Slave to the Crown

Blind

Visri stood at the foot of the steps in the Hall of Guardians, an apprehensive loop of knots settling heavily in her stomach. Shortly after she had returned from her journey into the Hellmouth, a summon had been sent to her via the overhead speakers in the Tower, Ikora had not sounded pleased, though she rarely did. Visri wondered silently if her Ghost had recorded a little too much of her visit; namely, her apprehension to leave at her Ghost's behest.

"Guardian." Zavala lifted his gaze from a holo-pad and looked her over, his eyes narrowing at the object around her neck. Urrox's horn.

"Commander," Visri answered in like, lifting her chin indignantly. If she was going to be judged, let it be her true character they saw.

"Your journey to the Hellmouth was... A success then?" Ikora glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. An intel op, Visri had told them, which wasn't a total lie - it's just that the intel wasn't for their benefit.

"It was," she nodded, clearing her throat, "the face of the Hive we see is entirely different to the face they do not show us. They live as a community, just as we do, just as the Fallen do. There is a hierarchy, a rank order... Just like ours." The Hunter risked a glance at Zavala, the Titan looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel.

"What does it matter about their lifestyle?" He asked, his tone grating, "what matters is that they die by our hands, like the countless number of innocent people they have murdered." He hissed hatefully.

Visri raked a hand through her hair and shook her head, pleading with Ikora to understand. "You are missing my point - they exist, we look upon them like they are nothing more than insects, a barbaric species that want nothing more than to murder us-"

"That," Zavala paused and pinned Visri with a glare that could disarm even the bravest Guardians, but she held fast, "is exactly what the Hive are. They came with Crota to destroy. Not to break bread with us, we are not their host, we are not their ally, and we are certainly not their friends. They are murderers." Zavala took a steadying breath and Visri almost exploded.

"Do you not stop to think that they see us the exact same way?" She countered, laying both of her hands on the table in front of her. "They had nothing. They came here with everything they had and we have slaughtered them in their thousands. Every single race that has come here, we have greeted with murderous intent. Did no one ever think of simply co-existing?" Visri let out an aggravated groan, knowing full well they wouldn't understand.

"Co-existing is out of the question, this is our home. The Traveler blessed us, we will not throw that back in the faces of the people we protect by inviting those animals into our sanctuary." Zavala stood fast and shook his head irately.

"The Traveler blessed us?" Visri scoffed, "like it blessed the Fallen too?" The room fell silent. "Yes, the story on the Eliksni and the Whirlwind, I know it well."

"You are treading on very uncertain grounds, Visri. There are two Guardians before you that went along the same lines as you." Zavala lifted a brow, his tone a warning.

"You mean Toland and Osiris. Who were exiled because they were curious? Because they wanted to further their knowledge beyond simply "point and shoot"?" Visri lifted her own eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest. "Two Warlocks who were exiled purely because they followed their nature. Toland wanted to know more about the Hive and their Sword Logic, Osiris researched the Vex because he knew out of all of our enemies, they are the most powerful. Their technology is beyond our understanding, and Osiris knew and understood this, and he was exiled for it." Her gaze lifted to Ikora, "why were they punished when their curiosity and thirst for knowledge is the main common denominator that all Warlocks share?"

"Curiosity and obsession are not the same thing." Zavala answered, his brow furrowing into a deep frown, "curiosity doesn't cause a Guardian to let their duty slide," he paused and pinned Visri with his glare, "curiosity doesn't get you killed."

"We have done all of this in the name of the Traveler. We have murdered countless numbers in its name... Why?" Visri asked, tilting her head inquisitively, genuinely interested in any answer she would receive.

"The Traveler made us what we are, it blessed us with gifts of unimaginable value. We protect it with everything we have, as that is our only way of repayment." Zavala's eyes narrowed at the question.

"Our repayment comes in the form of nigh extinction." Visri scoffed, shaking her head. "Yes, it may have gifted us with all of those lovely things but our numbers are dwindling as the days pass. We have one city, one place to call home when we used to have the stars." Her tone lowered to little more than a whisper as she met the Titan's gaze, her own full of sorrow, "I used to have that blind loyalty. I was reborn into a world filled with light, filled with people who thought the same thing. The Traveler has done wonderful things for us, but he did wonderful things for the Fallen, too. They are little more than pirates and thieves now, scavenging anything they can get their hands on to try and regain their glory, and you wonder why they hate us so much. Why were we the Traveler's chosen and not them? They lost everything because of it. The Traveler arrived and was their saviour. It left and was their ruin. Who is to say it won't do the same to us?" Visri's hand came up to clutch the fragment of Urrox's horn that hung around her neck and turned on her heel. She could have sworn she heard Ikora compare her to Osiris.