theashamedghost

[theashamedghost]

When Houseless meet

So this is my first attempt at writing anything destiny related. I was kinda inspired by @dngrs-untld-hrshps-unnmbrd   “Mithrax the Forsaken” Series which is amazing! I’ve got quite a lot of this fic planned out so I hope you enjoy! 

Sal-4 adjusted the zoom on her scope as she brought the rifle against her shoulder. Her movements slowed until she was completely still. Time passed, she had no idea how much time, a few minutes, a few hours, hell, even a week could have passed and she wouldn’t have known.

Eventually, her ghost poked out of her nearby rucksack. “If you don’t move soon your joints will begin to rust up.”

“I’ve been tracking this gang for months now. Whoever they are, they know how guardians work,” Sal explained. “They’ve been harassing refugee camps and then disappearing before a fireteam can pin them down.”

“So you’re going to sit here until they show up?”

“Exactly.”

The ghost adjusted itself in the air. “Why didn’t you say anything? I could have asked Devrim for the latest reports.”

Sal-4 sighed. “I don’t want these scavengers listening in on our radios.”

“So you’ll take this gang down by yourself?”

A smile picked at her metallic lips. “One dreg at a time.”

Her ghost hung in the air for a moment longer before disappearing back into the safety of her rucksack and silence once again fell on the lonely tree. Occasionally she’d adjust her position as to get a better view down the long gulch but as day turned to night and day again there wasn’t a trace of any life.

After the eighth day, her ghost once again appeared. “Sal, this is getting ridiculous. I’m going to-” The small sphere was cut off as a loud bang rang through the air. Pulling back the bolt of her rifle Sal-4 smiled.

“You were saying.”

The singular eye of the ghost widened. “D-did you hit them?”

Sal rolled her shoulder and groaned in pleasure as her joints loosened. “I hit them, now to see who we hit.”

“What do you mean who?” The ghost asked as its guardian jumped down the tree.

Sal-4 slung her camouflage rifle over her shoulder and pulled her well-worn hand-cannon from its holster on her side. As she approached her target a familiar chirping echoed around her.

“W-what do you mean who?”

“I saw something move in the brush, something big. So I shot it.”

Her ghost audibly sighed. “And what was it?”

“I just said,” Sal said as she loaded a round into the cannon. “Something big, anyway, you know the rule.” Before the ghost could protest Sal-4 readied herself and rushed forward leaving her satellite to hide behind a nearby rock. Now alone Sal took a deep breath and felt her chest expand as she closed in on the wounded enemy. As she got closer Sal could hear dull hisses and groans from the thick bushes. Kneeling close the ground she looked to a small stream and the deep purple streaks that stained the water.

“Fah Avixis drah.” A deep voice roared.

Sal fought the urge to smile as her eye glowed with savage joy. “A captain. My lucky day.” She scoffed standing to her full height. The injured Eliksni clasped one of his arms around his chest while he scrambled for his shock blades.

Firing a single shot a mere handful of inches from his head Sal stepped forward. “Don’t move.”

Balling his clawed hand the captain looked up the guardian and hissed. “Ava fik miha.”

The jubilation that filled her chest quickly vanished as Sal shook her head. “The one time I wish I had taken up Devrim’s offer of language classes,” Turning her attention to the wounded captain she raised her gun. “Name, Sal-4,” She said placing her free hand against her chest plate. “Sal-4.”

The captain propped himself up against a rock and watch as the guardian knelt down.  “Safor ava fix Avixis.”

Pulling down her hood down Sal sat down with the gun still trained on the captain. “Sal-4. Name Sal-4.”

Narrowing his glowing blue eyes the Eliksni coughed loudly before taking a deep breath. “Nam. Safor.” He said between laboured breaths.

“Good,” Sal smiled. “Name?” She said pointing at her soon to be prisoner.

The captain mustered his remaining energy and for a moment stood to his full height. “Avixis.” He hissed before collapsing back against the rock.

Sal narrowed her eyes and took a moment to examine the captain. Judging by the various scars on his arms and legs she figured he must be pretty old. “Okay, nice to meet you Avixis. To be honest with you I don’t know what I’m going to do with you. Looks like I tagged you pretty bad,” She said pointing to his wound. “So how about this. You help me and I’ll help you.”

“Sah ava Avixis dix vah.”

Shaking her head Sal sighed to herself. “Hey Ebi. You can come out!” She shouted over her shoulder as she reached out and took the blades that waited at Avixis’ feet.

“I wish you’d given me a better name,” The ghost said as it flew over. It glowing eye bulged when it saw the bleeding captain. “Is this who you shot?”

Sal nodded. “Ebi meet Avixis, Avixis, Ebi.”

“And what are you going to do with an injured Eliksni captain you can’t even talk to?”

