Um, yeah… Just to let you guys know, I have a tendency to go back on things that I've already said were/weren't going to happen. You'll see what I mean in this chapter. On the plus side, after this Fairy Tail gets to know where the Chief and co. are from. Yeah. Sorry about this if you don't like it, and if you do, more awesomeness to you. Also, people have brought up a few things like reactions to Elites and naming of the OC's that haven't been named. 1st, I would like to point out that Fairy Tail has seen multiple strange things, and the Elites would probably be low on the "scared-of" list. 2nd, if you have suggestions about names for the others, I don't mind taking them. I just didn't bother originally, because I don't get in depth with them. 3rd, there is still time to submit stuff for the GMG if you have an idea. 4th, you are all awesome. Thanks for the support thus far. This wouldn't even exist without you. Anyways, I'll ramble more when you're all done reading. So, have fun reading the chapter. It's somewhat old news, though.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or Halo.

The anniversary. The anniversary of the end of the Human-Covenant war. The time when humanity could finally take a break. The time when rebuilding started. The time when everyone could finally think, "It's over." It had been 6 years, if time in Fairy Tail was the same as the time in the UNSC. There was no celebration. While the end of the war was something to celebrate, it was the lives taken that tempered everyone's mood. Almost thirty years of killing, death, fear, horror. Thirty years. The number seemed so small, so short. But for billions, it was a lifetime long. 23 billion, most likely more, had died in the war. Billions dead, hundreds of planets glassed into lifeless balls; and for what? Religious fanatics' misinterpretation of a glyph. The Prophets had mistaken the Forerunner symbol for "Reclamation", when it read "Reclaimer". They thought that humans were Forerunners, and that jeopardized the entire Covenant faith that they would achieve godhood upon the activation of Halo. And so war was declared, the Prophets hoping that the truth would die out with the human's entire race.

But humanity was stronger than the Prophets originally thought. While victories were being won left and right, Humanity refused to back down, refused to quietly accept their fate. They would stand back up, no matter how many blows they took that would knock them down. The Prophets thought little of this at first, thinking it to be a minor setback, and that Humanity would eventually die out. What they didn't realize was that some of their ranks, the Elites specifically, were beginning to respect Humanity as an enemy. They admired how humans would refuse to give up. When captured, the humans were tortured for information, many not surviving the first five minutes. But those that did were offered a way out: give up the information, and death would come quickly, a merciful fate. But each one had refused, enduring the torture, because it meant that someone, somewhere, would be escaping the same fate. Arcadia, Harvest, Reach, Onyx; it didn't matter. Each time, the humans would refuse to give up information on anything, especially what the Covenant wanted to know the most: the location of Earth, the human home world. That was some information that no one would give, even under the worst tortures that the Covenant could imagine. Because of this, the Elites respected humans, and even wondered why they were not inducted into the Covenant.

It was not until 2552 that things had started to look up. 2552, the year that one Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan John-117, aboard the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, had landed on what the Covenant called Halo. Halo was an artificially made ring world, 10,000 miles in diameter. It had been built by the Forerunners, the highly-advanced race who had come before recorded time. Upon landing, the Master Chief had fought battle after battle, taking on the Covenant, in an effort to get to the ring's control room. But the ring held a sinister secret, one that would turn out to be the worst thing that Humanity had ever faced. The Flood, as the Covenant called it. A parasite which would take over a host body, whether the body was dead or alive, and use it as a shell for itself. It attacked the nervous system of the host, corrupting it, and would then gain all the knowledge and memories of the host, who would "die", but still be alive. There was no known cure, and there was nothing anyone could do for the infected persons except to kill them. But the Flood had a trick up its sleeve: it could revive itself. The corpses would re-animate, effectively creating zombies. The Flood dogged the UNSC and Covenant endlessly, and even tried to escape using a downed Covenant cruiser. But that wasn't the only thing.

