Chapter 6

Did you ever?

The winter season lingered in Blood Gulch that year – the festivities came and went, but the snow laid unthawed, and the sky heavy with clouds. The only person not bothered by the weather was Donut; even Caboose was starting to get irritated with the cold now. The arctic conditions viciously annoyed some Spartans, however, such as Sarge and Church. The two had been excessively narky during the white-season, but the most apparent of annoyances was Tennessee. Tennessee had never been a fan of the cold conditions of winter, but Leonard Church had noticed her tongue was never sharp around Caboose – And that, as a result, annoyed him. Not only was it unfair, but it was Caboose. Caboose. The icy-coloured Spartan would observe the two with almost a bitter hatred.

Caboose ran outside one morning to try and find something to do – The cobalt Spartan had been inside for too long, so he tried to find something entertaining. Tennessee watched the private from upon the roof – her arms were folded in her lap, and her helmet was next to her as she sat with her legs dangling off of the roof. Tucker came to join her after a few minutes, and he seated himself next to her, breathing shakily in the cold, steam emanating from his mouth as he rubbed his arms.

"Fucking hell." He breathed. "It's fucking freezing out here." Tennessee nodded, her eyes almost as cold as the weather itself. She wasn't particularly pissed off today – It was slightly warmer than the day before, but it was still below 0 degrees. Tucker reached down and picked off a bit of ice from the roof of the base and flicked it away from them, both of their eyes watching it as his sank into the white powder below them. Tennessee looked up at Caboose again, who appeared to be talking to Donut in the middle of the Canyon – she had noticed that the snow had brought the two closer together, but Caboose denied their friendship. It still kind of ticked her off that Church was such an asshole to Caboose – he always said the wrong things, and didn't see what Caboose at least tried to do for him. Still, she watched the cobalt soldier running up to them intently. She always felt much calmer around him, and Tucker noticed it too. The cold, hard look in her gaze seemed to melt away when the cobalt Spartan ran up to them smiling; he said something that was inaudible, then ran into the base. Tucker looked at Tennessee and smirked a little to himself, before sharing his thoughts.

"You like him, don't you?" He questioned, and Tennessee frowned before looking at the aqua soldier questioningly.

"What do you mean by that?" She murmured, and Tucker laughed.

"You know what I mean." He said softly back. "Girl, you should know by now I can tell when someone fancies the hell outta another, so there's no point denying it to me." Tennessee could have glared the shit out of him, but only a small one managed to escape her calm gaze.

"I don't think I understand you." She murmured, standing up and putting her helmet on. "Maybe I need to get my hearing checked." Tucker made a loud "Hah!" noise, and slapped his knee, jumping up and following her.

"I fucking knew it!" He cheered as she walked away from him. "I fucking knew there was something between you." Tennessee turned to Tucker abruptly, and he almost bumped into her.

"You don't know diddily-squat." She purred, and Tucker frowned. "Mention anything to Church, or anyone else, then you might find your head somewhere far away from your body." Tucker watched her as she left, then followed slowly. I'm still right. He thought privately.

Caboose ran into Blue Base, and brushed the snow off of his jacket and trousers, before hanging his jacket up and sitting near a radiator. He was shivering again – he hated shivering. It reminded him of the Meta in the snow all those years ago. He shook his head and looked up as Church walked into the living room. The ice coloured Spartan looked at him with an expression that Caboose couldn't identify, then sat quite far away from him. Caboose knew Church didn't like sitting near him, but this was starting to irritate him a little, and Caboose really wasn't the type to get irritated. His mind whirred for a moment – What kind of things could he talk to Church about that wouldn't make him want to walk away? Church was flicking through a magazine, with a mug of coffee in one hand. Every now and then, he'd glance up at Caboose, until eventually he sighed, and sat back in the chair, looking at Caboose with a hard gaze.

"Are you going to just sit there and stare at me," Church murmured, his voice cold. "Or are you going to say something?" Caboose suddenly didn't want to talk to Church, but he felt too obligated to talk to him than ignore him.

