In their down time, the four of them spent their time researching the vault, using the knowledge of their ghosts, and from what cayde-6 had told them of Ashura's attempt. Gaara watched the other three in confusion; they were asking their ghosts about things that they most likely had no information on. "Eriana... what can you tell me about the hive?" Gaara asked and the other three stared at him in a similar confusion.

"That... I can tell you all about. The vex, however... You would have to see out the ghosts named Pahanin and Kabr. They delved into the depths of the vault, while I delved into the depths of the hellmouth, and perished." She said, hovering above Gaara's shoulder. "However, there are a few who can divulge the information you need to remove Atheon's filth from Venus." She said, causing Sakura, Sasuke, and Hinata to look at her.

"Something tells me that you all were meant to delve into crota's hideout and banish him..." Eriana said and they all blinked in confusion. "Why is that?" Sasuke asked and Hinata stared at her ghost with a small smile. "This is true, isn't it Toland?" Hinata asked and the ghost hovered before her in silence. "This does not mean you cannot still call me Ko, it was endearing to hear another name despite my own. My name was never spoken with such admiration... they thought I had gone mad." He said and Hinata smiled.

"I will call you whatever you wish for me to call you, as long as you continue helping me as you do." She said and he hovered next to eriana. "Yami, is actually the previous leader of the hunter vanguard, Andal Brask, Which is probably why you were chosen as his guardian, Sasuke." Toland said. "There are reasons we were bonded to you all, and I think Wei Ning has it figured out as well." Eriana said and Sakura's ghost hovered beside her.

"Until the time comes... we cannot release the information regarding Crota. You are not yet ready to face that darkness. What we can tell you is that you need to speak with Cayde-6, Loki, Lion, and Danny." Wei said, before all of the ghosts dematerialized into the gauntlets of their guardians, except for Andal. "A word of advice though.... Don't consult Ashura about this. And... if you find it important that you do... do it with Cayde-6 present." Andal said and Hinata frowned.

"Why with Cayde-6" Sakura asked and Hinata offered a sad smile, before speaking what Andal was already going to say. "He has her guardian's vow. That's a bond that no one can break, not even death. It's a promise between mentor and student where no matter what happens; they always have each other's back." Hinata explained and the dark ghost gave a nod of approval. "Very good... I didn't know they were still allowing such vows, but even if they tried to ban them they wouldn't get anywhere." Andal said and released a sigh.

"Not only the vows though... if you talk to her without him, she'll get angry and volatile. If he is there, you will most likely be able to get something out of her." Andal explained and Sasuke furrowed his brow. "What's the difference between him being there or not?" Sasuke asked and Andal focused his gaze on him. "He can comfort her after she explains what happened in there." Andal said and the group furrowed their brows in unison it seemed.

"Why would she need comforting?" Sakura asked, the thought seeming absurd, seeing as Ashura seemed to be one of the most emotionally strong people they had met in the tower. "She lost two teammates down there, from what I heard. One was a close friend, Floyd. The other was her twin sister Kira. How the two of them came to pass, that I do not know. And that is why you must find out. None of you need to die down there." Andal said and they nodded, now understanding why Ashura was the way she was.

They made their way to cayde-6, who greeted them with open arms and an energetic aura. "Hello again, new guy! It's a shame you're not one of mine, but... hey... I can manage. So... how's it going?" he asked and Sakura smiled at him. "Pretty well, we were just looking for some information about Pahanin and Kabr, along with some on the vault of glass." She said and he tilted his head to the side and crossed his arms over his chest. "Who said to come to me?" he asked his tone quite a bit more serious now.

"Our ghosts thought you may be able to help us find Loki, Lion, Danny, and Ashura..." She said and a sigh escaped Cayde-6. "Why does everyone always go straight to Ashura... do they want to remind her of what happened? I've tried so hard to get her to realize that survival is not guaranteed as a guardian... I'm always doing things to try and keep her from falling back into that abyss... and then once I get her out of it someone else comes back to remind her of what happened." He sighed and Sakura frowned.

"What are you trying to figure out?" He asked and they blinked. "I can tell you almost as much as she can, right now... I'm protecting my student." he said and Sakura nodded. Sasuke eyed the ghost that was hovering over his shoulder; he could feel the resonating pride the small bot was giving off. "What happened down there?" Sakura asked and he uncrossed his arms.

"Down there, pretty much the only thing you will find, are Vex, more than you can count. There are puzzles where the floor will vanish from beneath your feet because time isn't real. Time means nothing down there. If you fall... you're lost forever, because nothing will ever find you down there. If you die down there, your body will never decay..." He said and the horrified look that crossed Hinata's face made him sigh.

"Loki and Lion can tell you how to get through, but they have been patrolling in the cosmodrome for the past week gathering supplies... And Ashura and I can tell you of the pain and suffering it will cause if you fail. Two years she has suffered the deaths of both her friend and her twin... but she will fight in their memory. The memory of what they were before the vault, not what they were within." Cayde said as he sat upon the table in the vanguard room. "There are multiple creatures dwelling within the vault, the dangerous two are the Templar, and Atheon himself. Ashura knows how to kill them both, but if you ask her anything, it better only be about how to kill them. However, before you try to figure out Ashura... you have to figure out her sister. So you better have a chat with Zavala over there... He can tell you all about Kira." Cayde-6 said and they nodded.

