(I want to thank A_TLAS for editing this chapter and maybe more in the future if he wishes)
F/N's perspective
My hands shook as I scrambled to my feet. My breathing became hasty as I shook my head, trying to fade the image of myself and the voices from my mind. The sounds of the battle faded around me as fires still burned bright. Looking to my left, I saw Alpha staring at me, teeth bared as he stood between me and the scared Faunus. Heavy footsteps followed as Saladin, Mithrax and Ilia came running around a corner. Star appeared with them as she flew at me, giving rapid scans when she was close enough. The large looking form of the titan stopped a few feet in front of me as he stared into my eyes.
Saladin: "F/N."
F/N: "I-I.....
I blinked rapidly and looked back at the mirror to see my armor back to normal, but my eyes still showed with a bright sickly green. Mithrax and Ilia helped the poor faunas out and got her away from me, sparing nothing a glance in my direction. Saladin gripped his ax tightly as Star stopped scanning me.
Star: "Saladin, do it!"
F/N: "S-star what's-
But I didn't finish before Saladin raised his ax and swung it at my neck, fear filled me for a second as I tried to duck, but was too slow. For a moment I felt the searing pain in rip across my nerves before everything went black. For what felt like an eternity, I floated in a lightless void, it was jarring. Everything around me was weightless; nothing but pitch darkness was around me. Though as I was beginning to understand what was happening, I felt a soul wrenching feeling pull me back. My eyes burned as a bright white light and blinded me for a moment before it all came back. Taking in a massive inhale, I shot my hand to my neck to feel no pain, no blood.... I had been brought back for the first time. Looking up, I saw Star, Alpha and Saladin looking down at me. Blood dripped from the titans ax..... my blood.
F/N: "W-what is happening!"
I screamed in scared rage as I gripped the closest weapon to me.... Thorn. The voices were quiet, just like when they were when I first left for this hunt.
Saladin: "I'm sorry, but we had to reset you...
F/N: "Y-you killed me!"
Star: "Guardian, you were changing.... why didn't you tell me?"
Her voice was full of hurt as she gazed at me, my hand tightening around the grip as a wave of guilt washed over me.
F/N: "I-I needed to control it.... I can control it, I have too."
I said as I holstered the gun, standing up and looking around.
F/N: "How long...
Star: "A minute, maybe two..... F/N, why?"
I heard the pain in her voice increase as Saladin put his ax on his back and stepped closer to me.
Saladin: "Young wolf, that weapon is too dangerous to be kept in your hands."
F/N: "N-no, I-I....
This was too much for me, everything was coming in too quick for me to properly understand the many feelings coming at me at once. So I took something out of my girlfriend's book...... and I ran.
In a blink of an eye, I unclipped a smoke grenade from my belt and threw it down, the purple void energy covered all of us as I turned and sprinted towards the forest. Voices called out to me but I didn't listen to them as I sprinted through a few flames. Past members of Red fang, past house of Wolves Eliksni.... and into the dark forest.
I'm not sure how long I ran for, but when I did stop, my legs felt like they were going to fall off. Slowing down a little I stumbled over a large root, my momentum sending my tumbling onto the bank of a small lake. After picking myself up out of the muck, my gazed locked with my own. I stared at my own reflection. The eyes staring back at me were my own, yet I could still feel like there was the slightest of green tints to them.
Backing up a bit, I rested my back against a large jungle tree, my legs tucked close to my chest as I looked back at my actions of the last couple days. The anger, the cruelty..... those weren't me.... no, they were me... just not the real me. Glancing down I looked at the cursed weapon, its taint emitted from it like an aura. With a narrowed brow, I pulled it out of it's holster and threw it into the mud in front of me. The splat it made scared off any natural wildlife that would have started to go back to grazing after my tumble.
So there I sat for some time, looking down Thorn, it's sickly green accents glowing. Letting out a sigh, I went to go and grab it and make my way back to my friends when a familiar voice spoke.
Rezyl: "Are you sure it is wise to return to them?"
F/N: "Ah?!"
I yelped and shot forward, getting my already gunk covered armor and cloak more dirty as I combat rolled from where I was. My right hand shot to my back and pulled out Risk Runner from its mag mount. Looking at where I had once been seated, I saw the figure of Rezyl standing there. His armor and cloak still hid his face from me as he walked out from behind the tree I had been seated against.
Rezyl: "Easy there guardian, it's only me."
F/N: "H-how..... how are you here."
I said looking around, wondering if I had drifted off and was in some dreamscape. Rezyl just gestured to Thorn as if that made any sense.
Rezyl: "Because of your little 'Incident', the curse is getting weaker, becoming more..... cornered. Which has allowed me more freedom, like how I am speaking to you know."
F/N: ".....Then I should be able to go back now, if I tell them that-
Rezyl: "NO!"
He said, his voice sounding off for a second as he shook his head.
Rezyl: "Sorry, but no. If the curse within the weapon grows more desperate, it will try to control you, it could put your friends in danger."
His voice was calm as he spoke. My mind ran through what he said and it seemed right. Glancing down at Thorn, the whispers seemed to growl in angered spite at the treatment of the weapon. Sighing, I leaned down and picked it up, shaking it a bit to remove some of the mud before putting it into the holster on my hip. Still with my right hand holding Risk Runner, I look back at Rezyl and pose a question.
