My breathing quieted and my heartbeat slowed to a near halt. Three red dots approached our hideout slowly. I silenced my coms and ceased movement as they came into view. Just three Titans, piece of cake normally. They trudged like Walkers through the roots and vines. "I don't see anyone!" Shouted a newbie named Jerry (aka Meat-shield by the upper ranked classmen). "Well you will scare them off with that voice." Barked Tompson(aka Meat-shield #2). He looked around at the tree. "This is boring..." "As is your conversation..." mumbled Kelli-5023. His helmet's screen went clear so his robotic face was shown. His eyes darted around here and there. "You sure this was where the tracker spotted someone?" "We wouldn't be here otherwise!" Jerry yelled again. This conversation seemed artificial, a stage but I sent a small voice message to Angelica and Laurentine. "Act on the purple flash." My magnetic grenade formed in hand. With a quick toss, it went sailing right where Jerry's mouth would be. He frozen as the void consumed him twice over, reducing him to his ghost on the ground. Kelli and Tompson reacted with sparatic bursts of gunfire as they both disappeared from view after two loud pings from a sniper. There ghost hovered on the ground, inanimate as I grinned in my helmet. "Targets down." I said, restoring my coms. "See anything, Laurentine?" "Not a thing. We shood...." Before he could finish, a shot echoes in his radio as his body tumbles from the tree and is reduced to a red orb. My eyes widen as I back up further in the roots. "What... what happened?!" Angelica's panicked voice said. She was shaking behind me and clamped to my back. I looked at the Ghosts of the ground. They still stood, signifying they weren't from the same team. "Flush them out!" Someone yelled as nine red dots burst onto the motion tracker and into the encampment. "We are in a pickle this time!" Charles yelled at me. My mind started to race. "D*** it! Why didn't I see this coming?!" Void energy flowed into me as I placed my bubble down. It expanded around the roots, making a bullet proof dome. I pulled the shotgun from my side and raced to meet the enemy. My HUD light up with options, provided by Charles. "Take the left one and move on, can't let you die this time." He snickered with delight at the thought of the many times he caused my demise. I grunted and sprinted to a Titan. He brought his fusion rifle up to charge as the butt of my shotgun slammed into his temple and sent him sprawling to the ground as a Ghost. Void energy rushed to cover me with a barrier of dark light. I slide to take another Titan to his grave and dove into the shrub before I was hailed with gunfire. More options shone on my HUD as I pulled my scout rifle from my back. I chucked a grenade at a Warlock as I blew the shields off of another Titan. "Angelica I need you to take some out!" I yelled as I ducked for cover to reload. "But... b... there are so many!" She cried out. "That bubble goes down in 5 seconds, you have till then to take the ones with no shields out!" "What?!... I cant..." "NOW!" The bubble faded to oblivion as Angelica scrambled for her gun. She fired a full clip like a blind, mad woman into the crowd, injuring a few and causing some to turn their heads. Despite this, three Titans were back on the fields with brief over shields and new found anger as the rushed towards me. My shotgun ended their fight. I rushed to help Angelica when Charles yelled at me. "WATCH IT!!" I turned to meet a sniper round to the head. Everything slowed as I crumpled to the ground. Charles hung over me as my body became transparent. I sat up and felt my head. "Crap.." I yelled in the coms. "Angelica move now!" "Oh no... oh no what do I do now?!..." Her voice turned to sheer panic as she backed into the roots. The group revived their teammates and advanced towards her. All twelve barrels pointed at the roots. "RUN AWAY! DON'T SIT THERE!!" I barked loudly at her. "Your radio is disabled this time." Charles said calmly. His form hung still, waiting to be revived. "What?!.." I stared at Angelica. "Come on move!... Run while you can!" She shook with fear at the group as they advanced. They jeered and laughed at her for her cowardlyness. "No good Warlock!" "You just hold back the team!" "Worthless Guardian!" They fired. "No!!" I yelled as she faded to become Elizabeth. A timer formed on my HUD. It counted down from 10. The group cheered and slapped each others backs. 9. 8. 7. They started to head towards the way they came. 6. 5. I slammed the ground with anger. "Why?!... We could have made it!.." I thought to myself. 4. 3. The timer froze. Suddenly a loud scream burst forth from the speaker as Elizabeth was engulfed in flames. Soon a human sized fireball grew limbs as Angelica came back. Her screams were loud and painful as she stumbled out of the roots. Large angel-like wings burst from her back and spread to their full length. She stood panting as the group turned and stared along with me. Her helmet disappeared to reveal her long hair, raging like a furnace. Her left eye spouted flames as she looked at the group. Her hands formed grenades that shone like miniature suns. One after another, the group was reduced to five meager Guardians. Ghosts faded entirely as the remaining ran off in fear. Angelica revived Laurentine and moved towards me as he gave chase in his bladedancer form. I felt her warm light bathe me as my body turned back to its former self. I stared up at her with wonder as the wings folded onto her back and disappeared along with the other flames. She smiled and helped Laurentine pick off the rest. I simply sat still and watched. Charles appeared beside me. "Check the scores." My HUD flashed a leader board. At #1 was us, with a total of 21 kills and 3 deaths. The second place had only 6 kills. I blinked and continue to sit when Angelica and Laurentine started to come back, with their armor disappearing back to their storage. "That was awesome!" Laurentine actually sounded amazed and looked excited. "You beat most of them up!" Angelica giggled and twirled. "I know!" She stopped and cleared her throat. "I know." She grinned like a Guardian receiving Raid gear for the first time. She looked at me. "You ok, Josiah?" My mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. And my helmet disappeared to reveal that, thanks to Charles efforts. They both laughed at me and helped me off the ground. Me and Angelica sat in the cover of the roots and relaxed, while Laurentine took up scouting again. She continued to grin as the day went on. Night fell upon us after another group showed up, making a total of 24 kills so far. An announcement was made that all activities were considered "useless" until daybreak was out. Despite that, we stayed at our hideout and Laurentine remained on guard. A fire crackled near me as I sat staring at its flame. The warm feeling of radiance washed over me as it did before. I looked at Angelica briefly. She was wiping her auto rifle with a cloth as she hummed a tune quietly. Her face was alive with a smile from today's events. But it wasn't all happiness. She occasionally rubbed her back and winced slightly. Real pain shown in her eyes with each passing but they shone once again to cover it up. "Are you ok?" I asked finally. She looked at me with a curious look. "Yes. I feel just fine. Why?" "You see... hurt." Her smile faded slightly. "No I'm not hurt..." "Yes you are." I sat next to her. "I can tell." I placed my hand on her back. She yelped a little and moved away. She shrunk a bit as my hand jerked back. "See?... Did using Fireborn hurt you?..." She nodded and hid her face. Her voice cracked "It hurts so much." She shook slightly. I moved closer to her to comfort her but Elizabeth popped up. "Look what you did! You over-sized brute!" Charles appeared outside. "Atleast he's not a fat pompous like you are!" He raced away. She growled and took off after him. I sighed and sat by Angelica. I gently wrapped my arms around her shoulders and rocked her gently. I sang a soft and simple lullaby that I remembered from somewhere to calm her. Her shivering stopped soon after and she fell silent. Her face moved to my shoulder as she sat listening to me. She clung to my wrinkled shirt as we sat together, listening to the echo of my voice on the forest. Sorry that this was a long chapter. But I felt like writing a lot this time. https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/137702012/0/0 link to chapter 6 https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/140325512/0/0 link to chapter 8