I do not own destiny.

Ashura looked over to Sasuke, Hinata, Naruto, and Octavia to see if they were seeing the same thing she was. This was... odd...

The vex had resurrected the Undying Mind and they had just completed the raid to kill it for the third time... although now things were going much differently than the second time. She watched as Misra walked over to the corpse of the fallen vex and placed a hand on it. In an unexpected turn of events, they were all currently watching as Misra's mechanical body was basically absorbing the Undying mind. The shifting of metal plates and the crunching of the vex corpse was odd enough, but Misra was absorbing the radiolaria within the Undying mind as well.

"So, uhhh, Is anyone gonna stop her?" Naruto asked, but no one moved. Ashura made her way over to her, but stumbled backwards as a minotaur teleported before her and stomped at her. the continuous crunching of metal stopped and Misra turned around as her torso began to close up but not before revealing the flickering white of radiolaria within her. when her chest completely closed, the vex around her all started to kneel before her. Ashura's eyes went wide as she looked around and saw the massive group all bowing to her. "Misra?" she called out and the exo looked at her with a tilt of the head. "What is going on with these guys?" she asked and Ashura shook her head. She couldn't really comprehend what was happening.

"Uh... I think these are your vex now..." Octavia said and they all turned to look at her oddly when she said this. "How would that be?" Ashura asked and Octavia scratched the back of her neck and looked to her feet in embarrassment. "Well, seeing as they are all bowing to her, I think she now has control over these vex, by consuming their leader she gained control of them." She said softly and Ashura furrowed her brow. "I befriended the fallen, so how did you gain control over the hive? They are definitely not ones to be able to befriend..." Ashura pointed out and Octavia blushed and looked down at her feet as she pulled out her ghost for the first time since they had met her.

It was hive.

"My ghost was never meant for me. He chose me because sometimes you have to do what you can to survive." She said and Ashura paled as she realized what she meant. When Naruto opened his mouth to question it she told him to shut up and don't ask anymore questions. Ashura made her way over to Octavia and placed a hand on her shoulder. The ebony haired woman looked up at her in shock and Ashura smiled at her. "Don't ever be ashamed of what you have to do to live, desperate times calls for desperate measures. I will never judge you." Ashura said and Octavia bit her lip and hid her glowing green eyes within her bangs. Ashura shielded the girl from the rest of the onlookers so none of them would see her crying.

She was grateful the girl had even opened up to her, seeing as they had always been at odds for some unknown reason. When Octavia was done crying she ruffled the girl's messy hair and motioned for her to follow them as they made the trek to their ships to inform Ikora and the others of their success. Misra turned around and waved at the vex that had followed them all the way to their ship. "Go away dammit. Please... I will call on you if I need you!" she growled and Ashura and the others started laughing as Misra tried to shake a goblin off that was clinging to her leg.

"Yes, yes... leader... I am your leader... but leave me alone for a damn minute!" she growled and shook the goblin off of her leg. The vex all looked at one another then vanished through a portal they summoned.

:-:-:-:

Ashura sighed as she looked at Ikora, who had yet to speak, but was sporting a worried look all the same. "What is it?" she asked and Ikora sighed as she stopped her pacing. "I'm sending you and Misra to mercury, with her newfound ability to control vex she may come in handy. If I could send anyone else, I would but seeing as you are at the center of this as well I have no choice." She sighed and Ashura blinked. She couldn't understand why she would be at the center of this as she didn't know what this was.

"Osiris. I can't get in contact with him and I feel as if you may be able to find him faster than I can. Cabal are on the move on mercury and I feel like he is involved, him and his... sundial." She sighed once more and Ashura nodded. She knew exactly what he had been trying to do with the machine. He wanted to save Saint-14. She looked at her ghost and he stayed silent. She wondered why he hadn't spoken to her in months, but perhaps it was because he was still mad.

"We will go. I will go let her know that we are headed to mercury to help Osiris." Ashura said and once more she looked over to her ghost. "Why don't you ever speak to me anymore, Kabr?" she asked and he released a small sigh as he looked over at her. "Because I don't know who that is... how long has it been?" he asked and her eyes went wide. His voice was different! "Oh... It has been... Six years now I believe..." she said softly and he sighed once more.

