Halo Strange Ones Rewrite Chapter 2

(A/N) I wanted to thank Dierschke9 and Real Plasma for the reviews! Diershke9's review made me laugh (I'm guessing why!) and Real Plasma definitely gave me a confidence boost to continue writing this story. Thank you two so much for taking the time to review. To my friend 'Kenzie, thank you so much for proofreading these chapters! You're the best! :D

This chapter is a little less lighthearted but I think that's pretty fair considering what's going on. It's also where the fantasy aspect of the story really comes in… Because I don't think the girls would be able to survive the Halo Campaigns without it. It's pivotal to the plot anyways- but I can't spoil more than that! I hope y'all enjoy the next chapter!


Caia

Shriek of Agony

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Jolting awake with a bodily twitch, Caia inhaled sharply to get her body running. Instead of the warm, minty smelling air of her room filling her lungs and bringing awareness to her mind, she abruptly choked on dry, dusty air that felt more like attempting to breathe through pebbles. Startled, she sat up and coughed, lean frame wracked with the effort to get whatever shit was in her system out. Luckily, it seemed the thing suffocating her could be expelled as she felt the goopy object move up with her efforts. The woman felt something nasty rise out of her throat and she hastily spat it out, grimacing at the sight of black goop splattering onto the dirt. It left a foul taste in her mouth, like copper and some kind of rancid muck-

Wait, wait… what?

Dirt?

The last time Caia checked, she'd been at home… No, wait, that wasn't right either. She… She had been at the Benroy's place- it was game club that night! Well, mostly just Halo club without the other members to play around but- what was she doing outside on the ground?

The memories of what she assumed to be "Last Night" played through her head and she paled, remembering the set glitching out like crazy and… being whisked towards to TV screen…

A sudden surge of terror had her glancing all over her surroundings, forest greens looking desperately for something familiar but finding nothing of the sort. Dirt, rocks, and clouded vision was all she found. For a minute, Caia thought she was dead. The area didn't look familiar right off the bat, and the dust rolling over the land blocked off her sight to anything beyond her rocky clearing. It might not be in black and white, but if she were in limbo or purgatory, the woman wouldn't be surprised.

"Sitting here won't help me figure out where I am…" Caia mumbled to herself, rubbing her upper arm anxiously. The black blob sitting in the silt entirely forgotten in her current dilemma. "Um, in the slightly butchered words of Robin Williams, I think I need a change in perspective."

Cautiously, the brunette stood up and looked around from her 'new perspective'. Surprisingly, it helped! She could see more of her surroundings now. Hills, fences, and a towering structure became visible through the dust clouds. By squinting, she attempted to get a better view of the tower, finding it to look oddly familiar from this angle alone. She squinted harder as though it would make it clearer. It didn't.

BANG!

BANG! BANG BANG!

Caia nearly jumped out of her skin, yelping in fright as several loud shots echoed throughout the area. The sounds were like claps of thunder in the silence, save for the gusts of wind pushing the pesky dust clouds around. It gave the eerie impression of being caught in the middle of a storm.

Reasonably wary, Caia glanced around for a hiding spot and almost collapsed when she saw none. However, Caia found the perfect hide away- or at least it looked like it from this angle. A large boulder sat proudly upon the earth, away from the rest and catching the eye like a jewel on a ring- but there it was! A hole in the ground, just big enough for a small woman like herself to fit into. Absently, Caia thought that Eben would be able to fit perfectly inside with her itty bitty stature and the idea made her smile slightly. But she had to push the thought away, hearing the gun shots draw closer and closer.

Hastily she lunged towards her cover and attempted to crawl inside. The dirt was soft and smooth beneath her hands as she tried cramming herself into the small space, grunting at the effort to get her shoulders and hips through. Nonetheless, she managed, popping through the entrance and tumbling into the hole that was much bigger on the inside than she thought. Her head thudded against the side of the den and her rump followed quickly behind. Though she had silt and rocks in her hair she didn't worry about that, scrambling to turn herself around and stare into the haze outside. To be honest, she felt like one of the people in The Mist. She might not be trapped in a grocery store, but she was trapped in a mist obviously riddled with danger if someone was shooting with that kind of reckless abandon. For the sake of staying alive, this was probably her best bet.

