Chapter Thirteen

The pathway through the canyon was very cramped. At times it was only possible for us to walk single file, instead of side by side.

"So," I pushed up to another ledge on the pathway, "how are we supposed to get the Covenant away from the fleet without destroying it?"

John held out his hand to help me. "Thought we'd try shooting them."

"How original." I took his hand and pulled myself up next to him. "Thank you."

He straightened up, facing the Forerunner structure. We were at the end of the path, and it opened up into yet another valley. Beyond the valley was the structure, scarcely a few hundred feet away.

But, between us and the structure, there was an entire Covenant company. Sangheili, Kig Yar, Unggoy, you name it.

"John, there's even more in the tower," I whispered.

"Get your helmet-"

He broke off, tackling me to the ground. He rolled in the air so that we both landed on his back, then so that he was between me and the enemy-filled valley. Then he immediately laid out over a stone and took aim.

I didn't understand why until I smelled something sulfuric, and realized that the skin on the right side of my face was uncomfortably warm. A sniper had shot at me with a needler round, and he'd just barely missed.

If John hadn't shoved me down he would have shot me through the head.

I scrambled back, my heart beating up an ugly rhythm as my stomach twisted; I'd almost died. The shard would have gone right through my face.

My fingers tore through my hair - the hair on the right side was burned, and still warm - as my back hit the stone wall behind me.

John was laying over a stone, shooting down as many soldiers as he could in a vengeance.

When he'd taken down as many as his rifle could reach, he turned to face me. "Are you alright?"

His gloved hand was cold on my cheek.

I struggled to keep my breathing steady. If he hadn't been there…

I screwed my eyes shut. "I'm fine."

His thumb smeared a tear that was making its way down my face. "Are you sure?"

"I-I'm fine. We need- we have to stop them."

He took my helmet from the ground beside me, sliding it over my head. "I won't let them hurt you."

I grabbed his hand. "Please don't let yourself get hurt. Please."

He pulled me to my feet. "Come on."

He couldn't promise me that, and we both knew it. That truth hung over me, serving to make me feel even worse as we walked down.

We moved into the valley together. Most of the Covenant soldiers had been killed, and those who hadn't were quickly acquainted with several bullets. I tried to fight a few, but I couldn't seem to focus. I couldn't stop thinking about how wrong things could have gone.

I could feel the singed hair. It was only a few inches long; just long enough to fall into my eye. Like a bad pair of bangs, but only on the right. The blackened ends served to remind me how close I'd come to death.

John tossed his rifle aside, having used up all of his ammo, and grabbed an alien rifle from a fallen Sangheili. "How many are in the structure?"

I gazed up at the structure. It was a tower, with two ramps on either side for us to enter. A large open balcony, with another ramp in the center that led even further into the tower.

My eyes closed, and I reached out. "A lot. At least ten Unggoy, and seven Kig Yar. There's only one Sangheili."

"Take the Elite. I'll handle the rest."

I nodded, trying to prepare myself. Get myself back in the mindset of a warrior.

"Right," I whispered. "I can do that."

"Let me know if you can't."

My gaze fell. "I can. I'm...I've got this."

He placed a hand on my shoulder, running it down my arm. For a brief moment it was like we were alone. Safe. With nothing to worry about but each other.

Then he turned to face the tower. "Let's go."

We climbed up the ramp. I pointed. "Three Kig Yar around the corner."

John checked the ammo in his strange green rifle. "Get to the Elite. I'll cover you."

"Okay." I set off.

As I rounded the corner the Kig Yar opened fire.

A short pulse sent them tumbling back. I heard John's rifle tearing through them as I turned left once more and up a ramp.

In the room at the top were four Unggoy and three Kig Yar. I splintered my mind and killed all of the Covenant soldiers there.

Including a Sangheili. The invisible foe fell to the ground a mere two feet from me. An energy sword clattered out of his hand; he'd been about to assassinate me.

I picked up the sword. It was so big, I could use both hands to pick it up and have room to spare on the handle. When I ignited it, a massive blade of plasma came to life. It was almost as tall as me.

I wouldn't be able to fight with it; it was too big to maneuver. So I dropped it.

There was something...some ancient knowledge calling to me. From within the tower; there was something beyond the doorway at the back of this room.

I looked down over the edge of the platform. John was below me, kneeling over a dead Unggoy. He picked something off of the body and threw it towards the remaining soldiers.

"Grenade!"

The explosive detonated as the Unggoy spoke, reducing him and his companions to corpses.

I gripped the metal beneath my hands. "John, there's something in here. In the tower."

He started walking towards the ramp. "Can it help us find the ships?"

"I...something feels wrong. Something else is happening. Something bigger."

