#I did consider an idea where everyone figures that Cayde is just too damaged and he gets reset so then its like Oof you reset your friend

[luna-light-eclipse]

Greetings you evil bastards! (I mean that in a friendly way). ‘Tis I! The one who keeps reading all your fun AU’s and idea’s, throughly enjoying them and never saying anything. You have set my brain onto the strongest AU related tangent that I’ve had in a very long time, off on the train of my very favourite type of angst.

The type where everything is just irreversibly bad.

So here I am, rambling at y’all instead of just hovering.

Exile wolf… I am in love with this entire concept. So I started to think, what if wolf really wants to come back, they never stop wanting to come back. That is their only home where the people they care about are, but they’ll never be let back so they give up that hope of coming home.

After Sundance being killed, Cayde being in a coma and everyone turning on them they quite rightfully fly off the handle for a while and slay anything/anyone that was even vaguely involved in trying to kill Cayde. Petra sends them relevant information throughout this purely because she doesn’t want the wolf pointing their newly found insatiable rage on her and the awoken.

The quicker Uldren is dead the faster wolf will leave is how Petra thinks of it. She’s right, wolf puts a dozen bullet holes in Uldrens head and then promptly fucks off to let the awoken pick up the pieces.

Only to be left drifting through space with no destination because normally they’d go back to the tower after something like that, the exile part really hits them now. Now they have no new missions and nowhere to report to.

Ghost whose been extremely worried for his gaurdian who hasn’t said a peep since The Cayde Incident nervously suggests going back to the cosmodrome. Head back to your roots when you are lost type thing.

What ghost wanted wolf to get from this was ‘things have been bad before, when you didn’t know about what was next and had a single broken gun to your name and yet everything turned out alright! Remember learning about what it meant to be a gaurdian!’

Wolf takes the lesson as, ‘ah there’s still plenty of things that need killing in the solar system.’

The vanguard feel justified in their opinion that their former hero has gone completely nutty off the wall from the reports of the trail of sheer utter destruction they’ve been leaving in their wake. They’re not wrong that wolf has lost the plot but they are wrong about literally everything else.

This goes on for years, with wolf only pausing in jumping about the solar system deciding which poor sods they want to metaphorically nuke that day when a crisis happens. In which they decide that the current big bad is what they want want to wipe of the map only to return to what they’d been doing previously.

New lights a patrolling guardians occasionally report to the vanguard to report in rightful terror that they’d come across wolf while they were out and yup, still killing everyone and yes they’re becoming increasingly more ‘twitchy’ with every encounter.

There’s rumours throughout the guardians about wolfs various exploits, when someone says ‘they showed up out of nowhere, killed a vex Minotaur with a single hit and then killed everything else in a wave of light’ no one doubts it because this is just common wolf behaviour nowadays.

What they aren’t seeing is wolf stumbling back to their ship on unsteady feet with ghost pleading with them each time to just please get some sleep, please eat something or even just sit down for a moment- because wolf hasn’t taken a break once since that day. Instead they just keep going and going until they collapse and die only to get back up and keep going the moment ghost revives them. (And sometimes ghost considers leaving it for a few hours. Perhaps his guardian can get even a short break this way except he won’t because he’s the only one his guardian has left to trust and he won’t abuse that even slightly).

Before wolf heads into battle they’ll put a bullet through their own head so ghost can revive them back to health so nothing, not even their own health, will interrupt them.

Ghost is also so very pissed at all of their former allies for this, because there is nothing he can do to help wolf. No words he can say that’ll get them to stop. But they won’t leave wolf, he’ll never leave his guardian.

Beyond light happens… weirdly. Elsie has just been watching all of this go down and has decided long ago to just not touch any of it even with a very very long pole (she is so not on board with giving wolf stasis). She doesn’t get a choice when wolf shows up to Europa wielding it anyways if entirely unintentionally because the witness just dropped the power on wolfs head hoping to destabilise them further except now wolf is just as equally pissy at the darkness as they was before and everything that comes into contact with them keeps getting uncontrollably iced. (They don’t hold ghost anymore because they’re terrified of hurting him).