This little hideaway had to be made by someone else. It was too big, too perfect a hiding hole and there was no trace of animal activity here that she could see. It didn't matter though, it was here and now she was safe. For the most part. The rock covered most of the hole and one could really only slip in if they had relatively narrow shoulders and a flat body, making it difficult for a more voluptuous person to fit. If someone bigger than her tried to get in, they might only be able to stick their arms and legs in. For once, Caia was pleased she was smaller than most.

She'd been huddling there for less than a minute before she heard footsteps.

Heavy, laden footsteps seemed to reverberate in her mind as the gunfire echoed in the landscape and she stilled, holding her breath. They were coming her way.

It didn't take long for steely boots to obscure her vision, the woman flinching when the first one came into her sight with a heavy thud. For a moment Caia almost yelped in surprise but managed to keep it down- she didn't want to be caught! Yet, her tiny flinch and miniscule gasp seemed to bring pause to the person standing outside her hideout. Feeling like a mouse under the gaze of a massive predator, the woman froze into place. The boots, large and most definitely made primarily of metal, continued on their walk and the brunette breathed a sigh of relief when they kept going, changing course to continue straight through her line of sight. She noted how low they kept to the ground as though every step of the way took tremendous effort. They scuffed almost every other step and Caia winced as she anticipated an inevitable fall. She'd walked that way after a charity marathon, too exhausted to keep going but going anyways because if she stopped and rested… She felt like she'd never get up again… Albeit there were plenty of people around to help her out. With the desolate air, Caia had sneaking suspicions this person had no one.

The thought had her biting her lip in apprehension, torn between staying hidden for her own safety or reaching out to help.

Thundering footsteps from behind became clear through the dirt and rock, the solids making it easy to hear knocks like that and she instinctively stayed huddled beneath the rock. She jolted when something heavy landed on her cover, the rock seemed to sink in an extra inch under the new pressure and she could hear something BREATHING nearly on top of her… and growling. Growling in a garbled tongue too familiar to be coincidental. The creature crouching on her rock lunged forward with a mighty cry, the figure ahead spinning on their heel in response to the sound. The impact put two amethyst feet before Caia's eyes and more clay dust ended up kicked into her eyes. In the two seconds it took for her to wince and rub at her assailed eyes, she heard it take off running. The sound of an energy blade activating and the battle cries continued as strange hoof-like appendages carried the being swiftly across the short plain.

Her eyes were cleared in time (although itchy and winking like Morse code, she didn't want to miss a thing) to see the more familiar set of boots adjust their stance. The person seemed relatively prepared, even if they could be regarded as sluggish, to perform a lethal roundhouse kick as in the blink of an eye. The sickening squeak of metal twisting, bones breaking, and the squelch of organic matter beneath an unforgiving boot sent Caia's stomach churning. What was once a ferocious roar ended up transformed into a squawk and a silence as a body hit the dirt, prompting Caia to wince. The crackling, sizzling of the sword ceased just as the Sangheili's life flickered out.

'Well, guess that won't be hurting in the morning.' She thought morbidly.

Suddenly, Caia had the image of a looking through the cracked HUD of a helmet, watching as it took blow after blow and cracked with each strike of fists and force. Watching through the HUD as her heart ached, knowing each step was to be the last…

Covenant Zealots closing in to seal a cruelest fate.

Caia knew where she was.

She knew what was happening.

She knew what would happen.

And all of it filled her to the core with fear.

The memory faded and the brunette blinked back into… well, maybe not reality but whatever this was, she returned to it with a shaky sigh.

'Time is running out!' She thinks as she peeks outside again, this time practically sticking her head out of the ground to get a better view. The view she got was far from better. She'd almost rather not have seen it at all. But there it was, her favorite character in the Halo series struggling to fend off foe after foe after foe… and there was no end to it! Some bounced back, others died and replacements came in to continue the fight. With the Spartan III too tired to dance in the fray, there was no way to win.

