Location: Celestina's office, Starwave Base, Mars
December 31th, 2552
12:38am

"Hey there, princess. First of all, s dnem rozhdeniya (happy birthday)! I made sure to have this be automatically sent to you on your birthday, just in case I wouldn't be able to make it back to the base in time. It's currently... the 1st of November and the Innies here are giving us hell. But don't worry, it's nothing we can't handle! We'll be leaving for Azelia town tomorrow so hence the birthday video. I hope you enjoy your day. The twins say happy birthday too! Tell Nick I said hi and to watch out for you. It's been a year since Phantom split and I still miss us all being together. And yes, I especially miss my principessa (princess). Sure hope I said that right, ha ha! Anyways, take good care of yourself. Make sure you eat well and get lots of sleep. Don't overexert yourself while training. And as always, I love you. Talk to you soon."

After that dreadful encounter, sleep was no longer an option for the former Spartan-III. Instead, Celestina stayed behind her work desk, watching countless of old video messages that she had exchanged with Jun over the years. It was all too painful and she found that her tears were falling even without her blinking.

She knew that it was sheer torture. However, just like the hallucination said, it was also punishment. Punishment for not being able to save the people she could've saved. Punishment for not telling Jun and all the others how much they meant to her.

Maybe that hallucination of Jun, of Emile, of her brother and sister, Caden and Christine, and so many others were right. Why not end it all?

She stopped herself from continuing any further. No! Stop it, Celest! Don't think like that! You can't think like that! It's going to be okay!

She casted her gaze up to her collection of holo-stills, and for a split second thought to herself: Will it?

11:30am

"Are you nervous, my little Spartan?"

"Hella nervous," Jun admitted through a sigh. "3 years is a long time, Death. And without communication too."

After meeting with another potential recruit, Edward Davis, right here in Starwave Base, it was time for Jun and Death to make their way to Celestina's office. They were informed that she had just ended a training session for the marines stationed there and was most likely in her office. Jun couldn't be more excited yet anxious to see her once again. Death was just about ready to squeal with joy.

"Come now, Jun," From sitting on his carrier's shoulder, the AI instead stood before him, life-sized, so he could adjust Jun's tie for him. "Straighten your tie and give her a wide smile! She will appreciate it!"

"Thanks for the help," He said dryly. "But alright. Here goes nothing."

Celestina was resting on her officer's leather sofa, reading her data pad. Reading news articles were one way for her to take her mind off the horrible things that she was going through. She had a therapy session scheduled tomorrow but she was wondering how the hell was all of this therapy and medication going to help her now that she had relapsed. She was doing everything she could to not listen to the cruel words of all those hallucinations, especially when they tell her to kill herself to stop the pain. Yet, she would not. She would not give in. She knew that she needed to be strong. "Strength", after all, was one of her tattoos located on her right forearm.

Knock, knock, knock.

It appeared as if she had a visitor. Her mind relayed to her the possibilities, but never in a million years would she have predicted this man. "Come on in!"

Reading the command, the door slid to an open and the last surviving member of Noble Team walked in, dressed in a black suit and tie.

Celestina's features hardened.

Poor Jun had absolutely no clue of what Celestina had been through for the past few months. Right now, he was silenced by the sight of the woman he'd known for 22 years and how damn good it felt to see her face again.

"Celestina?" He called out, as if he could not believe one second of this moment.

She very slowly rose to her feet, preparing herself for any tricks that this hallucination might bring her.

"Oh my God..." He glanced at her from head to toe; her once shoulder-length deep-red hair as now just below her shoulders. She wore a black hoodie jacket, underneath it a bright red tank top to compliment her hair, a pair of fitting black slacks and lastly, a pair of polished black flat boots. In his eyes right now, she was... flawless. "Wow. You look beautiful!"

"Wow. I really gotta give props to you for originality. A suit and tie? You're practically dressed to kill. In more ways than one."

His smiled disappeared like smoke. "... What?"

It was the same with Death, who was still safe in his data clip in Jun's bracelet."What?"

