I can just begin to hear the three of them talking to one another as we round the last corner. I immediately stiffen slightly as a knot ties itself into my stomach and throat as nervousness grips me when we walk into the doorway, seeing aunt Kelly is perched on a bed beside my father's while uncle Fred is on the other side of him, mirroring her relaxed posture as the three converse. But they rise to their feet looking at uncle Kurt and myself in total surprise.
"Hi..." I wave my fingers at them nervously, with a sheepish smile as my uncle and I enter the room.
"So who won?" My mother questions unexpectedly, gently taking my chin to look at my face, making me nearly jump a foot how she surprises me and I exhale heavily to relax myself as my uncle walks forward towards his team mates, who asides my still stuck in bed father, walk over to meet him partway.
"No one wins in a fight mother. Both sides lose." I look at her gently as she smiles lightly with understanding.
"Yes, I heard you and your schoolmates hit the bottle pretty hard last night." she smiles and I touch my head bowing my head modestly, knowing she's got me there.
"Yeah well... Helped me sleep somewhat. Though did nothing for the pain of failing my teams." I admit, looking at her calmly and blinks as she gently touches my bad arm compassionately.
"Ciel, you still held them together very well and lost only one person. That counts for a lot." she states as I look down at her then to the floor, balling my other hand into a tight fist.
"No. We lost three. We should not have lost anyone because we had the support right there. But I realize, it was combat and people die. Allies reveal as the enemy and its fraught with unexpected surprises that will break many or forge them into stronger people." I finally state, looking right into her eyes as I hold my body taught, but not with tension. With conviction! I watch her stare into my ice blue and violet eyes silently for a moment before she smiles, placing her hand on my chest.
"You're a good leader. You take the responsibility very serious. Just like your father." she compliments softly and I slightly smile, but sidesteps unexpectedly, ducking a fist from my uncle Fred when he tries to plant one on my head.
"You move pretty good for having a bunch of broken ribs." My uncle states simply as I straighten myself out and looks at him somewhat confused, slightly standing to the side of my mother.
"You don't need to remind me. They do that well enough right beside my hangover." I state lightly running my hand over them mindfully before I walk with him over to where my aunt and uncle Kurt are sitting on a bedside near my father who's sitting on the bed, his ribs and much of his torso in bandages from what I can see under the shirt he's wearing.
"I've been wondering. Why'd you take after your father and not either of us?" My aunt asks suddenly as I pause near the end of the bed while my uncle slips in and takes a seat on the edge of the other unoccupied bed beside my father's.
"Well uh... I saw the implants on him were the most exposed and if I hit him the right way I could incapacitate his body long enough to expose the implants and send images to the Infinity with the camera on the helmet to get some intel on them so I knew how to end the fight quickly without causing serious injury. Big risk considering you and uncle Fred were right on top of me almost right after I got Dad down." I swallow dryly, feeling his intense eyes boring into me silently as I have to think carefully how to word this and not say what had really crossed my mind that I calculated he could take the hit better.
"And uh. Well... Dad's a bigger target.. The implants also slowed him slightly and made his movements not as smooth or as sharp as I'm familiar with in training. I didn't see that in you or uncle Fred..." I admit nervously as the four watch me and I can't help but watch my stance is proper and respectful.
"Why did you use my suit?" my father finally questions with a dead seriousness that makes my blood run cold and I begin to sweat nervously as I gulp.
"Uh... Well... I knew it was here..." I look at him nervously with a slight shrug, relaxing my right hand to my side as I resist the urge to run my hand over my hair as I would normally when this nervous.
"Why not use a Spartan 4's armor?" My aunt continues curiously, the question catching me slightly off guard but I roll with it.
"I had no idea if it could stand up to the beating I expected. I knew Dad's armor had been through the wringer many times before he retired and came out beat up but operational. I also figured it'd be good for shock value to any humans seeing me running at them in it buying me seconds to take them down. It would help me be able to more effectively protect my team with its thick armor and shields. I could take a higher amount of abuse to make sure all of my team made it out this time. React faster, shoot more accurately, and hit harder." I state suddenly feeling my tension evaporate as I look at them and locks gaze's with my father while the others are silent.
