Chapter Text
Chapter 2: Everything's Not Lost
"Wow, this place is amazing." Was all I could say while taking in the sight of people talking and working on other ships.
"If you think this place is cool, wait til you see the rest." A woman said to me in a Southern accent as she was walking up to me.
"You must be new here, taking account of your ship looking a bit worse for wear." She said, as a panel conveniently fell off my ship.
"Yeah I am, my ghost says I'm to meet with the Vanguard."
"That would be right, the name's Amanda Holiday, by the way, the best mechanic the Last City has to offer." Amanda said with pride.
"It's nice to meet you, Amanda." I extend my hand for her to shake and she accepts it. "My name is Shaun Havok."
"Pleasure to meet you Shaun, you should get going, by the looks of your ship It'll take at least the rest of the day and night to get her all fixed for you. By the way, just head out the left here into the Courtyard and go right, down some stairs, and you'll find the Vanguard."
"Thank you, Amanda!" I said as I made my out of the Loading Bay, when I entered the Courtyard, I heard someone yell out to me.
"Hey there mate!" someone called out in an Australian accent.
I turned my head to see another Guardian wearing bulky armor waving me down, however, he wasn't a human like me or Amanda.
"You're that new Guardian, I was told to show yah around. The name's Bandit-3"
"I'm Shaun. Bandit-3 huh? What kind of name is that?"
"I'm an Exo, the number in my name is how many times I've been 'rebooted' but I can tell you more some other time, so come on, let me show you around." Bandit said waving his hand to tell me to follow him.
Bandit showed me around the other places in the Courtyard. The Postmaster, the Bounty Board, The three different faction leaders, the Weapon-smith Banshee-44, the Vault for storing things I find, Shaxx, and finally we stopped at an empty workspace."
"What's this space used for?"
"This is my workspace! When I'm not out blasting holes in Fallen or Hive, I'm set up here as the Armor-smith!"
"Hive?"
"Oh, um you'll meet them soon enough. The Vanguard is all down there so good luck! When your meeting is done stop by, I can give you some better armor than… whatever you are wearing."
After leading me to Cayde's office and saying our goodbyes, I entered the room and had an… interesting conversation with the Exo. Afterward, I made my way to Bandit's shop to get myself fitted with some better protection. I said hello to Bandit, and he led me to the back of his shop and into a room that was full of different kinds of Hunter armor.
"Take your time picking out your armor, gotta make sure you do some killing in style. Oh, and there's a changing room near the back." He said with a wink as he walked back to the front of his store.
Looking at all I had to choose from, I found some pieces I liked and walked toward the changing room Bandit had mentioned and put on my armor. After getting myself equipped I left the armor room and went back to join Bandit. He heard me approaching and looked at me to see what I picked out.
"Hey, looking snazzy mate!"
The armor I picked out for myself had a simple design of a wolf's head on the chest plate with a cape that had intentional rips on the bottom and the same wolf on it. I had a hood that connected to the cape and fur along the neck seam. My helmet was also wolf-themed, with it looking just like a wolf's skull with glowing red eyes. The armor also came with three knives that I put on the right side of my waist. Lastly, I wore some armored boots with a bow quiver on my left thigh, all in black and white with red accents.
"Thank you! Oh, how much money is this gonna cost?"
"Don't worry about the Glimmer, this one's on the house since you're a new Guardian."
"You sure? Well, thanks, Bandit. Also. Glimmer? Is that what money is now?"
"Yeah, it is, if you need some to buy something you can get it from selling something or looting it from chests and dead bodies. By the way, what are going to do now?"
"Well I can't go anywhere until Amanda is finished working on my ship, why do you ask? Did you need something?"
"I was thinking about closing early today. I wanted to see if you'd want to come back to my place, I'll let you crash there until you have your own place to stay, plus, I'd like to hang out with my new friend."
"Um yeah sure! I'd love to hang out!"
With that, me and Bandit left the courtyard and went down into the city, walking past all the children playing in the streets and people selling food and other items in stalls they put up, we made it to what looked like an apartment building and ascended the stairs and stood in front of the door to Bandit's room. He unlocked it and we stepped inside. On the wall, he had a big Austrian flag hanging above a flat-screen TV and bookshelves filled with old books and different dinosaur fossils.
