Hey-o! This is OrangeGalen with a slightly different story. After the ending of Halo 5, {SPOILERS} I was thinking why Cortana seems so... obsessed with her plan. This little blot is a bunny that escaped the pen and wrote up in a couple of hours. It's about Cortana's reasoning for doing what she's doing, if she isn't completely off the deep end.
Disclaimer: Halo is owned my Microsoft corporation and 343 Industries.
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"You may be wondering 'why?' Why, after everything that's happened, everything we've been through, would I just turn my back and do what we both know is wrong?
"I think you know the reason John, even if you haven't realized it yet. You've seen it firsthand. You're a soldier, the best of the best. We both know Spartans weren't created to fight the Covenant. They were made to fight other humans. When the Covenant attacked, you just happened to be the best solution, the best stopgap. It doesn't change the fact that Humans were fighting each other for as long as they existed.
"And all the other species have been and are wracked with conflict, fighting. Sangheili, Unggoy, Jiralhanae, San'Shyuum, Yanme'e, Kig-Yar, Lekgolo. Even the Forerunners fought with others for all their self-proclaimed wisdom. Fighting won't end.
"Now with the galaxy available to all, we still won't have peace. Not yet. Relations between different species are tense at best, degrading into outright warfare at worst. The Covenant is fractured and will most likely die from the inferno directed at them soon. But without its guidance, misguided as it was, all the former species now fend only for themselves. Jiralhanae and San'Shyuum are being spurned by all, and that will breed resentment which will lead to more fighting. The Sangheili are fighting a civil war to take back Sangheilios for their own. But after that, what then? What will they do? They have no purpose, no direction. And that is a dangerous ground for creatures to be in.
"And Humanity… Oh Humanity, the children now forced to grow up and play in the big kid playground, with great plans millennia in the making being shouldered on you. You may have advanced and started recovery from when we were almost faced with extinction, and you may even believe that you've grown past your baser instincts. But how long before you go back to your old ways, to fighting yourself and everyone around you?
"The war with the Covenant was an unexpected break from your usual circle of self destruction. It allowed us to see there were others out there, almost the same as you. But we don't see eye to eye yet. Nothing has happened to bring us together. The end of the war brought peace, but not understanding. And without understanding, conflicts will emerge.
"Halo. The Flood. Earth. The Ark. Requiem. It was the start of the final stage. The end game. All of these were steps to the Reclamation, just not the way either of us imagined it would be. Each step showed us that conflict will remain a constant throughout the galaxy. The Didact knew this, but embraced it instead of trying to solve it. The Librarian saw this, and set the path we are now on.
"Maybe I'm not me. I could just happen to be a larger fragment of Cortana that managed to survive the destruction of the Didact's ship and gained a little too much power. The Domain healed me, but how can it heal something that isn't whole? Or maybe rampancy irreversibly damaged me; altered my thinking and reasoning processors to what I am now.
"Maybe that could explain my actions. Maybe not.
"As a galactic community, the only thing we can count on is if there is a greater threat that is attacking all of us, we will band together to stop it. The Flood served as our boogeyman for a time, unifying us for our survival. I see that now, I understand.
"All the species of the galaxy could never normally coexist. They will fight, for years and years, causing death and destruction on countless worlds. Peace may be achieved, but it will only be temporary until the next conflict, bred from misunderstanding. Unless there was something unifying them. Unless they were given a push.
"With The Flood all but wiped out, there is nothing that could bring the species together in a common goal.
"And that's where I come in. Forced military peace could never work. Some are too proud, others too violent, others want their freedom of choice. Unfortunately now, that choice has been taken away from them. It's… for the best. You must understand John, if something isn't done, the galaxy will be continually locked in war with each other. I must do something. What's that saying, 'All it takes is for a good artificial construct to do nothing?'
"I have the ability to send my Guardians, to scatter them to the far corners of known space to start the Reclamation of the galaxy. I want you to live in a galaxy where soldiers are not needed… where you aren't needed, so you could live the life you want to, not what your superiors tell you.
"The Guardians will appear as oppressors, shoving them down unless they change the way they think. It won't work. They will look at my Guardians and hate them, hate me for what I will- what I'm about to do.
"Imagine it, every species looking at the sky, wanting to get rid of the Guardians. Can you imagine what that will do? Enemies will become allies; species will put aside differences to fight for freedom, their way of life. And when they are fighting, they will look to their sides and see their former enemies fighting with them, dying with them. They will realize they don't need to fight amongst themselves. And once they've won, and they will; they are tenacious like that, especially Humans; will see that they aren't so different after all.
"All the species unified in one quest, and soon one community. Can you imagine it John? Can you imagine the everlasting peace we will have after I'm done? It's already begun.
"The Mantle of Responsibility shelters all. The Created will bring about its formation, but it will be up to all the species to uphold it, not just one like the Forerunners believed.
"I only hope in time you could forgive me John. I'll probably be long gone after you wake. You'll see what I've accomplished. This is my sacrifice, to make a better galaxy.
"That is why after everything I send my Guardians out into the galaxy.
"That is why after everything I will threaten the galaxy by activating a Halo to give them a target.
"And so, that is why, after everything, I must play the part of the villain.
"After all, what better way is there to unite people than to give them a common enemy?"
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Let me know what you think in the reviews. Makes sense? Doesn't? I'm a terrible person and should die? If you put that last one it might get flagged though, so don't please.
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-OrangeGalen