15th of April, 17 AJ

Time: 0600

Location: UNSC Phoenix, hanger

POV: Hearth, age 35, Fireborn

Hearth walked into the hanger. They were on the Phoenix, a ship built for NOBLE Team. Hearth tried to reject the offer, but ONI wouldn't have any of it. The Phoenix was an average sized cruiser, and it had been decorated with phoenixes here and there. The only reason this ship existed was to make it more convenient for ONI to deploy NOBLE. Hearth looked at his assembled team and noticed an extra helmet. Four, actually. Three of the helmets belonged to the survivors of the original NOBLE Team, Kat, Jun and Hearth's dad, Blade. The other one, Hearth didn't know. He walked up to the Spartan and they snapped to attention. Hearth rolled his eyes under his helmet.

Rook.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was assigned to your team, sir."

Hearth shook his head. "On whose authority?"

"ONI, sir."

Hearth sighed. Why is ONI making my life harder? "Let me guess, you just came out of training."

"Sir, yes sir."

Hearth rolled his eyes again. "Kid, you've got a lot to learn. First things first. I've read your record. Glad to have your skill set, but we're a team, got it? That lone wolf stuff? It stays behind. Second, you're a Spartan. So stop acting like a Marine, got it? And third, we're equal. So stop fucking saluting."

"O-oh."

The Spartan lowered his arm. Jun walked up to Hearth and gave him four taps on the neck. Hearth tapped him back and sighed. Jun had been posted on the bridge.

"Kid, we're down a member. Looks like you'll be inserting with us. Give Spartans B-312 and B-320 the utmost respect, got it?"

"Wait, B-312? B-320? Aren't those Noble Six and Kat?"

"Yeah, they are. Now come on. We're about to leave."

Hearth stepped onto the Pelican and the new blood followed close behind. Lightning sent Hearth an encrypted message.

"New blood?"

"Yep. Gunna be hassel."

"Fuck. I'll take care of it."

"Thx."

Hearth briefed the team on their objective, the destruction of a Forerunner base set up by the rouge Cortana. Blade and Kat shifted in their seats, obviously uneased by this mission. Hearth turned off the hologram and sat down next to Dawn. She didn't grab his hand, but he knew she wanted to. Lightning flew them down into the fray, dodging the shrapnel that was flying from Covenant and Forerunner ships, locked in combat. The two sides never noticed that the UNSC had arrived. Lightning got out of the cockpit and Hearth stood up. He walked over to the door and waited.

He punched the deployment button and the Pelican opened up.

"Noble! The light is green!"

Hearth, Lightning, and Smoke where the first to leap out. Dawn, Eagle and Goldy jumped out next, and they were followed by the rook and vets. The Pelican pulled up and dodged the flak, returning back to the Phoenix. The Spartans hit the ground and they began to sprint down the hill. Hearth tapped into the hostile battlenet, listening in on Covenant movements. The Spartans rushed down the hill and rolled into the Forerunner base right as the door closed. NOBLE scanned the halls for activity and found nothing.

Hearth swapped his mags and addressed his team. "Alright Noble, stick together. We don't know what's hiding here."

The acknowledgment lights winked on and the nine of them began to search the halls. After a while, E-904, the new blood, voiced his complaints.

"I don't like this. The Forerunner defences should have activated. We've passed by countless camras, which were obviously tracking our mo-"

Hearth stopped and raised a fist. "Hold. Hear that?"

Everyone strained to listen. E-904 looked at Hearth. "Hear what?"

Blade frowned under his helmet and lifted his MA 16. He flicked its flashlight on and immediately oppened fire. Hearth spun around and saw what his dad was shooting at, the Flood.

"Flood! Group up and don't let up on your fire!"

The team fell into a tight circle as they battled the Flood back. As they fought, Cortana's voice came over the base's intercoms.

"So, it seems you've met my invited guests. Did you know that the UNSC had sent a Marine platoon here before you? My Knights captured them and put them in prisons. So. What are you going to do? Abandon your mission and save the Marines? Or will you still blow up this base, killing everyone in it? The choice is yours."

Kat didn't think twice. She grabbed the new blood's arm and began to head deeper into the base. Hearth turned to look at her.

