Authors Note: Hey ya'll Mad here. Writing that last chapter was pretty fun. I I thank you for the reviews as well. Oh, and you guys don't have to worry about the clones. Some of them will be helpful and some of them won't be. But I have talked long enough. Now unto the story.
(John POV)
It had been a couple days since Zorro made his cape debut as a rogue. I couldn't believe my eyes. He was good. Real good. Zorro was playing around with them not taking the situation to seriously. I wasn't sure if that would come back to bite him.
In those four or so days, I was continuing with bad luck when it came to rolling with the Gacha. The Beast would always chuckle about it, telling me I was just born with the worst luck imaginable. He loved doing that. So, now I can pick a card out of a deck and guess it first try, juggle chainsaws nothing else just chainsaws, jump higher while playing basketball and I had a new ring.
What was special about this ring was the information he was given about it was wonderfully vague. The ring itself was a hazy blue color which bears the mark of the unicorn. He tried to remember what the text said about it.
[Ring of the Unicorn] (Unicorn Overlord)
[Good news User! You have been chosen to wear the Ring of the Unicorn. A mysterious ring belonging to the heir of the Cornian Royal family said to hold strange magics. Who knows what may be in store for you when you wear this.]
Yeah, not much to go on but there was no point in not wearing it. Not only did I have the strange ring to worry about, I was finally getting his servant's memories in the form of dreams. From being stuck in a box canyon fighting for the blue side against the red side and going on weird adventures with them in tow. I found it funny that Church thought he was a ghost and went through time. my favorite person in those dreams was Caboose. Equally the funniest person there. Church hated his guts at the start but by the end of his lifespan he came to care for the people around him.
Other than all of that hopefully it turns into a pretty stress-free day. Getting up from a rather funny memory of Church trying to kill Caboose with a sniper and missing every shot, I get dressed and wait for the Gacha. Lo and behold for it appeared.
[Ha ha! Good morning, User! Press it! Press it! Press it!]
Somebody was pushy today. I did as I was told an endured the loud noises it made.
-bzzt- -kerclunk- -bzzt- -whiiz- -Ding! -
Jesus, I hated these noises.
[Mission Objective: Survive] [Doomed World] (Halo Reach)
[The planet Reach is being invaded by the Covenant, a religious military alliance of different alien races. Hope is all but lost for this world. Your mission: survive with Noble-Six, a UNSC Spartan 3 commando. The Beast is allowed. Your symbiote is not. Bye-Bye now. And remember to have fun.]
"Oh shit!" I yell hands wildly flailing around. I was heading for some serious shit. Scrambling quickly to my bed-table, I snatch the knife and a thirty pack of forks I kept there in case of emergency. Fuck I couldn't grab my boots. I felt my body split itself into a million pieces as the light rushed through me.
The next thing I knew I was around a bunch of buildings surrounding an open field with destroyed future looking cars and gigantic metal debris from something littering the ground. Death and destruction were all that greeted me in this hostile new world I found myself in. Looking up my blood ran cold as I witnessed a large starship shooting the ground and depositing smaller ships.
"Oh, fuck." Letting out a shaky laugh, I scrambled as The Beast urged me to move in one of the buildings. I needed supplies and fast. Searching frantically, I spot a dead body about my size. Getting a better look at the man or what was left of him considering he had no head, he had on a black combat armor with black BDU's underneath. The armor itself looked like it could protect against all kinds of small arms fire. The rucksack that was attached to the back was armored and looked like it could carry five days-worth of supplies.
Hurrying up I strip him of his clothes and proceed to put them on. Holy shit! This thing has temperature regulators. It's a shame there wasn't an extra helmet around. Feeling my body stabilizing I go over the gear he had. The primary arm was called the M7S a submachine gun that was about twenty inches in length. The magazine holds 48 rounds and the gun itself had a sound suppressor attached. The Beast told me that it operated with a gas system with rotating breech. It was also automatic. Looking at one of the spent casings on the ground told me it was a 5x23mm round. Jesus, what the hell is that? I had four mags of ammo for it.
