Sakura sighed as she sat on the edge of one of the flower pot looking things with the flag firmly planted within. She kicked her legs back and forth in her bored annoyance. Ashura had lied to them, and yet showed no sympathy or regret for it. She glanced over at Sasuke, who was busy wrapping bandages up one of Hinata's exposed arms. His movements were delicate and cautious, as if he didn't want to hurt her any worse. Sakura wondered if he knew how gentle he was to her, but she doubted he paid that much attention. He had said that he owed her his life. Sakura however, didn't fully agree with that, and she knew Hinata didn't either. Sakura sighed as she spotted a new ship docking at the tower. She supposed whoever this person was, would be set up by the time they got back from the black garden, as the awoken had called it.

She sighed and glanced up at the sky once more, the bright blue hue of the morning sky with its puffy white clouds seemed to calm her, and she could now understand Shikamaru's obsession with the sky. She had always been so busy before, that she didn't realize how calming and beautiful the sky could be. "Oh, Ashura, hey." Sasuke muttered bitterly and this broke Sakura from her thoughts. "What did I do?" She snapped and Sakura watched her carefully. "Nothing, but lie to us." He said and she narrowed her silver eyes at him. "About what, exactly?" She asked and he sighed and shook his head.

"Why didn't you tell us that the queen had sent you to get an eye of the gate lord?" Sakura asked and Ashura snorted. "Because when we went, Lion broke the eye; got us banned from the reef, and now the awoken hate us. So you tell me why I didn't say anything about it. The stranger said that only you three would be able to retrieve a gate lord eye without destroying it. So I never lied, I just didn't mention our little issue in the reef." Ashura said and Hinata frowned.

"Krux says hello, Ashura." Hinata said suddenly, slicing through that building tension faster than it could form. "Really?" Ashura asked and Hinata nodded. "Good, she's alright then..." Ashura sighed in relief and Hinata furrowed her brow at her. "Why wouldn't she be?" Hinata asked and Ashura frowned. "Sir princely was treating her none too nicely and I was going to have none of it." Ashura said and Hinata watched her carefully. "Thank you for standing up for krux." Hinata said and Ashura shook her head. "Don't thank me..." she said and Hinata frowned, she hadn't said it rudely; but it had seemed that way. "She's bitter because her boyfriend hates her." A familiar voice said and the icy look that flashed through her eyes shot right to the person behind her. "Lion..." she hissed and he smirked. "What?" He asked and she shook her head. "Nothing... absolutely nothing at all. I don't have time for you because I'm waiting on someone." She said and he shrugged, but walked off.

"Who are you waiting for?" Sakura asked and Ashura scratched her head lightly. "Uh... the woman who saved me when I first became a guardian..." she said and her eyes flicked over to the odd looking ship in the distance. "I see... is she the one who helped you get the leg?" Sakura asked and Ashura watched her for a moment. "Yes. I was bleeding out on the ground, screaming at the top of my lungs in the middle of nowhere, unable to move due to the pain and all alone." Ashura began with a snarl, but then sighed and continued, "She built me the leg on the spot and brought me here. That was two years ago, a little more a little less." She said and walked away.

:-:-:-:-:-:

"Gaara would love it here..." Sakura said with an amused look. Sasuke didn't have any amusement cross his features but Hinata allowed a small smile. "that's what I told the speaker..." she said and Sakura looked over at her with a small look of guilt, what Sasuke had said made her feel bad about what she had done... but it seemed that she wasn't going to change her mind still. Hinata summoned her sparrow and followed Danny's lead.

"You should tell her." Sasuke said before taking off to follow the others once more. Sakura sighed and summoned her sparrow as well, but she didn't feel the need to catch up to them just yet, she had an odd feeling in her gut. She looked around and spotted exactly what was making her stomach feel odd, there was something hanging off of a pole near one of the cabal base camps. It looked ragged and worn down, but she could still tell it was once a human... "Hey guys, wait a minute." She called out as she sped towards the flag staff that held the person on it.

