Chapter 17: Ice Breaking

Shress POV

Shress roamed the ship while Michael slept in his dwelling quarters. She was curious on how human ships differed from the ones she was used to.

She walked along the corridor of the ship and stopped in front of the door next to Michael's quarters. She fought with the door's control panel as she struggled to remember the jumble of numbers that Michael had told her earlier. Finally, she got the door open and peeked inside.

The room wasn't as large or as grand as Michael's. Instead of housing a single bed, there were five strange panels sticking out from opposite sides of the walls and two doors placed on the left wall. She entered and inspected each panel until she realized it's some sort of bed that was far too small for both her and Michael's body. This was where the crew of the small ship would rest.

'Did Michael sleep here once? He admitted that the large quarters area was reserved for an officer, so was this where he slept when he arrived on the planet she now knows as Reach?'

Placed beneath each of the strange panel beds were what looked like large boxes with a small console attached to each of them. Noticing the boxes were partially open, she opened the one under the bed closest to her but found it empty. She slowly worked her way around the room, opening each strange box and glancing in them. She was about ready to leave the last container alone when she noticed that it looked different from the rest. Upon closer inspection, she discovered that the box was closed all the way and the small console was glowing faintly. She was unsure if this meant the contents within were not meant for her to see, but with interest gnawing at her, she reached out and typed in the code with the same code she used to open the door earlier.

The console glowed red and remained locked shut. Thinking she mistyped, Shress tried again, pressing the numbers more slowly to make sure there's no error, but the red light turned on again. She growled, wishing more than ever that there was at least a single command button she could press.

She had no idea why she felt the craving to see what was inside. She withdrew the box and placed it on top of the bed as she examined the console once more. It looked the same as the one on the door, yet the code didn't seem to be working.

'Maybe the red light means it's broken,' she reasoned. 'Didn't Kluan say that red is the color the humans use to signify a piece of machinery is no longer in operation? Or was that just power off buttons?'

She picked the box up, held it at eye level and shook it a little, but heard nothing.

She let out an agitated sigh before putting the container back on the bed and reached for her belt, hesitating for a second. She paused and looked over her shoulder. She thought for a moment before taking off one of her swords, it'll be a lot quieter than the plasma rifle, so it wouldn't disturb Michael's sleep.

The hiss of the sword activating filled the room; the silvery blue light illuminated her surroundings as she bent down and began working. She held the tip of the energy sword a mere centimeter away from the top of the container as the plasma slowly melted the exterior away. She moved the blade all around the box, careful not to drive the sword all the way through and damage whatever could be inside, if there was something inside. As she moved, the sword burned the walls of the container until it glowed bright orange and a blinding light filled the center. Finally, the tip of the weapon completed its journey all the way around.

She took a moment to examine her work and was satisfied to find she had successfully cut the box's top off in a perfect line. She deactivated her sword, clipping it back onto her belt and carefully reaching out, placing her hands on either side of the top portion of the container and lifting it off.

Her excitement diminished when all she found inside was what looked like clothing. She reached in and held up something by her talon. It's colored gray, had long stockings on two of its sides and two openings, a small one on one side and a larger one on the other. She pulls it close to her and sniffs it, detecting what smells like a male and something else, maybe human body odor. She put the cloth to one side and searched the rest of the box. She took out the fabrics one by one until they were all stacked up on the bed; most of them were gray except for one which was bright white with golden ribbons decorating it. So far it's the only cloth she liked.

She sighed, disappointed by her findings. She lifted up a material that splits into two separate stockings with openings at their ends and a larger one at the vertex. She noted how human clothing styles differed from Sangheili, their clothes were all one complete piece, while it seemed common that humans wore two separate pieces for their upper and lower regions.

'How odd,' she thought before placing the clothing back into its container and the top portion back on.

She placed the box back on the floor beneath the bed and hoped it wasn't anything important. She gave the room a final glance before deciding to expect the other two doors and see where they lead. Again, she was disappointed to see that both small leads to the strange quarters with three different size basins. She wondered what is so significant about these rooms for a moment before turning and deciding to explore the rest of the ship.

She exited the chamber and entered the next one. She was baffled when she stepped into the second room. Now…she wasn't really sure what she was looking at. Lined up on one side of the room were large, strange compartments made partially of glass with their lids sticking up while the rest of the room was covered in lights, switches and wiring. Resting next to each of them was what appeared to be consoles, most of which were deactivated. She approached and glanced inside the closest glass compartment. There was something blue at the bottom, made of a substance she could not identify. She reached in and poked it with her talon, the small section collapsed lightly around her finger, and she felt the strange wet softness that the material possessed.

'Is this some sort of bed?'

She pondered the question a bit as she continued to inspect each strange instrument in turn. They were big enough for a regular human being to get into, maybe even Michael. She glanced at her body and guessed that, with enough effort, she too could fit inside the strange devices.

She examined each compartment, but they were all the same, cool blue material at the bottom, mostly made of glass and hooked up to consoles resting by their sides. She would most definitely ask Michael about this strange room.

After leaving the second room she was hesitant to look in the third and final chamber. Considering she's almost done anyway; she might as well finish her small journey. Taking a steady breath, she pressed in the code and the door slid open.

As she entered, her gaze flickered around, her surroundings were much different than earlier.

The room was more spacious than all the past three rooms combined. It's split into two sections, separated by a long table with chairs at its sides. One section was full of cabinets, strange machinery, and a smaller table in the middle, a basin and a closed container standing upright. The other section held another small circular table topped with mounds of what appeared to be human literature. Positioned around it was a variety of weird furniture that Shress had never seen before. There were two of each, one of the furniture was small and shaped like a chair, while the other two were made like a long narrow bed, but a piece of it folds upwards in the back making a cushioning wall while two mounds rest on its sides.

Cautiously she entered the room and decided to look in the section with multiple cabinets first. As she took her first steps, she got a whiff and caught the faint scent of old meat.

'This must be where they keep their rations,' she thought as she lightly touched her stomach. Now that the excitement was over, she realized she was quite hungry. Deciding it's about time for the noon cycle, she followed the smell of the meat, hoping to find something delicious at the end.

Her search led her to the upright container; she opened the door and peered inside. Placed within were large stacks of paper packages. She shivered when she felt a gale of wind whip past her as she sniffed the interior of the container. She smelled the meat, but where? Slowly her gaze turned to the packages inside.

'They wouldn't,' she thought. 'Who would spoil food in this fashion!'

