Chapter Text
The Tower was home. Technically. Shin never had felt like it was his home though. Not really. His home was the wilderness, the hidden places in the world, far away from the Tower and most everyone else. This new Tower felt even less like home. But even he needed to talk to someone else other than his adopted father’s old Ghost after weeks out in the wilderness.
At some point every night even the Tower’s lights dimmed and turned off. Even Zavala had to sleep, even Kadi-55 had to be recharged, even Guardians needed to find themselves somewhere safe for the night. It was the hunter hour when only the sleepless were awake. The shadows were long and the only light in the Tower was the reflection from the Traveler.
And the glow of the Vault terminals.
A long figure, not even in armor, stood at the Vault, cycling through their gear. Shin hadn’t slept either.
“Go away, Shin,” Wolf said, not looking up from the screen she was using. “I ain’t got time.”
“I didn’t even say anything,” he said.
“I know. Keep it that way.”
He looked at her hard. She wasn’t paying him any mind. Usually she at least pretended to listen. Not tonight. He hadn’t seen her this focused in a long while. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing. I said go away,” she was dismantling guns and pulling out new ones almost as fast as her Ghost could turn them into glimmer. Looked like she was really sorting her vault out. Only keeping the things she absolutely needed and could transmat at a glance. He glanced down at the screen. It was half empty. For a hoarder like Wolf that was both impressive and concerning.
He didn’t move. She could make him say things he didn’t want to admit to and it went both ways. Wolf was just way more stone cold than him. But his presence was annoying and he knew it and Wolf would say something just to make him leave. So he just waited, quiet, watching her.
“Do you have to stand there?” Wolf’s Ghost asked.
“It’s a free Tower,” he shrugged.
The Ghost did it’s best impression of a frown but turned away from him. Shin’s Ghost came up and spoke into his ear, “She doesn’t seem happy you’re here.” He just shrugged. He knew his Ghost was still annoyed he wasn’t as easy to get along with as Jaren. That and many other reasons he knew the Ghost regretted its choice.
He stood there for a while. Finally Wolf sighed widely. “Fine,” she said. “If I tell you will you go away?”
“Maybe. Who knows?” Shin grinned in his helmet.
“Me and Glitterbomb are being sent to Europa, strange signal out there.” It took Shin a second to remember what the fuck Glitterbomb was. Right, that was the name of Wolf’s squad. Fireteam Glitterbomb. What a weird ass name.
“I dunno why that’s got you so stressed.”
“I dunno Shin, maybe the fact that we just lost four planets worth of ground in the past three weeks to pyramids and there’s a pyramid on Europa?” Wolf was annoyed with him.
“Right, those things,” he said casually like they weren’t the cause of his lack of sleep the last few months. “Still, its just recon. Nothing weird.”
“Zavala’s ordered all other fireteams away from the moon until further notice. It’ll just be us out there.”
“Just the six of you? For a whole moon?”
“At first. If it’s worth the effort we’ll set up reclaimation beacons. But there shouldn’t be anything on that moon. Our records show it to be uninhabited, uncolonized. Not even the Traveler could make it more than a hunk of ice all the way out there.” That didn’t seem right to Shin. They’d settled Ganymede and Titan and Io but somehow the people of the Golden Age just hadn’t colonized Europa?
“Sounds like someone changed the records,” Shin said. Wolf didn’t comment. Ah. So she knew it also sounded like bullshit. Guess you didn’t become a God Killer by being stupid. “How long you reckon this recon will take?”
“Heh,” she finally turned off the vault terminal screen, she was done. “I’m pulling a you, few weeks, month or two?”
“That long? For a signal?” She shrugged. She wasn’t telling him something. Or she was telling him nothing.
“So I guess that means no Crucible? Or Gambit? Lameeee,” he sighed, over dramatic about it. He was glad that made a small smile appear on her face. Wolf didn’t look good so serious.
“Yeah. Shaxx and Drifter wil have to live with you just cleaning house without me,” she shrugged.
“When are you leaving?”
“Dawn. Give the others a chance to rest.”
“You should to.”
“Heh, yeah, I’ll get right on that,” she said sarcastically. Shin knew it was a big ask. Most Hunters had nightmares. He couldn’t imagine what Wolf’s were like. “Need to get my ship prepped and ready to go,” as she said that a ship flew overhead and stopped to hover above the top of the old Tower. “I’ll see you later, Shin.”
