Syzygy
by paperxflowers

Author's Notes: Yes, I know I should be working on Sequestration. I promise that the next chapter is almost halfway done and it'll be up soon. This story couldn't be stopped, tho. It came to me while I was working (I work at video game store) and me and one of my coworkers were watching the Assassin's Creed trailer on his video iPod. It's a little bit different than your typical Halo story, but I'm a dork like that.

Summary: Master Chief finds himself caught between two different worlds, living two very different lives and wonders: Which one is real?

Disclaimer: The Chief, Cortana, and anyone else from the Haloverse mentioned aren't mine. They're property of Bungie (who are your GODS), tho the story itself is mine. ::Yay!::

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"Last night, I dreamed a dream that nothing was what it seemed."

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00: You're Not Here

The dull thunk of boots on rain heavy earth was the only sound he made, and even that was muffled by the rain falling around him. A brief look over his shoulder confirmed that, yes, those things were still behind him. He swore, mostly to himself, before dropping an armor clad knee to the mucky ground, sliding the other behind him. The slick grass tore up around his feet as he slid down the sharply declining hill, disappearing into the foliage. The radar in the corner of his vision blipped with soft, red dots. He was quick to withdraw a simple, blue sphere, giving it a small toss in the air.

"Somehow," a voice, feminine and sarcastic, chirped in his ear. "This is all so damn familiar."

"I know," he replied conversationally. When those red dots grew closer, he ducked out of his cover, pressed a button on the plasma grenade, and hurled the smoldering incendiary device into the fray. He didn't wait to see the outcome, deciding to only turn and run. He only had a few grenades and a single clip of ammo left for his battle rifle. Now was not the time to try and pick off his pursuers. Now was a time to rendezvous with Johnson, like they had planned, and live to return the favor later. "It's starting to get really..."

"Cliché?"

"Yeah, that's it."

Leave it to the two of them to converse while trying to avoid being disemboweled by an angry mob of Brutes. Somehow, he didn't think that was particularly normal, but it didn't matter right now. Whatever kept them from losing their minds. The armored figure continued moving through the thick forests. The rain continued to fall on is frame, leaving little water drops on his visor. The sound of the rain slapping against the floors and leaves of the forest was surprisingly gentle, considering the war raging in the shadows of its branches. There was a momentary lull in their conversations; silence took over and he became very aware of himself, of his body. How his limbs felt like they were made of lead. His battle rifle was a cold, almost living weight in his arms, feeling far heavier than it usually did. How long had he been running on stim-packs, anyways?

Somewhere, in the dark part of the space between his mind and his armor, hovered Cortana. She saw how tired he was becoming, how heavy his movements were, and she worried. It didn't matter how great of a soldier you were, or if you had been trained for combat since childhood, or even if you had the most advanced body armor produced by humans-- spend three days trying to repel Covenant forces without any sleep, and you were bound to make mistakes. She internally frowned, trying to calculate where exactly they were.

"Start heading west. The rendezvous point is about another fifteen minutes' run from here." A nod of confirmation from the Spartan and he picked up his feet, changing course slightly, and moving at a much steadier speed. Just a little bit longer...

They didn't make it even halfway.

There was a crack above them and he snapped his head skyward as a branch toppled to the ground. Plasma rounds began to fall from the sky, alongside the rain, hammering into the Spartan. His shields flared brightly to life and he rolled out of the path of the plasma, into decent enough cover. As he brought himself back up, he swung his battle rifle into the thick trees, firing off a few short bursts. The vulture-like bodies of jackals toppled to the wet floors moments later, bodies slamming to the ground with the graphic noises of bones crunching.

"To the left!" the A.I. residing in the armor snapped. He pivoted and fired into the darkness. The sound of bullets slamming into the bodies of a small pack of grunts was his reward. "Keep moving, keep moving--!" There was a note of desperation in her voice. She was voicing what they both knew quite well-- more Covenant would be hot on their heels. The Spartan, more than happy to take her advice, bolted through the brush, paying close attention to the radar flickering in his HUD. His only worry was that it didn't pick up stationary enemies.