"You've accomplished so much and I wasn't there to see any of it... I'm disappointed, honestly." He said softly and she snatched him out of the air and hugged him lightly. He seemed surprised by this but didn't say anything. "I was so mean to you... do not ever regret not being there for it. be thrilled that you get to see what I have become and will continue to see it for as long as we are a team. I have been down a long road and it has made me better, but don't you ever regret seeing that. You would be disappointed in me for the things I did and went through." She said as she let him go and he sighed once more.

"I have all the memories, but I wasn't living them. It's like I'm playing back a movie through my own eyes." He said and she frowned. "Then don't ever be disappointed. You didn't have to see me go through any of that first hand, I would be grateful if I lived through all of that through another's memories. I didn't experience it." she said and he seemed to contemplate that for a while before he sighed once more and nodded in his own little way. "Alright! Let's get to it then!" he said and she smiled at him as she took off running over to her ship, where Misra was waiting.

They took off to see Osiris and the moment the sundial spire came into view, Ashura smiled. She hopped out of her ship and walked over to him. He seemed relieved to see her as she strolled up. "Ashura... I need your help. I cant reactivate the sundial without the components that the cabal stole. Would you mind going to the tangled shore and taking them back?" he asked and she nodded. She could do this for him.

"And while she is doing that could Misra go to nessus and place these vex transponders for me?" he asked and Misra jumped at the chance to be helpful. She nodded rapidly as she took the transponders from Osiris, who sighed at her exuberance. As she watched Misra take off she looked back to Osiris and held out a hand to him, which he only stared at. "I will save him for you." Was all she said as she dropped her arm and made her way back to her ship, only to hear him say I know you will as she walked away.

She took off for the tangled shore and when she got there she activated the smaller sundial and made her way to the four horn gulch and looked at the group of cabal gathering there. They were going to make this easy for her. she pulled her bow from her back and took aim. Seeing a psion in her sights, she closed one eye and released the arrow. Upon impact it sent a wave of purple toxins out around it and she listened as the cabal began coughing and fell over dead. She quirked a brow and looked at the bow once more. A smirk crossed her lips as she nocked another arrow and set it free on another group, killing them as well. By the time they had figured out her location there was only five of them left.

She rushed them with her knife in hand and began taking them down. She plunged her knife into the neck of the final cabal centurian and as he fell over grasping at his neck she hopped off his back. She began rummaging through their bags and taking the components scattered amongst them her ghost took them in and she smiled at him as he did so. She looked around to see if there were any she had missed but she couldn't find anymore.

She made her way back to the ship and took off towards mercury once more. She landed and looked over to Osiris, who was busy piecing the machine back together. When he was finished, he looked over at her and sighed. "I need you to charge it with light or else it wont work." He said and she nodded as she placed her hands atop the sundial and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath as she focused on channeling her light into the contraption. She was heavily focused on doing so when Misra landed and rushed over to them and began chattering away, breaking her focus.

When she looked at Misra, her eyes went wide, just as Osiris' eyes had. In her hands... was the ghost of Saint-14. She had apparently pulled it from the hands of a dead goblin on Nessus.

:-:-:-:-:

"Guardian you're just in time... I was just about to send my ghost away." Saint said and Ashura's eyes widened. This was why he had died. They had fought through hundreds of vex just to get to him and they were only not realizing why he had died. He kept speaking to them as if he knew them as well, or more so her. Ashura didn't know what to think of this, she didn't really know what to think of anything anymore, seeing as everything continued to surprise her lately. At least everything was keeping her on her toes and she wasn't going to get rusty anytime soon.

He tried to continue speaking but in a flash of white light he was restrained by the vex. As Ashura took back to killing the mechanical creatures he called out to her. "Save some vex for me, my friend, im trapped... not dead." He said and Ashura couldn't help the laugh that escaped her as she continued to take out vex after vex with Misra by her side. As she continued punching and ripped vex apart he let out a laugh. "You are even more vicious than I remember!" he yelled and she laughed once more. "These vex should flee, don't they know you're here to kill them?" he asked and she shook her head at the animated Russian.

