Absence
Author Note from Drake S. Hellion (that's me): This is something I was working on for a bit in super top secretness for Starseeker347, Star, if you read this, hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: Halo belongs to Bungie, Raymond-G214 belongs to me and Amaris Streenan belongs to Starseaker347.
Start!
Spartans never die
Raymond-G214 sighed again for the umpteenth time that day as he rode the civilian transport towards Earth. Birth place of the human race and the starting point of his civilian life as he had requested after war had ended.
He still couldn't believe it at some points that the Covenant were defeated, Earth and the remaining colonies were now safe from the fate of glassing like so many other worlds. The thought was pleasant and it meant he could finally fulfill a vow he made to himself oh so many years ago after the events of a certain planet forever changed his life.
"Attention passengers, our approximate time of arrival at Earth is fifty minutes, thank you for flying with us."
The announcement briefly distracted Ray from his thoughts before they again drifted back to the planet and to the one who had changed his life and gave him so many reasons to survive, to push and fight and continue living through the harsh battles he had fought until now.
Spartans never die…
He felt his lips twitch upwards in a quick smile and for once in his life he was glad he was never the one to do the dying, it was a small comfort to the many he had seen die and those he failed to protect in his duty as a SPARTAN-III to the UNSC navy and a proud member of Gamma Company.
Cass, Zen, Zack and Jay…his fellow Spartans and soldiers who were no longer with him.
God rest their souls… Ray thought as he closed his eyes. He didn't believe in God, but if he was real he decided it wouldn't hurt to give his comrades a small prayer to help them reach the gates of heaven.
And now here he was seated in a noisy civilian transport shuttle so close to Earth where he had tracked his last objective, his final mission and what would be the most important moment in his life to date. He would be reunited with the woman who had changed him and gave him purpose to go on even when he was at death's door.
He closed his eyes and slowly drifted off in the hopes of making time fly faster so he could land much quicker at Earth.
His eyes immediately reopened and he wasn't on the transport anymore and this thought sent a wave of disappointment through him, he wasn't on his way back to Earth to find her…he was still in the war and would be away from her longer as his being yearned to be near her again. Stopping his thoughts he glanced around.
Ray was back on the battlefield, his MA5B was off to the side and he was flat on his back on the ground with his helmet knocked off and his side seared in pain. His breathing was shallow and he felt tired, no, exhausted.
He could hear gunfire, plasma rounds whizzing through the air and explosions, the hum of Banshee engines and the sounds of 90mm tank cannons echoing in the distance. Forcing his head to lift he looked down at himself and saw the right side of his armor was burned neatly to the skin, which was black and cracked, he tenderly moved his arm over and prodded the wound and regretted the action when new pain flared through his already pained body.
He turned his head and saw the bodies of marines and Covenant alike, all varying wounds and causes of death present across the scorched ground of whatever planet they were on. The blue and clear sky was a sharp contrast to the blackened earth Ray lay on.
Was this it? Was this where he died? Had his curse turned charm finally run out and he was going to join his many Spartan brethren in death?
The thought of dying scared him now, he realised.
If he died here on some unknown planet, he would never see her again and that thought was terrifying in and of itself to him. He wante- No, he needed to see her again and if he died here it meant he would not, she had told him her feelings and he didn't in their last meeting.
He wasn't going to leave her without telling his feelings like he should have so long ago before stepping onto that Pelican and re entering the war, he wouldn't do that to her. With a pained groan he felt a renewed strength enter his body and forced it to move him into a sitting position, glancing around the wasteland of destruction and bodies he leaned over and grabbed his MA5B and forcefully stood up.
The flatlands were littered in bodies, destroyed vehicles and crashed flyers of both Covenant and UNSC forces. It was a version of hell that was common in this war and he was in the middle of it with nothing but an assault rifle and half a magazine of ammo.
Plenty of ammo, Ray thought and shouldered his weapon and decided to forsake his helmet where it lay due to the cracked visor of the SPI helmet that was once his and then he began to trek across the scorched land.
It had been a long, hard walk before he came across the first signs of life for about two miles and he found himself wish he hadn't found life. It was a Covenant outpost, Jackal and grunt squads patrolled perimeter and elite warriors barked orders in the camp, setting up Shade turrets and several Hunters were clambering around as well.
