Chapter Text
Holding Ghost gently in his hands, Cayde feels the Light surrounding them.
The world fades away, melting into nothingness. Everything, and nothing, all at once.
The Guardian, Ikora, Zavala. Sundance. They’re here, with him. The thought makes him smile - after all this time, he’s glad he can do right by them one last time. He knows they’ll understand, leaving them all behind again. It’ll hurt, sure - but he was never meant to stick around anyways.
“What comes from the Light, returns to the Light.”
As always, Sundance was right.
He’d spent his many lives gambling everything, over and over. But this, at least, he’s certain is the right play. Ghost deserves a second chance - one that Cayde can give him. Peace washes over him. It’s a beautiful ending, he thinks, to a messy set of lives. As much as a part of him wishes he could stay, this is just how it's meant to be.
The Light pulls him in. He can’t even feel his body anymore.
Does he have a body?
He tries to picture it - himself, with his friends, his fireteam, his family. The memories are hazy, now. Out of the fog of confusion one sticks out, clear as day.
He’s standing in a field of sorts, his Ace in his hands, pointed down at someone.
He feels afraid, for a moment.
Then anger.
Then… relief. He’s staring down the barrel of his gun at—
Crow.
The memory startles him. The reminder of who brought him back in the first place is a strong one, among the many that seem to fade away.
That sense of peace begins to crack, splitting him down the middle. He’s no longer calm. He can’t accept this, not anymore. Why is he suddenly so filled with regret? He’s dying again, just like he wanted, and yet—
He wants nothing more than to live.
There's a voice, somewhere around him. Can the Traveller speak?
“—kay?...—appening to—”
He doesn’t understand. The Light appears to be dissipating, falling around him into nothingness. Come on, he can’t even die peacefully? That’s seriously not fair.
His body is back, he thinks. A sensation of pain flows into him, sharp and sudden, and ends just as quickly. His fingers curl around the air, grabbing at anything they can. His vision returns, slowly coming into focus. Where is he? Is he dead? Is this the afterlife?
Blinking rapidly, trying to sit up but he’s pushed back down by— wait, what?
“He’s awake!” Crow exclaims, hand resting on Cayde’s chest, keeping him from moving. Why is Crow here? He shouldn’t be here.
Ikora is crouched down next to him, too, Zavala and the Guardian stood behind her. Ghost hovers nearby, chirping with relief. He doesn’t understand how this is happening. Death was nothing like this last time. He clears his throat, voice box clicking uncomfortably. “What— where am I?”
A smile gracing her features, Ikora grabs his hand gently. “You’re in the Traveller. What do you remember?”
In the Traveller? Yeah, that doesn’t make sense. That would mean he’s still alive. How could he be? He just gave up his life to save Ghost. He didn’t hallucinate that. Right?
“Uh, we killed the Witness…” He starts off, pushing himself up on his forearms. “Then Ghost— I saved him, right? I’m supposed to be dead.”
The Guardian nods from behind Ikora, reaching out to hold Ghost closer to them. Ghost speaks, shell twitching slightly. “You did save me. Then the Traveller saved you.” Cayde frowns, confused. Why would the Traveller save him? Nothing is making sense.
Zavala steps forward. “What matters is you’re alive. You can come home.”
Cayde tries to sit up fully, causing Crow to finally lift his hand from his chest to instead grab his arm, helping him up. They make eye contact and Crow smiles, eyes creasing at the corners. “Good to have you back, Cayde.” His smile turns into a grin, all toothy and kind. Finally, Cayde believes them. He really is alive. Just how many chances at life is he gonna get?
Well, it doesn’t matter. Existential crisis aside, he’s got a brand spankin’ new life to live. Again. And there is no damn way he’s letting it go to waste.
“Thanks, kid. It’s good to be back.”
*+~.___________________________.~+*
Soon enough, they gather a large number of ships so everyone who joined them in the fight against the Witness can get home safely. Since Ikora and the Guardian’s ships were destroyed, they hitch rides with Zavala and Mara back to Earth. Crow, on the other hand, flew into the Traveller on an Ahamkara, and Cayde doesn’t exactly have a ship, so a fellow Guardian decided to lend them one.