Sasuke and Hinata turned their sparrows around and hovered to a stop near the top of the hill. "Hinata what is that?" Danny asked and she shook her head. "Let me get a good look." She said and the veins around her eyes pulsed and she glanced towards the flagpole. "He's gone, completely. His ghost is impaled upon the end of the staff with him..." she said and her eyes softened in sadness for this lost comrade of the tower. "He seems to still be holding tightly onto some sort of rolled up paper..." she said and Sakura nodded. "I will go get the paper, you watch my back." She said and Hinata nodded.

Sakura took off down the sandy dunes and knocked away each of the offending cabal in her path. "She's a barrier titan with the strength of a striker, that's kind of cool." Danny said and Hinata looked at him. "So she can put up barriers?" Hinata began, but a smile crossed her lips. "Well, it only fits because she needs something to protect her while she heals people." Hinata said and Danny nodded. "Barrier titans such as me are great to have around, you may not be able to shoot from within the barrier, but neither can they." He said and Sasuke nodded. "That makes sense as well."

"Loki and I go around and troll the fallen sometimes. He lets them kill him, then I put a barrier around him and the fallen, and he self-revives and decimates them when they think they are safe." Danny chuckled and Sasuke raised a brow. "Oh uh... don't tell Ashura that... she would knock me into next week." Danny laughed nervously then whispered something under his breath.

"What's a crota?" Sasuke asked and Hinata looked over at Danny with a scolding look. "Ashura is not crota!" She scolded and Danny started laughing. "She's just as scary as the tales of him are, though!" Danny laughed and Hinata pouted. Sasuke didn't seem all too enthused with their little spat so he shrugged and watched as Sakura was running back up to them with the thing in hand.

"So, Sakura when you get back... tell Cayde-6-6 to call upon crota." Danny said and Sakura looked at him strangely but shrugged and said she would when they got back to the tower. "Ok so this thing is a map... and I believe I know what of..." Sakura said as she pointed at the moon and the small illustration that resembled the temple of crota. "I think this is where I was found..." she said and pointed at the illustration. "And wasn't this where you found Sasuke, Hinata?" She asked pointing to the darkness zone between Russia and widow's court. Hinata nodded and eyed the drawings that littered the page. "They are mainly on earth, but I think he was searching for more when he had come here." Sakura said and Hinata tapped her finger on the map. "That's dock-13..." she said and then her fingers trailed up the map and over to the area where three dots lingered close together. "That is another forbidden zone..." she said and Danny looked at her with a frown. "That's old japan... that's edo..." he said and she nodded. "That's home..." Sakura whispered and ran her fingers over the image.

"So now we know where we need to go then..." Sasuke said and Hinata nodded. "Hey guys, I don't mean to crush your dreams of returning to japan and all... but if we don't get through this right here... you will never see it..." Danny said and pointed at the now glowing portal in the distance. Hinata turned around and nodded. "We should hurry then, Naruto, Shikamaru, Gaara and Ino are all depending on us!" She said in a soft, yet determined voice. Sakura and Sasuke nodded and exchanged looks before they took off towards that portal.

Danny jumped and dropped a fist of havoc on the vex that appeared from the portal, while Sasuke and Hinata worked on taking out the surviving few. "Alright, so..." Danny began and they looked at him cautiously. "I want each of you to run straight through; do not stop for anything, nothing at all. Not even me calling for help." He said and Hinata watched him carefully. "If I call for help, it is not from you three. So whatever you do, don't turn around. Loki and Ashura will come running if I need help, trust me." He said and Hinata opened her mouth to speak once more. "If I do die, my ghost will send out a signal to Ashura and she will follow the telepathic message right to me. She will revive me and then we will continue to clear this place of the vex." He said and Hinata nodded slowly.

"You three focus on the dark heart your ghost is telling you about. Avoid the divisive mind, because Ashura, Loki, and I will handle that one. Now go, I'm going to send them a message to be prepared for a jump." Danny said and Sasuke nodded. "You're not so bad kid." He said before he took off down the moss covered pathway. Danny offered a friendly salute then watched them vanish down the pathway. "Alrighty then... let's get this going then..." he said with a sigh.

