The sharp feeling of burning blossomed in my stomach. I dared to look down, and where my belly button should've been was the Hunters' signature Arc Blade. Thomas pulled out the blue crackling blade, and it hurt almost as much as burning my hands. "Thomas! That's enough!" Cayde shouted suddenly. I let my body fall to the ground, my cheek hitting the padded ground reminded me of when I broke my arm. When I fell from the treehouse and almost broke my head open. My face hurt this time, though, and it wasn't a sudden surprise that I had been stabbed. I made sure there was no blood, but there was the very gooey stuff. "That was a challenge? Wow! Some fight" Thomas chided. I didn't need an image to see Cayde's face. I felt arms wrap around me; Ikora cradled me and carried me off, probably to the infirmary. I coughed and accidently got blood on Ikora's face, "I'm sorry." I tried to wipe it off but she placed my arms back down in my lap. "Why didn't you just blast him away, Quincet?" I blinked when she said my actual name. "I-." I stopped though, because honestly I didn't know why I just didn't break Thomas's face in half. I could've easily done it, and would've stopped the oozing blue liquid coming from my stomach. "What is this stuff?" I asked, watching the blue ooze out of my wound. "It's to simulate blood." "It hurts." I rubbed my stomach and then thought of the dark thoughts in my head. My hand lit up purple for the however many times, and I rubbed my hand against the wound, patching it up with some Void energy. "You can easily do that, but you can't hurt someone else." "Ikora, no, I can't hurt someone else." "When they're trying to kill you? What about the lives of your team, Quinn? What about that?" "I'm weak, Ikora. I've always been weak. I enjoy pacifism." "You call pacifism weak? Neutrality, weak? What kind of definition of weak do you have?" Ikora looked me straight in the eyes. "Being weak is when you're too much of a wuss to do anything but stare, or lie, or cheat. Too much of pussy to do anything but watch. Observation is the reason I'm weak, I'm too afraid to do anything." "Quinn. I don't think you're ready to become a Guardian. I honestly don't think you're ready to live a full life with that mentality." That stung badly, I was nothing more than a pest to her at this point. I felt that for a while, the only reason people tutor me or like me is because they have to. "Well, when you've wanted to die for a while, it's not surprising when you're too afraid to live." "Are you depressed or something?" "Ikora, I'm scared as Hell, I'm always like that. I can hardly do anything anymore without second thinking my own damned actions." "Quinn, I've seen your fighting. I know that your not afraid to hurt someone. Why did you hesitate with Thomas, you know you let him stab you." Ikora was getting frustrated. I didn't want to say anything, I didn't want to say anything at all. "Quinn, answer me." Ikora demanded sternly. "He looked like Aiden." "Who is Aiden?" "He's a friend of mine." "Actually, Ikora, it's his boyfriend." Casper suddenly appeared by my neck. "Cas!" Ikora gave a cold chuckle, "you do know that, if any other higher up besides myself were to find out of your sexuality, they can expel you from the order." I stared into her dark eyes. "Thank you for that information." I stated, and fell asleep with the reassuring thought that I had made two new enemies that day. ________________________________________ "Thomas." Cayde looked at his student with concern. "Yes, I know." "I thought you were to address me as 'sir', or something at least." "Cayde, I know, I'm sorry." "What was that? Those suits stop Light energy from doing fatal damage, only for a while. If they get enough wounds in their body, and trainee can die from the power of the Light" Thomas didn't say anything but prepared himself for sleep, and Cayde continued knocking on his cell door; he gave worried looks to his ghost and Thomas's. "Thomas, please." "Don't act like I'm sadistic, sadists are people who enjoy hurting people, I-." Thomas was cut off. "And what you've been doing isn't sadism, why have you been hurting so many people?" Cayde could be very stern if he had to, and Thomas was no stranger to this behavior. At this point, anyone would be fed up. The cell door suddenly opened, and Cayde and his ghosts swiftly got out of the way. A shirtless Thomas stepped out, his pajama bottoms already on. "BECAUSE I'M A MONSTER!" Thomas screamed in the Exo's face. "Thomas." Cayde muttered sternly staring into his pupil's dark eyes. Thomas was reminded of that look, when no one believed you, as if you were still a child. The door slammed shut, and Cayde left Thomas to his own devices, although he held Thomas's ghost back. "Cayde-6, I request presence with my Guardian." She buzzed out. "He needs to be alone, ghost." "But why? I can-." "Because most Guardians feel the same as him, plagued by mental disorders; it's definitely not uncommon to see this behavior." The ghost hesitated before answering, "yes sir." Cayde didn't mention that about 11% of Guardians die of suicide. Thomas didn't mention the fact that his arm was in tremendous pain, or that his shirt was quickly soaking in blood. While walking away, Cayde-6 heard the familiar sound of a knife clanking to the floor. [spoiler]la la la, subtle ships are fun, la la la, depression and guns![/spoiler]