Halo – "Love at Long Range"
13th April, 2548
9:38pm
"Hey."
"Hey, princess. How are you feeling today?"
She shifted a little in her seat. "I know I'm supposed to feel differently now that it's been a month but… not… really…"
"No one's forcing you to feel differently, Celest. Take your time."
"But I can't feel sorry for myself forever now, can I?"
He held his small smile for her. "No. No, you can't. But you can't rush, either. You need to take it slow."
Celestina sighed heavily, but still produced a smile. "How I wish I could be with you right now. You can make the last of this pain go away."
She watched him on her holographic screen as he chuckled amiably at her. "Yes, well, if I was there right now, I would hug you until you couldn't breathe, Celest. These last 2 years have been hard."
"I can't imagine anything more worse than losing you, honey. For whatever reason, I don't want you to go," She said, her innocent eyes glistening at that.
Jun smirked this time. "Well then," He playfully placed his hand over his heart and declared, "I promise you, Celestina Jenette Devon, that I will do whatever it takes to survive all just to stay by your side."
That certainly made the female Sniper laugh. "That's so sweet! You always know what to say."
"Call it a gift,"
Her hazel eyes softened. "I call it 'taking care of your girlfriend'."
"Sure, we can call it that too." After they shared a little laugh, Jun then said, "Remember, Celest, if we can't do video call, you can always look at the last two tattoos on your arm."
As soon as he said that, she rolled up her long sleeve and eyed the words printed in green vertically on her forearm. They read 'Vigilance', 'Strength', 'Friendship', 'Believe' and finally, 'Love'. "Believe…" And then she glanced up at him. "Love. Because no matter what, you're always going to believe in me and love me."
Location: Break Room, AMBER Base
Beaumontia, Epsilon Eridani system
October 30th, 2548
2:12pm
"So today we're getting our new girl, right? Who is it, Ryan? I think we've been kept in suspense for too long."
"So impatient, Rhon. As always."
"Hey, I'm excited. Can't blame a girl. So who is she?"
"Well," Taking a relaxing seat on the leather sofa of the base's break room, the team leader opened up the folder in his hands. "You might remember her from whooping your butt at King of the Hill once. Celestina."
"Say what?!"
The twins turned their head to the source of the outburst. Jun produced a smile and added. "It's just been a while since I've seen her and… she never told me she was joining Shadow…"
"Oh," Ryan shut the folder. "Looks like it was meant to be a surprise. Anyway, you two were close as kids, right?"
"Yeah, like super close," Rhonda raised her eyes suggestively, arms folded across her chest.
"Don't go there, Rhonda," Jun lifted one finger, unable to contain his smile.
"Come on! As far as I could tell, you two were never apart. Even more so when you two were a team and part of Team Phantom!"
"So she's my best friend. That a crime?" He turned to Ryan. "Boss, help me out here."
"I've… got my suspicions too, Jun. Sorry."
"Alright, I'm outta here. You two are unbelievable." So declaring, he left the break room in an instant, in an attempt to hide the red in his cheeks. He let go of a breath. That was close.
Beep beep!
The beeps from a warthog coming from outside of the base grabbed his attention. Not wanting to return to the break room and face his Commander and Lieutenant Commander with a flushed face, he decided to fuel his curiosity. It was probably nothing, but hey, who cares?
He made his way out of the base and was greeted with its busy exterior: the pelicans flying overhead, the warthogs getting loaded up… just another day at AMBER base as they tried to take down the Beaumontia Rebel Association that had grown over the last two years.
To his left, he witnessed the passenger of the warthog alighting, thanking the marine driver and then made her way to the entrance of the base, right where Jun was standing. She had only taken about 5 steps before noticing that the Spartan was standing near the entrance.
She stood rooted to the ground with her deep red hair, hazel eyes, blank tank top, leather jacket and duffel bag slung over her shoulders, but also with a beaming smile across her face. He returned one.
She jogged over to him, seemingly ready to jump into his arms but was unable to due to the large presence outside of the base. Instead, she stopped in front of him, let her duffel bag drop onto the floor and with no words whatsoever, wrapped her arms around his neck.
He held her close, unable to believe that Celestina was right here, in his arms, after 2 years. And the feeling was fantastic. "Hey there, princess. This is one hell of a surprise!"
"Which is why I didn't tell you!" She giggled. "And just how is my sniper with the sexy accent?"
"You think my accent is sexy?" He questioned as he pulled back.
"Drives me nuts every time. Drove me even more nuts after you told me you loved me," She confessed, biting on her lower lip.
"Thanks for the info, princess."
"Yeah, probably shouldn't have mentioned that..."
"Too bad," He told her with a cheeky smile. "Come on," He picked up her duffel bag effortlessly. "Let's go find the twins."
"No need,"
"Cause we're here!"
"Of course the two of you are…" Jun murmured.
"Quite the gentleman, aren't you, Jun?" Rhonda smirked, pointing to the duffel bag.
"Hey, I'm always a gentleman. It's attractive."
Oh hell yeah, Celestina thought to herself. "It's been a really long time, hasn't it?"
"Indeed it has, Celestina," Ryan held out his hand.
Rhonda then held out hers. "Thanks for kicking my ass at King of the Hill,"
"You're welcome, boss lady."
Rhonda could only laugh at that. "Welcome to Shadow Team."