6th of April, 17 AJ

Time: 1200 (one hour before the end of previous chapter)

Location: Iki Town

POV: Hope, age 16, Lightless.

Hope rested her head on Cyle's shoulder. The Titan was also feeling as drained as her. The Warlock, Quib, was trying to fix the shell of his Ghost, but to no avail. As the three lounged around, feeling pitiful, Hope began to hear a strange whisper. Lillie obviously was hearing it too, because she began to wander down Mahalo Trail. The Guardians got up and started to follow the strange whispering. They came across the rebuilt Plank Bridge and the Guardians heard the whispering come from down below. Lillie was looking around confused. The whispering probably had stopped for her. The three Guardians began to climb down the slippery wall as they tried to safely reach the edge of the raging river. Water splattered across Hope's visor as she slid along the rocky wall that dug into her back. The three reached the edge of a waterfall that drowned out every other sound, but the faint whispering was still there. The three leaped off of the edge, placing all of their faith in the Traveler to keep them safe. They plunged into the water and emerged unscathed. They continued to follow the whispering, which was getting louder, deep into the forest.

The three walked for hours, with no clue as to what they were looking for. They eventually found it, a shard from the Traveler, cast away during the Traveler's sacrifice. The three slinked towards it, not knowing what to expect. The whispering was now a shout. The Ghosts of the Guardians came out and flew over to the shard, obviously empowered somehow.

A bullet hit Hope's helmet. She spun around and saw Fallen.

"Fallen! Clear 'em out!"

The Guardians began to pick off the foes one by one. After they killed every last one, they turned their attention back to the shard. Hope's Ghost materialized and stared at the shard.

"There's Light radiating off of this fragment! We can reconnect with the Light!"

It shot towards the shard as did the Ghosts of the other two Guardians. Light shot from the fragment and they were lifted off their feet. Hope felt whole again. Her Ghost flew over to her and it dashed around her.

"Can't you feel it? The Light! You're back, we're back! We can retake the City!!"

Hope's feet touched the ground and she felt the familiar rush of Light coursing through her body. The Fallen were gathering before the renewed Guardians, Her Ghost hovered over her shoulder and she smiled. With power, it said, "Eyes up, Guardian."

Hope's hand flashed to her revolver before the Fallen could shout their iconic battle cry. She cleared the holster and blasted the heads of six Fallen clean off. Her fellow Guardians drew their weapons at impossible speeds and they hit the Fallen before they knew what hit them. Hope felt the Light inside of her reach its peak. She forged the Light into a staff of Arc Light and she leaped forwards. She began to slash through foes left and right. Cyle formed a shield with the Void and he began to hit opponents far away by throwing the shield. It kept reforming and he used it several times to block shots. Quib summoned a flaming sword and joined Hope in her hack-and-slash job. Pools of Light formed and they filled the Guardians with Light once again when they stepped into one. They breezed through the foes and after their Supers ended, they looked at their hands in awe.

The Guardians looked at each other and gave each other nods. They drew their kinetic weapons and rushed back to Iki Town. They climbed onto the roof of Hala's house with ease, given their new found Light. My dad was right. You can try to block or trap the Light, but it'll always find a way to protect the innocent. We're true Guardians, the defenders of the people, not just the Traveler.

The three of them peeked their heads over the edge of the roof and saw that Cabal had rounded up everyone from the village. The Guardians gave each other thumbs up, then they stood up.

Hope took in a deep breath of air and spoke as loud as she could. "If you want them, you'll have to go through us!"

Quib and Cyle began to unload on the startled Cabal. The Cabal began return fire, but their bullets were blocked by the metal barrier that Cyle had placed down. Hope threw an Arc grenade and it utterly stunned the Cabal. They had expected them to not have Light. Quib placed down a damage boosting rift and the three of them vanquished the Cabal. The citizens of Iki Town looked up at them in awe. The Guardians dropped down, off of the roof, and Hope freed the citizens with ease, given her new connection to Arc Light. She was smiling madly and felt better than she ever did.

The three Guardians walked over to a massive clearing and summoned their ships. They phased into their cockpits and got everything ready for takeoff. They blasted off into space and made haste for Earth and the Last City. They went over their plan as they traveled through space.

"Okay, so we're going to land in a discreet location, slip past the Wall, and blow the head off of that ass hole of a Cabal. Nothing could go wrong!" Cyle laughed at his own sarcasm.

"Lot more loud than that, but basically yeah." Hope checked up on Hammer's status. Green across the board.

"Hope, what are you planning?" Quib sounded displeased.

"I've got the Militia en route. We'll have Titans backing us up."

"Hey, shou-"

"They don't have any Light. And besides, when I was young, I snuck all over the City. I know all the shortcuts and hiding spots."

"Oh. Right. Well, about to drop back into normal space. Let's kick 'em where it hurts!" Cyle's ship dropped out of the stream.

Hope and Quib followed his lead and they sped towards Earth's battered surface. They landed their ships against the Wall and got out. They slipped into a hole in the Wall and they scampered across the cross beams. They exited inside of the City and Cabal patrolled the streets below. Hope used her Militia cloaking technology to make her and her friends vanish into thin air. She fired her grapple hook and pulled her friends with her to the flag ship.

They climbed aboard and made their way to Ghaul. Guardians were battling forces below as they attempted to reach the Cabal leader. Three Guardians made their way to the Vanguard and they jumped into a Vex teleporter. They materialized on the bow of the ship and they made their way over to Ghaul as he stood on a strange device.

"Fools! You can never hope to kill a god!"

Ghaul pumped Light into himself and the Guardians were knocked back. They got back up and attempted to kill Ghaul, but with one blast from his stolen Light, Ghaul decimated the Guardians. The Strike Team stood there on their knees, clutching their stomachs. Ghaul made a move to kill the vulnerable Guardians, but Hope, Quib and Cyle jumped in to intervene. They had been waiting for their Supers.

The Guardians Ghaul had defeated were partially connected to the Light, but Hope, Quib and Cyle were one with it. They battered Ghaul's defences and the three wounded Guardians got back up. They gave their rescuers covering fire, killing Ghaul's minions as he was getting destroyed by the fully powered Guardians. Cyle threw his shield and killed Ghaul's body, seemingly ending the fight. Hope looked around and felt the ship shake.

"I've got a bad feeling about this."

A deep, booming laugh sounded and a giant celestial version of Ghaul pulled itself onto the ship. Ghaul towered above Hope, but she knew she could still kill him.

"See Traveler? DO YOU SEE ME? I'm immortal! Immortal I tell you, IMMORTAL!"

Hope summoned her staff of Light. "No, you aren't."

Hope leaped into the air and jabbed her staff deep into Ghaul's chest. He stumbled back and slammed into the Traveler's shell. Ghaul stared at Hope.

"You little pest! You're going to watch as all of your friends burn and get ripped apart, crying out for your help!"

Hope wasn't afraid. "I don't think so, theif. Say hello to God."

The Traveler activated and its prison shattered. The Traveler glew bright white and Ghaul turned around in horror. The manifestation of the Traveler crawled out from behind the shell and it grabbed Ghaul's heart.

"Noooooooooooo!"

In a blast of light, everything turned to black.