Truth of the Rings 5 - Brotherhood

Part 6 - Civil War, Perspective one

As soon as Floyd had stepped through the portal, he looked up. He watched two Promethean guardians firing at each other. Massive vehicles or structures, he couldn't tell, meant for peacekeeping entire worlds. They faced each other In brutal, explosive combat. One blue, the other orange. He looked back at the forest before him, seeing a nearby trail and tossing the piece of the teleported aside. He drew his rifle once again, and got to moving.......

The more the Spartan advanced, the more brutal the battle around him got. All different Prometheans on different sides, from soldiers to knights to crawlers and everything in between. Blue ones at war with orange ones. Eventually he came to a large building, with soldiers fighting outside. The most human looking Prometheans that ironically enough weren't human like the others. The first AI only Prometheans. The blue ones turned and looked at him, then continued to fire at their enemy. The orange ones fired at him too, calling out something he didn't understand to their team mates.

Now understanding a bit more, he took cover near a blue soldier and fired at the orange ones, dropping the first one of the squad and moving forward with his shield. Putting his rifle on his back, he punched the next one hard enough to shatter their entire body and grabbed their rifle, firing on the final two orange soldiers. The blue ones focused their fire with him, the group managing to drop them both before Floyd could even take a shot. The Spartan stood and eyed the Soldiers, who looked back in silence. They simply pointed to a vehicle nearby, looking like an antigravity train of some sort. A big box with windows in an orange field. Sitting inside the train, Floyd drew something from one of his pockets, staring at it. Chief's tags. His vision began to blur, and he closed his eyes....

The Spartan stared at the tags, waiting for his turn. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he raised his look to Gunny. "You're up Floyd... Good luck."

Floyd stood, sliding the tags into his left hip's hardcase and walking over to the podium. He eyed the crowd for a moment, letting himself breathe. Spartans wore their armor, soldiers in dress uniform. Many of them had their helmets off... But not the Spartan IIs. Many of them had tears in their eyes, even if they were trying to ignore them. Floyd included, behind the helmet.... He took a breath... And began to speak.

".... On the day I met John, he asked me a question. We had just done our first exercise and his team had gotten last, despite him getting first. He was angry. And he asked me.... How do I work on a team? I explained to him what I believed at the time, which admittedly... Was probably flawed. We weren't experienced yet in combat, we were recruits. But after that day.... He began becoming something more. Through training and augmentation, he became the most effective of us by far. Others with talent existed of course. My team.... Kelly, Linda and Fred of course.... Jerome.... But none of us were John." He looked up at the memorial. "For what John lacked in emotion, he made up for in skill. We as Spartan IIs are always told to be machines. Elite fighting forces who cannot be defeated. But John taught us a better lesson." He turned back to the crowd. "Life cannot be gone through without mistakes. Chief made mistakes. And sacrifices. And at the end of the day, he was better for it. Because at the end of the day, he never gave up. It was his message to us all. Something he told me once before the rings.... You can fall, you can be hurt, or defeated. But the more you keep getting back up, the stronger you will be. I've been away from the general population too long to know what tradition would be here. But I know that whatever your own personal way of giving respect is, there is no single person to deserve it more than John 117. And if any one quote should be left on this memorial, there was no better one. A quote from his and my close friend, The Arbiter."

Floyd turned and looked at the statue, reading the words on the base.

"A hero need not speak. When he is gone... The world will speak for him."

Floyd rested a hand on the memorial, then stepped off the podium and back to his seat. Sitting down between his team mates and looking at the tags again.... Closing his eyes....

The Spartan clenched his fist over the tags and slid them into his hard case, watching the train come to an abrupt halt. Lifting his rifle, the Spartan began to slowly walk inside, and through the halls......

The pounding in his head was getting louder, with the pain it was causing somehow leaving him. And as he stepped into the final room, it stopped. Walking into the center of the room, he saw the face of an old friend he hasn't seen since the last Halo Ring.

"Hello Floyd.... It's been a long time."

Cortana stared at the Spartan II. She looked to be in pain.... But she quickly tried to shake it off. "I'm sorry... You just... Look so much like John."

He nodded, understanding. Seeing her was hard, with John not nearby. "Where is he?"

".... I don't know. I'm not even fully sure they have him. But my scans are seeing his armor.... Right in their base." She pointed at a hologram mark.

"Who is 'they'?" He looked at the mark, then back to her.

"The prometheans did not unite under me when I took over... They split. Half followed me, the other half followed their new leader. An old general named Warden Eternal." She showed a hologram of a tall, strong leader built like a structure. He seemed to split apart at will and beared a sword in one hand. Extremely tall, like a 21st century 2 story home. "He once led alongside the didact as his second in command, making them believe he is the logical successor."

Floyd went to speak, raising a hand. Before he could, a voice called out behind him. "That isn't Chief!"