"Man I really hate the vex..." he complained as they began to appear once the group had run ahead.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Hinata froze as she stumbled through the doorways of the large room. "What is that?" She asked but neither Sasuke nor Sakura could tell her. "That is the dark heart." Sasuke's ghost, now dubbed yami (literally meaning darkness or dark), said. "So, are you three prepared to kill a god?" The emerald colored ghost asked. "I don't think we have much of a choice now do we?" Sakura asked and Hinata shook her head. "Alright... well just be careful..." KO said and the three nodded as the group of vex goblins turned and looked up at them.

"I can't say I'm sorry for the intrusion..." Sakura said as she and Sasuke lunged forwards to begin taking out the goblins. Hinata's body refused to move, and she knew she was once more getting all choked up with fear. She knew she shouldn't be doing this again, she knew she should be down there helping them, but she just couldn't find it in herself to move. "Hinata... just go on, they need you..." a voice whispered in the back of her mind and she teared up. "I can't...." She whispered, but a solid repetitive nudge to the center of her back made her look behind her. KO was ramming himself against the center of her back to try and get her to move. "Go on, you can do this..." he said as he rammed her back. "You took down a blade with your bare hands! I know you can do this!" He said and she watched him ram her back a few more times. She then nodded and jumped down to join her comrades in the fight against the goblins, but something felt wrong and before she could even hit the ground, an agonized scream ripped from her throat and she was sent flying across the way.

Sasuke threw down the vex he was currently impaling on his blade and ran over to her, but a shockwave sent him flying backwards. "Sakura!" He yelled and she dropped the vex she had just smashed the head of. "Hm?" She asked but her question was just as swiftly answered when she saw the large vex about the size of the gate lord they had taken down not too long ago. "Sasuke, bring her here." Sakura ordered and clapped her hands together then sent them out straight to her sides, a large purple bubble, for lack of better wording, surrounded her.

Sasuke vanished from sight, ran to grab Hinata, and made his way to the bubble with her in his grasp. "Are you alright? He asked her and she nodded as he sat her up. "Good grief..." she grumbled as she rubbed her head. "Hinata... are you alright?" Ko asked and she nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine, thank you." She said and her ghost exhaled a sigh of relief, which made Sasuke raise a brow as he looked at the lung-less creature. "I know, it's strange isn't it?" Ko asked and Sasuke nodded slightly. "I didn't know robots could breathe." Sasuke said and the ghost chuckled. "We can drown too, so keep us away from water." Ko said before turning to see that Sakura was ripping the large vex to pieces one limb at a time.

"This is the strangest group of guardians I've ever witnessed..." yami said and ko nodded in agreement. "But, we are strong, aren't we?" Hinata asked and both yami and ko looked over at her. "Yeah... the strongest I've ever seen." Ko said and yami continued to watch her for a moment. "You seem to be the most accustomed with their abilities so far, so I would have to say you are possibly the strongest at this time." Yami said and Hinata shook her head and blushed. "Sasuke and Sakura are..." she said and yami scoffed audibly.

"So modest, but odd none the less.... Maybe I've gotten this out wrong. You're the strongest warlock I've seen. Does that make it better?" Yami asked as Sasuke chuckled. "Kiss ass." Sasuke said and his ghost gave him an unamused look. "You may have strange abilities, but Cayde-6-6 is still stronger than you." Yami spat and Sasuke raised a bro w at his ghost. Sasuke was opening his mouth to say something to yami when the heads of each of the large vex fell in perfect synchronization at the edge of the bubble.

"I could have used some help you know." Sakura snarled and Sasuke smirked. "You handled it well enough." He said and she mock laughed at him and rolled her eyes. "Very funny, that last one tried to throw me off into whoever knows where." She snapped and Hinata fiddled with her fingers. "I'm sorry Sakura... I didn't help at all... I froze up in fear..." Hinata said and Sakura frowned then crouched in front of her friend. "Don't worry, it will be ok, it wasn't you I was talking to either way." Sakura said with a smile.

"But I didn't help..." she whispered and Sakura grasped her shoulders firmly. "Look here, I didn't help when that large knight had put me in that sphere. You, Sasuke, and Ashura saved me while I could do nothing. Trust me; keeping you safe would be much better than me knowingly putting you in danger." Sakura said and Hinata nodded softly. "Besides, I could handle it." Sakura said with a grin, which made Hinata smile lightly.

