Chapter 12
Warmachine375- Eh, not really. It's just a show with characters acting differently from another portrayal of them. DC Comics and Marvel do the same thing with their various universes as well. Some more drastically than others. Nothing more.
I can see the point about the helmet, but I'd argue the falling in love thing can still occur. It just has to be done correctly and will probably result in a failed relationship realistically if it ever occurred in canon. Oh yes.
I have no idea where that episode takes place, so I have no idea where I should put it in.
Austin- I'm not sure if I should do more races as we already have plenty already right now.
The Harbinger's species is called the Xalanyn. It's both in the wikis and in Halo Infinite in one of the audio logs.
Lilith Clawthorne
"I must admit. He's not nearly as mad as I thought he would be." Thought Lilith as she watched Master Chief train the four teenagers on how to be better soldiers. It was the seventh day since Bright accepted Master Chief's proposal of training his crew to be more efficient at their jobs. So far, the initial bunch was doing better than Lilith had hoped under the tutelage of the Master Chief.
Initially, the Witch had thought that Master Chief would be a harsh teacher that cared little about the well-being of his charges. She knew that was a bit harsh to think about the man, but he didn't give a very strong impression that he was a caring individual, at least to her. Now, however, she can see that he cared about his students.
He was strict, that she can attest to, but he seemed to take things slow for their sake. Perhaps he realized that they were just teenagers that didn't need an overbearing teacher on top of all the other problems that they had.
Whatever the reason was, he started out with a few basic things and observed them perform them, gauging what he needs to improve for each individual teen. The one named Kai complained about this, but one stare from Master Chief followed by an explanation was more than enough to get him to shut up. Though she was certain that the blue-haired human was more afraid of being stared down by the Master Chief over any sort of understanding of his teaching methods. After discerning the strengths and weaknesses of all four teens, Master Chief saw that they all, minus Ryu Jose, lacked discipline and the ability to keep calm when things go awry for them. As a result, he focused on those two things, more so the former as he was forbidden from pushing the teenagers too far. Until Bright said otherwise, he'll have to hold off on training them on how to keep calm under extreme amounts of pressure. That being said, despite the restrictions placed on Chief, the Spartan was still quite capable of pushing the boys to their absolute limit.
The man was quite an interesting teacher. Lilith had taught many young Witches during her time, but she never met someone that taught like this Master Chief. She never met someone that balanced both firmness and care for their students as he did. Even she didn't match that balance, making her a little jealous, but she supposed she shouldn't be jealous considering what he's teaching them and what it'll be used for.
Crossing her legs over one another, Lilith continued to watch Master Chief train the four teens with such precision and care that left Lilith wondering just how well trained the man was in order to both be a soldier and a teacher as well. It was like he could do everything. It was awe-inspiring in a way. Though, he wasn't very good at keeping people feeling safe while he was around. Hence why she was close by.
As Master Chief trained the boys, Lilith was always close by. Ready to provide refreshments and any other form of assistance that the four teens require. It wasn't the most exciting job, but she was willing to do it nonetheless, especially since she had nothing else to do on this ship.
Whenever the boys got too exhausted to continue or required water, she was there to provide a sort of respite for their training with just someone to talk to if they required it or some kind of liquid refreshment to help quench whatever thirst they have, which happened often because the training regime that the Master Chief gave them was quite thirst-provoking with how sweaty they always are when they're working with him. Even Ryu, the only actual one that joined the military willingly, worked up a sweat from the Spartan's training sessions.
It was during that time that Lilith got to know the four boys and their backstories. It was how she learned how they lost their homes to the Zeons when they attacked their home colony, something that boggled Lilith's mind when she learned their home was in space and made it uninhabitable. She also learned, much to her sorrow and sympathy, that they lost all of their family as well, including parents and whatever siblings or friends they had prior to the attack. It pained Lilith to hear that they lost so much to a simple attack. She imagined her mother and father, Gwendolyn and Dell, being killed in such an attack along with her sister Edalyn and it pained her to imagine such a fate for her family. How could she live with herself if she survived such an attack while her family didn't? Her, the one that brought pain and misery to her family and their loved ones with the mistakes that she committed in her youth. It'll just add to the guilt that she was already feeling, perhaps even destroy her.
