The Boot Shiner (Destiny OCs x Male Reader)

Chapter 16: Butterflies Within Me

IS Y/N DOING ALRIGHT?

LET'S SEE.

I wake up coughing still, like that's ever going to change. However, with Serenity and I dating, I just seem to have just a sliver of pep in my step. I feel energized enough, barely, to hoist myself into my wheelchair in the morning with ease. I make sure I keep my communicator in my pocket at all times, same with my cards and things, so no need to worry about reaching for those anymore.

None of the guardians showed up yet for help. They'd be pounding on my door if they did otherwise. I would figure Serenity would want to show up, but I guess they couldn't make it. I should check in with her, why has she not... oh never mind... she has... I assume her frequency is the one my communicator doesn't recognize, the one asking me, "Hey", "Hey", "Hey", "How are you?", and "How'd you sleep? Call me as soon as you get up!".

I do just that, tapping past Eververse things and attempt a connection just like I did for Tess when... I woke up. Y'know, speaking of that, I wonder if I really do have six months. WIth how long I was out, and how fast my tumor grew, to the point I couldn't walk anymore, I wonder if... I'll be one of those unfortunate souls who's got it worse. I mean, my body hates the chemotherapy, it actually worsens the cancer. I figure this could be close to the end.

As much as I don't wish to accept it, I don't think there's any choice. I still have issues accepting that I had a year, let alone six months. What if I died tomorrow? I feel myself detaching from where I am right now... just... trying to remember how it started. The City Age... was... cool... Great time to be a kid, because schools were starting up again. You could learn from teachers and not just a mentor.

12 years old, I made an art installation, which made a somewhat younger Eva Levante, mind you she always looked like a grandma, nonetheless, made her impressed. She took it, made it with her famous "Guardian Apparel" or "Outfitter" whatever it was... and made it a shader that a guardian would wear. The guardian in question? You won't believe me if I told you, so why bother?

Fine... Cayde-6 wore it. He wore it on his boots. It matched my art project to a T when I was 15 years old, and I realized it as soon as I saw it. I didn't comment; I was far too afraid to. I brought it up to Eva and she realized who I was. I became her apprentice when I was 16 on the spot, leaving school to follow a career, something people dreamed of while the Darkness was on the backburner...

Hello! Y/N, Y/N... A-are you okay? I'm almost there; I'm...

All of this is how I began my journey and got to where I was, working in the Tower, then working on the wall when the Tower was destroyed. The Tower I work inside now is better, but it has its drawbacks. However, realizing it now, I would have a much harder time with the amount of stairs in the old Tower.

Eva Levante was old, she needed less responsibility with the demands of guardians asking for her. Eventually, her work was too much, so she switched to only doing events for the guardians and other people. A lot of us suffered many losses, inside and out, from the Red War, but Guardian Outfitters became Guardian Apparel, and I was king after she disappeared.

You'd think I'd be close to her, considering she was like a supportive grandmother to me from 16 to maybe 20... but... I really didn't know her all that well. Same with my parents, I... don't think about them much. I don't even recall if I had parents from all my delirium I'm facing right now. Part of me is on the verge of crying now from all of this... darkness in my head...

My hands begin to shiver, and my legs feel cold, somehow, despite not working. The pleads and yelling coming from my communicator keeps me in a trance as I try to... remember... something, anything of my parents. All I can remember is the boring, lifeless days, day after day in my glorified ART HUT...