It barely made ir out of Twilight’s mouth, like if he were afraid of spitting the truth.
”What? How long?”
He looked at his helmet, thumb stroking the surface of the golden visor. The last thing he wanted was to be the bearer of bad news. It was hard enough waking up like this, let alone being told everything was different, that time had split past him like a slipstream jump.
“We aren’t sure,” he said, after clearing his throat. “The war ended three years ago, the one with the covies, at least. But…”
He hesitated, and looked at Fi’s avatar for a helping hand.
“We don’t know exactly when you were put into cryo. Based on informs and… recent information, it could be three years, or eighteen.”
For a long, heavy moment the room was dead silent. Everyone seem to hold their breath, at least the ones that could, waiting for a reaction. The tension being too thick to cut, resulting specially long for the AI.
Wild’s head fought to make sense of the words. His body felt cold, stiff and aching result of his long sleep in cryo. He could feel the burn in his skin caused by the induction in stasis using his SPI amor.
He nodded, slowly, almost mechanically as he tried to process. His eyes flicked around the room, but was the spartan on his left that caught his attention. A Spartan-II for sure. It wasn’t hard to notice. Wild had been trained by one and inspired by all their kind to one day be like those knights in green MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor.
He and all his friends were.
The thought sent a stab of pain through his skull, sharp and sudden, as memories slammed into his consciousness. The battlefield. Banshees flying across the sky, the guttural soung of a Hunter’s plasma cannon, the Wraith in the distance. Then an explosion: violent blast that sent everything into chaos. The heat. The smell of burning flesh. The pain in his head came with a heavy wave of nausea. He blinked hard to clear it, but it wouldn’t go away.
The AI’s avatar looked at the monitor displaying his vitals almost instantly, his heart rate spiking through the unpleasant memories.
"You’ll need a psychiatric evaluation and at least a week of rest before returning to active service. Long-term cryoinduction can be difficult to process, physically and emotionally. Especially in your case."
His breath hitched, and he forced himself to focus, though it was like his mind was wrapped in a dense and thick fog.
"What happened to my team? Were... were any of them—"
Twilight shook his head and with a low, almost apologetic tone he said;
There it was, the truth. Wild stared at the Spartan, the words sinking in like ice water. Only he was left. Only he had survived.
Previous Part: Wild, Sky.
UNSC OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE
File Subject: SPARTAN-III [TWI - B248]
Date of Birth: Estimated 2533
Program Entry: SPARTAN-III Beta Company
Current Assignment: Fireteam Castle
Petty Officer Second Class, B248, sustained severe injuries during a civilian evacuation operation. Incident involved a Chieftain Jiralhanae and its pack. While Subject successfully neutralized the threat and secured the evacuation zone, the injury resulting from combined plasma burns and impact from metallic spikes was considered non-repairable. Prosthetic reconstruction was performed.
Unlike the typical Spartan-III profile, B248 demonstrates high social competence and emotional intelligence. Possesses a notably empathetic disposition, frequently prioritizing civilian lives and team cohesion over strict tactical efficiency. Subject has repeatedly placed themselves in high-risk positions to shield teammates or non-combatants, a trait that borders on reckless but has proven effective in morale retention.
Specialization: Demolitions (DEMO) and Heavy Weaponry handling.
For the majority of Fireteam Castle's operational activities, B248 served as the sole Spartan-III member, until now.
