Hello everyone. I'm doing two new things here: my very first story dealing with Halo AND there's an original character in this! How bizarre for me! Anyways, hope you enjoy and remember kiddies, italics means it's a flashback. ;) Enjoy!~
Disclaimer: I do not own Halo. 343 currently does and… yeah. It was better when Bungie had it.
Pick up any survivors on this planet. It was an easy enough mission. The Covenant wreaked havoc before ODST dropped down and disposed of them. Unfortunately, there seemed to be only a few survivors stranded, with possible Covenant members still alive and running around. So, they decided to send in a Spartan for backup: the Spartan. The only one left.
The descent down to the planet took thirty minutes, at most, the Master Chief jumping off once it made contact. Armed with his battle rifle, he hesitantly took in the scenery, before heading off to the rendezvous point. The trek was about another thirty minutes, and it went by without any surprise attacks. He made his way across multiple Covenant bodies, more than there were of the ODST but less than the civilians that littered around everywhere. It seemed even with the help of ODST, they were still not fast enough to save the planet. Chief barely listened over his com as he heard the numbers of survivors slowly stack up to around forty. Finally, seeing an ODST flag him down, Chief relayed to the Pelican that they had moved out an enough for them to be picked up here. Hearing conformation, Chief told the group it'll be another ten minutes or so before it arrives here.
The wait felt longer, but the Master Chief didn't mind the silence. He listened quietly to the small groups around him talk, always on the lookout for trouble, for danger. It was during this that he spotted something just over the ridge ahead. Letting the ODST leader know he was about to check it out, he was informed it was the crash remains of a ship, one that's been here even before the Covenant landed. Deciding to check it out regardless, Chief made his way up, surprised to note it was another Pelican lying on the other side. The half-way decomposed body in the captain's seat let him know that it seemed like they were trying to escape before they got shot down. The rest of the bodies that littered the outside weren't faring much better. Making his way down the hill, he walked among the bodies, freezing when familiar armor crossed his vision.
It was a Spartan. A Spartan like him. The second kind that were made. The kind that were taken away in the dead of night from their families, experimented on to become bigger, stronger, better. No emotions, no thoughts, nothing. Just a literal term of the word 'super soldiers', built to follow command without hesitation and sent in when ODST wasn't even enough. But they all died on Reach, when the Covenant ambushed them. Except for Chief, and except for this one. It must have been off on a mission, this mission, and yet, they still died as well.
Chief was still alone.
Chief bent down, battle rifle put away, as he moved to take off the Spartan's helmet; he knew who it was. There was no mistaking her long brown hair as it flowed out from the helmet, lying out to splay around her head in the dirt. She looked different, not yet decomposed. The environment would do that to her soon enough, now that Chief has taken off her helmet. Her armor was saving her, preserving her like cyro-sleep. She had multiple bullet wounds in her chest, and in her hand, a broken energy sword was held. She preferred using the Covenant weapon; she said it suited her better than the guns. "Sabri…" the Master Chief said, moving to touch a piece of hair between his gloves fingers. It felt brittle, old, and was already starting to lose the vibrant color it had once he originally took off the helmet. "So this is where you had-"
"-gone!" a voice chirped happily behind him, Chief turning slightly to face the newcomer. It was Sabri, holding her helmet under her arm. She moved to sit down beside him, placing her helmet on the ground as she pulled her knees up to her chest, looking out on the land as he was doing. The view was great from the cliff top, although it only showed more sand dunes and stony mountains, a few broken-down man-made structures here and there, indicating the battlefield they just won over. "Isn't it interesting how you always choose a view over what we just fought when I'm with you?" she asked, turning her head to look at him, the sun reflecting off his gold visor. Chief said nothing in return, the two just listening peacefully to the calming silence of the wind.
"I think we work well together Chief, even though I'm a bad Spartan," she commented, propping herself back on her hands as she kept her knees up. The sun was setting behind the stone structures, painting the sky with red and orange.
