Location: Jun's office, Hydra Base, Mars
June 1st, 2553
9:49am

"Next. Next. Next. Improve on that ratio and perhaps I shall return to you. Oh, dear. With that haircut, how am I to take you seriously? Good record, however. Perhaps you can go to the 'maybe' pile..."

Just like any other day, Death was looking through the UNSC Defense Force database to find more potential recruits for the Spartan Branch. He had a habit of talking to himself while he worked so he made sure that he was safe in his AI chip in the AI console where no one could hear him and well... judge him.

Nobody could blame him, though. Death liked to think that he was funny.

"Hm, you are definitely a keeper. Now, who is next in lin-" Shock gripped Death's whole being upon landing on this next soldier's profile. The name was all to familiar and it also didn't make any sense to him.

"It cannot be. It is not possible!" So he scanned through the profile in hopes that he could come to a conclusion about the soldier's true identity. "Oh my sweet matrix. It is..." If Death had a heart, it would be beating like a drum.

Death usually made himself visible via a mist of sage-green. However this time, he did not bother with this method and instead popped out of nowhere right in front of his carrier's face, scaring him greatly.

"JESUS!" If Jun hadn't had a tight grip on the edge of his desk, he would have easily fallen out of his leather chair. "Death, what the hell?!"

"I did not mean to frighten you, Jun, but you are NOT going to believe what I have discovered!"

"What's so important that I nearly fall out of my chair and onto my ass?" He questioned, attempting to sit comfortably on his chair once more.

"This soldier I found," In his typical tiny AI size, he stood on Jun's desk. "He... You will not believe who he is!"

His AI's frantic behavior brought great puzzlement to the former Spartan-III. Jun raised his hands in an attempt to calm him down. "Death, buddy, you gotta calm down. Take a deep breath and tell papa all about it."

He listened to the second-in-charge and took a deep, well-inhaled breath. "It... would be easier if I just show it to you, Jun." With that, he promptly sent the files over to Jun's data pad.

Jun still could not understand why Death would make a big deal out of the profile of a potential recruit. Nonetheless, he took a look at it for himself. The confused expression he originally had on his face had been wiped right off.

"Now do you understand why I am taken aback?"

"Death..." He lowered the data pad to look at his AI. "This is not possible..."

"I am afraid... that it is, my little Spartan," Death responded, holding his scythe close to him. "Are you... going to tell her?"

"I have to, Death," Jun heaved a defeated sigh. "But I just don't know how to..." He glanced back hopelessly at the profile picture of the Sergeant. "Gather whatever you can on him, Death, and send the files to my data pad. This is a delicate situation. I'll try to find some way to tell her."

Location: Celestina's private dorms
10:58pm

While Celestina was in the showers, Jun took the opportunity to continue reading the soldier's profile as he leaned against the headboard of the bed. It's him, no doubt about it. How to find a plausible way to tell her about him, though? It took so long for her to handle her grief and misery. I feel like I'll just send her back to the wolves at this point. What if she freaks the hell out? What if she relapses? I can't do that to my princess.

"Ahhh! Night showers are the bomb!" She said in major relaxation as she pulled off the hair tie that was keeping her hair up high. She hurried over to the mirror to fluff her red hair before joining Jun on the bed. She titled her head at him. "You're still doing work at this time? Well," She stole the data pad from his hand and chucked it on the nightstand. "Not anymore."

Jun knew the look in her hazel eyes. With a tired smile, he countered with, "Sorry, princess. Not tonight."

"Oh, come on!" She whined.

"It's been a tiring day, that's all."

With a pout, she studied his face. "Well… you do look exhausted. But it's more like sadness to me," Then her full lips curled into a smile. "You're worried about the next batch going in for the augmentations, aren't you?"

He was genuinely surprised to hear that. Perhaps tonight was not going to be the day to tell her. "Yes, princess. That's it."

"D'awww," She reached forward to cup his right cheek. "You're just a sweetheart! Caring about your Spartans like that."

"Ours, actually. Aren't we their parents?"

"Well, what makes Musa then?"

"Grumpy uncle?"

She giggled. "They're all gonna be fine. As always. You know that, right?"

They're, quite honestly, the last thing on my mind right now. "I do, princess."

