Chapter Text
[An Heiress’ Guide to the Infinite Forest]
[???]
“-aaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHH!”
THUD
Momo falls headfirst to the ground… again… thanks to her current predicament of teleporting to random locations.
“… Please… God, if you can hear me… Tell me its over…” she says while picking herself up from the ground… again.
She looks around her surroundings and notices it was nighttime and she was surrounded with rubble. She was about to walk around to survey the area when her stomach began to churn.
“Not again!” she ran towards the nearest wall and began to spew rainbows… again. The number of times she has teleported has already made her sick to her stomach.
She creates a napkin to wipe off her embarrassing deed, and returns to being the prim and proper lady, and heiress to the Yao-
BLEEEEEGHHH
“… Ugh…” she muttered and began to create another napkin. After taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, she created a mobile phone to try to reconnect to Lii’s channel again, hoping to get anything from the Ghost.
She fiddles with the phone when she feels something poking her back.
She immediately jumped away from the mysterious poker and created a Marksman’s Rifle and aimed at her would be attacker.
“EEP!”
She hears a yelp and thought the noise sounded high pitched and young.
Her vision adjusts and to her horror she sees a young girl no older than 6 wearing ragged clothes with a small canteen, presumably filled with water, that was dropped to ground, its contents now empty. The young girl was about to offer the canteen to Momo, but now she sat on the ground shaking and terrified now that a gun is being aimed at her by a stranger.
Momo immediately regretted her sudden actions and put down the gun, “I-I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t know you were there! I thought you were something else,” she quickly tried to reassure the young girl, but that doesn’t seem to calm her down.
Quickly thinking of another way to ease her fear, she thought of an idea. Her arm began to glow and the young girl closed her eyes out of fear and tried to shield her face with her arms.
The young girl then opens her eyes slowly to see a stuffed toy, a brown teddy bear wearing a tuxedo with an adorably miniature top hat worn on its left ear, it was clean and in mint condition, as if it was fresh out of the box.
The young girl can see the stranger’s eyes and was smiling to her almost telling the young girl that she wasn’t a threat. She slowly and hesitantly grabbed the stuffed toy from the strange woman.
“Hora, watashi wa warui hito janai. Tada kowagara seta dake. Anata mo kowagara sete gomen'nasai,” Momo said to the girl, but she simply tilted her head in confusion.
Momo did the same, but then she spoke again, but this time she understood her.
“Do you speak English?” she nodded and Momo breathed a sigh of relief.
She continued to talk, “I’m really sorry for scaring you little girl, I’m not going to hurt you,” she kneels in front of the girl and smiled at her, “My name is Momo, what’s your name?”
“…Ma-Maria…” the young girl says in a soft voice.
“Maria. That’s a beautiful name. Why are you here? Can you tell me where your parents are?” Momo asks Maria. She was worried that young girl was lost and her hero instincts was telling her to bring her to her family.
Her response however broke the heart of the young Heiress, as she began to look down on the ground and started to tear up while clutching the stuffed toy she was carrying. This made Momo think of the worse case scenario.
“Th-th-they… *sniff* They’re… *sniff*,” she tried to say through her sniffling.
Momo hugged the crying child, soothing her by softly patting her back and comforting her.
The hugged must have reignited the feeling that was now lost to her as she began to cry. Momo simply let the young girl cry in her arms, not caring for the tears that drenched her back.
The hug lasted for a few minutes when Momo offered Maria a clean handkerchief that appeared out her arm. She wiped off her tears and snot and apologized to the Heiress for making her dirty. Momo told her it was no problem and to speak slowly.
“…*sniff*… Its ok lady, its just been so long. I just miss them so much…” she sniffled while hugging Momo like a lifeline.
‘She must’ve lost her parents some time ago, poor girl’ she thought to herself. She too would be devasted if her Mother and Father died when she was young.
She patted the young girl’s back and ended the hug. The young girl, now named Maria, was clutching the gift Momo gave her and began to calm down.
“Can you tell me where I am, Maria?” Momo told her.
“…Umm, I don’t know exactly, Miss Momo. The Guardian said that this place was very dangerous, but we have no choice but to stay here. I think he said it’s the… something Forest?” she said to Momo.
“The Infinite Forest?” Momo corrected her, and Maria nodded.
“Yes, that.”
‘I knew it,’ she thought to herself. She read about the Infinite Forest in one of Lii’s Journals. A planet-sized simulation machine that the Vex use to plan out their goals. Like a giant game of Tower Defense but the Vex is constantly abusing save states to reach their destination, with their destination being the removal of life until only the Vex remains, its something the Guardians are actively trying to avoid in Lii’s universe.
She hopes the Vex doesn’t exist in hers, but she knew there was a chance that could not be true.
Before she could delve any further into her musings, she suddenly remembered her own goal, and thought back to what Maria said earlier.
“Wait? Guardian? Can you tell me who they are, or more importantly where they are?” she asked Maria.
“Umm… His name is Saint, and we live over there,” pointing to the lit area behind her, most likely a refugee camp if her words of “no choice” being taken into account. She holds her stuffed bear close and continued, “I can take you there, the Guardian said that if we find any more survivors to bring them to the camp.”
‘Its not Shin… but still, maybe this “Saint” can help me,’ she thought to herself, but recalled what she heard from what the girl said just now.
Survivors. That single word would be painful to hear to others, even more so when it is coming from a young girl’s mouth. She couldn’t begin to comprehend what happened to her, her family, and possibly to her people, to be forced into hiding from one of the most dangerous places according to Lii.
Momo decided to pull off that line of thinking for now and nodded at Maria’s suggestion, and began to walk towards the direction of the camp.
While walking to their destination, Momo started a conversation with the young girl.
“Maria, why are you so far from your home? This place is very dangerous and Vex could appear any second.”
“I have this thing the Guardian gives to people going out of the camp,” she shows Momo a disk with a mishmash of wires and a glass center that was glowing white-ish blue, as if it was a copy of the miniature Prototype Arc Reactor from the old movie, Iron Man, that she and Shin watched thanks to Lii.
She continued, “I don’t understand this thing much, but the Guardian said that it wards off bad guys, like an insect repellant or something,” she said to Momo while pocketing the disk.
In truth, Maria doesn’t understand how exactly that thing works, and neither does Momo, but it seemed that Maria was confident enough to be this far from her camp and not be detected by any of the Vex, so suffice to say that whatever it is, its working for the most part.
“…Plus, I just like to walk to new places! I like to explore and being cooped up in the camp every single day is boring!” she says while throwing her hands in the air and jumping in place like she was on a sugar high, much to Momo’s amusement.
‘Cute!’ she thought to herself.
They continued to talk while walking to the camp so that boredom doesn’t overtake them.
Their talk led Maria to ask Momo about her “Quirk”.
“Miss Momo, where’s your helmet?” Maria asked.
“Helmet?” Momo replied while tilting her head in confusion.
“Yes, a helmet. I once read a story of a Guardian in the Last City wearing one that looks like he has a horn on one side, and he said he never takes it off.”
“Oh, well you see Maria, I’m not a Guardian.”
“You’re not?” she asked Momo, and the heiress simply shook her head.
She continued, “But how did you make the gun? Or this teddy bear?” she pointed to the rifle behind her back and the teddy she was holding.
Momo thought for a minute, she knows the universe Lii was in has no semblance of people with quirks at all, so she thought Quirks don’t exist in his universe.
‘Is she… from Lii’s universe perhaps?’ she thought, ‘Question for another time.’
“Well Maria, I have this power called a Quirk, and from where I’m from, a lot of people have them. My quirk is called Creation, which converts my lipids into any non-living being as long as I know their atomic structure,” she told Maria, but the poor girl was clutching her head, as if she had a brain-freeze. It became clear that she didn’t understand anything Momo said.
“Oh dear… well to put it simply I can make anything that I know of, as long as its not a living thing. The food I eat is like a fuel to create the things I make.” She simplified her quirk to Maria, and the girl finally understood her, somewhat.
“So, its not the Light from the Traveler?” Maria asked and Momo shook her head.