"Bigger than a Forerunner fleet?" He moved up next to me, putting a hand on my shoulder to make sure I was okay.

"I know." I looked down. "But I-I really feel like this isn't it. The Domain is weak here, but it's warning me. Something b-bad is going to happen, John."

"Hey. We're okay."

"We were okay five minutes before I got kidnapped, too!" I was shocked at my own outburst. Especially when tears welled up in my eyes.

John wrapped one arm around my back, using the other to hold my head to his chest. I closed my eyes, pretending the lining of my helmet was his chest. I felt more tears fall down my cheeks.

"I won't let anything hurt you."

I wanted to be selfish, and take comfort in those words. But I couldn't.

I wrapped my arms around John's waist and whispered, "I'm not just scared for me."

"We'll be fine." He pulled away and brushed the side of my helmet with his fingertips. "Are you okay?"

I was glad he couldn't see my face. If he saw my tears, it would make him worry about me more. Then he'd focus too much on me, and not on staying alive.

So I nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Then let's move."

We walked towards the door, which opened automatically for us. There was a small, empty room. A platform, with a shaft above us. We were in an elevator.

Just as the doors sealed the comm came through again. A garbled male voice could be heard, though I couldn't make out any words.

"I heard something that time." John turned to me. "Is it strong enough?"

I grabbed his arm with both hands, using him to keep myself upright as I focused on the transmission. "I can't tell where they are...but I can get a ship name. 'UNSC Song of the East'."

"Haven't heard of them."

"They're friendly, though." I turned to watch the shaft run by us as we ascended. "That's good."

The elevator stopped and the door behind us opened. I turned into a large room, with a platform in front of us. John stepped out first, his scavenged rifle up and ready to fire.

A hoard of flying robots rushed up from below the platform, moving away from us.

John took aim. "Sentinels."

"They're not after us," I realized.

"Good." He lowered his gun and bitterly regarded the Sentinels.

I walked up to the edge of the platform. There were other platforms, each about eight feet apart. There was a floor beneath us, ten feet down.

Across the way was another platform with some sort of console on it.

"We need to get over there." I pointed towards the console.

John glanced at me before jumping down. I floated myself to the ground, not willing to jump from that height.

"What is it?" He nodded to the console that I was so insistent to get to.

"I don't know. It's connected to a system of sorts. It's worth a look, isn't it?"

He nodded.

We walked between the bases of the platforms. I looked around the massive room, with the overgrowing, flowering vines wrapping around the metal.

At the very peak of the tower, sunlight pierced through. It was a fake sun...but that didn't make it any less majestic.

"This is beautiful," I whispered reverently.

John's hand came down to rest on my helmet. I could feel his love for me, though it was tinged with an ever-present fear that I would get hurt. If he could feel my emotions he would feel much the same thing.

There were ramps to the left and right, leading up to the platform. I made my way up, my eyes on the console. Trying to find out what secrets it held.

The console was the same height as my chest. I placed my hand on top of it and called up a hologram. It was a map of the entire world.

I read some of the information below it. "O-okay, this planet is called Requiem. Should we look for the fleet first, or the Song of the East?"

"Find our ship first," John said. "We may need backup."

"Got it." I nodded.

Then I pushed the transmission into the cartographer, trying to pull up its location. The system crashed, and my mind was thrown back into my body.

I staggered. I would have fallen, but John placed an arm on my back.

"What happened?"

I brought a hand up to my helmet. "I...don't know. It just quit working."

"Can we get it back online?"

I closed my eyes and felt around for anything connected to the cartographer. "Okay...there are two power nodes. They'll get it back online, I think."

"Where?"

I pointed to the front right corner of the room. "One there, a-and one on the other side. I'll take that one, okay?"

"Are you sure?" He didn't like the idea of splitting up, even for such a short distance.

"I'll be okay. It shouldn't take long."

"Be careful."

I placed my hand over his, which was on my shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll be fine."

"Isn't that my line?" He looked down at me with a bit of an amused air.

I grinned. "Yeah. I really will, though." I forced down the ominous pulse from the Domain, which seemed determined to prove me wrong. "I promise."

"Meet back here," John said.

I nodded. Then I turned to the right, for the node.

It was in a separate chamber, on a platform in the middle of a massive circular shaft. There was a hardlight bridge that could be activated to walk across the chasm.

I found the controls fairly easily and activated the bridge. Then I walked across. In the center of the round platform was a beam of orange light. Inside the beam was another control panel.

My eyes scanned the room. It really was beautiful - the Forerunners couldn't be faulted for their architecture. Every single Forerunner construction was breathtaking, even to people with no particular bond to the ancient race.