"Of course not, didn't you know that?" she said and he chuckled. "Ah, she finally speaks, does she? Good to hear your voice guardian, last time you never said a word. Thought you might be mute." He mused and she rolled her eyes. The last trip through the corridors of time had been a failure to save him, but she had found something else quite interesting in the process. She looked over to see an orb had dropped from one of the vex and she rushed to grab it and slam it on the pedestal holding Saint captive. The moment she did though, it imprisoned her instead.

"I can feel the light in my bones! Martyr mind, time to die!" Saint yelled as he flew through the air, his sentinel shield in hand as he smashed into the Martyr Mind, crushing it to the ground in its final moments. She dropped down and rushed over to him as he was dusting his hands off from taking down the large minotaur. "It's been a long time my friends, I've been chasing your memories for centuries." He said and she tilted her head in interest. How long had he truly spent here fighting the vex?

"You should go now, those who can kill me are dead, you've made sure of that." He said and she nodded. She looked over to Misra who seemed mesmerized by him and his ethereal lavender glow. "What if the vex take your light again?" her ghost asked him and he scoffed audibly. "Impossible. It cost them everything to build the martyr mind, and when you crushed it, they were doomed." He said with a wave of the hand. Ashura frowned as she realized how long he would be trapped here once more, or at least until they could get the gateway open again...

"You want us to leave you here? You'll be stuck here for years..." her ghost said as if reading her mind. If Saint could smirk, she knew he would just from the tone of his voice alone. "You've both done plenty. Just open the infinite forest gate for me, I'll meet you the long way around, at the entrance." He said and she nodded lightly. She could understand why he would want them to go, it made sense to her to send them back early and just meet them there. They looked up and saw a vex portal appear where he had jumped down from.

He chuckled lightly upon seeing this and pulled his shotgun off his back, only to look at them once more. "What's a few more years of fighting vex?" he asked as he gave them a salute and transported them away. When they appeared back at the sundial Ashura sighed as she looked over to see Misra still distracted. "What's wrong?" she asked and Misra jerked to look at her. "I could have eaten that vex too..." she said and Ashura rolled her eyes as she looked over to Osiris who was rushing over to them. "What happened?" he asked and she smiled at him as she made her way towards the gate to the infinite forest.

She motioned to it and he furrowed his brows. "Open it." she said and he nodded and did so. Not long after he did, a vex goblin came flying out. When the goblin got up and tried to make its way back into the gate a fist came out and struck it, knocking it down once more. Soon after Saint came out of the portal dragging yet another goblin by its foot. When he reached the steps, he blasted it with the perfect paradox and dropped the leg he was holding. "My name is Saint-14, and they call me the greatest titan who ever lived." He said and Ashura smiled at him as he looked towards her. "But I would be dead if not for you." He said and she continued to smile softly.

She opened her mouth to say something, but a minotaur came through the portal and he turned to face it. He shield bashed it then began headbutting its core, when it didn't shatter he grabbed the dead goblin and used it to pull it closer to him as he smashed his head into the core once more this time shattering it. "Since the day I met you, I swore I would make it my duty to follow your example, to this day... I'm still trying." He said as he stepped backwards and turned to face them once more. "No need to keep trying Saint. We have been following your lead the entire way." She said and he chuckled as he made his way down the steps. "No need to be modest, my friend. I cannot compare to you!" he said and Misra seemed to be enthralled with him once more. Perhaps it was the fact one of the greatest titans was standing before her, or perhaps it was the accent. Misra loved accents.

"Come on Saint, we should get you back to the tower." She said and he nodded as he followed behind her. She looked behind her to see that Osiris was watching her with eyes glistening with hard fought back tears. She offered him a small smile as he tried to conceal his emotions once more. She knew the man had been hurting, considering he had been the reason his best friend had been lost in the infinite forest. She couldn't help the amusement that flooded her as she watched Saint throw an arm around Osiris' shoulders and began talking the man's ears off. He seemed to be excited to be able to tell him of his exploits once more.

Ashura looked down at the small object in her grasp and she smiled down it while it looked up at her in utter confusion. She was going to right a wrong when they got Saint back to the tower.