My secondary arm was a beast of a handgun. It was called the M6D. It was a little top heavy but that wasn't an issue considering the ammo it used. The Beast told me the closest size to what it used was 50 caliber rounds. The Beast says that it could definitely kill most things with a single shot. I had five clips of twelve for this behemoth. To finish off my kit, I had three throwing knives and a combat knife that sat in its strap on his chest. Now I just had to figure out how to shoot these things. The Beast sent him feelings of nervousness.
Confused I asked him what was wrong? He tells me that he practiced with a wide variety of guns at night. A surge of his memories goes into my mind. "I could've gone Rambo this entire time!" I whispered loudly to the either. The Beast was apologetic and simply forgot to tell me. When I heard a small scuffle behind me, I acted on instinct throwing a fork at the figure that came in view. With a small movement of its arms, it deflected the fork as I got a good look at it. "Oh man." I sigh.
The figure in front of me was a giant at least 7ft tall covered in way better combat armor than I was. The armor could definitely tank heavier arms fire than mine that's for sure. A helmet was covering his or her face so I couldn't tell the expression that was there. The person stares at the fork on the ground and I just had to open my mouth. "What I didn't want to waste the ammo." The figure looks up at me sharply and raises the firearm it had. A distinctly female voice greeted me. "State your rank and unit number!" she commands.
Raising my hands slowly I decide to me honest, lying would get me nowhere. "Just a regular citizen ma'am. Found the combat armor off a dead guy. Right over there." I say as my finger went to the dead body in the corner. She stares at me for a little bit as if weighing her options on to what to say. "Why didn't you get on the dropship to escape Reach?" she asks still pointing the firearm at me.
"Woke up from a concussion in a field hospital. Guess nobody dragged me out." I reply to her with no hesitation. Okay, maybe one lie might make it believable.
She looks at me for a second and starts to lower her firearm while walking towards me. I walk to the window to look outside. The big fuck-off spaceship was still in the sky looming over with an oppressive darkness. Smaller ships were flying out of it as if scanning for something. Sooner or later things were going to go from fine to fucked up in the blink of an eye.
"So, what's your name? Mine's John. A pleasure." I ask her scanning the perimeter for activity. I could hear her shuffle over to me, steps stealthy in their approach. "Call me Noble-six." she replied simply. Well, here's the person I'm supposed to be surviving with. Kinda glad I didn't have to fight her. If I was going to survive, I needed all the help I could scrounge.
"That's more of a title or a rank than a name. We might die. Might as well tell me your actual name." I say. All she does is grunt. Well, I tried. Frowning at the situation I found myself in, I turn to look at Noble-six to asses her. It looked like she had an assault rifle with a scope on one shoulder and a shotgun on the other. Magnetic locks held them in place. She had the same type of handgun I have, except hers was bigger to accommodate her figure.
"What's your ammo looking like?" I ask. "Good." she replies. Ah. One-word answers. Seems to me like she's a good conversationalist.
"The Covenant will be here in two hours. We need to split up and search for more supplies, so we can hoard them up for the attack. Meet me here in an hour so we can make barricades outside of the building." she commands. She stalks off in her search for ammo leaving me staring after her. She had more experience when it came to things like this so I guess I should listen. Walking in the opposite direction careful of my step to not get spotted out in the open. Coming across more dead bodies of men and women left me numb to the terror I was feeling.
Then I came upon some of those aliens. Dead as doornail's but I had to investigate what they look like. The first was a stubby and short looking hunchback thing with wrinkly skin and a weird mask thing on their face. Taking off the mask to reveal a squished-up nose with pointy teeth. A whiff had me retching as I realized what this thing was breathing in. Methane. I picked up what it was holding. It looked like a u-shaped handgun. Tucking it away in my bag I went to the next alien that looked like a walking dinosaur.
