This one's pretty long to make up for the two short chapters! Enjoy! [b]Rise: Master List:[/b] https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/225428746/0/0 [b]Chapter Two:[/b] https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/225848850/0/0 _________________________________________________________________________ Suzanne awoke drearily to a cold, wet rag on her head. She was laying down on a makeshift cot made from moss, and a faint heat emitted from a fire that was a couple feet away, with a blurry figure sitting across from her. “Who the hell are you?” She rasped weakly. The figure stood up and crossed over to her. The figure was a she, and was eerily familiar. Her face was gaunt, and had a few signs of aging which was unusual for a guardian, and by the looks of her physique she was a titan. Her messy black hair was greying at the base, and she was glaring at her with a stare that could cut through mountains. She held a bowl of stew in her left hand, which she placed beside Suzanne’s cot. “Who am I?” The titan muttered spitefully. The voice was creaky and worn. She stood up rapidly, face contorted in rage. “WHO AM I? WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?” She jabbed a finger in Suzanne’s face. “YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO VANISH FOR ELEVEN -blam!-ING YEARS, LEAVE A SHITTLY WRITTEN VAGUE NOTE, AND THEN ASK WHO THE -blam!- I AM? ZARA, THAT IS BULLSHIT ON SO MANY TRAVELER DAMN LEVELS.” The titan yelled, kicking the bowl of stew across the clearing; it hit the dirt across from them. Suzanne frowned, although the name Zara did sound familiar. “Sorry, but I don’t know who you are.” She retorted, thinking. She tried to sit up, but only succeeded in moving her head forward a couple inches before she collapsed back down, coughing weakly. The figure appeared to calm down, with a hint of [i]worry[/i] flashing across her face. The titan pulled something in foil from the fire. “Does the name Sasha mean anything to you?” She asked, opening the foil to reveal a cooked piece of fish. Suzanne frowned, thinking hard. “No. Not really.” She said, anxiety hitting her. “Should I know?” The titan stared at her. “You really… don’t recognize me?” She seemed hurt, taking a handmade wooden fork from a pocket and sticking it into the fish. “No...” She murmured, looking down apologetically. “I really don’t know who you are, but thank you for helping me.” The titan shrugged, moving over and grabbing something from a tent. “Do you recognize this?” She held a worn helmet in front of her. It’s golden visor was cracked and trace amounts of sunlight reflected off of it. [i]The Taikonaut.[/i] Suzanne’s eyes lit up as her memories of who this strange titan was re-emerged. She sat up amidst the pain and looked at her. Suzanne’s eyes could have burned a hole through her. “Sasha?” The titan grinned sadly. “There you are, dipstick.” Suzanne collapsed back down, her memory mostly coming back; her time with Ralph, Sanders, Myra, and Sasha. She tried to stand up, reaching for Sasha who gently pushed her back down. “Relax.” She handed Suzanne the fish. Suzanne didn't hesitate to start eating it like a crazed badger, and started to gulp down the canteen of water Sasha had given her. She placed it beside the cot. “So… what happened to you?” Sasha asked her after she had eaten the fish. Suzanne wiped the water from her face. “I… I don’t really remember. I think I fell into a cave of sorts, or maybe a sinkhole. I must have hit my head on the way down and went unconscious.” She broke into a coughing fit, laying back down. Sasha pressed a hand to Suzanne’s forehead. “You’re cold as ice.” She remarked, bringing a steaming rag from the fire and pressing it to Suzanne’s forehead. “Stay still.” Suzanne scowled. “You can stop mothering me, Sash.” Her expression shifted as she looked around them. “Where’s everyone else?” Sasha looked at her, trying to figure out the best word choice. “Dead.” “Sorry, what?” Suzanne asked Sasha, worry starting to fill her eyes. “Six feet under.” Sasha started to tear up before she tore her gaze away from Suzanne. She held her hand up to support her chin as she looked at this dirt. “I tried, Zara. I tried to save them but I only managed to get- to get-” Sasha placed a hand over her eyes as she remembered Jaik shielding her from centurion’s onslaught. Or how Harrol fought off the hordes of psions when she fell off the tower’s edge. A tear fell to the ground below as she felt Suzanne’s hand on her back, her icy touch trying to comfort her. “Lay back down.” Sasha grumbled before she stood up. “How did-” Suzanne started. “Go