15. Awake and Alive

*Awake and Alive*

*Six POV*

Six hears the rushing of the blades as they slice through the hot air; he tightens his eyelids, wondering if it's true that you don't feel pain when the killing blow is delivered.

He hears the blades hit, feels the warm wetness cover his beaten face and hears the screams of agony, but that's the strangest thing…It isn't him crying out in pain. Six snaps his head back up, eyes wide at what he is seeing.

Shress has sliced her blades in a wide swipe and severely wounded the elite guards holding Six, causing them to let go as they roll on the ground, their internal organs struggling to escape their bodies.

The crowd of aliens stare in stunned silence, unsure of what they have just seen. Suddenly before any of them could realize what is happening, Shress leaps into the crowd, mandibles wide as she roars a defiant challenge at the frozen aliens. Six watches in amazement as Shress tore through their massed ranks, she is a whirlwind of flashing blades; twisting in circles and waving the energy blades gracefully in the air as they cause vibrant arcs of multicoloured blood to fly through the dusty air.

The Covenant is easily being slaughtered, with Six down they had turned off their shields and lowered their weapons, thinking the threat is over. Now they struggle to switch their equipment back on and raise their guns, but it's already too late as Shress gracefully weaves through them.

A sangheili ultra steps forward and raises its own weapon as it tries to shoot Shress. She uses one blade to knock the needler pistol out of its hand. In the same motion, she spins around it until she is behind the taller combatant. It tries to turn and confront her, but before it gets the chance she puts the second sword against its throat and runs it across. She returns to beheading her foes without seeming to break a sweat, the severed head of the Ultra landing on the dusty ground just before it's fountain of a body.

Six watches awestruck as she works her way around the circle, killing elites, jackals, and grunts alike, quickly and efficiently. He has seen her fight before, fought with her twice himself, but he never realized that she was this good. Her skill was turning what should be a one sided fight into a bloody massacre.

Realizing there's no chance of survival, the weakest of the Covenant troops break formation, mostly panicked grunts and an occasional jackal while the remaining warriors continue to futilely fight Shress. The sight of fleeing aliens brought the spartan back to his senses. He groans slightly as he stretches his body over to the dead elite closest to him and begins digging around its belt. He retrieves a plasma rifle. Forcing himself to half stand and half crouched position, and fires. He is slightly pushed back due to his battered body, but he strengthens his stance as best as he could and fires again. The recoil is pure torture to his shot up right arm, but he keeps firing at the retreating grunts, shooting their backsides as he helps ensure that none escape. With each successful hit the grunts explode in a glowing green fiery cloud. The jackals just fell over, their feathers flaring in the plasma, the acrid smoke blending into the ashen air. Some turn and try to return fire, but with a mighty effort, Six heaves one of the dead sangheili in front of him up and used the body as a shield, the scent of charring flesh filling his nose as shots hit his impromptu fortification.

He glances back to Shress as she finishes off the remnants of the troops, but watches in dismay as a fellow Zealot attacks her with skills at least equal to her own. She lashes out with her twin swords while the Zealot blocks with his own single blade. Thunderous storm of lightning erupts every time their blades meet as the male combatant presses against Shress, slicing at her in a vain attempt to subdue her, using his greater height and weight to force her backwards. With a loud roar the Zealot knocks both of Shress's swords out of her hand and takes a slice at her exposed head. She pivots out of the way, brings up her knee and slams it against the attacker's chest, all in one smooth motion, causing it to grunt in pain and drop its own sword in the process.

Shress jumps back, lowers herself slightly and raises her hands in a defensive posture. The Zealot mirrors her; lowering itself and raising its hands. They stay in their fighting stances, eyes locked onto each other as they try to anticipate the other's movement. Feeling like speeding it on a bit, Six drops his makeshift shield and raises his newly claimed rifle as he tries to aim accurately at the Zealot. He is stopped however when he sees a jackal jumping forward and landing not far behind Shress, in its hand it holds a glowing pink energy crystal from a needler. With reflexes honed from years of warfare, Six turns the rifle on the jackal and pulls the trigger; the alien goes down shrouded in a veil of blue and pink energy, the crystal exploding in the aliens hand. However upon hearing the jackal's wrenching death cry, Shress glanced behind her to find the source, with her head turned, the Zealot attacks.

It lunges forward and makes a strike at Shress's neck, but with unbelievable speed, Shress's own hand shoots up and blocks the strike. Six raises the plasma rifle and tries to take aim but then Shress went on the offence. She swings a kick at the Zealot who leaps back before Shress, still spinning, jumps forward and slams her foot into the Zealot's exposed knee cap with a sickening snap. The Zealot raises its head and let's out a pained howl before Shress's hand shoots forward and she grabs her opponents neck. The Zealot tries to dislodge Shress's grip, but she is immovable as she raises her other hand, and uses her sharp talons to slice the sangheili's neck, creating a jagged but deep slice, already welling with bright blood. The Zealot tries to take a breath, but instead it makes a gurgling sound before falling onto its side clutching it's neck, a river of blue spilling onto the brown desert soil until it ceases moving altogether, just another fallen form among so many more.

Shress moved away from the fallen sangheili and turned in a circle, looking at the heap of corpses that was now surrounded her. Six was still in shock from the recent event, unsure on how to proceed or what to say next. What could he say?

"Shress."

She turned towards him and stared at him for a moment. Her eyes are still hidden within her helmet, her posture still rigid from the battle. Her hands curled into fists as the blue shining outline of her shielding pulsed, illuminating her form against the backdrop of the smoke and dust. Feeling slightly intimidated by her killer skills and unsure on how her sanity was holding up, Six moved to back away from her, but as soon as he took a step back, pain struck through his system like lightning, causing him to fall to the ground.

As he lay there, his body stretched to its limit in an attempt to reduce the pain, all he could think of at the moment was that he is glad he didn't let out the agonizing scream that was building within him. He stared up towards the skies, blackened from the destruction all around him when Shress's crimson clad form appeared over him and bent down to inspect him.

