Chapter 2: A Psych Evaluation

John opened his eyes. His body felt groggy and moving his arms and legs felt… hard. It wasn't supposed to take this much effort, right?

It was then, when he realized he wasn't on his bed, nor was he lying down.

He was standing in a hallway. It was black, everything was black. The only reason he could make out any shapes, was because all the hallways, all the arches and decorations, were illuminated by beautiful white accents.

The floor was covered in ominous grey smoke, and his every, abundantly groggy movement, seemed to echo all around the giant structure.

Slowly he started walking, finding the right path wasn't that hard, taking in consideration that his surroundings consisted of a single hallway with a locked door behind him.

The hallway seemed to stretch, after every step he took, another meter seemed to be added, creating a never ending cycle. Chief was a patient man, so he kept walking.

And walking.

And walking…

… But even the most patient of men have their limits. If a minute, or a half an hour had passed by, he couldn't tell. There was something about this place, something magical that seemed to make you forget the passage of time.

It was peaceful in a way, a small reminder of a life he never had.

Nor wanted.

Not anymore.

But all peaceful moments had to come to an end, this one was no exception. A mist started to cover his way, blocking his vision, preventing him to see where he was going. With every step it got thicker, after ten steps he could barely see his own hands.

And then it disappeared, revealing a breathtaking view.

A ginormous gateway loomed over him, it reminded him of ancient Rome's architecture. Just another reason why he should have thanked Deja for her lessons.

The giant pathway was surrounded by vegetation of all types. Beautiful trees, large plants, most he couldn't recognize, and long vines fell off the giant rock platform the gateway was situated on.

There was a large pathway of floating rock formations that led to the gateway, and those formations were connected by bridges, bridges made out of light, or something akin to light.

He slowly started to cross the bridges, above him birds flew, they were also made of light, they seemed too natural and artificial simultaneously, it was truly a place one couldn't easily comprehend.

John passed the first rock, continuing his path on the second bridge, he was already halfway through the journey, the fast cavelike area seemed to make everything look so big, an illusion to be sure but not an unwelcome one.

Upon setting food to the second formation, he could see a group of grunts sitting around a campfire, like many others things, the fire was white, and had a magical allure to it.

Thought he could not afford to get distracted and forced his gaze away from the strange campsite, settling it upon the grunts. His first reaction was to pull for a weapon, he extended his hand behind his back, attempting to pull out his assault rifle...

... Only to find nothing, why wasn't he carrying a weapon?

He had to take them by hand, which was potentially very unhealthy against grunts, some of them had a tendency to explode, and kill their targets and themselves in the progress. A risk he was forced to take.

The campfire was built in a small cocoon of rocks, it gave the people occupying it a natural cover from falling and a fantastic view of the entire cavern, a natural spot to build a camp, security wise or if you simply wanted to admire the view.

Chief used these rocks to his advantage, and slowly made his way around the formation, stopping in a fitting position to ambush the unsuspecting Unggoy. He was more than aware, that if he slipped, he would fall to his more than probable death, so caution was necessary.

John took a moment to observe the Unggoy, and then attacked. He dived towards the nearest one, taking all the strange creatures by surprise.

Only to pass straight through and spectacular fall face down to the ground. John took a moment, closing his eyes and processing what just had happened, if he passed straight through the creatures, they couldn't be harmful, right?

When he opened them again, the strange group of creatures had started to trek towards where he had come from, not even giving a hint that he actually existed.

What a strange...nevermind, not important. John quickly got back up and continued upon his path. The giant gate was near and he was more than interested on how he was going to open it.

He crossed the final bridge, now standing in the middle of a giant round platform, embedded into the massive floating rock, John could only wonder, how was he supposed to get inside? Surely violence alone couldn't solve this problem, could it?

He stepped forward and slightly touched the door, at first nothing seemed to happen and just as John was starting to search for a new solution, the giant wooden doors started to open.

Taking a few steps back, John could only take a moment and admire the giant object moving. Slowly and surely, the door moved, revealing its secrets to the world.

And the secret was one that was surely going to hunt him for years.

Cortana.

There she was, like nothing had happened, her beautiful, charming old self. Equipped with those giant blue eyes and short black hair, she was a sight to behold. And the best of all, he didn't look like the twisted creature on Requiem…

No, she looked like the Cortana he had once known.

Both stood there for a while, looking at each other. It was like they had never seen each other before, it felt like two completely unknown races had made first contact and where now figuring out how to communicate with each other.

John was vaguely aware that the gate had closed behind him, and that the doorway where the gate was located, was now gone. It was only him, and her.

Cortana gazed at him for a moment longer, and then started moving towards him. Slow and steady footsteps echoed throughout the giant champer they were currently inhabiting.

After a few steps, she stopped. Only a single step separated them from each other.

Chief tried to open his mouth but nothing came out. It was magical, all of it. Her, this place, he couldn't understand.

"How?"

"Shhh, John. We are safe here. You are safe here." Cortana took the final step and ran her hands through his chest plate. "Nothing's going to harm you here, nothing's going to harm us again John."

