Where The Lost Have Gone
I know I already have my hands full with my other fanfic"The Hokage Of The League", but I just felt I needed to get this idea of my brain. This in no way means that I have officially returned from my state of hiatus. I am still very much busy. Still haven't been able to get a new desktop, moved to my new home, and to top it off finals are underway. This little project of mine was an idea that had spawned before my official announcement of hiatus and was near completion. I managed to squeeze in enough time and effort on my rather slow laptop to give it a good touchup and finalize its details.
I can't say for certain that I will continue to push more effort into this fanfic when I return. That, I guess will be entirely dependent on my audience's feedback. It's my first Halo and Walking Dead fanfiction so here's to hoping for the best. You can consider this as a Christmas Present to you readers. Also, I would like to note that I posted this on my Birthday so YAY me! HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything involving The Walking Dead Series or the Halo Series. All rights belong to their respective owners.
Rated M for graphical scenes and perhaps foul language.
XxX
Chapter 0: Pilot/Vertigo
Silence prevailed. Not a single sound could be heard. Only a sensation of emptiness could be felt. Felt? He stirred, slowly creeping out of the recesses of unconsciousness. Eyes blinking rapidly, the man, if one could call him so, stiffly shook his head side to side. He coughed, getting the unpleasant taste of copper within his mouth.
The first thing he took notice of was the utter lack of light. All around was pure darkness; not a shred of illumination. Quickly he realized that his armor's systems had entered into a state of lockdown, shutting nearly everything off to conserve power.
Responding to its occupant's awakening, the MJOLNIR Mk V armor systems rebooted. Several seconds later the display screen flickered on, giving the man his first glimpse of the area he was currently situated in. He found that he was in the epicenter of a small crater; rock and dirt around him melted and steaming with a faint blue-white hue. It gave the appearance that he had been struck by a plasma mortar.
Slowly rising to a standing position the man flexed, stretching his stiff joints and limbs. Taking a moment to perform a quick diagnosis on his armor's systems, he noticed that the outer layering of the armor had been scorched black by overheated plasma, and a few of the subsystems were damaged. Unfortunately, the damage sustained had done a real number on his suit's energy shielding, making it unusable at this point. Though an unwelcome discovery, he knew that he'd have to make due. He made a mental note to do a more thorough diagnosis once he had thoroughly assessed his current predicament.
Which brought him to the question of how he had gotten where he was now, and for that matter, how he was still alive. Spartan 008 Li was indisputably confused, a feeling he did not relish in the least, nor enjoyed staying so for too long if at all possible. The last thing he recalled was attempting to repair the power conduit aboard the captured Covenant CAC-Class Assault Carrier Ascendant Justice. He, along with Spartans John-117, Fredric 104, William-043, Anton-044, and Grace-093 had gone to the outer hull of the ship to repair the damaged power conduit when they were ambushed by the remnant Elite forces still aboard the ship.
Li accessed his suit's memory logs, paneling back to the events prior to him falling unconscious. Thankfully, the quality of the MJOLNIR armor's camera feed was better than the standard UNSC issued one. Reversing the vid, Li paused when he found the events that had transpired aboard the Ascendant Justice. The group of Spartans had mobilized, concentrating fire on the camouflaged Elites. Li weaved through debris, using his EVA armor's superior space combat capabilities to glide into cover as he took a few short, controlled burst of shots from his BR55HB SR Battle Rifle.
Pockets of white hot balls of plasma streaked across the ship's hull, some missing off course but others were dangerously close. And then it happened. Li's vision was enveloped by an oncoming distorted flash of blue-white plasma.
The video clip ended there, only to return once again when power was restored to the armor. Li cut the feed, unsatisfied with its results. It only brought on more questions than answers. How had he survived? And more so, how in the world had he somehow been transported to a planet of some sort? Had the slip-space anomaly caused by the Forerunner Crystal that Doctor Halsey had uncovered deep beneath Castle Base back on Reach somehow had a hand in this strange phenomenon? Li forced himself to squelch his growing anxiety and creeping sense of vertigo. He paused, entering into a state of meditation that he had frequently used to mentally prepare himself for upcoming combat missions. It was a practice none to dissimilar to the one his fellow Spartan ll Linda-058, whom had taken to the traditional practice of Zen Buddhism meditation.
