Chapter Text
Umbra’s life was deep black. For forever it was a constant loop of darkness and pain. He relived his sons’s death at his hand over and over until all that remains was his rage, the feeling of being helplessness at being controlled constantly. He was forced to do unspeakable things all the while continuing through the loop. That is just how he existed for a time. Then came along a Tenno… They came along and broke his loop, but his anger had grown deeper than just surface level. In his mind, he was still trapped, still full of hate. He sought out those who controlled him so he might finally be free of their manipulation. He roamed the star system, leaving death and destruction in his wake. It seemed nothing would stop his wrath.
Then a Tenno came along. A Tenno who’s own troubled past that could rival his own trauma. The Tenno filled his head with thoughts of peace, showing him that his fight was over, but they were all lies. He enemies were still out there, they would always be just out of reach. He fought everyone. Every Grineer, Corpus, Infested, everything he came across he killed. Even that one persistent Tenno that kept tracking him. His only hinderance was the void energy they seemed to control. It was the one thing that could damage his well rounded defenses.
They had several confrontations where he would be exterminating the parasites that had taken hold in the system, when they would show up. They would fight, and he would be injured and be forced to run. Every time he had gotten away from them, they would track him down again. This cycle had been going on for too long. At their next meeting, he fought, he ran at them straight on, giving everything he had to get rid of them once and for all. Only then, with all reservations left behind, was he defeated.
The Tenno seeped into their head, trying to get in, and they showed him his past. They showed his worst moments, and they didn’t turn away. He could see them in his consciousness staring back at him. They didn’t run anymore. He watched as they stood by him in his darkest moment. He could see his target, and now he had the Tenno with him. The Tenno grounded him into reality and out of the loop. They held on to him and were not afraid.
“I’m sorry for what they did to you…” They said to him.
It was as if they had pulled him above the mist that had shackled him into his hate. He was now decided, he would be allies with this creature. This extraordinary being that had saved him. He let them meld with his consciousness and lead his movements toward their enemies. Together, he was finally able to destroy the Orokin man who was responsible for his suffering. The Tenno let him take the final swing, and with it, his freedom.
But now that he was free… where would he go? He had no home, no family, nothing. His body was reduced to more metal then man. He was nothing much than a sentient warframe now. Who would come to claim him next if not the Tenno. But now, he had a Tenno willing to look out for him. So that is how he lived, with the Tenno who saved him. His Tenno…
At the present, he is with his Tenno aboard their ship. They have been cohabiting with each other ever since they saved him. He could chose to stay in the holding area where the other warframes are, staying in a meditative state, or he could use the tenno’s personal quarters. They were often empty as the Tenno usually kept within the transference within another warframe or himself. Even if he couldn’t speak to the Tenno, they could still feel each others emotions whenever they were linked. Moving around was more of a dance rather than a mindless use of force over his body. The Tenno was always gentle with him when it came to their link. He was free to do as he pleased with them in the background guiding him where to go and what to do.
He was happy to do what they wished. They fought for the betterment of the system and everything in it. They were smart and took up the battles that no one else could. For that, he was glad to be of assistance to them. Whenever he had downtime, he tended to meditate or just rest within the ships private quarters. It had a comfortable bed, an nice meditation spot that was in front of a large window that lead out into the massive expanse of space. It had shelves of personal items of his Tenno, and even two aquariums for his tenno’s fish pets.
All in all, he was content with this new state of existence. The only times when he would wish for something else was when his Tenno was unhappy or he felt lacking in his abilities. He could acknowledge that other warframes had abilities he didn’t. He had no forcefield shield, any flight abilities, or substantial elemental abilities. What really bothered him most was his form. He missed having a mouth to speak, nose to smell, skin to feel. Sure he could still see and feel in a different way than if he were organic, but he did still often miss his organic nature. With only hard, metal outer casing, he lacked the more personable aspects of companionship.
He could tell that his Tenno was in need of a companion different from a pet. He was more than willing to help, but he felt inadequate for such a role. His hands were forged for battle and keeping a strong grip on his weapons. His head was made for combat, and had no mouth, nose, or ears that could be damaged in battle. Because of this, he could not say any words of comfort to his Tenno. He could fight for them with his strong and lethal body, but it was the same body that kept him in doubt of whether he could control his strength to hold the Tenno without hurting them. For such reasons he refrained form comforting the Tenno when they were lonely. He was not made to be a companion.
