A/N: I've always been meaning to do a chapter with an appearance by everybody's favorite Spartan-II, Kurt. So I managed to come up with this! Hope you guys like it; I'd like to consider it an official chapter to the story. ^.^

Summary: After leaving Shadow Team to receive the psychiatric treatment she needed, Celestina is visited by her former trainer, Kurt Ambrose.

Location: Celestina's room, Camp Commandant's residence, Camp Currahee
March 28th, 2549
9:37am

"At ease, Celestina. This isn't a formal visit, after all. Are you settling down, okay?"

"Yeah, boss. The room is awesome!" She grinned warmly at him, settling on her bed after giving him a crisp salute. "Certainly feels homely."

"I'm glad," He walked further into her room and took a seat on the chair at her desk after turning it around to face her. "You'll begin your sessions tomorrow and we hope you'll be able to recover once and for all."

Celestina gave him a forlorn half-smile for that, glancing down at her feet. "It's almost like you knew I'd go crazy with the guilt."

"I'm terribly sorry about the twins."

"Not as sorry as I am, boss."

Kurt Ambrose was all too familiar with Celestina's case. There were only a handful of Alpha Spartans that fit the mold of a Spartan-II so he fought to extract them from the mainline Spartans and, in a way, to save whoever he could from suicide missions. He honestly wish he could have protected all 300 of them, but he couldn't. All he could do was hang on to those who were still alive as of today, with one of them in the same room with him right now.

"I read your report on Rhonda. I saw the helmet footage about Ryan."

"This is the part where you tell me that there was nothing I could have done?" She returned her attention to him again. "Sorry, boss, but it's nothing but a broken record to me."

Kurt should have expected that to come out of her mouth. Who knows how many times people might have told her that.

Celestina was a special case. He had always known that. He had always known because she was not as ruthless and aggressive as the rest of the IIIs. Sure, she had the physical strength to get through all those trainings as a kid but her need for revenge (and, from what he's seen, motivation by Jun-A266) was what drove her to stay and become a Spartan. And one of the best, he might add.

Her mental strength was another story, however.

She participated in several recon operations and infiltration missions, some of which she managed to gain the trust of Innie organizations and tear them down from the inside. But how ironic it was that, when it came to her own feelings, she could not use her amazing acting skills to hide them.

She was kind, gentle and sweet girl, who always held a smile for everyone. Every time Kurt glanced at her, he would see a young woman who was damn skilled at what she did, but never should have said 'yes' to those ONI agents when they asked her whether she would like to get revenge for the invasion of her homeworld and the death of her family.

"Celestina," Kurt started out. "I understand. You know I do. But you can't always think like that. How many times have you been through something like this already? You should know by now that people around us are going to die and most times, we can't save them, no matter how badly we wanted to. We can only take care of the people who are still here."

She appeared as if she was seeing right through him like glass. "But why? Why is it that the people we love have to die? Why can't they stay just a little longer? Why can't we find a way to save them?"

This was that 'phase' Celestina would be in when she started over-analyzing her situation and, ultimately, find ways to blame herself for the deaths of the people she felt she could have saved. "If I knew all the answer, or at least knew someone who did, I'll tell you in a heartbeat," He got to his feet and instead walked up to her, prompting her stand up as well, in respect for her trainer and superior. "Now, I'm no therapist. The doctor you're going to see tomorrow onwards will help you get over your way of thinking permanently. But it doesn't mean I'm not going to help you either."

"You've already done so much. I'm tired of being a burden."

"No one said that."

"But they're all thinkin' it," She was picking at her fingernail at this point, unable to look at him in the eyes. "I know they are. They say I'm not aggressive enough, that I rely on my feelings too much. Basically, my behavior is non-Spartan behavior."

"That's not what it is, Celestina," He said. "You're just a little different. But not for all the wrong reasons like you think they are. Whatever the real reasons are, there are people here who are willing to help you. Starting with me," For that, he presented a little smile. "Surely there's something I can do."

"You really wanna help, boss?"

"Yes."

"Then let me go."

Kurt narrowed his eyebrows at her. "Pardon?"

She took a step further to stress her point. "You've always looked out for your Spartans no matter what. None of us have ever asked you for anything but I just want this one thing and that's to leave the program."

