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spectacledotter · 5 years

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The Ballad of Jonah & Michel

Ace, the answer to the age-old question "what would happen if a golden retriever carried a heavy machine gun," bounds into the hangar with an enormous grin on his face, followed by a somewhat less energetic warlock.

"I'll admit," says Eska to Ace, "when you said 'I know a warlock' I was a little concerned you meant that bitchy cryptarch."

"Taron doesn't do fieldwork," says Ace with a shrug, "and anyway, if we're going to have one warlock, Konath is the one we want."

"It was me or Taron?" Konath the warlock sounds insulted.

"No," insists Ace, "it was you because you're really fucking good and we kind of need that where we're going."

"The Vault of Glass." Konath looks to Eska. "You're really serious about this, aren't you? You realize what you want to get into, right? The Vault eats people. Guardians don't go in and come out again."

"That's why we need to remove it," says Eska flatly. "If you're not interested..."

"I didn't say that." He's grinning. The warlock is actually grinning.

"Right, introductions," Ace swings an arm around Konath's shoulders. "So, that's Faulkner-5 and Gavri, they're our hunters. Over by the sparrow, it's Gavri's. He's one of the best racers since Marcus Ren. And I call Faulkner Deadeye for, y'know, obvious reasons." He winks, then points over to the exo in black and the considerably more colourfully-dressed awoken focusing on tuning the sparrow's engine. "And--Akira's somewhere around here--AKIRA!" Ace waves to the large, bulky exo currently completely distracted by the hangar cat. "Hey come over here and say hi to our warlock! This is Akira-28, you've probably seen him on the Crucible leaderboards, right? Best fucking headbutt on the Tower. And this guy is Eska."

"Just Eska?" says Konath with a quirked eyebrow. He's barely glanced at the hunters or the titan exo. He keeps watching Eska as if trying to place him in his memories somewhere. Eska's not particularly surprised; he's gained a reputation at record speed since his revival. Konath's probably seen his face in Vanguard projections if he spends any time in their area.

Yet he can't stop thinking he knows Konath's face, too. Where has he seen him before? A projection? "I prefer it that way," says Eska.

"Don't want to let your reputation precede you?"

"My friends don't know my reputation. They know me. I like it that way." He's not sure what kind of reputation Konath even has, but if he's seen his face before, he must have something. "I like knowing my friends that way, too."

Konath's wicked grin turns softer. Friendler. "Now that, I can respect."

They knew when they entered that the Vault of Glass would be harrowing, but that word is not nearly strong enough for what they experience. The Vault is every bit the wound in time, the Vex underworld they had been warned of, but none of them are deterred. They press on through every horror the Vex can throw at them.

Konath channels light into Eska's ghost, giving Spark the boost he needs to recreate Eska's form, just as more of the suicide-bombing fanatics rush towards them both. One well-placed shot takes them all out at once, but only once it's taken do Eska's feet find solid ground. Konath has a mere second to be impressed before they both have to refocus on the Oracles.

It is Eska who grabs the Aegis. It is Eska who is the forefront of the defence, Eska who holds the line against the Templar--but it is Konath, of all of them, who keeps him there. Konath who flings both blasts of void and bolts of solar--*that* is what Ace meant when he said Konath could be one warlock for a team of six, because Konath brings twin Lights and wields them as fluidly as water flows against oil, separate but parallel and moving together. Konath is clever with his placement and quick with his fire, and Eska is both stalwart in his defence and relentless in his advance, and together they are the unstoppable force and the immovable object.

The other four of the fireteam do their part, but when the massive Hydra known as the Templar is naught but so much scrap, the hunters and the titans look at each other and look upon Konath and Eska, both of whom are breathing heavily and leaning on each other as if they have done this for centuries on. They never spoke. They simply moved as one thought.

They met two days ago.

They have known each other for two hundred years.

Perhaps it is because of the Vault, and the way time bends and folds and screams within it. Perhaps two days can be stretched over centuries within the Vault of Glass.

Perhaps.

They return to the City scarred and changed but triumphant. All of them are exhausted, but before they split apart, Eska catches Konath by the shoulder. He can't quite explain this magnetic draw he feels, but he knows with the same instinctual feeling, the same urgent understanding that has saved his life so many times, that he needs to know this man. He can't let Konath go.

"Do you want to get ramen sometime?" he asks abruptly, before Konath has even fully turned to face him.

"Are you asking me out on a date?" Konath responds, delicate lips curving into a smile.

"It doesn't have to be a date," Eska can't help smiling back, "but that's up to you. I just figure that live firefights with Vex aren't the greatest way to get to know a person."

"What, you're not used to having conversations between laser shots? You just need to yell louder."

That makes Eska laugh, which makes Konath laugh. He has a pretty laugh, one Eska wants to hear more of. He does agree to lunch at the ramen shop on the Tower, once they've all had enough sleep to be complete people again.

"He's interesting, isn't he?" says Spark when ghost and guardian are alone.

"I like him," Eska says.

"He's a little ... chaotic."

"That's not a bad thing."

"Well, no... but you're more like the opposite of chaotic. He's not like you."

Eska rests his head on his hand to look at his closest friend and companion for a year. "That's why I like him," he says.