Shaking her head in order to rid herself of that depressing thought, Lilith watched as Hayato made his way to her, drenched in sweat. Seeing this, Lilith looked to the crate next to her and pulled out a metal container containing water. Giving the container to the boy as he sat down next to her on the box she was on, she watched as he drank a large amount of water before conversing with her.
"So, how was everything going, Miss Lilith?" Asked Hayato as he addressed the Witch with a respectful tone.
"Everything is going well, Hayato." Said Lilith with a smile. "Your crew has been treating me and my companions well enough and I've been getting along with those children of yours." Hayato gave a laugh at that.
"They haven't been too overbearing on you, have they?" Asked Hayato as he looked at Lilith, who just shook her head.
"On the contrary, I rather love the attention that they've been giving me." Said Lilith as she remembered the three children, who she learned was named Katz, Letz, and Kikka. Those three had been visiting Lilith and spending time with her every chance they get. Her ability to do magic just enticed the three children. And they spent whatever free time they could afford to give her just to watch her do magic, which Lilith was more than happy to oblige. She performed various basic magic spells for their entertainment from a wide range of magic types so as to not bore them with performing the same thing over and over again. Needless to say, the children were in awe of her magical prowess and thus grew close to her as a result when they began to converse with her after they had their fill of her magic.
It was because of that, along with her general demeanor, that she got along well with everyone on the White Base. Fernando also made good relations with the crew as well, mainly the older ones, like the ship's chef. She didn't know how, but she assumed that it was because both of them were non-combatants. Unsurprisingly, the Master Chief held the least number of good relations with the crew.
Not only was it because of his lack of interest in establishing relations with the crew, but it was also because they were still scared of him and his armor. From what she could tell and when she asked the reasons why people were scared of him, it was mainly because of the armor that he wore. The armor was not only so massive that it scared them with its size, but the fact that it masked his face from them, making them unable to tell what he was actually feeling, was also a matter of contention for them. Something that she can understand. That helmet really did make people nervous. They weren't able to tell what the Master Chief was really thinking, how he felt about people, and if he actually cared about those around him. It made…like a machine. An abomination in Lilith's eyes. It made him too much like Belos in her opinion, whose own helmet prevented his advisors from ever telling what he's actually feeling.
She had put some thought into asking him to take off the helmet so that people can not be afraid of him anymore, but she was afraid of how he would react to the suggestion. Even though she's known him for a while now, she wasn't sure she should ask a thing of him. He always seem to wear that helmet, even when it seemed impractical to do so. Heck, when he needed to eat, he just took some food from the mess hall, after being directed to where it was, and went to the Pelican transport to eat. He never ate with everyone else like her and Fernando, which just added to the fear and unease everyone had of him.
As she thought more about his behavior, Hayato spoke up.
"Uh, Lilith? Did you hear what I said?" Asked Hayato as he looked at the Witch spacing out. Shaking her head, Lilith cursed herself for neglecting Hayato before speaking.
"I'm sorry. I was thinking about your instructor for a few minutes." Said Lilith honestly as she looked at Master Chief ordering Kai, Ryu, and Amuro to do pushups. Kai, of course, complained, but a stare from Master Chief coerced him to follow his orders.
"Oh." Said Hayato as he looked at Master Chief watching the three do pushups. "Can't really blame you for that. He's really pushing us to our limits. Making us do exercises all the time we had with him and trying to impart knowledge to us that we already know. It's getting frustrating." Upon hearing the frustration in Hayato's voice, Lilith inquired what was wrong and if he wanted her to relay it to the Spartan for him. "Nothing really. I'm just not sure of how all this is to help us be better pilots. I mean pushups and running around the hanger is nice and wall, but we're pilots. We don't need physical exercise. And what does that stuff have anything to do with what we need to work on anyway? Even Ryu is stumped on why he's making us do these things."