His worries were soon confirmed. Without much warning other than a short battle cry, a pair of Jackals threw themselves from the above canopy, slamming into the Spartan. He staggered under the combined weight of the creatures as one began to try and tear off his helmet. Reacting immediately, he reached up and wrapped his fingers around the thing's neck and hurled it off of him and into a nearby tree, where it collided face-first with a wet crack. The other tried to finish what the first had started, feeling the helmet begin to give. However, it never got to finish before the butt of the Demon's battle rifle smashed into its beak.

"You okay?" Cortana asked him softly, noticing that his heart was racing.

"I'm fine," he muttered. In his head, he was trying to force back the memories of the attack of a Flood infection form. The scar on the back of his neck, a simple, jagged raised portion of darkened skin, felt like it was burning for the first time in months. "Let's g--"

BAM.

His eyes widened behind his helmet upon impact--that of the heavy armored arm of a Brute slamming into the side of his head. His shields, only partially restored, flared into being as he spun around to fire at the massive creature. It let out an earth-shattering roar when the bullets sunk into the thick flesh of its shoulder, but advanced on him still. The Covenant's Demon ducked under a swiping claw, firing once more into the tough hide of his opponent. Black, thick blood splattered in a sharp arc across the Spartan's armor in result, but he had no time to appreciate the small victory. A glance at the ammo counter in his HUD confirmed that he had only a few more rounds left. Not good, especially when his opponent was wielding a plasma rifle.

A slight click sounded as he lifted his rifle once more at the level of the Brute's face, moving to fire. The beast was quick to react and dropped his shoulder, ramming right into the Spartan. As the armor clad figure recoiled, there was another violent impact of a massive fist slamming into his head. The ground came up to meet him, catching himself before he collapsed completely.

"Chief!" he heard Cortana yelp in surprise in his ear.

The Brute, now smirking, helped him the rest of the way down. A huge foot slammed into the center of his chest, forcing him to the ground. The pinned man made a reach for his rifle, but stopped the second the plasma rifle the Brute was wielding was shoved in his face. The foot on his chest pressed harder against his sternum and he could feel the armor that was supposed to protect him do the exact opposite. The force was now exerted over his entire chest and he could feel his bones creaking in protest.

"Now... Let's see the real face of this 'Demon,'" the monster laughed coldly. The world went momentarily black as a massive, clawed hand clasped over his visor. Light and color returned to the world seconds later as his helmet was torn from his head. He became vividly and painfully aware of the raindrops falling on his pale cheeks and his hair slicked to his skull. His helmet was just beyond arm's reach, and he could hear Cortana shouting his name.

No way. His eyes locked on the red plasma rifle aimed at his face. His gaze turned wicked, a sneer crawled across his face. Not like this.

Everything seemed to go by in flashes of movement after that. He had grabbed his rifle, the Brute had recoiled at the sudden movement, and both had fired.

He was only slightly aware that the crushing pressure against his chest had finally lifted and he could breathe. It wasn't until a few moments later that he was aware that his shots had found their way home, deep within the behemoth's face.

No, he was mostly unaware to all of that.

He was in too much pain.

Agony shot through his temple like someone had just rammed a dull knife into his skull. Crippling pain, the kind that caused his whole body to want to seize up, shot across his nerves and down his spine. Blood was gushing out of wound in his head, burning hot and rushing down his neck, pooling beneath him.

"Chief!?"

Cortana could see all of it. That was all she could do. She watched him, terror raging through her, as he tried to sit up, to cover the massive gash in the side of his head, to just move. But it was for naught. As he went to push himself up, he gave a shout when his arm buckled under the weight of his own body. The sound of his body slamming against the wet floor sounded louder than it should have to Cortana. Dark, heavy eyes ringed in deep shadows turned to look at her. No... Past her. His gaze was unfocused, hazy.

