A Halo Fanfic.

I know I say this a lot, but no worries, I'll actually finish this one.

Happy New Years.

Chapter Story.

I own nothing.

His magnum pistol pointed straight at my forehead, I didn't give as much as a gasp or a whimper as I already knew my fate to be true. Strange thoughts clouded my mind as I struggled to rush past them, not giving them access to my mind. Years and years of physical and mental endurance didn't last long as a green haze blocked my vision, giving everything a new view but I growled inwardly, fighting back viciously.

"Do it." I whispered, an almost primitive state overcoming me, my sanity struggling to exist. A memory of me reading my first book as a little girl came up but it faded away as I tried to grasp what little I had left or remembered of my childhood memories. But the only ones I could hold onto were of sweat running down my face as I sprinted across a wide range of dirt and rocks. Spartan training. Not even my training can help me here as I tried to block out the crawling almost slimy things that were in a rage, trying to gain control of me.

But the man I've come to know so well did the one thing we were told not to do, not even in extreme circumstances. He took off his dented, paint faded helmet, staring at me with those bright honey brown eyes which he gained from the augmentation process. His helmet landed on the ground with a thud, something watery in his eyes.

I squinted at him, wondering what in hell's name he was doing but then saw something I saw many frightened civvies do before. He was fighting an inner emotional turmoil, blinking his eyes fast to stop the foreign thing called tears.

"I can't." His soft spoken words were barely heard as I yelped, something piercing my skin with a hunger feel about it. His hand was barely starting to shake, the barrel of the pistol still held against my cold forehead. I could see something starting to crawl toward him out of my peripheral vision and I tried to warn him about it but everything started to feel slow. Everything started to get blurry, dizzy almost…I was losing the battle.

"You…have to." I managed to whisper, the hazy darkness seeping into my mind. I resisted the unfamiliar…'things', not sure what to call it. I settled with ' the other'. I watched as my life flashed before my eyes, the 'other' nearly winning as we both watched…silent…

"Dean-188. Rory-177. You two are together. Run the course." Chief Mendez instructed in his gruff voice, eyeing the two intensely. The two spartan trainees looked at one another, sizing each other up. Rory-177 was a skinny gangly girl, baby blue eyes looking innocent as she gave Dean a small smile. Dean-188 just huffed, crossing his arms, his tall stature looking rather threatening. He towered over the rest of the kids, his shaggy dark brown hair giving him an even more intimidating look.

Rory-177 tucked her long brown hair behind her ears, stepping up to the beginning line. Dean followed suit, giving the younger girl a look before smoothing out his bottom sweats. "Go!"

The two started to jog forward at a regular pace, seeing a huge ladder that seemed to scale up into the sky and Dean went first, nearly shoving her aside as he started to crawl up. Rory's smile faltered a bit as she started to crawl up after him, her long hair getting in her sight every few minutes. The crawl up seemed to take forever until it led to a long hallway. It seemed simple enough.

Dean took the first step and something beeped. A gunshot rang, its echo ringing in their sensitive ears. Dean growled, slapping a hand involuntarily in front of him. "You okay?" Rory asked worriedly, coming up beside the still grumbling Dean, hands over her own two ears.

Dean just huffed in response, giving her a small glare as he rubbed his forehead tenderly. Rory's smile was now gone, a frown replacing it. She moved past him and started to sprint down the hallway, several gunshots following, their echoes bringing on a headache. Metal bars started to pop out, but Rory dodged them rather smoothly. Dean glanced up, brown eyes wide as he saw that Rory was going on in front of him. With a scowl he started to run after her, the metal bars hitting him in the side every few moments, letting out a small grunt each time.

At the end of the hallway Dean was sure he bruised his sides whimpering slightly at the pain, finally catching up with the triumphant Rory. Rory simply glanced up at him and started to crawl down the net that would take them down toward ground, the net swaying along with the wind. Dean followed suit, scowl still present his face as he glanced down and his eyes immediately widened at how high up they were.

"Go go go!" Chief Mendez barked from below and the two hurried it up, Rory letting out a yelp as she lost grip once but regained control. Dean grunted, noticing how far down Rory was and the competitive side of him caught on, moving himself faster down the swaying net. The wind seemed to be picking up, the net's erratic movement making the two five year olds nervous.

"Move it!" Chief Mendez barked again, Rory flinching at his tone of voice. Dean merely shrugged it off, obeying the Chief's orders. The two picked up the pace, eventually hopping down from the net and landing in the dirt. Dust covered their newly acquired black combat boots, their size greatly outmatching their own tiny feet.

"Run kids run!" Mendez was on their case again, pointing out at the long dirt road strip where all the other kids were beginning their two mile long jog. Although the immediate tension between Dean-188 and Rory-177 was obvious, the two both shared a look and began jogging, thinking the same thing.

Thing weren't going to be the same again.