“Brayden? Do you hear me?” Bree called for him, her voice full of fear. Then, the first shell hit their pillar of safety. The Minotaur’s Torch Hammer nearly debilitated Bree and her Vandals, the massive explosion crumbled what was left of their safe haven. They had to move; and fast. Bree couldn’t see any further than a few meters, the smoke, debris, and now fire, lit up the room in a hazy swirl of fog. She reloaded her Fatebringers, her helmet taking aim, she fired at anything and everything. Goblins and Harpies worked their way forward, but, fortunately, their advancement was slow due to all of the mechanical debris that now littered the stone ground. Bree and her Vandals moved along bumpy walls and rock spires that jutted from every conceivable angle. All the Vandals were using auto rifles, which Bree was fine with. The larger the fire rate, the better at this point. “Brayden? Talk to me! Where are you?” Another forceful blow from the Torch Hammer caused most of the remaining spires to fall and crush into dust. Bree lost her footing on the uneven terrain and went down in a heap. This time, she lost both of her hand cannons, her hands scouring the floor around her; Bree’s trepidation of not finding her prized guns, washed over her like a rogue tidal wave. Their position was revealed shortly thereafter and the Harpies and Goblins shifted their direction and were now firing blindly at where the Vandals hid and Bree cobbled on the ground. “Keep moving forward! Don’t stop! We have to find Brayden!” Bree screamed as her left hand came upon one of her guns, but the other was lost to her. Once again, one-handed, she started shooting. The recoil seemed to be too much for her, the heavy hand cannon snapped back violently and all of her shots, regardless of her auto aiming mechanism, were errant and nowhere near their targets. The Vandals started to spread out a little bit, taking down the Goblins as they approached, but it was the Minotaur that Bree was worried about the most. “Flower! I need you to connect with Brayden, I need you to tell me that he is ok.” Bree was becoming hysterical and starting to lose control of herself. Her mind was clouded and she wasn’t even sure what direction she was facing anymore. The shells boomed and exploded, solar rounds from Line rifles made B-lines for her face as she fell down to the stone, but this time, she didn’t get up. “I’m not detecting any vitals...I can’t even detect his Ghost...Bree, I think Brayden is dead…” The words floated in her brain, but no matter how many times she played them over and over like a broken record on a turntable, it wasn’t making any sense. “He can’t be dead…” She was dizzy and lightheaded, she crawled forward on the ground as if she were an infantry soldier; knees and elbows. The Vandals stood over her, trying to protect her, but once the Minotaur turned its sights to where they stood, they grabbed Bree and ducked for cover which was becoming more and more scarce. One of the Vandal’s threw a grenade out into the middle of the room, it was a typical incendiary grenade, but the effects it had were far more destructive than anyone could have hoped for. The fiery flames of the ball of fire burst and sent shooting sparks of death into anything in the vicinity. Goblins shrieked as the grenade cleared out most of the horde, but the Harpies continued their advance. “Brayden...I’m so sorry...please, come back to me…” The tears streamed down Bree’s face like raindrops. She couldn’t even stand, she was emotionally and physically drained of everything. Her brother gave his life for her, trying to protect them from the evils that lurked from within. Brayden was the strongest man Bree had ever known, he always stood defiantly in the face of death; was he really gone? The Vandals fired and fired. Their ammunition running down into the red, she had to get up and do something, but she couldn’t. The dismay and overwhelming sadness that pinged deep in her stomach, the heartache, was all too much for her to take. “I need your help, Brayden. I can’t fight this forever…” Bree continued her military soldier crawl, then, her hands hit something. It wasn’t rock, stone or metal, it was something else. She could feel the smoothness of it in her hands, it was Brayden’s helmet. Bree slowly pulled herself up to her knees as she hovered over his limp body. Her hands shook as she softly placed her hands on his face shield, she was done crying, she had no more left. “B...Br...Brayden...It’s me...I’m here...I’ll always be here…” The battle continued around them and she sat there, holding him in her arms as if they were the only two left in the whole universe. She stayed in that position, for what could have been hours before her arms finally lowered him back to the ground. Bree couldn’t see much, the smoke and tears took away most of her vision, but when her eyes landed on the heavy machine gun he was using that was only an arm’s length away... Her teeth dug into her lip and the rage within her reignited. As if she had just awoken from a dream, she rose to her feet. Bree’s hands grasped the big gun and she slung it over her shoulder. The weight of it only made her grit her teeth, she tried to advance the next round into the chamber, but the metal chain looked like it had twisted and jammed on its way in. The wail of the Minotaur quickly snapped her out of her trance, it was coming closer to where she sat with her dead brother and with every bit of strength she had left, she started slamming her fist against the gun. The Minotaur was only a few meters away when the last fist she drove into the gun, broke the chain free and the bullet snapped in place. Bree cocked the enormous gun and emerged out from behind her rock, and into the open. She stood in front of the Minotaur, machine gun in hand, her teeth clenched in an enraged state that was unlike any other. Bree’s finger squeezed the trigger hard. She held on for all she was worth as the machine gun sprung to life and began spewing bullets faster than the speed of light, directly into the face of the Minotaur. Her wrath rampaged through her, she screamed and cried as she took a few painful steps towards the beast. It staggered backward, unable to fight back against the hailstorm from Hell until finally, the final bullet on the belt, crashed into the Minotaur’s face completely ripping its head from the metal framed body. It slammed to the ground so ferociously, that it shook the very rock they were standing on, but it didn’t matter; it was dead. Bree dropped the smoking gun and on weary, tired feet, she moved into the center of the room where the sync pad glowed a soft white. She took one long look around the crypt that was now her brother’s tomb and she stepped onto the pad. It flickered brightly once and then faded to black. She couldn’t talk, her voice was ruined, her eyes were raw and she couldn’t stand anymore. Bree collapsed to her knees in the middle of the sync pad, her body a quivering, shaky mess, but then, something metal dropped in front of her. It wasn’t a piece of metal from a Goblin or a Harpie, it was a piece of metal that was in the shape of a key, but most of it was missing. A small smile slowly came across her lips as she picked it up with her hands. It was part of the key she needed to unlock the chests in the Vault of Mar and she only need one more piece… “For you, Brayden, I will kill every f*cking thing in here and I will unlock the secrets in this vault and shove it down all of their f*cking throats.” [i]Again, this took a lot of work, so hope you guys enjoyed it![/i] [i]Trials of a Guardian: Miles Away...(Chapter 7)[/i]: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/115240435 [i]Trials of a Guardian: All Chapters[/i]: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/105589170/0/0