A few days pass in relative peace until one morning.
Eden wakes with a sour feeling in her gut and a notification that the time has come for her to do her Black Garden mission. A bad feeling twirls around the pit of her stomach as she sits up. Something is going to happen today, she knows it. What it is, Eden isn't sure. Only that whatever it is, it's going to be bad.
Uriah, upon sensing her distress, soothes her and tells her that her irrational fear is nothing to worry about. Eden listens and tries to go about her normal morning routine.
Shower, make sure she has her guns and ammo, grab the Gate Lord eye, and check-in with her fireteam.
Everything goes well at least until she gets to her fireteam.
They sit in the living room, waiting on her. When Lance sees her, he waves her over with a solemn face. Eden swallows back a lump in her throat and sits beside him, nervous. The dread in her stomach nearly paralyzes her with worry.
Jaren and Axel stand behind him, shifting from foot to foot anxiously. And when Jaren looks her in the eye? She knows almost immediately what's happening.
"Eden, it's time."
Those dreaded words. Those terrible, awful words that she hoped she'd never hear.
Eden swallows hard, unsure what to say. She knew that they would have to leave sometime but she never prepared for it. So, she does the only thing she can. Eden levels a wobbly grin at them and says, "Make sure to throw in a punch for me, okay?"
Lance manages to crack a grin but other than that, they all remain sober.
"Before we left, we wanted to give you a present. We've been saving up the glimmer ever since you've joined the fireteam and we thought you'd like it."
Eden keeps her attention trained on Lance as he brings his palm up, Clovis hovering in the space above it.
The red Ghost twirls his shell and chirps, a blue light scanning the air in front of him. Within seconds, a full set of Titan armor hovers there. A white shader rests upon the outside with accents of silver lining the spaces in between. Eden gapes at the sight.
She looks over at Lance and the others, smiling so wide it feels like she's splitting her face apart.
"It's so beautiful. Thank you!" She gushes, standing up to inspect the armor closer.
Excitement rushes through her body and she looks at Uriah with bright eyes. He chuckles, already anticipating her next words.
"Yes, I'll put it on."
Eden grins widely and watches as the armor disappears from the air and into her body, replacing the old set.
"Finally look like a proper Titan, kid," Axel remarks.
The pride in his voice has her grinning with a light blush dusting her tan cheeks.
"Thank you, all of you. This is the best gift ever. I just wish it wasn't in the wake of something so serious."
She looks down, a small frown tugging at her mouth.
A comforting weight settles on her shoulder and she glances up to see Lance's kind face.
"Eden, I want you to remember something for me, okay?"
She nods.
"No matter what happens and no matter where we end up, we will always stand together. Always."
Though it's only for a few days, Eden knows she'll miss his comfort. How he always knows what to say. Grinning softly, she pats his hand saying, "Thanks, Lance. I appreciate hearing that. I mean, after a speech like that, I expect you to come back home so I can hear more."
He laughs warmly, squeezing her shoulder and nodding in agreement before moving away towards the door, allowing Axel his turn. The Exo's large frame shifts awkwardly like he isn't sure what to do. He makes an effort anyway, optics staring into her eyes earnestly as he speaks.
"Well kid, we've taught ya everything we could." His voice trails off as he rubs a gloved hand across the back of his neck. Despite the uncertainty written across his face, he adds, "And uh come home will ya? It'd feel weird without ya here."
Eden rushes forward, hugging the Exo tightly. His hands hover above her for a few seconds before he finally decides on a few back pats.
"Okay kid, okay. Don't go all mushy on me."
Eden chuckles but releases him, nodding, before finally turning to Jaren.
From behind her, Lance clears his throat and Axel takes it as a cue to move away and exit the room with Lance, leaving only her and Jaren. Eden struggles to look at him, choosing instead to look at her gloved hands.
"So..."
Jaren raises an eyebrow and echoes, "So."
Eden bites her lip before deciding to try and talk.
"I, well, um I just wanted to... what I wanted to say is..." She trails off when she looks up to see Jaren right in front of her, smiling. His eyes are soft and his face shows no sign of mocking at her inability to form a sentence. Instead, he brushes a hand against her cheek with the most feather-light of touches.
"I promise we'll be back. And then, I'll show you all the best places in the City."
With that, he presses a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth.
Eden stands frozen and blushing. Her heart pounds rapidly as the warmth in her chest spreads throughout her limbs to her fingers and toes.
"That...that would be nice," Eden murmurs, finally smiling widely and looking up into his glowing eyes.
Joy spreads across his features and he presses one more kiss to her cheek before leaving her alone in the apartment.
Eden's heart jumps with excitement. A breath she didn't know she'd been holding leaves her chest and she squeals.
"I'd say that went rather well," Uriah acknowledges, smug.
Eden isn't bothered, only glancing at her Ghost happily.
"Yes, I'd like to think it did. Remind me to ask for time off after this."
Her Ghost nods, feeling of happiness and delight flowing through their connection.
Eden smiles and grabs her new helmet, exiting the apartment.
"By the way," Uriah says, blinking his optic at her and tipping his shell forward, "Ava and Tayton sent a ping. Both have said something along the line of good luck. Even Quinn sent his regards."