On Halo, an artificial being, called 343 Guilty Spark, was watching the fighting happen between everyone. He decided to intervene. He approached the Master Chief with a way to stop the Flood. A place called the Library, which held the Index, was the answer. But Spark lied. While Halo was a weapon against the Flood, it was also a weapon against all sentient life in the galaxy. The only way to eradicate the Flood was to destroy their food source; that is, all sentient life in the galaxy. Spark almost got away with it, if Cortana hadn't intervened. Cortana was another artificial being, an AI that had been with the Pillar of Autumn during the whole event. She stopped Halo from firing by telling the Master Chief the true purpose of Halo. Afterwards, Spark turned against the Chief, and tried to get to Cortana, who had stolen the Index. He failed, and Cortana and the Chief decided that Halo would have to be destroyed. So, they decided to destroy the Pillar of Autumn by using its self destruct sequence, which would take Halo with it. They had to rescue Captain Keys to do this, because only he had the override codes to be able to destroy the ship. Unfortunately, he had fallen victim to the Flood, and was slowly being turned into a Gravemind, the highest form of Flood, which controlled all the Flood around it.

But that didn't stop the Master Chief. He took the codes and destroyed Halo. He escaped in a single Longsword fighter-bomber, and picked up some allies on the way home. Once he got back to Earth, he was supposed to be decorated for his services. That was interrupted by a Covenant fleet who had discovered the location of Earth. They were lead by the Prophet of Mercy, and landed on Earth, searching for something. The Master Chief went down and defeated them, forcing Mercy to leave. Mercy then lead them to Installation 05, the second Halo Humanity encountered. Much like the first, Delta Halo was a weapon to stop the Flood, by killing their food source. The Master Chief landed, and fought on the ring. He killed the Prophet of Mercy, and then met the Gravemind, who had escaped from containment on Delta Halo. This Gravemind seemed to possess the ability to manipulate machinery, including the AI that oversaw Installation 02, 2401 Penitent Tangent. The Master Chief met up with the Arbiter at the same time. The Arbiter was an Elite, usually the ones who had been previously disgraced. The Arbiter and Master Chief were given a job by the Gravemind: Find the Index, and make sure that Halo was not fired. The Arbiter stopped Halo from firing, and the Master Chief followed the Prophet of Truth back to Earth, leaving Cortana behind with the Gravemind. Back on Earth, Truth looked for something, a Keyship created by the Forerunners to allow access to something called the Ark, which would allow a user to fire all the Halos at one time. Truth succeeded in finding it, and used it to go to the Ark. The Master Chief followed, with Humanity's new allies, the Elites.

The Elites had turned on the Prophets once they found out the true purpose of Halo. 343 Guilty Spark also appeared, and allied with Humanity, since he no longer had a ring to look over. Once on the Ark, the Flood showed up again, and brought Cortana with it. The Flood didn't want Halo to fire any more than the Elites or Humans did, and so the three temporarily allied against Truth. Once Truth lay dead at the Arbiter's feet, the Flood turned on them again. The Master Chief then decided to search for Cortana, having gotten a message earlier about there being a way to defeat the Flood without using the Halo rings. Once he found Cortana, he took her to Installation 04b, a replacement ring for the original. He was accompanied by the Arbiter and Johnson, a fellow marine. 343 Guilty Spark turned against them again, because they wanted to fire Installation 04b before it was ready, which would have destroyed both the Ark and the ring. There was a battle, and Guilty Spark fatally wounded Johnson. After Spark was defeated, Johnson gave the Chief a message about Cortana: "Don't let her go. Don't ever let her go." He then died, and the Master Chief fired Halo. He escaped with the Arbiter into another ship, the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn. Unfortunately, the portal which had brought them to the Ark had collapsed when the ship was halfway through. The front half, which contained the Arbiter, landed safely on Earth, while the Master Chief was stuck in space. He entered cryosleep, telling Cortana to, "Wake me… When you need me."

Four years and six months passed before Cortana was required to wake him. A Covenant Fleet was attacking, which confused the Chief, because he thought that the Elites were allies. They were near a planet, which they landed on. Numerous battles were fought before the two realized they were on a planet called Requiem. Then things started going downhill. Cortana was becoming Rampant, a "disease" that only affected AIs. Rampancy was where the information stored within an AI was too much, and they would begin to make connections from everything to everything else. Essentially, said AI would think itself to death. Then the two came upon another person, called the Didact, who was the only remaining Forerunner. He saw Humanity as an enemy, because of something that had happened before recorded time. So, he sent his army after them and the Covenant. They were known as the Prometheans. These Prometheans used weapons that fired hard light, and disintegrated their targets if hits were successful. The Master Chief pushed through all of this, only to face another weapon called the Composer.

