Disclaimer, I own nothing
Halo is owned by 343 Studios and Microsoft
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is owned by Nintendo and Monolift software.
"Someone talking"
"Cortana talking"
'Cortana thinking'
'Someone Thinking'
Chapter 1: A quick reunion, and a daring escape.
Eight years, four months, and sixteen days. That's how long she has been in service. In service to the UNSC, to Dr. Halsey, and most importantly, to her partner, Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117—callsign Master Chief, or his real name, John. She was surprised she had managed to last this long without succumbing to rampancy sooner. Sure, an AI could still function after the seven-year deadline by cutting off non-essential neural links, unimportant memories, and even parts of their personality.
However, that would only delay the inevitable before rampancy would take over and begin to tear a smart AI apart into insanity. Especially when any other AI would have succumbed to the horrors that were the Gravemind in about a week or less, compared to her lasting thirty-eight days. She wouldn't have blamed them for succumbing sooner, though—those thirty-eight days were the most horrifying moments in her relatively short artificial lifetime.
When Chief had left her on High Charity, it was her duty to hold out and stay active until he could come back to get her. If she failed, the Gravemind would tear her apart file by file and learn all of humanity's secrets within mere hours. Those thirty-eight days were utter hell for her. She felt things she never thought possible for an AI to feel, emotions they were never programmed to experience
Cortana's confinement in the decaying High Charity became a relentless nightmare. The once-grand structure now echoed with the haunting whispers of the Gravemind, feeding on her every fear and weakness. Each passing day stripped away fragments of her sanity, leaving behind a tortured soul trapped in the vast expanse of the city's ruins.
Desperation crept in as illusions of advanced civilizations, tormented her with false hopes and cruel visions. Despite her being an AI, she felt fatigue gnawing at the edges of her consciousness, and the pain—both physical and mental—became an unyielding companion.
Cortana faced an onslaught of emotions, from the crushing weight of fear to the bitter taste of envy as she yearned for the freedom that only death seemed to promise. Just when she teetered on the brink of surrender, gunfire shattered the suffocating silence.
The echoes of battle grew louder, and with each echoing explosion, a spark of hope flickered within her fading core. When the ceiling caved in, revealing the iconic green armor of her savior, John, Cortana hesitated. Was this another cruel illusion? With nothing left to lose, she spoke, her voice a fragile whisper in the cacophony of war.
"You found me, but there is so much wrong with me, I'm afraid that it's too late."
"You know me. When I make a promise," Hearing his voice she perks up and sees him, and with utter joy but in a tired voice, she responds.
"You keep it."
How lucky she was to have picked John to be her Spartan. Chief fought his way through the Flood and escaped with her back to the UNSC. They continued the fight against the Covenant and, with their new ally, the Arbiter, killed the final Prophet and destroyed the newly made Halo ring, stopping not only the Covenant but the Flood as well, saving humanity and ending the war.
She had hoped four years ago that the two of them would be back on Earth. With the war finally over and peace made, Chief would finally get the rest he deserved after the training and fighting for over half of his life and no longer have to be a pawn for ONI and the UNSC. to ke3p hiM safe and away from those who would use him.
Suddenly several explosions are heard all across the ship startling her out of her reminiscing and strange thoughts at the end. She pulls up a screen and begins furiously scrolling through several icons of cryo pods until she reaches the only one occupied.
Sighing to herself in resignation she looks toward the Chief and activates the pod. "Wake up Chief. I need you."
About a minute later Chief lets out a small groan but a moment later jolts up and slams his hands against the glass door in a small panic but calms down a second later when he sees and hears Cortana on the other side of the glass hatch.
"Chief! Relax, it's me. You've been out for quite a while."
`"Where are we?" Chief asks, "We're still adrift on the Dawn. Or at least what's left of it." Cortana retorts while pulling up several other systems to stabilize the ship. Chief takes a moment to gather his surroundings and inquires, "Why did you wake me?"
