Chapter Text
Lilianna growled as she chased after the High Celebrant into the Harbinger's Seclude. It was honestly beginning to feel like it was playing with them at this point. Popping in and out onto one ledge and then another, roaring taunts all along the way. The Warlock cursed under her breath as she leapt into the air, gliding down over the stairs to try and keep pace with the monstrous Hive Knight. Just when she thought she had it, the damn thing vanished into a portal before Lily could fire another shot. "Oh come on," she whined as a pissed off Wrathborn Ogre filled the space previously occupied by the Celebrant. In her ear Ori, her Ghost, chimed with concern, "It stopped bleeding energy! We can't get through!"
Glint clicked in, "I think the Celebrant realized we marked it. It sealed the portal behind itself." Lily's heart skipped at the anxious tone in Crow's questioning, "We're trapped in here?"
No, she wouldn't let that happen.
Tossing a Stasis grenade at the Wrathborn's feet, Lily took advantage of the slowing effects of her magic to sling her bow onto her back, and pull out her auto rifle. Aiming for the Ogre's massive head she pulled hard on the trigger, holding it down until the clip ran empty. The Warlock let loose a shout as the glittering blue-black space of Stasis energy dimmed and blinked out of existence. With a growl she thrust her right hand out and focused on her connection to the Darkness, forging it into a short staff to hurl a shard of Stasis at the once again rampaging monster. Using the brief reprieve of her target icing over, Lily quickly slammed in a new clip as the Wrathborn struggled against the freezing grasp of her melee ability. Halfway through those rounds the monster roared in pain, green-yellow ichor oozing from the multitude of bullet wounds that peppered its rancid looking flesh.
"If your companions are trapped in the Ascendant Plane with the Celebrant..." Osiris reported, his voice grating on Lily's already incredibly thin patience, "-then they are already lost. Like Sagira."
"No, not yet," she snapped back while looking around for any sort of rip or tear that might get her into that other realm. Like hell was she going to let the Celebrant take another friend from her. "The portal closed, but maybe there's enough Hive magic left in the lure to activate some other way through?" Ori suggested, his voice a steadying calm among the flurry of panic filling his Guardian's mind. Lily snapped to action as she dragged the lure back out and slammed it into the ground with a grunt. With the loud, rapid whirring clicks of machinery power up, she barely had to wait longer than two seconds before the now all too familiar bright, green-yellow Wrathborn ooze appeared lit up on her visor. "It's working," Lily cried out in relief, running towards the towering statue on the balcony where she could see the dark, swirling portal to the Ascendant Plane hovering above its head. She leapt into the air before pulling on her abilities to jump once again, but even with all her strength she couldn't get close enough. Skipping back a few steps, Lily sprinted forward, hoping the distance would give her enough momentum to make it. As her body slammed against the cold marble of the statue, she attempted to find some edge to dig her fingers into, but the smooth stone gave her nothing. As she started to look around for a way up, Crow's voice filled the comm link and brought her to a standstill.
"I hope you can hear this. The Celebrant turned it around on us - the hunter becomes the hunted." His voice was starting to sound weary. Tired. Lily's eyes caught site of the trail in the air, almost as if... "I wanted to..." She paused the hand rummaging in her pack for a vial of Queensfoil, her heart thudding heavily in her chest. "Listen, if things get ugly for us in here, just know it's not your fault. Everything I did, I did because I wanted to. Thank you. For letting me have a choice."
Before the off click of the comm sounded Lily tossed back a vial of tincture and shuddered as the dark, viscous liquid slid down her throat and settled almost uncomfortably in her stomach. One breath there's nothing, the next she can see the floating pieces of pathway hovering carelessly in the air. "Hang tight, we're on our way." Running and leaping from one chunk of marbled stone to the next, Lily scrambled her way up into the air. If someone had told her a couple of months ago she would be in a panic over saving the reborn, Lightbearing, amnesiac Prince Uldren Sov, and his charming Ghost Glint, who had become a pair of her best friends, she would have laughed herself to death. Then Ori would have revived her and she would have laughed herself hoarse before threatening to shoot whoever came up with such an outlandish idea.
Not that she would actually shoot them. She wasn't that kind of Guardian.
At least... not usually.
Of course, there was nothing funny about anything happening at this moment. Her very dear and extremely precious friends were in danger. She would not let Xivu Arath, or any damn Hive, Fallen, Vex, Cabal, Taken for that matter, claim another friend of hers. Not as long as she was around to stop them.
