"Daddy! Daddy, I have to show you something! C'mere! Daddy!" A small, sweet voice pittered away at my subconscious as I was sound asleep. It called and called, and a sense of peace washed over me with each word. "I built something with my legos, daddy! Come look, in my room! I made it by myself!" I stirred awake, my feeling of peace being overcome with a feeling of.. Urgency. "Okay, Penelope, okay. I'm coming." I sat up from my slumber, stretching and yawning. Tuesday afternoon. Penelope must've come home from school and rushed back to her toys. Boy, did she love her toys. Almost as much as she loved showing me. "Come on, sleepy head!" She rushed toward me, grabbing my arm and pulling me up into a walk as she excitedly dragged me to her room. For some reason, I couldn't make her out. The world around me was.. Foggy. Eerie. And she was a barely recognizable silhouette. Probably didn't get enough sleep. Oh, well. We neared closer and closer to her room, but the walk seemed to take ages. It felt like days. The air felt.. Heavy. What the hell was going on? Am I sick? "You're going to love this!" She called to me again. But she felt far away. I began to hear echoes of screams. I begin to slow down, feeling nauseous and disoriented. I contemplated calling 911,  because either I was having a heart attack, a stroke, an aneurysm, or all three. "Penelope, honey, I-I think I need to lay back d-down.. I-I-" I tried to keep talking, but I was choking. Gagging. I fell into a stumble as I felt my daughter's hand leave mine, my entire field of view swirling like a cyclone. Penelope paid me no mind as she kept eagerly walking to her room, I could hear her talk about what she had built. "It's so cool! You gotta come see it, daddy!" After I heard her call to me again, I heard the door shut rather violently. And then I began to smell burning. Lots and lots of burning. "P-Penelope..!?" I shouted. I scrambled back up, ignoring my painful symptoms as I clumsily stumbled to her room as if I was a zombie. "Penelope! What's going on!? P-Penelope!" The closer I got to her door, the further it seemed to stray away. I was breathing extremely hard, using the wall to keep me propped up. I kept throwing my hand toward the door handle, but each attempt made the door move further and further down the hallway. I was going crazy. "I'm coming, Penelope! J-Just.. Urgh.." I groaned, finally approaching the door as it stood stagnant this time. I fumbled around with the door knob, only to find out it was locked. I cursed weakly and stood in front of it, and began throwing my shoulder into it repeatedly. "What the hell..!? P-Penelope! Hold on, sweetie, I'm coming!" I grit my teeth, taking every bit of my weight and literally throwing my entire body into the door, where it came crashing down. I coughed uncontrollably as I entered the room, and when I looked up, my surroundings where completely different, and what I saw changed everything. ------------------------------------------------------------------- BraveCole stared in awe as he stared at the agonizing view in front of him. The Last City in flames. The humming and ominous roar of the engines of the ships flying ahead. Cabal ships. "No.." He breathed. "No..! It can't.. T-This has to be a dream.." He noticed that he could barely form sentences from how weak he was. He held his chest as he looked around. "Becky!? Becky, where are you!? Becky! Dear god.." Brave stumbled onto the ground, beginning to sob and feel his armor. He felt bits and pieces of it gone, and began to panic even more. "Becky! Becky, ghost, I need help.." He coughed some more, rolling over on his side as he began to hear footsteps coming over toward him. "Ya need help? Well, it's not like I didn't carry yer' heavy ass fer' two days over 'ere to safety. I'd say I did a pretty durn good job." A feminine voice said. It carried a heavy, thick country accent, one that made Amanda's sound like she spoke proper English. BraveCole slowly looked up toward the voice. He struggled as his vision slowly came back into focus. What he saw, or what he could make out, was a female. Human. And based on her armor, she was a protegé of Cayde. A.. Hunter. "W-Who are you? What happened? Why are we not.. In the city..?" BraveCole said, struggling as adrenaline flowed through him as he got up. "City's lost, big guy. Ain't no more city. All that out 'chere? That's all Cabal territory now." She said, gripping her belt with one hand and using the other to point toward the now lost city. BraveCole grit his teeth and turned to the hunter, pushing his finger into her chest as he weakly walked into her. "B-Bullshit! The city isn't.. ugh.. I-Isn't lost until I can't see it anymore and the Traveler is sitting in the god damn dirt!" BraveCole turned away to spit, and it was mostly blood. He gave the hunter another angry look as she simply smiled. "Leave it to a -blam!