Hah! Guess what! Updating this finally. Got to a hotel with internet and a few days down due to weather so guess what I did.

That's right! Been grinding the hell out of D2. Got my Revoker and Devil's Ruin and half a dozen other things.

*ah hem*

And trying to write more.

At least Destiny is giving me more Lore to incorporate!?

Chapter 2

Destiny could shove it.

That was the single thought Jaune had slowly come to in the past five hours as the exhausted Guardian finally managed to grasp the ledge above him. Gingerly testing his footing, he placed a little more pressure on his right leg, wincing as the stone beneath it shifted ominously. Gritting his teeth, he reached up with his other hand and prayed.

A minute ticked by, the whisper of the wind below him caused his fists to tighten on their precarious hold.

With an excessive amount of care, Jaune slowly drew himself up. Inch by inch, the young warlock hoisted himself higher. His ears strained for any sounds of falling rocks and his feet steady as he climbed the last foot or so, his chest breaking over the edge of the cliff.

As soon as his upper body was on firm ground, Jaune exploded into motion, hands flailing and legs thrashing as he did his utmost to put as much distance between himself and the hole he'd just climbed out of.

A chasm or bottomless pit would probably be a better descriptor than 'hole', though. At least in Jaune's mind.

Taking a ragged, well deserved gulp of air, Jaune rolled over onto his back and stared at the bright blue sky. Wincing as he felt strained and tired muscles finally being able to relax, he deemed it nap time.

"Well, Guardian. I'm glad you made it out." Crocea said, gleaming into existence near his shoulder.

Jaune swatted a hand towards the small thing, though the appendage was slow and swung wide by almost a foot. "Yea… no thanks to you."

"I'd say quite to the contrary." The Ghost said, and Jaune could just feel the smugness in her voice, "I believe this was a rather unique learning experience for you. You would probably qualify as a mountain ranger quite easily after this."

"I would rather die." Jaune stated, pausing for a moment to think that phrase over, "I take that back. I'm over dying."

"Even still, your determination is to be commended." Crocea continued, "I am certain any other guardian would have given up the climb hours ago in favor of transmatting to their ship."

"We. Do not. Have. a ship." Jaune ground out, his ire coloring his words.

"True, but that does not diminish the feat of accomplishment." The Ghost seemed to blink as Jaune Linked his helmet away and glared at her, "I'm being serious here. You just climbed nearly eight hundred feet of shear rock." She said defensively.

Jaune just snorted and rolled over, pushing his tired body up to a kneeling position as he shot the chasm a hateful look.

A few yards before him, the ground simply seemed to vanish. A swath cut through the earth, directly across the road he'd been traveling on throughout the night. He shivered at the thought of trying to crawl out of that pit in the dark.

Darker than it already was down there anyways.

Shaking his head, he stood up and reLinked his helmet. "So, how much further?" He asked, turning his thoughts back to the path before him, and away from his Pike. Which was currently a smoldering ruin at the bottom of the pit.

Crocea floated up next to his shoulder, her pieces rotating as she thought. "About another week if we keep up a steady pace. Though there is a chance we'll hit a human settlement, since we are getting closer to the City."

"There's people living this far out?" Jaune asked, unable to hide the surprise in his voice.

"Some." Crocea answered, "It isn't uncommon for some to grow tired of living inside the Walls. There are many villages and small towns in the frontier. They do tend to be a little… rough though."

"What do you mean, 'rough'?"

Crocea rolled her eye, "Well, while Guardian's aren't uncommon, most of the towns consist of regular people. Those strong enough to survive outside the Walls are often quite self sufficient to put it lightly. They must be able to fight off roving Fallen and provide largely for themselves."

Jaune nodded, thinking back to how he'd struggled to deal with his enemies at the start. To face them without unlimited lives made him shudder. The people had to be strong to last long out here.

"Welp, not much point in hanging around here." Jaune said with one last glance towards the pit behind him.

"Right, right." Crocea agreed, "We're burning daylight."

It was three days after losing his pike before Jaune saw any signs of life aside from roving patrols of Fallen, no pikes however. Standing on what once was the balcony of an apartment complex, though the upper floors were long gone, he stared out at a distant flicker of smoke.

"Do you think it's Fallen?" He asked.

His ghost gave what he assumed was a shrug, two of her pieces shifting up and down once. "More than likely, but we are close enough to the walls that it might be people. Either way, its supplies and possibly a ride to the walls."

Jaune shrugged, Linking and retrieving his rifle. "Well, what do you say to taking it slow and easy?"

