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#can’t wait for more info on the eliksni as well
emburbaguette · 3 years
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Damn Destiny lore really didn’t need to hit that hard. I really shouldn’t be in tears over this but goddamn. Glad I became a lore nerd so long ago through this
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thenameisel · 3 years
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Origin Stories Part Three: Stumble and Fall
"Thank you for sharing." Elliott said over coms. There was a pause. Then as if not wanting to accept that the story had ended, he continued. "Say. Did you find anything interesting at the Truck Stop?" 
Boop chuckled and leaned forward in the cockpit. A black gloved hand tapped a weird figure on the dash. Something Pip had decided was a 'Bobble Head'. Shaped like a moose, it's comically oversized head bounced back and forth. When they had found it, all those years ago, the plastic’s color had faded and spring rusted away. With a little care it looked almost good as new. Turns out Boop was halfway decent with a paintbrush. 
"I'll have to show you sometime. Old world figure. Think you'd like it."
"So, guess it's my turn?"
"Nah. Take a nap. I could use some quiet myself. We should be fresh for landing anyway." 
"Thats fair." There was mild disappointment in Elliott's voice. "Poke me if anything comes up."
"Will do." Boop muted the channel, and reached back into the thick black fur lined hood, causing Pip to release an angry sounding series of beeps. "Stop that. I want to recline. I can't do that with you there!" 
"Oh fine." Pip grumbled as he was removed from the hood, but the lights flowing across his eye was a slow content parade of color. He resettled in Boop's arms once the Hunter had leaned the seat back, and the two settled in for some nice reflective quiet. 
---------------------
"Arrival in fifteen minutes." 
Elliott jerked awake, the scraps of some dream involving Hive fading quickly from memory. He rubbed his face and shook his head, trying to remove the fog of sleep. Caush hovered steadily at his shoulder. 
"Pip's chosen landing zone is an estimated twelve minutes, twenty second sparrow ride from the target. Should give us an element of surprise. I would have picked a location further out, to reduce the chances of the ships being spotted, but calculations show the distance is… adequate." 
Caush was rambling again. Elliott squeezed his way out of the small cockpit and into the only slightly larger space behind the pilot’s seat. He had to stoop quite a bit. 
"It's an industrial area, lots of cover. Target is holed up in a shipping warehouse. We unfortunately don't have recent info on the area, but I've prepared multiple calculations on the most likely scenarios."
Their ship wasn't appointed great for long trips away from the tower, but the two of them wouldn't trade it for the shiniest exotic. It was a junker Caush had discovered many years ago, long before finding Elliott. Keeping the ship's location secret the Ghost had waited till his Titan's first Dawning to reveal its location. Together the two had worked many long hours fixing it up. To them it was worth the world. It could seat four between the cockpit and a wide bench behind in a space not big enough to call a cabin. However, there was plenty of storage hidden in the walls and floor. And while the ship did boast some decent communications and recon equipment, it completely lacked any form of living luxuries. But they made do. 
Fighting with a latch that probably should be replaced, Elliott opened one cabinet and stored his empty thermos, and retrieved a second one. He cracked it open, and smiled in relief at escaping steam. He always brought multiple. 
"Pip passed on that Boop said to be ready for a fight. In a confined area." Caush sounded miffed. "As if I hadn't already considered that possibility. What do they think I am? Some kind of Battle Frame?" 
"I'm sure it wasn't meant that way." Elliott opened another cabinet, this one was in much better shape. He started pulling out ammo packs, holding each one up for Caush to store in a flurry of sparks. "Now. What do you think we should take?"
Caush's solitary eye was a flurry of color as he ran calculations again. Potential threats, the target's location, all known data was sifted through till he was satisfied with the outcome. 
"Take that absurd auto rifle of yours. The spread will be useful in close quarters. That new scout we found might come in handy, If we need the range. And, of course, the machine gun."
"Sounds good to me."
Elliott pulled the suggested gear from various cabinets, giving Caush the machine gun to hold on to. The scout went across his back, the auto he'd keep at the ready. 
