[WARNING: The following Fan-fiction is the FINAL mission of the popular hit game Halo: Reach. While it is a version of what happened, some of the story elements really DID happen in Halo: Reach, and this is your LAST chance to vacate the page. You know what, don't just leave the page,: Go turn off your computer, power down ALL internet capable devices, and watch reruns of My Wife and Kids. WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT SPOIL THIS GAME!]

-There'll be another time...-

"I did it..."

Noble 6, also known as SPARTAN-B312, shot the Covenant cruiser with the MAC gun, clearing a safe passage for Keyes to take the A.I. that Noble Team worked so hard to protect.

Noble 6 stared off into the distance as a dust storm started to pick up. As Covenant cruisers drafted over him, Noble 6 knew that the first planet he ever saw to be glassed... was just about to glass it with him on it. Noble 6 was overwhelmed with so many feelings that his true feelings were unknown. Was he happy that he finished the job? Was he sad that he was about to die? Was he... afraid? Did he actually... WANT someone by his side?

Noble 6 tossed his Assault Rifle away. He picked up any weapons he could salvage, an M6G Magnum and a M392 Designated Marksman Rifle, stowed them on his armor, and stood in a platform with two turrets on the side as Phantoms closed in on him.

"I'm not going down without a fight..." Noble 6 said to himself. Why? Maybe he needed to comfort himself... Maybe he wanted to pretend that he himself was the only ally left. He was always a lone wolf... but as scared as he was, maybe it was best that no one else felt as he felt inside. He mounted the turret closest to him and aimed it at the Plasma turret to the front of the Phantom.

"Bring it on..."

The Phantom spotted him on top of the platform and opened fire. The SPARTAN shot at him rapidly with his turret, hoping to break it off before he got him. He was successful; The Phantom only shot off a few rounds of Plasma before the machine gun ripped it to shreds. The few rounds that did get fired off however, hit the turret in the nozzle, effectively melting it to the point where it was unusable.

Noble 6 scoffed at the turret and went to the other one as the Phantom swirled around to use the other turret. Noble 6 shot at it again, shouting at it as the bullets connected. The turret managed to get off a few more rounds before it was destroyed, but even as it connected, it didn't hit the turret per se... Just the stand. Noble 6 could still fire, but he could no longer pivot... meaning he could only shoot straight.

"Screw that!"

Noble 6 ripped the turret off of the melted portion and used it as his own personal Gatling gun. He stood on top of the platform, and continued to shoot at the Phantom as it lay defenseless, until the Plasma shields were disabled, and the bullets ripped it into shreds. As the Phantom hit the ground, Noble 6 congratulated himself.

"Hells yeah!"

Noble 6 took a quick glance at his on-screen motion sensor and saw a couple of red dots in front of him. He couldn't see the tangos himself, due to the heavy dust storm, but trusting his sensor, he rapidly shot at the dust storm, ripping through Unggoy flesh , and watched one by one as the red dots gradually disappeared... all save one.

Noble 6 couldn't see the other red dot, and so he had to rely on his motion sensor. However, the target didn't move, and instead threw a plasma grenade right on the Gatling gun.

"Lucky son of a-"

He didn't finish; He immediately dropped the Gatling gun, hoping to avoid being hit, but the grenade detonated prematurely, knocking the SPARTAN off the platform, landing on the hard dirt with his back. The impact knocked the wind out of his as he didn't lock his armor, but Noble 6 didn't let that bother him: He simply ran towards any given way. He unlatched the DMR off of his back, and tried to use the dust storm to his advantage.

He eventually came across an unattended Spartan Laser, and decided to take advantage of the extra firepower. Being a prototype, it could only shoot off 4 rounds AT FULL STRENGTH, but even one shot will do. He carried it on his back in place of the DMR that was there previously, and ran towards what looked like a parking lot surrounded by a fence. He hopped the fence quickly, and hid behind a couple of cars.

As he lied in wait, he saw a couple of Unggoy, a.k.a. Grunts, looking for him. He used the single shot DMR to pick them off one by one, seeing their heads explode in a burst of blue blood as they dropped. He wasn't a sharpshooter however: Sometimes he missed and shot through their chest, sometimes he shot the gas mask off and they just stumble around, and once he hit the back of the Unggoy, watching it scurry around like a chicken with its head cut off. He chuckled to himself, until the last Grunt held two lit Plasma grenades by their "pin" and charged towards him.

Noble 6 headshot him as quick as he could, but as the body slumped, the grenades flew in the air, and landed next to the car, tipping it over and landing on Noble 6's arm. He pulled his arm free, but the DMR was stuck under it. He tried to lift the car to grab it, but with enemies closing in on him on his motion sensor, he decided to ditch it.

He ran through an open field until he came across a United Space Marine Corp soldier in a nearby set of pipes. He spotted an MA37 Assault Rifle and checked the ammo indicator: 32 rounds. He smiled on the inside, and felt a little giddy when he found two more clips on the body, but what was happiness to him anyway? He knew that he could only buy time...

As a couple of Grunts passed by, Noble 6 lied in wait. Once the last grunt walked past him, he leapt from his cover, and used his combat knife strapped to the ODST chest plate to stab the neck of the Unggoy, leaving a streak of blue blood on it. He swiped the air to get the gooey blue blood off, and went to stab the neck Grunt until he turned around. Noble 6 sheathed the blade into his chest, and ran to snap the Grunt's neck.

The other Grunts now know where he's at, and decided to open fire with their Plasma Pistols. Noble 6 grabbed the Grunt he killed and used it as a body shield, taking the blows as he switched to his Assault Rifle. He sprayed at the Grunts, effectively ripping their bodies into unrecognizable shapes, reloaded when he needed to, and proceeded onward.