"I guess so..." she said as Sakura helped her up.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

When they returned to the tower the speaker was there to greet them. "What has happened?" He asked and they all blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?" Hinata asked and he looked from them to the other group that was standing across from them. "Loki, Danny, and Ashura just returned not too long ago... but not even thirty minutes after they came back and told me you were fighting somewhere deep in the black garden, did the traveler begin to perk up..." the speaker said and they looked across the way to see that the debris that had once been falling from the bottom of the traveler was making its way right back up to attempt to rebuild the traveler.

"Holy cow... we actually helped do something important..." Sakura said in disbelief and Hinata giggled lightly as she looked at Sasuke who was watching the ghosts fly around overly excited. "We destroyed the dark heart residing within the black garden..." Sasuke muttered and the speaker turned towards him swiftly. "You don't say..." he whispered and then Sasuke looked over to Danny, Ashura, and Loki. "We may have defeated the dark heart... but we wouldn't have been able to had Loki, Ashura, and Danny not told us to run straight through while they cleared out all of the vex within." Sasuke said as he looked at Sakura. "It was a conjoined effort..." she said with a smile.

There was a crash and everyone turned to look swiftly over to the docking bay. The strange ship had landed, but not completely in one piece. Before anyone could actually make a move to go see what had happed with the ship, Ashura was set in a dead run towards the docking bay. Sakura, Sasuke, Hinata, and Loki took off running after her, only to see her jump up onto the box Holliday usually sat on and over the black railing guards. She ran straight down to the docking area where the exos flagged down the ships. She ripped the door off the flaming ship that had crashed there. She forced her way into the ship and pulled someone out of it. Sakura helped her pull said person out of the ship, but there was an odd appearance to her face. Her eyes were covered, but a strange glowing black liquid seemed to fall from her eyes, but wasn't actually there. It was beneath the skin itself.

"Eris! Are you alright?" Ashura asked and the strange woman looked up at her. "I couldn't find him... we've lost him..." she whispered as they pulled her to her feet. "Who, who did we lose. Eris?" Ashura asked and Eris frowned at her. "Them all... six out of the eight of us went down there, and as far as I can tell... only you and I are still alive." Eris said and Ashura's fingers trembled. "But we had just... seen Sephora..." Ashura said and Eris looked at her oddly. "You must have seen her before the hive hit... that was me calling her to help. She had vanished before crota's rage could consume us, so there may be a chance she is alive." Eris said and Ashura frowned deeply.

"I hope she's ok..." Ashura said as she rubbed her fingers on the edge of the cloak around her shoulders. "What an odd day this is... the traveler is healing... and the bane of crota has come to visit..." the speaker said and Eris bowed to him. "Mr. Speaker... sorry to impose upon you at this moment... I don't think the awoken would have spared me long enough to hear my pleas..." she said and the speaker extended his hand to her. "Nice of you to finally join us, Eris. I trust you've been keeping an eye on you pupil?" He asked and Eris glanced over at Ashura. "Very much so... am I to suppose that the three behind her are part of the lucky seven?" Eris asked and the speaker nodded.

Sakura, Hinata, and Sasuke had kept silent, just listening to the conversation that was happening before them. Eris turned to them and eyed them carefully. "Interesting..." she muttered as she looked them over. All three of them had their hair pulled back into ponytails, though Sasuke and Sakura's were much shorter than Hinata's. Dirt and oil coated their features, signaling their battle with the vex. "The existence of these three means that the existence of the others is real as well, does it not? This also means that the existence of Atheon is a threat as well." Eris said and the speaker looked to her once more.

"Three of the seven shall rise, and with them... Atheon will rise and the vault of glass will shatter, the essence of time becoming malleable within his hands." Eris said and eyed the three. "They will not yet be ready to fight crota, they must destroy Atheon first." She said and Ashura looked down and away from Eris. "I only hope they fare better than we did..." Ashura said and Eris' head snapped towards her. "You fought Atheon?" She asked and Ashura nodded. "We did, and we failed. The oracles and the Templar were difficult to overcome, but... Atheon himself can bend the very fabric of time. I hope you three are ready for this... because I am not going back in there." Ashura said and Hinata looked at her with sorrowful eyes.

