Hello, everybody, here's part two of The Journey Home! Here's[url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/222502109?page=0&sort=0&showBanned=0&path=1] part one [/url]if you missed it, and here's the [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Clan/Post/1371758/222615264/0/0]Table of Contents! [/url]And, as a quick side not, the completed version of my other fanfic, Into the Hellmouth, is finally out. So go give it a rea[url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/222614830?page=0&sort=0&showBanned=0&path=1]d here if [/url] you like! Stay classy, Guardians! Alesha arrived at Gustav’s caravan just as the gate opened. She saw Michael had joined her. “What do you think he’s got today?” Alesha asked him. “I don’t know,” Michael said happily. “Maybe he’s got some more of those ‘electronics’ that I can work with - he always lets me have a few for free!” Alesha grinned. Michael always enjoyed playing with the old materials that Gustav brought back from what he called, “the ruins.” Alesha had no idea what the ruins where, as she’d never been more than a mile outside of the village. But whatever they were, they must’ve been amazing places. Gustav drove his vehicle through the gate, and then stopped it. The weird sounds that always came from it’s “engine,” whatever that was, stopped. The old trader stepped out of the vehicle, and grinned. “Greetings!” he said. “I come bearing gifts - as do you, I hope!” Old man Kazinsky walked out of his house. He grinned. “We’ve plenty for you, as always, Gustav,” he said. “Of course!” Gustav said. “The old man’s here too!” Gustav’s father - an old man with wispy gray hair and a toothless mouth - stepped out of the vehicle. He smiled. “Will he be telling us stories again?” Michael asked hopefully. “Of course he will!” Gustav said. “Won’t you, Dad?” The old man mashed his gums together, still smiling. “But before that,” Gustav said. He clapped his hands together. “Let’s do some business!” The wooden gates of the village palisade closed behind him. * * * Gustav’s trades were mostly for the usual sort of things; the villagers gave him food, and in return, he gave them bags of stuff he called “fertilizer.” “Old Golden age recipe!” he said. “Found it in the ruins myself!” Additionally, he gave out little trinkets to some of the children of the village. To Michael, he gave a black stick with a white circle on one end of it. On the center of the stick was a button. Whenever Michael pressed it, the circle began to glow. The object pleased him no end. Alesha walked up to his vehicle, and inspected the contents. Most of them were contained in a flat part of the vehicle, and were tied down with rope. A lot of what he had was food, but there were also some strange, metal gadgets that he didn’t recognize. “Looking for something in particular?” Gustav asked her. Alesha looked at the metal gadgets. “Not really,” she said. “Just looking.” Gustav smiled at her. Then, he reached into his vehicle. “Here,” he said. “Got something for ya’.” He pulled out a strange, blue, glowing cube, and handed it to her. “Go on. Take it.” Alesha looked at the cube. It felt almost warm to the touch. “What is it?” she asked. Gustav shrugged. “No idea,” he said. “You find it occasionally, out in the ruins. The Fallen seem to love it, though I’ve no idea why.” “What’s it do?” Alesha asked. Gustav chuckled. “Back in the Golden, they had a lot of fancy stuff,” he said. “They invented things to do tasks that we wouldn’t even think could be done!” “Like what?” Alesha asked. “No idea,” Gustav said. “That’s just what the old man tells me - maybe you can ask him during story time tonight, eh? Squeeze a little information out of the old coot.” Alesha looked at the cube. She smiled. “Thanks, Gustav!” Gustav laughed. “Don’t worry!” he said. “Your aunt’s bread more than made up for it.” Alesha nodded. “What’s it like out there?” she asked. Gustav frowned. “How do you mean?” “I mean, what’s it like out there?” Alesha asked. “What do you see?” Gustav looked down at her, and then sighed. “Everybody talks about how we used to be so great,” he said. “And the things that are out there -“ he shook his head. “It’s amazing to see, sometimes. And terrifying.” Alesha frowned. “What do you mean?” “I’ve seen giant husks of metal that were made to float,” Gustav said. “I’ve seen things that are so big and strange, I can’t even fathom what they could’ve possibly been made to do. Hell, I barely even know how this thing works.” He slapped his vehicle. “And something took that away from us.” He shook his head. “It makes you wonder - if somebody could do that to us back then, when we that great - what could they do to us now?” He paused. “Ah. Don’t listen to me. I’m just a crazy old man.” He patted Alesha on the head. “Go on. Enjoy yourself. You don’t have to worry about anything like that, eh? Whatever hit us back then, it’s long gone now.” Edit: [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Clan/Post/1371758/222721560/0/0]Part 3[/url]