Harley was reading a book in the old Tower when he got an alert, pulling him from his thoughts. He frowned at his interface, unsure if he was reading the message correctly. Osiris rarely contacted him. Not over the interface. He knew that Harley knew when to return. If he needed to get a message to him, he would usually send a Reflection to deliver it. And since Harley had gotten better at creating his own Reflections, there was rarely a need for them to meet in person. But apparently, something was amiss enough that Osiris didn't want to bother with Reflections.

Harley set the book down and opened a portal to exit the simulation. He stepped through, transitioning from the cool open air to a musty enclosed space. The room he stood in was dark and faintly purple. On one side, a wall had been smashed through, leaving a jagged opening into a larger space beyond. He could make out airlock doors across from him. The air smelled strongly of smoke and somewhere outside of the room, an alarm blared faintly. Osiris stood in the middle of the space, his face grim as he studied a form on the floor. Harley walked over.

"What is it? What did you find?"

"Unpleasant tidings." The Warlock gestured.

Harley took a closer look at the figure on the floor. His heart twisted. "Cayde."

The Exo lay still. His eyes were dark and a ragged hole had been punched through his chest. Harley fought to get words out, his eyes locked on Cayde's form.

"Where?"

"The Reef," said Osiris, "The Awoken's Prison of Elders."

"When?"

"I can't be certain. Soon."

"Can I stop it? Maybe I could back him up... Or stop him from going in the first place."

"It is a possibility."

Harley nodded, his mind made up. "Then I'm going. If there's a chance that I can save him, I need to take it."

Osiris nodded in acceptance, though he didn't look happy about it. He summoned a portal back to his fortress. "I trust you can return from here?"

"Yes."

Osiris sighed. "Very well then, Harley Hayden... I don't usually work with Hunters but I must commend you for your dedication. You have been a worthy student. But do not forget that as with all things, there is still more to learn."

"I'll come back once I've made sure that Cayde doesn't die in the Prison of Elders," promised Harley.

Osiris nodded, extending his hand. Harley ignored it, instead pulling him into a hug. The Warlock seemed taken aback. He cleared his throat as Harley stepped back.

"Yes...well... I shall expect your return, Hunter."

Harley stifled a grin. "Until then."

With that, he opened a portal to Mercury, at long last returning to the real world.

The Sun shone just as brightly as it had the day he'd departed, shimmering off of the sand and Vex structures. Harley took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the warm air.

"How long has it been?" he asked.

"We spent almost exactly three years inside the Forest," Prism replied, "Out here, only six months have passed."

Harley nodded. It had taken years and multiple experiences with Vex constructs but Vex time mechanics no longer shocked him quite as much. The passage of time went unnoticed in the Forest. Even knowing that it had been three years since he'd entered the Forest, he had trouble seeing it that way.

But in any case, they were out now and had to get reacquainted with reality in time to stop whatever killed Cayde. Given that neither he or Osiris could be sure when it would happen, the timeframe they had to work with was incredibly uncertain.

"Are you going to call Cayde?" asked Prism.

Harley frowned. "What would I say? '...Hey, Cayde, it's me. Sorry I peaced out for six months but I'm back now and ready to fight some aliens! By the way, are you planning to go to the Prison of Elders anytime soon?'"

"I'm sure you could call him without explaining all that. Cayde isn't very secretive. If he's planning to go out there, odds are that he'll mention it."

Harley considered it. There was truth to her words. Cayde liked to talk about his escapades, both past and planned. Besides, he didn't have many other ways of establishing a timeline. A conversation with Cayde should at least give him a rough idea. He nodded.

"Ok, I'll call him. Could you summon the Star?"

"Sure."

Harley opened his interface. While in the Infinite Forest, he hadn't been able to make contact with anyone on the outside due to the amount of Vex interference. Grimacing at the number of unread messages that greeted him, he called Cayde. The Hunter Vanguard answered almost instantly.

"Heya, kid! Long time, no see."

Harley smiled. "Hey, Cayde."

"You were off the grid for a while. Where've ya been, Ace?"

"Oh, doing this and that," said Harley evasively, "Chasing Vex. You know how they can mess with the comms."

Cayde chuckled. "That I do... So what brings ya back? Finally kill all the Vex in the system? Travel back in time and erase 'em from existence?"

Harley chuckled. "No, unfortunately. I just got out of- I wanted to check-in, see how everyone's doing... Did the Vanguard try to contact me at all?"

