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helix-studios117 · 3 months

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Halo: A Beginner's Guide

For all of you newcomers out there, here's a list that I've wanted to do for a while now. For those who are new to Halo, likely introduced by the TV Show, and want to get into it, here's my 2 cents on how to ease into the franchise.

The Games

Play the original four games PLUS Halo Infinite in chronological order. The spin-off games (Reach, ODST, the Wars games and the Spartan games) are all completely optional, but they are there for people who want play other games that aren't centered around the Master Chief. I recommend just watching all of the cutscenes of Halo 5: Guardians in some supercut "movie" Youtube video, since the 5th game is... bad and, story wise, you're not missing much.

So in this order WITHOUT the spin-offs:

Halo: Combat Evolved

Halo 2

Halo 3

Halo 4

Halo Infinite

If you want to play the games WITH the spin-offs included, then in this order:

Halo Wars

Halo Reach

Halo: Combat Evolved

Halo 2

Halo 3: ODST

Halo 3

Halo: Spartan Assault

Halo: Spartan Strike (Note: This game takes place in two different time-periods, so just play this after Spartan Assault for convenience sake)

Halo 4

Halo Wars 2

Halo Infinite

My advice: Play the main four (+ Infinite) FIRST, then replay the main-games WITH the spin-offs in chronological-order.

Books & Comics

Here comes my favorite part!

Books

Halo: The Fall Of Reach, Halo: First Strike & Halo: Contact Harvest - The FIRST books in the entire franchise, these books set the stage for the entire setting of the Halo world. The first half of The Fall Of Reach is Master Chief's origin story, while the second half is about, well, "the fall of Reach." First Strike is a book that takes place in-between the first and second game AND, for a high-octane action-book, has a shocking amount of shipping material. And finally, Contact Harvest details the early years of the Human-Covenant War AND further fleshes out the Covenant as an antagonistic force by showing their side of things.

Halo: Silent Storm & Halo: Oblivion - For those who want MOAR Master Chief, these two books focus on a younger Chief fighting the Covenant in the earlier uears of the war. These two are probably my favorite Halo books thus far.

Halo: Ghosts Of Onyx & The Kilo-5 Trilogy - It's crucial to read Ghosts Of Onyx first BEFORE delving into Glasslands, the first book in The K5-Trilogy, since Glasslands takes place IMMEDIATELY after Ghosts Of Onyx. Anyways, these stories are for those who are bored of Master Chief and want to read about other, admittedly more fascinating Spartans. Kurt and Naomi are definitely among my favorite Spartans that aren't named "Master Chief," "Blue-Team" and "Silver-Team."

Halo Evolutions - An anthology book with each story taking place in some corner of the Halo universe or another, this is a book I recommend for world-building purposes.

Comics

Halo: The Graphic Novel - Just like Evolutions, Halo: The Graphic Novel is an anthology series thay tells different stories from different corners of the Halo universe for world-building purposes. These stories are all new stories and are NOT comic-adaptations of any of the stories in Evolutions, so don't worry about basically reading the same stories twice; The Graphic Novel has a similar concept, but all of the stories are different.

Halo: Blood Line - Black-Team is the coolest group of Spartans in the entire Spartan-II Program; they're group of misfit loners (who secretly have feelings for each other) who answer ONLY to ONI (the CIA of the Halo universe) and wear black suits of armor with roman-numerals etched onto their visors. They do cool-guy shit together, and this comic follows their story.

Other Material

Audio-Dramas

I Love Bees - Taking place in various different points in time, I Love Bees was an ARG that was turned into an audio-play long after it was deciphered. I won't spoil anything that happens, but I will say this: Shit gets kinda crazy.

Hunt The Truth - Another ARG. This fictional podcast was made to promote Halo 5: Guardians and... it's the best damn part to come out of that stinker of a game; Hunt The Truth's narrative is SO much more interesting than Halo 5's story, it HURTS. Anyways, it's about a reporter uncovering the truth of the Spartan-II Program as ONI starts a smear campaign against the Master Chief to cover their own asses.

Movies & Shows

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn - This web-film was promotional material for Halo 4 (as it's title suggests), and it follows a group teenaged military-school students going about their lives as Lasky, a confused cadet who is struggling to find a direction in life and live up to his family's reputation, grapples with the struggles of military-life in his academy.

Halo: The Series - If, by some off-chance, you WEREN'T introduced to Halo via the show, here's the recommendation. Form your own opinion, but here's my advice: Like what you want to like and don't follow the word of mouth.

Halo Legends - An anime anthology that, just like Evolutions and The Graphic Novel, world-builds the mythology of Halo by telling different, disconnected but ultimately in-continuity stories set within the game's universe. Odd One Out, Homecoming and The Package are my favorite shorts in the film.

Machinimas

Red Vs Blue - What else? Seasons 1 - 14 are my recommendations, don't watch anything else beyond that because it SERIOUSLY drops in quality. Just wait for it's final season, Season 20, to come out; you're not missing much with seasons 15 - 19.

The Spartan Legacy - A seriously underrated series. Made by a Youtuber under the name: 'Chronicler177,' The Spartan Legacy takes place in an alternate-continuity where Chief disappears and never comes back after the events of Halo 3. As a result, the Spartan-IVs and Vs (both of which are more interesting than in-canon; and the Spartan-Vs are a new creation within this web-show itself) are created to take his place.

WHEW! That's all, ladies and gents.

@authortobenamedlater, @silverpelt3600, @ionlymadethissoicouldleaveanask, @makowrites, @mrtobenamedlater, @biomecharnotaurus, @killer-orca-cosplay, @cheezbot, @caffeineyum, @asimplesimpsimping.

#halo #halo the series #halo infinite #halo au #halo expanded universe #halo fanfic #halo fanfiction #halo series #halo tv #halo tv series #halo tv show #halo reach #halo 3 #master chief #john 117 #halo reloaded #helix studios117

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veilantares · 2 months

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Blue Ember

*hair toss* I guess even robots can be a little bit devilish

A bit more organic than I'd prefer for something for march of robots, but I'm happy with the design nonetheless :>. This one's meant to be an oni rather than a demon but I guess there's enough overlap that the theme kinda gets across.

If we're talking lore for my setting, the regular robots are meant to be characters, but the cabal of Over Gods are meant to have speechless "demon" servants that I've tentatively called Machine Daemons. I often try to think about ways to differentiate these two groups beyond the fact that daemons don't talk (or vibrate their skin to produce words etc). Sometimes I picture daemons as more savage and jaggedly shaped, other times I think they should have horns or halos because they're servants of Divinity ... though nothing has stuck so far.

One thing that has been somewhat stable though is that the more powerful the form they perma-transform into is the more likely the individual is to be overtaken by one of the Over Gods - those Over Gods are like giant supercomputers with their own pocket dimensions, so they exert strong influence wherever they can.

A lot of cyborgs carry a little bit of influence with them because the connection to the Over Gods lets them perform useful skills, magics and feats. This way they can teach each other abilities even when they respectively have extremely different body formats.

Most of the illustrations I post are oneshots, so maybe these and the accompanying writings are all my practice attempts to get to a place where I know exactly what the things in my setting should look / be like. Part of the fun comes from the exploration and not knowing where I'll take these.

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morganas-pendragons · 2 months

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how long | the master chief

people have been digging up my master chief fanfiction with the release of halo season 2. so. here's a new one shot ft my favorite shot of the show! Spoilers for episode 1!

this will be multiple parts as we span throughout season 2. this is loosely associated with you're losing me by Taylor Swift!

A couple of tags for people who've come my way recently wanting Chief fic... @silverpelt3600 @embarrassedauthornerd (who is still getting a Game!John fic at some point) and I know there were more but I literally can't remember :(

***

Being a part of Silver is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before. It’s a team. A unit. You aren’t forced to rely on old instincts of survival on your own when you have Master Chief Petty Officer Sierra 117 covering your back.

