"No one can open the Vault alone. I opened the Vault. There was no one with me but I was not alone." - Kabr the Legionless

Harley ran through his mental checklist for the third time. Despite what he wanted Prism to think, he was a bit anxious about the mission. Sure, he was glad to do anything to thwart the Vex's plans, but he couldn't get the story of Kabr and his fireteam out of his head. Particularly the part about Pahanin going mad. Pahanin had been a Hunter just like him until he'd entered the Vault of Glass. Something had got to him down there and whatever it was, Harley was pretty sure he wasn't ready to face it.

It could be worse, he thought, You could be going alone. He nodded to himself. That was true. At least he'd have Rae there with him. She clearly knew what she was doing better than he did. After all, she'd been a Guardian for a lot longer. It would be different having someone there to watch his back.

Up to this point, everything Harley had done, he'd done alone. He wondered if the Vault was a Darkness Zone. Probably. It seemed like it would be. Any stronghold of the Vex couldn't be good for reviving Guardians. That was another reason he was glad to have Rae along. Prism had once told him that the only way a Guardian could be revived in a Darkness Zone was if another Guardian was nearby to lend some of their Light. There would never be enough otherwise. Hopefully, Rae would be up to it. But if he was being honest, she was probably more than up to it. She wasn't a Stormcaller for nothing, after all. Besides, the mission was a cakewalk. Get in, do some digging, get out.

He checked the time, finding that it was almost midnight. He decided he'd better get to bed. He was going to need to be at his best tomorrow. Harley washed his face, then changed into a T-shirt and sweatpants. He called out into the main room.

"Hey Prism! Did you set an alarm for tomorrow?"

"Yes, it's all done. Now, if you don't mind, I am going to power off for the night."

"Alright! See you in the morning."

He brushed his teeth, then headed back into the main room. Prism had settled on top of the dresser, eye closed. Harley turned off the light, then got into his bed. He'd thought that he would have trouble falling asleep, but it seemed like his body had other ideas, because he was out almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Harley was roused the next morning by a persistent pinging sound. He sat up and looked around for the source, squinting against the light that entered through the slits in the blinds.

"Good. You're awake."

He looked to his left and saw Prism hovering in front of him. The pinging stopped. He yawned.

"Wha time izzit?"

"8:02," said Prism, "I've been playing that sound for two minutes."

"Sorry."

"You'd better get ready, assuming you want to eat breakfast this morning?"

He nodded. "I'll be right out."

He headed into the bathroom. By the time he got out, it was 8:15.

"I'm ready. Let's go to the mess hall."

Harley was halfway through his plate of pancakes when Rae dropped into the seat across from him.

"Guf mornin," he said through a mouthful of pancake.

In lieu of words, Rae glared at him and grabbed his coffee.

"Why does everyone steal my coffee?" Harley bemoaned.

"You're an easy target, Ace," she replied, "Besides, it's payment. I hate getting up early."

"That I can confirm," her Ghost said, appearing next to her.

Harley tried to remember his name. Was it Shade? Shawn? Rae rolled her eyes.

"No one asked you, Shard."

Well, I was close, thought Harley.

"I think I would die of shock if you ever asked me about anything," said Shard, "All you Guardians are the same… Always thinking your opinion is the only one that counts."

"Tell me about it," said Prism, "I might as well not be here for how much Harley listens to my advice."

"You guys can have your book club later," said Rae, "I'm bored. Let's go kill some Vex."

"It's a scouting mission." "Same difference." "It's not, though. As soon as we start firing, they'll know that we're there."

"I know. I was kidding Ace. Warlocks know the importance of gathering intel. It's the Titans you gotta worry about. They always wanna charge straight in… Unless they're Torelli. He's boring."

Harley finished off the last few bites of his pancake.

"I'm ready. What time is it?"

"8:47," said the Ghosts in unison.

"Ok. We'd better get going. Amanda has us logged for a nine o'clock launch."

The Guardians stood up and headed for the door. Harley waved Rae ahead of him with a smirk.

"Age before beauty."

She replied by giving him a death glare that would scare a Cabal.

"If you were twice as smart, you'd still be stupid."

With that, she sauntered out the door. Harley followed her, speechless.

"You brought that upon yourself," said Prism unsympathetically.

"Whatever," he grumbled.

They arrived in the Hangar at 8:53. Amanda waved at them as they entered.

"I started to think you'd changed your mind," she said cheerfully as they crossed over.

"Nope," said Harley, "I've been stuck in this Tower long enough."

Amanda laughed. "Cayde keeps tellin' me the same thing. You Hunters are birds of a feather."

Harley chose not to comment on this.

"Are we ready to go?"

The Shipwright nodded. "Sure as shootin'. The Star's over on the left. Shadow's on the right."

That must be Rae's ship, Harley realized.

"Great. Thanks, Amanda."

"Don't mention it."

As they went off to their respective ships, Amanda followed Harley over.

"You gonna tell me where you want me to say you're goin'?"

Harley shrugged. "Anywhere but Venus, honestly."

Amanda nodded. "Sure thing... Guess I'm loggin' this one as...hmm… How 'bout a Cosmodrome patrol?"

"So you're really not going to tell the Vanguard?"

Amanda shrugged. "I figure if they really wanted to stop ya, they'd've sent me a message."

"Thank you."

"No problem. Just make sure you come back in one piece."

"Will do… I'm ready for transmat, Prism."

"Transmatting…"

Harley glanced across at Rae's ship. She hailed him from the cockpit, giving a thumbs up. Taking a deep breath, he put on his helmet, hearing the hiss as it sealed in place. He nodded at Rae. A few seconds later, her engine came on. Harley started his own engine.

"Lifting off in 3...2...1."

His ship lifted up and he pushed forward on the controls, sending it speeding out of the Hangar and into the open sky. He looked back and saw Rae's ship following close behind.

"We're exiting atmo in less than a minute," he said over the comms, "You sure you don't have cold feet?"

"Nope. My feet are toasty warm," Rae replied.

"Can Ghosts have cold feet? Because I think I have cold feet," said Shard.

Harley felt a lurch as the Star broke through the last layer of the atmosphere and into cold space.

"Preparing to enter warp space… You ready for this?"

"I bet I'm more ready than you'll ever be."

"Whatever you say, Rae… Vault of Glass, here we come."

"Until then he would listen, he would observe. He would be the man on the outside looking in, a viewpoint into the consciousness of Minds that spanned galaxies. He would try to understand the Vex." - Grimoire of Praedyth's Door

ConnorPerson: I'm glad you were excited :)

A/N: IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!

Well, my friends, it looks like we have arrived at the final chapter. It's been one helluva ride and I hope you all loved it as much as I loved sending you on it. I know the ending probably left some of you disappointed but fear not! THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL! I've already been working on it in my spare time. I'm not sure when the first part will be up, so I encourage those of you that want to be alerted to follow me on this site. That way, you'll know when I post it.

All this aside, I just wanted to thank all of you for being such wonderful readers. I always looked forward to putting out new chapters and seeing your reactions. This wouldn't have been possible without you.

Lastly, if any of y'all have Twitter and want to follow me for more regular updates on the sequel's progress, my Twitter is ArcaneGlitch. My XBL gamertag is also ArcaneGlitch if any of you are interested in hanging out in Destiny 2.

For my very last end of the story question: What was your favorite part of HMW and what allowed you to connect with Harley as a character?

Merry Christmas and Happy Dawning!

- TheWolfParadox