Augmented Heart

12

Strong arms snaked around my waist. My eyes opened just enough to see that it was about eight o'clock at night.

"John? How'd you get in here?" My voice was hoarse from all the crying I'd done and all of the screaming from the night terrors.

"Your door was unlocked."

"That was stupid of me. What if somebody would've broken in?" I closed my eyes again.

"It's okay. I would've protected you."

"You're good at that."

"Dr. Halsey knows about my parents already. She wants to analyze them."

"Can she even do that?"

"Legally, no. She always seems to get her way, though," He sighed. "I have to leave again tomorrow."

"To where?" I turned to look at him.

"ONI."

"I'm sorry."

"I should only be gone a few days. It's so strange though. I don't want to be apart from you for that long," He sat up.

I scrunched my nose at the scent of old blood and body odor infiltrating my nostrils. It took me another moment to realize that it belonged to me. Tiredness and trauma caused me to fall into bed without even showering.

"Need a bath?"

"A shower would be preferable so I'm not bathing in my own filth."

"I thought you liked baths," John tilted his head. "You were plenty filthy last time you had one."

"Wow, thanks," I rolled my eyes. "You sure know how to make a girl feel special."

"Did I upset you? I'm sorry-"

I cut him off, "I'm just messing with you."

He smiled small, "I just want to kiss you all the time."

I blushed, "I'm gonna take a shower."

I took a shower with lava hot water and let it wash away the stresses of the last couple of days. I took time to shave my armpits and legs. I was never self-conscious about this until my run-in with Dr. Halsey. I fixed the uneven ends of my haircut in the mirror. My mom taught me to cut my own hair, with scissors and not a pocket knife albeit. She said hair salons were far too expensive.

John had my headphones on, listening to the music from my mp3 player.

"Do you like my music?"

He nodded, "It's kind of sad. Doesn't it make you sad?"

"It depends. Sometimes the sad music makes me sad, sometimes it makes me feel less sad."

Henry barged into my room.

"Knocking is a thing, you know?"

"Sorry. I just thought you'd like to know that the little girl made it to the safe zone. All of the civilians we rescued did as well."

"That's good," I sat on my cold metal desk chair. "Any update on the glassing of Eridanus II?"

"They're sending a ship to bomb the covenant ship. But won't that just create more unnecessary damage and rubble?" Henry scratched his head, leaning against the wall.

"It'd be worse if we didn't try to stop them at all," John said, taking out an earbud.

"I guess that's true," Henry said. "Say, you guys want to go out on the town again?"

"Not really," I admitted.

"Really Sage? You're never one to turn down a party."

"The past couple of days have just been a lot."

"There's no sense in sulking over it though. Might as well try to get your mind off of it."

"He's right," John sat up.

"Fine, I'll go."

The four of us decided on the arcade, another place John had never been.

"Let's do the punching machine! I bet I'll win!" Henry raced over to it. Giving a solid punch that scored him a 900.

"You realize you're up against a Spartan, right?" Noah rolled his eyes, scoring an 892.

My punch was a measly 730 in comparison. When John punched the bag, it detached from the machine, flashing an "error" light.

"Oops," He said. I could see the corners of his lips turn slightly into a smirk.

An employee grumbled something about marines always coming in and breaking the game.

"I told you you'd lose," Noah said.

"Well, he technically didn't get a score which means I win," Henry crossed his arms.

I meandered over to the Dance Dance Revolution game.

"Want to battle?" Henry caught up to me.

"Haven't you learned not to challenge experts?"

I kicked his ass, as expected. Henry always made a fool of himself by being too competitive.

"Sage, can we go home?" John looked at me pleadingly after another hour at the arcade.

"You're not having fun?"

"I am. I just want some time with you before I have to go tomorrow."

"You're spending time with me now," I tilted my head.

"Alone."

"Oh," I looked back to my friends who were now playing ski ball. The arcade helped take my mind off of Eridanus II. "Can we spend our tickets first?"

He nodded. I spent my tickets on a huge tube of that powder candy that was basically just colorful sugar. John gazed around the prize counter carefully.

"What do I get?"

"Whatever you want."

He selected a cat plushie that was nearly as long as me then held it out to me, "Here."

"You spent all of your tickets on me?"

His cheeks wore the softest shade of pink, "I saw it in a movie. Is it romantic?"

I nodded with a smile. I held his hand in mine on the way back.

"Where have you been?" Cortana said with a hand on her hip. "Halsey's been trying to get ahold of you."

"She'll see me tomorrow. Can't it just wait?" John flopped onto his bed.

"She keeps yapping about how you went against UNSC protocol by telling your parents about the Spartan-II program."

"They deserved the truth."

"Even if they did, that doesn't stop you from being reprimanded," Cortana sighed. "She's thinking cryo sleep."

"Now?" John sat up. "This fight isn't over."

"She's just annoyed. Maybe she'll get over it."

He sighed and pulled me into bed with him, holding me close. We drifted to sleep.