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The Reclaimer Legacy

Part 6

By BrokenPoet12

X

Forerunner Planet Requiem

Relative Human year 2557

Location unknown

For a very long time he stood still. Countless hours on the battle field, too many times when death was inches away, making split second tactical decisions that would mean life or death for him and his fellow Spartans had never prepared him for this moment. And so he stood rooted to the spot and staring at the woman in front of him. She was achingly familiar. Her eyes hadn't changed a bit from one form to another and for some reason this pleased him. Taking in her upturned mouth, the look of gentle humor on her face, John found himself moving instantly from questioning to accepting in the space of a few seconds.

Lifting his hand cautiously, he let it rest against the angle of her jaw line as he watched her eyes for reaction. Beneath his fingers there was warm, soft skin. Cortana closed her eyes and cupped his hand with her own as she sighed softly. John was mesmerized. After years of seeing this woman, of having her as his constant companion in his mind, he was surprised at how new this felt. He had said goodbye to her in the weeks that had passed after New Phoenix and the final fight with the Diadact, but he had never for one moment let her go. He owed her his life a thousand times over and would carry on doing what he had been trained to do because she would have expected nothing less.

But he had mourned her. The rest of his brothers and sisters were gone save a handful of them, but she had been there for him for almost as long. Waking up on the Dawn, it was her voice that greeted him. In the quiet moments between ground engagements, it was her that always asked if he was all right. No one else except perhaps her creator had ever shown him that much concern. And then he had lost her.

Yet, here she was before him. Flesh and blood and warm beneath his hands. Hands that had too often flexed and lifted to reach her when she had been suffering at the hands of the Gravemind and later when she was succumbing to rampancy. The stoic warrior had mourned for her, and mourned her as a woman. He had not thought of her as merely a piece of equipment since he had met her.

Cortana watched the Chief's face as he looked into her eyes. She could read every line, knew where every shallow crease would appear when he frowned or lifted an eyebrow. Even more rarely, she remembered how his eyes would lighten when he would allow a smile out. Taking all of him in, enjoying the feeling of his warm hand against her face she smiled at him.

"Say something else." He said, more a statement than a request. Cortana was quiet for a second while she thought of what exactly he would want to hear and then she grinned, color tinting her cheeks faintly.

"Did you miss me?" Her voice was quiet, but he knew it and knew it was her. There was no other possibility.

"You know that I always did."

"You always did know how to make a girl feel special Chief." She quipped, grinning fully at him. Just as she knew they would, his eyebrows lifted, erasing several of the lines on his face as his lips moved into a smile. She took her hand from his and traced her thumb over his lips for a moment, before sighing and pulling away. He let her go and took a step away.

"How was this possible?" John asked as Cortana motioned for him to sit. She followed him to one of the raised platforms and sat across from him. Folding her hands on the surface of the table, she bit her lip momentarily before launching into what she remembered.

"I remember pain and blackness. I remember an intense anger and hatred of everything around me. It seemed endless to me." John stiffened as she began, but she shook her head slightly at his sudden change in demeanor, motioning for him to wait. "For as long as I could think it, there was nothing. It could have been seconds or days, to an AI losing the ability to think is like being in a vast wasteland.

And then suddenly there was light, clean and white and warm. Warm, John. I'd never felt it before but I knew what it was. When I opened my eyes, she was standing over me, the Librarian. She told me that she had found me."

"So she saved you?" John asked as she paused to collect herself.

"In a way she did, but she told me that I had saved myself. My sacrifice on the Diadact's ship pushed me into the fringes of metastabilty. The Librarian is guiding me the rest of the way,"

"But how is that possible? I thought Dr. Halsey said that metastabilty was something that she knew might be attainable eventually, but she wasn't sure." The Chief leaned back in his seat and gazed into middle distance as the events on the ships replayed in his mind. Seeing Cortana that final time, hearing her say goodbye…shaking his head he focused on the woman before him again and motioned her on.

"I was created because of what the Librarian did thousands of years ago. She imparted something called gei in all human life John. These gei, these genetic memories have been passed down from generation to generation. It was how you knew how to access Forerunner systems on the ring world. It was how our technology for spaceflight, smart AIs, weaponry, and every other piece of technology has evolved. Humanity has had a helping hand."

"I heard your voice. I felt you." John spoke, quietly, almost embarrassed.

"You heard me because she needed you to. And because I needed you."

"You said you are only on the fringes of metastabilty, what does that mean Cortana?"

Instead of answering, she stood up again and paced away from him. The featureless room had suddenly expanded to house several windows on the far ends and she wandered over to them. Rested her hands against the smooth clear surface, she looked outside at what appeared to be an endless green valley. As large as he was, John was still able to rise an close the distance between them silently. Cortana jumped when she felt the heat from his hand on her shoulder. With gentle pressure, he urged her around to face him. When she wouldn't meet his eyes, he lifted her chin gently and spoke again.

"Cortana, tell me."

"It means that this might not be perma…" She was cut off suddenly as the Chief stiffened and whirled. In the same motion he had pressed her against the window and was shielding her with his body. Across the room she saw the reason for his sudden reaction. Two Promethean Knights had materialized and were slowly approaching. With no weapon, and no visible way out, there were trapped. "John…" she whispered, fear creeping into her voice.

"Whatever happens stay behind me, if you can get clear run." His voice had the knife edge of death that she had heard a thousand times before. Knowing it would be pointless to argue, she rested a hand gently against his side as she peered over his shoulder.

The two Promethean Knights continued forward. John tensed, ready to fight either one, he waited.

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