"Nah, I covered for ya. Figured you could use the leave."

Harley sighed in relief. "Thanks, Cayde."

"No big deal," said Cayde cheerfully.

"How are things back at the Tower?"

"Good. Boring, to tell the truth. Not that that's anything new."

"You can say that again. Still, better boring than the Red Legion knocking on our door... I'll stop by and pay you a visit."

"Sounds great! But the thing is, I'm not actually there right now... Flying out to the Reef. Petra wanted my help with something."

Harley felt his insides lurch. He had even less time than he'd thought. He tried to keep the nervousness out of his voice.

"You sure it can't wait?"

"'Fraid so. Petra said it was urgent. Riot in the Prison of Elders... Ever been?"

Harley's stomach clenched. "No," he said carefully, "I can't say I have."

"Tell ya what, kid... Why don't you come with me? It'll give you a chance to see the place, wreak some havoc, and we can even get ramen afterward."

"Sure," said Harley, trying not to sound too eager. If he was there, then he could stop Cayde's death from happening.

He watched his ship fly in. "The Star just got here. What's the travel time looking like?"

Cayde laughed. "Six hours, so you'd best get comfy... I'll wait for ya."

"Sounds good. See you then."

Harley ended the call and transmatted into the Star. He wasted no time setting a course for the Reef, noting the six-hour travel projection. Making the jump to warp space, he sighed. "I really hope we can stop this, Prism."

They had to exit warp space several times, as they hadn't been able to get a direct flight path from Mercury to the Reef, the delays slowing them down even more. Needless to say, Harley was intensely nervous that Cayde hadn't waited for them, instead opting to brave the Prison of Elders alone. His fears were rendered groundless, however, as he transmatted out onto the catwalk and saw Cayde and Petra Venj waiting at the entrance to the prison.

Cayde greeted him with enthusiastic finger guns. "Hey! There he is!" He hugged Harley as soon as he was within range, then turned back to face Petra, one arm across Harley's shoulders.

"Harley," Petra greeted with a nod, "It's been a while."

The last time they'd seen each other had been when Harley was out in the Reef, attempting to locate Prince Uldren after the Taken War.

"It has. It's good to see you again, Petra. I'm glad you made it through the Red War. Was there any fallout here?"

"Not nearly as much as there was with the Taken War. We had a few encounters with the Red Legion... I hear your City did as well."

"We sure did," said Cayde, "But we showed those Red Legion bastards who's boss."

A small smile appeared on Petra's face before vanishing just as quickly. "I'm sorry that this isn't a social call... Though I'm sure we'll all have time to catch up afterward." She looked at Harley. "There's a riot in the prison. While the main area and lower levels are locked down, gen-pop is in chaos."

"Hmm," said Harley, "So we go in and put an end to it?"

"Sounds like any other Tuesday," said Cayde cheerfully. He patted Harley's shoulder. "See ya down there!"

Harley watched as the Hunter Vanguard jumped off of the catwalk. "Good luck, Harley," said Petra, jogging off to the main entrance. Harley took a moment to get rid of the apprehension he felt before following her.

Inside, the prison was as chaotic as could be expected. The first door opened with an explosion, sending him reeling in a wave of heat. An alarm blared, assaulting his already ringing ears as he entered and began taking out combatants. Fire and rubble created a dangerous minefield across the floor, waiting to trip him up. Another explosion rocked the place, bigger than the first. Harley's head whipped around as he looked for the source.

"What the hell was that?"

"Not sure," Petra replied, "I'm going to find the source. Meet up with me when you can. And watch out. There are a few more open cell blocks now, thanks to that explosion."

"Fantastic," Harley muttered.

He swept through the prison, eliminating more escapees. Why the Awoken had created this facility in the first place, he had no idea. When he finally caught up with Petra, she was stabbing a Fallen Vandal in the head. Pulling out the knife, she grinned at him.

"I love fieldwork... Unfortunately, the blast took out security on the lower deck. I'll check on the prisoners, but we need security back online. Think you two can manage that?"

"Sure thing!" said Cayde, "Alright, kid. I'm taking the high ground. You go low."

"Works for me." Harley left the room, instantly encountering a wide hallway full of enemies and open cells. "Here goes nothing…"

He summoned his Arc Staff and began cutting them down. Over the comms, he could hear Cayde cheering and making triumphant remarks. At one point, he saw the other Hunter summon his Golden Gun and take out a group of adversaries as he taunted them. With both of them working to clear the way, it seemed to take no time at all before they were closing in on the security hub.

