Purpose Of Existence Chapter 35: Heros Past

Now that the holiday hassle has been dealth with, I can get back to writing. In my defense I also add that this chapter was a pain in the ass to write so pls no torches :DDD

-ooOoo-

"You think you can get this door open?"

Linda gave Jerome a sideways look and walked to the door. She crouched and removed the panel covering the old Covenant technology.

Her eyes narrowed after her gaze had settled on the weird type of wiring "Strange" She muttered, gaining the attention of rest of the group.

"What is it?" Fred asked crouching down next to her.

Without removing her gaze from the wires she answered "It's extremely well protected against invaders, to a normal hacker or robber this would be impossible to bypass".

Fred turned his gaze to the door and back "Can you open it?"

"Never said I couldn't, just pointed out the fact. All the other doors have been easy to bypass, containing security expected from the ex-covenant".

An uncomfortable silence fell upon the room, only Linda's expert hands gave away the fact that there were any people present at all. Chief had been staring at the door for a good 5 minutes now, unmoving and without saying anything.

Alice put a hand on his shoulder, her worry could almost be seen through her helmet. "You alright John?"

Chief kept quiet staring at the door, by the time John answered Alice had already turned away and stopped stopped, slightly shocked.

"I know why the security is so tight". His voice was quiet, even the helmets mike had hard time capturing it. Finally John turned and looked at his team, or rather both of his teams now.

"This was the residence of prophet of regret…" Once again John looked at the door, then at the ground

He took a deep breath "...and the place where I found Cortana after I was forced to leave her with The Gravemind".

With that the door hissed open and revealed the vast amount of dead organic flood material and Cortana's holopedistal. The team spread around the room but John headed directly to the table. He knelt next to it, just like he had all that time ago after he had found her again. So well he remembered it now, the feeling of sorrow and the strange emotion he couldn't figure out until her death. So strong yet elegant. It forced him to keep going even though everything was falling apart, even when there was no hope, he kept running...and still it wasn't enough.

In the privacy of his helmet Chief chuckled to himself. What would she say if she could see him now? Probably give him some sassy sarcastic comment and order him to keep going. No, technically he was in charge and it was her job to assist him, yet he was more than happy to do anything she wished. Just to see her smile. That was all the pay he ever needed nor wanted.

Yes after her death he finally realised that he loved Cortana and he was ready to even betray The UNSC for her. And in a way he did by going AWOL. Because that's what love is. Putting someone else's needs before your own and John was ready to lay down his live for her.

During his musings John didn't even realise his hand had slipped on top of the pedestal and his train of thought was cut by a bright blue light as a hologram came to live.

Fred was the first to turn around and notice the events, calling for everyone's attention they made their way around the hologram, and a frozen John.

Kelly was the first to voice her thoughts, looking directly at John, mouth hanging half open inside her helmet she asked "Isn't that…"

"Cortana" Was his simple answer.

"I don't remember her looking like that". Fred inquired, Blue Team wasn't there during the end of war, nor were they onboard Cairo Station.

"She swapped her appearance often, never asked but she told me why anyway". Chief was slightly trembling inside his armor but he wouldn't show his weakness, not during a mission.

"First time she changed her appearance because she wanted to see if anyone would notice". This brought a slight smile on his face, remembering her invade his quarters onboard Cairo Station looking completely different than last time they talked...about a hour before.

"The second time she changed it was because…" Chief had to pause, the information he was about to reveal was extremely personal, especially for a spartan. Taking a deep breath he continued "She wanted to look good for me, even tho Cortana knew I didn't care what she looked like". Chief paused at this, touching the bottom of the hologram again. This time it brought up a old video file. Dated during her stay with the gravemind.

Instantly Kelly saw the date and put two and two together. She put a hand on Johns shoulder and said "John, you don't need to watch that. We all know what you will find and there is nothing else than suffering and heartbreak".

Not taking his gaze of Cortana's form and the video file he answered "I know, but I need to leave this moments with her...I need to know what she went through".

Fred looked at him for a moment, then turned towards Red Team "Jerome and Douglas make sure no-one enters this room without you knowing, This might take awhile". Both worthlessly nodded and disappeared into the shadows of the adjusted hallways.

Then he turned back to the Master Chief "Alright John, do what you have to do".

With that the Cortana disappeared and the projection widened, now covering the entire room.

ooOoo

Suddenly Cortana's voice boomed all over the room.