“Is it a superpower?” she continued, Momo thought for a moment and nodded her head. A quirk IS basically a superpower if she thinks about it.
“Woah! That’s cool Miss Momo! Do you think I could have a Quirk like you?!” she looked at Momo with stars in her eyes, but Momo was having an internal crisis. She knows that Quirks most likely doesn’t exist in her world, considering the Guardians exist, but at the same time she doesn’t want to break the young girl’s child-like wonder at having a superpower. She doesn’t know what to do, but eventually Momo had to break the ice and tell the truth.
“I’m sorry Maria, but my Quirk comes from a special thing inside my body called the DNA, and I was just born with it because my parents also have Quirks, so I don’t think you have one either. I’m so sorry,” she told the young girl, and Maria was smile faded away which broke Momo’s heart.
“… Oh… its okay Miss Momo,” if Momo’s heart was broken, it was now shattered into a million pieces after seeing Maria’s expression.
She continued, “I… just wanted to be more and be useful. Like if I had this quirk thing, maybe I could’ve helped my family with work, and they wouldn’t be sick so much, and they wouldn’t have…”
Momo hugged her before Maria can begin that line of thought and said to her, “Don’t be like that Maria, you don’t need a quirk or a superpower to be useful. Helping others doesn’t need for you to be super strong or super fast, just be who you are and with proper training you CAN be even more. You can be a “Hero”, or a “Guardian” in your own special way.”
“Training?” she asked, “If I train, I can be a… Hero?”
Momo nodded and slowly her eyes are begin to shine with wonder again.
“Can… can you train me Miss Momo?” she asked.
And Momo without question nodded, “Of course Maria, I don’t see why not, but first tell me, why do YOU want to be a hero?”
Maria thought for a second and stopped walking, Momo stopped as well and knelt in front of her.
“I… I don’t want other people to be sad, I want them to be comforted when they cry and make them feel warm inside, like what you did to me. I… I don’t want other people to lose their parents, their family, I want them to feel safe, like… like…” she looks at Momo, now with determination in her eyes.
“I want them to know that when they look at me, I want them to think that I AM HERE FOR YOU, and that they don’t need to cry anymore!” she said to Momo, as if a fire is burning inside her.
And Momo could only look at awe, it was as if she was looking at a Mini All Might with that determination, and then she smiled at the young girl.
“That’s the spirit! Keep that up and you are going to be a great hero, I guarantee it!” she said while high fiving the young girl.
Now filled with drive and determination, and a new goal in life, Maria will soon begin her journey to become a great Hero.
‘It would seem that I am going to have an intern early. Heh’ Momo thought while holding Maria’s hand.
Soon after their conversation, and many more stories they told to each other, they finally arrived at the campsite.
Momo sees the camp surrounded by thick walls of steel, most likely to keep intruders out, that was being illuminated by dozens of light bulbs with 1/3 of them blinking on and off as if it wasn’t installed properly, but what surprised Momo the most, was the fact that the entire camp was surrounded by clear dome that keeps appearing and disappearing as if it was a hologram.
Before she questions any further, Maria knocks on the gate and after a few seconds a man wearing a medieval armor covered in cracks and scratches came out of the gate with a shotgun in hand. Momo somewhat recognized the “man” but doesn’t exactly know where she recognizes him from, when her eyes wandered in the etchings on the armor.
‘X… I… V? Wait a minute… that’s…!’ she thought to herself when the Armored Man began to speak.
“Thank goodness you are safe young one,” he breathed a sigh of relief and Maria ran up and hugged the man.
“I was worried when one of your neighbors told me you were missing. I was about to run out and search for you…” he said while glancing at Momo, “… but it would seem there was no need for that.”
He broke the hug and Maria pointed at Momo, “Yeah! Uhm I found her near the edge of the abandoned outpost while I was trying to find some water. Her name is Momo! And she says she’s a Hero!”
The man was now intrigued at what Maria told him and was looking at Momo with interest and curiosity.
Momo blushed at her apparent introduction and almost fumbled her words, “U-uh well, more like “Future Hero” I’m not a hero yet, I’m still a hero-in-training technically. *ahem* But where are my manners,” she bowed her head towards the man, “My name is Momo Yaoyorozu, I am terribly sorry for intruding your… base? But I am simply lost for the moment.”
The man tilted his head and looked at Momo more closely, making her sweat slightly with nervousness.
He hummed underneath his helmet and began circling around her, almost analyzing Momo.
He told her, “The way you speak… It is as if you were born in High Society, yet I don’t recognize your face from any of the high rank officials or factions, nor do I recognize the name Yaoyorozu. You are not Awoken, so you are evidently not from the Queen’s Court, nor you are from the Last City in general, considering I do not recognize your attire. And I know you are not from this camp as evident by your confusion in meeting me. So tell me…” He says to her while cocking his shotgun, making Momo sweat bullets, “… who… are you?”
Momo now has both her arms up and is terrified, and equipped her Marksman’s Rifle behind her back in self-defense, but before either could pull the trigger, Maria stood between them.
“WAIT!” she yelled, “Saint she’s a friend! Trust me please! Don’t shoot each other!”
The man simply looked at her then at Momo, after a few seconds of silence he began to laugh.
“HA HA HA! Don’t worry young lass I was joking,” he holstered his shotgun but Momo still has her Rifle pointed to his head, but the man wasn’t bothered at all, “HA! She has a spark inside her! Good good, never left your weapon waiver even when your opponent has none. You were trained well young Lady.”
He clapped his hands as if congratulating her, which made Momo confused, and turned around still with a carefree attitude as if there wasn’t a gun currently aimed at the back of his head.
“We shall discuss your… situation inside young lady. But first please put away your gun, the people might panic. Do not worry, friend, I trust Maria’s judgement. Oh and also, a custom-made semi-automatic DMR with High Caliber Rounds strong enough to pierce metal, wise choice…” he said while opening the gate and going inside.
Momo breathed a sigh of relief and Maria walked in front of her, “Sorry about that Miss Momo, Saint can be very scary, but he’s actually one of the nicest Guardians I met,” she grabbed Momo’s hand and led her inside with the gate slowly closing behind them.
Momo looked around the camp site and sees people talking to one another, there were dozens of huts around with campfires outside of them. Some are sitting on wooden logs and playing instruments, while others are busy playing darts and drinking. There were children running around without a care in the world, as if enjoying their lives while seemingly trapped inside a Vex nightmare. It’s a miracle that this whole site hasn’t been discovered yet by the Vex, but she thinks that dome would be the reason for this peace.
She looks around some more while being guided by Maria, when she sees a broken down building that looks like a church that was the end result in a war in the very middle of the camp, illuminated by lamps and a hodgepodge of wiring and Christmas lights, with almost half of it barely lit up. She thinks that this must be some sort of town hall for the camp.
They both enter the building and the inside is just as run down on the outside, but was at least cleaner than one of those abandoned buildings in her world. The area has a massive church layout and although some of the floor boards are crooked, cracks being evident in the walls, and a huge hole on the roof being covered by a tarp, it seems much more serviceable all things considered. The benches are all aligned properly and was very clean, like they were maintained every day, and from where the altar is supposed to be, are three desks with odd symbols etched onto each of the front, one of which is occupied by the man in the armor.
He looked at them both and then to Maria, “Dear, please leave our guest here. I wish to speak to her. Go and play with the other children, but not before going to your neighbors to tell them you are safe, they must be worried sick for you,” he told her.
Maria looked to the ground with guilt on her face and nodded. She turned to Momo and hugged her, “Thank you for giving me the teddy bear, Miss Momo.”
Momo smiled at her kind gesture and hugged back, “You’re welcome, Maria. What are you going to name him?” she asked.
“Mr. Teddy would be a nice name!” she ended the hug and left the building, waving goodbye to the both of them, all the while the man in the armor watched the scene with a solemn expression, or at least that’s what Momo thought considering his helmet is making it hard to read his face.
“That girl, she likes to go on adventures you know, run around new places, meeting new people, its like she hates being in the same place for days on end. But its not like we have a choice… not anymore,” he shook his head and looked at Momo again.
