cloak-and-dagger (cayde-6 X reader)

•♠•♠•(1)another day, another job(1)•♠•♠•

Heavy. My body felt so heavy. Soul crushingly heavy, agonizingly slow kind of heavy. Darkness consumed me, blinded my sight, clutched my being. All was felt was being ripped apart and crushed inward at the same time, pain but not painful. Heart pounding in my ears, breath caught in my throat. I choke, my desperate pleas go unheard once more...

I woke up with a jolt. Breathing unsteady, drenched in my own cold sweat. Wiping the tears from my eyes I forcefully make my way to shower. Shaking. Shivering, this is the 5th time this week. And I've lost count how many times this month.... Or even how many since I was resurrected.  The cool liquid steadily turning into warmth flows against my body. Of all the things I could be strong about... Why not this? I shook my head, changed and took another side mission to side track and distract my unfathomable thoughts. Slipping on the last of my gear, including helmet to disguise the dark bags that hung low from lack of sleep; I set out.

Stealth mission, or well that's what it was supposed to be. I was supposed to 'Ascend a colony ship in the Cosmodrome in search of Cayde's lost cache.' that's what the mission brief said. I'd be surprised if it's even still there considering the amount of Fallen and Taken around here. As my Ghost guides us near Earth's atmosphere I hear the familiar sound of the Comms.

"Turns out, Crota does have a father. His name is Oryx, and he's come all this way to kill you. We're not gonna let him. Oryx controls the Taken from a Dreadnaught near Saturn, but we can't get close without a stealth drive. Lucky for us, I hid one at the top of an old colony ship before I got roped into the Vanguard."

"How do you know it's still there?" My familiar chimed in, not missing a beat. But more so reflecting my own thoughts on the matter.

"You better hope it's still there. You won't survive the Dreadnaught without it." Now our lil squad here knew eachother quite well, our ghosts pretty close and me 'n' him perhaps closer still. And yet we barely know anything about eachother personally... All I know that that Cayde has helped me grow and be so strong.  Definitely someone I look up to.

We braced for landing. I ventured onwards. Taken and fallen fighting everywhere...  Weaving through the mini wars between the two sides, we find ourselves at a rust eaten building which lead to an old colony ship. Perfect. What was not so perfect was this rickety old elevator... "What are the chances the elevator still works?"  My ghost and I mumble in unison as the elevator door closes and begins ascending.
"We're heading up. Cayde? When's the last time you rode this elevator?" Unease settled in my gut.

"Relax, it works fine." Well thats- "But stand by for resurrection, Ghost." ...grrreat. A brief, nervous chuckle escaped my lips as I braced for any sudden impact.

"I've always wondered how you fell here. You were probably part of the Exodus during the Collapse. Millions of refugees trying to get off the planet before it died. Still no memories?" God, I love my companion but I wish he didn't bring this up. The idea of the collapse and past life amnesia made me queasy as if it wasn't already enough on top of the haunting nightmares and now this damn elevator. But I can't blame him for asking. Turns out I spaced out for a while and shook violently, mind racing - ablaze with thoughts.
"You know, it's starting to concern me how seldom you talk. We've been through a lot together. The neural symbiosis is pretty far progressed, but you'd be surprised how little I understand what you're thinking." I snap back to reality at that, sighing. I never know what to say... Finally the, long awaited, elevator arrives at the top of the building, and the door opens.
"How do we find your stealth drive?"

"There's a bridge from the tower to the ship. It took me days to get it working. It's a little unstable, so watch your step." Cayde cut back through on the Comms. His voice almost relaxing compared to the tension earlier. Walking outside, we noticed the bridge, which has been rotated away from the tower on the other side. Weird. I climb the nearby stairs, torn cloak flapping in the wind, and find the bridge's circuit panel. Ghost scans and repairs it and the bridge slowly rotates back towards the tower.

"There's still an active feed moving through those pipes overhead. Guardian, if you find the source, I can patch the circuit." I nod in understanding.

"Once you get the bridge working, my stash is in the ball on top of the colony ship." You could almost hear the excitement in his voice, even if he weren't here to see it. My smile didn't last as I heard another on the other line - in background of Cayde's comms.

"We're still waiting for details on this plan of yours, Cayde." Ikora.

Cayde immediately switched from confident to nervous it was almost funny to hear him lose his cool like that. "Yeah! Uh... give me a second, Guardian." The comms fall silent as we continue scaling the lifeless worn-down tower.

The view was breathtaking, half of the Cosmodrome can be seen from this height, including the Wall, where i began. Unfortunately for me the silence meant my stream of thought would arise again. Why did Ghost pick me of all people? Are we all supposed to forget our past lives? If so why can't I move on? Each new idea came and left so fast I began to have a headache... Ughhh if this isn't Hell then I don't know what is.

Didn't take long to find the fuse box, and have Ghost to look into it. Thank fuck for that. The bridge eventually sparks to life, and slowly moves back across, the rusted metal groaning with effort. As the bridge completes its rotation, it breaks in the center,  a large portion of the bridge falling into the snowy abyss below. Oh how high up we were. Jumping across the gap, we enter the tower.

(A/n::: Words 1053, yay qwq broke down this mission for two chapters. But I'm happy with the progress I've made so far. I hope you guys like it too! ^^)