John. Your John.

My beloved.

He hadn’t been the same since Cortana was removed from his head. You knew why. It was like losing a crucial part of himself, and no one still knew where she was. You both felt her loss so acutely.

You still sometimes turned to call out, “Little love?” In the darkness of your quarters, and waited for “Soles..” to echo back at you. The nickname she’d given you herself.

She’s not dead, but she might as well be.

You had initially suspected that Parangonsky had something to do with it. The woman was as conniving as Halsey, choosing to own the facade of the imperfect military leader with a world of decisions on her shoulders to bear. Her own cross. Just like Halsey.

No one bothered asking though, so neither did you. You and Kai continued to work as The Master Chief's shadows as the months passed. Mission after mission became civilian evacuation after evacuation. ONI was not letting you into combat.

May have something to do with the fact that the entirety of Silver has taken out their inhibitor pellets.

You repositioned yourself between Kai and Vannak as the three of you peered out over the cliff face you were occupying on Sanctuary. "Babysitting duty," Vannak muttered. "Aren't we better than this?"

You snorted and flexed your finger against the trigger of your assault rifle. "We're here to keep an eye on Chief. And this complaint is coming from the guy who indulges in documentaries for fun," You mutter, to which Kai also breaks out into laughter. "And feeds his pigeons."

"I'll have you know-"

Kai nudged your shoulder as John and Riz approached the group of civilians where Captain Shepherd was currently trying to coax their leader, a native priestess, into evacuating. "Shut up and pay attention you two," She teased. "Looks like Captain Shepherd is trying to work on his negotiation skills."

The UNSC had sent the five of you to Sanctuary to evacuate before the Covenant arrived to glass it. That had been happening to a lot of colonies recently.

More often than not, you found yourself huddled next to John in his cot on the nights that the dead just would not stop screaming. It was easier to deal with when you were The Lone Headhunter. When you had your pellet.

When you were more machine.

"This would be so much easier if Cortana was around." You whisper to yourself, thankful that neither of them pay attention to your statement. The AI had become a welcome friend and presence in your life since you'd found yourself becoming closer to The Master Chief. Since you'd found yourself loving him. Loving John.

John hadn't been John in... six months. And you missed him.

They never did say loving from afar was easy.

By the time you were properly paying attention again, John was communicating his position through TEAMCOM as he took off toward the upward cliff face that would lead to where Bravo Team was at. A nagging feeling gnawed at your stomach as you stood to your feet.

"Where is he going?"

"To retrieve Bravo," Vannak replied as he pressed his hand against the side of his helmet. "Comm signal is static. Can't get a clear answer. Seems like there's some type of interference from the relay."

You were already on your way towards John’s location being displayed in your HUD. There was no way you were going to let him do something like that on his own. Especially with his emotions being at such a heightened state since Cortana’s removal, you didn’t quite trust him to make a logical decision right now.

You stopped at the base of the cliff. The fog above loomed above menacingly, like a bad omen waiting to make itself known. You still couldn’t shake the sinking feeling in your stomach.

“Silver One, this is Silver Five. Come in.”

Static.

Cursing under your breath, you steadied your feet and activated the grapple shot recently installed to your Mjolnir. The tech’s had done it per The Chief’s request. Something about needing his most lethal and stealthy team member to be able to utilize that skill to the best of their ability.

Quick, quiet.

The grapple shot up into the fog and took you along with it.

***

How long has it been?

You ask yourself this question every night you sneak into his bunk while Silver sleeps on either side of you. John sleeps at the far end, prone with his arms at his sides, hazel eyes cast toward the ceiling. This is your curse. You cannot sleep without hearing the screams of those you know who have died.

Those you failed to save.

How long has it been since I've seen John? The real John?

You wordlessly settle at his side when his arm comes up to allow you to tuck yourself into him. Despite being only a few inches apart in height, you automatically feel safer with your cheek pressed against his chest and the bulk of his muscle sheltering you from any outside threat.

It's the whisper of your name that catches you off guard. "Soles.." John's voice cracks in the darkness as you lift your head high enough to meet the gaze that stares back at you. Despite how much he's changed since losing Cortana, you can still see remnants of the very broken man he has been trying so hard to hide. "When does it end?"

"When does what end, John?"

"The war."

You know very well he isn't talking about the Human-Covenant War. He's talking about the internal war that Spartans face when they're able to feel too much. The conflict of being made to be more machine then man. More soldier. Being forced to execute orders despite knowing they're morally wrong.

"I don't know.. but I don't think it ever will."

How long has it been, since the two of you had been able to just enjoy each other? To be at peace?

***

Too long.

You were barely able to get your footing before a hand was wrenching you into the dark. Your visor tipped upward to meet the glowing gold of The Master Chief's before you, just barely concealing the lone marine who stood petrified behind him.

"You shouldn't have come, Silver Five."

You shrug noncommittally. "I don't care, Chief. Sitrep." You remarked sharply as the two of you moved to pull the girl between you. It was the only way she'd be protected without any kind of armor to shield her from the threat in the fog.

"Something's in the fog. The Covenant were here before we were-"

It's only then that you see the Elites lingering in the shadows. Decades of instincts and training immediately kick into gear as you remove your weapon from your belt - a newly obtained energy sword, courtesy of the last high ranking Elite who'd tried to rush you - and activated the blade before charging at your nearest opponent.

Blood spattered against your armor while John continued to cover you from behind. They yell at you. Mock you. Call you Demon. You know enough to understand that singular word in their mother tongue.

You cut them down anyway. You are Sierra-343. You are built for this.

But ONI is determined to keep you from it.

***

The glassing beam is terrifying. You haven't quite been afraid for your life in a long, long time... but the stinging heat that comes from it sears the back of your armor as you sprint across the field to the Condors.

The Priestess was not about to let The Master Chief leave the planet without prophesying over him.

"Find your faith, Spartan. I have seen your death." Her eyes slowly shift to your fingers wrapped around The Master Chief's wrist, desperately urging him forward to the Condors where Kai and Vannak were waiting for you. "You are not long for this world. It comes soon. "

How long?

You're running against the clock as the three of you sprint into the Condor just in time for it to take off. Breathless, you cast aside your helmet to stare at the amber hue of fire as Sanctuary is overcome by the glassing beam from the Covenant Carrier.

***

Ackerson spent the first several days of his time in ONI working on you. As his Lone Headhunter, he saw you as an asset to utilize with a skill that far outweighed Silver Team combined.

"Do you think that at his core.. The Master Chief is broken?"

Unarmored and dressed in your civilian clothing, you stared out at the open expanse of Reach City right beyond the window.

“I think that The Chief is a human being who had undergone a significant amount of trauma in a very short amount of time. I think ONI overlooks that because the only use he has to them is to be the hero you need on the front lines of a war we’re not going to win,” You replied coldly, turning around to face Colonel Ackerson with your hands neatly folded behind you. “Do you have any other questions that pertain to my role in Silver Team or my history as a Headhunter, sir?”

“I am not your enemy here. You know that. You’ve undergone some of the most extensive types of torture under covenant hands from your time on The Exalted.” You froze at the remark, disdain and anger flashing across your gaze as you met his eyes. “You are remarkable. Resilient. I want that for the future of what we have here. I do not wish for such contempt to come between us.”

“Then I would prefer you keep my past and my trauma out of conversation.” You motion towards the door to ONI’s main office. “Am I free to go?”

Ackerson flashed a tight-lipped smile. He knew you would be the most difficult to crack on Silver Team. Kai had said as much. Given your involvement with the Spartan Two program and how quickly you'd taken to working with a team, he'd anticipated you would be loyal to them.

