Author's Note:

This Chapter is mostly about Sam and how he came to where he is now.

Chapter 8: Dead, But Alive

"Goodbye." John said as the doors shut, Sam had barely heard it.

Sam sighed, his chance at really being able to fight against the Covenant was about to end. He knew he'd never see John, Kelly or Dr.Halsey again.

A countdown timer turned on Sam's HUD, 3 minutes, it didn't seem like long, but he knew that it would be.

A squad of the small creatures ran through the door. Sam greeted them with a few MA5B bullets each in the head.

2:00

More and more of the small creatures tried to kill Sam, but just like the wave before them; failed.

0:35

A single minute felt like it lasted forever.

As Sam reloaded his MA5B one of the tall creatures came into the room. It growled and fired at Sam. Sam managed to dodge all of the shots.

How many bullets does it take to kill one of these things?

Sam got closer to the creature, tripped it and as John had done, fired what was left of his clip into the alien's mouth.

Sam clutched his side.

0:03

Sam wonder if John and Kelly had made it out by now, he hoped that they did.

0:01

This was it.

0:00

The bombs exploded and Sam flew forward into the purple wall.

Sam hit the ground. Was he still alive? Sam struggled to open his eyes, all he could see was a white room with a creature standing near him. Sam stood and looked at creature, it looked Human, yet there were some things that were different that Sam couldn't pin. It was taller than a normal Human. It was wearing robes that were an odd shade of gold and white. It wore a hood that's shadow hid the creature's face. It reminded Sam of an AI he had seen recently.

"Welcome." The creature said at last, it's voice was calm and relaxed, as though it had known Sam and wasn't afraid.

"Who and what are you?"

"Forgive me for not introducing myself. I am Usumir, I was sent to be your guide."

Sam looked at the creature for a long moment; it had introduced itself, so it couldn't be hostile.

"That doesn't completely answer my question, what are you?"

"I am what the Covenant is ultimately trying to become."

Sam tilted his head.

"I will explain all of that later, we have time. But I am a Forerunner."

"Alright, where am I?"

The creature held out a hand. "Come with me my friend, it will be easier to explain."

Sam hesitated, but the creature started walking away.

"Wait." Sam said.

The creature stopped and turned to face Sam.

As soon as Sam caught up with the creature it waved an arm.

Large pillars lined the area, at the end was a door, the largest one Sam had ever seen.

The creature started walking towards the door. "This way please."

"So your name is Usumir?" Sam asked.

Usumir nodded.

"Well, if you were wondering I'm-"

Usumir held up a hand to silence Sam. "I already know who you are, but who you really are is yet to be decided."

The two of them stopped a few paces in front of the door as it opened. Behind the door was a place Sam thought was beyond imagination. The room looked at though it was 10 kilometers wide. Though with as big as it was, very few people were actually in the room.

Usumir held up a hand and one of the beings in the room walked over to them.

As the person got closer Sam was able to tell that is was Human.

"Usumir."

Sam recognized the voice; it was SPARTAN -162, Aliera.

"Aliera?" Sam asked in surprise.

Aliera had been the unit's best pilot; she had recently died from the augmentations, along with most of the other Spartans.

"Good to see you too Sam."

"Aliera, I'd like you to help Sam get to know this place, and be reunited with his other comrades." Usumir said.

"And what about our mission?"

"I will teach him that, everything else I leave to you and the others, good luck."

Usumir bowed slighty and disappeared.

Sam turned to Aliera, "Our mission?"

Aliera smiled, "You'll learn."

Why do I feel so nervous?

Usumee took a few long and deep breaths.

Just stay calm, they won't hurt me unless I give them reason to.

Usumee was the Ossua, or the "Mouth of the Prophets" it was his job to make peace with any races the Covenant came in contact with. But now he had to make sure that the Humans would allow peace between the Sangheili, Lekgolo and Unggoy.

Usumee had been named after one of the Forerunners, Usumir.

Usumee and his Honor Guards walked down a long hallway behind a Human marine.

What are their military leaders called? Office of Naval Intelligence, yes that's it. And what is this city called again? Sydney. What an odd name.

Usumee spotted two Humans standing next to a door, they didn't move at all.

The Human version of Honor Guards, interesting.

The Human that had been leading Usumee looked a bit nervous around the two marines next to the door, he wasn't sure why

The double doors parted as the group drew closer. The Human marine stopped just inside the door and put his right hand on his forehead at a slight slant then walked back to the left side of the room.

The room was full of Humans that were sitting at a crescent shaped table. Usumee felt nervous again.

"Welcome." One of the Humans said, Usumee looked for the one who had been speaking, the one in the center.

