Chapter Text
Out in the wastelands of the country in Eurasian, Russia there floated about carefully a shell of some sort that looked like a start scanning around in search for something “hmm… no” it said as it scanned a skeletal corps, it floated about scanned many. Coming cross near presumably was once a highway scanned more and more,
“Ouch” it muttered as it scanned another figure “is it possible I may never find them?” it sighed as if it was about to give up “Oh traveler what to do, I feel like I’ve searched every inch of the universe for them and yet… nothing….” It beeped and made its way to another figure “Not you either.”
It looked up to the sky as if looking for a sign, and just as if the universe answered his plea something came crashing down like a shooting star near its location. “Travelers light! What was that?!” it screamed debating whether or not it should investigate before anything else does. It settled its doubts and started to head towards the crash site.
Upon arrival it was met with flames and more ruble and a small ship “A… Ship…?” it floated towards it before it could investigate any further the pod of the ship popped open, there a figure fell to the ground “Oh dear!” it floated near the figure as it contemplated
“A guardian? But there was no distress signal or a sign of a fight nearby…” it looked around “And no sign of another ghost anywhere” the shell moved closer to inspect the figure
“By the Traveler… she looks so… young” it scanned her figure, there it was silent looking down with a perplexed look “she’s… dead but… the light… it's strong”
‘could this be my guardian?’ it thought as it looked at the girl, she was human and not a skeletal corps he has been scanning throw-out the years. He looked around and scanned the Ship the girl fell from ‘What the? 20XX?’
As the shell contemplated on what to do a faint screeching roar was heard “oh no… the fallen!” as it was about to float away it stopped and looked back at the girl “it's possible” it floated back to where the girl was and suddenly dismantled itself into a sphere of light “please be the one” then a flash of light.
It was dark and cold “ian….” Was all she could hear “guardian…” faint but close “Eyes up Guardian!”
her eyes fluttered open “It worked, you're alive!” she shook her head and a groan escaped her mouth “gad who in the world would call this a wakeup call….” She uttered quickly and looked up “eh?” she eyed the floating shell ‘what the’ she thought ‘why does this floating thing look familiar’ She propped herself up to a sitting position
“I'm a Ghost. Actually, now I’m your Ghost. And you… well you’ve probably been dead for a long time now judging by your ship here. So you're going to see a lot of things you won’t understand” it said ‘wait, wait ghost?’ she thought and looked around the surroundings “wait, hang on-“ there it was again the screech but much closer than before the Ghost spun around checked the area before looking back at its new guardian
“This is Fallen territory; we aren’t safe here” it checked more of the surroundings
‘wait fallen? And wait Ghost? No can it be?’ the girl thought ‘this... could also be a really weird coincides?’ she shook her head once more and looked at her new companion “I have to get you to the City” it said as it hovered off a bit “wha? Wait!” she stumbled on words trying to make a full sentence but before she could her Ghost looked back at her and said “hold still” and vanished
‘Dafuq?! Okay this definitely is what I think it is and no time to-’ her thoughts were cut off by a voice, it was her Ghosts “Don’t worry, I’m still with you. We need to move, fast.”
“eh? Okay… but where exactly?” she said as she got up and moved up from her crash site “We won’t survive long out in the open like this. Let’s get inside the wall”
“wall? What- ah that wall” she said looking at the huge hunk of metal called the wall.
She walked up and surveyed the environment she was now in; it was beautiful though in ruins the area was still breathtaking to look at, the road filled with broken down rusted cars but overgrown with greenery, the huge wall rusted and dented with holes but with flora sprinkled here and there. “Wow, in ruins but still…” she said as she walked towards the wall, as she approached the wall, she heard shuffling nearby ‘ah I really should hurry now huh’ “I didn’t bring you back just for you to die again. We have to move”
“I know that, but a little assistance wouldn’t hurt ya know.” She stated
“That’s what I’m here for” she groaned a bit as she tried not to do a facepalm and walked in and asked if she was going the right way “yes, Okay… I need to find you a weapon. Before the fallen find us.”
She went down the corridor carefully ‘ahahah I’m gonna die already, I can feel it’ she mentally noted to herself as she recalls the events that would happen in a bit ‘Wait no I have the advantage-’ her thoughts were cut off again by her Ghost
“Quiet, they’re right above us”
‘ah this… it's like a horror game or movie’ she mentally cursed as she moved about in the dark her Ghost then appeared and shined some light.
