Maya had disappeared with my ship again this morning, and Lazarus with his. It pissed me off, since we had to go back to Mars today, but I guess we'll just have to wait for them to get back.

"Good morning." Ivory yawned as she came out from her room.

"Hey." I greeted back before giving her a quick kiss on her forehead.

She smiled warmly as her body began to heat up. "So when are we going to Mars?" She asked.

"As soon as my wonderful sister comes back with our ship." I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

"She went out with Lazarus again?" She asked, slightly taken aback.

"She's with Lazarus?" That caught me by surprise.

She laughed at this. "Well if he's gone too, then I imagine that's the case."

"Interesting..." I said with a smirk. "So, what do you want to do while we wait?"

"Well, there's nobody around to bother us..." She grinned as she pulled me in for a kiss, which I happily returned.

It's a funny thing. A few months ago, I wouldn't have allowed this. She was (and still is) new to her self awareness, and there were lots of things she had yet to understand. I thought that as she matured she would forget about what she felt for me back then.

But I was wrong. When she kissed me yesterday, I realized that she understood these feelings more than ever. She had gone through a lot throughout our journey, and I realized that she was ready to experience love.

And I also realized, that I actually had feelings to return to her.

We kissed for several long seconds before breaking away slowly. I looked down at her and smiled warmly. It's rare for me to feel the joy I was feeling then. The last time was when I discovered that Maya was also residing at the Tower. And the last time before that was way back, back when my parents were still alive.

"I'm sorry to interrupt..." My Ghost interrupted as he forced himself between myself and Ivory. "But should you spend your time doing something more productive, like training for this next mission?"

I glared at him angrily. "And here I thought the author had forgotten about you."

"I'm just here to remind you of your duties to the Tower." He replied calmly.

I sighed and turned back to Ivory.

"I guess it isn't such a bad idea." She shrugged.

"Fine..."

~~~

I spent the rest of the morning at the foot of the Tower training Ivory to use different types of weapons. I trained her to use a sniper rifle as well as a machine gun, since those were the two weapon types I was most experienced with. She didn't make any amazing improvements, but she at least now she'd be able to defend herself if her hand cannons couldn't be used.

After that, we climbed back up the Tower to find Maya waiting in our quarters.

"Hmm..." She started with a smile creeping inter her face. "I wonder where you two could have gone for the entire morning..."

"The same could be said for you and Lazarus." I countered with a sarcastic chuckle.

Her smile quickly faded as she turned to me with a more serious expression. "We were venting stuff out at the Crucible, you weirdo."

"How's that coming along?"

"Well how the hell do you expect me to put up with a stupid camper?!" She blew up all of a sudden. "That guy's such a coward he can't even take me face to face!"

"Oh please. I just prefer to end you with a quick sniper shot than an excruciating, burning death." Lazarus teased as he appeared by the door. "Are we ready to go, Ezekiel?"

"Yeah." I replied. "Let's get going."

~~~

"We have a plan to charge the Gate Lord's eye." My Ghost informed us. "Deep in their Warbase, the Cabal are sitting on a Vex Spire that connects to the Black Garden Gate."

"So we free that Spire, and we should be able to charge the Eye." Maya's Ghost continued.

"We'll be hitting the Cabal where they're strongest, so we hope you're ready for war." Robo concluded.

I landed the ship on the Meridian Bay just after Lazarus, and so we were ready to go.

"Here we go, guys." I told the team. "Let's fight our way into the Warbase."

We each summoned our sparrows, with Lazarus climbing behind Ivory, and we were off. We made it to the campsite with ease and dismounted to proceed with the Cabal.

Going through them was fairly easy considering the four of us stuck together. We swept through them and continued to follow the radar by sparrow.

"We need to locate the Spire." My Ghost informed. "Let's keep moving. We'll scan for a good vintage point."

We passed that area only to find another campsite. It was a little bigger than the one we were at before, and it was crawling with Cabal. I smirked and looked at Ivory.

"Final exam time." I told her.

She understood quickly. "But I'm not ready!" She whined.

"You had twenty five chapters to study, so that's not my problem." I laughed. "Test time."

"Is this my punishment for yesterday?"

"No. I just think it'd be amusing to see you take on a whole camp of Cabal with newer and more badass weapons."

She groaned and reluctantly handed over her hand cannons, taking out her new sniper rifle. She stepped forward and took aim as we kept hidden behind the rocks.

"Wait, is she actually taking them all by herself?" Lazarus asked suddenly.

"Of course she is! You don't get to use your textbook for the final exam!" I retorted.

"This isn't some kind of game, Ezekiel." He shouted angrily.

