine gun trigger. Everything his spray of bullets touched turned a bright glowing purple and began to collapse. A follow up spray rendered all the non-Minotaur Vex in the room into twitching sparking heaps of metal.

Nimbus grasped the edge of their board where they normally stood with both hands and sliced sideways, bifurcating the Minotaur in front of them through its midsection. The Drifter grinned. Bifurcated was a word Eris had introduced him to. It was a good word. He liked it.

His machine gun magazine ran dry and he swapped to his scout rifle, taking careful precision shots around Nimbus while they continued to slice and dice their way through the two large remaining Vex. It was elegant, the way the Cloud Strider lopped off metallic limbs with the accuracy and grace of someone experienced and well trained in taking down Vex. It reminded him of deboning a chicken.

The Drifter nodded appreciatively and tossed a coin at the last Minotaur still standing. The coin hit with a loud 'ding' followed by a fireball.

The Minotaur began to stumble, incandescent with solar energy.

Nimbus finished it off with another decapitation from their skyboard. The Cloud Strider then kicked the falling Minotaur head up on first one ankle, then the other, juggling it with their feet, keeping the head from hitting the floor.

The Drifter laughed at their antics while he reloaded his machine gun standing between three splashes of radiolaria sparking on the floor around his feet. "Light 'em up and knock 'em down! Does the city know you're this good, kid?"

"Ha ha! Yeah, that's why I got the job."

"You killed Vex before bein' turned into what ya are now?"

"No, but we studied how, and then there's a lot of training before being selected for the augs. It's a huge honour to be chosen. They only pick the best."

The Drifter's eyes flickered briefly as he bit back a comment before it could escape his lips and instead said, "Is that so? Well... it's impressive, that's for sure."

"Thanks. That gun you've got is really good at popping those shields. What does it do to turn everything it hits purple like that?"

"That's Destabilizing Rounds, kid. Void light in the gun fucks with 'em at an atomic level. Qua Xaphan takes a bit long to reload for a machine gun but... it's very satisfyin'."

"That's a unique name for a gun. Is it named after a person?"

The Drifter's grin broadened. "Sorta. First word is Latin. Ancient language. It's a legal term for uh... acting in the capacity of... like a representative or a lawyer or somethin'."

"Huh, and Xaphan?"

"Old earth mythological figure. Xaphan was a high ranking demon that tried to set fire to heaven."

"Whoa. That's appropriate."

"I thought so. That's why I named it that."

"You built this gun?"

"More uh... obtained... and then modified."

"So you're a weaponsmith?"

"Eh... I'm a more of what you'd call a procurer and curator." The Drifter licked his lips and his eyes sparkled as he showed off the gun. "But I do make improvements, kit-bash things together, that sorta thing. Lotta us old timers make our own guns. Comes with the territory. When there ain't no one around to fix your gun but you, you learn to get creative."

"You guardians sure do spend a lot of time alone."

"Well, yours truly ain't no guardian, but yeah. Frontier's never been a friendly place. Back in the day, most of the time if you found someone else, they uh... weren't your friend."

"Oh."

"Things are different now. Better. Lot better. Downright civilized. But yeah, quite a few of us make our own. You should see some of the shit Eris comes up with. Hoo-eee! I ain't got nothin' on her. I can name a machine gun after a demon. She makes weapons out of the corpses of literal Hive gods. That woman is something else, I tell ya."

"Whoa."

"I love that three-eyed badass witch. She's so mean 'n vicious it's beautiful. Don't ever piss her off, though. She is genuinely terrifying when she's mad. We're talkin' eldritch-horrors-beyond-the-capacity-of-the-human-mind-to-understand levels of terrifying, just so we're clear."

"Wow."

"People get freaked out about her eyes but, just between you and me, my new shiny friend, those eyes are the least terrifying part about Eris Morn. She killed Savathun. The Savathun. And took her power. All of it. And used it to magically punch Xivu Arath where the sun don't shine so hard she's mortal now."

He smiled softly leaning back against a wall before peeking around a corner to scan the upcoming hallway and make sure it was clear. "She also gives the best hugs... like full body hugs where it's like you're melting into each other and you aren't sure where one person's skin ends and the other begins..."

Nimbus smiled down at him.

"Don't hug her though..." the Drifter continued. "She hates being touched... except by me..." His eyes unfocused for a moment then he blinked and looked around quickly, as though he had temporarily forgotten where he was and what he was doing.

"Yikes, kid. Get me away from her for under an hour and I just can't shut up about her. I'm sorry."

Nimbus laughed again. "It's fine. Pretty cute actually."

"She's my absolute favourite thing."

"I can tell."

"I didn't use to be like this. And most people don't know I'm like this now."

"Don't worry, I told you, I won't tell."

"Supposed to be a dangerous questionably legal morally grey guy with a shady past and here I am babbling on about how much I love Eris like a fuckin' teenager with their very first crush. I gotta stop that or people are not gonna be able to take me seriously. Damn. Ooh! Harpy up ahead."

Chapter Text

The Drifter eyed the Vex network portal suspiciously.

"You ever been in the VexNet, kid?"

"A little. And I watched the Guardian clear out this one. Can't be that hard, right?"

The Drifter raised an eyebrow. "Me 'n my crew rode the Vex network once. No one survived, except me."

"Oh."

"Now our intel says this is just a small pocket of the Vex network, not the full thing, but still. This is where shit starts getting a bit sketchy."

"Do you want to go back?"

"Nah. If we don't take this out they'll just come spillin' back in again and undo all our work. Knock this out and it'll be a while before they repair it. Give you some breathin' room city-side. Just wonderin' if you should come or not, is all. You ain't got no ghost, and this city is fresh outta spare Cloud Striders."

