Fanfic: Change Isn’t Easy (Part 2)
Title: Change Isn’t Easy
Part: 2
Fandom: Halo/RvB
Pairings: Past California/Carolina (mentioned), Past Yorkalina (mentioned), CarWash, California/Kesan (@k-dradom‘s Sangheili character)
Summary: Carolina, Wash and the Reds and Blues travel to Sanghelios. The Freelancers run into an old friend who has moved on with her life. Meanwhile, California nervously awaits seeing her friends again, knowing she didn’t part with them last in the best way and a lot has happened since…
As they say, change isn’t easy. Takes place after Season 15 of RvB. Probably going to end up canon divergent.
Warnings: Canon typical language in both English and Sangheili.
Notes: Translations for Sangheili throughout this fanfic are provided via hyperlink (hover over linked text to see the translation. Some phrases are not exact.)
Carolina was unusually silent as the Pelican she and everyone else were in made its final descent down to Sanghelios’ surface. She had travelled to many planets, but had never set foot on the Sangheili homeworld before. It was certain to be an experience she wouldn’t forget.
Opposite her, the Reds were chatting and bickering with one another. To her left, Tucker was trying to calm down an excited Caboose who kept shouting about being excited to go to “Crunchbite’s home”. Tucker had been initially excited too, talking about how his son was here, which surprised Carolina. Besides all the babies he had fathered on Chorus, she had forgotten he already had a child. She had fallen quiet not long after that, her own lost future weighing heavily on her mind.
Someone squeezing her right hand startled Carolina from her reverie and her head snapped in the direction. Wash returned her look and she wagered that, underneath his helmet, his expression was likely concern. She returned his squeeze, unashamed; past her might have yanked away, but ever since the whole fiasco with Temple and the Blues and Reds, they had gotten a lot closer. A lot, lot closer. She had finally decided to let her guard down and let Wash be her future now, something he had thankfully agreed to. The guys had teased them about it once they found out (purely by accident, no thanks to Tucker), but they were also surprisingly supportive of it to the point Carolina almost embarrassed herself by crying. Thankfully, Wash had been there to make her feel better, just as he was now.
“You alright, Carolina?” He asked her gently, rubbing circles over her hand with his thumb. “You seem out of it.”
“I’m fine, Wash.” She whispered back to him, though leaned her head on his shoulder gratefully all the same. “It’s just...”
“Having trouble wrapping your head around the fact we’re going to the Elite homeworld?” He interjected softly, rubbing circles the other way instead. “To be honest, I am too. The Great War wasn’t that long ago. Hard to believe most of these guys are our friends now, especially after I fought more than a few of them. Hell, they destroyed most of the system I had my basic in.”
“They killed my mother.” Carolina’s voice was sombre. “Well... the Covenant they were a part of did, at least. Whether it was a Sangheili that did it or not, I’ll never know. My father never told me, and he’s dead now.”
I know, Wash wanted to say. But the rest of the guys didn’t know about Carolina’s parentage – hell, he didn’t even know how much she knew about how much he knew about her from Epsilon – so he refrained. Instead, he settled for leaning his head lightly on hers.
“This probably re-opens some wounds for you, doesn’t it?” He instead answered, “We could have not come, you know. The, uh, ‘Arbiter’ only wanted to see Tucker.”
“You trust Tucker that much?” A short chuckle escaped the other Freelancer’s mouth. “He’d have gotten into trouble somehow, and you know it. No, better this way. I can put my feelings aside for a few days for friends.”
The for family wasn’t said, but Carolina knew Wash had gotten the idea when he shifted a little in surprise. It surprised her too, truth be told, just how attached to the Reds and Blues she had gotten. Grif was like her long lost lazy Hawaiian second cousin or something, Simmons was his nerdy boyfriend who bickered with him a lot, but actually really loved him. Sarge was the crazy uncle she’d never had and Donut was her gay cousin. Lopez was a distant Mexican relation, Caboose was like her younger brother or a young nephew and Tucker was either her crazy wingman black cousin or just regular wingman, she could never decide. And she would do anything for them, anything to keep them safe.
As for Wash, he was... well. Wash was her boyfriend now, apparently. It was a crazy family, but a family nonetheless. One she wouldn’t trade for anything. However, despite her fondness and protectiveness of them, it wasn’t just them she was worried about when she had decided to tag along to Sanghelios.