They looked over to the large titan hunched over the table looking at a series of reports. "I don't have all day, you know. You can come speak with me now or wait until later." Zavala said, his voice neither irritated nor impatient, he just seemed curious to see what all they would ask about her. They all sat on the small set of steps behind him, not wanting to get within his bubble of personal space. "Alright, so first off... what do you want to know about her?" he asked as he turned around. "I want to know who she was as a person, and also why she was different as well." Sakura said and he nodded.

"Kira was exactly like Ashura, personality wise, when she was angry. Any other time that you would come across Kira, she stumbled over words, panicked when put on the spot, screamed like a little girl when something big lunged for her, but tried to be brave like her twin. She was always nice to everyone, it didn't matter who you were, but if you were nice to her she was nice to you." Zavala began, turning to face them fully. "She was loyal, and basically tried to make sure everyone was ok, even if you had been rude to her." he said and Sakura nodded.

"So she was a valuable teammate, despite her flaws?" Gaara asked and Zavala nodded. "She was... She had been revived under the eyes of the Awoken, which is where I had originally met her. She understood that she was meant to be in the tower, but her allegiances lay with the queen of the reef." He explained and Cayde-6 nodded. "Which is why no matter what situation had come up, she had always donned the armor of the royal guard, even if it was a tower related situation." Zavala explained and they all nodded, understanding what he was saying at that moment.

"She was the assistant of the prince of the reef. Her official title was wolves bane. He is the leader of crows, while she was wolves bane. It made sense, if you had been there during the war of the reef." he said and Hinata raised her hand to get his attention. "If I may ask a question..." she managed and he nodded. "Is Kira the reason that Ashura seeks the prince? The queen was telling us that he had been doing research on how to save a human from poisoning themselves with a mechanical appendage... Did Kira have a mechanical limb as well?" Hinata asked and he nodded. "Her leg was gone from the knee down. Not as much of her leg was gone as Ashura's but Kira had given Ashura so much hope that the prince would help her." he said and Hinata nodded.

"So that's why she's so adamant on going to the reef." Sasuke said and Zavala nodded. "She thinks he can help her. It's not completely a false hope... however; I think he is testing her before he lends what he has learned to her. He knows who she is, and he knows she's different from her sister, who he has yet to learn the whereabouts of, although it has been two years since her demise." Zavala said and Hinata blinked then looked at him in surprise. "Is that why he took an odd interest in me?!" she asked and Zavala offered a small nod.

"Possibly, you have a similar personality. She was more outgoing than you are though... perhaps he was curious about the power we all feel from you. It's much different than the power we feel from Ashura, because we know what she is... we have no idea what exactly you all are." he said and Cayde released a chuckle upon seeing confused looks cross their faces. "What is she then?" Sasuke asked and Cayde clapped his hands to gain their attention.

"Alrighty guys, a little riddle for you." he began and they stared at him oddly. "What type of guardian can use fist of havoc, but also become invisible and use arc blade?" he asked and they stared at him oddly no amusement in their eyes. "None." Sasuke sighed and Cayde made a sort of clicking noise in response. "You're so cold it's disheartening." he sighed then looked up at them. "She's what we call a strange one. Due to her leg being an Exo leg, we can't tell whether she was originally supposed to be a hunter, or a titan. She's a partial, created by Eris morn to help her and her second group destroy crota." Cayde-6 said and they stared at him oddly.

"Second group?" Gaara asked and Cayde nodded. "According to Ashura, Eris had created a second team to assist her in the defeat of crota, but she failed once more. It seems that no matter how many times she tries, Eris herself will be the only survivor. Her first group, consisting of Eris herself, Eriana-3, Vell, Toland, Wei ning, and Sai Mota, perished in the hell mouth." Cayde-6 said and the group all glanced at their ghosts. Chills ran through Hinata's bones and goosebumps covered her skin.

"That's what you meant by what you all said earlier... we were all chosen for a reason... we are meant to descend into crota's lair and destroy him... aren't we?" She asked a tremor to her voice. "That we cannot confirm. not at this moment. Right now we need you to keep focused on the objective at hand. Tell them how Floyd and Kira perished. They need to know. " Toland said and Cayde-6 nodded at the ghost.

"Floyd died from protecting Ashura when the oracles had come around. Kira was ripped into two pieces because of a portal. It shut early and half of her along with her ghost were teleported elsewhere." Zavala said and the fear hit Hinata once more. "We may die down there?" She asked and Zavala opened his mouth to speak, but Cayde cut him off. "Only if you aren't careful." he said and Zavala frowned.

"What you do need to do though... is bring Floyd home. Bring Kira home." Ikora said and Zavala turned to look at her with widened eyes. "You can't force them to do that!" he snapped and Ikora glared at him. "I can beg of them to do it! If it were you wouldn't you want your family to finally be able to lay you to rest?! Wouldn't you want them to know you were a hero and died to protect them!?" she snarled back and Cayde-6 got in between the two, noticing the looks on the faces of the four before them.