This was the end for Noble Six.

It was like the Zealots had come when she was distracted, swarming around them like hornets just like in the memory but the image was from another angle- her own eyes barely off ground level.

Sharp green eyes found a Spartan so similar to the one she designed in her own game, but several things were different. The steely color and choice helmet were the same, but shoulder and knee guards were different variants. Or maybe it was just the damage they'd taken that made them look so different.

Plasma flew through the air, hitting everything with a hiss and a sizzle that sent chills down Caia's spine. Several plasma shots made contact with the armor but she saw only a jolt from the force of impact before the Spartan threw themselves back into the madness. Bones broke, lives ended, and the tiring Spartan finally had a brief moment to reach up and remove their basically useless helmet and cast it to the ground. Their towering figure stumbled away, looking as though half of themselves wanted to leave and the other half sought a fight.

The latter half seemed to get what it wanted.

More Sangheili, Zealots and other ranks of the alien species appeared from seemingly nowhere. The fight was hard fought but- suddenly one got something in and knocked Noble Six to the ground. A sword was raised high but they kicked out, swiping the Zealot down and using their knife to end that life. Another, however, appeared to finish the job.

Caia's heart sank.

'No, no-!' Like a volcano, she erupted in fury. 'HELL FUCKING NO! NOT THIS TIME, BABY!'

The brunette snarled silently as she clawed her way out of her shelter, scraping her back against the rough stone on the way out but paying no mind to such a mild injury. Her breath came out hard as she adjusted her stance to the way Eben had taught her, stepping on the side of her foot, rolling onto the ball of her foot, then resting on the heel before repeating the process. It was only now she realized she was barefoot, feeling the soil and rock beneath her toes as she silently sprinted across the distance. Fox Running, it was called, and while she wasn't the best at it yet right now it seemed to work fantastically. Lucky her!

The aliens had their attention focused on the still struggling Spartan III who kicked and grabbed the boot holding them down as Caia snuck up behind the Zealot. Half instinct, half adrenaline, and a the tiniest fraction of courage was what it took for Caia to leap onto the back of the Sangheili, desperately clawing her way up its back. Her fingers sought hold in the armor, feet bracing against its hips as she pushed higher and higher- absently realizing she'd never fully grasped how BIG these guys were- finally making it to his shoulders.

The Zealot roared with rage and went to pull the filthy human off his back but she shrunk away from his hands, just barely dodging those eight clawed fingertips. The other Sangheili and Covenant bastards, in an act of stupidity, began firing at the two enemies. Hitting the shields of their own compatriot until eventually it broke down. The small human took her chances and reached up to grip the helmet by the sides and PULL-

The helmet came off with a click and with all the speed and force she could muster Caia flipped it the other way and brought it down upon the Zealot's head.

THUNK!

The zealot stood, stunned, before he roared once more indignantly and resumed attempts to free himself from this living and breathing burden.

Caia brought it down again, and again, and again, using every angle and all her energy to assault the Covenant. At first, she thought it would be pointless, but the sharp edges of the helmet began digging in and another Sangheili began intervening when he saw her progress on his superior. But her erratic movements and tiny body made it hard to catch her. Sticky purple blood squirted from the injuries as the Zealot practically tried bucking the human off, growing desperate as he lost more and more honor with each second. It filled the air with the stench of tar, and the awareness that she was succeeding pushed Caia onwards. Purple, indigo blood splattered onto her soft brown sweater and her skin, painting a picture of violence. Her blows came more forceful than she thought possible from her somewhat lacking physique and the skull eventually caved- suddenly and without warning- to her tiny hands and the abused helmet in them. The metal had screeched on the last blow, but Caia failed to notice that the metal itself had torn apart in her hands.

She cried out in alarm as she fell with the body, ruined helmet still in hand. Her own form, tumbling away, made rough contact with Reach once again. Glancing back, she confirmed the Zealot's death and spotted the energy blade flickering out of life on the ground. If she knew how to hold it she would be glad to use it, but as she didn't want to lose an arm… Caia decided against it.