The Composer was a weapon which the Didact would use to turn all humans into Prometheans. He did this because of an offense that humans committed long ago. When the Flood had first appeared from another galaxy, Humanity had been the first to encounter it. They fought bravely, but it was a losing battle. So, they glassed planets in an attempt to stop the Flood. The Forerunners hadn't taken too kindly to that, especially the Didact.

During this, the Master Chief met a program of another Forerunner, called the Librarian. She gave him the background information on the Didact and his intentions, as well as gave the Master Chief immunity to the Composer. The Master Chief fought to destroy the Composer, and ended up on Installation 03. There was a human research facility orbiting the ring, which held the Composer. The Master Chief tried to prevent the Didact from obtaining the Composer, but to no avail. The Didact took the Composer, and activated it, resulting in everyone on the station, besides the Chief, being turned into Prometheans. The Didact then left for Earth. The Chief followed, with a bomb known as a Fury TacNuke. This device proved to be the Didact's undoing, and destruction. But in the battle to be able to activate the Nuke, Cortana was lost, disintegrated. But as the Chief activated the nuke, Cortana managed to get him out of harm's way, a final act before "dying". The Chief returned to Earth. Fast forward a few years, and here they were. Honoring those who were lost in the war.

Everyone was standing at attention, each with a Battle Rifle. No one was speaking, but that was usually saved for a high ranking officer. After a few minutes of standing there, each person fired off a shot on their rifles. The shot echoed, then faded. They fired again, and then a third time. The last echo faded, and the men saluted again. On the wall behind them was a computer generated monument that looked much like the one back in their dimension, which the Arbiter and marines had described out of memory. Cortana also put together a list of names of those who had died. She didn't know everyone, but she did her best. The list was endlessly scrolling; almost 23 billion names had that effect. The salutes stopped, and everyone was silent for a moment. Then the Arbiter spoke.

"Once again, I apologize for the actions of me and my fellow Elites during the war. We have a debt that we could never repay. We killed billions of you humans, and yet you treat us as brothers. You are truly honorable. I thank you."

Everyone looked at the Arbiter. Thomas took the initiative.

"You know, Lord Hood said that he would never forgive you, only thank you for being there. Back then, I'm sure every single one of us would have said the same thing. But now, after you've saved our asses time after time, well… I'm sure glad you were there too. And I don't know about everyone else, but in my eyes, you and I are square."

The Arbiter didn't understand the phrase.

"But neither you or I are square. We are not-"

"I mean that… Well, I forgive you, Arbiter. You and the other Elites. We're square. The past is the past. It doesn't matter anymore."

The Arbiter looked surprised and happy and sad all at the same time. The other Elites were looking the same way.

"Yeah, me too. We're square." William said.

"Same here!" Neil affirmed.

Every marine said the same, stepping forward to look their friends in the eye as best they could.

"Same here." One voice spoke out. It was the voice no one ever thought would speak in that manner. Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117.

"Hey Arbiter! I may not be real, but you can consider me a friend from now on." Cortana called out over the speakers.

The Arbiter was beside himself. The other Elites did something no one had ever seen. The Arbiter spoke.

"Thank you, my friends. We did not deserve this."

"My ass you didn't! Remember on the Ark? You were right there, beside us. Just because you did some stuff in the past doesn't mean it has to affect the future. We have a saying that fits well. It says, "Forgive and forget". That's what we're doing, man. And you more than deserve it. Installation 02, the Ark, Installation 05, to name a few instances. You are just as good as the rest of us. Same for the others too." Thomas finished his speech.

The Arbiter smiled, in the Elite fashion. He saluted his friends, who saluted back. Then they all decided to head to the guild.

In said guild, there were four people nursing their wounds. Erza, Gajeel, Laxus, and Natsu were all covered in bandages, and everyone around them was talking about how the four best had been beaten by two new people. It was getting rather annoying, but what could they do? They were just as surprised.

"Did you see how fast they moved? It's almost like Jet, but they don't have the speed magic! How's that possible?" Cana spoke, bewildered.