She reached in and took out one of the packages before closing the door. She placed the mound of paper on the small table and tried to unwrap it. She was unable to unfold the carefully folded material, so, mostly out of anger; she ripped it apart with her talons until she uncovered whatever it was.

There was the meat she had smelled, but with one problem. It's completely frozen solid. Her mandibles opened lightly in agitation as she gazed at the cold food before her. She can see it's still red from a fresh kill, but it's covered in a sheet of ice, and as she touched it, she could feel her finger burn from the cold.

'How do these humans survive if they freeze their meals?'

She picked up the frozen meat, held it up in the air above the table and dropped it. The meat crashed onto the metallic table and left a small dent in it. Her maw widened slightly in shock before she growled. She reached for her sword, pulled it out and activated it. She leveled the blade with the hunk of meat, held it steady before pulling it around and took a swipe at the frozen substance. The ice shattered into a million pieces. She carefully brought up her blade and cut off a sliver of the meat and deactivated her sword. She picked up the sliver, one side charred and the other still cold, but she didn't give it a second thought as she sniffed the meat and tossed it into her mandibles which expertly caught the substance and started chewing.

She gagged.

The meat was definitely alien and the fact that it's partly covered in ice didn't help much. She groaned, deciding to leave the meat where it was and continue searching the room for something she could actually eat.

She opened the cabinets and the drawers, sometimes she found the storage spaces were empty but other times she found something. She found some odd utensils, a knife, a small four tip piece of metal and a dull round ended device. She also found bowls, cups and plates, none of them being able to hover though; she wondered what kept them from spilling, especially now that they were traveling. She also found some small square cloth but was unsure what it could be used for.

She opened a bottom cupboard and discovered something strange. Lying in the last cabinet were small containers, most of them looked like they were made of paper and seemed to have never been opened before. She picked up one and slowly turned it as she examined the strangely shaped thing. It had a bunch of numbers on one side and a large picture of some sort of cuisine on the other. She couldn't tell what the picture showed, something flaky, but she was hungry to try anything.

She opened the box and found some sort of brown powder. She picked a small piece of it with her fingertip and held it up for her to examine. She sniffed it, and again pushed it into her mouth where her tongue reached out and tasted it. And again, she gagged.

She sighed as she placed the strange bag on the table along with the frozen meat and shut the cabinet. So far, she had found nothing to eat. She hoped Michael could tell her how this all works before she starved.

Shress made her way to the other section and quickly looked it over. There's nothing significant about the place other than the furniture. She touched one of the overstuffed chairs lightly and felt the unfamiliar plush. She gave it a strange look before trying to sit in it, it was a snug fit, but at least she now had something comfortable to rest on.

She looked at the various pamphlets scattered on the table and picked one up. It's a strange bundle of paper that has been bound together on one side, allowing her only to open and examine the interior within with the unbounded end. She flipped through it and found images of clothing, devices and some sort of yellow vehicle called 'The Hog.' She closed the bundle and looked at the first page which showed an odd looking male smiling quite widely and displaying something gleaming on his wrist. She tried to read the words on the top but wondered if she was reading it wrong, the words appeared to say, 'The Star Edition.'

She placed the bundle down and looked back at the table. There was the human device that she sometimes found discarded on the battlefield. A small black panel that could fit in their hands. It would often glow white. She picked it up and flipped it end over end trying to find anything of significance, but instead found nothing. Unsure on how to activate it, she simply placed it back on the table and looked at the last item.

The final object caught her attention the most. It was another bundle of paper, but these papers seemed to be leathery and there were no images within them but multiple characters from the human language system. She looked at the first page, which was old, worn and appeared to be falling apart, but she liked it. It displayed a human standing in the shadows in front of a single red sun. The human must be a warrior, for he was holding the outline of a weapon, yet he didn't appear to be standing proudly. He was slouching and was holding his gun down, aiming at the floor. At the bottom were big characters that she carefully read, 'Offspring of Combat.'

She tilted her head slightly, 'Is this some sort of saga of a famous warrior, a person whose father's name is combat, or is it a form of archived history?'

She opened it and tried to read but her body felt weak, and her eyes were drooping. She sighed before standing and wondered where she could rest. The beds she had found so far were too small for her; the only one large enough was the bed that Michael was sleeping on at the moment. Her gaze turned to the long furniture that was quite lengthy and seemed to be the only thing where she could find some rest.

She let out a held breath as she laid down on the other furniture piece. It did have enough room for her, barely. It groaned as she placed her full weight on it, but it was comfortable, and she was tired. Maybe a little bit of sleep will tame her hunger. With that hope in mind, she closed her eyes.

However, sleep made it worse.

Shress let out an agitated groan as she pushed herself off the floor and twisted her aching body. The furniture was long enough but not wide enough for her if she chose to roll around in her sleep. And sleeping with her armor on wasn't very comfortable either.

She twisted and cracked her limbs some more before cursing her luck. She wished she had brought some spare clothing, something that was more comfortable than her armor. The reminder that Michael was wearing something underneath his armor while she didn't make Shress feel embarrassed again. Maybe the humans were more logical than she originally thought.

She didn't know how, but the thought of clothing made her remember something. She wondered if Michael would be angry with her for what she was about to do, but the pain in her body returned and she hissed. At the moment she didn't care if Michael was angry, just as long as she got something more comfortable than her armor plating.

Grumbling slightly, she left the room and went back to what she had dubbed the crew's sleeping quarters. She walked back to the container that held the strange clothing, put it on top of a panel bed and took off the lid.

The dully colored clothing was still there; she took each one off and began holding each up against her body. There should be enough fabric. Shress removed one of her swords again and sliced off a small piece of the bed, no longer nor sharper than one of her claws. She then, regretfully, reached into the box and pulled out the white cloth with gold ribbons attached. She hoped the piece of fabric didn't belong to a human priest or anyone else of great importance as she removed the golden ribbons and slowly began untwining them.

Six POV

Six groaned as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and cringed a little. He felt terrible.

His body was battered, bruised, shot and cut close to pieces; his teammates were all gone; Reach was nothing more than a ball of glass floating in space, and now his armor was ruined. To a spartan, any spartan, the MJOLNIR armor was an extension of his body. As Six looked down at the discarded pieces on the floor, he felt like he was looking at the mangled body of a close friend. That suit of armor had been with him since he finished his lone wolf training. Sure, he modified it a little over the years, but it was the same suit and had kept him safe. But now he felt exposed and unprotected.