F/N: "So if I can't go back to them without fear of hurting them, then what do I do?"
Rezyl: "Why, continue your hunt of course."
F/N: "How? I lost track of them, I had my chance and I blew it......
Looking down, I felt myself being powerless. Though I felt as if a smile formed on Rezyl's lips as he spoke again.
Rezyl: "I have an idea. While entering the orbit of this world, your father's ship picked up signals coming from a landmass north of here. Mistral I believe you call it."
He said, though there seemed to be some venom in his voice when he mentioned my father.
F/N: "Wait? Did you ever talk with my father?"
Rezyl: "No, while his light is strong, it pales in comparison to yours. It didn't break through the fog that traps me in that cursed form."
He said before gesturing with his hand north.
Rezyl: "Go forth guardian, gain what you came here for and finish it in Mistral, then I believe we can both get what we want."
With a slight nod, I returned Risk Runner to the mag mount of my back. Pulling out my scroll I called my ship to me, though it was a couple minutes before I heard the roar of the engines overhead. Rezyl backed up a bit as did I for my craft descended through a hole in the canopy, sending ripples through the small lake that took up most of the area. Once the autopilot had finished bringing the craft down, I walked up the craft's ramp. Before I closed it though, I looked back to see no sign of Rezyl. Thinking he had disappeared, I took my seat in the cockpit and set course for Mistral.
3rd person
Though as the chosen guardian shot off into the deep blue sky. Down below, Rezyl still stood, cast in the shadow of the tree's, a sly smirk growing across his lips, his eyes a sickly green before he vanished into black mist.
Timeskip
It was a hour or so travel for F/N as he flew over the forests of Mistral, his target in his sights. Tucked in deep within the treetop mountains lay a set of strange ruins. They didn't look a lot like anything I'd seen in the Emerald forest all that time ago. The stone looked like it had been carved perfectly, it's whitish color still clean as the day it may have been laid, even as vines snaked up the sides.
Setting my ship down in a clearing, bodies littered the front entrance to whatever this used to be. Eliksni and faunas alike scattered across the entry..... along with what I remember Cayde described to me, Vex.
I stepped over a Goblin's chassis as I started to make my way into the ruins. With my blade in hand, I started to trench through the long tunnels that seemed to stretch deep into the land. As I walked though, it seemed as if the Red fang had become desperate at this point, as I found more bodies and broken chassis lining the walls and floor.
Though after what maybe was a half an hour of exploring through this complex I had come to realize. I made my way into a large open room. Gripping my blade as I heard coughing to the side.
Sitting up against the wall to my right, sat a devil captain, ether dripping from their broken respirator, large burn marks adorned its side and upper right arm, its bottom two laying at its feet. Something in me egged me to kill the captain, that it was the enemy and must be silenced. Though this time, I would not fall for the curse's tricks.
Still with my blade in hand, I made my way over to the Eliksni. My steps echoes through the large room, gaining the attention of the devil. Its gaze locked with mine for a moment, though despite my less than clean appearance, the look in its eyes told me enough that he knew who he was gazing upon. In response it lifted the unburied arm, a damaged arc blade gripped in their hand.
Devil Captain: "False Kell. You should pay for what you brought to my people."
The voice sounded female, though it was harder to tell through the pain that was revealed with each word. Slowly, I sheathed my blade and took a few steps forward.
F/N: "Yet it seems that Eramis has done no better. By the looks she is throwing you and your ally's again the Vex, along with docking you it seems."
I said gesturing to her severed limbs. The fallen winced in pain, her arm dropping into her lap. With a sigh, I pulled out a few bandages out of my muddy pack and kneeled down next to the fallen. She tried to shrug me off, but her wounds only brought more pain.
F/N: "Just stay still and let me help....tell me what happened."
I said in a consoling tone as I started to wrap the bandages around the captain's waist and chest.
Devil captain: "......Eramis plans to use the Vex tech to bring members of house devils in Sol through a portal. A few wanted out and didn't want to go along with this plan, seeing as it would be better to surrender and slip away."
F/N: "And what happened to them."
She gestures with her head. I glanced to the side and saw a small line of bodies on the ground near the center of the room. Two dreg and three Faunus laid dead in a line.
Devil Captain: "The weak don't deserve to live he said..... they are going mad."
F/N: "I can see that.....though they're not the only ones."
I muttered that last part as the voices started to form in the back of my mind, louder than before. I tried my best to suppress them as I tied off the bandage and stood up.
F/N: "I assume there are more Vex inside?"
She nods, her breathing growing a tad weaker.
F/N: "Alright, save your strength, others will be here at some point."
Devil Captain: "And what are you going to do alone, False Kell?"
Taking a glance at her, I pulled Risk Runner from its mag mount and pulled back the firing pin.
F/N: "I'm going to stop those two before anyone else is killed."
Devil Captain: "Because of them?"
F/N: "Because of me."
I said in a sadder tone before I rushed across the large room, passing the bodies and chassis that scattered the pace, and into the hallway that led to my prey- no, not prey. That led to my justice.