Dust and debris filled her vision, as her lungs burned from the rubble around her. Every now and again as she struggled to even see, fumbling around, an errant plasma bolt or stray bullet would light up the dust cloud, making it harder and harder to get her bearings. She could just hear screaming, guttural snarls, and war-cries, all of them barely audible over the explosions and gunfire. Suddenly, a tall shadow rushed forward, noticing her through the rubble. As the figure stepped through the dust, it soon became apparent that it was human. Clad in a black and dark grey suit of armour, and a black helmet with a silver visor, the human moved forward, before calling out.
"Get down!"
Suddenly, she was tackled, thrown to the ground by the man, as he held her to the ground, hunched over her as she stared into the featureless void of a visor. He then holds up a hand, continuing to keep her pressed to the ground, before standing up. Making no attempt to rise, she watched in horror as the man drew a rifle from his back, taking aim at something unseen in the rubble. Soon, another imposing black figure approached; impossibly tall, vicious, and alien, with two glowing blue slits for eyes, and several large elegant plates of metal for a face. The man turned, firing off a burst from his rifle into the creature, and it just kept coming, a strange blue aura projecting around it as the bullets slammed into its torso.
"Come on, Split-lip! Show me what you got!" The man seemed to taunt, continuing to fire, as the alien continued to advance, drawing a strange device from one of its legs. Then, it pressed a button, and two brilliant red lights shot out from it, forming an elegant, deadly blade. The man got another burst off before the creature advanced in an eye-blink, and cleaved the man in two. He didn't even scream, only letting out a pathetic moan as his body crumpled onto the ground.
Feeling the wet splash of hot blood over her face, it took all her composure not to scream in terror, as the creature let out a triumphant roar, stepping over the man's corpse. Tears streamed down her face, as she struggled, doing her best to try and remain unseen and play dead.
It didn't work.
Suddenly, the alien raised its blade again, this time aimed at her. Looking up in horror, she let out a scream, as it brought down the blade, and-
Suddenly shooting up from her bed, eyes wide, Lucy Grayson felt her lungs painfully heave, her breathing ragged and heavy as cold sweat dripped from her forehead. She looked to the clock by her bedside; four-thirty AM. She rolled her eyes, rubbing her forehead. Her nightmares just wouldn't stop; they'd go away for a week, then come back, then disappear, then return all over again to haunt her dreams.
Looking out the window, Lucy breathed a sigh of relief. It was just New Phoenix. Not Reach. Definitely not Reach. That was where-
Lucy shook her head, exhaling deeply. She wouldn't go back. Not there, not again. Reach in the past; six years, to be exact. She had to get over it. She couldn't go back there.
Lying back down onto her drenched pillow, Lucy grimaced; it would be hours before she got back to sleep if her usual sleep pattern was accurate. She had to stop thinking about it, to think about something else.
Like the Spartans.
She had seen those heroes more than once before. Most from the newest generation, when she was watching them leave aboard the UNSC Infinity, standing tall and proud. It had been a special day; Lucy had never seen a ship leaving for its maiden voyage before, let alone one as big as Infinity had been. She remembered the day clearly; they went out to a fancy restaurant, caught a movie beforehand, and even met one of the Spartans there; a surprisingly awkward young man named Miller. Then, they visited a memorial to-
Lucy then frowned; 'Don't focus on that', she chastised herself, but the memorial was so vivid, because she had seen one of the Spartans the memorial was meant for. He had been clad in bulky blue armour with a golden visor, and had protected the evacuation ship she was on. Carter, the plaque on the memorial stated. Others felt proud, grateful, solemn or sorrowful while looking at the memorial, Lucy remembered only feeling numb as she remembered each shot he fired, each alien he killed, each step he took in-front of her transport.
That wasn't to say she wasn't grateful, though. She only survived Reach because of him, she would be crazy not to be grateful, but his method, his way of fighting had a certain... brutality to it that sent shivers down her spine to this day.
Still, he saved her life, and the lives of many others. And he wasn't the one who haunted her nightmares, at least.
Closing her eyes, Lucy let herself fall into a hopefully dreamless sleep. She'd deal with the problem in the morning.
The Grayson apartment wasn't exactly spacious, but nor was it cramped. It was technically still just four rooms, but those rooms were large enough for Lucy to have her privacy. It was a cheap sort of place; her Father had only just landed a job again, and war refugees had awful enough luck to get the worse places back on Earth. Lucy felt lucky enough that they scored a place in New Phoenix rather than somewhere like Brazil or Qatar. At least here she didn't have to look at any of those alien asylum seekers, especially the Sangheili.
"Afternoon, Lucy. You slept in pretty late. Sleep well?" Lucy's father, Miles, asked, giving her a warm smile as he served up the extremely late breakfast onto the kitchen bench; pancakes absolutely lathered in honey. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Lucy returned the smile, sighing deeply.
"Not great, Dad..." Leaving the question hanging, she moved to sit down at the table, noticing her father's smile vanish, replaced by a concerned frown. He then speaks, his voice softer.
"Bad dreams again?" Lucy gave a quiet nod, as her father sighed, continuing. "I know, I have them too. I miss her too. If you need to talk, I'm here-" Closing her eyes, Lucy mumbled softly as she started to eat her breakfast, poking at it slowly.
"I'm fine..." Giving a slow nod, Miles was obviously unconvinced, but chose not to press the issue further. He then spoke, trying to brighten the mood.
"Well, at least it's a Saturday. No school, no work, just whatever we want to do." A small smile graced Lucy's lips at that, all while she continued to slowly get through her pancakes. She then replied, smiling.
