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Legacy of the Precursors

Chapter 11: A Home Cooked Meal

Trying to be human was harder than Six expected, and he had expected it to be very, very hard. He was still recovering from his inner struggle. Hearing Krystal's unintentional ultimatum had been the straw to break the camel's back. The vixen's words rang uncomfortably true in his mind. The only future he had was one where he let go of his past. And that was a difficult thing to ask of him. It would mean he would have to turn away from his remaining loyalty to the UNSC…to humanity, away from the spartan program and all he had done for the Office of Naval Intelligence over the years.

She was asking him to abandon his previous life in its entirety. And for a moment, he had lost himself. It was too much for Six to process, even with his cerebral augmentation. It was a colossal demand for one such as him and he was unsure if he was capable of doing as she requested. But, if he was to ever have a hope of pulling away from his innumerable demons. It was something that needed to be done, no matter how painful or impossible it seemed.

It would take time, perhaps the rest of his life, but he hoped to regain his absent humanity.

But first he would have to actually try.

And therein lay the problem.

He could not even begin to guess as to what the first step would be. There was hardly a manual on something like this. Six decided to treat this like a combat operation, finding comfort in a familiar analogy.

The spartan would have to perform a reconnaissance run.

He looked about the room, scanning it to see if there was anything he could do. His perusing was drawn to the large screen dominating the center of the room, the one that Fay and Slippy were plopped in front of. Curious as to what they were doing, Six stepped over and watched them.

It appeared they were using an emulator of some kind, although it was an inferior model to that of the training simulators at Currahee. The graphical engine seemed to only function at a 16-bit level. Both canine and amphibian were working on some sort of building project. In the distance of the strange virtual world, he could see an effigy of The Great Fox, almost a life-size replica of the enormous ship. Six could not help but wonder the amount of time it must have taken to reproduce it.

Perhaps sensing the looming spartan behind them, Slippy was the first to notice Six, not needing to see the spartan's face to know that he must have been curious about the game.

“Do you wanna jump in?"

Hearing the toad address him, the spartan faced the amphibian, responding uncertainly. “It would probably be for the best if I just watched." Six was not sure how he would even go about playing the game.

“Come on it's easy, here." Slippy leaned towards the base of the entertainment system and pulled out a spare controller, holding it out for the spartan to take.

Six eyed the odd device doubtfully before taking it in his tentative grasp, the controller practically buried in his large gauntlets. The spartan rotated it in his grip and tried to puzzle out how to properly hold the foreign object. Once he had a feel for it, he looked back to Slippy for guidance.

The toad was greatly amused at Six's cluelessness at such a simple thing as holding a controller, yet it also was a source of sadness for him, realizing that there was a reason the spartan acted so bewildered.

Slippy patiently instructed Six on how to activate the controller and helped the spartan get into the game, it taking longer than he would have expected, almost a full ten minutes. But soon a third window on the television appeared, announcing the spartan's connection to the game.

Pressing the start button as instructed, Six observed as a wheel of avatars appeared, the toad urging him to select one, explaining that it would be his character in the game. Remembering that the thumbsticks and directional pad were for movement from his brief tutorial, Six scrolled through the vast collection.

Among the hundreds of different species, one player model attracted his attention, leaping out from the masses. A black wolf with crimson eyes. Six had always felt a kinship to the lupines he had heard of, pack hunters and tenacious survivers in most any conditions. Indeed, some of the marines he had met had whispered amongst themselves, Six picking up the words lone wolf directed at him often. The eyes were the deciding factor for him, matching his altered irises.

Pressing the green button, his avatar was selected and the screen flickered, dropping his character into a blocky and verdant field of grass. Yet he was lost again, unknowing of the next steps to take. This simulator had arisen his interest, and Six was somewhat keen to discover what it was all about.

“What…what do I do now?" He asked, turning to Slippy.

Surprisingly enough, it was Fay who answered, the canine seemingly not as intimidated by him anymore.

Perhaps his plan was working?

“Go punch a tree." She instructed absentmindedly, absorbed in her own projects. The canine's focused enthusiasm was obvious in the pink tongue sticking out of her pursed lips, her paws manipulating her controller in such a way that made Six envious.

“Punch…a tree?" He repeated skeptically, eyeing the terribly rendered arboreal vegetation near his wolven avatar.

“Yeah dude, just hit it!" She replied adamantly.

Still not quite convinced, he walked his character over and pressed the right trigger, watching as the 16-bit fist crashed against the wood. Then he stopped, waiting for what must come next and growing perplexed as nothing new occurred.

