Chapter Seventeen
I was curled up on the bed, staring off into space.
I'd gotten my cast off a few days ago, though it was still in a thick brace, so I was able to curl both of my knees up to my chest with some difficulty.
I had one hand out, twirling a stylus through the air above me. It was an absentminded exercise; I had nothing else to do. Sketching and reading sounded boring, and so did walking around the ship.
The door slid open and John walked in.
We'd been in slipspace for so long that he, and the rest of Blue Team, had taken their armor off.
"You're getting better." He nodded to the stylus floating in the air.
I pulled it into my hands and tapped it with my fingernails. "Thanks. I'm trying to get better at the small things."
He sat at the desk and pulled a datapad out.
I sent the stylus floating over to him.
He plucked it out of the air. "Thanks."
I laid down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. "Do you think we're going to stop for supplies soon?"
"Why?"
"I-I was going to ask the Captain if I could go down to the surface and buy more clothes."
"I think you look fine."
I flopped a sleeve at him, though I knew it wouldn't reach him. I was in a long-sleeved shirt of his, and when I stood up it fell to my knees. It was practically a dress.
"I can't go around wearing your shirts, what would the Captain think? Or Davidson." My nose wrinkled. "He'd kill you."
John didn't say anything, but I could feel his amusement.
I was right, though, Davidson really would kill him.
oOOOo
The Captain had let me go planetside with Davidson on the colony of Victoria, a tense trip thanks to the colony's hatred of the UNSC, and I'd bought a few bags' worth of clothes.
It was such a relief to wear new clothes after four months of the same outfits. Four months of sweatpants and t-shirts.
Well, no more. I was wearing overalls and a black and white striped shirt, walking down the halls with Davidson. Discussing the strange knowledge I'd received on the shield world.
"I-I don't know how to bring it up."
"Do you want me to tell someone, caramela?" He looked down at me.
"I...maybe. It's just such a weird thing to say. Ho-how am I supposed to tell someone that there's a series of ancient machines designed to kill everyone? Who would I even talk to?"
He shrugged. "You could talk to the professor about it. I'm sure she'd know who to talk to."
I nodded slowly. "I know. It's just...what am I supposed to say?"
"Just tell her what you know."
With a bit of a breath, I looked up at the ceiling. "Serina?"
"Yes, Ms. Clark?" Serina answered in her borderline-sarcastic voice.
"D-do you know where Professor Anders is?"
"She's currently in the observation deck. She looks rather busy."
"Thanks, Serina." I looked up at Davidson. "I'll go."
He nodded. "Do you want me to come with you?"
"No, I-I'll be okay."
The hallway leading up to the observation deck was empty.
When I walked up to the door, my hand prepared to press the intercom, the door slid open for me. It had been keyed to my DNA.
"Tawny?" Anders looked up at me from a hologram. "What do you need?"
I shuffled into the room. "O-oh, um, I just wanted to talk to you about something."
She gestured to a desk chair. "You know you can sit."
"Thanks." I settled in the chair. "I wanted to talk to you about something that happened on the...on the shield world."
She perked up. "What is it?"
"You-you know how I got those new abilities?"
She nodded.
"I got something else, too," I admitted. "I can- I know things. Things I should have no way of knowing, but I do."
"Like what?"
"Well...those things that attacked us? They're-they're called the Flood, and they've been here before." I swallowed. "They were devastating, so the Forerunners made weapons called Halo to get rid of them."
"Is Halo still operational?" She leaned forward. "We could get rid of them before they had the chance to leave that planet."
"It is, but that's not a good thing. The Forerunners couldn't get rid of the Flood, s-so they made the Halo array to kill off all of the Flood's food."
Anders's slender eyebrows tipped down. "What does the Flood feed off of?"
I bit my lip. "Sentient life."
Her eyes widened and she sat back in her chair. "Well, that's not good."
I shook my head.
"Do you know where the Halos are?"
I nodded. "Only one. I...I think I can find out where the others are, but I don't know for sure."
"Where is it?"
"I-I don't know how to describe it. It's, um, could I- could I just show you?"
Anders narrowed her eyes. "How?"
"I can- I can show you with my mind."
Curiosity blossomed in her. She nodded slowly. "Of course. Go ahead."
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I reached out to her mind, emitting the same frequency as her.
I felt her shock when she felt my presence in her mind. But I remained calm and focused.
By the time I'd singled in on the 'memory' of the Halo, she was curious. She tried to prod at my mind, but she realized it was counterproductive and stopped.
I pushed the knowledge to her, hoping that's all that would send.
Her eyes opened. "I got it! It's-it's right by the Epsilon Eridani system."
She rushed to a computer, typing in a set of coordinates.
"I have to tell Cutter about this," she breathed.
oOOOo
I was sitting on the bed, taking notes again. I was finishing up a diagram when the door slid open.
John walked in, dropping a datapad on his desk before he joined me on the bed.
He sat next to me, watching me draw the rotating pieces of a Pelican wing. There was something on his mind.
