I SWEAR I'LL EXPLAIN. I SWEAR I'll EXPLAIN IT, AAAAAA….moment…sorry, I got a little carried away…what was I going for? Ooooh, I remember now.

So, before you start wondering what's really going on here, it's simple. As i started writing my first crossover, new and new ideas were popping into my head. So far, so good, until the rate of new ideas increased rapidly. So, yes, I am literally overloaded with ideas and my mind is normally racing with planning for five more fictions, one more crossover to go, plus planning my own universe (all my own) and…well…you can probably imagine. My head was about to literally explode and I desperately needed to get these ideas out. And this is the result. It may be that my writing style will change a few times as I explore new and new ways and subsequently my experiments.

This isn't set in the universe my crossover is set in, but there is a HALO/Mass Effect crossover in progress, and I still plan to write stories about two of the crossover characters, one is Colonel Mayers and the other is a secret character, that hasn't appeared yet, and I'm also planning a HALO/Stargate crossover, and I think I'm going to end up being so weighed down with ideas that I'm going to take it all at once and alternate updates depending on what I'm thinking and stuff. So you can probably count on that, but let's get to my story now.

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Has anyone really read this?

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Chapter 1

It was under a cloud, a strong wind was blowing, it was storming, it was pouring like a watering can. The road was wet and muddy. The trees were swaying in the wind so that they could be uprooted. Lightning illuminated the area for a moment, then came the thunder that split the ground. It was cold, the outside was inhospitable in such weather. But it wasn't as bad as Sangreal. Sangreal is one of the outer colonies known for the electromagnetic storms that sweep through. Hurricanes are also a big problem on Sangreal, but the towns and buildings, infrastructure and electronics are adapted to that environment and the population there has become accustomed to that environment.

The forests were barren, without a single sign of life around. All the animals were in hiding. Maybe the place wasn't quite that desolate.

There was a rustling in the mud. A man. A person was running along the muddy path. A man. A man about six feet tall, wrapped in a dirty and muddy jacket, with muddy shoes, pants, and a backpack on his back. He was shivering from the cold, but given that the movement had partially warmed him, it wasn't too bad. This man was heading towards the rocks. Our man was far, far away from civilization. Far enough that no one would find him. He tripped on a rock and fell to one knee. The man grunted and slowly got up, the wind whipping his face.

"Just a little further, don't give up!"

A woman's voice spoke to him.

He grunted, unable to answer now, he was too out of breath.

He heard a rustle to his left and quickly drew his gun. He had the stolen MA5 and a decent supply of ammo and spare parts for the gun he had also managed to steal.

"See anything Anabel?"

The human asked after catching his breath. His pulse was racing, his breathing fast and he was tense. A bolt of lightning had just struck, illuminating the area around the man beautifully, and then came the thunder.

"It must have been leaves or a falling branch.", Anabel, his personal AI that he programmed himself, replied.

"John! We have to move, we're almost there!"

"Roger!"

John lowered his weapon, but still had it in his hands, and continued on his way. The terrain was rough and difficult, but after half an hour of traveling they got where they wanted to go.

It was a cave, a larger space in the rock that spread out into space. Batman would like a cave like that, John thought. He snorted at the thought. You might be wondering what's going on. To understand John's situation, we need to go back a few years.

14 May, 2515, Reach

The weather was ugly, rain, storm clouds obscured the big city on the Reach. But the residents didn't seem to mind. Everyone was minding their own business, each dealing with their own issues and problems. Some just pulled out their umbrellas, others used what they had on hand, some took shelter in the building, but otherwise everyone went about their lives. The streets are full of cars, the traffic is very heavy. Drivers honking at each other and swearing behind the wheel or at their surroundings. Some people are in a hurry, some are enjoying themselves. And so it was, is and will always be.

"Miles…I know you're here!"

In the woods, on the outskirts of town, a group of kids were running around playing hide and seek.

The storm didn't seem to bother them, they just kept on frolicking.

"Miles! Show yourself!"

One of the kids, John, was walking around looking for his two friends, Miles and another little girl.

Miles is the oldest of his friends, he's about 6, about to turn 7. He has black hair, blue-green eyes, is about 89 centimeters tall, wearing a raincoat, his favorite khaki shirt and dark gray sweatpants.

John is slightly younger, 5 years old. He is the tallest of the group, roughly around 92 centimeters, angular brown hair, blue eyes, wearing a t-shirt with his favorite singer, black sweatpants and a cape.

Miles was hiding behind a tree not far from John, trying not to make a sound.