“Nothing happened." He muttered in sullen confusion, eyeing his controller and wondering if it was perhaps malfunctioning.

Fay sighed. “Keep hitting it, Six. You have to keep hitting it."

“Oh…." Six nodded in slight humiliation. He had never been so thoroughly bested by electronical devices. Doing as instructed, he made his character punch the tree repeatedly, rewarded soon after when a piece of it broke and fell to the ground, seemingly sucked into his avatar by some mysterious force. The item bar at the bottom of his screen plinked with the addition of its first object, a block of wood.

Six grinned at his innocently meager success.

Now he was starting to get the hang of this…game.

“What do I do know?" He wondered, turning to Slippy.

*****

For once in his life, Six lost track of time, captivated by this thing Slippy called a video game. The amphibian tried to teach him all the aspects of the game, but soon lost the spartan after introducing the combat mechanics. He much preferred slaughtering everything in the game with the weapons he created then to what he as considered tedious and unimportant as the building features. That was something he would leave to their creative minds.

It was fascinating to be able to fight without the promise of real physical harm, even the training exercises at Currahee had been not free of pain, the instructors sometimes using rubber bullets or even live rounds. It was likewise somewhat of a novelty to not have to do anything but sit and use his hands, the spartan long ago choosing to seat himself beside Slippy and Fay.

Six was unware of the audience he had attracted, Krystal and Miyu watching the spartan's almost childlike wonder as he had his first experience with being ordinary. The sight was enough to give them perpetual grins as they watched him intently, the spartan's wolf avatar cleaving its way through hordes of spiders and dog skeletons, the women able to pick up the faint chuckling he let slip on occasion.

But it was not to last forever. The den inevitably began to darken as the sun commenced its eternal descent across Corneria's soft blue skies. Eventually it disappeared behind the mountains and Falco flicked the lights on. The hour was late, and plans were soon to be made for the evening's meal. Dinner was a great affair at the Starfox villa, when the team all gathered together to share fun times and good food.

“Alright Six, it's time to call it quits for today." Slippy yawned, shutting off the game and standing up, Fay following suit.

The spartan nodded slowly, returning the controller to where Slippy had retrieved it and trying not to feel disappointment. It had been such a unique experience that he could not help but feel somewhat saddened at its end.

“Don't worry, we can play again tomorrow." Fay pipped in cheerfully, perhaps sensing the spartan's downcast thoughts.

The promise of being able to play again was enough to banish his gloom. If this was an example of being normal, he could see what he had been missing out for so long. A sudden burst of anger swelled inside him.

This is what ONI had taken from him, this feeling of contentment and happiness that had been absent from his life for so long? They had known what they were robbing him and the other children of, and they had been blind to it, lured by promises of vengeance. Six was not sure whether he would have taken vengeance over this, not after having a taste of tangible life.

No longer was he so certain that it had been worth the sacrifice. But…as he thought of Noble Team and everything he had done since becoming a spartan, he realized that he would not change what had happened. Better him than some other poor unfortunate soul.

“Damn, I could go for some food about now." Falco declared, slapping his stomach hungrily.

“Indeed, I believe it is Krystal's turn tonight, isn't it?" Peppy wondered, turning to the vixen.

The team had a rotational shift when it came to dinner, each member having a certain day as head chef, with today being hers.

“Correct, I just hope Fox kept the villa stocked while we were gone." The vixen replied. Among many things, she enjoyed cooking for her friends, finding happiness in watching them eat what she created.

“Well, there's no time like the present. Let's get this gravy train moving, woo woo!" Falco pumped a feathered fist in the air and eagerly headed towards the kitchen.

Hearing that food was soon to come, Six's stomach gave an uncharacteristic rumble. The spartan had not eaten since before they landed on Zoness. Despite his superhuman fortitude, he still had to tend to his bodily needs. And even before the battle he had eaten sparingly, not wanting to exhaust the meager supply of MREs he had stored inside the sabre.

With his supplies at the moment out of reach, he supposed it was to be another night of hunger and moved to return to Fox's room.

Krystal, ever having Six on her mind, turned to the spartan. The vixen had an unusual desire to hopefully impress him with her culinary talents. It had also crossed her mind that this might her chance to finally get him to reveal himself, to at last see what he looked like underneath that helmet, the tempting prospect virtually made her absolutely giddy with excitement.

Yet, she saw that he was already gone from the room. So, with a quick apology, she scurried into the hallway, already knowing where she would find him.