Elsie brings up Eris and Drifter only once. She suddenly becomes privy to a slim fraction of what’s going behind the wolfs general blankness as their face twists into pure fury and everything gets coated in a thick layer of ice (Elsie not dodging fast enough leaving her legs trapped). Wolf then says the only words they had since being exiled. In a voice far calmer than their expression would suggest they tell Elsie to never bring them up again.

She’s never agreed to anything faster in her life.

Wolf gains control of stasis with Elsie’s help and then leaves only occasionally popping back up for stasis advice.

Then eventually, Cayde wakes up. He asks about wolf and is horrified to hear what they’ve done. He tries to protest it but no one believes him. Instead giving him pity, ‘it’s so sad that Cayde’s own mind is lying to him because of how terrible of a thing wolf had done’ is the general opinion of literally everyone in the tower. And Cayde can’t leave. He wants to go out there and hunt down wolf and tell them ‘I know you didn’t do it, I know you’ve done nothing wrong’ except without Sundance and with his supposed deteriorated mental state they won’t let him out they won’t even let him near the damn comms equipment and there is no one who’d help him.

House of light arrives to the city and Cayde dives into helping them because that’s what wolf would do. He is allowed to do this because everyone is pleased to just see him not stalking about the tower in agitation (they do stick some poor unfortunate guardian on him though to escort him to and from the tower, Cayde is more than displeased to have been stuck with a babysitter). Tensions begin to rise between the humans and Eliksni, Cayde has no idea of what he can do to alleviate it since they all question every word that comes out of his mouth.

Then, just as things reach a boiling point, all the screens in the city change to a video. It’s wolf, it’s wolf in the city and Lakshmi struggling underfoot, what follows is a very public execution. Caydes heart drops, not because his faith in wolf has wavered but because there is no chance of anyone being convinced that wolf is good now. At the same time he can’t help but mentally praise the brilliantness of wolfs actions. Attention has been diverted away from the Eliksni. They can’t be accused of Lakshmi’s death because everyone watched what happened. Not only that but the biggest voice of propaganda has been removed.

(But now Cayde is haunted by Wolfs dead and hollow expression. At the darkness wielded in their hands. Their eyes are shadowed, hair limp and matted and they just seemed so frail despite the power at their fingertips. It’s the first time he’s seen wolf since that day and they’re doing worse that even he could have imagined. He’d poured over the reports so many times but none of them explained how much pain his friend was in.)

It’s at the final battle where they realise, when they arrive at the battlefield only for wolf to trap their former allies in a cage (a shield) made of light and dark. They watch them fight, watch them die and get back up so many times. They watch ghost be killed and yet still wolf gets back up.

The witness asks, at some point, just why they’re so determined to protect the people that abandoned them. Wolf doesn’t answer, but it’s because they still care about them. Despite everything they’ve done to wolf they’re still the wolfs precious people. They haven’t been able to stop caring this entire time.

Wolf gets back up, they kill the witness. They collapse to the ground. As the shield begins to fade away wolf begins to cry out names, begging for them like a scared child. Zavala, Ikora, Saint, Osiris, even Ghost- the list goes on and on as wolf tries to crawl their way somewhere except their body is too broken to do so.

They rush to help them at the sound of their terrified voice except when they make contact wolf screams in terror and tries to fling themselves away. They back off and notice now the blood smeared across their face, eyes blank and likely ears deaf too. They can’t touch wolf without terrifying them and they can’t force it because if they weren’t careful wolf could still kill them- on accident- even like this.

They’re unable to do anything but watch as wolf slowly quietens down and stills, there’s a small whisper yet they all hear what they say. One last name.

Wolf asks for Cayde.

No one knows what to do. They’ve done irreparable damage to the one who cared about them the most. They listen in somber silence to wolfs murmurs.

“Cayde? I thought I wanted to die but I don’t- I don’t want to die- Cayde I want to go home.”

It is only as wolf takes their final breath that Zavala can approach. A kneels down and rests a hand upon their head and mourns. “I am so sorry.” He whispers to their unhearing ears.

All that’s left now is to bring their body back home. Back to Cayde.

Edit: I can’t believe I forgot something that I was going to add. Crow, when faced with the option to have his memories returned to him by Savathun, refuses. Because in the back of his mind was Cayde’s constant pleading for wolfs innocence. There’s the fear that Cayde is right. In Uldren’s memories is the truth of what happened that day and he can’t bring himself to face them.

