"Beneath crossed swords, a refuge for peace."
The open centre of the Tower was packed with people, Fireteams, staff and even some merchants awaited our return. Cayde, Ikora, Zavala and Lord Shaxx stood at the front of the crowd, staring at the mouth of the ship as it opened, revealing the entirety of Fireteam Echo and Oscar. Surprisingly, Ikora's mouth fell open and Cayde's head tilted to the side, Zavala remained stony-faced, his jaw set like stone. I stood at the centre of the group, Anka's auto rifle slung over my shoulder, the armour plate on my thigh looked like it'd been mauled by some predatory animal. Though I didn't look nearly as battle-worn as Memphis; his helmet was completely written off, a large gash ran through the right side, exposing part of the wound that the Archon Priest had left him with. As soon as we stepped off the ship, the Vanguards moved forwards and Zavala pinpointed me with his gaze.
"We didn't know..." Ikora started and I lifted my hand, perhaps it was rude, but I couldn't handle apologies right now.
"Don't." I shook my head and glanced sideways at our Titan, "we need to get him to the infirmary." Right now, he was my priority.
I was perched with one leg extended on a gurney, letting one of the medics look me over. The pain didn't register because my gaze was fixed on Memphis as the others crowded around him while they tried to delicately remove his helmet without damaging him further. I could feel a series of tugs on my thigh and looked down to find that the elderly Awoken that was fixing me up had already begun to stitch the wound closed. My nerves were all over the place as I watched the group around the Titan increase from three, to seven, I strained to hear what they were saying but my blood was rushing in my ears and sounded like a waterfall roaring right beside me. Worry settled around my heart like an icy hand as I watched them pick at him like vultures. They reminded me of the Fallen, the way they picked things apart, to salvage the best they could, but I had to tell myself that they were helping him, they weren't worsening his condition. They were trying to save him, but even I didn't know the extent of his wounds and that's what worried me. What if it was way worse than any of us had initially thought?
The voice of the Awoken woman by my side barely registered as she told me that I was ready to go, I stood, trying not to put too much weight on my leg as I moved over towards Memphis.
"Please stay back, Guardian. Let us do our jobs." One of the medics looked over at me. I stepped around the small crowd and set myself up on another gurney, I wouldn't move until I'd been given the OK to move closer.
My gaze remained glued to the medical team as they worked over Memphis' wounds. I still didn't know entirely the extent of his condition, but I'd heard a few things that didn't sound too bright for the Titan's continuation as a Guardian, but I knew that he'd be okay, at least. The anxiety that ripped through me was nearly unbearable, and Tyrk hadn't set foot in the infirmary, he disappeared soon after we landed and I hadn't seen him in the four hours since. A large part of me held some contempt towards the Warlock because he stood by waving his rifle around instead of actually gaining a pair and knuckling down, though I supposed that not all of us had that ability, not all of us were Memphis.
"Guardian?" The same Awoken that had stitched me up patted my knee, gaining my attention. Her face was pallid and relatively old. "Your Titan is fixed to the best of our ability." I dropped her gaze when she called him my Titan, a blush crept up my cheeks despite the overly tense situation. As I looked back up, she gave me a knowing smile. "I gather that you will be the one looking after him, you have not left his side since you arrived together." She patted my knee again and hummed, "the Traveller put you two together for a reason, Hunter. Be glad that you were there to help him." I tilted my head at her words and frowned. That was too weird. Her words hit home, however, but I tried to swallow them down and focus on my teammate.