Painfully, Six rose to his feet and stretched as his hands reached towards the ceiling. He let out a small grunt as he felt his scabs stretch to their limit. He glanced at the suit he was wearing and frowned. The temperature level in his MJOLNIR system adjusted to his body temperature, but when he was out of his armor, the bodysuit caused him and every other spartan to overheat.

This wouldn't be much trouble to Six, usually he had spare clothes to change into or he could just strip himself of the suit. But he had no other set of clothing, and he most certainly can't strip here —not with Shress on board.

He shivered at the thought. Normally being naked didn't bother Six that much, even in front of women; in boot camp he got dressed and undressed in front of all his peers. But Shress…? No. He couldn't do that. Even as he stood there, he suddenly had an urge to go see what she was doing, to talk to her, to hold her…maybe even kiss her again.

Six shook his head.

'No, no, no!' He thought to himself, 'These are not the thoughts of a Spartan. Besides, you don't even know how she feels. She could be disgusted by the things you are thinking of.'

Then again, before he fell asleep, she seemed to like being with him, she even purred, which still surprised Six.

'Never thought I would get a reaction like that from her.' He thought, 'Does that mean she feels the same way?'

Deep down he hoped so, otherwise he was going nuts for wanting to be with someone, an alien at that. The thought of her wanting to be with him is comforting and provides him with a…warm feeling.

Six rubbed his eyes before deciding to get up and see how she was doing. He got out of the bed and moved across the room, slightly dragging his feet so he could feel the softness of the rug beneath him. At the door, he paused and looked to his right. Positioned close to the door was a closet he didn't see when Shress placed him in the room earlier. Hoping he'll find something more comfortable; he looked inside.

The small room was bare except for a small dresser, which had some clothes sprouting out from it. He opened it and started to inspect everything within. After a few moments of shifting things around, he found only three pairs of casual work wear clothes, one pair of workout clothes and one dress uniform. He let out a disappointed sigh at his discovery, so far there was nothing in his size, but he might as well make the best of it.

He made sure the main entrance into the living quarters was locked before he started taking off his suit. The compressed clothing put up a struggle as Six undid the zipper and started peeling it off. The gray material clung onto his crevices and had to be pulled off with Spartan strength.

Finally the suit fell away leaving him nude. He hobbled over to the dresser but paused before he put anything on. He looked himself over a bit and let out a hiss of sympathy. His entire body was covered in bruises, he had sustained cuts, probably when his body slammed against the interior of his suit during his many fights, and dry blood was streaked across his form.

He was a mess. Upon seeing himself, Six thought about taking a shower, but he really wanted to check on Shress real quick. Finally he just grabbed the workout clothes and headed to the restroom, deciding to do a quick rinse at the sink.

The cool tile of the bathroom floor sent shivers down his spine. He looked at the mirror over the basin and was surprised by his appearance.

His face was cut, bruised, and bloodied, just like the rest of his appearance, but there was something different about it. He was twenty-two years old, but he looked much older. He looked like had not slept in years. His skin looked worn, his eyes seemed tired, and he had a five o'clock shadow running along the bottom of his face. This appearance was definitely different from his usual clean-cut appearance.

He let out a held breath before reaching for a rag, twisted a knob, wet it, and started cleaning his body. He gritted his teeth as the warm water seeped into his skin and almost cried out when it came into contact with an open wound. He was forced to rub away the dried red substance the best he could, letting out hisses of discontent as he did it. He washed his body down, from his head all the way down to his ankles until his pale skin flushed pink. His cuts were starting to turn into scabs already. He then turned to a small compartment with a razor and made sure his face was clean shaven.

With that out of the way, he then turned his attention to the small clothes he had and started putting them on. The underwear and shorts were a tight fit; it was close to tearing when he finally fit both of them on. On an average sized person, the shorts would have fallen to his knees, but for a spartan it looked like he was wearing a brand of shorty shorts. Next, he forced the shirt on; it came close to suffocating him as he forced it onto his body. His chest and muscles bulged from them. With some agitation, Six grabbed each sleeve and ripped them off, leaving him with a sleeveless shirt.

He looked at himself once more, unsure what to think of his new attire. It definitely looked too small for him and there's obviously no need for him to be wearing workout clothes since it looked as if he was contest ready for a bodybuilding show. He felt self-conscious at the amount of skin being exposed, he usually wasn't bothered by this, but the fact that he was going to have to walk around Shress like this…the thought suddenly made him want to put his bloody gray suit back on.

He shivered before turning and making his way out of the bathroom, continued across the room and approached the exit of his living quarters. He had no idea why, but he suddenly felt nervous as he opened the door and stepped out.

Six barely got two steps into the hallway when he heard a hiss and looked to his left just in time to see Shress step out. At first, he wasn't sure if it was Shress; she wasn't wearing her Zealot armor but something else.

They locked eyes and almost at the exact time they both asked, "What are you wearing?"

Six knew he must look ridiculous, but he didn't expect to see Shress looking the way she looks now. She seemed to be wearing some sort of single piece gray dress that had been sewn together with golden string. It was wrapped around her and was held up with an improvised sash around her hips. She had forgone her helmet, leaving her head, hands, and feet bare. Her attire reminded him of the old kimonos that he remembers seeing in old history books.

After the initial shock was over he began to go over her figure once more. Despite her xenomorphic origins, she seemed… beautiful in the Spartan's eyes. He had no idea what sparked that thought, as he had seen a lot of beautiful women in his time.

"Are you alright?"

Shress's question brought Six out of his thoughts as he blushed. He had been checking her figure out right in front of her, but Shress's expression suggested that she was blissfully unaware.

"Yes, I'm fine," Six said, trying to resist the urge to look away from her eyes before gesturing at her clothes. "So, where did you find that?"

She glanced down at the kimono with a bashful look before saying, "I hope you don't mind, but I made it using some old clothing I found."

Six had no idea why but the look she gave him caused him to smile as he replied, "It's alright. No one is using these anyway." He said, also glancing down at his own set of clothes.

Shress smiled back at him. "I noticed there was a lack of clothes that would fit you."

"Sometimes it's tough being a spartan."

Shress nodded to this before they both fell back into silence. Finally, Six spoke up and asked, "Did you have something to eat or are you hungry?"

He was taken aback when she let out a small growl, "I couldn't find anything to eat."

Six frowned and said, "Are you sure? We should have enough food to last us at least two months."

She shook her head. "I think I have found some substances, but they are inedible."