"I will give the coordinates, but you will not return me to the vault."

:-:-:-:

'You are definitely going to need the rest of your team; you can't succeed with only three. Take the map and find the others. All of them. You're going to need as much help as you can get, but you will not get it from me.' Hinata couldn't figure out for the life of her why Ashura had been so adamant about her refusal to return there to the vault of glass. Hinata had actually been in the general area of the vault of glass, but she had never dwelled within its depths like Ashura had two years before.

"They managed to keep Atheon from completely opening the vault and cracking the time space continuum." Sakura said as she could pretty much guess Hinata's thoughts from the look on her face alone. "Good thing they didn't let the gorgons free, that would have been a major issue for the other guardians." Hinata said and Sasuke nodded. "Why do you think Ashura is so angry all the time?" Hinata asked suddenly as they were packing their ships for an expedition to earth once more.

"Who knows, she could just have that type of personality... y'know?" Sakura asked and Hinata frowned. "I don't think so... she seems nice at times... and fun at others... like when she's around Cayde-6-6..." Hinata said and they looked over at her. "And then at other times she has that insufferable attitude." Sasuke said and Hinata frowned. "You know, you guys really seem to want to know more about her, than you do your friends..." a familiar voice called out from the edge of the loading bay. "I was just curious is all..." Hinata said and said person smirked. "Curiosity killed the cat." He said and Sasuke gave him a look.

"But satisfaction brought it back." The guy said as he stretched. "Basically... it's been hell for us guardians without super special abilities... more so for her, since she does have said abilities." He said and they furrowed their brows at him in confusion. "Let's just say... she showed up, soaked in her own blood, with a mechanical leg, and dual abilities. She's what they call.... A strange one. Usually the strange ones... well... either implodes from using arc blade, and then a nova bomb... or fry themselves by using both solar and arc abilities." He said and they blinked in confusion.

"She's been treated like an outcast for the longest time because she's a ticking time bomb and no one wants to be near her when she either fries herself, or implodes." He said and Hinata frowned. "But how do you know those things will happen?" She asked and he sighed. "Listen, I may not have been the best of anything to her. But what I do know, is that she is dying, and when that time comes.' he drifted off slowly. "There will be a mess." He gave them one stern look and shook his head. "A word of advice for you, ghost eyes...." He called out and Hinata looked up at him.

"Do not let your ghost get injured in any sort of way; you should probably keep him out of sight for as long as possible." He said as he made his way back to the other sectors of the tower. "He sounds familiar..." Sakura muttered and then her eyes widened. "He's from her fire team. He used Ashura as a meat shield, as she said once." Sakura growled and turned in the direction he had vanished in but he was gone and Sasuke wasn't going to let her get distracted.

"He was talking in past tense." Sasuke said and the two women looked over at him. "What?" Sakura asked and he sighed. "He said 'he had never been' meaning past tense." He said and Hinata's eyes went wide. "He's dead..." she whispered and he nodded. "So pleasantly saying... there's no reason to run after him if he's already dead now is there?" He asked as he tossed his last bag into the ship. "Not really..." Sakura sighed and made her way inside her ship. "I will see you two at dock-13." She said as she slipped into her ship and vanished from sight completely.

Sasuke looked over to see Hinata was doing the same. "Be careful." He said to her softly and she offered a small smile as she too, slipped within her ship and took off. He sighed and walked into his ship, glancing only once back at the shining surface of Hinata's navy colored ship as it vanished from sight. He glanced over to the furthest railing from them and saw that both Eris and Ashura were sitting near where Eris would soon be docking her somewhat repaired ship so she could give bounties and rewards to guardians. He could tell they were talking by the fact that Eris was facing Ashura while gesturing at things with her gloved hands, Ashura wasn't facing her however... she held a glowing green object within her grasp and was staring deep within the object.

