He opened his eyes groggily, taking a big breath of fresh forest air. Looking around, he was still leaning against the tree, although he had slid further down it, and it was also early morning judging by the light.

Morning dew dampened his hands as he got up. His body was a bit stiff from not sleeping on a soft surface, but he had had a good night's rest and was well refreshed, if not a little hungry.

The fire that had cooked his meal was gone, with just ash and a small trail of smoke left. He could not see any sign of Shi'ae in the imidate vicinity, but he just assumed she had gone looking for food.

That assumption was proven false when he heard Shi'ae behind him. She sounded like she was talking but he was a bit too far away to hear what was being saying. Now he was curious.

Doing his best to try not alert her to his presence, he peeked around the tree. She had her back to him, and appeared to be speaking into a coms device on her wrist.

He tip-toed closer to her, doing his best to avoid stepping on twigs and dry leaves. He was far from complete stealth but Shi'ae seemed distracted enough talking to not notice.

He was quite close now, close enough to hear another voice coming from the device, he wasn't able to make out what it was saying however. He panicked when Shi'ae had put her wrist away from her face, finished with her discussion with whoever was on the other end.

She slowly turned around, and was about to make her way back to where she believed Oliver was sleeping, when she saw Oliver was right in front of her. She completely froze, not knowing what to do.

He didn't want to come off as aggressive, but his voice was a bit accusational when he inquired, "What where you doing?".

Shi'ae stared at him for a few seconds, processing what was happening. Not prepared to answer any questions, it took her another few seconds to respond, "I-I was just talking to a friend".

Oliver decided to continue to press, as he felt like he should know what was going on. Shi'ae also appeared to be somewhat nervous. She might have been just a bit surprised, but if something was going on he needed to know.

"About what?"

Now a bit more alert, she straightened herself and flexed her mandibles. After a momentary pause, she answered, "I... I have a friend that I keep in contact with, I was asking about where the UNSC are located currently, to make sure we are still on course".

"Does this friend, uhm, know that.. I'm.."

"Yes, they're are aware of what I'm doing. There are a few who also share similar beliefs to me, although that number is extremely small, as far as I know".

At this stage she appeared less surprised and nervous, and more like her usual calm self. She was slightly figdety however. Oliver nodded his head and murmured out a "hmmhmm", as a response.

He was fairly satisfied with her reasoning and did trust her enough to believe she was telling the truth, although the way she was acting was odd and unusual. He still had some other questions though.

"Oh.. alright. Anything change about where we're going?".

"I've been told that they haven't moved in the last twelve hours, though scouts have reported that they look ready to move again soon, possibly even leave the planet. We will have to hurry if you are to be reunited with your comrades."

Oliver nodded his head in agreement, and motioned for them to start walking. He still had one more thing to say to Shi'ae however.

"Shi'ae?"

"Yes, Oliver?"

"Can you, uh, tell me about these things in the future?"

"Yes, I will. I understand that I trust you, and you should be able to trust me, without me hiding anything."

Oliver smiled, happy everything had been cleared up.

"Thanks for that, Shi'ae. And I do trust you. Just wanting to make sure everything is clear between us, if we're working together, buddy."

Oliver walked along content, keeping pace with Shi'ae. Shi'ae however, felt like there was a pit in her stomach. She didn't like it.

For Oliver, the walk seemed easy. Knowing he wasn't too far away gave him the extra motivation to happily trek along. The walk was purposeful, and he didn't find his energy waining at all.

It also helped that it seemed to be a perfect day out, with only thin wispy clouds in the sky, dotted around rarely. They seemed to be quite deep into nature, with buildings only appearing every so often, and the animals were in plenty.

He would be relieved to get back, as it had been quite stressful not knowing what was going to happen up until now. He still had his concerns for Shi'ae however, even after she had reassured him that she would be perfectly fine. He guessed he just couldn't help it for some unknown reason to him.

Shi'ae had been fairly quiet so far, not really saying more than a couple of words at a time. He decided to try and strike up a conversation.

"How're you doing? You've been a little quieter than normal".

Keeping her pace, she casually responded, "I never have been a loud one".

He nodded thoughtfully at the response, was almost going to let it be, but he had a feeling something was off.

"Yeah, I know that. I just have this feeling something has been troubling you, although I could wrong."

She kept walking for a few more paces, not looking at him, keeping her gaze straight in front of her. She decided to open up somewhat to him, admitting,"The last few days have not been easy, but nowadays very few things are easy. Don't worry yourself over me though, I'll be fine", she finished dismissively.

"Yeah.. That's fine. If you ever need someone just to even listen to you or whatever, I'll be there. It's good to let things out every now and again.", Oliver said to her considerably.

She mulled over what he had told her and spoke again after she had digested the information.