He hadn't anticipated the extent of how loyal you'd be to The Master Chief though. There must've been something there. Something else the others didn't know about.

"Yes, you are. Thank you for speaking with me."

You bit the inside of your cheek so hard that you tasted blood as you and John locked eyes passing one another in the main doorway of the ONI office.

He'll have questions for you later.

***

Kai caught John's gaze wandering to you as you and Riz continued working on your hand-to-hand on the gym floor. There was just something so graceful about the way you moved, and the way you looked...

"Hey, Chief," Kai's voice broke through his reverie as John turned away from you to gaze at the monitors near the lockers. "Come take a look at this."

You narrowly avoided an uppercut to the jaw as you attempted to tune into Keyes speech where he was awarding Talia Perez a Colonial Cross. You knew the truth though. A truth that Ackerson was not hearing, and a truth that John had attempted to get Ackerson to reveal during their meeting.

He didn't breathe a word. And unfortunately, when he'd intercepted you an hour later, neither did you.

How long since you stopped trusting me, Soles?

"Turn it off." Vannak demanded. "I've heard enough from this guyat debrief."

"What questions did he ask you?"

The main point of conversation between you both again rang in your ears as Riz moved to sweep your legs out from beneath you. Do you think that The Master Chief is, at his core, broken?

Dread bubbled in your stomach. Did he know?

Did Ackerson know about you two?

You didn't have enough time to react as Riz swept your legs out from underneath you just as Cobalt Team walked into the room. You didn't bother learning any of their names. You just knew you hated the blonde one the most.

Riz extended a hand to you just as she approached you both. "You see, this is why you don't go taking your pellet out. Makes you emotional." Cold blue eyes regarded you as you both stepped into her space. "Makes you weak."

Your eyes narrowed. "You know, for someone who's barely encountered The Covenant.. Tell me. Who endured torture at the hands of high-ranking Elites aboard a Covenant Cruiser for months before I got myself out?"

"And who's to say you're not a whining Covenant sympathizer now?"

Rage flashed behind your eyes as you lunged and very nearly caught Val, had it not been for John winding his arms through yours to keep you from making a rash decision.

You weren't paying attention to anything else that was said until Cobalt was gone. John bent to whisper in your ear, "Stop trying to get yourself killed, Soles."

You wrenched yourself from his grasp and jabbed your finger into his chest angrily. You weren't mad at him, persay. You were mad at the place that loving him had put you in. That loving him was now a way to be exploited. And you swore you wouldn't be in that position again when Halsey was gone. When you became part of Silver.

"Then stop trying to protect me, Master Chief."

But they had spent years telling you a very simple truth: You were a machine created to serve a singular purpose. Machines were not conditioned to feel.

And they certainly did not love.

***

You didn't come to John's bed that night. You didn't come for quite a while after that, and he then determined that you were the one thing he feared you to be.

A liar.

And he didn't understand why you were hiding it. Why were you hiding what happened on Sanctuary, and why were you avoiding Ackerson? What had he asked you?

Why were you running?

***

He wasn't expecting this. The whole point of coming to this place was to find some semblance of her, something that offered comfort in the way Cortana would have if she were here.

She wasn't dead, but she may as well be.

He swiped his credit chit and sat down with his hands in his lap. "I don't really know what people say to each other. And the one person I want to talk to right now is..." John swallowed the knot in his throat. "Isn't themselves. And I'm-"

"Lost?"

"Yeah. I think there might be something wrong with me. That's why they ran. They figured out there's a part of me that's missing. Sometimes there's a sound like something in my head is there that doesn't belong. And maybe it's part of you that got embedded in me."

"Oh, sweetie... You miss them, don't you?"

John grimaced. He did. He did miss you and Cortana. He'd give anything to go back to that medical table where he'd kissed you the first time.

He was so deeply engrossed in his memory of Sanctuary, of seeing Makee, of hearing her voice, that he didn't even notice you come in. You stood in the doorway with your hood concealing your face and slowly lowered it as John stared up at you in shock.

There wasn't just shock there though. There was... desperation.

How long since you willingly let someone in?

"Soles?"

"John. We need to talk."

part two?

#The Master Chief x Reader #Master Chief x Reader #Halo spoilers #halo paramount #halo fanfic #Sierra 117 x Reader

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bloodgulchblog · 3 months

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Thanks for answering my ask! You just made me realize how interesting Halsey. I mean I always knew she was a complex character but I haven’t really read the founding halo books since middle school(?). Anyway you have now have me utterly fascinated with her and know I must consume all content relating to her (that’s written by nyland). Sooo thanks for that! Also the scene spartan ops where she learns John’s alive is the scene that has stuck with me the longest from that mode, that followed by the prison break or the warthog run mission.

You're welcome! God, she breaks my heart now. (This ask answer just turned into a fresh outpouring of Halsey thoughts/feelings and I hope they are interesting.)

Halsey is one of the characters that I sat down and was like I need to understand what their deal is when I started really getting back into Halo. It's really easy to just hate her because, you know, she's the architect of horrible things happening to children. But especially once I started understanding the food chain of exploitation that goes on within ONI it was like oh my god. Then going back through the diary and being like wait, how old was she when the Carver findings were being discussed? How old was she when ONI started to court her?

You realize that Halsey was also so young, and they groomed her and manipulated her and preyed on her and built her in the image they found most useful. And by the time she wanted out, she was too far in and they basically held those kids hostage by threatening to hand the reins over to someone who wouldn't have cared about whether they suffered more than "necessary."

Halsey was their useful monster and had to figure out how to keep living with herself, justifying the monstrosity, and just throwing herself headlong into her work. I'm still struck by how the diary shows her feelings about Keyes, it's not in-your-face but augh. Catherine Halsey, terrifying science witch of ONI, cold and ambitious and condescending, and Jacob Keyes was a gentleman to her and trustworthy with secrets.

On a related note: Something I've thought about a lot with Halsey is that, on its face, her having Miranda does not make sense. ...But then if you turn it in your mind, suddenly it does. Halsey is a doctor in the deep space future, if she did not want to have a child she would not have a child. What did she want by that? It was obviously not to tie Keyes to her, they never married and only occasionally saw one another (even though it's obvious how much they mattered to one another.)

Rampant speculation: I don't have a canon answer to that question, but the timing (during Spartan-II) maybe speaks to Halsey wanting to prove something to herself about her own humanity vs monstrousness. Maybe, if she could raise a child well, it would prove that what she did to those other children was not the whole of her.

And in the end, her work for ONI devoured her and she did fail Miranda. She tried for six years, and in the end she sent Miranda to live with her father because she knew she was not a good mother to that child. Halsey missed Miranda and even though her daughter took after Keyes so much more than her, even though Miranda wanted nothing to do with her, we know that Halsey used what influence she had in the UNSC to try to protect Miranda from a dangerous frontline posting that could kill her.

Even though the whole My-Spartans-are-the-next-step-of-humanity thing is bullshit to me, there are some things about her late-canon characterization that do make sense to me.

Imagine how bitter it must feel, how alone she is. Halsey believed, truly believed, she was sacrificing herself to protect other people. Halsey believed that great ability came with the responsibility to spend herself for what she thought was a good cause. So she did, and now here she is: alone and hated, with nothing to show for it but regret and isolation and death while she has outlived almost everyone she ever cared for.

#asks #catherine halsey

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pelgraine · 2 months

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Halo s02e08 rewatch thoughts - many spoilers ahead:

Janine was actually being a huge bitch and Miranda displayed more restraint than I might have in the circumstances.

Jeanny also clearly lied - and badly - about having touched the object containing the spores. I mean, not only did she not look Miranda in the eye, she answered "I don't think so" to Miranda's question of whether she was there earlier.