"You each lost someone down there... I understand your pain..." Cayde-6 said and the two vanguard leaders exchanged looks and nodded. "Forgive us... we want to lay our brethren to rest... but we don't like sending out our students to retrieve their bodies." Ikora said and Zavala nodded. Hinata's face was flushed, but not in embarrassment or fear, but instead with sadness. Her eyes were puffy, her cheeks reddened, and her lips trembled. Sakura had a similar disposition to her at that moment, while although they understood the pain as well; Sasuke and Gaara were trying not to show it.

"You said time doesn't exist down there... right?" Sakura asked and Cayde nodded. "That's why you want us to bring them home... they will look no different than the day they left, except for their wounds... you want their families to see their faces one last time..." Hinata managed, her voice trembling, she completely understood how it must have felt to have been lost in a place where no one could find you. "We will do everything in our power to bring them home so they can be laid to rest properly." Sasuke said and Hinata looked up at him with puffy red eyes, despite her not having been crying yet.

:-:

The news had travelled fast, and that was not what had unnerved her the most. What had unnerved her the most was not the fact that four people were headed right into the depths of her hell... It was not the fact that they were going down there to do what she couldn't. It was that they were going down there to get Floyd's and her sister's bodies.

Her ghost, Kabr, hovered before her. Staring her in the eyes, or so it felt like he was. "What are you going to do?" He asked and she continued to stare at her hands. "Are you going to face the demons of your past?" he asked, his philosophical tone was demeaning to her. She ignored the tone as he continued to speak of how it would do her some good to face her fears. "You talk about it like it was some misunderstanding down there." She snapped and he released a breathless sigh.

"Her ghost still lives. Vell Tarlowe still thrives down in the depths with her." Kabr said and she shot him a look. You just want me to complete the original crota fire team from five years ago." She said and the smirk in his mechanical voice was clear as day. "Isn't it obvious?" he asked and she sneered at her ghost. "Isn't what obvious?" she asked and he made a head shaking motion. "If vell talrowe still lives, he can possibly revive her... seeing as time doesn't exist in the vault." he said and she sighed. "That's false hope." she retorted.

"Time doesn't exist in the vault... but it does on Venus and Mars." she said, her voice stubborn. "You're just finding every reason not to go down there again, aren't you?" Kabr asked and she nodded. "Alright, well think of it this way Ashura. If you are not there to lead them, none will return. How would you feel if they all died down there? How would you feel if it had been you that could have saved them?" he asked and she shot him a glare. "How dare you try and guilt trip me like this." she snarled and he turned to her once more.

"I'm trying to get you to help them. I'm also trying to get you to help yourself." he said and she sighed. "I will face my demons when I am ready, but my demons are not within the vault, nor are they in crota's lair... My demons are within me..." She said and he listened to her.

"But I will enter my old hell and prevent it from creating a new one."

:-:

"I cannot fight well here." Gaara stated and they all nodded. "We know... you don't have your gourd, and there is no sand... we can't help that right now." Sakura yelled across the gap as she threw a praetorian off the edge of her conflux. "Gaara watch me." Hinata said and threw her flat palm out towards a praetorian, which made it slide backwards. He did the same to the praetorian and it caught flame and exploded.

"Weapons are better for us to use, but once we all learn what we can do with our abilities as a guardian, we can better accustom ourselves to using those abilities instead of wasting our energy and chakra on the ones we know we have." She said softly and he nodded. "This may be a bit more tiring than I thought it would be." Gaara said and she offered a small smile. "That's understandable..."

A flash of light to their left and three praetorians were sent flying in their direction, but they weren't going to get up any time soon. "Careful Sasuke! Don't hurt Gaara and Hinata!" Sakura yelled as she compacted yet another vex. Gaara began fiddling with his gauntlets to go through his inventory. "Here, use that one." Hinata offered, tapping on the icon of a scout rifle with a fully auto perk.

"Aim and shoot, don't put too much thought into it." Sakura yelled as she punched yet another one. It wasn't long before the conflux had fully formed and the enemies seemed to stop spawning. A laser shot from the conflux and opened the round gate behind Sasuke. "Well, at least we figured this thing out..." Sakura sighed and Sasuke nodded, seeing this was going to be a lot more trouble getting through than they needed.

They made their way down the path, the hollow echoes of their footsteps through the cavern reverberating back to them. They reached an area of the path where they could glance down and see three conflux, and a large span of area with towers coming up from the floor. They jumped onto the ledge across the way from them, but still above that other floor. Heavy uneven footsteps echoed behind them and caused the group to freeze.

Mechanical whirring was heard all around them, but no one could quite tell where exactly it was coming from. There was the sound of something being dropped in front of them, which caused them to look down to the conflux area, then something skidded behind them, which caused them to turn back around. "Is he still here?" She whispered through a pant. They glanced back around and spotted who she was asking about. "Yes... but-" Sasuke began and she whirled around, only to spot him up where the Templar was all those years ago, his head beside his feet.