"Um," Caboose tried to think of something to say. "When do you think the snow will go away?" He said quickly, and Church somewhat grit his teeth.

"I don't know, Caboose." He said bluntly, then looked at his magazine again. Caboose raised his eyebrows, then asked another question;

"Church," He said softly. "Can we make something nice for later? Like cookies?" Church didn't look up this time.

"Whatever," His voice was becoming a little harsher now. "Get Tucker to help, I don't care." At that moment, Tucker and Tennessee had entered the base, and their footsteps began to echo down the corridor, but Church didn't seem to hear them.

"Church," Caboose stood up now, looking a little hurt. "Why do you never want to do anything with us?" Church lost it then – the icy soldier stood up and marched over to Caboose, and glared right into his face.

"When will you fucking realise I don't care?" He hissed, and Caboose suddenly felt incredibly frightened – why was Church like this? What did he do? "I never cared! But still, you keep fucking around with me, asking me stupid questions and stating irrelevant bullshit that I don't want to fucking hear." By this time, Tucker and Tennessee had reached the outside of the living room, but they had stopped to listen to the commotion. Tennessee had taken off her helmet, which was under her arm, before she had gone with Tucker to the living room who hadn't muttered a word since they were on the roof. They were both on one side of the door each, stood in utter silence, and Tennessee's faith in Church suddenly plummeted at his words.

"Church, I-" Caboose began, but Church shoved him backwards against the radiator, which burnt the younger soldier hand and he yelped, but didn't move form fear of Church hurting him again.

"No, don't even fucking say anything." Church growled, and his fists curled into balls. "I didn't ask for you to be here, and I mean fuck, I don't even want you here. Nobody fucking wants you here! You're annoying, you do everything wrong, you're a fucking coward, and you can't even defend yourself. People like you don't belong here! Go back where you fucking came from and never fuck with us again. You can even go to fucking Red Team, but I bet they won't want you either." Cabooses eyes filled with tears, but he didn't let them spill, instead, he put his best grimace on, a small attempt to fight back against the opposing soldier. Caboose took a small step forwards and shouted weakly at Church with a shaky voice.

"Tennessee cares!" He cried, and Church's brow furrowed even more. "She's always cared! She never turned her back on me, and she's always defended me! I don't need people like you when I have someone like her! She's a better best friend than you ever were! All you are … is … is a jerk!" Church almost punched the soldier, but he still had the smallest of dignity left.

"Tennessee doesn't fucking care." Church spat. "Don't even get me fucking started. She puts up with you because no one else will. We're all sick of you. By the time she realises what a pain in the ass you are, she will have left like the rest of us." Caboose lost it at that point – he'd always believed in Church, but this time he thought he couldn't. The young soldier was still caught up in his beliefs, and part of him led him on to believe Church's words were true. He blinked at the same time as pushing Church backwards with a great force that sent Church into a wooden table that shattered under his weight, and he sprinted out of the room, tears streaming from his face. He ran straight past Tennessee and Tucker, who had both tried to stop him but he was too strong for even them both. Tennessee cast a begging glance to Tucker who nodded and bolted after the cobalt soldier, while Tennessee entered the room in which Church was lifting himself up off of the floor, picking bits of wood from him, but he didn't look up in time for him to be whisked up off of his feet and punched in the stomach.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" The dark Freelancer bitterly screamed at him. All the power within Church suddenly felt as though it had been taken out of him and put into Tennessee as he coiled over himself in pain. He looked up at the Freelancer with almost pleading in his gaze, but the Freelancer was obviously too pissed to notice. "You're telling him all those lies? You might not care, Tucker might not care, but I sure as fuck do care, and Caboose deserves to know no different! Did you ever consider what he's done for you? Did you ever stop to think what you were saying was bad? Did you ever think that maybe Caboose just wanted a friend, someone to cry to when he was upset? I know this has happened before with Carolina and Tex, but that was different. I'm here now, and if you ever, ever, hurt Caboose again, physically or mentally, I will fucking pummel you into the ground until there is nothing but a trace left of you. We're all pissed off with this weather, Leonard, but taking it out on Caboose is not an option. I hope you sort your fucking attitude out before we get back, or there'll be hell to pay." With a final dark glare, and a small snarl, the Freelancer bolted out of the door to catch up with the other blue soldiers. Church sat on the floor, the lecture of his hatred being over with, and looked at the splinters of wood around him.

