'Well…this sucks.' The thought was intrusive, yet it wasn't inaccurate by any means. I looked down at my torso, or, what was left or it anyways. There was a fist sized hole ripped off of my chest plate and blood was oozing out of the exposed undersuit. 'So much for costing as much as a starship.' It wasn't entirely fair to say that, after all, the Mark V MJOLNIR armor had managed to keep me alive through quite a lot in the last month. Struggling through the dizziness I looked up from my chest to the battlefield that surrounded me.
Nearly a hundred dead soldiers and marines cluttered fighting encampments at odd intervals. We'd come here, to Aszod, hoping to get on the last ride out. Instead, we'd found the pillar had left 2 hours prior, and all that was left were the carcasses of the 26th armor brigade and Emile, his body still cooling from an energy sword through the chest.
"Hell of a thing isn't it Sasha?" I said, turning to face my partner. She was to my left, and as my eyes fell upon her I knew I was speaking to a corpse. Afterall, we might have been Spartans, but when you're bisected like she was…..well it wasn't hard to tell it was quick thankfully. She'd been in the Scorpion when it'd exploded, I being a few feet away. It was probably the reason I was still alive. I don't know how long I stared at her corpse, my head refused to look away no matter how much I willed it. My best friend was laying on the ground, missing everything below her ribcage and I was bleeding out.
It wasn't fair. But then, life had never been fair to either of us. We'd survived Greydowns in 36', managed to float around through orphanages for a year until the ONI recruiter found us. Survived Onyx, survived Ambrose and Mendez trying to tear us apart and even managed to stand out to the point that we were invited to the headhunters. Hundreds of missions, a dozen worlds, only to end up on reach as backups in case Noble needed an extra hand. I snorted, "I bet they made it off-world huh Sasha? Thomas always was the best of us." I trailed off, thinking about the infamous B-312. He'd been a monster, in a league above the rest of us hunters, held in the same recognition as S-117.
My eyes started to droop, it seemed like blood loss was starting to finally catch up to me. The crunch of boots forced them back open. Focusing, as hard as it was, I managed to see the trio of elites making their way through the fighting positions. The bright gold armor with red stripes on his headplate of the one in the lead identified him; a fleet master. Following closely were two others, both dark crimson; a zealot and a field marshall. This was bad, but maybe I could do something a little reckless. "What about it Sasha, for old time's sake?" She remained silent, but I know she would have approved.
The trio stopped in front of me, studying me as I stared back at them. Hate was clearly written on the faces of the marshal and zealot, yet they stayed their hand as the fleet master studied me. After what felt like an eternity yet must have only been a minute, he spoke.
"You lie broken before me, demon, bleeding and alone. Yet you do not fight or run, I would know why." His voice was deep, and spoke with the warble all elites had. Probably had something to do with their fucked up mouths, couldn't be easy speaking your own language let alone another species with a mouth that looked like a blender. I tilted my head at him, curious that he'd speak to me instead of just killing me. I accessed the suit's self destruct with my neural net and began speaking,
"Not like I can go anywhere in this state," gesturing weakly at the leaking hole in my chest, I continued. "I'm going to die here, just like the rest of these soldiers." I paused, staring at him. His face didn't have the same anger, that righteous fury I'd seen in many different Sangheili, all when I'd fought and killed them. No, he held a look of approval, respect even. Glancing at the other two, neither held the emotion of their leader. No, theirs was the fire and fury of the Covenant. The look of indignation when you step in a pile of shit and have to wipe it off your boots. Chuckling, I turned back to the one in the front as the countdown started. "Don't tell me," wheezing and coughing as blood splattered the inside of my helmet, "that you act respect one of us demons?" I reached up and pulled off my helmet, a modified ODST helmet with integrated rangefinder and magnifier as the time clicked down, one minute to go.
His response was swift, and delivered with the self pompous pride that all high and mighty assholes seemed to have, weird that it's cross species but oh well. "As much as the wolf respects the rabbit that limps away from an attack. I admire that your kind fights, even as burn your worlds and appease our mighty gods!" he boomed out, raising his hands as the elites that'd gathered around us roared out their approval. Looking back at me, he smiled, or at least what might have been a smile with their fucked up mouths. "So yes, I do admire your species, cursed to doom as you are." From his hip he pulled away a handle, I knew what it was. After all, how many times had I killed them with their own energy swords? Far too many to tell. "It's time you die, the great journey awaits." The blade lit with a snap, sizzling as plasma dripped from it.\
Perhaps it was the blood loss, perhaps it was that the situation felt so ridiculous to me, I started to laugh. Bellowing deep laughs from deep in my stomach. Stopping, I smiled at the fleetmaster. "Well, too bad you won't be there to see it split-lip." His eyes widened as the timer reached zero in my visor a few feet away. Time seemed to freeze, the fleetmaster lunging forward to skewer me, his zealots and marshal roaring around us, and me smiling. In an instant it was white, the nuclear reactor core igniting and going critical, vaporizing everything within ten meters of where I sat.