"I think John certainly found that one out the hard way." uncle Kurt jokes lightly after an agonizing half minute of silence. His comment causes Aunt Kelly to snicker slightly as I see some slight emotion show on my father's face and I internally exhale the nervousness and knots that had formed.
"I had hoped to bluff out of getting into a confrontation with all of you... I knew I could really do damage in that suit and be damaged in turn. Suit or not. Hence my ribs, torn ligaments in my arm, various bruises, split lip... The list goes on." I exhale with a slight disapproving groan as I shake my head wearily.
"I've heard people say the old Spartan 2's aren't as tough as they used to be... That certainly was not how I wanted to confirm my beliefs otherwise." I exhale, relaxing a bit as I hang my head.
"How'd you get shot?" my mother inquires suddenly, slipping by uncle Fred and I to gently sit on the edge of my Father's bed amongst them.
"I'd hoped you would know... The shield's should've stopped the bullet... But it tore right through the suit like it was made of cloth and did a number on my shoulder going through. I don't know how the rebels have that kind of technology. But I don't like it or the implications." I state, looking at my family calmly as my cousin comes up behind me, smacking his hand down on my injured shoulder, making me jump and wince, before whipping around and plants my boot on his ass, knocking him a few feet and over one of the beds on the other side of the room.
"You ass!" I hiss, lightly touching my shoulder as he groans and rubs his ass as he begins to get up sorely a short minute later.
"No. I have one. Though I'm not sure after that.." He grunts as he gets to his feet and I glare at him as his parents exhale and my mother giggles slightly.
"Arthur... You know better then that." his father chastises him tiredly as Arthur sorely walks over rubbing where I'd booted him, far gentler then my full strength would allow so I'd only bruise and not break him.
"Yes sir. I'm sorry." he apologizes stopping nearby as I eye him suspiciously.
"Sorry to interrupt but I heard someone was looking for Lieutenant Commander Ambrose. Captain wants something.." he shrugs a bit, looking at our uncle who nods and rises to his feet calmly.
"That's uncle Kurt you dolt." I poke him and has to resist the laugh threatening to escape my lips as his jaw drops in surprise while staring at our uncle.
"Don't stare its rude." His mother reminds seriously, despite the amusement in her eyes and he straightens himself out as our uncle smirks at both of us, then thanks him for coming to tell us before he politely nods to his Spartan brothers and sister before walking away and my father exhales tiredly after mom whispers something to him. Obviously uncle Fred and aunt Kelly hear it and step down onto their feet after exchanging glances.
"We'll leave you two to talk. Arthur... Come with us..." His father states giving his son a flat look that makes him shift a bit as I step aside, catching his second attempt to hit me (with my good hand) to catch me off guard and I smirk at Uncle Fred.
"Your muscles were too poised." I point out to my uncle who smirks pleased as I let his fist go as he pauses in front of me.
"Good job out there." he states patting my shoulder like my aunt who passes by and they fall into step together with their son in tow as I smile slightly.
"Arthur, I'll see you in the gym later for practice." I call after him as he blinks at me then grins happily before giving me a thumbs up. "Make sure the others are ready for it too. You're the one they're sparring with." I smirk watching his eyes light up excitedly with devious delight.
"Will do!" he chimes happily as he follows his parents out into the hallway.
"Practice already so soon?" my mother looks at me curiously, somewhat concerned and I nod calmly.
"We've been talking. Many of our school mates are considering enlisting if my suspicions prove true. I showed them the video feed from both my helmet cams. They agree with me, the rebels are making a comeback and there's no way Graves Junior there could have such resources to do all of that without some serious help, leaks, and support from prepared sources. Least this time, we got Graves alive and that kid isn't like his grandfather - he'll talk under interrogation." I explain grimly, staring down out to the hallway beyond the doors of the infirmary, my previous jovial demeanour disappearing just as quickly as it had come, leaving only stone faced determination in its stead.
I relax somewhat when I see my mother close by and I look down at her with an unspoken obedience of a dog to its master.
Its true though. If she told me right now to go do something, break into something or direct me like she did on the mission. I would without any hesitation or question.
"Ciel. Come here." my father orders as my mother walks away to the doors of the infirmary and I look at him, suddenly feeling like a small child all over again when I look into those piercing ice blue eyes of his and obediently turns on my heel and walks over to his side.