Then we get the cheery music starting. Does anyone know what that song is?

We see Janine touch hands with another scientist on her way out down the corridor. At first glance I thought maybe they were girlfriends and she was just saying hello, but then I thought the other scientist was passing back the swipe card that Janine had borrowed from her in order to get into Miranda's lab. And on second thoughts, I'm thinking that is the case, and that it's not the first time Janine has borrowed someone else's pass to get in there. I think she just had hoped Miranda wouldn't be in there that time, which is maybe why she was being so passive aggressively bitchy - hoping that Miranda would stalk out in a huff, leaving Janine free to fiddle around with the Forerunner object once more.

But, as we know, it's much too late anyway.

We see the infection take over Janine. It's interesting watching it all again and seeing a few things I didn't note the first time around, like the order of progression of symptoms, or how negatively an infected individual appears to react to sound. Janine seemed to react specifically to sound as a threat, even before people got in her space.

The horror juxtaposed with the smiling scientists walking down the corridor beside the lab with the cheery tune, all oblivious, no one even looking through the window to see the male scientist lying twitching and dying as he bleeds out, is done so well.

I also really liked that we were introduced to the next scene in darkness with nothing but indistinct radio comms chatter and the sound of Perez whispering through a desperate prayer in Spanish. Having that sound before the picture came in seemed to make the circumstances even more stark and visceral. The fact that we can then hear Perez's breathing and whispers inside her helmet louder than anything else & juxtaposed with the apparent silence of the weapons fire we can see before them, or at least the relatively dull sounds of explosions going on all around them while they wait in the bay before the drop just makes the vast empty vacuum of space seem so much more apparent.

As an aside, does anyone have the words & translation of the prayer?

The scene where Perez is spinning wildly out of the control is beautifully done. Awe-inspiringly terrifying.

(I'm still 🥺🥺🥺 over Spartan mother Kai and her baby Spartan-III goslings. Perez is clearly the favourite pseudochild, or at the very least the one she feels most responsible for.)

I just realised, upon seeing John and listening to slimy politician Parangosky speak, that we don't know why Halsey vanished when Miranda was speaking to her in the previous episode. Many of us - including myself - had assumed Halsey had snuck away to get onto John's ship, knowing it was bound for the Halo.

I hate the way Parangosky says "Neither one of us has a choice." As far as we're aware she's the top dog at ONI. She definitely had a choice about the way she decided to spend all those Spartan-III lives as cannon fodder. I cheered when John says "who to save and who to sacrifice," especially when he says nothing more to her after that. It was also a nice touch that when John's words ring out into the room it's evident that all the ONI workers around Parangosky stopped what they were doing and listened in, judging by the lack of background noise during that bit.

I don't understand Kwan's line of "Its been watching me my whole life and now it's here." (I have to admit I don't understand the meaning of a Forerunner Geas placed on her bloodline.) I have to admit I do subscribe to the theory that whatever has been speaking to Kwan is a human consciousness stuck inside the Gravemind and she's just superimposed the face of that shaman lady she met on the visions it gives her. This makes a little more sense when we get to the bit where Kwan is literally swamped in Flood zombies and the voice stops them. If some part of the Gravemind remained human and had just enough control over the Flood for a short period, then I'd accept Kwan's amazing escape.

I actually loved Kessler and Ackerson's conversation. It was spot on for both of them, and also amusing. I also think, upon rewatching it now, that Ackerson has a soft spot for young children which makes sense. If his beloved sister died when she was 12 or thereabouts, it'd make sense he'd have spent much of his life looking for echoes of her in other young people and caring about their welfare generally.

There's so much hate for Laera online and honestly, I liked her so much more than Soren.

The slug sliding out of Janine's mouth it's actually nauseating to watch omg.

I love how well they did the entry onto the covenant ship. All the sounds they included are fantastic as well - the metal clunk of their armor down the corridor, the click and crunch of weapons, Perez's and the other S3s breathing, the groaning of the ship as it shifts around them. I laughed when Mullins said clear after they were told off for saying it last time 😂

Omg. The anticipation of what comes next even while I know what's going to happen is still incredibly high. It's so good!

That sound of the plasma charge and the way Olsson just calls out "Kai," before getting obliterated hits so hard.

I love how when Kai and the S3s hold fire during the pause, Kai tilts her head down and to the side at an angle to listen. Like, it's such an instinctive, ingrained human behaviour. I know it makes it easier for us as an audience to see that she's listening hard, but I also like the idea that it's just something you do instinctively in a tense moment, despite the fact that she's got that helmet and all the sound is probably piped in electronically. I also love the sounds her armor makes as she moves. It's done so well. You can just hear how much heavier, sturdier and more expensive the Mjolnir amor is than the S3s because of the difference in sounds.

Watching this scene again makes it so much more apparent how terrifying and enormous a roaring Elite is. I hadn't quite appreciated it in fights with the Spartans before.

I love that when Perez moves in and yells "Frag out!" Kai automatically moved to cover her back.

Oh man, when Kai calls for reload and support after the fleet arrives and you can see the ship turn towards them as the man is speaking - it's so tense I almost can't watch. The fact that they show Kai's eyes a few moments later looking sweaty, exhausted and a bit hopeless right before she flinches them shut at the sound of their support ship getting obliterated - too real.

The next scene where we have both Perez and John's past conversation relayed was very well done. Ups the emotional stakes even further and looks extremely cool when he flips the coin and watches as it slows in the air.

Fuck you, Parangosky. I cheered when John replied to "John you can't save them" with "you have no idea what I can do" before putting on the helmet. Hell. Yes.

(I'm skipping the next bit because honestly I don't really give a damn about Makee.)

God I love Perez.

"Goddamnit. We're going to die in this bullshit ship in a bullshit battle that means nothing, that we lost" yelled out over comms, all the while firing an endless stream of bullets.

I love Kai-125.

"What matters is you signed up to die for me. I signed up to die for you. Now, get your head in the game."

🥺🥰 I will immediately headcanon these two as future ride or die BFFs in all fic and in season 3.

The click of an empty pistol. The "Shit, I'm out." Perez's reply of "Yeah, me too. What do we do?"

Then "You ever fire a plasma rifle?"

"No."

"You never forget your first."

And then the run and slide and smooth motion of picking up the carbine to fire away while explosions are happening all around them is just beautiful. A++

Perez taking a few seconds longer to find and get her hands on the nearest weapon and then picking up a needler is perfect. The fact that she hones in on what looks like two grunts (or jackals) and an Elite or two whilst armed with nothing but a needler is fantastic.

Perez getting shot and her crying out to Kai's immediate cry of "Perez!" is not fantastic. I was worried she was a goner.

The way Kai runs forward, drags Perez back while Perez keeps firing? The way Perez turns to pick up a second needler to dual-wield both while being dragged to safety? The way she screams in rage as she's emptying the two needlers at a bunch of energy-sword armed Elites closing in on them, while Kai pulls her backward at speed?

I will be thinking about that scene for the next two years. It's honestly awe inspiring.

The way Kai says, exasperated, "you're an idiot" and the way Perez doesn't miss a beat to reply with "I'm an idiot with two needlers," is legendary.

I love them.

The way Kai sees the fact that Perez's injury is mortal wound level and just lets out an "Oh," in a sort of groan like oh shit, I don't think we can fix this - while Perez lays there with what seems to be part of her abdomen missing and insisting Kai help her up because she can still fight 🥺🥺 Honestly, Perez deserves to be recognised as a Spartan.

Watching Kai gently rest her armored hand on Perez's helmet for a long moment, looking at Perez like I love you but I can't save you, makes me want to cry.

