[Original Post:
Ok, so this isn't my first story I've written, but it's the first to be submitted on FanFiction. This story takes place after the events of Halo 4. Well, TECHNICALLY it does. You'll see what I mean. Enjoy children!]
[6/19/2014 EDIT: This is where it all started. And Holy Crap, I never realized how BAD I was starting out! =O So, in light of people begging me for it since… well… last year… here you go! A completely remastered first chapter of Halo 4: A Rip in Time! Complete with improved grammar, past tense, and even MORE stuff for your enjoyment! Oh, and expect the entire story to get a remastering much like this one. ENJOY CHILDREN!]
The Chief's heavy armored boots slammed down on top of the Hardlight bridge, and he immediately drew his Battle Rifle in case the Didact was waiting for him. Observing from behind his visor, the Chief checked the immediate perimeter for his foe – unable to even catch a glimpse of him.
I know you're here. The Chief thought as he cautiously made his way across the glowing bridge. The Chief found himself conflicted; did he run for it and hope the Didact wouldn't catch him, or did he proceed with caution and risk running out of time? Eventually the Chief chose speed over caution despite his survival instincts. Earth and her citizens didn't have much time, and for all the Chief knew he was the only one in a position to stop the Composer.
As he made his way across the hardlight bridge, the Chief kept constant watch of his motion sensor. The Didact could've been anywhere, and the Chief figured that he would attack from behind. "You persist too long after your own defeat." Suddenly, a red blip appeared on his HUD that made the Chief instinctively spin around. He looked at where the HUD said the threat was located, but found nothing there. Glancing back to the motion sensor, the Chief noticed that the blip was gone.
He's toying with me. The Chief figured. Unable to do much else, the Chief turned around and kept walking towards the Composer. This time a proximity alarm went off on his HUD, warning John that a threat was close by. "Come then Warrior. Have your resolution." The Chief spun around with his finger on the trigger, but the Didact backhanded the Chief so hard that he was sent flying. The Chief hit the ground but immediately got back to his feet, ready to fight. It was then that a prompt popped up on his HUD, telling the Chief that the nuke had shaken loose from the magnetic holster on his back.
Finding himself without a weapon, John saw only one offensive option. He turned, and leapt with all his might towards the nuke. The Didact, however, was faster. Using the gravitonics in his suit, the Didact pulled the Chief away from the nuke and into the air. The gravitonics locked the Chief's suit in place, preventing him from fighting back. Damn! The Chief swore.
"So misguided." The Didact almost smirked. He forced the Chief out from over the Hardlight bridge, and suspended him above the slip space rupture that had formed as a result of the Composer. The Chief used every bit of strength he had to try and break free from the Didact's gravitonics, but it was useless. The only thing keeping the Chief's body in tact at that point was his armor's shields. "Humanities imprisonment is a kindness!" The Didact cranked his gravitonics up to maximum power, attempting to destroy the Chief's shields.
The Chief kept an eye on his shield's levels, realizing that the generator would be completely overloaded if kept under this kind of trauma. Alarms went off in his helmet, warning the Chief that his shields only had seconds left. During all this, the Chief still managed to crack a smile behind his visor. If Cortana hadn't gone ahead and upgraded his suit while he was in stasis, the Didact surely would've killed him already.
But then, just as the Chief was sure that he was dead, the Hardlight bridge started pulsating and flickering. This not only caught the Chief's attention, but the Didact's as well. He loosened his gravitonic's grip on the Chief as he observed the Hardlight Bridge.
"What is this?" The Didact asked. "What's happening?"
To the Chief's surprise, dozens of Cortanas rose out of the Hardlight Bridge and surrounded the Didact. "In that case, you won't mind if we return the favor!" They all spoke at once.
The Didact looked around him, realizing that this AI construct was defending the reclaimer. He found himself wondering why an AI would willingly ally itself with beings such as the humans. "Your compassion for mankind is misplaced." The Didact argued.
"I'm not doing this for mankind!" Cortana replied.
Cortana… The Chief thought as he realized what she meant.
Cortana suddenly leapt towards the Didact, turning her hardlight body into a shackle and restraining the Didact to the bridge. Cortana's copies followed her example, constricting the Didact until he couldn't move. This caused the Didact's gravitonics to deactivate, dropping the Chief near the edge of the bridge. With the Chief back in control of his body, he held his hand out to the hardlight bridge and dug his fingers into the barrier to stop himself from falling.
The Chief looked down at the orange slip space vortex being generated by the Composer. Not good. If he fell it would be a one way trip to hell. He took a breath, swung his legs to give himself more momentum, and grabbed hold of the hardlight bridge with both hands.
It took all of his strength to start pulling himself up, which isn't an easy task when wearing battle armor that weighs a ton. When he finally got his torso up, he saw the Didact being constricted by Cortana's hardlight clones. She was risking everything for him, as she'd done several times before. Hang on Cortana, I'm coming!
He grabbed the spare pulse grenade he'd been keeping and pulled himself up, his body screaming in protest. He put aside the pain, pulled himself to his feet, and sprinted over to the Didact. The Didact saw him coming and broke free from Cortana's shackles, ready to end the battle once and for all.
But it was too late.
The Chief plunged the grenade deep into the Didact's chest, who then smacked the Chief to the ground. Didact started towards the Chief, his blood boiling. How DARE a lowly human touch him! But then a pain in his chest made him stop. The Didact put his hand up to his chest, feeling something getting hot. Before the Chief could get to a safe distance, the grenade detonated inside of Didact's chest. Blood splattered on the Chief's armor as the blast shook his bones. The Didact screamed in agony as he started to lose his balance from the blast. Chief watched as the Didact fell backwards off of the hardlight bridge and was obliterated by the slip space rupture under the composer.
