The funniest thing about Halopedia giving Noble Six the same birthday as Kat, despite many things never being confirmed about them (probably for player projecting purposes), is that I look at that and the fact that they're the same heightā¦ and I just have decided, spiritually, they are twins in my eyes. No one can convince me otherwise now, let those menaces be a terrifying tag team.
Did they hear voices too? They were like echoes in the back of his mind, whispers of the past coming back to remind him of who he was. Six looked out onto the burning landscape of Eposz; Reach was being glassed and all he could hear, it wasnāt the sound of plasma weapons firing through the atmosphere and bombarding the cities and buildings belowā¦ Six was hearing the voices and sounds of the lives lost. The sounds of laughter from children, the sound of people chattering to one another about new technological breakthroughs, the sound of love between two individuals. His fingers wrapped tightly around the tags he was given, the ones he gave him.
Hello good, sweet, kind, wonderful friends who follow Flawed by Design.
Here is an epilogue which will not appear in the actual story, but which I*gleefully embraced and ran, ran so far away*toyed with the idea of at one point a few months ago.Ā
If youād prefer to wait for me to finish FbD prior to reading any spoilerish content, abort reading now.
John parked the warthog in the usual spot at the edge of the redwoods. He retrieved his pack, slung it over his shoulder, and hauled the camo tarp atop the vehicle so that it didnāt stand out like a sore thumb against the backdrop of the verdant mountainside. Then he turned and started into the forest. The trek generally took him two hours, and while the warthog could handle the terrain for part of the way, he preferred the solitude of travelling on foot.Ā
Briar had also complained on the one occasion he had driven closer that the approach had been about as inconspicuous as he was - which was evidently not very, heād been given to understand.Ā
The hike gave him time to clear his head of the latest sim test results, the monotony of base life, and the lingering impotency of being involuntarily removed from active duty. He was still a highly functioning tactical asset, so while he understood the decision as it had been explained to him by Brass as a matter of PR, he didnāt like it. Linda didnāt either, but she never complained. Unsurprisingly, Fred and Kelly were transitioning from life in the field with the most ease. They were anticipating instructional appointments as an opportunity to guide and shape the next generation of Spartan-IVs.Ā
Not him.
Pausing, John examined the trunk of one of the towering trees - more specifically the scarred markings some animalās claws had torn into its bark. Sheād informed him when heād last left that there was a cougar lurking in the area. He continued on, the familiar weight of the M6H2 strapped to his thigh precluding any concerns about crossing paths with the predator. The territorial scorings didnāt appear recent, sap had already wept over the abrasions and hardened, but he still recentred his focus. Which wasnāt easily done as he tallied up just how long itād been since heād last left base.Ā
An unfamiliar weight settled in his gut, but he knew it for what it was - guilt. Seven weeks was not inconsiderable. And while it hadnāt been his intention to avoid returning, neither had he sought rec time or leave in order to do so. Hadnāt even given it much thought between the day in, day out routine trials Blue team had been selected to participate in for the Gen3 MJOLNIR platform.
