Halo: Rebirth

By: TRX108

Immediately after the events of Halo 4- Humanity is saved, the Didact defeated. The future looks bright, but at a terrible cost in John's eyes. While the Master Chief struggles with coming to terms with the loss of his closest companion, old enemies close in. But all is not as it seems, and all is not lost, the Rebirth is at hand.

Author's Note

Since it had been so long since my last update, I decided to power through another chapter today for you guys. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 13: The Brink

Flood Zone Echo, South America, Earth

Where am I?

What am I doing?

What... am I?

Sarah Palmer's head was a maelstrom of confusing thoughts and images. She could feel her body moving, but didn't know her destination. She could feel the drive within her, pushing her body towards a goal. But she didn't know the goal. And the drive, the drive wasn't hers.

This is... wrong...

Sarah tried to see through the strange greenish fog clouding here vision. She could make out dark shapes all around her. She could hear the sounds of crunching ground beneath her feet. She suddenly felt a sense of dread.

I shouldn't be here, with these shapes, I must get away...

Sarah willed her body to stop. She felt her movement slow. She poured her entire will, all her strength into stopping her legs. She felt her body stand still. And then the drive pushed back. It forced itself upon her, filled her body with one desire, to satiate a hunger that she knew wasn't hers. Sarah struggled against the invader attempting to take her body from her, but it was too strong. She felt her strength draining, her will crumbling. It seemed as if the drive was pushing her out of her own body into oblivion. Her vision clouded again and she could see nothing, could hear nothing, feel nothing. Nothing but the drive, the hunger, bending her body to its will. She sensed its singular purpose. Destruction.

Destruction of what?

She struggled to remember why she had to fight the drive.

What did it want to destroy?

Suddenly her senses began returning. She had no control, but could see her body reacting. She listened to the disturbing noises surrounding her. Screams were filling the air. She saw shapes, beings, running in every direction. And then she felt a presence in her mind.

"They are food... you must consume them..."

Sarah felt her body move towards a being, she could see it clearer now that she was closer. A woman. Her features vaguely familiar. She saw her arms grab the being, bringing it closer. Sarah saw a word on the being's clothes.

Doctor... what is doctor?

She struggled to remember. But the voice in her head spoke again.

"It is food, destroy it, consume it, feed us, feed yourself..."

That did not seem right to Sarah. She struggled to find an alternative meaning, but her head was spinning, all she could feel was the drive. She felt her grip on the woman tighten, saw the woman open her mouth as a scream came out. Sarah watched as her one arm grabbed the woman's neck and crushed it. She saw the body drop. A small balloon creature burrowed into the body, and the woman rose again. Sarah felt the terrible drive within her body lessen, the pain she was in subsided slightly.

"See... they are food... feed us... and we grow... and you grow... and the hunger will fade... but only if you feed it..."

Sarah began to understand. She had to feed to the hunger. And she would feel better. She could feel control of her body being returned to her.

"Feed yourself... and you feed us... and we become you... as you become we... we spread and consume... we wash over all... and carry all we consume with us... to feed the hunger... until there is nothing left but us... and then the hunger shall leave us... and we shall know...peace... what are you?"

Sarah struggled with the question the deep voice posed. The words it spoke made sense. She could feel the truth to them. The hunger would leave if she could consume all... but what was she? What did that make her? She struggled to find the answer.

I am... I am Sarah...

The name seemed familiar, she knew it was associated with her.

"NO!"

The voice thundered in her mind. Pain spread through her and the hunger grew strong. She felt herself slipping away again.

"Sarah is not you anymore... Sarah is us now... you are us... and what are we?"

The voice was softer now. Sarah struggled to remember the word she knew to call the voice.

You... are the... the... the Flood...

The word felt correct in her mind. She felt the presence the voice belonged to grow... happy?... she couldn't place the emotion.

"We are the Flood... we shall bring peace to all... by consuming all... and ending the hunger... you are we... so... what are you?"

She struggled to put the pieces together, her mind still a swirling vortex. Slowly she made sense of it.

You are the Flood... you are we... and I am we... we are the Flood... I... I am the Flood...