“Well he won’t be much use to us dead, so I guess we’ll have to patch him up. How much do you know about Fallen anatomy?”

Her ghost gawked at her. “Nothing. Why would I?”

Pushing her ghost to one side Sal stepped towards Avixis. “Hurt.” She said pointing to purple blood pooling around his body.

Avixis nodded and pointed to the rifle on Sal’s shoulder. “Safor ava Avixis.” He coughed slowly pointing to her hand-cannon.

Sal-4’s hardened expression slowly softened. “Oh no big guy. You’re not getting out of it that easy,” Looking down at herself she silently cursed her metal body, turning around she sighed. “Desperate times.” She said quietly to herself.

Slowly Sal reached to her collar and lifted her cloak over her head. “Stop blood.” She said holding up the fabric.

“Sal what are you doing? You’re a hunter. You can’t give up your cloak.”

“It’s my cloak I can do what I want with it.” She said with balled fists.

Avixis tilted his head to one side and growled quietly. “Safor in ava Avixis?”

Sal noted the tone of his voice and smirked. “He keeps saying ‘ava’ what does that mean?”

“We’re out of range from Devrim.”

Stepping forward, Sal held up the long cloak. With each step, Avixis hissed a little louder, following his stern glare she reached down and dropped her her cannon onto the ground, much to the dismay of her ghost. “It’s okay. It’s okay,” It didn’t take long for Sal-4 to close the distance between them and soon she felt his breath against her faceplate. Tentatively she took the arm that cradled his wound and moved it to one side, all the while Avixis never stopped watching her with a mixture of curiosity and distrust.

Sal reached around the alien’s waist making sure the thick collar of her cloak covered the wound. As she tried to tie the knot behind his back Sal fell forward before she could stop herself she felt a pair of arms grasp her shoulder.

“Thanks,” She said against his chest. “This should keep you from bleeding to death.” Looking Sal found Avixis inching closer and closer to her.

Pressing a clawed finger against her cheek the captain wheezed. “Great. Machine?”

“Great machine?” Sal echoed looking over shoulder.

Ebi floated closer to the Fallen. “I think he means the Traveller.”

“Yeah, but why is he poking my face?” She asked as Avixis leaned even closer.

The ghost swirled around their guardian and chirped loudly. “He must think you’re the Traveller.”

Fighting the urge to burst into fit of laughter Sal-4 gently eased away from the curious Eliksni. “That’s cute and all but what are we going to do with him?”

Her ghost hummed. “You were the one who shot him. He’s your responsibility.”

Sal-4 groaned as she stood up. “And you’re my ghost so I’m your responsibility,” She said with her hands on her hips. “Look, I’ll wait here with him while you go get help… and an english to eliksni dictionary.”

“What if he attacks you? If I can’t find you I won’t be able to bring you back.”

“He could have attacked me at any moment when I was patching him up,” She explained as Avixis slowly reached out to poke at her side. “If we help him out he might be willing to help. They’re stories of guardians and Fallen teaming up all over the system.” Sal shrugged.

Ebi sighed as she hovered high over her guardian. “I’m sure he’ll be happy to help after you shot him. Just stay put, I’ll be as quick as I can.”

Hours passed as Sal-4 waited for her ghost to return, eventually the sky began to turn a deep orange as the sun began to set. Her attention, however wasn’t on the sky but on her prisoner. Worried that her cloak wouldn’t stop the bleeding she had gingerly taken one of his hands in hers and placed it against the wound.

“Hold.” She said slowly.

Clearing his throat Avixis looked up from the hole in his side. “Great. Machine. Hold.”

Sal narrowed her eyes. “You’ve got four arms, surely you can use one.”

Seemingly ignoring her Avixis reached into his armor and pulled out a series of small cylinders. With his other two arms he fiddled with the large plated mask that covered most of his face, a high pitched hiss followed as a rush of gas escaped the apparatus.

As Avixis replaced the spent cylinders Sal picked up one of them and rolled it in her hand. “I’ve guess this stuff is Ether.” She said holding it up to the fading sunlight.

Avixis nodded and pointed to his mask. “Ether.” He hissed quietly holding up two of his large fingers.

“Wait,” Sal gawked. “You’ve only got two of these left?” She said holding the empty cylinder up to him.   

“Great machine,” He said pointing to her. “Ether, Avixis.” The captain added pointing back to himself.

Feeling the heat sinks in her shoulders hiss gently Sal shook her head. “You’re charming really but I’m not the great machine, and I don’t have any ether.”

Avixis reached out to her mouth piece and took it in one of his hands. “Great machine?” When Sal-4 shook her head the captain released her and sank back against the rock and hissed loudly to himself.

“Don’t worry,” Sal giggled. “I’ll take it as a compliment.”

