It was a long while before Fallen stirred on my shoulders again, awaking as if she'd only been sleeping.
"W-what happened?" she asked groggily.
"You saved us. Everyone that's left anyways." I answered.
She turned her head to face Thorne and DeMarco, Thorne giving a small wave with my helmet, DeMarco nodding in her direction.
"C-could you put me down?" she asked.
I crouched and bent at the waist to let her off of my shoulders, catching herself with her legs. As I went to stand once more she grabbed at my arm and stumbled a bit before getting her legs back under her and being able to stand, wobbily done, but done nonetheless. She grabbed her DMR and used it to prop herself against for a moment before standing straight up.
She motioned for her helmet and I tossed it to her, her hands immediately slipping it onto her head with trained precision. Thorne tossed me my own helmet which I slipped on as well, the two Majestic members having replaced theirs a while back. Fallen took a deep breath before pushing onwards.
"So where we headed now?" she asked.
"We have to RTB for retasking but I have a plan to get our fireteams back." I responded.
"Well what were we going to do if we hadn't done this 'plan' of yours?" asked DeMarco.
"We would have been without the rest of our fireteam and we probably would have been teamed up. They can't waste time nor money finding 9 soldiers out of millions when you have an entire galaxy to search. Not like their position could be localized."
DeMarco fell silent and began to brood once more. I turned to address him, finally tired of his bullshit.
"Ok look DeMarco it's obvious you don't like me and I don't like you but to get our teams back we are going to have to work together. I know you have good in you, you've proven it twice today. One when you sent your team after mine and secondly when you saved my life. No-"
"I saved you so I wouldn't owe you shit for saving me."
"Now we both know that you're talking out your ass. Can you at least pretend to like me just until we get our teams back. From then on we can talk only when absolutely necessary. Deal?"
DeMarco snarled in his helmet, "Fine."
I nodded and turned before walking on towards the researchers' base where they had already fled to once they'd heard gunfire. Thorne gave a small chuckle, earning him a jab from DeMarco. Thorne laughed it off and kept walking.
"What exactly is the plan Ardent?" asked Thorne, his question sincere.
"We're gonna need a signal booster so that we can scan this entire planet to see if they're still here. Find the signals from their HUDs. After that we take a pelican and go find them. That's all I've got so far." I responded.
"Sounds like a plan to me, but who's flying?"
"That would be me." piped Fallen.
"Well then the plan is sound. I'm liking it."
I smiled to myself and continued walking, the tents of the research camp coming into view in the distance. We wouldn't need to ask very long to get a signal booster from the eggheads, though the pelican may be a slightly different story. As the four approached the tents the researchers gave only small looks of recognition before returning to whatever they were doing. I walked to the nearest researcher at the moment and tapped him on the shoulder.
As he whirled around with a face of frustration suddenly turned to fear I spoke, "We need a signal boost, one that'll cover this planet's surface, think you can do that?" I asked.
He nodded frantically and pushed the glasses farther up the bridge of his nose before turning and beginning to grab things before walking away quickly. I sighed and walked to the tents that served as quarters as of now, we each had our own small tent with nothing but the necessities for a human in the field. A bed. A SPARTAN didn't need a bed but it was highly appreciated. I removed my helmet and sat it on the ground, plopping onto the bed and running a hand through my dishevelled hair. Letting out a sigh, I rubbed my eyes to keep myself focused and grabbed my dogtags from out of my chestplate. Pulling out the small chain that held three small items I thumbed over the one I had put on there myself before flipping over my issued tags.
Thomas
Samantha B.
370-27-9852
B Pos
Christian
I passed the two metal tags through my fingers and then finally let my own charm land on my palm. The small metallic rectangle was closed at the moment, but I took my enormous fingers to the small object and snapped it open, looking at the picture inside. I looked at the small picture of my mom on one side, the same one I'd had the day the covenant came. The to a picture of my dad on the other side, a smile playing across his face as well. They almost seemed to be smiling at each other, I smiled with them before looking up to meet Fallen's eyes.
"Hey." she said feebly, her voice scratchy from the days in the desert.
"Hi, how long have you been standing there?" I asked.
She shrugged and I gestured for her to sit. She sat next to me, the bed protesting against our combined weights.