:-:-:-:-:

Ashura took a deep breath as she traced her fingers over the door handle. She knew where this led... it led right down to her path of misery once more. If this didn't work, she didn't know what would in all honesty. "Where are you taking me?" the small creature asked and she only smiled at it. "I know where your guardian is." She said and the ghost looked up at her once more as it hovered next to her own ghost. "How do you know that?" the ghost asked and Ashura rocked her head and attempted to form an idea of how to tell it how she knew this. She couldn't quite come up with anything, so they made their way down the dark hallway in silence from there on out.

The only sound echoing behind them was the clacking of the heels of her boots. The soft tap tap tap reverberating off of all the walls. The ghost continued to ask Ashura questions, but she couldn't answer any of them without having to go through the pain of the explanation. She continued down the hallway and looked over the images of the previous vanguard leaders along the walls. She made her way to the tomb with the image she was searching for on it. she pushed open the gated door and crouched next to the tomb and pushed away the heavy rock lid. Inside she pushed away the cloak that was rested over him and she motioned for the ghost to come over to the body. "Look I don't think this is going to work. They obviously already had another ghost." The ghost grumbled and Ashura snatched the ghost out of the air and forced it down to him.

"Scan, now." She demanded and the ghost grumbled as it did so. After a few minutes of silence, the ghost turned to her seemingly in concern. "You... you were right... but how... their ghost... it was me..." the ghost said and Ashura smiled at it. "Welcome to the future where you died, Ivara." She said and the ghost set to work on reviving the dead guardian. After a moment his hand began to move and it grasped the edge of the coffin as they tried to pull themselves up. Tears filled Ashura's eyes and she tried her hardest not to hug the man when he sat up and began grumbling about how shitty his circuitry felt. "Oh... Cayde..." she sobbed and he looked over to her and hugged her tightly as she cried. "Oh, what a horrible dream I had. I was dead, dead. And not like in I could be revived dead, either. I was done-zo dead, cause Ivara was dead." He said and she began sobbing once more.

He hugged her tighter and looked around, only to see Andal Brask's tomb across the hall from the room they were in. "Oh... shit... I was dead..." he said and she nodded as he released her and looked down at himself. He kept trying to figure out how he was alive, but also why he was so dusty. "What happened, and where is that bitch of a prince?" he asked and her lip trembled as she looked back up to him. "He was dead... but now he isn't and I don't know where he is now." She said and he grunted. "I'm going to give him a piece of my mind when I see his ass again. How dare he put me in the dirt." He grumbled as he crawled out of his casket and began stretching to get the dust out of his joints.

Rapid footfalls echoed around them and before he could even think of anything to say, someone else grabbed him in a hug. Ashura offered a soft smile to the crying Ikora as she hugged Cayde tightly. Zavala stood in the doorway, as did Misra and Loki. "You are mad!" Loki exclaimed and she could only laugh. She held her stomach as her laughter got louder and they all began to join in. "Cayde you are never allowed to leave again, you know this right?" Zavala chuckled and Cayde looked over to him and was going to make a signature smart ass remark, but when he saw that unfamiliar twitch of Zavala's jaw he clammed up. Even Ashura could tell that Zavala was trying not to show that he had missed Cayde and that grounding him to the tower was the only way he could ensure his friends safety.

"Ok, fine, you guys win." He sighed and Ashura smiled up at him. "Come on, you have to see Noah. He will be four this year." She said and he began to sputter. "Four!? When I left, he was two!!!" he yelled and she nodded. "Yeah... it's been a while." She said and he continued to sputter all the way back up to the top of the stairs. It didn't take long for the news of Cayde's return to spread. Everyone was coming to see him, even Banshee. Even those who had blamed her for his death had come to apologize to her and beg forgiveness for their rudeness. She had told them all that there was no need seeing as she had been the one to make the wish that caused the chain of events to occur in the first place.

She sat in her seat beside him and Saint, who were both boasting about their adventures. Cayde suddenly stopped talking about himself and began telling Saint all about her battles and how she had befriended some of the fallen. She looked around and noticed more and more people were gathering around and telling them both tales of her adventures, which made her smile. She was nothing to brag about, and yet they all seemed to want to tell each other stories as if she were. They even called her a legend and a martyr. She was nothing of a legend. They also began talking about Misra and she couldn't help but be amused at this. They called her the Fallen Queen and Misra the Vex Oracle.

This amused her to no end, because she wasn't a martyr, she was a problem. Both of them were a problem, but for who was the question.