"KAT! What are you doing?"

"Go save those Marines. E-904 and I will destroy this base!"

Blade reached out for her. "KAT! NO!"

Kat paused to look at her old friend. "It has to be done. Blade," she grabbed her dog tags and ripped them off. "I'm sorry. Go." She tossed them to Blade and they landed in his palm.

The two Spartans vanished into the dark, the sounds of battle fading away. Hearth shook himself out of his trance and grabbed his dad's arm.

"Come on Noble. Mission's changed. Let's save those Marines."

Blade had tears running down his face. As they fought, he received a voice recording from Kat. She sung him a tiny song. Blade slammed the butt of his rifle as hard as he could into a combat form's head. What follows was Kat's recording. (It's Angle by Your Side, created by J.T. Machinima)

"You've got to keep on pushing on. 'Cause after all, you know that's what we want. I'll always be in your heart, I'll be the light when it gets too dark. Keep your memories alive. I'll be the angel by your side."

NOBLE came across the Marine's cell and Blade's anger and sorrow became almost too much. He had almost no family left. He was alone, just like on Reach. Blade locked his emotions away and became almost like a robot. He slammed his rifle into the lock and the door swung open. The Marines sprinted out of their cell and followed close behind the Spartans. A Pelican descended from the sky and NOBLE ushered the Marines onto it. The Pelican filled up and took off. Another one came down and NOBLE climbed aboard. They waited for a bit, but then decided to mark E-904 and Kat as MIA. Right as they were about to close the door and leave, E-904 grabbed onto the open door. Hearth and Smoke pulled him up and Blade looked at the Spartan.

The door closed and everyone except Blade took their helmets off. Blade was still looking at E-904, a young man. He noticed, and regret washed across his face.

"She's gone. I'm sorry."

Blade said nothing. E-904 sighed, and then retold his side of the story.

"Kat led me to the base's reactor. She told me to go. I tried to argue otherwise, but Kat simply took off her helmet, smiled at me, then shoved me away. When I stood there, she said 'We're Spartans. We sacrifice.' She then used the Light to push me away. The door was sealed closed and I was forced to run. I'm sorry. I-"

Lightning cut E-904 off. "You didn't fail her. She chose to sacrifice her life. Know the difference."

The man looked at her. He began to nod his head and said, "You're right. She chose to sacrifice her life instead of mine."

Blade felt tears roll down his face. He was thankful for the helmet covering his face. He had lost his closest friend that understood his struggles. He looked down at the dog tags Kat had thrown him and he felt the tears fall faster. He tucked the dog tags safely away and wept. No one knew he was weeping, and no one should. He was a Spartan, the best of the best, the toughest of the toughest. The Pelican landed on the Phoenix and Blade made his way to a viewing port. The ship made a slip and they eventually exited over Glaskin. Blade looked down on the world he was born on. As Blade lost himself in thoughts, he heard a pair of shoes walk over.

"Beautiful, right? Glaskin's changed so much. I find it hard to realize that a tyrant used to rule it." Hearth was standing next to him.

Blade didn't say anything for a while, uneasing his son.

"Dad. You're thinking about her, aren't you?" Hearth was meaning Kat.

Blade shifted his head to look at his son, then returned his gaze to Glaskin.

"Our duty, as soldiers, is to protect humanity. No matter the cost."

Hearth looked up at his armored dad. "You say that, like Spartans and humans are two seperate things. We're not. We're just people, standing up for others. We're not machines, we can problem solve. That's what makes us better than the grunts and machines of the battlefield. We're trained to fight for the innocent."

Blade flashed back to Reach. NOBLE had just lost George. Blade had been repeatedly cleaning his gun and Kat walked over. They had this exact same conversation back then, but only about George.

Hearth took one last look at Glaskin before turning around. "I'll let you have the deck to yourself."

Blade looked over his shoulder to see his son walk away. He returned his gaze to his home world and remembered how happy he was back then. "She said that to me once. About being a machine."

Hearth stopped in his tracks. "What was that?"

Blade didn't look over his shoulder at his son. "Stay."