They're out of ammo with no backup coming and Perez is saying tell me what to do frantically, and the way Kai just pauses to tell her she did good 🥺 like it's over for them already? Then Perez sees Kai pull the spike from her belt and tells her right away to use it even though she knows it's going to kill them both, kill everyone, because she's always known that "this was always going to be a one-way ticket." I cannot 🥺

Then Kai strides out to use the spike while the last few S3s fight and die around them, before being saved by the bell of an explosion. I noticed that Kai points her pistol in that direction and fires reflexively but you hear the same empty click from before. There's a horde of Elites at the door being made into chop suey, and Kai knows it's John. I think she'd recognise the sound of that armor and the way he fights anywhere and anytime, let alone the fact that only John could have made it through the wall of Elites.

I love how dramatic the scene was when John swaggers in after saving their asses, armed with the gorgeous energy sword. I mean, Kai was literally expecting they'd all be dead in the next several moments, with no hope and no backup, an entire fleet getting smashed behind her. John was supposed to be somewhere else entirely, saving humanity, so it's no wonder she's standing there looking a lot like she's questioning whether they might all be experiencing a collective hallucination of the Master Chief.

That scene where John and Kai stand looking out across the battlefield was genuinely moving. I also loved it because I keep coming back to the thought of "What do we say to the god of death? Not today!"

I hate how Kai lies to Perez and Mullins and says I'm right behind you. She pauses to make sure Mullins has enough balance to help Perez walk to the Condors, and then let's them go.

We're treated to the pretty sight of the extremely cool bridge controls and I remember thinking the first time I watched I was thinking oh shit, please let it not be the spike plan after all. We get to see the explosions reflected on Kai's visor for a breath, and then we're back to Zombieland.

The fact that the newly infected are stock still with the faint background sound of slithering was eerie as hell. Then Kwan goes "they're not breathing," and I absolutely agree with Soren's comment of "shit."

Then we see Flood-Janine do the exorcist and slime through the bars oh my god that's disgusting holy shit. It's like a tongue.

I have to admit Ackerson's saving them by pulling out the pistol endeared me to him quite a bit. Then I was thinking oh shit no they're all going to die when we discover the guard is infected too.

Here we have Halsey again! Still no explanation of where she's been except for the fact that she's clearly under guard. Where has she been? Why did she disappear right when Miranda was talking to her last episode? How long has she been gone?

I actually chuckled when Parangosky tells Halsey to command John and Halsey just conveys absolute disdain with one look.

She does it again when Parangosky says "Its just an AI you'll make him another one." Somehow one expression from Halsey manages to convey fuck you and you repulse me by mostly using just her eyes.

I was rather thrilled when Halsey disobeyed the order, for a number of reasons. Not only because she evidently cares about John, but because Parangosky's disregard for what Cortana means for the UNSC and the risks of the AI being left in the wrong hands is just plain stupid.

Then we're back to creeper voice dude. I had thought John was trapped with the Gravemind at first and was forced to recount his mission, but watching it again now you can really see the blue light glow at this point, especially when the creeper replies and there's a bit of a pulse of light across John's skin.

The fact that Cortana says "I've simulated all of the possible outcomes. This only ends one way, Chief. We're both going to be destroyed," in the ship crash on Halo before they both very clearly aren't lends weight to the theory that Kai's armor saves her later on as well.

I like how Ackerson manages to somehow sound creepy and threatening when he says "You have a lovely family." He's definitely an odd one.

God the Halo is beautiful. I wish I was better at screenshots so I could capture more of it and save it as my desktop. When we hear the themesong as John looks up at the curve of the Halo I got chills, both the first time and on the rewatch. Also loved the sound the energy sword makes when he unsheathed it to check it's functioning.

Perez wakes up in the bay of the Condor, with a gnarly wound and skin pale enough to make all the blood loss even more evident, sees Mullins - the only squadmate remaining alive - and asks for Kai. Mullins just tilts her head as though to say 'You know the answer to that one already. She's off doing stupid heroic shit.'

We see Kai spending a moment or two watching the mothership further decimating the UNSC fleet, before she glances down at the Corvette's controls and says how hard can it be. The next moment we see Perez - having correctly interpreted Mullins' facial expressions - immediately attempt to bail off the gurney, yell in pain and tear off her IV as she curls up before standing, stumbling towards the Condor's controls to look out the windows.

Mullins says "hey, you can't -" and Perez yells back "Stop!" in a voice more enraged than we've ever heard her use, before she limps forward into the Condor, itself awash with radio chaos of voices yelling and dying over comms. Perez limps on ahead and stops to watch through a floor to ceiling window, spotting the corvette she was previously on underneath the big Covenant mothership, and breathes out Kai's name in horror.

We see Kai manage the glowy ball controls well enough to steer her corvette on a collision course. We see Parangosky bring advised of what's happening, but only see Halsey looking like she's aware a Spartan is at the helm of the corvette.

We see Perez's face, dishevelled and a little bloodied, unable to tear her eyes away from watching someone she so clearly cares a lot for perform kamikaze. Then we've got Kai saying "this is going to hurt" a second before successfully steering her corvette into the mothership and destroying them both.

Now, I'm going to sidenote here to talk about my Kai lives theories:

1. We've just seen John and Cortana survive the ship they were on being destroyed when it crashed into the Halo. Cortana, an AI, was convinced neither of them would survive that, but they did, thanks to John's armor.

2. We've seen Kai make it through being on Halsey's ship which crashed and exploded before, back in season 1.

3. People who are going to die wouldn't necessarily use the words "this is going to hurt" before they're about to die. An expectation of pain like that implies that Kai expected to survive but very injured.

4. A lot of people have referred to a Spartan named Linda - which I have little knowledge of so won't expand on here - as evidence of the direction the show is likely to go in and therefore Kai survives. Further, we've got the intro scene in the Halo Infinite game where John is fished out of the black and revived by that lost Pelican pilot.

Anyway, the next scene is poor Perez's devastated face 🥺😭 and Mullins looking sad but not like the sight of Kai's death caused her physical pain the way it seemed to for Perez.

We're back to the CIC control room for a moment before we see Miranda still studying her sample. We see her startle at the noise I didn't immediately realise was effectively a phone ringing because it was so quiet and relatively non intrusive and now I want it for my ringtone so if anyone finds it please let me know. It's Halsey on the phone and Miranda says the thing I've been thinking all along with "Where the hell have you been."

Miranda tries to tell Halsey of the potential dangers and we hear her voice right as Halsey notes the bizarre behaviour of some of the security people around her in the CIC - though we know it's too late, Halsey immediately tells her "stay where you are. I'm on my way to you."

I'm thinking that Halsey tells Miranda to stay there for several reasons. One being that she has to get out and away from the infected she's spotted, two being that the lab is likely a sealed environment with things like airtight rooms and or biohazard suppression seals and the like so Miranda might otherwise be relatively safe there, and three Halsey wants her daughter to be safe and for them to be together so they can make it out safely.

Then someone gets tackled and it gets even more disgusting real fast. I did appreciate the way how they conveyed the rapid spread of the infection among personnel even despite the security measures that would have been present at ONI. As in, there'd be many departments that would have little to no interaction with other departments to stop information leaking, and plenty of locked rooms only certain people can access, but that didn't stop the flood because people are people.

Watching again I can see how Halsey got infected now, or at least likely. The fact the dude was right on top of her and then got shot while she was turning her face away would have been enough to splatter flood parts on the exposed skin of her neck.

Then we see Parangosky getting eaten alive by Flood zombies and it's deeply satisfying end for someone like that.

Gonna skip the next bit because I'm less than invested in the outcome of Kwan, Soren and family and Ackerson, but you have to admit that name drop of the Flood was cool.