"If you're goin in, I'm going in, gramps. Can't let you have all the fun."

The Drifter coughed, laughing. "Well when you put it like that, fine, you're on, kid, just don't fall through the floor."

***

It was, in fact, the Drifter who fell through the floor.

He was running and jumping from one platform to the next and whether it was him misjudging timing (unlikely) or extra Vex intrusion countermeasures (likely) the platform he was supposed to land on dissipated just before he reached it.

"Fuck. Fuckfuckfuck." The Drifter plunged into a lattice of faint green lines and empty space. It was a long fall. One he was familiar with. His ghost would get him back up but Eris would notice missing scars. She'd know. And she'd be pissed. Very pissed. Also, he really, really hated dying.

Really hated it. Always felt like he wasn't quite the same person when he came back. And now, with Eris, that mattered even more than ever. What if the new version of him wasn't as good to her as this one? What if the new him fucked it up and she left him? What if dying like this was enough of a fuck up for her to leave him? She'd be real mad about it. The Drifter mentally kicked himself as he closed his eyes and waited for his body to be disintegrated.

Instead of the full-body tinfoil-chewing sensation of having his sense of self ripped out of the fabric of reality, The Drifter found himself suddenly enveloped in strong silvered arms.

"Gotcha!" Nimbus called out joyfully.

And then they were swooping sideways and back up toward solid ground or, at least, a VexNet platform that simulated it. The Drifter felt Nimbus' body shift below him, augmented muscles twisting to turn the skyboard first one way and then another to avoid incoming fire.

They were both laughing as they landed behind a large Vex pillar and Nimbus placed the Drifter back on his feet. The rogue Lightbearer reached out and grasped Nimbus' hand in a firm grip.

"Thanks," he said quietly, meeting Nimbus' eyes with an intensity and sincerity that the Cloud Strider hadn't seen from the Drifter before. "You didn't have to do that, but I appreciate it. A lot."

"And what, let you die down there? You just told me not to ever piss Eris off. I'm pretty sure letting you die would do that."

The Drifter nodded. "That's a good point, kid. Very good point. Still. Thanks. I owe you one."

Nimbus smiled brightly. "You seem like a good friend to have. I might need to take you up on that sometime."

A large splash of purple Void energy burst near them as the Cyclops in the middle of the room began to bombard their position.

"Oh for fucks sake. Really?" the Drifter yelled over the barrier at the Cyclops. "We're tryin' to have a moment here!"

Another splash of Void energy blasted the wall near them.

"All right. That's it. Dealin' with that now, then." The Drifter charged a Stasis grenade in his hand and stepped out of cover, tossing it and ducking back before the artillery unit could target him again. The firing stopped and the Drifter stepped out once more, peppering it with machine gun fire until it shattered.

Nimbus swished around on their skyboard, flying low and ducking in and out of cover until they were behind one of the pillars on the far side of the area. The Drifter continued to pick off Vex, with single shots from his machine gun, wielding it with a precision that seemed unnatural for that type of weapon.

As a Hobgoblin on top of a pillar targeted the Drifter with its line rifle Nimbus sped up, leaned forward and stuck out a muscled chrome-enhanced arm, clotheslineing the horned automaton off of its perch and sending it tumbling into the emptiness below.

Nimbus turned and sliced back through the air, crouching down and then jumping off their skyboard, landing on an outcropping. They twirled their skyboard once and then began wielding it like a bludgeoning weapon, crushing the heads and then the legs of three smaller Goblins, leaving them twitching and sparking in a pile.

"Hey, kid! Just about Hydra time!" the Drifter called out from the back of the area.

Nimbus immediately hopped back on their skyboard and flew away behind a pillar.

As expected and, according to the details of previous runs, right on time, a very large Hydra floated through the portal at the very back.

"You called it!" Nimbus shouted across to the Drifter as they ducked and wove around physical constructs to keep from being shot by very large and hard-hitting Aeon Maul projectiles. "That's the gatekeeper!"

The Drifter took aim and began landing single shots on the giant floating Vex centipede. It spun within its floating shields just as the Lightbearer tossed a Duskfield grenade to land right on top of its head, freezing it in place and immobilizing several of the Harpies surrounding it as well. More single shots from Qua Xaphan took out all the Harpies and then the Drifter began to empty his machine gun into the Hydra. He ducked behind a wall just as the Hydra broke free and began returning fire.

"Your turn!" he called out to Nimbus.

"On it!" the Cloud Strider called back, flying in, past the Hydra's shields, to grab and rip off one of the Aeon Maul cannons from the side of its metallic head before flying away again.

"Yours!" Nimbus yelled from behind a pillar where the lopsided giant Hydra was now focusing all its firepower.

The Drifter stepped back out from behind cover and emptied his last machine gun clip into the floating centipede. It began to glow purple and emit sparks all over itself as the Destabilizing Rounds did their work.

The Hydra, now focused on the Drifter, did not notice Nimbus flying up and into its shields once more. Another augmented strength grab-and-twist and the second Aeon Maul cannon was removed.

The Hydra began to glow brightly.

"Uh oh! Nimbus you need to get out of th-"

Despite having turned away, the Drifter's vision went white and he was knocked back several feet as the explosion rocked the area.

"Fuck." He was temporarily blinded. "Nimbus? Nimbus you ok?" he called out.

"Yeah!" they called from far back, likely near the portal.

The Drifter allowed himself a sigh of relief.

