Regret

By The Villain

Dear family,

Forgive me, but this is something that I must do. I cannot bear to be without her. You all told me that things would change, but we both know that was a lie. This is the only truth: Nothing ever changes. I have decided to join the Army in its futile attempt to stop the Covenant, hoping that I find Kay before it's too late…

Love,

You know who

Chapter 1: A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing

8 years later, in a boxed canyon in the middle of nowhere…

"No, Caboose, I will not play that game again" said a very unhappy cobalt soldier. Captain Leonard L. Church could not take much more of the blue Spartan's constant begging. "Please Church! Just one more game. This is the last time, I promise!" Private Michael J. Caboose pleaded. Walking away from him, Church said "And I promise you if you keep that up, Caboose"---"!" Caboose putting his hands together and making the best puppy face he knew he could. It has been 2 months since the O'Malley incident, and things haven't entirely been the same. Church would never admit it, and not that he'd have to for everyone else to know, but he missed Tex. He tries to stay strong for his team, and tries to put up with their idiocy, as was his job as the unofficial leader, but he had enough at the moment. Church quickly spun around and somewhat forcibly put his hand over Caboose's mouth, which technically wouldn't stop him due to the helmet between Church's hand and his helmet, but he got the message anyway. Church sighed. "Fine, I'll play. But, if we start getting shot at by the Reds again"---

Before Church could finish his sentence, a sniper shot passed right between their heads. "Fuck!! Run!!" Church managed to say while dodging a volley of sniper rounds. "Running tiiimme!" was all that Caboose replied. As they ran back to base, sniper fire kept coming at them, only to stopping to reload or have a grenade or two thrown at them. Church tried to radio base. "Tucker! Sister! Doc! Someone answer quick, were under fire!" There was static for a bit, and then someone answered. "Church, what the hell"--- "Tucker, shut up! Were under attack! And from the looks of it, it's an all-out assault! Get Doc and Sis and give us some cover!" He shut off his radio and turned his head to Caboose while they ran. "Caboose, if we survive this, I'm gonna kill you myself!"

They had almost made it to base, but a duo of grenades landed a few feet ahead of them. "Shi---!!" was all he got to say before they exploded, knocking back Church and Caboose into a rock they had just passed. Church was dazed for a bit, he looked over to Caboose, who was unconscious. Caboose! Aw fuck! Church thought. He looked him over quick. All he seemed to see at the moment was that his visor was cracked. He didn't seem to be hurt, but he wouldn't be moving for a while, and that was a luxury they didn't have at the moment. The constant fire kept them pinned, and he could hear whoever it was advancing on them.

The sniper fire stopped, and was soon replaced with a more suppressing Battle Rifle. If Church didn't do something quick, they could be overrun by the Reds. No matter how retarded they were, 4 to 2 odds were not favorable. He was about to run into the base, but then he looked back at Caboose. He couldn't just leave him here, even if he was annoying as Hell. But, as strong as his robot body was, he wouldn't be able to carry Caboose back fast enough without getting either him or the unconscious blue killed. Then an idea formed in his head. Granted, not the best idea, but better than nothing…

Church jumped out of his body. The only way he could save Caboose and himself was if he were to possess Caboose. Church had been in Caboose's head before, and last he was there, the place looked like it went to Hell and raided the souvenir shop there, but he never had a reason to try controlling Caboose. Well, it's now or never Church thought. Church jumped into Caboose's body. He willed Caboose's body to move for a quick damage check. Everything seemed to work. Before he could get moving, his newfound vision began to blur. Then a feeling of dizziness swept over him. He tried his best to remain conscious, because the second he lost it---

…Wait…feeling? Church/Caboose stopped. He just realized that, being in a human body again after over a thousand years, he could feel again, eat again, breathe aga--- A shot whizzed past his head. Save it for later. Run now! He told himself. He pushed himself off the rock to get some speed started. However, before he even managed to take a single step, he landed flat-faced against the dirt. After all that time without a flesh-and-blood body, he had forgotten how to use one properly. He steadily but as fast as possible pushed himself onto his feet and hurried as fast as possible to his base. To an outside viewer, it looked like Caboose might've forgotten how to walk again and was trying to wobbly run home.

With shots still whizzing past him, he called Tucker again. "Tucker, where the hell are you guys!?" The voice didn't sound like his, but it would have to do. "Caboose, how many times do I have to tell you: Stop pretending to be Church! Where is that idiot, anyway?" Tucker said. "Tucker, shut the hell up! It's me! I possessed Caboose to get him out of here!" "Aww, isn't that sweet of y---" "Shut up and give us some cover fire!" the blue Church screamed.

"Aww, isn't that sweet of y---" Tucker managed to say before he was interrupted with "Shut up and give us some cover fire!" Tucker shut off his radio. Geez, Caboose seems in an awful mood today, he thought sarcastically. "Hey Sis! Doc! Get up here and start shooting!" He yelled to his blue comrades. Sis and Doc came up the ramp. "Hey what's up? What's with all the shooting and yelling and exploding stuff?" Sister asked, more than likely having a perplexed look under her yellow helm. "Yeah, and did you say something about sh-shooting? You know I'm only here for medicinal reasons? And that I'm a pacifist?" The purple medic asked. "Yeah, whatever. Sis, come over here and help me give Caboose some cover then." Tucker sighed. He and Sis then began their covering-fire maneuver against God-knows whoever was firing at their blue private at a rocky ledge near Red Base, where they could see muzzle flash. They managed to stop their fire for a bit, but as soon as they had to reload, they were bombarded with enemy fire.