"Well, I may not know the purpose behind all this, but I used to be a teacher back home." Said Lilith. "Sometimes the instructors just know some things that the student doesn't. It's up to them, however, to make them understand the purpose behind whatever assignments they give them."
"So why doesn't he tell us why he's making us do this?" Asked Hayato as he looked at Master Chief stopping everyone before looking over to Hayato and asking him to come back. "Great. Sorry, I have to go back before I get on that guy's bad side. If he even has one." Watching as Hayato went back to Master Chief, Lilith pursed her lips as she watched the man resume his lesson, this time simply talking to the four, something about discipline and how they needed to rely on one another in a field of battle. Looking at the Master Chief, Lilith decided that the two needed to speak with one another after this training session was over, specifically about his students and how they feel about his teaching. As she thought of how to best speak to him, she suddenly heard some yelling from the four.
"That's completely ridiculous and you know it!" Yelled Amuro as he glared at Master Chief, causing everyone in the immediate vicinity to look at the boy.
"And why do you think so?" Asked Master Chief as he looked at Amuro. He had just been explaining to the four the importance of obeying the orders of their commanding officer when out on the battlefield, especially a high-intensity combat one, and that caused Amuro to snap.
"You want us to obey the orders of Bright or whoever is in charge without question. Don't you see just how stupid that sounds?" Asked Amuro as he glared at the Spartan, who simply looked back at the teen, who felt a shimmer of fear go up in the spine, but it was overwhelmed with the adrenaline and frustration he had at the moment from the Spartan's training exercises, which so far had been lectures, physical exercises, and team coordination exercises. "We're not machines like you! We think and feel! We can't just obey everything that Bright tells us what to do! What if we see something that he doesn't?"
"Then it's your duty to inform him so he can make an informed battle plan." Said Master Chief as he looked at the teen. "It's the duty of a commanding officer to not only maintain the morale and discipline of his crew, but it's also his duty to see the big picture of the battlefield. To do that, he needs all the available information he can acquire to create an effective battlefield strategy that will ensure that losses are kept as minimally as possible. Is there a problem with that?" Amuro was about to open his mouth to reply when he realized that Master Chief had a point. Shutting his mouth, Amuro just stood in place with a glum look on his face. Seeing this, Master Chief looked at Lilith and asked her to talk to Amuro. This surprised everyone, especially Lilith and Amuro.
"I don't need to talk to her!" Yelled Amuro after getting rid of his shock. He didn't need this along with everything else on his plate. "I don't need a lecture about my behavior by a woman!"
"Would you rather that I do it instead?" Asked Master Chief as he looked at Amuro. Once again, the boy was made silent by the Spartan, causing Kai to chuckle, causing Chief to look at him, shutting him up. "You're not in trouble or in need of a lecture, soldier. Lilith is simply better at this than I am."
"Making conversations with people?" Asked Kai as he looked at the Master Chief.
"Conversing with teenagers." Said Master Chief simply as he looked at all of them. "If that is all, we'll end early. You're all exhausted and obviously frustrated. We'll start again tomorrow. Provided you all aren't needed in combat tomorrow." With that, Master Chief left them in order to head for the Pelican. What he did there was anyone's guess as he wasn't exactly sharing that information with anyone but Fernando and he wasn't sharing that information either. Not that it mattered to the four teens. He let them go early and that was something they were going to take advantage of.
While Kai, Hayato, and Ryu went to the showers for obvious reasons, Amuro went to Lilith, not wanting to annoy Master Chief by disobeying his orders. Seeing how drenched Amuro was in a sweat, Lilith offered to make this quick as Master Chief didn't say how long their talk would be. Just that they had it. When Amuro pleaded, Lilith obliged.
"You can't just yell at the man whenever he does something you don't like." Said Lilith as Amuro sat next to her. The smell he exhibited from the physical activity he just did, nearly made Lilith winced, but she steeled herself and sat close to him. "It only makes you look like a child and make him not take you as seriously as you like him to." Seeing Amuro look down on the floor, Lilith sighed before speaking. "He must be really irritating you, yes?"