"Can you see, old timer?" It had only been a few moments, but now the Cloud Strider's voice was close by.

"Gimme a bit, kid. That was bigger and a lot brighter than I'm used to."

"Yeah. These ones have a thermite core. They go off like a tiny sun."

"No shit," the Drifter blinked, trying to restore his vision. "Was that the last of 'em?"

"Yup! We obliterated them!"

"Haha! Nice. You know, if you can diffuse the self-destruct mechanism on a Vex Hydra, you can sleep in the shell at night."

"I mean, sure, but, why? That doesn't sound comfortable."

"Comfort is a very relative concept when you're out on the frontier."

"I guess we do have it pretty good living in the city."

"You have no idea, kid... No idea." The Drifter continued to blink at the blobs of colour still filling his vision. He felt Nimbus' hand in his and was pulled and then pushed gently against something that butted against the backs of his knees. He reached his other hand down and realized he was being offered a seat on Nimbus' floating skyboard. He nodded gratefully and sat.

"I'd offer to show ya sometime but uh... is it true what Osiris said? You Cloud Striders only get ten years, tops?"

"Yeah."

"All this time, with all this tech, and an entire city of smart people, an' you ain't never figured out how to prolong that? Seems a little uh... limiting."

"We all know what we're getting into when we sign up for this. And if it helps the people of Neomuna, it's worth it."

"What did Moondust call it? She has a word for it uh... all true something..."

"Altruism?"

"That's it."

"I guess so."

"It's very noble but uh... seems like the sort of thing that could be taken advantage of."

"Maybe."

"You sure that's not what's happenin' to you now, Silver Surfer?"

"Silver Surfer? That sounds cool. What's that?"

"Comic book hero. Very old. Pre golden age. Fiction. Fantasy.  Super heroes.  They were all the rage at one point.  Ain't a single comic book lasted through the collapse. They were printed on shitty paper and didn't even make it to the Golden Age, but we got digital scans. The Silver Surfer was a hero, like you.  All shiny, like you.  Rode a skimmer board through the air, just like you."

"Really? That's so cool!"

The Drifter's vision began to return. Nimbus was seated on the board next to him, watching him carefully.

"Yeah. I'll send you some files through comms when I get back home. When there's more than one of ya, do all Cloud Striders look like you? What with like bein' big, and the chrome and the uh..."

"Nanotechnology? A bit. Not exactly, but similar, yeah."

"Huh. I wonder if they did that on purpose. Build a hero that looks like the stories of what a hero looked like from before."

"Maybe. I could see them doing that."

"Always easier to get people to volunteer to die for a cause if the uniform's shiny."

"I mean it is pretty shiny. The augs are, well, like you said, they make us superheroes."

"What's it like?"

"Getting the augs?"

"Yeah."

"Painful. You're literally torn apart and put back together. Worth it, though."

"Is it?"

"Look," Nimbus' voice became more gentle. "I know what you're thinking, but it's not like that."

"You know what I'm thinkin'? You can read minds too? Damn!"

"No but... you think I'm pretty much dead already. That this is well... suicide."

"You're an almost dead kid that just saved my life, yeah. Feels weird bein' almost nine centuries old gettin' my ass saved by someone who's twice as big as me an' got less than one percent of my lifespan. Fuckin' weird. Wrong. You're what, three years old?"

"Ha! We do live normal lives before we're Cloud Striders."

"How long? How old are ya?"

Counting who I am now? Twenty-two."

The Drifter looked like someone had just punched him in the stomach. "Twenty-two. And how much longer ya got?"

"Seven more years."

"You're gonna be dead in seven years?"

"That's right."

"That ain't much time, kid. And you... chose that? That was an informed decision?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, I'll say it. Why?"

"Well... you love Eris, right?"

"Yeah."

"And if someone was going to kill both of you and you had the option to either die with her or take the hit entirely yourself and give her a chance to live, would you...?"

"I mean, if I'm dying either way, sure. But, you could leave the city."

Nimbus smiled gently and looked down at him knowingly. "Would you leave Eris?"

The Drifter became very quiet for several moments.

"Huh. I... I guess I do get it."

Nimbus nodded. "How's your eyes?"

"Better now."

"There's a key code and what looks like a pile of glimmer and other resources up there. Shall we?"

"Yeah."

"Want a ride so you don't have to jump?"

The Drifter smirked. "What, you're gonna carry me like a baby?"

Nimbus laughed and stood up off the skyboard. "I have something better. You're going to love this."

The Drifter stood, one eyebrow raised. "Will I, now?"

"Ok so, put your feet here, and here."

Chapter Text

"Woo!"

Both Cloud Strider and Lightbearer together flew through the portal back into the Thrilladrome. The Drifter was balanced on the front of the skyboard with Nimbus behind him.

The board turned at ninety degrees and slid sideways. Both hopped off.

"That. was. awesome." Nimbus kicked the back of the board and it spun in the air. They gave it an extra twirl before sheathing it into the sling on their back with a grin.

"Hell Yeah!" The Drifter agreed with a delighted grin.

Nimbus stretched out their fist and the Drifter met their fist bump in the air as both laughed.

"All right, all right, all right." The Drifter rubbed his hands together. "Now to boot up the place."

"I guess, yeah, with the energy we saved the city by clearing these baddies out we can probably spend a little on fun."

"Energy from the city? Nah. We got all the energy we need right here."

"What do you mean?"

The Drifter gave Nimbus a wily grin. "Watch and learn, kiddo. Watch and learn." He snapped his fingers.  His misshapen ghost appeared in his palm.

