Six had slept a dreamless sleep. He thought it better than the alternative, honestly. SPARTANs never much dreamt of things anyway, or if they did, they wouldn't generally tell said dreams. He blinked, taking his helmet off and wiping his eyes as he yawned. That had also been the first time in literally forever since he had let out any noise even remotely resembling yawning.

Sighing, he looked at his helmet, unwilling to turn the visor to face his mirrored image. He slid the helmet back onto his head, stood to his feet and strapped his backpack into place, tightening the straps. He stood to his feet, then looked around the church and thought about departing. It was early morning and the sun shined through the eastward-facing windows of the place, beams of light piercing the thick layer of floating dust around.

The Spartan was thankful he'd worn his helmet. The place looked a right mess when it came to hygiene and living standards.

He checked his body to make sure he had all the rest of his kit, including his handgun and knife, as well as the extra blade strapped to his backpack. He drew the bent knife and spun it around between his fingers, murmuring, "Sorry, Emile... Couldn't exactly bury you with a useful weapon..." and sheathing the blade back in place. He looked around, then at his motion tracker.

Noticing the faintest grey dot caused the Spartan to retrieve his pistol and aim it at whatever moved. He scoped in the wall to the right of the altar, noticing the faint seam and the blue eye staring at him. He spoke, "C'mon out," authoritatively. He thumbed the safety on his pistol just in case, then watched the petite figure emerge. A young girl with black hair and azure eyes smiled at him.

Although he was more concerned over the trapdoor, he figured it best to ask her, "Who are you?" before delving into any other questions.

She calmly said, "You... Probably oughta say hello before pointing whatever that is at a friendly person... Also, I'm Hestia! Hi!" and waved, still smiling. The Spartan scanned her, seeing no place where she could hide a weapon. Her hands were by her sides and she wasn't wearing shoes. The latter was an odd detail-to go barefoot in such a place could prove harmful-but he ignored it for the most part.

"Hm," He noted, thumbing the safety on his pistol back to on and sliding it onto the mag-lock on his hip. He nodded, then crossed his arms and asked, "I presume this is your place, then?"

"In a sense," Hestia nodded, still smiling as she curiously took two steps forward. She then asked, "Who're ya, anyway? I haven't seen someone with that kind of armor before..." and she squinted, "You one of Hephaestus's kids? That armor sure looks like something she'd forge..." To which the confused SPARTAN grew even more so. Hephaestus, Hestia. Familiar names, old mythological ones. Greek, perhaps.

"... I'm a stray," The Spartan replied as honestly as he could. And, honestly, it was not a wrong description of his current status.

She smiled, "I see... Well, you must've earned some favor with the other gods if that armor of yours is anything to go by..." and she took another step closer. She noticed the man actively tense up, his fingers once again wrapped around the grip of his weapon. She spoke, "Calm... I swear to you, I'm not here to cause any harm. I live in the place, after all."

The Spartan hummed thoughtfully, staring right at her. He hummed, then sighed and turned to leave without another word. The girl gasped, then called out, "Wait! What're you doing!?" as she rushed toward him. He opened the door to the abandoned church and exited out into the main boulevard. He wanted to figure out where he was, not sit and have idle chatter with someone whose parents thought fun to name after a goddess from antiquity.

He looked to the left, down the boulevard, to see that hundreds of people had started walking through the streets of the place. He wondered if he could buy a cloak or something just so that nobody asked him his name or who he was, sort of like how the woman now clinging onto his arm had. He looked down to see her, staring up at him with two wide blue eyes. She yelled at him, "The heck d'you think you're doing!? You can't go out there alone! You look more lost than a puppy!"

"Hm," He replied, then lifted her with one hand. Her eyes grew wide as she looked at the man from his height now, realizing that he was, in fact, a couple of feet taller than her. A world of difference when the girl was now basically hanging off his right hand with nothing but her own strength to keep her there, her feet dangling. She seemed to still cling on for dear life, however, pouting at him.

"You didn't even hear what I had to say! I was trying to talk to you!" She stated, "Do you even know where you are?"

"I'll find out..." He replied, gently setting her down and trying to get her to let go. No chance. She'd dug her fingers into the seams of his gauntlet and was holding on tight for such a small girl.