She placed just one finger on Six's face but he hissed and tried to squirm away, he feelt like his entire body is aflame

"Michael."

Six had no idea what happened, but… just hearing his name being spoken by his former enemy, by his only friend, caused his body to relax. Seeing his body less tense, Shress tenderly touched Six's face with just the tips of her talons, careful not to let them prick his raw skin, but he still felt pain, He heard her sigh softly.

"What happened to you?"

Suddenly feeling the need to comfort her, Six raised himself up slightly, looked to Shress and replied with a slight rueful smile.

"I got my hide whooped. What does it look like happened?"

She smiled slightly upon hearing him use the sangheili reference for the rear end, but it faded as she looked to the skies as if she saw something that Six couldn't.

She let out a small snarl before she looked back down at Six.

"We have to go."

"Where?"

"Anywhere but here."

"Can you be a little more specif-''

His sentence is cut off as Shress picked him up by the shoulder and draped his right arm over her.

"I'll explain more once we get farther away from this place."

She started to move before casting one more glance towards the skies, shuffling over to where her swords had fallen. She retrieved them before they turned away from the blood stained ground and began walking in the opposite direction, Six leaning heavily on her.

As they moved, Six couldn't help but glance at Shress every so often, and occasionally have his right hand dig into her skin to prove that what was happening was real; that she was real. Seeming to sense his doubt, Shress slightly squeezed his body against hers a little until Six could feel her cold armour against his cheek. He could feel it leave a small imprint.

Satisfied that this wasn't a last minute illusion; Six raised his newly claimed rifle aloft as they move through the sandstorm, knowing that if he isn't dead, then he still needed to defend himself. Soon after a while, he couldn't detect so much as a hint of movement anywhere; a drastic change.

"Where did they all go?" Six whispered close to Shress's head where an average humans ear would be.

"Gone." She whispered back. "There's no one left."

"Left?" Six asked disbelievingly as he turned towards her. "You mean you killed them all?"

Shress let out a tired sigh before she looked at Six.

"No, I killed what was left, you killed most of them Michael."

Now Six felt astonishment rise up from within him, he thought for a moment. "How many Covenant troops were sent down here?"

Shress considered it for a moment. "Close to two hundred I believe."

Shress stumbled slightly as Six allowed more weight to fall on her shoulder. Two hundred? How is that possible? He knows he's a spartan but two hundred? He tried to remember how many troopers he had shot, but most of the time he was fighting blind, firing into brown clouds.

They came to an unexpected halt, causing Six to look at their surroundings. They were in a small arena like area, surrounded by busted pipes and the rubble of a devastated building. He glanced above him and saw that they were directly below a floating Phantom. Maybe it's Shress's?

He thought they were going to enter the aircraft, but instead Shress made a slight turn and put Six against a busted pipeline. He looked up at her, and gave her a questioning look. Shress lowered herself slightly until she was eye level with Six.

"I need to check something out first Michael."

"Now?" He questioned, "Shress we don't have time-"

"I know," She said, sounding slightly flustered, surprising the spartan, "I'll make this quick." Just as quickly as she became agitated, a forlorn look appeared on her face as she placed a hand on Six's shoulder lightly and silently.

"Please…be safe Michael."

Six opens his mouth to question her once more but she pivots on her heel and walks off into the billowing sandstorm at a rather fast pace. Six watches her go, his curiosity being piqued when he hears a noise next to him like shuffling feet.

He turns to look but is distracted by a blue light that's originating from…his arm? Six looks and flinches; stuck on his arm is a primed plasma grenade.

Where did that come from!? Why didn't I notice it earlier!? Six tries to use his other arm to brush the grenade off, but it doesn't budge. He then tries rubbing it against the side of the old pipe, but it's no use, it's already glued onto him. It turns a brighter blue, and then stark white, Six could feel the increase in temperature. He turns his face away from the glowing orb, now he no longer knows if this is a hallucination or if it's really happening, but either way he isn't taking any chances.

His question on reality is answered when the grenade explodes. Six isn't sure what he expected the afterlife to look like, but he's pretty sure it isn't full of blinding light with a loud ringing in his ears. He blinks, trying to clear his vision, soon the light begins to dim and the brown swirling world returns. Then he sees something out of the ordinary, standing in front of him are two silhouettes of sangheili imprinted in the air, both wavering in and out of focus. No sooner did he see the aliens, one turns, pulls out an energy sword and charges the other who evades the blade and tries to lift its gun in retaliation. Six doesn't know what makes him do it, probably a gut feeling, but he shakily raises his rifle and fires at the shadowy elite with the gun. He fires a rapid burst at the alien until it is pushed backwards after its shields and active camouflage is destroyed. Standing in front of Six is a spec op elite in its strange curved mask, staring Six down through the slits. Then the second silhouette moves in. The spec op tries to raise its arms in defence, but the sword wielder knocks the arm aside, slicing through the limb as it attempts to intervene before finally the shadowy figure plunges the sword through the spec op's chest. The shadow grips the sword and with a mighty heave, slices it upwards some more, decapitating the spec op and sending it's head soaring over Six's.

Six stared at the strange scene before him, still wondering what had just happened when the shadow turned to Six and like a mirage, the wavering air disappeared, leaving Shress in its place. She hurried over to Six's side and dropped to a kneeling position, and gently took his head in her hands.

"Are you alright?"

Six didn't answer as he thought of what just happened. Shress touched his arm, left, a grenade mysteriously appeared on the very arm Shress just touched, it exploded, leaving Shress and the spec op visible, Shress was always there…Like she knew what was going to happen. His head snapped up as he realized.

"You put a live grenade on me!?"

