The battle had been won.

But the war was long from over.

The battle itself was gruesome. All three sides, Vex, Hive, and humanity's safety net fought for victory. Many soldiers on all sides perished. Buildings exploded. Bullet shells hit the ground. Blood and Vex goo slathered the environment around the bodies. Tanis and Malachi barely hung on, but with Echo IX's help, they sailed to victory.

The Vex stopped advancing after a while. The Hive retreated shortly after. One of their ships crashed into the Earth on the other side of the city, and they began digging into the ground near it to create caves. More than half of the city's population managed to escape alive. There would have been more survivors if Alaura didn't run off, or at least that's what Malachi mulled over.

Echo IX took the remaining Exos to safety once the fight was over. They fought valiantly the entire time, not hesitating even once. For a bunch of robots, they sure knew how to handle guns like professionals, almost as if it were a second nature to them. Echo IX said he'd meet up with the guardians later, but never specified when. Malachi couldn't care less on when that would be. The Exo was another helping hand, but he was someone cold. Distant. Someone Malachi knew all too well because he used to be like that. The similarities were all too great.

Malachi yanked his knife out of a Vex minotaur's eye, brushing off the glass that came with it. He exhaled loudly as his heart rate declined slowly. Sweat dripped off his brow, and he took off his helmet just to wipe it. The strong aroma of gooey liquid, smoke, and blood came over his sense of smell like a tidal wave. Malachi cringed as he put his helmet back on and made his way over dead bodies on his way to Tanis.

Tanis stared up at The Traveler with wonder. The Exo craned his neck back far, yet it didn't pain him. "What do you think happened?" He asked his ghost.

Dinklebot materialized in front of him. "The Traveler has gone silent. I'm not sure what happened."

Tanis finally looked down from the orb in the sky and glanced around at the buildings. I need more answers. "Is there somewhere we can learn more about The Traveler?"

"There's a library down this street, but good luck finding things that aren't charred from the blasts."

Malachi rushed over once he heard what they were discussing over comms. He yanked his helmet off quickly, and instantly shielded his eyes from the bright sunlight. "Where are you going?"

Tanis hoisted his scout rifle over his shoulder and dusted some dirt off of his cloak. He took his helmet off and let Dinklebot dematerialize it with ease. "To study more abou-"

Malachi cut him off with a motion of his hand. "We have to wait for Alaura where she can find us." That was a priority. He hated that she left. Hated that she risked her life when Malachi could've done it. He didn't want to lose another person. The pain would be too great for him to handle and the guilt would seep in.

Tanis scoffed, "We could be waiting hours, or even days." All that wasted time sitting around, when he could be learning! Imagine all of the knowledge stored away at the library. Hundreds of years of studying The Traveler, right at his finger tips. Tanis wanted to learn more about himself, and this was a great place to start.

"That doesn't matter. We scavenge what we can, then come back here where the jumpship is." Malachi peered up at the sky and watched some clouds roll by. His gut twisted in worry. "If she isn't back by tomorrow, we're going to go look for her."

"Look for her? We don't even know where to start." Tanis wanted to grimace, but his features wouldn't allow him to. All he could do was show the frustration through his tone. "So we sit here and do nothing?"

The Hunter's voice bellowed over empty streets, angry that his teammate didn't care. "She could be dead, Tanis. She risked her life for us. The least you can do is make her return easy." He curled his free hand up into a fist. Malachi took this to heart, but he never had before. Not like this. Alaura was the one to care. Goddamnit. She leaves, and now I'm left to be the one that cares.

The Warlock seemed to read his thoughts completely. He tilted his head slightly and narrowed his eyes as much as he could without blinking. "Since when do you care what happens to us?"

"Since I became part of this team. Maybe you can't read people correctly," Malachi glared at him. There is some truth to his words. I used to not care. He had fought with himself a lot over this. Right after Alaura showed how much she cared for Tanis and how she wasn't going to let him die. Then Tanis woke up in his new body and...bam. The nagging started in the back of his mind. That all seemed so long ago.

"I can read you just fine."

Tanis' words broke Malachi's train of thought. He stepped closer to Tanis, and almost accidentally spat in his face in a low tone, "I'm not the one being a selfish prick here."

Tanis rolled his eyes. He glanced over at his ghost for a moment before replying in a snarky way, "Excuse me for trying to enlighten myself."