"There anything actually worthwhile to do, though? There's no good movies out in July, Dad, and Matt went on holiday with his family, remember?" Nodding his head, Miles gave a smile, replying.
"Oh,I remember. And it's not a movie, no. But, I got us some tickets to the Breakout Game today." Lucy's smile grew wide as she balked, laughing.
"You didn't!" Miles gave a chuckle, replying.
"Sure did; up in the box even. Private seats, great service, all expenses paid." The girl beamed, before asking, an eyebrow raising.
"How did you pay for it, though? We aren't that rich." Giving his daughter a wink, Miles then retorted.
"Adam from Team Warthog owed me a favour. Thought it was time I cashed in." Suddenly, Lucy stood up, hugging her father tightly as she spoke.
"Thanks Dad. You're the best." Miles closed his eyes, leaning into the hug, before opening them again, speaking.
"Now you better finish up; the game's in about an hour." Lucy then blinked, before replying.
"Oh. Right..." Glancing to the clock, she looked at the time; a quarter to one. She let out a huff; she hated sleeping in so late. Looking back to her pancakes, she began to shovel them into her mouth, rushing to finish them, as her father gave a chuckle, chiding.
"Lucy, you aren't a five year old anymore. Don't rush your food." Lucy then mumbled, trying to chew the last of the pancake in her mouth.
"S-mph-ry, Mph-d." Finally swallowing it down, Lucy then spoke again, repeating herself. "Sorry, Dad." Miles gave a smile, before standing up.
"Now go get dressed, I'll get the car ready." Lucy gave a wide smile, standing up as she nodded, before rushing back off to her room.
"Okay, Dad!"
The game had been a short affair; five rounds, Team Warthog versus Team Wolverine. To cut a long story short, Team Warthog had wiped the floor with Team Wolverine, to the adoration of hundreds of screaming fans. All in all, the game lasted an hour.
And Lucy had loved every minute of it, still cheering along with the crowd as they all watched Team Wolverine be dragged off, struggling to even move with the Lock-down paint still clinging to their bodies.
All in all, it was the perfect way to forget about her nightmares; at least, for now.
Walking out of the stadium with her father, she looked out into the harsh sun of New Phoenix, smiling as the two of them walked back to the car. She then spoke, looking up to the man.
"God, that was so cool. Maddox just swooping in from the fucking sky and locking down Lang, Fifield getting his ass whupped again..." Miles gave a smile, nodding as he chuckled.
"Best part about this is that someone at work owes me fifty creds." Lucy then giggled, before giving him a playful slug to the arm. Relenting, Miles then continued. "Alright, I lied. The best part is seeing you so happy. Wouldn't change this day for the world..."
Soon, as they reached the Car-park outside the stadium, the sound of commotion and sirens became quite clear, as they quickly noticed Police Officers, clad in full Riot gear, and armed with military grade weapons, calling out to the crowd, trying to organise them into an orderly line. Up above them, a Hornet in police colours hovered, providing overwatch to the Officers below. Miles looked down to Lucy, noticing her breaths becoming shorter, and faster, her eyes wide, her smile gone. Miles then moved in-front of her, grabbing and holding onto her hand carefully, speaking softly.
"Lucy, we'll be fine. The war's over, it's not New Alexandria again, I promise. It's probably just a riot. We'll be fine." Staring into her father's eyes, Lucy started to calm down, before nodding, still breathing deeply. Miles then continued, sighing. "Now, I'll go see what this is all about. Just stay here, keep breathing. I'll be back in a minute, got it?" Soon enough, she gave a hesitant nod, inhaling deeply. Miles then let go of her hand, before moving in through the crowd to try and speak with one of the officers. Approaching the armoured man, he made an attempt to act nonthreatening, speaking up.
"Officer, what's going on? Haven't seen cops roll out with equipment like this since Reach." The Police Officer looked to Miles, before speaking, his voice muffled slightly by the riot helmet over his head.
"Don't know much. Just got orders to evac everyone from the city from up top. Don't know why. We're trying to form an orderly line for the evac buses, sir." Miles' eyes widened as he took in what the officer said, before giving a nod, trembling slightly.
"G-got it... I... I'll get ready..." Turning around before the officer could reply, Miles then rushed back to Lucy, who looked up at him expectantly. She then spoke, her voice distant.
"What's happening?" Miles then quickly replied, his voice taking on a commanding tone.
"Lucy, we're going to be alright, but we have to evacuate New Phoenix. Just... do what the Police Officers say, and everything will be fine." Lucy felt tears running down her cheek as she trembled, her voice cracking as she tried to speak.
"N-no... Please... Not like New Alexandria... You promised..." Miles gave a sigh, closing his eyes as he wrapped his arms around his daughter's head, pulling her in gently.
"I know... I know..." Suddenly, people started to scream, and point to the sky, as both Miles and Lucy turned up to the now blazing red horizon. The Police did their best to calm people down, but it was a losing effort.
Suddenly, in the distance, a red beam of light slammed into the city centre with a deafening roar, though Lucy quickly realised that it was no Glassing Beam; there was no shockwave from the blast, the buildings were perfectly fine. Then, in an eyeblink, a crimson wave of energy burst out from the beam, tearing through the city and towards the crowd.
Looking to her father, terrified beyond all belief, Lucy only had a brief moment to scream before the wave washed her, and the crowd, and then-
PAINAGONYSUFFERINGTORTUREPAIN
And then... nothing...