Shress doesn't appear fazed by his reaction; in fact, she seemed to grin at it. This made Six even more enraged, he tried to sit up so he could try and strangle her, but the moment he moved, his body starts to protest. His muscles contracted, his heart skipped a beat, and his skin burned. Unable to curse, Six just released a pained hiss and fell back against the pipe.

Shress gently touched Six again, and though he is angry, he couldn't help but feel a small feeling of contentment beginning to rise as Shress tenderly touched his skin, something that he had never allowed before. The experience is quite soothing. He had no idea what he thought her hands would feel like, but he didn't expect this. Her skin is warm, firm and smooth, almost like leather. For some odd reason, he just wanted to take his gloves off and feel Shress's skin as well, to see if touching her is as nice as her touching him.

Before he could do anything of the like though, Shress carefully picked him up again and had him lean on her once more as they move to be directly below the Phantom. Once positioned under the bottom portal, Shress reached to her belt and presses a strange looking control. The portal door opened and a light blue beam of light streamed out and enveloped them.

Six felt his stomach churn as they ascend, he never liked grav-lifts, and his recently earned injuries aren't helping at all. As they rise, the Spartan looked at the surroundings, unable to believe his eyes. The once green planet is now brown, black and being licked clean of life by the ever hungry plasma flames. He was still looking all around in shock when they were being lifted back into the ship.

Six quickly took stock of the ship. This was the first time he had been within the Covenant aircraft, so he was eager to scan and learn something new. The main body of the ship is hollow, full of room, obviously designed for troop transport. The light within is a eerie light blue, yet what creeped Six out a little though is that the lights seems to be originating from the hull of the aircraft. As his eyes travelled, they stop at a pile of limp bodies piled in the back of the ship. Corpses of elites, jackals and grunts are piled on top of each other, and if Six looked closely enough, he was pretty sure he can see the slashes that were possibly caused by an energy sword. He turned to Shress, but she didn't look at him or the bodies.

"Who are they?"

"Nobody now."

With her help, Six hobbled over to the front of the ship where there was a large viewport in front of the two seats. Shress gently lowered Six into the seat on the right, it was oval shaped and was clearly made for creatures with bended legs, but Six adjusted his body until he fitted in it snugly. He wished nothing more than to lie down and sleep but the seat kept him in an upright position.

Six had no idea what happened, but it seems just the word 'sleep' had a powerful effect on him. His eyes are starting to droop as his body becoming more relaxed and slowly he began to lose consciousness. A blurry outline entered his view but his eyes refused to focus as Six felt his body begin to shut down. Before he drifted off to slumber, he heard Shress's voice, it sounded softer than usual.

"Rest Michael, you're safe now."

Safe? He was still trying to decipher the meaning of the word when he finally blacked out.

*Shress POV*

Shress was amazed at how fast Six had fallen asleep, but she supposed it made sense, he had been fighting for almost an entire day and pushed himself farther than any other warrior could have. An impressive feat indeed, even by sangheili standards.

At the thought of her people, Shress sighed as she placed herself in the pilot's seat and started the ship. It began to hum softly before it banked right and flew off. She tried to angle as far away from the nearest Covenant ship as possible. But Shress knew capture or death was inevitable, they had to get off the planet somehow, the Phantom can travel in space, but not as far as they needed to go, it also didn't have any food or other supplies. To make matters worse, it's too slow, they could be destroyed in less than a unit, especially if the Covenant released a plasma torpedo.

She sighed slightly as she rubbed her eyes with a free hand. She didn't think her plan this far ahead, to be truthful she didn't expect them to be alive up to this point. She tried to think of something, anything, to get them off the planet, but so far nothing was forthcoming. All the human ships had been destroyed and all the Covenant ships were being carefully guarded, giving them no chance of escape.

Really with no place to go and with no ideas on what to do next, Shress just halted the phantom after a few units of flying and lands it on a desolate piece of land, surrounded by rusted broken machinery, an abandoned scrapyard she supposed, hopefully they wouldn't be spotted here.

Once the ship had landed, Shress just looked down as she placed her hands in her lap as she thought her situation through. She was now a traitor, a heretic, and will be unable to return home. She felt light tears beginning to build behind her eyes. Never again would she be able to feel the heat from Sangheilo's three suns, never again would she ever see her home and never again would she be honoured, she, as well as her entire family, would be eternally disgraced.

Her body convulsed at this. Her father was a much honoured warrior and through him his family was well respected and held in a high standard living. Now, because of her, their line would be severed, her family ordered to no longer produce more young, to produce more infractions like her. She breathed hard, trying her best to keep the tears from falling. She had just sacrificed everything she had, everything she loved, and for what? For the sake of a demon, a human, a monster?

She looked to Michael and flinched slightly at the sight of his face. His body is battered from all the recent pounding he had undergone. His armour looked close to that of a lump of blue clay; the heat of the plasma had licked and moulded it into different styles and waves. Yet in her opinion the most devastating feature was his head. Both of his eyes were black, his cheek had started to puff up, his skin was red and slightly peeling and multiple cuts labelled his face, from his forehead all the way down to his throat, blood was flowing in rivers. If it wasn't for her attuned hearing, which detected his low breathing, Shress would have taken him for dead.

She doesn't know why, but just seeing him like this pained her heart further. She tenderly raised her hand and lightly touched his baked skin. Her talons paused when they made contact and she pulled her hand away while staring at her claws. She began to look back and forth between her body and Michael's. She took in stock his head, body, legs and feet, comparing them to her own for some unknown reason. She shook her head sharply, in an attempt to shake her errant thoughts right out of it.

Why am I doing this? Why am I agonizing myself in this manner?

She sighed as she looked at Michael once more and noticed something different about him, aside from his beaten face. She continued to examine Michael, determined to find whatever it was that is out of place when she finally realized what it was. The fur on his head has grown; she remembered the first time she had seen his face his fur was short enough to allow her to see the top of his head. Now it was covered in a small forest of blackness, sprouting out a little once it was free from the confines of his helmet.

