AN: Thank you all for your continued interest in this story, please feel free to comment or mention if there's any more characters you want to see more often, or what you hope to see in the next few chapters. Things will be picking up from here on out.

Dust and Echoes

"If you didn't want your ass shot off, you shouldn't have stuck it out so far."

-Sgt Maj Avery Johnson

2041 Hours, Early Fall 7th, 1994 (Local Time) Corneria City, Outskirts

"You know," Fox said before taking a swig of Miyu's discount moonshine and mix, "I think I can feel my insides burning off."

"I lost mine a few minutes ago," Logan replied with a grimace.

They were all clustered around a wood fire in a rocky dugout beyond the city limits. The trees were shuttering to and fro in the light breeze that night, yet both the gentle flames and the illicit booze were keeping the teenagers warm.

"Maaaaan this takes me back," Falco chimed in as he lay splayed on his back, "Nice breeze, stars overhead, and a couple drinks with ya' crew."

"Jeez Falco, you been drinking since you were 5?"

"Bite me furball."

"I'll bite someone alright!"

The boys scattered in mock terror as Miyu descended on them, snapping her short muzzle. After a brief scuffle Logan shuffled over and handed her his own cup of the strong booze, from which she swigged deeply.

"Hope you like it Lo, that's my 'welcome to Corneria' present for ya."

The human teen accepted his cup back from the smiling Lynx and downed the rest with his own grin.

"Damn...that burns good."

"That'll put some hair on your chest, you need it pal."

It was nice being able to unwind, and the close-knit group was a lively bunch. For the first time in forever, Logan felt like a wound spring inside him had finally come loose. He let the comforting lull of alcohol ease him down, and blinked as he noticed the Fennec girl staring at him across the crackling fire.

"Hey Fara, what's the matter?"

She smiled thinly and swished her own cup, finding something interesting in the flames to stare at.

"Logan... I don't wanna push, but maybe if you feel like talking about whatever's been eating you...I think we'd all be willing to listen."

The conversation died down, and Jones was suddenly aware of every twig and pebble poking into him off the quarry floor.

"I...don't know if anyone really needs to hear that."

A feathered blue hand gripped his shoulder, and the human turned to see an unusually serious Falco looking at him.

"Hey man, no one's gonna look down on you or nothin' for comin out of a bad place," the avian ran his fingers through his head plumage while looking away for a moment, "...like, I came off the streets, and some of that baggage is still dragging me down, ya know? Don't think nobody here's gonna spread your problems if you don't want them to."

Logan swallowed, staring at the bottom of his cup as the others regarded him. He wasn't used to having anybody to fall back on or talk to other than his brother. Maybe it was time to let it out.

He stared off into the fire, and began to revisit those painful memories.

"There's some things that haven't come out yet in the talks between the CDF and UNSC. A lot, actually...has to do with negotiating, security...but it's going to come out eventually, just...listen to what I have to say, and then you might understand."

He took a deep breath.

"More than thirty years ago, an unidentified ship was sighted near a remote colony of ours called Harvest. It didn't match anything we'd ever seen before, and didn't respond to communication. Contact was lost shortly after, and when the UNSC sent a battlegroup to investigate, they found that ship waiting there...and Harvest completely glassed."

"Glassed?" Slippy spoke up haltingly.

"The surface of the entire planet had been bombarded with plasma from orbit. Every person, the oceans, the atmosphere...all boiled away."

The Cornerians were staring now with wide eyes, that kind of devastation had never been heard of in Lylat.

"Oh gods..." Fara had her palm to her muzzle in horror, she'd never expected this.

"One message was broadcast to the battlegroup before almost all of them were destroyed. Saying they called themselves the 'Covenant,' and that our destruction was the will of their gods."

It came easier now, being able to let go and say it.

"From that point of first contact on, Humanity was at war. Our enemy couldn't be reasoned with, bargained with, or even surrendered to. They wanted only to wipe out every human life in existence, for some reason we didn't know. We fought them every inch of the way, but our weapons tech at the time...our ships, slipspace...even our numbers were all inferior. We had projectile cartridge guns, they had plasma; Our slipspace took weeks or months, theirs took hours or days; we were only human, they had several races among them, some twice our size..."

Mouths were still agape, he though he could hear Fay's breath hitch.