The horrified look on her face told them that this had been done long after he had died. The dead fallen captain beside him told them something else as well... there may have been a chance that he had been revived, then killed once more by said blade wielding captain. "Ashura, I'm so sorry..." Sakura began, seeing the tears brimming in the albino woman's eyes. "Do not be sorry... it was not your fault... I don't know what happened here... but I know his ghost was destroyed down here." She managed as she jumped down to land on the edge of the lower platform.

"Now... follow my lead." She said and they all jumped down to join up with her. "You two protect the center at all costs." She said pointing to Sasuke and Hinata. "And you two take the left side. I can handle the right." She said to Sakura and Gaara. "Do not let anything sacrifice itself to the conflux, or it will kill us. If you see a glowing golden ball destroy it, they will kill us all." She said as she then turned to look up where Floyd's body lay. "I will return his body to normal, and then I will pull him within me." Kabr said and she nodded. "Do not pick up the relic, or attempt to attack the Templar when it appears." She said and they all nodded. "I will summon the vex." she said and made her way down the steps to the circle where light was escaping through the crevices. The light flashed up and created what looked like a pond of light, just as Ashura took off running towards the right side of the area.

"If you happen to get sprayed with the green liquid that escapes the glowing vex, run to that puddle down there. It will cleanse you. Once the relic appears down there I will grab it once you all have run up here." She said and they all made noises signifying that they understood. The vex began swarming out from all over not long after she scaled the top of the steps. She flipped a rifle from over her shoulder and began taking out the sniping hobgoblins as they appeared. It wasn't long before the conflux had all vanished. A series of high pitched 'bong' sounds echoed around them, causing them to glance around them curiously. "It's the oracles, do not get distracted. They will come around three times, then we will defend the conflux once more, and then the Templar will show himself." Ashura called out and they each nodded.

Sakura and Ashura were punching out the oracles left and right, while Sasuke, Gaara, and Hinata were protecting them from the Vex that had begun swarming about once more. Ashura shoved Sakura away from the fanatic that had run up behind her. Sakura nodded at her as they took out the last wave of the oracles that had appeared. "Alright..." Ashura began, but the blinding light of the relic caught her attention. "Get to the right side." She ordered and they obeyed without a second thought. She made her way to the center of the room and grabbed the relic once they were all up the stairs. The Templar appeared and she took off running as well.

"There will be more oracles, I want someone with an ice breaker to take them out." Ashura said and Hinata nodded, while Gaara, Sasuke, and Sakura awaited further instruction. Ashura turned to them and sighed. "I can't do much while holding the relic, but I can take down the Templar's shields. If you begin to lose sight, I can cleanse you. I can also swiftly remove the barriers the Templar will put up once his barrier is down. If I put this down, we will die." She said and they looked at her in confusion. "How do you know if we will die?" Sasuke asked and she sighed once more. "Loki had dropped the relic on accident. Our vision began to fade, our limbs felt heavy, and we felt as if we couldn't breathe. It wasn't long before he realized he had screwed up and had begun looking for it once more." She sighed and Sasuke nodded his head in an 'ah, I see' sort of manner.

"Ok, I've built up enough energy to be able to take down his shields, once the red ring appears, I want you to use blink and go to it Sasuke." Ashura said and Sasuke nodded, fully knowing that he didn't need the hunter's blink. "I will use my Sharingan, it has a long distance version of the hunter's blink." He said and she nodded. "Even better." She said and he couldn't help the smirk that crossed his lips. Her eyes narrowed at the Templar, before she tossed the arm holding the shield forwards and shot a ball of light at the Templar's shield, which took it out. The red ring appeared across the area and Sasuke's eye flashed red and he vanished from sight only to appear once more in the center of the ring.

Hinata began taking out the oracles as they had appeared, while Gaara was shooting at the Templar. "Sakura, let's go." Ashura called, catching Sakura off guard. The pinkette looked over at the silver eyed woman and nodded. They both rushed at the Templar, Sakura with her fist reared back, and Ashura with her shield held in front of her. They both collided with the Templar eliciting a mechanical screech from it, while something else came down from above and shoved what appeared to be a large shard of glass straight down through the top of it. Ashura was thrown backwards as the relic destroyed itself. She forced herself to her feet and dusted herself off, only pausing to look around at the group she had entered with; a sigh of relief was released when she saw they were all ok.

Ashura stood and made her way up to where the Templar had first appeared. She crouched next to Floyd and she placed his head back where it was meant to be, Kabr appearing to reconnect the tissue. Ashura closed his eyes, her hand resting over his eyes for a moment before she gently grasped his shoulders and hugged him lightly before allowing Kabr to take his body within him. "Take care of him for me, Kabr..." she whispered, only for the ghost to make a nod-like movement. "I will."

Ashura stood to see the group behind her, with one extra member. "Nora." Ashura greeted and the warlock nodded. "I don't understand you, why do you continue to subject yourself to this pain?" She asked, her inquisitive tone annoyed Ashura, but she wasn't annoyed with the woman, more so with her always asking the same questions. "Why are you here?" Ashura asked and Nora sighed. "I've come here to die." She said and the group looked at her in surprise. "But... why?" Hinata asked and Nora looked over to the smaller female warlock and smiled from behind her helmet. "When you die, you're going to want to die a legend. I'm old for a guardian, I'm as old as Toland was... so you should understand my motives." Nora said and Hinata frowned from beneath her helmet.

