Halo 2: Shadowed pasts and Ancient Runes

Chapter 17: A timeless chorus
Planet: Earth: October 17, 2552
2345 hours

"Go, Spartans!" The Arbiter yelled from the bottom of the crash sight, slicing one of the new Flood forms in twain. "We will let nothing past!"

Nathan and John hastily climbed the rubble, making their way to a blast point in the hull. It was a slide of grotesque flesh and metal, but it had to be traversed nonetheless.

The duo slid through the hole and tumbled to the ground, stopping in front of a group of white armored Elites, completely mangled and rotted. Nathan gagged and closed his air vents. He wasn't feeling like himself in the slightest, and the closer they got to the crashed cruiser, the worse he felt.

Something was in here, and he had a feeling it wasn't just an AI...

"Come on, Spartan." John said, leveling his Assault Rifle. "Let's just find Cortana and get out of here."

Nathan shook his head of the dizziness, only to have it come back stronger than ever. "I'm... I'm right behind..." He fell to the ground, clutching the sides of his helmet tight, yelling in agony.

John whipped around quick, crouching by the mans side. "Spartan? What is it?" He asked. Nathan stood awkwardly and his head twisted at an odd angle. John backed away and aimed his Rifle at him. He nearly pulled the trigger when he heard him speak.

"Do not be afraid. I am peace. I am salvation." He said in a deep, guttural voice. John recognized it as the Gravemind he'd met on Delta Halo. How was the creature here?

How was it speaking through the Spartan?

Nathan collapsed again, slowly sitting up. "Ugh. Dammit..." He muttered. He jumped when he saw the Chief aiming at him. A smile quickly formed on his lips.

"Well, I suppose an explanation is in order, huh?" He asked sarcastically. John, hesitantly lowered his rifle and nodded.

"Speak, Spartan. Tell me everything."

Nathan sighed and gave John the short version. He was part Flood, he was now immune to it, but the downside was that, if there was a Gravemind close by, he could turn.

John mulled this over. He contemplated shooting the man right then and there. He reached into his ammo belt and pulled out the bag of coins.

"What about these? They're like no currency I've ever seen." He said, jingling the bag. Nathan frowned and decided it'd be best to relinquish that story.

"Those, are Bits. Currency on my new home." He stated, taking out a coin of his own, flipping it along his fingers.

"Your 'new home'?" John asked. Nathan nodded and told the short tale of his peaceful home.

"During the battle of Reach, a ship I hijacked malfunctioned and crashed on an unknown planet, called Equis. The inhabitants are friendly and gave me, and my team, a home. We've been 'dead' to the war front for over a month."

John leveled his pistol at the traitors head. Nathan didn't even flinch. John's finger twitched, but he wanted to know one more thing.

"Tell me, that picture in your helmet. Who's on it?" He asked. Nathan slowly lifted his helmet off and removed the picture. John snatched it quickly and looked it over.

Whatever was in the photo had long, purple hair that curled up at the end. It was streaked with a pink and light purple strike on the left side of a long, spiral horn. Her eyes were large and just as purple as she was. Her snout was small and her appearance was... somewhat cartoonish. John squinted at the writing on the top.

To my special somepony. I'll be with you everywhere you go.
Love, Twilight.

John looked at Nathan, then back to the picture. Nathan snatched it back and put it back in his helmet, placing it back on his head.

"Okay, so you probably have a thousand questions, so I'll answer the important ones. one; they're a peaceful species, two; Her name is Twilight, personal student of the planets royalty, saver of their planet twice, and three; She's my fiance'.

John dropped his pistol. This Spartan had a fiance'. And not only that, she was an alien! The boy was marrying a freaking alien! Nathan smiled and shook his head.

"Xenophobia makes for a blinded soldier. Look past the differences, and you'll see someone who's just like you or me." He stated, grabbing Johns pistol and placing it back in the stunned mans hand. He walked forward and turned his head back to the stunned Spartan.

"Tic-toc, Spartan. You want to find Cortana, right?" He asked. John shook his head of the... strange incident and walked beside the man. He was strange, stranger than anyone he'd ever met.

