A/N: -whistles- wow this took a loooong time… I'm completely and utterly sorry that it's been… yikes, been nearly two months since my last update. After the last chapter I had gotten major writer's block for the first good month, then I slowly got over it and have been writing this whenever I could. Although, having bought Halo Reach two weeks ago didn't do anything to speed things up. That game is awesome! And I'm happy that my cousin and his friend play with me instead of me just playing by myself online and stuff, now I have people hear me talk while I play… okay, maybe that's not a good thing, but they talk as well so it equals out. Kinda. Maybe… No. Anyone want to play?

Kittifreak, are you still here? 've been wondering that for a while now.

Anyways, I'm completely sorry about the long wait, hopefully the next chapter will be done soon, and those of you waiting on Forgotten I'll have the next chapter posted tomorrow since my parents are about to kick me off right now.

mckeown, I'm even more sorry that I said that I would have posted this on Saturday or Sunday. That was completely my goal, it's about a week late, and I let you down. This chapter is dedicated to you for being an awesome fan and friend!

Enjoy!

Hey Jay!

Remember me? You better or else I'll kick your ass. No, I'm only kidding, I'll kick your ass while wearing my golf shoes! No, kidding again, you know I hate golfing.

Why haven't you replied yet? D:

Are you dead? If so, you don't listen to orders very well. WRITE BACK DANG IT- this is my only entertainment :( ….. besides playing pranks on the techies.

From your awesomest, most manly-ist friend,

Ty

PS: THEY STILL HAVEN'T CAUGHT ME! MUAHAHA!

PSS: Why do you insist on handwritten letters when we have so much technology now? You old school you.

PSSS: What does PS mean anyways?

Dear Ty,

It's been a while, hasn't it? So much has happened… Honestly, by the time you finish reading this letter, you will not only be ecstatic, but you will be disappointed.

First off, you will not be the first person to befriend an alien. And even if you did and get your name in papers, I can guarantee that it'll be you signing court marshal papers, not autographs. I have killed some aliens, killed more than I'd like, but you know me, even one is too many. Sometimes I wonder why I joined the marines if all we're going to do is try and defeat the Covenant, meaning kill them as well. But oh well, I still have almost three years left before I can get out. Hell, I'm glad I still have three years. Besides killing and being killed, the military is kick-ass fun.

Oh, and I fight with a variety of guns. Usually battle rifles and magnums. My last mission I got to use a sniper rifle! I've officially adopted it. It is mine. It's name is Headshot. No one can have him. No one!

Okay, here's the reason why you won't be the first to befriend an alien. And you can NOT tell anyone about this. In fact, I want you to eat this letter after you finish reading it. Understand? What I'm about to say, I can't even tell Jacob or else he'd freak. Ok?

I….

I paused, biting my lip. Should I tell him? … No, Ty's my friend. The most trustworthy guy I know. He won't tell. I put my pen to the paper again.

I'm friends with an elite. Two elites actually. On Helix VI, I got lost and encountered a wounded elite- Sangheili I should say (that's what they say their species is called). I patched him up and we exchanged names, or at least I think we did at the time. Anyways, he said "Zeuk", which is an actual Sangheili name, according to my other elite friend. His name is Gro 'Amalok and he is the commander of the Special Ops. The 'lab rats' were testing crap on him to see which would kill him. The bastards. I saw him and that night I broke into his cell and rescued him. An hour later, after we fell asleep, the alarm woke everyone up. Gro hid when all military personel huddled into the tiny briefing room where the guy from boot stared us down and reported that the elite broke out. We're keeping on the down low of course, and it'll be even harder to get his armor now. I'm planning on retrieving it so we can contact Gro's allies and they can attack the ship and get him. Crazy plan? Hell yeah. But it's the only way so he can get back to his allies and command his Special Operations team. Well, alive anyways. Zeuk is under his command now, and told me he was healing well before Gro got captured. We're planning on radioing his buddies soon, or else they'll start thinking he was a coward or a heretic for some reason. Stupid thing, I know. So yeah, the plan includes killing a few people, but this way we'll have inside knowledge, on both sides. Yeah, I can get into some deep shit if anyone finds out, which the old drill instructor clearly pointed out to us, and I'll probably be in prison for the rest of my life or sent on some suicide mission if found out.

Anyways, sorry to disappoint you. ;P

Also, I do have some battle wounds. Yeah, that same day I met Zeuk? Same day I nearly fucking lost my left arm. What a memorable day, huh?