"We're nearly there, Petra."

"Copy that. Everything's gone dark down here, so I'm stuck taking the long way to supermax."

Cayde jumped down, landing on a Cabal that Harley had been about to shoot. The sight would have been funny had they not been precariously balanced on an edge. An edge that the Cabal was stumbling toward. Harley's heart caught in his throat as they toppled backward. He lunged forward but was too slow. For one dreadful moment, he thought that he had failed and Cayde had died. Then Cayde emerged again, dangling below a Shank. Harley nearly collapsed in relief.

"Meet ya at the security hub!" said Cayde.

Harley watched him fly off, calling out directions to the Shank and shook his head. He'd gotten lucky this time but he couldn't afford to be caught off-guard again.

Securing the hub was easy. He had to clear some Hive stuff that was jamming the systems, but after that, the security system was booted up in a matter of minutes. Cayde proceeded to take command of the prison's turrets, using them to kill the enemies in Harley's path to the security terminal.

"You two get the security system back online yet?" asked Petra, "I've hit a locked door."

Harley extended a hand, summoning Prism. His Ghost flew to the terminal. "I'll have it up in a moment," she said. There was a short pause.

"Yes!" said Petra, "It's back online. I'm accessing the lower levels now. Just checking on a couple of things, and then we can call it a day."

"Looks like we're all done and dusted here," said Cayde, "Ramen's on me."

Harley wanted to agree, but his sense of unease hadn't left him. Was that it? Had he thwarted Cayde's death? Somehow, he didn't think so. There had to be an added wrinkle somewhere.

"Looking pretty good down here," said Petra, "Just gotta check one last thing…" There was another pause. "No no no no. Cayde - he's gone. This isn't a prison riot, it's a prison break. The airlock on Deck Zero! It's the only way out this far down. They're going to escape!"

Harley had no idea who or what she was talking about, but from the tone of her voice, it was very bad news.

"Not if I get there first," said Cayde.

Harley noted the determination in his voice. He moved to the edge where the wall of the room had been ripped away and looked at the security hub, suspended as it was over the hollow center of the prison. A closer look told him that Cayde was climbing the outside of it. Harley's heart jumped into his throat.

"What are you doing?!"

Cayde chuckled. "Wait and see."

"Cayde, whatever you're doing, wait for me!"

"Sorry, kiddo. We gotta stop this now or thing's'll surely go to hell." Drawing his gun, he shot at the support holding up the security hub.

"Wait!"

But Cayde continued to fire until the chamber emptied. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, with an ominous creak, the structure gave way, plummeting straight down into the depths of the prison and vanishing from sight. From miles below came the sound of a distant explosion and all of a sudden Harley felt the floor drop away. Then darkness.

He wasn't sure how much time he lost. The next thing he knew, Prism was shining a beam at him. He got to his feet with a groan, taking in the rubble around him.

"What happened?"

"We fell twenty stories down," said Prism worriedly, "I can't reach Cayde or Petra."

"We'd better get down there, then," said Harley. He set off at once, not wanting to lose any more time.

As they made their way deeper into the prison, it became clear that the enemies contained within it weren't limited to the garden variety adversaries Harley was used to fighting. The lower cells contained a nightmarish breed of mutated Fallen that had his skin crawling. He fought through what felt like endless numbers of them as he descended.

He was navigating an air duct, trying his best not to make too much noise, when a blinding light flashed, burning his eyes. As it hit him, he felt something deep within him suddenly torn away, leaving a gaping hole that bled Light. The sensation was so acute that he examined his chest instinctively for any sign of damage, but found nothing.

"Prism? What was that?"

"No!" exclaimed Prism, "That was Sundance! She's dead…"

A cold feeling settled inside of him. If Sundance was lost, Cayde's next death would be his last. They had to find him. He slid out of the duct and sprinted through the remaining levels, throwing himself at the enemies without caution. Finally, he encountered a hulking thing that was in the process of breaking down a door. He had a horrible feeling that he knew what was on the other side. He dispatched the creature as fast as possible and burst into the room at top speed.