One down. The Chief thought. One to go. He got to his feet and started for the nuke that sat about ten yards from his position. As he took one step pain shot throughout his entire body, and the Chief was forced to his knee. That blast did more damage than I thought. He tried to get up again, but the pain was too much to handle and he fell flat on his chest.
No… I won't let it end like this. He thought. He started crawling slowly towards the nuke, every inch bringing another jolt of pain. After what seemed like an eternity, the Chief reached the nuke and primed it for detonation.
He took one last look at Earth. The planet he had spent his entire life trying to protects fate now literally in his hands. He looked down, closed his eyes, slammed his hand down on the trigger, and detonated the bomb.
After a long while of silence, the Chief slowly started to open his eyes. Am I dead? He wondered. He looked around and realized that he was surrounded by a massive cube of hardlight; the very same hardlight that Cortana had used against the Didact. He was alive, and there's only one person who could have saved his life.
"Cortana?" Chief asked, expecting to hear a response. There was no such response. He tried again. "Cortana, do you read?" He waited, listening carefully. No. Not her too. First Keys, then Miranda and Johnson, please not Cortana too.
"Cortana, come in!" Chief pleaded, hoping that his com system was just broken from the blast. As he desperately looked around for his friend, he heard a faint ringing coming from every direction. He looked around, trying to locate the source of the noise when he noticed a blue light shining on his armor. He glanced over his shoulder, shocked to see Cortana standing right in front of him. A life size Cortana actually walking right towards him. The Chief's eyes widened behind his visor, and his breathing seemed to slow in a kind of baffled disbelief.
"How..?" Was the only word he could conjure. He was actually speechless, which wasn't saying much.
"Oh, I'm the strangest thing you've seen all day?" Cortana said with her typical witty tone, all appearing to be well.
"But if we're here…" The Chief began.
"It worked." Cortana interrupted him. "You did it. Just like you always do."
Good, she's safe. The Chief thought. "So how do we get out of here?" He asked Cortana.
After a long pause, Cortana looked up at John and sighed. This being the man she had come to care for so much over the years. "I'm not coming with you this time."
"What?" The Chief questioned, still not understanding what was happening.
"I only held enough back to get you off the ship." Cortana admitted, looking around at the ruble that surrounded them.
"No, that's not…" The Chief began, unable to find the right words. This can't be happening, he'd never been put in a situation like this before. After some thought, the Chief realizes that this isn't true. Johnson had died almost in the same way, and the Chief was forced to leave him behind. "We go together." He finally said, hell bent on bringing Cortana home.
"It's already done." She noted. The bomb detonated, the terminal destroyed, and her damaged chip floating out somewhere in space. There was no coming back from this.
The Chief, finally realizing the full extent of what he was dealing with, still refused to accept it. "I am NOT leaving you here." He said with sadness in his voice. It was the most emotion he'd ever shown to anyone, but he didn't care anymore. There was no way in hell he was going to leave Cortana behind.
"John…" Cortana started, her emotions climbing to the surface. She wanted to be with him forever, fighting by his side. Maybe even care for him as he got older and retired. She would've been fine just being his AI assistant, but she knew she couldn't. She inched her way closer to him, treasuring these last few moments as best she could. She touched John's chest for the first and last time, letting out a blissful sigh. "I've waited so long to do that."
The Chief looked down at his feet and tightened his fists in aggravation. Everything he'd learned, everything he'd trained and fought for over the course of his life was useless to him now. For the first time in his life, the Chief felt truly, pitifully powerless. "It was my job to take care of you."
"We were supposed to take care of each other." She corrected him, leaning in closer. "And we did".
The Chief looked at her, and felt something forming in his eyes that he'd never felt before. It was warm, wet, and uncomfortable. The Chief had seen it happen to so many civilians, marines, and even a small handful of Spartans; but never had he expected himself to know what it's like to cry. "Cortana… please." Chief pleaded, unable to let go.
Cortana started slowly backing away from John, knowing that her life was coming to an end. "Wait…" Chief began, hesitantly putting a foot forward as if to follow her. He wanted to grab her, hold her tight and never let go. He liked the way she made him feel whenever they talked, throwing banter back and forth at each other. He liked how she was always concerned about his safety, how she would find time to joke on the battle field, how she turned pink when she was running complex calculations… he liked everything about her.
"Welcome home…John." Cortana said before her entire world faded to black. In her last moments she could hear John shouting her name, almost as if muffled by a body of water. She'd never heard the Chief sound so distressed, and it hurt her to leave him behind. But at least he was alive, and perhaps he could start living for the both of them.
[Original Post:
Cortana is dead! NOOOOOoooooo! Wait... or is she? Find out in Halo 5!
...
Alright, fine! I won't leave you on a cliffhanger like 343i would. This is only the first of many chapters. I know I pretty much copied the ending of Halo 4, but I promise that the next Chapter will have never-before-seen stuff that you never saw coming!
And when I make a promise-
"you keep it"
Thank you Cortana! See you next time folks!]
[EDIT: This actually only took me about two hours to edit and improve, so maybe this wont take as long as I thought. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! And if you're new here, welcome to the story that is Halo 4: A Rip in Time! This is a story that I've poured my heart and soul into, so I hope that you guys can get just as much enjoyment from it as I did! Until next time!]