Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A lone ghost floated across the landscape. At this point, searching for his guardian was more habit than anything else. He never gave up though, wandering the system, spending chunks of time in an area before moving on. He had recently done a sweep of the Tangled Shore. Rumor had it that Pulled Pork had actually found his guardian out there, finally, and figured he might give that desolate place another look.

It had been a bust, as usual.

So he came back to Earth, and while he usually avoided going to the same place more than once, he found himself back in the Cosmodrome. So many guardians had been found there, and while there were some possible candidates he had come across, none had that something he was looking for. And so here he was.

He had left the Cosmodrome a little over a month ago, traveling aimlessly and mindlessly scanning any ruin for possible bodies. And that’s when it finally happened. In the remains of a small town, or possibly village was a small group of cars. There was a single skeleton jumbled in the drivers seat of one of them, and he gave it a scan. Had the makings of a warlock, he thought, but so had many of the other bodies he had found. But there it was, that something, that spark he had been looking for.

This was his guardian.

He stared in shock for a while, before finally shaking out of it. He focused on his guardian, his shell extending out from his core, the Light spreading out from him and spilling over the ruined vehicle. He closed his eye, and with a pulse, he revived his guardian for the first time.

-

The guardian came to with a huge breath, eyes snapping open in confusion. He was sitting. Sitting on something uncomfortable, and looking around he saw he was in some sort of wreck. A vehicle? He couldn’t remember what he had been doing last, why was he here? He looked around, trying to get his bearings, when he heard a voice to his left.

“I can’t believe it.”

He looked over. Floating at eye height was a small… drone? It was staring at him, hovering so still he almost thought that he may have been hearing things. He cleared his throat, found his voice. “Can’t believe what?” he asked.

The front point of the drone came up in what seemed surprise. He bobbed down, floating closer to his face. “I’ve found you!” He sounded excited, the points surrounding the center part of him drawing away, like a person throwing their arms out. The guardian looked around the ruined vehicle again, and tired of sitting on the ancient seat, shooed the drone away from him so he could get out.

He stood on the rubble of an old road. There were the shells of old buildings on either side, brought down by age. The sky was a clear blue, the wind blowing sharply. Looking down the road, he could see they were on the edge of what remained of this place. Beyond the town was flat and empty, and seemed to stretch for miles. On the horizon he could see mountains rising up, the tops white with snow. He looked down at himself. He was wearing strange clothes, something that almost resembled a dress. It was long, but split into multiple sections. The sleeves where the same material, same color of blue that ended in thick padded gauntlets. The pants were tucked into chunky knee high boots.

“You don’t really need a helmet right now, nothing much to hurt us out here. Haven’t seen any Fallen since I left the Cosmodrome.”

He looked up at the drone in confusion. A helmet? Why would he need a helmet. And what on earth was a Fallen?

The drone must have seen the visible confusion painting his face, because he shook himself. “Oh, I’m forgetting myself. I know you’ll have a lot of questions. I can answer them as we walk. Nothing much for us out here, we need to get to the City.”

“The City?”

“The Last City.”

-

And so they traveled. He did end up needing a helmet, just for something to protect his face from the bitter winds that swept across the flat landscape. They moved towards the mountains, which the guardian dreaded having to cross on foot. The drone, or ghost as it were, said he would send out a signal, in the hopes any passing friendly ships might hear. He wasn’t too keen on having to go over the mountains again. And as they started their long trek, his ghost told him of the world he now found himself in. About the Traveler, the Darkness, the Golden Age and the Collapse. The Last City, where a large chunk of humanity had found refuge. About the Light.

A couple weeks went by, and they started to get closer to the mountains. Trees started dotting the landscape, birds singing in them as they passed by. As the mountains got closer, the guardian once again wished there was any other way to cross them. His ghost was still sending out the signal, but no one had answered yet. The days bled into each other, the flat plains slowly being replaced by more and more trees as the mountains loomed over them. It was then that it happened.

It was early morning, and they had only been walking for about an hour or so when there was a rustling off in the distance. They looked at each other. The only other living things they had seen on their journey so far were birds, and a few rabbits. The ghost turned in the direction of the sound, and after a moment, disappeared. He could still hear his voice through the helmet.