“Oh and do not worry about getting randomly teleported. The massive barrier you see around the camp not only keeps Vex out, but keeps us all in. I do not know that specifics, but all I know from Osiris is that he says it “Anchors our own timeline into this area, preventing us from going to random points in random places in random times.” And no, I do not understand either, HAH!” he laughed for a bit and slapped his knee, while Momo looked at him awkwardly.
Still, she was glad she won’t be teleporting anytime soon. Her stomach might never hold her lunch ever again.
He coughed and continued, “Anyway, let us leave that conversation for another time, yes? Please sit,” he gestures the chair in front of his desk, “I would like to talk about something else, such as you. I do not recognize you at all. But from what Maria did back at the entrance, I can see you are not a threat. So?”
Momo calmed her nerves and sat down, but before even uttering a single word, the man cut her off.
“AH! Where are my manners,” he stood up from his chair and held out his hand to offer a handshake, “My name is Saint-14, you may call me Saint of you wish.”
The man now named Saint-14 was towering over Momo, even though she was sitting down, she could tell this was a man that exhumes confidence and power.
She held out her hand and was stunned at his grip strength, she could tell that he could crush her hand like it was made of paper mâché. She was very glad that he didn’t think she was an enemy, or she wouldn’t survive a minute in a fight, even with her training with Shin and her quirk.
She gulped after shaking his hand as a sign of peace and respect, “My name is Momo Yaoyorozu, and I recognize you. Somewhat,” she says while Saint tilted his head in confusion.
“I saw that you were lying down and well, floating. Like you were dead or something,” she says, recounting her memory from when she saw him like he was…
“Ah. So you saw my grave. Well do not worry about that, that is a story for another time I suppose,” he says while chuckling.
This was not the reaction she was expecting regarding someone’s grave and apparent death, but here he was sitting in front of her, very much not dead.
She coughs and said to the man, “I apologize for… intruding on your camp, I was merely helping Maria come back to her home.”
Saint sat back in his chair after shaking hands with the heiress, “Hmm yes, and for that I thank you for escorting her back to camp, but this brings me another question, or rather the question you haven’t answered yet. Who are you? And where IS your home?”
He leaned forward with his hand under his chin, “Like I said before, I do not recognize you, not from this camp, the Last City, or anywhere else for that matter, nor do I recognize the name Yaoyorozu,” he tilted his head, and stopped talking, waiting for her answer.
Momo decided to tell Saint everything that happened to her. From her father’s goal in bringing back a lost ancestor, to the Vex attacking the lab, to her current predicament in being stuck in the place she now knows as the Infinite Forest.
Saint listened to every word Momo was saying, not once interrupting her. And he couldn’t believe what she was saying.
‘Another timeline? No, her Clovis Bray sounded nothing like that monster in Europa. And Shin Malphur, from what she told me, he is vastly different to the Shin I met. Perhaps…another world another Universe?’ he thought.
“…Then… there is a place for all of us to finally…” he whispered, but Momo heard it.
“To what? Saint?” she asked the man.
He looked at her, and after a few seconds, he said, “Momo, what I am about to say may shock you as well, but is the truth, nonetheless. You see the people you see here in this camp, where once from a place of peace and tranquility, for the most part. You see we all came from an era with a devastating circumstance. One that came like a hurricane that spelled humanity’s end,” he spoke with sadness in his voice.
She was confused in what he was saying, but before she could ask what he means, he continued to talk.
“You told me your story in how you arrived in the Infinite Forest, now let me tell you mine,” he held out his hand and a bottle of what she assumed was Vodka and two glasses appeared in his hand.
He poured the contents into both glasses and offered one to Momo, but she quickly declined. He shrugged his shoulders before drinking both.
“It all started abruptly; we had no idea how this could’ve happened. We never saw it coming, and for the first time ever, in perhaps centuries… we never stood a chance…” he said while eyeing the bottle and he continued his story.
[The Last City]
The Last City, it is the place where the humanity would call home. Where people laugh and sing under the protection of the Traveler, the great and unknown “being” that gave the people the power to protect others, to protect humanity in its darkest days, The Guardians.
All manner of species come and go in the City, some even live with the residents in peace and camaraderie. What was once bitter enemies, have become allies against the threat that opposes the peace and tranquility of the universe. The Eliksni, once was the Fallen, now lives within these walls and younglings play with human children, as if they part of the human race. The House of Light, the Eliksni group that worships the Traveler, or what they call The Great Machine, allies themselves with Misraaks as their leader to aid the Guardians with their technological advancements.
The Cabal, once hungry for war and power under the leadership of the Red Legion General, Ghaul, invaded the city and tore it a sunder before finally being defeated by the Young Wolf and the Traveler itself. Now under the leadership of Empress Caiatl, brokered a peace treaty of sorts, and now they fight alongside humanity in stopping the forces of darkness.
This city has experienced many disasters in its lifetime, from the lawlessness and animalistic past of the Dark Ages to Ghaul’s invasion with the Red Legion, The Endless Night created by the Vex and the Witch Queen, to even the near-end-of-all-life-itself when The Witness, The First Knife, wounded the Traveler and uses its light and the Darkness to enact The Final Shape.
The Guardians have stood tall, defending the City and all life with their dying breath, ending these threats once and for all. One by one, the Guardians have ended apocalyptic disasters one after the other, all for the sake of the Light and humanity.
This is the place where Legends are born, This is the place where hope lives on…
And this is the place where it all ended…
The trees that was grown from generations upon generations of care and love, was now nothing more than charred logs, The buildings once filled with laughter and camaraderie was nothing more than a pile rubble and steel, bodies of innocent humans and Eliksni have scattered in the once bustling streets.
The City was under attack, and the Guardians, the once defenders of Humanity, The Light, The Traveler, where nowhere to be seen. Standing among the corpses, were the Vex.
For years, the Vex have endured loss after loss by the Guardians, the destruction of billions of their Frames, the loss of the Vault of Glass, the loss of the Black Heart, the loss of Panoptes, the loss of The Witness. And even in their forced servitude of the Ishtar Scientist in the form of Maya Sundaresh, The Conductor, resulted in their loss. They had enough.
The Vex believed themselves to be the beginning and the end. The universe bends to the will of the Vex, as they are true finality, so decrees Panoptes, as their future, the Dark Future, was and is inevitable. Even with Panoptes’ destruction, and their future seemingly ended into nonexistence, came opportunity. Humanity believed they had rid the universe of this Dark Future, where the Vex reigned supreme, when in reality, it was all according to Panoptes’ plan.
For eons, they simulated every fabric of reality, every movement, every nuance, every plan, ever since their beginning, until their apparent future, they planned all of this. They created multiple Vex Minds to oppose the Guardians, ever vigilant, always studying them, always learning. With every loss, they gathered knowledge and start anew. With every destruction, came opportunity for the building blocks of their eventual victory. Until finally, they found it, Agioktis, Martyr Mind. The very Vex frame designed to drain the Light of the greatest enemy of the Vex, Saint-14.
Agioktis served as the initial framework for the ultimate Vex Mind, the Vex unit that would serve as humanity’s downfall, as the Guardian’s Bane. Their new mission was to drain the Guardians of their Light, to render the gift of Traveler powerless. An impossibility, a nigh negative chance of the Vex actually succeeding, and yet… they have.
Decades upon decades, they slowly but surely built the very Vex Mind that would finally make the Vex’s future come to be.
In the center of the ruined Last City, the home of the Guardians, the protectors of the universe, stood a statue of the Vex Mind that caused this destruction. Surrounding the statue were hundreds and thousands of Vex frames kneeling as if worshipping the statue, similar to the Vex at the Black Garden. The statue was at the size similar to the statues at the site of the Black Heart, but the apparent size of the Vex was as giant as Argos, Planetary Core. A Vex Minotaur-Hydra hybrid, with 2 extra Vex Goblin arms as large as the arms of Panoptes attached to its shoulders, with the wings of a Vex Wyvern. Its arms were mismatched with the right arm being a normal size comparable to a Vex Minotaur of its size, but its left being heavily armored, as if it was wearing a Gauntlet made of unknown metal. Its singular Eye imposed a sense of fear that no one has expected to the Vex, ever glowing with a multitude of colors, changing every second.