Leaping into the dark, swirling void of the Ascendant Plane, Lily thought back to when this all started. As she shouted for Crow among the rushing wind, and cacophony of whispered voices, she felt each racing thud of her heart against her ribs with each second that passed and he didn't answer. She vaguely registered Ori calling out to Glint, his voice worried and harried as he kept asking if the other pair could read them.
Thinking back on their first real interaction together, Lily never would have imagined just how important Crow would become to her. How much she would come to care about him. As she jumped from one floating piece of rock to another, she let her mind wander along the path of her memories. To when they first met.
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Lily jogged into the room, her breath heavy on the exhale. Standing above was Osiris, gun in hand, looking surprisingly relieved to see her. Not that he would ever admit to that openly.
"You're here. Finally."
The younger Guardian rolled her eyes. Only Osiris would act like her taking longer than a minute or two to fight through a hoard of Hive, not to mention hopping in and out of the Ascendant Plane, to be an inconvenience."Is it done? I'll come down to y-Oh!"
It happened so quickly, she didn't have time to shout a warning. Ori, ever a second ahead of her in processing things, called out before her, "Osiris!" The alarm in his voice matched her own as they witnessed the Hive Knight suddenly appear and back hand the older Warlock to the ground. Lily raised her rifle up already knowing it would be useless, but not willing to give up all the same. Maybe a bullet through one of its three eyes would at least give it pause?
Except someone else beat her to the punch or, well, stab in this case, as a long, dark blade pierced the Knight through its bony chest. As the Hive's own sword clattered to the ground, Lily was finally able to see the cloaked figure standing behind where the Knight previously stood. Before she could call out to the stranger, their Ghost materialized in the air beside thiem.
A fellow Guardian then. That was good.
"We warned you it was going to be dangerous down here! Especially for the Ghostless," it scolded, shell rotating and moving in ways Lily was familiar with from Ori. He had plenty of practice with scolding her after all. She couldn't fight the half-smirk that formed at Osiris being lectured by a stranger's Ghost. Especially because said Ghost was absolutely right.
"I'm..." it started again, sounding almost embarrassed by its own outburst."I'm glad to see we're all okay though." Lily's smirk morphed into a smile at the Ghost's sweetness. Honestly, she loved meeting other Ghosts. It was always interesting to see their unique personalities. Especially when they weren't as sassy as her own little Ori tended to be.
"Oh, I'm Glint by the way. It's a pleasure to meet you all!" Glint continued, giving a little bob in the air. The Ghost version of a bow. Lily watched him float closer to his Guardian. Turning her gaze upon the stranger it was then she registered the unmistakable sigil of The Spider on their cloak. "Go on," Glint chirped. "Introduce yourself!"
"They call me..." Lily's heart suddenly plummeted into her stomach, splashing bile up into her throat. 'That voice. It couldn't... Surely the Traveler wasn't this desperate?!' She could feel Ori's gaze on her as he seemed to jump to the same conclusion. "...The Crow. My boss wants to see you."
Glowing yellow eyes settled on Lily and her breath got stuck in her throat. Ori looked ready to fall out of the air himself, but managed to utter a soft, "Impossible..." before Osiris finally pushed himself up off the ground.
"Well now," the Warlock gave a cough, rubbing the already bruised cheek the Knight had struck. "This is certainly now how I expected these events to turn out."
It took every fibre in Lilianna's being to not utter the 'No shit!' that formed on her tongue. With an uneasy swallow, she picked up Osiris' gun and jumped up to the platform to hold it out to him. Crow and Glint had already begun to make their way towards the exit after informing the two Warlocks that Spider "requested" an audience with Osiris. Not that that was going to happen with the older Warlock's current state of Ghostlessness.
"You can say that again," Lily finally managed; anger, grief, and uncertainty building in her guts. "Guess we're going to be the ones to see Spider again, huh?" Ori questioned, the front half of his shell twisting counter clockwise - the telltale sign of unhappiness in her partner. Working with Spider in the past had been more of a means to an end. With the Shore under his thumb, he had started pushing the sticky webbed boundaries of his territory out more and more lately. The stories she heard from others about his new enforcer hadn't been good ones.
"Yeah, I guess so," she finally answered back, her tone a lot more tired than she intended it to sound. "First we gotta get make sure Osiris gets back to the Tower in one piece."