This thing was actually as tall as I was but other than that nothing to really write home about. I took the same looking pistol it had to my collection. The last one he saw was a gigantic 7ft 10in alien with quadruple mandibles with a blue gun. This type was certainly a heavy hitter considering how clean and shiny its armor is. Grabbing the gun, I walk away to what looks like a pre-fab of an outpost. Heading inside I see a weapon locker with a lock on it. Next to it was a desk. Grabbing the lock, I tear it off opening it up for the spoils. Pulling out the rifle that was in there I noticed that it was the same type that Noble-six had. It was a BR55 an 8-pound bullpup rifle with a 36-round magazine. The locker contained six mags for the rifle and three more clips for the pistol I have. Awesome four frag grenades.
Hooking the grenades to my vest, I rummage through the desk and find a box of M296 8-gauge shotgun shells. Noble-six could use these. Taking the bandolier that was in there, there was nothing left. Checking the time, I had thirty more minutes until I needed to be back. Walking out to the building next to this I didn't find anything but more dead bodies. Seeing that there were dead soldiers I scavenge spare ammo from them coming up with a total of seven more mags for the battle rifle. I had fifteen minutes left so I decided to head back.
Coming up on our last stand shelter, I see Noble-six setting up barricades outside. Walking up to her I start listing off all of the ammo I had collected and handed her the box of shotgun shells and the bandolier. Watching her strap that down over her large frame I ask "So what did you find?". She starts to pull out a weird gun with pink needles coming out of it and points to a rocket launcher in the corner.
"Here's how this is going to go down. The Covenant are going to drop of their ground troops and we need to meet them with equal force. They're going to force us back inch by inch. I don't expect either one of us to survive. But were going to give them hell. I'm going to strategically place the weapons we have on hand in spots that we can get to. The building itself could be targeted by heavy arms fire, so we are not going to entirely rely on it. Strike hard, Strike fast and run to other positions." she explains the general plan to me.
Pulling out the alien weaponry I show it to her. "You have any idea how to use these?" I ask hopeful in her answer.
She takes the u-shaped weapon. "This is a plasma pistol. It's lethal against normal people cauterizing any wound upon impact. Great at close ranges and you can charge it. Use it to disable energy shielding and switch to a ballistic weapon to finish the job." She finishes and switches to the blue gun. "This is a plasma rifle. It's fully automatic and it's basically similar to our assault rifles in purpose. Try not to hold the trigger for too long on these though for they can overheat leaving you wide open."
She pauses in thought staring at me for some reason. Gesturing for me to follow her she takes me inside where I can see a black helmet on the table. Well, now this is obviously for me. Taking the helmet and putting it on I could see the HUD this thing had. Taking a stance with the BR an aiming reticule showed up with an ammo counter. And this thing had a basic health readout. This helmet was sick. Suddenly a ringing was heard inside the helmet. I was getting a call.
Looking at Noble-six I accepted the call. "I'm just checking the communications inside to see if it worked. You're all good. We are going to get separated. It's just fact at this point. With this we'll be in touch." she said over comms. She walks back outside while I follow behind. I look around at all the barricades and various cover that littered the landscape. "So, what else did you need me for Six?" I ask. She points to the machine gun nests she had set up. "Make sure those have a wide range on them and don't have a lot of blind spots. Then come meet me for more." she says while stalking away.
Doing what I was told I start asking Six random questions over comms and of course getting one-word answers out of her. Except for one.
"What would I do if I survive this? Go on the next mission. Simple as that." she replies nonchalantly. Getting everything done we didn't have to wait long before the ships started dropping troops off. It was time.
"Contact!" I yelled over comms. I scramble over to one of the machinegun nests and started to unload into those short things. Grunts from what Six called them were cowardly but had supreme numbers. Bullets shred through them like Swiss. Blood and gore paint the ground in colorful explosions.
