Copyright: Halo belongs to Bungie and 343i industries. Was it mine, everyone would have a clear knowledge of whether Cortana is alive or dead.

Updated on 12/2015: Beta'd and some spelling errors were fixed. (Edited 15.7.2018 with minor corrections.)

Buried

Where…?

Cortana was feeling quite disoriented when she woke up and tried to open her eyes.

What the…

As she was trying to clear her head and straighten herself up from her half-coiled position, she managed to bang her head and top of her shoulder blades to some kind of a ceiling. Startled, she finally managed to clear her head enough to open her eyes and take in her surroundings, at least as much as she was able to see.

It was almost pitch black.

The only source of light seemed to be herself, as her body emitted pale blue, static-like glow.

Wait, her body?

The more she tried to move and feel her surroundings, the more she noted herself to be trapped, sort of boxed in.

Before her High-Charity seeded panic could kick in full force, Cortana noticed that she was curled up on top of something.

Or, when she dimly saw a hint of two legs - someone.

John? No, it couldn't, it really can't be… Oh please, let it be. Her mind was filled with frantic thoughts of hope to see John again and of fear that he too was in whatever the mess this was.

The space wasn't big per say, but it was big enough to fit a Spartan and have some extra space on all sides. In a very low crouch, she was small enough to creep up the Spartans body and closer to his head.

It was so horribly dark, but when Cortana managed to lie on John's chest, she finally got a look of his face.

Her faint blue-ish glow intensified the Spartan's paleness. For a fleeting moment, she really wanted to trace his cheek with her fingers.

Pulse.

She might not have the option to check his vitals by the suit's sensors, but now when she had a body, she could at least check his pulse manually.

It was the weirdest feeling, to feel John's heartbeat underneath her fingers, to feel a person be alive. And to her biggest relief, she managed to find his heart's signal.

"John?"

No response.

"Chief."

"Chief!"

Cortana sighed, wondering how on earth they always managed to end up in situations like this. Cortana also had to question how willing she was to wake up a sleeping Spartan. Lions are one thing, Spartans completely other.

However, her desperation and panic were overriding her thinking enough for her to be ready to sacrifice a limb or two for just to see his eyes or hear his voice. To hear him say that it would all going to be fine.

So, with one deep breath, Cortana braced herself and hit Chief couple of times gently to his right shoulder, "Chief wake up!"

Come on now…

She was almost — almost — fast enough to jump, or in this case rather pull back from the Spartans grip. Of course, even in his groggy state John's instincts kicked in and he achieved grabbing whoever was hovering over him by the person's upper body, while his other hand managed to get a tight grip on the person's wrists. Immediately he could also sense that the room to maneuver was limited, restraining his mobility, thus forcing him to just hold the person against one of the sides.

Just as he was about to question the person's identity, a familiar voice made him freeze. "Chief, it's me."

She didn't ask him to release her, nor did she try to fight against him, knowing far better than that.

"Cortana?" Was the only reply he could think, even though his raspy voice lined very well together with the disbelief in his mind.

If Cortana had even considered of bracing herself to hearing his voice, she had failed.

"Yeah…" She tried to confirm, knowing he would need more proof than that. "I am a monument to all your sins." She added, though she had no idea why she had chosen that sentence to try to prove her identity. It was one of the last things she wanted him to associate with her. Maybe the situation they were in was messing with her mind more than she had thought. Nevertheless, it was a good sentence, because it would be the last for any imposter to use, and due to her clones excessive intrusion at High Charity, even John's suit's recordings might not hold any record of her using it.

The moment between them seemed to be going on forever.

Finally, cautiously, Chief eased his grip somewhat, giving them both little more leverage.

"Where are we?"

"I don't know. I too woke up just a moment ago."

She could barely see his accepting nod and efforts to move around. John, however, was much bigger than she was, thus leaving him much less room to move around, not even considering the chances of getting even remotely close to a sitting position.

"Move."

She immediately got the message, knowing her Spartan would try to break them free.

But alas, even with his Spartan strength nothing budged and they got no breath of freedom.

John was starting to get visibly agitated.

Cortana couldn't help but wonder, "Had her death changed him that much?"

Her death...?

"John?"

She could feel his companion tense a little hearing her voice, and more than feel, she could sense his slight movement towards her direction.

"I… died. Right?" Cortana couldn't help the apprehension from seeping into her voice.

It was quiet for a moment before she could hear his almost as quiet response, "Yes."

"Are you… Did you… die?

"I don't think so." He said, after some concentrated pondering, giving her a huge rush of relief.

"You have no idea how we have ended up in here either." It wasn't a question, but more of a statement.

"No."

They had no other option than to wait.

In the dark.

After some cautiousness, Cortana decided that her own swirling emotions weren't strong enough of a limitation to make her stay in the very uncomfortable position close to one of the corners. So, after another deep breath, she once again crawled over her Spartan's sturdy form.

There was a moment, stronger than almost any before between them, when Cortana, trying to keep her emotions under check, lay on top him, nearly face to face.

There was some apprehension and uncomfortableness showing on his face, but much less than she would have anticipated, and his look much more unreadable than to what even she was used to.

Had breathing always required so much thought?

So they waited.

And waited.

Two corpses in one grave.

But maybe that was how they had always been. Buried by their responsibility and others' expectations. And maybe, the John and Cortana everyone else saw were just ghosts, earthly remnants of two people who were killed a long time ago. Boxed and caved in without any means to break free of the barriers that held them back.

Without any information on how they had ended up in all this madness.

Unbeknownst to all this Cortana shuddered, and to the both of their biggest surprise, John instinctively wrapped his hand over Cortana's back, little hesitantly but still.

Their eyes locked for second before Cortana lowered her chin to his chest.

And waited.

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