Work Text:
The Guardian shot up with a choked gasp and a harsh cough from their bed, they groaned rubbing their face.
This was the fifth nightmare in the past two hours, and probably the worst of the lot.
They sighed shifting to the side and crawling out of their bed reaching for a jumper that was close by, After that they needed space, away from everyone.
The Guardian paused and glanced at Ghost, fast asleep in his own small resting spot, only for him to briefly get replaced by that haunted image of his dead cracked shell-
They shook their head and promptly left the room.
---------
The party was still going on unsurprisingly, They had the hood covering their head so they weren't spotted, the last thing they wanted was to be manhandled into drinking gallons of alcohol.
Despite how late it was there were still plenty of people, too many people, they hated they had to pass through here to even get to their new ship.
They just tightened their hood and sped through without even looking up into the general eyesight of people, The Guardian glanced up only when the sounds were far behind and only the hum of the Hangar generators could be heard.
They sighed walking down to their ship, Ghost was going to kill them when morning came.
-----------
Ghost grumbled when the shine of morning light hit his optic startling him awake, "Morning already" He muttered stretching out his shell, "Good morning Guard-" He froze, they weren't there.
"Guardian?" He shot over to the bed scanning it for any sign of them, "Guardian?!" Ghost shot over the entire dorm, They weren't anywhere, they weren't here-
"Oh Traveler, this isn't good" He whispered, If they'd gone off planet on their own without him- He yelped when he bumped into an Eliksni guard, the latter chirping to him in concern.
"Oh I'm okay thank you" He beeped continuing on quickly after, He had to go to Ikora, she was the closest Vanguard to where he was she had to have some idea.
"What do you mean they've vanished?!" She yelled, He'd found her relatively quickly and she was....more concerned than angry.
"I dont know where they went" Ghost said, "I just woke up and they weren't there" Ikora went to reply but paused suddenly when Ophiuchus appeared and whispered to her, "What?!" She instantly shot off toward the Hangar making Ghost jump in shock before following.
"Ikora wait!" He called, ducking and weaving between civilians and Guardians as he raced after her, "Whats going-" He skidded to a halt right up beside where she'd stopped in her tracks.
What he saw made his shell tighten around his core, it was his Guardian, snarling and flaring light and dark in the strong grip of Saint, It- wasn't like them at all.
Ghost felt Ikora move forward beside him, he followed although slower, his optic still locked on his Guardian, "Saint What happened?" She asked him, He looked up.
"I do not know, I saw them arrive but then they suddenly started lashing out like this" He grunted slightly at an especially harsh tug, "Ghost?" the Exo looked up to him, "Could you try talking to them?"
Ghosts shell spun in nerves but he nodded, "I can try.." He floated down close to their head, and he could see the pure feral look in them, It wasn't right, It didn't feel right.
"Guardian?" He whispered, opening his shell a slight margin, "Are you-" He meeped when they snatched him up with a way more harsher grip than usual and then chucked him across the Hangar into a metal pole.
"Saint suppress them!" Ikora yelled while running over to pick Ghost up who was whimpering and dragging his cracked shell along the floor.
She tried to ignore the sounds of Void suppression behind her and cupped him in her hands, "Ikora..." Ghost whimpered, "Whats wrong with them" She took a deep breath.
"I dont know, but we'll find out" She glanced up seeing Saint now with a just arrived Crow tying the Void suppressed Guardian up, "I hope"
---------------
Ghost sat outside the light locked chamber watching his Guardian inside, they had to be chained by their hands and their body, and even then they were still thrashing.
Oh but it hurt, He didn't know why this had even happened, they were fine after they came back from the Pale Heart, his scans were never wrong.
But the possibility of him having missed something was there too, and he didn't know which hurt more, the fact he missed something or the fact he noticed far too late.
He didn't move upon hearing the door behind him open, Didn't move when he heard the heavy armor of Saint stop beside him.
"I dont know how it even happened" Ghost murmured, "I-they were fine before i- don't know how it happened- was it me? did I do something wrong or-" He felt Saint rest a gloved hand on him.
"It is not your fault" The exo responded firmly but softly, He turned when Ikora walked in clearly stressed, "I've had some help from Eris" She puffed as if struggling to say what it really was.
"I dont know how but....somehow Xivu Arath has gotten to them" Ghost jolted up and zapped over, "What?!" He yelled, "How?!" The Warlock raised her hand, "I dont know, Eris is trying to figure it out but she thinks it could have something to do with the combined light and dark" Her arms connected into a fold.
"I'm trying to get in contact with Sloane, She should have some insight from Asha that could help, for now we'll have to leave them secured here" Ghost shot up, "But-" Ikora gave him a sympathetic look, he hated it.
