Chapter 2

Week 1: Night 4

Storms of the past

(A/N This is a warning for what is to come. By the Fanfiction rating system, I am obliged to warn to warn the reader of such violent and brutal scenes. Viewer discretion is highly advised. Also trigger warning to those with PTSD or anything close.)

First person

(Johnathan's POV)

I hate my dreams. All they do is remind me what I lost and what I still have to lose in life. Normally the medication in my chestplate pocket helps keep me calm and some night terrors at bay, but fate decided to have me pass out before i could take any. One of the many joys of jumping through multiverse portals for a week with barely any rest. Part of the problem of being broken down and completely reconstructed across universes. Sometimes the body doesn't agree and will force itself to rest, whether I like it or not. This particular nightmare . . . this memory, remains as a constant of what left me half the man I am today, what made me into this failure of a human being. . . what made me into a monster. Their chattering growl still haunts me to this day.

Sarah was the first of many to die beside me, the name of my first love. It was suppose to be a simple trip between two friends. We threw up a portal to a sub-verse, one we thought to be paradise . . . until night time hit. Glowing eyes in the darkness, heart stopping chattering echoed though out the jungle, the stench of death creeping toward us. We fought off as many as we could with our standard weaponry, but we has only so much ammo and there were a LOT more of them than we had the ammo for with our shitty aim. Sarah got jumped first. Those things tore out a chunk of her side when she wasn't looking. We saw what those things did to their prey, and i did not want her to become a nest for those bastards. We tried to move for a medical station on the island but she ended up slowing me down. Before she lost the ability to move or speak, she shoved her pistol into my hands. Practically begged me to kill her before it was too late. The first friend out of many to go. Wasn't no more then a week later that i two got bit, out of ammo and out of options, I resorted to the craziest move I've ever made in my entire life. . . . and it cost me my arm.

(Dream world, few hours in, slightly altered)

4 years ago, Isla nublar

Fear, a simple four letter word that can lead to the death of billions, can be the downfall of great empires. That is all that I felt as I ran down the Jurassic Park service tunnel. The sound of clacking and claws scraping against metal echoed off the concrete walls, I can feel the breath of my assailants hot against my neck hairs. Further motivating me to run faster then my scrawny legs can go. My eyes struggled to stay open, I haven't had a decent night's sleep in two weeks. I haven't eaten a thing in the past two days, barely drank anything except for the rain water from puddles. All these things hunting me have turned my life into a living hell. Now i know how a rabbit feels in the forest. No wonder they breed so quickly! I was nursing a fresh animal bite on my left arm. My M16 assault rifle was long past discarded. Blood crusted machete was flying wildly at my side by it's holster. My lungs felt like someone injected napalm in them mixed with steel needles, every breath felt like it should've been my last. My scrawny malnourished body begged me to stop and to accept my fate. But I had to keep going, I wasn't going to be taken alive by those things.

"Johnathan you okay?" A soft, almost angelic female voice rang through my head. I ignored it, I had more important things to worry about. lit not dying for one!

Another series of clacking, my heart was sent racing as I tripped over a fallen pipe and fell to my knees. I looked behind me with my looted hard hat light on, only to dozens of pairs of glowing eyes look at me. Every last one of them staring at me hungrily, taunting, and waiting for me to give in. I need to keep moving, I must keep moving. I saw a door not too far in front of me. A safe . . . well safer place. I picked myself back up and bolted down the tunnel. My heart was beating so fast i think it might explode out of my chest. I needed to get away from them, I needed to get to the door. I've been alone on this island for the past three maybe four weeks, the portal on Serena's end blew a fuse and left me stuck here. The friend i came with got bit within the first week of being stranded here. I was forced to mercy kill her. It's better Sarah died by the hand of a friend then be taken alive by those monsters, forced to watch as they lay eggs inside her chest, powerless to move against their paralyzing venom. I'm all alone, afraid, beyond in trouble, slowly dying myself. My blue jeans and blue plaid shirt were torn up by countless claw marks, right arm had slash marks from a recent fight. Blood drenched everything, most of it wasn't even my own. Safe to assume I had an extremely shitty last few weeks.

