Thanks everyone for your input and what-not, AN at the end, Please remember that Halo is copyright of Bungie, and that the Original Carnage members are Thearizona's


Chapter 1: Reunion tour

June 13th, 2050

UNSC Middsummer Night's Cryo-bay

Gunnery Sargent Jack Price

I was awoken to the warm wash of air as my cryotubes door opened, I proceeded to take the minute long 'ritual' of clearing my lungs of the anti-freeze gel when I was finished I clambered over to my PT gear I soon heard The ship's AI Mandy's voice ring out

"Good evening, Jack, The others will be awake in a few moments" she said warmly, followed by the hisses of the other tubes opening up

"Where are we, Reach?" I asked inquisitively, while I stretched

"We are in the Sol system, Jack, the captain said something about R&R... and I think I heard you talking about getting William through the sprint ODST course"

A few questions rang out of the men getting dressed, I picked out Anders voice from the pack "Sprint course. Sir?"

"The Sprint is a boot camp of sorts, it's run by some ODST's that have made it from before the war, they proposed the service to retrain some of the older units in modern tactics, and keep off duty ODST's in tip top shape for their missions to come, and the 'fun' thing is they claim to train anyone in three days tops... so I called some favors and got William into the next class we could squeeze him into"

Mandy cut in "we will be passing Jupiter and mars on the way to earth if McFee or you, Jack want to visit home, also I reported in to the Sprint team, they will fit William in when we arrive"

McFee scoffed "I don't really think my family would want to see me, we weren't on best terms anyways... I'll send them a video message on the way by if it makes you feel better"

I spoke after "I have nothing or no one to visit on Mars, so I don't see a point"

William followed in turn "Thanks Mandy" before stretching into a yawn

"Carnage to bridge – Carnage to the bridge" The Captains voice echoed

"you heard the Captain, Get moving", Dmitri said with a slight sternness to his voice

The squad fell out, in two by two we jogged to the bridge, and when we arrived we were met by the darkened viewports, and the Captain chatting with the navigation officer

"Come see this" the Captain said "Mandy, the windows" the viewports brightened up, showing the inner Sol system.

Anders took a few steps forwards to look at the view

"Saturn's back over there" William said looking out the side port

"and over here we have Jupiter followed by Mars, then Earth, Venus and Mercury" Davis said pointing them all out

"Look at how blue Earth is from here!" Anders said with a hint of excitement

Dmitri looked to William "You were born on Earth too if I recall"

William looked towards us "yeah" he responded, his face turned a little sour, and he went back to looking out the port, I pulled him away from the others

"It's still bugging you, I can tell" I said looking into his eyes

He shook off my hands "of course it is, we were close... Closer than my real brothers were, expecially after the last time we spoke" He said breathing deeply

"Don't be so hard on yourself, if you could have done anything, you would have" I said trying to reassure him.

"Look at me I'm just a grunt, My older brother designs ships, and my youngest brother works with the Robotics core, and the other one is an..."

"Don't do that... you may be a foot soldier, but that proves that you have more courage and will then they could ever hope to have, and all of us has lost someone, we know this kind of hurt too" I told him

"I guess you're right" He said with a crooked smile

"and you get to show your new brothers your home" I pulled him back to the group, who were still planet gazing

"If you look hard you can see Luna, Earths moon" William said, acting like nothing had happened

Foster walked up to me "Poor kid" he said

"he's no kid, he's 35" I shot back

"36!" he called back to us, to our surprise

"We better go join them" Foster said with a smile on his face

"We better" I said promptly as I turned to rejoin the group

-An hour later, In the sim room-

William and Connors were locked in a sword clash, they then parted with a shove, and William took a few steps back brushing the beads of sweat from his brow, before twirling the wooden blade, He then took his stance and signalled for Connors to continue his assault, the blades 'clacked' with each contact. William looked like he was on the back foot quite a few times, but turned the fight in almost every clash, the duel seemed to slow time with the rhythmic 'clacks' of the swords but ended with a quick burst of swings Connors' arms were raised for a strong strike and William's blade pressed up against Connors Stomach.