He still had a light heart, despite what this war had taken from him. He found love, a home... Happiness. Something John hadn't experienced for himself in a good, long while. Maybe this man had found his peace, but he was a Spartan, dammit. The war needed him back.

"Where's the rest of your men?" John asked finally, ducking under a bulbous protrusion in the wall. Nathan simply punched them as he went by, killing the Flood spores inside.

"They're back on Equis. The world was attacked a few days ago. I was coordinating the resistance and my team and another team of Spartans; plus the help from the locals. We were holding them off... Barely. We got the upper hand when the Elites showed up. Although, Miranda and Johnson did call me to serve once again." He said halfheartedly. He sighed and pushed his way past a few tentacles, John hot on his heals.

"I shouldn't have left. Not with Twilight in the condition she's in..."

John was about to ask what he meant by that, but Nathan fell to the floor again, clutching his helmet. "Fight it, Spartan!" John gave him encouraging words, but they were in vain. Nathan rose back up, an awkward tilt in his neck. The Gravemind spoke through him again.

"I am a timeless chorus. Join your voice with mine, and sing victory everlasting." Nathan's arms extended out straight and he fell back to the ground. He groaned and John helped the dazed man to his feet.

"That asshole needs to learn to speak through something else... I'm seriously getting sick of this shit." He muttered, balancing back on his feet.

"How do you know of the Gravemind?" John asked. Nathan grabbed his rifle and continued into the large opening, a single computer glowing an eerie purple.

"Dealt with one on Equis. Rather not talk about what I lost and nearly lost that day..."

John understood perfectly. He still didn't like talking about the mission that cost him almost all his men. Those wounds were still too fresh for him as well.

And they always will be....

"Here, Chief! There's some kind of... Covenant storage device. She could be hold up in there." He leaned in and saw a few sparks flying out of the hole in the side. "looks pretty banged up..."

John pushed him aside and examined the device himself. He leaned in close and nearly jumped out of his armor when Cortana burst out.

"Chief!"

"Cortana?"

"High Charity, The Prophets holy city is-" Her head craned up to the left and she disappeared back into the storage unit. A green Phantom hovered just over the blast in the hull as a small, blue, chipper robot floated down. John leveled his rifle while Nathan just smiled.

"Ah, Reclaimer!" He mused, blasting a sneaky Flood Brute in the face that had managed to get behind them. Spark turned back to the container and grabbed it.

"We must act quickly before your construct suffers any further trauma!" Spark said urgently. John grabbed the monitors head and yanked the device away.

"Wait. Leave her alone." John barked. Spark sputtered for a second then gave his rebuttal.

"If we do not take this device to a safe location, somewhere I can make repairs..." He said, grabbing hold of the device with the beam again, only to be shaken off once more.

"On Halo, you tried to kill Cortana. You tried to kill me!" Chief said again. Spark sighed and fought back.

"Protocol dictated my response! She had the activation index, and you were going to destroy my installation! You did destroy my installation! Now I have only one function. To help you, Reclaimer, as I always should have done."

Chief hesitated, but eventually relinquished the device to the Monitor. Nathan placed a hand on Johns shoulder. "Come on, Spartan. Let's get the hell out of here. It gives me the creeps..."

John and Nathan stood underneath the gravity lift and were taken into the belly of the tiny beast, on their way to the belly of the biggest beast of all.

"Shadow of Intent, here we come..." Nathan thought happily.

Bill was baffled. One minute he was standing next to all his friends, the next he was sent back to Reach. He looked at his surroundings and sighed.

"Well, this is fucking weird." He mused. "Twilight? Rainbow Dash?" He called out. He hoped they were here, seeing as how they caused this. They didn't answer. He tried once more.

"RAINBOW! TWILIGHT!"

"Over here, Bill!" He heard Twilight call out. He ran to the other side of the building he heard them from and stopped dead in his tracks.

They weren't ponies anymore.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash were human! They both wore civie clothing, their hair done in a standardized civilian style as well. It was still their colors, so it'd be easy to keep track of them.