I activated the node and felt the room buzz with energy. It set me on edge, like a caffeine overdose. I wanted to move and do something.

My eyes closed as I forced the jittery feeling away. I made my way back across the hardlight bridge.

There was something in the main room. Lots of somethings. Covenant soldiers.

In the time it had taken me to reactivate the node, Covenant forces had infiltrated and covered the room. They were everywhere.

Oh, god, John was by himself.

He could handle himself, I whispered silently. He'd been trained for this.

But...I hadn't.

I was by myself, too. And I wasn't ready to be by myself with the Covenant just yet.

The Unggoy nearest me jerked, one at a time, as bullets pierced their skulls.

My head shot up. John was on a platform above me, halfway across the room, with his handgun in hand.

He would cover me from above.

I shot out of the short hallway, sending out a massive shockwave. It wrought havoc on the occupants of the room - all who were in front of me, anyway - and sent them flying back. I picked up a group of Unggoy and sent them crashing into the ground.

Not only did the impact kill them, it crushed three Kig Yar.

I didn't like having to kill them, but I knew it was a necessity. I could only pray their time in the Domain was peaceful.

Sweet Jesus, how high was my body count at this point? Did I even want to know?

Why did I even have a body count?

I took out the last few Sangheili with a savage pulse and turned to John. "Are you okay?"

"Are you?" He walked up to me.

I nodded. "Yeah. Did you get the node online?"

"Affirmative. Is the cartographer back up?"

"It should be. Let's- oh, my god. John, what happened?" I picked his left arm up to display the burned bio suit. He'd been shot in the side.

It wasn't serious, it didn't even burn through the suit, but it looked painful.

"It's just a nick," he said.

"This isn't a nick, John."

He pulled his arm out of my grip and wrapped it around me. "I'm fine."

"What if you're not?" I asked against his chest.

"I have to be."

I let my helmet fall against him with a thunk. "That's not fair to you."

"It doesn't matter what's fair." He put a hand on the back of my head to deepen the embrace. "It matters that the Covenant don't get their hands on a Forerunner fleet."

As he pulled away I grabbed his hands. "Are you sure it doesn't hurt?"

"I barely feel it," he assured me. "The suit's already administering biofoam."

"O-okay…"

"Come on. Let's see if the cartographer's working."

I followed him up to the console once more. When I pressed my hand against it, a hologram of the planet pulled up once more.

A grin spread over my face. "It's working."

"Can you find the Song?"

"Let me try…" I once again sent my mind into the system, having it focus on the coordinates from the comm.

My eyes opened to little red circles all over the planet. It wouldn't triangulate the signal.

"Hang on. Maybe I can-" An alarm sounded, and the hologram flashed red, before the signal reappeared.

In the middle of the planet.

"How are we going to get there?" John asked.

I wracked my brain. "I can try to find a- wait! John, I can teleport!"

"Can you take both of us?"

"I can try."

He nodded. "Do it."

I grabbed his hand and closed my eyes. Focused on the coordinates. Sent out my mind.

I felt myself starting to dissolve - it was a funny, fizzy feeling.

Then, without warning, it cut off.

My eyes opened. We were still by the cartographer.

I looked down at myself. "I-I don't understand."

"Maybe you can only do it yourself," John suggested.

"That's dumb." I frowned. "The one time I try to use this power on purpose, it doesn't even work!"

"We still need a way down."

"Yeah, I know." I turned back to the console and pulled something else up. "Most installations, Halo or otherwise, have a-a series of teleporters. That's how Professor Anders and I escaped th-the Covenant the first time we were captured."

"Can we get to a terminus from here?"

"I can find out." My eyes were scanning over a holographic map. "Yes! There's one...on the far end of the complex."

"Let's move."

I grabbed his hand as we walked out the back of the tower. We were on a hardlight platform that was lowering, slowly, to the ground. By the ground, I of course meant the massively long hardlight bridge that connected the tower behind us to the rest of the complex.

The hardlight bridge that was full of Covenant.

"How did they get around us?" I couldn't keep the incredulous tone out of my voice.

"Phantoms." John looked down at me. "Do we have to get all the way across the complex?"

I couldn't keep the weary dread out of my voice, either. "All the way across."

"Stay close to me," he ordered.

The elevator touched down in front of a cluster of Covenant soldiers.

oOOOOo

Author's Note: Hi guys! It felt like a really short week this week for some reason. I had hella writer's block that spontaneously cleared up yesterday, so that's nice.

Idk why but I absolutely love Halo 4. I know that's a very unpopular opinion in the fandom, but I really really like it.

Anywho, sorry this is a little late. I try to update every Saturday around 7:30 Central Time, but that's not always what happens oops :(