Destiny fanfic: Ruby's Rose

    A tired Warlock sat at her table pouring over her books as incents burned and her tea bubbled in her cup. She had been instructed by Ikora to study techniques and philosophies of Warlocks who had mastered the art of the Sunsinger. She tucked a band of short brown hair behind her ear and let out a yawn, she needed to stretch her legs.

    As the warlock left, Ikora strolled down the hall with her hands claspsed behind her back.

    “Ruby,” the Warlock stopped and turned her head.

    “Yes Ikora?”

    “Have you completed your studies I assigned you?”

    “Almost, I was taking a short break.”

    “Be sure to have them completed the next time I see you. Understand?” Ikora smiled with a tilt of her head.

    “Y-yes! Of course!” Ruby stammered.

    “Take care.” Ikora laughed with a parting wave. Ruby let out a sigh as she watched the Warlock leader round the corner back to the Vanguard hall. She knew the Warlock’s reputation that allowed her to join the Vanguard and become a prominent member…and that scared her.

    Ruby tried to shake off that feeling and went out to the plaza for some fresh air. It was the twilight hour and the Tower was relatively quiet, hardly any Guardians were milling about. The Cryptographer, Master Rahool was sitting down behind his desk, writing down what engrams he had decrypted earlier that day. To Ruby it seemed as if he never slept and was constantly at his station. Come to think of it, she noticed that a lot with the other vendors, and even the Vanguard members. Perhaps they were just dedicated to the Guardians?

    The fresh early morning air felt refreshing and seeing the fog that would roll in at the early time of the day was most calming and a welcomed sight. Finding a spot beneath the tree that grew beside the Gunsmith’s stand, Ruby took in the sights and smells of the Tower and let her mind wander. It was quite relaxing and just what she needed. The young woman, who was so calmed by atmosphere of open air compared to the stuffy room had begun to doze off.

    By mid-morning the Tower was bustling with Guardians and other trusted people to doing business with the various vendors. The sounds from the commotion caused Ruby to stir out of her nap. She lazily opened her eyes brought a hand up to shield the sunlight shining in her eyes through the leaves of the tree. When she finally regained the ability to think properly, Ruby jolted. She had dozed off longer than she had wanted to. If Ikora were to find her here in the court yard and not back finishing her studies… Ruby didn’t even want to finish that thought.

    Quickly getting to her feet she frantically ran passed all the guardians, down the halls, and back to her room, all before the leader of the Warlocks passed by again and noticed she was still gone. Hours later Ikora did pass by just as Ruby had finished.

    Now that her studies were finished and had nothing planned for the rest of the day; aside for some small errands. Ruby walked about the Tower to find something to do. Her first stop was the plaza to see the Postmaster if any packages or letters had been delivered.

    “Hello,” The exo-frame said as it greeted Ruby.

    “Hello Kadi. Anything for me today?”

    “Scanning…One item found.” Kadi’s green eye blinked several times as she scanned. The Frame turned and took a small package off the shelf behind her then handed it to Ruby.

    “Goodbye.” Kadi said then turned back to her terminal. The warlock stepped away from the kiosk to let other guardians get their mail, she looked over the rectangular package wrapped in brown paper and string. What she had ordered? Undoing the string and ripping the paper, she remembered what it was. It was a book from an old bookstore in the Last City; a novel she had discovered during her last trip to the city. Still remembering that she had errands to run, Ruby went back to her room to put the book away, then gathered her things and headed to the elevator to go to the ground floor.

    At the base of the Tower the streets were crowded by people going about their daily activities. Shopping at the market, artisans preforming their craft, and Titans patrolling the Wall.  The last city was full of life and gave hope that the city wouldn’t be the last one of mankind, soon other cities would begin to be rebuilt.

    Walking with the crowd of people, Ruby navigated her way through the streets till she found what was next on her list of errands,

    “Hello, Dike’s Bakery.” She said with a grin and pushed open the door. The aroma of warm, baked bread filled the air and the display of already baked bread surrounded the room.

    “Hi there, how can I help you?” A woman about the same height as Ruby wearing a black apron dusted with flour and her hair tied back, said upon hearing Ruby come in.

    “Oh hi!” She said in surprise. “Um do you have any Ciabatta bread?”

    “That we do, just came out a few minutes ago.” The woman smiled.

    “Great, I’ll take two loaves then.”