Something in her mind screamed at the realization. It told her she was wrong... that something was terribly wrong... but the presence of the voice pushed it away, it took the conflict from her, leaving her with the truth that she was indeed the Flood. The hunger swelled inside her, and she knew she had to feed it. She tried to move, and found her body responding to her commands. Her head began to clear, and with it, her purpose became clear as well. She was the Flood, and she would consume all to end the terrible hunger that plagued her.

"Now... there is something you must do for us... something only you can do..."

Forerunner Vessel, En route to Forerunner Shield World Genesis, Slipspace

John stared at the hard-light display in front of him, though his thoughts were elsewhere. His mind wandered to Earth. He wondered what was happening to the planet at the hands of the Flood... what was happening to humanity's home. A planet he had fought so hard to protect for so long, a planet that, unfortunately, he did not recognize as home. John had no home. Not anymore. It had been Reach. Then it had been where ever his brothers and sisters were. Now, there was no place he felt was his home. It didn't bother him like he knew it would bother others, but he could feel the emotions the Librarian had awakened with her modifications, he could feel them buried deep down, silently yearning for a place to call home. But they were so distant, they felt as if they belonged to someone else. He didn't need a home. The only thing he felt he truly needed, was Cortana. The AI he had recently confessed to loving. He reflected on that. He had spoken the words, but he wasn't entirely sure he knew what they meant. He was aware he had feelings and emotions pertaining to Cortana that he had never experienced. The only thing that came close was the feelings he had had for his Spartan brothers and sisters. It was similar, but not exactly the same. John breathed heavily through his nose, a wave a frustration running over him. He didn't like the unsure feeling he had about his feelings regarding Cortana. He almost wished they would go away. But as that thought crossed his mind an aching started within him. Another new feeling he was unaccustomed to. He wondered how Cortana felt about all of this.

He shifted his thoughts to Cortana herself. He was concerned about her. He recalled the Librarian's warning, that she would die soon if he didn't get her to Genesis quickly. John eyed the top left corner of his HUD where Cortana's window always appeared. He wanted to ask her how she was doing. He was about to ask the question when she popped onto his HUD, almost startling him, almost.

"You're staring at my spot," she said, her head cocked to the side, a sly look across her face.

"I wanted to ask how you're doing," he said in his usual tone of voice.

Cortana smiled meekly. "I'm okay." She looked down. "I mean, as okay as a dying AI can be." She laughed slightly, but stopped when she saw that John was not amused. "I'm sorry, I know you're concerned about me."

"I'm worried about you," he corrected.

Cortana gave him a sympathetic smile. "I'm okay, really. Aside from the occasional glitch I'm running quite well all things considered."

John's eyes shifted to the forward viewport, his thoughts drifting back to their earlier confession.

Cortana studied his features closely, knowing there was something else on his mind, and guessing it what it had to do with. She decided to spare him the act of having to bring it up. "So...," she said softly, "about our, confession."

John's eyes flicked back to her. "What about it?"

Cortana fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Maybe we should talk about it while nothing else is going on?"

John thought for a second. "Okay."

Cortana continued. "I have a feeling, that maybe, it would be better to not, continue down that path, at this time. We have so much on our shoulders as it is, we probably shouldn't through emotions we barely understand into the mix."

John considered her words. They made him feel, bad. The ache was welling up inside him again. Something was obviously telling him that what she was proposing was not what he wanted. "I don't think I want that."

Cortana blinked, looking just a little bit shocked. "What, what do you want then?" There was a hint of hopefulness in her voice that unsettled John, making him unsure how to answer the simple question.

He thought about it. He let everything else fade from his mind except for her question. He focused on nothing else, and let the answers flow to him. He wanted Cortana to be safe. He wanted make sure that she would live, even at the cos of his life. He wanted to see her standing in front of him after he brought her to Genesis. He wanted to be able to reach out and feel her there in front of him, finally safe from rampancy. He wanted to return her safely to Earth, and never leave her side. Then something unexpected flashed through his mind. He wondered what it would be like to touch her skin, to feel it, to feel her body close to his. John opened his eyes and frowned. He had never thought about anything like that before. Never had he actually wanted to touch another simply for the sake of touching them. It made him feel, strange. He noticed Cortana staring expectantly at him. He recalled the thoughts that had flashed through his mind, and told her each one of them, leaving out the strange one at the end. Cortana looked as if she might cry. John frowned again. The thoughts had made him feel, content. Why had they affected her adversely? Perhaps he knew even less about feelings than he thought.

