Location: Jun's office, Hydra Base, Mars
October 29th, 2552
8:04am
October 29th, 2552
My first day at my new home: Hydra Base. Pretty neat office I have. I could get used to this.
Yesterday was my last day at Lionsong Medical Facility. It was then that I met Death, my personal AI and he'll be assisting me in my work with the program from now on. Musa told me I could have an AI to assist me, if I wanted to. To me honest, I was a little skeptical. Considering the fact that the whole of Noble Team was destroyed all for one AI, you gotta understand. But when Musa told me that the AI would be created from me, I supposed it was okay, in a way.
This is Death's description:
- Death's avatar color is the same shade of green I used to have my armor in.
- He's wearing a hooded cloak with the hood up, but he's faceless, so there's just a black, gaping hole there. Underneath that cloak is, and I never would've guessed it, is an exact representation of my armor. NO KIDDING.
- It just gets better: he's carrying a large scythe that's as tall as he is.
- His personality? He's exactly like me, and that's not even weird. Loves to talk and annoy. He speaks in a Slavic accent and is very formal. And he has my memories. Well, most of them.
- When he's mad at someone, he screeches at them. I don't know what kind of damage it might do, so I have to remind myself never to piss him off.
- And he has the ability to appear life-sized. Cool, right?
It is. He's amazing.
I guess I won't be alone for now. And that's a really nice feeling.
I guess I can say that I'm going to be okay with my new life. But there's just something else and it's been haunting me for the last 4 years.
You guessed it. Celestina.
I miss her so much. I just can't seem to find a way to contact her. I want to see her again. I want to hear her voice again. I just want to be with her again. She'll make the last of this pain go away.
December 25th, 2552
10:32am
"Merry Christmas, Death!"
"And Merry Christmas to my favorite little Spartan!"
"Silly," Jun said as he entered his office in his leather jacket, black tank top and cargo pants with his personal data pad in hand. "I'm your only little Spartan."
"Not true," Death was activating his special ability to appear life-sized and right now, he was occupying the leather sofa, one leg over the other. "If Lady Misha was here, she would be my favorite little Spartan."
Misha was Noble Six, the closeted over-emotional Spartan who had found a true friend in Jun. He was slowly getting over all of their deaths at the moment, so the mention of her name, while it did cause Jun to wince a little on the inside, he had already learnt to remember the people he had lost as they had lived. It made things a little easier to bear, that was for sure. And this was all of Death's doing, what with his advice.
"Well, once upon a time, I did have the habit of calling her 'little Spartan'," Jun sat down his data pad on his desk. "I can see where you got that nickname from. How sweet of you to give me that nickname now."
Death got to his feet, tossing his scythe over to his right hand. "You know I kid, Jun. You will always be my favorite little Spartan, no matter what." So declaring playfully, he patted Jun's cheek.
"Gee... thank you?"
"You are welcome!" Death turned around on his heel to take his seat on the leather sofa once again. "So will we be going into town as you had suggested, Jun?"
"Yep," He then got behind his desk to retrieve his folders and briefly check their contents. "As soon as I'm done planning my week, you and I are going to have the best Christmas ever." He said jollily.
"Yes, I understand now - this excitement over Christmas. It puts everyone in such a good mood, you cannot help to be happy yourself,"
"Indeed," He then picked up his data pad. "Celestina told me this one Christmas she had with her family - she was 5 at the time - she told me how she was determined to wait up until midnight for Santa to appear. So on Christmas Eve, she waited and waited patiently in her room. It wasn't even midnight and she heard some kind of noise coming from the living room downstairs. When she got there, Santa had tripped over the presents. Santa turned out to be her dad. She felt so proud to find out that her dad was secretly Santa. I've always loved it when she would tell me that story - she would have this big smile on her face. Whenever she was upset as a kid, I would tell her to remember that day." Jun himself had his own smile right now. He glanced at Death who was just staring at him. "Yes?"
"Nothing, Jun. It is just… It is quite possibly the first time you mentioned Lady Celestina's name. I was wondering when you would talk to me about her."
Jun kept his little smile for his AI. "I never really talked about her because she wasn't a painful memory."
"You know, you are allowed to speak to me about other things, Jun." He said with a hint of sarcasm.
"I knew that,"
"Then why not say anything?"
"… Because I'm missing her like crazy," He finally admitted. Turning to his desk, he picked up the holo-still with one hand and looked at it. "To me, 4 years has been a long time, Death," He said with a heavy sigh. "But my memories of her always got me through the day. I'm thankful for that. I just wish I could see her again. She can make the last of this pain go away."
"I agreed, little Spartan. Have faith. You will see her again."
Jun sat the holo-still down on his desk once again. "I would love to see her reaction when she meets you. It'll be hilarious."
Death was ever so offended by that. "Am I that repulsive, Jun? Do not start hurting my feelings now. I just might make the decision to never speak to you again." He folded his arms across his chest.
Jun had his smirk on now. "You'd never do that. You love me too much."
"Damn. Do I make it very obvious?"
A hearty laugh left the former Spartan-III. "You ready to go?"
"Let us leave, then."
"Alright." Jun walked over to the AI console and pulled out a little chip from it, only to insert it into a slot in a bracelet on his left wrist. Death appeared in a fog of sage-green and sat comfortably on his carrier's shoulder. Together, they left to explore the city of Cleveland on this Christmas day.