Core Memory (Lolix)

Chapter One

"W-Wait!"

He didn't know what his failed attempt of a plea would do to save him from the two separate grenades on his person. The sticky grenade on his shield and the standard one at his own feet. Did he expect them to magically be unable to detonate? Did he expect Locus, in another change of heart, to swoop in and save him before he was blown over the edge of Chorus?

It was useless anyway. After he had rushed his plea from his own lips, he was thrown over the edge by the combined blasts. He couldn't do anything but scream as the Reds, Blues, and even Locus, quickly left his view.

Would he had lived if that stupid Sangheili A.I never told Locus of his fears? Would he have lived if he stood down as Locus had wanted after their battle with the stupid freelancers? How many things could have gone differently if he had chosen the other path given to him?

If it wasn't for those fucking Reds and Blues none of this would have happened. He and Locus would have gotten their jobs done, they would have gotten paid, and then the two of them could have fucked off to the next job, the next planet, anywhere other than the wasteland that would have been fucking Chorus.

It was getting harder to breathe, the pressure of gravity and air pushing on his body was taking the breath straight out of his lungs, making him feel as though he was burning from the inside, his organs, his heart, being nothing more than the ash left behind. He couldn't even scream anymore, all that was left were the tears of anger, betrayal, and utter failure stinging at the corner of his eyes as the ground below grew nearer.

This was it. The end of Felix, the end of-

Nothing more followed as his body slammed against the cold land below, first hitting some rock before crumbling to the flat ground. His armor being the only thing keeping his body solid as blood seeped from beneath the opening of his Scout helmet.

---

"Holy shit, is that a dead body?"
There were two teens, originally playing around, chasing after the other after school hours had finally let out. They were probably no older than seventeen.

"I-I don't know! oh god, there's so much blood, that has to be a dead body! Rue, we have to go get someone!"

Rue looked towards his friend, her emotions and fears clear on her face as she stared at the crumpled body in front of them. "What if they're still alive? I-I mean, they could still be alive, right?"

His friend, Sarah, looked to him incredulously, "What the fuck are you talking about? That looks like a fucking dead body!"

He gulped, making his way closer to the other person, crouching down right beside them to hesitantly remove their helmet. More blood ended up spilling out, but at least the face was revealed. A male, pale skin (but probably only due to the amount of blood loss), and hair messy from the helmet being removed. It was weird how he only looked to be sleeping.

"Rue what the fuck are you doing?" Sarah hissed, reaching over to pull on Rue's jacket, to get him away before they get mistaken as murderers or something else that could get them into deep shit.

"I-I'm just checking!" He protested, shrugging off her hand as he pressed two fingers against the male's neck. He couldn't feel a pulse, but he was still warm. That had to mean something right?

"Look! He's still warm! Maybe I can give him CPR or something?"

"CPR? Are you stupid? For a bleeding head?"

"But what if he's still alive? He could die if we don't do anything now! It'll take a while to get back to ask for help, and even then, the nearest hospital is still a few miles away, he could be dead before we even get halfway there!"

"You know what? Fine, fine, if you get some weird ass disease from putting your mouth on a dead guy, that's on you." She said, raising her hands as she backed away from the two. She wasn't going to leave him, but she wasn't going to be close enough to watch either.

Rue huffed at his friend's response but put his focus back onto the person in front of him. What were the rules of CPR again? Three pushes on the chest, and then blowing some air into their lungs from the mouth? He started to regret not taking a basic medical course, or even taking a job as a fucking lifeguard.

He positioned his hands onto the male's chest. He could feel his hands tremble slightly. What if it went wrong? What if he ends up killing the guy because he fucked up somewhere along the way? He then shook his head. He shouldn't be thinking negatively, should he? He'd have to put more positive thoughts into his mind. Like how he could save someone's life for the first time, how he'd have something to talk about at school and seem cooler and more like a hero.

He pressed down, three times. One. Two. Three. Then, he moved up towards the person's face, pinching his nose, and connecting their mouths to blow air into him. It felt stupid. What was he trying to do? Blow a fucking balloon?

Sarah's eyes can be felt staring into the back of his skull, only making him more nervous as he repeated his steps, again, and again.

Eventually, he felt like giving up.
But, after one last try, he could feel it, the air leaving the male's nose, and then the sound of a groan, pained, but alive.

"I-I did it! Holy shit I did it! S-Sarah!" He turned to look behind him, faced with his friend's now shocked face. "W-We can go get him some help now!"

"But getting to town will take forever, and this guy isn't walking any time soon." She ran her hands through her hair. She could use her phone to call her parents, but how the hell does one explain how they came across a guy bleeding out from his head?

"I can carry him! You just need to help me put him on my back!" Rue answered, already attempting to pull the guy up.

But, upon moving him, the stranger let out a sharp hiss at the sudden pain in his back and head.
"N-no no...! No..." He whined, barely able to even move away as Sarah had come up from behind them to help lift him onto Rue's back.

"Careful, we don't want him to pass out again."

"Hey, sir, can you hear me? We're gonna get you some help okay? Ah, Sarah, pick up his helmet for me, he might want it-"

He couldn't even open his eyes as the two teens spoke, some of it just registering as white noise instead of formed words and sentences. His eyes remained shut, but he could already feel himself slipping back to unconsciousness.

"Shit I think he's passing out again.......Can't believe....Home, have to tell..."