"Why's that?" Chief merely responded, turning his head a fraction of an inch, gesturing that he was indeed intrigued by her comment.
"Spartans aren't supposed to feel emotions. We're just supposed to follow rules, and get the job done. We're not supposed to get close to anyone," Sabri recited, something they'd heard a thousand times; it's become brainwashed into them. "Still," she sighed, moving to wrap her arms around her knees. "Is it bad that I want to love? I still have that emotion, even after all the damage they've done to us. I want to love, someone to love. I want to get married and start a family. I want all this stuff I'm not supposed to want because I'm a Spartan." She glanced at Chief from the corner of her eyes, his posture and expression unchanged.
"As long as it doesn't get in the way, I don't find it bad," Chief said back, staring out at the view. He heard her laugh, a chime that flew with the wind.
"Of course you would say something like that John," she laughed out, using his real name as she moved to muffle the sound with her legs. "But don't tell me there's not something that makes - even you - unique, deep down inside?" He didn't make a move to respond, causing her prod him for an answer after a few minutes. "Chief?"
"Chief?"
"Master Chief!"
Knocked out of his thoughts, Chief quickly stood up, one arm moving for his weapon while his other looked for the source of the sound. It was the ODST leader, standing on top of the hill, his voice being lost to the sound of the Pelican that was landing. "Master Chief, it's time to go!" he called down to the higher chain of command, watching as Chief simply held up a single finger.
"One moment," he said back over the com, watching the soldier nod his head before disappearing over the horizon. Looking back down at his comrade, he once again knelt beside her.
"I know this is a change of topic… but could you do something for me?"
Chief's head propped up more, fully turning it to face her this time, coming into contact with ice blue eyes. Her look was determined, serious; the look of a Spartan. He nodded once, letting her go on.
"It's… if I die. If we're on a mission together and something happens, or if you just happen to come across me, can you… tell me I would have made a great mother?" She paused, burying her face in her knees again, hiding her embarrassment. "And that… you loved me?"
"It's a rather unusual death wish," Chief spoke after a few moments of watching her body stay unchanged. Her head moved to agree with him, before leaning up slightly in order to talk, her chin still resting on her knees, eyes watching the setting sun.
"I know but I just… want somebody to tell me they cared about me, or loved me. That if it ever happen, I would have been great at it."
"… You would have made an amazing mother," he said, his voice gruff, almost breaking. It sounded hesitant, hurt. Slightly scared and a little upset. The Master Chief never sounded like that before. "And as for that second thing…" His hand moved, caressing her skin, her skin pale white under the harsh sun, her expression gentle, sweet. "I'm sorry, but I can't do that Sabri."
"It's getting dark." Those were the next words to come out of her mouth, moving to stand as she did so. Chief stood as well, watching as she smiled up at him. "You know John… I've always liked talking to you." She laughed, because they both knew it was always a one-sided conversation.
And John smiled, under his helmet, even though he knew she couldn't see it. But somehow, she always seemed to know when he did. "You should take off your helmet more," she said, moving closer in order to tap the visor. "I know what you look like under there, and it's a rather handsome face indeed."
The sun was harsh on his eyes; he was too used to the visor shielding it. He felt his own pale flesh start to burn under the intense gaze of it, but he ignored it, continuing to stare down at his friend, still touching her cheek softly. "But I know you'd want to hear it from someone that meant it, someone that could show it." A chuckle escaped his own throat, the sound foreign to his ears, and he pulled his hand away. "I'm sorry that I couldn't fulfill your dying wish after all Sabri. Forgive me."
The sound of the Pelican was starting to become overwhelming, hearing voices call out to him once he put his helmet back on. "Sir, is that a Spartan II? Would you like us to bring her back to base in order for a proper burial?" the ODST asked over to com, Chief staring up at the ship before glancing back down at Sabri.
"Oh, and leave me where I'm at. There's no need for me to drag you down Chief."
"No… she wanted to be left where she died," he responded simply, and then turned to move back up the hill and over the horizon.