"Johnathan wake up." The same voice from earlier rang again shaking the world a bit more, this time with a lot more concern in it's voice.

I ran into the door and slammed all my weight to keep it shut once inside. I closed my eyes as I leaned against the door. The clacking got louder as the beasts on the other side closed in on me, then stopping. They knew I was a goner, I can feel their venom trying to take effect. Lucky I used my belt to cut off the blood flow earlier, but that would only last so long. Once the venom reaches the heart. . NO! Don't even think that. You're not going to be made into a living incubator by those monsters. But even if I survive today, I was going to be dead tomorrow. Unless...

My eyes drifted around the room. Pallets of supplies layered the walls, mainly spools of heavy wire. Carefully I moved from the door and toward the pallets. Using what strength I could summon, I threw my helmet off and slowly moved the wire off a wooden pallet to the front of any vents/exits. I won't let those things get to me so easily, they'll have to work to get another taste of me. I had no way to extract their venom nor a counter agent, so this only left...one option, I didn't like it but it needs done before it's too late. My hand fell to my machete. I pulled it from it's sheath and laid it against the concrete wall. I tightened the belt on my arm and put the loose bit in my mouth. I bit down in it. I raised my machete and did a few practice swings, so the blade comes down cleanly and won't stick as easily.

"Johnathan, Wake up!" The same voice from earlier boomed shaking everything around me. I bit down hard on the belt and swung with all my might. The first swing went deep into my left arm, stopping at the bone, blood gushed out with a vomit inducing squish. I bit down hard as i possibly could on the belt. I had to force my eyes shut to keep the pain induced tears at bay. The pain was indescribable, just absolute and pure agony overwhelmed my. I forced the blade out of my bloody arm as i went in for another strike. This one struck though most the bone, forcing me to let out a terrifying scream of pain that echoed off the walls. I forced myself to raise the blade one more time and let it down with a sickening crunch. The blade ran though what was left of my infected arm and struck against the concrete, forcing my arm to fall onto the blood soaked floor. I dropped the bloody blade by my fallen arm and held the numb in agony. I quickly took off the bandana i had under the hardhat and wrapped it around my nub, biting the leather belt hard enough to punch several holes in it. I can't keep going. I can't take another second of this living hell. I fell back against the wall once more as i let out a scream of pain. My whole body fell to the ground in a pool of my own blood i weakly breathed in it's coppery stench. I blinked as purple sparks flew all around me, Vision beginning to go hazy as a multiverse portal erupted in front of me. I couldn't see what came out, but i sure as hell heard their voice.

"JOHNATHAN!" My father's voice yelled out with deep concern over his son's life. I couldn't even register him running over and picking me up. Everything just felt so fuzzy and weird. I closed my eyes and finally accepted my fate. I was too late for me, i can not survive this.

(Reality, Let the fluffiness between Johnathan/Velvet resume *evilly laughs*)

I bolted up practically drenched in sweat, quickly screamed in pain before I realized where I was, panting heavily and in irregular patterns. Velvet jumped back from me with a painfully obvious look of concern. I looked back down at my left arm, feeling around the area where I severed it. Still mechanical, I flexed my fingers a few times to be sure I wasn't still dreaming. Everything felt normal . . . well normal for me. I ran my hands though my sweat drenched hair as i took a deep breath. It happened again, third one this month.

