Chapter 6 Knight of Valor

I suppose an apology is necessary. No, I'm not dead, and I haven't given up on this story, but I have lost a bit of interest, resulting in the chapters getting submitted slowly. Sorry. Now for my comments on your reviews. I have received many saying that the Master Chief was really a cold tough guy with a stone heart who didn't get hurt by anything. This I disagree with, which is demonstrated in this story. He was robbed of his childhood, so he never truly learned to become an adult. The childhood necesities stayed with him into adulthood because of him being deprived of them as a child.

It grew stronger, stretching out its bulk into a mighty mass. Fusing metal with bone and flesh. It would become as strong as its host. If not greater.

"What vessel is this?"

"I do not know. The markings on the side are not of us, nor of the Humans. It must be from some alien race which we have not discovered yet."

"Maybe we can use them as subjects for our experiments."

"Yes, what a clever idea. This ship obviously holds advanced technology which we do not have, so the race which controls this ship must be amazing! I order you to board the unknown vessel and capture some members of the alien race which controls it. Bring them back to the ship, and put them in cells."

"Right away."

"This is my ship," Samus said, leading the Master Chief aboard her Hunter Gunship. "We can rest up here while we figure out what to do."

Samus walked into a different room and closed the door while John surveyed the area. The Hunter Gunship served as Samus' fighter as well as home. It was filled with homey touches, such as pictures on the walls, and furniture. Of course, it was all fused to the floor or to the walls so that it wouldn't get thrown around during evasive maneuvers. The Master Chief took this all in, for it was very strange to him. He slept on a bunk in his own room aboard the ship he was stationed on. He had not lived in a real home since he was a child. This was all strange to him.

"Make yourself at home."

The Master Chief started, and quickly turned to the side to see Samus walk back out the door to the room she had gone into earlier. She had gotten out of her bulky power suit, and was now dressed in the same blue one piece suit she had worn before. The Master Chief was startled by this sudden change, because she no longer looked like a warrior. She looked so... so... human. The Master Chief blushed slightly, he wasn't used to speaking with women so imformally.

"W-what does that mean?" John asked, for the first time betraying an emotion in his voice.

"What does what mean?" Samus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Make yourself at home," Master Chief said, looking down at the ground through his visor.

"You know," Samus said, with a chuckle. "Get comfortable, sit down and relax."

"Relax?" John had worn the uncomfortable body armor so long that he had almost forgotten what comfortable meant.

The Master Chief immediately tried to think of a way to accomplish all three of these. He looked around, hoping that an answer to her request be shoved right in front of him.

"Um..." the Master Chief usually relaxed by sleeping, but he didn't think that was appropriate for this situation.

He could sit down though. He walked over to the couch, and sat down on it. How he was supposed to get comfortable, he had no idea. He looked over at Samus. She seemed to approve of what he was doing.

"Why don't you get out of that body armor?" Samus asked.

"Get out of my armor?" the Master Chief looked down at himself.

"Yeah," Samus said. "I mean, I assume that you are wearing clothes under your armor."

"My armor..." the Master Chief paused. "My armor is my clothes."

It was true, he wore his armor so often that he had gotten out of the habit of wearing clothes underneath.

"Well lucky for you," Samus said, "I do have some men's clothing in the back. I had a brother once, and before he died he came to visit me, and left his whole suitcase on my gunship. But before I could give him his stuff back he died of a heart attack. So you can have his old room as well as his stuff."

Master Chief didn't know what to say. He knew that at this point he should offer sympathy, since she had been reminded of her dead brother.

"I'm... sorry," John said.

Samus turned away from the Master Chief, and let a couple of tears fall from her eyes.

"Its okay," she said in an emotional voice. "Its not your fault. Just go into the other room and find the suitcase. His clothes old clothes are in there."

The Master Chief stood up, and walked into the other room.

The Hunter sneered at his captors, making it clear that he did not fear them. But they ignored him. The Hunter was held down by strong metal clamps which he could not break out of. The room was dark, so the hunter couldn't see his captors. But he heard them moving something across the floor. Then he heard nothing. The Hunter looked up, expecting something to happen. A glass cage lowered over the Hunter, trapping him inside. Then small valves on the floor opened, and a strange blue liquid began to fill the cage. The Hunter roared as it burned at his skin.