The ghost blinked red, then blue, then red again. It looked back at Nimbus and moved back slightly in what seemed to be almost surprise before turning back to the Drifter and emitting a single tone.

Nimbus watched in fascination as the Drifter pointed his ghost at the Vex portal while he knelt and picked up one of the large cables running along the wall. He disconnected the cable and pulled out a knife. A few moments later he was splicing wires together with bits of damaged Vex units as his ghost shuddered and blinked its light, alternating between blue and red as it slowly spun its mismatched and crudely welded shell.

"Are you... inverting that Vex portal?"  Nimbus asked.

"Yup."

"You can do that?"

"I keep tellin' everyone back home if we'd just catch Vex instead of killin' em we could double the city's power, easy. Difficult to do when they're shooting you in the face though. I figure this'll give us two, maybe three hours before they notice we're drainin' 'em and shut it down. Gonna need your help hooking into the power grid you got here though... I've tinkered with every bit of Golden Age tech I've salvaged but I ain't ever had any that was actually... functional to begin with."

"I can help with that."

"Fantastic. This is gonna be great."

Sparks flew but then the lights flickered above them.  The walls began to glow and shift with images and gradually the sounds of all the gaming consoles booting up began to surround them.  

"You're really good at that."

"Thanks, kid. I love this shit. Kit-bashing different kindsa tech together is my bag."

"You know, I've been doing a lot of work to try and repair and enable some of the older city defense systems. It's all Ishtar-era tech."

The Drifter paused what he was doing and slowly looked over his shoulder at Nimbus with a delighted smile.

"I got some orbital beams set up for the Guardian during one of our bigger battles with Calus buuuuuut then they overheated and shut down. I'm still trying to get a bunch of the defense relay up and running."

"All right. Ya got me. When do you take ol' Drifter to see the shiny broken things?"

"Ha ha! Maybe day after tomorrow? I think tomorrow Osiris wants to take Eris to see the Veil. We should probably be there for that."

"Damn straight we should but after that she'll probably need to spend another day with her face in a book and makin' notes. That sounds like a perfect excuse to go mucking about with orbital beams. I like orbital beams. An' if we can get 'em workin' maybe we can do some target practice on some Shadow Legion."

"Yes!  Sounds like a plan!"

"Blowin' apart Vex, video games, and Ishtar-era defense relays. I gotta take vacations more often. This is great."

***

The screen erupted in bright colours and the Drifter's side showed he had won first place yet again. The rogue Lightbearer released the plastic steering wheel in front of him, wove his fingers together and pressed his hands out in front of him, palms outward, stretching out his wrists and hands.

"I dunno who the fuck this Mario guy is but his carts are somethin' else."

"Ha ha! Yeah, it's pretty fun. Sorry about the bananas."

"Banana? That's a weird word. What's a banana?"

Nimbus, seated on their skyboard behind the chair next to the Drifter pointed at an image painted on the side of the console frame depicting some of the gameplay. "The yellow things."

"That's a banana? I thought it was a weird slippery mine or something."

"I mean, it works like that in the game, but it's an old earth fruit that went extinct a long time ago. People used to eat them."

"Huh. Never heard of it. What they taste like?"

"Oh, I have no idea. Way before my time. I just know what they looked like.  We learned about them in school but I wasn't really paying attention."

"Wild. That sure was some fuckery, though. Banana's not as bad as the turtle shells. Those are vicious!"

"Ha ha, yeah. Yeah they are. It's been so long since I got to play that. That was... really nice... thanks. Oh!" A slot near the Drifter's knee began spitting out a long string of perforated paper. "You have enough tickets to cash in."

"Cash in?" The Drifter looked up at Nimbus quizzically. "For money?"

"Ha! No. The whole point of the Thrilladrome is to take your money."

"That's what I figured, yeah. This is the kinda place I could run. But that does beg the question of what cashing in means in this situation."

"Prizes!"

"Ooooh! I like that."

"They're worthless on their own, but it's not about how much they're worth, it's about what they represent. In this case, your ability to kick my ass in Mario Kart!"

"Hell yeah! Give Drifter his spoils of war!"

***

"Damn. Drifter's not as good at aimin' with fake guns as he is with real ones."

"There's definitely a trick to it."

"Maybe if I treat it like a fusion rifle. Yeah... that's better. Havin' it fixed in place is a bitch though. Don't like this one as much."

The screens in front of them both displayed the results of the match. Nimbus' score was considerably higher than the Drifter's.

"Yeah. Shooting games feel really weird when you do that every day for real."

"Cuz they're nothing at all like the real thing. What about that one over there with the coloured blocks?" The Drifter pointed.

"Oh that one is a classic. There's nothing like it. Warning you now though. It's got really great music that'll stick in your head forever, and the game itself is super addictive. If you play that one you will be forever changed."

"Addictive, huh? Sign me up."

Nimbus watched the Drifter as he stood in front of the console, analyzing as the first few clusters of blocks slowly fell down the middle of the screen. The rogue Lightbearer tried pushing a few buttons experimentally and determined how to move elements around the screen and rotate them but clearly had not yet figured out 'the point' of the game.

"And this is addictive?" he asked.

"Yup."

"Oookay."

Nimbus kept quiet as the Drifter continued to shuffle blocks around the screen, obviously bored but attempting to give the game a chance. A line of blocks glowed brightly a few times and disappeared and the Drifter's eyes glinted with interest.

"Ahhhh... I see.'

He placed the next few blocks more carefully. Three rows disappeared and more points were added to his total. He nodded and his eyes began to flicker over the screen. Four rows disappeared at once for a large amount of points and a pleasing sound.

"All right! Oh... Uh-oh."