"What I'm saying... is that I believe that you guys are going to do great things... and as much as I would love to see these things come to be... I would rather die a hero than live to be a villain. Have any of you heard the story of how the first thorn was created?" She asked and they all shook their heads. "He had saw the weapon as a beautiful and deceiving rose blossom... he thought it was something beautiful to be admired, but then he realized that its anger was consuming it... the anger of the beautiful rose is the thorn, as it is so rightfully named." She said as she continued around the path between the confux. "Now do you all understand?" she asked as she glided up to the ledge and through to the path.

They all followed her to an area with a chest sitting upon a circular inlaid metal platform. "Go ahead and open it, whatever I get I will give all of you." Nora said and Ashura continued to stare at her, the other four of the group could feel the anger radiating off of her, although Nora didn't seem to notice. Hinata turned to fully face Ashura, only to notice she was holding the Fallen captain's blade in her grasp. She was turning them this way and that, grasping then releasing the lever on the handle which made electricity arc off of the blade, observing the weapons that had slain her friend a second time with an interest that seemed much too sinister to be even remotely healthy.

"Ashura? Are you alright?" she asked softly, catching the silver haired woman's attention. She looked away from the blades and over at Hinata, whose posture screamed her concern. "I'm fine." She said as she slipped the blades into her belt and followed them along the pathway. Nora glanced over at the younger woman and scoffed lightly in a slight amusement of sorts. "You're falling little one, you need to check your light." She said and Ashura sneered at her from beneath her helmet. "What do you know, hag?" she snapped and slipped ahead of the group. "Nothing you don't already know it seems..." Nora said and followed behind them.

They came to an area where there were lots of large rocks jutting up from the ground, leading up from the ground in a slant that nearly touched the ceiling in parts of the cavern. Nora continued to stroll forth, but Ashura grabbed her and threw her on the ground behind her. "What is the meaning of this, little one?" She asked and Ashura motioned for them to crouch and follow her up the nearest of the slanted rock structures. She motioned for them to stay silent as she pointed down at the creature hovering down below. "Don't let those see you... they may not actually be in this time and place, but they can see you and they will become a nuisance if we are spotted. Don't ask... I can't explain it..." she said and the group nodded in response.

"Fine, if we can't let them see us..." Sasuke began and propelled himself onto the ceiling of the cavern, Hinata, Sakura, and Gaara following him. Nora stood in surprise for a moment, never having seen anything like that before. Ashura practically saw the smile on her lips through the glass sheet of her helmet. "I'm highly impressed. The worlds we know will be left in much better hands... protect them with your life Ashura." She said and jumped to hover to the next slanted rock, leading the group along the wall to the exit of the cavern. Ashura grit her teeth and took off after them. When they were almost to the exit of the cavern, a rock fell in front of one of the gorgons, causing the body of the creature to flare up. It's laser-like sight shining everywhere trying to find the cause of the falling pebbles.

Ashura looked up to see that Hinata had fallen and Sasuke was currently holding her on the wall with a hand over her mouth to keep her silent. Ashura motioned for them to jump to the ledge nearest the exit, but to do so silently. They nodded and soundlessly landed on the largest slanted rock in the area. Nora made a questioning motion at her but Ashura jumped down to land right in front of the gorgon. It screeched as it set its sight on her. However, before it could call for the other gorgons, four swift lines of arc energy silenced its scream. It fell onto the ground then exploded. Ashura slipped the blades back into her belt and continued forth, motioning for the group to jump down and follow her.

They came to an area with several appearing and disappearing platforms. "Nora, you can hover over there, right?" she asked, pointing to the small ledge that led to the area they needed to be. "Of course... but I don't think they will make it over there." She said, pointing at Gaara and Hinata. "I doubt they will. Take them over." Ashura said then turned to Sasuke. "Long distance teleport you said?" she asked and he furrowed his brows. "I can only swap places with things." He said and she smirked from beneath her helmet, but he could feel the sinister smirk.

"Swap with my blade then, pretty boy. Let's see what you've got." She said and spun, throwing one of the four blades across the entire gap, only for it to hit the wall and bounce backwards. His eyes went wide, although unnoticed by her, and he vanished, her blade landed before her and Sasuke was across the way holding onto the ledge for a moment before he pulled himself up. "Not bad pretty boy! Not bad!" she yelled across the way as he turned to look at her. She could just barely see the red glow from his eye through his helmet, but she knew he was most likely smirking, such was his personality.

"Why don't you show me your way to cross then, if you even have one." He yelled across the cavern and she rolled her eyes, of course she did. Who did he take her for... she was just not yet ready to take the leap to get across to that part of her past. Hinata watched Ashura for a moment before she glanced to Nora, who offered her a hand. Hinata shook her head, telling her that she could make it with no issue. Nora nodded and backed away from the edge, and then she ran off over the edge and landed on the first platform, then jumped to the next, and hovered to the second to last, and continued to do so until she reached the ledge where Sasuke stood.