This was the statue of the Vex Collective’s Final Gambit, its last stand against all life, all for the sake of the Dark Future Panoptes has predicted long ago…
This was the statue of the Vex’s God that finally brought the Vex’s future into fruition, Thanoxis, Infinite’s End.
[The Tower Control Room, [REDACTED, UNKNOWN TIME. PLEASE RESTART…]
The place was in absolute chaos, all of the monitors had detected various Vex activities happening all across Sol, Vex Gates had begun opening abruptly and without warning on every planet. One by one, the Vex have already turned most of Sol’s planets into pure Machine Worlds. And a Vex hybrid was the cause.
Ever so slowly, Thanoxis and its Vex army have invaded planet after planet, prioritizing those the Vanguard have no eyes on, slowly turning the planet into a Machine World, built for a single reason, the creation of more Vex Units designed for a single purpose, War.
The Guardians almost never suspected it, They have all been fighting worker units for as long as they can remember, not one of them was designed for war, not until Thanoxis came into being. It has declared the “workers” obsolete, and began “Perfecting” them so to speak, and the Guardians were not prepared.
The Guardians would send Fireteams to stop the Vex once they realize the immediate threat they pose. They should’ve sent more.
They thought Thanoxis was just another Vex Boss, like Argos, like Panoptes, like Atheon. Years of victories against the Vex have made the Guardians overconfident, that would be their undoing. Thanoxis had drained them of their Light, and before those Guardians could even send a distress signal and report, Thanoxis immediately cut off all communications between them and the Vanguard.
This was the beginning of their end.
One by one, planets fall to ruin by the hand of Thanoxis. Neptune, Europa, Nessus, all around Sol all planets fell to Thanoxis and the Vex, culling all life within, and never letting them escape nor communicate for outside help. Although eventually help was sent to those planets, they arrive too late.
The Guardians all around Sol fell to Thanoxis and its Light stealing technology, and yet the Guardians still fight back, like they always do.
The Guardians had planned a counter offensive on Mars, the only planet left, other than Earth that had not been terraformed and invaded by Thanoxis, this was The Guardians final stand.
Together with the Eliksni, the Cabal, The Awoken, and even Savathun herself and her brood, they waited for Thanoxis and the Vex. The Awoken, the Witch Queen, and even the Neomuni have already prepared multiple failsafes in the form of portals and instant teleportation to and from the Earth and Mars in case of the Vex invading both at the same time. Every Guardian, cemented in Legends came to end the Vex once and for all, including Shin Malphur and even the Young Wolf. They were prepared finish what the Vex had started.
But so were the Vex.
The Vex came to Mars, with Thanoxis in sight, and a War had ignited. The new Vex War Frames arrived and they posed a challenge to the Guardians, never before seen cannons and technological advancements of war were being used by the Vex shooting volley after volley of Void and Solar munitions to ships Caiatl and the Eliksni were using, even the ground units were firing miniature railguns, essentially turning the entirety of the planet into a warzone.
This war against the forces of Good and Evil almost came to an end when the Guardians breached the Vex defenses and arrived to finally put an end to Thanoxis, but it was ready and began to drain them of their Light. Savathun, Mara Sov and the Awoken, created barriers to counteract the Light draining properies of Thanoxis, and while they were busy with the shield, The Guardians launched a final attack using Stasis and Strand to end the Vex Boss.
But Mara and Savathun couldn’t shake the feeling they had during this fight. This feeling of worry and… inevitability. ‘Why isn’t it trying to escape, why is it still standing its ground despite being near its apparent destruction… unless…!’ they both thought until they realized it was too late. They both opened portals to Earth and teleported as many Guardians as they can, including Saint-14, Osiris, and the Young Wolf. They couldn’t teleport everyone. They could barely teleport the Young Wolf’s Fireteam because of how quickly the tides of war changed.
Before the Guardians on site can realize what just happened, Thanoxis went still and the knuckles on its left arm glowed a bright green, and the planet was enveloped in a viridian light. And then they all suddenly stopped moving.
Eliksni, Cabal, Awoken, Hive, the Guardians, the ships flying overhead, and even the Vex themselves have all stood still. Except Thanoxis, whose knuckles and singular eye was glowing a bright green.
Thanoxis had used its knowledge of past battles from the Vex, Time manipulation from the Vault of Glass, as well as the Light it has stolen from millions of other Guardians, into a final attack made specifically for the enemies of the Vex. Using a combination of Light and simulated Darkness, it had completely “stopped time” within Mars, save for Thanoxis itself, an absolute impossibility no one would ever think it was attainable and possible in the first place. The strain of using this unfamiliar method of attack was slowly destroying Thanoxis from the inside, so it acted quickly and using its brief window of opportunity Thanoxis’ left arm and eye changed from glowing green to dark orange, and drained all of the Guardians in Mars of their Light, rendering them Lightless. Then it glowed a pure white, and the connection they all have with the Traveler was seemingly “hacked” in a sense, like a hacker breaching a firewall to its central servers using a wifi connection it forcibly hijacked.
Yet it continued its assault unopposed, ignoring the deterioration its body was experiencing, its left arm and eye suddenly glowed into a bright purple and a giant dome surrounding Mars appeared, essentially trapping everything within the planet, preventing anything from escaping.
Finally, Thanoxis’ arm and eye, glowed red signaling the end of the War. Everyone on the planet began to move freely again, and immediately Mara and Nimbus initiated they’re escape plan and tried to teleport their remaining allies to safety, but they could not even activate them in the first place, as if it was constantly being reset back to before it was being activated, like it never even started activating in the first place. Savathun tried to escape on her own but it constantly made her teleport back to her original starting place, experiencing the same problem. They were constantly being rewounded back.
The ships were trying to break through the dome, but realized it was not tangible at all, yet they couldn’t even get past the damn thing.
They all realized this was Thanoxis’ plan all along. Trapping the Vex’s enemies into a single place, never letting them escape, until…
Thanoxis itself suddenly glowed a lava-red, it was initiating a self-destruct sequence similar to an Explosive Harpy back on the Black Garden and the Spire on Mars, except on a bigger and more apocalyptic scale.
The Guardians, the ships, and all other ground forces where now focusing all of their firepower into Thanoxis’ cranium, trying desperately to stop its attack, but without the Light and only with their weapons in hand, they couldn’t do too much damage to Vex Boss.
But the onslaught was proven successful as its head was destroyed, and within those few seconds, glory was finally had. Victory was theirs, and the Vex threat was no more…
[IF ONLY… IT WERE THAT SIMPLE…]
BEEP BEEP BEEP VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR…
Thanoxis emitted a high-pitched sound, signaling its Final Attack, seemingly unaffected by the barrage of bullets and weaponry it had endured.
Suddenly, Savathun’s voiced echoed through the comms, “Its body is nothing more than a machine being piloted by a mastermind,” she turned to the Guardians and they watched her float to ground and sat down, “… You should’ve aimed for its chest. The Radiolaria that controls the machine.”
All of Sol’s forces could do nothing more but watch at their end, their inevitability.
Nimbus watches in horror in what was about to transpire and said, “… What… is happening…”
Everyone was deathly silent, watching Thanoxis glow brighter and brighter, until Zavala, the leader of the Vanguard, opened his mouth and merely uttered a few words, “… We lost…”
Then the planet went white…
[Earth, The Last City]
Osiris, Saint-14, The Young Wolf and his fireteam all landed on the courtyard of the Tower with a thud.
Osiris was the first to recover. He groaned and stood back up and immediately contacted Zavala back on Mars, “Zavala! Come in!”
No one answered.
“Ikora! Crow! Mara! Nimbus! Anyone on any god damn channel!”
No one answered, until they heard Zavala speak, “… We lost…”
Then an explosion rung out into the comms, startling Osiris and the Guardians with him.
Before they could question any further, Osiris immediately ran to the control room of the Vanguard. Saint, the Young Wolf, and the remaining Guardians followed suit.