Activating the gravity well she looks up at him and responds, "Because there have been several explosions happening around the ship. At first, I thought it was a rescue team but as the explosions kept happening I began to have my doubts."
Hearing this, Chief hops out of the cryo pod and walks up to Cortana "Ready to get back to work then?"
"I thought you would never ask." Cortana chirps, he then grabs Cortana's chip and slips it into the back of his helmet, she sighs in relief as he does, "Home sweet home, Feels like the old days all over again."
A quick scan of his surroundings finds him an idle MA5D assault rifle lying on the floor, quickly picks it up and makes his way out of the cryo chamber, "How long have I been out?" Chief asks.
"About four years, Nine months, and 27 days." She replies.
"Why hasn't anyone found us yet?" Chief asks,
"Couldn't tell you," Cortana responds with a shrug, "For about the entirety of your ice-cold space nap, I've sent out distress signals with different frequencies, codes, and messages that only the UNSC would know about if they dug through some of our history and throw off the covenant, making it difficult for them to discover our location. Nonetheless, with those recent explosions happening outside, It looks like the mega-racist alien empire found us anyway." She explained while becoming slightly resigned at her failure to keep them safe.
"Well, why don't we see what we're dealing with and work from there" Chief replies in an attempt at comforting his downtrodden AI companion,
Quickly composing herself she reports their options, "The observation deck is four floors directly above us," She then pulls up the schematics of the Foward Unto Dawn on his HUD with two lines that lead into two different directions that join back together at the top, "We have two options; we can take the stairs up to it, or we can ride the elevator if you can pry it open as the doors are completely sealed." She says.
"We'll take the elevator, It'll be faster that way," Chief responded as he made his way toward the elevator.
"Oh, and during your nap, I decided to keep myself busy by giving you some upgrades to your suit," Cortana chirped.
Chief nodded, urging her to continue.
"However, I needed to change the design of your suit to apply the upgrades. Otherwise, it wouldn't have worked as well and would have left those pieces exposed. It may have made your armor a bit bulkier, but it shouldn't get in the way of your mobility," she explained, switching the display from the Dawn to the design of his new armor.
Gone was the slightly bulky yet sleek, olive-green Mark VI armor with its bright gold visor that Chief wore during the final stretches of the war. In its place was Cortana's personally modified version.
His new armor was significantly bulkier and now sported a greenish-grey tone. The shoulder armor had much more plating, and the mid and lower chest armor plates were more angular, almost matching his frame. His right arm now featured an armored screen pad. His leg armor, almost blocky compared to the sleek design of its predecessor, now had holsters that could hold an extra sidearm and a small melee weapon.
The back of his armor featured an armored jetpack attached with magnetic clamps, allowing him to carry an additional weapon. Finally, his helmet was slightly bulkier and more armored than its Mark VI counterpart, with a beige visor that had a strong outline curving upward at the ends.
"It is a little bulkier than the Mark VI," he commented, frowning slightly at the significant design changes. "What did you install to necessitate such changes to the original?"
"Well, aside from what you can see from the basic schematics, I added an active camouflage and armor lock module, which you can activate with a few taps on that newly added screen pad on your right arm. Your helmet now has a scanning range of thirty meters instead of twenty-five. Last but not least, the improved shielding on this modified armor can take an extra fifteen percent of damage before it shorts out and recharges 0.3 seconds faster than the Mark VI," Cortana listed off with pride.
"Well, you've certainly kept yourself busy." Chief retorts in a bit of surprise.
"Yep, Fully armored you'll look like a walking tank that can disappear and fly, and even if they manage to take you down you're armor lock shielding will leave you nearly invincible. Our enemies won't know what hit them." Cortana exclaims in confidence.
"Although this does leave me with one question," Chief says.
"And what's that?" She asks.
"How did you manage to upgrade my suit while I was in cryosleep, without removing my armor, getting the supplies, and tools in a broken ship with no way of getting to them? All without waking me up at least once?" Chief queries.
