I do not own destiny.

She kicked her legs up on the railing of the vanguard room and he threw a scowl her way. She was getting on his nerves asking so many questions about senseless shit. What map is that? Where does that one lead? Why do you have so many maps? Why do you have a longer horn than me? He was fed up and had full confidence that Asher Mir was going insane with her bothering him all the time. He gripped one of the maps tightly in his grasp and looked over to her once more.

He couldn't stand her existence right now and she was grating on his every nerve. he sighed as he set the map back on the table and turned towards her with irritation seeping off his being. "Don't you have anything better to do than bother me all the time?" he asked and her posture saddened and he felt bad. "I'm sorry... I just... I don't know anyone here so I don't have any friends here." she said and he suddenly felt bad for her. He opened his mouth to say something but she started flinging dirt from her crevices onto his table.

This woman aggravated him to no end. So much for him feeling bad for her, he thought as he dusted her gunk off the table. "What woke you up anyways?" he growled at her, getting more and more irate at the tapping of her foot. "You should have known you needed more than just that little bit to hold me for more than a year and a half. Where are Artemis and Rev?" She asked and he crossed his arms and sighed. "I don't know, and that is kind of the damn issue." he grumbled and she shrugged. "Now let me try to find my student, and keep your damn mouth shut for the love of Osiris." he grumbled and she laughed lightly.

"Hell yeah, I love Osiris." She chuckled lowly and he glared over at her. "Elkin, control that woman." He growled and the ghost looked from Cayde to his own guardian who he was currently annoyed with. "What all do you remember from your last life anyways?" he grumbled as he continued pacing. "Not much... everything is fuzzy. All I really remember is when I asked for your help. When we went to Bray facility... I don't remember much other than I was a titan and asking you for help." she sighed and began kicking her legs from atop the table once more. He frowned and repressed a sigh.

"So... I am all you remember?" he asked and she nodded. "Great. You Remember being a titan, but you are now a hunter too. Forget everything you knew about being only a titan." he ordered and she nodded and began tapping on her gauntlets to erase those memories. Before he could actually stop her, she jerked and a spark escaped her. She shook her head and he looked over at her with his jaw agape and his posture screaming 'Are you dumb?' "Uh... I wasn't being literal..." he muttered and she blinked over at him in confusion. He sighed and began pacing once more.

"Cayde." Ikora called and he ran over to her to grab her by the shoulders. "Please tell me you know something?!" he pleaded and she looked at him oddly. "Yes... please let go..." she managed; discomfort clear in her tone. "Nina of the reef has come bearing news." She said and he hugged her tightly picking her up and spinning in a circle. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" He cheered and she eyed him oddly, then her gaze landed on the Exo sitting on the table. "You are the new Exo." she greeted and introduced herself. "I'm Misra-" she began but Cayde cut her off. "Yeah... yeah... yeah... enough of that Ashura. Status. NOW." he demanded and the two women looked at him like he had lost his mind. Zavala strolled in and his features were irate, that much you could tell.

The woman chasing behind him was clearly sad, fearful even. Cayde couldn't understand why she seemed to be scared, this was Nina. The woman who had had a crush on Zavala since the day she landed in the tower eight years ago. It seemed that everyone could tell she was in love with him other than Zavala himself. "Commander please..." she begged and Zavala held one hand up to silence her. "How could you betray us like this?!" he snapped and she cowered away from him slightly. "Please... it wasn't my intention..." She sobbed and he fisted his hands on the table.

"But you did and that is the issue." he snapped and Ikora cleared her throat. "Zavala, you are being irrationally angry. You should know better than anyone that she has had your back more times than you could possibly count. She would not betray us, perhaps she was being used or is a double agent. Do not yell at her because you feel betrayed by her." She commanded and Zavala and Ikora were staring each other down.

"Nina, where is Ashura. Let them have their little spat." Cayde demanded and she looked over at him in surprise. "Cayde! She is in the reef still." She said and he cocked his head to the side. "What? Why?" he asked and She smiled, despite the tears that were drying on her cheeks. "My Prince is helping her." She said and he looked at her in surprise. "Cayde, you knew this. Nina, why is she still there? We said a week." Zavala asked sharply and the woman cowered again.