"We're going to the Black Garden soon, and she needs to learn to fight properly." I shouted back, my rage building.

"Can you two shut up?!" Ivory cried. "You're messing up my concentration."

"It won't be quiet enough for you to concentrate at the Black Garden." Maya chimed in. "Consider this a bonus." She turned suddenly and kicked Lazarus in the forbidden area, earning a loud, flabbergasted grunt.

"You... bitch!" He gasped before collapsing onto his knees.

"I'm sorry, what was that... Madame?" She replied, laughing hysterically.

At this, Lazarus was quick to pull out his hand cannon and take a few shots at my sister.

"Hey!" I shouted as I tackled the Warlock, knocking the gun out of his hand. It quickly became a brawl between me and Lazarus, both of us unaware at the time of Maya sitting nearby, very smug.

"Uh, guys?" I pinned Lazarus' arms and looked up to see Ivory with her sniper rifle slung behind her back. "Umm..."

"Are you done?" I asked, struggling to keep the Warlock down.

"Yeah."

"Did you use your machine gun?"

"No..."

"D+"

"I'll take it."

I chuckled and let Lazarus go, immediately being thrown back by a Force Push to the face. I watched as he stood up and dusted off his robes angrily, muttering something I didn't quite get.

Maya stood up and put her arm around Ivory's shoulder. "It's okay. With the bonus, that turns your grade into a C-."

"Nice!" She giggled.

"Ahem." We turned to our Ghosts. "Are we quite done?" Mine asked impatiently.

"Yeah, sure." I replied, jumping back up on my feet.

We made our way through the now barren campsite and through a short tunnel. Immediately upon leaving the tunnel, we saw some kind of building in the distance.

"That observation tower overhead, there's bound to be a way to locate the Spire there." Maya's Ghost informed as we approached it on our sparrows.

We were immediately greeted by a group of those annoying Psions, which Lazarus quickly took out with a Nova Bomb. We dismounted and continued up the observation tower, which was heavily guarded by Legionnaires and a Colossus.

I tossed a magnetic grenade at the Colossus, dealing some good damage considering it detonated twice. Ivory dealt with the Legionnaires with her hand cannons, as usual, Lazarus found a small platform and took out his sniper rifle, and Maya stuck by me with her fusion rifle. It took a little while, but with our combined efforts we managed to take out the Colossus and a few more Psions, meanwhile Ivory and Lazarus eliminated the Legionnaires quickly.

I made my way inside and deployed my Ghost onto the terminal. I waited a minute as he scanned it.

"Come on, where is it...?" I heard him mumble impatiently. "Got it! It's on the other side of another defense line."

Robo came up and quickly scanned the terminal. "Well, if they didn't already know we were coming, they do now." He chuckled.

I just sighed, honestly not even surprised. "C'mon, guys." I told the team.

We didn't make it a yard past the observatory before getting ambushed by a ship dropping off more Cabal.

"This is just ridiculous." Maya growled before launching a few rockets at the ship before the Cabal could even make the jump. Her aim was a bit off, hitting the side of the ship rather than the doors where the Cabal were jumping out of, but the job got done. I heard her pant quietly as the others took off.

"Are you alright?" I asked, patting her shoulder.

She recoiled at my touch, but recovered quickly. "I'm fine..." She mumbled before taking off after the others.

"Oh man..." I sighed before running after her.

We entered another small building where for once, we were greeted by a pleasant surprise: three enormous and armed sparrows.

"Congrats, Laz!" Maya teased the Warlock. "You finally got a sparrow."

I could sense that arrogant smirk growing across his face as he mounted one of them. "Now this," He gaped in awe. "This is what I'm talking about!"

Maya laughed maniacally and mounted the one beside it, while I mounted the last one. Ivory didn't even hesitate to climb onto my lap.

"This is gonna be fun." She chuckled. I smiled warmly at the way she marveled at the controls like some new video game.

"I drive, you kill." I suggested into her ear.

"Sounds like a plan." She replied happily as I turned the monstrosity on.

We managed to fit through the doors, where the Cabal awaited us. Ivory quickly pressed the biggest button within the controls, which sent a massive rocket towards a small group of Legionnaires, completely decimating them.

"Whoa...!" She gasped, taken aback by the power of this tank.

"That's awesome!" I heard Maya shout from somewhere to my left. Her voice was immediately followed by the sound of several explosions and heavy bodies falling from the sky.

"Don't hog all the action!" I heard Lazarus scold, followed by more explosions from behind me.

Hordes of Cabal kept coming, keeping us pretty entertained for awhile before finally proceeding into another underground tunnel. The radar led us through a short and simple maze until coming upon a door.