    “Okay, I’ll be right back.” The woman leaves and Ruby looks about the room. She had been in this shop countless times but she couldn’t get over the rustic look of the place. White brick walls, dark wood shelving, wicker baskets that held the various types of bread. This type of old look was Ruby liked, maybe because it was such a drastic change of the walls and look of the Tower?

    The woman returned with Ruby’s bread wrapped in paper and Ruby gave her the glimmer in return then headed out the door. There was still one more place for Ruby to stop by at and it was one she was the most excited for.

    “Salazar’s Sweets Shop, oh how I’ve missed you!” Ruby practically drooled when she saw the working neon sign of an orange salamander with a lollipop in its mouth. Inside the shop the walls were a mishmash of colors, bright greens, reds, blues, oranges, and purples. Candy of every shape and type, rock candies, taffies, lollipops, candies hard and soft. There were a number of people inside all looking around and clamoring to the counter to buy their sweets. Suddenly Ruby could hear a loud voice calling her name.

    “Ruby! Ruby my girl!” This large light blue skinned man came out from behind the counter and lifted Ruby into the air with a bear hug. “How’s my favorite customer?”

    “I’m doing alright, Salazar.” The brown haired girl giggled. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” She weakly pointed to the line of people at the counter.

    “Oh right,” He laughed and quickly returned to the counter. While that was going on, Ruby walked about the shop and looked at some of the new candy that had come in. Candy that looked like glimmer, and some that looked like encrypted engrams; each one had a mysterious flavor. There were even chocolate strange coins that looked just like the real thing. After wandering around the shop for the line to die down, Ruby walked to the counter with her selection in hand. Two red rock candy sticks, three boxes of Pocky sticks, a handful of glimmer cubes, and a small bag of pink balls of bubble gum.

    “I see you’re going light on the snacks today.” Salazar joked as he was ringing her up.

    “Yeah, it’s not one of those stressful days, but… I don’t know, I think I just need my fix.” Ruby made a face as she collected her bag.

    “Well whatever the reason, you’re always welcome here, Ruby.” Salazar offered an open hand.

    “Thanks, I appreciate it.” Ruby smiled and accepted the hand.

    With the last of her planned errands done, the warlock decided to shop around for some food for later that day. She was in the mood for a hot pot so she went to go collect the supplies she needed before returning to the tower to have her meal and begin reading her book she had ordered.

----

Early the next morning, Ruby was paged to meet in the Vanguard hall. This was certainly out of the ordinary, she had never been called to the Vanguard hall before.

            “Good morning Ruby,” Ikora greeted.

            “Good morning Ikora,” Ruby replied.

            “You already know the other Vanguard leaders, do you not?” Ruby looked over and saw the Hunter leader, Cayde-6 and the Titan leader, Commander Zavala; both of which nodded to her.

            “Ruby, whether you realize it or not, today is a very big day for you.” A small smile crept across Ikora’s face as she spoke. It didn’t feel cold or emotionless, but warm and genuine. “Today is the day you officially become a Guardian. Your training is far from complete but you have shown great skill and devotion to protecting the City. Your parents would be very proud of you, Ruby.”

Ruby was taken aback. She had never thought that she would become a guardian at a young age and only being in the academy for far less the others.

    “I fought alongside your father, he was a good man. I’m sure he’s smiling where ever he is now.” Cayde-6 remarked.

    “As did I with your mother.” Zavala added, “They both are blessed to have a daughter like you to carry on their legacy.” The news still hadn’t fully sunk in yet, it didn’t feel real at all.

    “Now that that this little ceremony is wrapping up, Ikora, care to give our newest guardian her first task as one of your Warlocks?” Cayde leaned over and spoke.

    “Yes, Cayde.” Ikora reached behind her and from her hand a little multi-shape machine moved and blinked as it looked Ruby over. “This will be your ghost, Guardian. To help you as you continue down your path.” The ghost blinked a few more times before it finally spoke.

    “Hello, I am Navi.” It said in a deep male voice.

    “Uhh… h-hi?” She said nervously. She had never spoken to a ghost before. Sure she had seen them being used by guardians on the tower and had heard them speak in passing but never one speaking directly to her.

    “Now Ruby, take your ghost, there is still much more that needs to be discussed.

