Whew! 12 pages and three and a half months later I've finally managed to finish chapter 2! Thanks to LordNim, Ny'Kle, H3PD, MaximusMinimus and Raex for reviewing the last chapter and an additional thanks to H3PD for once again proofreading this story.

Hope you guys enjoy!

From the seemingly eternal blackness of sleep Cameron slowly felt himself stir. However, instead of going into full consciousness and waking up as one would expect, the teenager found himself somewhere in between, neither fully immersed in mental slumber nor completely broken from the realities of the dreamscape.

As Cameron's memories, emotions, and knowledge slowly returned to him he found himself puzzled by the strange feelings he was receiving from his body. For some reason he felt weightless, as if he wasn't lying on the ground that he sensed beneath him he would float away like a leaf in the wind.

Finding he had enough strength to open his eyes Cameron slowly picked himself up from the ground and started to scan his surroundings for anything that would cause the bizarre feeling he was experiencing.

He didn't have to look far.

Helplessness was all Sveto Macuree felt as he kneeled before his son's idle form, praying desperately to the Forerunners for Onca's survivial. As he did this the Kaidon took a brief break from his prayers to consider the irony of the action, as though the he held the rank of Fieldmaster in the Covenant Army, he secretly didn't believe in the often-preached divinity of the great race that had come before, not for a long time.

But that didn't matter now, not when his son's life was hanging in the balance. Sveto knew that he would strike any deal, make any sacrifice if it meant his son would live to see another sunrise, and if that meant going back on his previous religious unfaithfulness, then that was the price he would pay.

Though this wasn't the first time he had experienced it the Kaidon struggled to overcome the overriding feeling of helplessness that gripped him as he watched his son softly groan and turn in his sleep. "I'm a general in the Covenant Army; I have charged massive hordes of enemy warriors without batting an eyelid, I have been tortured for days without shedding a tear, I do not fear death." He told himself as he watched Onca's moaning body, letting out a fearful sigh continuing, "But this is not death. No this is far viler to the heart." Fearing for one's own survival was one thing; at least then one had some measure of control over his fate, utilizing the skills they had acquired to get them out of the fray alive. This was not the case now; Sveto's strength, his speed, his mastery of the blade lay useless to him here as he was forced to watch his child squirm and shift under the stitched sheets, locked in a state of rest he may never wake from…

"Bah!" he scowled angrily as he abruptly ceased his prayers, "It's no use. Praying to the so-called gods will not help Onca's condition; where were those gods when I needed them most?" Sveto spat, his voice filling with almost unbridled venom, "Where were they when Kala was taken from me? Where were they when I was forced to watch her die on the damned carpet of our bedroom?" The breath suddenly left his lungs at the memory and he clutched his heart as if it was an old battle wound, only this wound had never healed, and the Kaidon knew it never would.

10 years earlier…

"Dear?"

Sveto looked up from the usual daily military paperwork at his desk to the sound of his wife's voice, smiling at the flash of mild amusement that sparkled briefly through her beautiful emerald irises at the glass vision enhancer that rested over his right eye.

"What is it my love?" he answered, only getting a soft giggle from the female at the bedroom door in response. "Oh come on I don't look too ridiculous with this on do I?"

"No, no it's not that." his wife replied, covering her mouth to stifle a laugh as she walked towards him. If anyone other than her had laughed at him like that he would have at least been highly annoyed, at worst outraged, but now the action only seemed to fill his heart with happiness. "It just makes you appear…dignified."

"Dignified? What do you mean by that?" he inquired.

"I don't know, I guess sort of like a… distinguished elder if you will." she responded with a mischievous smile.

Sveto's pride took a bit of a hit at the "elder" comment, as his eyes and strength were slowly beginning to fray around the edges (hence the vision enhancer) and he found himself growing more and more concerned with his age. " Please don't tell me I've grown that old, for the Forerunners' sake I'm not even into my 50's I don't know if I can handle being called 'elder' just yet " he responded with a groan.

Kala couldn't help but giggle at her husband's reaction to her "elder" jibe, knowing that it had become a bit of a sore point with him. She understood his fears, herself being in fact two years older than her husband's age of 46. Still, she couldn't help but laugh at seeing her big, strong husband so obviously flustered. Deciding to put the hook a little bit deeper she continued "But don't worry dear, as you continue to grow old and decrepit, I'll always be there to hold your cane for you."

