Slave to the Crown

Misery Loves Company

Piles of books lay askew on the single desk, candles dripping hot wax onto their leather-bound covers. Dim light danced over the burgundy walls, lined with pictures of graduations, emblems and various trinkets. Dark fabric hung from the ceiling, splitting half the room off as a makeshift bedroom. A figure lay sprawled across a scattered sea of blankets, dressed only in shorts and a bind across her torso. The trademark faint glows of the Awoken waltzed lazily across her back as her muscles rippled and pulled taught, fighting some unseen enemy. With a gasp, she awoke. Glowing orange orbs darted across the room and she visibly relaxed, finding no adversary. "Sick of these nightmares." She muttered, running both of her hands through her unwashed hair, leaving it tousled. 

Visri lay on her back for a few minutes, simply decluttering her mind. No plans filled her schedule, so the day was her own. Usually, when she had nothing to do, she visited the Reef and snuck into the Prison of Elders to look at the different creatures they housed there. Sometimes when she did this, the prisoners would tell her stories of their people - they had no other company aside from the guards, so Visri was their only choice for conversation. To anyone else, the Hunter would have been out of her mind to even think of doing this, but she found that none of the other Guardians outside her fireteam really paid her any mind, so Visri took comfort in her secret place and the prisoners often welcomed her presence now. 

   "We shouldn't be here." Visri's Ghost gave her a disapproving look, her tone cold. 

"You say that every time we come here, little light, yet you never tell the Vanguard that we've come." The Hunter lifted an eyebrow at her as they ducked out of the way of a Reef patrol team. 

"That's because I don't want us to get exiled like Osiris." Ghost replied. "You think Zavala would let you off if he found out?" The mental image of the hulking Titan towering over her like a scolding parent had Visri contemplating Ghost's words. 

"That other Guardian gets away with everything, always given the gritty missions and brilliant celebrations when he returns, I'm sure if he were here, Zavala would turn a blind eye in the hopes that it was for an unorthodox mission." Visri countered and entered the prison. This half of the facility was very different from the fighting pits that the other Guardians visited daily; where the pits had debris and mess, the cells were almost medical in their condition. Vex lasers interlocked over the cells entries housing the various nemeses of the Traveler and the Queen of the Awoken, Mara Sov. 

"Little Guardian, you have come again." A rough voice sounded from the furthermost cell, and Visri found herself almost relieved that he had not been culled with the rest of the prisoners after Skolas had escaped, but it would only be a matter of time until his name was called by Variks in the pits. 

Urrox sat on his large cot, his three eyes pinned to the Hunter before him. "Afternoon." Visri said, and sat, cross-legged before his cell. 

"I think it will not be long before my name is carved into the pit." The huge Knight rumbled, clasping his tri-fingered hands upon his legs. "Perhaps I will escape." A low chuckle escaped his throat and he looked at Visri, "do you know, Little Guardian, the origins of King Oryx?" His massive head tilted inquisitively. 

"I do not" she frowned and tilted her head in like, "will you tell me?" 

Such was their way, their greeting was swift and soon, Urrox would tell her about his homeworld, Fundament, the battles that the Krill fought before they had reached this galaxy, every time Visri found herself hanging off his every word, eager to learn more. 

Urrox told her of Taox, the betrayer, the murderer of the Osmium King, and the path of revenge that his three daughters, Xi Ro, Sathona and Aurash set out on, vowing to return home and retake everything that was stolen from them. How they journeyed to the deep and found the Leviathan, ignoring his pleas to return to the Sky and ventured further into the Deep, to the core of Fundament and were confronted by five beings that promised eternal life on the condition that the three stayed true to their nature. Everything to the day Oryx killed both his siblings and then his God and became the Taken King. Urrox peered closer to Visri and gave her what looked almost like a grin.

"Oryx grieves his son's death, that is why he came. To avenge. Once his revenge has been sought, he will return to his hunt for Taox." The Hive Knight gave a rumbled sigh. "I have no sons, but I imagine I would do the same if my son died on a strange planet and by the hands of an unknown adversary. Though... That adversary is not so unknown now - you Guardians have a way of taking credit for the things you have done." Visri scowled at him and shook her head. 

"I know of the Guardian that killed Crota. They've done a number of other things that a good few of us didn't get a sniff of." The Hunter gave a huff and watched the Knight, "I understand why Oryx and his siblings fought so hard for their revenge. Honestly, their story is enough to make you feel for them, even relate to their anger." 

"Visri..." Urrox shook his head, "you know nothing of that loss. You have lived all of your resurrected life within a city of protection, how could you begin to imagine the degree of their grief?"

"Their anger." Visri hissed, "I understand their anger. Their want for revenge. Oryx has come to take, we killed his only son, no wonder he wants to kill us all." The hunter scoffed, shaking her head at their own stupidity. 

"Not kill." Urrox rumbled, "take."

Before they left, Urrox broke a piece of bone from one of his horns and handed it to Visri through a small gap in the lasers. "This will be the last time we speak, Little Guardian, the Deep has plans for you." The back of his cell opened up and the huge Knight lumbered out of it, pausing only to give the Hunter a solemn nod. 

   The silence between Visri and her Ghost was awkward as they snuck back to their ship, avoiding patrols and the watchful eye of the Vandals that were dotted around the reef. 

Visri strapped herself into the seat and lifted the vessel into the air. "Do you believe his story?" Her Ghost floated next to her head. 

"He is going to die, why would he lie?" She asked, frowning. 

"Why do any of us lie?" Ghost paused, "to manipulate." Visri contemplated this but said nothing, if she acknowledged the truth in that statement, her Ghost would kick up a stink the next time she wanted to go to the Prison. Truth be told, Visri simply liked the unprejudiced company. No expectations came from Urrox, she didn't need to pretend to bend to the Traveler's will. She didn't need to pretend to have hope. 

   Visri cast her mind back to the first time she had set eyes upon Urrox. It was the first time she had sneaked into the prison cells, but the lasers had given her a false sense of security, so when Urrox slammed himself against them while trying to get at her, Visri reeled back in pure fear. Initially, that was all he did. Continually burn himself on the lasers to get to something just out of his grasp, an enemy that had put him in this cell - even if it wasn't Visri herself that had done it. Eventually, he stopped and simply glared at her but after a few days of coaxing, he began to speak, albeit reluctantly. In the months that followed they traversed vast subjects of conversation until Visri had to leave.

   A hollow pit formed in her stomach the further they got away from the reef, Urrox had been the first creature to sit and converse with her about the ways of the worlds, their vast differences forged an unlikely but pleasant friendship. Visri clutched the piece of bone in her hand so tight that it hurt. It would be just her luck that she made a friend, for him to be condemned. 

"You grieve." Her Ghost murmured when they returned back to her quarters. "For the Knight?" She queried, watching the Hunter pull off her boots.

"He may have been what you consider an enemy, but I found a friend in him. My first and only friend." Visri snapped, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You do not understand how hard it is watching everyone forge their lifelong friendships here, my Fireteam would rather go off on their own than ask me to go with them, I do not get asked if I would like to go on missions at all. I found a friendship, a common loneliness made Urrox my friend, and now I am alone again." Visri turned away from her Ghost and swiped a tear away angrily. 

"I...I am your friend." Ghost bumped against her shoulder, "I may not understand your anger, but I understand your loneliness. I thought I would never find you under all of that rubble, and when I did I was elated, ecstatic to have my very own Guardian. Your choices may be questionable, your thought process may not be the same as the other Guardians, but you are not other Guardians. We are a team, Visri. Where you go, I go. Always." With that, her Ghost disappeared and left Visri to grieve.