Hinata and Gaara proceeded to swiftly jump from platform to platform until they too reached the other side. Hinata glanced up to see that Ashura was walking away from the ledge they had jumped from, only to appear at the one above it. The sound of electricity was chirping through the air when she jumped, the only thing signifying her departure from the ledge was the brilliant streak of light that shot swiftly across the gap. Sasuke shook his head. "Show off." He grumbled and made his way across the ledge over to the area where Ashura was awaiting them.

Ashura's entire body repressed a shiver as she stared at the doors. She strolled forwards silently, although everyone could see her trembling limbs. The door opened and she froze once more, all the fingers on her arms were twitching, even the mechanical ones. Nora grasped her shoulder and Ashura jolted to look at her. The glass of her helmet vanished to show her face except for the respirator helping her breathe. Her eyes were dull and unfocused, but the twitches in her cheekbones were trembling in her rage. She swapped over to her rifle and faced to the doors.

"Gatekeeper, then Atheon. Do not get trapped in the portals." She said then took off running towards the doors as they began to slide open. They all followed her swiftly, only to slide to a stop and begin firing off tracking rockets at the gatekeeper. After a few more rounds of rockets it vanished and the gates flickered, signaling the need to open them. Ashura fisted her hands and looked towards the group. "Touch your hands to those pillars." She said, motioning for the square pillars surrounded by a small red circle of light. "One at a time though, it opens the gates." She said and they all nodded, placing their palms onto the pillar. She stepped up to the left pillar, and they could tell she was having a bit of trouble.

The sickened look on her face and the dry heaves were a dead giveaway. Sakura motioned for Sasuke to join her at the portal and he nodded. He jumped up onto the ledge and ended up taking two steps backwards. At the edge of the portal lay the upper torso of Kira, Ashura's twin sister. Her corpse lay on its stomach, what appeared to be a clean slice being the thing that separated her from her lower half. Blood was pooled around her form, and tears pooled undried beside her cheek. Her mouth was twisted into a saddened smile, which was probably what had wrought the majority of Ashura's tears. Sasuke crouched beside Kira's body and he dipped his fingers into her uncoagulated blood, it was still warm.

He turned Ashura towards him and placed a palm print of Kira's blood on the back of her armor, and wrote in Japanese 'the bane of wolves' on the front of her armor. He then grabbed both of her hands and shoved them into her sister's blood, causing a horrified look to cross her features. He then proceeded to spit a flame at the blood to dry it forcefully. "How dare you desecrate her remains!" Ashura managed to snarl and he gave her a glare from beneath his helmet.

"Now her blood is literally on your hands, you are the one who will set her soul free." He snapped and Hinata looked up at him with awestruck eyes. "S-Sasuke?" she asked and he turned to her and motioned for her to place her hands back on the totem until it opened the gates. "Now, you listen to me, and you listen carefully. That is the blood of your sister, and she will forever be with you now. Do not disgrace her, do not let her down." He snapped and grasped her hands and turned the once white gloves to her face. "You see that!? That is your responsibility!" he snapped and her eyes widened. "If you ever want any sort of peace, become the bane of wolves, become your sister's legacy! Save her soul!" he snarled and her shaky eyes tried to focus on him, but couldn't.

"Now, Let's go. We have to find the rest of her so we can put her to rest properly, but before we can do that... we need to destroy Atheon." He said and despite the tears streaking over her cheeks, she nodded. She turned back to the portal as it had almost finished opening. A purple glow was emanating from beside her, but she didn't care what it was. She knew it was another of his abilities. "You've lost a lot too, haven't you... Sasuke?" She asked as she began stepping through the portal. "Yes, I have. My brother killed my family because they were trying to overthrow the leader of our village." He said and she looked at him from over her shoulder. "I killed my brother, and then learned the truth." He said and she wiped her eyes then froze, realizing that she had just smeared her sister's blood across her face.

"And yet you pity this fool..." She said as she strolled over to the relic and attached it to her arm. "I will take out the praetorian, you kill the oracles." She said and he nodded. She began charging the praetorians and he sent arrow after arrow right into the center of each oracle, which engulfed them in a sphere of void energy and killed them. "What a wonderful ability that must be." She said and he nodded as he set loose another arrow and it pierced the torso of yet another of the praetorians.

"Follow me." she said and he took off after her. They barely managed to escape the first portal as Ashura dropped the relic for Nora to put on and follow her. "We have to grab the second relic and kill the gatekeeper within the Venus portal." Ashura said and Nora and Sasuke nodded at her, slipping through the second portal with ease. Ashura ran to grab the second relic but the gatekeeper sent out a shockwave to knock her backwards. She grit her teeth and dove for the relic, barely grasping it between her middle and index fingers. She strapped it to her arm and put up the bubble to clear her and Sasuke's vision. Nora was clearing her own vision of the darkness that had engulfed her sight as well.

Both of the women exchanged nods and rushed at the gatekeeper with their relic shields raised. The explosion caused by the collision of the relic shields against the gatekeeper's shields sent the woman flying backwards only for them to roll to a stop at opposite sides of the area. A heavy foreboding aura permeated the air and Ashura shakily pushed her face from the ground to look at the intimidating creature that caused the chills to roll down her spine. Her eyes widened as she took in the size of the creature, it was larger than Atheon was...

