I do not own Destiny or Naruto.

"Oryx is still alive." Their worst fear had been confirmed and Ashura had dreamt of it before any of them had even uttered a word to Zavala. The books of Osiris seemed to hold some truth after all it seemed, not that they had wanted this to be the truth in the slightest. Sasuke looked over to Hinata and sighed, her suspicions had been confirmed as well. Ashura butted in and was wanting to help them, but Zavala shut that down swiftly, telling her she had other things to worry about here and that her helping with a raid on Oryx was the last thing she needed to be preoccupied with.

He also said something about a fallen and he assumed it was Krux, seeing as the large fallen hadn't been seen in quite some time and Hinata had been worried about her. Sasuke looked over at Naruto and Sakura who had showed up in full gear. Shikamaru and Ino were behind them also in full gear. He wondered briefly why Ino was coming on this mission, but was glad to have her expertise here. Gaara was off training warlocks in their new abilities so it made sense why he wouldn't be joining them.

"When do we leave?" he asked and Naruto butted in this time. "We leave now, the sooner we can deal with this the better." He said and Sasuke nodded. He agreed fully with this, and dug through his gauntlets to equip his armor. Hinata soon followed suit and he nodded to her. They all equipped their best weapons and listened as Zavala explained the mission to them. As soon as he was finished telling them how they were supposed to go about it, he told them good luck and stay safe.

They made their way down to the ship docks and boarded their own ships. The flight there was silent as no one really had much to say other than their shared fear. They remembered the way he was able to drain their light and it wasn't a pleasant feeling to have that done to them. Sasuke looked over and caught sight of Hinata's ship to his left. He wondered if she was going to freeze up once more, but something was telling him she was going to be better this time. He believed in her.

When they dropped in they found themselves in a triangular room that had a long hallway lined with thrall statues in front of them. He looked around and say doorways to each side. Before the hallway lined with the statues there were two large lanterns that had relics sitting atop them. Naruto and Sakura grabbed the relics and rushed forth, a group of enemies spawning in front of them as they did so. Sasuke shot the taken blight that appeared and the door opened before them. They then took the relics and slammed them down at the feet of two of the statues, which started to hum and two new relics appeared.

They repeated this process twice more, with more and more enemies showing up each time. Sasuke and Hinata focused on taking out the enemies in the center room while Ino and Shikamaru focused on the enemies in the other two rooms so that Naruto and Sakura could continue depositing the relics to the statues. After so many times of doing this the statues were all humming with energy and a chest appeared at the end of the hallway.

This first puzzle seemed simple enough and they didn't want to think the rest were going to be this easy. They looked out and saw large swinging urns and they saw ships appearing and disappearing in the distance. In the far back they saw where they needed to get to. They all jumped onto the first ship together and looked around for another ship to appear. It came from the immediate right and they dropped down onto it. another one appeared in front of them and they jumped to it as well.

"This seems rather annoying." Ino sighed and Hinata nodded as they jumped onto a platform suspended in the air. The next five ships were all lined up in front of them for the most part and they jumped across onto each of them, complaining about the tediousness of it the entire way. They jumped off onto the platform with the enemies on it, only for Sakura to knock each of them off the platform without a second thought. "That was annoying." Ino grumbled and Sakura nodded as they took in the group to ensure everyone had made it across.

They then made their way into the room and noticed that it was a large door of its own and somehow they had to open it. It was simple enough to figure out, seeing as they had to become empowered with the deathsinger's power. They charged up the center plate with this power and the door opened after a while of swapping positions until everyone had deposited the power into the center plate. "He really doesn't want anyone in here." Sakura sighed and Shikamaru chuckled.

"Would you? The last time a guardian got close he ran away. He's nothing but a damn coward, hiding behind all of these puzzles." Shikamaru sighed and Sasuke couldn't help but agree with him. The creature was in fact hiding. They made their way into the next room and it seemed to be the same sequence as before, although two large knights appeared each time they read a glyph. Eventually the War Priest appeared and launched his attack. They all cowered behind one pillar and he destroyed it. Every time he destroyed a pillar they were able to damage him once more.