The Spartan looked down and then looked up at her, "Well let's have a quick look." With that, he sidestepped Shress and walked down the hall. It wasn't long before he heard Shress's footsteps following closely behind him.

Six entered the rec room and did a quick perimeter scan. He knew there were no threats on board the ship, but some old habits die hard.

He made his way to the kitchen area and found a block of frozen steak resting in a small puddle of half melted ice on the countertop along with a small package of dehydrated bread that appeared to have spilled a small amount onto the table.

Six motioned to the present food on the countertop and said, "Well, here's something we can eat."

Shress growled once more in reply, "How? If I can't consume this, then surely you can't" She paused before adding, "I'm sorry, I'm not trying to make you sound weaker than I."

"It's alright," Six said as he began inspecting the room. "We don't eat our food like this. We prepare it first."

Shress cocked her head to the side, "Prepare it how?"

"With these," Six replied as he took out two cube-shaped machines about two feet long in width and height from a cabinet and set them on the counter.

Shress approached and inspected the strange equipment, "Where were these? I didn't see them earlier."

"They're usually pushed away in the back of the cabinet, so they're usually hard to find when it's dark," Six answered as he began activating both machines. He then opened the door of the microwave and placed the hunk of meat in there before dialing the numbers one and zero. A bright light filled the interior of the box, causing Shress to lean in a little to see what was happening. After ten seconds the machine dinged and Six took out the now warm steak.

Shress stared at the meat with amazement, "How did you do this?"

"I just warmed it up," Six said as he inspected the meat and found that it was still slightly red, but before he could cook it some more, Shress tore off a small bit of the steak and popped it into her mouth.

Six couldn't help but stare as he watched her use her mandibles to chew and push the food into her mouth.

She swallowed, licked her chops and proclaimed, "Delicious."

Six looked back down at the steak before looking up at Shress again, "You eat your meat raw?"

"Raw?" She asked.

"You don't cook it?" Elaborates Six.

"What does 'cook' mean?" Six was dumbstruck for a moment before shaking himself awake and answered, "To cook is to warm up food, or heat it."

"Why would you do this?" She asked, sounding quite baffled.

"Because human's teeth are weak, when we heat food, it becomes tender and easier for us to eat. It can also destroy diseases that's hidden on the meat," Six said.

"Hidden diseases?" Shress asked slowly before reaching over, took a whole strip of meat and placed it back into her mouth. Six again watched in fascination as she ate it before she said, "I've been dining on meat all my life, not once have I ever gotten sick because of it."

The spartan shrugged before saying, "Maybe Sangheili have better immune systems than humans do, or the meat you have eaten didn't have the possibility to carry disease."

Shress was silent, probably unsure what to say next so Six grabbed a nearby plate, placed the meat on it and offered the plate to her, "Do you want it?"

Her eyes widened a bit before she asked, "You want to offer me… the whole thing?"

"Uh, yeah." Replied Six hesitantly as he wondered if he accidently stepped over another Sangheili boundary line.

Shress studied him a little before taking the meat. She grabbed the whole thing with one of her hands, lifted it up and bit into it. Now Six really couldn't look away as he watched her mandibles each tear a chunk of meat, pull it off and toss it between her other mandibles before forcing it down her throat. Most people might have found it disgusting that she ate with her mouth open, but it looked like there was no way for her to keep the world from watching her chew.

After gulping down the portion, she smiled and looked at Six and said, "Thank you, but what are you going to eat?"

Six picked up the open box of dehydrated bread and held it up, "I'm not sure if I can stomach anything solid at the moment so I'll just have this."

Shress watched once more as Six turned around and opened the door to the second machine and placed it inside. Unlike the microwave, the dehydrator only had two buttons, dehydrate and rehydrate. He pressed the icon marked 'rehydrate', and the box let off a hum and blue light emitted from the fissures in the machine. Unlike last time however, this process took thirty seconds before the light and hum disappeared as a bell dinged.

Six opened the door and brought out a whole loaf of bread before Shress's amazed eyes.

"What is it?" She asked as she came closer to stare at the bread.

"It's called bread," Six explained as he wrapped the loaf in a napkin, "It's kind of hard to explain, but farmers plant wheat, harvest it, then somehow it is turned into bread. The UNSC dehydrates it to make it more packable, better used for traveling."

Shress gave him a blank look, so he asked, "Do you know what farming is?"

She slowly nodded her head, "Most of our food production is done with paid workers from the other races, although I don't know the first thing about how it works." She then dipped her head and seemed to be deep in thought about something, seemingly ignoring the world around her.

Six then got up and led the way to the cushioned furniture, figuring it would be more comfortable than the counter.

Six wanted to sit on the couch with her but figured it would be a little too awkward at the moment, especially since he had no idea what she thought of him. He sat on an easy chair close to the coffee table while Shress sat in the opposite chair and leaned back. They looked at each other briefly before turning their attention to their breakfast in hand.

Six slowly tore off a small chunk of bread and placed it in his mouth. He wished he could chew on some meat as well, but he wasn't sure he could hack it as his teeth already felt as if they were about ready to fall out of his mouth. He just continued taking bits and pieces off the bread, hoping it would fill his stomach.

"Was everything all right?" The question brought Six out of his thoughts. He looked up at Shress who was almost done consuming her meat and was now peering at Six with a curious expression.

He gave her a smile before saying, "I'm alright, why do you ask?"

"You're sitting very rigidly. I just thought you were in pain," she said, concern clear in her silver eyes.

Six relaxed his pose a little as he responded, "Just some more spartan training: always be on guard."

She gave him a look that appeared as if her mouth was on the verge of smiling, "Don't you demons ever take a rest from slaughtering?"

He was glad to hear the teasing behind her voice as she said this. He gave a light chuckle before saying, "Well, yeah, we take breaks. Not a lot, but enough to be well rested for the next fight," his voice faded after this as he became afraid of offending Shress.

They stared at each other again before returning to their food, awkward tensions becoming worse and worse with each bite. It wasn't long before they had both finished their meals. They placed their plates and napkins on the table, now leaving them with nothing to occupy themselves with as they gave each other fleeting looks before looking away.

'Maybe I should have fixed those cryo tubes,' Six thought to himself when Shress's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"What's this?"

Six woke up from his thinking and looked to see Shress holding something up. His eyes slightly widened as he asked, "Where did you get that?" while holding out his hand for the object.

"I found it on the table. Is it some sort of archive?" She asked as she handed him the book. Six stared down at the novel for a moment in awe. It had been a long time since he held or even seen a book, let alone this particular book. The cover was worn but the image was still visible, one that he admired and loved ever since reading the digital copy almost fifteen years ago during boot.

