Location: Vehicle Bay, Starwave Base, Mars
December 31st, 2552
1:52pm

"Death and I can make up a story to stay longer, Celest. It's no issue."

"Now you can't leave Musa alone to train all those future Spartans. That's your job!"

The vehicles bay in Starwave Base was where the two former Spartan-IIIs were at the moment, what with Jun needing to head back to Hydra Base. The bay was silent at the moment, with just a few technicians either working on UNSC vehicles or loading and unloading cargo. Jun and Celestina stood at the back of the Transport Warthog, the one that was waiting for Jun.

"Jun," Celestina dragged in a manner he found super adorable. "It's okay. I'm gonna be okay now. You're back and it makes me feel like I've got a big piece of me back too."

"I'm sure Emile would have loved to be here too, Celest, but you know how he doesn't fear death," He said a little solemnly, clasping one of her hands. "I'm sure he went down like a true Spartan," That's when he ran one hand behind her head. "But he would have loved to see how well his little sister is."

She gave him her traditional sweet smile. "And he would've loved the tattoo as well?"

He raised an eyebrow at that. "What tattoo?"

Celestina lifted her left arm up and rolled up the sleeve of the hoodie jacket to reveal a new tattoo below her wrist - it was of a skull wearing a crown. The crown was actually in reference to Jun calling her 'princess' all the time.

"Wow, you actually did it!"

"I know! Showed the artist how it looked on my armor and this was the end result!"

"Emile worked hard on it for your birthday. I know for a fact he would have loved it."

"So do I," She said with a little sigh, before capturing his gaze once more. "I'm really happy that you're in a good position now, sweetie, despite everything. The nightmares will stop soon, I know it. It takes time, that's all."

"I know, princess. At least I've got an extra ear to complain to."

"You can tell me anything and at anytime, Jun," She told him pleasantly as she held both of his hands one more. "You know where to find me now."

"And I'm glad I have a genius for an AI for that." He remarked with a hint of sly humor in his voice. "Oh, and I have something for you,"

"Ooh, a present? My birthday was last month!" She said ebulliently.

"Consider it a late present and also a Christmas present?"

"Sure, why not?"

Jun reached into the inner pocket of his suit, drug around and found the object. "Made sure I held onto it," He opened up her fist and placed the mysterious item into her palm. "Fought tooth and nail with the Covenant to keep it."

Celestina held her breath at the sight of it, unable to believe she was staring at it after 3 years. "My dog tags...? Jun, you still kept them!"

"And now they have to be returned to their owner," He then balled her hand into a fist with the dog tags in them.

Her hazel eyes sparkled with major happiness by his gesture. "Thank you," The appreciation seeped through her tone. "Happy New Year, Jun."

"Happy New Year, princess."

Location: Sniper Training Bay, Starwave Base
January 15th, 2553
11:02am

"Yeah, I know! I'm sorry that training took longer than it was supposed to! Some of them really needed to improve further if they actually want to specialize in sniping. But don't worry! I just need to check and make sure all of this rifles are just the way they were before training started and I'll be out of your hair!" The Head Trainer of Starwave Base grunted in an apologetic manner as she hurried from sniper rifle to sniper rifle, all of which were lined up before their targets. Once Celestina heard the doors to the Sniper Training Bay open, she was still inspecting each rifle, not letting herself take a peep at the person who walked in.

"Oh, don't worry a thing, princess,"

She froze at that nickname and accent, yet managed to turn her head to the direction of that voice.

The second-in-charge of the newly-formed Spartan Branch ran one hand over his scalp. "As you can see, it won't be a problem."

Celestina appeared as if she had seen a ghost - a ghost she was surprised to see, though. "Jun!" She squealed in utter excitement, not giving a damn about the magazine of a Sniper Rifle. Instead, she ran over to Jun and practically threw herself into his arms. "Oh my gosh!"

He caught her flawlessly, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around. "Hey there, princess!"

"Hiiii!" Jun had never seen her this happy before and it was such a wonderful thing to witness. "This is such a nice surprise! You never told me you were coming down here!"

"That's the whole point of it being a surprise, Celest,"He told her with a little smirk as he pulled back to see her face.

She was grinning from ear to ear at this point. "Well, it's one hell of a surprise! You know, with 145 Spartans, I'd have expected you to be more busy!"

"Damn straight, but I have another reason for coming down here, not only just to see your beautiful face."

"Oh? And what's that?"

Jun wrapped one arm around the back of her neck and they walked further into the bay. "You hungry? We can discuss it over an early lunch."

"I'd love to!" That was when she noticed her unfinished work with the Sniper Rifles. "Except that I have to finish checking out the rifles before they can be used later..." She said with a nervous laugh.

"Well, your superhero's here to help."

"You're a doll!" She thanked and patted his chest. "Oh by the way, there's this amazing Italian restaurant in the city near the base. The pasta there? JUST like the one my mom used to make!"

