The Outlaw: Shattered Past Book Seven (Forsaken)

Chapter 11: Partnership

Aaron, after getting out of that scuffle with the Bomber and Trickster, set out on his sparrow to go looking for the others that remained. "Mindbender, Rifleman, Hangman, Fanatic, Machinist, and then....Uldren...." He thought as his sparrow kicked up dust from the ground beneath him. As the gray dusty plains of the Tangled Shore turned into a blurry mess he thought more deeply about what he was doing. He was a guardian who worked with the city before...now, he was a fugitive, a murderer...then again, he supposed, he was already one of those things. As he kept driving he started to hear a voice over his comms.

    "Aaron....it's Eris." She said as he kept barrelling through the Shore. His eyes narrowed and started to speed up his sparrow. "I know that you're hurt...and I know that you think that this is the best course of action for you to take. But please...listen to me.." She continued. He could almost hear tears in her voice as she spoke. Something about this seemed suspicious, she hadn't talked to him in twelve years. Why does she choose now to try to talk to him? "I need you to come home...they want to kill you, you know that don't you? You were one the greatest warriors the city had ever seen...you can be that again...you need to find a better way of coping with this."

    Aaron remained eerily silent. Crystal, if she were outside, would have looked at him with sincere concern. She wondered what would have happened if she called him years ago...now it seems she would get her answer. She expected him to yell, scream even...but he was quiet..even his thoughts were empty. "Aaron...I know you can hear me. Please. I love you..."

    Those last three words spurred up his power core and he could feel the fan at the back of his head start to rotate faster. His hands tightened around the grips of the sparrow's controls. His brows clenched tighter and his jaw felt taut. He wanted to scream to yell, but no word in any language could fit the anger that he was feeling right now. He let out a pained breath and looked forward. "If those words mean anything...meet me at these coordinates at the Tangled Shore...I need to speak to you in person." She said sending him the coordinates before the comm line went dead. Aaron put in the Nav point and started driving toward it. Crystal began to grow concerned about the emptiness inside of Aaron. Both his head and his heart were heavy, with guilt, anger, sadness, hopelessness, and pain. He was in so much pain...it broke her small Ghost heart to see her guardian sink this low.

    Then it dawned on her...she was all that he had left. James, Cameron, and all the others called him a friend, but she was the one who was there with him through all of his trials and all of his triumphs. She couldn't stop his alcoholism or any of the other problems that had entailed. Yet somehow her being there was a sense of solace to him. She didn't know where this lead, but she was determined to help him see this through.

    "Aaron...what are you going to do?" Crystal asked him. Aaron remained silent, both in speech and in thought...it was so still. As they traveled closer and closer to the zone where Eris was supposed to be, he continued this eerie quiet. Eventually, he paused his sparrow just outside of the cave system where the beacon lead. He disembarked and started walking into the depths of the cavern, his Ghost remained inside as his footsteps echoed through the chasm until he reached an area of greenery. He looked around for a little bit, noticing the odd change of scenery, then he faced forward and saw her. Her ivory skin, soft glowing green eyes and her long black hair. She was wearing normal hunter armor as she looked at him. Aaron took his helmet off and their eyes locked for a moment. Between the two there was a sullen silence as if either party had never met before.

    "Did you come alone?" Aaron asked her, his lava red eyes glaring in the soft lighting of the chasm.

    "Yes...I promise." Eris replied softly. Aaron slowly walked closer and looked at her, they got close enough so that they could practically feel each other's hearts beating. The Exo stood a little taller than she did, Aaron looked at the floor. "Aaron...I know you're in pain..I know how it feels to lose everything. But killing Uldren won't solve anything."