There was however, a plasma rifle on the Sangheili's hip and she hurried to grab it, dropping the helmet as the intervening Elite recovered from the bizarre death of his superior, raising his own weapon to use on her. She could hear it charging with a dull thrum and she hurried to figure out how to pry the weapon from the corpse.

Her fingers fumbled to find a way, looking at it this way and that and finally she gave up and yanked it off- falling back just in time to avoid the plasma bolt that would have burned a hole through her head. Both sides, if she wasn't mistaken.

She could've ended up like a bead. Someone could've run a thread right through the wound to put her on a string with all the other victims that blade was surely responsible for.

Ignoring the horror of her own situation (or at least pushing it down until she could burst) Caia crab walked backwards to increase the distance between herself and the enraged Sangheili, rifle still in hand and scuffed against the ground. As it growled threateningly, muttering something in its foreign tongue, Caia plopped back down to free her hands and raised the weapon high, pulling what she believed to be the trigger.

In a flurrying flash of plasma bolts and a sharp roll of her wrists from recoil, Caia nearly cried in delight as the weapon worked! She could feel it heating up in her hand and her wrist was already starting to hurt from resisting the recoil but she was fighting back- fine blobs of plasma spewing out to batter the Minor's shields like tomatoes at a flogging. At first he growled, but then as it began to weaken the Sangheili made a tactical retreat and dove behind her previous hiding spot.

She ceased firing just before the heat became unbearable and sighed in relief- only to remember she wasn't alone yet and-!

Caia squeaked as she tilted her head back and saw a blade coming down above her head- somehow she'd missed the activation- and narrowly avoided being skewered in the dirt. This was neither a Minor nor a Zealot, but she didn't pay attention to the details of his status beyond that and his wide stance. Little did he know, he was making the perfect get away with his legs and she took her chance!

It was as she'd barely managed to get under him she realized her luck! Raising the weapon to aim right where she assumed the crown jewels to be, she pulled the odd trigger once again and winced as the heat from the plasma seared her palms. (Although she knew from Red's informative lesson that Sangheili didn't bear reproductive organs on the outside, she still hoped for the same distinctive reaction. The relief she felt when her plan worked was enough to make her giggle in nervous excitement. The energy shields didn't break, but the Sangheili was hasty to retreat and shield himself from the woman's assault. He looked shocked and horrified she would even try that as he danced away. The lack of smugness and hate on his alien face was highly appreciated by the small human and she almost laughed. Almost.

She took this chance to get closer to Noble Six but when she spotted them- her poor little heart nearly gave out after yet another Zealot tried to kill them. What the hell did the universe have with making Zealots trying to kill them!? Specifically Zealots!? She was too far now, too far to make a difference and the plasma rifle was still too hot to use. Green eyes filled with despair and the brunette reached out with her free hand. Caia would be too late, and the other Covenant creatures were raising their weapons skywards to cheer on death.

So she did the only thing she could do.

She screamed.

And the Zealot exploded.

Quite literally, he exploded in a gooey, tar-stinking layer of indigo filth coating everything around him. Especially the Grunts and other Sangheili shocked to silence behind him. If Caia's understanding of alien body language was right, several of them were going to be sick. Especially that one grunt off to the side, he had a bit of dark, goopy hide sliding off the side of his head like slop.

Caia gagged, absolutely disgusted.

Yet, stubbornly she held down the urge to spew what little she had in her stomach. This might work to her immediate advantage, even if she hadn't the fainted idea of what the fuck just happened. She hadn't seen anything coming at the Zealot- but it seemed neither had they. Before something else could happen to make it clear the explosion was definitely not her doing, she swallowed thickly before putting on a brave face. Climbing to her feet with a ferocious grin and glinting eyes, her shoulders lax just enough to give the impression of self-assured cockiness. Pointing her bedazzled finger towards the horrified party, she looked all too eager to use the same "power" on them.

