Later that day

Time: 21:43pm

The evening had descended across the world of Reach, turning the sky in a beautiful array of colours consisting of gold, purple, orange and red. Far off in the distance, the black sky of the approaching night was slowly seizing control of the sky. Soon the sky would be dark, but replaced with hundreds of stars to make sure that the light of the universe stayed on this planet. It was a lot different on Reach. Even though it was April, it was like Summer weather here already and this would start in about late March time and would go on until September, then the nights would suddenly grow longer and the days shorter. Strange, but then again that was the nature of the planet for you.

In the barracks of the Axiom main base, the taskforce were settling down for the night. Tomorrow, they were to be prepped again on their first mission against the Covenant fleet so they were going to need to get some rest. Eve, however, was, as she had been doing for the past few days, sitting on her bed going over the plans for the hanger. Her eyes were a little red from where she had not gotten enough sleep over the past few days and she tried her best to stifle a yawn. Her body was telling her to put down the plans and get some rest, but she was ignoring it and continued to look on at them as if she were someone who was not going to give up on something until it was done, which she was in a way, well for the moment though. Everyone else was either asleep or trying to fall asleep.

Well, almost everyone because two of the beds in the barracks were empty.

Outside in Jura Park, Anya had asked to speak to Marcus again and had asked permission from a sergeant, who did not know they had been out before and that John had given orders not to let any taskforce soldiers, which was especially fixed on Marcus and Anya after Marcus' failed attempt to tell Anya what they had really been doing than these supposed 'missions' they were going on, and he had let them go out.

Anya, however, rather than be quiet and entranced by the beauty of the night sky, was sounding a little more determined today for some reason, which Marcus quickly noticed as she was walking more at a pace of wanting to talk to him as soon as she could, almost as if it was urgent. What was wrong with her? Why, if that it was it was, did she want to talk to him this urgently? It was strange.

"Um…Anya, are you okay?" he asked her with a little concern in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, not turning to look at him.

They walked right down the path where the bench they had sat on before was placed. The shape of the bench was just ahead of them and they sat down on it. When they had done, Anya placed a hand on Marcus' which was resting on his lap.

"Okay, Marcus," she said. "I you want to know why I brought you out here, It's because I wanted to ask you something,"

Marcus nodded, but only a little. He was a bit worried over what she wanted to ask him. Could it be about…them? Or was it something else?

"Okay," he replied. "W-what is it?"

Anya sighed. "It's about…what you and the others have been doing over the past few days,"

At these words, Marcus' eyes did go wide, not with shock over what she was asking him, but with the fact that he could not just ignore her and he might have to tell her what he and the others had really been doing.

"Um…I don't think that's a good idea," he replied.

"Why not?" Anya asked him, her voice rising a little with annoyance. "Marcus, you and those other taskforce soldiers have been going out on, apparently on these 'special missions', and you've been told not to tell anyone. Plus, you've been leaving early in the morning, like you and that Simon guy did the other day, and today, you came back in the afternoon. Why are you keeping this secret and what exactly are you guys doing? And don't try and weed your way around it! I want to know what it is! Please, don't argue, just tell me,"

Marcus went to say something, probably to try and reason with her, but the stern look on Anya's face told him he was not going to try and talk her out of this. Finally, after a few moments, he sighed in defeat.

"Alright, Anya," he said. He took a deep breath and quickly glanced up and looked around to make sure they were not being watched. He even looked behind them, but saw no one and he turned to face her. "These…these missions…they're not really…anything to do with training." He paused; as if to expect a reaction from her, but she did not say anything and looked at him as if pressing him on to continue. "They're…They're actually…um…missions against…" he took another deep breath as if he was trying to stop himself, but for some reason he wanted to tell her the truth and this was his chance. "They're missions against Covenant scouts!" he blurted out, looking down at the ground.

When he looked up at Anya again after a few moments, he saw her eyes wide with…shock and unbelief. Her mouth hung open a little and it looked as though the colour from her face was draining. When he saw this, Marcus began to panic a little.