His whole demeanor seemed to change in an instant. "I promised Kira I would keep Ashura safe, and I don't feel like Ashura is safe with that man." Zavala sighed as he stood to his full height. "I doubt whoever this prince is would feel safe with little Nina there being near you either. I mean she was doing her job and you just chewed her head off." Misra said with her arms crossed over her chest.

The amused tone of voice the woman once held was gone and a commanding aura was in its place. Zavala turned to face her and he approached her with curious eyes. "What is your name?" he asked and she watched him carefully. "Misra... Misra Belle." She said and he frowned. "I thought you were someone else. Your voice sounded so familiar..." he grumbled and she looked from him to Cayde who shrugged and shook his head. "Either way. You are out of line as well... Nina." Zavala called and she looked up at him, fear of being scolded once more gripping her entire being. "Forgive me, we will speak more of this in private." he said and she nodded.

"Do you make it a habit of yelling at everyone associated with the reef?" Cayde asked and Zavala sighed and shook his head. "Only those who hide things from me." He said and Cayde watched him oddly, not understanding what Zavala was referring to. "Well... either way. When can I have my Ashura back?" he asked and Nina laughed lightly. "I'm afraid it will be in a few days. Prince Uldren has been working very hard to help her, but she doesn't seem to be taking to the new limb as well as Uldren had hoped." She sighed and Cayde narrowed his eyes at her. She was lying about something and he was going to find out what.

"Nina... I'm bored. Wanna go patrol the moon?" Misra asked, catching his attention, but before he could stop the Exo and titan they were gone. "Damn that woman." He grumbled and Ikora laughed softly. "Great, you have an exo version of Ashura now, except seemingly a little less... angry." "Yeah, yeah laugh it up. At least I can handle them." he grumbled and Zavala shot him a look. "Are you sure about that?" he asked and Cayde huffed at him. "Whatever."

He knew he couldn't really handle the both of them without looming over their shoulders and that was an issue to him. He hated the fact he was out of reach of both of them now and that Zavala had woken her up without realizing fully what he had done. He had unleashed a woman capable of grandeur on the world, not that he was complementing her because he sure wasn't. He would cause massive problems for him in the future because of her vex obsession. That was one thing she had inherited from Kira, it seemed.

He wasn't going to mention that tidbit because then Zavala would realize he had released a mad scientist with no memories of being such on the sol system. Zavala didn't need to know about that bit yet, nor did Ashura. He looked back to his maps and sighed. He wanted Ashura to come home instead of continuing to get chummy with the prince. A thought crossed his mind and he looked over to the two other vanguard leaders in the room.

"Hey I have a question." He called and they turned to face him. "Zavala, Ikora... At some point can I go on a strike with Ashura and Misra?" he asked and they gave him unsettled looks, but discussed it softly amongst themselves. "What strike?" Zavala asked and His hopes were through the roof. "I Dunno, one of your choice, that we can handle easily. I promise you can monitor the whole thing. No funny business." he promised and they both sighed and began discussing things once more between them.

After about fifteen minutes of deliberation, they both sighed and gave him his desired response of "Fine. But we choose the strike." they said and he jumped with joy. He was finally going to get out of the tower once more.

:-:-:

Today was the day. He was super excited because Ashura was coming home today and he would finally be able to see her again. He missed his short student more than he had liked to admit. He looked over at Nina and Misra and sighed. He was sending them along with Loki to go get Ashura and he was going to monitor the whole transaction through their ghosts. As soon as she got back, they were going to go on the strike that they had been promised.

He waved them off and watched them through their ghost. He sighed the moment Misra caught sight of the queen. She had Elkin zoom in on the queen and he sighed and buried his face in his hands. "Cayde, do you see this woman? Gosh Damn this woman is hot." she crowed and he laughed in embarrassment as the queen and Ashura looked over their way. He was so embarrassed for the sake of every guardian because of this one. "Misra no, you can't like older men and relatively younger women too. Pick a side." Elkin grumbled and he rubbed his face as he listened to them banter back and forth for a moment.

"Ok, you four-armed weirdo, up you go!" Misra said and he was startled by a sudden explosion that blew across the screen the moment Misra had touched Ashura. He sighed and buried his face in his hands once more when he saw that Ashura's ghost was hovering over her charred body in an irritated stance. Misra forced him shut and he watched as Ashura's body because whole once more, but she was unconscious.