"Thanks, Oliver. That truly is pleasant and somewhat even relieving to know that. But really, I'm alright for now."

"Alright, I understand that."

"How have 'you' been doing recently?", she inquired, feeling it would only be fair to extend the same courtesy he extended to her.

"To be honest, feeling similar to how you put it. Though, traveling with you in nothing but forest as far as you can see, is actually kinda relaxing. If you're able to forget things for a little bit, yeah, it's quite nice."

"I agree. I wish I could do something similar to this another time, without any time constraints or worries."

Oliver thought of them walking in a park or wooded area, with the only reason being was because they wanted to be there and enjoyed each other's company. The thought was weird to him. It was a such a human thing to do. In fact, doing anything with Shi'ae outside of war and survival, he thought felt odd for some reason.

Maybe it was because he had only known her in a war, maybe it was, well, because she was alien and out of place in these situations. He felt a little bad for thinking she could not do any of these things because of who she was, but maybe he found it odd because some of the scenarios were quite personal.

That actually made more sense to him as he was fairly used to Shi'ae being very alien to him. He still saw the differences between them, but he found them more intriguing than disgusting or anything like that.

Why were these things quite personal? Being with someone just to be with them meant that you would probably be quite close to them, and he had never really thought of being super close with Shi'ae.

He... didn't really mind the idea though. If he had the opportunity, spending time with Shi'ae sounded nice. Although, after this journey, he most likely wouldn't see Shi'ae again. That thought saddened him more than expected, making him shudder slightly.

He eventually responded with a slightly uncertain, "Yeah, that would be something to do."

Shi'ae seemed to be very satisfied with that response, and happily trudged along, content. Oliver had to quicken his pace a little to keep up with her, but he found it no problem. They continued on their trek, however much more they had to go, Oliver was uncertain on this uncertain journey.

"We're nearly there."

She seemed a little bit nervous, although he could kind of understand. She was usually a bit more collected though.

"Shi'ae, since you probably won't be able to come much further since we're close, can I talk to you now?".

"Uhm.. Well, yes of course. What is it you want to speak about?"

"Shi'ae, realistically we may never see each other again after I leave. It's a miracle as it is that we keep bumping into each other, but from here it's seems unlikely that will keep happening."

Shi'ae gave a curt nod, encouraging him to go on, wondering what he was getting at.

"Well.. I just want to say a proper goodbye while we still have a little bit of time, and to thank you as well for being such an awesome friend".

Shi'ae couldn't contain her emotions and warmly smiled at him, joyous that someone would give her such high praise.

"Thank you, that is a lovely thing to say and I could easily say the same about you. However, we are not there yet, so let's not delay."

Oliver gave her a nod and a grin, continuing walking. If he had to leave her, he would leave on great terms.

They still continued talking as they moved, although grew quiet. At this point they were going up a hill, but couldn't see far due to dense bushes and trees around them. That was until Oliver saw the top of the hill, which was clear and should give him a scenic view of the surrounding area.

Shi'ae then spoke up, "I believe this is our destination."

Oliver grew relieved, but needed to see for himself to make sure they were still there. He ran to the top, and stood proudly upright, to see... covenant.

Shi'ae called out to him, pleading, "Oliver, wait! Please, stop!"

What he was searching for the last few days appeared to be a covenant landing zone, with multiple phantoms around the place, stationary at the moment. He quickly scrambled out of sight, kicking up dust as he slid down. There was decent distance between him and the phantoms, but he didn't want to be seen at all.

As there was no sign of any UNSC, anywhere, they must have taken over the outpost, or the UNSC had already left.

"Oliver?"

"Covenant must have taken over whatever UNSC was there, or they might've left already. All I see is phantoms. Oh, Shi'ae, I-I don't know.."

"Oliver, it's okay, calm down."

"No, it's not okay. How am I gonna make it home?"

"Oliver, please, just sit down for a minute."

Shi'ae was unusually insistent that he do something. His mind was racing, but he figured he should listen to her, as she seemed more calm and collected. He took a knee, and ran his fingers through his hair, and let them rest a top his head, while staring at the ground.

Shi'ae brought herself down to his level, even though he wasn't looking at her. She was hesitant, but after a few seconds spoke.

"Oliver, you are my friend, and I trust you. I need you to trust me for a moment and listen to what I have to say."

He hadn't a clue at what she was getting at, but nodded to go ahead, as he needed her at this moment and did have enough trust in her.

"I... I am not experienced in how to do this. I will explain to the best of my abilities however."

Oliver tilted his head up to face her, extremely intrigued now. After a pause of him not saying anything, she continued.

"I will put this bluntly Oliver, my friend; I knew there would be covenant."

"What?", he spat out.

"Oliver, I have a plan, just-"

"No-no, what? Since when did you know?"

