The Darkness In Us

What Lurks Below

A few weeks later

****
Bela's POV

I take a deep breath as I aim my sniper rifle to survey the area.

"Anything?" I hear Xander ask. I look over to the right, where he's hidden, and I see him look through his scope at me. I give him the all clear and he slings his scout over his back. He jumps down and hides behind some rocks. I look to my left and see an Exo Hunter, Scott, with a Awoken Titan, Porter, nodding my way. Up ahead by the entrance to the Pit, I see Irene and Jessa, Titan and Warlock respectively, waiting for the signal from me.

"Why am I in charge again?" I ask.

"That's what, the tenth time you've asked that? The Vanguard trusts you, Bela." Irene says. I scoff but say nothing.

No...they don't. Not really.

****
Three days earlier

"Why am I here?" I asked, arms crossed as the Vanguard looked over at me. Cayde didn't meet my gaze, we still hadn't talked since he came back from the hospital.

"You married Uldren? You married him over three weeks ago and you didn't bother to say anything?"

"I didn't want any unwelcome guests." I replied dryly.

"You risked war between us and the Reef for a fling!"

I flared up immediately. "Uldren isn't a damn fling!" I growled. Zavala slammed his hands down. I didn't flinch but Ikora and Cayde did.

"So was Cayde a fling to you?!" he yells. I glare at him, my anger rising rapidly. I can feel my blood literally boil and I clench my fists.

"Since when do you give a damn about anyone Zavala? All you care about is your damn mission. So don't you fucking dare bring up my personal life again!"

"Do you have any idea of the consequences of your actions? The Queen is extremely angry for what you and that little Prince did behind her back. She threatened retaliation. What are you going to do to fix this, Guardian?"

"His name is Uldren Sov. And I'm not a Guardian."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, Zavala. I'm not the Traveler's or the Speaker's puppet. I'm a person. I'm alive. I have feelings and I can think for myself. The only reason I've cooperated so far is because it was convenient to me. Not because you gave the damn order. I'm not just some walking corpse." I said.

"You're out of line. I always knew you were unstable. Unpredictable. Dangerous. But no one listened to me. I don't know why the Traveler chose you." he said.

"I chose her, Commander. Don't you dare disrespect me this way. I know I made the right choice." Ares said, bristling. While I'm touched by his words, I wished he hadn't said anything. Zavala was now positively pissed off. My biggest fear is that he'll take Ares away because if he tries, I won't hold back. I'll kill everyone in my path. We glared at each other for several minutes.

"We have an assignment for you. Large-scale strike again the Hive. You're going to lead five Guardians into the depths of the Moon."

"Do you want them to die or something?" I asked. They look at me and I raise an eyebrow.

"I'm not joking if they get in my way and get killed in the process, I don't want to hear you bitch about it." I said. Zavala continued to glare at me.

"You would let your fireteam die?" he growls.

"I don't have a fireteam, I'm not a Guardian. Aside from my guns and Ares, I only trust me, myself, and I."