Before I could even deploy my Ghost, the door suddenly opened itself. The four of us stared at each other, a bit taken aback by this.

"I think they just invited us in..." Ivory said awkwardly.

"It feels like a trap." Lazarus protested, crossing his arms.

"Whether or not it's a trap, our destination is on the other side." I sighed.

"No backing out here." Maya teased.

"Then it's decided." I stated, reloading my shotgun.

We entered the room cautiously, well aware of when the door closed behind us. Definitely a trap.

Before we knew it, we were ambushed by a small barrage of Legionnaires falling right on top of us. My shotgun took two while my teammates took the rest. But these guys were quickly followed by another small army of Cabal. Their numbers forced us to take cover by the door as we thought of a plan.

"It's hard to determine whether they have reinforcements, and how many," Lazarus mused. "so to use our specials and finish these off right now is a risky idea."

"My Ward of Dawn doesn't take too long to recharge, same for my grenades when I use melee attacks." I chimed in.

"Good call." He nodded. "My Nova Bomb can take out a good range of enemies, and my grenades cool down with my melee as well. But I can't say very much about the cooldown time of the Nova Bombs." He turned to Maya and Ivory. "And then we have your Huntresses."

"Our grenades can definitely take out more enemies than your Nova Bombs." Maya retorted. "My Arc Blade is gonna be helpful, but I can't say much for its cooldown time."

"My Golden Gun cools down quickly, and lasts longer with my throwing knives." Ivory added.

"Alright, then the plan is this: Ezekiel has easy access to his bubble, so we take advantage of that whenever necessary. We use our melee attacks on Psions only when they are approachable, and our grenades with the bigger guys every opportunity we get. EXO, use your Golden Gun. Do not hesitate to activate it when it's cooldown is complete. Maya and I must be more wary of when we use our specials. Only when we absolutely must, understand?" We all nodded, and moved out from behind our hiding spot.

We took out all of the Psions quickly, to a bit of our disappointment. There were a lot of Legionnaires and Phalanxes though, so we focused our grenades on the Phalanxes. Once the Colossuses started coming around, we ended up having to rely on my Ward of Dawn a lot, but the job got done. Three waves later, we were finally able to open the next door, revealing another wave of Cabal.

I activated Ward of Dawn quickly, but a Phalanx managed to jump inside somehow and catch me off guard. It knocked me out of the bubble with its massive shield, as well as my shotgun from my hands. Legionnaires were quick to follow as I tried to catch my breath, when they suddenly started to drop right next to me.

Ivory jogged over and helped me to my feet. "You okay?" She asked.

"Fine, thanks." I replied, getting over the shock of the impact. "Good job."

I could see her eyes brighten from behind her visor. "This machine gun rocks!"

"C'mon guys, we're getting close." Robo urged us as we passed the door.

We continued through a small hallway before finally making it outside.

"We have to cross that bridge." My Ghost informed, referring to an enormous bridge guarded by, that's right, more Cabal.

We crossed the bridge with actually very little difficulty, as it wasn't as tightly guarded as we thought. We ran up the hill to find more Cabal awaiting us.

"There! A conduit to the spire!" My Ghost exclaimed.

"We'll handle the Cabal. You go and wake the Eye." I ordered. He gave a sort of nod before flying up the hill. Lazarus followed him hesitantly as the rest of us ran into the battlefield.

After eliminating the majority, we followed Lazarus and my Ghost towards the conduit. It seemed that he had just finished scanning through the small machine.

"I have no idea what's about to happen..." My Ghost sighed. Comforting.

The conduit was suddenly bound to a large pillar by a string of blinding light. A bunch of stones suddenly floated off the pillar and started revolving around it before disappearing from sight. The only thing left was a mirror shaped stone floating on top, which also eventually disappeared.

A barrage of Cabal immediately followed, led by a much more powerful one, apparently the one that's going to help wake the eye.

"Guys, same strategy as before." I ordered. "Go!"

I closed up on the big guy with my shotgun, but was immediately overwhelmed by its sheer power. I hovered back up the hill, changing to my machine gun. Lazarus and Maya had climbed up the pillar, taking it with their rocket launchers. Being much easier to reach, the monstrosity went for Ivory, who was playing cat-and-mouse with it from around the pillar.

It went well for awhile before the thing actually teleported right at her. She fell back in shock, where it easily stomped on her, creating a shockwave and killing her instantly.

Robo appeared and attempted to start the resurrection process, but the monster hung around Ivory's body, brutally decimating her further.

"Ghost, change my subclass now!" I ordered hurriedly.