“You better. You die out there I’ll find your Ghost, bring you back, and kill you myself,” Shin threatened. Wolf giggled and gave him the friendly Hunter salute before she transmatted out.
Shin looked up at the ship. “It’s Wolf, she’ll be fine,” his Ghost said.
“Better hope so,” Shin said.
“And you should follow your own advice. Get some rest. The Tower’s a safe place.”
“Eh, maybe,” and he stalked off away from the vaults. His Ghost sighed and followed after him, not able to do much else.
—
Shin never did anything the Tower said unless he felt like it. He played nice so Shaxx would let him play Crucible and when he didn’t he went and bothered Drifter for games of Gambit. But otherwise he did what he wanted.
Who’d stop him?
Drifter had been gone lately. No games of Gambit, the grate closed, even the Light containment pod seemed dull. Some other Guardians said Eris was absent from the Moon. That wouldn’t have even been on Shin’s radar if Drifter didn’t talk about Eris. For a man with no friends Drifter seemed to consider Eris one of them, for some bizarre reason. So if they were both gone and Wolf was gone there had to be something up. And Shin hated not knowing things.
He had his Ghost intercept an official Vanguard message out to Europa. It was just Zavala saying that the actions of Fireteam Glitterbomb were not sanctioned by the Vanguard. That this ‘new power’ was not to be used and they were to return to Earth immediatly for the Vanguard to figure out what to do next. Shin had no idea what any of that meant. The response message had been even more worrying. It was two short sentences that made Shin go cold, spoken by one of the Warlocks on Wolf’s fireteam.
‘Can’t return. In too deep.’
Shin paced his room thinking about that. His Ghost just watched him. “Wearing a trough through your floor won’t solve your mystery,” his Ghost said.
“What if it’s bad?” Shin asked, still pacing.
“Well I hope you’ll do the right thing,” they said. Shin shot the Ghost a filthy look. “Ah, so it’s different if you’re friends with them.”
“Don’t lecture me,” he growled. “You have a sudden change of heart?”
“My opinion on your actions has never changed,” the Ghost said. “But if they are gone I would hope you don’t play favorites. Otherwise what is the point of that last few centuries if you hesitate because you know the person who’s brain you’re blowing up? Who’s Ghost your killing?”
“Watch your mouth,” and Shin pulled the Thorn out of its holster.
The Ghost looked at him. “Pathetic,” and drifted away. A new dagger bullet joined the myriad already imbedded in the wall, just barely missing the Ghost. Jaren’s Ghost didn’t even flinch from it. It was used to Shin almost shooting it.
He shoved the gun back into its holster and resumed his pacing. Stupid ass Ghost! Her put his hands together, fingers on his lips as he walked and thought. It did present a problem. There was a pyramid out there. And Wolf had told him the pyramid had spoken to her, with her voice and face, and through her Ghost. The Darkness had reached out to her numerous times. It made him uneasy. She was his friend. One of his only ones. The thought of real deathing her made his stomach churn.
He wasn’t sure he could do it.
But she could also be fine! Wolf got in over her head all the time and came out just fine. Killed numerous Hive Gods and didn’t stare back into the abyss when it came calling or get lost in the Ascendant Realms even when it was almost a third home. Looked into the eye of Aetheon and put a rocket into it and didn’t go mad in revolving, endless time. Faced Riven endlessly, repeatedly, forever, in the Dreaming City, alway looking for a way to break the curse and never fell pray to the siren song of an Ahamkara’s promises of wishes.
The longer he thought the more he convinced himself she was fine. She was fine. Whatever thing they’d gotten in too deep about had to do with the signal. Maybe some alien race had decided to set up shop there. And as everyone’s favorite Guardian she had to stop it.
Then why hadn’t Zavala sent other fireteams, other Guardians, to go help? If it was routine then he would have sent other Guardians to assist Glitterbomb. Instead he was telling them to pull out of Europa.
Couldn’t. In too deep.
“Ghost,” he called. It had a name. He never called it by its name. Felt too weird. His Ghost was looking at some things on his wall and turned to look at him. “Bring my ship out of the hanger. We’re leaving.”
“Maybe change your armor so she doesn’t yell at you,” Ghost said and he glared at it until it disappeared. But yeah. That sounded like Wolf.