Sveto chuckled at his wife's prodding as he softly cupped her chin with his hand and brought it closer to him until their mouths were almost touching. "And even when that day comes I know you will be just as beautiful as you are now." he murmured before he slowly closed his eyes and locked his mandibles with hers.

Kala eagerly responded to her husband's kiss, closing her eyes and draping her arms around his strong back, only letting out a yelp of surprise as Sveto wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her down to his lap (Author's Note: No, they are not doing "that" , they're just getting a bit lovey-dovey right now). The two continued their romantic embrace for a few minutes before reluctantly parting their mandibles, though their arms still remained firmly around each other. The two continued to cuddle as they looked through the stain-glass window to their right into the courtyard, watching their 5-year-old son play games with the other children of the keep.

"Onca's getting older too…" Sveto whispered into his wife's ear as she gently rested her head against his.

Kala didn't respond to her husband's statement, instead seeing the opportunity she had been waiting for and with a wide smile on her face she grabbed his right hand and slowly brought it over until it was resting on her stomach. "And in a couple of months he'll have a little sibling to play with." she said with barely contained glee.

For a split second Sveto was confused with what his wife meant but his eyes went wide as realization dawned on him. "You mean…?"

"Yep" Kala responded with joy, "I'm pregnant."

Sveto immediately gripped her in a passionate embrace (making sure to take care around her stomach area) and bestowed another long and loving kiss onto her mandibles.

"How long have you known?" Was his first question.

"Since this morning" was the reply, "That's what I had originally come in here to tell you." She then looked down onto her stomach and once again brought her husband's hand onto it. "The keep doctor said it's going to be a girl."

While some Sangheili would be dismayed to learn that their wives were going to give birth to girls instead of strong sons to continue their lines (in fact there were rumors that in some of the more extremely conservative states the husbands routinely killed their wives after learning this) Sveto was just as overjoyed with the news that he was soon going to have a daughter as he was 6 years ago when his wife had told him she was pregnant with their son. "Have you thought of any names yet dear?" He asked her with excitement in his voice.

Kala nodded and said, "I think I'm going to name her Ryaki…"

"A beautiful name my love." Sveto smiled as he pulled his wife close to him and the two of them silently thought of the future they and their son were going to have with their new daughter.

After a few minutes of quiet embrace Sveto felt his wife suddenly give off a powerful shudder. He raised his head to look and see what was wrong with his wife and to his everlasting horror saw that his wife's eyes were wide in shock and her mandibles twitched as they tried to form words but only getting out an untranslatable garble. Before he could even try to aid her however she let out a wailing scream, one that would haunt him for the rest of his life, and fiercely gripped her head with her hands, quickly slipping out of their hug and falling to the floor.

Sveto was immediately by her side, grasping her hand in his and screaming at the top of his lungs for the keep doctor, so concerned over the welfare of his wife that he failed to even notice his son standing in the doorway of their bedroom. "Stay with me Kala" He fearfully whispered to her between screams for help, to his horror seeing what appeared to be blood beginning to flow out of his wife's ears. "You have to stay awake…" After a few more seconds of indefinable stuttering Kala managed to build up what little of her strength remained to whisper "Please…Take…Care…Of …Our…Son", quietly motioning with her head to the shocked child standing only about 20 feet away from them. Seeing the tears in her husband's eyes she stuttered, "I'm…So…Sorry…Sveto…"

"Don't you say that Kala, don't you damn say that; you're going to be fine, you hear me?" He growled back, his heart burning with pain as he sensed the air of finality that lay behind her words. As her breathing became more and more labored she managed with the last of her energy to pull her husband's mandibles to hers in one last kiss. Then, in a voice so soft Sveto could barely hear it she whispered, "I…Love…You…". After these last parting words Sveto was forced to watch as the woman he loved's body went limp and her breathing ceased. Clutching his wife's body in his arms Sveto let out a yell of loss and agony that barely began to describe the pain that coursed within him.