Malachi chuckled lowly. This guy's sass actually put a smile on the Hunter's face. He licked his lips, and words rolled off his tongue like venom, "It's not that. It's the fact that you don't seem worried about her." Tanis stayed silent. He didn't break eye contact, no matter how much he wanted to look away. Malachi continued, his words hitting his heart like a hammer, "She could be captured by the Hive. She could be getting tortured. Or killed by Vex. Maybe she crashed into something. Quick and painless. Or she drifted off in space until she died..." His breath got caught in his throat before he could finish.

If she died, it would be on him.

Dinklebot chimed into the conversation, "Or she's alive and you're over thinking things."

If that's supposed to soothe me, it doesn't. Malachi closed his eyes and inhaled deeply to hold in all of his snarky replies. His heart ached upon remembering what had happened to...God, he couldn't even say her name, much less think it. "I don't want to lose anyone else..."

Both guardians stood in silence. Alaura was more than their tactician. She had been the glue holding them together the whole time. The one time she leaves, things started falling apart. Tanis...whatever was going on in his head screwed with him. Either he couldn't remember how much he cared, or he just wasn't showing it. Both possibilities bugged the hell out of Malachi. The kid used to be so full of life. Now? It seemed like he was an empty shell yearning for knowledge instead of emotion.

Malachi hoped he got his point across.

Jarvis phased Alaura onto Earth's surface from the jumpship. She landed on her feet and stood there for a moment in hesitation. There were so many bodies. So many scorch marks. So much debris. This side of the city was almost unrecognizable. She glanced up at the night sky to see The Traveler still there, gleaming in the moonlight. The stars she touched for a moment seemed to twinkle with glee, but the feeling wasn't reciprocated. Alaura felt uneasy.

They won't accept you.

Might even shoot you on sight.

Alaura cried out quietly in pain. Her thoughts wouldn't leave her alone. They clawed through her mind and made sure she noticed. Her heart squeezed and ached from the mental bullying. No matter what she did, it wouldn't stop. She believed the voices too much to have an effect.

Jarvis started talking through communications to get her mind off of it. He gave her directions to where the other ghosts were located. He even tried to tell her a story, but she seemed too fazed to listen.

Soon, they met up with the other two fireteam members. Tanis sat on a piece of debris in silence. Dinklebot talked in his ear about findings in the library. Since Tanis couldn't leave, his ghost went for him. Tanis thought him as a true friend. Knowledge of the Light would soon be his. Malachi stared at the campfire in front of him. His eyes focused on the dancing flames as he became lost in thought. Sweat dripped down his temple as red and orange light flashed across his face like waves.

Tanis was the first to notice Alaura, and stood up immediately. "What happened?" Any information on what conspired could help him figure out what happened to The Traveler. All he knew was it was immobile and not communicating with its ghosts. He wanted to know why. He wanted to know everything from start to finish.

The first thing Malachi did after he broke out of his thoughts was analyze Alaura. Something wasn't right. She had her helmet on, and her lack of movements showed she was too stiff. Too worried, maybe? Frightened? Anxious? He couldn't tell with the helmet on. She was uncomfortable, he knew that for sure. Otherwise, she wouldn't have the helmet on. Malachi rested his elbows on his knees. "Are you okay?"

Alaura sat down across from Malachi, and totally disregarded Tanis' question. She held herself back from grabbing something nearby and playing with it. Keeping her hands occupied usually helped calm her down. She hesitated, but finally spoke with a quiet voice, "I...I don't really want to talk about it."

Tanis didn't seem to hear what she said. All he could focus on was the aftermath. What happened? Those two words rang through his head like a resounding bell. Alaura was back fine. No painful slashes in her armor, no wounds, no weird movements. He decided to ask again, but more elaborately this time, "We saw the Light erupt when The Traveler was hit. Did it have an effect on your ship?"

The Titan shook her head in response. She fixated on the fire and didn't make any other moves or sounds. Malachi's curiosity deepened. Is she in a daze? Maybe she's in shock. "Why don't you take your helmet off? The air is cleaner now that the battle is over." No answer. His teammate was as still as a statue. Jarvis materialized in the air and began talking to the other two ghosts a little ways away. If anyone knew anything, it was Jarvis. "Hey, Geek Squad, if you know something, share it."

Jarvis glanced at Alaura. Saying something could ruin his relationship with his guardian. Not saying anything? That had the potential to tear the team apart. Alaura didn't notice his glance, and concluded with assurance, "That isn't my place."

