I'll Stay…
A Halo Story
Ch 1: Hard Knock
Pov: O'Brien
"..O'BRIEN! TAKE THE SHOT! NOW!..."
My ears heard, but I was still calculating what was happening. The guy who was supposed to take the shot saved my life yet again, but he took a gravity hammer to the face as payment.
"YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN DO IT!"
But the voice did not match what I expected from the man. It was more human, more kind than a machine that I expected. And it was no man, but a woman…
No time to gawk, only action!
I bolted for the laid down sniper and looked for the prophet. It took but a moment to find him.
There he was, "walking down the red carpet". It was perfect, too easy... I hated it, but I took the shot. And the aftermath made it all worthwhile. Elites nearby didn't register what happened for about five seconds. Then in one accord, all of them gave a loud howl. I couldn't hear it, but I saw it on the scope. Only seven seconds later we heard it. The scream only provided a brief reprieve.
I would be shouting for joy, but I only turned to see the bleeding mess before me. Her light blond hair was stained so easily with her own blood. Her face showed pain, but peace. She laughed smoothly.
"Thank you O'Brien, all of you. Mission complete."
She started to move on her own to get up. Cortez however didn't agree with it and rushed to her help.
"Easy Champ, don't strain yourself! I'll help you up. Dutch, O'Brien, take point! We gotta get out of here before this area is swarming with Covenant."
Nobody argued as we really didn't want to waste time. But something stopped us in our tracks. Cortez. His face looked strained.
"W-wait. Uh Dutch, I could actually use your help with her…"
What?
Dutch shook his head with a laugh as he went to help, "Now Cortez, I don't think you're that old-."
The man stopped his rant as he started to share the same face as Cortez.
"Man! I must have skipped one to many times at the gym!"
I however was offended that I wasn't called over to help. "If you can't handle it, I can take over for you."
However beaten the spartan was, she still managed to give a chuckle at my direction. It was soft as before…
Dutch, somehow, managed to laugh under the weight.
Cortez however was not amused, "O'Brien, do I have to spell it out for you?"
"What?"
"Even if you could support her, she would walk lopsided, Dingus."
It took me a few moments to piece together what he meant. When I did, my face heated up in embarrassment.
"...It's a nice thought."
The remark came from the bleeding spartan. (An image I would never imagine was possible.)
I turned my head to the side, which redden more from the praise.
But that was when I saw something that gave me an idea how I could help.
"Hold up!"
They did just that as I ran to the dead brute. I grabbed a hold of the end of his hammer and started to drag it across the ground.
Cortez only now started to laugh, "Well well well, looks like Hot Head does have a brain on his shoulders."
"Shut your mouth and get ready!"
Dutch looked tired, "Hey, can you use it?"
"...Yes, I should be able."
"Good."
With that, she traded out the man for the hammer as support.
Dutch and Cortez both had a look of relief. Even if Cortez was still acting as a support, it looked like a lot of weight was now off his shoulder.
Dutch took a step back and a deep breath, "Wow, how much do you weigh? A ton-."
As soon as he said those words, I threw a good elbow jab to his side.
Dutch looked like he was about to yell at me, but stopped to think about what he asked and felt guilty. It's a universal law to never ask a woman her weight.
To our surprise she answered.
"...Well I don't think it's that much. With my armor it should be a little over half a ton."
All of us paled as she stated it as a matter of fact.
Criminy…
Cortez then shook his head hard, "Enough of that we got to go. Can you move now?"
She took a big breath to answer, "... Yes, let's move!"
"Alright! Same order as before! You guys take point, I'll help our friend! Move out!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It was about 20 minutes in before she couldn't go on anymore. We stopped by a slab of an old structure, and there is where she rested.
She reached behind her head in pain and pulled out a chip, and handed it to Cortez.
"...It's the data... of the ruins..."
What? What is she-?
"Tell them to … get it to Halsey..."
Wait, what is she saying?
Cortez tried to have her keep it.
"No, you can give it to her yourself."
"...We both know that's not gonna happen.."
She handed him the chip and drifted back on the ground lifeless. None of us said anything as the silence said it all, she was dead…
She was dead…
I was wrong this whole mission…
She was dead…
I had completely ignored the sound of a pelican coming in.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"O'BRIEN!"
The fork I held fell out of my hand.
"Huh?"
"You're drifting off again O'Brien, fifth time this week."
I was back in the cafeteria, even though that moment felt like it just happened, again.
"Oh, sorry Dutch. What were you all talking about?"
Both Cortez and Dutch glanced at each other and turned to say the same thing to me, as if they had rehearsed it a hundred times.
"You."
"...what?"
Cortez elaborated, "I already told you to go to the ship's on board therapist. Get some real R And R. It's been a week since the mission. Checkman was a long time friend of ours, and the spartan would have been one too. We have to move on for their sake and finish this fight for good."
I looked down in shame.
"I know that, believe me. What's done is done. But…"
"But what?"
I didn't answer him right away, I needed to think how I could get my thoughts across.
"I can't help but think that her death was on me…"
They said nothing as I continued.
"Everytime I messed up, she was there. She risked herself every time for me, for all of us. And I just yelled at her for it. I killed her. I got what I wanted in the end, and It costed her life to get it…"
Cortez did nothing but stare at me in bewilderment. Dutch however put two of his arms behind his head and sighed.
"No O'brien, I had gotten so used to Checkman being our lookout. That one was on me."
Cortez rebutted that statement, "No, that would be my fault. I knew more of our squad dynamic and that we were down a man. I should have corrected our formation then."
I shook my head at all of those thoughts,
"Maybe it was all of us, maybe it wasn't. But still, she put herself in front of that hammer for me…"
None of us said anything after that in the now nearly empty mess hall. We dug away at our food.
It would have stayed like that the rest of the time, except for a tray landed right next to mine. That was the last straw! I jumped up from my spot and prepared to yell at what I believed to be another tryhard marine.
"How many times do we have to teach you this-."
I stopped as what I saw was not the person's face, but their chest. Which in hindsight was embarrassing, as I looked up to see the person who would dare. Try to sit with us.
The color drained from my face as it registered as an impossibility.
"...I'm sorry, was this seat taken?"
None of us said anything as we stared in disbelief.
"...It's alright, I'll find another table."
There was no hate in her voice, it was kind as before.
She turned to leave, but I grabbed her arm before she could.
"Wait! Please stay."
She turned to me with surprise, it turned into a simile that matched her face nicely.
"Alright…I'll stay…"
End Chapter
(A/N: I know I changed some things to where they were able to get her out of the cave. I felt like it would have made more sense that her being a spartan would mean that she could walk for a bit longer.
I know her armor didn't contain energy shields, but it does have very resistant material built in it. On another note, I have not put my other story to the side as of yet. In fact, the last few months I have been editing my previous chapters up to this point. I have made it to chapter 17, but I have not been able to make any headway with it. I actually made this chapter a few days ago as a means to get my gears in my head turning. This last year has been a dozy, and I don't need to tell you why.)
[PS: If you haven't already figured it out yet who the woman is, then you will have to wait next time on I'll Stay…]