Well, its been a long, long, long, long, long, time...and its not Christmas anymore...but with summer comes a whole lot more writing time. I hope this next chapter is a good one, I don't think its the best...but please review and feed my already large ego! Here yah go!
"Sir, permission to speak?" Six yelled above the excited chattering, her voice causing them all to pause and look at her.
" Permission granted, Six." Carter replied.
"What the hell is going on here?" She pointed to Thom's body at her feet, her face a mixture of confusion and exasperation about what was happening.
"I think Noble Six is saying what we're all thinking." Holland said pointedly, glaring at Carter while a curious Dr. Halsey knelt to examine the body.
"You don't see what's happening?" Jun piped up, his face pale. "Thom's finally come back for his ghostly revenge! "
" Oh, really, Jun?' Halsey tsk'ed. " Spartans should know better to believe in what science has disproved. Like ghosts. There is a perfectly reasonable and scientific explanation for this, and given time I'm quite sure I will find it." Her hands ran over the cold armor, her brow furrowing as she found no real damage of the fatal kind. "I thought the report said Thom died blowing up a Covenant cruiser, and that his body was not recovered, no doubt to the fact that it most likely disintegrated in the explosion." Her grey eyes seared into Carter, who tried his best not to fidget. He looked beseeching at Kat, who only crossed her arms.
"Im not the one who filed the report, Commander." She spoke innocently, while the rest of the team tried to make themselves scarce. It looked like Carter was on his own for this one.
Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. "I must confess, Sir and Ma'am, that I might of exaggerated the report."
"You know that's a serious military offense son, but I'll forget it if YOU JUST TELL ME HOW HE DIED!" Holland lost his patience.
'Give me a moment and I'll tell you," Carter retorted, his voice low and ominous. Holland, the doctor, and Six couldn't help but lean in close to listen.
"Despite the report being false, the date is correct, Thom did die that fateful day..."
COMMENCE FLASHBACK!
It was a bright and sunny day on Reach, and Noble Team had just completed some of their normal routine scouting missions, nothing really important, just to keep the troops sharp, as Carter put it. Heading back to HQ in a pelican, Noble 2 decided to give the commander a hint that they had time for some good ol' R&R, and, as she lightly but forcefully put it, he should treat the team to something special.
"To Moa Burger!" Carter commanded the pilot, and the pelican veered off in the direction of one of Reach's most shifty fast food establishments.
Once inside, the spartans immediately huddled together, deciding what to order.
"I wonder if they have anything...vegetarian..." Jun rubbed his shiny bald head thoughtfully. Emile rolled his eyes, but no one saw it since he was still wearing his helmet.
Jorge chuckled. "Meat, that's what I'm craving!" He slapped his abs excitedly.
"Order whatever, I don't care,' Kat intoned, "Carter's paying."
Thom nudged his way to the front and eyed the menu thoughtfully, as if appraising a rare piece of art, brown eyes twinkling.
"Well, there's some mighty fine looking grub I wouldn't mind shoveling. I reckon I just can't make up my mind..." He scratched his blonde stubble.
Emile suddenly spied something. "How about their new mystery meat!" He said, unable to hide the drool from his voice.
"Hmm...don't say much about what's in it..." He looked at it suspiciously, "You think it's worth tryin', Jun?"
"What?Are you insane? " He spluttered, " You don't know what's in it! You wonder why they want to keep it a mystery? Could be something vile that they just found off the road, and you're going to eat it! And all that bacteria! Just look at the picture, doesn't even look half dead! I wouldn't trust it, Thom! No smart spartan would!"
"You might be right on that one..." He looked at Emile.
" Mystery Meat eating contest?"
"You're on, boy!" Thom shined his pure white smile and slapped his comrade on the arm as they ran off to order.
5 minutes later...
The exit burst open, and a frantic looking Jun ran out, stumbled, and smashed into the wall.
"All clear!' His hysterical voice came back rather muffled. A second later Carter burst out, dragging a grey body, with Jorge, Emile, and Kat following close behind, arguing.
"What the hell happened?" Jorge yelled, throwing his hands up in the air.
"Its your fault Emile, you're the one who told him to eat that mystery meat!' Jun accused.
'I didn't know he was going to eat the whole thing!" Emile shot back.
"You challenged him to a eating contest, of course he was going to eat the whole thing!" Kat rounded on him.
"I didn't know it was going to kill him!"
'You should of guessed that when he was rolling around and coughing up blood!"
"Enough!" Carter broke though the other voices. "We'll decide who's to blame later, right now, Thom's dead, and you know the UNSC is going to be pissed! Kat, how can we soften the blow?"
The female spartan drew in a long breath, her mind working, "Thom's death WAS pretty stupid..."
"I need a plan. Now."
"Yes, Commander," She answered rather haughtily, "if you wanted to go against every moral fiber in your being, and UNSC regulation, you could fake the report to-"
"Good idea. If anyone asks, we were off making an epic video game trailer and it turned out the bomb was real."
"Commander-"
"We'll work out the nitty gritty later. Now, who's going to help me hide this body in a dumpster?"
END FLASHBACK!
"I told you so. I knew Thom was gonna come back for his revenge, boss!" Jun exclaimed.
"No, there has to be a way to explain this...' Halsey was muttering, wracking her brain for an obvious scientific answer.