"I am right here, Guardian. No need to speak as if I'm not," Osiris sniped back, arms folding over his chest. Oh. It seemed she struck a nerve. 'Good,' Lily thought as she slung her own rifle over her shoulder. Because he had just gotten her roped up into Traveler knows what. "Let's get going then."
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"What's this? I told you to bring the Warlock, Osiris, not just any old Warlock. Explain yourself," Spider barked, tone clearly annoyed by the fact it was Lilianna standing before him and not Osiris. Lily sucked in a sharp breath, eyes narrowing at Spider's claim that she was merely "just any old Warlock."
'What does Spider even want with Osiris?" Lily let that thought slip through the neural link she shared with Ori, curious what her Ghost's thoughts on their current situation were. 'My guess? Something related to the High Celebrant. I doubt it was mere coincidence Crow and Glint were on the Moon looking for Osiris at the same time we were. The more interesting question is why does Spider care about it?' At Ori's mention of the other Guardian and Ghost duo in the room, her gaze slipped to the left to look at them while keeping her head facing forward. There would probably never come a time that Lily wasn't glad to have a helmet mask her true emotions at any given time.
"Osiris..." the Awoken started, an almost nervous tremble to his voice. Lily caught a quick glimpse of Glint peeking out from behind the edge of his Guardian's hood.
"...lost his Ghost," Ori chimed in, as if acting on the brief flicker of pity that flickered to life in Lily's mind. "He's gone back to the Tower to recover."
"So, you've got us instead."
Lily finally decided to join in the conversation proper, crossing her arms over her chest in a silent dare to Spider to find any problems with that. Her tone feigned disinterest even as her natural curiosity was threatening to overflow. Spider gave a deep chuckle before making a quip about Guardian's being "fragile killers." While her initial instinct was to deny such a thing, she knew deep down it was true. At least for her. Lily shifted her weight from one foot to another in discomfort.
The Warlock barely heard the back forth of Ori, Crow and Spider in the background, her attention hyper focused on watching Crow. Taking in his reactions, his mannerisms, looking for any sign of the once deranged, cruel Prince that should be there. Her focus snapped back into place at hearing the hulking Eliksni Baron refer to said ex-Prince as 'little bird.' Lily pretended to sneeze to try and hide the amused snort that slipped out at hearing the nickname. Although the look Crow gave her all but told her that he noticed.
"Now then," Spider broke through the awkward quiet that had settled. Lily refocused her attention on the Fallen Mafioso. "...perhaps we can help each other out, eh? I know how accomplished you are at exacting revenge." He huffed out an amused sounding breath at that particular assessment. 'Good to hear the irony of this whole situation isn't lost on him,' Lily sent to Ori who only sent back a humming sound of agreement.
After all, the Warlock had certainly believed she had successfully gotten her revenge. Except now the focus of said revenge was back, alive and kicking as a new Lightbearer of all things. There was so much about this situation that wasn't funny that it seemed to have no choice, but to become cosmically comical. A small part of her felt quite sure that even Cayde would have found this hilarious. The arrogant, Guardian-hating Awoken Prince, driven to madness by the Darkness, remade by the Traveler's Light into one of the very things he despised. Add on that he was now apparently a servant of the very same Baron who had assisted Lily and Petra in bringing him down.
Ikora and Zavala, on the other hand, would not find any element of this situation funny. Which brought up an important notion. How would she explain this to them?
Spider continued on, airing out his grievances about how these strange cryptoliths and the Wrathborn they created were hurting his business. 'Well, that answers things. Honestly, I should have known it was a business matter,' Ori clicked into the link, the flaps of his shell twitching a bit in non-surprise. What actually caught Lily off guard was his sudden dismissal of Crow. She watched him give a bow of his head, before disappearing around a side corner she hadn't really noticed in all her visits before. Once he was out of sight, Spider began to recount how he came across the New Light.
"I found him wandering the Reff like a piece of wind-blown trash. Aimless. Hopeless. No memory of the Prince he was."
'That sounds awfully familiar,' Lily commented quietly to Ori who turned his brilliant blue eye to meet her own. The Ghost gave a short, almost unnoticeable bob in the air in agreement. She, like her fellow Risen, held no memories of her past life before Ori found and revived her. That initial surge of Light through her body revitalized and made her anew in just about every way. It suddenly hit her that she hadn't stopped to truly consider that particular aspect with Uldren. Really, the biggest difference between them was that Lily's previous self had been dead and gone for a long while before Ori discovered her. No one from that life was still around to know her or any of things she might have done. What if she had been a murderous, vile piece of shit human before her death? What if she had been murdered and left to rot?