As an uneasy silence fell on the two of them Sal-4 watched with crossed arms as Avixis looked down to the small stream than ran beside them. For some reason he wouldn’t look up from the water, his seemingly boundless curiosity seemed to have evaporated in an instant. Humming through her metallic lips she leant back and pouted at him.  

“Sorry to disappoint. Also, you should know it’s not very polite to call us machines.”

Avixis looked up at her for a moment, when their eyes met he bowed his head down to her. “Avixis kul fik dars.”

“Apology accepted,” Sal-4 smiled as something caught her attention. Looking up to the sky Sal’s smile widened as Ebi descended below the tree line. “Took you long enough. What happened?”

The ghost took a moment to examine the captain before turning to their guardian. “You do realise we’re in the middle of nowhere, it took me ages to find anyone.”

“So who did you find?”

Before her ghost could answer a great booming rang through the forest. “Well, well, well,” The voice scoffed as a mountain of a figure appeared over the ridge line. “What do we have here?”

“You found a Titan?” Sal sighed. Immediately upon seeing the new guardian Avixis balled his fists and readied himself. “Oh shit,” She hissed quickly getting to her feet. “Hey musclehead, keep it down.”

The Titan rested her hands on her hips and looked down at the Fallen captain. “Quite the prize you’ve got there.”

“Sah ava in fik.” Avixis hissed up at her.

Puffing out his chest the Titan reached up and took off their helmet. “Well that’s rude,” She said jumping down to meet Sal-4. “Quin Chi, pleasure to meet you.” She said offering her an open hand.

“Sal-4,” She said taking her hand. “Wait. Do, do you understand him?” She asked pointing to the now standing captain.

Quin Chi scoffed. “I’ve spent a lot of time in bars in the Reef. Met all sorts of people and eliksni. After awhile you pick up the language,” She shrugged turning to the captain. “Mithixis garn nel.” She jeered in a low tone.

For a moment Avixis was stunned silent but it wasn’t long before he narrowed his eyes at the Titan, growling under his breath. “Safor.”

Getting her attention Sal slowly came to his side. “What is he saying?”

“Other than insulting my honor? Not much.”

“Safor in fik Avaixis.” The captain said looking down at her.

The titan ran her fingers through her light blue hair and whistled. “He said that you dishonored him.”

“Asar”

“But he thanks you. Wait, what are you even doing with a captain?”

Sal crossed her arms. “I’ve been tracking a gang of fallen around here for over a week. This guy is the first Eliksni I’ve seen in all that time.”

Quin Chi hummed. “Well you hurt him pretty bad,” She said pointing to the now soaked cloak around his side. “What do you want to do with him?”

“Ideally. Take him back to the City and get him to spill what he knows, but I doubt Zavala would appreciate a nine foot captain walking around the Tower,” Sal sighed. “How far is the Farm?”

“If you’re going to be dragging this guy with you all the way? At least ten days. If you can get him on your ship, no more than a hour.”

Sal’s eyes fell to the ground as her ghost came to her side. “She didn’t want to spook any fallen. We walked here.”

“Do you have a ship?”

Quin slowly nodded. “Of course I do.”

“I need it for one trip, that's it. I’ll pay anything.”

Pinching the bridge of her nose the Titan took a deep breath. “Okay hunter, you can take it but in return I want something. You hunters have a thing for dares and giving your word?” Sal nodded. “Then I want one dare on reserve. Something I can call in whenever.”

“You know those are supposed be between hunters. Not anyone can make a hunter dare.”

“If you don’t like calling it that then just call it a favour.” Quin scoffed.

Sal looked over the captain who was still glaring at the titan. “You’ve got a deal,” She said as her heat sinks released a hiss of steam from her shoulders. “And… thanks, I guess. You titans aren’t all muscleheads, I guess.”

“Yeah, yeah I’m sure you’re surprised that we can be nice sometimes,” Quin chuckled as her ghost appeared at her side. “Bring the ship around.”

Tilting his head Avixis stepped between the two of them. “Inxi mithras eliksni.”

Quin Chi clutched at her sides as her shipped hovered over head. “It seems like he’s pretty fond of you.”

“W-what did he say?” She asked looking back to the captain that stood over her. Before she could get her answer a blinding light filled her vision and a moment later both her and Avixis were crammed into the cockpit of Quin’s ship. Clearing her head Sal looked over her shoulder. “You okay back there big guy?”

Avixis merely purred in response as he inspected the ship. Reaching forward he leaned over Sal and looked down at her. “Safor. Avixis, thanx yoo.”

Feeling heat rise in her shoulders Sal tilted her head back and smiled up at him as Ebi turned the ship in the direction of the Farm. “Happy to help.”

“Of all things your first friend had to be a fallen.”