"See? So there's nothing to worry about, right?" She questioned as she curled up in his arms, head on his chest. "I know there's always the risk factors, but we have the best technology right now. Combined with the new armor, it's all good. I also know it sucks to have to watch them relearn to do trivial things like walking or picking up a spoon but that's what we're here for."

"You're always right," He placed a peck on her head. "Celest, can I ask you something?"

"Of course. What's up?"

"Do you… still think about your family?"

Jun expected her to lift her head up and ask him a hundred and one questions, but she only asked the one. "Sure I do. Why do you ask?"

"I was just thinking about my father today and it made me wonder if you still think about your own family."

"If you mean 'is the pain easier to handle', then yeah. It is," She glanced up at his face, hand on his knee. "Once upon a time, I was a scared little girl. But I got help and could handle those memories better. Sure it still stings, especially with Caden, but what's happened, happened. All the crying and the questions aren't going to bring them back. I survived, was given a chance to get revenge, and perhaps even try to stop more horrible events like those from happening too often."

"You ever wondered what would've went down if they saw you as you were right now?" He did not even hesitate – that just came out. As soon as he said it, he so badly wanted to take it back.

"They'd probably think I was a freak."

"Celest-"

"Well, it's the truth," She shrugged her shoulders at that. "I'm a 6'7 augmented super-solider with the power to destroy an entire neighborhood, and probably have bigger muscles than my own brother. I'm not the same youngest daughter of the Devon family anymore."

"I beg to differ," He said, one hand on her cheek. "You haven't changed since we met. All you did was get stronger and prettier."

She smiled.

"I honestly think that they'll be proud of you. Shocked, but accepting."

With a final smirk, she resettled on his chest once more. "And I know your dad would feel the same way."

Location: Jun's office, Hydra Base, Mars
June 2nd, 2553
12:03pm

"Hey, sweetie! Death told me that you wanted to see me after morning training was over. Oh, but whatever it is, think we can talk about it over lunch? I'm starving!"

There was something that Jun had just only realized the moment she said that. He realized that she retained so much of her innocence, and he hated that the Spartan life would often try to take it away. She was a good kid who should have never picked up a gun in her life and just live a normal life with her family. Sometimes, fate just really sucked.

"It's... kind of important, princess. Way too important to be talked about over lunch."

Okay. Lack of proper eye contact, the stiff shoulders, drumming his fingers on his data pad... Guess it is important. And it's more important than food! "Okay. What's up?"

He reached forward and took her hand in a gentle grasp, one that made her smile at him. Damn. How I hate that I'm the one who's gonna wipe that smile off her face. "Have a seat, princess." He led them to his leather sofa. "What I'm about to tell you in going to be... difficult to believe, Celest, but know that all of it is the truth. And there was no way Death and I could keep this from you. You needed to know about this."

Close encounters with Energy Sword-wielding Elites could not even compare to the fear that was in Celestina's chest right now. Her lover's words were generating great concern in her. "Jun, you're scaring me. What's going on? What is it that I need to know?"

There was a tightness around his throat and he was not even wearing a tie with his dress shirt today. "Can you tell me about that day on Convergence V? When it was just you and your brother left."

"What? Why?" She inquired.

"Bear with me here. Please."

She had not talked about that terrible day on Convergence V, her homeplanet, in years. At least, not after the nightmares she had when she was still a little girl stopped. Every single day was an attempt that getting past it, but it dawned upon her that one never really gets over the tragedy; it just shapes them. She just couldn't get why Jun would ask about it after so long, especially when he knew and understood how painful it was. "Okay, fine. Um... Those Jackals and Grunts had shot down Christine and it was going to get us too. But since Caden worked at our parents' gun range, he knew how to handle a gun so he dropped the Jackal that killed Chrissy and killed the other few. All seemed quiet but Caden didn't want to take a chance so we ran up to my room where he placed me in my closet. He was going to climb in with me too but an Elite came out of nowhere and surprised us. Caden was trying to fight it off and lure it away from me, which he did, not before telling me to stay in the closet and that he loved me."

There was no way she could ever forget a single detail. Not about that day. Well… this was the best she could do. As time went by, memories of that dreadful day were leaving her mind. "Jun, you know all of this. What's the point of me telling it to you again?"

"Just to be clear... You didn't see him die?"

"Say what?"

"Caden. He lured that Elite away from you so you didn't actually see him die."

