A/N: Okay guys, not going to lie, but I'm completely disappointed in this chapter. You probably are too, since it's been about two or three months since my last update. For that I am so sorry, and I am ashamed that I prolonged this chapter for so long. To Nuttex and mckeown and who ever I have not mentioned, I'm so sorry for the late update. I told you guys that it'd be done in a week... that was about three weeks ago. Some crap came up, I got an idea after two months, wrote some, then got stuck and that's where I am now. With that new idea I thought writing this would've been a walk in the park since it seemed like such a great idea, but I could only get about two paragraphs out before it died. Thanks to... crap, I forget who gave me those cool ideas. Gah, sorry guys it's a quarter to midnight, I'm functioning at full speed just to stay awake. KIRAKE! Yes, just had a reversed brain fart.

...

OK that sounded really weird. DON'T CARE. IT'S 12 NOW.

Meh

Anyways, thanks to Kirake for giving me one of the ideas I used in this chapter. With this pathetic chapter the word count will be passed 30 thousand. yay.

Okay, I have more to say but I'm too damned tired to type anymore. T_T"

Enjoy and goodnight

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"What is… Ah-mere-ee-kah?" I looked over my shoulder without really looking, my

"America, and that's a country. Also known as the US or United States of America."

"Country? America is all farmland?"

"No. Country is farmland, yes, but country is also like… like a territory." He stared at the wall for a moment, then nodded, his jaws parting in a silent 'ah…' of understanding. A knock on the door sent him leaping up and tensing his muscles. I stood and put a hand on his arm, to which it twitched at the contact, before stepping towards the door.

"Calm down, the stress will worsen your wounds." He didn't say anything, just slipped off into the bathroom, going behind the shower curtains. The door was open, and no doubt he was able to listen to everything that could be said and done in the room. I shook my head before making my way towards the door. Another knock sounded, causing me to sigh as the door slid open.

A man stood there, fist poised to knock once more, and I narrowed my eyes, blowing a puff of air out.

"At least give me enough time to answer my door. Yeesh, it's like you expect me to stand around at the door all day just waiting for someone like you to come around." I narrowed my eyes further. "And what happened to Andy? Where is he?" Remember Andy? He still delivers mail during lunch time whenever there is any. He says it had become a hobby of his.

"Sick. I came to inform you, since you are someone who regularly sends out paper mail, that a mail carrier heading to the Gleon galaxy got destroyed in a Covenant raid. All documents and mail lost, so in short; anything you sent is gone. Goodbye." He promptly walked away. I blinked, huffed, then closed the door with a "thanks" before the doors slid closed. Immediately the anger in my gut came out my mouth. Yeesh that sounded kind of gross.

"The hell? This is just fucking great. And now I don't even remember what I wrote down in the letters! Fuck!" Gro chose that moment to stick his head out the door.

"What happened?" He came out all the way, picking up the discarded history book he was reading before the interruption and set himself on the bed once more.

"The Covenant blew up the ship that was carrying the mail. Everything I wrote to my parents and friend got destroyed and now I don't even remember what I wrote." I dropped to the floor and spread my arms out in aggravation.

"Why not look at the letters they previously sent you?" He suggested absent-mindedly, already engrossed into the book once more. I sat up, blinking before slapping my forehead.

"That completely slipped my mind." I said lamely. "Thanks." I hopped to my feet and went over to the desk, opening a near empty drawer, filled with only a handful of envelopes and letters. All other documents were on my previous ship, being lost in the destruction. I grabbed the first few envelopes and sat myself into the chair, leaning back as I sorted through the letters, reading the first few sentences of each to recall when I got them and how long ago it was. Finally, I found my mom's last letter. Pulling out a pen, I wondered if I should just flat out mention the fact that I've met two aliens to both parents, instead of just my dad. Shaking my head at the mental image of my mother hunting me down and dragging me back home, I cancelled that thought and placed a cookie in my mouth, seeing Gro do the same in the corner of my eye.

Dear mom and dad,

Sorry this is later than usual, the ship that was transporting mail got raided and destroyed, so all the contents were lost.

Anyways, basically what I said in the last letter was that I liked the cookies you sent, me and a friend are actually snacking on them right now (yay unhealthy breakfast), and that I was going to tell dad to keep his butt off the ladder and let Uncle Kenny do all the house maintenance from now on. Yes, I know he won't even consider that. But at least think about it instead of breaking your leg next time the house needs a light bulb fixed. I was also wondering if the feud between mom and Jacob is still going on; Jacob seemed… less of the morning person. More moody. Other than that, he's fine. It might just be trouble with his girlfriend with the whole long distance relationship. Oh well, it'll all work out; you know those two.

Hate for this to be short, but I got to go. Me and my friend need to go over some battle plans for our next mission.

Write to you soon,

Jay

I sat back, getting out another sheet of paper before pausing.

Should my dad know about Gro and Zeuk? Hell, should he even know about my arm?

I set the paper back down, my gaze on the wall as I thought about this. On second thought, he would probably do the same thing my mom would do. Even though he is the cool, mellow parent of the two while she's the girly worry wart.

I shook my head.

Maybe the thing with the mail carrier wasn't just an accident, maybe someone up there is giving me a sign that either of my parents shouldn't know what's going on, to hide the truth from them for their own protection. I shook my head again, a smirk tugging at my lips.

When the hell did I get religious all of a sudden?

I shrugged and put the letter in an envelope and set it aside for later use, glancing at Gro as he took another handful of cookies. It didn't matter, mom always packs a lot. Plus, I think Gro likes them. Hmm, wonder when Ty will get his letter. His ship is in a completely different galaxy than my parents, so that kind of mail requires another ship since it's in the exact opposite direction.

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. I opened my eyes and glanced at the clock. 5:30 am. Breakfast would be serving soon. I looked over to see Gro taking a elite hand full of cookies, look at me, then slowly put some back. I laughed.

Getting up, I stretched with a glance at the clock.

"Alright, Gro, what'd you like to eat?" I looked at him, his eyes looking to the right in thought.

"Anything is acceptable, human." I rolled my eyes, heading towards the door.

"Alright then, just don't eat too many cookies. We don't even know what chocolate can do to you." I felt his eyes on my back before I got to the door, making me stop when he spoke.

"What do you mean?" I looked over my shoulder to see his eyes looking straight at me.

"I mean we don't know if you're allergic to chocolate or not." I shrugged. "Even if you were, I'm sure it'd only be a rash. You and I aren't that different, right?" He looked at me for a moment longer, then nodded shortly. Satisfied, I turned back around, the door sliding open and I disappeared into the hall, leaving Gro watching me leave with narrowed eyes.

… … … … … … … …

"Gro, I've got food!" The door slid closed. Kicking off my shoes, I looked up, frowning. "Gro?" No answer. I set the food down on the nightstand, looking on the other side of the bed and more around the room. A shaky smile came to my lips. "Gro, is this some kind of game?" I glanced around the room again, looking in the corners and shady spots he usually hides in when someone comes to the door. "Gro, this isn't funny anymore. Where are you?" The smile was long gone by the time panic started coursing through my body. I ran into the bathroom, looking behind the curtain, even the too-small-of-a cupboard beneath the sink. "Gro?"

Silence.

I sank down, sitting on my bed, looking around in disbelief, thinking he'll just pop out of nowhere, like elites normally seem to do… but no…

Gro… He's gone…