The blocks began to speed up. The Drifter became intently focused, his face lighting up in a genuine smile as the difficulty of the game gradually increased.

"Oh..." he said quietly as he played. "Ok this is the shit."

"I know, right?"

"I need this one back home. I gotta figure out some sorta way to get this so I can take it back with me. This'll be a hit. It's good. It's real good." The Drifter's hands began to move the controls fluidly as he got used to the interface. "It's got that super simple but also hard aspect that's just... yeah... this is perfect." He began to bite his lip as the music shifted and the difficulty increased considerably.

"It's so old." Nimbus talked while they watched the Drifter play. "Like ancient. Pre-Golden Age. Dawn-of-technology old."

"Probably why I like it so much," the Drifter whispered gently as he deftly placed more blocks falling to the bottom of the screen with increasing speed. "I like old things. Motherfucker!"

A misplaced block was now preventing his progress on one side and he began to frantically compensate.

"Leaving one side open like that is dangerous."

"But it's worth more points. I just need one more long piece. Fuck."

"Yeah... that's why you don't do that."

"Ok I can still fix this. Shit!"

"Yeah. That's... a standard gameplay experience for this one."

"If I can just... Dammit!"

The screen filled up with bricks and the words "Game Over" appeared in the middle.

The Drifter stared at the console with snake-eyed intensity for a few moments while chewing his lip. "Ok. One more."

"Ha! That's how this one is."

"Yeah..." the Drifter said, his face intent. "I can see that," his voice purred. "You weren't kidding about it being addictive."

A few rows disappeared on the screen and the game was just beginning to pick up speed again, when the screen went dark and all the lights in the room went out, leaving only the minimal lighting they'd encountered when they first arrived.

"Seriously?" The Drifter looked up at the ceiling in frustration. "Fuckin' Vex."

"I guess they figured it out, huh?"

"Yeah." The Drifter stepped back. "I need this one. Who do I gotta talk to in order to be able to take one of these back with me? I can kit bash the power source - or.... maybe I can just get the software?"

"Software's probably way easier but I can ask around."

"Fuck that was fun. You're right about the music too. I can still hear it in my head."

Nimbus nodded, smiling.

"I gotta figure out how to make it so Moondust can see it good on a screen. I want her to play with me. She won't like it at first. She'll think it's stupid. But she'll enjoy beating the pants offa me."

Nimbus laughed.

"What? Not like that! Although... come to think of it, she can probably take my pants off with Hive magic or somethin' any time she wants... heh... That's a fun thought... ah... um... I'm oversharing."

Nimbus laughed again.

Chapter Text

"Oh that reminds me! I got you a present. I won it at the arcade."

The Drifter got up from the table next to Eris, leaving his half-eaten dinner on his plate. Osiris sat on the opposite side, chewing thoughtfully, while Nimbus sat on their skyboard, their long legs stretched out in front of them while they ate. The city did have Cloud Strider-sized furniture but none of it was in the temporary apartment provided to the Drifter and Eris to stay in for their visit.

"What is an R-Cayde?" Eris asked.

"Video games. Like Gambit but entirely virtual and not as actually violent. It's all about the eye-hand coordination. Pushin' buttons instead of actually pullin' a trigger."

"This sounds inane," she pronounced.

Osiris smirked.

"Well that's why we didn't bring ya. Ya wouldn't like it. But I did. And I got ya a prize that I won at the video games." He handed Eris a box and sat back down.

She stared straight ahead while her fingers opened the box and began to trace along its contents. "What is it?"

"I have no idea."

"It's a Cloud Strider action figure!" Nimbus explained. "Limited edition, too. I mean, they're probably all limited edition now, what with everyone in the Cloud Ark."

"What does an action figure do?" Eris asked. "What actions does it take?"

"It's a toy," the Drifter explained. "Children play with 'em and adults keep 'em for nostalgia."

"I see." Eris' fingertips lingered over the head of the small humanoid figure in her hands.

"The point is not what it is, the point is that I won ya a thing," the Drifter said proudly. "And now ya have it."

"That one looks like me!" Nimbus said gleefully.

"I'm surprised you didn't just steal it. It would have been less effort." Eris said dispassionately.

Osiris snorted.

"Well that wouldn't have been any fun then, now would it? I won this for ya with my skills."

"At pushing buttons." Eris intoned.

"You know I'm good at that." His eyes glinted. "I push yours all the time."

Eris sighed deeply. "You most assuredly do."

"Hold on a moment," Osiris said, suddenly understanding. "You were in the Thrilladrome."

"Yeah!" Nimbus said, excitedly. "It was great!"

"But the Thrilladrome is overrun by Vex." Osiris countered.

"Not any more!" Nimbus reached across the table to fist bump the Drifter. The Drifter half-stood and returned the gesture.

"There is a singularity in it connecting to the Vex network." Osiris continued. "The only way you could have purged the Vex from that location, even temporarily, would have been to enter it and deal with the source there."

Eris' head whipped around to stare at the Drifter. "You went in the Vex network?"

Panic flickered across the Drifter's face as he instantly flipped into damage control mode.

"It wasn't the whole Vex network." His hands flew up, palms facing Eris. "It was a very tiny, sub-sub-sub section, of a small pocket, of the Vex network."

She glared at him. "I thought that we had agreed that we were on vacation and that we were not going to do anything dangerous or strenuous while we were here."

"Easy, Moondust." The Drifter spoke in overly soothing tones, his silver tongue working overtime. "You remember Europa. It was like goin' through Perdition on Europa. We knew exactly where they were gonna be. It was completely predictable. We planned it out. We were careful."