She'd never felt so useless.

Get up.

This wasn't happening.

"CHIEF!?"

This wasn't supposed to happen.

Get. Up.

Not like this.

Get up.

His body wasn't obeying his brain anymore. The corners of his vision were beginning to gray, his breath came out in harsh, labored gasps, and he could taste fresh copper on his tongue. Everything sounded fuzzy, like someone had covered his ears. The sound of the rain on the ground was far too clear; the sound of Cortana's voice was like a distant whisper. As things began to grow darker and darker, so did her voice; softer and softer.

Just before he blacked out completely, he was only slightly aware of that light voice speaking one final time:

"JOHN--!"

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"John..."

There were sheets under him; he was feeling surprisingly comfortable. He could see the blur of soft, warm lights through his eyelids. Where was he?

"John, wake up."

There was a woman's voice, gentle and trembling. When she tried to speak again, her voice hitched. It was a voice he knew, better than any other, but couldn't place. Where had he heard her before...? It was then that he became vividly aware of the fingers lacing through his own. They were cold and trembled gently against his own. He tried to pull away, but found that his body was just as unresponsive as it had been before he blacked out. His last cognizant memory was collapsing into a pool of his own blood and Cortana shouting...

Cortana!

There was a rush of fear across his gut when he realized she had been left alone with that Brute. Did that mean the Covenant had her now?

"John, please..."

...wait. That was her voice. She was all right? Who was holding his hand, anyway? When he attempted to pose these questions, all that slipped out of him was a weak, rough moan. The hand holding his own snapped away from his, and the body next to his bed lifted. Lids twitching, he managed to open his eyes, just enough to see the person beside him. A woman. Tall, pale, with short, dark hair... very pretty. Her eyes were the color of the sky just beyond the windows and wide with surprise. It was a face he had seen a hundred thousand times, but never like this. The smile that crossed her face when his vision finally focused made things all the more disorienting.

There's no way...

She sat down next to him, her weight a tangible, living warmth by his arm. Not flowing sequences of numbers and letters, but actual flesh and bone. Pinked lips and flushed skin, dark hair and light eyes. A smile that he knew and a smile he had never seen at the same time.

This can't really be...

"I thought you were never going to wake up."

Can't be...

"Cortana?"

He spoke the name he thought he knew and she leaned away from him, surprise overtaking her delicate features. An uneasy smile settled on her lips, as if he had said something odd but not troubling. Her hand reached over to touch at his cheek, but retracted when he pulled away from her.

"What's wrong?"

"Where am I?"

The sharpness of his voice momentarily caught her off guard before her eyes flickered around the warm hospital room, as if to take in the surroundings with him.

"You're at Bellevue Medical." Bellevue? Bellevue Medical was in New York. He was supposed to be in Kenya. "John, are you okay?" He flickered his eyes to her own. She moved closer to him, biting the inside of her cheek. "I... It's me. Cathy." Like a flower in a snowstorm, the hope that had burned behind her eyes wilted when not a sliver of recognition filled his haunted gaze. Desperation crossed her features and she grabbed his hand before he could snap away. His eyes fell to their hands and saw a glimmer.

It was the gleam of identical rings, perfect, looping circles of gold, curling around their fingers.

"Your wife--!?"

...tbc...

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Author's Notes: Dun-dun-duuuun! The plot twist is revealed! You guys don't know HOW long I agonized over the end of this thing. I desperately wanted to include more details, but I thought this was a nice, ambiguous, cliffhanger sort of an ending. I do need to remind you guys that Sequestration is my first priority but I will try to keep this one regularly updated. This is my shameless fluff story. Sequestration... eeeeh. Notsomuch. XD

Please review and tell me what you guys think! I'd appreciate it a ton and I'll see you all next chapter!

-paperxflowers