0824 Hours, October 21, 2559 (Military Calendar) /
Forerunner Installation The Ark, Stellar location unknown
Ash-G099 ducked beneath a volley of plasma rounds, narrowly evading the superheated projectile that would have melted through him in a matter of seconds. In a moment he was back up and firing. The staccato of a sustained burst from his MA5K sounded and two Grunts fell dead. The Spartan dashed forward to a rocky outcrop that provided better cover from the onslaught of Banished forces. "Saber, report!" he shouted over TEAMCOM.
Shatter Company of the 45th Marine Regiment had been tasked with defending this ridgeline until the Spirit of Fire's science brigade had a chance to clear out any valuable technology from the facility one klick beyond their position. After two days of intense fighting, Shatter was spread thin and nearly exhausted.
Fireteam Saber had been called in nearly twelve hours before to support the battered marines, immediately being directed by Captain Fawson to take position on the rocky knoll on the southeast point of their defensive line. Currently, the young Spartans were all that stood between the Banished and a flanking maneuver that would almost certainly end in the destruction of the entire company and any personnel and equipment still positioned in the facility they defended.
"Looking good from up here," the team's sniper, Mark-G313 reported. He was positioned one quarter of a kilometer back, absconded in a higher point that gave him the proper elevation to make the best use of his specialty. "Banished seem to be pulling back to regroup. Spirit claims our evac will touch down in three minutes."
Olivia-G291, or "O" as she had been known since they were children, answered, "A little winded, but I'm doing okay. Had to clear out a couple of Elites that thought they were going to get the drop on me."
"Confirm Mark's observation - they've pulled back out of range, and it looks like they're regrouping." Dante-G188 radioed in. "I've still got plenty of ordnance here to use on them, so here's hoping they try for one more push."
That left one Spartan to report their status. Ash waited. Nothing came.
"G003, sitrep," he ordered. Still nothing. "G003, status?" He felt the beginning of a panic creep into his throat, grabbing him in a choke-hold.
"Give me a second, business is good today," came an irritated response. The relief he felt at hearing the sound of her voice was enough to make him forgive the impertinence of her response.
"Copy, Holly," he answered. "Do you need backup?"
Several seconds passed before she responded again. "Negative, I'm cleaning up their last charge now. They seem to be –" her voice cut off, the rumbling of an explosion on the other side of the hill blocking out anything Ash might have heard her say anyway.
Without a second thought, the team leader was moving at a dead sprint to the source of the black smoke now billowing into the sky. A second explosion sounded, shaking the ground beneath his boots and rattling his teeth. Ash crested the hill at full speed, taking in the sight below him even as he charged into it.
The bodies of dozens of Banished warriors littered the rocky outcropping, their blood running in rivulets down the face of the small hill. Only three beings were left standing - one, a young woman whose armor's stealth coating shifted and blurred as it matched the terrain behind her. The other two were practically clones of one another, hulking masses of bloodred armor, heavy plasma weaponry, and writhing worm-like creatures that formed their bodies.
Holly was facing down a Hunter pair. And she was losing.
The poor Spartan sagged on her feet, appearing exhausted even from a distance. The comparatively fresh Hunters advanced on her with speed obscured by their hulking forms. Holly was unarmed, her arms shaking in fatigue from the continued fighting and the recent duel she'd taken up with the vastly stronger Mgalekgolo pair. The Hunters leveled their massively destructive weapons on her.
Ash, without the firepower to properly engage the Hunters or even properly distract them, did the only thing he could think of. He collided with Holly, moving at full speed. The impact was enough to send them both sailing through the air - and quite literally not an instant too soon. In the split second after shoved his teammate out of the way, each Hunter opened fire on the exact spot she had occupied.
"What are you doing?" Holly hissed, rolling him off of her as soon as they hit the ground, "you just got us both killed!"
Rather than answer, Ash grabbed Holly by the hand and dashed behind an outcropping of rock just before the Hunters fired again. "I thought you said you didn't need the backup," he said with a grin as they ducked behind the relatively measly cover the stone provided.
"Well, now you both need the backup," Dante's voice cut in smugly, reminding Ash that they were still speaking over TEAMCOM. "And luckily for you both, you've got me." His words were punctuated with a pair of nearly instantaneous explosions that shook the ground and knocked loose chunks off the boulder they crouched behind.