But there was one little girl with them, she was the same age as Miles, or 6 and closer to 7. Her name is Abigail and she was 86 centimeters tall, she's also Miles' sister. The two of them are almost always together, never far apart. They have built a strong relationship with each other, they help each other, they play together, just that typical sibling relationship. John was their friend, they ran into each other by chance at school. A bunch of guys who were known for bullying had targeted Miles and his sister until John, here, stepped in. There was a fight that didn't end very well. John escaped with a broken nose, but the others were much worse off. Broken wrists, dislocated shoulders, even a stab wound. John was very aggressive when he was serious about protecting himself, using everything in his reach as a weapon, from trash cans to chairs to pencils. Then it became a huge mess. John was feared by the whole school, most bullies preferred to avoid him and Miles was very grateful.

And they've been friends and playing together ever since. John didn't even regret that day, he didn't feel bad about it because he believed they deserved it and refused to apologize. Miles cautiously peeked out from behind the tree, only to see John calling his name as he passed by his hiding place. He moved carefully and ducked his head, waiting. It seemed likely he hadn't noticed him as he passed by. He waited until he had disappeared far enough and then carefully left his hiding place.

Miles looked around and tensed, carefully stepping on the ground to look around properly.

"Boo!" came suddenly from behind him.

Miles was startled in such a way that he literally jumped and tripped over a branch. The voice belonged to none other than John, who was now giggling.

"Don't you ever do that to me again!", he shouted at John in anger.

"Sorry, but you're too predictable."

And he continued laughing until he gave Miles a helping hand.

"Where's Abigail?"

"I don't know, I'm still looking for her-"

"Here.", came a new voice behind the pair.

"Oh my god!", they both yelled at the same time and quickly turned behind them.

Behind them stood a laughing Abigail.

"Abigail!"

"I almost had a heart attack!"

Abigail just laughed.

Miles suggested, „Well, it looks like it's getting late, we should get back slowly, I'd hate to walk in the dark."

"I agree. Let's go then…I'm getting tired of it anyway.", John agreed.

The trio headed back to town in the rain. The storm was slowly abating and the rain wasn't as heavy as before. The kids were talking about different experiences, whether it was from school or the holidays and other things.

The group of childs made it to a residential neighborhood, walking past a playground, unaware they were being watched. A woman, an adult, was sitting on a bench nearby. She was wearing a hat, had brown hair, a coat, a purse, heeled boots and some sort of skirt.

"Did you really think it was necessary to throw chairs at them?"

One asked. The woman listened to their conversation from a distance and watched them discreetly.

"They shouldn't have started that Miles! They asked for it!", the younger one protested.

"How did you even think of stabbing one of them with a pencil?"

"Inspiration from John Wick…you know John Wick don't you?"

"I'm just waiting for the next time you draw your gun.", the little girl responded mockingly.

"Yeah…and a full John Wick outfit and it would be perfect, just imagine the headlines on the news!", Miles joined in.

"Hey…even though…that's not such a bad idea, is it?", John was about to protest until he thought better of it.

"Please John, you better not try it, I don't want to see the havoc afterwards."

"Yeah, they'd still send the police after you."

The woman found the conversation very strange and quite funny. She had heard about the incident at school. It was crazy, almost unimaginable. A kid like that could be serious trouble, but he seemed otherwise fine.

She decided to confront them.

"Hello, I wouldn't expect someone to just be hanging around outside in this weather, especially not little kids.", she tried.

"Ah…my parents don't care. We can také care of ourselves.", Miles replied.

John elbowed Miles in the shoulder and shook his head slightly. Something didn't seem right. His parents had always told him not to talk to strangers, or také anything from them, or go anywhere with them. And he didn't like this. The woman noticed the gesture and was slightly curious.

"That's John, he's…you know…kind of suspicious…and protective „, he explained his friend's behavior.

John just frowned and said nothing.

"Oh, I understand that. But you don't have to be afraid of me", she reassured them.

This woman is weird, John thought. Even at a very young age, John could sense when something was out of place. He was special in that way.

"My parents told me not to talk to strangers.", he finally spoke up.

The woman paused for a moment, not that she hadn't expected it, but it was the fact that he could say it outright. John could look like a rebellious child. It could also have been stubbornness, which was probably the most likely given such an age. Miles and the little girl seemed less attentive and quite well behaved.

Miles elbowed John after John's comment, to which John just shot an irritated look. From what she could see, John seemed very suspicious of everything and everyone. It wouldn't be as easy for him to build up his confidence as it would be for other kids his age.