*****

Six sat upon Fox's bed, wondering if he should try and get some rest. It would be a good time as any to try and catch up on some of the sleep he had missed, and the opportunity to use a real bed was one he did not feel like skipping out on. He decided to catch his next meal when they returned to the Great Fox, whenever that would be.

Reaching for his helmet, Six started the process of removing his armor when there was a soft but urgent knock on the door.

Sighing, Six twisted his half-removed helm back on and stood up from the bed, crossing the chamber to the door and opening it to find the cerulean vixen gazing up at him.

“Yes?" The spartan enquired, trying with some measure of success to mask the irritation in his voice. He could not explain it, but Six could no longer bring himself to use any form of open hostility against her.

“Hey, Six, aren't you going to eat with us?" She asked inquisitively. “I was going to cook." She added expectantly, as if that piece of specific information would sway him.

Six thought it over. If he did in fact eat with them, he would have to reveal himself, a scenario he had been avidly avoiding. He was just starting to get comfortable with these cornerians, and he was afraid that things would change once that happened. And he did not want to undo any progress he had at last been able to make.

“Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." He waived her off as politely as he could, moving to shut the door.

But he was startled when the vixen caught the closing door with her paw, poking her nose into the room.

“You can't hide behind your mask forever!" She claimed determinedly, somehow as always managing to cut to the heart of his problems. The vixen's single-minded resolve stuck him acutely. Once more it was her mysteriously exact words that made him think.

What she said was true, he could not hide himself forever, and trying to do so would not gain Six any favors, with himself or anyone else. But, deep down, he knew why he was afraid to show his face.

He feared that they would be repulsed by him. That she would be repulsed by him. What once would not have mattered to the spartan in the slightest, now greatly did so.

“Perhaps…." He conceded. “….But today will not be the day that changes." Six applied a small amount of force to the wooden door.

Unable to match his strength, Krystal was either forced to let him close it in her muzzle and in doing so unwittingly start the return to his old ways, or she could do something…drastic.

Before he could completely shut the door, she forced herself into the rapidly narrowing space, banking on the assumption that he would not close it with her in the way…or at least so she hoped.

Upon seeing the vixen physically impede his efforts, Six sighed in annoyance. Nevertheless, he ceased trying to close the door and now studied her underneath his helm, wondering what exactly it was with non-spartans and being a pain in his side.

“What are you doing?" He demanded in weary frustration, his patience having run thin. There was only so much a spartan could do before he became violent.

“Helping you." Krystal firmly replied, matching his hidden glare with one of her own. “When is the last time you ate?" She probed with a suspicious twist to her eyes.

“Before Zoness." He grunted impatiently. “Now, can you let me be?"

Krystal was shocked, that was almost five days ago!

“No." She obstinately refused. “You need to eat something."

At that Six growled quietly. How dare she treat him like an adolescent! He was a goddamn spartan, not a sniveling infant.

“Do not propose to treat me like a child!" He snarled, his grip tightening on the door, the wood splintering slightly underneath his constricted grip. Six was unable to wholly control his immense strength. Yet the spartan could not completely place where this well of anger had originated from. He was usually far more tolerant of the team and her by extension. After all, he could have just ignored her.

Krystal, unintimidated by his ire, crossed her arms in displeasure as her tail lashed behind the vixen in anger all her own, thumping silently against the door.

“Then do not act like on!" She countered boldly, unwilling to back down. While the spartan's anger was a result of whatever foolish need for solitude he held, Krystal's stemmed of his pointless stubborn tantrum. She was fully aware of his past and the unspeakable conditioning he had endured at the hands of the military he served. He had told her much about that. But in her eyes it was not enough to warrant such a tenacious desire to exclude himself from everything life had to offer. There was more to living then what Six was content with doing, and she wanted to show him that. So if hairs had to be ruffled and a tooth or two had to be pulled, she was willing to do that to achieve her ends.

In the spartan's opinion, if anyone here was acting like a child, it was her. All he wanted was some peace and quiet. She was the one pressing the matter. Could she not see that he just wanted to be let alone?

“Why do you insist on the course of action?" He muttered dourly, his anger slipping away despite his best efforts to keep a firm grasp on it. Six could not stay mad at her, as exasperating as that was for him to realize. Turning his back to her with a sigh, he stepped from the door and retreated to the small table in the room, taking one of the seats with a defeated sigh.