"Brace for landing." Caush said, and Elliott widened his stance. Not that he needed too, Caush was an impeccable pilot and there wasn't even the slightest bump as the ship was set down. 
The two disembarked just in time to see Boop summoning a black sparrow that was as sleek and silent as the Hunter's jumpship. Elliott did the same, his own being in better shape then his ship, as it was quite a bit newer. It had been gifted to him by the first Guardian he had ever met. A Titan by the name of McKay. 
Their Ghosts dematerialized and they took off In silence. Well, almost silence, as Caush gave regular updates to the both of them as they traveled. They had done countless ops together, they knew their roles. 
As they got close to the location, Boop picked up speed, and Elliott slowed, letting the distance widen between them. He watched as his friend took a hard left and vanished down a side street. Elliott did not follow. He’d approach the obvious way. Draw attention to himself, while the Hunter snuck in to cause chaos from behind. 
“Large building with blue trim. Up on the left.” Caush said, and while his voice was calm and steady, there was a slight hint of anticipation to it. “Adjusting calculations.”
“How close are your predictions so far?”
“Too soon to tell. Estimated thirty minutes of engagement remaining to make an accurate calculation. But 99.8 percent. Prior data suggested the building’s trim was green.”
Elliot laughed and shook his head, Caush loved his data. The Titan accepted the roles in their relationship. His Ghost did the thinking, he punched things.
Reaching the building Caush had pointed out, he cut the sparrow's engine and jumped off, letting it glide to a halt without him. He hit the ground running towards a gaping hole in the wall where an entrance might have once been. It looked suspiciously like something large had forced it's way in. He had to watch his footing as he went, for a series of evenly spaced potholes, like small impact craters, dotted the already heaved and cracked asphalt.
"Well, that's familiar eh?" He joked, not slowing his pace.
"Updating calculations. It was an unfortunate possibly."
"We'll handle it. Update Boop."
"Already done. Not answering me, but that's expected."
Suddenly he was through the gaping hole, sunblind in the dark interior. He ducked to the right, to put his back against a wall, auto rifle at the ready. Keeping the potholes in mind he threw his shoulder forward, forcing his Light into a glittering barricade in front of him. Elliott waited the breathless heartbeats as his eyes adjusted, listening expectantly for the sounds of wire rifles. 
But nothing came. All was silent. 
"Huh." 
"This is quite outside my calculations. I'm not detecting any lifeforms." 
"None?" 
"Nothing."
"Ok then. Let's take a look around." 
Elliott stepped forward through his barricade, auto rifle up. Still there was no movement. No sound. 
The interior of the warehouse had been modified into Eliksni style housing, a true maze of ramshackle walls and fabric. Elliott slowly worked his way through twisting halls, noting the signs of a hasty exit. Debris of all sorts strewn about the alcoves. Articles of clothing, household items, technology scraps and things he couldn't name. 
"Odd. Very much outside of expected parameters." Caush's observations were made from the safety of non material space. No way he would risk exposure in such an unknown situation. "Signs of quick vacation. Estimated time, three days ago."
Eventually Elliott came to a large open area that was roughly in the center of the building. Here the concrete floor gave way to wood and salvaged carpets, and a good chunk of the ceiling was gone, letting light in and illuminating the area. A central square? Gathering place?
Curious he stepped into the space, eyes sweeping left and right, looking for trouble. It was quiet.
Suddenly, something small pinged off his helmet. His auto rifle came up instinctively, looking for the source. A thumbnail sized pebble rolled to a stop in front of him. 
Scanning the environment again quickly, something caught his eye. Up. A silhouette was outlined against the sky waving hands in an almost frantic chopping motion. Boop.
“Caush?” He started, but he didn't need his Ghost to tell him this had most likely been a trap. Boop wouldn't have let him walk blind into something unless… suddenly he remembered the radio silence.