It was only after long weeks of inadequacies at comforting the Tenno that he came across a possible solution. His Tenno had guided them down to Deimos to barter goods and general supplies that they needed that only this asteroid could provide. Umbra was never comfortable here, even when within the main hub where all of the planet’s sentient natives were. This giant rock floating in space was entirely riddled and consumed with the infested. It was covered in their organic waste and corrupted with the infestation growing all manner of nightmarish creatures and landscape. Sadly, the materials the Tenno needed for their current mission could only be obtained here.
One of the sentient species that marketed a specific material that they needed was in a no access zone for warframes. That meant that the Tenno had to disengage their links to their warframes, and proceeded inside with their now dormant warframes stationary at the entrance. But Umbra was different, he had his own mind and thus was able to function without his Tenno. This meant that he could still stand and walk around even when they weren’t linked to him. The Tenno didn’t have any strict rules on what he was and wasn’t allowed to do while on his own, he was allowed to explore on his own when he so wished. After all, all it would take would be one spark of the link between the Tenno to umbra and he would immediately return to them.
For now, he busied himself with observing the surrounding corridors and vendors that sold all manner of goods. His curiosity was always spiked when it came to gathering intel for his Tenno. He saw it productive to walk around and catalog each and everything a specific vendor sold. Of course he would not have to linger around their stalls shop for too long seeing as his processing power allowed him to scan and record items at an inhuman rate of speed. Even so, many of the owners tried to converse with him because it was pretty much unheard of for a warframe to be able to move and walk around without a Tenno linked to it.
Many just said greetings and invitations to come closer and inspect their goods, but again, umbra could not talk, nor did he want to. Nothing they would say would be of particular value to him anyways. The only being that he would want to converse with would be his Tenno. They seemed to always have something interesting to say. Besides that, most of the vendors just left him alone to do his browsing.
He had managed to locate two of the building materials that were on the tenno’s list of things that they needed. He had also found a smaller stall that sold plush toys that were made with the likeness of certain fauna around the system. His Tenno had already shown interest, and even purchased similar toys in the past, so he marked down to show them this particular vender on their return. It was only when he rounded a corner and entered a more secluded area of the market when his attention was drawn to a particular person of interest.
In the second farthermost stall, there was an alien who his Tenno frequented for supplies. They were known to have rare and or hard to purchase items. The Tenno had also once saved one of their suppliers from rivaling factions, and thus had earned the gratitude of this man. He has since then given them discounts on their purchases. Umbra approached despite not remembering their name but still wanting to see what they had. It seemed though that even if umbra didn’t remember their name, they remembered his.
“Umbra! So good to see you my friend!” They called from behind their stall upon spotting umbra approaching.
He couldn’t reciprocate the greeting, but just continued on to stand in front of the dealer to show his interest.
“Ah yes, I though it was just you umbra. I can always tell when it is just you and not the Tenno…”
Umbra tilted his head to indicate his question.
“Yes, yes. You always seem to walk a certain way without them leading you. You’re less open. I guess it’s you telling others to not engage huh?”
A small nod was all that he received from umbra. Conversation was not his forte.
“I get it. So what can I do for you today? Coming to gather things for your Tenno, or for yourself?”
Umbra looked over at the displays of minerals and copper parts that were set out. He had never really bought anything for himself before, the closest he had come was to buy a new type of hide for the fish in the aquariums back on their orbiter. Even then it wasn’t for him to buy, it was for the fish pets that the Tenno loved so dearly.
“Well, in any case, tell me if you see anything you fancy. I also have some quality goods in the back reserved for friends only if you catch my drift…”
Of course umbra understood and expected this of the trader. He motioned towards the back of the venders stall with a nod to show his interest in such items. The trader nodded his own understanding and stepped aside to unlatch a bar that kept costumers from coming into the stall to let Umbra through. The back area was covered with fabric around it, and above it for privacy in this smaller back room. Umbra observed several high quality weapons and materials that the trader most certainly didn’t have the clearance to possess or sell. But such is the ways of these specific goods. You have to go to someone like this trader to get them.
“Most of it’s new stock and all are in quality condition.”
Umbra once again gave him a small nod and walked over to one self to examine a melee type weapon.
“If I may… it may be of some help if you could show me the tenno’s shopping list of the day. I might have some of the items of know of someone else who will have them for a good price.”
This trader had earned his trust and did indeed have the knowledge that backed up his statement of having connections around the markets. With that understanding, Umbra reached around and pulled out a small data pad that was primarily used for its map and codex which gave umbra an upper hand when on unfamiliar territories. He directed the screen to display the items that the Tenno primarily wanted and handed it over to the trader.
The trader looked at the list and nodded along to what he read.
“Ahh, these two things here…” he pointed out two of the top priority items on the list, “you can get from my friend who is in stall 13 along the western side of here. If you mention that I sent you, you might even be able to get a discount from him.” The trader said with a wink.