Tanis wanted to laugh. Whatever happened affected the whole universe, not just Alaura. Keeping it held back seemed almost selfish to him. "Holding back information hurts the team."

A low growl resonated in Alaura's throat. She didn't want them to know. Couldn't they just understand that? "Stop bugging Jarvis."

"Why can they know, but we can't?" Tanis shot back. If she didn't tell him, then he would get Dinklebot to spill the information later. There was no way that he could let this go. Imagine all of the possibilities! The knowledge, the experience...It all fascinated him down to his core.

"They're our ghosts. Why does it matter?" She tore her gaze away from the fire and stared off into nothingness. A voice echoed in the back of her mind. They're going to reject you.

Malachi watched Alaura. The growl showed anger. Something did happen, but what could cause her to be like this? He answered for Tanis, "We're your team. We should be the first people to know things."

Alaura stood up abruptly while one hand clenched into a fist. Her hands glowed an icy blue. She cried out, "Just drop it!" Her voice bounced off of the walls of the city and traveled through the streets in an echo. There's no need to get angry at them. The glow faded, along with her anger. She put a hand to her helmet as if she was dragging it down her face. "I'm glad you guys are okay."

At least she could take back her mantle of being the one who cares. But...giving up that emotion completely felt so wrong. Malachi's tone softened in an attempt to ease the growing tension, "We'd be better if we knew you are okay."

"And know what happened." Tanis chimed in, receiving a glare from Malachi.

Alaura ignored the Warlock. She didn't want to say what happened out loud. It only made it more painful. More true. More real than anything she had ever encountered in her life. It was hard enough on her already. "Why do you care, Malachi? You never wanted to be here."

Change in conversation. Smart, but not effective. Malachi was sticking to his guns and seeing this problem through, whether Alaura liked it or not. If he pressed further, she might slip up and spill some information. "I do now. Working in a team isn't a new experience for me." That was the full truth, and he stuck to it. Malachi exhaled deeply, letting his thoughts sink in before he answered her question. "I care because if you aren't in the right state of mind, you shouldn't be fighting."

"I'm fine."

Almost simultaneously with Tanis, both of them declared different things. Malachi responded, "Then take off your helmet."

Tanis blurted out, nearly in frustration, "Then tell us what happened."

That's enough. Malachi snapped at his teammate, "Tanis, lay off." He ran his hand through his short wet hair in frustration. This kid wasn't laying off when all the cues were there. Tanis looked down and mumbled something, but didn't dare intervene with the same question again. Malachi took note of Alaura's silence, and took a step closer to her. Maybe he could ease her into getting comfortable. "Exactly. Look, Alaura, if you got injured or something, it doesn't matter to us how you look. You're still you."

A stifled chuckle spouted out passed Alaura's lips. She backed up a bit to clear some distance between her and Malachi and whispered, "You couldn't be more wrong."

That sparked more curiosity between the other two guardians. Tanis lifted his gaze to Alaura, this time in a caring manner. What she said didn't sit right with him. "What?"

"I'm never going to take the helmet off." That's when the bickering ensued. All three guardians spouted words and opinions. Malachi cared too much. Tanis cared too little. A horrible feeling grew in the pit of Alaura's stomach. She yearned to move on and go save the day. She wanted to just forget the event ever happened. How could she do that if they keep questioning? If they keep making her doubt herself more? If they press too far, will they regret it after?

The ghosts noticed the intensity of the moment rising. They looked at each other in worry. Jarvis had to make an executive decision, which could possibly ruin his trust with his guardian. But...what did he have to lose? If he didn't do something, the team would disband. That was against their mission to save humanity. Jarvis dematerialized Alaura's helmet. Once she noticed she was looking at her team with her own eyes, she looked over at her ghost in disbelief. He tried to explain himself, "The chances of the team disbanding skyrocketed. I had to do this to keep the team together. No matter what."

She didn't want to turn and see her team's expressions. Facing expressions of horror would only make it worse. Alaura grit her teeth and forced her words out, "No, you didn't."

The little blue ghost flew in front of Jarvis in defense. Macey projected into the air, "Our job is to secure humanity's survival, while aiding the universe's first guardians. In order to do so, you have to stay together."

Dinklebot added, "Secrets are poisonous to an effective team."