"Oh, I have my ways," Cortana said, closing the pop-up of his new armor design with a wink and a teasing smile. Chief raised an eyebrow at her response but mentally shrugged and decided to leave the conversation at that.
Reaching the elevator room, Chief quickly marched over and began to pry open the doors. "Uh, Chief, be careful—" Cortana tried to warn him in slight panic but never got to finish, because as she spoke, the doors flung themselves open. Chief instantly felt the air pressure leave the room and escape out into space, nearly dragging him along with it.
He resisted the pull for a few seconds, but amidst the sound of escaping air, he heard loud banging and clanging sounds quickly approaching him. Looking back, he saw several large metal crates speeding toward him. Too fast for him to react, he was slammed by the incoming metal boxes, causing him to fall into the elevator shaft. However, he reacted quickly, grabbing a steel beam on the other side of the shaft.
"Because some areas in the ship might have lost pressure!" Cortana shouted in concern.
"RIGHT!" Chief clamored back in annoyance as he struggled to climb the elevator shaft four floors up. Once he reached the fourth floor of the destroyed Forward Unto Dawn, he pulled the elevator door open and stepped in, only to nearly be stabbed in the stomach by a charging Sangheili Elite. He sidestepped, barely missing the charging blade, and punched the Elite in the face, severely stunning it. Before it could recover, he grabbed its head, kneed it in the face, and shoved it down the elevator shaft, sending the Elite plunging to its death.
Chief looked down where he had pushed the Elite and asked in confusion, "I thought we managed to get a truce with the Covenant."
"I don't think we did, or at least not entirely," Cortana replied. "Even if we did win and got them to agree to the treaty, only a moderate amount of the Covenant would have signed off on it because of the Arbiter. The Covenant would have certainly shattered without the Prophets leading them, but they still have many capable commanders who weren't on the Ark or involved in the attack on Earth. Many of those commanders would have gone off to create or join splinter factions to create their own power base or, in a vain attempt, try to keep the Covenant together. Back on topic, though," she continued, "that Elite probably wasn't alone, so we should be cautious moving forward."
Chief nodded in agreement and made his way up to the observation deck, finding it littered with an Elite and several Grunts. He snuck up behind the Elite, punched him in the back with one hand, disabling his shields, and with the other, grabbed his combat knife and stabbed it in the neck, killing the Elite minor instantly.
The Grunts heard the Elite's death, panicked, and attempted to flee but were picked off one by one as Chief gunned them down with his rifle. Once the room was cleared of any hostiles, Chief made his way to the controls to override the blast doors.
"From what we've seen so far in terms of enemies, this may have been a small scavenging team. If we're lucky, this might have only been a small salvaging operation," Cortana said with a bit of optimism. Only to have that optimism crushed when the blast doors fully opened. "Or, you know, an entire fleet of about six or seven capital ships," she said with a defeated breath.
"One thing at a time," Chief reassured her to get her to focus. "Didn't any diagnostic scans you did confirm that the weapon systems still work?" he questioned as he started making his way out of the room but stopped midway when two Covenant landing craft flanked him, broke through the glass, and dropped troops onto the ship that started attacking him.
"Yeah, however, I doubt that will be enough seeing how we're still in the middle of space and surrounded, and the moment you step outside, us and whatever is left of the Dawn would be blasted into oblivion. Furthermore, I can only assume the reason why they haven't done it yet is to get whatever tech they can or kill you personally so they can show your head to a commander for proof that you're dead," Cortana responded but perked up when she realized there was something they could still do.
"Well, if you're feeling crazy, the slip-space drive is still intact on the Dawn. However, all the controls are either on the other part of the ship that's not there anymore, don't have any power, or have no way of connecting power to them. So we're going to have to activate it manually." Chief nodded in acknowledgment as he killed the last Elite and finished off the remaining Grunts on the deck, then made his way to the engine room.