"I completely understand where he's going with this and I don't mind in the least."

"John overreacts a bit at times, but you get used to that with time."

The woman paused, taking in the information.

„What about you? What's your name?", she turned her attention to Abigail.

"Abigail.", she replied to the question.

"She's my sister."

John didn't understand this. Why on earth would you tell some random stranger anything about yourself? You might as well tell her where you live. Just crazy and mostly stupid, but then again, they're little kids and they don't all think like John, so you can't blame them.

John announced, „Well, it looks like we've been here a long time and I'm getting late, so I'm going to slowly go in my own direction."

"He's right, it's getting late.", Miles said watching John leave.

"I guess we'll be going too, see you later!"

"Bye!"

They said their goodbyes and split up. But the woman stood still, watching the pair. John seemed to be too rebellious, he might cause trouble, but these two were excellent candidates, she decided. The woman put her hand to her ear.

"Get ready, we start tomorrow.", she spoke into the radio.

"Roger Dr. Halsey, over.", the older man replied and the connection was broken.

The late evening was cool and relatively calm. No one moved around outside much, only occasionally someone passed under the window or a car drove by. The storm had stopped completely and the light had been replaced by darkness and gloom. Street lamps, passing cars, or lights in the windows of houses were the only sources of light. The city center seemed to be alive, however. The skyscrapers glowed beautifully in the darkness, and even the honking of cars in the distance could be faintly heard. It was as if the city was always alive. It could be reminiscent of New York, which used to be called „the city that doesn't sleep".

"And why did you even engage in any conversation with that strange lady?!"

John's father wasn't exactly thrilled right now. As soon as John got home, he told his parents about what had happened.

"I didn't engage in conversation with him, the two of them started the conversation with the lady!", John protested.

"And you didn't stop your two friends?"

"I tried, they ignored me!"

The man sighed.

"Do you know her name?"

John shook his head.

"Okay, at least an appearance?"

„James what do you want to do?", this time his wife spoke up.

"I'm going to do a little research on this woman."

He then turned to john.

"So what's with the description?"

John snapped out of his thoughts and began to describe. The man, now identified as James,listened intently and began to také notes. By the time John finished describing, it was too late. So he went to wash up and went straight to bed. Dad was still sitting at the tablet trying to figure something out.

"You haven't stopped yet?"

His wife came up to him.

"Helen, you know me, if something like this comes up, I'll go for it right away.", he said without looking away from the screen.

"Oh come on, it's late…and tomorrow's a day too."

James thought for a moment, finally turning off his tablet and setting it aside.

"You know…you're right."

He acknowledged and they both went to bed.

-

After a two weaks, very strange things began to happen. At first, everything was as normal. John groaned in bed when he heard his mother trying to wake him up.

"Wake up sweetheart, it's time to go to school."

"Five more minutes…", John muttered as he rolled over in bed.

"No five minutes, you're still going to be late, so get out of bed."

Helen got out of bed, walked over to the window and pulled the blinds open. She then opened the window and cool air came in. The sun was shining outside and the birds could be heard chirping. The atmosphere was pleasant, but the fog was thick. Which was logical, given that it had rained heavily the day before. John groaned again, threw the covers aside and kicked himself out of bed. His mother was already downstairs, preparing breakfast. He could tell she was, mostly because of the smell of bacon wafting through the house.

James was already sitting at his desk reading the news.

"There you are, what took you so long? Your breakfast is almost cold.", he asked the incoming John.

"Hygiene."

"How was sleeping?"

John sat down at the table and dug into his breakfast.

"Not well…bad dreams, but what does it matter, right?", he replied.

"Oh…don't tell.", his father spoke up.

"John, don't be too late.", his mother inserted herself into the conversation.

As already mentioned, the day started out quite normally. James was already sitting in the car in his uniform and John ran out the door, Helen slowly followed.

Then it came. There was a mysterious death at school later in the day. John was even right there at the scene. He was speechless, too shocked at what had actually happened. There was chaos everywhere. The whole school was locked down and the hospital was in complete disarray. Initially it was thought to be food poisoning because it happened during or shortly after lunch. But the doctors ruled it out shortly afterwards. No one knew what had happened, and an emergency was even declared, and people were forbidden to leave the house just in case. The whole neighborhood was quarantined for a good month until they figured out what was going on.

