DROWNDROWNDROWN

Apollo-3 shot across the Martian desertscape as fast as their skimmer could take them. Their HUD had been leading them a concerning distance from the Lure after being contacted by the Warlock Vanguard. It seemed that while they had been gathering tribute for Eris, there was some other project happening.

A project that was apparently close to being discovered by both broods of Hive on this planet.

"She's always cagey, Apollo. It kinda comes with the territory of leading the Hidden."

The exo scoffed at their Ghost's retort in their comms as their destination - an abandoned firebase in perfect range of viewing any mass movement of troops - came into view. They hopped off of the hovering board, the metal slab clattering to the ground before it's transmatted away.

"Let me rephrase that... cagier than usual," the Hunter retracted. They noted the blip on their radar. A grunt escaped them as they took a light jog around toward the half-rusted steel door, taking one look out toward the uncomfortably close hordes of Lucent Hive, and slipped into the firebase.

"Maybe it's something she isn't too keen on Zavala learning about?"

Their clanking footsteps echoed through the brief hallway as Guardian and Ghost make their way up a small flight of stairs toward a gutted old command room with a perfect view of the Lure in the distance. Seraph's words weren't exactly lost on the Gunslinger. After two crises of faith, anything that mixed Light and Darkness tended to be subjects that erred toward caution when being discussed around the Commander.

Apollo's hand brushed the doorway. Pushing in, emerald eye lights quickly make note of the space... and the familiar, towering presence inside.

Their metal brows furrowed, the exo blinking several times as though expecting what they saw to be a hallucination, or a trick of the light.

If only it were that simple.

"...I... think this definitely gets filed under 'Things we don't tell Zavala'."

He almost speaks before Rhulk, "The contact, I presume," he sets the bit of chalk on the lip near his crude approximation of a map. With practiced ease, he folds his long legs beneath him and kneels, putting himself at eye level with the newcomer, "Given your expression I don't believe our mutual contact acquainted either of us with each other, only assigning tasks."

She decided not to give it a chance to be negative and beamed brightly up at the giant new light.

"Rhulk! Huh! Not many guardians wake up with a name like that except Exos. Neat!" The exo looked around briefly before opting to sit on the floor with the giant, white-clad guardian. Pulling her hood back, Echo took off her helmet so Rhulk could see her facial expressions as she looked from the ghosts to him.

She grinned at the second ghost and then up at Rhulk. "Yup! We're good at answering questions, and if there's a question we can't answer, we can always go looking for the answer together!"

Whisper gave Echo a flat, disbelieving look. It almost felt like Echo was pulling from every summer camp counselor video they'd ever seen in the Golden Age film archives. Someone bubbly, positive, and ready to help. Not that it wasn't her natural state already, but did she really have to be so eager to help? Couldn't she be at least a little normal in the face of someone who HAD been a sign of certain doom?

He squints at her a moment, unable to shake the feeling that the three beings surrounding him are holding something back. Eyes on the back of his neck again, prey, again. He forces himself to relax.

—

Mist was hesitant about bringing, Sapphire. A excitable little ghost who'd only been around a few days after Mists own return to the tower after her hermitage.

But when the ghost expressed their interest of Mars... she was skeptical but quickly remembered colony ships did land there... She transmatted to the surface both her own ghost, Sunspot and the new ghost tucked into her hood. The hunter sighed softly,

Calling her sparrow and had the ghost tell her exactly where her feeling was..... when they landed in Savathuns throne world. Mists anxiety had a tight hold..sure she accepted an Eliksni Titan easily.. but the thoughts of a lucient hive under her wing was something entirely different...

Cruising until they meet the entrance of En Masse... the fortress that locked away the Pyramid enthralled in the thrown world... the hunters gaze went to the ghost that chirped in its optimism that their guardian was in there!

Mist reluctantly sighed and assured the ghost back into her hood, tucked against her neck as she made her way through the maze of blackened walls. She let out a soft sigh, seeing the puzzles were deactivated after a raid team had come and sweeped everything clean.....

Putting her hands on her hips, thinking that's all she'd been doing with their walk along the dark halls. She knew from experience; hiding ones past would lead to further problems down the road. With a quick burst of light she launched herself up to land on one of the white pyramidic statues nearby. Taking a seat so she would be nearly eye level with Rhulk.

"I will be straight forward with you. I have seen and meet light bearers from other worlds but never.." she gestures with her hand towards the white lubrean. "Do you have any memories... of before?" Mists words were vague,

Her lips pursed before she papms her face, dragging her hand downward. The tired expression over the hunters face was obvious. "Look I'll leave the decision to you if you want to know your past or not...As a newly risen it's your right to that. But," Mist smoothed down her hair with her hands. Sighing discontently,

Without moving, he knows those motions as well. His hands remember a haft, a heavy glaive, practiced motions until they etched into every fiber of his muscles. The thought brings a shiver of anticipation, excitement. He shifts on his toes to quiet it.

The other Ghost, his Ghost, looks to Mist, "I don't think....I mean..." she quiets, "We can't take him to the City, right? Unless you plan on...smuggling him like some ridiculous statue."

Rhulk disregards the words, though notes how she hovers closer to him. What an odd little speck.

"I remember fighting, though not for what. And I remember two suns...a blue and a black. I know my name, but not my purpose. I know that I am..." he fumbles for the word, shifting on his toes again, "the last. I don't know what that means."

Deep down, it was something Selene wanted to discuss - to learn. Perhaps even a nudge to relate, given their circumstance. Though she had never met the individual face to face...