"Can someone else pick her up now... not you Misra. Please for the sake of the traveler don't touch her again." Cayde said through the ghost and Loki made his way over to his sister and hefted her up onto his shoulder. When they returned to the tower, she was still unconscious so they took her to the infirmary. Misra was a menace to society and he wondered why Zavala thought it a good reason to introduce her to the tower after she woke back up.

It was about a week before Ashura regained consciousness and he had worried every single day she had been unconscious. He had sat by her side and held her hand and checked her breathing every day. She had mumbled in her sleep a few times and had gripped his hands tightly but she had never woken up. He wondered what she dreamt about but he was going to let her keep her secrets. He knew she was going to tell them eventually if her dreams were coming true again.

He sighed and reached for her hand once more and this time pale fingers wrapped around his hand and stopped him from holding her hand. His eyes lit up the moment he saw her silver eyes open once more. He was so relieved that she was awake once more. She gripped his hand and he pulled her to her feet out of the bed. She was on a mission it seemed and he was going to follow her to see where she was going.

"Ashura, how are you feeling?" Cayde asked as her silver eyes landed on him once more, sending a chill down his spine. "How do you think I am doing?" She grumbled as they made their way into the vanguard room. "Soooo... I see you met Misra." He offered and she glared at him. "Yeah... you think?" She huffed as she pointed at the burnt circuitry of her mechanical arms. The arms moved well enough it seemed, but they were definitely toast. He cringed lightly and felt bad about that, but he couldn't quite tell her he had sent the woman to get her now, could he?

He decided he needed to change the subject and soon. "Soooo... do you think you'd be up for a strike with me?" He asked and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Who is the third member of the team?" she asked and he scratched the back of his head. yeah... he knew he wasn't getting out of it that easily. "Ok I promise she won't touch your arms again. That was a fluke." He assured her and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Absolutely not." She hissed and he watched her oddly. "Why not?" he challenged and she glared at him.

"She zapped the hell out of me, and she's some odd vex exo." She snapped and Cayde sighed and put a hand over his face. "Rest assured, I know. Zavala caught her with a bottle of Radiolaria." he said and Ashura looked at him like he was insane. "You are joking right? She is clearly of vex make, so what the hell is she doing here?" she asked and he scratched his head sheepishly.

"I made her?" he said questioningly and she stared at him with her jaw agape. He knew it was a lie but she didn't have to know that yet. "What were you thinking Cayde?" She sighed and he shrugged.

"I built the body but the person inhabiting it is completely out of my hands... literally. I can't touch her cause Radiolaria is gross. And I think she might be radioactive because she glows sometimes." he said and Ashura rubbed her eyes. He could understand her frustrations honestly. Ashura looked over at the woman who just entered the room and he glanced over at the pitiful looking Exo as well and felt bad for her once more. "I would... just like to be friends..." she said softly and Ashura sighed. "Ugh. Fine. Just please don't touch my arms again." She said and Misra cheered in delight.

He was happy that the two of them could possibly get along. He was contemplating the idea of having them make it as an impromptu fireteam where when he had to monitor them, he could just monitor both at the same time. The thought made his life a little easier in the long run and he hoped it would work out that way for him. "What is the strike on?" she asked and Cayde had an excited look that took over his form. He had chosen the most annoying strike they could go on just for the purpose of punishing both of his students at the same time. And himself, but mostly them.

And it was fantastic, just as he had been hoping... Ashura jumped to avoid a herd of thrall as they chased her down. "Damn you, Cayde." She growled as the he jumped around like a rabbit avoiding all the thrall and drawing attention to her. "Come on Ashura, you are better than this." He chastised as he began to glow a bright orange. He shot off three rounds and Thrall began to explode everywhere he shot. "This is why they don't let you leave the tower." She hissed and he chuckled. "Oh no... that reason is much worse." Ivara said before he could say anything and he laughed as Ashura rolled her eyes.

He felt so free being out of the tower. This was nice, he should torment his students more often it seemed. He watched as she fought, she was amazing in her own right and that was alluring to him. He had never seen someone fight the way she did and it just raised more of his interest in her. He watched as she clenched her fists and jumped, slamming her shoulder down into the crowd of thrall that had surrounded her. The rippling wave of electricity disintegrated every thrall it came across and knocked Misra off her feet as Ashura rolled to her feet.