“It’s the Fallen. At least one that I can pick up, don’t know if there are any more around. We should try to avoid it nonetheless, seeing how you have no weapons on you.”

The guardian nodded in understanding. The Fallen. One of the things his ghost had spoken of. An alien race, scavengers who had been at war with humanity for centuries now. He started moving again, slowly, carefully watching where he stepped. The rustling continued, on and off, never seeming to get farther away or closer. It stopped after around 15 minutes of walking, and after around 20 more minutes had passed with no noise, he started to relax. The guardian picked up the pace a bit, the tension leaving his shoulders. It was then that their hidden companion finally came into view.

His ghost had only given him a vague description of what the Fallen looked like. He took in the sight in front of him, shock freezing him in place. What stood in front of him was actually rather small. Probably shorter than him even. The two things that stood out the most to him were the four glowing eyes and four arms. Or what should have been four arms. The two lower ones seemed to be cut off at the joint, a small stump of arm was all that was left in each socket. They had lots of long, sharp teeth that looked like needles, and long claws at the end of their fingers and feet. They were draped in simple purple cloth, with what looked like simple armor wrapped with brown strips of cloth. In one hand they held a long jagged knife, blue electricity dancing along its edges.

The two figures stood staring at each other, until with a sudden, piercing cry, the Fallen lunged forward. As they reached the guardian, they brought the blade around in a sweeping arc, aiming for his neck. The guardian was frozen still, until a shout from his ghost got him moving. He ducked, and moved to the side to avoid colliding with his attacker as they lost their footing, overbalancing from the force they put behind the blow. The guardian straightened, looking at the Fallen as they looked back and forth trying to see where he had gone. “Why is it attacking me?”

His ghost made a pained noise. “I don’t know! And this isn’t the time to ask!” Sure enough, in that short span they had spotted him, and once again lunged with the knife. He turned and ran. He had no weapons, no idea how to fight. He figured running was his best bet. Or it would have been, had he paid more attention to where he was going. He had put a good bit of distance between him and his attacker, but what he took for a simple pile of leaves was anything but. It was a tree root, sticking up from the earth. He caught it with his foot, and fell flat on his face with a loud “oof” as all the breath was forced from his lungs. He rolled over, gasping, and heard his attacker cry out in what sounded like victory. He scrambled to his feet just in time to see a flurry of purple and brown before the wind was knocked out of him a second time.

They fell to the ground, rolling a couple of times from the force. The crackling knife went flying in the chaos, and the two grappled with each other. The guardian was doing his best to just get away, blocking blows to his face and chest, trying to crawl away only to be dragged back by his robes. He was panting by this point, panicked, not sure of how to get out of this situation. A voice in the back of his head reminded him of his light, and an idea came to mind. His attacker was dragging him back again, but this time as he was pulled he drew up his legs, and struck out.

He caught the Fallen in the chest, and they laid on their back, hands clenched over the area he had hit. The guardian stood up finally, hands to either side of him, palms out. He closed his eyes, and focused on the light. He tried to think of a weapon, anything to help shape the light into something he could use. He wasn’t fast enough. He heard a rustling, and opened his eyes.

The Fallen had managed to stagger to their feet, and was rushing him. The knife forgotten, this time their hand was extended, claws on full display as they went for the neck once again. The guardian stood his ground as his attacker approached. He couldn’t focus his light, but a plan formed in his mind in an instant as he zeroed in on the outstretched hand.

Right as the Fallen reached him, he stepped to the side and he grabbed them by the arm. He then pivoted, using the momentum to swing them in a wide circle. He did this once, twice, three times building speed with each revolution. He finally let go on the fourth turn.

The Fallen went flying. Quite a distance, the guardian stood in shock at the distance his attacker got, he didn’t think they had gathered that much speed. They were silent as they flew, a look of what might have been confusion on their strange face until they finally, with a sickening crunch, hit an outstretched branch. The guardian winced, and looked away. That wasn’t what he had intended, he was just hoping to disorient them, give himself a chance to run. He looked back after a moment, and was dismayed to see they were still alive. He made his way over.