"What's wrong?" he asked her, genuinely confused.

Cortana shook her head. "Nothing. Nothing at all actually! That was, I couldn't ask for more, John. We want the same things, sorta, and as long as we do what we want, I don't think anything else matters. In my opinion, that's love, doing what we want, and being happy." She smiled at him now, apparently happy with what he said.

John ran her words through his mind. he decided to trust Cortana to know more about the subject than he. Happiness was not something he had experienced often. But almost all the times he did experience it, he had been with Cortana. A beep from the console in front of him snapped his attention back to the task at hand. He brought up the readout the beep had alerted him to.

They were approaching Genesis. He alerted Hartlett and Adrienne over the comm.

"This is it...," Cortana said, her voice laced with both anticipation and fear. She clasped her hands in front of her right below her chin.

Hartlett and Adrienne arrived in the cockpit.

"Finally," Adrienne said, "That was a long ass trip. Remind me to bring something to do on the way home. Hope this place has a souvenir shop."

John eyed the countdown clock. 5...4...3...2...1...

The ship dropped out of slipspace. There in front of them, was a Forerunner Shield World. The ships IFF indicator instantly lit up and tagged the massive structure. John looked at the readout.

[SHIELD WORLD 099 - GENESIS - ALLIED]

John let out the breath he'd been holding. The means to save Cortana, and the galaxy, was finally within sight.

UNSC Flagship Infinity, Earth Orbit

Captain Lasky studied the battle reports in front of him. With the help of the Arbiter's forces, they had contained the Flood outbreak at all locations, save for one. Flood Zone Echo, where he'd sent Cmdr. Palmer and the entire Spartan-IV Corps., was out of contact again. The last report he'd received stated that the Forward Operating Base on the edge of the city was under attack, and then all communications were lost. Scans indicated that the shield walls the elites had setup were still in place, which was Lasky's only reason he hadn't lost hope. As long as the Flood were contained, the chance of getting through the conflict without having to nuke a whole city still existed. Lasky heard a commotion from the comm station and turned to the officer stationed there.

"What's that transmission, ensign?"

The junior officer frowned. "Having trouble cleaning it up, sir. But it appears to have originated from Zone Echo."

Lasky's hopes rose slightly. If anyone could come back from the brink of defeat, it was Sarah Palmer.

The ensign turned to him. "I've got it cleared up a bit, Captain."

Lasky rushed to the station. "Play it."

The screen filled with static and white noise before flickering to an image of a Spartan in Scout armor.

Sarah, Lasky thought smiling to himself. Audio started to break through the white noise.

"Sir we...hostile...retrea...ne...immediate...vac..."

Lasky's hopes dropped. The Spartans needed evac. Which meant the situation was definitely dire. Lasky returned to the center of his bridge.

"Get Pelican Wing Delta prepped for emergency evac. Let's get our people out of there. Inform the commander we're on our way."

The ensign relayed the captain's message to the planet below.

Flood Zone Echo, South America, Earth

A transmission came back through the damaged comm array. She struggled to hear the quiet voice. It was difficult to make out between the static and the hunger growing restless within her. It knew there was a large meal coming soon. The woman in the Scout armor relished the thought of sating the hunger within her, bringing peace. The Flood had said only she could take them to this prize. She could remember the voice inside her telling her she was special, that she was the beginning of a new Flood that would be able to consume all and end the horrible hunger within them, the hunger that brought them so much pain. She listened hard. She made out a few words. They were sending ships for them. The hunger became ravenous within her, the thought of such a grand prize fueling its terrible desire.

She tried to remember what the prize was. A massive ship... called... Infinity. Yes that was the name. A fitting name for a meal of its size. The hunger would be greatly satisfied with it. She turned slowly towards the landing pad. She still had a difficult time controlling her body, constantly fighting the hunger for control. The voice in her head had told her she had to keep the hunger at bay until she was with a certain food source called the captain. Yes, the captain of Infinity was the one the hunger needed first. Then the rest of the prize would follow.