"ONI confirmed all of our families' deaths, Jun, but..." She appeared as if no one had asked her that question before, and that was because no one had. "No. I didn't actually see him die, unlike Christine. Jun, quit avoiding my question. Please, just tell me what's going on."

He must have practiced this a thousand times over and over again but he was still in no way prepared on telling her this. Jun prepared for the appropriate files on his data pad. "Death was searching for more recruits to hopefully make up Fireteam Lilac and..." He handed her the data pad with that Sergeant's profile. "He found this."

She gripped the data pad with both hands and took a good look at the profile picture.

"Caden's still alive."

Her hazel eyes were fixated onto the profile picture and she remained silent as a mouse. There was not a peep from her for a good 5 seconds. "W-what? No. No, it can't be."

"It is, princess."

"No, he's dead!" She quickly countered, her grip on the data pad getting tighter. With her Spartan strength, she could easily break it. "The names Caden and Devon are common. Anyone can have this name and be born on this day. That includes the homeplanet too."

Jun had expected denial from Celestina and he was getting loads of it. He maintained his small smile as he spoke to her. "Perhaps you're right, princess."

"Oh, I know when I'm right!"

"But you might want to scroll down and look at the names of his family members."

"Alright, I will!"

"Go ahead."

"Fine!" With a mighty huff, she scrolled down the page to find the names of the members of his family.

Lorenzo Devon (Father, deceased)
Annalisa Devon (Mother, deceased)
Christine Lea Devon (Sister, deceased)
Celestina Jenette Devon (Sister, deceased)

"So do you still think that there could be someone else in this world with that same name, same birth date, same homeplanet and city, his parents being Lorenzo and Annalisa Devon, and his sisters being Christine and Celestina Devon?"

Glancing up at him once more, it was clear that she was out of ways to continue to deny all of this. "You can't say that it's not possible..."

"Princess," He reached forward and put one hand on her shoulder. "Your brother's alive. Has been for the last 23 years."

"No!" She raised her tone, already beginning to tear up. "No, it's can't be! My brother is supposed to be dead!"

"Celest-"

She shoved his data pad into his arms and when he successfully caught it, she grabbed him by his right arm and pulled him up to his feet. "Come with me!" She ordered, dragging him out of his office.

Location: Celestina's private dorms

During the whole travel to her private dorm, which was connected to her office, Celestina had a painful grip on Jun's arm, though he knew she was doing it unknowingly and didn't mean to hurt him. She only let go of him to retrieve the holo-still from her nightstand and present it to him. "Look at this! This was taken at my sister's 16th birthday party! Okay? Everyone in this picture is dead! My mom, dad, sister and brother! Everyone is dead!" She almost shrilled, a look of hurt on her face.

"I'm afraid not, princess." He told her softly.

"This is insane!" She shrieked at him, almost slamming down the holo-still onto her nightstand. "Everyone's supposed to be DEAD! I've ACCEPTED that!"

This was probably her one last try at convincing herself that there was no way her brother could be alive. "Not everyone, princess. Not anymore."

She brought her hands up to her cheeks and shook her head non-stop. "No… no…!"

"Celest-" He reached for her.

"Hide in the closet, Celest," She then spoke, although it was in whispers. "Don't come out unless it's me. It's okay, Celest. Your brother's got this. I love you. This Elite's got nothing on me. You want a fight, I'll give you one, you ugly son of a bitch, but you're not laying a hand on my sister."

Jun froze. As for as he had known, Celestina could never fully remember all the words her brother spoke that day. She could only remember Christine's death, running up to her room, him trying to fight off the Energy Sword-wielding Elite and telling her that he loved her.

She looked at him with a defeated expression on her face, and then started to fall forward.

"Celest!" He cried out, instantly reaching forward and catching her before she could even hit the floor. He let her rest her upper body on his chest as he was brought to his knees, still holding onto her. "Hey…! Celest, hey! Wake up! Wake u- Death! Death, get a doctor!" Jun ordered, turning his head back to the fallen Celestina. "Come on, princess, wake up!"

Later…

"She's never fainted before."

"This has taken a highly emotional toll on her, Jun. She has known her entire family to be dead since she was but 7 years of age. And now, to suddenly be brought this new information about her brother… You have told me before about how much she admired him."