'You weren't,' Ori replied, letting her know her thoughts and emotions were leaking through their shared connection. 'At least, I don't have reason to believe such a thing. You were surrounded by so many others who died like you had. It is highly more likely you perished trying to escape during the Collapse.'
'Doesn't prove I didn't do any horrible shit though,' Lily countered before returning her attention fully to Spider. "As far as his loyalty is concerned, I took a few extra precautions and made some... modifications to his Ghost's shell. Now, if he ever flies too far from the nest? Boom." The soft snicker that followed that one word sent an icy chill down Lilianna's spine. In the corner of her eye she caught Ori's own shell spinning in jerky, little angry motions. The Warlock always knew Spider as an opportunistic jackass, but planting explosives into a Ghost's shell? It was a line Lily had never needed to consider drawing before. Now, however, it was painted in a broad, red stroke and the Spider stood far over the wrong side of it.
It was hard to listen to the rest of what Spider had to say, but she grit her teeth and bared it. Despite her better judgement, and Ori's own disapproval, Lily agreed to work with the Spider, and by association, with the Crow. Each step Lily took towards that once unnoticed hallway of Spider's lair was a heavy one. Turning the corner she found Crow waiting for her, a look of anxious uncertainty on his face. It was... unsettling. She had grown so used to only seeing contempt, disdain, rage or insanity on the Awoken's face. Once again she was glad to have her helmet to hide her own expressions. Especially since Ori often commented on how easily his Guardian wore her emotions right on her sleeve.
"I always say your face. It makes no sense to talk about wearing your heart or feelings on your sleeve,' Ori countered as he floated from her left shoulder over to her right to mirror Glint's position. After a very awkward moment of silence, Crow cleared his throat and began to go over what would need to be done to take down Xivu Arath's High Celebrant.
Hearing the way his voice faltered, how his tone shifted to reveal how upset that Celebrant's methods of "recruiting" made him... Lily couldn't fully wrap her head around it. Crow wore Uldren's face, moved with his body, but with none of the malice, no aggressiveness, not even an ounce of proud swagger Uldren was known for having. Crow was calm, a little soft-spoken, but empathetic in tone when he spoke about how the Lure would drive the Wrathborn crazy. How it was mostly Eliksni being targeted outside of the Hive.
'He wears his feelings on his face just like you.'
Lily clenched her teeth as she came to the same realization as Ori. She didn't know how to properly handle all this new information.
"Don't take this the wrong way, but it's... nice to be working with another Lightbearer."
That hesitant admittance, as if he was afraid of her possible reaction, struck Lililanna like a Fallen Captain's four fists to the face. Nothing in her short, but long-felt life could have prepared her for any of this. She stood there, transfixed by Crow and just how pleadingly expectant his eyes looked. Like a child waiting for their parent's approval on their latest art project. 'Are you going to say anything? Or just keep staring him down?' Ori chimed while gently bumping his shell against his Guardian's helmet.
"Oh! Uhm, yes, I uh, I'm sure we'll make a, er, good team?" The Warlock stumbled over her words, her brain still trying to find its way through the soupy fog of her mixed and volatile emotions. She could feel heat on her cheeks at making the already awkwardly tense atmosphere even more awkward and tense. If Crow found her behavior odd, he was better at hiding it then she would have been, because he simply gave Lily a half-smile before turning toward the workbench behind him. He carefully picked up the Lure and carried it over to Lily, holding it out to her. With equal gingerness, she took possession of the strange object, looking it over and finding herself impressed at the workmanship behind it.
"You'll need to charge it up first," Crow explained, going over the next steps with Lily, expression serious and determined as he spoke. It was hard to concentrate at times, as Lily kept half-expecting him to drop the act and pull a blade or hand cannon on her. Any time he moved too quickly she had to stomp down the instinct to grab her own weapon or slam a hand of arc energy into his chest.
"Got all of that?" he asked, head tilted and eyebrows raised in a way that made him look more like a curious puppy, then the megalomaniac she used to know.
"Yeah," Lily replied, hugging the Lure to her chest, the metal of its shell clinking against her armor. "I think I got it. Once it's all charged up I'll let you know?"