“It’s... not just that, though.” She admitted finally after a long silence. “Keeping the guys out of trouble is one reason I came, but it wasn’t the only one. And... it’s also the reason I’m a little... out of it, as you say.”
“Oh?” Carolina could almost hear Wash’s eyebrow rise behind his golden visor.
“California is on Sanghelios.”
There was another silence as Carolina’s words sank into Wash. “Oh.” Then, “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“When did you find that out?”
“I listened for communications from time to time back on the moon.” The cyan Freelancer admitted quietly. “There was an article about an ambassador codenamed Huntingdon that had been brokering treaties between the UNSC and the Swords of Sanghelios. California told me that was the name she’d been going under all these years. So I knew it had to be her. I... sent a communication to her prior to us leaving for Sanghelios, but she never replied. I don’t know if she ever got it or not.”
“If she’s an ambassador now, she could just be busy.” Wash pointed out, his thumb motions stopping.
“True, but... well. She just up and left us on Chorus without a word. Maybe I can’t speak, because I did that to you guys back when we crashed there, but...”
“It hurts.” The steel and yellow clad Freelancer finished for her. Carolina raised her head to look up at him.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He nudged her lightly. “You did what you had to, and if you hadn’t, we might never have known what was going on with Chorus. We might not have won.”
“Hmm, I don’t know about that.” Carolina hummed dismissively, shaking her head. “We had a lot of help.”
“Yeah, but you got the ball rolling to the greater good. Anyway, it’s not like you didn’t come back for us. And you had good reasons to leave. Maybe Cali did, too.”
Carolina stiffened, thoughtful for a moment, before letting out a sigh and relaxing.
“Maybe you’re right-”
“Hey, lovebirds!”
Both Freelancers looked up to the source of the interruption, only to find Tucker standing there, one arm holding a bar above them to steady himself, his other hand on his waist. When had he gotten up?
“Christ, I thought you two would never stop talking.” The aqua soldier shook his head at them.
“What is it, Tucker?” Wash asked, mildly irritated, beating Carolina to the punch.
“We’re about to land in Vadam.” He told them, and Carolina swore she could hear the excitement from before returning to his voice. “Just waitin’ for the all clear to land.”
“Oh, right.” The steel and yellow clad Freelancer deadpanned him, before shifting to stand. It was at this point Carolina saw the others had already stood up as well, before taking note of Wash’s offered hand and allowing him to pull her up.
“Thanks.” She told him gratefully, lowering their hands once she was stood. When Wash didn’t let go like she thought he would, she gave his hand a squeeze, mirroring the one he’d given her earlier.
The Pelican bounced its occupants a little as it finally touched down, before a hiss of air announced the opening of the rear bay doors. As they did, Carolina reluctantly let go of Wash, squinting into the daylight revealed by the now open bay doors. Beyond them awaited a small delegation of Sangheili, led by a particularly aged, dark skinned Sangheili with a missing upper mandible, red and bone coloured battle-scarred armour and the iciest blue eyes. His remaining three mandibles pressed close together, yet there was amusement in his eyes, and it took Carolina a good while to register that the expression was the Sangheili version of a smile.
Before the delegation leader could introduce himself, and mere seconds after they had all exited the Pelican, an aqua and blue armoured figure barrelled into Tucker from nowhere, almost making Carolina reach for her Battle Rifle on her back. The only thing that stopped her was the sound of Tucker laughing and her initial alarm was soon replaced with an overwhelming sense of confusion.
“Junior! Buddy!” Tucker called out in delight, hugging the figure, which Carolina realised was another Sangheili, far taller than the delegation leader, which made the act of Tucker hugging him absurd. “Man, I’ve missed you. Sorry I couldn’t be there for your graduation, and all that. Too much saving the world and getting chicks. You know how it goes.”
As the Sangheili rumbled something she couldn’t make sense of, the pieces connected rather abruptly for Carolina. This Sangheili was Tucker’s son. She had been present when he had shown Doyle the photo of him with his school basketball team, but she had only been listening vaguely at that point. Wash and the others didn’t seem the slightest bit fazed at all. How was this a thing she was only just learning about now?