"You'll get lost! I know this city like the back of my hand! I can help you, whatever it is you're looking for!" She seemed to almost plead, "Just talk to me about it!"

... To be fair, she was offering to be an easy source of information, but Six knew better. "What's the caveat?"

She raised a brow, "Huh?" seemingly confused by the man's words. He sighed. Interactions with people were not his strong suit. He was more of an 'actions spoke louder than words'-type person, but he figured it was best to try and get himself some information before he disappeared from in front of this 'Hestia' for good so he could search for a way to either figure out if this was just a post-mortem hallucination or if he was really alive here.

And if the latter was the case, to find a way home. The UNSC would hopefully still need him, so he hoped.

"What do you want in return?" He then asked, looking Hestia right in the eyes from behind the visor. She grinned, seemingly joyous about having caught him in the open with that question, since it offered her some sort of possibility. Or so Six figured from her smug expression that hid the faintest signs of joy. The Spartan had learned to read facial features through training his own in case he was ever captured and interrogated. A strong Poker Face, as it was called, was needed to survive that kind of situation. And a strong Poker Face, Hestia did not have.

"Well, there's a few things... But let's start out by giving you that info you need. C'mon inside!" She stated, then pulled at his vambrace, struggling to get him to follow her as he stared at her. She certainly seemed excited enough that he'd even asked what she wanted. He sighed. May as well humor the first person he met and that was willing to offer him any answers whatsoever.

So, marching inside, the man powered on his shield and caused the girl to yelp, the electric currents surging through her fingers. She rubbed them as they seemed to have gone numb, then barked, "Hey! What kinda magic was that!?" before she watched the last vestiges of the faint golden blanket that surrounded the MJOLNIR suit vanish into nothingness. He turned to face her, stopping in the middle of the door as she approached.

She poked her index, which had become numb, into the man's back and an electric shock coursed yet again through it, further dampening the nerves within the finger and somehow surging through into the hand itself. She yowled, wrapped her other hand around her wrist and rubbed it, then said, "Okay, seriously, how do you do that? That's gotta be magic, which means you must belong to a Familia already!"

"It's an energy shield..." The Spartan replied, dumbfound, "Also... 'Familia'?"

"... Huh," The girl paused, confused for but a moment, then she smirked, "Right. Let's go!"

The woman led him down through the hidden door in the Church and into the basement of the place, where she'd set up a small cot to live in, including a double bed and a torn-up couch and table. He hummed, then looked around and chose to stay quiet. The girl smiled, plopped herself down on the couch and patted the seat next to her with one hand, the other laying on her lap.

The Spartan chose to sit on the floor instead. She pouted, then said, "You can sit on the bed or couch, you know?"

"I weigh half a ton with the armor. Do you really want me to?" He replied snidely, leaning his back against the frame of the bed as gently as he could, while the girl stared, wide-eyed, at him. She smiled, then chuckled, both awkward moments in their own right. Shaking her head, she leaned back against the couch, slowly growing her confidence again.

She looked at Six and said, "So... What's your name?"

"Six," The Spartan answered with little hesitation. Like hell he was going to give-

"That's not a name," The girl noted, leaning toward him, "I told you mine. It's only fair you tell me yours. And no lying... I've got a sixth sense about this..." and she flashed a toothy grin. Something else must've been afoot with the girl beyond just that.

He sighed, "This is required for me to get the information I need, isn't it?"

"Yup," She nodded.

"Fine..." He sighed. She was probably going to be the only one to know his real name, anyway. Despite the disgruntlement he felt at the idea, the Spartan had chosen openly to share his name in exchange for the information he needed, pragmatism overtaking his usual demeanor in regards to anyone beyond his superiors (and, as recently as a few weeks ago, his former team-mates) being aware of his name.

Looking at her, he said, "Odell. SPARTAN-III Lieutenant, Odell-B312."

"Ooh, military, then..." The girl smiled, "Funny, I thought you guys and gals were disbanded after the Adventurers came into being, but... I guess not..." She shrugged. The Spartan, though confused, let her speak on, which she picked up. Still smiling, she noted, "Well, as I said, I'm Hestia, a Goddess that descended upon this Lower Sphere to spend the rest of eternity with the rest of your kind."