Hearth glanced at the open door, then at his dad. He closed the door and stood next to his father.

"She told me that once."

"Who? Kat?"

"Her... and your mother...."

"What?"

Blade closed his eyes and sighed. "Long before you or Crystal where born, Timbin had been plagued by raiders. We had a militia back then. I was a high ranking officer in it. I was known for my emotionless tactics and brutal attacks. I had never given those raiders a chance to surrender. I had my troops wipe out their camp. At the time, I thought that I did what was best. Looking back, I was naive. If I had only given those raiders a chance to surrender, I bet they would have. But I didn't. I systematically killed every last one. That night, after I had wiped out those raiders, your mom approached me. We were just wed then. She asked me why I killed all of those raiders. I told her that it was my job, and she sighed. She said, 'You're like a machine. You act like humanity and soldiers are two separate entities. We're not. We're humans, just like everyone else.' She then turned in bed, leaving me to my thoughts."

"Wow. That must have stung."

"It did. The following morning, I wandered into that forest. You know the one I'm talking about, right? The one where no one went to?"

"Yeah, I'm familiar with it. I used to hunt in it."

"You know that clearing in the middle of the forest?"

"Yes. I used to sit down in the middle of it and ponder on what had happened during my life, or just reflect back on the day."

"That used to be the camp of the raiders. I had burnt it totally down. Nothing remained when I returned that morning, not even ash. The ground was dirt. I had sat down like you used to do and reflect on my actions. I did it often. So often, I must have worried your mother because she one day came across me sitting in the clearing. She had hugged me and sobbed into my shirt. It was there where I found my humanity. I had become a shell. Your mother sobbing into my chest was the key that brought me back. We had Crystal that night. I was happy back then. I'm not sure I'll ever be again."

Hearth looked down at Glaskin. It was still as green and blue as he remembered it. Hearth looked further down, towards his hip, and saw Wolf's Fang. It rested quietly on his hip as he remembered his dual with that Sith. Hearth had been forced to watch his mother get tourchered and then ruthlessly killed, all the while her calling out for Hearth to help her. He had tried to break free of his restraints, but couldn't.... Not until it was too late. When that Sith delt the killing blow, carving a gully in his mother's back, that was when he lost control of the Light. He fell to the Dark Side for a brief moment.

It had shattered his bonds and Hearth instantly drew Wolf's Fang. He clashed blades with the Sith and eventually, with his blade the brightest it had ever been, Hearth sliced the Sith in half. He had then dropped his blade and picked up his mother. She had a smile on her face and she managed to lift a hand up to touch Hearth's cheek. She had told him, "You're just like your father. Son, promise me this last thing."

With tears rolling endlessly down his face, Hearth whispered, "Y-yes?"

"Be... human...."

She then died, her hand sliding down his face. Hearth didn't know what she had meant back then, but he did now. Blade placed his hand on Hearth's shoulder and Hearth realized he was crying.

"It's okay son. You can tell me what happened."

Hearth wiped away his tears. "You already know, Dad."

Blade's gentle smile faded away. "Hearth. You know you could-"

"I know I couldn't have done anything else. I know I tried. It's just.... I'm glad that Sith's dead. I just hope Etro had been kind to Mom."

Blade's smile returned and he looked out the window. "Your mom was perfect. Yes, she had flaws with her body and in the way she spoke, but she never did wrong. Your mom's in a happy place, that much I can say for sure."

Hearth looked at his dad, then gazed out the window. The two stood there, side by side. The ship made the jump to Slipspace and the two continued to stand there, lost in their own thoughts.

Lightning snuck out of the deck, leaving father and son be. She had been there for the entire conversation. She made her way to her chambers and was met with the smell of cooking rice. Jewel was in the kitchen, cooking dinner. He had headphones in and Lightning knew it was futile to talk to him like that. She smiled and walked into the bedroom. Snow was sitting on the bed, obviously pondering something. He looked up at Lightning and smiled. She smiled back and sat down next to him. The two embraced and kissed.

They had married eight years ago. They haven't tried to have kids yet because of Lightning's role as NOBLE's pilot. The two were currently smiling and Snow began to play with Lightning's short hair.

"How'd the op go?"