"I doubt it,' Carter said. 'Thom's dead as dead."
"Then how did his body get all the way here?" Six interuptted.
The group was silent as they stared at the corpse that was once Thom. Their minds swirled with so many questions with little to no answers. There was no way the spartans body could show up by itself on their door step...unless...Jun WAS right...
"Is Thom really back for his unholy revenge?" Jorge whispered to Kat, who rolled her eyes and began trudging inside.
"Lets work out this mystery later, besides, if Jun's right, then Emile is the only one who has to worry. He DID get him killed, after all." She say nonchalantly.
"Kat's right!" Carter agreed." Now, who wants turkey and egg nog?"
"I DO! I DO!" They all yelled and stampeded inside, trampling Carter in the process. Six hung back outside with Emile, who was strangely silent.
'What's your opinion on all this?" She pried.
"What do you take me for? Only cowering civies believe in ghosts." He brushed past her and headed in.
As much as Six wanted to celebrate Christmas Eve, her thoughts swirled with the mystery of Thom, and Emile, who, even though he did not want to admit it, seemed a little spooked.
The night went on, and not a word was spoken between them. Six picked at her turkey, silently watching Emile, who was locked onto the egg nog chugging contest going on between Carter and Holland, while in the back ground Halsey chased an embarrassed looking Jorge with a mistle toe. Finally, at eleven, the Commander called a cease to the activities, for it was time for bed.
"We're going to get up nice and early for presents, and I want you to look sharp!' He called down the hallway as everyone retreated, grumbling, to their rooms.
Six got to her room first, and hastily slipped into some boxers and a sports bra before Emile showed up. Turning off the lights, she slipped with a sigh into the bottom bunk, which she insisted she sleep in since Emile kept on pulling her off the top one. She gave a rare smile as she snuggled underneath the warm covers and fell asleep.
It must of been about an hour or so later when she opened her eyes.
"Emile?" She called out into the darkness.
It seemed no one was going to answer, until, finally, "Yeah?"
"Do you always stand over my bunk and watch me sleep?"
"No."
"Then what exactly are you doing?" She sighed irritably, and reached over and slapped the armor on his leg.
"Nothing."
"Fine, then." Not having the energy to deal with any more creepiness, she rolled over and tried to get back to sleep. A few minutes later her eyes snapped open again.
"Six?'
"What?" she groaned.
"Never mind." he went silent again, but Six knew he was still there. She could him as he slowly sharpened his kukri against his armor. The annoying grating noise rang through her ears and into her brain, she tried to put a pillow over her head but the noise persisted. Finally, she had enough.
She sat up, her hand snatching blindly in the dark. Her spartan reflexes were spot on as her hand closed around Emile's knife and yanked it from his grasp.
'The hell?" He spat.
"Its Thom. Isn't it? You're afraid he's going to come for you."
"You're crazy.'
"You're scared. "
"Bull."
"I heard you sharpen your knife. Those are nervous scrapes I heard."
'Well isn't your hearing attuned to the feelings of my knife!" Emile scoffed.
"Listen, there is no such thing as ghosts." Six tried to keep calm.
"Don't you think I know that?" He retorted.
"Then why don't you go to bed?"
"Spartans don't need sleep."
"This one does, and I can't do it with you standing right over me."
"No I'm not."
Six felt like doing some very un-spartanly screaming, but she held in her frustration. "Fine, then get me a glass of water and you can do whatever the heck you want. Just don't keep me up."
She expected Emile to throw back an insult, or threaten to gut her with his kukri, but instead she heard him turn around and stop out of the room.
Six plopped back down, wrapping her arms around her pillow. It wasn't easy being a room mate with a crazy spartan. Once Holland left she was going to have a word with the Commander, and she would not take "no' for an answer.
Suddenly, the chiming of an old clock echoed up the pitch black hallway and through the open door, causing Six to sit up. Twelve chimes, ringing eerily in the quiet. She sat up.
"Strange, I didn't know this base kept antique clocks..." She murmured to herself. A faint memory of the past flickered before her eyes, one that she had thought forgotten. One from the ancient past, filled with warmth and laughter.
She was young, oh so young. She snuggled into the strong arms that held her, curious big eyes staring at the book held before her. A low voice, filled with love and comfort, whispered into her ear a story full of giant ducks and Christmas ghosts...
She shook her head, and the memory reluctantly faded away. She felt strange inside. It wasn't like her to think about her early child hood, before the spartan program. It was too hard to remember, anyway...
The last of the chimes faded away. It was twelve o'clock midnight, and she still couldn't get to sleep. For some reason Thom came to mind, but she quickly pushed his image back down again. "There is no way Im going to get myself spooked like Emile." She muttered with determination, and decided to go back to bed, when all of a sudden the light turned out.
She thought Emile must of returned, but then the realization came that the lights were still off. A faint blue light illuminated the room, casting long shadows. Something wasn't right...where was that light coming from?
Her heart skipped a beat when she realized it was coming from right beside her. With a gasp her head snapped to the side, and she came face to face with a pair of ghostly brown eyes, oggling at her.
"Boy, I reckon Carter did a mighty fine job replacing the most handsome man that ever was on Noble Team!" The ghost of Thom whistled.
Six, not knowing how to react, did the only thing any self-respecting spartan would ever do in this type of situation. She threw back her head and screamed.