Sveto reeled as he returned to the present, still clutching his heart tight. He wanted so hard to forget that day, the day that had killed his gods, his daughter, and the woman he had loved more than anyone else in his life. He tried to forget it, but he knew he never would. "Please" he pleaded, not quite sure who he was talking to, "Please don't do this to me again. Onca's all that I have left, if I lose him…" he trailed off as he looked at his son's prone form, "I don't think my heart will be able to take it…"

For the second time in a few hours Cameron was shocked by the landscape that lay before him, and while he had thought the Sangheili city an extremely bizarre sight, it paled in comparison to what he now saw.

Cameron found himself in the middle of a plain that was best described as a mixture between the surface of the moon and the one Salvador Dali painting with the melting clocks. Misshapen multi-colored mountains formed a wall on either horizon, with the space between littered with rocks and objects moving and acting in ways that seemed to break the very laws of physics. A combination of awe and fear slowly rose within Cameron as he watched a mangled tree quickly grow legs and casually walk towards the grotesque peaks, and he nervously whispered to himself, "Where the hell am I?"

"Isn't it obvious Cameron? We're inside your mind."

Cameron quickly turned towards the deep and somewhat husky voice that had answered him and whatever reply he may have made instantly died in his throat, for before him lay an exact copy of his Sangheili body, its mandibles arched in what he assumed to be a smug grin.

The sight of the Elite brought back the memories of why he was asleep in the first place, and as if sensing Cameron's train of thought the alien replied with a wave of his hand "And before you ask ,yes, all of that did actually happen."

The statement seemed to bring back the feeling of unrealness he had previously experienced when he had first woken up and viewed his new body for the first time, and Cameron slowly stuttered "So the Xbox, the city, the memories….?"

"All true" the Elite replied, looking a bit annoyed at having to repeat what he had already told the teenager.

Cameron's grip on his emotions, already heavily strained from his current predicament, quickly snapped at seeing the Sangheili's seemingly uncaring manner, and with as much anger as he could muster he screamed back at him "All true!? I get sucked away from my home, my friends, my family, and get sent to the freaking halo universe, as a friggin' Elite no less, with no possible way to go back home and that's the best you can say? 'All true'!? Who the hell do you think you are!?"

The Elite, completely unfazed by Cameron's rage, calmly replied "Simple, Cameron. I am you."

Shock momentarily coursed through Cameron's body, only to be quickly overtaken by his previous anger.

"You're lying…" Cameron growled, his rage slowly building in intensity as he glared at the Sangheili with eyes filled with hate. "You can't be me so stop bullshitting me you f***ing liar!" He screamed as he threw a punch at the clone before him, his anger burning at a blistering intensity.

With the same annoyed expression he had displayed earlier the Elite blocked Cameron's punch with ease, its strong alien fingers locking around his fist and holding it firmly in place about a foot from his head.

"You…" Cameron started to snarl until he noticed how small his fist seemed in comparison to the Sangheili hand that surrounded it. "How is that possible? You'd think that since we're both Elites our hands would be about the same size" he thought.

As he looked towards his arm the shock he immediately felt mirrored that which he had experienced a few hours ago, only this time it wasn't that he was surprised that his arm was that of an Elite, but rather that it wasn't.

Instead of the four scaled fingers he had woken up to before he saw the five fleshy digits that until a short time ago he had possessed all of his life.

With a sigh the Elite released Cameron's hand and with his previous rage now completely forgotten the teenager quickly looked himself over and found that his entire body had reverted back to its previous form. Cameron looked up at the Elite with a puzzled expression, confusion overshadowing any newfound joy he may have felt.

Continuing to stare into the silent Elite's lightly amused eyes Cameron managed to stutter out a barely audible "How…?"

Breaking his silence, the Sangheili sighed "I guess now it's finally time to get down to business then."

"What are you talking about and more importantly who the hell are you?" The startled human yelled back at him. "I guess the more correct phase would be what the hell are you…" he silently thought to himself.

"You sure do like to repeat yourself." the Elite chuckled, "Which is ironic because I know we hate it when other people do that."

Growing confused and a little annoyed, Cameron responded back "And another thing, why the hell are you talking like we're the same person? It's kind of weird and just a bit creepy if you mind me saying."