With a single slash of the blade, the gatekeeper emitted a large explosion which blinded them.

:-:_:-:

Hinata, Sakura, and Gaara were watching the portal for their friends to return. A bright light shone from the center area in between the gates and the conflux. Hinata peered around the edge to see what the bright light was, but soon gasped and motioned for Gaara and Sakura to follow her lead. She held a finger to her lips and motioned for them to crouch and move to the furthest side of the totem they were touching, without moving their hands of course.

Hinata held her arm up to view the life force of the creature standing there, but all she could manage to see was a red bar on her gauntlets with red question marks beside it's name. Atheon. Hinata glanced back at the people behind her and held a finger to her lips once she showed them what her gauntlets had gathered from reading it's life force.

It wasn't long before Ashura, Sasuke and Nora jumped from the portal. They crouched and ran to the other side, grabbing Kira's torso as they went. Ashura set her sister down with her limbs appearing to be completely attached once more. The ghosts had odd abilities for such small mechanical creatures.

Sasuke flickered into sight right next to Hinata and Sakura. "It knows you are here, it was just trying to find a way to kill all of you at the same time, I would recommend getting away from it." He said and they all nodded, following him around the side of the creature's line of sight. they reached the area where Nora and Ashura were, but they said nothing to the white haired woman.

Sasuke pulled his electrified blade, but Hinata grabbed his wrist. "You cant kill it alone." she said and he nodded. "I know, but if we don't start we will be here forever trying to." he said and Ashura looked over at him. "My relic wasn't destroyed, but it needs time to recharge." She said and he nodded. "Once you weaken the creature I will destroy it." Nora said, gaining the attention of the Uchiha. He held out a hand to her and she grasped it firmly with both of her hands. "You take care young ones; this is going to be my last battle. I'm going to take Atheon straight to hell with me." She said as she shook his hand once firmly.

"Don't worry about us, you have friends waiting on the other side, Nora." He said and She nodded, the hidden smile on her lips obviously going unseen by the young man before her. Sasuke turned to face Atheon once more, but this time his sharingan flared dangerously. Sakura, Gaara, and Hinata knew what he was about to do but Nora and Ashura had no idea, so they stepped back. Black flames licked their way up Atheon's feet, eliciting a wail of surprised anger from the creature.

"Sasuke, it's health doesn't seem to be affected by your flames..." Hinata said and he nodded, seeing as the creature had stopped screeching. "I'm going to put them out then." He sighed and she nodded, but her hands were engulfed with the same blue heads that Toland had seen when he had brought her back. Ashura looked over to Sakura and saw strange markings crossing over her forehead.

Nothing changed about Gaara, but he had pulled out his rifle and begun loading it. That same large purple beast from before began to seep up around Sasuke and Ashura resisted the chill that shook her form. Sasuke teleported to right behind Atheon, His four armed creature trying it's best to hold the large Vex still. the diamond shaped relic appeared once more and Ashura stood, charging the beam to throw at Atheon to shut down his abilities for a moment. She crouched on the enter platform and fired off the shot, causing Atheon to jerk within Sasuke's grasp.

Both Sakura and Hinata lunged for Atheon, sending their overly strengthened fists into its abdomen. Sasuke continued to attempt to crush the large vex in on itself, but it didn't seem to want to give in easily. Ashura grit her teeth and lunged forward, slamming her fists into the torso of the robotic creature, but it sent her flying backwards into the wall.

Ashura hit the ground and she didn't stand back up, the slightest bit of blood was trickling from between the skin of her face and the respirator.Her eyes were wide in pain, but she didn't appear to be breathing. Hinata Motioned for Sakura to go check on her, but Atheon sent a shock of energy flying at the pinkette. She flipped to her left to avoid the rapid arc energy blast aimed at her, but it wasn't helping her in the slightest. Sasuke yelled out as Atheon fell over backwards to collapse his Susanoo.

Sasuke struggled to avoid the swinging arms aimed at him, he didn't understand how Atheon could have gotten free so easily, but he wasn't going to linger and enrage him. Sakura grunted and rushed at Atheon once more, leaving Hinata to check on both Sasuke and Ashura. Hinata tugged off Ashura's helmet and felt for a pulse. She waited with baited breath as her fingers ran along the curve of her nape until she felt a shallow pulse. Hinata released a relieved breath and turned to face Sasuke. "Are you alright?" She asked and he nodded. "I'm fine, thank you." He said as he looked over at Ashura. "She may not be though." he sighed and Hinata shook her head at him as she grasped his arm gently.

"She will be fine for now, we can't let Sakura continue to fight that thing alone..." Hinata said softly and he looked over at the pinkette who was dodging both blows from Atheon and Gaara's rifle rounds. Sasuke nodded and pulled Hinata to her feet. "I have something of a plan..." he said and Hinata looked up at him waiting for his command. "Use the nova bomb's three projectiles and throw it at his feet, that way even though it hurts him he won't move for long." Sasuke said and she nodded. "Sakura and I will ram him from the back to force him to stumble." Sasuke said and Nora glanced at him this time.

