Description: Before the War, before the Darkness. When they put them to sleep, the Orokin hoped they would never wake up. They were the prototypes. The first. The failures, created with no known limit. And now He is woken by the Tenno's war thousands of years later. Beset by growing madness, ravaged by the disease and hunger, and seeking His only remedy, the first Warframe navigates the Star-Chart in search of His long lost companion. No price is too great when even your successors are the enemy. (OC Warframe Proteus, OC Warframe Erebus, OC Cephalon Janara)

A/N: Hello my fellow Frame's, and readers. I put forth a prompt in my Sequence 1 - Falling Apart Final Author's Notes some time back, and asked what you guys wanted to see me write. One person responded (all the encouragement I need). That means no one else has a right to complain. It's like voting for the legislature or the President: If you didn't vote, why are you complaining?

That being said, thank you FanficsOP for voting, and deciding Warframe was the way to go! It was interesting to come up with an idea for this, but I think I can make it work. It will be based off of the game, and the gameplay, with Original elements here and there. Probably some wholly new concepts altogether.

I welcome your Reviews. If you have criticisms, I welcome those too. Please keep them constructive. I want to grow as an author, and I can't do that with destructive criticism.

This story is based assuming you've at least dabbled in the game.

Without further adieu. *Que the dimming of the lights*

Prologue: He Should Have Stayed Forgotten

That noise.

Like the faint hum of a long-forgotten song. A woman that sang to him as he slept, and continued to sing, even long after her presence had faded from his mind. He couldn't remember the words, but the melody played gently to him, matching the rhythm of his decade-long silence between each breath, as if it anticipated when he would once more inhale her sweet tones with the same gentle calm as he always had. It should have lasted.

But the song had ceased. It was silent. Instead, the cries of his Frame echoed for their counterpart. They had been apart for too long. But there was nothing they could do. He was there, trapped in an endless dream-turned-nightmare.

Why did you leave me? "I had no choice."

What does the sky look like? What is a sky? "I hear it is the atmosphere of a planet. Perhaps some day we will see one."

I do not like the dark. I am the dark. Therefore, how can I like myself. "But I like it. The dark is where I sleep. The dark is where I dream. In the dark, I am free."

My form, my Proteus. "My shadow, my Erebus."

Now she was gone. Leaving no one to ask questions, and no one for him to reply to.

Four Tenno made their way into a long-lost section of the Void. The golden Orokin halls were ancient, and to their surprise, empty. Not even the Corrupted roamed its halls. And though that was great for their Ammunition and Energy, it certainly didn't bode well for the paranoia that was slowly creeping into their minds. No hall was ever truly empty, and yet, this one had been for the past half-hour.

"Fascinating," a Banshee commented as they entered another empty hall, much more at ease than her fellow Frames. Absently, she sent out a Sonar, not disappointed when she found nothing. "Clear."

"What? No enemies?" a Nekros hissed, a Boltor poised in preparation despite the otherwise nonchalant mannerisms of the first, his hood drawn around the appearance of a head as he seemed to hide in its cowl.

A Valkyr just growled, stepping past him with her claws half extended; not lax, but not tense, the primal Frame sniffing slightly for something she wasn't finding. She had a couple Modifications set for locating enemies after all. She was unnerved, but not about ready to panic.

"And even if we find some, they won't stand a chance," a Frost commented, the chilling Warframe, misting slightly from the shoulders as he shook away some of the ice building up around his vents.

An Exploration mission had quickly turned on its head as they ventured deeper into the maze of Orokin rooms. Somehow, they still hadn't found an Extraction Point. They had checked every room along the way, explored every detour, and all they had found was dead-ends. Of course, now none of the side-doors that should have led to other areas were glowing, and therefore couldn't be opened by normal means. So on they went, moving slowly, but carefully, opening Caches, checking Cannisters, but meeting no resistance. An oddity that rarely, if ever, transpired. The only positive light that could be shed was the slowly growing stores of Resources.