Plasma burned through my skin and bone, exposed my heart, ate half my lung, and the doc's replaced my lung and skin. Now my bones in my left shoulder are made of some sort of metal that they experimented on me, and now I can pitch and punch better with that arm. Don't make me angry, ha-ha. Only strange thing is that it gets cold at night. Hm.

The scar's pretty cool though, I'll have to show you a picture some time. It goes up my neck a little and down to my elbow. It's sweet.

Awesome prank by the way, I'll bet they'll remember you for years to come. You must show me the video. Pronto. Actually, I want you to start sending it now. Send it after reading (and eating) this letter. Got it?

Tanks? I knew you would find some kind of occupation that involves destroying things. And lighting the lab on fire? I'm proud of you my little pyro. Haha. Oooh, I feel bad for that one scientist. Yikes, I hope he's alright. But another part of me wants to laugh at him. I mean, who's deathly allergic to syrup? I mean, didn't they make a medication for that, like, two hundred years ago? Yeesh, someone didn't take their medication that morning. Haha.

Sounds like you're having a boring time, ha-ha. At least you're not dying nearly every mission you get. Which reminds me; I have to pick up my schedule. I hope I get kitchen duty, because then I can sneak some food to Gro without drawing attention to myself by only eating in my room all of a sudden. Yeah I know I've done it in the past, but not unless I was sick or something. I took my food to the room this morning, about an hour ago or something, and my friends were already asking questions. I said I was tired and was going to hit the hay again. I could do that after eating in the cafeteria. Doesn't make much sense to me but they bought it, for now at least. Other than meeting Gro and the missions and dying and living to tell it- oh yeah, that's right. I forgot to mention my death. And yes you missed the funeral, you bastard you. No, actually I did die on Helix VI, and some dude with blue hair gave me mouth to mouth. Yuck, I at least wanted to be awake for my first kiss; nonetheless alive. Then they had to give me the shock treatment on the table. Ouch.

Haha that was defiantly one of my most entertaining days I've had so far. Other than that day back in Boot Camp where someone tied the Drill Instructor's underwear to the flagpole and managed to stick sausage patties to the ceiling. The DI was so pissed when one of them fell on his head. Those extra pushups were so worth it. Even though it felt like my arms were going to fall off. And hey, one of them nearly has now. What a surprise. Eh, but its good now.

I don't know what 'PS' stands for, but it's kind of fun to use.

Sigh. Well besides all of that, it's getting kind of boring here. Yeah, there's always the chance that someone will suddenly burst through the door—

[Writing's scribbled, like the pen was suddenly jerked from the page]

"God damn it."

"I apologize, let me get you-"

"No no, it's fine. I'm almost done anyways. Just give me a few minutes and we'll work on the game plan."

"Game? Is this a form of entertainment for you?"

"Whoa, calm down there big guy. No, it's nothing like that. Game plan is a term for… well I'm not really sure. It works for games and actual planning methods. Anyways, can I have a few minutes before we work on the plan?"

"Certainly."

"Thank you."

Sorry about that, Gro accidentally knocked me when he was "sitting still". He's going to reopen his wounds if he keeps this up… he needs all the blood he has ya know? I don't think they produce blood faster than us, and if that's the case, he should still be suffering a little bit from blood loss. But I think that they produce blood faster, since he doesn't seem tired one bit.

You know, our rooms on this ship aren't big enough for a seven foot tall Sangheili to move freely around in. Sure they can walk easily around, but not much else. He's starting to get antsy; it's only been a few hours since the meeting but I'm guessing Sangheili aren't used to staying in one place for a long time, or in small rooms for that matter. Maybe they're claustrophobic? Eh, I'll ask Gro about it later. Have any questions for him? I'm sure he wouldn't mind answering them… hey, ever wondered why humans didn't learn their language? They learned ours. Well, some of them did. But at least they made an effort. Only like… two in the entire human race have tried to learn their language. We fail miserably, ha-ha. I mean, we've learned languages of, I don't know, that are thousands of years old, yet we can't learn the language of a few aliens. What's up with that? Maybe it's because we don't have double jaws and can't make the same sounds. Eh, oh well. Maybe humans are just too lazy to learn one more language.

