Entry Log 155: - 00:20:41

Watery morning light is streaming in through half closed blinds in Cayde's room when the feed clicks on. A hasty, regretful decision that led to the light of a new days stretching out towards the large, cover tangled bed in small stripes. It doesn't seem to bother either occupants though, one already up, while the other laid still beside him. The camera focuses on them, zooming in to crop the frames to the ends of the bed.

Cayde is sitting in bed, his bare back pressed against the headboard, covers pooling around his waist unevenly due to one of his legs being bent and used as a surface for his journal. His focus is on a new page, a gloveless hand directing a pen that flows over it with little pause. Skylar is next to him, on her side, curled slightly towards him, her arms close to her chest as normal, covers pulled up high. Her guardian marking is unbroken, eyes shut to the world, her breathing even and soundless in sleep.

It is most definitely a lazy morning for the two hunters.

Peaceful.

Artemis moves, floating over to her partner and peeking at what he is writing. The Exo doesn't even seem to see her there, his mind clearly elsewhere, lost in the voice of his words, in the world he's retelling to his son. For once the feed stays on the scrawling words, giving more than enough time to read what is there and to follow his pen as it continues on.

...It's a strange thing Ace, this 'Age of Triumph'. Almost a week since the declaration and nothing has come crashing in to prove us wrong. Everyone is feeling it, that weird sense of calming waters that no guardian seems to know how to really handle completely, we aren't meant for it, to stand still. It's a nice feeling all the same, if I'm honest, a tension I didn't know was there being suddenly gone. Quite a few of us needed that relief, that rest. The last year has been filled to the breaking point with terror and death. Too much loss and not enough gained in the long run, but at least we're holding steady now. At least we can finally take a breath without drowning.

The pen pauses, and the feed pans up to Cayde's profile for a moment to catch him glancing down at the human sleeping beside him, monitoring her for just a few seconds on the clock before he's back to the journal, the feed following him.

The dark rings under Skylar's eyes are fading more than I've ever seen them, her nightmares are less frequent now. I don't know who to thank for that, but I do thank them. I'm not sure how old you got to be Ace, I can't remember you, but I'd like to think you grew up to find this, to find what I have after such a long time. This is a feeling that grounds me to her, like a shadowshot chain. I wonder if this is how it felt with your mother, if we were together this way. Sometimes I wonder about who she was and every now and again, I like to imagine that she and Skylar are one and the same.

A crazy thought I know, to think we should be so lucky, but both of us were found in North America. In the same region, miles and miles apart, a mountain range between us but… it's a nice dream. I doubt it's true, but I can't help but think it sometimes, if only because I can't see myself with someone else anymore. Maybe she isn't your mother, maybe she just happened to be brought back and we just happened to end up where we are now. I hope even if she is just a stranger from our former lives that you and your mother are happy for me now. I liked to believe that it's what you'd want for me, you know, if you were here.

I look back on this last year, not even a year yet really, and think about how much has happened. I think about Crota and all that time spent wondering if I'd lost Skylar before even knowing how much that would hurt me. I think about that poker night, the first time she kissed me and about how we lost Tevis. I think about the night I was so furious with her for going behind my back only for that same night to turn into something so much more, the first time she told me she loved me.

Sometimes, I think even further back, to almost three years ago, to the first time I ever saw her. When she was a confused, newly brought back hunter with ridiculously bright hair and endless, burning eyes. It was a spontaneous decision, when I offered to mentor her personally, and if someone had told me then that it would lead to this, I probably would have laughed.

I think I'm happier than I have ever been right now, and it takes glancing at my own hand to remember I'm not really human anymore and that I'm hella lucky to feel like I am.

Another pause in words, a stilling of his pen as a muffled groan, followed by a shift on the bed draws his attention away. The feed zooms back out for that, panning to view them from the top as Cayde cocks his head to look at the amber haired woman as she slowly blinks her eyes, still groggy. After a few moments there gazes meet and she smiles lazily at him to which he gives a quiet huffing laugh and reaches out with his free hand, running it through her hair. Skylar sighs, moving an arm from under the blankets to show more bare skin than before, her hand skimming his outstretched forearm. Simple, easy actions that mean so much more to them.

"Sleep well?" he murmurs in greeting, fingers still carding through her hair and she presses against them like a cat. She hums in reply at first, taking in a long, slow breath with closed eyes before she flicks them back open.

"Very," she muses, giving a lopsided grin. "I had the best dream… or maybe that was just last night?" Her playful tone gets Cayde chuckling and he finally closes the journal around the pen with a snap. Copper gold eyes dart to it for a moment, and she tilts her head. "What were you telling him today?" she asks, the words so relaxed it's clear she's done so before. He doesn't always share, but sometimes he does, and it never seems to bother her, only make her thoughtful about her own shredded past. He moves his hand from her hair, skimming it down her face to her jaw to lift it gently as his other hand blindly sets the journal on the nightstand next to him.