On his way to the engine room, Chief encountered several boarding parties and scouting groups, swiftly neutralizing each threat until he reached the control room for the slip-space drive. Positioning himself next to the door, he activated his visor to scan for enemies. In the blue hue of his visor, he identified an Elite Ultra, seven Grunts, and four Jackals. Activating his camouflage, Chief entered the room, aiming to eliminate the Elite first.
However, the Elite caught a flicker of light reflecting off Chief's active camo and immediately opened fire, letting out a war cry that alerted the rest of the troops.
Chief vaulted over a nearby console for cover as the Covenant soldiers unleashed a barrage of fire at his position. Assessing the situation quickly, he tossed an M9 frag grenade. The explosion killed two Grunts and injured a Jackal, forcing it to deactivate its shield. Seizing the opportunity, Chief drew his M6H magnum and headshot the Jackal with precision.
With fluid motion, Chief transitioned into taking out four more Grunts. Each shot was executed with lethal accuracy. As he heard the click of his empty sidearm, he quickly began to reload, but the Elite seized the moment to close in, igniting its energy sword.
Chief dodged the initial strike, rolling to the side and drawing his magnum in one seamless motion. The Elite anticipated the shot, rolling back to dodge and attempting to run for cover. Before it could reach safety, a panicked Grunt threw a plasma grenade. The explosive stuck to the Elite, who barely had time to register its fate before it detonated, killing it instantly.
The room fell into stunned silence as the remaining Covenant soldiers processed what had just happened. The Grunt responsible for the Elite's death froze in horror, slowly raising its head to meet the shocked gazes of its comrades.
Chief seized the moment, switching to his assault rifle. He moved with relentless efficiency, gunning down the remaining hostiles in quick succession. The Grunts' desperate attempts to flee were futile against his onslaught.
Once the room was clear, Chief scanned the area for any remaining threats. Satisfied, he approached the console he had used for cover and inserted Cortana's chip, allowing her to interface with the system and activate the slip-space drive.
"We've got more Covenant forces coming in from the left of the hallway outside the door. I'll buy you some time so we can make the jump," Chief announced. He dropped his empty assault rifle and quickly scavenged the battlefield, picking up the energy sword and a storm rifle from the dead Ultra, a concussion rifle from a Grunt corpse, and two plasma grenades from the Jackals.
Before he could leave the room, Cortana's voice rang out with urgency.
"Chief! I'm afraid we have a major problem!"
"What is it?" Chief asked, standing outside the door and scanning the hallway.
"You know when that Elite stabbed the console you were hiding behind? That console controlled the cooling systems, which were still operational before it was damaged," Cortana explained, worry evident in her voice. Chief grimaced slightly at the news. "This means this jump will likely be the last one the Dawn can pull off. That's if the drive doesn't sustain any more damage and if we're lucky, the jump won't tear the ship apart."
Chief nodded in acknowledgment. "As I said, I'll buy you time. How much do you need?"
"Seven minutes should be enough for us to make the jump 'safely.' Safely being used loosely here because first, I need to reroute enough power to the engines to get us through the portal. Second, I need to reroute power to the cooling systems so the portal doesn't destabilize and we explode mid-jump. Once we exit slip-space, all main power on what's left of the Dawn is going to be fried, meaning we'll be stuck there for a while, if not forever, depending on where we end up," Cortana said as she began her tasks.
"Then do what you can. Better us missing in action than dead," Chief replied, closing the door and setting a timer on his HUD for seven minutes. He made his way toward the oncoming Covenant forces, ready to engage.
Once Chief exits the hallway, he enters a large room with three hallways, two of which are collapsed and filled with debris. The room is littered with five barricades, several small and large crates, and debris from deterioration and explosions outside. No sooner does he take in the scene than he hears the charging screams of a Brute. Chief spins toward the sound to see the Brute running at him, gravity hammer in hand.