The Fallen was writhing in pain on the branch, clutching at the spot where the branch came through their midsection. They made gurgling sounds of anger as he drew closer, thrashing in place. He removed his helmet, not knowing why.

“I’m sorry.” He didn’t know why he said this. He really hadn’t meant to hurt them, he had just wanted to escape. “I don’t know why you attacked, I just wanted to get away.” They screamed at him, and he flinched. That scream seemed to have taken the last of their strength, because soon after, the struggling became less, and finally they were still. The guardian stood under the branch for some time. So long his ghost finally came out, looking at him in concern.

“Are you alright?”

The guardian looked at his ghost after a while, then sighed, looking to the ground. “Why did it attack?”

“Like I said, the Fallen have been at war with humanity for a long time. Although I wonder. This is just a dreg, and a particularly starved one at that. It might have seen you where a guardian, and thought you had something that could have helped it. It’s strange to see just one all by themselves. Especially out here.”

“What would bring them out here?”

“Who knows. Trying to prove themselves? Look for something that could elevate it back into Vandal status? We’ll never know now.”

The guardian walked over to a tree a couple feet away and thunked his back against the trunk. He slid down after a couple seconds, head in his hands. His ghost followed him, and after a moment bumped against his hand. “Come on, we have a lot of daylight ahead of us. We should get moving.”

The guardian shook his head. “Just, give me a moment?”

His ghost gave him some space, looking off into the distance in thought. Five minutes went by, and the guardian let out a long sigh. His ghost turned back to him, and the two looked at each other.

“All right, lead the way.”

-

They continued walking. As they started to reach the base of the mountain proper, the temperature started to drop more and more. The guardian was really becoming adept at keeping himself warm with solar light. If only he could have done something with it during the fight. They found a river, and stopped so the guardian could get a drink and rest a bit.

“Any luck with that signal yet?”

“None, unfortunately. It looks like we’ll be crossing this mountain by foot.”

The guardian groaned, staring up at the sky. It was cloudy, the tip of the mountain disappearing in the haze of clouds.

“Wait! I’m getting something!” The guardian sat up straight, looking at his ghost with hope. Suddenly, a female voice filled the air.

“Hello? We heard your signal, are you alright?”

His ghost looked at him, and the guardian realized he was waiting for him to speak. He cleared his throat. “Yes, I’m fine. Just looking for passage to the City.” There was a pause, and the voice spoke up again.

“Alright, stay where you are, and keep broadcasting your location, I’ll be there in a jiffy.” The line went dead. They looked at each other, both taken aback by the casual tone she had taken at the end. The guardian shrugged, and settled in to wait. Which thankfully wasn’t very long.

After only a couple of minutes, a sound slowly started to rise above the noise of the river they sat near. It quickly became loud, and he noticed the trees being blown by a strong wind. A slim ship appeared through the branches of the trees, and it slowed to a stop as it neared. It stayed hovering above the trees, humming loudly as it idled, and soon a person was standing in front of him, where a second before there had been thin air. He stared.

The figure in front of him was tall. She was wearing elaborate armor, most of it a ruddy red color, with a gleaming chestplate with eagles and wolves on it colored in gray and gold. Large pauldrons sat on her shoulders, and thick armor covered her shins. The helmet she wore had glowing lines along the visor, and hanging down where the mouth and chin would be was a cloth, with stylized fangs in yellow. Something hung from her waist, a long worn cloth hanging in the back with some sort of design he couldn’t make out from where he sat. He took all this in, and was about to speak when she took off her helmet.

Her skin was blue.

She looked human, but her skin was a light blue, and seemed to shimmer in the dim overcast light. Her eyes shone a bright orange, and delicate black lines and dots decorated her face. At first he thought she was bald, but upon a closer look he could see it was just buzzed close to the scalp. She let out a low whistle. “Hell of a place to be rezzed.” He raised an eyebrow at her.

“Huh?”

“You’ve only just been revived, right?”

He nodded. “It’s been a couple weeks now, getting close to a month.”

She let out a low chuckle, looking him up and down, from his blue hair and blue facial tattoos, down to his blue armor. “The absolute definition of a blueberry.”

He stared at her. She laughed, and waved her hands in front of her. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it. C’mon, let’s get you to the city. It’s a good thing I was out in this area, I was tracking some odd Fallen movements.”