Disconcerted by his sudden shift in emotions, Krystal stood hesitantly in the doorway, now uncertain if she should enter or walk away. But, she could not just abandon him now. Taking a calming breath to affirm her resolve, the vixen passed the threshold and slowly approached him, feeling as if she was taking her first steps into the den of a fiery dragon.

Unhurriedly, she pulled out a chair from across him and took it, meeting the spartan's unseen gaze.

“Why won't you show us what's behind that mask?" She asked softly, placing a paw on the spartan's gauntlet in an attempt to comfort him, as he had done once before for her.

“You may not like what you see." He quietly cautioned her, his counsel having more than one connotation. She might not like what she found if she kept digging. There were still many secrets he carried, of previous dark deeds committed. Six had been an ONI assassin for a long time, responsible his fair share of illicit acts.

The blood of more than mere men stained his hands.

While he still held a want to be human, he could not forget what he had done. If they continued to press him, they might find that there was more to the spartan than they had expected, none of it good.

“I promise you. No matter what you look like I'll still be your friend. Unless of course, you're some kind of eight eyed monster with feelers and talons…" She joked with a quiet giggle, her laughter drying up like a puddle under the sun when the spartan gave no response, staring at her silently.

“Uh…you aren't…are you?" She asked apprehensively.

“…No."

“Well then there's nothing to be afraid about." She tittered nervously.

'It is not I who might be afraid.' Six thought with a sigh as he reached for the bottom of his helmet. It was folly to assume he could hide under his mask forever, after all. In the end, it was just another piece of steel. If he was truly to change, he had to realize that he was more than the sum of his armor.

With great care and precision, the spartan ran his gloved fingers underneath the lip of his helm, tracing along the titanium alloy until he came across one of the micro sockets that conjoined his suit with the pressure seal insulating the cusp of his helm. In a smooth well-rehearsed motion, he disengaged the lock and twisted it to the side, breaking the powerful seal with the faint hiss of pressurized air.

*****

Krystal observed in eager fascination as the spartan began to remove his helmet, the vixen curious as to what she would see. With rapidly rising interest, she watched as he slowly started to lift the mask that he had been hiding behind since the day she met him. As she did, she could not help but feel as if she had finally managed to break through another significant barrier in their affiliation with one another.

Then, with little flair or showmanship, Six revealed his face, the first thing grabbing her attention being his eyes.

They were bright crimson, like that of a freshly bloomed rose. The vixen could tell a lot about a person by their eyes, and she knew at that instant…Six was a killer. He had that cold and unfeeling gaze she had seen many times before in the eyes of a few soldiers in the CDF, ones that had seen too much. She had already known that much about him, but to finally be able to see it in his eyes was another thing entirely. Despite this, she could perceive more than that. Those blood red irises. They had not always been his. Looking harder, Krystal could see flecks of shining sapphire speckled throughout. She did not know how she knew that they had once been blue, it could be just a thing that humans had. But deep down, she could feel that the red she saw in him now had not always been there.

Despite the darkness she saw inside, she could also see the same things she had sensed in him, compassion, kindness….even hope. It was hard to detect, but it was there, just past that crimson glint. You just had to look hard enough.

As she studied his eyes, the vixen was drawn to the deep scar marring the left side of his face. It would appear that humans did not have fur, as most of the races in Lylat did, conversely making any wounds far more visible.

Krystal had the sudden impulse to trace the mark in his flesh with a padded digit, barely managing to subdue it upon realization. Instead the vixen wondered how he had earned that scar, and the other she now saw carving its way across the right side of the spartan's head, all the way down to his cheek.

As she had suspected he did not have a muzzle like she did, knowing it would not have fit inside the helmet he wore. Instead, humans had flat, furless faces, much like the simians of Venom, not that she would ever willingly compare him to those beasts.

Although, she noticed that humans did have hair, Six's head topped with a short and rough mane of black, its color matching the thin layer across his cheeks. If she did not know better she would have thought he trimmed his hair with a serrated blade.

Lacking a muzzle, Six had a roughly squared jaw and high cheekbones. His skin was pale, almost alabaster in coloration, and since he was the first and most likely only human she had the chance to meet, she was not sure if it was naturally or unnaturally so.

The vixen could not help but conclude that he was in fact, rather handsome in an exotic and robust way. She could see a lot of Six's personality in his expression, the hard edged lines of his cheeks, the coldness in his eyes, and the almost feral style to his hair. It spoke well to the man she had come to know. His features gave him an air of imperiousness and alien splendor, a god of ancient legend, one of war and strife.