When he fell, another portal opened up and they made their way into the darkness before them. They past another large lantern and everything before them fell dark. Shikamaru pushed to the front of the group and touched the ground with two fingertips, while holding up an all too familiar hand sign with the other hand. They felt his shadows as they crawled over them and through the darkness. "Follow me." He said and they nodded as they followed him to the right to begin with.

They then took two left turns and then a right turn through the dark tunnels, only lit by the slight light of their ghosts. The last bit of this maze was a forward trot and they all sighed in relief as they made it into a more open room. However their relief was short lived as two knights caught sight of them. Naruto lunged for the first one with a rasengan in hand. Sakura made a move to take out the second, but Hinata sent an air palm directly to the gut of the second knight and it crumbled away.

Sasuke smirked, there was her fire.

They all gathered in front of the door and soon enough it too opened revealing a large room. They looked around the room and noticed a large ball hanging from the ceiling. Naruto took aim and shot the thing, only for a large ogre to crawl out of it. Sasuke immediately shot hit void bow at the creature and they all began shooting it. upon realizing they weren't doing anything to it, Naruto rushed out and pointed out that it had a large tumor growing out of the back of its head.

He took on the role of bait and gave everyone a chance to shoot at this tumor, which seemed to deal damage to him. Naruto continued to draw his gaze the entire time, only swapping out with Sakura when it seemed he was about to die. Sakura took to putting down a barrier to avoid being hit by the eye beam while everyone else jumped down into a pool of light to deal extra damage to the ogre. As soon as the ogre fell they all sighed and took a second to regain their bearings.

"I wonder what Ashura and the others are doing right now." Ino sighed wistfully and Hinata looked over to her curiously. "Probably enjoying some cozy time with her man no doubt." Sakura mused and Hinata turned her gaze onto her then. That was right... Ashura was spending quality time with her lover while they... they were all here... enduring this hell oryx had created just to thwart them. Hinata looked over to Sasuke and she offered him a small smile through her helmet. He made his way over to her and brushed his fingers against hers gently.

"Aww you guys are so cute, being lovey dovey in this pit of filth." Ino said sarcastically and Shikamaru chuckled as he crammed his hands in his pockets. Sakura and Naruto were off to the side discussing something silently and looking over at the group. Ino blushed darkly and raised a fist to the pinkette upon hearing what she had said. "It is no place to try and play matchmaker!" she screeched and Shikamaru blushed as he looked away from the blonde.

Sasuke looked to Hinata who was giggling with her hand in front of her helmet. He shook his head and jabbed two fingers into the forehead of her helmet. "You're a dork for even agreeing with her in the first place." He grumbled and she only continued to laugh. He felt a wave of relief fall over him, seeing as though even in this situation his group of friends could still joke around and be relaxed. He appreciated every bit of relief they could get down here.

"Come on, let's get moving." He sighed and they nodded as they followed him into the next room of trials. This one seemed fairly easy in a sense. Get to the other side without getting launched into oblivion. For anyone else this would have been annoying in every sense of the word, but since they could walk on walls, this was a piece of cake to them. They made their way across and dropped off the wall right at the end. They then approached the next area hidden behind a large door. When the doors opened it revealed a large open space with platforms all around them.

They rushed forwards and two hive wizards appeared and screeched at them. They began shooting at them and noticed that yet again they weren't doing any damage. They had protective barriers surrounding them. Hinata rushed forward and slammed her palms into the barrier of one of the sisters and the barrier faded from around her. Everyone began shooting at the first sister, while Shikamaru bound it with his shadows. Ino began throwing her nightshade at her and noticed that the sister was flinching in pain.

They all switched to snipers and began shooting for the head. When the first sister dropped they then turned their attentions to the second sister, and fell into the same pattern. They took out the second sister in the same way as the first, but they had no time to react as a large clawed hand smacked into them and sent them all flying backwards. They all scrambled to their feet and saw a massive Oryx hovering at the front of the arena.