"Sounds like a Warlock plan if I've ever heard one." She said, dissolving into a sparkle of motes.

Jaune nodded and leapt off the balcony, flexing his legs as he landed before making his way towards the lazy wisp in the distance.

An hour later, Jaune slowed his pace even further. The thin trail of smoke grew thicker as he drew closer, and he could faintly hear various sounds that differed from the usual hum of forest life.

Crouching low, he began to belly crawl through the brush, coming to a stop halfway in a bush. The ground was covered in a thick moss like growth that was surprisingly soft, he gently pushed a stiff branch out of his way. On the other side of the bush, a shallow valley opened up before him. Nestled among the trees stood a village, a human village. Jaune's eyes widened behind his visor as he watched a group of children kicking a ball back and forth while several adults tended to various chores.

One man, a rifle slung over his shoulder, was helping a woman hang up a large blanket on a piece of wire. He noted the woman was carrying a pistol on her hip. On the other side of the little camp, three more people were carrying a large log between themselves.

Jaune could barely tear his eyes away. People, actual people were here. A large smile blossomed across his face as he watched from his cover. Idly, he felt the branch he'd pushed away rub against the back of his helmet, he waved a hand over his head to brush it away.

"Wow," He said under his breath, "It looks like they've got quite the set up here."

Several large buildings stood around a large clearing, though somewhat ramshackle, they looked sturdy enough. Large pieces of metal and tarps were used as patches for the more worn buildings, though several were clearly newer. Large logs had been carefully cut and carved to fit together snugly, and clearly made to last for a long time.

The branch came back to click against his helmet again.

"Looks like everyone is carrying some form of weapon," He idly noted to himself, "But I would have thought they'd have some kind of guard set up, you know?"

"Oh, I'd bet my shell that they do." Crocea said, having rematerialized next to him, "You probably just haven't noticed them yet." For some reason she wasn't looking at him or the camp.

"I think I would have noticed them if I'd walked by one." Jaune said as he glanced over at her, "I haven't seen or heard anything besides birds for a while now."

Nearby, a bird whistled.

"See? Like that." He said, turning his attention back towards the small village.

Crocea turned to stare at him, "Maybe that wasn't a bird," She said, "Maybe it was a signal?"

Jaune huffed, "I doubt it."

The bird gave another whistle, it sounded like it was right beside him. He kinda wanted to see what kind it was, but at the same time he didn't want to scare it away. Instead, he gently brushed the branch away from his head again.

"See?" He said, glancing at the Gxcdsc host, "That sounds exactly like a real bird."

"Why, thank you." A low voice said, sounding amused to the point of giggling.

"Anyways," Jaune said, watching the kids playing at the edge, "I wonder how I should introduce myself. Should I just walk up and say hi?"

"That'd probably be better than watching from a bush like some kind of creep."

Jaune blinked and looked at Crocea, "You can change your voice?" He asked, realizing she sounded a bit different.

Crocea didn't say anything for several moments, her shutter twitching slightly she seemed to glance between him and the bush he was hiding in. "No, Jaune. No I cannot." She finally said, her voice the same somewhat tinny sound he was familiar with.

"Huh?" Jaune asked, focusing on the ghost, "But if that wasn't you, then…"

The branch tinked against his helmet in a slow rhythmic pattern, with more force than he would expect from a piece of wood swaying in the breeze. It also sounded mildly metallic. Something filtered into the forefront of the Guardian's thoughts.

"Not that I'm not flattered," THE BUSH ITSELF SAID, "but you're kinda heavy. You mind getting off my lap?"

Jaune froze still as a board before slowly turning his head towards the sound of the voice. Blinking, he could almost see what looked like a face behind the leaves and branches.

The face smiled.

Looking further to the side, Jaune noticed the branch that had been tapping at the back of his helmet. The muzzle break on the end made his eyes cross. Very slowly, Jaune crawled back the way he came, acutely aware that what he'd thought was soft moss was actually clothing.

Clothing that someone was wearing.

"Oh thank the Traveler, I can feel my legs." The bush said as it shifted to the side, the part he'd been laying on breaking away from the rest of it the person stood up. "You can drop the helmet, if you don't mind." The figure said as the branch looking rifle leveled itself at his chest.

Crocea floated up next to his shoulder as his helmet was stored back in the Link. She did not look very impressed with him. To be fair, Jaune wasn't very impressed with himself either at the moment, something more than likely obvious since it felt like his face was bright red.