—
He could feel the depth of the Pyramid even before his ship was in Jupiter’s gravity well. He’d stayed away from the planets that had had pyriamids on them on purpose. But as they flew the orbits of Jupiter’s moons there was no getting away from them. It wasn’t just Europa either. He could feel it from Io, from Ganymede. They were on every moon the people of the Golden Age had colonized. It felt like a hand squeezing the light out of his Ghost. Even if he didn’t like the damn thing very much he didn’t mind when it came closer to him, tucking itself in his hood nervously. And Wolf had been out here weeks with this opressive Darkness?
It was easy to find Glitterbomb once he got his ship to Europa. They were the only ships in gyro synchronous orbit around Europa, noses pointed down at the moon like any moment they’d dive bomb the world. None of them hailed him. Usually Guardians did, if only to just say hello, welcome to the worst place in the system. Their comms were quiet too. No chatter between each ship.
That was worrying.
He joined the formation at the edges, ass of his ship towards the frozen rock. But not before he saw what all the ships were pointed at. At a distance it was small but distinct. A pyramid. And beyond that, the remains of a Golden Age city. So they had come out here.
Shin hailed Glitterbomb on local comms. “You guys still alive out here.”
“Relatively. Who is this?” Shin breathed a sigh of relief. He recognized the voice at least. It was Rat, Glitterbomb’s Defender and resident bubble buddy. “Europa is off limits to all Guardians by order of Commander Zavala. Take your ship and head back to the inner system.”
“You’re here,” he said.
“Who is this?” Rat asked, she sounded more annoyed than usual. Weird. He recalled Rat was a pretty chill Titan. More likely to laugh at you than anything else.
“Is there anyone else on the flotilla other than you, Rat?” Shin just asked.
“Maybe if you tell me who you are I’ll tell you.”
“Rat, that’s enough,” he didn’t want to admit how relieved he was to hear Wolf’s voice. “It’s just Shin.”
“Uhg. What’s he doing here?”
“I dunno.”
“Whatever. Trying to do you a favor Wolfy.”
“I know. I got it,” and Rat’s comm cut off. Shin raised an eyebrow when the comm line narrowed. “What are you doing out here, Shin?” Wolf didn’t sound annoyed like Rat, or even that tired, but there was something off in her voice.
“Following a lead,” he said.
“Heh. Okay. There’s nothing out here but us. So unless you’re here to kill us I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong place.” His heart rate sped up a little at the mention.
“I hadn’t planned on it, no,” he said slowly. “Unless there’s somehing you wanna tell me?”
“Nope. Now you can leave. Glitterbomb has it under control.”
“Why don’t I believe you,” he said slowly. “There’s a Pyramid under you.”
“Yeah.”
“Want to elaborate?”
“Not really.”
“You actually okay?”
“We’re all fine. Just a little tired. Just ready for it to be over.”
“What?” Fuck this. She was being vague and it was making him worry. He muted his comm. “Get me on her ship,” he said to his Ghost who was still hiding in his hood.
“Eh, it’s fine. Really. We’ll be back soon.”
“Her transmat isn’t available.”
Shin rolled his eyes. “Like that’s ever stopped you before,” he said. The Ghost said nothing, he heard its shell click softly and then he went from sitting in the cockpit to standing in the back of Wolf’s ship.
She had her Ghost in front of her, talking through him. As soon as he appeared she had a gun out, pointed right at his head. “Wha- Shin. What the fuck!” Wolf asked.
It was miserable in the ship. His HUD told him the temperature was in the nineties and almost a hundred humidity. He was glad he was still in a full suit that regulated his personal temperature. Wolf had a wall mounted lounge on her ship, no bed, and she was sitting on it in her thermal layer as well as wrapped herself in four blankets. She wasn’t even sweating. If anything she looked freezing.
Then he really got a look at her. “What did you do?” Shin asked her quietly. Her Light was dim, he could tell just by looking at her.
“What did I do? What are you doing? Who said you could transmat onto my ship?” Wolf demanded, she still had her sidearm aimed at his head.
He stepped forward and grabbed the gun. She was slow. Normally she’d be quick enough to stop him. “What did you do?” Shin asked again.
“Get off. My ship,” she glared at him.
“Did you let the Pyramid get into your head? You did didn’t you? What is the matter with you?”
