Author's Note

Welcome to the rewritten version of Light of Another Kind. Grant will still be the Guardian in this new version, the only thing that has really changed is the Mass Effect time period, and my Destiny timeline. Instead of 2500 years, Grant is much younger, only around 600. Without further delay, let us begin.

Disclaimer: I own neither Destiny Nor Mass Effect

OOOOOOO

Six Guardians entered the Vault lled by Kabr The Legionless. Each one trusted the man who led them with their lives. Two, Jane and Tyler, were erased from existence, the only evidence of them having been recovered from the Vault. Praedyth was taken by the Gorgons, locked into the dark corners of time. Pahanin managed to escape, forever scarred by what happened within the Vex stronghold until his death by Dredgen Yor's treachery. Kabr died alone, using what remained of his light to form the Aegis which allowed Guardians an anchor to this reality. Grant disappeared, one of the only Nightstalkers at the time vanished within the Vault. It is believed that even the Vex do not know where he is.

- Story of the first raid into the Vault of Glass-

OOOOOOO

How long has he been wandering these caves. The endless dark tunnels stretched before him and behind him. He knew not how long he has traversed the abyss. The time has blended together for him. He hasn't spoken in what feels like forever, and no time at all. His Ghost hasn't spoken or appeared to him since they entered the Vault, the man frowned. What were their names? Who were they? Who was he? His mind was slipping again. He could feel the Vex warping reality around him. Was he even himself? Was he simply a simulation? Or was he a Vex thinking he was a man? He passed by a reflective surface and saw himself. Or was it someone else? He reached up, and the reflection followed suit, he put both hands onto his helmet, and removed it, just to see if he could. The empty maw that once held purple flame staring back at him, and from under his hood he could see himself. Or what he thought was him.

Pale skin and pure black hair was what he saw, gold eyes with exhaustion written in them. Or was it fear? Both? A metal hand rested on the grip of a weapon at his right hip. He couldn't remember when he lost the hand, or was his hand always this way? His leg was the same. Metal taken from the Vex made up his entire left leg. How did he fall so far? How did he get here? As he turned to leave he saw his torn, broken cloak with the golden sun flutter behind him, and he stopped. A named vaguely appeared in his mind. Who gave him the cloak again? It started with an O. Odysseus? Orion? No those weren't it. He shrugged, it didn't matter. Reaching back, he removed his glove from his hand of flesh and grabbed the cloak, felt it to make sure it was real.

He continued on, slipping his hand back into the glove, and putting the helmet back on his head. He walked along the edge of a seemingly endless ravine now, pillars jutting up from an unseen bottom, each holding some piece of technology from those who were seemingly toying with him. He looked over the edge of the ravine and tried to see anything within the void below. At times he swore he could see flashes of his friends. Stopping once more he thought.

"Did I have friends? Was I alone? Will I be lost forever?"

All around him was darkness, rock, and machine. He stopped and looked at a reflective surface, he raised his hand, and the reflection did the same. He took a step back.

"I have already done this. Haven't I?"

Fear jolted through him. He needed to escape. But he has tried before. There is no way out. He looked around, looked at the gate across the ravine from him. He could get out through that. If he ever managed to activate it. Or would entering through it be a mistake? He sat down. He needed to think. He needed to drag himself back from the insanity that was gripping his mind once again. Every time his mind began to slip into the eternal abyss of insanity he did this. He sat down with his head in his hands he spoke aloud and reminded himself of who he is.

"I am Grant. A Guardian from the Tower. My goal has always been to protect the Last City. I came here to defeat the Vex with… with… What were their names?" Grant began to breathe heavily, panic began to seed itself within his mind. He used to be able to remember their names during this exercise.

Grant reached down and pulled the hand cannon at his hip from its' holster. It was one of the only anchors he had left to himself. He had created it himself during his time wandering Earth before the City was built. Engraved into the side of the barrel was the cannons name, Outlaw's Gambit. The weapon used Golden Age technology to make the first shot much more powerful than the others, but as he chains headshots against enemies it somehow increases its damage per shot.

A flash to his right made him flinch in shock. Floating in front of him was a Ghost. His Ghost. He hasn't seen his Ghost in who knows how long, and now it finally shows up? Grant lifts his hand cannon towards it, this has to be some sort of trick.

"[Stand down Guardian!]"

