Location: Celestina's dorms, Vulture Base
Beaumontia, Epsilon Eridani system
March 17th, 2549
10:13am

Celestina stirred in her sleep briefly before she cracked open her eyes and was almost blinded by the ceiling light. That was a good sign. It meant that she was somewhere safe, far away from that Covenant Citadel. The slight pain in her lower back also meant that she was alive. At least her head wasn't throbbing anymore.

"Hey, princess."

No words could express Celestina's joy at that moment. Jun, out of his armor and in a sage-colored t-shirt and combat pants, moved away from the window and to her bed, taking a seat next to her.

"Help me up, Jun," That was the first thing she said.

"Celest-"

"It doesn't hurt. Really. And I am a Spartan." She pointed out with a little smile.

Jun wasn't buying it. He knew it was hurting her, even if it was the slightest bit. Yet he rarely denied her of anything. "Alright. Put your arms around my neck."

She did just that while he wrapped his own arms around her back, and successfully helped her sit up.

While he was pulling away, Celestina waited until his lips were close to hers so that she could capture them by surprise. It was also her way of telling him how elated she was to have him with her, alive. "But... I saw you and the Zealot go over the edge."

He smiled at her and then stroked the back of her head. "Stuck one of my combat knives into the cliff and then grabbed the edge before the knife could break. You won't believe how durable those things are. I pulled myself up and saw that Zealot on top of you. I couldn't believe how mad I got. I practically speared it off the face of the earth."

The look on his face definitely made her giggle. "Well, you saved my life. Once my superhero," Her hands traveled up to the sides of his perfectly chiseled cheeks. "Always my superhero."

They shared a soft laugh until Celestina caught the new presence in her private dorm. "Ryan?"

Jun's smile disappeared as if someone had slapped it right off. He turned his head around and found no one near her communications terminal.

"You're alive?" She questioned, wondering how the hell she missed him the first time.

"Celest," Jun placed both of his hands on her shoulders. "Look at me. He's not there."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's just a hallucination."

Now her smile had been slapped off her face. "Oh God…" She lowered her head instantly.

"I want you to listen to me and focus only on me, okay, princess?" Jun said in his soothing tone. "Ryan's not there. It's just you and me."

It took a while, but she timidly lifted her head up to check whether or not her late Commander was still there or not. When she saw nothing of him, she heaved a sigh of relief. "He's gone, Celest?"

She nodded without saying a single word. He gently pulled her into his loving arms, one hand at the back of her head, the other patting her back. "I can't believe he's gone…" She began to sob into his chest. "Both of them… The team's half down. How are we going to recover from this?"

"We will, princess. We will. We always do," He made sure that he was holding her as close as possible. "You'll be fine in no time."

"I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I had lost you too, Jun. Please don't ever leave me..."

"Now you know that I won't ever leave my princess," So saying, he placed a quick kiss on her head. "I've kept my promise all this time and will continue to keep it and you and I are too damn old to be shooting guns and throwing knives."

Somehow, that statement made her produce a little giggle. It must have been because of how serious he sounded. "You're silly!"

"I have to be silly to make you smile." He said in proud declaration.

Little by little, she was feeling better, forgetting about what had just happened. "Sometimes I wonder what would happen if people were to find out that you are a softie."

"Heyyy, you promised not to tell!"

"But it's the truth! You're not as taciturn as you would have people believe!"

"It's called 'being disciplined',"

"Shut up, you talk too much."

"What can I do? You're the one who can't enough of my sexy accent."

Celestina buried her face into his chest, laughing uncontrollably. If it was up to Jun, he'd listen to the sound of her laughter forever.

March 21st
8:12pm

"Celest!"

"You got the news too?"

She nodded.

Jun walked deeper into her private dorm, meeting up with Celestina who stood in front of her communications terminal, holding her data pad close to her chest. "So where are you headed?"

"To get an extensive psychiatric evaluation."

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at that. "You what?"

She exhaled, seemingly tired of all of these visits to the doctors.

"Tell him."

That new voice, though not unfamiliar, came from the man standing her other half. "You have to, Celest."