"This is a book," Six said slowly as he handled the volume carefully as if it was as fragile as an egg, "It's a form of archive, some were of make believe stories or about history." He looked up at her as he held the novel up for her to see. "This one is the personal story of Mei Xie, a famous tale of combat heroism during humanity's first interplanetary war back in the twenty third century."

He could tell she was interested as she perked up a bit before asking, "So this is an archived history of a hero, yes?"

Six couldn't help but smile as he wondered what her reaction would be when he tells her, "Yes, but it's about a female hero to be precise."

He just about laughs as he saw her mandibles widen in what appeared to be the Sangheili version of astonishment as she stuttered, "A-a-a female hero?"

He smiled at her and nodded, "To tell you the truth. It's one of my favorite war stories, full of heart, valor and a bit of honor, I suppose."

Shress still looked like she was going through deep shock as she struggled to comprehend this. Her mandibles were moving but no sound was emitted and her hands were flexing every so often as if she was in a struggle for something. Six started to feel slightly worried about her reaction, but she looked back up and asked, "Do you think you…that is if you don't mind, could you…" She looked away.

Six wished he could take her hand and rub it, but instead he leaned forward and asked, "What?"

She glanced around him, avoiding eye contact.

"Can you read it to me?"

Six tried his best not to look too surprised at this. This made sense. They had not spent much time on learning the alphabet, and he knew for sure there were some words and phrases in the book that Shress wouldn't be able to understand.

Shress suddenly straightened her posture.

"Never mind. It's not important."

She turned to leave but Six suddenly found himself on his feet as well as he said, "No, it's no problem at all." Shress looked back at him as he gulped as he motioned towards the couch next to her. "Why don't we sit and I can read it to you, and, while I do, you can look at the words and try to read it with me."

Six already felt his hands growing moist with sweat as well on his brow, but who could blame him? He wondered how Shress would feel about being close to him again as they read. He wanted to ask her about that, but couldn't voice the words at the moment; he was almost afraid of what her answer was going to be if he did.

However, Shress gave him a shy smile as she said, "Agreed," and slowly lowered herself onto the couch. Six forced his legs to move, one step at a time, until he was standing by the couch and sat down next to her. Before he fell asleep the night before (he assumed it was about nighttime then) it felt nice being with Shress and being in contact with her, but at the moment he felt nervous and he could tell by Shress's subtle movements that she was too.

He gulped a couple of times before opening the book and started reading, "The first time I left Earth, the first time I left my ancestral home, I knew things were going to be different…"

Six had no idea how long he had been reading, long enough for the both of them to get up and get their next two meals that's for sure. For some reason, Six didn't feel tired, nor did his voice seem to fail. He was sure he had read for almost ten hours straight, but that didn't bother him, or Shress who he knew for sure now really, really liked the story.

After what he assumed was dinner, Shress, more relaxed than usual, lay down along the length of the couch and placed her head close to Six's sitting position. She anxiously asked if he was ok with her lying close to him. His smile was enough even though he could feel his pulse starting to race.

She no longer kept her eyes on the pages as she closed her eyes and listened to the Spartan read the story, occasionally asking questions here and there. Six could tell she was intrigued by the story of the female marine, since, as she explained to him earlier, she had never heard or read a story detailing the life of a female warrior. Knowing she was feeling a certain connection towards the tale, he tried to put more feeling into his words and bring the story to life as he continued to read. He wasn't sure if he was successful until he heard a light purr from Shress that steadily began to build as he read.

At some parts he hesitated, unsure what Shress will make of the battle scenes which, in his opinion, seemed to be deprived of honor. She would open her eyes as she listened to booby traps, ambushes, and details of mass troop massacres during planet wide bombardments. However, when the hero of the story gave her enemy a chance to fight for his life, Shress would nod her approval.

Six knew Shress was being exposed to a whole new kind of warfare as the character of the story talked about forming bonds with her teammates, talks of what she wished to do with her life after the war and especially how she hoped of marrying her childhood friend back from her hometown. Shress gave a brief explanation to Six of how Sangheili viewed warfighters. Being a warrior was everything, from birth to death; that was all that mattered to them. To leave it behind forever was an unthinkable thought among their species. Six didn't get a chance to offer his opinion on the matter as he returned to reading, unsure of what he would do with his own life when the Covenant war ended. If it ended.

Some parts of the story confused her, but Six knew the end would make up for it.

He took one last breath as he finished, "So that has been my life. From the battlefronts of the frontiers to the decks of warships. My life has gone in many different directions. I remembered all those prayers I have said, all those dreams I had shared and all the words I had spoken when I dreamed of returning home and living a good life with a good man. But truth be told, if my people are ever in need again, should I ever hear the cry of justice and of duty again, I will not hesitate to answer. This story was written to honor my fallen comrades and ensure that people know the true cost of peace. My time in the military included some of the worst times in my life, but also some of the best times of my life. Rest in peace my fallen brothers and sisters."

With that, Six let out a sigh as he closed the book, causing Shress to look up at him. He smiled down at her and said, "Well that was the first time I have finished a story in a single day."

Shress offered an apologetic smile as she said, "Sorry, once you started I couldn't bring myself to tell you to stop."

Six chuckled as he heard the embarrassment in her voice.

"It was my pleasure, Shress La'Vdamee."

Her smile abruptly faded and she looked away from Six.

Feeling concerned for his friend streaming through him, the spartan sat a little straighter and asked, "Shress? What's wrong?"

Shress took a shaky breath before looking up at him and says, "Please don't call me La'Vdamee."

Six tilted his head, mimicking Shress whenever she looked puzzled and asked, "Why?"

"I am no longer part of the Covenant. My name is no longer La'Vdamee. It's just La'Vdam now."

Six raises an eyebrow, but almost as if Shress could read his thoughts she said, "To signify our allegiance to the Covenant we attached the suffix 'ee' to our family names. If we were ever… disgraced," She seemed to choke on the word, "Then the honorable title would be cut from our names."

Six knew her life among the Covenant was still a touchy subject for her and instantly shut up, however, the damage had been done. As he looked down at Shress, her excitement for the story had quickly disappeared.