Konath could talk for hours, about practically anything, and Eska could listen to him for the whole time and not get bored.

No Light. No ghost. The few medics the Farm has collected have done what they can, but they are spread thin by refugees--citizen and guardian alike--and his wounds are deep. There are others who can be saved. He is not among them. He lies in his cot in their makeshift field hospital, set up in a dilapidated old house, and he watches the darkening sky through the hole in the wall, and he thinks of Eska. Konath can barely breathe, his hands are cold, and with Death seeping into his body the only thing on his mind is the man who settled into his life as if he belonged there. If anyone could make it out of the City, if anyone could stop this catastrophe, it would be Eska. But he'll have to do it without Konath, and that knowledge hurts almost as badly as his collapsed lung.

I'm sorry, he thinks, and the sensation of deja vu--that he's done this before, apologized to his love as he dies--washes over him with such strength it gives him vertigo.

Wait.

No, that's just Chaya healing him with--

"Chaya!" gasps Konath, pushing himself up with renewed strength to face his golden-shelled ghost who is somehow beaming at him. "How did you--I thought the Legion got to you!"

Strong arms come around him from behind and the side, pulling him against a warm and muscular chest, and he looks up into the relieved face of his beloved. "Eska found me," says Chaya. "You look so awful, Konath! I was so worried. You need to eat, and then you need to rest, and then--"

"You're alive," Konath breathes, touching Eska's face. Chaya is still talking but he's not hearing a word.

"I thought I'd lost you," says Eska in a low voice. It's the first--only--time Konath has ever heard him on the verge of tears.

Konath presses his face into Eska's chest and Eska holds him as close as he can, and they sit wrapped around each other until long after the stars have come out.

With Xol the Hive worm god dead, the Guardians have a little more freedom to explore. And of course, with a treasure trove of Golden Age technology including the Holy Grail himself, Rasputin, at their fingertips, explore they do. Konath and AK-47 in particular spend hours combing through the massive facility. Though he's less obsessively interested in Clovis Bray's inventions, Eska does join them from time to time if for no other reason than to spend time with his best friends.

On one of those days where Eska tags along, they find a door with a palm lock for security. "Must be high clearance," says Eska. "We won't be able to open it... hey, Ana," into his comm, "think you can pick a lock for us from your end?"

While he fills Ana in on their location, Konath tries placing his hand to the palm-reader. He doesn't think it will work, but he can't resist putting his hand within the lines.

"WELCOME, DR. JONAH L. KRAMAROV," the Concierge AI greets him cheerfully, and the door opens.

"Well," says Konath, "shit. It worked."

"You must have worked here!" AK-47 signs excitedly, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Like Ana! Maybe you worked with Rasputin!"

"I--I have no idea." He's done Thanatonatics but he's never seen this place before. Then again, it must have looked very different back then.

"Let's go inside! Now we *have* to see what's in here."

She darts inside and Konath is right on her heels. They find themselves in a hallway lined with doors to the offices of high-clearance officials. Fortunately, these ones aren't locked, and AK immediately starts bounding in and out of every office. Konath, meanwhile, checks each door until finally he finds the one that bears the same name as his hand. Jonah Kramarov.

This was his office. It's messy, with papers scattered everywhere and even the tattered shreds of a coat that froze before it could decay completely away. It looks like Jonah left in a hurry. Konath slides his fingers over the bookshelves, looks over the equations on the papers, sits in the chair. For one second, the office is brightly lit and full of classical music, and he's leaning back from writing a letter on his computer. His eyes fall on...

Konath blinks and the office is a dim, cold, silent ruin again, but his eyes are still on the upturned photo frame. He tilts it up curiously, then pulls it close to his face in shock. The photo is of himself, but human with olive skin and hazel eyes, wearing a white tux and pink corsage, his arm around... it couldn't be, but it is.

Eska.

Konath knows that face better than he knows his own by now. His dark hair is shorter, less shaggy, but it's the same high cheekbones, dark eyes, golden-brown skin, even the same dimples in his smile. His tux is black but the corsage is the same. Their bow ties are both blue.

Written across the bottom is JONAH & MICHEL'S WEDDING and a date.

"Konath?" Eska is standing on the threshold of the office.

Konath looks up to him. "Find anything interesting?"

"Was about to ask you that."

"I... I don't know. Jonah Kramarov was definitely working on something. Looks like he had to leave in a hurry."

"You want some time?" he asks in that soft tone he uses when Konath is upset or overwhelmed. Hearing him talk like that, concerned and patient and ready to help, makes Konath feel better all by itself.

"Yeah," says Konath. "Yeah, that'd be nice."

"Sure. We'll be by the security door when you're ready."

When Konath finally joins them, the wedding photo is tucked into a pocket of his coat. He could have just transmatted it to his ship, but he wants it on his body. He never believed in destiny, and he's pretty sure he still doesn't, but now he understands Eska's magnetism. His gravity. The way he just settled into Konath's life like he was meant to be there. Konath is willing to call that destiny.

"Hey." He pulls his helmet up and Eska's off to kiss him by way of a greeting. "I love you, you know that?"

Eska is surprised but smiling. "What brought this on?"

Konath shrugs. "Sometimes I just want to tell you."

"I love you too, Konath."

#otterwip #to be continued?

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