[b][url=http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/81238723/0/0]PART ONE[/url][/b] The smoke cleared seconds later and there was nothing left but blackened ground. Of course, it wasn’t enough to deter the Fallen. They took the places of their dead comrades, unafraid. [i]Hikari[/i], said her Ghost. [i]The colony ships are at eighty-percent. If you hold the line a little longer we might be able to evacuate with them. I for one want to evacuate. Don’t you want to evacuate? Because I do. [/i] Hikari clucked her tongue. [i]Stop whining. [/i] The ground began to shudder and Vi unsheathed her blades. Beyond the Ward of Dawn, Hikari could see hundreds of indistinct shapes moving towards them, and then she realized they were Stealth Vandals. Electricity rippled in violent waves along Vi’s body, her blades twirling between her fingers. She nodded to them and stepped out. It wasn’t much fair to the Vandals battling Vi. She was a Bladedancer of the Third Echelon, accomplished in skill and master in death. Invisibility meant nothing to her. She killed the Fallen as easily as a scythe cuts wheat. The Vandals fell, their guttural screams filling the air as limbs flew and bodies eviscerated. The Hunter twirled and shot knives every which way, and there were times where it really was like watching a dance. Desmond and Hikari were backing her up with their own assault rifles, but it wasn’t like she needed their help. [i]The ships are at ninety percent[/i], said the Ghost. A Reaver Captain emerged over the tangle of bodies and swung his sword. Vi blocked him at the last second, but lost her grip on one of her blades. She lunged with her other blade. The Captain’s head spun free from his body and disintegrated as Hikari jammed bullets into several heads as they rushed Vi. “There’s too many,” said Desmond. “She needs to back off.” Something lifted Vi into the air. It was a sword, and it raised her up slowly until her chest slid against the hilt, the hilt a second Captain had held as he plunged his sword through her back. Another sliced her Ghost in half. Hikari barely had time to register this before an explosion rocked the Ward of Dawn. Desmond’s knees buckled and the forcefield he attempted to maintain trembled. “What was that?!” muttered Desmond, lifting his hands to pour more Light into the shield. “If it happens again I don’t think I can withstand it. We have to get Vi out of there.” Hikari shook her head. “She’s dead, Desmond. There’s nothing we can do for her now,” she said, eyes cast down. “We have to keep the Fallen back.” Hikari squinted through the haze of shrapnel and made out three gigantic shapes side by side. Her heart sank. She realized she was staring at spider tanks, the heavily-armored assault vehicles of the Fallen. A single laser pressed against the Ward of Dawn. Desmond cursed and flourished a tracking rocket launcher from his back. “Cover me!” The Titan slid out of the forcefield while more dregs found bullets from Hikari. He fired three missiles into the legs of the spider tank to the right. The legs shattered and gave way, tilting its laser into the wall beside them. Another flash of light. Another explosion. The wall absorbed the impact and collapsed into rubble, but this time, the Ward of Dawn held. The spider tanks’ main cannons adjusted slightly. [i]The ships are at one-hundred percent[/i], said Hikari’s Ghost.[i] They’re taking off.[/i] Hikari widened her eyes in understanding just as three lasers found one of the massive colony ships, lumbering in the air, engines blaring. She couldn’t live with herself if more people perished on her watch. The same thing happened in Osaka, her home, and only one colony ship had escaped. Because of her. She couldn’t let it happen again. She wouldn’t. Hikari let the Light out from her body and channeled the Traveler’s arcane power into something that changed her. Something that made more out of her. Pure Light flared from her body and leapt from her shoulders. It coursed through her hair and between her feet. She pulled the solar energy from the sun out of the air, amplifying her strength. It gave her unadulterated power. [i]I guess we won’t be evacuating then[/i], said her Ghost. Hikari grinned.[i] Nope. [/i] The Warlock sprung out of the Ward of Dawn and flexed her hands, forming ten solar grenades in the air. She somersaulted over a wave of Vandals and hurled her blobs of light expertly onto the foreheads of several Captains. They didn’t have time to bring their hands to their head before the grenades detonated and were given to the Light. Only seconds left. She jumped with every ounce of power the Traveler could grant her and glided onto the main cannon of the middle spider tank. She laid her hands against the gun to melt it closed. The intense heat just wasn’t enough. Hikari screamed until more Light erupted from her body, of all places her back, and wrapped around the cannon’s tube, squeezing it shut. She closed her eyes and smiled. For a second she probably looked like she had wings. [b][url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/100362914/0/0/1]DESTINY FAN FICTION ARCHIVE[/url][/b] [b][url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Clan/Forum/823422]JOIN CLAN FOR FAN FICTION UPDATES[/url][/b]