The darkness to his left shifted. Then his right. Far to many sets of sickly yellow-green eyes started appearing all around him as the forms lumbered forward from the dark. Elliott glanced back the way he came and saw more. Totally surrounded. A slightly manic grin came to his face. Of all the enemies of humanity, Hive was his favorite to fight. Why they were here and not Eliksni, he didn’t know or care.
Caush started rambling away inside his head, listing positions and numbers, possible cover locations and anything else he thought might benefit the Titan. Elliott leveled his auto rifle at the largest group, and pulled the trigger.
PAFF.PAFF.PAFF. The auto rifle chuffed, kicking back violently in Elliott's hands. PAFF.PAFF.PAFF. With each firing four barrels went off in unison, creating an unavoidable hail of death not unlike a shotgun scatter, but with the reach and predictability of an auto rifle. 
In the heartbeats between trigger pulls, he was dimly aware of the crack of Boop's sniper.  
Hive Thralls fell in droves from bullets and Elliott's Arc covered fist. Knights slowed their charge to a standstill at his onslaught. But when an Ogre lumbered out of the shadows it was Elliott who gave ground. He did so willingly, needing the space. If he didn't thin the masses soon he would be overwhelmed. Out in the center of the open area his mind touched Caush's. No words were exchanged, just impressions. They were ready. 
Elliott jumped, utilizing Light to gain extra height. His body exploded in a fury of Arc energy. Fists together, eyes blazing, he plummeted towards the Ogre, alight in a maelstrom of lightning. 
One good slam should clear out enough to turn the tide. 
Boop screamed his name, voice filled with panic.
As Elliott hit the ground and broke through the false wood floor he understood why. 
It had been a trap after all.
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princeoffools · 6 years
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Way Down We Go
Calypso belongs to @gildedskeleton
“You know,” Helios says as he flies next to her, “this is a bad idea.”
Naos’ grip tightens on her rifle. She knows, she just doesn’t care. She’s angry and she needs to let off some steam. And sure maybe going down into the Hellmouth on her own wasn’t the best course of action but she automatically flew herself to the Moon. Might as well go big. ‘Cause she wasn’t going home.
Home right now was empty for her. Empty of a Gunslinger, empty of a Voidwalker. Empty and cold.
So she marches across the surface of the Moon, leaving boot marks in the dust.
As the Hellmouth comes into view she realises that she never did answer her Ghost’s question.
“I know it is Helios.”
“So,” she sees him fly at the edge of her vision. Staying close but looking around for her. “Why are we going down there?”
“I need to punch something.”
He sighs and says, “And you couldn’t just punch a punching bag because…?”
Naos turns her head to look at her Ghost, squints at him when she does.
“You know why.”
“Right, yeah. Missing partners, empty home and all that.”
Naos closes her eyes and sighs. Briefly thinks if there’s a refund for Ghosts, then shakes her head and keeps moving.
Helios flies around her, doing a full 360° sweep of the area, even flying high to get a better advantage. He’s right above her when he calls out, “Hey, isn’t there usually Fallen around here?”
She stops where she stands and waits. There’s nothing. No one shooting at her, no Eliksni shouts or curses, not even distant Fallen shapes standing around. She thinks about what it could mean and then what she came here for.
She huffs and keeps walking towards the Hellmouth.
Helios flies directly in front of her forcing her to stop. “Naos, this is bad. Can’t you see that?”
“Yes. I can. I just don’t care Helios.”
Guardian and Ghost stare each other down. Each waiting for the other to move, to break. But the Titan’s Ghost is a stubborn as the Titan. Eventually Helios dissipates and his voice comes through her helmet.
“I’m gonna send that info to the Tower. Maybe some competent Guardian will look into it.”
Naos starts walking. Again. She sighs and says, “We’ll look into it when I’m done, okay? No need to go calling in the cavalry. It’s not like they’ll do much anyway.” The last part is filled with bitterness.
They get to an opening on the surface, guarded by two ordinary knights. Both are quickly disposed of with bullets to the head. As Naos stands before it Helios’ voice comes through. It’s quiet and seems small.
