I finished Halo 3 on Legendary a short while ago. This is how I thought the very end went down. My own thoughts taking direct dialogue. All characters are owned by Bungie studios of whom I have nothing but respect for. Post credits of course.
The End.
"I'd thought I'd lost you too…" Cortana's voice echoed in his helmet. His helmet lights lit up a piece of broken machinery and the surrounding floor of the interior of a decimated hallway. He stretched out his arms and pushed himself up in the zero gravity. Weightless he rose slowly and carefully, lifting his arms to ease his passage.
"What happened?" he heard his voice ask as his eyes stared into the empty space outside the ship. The opposite end of the hallway he had been walking down before he had blacked-out was now gone, the ends still red hot from being torn into shreds.
"I'm not sure." she said. John reached out and grabbed his MA5C Assault Rifle and strapped it onto his back. "When the Halo fired it shook itself to pieces and did a number on the Arc." John moved closer into the open space at the end of the hallway and gazed out into nothingness.
"The portal couldn't sustain itself. We made it through just as it collapsed." John grabbed hold of a rail nearby and stuck his head out into nothingness. He gazed at the damage done to the ship and could only guess at what happened.
"Well. Some of us made it." She added pathetically.
John turned and gazed at the blue Nebula that was forming around what was left of the planet. Translucent shades of blue were pitted against other deeper colors of purple, but were marred by the debris and ash left in their wake. It was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen….
Turning his head away, he pushed himself away and floated down the hallway. A small beeping sound in his helmet warned him that he only had a few more minutes left in his oxygen supply.
Corridors and rooms lit up under the gaze of his shining lights as he moved further into the ships interior. Pushing and pulling he turned corners and bends until he finally arrived at his destination. The Cryo-Sleep room. He reached out and stopped his movement at a nearby desk.
"But, you did it. Truth… And the Covenant… And the Flood?" He removed the disk from the back of his helmet and placed it on top of the AI receiver. The blue figure blinked to life. Bluest eyes stared up at him with admiration.
"Finished." The voice broke off. John turned off his helmet lights. He wouldn't need them anymore.
John lowered his head and agreed. "It's finished." He turned and placed his weapon into a nearby stand, gazing at it. He wouldn't need it anymore.
"I'll drop a beacon, but it'll be a while before anyone finds it". Her eyes followed the Spartan as he carefully climbed his way into the cryo-chamber. "Years even." She said, her voice sad and regretful. It would be a long time for her.
John lay down and the lid to his chamber began to close when he heard her voice.
"I'll miss you."
The slow whine of the motors in his pod slowed to a halt.
"Wake me... When you need me."
She glanced up in surprise and nodded grimly as his head fell back slowly onto the cushioned surface of his Cryo-Chamber. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her cross her arms, shift her position and bow her head.
His helmet read outs showed oxygen outside his helmet and that it would be taking some in. Faint amounts of known sedative were laced in the air as oxygen was allowed into his suit. He closed his eyes.
He wondered if the Arbiter had made it.
He wondered how long it would be till they were found.
He wondered just how far from home they were.
He wondered about her...
Sleep came. Dreams came.
He would miss her….
What was left of The UNSC Forward Unto Dawn floated through space. Unknown time passed since its near destruction at the hands of the explosion of the Halo. Most of the systems had shut down long ago, urged by an AI to conserve power. The AI itself had made a few logs in the system to explain what had happened if neither of them made it. She had of course set the system on standby ready to roar to life at a moments notice, before she shut herself off.
Now that time had passed, she was awakened by the ships computers. They were approaching a large heavenly body. A planet. The engines roared to life as they began to descend to the planet. She let the systems awaken her hero. She was waiting for him when he stepped out of his cryo-pod.
"I need you."