Ray knew he was outmatched here and would die if he engaged the enemy in a straight up firefight, but he needed transport and the pair of Banshee fliers near the center of the camp were very enticing to him, unless he could rebuild a warthog those were the only things that would move him towards the nearest UNSC command center on this planet.
His mind worked to form an effective plan to enter the camp, get to the Banshees and then escape without being shot down by the Shades, of course this was all dependent on the fact he could remain undetected the whole way and if he wasn't then he would be quickly overwhelmed and killed.
He had to remain undetected if he wanted to survive this and get back to ending the war and seeing her again. His thoughts gave him added confidence and he nodded to himself before activating his SPI armor plates, which began to shift and camoflage his silhouette as he moved towards the encampment where he saw the easiest point of entry while keeping his eyes out for snipers.
Ray was thankful the Covenant didn't collect UNSC weapons off the battlefield because it had meant that along his hike here he had gathered seven full magazines of ammo, four frag grenades and single M90 shotgun with 6 shells and four spare.
But they were useless to him now, because if he had to fight he would be killed pretty easily, the camp had easily over two hundred Covenant soldiers if he had to guess as he closed in, finally he reached a large dome like structure where he saw Grunts enter and leave, he guessed they were some sort of barracks for the little creatures.
He had to admit the idea of tossing a grenade at the entrance was somewhat appealing because he recalled that Grunts breathed methane and if these were barracks for them that meant the whole sphere was a bomb waiting to go off. But he stuck to his plan and continued to stalk through the shadows and towards the center of the encampment.
About halfway through the camp Ray realised the Covenant must be pretty lax about security since he was having little difficulty avoiding their patrols and if Ray didn't know any better he would have said it was almost too easy if he knew that if he did, it would likely blow up in his face.
He paused and glanced around as he hid behind a large structure, purple like a lot of the Covenant tech, it appeared to be some sort of pillar that had a purpose Ray didn't know.
Then it hit him, the camp wasn't abuzz with commotion anymore and the elites weren't barking orders in the distance nor were patrols making more rounds, the camp was silent as if waiting and it made Ray on edge.
He raised his MA5B.
A shot rang out and out of pure instinct he rolled to the side, a plasma beam cutting through his bicep and sending jolts of pain through his entire body, but it was dulled and drowned out by the sheer amount of adrenaline that was moving through his blood now as he rolled to his feet, sighted a Jackal sniper on a parch above the camp on a large rock formation and fired a burst from his assault rifle.
The Jackal broke into spasms as the rounds impacted into it's torso before it crumpled off the perch and onto the hard ground with a thud.
The result was instantaneous.
Plasma bolts flew towards him from the side and the back, a mixture of green and blue that seemed to melt the air itself as they travelled with the intent to strike him down and with a growl he leapt to the side and rolled quickly, his MA5B blazing as he rolled, drowning a group of grunts in rounds, who squeaked and squealed in pain when they were struck.
He stood again and turned to observe the other directions, then two plasma pistol bolts struck him one the left forearm and shoulder, melting the armor down to the skin and sending more pain through him. Ray raised his rifle and drowned the attackers in suppressing fire as he stumbled to find cover.
Ray felt another round strike his back and sent him to the ground onto his stomach, the round melting into the side of his back, narrowly missing his spine. He rolled again as the ground was peppered with more fire, each roll was excruciating to his body but he had to escape, he had to see her again!
Rolling again to his feet he narrowly dodged a plasma grenade and sprinted towards the Banshees, downing any Grunt or Jackal that dared to try and stop him, finally the Banshees came into view as he continued force his body to move. I can do this! He thought with a renewed sense of hope.
He hissed when a needle round embedded itself into his right bicep, he grabbed it and tore it out, but before he could discard it the needle exploded, shredding the armor and flesh of his hand in painful shards of heated crystal.
He cried out in pain but kept his run up, until a grenade was tossed into his path and exploded, sending him spiralling into the air and skidding across the ground to the side and onto his back.
His body ached and twitched with more pain then he was ever exposed to, even the augmentations were less painful then this! With a forced effort he sat up, saw his right leg was in very bad shape and stared around.
He was surrounded by Grunts, Elites and Jackals, all their weapons bared at him and ready to send him into oblivion, they wouldn't even need to aim at him directly with about twenty plus weapons aimed at him, they would melt him to nothing either way and he would be dead.