He stood up to go and join her, brushing off his robes as he did so. “Fallen? I ran into one of them a while back. Just one.”

“Just a single one?”

“Yeah, a dreg, my ghost called it. It attacked me and I… I ended up killing it.”

The woman came over and met him half way, clapping a hand on his shoulder, causing him to stagger a bit under the force. She gave him a kind smile.

“It can be hard, waking up not knowing anything, having to kill so soon. You only had to deal with one, when I first woke, I had to deal with dozens of them.” She took her hand from his shoulder. “But, that is a conversation for another time. Let’s get going.”

She started to raise her hand, but stopped mid gesture. She instead extended the hand to him, smiling.

“My name is Kenna, but the way. It’s nice to meet you.”

He grabbed her hand, giving it a firm shake. “I uh… I don’t know if I have a name.”

Kenna chuckled, and raised her hand properly this time. “Let’s see if we can think of one.” A ghost appeared, looking very different from his own. It’s shell was smooth, following the shape of the inner core and was split down the middle, colored a bright red with black dots. Underneath there was no shell, exposing the center core. She looked at her ghost.

“Let’s go home.”

Chapter Text

A lone guardian sat in the archives in the Tower. He had been sitting there for quite some time now, it had been crowded when he had first arrived. Now he was the only one left, sitting in front of a screen, reading about the Golden Age. It had been about a week and a half since he had been found by Kenna. A week and a half of a whirlwind of activity. Meeting the Vanguard, getting proper armor, learning how to use weapons, use the Light. This was one of the first true moments he had had to himself, and he wanted to know about the world he now found himself in.

He was reading about the Cosmodrome. Kenna talked about it a lot, sharing stories about when she was first revived fighting the Fallen and the Hive. He read about the colony ships, the feats in space travel that had been made possible by the Traveler.

After a couple hours reading, he started clicking on random related links. Not just about the Cosmodrome, but about the surrounding area. The history (what remained of it), the people that used to live there, the animals that used to live there. He was getting tired, and figured he would read a few more articles before he finally went to bed. He saw one about birds, and clicked on it, wondering if he could identify any of the birds he had seen. He scrolled through the pictures. So many birds existed back then. Some may still exist now, he just hadn’t seen them. Birds of all colors, shapes and sizes.

He was just about done when he finally spotted a bird he remembers seeing. It was small, colored white, gray and black with a curved beak. He clicked on the image and started reading.

“Hey, scroll back up!”

The guardian startled, having forgotten about the ghost floating at his shoulder reading along. He obliged, slowly scrolling the screen back up until his ghost had him stop.

“There, look. ‘Shrikes are known for their habit of catching insects and small vertebrates and impaling their bodies on thorns, the spikes on barbed-wire fences, or any available sharp point!’”

The guardian frowned. “I’m not sure where you’re going with this.”

His ghost ducked down, turning his eye down toward the desk. He was embarrassed, the guardian realized.

“It’s just, we’ve been searching for a name for you for quite a while now. And while your encounter with the dreg is a bad memory, I was wondering. What if you went by the name Shrike?”

He looked back at the screen, and the small bird. These birds impaled their prey, to the point some had earned the nickname “butcherbird”. But they didn’t do it out of malice, it was hunting technique, a way to survive. While he hadn’t meant to impale the dreg on the tree branch, he also hadn’t done it out of malice. He had done it to survive, just as the birds do. He tipped his head to the side, thinking.

“Well?”

-

The next day, the guardian walked across the main courtyard of the tower. He rubbed at his eyes, regretting his choice to stay up so late reading. He had forgotten this was the day he was to go on his first official patrol. He saw Kenna over by the gunsmith, Banshee he reminded himself, and he headed in her direction. She turned, done with her transaction as he approached, and smiled when she saw him.

“Hey there Blueberry!”

He sighed, long since resigned to the nickname she had given him, seeing as how he had not chosen a name. When he reached her, he held out his hand, and she gave him a questioning look.

“The name is Shrike, nice to meet you.” A smile lit her face, and he smiled back. She gripped his hand, giving it a shake.

“Nice to meet you Shrike.”