Hello everyone. To those who have known me since I first started posting in the forums, you may recognize this as one of my very first two stories. This story was originally called Masks and Murder and can be found in my Archive (https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/217384398/0/0) but this is a vastly improved version so don’t go dismissing this as something u don’t want to read again. Hope u enjoy, I really tried to bring some life into this old story [u]The Mask of Fear[/u] (Masks and Murder Remastered) Matthew hadn't come back yet. It was the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, AND in the middle of enemy territory, all without company. Lots of middles; I’d be sure to put plenty of holes in his middle for this. Sure, it wasn’t the first time Matthew had me chase him around, but this time felt different. He had been gone for awhile, and we weren’t in a safe place. We had gone out patrolling together for the Festival of the Lost to have some fun and alone time. The Cosmodrome had been our choice, of course, since it was closest to the celebrating City and I knew it was Matthew’s favorite world. I personally preferred Venus, but every time I tried to convince him it was better he went off about women always loving “pretty old Venus” and “not caring about killer robots”. We had found a nice area outside of the normal patrol zone in a place that the Fallen and Hive had minimal presence in. Another perk to Venus: no Hive. I hated those nasty buggers. They were ugly, smelly, and way too fond of making dark places feel like graveyards. But walking through the Cosmodrome now, even at night without Matthew, I could see why he liked it. The trees may not have been the jungle style I liked so much, but the coniferous trees of Russia were pretty nice. Not to mention the Auroras Borealis, which painted the sky in bright hues every night. It would look prettier out with more snow over the ground, but I couldn’t complain about not having to trek through mush. “Where are you, you little scamp?” I muttered to myself rather than calling loudly for my partner. Yelling would bring unwanted attention, and Matthew had turned off his comms. This spot was pretty clear of buildings from the Golden Age colony launches, but the few little shacks I could see were enough to make me nervous with their shadowed interiors and rusted edges that sang of abandon and death. There were plenty of bushes huddled up against the buildings and growing low to the ground in the open, along with some patches of trees, but other than those there weren’t many places to hide out here. I stepped up on top of a skate of rock and peeked over the other side, finding nothing but a couple small ferns sticking out of a drift of snow. Next I walked over to a tree and peered up into is branches, looking for a human form. A pinecone fell on my head and bounced to the ground. Hide and seek was officially my least favorite game. The sound of something rustling caught my attention and I whipped around, my hand cannon raised. There was nothing nearby aside from a small shack, covered in foliage. A flicker of movement behind some overgrown bushes made the presence of something else evident, and I began to creep towards the bushes slowly. The shadows erased anything behind the first layer of leaves invisible, and nothing stirred again aside from the gentle sway of branches in the wind. I came within reach of the thick foliage and stuck my free hand in slowly, moving some branches down carefully and quietly to try and peer through. Then a head burst out in my face with a hiss. First I processed a brown dome over the eyes and head, then the skeletal white jaw with fangs bared. I reacted, swinging my fist into the side of the hideous Thrall face and sending it flying out of the bush. It tumbled for a moment before sliding to a stop with its now mangled face buried into the ground, moonlight illuminating its still frame. That's when I saw it had a human body and the cloak and armor of a Hunter. The person moaned in pain on the ground for a moment, then began laughing and pushed himself up as his Light healed his injuries. His Thrall mask was now crumpled and sagged down on his head like the unrealistic piece of folded paper it was, making me wonder how I had even mistaken it for an actual Thrall in the first place. "Ghost, can you fix my mask and put my helmet back on?" he asked as his hysteric laughter began to die. His small, floating companion appeared at his shoulder at the request, sporting a bright orange shell with four spines sticking out of it. Rumples and tears in the mask seemingly fixed themselves automatically as the Guardian's Ghost went to work. Once restored, the mask disappeared for a moment, revealing the Hunter's short blonde hair, twinkling green eyes, and devilish grin before a helmet appeared over his face. I stormed up to him and hit his shoulder roughly. "Matthew! You know the Hive creep me out!" I complained. "But it was totally worth it," Matthew laughed, "No matter how hard you Titans punch." "You're such a jerk," I huffed, not really serious. "How else are you supposed to celebrate the Festival of the Lost?" Matthew inquired, "You wear a bunch of masks and scare people!" “You’re supposed to party with friends and family and think about the Lost. The masks are for fun, nobody said anything about scaring,” I crossed my arms indignantly. “But scaring is fun!” Matthew tried approaching me, but I turned, making him walk around me to try getting where I could see him. “It’s insensitive,” I huffed, turning from him again, “Those things are the reason for a lot of the Lost.” “That’s why I’m making fun of them!” Matthew laughed, catching me by the shoulders so I would stop looking away, “Seems like a great way to celebrate to me.” “Maybe I don’t want to celebrate with you tonight,” I pushed him away gently. "It's the Festival of the Lost, we're supposed to celebrate! Parties, food, drinks, candy, loot, drinks, and dancing!" Matthew listed. "You said drinks twice,” I scoffed. “I love getting drunk and making a fool of myself for you,” Matthew had his helmet disappear and wiggled his eyebrows. “You always act like a fool. And candy is for children," I tried to shoot him down again. "Oh but I love sugar! In fact, I would love a little sugar from you right now,” he tried moving in, but I put a hand to his chest and stopped him. "Until you quit goofing around and show me a good time, you're not getting any of my sugar or candy," I told him, waving my hands down over of my body to emphasize what I had to offer him. “That’s a shame,” Matthew looked down at his feet and began strolling in a circle around me. I removed my helmet so I could follow him better with just my eyes. Matthew made it behind me and put his head over my shoulder, but I tilted my head away from him. “It’s a good thing,” he began, waving a little brown bag in my face that made me check my belt to find my candy sack missing, “That I’m good at taking things.” “Hey!” I tried snatching my bag from him, but he pulled it out of reach, then slapped my butt and leapt away from me. “Too slow, sweetheart,” he chuckled as I flipped around angrily to face him, then put a piece of my candy in his mouth. “You’re gonna get it now, you little pervert,” I couldn’t help but laugh a little. “I sure hope so,” he winked at me. I charged forward and tried to grab him, but he slipped away. Then I took a couple light swings at him, not wanting to hurt him too badly, that he dodged easily. Next came a sweeping kick at his ankles that I knew he would hop over easily, which left him open for me to dive into him. We fell to the ground, me sitting up on top of him and Matthew laying on his back with his arms up in front of his face to defend. I flicked my right arm out, but he pulled his head away so I hit the ground and then quickly shot up to kiss my left cheek. Shoving him back down with a giggle, I made another jab at his head with my left hand that he again avoided and used as an opening to sit up and kiss my right cheek. He was laughing now as I pushed him to the ground again. This time, as I began to raise my right hand for another swing, Matthew grabbed me by the breastplate and pulled me down so my blonde hair draped over his face and my lips fell against his. After a moment I relaxed and kissed back, lying there on top of him under the dancing lights in the sky. Link to part 2: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/237536912/0/0