A hope that quickly becomes foreign the moment the new voice - no, familiar voice, trails in the back of her skull. A tickle of both paranoia & frostbitten chill. A flash of the corpse she recognizes it with, causing her to hesitate one step.

" Selene. . . I'm picking up on something, " Data begins, though he's quickly hushed with a risen hand from the other, a shorten shake of the head as she proceeds.

" I know. "

" Do you think... " he whirls.

—

Mist was hesitant about bringing, Sapphire. A excitable little ghost who'd only been around a few days after Mists own return to the tower after her hermitage.

But when the ghost expressed their interest of Mars... she was skeptical but quickly remembered colony ships did land there... She transmatted to the surface both her own ghost, Sunspot and the new ghost tucked into her hood. The hunter sighed softly,

Calling her sparrow and had the ghost tell her exactly where her feeling was..... when they landed in Savathuns throne world. Mists anxiety had a tight hold..sure she accepted an Eliksni Titan easily.. but the thoughts of a lucient hive under her wing was something entirely different...

Cruising until they meet the entrance of En Masse... the fortress that locked away the Pyramid enthralled in the thrown world... the hunters gaze went to the ghost that chirped in its optimism that their guardian was in there!

Mist reluctantly sighed and assured the ghost back into her hood, tucked against her neck as she made her way through the maze of blackened walls. She let out a soft sigh, seeing the puzzles were deactivated after a raid team had come and sweeped everything clean.....

"To feel a place is familiar to you when you're first revived.." Mist offers softly, returning her gaze back to the newly rezed being before her watching his movements, "why dont.... we get out of here and I can.. fill you in," she offers.

—

Mist was hesitant about bringing, Sapphire. A excitable little ghost who'd only been around a few days after Mists own return to the tower after her hermitage.

But when the ghost expressed their interest of Mars... she was skeptical but quickly remembered colony ships did land there... She transmatted to the surface both her own ghost, Sunspot and the new ghost tucked into her hood. The hunter sighed softly,

Calling her sparrow and had the ghost tell her exactly where her feeling was..... when they landed in Savathuns throne world. Mists anxiety had a tight hold..sure she accepted an Eliksni Titan easily.. but the thoughts of a lucient hive under her wing was something entirely different...

Cruising until they meet the entrance of En Masse... the fortress that locked away the Pyramid enthralled in the thrown world... the hunters gaze went to the ghost that chirped in its optimism that their guardian was in there!

Mist reluctantly sighed and assured the ghost back into her hood, tucked against her neck as she made her way through the maze of blackened walls. She let out a soft sigh, seeing the puzzles were deactivated after a raid team had come and sweeped everything clean.....

The concern is...new. He thinks. Rhulk shifts in his seated position before moving to kneel, folding his legs under him.

"Confused..." he manages. Red light pours into the cold black metal he sits on. It's warm. The air thrums with energy that feels...familiar. Is it? The only familiar thing is his body and fleeting bits of knowledge. He knows not where he is, what he's doing, but the familiarity of the deja vu drags at him.

yet to her, it felt like such a painful eternity.

Since that time of preparation, both physically & mentally readying ones self for what would be the end. The Darkness & its' keeper, or so they thought, upon the very horizon they use to look up to. The beacon, carved with bloodied knife, still bleeding into their atmosphere even after its' captive being laid to rest.

Faces, familiar & new. Battles, old & refurbished. Loss, unforgiving.

They had won. It was the reality that mattered most. Scars upon the Last City healing with construction & maintenance, while those inner bruises of the Traveler cleansed with the help of handful few.

She could not heal the heartache that remained in her own, but she would dedicate herself forward to healing that of others in the mean time. Explorations & riddles unsolved, she figures. She'd aide the Traveler because at fault, it was all she knew how.

" Anwar was found deconstructed near the Ziggurat... don't you think that's a little far out from here? " a voice pipes up, its' keeper out of sight.

The crunch of harden snow follows suit as the hooded Guardian makes their way within the collapsed entry-way of the facility. The Braytech Exoscience Laboratories, otherwise known as the collapse of the Deep Stone Crypt. A visitation that had felt necessary, despite all the loathe she carried for the place.

" I refuse to believe the recent activity of the unnamed Cabal & House Salvation are mere coincidence & power play, " the Guardian states dryly. " Either that old man hasn't learned his lesson, or something more is going on here. "

Footsteps begin to echo in the quiet as they continue.

" You're talking about the Atraks rumor? " the mechanical chirp whirls.

She decided not to give it a chance to be negative and beamed brightly up at the giant new light.

"Rhulk! Huh! Not many guardians wake up with a name like that except Exos. Neat!" The exo looked around briefly before opting to sit on the floor with the giant, white-clad guardian. Pulling her hood back, Echo took off her helmet so Rhulk could see her facial expressions as she looked from the ghosts to him.

She grinned at the second ghost and then up at Rhulk. "Yup! We're good at answering questions, and if there's a question we can't answer, we can always go looking for the answer together!"

Whisper gave Echo a flat, disbelieving look. It almost felt like Echo was pulling from every summer camp counselor video they'd ever seen in the Golden Age film archives. Someone bubbly, positive, and ready to help. Not that it wasn't her natural state already, but did she really have to be so eager to help? Couldn't she be at least a little normal in the face of someone who HAD been a sign of certain doom?

He fumbles for anything else in the fog but - nothing. He folds his legs and leans down a bit to even the distance as he can. His memories are not his but he recognizes a few things. Notably, that she is alien to him.