Grant stopped himself from pulling the trigger. Even if this was a trick, what would be the harm in hearing it out. Lowering his gun, he prepared himself to listen to it, however he didn't holster the weapon.

"[I found us a way out. I am sorry I left you here alone, but I needed to find it before you went insane, and I am happy that I am just in time.]"

Those words hit Grant like a torch cannon from a Minotaur. A way out? He has been looking for one of those, but didn't actually believe there was a way out. He was about to tell the Ghost to lead the way, but stopped himself. What if it was a trap? Leading him into a Vex ambush to kill him. Slightly raising his gun again he replied.

"Prove it"

The Ghost looked confused for a second.

"[I have your rifle. The one you found while exploring Old Russia.]"

Grant looked at the Ghost. He had even more reason to believe that the Ghost wasn't tricking him. There was no way the Vex could reasonably have his rifle. In a flash of light that he recognized, but hasn't seen in a long time, his rifle appeared in mid-air, reaching forward he caught it before it hit the ground, and began to run his hand up it's side. The No Land Beyond was a unique sniper that he had found while exploring the ruins of a city once called Moscow. Its brown woodwork style design shown brightly at him. It seemed to be the only thing not scarred by this dreaded place.

"So… Where is this 'way out' you speak of?"

"[We will have to go further into the actual Vault to get there, I found a way to activate one of their time gates. I have no idea where we will wind up, but anywhere is probably better than here right now. But be aware once you begin to make your way towards it, the Vex will find you. It will be a hard fight all the way there.]"

Grant thought of his options, even though there was only one realistic one. He could stay here, wandering aimlessly until he succumbed to insanity, or the Vex found him and used the Oracles to erase him from existence, or, he could throw caution to the wind and follow the Ghost for a chance to escape that fate. Checking to make sure he had enough rounds with his rifle to at least make it a good way towards his objective, he motioned for the Ghost to lead the way.

Vanishing into the air the Ghost spoke to him from within his mind. "[You are going to have to go straight for a little while before you come across the entrance. I'll let you know when we are there.]"

As he began to jog in the direction Ghost directed him in he thought of a question he hadn't yet asked.

"How long have we been in here Ghost?"

"[I can't be certain Guardian. I had been trying to fight off the Vex's time distortion so I could keep track, but I lost track after around two hundred years. I really stepped up my efforts to find a way out when I witnessed you going a bit crazy two days ago.]"

Grant started to think. What did he do two days ago?

Seeing Grant's confusion the Ghost answered his thoughts.

"[You were just staring at yourself in some reflective metal from the Vault. You even took off your helmet and just stood there.]"

The Hunter was shocked. That wasn't two days ago! That was just like an hour ago wasn't it?

Shaking his head in utter disbelief he responded.

"That couldn't have been two days ago! I just did that an hour ago!"

"[The Vex distort time Guardian. What I witnessed as two days, you felt as an hour. You walked aimlessly down this ravine for over a day. Then you almost did the same thing but stopped yourself. Turn left here]"

The Guardian was so distracted by that tibdit of information Ghost gave him that he almost missed the huge tunnel built in the classic Vex style. Preparing himself for the fight that was about to begin, he entered.

OOOOOOO

The battle against the Taken was not going so well. It has only been a few months since the start and end of the SIVA Crisis. And now a new Hive monstrosity was attempting to claim the throne. Legions of Hive and Taken were preventing the fireteam of Guardians from reaching the new King. The vast booming of his Abbadon echoed throughout the Dreadnaught's halls. Two Hunters were behind him sniping, while three Warlocks were giving fire support. Preferably he would've taken another Titan rather than a third Warlock, but the Vanguard was pressed for time and his normal fireteam wasn't available.

"Jerome on your right!" A member of the team called out.

Turning on his heel to face the right he saw an Ogre racing towards him, not bothering to aim the machine gun, he let loose. The fiery solar rounds tore through the Hive beast and before it made it to him, it disintegrated into ashes. Reaching up towards his chest he grabbed a heavy ammo synthesis from one of the three bandoleers he has draped over his chest plate.

Jerome-092 was well known around the Tower as being the only Guardian who only used heavy weapons during battle. He had no interest in the other types of weapons used by his fellow light wielders. He went towards every battle with a rocket launcher on his back and his Abbadon within his hands. He received the machine gun after the ill fated campaign on the Moon. He was friends with the Titan that built it before the man died.