He couldn't stand to see her this way. Once more it's as if his body was acting on its own accord as Six reached for her, gently grabbed her shoulders, and pulled her towards him until her head was resting on his lap. She let out a surprise gasp as a stunned look filled her eyes, but before she could say anything, Six reached down and began lightly massaging her face. She laid still in shock as Six's hands slowly stoked the side of her mandibles, head and cheeks. Six had no idea what he was doing or where he learned to do this, but he continued to stroke Shress's face ever so cautiously. The initial surprise was over, soon she closed her eyes and her low humming filled the air once more as she laid her head fully on Six's lap. The Spartan could only smile as he continued to move his sliding fingers over her head, feeling content with distracting her from thinking of what she had lost.

Soon, Six's mind started to drift as he continued to touch Shress's face.

'Does she like me? More than a friend?'

He had to admit, after their last few encounters, he had been wishing to come closer and closer to Shress for almost days now.

'Did she come and save him from Reach out of friendship or something more?'

His mind snapped back into reality when he realized something. He knew almost nothing about Shress. He looked down at her, who looked so peaceful that he was reluctant to wake her, but he leaned in and asked softly, "Shress?"

"Mhh?" She opened one eye lid, allowing a silver slit orb to stare up at him in such a playful manner that Six smiled at her.

Finally, Six recovered his wits before asking, "Shress, I know that you don't want to think about it or anything, but I'm wondering…what is Sanghelios like?"

Shress opened both her eyes as she looked up at him and she asked, "My home? Why do you ask?"

He shrugged as he continued to lightly stroke her face, "Just curiosity, I guess."

She stared at him for a few more seconds with a look that the spartan could not identify. He started to wish he could change the subject, but before he got the chance, Shress closed her eyes and spoke almost in a dream-like trance.

"Sanghelios is a beautiful planet, Michael. It is constantly blooming, almost every day because of the three suns that the planet orbits. We also have two moons that rotate around us as well, depending on the time and on the season, the La'Vdam manor receives about eight hours of darkness annually."

She sighed and he thought he saw her eyelids quiver a bit.

She continued, "The La'Vdam keep is established on the continent of Vaardma. It is home to almost ten thousand warrior families. Its main keep is established near the mountain range that cuts across the continent. It is truly magnificent to see, especially when all three suns begin to set during the summer solstice, making the mountains appear as if they have been carved directly out of the sky and painted maroon and purple. There is a lake close by where my father would train the younglings. It was my favorite training session, because even if I lost, I would fall into the cool water."

"It sounds incredible," Commented Six. "One thing though, I thought females weren't allowed to fight, so how was it that you received training?"

Shress was silent for a moment before answering, "We are more alike than you think Michael. Among Sangheili, it is not uncommon for our keeps to wage war against one another. Since most of the males are serving among the Covenant, this leaves the women and some trained younglings to defend ourselves."

Six frowned slightly, "Couldn't the Covenant stop all the keeps from fighting?"

Shress gave a shaky breath, "Maybe, but now that I think about it, perhaps the prophets just liked to see us squabble." Her purring had disappeared, replaced with a soft growl as she sat up.

Six waited for her to calm down a bit. His heart gave a small pang of pain from her distance, before asking, "Why?"

"Why what?" Shress asked as she looked over at him.

"Why did you want to be a warrior, and how did you become one?" Six asked.

She pondered for a moment before responding, "My mother told me my father's wishes once." Her voice changed into one of somber respect as she spoke of her family, "He wished for his mate, my mother, to bear him sons so that the La'Vdam family can relish in the honor of having their children serve in such a 'holy' cause." She looked up at Six, "But as the summers passed, my mother was unable to bear any more children and I wanted to earn my father's approval. So, when I was given the chance, I decided to be the first female Sangheili to fight within the Covenant."

Six smiled at her, "He must be proud of you, for you accomplished so much."

Sadly she shook her head, "No, he isn't proud. He is disgusted." She closed her eyes as she elaborated, "Females are the masters of the household, I will admit that, but should we stray from that path we are often met by ridicule, sexism, and disrespect. There was a time when my father was proud of me. Not for long, though. Soon, he was mocked by other keep lords and warriors because of my involvement in the world of men. Now he acts as if I never existed. He hates what I have done."

Six stared at her with awe as he said, "And yet, despite all that, you still accomplished so much. You became more than just a common warrior Shress. You became a Zealot."

Shress smiled before bowing her head, "Thank you, Michael."

He didn't want to press her some more, but his curiosity refuses to remain at bay as he asks, "How was it you became a warrior, though, I mean, how were you able to get into the Covenant?"

Shress let out a sigh and her eyes seemed to glaze over as a mist clouds them, "Every summer, females had to show the males that we are capable warriors, and that we can watch and protect our keeps should a war envelop the land." Her voice grew distant as she continued, "It is a rather large event in our keep. I had the privilege to have my showing be during a visit from one of the prophet hierarchs, Truth. He began a conversation with the Kaidon on one of the viewing platforms that overlooked the field, my father, though I did not know it at the time. Since both the ruler of my home and one of the leaders of the Covenant were present, I pushed myself to fight harder and more fiercely than all of my opponents did."

Her eyes started to take a ferocious gleam as she continued, "One by one, every opponent that stepped before me I defeated. Smaller keep's challengers and younger champions met me on the field and fell before me, until I ran out of other younglings and females to defeat, and I was the only one standing in the field." She leaned back into the plush cushions of the couch and stared off into the far wall across the room, her muscles tensed as if she was getting prepared for a battle. "It was then that the high prophet spoke up. He said he was impressed by my warrior spirit, and that if I wish to prove myself to be a warrior, I would have to fight one who had already proven their worth. If I did so, I would be able to serve their holy cause as a warrior of the Covenant."

She let out the small whistling noise that six recognized as a bitter laugh as she shook her head and her beautiful silver eyes looked to him, "I should have realized back then that I was the daughter of the Kaidon, because my father's face was filled with such horror when they handed me a real energy sword, and one of the honor guards tasked with guarding the Prophet stepped down."

Six took an instant disliking to Truth, not because the San' Shyuum in question wanted to stir up trouble over such a petty thing, but because he very obviously tried to kill Shress for entertainment.

'Why is that bothering me now?' The spartan wondered to himself before asking, "So what happened?"

Shress was silent for a whole minute, one of her clawed hands moving to touch a previously unnoticed scar that ran along her right arm, before finally saying, "I won."

Six looked at her and saw that she was no longer making eye contact with him. He realized that even though she won, her family saw her as a failure. To go against the tradition of what was intended for her as a female must have been seen as a dishonorable thing.