Alaura's face fell from anger to despair. Her secret was out. There was no way they could unsee this. Her red eyes deceived her wishes and glanced at her team's expressions of shock. Her world started to close in on her, and her heart rate sped up. She reached out to grab something to steady herself, but found nothing. "I-I have to go..."

Malachi called out to her as she quickly walked away, "Wait!" He moved towards her slowly once she stopped. The last thing he wanted to do was spook her. "You're still you, Alaura." His words didn't make sense, but they felt right. He didn't know what the hell she turned into, but there's no way it could have altered her personality. And to see her turn her back on her team...it was like she had lost all hope. Malachi had seen a lot of shit in his time, but seeing someone completely fall apart was one of the saddest things he'd ever seen.

Alaura clenched her jaw tightly. Remember. Anger isn't right. They didn't do anything to you. The bad voices echoed in the back of her mind, loud enough to cover up the good voice. She winced from the battle in her mind; her voice broke as she finally replied, "I'm a m-monster. Like them. Like the things we're trying to kill. I'm a monster touched by The Darkness."

"You came in contact with The Darkness?" Tanis' voice heightened in amazement. He wished he could show it on his face, but settled for his voice. He looked over at Dinklebot in excitement, as if they had a breakthrough. "Tell us everything!"

Memories flashed in her mind. Alaura's chest constricted and made her breathing erratic. She stumbled backwards; the need to run came back to her. "I...c-can't..." She clutched her chest as the fear and agony rushed back to her.

"You need to sit down. Your anxiety levels are spiking." Jarvis floated over to her and tried to calm her down. Alaura followed his suggestion and sat down on a piece of debris. She put her head in her hands and attempted to drown everyone else's voices out until she calmed down. Jarvis turned to Tanis and Malachi and explained, "We tried to catch up to the leading ship to get them on a different course. We stopped near the asteroid belt, where the edge of The Darkness was, and got trapped between it and the Light. When we came to...the whole area changed. I've never seen anything like it."

"That's fascinating. What did it look like? Does this mean The Darkness isn't bad for us?" Tanis ushered for more information. His jaw dropped as he waited in anticipation. Fascinating wasn't a good enough word to express the stimulations going on in his head. His mind buzzed with curiosity and a yearn for knowledge.

Malachi wanted to scoff at his words. How can he be more concerned with the event than his teammate? For a second, he almost let his disbelief be known. To hell with it. If he's going to act like this towards his own teammate, why should I care about him? But something held him back. He wasn't sure what it was. Malachi rubbed his brow for a second, and turned to Alaura. She hadn't moved a muscle since she sat down.

Dinklebot answered adamantly and without hesitation, "It is bad. Look what happened to Alaura." Jarvis bumped into him in an aggressive manner. Dinklebot was being highly inconsiderate for Alaura's feelings, and saying it out loud didn't help. "Hey, we're all thinking it!"

Malachi stood up so fast that he almost made the blood rush to his head. Anger surged through his system as if it were adrenaline. He had enough. Enough of Tanis' lack of concern. Enough with hearing them talk about the event and making Alaura upset. Enough of Dinklebot's input. "You better take that back," he pointed his finger at the little white bot.

Tanis stepped in front of his ghost and tried to make Malachi stand down. He made Dinklebot apologize, even though it was more quiet and mumbled than it should have been. Malachi backed off, but internally questioned Tanis' alliance. He's so quick to defend his ghost, but not feel concern for his teammate.

The Hunter sat down, closer to Alaura this time. She didn't react, or maybe she didn't even notice. Malachi almost set his hand on her shoulder, but refrained from doing so. It always seemed so easy to comfort girls at the bar, but this? This was on a whole new level of fucked up emotions. He scratched the scruff on his chin until he thought of what to say. "Alaura, I know how it feels to be different. To be alone. To be isolated from the world..." He trailed off, and glanced over at Tanis. The Warlock seemed intrigued by his words, but also took them to heart. He felt the same, being an Exo and all. "All of it fucking sucks. You feel like there's no hope and you'll never belong. The truth is, you aren't alone."

Alaura raised her head to look at him with complete red eyes and tear-stained cheeks. Malachi continued, "You have us. As much as we disagree on things and pick on one another, we're a team. We aren't going to leave you because of something that was out of your control." He semi-smiled at his next few words, "Plus you look fucking awesome."