"B-but, like you said, we had been ordered not to tell anyone, even about the ship and-"

Oh no! he mentally cursed himself. He should not have said that.

"Wait, what do you mean by ship?" Anya asked him, her voice more demanding now.

Crap! Marcus cursed himself again. "Um…" he replied, laughing a little as he rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. "Today, there was a CCS battle cruiser in the Zura mountains and…"

"And you didn't tell anyone!" Anya half-shouted, getting to her feet.

"Anya, calm down!" Marcus urged her as he got up.

"No! I-I can't believe you, Marcus!" her voice began to break a little. "I thought I really knew you! I thought if there was a battle cruiser, you would have told us all about what was going on! Now for all we know, the Covenant could be coming this way!"

"I told that to John, but he said there's nothing heading towards Reach!"

"Yeah, but how does he know that?"

Marcus sighed. "Anya," he tried to place a hand on her face, but she knocked it away and wiped away a tear from her eye.

"I can't believe you, Marcus!" she said in a broken voice as a few more tears fell down her face. "I thought I could really trust you!"

"Anya, please calm down!" Marcus urged her, but she just shook her head, staring at him in disbelief.

"I hate you!" she said. "I HATE YOU!" she screamed at him. "I-I WISH YOU HAD DIED IN RODUM!" and she ran off back towards the base, tears streaming down her face.

"Anya, wait!" Marcus called after her but she had disappeared into the bushes of the park before he had even moved a foot from where she was standing. He stood where he was for a second before he growled and launched a kick at the side of the bench, almost knocking it over. He winced slightly in pain and sat down and buried his face in his hands.

"I'm such an idiot!" he mumbled to himself.

Yes, you are! His mind seemed to shout at him.

Ten minutes later

Marcus walked down the corridor that led to the barracks. He was still seething with anger, not directed at Anya but himself. He had been such a fool. Why had he told her what he had really been doing? Why? It was such a stupid thing to do and he had upset her! And it was too late to try and say sorry now. Oh, he was such an idiot, he felt like hitting his head against the wall.

I'm such an idiot! He mentally repeated to himself for the fifth time as he reached the barracks door, which opened as he approached it.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed.

Standing there was a woman at about his height who was dressed in a white bodysuit. She had shoulder length silver hair, blue eyes, though the skin around them was slightly red, soft cheeks and a small nose. Her body was an athletic build. It was Eve.

"Eve," Marcus said. "What are you doing up?" he asked.

"I've come to talk to you, Marcus," she replied. She stepped out into the corridor, the door closing behind them so as not to wake the others in the barracks, and turned to face him. "What's wrong with Anya?" she asked him gently, though it was clear that she wanted a straight answer.

"Oh," Marcus replied. He paused for a moment before he sighed. "Well, I told her where…me and those others taskforce soldiers had been going and she…well, got quite upset,"

Eve nodded. "I noticed it when she walked in," she said. "I asked her if she was alright and she said she was but she looked like she' been crying,"

"Look, Eve," Marcus said. "I didn't mean to hurt her. She wanted to know and I told her and well, she just got upset,"

Eve nodded again. "What exactly was it you told her?" she asked him.

"It's best if I don't tell you in case you get angry," Marcus replied.

Eve nodded. Yes, maybe it was best if he did not say what it was he was to keep secret again.

"Look," she said, placing a hand on Marcus' shoulder. "I'll talk to her and try and reason with her,"

Marcus smiled a little. "Thanks, Eve,"

"You're welcome. Now you go and get some sleep,"

"What about you?"

"I still have the blueprints of the hangers and the bridge to look over,"

"Well, just don't overwork yourself or you'll get stressed out again like you did last time,"

"Good night, Marcus," she said to him, a little annoyed that he was trying to help her and Marcus sighed and walked into the barracks. Eve followed him. He needed some sleep and time to think about what would happen now between him and Anya.