When Ash lifted his head over the top of their cover he was greeted with an incredibly welcome sight - two smoking hunks of charred metal where the Hunters were standing only moments before, and one Spartan hefting an M41-SPNKr over his shoulder.
He extended a hand to the Spartan beside him, hauling her upright when she took hold of it. "Good work, Dante," he commended over TEAMCOM. "Now let's pack it up and get ready for our ride out of here."
That night, Ash slept fitfully. He was plagued by dark images - memories from the Battle of Onyx, playing out in their worst possibilities. Dante, ripped apart by needler fire. Mark, bested in hand-to-hand combat and left broken on the ground. O, lost in a plasma mortar round burning as bright and as hot as the sun.
Worst of all was the image of Holly, not so much killed as destroyed in the face of a Hunter's plasma cannon, taking a shot meant for another Spartan.
Holly had been on his mind a lot since they got back.
Unable to escape the horrific images playing out in his mind, the young Spartan finally gave up on sleep. So he rose from his bunk and took a walk.
Ash didn't usually know where he was going on walks like this. He let his mind wander and his feet follow. It was therapeutic to him, and the expended energy occasionally was enough to let him eke out a couple of hours' sleep before they began the day anew. And so he went, body operating as if it were on autopilot while his brain tried desperately to list off any information it had in its stores to try to replace the nightmare images in his mind.
He was halfway through alphabetizing the various different craft stored in the Spirit's hangar when he felt a hand fall heavily on his shoulder. He hadn't heard them coming up behind him, so focused was he on the task at hand. When they surprised him, he very nearly jumped straight out of his skin.
"Relax, it's just me," a familiar voice whispered, shushing him by placing a finger over his lips. Holly's eyes danced with the laughter she was only just managing to contain.
"What are you doing here?" he hissed in return when he finally gathered his composure. "You're supposed to be asleep."
Holly shrugged. "So are you."
Ash didn't have a good comeback for that. So instead, he turned away and continued his nervous pacing.
"Hey, wait up," Holly called after him, jogging until she could reach out and grab hold of his wrist in her hand. "I needed to talk to you." When he turned a raised eyebrow on her, she took that as leave to talk. "I just never said 'thank you' for what you did earlier. It was a dumb move, but you saved my life."
"That's my job," Ash responded stiffly. "I have to keep you all safe."
Holly rolled her eyes with a playful sigh. "Yeah whatever," she muttered. Something different entered her eyes then - concern. She glanced at the floor and rung her hands together for a moment before finally saying, "I've noticed you've been off ever since we got back. What's wrong?"
Ash thought about lying. These conversations were so much easier when he just said 'nothing' and everyone moved on. Except that this was Holly. Holly knew him better than anyone else - she knew what he was feeling, what he was thinking, and when she was lying. She also knew how to force the truth out of him, whether he wanted to give it or not.
"What happened earlier . . . it reminded me of something," he finally forced out between clenched teeth. "Something that I usually wish I could forget."
Holly nodded, somehow reading his mind. "Onyx," she said knowingly.
"Seeing you there, facing down the Hunters' guns and knowing that you weren't going to make it away . . . it reminded me. Reminded me of how I felt at Onyx. How devastated I was when I thought I'd lost you, and how elated I was when I found out that Kelly had managed to pull you out of the way just in time."
Unable to meet her eyes anymore, Ash picked a point on the wall over her shoulder and fixed his gaze on it. "I don't think I could handle losing you," he finally said. "Back then I promised myself that I'd tell you something. That I wouldn't miss the chance to say it before it was too late. But I've never been able to figure out how."
"Well," Holly said slowly, reaching out with one finger and tilting Ash's chin until their eyes met. "You could try just saying it."
Ash gulped down a breath. His chest felt tight. His mouth was dry. His palms were wet. He felt like he was on fire and at the same time like he was made of ice. After everything he'd done, he couldn't deny that the fear he felt over what he was about to do overshadowed it all.
But then he looked into Holly's big, beautiful brown eyes, and decided he had to do it anyway. Before he lost the chance again, like he almost did today.
"Holly . . . I think I love you."
The young woman's face softened. The hand that still held his chin between thumb and forefinger wrapped around the back of his head, tangling her pale fingers in his longer-than-regulation hair and pulling him toward her until their lips crashed together.
"I've waited a long time to hear you say that," she whispered when they parted, pressing their foreheads together. "Because I think I love you too."
For the rest of that night, with his hand entwined with Holly's, Ash-G099 managed to sleep like a rock.