"Just pondering the state of the world," he answers, letting his bent leg straighten so he can easily twist and lean in closer to her, his free hand on her other side, nearly pinning her as she rolls to her back to meet his gaze easier. "Telling him about the beautiful hunteress in my bed. Keeping it PG of course, just in case." He plants his mouth plates against her hair, right at the crest of her forehead and Skylar laughs quietly at his antics, even though it's true. She shifts, bearing weight onto a forearm to push herself upright more and tilts her head up to replace her hair with her lips, tongue moments later sliding in to rub at the metal of the roof of his mouth, making him shift under the covers, a hand moving to grip at her waist underneath. When she pulls back the Exo huffs, exasperated and she smiles, a hand on his chest, right where a collarbone would sit.

"I'm not going anywhere," she assures him, nudging her nose against his horn for a moment. Cayde just stares her down for a long time, the light of his eyes bathing her skin slightly, her eyes bright in the morning rays of the sun. His pause gives her an opening and the hunteress is quick to move, using her hand to push him back and flipping them on the bed. Cayde just gives her a look of surprise before she smiles and easily maneuvers to rest her head against the blue and silver plating of his chest, the covers skewed and twisted around them. She raises a hand, a finger tracing one of the small microchip lines as she follows it through a relaxed, half lidded gaze. She doesn't seem to have anything else to say, and Cayde can't seem to find anything to complain about either at the contact, letting his head rest fully on the pillow.

"Hungry?" he asks, sounding like he doesn't really want to say the words, but still does for her benefit. His free hand is back in her hair again, the other still around her waist, holding her there. Skylar let's out a small, content sigh and nuzzles her nose into the mesh material and metal under her. The simple touch has him closing his eyes, savoring it as she speaks.

"A little," she answers honestly, but in much the same way he asked the question. She doesn't make a move to get up either and instead simply starts humming a quiet tune after a few moments. Cayde seems to understand without another word, comfortable where he is, with the simple motion of his fingers through solar colored hair. A quiet, docile feeling seeps into their world, muffling everything else. Things are moving outside of his room, outside of his bed, things are happening. Like people eating food. Like Zavala frowning at an empty vanguard seat. Like The Darkness…

There are words there, hovering in the air between them silent and known to them both, telling them of the moving world, all of it locked into time, space, and memories. Words of a distant future and an unknown past, things left unanswered and unchecked. That's the thing about time, it's endless and ever flowing, twisting around them like the words are, whispering endearments and truths and horrors all the same. But, like everything else, in this moment, it can wait. The whole world can wait for them to find the strength to pull apart and face the outside world once more. Judging from the content smiles on both their faces, that won't happen anytime soon.

Artemis seems fine with that, recording a few more minutes of them murmuring quietly to each other, only a few words, mostly silent, comfortable and renewing. Then, with careful stillness, the feed fades off to quiet laughter and the hope of better days.

FIN

Playlist:

Skylar - Battle Symphony by Linkin Park

Cadye - Immortals by Fallout Boy

1) Tightrope by Alex Clare

2) Famous by Fallout Boy

3) Never Again by Break Benamin

4) Collide by Howie Day

5) Little Do You Know by Alex & Seirra

6) Sacrifice by Theory of a Deadman

7) Could Not Ask For More by Edwin McCain

Authors note:

I don't think theres a better way to end this than with pillow talk.

Well, guys, it's happened, the story is done. Thank you so much for all your reviews and support while I wrote all this guys and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm in the process of rewrting the first dozen or so chapters so that they line up better with the rest of it. I'll post on tumblr (FeathFang) when that's done so be on the lookout!

As far as the squal - working title: Phantom Footprints, I'm not completely sure when it will go up or if it will at all. I'm still playing around with the idea but I feel I need to take a step back for a bit and get the other story I have going finished first. I can tell youi that it will be done differently, more in the style of Grasping at the Sky, where it will go back anf forth between Skylar and Cayde. The Ghost Logs were fun but also ended up being something I'd rather not do again.

To anyomne still cerious about the sneak in tidbit I briefly spoke about - The Mass Effect X Destiny CrossOver, that will be co-written with my awesome beta is still a possablity. It will star two minor characters from this story; Winter and Tristan who are both friends of Skylar. I'll be updating people on that progression on my Tumblr as well.

Last but not least - in regaurd to the newly unvailed Forsaken update in Destiny 2 - yeah, umm, still in a bit of shock really. I will say this - my sequel doesn't cover anything except the Red War so that won't really change again. I also highly doubt that our favorite Exo is gone for good - They stated that he is dead, but he didn't state he stayed dead. Even if that happens (cringe), well thats just what fanfiction is for.

Once again guys thanks for everything and be sure to leave your thoughts!

DROH