Anyways, it feels like someone will suddenly burst through the door at any given moment, taking Gro away and sending me to prison. Or worse. They could experiment on Gro again! I can't let that happen! Oh no, I should have just put him in a shuttle last night before anyone noticed… but then someone would know that someone had helped him, an elite doesn't know their way around a human ship. There would only be a slim chance for one to actually find the shuttles because the science and technical labs aren't anywhere near the escape shuttles. Which is weird because then the techies would be one of the last personnel's out. And wouldn't they want to try and save some of their research? Damn that would suck being a techie or a scientist. But then again, they do sometimes make stuff that explode… who in the world designs these ships? I mean, they probably had a grudge against scientists while designing this ship. The other ships I've been on had at least one escape pod in each sector, but this one doesn't have one near the science labs. Were they like "Oh, I hate that one scientist, he yelled at me last week. I know! Let's have Road to Victory not have any escape pods near the science wings! That will teach him not to yell at me!" I mean, come on. A monkey with brain damage would have at least put one directly outside the science labs. Oh well.

Well, that's all I can say for now, Gro's getting even more restless (is that possible? Imagine a ten foot tall elite going nuts while being confined to a small room. Just think about it for a minute) so I have to go and work on the plan with him. Aren't elites supposed to be around 7 or 8 feet? Jeese, no wonder he's such a high ranking guy. Anyways. We'll keep on the down low for now I'm sure, but you can never be too careful.

Remember, eat this letter. Literally. Just stuff it into your mouth right now.

Well, talk to you later, maybe Gro will let me take a picture of him so I can send it to you. You'll have to eat that too. Come on, I've seen you eat inedible stuff before, you can eat paper. :P

You probably left this letter after the first paragraph, you never did like reading did you? Amazing that you passed school. And college. And just are where you are today. Oh wait, or was that because you cheated off Jacob's papers? Eh oh well, I looked at them too.

Friend? Yes. Awesomest? Perhaps. Manly? Nope.

Talk to you soon unmanly friend,

Jay

PS: Eat it. Now.

I leaned back and scanned the letter before folding it up and sealing it into an envelope, deciding to send it later. I turned around in my chair and smiled when I was met with the sight of Gro attempting to entertain himself. Right now he was staring at the wall. Honestly, his eyes were squinted on the pure surface, concentrating so hard like something would magically appear out of thin air. I covered my mouth with a giggle, causing his eyes to snap over to me. He quickly faced me, hiding the eagerness for something to do. I laughed and he tilted his head in momentary confusion.

"I do not understand, what is amusing you?" I giggled.

"Just… how you're acting." I caught myself in time. "I mean, I would have never thought that an elite- excuse me- a Sangheili, would be able to express emotions."

"Of course we are capable of showing our emotions. All beings are able to."

"No, I meant positive emotions. Don't get me wrong, it's great seeing you like this, but coming from an average military human's point of view, the enemy only shows aggressiveness and anger towards you." I explained slowly, only for my sake of wording it the way I meant it. He immediately responded with a nod, not having to think about it twice.

"That is the same for us, but it seems that we are the more observant species in this case. We observe your emotions; see what can be a weakness and how to get passed your human defenses. I myself have observed countless of emotions from human civilians and humans of your military. Happiness, sadness, grief, anger… All sorts of emotions. I'm sure you have witnessed much more than anger and aggressiveness, but just haven't… looked close enough to see it. My kind tends to hide it more than yours, while your species tends to… express yourselves much more freely."

"Is it part of the whole honor deal?"

"In a way; yes. Our honor is the most important thing to a Sangheili; that, and status. If a Sangheili has a low status, they can make due as long as they know what honor is and have it. If a Sangheili has no honor… they have nothing." He looked away, avoiding my eyes. I caught on after a moment. I studied him for a moment, contemplating before I spoke slowly, as if not to upset him and only to get a simple answer.

"And you believe… because you got captured, that your honor has been damaged?" He sighed, closing his reptilian-like eyes.

"It is not just that, female. It is that I had been offered help; by a human. To the Covenant, every human is scum. The ones who are against the war, who believe that we should be allies, are put below everyone else and is treated like filth. If one would be offered help, by one of the Covenant's greatest enemies, nonetheless took it," His fists clenched and unclenched in thought. "They would be traitors, and traitors have no honor." I felt myself getting frustrated. Not at him, but at the Covenant's society.

"Gro," I said after a moment, his eyes still avoiding me. "Gro 'Amalok, look at me."

Great, now I'm acting like my mother.

He raised his head after a moment, unsure, but still didn't fully meet my gaze. I saw that this was as close as I would get. "You have fought many battles; I bandaged you up, I've seen the scars. Faded, old, recent and fresh, you have served the Covenant better than you're willing to give credit. Yet you are implying that you have no honor?" I studied him for a moment, watching his features. I still haven't figured out all of his emotions from his facial features, other than his rare smile and the faces from others in my own battles. His eyes were guarded, out of habit more likely, but from his posture I could tell he was thinking. I frowned when he looked away. "Gro? Is there something you're not telling me?"