"I don't like this," the Nekros mumbled, never once lowering his weapon. He was the only one with a drawn weapon, and it irritated him that his comrades could appear so at ease. Just because he could command a fraction of death, didn't mean he had a death-wish. Being so relaxed outside the safe-zones and Orbiters was as sinful as they came.

"What? You want to force an extraction?" Banshee accused, Valkyr growling in agreement. "Go ahead if you like, but I picked up way too many Argon Crystals to part ways now."

He sighed, hoping to at least get some support. He was terrified, and his Ability had nothing to do with it. The air, it smelled of death, though there was no reason for it to be so. The Void was a quiet as its namesake, leaving him to wonder what could possibly be frightening him. The Operator underneath hadn't felt this out of sorts since Eris.

He jumped as he felt a cold hand on his shoulder, turning to find Frost offering silent solace as they pressed onward. Nekros inhaled deeply, though he possessed no lungs to take in the air. He was just the exterior of the mentally controlled biomechanical machine. That didn't mean he didn't feel the breath in his chest leave as he exhaled, following behind his fellow Frames.

It was minutes later and six more halls that progress seemed to be made.

"Oh!" Banshee exclaimed, pointing out the large door that bared their way. She turned to Nekros. "And you wanted to extract."

"This isn't right," Frost stated. If his eyes could have narrowed, they would have.

Valkyr huffed, crouching lower in preparation as she drew her Venkas.

Ahead, the door was covered in vines. Not unlike what the Derelict was covered in. Overgrow foliage wrapped around the whole of the door, blocking it like spiderwebs over an entrance. But those vines were never in the Void. The Void was clean, pristine, as if they had only been abandoned hours before. This was something else.

Casting his hand out as he drew his Broken Scepter, a Freeze left Frost's hand, frosting over the vines in question. He turned to his wilder teammate and grunted. That was all Valkyr needed to know before she charged forward, shattering the frozen vines with vicious swipes. She finished with her designated task, scoffing plainly at the ease with which it was to pass.

"Weapon's up," Frost commanded, to which the Nekros obliged instantly, aiming down the sights into the awaiting room.

Banshee rolled her head at the "death-god's" antics. Sometimes it truly wasn't the Frame, but the Operator underneath. Less than worried, she pulled out a Sonicor.

They stepped into the room, another Sonar pinging emptily. Their Radar's remained empty in the foliage covered room. Unlike the Derelict, free-floating Infested spores were absent. The place appeared neither Void, nor Derelict, but something in between. Some of the old defense turrets remained lifeless, unperturbed by their presence.

"Does this look familiar to anyone?" Nekros asked, pulling up the flank, watching their backs with practiced nerves.

How could they forget? This looked like the room they had inhabited for centuries before their Awakening. Of course, minus the hole in time-space, the ugly mug of Captain Vor, and the Ascaris latched to their leg. Those had been the kinder days. Strangely, this room appeared uninhabited for far longer. The cryo-chamber that would have held their first Frames was held shut by the large roots of some plant that anyone who bothered to pull out their Codex Scanner wouldn't be able to analyze, almost completely enveloped.

Valkyr was the first to run forward, jumping atop the captive device with abandon as she looked for a way to pry it open. Hissing angrily, she turned silently to her team, cocking her head in a silent inquiry. She tapped the pod a couple times, signaling she could see something inside.

"Is there someone in there?" Nekros asked warily, groaning as the less-than sane Frame nodded enthusiastically. He turned to their silently elected leader. "So, what do you think? Did the Lotus miss one?"

The group turned sharply to him, glaring daggers. That was a subject few brought up lightly.

"New Tenno are popping up all the time," Frost reasoned, partially ignoring the words of his teammate, placing a cold hand to the roots. "Anything is possible. Ordis, do you copy?" The silence persisted. "Well, we better pull him or her out. Prepare for a forced extraction."

"But-" Banshee began protesting, quickly silenced by a icy glare from Frost. "Damn it! I needed those Argon Crystals!"