The gunfire in this section of the Dreadnaught died down as the Hive retreated further into the bowels of the ship. Taking advantage of the lull in the fighting, Jerome sat down on a ruined piece of the ship. Turning his neck to the side he heard a couple of pops come from the servos in his neck. He still doesn't know how the people in the Golden Age made Exos like him advanced enough that they could eat and drink without a stomach, and could simulate stretching muscles they don't even have.

"Getting tired old man?" A Warlock asked as she walked up to him. Evie was the only one with him right now that he has ever worked with before. She was a member of the Nightstalker Grant's fireteam along with a Titan named Nickolas before he disappeared in the Vault of Glass after following Kabr into that dreaded place. He had worked with her during the second raid into the Vault. The time when they actually managed to kill Atheon. The only thing she and Nickolas found of Grant was some torn pieces of his cloak. She currently had a piece of the cloak tied around her right forearm, while last he knew Nickolas wore a larger piece of it as his Titan Mark. He isn't sure if Nickolas still does though, the Titan had defected to join Osiris' cult shortly after they killed Atheon.

Giving a small laugh he removed his helmet. "You are almost as old as I am girl, you just missed the mark by a hundred years." Bringing a bottle up from his belt he took a swig of the drink, though he doesn't need to drink, it has become a habit of his.

Jerome looked at her, seeing his reflection in the mask of her Future War Cult helmet, the black metal and orange electric lines shining back at him. In a flash of light her helmet was gone too, her blue skin almost shining in the darkness, most of the lights were destroyed in the battle. Pushing some purple hair out of her face she sat next to him.

"Yeah. That means you are a hundred years older than me, before the Traveler arrived that would've made you ancient. Hand me that bottle when you're done."

Chuckling, he handed the bottle to her and looked around at the rest of the team. He recognized all of them from the Tower, though he never worked with any of them besides Evie. He also knew that two of them had been resurrected by their Ghosts during the Taken War. If only the Vanguard and sent him in with more than just four experienced Guardians. Then they wouldn't have to keep on eye on those two newbies. They aren't ready for this type of battle.

Looking back at Evie he saw her staring at the old cloak that was tied around her arm, a solemn look on her face. He sighed. "You miss him a lot don't you?"

Her head snapped up, she wasn't expecting to be asked anything. After sitting silently for a moment, she replied. "Yeah. You would think these things would get easier with time. But they don't. It has been five hundred years, and here I am, still moping about."

Jerome just sat there. He didn't really know what to say to her, sure he had lost friends before, none besides the creator of the gun sitting beside him were actually very close to him. She lost the man who took her and Nickolas in and mentored them, and became their closest friend. He also knows they tried to stop Grant from going, but he told them that he owed Kabr for something in the past, nobody knows what Kabr did for Grant, but it made Grant willing to follow a fool's dream to his own death.

Decided in the end not to reply, he stood up and transmitted his helmet back upon his head. "Alright! Break time's over! Let's get a move on people! This king isn't going to kill himself!"

The two new Guardians groaned in protest and Jerome gritted his teeth. These newest Guardians had no discipline, they had things easy, they didn't have to live through the time when the City almost never won.

The next few passages had no enemies to fight, and the raid team simply moved on at a relaxed pace. A flash of light appeared to their right as they were crossing a bridge. Far away down the Trenchline of the Dreadnaught on a bridge, a Guardian was killing Hive while seemingly making his way to a shrine in the middle of the bridge.

"NICKOLAS!"

The entire fireteam stopped and looked at Evie as she yelled over the side. Jerome frowned, surely she couldn't tell it was him from this far away right? But sure enough the Guardian across the way could be seen stopping and looking over. Nickolas, in full Osiris themed gear, barely gave a small wave before turning away. Evie gave one step back, you could tell she was a bit hurt, after all this time, and he wouldn't even give a decent response.

Shaking her head she gave one last look over to her old friend before motioning them to continue. Hive screams could be heard up ahead.

"Once more unto the breach"

OOOOOOO

The butt of No Land Beyond smashed through the head of the Goblin as Grant swung it like a bat holding the weapon by its' barrell. Knowing that Vex can survive without their heads the Hunter flipped the weapon around and jammed the end into the 'heart' of the machine and fired, the force of the weapon tearing the thing in half.

