Chapter Text
After a bit of searching, I found my fireteam at our regular hangout, the bar in the Hangar. “Ruby!” Iroh said, waving me over, a drink already in his hands. I’d been gone thirty minutes, and half of them were already drinking. At least it made my choice of who was coming with me easier.
“Phoenix and Sky, you’re coming to the Moon with me,” I announced as I reached the table. Iroh, Scarlet, and Finely gave me a disapproving look.
“Why only them?” Iroh asked.
“Because they don’t have alcohol in their system, and this mission needs to happen now. Once you sober up, you three can talk to Cayde and see what else needs to be done so we can return to the Dreadnaught safely.”
“But-” Finely started to say, but Sky silenced him for me.
“It’s not like you guys are sitting around doing nothing. Whatever Cayde has planned for you will be just as interesting as what we are doing,” she explained. Finely let out an annoyed sigh but dropped the argument.
“We will be back as fast as we can. I promise.” I assured them before turning to leave with Phoenix and Sky right behind me.
In the end, it worked out perfectly. One Warlock, one Titan and one Hunter. A perfect fireteam for a short mission. We restocked on ammo before setting off towards the Moon.
We’d been here multiple times before. From Crota to Taniks to dealing with the Hive in general. We found the entrance to Crota’s temple quickly and began our descent down.
“You guys in?” Cayde asked to confirm our comms were working.
“On our way to the deepest part of the Temple now,” I confirmed.
“Great. I know Eris has told you what you need to do. I just want to ensure it—no need to do a mission twice. You need to steal a piece of crystal that contains a piece of Crota’s soul so you can go through that interdimensional portal back in the Dreadnaught. Did I miss anything, Eris?”
I snickered at Cayde. Of course, Eris wouldn’t let him do this alone. Especially after what we did to her ship.
“It must be done before Oryx turns his scrying eye to this realm.” She explained. I looked at Phoenix and Sky, and they looked worried. We didn’t expect to be on a time crunch.
“We will be as fast as we can,” I assured her before continuing. We cut down some Hive as we made our way toward the room where we stopped the Hive ritual that was to bring Crota back. When we arrived, we found an Ogre guarding the crystal and killed it as quickly as possible. As it was about to die, a Taken portal opened and took the Ogre.
“Oh no. It’s gone. Oryx just took an Ogre.” I stated.
“Oryx must be near. Now, quickly, I need a shard of that crystal.” Eris replied, and I did what I was told. I wanted out of here now.
Unfortunately, I could only carve three pieces out of the remaining crystal, but none held a piece of Crota’s soul.
“Eris, we got the crystal, but there is no trace of Crota’s soul.”
“No matter. Return to me, and we will destroy-” The comms cut went static, and I knew something back was about to happen.
“Eris? Cayde? Anyone?” Sky said, trying to get the link back up. A screeching filled the room, sending all three of us to our knees as a shadow of Oryx appeared before us. We ran out of time.
“Infection! Your Light dies here!” It yelled as hoards of Taken appeared around us. I managed to pull myself off the ground and help Phoenix and Sky before we took off towards the exit.
“Ruby, what-” Sky tried to say, but I cut her off.
“No time. There are too many of them. Run!” We continued running, only stopping when too much was blocking our way.
“Stell, anything yet? Can you connect back to the Tower?” I asked as I took down a Taken Knight.
“Nothing. No Cayde, Eris, or the rest of the team.” I tried to keep calm. Once we got above ground, we’d be fine—if we made it to the surface. We stopped again when we reached a sealed door. We managed to open it with a tomb husk as the hoard approached.
“We’re going to lose them, just like Eriana!” Eris cried as the radio cut out again.
“Eris? Cayde?” I asked, but it was quiet. “Keep going. We are getting close,” I assured Phoenix and Sky. We ran into a few more locked doors and copied the same strategy.
“Ruby? Ruby, please, can you hear me?” This time, it was Cayde, I heard, but neither Sky nor Phoenix reacted. He was using a private channel for me. Before I could reply, the comms cut again. Dammit. Cayde sounded distraught—more than he did with Tevis. I needed to get back to the Tower, more now than ever, to show Cayde I was alright.
After what felt like forever, we emerged from Crota’s temple and were back at the Hellmouth.
“Ruby? Ruby? Can you hear me?” I sighed in relief when I heard Cayde coming through the comm link loud and clear.
“I’m here, Cayde. We’re out of the Temple.” Phoenix and Sky look at me, confused. Crap, they didn’t know I had a private channel with Cayde open.
“Good, let me connect with the rest of your team.” There was a pause as I heard buttons in the background. “Phoenix, Sky, you there?”
“We’re here,” Sky replied.
“Good. Get yourselves back to the Tower.”