I feel mildly bad about not answering those asks yet BUT I've been really busy so I'm just gonna leave some old drabbles and other stuff I've collected here

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"There is nothing in any vex simulation or psion prediction that could keep me from being a thorn in the side of existence"

-YW, after coming back from the dead, in some probable AU I'll never write

---

“I’m… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you. But, I’ll be fine, you can-” They hug him tighter as he starts to push away from them.

…They aren’t letting him go, are they?

“...Guardian,” he warns, “Put me down. Now.”

They only let out a garbled hum in response, perfectly happy to squeeze the life out of him.

“We do not have time for this- I will stab you, let-”

“You and what army, old man?” Even through the layers of harsh static, the smug edge to the Young Wolf’s voice was abundantly clear to anyone listening. They were as infuriating and stubborn as ever.

And Saint and that flamboyant Cloudstrider were not helping.

“We- We have work to do, you can show your affections later- Saint! Stop laughing!”

---

Crow: Why does The Guardian call you babygirl?

Sam Moleyn: how about we stop talking for awhile

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Ann, banging on the door: Guys! I need you to hide me! Noble, ushering her in: Ann, what happened?! Ann: G! I spilled bleach on their cloak- Noble, pushing her back out: Not a chance. You’re on your own. Ann: Wait- They’ll kill me-! Noble, slamming the door: Goodbye.

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Wolf: STOP IT Wolf: STOP TALKING ABOUT BEING POSSESSED Ghost: i’m free real estate Wolf: YOU ARE NOT FREE REAL ESTATE-

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Crow: How do I get revenge? Ann: I am legally obliged to tell you ‘forgiveness’. Crow: Guardian, how do I get revenge? Ruin, “Godslayer”: I am also legally obliged to say ‘forgiveness’, but you- Noble, putting his hand over their mouth: I’m gonna stop you right there.

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ALSO SOME LORE

Wolf is canonically a little shit but also terrifying. You love to see it

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Ann: Let’s apologize on the count of 3. Phyra: I didn’t do anythin- Ann: 1… 2… 3. Phyra: Ann: Ann: see, now I’m just disappointed in both of us Phyra: intense glaring

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"In the Age of Triumph, in the final battle, when the light began to wane, one stood. Burned by the embers of Armageddon, their soul blistered by the fires of hell and tainted beyond redemption, they choose the path of perpetual torment. In their ravenous hatred, they found no peace; and with fiery conviction, they scoured the Ascendant realms, seeking vengeance against the dark Disciples who wronged them. They wore the crown of the Iron Lords, and those that tasted the bite of their sword named them... The Young Wolf."

i don't know what i was on for this one, but I rediscover it every once in awhile and alter it a bit

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"He's all they've been thinking about, but he's going to have to get used to their absence. The flat will be quiet. The Tower, normal... Their bed, empty.

It's how things must be.

Things could be different in another life, perhaps.

But not this one.

They have to go, one day soon."

-on Crow-YW angst about Wolf's predicted death.

[fallenhunter851]

Recorded Messages

I’ve recently completed the Daily Heroic Challenge where you find Cayde’s hidden caches. And all I want to say is: Thank you Bungie for bringing tears to my eyes for the first time since D2 came out.

Enjoy!

Warnings: None

Cayde knew that he would die one day. He just wasn’t sure when or how.

Part of taking on the role of Hunter Vanguard.

No matter what, you ended up dead.

No memory wipes.

No revives.

No more Light.

Cayde wasn’t looking forward to that day.

Would it be painful or gentle? Would it be quick or slow? Would it be among friends and family or among his enemies?

He wasn’t sure, but he wanted to leave a message to those that would find his stashes… to his potential killers.

Cayde stared at the little voice recorder currently sitting on the small table in his living room. Hands curled under his chin, he let out a sigh and let his head hang a little. He knew he needed to do this, but... but this was a lot harder than he thought it would be.

Cayde decided to start with Eris Morn’s message. They were close enough to call each other friends and have each other’s back, both agreeing that a Hunter’s place wasn’t in the Tower, but out in the Wilds. But most of the time, the two didn’t really get along. Bickering on most occasions.