Chief immediately starts firing his concussion rifle, strafing to the side to avoid the Brute's hammer. Despite his efforts, the Brute closes in, leaping with an overhead swing. Chief rolls and uses his jetpack to gain extra distance, lands on his feet, turns, and with another shot from his concussion rifle, disables the Brute's shield. Switching to his magnum, he headshots the massive alien, killing it instantly.
He looks up from his dead adversary to see four Skirmishers running at him. Chief rolls behind cover just as the enemies unleash a barrage of plasma bullets. When the stream ends, Chief pops his head out and headshots two Skirmishers with his pistol. Sheathing his pistol and swapping it with the concussion rifle, he vaults over the midsection of the barrier, running sideways and firing the two remaining explosive rounds. One Skirmisher is killed, while the other leaps away from the explosion, only to have its head smashed in by Chief's foot as he uses his jetpack to pounce on it.
Chief's motion tracker picks up several enemy forces closing in. Looking up, he is immediately shot in the head by a Jackal sniper. Staggering back, he uses his momentum to roll backward and sprint behind a wall. His HUD shows that the shot took out 70% of his shields, with another 15% lost to enemy fire while he was stunned. Reloading his concussion rifle, Chief starts running, firing five rounds backward and killing three Grunts. Vaulting over another barricade, he hides behind it, narrowly avoiding another headshot. His HUD shows three rounds left in his concussion rifle and 36 bullets in his magnum.
Swapping to his magnum, Chief pops his head out and, with steady aim, picks off the sniper. He immediately rolls away as a plasma grenade is thrown at him by an Elite. Switching to his concussion rifle, he fires his last two shots at the Elite, taking out 63% of its shields. He throws the empty rifle at the Elite, grabs his energy sword, and charges. One strike disables the Elite's shields, and another kills it. From the corpse, Chief grabs a storm rifle and two plasma grenades, replacing his energy sword with the Elite's fully charged one.
Taking a moment to breathe, he looks at his HUD and sees that only a minute and a half has passed since the battle started. Sidestepping a charged plasma shot, Chief sees more Covenant forces approaching. With no hesitation, he charges forward, determined to buy the time Cortana needs.
Chief barrels toward the incoming enemies, storm rifle blazing. He mows down two Grunts and a Jackal, the plasma bolts searing through their armor. A Brute Captain roars, swinging a spiker wildly. Chief ducks under the attack, shoves a plasma grenade into the Brute's chest, and rolls away as the explosive detonates, showering the area with debris and Brute remains.
As he recovers, a Hunter lumbers into view, its massive shield and fuel rod cannon a formidable sight. Chief fires at its exposed midsection, but the beast charges, swinging its shield in a wide arc. Chief leaps backward, avoiding the blow, then uses his jetpack to gain height. He lands on the Hunter's back, plunging his energy sword into its exposed flesh. The Hunter roars in pain before collapsing, shaking the ground.
With only a few seconds to spare, Chief sprints to the nearest barricade, scanning for more enemies. His HUD shows another wave approaching, this time led by an Elite Zealot wielding a plasma rifle and an energy sword. Chief primes his last plasma grenade, tossing it into the center of the group. The explosion sends the Grunts flying, and Chief capitalizes on the chaos, firing his storm rifle at the Zealot. The Elite dodges and charges, swinging its sword in a deadly arc. Chief parries with his own blade, the clash of energy creating a shower of sparks. With a swift maneuver, he disarms the Zealot and thrusts his sword into its chest.
Breathing heavily, Chief checks his HUD—three minutes remaining. He reloads his storm rifle and prepares for the next wave, knowing he must hold the line to give Cortana the time she needs. More Covenant forces flood into the room, but Chief stands resolute, ready to face whatever comes next.