Eden smiles.
"Tell them to be safe and that I hope their Light carries them home again."
Uriah chirps and beeps, sending the message. When he's done, he tips his shell to Eden and the duo makes their way down to the Hanger.
She loads up in her ship, making sure she has all her guns and heads toward Mars. When the jumpship is in the orbit of the red planet, Eden steers herself close to the Black Garden's gate before transmitting herself out and onto the cold, sandy surface of Mars.
"We'll need to be careful. We're walking through the dark here," Uriah urges.
Eden nods. With one breath in, she walks through the portal.
There's a moment of disorientation. A shift of the air, the time. Then, she's standing in a stone hallway, facing dormant bodies of moss-covered Vex.
None of them seem to be active so she makes her way past them and further into the Garden. Eventually, some of the Vex do awaken and she dispatches them with haste, continuing on past the dead husks.
Through each hall and area that leads deeper into the Black Garden, Eden stands steady and strong, more cautious than she's ever been before as she takes out each Vex she encounters. Slowly but surely, she makes her way into an open area filled with constructs and Vex converted metal structures mixed with a few spurts of bright grass. It's such an oddly strange sight that Eden doesn't really like.
"This is a dead end," Uriah speaks inside her helmet. "But according to our directions, the Black Heart should be right in front of us."
He clicks and beeps as he appears in the air beside her to scan the area with his optic.
"This whole place is just one huge machine," He mutters in disgust, shaking his shell.
"So how do we get through then?"
Uriah spins to look at his Guardian.
"Well, scans indict two clusters we could use to force our way in. I'll mark it on your HUD."
Eden nods and Uriah dissipates back to her armor.
The closest cluster is off to her left so she starts with that one.
Upon arriving, several goblins, harpies, and Minotaurs wait for her. With one rocket and a couple of clips of auto rifle ammo, Eden finishes off the group and allows Uriah out to scan the strange structure.
The small Ghost shoots a beam of blue light into the middle, chirping.
"I can manipulate our way in. Just need to break their manifold encryption and....."
He trails off, silent for a few seconds before the light disappears from his optic. He turns to her triumphant.
"Got it! Let's get the next one."
Eden smiles as Uriah makes his way back to her. She mumbles a good job before running across to the other one.
This time, she decides to stay back, opting to snipe rather than be in their faces. Three fall before her watchful eye before the others catch on, forcing her to fight the rest up close and personal. After several punches and arc-pulsing grenades, Eden finally kills the rest of the Vex and stands in front of the cluster.
Uriah hovers out, scanning and spinning his white shell before returning to Eden's armor.
"That's the last one. Let's see if it worked."
When Eden turns, a pillar of stone and Vex technology has been built in the middle of the area, shining a beam of light towards a doorway that Eden hadn't seen before. Curiosity peaked, she makes her away over, jumping and boosting herself over the ledge to stand and look around.
A Vex spire grows from the ground, seemingly waiting for Eden to approach it. She moves closer, wary.
"What is this?" She asks quietly, inspecting the white structure.
"If we're lucky, it's our way into the Black Garden," Uriah replies, making his way out into the world again.
Eden watches as he floats closer, buzzing and beeping as he begins to hack the spire.
"Permission to enter as a Gate Lord? Done."
The faint red eye appears in the air, hovering in front of the spire.
The Vex construct scans the eye, confirming it's a Gate Lord before both eye and spire disappear. Seconds later, a thin pane of strange glass raises from the ground, gliding into the air.
It suddenly shatters into several pieces and thrusts forward a disc-shaped object. All the shards and circle move into place, reflecting a beam of light from another spire in the distance.
The metal gate keeping the entrance to the Black Garden closed, shifts and rumbles before opening.
Above Eden, the sky darkens into a stormy red and all the grass withers and dies. It's as if the nature around them knows of the evil, perishing in the wake of the Vex and their dark ways.
She represses a shiver and walks in.
The sight before Eden makes her stomach drop.
Beyond the imposing shadows of three large statues is a small army of Vex. They kneel before a shifting ball of black. Lightning crackles and flashes from within the thick matter, pulsing waves of heavy darkness through the air.
The Heart.
Sensing her light, the Vex begin to turn around, one by one. More than a dozen red lenses are locked on her by the time they are done.
Uriah hovers by her shoulder, eyeing the Vex before them before sliding his gaze to her.
"So, think you can kill God?"
For one moment, her resolve weakens. She isn't sure that she can do this, but despite that, Eden pushes it down. Her Ghost has faith in her and so does her fireteam. With that in mind, confidence rumbles in her chest and she stands taller.
"I didn't have much of a choice to begin with, but yeah. Yeah, I do."
Grim as things are, Eden doesn't miss the hint of pride radiating off Uriah.
However, her attention is pulled toward the statues once more as a tendril from the black ball slivers around the stone figure before piercing into it. Cracking sounds as a Vex burst forth, sending pieces of block everywhere.
It's the largest Vex by far that she's ever seen and it looks older than all the others.
Eden raises her gun and hops down from the stairs, walking towards it.
As the huge red eye locks onto her, Eden mutters, "Let's end this once and for all."