Halo: Starry Night
John lay next to her gazing at the star-strewn evening sky. The cool, night breeze of Eridanus-2 rustled the tall leaves of grass around them. Was he sure it was Eridanus-2, the planet which reared him? Or maybe was it Reach, the site of his transformation into what he had become? No, it was neither of those. Both were burned to a cinder by the Covenant.
None of that mattered.
He was just a curious little boy with a thirst for adventure. The young boy looked over at his friend.
"Ever wonder what's up there?" John asked her.
"Like what?"
"Maybe someone up there is wondering what it's like here," he said leaning up to see his friend.
Her gaze still transfixed on the starscape, "I guess." Then she looked back at John with earnest hope in here eyes. "Do you think we'll ever meet them?"
"I hope so," John started, "Don't you?"
But when he looked over at his friend this time, a helmet rested in her place, its translucent gold visor staring lifelessly back at him.
It was day again. And instead of a calm grass field, John rested on harsh ground. A loud shriek pierced his ears and when it stopped the ground shook. Dirt and fire shot into the air and his ears still rang from the proximity of the bomb's detonation.
He looked up into the sky and this time saw it populated by trails of smoke. A pair of Pelicans raced overhead and he reached up for them futilely hoping they would swoop in to rescue him. Within seconds they were past his view, on their way to some objective.
John, the Master Chief, battled to one knee, and once balanced he reached for the helmet to his Mjolnir Mark VI armor. The voice of the little girl from the grass field sang into his ears.
"Do you think we'll ever meet them?" the voice asked as he slid the helmet on. The sounds of battle almost died out as he reattached the helmet to the rest of his armor. The world still spun around him chaotically as mortar rounds shook the earth beneath him.
"Time to go," a voice echoed. It sounded like the little girl. For a split second, the Chief thought he Cortana pleading with him to get up because he was needed. Then his helmet was flooded with comm traffic.
"Marines, fall back now!"
And then the Master Chief remembered everything.
His Mongoose was hit by a Covenant Mortar Round and he was thrown feet away and knocked into unconsciousness. There was no time to run a diagnostic on his armor, but aside from the brief hits of disorientation, he felt fine.
More comm traffic.
This time it was from Admiral Hood still holding ground at Cairo Station: "Any sign of the Chief?"
A techie answered, "Negative, sir. I think we lost him."
John rose to his feet, retrieved his Assault Rifle, checked its remaining ammunition and attached it to the magnetic hardpoint on the back of his armor. He stood and faced a massive mushroom cloud. Criss-crossing trails of Covenant mortar were launched the Chief's way. He had to move fast.
"Not yet," the Master Chief commed back, his voice betraying cool confidence. He primed a Bubble Shield grenade and threw it down into the ground. Just as the first mortar round reached him, the bubble shield erected itself around the Chief protecting him from the Covenant onslaught.
John readied himself, his pistol drawn. The smoke and dust cleared and the bubble shield collapsed.
In a flash, the Master Chief broke into an all out sprint. Mortar rounds crashed into the ground all around him sending rocks and dirt into the air, but the Chief moved too fast. He holstered his pistol as he ran and unslung his assault rifle from its hardpoint.
Too many lives had been lost in this war; His Spartans, Captain Keyes, Admiral Whitcomb, the entire crew of the Autumn. Nothing would stop John from stopping the Covenant and ending this war—not a mortar round from a Wraith tank, not Halo, not the Flood, not even the sea of angry Brutes he would leap into.
With everything he had, John propelled himself into the air an into the horde of Brutes.
The Master Chief clicked the safety off and opened fire.