After that we see Miranda handling the Forerunner sample container inside the sealed examination box and looking like the ramifications of what she's accidentally unleashed has just hit her all once. She startles at the sound of a frantic knock and we see Halsey has made it to the lab, so Miranda lets her in.

Halsey proceeds to be her science-addicted morally questionable self and immediately gets distracted by the potential of a bioterrorism weapon equivalent, instead of paying attention to Miranda clearly having the start of what looks like an anxiety attack as she describes to Halsey what she's discovered.

Miranda's plaintive "Can we get out of here?" is soft as though she's already realised Halsey is lost in her drug of choice, science - partly confirmed when Halsey's reply is "if only you could see as far as I can see, you'd understand just how irrelevant we are" and Miranda is soon suppressing tears because her only potential ally in that absolutely terrifying situation wants to stop and smell the roses, so to speak. 🥺

Halsey is lost to the beauty of the scientific potential, trying to convince Miranda of her views and failing utterly to see the way Miranda backs away and curls into herself, the way she nearly sobs the words "a biological catastrophe."

Halsey makes a valid point about the awesomeness of being able to built bridges with light, right at the same moment that Miranda sees an infected right outside their window. Halsey says "Sometimes I don't understand how you-" and stops mid-sentence.

Miranda looks back at her - looking scared, rapid breathing, body language screaming that she wants to bolt - replies, angrier now that Halsey is refusing the acknowledge the situation - "You don't know how I what?! Go on, Halsey. Say it."

And I'm wondering if she was expecting 'I don't understand how you think' or even something cutting like 'I don't understand how you came from me.'

You see the exact moment Miranda realises something is wrong. Her face just - drops. From angry, upset, scared and exasperated, distracted by their personal history to - oh no. She even stops breathing so obviously. Miranda's soft little, "Halsey?" kills me.

She spots the infected-like stillness of Halsey a moment before she sees the Flood dribble on Halsey's coat, before shifting Halsey's hair aside gently and carefully to reveal evidence of the Flood infection. Seeing and hearing the knowledge of their new reality hit Miranda was painful to watch. 🥺😭

Then we have the coolest sword fight I've ever seen on television. I actually want to pick up sword fighting after seeing that. It was so incredibly brutal in so many ways. Chief just gets the stuffing beaten our of him and you think he's done, but then we see him rise again. After playing Infinite a lot lately seeing the grappleshot used like that was also extremely cool.

The way Chief beats the Arbiter until you can hear him slowly drowning in his own blood was absolutely visceral. The full-body sigh of relief the Arbiter gives when he sees that Chief had understood and chosen to give him the warrior's death and the respect he deserves - I was relieved too. I was sitting there thinking Chief was just going to let him suffer and die shamed, but thankfully not.

When we see Miranda next she's obviously been crying by those big, shiny eyes 🥺🥺😭😭 and we see she's enclosed Halsey in cryo to try and give her more time so that Miranda can save her 🥺😭

I can't help but wonder if trying to find the cure for the Flood will drive Miranda to madness. Whether she'll become more like Halsey in an incredibly tragic way, obsessed with the science of it all in an effort to save the one parent she has left.

I found it curious that Janine said that line about "biology is not your strong suit" at the beginning. Now I'm thinking Miranda will devote her whole self to something that isn't a strength of hers, all the while drowning in guilt because she's the one who went back for the sample container and inadvertently unleashed a biological catastrophe that might have killed her mother.

What I am absolutely desperate to know us how Miranda is going to get out of there. She's in a sealed room in the middle of the base riddled with scores of infected, with many right outside her door, at least one literally staring at her. She has no weapons that we know of, no support, and will presumably want to try and get Halsey's pod out with her when she goes. I can't believe we have to wait to season 3 to find out how Miranda makes it.

The next shot after Miranda's sad but resigned face is space debris, revealing Kai's otherwise intact armor floating amongst the remains of the destroyed ships. She's either unconscious or dead and I hate that we'll be left wondering for the next two years. That is way too long.

The UNSC fleet dropping through the clouds on the Halo was hella cool.

We finally get to find out who John has been talking to. John says something curious here which I'm adding to my list of reasons why Kai is still alive - being that the armor "belongs to the ones who are gone" - say, Riz and Vannak - "and the ones who are still in the fight" - Kai, and possibly meaning Perez and the S3s as well.

The monitor or whoever/whatever it is (Guilty Spark?) is so wonderfully creepy. He has such a human-sounding voice, and then we get a full frontal of a glowy orb machine that leaves us with some wonderfully creepy words. The fact that John is sitting there in the dark, having presumably been speaking to Guilty Spark for some time now, right before he puts a damaged helmet on his head, lends weight to the theory that John's met GS after a fierce battle and we'll see flashbacks of what happened at the start of S3.

Anyway, if you've been kind enough to read my thought-essay on my new favourite episode of television, thank you!

#halo season 2 #halo the series #halo series #halo tv show #halo tv spoilers #kai 125 #talia perez #miranda keyes #catherine halsey #john 117

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holyshonks · 2 months

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I just finished the Halo YA series. @bloodgulchblog already warned that the ending is bad (in an ethically dubious way, not in quality--the series is good as far as Halo novels go) but it was even more unsettling than I thought. Some snippets that stood out to me:

Dorian is one of the kids who joins up with the UNSC. A bunch of his friends died during the initial attack on their town. Here, he finds out that the attack on the planet started six months prior and the UNSC didn't sound the alarm to "prevent panic". This triggers his distrust for towards UNSC, ONI, and Owen because he believes his friends could have survived if they had been warned.

Dorian's distrust also spreads to Evie, who starts to question ONI's motives. One of the details that I feel like we weren't supposed to read into is that ONI promised the kids a scholarship to college if they agreed to join the militia, which, considering how the books ends is just.......so disturbing.

"They're clearly okay with lying when it suits them." "Evie stop."

LET HER SPEAK!!!

(As an aside, I did like that one of Saskia's primary motives is she's trying to get on the UNSC's good side because her parents sold illegal arms and she doesn't want to be held accountable.)

And then of course, the most horrifying detail:

Victor has completely bought into the UNSC and is the most excited to have joined up. He gets injured and the kids are brought into a room and told that he's not recovering because of an ONI artifact they were all exposed to.

After """"""""getting his parent's permission"""""" they begin the still-experimental Spartan-IV augmentations on him and tell the kids that they will also die if they don't undergo the process. It is a doozy.

"You really think we're boogeymen, don't you?" Yes. Yes, I do.

Dorian is one of those characters that gets written off by the others as being paranoid while saying the exactly correct thing the entire time.

"I was a child soldier like my father before me and it was no big deal, god."

I feel like Dorian is supposed to be a stand-in for the reader because my immediate first thought when I read that Victor was sick is that ONI not only didn't get his parent's permission, but that they made up the disease whole-cloth. Like, with the context of everything ONI has ever done, this is elementary.

I truly can't tell if the intent was for this to be as sinister as it comes off? Because by the end they all "agree" to undergo the augmentations together because found family, greater good, ect ect and I'm left alone in the room like um......they're in high school??

Ultimately, I am interested to see how four teenagers with wildly different motives would make out as Spartans, but I would be pretty sad to see Dorian as a Spartan because it means they beat the healthy (and very accurate!!!!) suspicion out of him. But Dorian the insurrectionist? Yes please.

#woooooo what a ride #there's about a 1 percent chance of this series getting picked back up though #so all we can hope for is a canon fodder mention #or perhaps some lore on a infinite mp armor kneecap or something #halo books

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poisonheadcrabsalesman · 22 days

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what's up with the nerdy halo scientist with glasses? I remember seeing a little about him but I have no idea if he's alive at the end

Oh, we are in the same boat because there's a lot of characters that we have no idea if they're alive or where they are or if they're ever going to be seen again! Yippee! Anyway, nerdy halo scientist with glasses has to be Dr. Henry Glassman!

