If you missed the last chapter, you can find it [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/218801033/0/0]here[/url], or if you need to find a previous chapter, you can find them all in the [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/218618986?sort=0&page=0]Table of Contents[/url]. Enjoy the story and if you like it, a bump would be greatly appreciated! If you have any questions or corrections, comment or message me anytime, I welcome any and all feedback. *** The Reef taught me the merits of a hard-lived life. Scratching out your existence amongst the asteroids, living in the sparse light and radioactive haze while digging and clawing for whatever drops of water and trinkets to sell we could scavenge – it was never easy, but there was a satisfaction that came from the labor that I’ve never known anywhere else – [i]FTZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!![/i] And the ships – an expansive labyrinth of junk and memories floating peacefully in the silence of space, disturbed only now and then by stray rocks or stray hunters – there were many days when my mother and I would strike out and spend hours poking through the twisted ruins of the old ships, quietly drifting in the vacuum, these lifeboats still traveling via the momentum that carried them from Earth, fleeing the collapse of the Golden Age – [i]FTZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!![/i] [i]Bury it[/i], I hiss to myself within, [i]focus elsewhere. You have a mind for a reason, now use it![/i] With effort, I force myself to dwell on my mother’s face – soft indigo skin, kind, smiling lips that would kiss whatever cuts and bruises I’d sustain on our outings and expressive eyebrows that would always raise sardonically as she’d wonder how a little girl could get so many cuts and bruises – [i]FTZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!![/i] Several quick breaths to steady myself as I hold onto the memory of my mother for dear life – we would always eat lunch aboard her old mining ship, watching the Sun from across the system through the haze of the Reef’s ultraviolet radiation – she always called me her little dust diamond after we found an old engagement ring in one of the ruined ships’ cockpits – [i]FTZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!![/i] Breathing heavily, I struggle with an internal roar of defiance to keep my mind focused on my mother – [i]The ketch descended upon 115 Rhea like a black cloud… No![/i] I think forcefully, trying to remember my mother’s name instead. [i]It was….it was….. The Wolves rushed out of the ketch –– I watched from my hiding place, saw the monsters roaring beneath the shimmering old light of the reflective dust marking where Ceres once hung proudly, before the Wolves tried to take that, too. The Queen had to destroy the planet with her Harbingers, my mother had told me, to keep the Wolves from taking it.[/i] Would the Queen destroy our home then, too? [i]I had thought, unsure of which scared me more – the Wolves at my door or the threat of the Queen’s revenge from afar. FTZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!! Too close[/i], I think, [i]too close to him, and I won’t give him the satisfaction –[/i] But my mind can’t help itself, skipping innocently to the next thought without a concern for the pain it brings – [i]Taniks seized my mother as we tried to make a run for her ship – I screamed and raged against the monster’s leg, reaching as high as I could and using all my strength to fight the Fallen beast. My efforts only earned a scornful, bemused laugh from Taniks as he looked down at me, hoisting my mother into the air with two of his arms. Looking me dead in the eye, he tore my mother apart, limb by limb – FTZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!![/i] I pant through clenched teeth, growling and groaning. “Yes….” I hear Taniks purr into my ear as he leans close. Checking the restraints I’ve worn my wrists and ankles raw struggling against, he coos again wickedly. “[i]What do you feel, Tanis?[/i]” I pant heavily, but plaster a smile to my face as I meet his cold dead eyes – I can still see the reflection of my mother’s lifeless, tattered body in their endless depths. “….ti…..tickles….” I manage to force out. Taniks laughs before turning to a nearby servitor. “[i]Increase power.[/i]” The loud hum of the generators squeals as it peaks – I feel the threatening vibrations against my skull through the electrodes stuck to my temples as I retreat into my mind again. [i]My mother took me to the outskirts of the Reef for my tenth birthday – we sat there, hovering in space, as we looked across the vast emptiness at the calm beauty of Saturn’s rings from afar – Taniks seized me with one arm, still dripping in my mother’s blood as I struggled and kicked in midair – he merely looked at me curiously, as though deciding what to do with me –[/i] FFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!! My head is wrenched back unconsciously as my back arches, fists struggling against my bonds as energy courses through my body again, scrambling my thoughts – [i]Djido stood against the Darkness of the Hive, unleashing what Light he had left to save us – “Run,” my mother whispered before she died – I gazed in fascination, admiration and confusion at Djido as he knelt down beside the broken and bloodied mass, reaching out to tenderly cradle the face of the Fallen warrior – “You are a Tanis,” Taniks told me before he hit me again.[/i] I can’t remember the name I struggled to hold onto against Taniks – I had thought as long as I had my name, he couldn’t completely own me. But then I woke up one day to realize I’d forgotten it already. [i]FFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!![/i] My back arches again as I gasp and pant, struggling to keep my tongue rolled back so I don’t bite it off – [i]Bury it[/i], I command myself. [i]FFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!! BURY IT!! [/i] I grit my teeth, grunting and moaning again, using everything I’ve got to keep my scream inside. [i]“Mother….” “I love you, little dust diamond.”[/i] Tears leak from my eyes and fall down my cheeks as I lean my head back, focusing on the internal pain to distract myself from the agony coursing through my veins. [i]Did Djido feel like this when the SIVA got in him?[/i] I think, trying to distract myself. [i]FFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!![/i] My mother’s name was – [i]FFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!![/i] Her name was – [i]FFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!![/i] And my name was – [i]FFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!![/i] I can’t remember. All there is is pain, the pain that arises from fighting against it, and the name I was given, the only name I know now. [i]Tanis[/i], I force myself to think, using the name against myself like a whip before Taniks can. [i]I'm a Tanis.[/i] But then Taniks leans down again and growls, "[i]You are a Tanis[/i]." The ritual returns to me - this is what he does, this is how he makes us forget. [i]FFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!![/i] "[i]You are a Tanis[/i]," he repeats. [i]I am a -[/i] my mind begins automatically, trying to claim the word. [i]No,[/i] I hiss to myself, [i]Don't -[/i] "[i]You are a Tanis.[/i]" [i]No...[/i] [i]FFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!![/i] "[i]My Tanis.[/i]" [i]FFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!![/i]