She treads quietly as she possibly could, as she approached some stairs, she saw a figure climbing up the pipe system, she gasped ‘totally forgot about that’ she moved up
“that was a fallen I presume?”
“Yes” her Ghost replied and floated off “Hey- “her Ghost cut her off
“Hang tight. Fallen thrive in the dark, we won’t.” ‘Understandable’ she thought
“We need more light. I’ll see what I can do.”
‘and there he goes’ she stared
“Another one of these hardened military systems… And a few centuries of entropy working against me.” The whole place suddenly jolted and started to light up.
“And the Lord said let there be light” she chuckled at her comment.
As soon as the lights came on, she could see Fallen on the pipelines and all “Let the games commence” she whispered to herself “They’re coming for us!” He, her Ghost hovered over to an opening “Here! I found a rifle! Grab it.” She slid to the entrance and grabbed it “I hope you know how to use that thing” “Um… Problem… No…”
Her Ghost looked back at her “Wait no?”
“Of course, No! I have never EVER shot with a gun… now a bow on the other hand I have” she continued briskly walking towards her Ghost, now he looked dumbfounded “Wait, what do you mean-“ he was cut off by a crash coming from the inner parts of the area “Never mind, we need to-“ he was cut off again but this time by the sound of a snap from her rifle “Auto Rifle, standard magazine, sight… in working condition… And bullets… A fair amount.”
Click’s echoed through, she pulled back the charging handle and released it making on last shift of noise.
Her Ghost stared at her “What? I may have never shot a gun but that doesn’t mean I haven’t looked up how to properly handle one” He looked even more dumbfounded than before “Alright let's try firing this baby!” she said sprinting off down the rusted and dented corridor.
“Hey! Wait for me!” he followed her “Eyes forward. Watch your tracker.”
He said as he disappeared from her sight she aimed and breath
‘First time for everything I suppose’ she walked forward to be greeted by 2 alien creatures both taller than her, They have four eyes that glowed a bright white-blue, their mouths are two rows of sharp, knife-like teeth, they were clad in some armor and dawn some sort of crimson cloth, and they had four arms and walked on two feet. “Die” she said in Japanese aiming for the head and pulled the trigger, they plopped to the ground she puts down the rifle and exhaled she looked at her hand it was trembling
‘Deep breath, deep breaths’ she formed a fist and gripped tightly ‘it's you or them…’ she thought and continued forward
“Guardian? Are you okay?” her Ghost asked
“Just peachy. So that was a Fallen?”
“Yes” Ghost replied
“oh.” she scoured around and saw something glinting nearby
“Oh hoho! what a lovely combat knife and not too rusty… sweet comes with the pouch too, Lucky!” she picked it up and buckled it on her waist
“time to move.” her Ghost said “yes, yes I know.”
As she moves forward, she sensed something nearby ‘in this situation it's best to trust your gut more’ she pulled out her newly accrued knife and slowly approached the corner she walked up to the doorway and as the Fallen landed she swiftly dug the knife into its throat
“sorry” she muttered “You’re a natural at this! you must be a hunter” her Ghost chimed
“Really now? Huh I never change now do I.”
she chuckled at the thought ‘ones an assassin always an assassin huh.’
“What do you mean?” he asked appearing in front of her as they walked in a wide area “Um- I… uhh-“ A loud screech was heard interrupting the conversation
“Ya know what, maybe we’ll talk about this later.”
“Agreed.” He said before disappearing before more fallen appeared “alright let's do this” she coked the gun and fired.
Successfully making her way through, she panted “and… without… a scratch to boot” her Ghost appeared in front of her "I didn't even have to heal you” he said as she breathed "I um… got real good reflexes" she chucked gripping her gun more tightly her ghost disappeared again and said, "But don't let your guard down there's more ahead, keep it up!"
Walking across a bridge she asked her ghost “Hey… um… so, what exactly is the Fallen?”
"The Fallen are scavengers, alien pirates picking at humanity’s remains”
She thought to herself ‘Oh boy, That sounds awfully familiar. I was right’
“Speaking of pirates, a loot cache, let’s see what's inside."
"You read my mind ghost, let's see..." As the cache opened, she couldn't contain her excitement "N o . W a y."