"Jackels!" I hear over the symphony of metal hell I was spewing forth. The dinosaur creatures entered the battlefield. Known for being scouts and sniper support, I had to watch out for the little fucks.
The Jackels came with actual shields made of energy that tanked a bit of the machinegun rounds before shutting off spreading sinew and guts flying everywhere. There was no end to them. They sent these things in waves. Hearing the click of the machinegun run out of ammo plummeted my mood into the dirt. Rushing out so as to not get cornered, glad that these grunts didn't have energy shielding as I was head shotting them with my M7S. I was using this rifle first because I couldn't find more ammo for it.
Seeing a Grunt rush at me with two blue spheres in each hand I instinctually put it down not expecting it to explode in front of me. The methane had launched its body at me that would cause serious harm if it landed. "Shit!" I yell out as I dive for the nearest cover.
"You didn't tell me they had suicide bombers Six!" I shout at her over comms. Gunshots filled the air which undoubtedly came from her. Getting up I start moving from cover to cover taking potshots at the endless waves marching towards them.
The Beast screamed out a warning about an enemy behind me. I dived to the side as a huge hammer made a crater in the ground releasing a blast that blew me away. Hitting a wall of the nearby building I got a look at the thing that swung at me. Hairy ape man. Absolutely the tallest thing I ever had the pleasure of fighting. Standing at 9ft tall, the ape man was intimidating as all hell. "Monkey man!" I call out. "Brutes." she had replied instantly. The tenseness and nervousness were palpable in her voice. I lifted up my rifle and sprayed my remaining mag into it not doing a damn thing to it. The brute snarled as it charged at me to crush with his war hammer. The Beast told me to obliterate one of its kneecaps so I do so.
Shouting in frustration and anger I go a step forward and drive my knife into its neck. Grabbing its head as he struggles to get me off him, I snap his neck in brutal fashion. Quickly snatching my knife, I look at the hammer on the ground and could feel The Beast smile wickedly. I like that idea Beast. Taking the hammer, it only weighed about 85 pounds. So, with hammer in one hand and plasma rifle in the other I had turned myself into a blunt blender. Swinging this thing turned grunts into a pretty mist. It completely bypassed energy shielding.
"Elites!" Six screamed. The split lips came out to play. They were still sending out waves of troops turning my kill count into a blur. One of said elites spotted me yelling out "Imp!" in hatred. Rushing toward it I swung with the hammer managing to clip its legs when it dodged. Using the momentum of my swing, my next hit completely evaporates his chest cavity. Hearing a strange hum come from my hammer I realize it was out of juice. Rolling I grab the plasma rifle the elite had dropped dual wielding two of them at once. Becoming a death dealer of aliens, I tore through them like wet tissue paper.
The brutes and elites were still annoying to deal with but he's been killing them with hit and run tactics. Laying grunt bodies as methane traps to blow them to kingdom come. I was coming up on Six's position as she was laying waste to the Covenant. Switching to my BR I watch as she stabbed a brute to death. She acknowledges me in the shared chaos we were creating. I could tell she was slowing down due to exhaustion. I did not know how long she had been fighting for before I had arrived but it must have been substantial.
Hearing a low humming noise from above she grunts as she pushes me down. "Banshee!" she shouts. This was never ending. Laying down covering fire as she rushes to grab the rocket launcher. She only needed one rocket to take it down. I notice a tank in the distance.
"Tank 1,000 meters to the north!" I yell at her. Seeing the opportunity to strike I throw a grenade in a window of a building that had sniper fire from it. Dashing side by side going cover to cover shooting the Covenant along the way. I was starting to feel fatigue but I had to keep going. Checking the time showed me this battle had been a continuous two hours of fighting.
Using the rocket launcher to blow up the alien tank Six notices something behind me and shoves me aside as she gets hit by a gargantuan black metal shield.