“What if you die down there?”
“Then I’ll be dead and no one will know.”
“But what about…?” She knew what he wanted to say. Who he wanted to say. As if their name was taboo now.
“They left,” for the first time, her voice is soft almost sad. “I’m sure whatever Calypso’s doing is important.”
“They never said goodbye.”
Stepping through the opening Naos replies, “No, they didn’t.”
Continuing forward neither Helios or Naos speak as the Guardian mows her way through hordes of thrall that come running at her. She gets to punch some of these ones. It’s easier when there’s only a few at a time. It’s like they never learn.
Going deeper down, she shoots her way past more thrall and acolytes. Using her hand canon to rid them of life. She kills with it until it’s out of bullets and then switches back to her rifle.
She doesn’t know how long she’s been down there, doesn’t know how many dead hive she left in her wake when Helios’ voice breaks through to her.
“Why couldn’t we have just looked for them?”
Naos lets out a frustrated sigh and punches a thrall coming at her from her right. Sparks of lightning come from her fist as it makes contact with the thrall’s head. She waits another second to answer.
“It’s hard to look for someone when they don’t want to be found.”
She hears Helios hum in agreement and she moves forward. Cutting through more hive.
It’s not long after that Naos goes to pull the trigger of her rifle, ready to shoot an acolyte that was for some reason running at her, when nothing happens. She pulls the trigger a few more times just to make sure.
Shit.
She quickly changes to her shotgun and blasts the acolyte in its three-eyed face. As it crumples to dust in front of her she swears very loudly.
“Rifle out of ammo?”
“Yup.”
“Well,” Helios says, “shit.”
She laughs through her nose at that. “My thoughts exactly.”
Helios appears in front of her as she’s replacing the last shell in her shotgun. He goes down and scans the dust. Comes back up and flies around her.
“Okay,” he’s right in front of her, equal height to her helmet. He stares her down. “Two of your guns are out of ammo, that’s not a normal acolyte and the Darkness is getting thicker. Can we please leave now?”
Naos stares at him for a moment then side steps around her Ghost and keeps moving forward. Going down deeper into the hive fortress.
She hears Helios make a frustrated noise behind her then his voice is back through her helmet.
“Do you have a death wish or something?”
“Nope,” she pops the p sound.
“Then why are still down here?”
“I still have my shotgun and my fists. We keep moving.”
Helios gives a very annoyed sigh, but otherwise stays quiet.
Naos walks down a very empty hall with stairs at the end, when she hears a cry echo from the direction she’s facing. Then the sounds of running reach her ears.
“That,” Helios says “does not sound good.”
A few seconds later many thrall and acolytes appear at the end of the hallway, top of the stairs, all running, heading towards her. Naos places her feet, pops a shield in front of her and raises her shotgun.
The thrall come in fast and subsequently blind themselves as they run through her shield. She punches them, not wanting to waste precious ammo. As her shield collapses she moves forward, blasting thrall and acolyte alike with her shotgun. When she uses up a magazine and a half suddenly the acolytes still left stop shooting at her and turn tail. They run back down the stairs and she’s left in silence.
“That,” Helios injects into the silence “can not be good.”
Naos pops another shield in preparation of whatever’s coming. Reloads her shotgun and focuses her light.
The ground underneath her shakes as something moves close by. She watches behind her shield as the top of a knight’s head becomes visible at the stairs. She watches as it grows, as it makes it’s way upstairs. For a brief moment she’s scared, the knight in front of her is huge and she’s alone down here. No one even knows that she’s down here.
The knight stops a few feet away from her. Stares her down as it swings its cleaver around. Naos’ shield drops and she takes off running toward the knight. She jumps up and activates her super, smashes the ground as she lands with lightning where the knight stands.
She stands up as the ground pulsates with aftershocks and looks up at the knight. It stands tall and she swears she can feel it grinning at her. It brings it’s weapon up, hitting her with an uppercut and damaging her immensely, cracking her visor and pushing her back a little. 