"Celestina," Kurt knew that she was not thinking straight. Not while she was battling all these emotions within her – the anger, the hatred, the fear. "I think you're going a little too far."

"I'm not Spartan material!" She unexpectedly shrieked, though Kurt's Spartan training prepared him for an outburst of any kind. Tears formed in her eyes right then and there. "I never was! I should have never said yes to that ONI agent in the first place! You shouldn't have picked me to be one of the 300 out of the 497 orphans at this camp! And you shouldn't have pulled me out of Alpha! You should've let me die with the rest of the company in PROMETHEUS!"

The one thing Kurt has always admired about Celestina whenever he talked to her, was her innocence. She would always remind him of how human Spartans actually used to be, before everything they ever knew was taken from them. He loved how sociable she was, how down-to-Earth, despite all she had endured. He loved how… normal she was.

So Kurt nodded at that, giving him some time about what to say next and her to calm just a little. "Okay, then what about Jun? If I were to pull him out of whatever mission he's in right now with Noble Team and bring him here, can you still say all those things again, but to his face?"

Tears continued to stream down her face, but her expression told him that she was a little puzzled by his words.

"You think I don't know how you two stick together like glue? How dependent you are on him? So it's only fitting that he be dependent on you too. So I'm asking you, Celestina, do you think he'll like all the things you just said?"

Does he know? Is this was this visit was about? "Where are you going with this, boss?"

"I know about the suicide attempts."

She raised her eyebrows upon hearing that, but attempted to keep her composure. She crossed her arms under her chest and tried to maintain the eye contact. "What suicide attempts?"

"The one when you were 7, a few weeks after training started and you kept having nightmares about your family. And there's the one where your Team, Phantom, had a joint operation with Olive Team and two of its members were killed - Amy and Jennifer? You had grown quite fond of them."

Celestina clearly remembered the first one – it was the day she realized that she had gained a new family member.

"But why, Celest? Why would you try to do that?"

"WHY DO YOU THINK, JUN?! The nightmares don't wanna stop! You know who'd come check up on me when I had nightmares? My brother, Caden! But he's not here anymore! Nobody is! I just… I just want it to stop…"

"Don't do that. Please? It'll hurt. And that's not a nice feeling. You'll be in lots pain and I don't think there's anything I can do for you. But I don't want that; I want to be able to help princess Celestina."

"Yes, he promised you that he wouldn't tell me but he couldn't take the chance that you would try it again and again," Her silence and inability to look at him anymore said that he had the green light to continue. "He was just looking out for you, that's all. I'm sure he didn't mean to break his promise."

"No, I'm sure he didn't…" She murmured, though Kurt easily heard her voice breaking.

He took in a deep breath through his nose and let it out the same way. "I picked you to be one of the 300 Spartans… because you were smart and hard-working. I pulled you out of Alpha… because you demonstrated that you were on par with a Spartan-II. And I didn't let you die with the rest of the company because I saw you for all that you were worth. So I had to prevent that from even remotely happening. Celestina," He then closed the gap between them, firm hands on her shoulders. "You are Spartan material. If you truly weren't, I wouldn't have picked you at all. You're just more human than any of the other IIIs. That's something you can't faulted for."

With her head lowered, she still produced a chuckle, though he quickly realized that it was a genuine one. She lifted her head up and said to him, "You sound just like Jun. It's really comforting, considering how 'dependent' I am on him, as you put it," She wiped away any remaining tears and took a breath to calm herself. "You know, if you're trying to get me to work harder at beating this thing… it's working."

That was more than enough for Kurt to smile. "That's good enough for me, Celestina." He acknowledged with a gentle pat on her head.

She giggled at that. Every stinging emotion that was let out seemed miniature to her right now. Though she knew they'll return once again, they would be a little easier to handle. "So… are ever going to call me 'Celest'? Or do you just have a thing for long first names?"

"Well, you've already got other nicknames like 'princess' and 'baby girl', don't you?"

The female Spartan felt like a nuclear bomb had been dropped on her at that moment.

"Surely I get my own way of calling you?" He questioned with a smirk, thought it was a small one.

"You're way too observant for your own good, boss." She narrowed her eyes at him in a playful manner.

He could only shrug his shoulders and conclude it with, "Sorry, Celest, but I'm not sorry."

And her smile grew into a cheerful grin.