"You know you shouldn't stare... people might think you actually like her..." an amused voice called out from behind him. It was Ashura's older brother, Loki. "She has an insufferable attitude, just like Sakura, I have my own overly dramatic brat. You can keep yours." Sasuke snorted and Loki rolled his eyes. "I plan to." He said then furrowed his brows at Eris. "Although... that one doesn't seem to want to let her go." He growled and Sasuke glanced from Loki to Eris. "She's stubborn and thinks she doesn't need to medically take care of herself, Eris just made the issue worse. But... Lion, Danny, and I are going on a trip for supplies and won't be back for a while. Maybe I will stay on earth... who knows. But I'm sick of this tower." Loki sighed as he scratched his head.

"Just know... if you don't settle this planetary issue, I will personally kill you. I would love to one day rest in peace. None of us ever asked for this... we didn't want to be guardians... but you... you can do it with no issue. I trust you will exalt the darkness and free us." Loki said as he popped his neck while walking away. "Well. I guess I better get going. Don't want to disappoint his highness." Sasuke snorted as he slipped into his ship and sat in the seat up near the front, setting free his ghost to do as it pleased to get him to dock-13.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Hinata was crouched around the corner of the room, having seen movement from within. She peered back around the corner, seeing a queen breaker captain within the room. She gasped and ducked back around the corner, her hands tightly held onto her mouth to keep in her trembling whimpers. She had not only seen the captain, but the crystal with a skeleton inside. She heard movement nearby and was praying for everyone to swiftly show up. She knew they wouldn't, though.

Something sharp prodded her in the back and her breath hitched as she slowly looked up at the queen breaker that had prodded her with the blade. It then turned and pointed to the crystal, then back at her. She stood and looked at the queen breaker. "Do you want me to free them?" She asked and the fallen said something unintelligible and swung it's blade at the crystal, only for the blade to shatter. The queen breaker stared at it in confusion before rearing back with the other blade to swipe at the crystal once more. She ran over and grabbed the blade before he could hit the crystal and repeat the shattering of his blade. "Don't worry, I will free them." She said and moved to free her ghost, but the queen breaker slashed at her ghost, causing her to pull it away.

"My ghost has to help me free them, please don't hurt ko." She explained and the captain grumbled something incoherently that sounded somewhat begrudging. "It may take a minute by myself, but if you could find the other ghost attached to this guardian, I can make this go a bit faster..." ko said and Hinata nodded. "Have you seen another one of the ghosts around here?" Hinata asked and the fallen shook its head and muttered something in fallen language.

"I will take that as a no..." she sighed and looked up to the hole in the ceiling, hoping for Sasuke and Sakura to finally show up, but there were no signs of them what so ever. She sighed and began looking around, the captain doing the same as she was. They finally found the ghost buried beneath the bottom of the crystal, and with so much dirt caked into it the ghost wouldn't power on. She carefully began removing as much dirt from it as she could, revealing a red shell with a series of sea foam green designs on the shell. A glint flashed through her eyes and she grinned as she heard footsteps coming her way. The captain was crouched down right beside her, picking at the dirt within the ghost.

Sasuke and Sakura skidded into the room panting heavily. "Which way did you go to come through here?" She asked as she set her hand on the fallen's shoulder to calm him and keep him from attacking the other two. "We both landed in the divide..." Sakura sighed as her green ghost hovered beside her, yami doing the same with Sasuke.

Hinata smiled at them and pointed to the crystal. "He dug them up... I think we found Gaara." She said and Sakura grinned widely. Sasuke offered a nod. Their ghosts flew over and helped hers remove the crystal from around the deceased guardian. The bones collapsed to the floor and Hinata frowned as she worked on reviving the dirty ghost.

Its light flickered then it began to hover but it was slightly off kilter. "Little red... are you alright?" She asked and he hovered for a minute, trying to focus on her before it did a sort of blinking movement, then burst open, all dirt falling from its crevices soon after. Hinata held out her hand and shoved one of the pieces back inwards towards the blue center, causing a burst of energy which began forming Gaara.

He groaned in annoyance as his eyes opened and he looked over the group. "Ugh... what on earth?" He asked as his eyes scanned the group before him, and then landed on Hinata. "Hinata?" He asked and she smiled at him brightly. "Hey, long time no see, kazekage." Sakura chirped and he offered a small smile. "Where are we? What is this place?" He asked and they all exchanged looks. "It's a very long story."