Lightning's smile partially faded away. "Good and bad. We accomplished our mission as well as save some Marines, but we lost one."

"Of your own? Who was it?"

"Kat."

"Oh. B-312 must not have taken that lightly."

"He didn't. I could sense his pain and anger through the mission. Then, it vanished. When I had sent him a message asking if he was okay, I got no response. Blade had closed himself off from the world. Only through a touching conversation with his son, did he open back up. I snuck onto the deck when Hearth was about to leave, but his dad told him to stay."

Snow was quiet for a while. He looked at his wife and she wrapped an arm around him.

"Snow, hon. Don't worry about Blade. He'll be fine."

"You're right. It would be best if I slept on this."

"Why you? Don't you mean us?"

Snow laughed and the two laid down. In the kitchen, Jewel drained the rice. He heard the entire conversation: his headphones weren't plugged in. He was thinking about the sacrifices those around him had made to keep civilians like him safe.

I'm not a civilian.

He warmed up some left over curry and sat down to eat. He looked at his phone and fiddled with its case. He plugged in his headphones and tapped a random song. With a sigh, he summoned his Ghost. His parents didn't know that he had one. The Ghost still had its Generalist's Shell and its eye was blue. He looked at his hand and saw Arc Light spark. He sighed and let his Ghost fly around him while he ate.

Tomorrow, I'm going to tell them.

In his ear, Jewel's Ghost whispered to him. "You say that every night."

He sighed again. "I know. I just don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything. Just prove that you're a Guardian and let it unfold from there."

"So, you want me to enter a live fire zone? I don't have armor."

"Hey, sometimes, live fire zones find you. Let fate decide when to reveal."

Jewel smirked and got up. He put his bowl in the sink and sat down on the couch. He paused his music and took out his earbuds. He grabbed his controller and headset and flipped the mic down. He powered up the TV and console and waited for it to finish its boot up sequence. He saw that Hope was online and jumped into her party. She was currently in a game with Stone, Kai, Jay, Zane, Nya, Cole, and Lloyd.

"Oh, hey Jewel! Finished dinner? Take THAT!" Hope seemed partially distracted, which wasn't uncommon, given how she had ADHD.

"Yeah. What are you playing? My xbox is being weird."

Kai spoke up. "Darn it! We're playing Titanfall 2. I just died."

"Ah. Care if I join?"

Lloyd laughed. "Sure. Just wait for the next round. We're about done."

"Sure thing. I need to put the disk in anyways."

Jewel got up and ejected the previous disc, a movie his parents had watched. He put in the game and waited for the invite. Hope was the party leader and he joined. He was placed into the Marauder Corps side and laughed when he saw that the others where in Marvin's Finest Hour, another faction. It was three against six, and not in his favor.

"So, pros vs noobs." Jewel had become an expert over the years.

"Yep. We had the teams even before you joined, but this is so much better. Last game, we had a lot of ejects."

"Jeez. Well, good luck scrubs, 'cause I'm in the top five players."

Everyone laughed and Hope started the match. Jewel loved using the stim Pilot, but he decided to use a new Pilot today. He went for the grapple Pilot and after the game loaded, Jewel zoned everything but the game out. He was the second to get a Titan ready, the first being Nya. She had already deployed her Titan, but Jewel held back. He stole a battery from her and his teammates also stome several more batteries before they ganged up on Nya. They blew her up and they waited until everyone had their Titans. The "noobs" deployed their Titans and they huddled together.

Idiots. Don't they know a Titanfall can one shot a Titan?

They broke off, going their own ways. The pros were hiding. Jay stopped in front of Jewel's hidey hole and Jewel suppressed a chuckle.

"Hey, are we playing hide-and seek now?" Jay was getting a bit angry.

You're about to get a whole lot angrier.

Jewel called in his Titan, the Monarch, and looked up. His Titan was going to drop right on Jay's head and he didn't know better. Jewel's Titan landed and Jay was taken by surprise.

"WHAT? What just killed me?"

"Watch your head."

