A/N

Hey, y'all! I'm really sorry about the fact that y'all had to wait a good few months before I uploaded again. My life got super hectic and I just didn't have the time. So I did most of this chapter while I was in school (which, now that I think back, was probably not the best idea of mine...) But, here's chapter seven! Hope y'all enjoy! :)

Seven

Tai couldn't sleep. The girl hadn't been able to sleep since she'd first seen the Covenant. The only time she did, was when her body shut itself down. And that didn't happen all too often, unfortunately, she was used to running off of no sleep.

Her restless nights often found her in the company of the stars, the vastness of space being the only thing to calm her raging thoughts. It made them silent. She watched as the frigate passed through constellations she couldn't name, galaxies she'd never encountered, and by planets she'd never heard of. It was peaceful. The sound of the doors to the Star Deck opening is what brought her from her reverie.

As she looked over her shoulder, Tai's blue eyes caught onto short cropped hair framing a lightly freckled face. The man standing above her was tall, much like the Chief. His were a brilliant blue, looking almost cyan in color. Tai went to say something, but stopped just short before closing her mouth. She had nothing of interest to say to this stranger who'd just wandered in.

She needn't have worried. "Couldn't sleep?" The man asked, his deep voice strangely familiar, but she couldn't place where she'd heard it. One of the engineers she passed, perhaps? She did often find herself in the cargo bay, fiddling with smaller mechanical devices that the engineers had no time to fix.

"You could say that." Tai stated, her answer short. No need in divulging to a stranger who had no business being near her anyway.

The man hummed lightly before slowly making his way to the stairs she'd sat herself upon. He sat down and the silence of the room returned, neither of them bothering to disrupt something so… serene. Afterall, it wasn't often one managed to find some peace and serenity in a massive frigate transporting Marines and Spartans alike. And her civilians she supposed.

"Whenever my teammates or I can't sleep, we like to sparr. It helps the body realize it needs sleep. If you want, you're more than welcome to come and work out with us. Spar if you so chose." The man states, breaking the comfortable silence.

Tai humms. "Y'know, I tend to wanna know someone before I end up fighting with them. Politeness and all that shit. Matter of fact, I don't even know your name." She responds, turning to the taller man. He's still standing.

He chuckled, a light sound that felt like it hadn't been heard in decades. "I like the way you think, kid. The name's Frederic. Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Spartan-104." A smile crawls onto his lips as Tai's blue eyes widen in shock.

No wonder the guy looked as tall as the Master Chief. It's 'cause he fucking was! Now she knew why his voice sounded so familiar. He was in the gym with the rest of his team. Everyone knew of that team. The legendary Blue Team, the supposedly last surviving Spartan team of the S-II program. And he was standing next to her, in civilian wear, at four in the damned morning.

Tai weighed her options. On one hand, he was far more augmented and bigger than she was. On the other, she had a wild card up her sleeve nobody else knew of. And hopefully it'll stay that way. She had been their first test subject in creating the Spartan programs. They wanted to make sure the drugs worked. And they'd stop at nothing to make sure they had the least amount of casualties. She couldn't help but think if everything her mother and aunt had put her through had the later result of them. And the deaths of their "siblings".

Tai knew her mother and aunt had done horrible things to her, but she knew the children taken for the Spartan programs had had it far worse. Most of the chemical mixes used on the Spartans had been tested on her first. Along with the drugs and the testing and the experiments, Tai had also undergone the rigorous training of the Spartans and ODSTs. Those women had wanted to see if they could make a stable subject with Spartan augmentations and ODST training.

When it had worked for Tai, they tested it on other subjects, some of them her own blood siblings, others children she didn't even know. For months, they thought the drugs had held, that the training was what it took to keep them steady. Alive. How wrong they were.

Not even months later, everyone of the test subjects died. Everyone, that is, except Tai. They never could figure out what it was about that tiny four year old that had caused her to survive. But she had, only to be kicked out of house and forced to live in solitude and poverty when their experiments had been found out. They blamed her. Tai's own mother forced her out when she was fifteen. That's when her adoptive parents found her.

Only to be killed barely even four years later. They had died the day before her nineteenth birthday, shot down by the Covenant barely even ten feet from their home. Tai could still remember the feel of warm blood rapidly cooling as she watched with shining blue eyes as the people she'd thought of as parents bled to death. She had been right behind them with the small hand gun they got her for her birthday.

SHe'd used it to kill the Elite who'd caused her adoptive parent's deaths and then shoved him onto his own energy sword, leaving him hanging there in his misery.

She never looked back.

Realizing her eyes had stayed on Frederic for a little too long, Tai came to a quick shot decision. "I'll meet you in the gym, then. Say, fifteen minutes?" The smile on her face was sad, but the emotion was quickly cleared of her features before the Spartan could truly notice it.

Frederic nodded gently and stood up. When had he sat down? He offered Tai his hand and pulled her to her feet. The surprise that flashed across his face at her immediate trust had her feeling angry for him. If she ever saw those damned women again, she'd kill them.