“Crow, are you sure it’s a good idea to have Cayde with you?” Mara asks, raising an eyebrow at her brother. Crow chuckles, glancing over at Cayde as he approaches the two of them.
“I’m sure,” he replies, voice soft. “If he wanted to kill me, he already would have.”
Cayde claps a hand on Crow’s shoulder. “Hey, can’t say I didn’t think about it.”
Mara doesn’t look appeased, but seems to trust her brother’s judgement. She bids them goodbye and good luck with the ride home, boarding her ship with a wave. The others follow soon after, leaving just the two of them to begin their journey. Cayde allows Glint to transmat him into the ship, Crow right behind him. It’s not long before Crow gets the ship moving, breaking into orbit. It’s a bit rocky at first, but the ride shortly smooths out.
Cayde kicks his feet up next to Crow, crossing his arms behind his head. The sight of space around them is beautiful - a reminder of the life he lost, and now gets to live again, although differently. They sit in silence for a while, enjoying the calm after the chaos of the past couple weeks. Eventually, Crow sighs and turns towards him, a conflicted expression on his face.
“Is… is there a reason you didn’t kill me?” His eyes squint slightly, like he’s in pain. Cayde can see the guilt behind them.
Unsure how to answer, Cayde brings his legs back down, rubbing a hand down his face. “Well, like I said, I thought about it. A lot.” He frowns, spinning Ace on his fingers. “But every time that crossed my mind, I’d see Glint and I’d remember who you really are. Uldren took my life, but you didn’t. I can’t make you pay for his mistakes.”
Crow looks away. His hands grip the console tightly, like he’s holding something back.
“Anyway,” Cayde continues, “Even if you were Uldren, the past is the past. I ain’t much of a revenge kind of guy.”
And it’s true. Uldren played his cards, and so did Cayde. In the end, he lost. It is what it is. Killing Crow wouldn’t change anything, much less bring Sundance back. God, how he misses her. That’s the one thing he wishes he could change when it comes to this new chance at life.
Regardless, here he is. Alive. No ghost, no Light. But he knows he’ll get through it, make a difference this time.
“I don’t understand.”
Cayde looks over at Crow, who’s tapping incessantly on the console. He’s about to respond when Crow keeps speaking. “How can you be so forgiving when others can’t?”
Confused, Cayde sits up fully. What does he mean by that? What others? “Not sure what you mean, kid.”
Before Crow can clarify, there’s a loud beeping that takes over the ship, piercing through the silence of space. Glint can barely get a warning out before something crashes into them, sending the ship spinning in circles. They’re both thrown out of their seats, slamming into the floor with a thud. Crow tries to scramble towards the console, and Cayde watches as he’s launched backwards by another impact, hitting the wall. He swears he heard a crunch.
Amidst the chaos, he looks out the window to see what appears to be a Fallen ship. They’re being attacked. Man, they really just can’t catch a break.
Realising that Crow is out cold, he attempts to crawl towards the console, hoping to regain control of the ship. He only makes it about 2 feet before Glint calls out, “We’re going down!”
Well, shit.
It’s barely a few seconds later when an explosion hits.
Cayde comes to some time later, hazily trying to pull himself out of his stupor. Everything hurts. And it’s cold, so very cold. He blinks a few times, vision finally clearing. Shoving a piece of debris off of himself, he looks around the wreckage for Crow. His stomach drops at the sight of blood and— god, is that steel bar impaling him?
Crow coughs weakly, blood dripping down the corners of his mouth. Crawling over to him, Cayde hushes him while assessing the situation. In order for Glint to heal him, they’d have to get that metal out of his abdomen. He reaches out, fumbling with the fabric of his clothes to get a better look at the wound, wincing once he does.
“That— that bad, huh?” Crow mumbles, blinking slowly.
“Well, it ain’t pretty.” He sighs, feeling bad for what’s about to happen. “We gotta get this outta you, bud. Otherwise healin’ you will be pointless.”
Crow hums in response. At least he’s barely conscious.