Noble 6 checked what he had: He had one fragmentation grenade, a M6G pistol with only 1 clip, an MA37 Assault Rifle with only 1 extra clip. On his back was that Spartan Laser with only 30 percent charge, but he knew that he wasn't going to last long with that. Noble 6 packed up and went on; this time, he spotted 5 Special Ops Sanghelli (Elites).

Noble 6 tossed his only frag grenade at the bunch, but only 1 got hurt in the explosion... even worse, he was still ALIVE. Noble 6 shot at the weakened Elite with his Assault Rifle, cutting down their shields and then pumping lead into his insides. As the Elite falls, the 4 others shot at Noble 6, but he was too nimble to get shot. He dived into cover, and reloaded his last clip into his Assault Rifle. He jumped from cover, shot the shields of the closest Elite, and with the last bullet spent; he used the Assault Rifle as a club to bash against the Elite's face, caving it in due to his strength.

As the 3 Elites shot at him, he used the Elite's body to shield himself like with the grunt, but the Elite wasn't as light; Noble 6 couldn't move as fast as he wanted to. One Elite got close, and pushed Noble 6 to the ground. Noble 6 dropped the body and scrambled to get up off the ground, getting shot by the Plasma Rifle as he dived behind a box. The Plasma shots didn't melt his armor due to the shields, but Noble 6 was too distracted by the dead SPARTAN-III body in front of him to do anything.

"Jason..." he muttered as he stared at his Grenadier helmet. He saw that Jason had been brutally murdered by an Energy Sword by the look of a single slit through his armor, with plasma burns around it. He placed his hand on Jason's chest and closed his eyes...

"Don't worry... I'll be there soon..."

He smiled at him.

"You better have my 5000 credits."

Noble 6 took the Spartan Laser and charged it up at the box he hid behind. With the help of his motion sensor, he shot through the cinderblock with the Spartan Laser, and hit one of the Elites in the face, instantly reducing his head into a burnt mess. With only 2 Elites left, Noble 6 decided to charge up one last shot as they shot at him, and Noble 6 fired straight through the "heart" of one of the Elites, slowly killing him. There was only one left... for now.

Noble 6, knowing that the Spartan Laser is out of rounds, tossed it at the Elite, hitting and disabling his shields, knocking the gun out of his hands. Noble 6 pulled out his M6G Magnum to shoot it in the legs to slow it down, and he pistol-whipped it in the face, breaking two of its four jaws. The Elite responded with a loud cry, as well as punching him in the face with his huge fist, breaking the visor.

Noble 6 hit the ground hard as the visor was cracked. He could no longer see anything that he took for granted: His shield and health monitor, his ammo indicator, and even his precious motion sensor. The Elite jumped on the lone SPARTAN, and repeatedly punched him in the helmet, hoping to break through as if he was a delicious piece of lobster encased in its hard shell. Eventually, Noble 6 couldn't see anything, but he managed to use the Magnum's remaining rounds, save for a few, to shoot it in the face, seeing drops of blue blood in his helmet. The body slumped on to him, and he pushed it off, hitting a nearby building, knocking down a lone Assault Rifle. He got up, but his bones ached.

Noble 6 was tired... he was breathing rapidly, and there were more Elites closing in. He discarded his precious ODST helmet into the ground, and went on to face his enemies. He picked up the last Assault Rifle he could find, and stood in front of 7 Sangheili as he made his final stand.

"SPARTANS never die... didn't you know that?"

He spat blood into the ground.

"Dumbass."

He shot the first Elite who came near him, narrowly dodging a few bursts of its Plasma Rifle as he slayed the beast. The next Elite, a General class Sangheili, managed to sneak behind him and stab him with an Energy Sword. The Sword ripped through his armor like a hot knife on butter on a hot summer day. Noble 6 felt his skin and innards literally burning, but with so much adrenaline pumping through his veins, he shrugged it off, punched it in the face, and finished it off with a personal execution from his M6G Pistol. He only had a few rounds, but he was going to make them count.

When he got up, a couple of Elites fired their Plasma Rifles at him, hitting him in the shoulder. He groaned in pain, but if a sword didn't keep him down, he certainly wasn't going to let a few plasma shots do it. He used the last clip from the Assault Rifle, as well as using his other hand to wield the Pistol, to free aim a steady stream of lead into both of them, causing them to fall over. They were killed, but there were just too many for one SPARTAN to handle without weapons.

Noble 6, now officially out of ammo, tossed his guns away, but two Elites knock Noble 6 into the ground, prepping him for the execution of a Zealot class Elite. He tried to bring down his Energy Sword into Noble 6, but even in the dust storm, he kicked the sword away, buying more time. One Elites tried to hold him down, only to be met with an elbow to the face. Noble 6 struggled to survive, even as the Zealot class Elite picked his sword back up, finally ending the young SPARTAN's life. He closed his eyes, satisfied with the fight he put up, and walked towards his SPARTAN brothers...

The Elite picked up the body of Noble 6, who showed no signs of life. He took his sword out, and gently (!) placed it down on the ground. He laid his arms on his chest.

"What are you doing?" one of the Elites asked in his native tongue as he watched all of this.

"...He deserved it."

"Why?" another Elite asked, "He's our enemy! We killed our fellow brothers!"

"Because we are NOT savages!" the Elite roared, "We aren't like those Jiralhanae! We respect those who fight with honor!"

And with that, the Elites were lifted out of the desolated planet, satisfied that one of humanity's pillars of light was now diminished. Little did they know... that one more pillar of light shined in the darkness... and her name is Cortana... and she's united with who would become the savoir of humanity: John... SPARTAN 117... Also known as Master Chief.