Osiris watched the exchange between Eris' anger and the Drifter's backpedaling from across the table with mild amusement. Nimbus remained quiet.

Eris' eyes flashed angrily. "You planned this. This was premeditated. You deliberately left me in the library knowing that I would become absorbed and not notice. And then you went galavanting off to be reckless with Nimbus while I was preoccupied."

He gave her a sheepish grin. "Yeah. You wouldn'ta liked it anyway. And besides, it helped the... Neomuni? Neomunians? Neomunae?"

"You had it right the first time." Nimbus said.

"See? I'm bein' a good guest and helpin' our host make a clean spot. We got to play video games and now there's less Vex. Everybody wins... well... except the Vex."

Eris continued to glare at him.

"Moondust, come on," he practically purred as he attempted to soothe her. "You know how paranoid I am. It wasn't dangerous. It was a milk run - heh... or a Vex milk run if you will."

Both Nimbus and Osiris laughed but the Drifter licked his lips nervously as Eris continued to stare angrily at him.

"Don't be mad, Three-Eyes." He pleaded, switching to giving her his best puppy-dog eyes. "It was fun and nothin' bad happened."

Her glare intensified.

He stopped smiling and bit his lip. Then he silently reached out and took her hand in his own, rubbing his fingertips along hers softly, looking genuinely contrite.

Eris breathed in deeply and let out a long sigh, squeezing the Drifter's hand tightly as she did so.

"Very well. You are all right now. That is what matters."

***

"...An then I watched them take the head clean off a Hydra with one punch!" the Drifter dramatically slammed his fist into his hand to demonstrate the Hydra punch for everyone at the table as he recounted their adventures.

"Hmmm..." Eris tilted her head and looked over at Nimbus. "Impressive."

"Thanks." Nimbus smiled and nodded shyly.

The plates were stacked in the sink. Osiris and Eris held steaming mugs of tea. The Drifter had a mug of whiskey and Nimbus was gleefully munching on fresh raspberries from the Drifter's hydroponic garden.

"It was damn impressive and extremely satisfyin' to watch.' The Drifter looked over at Nimbus. "You ever want to do some sort of specialized Gambit, kid, you come find me I'll set that up."

"What?" Eris looked at the Drifter sharply. "Do not be ridiculous. He has no ghost! Gambit is an irresponsible and irrational risk. He is needed here."

"First, Neomuna could use a Gambit arena. We got Shadow Legion, Vex, all the components ready to go just waitin' to be put together. All we'd need is a space and... well... probably a thousand permits... most likely... but it'd be worth it once the paperwork was done... And second, if we was to do that it'd have to be a special event with non lethal weapons. Not that I think Pretty Eyes over here can't handle themselves but you are right and risking Neomuna's only Cloud Strider would get me shut down for sure and we can't have that. This is a very lucrative business opportunity right here."

Eris looked at him, confused. "Your perpetual flirting with everyone and everything is rendering you incomprehensible. You have previously remarked in different conversations that both Osiris and Nimbus have pretty eyes. How am I supposed to be able to distinguish which one you are talking about at any given point in time?"

Osiris coughed and looked down into his tea.

"I mean, fine fair point, ya got me there, Pretty Eyes," the Drifter said to her, staring into her three green eyes with a gentle smile.

"Ugh!" Eris looked away.

Nimbus laughed.

"See?" the Drifter said, pointing at Nimbus. "They think I'm funny."

Osiris snorted.

"He does too!" the Drifter added, pointing back at Osiris with his thumb.

"Tsch." Eris made the dismissive sound but twined her fingers between the Drifter's and tightly held his hand.

The conversation slid into a lull as the Drifter looked gently at Eris and Eris held his hand.

"I am relieved you are all right," she finally said, quietly.

"That mean I'm forgiven?"

Osiris cocked his head, surprised at the uncharacteristic gentleness he'd never before heard in the Drifter's voice. No guile. No hidden manipulation. It was the most honest and vulnerable phrase Osiris had ever heard come out of the snake-tongued rouge's mouth.

Eris sighed again. "Yes."

"Good because I found one video game I'm gonna figure out how to take back and then I wanna modify it so you can play it with me."

"Hmmm... why?"

"Because it's fun but it'll also piss you off. And then when I beat ya, you'll wanna get even. An' that'll piss ya off even more." His eyes sparkled.

Eris shook her head. "You are insufferable."

Chapter Text

The neon lights of Neomuna filtered softly through the drawn but translucent window coverings in the room where the Drifter and Eris Morn were preparing to sleep.

"This sure is fancy. Lookit that. They got them sensors for the water so you don't even have to turn on a tap to wash your hands." He stood in front of the bathroom mirror wearing nothing but a flimsy pair of shorts. Trust was on the counter, loaded, as usual, and he picked it up and carried it with him as soon as he had dried his hands.

"Hmmm... " Eris wore soft stretchy grey flannel pants and one of the Drifter's t-shirts. It was dark green and had an artistic depiction of a Gambit mote on the front with "Throw some Taken at your Friends" printed across the back in white lettering. The shirt was so oversized for her that the hem came down to her knees.

She placed her glowing orb on the bedside table, removed the covering from her eyes and draped it over top of the Ahamkara bone to dampen its light. Pulling back the blankets, Eris lay down on the bed and frowned.

"I do not know if I will be able to sleep. This bed is too soft. It is too... I suspect it is supposed to be comfortable, but it just feels as though it is... sucking on me. It makes me uneasy."