to sleep.” Sasha said, cutting her off. “When-” “Go. To. Sleep.” Sasha said sternly, walking away from the makeshift tent and cot. ________________________________ ________________________________ Suzanne awoke a couple hours later; night had returned, and she figured Sasha had gone to sleep, which sucked. She had too many questions. Her strength had somewhat returned; the food and drink had done wonders for her. She managed to stand up silently, holding her arms out to keep her balance as she crept slowly across the forest ground to Sasha’s tent. Then she paused; what if Sasha got mad at her again? She could tell that they weren’t exactly back on good terms yet, and waking her up in the middle of the night wouldn’t help. As she stepped back to explore the camp more, she realized that nobody was in the tent. A lamp inside it gave off no shadow. She shrugged. Sasha had probably gone hunting, Suzanne thought. Now for the reason why she got up; to find the Red Death. It wasn’t an easy task; she had to track Sasha’s footprints back through the woods, back to where she had collapsed. She figured she had dropped the gun back along her blind run into the trees. It took her three hours; her weak state in of itself was an obstacle, and it didn’t help that all she had to go on was a trail of cracked branches, disturbed plant life and occasionally dried flecks of blood. Then finally she saw the godforsaken pulse rifle lying on its side among the weeds. She picked it up, and teleported back to the campsite. Setting the Red Death down beside her, she laid down on her cot, and a strange feeling of guilt came over her. So much that it made her queasy. Then she nearly vomited as she remembered the ability of the Red Death; to permanently kill a guardian. Panic took hold; she couldn’t let Sasha know what she had done, not yet. She grabbed the gun and teleported to a location she could hardly remember; an abandoned sect of the European Dead Zone. It had been picked clean, making it of no interest to anyone- or anything. Except for Suzanne, who had once used one of the abandoned buildings when she was a child. Sure enough, there it was; a small shack, even by dark age standards. Walking in, she found a small titanium trunk stained brown by years of neglect and covered with vines, held shut by a rusted lock, which she broke by hitting it with the stock of the gun. She dropped the Red Death down onto the piles of molded food and bottles of water, slammed it shut and teleported back, lying down on her cot just as Sasha emerged from the tree line. Suzanne tried not to act like she was in fact wide awake, faking a yawn. “Can’t sleep?” She asked the titan steadily, who shook her head in answer. She sighed quietly in relief, but noticed another odd change in her friend. Suzanne frowned. “Didn’t you use to be Awoken?” Sasha sat down. She pulled a knife from her pocket and began to whittle the branches she had brought back. “Yes.” “What ha-” “Nothing.” The titan shot her down again, and Suzanne fell quiet. Sasha looked at her. “We need to find you some gear.” Suzanne blushed; she had realized that the clothing she had on now was practically worse than running around in the nude. “Not to mention a weapon. It’s lucky that you survived in the woods without one.” Sasha told her, setting whatever she was making down. Suzanne nodded in agreement, guilt starting to flutter in her stomach. “And some concealment. No one has seen a taken for three years, and they don’t want to relive that nightmare again.” The titan stated, adding fuel into the charred remains of the fire. Suzanne grimaced, remembering again the trio of guardians. “I… understand.” She sat up in her cot. “What happened to the city?” Sasha sighed, resting her elbows on her knees and hunching over. “The Cabal happened.” “What do you mean?” “The fatass space turtles brought an armada and destroyed the city.” Sasha rested her forehead on her knuckles. “It’s all gone. The traveler can no longer protect us.” Suzanne nodded, rolling onto her side. “So... what do we do?” Zara asked her, leaning over her cot. She stared into the fire. Sasha sighed. “Pick here and there at the Cabal patrolling the European dead zone.” She glanced at Suzanne. “There’s not much we can do.” “Nothing else?” Suzanne asked. “Unless you can get all the Guardians back together again, nothing’s going to happen.” Sasha said, toying with the fire. She threw the stick she was using in the fire and stood up. “It’s late. You need to rest.” She said, standing up and striding to her tent. “Good night.” Suzanne sighed loudly, rolling over onto her cot and letting sleep take her.