Disclaimer: The Arbiter, Master Chief, Truth, Sergeant Johnson, Miranda, and any other characters in this aren't owned by me. If they were, Miranda would've still been voiced by Julie Benz. I love that woman's voice!

A/N: My first Halo fic, so if it isn't on par with some of the awesome-er stories out there, that is why.

Revenge is a dish best served cold

The last of our enemies was slain by my hand and I deactivated my blade, holstering its handle at my hip.

The man I now call 'Spartan' out of respect, instead of 'Demon' out of loathing, placed his hand on the light bridge's control, activating our path to Truth. As we made our way across, we neared a crashed human ship I've come to understand is called a 'Pelican'.

We stepped off the bridge, faced with two human forms on the ground – the darker man named 'Johnson', and the paler woman named 'Miranda'.

Johnson looked up at us, his eyes filled with grief. "Stop the rings…save the rest." he said, closing the eyes of his companion. The distinctive spikes of one of the Jiralhanae weapons could be seen sticking out of her back, in a nearly perfectly straight line.

Decades of service in the Covenant military has conditioned me to despise humanity and their planets, so even though we, the Sangheili, were allied with the Humans, it was still difficult to convey empathy for their fallen soldiers. Difficult, not impossible. I felt some remorse for the woman who had assisted me in many tasks and missions since Tartarus's demise. What affected me even more was how much her death impacted my Human companions.

Movement to my right caught my attention, and I saw the Prophet Truth slowly lift himself into an almost sitting position, only to fall back onto one arm. If my stomach wasn't churning at the image of his lying, betraying hide, I would have laughed at the sight. I approached the last of the Hierarchs, one hand on the hilt of my blade.

"Can you see, Arbiter?" Truth asked, weakly looking up at me. "The moment of salvation is at hand." he added, smiling.

'He truly believes he'll see the Great Journey?' I thought, looking over to the panel that needed the hand of a Human to operate.

"It will not last!" I said, knowing the Spartan would deactivate the process Truth had started.

"Your kind…never believed in the promise of the Sacred Rings." Truth said, shaking his head.

'Yet we used to be your best soldiers…' I silently spat.

I activated the Energy Sword, glaring at the Prophet I used to love, but now hated. A tentacle abruptly sprouted from his cheek, emitting the stench of the Parasite, and he flinched.

"Lies for the weak, beacons for the deluded." the parasite Gravemind spoke, somehow possessing Truth as he did with the Parasite that aided us earlier. The Spartan cautiously approached at the sound of familiar voice.

"I will have my revenge on a Prophet, not a plague!" I spoke, warning the Gravemind to back off.

"My feet tread the path. I shall become a God!" Truth yelled, seemingly unconcerned that he was infected.

"You will be food, nothing more." the Gravemind spoke through him as another tentacle pierced through the flesh on his face. I grabbed a hold of his face, forcing him to watch as the Spartan powered down the Great Journey.

"No!" the Prophet yelled furiously, shaking beneath my hand, yet unable to do anything more. I felt a smirk tug at my mandibles as Truth feebly tried to squirm from my hold on him. He felt like the Lekgolo worms in my hand.

"I am Truth, the voice of the Covenant!" he yelled, trying to rise to his feet. I positioned myself behind him and gripped his throat with great force, knocking his crown to the floor. His frail fingers tried to pry my hand away, but I continued choking him.

"And so, you must be silenced!" I hissed into his ear. He continued to gasp for breath and as I reared back my blade, I released the pressure on his throat. He inhaled a shaky breath and I plunged my sword into the traitor's back, relishing the act. The last of the Prophet's breath escaped in a scream of pain and despair, his body quickly going limp.

I withdrew the bloody sword, watching as the corpse slumped to the ground. The visible signs of parasitic infection were still present, but diminishing. The cauterized holes in his chest and back remained charred onto his flesh, permanent marks of the ceremonial Sangheili weapon. All of my bottled up emotions came bursting to the surface; my anger, my sadness, my disappointment…

I screamed for what felt like hours, letting go of all the feelings of betrayal and mistrust, and replacing them with the honor that I had restored to the Sangheili.

I stared at the corpse at my feet, thinking back to all the times I was lied to and bossed around, both before and after being bestowed the highest rank any Sangheili could be given.

"Fool, they ordered me to do it." Tartarus's husky voice echoed in my head. That mission was the turning point for not just me, but the entire Covenant Empire.

Feeling a sense of satisfaction I would've thought impossible, I looked over to the Spartan, who gave me a small nod. What he was thinking, I could only be able to speculate on. We both turned as Johnson emerged, carrying the lifeless body of his friend. He entered the Pelican and I returned my gaze to Truth's corpse. Forever etching the sight into my memory, I wondered what would become of the remaining forces of the Covenant, because, as the three of us knew, this battle may have been won, but our war was far from over.