"Wow, for how far technology has come, I would've thought your home wouldn't look so… ancient."
"What can I say, I like the aesthetic." Bandit said as he walked into his kitchen and came back with two cans of beer. "Care for a drink?"
"Thank you," I said as I took his offer and opened my can, and took a sip. "Hey wait, if you're a robot, how can you drink? Do you eat food?"
"Yeah, I can eat and drink, The process for digesting it is different than you humans but it's still kinda the same result."
"Hey Amy, can you eat food?"
Amy appeared in front of me. "Well considering I don't have a mouth, that would be a no. Did you really have to ask?"
"No that was a joke, you really need to lighten up."
Amy rolled her eye.
"Hey there Amy, it's nice to meet you." Bandit said.
"I've been here the whole time, but it's nice to meet you too."
"Me there! My name's B1ng0. I'm Bandit-3's ghost." An orange ghost with a green eye appeared in front of them and spoke excitedly with a female Aussie accent.
Me and Amy looked at each other. "That's an interesting name."
"She picked it out herself. Even though she's a ghost, I swear she acts like a kid sometimes." Bandit chuckled.
"Oh, hush." B1ng0 said looking away from Bandit.
A few hours passed as me, Bandit, and our ghosts all got to know each other more. Eventually, me and Bandit were watching a recording on a VHS tape of a Cricket game he found in an old building.
"Oh come on, how the hell is that LBW?" He said upset and threw his hand up.
I wasn't really following the game so I decided to ask him a question.
"Hey Bandit? Do you remember anything about before you became a Guardian?"
"Oh um, most people don't remember who they were, but yeah I do but it's a little silly." He replied, surprised by my sudden question.
"Can I know what you remember?"
"Eh maybe some other time, it's getting late and I'm tired." he said getting up off the couch and turning off the TV.
"I didn't think Exos could get tired."
"Well we do, we need sleep just like the rest of you. Why did you ask me that question, by the way? Something on your mind mate?"
"I'm just trying to remember who I was before I came back. I remember my name, but that's it."
"Yeah that's usually how it goes, although some other guardians would rather not know, but think you'll remember soon enough."
"How did you find your memories?"
"I found some DVDs in the back of a car I was looking through for some stuff I could sell for glimmer to a collector who likes the older Pre-Golden Age stuff, for some reason I felt like I had to watch them, so I took them home with me and played the first one and my past came rushing back to me."
"Hmm, I see." I replied as I let out a big yawn."
"Looks like I'm not the only one who's tired. The couch is pretty comfy, I slept on it a few times when I was too tired to go into my bedroom. Get some rest, you are gonna need it tomorrow when the real fun of being a Guardian starts, sleep well." Bandit said as he walked off to his bedroom."
"You too." I said while I stretched my body across the couch and rested my head on the arm of it.
Staring at the ceiling, I felt my eyes get heavy and I quickly drifted asleep and had a strange dream.
I woke up in my dream, hovering above the highway where I came back to life, however, it looked different, instead of a bunch of rusted dead cars, there were people inside them. All honking their horns at each other, trying to get through a massive traffic jam. I noticed one car move out of the lane and speed across the green grass, but the person driving lost control and drove right into a tree. His body flew out of the windshield and lay motionless on the ground. A few seconds after the person landed, everything around me disappeared and my surroundings turned into an endless white void. I heard a noise behind me. I turned around and saw the figure of a person, but their whole body was made of dark shadows. It tried to speak to me but all that came out was TV static.
"I'm sorry but I don't understand what you are saying."
It opened its mouth again but all I heard was white noise."
"Who are you? And why did I see the highway I woke up on?"
This time it still spoke in static, but I was able to make out the sentence.
