Revised Edition

Hello Halo-Prologue to 'Games Become Reality'

The steel-gray figure sprinted down the corridor and nearly over-shot the corner. Screeching to a halt, she threw herself against the wall just as a series of explosions ripped through the room she had just vacated, filling the corridor with smoke and debris.

The gray fighter tried to control her heart rate as she shoved shells into the muzzle of her shotgun as her Shield bar pulsed red and screamed an alarm.
It would be there any second now, she had to finish re-loading before it got to her. She took the fear that was trying to consume her and used it to enhance her senses and increase her speed and until she could hear the pitter-patter of debris falling in the hallway, her hands becoming a blur as each projectile clicked into place.

The last one slid into place and she cocked the gun and aimed it out in front of her
"I have one chance, if I mess this up I'm dead."
She watched carefully, waiting for the enemy to come around the corner, keeping her eyes open for any un-natural ripples in the air.

Unseen due to her helmet, a smile tugged at the right side of her mouth. With the butt of the gun against her shoulder, she continued visually scanning the corridor in front of her. Finally she saw what she was looking for, a slight shimmer in the air rippling like heat-waves, just barely peeking around the corner.

She waited for it to make the first move, all fear gone, replaced by the excitement of adrenaline. The shimmer dashed out from its cover, proving slightly bigger than the armored figure's already impressive size, a bright blue blade suspended slightly off to the left.

There was a loud guttural roar and the blade dove forward, racing toward her golden-mirrored faceplate.
At the last second she dove to the right, flanking the attacker, squeezing off a point-blank round to the enemy. The air shimmered fiercely as the spread-shot bounced off something un-seen. The attacker roared and the blade spun and dove once more, not a moment before the blow struck the gray-clad fighter, she squeezed off another round and dove to the right again, the blade glancing off the shielding covering her left arm, setting off internal alarms. The shimmer in the air turned to static and the active camouflage surrounding the Elite dropped.

The failed attack left the now-visible enemy off balance.
Taking advantage of the enemy's vulnerability, the gray fighter closed the gap between them and one final shot to the Elites now un-protected head. In a spray of iridescent blood, the limp body fell to the corridor floor with a thud.

(0)(0)(0)(0)
Vikki sighed and relaxed, she had been sitting Indian-style on the floor, leaning as far forward as she could, biting her cheek in concentration.
She stretched out on the carpet on front of the T.V. displaying a gray and purple Spartan standing idle in front of a dead Elite.

Jason looked up from his book.
"Room clear?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
Vikki sighed.
"Yep, just now."
"You're too intense when you play. If you keep it up your 'gonna spontaneously combust, and leave scorch marks on my carpet, do you know how hard it is to get ash out of carpet? Not to mention the smell."
"Hmmm…….maybe if you got a piece of sheet-metal for me to sit on, there would be no damage to the carpet, as for the smell you could do something as clever as ………hmmm…..open a window!" She said with fake cheerfulness.
"If you didn't happen to notice it's still 'kinda March! Things would get jest a little chilly."
"Wuss."

"Ohh, ohh! When you explode can I have your games and systems?" Jason asked excitedly.
"No, you can't." She said eyeing him. "Munch gets those, so that one day he can beat the tar out of you."
"I have tar in me?"
"Yeah. Dude take a shower once a century will ya?" Vikki said waving a hand in front of her nose.
"What? And ruin the wonderous aroma I've cultivated?" He asked with mock-shock.
"The word 'cultivated' is normally used in conjecture with the growing of bacteria, which," she said looking around his room at the dirty laundry scattered around, old plates of food, whose inhabitants were in the middle of building a rather sophisticated society, and socks that looked as though they could stick to walls.
"I think fits pretty well here."
"Bah, your just jealous 'cuz my floors have carpet." Jason said smugly.
"Sure." Vikki replied slowly. "That's exactly it, 'cuz you know how much I just love vacuuming."
"Of course, since your room is so clean and all." Jason said emphatically.
"At least it's not harboring sentient life forms."
"Well maybe if you watch mine real closely, maybe you can learn it too."
"Hmph, only one way to settle this." Said Vikki opening her purse and taking out a black leather finger-less glove, walking over and smacking Jason on the check with it.
"I challenge you to a duel, en-guard!"
It was on; they quickly started a game of swords in 'Midship' and fought as hard as they could.

(0)(0)(0)(0)
Where was she? According to his motion-sensor they should be right on top of each other; that meant she had to be above him.
He kept his back toward the wall watching the open area in front of him, waiting for her to drop from the room above him.
"Come on, I'm ready for you."

(0)(0)(0)(0)
Vikki prepared to drop down to the level below her, where Jason waited for her.
"OK, This is it, the last kill. I've got to do this right."
Barring looking at Jason's screen, she had no way of telling what way he was facing.
If he were facing her when she dropped, the moment of disorientation would give him the chance he needed. Her avatar examined the luminous blade of her plasma sword while Lynx took a deep breath.

(0)(0)(0)(0)
"There she goes, but…why is she moving away?"
He resisted the temptation to glance at her side of the screen.
"Hmm…gathering grenades possibly………what is she doing?"