I reached out to touch his arm but he turned away, letting my fingers barely brush his skin.

"Gro…"

"I don't want to talk about it." His tone was cold and distant; final. I frowned, letting my arm fall to my side. Something caught my eye and I sighed, reaching out to grab his arm. His arm automatically jerked out of my grip, but I grabbed it again and tugged it towards me, earning a grunt from him. I took off the bandage wrapped around his arm, my frown deepening.

"Your bouncing around reopened your wounds." As for how long I've known this creature, give or take six hours, I've already have grown attached. When he turned away, I felt… hurt. Not offended, but a helpless kind of hurt, where your help is denied. That's exactly what's going on.

"I apologize." I didn't say anything, just reached under my bed and brought out the med kit. I took off the used bandages and started wrapping his arm up with fresh ones. He decided to start. "When do you suppose we should act?" I offered him a smile, my concentration focused on my work.

"Well, it'd really help to have a plan first, don't ya think?" He chuckled in agreement. "We should hang low for a bit; when I was coming back from the meeting, I overheard a couple of marines talking about a Spartan on board." I paused, looking up at him with a smirk. "If that's the case, then this mission just got a whole lot more challenging."

"What is a "Spartan"?" I thought for a moment on how to word it. He couldn't know about their back story, and didn't someone say that they refer to them as some sort of monster?

"The Covenant calls them some kind of monster. They wear this high tech armor that enhances their abilities and they're the main reason the human race is still alive."

"Demon." I looked up, surprised at the growl rising in his throat, but even more surprised at what I saw. His were mandibles parted, showing his sharp dog-like fangs as he stared ahead with completely black eyes. A chill creeped up my spine and I shuddered. In all but three seconds, the growl disappeared and he blinked, his familiar brown eyes moving to look down at me. "If this is the case, then I believe so."

…

I stepped onto the bridge, my hand snapping to salute the commanding officers awaiting my arrival. They returned it, and they immediately got down to business. I was told about what was going on, possible suspects, about the target; everything. When the head scientist entered the room, my gut sank. He told me everything. The chemicals, the processes, the risks, how the target would be reacting to this and that, the experiments. I had the knowledge that the target was being experimented on, but these experiments are… inhumane.

I gave myself a mental shake. My job is to follow orders, no matter the… details they contain.

"There's a list of people who are under our radar, containing the ones from the ship you were previously stationed at." The Sergeant said, handing me a data pad. My eyes darted to it when I took it, attaching it to my hip magnetically as I nodded.

Find a drugged elite on a ship this size. Easy.

Why did I say that?

…

Hey mom and dad.

How is everything? Everyone's fine here, Jacob's okay and so am I. Nothing really new to report, other than meeting some new friends.

Missions are good, injuries kept to a minimum.

How is everything there? Thanks for the cookies by the way, I'm munching on one now as I write. It's delicious mom. I'll share some with Jacob, and I'm sure you've sent him some too. I'm not sure if the thing between him and you mom is still going on, but if it is I'll keep giving you updates on him.

Crap, gotta go, we're doing this… I don't know, a drill? Yeah, a drill. Anyways, see you.

-Jay

I sighed, head in my palms as a chocolate chip cookie hung from my mouth. I looked up after a moment before grabbing another sheet of stationary.

Dear Dad,

Has mom gotten her letter? Yes? Good.

Okay, here's what's really going down.

Helix VI was a disaster. A fight around every corner it seemed.

Don't freak, but I met an elite. Yeah, a real live elite that didn't try and kill me. Well, he did hold a gun to my head, but he was injured so that doesn't count. I got separated from my group and wandered around a little bit, that's when I met him. He had a slash to his lower torso, below his stomach I think. His organs weren't damaged, thankfully, so it was just, literally, a flesh wound. I sewed it up, the gun to my head almost the whole time, before he left. And guess what? We exchanged names! Yeah, I couldn't understand a word he said, but when I said my name he said his. Zeuk. Isn't that an awesome name? I know that was his name because my other buddy confirmed it. Yeah… you know not to tell anybody, besides Ty of course (just wrote his letter explaining everything. I know you like him, don't deny it. You two joke around all the time when he's over. Anyways) but I have another elite buddy. His name is Gro 'Amalok and he's currently staying with me during our trip. Freaked yet? He was being used as an experiment for those evil scientists! I had to help him! It's only been a few hours and they're already looking high and low for him. They wouldn't check an innocent, pretty-much-rookie girl's room would they? Haha, but no, it's awesome learning from my elite friend. Well, from what he says, his species is Sangheili, but that takes a while to write and I'm lazy. I'm a lazy Marine. Haha, that so doesn't go together.