D̶̳͍͖̘͎͎̺͇̆́̿̄̈́O̵̯͗̃̀̓̓̊͒͊̈́̌́̀ ̵̡̧̣̙͎̲͚̻̥̏͋̌͒͊̾̽̎̇̇̈́͝N̴̡̤̼̦̹͐̑̈́̄̚Ọ̴̡̟̮̼̖͚͇̱̹̯̅͂͆̂͒͌͛̏͂̐̅̚Ṭ̶̨̣̰̫̦͓̠̮̠̖͙̆͌́̋͛̈́̇̀̃̍̚͠ ̸̻̭͕̪͓̟̮̹̀̓̍̽͑́͘͜F̶͍͎̜̤̞̰̮̗̗̘̣͗̇͗͊̔̄̿́̈̅̈́Ớ̶̡̈́͌̋̐R̵̹̤͒̐͑̒͝͝G̸͈̭̺͙̤̟̗͔͕̾̾͒̌̈́̍͋̌͛̆̏͊͐Ȇ̶̢̧̼̰̯̻͍̫̈̇̎̈́̋́͘̕̚͠ͅT̶̨͓͔̫̺͓͇̼̣̔̍̋̾̀̂̊̽̄͊͆͝ ̵̞̥̻̘̩̰͙͓́͒̓́͗̄̾͜T̸͉͚͚͔͔̯͙̣̫̖̥̪͐̋̈́̀̈̂̍̇̆̀̉͊͝H̶̡̱̘̱̯̦̯͓͇̗͍̗̀̋̀̈̇͒͋̓̊͒̇͝I̷̡̡͎̩͔̭̙̩̞̫͚̘̓́̐̾̍́́̏̓͘S̷͍͇͇͓͖͚̘̭͎̠̺̽̓̐̔͒̅̄͜ ̴̡̯̣͖̥̫̖̮̟̪̠͍̈́́M̷̨̒́͐̀͋̒̎̃͝ͅÖ̷̡̩̫̫͚̬̖̲́͜M̶̢̗͙̬͍̞͕̋̀͆̓͛̑̉̔̚Ę̶̟̮̭̲̣͔͇̪̼̀̇͒̋̒̐̈́̀͂͘̚N̶̻̻̞͒T̸̡̥̯͗͒̾͌̀̈́̽͆̽̆͘͜.̵̛͍͔̀̏̀̓̇̑̆̈́̽́̾͝ ̵̡̜͖͛̂̏̑̊̔̋̒̃͝͝͝Ì̴͓̩̘̰̻̺̻̜̳̽̀͆̆̏́͜ ̴̨̨̨̱̙̼̱̼̹̼̦̲̇̍̊̑̂̏͜W̸̢̢͕̟̩̮̠͖͚͔͈͈̌̐͐̇̓́́̈́̇̇͝I̸̩͓̙̝̯̘̙͉̲̣̅͑̾̅̕Ĺ̴̡̧͇̰̰͑̉̈́́͠Ĺ̶̨͔͖͓̬̥͕̜̠͚͂͌͂̒̏̾͆͝ͅ ̵̨̛̛̝̳̱̫̹̼͍͖̲͙̤͑̐͑͊̄͊̽̂͊̚͜͠Ş̷̧̟̱͓̘͎̟̝̻͔̞͒̇̈́̒E̷̢̻̟̟̦̺͖̝̺̦͙͋̌̌̚È̷̫̣̮̉̈́͒̈́̀͑͜͝ ̷̨̛̯̺̬͊͑̑̅̇̊͘Y̷̻͖͚̖̤͚̱̓́̇́̀̐̔͋́̐Ö̴̭̺͇̟̳̜́̿̔͆͆̑́̆̉̍̽͂͝Ȕ̴̝̞̣̣̰̫͕͕̫́̽̀̚ ̸̳̺̭̫͖̤͛̓̎̀̀͗͆̕̚̚A̵̢̜͇͇̟̬̜̞͓̣̭͚̅̃̍̓͐̈́̄̄̆͆G̸̫̥̼̦̝̯̜̥̠̔̽͑͋̊̀͌̚͘ͅȦ̷̢̹͉͚̬͈̗̥̗͇̳̊̚͝Ì̷͙̥͓̘̤̯͕̽̄̄̀̒̿̏̇́͛͐͝Ń̶͙̊̽̽̽̓͗͗̚̕ ̵̢̩̦̮̪̺͚͙͓̠͋S̴̤͖͂Õ̴̭͈͉̜̼̠̠͔̪͍̯̤̓̅̽͒͑̎͑͆̍̓̚Ơ̸̱̫̜̮͍̰̟̭̇̒̌͛̈́͂̀N̷̡͕͎̮̬͖̘͙̲̻̓̚.̵͔͖̞́̌̉
And then I woke up.