"Holy shit Cayde, I thought you said she was a hunter!" Misra yelled as she rolled back to her feet as well. Cayde chuckled as he watched the two of them look at each other. Ashura smirked as she rolled into invisibility and ducked around behind the wizard Mormu only to jump up onto its back and plunge a knife into its neck. "I am." She said and Misra looked at her in confusion. He couldn't help the admiration that built up in him with every move she made. She was an amazing fighter and a wonderful human despite all her flaws she thought she had. In his mind she was perfect.

Flickers of memories riled up in his mind and that smirk mirrored one he had seen on Ivara's face one too many times. So cocky and yet not, all at the same time. Just amused with the thought of someone being amazed by her. He had seen that look thousands of times over and it never ceased to amaze him. She never ceased to amaze him and he couldn't get over the feeling of being hopelessly infatuated with the both of them.

"Don't sweat your pretty little mind dear. We don't understand either." Cayde called as he approached the door and kicked it open. They ran out into a large open area where all the hive turned to face them. Acolytes fired from all over the place, causing them to all duck and dodge to avoid the flying bullets around the room. "I hate you, Cayde." Ashura growled as she jumped onto a knight and twisted its head off, only for an acolyte to shoot her off of the knight as it fell. Cayde couldn't help but be impressed with her as she did this, most guardians preferred to use their weapons to fight but she was a feral hands-on fighter and it only amazed him even more. "You know you love me still." he said and she rolled her eyes as she was hunched over trying to heal.

She looked over to where Kabr was healing the burn to her side. "Despite this new leg, you still have a lot of chemicals in your blood still..." "I know. Uldren and I are trying to figure out a way to fix that." she said and stood to take off towards another knight that was down a pathway to the side. Upon hearing that tidbit he felt the jealousy rise in his chest. He hated the other man with a passion and he wished Ashura had never met him.

He couldn't let that impact the mission they were on though, so he slipped over to Misra and tapped her on the shoulder. "Wanna see something funny?" he asked and she nodded. An acolyte began shooting at him and he began dancing around the bullets. Misra laughed and joined in soon after, which amused him to no end. They wee dancing perfectly together in sync, but the moment Ashura saw them she shot the acolyte and gave them both a dirty look.

They huffed and proceeded to make her way towards the summoning pits. Ashura continued down the hallway and took out the shrieker when it split open. They entered the large room and Cayde cringed lightly when he felt Ashura's anger emanating from her. Ashura took a deep breath and turned around to face Cayde with an irate look. "A damn Ogre? Not to mention a massive one?" She asked angrily and if they could smile at her, they would have. Because they were both a menace to society even though Cayde projected that on the two of them, he was one too. Hence why he was never allowed out of the tower.

"It sounded fun." he said with a shrug and that was their only defense. He couldn't come up with anything more reasonable to say and he saw how angry that made her. But she couldn't blame him as it was the first time that he was getting to escape the tower in a long time. She had to give him props for choosing something that would seem like fun to a guardian of his stature. "I hate you both." She growled as she pulled her blades out. He was excited to see her use them as he had never witnessed it before. She dropped down and flexed the handles of the blades causing arc energy to consume the blades. "Come on then." Ashura growled as she began exchanging blows with a blade knight.

Cayde decided he wasn't going to go after the knights and smaller foe like she was, and went straight for the ogre, much to Ashura's annoyance. He and Misra were flawless together, but with Ashura involved they were invincible in his eyes. They made a wonderful team despite never having worked together like this before. He pulled his golden gun, which led Misra pull hers as well and they aimed right at the ogre. They fought with this thing for like an hour, but then they were all hiding behind the same rock. Ashura opened her mouth to speak but Cayde held up a hand to her.

"Not a word." He grumbled and she smirked. That smirk was annoying to him right now, because she was right and he was wrong. She looked over to Misra who shook her head as well. "Say nothing." She growled and Ashura crossed her arms over her chest. "Who said this was a bad idea?" she asked and they both looked at her unamused. "What did we say?" Cayde growled and Ashura smirked. "I told you so." She bit out and both the exo exchanged glances then nodded at each other. Seems they both had the same exact thought cross their minds.