"I was aware since we started moving. There hasn't been any humans in this area for weeks."

Oliver grew angry quickly, he was tricked, but why? Why was he tricked? He was confused, but showed his anger over the confusion.

He went to get up, and maybe just leave, he didn't know. However a hand was place on his shoulder, not roughly but firmly, keeping him place for a moment.

"Please, you agreed to listen to what I have to say. I did not do this out of malice, but... because I care.", she responded quietly as she gently trailed her arm down the side of his, until it did not hold him anymore.

Her calmness had an effect on him, but he was still overwhelmed with emotions. He didn't trust himself with words, so he just gave another nearly unnoticeable nod.

"Thank you. I have not lead you into a trap or have betrayed you in any sorts or anything ridiculous such as. I was.. uncertain you would be safe, so I needed to make sure you would be. I came up with a plan in the spur of the moment that I believed, and still do, will work."

"What's the plan?", he managed to get out.

"I need to get you off the planet to keep you safe, and I think I know how. There is a ship, a cargo freighter, leaving for Earth in a day. I plan to get you on that ship. I'm sure you have many questions, but I will take care of everything, I promise you."

He was breathing heavily, but was glad to have a tiny bit more clarity on what was going on. Shi'ae had faith in her plan, but he wasn't as sure of it working. A sinking feeling had set in, as he realised what they were doing and where he was going. A small part of him rejoiced in going back to the Sol system, another part felt sick knowing the covenant had found Earth, a larger part feared hiding in an enemy ship for God knows how long.

He decided to be honest with Shi'ae as she had provided him with the same courtesy.

"Shi'ae, I feel scared... I'm unsure and my mind is fuzzy. I d-don't know what to do."

Shi'ae tried to look at him in the face, but he was still looking away from her. She put her arm around him, and tried to get within view of his eyes. He leant towards the touch and look up clearly at her.

They held eye contact for a few seconds her eyes gazing into his bloodshot ones. Oliver then rested his head on her chest plate, and she embraced the contact.

She had never experienced anything like this before, although it made her feel warm, she didn't know exactly why. She just wanted to stay like this for a while, and not have to move or think about anything else. After about a minute, she felt it appropriate to say something.

"You do not have to go with me of course, but I will keep you safe if you do. There is no need to worry, my friend."

He was reassured by this, and just closed his eyes for a moment to not think about anything, and Shi'ae was in no rush to move him either. She was content staying in silence, but he had a question.

"Shi'ae?"

"Yes, friend?"

"Why do you go so far to keep me safe?"

He seemed much more relaxed, but now looked up at her expectantly. She had to carefully formulate a response, but respond she did.

"Oliver, you mean a lot to me. I... Friends are a hard thing to come by for me, so I would naturally want to keep someone who is as nice to me as you are safe."

He pulled away from Shi'ae, but was still on his knee, close to her. He coughed lightly, almost just to clear his throat. The corners of his mouth curled into a small smile.

"Thank you, Shi'ae. You're a great friend."

"As are you, but thank you for what?"

"For everything. I'd be perfectly fine going with you, cause I know you'll keep me safe."

He was still a little quiet in his words, but he meant what he said. He was going to go with her because he wanted to.

She nodded and smiled. She slowly rose to her feet, and moved a bit further up the hill. She stopped when she saw what she was checking for, and turned to Oliver.

"We shall be taking a phantom to the vessel. It will be piloted by my 'friend' I was speaking to earlier. I am sure you will get along well together. I will lead you to the phantom; this area is very lightly guarded, so we should not have any difficulties."

He was also standing at this point, and also joined her near the top of the incline, after a few moments.

He simply asked, "Which one is our bird?"

She was not all that familiar with that piece of jargon, but she had a feeling she knew what he meant.

"Do you mean our phantom?"

He nodded, and she pointed a long slender arm to the phantom at the back of the left row.

"Let's do this.."

They went down the other side of the hill to get closer to where they needed to be. The long lines of large covenant ships looked daunting to Oliver as they drew near, but he couldn't see any other living beings in sight, which baffled him. Shi'ae mentioned there wouldn't be many soldiers at this base, but seeing none at all, put him on edge.

He tapped Shi'ae on the shoulder to grab her attention and whispered his query to her.

"Why is it so empty?"

Shi'ae also seemed to be on high alert, and kept her guard as she spoke with a hushed tone.

"This area is very inactive compared to other locations, but I agree, it is very sparse of people."

As they reached the edge of the cover of the forest, Shi'ae paused, and motioned for him to follow her closely. She scanned the surrounding area, and once she concluded it was clear, moved quickly towards the phantom, surprisingly light on her feet.

Oliver was right behind her, as they took cover behind one of the many phantoms. He peered around the edge of the craft, and saw nothing in the middle of base.