After more careful examination, Cayde pulls his shirt aside to get a better angle and forms a firm grip on the bar. He glances around, seeing Glint hovering nearby, ready to help. “Alright, on the count of three.” Honestly, there’s no point in counting considering he’s pretty sure Crow is completely unconscious now, but hey, might as well.
“One, two…”
He tightens his grip. “Three.”
Thankfully, the bar pulls out in one fell swoop. He tosses it aside, rushing to put pressure on the wound, the blood spilling through his fingers. Glint spurs into action, analysing his guardian’s state. Cayde looks up at him, noticing he’s not doing anything. “What? What’s wrong?”
Glint’s shell twitches, turning to him. “He’s lost too much blood. Give it a minute for his heart to stop, then I can revive him.”
Now, Cayde is no stranger to guardians letting themselves die when they’re gravely injured, as it’s easier to just be revived rather than healed, but the way Glint says it so casually… It feels wrong. Like this is something they’ve had to do too many times to be normal.
He lets his hands drop, wiping the blood on his legs. Less than 20 seconds pass before Glint begins the revival, then another few seconds before Crow groans loudly, attempting to push himself up. Cayde sighs with relief, even though he logically knew Crow would be completely fine.
“That never gets easier,” Crow complains, rubbing the back of his neck as he stretches.
Cayde chuckles. While it’s been a long time since Sundance last revived him, he did just die and come back to life roughly two hours prior. Which he can positively say still sucks.
Crow looks down at his stomach and frowns at the tear in his clothing. He then sighs and looks around, furrowing his brows in visible confusion. “Where are we? This doesn’t look like the Pale Heart.”
Realising he’s shivering, Cayde just shrugs. “No idea, but I’m freezing.”
Glint pipes up from next to them, “Judging by my scans, I think we are on Europa.”
“Europa?” Cayde feels a slight surge of excitement, despite the situation. “I’ve never been to Europa.”
Crow rolls his eyes at him, a slight smile on his lips. Cayde shoves his shoulder, then points a finger at him. “Hey, I died before we ever started coming here. So excuse me for bein’ excited.” Crow just raises his hands in defense, the smile not leaving his face.
After they get their bearings, they gather as many supplies from the wreckage as they can before setting out to find somewhere to hunker down.
As it turns out, they crash landed in an unexplored zone of Europa - well, unexplored by Humanity. It’s technically restricted, according to Crow, as it’s largely inhabited by the Fallen, specifically House Salvation, and has generally been considered as an area “not worth” the time and energy. Unfortunately, that means two things:
One - They’re entirely unfamiliar with the landscape, which puts them at a huge disadvantage to any hostiles they could encounter.
Two - The chance of any other guardians or allies stumbling across them is extremely low.
In other words, they’re completely screwed.
With no access to comms or extra supplies, the best course of action is to find a cave or building with just enough shelter to keep them warm overnight or during any storms. Thankfully, less than a few hours of wandering around is all they need to find a fairly decent cave. It’s on the deeper end, so should provide good enough shelter from the wind to be bearable, but not so deep that it’d be easy for enemies to catch them off guard.
They settle in quickly, considering they have practically nothing aside from the clothes on their backs and the guns in their holsters.
Cayde watches Crow slide down the cave wall, landing on the ground with a thud and a sigh. He decides to join him, taking a seat on the dirt beside him.
“So…” Crow says, trailing off awkwardly.
Snorting, Cayde bumps their shoulders together. “Hey, this is just like before! No need to be weird about it.”
“And how is that?”
“C’mon,” He continues, “We’re stranded, alone, just the two of us, in an unfamiliar place with no supplies. We’ve done this before, we can do it again.”
Crow smiles slightly, bumping their shoulders for a second time. He ducks his head down, almost bashful, as he responds. “At least last time we knew backup was on the way.”
Cayde just nods, twirling his Ace around by the trigger.
“Well, we’re two of the best hunters in Sol. Ain’t that what you said?” He remarks, turning to the other man. “We’ve got this.”
The wind howls loudly outside, but Crow ignores it in favour of Cayde’s kind words.
“I guess we do.”