"Huh. You ain't half bad looking." The bush person said, one leaf covered arm coming up to pull off the head garb. "What's your name, Guardian?"

"Uh… Jaune." He said, scratching the back of his head.

A smirk touched the other person's face, her darker toned skin was covered in what he assumed was paint. Streaks of black, brown and various shades of green surrounded dark brown eyes. "Hmm, guessing you're new, if ya ain't got a last name yet." She said, resting the rifle on her shoulder.

Jaune nodded as Crocea floated forwards a little, "Less than a week old," She said, "He's still learning about things." Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, "He a little slow, but he's got spirit."

The woman laughed as Jaune's cheeks heated up more, rubbing his arm with one hand. "Um, yea, sorry about that. I didn't even see you there."

"Well, thank you for the compliment," She said, giving a small bow, "You can call me Suraya. Pleasure to meet you, Jaune and…?" She trailed off, glancing at the Ghost.

"Oh, right. This is Crocea Mors." Jaune said, gesturing towards the machine before turning back "It's nice to meet you, Suraya. You're the first person I've met since Crocea resurrected me."

"Well, then let me introduce you to some more." Suraya said before letting out a bird call, a moment later another call answered from somewhere to their left. "It's about time for my break anyways." She said, tossing her head in the direction of the village before turning and walking down the hill.

Jaune waited for her to get a few feet in front of him before he turned to Crocea.

"Why didn't you warn me?!" He whisper yelled, subtly glancing between the bush lady and the smug looking Ghost.

"I gave you plenty of hints, Jaune." She answered back, at normal speaking volume, "Besides, I didn't even notice her there until it was too late anyways."

"When was 'too late'?" He asked, "When I was laying in her lap?"

"Yes, about then. Right about the time you pushed her rifle out of the way."

Jaune gestured wildly for a moment, trying to express his annoyance with the little floating ball. Finally, he gave up in favor of crossing his arms and sullenly following Suraya the last two or so hundred yards to the settlement.

"Hey, Jorge!" Suraya shouted as they drew closer, "Tell Ma we got a visitor!"

One of the men who had been carrying logs from the forest looked up, his gaze shifting to guardian behind her before nodding and turning towards one of the larger buildings. Suraya glanced over her shoulder to to Jaune, "Come on, take a seat by the fire. I'm gonna go un-ghillie myself."

Jaune gave a word of thanks as he moved towards the large fire pit in front of what he assumed was a lodge. Several spits of meat were turning over the fire, the smell of spices and herbs wafted over him.

His stomach growled loudly.

"Why hello there, Guardian." A new voice called from behind him. Turning, Jaune saw a woman with gray and green robes coming out of the lodge. Her hair was sandy colored, with shocks of grey running through the neatly tied braid falling over her shoulder down to her waist. Lightly tanned skin, weather worn with deep lines and a warm smile that seemed to make her glow.

Jaune leapt to his feet and gave a small bow, "Ah, hello Ma'am. Sorry to intrude, I was just passing through on my way to the city."

"Oh, do away with the posh." She said, smiling brightly at him, "You'll make me feel old calling me that. Sit, sit. I'm sure you've been traveling a while." She waved at the collection of benches and chairs that surrounded the fire pit and a long table that stood to the side. "And call me Ma, or Juniper, please. I'm not that old."

Jaune smiled at her as he drew out a chair and sat down. It felt nice to actually have a proper chair for once, and he leaned back with a sigh.

"So," Ma said, drawing up a chair opposite him and uncorking a bottle that had been sitting to the side, "Tell me a little about yourself. I can guess at a few details, but it's much more fun to hear them."

Jaune took the glass she offered, bringing it to his lips and sniffing at the amber liquid before taking a sip. A fruity apple flavor exploded in his mouth, his eyes widening as he downed the drink.

"My my, thirsty, are we?" The woman laughed as Jaune took a deep breath, "Or is the cider that good?"

Jaune wiped his mouth with the back of his gloves, "That's delicious! I've never tasted anything like that before." He said, savoring the lingering flavor, "Well, not that I've really tasted much."

"A newly risen Guardian," Juniper nodded, "I suppose you're in quite the hurry to make it to the city, then."

Crocea floated up next to his shoulder, "Well, yes and no. More make it to civilization."

"Why hello, little Ghost." The woman said, turning her smile to her, "I suppose you must be quite happy to have found your Guardian."

"Yes, very much so. Even if he's a little prone to falling."