Naos brings up her shotgun and empties the magazine as the knight runs towards her. It doesn’t flinch even a little and Naos curses as the knight swings wide and its cleaver collides into her left side slamming her against the rough wall of the hallway. Her right shoulder piece gets smashed and falls off.
“Great. We good for another shield Helios?”
“Ready.”
Naos puts up another shield consequently pinning herself against the wall. She uses the time to reload her shotgun and concentrates on her light. The second her shield drops she once again activates her super, once again hitting the ground by the knight with lightning. Once again the knight seems to just shrug it off and lifts its cleaver for another attack. Naos keeps her eyes on the weapon, thinking maybe she can dodge it.
Instead of being hit from the left Naos is captured by the knights left hand. Her back is pushed against the wall and she is lifted up by her head until her feet are dangling. She still holds her shotgun and she lifts it, aims it right at the knight’s head and empties the magazine.
The knight shakes it’s head and squeezes around Naos’ helmet. The crack gets bigger in her visor and eventually it shatters. She feels some of the shards imbed themselves into her face, thankfully none piecing her eyes or coming close to damaging them. The knight squeezes harder.
Naos hears a hiss as Helios undoes the clasps of her helmet. She drops to her feet and suddenly the world is no longer a bright green but rather the muted tones she’s used to. 
She quickly moves out of the knights reach. Then slows, loads the last two shells she has into her shotgun and turns to face the knight. It still has her helmet in it’s hand and she watches as it lifts it up for her to see, as if it’s showing it off. It closes it’s fist and the helmet bends and crumples. The sound of it makes her heart sink.
Naos pops another shield, but she notices that it’s already cracking. Standing behind it, she realises her breathing is heavier. She’s pushing herself and her light to the limits.
“We good for another ground pound?”
“I wish,” Helios’ voice comes through her helmet quieter like he’s far away from her, “you didn’t call it that but yes. You’re good.”
Naos smirks at the knight, wipes her brow with the back of her hand. She dislodges some of the shards from her visor, it makes the blood flow more freely down her face. She curses slightly at her own mistake. Hopes it doesn’t impair her vision.
“Could really use some healing here Helios.”
Her Ghost’s voice is the same as last time, quiet, distant. Though this time Naos can hear a hint of panic in his tone. “I… I can’t. The Darkness is overwhelming. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’ll be fine.” She says the last mostly to convince herself. She’ll be fine.
The knight starts sprinting at her as her shield drops. Once again she jumps into the air and slams the ground when she lands. For the first time it looks like the knight took some damage and staggers back as it’s trapped in the pulsating wake of arc damage.
Naos sprints and slides underneath the knight, empties the last two shells into its abdomen. Now behind it, she bashes the back of one of its knees with the stock of her shotgun. It falls and Naos uses this opportunity to climb on top of it. One arm going around its shoulder to hang on. Once the aftershocks from her Fist of Havoc stop the knight stands and turns. Quickly moves against the wall, it rams Naos’ back against it again. She feels her back piece bend inwards. Can feel it puncture the skin. Can feel hot blood leak from it.
Gathering strength and leftover light, she punches the side of the knight’s head. Sparks fly as her fist makes contact. The knight stumbles away from the wall but reaches behind itself. Once again grabbing a hold of Naos. Though this time it flings her across the hallway. She lands on her back, bounces, flips and lands face down on the floor.
She groans as she pushes herself up, noticing that her chest piece is now cracked, she’s missing more pieces of her armour and that even her under armour is ripped in places. The smell of blood reaches her nose as she stands up and when she looks down at herself she grimaces. She’s not given much time to inspect her wounds before the knight swings at her again.
This time she manages to dodge the attack and watches as the cleaver embeds itself in the ground where she just was. Naos curses in her head then runs at the knight again. Without any weapons left she uses both hands to punch. She centres her blows on the area on its abdomen that she shot earlier. As her punches connect she watches cracks form in the knights armour.
