"You know, love is like a good memory. You know it's there, but you just can't seem to grab it. And the more you do, the more you push it away from yourself. And if you leave it alone, then maybe, just maybe. It'll come to you. We'll just have to wait and see.

A shooting star. Falling from space, bound to land on Earth, but only god knows where. Where will this shooting star arrive? And was it even, a shooting star? But nobody questioned. The world went silent at this sight of this star. They sat in the cold darkness, wishing upon the star. They wished for many things, peace, wealth, and overall, good things.

The shooting star landed in the desert and almost sparked out, but the star managed to stand up and stare at the sky.

"It's a beautiful thing, isn't it? That we survived."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

The Spartan rested his assault rifle in his hands and looked around. There was nothing.

"It wasn't your fault. There were too many of them, there was nothing you could do."

"Zeta. Approximately how many Spartans do you think survived?"

The A.I. was silent for a moment as the Spartan looked back up into the stars.

"I'm not sure. It could be five or six of the Spartans, but it could be just you."

The Spartan looked down at the sand, where his magnum had fallen off of his thigh. He bent down and picked it up, inspecting it. He wiped some sand off the side of the weapon and read the numbers.

209.

"You think 210 made it?"

"Cassie? I don't know. For your sake, I hope she did."

"I don't want your statistics to be out of pity."

"I'm sorry. I know how you felt about her. But think about it, with all that's going on, do you think you really have any time to settle down in a relationship?"

"No, I guess not. You're right. This is crazy."

He planted his magnum back on his thigh and turned around, where he saw a large sand dune. He began to walk towards it. He was thinking about a lot of things, himself, the ship, Zeta, and most of all, Cassie. He yearned for Cassie's return that night. That night….

The night when all hell broke loose.

He reached the top of the sand dune and pulled his magnum off of his thigh. He saw a Covenant outpost in the distance.

"We just landed, are you really going to-" Zeta was cut off by Clyde.

"Yes, it'll help me think straight."

"Don't you think this is more of a mission to have a partner on?"

The Spartan was silent as he stared at the outpost. He looked up at the stars for a second and saw the ship burning in space, but it was all just his imagination.

"I have you."

The Spartan cocked back his pistol and slid down the sand dune, arriving at the Covenant base. A shade turret turned it's light on and looked in his direction. Two Elites came out from inside the outpost.

"Spartan, what are you doing here?"

"Nothing really. I thought this was a Brute fortress."

"No, we Elites have already taken this."

Zeta was relieved. She knew that Clyde was in no condition to fight. Not after that fall…

Clyde walked up onto the outpost. Where he placed his assault rifle on the ground.

"You guys seen any Brutes lately?"

"Nope, we've been clear here. I heard what happened to your ship, I'm surprised you made it."

"Believe me, so am I. I must be pretty lucky."

"You must be."

"Yeah, so have you even heard anything about the Brutes? Are they gonna change over like you did?"

"Well, you know what they say. Your heresy will stay your feet, I'm just glad that wasn't the case for us."

"Yeah, your heresy will stay your feet. You guys are pretty religious, what with all of these saying and everything."

"The Sangheili are a very religious kind, whereas the Jiralhanae are barbarious."

"Jiralhanae?"

"The Brutes."

"Oh, right."

The Spartan looked back up at the sky. The Elite looked up too.

"You see that ship up there? The one burning up right now."

There was silence until the Elite turned back down to look at Clyde.

"I do not. It must be in your imagination. Horrifying images can stay with you for a long time. Like with me, as I see a Halo ring, whether it be in pictures or an actual sighting, I see betrayal. I see the Prophets cutting the throats of every last being in the universe."

"Huh. That's pretty deep." Clyde sat down as he said this. The Elite sat next to him.

"You must be going through some emotional things."

"Yeah. Have you heard anything on the other Spartans?"

"214 made it out alive. He's been escorted to a UNSC base down in southern Africa. You my friend, landed quite a ways away. None of the UNSC even know you're alive."

"Have you heard anything on Spartan 210?"

"No, I have not. Is that someone you know?"

"Yeah, you could say that."

Clyde looked down at his feet and remembered the times with Cassie. They had been very good friends in the past, and now, she could have been killed.

"I also know that Spartan 207 is confirmed to be deceased, but that's it."

"Huh, Leo's dead?"

"If that's what you call him."

The Elite stood back up and turned the light off on the shade turret.

"Remember, we can only use that in emergencies. You can't use that all the time.

"My apologies sir."

The Elite came back and sat next to the Spartan again.

"I can't believe the Covenant found us. How could they have found us?"

"The Covenant did that to your ship? There's no way."

"Well, they did. At least, that's what Captain Coles told us before we jumped. He died along with the ship."

"I got Intel from the UNSC a few hours ago, it wasn't Covenant that destroyed your ship. They don't know what it was, but they know it wasn't Covenant, unless those barbarians destroyed their frigate with it."

The Spartan looked up at the stars one more time, and this time, he couldn't see the ship. He saw a shooting star. He looked away, thinking it was his imagination.

The Elite looked up.

"Make a wish."