The Elite seemed to take the quasi-insult in stride, "Like I said before Cameron, I am you. Well, the Sangheili part of you at least, in retrospect I guess I should have clarified that earlier." It responded with a bit of embarrassment.

"Huh?" Cameron balked, quickly berating himself for how stupid the word sounded as soon as it left his mouth.

Pointing a scaled finger at the human, the Elite replied "Let's start from the beginning; when you first got transported to Sangheilios I started to get uploaded into your mind."

"What!?" Cameron replied in barely concealed horror, taking a few steps back from the Elite.

The Sangheili raised his hand to stop Cameron's inevitable next question as he continued, "The transfer was supposed to leave you with more or less the same personality and memories but with all the mental tools and information you would need to survive and blend in with Sangheili society, in addition to educating you on the details of your new life and family."

"The flashbacks…" Cameron breathed.

"Correct! It's good to see you aren't totally incompetent today…" The Elite smiled.

However the way the Elite trailed off at the end of his remark made Cameron suspicious, and sensing that there was something else the Sangheili wasn't letting on about Cameron pressed "But…?"

Dropping the grin he had been wearing the Elite once again sighed and answered "But you passed out from the stress before I was done imprinting myself on your psyche."

"So that's why I'm here right now?" Cameron asked, beginning to grasp at what the Sangheili was now getting at.

"Yes" the Elite responded, making a sweeping gesture at the misshapen landscape that surrounded the two of them. "We're currently in the level of your sub-conscious that deals with creativity, which is why everything looks so weird, as in this realm nothing is bound to the laws of reality and literally anything is possible."

"But how…?" Cameron started, gesturing to the figment's Sangheili body.

"Since I am technically you I was able to create a physical body for myself so I could converse to you." The Elite clarified and then sensing the teenager's next question continued "While the practice of anchoring you to this level of your mind was at worst a trivial problem."

While Cameron wasn't exactly satisfied with its reply the teenager decided to let it go for a while in favor getting an answer to another thing that had been weighing heavily on his mind. "Be that as it may, you still haven't told me why I'm like this." he asked, circling his now smaller, shorter, and weaker human body with his hands.

The corners of the Elite's mandibles arched into a small grin in response to the question and it answered "Let me answer your question with one of my own: When you picture yourself in your head, what's the first thing that comes to mind?"

"Human" Cameron immediately responded.

"And there you have it Cameron. While your physical body in the 'real world' may be that of a Sangheili your mind still identifies itself as human, so now when your brain re-creates 'itself' in your sub-conscious it does so in the form that it sees itself as, which obviously in your case is your former human body." the Sangheili replied as if giving a lecture, slightly annoying Cameron.

After a quick mental run-through revealed that everything the Elite had said at least made somewhat sense Cameron realized that there was still one important thing still missing, as while he now understood the how of the Sangheili's actions he was still in the dark as to the why.

"So wait let me get this straight, you went through all this trouble, did all of this physiological crap, just to tell me that you hadn't finished giving me my new memories? I'm sorry but I know there has to be more to it than that."

Letting out yet another sigh the Elite shook his head and replied, "No Cameron, I brought you here so I could get you to allow me to finish what I started. We need to merge Cameron, we must become whole if we are to survive."

Knock, Knock, Knock

Sveto was awoken from the drowsy haze he had fallen into by the rapping at the door and after taking a quick re-survey of the room he found that he had spaced out for at least an hour or two, as the sun had already set behind the western horizon and night had fallen over the keep.

"Gods damn it this tea the doctor gave me isn't keeping me awake as long as it used to." the kaidon growled in his head before taking another sip from the fine china cup that had been resting on his son's nightstand. While the tea failed to completely eliminate the weariness that continued to permeate his mind it still managed to clear his senses up enough for him to register the second, louder series of knocks that echoed through his son's bedroom. Sveto chose to ignore them however, instead shifting his focus once again to his only child's motionless form, still hoping that at any moment his son might come to but knowing in his heart that it was extremely unlikely.

Knock, Knock, Knock

"Go away!" the kaidon yelled, still refusing to take his eyes off of his son.