(0)(0)(0)(0)
She moved to where the floor dropped off and gave her access to the level below her, where he was waiting for her, and she knew it.
"I just hope he's not looking this way."

(0)(0)(0)(0)
"She's moving again, and fast." His mind raced, he knew she was making her attack run.
For a split-second he saw a flash of white.
"Ohh yeah." He thought as his screen went red.
"I forgot about that."
There was a thud, and a computerized voice.

-Game Over-

"Forgot you could drop through the gap between the top floor and the wall?" Vikki asked.
"Apparently"
"Ahhh, That was fun, but I gotta get home, I have work in the morning."
"What time do you have to get up?"
"4'o'clock in the morning."
"Eww."
"No kidding, but at least tomorrow's Friday."
"I thought you hated Fridays.'
"No I hate working Fridays, they're far too busy for my taste. I like them 'cuz they mean the next two days are free"
"I wish My next two days were free."
"Well that's the price you pay for higher education."
"No the price I pay is $1,280.50."
"It was the fifty cents that broke you wasn't it?"
"No, it was the books. $75, just for a Calculator! That's insane!"
"Speaking as a McDonald's employee who has been working with the general public for almost 6 years, Most people are!" With that she stood and began gathering her things.

Jason sat silently watching her with a thoughtful look on his face.
He drew a breath, hesitated, and then began.
"Hey, do you ever wonder if…there are other realities out there besides ours?" He said finally.
"What you mean like a Multiverse?" Vikki asked arching her eyebrows.
"Yeah something like that."
"Well maybe. My job description doesn't exactly include 'Astrophysicist' but I think it could be possible, not very likely, but possible. Why?"
"Why? There could be whole other worlds out there, whole different peoples, technologies, and societies."
"So what if there are. And there might be a rare type of polar bear that has purple fur, weather it exists or not has no bearing on me or my life….Now if I was a professional furrier…" Vikki trailed off.
"But what if it we could go there and live in and explore an entire new world, anywhere we wanted, find the world perfectly suited for us."
"First of all, there is no perfect world, if you always look for perfection you will always be disappointed, always." She said in a serious tone.
"Second, You'd leave everyone you know, everyone you love, your entire life, for something that probably doesn't exist!"
"You say that as if I actually have something to lose." He said acidly.
"You never know how much you have until you lose it." Vikki said sadly.
Jason didn't reply.
Vikki stood up with a sigh.
"Well it's purple polar bears anyways, it's all theoretical and extremely purple." She started for the door.
"If you want my opinion you've been watching too much 'Jet Lee' "The One" ……although I don't think that's possible."
Jason watched her go.

"Not quite as purple as you think."

With those thoughts he turned his attention to a project that had been dominating not only the greater portion of his time, but his thoughts also.

(0)(0)(0)(0)
Vikki wrapped her coat firmly as the wind and rain tried to snatch it away from her.
"'In like a Lion, out like a Lamb' my foot!"
Jason's increasing depression was really beginning to worry her.
The pressure of an ambitious College load and his parent's pending divorce was wearing on him.
Saying a quick prayer for Jason…and the weather, Vikki hurried home.

(0)(0)(0)(0)
Jason opened his closet, revealing a horde of old looking books from various cultures, on various different topics, All of them revolving around a central topic,
the power of stories.

He was nervous; he concentrated on his breathing as he dug in the corner for something. His fingers finally found something thin, metallic, and flat. He carefully reviewed in his mind the words he had spent weeks studying. He'd checked, re-checked, and checked again to make sure that the theory was sound. He'd read, and studied, and memorized to be sure he wouldn't forget what he'd have to do.
After all, he would only have one chance.

The razor blade glinted in the light, the light sliding off the edge. Suddenly panic hit him.
What if he was wrong!
What if it wouldn't turn out as the book predicted!
Maybe Vikki was right; maybe he should be content with things as they were.
Shaking his head slightly he pushed the fears away, he had gone this far already, and even if it didn't work there was nothing he would miss anyways.
Except, maybe.
No, She had made herself very clear, 'they' would never be. He'd given her a chance; she'd turned it down before he'd had the chance to explain anything at all. Well it would be better this way; she knows nothing about it, only a vague suspicion that any rational person would laugh at.
If she wants to muck around in this hell for the rest of her life, then she's welcome to do so alone.

The figure, not yet a man, but no longer a boy raised the razor blade to his left wrist and with a deep breath, sliced his wrists. For a second he stared blankly at the blood flowing out his wrist. The blade slipped from his hand as he stumbled backward towards the bed. He sat down, gripped the bedspread tightly with both hands, and through clenched teeth one could barely hear him chant.

"Concentrate………see it………feel it………hear it………touch it………see it………feel it………hear it………touch it………see it………feel it………hear it………touch it………………BE IT!"

With that, his face and arms relaxed. His form sighed loudly as he fell back on his bed, looking for all the world as though he had simply fallen asleep. The blood that had soaked through the blankets and dripped on the carpet, no longer flowed from the boy's wrist.

Well there, not a lot of diference, but the diffrences we're important. so I felt the need to write it in.It was in my origional idea, but i felt self-countious writing somthing anxty like that.