She had no idea why, or what possessed her to do it, but she reaches out and ran her hand through the fur. A smile timidly began to form as she continued to move her hand through the strange feature of the human. It felt weird, yet the prickling sensation it provides was …delightful, she supposed. She continued touching the fur, she has no idea how much time had passed, she was still grinning slightly when she saw Michael's lips move.

"You really like doing that don't you?"

Shress felt herself freeze at those words, feeling extremely foolish and embarrassed at the moment, especially now with her hand still on his head. Slowly, Michael opened his eyes and trained them on her, while slightly looking up at her hand.

She shifted in her seat uncomfortably as she began to move her hand away. "Sorry, I-" she starts to say when Michael interrupted her, "It's alright Shress, it's kind of…nice," he said in an honest yet awkward tone.

Shress couldn't agree more, but hesitantly and much more slowly now, she began to rub her hand over his head once more. Slowly Michael closed his eyes and let out what she hoped was a sigh of content. She smiled mischievously at him.

"Do all humans like to be pet?"

The human's eyes opened wide, "Pet? I'm not being petted." He said, looking like someone who has lost some dignity. Her light laughter not changing his expression

"So what is it I am doing then?"

Michael was silent for a while before he finally replied.

"Patting my hair down."

Shress laughed again at this, and after a while, Michael joined her, adding his own voice to hers. When they ceased laughing though, they looked into each other's eyes as if they could tell what it was that the other was thinking.

Michael looked out the view port, his eyes becoming distant as he let out a puff of air.

"It wasn't a dream was it?"

Shress sighed as she looked out the port as well, removing her hand from Michael's head.

"No. It most certainly was not."

Michael sighed as he gazes out towards their desolate surroundings. "I thought not, but I was hoping it was."

Shress had no idea what to say so they remained silent. Their was is pushing them towards the brink of depression until Michael finally broke it.

"So, after all that…does that mean you can't return to the Covenant?"

Shress looked down as she answered, and her voice caught. "Yes…and Sanghelios."

Silence enveloped them, Shress has no idea what else to say and neither did Michael. She was still looking down when she felt something entangle her hand and looked to see Michael holding it. Her first impulse was to snarl and snatch her hand away, as far as she was concerned he was the reason for her troubles. But she couldn't bring herself to do it, not to the only person that was still her friend. And the feeling of his hand enclosed around her hand was comforting but…she wanted more comfort.

Years of solitude had morphed Shress to the point where she believed she could make it through everything, but in this case…she needed reassurance. She leaned a little out of her seat and rested her head against Michael's shoulder. She breathed in his scent; it was now covered by ash and blood, completely different from his male and forest like scent. He shifted his weight a little and let out a pained breath. Afraid of damaging him further, Shress made to move away, but stopped when she felt something on her neck. At first she thought it was another spec op that had snuck on board and was already tensing her muscles when she paused. Whatever it was on her neck, it was moving back and forth, massaging her neck, filling her with a easeful sensation. She soon realized it was Michael's hand, slowly rubbing her muscles and calming her. The sensation felt so nice, she slowly closed her eyes and let out a blissful sigh.

She loved the feel of his hand on her neck, calming and caring for her well-being. She soon began to wonder what it would feel like to have him touch her skin without his gloves on when Michael positioned his head close to her face and asked quietly as if not to disturb her.

"So what now?"

Slowly she opened her eyes and finds herself looking directly into Michael's own vibrant green ones. Despite his bloodied appearance, his green eyes remained the same, dark, yet bright enough for her to see their shade. His eyes held sadness but also something else, a sort of gleam as he gazed at Shress. She sighed before she raised herself up, forcing Michael to remove his hand.

"I don't know Michael."

Michael tilted his head slightly. "You don't have an escape plan?"

"If I did we wouldn't be here would we?" She harshly snapped back.

Michael looked away, causing her to feel horrible, but he spoke before she could. "Well let's start with the basics," here he looked back to her, "What do we have and what do we need?"

Shress shook her head a little before.

"Well first, we need a way off this planet, food, supplies, and a place of sanctuary we can go to." She looked to him in a challenging fashion.

"Do you know where we can find all of those things?"

She was taken aback as Michael looked straight into her eyes, gave her a wide smile and said. "As a matter of fact I do."

*Six POV*

"Just keep going a little further." Six instructed as he struggled to remember the exact route, everything looked so different after it had been glassed. He remembered the area to be surrounded by hills, mountains and great plains of grass, now it was as barren as the surface of the nearby moon.

"Where are we going exactly?" Shress asked as she kept the Phantom low to the ground to try to avoid detection.

"You'll see." He replied cheerfully.

Shress responded by giving him another glare as she demanded more from him. "Why do you irritate me in this manner?"

"Oh I don't know," Six responded in a sarcastic voice, causing Shress to turn to look at him as he continued, "Why did you leave a primed grenade on my arm?"

She withered in her seat in what he guessed is embarrassment, "It wasn't a grenade Michael, just a device to reveal a sangheili in active camouflage."

"A sangheili version of a flash-bang I presume," Michael commented sarcastically.

"Flash-Bang?" Shress thought for a moment before she nodded. "That is a fitting name now that I think of it."

Michael nodded along with her but he still wasn't satisfied. "It might not have been dangerous." He turned to her with narrowed eyes, "But I would have appreciated it if you told me, better yet, why didn't you warn me you were placing an explosive on me!?"

"Well…it wasn't an explosive Michael," She replied with a self-satisfied grin.

"Whatever!" exclaimed an exasperated Six, "You scared me to death when you did that."

Shress only shook her head and chuckled to herself while Six rolled his eyes. An angry Spartan always taught a person a lesson, but Shress was finding it more funny than threatening.

Noticing he had calmed down a little, Shress tried to mollify him. "I am sorry Michael, truly I am, but it was the only way I could lure the special operator into the open."

Six looked back to Shress, "How did you know there was a spec op there?"