She stood up. Her skin was pale, except for the bags under her eyes. She poked him hard, in the chest. “You don’t get to come onto my ship and lecture me, Shin Malphur,” she hissed. Her eyes were dark. “I am doing the right thing and that is all you need to know. If you came all the way out here to lecture me you can save it,” she sat back down heavily, like her limbs were too heavy. “I’m miserable enough as it is, you don’t need to make it worse,” and she pulled one of the blankets around her. Now she did look tired. But not from lack of sleep. This was a different tired.
“You don’t look okay,” Shin said.
“It’s all relative,” she said. “You going to get off my ship or what?”
Somehow in this blazing heat and a blanket she was still cold. She wasn’t shivering but he could see her fingers trembling, and she was so pale. Somehow in all this heat she couldn’t get warm. Meaning the cold wasn’t coming from the outside. He’d felt that chill before. Hadn’t liked it one bit. A fire had burned it away.
Shin pulled one of his gloves off. “You look real cold,” he said.
“It’ll pass-“ she started when he reached over and put his hand gently on her cheek. Her skin was freezing, like touching ice. He was still flush with Solar Light from being on Earth, so close to the Traveler, and the Sun. To her flickering Light it was like holding a match next to a bonfire. She sighed and reached up, her cold hands holding his hand against her face, eyes closing slightly.
“You sure it’s nothing?” Shin asked her.
She looked up at him. “We have it under control,” she said and reluctantly pulled away.
“You’re sitting on a ship with the heat on full blast, shivering because you can’t get warm. I think control is the last thing you have in the situation,” Shin said sternly.
“It’ll pass,” she said. “Just part of the process.”
“What process?”
Before she could answer him her Ghost expanded and a voice came out. He didn’t recognize it. “Wolf? Wolf are you there?”
“I’m here,” she said.
“You’re needed down here. We found something.”
“I’m coming,” she got up.
“I’m sending coordinates to your Ghost.”
“Thanks,” and her Ghost transmatted her armor onto her. It was armor he’d never seen on her before. Not her usual set. It looked like old polar exploration gear. Gear for cold weather. He supposed Europa was an ice world. But how’d it do keeping up with cold on the inside? Her helmet appeared on her head, ending her and Shin’s conversation officially. “Go home, Shin,” she told him again. “Glitterbomb’s got it under control.”
“Why don’t I believe you at all?”
“Doesn’t matter if you do. It’s the score. Don’t let me find you back here,” and then she disappeared in a lattice of transmat, leaving Shin and his Ghost alone.
“Shall I return us to our ship?” the Ghost asked.
“Absolutely not,” Shin said. He went over to the lounge and picked up the blankets. They were the same type they gave to refugees to keep them warm when traveling during the winter and having to pass through the mountains to get to the City. They were for the worst cold weather. He folded them up and put them on a pile at the end of the lounge. “See if you can’t turn the heat down in here. It ain’t doing her any good anyway.” His Ghost did nothing. “You hear me?”
“I did. I was just contemplating if I liked her or you more on what I should do,” it said. Asshole.
“She’s just burning through fuel probably faster than she’ll be able to replace. What’s her fuel at?” He went and checked. The gauge was at the middle. Not bad but for a ship like this, as good as one Wolf could afford anything less than maxed out was too low. She always kept it topped off if she could. Also the fuel should last months even with jumps. She’d burned through half of it in a few weeks, the mechanism to make it hot enough to keep the icy chill of space at bay working overclocked.
“What Wolf does is hardly our concern,” his Ghost said.
“You’re useless,” and he turned the heat down manually. “Unless you want her to be stranded out here in a few weeks when this is over and she’s got no fuel.”
“She has her fireteam. They take care of each other. I know its a difficult concept for you to understand, but most Guardians rely on others.”
Shin just picked his Ghost out of the air and shoved him into a hard pouch on his belt. He had some of that stuff Spider used to trap Ghosts sewn into the lining to keep him from escaping and also shut him up. He’d be fine in there and kept him out of Shin’s way when he was doing something his Ghost didn’t approve of; which was a lot of things.
All that was left to do was to wait. Shin spent his life waiting. He didn’t mind. He sat on Wolf’s lounge and leaned back, his helmet going opaque and acted like a screen for him to watch old Golden Age videos. Everything from now-a-days was too pessimistic, or about Guardians, written by people who didn’t know shit about Guardians, or Dark Ages stuff, again written by people who hadn’t been alive during the Dark Ages. He preferred the glimpse into a world he’d never know over that.
