Halo – Katerina Duran - "Make It Last: Of Trust and Friendship"
"I refuse to give in to their demands, Micah! I will not have this Clan bow down to those blind fools. We will continue staying the way we are, the way that keeps us happy."
"Am I to assume you are coming with me when I have to meet with the Prophets once more, Katerina?"
"You are most certainly correct, darling. It's time to put an end to this. I do not wish for our Keep to be disturbed any longer."
Katerina Duran had her mind wrapped around a little memory while she continued to be escorted from the Council Chamber and to her unknown fate. With Tartarus still leading her, she felt even more uneasy. As if the words slipped out of her mouth, she asked, "What is going to happen to me?"
The Brute continued to walk, but he turned his head enough for her to view a sick smile on his face. "What happens to any traitor, little Kate."
He need not have to explain. She knew what it was, and it caused her stomach to almost drop. "I will die from the pain."
"Are you sure, little Kate?" Tartarus simply loved to add in the word 'little' in front to make her feel inferior. And so many times she had wanted to smack him for even calling her 'Kate' – a nickname only her husband would use, and she would only prefer her husband to use. "Taking into consideration how many times you have evaded death-"
"Tartarus, you know as well as I do that this is inevitable. I just wish you would not draw your pleasures from my misfortunes…"
"You chose your own fate, Katerina. You always have. How can I help it if I find it amusing?"
Katerina could easily pick up the delight in his tone. She was blazing at this moment, but somehow managed to keep her cool. "If someway, somehow I were to survive this, then this is not over between you and I. We will engage in battle and only one of us will stand victorious."
Tartarus stopped in his tracks to, assumingly, open the door in front of them. Instead, he turned his full body to her and said one last statement. "See if you can stand tall after been branded first, little Kate."
Location: Mausoleum of the Arbiter, High Charity
October 20th, 2552
…nd tall. Stand tall. Stand tall. Stand tall. Stan-
Consciousness hit the female Elite hard and she only found herself repeating those words into her head before… before that block of burning wood pierced her fragile skin at her upper left chest. The pain kicked in and she felt it. However, she could not reach for the scar as she was currently being carried away.
Blinking away the blurriness, she found herself over the shoulder of a regular Brute. She did not even have to take a sniff to smell Tartarus' presence as well. Great.
She wanted to speak but at that moment, she could not find her voice. Instead, she felt tears coming to her. The pain on her chest was driving her mad and all she remembered was the sound of her own cries before blacking out. As of now, all she could do was stare at the ground until it was her stop.
They headed down a small ramp and Katerina tried to make sense of the environment around her when they stopped. Caskets… and a lot of them…
"Noble Prophets of Truth and Mercy, I have brought the incompetent."
"You may leave, Tartarus. And take your Brutes with you."
She could not see the confused look on her foe's face. Instead, she was plopped onto the ground, her back connecting with the chilled floor. Letting go of a few coughs, she felt like she could finally breathe after everything that had transpired.
"Turn, Katerina."
Oh yeah. The Prophets. She had almost forgotten. Gathering the upper body strength was going to be challenging for that moment, but the last thing she wanted was to appear weak in front of the Prophets.
She sat up and turned around the best she could to face them, but she remained on the ground. Her trembling fingers ran over the Mark of Shame on her chest in a hesitate manner. She could not believe that it was actually embedded onto her skin.
"The Council has come to a conclusion, Katerina – you are to be hung by your entrails and your corpse paraded through the city," Truth casually related to her, making her cringe. "But ultimately, the terms of your execution are up to me…"
"Huh," A single short chuckle came to her. "It does not matter to me, Noble Hierarch. I was marked for death a long, long time ago." She said, barely able to lift her head up.
Truth had a rather unreadable expression, but Katerina could tell that he agreed with her on that sentence. "Indeed, Katerina. A very long time ago…" He let a few seconds past before asking, "Do you know where we are?"
"The Mausoleum of the Arbiter." She answered without hesitation, though she as still puzzled as to why she was even here. Even more so, why was she still alive?
Truth nodded at her. "Quite so, Katerina. Here rests the vanguard of the Great Journey. Every Arbiter, from first to last," He glanced around at the caskets. "Each one created and consumed in times of extraordinary crisis."
She then heard the Prophet of Mercy's voice cut in so she turned her head to him. "The Taming of the Hunters… the Grunt Rebellion - were it not for the Arbiters, the Covenant would have broken long ago!" He said with a fist to the arm of his hovering throne.
"Yes, I have heard many stories of these Arbiters and the things they have done to earn them at least an honorable death, Holy One," Katerina said. "But I do not understand – what does this have to do with me? I have destroyed our Sacred Ring. Why am I not put to death yet?"
Truth narrowed his eyes at her and she caught the faintest of smiles on his face. "While Halo's destruction was indeed, your error, Katerina, we know you are no heretic. You have given us yours and your Keep's loyalty to the Covenant," He then leaned against his hovering throne. "What I want you to see is the true face of heresy," He swiftly tapped a button of some sort on the arm of his chair and miniature hologram of an Elite in rather abnormal armor appeared. "One who would subvert our faith and incite rebellion against the High Council."
Oh my…. Sesa... She thought to herself.
She silently braced herself before the hologram would speak."Our Prophets are false! Open your eyes, my brothers! They would use the faith of our forefathers to bring ruin to us all! The Great Journey is a-"
However, before she could hear more, Truth quickly ended it. You did what I had no confidence to do, Sesa…
Truth now had a slight angered look on his face. "This heretic, Katerina, and those who follow him, must be silenced. And you will ensure that happens."
"Their slander offends all who walk the Path!"
She was not even paying the slightest of attention to Mercy. "But… how will I, Noble Hierarch?" She questioned. "I have been stripped of my rank as Supreme Commander. I am no longer a leader…"
"Not as you are, Katerina., but as the Arbiter."
A large pod that, for some reason, Katerina did not notice in the first place, floated from the Prophets' side and towards the female Elite. The silver doors opened with a chill 'hiss' to reveal a suit of gray and ancient armor.
"And you shall be set loose against this heresy with our blessing." Truth then added.
The did not make sense. If the Council wanted her dead then… "But… but the Council, Holy One…"
Mercy decided to step in this time. "The tasks you undertake as the Arbiter are perilous. Suicidal, even. You will die, Katerina, as each Arbiter in this chamber has before you. And the Council will have their corpse."
So it appears that she was not going to die immediately but instead, she would have to anticipate it. Somehow, it felt no different to her. Even since joining the Covenant, the countdown for her own death had begun.
However, if there as one thing Katerina Duran had learnt about herself over these past 30 years in service, was that she was hard to kill.
So if the Council wanted her corpse, they were going to have to wait for quite a while.