"We've been followed by a spec op for some time now Michael, I don't know how long, but long enough for him to learn your name and our relationship with each other."

Six eyes widened at the revelation. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid! He got careless, he should have scanned the area of their meeting places before speaking with Shress. Then again creatures with active camouflage had always been difficult to detect.

"How did you find out?"

"The Prophet of Regret let it slip" Shress growled angrily at the name, "They… He made me do horrible things. Things that I can never take back." She continued, the words filled with hatred and a bit of sadness. "He said he had eyes and ears everywhere, after a lifetime of listening to his so called teachings, I knew when he was speaking sincerely enough." She looked back at Six, "Until I met you, sarcasm had never been a practice of any of the Covenant species, so he was being literal when he spoke of himself having eyes and ears everywhere."

"In other words it was based on a hunch," Six summed up after hearing the slight hesitation in her voice.

"But I was correct!" Shress began to argue before stopping when a piercing beeping sounded. Six instantly became alert as well, it had been his experience that whenever something started to beep that's usually a bad sign.

"What is it?" Six queried as he clenched his muscles, trying to ignore the searing pain.

"We're being followed," Shress reported as she looks at her instruments before cursing, "Covenant aircraft are inbound."

"How many?" Six asked, having the crazy notion that they can fight them off.

Shress looked to him, "Looks like all of them."

Six thought for a moment, "If we can find elevated ground, some weapons, a rifle for the both of us, we could hold them off and maybe-"

"Are you insane!?" Shress demanded incredulously as she stared at him, "We'll be killed when they fire the cleansing weapon from one of their space crafts!"

Six looked apologetically at her and shrugged, "Sorry, Spartan habit, always think offence."

Shress shook her head in disbelief. "I admire your determination, but between the two of us and the entire Fleet of Righteous Quality I don't think we would last a unit," she turned back to the view port. "How much further?"

"None," Shress looked quizzically at Six to see him stare at the ground. "We're here, put us down."

Shress looked down as well. "There's nothing here."

"Yes there is." Insisted Six, "Trust me, set us down."

Shress reluctantly followed his command, she clicked the alien symbols, the Phantom landed. As soon as it touched the ground, Six tried to jump to his feet, but instead his weak foot caused him to stumble before Shress caught him. She leant him against the console before she stood herself and supported Six once more.

"Takes us out," Six ordered. Shress let out a growl at being ordered around but she obliged him. As they approached the flap that opens to the brown world before them he looked to the mass of bodies when they had halted.

"Wait, we may need weapons if it isn't here."

Shress propped him against the opening of the flap as she quickly began to search the dead troopers. "Your words aren't very reassuring Michael." She commented as she worked.

Six gave a shrug even though she wasn't looking at him. "I know but as the old saying goes, better safe than sorry."

"I have never heard that before," Shress replied as she walked back and handed him a Plasma Repeater. "But it is sound advice."

Six nodded before he draped his arm around her shoulder. "How much time we have left before the Covenant gets here?"

"I don't know," admitted Shress, "Possibly a few units." Six silently hoped that units are sangheili for minutes and not seconds.

The first thing that hits Six as they step off is the heat. It was so strong it actually causes him to gasp and falter slightly, it was like being hit by a wall of plasma, and he of all people should know how that felt by now.

"Are you alright?" Shress asked as she pulled him up, as she looked down at him with worry in her eyes.

Six waved his hand, "I'm fine, we've got to move now."

Shress looked around, but all she could see was a desolate wasteland. "Where?"

Six pointed with his weapon. "Over there a few dozen feet."

"How far?" she asked as they walked in the direction he had pointed in.

"Just keep going until I say stop," Six commanded as he looked to the skies, trying to see if there was any incoming Covenant craft.

Six couldn't help but feel slightly humiliated as he was being dragged as if he were nothing more than a doll while Shress moved with graceful ease. They travelled what would have been a dozen of human steps in six sangheili paces when Six finally told her to stop.

Shress halted as Six looked intensely at the ground. Shress followed his gaze before he pointed in front of them. "Start banging your feet all over that area."

Shress gave him a strange look before she started to slam her feet against the hard floor. "Michael, if this is your idea of revenge for me making fun of you, this isn't funny nor do we have the time."

"Just keep doing it Shress," Six encouraged, "Keep going until-" he was interrupted when Shress's foot struck what looked like a heap of dirt that made a clanging sound on contact.

Shress stared in wonder at what she felt while Six let out a sigh of relief as he dropped to his knee and started digging. "Yes," he muttered to himself. "It's still here."

"What's still here?" demanded Shress before she saw the answer with her own eyes.

Planted beneath them was a circular steel alloy door about the size of a manhole, blackened and discoloured from the recent glassing process. Six continued to brush the dirt off until he found the small processor on the side of the vault, the screen was cracked and dark, but when Six touched the keys it was still operational as a weak light came on.

Six hesitated for a moment, trying to remember the code when he heard Shress growl agitatedly. "Michael, hurry!"

He glanced up to see her looking off into the distance, where a dozen dots were closing in from the horizon, a large shadow in the skies right behind them.

Six turned back to the door and typed in what he hoped to be the right code: E-4 H-0 Z-3 H-6.

Six silently cheered as he heard the gears grind as they struggled to open the damaged steel entrance, which drew Shress's attention as she lowered herself to look at the monitor. One talon pointed at the screen

"I don't understand. It looks like you just wrote in rubbish."

Six shook his head slightly as he explained. "It's a code, each letter represents something," he pointed to the E, "Epsilon," he moved his finger further down to the H, "Hotel," then the Z, "Zulu," before he stopped at H again, "And Hotel again."

Shress still looked confused, "It still looks like rubbish, what do the numbers represent, and why do you only use the first letter?"

She was interrupted as the door opened wide, revealing a ladder that led into a darkened space.

"I'll explain later," Six says as he looks over his shoulder at the fast approaching Covenant forces, "We have to move."

