Eyes Up, Guardian

Chapter 35

"Tessa, Damian, you two will take the center. Save every bit of light you can until we launch into our final attack. Estella and I will take the left, Edon and Ada on the right. If anyone needs back up, either Damian or Tessa will leave the center to help out. If we can get through the puzzles, we should be able to deal enough damage to stay alive. Remember to keep communicating, and we'll be alright."

He looked over the group one final time before nodding to them, and they climbed to their feet as he rose.

"Good luck, Guardians." Commander Zavala's voice sounded in their ears, and Balendin led them towards the main space in the back of the chamber.

"Thank you, sir." Balendin said, before turning back to his team. "Everyone ready?"

The fight moved like clockwork. Together, they took down captains and servitors, dodged storms of SIVA and fought their way through hordes of splicers and shanks. They drove down Aksis's shields until they could stun him with their light, and threw everything they had into beating him down. There were close calls, of course. Before the fight was over, Tessa had tackled both Damian and Balendin out of the air to avoid shots from the Archon, and Edon's entire left arm had been blown off by an explosion, and Balendin had to hold him down while his ghost remade it. Damian knew there'd been more, but he could hardly remember them all with the battle spinning around him.

By the time Aksis had only a sliver of health left in him, they were all bloody and battered, their armor worse for wear but their drive higher than ever as they rallied to end the battle once and for all. They met in the center of the field in a raging mass of light, each of their powers fueling one another as they flung an onslaught of power at the priest. The whole battle was a close call, SIVA choking the chamber as they fought back with a desperation Damian had never seen before, flinging attack after attack at the Priest as they battled for their very lives. There was no small amount of tears when the priest finally fell, and the Vanguard leaders over the comms nearly mistook their shouts and yells of joy to be ones of pain as the group collapsed into one another.

They didn't even return to the Tower. Damian forgot about the meeting and the vision as they left the empty chamber, finding a fleeing army of splicers and an open sky above them, the first rays of dawn just cresting the mountains. The fireteam that had come to aid them met them on the way out, leading the battered team through the retreating mass of splicers until they were able to transmatt into their ships and return to the temple.

Shiro and Saladin were waiting for them when they returned, and a frame showed them to one of the larger chambers of the temple, where they somehow managed to bathe and tend to their wounds before they collapsed into their beds, not quite willing to leave each other alone just yet.

***

Damian woke to screaming, desperate, crying, harsh screaming filled with a sort of pain that he recognized deeply, so deep it felt they'd been torn from his very soul. Every inch of them echoed with helplessness, and all he could see was the vision he'd had, over and over. Torak, the valley, the cabal.

It felt like it took hours before he actually woke, before hands dragged him upright and he gasped awake, choking as sounds died in his throat, his eyes opening to the concerned face of his lover, her hands gripping his shoulders so tight they aggravated his still-healing wounds.

"Hey, hey, hey," She was murmuring, relaxing her grip a bit as he doubled over, gasping for breath and doing his best to choke down the rising urge to vomit. "It's okay, just breathe." One of her hands had released him entirely, while the other slid down to run along his back, pressing in between his shoulder blades in slow, soothing circles.