The ship had returned to a comfortable temperature before Wolf returned. His vision returned as she transmatted back onto the ship. She was talking to her Ghost and didn’t notice him at first. “We have to figure out how to-“ pause to yank her helmet off, “get her alone. Otherwise it’s just— I told you to get off my ship,” she had her sidearm pulled on him again.
“When do I ever listen to orders?”
“Ugh, you’re useless,” and she went to the cockpit. “Did you turn the heat down?”
“It wasn’t helping,” Shin said.
“It was,” he heard the engine turn over to run the heat up again.
He got up and went to the cockpit, turning it down. “It wasn’t. I should know. I touched your skin. You were ice cold. It wasn’t helping. Stop wasting your fuel on heat that’s doing nothing.” She scowled at him. “Trust me, it won’t help.”
“And how would you know?” Wolf demanded.
“It’s literally my job to hunt down Guardians who turn away from the Light. You don’t think I’ve seen these symptoms before?” Up close. Too close.
“I haven’t turned away from the Light,” she said.
“Good, because I don’t want to shoot you.”
They stared at each other in silence for a long moment. “I’d kill you first,” she said in deadly seriousness. “I got too much shit to do to let you real death me.” She left the cockpit. “It’s a tool, like anything else,” her Ghost transmatted all the rest of her armor off her, leaving her in just the extra thick thermal layer.
“It’s dangerous,” he said, following her back into the ship.
“Save me the lecture,” she picked up one of the blankets. “Zavala is better at giving them and he’s already chewed us out about it. That’s why Europa is off limits.” She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders like a cloak and sat on the lounge. “Now you going to get off my ship or what?”
“And leave you here like this? I’m not that much of an asshole,” Shin finally let his Ghost out of the hard pouch. It was glaring at him as best a Ghost could.
“Could’a fooled me,” she said and despite her bravado she was shivering now. Maybe the heat from the ship had kept her skin warm enough to stop her from shivering but at a normal temperature it wasn’t nearly enough. He frowned at her.
“I’m worried about you,” he said. “You’re my friend. I ain’t got many of those.”
“Tsk, I wonder why,” she muttered to herself.
“You sure you want me to leave?” and Shin just casually held a naked hand out. They both knew he was full of Light and warmth. But was Wolf too proud to take it?
She stared at his hand and hesitated. Then she reached out and grabbed it. It was like holding hands with an ice sculpture. Her skin was almost hard she was so cold. “Okay, you can stay a little while,” she finally allowed.
“Okay,” he said and took his hand away, he felt her try to hold on but her grip wasn’t strong enough. How did they expect to fight whatever they were fighting out here if whatever they’d done was making them so weak? He had his Ghost transmat all his gear off back onto his own ship so he was down to his own thermals. “Get up,” he motioned and she stood up from the lounge, still holding onto the blanket, looking confused about what the fuck he was doing. He sat and got comfortable.
“You’ve got to be kidding?” Wolf stared at him.
“Nope,” he said casually.
She looked real torn. Like she knew Shin would never let her live this down and if she wanted to deal with that, and wanting to be warm. Wanting to be warm won out. “Fine. Bastard,” she sat down in his lap, hating every moment of having to do that.
“I won’t even tell Glitterbomb,” he teased her and put his arms around her. Even through the thermal clothes he could feel the cold radiating from her core.
“You do I really will kill you,” she threatened him.
They sat in silence after that. It wasn’t uncomfortable. Not really. He could feel the chill leaving her bones from being so close to the Light. Whatever power she’d taken on still didn’t have a full root in her and was no match for Shin’s searing Light. “Feeling better?” Shin asked after a few minutes. Wolf didn’t answer. He leaned around her shoulder and both was and wasn’t surprised she’d fallen asleep. If you were too cold to sleep along with being a Hunter Shin guessed other than a few naps Wolf hadn’t slept the entire time she was out here. At least if the shadows under her eyes was anything to go by. “Yeah, guess so.” He pulled her closer so she could lean against him.
His Ghost stared at him, floating nearby. “What?” Shin asked it.
“I didn’t think you played favorites,” was all it said and then floated away. He glared after it. Fucking shitty ass Ghost.