There were several such reports of deaths of children as young as six years old, and it just couldn't be described as natural if the reports were made within hours. The army itself oversaw compliance with the quarantine. And indeed, it came to light that there had been cardiac arrest, heart attacks, in all of these children. Researchers and doctors tried to figure out what caused this, but eventually the quarantine was lifted because it turned out to be quite natural. James didn't come home until three months later. The ward was busy and there was a lot of work to do, but when he came home, something didn't seem right to John. His father was somehow puzzled, thoughtful. He went straight to his study and shut himself in. James suspected that this wasn't going to be just any old thing and that something was going on. Helen was worried herself.

James had started his own investigation, but most of the residents had forgotten about it. A few years later, sometime around 2524, there was a fire in John's family home. Fortunately, no one died, but the house burned down almost entirely. The fire department ruled it an accident, probably bad circuit breakers and such, but that only confirmed James' thoughts. He had all his work saved on his tablet. In the year 2525, the 3rd month was John's biggest disaster.

James and Helen were heading home from work. They were driving in the middle of the night, his father had a longer shift so he was at work longer.

"Something's going on here."

Helen looked at James with a puzzled expression.

"I mean…these events…it's not a coincidence."

"You don't mean…"

"Yes, someone started the fire, there's no possibility of spontaneous combustion, it's just shit."

"But if someone started it then…"

"Yes, we have to get out of here, move out, find another safe place."

James pulled onto the bridge leading over the rocky chasm. A large waterfall could be seen beside the bridge, though not now in the evening.

"I've been preparing for this, even found a new place to live."

"B-but who's going to tell John?"

The man sighed.

"We should both tell him-„

James was interrupted as he saw a passenger car speeding towards him.

"Shit!" he yelled, jerking the wheel hard to the right.

The car skidded and became uncontrollable. James tried to regain control and slam on the brakes, but it wouldn't go in. Instead, the car slammed into an obstacle and a curb on the edge of the bridge. The mangle did not absorb the impact and the car went over the edge, hurtling down the cliff, disappearing into the darkness.

"I'll get you now, just wait."

John had no idea what had happened or was happening.

He was playing some online shooting game with his new friend and ignoring his surroundings. John was already around 16 years old.

"That's what you think."

"Right? Then watch this!"

A look of triumph appeared on his face, which then turned to shock and surprise.

"W-wait…what?!"

His friend laughed after beating John again.

"H-how?!"

"Reflexes John…reflexes!"

John looked at the time and thought. Something wasn't right. Where were his parents? Daddy was never at work that long.

"John…are you there?" the boy on the other side called to him.

John finally shrugged, took a sip of his tea and turned his attention back to the game. They must have stopped on their way to do some shopping, he thought.

"Yeah, I'm here…sorry."

"Is something wrong?"

"Oh, my parents aren't home yet…which is weird because it's pretty late…but they probably stopped to shop on their way home from work, they do that sometimes…you know, right?", John replied.

"Well, that's probably it. Take it easy, plenty of time."

"Okay, I'll have to go now. Bye."

"Too bad…tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow would be fine."

"Okay, bye."

And John disconnected from the game. He looked around. Dark, quiet, empty. That was the atmosphere, a deserted house. John picked up his mug of tea and headed downstairs. Their alternate living quarters weren't as big as their old house. It was still under renovation and they had nowhere to live. This was all they had.

He reached the kitchen, put his mug on the counter and tried calling his parents. Still no one answered. They probably can't or don't have time right now, he thought. Calm down John, they'll be here. After a moment of silence, he heard a knock on the door. It must be them. He went to the door, mug in hand, to open it. When he opened the door, he was surprised to see two men in uniform at the door, police? Yeah, it was the police. He saw their car on the road in front of the house. But what did they want? He looked at their faces, something wasn't right. Suddenly John was worried, had something happened to his parents? Or was it something else?

"Um…can I help you?", John asked uncertainly.

There was silence for a while until one of them broke the silence.

"Are you John Volis?"

"Yes?"

John was confused for a moment, but as soon as one of the men took a breath, he began to feel a strange sensation. Something in his head was screaming at him that this wasn't good.

"Mr. Volis…we're so sorry…" the same one began.

John widened his eyes, frozen in place, time seemed to slow down around him. The ambient sounds died down. The last thing he could hear was the crash of the tea cup smashing on the ground, causing a mess all around.

-

And that's it, i hope you like this chapter and you weren't too bored. This writing style is completely strange to me and i think i never tried something like that. About the dialogues, i tried to make it look naturaly and… So let me know, what do you think. First few chapters are going to be more explanating, because we want to find out, what happened in the past. Also if you want to see, what happened to Miles and his sister, let me know too. I can maybe get to it and try to describe it. Now you have to wait for the next chapter. So stay tunned and…good luck. Bye.