Knock, Knock, Knock

"I thought I told you all that I was not to be disturbed unless it was a national crisis and since I don't see any smoke rising from the city or Zelsonian hordes descending from the mountains I don't think whatever message you've been sent to deliver to me qualifies so I recommend that you leave before I have your head put on a pike in the market square!" Sveto roared, his previous irritation rapidly shifting into blistering anger.

"Fine then Sveto, if you want to play it that way then that's fine with me" a familiar and slightly annoyed voice responded from the other side of the door.

The kaidon had barely seconds to react before the hinges of the door shattered, causing the frame to fall to floor with a loud thud and sending up a light cloud of dust and wood splinters into the air. Sveto immediately sprang into fighting stance and activated his dual energy swords, quickly positioning his body so that it lay in between the mystery Sangheili and his heavily vulnerable son.

However when the dust cleared Sveto was met not with the scowling face of an enemy assassin but the smiling and amused eyes of his friend Dyad 'Docolee.

"By the gods Dyad have you gone mad!?" he screamed, quickly deactivating his swords and walking over to inspect the ruined hulk of the door frame.

"No" his friend replied as he calmly found himself a chair, "Just tired of sitting here in the keep while you lock yourself in your son's room like everyone else has the plague."

"Gods Dyad I thought for a second that you were an 'Inkulee assassin." Sveto breathed before returning to his seat beside his son's bed.

Raising an eyebrow at his friends lumbering gait and the weariness that had bled into his voice Dyad responded, "Thank the gods that I wasn't Sveto because with the reflexes you seem to have now you would have been dead before you could even bring your swords to bear."

Before Sveto could offer a rebuttal Dyad quickly raised his hand to silence him and calmly asked "How many days has it been since you've slept, Sveto? Three? Maybe four?"

"Five" his friend gloomily answered, taking another sip from his tea.

"By the gods man!" Dyad exclaimed, clearly shocked by his friend's admission, "How in the hell have you not passed out from exhaustion already?"

Sveto merely shrugged and continued to gaze at his son's tranquil face, internally flinching a bit every time he saw Onca's face break into a grimace as he slept. His eyes softened and he whispered, more to himself than to his friend, "Five days; it's been five days since he collapsed and he still hasn't woken up yet…"

"He will" Dyad responded, putting his hand on Sveto's shoulder as he tried to comfort his close friend, "He is strong Sveto, I doubt he would ever let himself fall to such a disease, if that is what is ailing him."

"Kala was strong too and that didn't turn out to do her much good…" his close friend muttered back. Still Sveto couldn't ignore the fact that his wife had died in barely over a minute while his son had already almost lasted a week, though it was obvious that he was not suffering from the cerebral bleeding that had so quickly taken his beloved Kala away from him.

"You just have to believe in your son Sveto, killing yourself with worry isn't going to help his condition."

"Onca's life is more important to me right now than my own Dyad; I thought you would have known this by now."

Stunned silence followed and Sveto incorrectly assumed that the argument had been officially settled, his friend's reply however quickly made it clear that this was anything but the case.

"Oh? And is it also more important that leading the more than the 30 million Sangheili that fall under your family's rule? More important than making sure that the hungry are properly fed, the shipments from the north are being paid for on time and that the Prophet's lapdogs are prevented from making another coup attempt to unseat us? Are you truly being so conceited that your son's life is more valuable to you than the welfare of the millions of people who call you kaidon?"

Sveto was completely taken by surprise at the venom that bled into Dyad's voice when he spoke and at how quickly his friend had shifted from his calm and humorous self to a man seemingly filled with pure disgust. "You know it's not like—"

"According to what you said it's exactly like that! Gods damn it Sveto you weren't given that shiny gold armor you wear just for kicks! You were given it because you are the Kaidon of Koros and as such you are supposed to put the needs of the people before your own and that includes, as callous as it sounds, tending to the management of the keep instead of standing by and supporting your son."

Sveto didn't even bother making a rebuttal as he knew that every word Dyad had spoken, no matter how infuriating, had been completely and utterly true. After a few seconds of awkward silence he managed to say "It sounds like this has been on your mind for quite a while Dyad."

His anger cooling down a bit the councilman admitted with a sigh "It has been for the last several days. Look Sveto I've watched Onca grow up from the time he was an infant and I'm also extremely heartbroken at what's happened but enough is enough; I'm giving you one more day with Onca and if you're not back at your duties by then I'll drag you out of here by the fibers of your cape if necessary."