The battle through the Vault has been a hard slog. The halls were littered with Vex remains, and more of the constructs teleported in every minute. Seeing a Hobgoblin leave cover and begin to charge its slap rifle, Grant quickly reached into his void light and shadow stepped out of the way, landing in a crouched position he threw forward his arm, and out of his hand flew a flaming knife, he watched the flames spin end over end before slamming into the sniper, disintegrating it into ashes.

Quickly drawing the Outlaw's Gambit he fired three rounds in quick progression around him, and three Vex fell. Sprinting forward he jumped up and activated the mini thrusters in his boots, giving him an extra jump to reach the ledge above him. Upon reaching it he found a Vex unit crouched behind cover, before it could respond he kicked its' knee joint, collapsing it to the ground, and stomped on its' head, crushing it. Pulling the old sniper from his back he stood from cover and picked off an enemy providing overwatch on a bridge he had to pass over.

He could feel his light slowly flowing back into him after being suppressed for so long. With his Ghost back he feels better than he has for what must have been over a hundred years. He could remember the names of the friends who he lost in this place, Kabr, Pahanin, Jane, Tyler, and Praedyth. With his memories, and sanity flowing back into him, he felt rage. Rage at those who held him here for so long, rage at himself for allowing himself to get trapped in the first place.

That rage was allowing him to push through the Vex as if they were nothing. Another Vex Goblin decloaked right behind him, prepared to strike, and with his mechanical right hand, he stopped the blow from coming and tore off the Minion of Darkness' arm, before driving his foot into its' chest, pushing it into the depths below.

Just a few hundred meters away was his objective, three Vex Timegates sat on an elevated platform, in his way, he could see the light from the eyes of a dozen Vex units, each preparing to tear him apart. He would not fall. He has been trapped in the dark too long for him to fail now.

The Nightstalker began to build up Void light within his hands as he sprinted towards the edge of the platform he was on, torrents of the energy came off in waves from his hands, the raw power he held in his hands was almost tangible within the ancient construct. Leaping off the edge, flying over the darkness below him, Grant shaped the Void energy into a bow, feeling the same rush he did when he first mastered the art so long ago. Drawing back a hand, an arrow formed within the weapon, and flew forward, the Minotaur it hit simply vanished into purple ash, and from the arrow, streams of Void light reached out and grasped the Vex, each being weakened by the light they so hated.

Landing next to one of his suppressed enemies, he lifted his hand cannon and fired once. The death of the single Vex unit sent a shockwave rippling through the tether, and all of the other monstrosities were destroyed. An explosion went off next to him and he was launched into the wall. Groaning, he picked himself up and dusted off his armor, a shard of rock from the wall was stuck in his metal leg, and so he tore it out.

On the next platform over, a Hydra sat, preparing another blast at him. When it flew, he reached into the Void once more and quickly flung himself to the side, the Void overtaking him in shadow. When the shadows faded, a new weapon was within his grasp, the shotgun had been a gift from the Hunter Vanguard Andal. It had the Vanguard symbol on the side of it, like all weapons the Vanguard distribute. The weapon was a prototype, he had been told. It was called The Comedian.

Sprinting forward he lept over the gap separating him and the large machine. He began to circle it, firing a shot at every weakness he could find within its armor. Pretty soon the thing was flaming, and it teleported to an unknown destination in order to survive. There were few opponents left standing in his way, but they soon teleported away. He knew it was a trap, and prepared himself for whatever they threw at him as he walked up the stairs towards the Timegates.

OOOOOOO

The King is dead… Again.

The rest of the fireteam but him and Evie already left, she had managed to convince him to follow after Nickolas. She had refused to just leave without finding out what her old friend was up to. As they walked, the halls of the Dreadnaught eerily silent, his Ghost hovered around him, repairing cracks in his armor, grumbling all the way about how it would be easier if they weren't moving, and in a darkness infested ship.

Pretty soon they reached the bridge where they saw Nickolas earlier and within the center of the bridge stood a crystal, surrounded by Disciples of Osiris, all being directed by Nickolas.

Evie began to stop over to them. "NICKOLAS!"

All the Disciples stopped and looked before turning back to their business. The Titan leading them turned and began to walk towards them.

"Evie! I was hoping you would stop by after you were doing playing the Vanguard's lapdog." His accent was thick, sounded what records had as Old Russian.

Evie was indignant. "Lapdog! I wasn't the one who left their duty behind!"

Nickolas looked angry at her for that comment. "No you weren't! You were the one who gave up on our friend! I told you we could find him and you rejected the possibility!"

"Finding him is impossible Nickolas! He is dead!"