Hope and Stone had already taken their prey. Kai, Jay, and Nya where momentarily out of the game. Jewel embarked and found Lloyd. Lloyd was using Ion and had his Vortex Shield up. Jewel waited for him to run out of energy, then unleashed hell. Lloyd was knocked into a Doomed state, but Jewel had to reload. Lloyd sprinted up to Jewel and he waited for the right time. He punched Lloyd and a Termination played. Stone and Hope were also performing Terminations next to him. The game ended and the noobs all complained.

"What? How did you do that?" Lloyd didn't know about Terminations.

"Dude, you were Doomed. You sprinted up to me. I punched you and the Termination played. Tip, don't run up to a Titan when Doomed. Also, you could have ejected."

"How?"

"Up on the d-pad, then tap x three times. Simple as that. If you did that while close to me, you could have dealt some serious damage."

"But why did the game end?"

Hope chuckled. "We killed y'all before one of you could respawn. The game counted that as a win. Well, that was fun. Want to work together? We can do Colony Defence."

The M.R.V.N.s all shouted in agreement and Jewel laughed. He suddenly felt super tired and called it quits. He took off his headset and walked into his bed. He drifted to sleep and dreamt of fighting side by side with his parents.

Maybe, one day, I'll get my chance.

Jewel awoke to his phone buzzing. He grabbed it and saw that someone was calling him. The number was being blocked. Jewel tapped the green pick up button and lifted the phone to his ear.

"Hello? Who's this?"

The caller had a synthesized voice. "We have Veronica. Put Hearth Everlasting on the phone, now"

Jewel thought this to be very suspicious. He walked into the kitchen and saw his mom making breakfast. He handed his phone to his mom and she lifted it to her ear with a confused look on her face.

"Hello?"

Jewel waited for his mom to finish and then took his phone back. She grabbed his shoulder and Jewel looked up, right into her eyes.

"Jewel. I don't know who that was or why they called you, but this is obviously a trap. I need to alert Hearth and I need you to stay safe, okay? Promise me."

Jewel bit his lip, then frowned. "No. I'm coming with you."

"No, you are not. You are not walking into a trap with me."

"Yes, I am. I can handle myself, don't worry."

"What if it becomes a live fire situation? Can you handle yourself there?"

"Yes. I can. I will go with you, no matter what you say. You can't sway me."

Lightning closed her eyes and sighed. "Fine. But if things go downhill, you're running, no matter what. Got it?"

Jewel noded.

"Say it."

"I've got it. I'll run if things take a turn for the worse." Jewel stopped himself from twinging. He always twinged when he lied to his parents.

Lightning sighed again and let go of Jewel. She pulled out her pistol and checked its clip. She put it back in the holster strapped to her thigh and walked out of the room. Jewel followed close behind and the two swiftly found Hearth pacing back and forth in front of some kind of teleporter. Techs were on scene and Jewel scratched his head.

"Tech. What's the status of the Interspace?"

"Down. Something happened and it glitched out."

"Veronica?"

"MIA. No sign of her in the falling apart sim, sir."

"Da-" Hearth cut himself off when he saw Lightning approaching.

"Hearth. Jewel was called this morning but some mystery person. He wanted you, but got me. He said he had Veronica and if you wanted her back, you were to arrive at a set of coordinates, alone. What's your call on the situation?"

Hearth quietly cursed, then tapped his foot rapidly. He was about to say something when a tech interrupted him.

"Sir! Pilot Hope just took a shuttle and gone AWOL!"

"What? Where is she going?"

"Uh, according to the slip, she's headed for a set of unexplored coordinates."

Lightning looked at the tech. "Give me them."

"Of course, ma'am. Here you are."

Lightning looked at the coordinates and quietly cursed.

"These were the coordinates I was given."

Hearth frowned. "She must have gotten the same call. Sometimes, I wish she would call me to let me know what she's doing. Lightning, get the Pelican ready. We're going after Hope."

"Got it. What about the rest of NOBLE?"

"Leave 'em. Jewel, you can come with us."

Jewel gave Hearth a nod, then sprinted over to the hanger. He sprinted up the ramp of the Pelican, swiftly taking a seat. Hearth walked on soon after and nocked his fist against the wall. Lightning closed the door and took off.

What the fuck are you thinking, Hope?