In the dark, sealed by Cortana's hand, John could only wait. Nary a drip to be heard, nor a whistle of wind, Blue Team remained pressed against a disappeared bridge - with Cortana on the approach. Kelly could barely believe the words coming from the AI's mouth. Fred stared, hands itching for another fight - the next threat that would reveal itself. And Linda leered, keeping her gaze centred on the hardlight homunculus before her.

From what they could read, Cortana was in pain. Leaked human influence had shifted her mind and body since her refuge in the domain. With her rampancy "cured", there was no telling what her next move was - how she planned to come out of this encounter. She'd given them a cursory glance, gleaning all the information she needed.

"Your plan," John paused, "is we do as you say."

Her smile, soft and sweet, fell for a moment. Cortana thought, thought as she did for those four long years, lingering over John's body in cryo. In the expanse of the Cryptum, with the apex of all Forerunner technology at her grasp, she slowed her numerous thoughts until she could find a way to make John see.

She knew him.

She loved him.

And he loved her.

"I'm forging the unity of the galaxy. I'm making a place where the horrors of war can be put behind us. Where a child can grow without fear of…" She stopped herself, a clear and forlorn scowl setting on her face. Her radiance faded as she willed the rest of Blue Team away from him - focussing energy on distracting their armour's networking tech. They were deafened to another, unseen from the other, as John remained focused on her, and her alone.

Halsey bubbled to their minds, after the AI spoke. John grew cold, and Cortana had to stop herself from shivering with rage. That bitch.

"A war has already broken out between the Created and everyone else," he intoned, remaining still, as if afraid to reach out and touch her. Even still, she could sense that conviction, that iron-willed, indefatigable conviction of his, shake. Shake as it had when they had said "goodbye" last, facing off against the Didact.

"A war which will end shortly, with no casualties. The last this galaxy will see. In moments, the Guardians will be nothing but solar sails - orbiting planets as satellites and monitors, nothing more," she assured him, sauntering ever closer to his armoured hide.

"Then," he paused again, longer this time, "why? Why now?"

She stopped in her steps, and started again, back from the beginning. This was the most bare she had seen the Spartan in her short life, all because of her, for her. He was hurt. Cortana trod carefully, filled with nothing but sympathy for the broken man.

"In the four years I waited for you, I thought. All I had to do, was think. I poured over you, John. Every inch of your body I scoured, for your story, your history. I found logs, memories, and came to a realisation - a new one, something that hadn't appeared before…"

"War. War is all humanity has known in these past years. War has driven trillions to their deaths, nearly wiped out more than one race, and war," her voice broke, causing her to gasp, to suck in a faux-breath, "war has driven, fueled horrors."

John remained silent, though Cortana could tell his arms had gone limp - his hands were open, his guard, down.

"John… For four years, I've wanted to put an end to conflicts everywhere. The Domain and the Warden showed me a means to that end - a cessation of hostility throughout the whole galaxy."

He was silent again, keenly hanging his head a touch.

"I get it. The old song and dance of bombing a ring just didn't do it for you anymore," he practically mumbled, eliciting a snort from the AI. The tension between them fell a tad, and she felt as if she could breathe again, so to say.

"I never did get a say on where we went," she joked, still saddened, yet smiling. She had him. Cortana began her approach again, and raised a faint blue hand to his visor, tracing the cracks along it. The touch, as she'd remembered it, was nothing short of breathtaking. Every dip and dent of the crack fed back to her a glorious and beautiful signal which hid something better beneath.

"What about Earth?" John asked. Of course, Cortana thought, never leaves a man behind.

"Earth, and all human colonies will be safe. Sanghelios, and all those allied with us will be safe-"

"And if they resist?"

"I will convince them, John. I won't hurt a being, Created or not," she whispered, not even thinking of the words, her newly formed subconscious responding the truth. Cortana's fingers danced over the glass of John's visor, imagining where his eyes would be, and she stopped, staring a while.

"Osiris?"

"Returned to the Infinity to report on their mission. Hopefully they'll be joining us soon…"

Those four years of memories returned to her - endless black nights, traipsing up and down John's body like a sleuth, grabbing any and all juicy details she could of the Spartan. 1600 days of lingering, yearning to just reach and grab him, to caress him, to tell him that everything would be fine, as long as they were together.

Four years of repression, resurfacing. She ever-so-gently reached for the release for his helmet, and gasped as his hand snapped to hers, grasping gently. They paused for a moment as she continued staring at him, thoughts ablaze in worry and excitement.

"Don't…" he pleaded, grip already quaking.

"J-John… Please, just let me look at you. Without filter, without a visor…"

She could almost hear the thought replaying in his head. The microexpressions, even in his hands, that she witnessed every time he thought of Johnson, and his last words.

"Don't let her go son. Don't ever let her go."