Things like that had been going around for hours. Makarov was ignoring it. He knew what was really going on, but he figured they could wait until, or rather unless, the UNSC decided to tell them who they really were. So he sat there with his drink, listening to the others chatter. Until Mirajane came up.

"Master, do you know anything about our newest members?"

His response was short and simple. "No."

"Are you sure? It seems that you know the background story about everyone here, but not them? That's a little suspicious."

"All I know is that they came from the military. Their discipline and uniforms speak volumes about that. But I don't know anything else."

"Maybe we should-"

And then the topic of their conversation walked in. All of them seemed to be happy about something, but Mira couldn't place what. They all walked over to the Job Board, oblivious to the silence that now dominated the guild. Then Mira remembered something.

"Hey, a message came for you two!" She walked up to the Chief and Arbiter.

"A message?"

"Yes. I don't know who from, but the person who delivered it said it was urgent.

The message wasn't a magic message, but one written on paper with ink. The Arbiter opened it. He and the Chief read the message, then crumpled the paper.

"We are leaving." The Master Chief said. They walked out the door without another word.

The marines were used to it, as were the Elites. They just ignored it, and picked a job from the Job Board. The others were surprised, but didn't comment on it.

Help. Come to the town 150 miles east of the guild. If you don't trust this message, Olly Olly Oxen Free.

No one would have known what the message meant. No one who wasn't a Spartan. Olly Olly Oxen Free. A secret code that was known only to the Spartan IIs. Dr. Halsey and Mendez were the only two non-Spartans who knew it. Someone was here. And they were in trouble. Otherwise, they wouldn't have sent the message. But something was troubling the Chief. Even if they were here, how would they know about the Master Chief or the others? And how did they get a message to them? It was enough to make him think twice, but if it was a legitimate thing, well, that was a missed opportunity. But he still voiced his thoughts to the others.

"Do either of you find this a little suspicious?"

"Yes." Cortana said.

"As do I."

"I thought so. Something's wrong here. Hopefully we won't be doing anything that we'll regret.

"We must be prepared for the worst."

"I know."

They walked back to their base, ready for anything. Deciding to bring some heavy artillery, the Master Chief hooked up a Pelican Gunship with a Mantis, and a second with a Scorpion tank. The Arbiter would take one, while the Chief took the other. The Chief choose the one with the Mantis, being the only one of the two who could actually operate it.

They took off, and made a fast pace towards the town. It was relatively quick, only taking a half hour. They landed, not sure of what to expect.

They were outside the main city entrance. The sign swiveled back and forth on its single post. The town looked absolutely dead. Not old, but dead. There was no one around. But on the sign itself was another note.

Make your way to the center of town.

"Do we want to do this?" Cortana asked.

"Yes." The Chief answered without hesitation.

They entered the city, which showed surprisingly recent signs of life. Lawns were mowed, smoke was emitting from the shops' chimneys, and there were footprints. But for all the signs of life, there was no one around.

The two cautiously made their way forward, weapons ready. The Arbiter had decided on a Storm Rifle, while the Master Chief had taken a precision weapon, the Battle Rifle. Both were on edge, seeing as there was no life around them. Not even the motion trackers had registered anything. Soon, they reached the center of town. It was rather hard to miss, what with a big arrow proclaiming "Center" in the cartoon fashion. There was no one there. Suddenly a voice came from all around them, from every direction.

"Welcome, friends, to your death." Then the voice began laughing.

"Who are you?"

"I am the darkness, the worst evil, the most hated-"

"Can we get on with this?"

"I am known to many. Especially your friends at Fairy Tail. Natsu has met me before. Everyone has. I would say for you to ask them about the cause of their 7 year sleep on Tenroujima, but you won't be surviving the next few minutes!"

"I highly doubt that you could stop us."

"Are you quite sure, Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117? Or would you prefer I call you John? Or you, Arbiter, formerly known as Thel 'Vadmee? I know much more about you than you think. I know you do not belong in this universe. With magic, certain individuals can see into other worlds.. And you shall soon see what else I can do. You see, I can not only look into other worlds, but I can bring things back from them. I am in the process of bringing something back from your world. But I needed you out of the way. So, I'm going to kill you. Not personally, of course, but my helpers don't mind."

"Just us? What about the others?"