'...huh, I thought there would've been some sort of afterlife or some shit. Something besides white.' If you asked me now, I couldn't tell you how long it was white for. Every way I looked, up, down, side to side, it was stark white with no features. It was clinical, in a weird kind of way, if clinical meant there were absolutely no signs of life anywhere. Sterile would be better I suppose, and yet, I was there so it couldn't be sterile. So, I sat and reflected on my life, not like there was anything else to do. The youngest of three, both dying when Greydowns was glassed. Survived the training and augmentations, and honestly? Lived one hell of a life up until Reach. I'd been lucky to have had my revenge, not many other seven year old boys in the universe got that, not to mention to do it with their best friend. Thinking about Sasha put a damper on my mood. She'd been the better of the two of us, and should have survived. It'd been my fault that we were in Aszod, I'd suggested it as a way to get off the planet before the Covenant had finished glassing it, hoping that we'd find some sort of ship with a slipspace drive. She'd wanted to find a bunker, thinking there'd be one at CASTLE or SWORD base's. We'd gone with my plan, and now she was dead. Kind of moot point since I was dead too I suppose, but she'd died because of me.
'Well, hopefully you can forgive me Sasha. I hope I get to see you in the next life… It certainly wouldn't be the same without you.' I sighed. This was getting too depressing, being stuck in this white place with nowhere to go, no one to talk to. It was really starting to feel constricting, like every inch of my skin was being compressed. 'Not a Fan of this!' The sensation continued, but there was also movement, the white was getting even brighter too, it was becoming blinding. I began to hear things too, nothing concrete it was too muffled for that, but it certainly sounded like someone was yelling and that they were excited. The pressure and constriction ended abruptly, and it was no longer blindingly white either. There was a gasp, and before I could say anything something ran across my, 'Kind of rude to be touching the face of a dead man asshole. Speaking of how are you even touching me right now?! I'm supposed to be a pile of ashes!'
I finally managed to open my eyes, letting them adjust to the brightness. I was surprised at what awaited me. Holding me was a blonde woman. She had blue eyes and was wearing a loose shirt with a deep cleavage line showing off her…voluptuous assets let's call them. Seeing me looking at her, her face formed into a brilliant smile before she spoke "Paul! Lilia! He's looking at me! Come look, he has my eyes!" She looked up at two other people who were in the room that I hadn't seen until now. One was a man, he had blonde hair that fell into a ponytail the rested over his neck. His face was chiseled, with a scruffy beard and bright green eyes. He also had a dark mole just under his left eye. The other person was a tall woman, with dark crimson hair. She wore a set of spectacles on her face, and a maid outfit that fit snuggly about her form hugging and showing off parts of her body. 'Don't see many people dressed like them these days…or that have glasses either. Improper vision is fixed at birth nowadays…' Odd facts to know, I know, but I'd learned them so I could better interact with the service members I'd worked alongside, it'd made me seem more human I suppose. Not as much as the killing machine ONI had turned me into afterall.
Turning back, I stared at the woman. She kept smiling, and then did something that even to this day still horrifies me. She pulled apart her shirt, revealing her breast and shoved me onto her tit. My eyes went wide as the woman force fed me her nipple. "He's so handsome Paul," looking up at the man who came to sit beside her. Her face returned to me, "What do you want to name him?" I didn't think that this could get any worse as the realization came to me. I had died obviously, but had been reborn to these two apparently, the man named Paul and the as of unyet named woman who kept staring at me and smiling. The man….my father I suppose, finally replied after running his hand over my head. "His name will be Rudeus. Rudeus Greyrat." his fingers ran over the side of my face 'Not cool that's my personal space my guy!' before he kissed the woman on the cheek. "Thank you Zenith, for giving us this little miracle."
'Zenith huh? Pretty name I suppose' The woman smiled, less bright than before. It was obvious that she was tired. Come to think of it, I was too. Closing my eyes, one last thought came to my mind. 'What have I gotten myself into this time?'