With that Dyad turned to leave but as he began to walk through the doorway Sveto called out to him "The council sent you didn't they Dyad?"

The councilman then looked over his shoulder at his friend and answered "I didn't do this for the council Sveto, I did this because I'm your friend."

As Sveto heard his friend's footsteps grow further and further away he felt the drowsiness that had previously plagued him slowly returning. Thinking back to Dyad's comments on his lack of sleep he thought to himself "Maybe I should rest my eyes a little bit, just for a minute or two…"After a few seconds the kaidon slowly closed his eyes …and then promptly began to snore.

"Whaa?" Cameron exclaimed, taken aback by the Elite's statement.

"I know you heard me Cameron, we need to merge our personalities. There are still some blank pages that need to be filled in for you: customs to be learned, memories to gain. While I managed to transfer about three-quarters of my information into you before you passed out I still need to give you the rest of it or we won't stand a chance out there." It continued, pointing up to the imaginary stars and then crossing its arms as it waited for him to decide.

After a few minutes of intense internal debate Cameron finally sighed and said "Well it's not like I have much choice do I? I really don't want to be an Elite but I'd much rather be a live one than a dead one."

"Excellent." the Sangheili smiled and slowly walked towards Cameron, only to be stopped by the teenager's outstretched hand. "Before I say yes I have just one question left: After this is over will I still be, you know, me?"

Finding the question quite reasonable considering the circumstances the Sangheili happily answered "Yes, you'll still completely have the same personality, granted with a bit of a Sangheili tint to it."

"What do you mean by 'tint'?" Cameron nervously replied.

The Elite waved his hand dismissively in response, "Nothing major, some of your old human sayings will be replaced with Sangheili ones, such as instead of 'oh my god' you'll find yourself saying 'by the gods' and you'll become a bit more prideful but other than that you should be exactly the same. Now please grab my hand and we'll begin."

Cameron silently complied, his nervousness building on what might happen next. However his feelings disappeared as soon as his fingers made contact with the Elite's hand. The Sangheili immediately started to glow orange and to Cameron's horror its body slowly began to flake off in chips of bright orange energy (think of when a Promethean Knight is killed in Halo 4) which were then sucked into Cameron's body, filling him with a strange warm feeling. As more and more of the energy was transferred into his body Cameron saw to his mild dismay that with every piece he absorbed more of his body reverted back to its previous Sangheili form.

After a few minutes Cameron slowly looked down to the rapidly disappearing Elite and saw that all of his Sangheili side had been absorbed save for its upper body and head.

"What will happen to you?" Cameron asked the disintegrating Elite, now only visible from the neck up, with genuine concern.

"It doesn't matter about me anymore Cameron, all that matters now is what will happen to us."

"But still what if something goes wrong? What if I'm in a situation that falls way outside everything you've given me? I'm only a 17-year-old kid goddamnit!"

"Don't worry Cameron, I'm not really leaving, I'll always be a part of you." It said with a smile as the last of its form was finally sucked into Cameron's once-again fully Sangheili body, at the last moment adding with a chuckle "As the Demon once said, wake me when you need me…."

Cameron just silently stared at his now re-scaled hands as he felt the warm energy within him slowly dissipate before it eventually stopped.

"It's time to wake up Onca." he heard a soft voice whisper in his ear before he was suddenly propelled from the interior of his mind and into the waking world.

(From here on Cameron will be referred to as Onca)

Onca's eyes shot open to find himself back in the same bed he had woken up in, with the only difference being the armored form of his father sleeping by his bedside, seemingly from exhaustion. Being careful not to wake his father, Onca slowly got out of bed and made his way to the window, his previous difficulties with his legs seemingly forgotten. As he watched the sun rise over the mountains to the east, Onca swore he could hear a familiar-sounding voice whisper to him from inside his head, "The dawn has come Onca, now come on, we have a whole new life to live."

And there you have it! Please leave a review and tell me what you think of the story so far, I really appreciate it and would love to hear any constructive criticism that will hopefully make the next chapter even better!

See you guys next chapter!

-caman213