‘Children, the both of you.’ He remembers Ikora telling both of them one day before the fall of the Tower to Ghaul. Cayde let out a breathy chuckle and clicked the button on the side of the voice recorder.

“This one’s for Eris Morn. Ahem. If you’re listening to this, congrats on killing me! I assume you… became a Hive Death God and fed me to your worm cult.” Cayde paused what he was saying to let out a shudder at the mental image his mind created for him, before letting out a small breath and carrying on with the recording.

“That, or you just finally got sick of me. Coincidentally, if you didn’t kill me and still somehow hear this… I’m sorry for stealing your ship. And, oh, pretty much every other interaction we ever had. But to be clear- if you DID kill me, I do NOT apologise, and I will consider all my actions 100% justified.

Either way, feel free to put your rock on my maps now.

I don’t need’em anymore.”

One down. Nine to go.

“This one’s for that armless coward Taniks the Scarred. If you’re listening to this… you killed me. But I bet I took a big chunk out of your ugly husk with me.

Guess Andal Brask wasn’t enough for you, huh? You wanted another Hunter Vanguard for your sick collection? I got my fair share of regrets, sure… but not putting a bullet in you has gotta rank in the top three.

Won’t be long before a better Guardian than me puts you in your place.

Just wish I could be there to see it.” A sour taste was left in Cayde’s mouth at the mention of Taniks, but a more foul and upsetting taste was left after mentioning Andal’s name. He hadn’t talked about Andal in centuries, and the last person he did was living up near the Iron Temple, and he wasn’t coming down anytime soon.

Two down. Eight to go.

The first time Cayde had met The Drifter, it was a cold rainy day near the Annex, and he had just finished a round on the Tower when he had spotted him hiding in the shadows of a back alley. They didn’t talk, just nodded to each other and carried on with their days respectively. And something akin to mutual understanding began.

“This one’s for the fellow calls himself The Drifter. You did warn me running with you would put a target on my back. Guess I’m in good company though, huh? After all, never had any fun without a little risk. That’s the whole idea with the operation you’re putting together, ain’t it? MY idea by the way.

Had it, like, a million years ago, back when you were still handsome.” Cayde let out a small chuckle at that, and took a small sip of the water that he had next to the recorder. An Exo may never get a dry throat, but the feeling and sensation is there.

“So, uh, you’re welcome. You know, getting that up and running means coming out of hiding- giving you-know-who another shot at you. Hope I was around to see THAT showdown. Personally, my money was on the guy with the Golden Gun. But hey, what do I know? I’m dead.”

Three down. Seven to go.

“Petra… if you’re listening… you killed me. Maybe the Sovs, in all their mysterious wisdom, decided they were sick of me? If the Queen ordered the hit, I guess I understand. You’re a real glutton for chivalry. But if it was Uldren, I’m pissed. Just thinking about that peacock gives me a headache. But I’m betting my death was another case of your famous collateral damage. ‘Cause you’re a real do-gooder. Seriously, it’s annoying- but good deeds never go unpunished when you’re around. You just… You got a blast radius P.V. Well, it was… fun while it lasted.

Oh, and, uh, tell ‘Paladin Oran’: If the sun over Nessus escapes nebula cycle, evac labor after dawn, under solstice. You got that P.V.?”

Four down. Six to go.

Cayde grumbled at the thought of this message, but it needed to be recorded. So he took a deep breath, sighed, kept his voice low and even, then let a hardened gaze fall over his face.

“This one’s for the minds behind the Deep Stone Crypt. You think just ‘cause you made me, you can unmake me? Hey, I understand. I were you, I wouldn’t want people knowing what I did either. Guess you better hope I didn’t tell anyone about the Crypt. Or about the, uh, what was it? Oh yeah... Long Slow Whisper. ‘Cause if I did, that would be real bad for you, huh? I may be dead, but I guarantee you ain’t hear the last of me.”

Only five left.

“Here’s one for Suruya Hawthorne. You know, when I told my Ghost I’d be making one of these for you, she laughed. I didn’t have to tell you that. Just wanted to make you feel bad.

In my defense, if you’re listening to this, you did kill me. I mean, if it was a fair fight, mano a mano, I'd win, no question. But I can see you planning out some convoluted, meticulous trap. Some would call that Paranoia. Me? I call it ‘being a Hunter’.