He'd only been in the room with Osiris for a few minutes, yet in that span of time, the image of the room had been burned into his brain. The second he stepped through the door, he knew he was out of time. The future was happening. At the other end, he saw a figure standing with its back to him, cloaked and hooded like a Hunter. Cayde lay on the floor between himself and the other person. Tearing his gaze away from the fallen Hunter, he looked back to the cloaked figure. The figure turned and Harley felt his world flip over. Uldren Sov. The Queen's brother. The man who had been presumed dead after vanishing in the Battle of Saturn. The man Harley had spent weeks searching for. Even if the prince wasn't supposed to be dead, what was he doing in the Prison of Elders? Why was he with Cayde? Was he trying to help? No, that couldn't be it. Because Uldren was holding the Ace of Spades. The gun that, as Harley had learned, had been named after himself. The gun that Cayde had custom-built by Banshee-44. There was only one of its kind in the Sol System and it was there in Uldren Sov's hand. What was he doing with Cayde's gun?

Uldren chuckled. "He didn't feel a thing."

It took Harley a moment to connect the dots. Uldren had killed Cayde. Uldren had pulled the trigger. Uldren had stood over Cayde and ended his life with a bullet from Cayde's own gun. Harley cried out in rage and raised his own gun, intending to put a bullet between Uldren's eyes. But before he could shoot, a door closed between them. He took a half-step towards it but knew it would be sealed. He'd deal with Uldren later. Cayde came first.

He hurried to the Hunter Vanguard's side and knelt next to him, letting his gun fall to the floor. Cayde looked up at him. The Hunter Vanguard's face was smashed up on one side and one of his eyes was flickering.

"Hey, kiddo."

His voice was strained, with more of a mechanical undertone than usual. His chest rose and fell quickly with ragged, shallow breaths. Harley pressed a trembling hand to his mouth, fighting back a sob. Next to him, Prism flashed into existence, scanning over the gaping hole in Cayde's chest.

"Oh no…" she said.

"Prism…" Harley's voice cracked. "Tell me there's something you can do… Anything," he pleaded.

"I'm sorry," said Prism softly, looking between him and Cayde, "I'm so sorry. There's nothing I can do..."

Harley looked at Cayde. "It was one thing. Just one thing and I failed! I couldn't… I was supposed to save you." It came out as a whisper.

"What a story that would've been," said Cayde with a smile. He coughed. "Listen, kid."

Harley averted his eyes. Maybe if he tried hard enough, he could make the tears stop. Maybe he could make everything stop. A hand lightly grasped his chin, turning his face back towards Cayde's. Harley's eyes fixed on the floor.

"Kid."

Cayde moved his hand from Harley's chin to the side of his face. Harley closed his eyes, leaning into Cayde's hand.

"Ace." He opened his eyes, finally looking at Cayde. "This is important," said Cayde, "You gotta know… This...this ain't on you. Knew this was comin' eventually. Just didn't-" He coughed again. "Didn't think it'd happen quite…so soon." He chuckled weakly, but they soon turned into coughs. "Listen… Tell Zav and Ikora somethin' for me...Tell 'em the Vanguard...is the best bet...I ever lost… And promise…" He reached up with his other hand, cupping Harley's face. "You gotta promise me… Don't blame yourself...for this."

Harley just nodded as the tears continued to fall. Cayde's breathing was becoming increasingly labored as he let his hands fall away.

"'S a fact...of life kid… When your time's up...it's up… See you starside… Ace…"

His movements stilled and his eyes, still locked on Harley's own, dimmed.

"No!" Harley grabbed his shoulders and shook him, even though he knew it wouldn't change anything. "NO!"

A wave of pain and anger ripped through him, expelling outward in a fiery shockwave. He gave another sob and buried his face in the other Hunter's chest, clinging to him as though it would bring him back.

That was how Petra found them when she ran in a few minutes later, her rapid footsteps coming to a halt somewhere behind Harley. He didn't turn around.

"No…" she said, her voice small. Her breathing was loud, filling the small room.

Harley flinched when her hand touched his shoulder. He looked up at her. Petra studied his tearstained face and a look of understanding entered her eyes.

"He...meant a lot to you, didn't he?" Harley nodded wordlessly. Petra sighed, bowing her head. "He should be brought back to the City… I can-"

"No," he cut her off, "This is something I should do alone."

She nodded and stepped back, leaving him to gather Cayde's body in his arms. The Hunter seemed too light, as though death had stolen his substance as well as his spark. Harley turned to leave, but paused, meeting Petra's eyes.

"I'll be back."

She read the promise in his gaze and nodded. "I'll be ready."

With that, Harley stepped past her, beginning the somber journey back to the Tower.