What had he done?

Tennessee didn't know where Caboose and Tucker had gone, so she suddenly broadcasted across the intercom. Her voice was much softer now, and her throat hurt after all the yelling, but there was a huge amount of worry in there as well as pain.

"Tucker? Caboose?" She questioned through the intercom. "Come in." She waited briefly. Nothing. Maybe they hadn't taken their helmets, she thought, but then there was a crackle, and a soft mutter. "Tucker? Caboose? Is that you?"

"T- Tenn …" Was all she heard. That was enough to signal her who was on the other side.

"Caboose, where are you?" Silence. "Caboose?" Another silence, but then there was a sudden small whimper. "Caboose, you don't believe what Church said about me, do you?" Another silence; maybe he was listening to her quietly. "Caboose, everything he said was a lie, I promise."

"The cave." She barely heard it – it was almost inaudible. "The one on that night." She knew which one, so she bounded up to the cave near Blue Base, her heart pounding. Church had never pissed her off so much, so why now?

When she arrived, he wasn't in the top, so she glanced over the edge. The cobalt soldier was curled up in a corner near the frozen-over pond, clutching his helmet as though it were a life source. She walked around the long way, and took off her helmet as she turned the corner – as she did so, the cobalt soldiers' head rose, as well as the aqua ones.

"You're both here?" She looked from Caboose to Tucker and back again. Tucker gave her a solemn nod.

"I don't want to go back yet." He murmured, and then stifled a single chuckle. "Church scares me when he's pissed, and I don't fancy becoming soup today, or to face a liar." Tennessee realised that Tucker was genuinely frightened, and she smiled at him softly.

"Trust me, Church won't be saying or doing anything harsh any time soon." Tucker looked up at Tennessee with interest, and she raised an eyebrow. "I taught him a lesson, let's leave it at that." Tucker's lips hinted at a smiled, but then he nodded over to Cabooses direction, and Tennessee looked at the cobalt soldier. His eyes were glum and misty, and he was picking at some moss on the rock his shoulder was leant against. The Freelancer knelt down in front of him, but he didn't look at her.

"Hey, you." She murmured, and she looked a little hurt. Caboose had obviously taken Churches words seriously. "You shouldn't listen to Bitch-Pants-McCrabby." Caboose merely murmured; "That is what we call Texas." Tennessee's heart sank; so the bastard had torn a rift between herself and Caboose. Tucker noticed too, and he coughed to catch the Freelancers attention, before gesturing for her to sit by him. She did so, feeling as though Caboose would rather be alone at this point in time.

"Caboose took those words Church said literally." Tucker murmured so that Caboose couldn't hear. "He was asking why you would lie to him, then why Church would lie to him. He got confused, so he's just going to turn his back to everyone, I guess." Tennessee sighed, and put her head in her hands. Tucker looked at her sympathetically, but then smirked. "But hey, Caboose finally realised what an ass Church is. He called him a jerk." Tennessee removed her hands from her face, but didn't look up.

"Yeah, but now he thinks we all hate him." She looked across at Caboose, feeling the need to burst into tears – a feeling she hadn't had for years, since the former Texas died. "I don't want him to feel like that, it's not right. It's not fair." Tucker looked at Tennessee and put an arm around her.

"Hey," He murmured. "It'll work out, I know it. This is Blue Team: Everything's a little bit screwy. But we always find out way back, I promise."

"I hope so." Tennessee murmured. "But I have a feeling something much worse is going to happen to us."

A/N: DUNDUNDUNNN. Church is an asshole. LET THE DRAMA COMMENSE! This will be fun.

Sorry for the slow updates – Festivities and all. D; HAPPY NEW YEAR! 8D