Hey all! Yes, it's another short chapter, but I actually like how this one turned out--but that's just my opinion. I'll be continuing this indefinitely, so rest assured there will be other (hopefully longer) chapters to come. Enjoy! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Halo.
Chapter Sixteen: Insanity
June 21, 2558 1123 hours
Blade's Bunkhouse
UNSC Reserve Base Camp Hayes
North America
About two months had passed since humanity had made contact with the remains of the Forerunner civilization, and things had quieted down for the most part. Laura maintained a steady contact with Arisaya, the young Forerunner scientist that ONI had kept in Sydney, and the two had bonded well. Meanwhile Dr. Halsey and the S-IIIs had settled in nicely, and for the most part things were moving well. For the most part, however, is the operative term: Laura was slowly losing ground mentally, though she never dared to admit it. She was seeing more and more of Alaya's memories, and more often than not it took quite some time for her to remember where and who she was.
"This shouldn't be happening," she muttered quietly, pacing in the living area of her bunkhouse.
"What, mommy?" Laura looked up in time to see Kelly clamber into a chair, Sam close behind: the two of them had grown, but were still small enough to fit in the same chair.
"Nothing, sweetie, mommy's just thinking. Whatcha need?"
"Can we go out to Silver Pond today?" Sam asked.
"We wanna go swimming," Kelly added.
"Okay, let's go find our bathing suits then," Laura agreed, faster than she normally would. Maybe a swim will get my mind off things, plus I could use the exercise. While in actuality she was still in the peak of human fitness, she still felt conscious of her body after having given birth to her kids, and considered herself slightly overweight. When the twins had collected their swimsuits, Laura grabbed hers and herded the group out the door.
One of the flukes about the new base location was that it had been constructed not five minutes away from Silver Pond, which meant Laura and her children could go there whenever they liked; they often had family trips to the pond, and the twins were already better swimmers than Laura had been at their age. Arriving at the pond, it took only minutes before they had changed into their swimsuits and dove into the pond.
"Mommy, mommy, look, look!" Kelly pointed to a distant group of approaching people; Laura recognized John's gait, and the flash of red hair that was Linda's. Ok, we have the S-IIs at least, I don't see any of the three's though. Submerging herself and moving to a small concealed area (just a floating series of branches and an overhanging bush), she prepared an ambush.
"Sam, Kelly, where's your mom at?" John asked. The two children giggled, and Laura waited.
"She has to be around here somewhere," Kelly's voice echoed.
"Where, though? There aren't a lot of places to hide." She saw a pair of boots in front of her hiding place, followed by Fred's voice. Oh, this is too perfect!
"I think I found—" Striking quickly, Laura grabbed the boots and yanked; Fred yelled and toppled into the pond with a very large splash. A roar of laughter rang out from the shore, and Laura joined in, swimming out of concealment.
"Gotcha," she chortled while she tried to rein in her laughter.
"Why is it always me, huh?" Fred sputtered as he swam back to shore.
"You make it too easy, that's why," she replied, still grinning. "Come on in, the water's perfect, ya know?"
"Nothing's perfect, you know that," Linda pointed out; Laura's face fell.
"All too well, but right now this day's turning out okay." Laying on her back in the water, she closed her eyes and just felt the water lapping at her body. Too late she realized that things had gotten quiet; next thing she knew there was a large splash and a wave of water hit her full in the face.
Sputtering, she came up and gasped, "What the heck? Who did that?" Laughter rang around her, and she noticed John was swimming next to her, a childish grin all over his face.
"That's it, now you're dead!" she shouted right before sending a wave at him, sparking an all-out water war in which everyone participated eagerly. Even Linda joined in, and when the whole group finally left later in the afternoon they were soaked and laughing, one of those rare moments of fun that chased away shadows.
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It was shortly after 5 pm (1700 military time) when a dried-off Laura got a knock on her bunkhouse door. Who could that be? she wondered as she opened the door a crack.
"Mind if I come in?" Kelly asked; Laura nodded, still puzzled, and opened the door.
"Sure, but only if you tell me what's up," she answered. Kelly nodded and sat down; it looked to Laura as if she didn't know where to begin.
"How did you and John end up together?" she asked. An unusual opening, but I'll roll with it.