The woman, though she felt like she was speaking nonsense by the sheer words she'd used to describe her upbringing, voiced the sentence in such a sincere and non-pompous way that Six, now Odell to her and himself, could find no reason to snap back at her with any kind of response. Instead, he simply stared on at her, waiting for her to continue. She hummed, cupping her chin, then said, "Well, despite the visor, I can tell you're confused, Odell.. Honestly..."

He nodded.

"Right..." She hummed, "Say... Again, I've never seen armor like yours before. If that 'energy shield' is anything to go by, it's either something made by Hephaestus and her Familia, or... Something else. A relic of some kind," and she seemed to scrutinize every tiny detail, every dent, gash and scorch mark on the Titanium Plating with vested interest, as if she was trying to learn the truth of an ancient mystery.

"It's something else," He replied. A truth that didn't reveal too much was better than no truth, he figured, "It's an advanced piece of technology, made by my people..."

"Ooh... Your people must be quite the forgers!" She smiled, "They with Hephaestus, or have they got her blessing?"

"... Neither..." He shook his head. The girl's small smile blossomed into a full-blown grin as she looked the man's armor over again, then focused on the visor.

"Ooh, Heph is gonna wanna hear about this!" She seemed giddy as she bounced on the couch, causing it to creak and causing her surprisingly large pillows to bounce as well. The Spartan averted his gaze for his own sake, then turned to listen once he didn't hear the creaking anymore. She chuckled, then said, "Sorry. Got a bit excited. Heph always wants to see the kind of stuff other craftsmen can make. It's a thing of hers to always improve upon her own works, though she's... Never really made a bad weapon. Kind of a Familia Pride thing, I guess... Oh, right! Familias! Gotta explain that..."

She stood up, then approached the Spartan and sat down on the table in front of him. She saw eye-to-eye with the tall man now, despite being sat above him. She was aware how tall he really was, seeing as she approached him and tried to stop him from leaving just a few moments ago. Still, she seemed to ignore the height disparity even now, stating, "Y'see, Familias are a thing a God or Goddess forms when they require company, or wish to pass on their knowledge to the mortals in this Realm. When a human or demi-human joins a Familia and becomes a member, they get all sorts of buffs and stuff, including what is called a Blessing, a certain ability provided by the God of that Familia."

"Like entering a pact with said god or goddess," The Spartan observed.

She nodded, seemingly proud of him as she said, "Indeed! Hephaestus is the Goddess of the Forgers, so she provides blessings to her Familia that allow them to forge the finest weaponry in the realm. From a simple dagger to a broadsword and to armor and shields, if it's got a Hephaestus marking on it, it's the best thing one can get with that amount of Valis that it's priced at... Which..." She chuckled awkwardly, "Admittedly, is usually pretty steep."

"Hm. Noted..." He said. Interesting, "Then there must be a lot of Familias around. If Hephaestus exists..." he recalled the tales told by his family a while back, about the pagan Pantheons and the likes, "So must others. Hestia... You're the Guardian of the Flame, are you not?"

"... How'd you... Oh, so you do know about us!" She smiled, "Yes, I... Well, I was the Guardian of the Flame before I descended onto this realm." and, upon seeing a slight confusion in the man's movements, she explained, "We, gods, had to give something up to come down to your world and spend the rest of eternity with you. That was the use of our powers being limited to only offering blessings to those of our Familias. Nothing beyond that, lest we be recalled to Heaven."

"I see..." He let out a deep sigh, "... And where am I? What 'realm' is this?"

"... Are..." She paused, looking with concern at him, "You alright? You're in Orario, the Labyrinth City in which the tower Babel resides, with its dungeon filled with the most dangerous of creatures on our world... The monsters which the Gods had banished there to protect our Children, you..." and she hummed. She then smiled awkwardly, stating, "Guess you ain't from around the bend, right? Newcomer into town?"