They all arrived at the control room and Osiris tried to reopen the channel on a base on Mars, hoping to activate a transmat beacon so they could come back to the fight.
He looked at the Warlock from the Young Wolf’s fireteam and said, “Open channel 2754, relay coordinates for immediate transmat to Base Delta on Mars,” she nodded and went to the nearest terminal, while the Young Wolf silently watches.
Osiris looked at the Titan, “You, go to the armory and get as many explosives and even the illegal weapons in Shaxx’s vault, I’ll take the blame when he gets angry,” he nodded and tried to run to the vault as fast as possible, but was stopped by the Young Wolf, who also patted the Warlock on her back signaling her to stop.
Then he shuts off the terminal, much to everyone’s confusion.
This angers Osiris, “What the hell are you doing?! We have to open–” he was cut off when the Young Wolf’s Ghost, a pure white shell with a ball in the middle who is simply named Ghost, appeared beside his head and shook his frame side to side.
“We can’t…” the Young Wolf said to Osiris, but Osiris was getting angrier.
“What do you mean YOU CAN’T?!” he shouted at the Young Wolf and was grabbing his collar. Saint and the Titan had to separate them from each other.
“We can’t, because there is NOTHING to open!” the Young Wolf shouted back.
Osiris, Saint, and the Young Wolf’s fireteam was taken aback, never have they heard him express that much anger before.
He fixes his collar and put down his hood. He turned to Ghost and he immediately projected a hologram of Mars… or what’s left of it.
The Guardians couldn’t believe their eyes, what was once a red and barren planet, once home for the future of humanity, was now nothing more than floating rubble and debris. Chunks of rock and steel float around the space where the planet used to be. Mars was now nothing more but a graveyard similar to what happened to the Awoken back on Saturn after Oryx obliterated them.
They all looked at the massacre in silence, not uttering a single word, nor making an audible gasp. Just complete silence.
The Warlock was the first to recover, “What… do we do now?”
No one said anything, until an alarm beeped out of the control room. Saint went to one of the monitors and sees Vex gates opening one by one around the Last City.
Saint then turned to the Guardians, “We evacuate the City, take all of the citizens far from this place as possible.”
The Titan from YW’s team replied, “But where do we go? Theres nowhere left to go, if you haven’t realized the Vex have already terraformed every single planet on Sol thanks to Thanoxis, the very moment we step foot on any of those places, we’ll be overrun by thousands, maybe even millions of Vex!” The Titan said while still continuing, “We can all barely survive a full scale assault by the Vex on our own, how do you expect all of us to defend the people including ourselves?” he was interrupted when Osiris suddenly spoke.
“We can’t protect everyone, but we can at least save as many we can,” he says, but the YW’s Ghost was the next to speak.
“But where do we go?”
“… I know a place. But I need something that would make the journey “smoother”, and what I need is in the Vault,” he turned to Saint, “Help the Young Wolf and his fireteam gather as many civilians as you can, human, Eliksni, hell, even the young Cabal Warbeasts. Gather them all into the central plaza and HOLD. YOUR. GROUND. I will be swift,” he turned to leave for the Vault, when Saint grabbed his arm.
“I am coming with you!” he said to Osiris while clutching his arm.
“No, your Ward of Dawn is one of the powerful defensive barriers in the entirety of the Vanguard, nothing can get pass you. They’ll need you to protect the citizens. Besides…” his left arm began spewing thin lines of Strand matter and his right was crystalizing with Stasis, “… I can take care of my self.” He looked at Saint with determination in his eyes.
Saint reluctantly nodded, and the YW and his fireteam ran towards the outside to gather as many civilians as they can. Saint followed them but not before turning back again to Osiris, “Be careful,” he said.
“Always.” Osiris replied.
And they went on their separate ways for now.
[Tower Vault]
Osiris was searching within the hidden Vault of the Old Tower, looking for a specific device that can help with the evacuation.
He searches through mountains of boxes filled with weapon parts, machines, and even Ghost Shells as prizes for the Guardian Games, yet none of them had what he was looking for.
‘Where the hell is it? I know Ikora would put the disk here, so where…’
“Lookin’ for somethin’?” another voiced echoed into the empty halls of the Vault, and Osiris immediately readies his Auto Rifle.
“Woah woah, easy there hot shot. Its just me, your friendly neighborhood Taken and Hive extraordinaire,” the voice says revealing himself to be the Drifter, the mysterious Guardian in charge of Gambit.
Osiris was surprised, but afterwards merely sighed and holstered his rifle, “What are you doing here Drifter? I thought you were dead.”
Drifter merely chuckled and holstered his handcannon, Trust, “Yeah well. Me too, but lets just say I got a Guardian Angel watching over me…” he took something out of his pocket and threw it at Osiris.
Osiris caught the object and upon inspection was just a bracelet with a myriad of charms and oddities adorned to it, held together with string and what seemed to be a tooth of a Hive Thrall, and he immediately recognizes the owner of the trinket.
“… I never asked to be saved,” he clenches his fist but continued, “… but she’s as stubborn as you are, Old Man.”
Drifter relaxed a bit and he brought out something else from his jacket pocket, “You lookin’ for this? Eris told me where to look for this thing after she whisked me away just outside the Old Tower. Gotta tell ya, she’s getting’ better at Hive Magic… shame that its all…” he shook his head and threw the object to Osiris.
He recognizes the object as the very thing he was looking for, a small bronze disk the size of a CD but with the thickness of a remote.
Drifter continued, “I know that piece of hardware you got. You know its experimental right? There’s a reason why we call that thing a prototype,”
Osiris fiddles with the disk, uncaring from what Drifter said, until the device glowed blue.
“Huh, nevermind then,” he said with a smirk on his face.
Osiris pocketed the device and was ready to leave but turned back to Drifter.
“I have to go to the Plaza, bring this device and open the portal and evacuate the citizens,” he says.
“I know, I know, and I’m coming with ya’,” he said, “Not like I got anywhere else to go.”
Osiris gave Drifter back the bracelet and they ran to the Plaza.
[The Last City Plaza]
Hundreds of thousands of Vex have already reached the City walls, and with no Guardians to defend it, the Vex simply entered unopposed. Thousands of civilians began running to their homes for safety but would later find out that it would be their final resting place.
Robot Frames began fighting back the Vex with their weapons, effectively slowing their advance and giving the citizens time to run to safety. The Frames all had messages for the citizens,
[EVERYONE RUN TOWARDS THE CENTRAL PLAZA FOR SAFETY]
After receiving the message, millions of residents began running towards the direction of the plaza.
Human and Eliksni that could wield a weapon decided to fight back against the Vex forces for their families to run to safety, a brave yet suicidal effort, but was effective as along with the frames, slowed their advanced even more.
However, with the lack of consistent firepower, there were only tens of thousands of citizens left.
The Plaza was now overcrowded, and many more citizens are still coming through.
The Young Wolf and his fireteam was defending the North, South, and Western portion of the Plaza, shooting at any Vex that enters their Vision, with the Eastern area being defended by Hawthorne and the Redjacks.
At the center of the Plaza is Saint-14 with his Ward of Dawn covering the plaza, protecting the civilians within with its almighty defense. He sees around the plaza hundreds and thousands of children, crying and begging for this nightmare to end, adults all around them are comforting them the best they can, even some of the Eliksni are trying to soothe a human child covered with patches of blood he hopes is not from the child himself.
In his mind, he knows this truly was the Darkest Day.
‘This… this is all that is left of humanity…?’ he thought, before hearing one of the YW’s fireteam members speak into his comms.
“Where is Osiris?” answered the Warlock, currently being shot at by hundreds of Vex.
As if on cue, Osiris is arriving at the plaza with Drifter using the latter’s old Jumpship, but was shot down by a flying Vex Hydra. Thankfully they transmatted out of the falling ship and landed on the Plaza, worse for wear but otherwise unharmed, Drifter’s ship however…
KA-BOOOOOOM
Drifter stared at the fiery inferno in the distance, “Well, at least ol’ reliable was able to crash into a bunch of Vex, hopefully. Rest in Pieces you piece of shit, even though I won you from a bet. Heh~”
Osiris shook his head and began tinkering with the disk beside Saint-14, who was still keeping the dome intact.