"We can explain it when we get to the tower." Hinata said and Gaara gave her an odd look. "He's a warlock, Hinata. You will have to show him his powers." Sakura said and Hinata nodded. Hinata offered Gaara a hand which he then took appreciatively. "So umm... Hinata not to raise any alarms... but that captain right there... what do you plan on doing with him? We can't take him to the reef; we have too much to do..." Sakura said and the captain brandished his blade at the pinkette.

"He doesn't seem all that friendly both..." she sighed and Hinata smiled. "Ashura. I will take him to Ashura." She said and the captain pointed at Hinata with his remaining blade and muttered something in the fallen language "we have no choice, like krux he could be an ally." She said and the captain began stamping his feet and doing the little cheer they usually do when they take down a guardian.

"K... krux." He managed and Hinata smiled at him. "I see you really want to see her huh?" She asked and the captain stomped his foot. They all boarded their ships, Gaara in the ship with Sasuke, while Hinata and the captain were in the same one. They all arrived at the tower not too long after they had left; Cayde-6-6 was there to greet Sasuke with open arms, literally. Sasuke had trouble escaping from the exo's grasp, which was looking him over for any injuries or holes in his cloak.

He patted Sasuke on his back and sent him on his way. "Um, Cayde-6." Sakura called out and the Exo spun on his heel to face her. "Yes, missy?" He asked and she smiled at him. "I was told to ask you to call for crota." She said and he began laughing hysterically. "That's really what they are calling her now?!" He asked, his laughter seemingly not going to cease. "Did Danny tell you that?" He asked and Sakura blushed lightly. "Yes..." she answered and he laughed even harder, gripping his abdomen now. This was strange, seeing the Exo act like such a human, instead of the robotic creature he was.

"Oh... that's a riot." He said, patting his leg to slow his laughter. "That is the best one I've heard yet." He sighed then reached into his pocket for a small device that looked similar to a touch screen phone, but not even a centimeter thick, and it was see through. There was a small circular button that appeared on the screen and he pressed it, causing it to turn red. Her face appeared on the tiny screen and he grinned.

"Hey crota, you've been summoned." He said nonchalantly and she growled and clicked off the screen. They could hear her heavy footsteps all through the tower's docking area. "Good morning sunshine, how are you today?" Cayde-6 asked and she glared at him. "Go hump a screw." She snarled and stretched. She's been in the barracks all day. "So what do you guys need?" She asked as she tapped her foot, her hands on her hips.

"Well, sunshine... that's an awful lot of skin and metal you're showing today." Cayde-6-6 commented noticing she was wearing a tiny pair of skin tight shorts, and a shirt so loose and short it was about the size of a bra but loose fitted and drafty. She glared at him, a frown crossing her lips. "Yeah, well, I was sleeping." She sighed and he chuckled, muttering something under his breath.

"With who? Honestly, Cayde-6... I'm going to put my foot so far up your ass you will become a boot." She snarled and Sakura raised a brow. Cayde-6-6 blinked and began turning around in a circle. "What? I have an actual ass now? Not just a solid plate of metal?" He asked incredulously, chasing himself in circles trying to touch the legendary that was attached to him. Ashura sighed, a slightly humored laugh escaping her lips. "You didn't know?" She asked and he looked at her.

"You're all ass." She said and he chuckled. "Yes, to you I suppose." He said and she smirked at him. "To everyone else you're a clucky mother hen." She said and he chuckled. "That too." "So, what did you guys need?" She asked with her arms crossed and a glare directed at Cayde-6. "If you touch me, I will compact you into a new creation, not a guardian." She snapped and he laughed.

"Guardian's vows, kid, you can't revoke that." He said and she smirked. "I won't revoke it; I will just make it to where you will be a means to an end for taniks." She said threateningly and he shrugged. "Even if you made me into a weapon it would still be me killing him." He said and she smirked darkly. "Not if you're a boot." She said then turned to fully face the four in front of her.

"Welcome to the tower." She said and offered Gaara a hand, which he shook. "Thank you." He replied and looked her over. "That scar on your back... it matches up with the one on your chest... doesn't it?" He asked and she froze in place, her sudden insecurities taking over. Her hands trembled then she placed her hand over the scar on her chest. "W...what did you all need?" She asked her voice meaner now.