Rainbow shrieked slightly at her new form. "Geez! What the heck?! She yelled in surprise. Twilight, however, just studied her form over.

"Huh. So this is what it's like to be human." She pondered aloud. She wiggled her fingers experimentally and ran a hand over her human features. She wondered what Nathan would have thought about her looks.

"Girls, can you move?" He asked. Twilight and Rainbow got to their feet, stumbling and nearly falling. Dash chuckled nervously and frowned.

"Heh. I guess I'm not used to two legs yet."

Bill rolled his eyes. "Come on. Where the hell are we?" He asked. Twilight looked around and smiled.

"Aha! It worked! We're in Cam's mind!" She said excitedly. Bill's eyes widened and he backed away.

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! Time the fuck out!" He yelled. "We're in Cam's mind?! How the hell is that possible?!" He asked, getting more and more frantic by the second.

"Don't worry, Bill." Twilight assured. "We're here to find Cam in his subconscious and bring him back out." She gave a smile and Bill exhaled.

"Where should we start looking?" He asked. Twilight was about to answer, when a large explosion echoed across the city.

"How about that way." Rainbow pointed off in the distance, smoke billowing into the sky. Bill remembered this...

"This is when we started our mission to destroy the Corvette." He stated, walking with the girls into the direction. Twilight looked up at him with a knowing look.

"The same mission that brought Nathan to us?" She asked. Bill nodded and helped them climb over a pile of rubble. Rainbow grumbled as she made her way over.

"Man, I wish I had wings..." Bill and Twilight chuckled and rounded the corner, to see the group of Spartans in a heated battle with a group of Covenant soldiers. Rainbow stared on in earnest interest and Twilight just turned away.

"There's the boss!" Bill said happily. Twilight shot forward and watched as Nathan ran right into the fray. He lobbed a grenade into the midst of the Grunts and Jackals, then used the momentum from the blast to launch himself into and Elite. He killed the Elite and stood in triumph, only to be sent flying sky high by a Banshee mortar.

"NATHAN!" Twilight screamed, running out into the open.

"Twilight! Wait!" Rainbow yelled, running after her. Bill was about to do the same, when he saw himself running over to the boss' side. He stayed in the shadows and hid.

"No, It'd be best not to fuck up his brain even worse than we are..." He told himself.

Twilight slid to a stop at Nathan's side, shaking him vigorously. She heard the shouts of the other Spartan's behind her.

"Hey! Civilian! Get away from him!" A feminine voice shouted. Twilight turned to see Shelly running at her, full sprint. Rainbow got to Twilight's side as the four Spartans got to their side.

"CAM!" Rainbow shouted, crashing into his chest. Everyone just stared at the rainbow haired girl, nuzzling his chest plate. Cam just stood stoic and stared at everyone.

"Uhhh... Do I know you?" He asked. Rainbow looked up with hurt eyes.

"Cam, it's me! It's Rainbow!" She pleaded. Issac looked at the two a sniggered.

"Well, I always did think Cams taste in women was... exotic." He stared Rainbow over and looked back to Cam. "Where in the hell did you meet this one, kid?"

Cam got defensive. "I don't know you, miss, but you seem to know me... How?" He asked. Rainbow looked even more hurt than before.

"I...I-" Twilight stood up and whispered in her ear.

"Rainbow, this is just a memory. The Cam we're looking for will know us. We have to keep searching." She assured. Rainbow let go of the false Cam and nodded.

"Well... Now that that's over, can we check on Nathan?" Shelly asked. Everyone ran to the Spartan's side and shook him. Shelly calling his name.

Nathan? Nathan?!" She inhaled deeply and got right up to his ear. "NATHAN!"

He shot up and clutched his gun, looking at his team and the girls at his side. He went to stand, when they all craned their heads and the humming of an incoming Banshee.

"BANSHEE!" Shelly screamed. "Hit the dirt!"

At that, the real Bill ran forward and tackled Twilight and Rainbow to the ground. The blast echoed all around them, and they were now teleported into sheer darkness.

It was up to fate where they would end up next. Hopefully, the real Cam would be in their next random destination.

If only...