Me: Well, I'm back! Sorry I haven't updated in, a week or two, I think? Been busy, busy, busy! A friend read the story, and she offered some help with some of my, future, plans for this, so I hope you all enjoy! People have been begging me in person for more updates to this!

Thel: Oh no…

Rtas: Not more torture!

Master Chief: It's happening again…

Me: I do not own Halo! Enjoy!

Chapter Eighteen

Hyak hissed as a human doctor changed his bandages, glaring at the man. Rose was watching with a slight smirk from the corner, though her face was slightly more pale than normal at the sight of the raw, still healing flesh on the larger teen's stomach. The doctor, a man who could be in his early to mid-thirties, glanced at Hyak with a questioning look in his eyes.

"Exactly how old are you," the man asked, tightening a new bandage around Hyak's abdomen.

"I am of sixteen years. And, if you must know, my size is typical of my brothers."

"The Sangheili, or as most call them, the elites?" Hyak nodded in confirmation, wincing in pain slightly. "So you see them as family. I am not surprised, since they raised you."

"Phillips," Rose muttered at the man. Evan Phillips chuckled nervously when the sergeant pointed at a camera in the corner.

"Yes, yes, Miss Akiva, I know." He sighed before speaking again. "Since you were raised by the Sangheili, Admiral Hood and some of his compatriots, including the head of ONI, Parangosky, wish to see how you act. I honestly understand why. You are human raised by an equally, if not more, sophisticated race." Phillips had a data pad on a counter, one that he'd brought with him. The device flickered, and it projected an image of a cube. "BB, not now."

"If you must know," the AI 'said', "you should be done in a few moments. A meeting is being held, and it would appear that all three of you are to be in attendance. Chop chop, professor!" BB was gone again, and Phillips sighed, making sure the bandage was completely in place.

"You should hurry, both of you. I'll be on my way." He nodded towards Hyak, and he muttered something in Sangheili with perfect fluency that Hyak was surprised by, before leaving.

"What did he say," Rose asked, tossing a shirt, plain colors and a just barely Hyak's size.

"The doctor simply stated gratitude for allowing me to let him work, using my rank as well." The Human Elite pulled the shirt over his head, feeling how tight it was with little comfort. He stood, pushing the door open and letting the sergeant pass.

They began to walk in silence, heading towards the deck. Rose shifted her shoulders, a small gesture, but one that Hyak took notice of. About two days had passed since the Arbiter had arrived and found out about what Hyak had done, and they had not spoken since.

"Rose, is something the matter?"

"No," she said quickly, and a faint blush began to show.

"You lie. Is it about what happened three days ago? The-" The larger teen let the sentence hang, but Rose got the meaning, nodding. Hyak could feel his stomach plummeting rapidly. He had not yet told Rose of the tradition he'd broken. "There is something you must know."

Akiva looked up towards her companion, her former captor, with an eyebrow raised. He swallowed, feeling unfamiliar nervousness strike him from the look. "What would that be?"

"If you are wanting for us to be truly together, and I complied before I turn seventeen, it is likely that we would not be well liked by my brothers and ancestors." Rose understood the meaning. Thel would not approve of their, 'relationship'.

"Did you not tell him then?" The look the sergeant received made her mentally slap herself. The entire time she had been under Hyak's care in the Covenant's Holy City, neither he nor any other elite lied to her. It made sense that they would do the same with each other. "How did he take it, then?"

"Not well. I have not spoken to him since. He may very well be at the meeting." Hyak motioned in the direction they were walking as he ended his answer. Phillips was speaking to a woman that was close to his own age. Their discussion ended at the sight of the Human Elite and the sergeant.

The woman smiled at Rose. "I thought you were dead when you didn't come back from that one mission. Apparently, my habit of coming back with extra has rubbed off onto you." Osman's head tilted ever so slightly towards Hyak, and Rose felt the blood rush to her cheeks.

"Serin, not now, please," she stuttered.

The captain persisted, though, much to Rose's embarrassment. "So, this is the Human Elite I've been hearing so much about. I am Captain Serin Osman. You've already met Professor Evan Phillips."

"Pleasure to make an acquaintance, captain. And you do not have to refer to me as a 'this'," Hyak sneered, rolling his eyes. Osman let out a stiff chuckle that was cut off by Phillips.

"We should be getting inside for the meeting, now." A set of double doors was behind him, and he pushed open one of the doors, allowing partial view of the meeting room.

Lord Hood was speaking with someone on the opposite side of a large table. Above the table was half of a hologram that seemed to hold buildings. Above that, BB's artificial image was visible, slowly rotating.

The four stragglers entered, taking in the entire sight, and Hyak sighed with some relief that the Arbiter was not present. Gilc was, however, silent in a corner. Before him, Miranda was toning out as a man with overly sized glasses spoke to her about some random business. Phillips, Osman, and Rose saluted Hood and the elderly woman he was speaking with, Margaret Parangosky.

"It would appear that everyone is present now." Everyone turned to the hologram above the table, a map with several points marked on it. "Earlier today, Sergeant Johnson and the Arbiter went out with several troops. Master Chief's signal was found earlier in a heavily forested area, so he managed to survive a return to Earth."

They were returning to the base, but ar now being held up in a nearby city by the Covenant. Just a few bunches, but it will be time before they return. That should give ample time for plans to be made."

"That can't be all," Hyak grunted. "What does such a mediocre piece of information have to do with some of us?"

"Not everything, but a bit. Something else was received today besides the Chief's signal."

BB's image shifted, rotating faster in a flurry of excitement that AI's rarely expressed. "A message was sent in some extreme coding, but I cracked it in mere moments. The people in this room are the only ones who know it exists, and will be the only ones to see it before it is destroyed. With permission from the Admiral and ONI, of course."

Parangosky muttered an agreement to Hood's nod, something that did not fit her position nor the air of power about her. The map was swiftly replaced with a screen, and both Gilc and Hyak froze, tensed up, at the sight. Truth was the sender, apparently, and behind him and to the prophet's left, was a single Sangheili in blue armor, Orion.

BB's image rotated in a blur, almost a perfect sphere of pure excited energy as he played the message.

Me: Oh shoot!

Thel: …

Rtas: This, may not end very well.

Master Chief: Why end it like that?

Miranda: Again, I'm here... And its an interesting cliff hanger.

Cortana: Reader, I doubt people know of the references to the Kilo Five Trilogy of Halo books.

Me: Well, they exist, at least! It makes this story SO much more exciting! I wonder if I should bring in Mal and Vaz... Maybe later! Send more reviews! I enjoy those! And, thanks for all of them so far! I love how everyone wants more of this! We are at 58 reviews! Soon as we reach 100, it'll be a party over here! And by that, I mean I'll be giving some of the guests liquor, just to see how they act drunk. (glancing at Cortana, Miranda, Rtas, and Thel)

Thel: I refuse.

Rtas: Never.

Cortana: Can't. No real body.

Miranda: It'll have to be forced down.