"Sit." he orders and without hesitation I step back up onto the side of the other empty bed beside him, not taking my eyes off his face as he watches me.
"Your mother told me about what happened after we'd been captured. I also have seen the entire video documentation and reports about you and your school mate's struggles to expose the school before resorting to violence, but being slowly prepared to escalate to that when you had exhausted all your other options." he begins to explain dryly as I listen, following every syllable as he pauses a moment, shifting his weight so he can swing his legs off the edge of the bed so he is now looking at me directly before continuing.
"I was surprised by the escalation of careful planning and steps you took to protect your team and schoolmates while always being sure to keep everyone motivated no matter how tough things got." he continues in the same manor, but, there's a growing hint of emotion and self blame to his words that makes me blink surprised he'd ever blame himself or be upset by what happened at the school.
"Well... I just thought about what my family would do and broke down to what I had to do." I admit modestly then looks at the floor and grits my teeth as I tense.
"It still didn't work and you, uncle Fred, aunt Kelly, and even Mom got captured. I lead you all into a damn trap which got all of you injured, Green 2 killed, and one of our best fighters turned out to be sympathizers of the people we were trying to fight. My second in command got killed on the last mission and replaced by a clone when the rest of the team got split up. I never saw any of that shit coming!" I read off, still beating myself up about it as that last COM transmission from Green 2 as it replay's in my head making me ball my right hand into a tight fist.
"And despite that, you kept your teams organized, followed the plans and fall back procedures you had in place, before even leaving your assigned dorms. You kept focused on the mission and came back for us despite the risks and odds. What people do when they betray their comrades is their own affair and you should never blame yourself for their choices when you have to step up and deal with the aftermath of their choice to betray their allies. What you need to focus on is the mission and your responsibility as apart of a team. Let alone as it's leader." He states with experienced seriousness as I close my eyes tightly, feeling the pain of the losses but also Sam's loss.
It all combined with my father's rare complimenting is just too much for me to handle as tears begin to drip to the floor.
"Ciel.." I hear him say my name concerned before I drop to my feet and wraps my good arm around his neck as I bury my face into his shoulder, beginning to sob as I stand between his legs. I feel him tense slightly at how quickly I've moved before gently slipping his much larger arms around me, holding me close as I sob emotionally on his shoulder unable and unwilling to stop myself because deep down I know crying and showing emotion like this is a very good thing, but at the right time and place.
We're not in combat so, I really don't know if this isn't the place, but I can't hold it back any longer. So it's sure as hell going to be the time for me to cry.
I feel him gently shift his arm to my shoulder and gently holds me securely as I cry over the next 15 minutes, beginning to shake as I let it all out helplessly and growing more and more exhausted with each passing minute.
"It's going to be alright Ciel." I hear his voice comfort gently as the exhaustion begins to close in on me as my sobbing begins to slow and quieten down as the minutes tick by.
"I just don't know what to do..." I sniffle emotionally once I am finally able to talk.
"You'll figure it out." he coaxes as I mindfully shift myself to mind his injuries as I lean back to look at him. His arms relax slightly letting me slip back slightly but still holding me as we look at one another and I watch one of his rare smiles form on his face as he uses one of his big hands to gently wipe some of the stray tears off my cheeks.
"You've been through a lot, Ciel. But you've some very good people with you and you have your family for support. No matter what you decide, you have our support." He explains looking at me with a gentleness that usually surprises those who know the Spartan's reputation of not being capable of such gentleness. I relax somewhat and gently rubs one of my eyes lightly, sniffling as I nod slightly.
"Thank you, dad." I sniffle as I look at him and he smiles at me warmly gently placing his hand on my head fondly.
"You will succeed at whatever you put your mind on. I have no doubts of that." He encourages and I smile at him with the similar smirk I learned from mom as I stand up taller looking at him.
"I took you down didn't I?" I tease as he lets his arms rest to his sides and looks at me with his amused smile before he does something surprising and laughs warmly, pulling me onto the bed beside him and gives me a gentle hug.
"That you did." he chuckles a bit as I giggle with him, resting my head on his shoulder, feeling far better then I had before and with renewed faith, no matter who comes and goes from my life he'll be there to help me back onto my feet when I need it.