Unsure of how Humans in the service greeted each other Usumee decided to bow on one knee,"Noble members of the Office of Naval Intelligence, I am D'Dey Usumee."

That earned him mumbling from of the Humans.

"Quiet Colonel. Usumee, I am Major General Nicolas Strauss, you may stand."

Usumee gave a slight nod and stood.

"Look at you General, you can make anyone or thing do anything."

Usumee looked at who had shouted to the General, "What do you mean?"

I shouldn't have said that.

"I mean that you spilt-chinned freaks act so helpless when you've been betrayed."

"Colonel." The General said in a deep voice.

Usumee didn't realize that he was making a fist until he saw a look of nervousness on the General's face.

Usumee took a deep breath to let the anger dim, "We are not helpless, we only wish for peace."

"Peace! You mean to tell me that after killing Human for sport for over 30 years and now getting kicked out you are expecting peace?" The Colonel yelled as he made a fist and struck the table.

Usumee could feel his Guards gripping their spears and growling.

The General stood, "That's quite enough Colonel!" The General sat and inhaled deeply,"I now ask that you leave this meeting Colonel."

Usumee looked back at the Colonel, he opened his mouth to speak but no words came out; instead the Colonel stood and stormed towards the door, "Trusting these freaks," the Colonel pointed to Usumee, "is worse than the entire Human race being eliminated."

The Colonel the exited the room; there was silence until the General spoke.

"Please don't take any of what the Colonel said as offence."

Usumee allowed himself to smile. "I have been insulted heavier than that before."

The General nodded. "Now, about peace."

32 years, it didn't seem like much, living with his ancestors, Spartans and saving Spartans was what made the years fly by. Sam had saved John so many times that he had lost count. Now, he was saving one of John's friends.

The tall creature stared at him for a moment until it finally spoke.

"Who are you?"

Sam smiled, "I'm here to save you."

"Why?"

"I'll explain it on the way."

The large room shook and some of the walls collapsed.

So much for being able to withstand the Flood.

The creature braced itself along the wall as rocks began falling from the ceiling.

"Why haven't I died yet?"

"As I said, you won't die the same way I did."

The creature turned to Sam, "You can hear my thoughts? Who are you?"

Sam smiled again, "I wouldn't call it "hearing' your thoughts, but call it what you want."

"You haven't answered my question, who are you?"

"My name is Sam; I was part of the SPARTAN II program."

The creature grunted again and clutched its side. "I'm not going to make it."

Sam handed the creature a vial filled with a special medicine that Usumir had given him a few years ago.

The creature took the vial and looked at it for a moment.

"Pour it on your wound, it will eliminate the pain and stop the bleeding."

The creature opened the vial and dumped all of the liquid onto its side.

A minute later the creature looked at Sam. "Thank you."

Sam nodded, "Let's keep going."

"How am I going to be able to get back to my ship? They'll shoot me down."

Sam laughed, "You're not going back to your ship right away."

The creature tilted its head quizzically.

"There's a base in the city that you'll be able to go to."

That went well.

Usumee and his Honor Guards followed a Human marine back out of the large building.

Even though that went well, I'm still uncomfortable about what that Colonel said.

Usumee and his Sangheili stepped into the Phantom's gravity lift and if headed back towards the Sangheili's Pride.

I wonder what was wrong with the Colonel, he didn't seem too happy about the idea of there being peace between the Humans, Sangheili, Lekgolo and Unggoy. Yet the General and the others were the exact opposite, that Colonel is up to something, I can feel it.

Usumee pushed those thoughts into the back of his mind, that wasn't important.

"Stop sneaking up on me like that Sheila, you're going to give me a heart attack one of these days."

Sheila laughed. "Oh come on bro."

"Hey, I'm a Corporal, you're a lieutenant."

"So?"

Wyatt smacked his forehead, "I mean that you should listen to me because I outrank you."

Sheila padded Wyatt's shoulder. "How come you didn't tell the Master Chief that you and I are siblings?"

Wyatt shrugged." I don't know, I guess it just slipped my mind."

Sheila laughed and smacked Wyatt's shoulder again, hard enough that it winded him. "I saw that look on your face when you saw me leading him to the bridge; you didn't want to say your last name, so you just said 'Corporal Wyatt'."

Wyatt coughed. "Your point is?"

"I only want to know why you didn't tell the Master Chief that your last name is 'Andrews'."

"Tell who that their last name is Andrews?" Someone from the outside of the tent asked.

Wyatt and Sheila both snapped to attention and saluted as the Master Chief entered the tent.

"At ease."

"What were you two saying?" Cortana asked.

Sheila looked at Wyatt and nudged his shoulder. "Tell him."

