Sam's PoV:

This can't be happening.

I gazed at my fist and saw nothing. No fire, no electricity, no smoke. We were powerless. Gazing up, I saw the Traveller with that damn ship attached to it.

This can't be happening!

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Six hours earlier.......

We were in orbit around Earth when a wave of fear washed over me. We sat there for some time, trying to get a signal from the City. Eventually, we chalked it up to a storm messing up the signal, so we flew down on approach.

"City Approach, this is City Hawk 723, is anyone home?"

There was nothing but static.

Ghost sighed. "Nothing, not even on the emergency frequencies. Ugh, what is going on back there?"

As I shrugged, I realized something. My hand gripped the accelerator and started to push.

"I just realized something! All the satellites are gone!"

Ghost spun around to face me. "What?!? Oh no... Hey, remember when I told you fly too fast?"

I looked at him.

"Forget I said that. Fly fast!"

Nodding, I slammed the accelerator forwards, sending my ship rocketing forwards at Mach speeds. The others followed my lead and we all froze when we saw the City burning.

"No..." Tia sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

I narrowed my eyes. "Focus! Let's end this, right now!"

Luke's ship started to bank away. "Incoming!"

Rockets hit all of our ships and we were thrown out before they crashed. I turned to look at the hole we came in from, then turned my attention forwards. My teammates were in generic white and red armor and looking down, I saw I had been put in the same suit.

"Ghost?"

"It was what I could do so suddenly. Managed to save your Khovostov, but it's badly damaged. A lot of components are destroyed and it's out of ammo."

Sighing, I saw a dead Titan, their hand on their gun. Gently taking their Traveller's Chosen, I stood up to see a Cabal burst through the wall. We swiftly killed it, then pressed on.

As we rushed to the City's aid, we heard Cayde, Ikora, and Zavala discuss the threat.

Cayde seemed chill. "Okay, my Ghost keeps tagging these Cabal as 'Red Legion'. Ikora, what do you got?"

Ikora sounded worried. "They're ruthless, efficient. And rumor has it they have never known defeat."

Zavala was all 'Zavala'-y. "Until today. Today, they face Guardians."

"But Zavala! They're attacking the Traveler!"

"The Traveler can wait! We protect our people, no matter the cost!"

The four of us rounded a corner to see Crucible Frames. Lowering our guns, we walked forwards to see dozens of civilians, all of whom were slowly bleeding. Some militia folk were trying to help them, but it seemed like some of them weren't going to make it. Down the hall, we saw Shaxx with Raze-Lighter on his back.

"Guardians! My armory is open to you! Go through the hanger and into the plaza. I'll stay here and help these civilians. If the Cabal wants war," he grabbed onto the door, bracing himself, "give them war." He pulled it open with ease and I gazed in awe.

No wonder why my sis is in awe with him...

Tia gave Shaxx a nod and rushed in, with us following after. We all grabbed rifles and sidearms, then lept down the stairwell, feeling the pressure on our shoulders grow. Not giving the Cabal much thought, we blew through the hanger and found the Plaza in shambles. A barrage of rockets from a ship closing in on the Traveller blew up the Vaults and I grumbled.

"That's just insult to injury!"

Luke nodded and we sprinted to help Zaval repel the Cabal.

After about the third wave, he sent us away to help Ikora find the Speaker. We found his tower gone and a Thresher rose up, buns pointed our way. Ikora saw this and bared her teeth.

"Red Legion! You will take no more from us AND YOU WILL FIND NO MERCY IN ME!" She Nova Bombed one of its engines and landed on the hull.

"Go, she'll find the Speaker. I'm sending Amanda Holliday to you. We need that command ship taken out of commission!"

"Understood, sir. We'll end this madness."

After fighting through hundreds of Cabal, we rendezvoused with Amanda and she flew us up to the ship. The closer we got, the larger this sinking feeling in my gut grew. Eventually, we were dropped off on the ship and we rushed towards the shield generator.

Luke and Erica threw a grenade into the far two cooling fans while I threw one into the near-by one and then we turned on our comms as we rushed topside.

"Shield is down! Repeat, shield is down!"

Static.

"Commander?"

More static.

"Hello?"

There was no response.

Hoping they heard, we opened a door and heard the howling of wind. Running out, we stopped to gaze at the Traveller, fear crawling up our spines.

Ghost hovered over my shoulder. "How do we come back from this?"

"You don't."

We turned around to see a massive albino Cabal walking towards us.

"Welcome to a world without Light."

He waved his hand at the Traveller and a wave of fire rolled over it. I felt my soul get shattered into a thousand pieces and the curtain of Light that protected me faded away. Feeling like I was about to throw up, I gazed at Ghost.

"Guardian........ Something's..... wrong..........." His voice teetered away and he fell to the floor.

Panic shot through me as I fell to my knees and grabbed him, dragging his silent shell towards me. Gazing up at Mr. Bigshot, he growled.

"Don't look at me, CREATURE!"

He kicked me and I flew for several seconds before slamming into the metal hull. An orange glow washed over me. Dizzy, I got to one knee.

"Who... are... you?"

"My name is Ghaul and your Light is mine!"

Tia managed to get to both of her feet. "For now. But we WILL strike back!"

Ghaul strode right up to her, punched her in the chest and she was thrown back. Golden lightning licked her body as her ribs were cracked and Shiela flew from her hand and fell to the city below. Ghaul swiftly depleted the rest of our Auras, then while we were wreathing in pain and on our knees, he kicked us off. One. By. One.

First, it was Luke. Then Erica. Then Tia. Then it was me. Before Ghaul kicked me off, I gazed right at his eyes.

"I've got a few last words, asshole. Fuck. You."

He grunted, unimpressed, and kicked me off. As I fell, my thoughts drifted to Yang.

I never told her how I truly felt...

*CRACK*

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Several moments later...

I woke up to see Tia hovering over me, clutching her side. Smiling, I got up, then frowned when I saw the burnt Traveller with that damned ship attached to it. Sadness filling every step, we began to walk away from the City, watching as the remaining Guardians evacuated the planet. We managed to find Luke and Erica and with them by our side, we crossed into Europe. As we scaled the mountains, the ground below us suddenly gave out and we fell.

I hit my head and my vision became blurry. "Ugh..."

"Hey, look! Someone left a perfectly good Guardian laying around! Four, in fact!"

I looked up to see a woman with a rifle standing before me, hand outstretched. Taking it, she pulled me to my feet and watched as the rest of my Fireteam stood up,

"Must be worse than I thought for you to be out so far."

Suddenly, a falcon's cry echoed through the mountains and one swooped down to land on the woman's arm. Ghost hovered weakly over my shoulder. "That falcon... Does it... belong to you?"

She smiled and scratched its chin. "This is Luis, best pilot we've got. I'm Hawthorn. How 'bout you? Fit to fly?" Hawthorn's smile turned into a smirk.

I looked at my team and they gave me nods. I turned back to Hawthorn and looked her straight in the eyes. "Yeah, if you've got ships for us."

She simply pointed at a pair of ships and we rushed over, hopping into the cockpit. Taking off, we followed Hawthorn to a place she called "The Farm".

I'll end it here. Most people have the Guardians lose their Light during Vol. Four or Five, right? Welp, not here. See you at the Farm.