"I see he's done hiding." Shikamaru grunted as he regained his footing. Ino rushed over to help him up and he thanked her softly, seeing as he had taken the greater impact of the hit, he was injured. Another swipe of the giant hand was met with Sakura's chakra enhanced fist, sending it flying back away from the group. "You puny humans are insufferable." he grunted and Sakura only smirked at him. She made a move towards him, but he flew back out of her reach. Seemed they were going to have to use weapons for this fight, but that was to be expected.

Ino launched more nightshade, but it was deflected off of a barrier. That was when they realized it was going to be a similar fight as it was with Oryx's daughters. They needed to remove the barrier and the only one who could do that was Hinata. They looked around only to see ogres materializing on four plates around the room. Naruto and Shikamaru tag teamed one of the ogres by binding it and narutp using rasengan. As soon as that ogre died a knight appeared in its wake. They then took out that knight as well, while Sakura took out her own ogre with a destructive punch to the eye.

Sasuke bound his ogre with a tether and Hinata rushed forward and used gentle fist to decimate that one. When the knight appeared she spun into a rotation to deflect the blade that was slammed down on her. When the knight's defenses were down she rushed forward and used an empty palm to kill him. When all the knights and ogres were dead, a black goop appeared on each of the plates. Four of them stood next to the goop until something told them all to step in. A large detonation shook the arena and oryx collapsed towards the platform with his chest cavity exposed.

They took this opportunity to begin sniping him and using linear fusion rifles on his exposed chest. After a while of this he recovered and pushed himself away from the platform and swiped at them once more. Sakura defended against his hits, knocking them away every time. More ogres appeared and they each took out their ogres once more. It seemed to be a repetitive cycle with oryx. Ogres, knights, big knight, then the black goop and he was down once more. Once they had figured out the tactic to kill him it seemed simple enough.

Sasuke stood by Hinata and continued to protect her from the thrall that appeared. Hinata held up her gauntlet and noticed that it was time for them to detonate the bombs once more. She called it out and they followed her orders. After so long of everyone shooting at him, Sakura and Naruto rushed forth and slammed two fist of havoc down upon him, making him release one final cry of anguish, only for his body to fall lifeless and float backwards towards Saturn.

Sakura and Naruto cheered and knocked fists with one another, only to then turn and looked at the group. "We finally did it!" Sakura cheered and Hinata rushed up to hug her tightly. They spun in a circle and released one another, only to turn and watch as Oryx's body continued to float away. "I wonder where he is going to land..." Ino pointed out and Sasuke shrugged. It didn't matter to him where the creature landed, he could float off into outer space for all he cared. Hinata continued staring at her gauntlet so Sasuke made his way over to her. "Guys..." he called and they all turned to face him and Hinata.

She pulled the scout rifle out of her inventory and held it up so they could all see it. "Hinata turned his life force into a weapon." He said and they all grouped up around him to look at the weapon. "What's it called?" Sakura asked and she turned the weapon in her grasp. "It's called the touch of malice..." she said and they all stared at the weapon curiously. None of them knew what she was going to do with the weapon, but they agreed it shouldn't be used unless dire circumstances. "It's going in the vault when we get home." Hinata said and the group nodded. They agreed the weapon would be safe there.

Hinata made her way over to the ledge of the platform and slammed a transmat beacon into the ground there. She wanted to go home. She looked back at the rest of her group and waited patiently for them to stop talking and notice what she had done. Rather than make it to where they had to go all the way back through the hell they had just left she decided to carry a beacon with her so they could hop on their ships and go. They all turned to her and she smiled at them through her helmet.

"Whatcha doin over there Hinata?" Ino asked and Hinata stepped out of the way of the beacon. "Well, that solves our dilemma." Shikamaru sighed and she giggled softly as she tapped on her gauntlet and summoned her ship to come get her. when they returned to the tower Zavala and the others were there to greet them in a celebratory manner. She looked around and overwhelmed at how many people had gathered to celebrate the fall of the taken king. She should have expected as much seeing as the same thing happened after Crota's fall and the fall of Atheon. Music was playing and guardians were all dancing.

