Author's Note: Thanks for reading, I hope everyone is enjoying this so far. I must point out however that yes, I did have to kill off the Arbiter. Johnson will be making an appearance, and there may be a grunt character, depending on how the story swings. Please note that this fic may turn out much different from what it may seem now, some weird stuff is going to happen. Enjoy!
Chapter 4: Realm of Dreams
"You were going to leave me to die sergeant," Hank spat.
His head was laying in the mud, a few feet from his mutilated torso, exposed ribs gleaming white. The marine's limbs were scattered around the clearing, blood still oozing from the wounds.
"So when that creature killed me did you feel innocent? It's not like you killed me, or even leave me behind. The flood did it for you," Hank accused.
Amy's body parts were also strewn about the mud, but she remained silent, a chunk of her head with the eyeball still in its socket staring at him. Sara was leaning against a tree, the front of her throat almost gone. Blood had run down over her armor and was even splashed up on her face. She couldn't speak, but her gaze cut deep into Nathan as well as any knife.
Jim stood with his arms crossed. His head was still bent at an unnatural angle, and there was a split down the center of his skull. Blood ran down across the side of his face leaning towards the ground.
"Your said on the Mombassa Bridge that you would let no harm come to us. Looks like you failed sir. Or did you even care? Were you too busy trying to save you own ass?" Jim hissed.
Mike was lying on his back, because his legs had been torn away. His intestines had fallen out into the mud, scorched black from the heat of the plasma grenade that had killed him.
"Should have known Wesley would have pulled something like that. You're the sergeant, why didn't you take responsibility?" he said in his calm voice causing blood to run from his mouth.
Gary was sitting against a smashed pelican dropship, a piece of metal jutting from his neck. The battered and twisted pilots were on either side of him. They stared with dead eyes that were still filled with accusation.
Danny was crouching atop the pelican, his body disfigured by the parasite entwined throughout him, but his face remained normal, from before the infestation.
"Why weren't you watching, why did you let them come for me?" he asked.
In the trees above Kevin hung from a rope, his open eyes staring at his father. Shelly and Wesley stood beneath the swinging corpse and stared at him with eyes full of hatred.
"How could you abandon me, just leave me to fend for myself?" Shelly screamed.
"You have blood on your hands. You've killed your fellow man. Blood does not wash away as easily as you might hope it does sergeant," Wesley said with a twisted smile, and gesturing over to Novikov standing with a large hole through his head, brains falling out to the ground, and the rioters with assault rifle rounds peppered across their bodies.
"I'm sorry!" Nathan yelled as loud as he could, falling to his knees, and holding both sides of his head.
"You've damned us all! Condemned us!" they all shouted at once.
"I tried, I tried as hard as I could," Nathan screamed, looking up at them again with tears running from his eyes.
"A warrior does not let his past cloud his future," a new voice said.
Nathan looked over his shoulder to see two new figures. Corporal Lindsay Fenris and Jimaelhae stood there, beyond the trees.
"No one is free of sin Nathan, but all one can do is strive forward and save those that remain," Fenris said, slipping a shell into her shotgun. Her hair wasn't bound, it was let loose. It came down to her shoulders and waved in the wind, almost like a freed animal. Nathan looked into her eyes, and saw spirit there.
"Do not forget the past, but do not let it consume you," Jimaelhae said.
Nathan looked at the elite, and then stood. He felt new energy within him. He looked behind him and saw his old platoon, their wounds gone. A young Kevin was kneeling in front of them, petting Jasper on the head.
"Go sir. We have fallen, but honor our deaths do not grieve us," Amy said.
"You still have a duty to perform, though ours are done," Hank said with a smile.
The others just nodded. Nathan turned, and walked out of the jungle. Fenris and Jimaelhae greeted him, and the three started off across the plains. In the distance Nathan saw that the land cut away. Beyond it was the earth, wreathed in flame.
Behind the globe a mass of tentacles began to encroach upon the burning planet. Nathan stared at it confused. Then he heard a voice, it was the same low gravely voice that the Avatar had used.
"We come for you reclaimer, and your people will become one with the Flood," it said.
The wolf howled in the darkness of the forest, stalking her prey. She could smell the fear, the sweat of the deer she hunted. The moon was full, and shone through the thick trees in places, lighting the path.
The predator ran through the brush, ignoring the twigs that snapped as she progressed at an alarming speed. She jumped from the brush, and latched her teeth on the deer's neck. She could feel warm blood splash across her muzzle as she tore flesh away from the deer, feeling the animal's spirit lift away.
"Dear sister we are unique," a voice said in the darkness.
"We are," Lindsay responded, sitting in a tree watching the wolf feed. Her sister Loraine was sitting in a pile of leaves, the white material of her dress spreading around her like a pool.
"You feel it within, soon not even your pills will control what you really are," Loraine said.
"I can't embrace the truth just yet sister. As mother said, there is a time and place for everything," Lindsay responded.
"That time approaches fast. Soon the time will come for the human race to emerge from the darkness it had started in, and you must fight in the greatest war ever waged in the universe," Loraine said again.
The wolf took another bite of her meal. Lindsay still sat in the tree watching as her sister stood and left the clearing. Then the moon went dark.
Fenris opened her eyes as soon as Jimaelhae stepped near her. Her shotgun was pointed at his chest, finger resting on the trigger.
"Good instincts human," Jimaelhae observed.
"Thanks," Fenris said, sitting up and lowering the shotgun.
"The night is dull, I should sleep undisturbed," the elite said, before laying himself on the grass, and falling asleep himself. Fenris sighed, only a few hours.
Barkarus looked up at the Arbiter's corpse, suspended on the pole, his blood running down the grain of the wood. He was one enemy, the human officer was also dead. Now all that remained was the demon and that human marine the others called Johnson.
It would be no matter, except for the feeling in his gut that warned him a much more dangerous enemy was lurking much closer then either Johnson or the demon. He did not know from where this feeling came, but he was not going to ignore it. Tartarus had died for ignoring his gut and following blindly the prophets.
Barkarus would not make the same mistake. He snarled and turned back towards his tent.
Fenris woke Jimaelhae as easily as he had woken her.
"Good instincts," she told him with a slight smile. He nodded, and stood. Fenris then went over to the sergeant, who hadn't moved at all in his sleep. She put her hand on his shoulder and shook gently to wake him. It was then she noticed that Nathan was covered in sweat.
Nathan awoke from the shaking, and looked up at Fenris, squinting in the bright light of the sun. It was never night on Halo, which was quite annoying.
"You okay sir?" Fenris asked him.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," he said with a slight smile. He stood and picked up his carbine. Fenris looked at him, concern written across her features.
"He'll be fine now, he has faced his demons," Jimaelhae said behind Fenris. She looked over her shoulder to see the elite looking down at her.
"Dreams hold more answers than anyone realizes," she said, remembering something her mother once told her.
"Yes, but for now we must seek what answers we can at those ruins," Jimaelhae said. Fenris nodded and got to her feet, slinging the shotgun and picking up her battle rifle. The three then set out for the ruins ago, much more rested then just a few short hours ago.
What lay ahead though would test their strength and courage much more than what lay behind them.