"Ah fuck! Take cover!" Tucker screamed. He and Sis crouched behind the pillars on both sides of their crappy teleporter. Glowing orange shards whizzed past their heads and stuck into the walls across the base. "What the…spikes? What kind of fair fight is this!?" Tucker whined, but was still focused on the task at hand. After the encounter with the time-looping and fighting multiple Wyoming's, he had become more battle-ready. More badass, in Church's words. He knew what he was doing now. He was ready. "Sis, you and me alternate fire. An unending suppression, got it!?" All he heard was "Awesome!" from the female soldier.

Sis went first. She shot a whole assault clip at him, and as she reloaded, Tucker used his BR to suppress their attackers. They couldn't get a shot in. The hunters were now the hunted. They managed to keep it that way until their unhappy blue compatriot arrive up top with them.

"Holy fu-(gasp), thanks for that (wheeze)." "You know Church, I think you should work out mor ---" Tucker teased. "Shut the fuck up. I'm in Caboose's body. It's him, not me!" Church yelled. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that, fatty…" Tucker replied. Church jumped out of Caboose. "God, I hate this." Church sighed. As soon as he was out, Caboose went limp and flopped onto the ground like a sack of potatoes, which he seemed to love so much. "Crap. He's still out. Doc, help him out, would you?" Church said in his usual tone. Doc grabbed Caboose and dragged him below, into the base. "Hey Tucker!" Sister said. "What!?" Tucker replied angrily. "I've been calling you for for a whole minute. It's your turn." "My turn for what?" he asked confused. "You know, your turn to shoot at the rocks." Tucker turned from Sister to Ghost-Church, and then to the rock. "Ah crap."

They turned to the right, and saw a single red standing there, as if waiting for them to notice. "Oh shit." Everyone said, excluding the red. Wait, a single red? Something's not right…thought the ghost known as Church. "Everyone, get ready!" The whole bunch of them, all two of them, aimed their respective weapons at the opposite color soldier. "Who are you and what are you doing here!?" Church yelled to the red. The aforementioned red was still a good distance from their base, but they could feel its gaze upon them, even Church. The red being, however, did not reply to them Then it charged, bladed guns a-blazing.

"Fire!" Church called. Tucker and Sister fired upon the upcoming soldier. The first bullets pinged off its shielded armor but that didn't last for long. Their combined fire soon broke through its shield and started really damaging it. As much as they fired though, it still kept coming. It almost made it to the base when Church, back in his body, came behind him and put his pistol to its head. "Don't even think about moving" He told it in a menacing tone.

It turned around anyway. It looked Church up and down, analyzing him apparently, and then walked towards the blue captain, bringing its helmet closer to the pistol. A silence fell upon the whole canyon. There was nothing. Church was shocked, to say the least, but he didn't waver. He just didn't shoot. Then the strange red shook slightly and just fell to the ground.

As soon as it fell, Church let out the ghost-breath he was holding, nearly dropping his pistol. "Doc! Get over here now!" He called over the radio. He bent down and checked it over quick. Jesus. All of its armor was strewn in what appeared to be blood and cracks from where the bullets penetrated, even its helmet, but most of the damage he saw appeared to be much older, from previous battles. He then took a good look at it and realized that its armor was unlike any he had ever seen before.

In this time the Mark VI composite suit was standard issue for soldiers, even for the reds. This was definitely not standard issue. It did, though, seem to be an assortment of various armors, since none of the pieces seemed to belong with one another. Custom made, perhaps? The right shoulder piece jutted away from the shoulder, leaving the bare under-suit, the left was a series of three curved plates overlapping each other down the shoulder. Its chest plate was pretty plain, with the exception of the combat knife and sheath attached to it. The strangest part was the head. The helmet itself had a piece of black going down its sides and center of it, just stopping at the visor. The visor was almost like an upside-down triangle, but it sides angled inwards slightly.

And then its weapons! They were a design unlike any human or alien weapon. They had large barrels where the apparent 'spikes' came out, and below it were these two angled blades on them. The grip on it was angled with a little metal ring for a trigger. Church went to grab one of the strange guns but before he could, the right shoulder of the fallen soldier sparked, making him jump back. Then slowly, all of the red color of its armor wavered, then faded away, revealing parts to actually be brown helmet, orange and white shoulders, and some kind of dark green body. But being mostly green would probably mean… "Holy fuck, guys it's a blue!"

Author's Notes-

I know it's been about more than a year since I last updated this story, but I am (hopefully) changing that. There were more changes done to this chapter, describing the armor and weapons was tricky. It's supposed to be Scout and Hayabusa shoulders, CQB body and helmet. Definitely need work on that.

R and R,

The Villain