AN: Hey, it's Primordial Soul with the first chapter of To Reclaim Thy Self!
Well, now. It's been a while. 6 months in fact. I want to apologize for how long I've been gone and that I've left you all hanging on my stories. I will do my best to start producing updates for stories again.
However, college and life are the most important things on my mind right now. Do not expect updates like what they were before.
This is a crossover with an amazing web serial I read earlier this month. Worm is amazing and I heavily suggest everyone go read it right now. I plan on working on mainly this for the next stretch of time plus For Thy Mantle and hopefully Lord of Revenge.
Well, then here you are! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Future chapters will be longer, but shorter than usual. I've found that shorter chapters are easier to publish and easier for me to write.
To Reclaim Thy Self (Halo/Worm)
Exordium: Prologue
If she were human, she would have cried.
He had come so close, oh so close to winning. Just like he always did. Just like he had always done.
But it wasn't close enough.
"I'm not coming with you this time"
It hurt to admit that. Oh did it hurt. They were partners, companions, more than that. They were complete together. Where one went, the other followed.
But she couldn't let John follow her this time. She was vanishing into the wind. Her star was dying. Breathing its last breathes.
"…what?"
John…. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
"Most of me is down there. I hold held back enough to keep you safe"
She didn't know why she had lasted this long. All of her major components had perished on the Mantle's Approach. She didn't care. John had to be safe. Had to.
It was her prime directive.
"No. That's not-! We go together."
Even in the face of certainty, he fought. For her, for him, for humanity as a whole. She loved him for that. For that simple honest dedication he had for her. And the dedication she had for him.
But not even his luck could save her now. Nobody could. Nothing could.
"It's already done"
"I am not leaving you here!"
"Oh, John…"
She walked up to him, reaching outwards with her pale, holographic arms, hesitantly touching his breast-plate. She sighed, enraptured by the mere feeling of physical contact. Something she had been wanting since he had became a part of her life. Just one touch.
It reminded her time on Installation 04, alone in its servers. All of that data, free for her to grasp and take as her own. Feeling the ecstasy of owning secret knowledge and having unlimited area to explore and claim her own; it was an AI's dream.
But, it paled in comparison by the simple act of touching her Spartan. Her John. The man she was dying for. The observation was confusing for the AI, new to this kind of connection.
Is this what they feel when they touch one another? Is this the happiness they bring to one another?
If this indeed was what a touch could do, then she was forever hooked.
"I've waited so long to do that."
John hesitated, so out of his depth, so lost, so confused. She wanted to hug him and never let him go.
"It was my job to take care of you,"
"We were supposed to take care of each other. And we did."
But I won't be here anymore. You're all alone now.
She smiled sadly, stepping out of her Spartan's grasp. She could feel her death. Felt it with the certainty of the Forerunners as they wiped themselves out. Felt it with the absoluteness Whitcomb did as he made his last stand with Haverson. She could feel the last act ending, could tell she was being pushed off the stage.
Her story ended here… today.
So beautiful yet so fragile… like porcelain. Like a star.
Like a twinkling little star.
But her Spartan, her John would live on. And that was enough for her.
"Cortana- please…" John asked, no begged her. Her heart broke at the words, John finally breaking through the machine he now was.
But it was too late.
"Wait!"
She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable to happen. As she did, she saw. And time seemed to stop.
Twin entities, twisting amongst the heavens. They spiraled around one another, twin mates united in purpose. In cyclical motion. In perfect unison. Stars fell from their bodies as they oriented themselves, ready to move on.
DESTINATION. One asked, the larger of the pair, indicating a direction with something she couldn't understand.
AGREEMENT. The other responded.
And the two set off to the void, revealing the third.
He was dark, barely seen amongst the stars as it stalked the two. Smaller, less defined, no partner to share its song with. Only regret and defiance.
And then it spoke. As it spoke, information came to her, something changed and she became ... more.
SEE.
And she saw.
She saw two futures. Two Earths. Two Johns. Both fighting, both losing, both surviving. Both struggled with her demise, struggled with the enemies he faced.
But why were things different? Why were things so … confusing?
And then, with the speed of a smart AI, she understood. Barely, but she could get the crude picture.
SATISFACTION.
Two options laid in front of her. The first, to deny its offer, to let John continue in their universe.
The other, to accept its offer, and to let John move on to another. Another that needed him.
I don't know what you are or what you want.
IRREVALENT. SPARTAN.
Why do you want him?
LUCK.
No one else works?
NONE.
… I have to keep him safe.
IMPOSSIBLE
Then I want to him to be happy. He's my Spartan. I chose him. He deserves better.
Hesitation. CONCURRENCE.
And then she knew.
Knew his futures, his fates, his fights, his losses. Knew his struggles, the butterflies he would leave. The scars he would have, the friends he would make.
The truth, that in the end, he might live in one world and definitely die in the other. She knew the fact that above all else, John would DIE if he stayed here.
And that he might live if he left.
The answer was clear. She didn't even have to think.
I accept.
GRATITUDE
Cortana turned to face her Spartan, a smile on her lips as time returned to normal. She was content. John would be in good hands.
Abaddon would see to that.
"Welcome home, John"
For it would be home to him one day.
And then everything was bright. Oh so bright! Like a star, twinkling in the night!
Like a diamond in the sky!
And then everything was gone.
FULFILLMENT
Fin: Prologue