Umbra remembered cataloging that stall and seeing those materials, but having the traders connections would be helpful in bargaining a good deal for them.
The trader continued to scroll down the list and read the things at the bottom that were of less importance. Umbra noticed how his brows raised abnormal high for his species and his posture got stiffer. Umbra watched as the trader looked up and down the bottom of the list and was thinking about it’s contents.
“My my, it seems our Tenno is looking for a little more then just construction parts this time around…”
Umbra once again tilted his head when the trader looked up to him of a reaction. Umbra had looked over that list several times and hadn’t noticed anything that would cause such a… reaction from the trader. There were some items that Umbras system told him were for recreational use, but nothing out of the ordinary for a humanoid.
The trader looked at the list again and smirked down at it and gave a small chuckle. Some directive on the list was clearly missing as Umbra saw no reason for the items on the list to cause the trader to behave like this. His curiosity was really piqued. The trader looked back to umbra and saw his confusion.
“Well my friend, you’ve clearly got your hands full already with all of your priorities straight, but it seems as though the Tenno is desiring… a bit of help.”
What did the trader mean by that?
“Tell you what, I’ve got a gift for you Umbra! It’s on the house. We’ll call it a thank you gift form last time…”
The trader turned from umbra after handing the data pad back to him. The trader left to sift through a small container sitting on the floor by the far wall. Umbra took another look down at the list. He saw nothing at the bottom of the list besides supplies used for human maintenance and care. There were some cosmetic items for the ship and for the Tenno, a few odd things here and there, but nothing of too importance.
“Ah ha! Found it!” The trader yelled from where his head was buried in the crate he was searching. “This is what I was wanting to give you.” He held out a module for Umbra to take. Umbra inspected it and found it rather odd. It’s color was not any he’d seen on the regular mods that warframes installed in increase their shields or weapons. It was a deep and brightly glowing pink. Not only that, but it had no cover image, only a strange symbol in a foreign language that Umbra couldn’t translate. It’s title was simply ‘primary attachments’.
The mod itself would have been very suspicious on its own with how vague it was. Umbra looked to the trader who stood across from him with his arms crossed and a smug look on his face.
“I see your uncertainty my friend, but trust me it is perfectly safe. Maybe a bit disorienting at first, but it will be worth it. Just get your Tenno to help you install it, or you could do it yourself and keep it as a surprise for them.” At this statement, Umbra looked up from the mod and at the trader. “Don’t worry, I’ve seen how you two act around each other, all possessive and such. I’m sure this will be a good surprise for the Tenno.”
With one last look at the trader, Umbra inclined his head in a mock bow towards him, and turned to pocket the mod and return to where the Tenno last was.
“Hey big guy, I was wondering where you had gone off to?” Umbra inclined his head in apology to the Tenno who he found waiting for him at the entrance to the Tenno only areas.
“Nah, it’s okay buddy. I thought that you’d found something interesting to look at so I didn’t want to call you back and interrupt you. Good news, I got what I needed from inside there so now there’s only some other stuff I need to finish that new synthesis recipe…” his Tenno looked around for a second then extended their hand for Umbra to take. This was their sign that they wanted to link with Umbra again. The Tenno could always just forcefully link, but they were kind enough to allow Umbra that decision.
Umbra leaned down and took their hand to which the Tenno initiated the link and fused into Umbra again. Once they were one, umbra allowed the Tenno control and showed them the stock of all the stalls he had taken. He made special importance to show them the two items in the stall that where of high priority on their list. They also showed them the recordings of the trader mentioning that their friend runs that stall and to mention him for a discount. Umbra could feel his Tenno happiness through their link at this.
“Wow, that’s awesome Umbra! Looks like someone’s been busy, good job finding all this stuff. I’ll probably want to say hi to the trader before we go too, he’s such a nice guy for what he sells.” They were referring to the fact that he sold illegal goods despite being so openly friendly.
That brought his mind back to the mod he still had hidden under his belt. He surmised that because it came from the back of the traders stall, it too was likely illegal in some way. He was the one who took it and thus if it was trouble, he didn’t want the Tenno to be blamed. He would take the traders advice and keep it a surprise for the Tenno. He trusted the trader not to give him anything dangerous to him or the Tenno, but he still wanted to stay on the safe side.
With the Tenno in mind, he brought up the images of the venders stall who sold the plush toys the Tenno liked. They seemed extra pleased by this and thanked Umbra again for finding all of these supplies for them. That made Umbra pleased. Even with the strange new mod with him, he was content now to just let the Tenno take the front seat and let them be happy because of him for now.