Shi'ae was aware of this as well, and quickly skipped across to the next phantom. Two phantoms later, Shi'ae came to a sudden stop, Oliver stopping with her.

Curiosity of not knowing what caused the halt got the better of him, and he squeezed around Shi'ae to get a look.

He instinctively retracted his head because of what he saw. A brute was sleeping soundlessly, propped up against the purple hull of a phantom.

It was only a few yards away from them, and while it appeared to be sleeping heavily, he wouldn't risk making any noise.

Shi'ae looked at him, her helmet currently obscuring her face, and signed she would move across. She put extra care into not making a sound, and briskly and gracefully moved in strides across. Oliver caught himself staring a little at her graceful movements, but quickly refocused on moving stealthily.

He was not nearly as graceful or fast as Shi'ae, but he was standing behind her, and the brute was still sleeping soundly.

Shi'ae nodded in approval, and they continued moving. There were no further hiccups after that, and they had made it to the last phantom, their phantom, the start of his ridiculous journey home.

The phantom was currently inactive, with the doors he knew could open on the side closed up.

Shi'ae turned to him once more and got close to him, to whisper another message to him.

"Wait here, I will be back soon, I promise you."

He nodded, and Shi'ae moved forward, not needing to maintain stealth as much, without him in tow. He checked his surroundings out of habit, and tried to relax when he saw nothing, but just wasn't able to.

He was still attentive and even a bit twitchy waiting for Shi'ae to come back, and after two or three minutes that felt much longer, he was startled when the phantom he was leaning against suddenly powered on.

It wasn't very loud, but there was a humming noise and a few lights flickering to confirm it was on.

The gravity elevator was off as it wasn't needed when the phantom was grounded, but one of the side doors did opened, just a crack. It was dark inside making it hard to see anything, although he swore he could see the outline of a head.

This was confirmed only a second later when the door flew open, light flooding into the dark interior of the phantom. A figure stood on the slope the door now made, the figure being slightly shorter than he was, and sporting a beak.

He could easily tell it was a jackal, or some variation of the species as he knew there was more than one. He was caught off guard however, unsure how to react as he didn't know if the jackal in front of him was with Shi'ae or not.

His internal question was answered when the jackal stuck out a hand or claw, he wasn't sure which, and did it's best to give a warm smile he assumed, although the beak didn't make it easy for the creature.

It tilted its head puzzlingly, and opened its mouth to speak.

"Hello? Oliver, is it?"

He nodded his head hesitantly as she still held out a hand, or claw, as to offer him a hand up onto the phantom.

"Well, come on, I won't bite, I swear.", she reassured him, doing her best not to frighten him in anyway as she feared she might.

The inside of the phantom was quite barren, and was obviously only meant to transport troops from point A to point B. The only seats were in the cock pit, being the pilot and another seat for an optional copilot.

Oliver was still standing, waiting for the craft to take off into the sunset. He was a bit agitated to say the least.

At the moment he was the only one in the phantom, as the jackal had gone to get something, and Shi'ae had followed.

He wasn't sure what to think of the jackal. She seemed like a chirpy enough person, and she was Shi'ae's friend who she trusted, so she was on his good side because of that. Although, he knew very little about her, he didn't even know her name.

His thinking was interupted by the arrival of Shi'ae and the jackal.

"Hello, again", the jackal said as she moved past him towards the cockpit of the craft.

He gave a nod and a mumbled 'hi' in response.

Shi'ae stayed in the troop bay with him.

"What do you think of her?"

The question caught him off guard, the words cutting through the silence. He had only met her, so he didn't think much really. He didn't think negatively of her however, and she seemed fairly chirpy.

"Seems alright, but it's not as if I've actually talked to her much.", was his honest response.

"Well, yes, it really has been only a few minutes. I just want to make sure you two get a long. It would make things easier, and as I am sure we both know, having a friend is always nice."

He cracked a smile at that statement as he know how true it was, especially over the last few days.

"I can't argue with there. Actually, what's her name even?", he said while pointed a thumb behind him in the direction of the cockpit.

"Char. Char is her name."

The phantom suddenly jerked into motion as Shi'ae spoke. It threw Oliver off a little, but the craft was surprisingly smooth in motion.

"Sorry!", a voice called back to them.

"Probably should've told yous, but we're airborne now!", the same voice said.

"Let's find a place to sit, as we may be here a while.", Shi'ae said.

He nodded in response, but his mind was elsewhere, thinking about what he had just decided and where it would take him.

Sorry for the wait again guys, thanks for being so patient with me. Also, another thanks for the great support on the last chapter, I loved reading all of your reviews. Let me know what you honestly thought of this chapter, as feedback would be great especially for this chapter.

Also, Happy New Years!