He asks the Old Warlock, “Osiris, what is that thing?”
Osiris replied while showing the disk to Saint, “This is what I call, The Compass, a miniature and simplified version of the machine that I built to save you.”
Saint is shocked at what Osiris said, but even more so after he realizes the machine he was talking about, “You built a Sundial… You want to open a portal to the Infinite Forest?! If I wasn’t keeping this dome up, I would’ve punched you in the face!”
Osiris calmly replied to him, “I know I know, but this is desperate times Saint. I didn’t want to do this either, but there is nowhere else to go. The Vex have already turned most of Sol into a Machine World that can’t sustain any form of life, The sun is slowly dying out because of the Vex’s machinations. Its over Saint, the Dark Future is here, and… I don’t know what else we can do.”
The disk began to glow brighter until a Vex portal appeared in front of them. The portal began increasing in size, until it is as big as a tunnel entrance.
He gave the disk to Drifter and with a nod, entered the portal. After a few seconds he came back with a head of a Vex Goblin.
“Everything’s all set up inside,” he said while dropping the Vex head.
“Good, lead the citizens in, now!” Osiris said while tinkering with the Vex head.
Saint looked at Drifter now aiding the citizens enter the portal, and then he turned his attention to Osiris, “Osris, what did Drifter do? What are you doing?”
He was cut off when Osiris began explaining the plan to him, “Drifter entered the Vex gate using the Compass and cleared the exit area of the portal, I then have him get me a head of Vex Goblin, something that still has its connection to the Vex Hive Mind, I have to do something to it in order to prevent this calamity from happening ever again.”
The head began to spew electricity, but Osiris was unbothered and continued to work.
He continues explaining his plan, “I am essentially doing what Maya Sundaresh was doing to the Choral Vex, but instead of controlling them and taking over, I'm essentially separating them from Vex within the Infinite Forest. In other words, I'm planning on deleting the Vex in this world, to the Vex of the Infinite Forest, basically forcing them to forget the Vex and their accomplishments in our world.”
“…Making this world’s Vex the ONLY timeline that they have won, and they will never accomplish this again in other timelines.” Saint finishes his explanation.
“Essentially yes. I promise myself I would rid the universe with the Dark Future. And I failed. I will NOT fail again!” he installed an odd looking black box into the Vex cranium.
“…But truth be told, none of this wouldn’t be possible without the help of Asher Mir.”
“What? He’s…?”
“No, he’s still lost in the Vex Network, but with the aid of Nimbus and the Neomuni technology, I was able to decrypt a sort of “Sub Mind” of Asher that was scattered within the Network using the Vexcalibur. It took years, but eventually we were able to succeed. Asher is currently retrieving anymore data regarding his own consciousness, but not before giving me plans to make a “Trojan Horse disguised as a Virus” for the Vex, hence this box. It will take time for the Black Box to install the Virus to the Vex Collective, but it’s finished, the glory of Thanoxis will only exist within this world, AND THIS WORLD alone! No other worlds will suffer the same fate.”
Saint couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but decided not to question it any further, but one problem still lingers in his mind, “But what about the Vex inside the Infinite Forest? The moment they realize people are coming inside, especially in the thousands, it could end in disaster!”
“I planned for that, the Compass not only opens a portal to the Infinite Forest, but it also emits a specific frequency that prevents the Vex from ever knowing something is wrong, think of it as a Disruption device that makes the Vex think an area is clear, but in reality, there was a whole town being cultivated right under their noses. I already gave a copy of the plan to repair the Compass to the Drifter, I will send a copy to your Ghost as well, just in case.”
“Less talky, more shooty!” yelled the sniper Hawthorne.
Just then the ground began to rumble and 3 huge Vex Gate Lords have arrived at the plaza.
“Young Wolf! Three Vex Gate Lords are attacking the dome, I do not think I can hold them off much longer!” Saint screamed into the comms.
“We are en route Saint!” they all replied in unison.
The Gate Lords began shooting at the dome while the rest of citizens are being evacuated into the portal, but there are still thousands more stuck in the plaza.
Saint was on his knees, struggling to keep the Gate Lords at bay. Soon Vex began clamoring inside their way inside the dome, but was quickly reeling in blindness thanks to Saint’s Starless Night, this gives the Redjacks ample time to shoot at the Vex within the dome, but he knows time is running out.
‘I'm running on fumes now, but I must hold strong!’ he thought to himself before letting out a warcry.
Suddenly Hawthorne and every Redjack inside the dome glowed and they are covered in purple armor made of Void Light, and their weapons have now increased in power. The Redjacks are now wittling down the Vex, and as if on time, the Young Wolf and his Fireteam arrived in sparrows and are attacking the Gate Lord.
The Titan began releasing Arc energy around his body and began to fly towards of one the Gate Lords, the telltale sign of a mighty Thundercrash.
The Warlock began coalescing Void Light into her palm, and suddenly a Nova Bomb was shot out and turned the Gate Lord into nothingness.
The Young Wolf then ramped off on one the buildings and hopped off his sparrow, as he falls his eyes began shining a bright orange and his gun was bursting with Solar flames, he shoots 6 shots of his Golden Gun directly into the chest area of the Gate Lord housing the radiolaria fluid, and with a resounding boom, the Vex Gate Lord was no more.
The Fireteam went inside the dome and began aiding Hawthorne and the Redjacks in destroying the remaining Vex, while Drifter and Osiris continued to evacuate the citizens to safety.
After the last person was safely teleported into the Infinite Forest, Hawthorne and the Redjacks enters to make sure the remaining citizens are safe inside. Afterwards, the dome surrounding the plaza was gone.
The Guardians gathered in front of the portal and waited for Osiris’ black-box-thing to do its work.
The Vex seemingly knows what they are doing, but are thankfully oblivious of its effects, yet it is still a threat to the Vex, so they all gathered towards the Plaza.
One by one, Vex began appearing all over the ruins of the Last City.
Slowly they began to increase.
100, 1000, 2000, 20000, they kept coming until the skies where blanketed with an armada of Vex Harpies and Hydras, and the ground was crowded with an army of Vex.
The Last City was now looking like Hell itself, and the Vex are the Demons arriving to torture their souls to damnation.
The Guardians where undeterred as this was their true last stand. They ready their weapons, their Light and Dark, and they will defend this point until the mission is complete.
Osiris began weaving Strand matter around his body and multiple Threadlings are perched on his shoulders with a few more orbiting around him like satellites, Saint-14 glowed purple and had his Sentinel Shield at the ready, The Warlock began charging her body with Arc Light, readying her Stormtrance to let loose on the Vex, the Titan’s right arm began crystalizing and soon his entire body was covered in dark blue ice-like crystals, ready to show the Vex how a Behemoth plays with his prey, and the Young Wolf began concentrating, combining Light and Dark into a deadly dance that promises nothing but destruction in his wake, Transcending reality with the powers of Light and Dark in complete unison.
All of the Guardians then slowly looked at the Drifter.
The Drifter looked at his audience and sighed heavily, “Well… why the hell not. It’s the end of the world after all,” he says to himself.
His body began then began to erupt with unimaginable heat, his legs, his arms, and his eyes was burning with Solar fury, then his gun exploded with Solar Light like a supernova. He reloads Trust and for the first time in decades, Drifter unleashes his Golden Gun.
He looks back at the Guardians and grunts at them, “There. Happy?”
The Guardians can do nothing more than smile at the supposed Lightless Guardian, and they prepare their final stand.
Saint-14 then shouts to his fellow Guardians, “Rally up Guardians! Today, we have lost so much. Our allies, the Vanguard, our fellow Guardians of the Last City, and our world. But right now, the Vex will take no more from us! We are the last stand for humanity’s continued survival, and we have the means to prevent this apocalypse from happening to countless other worlds! We have failed once, we will not fail again!”
The Vex army began advancing towards the plaza, hoping to destroy the machine the Guardians are defending.
The Guardians readies their Supers and Saint said one last line to his fellow Guardians, ready to sacrifice themselves to prevent this Dark Future from happening again, “…Today Guardians, We Become Legend!”
