I gripped the edge of the hard light bridge with enough force to shatter normal human bones, pain was shearing all over my body. As I slowly oriented myself, I pulled myself up and saw the Didact struggling against Cortana's bonding. I produced a cube shaped Promethean grenade from my belt and dashed forward, shoving the armed grenade at him. Infuriated, he smacked me away with his fist and pain hit me, again. When he attempted to lift me, the grenade exploded in his chest, making him stumble back and look down at his chest, back up to me, then fall into the void.
I tried to stand but I was too weak, muscles tensed in pain. I can't let this... weakness beat me. I lifted my body to hands and knees and moved forwards. A jolt of pain hit me as I fell and hit the glowing ground below. Out of sheer will, I made it to the nuke at a crawl. Pushing myself onto one knee and opening the device, I looked up at the flaring orange beam before focusing on the task at hand. I raised my arm and with a pain filled shout, I slammed my fist on the nuke.
White overtook my vision and a loud roar filled my ears before it all went blank. Am I dead? I opened my eyes, seeing a deep blue light. Realizing that I was crouching, I stood up. I slowly realized something was missing. "Cortana." I said, checking to see if she was there. Two seconds passed before I grew concerned. "Cortana, do you read?" I said, panic twisting my stomach into knots. "Cortana, come in." I said, starting to look for a way out, feeling almost claustrophobic. A flash of blue on my armor attracted my attention. I turned my head and I saw her walking towards me.
The knot in my stomach quickly dissolved as I looked upon her glowing figure. I was stunned speechless by her sudden appearance. "How?" "Oh, I'm the strangest thing you've seen all day?" She shot back, seeming to be amused. I looked around, taking in all the edges of the area. "So if we're here-" I started before she cut me off, her face twisting into something akin to pain. "You did it... just like you always do..." She said, her voice cracking slightly as if she were about to burst into tears. Something tightened in my chest as I listened to her speak.
"So how do we get out of here?" I asked, hoping to change the subject as I looked around. "I'm not coming with you this time..." she said softly. The air left my lungs and I forgot how to breath. It was if someone had punched me in the gut. "What?" I said, trying to register her words, possibly find a hidden message somewhere. This had to be some kind of twisted joke. "Most of me is down there... I only held enough back to get you off the ship..." This time her voice faltered at the end. That knot of panic returned, hiking my breathing rate up inside my suit. The rational side of my mind told me to think, find some way to bring her back. My heart was faster. "No! that's not- we go together." I said, stumbling over my words in a panic to get her to stay.
"Its already done..." she said in an almost mournful sigh. I shuffled uncomfortably, leaning forward ever so slightly as if to grab her. "I am not leaving you here!" I replied, trying hard not to fall apart as I came to realize her inevitable death. "John..." She replied with a pained sigh, reaching out to touch my chest plate.
Her breath hitched and I felt the feather light touch of her hardlight hand on my armor. "I've waited so long to do that..." It sounded as if a large weight was taken from her shoulders. My vision blurred and I looked down, registering the tear running down my face. My throat felt tight as I thought about all the ways I failed. "It was my job to take care of you..." I said, closing my eyes in shame. "We were supposed to take care of each other..."I opened my eyes and looked into her eyes. "And we did." she said as her voice broke off. My throat was raw with emotion and I couldn't find anything to say.
"Cortana-please..." I said, looking away, as if I could blink and wake up from this nightmare. I felt her touch my armor, causing me to look up. She slowly started backing towards the wall. I reached out, like a lost child. "Wait" I said pitifully. "Welcome home... John..." She whispered softly and disappeared. Something in my chest seemed to clench painfully as the walls started to rumble and fade. I looked up as the walls crashed down around me and space came back into view.
I slowly looked into a bright light as radio chatter filled my ears. "Infinity actual. Pelican nine-six'er. We found him. Someone said over the comms system. I closed my eyes as I waited to be brought in. I remember vaguely my armor being released from its locked state and the briefing I received upon my return. I stood resolutely at the view port, gazing at the blue oceans and letting my mind wander to memories with her.
As I was reminiscing, a familiar voice rang out. "Mind if I joined you?" Thomas Lasky said, prompting me to turn and face him. "Of course not sir." I replied stiffly. "At ease. It feels kind of odd for you to call me sir..." He walked up to the railing. I turned back to the rotating planet. "Beautiful isn't she? I don't get to see her often enough." Lasky said as he shuffled and looked at the green and blue orb. "Grew up in New Harmony, attended Corbulo Military Academy. Never saw earth in person until I was an adult... but I still think of her as home" He said as he continued talking. "You don't talk much do you?..." He concluded and turned towards me. A long pause and then "Chief, I won't pretend to know how you feel... I've lost people I cared about but, never anything like you're going through." He finally finished. My breath almost hitched and I swallowed discreetly before speaking.
"Our duty, as soldiers is to protect humanity... Whatever the cost..." I said, breath hitching on the last sentence. Silently, I cursed myself. "You say that, like soldiers and humanity are two different things..." My gaze shot up. "Soldiers aren't machines, we're just people..." He said and the thought of blue hair drifted through my thoughts. "I'll let you have the deck to yourself." He said and walked off.
"She said that to me once, about being a machine..." I said out loud to no one in particular. I returned my focus on the planet, stewing on grief and self loathing.
I walked to the refit station and passed Sarah Palmers, A SPARTAN four stumbled on the treadmill as he turned to look at me. I turned to my fitting station and stepped in where technicians were waiting to remove my armor.
"In this hour of victory... we taste only defeat, I ask why... we are forerunners, guardians of all that exists. The roots of the Galaxy have grown deep under our careful tending. Where there is life... The wisdom of our countless generations has saturated the soil. Our strength is a luminous sun towards which all intelligence blossoms... And the impervious shelter beneath which it has prospered. I stand before you, accused of the sin, of assuring forerunner ascendancy, of saving us from this fate, where we are forced to... recede. Humanity stands as the greatest threat in the galaxy, refusing to eradicate them is a fool's gambit! We squander eons in the darkness... While they seize our triumphs for their own! the mantle of responsibility... for all things, belongs to forerunners alone! Think of my acts, as you will... But do not doubt the reality... The reclamation... has already begun... and we are hopeless to stop it."