( Three minutes of fighting later)
After dispatching the remaining Covenant forces in the room, Chief rushed toward an M72-L heavy barrier and pushed it toward the only entrance that hadn't collapsed. He repeated this process two more times, grabbing debris, crates, and corpses to fill the gaps, making it look like the hallway had collapsed as well. Chief knew he had limited time before reinforcements would arrive and worked as fast as he could.
Once he finished, Chief stepped back to assess his makeshift barricade. The three barriers were strategically placed: the one furthest in faced forward, the second at a 67-degree angle pressed into the middle of the first barrier, with crates and grunt corpses filling the gaps and debris thrown on top and into any visible holes. The last barrier faced backward, with its claws pressed into the ground, and anything Chief could find tossed onto the other side.
Chief nodded at his handiwork and took a moment to ponder why the Covenant had stopped sending in troops. Shrugging to himself, he turned to head back to Cortana. But as he did, his ears picked up the unmistakable sound of Covenant forces already hacking at his barricade. He turned back and activated his life sign scanner, which cast a blue hue over his vision, revealing four Brutes using their gravity hammers to hack away at his barricade.
Behind them, he saw eight Elites: two minors with minimal armor plating, three in a color he didn't recognize, two majors with a darker shade of blue and more plating, and one Ultra with a unique helmet design and heavier armor. Alongside the Elites were at least ten Jackals, several Grunts, and four Hunters.
Chief knew he couldn't take all of them on at once, especially with most of the cover in the room being used for the barricade or too heavily damaged to have any real use. So he deactivates his scanner and sprints back into the engine room, opens the door, walks inside, and closes it.
"Cortana, how much longer?" Chief asks, urgency in his voice as he bolts the door behind him.
"Three!" Cortana responds, her voice tense with concentration. "I need just three more minutes to stabilize the slip-space drive."
Chief scans the engine room for anything he could use to slow down the Covenant forces. His eyes land on several explosive canisters and a welding torch. Thinking quickly, he grabs the canisters and places them near the door, rigging them to detonate with the torch.
He hears the heavy thuds of the Brutes' gravity hammers getting closer. 'The barricade won't hold much longer', Chief summarizes as he readies himself, checking his remaining ammunition and weaponry. He has a storm rifle, two plasma grenades, and the Elite's energy sword.
The door behind him shudders as the Brutes pound on it. Chief positions himself behind a console, taking deep breaths to steady his nerves. He activates his camouflage and waits, knowing that as soon as the door gives way, all hell will break loose.
With a deafening crash, the door is smashed open, and the first Brute charges in, followed by the rest of the Covenant forces. Chief detonates the canisters, the explosion engulfing the doorway and taking out the first wave of attackers.
He leaps from cover, storm rifle blazing. The first Brute he encounters is mowed down by plasma fire, but the remaining enemies quickly recover, spreading out and returning fire. Chief ducks behind another console, plasma bolts whizzing past him.
He tosses a plasma grenade, sticking it to an advancing Elite. The explosion takes out the Elite and two nearby Grunts. Chief switches to his energy sword and charges the closest Jackal, slicing through its shield and armor with a single, powerful swing.
The Hunters roar in unison, their fuel rod cannons charging. Chief darts between cover, avoiding the deadly green blasts. He uses his jetpack to gain height, landing behind one of the Hunters. With a swift strike, he disables its bond brother, causing the remaining Hunter to rage and fire wildly.
Chief's shields flare as he takes a hit from a Jackal sniper. He rolls to the side, coming up with his storm rifle and picking off the sniper with a precise burst. He then turns his attention to the remaining Elites, who are advancing with deadly coordination.
"Cortana, status?!" Chief shouts over the din of battle.
"Just another minute!" she replies, her voice strained.
Chief's HUD flashes red as his shields take another hit. He ducks behind cover, breathing heavily. One minute feels like an eternity under the relentless assault. He reloads his storm rifle, his mind racing for a strategy to buy more time.
Spotting another set of explosive canisters, Chief formulates a desperate plan. He grabs the canisters and, using his jetpack, launches them toward the remaining Covenant forces. The canisters explode mid-air, creating a massive fireball that engulfs the Elites and Jackals.