His mind now sharp, Li focused on the here and now. First he'd have to figure out exactly what planet he was on and then establish communication with the nearest UNSC forces. The UNSC gravely needed any active Spartans available against their deadly foe; the Covenant. He hoped that his fellow Spartans had succeeded in their mission and returned back to Earth safely. Cortana had vital information that could turn the tide of the war. Something that humanity was in dire need of.
Clearly he wasn't on Reach, given the glaringly obvious fact that the surface hadn't been glassed by the Covenant. Scanning the nearby vicinity, Li made note that he was in what seemed to be a desolate forest, surrounded by a dense field of oak trees and other distinguishable flora and fauna indigenous to Earth's ecosystem. A fact that caught the Spartan's attention. Upon further inspection, Li confirmed that the wild flowers were indeed Lilies, grown on Earh. Perhaps he had landed on Earth. A fortunate stroke of luck were it to be true.
Li activated his comms systems, pinging the ODP stations positioned around the perimeter of Earth. No answer. Li frowned, neither the Orbital Defense Platforms nor any of the other UNSC stations that should've been there had picked up his call. Nothing but hollow echoes. It was as though they were never there to begin with.
Not one to give up, Li soldiered on, moving through the foliage in search of the nearest establishment or sign of civilization; if there even was one. Li noticed how the forest around him was healthy and the temperature was hot and somewhat humid. The planet was in the full swing of the summer season.
Li didn't get too far before his heightened senses picked up on the faint shuffling of leaves and a mixture of groans and moans approximately 30 meters to his right.
He was hopeful that it was a nearby resident of the area, but questioned the bizarre sounds that whatever it was, was making. Li blended into the foliage, closing in on the position of the noise, careful not to give away his position. For all he knew it could very well be hostile, or heaven forbid the Covenant. Quietly, he brushed leaves from a bush that were obscuring his vision. Li immediately spotted a lone figure in a small clearing.
Li magnified his HUD's display to 2x magnification, getting a clearer image of the figure in question. To his relief the person was a human male, civilian by the looks of it. The man was huddled on both his knees, bending over what was unmistakably the corpse of a deer. A youngling deer if its short stature and small horns were any given indication.
Li's eyes narrowed. Something wasn't right. The man had most definitely killed the young deer given the sight of his bloodied hands, yet he didn't have any hunting supplies on him to speak of. In fact, his attire consisted of nothing but a simple pair of jeans, sneakers, and a gray sweatshirt; not exactly the kind of gear you pack for a hunting trip. And then there was the fact that the man didn't appear to have any sort of firearm or weapon on him to speak of, though it was possible that he could be concealing it.
After several moments of debating with himself, Li decided to make contact with the civilian. He needed information on where he was as soon as possible and this may be the only civilian for miles. Li didn't have a weapon on him as they were seemingly vaporized in the ensuing explosion from the overheated plasma blast. But even unarmed, Li was still a force to be reckoned with. After all, even amongst the Spartan ll, Li's CQC capabilities were unrivaled. If the worst was to happen, Li figured that he was more than capable of handling a lone, unarmed civilian. He walked slowly towards the man, trying to appear as nonthreatening as an over 2 meter tall super soldier, clad in MJOLNIR armor could possibly be; though he tensed himself to respond to any acts of hostility at a moment's notice.
"Sir, don't be alarmed. I'm not here to hurt you. I'd just like to know where I currently am." The man ceased movement, twitching erratically before turning to face Li. The sinking suspicion he had had felt earlier now flared like an alarm, spiking the Spartan's heart rate. And he was right to be. The man's skin had rotted to a pale, ghostly white. Grime and blood smeared all over his torn open mouth, which gave the Spartan a clear view of his inner jaw and connecting teeth. A horrific visage. It looked like a scene depicted from John's description of the flood back on Reach upon meeting Vice Admiral Whitecomb.
The man, if he could even call it such now, unsteadily rose to his feet; sniffing the air and looking inquisitively at the Spartan. Its curiosity lasted for but a moment longer before it's face contorted into a look of pure, unadulterated hunger before speeding into Li's direction, teeth clamping up and down.
Li suppressed his initial surprise, entering into what Kelly had dubbed as Spartan Time. Sidestepping to the side, Li grabbed one of its outstretched arms in to a vice-like grip before twisting harshly, snapping the creature's appendage out of place. The creature was unperturbed by this, not even bothering to flinch or show any ounce of pain from just having its arm broken like a twig. Its arm dangling uselessly at its side, the creature once again lunged at the Spartan. Li put a stop to that with an impossibly fast open-palmed strike to the chest that sent the creature sailing into the air and crashing into the thick bark of an oak tree.