We haven't seen him since the comics when he, Palmer, and Tanaka were racing Halsey for some complicated Forerunner stuff I won't get into before the AI custodian pulls a "nuh uh" because Halsey cheated and everything explodes

This is the last image I have found of Glassman in canon. They get out of there okay, but Glassman's the chief engineer of the Infinity. A ship with notoriously bad luck and one we don't know where she is or what's going on. Halo Infinite made it seem like she had a reduced crew and that she was taken out...somehow.

Her original crew size was more than twice that: By February 2558, Infinity had a crew of 17,151 sailors, Marines, ONI operatives, and civilian personnel, as well as numerous adjunct members of the other UNSC branches and a number of Huragok specialists

But then they walked it back on twitter because Halo has to have options for its story since the execs screwed up and there's no clear path forward. Again, while I don't love Infinite's story, it's amazing they got a game out at all given the horror stories. I feel so bad for everyone who worked on this game.

If anyone has sources for where the Infinity is I would gladly take them. I miss her.

This is all to say we don't know where Glassman is and he hasn't popped up in any extra lore yet. So he may not be killed! He has a history of getting his ass saved by Spartans (Thorne in SpOps, Palmer and Tanaka in Escalation). Who knows? He might be out camping with Lasky, Halsey, and Palmer wherever they are. He might be thrown in the meatgrinder the next time we get a short story! I have no money to bet but I would say it's more likely we get a Glassman mention before Miller.

I'm climbing off my soapbox now, thank you for the ask. I love retrieving lore.

#every day I think about halo and I suffer #Henry Glassman #crab text #lore tag #asks #thicc-pirate #thank you for the ask!

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thecountofs · 1 month

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#halo my time in oni #full metal brat #halo webcomic #office of naval intelligence #halo fanart #halo ocs #halo fandom

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ageless-aislynn · 2 months

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Title: “15 Minutes” (10/15) Author: @ageless-aislynn Characters/fandom: Master Chief John-117/Reader, Halo the series Summary: As you heal, you're not alone. Series: How to date a Spartan (without even trying) Rating: T (PG13) Length: 2,604 (this chapter, 24,863 total so far) Spoilers: Set in the Silver Timeline of Halo the series, not the games or novels. Though we began with the events of Halo 1x06, there will be no more show spoilers. We are still firmly seated in the AU Warthog, merrily driving out to places where there’s only a passing nod to canon. 😉 Disclaimer: Definitely not mine but I do enjoy borrowing them just for a bit! 😉 A/N: Text is both here in this post or available at AO3, however you like to read. Apologies for the break we took for a few weeks here. 😳This chapter turned out a little longer than I expected, (please enter "that's what she said" joke of your choice here), so I hope that makes up a bit for the delay. If you read, I hope you enjoy! ⭐💖⭐

Taglist: @pinheadbanger @mysardencut @laurenstacy610 @sporadicbelievernightmare @ultrablackwidower @bxmxtx @jellotherelol @mirandastuckinthe80s

If you would like to be tagged in my John/Reader fics, just let me know! I also write John/Kai, John/Cortana and Kai/male Reader, so I’m glad to tag you for whatever you’d like. If you would like to be removed from the taglist, also feel free to let me know, no harm, no foul. 😉 💖

Halo fic masterlist ⭐

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9

Pressure on your chest brought you startling awake, flinging your left arm up as if to try and break free of a restraint. White hot pain burst from your shoulder down your bicep like a cord of fire trying to amputate your arm. You gave a strangled cry, managing to sit up and clutch at the various points of hurt as the agony gradually faded.

Out of the darkness, a now-familiar woman's voice said your rank and last name. "Are you all right? Do you need me to dispatch medical assistance?"

"No," you quickly said, automatically straightening your sleep-rumpled shirt. "I moved my arm wrong. Thanks, though."

"Of course," she returned, her tone kind.

"Are you, um, monitoring me?"

"Just for sounds of distress or pain. John was adamant that your privacy be respected as much as possible."

That made you smile slightly under the cover of the lack of light. "I hope they've given you something else to do other than to listen for me to say ouch."

"Not to worry, I keep busy."

You nodded even though she couldn't see it. Or maybe she could? Was she holed up in some ONI office, watching you with thermal signatures or some other sort of tech? "I appreciate it, Ms. Classified. Though I believe you gave me your name, didn't you? I'm sorry, I can't remember what it was."

"You were a little busy at the time," she demurred. "It's Cortana but I rather like 'Ms. Classified,' I have to say. It's like a nickname between friends, isn't it?"

"It is," you said. "And please feel free to use my first name. No need for friends to stand on formality."

"Thank you," she said and, after a slight pause, added your name as if it were an honor to do so.

Was she a Spartan, perhaps? Something about her careful manner reminded you of how John sometimes reacted to interpersonal things as if he hadn't ever dealt with them before and wanted desperately to be right in his response.

You wasn't sure if you should ask and while you were still wondering, she said goodbye with a sound like pixels vanishing, though there had been no hologram of her to see this time.

Your day was a lot more mundane after that. PT came by as Dr. Savannah had said they would, and you dutifully did the exercises with minimal grumbling and complaining. The ancient saying about medics being terrible patients was still said for a reason, after all, but you didn't want to be One Of Those if you could help it.

The therapist had brought you breakfast from the mess for after your session: the cold cereal MRE, typically called mush rarely edible, along with plain black coffee. She also told you that the next session would be tomorrow instead of later today, due to a scheduling conflict.

So that left you with a whole lot of day and very little to fill it.

You were scrolling through your padd, looking through old documents and messages, intending to clean up and organize things but, more often than not, ended up reminiscing on the past, on friends once part of your every day life now long gone, either transferred away or worse.

You discovered a folder full of sketches of various Mjolnir designs you'd done back before you'd decided for certain to begin training to be a Brokkr tech. Your interest in the Spartans and their armor had been a mere hobby, then.

You were far from a gifted artist but trying to capture the different iterations, the bulkier but classic shapes of the Mark V, the more streamlined Mark VI, had made for fun practice. You'd also tried out a few ideas of your own, such as "floating" pieces of armor to try and better protect the Spartans' joints without sacrificing mobility. The final image, though, had been a purely fanciful one: a fusion of Mjolnir and medieval, a literal Spartan in shining armor.

You couldn't help but chuckle. There was no number on the chest plate but it was clearly Master Chief to anybody who was familiar with his armor configuration. The patterning on his visor had a texture reminiscent of a knight's helm and the flare of his shield had a shape like the plume of a feather at the crest of his head. One arm was extended but incomplete: you hadn't decided whether to give him a BR or DMR or go for something like a broadsword or lance. Then you'd simply never come back to finish it and it had been forgotten in your drafts for all this time.

Tapping a fingertip contemplatively against your lip, you thought for a moment, then impulsively picked up your stylus and began to draw.

Gentle fingertips brushed against your hair and you woke to find John next to the bed.

"Sorry to bother you," he murmured, "but you looked uncomfortable."

The moment he said that, your neck began protesting the odd angle your head had slumped into.

"Well, that was a bad idea," you said plaintively, straightening up very slowly. Your entire body ached like you'd been moonlighting as a punching bag. Your padd slipped off your lap to the mattress, then bounced towards the edge, and John easily caught it on the fly.

You suddenly remembered what had been on it. The screen was dark but all it would take was a brush of a finger to activate it again and he'd see--

"What's this?" he said, orientating the padd right side up.

"That's... my poor attempt at artistry," you said, feeling heat blooming up your neck. You resisted the urge to snatch it from his hand and throw it to the floor yourself.