A grunt stepped forward and squealed in victory.
Ray grabbed his MA5B and fired into the horde around him, the grunts and Jackals reacted fast, but not before a portion of them were cut down, the Jackals hid behind their shields and the Grunts scrambled to hide behind them or the Elites.
The elites however didn't make any attempt to cover as their shields flashed from the rounds that hit them, instead they merely watched the Spartan spend his ammo on the lesser troops, two reds, four blue, three whites and a single gold stood at attention watching the Spartan waste his ammo on the remaining Jackals and Grunts.
The Spartan heard the click of his rifle and checked the ammo counter, it read zero and he was about to insert a new magazine when there was a guttural growl from the golden elite and so the others advanced on Ray.
The Spartan reached behind him and pulled the shotgun from his back and set it onto the nearest elite and fired, shattering the shields and tearing it's torso apart, making the blue armoured alien fall back with a choked growl.
The others kept moving, the white elites drawing energy blades and glaring at the at Spartan with a sense of admiration and disgust. Ray turned his shotgun on another blue and fired, the same fate meeting it, then he pumped the shotgun and fired again into a white, breaking the shield but not killing the alien.
He pumped it and fired again, finishing the enemy and then turning to another blue and firing, blowing it off it's feet and onto it's back, dead. Grabbing the last two shells he loaded them and used them against the last blue and red, killing them.
He didn't have much space between him and them anymore, grabbing the frags from his side he pulled the pin and tossed them both at the elites after a pause they exploded and shredded the red and white.
There was only one white left and the golden elite, grabbing his last two frag grenades Ray pulled the pins and tossed them towards the white elite, who in a surprising move leapt to the side and dodged the brunt of the damage, Ray reached for his combat knife and tried to crawl away from the elite who was now almost on top of him.
He watched as it raised it's sword into the air to cut him down, when it was brought down Ray quickly rolled, letting the blade hiss and cut into the ground while he buried his knife into the elites neck, causing the thing to freeze and spasm before falling limp and dying.
Ray tried to grab the now discarded energy sword but his throat closed and he was gasping for breath as he was lifted from the ground by his neck into the air by the golden elite. who had closed the distance quickly and was now staring into Ray's eyes with anger and hate with it's own energy sword hissing to be used.
Ray raised his good arm to grab at the elites forearm and he tried to wrench free of the iron grip, "You…split lipped trash…" he gasped out and glared at the enemy before him. "I'm going to kill you…"
The elite chuckled and clicked it's mandibles before the sword hissed forward.
Ray's eyes widened in shock and mouth opened in a silent cry of pain, the tips of the energy blade pierced his chest and out his back narrowly again missing his spine and the pain was beyond imagination and he was beginning to wonder why he didn't pass out from it.
The elite grunted and dropped him after jerking his sword out, leaving the limp Spartan on his back and staring at the sky with slowly fading eyes and his thoughts.
Ray felt his life dimming oh so slowly, the pain was numbing as well, a good point in a long list of bad ones.
This was it, he realised to himself. This was his end and final day alive on this plane of existence, he was going to die here and never see her again, he would never see the one person he treasured and clung to the memories of her for so long.
He would never get to give her what she wanted, she wanted him to find her after this was over and he vowed to himself and her that he would. It made himself sick that he would not be able to hold true to that vow, his sadness was growing as well, he wanted to see her one last time, to say how much he cared for her just as she had told him the day they parted so long ago.
He was never going to get that chance now, he was going to die here and leave without a goodbye or a notice that had indeed died and was never going to find her.
He felt them now, warm streaks of water leaving his eyes and trialing down the sides of his face to the ground as the blue sky stared down at him as if trying to provide a small comfort for him. He found no comfort whatsoever as he continued to cry in his own way while he was getting weaker and his breathes slower.
His vision began to fade now. Amaris…I am sorry… he thought and with what strength he had raised his hand to the sky as her face appeared, smiling and holding her hand out to him, inviting him to wherever she would take him. He reached for all he was worth as the pain finally died away to nothing and his vision began to blur further, but no matter how much it blurred, her image remained clear.
He gripped tightly when he thought he reached her hand and it slipped through like a ghost and she faded from his vision.
It shattered his heart.
His vision went black.