"Something like that..." The Spartan remarked absentmindedly, his thoughts locked onto the fact that, if what this girl was saying was true, then he wasn't home anymore. Or anywhere near it as a matter of fact. Sighing, he stood to his feet, then said, "I have to go..." to which she gasped, standing up and raising her hands as if she was asking, no, pleading with him to wait.

She looked him over even more thoroughly, raised a brow, then asked meekly, "Can... You please turn your shield off? I wanna check something..."

He hesitated, hand wrapped around his pistol. She raised her hands defensively, showing him to stay calm. Jeez, was he jumpy, the girl thought as she looked at him. The Spartan remained tense, but his grip on his gun loosened. His hand was still placed on the weapon, so Hestia took that as best as she could. Of course, someone like him would be concerned. The man emanated an air of death. For a fact, the girl could smell the scent of blood on him more strongly than on even the most veteran adventurers...

She pushed a hand onto his chest and felt no stabbing or numbing zap from it. She hummed, closing her eyes and pouring some of her available power into him, sending waves of energy coursing through his veins. Her eyes grew wide as images of battle and of death flashed before her eyes, followed by the brightest white flash she'd ever seen and the blindness that would usually trail such a sight.

She murmured to herself, taking a step back, "Something... Sent you here..."

"I figured that much..." Six murmured, "Can I leave?"

"I..." She paused, "What're you planning to do?"

"... I need to survive in this place..." He replied absentmindedly. Spartans had an overwhelming urge to survive. Even in the three days before his arrival here, Six sought to survive, to kill the enemy continuously until either he ran out of ammo or his body gave in. He hummed, then asked, "One last thing before I go. How do you make... I'm going to guess the Valis you mentioned is the currency here?"

"Yes... And, well..." She hummed, then looked to him, "You can make them by joining the Adventurers' Guild and visiting the Dungeon to kill the local monsters..."

"Point me to it..." he replied, turning to leave.

"It's just down the road from here. You can't miss it... Big, three-story building with an orange roof..." She replied as she thought of what she'd seen and felt emanating off the man. There was certainly something very different about him. Something the Lower Realms hadn't seen since the great Heroes of old... Or the great Villains. She sighed, then gasped and grabbed him by the wrist as he was about to leave, stating, "WAIT! You can't do anything in the Guild unless you're signed up with a Familia, like mine! It's kind of mandatory to have one!"

"Hm..." The man sighed. He turned to face her, asking, "What about beyond the walls of your city? Can people make a living there?"

"I mean... There's still some monsters out there, but-" She stopped, "Oh, what the heck am I saying?! You can't exactly fight monsters without blessings either! Gods can track the statuses of their Children, meaning how powerful and/or proficient they get in certain areas like agility, speed, strength and even vitality! Without a Blessing, I'm not sure you can even level up or gain any special skills! If you joined a family, like, say, mine, you'd get them!"

"Do I need them?" He inquired, trying to move and seemingly dragging the girl along with him. Her bare heels were having the skin peeled by the stone below-foot. She yowled, causing the Spartan to turn about as she jumped from one foot to the other and backed into the table. As she was about to flip over the table itself and presumably hit her head, the Spartan caught her by the arm, stopping her just inches short of falling.

Her gaze locked onto his visor for a moment. He spoke, "Sit down," as he pulled her to her feet. The man had caused her injuries. She was just a civilian. She may've been a goddess or not, but he wasn't going to let her do anything as stupid as walking around with her heels busted up like that. She nodded slowly, gently sitting herself down while avoiding putting pressure on the heels.

The man retrieved a box with a red cross on it from his backpack and opened it, then handed her a tube with some kind of paste and said, "Put that on your heels... It should stop the pain and help the skin cells grow back..." before he slid the rest of the kit into his backpack again. He spoke, "I'll head to the Guild... See what I can talk with the people over there about hunting in the Dungeon for money, then..."

"Like I said, it's-" She watched the man march up the stairs. Sighing as she uncapped the tube and squeezed the thick, colorless and odorless paste onto her heels, she murmured "There he goes... Another one leaves me alone." as she applied the lotion to her heels. She hummed, then said to herself, "At least he gave me whatever this stuff is..." and she smiled as she saw the skin on her heels visibly healing. It was like magic.