She feels the knight grab her back and pull, sending her flying backwards. She skids across the floor on her back, scruffing up what remains of her armour. The bent back pierce digs into the already bleeding wound and it hurts like hell. She feels the exposed under armour rip and tear, and then new cuts opening up on her body.
Naos grits her teeth, tries not to think of the pain. Tries not to think about the amount of wounds she has. She takes a shaky breath in, and winces, she thinks a few ribs are broken. It wouldn’t surprise her if there was some internal bleeding.
As she stands on shaking legs, Helios’ question echoes in her head. What if you die down there?
Naos looks up at the knight, notices it’s no longer spinning it's cleaver around. Not showing off anymore. She hopes she did a considerable amount of damage to it. Hopes it’s almost dead.
She hears a guttural noise come from the knight and then it charges at her again, if she were to guess she would say it’s pissed. Naos moves as quickly as she can out of the way, delivering two more punches as the knight passes her. It digs its cleaver into the ground ripping it up as it slows down. By the time the knight stops, the cleaver looks fairly stuck in the ground.
The knight runs at her again sans cleaver. Naos plants her feet, raises her fists, if this turns into a boxing match she plans on winning. The knight swings wide and she’s able to duck under it. Delivering two more hits into its abdomen.
In theory she has the advantage here. She just has to hold out, hold out until the knight is dead. Has to keep focus on what she’s doing. The pain can come later.
After a few more of the same tactics, the knight making swings for her and herself continuing to hit that one area, the knight falls. Naos feels nothing except the exhaustion and the pain from her wounds.
Helios appears in front of her and she sees he’s shaking. When he speaks it’s the same, quiet, distant. “We need to go now. You’re very heavily injured.”
Naos goes to laugh, instead she doubles over coughing, ending in her coughing up blood. She spits some of the blood mixed with spit at the feet of the knight.
“Okay, we’re leaving.”
As Naos starts slowly walking by the knight, she hears a cry go out behind her. She stops and half turns, looks at Helios beside her.
“Remember those acolytes that ran away before, do you think they called the cavalry?”
Helios looks to the stairs, then to his Guardian and then back to the stairs. “You need to run. You need to run now Naos.”
Naos goes to start running, realises that it hurts too much so she moves as fast as she can. Unfortunately it’s not fast enough. She gets shot multiple times. Each shot stings and bleeds but keeps moving, she has little to no way to fight back. She hopes she can make it to the surface, to her ship.
After some time, she’s not sure how long, the hive sounds that have followed her thus far are no more. She keeps moving. Moving past the death and destruction that she created. Moving despite the pain, despite the exhaustion, and the darkness that’s closing in around her.
Naos isn’t sure how long she’s been down there but finally, finally she sees the opening that she walked through. She stumbles towards it. Barely makes it out onto the surface of the moon. But she has to keep moving. Just has to get to her ship now.
Naos looks up and she doesn’t believe what she sees. A warlock heading towards her, but they stop and stare. Naos smiles to herself, they’re okay. She goes to take a step forward but her legs give out. Had to happen eventually.
As she falls and the blackness consumes her, she swears that she can hear them shouting her name.
The next time consciousness comes to Naos she’s still in the dark. She can hear someone talking though she doesn't know who or what they’re saying. It’s soft and muffled but the words aren’t making sense. Then there’s silence but only for a beat and someone’s yelling. The words are nothing but noise but she knows… she knows that voice. Calypso.
She wants to call out. Wants to hold Calypso in her arms and never let go. Wants to tell them that she loves them and they’re not allowed to run off on her again.
But her mouth won't open. Her body won't move. And the blackness consumes her again.
She wakes to the sound of a machine beeping and it takes her a while to realise its in tune with her heart. Slowly she opens her eyes and is greeted with the most beautiful sight she’s ever seen. 
Calypso is bent over her bed, head resting on folded arms, fast asleep. Naos realises that they are holding onto her hand and she smiles to herself. She takes their joined hands, brings them her lips and places a soft kiss on Calypso’s. She closes her eyes and welcomes the more peaceful sleep that follows.
Home was no longer empty.
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