With the urge to comfort her returning, he leaned over and curled an arm around her shoulder. This caused her to look over at Six as he spoke, "You did what you were meant to do, Shress. I may not like the prophets," She let out a loud snort of amusement as she turned her head to look back over to him. "But he was right. You have a warrior's spirit, and no one can take that away from you."

"But," She looked away from him and continued, "To turn away from the traditions of a female in such a way is considered dishonorable, making me look unappealing…undesirable." Her voice faded as she closed her eyes, which began to water.

Six leaned over and before he could stop himself, planted a kiss on Shress's forehead. Her mandibles shivered as she opened her eyes and stared at the spartan next to her.

"You came and saved me from the middle of a battlefield." Six tells her softly, "Out of everyone in the UNSC, it was you, my friend from another planet, that came and saved me. You are the most dependable and honorable person I have ever met, Shress."

Shress stared over to him, speechless, but he could tell what he said had lifted her spirits. She raised her hand and cupped Six's cheek as she said, "Thank you."

He smiled at her and began stroking her head once more. Shress leaned against Six's body as her hand moved from his face to his shoulder and held him in the form of a hug.

They were both content at the moment, the only sound being Shress's purring as she rested against Six's body. After a few minutes of peaceful silence, Shress leaned away slightly and looked over at Six, "What about you?" He gave her a questioning look so she asked again, "Where are you from?"

Six paused his hand stroking as he pondered over the question. Where was he from? He tried to concentrate on it, concentrate on his life before volunteering to be a spartan. He closed his eyes as he thought. He remembered something, a room full of people; all of them were laughing and seemed to be talking to one another. A party maybe? Then they started to scream, and someone picked him up. He remembered seeing the frantic mob right before he was shoved into a space freighter. As it pulled away, he watched through a view port as large violet ships hovered over a city in the distance before releasing a powerful beam of light. After that…He was on a street somewhere, living on his own until two adults in black suits approached him, asked him if he wanted to fight. As a kid, he had no idea what the man was asking, but it resulted with boot camp, the transformation process, and ended with him sitting where he was now, a spartan.

His life was stolen from him in the form of the Covenant. Unlike the Spartan II's, he fought with a vengeance, as well as every other third generation spartan, all willing to make the Covenant pay. Six always figured he would fight the Covenant to the end of his days, hating the aliens for the rest of his life for what they took from him. But here he was: traveling in space with Shress resting her head on his shoulder, both relaxed and both comforted in each other's presence.

"Michael?"

He was brought out of his thinking and looked back into Shress's beautiful eyes once more as she asked, "Where are you from? Are you from Earth, or one of your colonies?"

Six felt slightly humiliated as he answered, "I don't know."

Shress gave an odd look before smiling at him and laughed, "How can you not know where you are from?"

Six helplessly shrugged and said, "No one ever told me." His voice faded away as he became unsure what to say next.

The smile disappeared off of Shress as she said in a sober voice, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply…What about your parents? Who were they?"

"I don't know."

"Well…what about your family name, can you not find them through that?"

"I… don't know."

There was a moment of silence between them before Shress finally asked in an unbelieving voice, "How can you not know where you came from, who your parents are, or your family name?"

Six shook his head, unable to make eye contact with Shress, "I can't remember… nobody has ever told me."

Silence enveloped them as Six refused to look at Shress, unsure what she'll think of his situation. However, he didn't expect her hand to lightly grab his chin and pull it up until he was back to looking her in her eyes.

"Well from what I can tell," Shress said as she looked into Six's eyes. "You must be from a great warrior family that resided in a great palace in a powerful city-state."

Six couldn't take her solemn tone seriously as he cracked a smile at her, "Or I could just be the son of a farmer from the disheveled outer colonies."

She cocked her head to the side a little, "And why, pray tell, would you thi–"

A loud whistling that rang throughout the ship. At the sound, Six groaned as he lifted himself out of his comfortable position to make his way to the command deck. Shress quickly stood up from the couch shortly after.

"Michael, what's going on? What is that noise?" She called out from behind him, her loud footsteps making a sharp contrast to his near silent ones on the cold metal floor.

"It's the early warning signal, we are about to drop out of slipspace." He said, rushing to the control center. "

Already? Perhaps I did a better job than I thought." Her voice had a hint of annoyance and a bit of resignation in it.

He secured himself at the navigation terminal and turned his head to look at Shress in the hatch, seeing her nervously looking toward the floor. "We are not arriving on Earth. Humanity as a whole must follow protocols to prevent Covenant ships from finding our homeworld's location." He explained as he braced himself for the sudden stop. "I would brace myself if I were you."

Shress grabbed hold of both sides of the hatch and tensed her muscles.

A small beeping noise came out of the console, drawing his attention to the monitor in front of him, when the ship came to a halt in an instant. Six's breath left his lungs as the force of the jump drove him into the belt enough to strain his injuries. He grunted in pain as the viewport showed the return to realspace before him. They had arrived at the randomly generated coordinates that he had typed when they left Reach. They were officially in the middle of nowhere.

"Well that was stronger than it usually is." He joked, regaining his breath, before he heard a groan of pain behind him and turned to see if his alien friend was unharmed, "Shress? Are you–"

He could not finish, as when he turned around he could see that she was no longer in the hatch. There were claw marks etched into it as evidence that her attempts at bracing herself were unsuccessful. He glanced down and saw that she was sprawled onto the floor. Her face was red with an expression so full of anguish that Six couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"I told you to brace yourself," he teased.

Shress groaned and pulled herself up, clearly embarrassed. He was sure he heard her curse a 'primitive ship' or something in Sangheili.

Relieved that Shress was okay, He glanced down and focused all of his attention on the navigation and sensory equipment in front of him. He did a thorough scan of all of the ship's surroundings, completely disregarding the sound of shuffling cloth and angry snarls behind him.

After a moment, Shress walked up behind him, hand rubbing the side of her head. "If we are not arriving on Earth, where are we?" She asked curiously, looking at the viewport over his shoulder, glancing into the darkness of space.

Thankful for the distraction and the ability to shift his mind to something else other than the war going on between his body and his mind, he recited the article of the Cole Protocol that he had been forced to recite daily during boot, "All human vessels fleeing from alien forces must do so on a randomly generated vector away from UNSC core world locations." He informed her in the steadiest voice he could manage. "We do it to prevent any ships tracking us from stumbling on another colony… or Earth."

Shress hummed in agreement, "It is a wise policy, though next time I hope you will give me more time to brace myself." She prodded his shoulder with a talon.