... She was pretty sure he was a magician or something. That heavy armor would over-encumber him otherwise. And who was he, anyway? What did the greater Pantheon want with him that they'd dragged him from his own realm anyway? She had seen snippets, glimpses of what he had gone through, including the battle against monsters of some kind that she could not make out.

She sighed. No time to wonder about that. She had to find something to eat for dinner...

As she prepared to exit the place, while sundown was coming, she saw the Spartan marching toward her, arms crossed to his chest. She smirked, then said, "Take it they didn't wanna take in a rando off the street?" smugly. He shook his head, then marched past her. She grabbed him by the wrist and said, "Where're ya going? That's one of the eight gates leading out of town that way."

"I know... I'm going to see if I can't hunt," He replied, "Places outside shouldn't be regulated like this, bureaucrats be damned..."

"You'll get yourself killed!" She protested.

"Happened before..." he replied calmly, shocking the girl.

"... You could find a Familia to join," She said warily, not willing to ask the third time, "I'm sure they'd want someone as stubborn as you around... And as strong-looking, honestly..."

"What's with you and Familias, girl? I don't know what I'd even do in one," He turned to her, "I work best alone."

His own words stabbed at his soul. He hadn't worked alone for six weeks, before his untimely death a mere day ago. He narrowed his lips, running his left hand over one of his pouches and hearing the muffled clink of metal hitting metal. He then murmured, "I'll keep on the look out for word of any sort of technology, anything that could send me home..." They'd need every Spartan for what came next. He knew it...

"What's with me and familias, he asks..." She spoke in a soft whisper, her voice sad. She looked up to him, then said, "I've never really had one. All the time I've been in your realm. Nobody wanted to join this minor goddess nobody had even heard of, with no real known blessings and no other Child to take care of and help. I've been alone for all my time here... I tried about fifty times at this point and all of them failed. Nobody wanted to tag along with me."

So, she was a Lone Wolf like him... And not by choice.

"I asked you about Familias because I've never seen someone so ready to go die out there for nothing but the idea of actually trying to survive. Don't take it the wrong way, Odell..." She spoke calmly, staring him right in the visor with a sad smile, "You seem strong, heck, you are clearly pretty strong if you can drag a Goddess in her human form around with little issue, but... There's things out there that're heavier than me. And there's things out there that hit, unlike me. Hard. I don't wanna hear they found your corpse out there for some reason or another..." Admittedly, because she was interested in finding out what a reincarnated person was doing here in their full old-life attire and at their age, among other things, "... But if you figure you can handle the world alone, okay... I'll just go back to trying to find others."

She let go of his wrist...

Yet something drove the Spartan to grab onto hers. Perhaps it was a faint sense of pity he felt for the woman. Perhaps it was a pity for himself, so he wouldn't die alone out in the wild if push came to shove. He'd died once already, after all. Alone. And it had hurt. He had been the last one out and had hit the lights for himself and his team. His other hand clasped around the pouch from which the clink had come from. The noise echoed again and, though muffled, Odell-B312 could hear them clearly. Both their voices and their Tags.

Wide-eyed, the girl stared at him for a moment. He looked to her, then said pragmatically, "If surviving in this world means I need a 'Blessing' from a god or goddess? Fine... I'm looking for a way home. That will remain my objective for all my time here, finding some way to get back to my people and help them in their fight. But, I'm stuck here for the time being."

He hummed, then said, "And considering you understand how this world seems to work and I don't? Add to that you're the only Goddess that I know out of whatever Pantheon is here and... Well? If you want me along for the ride, seeing as I need you right now, would you care to have your first Familia member be some random fellow you met in the streets of your town?"

She paused, then beamed brightly, "I'd be glad to have you as my first Familia member..."

"Then it's settled... Guess I'm part of your folks now. And you, part of mine," He noted, turning to face her and letting go of her wrist. She grinned, then brought her hand up in a quick salute which the Spartan reciprocated out of instinct. He sighed, well aware what he'd just done was one of the strangest things a Spartan must've ever agreed to, bar none. He had no other choice.

And, honestly?

Seeing the girl smile this brightly was somewhat of a soul-soothing thing...

For some reason.