"You!" She roared. "If you don't want to end up like him, you'll politely fuck off!"

The grunts seemed all too eager to not explode, and the one she'd voted as most likely to upchuck met his full potential that moment. To be honest Caia hadn't even known if some aliens could barf, and she distantly tucked this bit of information away for later use. Although she herself felt quite sick, she kept up the game. It wasn't one she could afford to lose!

The remaining Sangheili snarled, but a glance one shot behind her reminded her that she was still effectively surrounded. The sound of garbled vomiting off to her left also made that pretty clear- they'd also been repulsed by the violent end for the Zealot. But they stepped back, distancing themselves from her. One had the audacity to reach up for their helmet- to request assistance she assumed- but a sharp glare put the action to rest.

"Good choice, boys. "

Feigning smugness, she strode evenly towards the stilled form of the Spartan III, heedless of the danger the ones standing so close to them posed. She needed to get Six out of here. But how? Spartans literally weigh more than a thousand pounds in armor, and borderline dead weight was even worse.

From where she stood, looking down at their still form, she was shocked by the lack of helmet. She had expected to see a steel helmet with a broken golden visor- but what she saw was a human face.

A very pretty human face.

Heat rose to her cheeks and she balked, looking away with shame. But why was she ashamed of all things? Perhaps because it felt like she was prying into someone else's life?

Well, they wouldn't have a life if not for her intervention!

Turning to the Sangheili once more, she crouched low, placing her scuffed hands on the beaten and battered chest piece where she knew a gaping wound should have been. She didn't know if it would move with Six's breathing, but as she felt a shallow rise and fall Caia found the chest piece worked well enough as a tell for life. If she'd known the appropriate heart rates for a man or a woman she'd have searched for a pulse- but she didn't know either and she especially didn't know the resting heart rate for a Spartan.

The woman continued to bear a grin, though it had faltered, and Caia maintained it. But considering that it had faltered at all she didn't bother putting it back to fullness- she couldn't seem like she was trying too hard or they'd catch on! That! Would probably get her killed!

"If you don't leave, I'll kill all of you. I'm not a fan of death but I do love seeing the color blue. I wonder how much I could get out of you?" She spoke softly, head tilting to the side just so. Her eyes remained open, growing wide as she feigned sadistic glee. 'Drama class, thank you for existing!' She mentally cheered. The display seemed to work, an excellent bluff as she leaned forward, keeping her hand on Noble Six's chest but mindful not to apply pressure. Like a predator she nearly crawled, shoulders rolling with anticipation as a Minor shivered. Even when she was the one pushing down the urge to cry in fear- this façade could only last so long as the Covenant were too stubborn to abandon a kill.

They needed to LEAVE.

The Covenant, Caia and Six- all of them needed to go. Get out of each other's hair (or feathers and hide in some cases) before a bluff was called and Caia failed to keep Spartan B312 alive.

As she was growing too desperate to keep up the game, she felt it. A sort of pull, like a soft breeze through her hair and over her skin. Gravity tightening on her, inside and out, followed by a feeling of floating.

A sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach and a glowing light from below had her looking down- and she gasped in a mixture of horror and awe. Underneath her was a wide circle, a newly formed pit making a long, long tunnel down to another opening of blue light. All the way down this strange cylinder were colors- streams and wavelengths of color shifting around like ocean currents.

It was only as they grew close that she realized she was falling.

And that the high pitched noise ringing in her ears was her own caterwauling scream.

Luckily or not so, Caia was not falling alone.

Noble Six's prone body fell in with her, but their increased weight and the angle of their fall seemed to increase their rate of acceleration significantly beyond hers. Head first, straight down, while Caia was practically sitting in air with her limbs askew. Frantic whines escaped her as she released all the previous fear and tension from before, mingling with the added stress of this mind blowing phenomenon that would probably lead to her certain doom.

There really must be a higher power out there.

A higher power that takes pleasure in being an absolute asshole.

With this thought in mind, she flipped off the cosmic walls surrounding her, making sure to get all angles as she wriggled around midair.