"Hey," Jaune huffed, "I take offence to that. I've accomplished more than just falling to my death."

"Quite," Jaune hunched as Suraya's voice spoke up behind him, "Like crawling into my lap without seeing me."

Juniper let out a trilling laugh as the younger woman sat down at the corner of the table, a smug grin on her face. Jaune's face buried itself into the table. "Like I said," Crocea chirped, "He is still learning about the world."

After a few moments of laughter, Juniper finally took pity on him with a soft pat on the head, "Well, we can hardly send you back off into the wilds like you are." She said, a motherly smile flashing across her face. "Tell me a little about yourself."

Jaune sat back up and accepted another glass of apple juice, sipping it slowly this time. "Well, like Crocea told Suraya, I've only been Raised for about a week. Crocea has got me fairly caught up on the whole 'Guardian' thing, along with some equipment."

Juniper nodded, "So I see, I take it you've already encountered some Fallen then?"

He nodded, "Yes Ma'am -"

A raised eyebrow cut him off.

"Er, uh. Juniper." He corrected himself, "Crocea was able to make me armor and a weapon already,"

"Mind if I see it?" Suraya piped up.

Jaune shrugged and retrieved his auto rifle from the link, handing it over to her. "Oh, and I've already unlocked my first Ability."

Suraya was turning the Pariah over in her hands, "Oh? What did you get?"

"Melea. Arc class." He answered, sipping more of his juice.

A wider smile stretched stretched across the older woman's face, "My, what a coincidence."

Jaune blinked at the woman, before glancing over at Crocea, who shrugged her shell. He looked back at Juniper with a puzzled expression.

"Oh, I forgot to mention it," She said, "Our little clan here, and my last name." With a small flourish, she swept one hand out and around to the buildings and people working and playing, "Welcome to the Arc Clan Farm. No relation to the class, but an amusing occurrence nonetheless."

Jaune felt a small grin crawl across his face, "Huh, that is funny."

"Well you are more than welcome to join us for supper." She said, "Though we may not have a lot, we are more than willing to share what we can."

"Oh, thank you. But like I said, I wouldn't want to impose." Jaune said, waving a hand in front of him, "I don't really have anything to pay you back with anyways."

"You can fight, can't you?" Suraya asked, handing his rifle back, "Or is this just a fancy paper weight?"

Jaune let the rifle disappear into thin air, "I can… but I'm not very good at it."

"I'll make you a deal, Jaune." Juniper said, filling his glass up once more, "We have a shipment of produce heading to the city here in two weeks. We usually put out a patrol beacon a week before hand and wait for a Guardian willing to escort it to the city. If you are willing to wait, I'm certain we can keep you fed until then."

"Maybe we can get some training into you as well," Suraya added, shooting him a smirk, "Wouldn't do for you to show up to the Vanguard without some experience."

Jaune mulled it over for a total of three seconds, the meat cooking over the fire next to him did smell amazing, and with a nod from Crocea, reached out and shook hands. "Sounds good to me."

"Not bad, Guardian." Suraya said with a slow clap as she walked up behind him, "Not bad at all."

Jaune grunted and rolled his shoulder, feeling the now familiar relief of Light that wash over his body. At his feet lay a dozen or so Dregs, a scouting party that had ventured into the valley he and Suraya had been camping.

The ambush had gone off cleanly, with her hiding up in the cliff side with her rifle - a DMR he'd learned - and him hiding among the rocks. He'd waited till the last one had passed his position before opening up with his auto-rifle. All in all, the fight had taken less than twenty seconds, and according to Suraya, fast enough that a call for backup was almost impossible.

He hadn't even died!

He grinned at the darker toned woman, who he'd learned had just turned 19, before setting about scavagening weapon parts and other valuables from their enemies. Ten pieces of Spinmetal and four hundred Glimmer later, he helped drag the remains towards a boulder resting to the side of the ravine.

With a heave, he dropped the body he was carrying down the hole behind the rock. Suraya had explained that the Fallen patrols disappearing out in the wilds was common. Less common were large numbers of bodies riddled with bullets being found.

The Arc Clan had taken to striking in seemingly random areas, often far from their Farm, and hiding the bodies either underground or burned. Suraya dumped the last Dreg carcass in the hole and tossed a glass bottle down after it, quickly followed by a match.

"Ya know," She said, readjusting her rifle, "This would be a lot easier if you were a Sol Warlock, I hear they can disintegrate their enemies completely."

Jaune shrugged, "I don't think I'll be able to do that for a long time. Crocea said that Guardian's have to study for years to master their abilities."