Before he could react, the computer in front of him let out a series of beeps. He looked at the screen to see that he had received an all clear from the sensory equipment. They had not been followed. Reaching over to the navigation computer, he began to type in the coordinates to Earth. He hesitated as his finger hovered over the icon 'enter.' Did he truly trust her enough to reveal his homeworld's location? He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, and for some reason, just by seeing her, just by thinking about her, he knew the answer. With a quick "click" he pressed the button, the hum of the engines powering back on filling the compartment.

"I realize I didn't give you much time last time, but we are about to make the jump back into slipspace. You might want to take a seat." He gestured to one of the unoccupied chairs on the deck.

She hurried into the seat next to him and grabbed hold of the armrests. This time he could hear the groan of the metal she was gripping as she put all of her strength into holding on. He was about to explain how the seatbelts worked when the boom sounded through the spacecraft and he was shoved into his seat.

He let out a sigh when the ship became stable again, and he clicked the release on his seatbelt. "Well, that was interesting. Are you okay?" He asked, hoping to lighten the mood a bit.

She nodded slowly before opening her mandibles wide and yawned. Realizing she was tired, Six was about to ask her if she wished to turn in when a thought struck him.

"Shress?" He asked, "Where did you sleep last night?"

"On the couch," she said casually as she gestured to the hallway. Six quickly thought about the furniture In question; it's long enough for Shress to lie down on, but not enough room for her to spread out and such.

"I'm guessing you didn't get a comfortable nap then."

Shress merely shrugged and said, "I make do with what I have, it's actually quite comfortable compared to some of the other places where I have had to sleep before."

Despite her words, Six wanted her to get some proper rest, especially after everything that had happened to her, from her rescuing him and so forth; she deserved it.

With that in mind, he asks, "Would you like to sleep in the officer's bed tonight?"

Shress's eyed lock onto his as she pushed herself up out of the chair, clear indents on the metal armrests where her hands were previously, and asked, "But what about you?"

"I can sleep on the couch tonight," Six said as he started to make his way to the rec room.

Shress was already shaking her head as she answered, "No, Michael. You need to make a full recovery. You need to be sleeping comfortably to do that."

"Oh, so it wasn't comfortable to sleep there then is it?" Six questioned.

She gave him a small growl, "I can take it, you, on the other hand, need to rest."

"So do you," argued Six. "You deserve it, I feel like we both went through the same hardships together. If I need rest then so do you."

She growled once more, "Well I'm not sleeping in the bed tonight."

"Well then neither will I."

They both stared hard at one another, trying to find weaknesses in the other's arguments until the spartan finally sighed and said, "Why don't we compromise?"

"How?" Demanded the Sangheili with a snarl.

Six was starting to get annoyed with her, it was because of that he blurted out his next words, "We can share the bed."

Anxiety, confusion and just plain awkwardness suddenly clouded them as they stared at each other as they tried to remain calm and appear as if they were in control of themselves, but Six felt his body slightly balking a bit over his radical resolution. Shress appeared the same way, unable to even believe what it was that Six had said as she froze like a statue.

Finally after a near minute of silence she stuttered, "W-what?"

"N-nothing," Six answered, his face returning to its flushed appearance. "Just a slip of the tongue."

Shress shook her head, "That's not what you said." When she looked into his eyes she asked, "Did you invite me to your bed?"

Six quickly raised his hands, "To sleep in, n-nothing more."

Shress looked as if she was having a hard time processing this as Six struggled to keep himself from blushing.

Shress looked into his eyes, "Just to sleep in?"

"You have my word," Six said as he held up his hands once more as if he was surrendering.

Shress eyed him closely before saying, "Well…it would be more comfortable than that piece of furniture…"

Six moved to the door, held out his hand to her and said, "Alright, then…uh, shall we?" He asked, now feeling the blush receding a bit.

Shress seemed to be shivering slightly as she took his hand, "Alright." Nervously and anxiously, they left the room, walked down the hall in silence and entered the officer's cabin. Six was pretty sure she was feeling the same way he was; like a giant boulder was on top of him and threatening to crush his insides. Within, it was as if the bed was placed in a spotlight, making it almost impossible for Six to ignore it.

"Did you, uh," Six's voice failed before he finally asked, "Have anything you wish to change into?"

Shress quickly shook her head before asking, "Do you?" Six shook his head as well before sighing.

'Might as well get it over with.'

He walked to the bed and pulled back the messy covers before lying down on his side, the right side of the bed. Shress approached as well and very slowly lay down on the left side. Six watched out of the corner of his eye as she pulled her leg closer to her so that they could rest on the bed as well without sticking out. She let out a content sigh and Six guessed that his assumption that she wasn't comfortable on the couch was correct.

Six coughed before saying, "Good night, Shress."

"Good night, Michael," she replied as Six reached for the switch close to the bed and turned the lights off.

The room was shrouded in darkness, and Six became very still, and so did Shress. He felt like he was on a lone scouting mission as he lay there, unmoving, and Shress was the thing he was observing. He watched from the corner of his eye as she slept. Or so he thought. The slight twitching of her body revealed that she was still awake and the slight turns of her head suggested she too was observing him, unaware that he was still awake as well.

'This is going to be a long night.' He thought to himself.

Six was sure at least two hours had passed and yet Shress remained awake. He had become as still as stone while breathing low and even breathed as he watched her with half open eyes, waiting for what he had no idea.

Suddenly Shress made a move. Slowly, she began to wriggle her way closer to the center of the bed. It took all of the spartan's training not to move, not to flinch and not to allow himself to start hyperventilating. Shress worked her body closer to the border of the bed, ever so carefully so she wouldn't disturb him he assumed.

Six thought she was going to stop when she reached the middle, but she didn't, instead she kept on moving until she was a mere centimeter from Six. He wanted to reveal he was still awake but held his position as he waited to see what she did next. Finally, Shress closed the gap and leaned her back against Six's chest. He heard her let out a soft breath of satisfaction as she relaxed and rested her head close to Six.

The spartan smiled at her and wished he could wrap his arms around her, but he held back since she was still awake.

'Looks like this compromise is working after all.' He thought as he listened to Shress's soft breathing

-Author's Note-

We decided to remove the lemon scene from the chapter as we felt that Christian Knight would not have approved of it originally (I don't either). There will be no lemon in this story. Thanks for sticking around and enjoying the hard work and love we are putting into this story.

-WhateverRex

As Lord Shaxx would say, TWO FOR ONE! Happy reading ya'll.

-PyreElegy