"William is victorious" Mandy said in a calm tone

William Shook Connors hand "Thanks for sparing, I needed that"

"No worries, I really thought I was about to win" He Smiled

"Good match, Where you learn to do that" I asked William as he stretched

"Me and my brothers always fought, so we made a game of it, Never was the best" he said before mouthing to me 'I was the best'

"good to see that some of that kid stuck through until now" I stated looking over his shoulder

on the other side of the room Connors was Joking with McFee "I only lost because I couldn't get close to him- You know that to be the truth"

McFee shrugged "Maybe, It would be a treat to watch someone else spar for a change, Don't get me wrong its good practice its just I'm sick of being flipped all the time" His face turned to a smile, and the pair laughed.

"Hey Jack, I'm going to call it a little early" William said on way past

"Tired?" I asked him

"Nah, Just need a bit of solo time" He responded, I shot him a glance "Not anything like that, just wanted to write in my journal" He followed through

"you're good to go" I said turning back to the squad


Moments later

Sargent William Goodwin

I paced out of the room, taking a right turn my steps hastily increasing with speed, and I avoided the halls with others in them, my fast pace defiantly drew attention to me, but I slid off the silent judgment, before entering into Carnage's private bunk room, I leaned against the back wall and slid to the floor, head in my hands.

I sat there for what seemed like forever, contemplating my past, who I've lost, falling into the pit of nothingness I've faced before, clambering back to my feet, I grabbed my personal data-pad, and attached it to one of the bunk frames, I turned on a lantern and hung it from the adjacent bunk, and finally I sighed loudly

"Record this" I said clearly

"Ready to record- In 3, 2..." the device showed a countdown accompanied with a digital voice

"So, yeah" I started sombrely "Chris, Theodore, Jay... I want to apologize for everything I've ever said that may have hurt you" I paused before a little sad laugh "the last time we saw each other was at the funeral, and I said some shitty things, I never meant any of it, but He was our father, and we all acted like he was a stranger, I think part of all of us died that day, but we didn't do our best for his memory, and I wanted to make amends, two of you lucky bastards get to chill at home- making the tech we use on the field and chunks of metal we ride on, So I'm thankful for that... also I'll be visiting home in a few days, hopefully I'll get to catch up... Oh and Jay, Congrats on getting a team of your own, I'm proud of you- even if you're the biggest asshole I've ever met, Anyways, I love you guys, I've lost a lot out here, but I think I found something I won't ever loose, a reason to keep fighting; I'm not dying for a planet, a nation or a person, but I will lay down my life for our planets, our nations, our people, our right to live in this universe too. I think they would have liked the concept, I know Carnage believes so."

The door to the bunk room opens with a small mechanical noise and Two figures walked in

"Damn straight" Jacks voice rang out

"Wouldn't have it any other way" Dmitri followed

"Anyways, that's my queue to wrap this up, Love you guys, Bye... Stop Recording" I said in a clear voice

"Confirmed" The data-pad chirped stopping its program

I hopped up "Sirs"
Dmitri let out a chuckle "Jack had something to tell you, I'm just here to get away from the others, Connors is being cocky again and I didn't want to clean his clock"

"Burnish or polish?" I quipped back, which Dmitri gave me a raised eyebrow, to which I was going to explain but stopped myself "never mind" I said with a smile

"To the topic of why we are here- We are gaining another new member, whom you might know, Her file said you worked together at one point" Jack said in an open ended manner

"Sir, that doesn't help me, I've worked with many women" I replied, trying to think of who it could be

"That's the point, it should make you feel better that its someone you know, and have a professional history with" he quipped back

"I guess that's reasonable to assume. Alright, when are they getting here" I asked

"before we leave system" he replied coolly

I nod, before sending the message on my data-pad, and turning off the lantern "I should get some sleep before we get to mars- I have someone to visit when we get there"

"Its still two days away, and don't forget you still have to do the sprint" Jack followed my statement

"Oh, I know, but knowing my brother, I'm only going to have a limited window to see him, and he's going to knock the wind out of my sails, so I have to get ready mentally"

"Makes sense... I think" Jack said before turning to leave "going to check on the others, Sleep tight"

Dmitri was already asleep, "yup" I responded, crawling into my bunk

'Hopes to good fortune' I think to myself before I drifted off to sleep


First off; I am so sorry that this took so long to get out, some personal problems came up, and they take prescience to my projects. Secondly; I will be working on the next chapter shortly so it shouldn't be almost two months until the next chapter. Thirdly; Input- Any and all types are welcome.

Semper Fi,

LoyalODST a.k.a William