Halo: The Dunes of 2560

Chapter 15: Once Removed by Death

Trent and Red were having dinner when Osa 'Drazam walked into the cafe, "She's back." They looked at him slowly, Red swallowed his food, "Okay? That's good..." Osa was looking at Trent, "Garrison.." He looked at Osa, and something hit him. It hit Red too, "Wait, she?" From behind Osa, Vasi 'Vuzam walked into the Cafe. Trent didn't blink and was completely frozen, she covered her eyes in shame. Red stared at her and didn't say anything, he just got up and walked past them and walked towards the doors. Before he exited the Cafe, Osa grabbed his arm, "This is a much more dire situation that I cannot let you walk away on." He turned to him, What is it?" Osa looked him in the eyes, "David and Khyvo were taken. She saved Matilda." Red looked at the window on the door to see Matilda peaking in. Red sighed, "Call me Mryva from now on. I'll... go show her around. Let's leave Garrison and Pilot alone." Osa agreed, they left the Cafe together.

Garrison and Vasi were still completely frozen, he was thinking in his mind about the last decade and a half. After a minute, he stood up and had made up his mind. "Vasi, what did they do to my Vasi?" She shook her head, "I'm sorry, I was unable to remember-" He cut her off by approaching her, "I still have it." She was wide eyed as she looked into his hand, seeing the energy sword she wielded into battle when she died. He held his hand out to her, "I'm not gonna break down, I'm gonna try not to. I just want to know what happened." She grabbed it, and held it in her robotic hands, "They rebuilt me, my brain was damaged so they repaired that too, and gave me an AI Internal Processing Manager. It's a chip. I believe I encountered an error because of memory leaks; they tried to make me forget everything and the past. I remember it all now." He nodded, "You are still Vasi? Or are you an Android?" She chuckled lightly, "I'm Vasi. The Processing Manager was deactivated, see?" She showed him the User Interface on her wrist, showing the Psychological Units had been deactivated, including the Processing Manager. He touched her hand, "Do you only have your head left?" She shook her head, "My torso, and my upper legs. My arms and lower legs were, you know... What caused this?" She touched the scar on his cheek gently, "You're holding the culprit. When the explosion happened, your sword flew backwards into my face. I was taken off the battlefield by Medics, but... I didn't even see you, it was like you disintegrated before my eyes." She hugged him, and he hugged her. 

They all gathered at the Bridge of the Spark, Osa had some papers in hand and his helmet in the other hand, "Alright everyone, a lot has happened the past 24 hours and it's changed the entire course of our journey out here. First off, the elephant in the room, or should I say, elephant in some room in some fucking underground base, David and Khyvo. They were taken from us, I'm under the impression they are still alive?" He looked at Vasi, who nodded. He breathed in hard, "All in favor of assuming myself as Commander, and to be in Charge, say Aye. Just a second." He put on his helmet. They all said Aye. He removed his helmet and threw it aside. "Then, we have you two, Mryva and Vasi. There's some things you two have to tell us, right?" With authority, he leaned towards the both of them as he looked at them intensely, Mryva looked at Vasi to his right, "I think you may want to go first." Osa cut in, "I would prefer to know more about you." Mryva looked up, frustrated with Osa. 

Mryva grabbed a steel chair and sat down in front of everyone, "I have a lot of explaining to do. I know that uh, you all knew me as Red. My name is Mryva 'Chagamai. I'm from Hesduros, I was basically the most prolific Shipmaster and I represented my Clan well. I'll just start from the beginning."

2537, Hesduros

Several Sangheili War Trainers of the 'Chagamai Clan had spent many months training, vetting, and conditioning around 200+ young Sangheili warriors. At this point late in the year, only twenty were left and ready to face their final Operation. Of them, Mryva was among them. One of the War Trainers stepped forward to them, they were outside of the 'Chagamai Temple on a platform below. He looked at all of the warriors, "You all have excelled amongst the Clan, you all nearly drowned together, nearly suffocated together, ran into the battlefield head first together..." He pointed to a Corvette at a dock in the distance, "You all know how to be a Shipmaster. There's one test before we can let any of you enlist into the Covenant. You have two days to prepare before we begin the final Operations. Dismissed!" The Trainer was right behind Mryva, he grabbed his shoulder, and spoke low, "I would like to speak with you privately." He showed no emotion or reaction. 

Mryva was born in 2521, his mother died from a disease so his brothers had to raise him, when he enlisted, he had his brothers reconstruct his Birth Documents, which got lost in a fire. Mryva and the trainer waited for the place to be clear, he turned to the Trainer, "Mikai, sir?" He looked down on him, Mryva stood at 5'10" compared to his peers who mostly ranged in height from 7'10" to 8'7" but he has never feared any other Sangheili. Mikai shook his head, "I thought you were born in 2519. Why did you lie to get trained?" Mryva revealed to Mikai a big scar on his right arm, which was actually still healing, "This has been itching for a while now, when it first happened when you had us clash swords, do you want to know the weirdest thing?" He grabbed his arm and pushed his fingers on the scar, he continued, "It didn't hurt even in the slightest. I even touched the bone. Do you want to know why it didn't hurt?" He looked him cold in the eyes, "Commitment. At that moment, I was going to kill my sparring partner. I saw it in my mind, I tore his mandibles with my hands, I crushed his eye balls, I disemboweled him. But no, I showed restraint. I showed mercy, to avoid unnecessary brutality and-" He cut him off, "Silence. Tell me why you lied." Mryva shrugged to him, "I'm young, but I'm better than all of them. I could kill each and every single one of those slacks." Mikai just nodded, "Kill them now." Mryva just tilted his head as he looked at him, "Do I have an option of whether or not I will utilize a weapon?" "No weapon. Go kill them now, and you will be on that Corvette tomorrow morning, and the Covenant will receive you. 2519."

Osa cleared his throat, "You really killed them?" Mryva laughed, "No, shit. I didn't even want to. I crippled them, that's what I did. I had to put on this mask for these War Trainers, I wanted to come off as a cold blooded killer." Candy interjected, "You wanted to come off like you're a serial killer." Mryva just shrugged, "Should I just skip up to the good stuff?" Garrison raised his hand, "You're 39?" Mryva laughed, smiling, "Yeah, I was basically a kid when they put me in the Covenant." Osa had to ask the real question, "Tell us what led to you being boiled in human blood." He winced and closed his eyes, "Okay, yeah. That's the important shit. There's a lot to go over."