"Yeah, I just don't get what all this training is about. I'm a pilot. Not an actual soldier." Said Amuro as he looked at Lilith. "He said that it's to help me with my discipline, but I don't see how all this physical activity and lectures do that."
"Hayato also said similar things when he came to me." Said Lilith as she looked at Amuro. "Since you both have similar issues with his training, perhaps I'll ask him myself to explain the importance of his training sessions. At least more clearly to you all. That way, there won't be any more problems."
"It's not just that." Said Amuro as he looked at Lilith. "I got the feeling that he thinks he's better than us. That he thinks he can do better at piloting our Mobile Suits than we do."
"I very much doubt he's that type of person, Amuro." Said Lilith, knowing that Mobile Suits was the term these people use for the giant robots they have. "But I'll relay this to him. This is an issue that needs to be resolved and I'll do whatever I can to help make sure it is resolved peacefully. We can't exactly afford to have division amongst the crew, yes? Especially over something so trivial." Amuro just nodded at that before getting up to leave, really liking to have a shower now. Just before he left, he spoke to her.
"You're a better person than that guy, Lilith." Said Amuro, causing Lilith to blink. "At least you know how to make a person feel better or how to not make them feel pathetic." With that Amuro left, leaving the stunned Witch alone. Once she recovered, Lilith let loose a sad chuckle. If only he knew.
Getting up, she went to the Pelican in order to speak to Master Chief. Going over to the open doors, she saw Master Chief inspecting a box and its contents. Sighing, she spoke to the man.
"You really need to work on your people skills." Said Lilith as she went inside the Pelican and walked towards the Spartan.
"Is that the reason why he spoke out of line today?" Asked Master Chief simply, causing Lilith to sigh in frustration at him.
"That's not the only reason." Said Lilith as she crossed her arms. "Those four don't understand the value of your training at all. You need to better explain to them why it's important they need to do that training because they'll…"
"I'll receive more of what happened with Amuro later on, I know." Said Master Chief, causing Lilith to blink.
"Then why are you not…"
"Because I have other things to do and because I already know what the problem is." Said Master Chief, looking at Lilith. "I'll get to work on it tomorrow, I promise. For now, you can leave. I promise you that I'll help them understand the importance of the training sessions. And if I don't do a sufficient enough job, you'll be there to help out. Right?" Lilith blinked at that, processing all that the Master Chief said before replying.
"Yes, but you honestly should be doing this yourself." Said Lilith as she looked at the Master Chief. "Fernando and I get along with everyone on this ship well. You don't. You should be attempting to connect with these people. Didn't you say previously that it's the duty of soldiers to protect each other from harm? Isn't that task easier if you all know each other? Why not do so now? Get to know everyone here and get to know them as not just soldiers but people. Or do you only care about them being soldiers?" Lilith finished that last sentence with a glare. Looking at Lilith, Master Chief just stared at her for a few seconds before speaking.
"That task isn't as simple as you think it is." Said Master Chief simply as he grabbed a nearby gun and ejected its magazine, inspecting the bullets inside said magazine. "Any other Spartan will say the same thing to you." Upon hearing that, Lilith blinked, wondering what he meant.
"What do you mean by that?" Asked Lilith, curious. Why would getting to know other people to be hard for him? Was he anti-social or something? Whatever answer she would get was put on hold when they both heard alarms blaring out from the White Base. Upon hearing them, Master Chief reinserted the magazine back into the gun and walked out of the Pelican.
"We got a situation in hand." Said Master Chief as he got out. "C'mon, they may need our help." Upon hearing that, Lilith stared incredulously at the Spartan before sighing and walking with him.
"This conversation isn't over." Said Lilith. "You really need to interact with these people on topics other than fighting or warfare. Do you understand? Otherwise, these people will never see you as anything but a machine. Like Amuro said." Master Chief didn't say anything as he walked forward with Lilith in tow, focusing on the situation at hand. Something Joy found ironic as Chief was doing the exact thing that Lilith was telling him about just a few seconds ago.