Chapter Text
Lyra had been a Guardian for a little over five years now. She’d woken up in the Cosmodrome with absolutely no memory of her previous life and a cute little machine buddy explaining that she had been conscripted into a war for Humanity’s survival.
Not that she really minded. She liked Humanity, was a member of the race herself, and had never been the type of person to look away when someone needed help. Strangely enough, that was something she felt was true even in her past life, too.
So, with her newly ingrained Hunter instincts guiding her through the old Cosmodrome, she made her way through the rusted and hostile hallways of abandoned buildings until she found a beat up old ship that was able to take her back to the Tower.
And ever since then, she had been a new weapon in the fight against the forces of Darkness. Thankfully, she had been reborn in a time of relative peace and was able to use that time to polish up her skills and settle into her new role before the first major conflict flared up.
The Fallen still stirred up the occasional trouble, but nothing that truly concerned the Vanguard enough to act against them yet. The Hive were still dormant on Earth and who knows what they were doing on the Moon. The Vex occasionally stirred up trouble but they had long been driven off the planet, so they were mostly a non-issue.
The Cabal, while maintaining a subtle presence on Earth, mostly focused on conquering Mars for some as-yet undiscovered reason. Perhaps it reminded them of their home planet, or perhaps they were scrounging up Humanity’s scraps left there after the Collapse, who knew?
Either way, Lyra had enjoyed a wonderfully peaceful time as a Guardian ever since waking up. Unfortunately, Murphy’s Law was a bitch, and for all the decades of peace that Humanity had enjoyed, they would now face near-constant threats as recompense. Not that anyone knew that.
Well, not that anyone should’ve known that. However, as they say, the universe calls for balance. Just as the Darkness had a Champion—many Champions, actually—to do its bidding, so too would the Light have a Champion. One that would soon receive her own set of advantages, just as the Witness had theirs.
Unknown Realm — The Black Garden
Lyra darted behind a large stone pillar as a massive bolt of Void slammed into the ground behind her. She took a moment to let her shields regenerate from the beating she had just endured, and to catch her breath. Then she jump-boosted twice, pulled out her Exotic rocket launcher, and fired at the massive Vex Minotaur looming near the Black Heart.
Without waiting to watch the explosion, the Hunter ducked back into cover and continued to mow down the Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Harpies trying to swarm her. She had been fighting off the Vex for what felt like hours at this point, slowly whittling down the three massive Vex guardians that were protecting the Black Heart.
She was on the last one now, and she could tell from the state of its cracked, stone-like chassis that it was nearly done for. Her rocket had lodged itself into the exposed circuits of its abdomen and spewed out a torrent of solar fire that both damaged the Vex guardian and spread its flames to the lower-ranked enemies standing beneath it.
Once the rocket had fully detonated, Lyra peeked out and picked off the remaining lesser Vex with her hand cannon. The rocket had weakened the Vex guardian enough that a single sniper shot finished it off.
As her round finally pierced and shattered the glass radiolaria casing, she watched as the machine stuttered and short-circuited before the whole chassis came crashing down. The Vex support stopped teleporting in, and the remaining forces quickly retreated upon the death of the last guardian.
Now, the Hunter was left in the Black Garden alone, exhausted but triumphant. She’d done it. With a flick of her wrist, her Ghost, Solace, materialized into her palm and immediately began to heal her wounds and exhaustion.
“You did it, Lyra. The Black Heart is as good as destroyed and the Vex are running scared! This mission might even put you in the history books!” Sol chirped excitedly, zipping around Lyra’s head.
Lyra could only laugh in a mixture of relief and amusement. “Yeah, maybe. But, I don’t really care about that. I’m just glad we won’t have to worry about more corrupted Vex.”
Sol nodded in agreement. “Now, all that’s left is to destroy it. Do it, Guardian. Let’s finish this and go home.”
Lyra smiled and raised her hand cannon, firing only a couple shots before she saw the Black Heart roil and bubble, then it folded into itself and imploded. Unexpectedly, a wave of Darkness expanded out from where it had been and washed over Lyra and her Ghost.
Thankfully, it did no harm to Solace, but the wave of Darkness had an interesting effect on Lyra. As it washed over her body, a sudden flash of images appeared in her mind, just enough to feel familiar—until there were more flashes. Then more, flooding her mind faster than she could process.
A pressure slammed into her mind, rising from a low thrum to a relentless, searing tide that fractured her thoughts. Lyra collapsed to her knees, hands clutching her head, teeth gritted, gasping as the pain tore through every corner of her consciousness until she couldn’t even think.
She knew Solace was calling her name in a panic, but she could barely hear him. Her ears felt stuffed with cotton, and the images kept coming without pause. Despite the god-awful pain, she knew she was on the brink of remembering something important. She just had to hold on.
Eventually, the pain reached its crescendo and a sharp, stabbing sensation behind her eyes finally broke her resolve. She let out an agonizing scream. Unbeknownst to Lyra and just outside the perception of her Ghost, a faint aura of Darkness melded into her head. Once fully assimilated, the pain vanished as if it had never existed.
Left in its place were memories that she had long forgotten. Her real name. Her age. A whole other life. As her old memories assimilated into her new ones, she realized something. The world she had spent the last five years protecting… She remembered it in her other life too. As a game.
Destiny.
In her other life, this world was a game—her favorite game! She had so many memories of this world: characters, lore, campaigns, raids—everything! She knew what threats were on the horizon. She knew who would die, who would live, who would become their allies, who would become their enemies.
And as that knowledge settled into her head, Lyra found herself grateful for the Darkness. Had it not been for It, she would have never remembered her past life. After all, if there was anything she learned from Savathûn during the Witch Queen expansion, it was that the Darkness was the universe’s memory.