-ing Hunter to retreat and not defend the god damn front line." The hunter inhaled sharply as she heard this, anger boiled up within her and she tried her best to keep her composure, but alas, she exploded in her own, subtle way. BraveCole stumbled and turned to face the burning city again, his back facing toward her. She reached to her side and unsheathed her Knife, going up behind the Titan and placing it ever so firmly on his neck. "You listen here, fella, and you listen [i]good[/i]." She said, growling through her teeth. "You see that!? That giant contraption strapped all over the Traveler!?" BraveCole gulped, and as he did he swore the knife dug a little deeper. He didn't panic, and did as she said. He gazed upon the Traveler, now noticing the menacing Cage. "What.. What is that? Is that Cabal tech?" He asked, turning his head as best as he could. "Mhm. Yeah, that there's cabal tech. And apparently, it shuts off a guardian's connection to the light. Strips us of our power." She spoke. BraveCole fell silent. She just laughed a bit. "Shit's startin' to make sense now, huh? Now in the little angry head 'ah yours, you think of a bunch of lightless guardians trying to fight off an entire Legion of -blam!-in' Cabal." She took her knife off of Brave's neck and sheathed it, putting both hands on her hips and shaking her head. "We start dyin'. People start dyin'. We lose the city." BraveCole slightly turned his head to address the hunter. "...How many fell.." He asked solemnly. She shrugged, a confused look painting her face. "I 'unno. Beats the hell outta me, that's fer sure. But I'll give ah safe bet and say.. Hmm.." She acted like she was thinking hard, placing her hand on her chin and then acted like she came up with a precise answer. "Probably.. All of us. Every single one." She gave a chuckle that was definitely not an appropriate gesture to do given the circumstances. "And I say that 'cuz you, me, and eeevery other guardian out there are dead men walking. Without our light, we're all gonna be slaughtered. Whether it be by the cabal, hive, fallen, vex.." She shrugged. "End of the world is here, sweetheart. I knew she'd rear her ugly head eventually, Traveler's efforts to save humanity be damned." Brave bit his lip, trying to form a sentence that would give him hope and a rebuttal to the hunter's grim attitude. But.. By god, she was right. Who were guardians without their light? They suddenly become no stronger than the ones they swore to protect. He gripped his chest, giving another weak cough. "Have you seen my ghost? Did.. Did she make it?" "Hm? Oh, yeah. She uh.. She did. But I don't know if she'll be much help.." The Hunter said. "Huh? What do you mea-" "AIIIIIIIIEEEEE!!" A sudden screech was heard. Out of nowhere, a ghost with a black shell started to fly around wildly around Brave's head. "I.. AM.. ALIIIIIIVEEEEEE..." "Becky? What the- ..Calm down! What is your problem!?" Brave growled. His ghost was never this.. Peculiar. "I don't have a problem, bub. You're the one with the problem. Put a wrench in your eye and get back to me Sunday." Becky said back, which caused Brave to stare in absolute confusion. The Hunter giggled. "My ghost didn't make it, the poor fella'. But.. Yours did. I've been meaning to ask you if she was always that much of an annoyance. She almost got me- [i]us[/i], killed." "No," Brave breathed. "She's never been like this. Ever." He reached out to his ghost, and surprisingly she let him grab her. "Hold still.." "Yes, I will hold still. Kill me quickly, every hour. Tell no one of this.." Becky spoke again, in a whisper. Brave ignored Becky's ramblings and inspected her shell, looking for any damage. She gave off a few small sparks of electricity, indicating that something was indeed wrong. "I.. I think she has a shortage. The connection from the light being instantly severed has caused some circuits to be fried, making her-" "WOO! I LOVE POUND CAKE IN MY ARMS!" Brave sighed. "..Malfunction." He let go of his ghost, letting her float innocently. "Becky. Ghost. Do you know who I am?" "Yes!" Becky answered back fast. "You're not Lyra. I [i]hate[/i] you." BraveCole's jaw dropped, and then he grit his teeth. "What!? Becky, you can't be serious. We've talked about this! I told you to never-" "Help me find my guardian! She could be in danger. You need to.. Wait, no, I need to follow you. Don't tell me what to do. Please, give me advice." [spoiler]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/247373820/0/0/1[/spoiler]