"You're going to throw him over the edge." She said and he nodded at her. "I want you to gather the grenades that everyone has spawned already." he said to her and she released a laugh. "You're giving this one her dying wish." she commented and he nodded as he grasped her hand tightly. "Goodbye, it was nice to meet you." He said and Sakura landed beside him, breathing heavily.

"So what is the plan?" Sakura asked once she had caught her breath enough to speak once more. "Give me all your grenades." Nora said and everyone piled up their grenades beside her. "Sakura, Gaara, you two come with me, Hinata, you know what to do. Nora..." Sasuke began, but stopped and offered a salute to the warlock woman. "Farewell." he said and she returned his salute.

Sasuke, Gaara, and Sakura took off towards the left rear side behind Atheon, while Hinata and Nora jumped into the center. Hinata released her Nova bomb and jumped back to where Ashura lay, and began picking off any encroaching enemies. The three behind Atheon ran at him and collided with his back while Nora jumped and grabbed a hold of Atheon's shoulders, dropping the pins to each of the grenades on the ground before she did so.

Atheon tumbled over the edge and Nora released a laugh as she descended into the darkness. Sasuke and Sakura ran over to the edge to look over, but the explosion from far down below sent mechanical part from Atheon back up at them. Atheon's head hit the ground and rolled past Sasuke's foot, who then proceeded to reach and lift the mechanical head and stare at it. "You have caused enough pain..." He said and allowed Andal to take the head within himself.

Each of them made their way over to the edge to give last salute to Nora, and then they turned back to where Ashura was slumped against the wall, breathing but just barely. Hinata stumbled forwards and hit the ground, Causing Sasuke to lunge forwards and grab her. They were all exhausted and within reason. He pulled her up and he carried her to the surface bridal style, while Gaara was carrying Ashura. Sakura held Wei Ning in her grasp, tears rolling over her cheeks as she stared at the small ghost.

She had Vell Tarlowe in her other hand, fully understanding that the lack of light residing in the mechanical eye of the ghost meant there was nothing they could do to help Ashura get her sister back. Gaara would more often than not glance over at the pinkette, understanding fully why she was crying. "There may be nothing we can do for Kira, but we can help Ashura." Gaara said but Sasuke shook his head from the front of the line. "There is nothing we can do for ashura, other than opening the reef to her. She's going to have to spend a while in the medical wing, so there's nothing else we can do. We are going to research Crota, because we need to rid the earth of his filth, just as we did with Atheon." Sasuke said and Sakura nodded.

Each of their ships hovered overhead and teleported them into the ship. Once everyone was in their ship they took off towards earth, not one of them speaking over their headsets. They all knew what was coming when they were to reach earth. It was going to be a lot like when they had come back from the war and they knew it.

The first faces they saw when they stepped onto the hangar were the three vanguard leaders, the speaker, and Loki.

"Are they with you?" Ikora asked, causing Sasuke to nod. "We have them right here." Sakura said as she carried Kira from her ship. Gaara carried Ashura, while Sasuke helped Hinata step out of his.

"We brought them home." Sasuke said as he motioned for Loki to step forwards. He hit his knees and clutched both of his sisters to him tightly. He didn't cry, he didn't say a word or make a single noise, he just held them. Ashura looked over at him through half lidded eyes. "They destroyed Atheon... They did it..." She whispered before she slumped over and began heaving, Only to splatter blackened blood all over the ground.

"Bury her and Floyd, I will be in the medical wing." Ashura said as she collapsed in front of Cayde, who helped carry her to the medical wing.

I'm going to give a list of the actual names of the ghosts of the lucky seven here, that way if you want to know why I chose these, you can look them up on the destiny wiki page, or through reading the grimoire.

Naruto- Thalor (crucible)

Sasuke- Andal brask (Vanguard)

Hinata- Toland (Crota)

Ino- pahanin Errata (Vault of glass)

Sakura - Wei ning (Crota)

Gaara- Eriana-3 (Crota)

Shikamaru- Sai Mota (Crota)

OK, so omg guys! I have absolutely no chill whatsoever right now. I've been looking at all of the twitch taken king release things and just losing my mind. I am so freaking excited because I preordered it like two months ago just about. I have no idea if any of you are as excited as I am, but omg there's an arc edge sword for your heavy slot! And so much more awesome things I am just absolutely tripping balls over.

Go ahead, say what you will, but I don't ever think you have seen a girl this excited over a video game.

Ahem... anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I really hope everyone from here will also stop in and check out A day to remember as well! Which is Ashura, Kira, Loki, Danny, and Lion's half of the story! In that one you will get a better feeling as to who the other guardians are in this story.

Yes, Lion, Loki, and Danny are based on actual people. My friend Alvin's hunter, my brother's Warlock, and my friend Danny's titan.

Kira is my titan, and obviously she dies, but Ashura isn't based on any real person. She's just... my usual rpg character. She's in Skyrim, she's in all of my online computer rpg's, hell she's even in my thrillville game, except she has like bleach blonde hair though. She's everywhere and nowhere at all.

See you all when chapter 6 hits!