Unlikely Love (OC's x Reader)

Opening Up

Aya POV

I had just began to wake up, it was the first time in 4 months that I had a good sleep, I go to get up but I'm stopped by a pair of arms around my waist, I sign and lean back a bit into the hug. Me and Marcus had been a couple for 2 weeks now, to be honest I never thought this would happen when I signed up for an infiltration op, or when I became a Spartan, or whenever we had started working together. But I guess fate had other ideas. I sigh happily and lean back into Marcus' sleeping body. I was worried about him, the death of Zoey had affected me badly but Marcus, he wasn't doing well, he had been more short tempered and more bloodthirsty since she was killed in the school raid, let alone Ace being injured badly. And in the last 2 weeks we had also lost Hannah AKA Green who I learned was one of Redds cadets, Stacker who died saving a group of civilians and Domino, who died during another raid after a pelican trapped him in debris, he suffocated before we could get to him. All of these deaths haunted me. But here I am, alive and well, but to be honest, even being near Marcus helps me out. The more I think about it, the more I realise that he does whatever he can to keep everyone safe, I helped him out after he got shot last week, and he told me a few stories, and showed me the scars that went along with it. Though the one I was curious about was one that went from his left shoulder down, across his body and down to his waist on the right side. I asked him about it and he dismissed it like it was nothing. Though his eyes said the opposite, something like that scar wasn't just physical, but also mental and emotional. You could virtually see him having a flashback. And as for that red and yellow Spartan, I learned that was Marcus' oldest son, Sean. He was a lot like his dad both personality wise and looks wise. Though he lacked the experience and scars. Jimmy I learned has a serious issue with Tourettes and he has a natural knowledge for chemistry, and Laura is basically the moody teen of the group, she'd rather hang out with Grim or be away from the war. The only reason she joined up was because of Grim and Kris, since the three seemed to be close friends.

I eventually heard Redd groan and he unwraps his arms from my waist, though I grabbed his wrist. "Another few minutes, please?" I ask, sounding surprisingly innocent. Redd just sighs and pulls me into another hug before kissing my cheek. "Fine." He said in his morning voice. "But you owe me a smoke." He says bluntly, his voice sounding a bit croaky. I giggle a bit. "Fine, whatever you say." I say to him. After a couple minutes of silence I feel Marcus unwrap his arms from me again and he stands up, and starts putting his armour back on, when he gets to his helmet he picks it up and traces a burn mark on the right side of it, the same part as his burn mark on his face was. I stand up and I put a hand on his shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it? You never told me the story about that one." I ask him, I was hoping he'd bring it up but I think this is probably the best time. He looks at me in the eyes, this was the first time I!d seen him look at me like this, it wasn't a look of confidence or pride, or sadness. It was a look of pure pain and regret, of fear, a look of weakness, and it didn't look right. "Yeah, I should have told you sooner to be honest." Redd said and he sighs. "This happened during Reach,"

Flashback 8 years to the events of Reach: Redd's POV

I was part of a team of UNSC spartans called Able Team, we were tasked with evacuating the civilians during the battle of New Alexandria, I was in a filled pelican with my teammates Donovan 025 and Selina 058. We were tasked with getting a large group of civilians to the evac ships, I was on defending duty with a Rocket Launcher. About halfway there we got attacked by a squad of Banshees, one of the bastards got a lucky shot and the pelican went down.

I woke up with a splitting headache, I had been sent flying out the pelican. I eventually gained my hearing back and I heard screams for help, I had to force myself to my feet, but I couldn't, when I looked down, my legs and left arm were under some debris, as well as part of my torso. I saw a group of Covenant coming to check out the crash, so I pulled my gun on them and started shooting. I heard a familiar female voice. "OI, YOU COVVIE BUGGERS." Then a rain of gunfire, and the squad was dead, when I looked towards the voice I saw Selina with 2 civilians. "Oh fuck, Marcus." Selina said and she started pulling the debris off. "Where's Dono?" I asked her, but her reply was just to loom at me and shake her head. He was the first of Able to die, turns out the cockpit was completely destroyed and Donovan didn't stand a chance. When the debris was cleared I tried to stand up again, my left leg was fucked, my right leg was beyond fucked and my arm was useless. I looked at Selina in the eyes before I pulled my helmet off, I only now noticed the massive burn mark and the smash in the visor. "I can't move." I say as I drop my helmet. I felt Selina put her arms under mine as she tried to drag me back from where I landed, the civilians tried to pick my helmet up but they couldn't. Selina sets me up against a rock and I saw my reflection in her visor, the right side of my face red raw and burned badly, a large amount of scars now scattered my face from the visor and my eyes were bloodshot, the bruises on my face were forming quickly. Selina cleared her visor up and looked at me. "We're getting you to a medic okay?" She said, I tried to respond but I found myself not saying anything, I then just look away, the blood,oss was starting to get to me. And I passed out.

Present Time: Aya POV

"And when I woke up, I was on a frigate with Selina by my bedside, I had been lucky to survive a minute, but the whole ordeal was a miracle. I learned later I had been out for months and that we had lost Reach, then I abandoned the UNSC and ONI. Selina soon followed but, she didn't last much longer. Everytime I see that helmet mark or my own face, I see that crash again. How I could have stopped it. But I know I can't change that." Marcus finished speaking and he looks at me. I pull him into a tight hug, he soon returns it. "I'm here for you Marcus, okay? No matter what." I said to him.