"Sir, I had forgotten to say that my name is Wyatt Andrews, and that Sheila is my younger sister, sir."

"That explains a bit." Cortana muttered to the Master Chief.

The Master Chief shook his head and exited the tent.

"See?" Sheila said shoving Wyatt again. "Was it really that hard?"

"No." Wyatt murmured rubbing his shoulder.

"Hawk 3 and 4 take flanking positions."

"Roger Hawk 1."

"Hawk 2, get below."

"Hawk 2 moving below."

"Sir, shouldn't we form a 'V'?"

"Good idea Hawk 5. Everyone form up in a 'V'."

Major Aidan Miller sighed; this was going to be a tough battle, he and his team had never taken on a Covenant carrier by themselves. Aidan watched as he team steered their LongSword fighters in a "V".

"Is everyone in formation?"

"I think so Major." Hawk 2 responded.

"Alright team; let's go blow up these Brute son-of-a-bitches."

"Yes sir!"

Something gives me that odd feeling that this is going to be a hard battle, and not all of us will survive.

Aidan and his team had been together for 3 years, the unit had started out with 45 LongSwords, now there were only 25. The team had taken the heaviest beating in the last week than they had in 3 years.

The group approached a Covenant ship, it didn't move as they drew closer.

"Sir."

An AI appeared on a small pedestal in between Aidan and his co-pilot.

"What is it Vlad?"

"The Brute ship doesn't seem to want to destroy us at the moment."

"I already know that."

"Well, the ship's captain is talking to someone, a Prophet."

Aidan sat up straighter. "A Prophet! I thought they were all dead!"

Vlad shook his head. "No, a few of the minor Prophets have come to power."

"Names?"

"One moment. The three new Prophets' names are: Respect, Doubt and Grief."

"Interesting, tell this to the ONI."

"I would but the ship is getting ready to go somewhere, I'm not sure where though."

"You mean they're getting ready to enter Slipspace?"

Vlad nodded.

Aidan keyed the COM, "Everyone, that ship is going to jump, and we're going to follow it."

"Do we know where it's heading?" Hawk 3 asked.

"No, that's why we're following it."

The Brute ships' bow started to glow and it started heading into the circle.

"Everyone get next to it, hurry."

Aidan's fighter's engines kicked on and the LongSword sped to the next of the ship, so did the rest of the team.

A second later Aidan and the rest of his unit were in Slipspace behind the Brute ship.

Before he knew it the Brute ship had exited Slipspace and steered towards an object.

"Vlad, what is that?"

"Give me a minute sir."

Vlad paused and concentrated for a moment. "That sir is a Halo."

Wyatt didn't know that a Carbine round had gone through his shoulder until blood spilled onto the ground. He reached for the biofoam in his pocket with a shaking hand but dropped it on the ground a few inches out of his reach

He wanted to scream for a medic; but that was the problem, the ones in the area were all dead.

A one of the Spartans noticed Wyatt, turned its head slightly to the others and walked over to Wyatt. The Spartan picked up the bottle of biofoam, knelt in front of Wyatt and inserted the nozzle into Wyatt's shoulder.

Wyatt winced, the biofoam stung, but he knew that it would save his life. The Spartan took out an adhesive bandage and put it on the wound on Wyatt's shoulder.

"Thanks."

"I owe you." The Spartan said as he stood.

The Spartan held out a hand to Wyatt, and helped him to stand.

"I'll have Cortana call in a Pelican to get you out of here."

"No," Wyatt said.

The Spartan looked at him curiously.

Wyatt picked up his Battle Rifle, "I can fight."

"It's a shame everyone can't learn how to use this ability."

"And they shouldn't, it's dangerous."

"Why?"

"If it were to fall into the wrong hands; think about it."

The creature sighed and shook it's head. "It would be nice, but you're right."

Sam nodded and looked off into the distance. "This is the first time I've taken physical form in awhile."

"It's seems like fun, just coming and going as you please."

Sam looked at the creature and smiled. "It is, after you learn how."

Sam stood. "You ready?"

The creature struggled to it feet. "Yeah."

"Good, we're almost there."

"You think that they're still in the city?"

"They are."

The creature nodded.

"It's getting dark, we should hurry. And I have one more thing I want to teach you."

"Good luck my friend."

"Thank you, I wish you could stay." The creature said smiling.

"Me too."

"I'll remember that song."

Sam nodded. "Goodbye."

A small wind blew and Sam vanished.

"Oly, oly, oxen free."

John turned to face who had been singing; an orange armored Elite was standing there smiling.

"All out in the free, we're all free."

"Rocalee?"

Author's Note:

I couldn't bring myself to kill Rocalee, so I found a way to bring him back. But I guess you all figured it was him awhile ago.