He scanned me quickly before nodding, "Done."

I took off in full sprint at the monstrosity before unleashing my Fist of Havoc. It didn't finish the job, but it finally got its attention off of Ivory so Robo could revive her. I continued taunting it with my shotgun, leading it away as Lazarus finally took the finishing shot with his sniper rifle.

It had been awhile since I used Fist of Havoc, and it felt so good. I approached Ivory and helped her up.

"You alright?" I asked worriedly.

"Kind of dazed, but otherwise fine." She replied with her default Russian accent.

Maya and Lazarus met us back at the hill.

"It's been awhile since I've seen you Zero smash." Maya remarked jokingly. "I actually felt nostalgic."

"Same." I laughed, patting her shoulder, to which she quickly recoiled again. "What's wrong with you?" I asked, starting to get pissed with her.

"Just leave it." She barked.

"The Eye is charged." My Ghost informed us. "It's time to enter the Black Garden and finally finish this."

"Agreed." We all sighed.

~~~

I went to see Commander Zavala before heading towards the quarters. Tomorrow we were going to have our most important and difficult mission yet, and I was in need of some good pep talk.

When I explained to him everything we were going to do, he simply smiled and whispered: "Would you like super good advice?"

I nodded enthusiastically, eager to learn anything that could help us on our mission.

He rummaged through a large chest he kept under his side of the desk before coming back up with a red machine gun with white markings.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Super Good Advice." He laughed heartily. "It's incredibly powerful, and not to mention difficult to obtain. But it's yours."

I smiled as I grabbed the weapon and turned it in my hands, getting a good look at it. "I see what you did there."

~~~

I was greeted by the sounds of shouting as I entered our quarters. I rushed Maya's room to find her topless as Ivory was digging into her shoulder with a knife.

"Well if you would just stay still...!" Ivory grunted as she shoved the knife further into my sister, causing her to scream louder through her cloak folded between her teeth.

"What the hell is going on?!" I demanded angrily, making both girls jump from where they were seated.

"Oh Zero! Come help me over here." Ivory pleaded, pulling out her knife.

"What happened?" I asked angrily.

"That Warlock shot me while we were messing around earlier." Maya said through her teeth, clearly in pain.

"No wonder you couldn't shoot properly today! Why didn't you say anything?" I scolded.

"It's not a big deal!" She shouted back. "We just gotta take the bullet out, clean the wound, and I'm new."

"Just pass me the knife." I sighed tiredly.

Ivory handed it to me nervously, and I  gently began to dig it back into Maya's shoulder, earning another pained cry.

"Damnit, be careful!" She shouted.

"Just bite your cloak and sit still." I growled, digging it in further until I felt the bullet.

Finding a decent position, I jerked the knife and watched as the bullet slowly slid out from my sister's back. I heard another muffled cry, followed by a hiss of relief.

Ivory quickly handed me a rag so I could press it against the wound and stop some of the bleeding. Maya's hand reached around her and grasped the rag from me, holding it onto the wound herself.

"Thanks." She breathed, letting out a weak chuckle.

"No, thank you for once again being reckless and getting yourself hurt." I retorted, crossing my arms.

"Why can't you two just get along?" Ivory chimed in, dabbing a paper towel into a bottle of disinfectant.

"Because this guy's a prick!" Maya exclaimed. "He actually shot at me!"

"Well you did kick him first." I reminded her, silently cringing at the memory.

"He probably deserved it." She smirked, before suddenly gasping loudly as Ivory began to clean her wound.

"In any case, we're gonna have to take a short break while your wound heals." I sighed. "But we can't take too long. We have to be at the Black Garden and finish our job as soon as possible."

"Don't worry too much about me." Maya grunted, the pain from the disinfectant apparently easing away. "I'm not going to hold anyone back. I'm ready to head there tomorrow and settle this."

"You shouldn't push yourself too much." Ivory said warily, patting the wound dry with a new towel.

"I'm serious." Maya said. "We're too close to have to deal with this kind of minor setback. I'm feeling a lot better now anyways."

As much as I preferred for Maya to take a break to recover, she was right. I didn't want to wait any longer, the Black Garden had to be dealt with as soon as possible.

"If you say that you're feeling okay, then I'm going to trust you." I told Maya, placing a reassuring hand on her good shoulder. "We're heading out tomorrow."

Hey guys! Yeah, I know it's been way too long since the last update, and I'm really sorry about that. So much for finishing by the end of the summer -3- but the story IS almost done; literally two chapters left, and I plan not to take too long to update them. Thanks for all the constant support for my story, and I hope you continue to enjoy it :)