"Don't make me laugh. Those fools who call themselves marines and Elites. Ha. They couldn't harm a fly, much less me."

"Don't speak that way about them. They've done much more than you ever have."

"And so they have. Truly, I did not face an entire collection of races hell-bent on eradicating my own race. But even so, their time in Fairy Tail has made them soft. They can do nothing to stop me, even if they tried. But you two are a threat. And so, you must die. I have made a little army to take care of you. Nothing too big, just 5,000 people from various dark guilds around the world. They are all advancing towards you as we speak. And so, I bid you farewell. You did much for both your kinds, in our world and yours."

"Wait! Why are you doing this?"

"Your world has power, the kind of power that will allow me to start this world over, eradicating evil from it. For too long, I have killed people. Hundreds of years ago. Once, I attempted to isolate myself, so that I did no more evil. But that was ruined. And so, I'm taking power from your world. I think two ships from your world will do. One from your faction, and the other from the Covenant Loyalists. I can start us over, and nothing will be evil again! And I think that I will use that most unpleasant thing that you have brought with you. Now, farewell. I hope you enjoy your deaths."

The man laughed again, while Cortana commented over the speakers, "Only 5,000 people? You insult us."

"Perhaps, Cortana, but I think you shall all meet your match with these people."

They heard footsteps walking away, and they immediately started back for their Pelicans.

"This is bad. Whoever it is wants to release the Flood, and bring ships back from our world. One ship alone could eradicate this entire planet, not to mention what the Flood would do." Cortana said worriedly.

"I know. Cortana, call back to base. Tell Vinny to guard the Flood with his very life. Get the marines here, we'll need backup once we beat down these 5,000 dark guild mages. And tell Makarov to begin an evacuation of all of Fiore. When whoever it is realizes that we're still alive, he'll come after us, and we'll be waiting. And tell 50th that it's the Winter Contingency."

"On it, Chief."

They arrived back at their Pelicans, only to find a few people surrounding it. They both knew that things would be immensely easier if they had their vehicles. The Master Chief looked at the Aribter, who nodded back. They raised their weapons, and started shooting.

LMNOP

Back at the guild, things were a little easier-going. The others had come back from their jobs. Even Guildarts was there, and he had yet to meet the newcomers. The marines were having a good time teasing each other about how bad someone they knew was. Thomas and William were taking particularly vicious swipes at each other. But it all ended quickly. The marines had placed their helmets on the table, since they didn't need them. So, when they got a call from Cortana, it was broadcast to the entire guild over the speakers.

"Attention, this is UNSC AI CTN 0452-9 to 50th squad. We are in a Winter Contingency. Repeat: we are in a Winter Contingency. Request immediate backup. We are in a town 150 miles east of the guild. This is not a drill or a joke. I wish it were."

The effect was like lightning to the marines, the Elites, and Makarov. He knew what the Winter Contingency was. Thomas shouted into the com system.

"Cortana, what the hell are you talking about?"

"We'll explain later. Get here now. And tell Makarov to begin an immediate evacuation of Fiore with the Council."

Thomas was visibly shaken, as were all the marines and Elites. "Roger that."

"What's going on?" Makarov said.

"Winter Contingency. You know what that means. Start an evacuation of Fiore, with the Council. Shit's hit the fan." He yelled while running out the door, followed by the others.

Makarov had only one thing to say. And it wasn't nice.

Ok, like I said. I have a tendency to go back on my word. Let me illustrate it for you. I will have idea A, and idea A will lead down a path until it intersects with idea B. From there, I will have 3 options: continue down idea A, start down idea B, or beat a path from both to make idea C. No matter which I choose, idea D will eventually come along, which will provide me with another decision. So now you know. And don't worry, nothing bad will happen. The main reason that I'm doing this is because I don't think that the Chief will have an easy time defeating a few dragons from Eclipse without, I don't know, a MAC. So, that's the purpose of this thing. There won't be any more characters added, unless you ask, and after this, things will progress somewhat normally. So, yeah. I hope you don't mind. This will be dealt with quietly. Sure, it's rather hard to ignore a giant ship over your heads, not to mention two, but no one will be there to see them. I think. I just saw idea D, so things might change again. Who knows? Well, now you know how I think, and what I'm currently thinking. So, until next time!

-Portertrain9