Once More Unto The Breach
By: Archer83
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original ideas.
Summary: Warning: Spoilers, if you haven't finished Halo 4 yet! At the end of Halo 4 Spartan John-117 is blasted into another fight of the future of humanity. Oneshot. (I might continue this if there's any interest in it.)
Authors Notes: This is just one of those ideas that formed in my mind one day, and I felt compelled to write it down. I'm sure most of the authors on this site understand this weird compulsion. Story theme: Frozen Sleep by Malukah
Chapter 1: Forward... Unto A New Dawn
He smashes his armored hand down on the detonator, an instant of blinding light. He sees Cortana fade away into the streams of data, and he can barely stop himself from reaching out to her.
"Welcome home John..."
The Chief might have expected almost anything to happen at that moment, except what actually did happen.
He finds himself kneeling next to a wounded woman and a holographic boy. Quickly notices the massive battle in Earth orbit right above their heads, as well as the word 'Commander' on the woman's dog tags, which are hanging out of her heavily damaged armor. Most people would have been confused, to say the least. That's all Spartan John-117 needs to know.
He helps the officer to her feet and asks, "Best option to destroy the enemy Commander?"
Still slightly shocked by his sudden appearance, the woman gestures with her pistol at a large conduit to the far right, at least 50 meters away.
"Excuse me ma'am, I need to borrow this.", he tells her as he gently tugs the weapon from the obviously hurt officer's hand.
"NO! This is not what is meant to be! Stop! You shall know perfec-", the hollow boy screams at him.
Not listening, he rapidly fires at the target until the weapon jams causing a large explosion, and the boy fades away.
Worried more for her safety than his, John asks the officer, "Any evac option ma'am?"
"We have to get back to the beam... that way..." she quickly points to a platform sealed to the floor.
Wishing he still had Cortana to hack the local systems for him, the Chief just did things the old fashioned way. He stomped as hard as he could on the panel with one leg, while lifting the officer in both his arms, as it crashed down onto the level below.
Hey! I can still walk... sort of.", she protested.
"No, you can't. Hold on Commander. This may get bumpy."
He jumped down to the lower level, careful to jostle his cargo as little as possible. As the explosions from above started to rip through the structure, he immediately turned toward the only available escape route.
Before he can start running though, she began to shout at him, "Wait! We can't leave him! Put me down dammit!"
John followed her order, as suicidal as it was, and watched her limp over to a dead officer, an Admiral judging by his insignia.
"Ma'am... he's gone. We need to get you out of here. Now."
"I am not leaving him behind..." she glanced at the UNSC insignia on his armor, "...Master Chief. Were taking him with us. Period."
Not wanting to waste another second, the Chief lifted the Admiral in a fireman carry, wrapped his other arm around the stubborn officer, and starting running as fast as he could. Soon he reached a dead end with a circular platform. Massive explosions were tearing the corridor behind them apart. It was either this or nothing, as he carried both officers onto the platform.
A flash of light, then he found himself standing in what looked like a battlefield. He carefully let go of the wounded officer as she stood up next to him, and laid the lifeless Admiral down with as much respect as he could muster.
"Thank you Chief... you saved my ass back there. And you got Anderson out, I wont forget that.", the Chief tried not to notice the few tears that ran down her cheek.
John nodded to her and replied, "Just doing my duty ma'am. I'm... sorry about your friend." He couldn't stop himself from speaking, it just flowed out from him, "I know what it feels like to loose someone close to you. There was someone I hadn't seen in... a long time. When I finally did get to see her again, it was less than a day before..."
The woman just gazed up at him, a sad look in her eyes, "Sometimes... you have to take what you can get Chief, did you at least get to say goodbye to her?", as she put her hand on his arm.
John lowered his head, telling her "Yes. Yes I did."