"It was just another night terror." I whispered to myself looking around to see I was still the CFVY dorm room. Sitting up on their now sweat soaked couch, covered in a light blanket. The others were still asleep in their beds, well Coco groaned as she turned over in her brown nightgown, leaving little to the imagination. I assume she got to to tease her roommates or at lease the males. It was easily the middle of the night. Some parts of my armor was glowing green, signaling that it was locked into place on the stand. The weather outside was a different story. Rain pelted the side of the school mercilessly, lightning light up the night sky with a glimmering light show, thunder clashed like heavy war drums to a epic battle-to-the-death between two warring tribes. Doubt anyone could have heard me over that. Every time it boomed Velvet would visibly tense up. Amazed that the other occupants of the room were still asleep. Maybe they were heavy sleepers or ignored it, I'm going with the former because I don't think anyone can ignore a storm like this. Amazing I was able to

"You okay Johnathan?" Velvet asks softly, trying not to wake the others up. I sit up and hold my head while rubbed my temples, damn headaches. She sat down by the end of the couch, tensely rubbing my shoulder to try to calm me down.

"I'm fine, just. . . A nightmare. That's all. Just a regular nightmare." I replied quietly. "What are you doing up anyways?"

"Storm outside kind of woke me up. Noticed you were tossing, turning, and making weird noises like something was chasing you. Even talking fearfully about something called a Troodon catching you. Then started screaming in pain into the loveseat, holding your left arm while doing so, biting a hole in the couch as well. I tried waking you up but you acted like I was hurting you." She answered flattening her ears. Well shit, how do I explain this one carefully. If I just come out and say what happened, I might lose someone I can trust or they will pity me. . .or be afraid of me. I hate it when people look at me with pity, makes me feel so. . .weak and useless. Sure it hurt like ever loving hell when I had to cut my arm off, I had to adapt. It hurt even worse getting the robotic systems integrated with my nervous system. That was a MAJOR pain in the ass getting use to. Don't even get me started on the armaments I installed in the damn thing too. Grappling hook took weeks to build and make compact. And that is just with this arm alone! The utility one took forever to make. The lighter in the thumb was not easy to integrate.

"It's. . . excruciatingly painful and difficult for me to explain. I've seen and done some things that scarred my mind forever. Let's leave it at that right now." I replied combing my sweat stained hair with my hands. That is the easiest way i can describe it, not sure if Velvet is trustworthy enough to know my full story. Last thing I want is for everyone and their mother worrying about my mental state. Some skeletons are best left in the back of the closet.

"Oh...it's okay. I understand." She replied blushing a lot. "You need me to get you a glass of water or anything? Waking up from a nightmare always make me thirsty." She offered. I rubbed the sweat off my head. Water did sound good right now. Kind of tempted to stick my head outside and drink some of the rain water. Yet something about this storm seems familiar, can't figure out how.

Another blast of thunder exploded thought the air, this one a lot louder and sounded a lot closer, shook the windows violently, it was like the lightning struck right in front of the building. Velvet jumped a mile high in the air with a shriek and landed in my arms Scooby do style, rabbit ears flattened against her head. She's like a scared bunny with some things, it's just so cute. Where did that come from?

"Velv, please go back to sleep. We have a sale to go to in the morning." Coco muttered lazily from her bed, tossing a fallen pillow our way, hitting the shy rabbit girl square in the face. Well one was awake, or half awake at lest. Velvet quickly noticed she jumped in my arm and her face instantly went as red as brick. While she was in my arms I kind of got a good look at her nightwear. Pretty much a long carrot orange nightgown with long sleeves, fuzzy pink bunny slippers ironically, and matching socks to go with them. I find her fondness of rabbit like stuff quite funny. What's next, she has a pet rabbit?

"Sorry." She apologized as I put her down. "I don't like storms. The thunder hurts my ears." She spoke in almost a whisper. Well that confirms one of my theories, the ears give her better hearing. Would that mean she could hear a dog whistle? Note to self, don't try it, might end up dead by the end of the week with that kind of curiosity. Now that I think about it, I can help her with the sleeping thing. My helmet can be set up to be noise protected. Very useful for when I need to sleep in a load environment, like urban environments and near noisy animals. Also will be useful for turning Serena out when she yells at me for what ever reason. Ain't the first time I've done it and sure as hell won't be my last. Though won't the helmet constrict/hurt her ears? Eh, can't hurt to offer.