She snorted and one corner of her lips lifted. She sniffled and wiped the tears away. Relief swept over her entire body, causing her to relax in her spot. Malachi smiled fully this time at his achievement. Never thought it would feel this rewarding to make her smile. Then, the deep emotions hit him like a tidal wave. His memories flooded back, along with the emotions he listed earlier. "When I was young, my father d-"

Tanis snapped at that word. Father. Something in his mind broke, almost as if a gear jumped out of place. He touched his metal fingers to his head. Flashes of memories played in front of his eyes, overshadowing his teammates.

His father. His mother. They were real. They were horrible. They were resentful. They were loveless. Tanis flinched at every little thing, causing him to look as if he were having a seizure. His illness. Being rejected at school. Not being good enough for anyone to date. Being confined to his room. Being able to smile in the mirror. He could see himself, what he used to look like. He remembered things like touch and smell. He remembered the soft blankets on his bed and how the breeze felt against his skin.

Tanis fell to his knees as he held his head and screamed. The flashbacks quickly became terrifying to him. They shifted from his real life, to his Exo life. The murder. The pain. The scrambled parts everywhere. The bullets against his metal plating and how he overheated from all the action. Pictures of a tall tower only made him scream louder.

Alaura's attention snapped to Tanis. Her red eyes widened as she rushed over to him. "What's happening?"

"Tanis? Buddy?" Malachi stood up quickly and observed the situation. Anxiety attack? Panic attack? Horrible flashbacks? He tried to think of what triggered it, but came up with nothing.

"Don't make me kill them...Don't make me kill them..." Tanis shrieked and tore at his temples. Loud metal screeching erupted through the air, causing Alaura and Malachi to jerk back in surprise for a second.

Alaura and Malachi glanced at each other in worry, both wide-eyed like doe caught in headlights. What could he mean by that? Don't make me kill them? Who was that referring to, and why? These questions ran through both of their minds before they asked simultaneously, "What do we do?"

Dinklebot hovered over Tanis and scanned him. What he feared was true. Tanis was reliving every horrible memory he and the Exo have experienced. That could lead to massive brain damage, or worse. "I can give him a memory wipe, but it won't be easy..."

Alaura watched Tanis thrash around on his knees. His screams became overbearing and hard to listen to. She panicked and blurted out, "Just...Just do something!" Anything was better than nothing.

A blue light appeared from Dinklebot's eye and set a scanner net over Tanis. After a few seconds, the scan was complete. Tanis fell limp, his body hunched over in place. His mind had shut down to reboot. Dinklebot thought the situation over, and concluded the word 'father' was the trigger word. He didn't think it would be that easy to fall prey to flashbacks, but all robots were different. Maybe Tanis searched too much into knowledge about The Traveler. It was his origin point, or at least where the plans for Exos came from. The Traveler was the creator to all technology during the Golden Age. Maybe that somehow made it easier for him to be susceptible to this kind of thing.

Malachi knelt down beside Tanis, observing his still structure. "Will it happen again?"

Dinklebot watched Tanis and placed soothing thoughts in his mind as he rebooted. He answered truthfully, "It might. Sometimes the memory wipe doesn't work."

"He must've been having flashbacks. Exos are built for war. Their defense mechanism is to fight," Jarvis admitted to the group.

"How do you know that?" Alaura scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion. This was new. They hadn't told them this before. If she had known that before...would she still have saved Tanis? Did this make him suffer more than just letting his body slowly shut down?

Macey projected along the wall, "I found it while looking at the military base's files. It only took a moment to hack into their system."

The words racked through Malachi's mind. Every government had the capability of sick and twisted things. Using androids for war? It shouldn't have surprised him as much as it did. "Built for war? Do we even want to know what living hell has been behind the scenes during the Golden Age?"

"We don't even know what happened. We never got that information," Dinklebot replied.

Alaura wondered aloud, "What did he mean by 'don't make me kill them'?"

A silence ensued shortly after. None of the ghosts wanted to answer. It could've been a different number of possibilities, and most of them didn't end up in the guardians' favor. The easiest thing to do was not tell them at all. Malachi set his hand on Alaura's shoulder. He didn't know the answer, but whatever it may be, he would be there to help.

Dinklebot ended up having to give Tanis two more memory wipes that night. There was so much pain. So much agony. The screams echoed in all of their minds. When the group finally managed to calm down and think, they decided to name him Tanis IV. The number would represent how many memory wipes he had.

Tanis had never slept more soundly after that.