"No he isn't."

Those words seemed to his Evie like a Sparrow. How could he still be alive? At this point Jerome stepped forward.

"And how would you know that Nickolas?"

He nodded his head at the question. "I shall explain. This crystal here is one of millions. The Hive use them to monitor the Light. How? We don't know. But we do know that these crystals warned the Hive that we were coming and that is how we lost on the Moon the first time. That is how you, Evie, were seen while in stealth heading toward the Dreadnaught, and again while stealing Crota's soul. So we came here to tap into one using Vex technology, and managed to find traces of Grant's light, we know it's his because as he was the First Guardian, his light is naturally stronger than the rest of ours, and more accurately, his is the only one that can be traced to be currently located in deep, unexplored portions of the Vault of Glass."

Jerome and Evie were both stunned. Grant, one of the legendary Guardians people in the City tell stories about, still lives. He could be found.

Evie talked, her voice sounding weaker than normal, the shock of the news rattled the Awoken. "How do we get to him?"

Nickolas pointed toward a Hive rupture that they hadn't seen while walking toward him. "That is how. We have connected Vex technology to the rupture so you can make it into the Vault, but you are still needed to open it. You are Ascendant after all."

Evie began to walk towards it but Jerome stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Are you sure we should do this Evie? We should inform the Vanguard first."

Shrugging off the hand Evie nodded. "We have to Jerome. The Vanguard won't sanction this mission for fear of losing us. Better we just go don't ya think?"

Jerome sighed in defeat, or as much as an Exo could sigh. "Alright let's do it."

Nickolas made a sign towards the men operating near the rupture, and the Vex machinery began to activate. And the rupture opened, He and Evie looked at each other before walking through it.

It was a few seconds of blinding light before they could see where the were again, the darkness of the caves and Vex structures around them was oppressive, having landed on his knees, Jerome began to stand up before his helmet ran into something, glancing up he saw the barrel of a hand cannon being pointed at him.

Grant looked nothing like the records had. Everything about him was disheveled. The hand that held the weapon was mechanical, along with his left leg, all the way to the hip. His cloak, once a beautiful gold and black was torn and dirty, his once gleaming armor scarred and dull. There was no Void fire burning within the helm of the Graviton Forfeit, his legendary helmet. Around him were Vex bodies, still burning from being destroyed. It seemed he had just escaped a firefight.

"GRANT!"

The handcannon went down as the smaller frame of a female warlock ran into him, giving him a big hug.

"...Evie?" Grant asked tentatively, it seemed as if he was unsure it was really her.

She didn't have any words, she just simply nodded her head while not letting go.

"[Guardians, this is a nice reunion, but we should really work on opening the Timegate.]" Grant's Ghost said. The Ghost then flew over to one of the gates and began to work on it.

A static-like noise began behind them, and when the turned around one of the largest Vex constructs they have ever seen stood behind them. It was taller than Atheon, and on one arm, instead of the usual single cannon, was a tri-barreled cannon, dozens of Vex began to warp in around the Vex Mind. None opened fire, the Mind began to charge his cannon, and there was no cover on the platform. A familiar noise sounded as all of the gates opened behind them.

"LOOK OUT!" Grant yelled as he tackled Evie to the side, the Mind had fired while they were distracted. The first blast sent Grant flying into one of the gates, the other two destroyed that gate.

"[Quick Guardians! Into the other gate! You cannot fight them all!]" Jerome's Ghost yelled. Jerome quickly grabbed Evie and ran through. Giving one last look behind them at the Vex attempting to storm them. A bright flash obscured his vision, and then they were out!

Authors Note:

Well I hope you guys liked the new and hopefully (to you guys) improved LOAK. If some of you didn't understand what was going on in the beginning, Grant had been alone in the Vault for hundreds of years, his Ghost was off trying to find a way out, so his only true connection to the outside world was gone, and with the Vex constantly shifting Time and Reality within the Vault, his mind began to get whittled down. When his Ghost finally came back, he finally had an 'anchor' so to speak that began to pull him back into his own mind.

His gear is as follows

Head: Graviton Forfeit

Arms: Scarlight Grasps

Chest: Custom (looks like Nanomania in a way, but not made of Siva)

Boots: Prime Zealot Greaves (with the mechanical leg obviously)

Cloak: Watcher's Cloak (not gained from Trials, will be explained later)

Shader: Stolen Chalice