"Yeah," the Drifter crawled in from the other side of the bed to lie next to her, placing his hand cannon under one of the pillows. "Sleepin' on barnacles and rocks and chitin in the Hellmouth for a hundred years probably does wreck beds for ya for a while. I get that. If it's any consolation, it's weird for me too."

"Your bed on the Derelict is fine because it is old and lumpy like mine in Sanctuary but this is... it feels wrong. As though at any moment we might be pulled in deeper and... digested."

"Well, if it's a problem you know I got no issues sleepin' on the floor with ya, but try something for me first, yeah?"

"Very well."

"Climb on top of me." He held the blanket up to make room for her. "I'm lumpy. Climb on top of me the right way and I'll get even lumpier." He winked.

Eris sighed and rolled on top of him, shifting around until she was positioned comfortably. His arms slipped around her, one hand sliding up under the t-shirt, his fingertips idly following the now-memorized paths of her scars.

"You're right," she said as her paracausal tears began to smear across his chest. "It is better."

He gently kissed the top of her head through her hair.

"So... um... confession time."

"Hmmm?"

"I don't wanna keep stuff from you. Almost nine hundred years of lyin' and I do it compulsively now sometimes even when I really shouldn't. And I don't want to do that with you so I... I wanna take back something I said earlier. Give you a corrected version. But um... you're not gonna like it."

He felt Eris tense on top of him. She took a deep breath and he felt her muscles slowly relax as she willed them to do so.

"Very well."

"It wasn't entirely safe. And at one point I did make a bad jump. In the VexNet. And the kid saved me. Risked their own life to do it. And you were completely right. It wasn't what we agreed to and I knew that and I should'a told ya."

The Drifter held his breath and noted how Eris' breathing had become extremely even, almost mechanical.

"It wouldn't have been permanent. My ghost could'a got me back up but... you know how I feel about that... and I know how you feel about that... and if the kid had gone down, it would'a been permanent for them."

"Yes," she said quietly, her breathing still very controlled.

"As I was falling all I could think of was... what if the next me fucked it up with you... or you couldn't forgive me for this... which... is what makes tellin' you this so scary but... we've talked about that before... about trusting we love each other and workin' shit out and this is me tryin' to work shit out."

Eris nodded and squeezed him tight.

"I think you know damn well I don't go dyin' on purpose and I agree it probably was a bad call but I wanted to do it and guardians die ten times a minute in front of both of us so... I don't know what I'm sayin'... I fucked up... I should'a told you where we were goin' an' what we were doin'.. and then I fucked up worse because I panicked and lied to you about what happened it in front of Osiris and made it seem like it was nothin' and... it wasn't nothin' and I know that and I'm sorry."

They lay in silence for a few minutes. The Drifter watched the pink neon light from a sign on one of the buildings outside splash on and off along the wall and part of the ceiling as it blinked through the night.

"Is that all?"

"Yeah," he whispered, still holding his breath. "We're supposed to be partners and that wasn't very partner-y of me. At all. It was shitty. I don't wanna be shitty. Not to you. And I don't wanna lie to you. I hate it. Anybody else, fine, but... not you."

"I knew you were lying. You are still forgiven."

He took a deep breath and they held each other close, feeling each other's heart beat, the warmth of their skin, the sounds of their breaths.

"I appreciate Nimbus even more now," Eris said, quietly.

"Yeah that's... that's part of what's eatin' at me... you know they've only got seven more years and then they expire? Like milk? Like their nanotech goes bad or somethin' and they just... die... and they choose that? Kid saved my life and I've already lived over a hundred times more than they ever will. That ain't right. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

"Devotion, bravery, sacrifice, death."

"Yeah. Those words again. I hate that shit. You'd think they wouldn't apply seen as Cloud Striders are pretty much the polar opposite of Lightbearers... we didn't get a choice, they did... we don't remember who we were... well... most of us..."

"Hmmm..."

"They have the memories of not just their own lives, but every Cloud Strider that's come before on instant replay any time they want... Except the ones the Vex and Shadow Legion busted up... They're still tryin' to recover those...But most of 'em are all still there... It's just... seven years and Nimbus will be gone... blink and ya miss 'em... dust... I've always said don't get attached... especially to Lightless... they go so quick..."

"You also tell guardians to get a good holster for their guns and wander around with yours shoved into your pants. You are terrible at following your own advice."

"Clearly. Regular old garden variety Lightless'll get to 300 if ya can keep 'em from bein' shot or eaten by somethin'... Seven years... might as well be a pet hamster for how long they'll live... The fuck am I doing makin' a friend like that? Can't get attached to that... Can't call that a friend... They'll be gone faster than... than..."

I can't feel anything.

The Drifter's hands began to shake.

"You do like them..." Eris' voice was grounding, pulling him back to the present. "...and you are attached. And you do consider them a friend."

"Yeah... such a genuinely sweet kid... great energy... kinda innocent but determined, trying... What the hell are these people thinkin' pickin' someone so young for that? They should pick someone old... near the end of their life... that's... that's..."

I don't want to die.

"Hmmm..."

He felt as well as heard Eris' voice as she spoke against his chest. He focused on the sound of her voice, the weight of her on top of him, the texture of her skin, her scars...

"Osiris said something about the nanotechnological transformation being very taxing on a human system," she continued. "It is possible there is some biological aspect preventing older humans from being able to be transformed. Or perhaps it is only available to a select few who have a physiological makeup complimentary to the augmentations."

"Maybe..."

I can't feel anything.

Her hand found his trembling fingers and twined her own fingers between them. He focused on her hand.