She looked over and saw that Ashura and Uldren were watching her from the side, she short woman plugged right into the tall man's side. Hinata rushed over to her and away from the crowd. Ashura offered her a small wave. "So, what's this I heard about Gaara taking off to Mars with a group of guardians to try and reclaim it?" she asked and Hinata blinked. She didn't know anything about this. "I'm not sure..." Hinata said softly and Ashura frowned.

"You aren't planning on running off without me are you?" Ashura asked her and Hinata looked at the woman in surprise. "Anywhere you go I will be there too. I kinda like you." The woman mused and Hinata released a small laugh. Seemed Ashura enjoyed being around her as much as Hinata did. It wasn't long before Sasuke slunk over and tucked himself to the side near Uldren, Hinata knew he wasn't much for crowds. "Hey Hinata... you wanna get out of here and meet a friend of mine?" Ashura asked and Hinata nodded rapidly. She wanted to be as far away from the celebration of death as possible.

"Sasuke do you want to come along?" she asked and the man nodded, he would much rather go on another mission than be celebrated by the masses. They made their way down to the ship dock once more and snuck into Ashura's ship. Hinata ignored the small argument about her lack of awoken ship and looked over to Sasuke once more. "Are you alright?" he asked her and she nodded. She wasn't sure what she was feeling right now, but she knew something else would be coming since it always happened that way. She didn't know if she would ever be able to sit back and be at peace with her life anymore. So she decided she would do everything she could to find peace in between large missions.

Things would always be hard, but she could always find the easy moments in between. Such as now as she looked around her at the large building they had entered. It was dark, but with the light of her ghost she could see well enough. They approached a large room with two heavy metal doors and Ashura stood in front of the door and looked at them. "What kind of friend would be living here?" Sasuke grumbled as he looked around and Ashura frowned. "One that I cherish, so please... no sudden movements or you may startle him." She said and the group nodded as she moved to shove open the large doors.

"My... Queen." A raspy voice carried through the doorway and Hinata had chills that ran down her spine at the sound. This was no human. They followed her in and upon a throne of dead servitors sat a large fallen. "My mother... my Queen." He repeated and Ashura made her way over to the large fallen that scooped her up into its gras and sat her on her shoulder. Hinata couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with both the large fallen and Uldren as the two of them looked at each other. She could have sworn she had seen a flicker of darkness in Uldren's eyes as soon as they landed on the large fallen, but she wasn't sure.

"This is Fikrul!" Ashura said cheerfully and the large fallen moved closer to get a closer look at them. "Pleasure... is mine." He rasped and offered a large hand to Hinata, which she placed her smaller hand in his grasp. A scraping noise was heard and the group looked to see another large fallen dragging a servitor behind them. The moment the fallen came into the light Hinata recognized her immediately. "Krux!!" Hinata called and the fallen dropped the servitor she was dragging and hid it behind her.

"Not what looks like... not being bad I promise." Krux said and Hinata stared at her oddly while Ashura released a loud laugh. "Krux, I brought them to your boyfriend." Ashura said and Hinata's eyes went wide in shock. She looked over to Krux who was waving all four hands in the air in an embarrassed manner. "Not boyfriend.... Mate..." she managed and Hinata couldn't help the smile that crossed her lips. At least things were going well for Krux. Fikrul put Ashura down beside Uldren and looked at the dark haired man who had yet to say a word about the large fallen.

"Who is this?" Firkul asked pointing at Uldren and Ashura then blushed as Krux jumped in and embarrassed Ashura the same way. "That is Ashura's mate!" she called out and Ashura raised her fist at Krux who put her hand on Ashura's head and held her at bay. "I wanted to tell him about my boyfriend!" she snapped playfully and Uldren only chuckled as he watched the group. "Father." Fikrul called and Uldren looked over to him oddly. Hinata could only assume how odd that had to feel. Being called father by a creature more than twice your size was most likely awkward.