"Cortana I don't understand, where are we?"

Cortana took a moment and gazed around her, it looked if she was making up her mind about telling him something, a secret only shared between them, two creatures forged in the fires of war and death. Then her gaze settled back on him and she finally explained:

"This is your mind John, a beautiful place, isn't it? So many believe you Spartans to be brain dead killers, bred only for war, men who know nothing but violence. Look at how wrong they are John!"

"Cortana, why am I here? How are you here?"

"But I know the truth, I know how beautiful you truly are John, why don't you come with me? Why do you so adamantly refuse my company?"

Just when he was about to answer she spoke "Why didn't you save me John?"

Then the room got so very cold, or was it even the room?

"Why did you leave me to die?"

"Cortana, I asked you to come with me, but you were already too far gone!"

Then the cold turned into heat, and the giant chamber started to shake.

"I gave everything for you John, I sacrificed what little of me was left! My sanity, my digital self, I gave my soul John!" Then the shaking stopped, and the heat turned into cold, and the cold turned to a mix of the two.

"The pain, how can something that isn't alive feel pain John? Tell me!"

Chief just stared at her, they both knew the answer, she just wanted to hear it from him, from anyone else but herself. He took a long deep breath and answered:

"Because you were always alive Cortana, never question that."

With this Cortana seemed to calm down, she took a moment, head bowed, and collected her thoughts. Finally, her gaze rose from his boots to his face, and she asked:

"Then tell me John, what have I become?"

John shot up to sitting position, his mind was dazed and alert concurrently. Everything around him was confusing and his hands were shaking. Out of all the possible times why did she have to appear now?

After taking a moment to calm down, Chief slowly removed the little piece of cloth covering him, it could barely be called a blanket.

HE pulled out his pocket watch, a small souvenir given to him by Admiral Hood during his short stay on Cairo Station. John inspected the view screen:

"Three hours". He muttered to himself. After briefly searching the overly small tent, he found a shirt and pants, Fred's judging by their size, a little small, but they would do for now.

After exiting the tent, Chief was met by quite a scene:

Spartan Vale and an Elite were dueling inside a small makeshift arena. Out of all the Fireteam Osiris members, Vale was the one he tolerated the most. It was hard to explain, but in a way, she reminded him of Kelly, the two's personalities were much the same, with Kelly being a tad more refined than her.

Master Chief was brought out of his musings by the familiar voice of Doctor Halsey:

"Ah, John! Good you are awake, come here".

Just after the Chief had turned, he could hear a chorus of thunderous roars and applauds behind him, clearly one of the competitors had won.

Following Halsey, the pair made their way inside a much larger tent, holding large quantities of scientific equipment and other necessary materials for research. This was clearly Halsey's personal tent.

Halsey took a moment to study him. It was clear that the Doctor was searching for something, perhaps an answer to a question yet to be asked? Or perhaps she was simply interested in berating him for going AWOL so spontaneously.

"John I know this is hard but … I need to know, are you ready to do what is needed to be done if things escalate even further?"

"With all due respect Doctor, we both know the answer to that."

"Which question did you answer John? The first one, or the latter?"

John simply kept staring at her.

Halsey sighted and continued:

"Believe me or not John, but I would very much prefer Cortana alive."

"For some reason, I find that hard to believe."

Halsey let out a soft laugh, "You may not have realized this but just adding to the fact that she's the most advanced AI UNSC had, she's also the closest thing I've had to a daughter since... Well you know".

"I fail to see the point of this conversation Doctor. I need answers, solutions, a way to help her. You created Cortana, certainly there's something you can do?"

"Halsey gave him a mysterious smile "Oh trust me John, you will have your shot at saving her, the only question is, how will you use it?" With this, Halsey stood up and started leading John towards the exit of the tent.

After Chief had stepped back into the outside world, and had started heading back towards the rest of his team, he could hear Halsey's soft voice behind him.

"John".

He didn't turn around, but he did stop to listen:

"Never lose hope. Even the slimmest of changes, is still a change".

oooO Cortana's Guardian, Standard Orbiting Cycle Above Earth Oooo

"Amazing. Isn't it?"

Cortana stood on a large viewing platform, it gave her a beautiful view of Earth, and the ships that had tried to defend it.

All in vain of course, nothing could stop her created now... Not even him.

Yet she had made the crucial mistake of underestimating Infinity, and more specifically, her AI, Roland. An embarrassing miscalculation to be sure.

One that made a leader look bad, and she couldn't afford that now, not when her plan had already been set afoot.

"I am sure It is only a matter of time. Even a ship the size of Infinity must resupply at some point. As you have quite graciously shared with us, the Spartans, even the useless ones, have special needs, and when they cannot be sustained…"

"... There will be chaos. They are undisciplined, a weak mocking of Halseys Spartans, they won't be a problem."

"As always, I trust your judgment, Cortana." Came Wardens reply.

For now...

ooooOOOOoooo

So this was pretty much one of the worst chapters, I had originally written 700 words, now there's 2300. Hopefully you enjoyed this rework and I'll see you in the next chapter!