"Moondust I wasn't tryin' to like them. I didn't intend to. Didn't think I would. I called them my friend but I call everyone my friend. I didn't think they'd ever be a friend-friend. An actual friend. But... I had a lot of fun today... just... actual enjoyment of somethin' for the sake of doin' it. I liked it. They were good company. You know they got Ishtar-era orbital bombardment tech that don't work no more and they've been able to fix it a little? They're gonna take me to take a look at it since I'm good at kit-bashing shit and this is new shit I ain't never seen. They fix shit up... like me."

"You made a friend. A real one. And very quickly, for you."

"Yeah... one that didn't take years to be someone I could trust... just... instant connection. They're so damn pleasant. I should hate them and wanna piss in their cornflakes, they're so fuckin' cheerful... but they're just... happy go lucky without bein' willfully stupid and plastic. All that shiny nanotech and they're more human than me... They're a great kid... I guess I'm just... I'm just so damn pissed my new large shiny friend has an expiry date. I didn't think I'd care but... there I was falling in the VexNet thinking on how pissed you'd be after, powerless to stop what was gonna happen, and then they caught me. Flew down on their shiny board and caught me... nice strong arms too... not gonna say that didn't feel nice to be held like that on top of everythin' else..."

"Tsch... And you tell me this as you're lying in my arms now."

"Yeah..." He let go of her hand and began running his palms along her arms as she lay on top of him. "Your arms are pretty great too."

"Hmmm..."

"It's weird to feel like you're watchin' someone's funeral when they're standin' in front of ya with a smile on their face having just saved your life... I thought they were maybe just dumb or confused or brainwashed or some sort of zealot or somethin' but... they said somethin' to me after..."

"What did they say?"

"I asked them why... Why they volunteered to die for this city... Why not just leave?"

"And what was their answer?"

"They asked me if I could leave you."

He kissed the top of her head again.

"Hmmm... Perceptive."

"Not really. I uh... may have been babblin' about how much I love ya the entire time. Couldn't shut myself up.. One moment we're talkin' 'bout guns and then next I'm goin' on about how badass you are turning Hive gods into guns... another time we're talkin' about jokes and then I'm tellin' 'em how I made you laugh that time on Io."

"That is unlike you... you are not normally so open... especially not with someone you only recently met."

"I know! I couldn't shut the fuck up... I just felt... I don't even know."

"You felt safe. You trust them."

"Yeah... I don't know why. I don't trust no one, except you."

"And all the other people you've come to trust as you've gradually learned how to care again... after centuries of pain and betrayal and isolation."

"Yeah... I guess... but even before Nimbus risked their extremely short life to save mine... I just... felt like I had a friend..." He stared up at the ceiling. "Fuckin' heroes always gettin' themselves killed. That kid literally is a hero. Why does it always have to be the kids? They signed up to die for everyone in this city. Not a chance at death. They will for sure die."

"Thankfully your antics today did not render their life even shorter."

"Yeah. We did do good though. Vex didn't know what hit 'em."

He felt her fingers tracing gently along his arms. They were cool, soothing.

"And I'm honestly not that sorry for doin' something kinda dumb and dangerous because, let's face it, it's me... But I am sorry for doin' it behind your back and for bullshitting you about it in front of Osiris."

"If it's any consolation I don't think anyone else in the room believed you either."

"Oof."

"Your apology was sincere, however, even if you did not speak it verbally. And it was, and still is, accepted. Your past experiences have lead you to default to falsehood and subterfuge as methods of conflict avoidance. I know this and I still love you. I am glad you are safe now and that, as you said, nothing bad happened. I hope that next time, you will keep me in your confidence."

"I will. If there is a next time."

"It's you. There will be. And if you do... fuck up... as you so eloquently put it... again... tell me and we will find reconciliation. It is far more important to me that you feel safe enough to make such confessions than that you feel you never need to."

"Yeah. Good point. And you're right. It was conflict avoidance. That's exactly what it was. Seven years though... fuck."

"Osiris told me Cloud Striders do not grieve their dead. Theirs is a culture of embracing the present."

"They do give off that vibe, yeah."

"I would never tell you not to grieve. You have a history of locking feelings away, especially grief, in ways that are deeply unhealthy, and you are still unlearning those habits. You absolutely should grieve, but... I will give you one observation I have made."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"They have only seven years left in their life, and yet, they chose to spend today playing video games with you."

"Yeah, well, not everyone makes good decisions."

Eris pushed herself up on the bed and the Drifter found himself staring into her three green eyes as they loomed over him, their noses almost but not quite touching.

"Do not disparage their choices," she commanded. "Respect them. And be honoured to have been chosen. Strive to become worthy of that choice in future if you do not feel so now. But do not belittle or dismiss their decision in this matter. Be grateful for it. Appreciate them while you can... and..."

She leaned on one hand and lifted the other to caress his cheek. "...and I will hold you when they are gone."

The Drifter took a deep breath and began blinking. He turned his head sideways, breaking eye contact with her and biting both his lips.

"I believe it is now my turn to be the lumpy mattress."

"Yeah..." he whispered hoarsely before looking back into her eyes again.

Eris rolled on to her back and tugged the Drifter into place on top of her. The green glow from her eyes showed faintly on the ceiling, intermittently overwritten by the neon pink light blinking outside.

The black tears dripping from her eyes made their way across her cheeks, sliding down the sides of her face to stain the pillowcase as the Drifter's head lay on her chest, his hands caressing her shoulders. Eris pulled the blanket up to cover them both with one hand. The fingers of her other hand slipped into his hair.

His body shook on top of her.

Eris continued to run her fingers through the Drifter's hair in a slow gentle motion while the front of the shirt she wore became increasingly damp with tears.