"Towards the end, we lost around 76 planets and more than 23 billion civilian and military lives. My home Tribute was destroyed some years ago. I was lucky enough to be a kid on one of a handful of evacuation ships."

Murmurs of disbelief, an emotional gasp farther back.

"There didn't seem to be a way for us to win. We couldn't stop them except by sheer tactical brilliance or million-to-one odds, and even then they'd just glass from orbit. Then came the invasion of Earth, our homeworld."

"It was a long battle. We threw everything we had left at them. I remember being just another scared kid with a rifle I found, taking cover as explosions and gunfire rained. For the most part they seemed more interested in digging something up in one of the planet's deserts. They hunted relics from some ancient space-faring civilization they worshipped, you see...Then some sort of portal opened up right out of the ground; The last great secret of some ancient species called the Forunners."

"There was some kind of civil war that erupted among the Covenant at that point. One of the races that had been killing us suddenly agreed to a temporary cease fire as they fought their old masters. What little marines and ODSTs were left got on the last ships we had space worthy, and went through the portal. The survival of our entire species was riding on those brave few. My brother was among them."

Logan closed his eyes.

"What happened, was a desperate gamble to beat the Covenant to this ancient failsafe that the Forerunners built to wipe out all life in our galaxy; It was meant as a way of preventing a terrible parasi-plague," Logan corrected quickly, and the slip up earned him a look from a more astute Lylatian among them, "that decimated them. It likely would have been the end of us, if it wasn't for the greatest soldier in our history being there to stop it."

Amidst all the pain the memories brought, Logan had to smile as he remembered what had given them all hope...what had made them believe.

"The Master Chief. Known mostly by his rank, and also his number 117, he was one of the best humanity had to offer; Part of the super soldier program we had known as the SPARTANS."

"They were faster, stronger, augmented better than any other human, and trained for years to a level that made their prowess on the battlefield more powerful than any weapon we could build. They had cutting edge armor that enhanced their strength, and that actually had energy shields. Something we'd never had before. However, even with all that...they still were whittled away one by one over the thirty years of war that decimated us, until the Master Chief was the last one."

"Leading the assault on the Forerunner structure we called the 'Ark,' the Chief and the leader of the Alien defector's faction killed the surviving Covenant leader, and set the structure to prematurely fire and rip itself to pieces. As the surviving marines and aliens were fleeing, the Master Chief was declared missing in action when his half of the spaceship he was on never came through the closing portal."

"So in the end, our species was saved from the crumbling edge of extinction. We began to rebuild, but the scars are still there. I don't like to talk about it much, because my home and my family...they're just another casualty on a mountain of others. That pain never really goes away, but at least I still have my brother alive, and that helps. Someday it'll be me on the firing line again, whatever the cause...and I will never let anyone else go through what I did. No more glassed planets, and no more broken families."

They were silent after he finished. Logan stared into the fire, unable to look up. There was a rustle of fabric, and he felt Miyu lean into him and wrap an arm around his shoulders, her face in his neck. Fara stepped in and hugged him with her muzzle against the side of his face, and then the others came. Hands reached out, and Logan felt them grip him as he was surrounded.

"We'll be with you every step of the way," came the serious promise from Fox.

"We got your back," Falco affirmed in his own gruff way.

"You can count on us," Slippy chimed in with a watery note.

"We'll look out for you now," Fay promised quietly.

"Should you need us, we'll be there," Fara chided, squeezing him.

"You're part of our family now," Miyu whispered with a wetness on his neck.

Logan felt something in his throat, and a burning in his eyes. He wanted to tell them, but the comforting presence remained, and they already knew what he'd meant to say. A weight had been lifted off his back, and a wound long ignored finally salved.

Something happened there between the friends. A bond was made, and though they'd known this link for a short time, their futures were now inexorably connected...and a difference had been made that would be felt forever.

"My friends..." Logan whispered.

"Thank you..."

0632 Hours, Early Fall 8th, 1994 (Local Time) Corneria City, CDSS

The next morning was a painful hangover for everyone involved.

Sitting through classes with a saw going through their skulls was torture, but the booze had been cheap and they certainly got their money's worth out of it. Catherine and Kyle were a bit exasperated at Miyu coming home so late with their Human boarder reeking of alcohol, but they said nothing and waved the teens along to bed. Having suffered through the school day dealing with the after effects, Logan was definitely ready to go home and melt into a couch."