"Exactly. Then I'll show you how to use the Lure to attract the Wrathborn to the cryptoliths. There is one already here on the Shore and I believe another on the outskirts of the Dreaming City. There could be others elsewhere we haven't found yet of course."
"Cool, cool, cool, sounds, uh, great! I'll, er, I'll just head out and get this baby all ready to go then."
Before Crow could say anything else, Lily gave an awkward bow of her head and quickly ducked out of the room and began making her way out of Spider's Lair. It wasn't until she stepped onto the transmat zone and was alone, back on her ship, that it felt safe to let loose the scream she had been holding in.
"That seems a little dramatic," Ori quipped, materializing in front of her. His shell flaps lifted up, exposing his inner core a bit.
"Oh, really?" Lily huffed in frustration. "Should I be jumping up and down giggling in glee instead? Or maybe I should have given him a hug? How do you honestly expect me to feel right now? Uldren is, was, UGHHHH, I don't even know how to word this shit! He killed Cayde, Ori! Killed so many other innocent people, and the Traveler decides HE of all people gets another shot?!?"
Lily pushes herself up and out of her chair, her body restless and demanding to be in motion, nerves firing rapidly in response to her whirlwind of emotions coursing through her. Tugging off her helmet she promptly cucked it into a corner, the loud KLANG of metal on metal ringing and echoing through the otherwise quiet cockpit.
"We Ghosts don't have a say in who we're meant to bring back," Ori reminded, voice gentle as he floated over to Lilianna, "Once we scan the person we are meant to be with, that's that. Just like how you were destined to be my Guardian, Crow was destined for Glint."
The Warlock glowered half-heartedly at the little floating machine bobbing in front of her. Ori was more than just a friend or companion. He was like a soul mate. One that shared in all her victories, her losses, her happiness and her pain. When she felt lost he was there to guide her, ever the warm shining Light in what sometimes felt like a dark void. Lily couldn't imagine not having him in her life and despite all the hardship they had faced so far, she would be forever grateful he had chosen her. Or rather, had been chosen for her. Still...
She always hated when he was right about something she didn't like.
"And, just like you, any memories of his previous life are gone. He is no longer Uldren Sov. Just as you're not who you were before you died. This is a brand new life, a brand new start for him. He will need help, guidance, to become a proper Guardian and Lightbearer. You know what it's like to start out all alone. To have to learn how to properly wield your Light and to be..." Ori's voice trailed off for a moment before he spoke again, softly, floating down to gently press himself against Lily's cheek. "You know what it's like to be new and pushed aside by other Guardians."
Slumping down to the floor, Lily brought a hand up to gently run her fingers along Ori's shell; the warmth from his Light ever reassuring and comforting. "I... I remember," she murmured, letting silence settle over them both. They sat like that for a good few minutes, Lily lost in thought and Ori knowing when to give her the quiet time she needed to sort through things. Finally, she sucked in a breath, loudly, and sighed in resignation. "Okay, I'll keep my mind open and... try to not think of him as Uldren, but as, well, Crow I guess. His heart does seem to be in a more... good place this time around."
"I imagine it will stay like that if he has a nice, patient, kind-hearted Guardian to show him the way," Ori claimed, pressing himself a little harder into his Guardian's cheek. She barked out a laugh in response as she pushed herself back up to her feet. "Then we better start looking for one who has all those things," Lily joked, flashing a smile at her partner. "Seriously though, do you think I'm really the right one for this? I mean... It was my hand that pulled the trigger and took his first life. If he knew, do you think he'd be this willing to work with me?"
"Hmm..." the Ghost clicked a bit in thought, blue eye flashing a little as he worked through Lily's question in earnest. "It is honestly hard to say, but... something in my core tells me he would. It's the same something that tells me you would work with him if your roles were reversed."
"Fair enough," Lily agreed, flopping back down into the pilot's chair and tapping her fingers on the ship's console to fire The Delilah up. "Let's start by checking in with Osiris and sharing what we've learned. Then we'll get cracking on charging up that Lure."
'And pray to the Light this isn't some huge, terrible mistake.'
"I feel confident saying it's not, nor will it be," Ori replied out loud in response to Lily's leaked thought. Pursing her lips she pulled on Delilah's controls and sent the ship flying forward, causing Ori to tumble in the air a bit and shouting out a surprised "Hey!" before dematerializing.