"And the best part is? It hasn't even been 24 hours since the last time! Either you get off on my pain or I'm just this much closer to losing it completely. Well, let me tell you something, you little bitch. I know what your game is. It's the same with everybody else! I know what all of you are trying to do! But it's not going to work! I am not going to put a bullet through my head! I'm staying right here and if I have to fight you for it, I will!"

"This is not good." Death thought to himself.

"Let's try something, shall we?" Celestina plopped her data pad onto the sofa. "You and I haven't been acting like mature adults in the last few months. Why don't we just talk? Hm? Sound good? Nobody has to get hurt."

"Celest, I... have no idea what's going on..." The dumbfounded second-in-charge of the Spartan-IV program said.

She titled her head at him, smirking. "Oh, you like this, don't you? The mind games? The innocent act before you tear into me? I learned my lesson from the very first time you tried this shit with me!"

"Oh dear..." Death was now unwilling to make an appearance, knowing that it could do pretty much anything to Celestina's psyche. "I believe this is what you call a mental breakdown..."

Now Jun's forehead creased with worry. What the hell was going on? Why was Celestina acting and talking like this? "Celest, please. I really don't know what you're talking about! Why are you acting like this?"

She let her head hang and released a sigh at the same time. Then, she fished out her sidearm from the holster attached to her right thigh.

"Celest-!"

"You PROBABLY think that this is hilarious, don't you? Showin' up and acting all innocent and loving?" She questioned, her voice tainted with irritation. "But tell me, which was funnier? Doing this or when you tried to strangle me to death?"

Jun gaped at her in major disbelief at the mention of that.

"Or when you punched me in the face and tossed me over my own desk? Or maybe it's when you tried to get me to commit suicide yesterday!"

Jun was getting a little overwhelmed by all of this. "Celest, you know that I will never put my hands on you for whatever reason! I just don't unders-"

It then hit him like a ton of bricks.

Oh no. No, no. "Celest, listen to me. Please. It's not what you think it is. I'm not a hallucination!"

She held back a laugh at that remark, lifting her Magnum to causally scratch the side of her head. "How about you come up with some new material, baby? That line's getting old."

"Listen to me, princess-"

That name set off something in her and she raised her gun at him in a flash, scowling resentfully at him for even saying that. "Don't. Call me. That. How many times do I have to TELL you?! That's Jun's pet name for me! So only he gets to call me that! He's dead but you still DON'T have any Goddamn right when you're a figment of my imagination!"

Dead? She thought that he was dead? So that's why all of this was happening? This was bad. Really bad, and Jun knew it was all up to him to convince her otherwise. "No, no, Celest. You've got it wrong! I'm not dead! I survived Reach! Sure, I was missing for about 3 weeks but that's because I was kidnapped by the Covenant!"

"Damn, you're good. You could've been a great actor."

"It's the truth, princess." He told her gently.

"No!" She suddenly screeched, scaring him. "No, the truth is that the man who's been looking out for me since I was 6 is gone! The man who was so unusually disciplined and followed the rules, but did everything he could to keep his unauthorized relationship a secret! The man who told me that he loved me... He was taken from me unfairly!"

Celestina could feel all of the pent-up pain and agony in her chest, just begging to come out. Brand new tears formed in her eyes and she struggled to keep her aim on Jun. "It's not fair! When we met, I was broken to the core. We both were. But you covered it up with jokes and smiles and giggles and dedicating all of your time and attention to me, to help me because I wasn't strong like you. You saved me, Jun. You saved me from wanting to kill myself because I was missing my family so damn much. For so long, I thought I made a mistake joining the Spartans because I wasn't built for it. I truly wasn't but you made it worth staying and living for! So much was taken from me but you-you made me whole again!"

This whole scene was tugging at Jun's heartstrings. Despite all the years of training, he could not prevent himself from tearing up at this.

Celestina had already began sobbing midway through her earlier sentences and she could not help it. She had never said all of this to any of the hallucinations of Jun before. Perhaps it was finally time to. "You were the only thing I had to call family. You and Emile. And now he's gone! So are you! But why? Tell me why?! WHY is it that I have to be alone in this world? With you, I was so happy, even before we got together. I just wanted us to last forever, was that so wrong? And you promised. You promised me that we'd see each other again," She then gave him a teary smile. "But sweetie, you made me a promise you couldn't keep. And it's okay! I know you tried! And I wish, I really wished I could've seen you one last time and tell you how much I love you and thank you for looking out for me the way you did. But it's all over now. Everyone's gone and even..." Her broken voice got out the next statement, even though it proved to be difficult. "Even at the end of it all, I can't even have you..."