"I think I can help you there." I replied quietly looking around for my helmet. Lucky me it was on the nightstand by the couch. Unlucky it was by Coco's headboard. Well if she can sleep though this storm, then I doubt me lifting my helmet would wake her up. Helps that I know next to nothing about anyone here, well a very little about Velvet. I quickly picked my helmet up and put it on.

"System, reboot." I spoke quietly. A soft whine echoed though out the helmet as a start-up icon showed on the screen. It looked a bit like an ancient Spartan's helmet with energy swords crossed behind it, just some icon I made while tinkering with the systems. The slash was pretty noticeable but hopefully the 'silent mode' function still works. That's the important one right now.

Within seconds my HUD started up. Started displaying motion trackers in the bottom left, radio frequencies/station bottom right, MP3 player on top of the radio gadget, and a bunch of other crap, Helmet integrity with a flashing visor off to the top left. Thank god in installed the voice commands.

"System, start up silent mode. Adjust for sensitive hearing, young humanoid female. Clear display and lock." I ordered in almost a whisper. I kind of installed different settings in it, for the off chance that I need to give it to someone for what ever reason. Man am I glad I thought ahead.

A small ding and the whole room when silent. I couldn't hear the thunder, well it was working. The screen now cleared and locked on a transparent picture of me with Noble team looking how they always do, Jorge and Carter were the only ones who had their helmet's off, Emile threw a peace sign at the camera, Kat just waved her robotic hand, Jun has his sniper slung on his shoulder. I of course was in a downgraded form of my Gen2 armor, helmet off, smiling and looking as happy as you can get. Six had to take the picture just before I had to leave, He didn't really want in the picture either, Not his thing.

Noble team, I forgot about my brief mission with them. I was temporally the team's 'Noble 7' for the mission. Op was to reclaim Sword base and kill all covenant. They really didn't care that I wasn't a real Spartan, they were happy to have another soldier in the fight. I held my own and slaughtered a few dozen Covvies. Funny watching the Grunts trip on their own two feet trying to avoid a grenade stuck in their friend's mouth. Somehow threw a plasma grenade and got it lodged into the mouth of an Elite as it was barking orders. then have said Elite try pulling it out and running to a bunch of Grunts to take it out. Even better was the time i shot a sniper rifle round though an Elite's crotch as it killed the Jackal behind him. Jun praised me for the shot and entertainment. Jorge taught me a bit on heavy weaponry, which inspired me to take up a Railgun and modify it to my needs. Kat was fascinated my AI Mu and I even let her borrow her to finish her part of the mission. Emile and I did get into a contest to see who can slaughter the move Covenant. he won big time. My kill count:156. Emile's kill count: 362. We even went back and checked his Helmet recordings. Covenant swarmed that base like it was going to give them a instant ticket to ascendance. I made sure it was a one way trip to the deepest bowels of Hell. I remember shouldering a needle rifle and nailing a Brute right between the eyes a few times, then making his head explode and shower his friends in Blamite crystals. That was a interesting week. Forgot about my screen savers. Well at the very lest she'll get some answers. More questions if anything but answers as to what else is out there. The picture dimmed down to the point where I couldn't make anything out on it. Well that was a life saver.

It does bring back a lot of memories, both good and bad. I do miss the friends and allies I made among my travels. Freelancers and their AIs, the Reds and Blues, Lydia from Skyrim, Master chief and Cortana, Few rebels from Hoth (Crazy bastards owe me money), many others, these are just the ones who were still alive when I left. Still think I could of done something to save Maine. He was a good...ish guy before Sigma, and he still owes me a lot money for hooking him up with some good weed to stop his headaches (I have my ways, it was some really good weed). You do not know true fear till you seen a paranoid Freelancer high and with his/her weapon fully loaded, that was one hell of a day. With that all set, I took my helmet off and smiled at Velvet as I handed it to her.

"Settings are predetermined and adjusted for beings with sensitive hearing. Don't worry about it snagging on your hair or ears or anything, there's no small nooks or edges to get them caught on. Padded sides and dimmed display." I explained placing the helmet in her hands.