Amaris…I wish I could have told you I love you… were his final thoughts before it all went black.
Ray's eyes snapped open and tears pricked at his eyes as he hurriedly glanced around. He was in the transport again, in his same seat. His heart was racing and it ached with sadness and pain.
Brows covered in sweat even in the cool temperature of the shuttle and his hands were in a white knuckle grip on the arm rests.
A nightmare… he thought, relieved and still feeling the fear race through his veins. It was a horrible nightmare.
One of his hands let go of the rest and he raised it to massage his temples as he tried to drown out his memories of the nightmare and instead on the relief that he was really going to see her again.
"Attention passengers, we're docking in the newly rebuilt New Mombassa space port, please get your belongings and await to exit the shuttle, thank you."
With that announcement Ray reached under his seat, grabbed his suitcase and set his emotions behind the wall of training and waited to leave the shuttle.
He had taken a too long hour to get to her apartment via taxi from the space port, it was a large city to cover despite it being rebuilt in good time, but there was still destroyed buildings in the city and glassed portions. But her apartment complex had survived and she was confirmed to still be living here.
Ray walked up to the front desk and cleared his throat to get the attention of the desk attendee. "Excuse me, miss?" Ray's voice was curt and polite.
The woman looked up through her blond hair and examined him a moment to take in his slightly scarred face, pale skin and well dressed figure before replying. "How may I help you?"
"I'm looking for an Amaris Streenan, is she here?" he knew she was, but better to make sure.
"Hold," she sat straight and typed on her computer a few minutes. "Yes, fourth floor, room number 31," she relayed calmly. "Would you like me to buzz her?"
Ray shook his head. "No, that's fine, thank you," he turned to the side and walked over to the elevator, stepped inside and almost eagerly pressed the fourth floor button and waited as the elevator ascended.
He now felt trepidation tug at his heart. What if she had moved on while he was still fighting? They had been apart for so long without contact that she could have found someone else after getting tired of waiting for someone who may have very well never come to find her.
What if when he saw her she wore a ring around her finger…
He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and steeled himself when the elevator doors opened and he stepped out, his strides less confident than before as he adjusted his civilian clothing. Simple jeans, shoes and white T-shirt with a green camoflage sweater.
He read the numbers on the doors quickly, finally stopping at 31 and stepping in front of it with a deep breathe.
This was it, she was behind this door and there was no turning back now. Whatever happened from here happened.
He knocked with the sound echoing throughout the quiet hallway.
There wasn't any sound from the other side and he knocked much more firmly this time and he waited.
"Hold on! Hold on…" There was a thud and some shuffling of footfalls coming to the door. Ray tensed and waited with a baited breath. The knob turned and his heart raced.
The door opened and there was a dishevelled looking woman looking at him from the doorway, her dark hair that reached her shoulders was messy and her dark brown eyes were tired, as if she had just woken up. "Who…" her eyes studied him and then apprehension slowly dawned on them. "R-Ray?…" she asked, door slowly opening further until she was fully visible to him.
Ray knew he looked a bit different, his hair had grown out a bit more and he had more scars too, his skin was still pale but less so now.
"Is it… really you?" She asked as if it were a dream while tentatively reaching a hand out to try and touch him to prove if he was real or not, slowly and almost carefully her hand reached his cheek and they both stilled.
"It is…" Ray mumbled softly and another moment of silence passed before the two moved close and held the other dearly, Ray's arms wrapped around her waist tightly, firmly but also gently and lovingly, afraid to let go. "It is me…" he affirmed.
Amaris' shoulders shook slightly and she looked up at him with teary eyes and a wide smile. Getting up on her toes she closed her eyes.
Ray knew what she wanted and he happily leaned down and met her lips halfway in a gentle kiss that neither broke for an unknown amount of time before she broke it to breathe, still smiling she buried her face in his chest.
Ray's lips twitched and he held strong. "We should sit down, I have a lot to tell you," he said, deciding. "Starting with…" he leaned down again and lifted her chin to place his lips just above hers. "How much I love you," he claimed her lips again. He was surprised how much emotion he felt in their kisses, more than they'd ever had on the planet, then again…
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
The End
There it is! Hope it was good, I know they're mistakes I missed so yeah…heh, but it was good fun to type. Now, if you would so kindly review! thanks and good night/morning!