“On our way,” I assured him, then we called our ships over and headed home.
When we reached the Tower, I saw Iroh, Finely, and Scarlet waiting along with Cayde and Eris. The moment we stepped onto the Hangar, we were pulled into hugs. Scarlet hugged Phoenix, Finely hugged his sister, and Iroh hugged me. In the hug with Iroh, I noticed Cayde’s faceplate furrow, clearly upset about something.
“You guys had us worried. When we came to talk to Cayde about the next mission, we heard him and Eris panicking about you. You said it would be a simple mission.” Iroh said, and I pulled out of the hug, laughing nervously.
“Yeah. Turns out it wasn’t,”
Iroh sighed but smiled. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Are you three off on your mission?” I asked, looking around and seeing that Cayde disappeared.
“Yea. Just wanted to make sure you three were alright.”
“Thanks, Iroh. Good luck on your mission.” He nodded, then followed Finely and Scarlet.
“Guardians. I’m glad you’re alright. I’ve given the crystals you’ve collected to your team. They will get essences of Crota’s soul to infuse into them. For now, you three need to rest. I’ll call upon you when it’s time.” I nodded to Eris, wanting to find Cayde.
“Ruby, where are you going?” Phoenix asked as I made my way out of the Hangar in the opposite direction of them.
“I need to talk to Cayde, and he took off. I’ll talk to you guys later.” I waved them off before anything more could be said. I spent most of my time looking for Cayde with no luck. I checked the Vanguard hall, his office, and even his apartment. Each was void of his presence.
Frustrated, I head to the crucible to cool down. I didn’t know why Cayde acted like that and then took off. We weren’t together. He made it clear we never can be. Shaxx put me with a team for a match of control, and I began to work out my frustrations. I felt guilty for the Guardians on the other team. They didn’t do anything to me, but I shot them down one by one as they came after me. After two matches, in which my team won, I left.
It was time to finish off Oryx. I join the rest of my time back in the command centre as we await our next step. “Good job, all of you. We have three crystals with Crota’s essence; with that, we can get three of you into the rupture,” Eris explained. My team looked at each other, surprised that only three of us could go in. I expected this. I also expected the fight that occurred next. I shouldn’t say fight. It was more of an argument. I sat back and stayed quiet as I watched the rest of the team argue about who would be better off going in.
“This is the great fireteam?” Cayde whispered to me. I rolled my eyes, not turning to face him.
“We have our days.” I retorted.
“Ruby-” he continued, but I walked back towards my team.
“Enough!” I yelled, and they all stopped and turned toward me. “I know we all want to go, but this time, we can’t. And since we can’t decide for ourselves, we should let Zavala, Cayde, and Ikora pick. One from each class should go.” My team stared at me but nodded in agreement.
“Excellent idea, Ruby,” Zavala said. “Phoenix will be the Titan that goes.” He stated.
“Thank you, sir,” Phoenix replied. I expected that. He was the only Titan on our team.
“Scarlet will be the Warlock who goes,” Ikora announced, and I could see the happiness on her face. Now, it was Cayde’s turn to pick the Hunter. Finely, Iroh and I waited for his decision.
“This is hard.” Cayde sighed, eyeing the three of us. “Each of you has a unique strength that could be useful for this mission.” I crossed my arms as I waited for his decision.
“Ruby.” He finally said, and I looked at him surprised. I figured he’d picked Finely since he was upset with Iroh and me. The jealousy coming off the other two Hunters was intense.
“Me?” I asked, pointing to myself. “Yes. You’ll join Scarlet and Phoenix.” “Thanks,” I muttered.
“The other three, I want you in orbit near the Dreadnaught in case something goes wrong,” Zavala informed them as Scarlet Phoenix and I prepared to leave. We stocked up on everything we thought we needed: multiple guns, ammo and extra armour just in case. Then we set course for the Dreadnaught.
“Alright, we are nearing the transmat zone now,” I reported as I cut the engines.
“Good. Creepy sidekick check.” Cayde started by saying. “Regueish commander. Check. And then we have Ruby, my greatest success story. I’d say we’re ready to get this done.”
I snorted. “I’m your greatest success story? Everything I’ve done comes from my own skill.” I replied, my tone was a bit sharper than intended. “We are getting off-topic.” Eris cut in. “Focus on killing Oryx, and the City will once again be safe.”
“Don’t worry, Eris. You can count on us.” I assured her as we landed and made our way to the rupture. As expected, Oryx knew we were coming. He had hoards of Hive waiting at the gate of the rupture.
“Ready?” I asked, turning to face Phoenix and Scarlet.
“Ready.” They replied in unison as we loaded our guns and got to work. It was a bit more work than the last time we were here since we only had three of the six of us, but we managed to clear the area and get the rupture open.