"Mama Devon's famous pasta, I take it?"

"DAMN STRAIGHT."

Location: Bernado's Pizzeria
11:47am

"So you said that other than seeing my face, you had another reason for coming here. And without my favorite AI."

"I believe I said 'beautiful face', Celest,"

"Yes, you did." Celestina returned the cheeky smile.

"I needed Death to hold down the fort while I was here on this very special mission," Jun then sat down the glass of wine. "I have a proposition for you, princess."

Her eyebrows wrinkled in confusion upon hearing that. "A proposition. For me."

"Yes, princess," He leaned over, his fingers entwined with each other on the table. "As you mentioned before, 145 Spartans means that I'm busy as hell. So Death decided to do something about it. He suggested to Musa that I not do both the recruiting and the training, even though we've got some of the IIs and IIIs integrated into the branch to help with the training. Instead of having to worry about so many things, he suggested I get a Head Trainer to handle the training portion of the branch."

"A 'Head Trainer'? That's... actually a great idea! I mean, you've got to run around and find recruits, oversee the augmentations, oversee their training... At least this one portion of the branch will be taken over by someone else, giving you some space to breathe a little. Death's a genius! Tell him I said that!" She told him enthusiastically.

"Will do," He love how she couldn't notice the big stupid smile he had on his face as they had this discussion.

"So what does this have to do with me?" She questioned as she picked up her own glass of wine.

"Celestina," He called out in an appalled manner. "I can't believe you haven't figured it out yet!"

She brought the glass to her lip and was about to take sip when she halted her action. If she had widened her eyes any bigger, her hazel eyes would have popped right out. "ME?"

"It was Death who gave your name and I immediately backed him up," Jun continued on, with his best efforts to fight back a laugh due to her reaction. "Musa checked you out and was impressed with your record."

"My record? Are you serious?" Celestina made it sound as if it was a bad thing. "What with all of those psych evals and the reason why I'm in this base in the first place..."

"Celest," Jun started out in a calming manner to assure that it was not such a big deal as she perceived it to be. "You've got the second highest number of confirmed sniper kills in all of Alpha. Almost every infiltration mission you've been in or led, it's a success. And let's not forget every single uncover mission you've undertaken - every one of them were a major success. Plus, you've already been cured from your PTSD and you're doing even better despite the last few months."

"You'd still be better off with a Spartan-II..." She muttered, looking down at her plate.

"I don't want a Spartan-II, I want you."

She caught his eyes, thought she was pouting just a little.

"You're good, Celest. Really good. Hell, Ambrose thought so and that's why you were able to achieve everything I just said. You're good enough that at least ONI had the brains to know that it would be a waste to have you be stuck behind a desk after your discharge," He then held out his hand to her, which she instantly took without a second thought. "I would consider it an honor to have you be in charge of training all of these recruits. One of your best traits is that you're really easy to get along with because you're so kind to everyone. Everyone will love you, I know it. And well..." He almost looked embarrassed to admit this next part. "Obviously... I miss you and would love to work with you again. I mean, sure, we have communications and all but-"

"Yes."

"Sorry?"

She squeezed his hand a little tighter to emphasize her point. "I wanna be your Head Trainer."

"Wow," A bright grin came to him. "Just like that? I mean, you have a life here and everything."

She had her own grin as well. "Jun, I'll... be honest. It's nice here, I'll admit it. But... I'm not happy. Sure, I have some good friends here. I train the soldiers that get posted to this base, polish up their style, teaching them some of my own skills. After training, I get to head out to the city and enjoy the sights and sounds of Chicago, but it's not what I want. Sweetie, our lives are so messed up that I don't even know what the meaning of being happy is! But when you walked in today, I knew that you were what I needed! Jun, you're the key to my happiness so I want to stay next to you, wherever that may be. And plus, I'm so honored that you and Death thought that I was suitable for this position! It's such a huge deal!"

"I'm tellin' you, you are," He gave her his other hand to hold. "Wait until we've reestablished contact with Camp Currahee too. Ambrose will think that we made the right choice picking you."

"And I know he'd be proud to see that you're the overall second-in-charge. Are you going to ask him to join the branch too?"

"Definitely. If it's okay with him, he'll be working under you."

She pulled a horrified face at that. "Wait, so that means I don't get to call him 'boss' anymore?"

"I'd... suppose it would be the other way around now...?" Kurt Ambrose was the first person she had called 'boss' and he had found it adorable ever since. If any of her other superiors were cool with it, they would get the nickname of 'boss' too.

"Ohhhhhhh, that's gonna be awkward..."

Jun gave her a soft chuckle for that. "Oh, and you don't have to worry about your position here, Celest. I'll make sure to get someone just as qualified."

"That's nice to know! Thank you so much, Jun!" She reached over to pick up her glass of wine. "I wanna make a toast. To the Spartans."

He immediately lifted up his wine glass as well. "To the Spartans."