Li was certain that he heard the thing's spine crack on impact. To his utter bewilderment, the thing moved, flailing around on the ground as it was having difficulty getting up again. How was the creature still alive? It had suffered both a crippling and fatal blow, guaranteed to either incapacitate or downright kill a normal human being. Finally realizing that it could no longer stand, the creature futilely attempted to crawl towards Li, but the Spartan ll had had enough. Li raised his right boot before sharply pressing downward on the thing's face with enough to completely cave in its skull and brain.
Taking a moment to reorient himself, Li inspected the corpse. Even with his suit's air filters the creature's dead carcass smelt rancid. Checking its pulse, he confirmed that it was indeed dead. What really puzzled the Spartan was the blood oozing out of its crushed head, or more specifically the blood's consistency. The blood's pigmentation had discolored to a murky black-red, but what truly grabbed the Spartan's attention was the fact that the blood had clotted. But blood clotting wasn't supposed to occur until after post mortem. He had killed it only moments prior.
Shaking his head, Li turned to the dead deer. Its stomach had been forcibly ribbed open, spewing out the lower intestines and showcasing a portion of its rib cage. Li felt disgusted by the notion that the 'man' had just dug right into the animals flesh and ate its innards.
The need to get in touch with the nearest sign of civilization strengthened all the more, Li pressed on through the forest. For miles Li trudged through the forest, anticipating any more hostile attacks from creatures just like the one he had killed earlier. He needed to reach the next town as soon as possible since he had no food supplies on hand. His last meal had been hours ago. Spartans were made to be pushed beyond the normal limits of a humans capabilities, but even they needed the necessary sustenance to survive.
Coming up on an incline, Li marched up a small grassy hill where a paved road stretched across the landscape. Finally, some headway. Satisfied that he now had a more direct path to the next settlement, Li followed the road. The road was open and devoid of any signs of traffic. In fact, Li had yet to see a single vehicle as he continued to walk down the almost endless line of asphalt. After walking for approximately one hour, Li noticed a green sign post that noted the next town was only five miles down ahead. Relief flooded Li's system as he quickened his pace.
As Li neared the one mile mark, he could make out the outline of the town. This time a billboard sign came up, giving the name of the town in clear bold letters. "Welcome to North Augusta".
Being on a higher elevation, Li could practically see the whole town. Li stopped at the sight of the town, mouth partially open in disbelief. This North Augusta wasn't very big, only home to a population of a little over twenty thousand, but that wasn't what had dumbfounded the Spartan. What had caused the Spartan's silence was the town's architecture. The town's topography looked ancient, at least in comparison to the 26th century architectural design that he was more familiar with. If he had to guess, Li figured that the town was made sometime in the 21st century; an impossible notion.
Once again, he found himself asking the question that had nagging at him ever since he had first woken up. Just what in the world was going on here?
End…
XxX
And there you have it guys and gals. I sincerely hope you enjoyed it and I lived up to you reader's expectations. I also hope to inspire more fanfics in this crossover genre, as it currently rather nonexistent with the exception of an odd few.
Also, I'm still iffy on the title. I tried to juggle around names for the fanfic but this was the best I could come up with for now. If any of you readers feel that there would be a better name for the title, then by all means give me a holler.
If I do go on to continue this story, I will answer important question or concerns noted by readers at the ending of each chapter. Other less important question will most likely be answered via PM if I can.
Questions You Readers May Be Curious About:
Q: Will Li be in a romantic relationship?
A: Still something up for debate on my part, though I have to be honest that I don't really foresee a budding relationship happening for him. It have to be a really convincing argument, but even so I don't want something like romance to overshadow the overall strengths of the story.
Q: Will Li ever meet up with Rick and the other survivors mentioned in the show?
A: I honestly haven't planned for such a situation though it has a good chance of occurring. The fanfiction will be based mostly off of the television series as I haven't really read the comics, though there may or may not include elements from both.
Q: Won't it be overkill for Li to possess his MJOLNIR armor?
A: Perhaps, perhaps not. I included the armor for the fact that it would be unrealistic to suddenly have Li missing his armor without any sensible reason to explain its disappearance; and also for the fact that the MJOLNIR armor looks freaking rad. Yeah, that's right I said rad, deal with it. We'll just have to see what happens wont we.