He now had to wonder if that had been subconsciously purposeful because of his conflicted feelings over the pregnancy. Briar had encouraged him to seek the input of Fred, Linda, and Kelly, and yet heād not done that either. Not even when Fred had noted that he was behaving more introvertedly than was characteristic of him. The reason for that, at least, was logical. As Blue teamās leader, undermining the othersā confidence in him by requisitioning advice on a subject none of them were more likely to have experience with than he did was irrational. Fred and Kelly may be more sociable than he was, but he doubted they were concealing clandestine children out there in the systems somewhere. The thought nearly made him snort, in fact.Ā
The elevation increase and time elapsed since heād set out from the warthog suggested he was better than halfway there now.Ā
Would she be displeased with him? He hadnāt gotten the sense his initial reaction had caused her to be so. If anything, sheād seemed as uncertain about the development as heād been. She hadnāt questioned him when heād prepared to head back to base earlier than planned. Just requested that he speak with his fellow Spartan-IIs.Ā
The issue stemmed from the fact John had never factored children into his future. Heād factored another few decades of service in. But not much beyond that. And now, here he was; forced into semi-retirement for all intents and purposes, and staring fatherhood down the barrel. What that even involved, he couldnāt begin to fathom. His memories of his own childhood were so watered down and repressed that it took a Herculean effort just to recall that heād possessed one at some distant point in the past. He would have a duty to protect the child, that much was obvious. And provide for it - though with the healthy settlement heād been saddled with as compensation from the UNSC, there should prove no barrier to that.Ā
What would life for a child born to two Spartans even look like? It had never been explicitly expressed, but there wasnāt a shadow of doubt in his mind theyād never been expected to produce offspring. And while the inquisition into Orion and the subsequent Spartan programs had clued up, and public perception had shifted dramatically in light of its innumerable findings, it still didnāt feel as though society was prepared for Spartans to fully re-integrate. At least, not IIs and IIIs. The IVs had been regular enlisted before being recruited into their program. Theyād led normal lives. Had families. No so for his and Briarās generation. Despite having been stationed there for six months now, Blue team still received a variety of conspicuous reactions from the baseās other personnel as they went about their assigned duties. He ignored them, but the relief of leaving it all behind when he drove past the last checkpoint and the wild landscape opened up before the warthog had been palpable.Ā
The fact he looked forward to Briarās company wasnāt the enigmatic response it had initially presented as to him any longer. With her, he was just John. And whatever that entailed, she took in stride. No expectations.Ā
He smelled it before he saw it. The copper tang of blood hung heavy in the air as he approached the clearing the cottage occupied on the ridge. Through the foliage, tawny hide could be glimpsed. Brandishing his sidearm, he strained his honed senses for further signs of intrusion as he stalked in towards his quarry. Within twenty metres, John could detect the error in his assessment. The once-predatorās pelt hung from a make-shift frame of pliable branches, stretched out wide in a curious display of victory. So, sheād taken care of the cougar. Bypassing the trophy, he was returning the magnum to its holster when he noted the smear on the doorframe. Briar wasnāt as fastidiously tidy and organized as he was wont to be, but a bloody handprint seemed grisly even for her to disregard cleaning up.Ā
John glanced back to the hide. The dark stain from blood which had pooled beneath it seemed to indicate itād been hung there for some time. Hours, probably. His attention returned to the smeared handprint. Was it possibly not the result of the animalās blood, but her own? Had she been injured?
āBriar?ā he called not without apprehension as he pushed through the door and inside. Crimson droplets led directly across the rustic floorboards towards the lav. His heart rate kicked up a notch. She hadnāt responded. Dropping the pack with a thud, he stepped over the trail as he strode to the open doorway. No light spilled out, so he wasnāt surprised not to find her within, but the open med kit, mess of bandaging supplies, and blood ringing the sink did alarm him more than he cared to admit. Sheād treated herself for whatever wound sheād received, he reasoned with himself. Everything was likely fine.Ā
Noise outside pulled John away from the chaos which had been unleashed in the lav. He re-emerged from the cottage just as Briar was latching the door on the small tool shed heād insisted they erect during his last visit, to remove the clutter of equipment from the limited space offered in the main living structure.Ā
She looked about as bewildered by his presence as he felt about the scene heād witnessed upon arrival, but as usual, recovered first. āCould have used your help earlier,ā she commented while wiping her dirty hands on her already soiled pants. A combination of blood and grime interrupted their dark green camo patterning.Ā
āWith the cougar?ā he surmised, having paused just outside the door.
āWith burying it.ā
That explained the mud, anyway. āAre you alright?ā She appeared whole, but the med kit had been rummaged through for a purpose. Her black t-shirt revealed a few shallow lacerations on her arms, but none of them were bandaged.