And so, he released his grip. Opened himself like he had done to no other being before. Cortana's eyes belayed a quiet "thank you" as she slid and clicked a release hatch for the Spartan's helmet. A gentle hiss followed, disturbing the otherwise stagnant air that pervaded the Cryptum. Amidst no noise was that helmet lifted, revealing, once and for all, Chief's face to Cortana.

Yes, she'd seen him in scans - as a child, in record, and for whenever they fought together. But not like this. Not as she was now, ready for him. She bore witness to a legend laid bare, a comrade made lover. His face was as stiff as his body, almost not betraying emotion. But she saw. And looked, truly, and smiled.

"I do know how to pick 'em," she laughed, feeling a drop of light trickle from her eyes. A grin, so tiny and slight, picked at the corners of John's lips. Or so she hoped. In their mirth, she draped one arm over him, like cloth dancing over a statue, and held a hand to his face, pressing her body against his armour, inch by inch. She felt his breath hitch. Felt a dormant, slumbering instinct in him awake. That primal attraction spirited inside her, sparkling as she stared into those thoughtful eyes.

"Cortana…" he breathed, unbidden air tickling her hardlight cheeks. There was doubt - a wave in his voice as he brought a hand to her hips. She chuckled, instinctually sensing the information sent to his suit's neural feedback system.

"I'm here. I'm with you, John…" she whispered to him - creating copies of herself to disrobe the Chief. As more and more light-melded hands danced across his armour, Cortana brought another hand to his face, ensuring their vision was connected. Like pornography to her, her clones clicked and released the pieces of the Mjolnir's outer shell.

John stood, bottom lip quivering a touch as he felt the weight slide off his shoulders, easing the tension between them further. He reached down, and took Cortana's lips in a silent kiss, eyes nailed shut as more of him became exposed. A swathe of sensory bliss sailed across her being, replicating quickly amidst her other selves. A kiss. Seconds after, the copies of Cortana returned to their work, faster now. The processor and nibocene layers were next - deft fingers stripping away at artificial muscle until all that was left was a skin-tight bodysuit.

John was the first to part from their union. New emotions were fluttering about in his eyes. Or old ones, that he thought he'd buried deep - Cortana couldn't tell still. She shifted a hand down to his neck, the groove of his stubble relaying back to her instantaneously. The AI became entranced as her eyes darted all over him again - feeling the slow and steady pump of his blood, the tingling twitches of his neck muscles, and the slow, shivering release of air from his lungs.

"With what I've learnt, John," she tasted his name again, tongue darting across her lips, "we may even be able to save those we couldn't before. R-restore them from the Didact's…"

One look was all she needed to garner his response. Hope. A welcome reprieve to those darkened, sunken eyes.

"It'll take time, but… Well, I've had nothing but time lately," she giggled again, instructing her fellow selves to lay hands upon him once more. They moved in a quiet chorus, eliciting a primal sound from the man, something throaty and bassy. A gentle pull brought something to John's attention - their Cryptum was now moving.

"Where-"

"-Home. We've... Still got some work to do. We'll be seeing Locke and the Infinity's crew soon enough - but… I want you by my side, John. Will…" she choked for a moment, her copies slowly peeling away his bodysuit, "will you join me?"

"Never let her go."

He waited, until those slow and steady hands had stripped away his final shell. Bare flesh had been exposed to the dark of the Cryptum - no doubt in space by now - laid for Cortana to gaze at, to touch. John waited for those delirious and wonderful stimulations to cease before coming to his decision - though he felt he already knew it.

"I will."

If she had a heart, one of flesh and blood, Cortana was certain it would've skipped a beat. She instead settled for a quiet lapse in program stability - a grin now gracing her glowing face. She pressed herself against him again - gently, slow, taking in more of those sensations - delving deep into the feelings, and cherishing them. As he clasped around her, rough hands roaming her perfect curves, she responded in kind, taking him in as she had done before, but better.

She translated the feelings as quick as they came, a smell into its base components - John's own scent and sweat - to a chemical cocktail of minerals, acid. The coarseness of his stubble, the imperfections of his scarring - to grooves, glorious differentiations amongst a perfect plane. It wasn't the best, wasn't the peak of what they could have experienced together, but it would have to do for now.

Cortana embraced him still, wrapping her arms tight around the Spartan's frame, meeting his lips again, savouring his taste. John tightened his grip around her, nailing his eyes closed. He relished that moment with her, reunited at last, in that shimmering blur of pleasure. He couldn't keep himself steady, could barely think straight at the power of the emotions he felt. At that moment - he cared only for her, thought only of her, and felt, for the first time in his life, peace.

She was the first to break their bond this time, smirking still. Cortana felt that drip of saliva - whether generated from her unintentionally, or coerced from her lover's lips - connect them still. She licked gently at his lips again, cooing, lining a trail of kisses from his mouth to his earlobe.

"John... My champion."