Hinata and Sasuke looked at their gauntlets and noticed Sakura and Naruto were sending them messages trying to locate them, seemed like it might be time to go home to the tower once more.

:-:-:-:

Naruto and Sakura had looked everywhere for Hinata and Sasuke and yet they couldn't find them anywhere. Eventually Naruto lost the war and his growling stomach won. "Sakura-chan, I'm so hungry please... they'll come back." He groaned and she rolled her eyes at him. "Fine, fine. Let's go eat." Sakura sighed and he grinned as he chased after her and linked her fingers with hers. They approached the new barbecue place that Sakura had wanted to try, only to find Sasuke and Shikamaru smoking outside of the place.

"We looked everywhere for you guys, what happened?" Naruto grumbled and Sasuke sighed. "We went with Ashura to go see her friend out in the cosmodrome." He said simply and Naruto looked offended. Naruto peeked into the restaurant and saw that Hinata and Sasuke had saved them both a spot between Ino and shikamaru's seats. "Come on in, join us." Ashura called out from the other side of the table. Naruto didn't have to be told twice he was ready for food.

Ashura offered him a plate and he immediately loaded it up. They all sat and chatted about anything and everything for hours. When the sky turned dark they finally decided it was time to pay and leave. They all grouped up outside the store and sighed as they all had filled up and were ready to go. Uldren and Ashura bid them farewell and made their way to their home, while the rest of them lingered for a moment longer. "You think they're still running crucible matches at this time?' Naruto asked and his ghost appeared before him.

"No, the stopped doing night matches after I was murdered in one." His ghost said and Naruto sighed deeply, his boredom was going to get the better of him it seemed. "You can always go patrolling for resources." Ino offered and Naruto made a face at her. "That isn't what I want to do, besides... Ashura said if we go around killing fallen for the fun of it, we will end up with a metal limb." He grumbled and Sasuke chuckled at this. Seemed Naruto didn't know how Ashura had gotten her metal limb and it sure wasn't from the fallen.

"I promise you that was a threat of her making you a limb and not the fallen giving you one." Sasuke said and Naruto looked at him quizzically. "Then how did she get the metal leg?" Naruto asked and Sasuke rolled his eyes at the blonde. He couldn't really be this dumb for someone who was also so smart. "I kinda want one." He said and Sasuke sighed once more, pinching the bridge of his nose to ebb the oncoming headache there. Sakura smacked him over the head and he whimpered as he held his head.

"She cut off her own leg you fool." Ino sighed and crossed her arms over her chest as they made their way to the barracks. "You know you guys... Naruto and I were thinking of leaving..." Sakura said suddenly and the group looked over to them. This didn't come as much of a surprise as it had been when Gaara had left, as they had been expecting this. "When?" Sasuke asked and Hinata smiled at the two of them. "We will be back, we just want to go out and see what we can do for the rest of the group. We are so much stronger than everyone thinks and if we can wander and make a difference then why shouldn't we?" she said and Naruto nodded.

It was decided then, Naruto and Sakura were going to leave soon.

"We can hold it down here, just give us a while to get everyone here prepared before you do leave." Sasuke said and Shikamaru nodded. "Troublesome. But... can't blame you. Do what you feel is right, if we need you we will call you back here." He said and they nodded. "We were planning on giving it a few months and then going out. Just to make sure we aren't needed. "Naruto said and the group nodded. "We should be good without you guys for a while, so don't stress... we have Hinata and Sasuke." Ino said and Hinata blushed and held up her hands.

"B-but-" "But nothing." Sasuke chimed in and nudged her gently. "We know you are strong enough to handle it so don't worry." Naruto said and grinned at her. she just blushed and ducked her head down. She didn't think so but she knew she had to believe in herself. She snapped her head up and nodded. "Ok! I won't let you down!" she said and fisted her hands to her chest tightly. She could do it she just had to believe in herself. As the group made their way into their barrack, they each made their way into their respective beds.

Hinata couldn't help but watch Sasuke as he drifted off to sleep. She wondered why he believed so heavily in her, but she also knew he could see something she couldn't, so she was going to trust in him.