Briar shrugged, or began to, though the motion was cut short by a grimace. āIt got the jump on me, nothing serious.ā She lingered by the shed, her gaze having shifted to the hide. āShould have driven it off a while ago.ā It didnāt seem a conscious action, but one of her hands drifted briefly to her abdomen before falling back to her side.
It hit him with the sheer, unrestrained force of a NOVA. Sheād been in danger - the child she carried, his child, had been in danger - and he hadnāt even known. No matter his uncertainty, the overwhelming and fierce instinct to protect that precious unborn life consumed him with an abruptness heād never before experienced in his 48 years. He didnāt know what to expect from fatherhood, but the fear of having that opportunity snatched away by variables outside his control was perhaps the realest heād ever known.Ā
She was eying him pensively as he closed the distance between them. Dark strands of hair had escaped her braid and smudges on her cheek and temple implied sheād probably been pushing the loose locks out of her eyes. He reached up to do so for her now after sheād unsuccessfully attempted to blow them out of her line of sight.Ā
āAre you going to tell me what youāre thinking, or should I stand here waiting like an idiot for you to say something for another ten minutes first?ā
āIām thinking that cougar chose its prey unwisely.āĀ
She rolled her eyes, but they then shot down to where his hand had come to rest over her stomach before she could reply.Ā
āAnd that I shouldnāt have waited so long to come back,ā he supplied with regret. Not only did he now comprehend how cowardly it had been, even if it shamed him to ascribe such a trait to himself, it had nearly cost him more than heād at first understood.Ā
Briar was regarding him with an unreadable expression. She hadnāt stepped back, but neither did she seem particularly welcoming of his proximity. What must she have thought of him as the weeks had stretched on in his absence? āI knew you would,ā she said after some time. āEventually.ā It didnāt sound as though that certainty had reassured her much, it was more of a statement of fact.
āI didnāt speak to the others about it.ā She deserved to know heād disregarded her request along with leaving her out here alone without explanation.
āJohn-ā
āBut Iām going to. When I go back.ā
āIt was just a suggestion-ā
āWhat were the bandages for?ā he cut her off, having already made up his mind on the matter. Blue team might not be able to offer parenting advice, but they would give him their honest assessment of the situation. And since the added responsibility could potentially affect his performance as team leader, they needed to be aware of that.Ā
Sighing, she turned around and lifted her shirt to reveal the gauze padding haphazardly taped to her back. Blood had already seeped through several wads, suggesting the wounds they covered were deeper than those on her arms. āIām going to clean up the shitstorm in there, I just wanted to deal with that asshole before dark,ā she said while shooting the pelt a miffed glare and dropping her shirt again.Ā
āSo you decided to skin it.ā
āOnly after it tried to eat me.āĀ
John took her by the arm to gently propel her inside. Fortunately, she didnāt resist. In the lav, he again turned her so that she faced the opposite direction and pulled the t-shirt up and over her head, prompting her to lift her arms in the process. Then he began the painstaking process of peeling the medical tape off, doing so slowly so as not to aggravate the injuries beneath.Ā
All of this, Briar endured cooperatively in silence. Even when he applied the biogel, which he knew from plenty of personal experience, stung owing to its antiseptic component. Once heād reapplied the bandaging in plush squares, he returned the supplies to the med kit and rinsed out the sink.Ā
She was still standing in the same spot, shirt held in one hand as she faced the shower unit. Her posture didnāt point towards being receptive to physical contact, so he leaned against the doorframe to give her some space.
āListen, Iāve been thinkingā¦ if this isnāt something you want to go through with, I understand.ā
The sudden remark set him on edge almost as swiftly as the cougar pelt had. āExplain,ā he prompted her when no further information was offered.Ā
āExplain what - that neither one of us would have any clue how to raise a kid?ā She was shaking her head and he knew without needing her to say more exactly where her doubts stemmed from. Sheād confessed before to having no memory of her parents, and his own were vague impressions in the few flashbacks heād experienced over the years.