Ryan's presence was definitely making her uneasy, not matter how comforting his voice was. "Sweetie, I…. I witnessed the deaths of both our teammates. And I don't exactly have a good track record when it comes to dealing with my feelings. I wouldn't blame them if they wanted to do this to me."

"It just seems too much."

"Ambrose doesn't think so,"

"Ambrose gave the order?"

She nodded once again, setting down her data pad next to her communications terminal and walking up to Jun. "You know him, Jun. He doesn't want to lose any more of his Spartans. He just wants the best for us. He'll probably look out for us until we're… too damn old to be shooting guns and throwing knives."

Jun chuckled at that. "Okay then. And, Celest…" Celestina could tell that Jun was trying to find the words for what he wanted to say. So first, he took her hands in a gentle grip. "There's something I wanted to talk to you about. For a while now."

And right now, Celestina could tell that he was not joking around. "Okay, sure," She led him to her bed where they took a seat. "Tell me."

"There's something you can tell the doctors when you go for this evaluation. And… I think it's the best thing for you."

"What's that, sweetie?"

"You can leave."

Leave? What was that supposed to mean? "Leave? As in… the program?"

"Yes."

"B-but why?"

Jun's hands enclosed hers in a tighter grasp now. "Because it's not good for you. Never was. Celest, you were broken when you joined. All of us were. And you never recovered from your family's death."

"But Jun, none of us did!" She whined.

"But for most of us – it hardened us. It didn't harden you. You've got a gentle heart, princess. And every time someone you cared about died, that just weighed more on you," Jun ran one of his hands up her cheek. "The Covenant took everything from you. This life takes even more. You're damn good at what you do, but it's isn't good for you." His words rendered her speechless. So he continued by saying, "The look on your face a few days ago when you saw Ryan in here… Damn, I wish I knew how to explain how much it hurt me to see you like that."

She now had tears forming in her hazel eyes. She placed one hand over the one he had on her cheek. "It always has. Hasn't it?"

He nodded at that. "Celest, I just want what's best for you."

"You're what's best for me. Always have been," She removed his hand from her cheek so that she could clasp it with both her hands. "You and my brother are really not that far off. Both of you take such good care of me and love me unconditionally." She couldn't help but point out with the faintest of smiles.

"That's nice to hear." He returned her smile.

"So you really think I should leave?"

"All I want is for you to get better, princess."

She could clearly see the sincerity in his bright blue eyes. Without warning, she threw her arms around his neck to hug him. "But I don't want to leave you." She almost cried into his shoulder.

"We'll still communicate. We've got means to it, don't we?" Sometimes, Jun felt like he was still talking to that frightened 6-year-old he met. Not like he had a problem with it or anything.

That was when she loosened her tight hug to pull away and face him once more. "Jun... Ambrose said something else. Um... h-he wants to make sure that I stay uninterrupted during my recovery. S-so... so my location will be classified and there will next to no communication."

"Celest..."

"I don't like it too. But what can I do?" She shrugged her shoulders.

"So we won't see each other for a long time..."

"It looks like it..."

It was a dreadful situation that neither of them wanted to accept. However, to Jun, it was important that Celestina fully recover from what she had been going through all these years. She never had her whole heart in past doctor visits. There were things she left out. That was because she told everything and anything to Jun and he would be the one to help her. Yet, he knew he could only do so much for her. She needed to talk to a professional.

Celestina decided to switch the subject. She put on a beaming smile and said, "Hey. You never told me where you were going to."

"Hm? Oh yeah! Noble Team."

Her eyes widened with amazement. "You're going to Noble?!"

Her excitement definitely put a grin on his face. "They needed a sniper. So it looks like I've been nominated." That line was followed by a little laugh.

"Jun, that's awesome!" She was practically squealing with joy as she leaned in for a quick kiss. "And Emile is there! You're gonna be in great hands!"

"Ha, I guess so!"

Despite Celestina's attempt at changing the topic, it was still difficult to deny the impending separation. Jun didn't know what to say next, but Celestina did. It would sum up whatever she was feeling right now.

"I love you."

For that, she received a smirk and a lasting passionate kiss to her lips.