Taking a deep breath, Frost let the chill spread from his fingers as he slowly began to Freeze the roots through, making them brittle.

The first conscious thought he had was that it was getting colder. Maybe it was in his head. He had slept for so long, all alone in his own mind, it wouldn't surprise him if he was imagining things now.

The second thought was the sound of crackling and shattering.

The third was the sensation of falling. From what height, he cared not; landing with a weak thump into a prone position across the rough ground, not able to stave off the sleep he had long been subjected to. The ground was cool, and veined, but he didn't care. If he could just sleep a little while longer, and he would be able too-

"I haven't seen this one before," a deep rasp stated inquisitively. "I don't know about you guys, but it looks weaker than an Energy-less Mag. Ow!"

"That's what you get for running your mouth. Next time, you should bring a Mag Frame, talk shit then."

A grunt for silence interrupted his thoughts amidst shuffling feet, but he couldn't open his eyes. Soft footsteps, like the whispers of pad on metal. He felt the ancient floors vibrate through his body with each of the gentle steps. His auditory sensors were processing. His ocular sensors were flashing, giving indication of a reboot as he waited to open his eyes. He was beginning to feel his fingers again. He felt his aberrant flesh tense in anticipation.

Something touched him gently, giving a gentle shake.

Consume!

A gentle trill sounded. And sniffing. Something was sniffing him, like an animal.

Danger! Consume it!

Something cold brushed his head, sending his nervous system into overload. To others it might have seemed gentle, but to him, millennia without physical contact sent his Systems into shock.

"He's alive. We'll take him back to the Orbitor. Orokin only knows how long he's been here."

The Orokin!

Reboot complete. Warframe status: Online. Full Neural Integration: Complete. Systems: Nominal. Proteus intervention: Critical.

His hand moved of its own accord, grasping the outlines of a thick, cold wrist. He felt it underneath his grasp, the sounds of a crunching biomechanics vibrating through his audio sensors pleasantly as something, or someone, cried out.

"My shields are down! What the hell?!" the voice cried, a futile attempt to pull away only encouraging him to hold onto his quarry.

His eyes opened, and focused staring at the hard ground of some long-abandoned room hidden in the recesses of some far away system. The whites, the golds, the overgrowth. Erebus? he thought.

He moved, his legs twisting until they wrapped around the arm he had taken hostage, rendering it immobile in a hold. With a heave, he pushed off, the sound of ripping flesh-metal following him as he flipped backwards, landing solidly on his feet. He glanced at the acquired limb, tossing it lazily to the side without regard to what he had just held.

Looking up, he was met with something he never thought he would see so soon again. Sentient life, or something like it. His cold black eyes looked at the thicker, smooth features of a white and blue humanoid, now clutching the socket where an arm once was. Some strange, crested humanoid tried soothing the wounded one. An off-black, jagged humanoid pointed a weapon at him. And the red one, she shrieked at him angrily. They were strange, though not unfamiliar.

But he cared not. The room was bare else-wise, with only he, and them, raising their weapons in defence of the creature he had just disarmed. Literally.

"Where?" he demanded weakly, feeling an uncanny emptiness inside his Frame's chest where once it was filled with content. "Where is she?"

The humanoid clutching his now stump looked at him with a silence that struck an angry cord within him, his central cardiovascular system tightening as it accelerated.

"Where is who?" it asked, the mouthless words emerging, despite his wounds.

"WHERE IS EREBUS!" he shrieked, his Frame crawling angrily, as if some fluid had become a jagged extension of himself. He felt his body hurting. When was the last time he ate? He was hungry. Groaning painfully, he checked his outer-shell statistics.

Armor: Zero. Shields: Zero. Vitality: Minimal. Recommended procedure… Consumption Critical! Assimilate!

"What the hell?" the jagged one rasped. "What did you attack him for?! He was trying to help!"

He watched as it foolishly stepped forward. He could smell the Infestation the sum of its parts had spent time with. A powerful one, but not powerful enough. He groaned as he felt his body writhe, his baser instincts quickly overcoming his mind. He needed help. He needed Erebus. But for now, this small band would stay his hunger for a short time. At least until he found her.