āI want to try.ā
When she turned around finally, she was frowning. āItās not something you ātryā, John. There are no trial runs. No sims. You canāt fuck it up, you donāt get to reset to alpha position.ā
Jaw setting with determination, he pushed away from the doorway. āThen we donāt fail.ā Theyād been forged with a will to succeed at all costs as ingrained as the fundamental functions of breathing, eating, or sleeping.Ā
āAnd weāre going to base it off of what? How Mendez treated us? The other drill instructors? AIs?ā Briar moved to bypass him, but he prevented her by blocking her path. It wasnāt difficult in the confined space. āI wonāt be responsible for screwing some kid up as badly as we were.ā
āSome kid?ā John repeated, chest tightening at the description of the child even now developing in her womb. He searched her features for some sign she held no attachment whatsoever to the new life theyād inadvertently created. All he saw was diffidence and frustration. This time when she tried to squeeze past, he caged her in against the cabinet the sink was built into, an arm to either side to keep her there. āI see you,ā he told her, voice even despite his own inner turmoil. He couldnāt pressure her into a role she wasnāt prepared to undertake. Even if heād come to the conclusion it was what he wanted. One of the few things heād ever wanted - not because it was a duty heād been trained and groomed to carry out, but because it was one he desired the privilege of fulfilling.
Dropping her gaze, she balled up the shirt. Her shoulders rose and fell with shallow breaths, another indication of her state of agitation.Ā
It wasnāt something that came naturally to him, but he brought one hand up to cup her face nonetheless, offering her the comfort he perceived she required in that moment. He still recalled the light and foreign touch of her own fingers upon his cheek in āVadamās keep. Itād been the first time anyone other than Fred, Kelly, Sam, or Linda had laid a hand on him for a purpose other than addressing an injury, delivering punishment, or examining his MJOLNIR since heād been conscripted into the Spartan program. Sheād advised him not to analyze it, but thatād proven impossible when, from that moment forth, a steadily growing part of him he hadnāt previously known existed had craved that contact. Expressing that hadnāt been something heād been aware of how to do, or even whether he should do.Ā
āWhatās going on in there?ā she asked quietly.
Chagrined to have lost focus, his brow furrowed. He ran his thumb over the dirt smudged across her cheekbone, but it didnāt remove the blemish. Neither did it diminish her appeal, however. āThinking,ā he answered. āAbout you.ā About how much had changed for him in the time theyād known each other, none of it anything he could have ever predicted.
She was waiting for him to elaborate, he could tell.
āAnd about being something other than a Spartan.ā Something more. Something he chose. āBut only if itās what you want.āĀ
Her lips grazed his palm as she turned her head. She pressed a kiss there. āI want you.ā Rising up onto the balls of her feet, she gripped his shoulders, the t-shirt slipping to the floor. āI want everything. With you. And it scares me, John.ā And he could see it in her eyes. That terror. The fear of daring to want something.Ā
Carefully drawing her in close with an arm around the small of her back, which hadnāt sustained any gouges, John held her gaze. āSomeone told me being human can be like that.ā He was expecting physical repercussions for the cheeky reminder, namely a punch, but gladly obliged when Briar instead tugged on his tags. Lowering his head, he released a pained grunt when her mouth only briefly met his before she captured his lower lip between her teeth.Ā
āSmartass,ā she scolded him with relish and then kissed him - properly this time.Ā
Remember the Nobles,
Remember the fallen,
Remember the heroes of Reach.
They paid not a price,
But offered self as sacrifice,
And bathed the planet in blood.
This is what happened,
On a near dead planet,
This is the tale of Reach.
The tale of the few,
Who faced the many,
And who fought till
They could fight no more.
Decided to throw together a quick sketch of (my) Noble Six and then ended up coloring it. Not everything is really accurate armor-wise, but I'm happy with it so it is what it is.
