Truths:
In any one person you are acquainted with, there will be things about them that you are not aware of. Everyone has his or her secrets. Things pushed to the back of their minds to never see light of day, things held deep in a person's heart.
Chapter one: Sarge
The truth is, Sarge has been stationed at Blood Gulch far longer than anyone could guess. Just like everyone else, Sarge started off as a private. Private Benjamin Hartwell. He was a fine tactician and a brilliant soldier. Quick to follow orders and good with making snapshot decisions, he quickly advanced through the ranks. Good soldiers were needed in that time period. An alien race was hell-bent on the complete annihilation of humankind. But the horrors of war are not to be underestimated.
Sarge had been placed in charge of a new group of recruits. Fresh from training and eager for a fight. They made him proud. As new recruits they were not placed in any overly dangerous situations but in war, the unexpected can sometimes be commonplace. It was a simple scouting mission. No more, no less. They weren't expected to run into any Covenant.
They say that a butterfly flapping its wings on one side of the world can cause monsoons on the other. The smallest mistake can cause the greatest misfortune. Ripples in the water. It was a simple, if slightly lazy, over sight. One soldier was a few minutes late to change shift. In that one minute the post was unmanned, the enemy ambushed the scouting camp and slaughtered the recruits. Sarge was the only survivor.
He was off the active duty roster for a long while. He blamed himself for what had happened. If he had been stricter with them, picked a better position, triple checked the surrounding area… Eventually Command transferred him to a simulation ground, where they tested their newest equipment. Quiet compared to the front lines, perfect for an old soldier still bothered by memories. But still it haunted him until finally his mind did the only thing it could do to stay sane. It locked the memory away. He no longer remembered what the war was originally about. Forgot the time spent in the field. The enemy was no longer a hostile alien race. It was those goddamned blues across the canyon who were incredibly insulting and so goddamned lazy. He couldn't remember why that last one ticked him off so much, but it did.
So Command continued to send recruits and Sarge jumped into battling those stupid blues. He was strict and Would. Not. Tolerate. Laziness. Although he forgot a lot of things (like installing a voice box on his robot, the time of day, what the war was about, why he decided to build a secret beer storage on the blue side of the canyon) one thing stuck. One lazy soldier would be the death of his whole team. One lazy slipup could get your throats ripped out. (He always jumped at this thought, wondered where in all tarnation it had come from and then pushed it to the back of his mind with practiced ease). Hours of the day were spent thinking up new contraptions, new torture for the rookie (who's name was Griff and he couldn't stand for some reason), battle plans, insults for the blues and new torture for Griff. Yes. He does realize that tormenting the rookie takes up a lot of his time. But it was time well spent. There were no wasted hours in Sarge's day.
When the "Rookie" showed up (they called him that even though he'd only showed up the day after the other new recruit, Simmons) everything about him seemed to rub Sarge the wrong way. He had no respect for authority (if Sarge did say so himself), was rude, gluttonous and above all, lazy. Something in the back of Sarge's mind fretted about this. He's gonna get himself killed, he's gotta toughen up, he's gotta start actin like a real soldier. Unconsciously, all of these thoughts ran through his mind at one point or another. So he poked, he prodded, he insulted, and he heaped menial tasks on him until it became habit. He gradually forgot why he did it. He gradually enjoyed doing it. Time flew by. Gradually, Private Benjamin faded from Sarge's memory and all that was left was Sarge. Sarge, who hated Griff's guts. Sarge, who secretly found Simmons' attempts to suck up amusing beyond belief. Sarge, who every time Command asked if he was ready to be transferred for some reason always said no (had to keep an eye on his recruits after all). Sarge, who couldn't stand laziness (and therefore, Griff). Sarge, who always stayed in Blood Gulch.
Blood Gulch. It was where he fought, where he lived, and to Sarge's increasingly forgetful mind, it was the only place he had ever been.
TBC