But as she went upside down she accelerated, unintentionally, and remembered the phrase from a Macguffin in the 1970's. "If you save a man's life, you are responsible for him forever." The quote was slightly butchered and not even a real proverb, but she figured she'd hold it with similar regard. Caia couldn't save Six once and not try to keep them alive again…

Resolving herself and banishing her fear, she frowns, concentrating, as she pins her arms to her sides and sticks her legs straight out. Straining to stick her toes out straight behind her to increase her velocity like a diving bird.

Like lightning she zips down, wind whistling past her ears as her hair whips around behind her. Eyes watering, lungs straining to catch breath, she gets close enough to Six to be able to reach out and clamp onto their armored figure like a vice. Honestly… she didn't know what to do from here on out, but it felt better being able to hold them than continuing to separately free fall. It gave her some semblance of control where she had none.

Until a wave of cold hit her and the light surrounding the two disappeared, draping them in shadow.

Eyes slamming shut like double doors, Caia gritted her teeth against the chill. She only barely managed to keep them open to see where they were. Air suddenly came in shorter supply, frost forming on her hair and eyelashes in an instant. Her bare feet felt like they'd been dropped into an ice bath and she practically laced her toes together to keep some warmth in her extremities. Quickly, she found out why so many problems suddenly arose.

They were in an atmosphere.

Just barely.

If her heart could sink any further into the pit of her stomach, it would.

Glancing back at the ambiguously attractive Spartan III, Caia fretted over the frost forming on them too. Reluctantly but also not so, she resigned herself to pulling herself up and using her own fading body heat to keep them from freezing.

But when she realized they were still effectively falling to their doom, Caia began to panic again.

"Shit, oh shit oh SHIT!" She yelped, clutching them close. "Uh- uhm, gotta think of a way out of this…" Recalling how the 'portal' appeared in her most desperate hour, she hoped to the higher power for something to save both their lives one more time.

"Something that's specific so I can- control it?" She muttered to herself, feeling squeamish as the world below grew steadily closer. Then it hit her, the most absurd thing she'd ever wished for. "Wings, wings! I need goddamn wings!"

Nothing happened except for their continued descent.

She grew angry and desperate again. "Oh come on, you helped me out last time- we'll die without it! Please! Please…" Fury bubbled up in the pit of her stomach and she erupted, feeling the much-needed heat coursing through her veins like boiling water. Well, without the subsequent destruction of her insides. "IS THIS YOUR IDEA OF A CRUEL, SICK JOKE!? ARE YOU REALLY JUST GOING TO LET ME FALL TO MY DEATH- WITH NOBLE SIX!? YOU BRING ME HERE TO DO LORDS KNOW WHAT AND DECIDE TO SCREW ME OVER NOW!? WELL FUCK YOU TOO, ASSHOLE!" She pants, suddenly light headed. Using her oxygen like that probably wasn't the best idea since she couldn't get it back as easily.

As mountain ranges grew clearer her anger faded into acceptance, morbid acceptance. "I'm gonna die. We're so dead. Fuck, dude, we're dead. But I guess it's better you're unconscious… at least you don't get run through like a kebab. You deserved better anyways. Though, falling to our doom isn't favorable either." She mumbles, looking down at her charge with sadness for a moment before shifting her gaze beyond the atmosphere. "I'm… too sexy to die like this, my beautiful face is gonna be ruined!" Caia rasps mournfully, struggling to inhale enough oxygen even as elevation decreases each second. Her stomach still felt far too light and her head hurt with cold, but it's not the fall that kills…

As they neared planet, she turned her gaze back to the mountains below and saw something surprising. The rush of air started making it difficult for her to mouth words, blowing so she felt much like a dog sticking its head out the window. It surprised her with the vicinity it had to their probable landing location, although considering how high they were, everything looked significantly smaller than it really was. "Is that… a city?"