Cautiously, Shress lowered Six down a ways before he grabbed the rails and painfully lowered himself the rest of the way down, with Shress right behind him. As soon as they were both on the steel floor, the door above them swung shut, while they were alerted that they have been locked in by the sound of grinding gears.

Shress's muscles tensed, but Six ran his hand over her neck and he couldn't help but smile as he felt her relax at his touch, "It's alright, its programmed to do that."

Shress growled, "Well why couldn't they program there to be light here as well?"

"Good point," Six then turned his attention back to the hallway and spoke loudly and clearly. "Light on!"

After a heartbeat of silence, a smooth automated voice responds through nearby speakers "By whose authority?" It caused Shress to tense again.

Six happily soothed her before he called out, "Spartan B-312, Beta company, LW authorize!"

"Scan complete," the voice replied back, "Following previous orders."

Soon light flashed on from the ceiling, so bright it forced Six to cover his eyes while Shress lets out a pained hiss.

The hallway was trashed, wires hung from the ceiling, panels were swinging off the walls and sparks flew in the distance from a busted light. Six frowned lightly at the sight.

"Computer, what caused the damage?"

"Heat and seismic activity from outside of the facility," the smooth voice answered. "Origins: unknown."

"The glassing," Six muttered before he slightly nudged Shress, "Come on, just down the hall."

Shress got a better grip on Six and they stumbled down the hall. They were careful as they step over the fragments of the broken structure, as if they were delicate and even dangerous objects. Six noticed the air was kind of stuffy and heat radiated from the walls, Shress showed no indication of discomfort so he wasn't sure if it was just him or if she was just being gung ho. Gung ho, Six smiled slightly, that's a new word for her.

"What is this place and how did you come of it?" Shress finally asked, breaking the silence.

"It's an ONI facility," He saw Shress open her mandibles but he knew what she was going to ask and pre-empted her. "ONI are the people who are charged with handling secrets, supporting black ops, and the emplacement of spies, they are here to protect the UNSC, but most people don't trust them."

She looked quizzically at him, "Are you a part of this ONI?"

Six laughed lightly at this. "No, not any-more. I prefer to fight in the open rather than in the shadows."

"So how did you come across it?" Shress asked.

Six's smile diminishes as he replied, "I was originally stationed on our colony Mamore when Noble Team needed a new spartan, since I was the closest, the UNSC sent for me, they wanted to keep my presence secret so I could be a surprise for the supposed rebel faction here, to do that, they had me come in through the secret way, the ONI way."

"And you believe this place houses a craft we can use to escape?" Shress asked now with excitement in her voice.

Six began to answer when they both jumped at the sound of banging against metal. They turned around, guns raised, but the steel door at the end of the passage held strong as whatever it was on the other side of the door continued to bang against it.

"Come on," Six said as he lowered his weapon, "Let's hurry."

Shress didn't argue as she wrapped her arm around Six once more and they begin to walk at a fast pace. They made multiple twists and turns as Six directed Shress through the underground maze until finally they reached the hanger.

The room was large, big enough to fit an entire army within. There were massive alcoves for tanks, trucks, and air vehicles set into the walls. The dull concrete was still holding strong but had changed to a slightly different colour from the recent glassing process, but other than that there appeared to be nothing wrong except for one thing. It was completely empty. The large room was completely bare, all the tools, equipment and most importantly, the ships were long gone; there wasn't even a puddle of spilled oil left.

Six cursed as he kicked futilely at the wall, causing him to fall in pain as fire sparked in his foot. Shress tried to help him up but he remains knelt on the ground, angry with himself.

"I'm such an idiot," he groaned, "I should have known ONI would have taken all the ships, I just trapped us against the wall with no way out."

He refused to look up, to look into Shress's face in the moment of his greatest blunder that would cost them their lives. She was his only friend and he had just led her to her death, what was wrong with him?

He heard movement and slowly looked up to see Shress crouched in front of him a comforting hand laid on his burnt armour.

"Michael," she said. "It's alright, we have all made mistakes today, but what you have done isn't a bad thing."

Six looked into her eyes and was surprised to see the truth of her words within them. "How can you say that?" he asked in disbelief. "We're dead now! I've just led you into a kill zone with no way to escape, how is that not a bad thing?" He looked regretfully down at the floor, "All I've done today is watch my friends die and now I led you into this as well."

"Then you honour me," Six's head shot up at these words as she continued, "You have presented me with an opportunity to die gloriously on the field of battle, a rare event for a female, and that shall be remembered for all time, thanks to you."

Six felt his jaw drop, "Are you kidding me? A few minutes ago you were calling me a lunatic for suggesting such a tactic to you, but now you're saying it's glorious?"

Shress smiled warmly at him and touched his cheek, causing him to shiver a bit. Her warm leather like skin was very comforting and very pleasant in his opinion.

"I was just trying to get you to feel better," Shress admitted, still smiling.

Six smiled back, "Well it worked." And without a second thought he leaned towards her and wrapped her in a hug. Shress wrapped her own arms around him as well, although she was careful not to damage him further. With his mask off, Six was able to press his face against Shress's neck, feel her warmth and her lovely skin. Shress in turn placed her jaws on top of his head and slightly began rubbing it against his hair. Six didn't want to leave this position; it felt so good, so nice and so safe, but at that snatched peaceful moment they heard the explosion. It cause them to look to the doorway as they heard the triumphant bloodthirsty howls of various Covenant aliens.

"Computer, what was that?" Six demanded.

"Hostile vectors have entered the facility," the dull voice replied, "Plasma presence suggests the intruders are of Covenant origin."

"No kidding." Six muttered, "Seal off all doors and lock them."

"Commencing." The voice said, and as if to prove its words, the doors to the hanger closed, the large lock on it swung into place, but Six knew it wouldn't hold against the Covenant.

Six sighed and looks to Shress who looked just as unhappy, but she stood and offered her hand. "Ready for the next battle?"