Anyways, here's the other part.

Back on Helix VI, I kinda… well, I died. Twice. Yes, I've come back from the grave to haunt Jacob double the amount.

No, seriously, this guy with blue hair had to give me mouth to mouth the first time I died. Yuck.

Not yuck because of his blue hair, heck he helped me out when we were escaping from our last ship (I'll explain later). I owe him my life, twice now. He brought me back from the dead, and he lugged around my weight for about a mile in space. Haha… I don't weigh that much, do I? Don't answer that.

Anyways, back on Helix VI plasma was shot at me and hit me in the left shoulder, burning through my flesh and bones and exposed my heart while eating half a lung. They replaced the lung, bones, and skin, and everything's okay now. And now I've got this awesome scar! Instead of two tones of skin (thankfully they chose not to use someone else's skin. Ew.), they took my skin cells, grew and sped them up, and stitched it back onto me. Now I have this little rise in my skin, a little red, and the black thread is still there. Which reminds me, I'll have to get them to get that out… maybe on the next ship we're on. I don't exactly trust anyone on this ship (besides my friends) after finding Gro. Yes, I'd get in major shit if I get caught, but I can't let him be tested on again. They were seeing what types of chemicals would kill him! Hell, I'm not sure if his body isn't poisoned or not, they could've gave him some long lasting poison that kills within hours instead of just minutes. Grr it's making me so angry just thinking about those damn techies hurt my friend! It's only been a few hours since meeting him but I've already become attached to him!

Oh, and another thing, from mom's last letter. I got a tattoo. Hee hee. Don't tell. But it WAS on the place over my heart, but because of the incident, they had to remove it in order for it not to look funny. But on my right shoulder, I got a marine tattoo. I'll have to show you next time we visit. It's sweet! I'm thinking of getting my destroyed tattoo redone, oh that was the kanji for "war" there, but I'm still thinking about it. Oh well, I hurt more than enough right now, maybe later when I'm, oh I don't know, not hurting all the time.

Is mom still trying to make it up to Jacob? He seemed a little… moody this morning. I passed him on the way back from breakfast and he just mumbled a "hi" to me. Usually he gives me a grin, being the damned morning person he is, and bitch at me for eating junk food for breakfast. Haha, I almost missed it this morning. Anyways, I hope I didn't cause you to get a heart attack from this letter. How's your leg? I heard about it from mom. Tsk tsk, you should've known from last time not to climb the ladder AND try and do something other than changing a light bulb.

I know you hate me keeping all this from mom, but if she knew what really was going on then she'd freak and make me come home. I hate it there, you know that dad! You two might like it there, but it's just too… perfect. Sigh.

Well I think that's all… I have to think about Gro and my plan to get him back to his buddies. If we delay it too long, they'll think he's either dead, or a heretic. Stupid, yeah, he kind of (but won't really admit it) thinks so too.

Love you very much dad,

Jay

I winced, unable to write that they put some sort of experimental metal in me as my bones. He'd probably sue if he knew that, and that wouldn't go over well for our family since ONI, being the sneaky bastards that they are, would win and get a lot of money or something. Pfft. I always feel that I can tell my dad anything, we always did things together when I was still back on Harmony. If mom found out the truth... well it's just good that at least one parent knows the truth and won't freak out over nothing.

I glanced down.

Okay, it's not nothing but still.

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, the plan thought out so far running through my head and going over each and every possibility I could think of. So far I've come up with 31 outcomes, only 2 involves both of us succeeding. Oh wait someone could have trashed his armor. 32.

Sigh. This is going to be interesting.

…

My name is classified, my rank is classified, hell even my identity is classified. I come from Harvest, I have a record of victories and reluctant losses, I kill for a living, I am a subject in the Spartan II program, specializing in stealth and assassination. My friends call me Larry.

Right now, my mission is to hunt down a certain experiment and his accomplice on the ship I am currently stationed at.

My eyes watched as a marine exited their room, walking the opposite way from me. My eyes narrowed and I followed, determined to see any suspicious behavior. The data pad the Captain and the other higher ups gave me had a list of all the occupants on the ship, including the newcomers from the destroyed Ass Kicker. So far, out of the hundreds in that list, I've narrowed it down to almost 25%. I'm getting closer and closer to finding who is helping the elite, and I will put an end to this.

This elite will not leave the ship alive.