A sharp and searing hot pain on her spine had her crying out in shock. It throbbed, once, twice, thrice, and it seemed to expand under her skin like a rash. It went along the same lines the rock had scathed into her back, itching and burning and hurting like someone took a fistful of salt and was rubbing it deep into the mild wounds… escalating the pain. Clutching B312 tightly, she restrained the urge to scream by gritting her teeth… but air and agony still whistled between them. The feeling burned unpleasantly against the cold like a fever had set in.

It felt like something was moving under her skin- so fast and so quick like a wriggling worm… Until with a shriek of agony split the thin air like an atom while the sound of tearing flesh, thread, and snapping joints followed close behind.

A miserable headache pounded in her skull as though some miniature devil had carved its way inside and was poking her brain with a double-sided trident.

To be honest, she wasn't completely blindsided by this happening.

Well, she was certainly not anticipating such misery… but Caia knew it was worth it. She'd gotten her wish, even if it had come like a nightmare.

Reflexively, she thought hard to move them. Nothing happened. So she tried not thinking about it, instead thinking about wings the way she'd imagined using them as a kid. Hey, Caia had loved feathered creatures and wanted a pair of useable wings of her own. Who could blame her?

Fortunately for Caia, this so called training worked in in her favor. She tried moving them and felt them flex, new and hesitant against the rocketing plummet. Yet still she persisted. Caia tried moving to the left.

She did.

She tried moving to the right.

She did.

She tried slowing down.

"Oh SHIT!"

Not so much luck.

Frantic now, she began doing her best to flap wings far bigger than she'd anticipated for the sake of at least slowing down- but Six's excess weight made it impossible. Or at least, nearly impossible in the face of Caia's stubbornness. Angry, terrified almost out of her wits, and still hurting from having a pair of bigass bird wings (she assumed) explode from her back, she turned some of her negativity to Six. "Jesus fucking Christ! Lay off the cookies, asshole!" Considering Six had done literally nothing wrong except pass out, this was fairly unjust. It wasn't their fault the two were falling out of the sky like meteors!

Gritting her teeth and groaning with tremendous effort, she did her best to slow down their rapid descent into a mountain range that could put Mount Everest to shame. Who knew, maybe it was Mount Everest in the future. But that didn't matter half as much as getting them to slow down enough to not die on impact. Without their helmet, Caia didn't know how much damage B312 could take if she failed to slow the drop enough before impact. Caia immediately understood what it was like to be a parachute. With her delicate human body, the woman would probably die on impact as her shins exploded upwards into her brains. Or if they stayed lodged in her ribcage, piercing everything like swords.

The thought was not a pleasant one.

Even as her descent miraculously slowed by a margin, she still decided to send her farewells out to her friends.

"Well, Eben, Kacy, Red, everyone… If I don't make it out of this alive I-I want you to know that… I… I was the one who- ATE THE LAST RASPBERRY CHOCOLATE POPSIIIIIICLE!" She cried as the mountain tops raced past her, the edges narrowly missing taking off her new limbs and the Spartan nearly crashing against the steep faces.

Her arms and back were positively aching from holding up so much weight- if she actually tried any harder to stop them she was sure her muscles would tear from the effort. Nonetheless, she somehow managed to slow them down by the slightest percentage more- though they were still rocketing down into the valley. It was better than nothing and preferable to tearing herself apart. Noble Six's feet dragged more than once on the snow banks and at some points clipped an outcropping, sending her forward hard enough to twist her wrists with a choked yelp.

As they neared the bottom of the mountain range, she made a choice decision. As her pain tolerance wasn't high enough to make this tolerable any longer, she would let go and hope for the best for both of them.

The moment came and she whispered "Good luck." Feeling those brand new wings of hers give out under the stress, she let go. B312 fell into the snow with a painful sounding thud (likely making contact with rock) and Caia herself ended up flung into one of the many snowdrifts lined against the mountain base. Before she could think anything else her head cracked against the blackened stone beneath it, sending her into a world of darkness once more.

So much for just waking up.


(A/N) Thanks for reading! I'd be most grateful if y'all could leave a review, any advice to improve my writing or simply telling me what you think of the story would be delightful!