(Velvet's POV)

"Uh?" Was the most intelligent word that I can think of saying right now. I was in shock that Johnathan handed me his helmet. I was too afraid to put it on for a few reasons. The most pressing reason is why he would let me borrow it? He barely knew me and yet is willing to let me use something he holds dear. Sure the thunderstorm was like a personal heck on my hearing, but I was still in shock to do anything.

"I promise it will help, You have my word." He replied in a low voice while smiling. The entire time he was looking me right in the eyes. I couldn't deny a generous offer like this. I tried ear phones to cancel out noise, but the kind made just for rabbit Faunus didn't fit right on me, and weren't comfortable at all. I tried sleeping pills and usually wake up cranky. Well what choice did I really have, Either accept his offer or go though a sleepless night.

"Okay." I timidly replied holding his helmet in my hands again. I don't know what it is about his helmet, but I feel...calmer when it's in my arms, less shy around him. I look inside it to see padding around the edges and along the top. "You sure it will fit?" I asked.

"Might be a bit big if anything but don't worry about it, the neckline had auto adjusting cells that expand/collapse to the user. Just say 'System calibrate' for it to your unique figure." He explained making me feel a bit calmer. I took a deep breath, flattened my ears against my head, and put on the helmet. My first reaction was how surprisingly comfortable it was. Didn't hurt my ears as bad as I thought, if anything it felt like clouds were pressing down on them. Little heavy if anything, must be made of a strong metal. Display was dimmed and couldn't make out much on it even with my natural night vision. The slash mark was very noticeable, split the top part of the wide T shaped display.

"System...Calibrate?" I nervously said. A soft whining echoed though out the helmet as the screen displayed small loading bar. I felt the padding along the bottom of the helmet expand, softly squeezing around the top of my neck, not enough to suffocate or hurt me. Unlucky for me, my ears went past my head when they laid flat, the padding seemed to react to this and only pressed against them softly. Felt like memory foam mixed with air beads in the neck line. A small ding later, everything went silent, I could barely make out the thunder outside. I looked around a bit. Johnathan looked like he was trying to say something but I couldn't hear him. I tapped around the back of the helmet for a button to take it off. Johnathan apparently read my thought and tapped something on the side of the helmet. the neckline contracted and let me slip out of it with ease.

"Does it fit alright?" He asked softly. I did the only thing I could think of naturally, I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him with his helmet held in my hand.

"Thank you" I whispered to him as we stayed there for a bit. He tensed up a bit, but ended up hugging me back. It felt nice being in his arms, I felt so safe, not sure why but I do. Maybe it's the fact that he protected me despite not knowing anything but my name. But that nightmare has me concerned. What happened to him that made him scream like that from a nightmare? Could it possibly have something to do with his arm? So many question revolving around this strange man, yet so few answers he i willing to give.

"No problem." He replied. "Just remember, I want it back when your done."

That's a wrap. Sorry this is a little short. Figured make a small fluff/backstory chapter so your all less confused. I promise I'll explain my own theory on the Multiverse next chapter when Johnathan explains to CFVY. Now on to a pressing matter, updates won't be constant. I do have school work to do and I need to get caught up. I promise I'll update again as soon as I get my grades up to passing. For now, I might do some small 1000-3000 word chapters to keep you all hooked and satisfied. As always, Read, review, and let me know your opinion. See you all later.

~Dgreen20

A/N: 09/20/16

I went back and rewrote a good most of this chapter, to make it flow and feel better. The warning is for the gore that will come up soon. Setting the mood more that this will be extremely dark later down the road. I am going to be doing this to all the early chapters. Making it flow better with the plot and set the mood for different scenes latter down the line, fill in plot holes i noticed and introducing a few select OC for something special later down the line. I got someone from DaviantArt to thank for pointing out a small plot hole. New ideas are flying for ways to patch up the hole or use it to my advantage. Won't say what it is, but i think i know of a few ways to make it work. As for right now, i got to get some sleep. I'll edit the early chapters where i can. see you all later.