She said picking up a sniper rifle "N o Fucking WAY! YES! Come to me my sweet!" She held the sniper rifle close as she inspected it.
"not the best, but it will have to do!" She said as she unloads the rifle and holsters it up on her back. ‘safety first’
As she continued onwards her ghost warned her entering another area, narrow and filled with crates. And with red beams of light of some paths "Trip minds. Don't touch them"
"relax" she responded "and watch them dance" she smiled as she ready her Auto Rifle. Fallen appeared, shooting them down and leading them to their own traps she cleared the room with ease.
Making her way to the next room she stopped, reloading her rifles and got ready “Guardian?” Her Ghost asked as she just stood there, eyes closed
‘okay it’s this room… need to focus, how many are there again? Wait no it doesn’t matter they’ll keep coming anyway.’
She ignores her Ghost “Alright let’s do this” she said.
‘it's the same language as before?’ her Ghost though somewhat worried about what his Guardian is thinking and is speculating whether his Guardian remembers her past
‘No… it’s not possible… I mean maybe a few memories can come back from time to time but…” before continuing possessing any other possibilities his Guardian dashed forward to kill a fallen with her knife, soon after more appeared “Ha! Let’s get this over with!”
There she shouted in Japanese again ‘Why are there a lot more than before? Am I remembering wrong?’ “Gah!” she dogged ‘Doesn’t matter right now’ she thought.
Adrenalin pumping as she dogged, attacked, and killed Fallen. “The Fallen have a tighter hold on this place than I thought. Just a little bit further. Let’s hope there’s something left out there…” Ghost said.
A few more corridors and Fallen she finally reached outside “wow will ya look at that!” she gasped walking out to the open area with old rusted towers and buildings about “This was an old Cosmodrome. There’s got to be something we can fly out of here”
Then a flare then shot up to the sky “What the” she looked as the flare reached its highest “Incoming!” her Ghost warned before a bright flash of light enveloped in the sky. Soon after a flash of light “Gah! My retinas! Should not have looked at it directly” She covered her eyes for a moment before recovering her vision.
“Fallen Ships! This close to the surface?!” Her Ghost exclaimed “Move!”
“Damn it” she cursed under her breath and ran towards a building pulling out her sniper rifle she took aim and waited until the fallen landed.
One by one Fallen fell as she pulled her trigger “tch, out of ammo” She pulled out her auto rifle and shot more incoming Fallen, she ran towards cover skidding to the side of an old crate “ouch! okay that hurts.” She exclaimed as she hit the crate “okay time to end this.” She got up and shot the remaining Fallen.
She shot the last remaining Fallen “Ah! finally some peace for ones” she said picking up ammo from the Fallen corpses around ‘Sorry about that’ she said in her thoughts looking at the bodies around. “I’m picking up signs of a ship. Could be our ticket out of here.” Her ghost exclaimed.
“Wait, a ship?”
“Yes, it must have crash-landed here, hopefully, the Fallen hasn’t picked it apart yet” He appeared in front of her gesturing to follow him.
‘Wait, hang on a second’ she looked at a nearby building ‘The jumpship is that way though’ then looked back at her Ghost “…Okay then, lead the way my floating friend.”
She followed her ghost to a nearby crash site “there!” It floated off to a large ship she followed not far behind as he scanned the ship he said “It’s been here for a while. We’re lucky the fallen haven’t completely picked it clean”
“Well can it fly?” Her Ghost looked back at her.
“I can make it work” then looked back to the ship and disappeared soon the ship started to make some noises and jolted up from the ground.
“Oh wow” she said covering her mouth before dust came in it.
“Okay… it's not going to break orbit, but it just might get us to the city. Now about that transmat…”
Suddenly Fallen appeared from behind, She looked back and saluted “bye, bye!” she said before being engulfed in light “Bring you in!” said the Ghost as she got transported to the ship
“okay not use to that yet…” she said as the ship started to take off.
“We can come back for them when you’re ready. Let’s get you home.” Her Ghost said and the ship took off.
“Aaaah, that was close” she said in Japanese then sighed “A bit too close for comfort”
“Yes… Um… Guardian I- “He was cut off.
“I have a name ya know,” she said
“W-what?” He stuttered now looking at her
“I said I have a name… The name’s Nora.” Looking at him arms crossed as the chair spun to face him.