She heard something in the distance. A sound she was familiar with. It grew louder until a ship appeared. It landed on the pad in front of her. The hunger wanted her to rush to the ship and consume those inside it, but she resisted. The captain was the prize. She started towards the ship, her movements somewhat erratic. Two beings rushed out of the ship towards her. As they approached, the hunger swelled, urging her to grab the nearest and consume it. She was overcome and did grab the being, but regained control in time to stop her body from tearing it apart. The being spoke to her.

"You alright, ma'am?"

She tried to answer, but the voice that came out sounded, foreign.

"I... am... not well," she heard her body stammer. The beings carried her into the ship. The same being spoke to her again.

"Are there any other survivors?"

She felt her body respond again, "No."

The being slowly turned away, its head down. The hunger wanted to rip the head off, but she resisted again. She had to wait for the captain.

UNSC Flagship Infinity, Earth Orbit

Captain Lasky waited in the briefing room just off the bridge. Cmdr. Palmer's Pelican was just docking and she would soon arrive here to give him the report he was so dreading. The pilot had informed Infinity that the commander had been the only survivor at the landing zone. Lasky knew that she would never have left any of her Spartans down there, which meant that all the Spartan-IVs, were gone. He couldn't fathom what horrors were down in Zone Echo that had wiped out the entire Spartan-IV Corps.

He clasped his hands behind his back and paced the length of the room. Palmer she be there any moment. As he finished his thought, the doors opened and a Spartan in Scout armor slowly entered the room. The door closed behind her. Lasky took a deep breath, turning to look out the large window. He heard Sarah approaching his side.

When she reached him she stopped and stood rigidly. Lasky pitied her, but knew that it was the last thing she would want from him.

"Commander, I...," he hesitated. "Oh hell... Sarah, I'm sorry for what happened down there. And I know this will be hard, but what happened down there?

Sarah...

The name sounded familiar to her, but the hunger pushed the thought aside. The captain... was this the captain? She couldn't see its face.

"C-Captain?" she asked stumbling over the word a little.

Lasky took a deep breath, still looking out the window. "Go ahead, Commander."

This was it! The captain...

The hunger exploded inside her. Her hands removed her helmet.

Lasky turned to her, and nearly yelled in surprise. The face was Sarah Palmer's, but the skin was a sickly greenish brown with dark veins running across it. Lasky stood unmoving, unsure of what stood before him.

The hunger took control of her body, she could feel its strength and desire pushing her aside. Her hands grabbed the being in front of her and slammed it onto the table, obviously injuring it because it put up barely any resistance. Her left hand ripped the armor and undersuit off of her right forearm. The sickly greenish brown skin pulsed before two small tendrils shot out. Her left hand grabbed the captain being and held it down as the tendrils from the right arm plunged into its chest. As the being screamed, the hunger within her screamed with anticipation, knowing the Infinity would soon be consumed.

Forerunner Vessel, On Approach to Forerunner Shield World Genesis

John piloted the ship towards the entrance to the interior of the massive artificial sphere. Cortana's image on his HUD seemed unable to remain still. He considered asking if she was alright when a proximity alarm sounding.

"Hartlett, what's that?" he asked.

The Spartan-IV hesitated. "Sir,... there's a massive vessel coming out of the shield world."

John spun towards the forward viewport to see a massive Forerunner style ship approaching. He grimaced. Prometheans. As he maneuvered the ship away from the massive enemy, he noticed strange growths on the outside of the vessel, growths that looked exactly like...

John felt his heart rate increase. The situation had just become even worse. Cortana's frightened looking avatar began to shout at him.

"John! Its i-infected!" she yelled as her program glitched, causing his entire HUD to do s as well.

"Um... it's gaining on us and I'm detecting weapons powering up!" Adrienne exclaimed. John wrenched the controls, sending the ship into a sharp diagonal dive.