"It wasn't the smoothest of beginnings—more often than not we were close to killing each other. In time, though, we started to respect each other, and that grew into something neither one of us expected—and something neither of us knew how to handle. People that get close to me usually end up in danger, and I try hard to keep people at arms length because of it. John didn't understand that, and when I tried to protect him…it didn't go well. But in time we made it happen, in spite of the rocky start we had. Though sometimes I wondered if it's really us, and not the people we used to be, that made us work so well. Be that as it may, I love him regardless." Laura smiled at the memories, but then looked at Kelly thoughtfully. "I take it that you've been experiencing something similar?"
Kelly looked down, almost shamefully, and admitted, "I…I had once hoped that John and I could be together. Don't get me wrong, I see how happy he is now, and I won't take that away. Even if I could, I don't think I want to now, especially since…"
Laura noticed the other woman was struggling with something, and having been in a similar situation once she understood. "Who is he, Kelly? You can trust me, I'll keep your secret." When Kelly didn't answer, she ventured a guess. "Fred?"
"I…I didn't expect it to happen, and then we ended up trapped together on Onyx, and I realized I felt different around him. I don't know how to handle this."
Laura smiled. "No one ever does, not at first. I certainly had no clue. But after awhile, I learned what I needed to know. Mostly it's about following your heart, and your instincts to a degree. The most important thing to me, though, is to be yourself. If someone cares about you—and truly cares enough about you—it's because of who you are, and changing yourself won't matter a bit."
"That's why I asked you—you've had a lot of experience," Kelly smiled softly. "But what if he doesn't feel anything back?"
"There's always that risk, it's true," Laura nodded. "But if he breaks your heart, I'll break his legs." The two women looked at each other for a moment before breaking into peals of laughter.
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June 21, 2558 2030 hours
Blade's Bunkhouse
UNSC Reserve Base Camp Hayes
North America
After Kelly left and the twins were in bed, Laura sat down in the middle of the floor, a pained expression on her face. I wish John were here, she thought sadly—since the Spartans had returned he'd been spending more time in their barracks rather than with her and the twins. In a way that was good, since he wasn't there to see her daily slide to insanity, but without him she had a lot less focus. Heaven help me, she thought as the memories began to flood her mind.
There was something new this time, though: her own voice was echoing inside her head, calling to her, saying something she couldn't make out clearly.
"No, please, no, get out of my mind," she whispered, near tears; it wasn't a painless process to have someone else's memories taking over your mind.
Can you hear me? Can you hear? Is there anyone left to hear?
"Leave me alone, please leave me alone! I don't want this, stay out of my mind," she sobbed, curling up into a ball on the floor. Unknown to her, a pair of eyes recorded her distress, watched her as she cried herself to sleep, and prepared to intervene .
Spartan Barracks 2045 hours
UNSC Reserve Base Camp Hayes
North America
In a barracks across Camp Hayes, an AI swirled to life on a holographic pad, concern written across her digital features.
"Master Chief, are you there?" John and his fellow Spartans approached the pad.
"Lorienna, what's going on?" Lorienna shook her holographic head sadly.
"We have a problem—a very serious problem." Vanishing from the pad, she replaced herself with an image of Laura on the floor in her bunkhouse, curled up in the fetal position and sobbing.
"Get out of my mind, get out and leave me alone, please go away!" The small image looked almost unbelievable to be true, but there was no doubt that it was Laura herself. And by the looks of things, it was a Laura barely hanging on to sanity.
"Lorienna, what happened?" Kelly asked; she knew Laura hadn't looked like this when she'd visited earlier. Then she recalled a haunted look in Laura's eyes, a look that had been brushed aside as soon as she offered to help her. Why didn't she say anything?
"Believe it or not, I have no idea, but I can theorize that it has something to do with her subconscious memories of Alaya. It appears that she's starting to lose control of the memories for some unknown reason. This has never happened before, though."
"How long has she been struggling with this?" Dr. Halsey asked; the doctor approched the pad and studied the image, as if looking for a clue as to the state of mind of the occupant.
"About two months since she returned with you from that trip to Zeta Doradus. It's been so gradual that even I didn't realize it, until now." The AI stopped speaking, and when she resumed her voice was sad. "Some AI I am, if I can't even see my own creator suffering."
Dead silence hung through the barracks; every occupant simply stared at the sobbing image displayed on the pad. John's voice was the first to break the silence.
"Why didn't she tell me?"