"Family?" she asks, gesturing to the pendant.
I nod, holding it towards her or her to see.
She looked down on my parents and muttered one word that made my heart jump in my chest, "Claire…" escaped her lips like a ghost.
Her eyes were widened and she looked closer at the pendant to make sure it was her. I looked up at her face and asked, "How did you know my mother?" my voice having a bit more venom than I'd intended.
"There was a woman on the ship that saved me, her name was Claire and she looked just like this." she said defensively, pointing at the picture of my mom.
"Marine?" she nodded, "Medic?" she nodded again, "That's her alright, that's Mom. Ironic how she was there to save you when I wasn't isn't it?" I asked with a chuckle.
She seemed distant and I could tell, "Hey, Jas, you alright?"
She snapped back into reality and looked up at me, "That was the day Claire died." she said, her tone low and her face solemn.
I let my smile slowly droop from my face, my features losing all of the hard edges that I'd retained and I searched Jasmine's face for any sort of assurance that she was kidding. She wasn't. I looked back down at my pendant and thumbed over the picture and let a small tear make its way to the brink of my eye, trying to not allow it to spill over.
"I'm sorry." said Jasmine.
I took a deep breath and looked back over at her and attempted to keep my voice from cracking, "It's not your fault. I know. It's just… I love her so much y'know." through all my efforts my voice still cracked on the last few words I spoke.
I did have just enough strength to keep tears from spilling from my eyes, that is until Jasmine's hand found my shoulder and I let out the first tear, a choked sob coming from somewhere deep within me. I cut off anymore sobs before I could completely break in front of her. I'd kept it all bottled up this long, why not a bit more.
I bit back another sob and turned and to Jasmine once again, "Could you tell me how it happened, h-how she died?" I asked.
She slowly nodded and took a deep breath, "Your mom, Claire, I didn't really get to know her but i could tell from the short minutes I'd known her how nice she was, how caring." I smiled, she was right, "She died saving people, like me, her squadmates, every person there. She saved them. She came in through the wall like some sort of crazy superhero and grabbed me, checking me for injuries. That's when the firefight broke loose. The entire time needles and burning plasma soared over her head she was saving people, dragging them to and fro, getting them off the ship. I watched from where I'd huddled away. An elite or a grunt, or a jackal, something, threw a plasma into the middle of the circle of the circle of marines I'd taken shelter in. In a hallway with nowhere to go she threw the man she was carrying to safety and dove on the grenade, and saved us all. Seconds later I was shot and that's how I ended up with this." she said, motioning to her scar.
She smiled, "I don't remember much between then and signing up for the marines but I'd always remembered Claire. She saved my life."
I smiled along with her as she turned towards me. I pulled her into a hug, which she returned.
I spoke into her hair, "I always knew my mother went down a hero."
"Well she definitely did that." Jasmine responded.
"You're a good story teller." I said as I broke the hug
She blushed and shrugged, "When you don't have anyone to talk to you find creative ways to entertain yourself."
I smiled and she looked up at me.
"I really am sorry." she said.
"Me too." I responded.
"For what?"
"This."
I cupped her face in my hands and brought my lips down to meet hers in a kiss, my first. She instinctively grabbed around my neck to keep her from falling over before realizing what had actually happened. She took a moment before kissing me back, removing my fears and relieving the stress I'd had. For such a small girl, she was strong, pulling me down to her. I say up, bringing her with me and setting her on my lap. We kept kissing, a desperate attempt to copy what I'd seen on the movies from when I was a kid. I longed for the tingling sensation I got in my entire body when her lips met mine. I longed for it even more when she broke away, breathing hard and wrapping her legs around my waist, arms around my neck. She rested her forehead on my own as I did the same, and we sat there for what seemed like eternities all bottled up into a few short minutes. I caught fleeting glimpses from her eyes, her cheeks a red that could match the red stripes across her chestplate.
I blushed as well, trying to reign in my breathing, "Like I said - I'm sorry." I uttered out between breaths.
"For what?" asked Fallen with a smile, her breathing just as labored.
We shared a light chuckle and inhaled the mixture of our breaths, almost like she was now a part of me.
I chuckled at the thought and pulled Jasmine in for another kiss.
Don't kill me pls.