"We brought someone here for you, we don't have a name for him yet, but I think krux will give him a nice one and teach him how to speak fluently, don't you think?" Hinata asked a smile on her lips as the captain hopped out of the ship. She nodded and held out a hand to the fallen, which walked over to her and offered a bow. He began speaking in fallen and she nodded, returning his conversation in the same language he spoke, catching everyone off guard.

Cayde-6 was staring at her with pride, this pride filled his entire being and you could see it in his stance. "She spent the two years after she had arrived, training herself to speak in their native tongue. She's the only other translator out there, other than variks at the reef." Cayde-6-6 said and Hinata nodded. Ashura and the captain walked away, stopping by the shipwright.

"Don't ask about the scar." He said and they stared at him in confusion. "She's got bad memories of it. She descended into the vault of glass to kill Atheon, and failed. They went down with six people and returned with four, they had almost returned without her." He said and Gaara apologized.

"Don't be sorry about it... you couldn't have known, she never tells anyone but me about this type of stuff, so you never would have known." He sighed and they all nodded, they were all interested in what he had to say. "That guy that you all keep seeing around here, that was Floyd. Floyd more often than not hid behind Ashura because she's got a blatant disregard for her own life. The one time he jumped out in front of her to protect her, for the first time he protected anyone in his life... he was pierced through the chest from a hobgoblin sniper." He said and they frowned.

"The other one was her younger sister... She was ripped in half trying to jump through the dimensional portal and it closed on her." He said and they frowned even deeper. "Ashura knew the danger they were all going to be in but they went anyways. If I had gone, we may have had a better outcome, she doesn't think that I should leave the tower, so when she gave me her guardian vow, I accepted, at a cost. I go as well." He said and they nodded, understanding the situation fully.

"How did she get the scar?" Gaara asked softly and Cayde-6 frowned. "Her brother called out to her to warn her of the exploding harpy behind her. It exploded, sending her flying. We call the vault of glass that because you see fragments of glass slowly falling all over the area, so no matter if you're running or fighting, you're not going to come out unscathed, unless you happen to be an Exo, then you will leave with glass in unmentionable places all over." He joked but a sigh escaped his lips. "She was impaled on a particularly large shard of glass." He said, and was about to go into further detail, but the sound of someone heaving attracted his attention.

"Leave me be!" Ashura snarled, seeing them all surround her. Inky black liquid dripping down her chin, the same liquid splattered all over the floor. "Ashura..." Sakura began but Ashura glared at her. "You can't help me anymore... you should just do as I say and go to the speaker. I will be alright when I can see him and get him to help me now that I need it." She said and Cayde-6 sighed. "You and that boy have such an awful relationship, I would much rather you ask me for help." He sighed and she frowned at him.

"I would if you could." She said, and then waved the four of them off. They actually listened this time, leaving the captain and Cayde-6-6 to help Ashura... When they reached the speaker he greeted them and congratulated them on their accomplishments. "What do you plan on doing first, after you have collected a few more of your team?" He asked and Hinata stepped in front of the group.

"We wish to enter the vault of glass and defeat Atheon." She said and Gaara stared at her wide eyed. Eren and Kris held a similar look of shock on their features. "Take Ashura and her ghost kabr with you." Eren said and Hinata blinked at him. "w-what?"

"Ask Ashura to go with us? Why?" Sakura asked and the speaker shook his head. "I don't believe that would be the best of ideas..." he said but Eren shook his head. "She will go! She can tell you how to get through the majority of it without an issue." He said and Sakura shook her head. "We can't ask her to go back into the vault... she's traumatized because of what happened last time." She said and Eren nodded rapidly.

'That's exactly why she will go... she doesn't want anyone else to fall in there because she could help them in some way." Eren said and an unamused snort was heard. "You think you're so smart don't you?" She snarled.

"I'm not going to watch them die. I'm not going to fail another group, so keep me and my past out of your mouth, they can handle this alone. They're definitely strong enough... can't you see I'm suffering? I spend my days in the barracks now... I haven't gone anywhere since they destroyed the dark heart a week ago. I'm falling ill and no medicine can help me... if you honestly need help..." she said, then took a deep breath.

"Go find someone else."