I added one more curved line and looked up at him. "What's up?"
"They're transferring us to the Pillar of Autumn."
We were leaving the Spirit of Fire?
I closed my notebook. "A-all of us?"
He nodded.
"Why?"
"They want you there, when they go to the Halo ring."
"Oh." I nodded. "Got it. When do we...when are we leaving?"
I was hoping we'd have at least a few days to pack and say goodbye.
"Tomorrow."
"Wow. They didn't give us much time to pack, did they?" I floated the notebook, pencil, and datapad onto the desk. "So what do we do for the rest of the day?"
"You could pack."
I leaned against his arm. "Yeah..."
He noticed my sudden lethargy. "Are you hungry?"
I shook my head. "Besides, I'm comfortable in this."
He looked down at me; I was dressed in one of his shirts again. It was unprofessional enough that I didn't leave his room like this.
"I won't have anything to wear." He was endeared and amused by how small I looked in his clothes.
"You can wear my clothes, of course," I teased sleepily.
He grinned. "I won't be able to give them back when I'm done."
I laced my fingers through his, running my thumb up and down his hand. "I'm glad we're staying together."
"So am I."
I brushed a few stray locks of blonde hair out of my eyes. "I-I really should pack, though."
"You should."
I pushed myself off of the bed, tugging the shirt down, and made my way to the locker. John didn't have many clothes, since he typically wore the armor and biosuit, so most of the space for clothing was taken up by mine.
I sat on the floor and grabbed the military-issued duffle bag, pulling clothes into it.
My moves were sluggish and unwilling. There was a weight in my heart.
"I'm going to miss Davidson," I eventually murmured.
John didn't say anything, but he was listening. He pushed up from the bed and walked over to me.
"A-and Phong." I wiped at my eyes to get rid of the few tears that had welled up.
I stood up and turned to face him. He was behind me, kneeling on the ground. His hand was on my shoulder.
"I...I didn't even want to come to this ship, why am I so upset about leaving?"
"I don't know."
"I..." I wiped my eyes again, feeling vaguely like a child. "I don't want to leave the Spirit of Fire."
John ran his thumb over my cheek, wiping at stray tears.
Even on his knees, he was as tall as me. It made me feel so small.
I looked down and quietly asked, "Do you think I could say goodbye to them?"
"Maybe."
I leaned into his touch as his hand lingered on my cheek. "I want to."
He stood up. "Come on."
I grabbed his hand, walking out into the hallway. I didn't have shoes on, though that was a normal occurrence, and I was still dressed in John's shirt. But I couldn't bring myself to care.
The long sleeves of his shirt scrunched up on my right hand, which was holding John's, and hung down below my left hand.
I looked up. "Serina?"
"Yes, Ms. Clark?"
"Do you know where Davidson is?"
"He's in the gym."
John set off.
I looked up at the ceiling as we walked. "Thank you."
We made our way through the ship, passing several soldiers on the way.
John looked down at me. "Will you be alright?"
I nodded. "Yeah."
He didn't understand why I was upset, but he understood that I was. And, like the amazing person he was, he wanted to make sure I would be okay.
He knew that his lack of emotional response to a lot of things wasn't normal.
I wanted to help him with that. I just...didn't know how.
We walked into the gym. I reached out, closing my eyes and sifting through the minds I could feel. Not what they were thinking, I didn't like being that invasive, but how they felt. Who they were.
"He's in the back," I finally realized.
John led the way through the gym. My bare feet slapped against the ground as Davidson came into view. He was sparring with someone.
We walked up just in time to see him get pinned.
He tapped the ground thrice. His opponent, a much younger and more lithe man, let him up. He rolled his shoulder and shot the young man a good-natured glare.
When he saw me his gaze lit up. "Tawny!"
He looked me up and down.
"What are you wearing?"
I twisted my ring around my finger, my gaze on the ground. "We-we're leaving, Davidson."
"What do you mean?" He leaned against the ropes.
"Blue Team and I are-are moving from the Spirit of Fire."
His heart dropped as he jumped down to us.
"I see." He cleared his throat. "I'm going to miss you, mi chiquilla."
"I'll miss you too." Tears welled up in my eyes.
"Aw, come here, bicha." He encased me in his arms, patting my back.
I pressed my face into his shoulder. "I don't want to leave."
"You gotta do what you gotta do, Tawny." He was sad, but not devastated. "We'll see each other again."
"I hope so."
"I can promise, I'll see you again. Here," he pulled out his communicator, "what's your number?"
I listed it off - I'd bought a new comm on Victoria, only to listen to music - and he made a new contact.
"See? Just like that. Come on, let's go celebrate your last day." He wrapped an arm around my shoulder.
oOOOOo
Author's Note: John is twenty by now; he thought Tawny forgot and kind of hoped she had since he didn't want to celebrate. Kelly advised Tawny to let it go because she knew John wouldn't have wanted any special attention. Tawny doesn't like it, but she could feel John's emotional stance on the matter so she conceded ig
