Location: Iris Medical Station
Epsilon Eridani system
June 4th, 2553
2:56pm
"Caden? Can I come in?"
The Sergeant was surprised, but pleasantly surprised to see the Head Trainer at his ward's doorway the very next day. "Oh hey, Celestina!" He was sitting on the sofa in the ward, ironically staring at the holo-still of his family. Celestina recognized it - it was taken at a Christmas, but she could not remember which one. "Good to see you again! And so soon."
I haven't even eased into it and my heart's going insane. "I hope you don't mind, but... there's something I'd like to talk to you about."
"Sure, not a problem," He leaned over to his side and placed the precious holo-still back into its place. "Is it about my induction into the branch? Is there a problem?" He questioned, getting to his feet.
She produced the most fake smile known to man, even though she did not want to. It was difficult to tell Caden who she was. Man, now she knew how Jun felt. "N-no, Caden. No problem whatsoever. We're still preparing the paperwork for you and you'll get it soon. It's about something else."
"Okay. What's up?" Poor guy had no clue of the atomic bomb Celestina was about to drop on him.
Here we go. "It's about your little sister."
Hazel eyes narrowed at the former Spartan-III and he did not speak for a heartbeat. A natural reaction, Celestina thought. "What? What about her?"
He's so not going to believe me, but I can't back out now. "What if I told you that Celestina wasn't dead as you've always thought? What if I told you that she was rescued by the UNSC and believed that her entire family had been killed, so she foolishly joined the Spartans to extract revenge?" A quick deep breath and she concluded with, "What if I told you that she was standing right in front of you?"
"Hell no. You don't expect me to believe that. Honestly, if this is some kind of joke, Spartan or not, don't make me kick your ass." Caden was now staring daggers at her, wondering how the hell could she say such things to him, especially about his precious little sister, whom he thought he could have saved all those years ago.
Celestina most definitely expected that kind of response from the Sergeant so she nodded at that. Taking another much-needed breath, she continued on. "Christine absolutely loved our relationship. She said it was unbelievable how well you'd take care of me. You always told me about how taking over the mom and daddy's gun range was your dream. You said that you'd make them proud. The sniper rifle was your favorite weapon and you were so good at it. I was scared to death of all those noises coming from the gun range so you'd often miss your practices to console me. Whenever I was sick, you would stay with me until I would get better, even if that meant camping in my room. You'd read me countless bedtime stories or make one up of your own and you'd always say that it was the best part of your day, no matter how crappy school got. And to get me to go to sleep or to stop crying? You'd sing me a song called 'Hero' and that was your favorite Enchanter's Awakening song. I never forgot a single word of it."
It was so hard for Celestina to not choke up as she spoke. Caden himself was finding it just as difficult to stop himself from having tears in his eyes while she mentioned all of those things. "I don't believe it... No. It can't be!"
"'Just take my hand. We'll go anywhere you want. We can leave it all behind. I'll be the one you call hero'. Aren't those some of the lyrics? You can't tell me you don't know them."
"Oh Jesus..." Just one tear fell. "How do you know that? You can't know that!"
"I have a picture," She reached into the inner pocket of her black leather jacket and fished out an inactive holo-still. Clicking on the little button, the photograph took its shape and Celestina turned it around so Caden could view it with his own eyes. "At Chrissy's 16th birthday. It was all that was left when the Covenant destroyed our home. I made sure to never lose it. I made sure I would always come back to it. It's the most precious thing in the world to me, Caden."
Caden wanted to refuse to believe that his little sister was right in front of him. However, there were so many things that pointed to the other direction.
"Caden," The soft way in which she said his name made him look up at her. "I'm here. I didn't believe that you were alive at first but here you are! I've got my big brother back and the feeling is awesome! Please, you have to believe me."
That was when Caden said something that Celestina never thought he would say to her. "I had a feeling, you know. When you walked in yesterday?" There was the faintest trace of a smile. "I could've sworn I was lookin' at mom."
"Oh gosh..." If that didn't put a smile on her face, nothing else will. "Caden..."
"You're looking gorgeous, Celest," He complimented with a wide and teary smile. "It's good to see you," With that, he enveloped her in a tight embrace, hugging his sister for the first time in 22 years. "It's so good to see you."
A/N: I hope this little storyline was a good surprise to you all! I was a little hesitant about writing it in but I decided to anyway!
And that song mentioned in here - I'm actually composing it and will be performing it live next month. I'll be sure to leave a link here. ^.^