Samus lounged on her couch relaxing. She thought about the Master Chief. She had fought alongside him and against him, but had never seen his face. She looked calm, but she was anxious to see what the great warrior looked like without his armor on. Samus sighed, and closed her eyes. She didn't get to relax much anymore. It was always one mission after the other. So the times she did relax were always wonderful.

The Master Chief looked at himself in the mirror. He hadn't looked like this since... he hadn't ever looked like this. The face he looked at was not his own. The clothes he wore were not his own. His skin was not his own. His skin was metal, and his face was a visor. Suddenly he looked so... human.

He felt out of place as he walked out from the room. And he felt very self conscious when Samus looked over at him. He felt ashamed to come into the presence of such a person without his armor on. Without the shield which surrounded him, holding in his humanity.

Samus looked over to see some guy walking out of the other room. She was about to grab her arm cannon, when she realized that it was the Master Chief. But no, that couldn't be him.

"John?" Samus said softly.

The man stopped, and stood there as if was subconscious of the fact that he wasn't wearing his suit. But then he got a hold of himself.

"Uh... these clothes are very... weird," John said, looking down at the jeans and Red T-shirt that he was wearing.

Samus just looked at him, smiling slightly.

"You look much different then I expected you to look," Samus said.

And it was true. He was a very tall man in stature, but in appearance he didn't look like a big tough guy. His features were soft, not hardened as one would expect. His eyes were a deep, Hazel color which reminded Samus of fall leaves, dying and falling from the tree. They looked emotional, like silent sadness glazed over with a thin layer of grit. But this layer of grit was thin, and easily penetrated with out the outer armor. His hair was a light dirty blond color which shone in the ship's light, dark from so many years of not seeing the sun. His skin was pale with freckles, which Samus found quite cute. The best description for his face is that it looked like a child's face. It was soft, and vulnerable, and didn't really look super masculine or super tough.

The Master Chief blushed at her comment, and it showed brightly on his cheeks. He had forgotten how to control his emotions since they had been hidden behind a mask for so many years.

"You look great," Samus said smiling at his embarrassment. "Really."

John said nothing, for he felt awkward listening to a girl compliment his looks.

"I don't..." John stopped, and looked at the ground.

"You don't what?" Samus asked.

John continued looking at the ground. "I don't... I don't know."

Samus smiled, realizing that John didn't know how to word whatever he was trying to say.

"Why don't you sit down, and relax," Samus suggested. "You look terrible."

The Master Chief looked up abruptly.

"You just said that I looked great," the Master Chief said, as if he had just been insulted.

"No no no," Samus said. "You do look great. When I said you looked terrible, I meant you look really tired, and stressed out."

"Stressed out?" John thought about this.

What stress meant to him was when his superiors determined that he had been overworked, and would be given a day's break where he would sit in his room and stare at the wall, not knowing what to do.

"No," the Master Chief said. "I haven't worked that hard yet."

"Sit down," Samus said. "You've worked hard enough."

"No I haven't," the Master Chief said. "I haven't even broken any bones."

"Glad to hear it," Samus said. "Sit down."

John opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. There was nothing to say. John looked up at Samus, who gestured towards one of the chairs with her head. John walked over to it, and sat down.

"So tell me," Samus said. "What's your story?"

"My story?" to John, the word story only applied to one part of his life which he had nearly forgotten.

He remembered before he was kidnapped and forced into the Spartan project how his mother used to tell him old stories at night. He remembered only one story that his mother used to tell him, for it had been his very favorite story.

"Once upon a time," he began, "there lived a powerful Knight in an ancient kingdom. His name was Sir George, but everyone called him Saint George, for he was such a great knight."

Samus looked up in surprise, certainly not expecting this. But this intrigued her, for she knew that John had clearly been messed up by the maltreatment he had received. The Master Chief noticed her surprised look. That made him angry, and he didn't know why.

