Location: Hydra Base
Cleveland, Ohio, Earth
December 25th, 2552
10:02pm
"For the next 2 years, we kept in touch with letters and video calls and everything else under the sun, until she was transferred to Shadow Team after Nick's death," Leaning against his leather chair, Jun stared at the data pad in his hands, scrolling through the profile. "Losing him took a toll on her psyche. It would every time she lost someone."
"According to her doctors, she exhibits an unhealthy emotional attachment to the people around her,"
"Well, those doctors are full of shit, Death," He tossed the data pad onto his desk with noticeable annoyance. "There's nothing wrong in being human. We've all lost people, that's why we're here in the first place. We all have different ways of dealing with it. Some of us just need a little more help."
Death produced an unseen smile. "Which was what you provided Lady Celestina with from the moment the two of you meet."
Jun smiled to himself. "Like all of the others, I had lost everything. There was nothing left. My family raised me to be strong, Death, so I didn't want to fall apart now. When I saw Celestina and how traumatized she obviously was... I just felt that helping her out would help me out too. And I'm glad I did. She's a sweet girl. Being a Spartan was never supposed to be in her future." Heaving a heavy sigh, he leaned forward and rested his head on his hand. "I just don't understand how her growing disorder could have been overlooked."
Death shrugged his shoulders at that. "Perhaps she did a good job of concealing it. Or perhaps… being with you, she was able to heal."
"It's my fault. I could've saved him…"
"Celestina… I've seen the playback footage. There was no possible way you could have saved him."
"Nick was my partner, doc! I was supposed to look out for him! And I let him down!"
"Celestina, do you remember the last words he said to you? He said, 'I got this, Celest. Save yourself. Forget about me.'. He didn't want to be saved, Celestina."
"Oh, that selfish bastard... leaving me alone like this... Doc, I... have a problem, but I'm guessing you already knew that."
"I'm curious as to what you think your problem is, Celestina. Identifying it yourself is a great step to your recovery,"
"Well... I was 6 when the Covenant decided to invade my homeworld, Convergence V. My parents were going to be working late that day so it was only me and my two older siblings. Brutes broke down my front door, shot my older sister in the head, killing her instantly. Caden thought he shielded me from that sight but I'll never forget the blank look on Christine's face as she fell. Caden worked at our parents' gun range so he knew how to handle a gun. He dropped a couple of them before we ran upstairs and he hid me in a closet. He was going to hide with me too when a single Elite came outta nowhere and attacked him. He managed to draw it away from me, not before yelling at me to stay hidden and that he loved me. Next thing I knew? I was being recused by the UNSC and I was told that not only Caden, but my parents were gone too. This wasn't the future that I wanted, doc. I never wanted this."
"To be a Spartan?"
"We were just kids. We all were broken and fragile. Of course we wanted revenge on the Covenant. But none of us knew what that truly meant at that time. We were kids after all. To reply to your statement, doc, I know exactly what my problem is: I can't stand to lose people. It drives a knife through my heart. I was left alone when my family was killed. I was left alone when Yuri was killed. I was left alone with Nick was killed. I hate it when people around me, people I know, people I grew up with are leaving me. I overthink, and then I breakdown. The thought that I'll never see them again... the thought that I could've done something... All of these thoughts come together and attack me and that's when... that's when I feel like I'm about to lose it. I just...don't want to lose anymore people."