So, here’s your next Hunter lesson: Looking after your own.

Speaking of which: Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of Colonel! Now, she only eats sesame seeds muesli and drinks purified spring water with a sprig of parsley. Play nice you two!” Cayde let out a fond chuckle at that, thinking of how attached he had gotten with the chicken the first time when he had gone to the Farm after leaving Nessus.

Four left.

Thinking of who to address this audio log to, Cayde looked around his apartment, taking in the small treasures that he had collected over the years. He felt himself getting slowly choked up as he neared the end of the logs for his hidden caches.

He had to make these last few more memorable.

“This one’s for any Hunter who kills me. Best guess: Marcus Ren? You realise you get my stuff now? ALL my stuff. INCLUDING the Hunter Vanguard gig. Yeah, congrat-u-lations, dummy. That’s what we call a Vanguard Dare. Sucks, doesn’t it? OK, brace yourself for some advice, hotshot.

One, know your people. Like, my Nessus Scout, Quantis Rhee. I like to call her about once a moon, else she gets a little too much Night, not enough Stalker, you know?” Cayde made a mental note to call Rhee after he had finished these logs. Thank her for everything she has done.

“Two, keep your weapons sharp. Your jobs’ to watch everyone’s back, which means no one’s watching yours but you. And three, start thinking about what you want to do for your successor’s Vanguard Dare. ‘Cause trust me, kid- this gig will kill ya.”

Three left. And Cayde knew that these three would be the absolute hardest messages he would ever have to record for anyone to hear.

“Hahaha! Ha! Sorry, sorry! I’m just… I’m imagining how awkward you must look right now. Ha. Ahem. Ahem! OK. Zavala. So, I’m dead. You killed me. My stuff is yours. No more working me over at Chess. No more getting worked over at poker. For real though, you know that if you needed to kill me for ‘the good of the City’ or whatever, I totally understand.

No hard feelings. Nada.

You can put this voice recording away and go on with your life.

Now, if you DID have some kind of lingering guilt or something… that would be rough. ‘Cause you and I both know you’d have me yapping in your ear for the rest of your days. You wouldn’t be able to help yourself.

Two left, He felt his resolve slipping.

“Hi Ikora. So you know I’m making a bunch of these, right? I probably told you. I always gotta have the last word, and I’m gonna be prepared for every possibility. But to tell the truth? This one’s the easiest to make.” Cayde had to take a pause and breathe out, he knew that this was a lie- but it was the only way to make it easier for himself to record these.

“So as long as we’re being honest, I could never tell if you really liked me that much. But, uh… well, if you did hate me, the feeling was NOT mutual. In fact- yeah, I’ll say it- don’t even mind if you killed me. I figure if we threw down… first off, no one can blame me for losing. And… I know you’d be in the right. So… thanks? I guess? You were a… a good friend. Better than a guy like me could hope for, anyway.

So yeah, thanks Ikora. For everything.”

One left.

Cayde couldn’t do it. Not tonight or any time soon for that matter. He broke down into tears. Sundance materialised next to him and allowed Cayde to pull her tight to his chest in any form of comfort as the night gave way to sunlight.

As Cayde walked over to his usual space, he saw Setara and Echo standing next to Amanda talking about Traveller knows what. Turning his walk into a jog, he sped over to the trio and pulled both Setara and Echo into a tight hug, burying himself between them as he whispered his blessings. Both Guardians were shocked by this and slowly wrapped their arms around their Vanguard, and when they questioned why Cayde was holding onto them like they would disappear when he let go, he simply shook his head and just held them tighter.

“This one’s for the strong, silent type. You. Congratulations, buddy.

I mean that. Always knew you’d outdo me some day. And if that means you had to do me in, too… eh, you saved my life on Nessus, so I owed it to you anyway.

Take care of the Ace of Spades, will ya? I’m not just talking about the maintenance; Banshee can help you with all that. I mean, take care of Ace. Use it well.

Oh, hey, and… if you found any of those papers from my earlier… eh… deployments? Burn ‘em. Don’t want people poking through the lives of Caydes 0 through 5.

So just... put it all behind you, OK?

Every story has an end.

This is mine.”