The infected forerunner ship opened fire with its massive weapons. Despite John's best efforts, the ship was hit multiple times and alarms began to wail. John continued his attempts to evade the incoming fire, when he noticed a massive hard-light cannon tracking them. He looked at Cortana's terrified avatar, the weapon fired, and the last thing he saw was Cortana scream.

Forerunner Shield World Requiem

He paced back and forth in front of the bay doors. The display had indicated that it would take only one more hour to prepare the ship for launch. That was at least an hour and a half ago, he thought bitterly. Finally, the doors in front of him opened and revealed a ship exactly like the one he'd seen 117 leave in. Wasting no time, he ran up into the ship and began the pre-flight sequence. It took him a few moments to figure out the hard-light displays but soon the ships engines hummed to life and it floated off the ground. He quickly piloted the ship towards the exit of the massive shield world, glad to finally be leaving the artificial planet. He'd had the worst run of luck while there. Three times he'd almost had his objective and three times it was snatched from him.

He was determined not to let it happen again. He spun up the FTL and punched in the coordinates, then retreated to one of the cabins in the aft section of the vessel as the ship jumped into slipspace. He layed down on a bed, thinking of what he'd do once he finally caught up to 117 and his annoying companions. If he caught them before they were ground side, he'd have to dogfight with 117, not something he wanted to try. He was not pilot by any means. No, his best bet would be to allow them to land, destroy their ship, and hopefully kill the tree while managing to keep Cortana's chip intact.

He sighed. It would be so much easier if he didn't have to actually bring her back, a detail of his assignment he still didn't understand since she was being decommissioned anyway. But, orders were orders. If only he'd received his orders before 117 went off on his little quest to save the galaxy. It really was a major pain in his ass having to deal with the Master Chief. He let out a slow deep breath.

In another place, at another time, himself and 117 would could have been part of the same team. He thought back to when he told the Chief that they were more alike than he thought. He hadn't revealed entirely how true that really was. He had been enhanced using techniques similar to what had made 117 into the super soldier he was, the same procedures that were used for the Spartan-IVs. They were both human weapons. But at this point, any attempt to reason with 117 would prove futile, so he would have to somehow incapacitate the man. No easy feat. A beep sounded and he got up to return to the cockpit.

The long trip was finally over, he was approaching Genesis. The ship dropped out of slipspace and Leach felt his mouth open in astonishment. 117's small ship was engaged with a massive forerunner ship, and losing badly. He saw the ship attempt to dodge the hard-light bolts furiously, but to no avail. A massive bolt hit the small ship and his sensors registered a power failure on board. He checked for life signs and discovered all three were still alive, but without power he knew that wouldn't last long. Leach watched the massive ship close on the crippled vessel, and he ran through his options in his head. Whatever he decided to do, he had to decide quickly.

UNSC High Command, Earth

Lord Hood paced back and forth in his command center. I'm too old to be dealing with crisis situations like this still. Too damn old. He wished he had retired last year. However, he hadn't, and he had to command the UNSC through the current Flood invasion. Unfortunately, things seemed dire.

Twenty minutes ago they had lost all contact with the Infinity. Sensors had not detected any hostile ships in orbit and as far as they could tell from the ground and from the ships in Infinity's task force, nothing unusual had happened. Yet, they were still unable to communicate with the massive vessel. Hood continued his pacing, wondering what could possibly have happened, and hoping it was simply a comm array malfunction. If they somehow lost Infinity now...

He shook his head, unwilling to entertain the train of thought. Suddenly, one of the comm officers exclaimed something unintelligible. Hood immediately turned to him.

"What is it, son?" he asked, hoping for a positive response. The officer turned to him.

"Sir, transmission from Infinity."

Hood smiled. "Put it through."

"Audio only, sir," the officer said as he pressed this console.

A screech of static erupted throughout the command center, causing everyone to grab their ears before it finally subsided.

A voice began speaking.

"Humans... I have waited thousands and thousands of years for this moment..."

Hood tried to contain his shock. The voice sounded almost like Captain Lasky, but with another voice pushing through it.

"Your greatest ship is falling to us...soon we shall have consumed all aboard. Then we shall consume your planet, and we shall leave no survivors... None shall escape the Flood."