Nobility of Six

1. First Breath of Six

Blood. Lots of blood. The crimson fluid is painted across my memory, mixed with the purple, orange, and even green of countless species. Even as my gaze traveled over the slain Arbiter Elite laying at my feet, his own energy sword piercing his chest, my eyes are continually drawn to the beautiful purple liquid pouring from his wounds. I staggered for a moment, clutching my own, and promptly sat down. I was dying. A cruel smirk played on my lips, the closest thing I've come to smiling in a long time. 'Payback's a bitch', Emile had said, and I agree with him. It would seem that death, is not without a sense of irony.

I pulled my hand from my wound, and watched as my crimson life dripped from my fingers. My parents, the UNSC, and even Halsey believed that it was an unhealthy obsession. I remembered when Halsey first took me in for my psychological exam, and the Doc showed me the cards with random splotches, asking me what I saw. My answers were simple, and not without reason; Head-shot, left arm fracture, carotid arterial rupture. I would know because these were things that I had seen, when the insurgents attacked my home, slaughtering my parents. I was only six, but never had a gun felt so right in my hands. They say that young children can't understand what murder, or revenge are. If only that were true...

But needless to say, that when the psychiatrist told Halsey that I was unstable, I agreed one-hundred percent, and I loved it. Where's the fun in making sense?

I threw up in the sand, more blood. Staggering back to my feet, I retrieved my helmet and slipped it on, the blackened alloy fitting like a glove, and sat back down. The HUD popped up in it's blue brilliance, with my health bar flashing red dangerously. With a grunt I switched it off. I hated that stupid flashing bar, with it's annoying beep. I get it! I'm dying! Shut up already! I reached into my belt pocket and retrieved my I-pod. Kat said the thing was an antique, completely rebuilt of course and damn near impossible to break. Flipping through my number of ancient songs, I selected one of my favorites and let it blare in my helmet speakers; I don't wanna die, by Hollywood Undead. The song was at least five centuries old, but I liked it.

I smiled at how fitting the song was, as I could feel my consciousness slipping, before a thought struck me. Unable to stand, I crawled to the dead Elite and tore the sword from his corpse, deactivating the blade and clipping it to my belt. Damn Elites always going on about honer. Let's see just how honorable you'll be when your buddies find your decaying corpse without it's most prized possession.

As an after thought, I removed his grenades and clipped those to my belt as well, before flipping him off. Finally, I laid down with my hands beneath my head, and my legs spread out. I may be a girl, and I may be dead, but I wanted my message to be clear. 'Fuck you all.'

As my song ended I closed my eyes and heaved a final sigh. I didn't bother inhaling, mostly because I knew it would be prolonging the inevitable, but also because my lugs just decided to say, 'Just fucking die already!'. After a second, I drifted off and didn't wake.

o.00.o.00.o

'SIKE, BITCH!' The universe practically screamed in my face as I awoke in a forest. It was sunny, but still cool. My guess was that it was nearly Fall. The trees surrounding me were nice, and I swear I could smell sandalwood and bamboo. Maybe heaven did exist... and maybe the Easter bunny shits jelly beens, cause last I checked, you shouldn't need a HUD in heaven. Nor should you need Mark-3 Spartan armor. Sitting up, I cracked my neck once and stood. I was apparently fully intact, no wounds, and no breaks in my armor. I was a bit stiff, but that was soon worked out.

A rustling to my left, as well as the sound of voices caught my attention. Very familiar voices. Unclipping the Energy Sword from my belt, I was off like a shot into the brush. I only had to run for a few meters before I reached a clearing, and was welcomed by an extremely weird sight. The rest of Noble Team, except for one minor detail; They were animals. Sorta.

Carter (as a Rhino), with the help of a grizzly-bear Jorge, was trying to keep a Zebra Emile from shooting a snow-leopard Kat. Jun was sitting off to the side as a Puma, field-stripping his rifle. The funniest thing, none of them were wearing helmets. And they all had tails. Other than that, they all looked the same and in good health.

Not exactly sure how to make myself known, I cleared my throat, which resulted in everyone turning toward me, and Emile dropping his shotgun.

"Six?" Carter stared surprised, while I snapped a salute.

"Awaiting orders Commander."

Emile rolled his eyes and turned away, apparently forgetting about Kat. "And even now she's a hard-ass."

I simply quirked my head to the left as I was beginning to do more and more.

Carter stepped up to me and placed his hand on my shoulder. "Six? Ya alright?" I raised an eyebrow in confusion, not that he could see it, and asked. "Sir? Why wouldn't I be?" He chewed on his lip, but shrugged. "Just didn't know how well you'd take this."

I gave a nod, but kept my posture. "With all due respect sir, it doesn't seem that bad. Affirmative, you are animals, but I see no way that it affects me."

Hearing Emile snort slightly, as well as seeing Jun bite his lip made me question just who they were referring to. Until good ol' Jorge decided to be the bear of bad news, pun intended.

"Six, I'm guessing that you haven't taken a good look at yourself." I quirked my head again. "Six, I hate to tell you this," He scratched the space between his ears. "but you've got a tail."

Tail... He said tail right?

I nodded slowly, before cracking my neck once and taking a look at my ass. I was greeted by a bushy black tail which almost blended perfectly with my armor.

"... Well fuck."

I heard a sharp intake of breath from Carter, and a chuckle from Jun. "Well, well, she does know more words than just 'yes sir'."

I growled slightly when Kat smirked and nodded. "Maybe more than just her species changed."

Wait... Why did I growl? Kat was just being Kat, I mean sure she's a pain in the ass, especially towards me, but that never bothered me before... Or rather, it did, but I never showed it. Maybe something did change.

"Six?" I looked back at Carter, who was wearing a questioning look. "Yes, sir?"

"Could you take off your helmet?"

….. Did he seriously ask that? Nobody ever asks me to take off my helmet. Emile even had this weird theory that half my face was melted by a Energy Sword. I mean, he's right, but it's not like I self-conscious about it.

"Six?" Carter was giving me that 'I'm waiting' look. So, with a huff, I reached beneath the lip of my helmet and pinched in the small grooves, resulting in a hiss as I pulled the cover off.

I had a good look at my face-plate now, the front was a rectangular elongation of what it used to be, while there were two triangular protrusions from the top, probably for my ears.

"Interesting..." I heard Jun mutter, while Kat said something along the lines of "I guess some things never change."

Finally, with the wait killing me, I turned the helmet in my hands until the reflective visor was facing me.

What I saw looking back at me wasn't my face, but the face of a red-eyed, jet-black wolf.