"Hey Jones!"

Turning to look, the human teen waved back at the vulpine coming through the busy hallway to meet him.

"Hey McCloud, what's going on?"

Fox sidestepped an otter as he came up to talk, hitching his pack back over a shoulder.

"Everyone's coming over for a study session before the midterms, can you and Miyu make it?"

Logan nodded, "I don't think she's got other plans, I'll let you know by lunch, alright?"

"Sure thing. Still owe you a flight sim tutorial, by the way."

"Somehow I doubt flying's going to be my strong suit..."

"I wouldn't worry, even Slippy's improved over time."

The friends parted ways at their first classes, and Logan settled into his usual seat next to Fay in Miss Cunningham's first period classroom.

"You look tired Lo, Miyu keep you up last night?" The cheerful collie poked him as he slumped in his chair.

"Marathon'd half the Fireflies series, I swear she wants to be a carbon copy of Zoe, that coyote gunslinger was just like her. Don't know why we just had to watch it then, even after getting in at stupid o' clock and piss drunk." Jones rubbed at his eyes, grumbling as the upbeat white canine giggled.

"It's her favorite series, she'll probably drag you out to watch it again."

"This is what I get for being half-adopted by feral cats, right?"

"Careful human, our girls have claws."

Logan slapped the back of his neck where a tiny cut had stung him, turning to mock glare at Katt Monroe innocently twirling a lock of her hair.

"I don't imagine your boyfriends last long, Monroe."

"Nope, but they taste good."

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up."

They flipped open their class materials as Miss Cunningham took to the front of the classroom, beginning her lesson on EM Drives, and the concept behind faster than light travel.

"By the way," Logan whispered to the girls, "Fox is hosting again tonight, come when you're free."

"Should I tell Fara?" Fay asked quietly, her normally cheery eyes in a slight frown.

The human teen nodded, "She should come, no reason to keep avoiding everyone just because there's something awkward between her and McCloud. They can work that out themselves."

"That's just what I was telling her yesterday, I mean...It's silly they're acting like someone died when it was just a breakup-"

"Miss Spaniel," came the admonishing voice of the wolfess teacher, "If you're going to talk in my class keep it down to a considerable level for your classmates."

Logan stared ahead impassively as Fay wilted to the tips of her ears amid muffled laugher from the rest of the class.

They were walking to Fox's house.

It was a nice day, and while the girls were chatting about some pop idol, Falco and Bill argued over a recent drag race, Logan closed his eyes and let the sun warm him. Just being in their company felt good.

The teen's many different feet padded over the driveway, while Fox knocked on the door before they went in. Noticing one missing, the white collie turned around to see their resident alien once again peering under the rim of a hovercar.

"Why do you always do that Lo?" Fay piped up.

The human was kneeling by the McCloud's hovercar, peering along the underside of the rim.

"Yeah, you did it back at my place too," Miyu mentioned, "Looking for roadkill?"

"No..." Logan shook his head, "Force of habit you see. I..."

Whatever he was going to say dwindled off, and his brow creased.

"Fox..."

The vulpine looked over to him from the front door, "What's the matter?"

"Fox get your dad right now."

There was an urgency in Logan's voice they'd never heard before. Fox rapped on the door again, and Fara was about to step over when Logan harshly told them to keep back.

The door opened, and the group parted as James McCloud stepped through with his customary shades and a white tee over his fit chest.

"What's going on kiddo?" There was no confident smirk on the older vulpines muzzle now. Just a serious inclination of his brows.

"I need you to take a look at this." The teen replied.

James dropped into a pushup next to the human, and after a moment his lips pursed into a deathly serious line with a hint of a fang.

"You see that?"

"Yeah," McCloud's voice was icy calm. He looked over his shoulder at his son, "Fox, get your mother out of the house. One of you call the police, ask for the EOD right now."

Slippy's eyes had gone even wider if possible as he connected the dots first, "You mean...?"

The older fox let out a breath, turning to Logan, "How'd you find it?"

"Back home, rebels used to put them underneath out of sight. We got used to checking regularly."

"Put what? What's going on?" Fay was put off by the sudden serious turn, looking to Miyu who could only shrug.

James McCloud stared angrily at the blinking red LED on the unfamiliar shape clamped onto his family's car.

"Someone planted a bomb."