"Ashura, one day you will forgive us." Cayde said as he grabbed the smaller woman and lobbed her at the Ogre. He watched as Misra flew over to her and landed beside her from yet another one of his amazing throws. Ashura barely had time to look back at him fearfully before Misra touched her. The ogre fell to the ground with one final scream of pain and he couldn't hold in his laughter as he slapped a hand over his mouth from where Misra was being rebuilt by her ghost.

Ashura made her way to her feet and opened her mouth to scream at them, only to fall flat on her face with her hand stretched out in front of her. Misra finally lost control of her laughter and was doubled over beside Ashura's unconscious form. Why this was happening they didn't know but somehow it never ceased to amuse them. The short woman was an explosive projectile at the moment and they were going to continue to use her as such while they could.

"I am disappointed in both of you." was all Zavala had to say as Cayde cradled Ashura in his arms and transmatted them out.

:-:-:-:

Cayde had once more reprised his role as the bedside keeper to Ashura as she recovered. Only for Misra to start going through his things on the daily. He had left her bedside and made his way to guard his room from the troublesome exo, only to find her rummaging through his things once more. He rushed out of his room after her, only for her to yell out to the entire plaza that she had gotten into his pants.

The stares from all around embarrassed him to no end, much like the amused laughter that echoed about. She was wearing his lucky pants and he was getting annoyed with her as she paraded around in them. He looked up from where he had hidden his face in his hands to see a curious glance sent his way from a certain set of alluring silver eyes. All words were trapped in his lungs and he couldn't help but stare at her.

She offered him a smile and he was relieved she wasn't still mad at him. He decided to leave Misra with his pants and made his way back into the vanguard room for the day. They walked in talking about what had happened in Phogoth's depths and he couldn't help but chuckle. SHaxx began telling stories about how Efrideet had thrown other guardians as well and he decided to interject. "But Ashura's was still funnier because Misra said boop and she exploded." he mused, but his humor was drained right out of him the moment he saw the glare that she was sending him from across the room

The curling of her lips and the wrinkle across the bridge of her nose screamed her anger at him and he felt somewhat bad for making light of her situation once more. He didn't want her to hate him, that was the last thing he would ever want. He opened his mouth to apologize, but all rage left her features the moment she saw Eris. Ashura hugged Eris and they spoke softly amongst each other. He couldn't help the jealousy that rose within him as they spoke.

He made his way over to Ashura, but Zavala nudged him and he stopped in his tracks. "Come the last few of the Lucky seven have returned, let's go celebrate their success." He announced and Cayde took one last glance at Ashura before he followed Zavala out of the room. He sat through the ceremony without a single word to anyone, his eyes never once leaving Ashura. He watched as she was surrounded by her peers and pulled to the front of the line at the celebration.

He could tell she didn't feel like she belonged, but they thought she did so there was nothing she could do about it. He liked that she was making friends here in the tower. She deserved to have friends. More than just him, but he still wanted to be a part of her life. He looked up once more and saw Petra approaching her with her hand held out. She was asking for something, it seemed. He made a move to get closer but the crowd was huge and still amassing.

When he did get within range he overheard them talking about the prince. He knew it was something serious between the two of them now when he caught sight of the look on Ashura's face. He could see it in her features as Petra handed over the knife. She was absolutely enthralled with the golden blade that shimmered like a golden galaxy. It was something made with a deft hand, that was for sure.

This was all he needed to see before he turned around and started off towards Zavala and the others once more. Before he could fully get away from her though, gentle hands gripped into his sleeve and she tugged gently on him. He turned to face her and she grinned up at him as she showed him the blade. As she was talking about the blade and how much it excited her to have such a lovely gift, he placed a hand on her cheek and she looked up at him curiously.

He gently placed his metal lips against her forehead and turned around and walked away. He needed to be alone with his thoughts for a minute. He made his way back to the vanguard room, but he took one last look back at her and couldn't help but feel bad because she was still standing there just staring at him in confusion. What he wouldn't give to be human once more, he knew relations between Exo and Humans were odd even in this day and age but he wanted her more than anything. But he wanted her to be happy so he was going to let go for a while.

He would do anything to make her smile and if it meant leaving her alone, he was going to do it.