Taken but not Forgotten

Flirting with Death

Agony and Roach sat in the hall of guardians as Cayde briefed them on the next mission. This next mission entailed the duo sneaking back into Crota's castle and taking his essence. This way they would be ascendant and could finally take down the Taken King Oryx.

"Roach has already had two brushes with death, I'll go." Agony said crossing her arms

"You're not doing this alone!" Roach protested

"You don't get a say in this I'm the fireteam leader!" Agony yelled uncrossing her arms

"There are only two of us! That is not how this works!"

"Both of you, enough!" Cayde ordered slamming his hand onto the table. The two looked at him, "I know you want to protect him and give him a break but you can't do this alone Agony."

"Then we get Fireteam Chaos, Jake, River, and Cooper. They lost Eric down there, they deserve a chance to dance on Crota's grave. Hell, we all do." Agony said, Cayde nodded in agreement.

"Alright, I'll tell them to get ready. Gear up you two." Cayde said as he waved them off. Roach went to go get ready but Agony stayed.

"Tevis left this morning. What's he doing?"

"Don't know, I didn't send him on anything." Cayde said, verbally waving off the conversation, Agony walked over hugged Cayde from behind.

"Still fighting I see."

"It's not your problem Agony."

"I guess not." Agony said before leaving. Agony, Roach, River, Jake, and Cooper all landed on the moon. It was like reliving a nightmare.

"Cloaks on." Agony said as she became invisible, the others followed suit as they jumped down into the darkness. They walked past the burnt torches, there were no thrall wandering about, there was no need. Jake stood in the back with Cooper, River and Roach in the middle, Agony taking the lead. No one spoke. They were all coping with the situation themselves. Agony felt an old pain revived as they crossed the bridge.

"I'm sorry about saying we should leave you, and the other things i said during and before the raid." Cooper apologized, breaking the silence.

"It's fine. Keep moving." Agony said ignoring his apology, she didn't want it, or need it. Cooper needed it, Cooper needed to know that she had forgiven him. It was a way to say he could forgive himself for what happened to his brother in arms. What happened to his best friend. There was no lash from Cooper surprising Roach as they marched onward to Crota's castle. Cooper had changed.

Once inside the castle they made there way to back, where they killed the prince, and where they lost Eric. Cooper stopped walking.

"I hear less footsteps, who stopped walking?" Agony asked

"Agony, use your eyes." Roach said

"We're all cloaked. Can you see me?" Agony asked irritated

"No... you're flipping me off aren't you?" Roach sighed

"Yes, I am. Alright since no one is speaking up, everyone stay here. I'll go get the...stuff."

"Essence." Eris corrected causing everyone to jump.

"Hey guys." Cayde chimed in.

"Okay, now that we got that out of the way, everyone stay here, i'm putting the essence in this stone thing." Agony said before walking ahead. Agony felt a cold wave wash over her as she entered the room where the prince, and a fellow guardian fell. Deathsingers sang around a giant stone, green fog rolled off the stone and onto the floor. The Deathsingers song was harsh on Agony's ears, like listening to a fork scrape across a plate. Agony crouched down in the green fog and began to collect the essence. Once the stone was full Agony slowly backed away from the stone.