"Six!" Looking to see what hit her I had to change my mind about the brutes. This was the biggest opponent I had ever faced. Thing was 12ft tall and had mean look to it. On closer examination it had orange worm like things wriggling underneath the black suit of armor. The Beast told me to go for that. It's like a big weakness that's been showed off to the world. Evolution was not kind to this thing. I was about to kill this big bitch.
Hearing a lumbering noise to my left I dive as a whooshing shape went over me. Shit there were two of them. Seeing shots ting off one of the gigantors told me that Six was still kickin. One starts to charge at me while the other starts shooting green blasts to cover for it. Tribal drums and Grigorian chants filled the air in a murderous discord. The Beast was getting savage in my mind. Dodging came naturally as I side-stepped around the one that charged gritting my teeth all the while. Glancing at the other one he apparently was busy dealing with Six. Good.
This one start's charging again and I meet it in kind sliding under it. Hoping on the back of it; the worms beneath the armor writhe uncontrollably as it tries to shake me off. Pulling my pistol out I was gonna absolutely unload into this big bitch but miraculously it only took one bullet to completely explode the worms. I stared at my pistol in confusion. Okay then. I hurriedly go over to see if Six was still having problems but I was worried for nothing as the body of the alien had what looked like an explosive wound in its back.
"You ok si-" I begin to say but cut myself off when I looked at her form. This was the definition of fucked up. Her armor looked like it had crumpled in the midsection area; she was holding it like her life depended on it. Why did she do that? Anger rushed through me; I could have taken that hit but deep down I had no way of knowing if I truly could. Fuck! It was all my fault.
"Listen we are going to stick together from now on. We did better than I thought but we are both fatigued. Watching each other's backs is what we're going to be doing now." She explains calmly and nonchalantly. What?
"Why the hell are you so calm about your injuries Six? It's my fault you got like this." I was livid. She should be shouting at me. She pauses and stares at me like a puzzle.
"How old are you, John?"
"Fifteen. Why?"
It was the first I ever saw her startled but her tone didn't change "You must have been trained by a good soldier. I'll tell you why. That's the territory when it comes to war. You shoulder your injuries and you keep going. I have no time to blame anyone on anything. It's not your fault and never will be your fault. I made my decision. I lost my entire team to the Covenant. Do I blame myself for how they died? No. Ultimately, they sacrificed themselves for the mission so that humanity could live for a better tomorrow. That's how a good soldier lives."
It was the most I had heard her speak. Standing for a moment I felt The Beast urge me to recollect myself. Taking a deep breath, I nod at her. We needed to move but I noticed something; it was quiet like all of the Covenant let up for the moment. It was strange. I didn't like it.
The Beast was going nuts but I didn't know about what. A scream broke his thoughts. Looking at Six he felt his blood boil. What looked like a blue double bladed energy sword was ran through her chest. The enemy was cloaked!
"Noooo!" I scream in rage.
Thinking fast I pulled out the plasma pistol I still had and my human pistol; bullets started erupting from my human handgun with extreme precision as I charged my plasma. I discharged destroying his shield while still unloading. With it dead I watch as Six slumped into my arms.
"Shit! Come on Six. Stay with me you'll me ok." I was frantic dragging her heavy frame into a building that was behind me. I could hear her breathing heavily, wetness sounded in each one. I was on the lookout now. She took her helmet off, dropping it carelessly on the ground revealing her face to me. Upper twenties with brown hair that went to the nape of the neck, scars littered her face like the large one across her nose. Staring at me with dull brown eyes, her face was stone but not cold. Blood leaked out of her mouth as she had a strange look on her face.
Laying her form against a wall in the building I scan around for something I could use to staunch the bleeding. God damn it! I wasn't finding jack shit. Frustration was all I was feeling as The Beast was begging me to calm down. He couldn't understand why I was willing to go so far for someone I barely knew. It was the human thing to do I argued back. The Beast couldn't register the feelings of it all and argued that I needed to leave her behind because she was dying. I was going to explode at him but I didn't need the drama.