Once Death practically dragged a doctor to Celestina's private dorms to check on her, he concluded that she was going to be alright but that she needed to take it easy, especially for someone with her mental history. She was passed out for now, lying on her bed after Jun carried her and placed her there.

Right now, he and Death, who had always cared about Celestina deeply due to his connection with Jun, were trying not to freak out. Jun caressed her cheek gently as he watched over her, silently begging her to wake up. "I honestly thought the nightmares would end for her. Guess I was wrong."

Death, in his life-sized form, pushed himself away from the wall. "However, this is not a nightmare, Jun. This is quite the opposite. She has the chance to reunite with a member of her family, after so long."

"It's not necessarily a good thing, Death. Look at her," Jun glanced up at Death. "She's unconscious!"

"This is but temporary, Jun. Please do not worry. She will be alright."

It was at that moment that Celestina started to stir and squirm. She opened her eyes gradually, as if the ceiling light was going to burn her eyes. "Goddamn it…" She murmured.

"Hey, princess," Jun attempted to sound as composed as possible. "How're you feeling?"

"Wha…" She was obviously dazed, but that did not stop her from trying to sit up. "Did I just fucking faint?"

"I guess the news was too much for you to handle. I'm so sorry, I didn't know."

"What?" This time, it was not because she was dazed. It was because he was apologizing. "Why are you apologizing, silly? You did the right thing by telling me."

"Not if it caused you to faint."

She released an epic sigh. "It's okay. I'm just… in shock."

"Take all the time you need, my Lady," Death called from where he was standing. "We may revisit this any time."

She gave the A.I. a tiny smile. "I'm afraid this is all that's gonna be on my mind. If he's been alive all this time, I could have had a normal life..." She trailed off.

Jun responded with running his hand over her head.

"Tell me everything." She then said to him.

"Princess-"

"Please, sweetie," She pleaded with her hazel eyes, leaning forward with her hands on his thighs. "I need to know what happened."

Though reluctant because of what had just happened to her, he proceeded to explain Caden's story further, having practically memorized it from reading it over and over again. "Caden took down that Elite that was about to get the both of you but the brawl must have taken them outside of your house because that's where they found him, hurt but alive. Before the Covenant starting glassing the planet, Caden was already taken to a UNSC medical facility along with the rest of the injured but he slipped into a coma almost as soon as he was found. The wounds healed but he still wouldn't wake up. He was in a coma for a year, princess. But he was cared for by your aunt Caroline and they moved to Mars where they've been staying ever since."

Her eyes went wild with bewilderment when she heard that name. "My aunt Caroline? She's still alive?"

With a warm smile, he nodded. "Yes, princess. She and Caden managed to reunite."

"I-I mean, I wish I could remember her more but... I know that she's a good person..." She glanced up at him, as if she had just remembered something important. "What about my folks? I didn't see them die too."

"I'm sorry, princess."

"Huh," She gave him a faked laugh and smirk. "Of course. My luck can only hold out for so much..."

"There's more, princess,"

"Oh great! More!"

However, this piece of information put a smile on Jun's face, and he had a feeling that it might do the same to Celestina. "You have a nephew."

It took a moment to register before she could speak, gaping at him in utter disbelief. "What?"

"Caden has a son. He's currently staying with your aunt on Mars." He continued.

She sniffed and a single tear fell. "Are you serious?" She asked, her voice cracking.

He nodded at her question. "His name is Christian and he's 10 years old. And I think we all know who he was named after."

A teary smile formed on her face. "Christine..."

"That's what I think too, princess," He then took her one hand with both hands. "Caden has a great service record. His work at the Sniper Rifle? Exceptional."

"That's because the Snipe Rifle is his weapon of choice. He'd always practice it when at our parents' gun range. He was so good at such a young age..."

"Which is why he'd be perfect to be a Spartan," Jun said, taking a seat right next to her. "He's the last of six potential recruits we have for Fireteam Lilac. He's now at Iris Medical Station, in the Epsilon Eridani system. I'm going to see him soon and I want you to come with me."

"Jun..."

"Emiliana had handle one day without you. You know you have to see him. You don't have to tell him who you are. Not yet. But you have to talk to him, see the kind of man he's become."

There was truth in Jun's words and she knew it. So all she did was nod in agreement.

"Come here." He told her softly, pulling her into his chest. He did not want to say anything more; all he needed was to comfort her in silence.

A/N: Told you it would be exciting! x)