"Eh, sounds boring." She said, turning and slinging one of their packs over her shoulder, "I'd rather just live my life out here. Way more peaceful than being cooped up in the City."

"Is that where you're from?"

"Yea, pretty much everyone is from the City." She said, giving him a look as he gathered the remaining four bags of loot like they were nothing. "That's just unfair."

"Want me to carry yours too? It looks a little heavy." Jaune teased, resting the bags under one arm, his gun held in the other.

"Shove off." She grumbled halfheartedly, turning and back tracking her way towards the Farm, a grinning Jaune following behind.

Starlight twinkled above as Jaune sat overlooking the Farm. He idly traced various constellations the others had told him about and watching the occasional flare of a ships engine as they streaked across the sky. He wondered what the world looked like from up there, what the other places Crocea had told him about looked like. It was a sobering thought.

"That's an awfully long look you're wearing, Jaune." A voice shook him from his thoughts.

Turning slightly, Jaune noticed Nicolas Arc - Juniper's husband - climb up the last ledge to the roof he'd been sitting on. "Oh, Mr Ar- Sorry, Nicolas, I hope I wasn't disturbing you." He said, wondering if he'd started humming again.

It'd been an odd tick he'd found himself struggling with after the first couple of days of being around other people.

The older man gave a soft chuckle, "Not at all, son." A gentle smile on his face, "Just wanted to thank you for the help around the place."

Jaune blinked, "I don't feel like I've done all that much."

"Nonsense." Nicolas tapped his shoulder as he settled down next to him, "From what Suraya tells me, the Farm is safer because of you."

Jaune blushed, while compliments were common since he'd arrived at the farm, he still felt awkward about them. Maybe it was another quirk from his past life. Still, he murmured out his acceptance before turning back to the sky.

"Ya know, I've often wondered what lies out there." Nicolas spoke up, letting the statement hang in the air for a moment before continuing, "Then I realize how much I would miss out on down here. Guess I came to realize that what is most important isn't what is out of our reach, but that what we can hold on to."

Jaune let the words linger before shifting his gaze from the sky back to the Farm. They were sitting on the barn/storage shed overlooking the lodge and cooking pits. "What if what you want is out of your reach?" He asked.

"Want is out of reach." The other man replied, "It's an ever changing thing. There are only three things anyone ever truly desires. At least those of us who aren't insane."

"Three things?" Jaune's brows furrowed, while he might be young, he could think of more than three things he wanted.

Nicolas nodded softly, "Yup. Only three things."

Jaune narrowed his eyes at the man. This was another of his word games, something the older man seemed fond of. Jaune still hadn't forgiven him for the 'eleven fingers' word game thing. "What's the three things?"

Playing ignorant had been an early lesson he'd learned in the last week and a half with the Arc Clan.

"Hmm, let's see," Nicolas made a show of stroking his dusty blonde beard, "A warm place to sleep would be the first, and second would be someone to love and grow old with. Hmm. Third is always the tricky one."

Jaune didn't miss the twinkle in his eye.

"Third, for me at least, is the knowledge that I did the absolute best I could for the second."

A light shove earned a loud laugh as Jaune shoved the man, "You're whipped. You know that right?" He declared, unwilling to fight the smile that covered his face. "Like completely whipped."

A pearly smile and bright blue eyes met his own, "Boy, someday you'll know what I'm talking about. Also, you don't get to talk shit till you can beat me in arm wrestling."

"You think Ma will like to know you're teaching me swear words?" Jaune shot back.

"I'll just blame Suraya."

"Yea, she'd probably believe that." Jaune laughed before trailing off and staring back at the stars. Together the two drifted off as one looked at the stars and one looked at the stars.

"Ya know," Nicolas said softly, "Won't be too long before you're up there, racing across the sky to fight the Darkness."

Jaune gave a glance to the star filled void before he looked back to the slumbering farm before him. "Yea, I know. But I'll have something to fight for. People to protect."

"That you will, son." Nicolas clapped him on the shoulder, "We'll be waiting for you when you get back."

Yea, so I haven't done a second chapter to this and I regret it. Destiny is such a Lore rich game. However, as most games, it requires hours and hours *years* or playing and reading and researching to understand.

Even then, you still get gut punched every update by the masterminds behind the game. *Spoiler* (I DIDN'T WANT TO FIND MY OWN DAMN GRAVE THANK YOU)

Anyways. Still not dead. Still working. Still looking ahead to moving home.