“Would anybody like to start?” Arranged in a circle of chairs, a diverse group of beings sat in stillness, despite the question. The blue-eyed Exo barely acknowledged it, or the unspoken request that came with it. He sat, head down, running fingers over an old knife, memories staining it’s time-dulled edge like scarlet blood. The one who had posed the question sighed in faint disappointment. “Alright, then. I’ll go first.” Still standing, the Titan towered over the rest of them seated down in the circle, thick gauntleted arms crossing. The group remained silent. The Titan began to pace in restless thought. Nervous glances flitted across the circle in his direction, but he didn’t stop their flight, nor his movement. After a moment, he stopped. And after another… he spoke. “There were six of us, many of us Titans, but all Guardians. Wielding the powers that had been bestowed upon us, we stood against all that would threaten the safety of our Last City. Our home.” “At least, that’s what we did before the order. Anger closed off my ears as I heard it over the comms, but it was something like - ‘retreat. Fall back.’ to me, it sounded more like ‘surrender.’ For my comrades…” he paused. “We abandoned the orders our superiors had given us. Six Guardians against the greatest Fallen host we had ever been. Six of us against the impossible. But it didn’t matter. We had our Light, and we had each other. When the dust settled… when the smoke cleared… we’d held. The Wall had held, and only through our determination to succeed and our refusal to surrender. I still think about that day sometimes.” The towering Titan, legendary pillar of strength, cracked. None in that little room missed it. “What would have happened? If I hadn’t disobeyed orders... If I had abandoned my position. Why did I do it? I know why… but [i]why?[/i] I see many Guardians fight and die every day, but nothing will ever dull the memory of that battle from my mind.” At that the Titan took a seat, the chair beneath him creaking with the weight of his bulk. Eyes turned towards him - respect, fear, admiration, or something else. His helmet betrayed none of the expression held beneath. The group held their silence, for a time. Half a minute later, an old Exo sat up in his chair with a shifting of cloth and metal. Not standing, as he had not the confidence of the Titan, but merely sitting up straighter. “Evenin.’” he muttered into the pregnant silence. The others of the group muttered greetings. “I ain’t too good at this sorta thing, but I’ll try. Been a while since I’ve fought, but… I think I was in the Gap’ too. Can’t remember anythin’ except… gunfire. Shot after shot. And the screams… those damn creatures screechin’ their heads off, when they died, when they didn’t. And- and-“ The old Exo stopped, mumbling little nonsense noises beneath his breath. “It’s ok.” a slight, weathered Titan next to him said. ”We understand.” The Exo nodded in thanks as the other members of the group echoed faint agreements, comments. “‘Got my leg blown off by a Spider Tank in the Gap’.” the weathered Titan said after a moment, little emotion on her rugged face. “Sometimes I wake up screaming at nothing. Reaching for my sidearm that isn’t there.” The assembled veterans nodded, giving their own war stories, empathizing with tales of non-stop nightmares and scars that the Light couldn’t heal. The Exo with the blue eyes said nothing all the while. His cold metal fingers traced grooves over the old knife’s edge, again and again, turning over the deadly instrument in both hands, fighting to them from trembling, from letting the memories, the secrets, spill out from his mouth. The towering Titan that had first spoken saw him, while the other veterans talked amongst themselves. The sad comfort of seeing someone known suffer would have touched his eyes if he hadn’t been wearing his helmet. “What about you, Orion?” asked the Titan. “Anything you’d like to get off your chest?” There was a moment of terrible silence as the blue-eyed Exo turned his focus from the knife towards the group. After a moment of deafening silence, he spoke. “Nothin’ left to say.”