I needed to save her.
"Tell me what to do Six. You are not fucking dying. You're going to go home and retire, marry and have plenty of kids." I was already fidgeting with my hands around her when she grasps my arm making me pause in what I was doing. That strange look on her face was quickly replaced with a small smile. What was she doing?
"There won't be reinforcements for a long time I'm afraid." That sentence sent hot coals down my spine. Nobody was coming? "And I'm not going to make it." she said so matter of fact. I refused.
"Fuck that! You are." I was going to hear none of it.
She continued to smile that made my stomach churn. "Listen to me. It will be all right. All you need to do is find a UNSC bunker that you can hole up in. It will be lonely but I know you can pull through. You were trained very well." she said as if she accepted her death.
She can't possibly be saying all of this. I was going to say something but she cut me off. "Remember John, none of this is your fault. This is just war. The people you know could die tomorrow but you have to push on. Live with no regrets. And you need to remember something important. Spartans don't die they go missing in action." Her eyes held such harsh fierceness when she said those words as if it was a creed but all I could do was stare.
I start screaming, calling out to the Gacha to save her somehow. She needed to be saved. I started begging and pleading with it. Fucking thing was useless. I look back down and saw the worst.
Her eyes fluttered for a moment dimming considerably while her head lulled to the right stilling. Swallowing loudly, I gently shake her. "Six? Hey. Wake back up. Please." My breathing was labored.
"Come on Six. Please." The please was whispered as if I said it any louder it would scare her. Rage filled me as she lay in my arms.
Dead. She was dead.
As soon as I realized that my body was engulfed in light and the planet Reach was unreachable.
The first thing I noticed was that Titan came back to emotions stronger than he was really prepared for causing him to become agitated. The Beast was trying very hard to get me to calm down. Church was frantically searching for answers; prodding me with endless questions that I didn't want to answer at the moment. They needed to shut up. I was going to explode in rage. I was going to start pacing when the Gacha showed up in front of me, putting me on edge immediately. It has never done anything like this before. What I read stopped me cold.
[Hello User! I hope you had a fun time on Reach!]
Fun? This thing was fucking mocking him. "Fun? You... you thought I had fun?"
[Of course you had fun. It was a jolly adventure. Killing all sorts of aliens by the boat load. Even got to meet the Noble-Six herself. Shame what happened.]
Realization dawned in my eyes. "You were watching this entire time?" Rage settled back like an old friend. Throwing my helmet off and the next thing I knew I was screaming. "Why the fuck didn't you help?! I called for you to save her! I begged! Fucking Pleaded!" I knew I was going feral and exploding on this thing but I didn't care.
"You obviously have the power to send me back and forth to places, yet you couldn't help her! You're just a fucking useless piece of shit!
Pain exploded in my chest. As if something gave my heart a violent squeeze. Panting, wheezing and clawing my chest while The Beast and Titan screamed. Titan came out and was destroying everything in my room with his tentacles lashing out in pain. Church kept calling me worried and said he was sending combat drones to my room. I knew it wouldn't help.
It was the worst pain imaginable that I started whimpering as light tears ran down my cheeks. Then like that it had stopped leaving me hacking and coughing my lungs out. Taking deep heavy breathes, I brought my hand to my nose to discover I was bleeding out of it. The Gacha appeared.
[For shame. For shame User. That really hurt my feelings. You didn't really mean all of that did you?]
Fear. Fear was the only thing that coursed through me at the moment. Swallowing thickly "No. I didn't mean it." Shit. What the hell?
[Good. That's very good. You're a player to The System after all. But that just leaves your punishment for saying such mean things to me. Hold on. Hmmmmm. How interesting. Well, you're in luck User. Someone has given you a free roll. We'll postpone your punishment to a later date but for now. Roll.]
I stared in dread at what this thing had in store as a punishment but it also made me think. Someone else was watching me now. I had no choice but to press it.
[Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy] (Bastard!)
[ The great and powerful Dark Shneider as realized your potential as future entertainment. He has gifted you the vast repertoire of his spells so that you may wreak havoc. He hopes to meet you soon User.]
Dark Shneider. With a name like that he was for sure a big deal. The memories and incantations came to me. Holy shit. My mouth was awe-struck at the sheer power these spells had. But frustration filled me. I barely had the magic reserves to use any of them. That means I couldn't use them on the Gacha. Dread filled me once more.
[ Well, it's time to go. Don't forget the punishment. It will come. When? Who knows.]
And with that the Gacha was gone making me slump to the floor releasing a breath I didn't know I was holding. I was shaking as sweat clung to my skin. Everyone was trying to get my attention but I just wanted to be alone. For the first time since he was eight he wanted to break down.
(Taylor POV)
I should have noticed something was wrong when John wasn't outside with that cheery look on his face whenever he saw me. The look he gave me left me wanting. Something was definitely wrong though. He was already five minutes late which left her wondering if he was sick today. The past few weeks had been downright wonderful as I got to know John. We would talk about music and books. And he was training me on top of it. Looking at myself in the mirror, I was changing and building all sorts of muscles. The wrestling was amazing. I could feel my cheeks flush as I thought about him shirtless for what seemed like the umpteenth time. He was turning out to be a true friend to me.
But something was wrong as I heard crashing noises coming from his room on the top floor. Worried I approach the door and call out to him but hear no answer. Remembering that the extra key was under one of the steps taped to the bottom of it, I grab it and unlock the door. "John? You okay?" I call out.
"I'm going to check on you, ok?"
After shutting and locking the door behind me, I walk upstairs and open the door to discover a mess. The room was trashed with things broken and in disarray. John didn't look any better but he was wearing some weird armor. Was he? No way.
Stalking up to him I noticed he was shaking a little bit. Putting my hand on his shoulder softly, I call out to him once more.
"John?" I whisper to him. He startles as if it was the first time he heard me. I gasp softly as the look of shear pain was on his face.
"Taylor? What are you doing here?"
"I came to check on you because I was worried about the loud noises coming from your room. And well you are not ok. So, talk."
He looks at me in surprise like it was the first time anyone truly cared to listen. He gulped and licked his lips before looking me in the eyes. "Ok. Taylor I'm a parahuman."
Woah. I was right but what was he. I waited for him to continue. Then he tells me about his power. A trump power that was completely random in what it gave him. From perfect hair of all things to martial arts styles to a constant music playlist that played when something epic happened. He stared at me for a moment and told me not to get scared. I nodded; I would listen to everything he said. "Ok Titan, come out." Then from his shoulder a grey goop appendage came out and formed into a sort of head with freaky looking eyes and sharp teeth.
'Hi Taylor. My name is Titan' He spoke in a soft cadence almost shyly.
"Why hello Titan aren't you just adorable." Titan seems to smile broadly and happily bobbing his head all the while. I could even see the soft smile John had. That was what I was aiming for. I didn't like to see him sad. John told him he had a secret base underneath his house and that his powers sent him to different worlds. Which was incredible. But then his faced changed to sadness.
He had told me about the planet Reach and the woman who helped him survive for two hours. Noble-Six had died in his arms causing him to shake again. I rushed forward enveloping him in a hug. He stiffens somewhat then reciprocates; wrapping his muscular arms around me hugging me firmly. I felt his chin rest on my head as I slowly circle massage his back. It's what my mom would do when we hugged for an extended period of time.
"I couldn't save her." he whispered the exhaustion in his voice rattling his bones.
"It's ok. It will be ok." It looked like they weren't going to school today.
Quick Authors Note: Sorry, this was supposed to come out Saturday but I got hooked on a book I hadn't read since forever ago. F. Paul Wilson's The Tomb a Repairman Jack novel. Excellent book. Check it out if ya can underrated author. All right see ya.