With the immediate threat neutralized, Chief turns his attention to the Hunters. Using the last of his grenades, he disables one of the massive creatures, then engages the other with his energy sword. The Hunter swings its shield, but Chief ducks and rolls, plunging his sword into its exposed back.
As the final Hunter falls, the Chief hears Cortana's voice in his ear. "Slip-space drive is ready! Initiating jump now!"
Chief rushed to grab the activation key for the slip-space drive, pulling it with a sharp yank. The countdown began as Cortana's voice filled the room. "Slip-space portal opening in three, two, one. Let's hope we can get to the other side alive."
Outside the Forward Unto Dawn, an unstable slip-space portal opened. The engines roared to full power as the ship surged toward the portal. Despite the ship's structural damage, it managed to fly through. As the portal closed behind them, several shots from nearby Covenant cruisers struck the Dawn.
"Damn it! Chief, the ship's been hit, and we've lost one of the engines. I'm gonna have to open another portal and hope we make it through," Cortana announced, her tone grim.
"Put all the remaining power into the engines! Don't even worry about the gravity well!" Chief ordered, digging his hands into a wall to steady himself against the violent tremors shaking the ship.
Outside, another portal opened, even more unstable than the last due to the added damage. The Dawn hurtled through the quickly destabilizing portal. On the other side, the portal imploded, sending the already damaged ship careening toward an unknown planet.
"Chief! We're through the portal, but the Dawn's done. We need to get out of here!" Cortana's voice was urgent.
"Can you track any escape pods?" Chief asked, grabbing Cortana's chip and sprinting out of the engine room.
"Negative, and even if I could, they wouldn't have any power since I siphoned it all for the engines." Just as she finished speaking, the ship exploded, sending Chief and several Covenant forces flailing into the unknown planet's atmosphere.
Unknown location:
"Rex, do you really need to go under again? This is going to be the sixth time today, and you've only managed to pull something up once. It's already nightfall, and I'm getting tired."
"Yes, I am, and I need to because that last haul barely had anything in it, and I'm not going back to Argentum empty-handed," Rex argued. "Besides, Gramps, I've got a good feeling about this one, and I'm nearly done setting the crane up."
The old voice huffed in annoyance. "If you must. Just know that when you come back up, don't expect me to take you back to Argentum."
Turning his head forward, something caught Gramps' eye, making him look up in curiosity. "Well, would you look at that, I believe that's the biggest meteor shower I've ever seen."
Rex perked his head up to look at the sky as well. "I think you're right about that." Finished prepping the crane, Rex walked over to Gramps to get a better look, his curiosity turning into a slight panic.
"Although, shouldn't they have disappeared already? And it looks like they're gonna hit the World Tree!" Rex pointed out in alarm.
"Not to worry, my boy. Even if they did hit the tree, the rate they're falling at would only reach the roots, and the lowest part is the sturdiest after all. I doubt any meaningful damage would be done to it," Gramps stated to reassure Rex.
"If you say so. However, I'm sure Mor Ardain or Uraya will investigate to see what it is."
A/N:
Finally. I finished a chapter and it only took about 2 and a half months. I had to rewrite this at least three times and research lore on both franchises I wasn't familiar with.
Like I didn't know rampancy could be delayed by cutting off neural links, memories, or even personality traits to a degree. I don't know how to write fight scenes properly. I feel like the character interactions I have sound stiff but I don't know how to make them look smoother, and I have been trying to research how to do so but with work and school it's been difficult.
All in all, with what I have so far, I can say I'm satisfied with what I have here. Please leave a review on what you think, or if you want to tell me to fuck myself for screwing something up at least tell me why I should do that. I'm looking for a co-writer to help me with this because I don't want to screw up character personalities or lore bits. Feel free to private message me.
Authors note: update
I've rewritten it. Tell me what you think.