"Why," he asked, "Are you getting tired?" with a grin on his face to which she eagerly returned.

He reached up to take her hand but stopped, eyes wide in surprise as he stared upwards. Shress noticed and cocked her head to the side.

"What?"

Six didn't answer, instead he he spoke to the computer. "Computer, what's that on the roof?"

Shress looked up as well and saw what has gotten Six's attention. Hanging from the ceiling was a Prowler, in fact, if Six's eyes weren't deceiving him; it looked like the very Prowler that had brought him to Reach.

"Winter-class prowler, the UNSC 'Silence', serial code: 998-"

"Is it functioning?" interrupted Six.

"Yes," replied the automaton, "It is fully functional, prepared for flight and-"

"Bring it down and prep it for dust off, immediately!" Six commanded as he got back to his feet with the help of Shress.

"Affirmative, following orders." With that, Six heard the sounds of clinking chains and watched gleefully as the ship was slowly brought down.

The spacecraft was in mint condition, the body black, lean and deadly. The Prowlers were considered 'The Beasts' of ONI since only their operatives were allowed to fly them. It was small but it had a galley, bedroom, some cryo-tubes and a slipspace drive. An answer to Six's and Shress's prayers.

As soon as it touched down, Six gently pushed Shress forward with his remaining arm. "Hurry, go!"

They make their way over to the spacecraft, faster than ever now, a ramp opened in the rear, allowing them to run inside.

The interior was a plain old steel colour with circuitry visible as lights flashed. Shress looked at the bloodstream of the ship, but Six hurriedly pushed her some more, "Come on, all the way down to the front."

Shress followed his instructions; she lead the way while Six continued to hobble behind her. She occasionally looked into open doorways, fascinated by the human ship, but Six kept moving her along, constantly reminding her that they needed to move, now.

The last door opened and revealed the command deck of the ship. Three monitors in front of a whole lot of flashing lights and a large view port, allowing them to see out of the front of the ship. Six went around Shress and limped to the nearest screen and sat down. His fingers typing commands even before the seat took his considerable weight.

He sensed Shress walking over to see what he is doing as his fingers type, a hundred words in less than thirty seconds, entering codes and guidelines faster than the human eye, or in this case he supposed, the sangheili eye could follow.

"What are you doing?" she finally asked.

"Getting ready to fly this thing," he then motioned with his head. "Get on the last console, it's the weapons system."

Shress quickly moved forward and sat but paused, unsure what to do next until Six called out to her. "See that small box in front of you on the screen?" He doesn't wait to hear a yes, "Touch it and type in my code, Spartan B-312, Beta company, LW authorize." Six couldn't help but feel frustrated as he watched out of the corner of his eye as Shress tentatively typed in the code; she had yet to master the human alphabet system and numerals, and it showed.

Six is about to get up to help her when he sees the explosion. The door to the hanger is blown out of the way and streaming through it are Covenant troops, from brutes to grunts, they are all there, all spreading out and are all ready to kill.

"Shress!" Six yells, "Did you do it?"

"Yes, now what!?" she calls back.

"See the twin looking laser things on the screen?"

"Yes," Shress barely says when a brute chieftain howls and the troops open fires. The Prowler is pelted by plasma and needles as the Covenant open fire. Six fears the glass of the view port would be smashed but it holds even as the energy rounds hit and slowly start eating their way in.

"Press it!" Six screams as his computer starts reporting damages.

"I did, now what?!" Shress screams back.

"Touch the screen and shoot!"

Shress taps the glass and no sooner did she do this, twin 40mm coilguns on either side of the craft ports are pushed out of the holes they were hidden in and send a burst in the direction where Shress has pressed the screen. Getting the idea now, she begins touching multiple points on the screen, going at such a fast pace that the guns are having trouble keeping up with her. Under her devastating barrage, brutes, jackals, grunts and elites begin to fall; Six notices her winch whenever one of her rounds strikes an elite. He focuses on the task at hand again, he finds a small radio and holds it against his mouth.

"Computer!" Six yells into a small speaker, "Open the hangar doors."

"Commencing," the voice replies. Giant unseen doors opens in front of them, letting in the newly formed desert air that blows some of the lighter Covenant forces off their feet, Six couldn't help but grin, seeing the jackals fly squawking past the viewport. Seeing their opportunity, Six presses more buttons as he yells to Shress, "Hold on to something!" before gunning the engines.

Shress barely grabs the armrests on her chair before they took off. They squeeze through the hanger doors, slightly scratching the side before shooting off through the air like a missile, the speed that are travelling at is considered dangerous by the standard rule book, but Six figures that since he is a Spartan and Shress is of a tougher species, than they can survive the fast ascent.

As they travelled upwards, the black skies faded to a light blue as they continued their journey. Six lets out a grunt of pain as the G force placed enormous pressure on all of his wounds. It was all he could do to prevent himself from letting out a stream of curses. He glanced at Shress and sees she too is pressed deep into her seat as they continued to travel at their extreme velocity. Finally Six looked back just in time to see the light blue turn black again, but this blackness was now littered with stars. The engines begin to decrease their output, having lost a lot of energy due to the speedy takeoff. The artificial gravity was automatically switched on and the ship soon began to drift.

Six glanced at the radar and let out a sigh of relief. Most of the Covenant fleet was positioned farther west of their position where they continued to glass the planet. They weren't out of danger yet, but Six allowed himself to slump in his seat, as he let out an exhausted sigh as he turned to see Shress look similarly tired.

Yet when they looked at each other, something seems to snap and simultaneously, they began to laugh. Their quiet chuckles soon turned into full scale hysterics as they laughed and laughed and laughed. Six had no idea why they are laughing and the fact just cracked him up even more. Shress's form of laughter sounded hilarious to Six as well, a strange high pitch sound mixed with a small whistling that just sounded unnatural yet logical at the same time. He started to wonder if they had just lost their mind through the craziness they had just endured, but he shook his head as he gasped, at this point he didn't care why it had happened, the fact that it just had happened was all that mattered.