"It started as a seed. A purpose to change the universe. Every second The Gravemind nears me. Every second he gets closer to destroying my defences and when it happens…" Cortana's now human sized avatars gaze turned distant "I fear there will be no power in the universe capable of stopping it. I will hold, for how long? I do not know but that abomination will not take the index from me, this shall be my last gift to the world and If I do not return and you somehow find this John. Know that my last thoughts were of you".

Cortana started to walk towards the pedestal but stopped, she turned around and looked John directly into his eyes, like she was actually there. John had never seen her eyes so soft.

"If I don't make it out of this, then please take this as my last gift. You deserve to know, always did". With that she disappeared.

The room got dark and soon after a video started to roll. It didn't take much brain power to recognize Erinadus twor, his former homeplanet. The image zoomed in and a mechanical, emotionless female voice started speaking. "Erinadus two, known homeplanet of subject-117". The image homed in and targeted his a large collection of buildings and a sports field. "Subject shows exceptional ability to learn and adapt. He is already taller and has acquired more body mass than most of his class piers, an ideal candidate for the spartan program". The camera followed John as he walked out of the large building that he know recognised to be his former school. The image zoomed in even closer and showed a female figure taking his hand.

"Subject has a normal family consisting of mother, a father with military background and a sister". The satellite followed John and his mother as they walked to what john assumed was their former house. As the mother/son compilation walked the short steps to the houses veranda and disappeared a dossier popped up and John froze…

...It was a image of his mother and everything related to her. She was young during his kidnapping, only twenty-five. That could mean...No.

John shook his head to clear the unwanted thoughts away. He was too far gone to meet his long lost family now. They would be better of without him. If they were alive.

As the dossier kept slowly scrolling down, John noticed that many many lines were still blacked out. They must be under insane security if even Cortana didn't have time to crack them. He didn't doubt her ability to do so, but the war always took priority.

The bottom of the file did indeed confirm that at least during the time this message was created...his mother was alive.

And so was his sister. She was very young during hsi kidnapping and the picture was old. Very old, yet even without having much to compare her to, mainly Cortana and the spartans. John could already tell that she was going to be a beautiful woman...Or is a beautiful woman.

At the background a video of John's father scolding him for bad table manners was playing and John couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

This of course made everyone else look at him like he had grown a third head…

But after few seconds everyone else joined in the small laugh. Damn it had to be the first time in months that he truly genuinely laughed to something. The last time was with...Cortana. That AI truly knew what made him tick.

Last but not least, the file containing information about his father came up. He was a navy officer much like him. ironically he was smaller rank than John. This also made him smirk a little. What would he say after hearing his son surpassed him in rank so easily?

His smirk however disappeared as John read the last line. "Killed in action. In defence of Erinadus two and her people. Awarded UNSC Medal Of Honour for saving thousands of civilians from a covenant glassing beam…by crashing his ship and bringing down the Covenant carrier with him. He had been a engineer aboard the ship and the command deck had been wiped out by a crashing Covenant seraph".

John's hand fell away from the holotable and even tho he never truly knew his father, he couldn't help but feel sad, knowing he would never have the change to.

Yet it was a fitting end. He died like a hero and from that he could take strength from. He was also awarded the highest medal any soldier in the UNSC could get. Awarded for singular, conspicuous acts of individual gallantry and steadfast devotion among Soldiers, Sailors, Pilots, and Marines during times of war.

As the video came to a close Chief was about to turn away and order his team to continue their search for the missing scouts, Cortana's awatar popped back up and she started speaking "John im aware that your last name was black lined but I did this on purpose. I wanted to tell you your real last name myself. I know you most likely don't care about it at this point but I do, and you deserve to know". With this Cortana took a deep breath and turned her gaze back to John. Again he felt a cold shiver travel down his spine. It truly was like she was here.

"John…"

"...Your real last name is"

"Incoming!" Whatever Cortana was about to say was cut off by Jerome yelling and a covenant fuel rod round hitting the projector.

For a moment John stood there stunned, staring at the now ruined projector that only moments ago was filled with recording of Cortana.

Then there was rage. So much bottled up cold raw rage. He hadn't lashed out after Cortana's dead, he hadn't lashed out during Johnson's dead nor Miranda's…

But…

But now, that was possibly his last memory of her old self. If things went wrong and goddamn if he didn't have the right to keep one thing for himself.

Chief's eyes grew cold as he unsheathed his assault rifle and charged past Jerome and Douglas, ending up right in the middle of the Banished raid party.

"This…" He started with cold voice "Is for Cortana".