Destiny: Steadfast Seraph

8 - The Hostage

The Union Flagship leaves Praeditus' shield, due to the crack made in it by the fleeing Staff.

Frost looks back at Praeditus. He thinks about everyone left behind there, now living as walking corpses.

He turns around to look at the others. Camille looks back at him.

"There's going to be a fight." She tells him.

Echo and Lynch sit silent on the other side of the bridge.

"How do we prevent it?"

Camille looks over at Echo, who says nothing. They all look towards Earth.

Frederick struggles to fly through the harsh winds of Earth. He hates it. Not the winds, but what he has become. He lands harshly into a valley of snow, being attacked by a blizzard.

He stands up and tries to rip his wings off. He tries to take his petrified armor off, but he can't do either. As he tries, he hears the whispers approach, The Witness.

"Stand up." The Witness speaks, standing over him as he kneel in the snow.

"No! I don't want this! I don't want to be your hostage..."

"You do not have a choice."

"And you do?!"

The Witness closes their eyes, then opens them after a few seconds. It shakes its head for a moment, and the Dark Smoke begins to dissipate.

"I never had a choice."

It flickers its eyes again. The dark smoke returns.

"Why must I commit such atrocities?"

"It is the way. The only way."

The Witness disappears.

Frederick weeps. He the prays.

And then he picks up the Staff, a look of evil in his eyes. He flies into the blizzard. The snow would never see him again.

It was quiet in the Last City when Gate, Brutus, and Dolos landed in it.

Dolos stands on the outdoor hangar, looking out at the Traveler, while Gate talks to the bartender, eventually sending him on his way.

Brutus approaches.

"You're quieter than usual." She comments.

Dolos glances at her, his helmet off.

"You can get another, can't you?"

"I suppose so."

They walk down the Hangar, towards Dolos' apartment, leaving Gate alone.

There's a fight coming, I know it. Frederick. He's going to come for us. I don't want to fight, but I never had a choice.

Gate feels the Traveler's gaze.

You always have a choice, Knight. What do you choose?

Gate says nothing. He walks down to the Vanguard Command Center, and into its vault.

He walks for awhile, before reaching the vault where Frederick once lay. He opens it.

I kneel infront of her. Delilah.

"Why couldn't it have been you? Why him?"

The only response he gets is the terrified face that Delilah had when she was encased.

"I could've saved you!" Gate throws Ace of Spades at a wall, damaging it. He immediately regrets it.

He then leaves.

Dolos puts on another helmet.

"See? This one looks fine." Drifter says, Brutus stands next to him.

"Hmm." Dolos feels around the helmet, and it's large ears.

"It does look nice."

"I told you the Nine had the best."

"Where do they get these anyway?"

"Best to not tell you."

Brutus giggles.

The roar of the Tower wide intercom activates:

"This is Commander Gate-4. I require all vital personnel of the Vanguard to the Command Center immediately."

The three look at eachother.

"Let's go."

Everyone gathers. Gate had called as many heroes he could.

"We have... a threat, to the City. A bad one. They know where we are, and who we are, and how to get past our defenses."

"Who would dare?" Saint asks.

"Frederick."

Some gasps are heard, people whisper to eachother.

"He's alive, and well. He wields a Staff of great Darkness, and he's with the Witness."

"Where's Echo? Camille?" Brutus asks.

"I don't know..." Gate says. "I've been trying to contact them for days.

Frederick and the Witness stand at Twilight Gap. He can see the City.

"I fought here, once. With my brothers.." Frederick holds the snow.

"Once. They are nothing to you now."

Frederick looks over at the Traveler. He cries.

"Stand. Let them know of your power." The Witness disappeared.

"You're right....I am nothing to them. All they see me as is a monster." Frederick slams the Staff into the ground, and a loud roar ripples throughout as Egregore swiftly grows from the Staff.

The Egregore flies through the snow, finding the remains of bodies that once lay on this battlefield, and raising them as hosts, Things. An army, all for the Overlord.

The Things crowd Frederick, awaiting his command. He looks at them, he recognizes most of them.

"They are the enemy. Every. Last. One of them. We will take this City for ourselves."

A Thing approaches. It struggles to speak.

"What of...the Traveler."

Frederick looks at the Traveler with empathy.

"Do not touch it. It will be spared."

The Things get into formation, and begin to march as an army towards the Last City, home.