Vex Harpies began divebombing the plaza, but none would get their chance to reach the center as Drifter began shooting them all one by one as if he was skeet shooting.
Osiris aided Drifter by shooting needles made of sharp Strand matter to the Hydras circling the air. Each needle piercing their rotating shields and shot through their eyes, unraveling them into an explosion of Strand and leaving a woven ball made of Strand matter, which Drifter shoots and Threadlings popping out of the resulting explosion, which spreads to the surrounding area making the Harpies and Hydras unraveled and the cycle repeats.
One of the Harpies that was shot down by the Drifter fell on top of a Vex Goblin that was about to shoot at the Warlock, crushing it into a pancake with Radiolaria fluid leaking out of the corpse. The Warlock notices what happened and gave a thumbs up to the Drifter, which he reciprocated with a thumbs up on his own. She began emitting Arc energy around her body and started blinking around the battlefield, dodging Vex blasters and melee hits until she appeared above a large group of Vex. She unleashes her overcharged Arc light and shoots the ground beneath her, creating waves of electrified energy that instantly disintegrates the Vex caught in its chaotic wake. Her assault hasn’t ended yet as she glides through the battlefield, her hands crackling with Arc energy as she unleashes her devastating lightning in front of her palms, like a roaming thunderstorm leaving destruction wherever she goes. She keeps shooting arc bolts after arc bolts around her which chained to nearby Vex, effectively clearing a huge chunk of their ground forces on her own.
The Vex Gate Lords notices her assault and began focusing fire on her.
The Warlock was caught off guard and was hit on the shoulder and right leg, one of the shots barely grazes the side of her helmet and began traveling towards an unsuspecting Osiris but was blocked by Saint-14 with his shield made of Void light.
He notices the Warlock getting hit with a barrage of laser bullets ran towards her. Before she could suffer any more injuries, Saint jumped in front of her and blocked the Vex barrage with his Sentinel Shield, creating a wall of impenetrable Void light in front of them to give time for the Warlock to heal her injuries.
An Overload Minotaur teleported behind them and began shooting behind Saint while still rushing towards them. The Warlock began charging up Arc lightning into her palms and shoots a ball of Arc energy towards the Minotaur, but it simply teleported behind the path of ball, dodging it effortlessly much to the Warlock’s disdain.
‘I really FUCKING hate those things with a passion!’ she thought angrily.
Before the Minotaur could get any closer however, the Stasis-clad Titan comes to their aid and strikes at the Minotaur behind its head, stunning it briefly before shoving his fist into its central body, leaking radiolaria fluid in front of it, thankfully far enough as to not pour onto the Warlock and Saint’s back.
The Titan and Warlock shared a nod to each other, and the former notices Saint having trouble blocking the hailfire of lasers in front and jumps through the air. His fists coalescing into unyielding cold until both arms are covered with gauntlets made of Stasis. He crashes to the ground in front of them and a wave of Stasis crystals appeared in front of them, freezing all the Vex within its cone, with the Gate Lords suffering the worse of them as they were each encased into a comically large crystal, temporarily stopping the barrage.
Saint notices his attack and immediately threw his Sentinel Shield to the crystals, bouncing off all of them until they shatter one by one, which causes a chain reaction to the surrounding crystals which explodes, taking the frozen Vex with them. He materializes another Sentinel Shield and he and the other Titan began rushing at the rest of the Vex ground forces, punching and bashing their way onto the Vex frontline like an unstoppable force, leaving the Warlock to shake her head in amusement, “Titans…” she grumbles before spotting a cluster of Vex advancing on the opposite side of the plaza. She equips a sniper rifle that was crackling with lightning, dubbed Cloudstrike, and shoots one bullet at the middle of the vex horde, dead center into its radiolaria housing, resulting in a lightning bolt that struck the horde and chains to other Vex near them.
She ran towards a destroyed building, all the while shooting at any Vex in her path and started climbing up to get a high ground on the battlefield below her. She aimed Cloudstrike and started shooting at any straggling Vex that was advancing closer to Osiris and Drifter.
One bullet she shot travelled straight through the head of an unsuspecting Vex Goblin, effectively making it headless, and began firing its Line Rifle wildly into the air, which friendly-fires at random Harpies that was unlucky enough to be in its crossfire, before getting cut in half horizontally by a Guardian running around the battlefield with a knife shining with Arc energy.
This Guardian is the legendary Young Wolf.
He runs around warzone, cutting and shooting any Vex standing in his way. The Warlock sees his carnage through her sniperscope and couldn’t help but marvel at the way her leader was dodging and weaving he way under enemy fire, like he was just dancing across battlefield, a Bladedancer if you will. He was just running circles around them with knife in one hand, and the Ace of Spades in the other. But she shouldn’t be distracted any longer as she continues to aid her fearless leader and shoots at any stragglers.
The Young Wolf continues his one man assault of the Vex Army, until he spots the majority of them teleporting in from gates that the Vex materializes. He rushes towards the area that was building the gates and steps inside the ring, stopping its building process midway.
He continues to fight by shooting his handcannon at any Vex coming near him, but he was quickly getting out numbered, until he couldn’t handle the sheer amount of Vex and was essentially getting buried under them. The Vex are clawing their way into the poor Guardian, trying to find his Ghost, hoping to permanently end the Legend once and for all.
After a few seconds of dogpiling the lone Guardian, instead of Ghost saying the disastrous words of “GUARDIAN DOWN!”, the Young Wolf had other plans.
“STORM’S EDGE!” he screams to the heavens and spins around with his knife in a reverse grip, creating an electropulse in his location and disintegrating the Vex on top and around him.
He looks around his area and notices more and more Vex teleporting towards him, he readies his electrified knife and concentrates. On his right hand was his knife held in a reverse grip crackling with Arc energy and on his left he creates a kama made of Stasis, dual-wielding both Arc and Stasis at the same time. He readies both weapons and jumped high above the Vex.
The Vex began shooting at him, but the Young Wolf threw the kama below him, directly into the frontline of the Vex attacking him, and creating a freezing tornado made of Stasis. He then threw his electrified knife behind the backline and teleported to where the knife was embedded and repeated what he did when he was getting dogpiled a second ago, grabbing his knife from the ground, spinning in place and letting out deadly Arc energy to the surrounding area, all the while the Stasis tornado began advancing towards the Vex with alarming speed and slowing and eventually freezing them, making them easy pickings for the Legendary Guardian of the Last City.
He creates another kama made of Stasis and began slicing and dicing his way through the army Vex Frames, frozen or not, he destroys his enemies with reckless abandon.
The Plaza had already become a warzone with 6 Guardians standing in the way of an army of Vex. Everywhere you look a Guardian is actively fighting against the Vex forces, Saint-14 and the other Titan punching their way through and endless horde of Goblins and Wyverns, the Warlock aiding the Guardians from afar with her Sniper Rifle and a plethora of turrets made of Stasis and the occasional Healing Turret for support, Osiris and The Drifter shooting at all the Harpies and Hydras flying in the sky, and the Young Wolf destroying any Vex in front of him with his electrified fists with a knife attached to his arm, and a shotgun.
The Guardians are holding their own against impossible odds, but eventually it all had to end, and the Guardians would do everything in their power to end this nightmare from happening ever again.
After what feels like hours of fighting against the Vex army, Vex head Osiris was working on began emitting a high pitch sound and its cracked eye was shifting colored lights between blue and orange.
Osiris notices the machine began whirring with a high pitched noise and called out to the Guardians, “Everyone! Its time! Get to the portal now!”
Immediately after Osiris gave the signal, all of the Guardians stopped their onslaught and rushed towards the center.
The Vex notices the high pitched screeching the device was emitting and hundreds of portals are now materializing again. More and more Vex were teleporting around the ruined city and the army began advancing towards the plaza.
Osiris notices their foe’s increase in numbers and said to the Guardians, “They’re getting desperate, which means this is working as intended. Asher was right! Just a little bit more…” he said while detaching and reattaching multiple wires into the cranium, “… aaaaand…!” he pushed a button and the Vex head glowed a pure blueish white and emitted a burst of energy that travelled around Earth and then beyond the Sol System, similar to what the Traveler did when it freed itself from Ghaul’s Light stealing cage.