There was no way Jun could prevent that one tear from falling. "Celest..."

"You were right though," She then said. "I am in a lot of pain and misery. I could take the easy way out but I'm too weak for that. Not anymore." Now, she pointed the gun to her head.

That was the moment when his heart nearly stopped. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! Celest, don't! Please!" He cried out in utter panic, taking a few steps towards her, although it prompted her to move back until she hit her desk. So he maintained his distance, but kept his hands up in an attempt to persuade her not to do anything hasty. "Please, don't do this! Please, I'm begging you!" The thought of her pulling that trigger right in front of him - it was causing him so much more distress and tears. He hadn't teared up this much since New Harmony. "Listen to me! Do you remember the day we met?"

She shot him a confused glare but kept her Magnum at her head.

"Memories? That just might work, Jun. Go for it!" Death cheered on.

"I know I'll never forget that day. You and I were in the same pelican to paradrop. It was your turn to jump and that trainer was being a dick. So I asked if we could jumped together and we did. And when we landed, we introduced ourselves and I said something to you. What was it?" He asked, desperate to have her lower that gun.

Celestina remained silent, although she knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Come on, Celest. I know you know."

Her hand was practically trembling with hesitation, yet she managed to answer his question. "You... you said that my name was something you'd give to a princess. And then you asked me... if I was a princess."

Jun forced a smile at that and another tear fell. "That's right. And I know I'll never forget the day you told me you loved me. I told you that I was the lucky one. Remember?"

"... Yes..."

"Or what about all those undercover missions you had to take?"

"... You hated them. You hated that I was always in a dangerous position..."

To him, it felt like he was getting through to her. He sure hoped so, because the next step was to get that Magnum out of her hands.

"Celestina," He called out, grabbing her attention. "Noble is gone. Every single one of them. Everyone I've known is gone too and it sucks. Except for you, princess. I got you again. " He managed a real smile this time. "I kept my promise, didn't I? I told you that we'd see each other again and here we are! Sorry it took so long though but hey, I'm not complaining because look at you," Little by little, he made his way to her. "You're beautiful."

Why is he being so sincere? It's always taunts and cruel words and violence... How can it be? Is... is it possible? Is he really here? In front of me?

"I made it, even though I wasn't supposed to. Since I did and since you're here, it can be you and me once more. And Celest, it's all I want." In an insanely slow pace, Jun reached forward and gripped her Magnum to lower it. "You said you wanted to have me. Here I am."

She released the sidearm, allowing Jun full access to it. He tossed it over to her leather sofa, relieved to have it away from her head.

He took her right hand and placed it onto his left cheek, just where his tattoo was. "See? It feels real, doesn't it?"

It most definitely did, but it was the same with all of the hallucinations. How could this be any different? "But... they all were..." She did not move her hand away though.

Upon hearing that, he instinctively raised his hands up to her cheeks. "What about this, princess? You can't tell me this doesn't feel real to you."

Oh my. It does.

Celestina was bewildered by how tantalizingly familiar his touch felt. It was absolutely nothing like the hallucinations. Not at all. Just like their behavior, it would usually be ice-cold like a frozen lake.

"Oh my God..." She managed to get out after recovering for this realization.

"Hey there, princess." He greeted with all his heart.

She struggled with a smile due to what had just went down, but eventually managed to get one out. "H-hi." That was when she threw herself into his arms, hers wrapped around his neck to hold him so close that they both wouldn't be able to breathe. "Hi...!"

He was more than willing to reciprocate her killer hug. He had done it. Jun had managed to snap her out of it and prevent her from doing the unthinkable. It was such a horrifying situation and he hoped to never go through such a thing ever again. Shadow Team, Noble Team, everyone was gone. There was no way he could afford to lose his princess.

As he hugged her, he let just one last tear stream down his cheek.

A/N: Yay! They've been reunited! XD