“Good luck,” Cayde said as we crossed the barrier, then the comms were gone.
“Cayde? Eris? Can you hear us?” I asked, but it was just static. “I guess we are on our own,” I grumbled.
“Should we back out?” Phoenix wondered.
“No. We came this far. We aren’t giving up now. We can do this. I know we can.” Phoenix looked hesitant. He might not be like Zavala, but he was still the most cautious of us all. “Alright. Let’s finish this so we can get back home.”
“Agreed,” Scarlet replied. We pressed forward, going deeper into the Dreadnaught than we’d ever had before.
The deeper we got, the more Hive we found., but few Taken. This was worrying. The Taken were Oryx’s army; if they were nowhere in sight, we had a bigger battle coming.
I was right. We walked a bit more, then entered a large room with another structure similar to the rupture we came through earlier.
The ground began to rumble as Oryx’s voice boomed. “You are the last hope of the Light? I have taken entire worlds. You are not worthy to face me.”
“We are worthy to kill you! Just like we did your son!” I yelled back.
“Ruby!” Scarlet hissed, but nothing else was said before the portal opened, and Oryx’s Taken army was unleashed on us. “You had to open your mouth,” Scarlet growled as we continued shooting.
“We needed him to open the portal. He did. Now we can get to him.” I pointed out as I shot my shadow shot, and then Scarlet used her nova bomb to clear out a large portion of the enemies.
The portal opened again, letting us in. “Hmm. Guess we’re worthy now,” I retorted, and we continued forward. We cleared out a few more rooms of the Hive before we heard Oryx’s voice again.
“Come to me, warriors of Light. I will finish what Crota began.” We arrived in a dark room with a white flame in front of us. Phoenix stepped forward before the flame shot forward, Oryx’s symbol appeared, and a door opened before us.
“It’s now or never,” Phoenix said before we entered. The room was dark only for a moment before Oryx appeared, sword in hand.
“At last. I’ll have vengeance!” He growled before the fight began. Oryx was massive—the biggest Hive I’d ever seen. What was the saying? The bigger they are, the harder they’ll fall. Let’s hope that applied to the Hive.
The waves began to thin out, and I thought that maybe we were winning until I fell to the ground, gasping. It felt like my life force was being taken from me.
“My Light-” I groaned, reaching out for it, but it was gone. I looked up at Oryx, and I saw him smirk at me. That little sh*t. Fine, if he wanted to play dirty. I picked myself off the ground and saw that Scarlet and Phoenix were also affected. We now had to fight a Hive God with reduced abilities.
Ignoring the new hordes of Taken and Hive, we attacked Oryx with everything we had. After a few hits from our rockets, Oryx staggered, and his grip on our Light was gone.
I flexed my hand and felt the Void once again before turning to my team. “Ready?” I asked.
“Ready,” Scarlette confirmed, and we unleashed everything on Oryx. Phoenix hit him with his Sentinel shield, while Scarlet and I used a Nova bomb and shadowshot.
Oryx growled, transported us to another room, and began to circle us as he attacked. We dodged what he threw at us, and when he dived in with his sword, we unleashed every bullet we had on him.
“Do you think we’re making a dent?” I asked, dodging another blast.
“I hope so. Because I’m almost out of ammo.” Scarlet screamed, and I began to feel anxious. Were we going to make it through this?
Oryx dove in again, this time aiming for Scarlet, who was in the middle of reloading. I could tell she wasn’t going to make it, so I made a split-second decision and pushed her out of the way, taking the full brunt of the impact.
“Ruby!” she yelled as Oryx towered above me, sword raised.
“Vengeance!” he shouted as he swung the blade down. I close my eyes and wait for death, but it never comes. Instead, I heard another Nova bomb that hit Oryx square in the back, sending him flying. Oryx smashed his sword into the ground, grunting and panting while clutching his wound.
Scarlet pulled me off the ground, and Stell healed me.
“It’s over, Oryx,” I said, aiming my gun to take the final shot.
“No. I will have Vengeance.” he coughed before reaching out to his sword. I sensed the darkness coming from it as he took Taken energy from it and used it on himself. Slowly, he took himself, smiling at us as he disappeared.
“What?” Scarlet whispered, running to the sword.
“It’s not over.” I sighed.
“No. But it’s over for now.” Stell stated.
“You’re right. Let’s get out of here.”
“Ruby? you there?” The comms link was back.
“Yea, Cayde. We did it. Well, kind of. Oryx is dead, in a way.” I began to explain.
“Come back to the Tower and explain,” he replied.
“Be back soon.” With that, we turned and left, leaving Oryx’s sword as the only remembrance of the Taken King.