It didn't matter that they were "family". Family didn't do what they had done to their children. To other people's children. They didn't deserve the lives they took from so many others. And certainly not the lives they took from those Spartans.

Fifteen minutes later, Tai walked down the hall that led to the gym. She had got to her room and quickly changed into a deep green muscle shirt and black cargo shorts, courtesy of the UNSC.

Pushing the doors open with her shoulder, Tai's blue eyes did a quick scan of the vicinity. Habit, she supposed. To her right sat Frederic, his team around him, the four of them forming a sort of circle. They wore all black, from the muscle shirts and T-shirts, to the joggers and shorts they had on. They had started stretching a couple of minutes ago, no sweat to yet be seen lacing their brows.

Even though she knew the rest of Blue Team would be at the gym, she was surprised that they had all forgone their normal MJOLNIR armor. From the looks of it, the team consisted of two women and two men, one of which she'd already met face-to-face. She figured the other man had to be the Chief.

One of the women, the one now standing and walking towards her, had short red hair, the waves stopping just above her shoulders. Just enough to pull back, Tai noticed. She had bright green eyes. Almost too bright. Like Frederic's. The other woman had dark auburn-brown hair, the tresses falling to the middle of her back in two tight french braids. Her eyes were much like her hair, honey gold.

The other man, the Chief, had dark hair much like the rest, but she noticed that he had a slight tone of blonde, making his hair more of a dark sandy color. His eyes were a bright green, like the redhead's, but his held flecks of gold that she noticed seemed to shimer in the lighting. Even from a distance, she could tell that he was much taller than the rest of his team. While Frederic had the standard military cut, the Chief somehow managed to keep it slightly long, bangs falling lightly over his forehead.

Frederic walks over to her and claps a hand onto her shoulder. The sudden weight almost made her stumble. He pulls her toward the Blue Team and something seems to click in her mind. She was about to be introduced to the people most shrouded in mystery. And no one would ever believe her. Damn.

The man introduces the two women to her, the redhead being Linda-058 and the other brunette being Kelly-087. "And you obviously already know John. I mean, I hope you would, considering you saved each other." Frederic stated.

Tai let out a soft chuckle, her blue eyes seeming to lighten from the dark storm they'd been originally. Already, she felt lighter. Something about these legendary war heroes had her… calmer than she had been. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't remember the last time she felt comfortable around people. Not since before the death of the people she called parents.

She watched as the Spartans went and paired up, Kelly and John going to one ring while Fred and Linda went to the benches to press weights. Tai made her way to the punching bags yet again, this time refraining from putting in her headphones. She found herself wanting to listen to the sounds of the ship, not so bothered by them now. As she maneuvered around the bag, throwing punches and kicks here and there, she let her gaze wander, watching how the Spartans worked.

Kelly was clearly the fastest and was using that to her advantage against the Chief. However, where he lacked in speed, he more than made up for in skill and battle logic. They were a good match, almost completely up to par with the other. Tai was having a hard time telling which Spartan would come out on top. In the end, though, John did have Kelly pinned, the woman facing the floor, with the man holding her down, like they were wrestling.

The two seemed to speak to each other, before the Chief got off Kelly, holding out a hand for the other Spartan. As Tai watched them go to the other two, her blue eyes caught sight of Frederick and Linda. The woman had the man in what seemed to be a very painful arm-lock. Somehow, Linda had gotten Frederic onto his knees, her own knee pressed harshly into the small of his back. For a minute, it looked as though the female Spartan would win, but Fred eventually managed to twist under Linda, pulling her flush against his chest.

The man shifted his weight down, and threw Linda onto his shoulder. Like a sack of potatoes. He moved his left hand to be flush against her sternum before lifting her above his head. Grunting, he let out a breath and threw the other Spartan, the woman slamming into the barriers of the sparring mats. Linda quickly rolled back onto her knees and forced herself to stand, quickly finding her balance using the rope barriers.

The other Spartan let out a low growl and ran for the man, ducking her head to the side and checking her shoulder into his diaphragm. Even from where she stood watching, Tai could hear the sharp release of breath from the sudden pressure to his chest. As the two went down, Tai had a hard time keeping up with who was on the top and who was getting their asses handed to them.

Suddenly, Linda was straddling Frederic, her knees and thighs pinning his arms to his side. She planted her feet on the inside of his legs, keeping him on his back and not giving him a moment to try and shift his weight to get the upper hand. Linda had her forearm pressing into Fred's neck and the man stopped moving all together. He knew she'd beat him, and he was more than willing to admit to it, too.

The two slowly got up, Linda holding a hand out to Frederic, hauling the man back to his feet. The Chief and Kelly came over as well, clasping the others on the shoulder or back. As Tai watched, something in her mind almost seemed to settle, the image of the four Spartans being burned into her mind's eye. These soldiers were as much of a family as anyone of blood. Only, they had something no one else would ever be able to replicate or replace. They had a bond that went beyond words.