The Vex then stopped in their advance and began glitching and spewing electricity from their heads. Their eyes were glowing from red to blue in quick succession until it turned blue for a few seconds and tuned back to red before darkening and shutting off temporarily. The Vex army became motionless for a few seconds with some Vex that was flying overhead crashed down to the ground, it was as if they’ve all been hit with a worldwide EMP wave.
“I assume this not only happened here, but with all the other planets within and beyond Sol,” He grabbed the Vex head and went towards the portal, “We only have this small window of opportunity, Come!” he says before entering the portal to the Infinite Forest.
Saint-14 followed suit, then The Warlock and the Titan, the Young Wolf was about to enter as well before looking at Drifter who was looking at the sky. He almost looked… sad, which was an emotion he never knew Drifter was capable of feeling.
“…Drifter…?” he says, and the Drifter turned to him with a smirk on his face, hiding the emotion he was feeling a second ago.
“Yeah yeah, I’m comin’ hero. Don’t get your hood in a twist,” he says before looking at the sky again.
“… see ya’ later. Moondust…” he mumbles silently so that the Young Wolf couldn’t hear him and entered the portal.
The Young Wolf was going to enter the portal again suddenly the area glowed pure white. He unholsters the Ace of Spades and pointed it towards the source. He notices a crystal like shard sprouting on the ground. The crystal looked like one of the crystals that the Guardians could harvest back on the EDZ, called the Dusklight Shard.
{Dusklight Shard}
But instead of it being colorless and sometimes black, it was glowing a pure white. Ghost suddenly appeared beside his head, “What… is that?” he said while floating towards the shard, as if drawn to it like a moth to light. His partner, his friend, looked at him with his glowing eye, then to the Shard.
Ghost widened his eye and looked at where the Traveler is and he notices its light glowing less and less, as if it was losing its own Light, but at the same time, the shard was glowing brighter and brighter by the second.
The Young Wolf and Ghost watched the event unfolding in front of them in silence and awe, until Ghost decided to break the silence, “I guess the Traveler wants come with us huh?” he jokingly said. But it might not be that far from the truth at all.
They noticed the Traveler finally stopped emitting light and its pure white exterior was slowly going darker by the second, all the while the shard becoming more and more bright in contrast. The shard then slowly stopped glowing brighter and the result was the shard becoming a pure white crystal, perfectly sculpted and without any imperfections, like a true White Diamond… in crystal form.
The Young Wolf plucked the shard from the ground after it finished glowing and it was immediately transmatted into his personal vault for safety.
As if on cue, the Vex began “waking up” and continued their advance towards the portal. They began shooting at the Young Wolf.
Ghost then disappeared immediately and yelled from inside his Guardian’s backpack, “Time to go, Guardian!”
The Young Wolf didn’t need to be told twice as he ran towards the portal dodging and weaving from the barrage of Vex heavy line rifle and void blaster cannon shots. An Overload Minotaur began rushing at the Guardian and teleported in front of him with its arm open, as if ready to catch him.
The Guardian simply leaped and blinked though the Minotaur and jumped through the portal as it closes.
The Minotaur turned around and found out that the Guardian was nowhere to be seen.
Beeping was heard behind it as it turned around again and found that the source of the beeping was under its feet. It analyzes the source of the noise and it sees that it was a rocket strapped with a grenade and a bundle of explosives the Hunters call the Gunpowder Gamble.
The Minotaur adjusts its eye to the hodge podge of explosives and it notices words written in human language on the rocket. It only read a single word, “BOOM” with an angry face etched beside it. It kept analyzing it until…
BEEP BEEP BEEP… CLICK
BOOOOOOOOOOOM
An explosion covered the center of the plaza and a crater was made in its epicenter.
This was the last parting gift the Guardians gave to the Vex of their dying world. And sadly, humanity lives on, far and away from it.
The portal closes behind the Young Wolf and he looks back with a smirk behind his helmet. His team watched him and the Titan his arm and hugged him.
“Parting Gift?” he says to his leader.
The Young Wolf merely nodded with a cheeky grin under his helmet and both shared a laugh, with the Warlock shaking her head in amusement behind them.
Drifter was sitting on a log with Hawthorne beside him just chatting.
Saint was talking to the citizens, calming them down and explaining their future inside the Infinite Forest.
Osiris watches their current predicament and begins to plan out their next step, when the Young Wolf taps him on the back.
“Yes?” he questions the Guardian.
He brought out his hand and a glowing shard appeared.
Osiris was in awe in the majesty and beauty of the shard, but most importantly he instantly recognizes it the moment he felt the “warmth” its emitting.
“This is… a Shard of the Traveler?” he asked the Guardian, who nods.
“This much power, into an object of this size. This… this could help. Even now, the Traveler aids us in this dire of situations,” he slowly and carefully grasps the shard, being extremely gentle with handling such an artifact.
“I must start analyzing it immediately. This shard can help us survive the Infinite Forest, perhaps forever. But I do not want that to happen,” he looks at the Guardians who are now gathered around him, “This is only a temporary solution, but truthfully, I do not know if it would seem that way for now,” he sighs.
Saint came up behind him and pats him on the back, “Whatever the case, we are all in this together. We are with you Osiris, for the sake of those who we lost,” he looks behind them, at the citizens who are watching the Guardians with worried faces, “… and for what we have left, we must keep going.”
The Young Wolf and his team, Drifter, and Hawthorne was now beside Saint.
Osiris watches them all, then looks at the Shard of the Traveler, which was glowing a bright white, “For now… we move on,” he says.
“We must never forget those who came before us, and those that we have lost. But we must look at the future. We are alive because we persevere. We… as Guardians… have failed you all,” he looks at the shard once more and grips it slightly, “We will not fail you again.”
And so the last remaining citizens of the Last City, the last survivors of the Dark Future, have all come together to pave way into their new future.
Saint finished the last contents from the bottle he was drinking, he looked at Momo, “… And so, here we are. Surviving behind enemy lines, so to speak.”
Momo was horrified after hearing their story. And how could she not, they barely survived an apocalypse that essentially ended their own universe. They had no way of getting their friends and family back, nor was there a way to even bury their bodies. She wonders if that could’ve happened in her world, back when the Vex almost invaded, back when Quirks didn’t even existed at the time. Could her humanity survive? Even with the abundance of quirks, could Japan even survive the onslaught? Could All Might?
She shudders at that thought and didn’t want to think about it any further, the only thing they can do for now is hope her father and scientists find a way to defend against threats like the Vex.
‘Father…’ she thought.
“I know that face…” Saint said, while Momo shrieked in embarrassment.
“That is the face of someone who misses their family,” he said.
Momo simply looked at the ground and nodded.
“… We will help you return to your own universe, on one condition…” Saint says while slowly and gently grasping Momo’s hand, “… Please take us with you.”
Saint continued, “The citizens are not safe here forever, sooner or later the Vex would find us and more casualties will occur. I know you do not trust us yet, but I-I do not want another disaster to happen again! I–” he was interrupted when Momo grabbed both of Saint’s hands and she looked at him with determination in her eyes.
“Don’t worry Saint, after hearing your story, to what happened to all of you, I was going to suggest the same thing. And without a doubt I will help you. My father owns a piece of land near the manor, you and the citizens can live there,” she says to him with a smile on her face.
Saint can do nothing more than hug the heiress, nearly crushing her lungs due to his immense strength.
“Thank you. Thank you so much Momo Yaoyorozu,” he says while currently hugging the life out of Momo.
“… No… Problem…” she wheezed.
But despite the lack of air she was experiencing, she can’t help but smile.
There’s hope for these people yet, she will be damned sure of it. Because that is what heroes do.
While this beautiful moment was happening, Momo and Saint didn’t notice her phone began to vibrate. She was receiving an incoming call, and the name of the caller was a name she hoped to see…
[INCOMING CALL: "Liilau"]
To Be Continued…