"It's not poor," he countered, studying it even more intently. "Not at all. I like it a lot, especially the detail here."

He tapped the image and the SPNKr rocket launcher you'd placed casually in the Spartan's hand, resting on the armored shoulder, expanded to better reveal the intricate filigree you'd spent a considerable amount of time adding to the large missile chamber.

"I mean, it's not practical, of course," you mumbled but his sincere appreciation lessened your embarrassment. "I wanted a medieval feel to a modern weapon."

"Do you have others?" he asked, handing the padd back to you.

You appreciated that he didn't just start flipping through the images. You swiped back to show him your other Mjolnir studies.

The very corner of his mouth twitched. "These are all mine, aren't they?"

"Hm, I suppose they are," you said in mock surprise. "It looks like I've had a favorite Spartan for a while now."

"Good," he said decisively, then glanced at you with a soft smile. "Could I send a copy of this to R&D?"

"Which one?" you asked, alarmed.

"The floating armor," he said, the smile growing a bit.

"Yeah, if you want," you said and forwarded the study to him. "I doubt I've thought of anything they haven't by now but I guess you never know."

"And could I have a copy of the other one, just for me?"

"Really?"

"Really," he confirmed.

You switched back to the medieval drawing, adding your signature with a flourish in the corner before forwarding that one as well.

The door chimed and he went to open it as if it were expected.

"Master Chief, sir!" the young private said, making a motion no doubt intended to be a salute that he couldn't complete because of the large and apparently heavy covered tray he was carrying.

"At ease," he said, taking the tray from him.

The private snapped a salute as crisp as if he were in the presence of Lord Hood himself, then kept standing in the open doorway, staring rather starstruck.

"Thank you, you're dismissed," John told him.

"If you or the Hero of the Pit need anything, let me know, sir," the marine said earnestly before backing away.

Once the door closed, you said, "That really is a terrible nickname."

"The Covenant call me 'Demon,'" John said, bringing the tray to the bed and setting it on the foot.

"'Demon' is badass," you countered. "Mine sounds like I fell in a hole and somehow managed to crawl back out."

"Crawling out of that hole wasn't a given," he said, "and you made sure nobody else was in there with you."

He lifted the cover on the tray, revealing two sizzling plates of food. The smell that hit you was divine.

Your voice dropped an entire octave. "Is that eggplant parmigiana?"

"I... think so? It's whatever was being served in the Spartan mess for lunch." His expression darkened. "You were supposed to get breakfast from there, too, but there was apparently some sort of mix-up. It's been dealt with."

You felt momentarily sorry for whoever had been on the receiving end of being dealt with. "I can't eat Spartan portions."

"You actually can because it so happens that I can calculate how many calories a Brokkr mechanic-slash-medic needs in order to heal properly." He held that with a serious expression for a moment, then winked. "And I also asked Dr. Savannah about it. She said, and I quote, 'Tell her it's fine to live a little.'"

"Oh, well, if it's doctor's orders..." you trailed off with a grin.

He left to get a small table and chair for himself since there was only the one lap tray and you took the opportunity to hit the head, thinking you'd be settled back in before he returned. As it turned out, you either greatly underestimated how far he had to go to find what he was looking for or, more likely, had greatly overestimated how quickly you could move.

Your left arm wanted to draw up to your torso from the way your damaged shoulder muscle was currently being foreshortened. Raising it even close to 45 degrees made it feel like it was being ripped off of your body. You took a couple of deep breaths, forcing it straight down to your side, and gritted your teeth though the pain as you returned to the main room.

John had already finished setting up the portable table and turned, his expression going almost comically aghast. "Should I call somebody? What can I do? I can carry you or--"

"No, it's fine," you told him. "I just have to work through it."

He hovered next to you as you made the few, torturous step back to the bed, his worry a palpable thing. Your bad knee buckled and he caught your arm -- fortunately, the right one -- to keep you from going down. His fingers hit a bruise hidden under your sleeve but you managed to not react.

The stricken look he gave you meant he'd seen the reaction anyway.

"There we go," you said, trying to sound breezy but the result was more winded than anything as you propped up against the headboard. "I'm ready for lunch. Are you? Lunch sounds great right about now."

He seemed at a loss as to what to do. You gingerly reached out and wrapped your fingers around his.

"I'm okay," you said softly. "I'm healing on schedule and it could've been much worse."

He nodded shortly, very, very carefully folding his other hand over yours. With a brief glance away, he nodded a final time as if agreeing to something you couldn't hear and then exhaled purposefully, affecting a lighter tone. "Well, let's see how that eggplant parmigiana is, then, hm?"

Even though physical therapy wasn't scheduled again until tomorrow, you went ahead and did the exercises anyway. Not only did it give you something to do after John left, but you were even more inspired to try to regain your strength as soon as possible.

Since you were alone, you felt free to swear your way more and more creatively through the entire session and only after the fact did you worry that maybe you had accidentally taught Cortana some new words and phrases.

Nah, you thought. Surely, she's not stuck sitting at some console all day and night, listening for me to need something, right?

You almost asked it out loud, just to see if she was listening, but decided against it. You didn't want to imagine she'd been instructed to keep her earpiece in to monitor you even when she took a meal or bathroom break. Or that maybe she never even actually got to go off-duty at all. It hadn't escaped your attention that John apparently didn't trust anybody else to provide your erstwhile overwatch.

You ate your dinner when it arrived, a very delicious chicken gumbo, then turned in early, since sleep was also an important factor in healing.

But your sleep was restless, the aches in your body keeping you from getting comfortable, and then when you did doze off, your mind kept taking you back to those moments when you were trapped. A couple of times, you found yourself jolting awake, John's name on your lips. You wondered if he was on base, asleep in the Spartan quarters. You'd assumed he would come back if he were here but you hadn't actually asked him to. It was his room, though, so wouldn't he...?

Try to get some sleep, that's the best thing right now. You'll feel stronger tomorrow, you silently instructed yourself, trying to find a comfortable position.

The next time you woke, your heart was thundering in your ears and you made a small panicked noise.

The lights abruptly came up to a quarter and you looked around wildly.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

John sat up from where he was stretched out over on the couch and you instinctively reached for him. He was there almost as if appearing by magic, letting you grip his hand as he leaned over you.

You were tangled in the covers and struggled to free yourself. He carefully extricated you with his free hand.

"Were you having a nightmare?" he asked and you nodded.

"I- I didn't know you were here," you said, stumbling over the words. "Why are you on the couch? You could share. I'd- I'd like you to."

He got that slightly stricken look again. "I'm heavy. I'll hurt you by moving around. I can't... I can't cause you more pain. I'm right here, though."

You understood what he meant but it still stung a bit like rejection. You normally would've let him go, would've tried to accept it gracefully, but the phantom weight on your chest changed the words on your tongue.

Your voice emerged small and compressed. "I need you, John."

The words clearly hit him like a plasma bolt to the chest and his fingers closed gently around yours.

"All right," he finally said. "I'll be careful."

It took a few minutes but eventually you were in his arms, turned on your right side with your injured left arm resting on his chest, your head tucked into the curve of his neck. All of the movement did hurt but you absolutely didn't care; all that was important was that he was here, you could hear his heart beneath your ear, could feel his warmth seeping into all of your pains and soothing them.

"Thank you," you murmured into the softness of his shirt.

"You don't have to thank me," he said, kissing the top of your head and lightly brushing his fingers across the hand you had on his sternum.

You were almost asleep when you thought, but weren't completely sure, that he also quietly said, "I need you, too."

#halo #halo the series #halo paramount+#master chief x reader #x reader #john-117 x reader #aislynn's fics #aislynn's fic #ageless aislynn #fic: 15 minutes #series: how to date a spartan without even trying

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