“Jora!” The Sangheili delegation leader’s deep voice rumbled, cutting off celebrations and reunions. He then barked something she couldn’t understand and the other Sangheili pulled away from his father, seemingly apologising in kind, both to his fellow Sangheili and his father.
“Hey, it’s alright, kid.” Tucker offered in sympathy. “Don’t let me keep you from the important shit. Come find me later, ‘kay?”
Junior said something else, to which Tucker just nodded before the Sangheili left. All eyes fell onto the delegation leader after that.
“My apologies for interrupting your reunions, but Kaidon ‘Vadam wishes to speak with you immediately, Lavernius Tucker.” He rumbled, this time in English.
“Nah, it’s cool. Arbiter can be impatient and stubborn, I get that.” The aqua soldier replied casually, and inside her helmet, Carolina visibly cringed at his demeanour. She severely hoped this wasn’t how he talked to the Arbiter, too.
“His stubbornness is what has kept the bulk of Sanghelios united thus far.” The old Sangheili’s voice turned grave. Honest. “Were it not for Kaidon ‘Vadam, Sanghelios would have been left in ruins long ago. But that matters not now. I am Fal ‘Mantakr, your emissary during your stay in Vadam Keep. Come. We will take you to Kaidon ‘Vadam. After you.” He gestured forward with his right hand.
The other Sangheili with Fal dispersed, and the Reds and Blues, led by Tucker, followed them. As Carolina and Wash made to move, however, Fal stopped them with his other hand, icy eyes squinting momentarily.
“Hmm, no. Not you.” He rumbled at the two Freelancers. “I was instructed to take you elsewhere.”
Carolina threatened to get defensive, but seeing this, Wash stepped in, blocking her with an arm. “Fal, was it?” The Sangheili’s name rolled off uneasily from his tongue. “No offense, but we’re staying with our friends, and I’d rather this not be made into something bigger if we can all help it.”
“Your friends are in safe hands, if that is your concern.” Fal regarded them carefully.
“You’ll forgive us if that isn’t exactly a comfort.” Carolina added in, trying not to grit her teeth.
“It is out of my hands, Dohmoh.” Fal shook his head, sympathy laced in his tone. “These instructions came from one of our ambassadors, T’las ‘Vadam. She wished to speak to you the moment you arrived at Vadam.”
By this point, the commotion had caused the Reds and Blues to stop and turn around, wanting to know what the fuss was about. The rest of the Sangheili delegation stopped walking too, a little further ahead of them.
“What’s all th’ fuss about?” It was Sarge who spoke first, surprisingly. “Do I hafta administer my tried ‘n’ true brand of Red justice on ‘em? ‘Cuz it’d be kinda a shame to ruin that fancy red ‘n’ white armour...”
“That... won’t be necessary Sarge.” Wash answered back, strained. Carolina just groaned internally.
“Dagnabit! You’re safe fer now, alien fellah, but I got my eye on you.”
Fal’s gaze flicked between Sarge, the Freelancers and the rest of the Reds and Blues, before finally settling on Tucker questioningly.
“Just ignore him.” The aqua captain answered the old Sangheili’s unasked question. “But really, what’s going on, though?”
“Fal wants us to go meet with an ambassador.” Carolina was the one to respond to him. “Not sure why, but she really wants to talk to us.”
“Meh, I’m sure we’ll be fine without you for a few hours. I mean, come on, we survived without you before!” The grin in Tucker’s voice could almost be heard.
“Why does that not fill me with confidence?” Wash deadpanned him quietly.
“You trust us that little?” Tucker sounded offended.
“It’s not you I’m worried about.” Wash countered, looking towards the others.
“We’ll be fine, Wash! Seriously, you need to stop being paranoid. We can meet up again later.”
“I guess that settles that, then.” Carolina agreed, though she didn’t sound too thrilled by the prospect either. “You go see the Arbiter, we’ll see this ambassador and we’ll meet somewhere in the city surrounding the keep. How’s that sound?”
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do.”
With that, the two parties separated, one heading towards the Keep tower itself and the other heading towards Vadam’s outskirts. As Carolina and Wash followed Fal, she stuck close to her fellow Freelancer, unable to shake the sick feeling from her gut.
The sooner she was back with the others, with her family, the better she would feel, in all honesty.