As she came back to herself, she finally registered the panicked fussing of her Ghost and raised a hand to get his attention. Thankfully, that was all that was needed as he immediately stopped his rambling.
“Lyra, are you okay?! What happened?! My sensors said you weren’t being hurt but you were still in pain!”
Lyra smiled softly and shook her head. “I’m okay, Solace. I think that wave of Darkness actually returned my memories to me. From before I became a Guardian.”
Immediately, Solace froze in place. “…WHAT?! IT CAN DO THAT?!”
She couldn’t help it. She started laughing hysterically. Her little Ghost was such a drama queen!
“Wha—Lyra, stop laughing at me! Tell me, were you being serious?! Do you really have all your memories back!”
It took a few minutes for her to calm down but she nodded softly. “It’s true. Not only do I have my memories, but I also learned something else. I’m not from this universe.”
Her Ghost once again froze, though this time with confusion. His beeps and chirps told her that. “What do you mean? How could you possibly even know you weren’t from this universe?”
“Because in my universe, this one was a video game to me. A game called Destiny.”
Solace said nothing for several minutes as he stared at his Guardian in what she was sure was absolute disbelief. “Are you sure that wave of Darkness didn’t do some brain damage that my scanners can’t pick up?”
Lyra huffed out a laugh but shook her head. “I’m sure. In fact, it’s because I played this game so religiously that I have some pretty deep knowledge of this world that’s been probably hidden or forgotten over the years. I even know of future conflicts and enemies that we could use to our advantage.”
Solace floated closer to his Guardian, staring at her eye to eye, before he sighed and nodded softly. “Alright. If nothing else, you believe you’re telling the truth, so I’ll believe you. We’re partners, and I know you would never trick me like this.”
Lyra smiled and gently pulled her little friend into a hug against her helmet. “You know that I love you, right?” She whispered softly.
Solace chirped happily at that. “I know. I love you too, Guardian.” They embraced for only a few seconds longer before she let him go. “Now, let’s report in the Vanguard about our mission, attend whatever celebration they decide to throw, and then we can decide what our next course of action is.”
Lyra nodded. “Sounds good. Let’s get out of here. As beautiful as the Black Garden is, I really just want to sleep somewhere safe.”
Reporting in to the Vanguard was a bit of a surreal experience after unlocking the memories of her past life. Part of her had only ever met these characters through a screen and seeing them in front of her, living and breathing was pretty mind blowing to that side of her.
On the other hand, she’d met and gotten to know each of the Vanguard commanders pretty well over the last five years, so her reporting in to them felt like just another day. It was a weird dichotomy, but she mostly kept to being in her Guardian mindset instead of reverting to her old mindset. After all, that version of her had died a long time ago.
Now, she was Lyra, a Hunter of the Last City.
Lyra had never been a fan of big parties or celebrations, especially if they were for her. Too much noise, too much attention. So, as the Speaker gave his speech to all the Guardians in the Tower about the incredible victory she had won for them, she snuck away towards the Hangar where she hoped to both leave before they could find her.
And if she was able to meet the Exo Stranger again, well that was just a bonus.
As she walked, she reviewed both sets of memories and realized that, up until the Black Garden mission, all events had unfolded exactly as they had in Destiny 1. She first encountered the Stranger on the Moon, where she was given coordinates, and later met her in person on Venus. Now, she would meet her for the last time until she returned in Beyond Light.
As much as she wanted to let the Exo Stranger (aka Elsie Bray) in on her new foreknowledge, she knew that Elsie was currently fighting a much bigger battle over in that other timeline. They needed her more than she did. Plus, she had plans for getting a much better helper anyway.
As she walked down the stairs to the hangar floor, she found her. There stood Elsie Bray, staring out at the Last City with the Traveler framing her dramatically. Honestly, if she didn’t know better, Lyra would almost think she was posing.
As she made her way over to her, she couldn’t help but marvel at the sight before her. Seeing the City from this high up on a day like today? It was truly beautiful. As Lyra came to a stop next to her, the pair shared a solemn silence as they took in the peace and beauty of humanity, both wishing every day was like today.
“It’s a day for pretty speeches and medals. But we know the real fight takes place out there.” Elsie said softly, before turning and handing Lyra her legendary rifle, the No Time to Explain.
“Take this.”
Lyra only hesitated briefly before taking it gently, her hands instantly shifting it into a standby position.
“There is so much more, Guardian. I’ve seen terrible things born out in the Darkness. Every moment brings them closer.” Elsie nodded, turning to face the Traveler and taking a few steps towards the edge of the Hangar.
“All ends are beginnings… Our fight is far from over.” And with not a word more, she walked off the edge in a brilliant shower of white particles.
Lyra couldn’t help but grin wryly. “I wonder if everyone in this universe is just as dramatic as she was.”
Solace materialized by her side, his eye narrowing towards her. “You’re one to talk. If being dramatic is a quirk of this universe, then you’re fully infected with it too.”
Lyra giggled but couldn’t offer a defense. He was right, after all.
“Now what?” Her Ghost asked.
The Hunter hummed softly as she continued to stare at the setting sun. “Now, we go to Nessus. We only have another month—approximately—before the next major threat comes a-knocking, and we’re going to need as much help as possible.”
Solace tilted his shell slightly in confusion. “Nessus? What’s on Nessus?”
She smiled fondly as she recalled someone who had been abandoned for centuries. “A friend.”
And with that, she turned and made her way towards her ship. She had to get her priorities in order before she started implementing plans, and the long flight to Nessus should give her more than enough time to do so.
Just before she got out of hearing range, she heard her Ghost mutter softly under his breath. “See, dramatic.”
She laughed all the way to her ship.