Shress soon ceased her chuckles as well, her mandibles open wide and close every so often, something Six guessed was their version of gasping. Finally she looked at him and they smiled at each other before she asked. "Now what?"

Six just wanted to laugh again at her lack of formal words but he no longer had the energy to do so, he just shook his head and looked at the monitor. The numbers and reports his eyes scan was enough to instantly wipe the smirk off his face.

Shress sat up straight as she noticed the change in Six's mood.

"What's wrong?"

Six stared dumbstruck at the computer some more before he sighed and swung his chair around to face Shress. "Damage is bad, the slipspace drive has been slightly damaged, and so are the cryo-tubes. We also don't have enough supplies to make it to any nearby UNSC facility, but thankfully the stealth systems are fine." Six pressed a few buttons on the console in front of him before he looked out the window, a low hum coming from the hull.

Is this their fate? To float through space and slowly die either from hunger, thirst or suffocation once the air supply runs out?

Shress rose from her seat and walked over until she was standing next to Michael and knelt so they can be at eye level as she speaks.

"I'm guessing this slipspace drive is what makes your spacecraft move at faster than light speeds, correct?" she inquired.

Six nodded, to which she continued. "Can't you fix it?"

Six shook his head this time. "Not without a hazmat suit, the radiation the machine is giving off is enough to kill a person if they are not careful."

"What's radiation?" She asked, now confused about the new word.

"Small harmful particles that can harm a person, make them very ill and cause them to die," Six replied.

Shress looked away as she replied quietly, "I've been a part of a lot of raiding parties." She mused. Before she turned back to him. "This drive is located in the centre of the ship, correct?"

"Yes," Six answered slowly.

"Well, I guess my armour can be counted as a…hazmat suit, When we enter the center of a human ship, we always activate our shields for there's always something within that would kill the Unggoy every time we send them in there, radiation I suppose. I have always assumed that it is similar to when we work on the reactors on our ships, though the Huragok have always shielded everyone..." She trailed off.

Six sat up straighter as he gazed at Shress, "Are you sure you can be protected in your armour?" He asks, suddenly fearful for her life.

She nodded her head confidently. "I'm sure."

"Are you really, really-"

Shress snarled slightly, interrupting Six, "I'm not a youngling Michael, I'll be alright."

Six continued to stare at her before he gently tried to probe further. "You are certain you can fix the drive?"

"Yes, maybe even better it," Six gave her a questioning glances before she elaborated. "Your technology is ancient compared to the Covenant-"

"Geez, thanks," Six said sarcastically which extracted a tired giggle out of Shress.

"Anyway" she continued, "I watched our…Engineers I believe you call them?" Six nodded his head, "I have watched them as they disassemble and reassemble your technology, I have even witnessed them change your drive into one that can match the likes of our most grand spacecraft. It's easy now that I think about it, I won't even require tools."

Six thought for a moment, it sounds almost too good to be true. Shress could repair the drive and if it was as good as she claims it would be, then there would be no need for them to use the cryo-tubes and they could make a much faster getaway as well.

He saw Shress stare at him, as she waited for his answer. He reluctantly sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Please," he begged her, "Please be careful."

Shress gently wraps her talons around Six's hands and comforted him.

"I will."

Out of impulse, Six leant forward and Shress moved as well to meet him. They hug once more, hands feeling the tough plates of their armour, both wished to touch the other. Yet there was something else going on with Six, suddenly being this close to Shress caused something to change within him as he worried that something may go wrong. At the thought of losing Shress, he shuddered and does something that completely surprised even himself; he leant further in and pressed his lips gently against Shress's neck.

Shress stiffened and pulled back, looking at him strangely, "What was that?"

"Uh, what was what?" Six said back, trying to hide his embarrassment as he wished for his helmet to cover his rising flush.

Shress continued to stare at him, "I thought...I felt…" her words fade away as she stood and stuttered, "I…I need to go get started on the drive, uh, right now."

"Alright," Six replied, as he tried to sound casual, "And I'll, uh, be here, checking over statistics and…stuff."

Shress jerkily nodded, "Alright, I'll…see you soon."

"Yes," Six said, too quickly. "Real soon."

They smile a little at each other before Shress turns and quickly strode out of the room. As soon as the door closed, Six turned back to the monitor and slammed his head against the counter.

"YOU IDIOT!" he mumbled loudly at himself.

What were you thinking!? You just made things worse, more awkward in fact! Why did you do it!? No spartan, in their entire career would have done what you did! Besides, she's an alien! Even if you want to, there is no way you can-

Six sat up and shook the question away from his brain. Too much, it is too much to take in all at once.

"You're just relieved," Six said to himself, "Relieved that you're alive and that she survived, your friend, your only friend."

He sighed, still beating up his mind over the issue as he looked out the window and felt himself stop breathing for a moment. The planet of Reach was in ruins, desert storms and lightning danced across the planet. The atmosphere was close to being destroyed, water was nowhere to be seen and smoke continued to fill the skies.

But what caught his attention was a marking on the surface, a Covenant etching. It could barely be seen, the mark had long since been made and was starting to fade, but the grove itself was still visible, making it all too easy for Six to see it. He wanted to deny it, to think that his mind was playing tricks on him, but he knew that it was no mistake. He knew that symbol, it was the first one that Shress had taught him.

A large circle…With three slashes running through the middle.

The mark of the La'Vdamee family.

Anyway Verbus here, in case JF forgot his own A.N here's a little note.

We've changed the tensing around so combat is present tense and everything else is past tense. Let us know what you think.

Please Read and Review.

P.S hope you enjoyed having the cliff hanger resolved.

This is Jtf0012 here. If you have any questions send them to PyreElergy. He is our lore master.

Jtf0012 out.