Weapons cocked as his jaw opened, a void-black tongue curling as he hissed at them. His six soulless eyes stared at each of the brave, or foolish, frames of these... humanoids. He appraised their armor, weapons, equipment, shielding. What little of his conscious mind remained, he was almost sorry they weren't prepared enough.

Standing wobbly, his mind left him, and only the monster remained. He charged, dodging under the machine fire of the jagged one's weapon. He immediately dashed forward, his signature Ability activating when he converted to proto-matter, wrapping around the humanoid.

CONSUME!

He slowly began to infect the humanoid, slinking around him until the off-black of a Nekros Frame was writhing with void-black. Screams barely emerged through the darkened sludge as he was eaten, his teammates barely able to move. It took seconds to infiltrate and break down the Frame shell, and only a moment more to convert the Frame's statistics into nutrients.

Vitality stable. Shields none-existent. Armor non-existent. Begin assimilating. The directive was clear. The need to survive was clear. To survive, he needed strength. To gain strength, he needed to feed. To feed, he needed to assimilate.

"With pleasure," he growled deeply. Cruel, jagged canines smiled as he stepped away, focusing on the three morsels that would become his new meal. Despite his currently small, malnourished body, there was no one to stop him, no one to calm him, so for the first time in several thousand years, Proteus was without a leash.

"He has no weapons," the crest-headed one proclaimed, aiming a wrist-mounted weapon at him. "W-we got this." The tremble in her voice made his Frame shiver pleasurably. That was the kind of voice he had loved to hear from his former captors; before the sleep. It let him know how much they feared him.

'Biological compositry?' he thought without thinking, taking a fearless step forward, watching as the red one grew claws, stepping out in front of her companions. How noble. How foolish. How tasty.

Malleable. Proto-shifting… fully-functional.

'I'm sorry,' the empathetic part of him thought, unable to exert itself.

Before he could charge, he took a blast of pure sonic force to the face, flying like a ragdoll as he floated at the climax of his rise, and fell back to the ground with a thud. The crested one looked at her wrist before commenting. "God, I missed this weapon!" Then she took aim again.

Half of his body Slurch!ed forward as it returned to a standing position like putty, pulling the other half of his body with it. He was like oil, her attacks like water; where she shot, his body melted around it as he contorted his shapeable form. He narrowly dodged her attacks though. And whatever weapon she was using, he didn't like it. Though, it didn't do a lot of damage, its Impact force would knock him down again without a second thought.

He pressed in, prepared to strike at her, only for a flash of red to cross his vision. He leaned back, sliding under the claws that swiped where his head was only moments before. The cold one was there to meet him as he looked back up, its hand crashing into the ground as an Ice Wave began to rise toward him. He jumped, meeting the aimed sights of the crested-one.

His arms shot out, sticking to the crested one. Fortunately, he didn't weight a lot, causing his body to pull toward her, doing to her what he did to the first. Her screams hurt, vibrating his molecular structure painfully, but that didn't stop him from doing what he did best.

Something smashed him over the head as he finished, causing him to stagger away. Turning, the cold one rotated a strange red staff, despite the fact he was missing an arm. He stuck it in the ground, his hand lifting as the air seemed to pull toward him, freezing rapidly into ice crystals. And his final companion seemed unaffected, if anything, she was preparing to pounce.

Shit! Coordinated attacks were the worst.

Without thinking, he jumped, latching onto the ceiling as the cold one cast out, the ground freezing around him as the moisture in the air turned immediately into microscopic frozen blades of an Avalanche. If he could breathe, he would be panting. That was close. Too close. He didn't have the Health to take an attack like that head-on.

He didn't have time to think as something stabbed into him, yanking him from the ceiling and toward a set of claws. Before he could counter, or move away again, he felt something slam into him, Paralyzing him. But he sensed it. That attack left her without shields, and by the scent of it, she had quite the vitality. Just as quickly, she was swiping into him, tearing away some of his vulnerable life Hysterically.

