Rest of the Story: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15ew1g89oxjEj5mZRFvv94Ht2Td6lVWkc-Lk7nwplUgg/edit There is a tag, as well. Chapter 20- “The hell’s wrong with you? Did that knight knock something loose in your head?” Lacer raised his fists in defense. Arc energy moved from Zahir’s hands up his arm. “Last chance. Get out of here.” The titan took two menacing steps before stopping only a couple of feet in front of Lacer. “Man, don’t do this.” The defender shook his head. “I need time!” Zahir swung. His fist was caught by an overhead block. “You’ve had enough time. You spent an entire year here!” Lacer pushed Zahir back. “Why are you being so hostile? I’m trying to help you, man!” “I’m going to end up hurting you, one way or another. Just like I hurt Eltanin.” The exo moved in for another punch. Lacer welcomed it, taking a charged fist to the stomach. “If you let us help you out, you won’t have to worry!” He gripped the exo’s arm, having taken no damage, as most of his void energy was consolidated to his stomach to defend himself. “Maybe this’ll knock some sense into ya!” Lacer pulled Zahir forward and sent his fury fueled fist into Zahir’s head, toppling him backward. An exo eye peered at Lacer from behind a cracked helmet. Another punch, and Zahir was down, as cold as the floor he lay on. “Oh man, what’s going on?” Ascella remained on the sidelines, watching in shock. “If I’m being honest, I didn’t expect to be able to beat him.” Lacer clutched his stomach and moved toward the limp titan. “Crucius, Eltanin. Get down here.” He looked up through the hole he had made in the roof of the cave. “Actually, just you for now, Crucius.” The ghost appeared in a flash of light, and slowly floated toward his companion. “Oh, yeah. Eltanin wouldn’t want to see this. What happened?” He asked, turning toward Lacer. “He, uh, got a bit unreasonable.” He rubbed his head. “I’m going to go back to the ship. You coming?” He looked at Ascella. “Yeah, I’m going. That knight tired me out.” She held her ghost out, and began to load back into the sky before another word could be said. “I can’t believe it’s come to this.” Crucius shook his shell, beginning to resurrect the fallen exo before him. “Come to think of it, this is where I first rezzed him. Huh.” “Eltanin, why are you here?” Zahir saw the woman’s tired face looking over him as he awoke. She was dressed in a heavy coat to protect her from the biting cold. “You have to get out of here. There’s Hive about, and without your light…” “I’ll be fine. Crucius is scanning our surroundings.” She looked over to the ghost, who circled the walls of ice around them. “How can you even look at me? I messed up. I messed up hard. Come on, you can leave me alone, I’ll will everything I own to you, and you can be happy with none of my nonsense.” “You’re crazy. That’s not how I feel! Why do you think I came all the way here? I wouldn’t be happy without you!” Eltanin gripped the sides of Zahir’s head tight. “I know I ran too, but you put your life in danger! You could have at least taken Crucius. Why did you go?” “All I seem to do is destroy my relationships. Even my ghost got worried, and he’s never one to give up on me.” He sighed. “I went about handling myself the wrong way after the Red War, and I wasn’t the only one who suffered for it. Some people take it easy, and others like me mess up. I thought you’d hate me for it.” “I don’t. I should have heard you out. I don’t know what you’re going through, but I could have listened.” “Don’t be hard on yourself. We both know this was all my fault.” Zahir sat up, now looking down on Eltanin instead. “No crutches?” “I can sit.” “As I was saying, you had every right to be mad at me.” “I know! And that’s what’s so confusing about all of this!” She let her head fall onto the exo’s chestplate. “I’m scared, and confused! And I felt alone because you got all caught up in this Tivik business! I miss my light! I miss my ghost! It’s too much!” Her voice was muffled by Zahir’s armor. Zahir put his hand over Eltanin’s head. “You’re not alone.” He looked up at the Mars sky through the fresh hole in the ceiling. “We’ve lost a lot. Saiph really put me over the edge.” He thought of everyone he had lost in the Red War. His fireteam, Heather and Kale. Another member of his scout team, the warlock Vira. “We have. You were so absorbed in your investigation, and, I know this is long past, but you never visited me in the hospital.” “I neglected you. I’m sorry. You must have been terrified. I promise you, I’ll change.” “I thought you just didn’t care anymore, I thought you saw me as a burden, so I didn’t really scold you or anything.” “You really should have. I could have used it. I know I’m not the best at expressing my feelings, and I hope it’s not too late to ask for your forgiveness, but I really do care. There were a lot of things going through my head. They still aren’t all sorted out, and that doesn’t excuse me, but I’ll manage.” Eltanin smiled warmly. “We really want the old you back. Lacer, especially.” “I could tell. He tried to beat it out of me. It worked a little, I guess.” “Will you come back to us?” “I’ll get out of here, but you know, we’ll never be the same.” He eyed Eltanin’s bandaged leg. “I know. We’ll move on, but we’ll do it together now.” Eltanin thought back to Zahir’s destructive nature that had scared her the past week. In place of fear now was understanding. “Let’s go. I don’t want you to get too cold.” “Oh, come on!” Eltanin laughed. “I’ll be fine! I’m glad you’re picking on stuff like that, though. That’s just something you always did.” “I guess you’re right.” He chuckled, as the two began their transmat back up. Lacer had his arms on his legs, sitting on a chair with a can of soda in front of him. Ascella lounged on the pilot’s seat, fiddling with a screen. Their attention was turned to Zahir and Eltanin appearing on the ship. Eltanin let go of Zahir and moved to her crutches, clearly embarrassed. Lacer cast a bored look toward the titan. “I’m sure you already know this, but I’m sorry.” I hope we can put this past us. “Zahir held his hand out. Lacer took a deep breath and stood up. “Well, I did get to beat the snot out of you. We’ll call it even.” He grasped the exo’s hand and held it up tight. “Glad to have you back, buddy. For real, this time.” Zahir nodded and let go, turning to Ascella. “It’s been a while, Ascella. Good to see you.” “Good to see you, too! Hey, you gotta get back in the scout team. Lacer’s losing it doing all the paperwork.” She spun the chair around. “I’m doing just fine!” Lacer retorted, as his ghost floated up beside him. “He totally isn’t.” Jolt stated, disappearing before Lacer could say another word. “Alright, yeah, fine. It’s making me lose my mind. I’m glad I wasn’t in charge of things back then. If you don’t wanna come back, though, I’ll get by.” “We’ll see, but I have an Eliksni to hunt.” Zahir moved toward the disorganized table. He was met with blank stares all around. He corrected himself. “Excuse me, WE have an Eliksni to hunt.” “Before we do that,” Lacer flipped a file around his fingers, “we’ve got a little something on Tivik’s past.” - CONT IN COMMENTS