"I understand your worried, but they are a danger outside of that room" Ghost frowned, that wasn't good enough, "Ikora I can't just leave them here alone!" He argued back, his shell flaring to make a point, "They hate being alone and-and-" Ikora huffed heavily, "Ghost, please listen, your worried about them, it'd understandable, but if we let them out then it'd a danger to everyone" He faltered under her narrowed gaze.
"Okay" He whispered sadly, floating downwards toward the ground, Saint lifted him up toward him, "I'll go take him to their dorm" He couldn't see them Titans face but he had no doubt he wasn't happy about how Ikora seemed to be dismissing Ghosts genuine concerns like it was an obstacle.
Ghost was however silent even as they arrived at their dorm, their...silent, empty dorm.
"You do not have to be alone Ghost" Saint said, "You can come stay with me and Osiris if you'd like" He looked up, his blue optic seemingly more of a lighter sadder blue, "I'll be okay..." He floated up and phased away into the room.
"Geppetto?" Saint asked her, "I'll watch the comms don't worry" She lightly bumped into his helmet as he walked away, sparing a glance at the door before following him.
-----
Ghost stayed inside staring at the wall, He didn't want to look anywhere else, it hurt too much. yet he hated this, hated waiting for something to happen.
He finally huffed raising himself up and out of the door, If everyone was going to take too long to do something while his Guardian was suffering.
He emerged right into the room where they were, only to flinch slightly when they snarled at the sight of him, "Right..." He muttered, "Here goes nothing..." He closed his optic and opened his shell.
Ghost jumped when he was greeted with a pitch black darkness, "It worked!" He beeped his shell spinning quickly before he spun around.
Only for his core to run dead cold.
Right infront of him was his Guardian, but they were almost catatonic on the floor completely umoving and being bound by what was seemingly Xivu Araths symbols.
"Guardian?" He whispered, floating down to their height, He nudged their shoulder prompting a groan from them, "Gh..ost..." They whispered, their head raising a little. "H...Hurts.." Ghosts shell cringed inwards and he flew forward to press against their cheek.
"I know...i don't know how to stop it.." He whispered back, "I can't stop Hive magic" They coughed and shook their head, "There....i...is" a wheeze left them, "The...Light.." It clicked in his head then, "Enough light would cause an overload" He muttered as he caught on.
"And overload that Xivu can't fight against like this!" He flicked his shell, light starting to shine from him while he flew forward.
The pained gasp they made when he made contact with their chest almost made him stop if it wasn't for their pained encouragement.
Ghost swore he could hear Xivu somewhere, cursing in Hive tounge as her little trick was undone piece by piece.
He whined when it suddenly started to cut at him, her last attempt of stopping him he guessed.
It almost succeeded until he felt two pairs of hands wrap around him, He opened his optic to see his Guardians chest free of the chains, now brimming with light again.
Ghost sighed and closed his eye again, it opened again to see himself back in the room against his Guardians chest, "It worked?" He shot up, turning to see his Guardian back to their normal self, not a crazed controlled Hive.
"It worked!" He beeped zipping around the room and then into their chest again, "Please don't ever go with a crazy Hive God again, that was so scary I thought..." He paused.
"I know...I'm sorry little light" They whispered back, curling around him, "She'd latched on right after we left the Traveler" They dipped their head so their chin would rest against his shell.
"I didn't think she'd take over so..quickly" Ghost was silent, "I really hope she doesn't try it again" He whined, "I thought she'd take you from me..." The Guardian was silent and only rested against him as a form of comfort.
"Ghost?" They spoke up after a while, he hummed in response, "Could you uhhh, remove the chains?" Ghost shot up in a panic, "Oh Traveler i forgot!" He scanned the chains and instantly transmatted them off much to their sigh of relief.
"Thats better, now come here" The Guardian laughed when he shot into their waiting hands, The two sat there for a while until words were spoken again.
"Theres one more thing" They said, Ghost glanced up at them, "You'll have to transmat me home i don't think i can move much" Ghost cooed fluttering up against them, "Its not a problem" He chirped.
Transmat surrounded them until the horrible view of the lab was replaced with their familiar dorm. "Thats" The Guardian grunted lifting themselves up and practically collapsing into their bed. "Better" Ghost hummed as his only response.
"We'll uhhh have a lot of explaining to do" He spoke up after a moment, The Guardian only shrugged, "They can wait" They mumbled, sleep on the edge of claiming them, Ghost nestled against their chest more after silently removing their armor to make them more comfortable.
"I think it can for a while" Ghost added on, he waited until he heard his Guardian start to softly snore before he fell into a sleep himself, hopefully their door wouldn't be down by the time they woke up.