"Is something wrong?" he said, with anger in his eyes.

"No," Samus said, surprised at his violent outburst.

"Then why did you look at me like that?" Master Chief stood up out of his chair really quickly, towering seven feet above the ground.

Samus looked up at the towering figure who had only seconds ago looked very soft and vulnerable. Now he looked like he could kill someone.

"Why do you look at me like that!" his eyes were filled with venom, and began to fill with tears. "Why do you look at me like that?"

Hot tears were now pouring down his cheeks, and John touched his face lightly with his hand, as if amazed at how the tears felt.

"What is happening to me? What is happening to me!"

Master Chief thundered, before turning to the far side of the room. He saw a screw driver lying on the ground. Master Chief jumped over his chair, and kicked the screw driver as hard as he could. It flew across the room and ricocheted across the room. John then fell to the ground and began viciously slamming his fists against the carpet while his body shook with rage, and while he roared in anger.

Samus stood up, surprised at his sudden temper tantrum. Suddenly John stopped, realizing what he was doing. He breathed heavily, as more tears poured down his cheeks. Then he fell to the ground and sobbed. Samus ran to his side, and put her arms around him. She knew that he didn't know how to control his emotions.

"Its okay," Samus said, as she cautiously placed her arms around the Spartan.

John seemed to respond well to her touch, so Samus began rubbing his shoulders slowly. John did nothing, but savored the touch of another human. It brought back bittersweet memories of his mother, for ever since his abduction no one had ever been there to kiss him goodnight, or to tuck him in. He was an adult now, but he never experienced those childhood necessities which helped a man truly become a man.

Samus continued rubbing his shoulders, her soft hands massaging the war hardened muscles in his back. John's tears stopped, and he felt the memories coming back. He remembered his mother putting him in bed, and telling him how much she loved him. He remembered how he would run into his parents room whenever he had a nightmare, and how his father would rub his back while telling him time and time again how he had lost his fear of the dark.

"There," Samus said. "Feel better?"

John sighed, and nodded. Why was it that this girl brought so many memories back. What was it about her that brought his past back to life? He hadn't thought about his childhood very much in a very long time.

"I'm... I'm sorry," John said, remembering how it had always been important to apologize for something you did that was wrong. "I don't know whats happening to me. I don't know why I am acting like this."

"Well why don't you finish your story?" Samus suggested, thinking that it might calm him down even more.

"Well, Saint George was a great fighter, and was respected by everyone, but he wasn't... happy inside," John tried to tell the story as his mom always had. "He was sad, because there was nothing left for him to do in his country. Everyone was safe, and there was no work left for him. Saint George became just a celebrity, just a figure which the people looked at, and loved no matter what he did. His face had become the helmet that he wore. His visor was his face to the people, for few saw him without it on. To the people he was just a suit of armor and a lance with a person inside. But to him he was a man who fought for good, armor and lance optional.

"So he decided to travel the world searching for a place where people needed a knight again."

"Tell me," Samus said, interrupting. "Was the helmet that he wore a mask which covered the true self inside?"

"I... I think so," the Master Chief said.

"I've seen that before," Samus said. "Please continue."

"Well, anyways," John continued. "Saint George came to a country where no grass grew, and there were no people in sight. So he kept going, until he found a city. Its gates were barred, but they opened, and a beautiful girl dressed in a white dress came walking out from the city. Saint George knew something was wrong. So he rode up to the girl, and asked her what was wrong. She told him to leave the country, for a dragon lived there, and had ravaged the landscape in the surrounding area until the Lord of the Land agreed to sacrifice two sheep a day to the dragon in exchange for him promising not to attack the city. But then they ran out of sheep, and the Dragon demanded that a maiden be sent instead. And so, the girl was going to sacrifice her life to save her kingdom. The Knight then told the girl that he would kill the dragon to save her, and her Kingdom. So the girl took him to the Dragon's lair, and the Knight entered."

Master Chief stopped. He didn't remember anything else.

"So what happened?" Samus asked. "Did the Knight kill the dragon and save the Princess?"

"I don't...know," John said, looking at the wall thoughtfully. "I don't remember."