    ~~~

    It was another hour of Ikora’s speech before she let Ruby go. She was to go on her first patrol mission to the Cosmodrome, while being “escorted” by a fireteam that needed another person in their ranks. They would meet her in the plaza at the seal in two hours, so it gave Ruby a little bit of time to prepare, more importantly it gave her time to tell Salazar the good news. She rushed to the elevator and headed down to the city below.

    The neon sign of Salazar’s was still blinking brightly and it was empty of customers inside.

    “Ah Ruby! You’re back sooner than usual, is everything alright?” Salazar stepped out from behind the counter. Ruby’s eyes welled up and she ran to the large Awoken man and wrapped her arms around him; crying into his shirt.

    “I did it Salazar! I did it! I’m a guardian now!” She says in between sobs. Salazar was surprised by the news but soon a smile formed on his face.

    “Your parents would be proud, Ruby. Now dry your tears, last time I checked, guardians don’t cry do they?” He patted her on the back while she dried her eyes on his shirt.

    “I still can’t believe their gone,” She sniffed and rubbed her eyes. “Six years doesn’t seem that long ago.”

    “Losing a loved one at any age hurts, but at fifteen it hurts just a bit more. Wait here.” Salazar went into the back room and returned with a lockbox. “I have a gift for you and you’ll need it more than I will.”

    Inside was a handgun of a unique shape. It had a long barrel and was colored with light gray and light blue with a small red light on the side.

    “Salazar! Where on earth did you find this!?” Ruby eyes went wide with surprise.

    “Not on Earth, child. In the Reef.” Ruby looked up at Salazar with a puzzled look.

    “What? You didn’t think old Salazar was always a candy maker? I used to be pirate long ago with the Awoken, before leaving and coming here to the City. Now take it. My space faring days are long since behind me.”  Ruby took the sidearm with shaking hands and stowed it away in her bag. “Now I want to you come back safe and tell me all about it. Think you can do that, hmm?” Salazar made a goofy face that would always make Ruby laugh when she was younger. It still worked because it got Ruby laughing as he ruffled her hair.

    “I will! Don’t worry!”

    “I know you will, Ruby. I know you will.”

    ~~~

    Wasn’t long before it was time for Ruby to meet this fireteam. She wore a set of red robes that went to above her knees and had on brown boots that went up to her knees. Along with a pair of gauntlets, she had on this red helmet with a port on the front. It was supposed to provide extra protection but it was very difficult to see out of. With her side arm stashed in a holster on the small of her back, Ruby waited at the great seal and wondering who it could be that would be going with her.

    There were several guardians with exotic looking gear and dark colors walking about in groups and so it gave her hope that she would be grouped with one of them. The loud whining behind her caused Ruby to look towards a pair of guardians, a Titan wearing red colored armor and a hunter wearing dark grey with what looked like a helmet that projected some sort of radar image. The two of them were bickering with each other and the hunter was even trying to climb the titan to grab something back.

    “No Eva, you can’t have it back until we’re on the Cosmodrome.” Said the titan.

    “Oh c’mon Ray!! That’ll be forever!” The hunter whined in return.

    “Oh please god, don’t tell me that it’s those two who will be taking me on my mission…” Ruby said quietly to herself.

    “I mean, we’re also babysitting! We have to take some newbie guardian with us too. This is going to blow…” Eva put her hands behind her head as she spoke.

    “Damn it…” The two guardians walked up to Ruby and looked her over.

    “You’re Ruby, right? The one who just graduated from the Academy?” Ray asked.

    “Um, yes?” Ruby tilted her head.

    “Then you’re the one we’re looking for. My name is Ray and this is Eva. We’ll be working together for the time being while you are getting your feet wet.”

    “Oh thank you!” She said excitedly. This might actually not be so bad. I mean the titan seems nice enough. Ruby thought to herself.

    “Okay, enough talking, let’s head to out now! I want to feel the wind flowing behind me we’ll I’m on my sparrow!” Eva seemed impatient as brought up her ghost and vanished.

    “Yeah, guess we should get going. You do have a ship don’t you?”

    “Oh yeah, yeah, Amanda set me up with one after I met with Ikora.”

    “Good, because without it, you’re going nowhere.” Ray brought up his ghost and then vanished.

    “They seem pleasant.” Said Navi.

    “For the most part. Well here goes my first day as the guardians. Ruby sighed before vanishing to her ship.