A piece of him shot out of his back, grabbing the cold one by the remaining arm before he could cast or grab his weapon. He pulled the Frame through his body just in time to intercept another swipe, a groan of pain escaping the it. The red one back away in shock, just enough time left to-

Consume!

The cold one didn't have time to cry out as the black Frame encompassed his being, killing its Neuroptics before it had time to feel any pain. A mercy killing? No. It just meant less struggle. The more he ate, the stronger he became, the quicker he could feast. That didn't mean they struggled any less. If he was one thing, it was efficient.

He shivered, looking at the red one. She huffed and grunted fearfully, but she didn't speak. Almost in desperation, she let loose a Warcry, charging him with claws extended. She was easy to catch. She didn't make a habit of dodging but walked right into the black mass of his writhing arm as it closed around her.

In his mindless state, he almost felt sorry for her. She was like him, stripped of what made her function. A humanoid reduced to a beast. It made her somewhat beautiful to him; but like all things beautiful, they faded. When two beasts met, only the fittest survived, the most cunning, the most ruthless. And she was none of these things, despite her madness. She was still bound to a moral conscience.

She was a bitter pill to swallow as he assimilated her. Her screams shook him the most. Not because he felt any sympathy for her, but because she was like him. Broken, though he knew that is where they were different. She wasn't always broke. He was.

Proteus felt his mind return as the last of her integrated into his form. He was no longer that- that thing. He would have curled up then and sobbed. He couldn't help the hunger. It was him, and yet, it wasn't. Sometimes, it seemed to have a mind of its own.

Four of those strange humanoids consumed, and he was already feeling stronger. They must have been exceptional. His vitality was significantly stronger, a shimmering black carapace had grown over his exterior for armor, and he felt the slight hum of a decent integrated deflection shield recharging. The Armor wasn't as strong as it had been, neither was his Health. They had been much stronger when he was last awake. But the Shield was new! That might come in handy.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered mournfully, as he always did when he lost himself. "But thank you."

'Come now, Proteus!' it hissed back at him. The hunger. The madness. 'They made me stronger. They made you stronger.'

"Get out of my head!" he growled, feeling how much bigger his hands had become in so short a time as they clutched his head.

'I can't,' it commented. 'After all, you know you're only talking to yourself. But if you want to leave….'

"Proteus?"

He looked around, not seeing anything. "Great, another voice in my head." Just what he needed.

"Proteus!"

No, he knew that voice. Feminine, slightly reverberant, mildly mechanical, and filled with absolute joy.

"Janara?" His audio-sensors clenched shut as he heard a screech.

"Sorry! This damn engine! Hold on, I think I can manage one more portal. Unfortunately, the coordinates won't be exact, so you'll have to make your own way."

He couldn't believe it. She still functioned. She wasn't decommissioned. The first remnant of his past brought back to life. He wondered why, but his chest tightened, and he felt something moist touch around each of his six eyes. That was new, and he didn't know what it was called.

"Almost got it… there!" A large multi-colored doorway opened along the wall. "Unfortunately, I can't say what's roaming out there. If it moves, assume it's an enemy! Pick up anything that doesn't have a genetic interlock on it. Now move!"

He wiped his monstrous face, careful to avoid the abnormally sharp canines of his under-bit lower jaw. He could mourn the creatures he had killed later, and celebrate finding a friend alive after that. First things first, survive. And if it tried to kill him, eat it!

"Right," he acknowledged. He didn't need any more convincing as he sprinted for the open door, unsure of what kind of world he was walking into.

A/N: And with that, it starts. I have no guarantee of how often I'll be posting, or if I'll continue writing this. Mostly, I just want to test the waters with this story. See how it does. I have a lot of ideas, and this is but one, and I know not all of them will be successful. Some might even be embarassing in a few years, but laying a few bad eggs is one of the ways I'll grow.

Take care, and don't forget to Review!

I'll post Chapter 1 when I finish it!