“Have you finished?" Six inquired in a mildly amused growl. He had watched the vixen as she ogled him for some time. It had been both unsettling and yet…fascinating. She had not looked at him as he had suspected, there was no fear or disgust, only curiosity and interest. And he did not know what to take from that information.

Krystal was stricken out of her musing by his question. As she recognized that she had been openly staring at him for the past few minutes, she blushed heavily.

“My apologies…" She responded in a flustered murmurer, lowering her muzzle abashedly. The vixen did not know why, but she was now all riled up, finding a hard time piecing together her train of thought, her attempts interrupted by images of his ruby red eyes and finely sculpted features. He was indeed different from any male she had ever met before.

Six did not forgive her, for there was nothing to forgive. He would do well not to forget that he was just as alien to them as they were to him. If anything, he was grateful that things were going so well. He had felt sure that his eyes would have scared her off. They were nothing like hers, those emerald orbs so full of empathy and understanding. She was innocent…pure, much like the child he had met before. The spartan had never met such a person like her among his fellow humans, at no fault of their own. The war had stolen more than just his virtue. Every soldier he had met, regardless of age, had carried that same cold cynical burden, some were just better at masking it then others. Fighting against extinction tended to change people.

It was his hope that she would never change. It was rare for someone of her age to still have her purity. And at that moment, he made a promise to himself. Six would do his best to protect Krystal, even at the cost of his own life. For if he could save even just one innocent and pure soul, then he could die knowing that he made a difference, no longer caring if it was in this world or his own.

“Six…"

“Hmm…?" The spartan murmured, cast out of his thoughts by the sound of her voice.

“So….will you dine with us tonight?" She inquired. Krystal had seen the somewhat unfocused look in his eyes and knew that he had been in deep thought, inexplicably glad that she was now able to see what he looked like when he was so. Though this time she had not been able to sense what it was his thoughts were directed to.

The spartan considered her question once more. While he would never openly admit to her or himself, he was particularly hungry. And if she had seen his face, it mattered little now if the others did as well. Besides, he was curious if the vixen was as good of a cook as she was a pilot. If so, it would beat the hell out of an army ration.

“I will." He decided.

After all, every journey begins with a single step.

“Really…?" The vixen exclaimed in joyful excitement, greatly pleased that he had decided to do so. It was a big moment for the spartan, whether he knew it or not, and it showed that there was indeed hope for him, something that made her incredibly happy. “That's great! Come on, I'm sure the others are getting hungry by now and I want to get started as soon as possible. It's already pretty late after all."

Once more the vixen grabbed his forearm, animatedly trying to lead him out the room. This time though, he did not follow her and she felt her paw tug against his unmoving limb.

“Huh…what's wrong?" She wondered with a pout to her lips when he did not stand up, worried that he might be changing his mind.

“I need some time first. It would not do to eat in this." He gestured down to his armor.

In all honesty, wearing his armor in this villa was somewhat of an inconvenience. His MJOLNIR added several inches to his already extensive height, and made it a tedious process to maneuver about. It was fine aboard The Great Fox, with the ship's wide corridors. However, this place was not as accepting of an individual of his dimensions. Things would be simplified if he removed the thick plates of his suit. He was now certain that he could trust them enough to not have to wear his armor constantly. Moreover, Six had worked in such conditions before, when wearing a full suit of MJOLNIR was not advisable. Such situations had been common in his more clandestine operations in the outer colonies. He would just treat this situation in a similar fashion. It would make things easier to bear.

“Right, of course, take your time. I can start things while you do that." She nodded, happy that he had not backed out. “See you soon!" The vixen slipped out of the room happily humming to herself, tail wagging with unabashed glee.

Six shook his head in wonder as he watched her leave, unable to figure out why she was so attached to him. What had she to gain from all of this? She must have known by this point that he considered her somewhat of a friend, especially since he had suffered her irritating qualities without his usual unpleasant responses. There was no need to take such further steps, at least no reason that he could see.

What was Krystal's end game? What had she to gain from all of this?

Though….

It was nice to have someone that cared enough to go the extra length, she was the first person he had met besides Fox to do so. For now he would not look too far into this and satisfy himself with being content.

'I will never understand her.' He decided with an inward chuckle, moving to retrieve the miniature CRADLE kit he had stored in a container on his armor. He would have to try and expedite the process if he wanted to finish in a reasonable amount of time. Deep in thought, he inserted the first tool into one of the lower sockets of his breastplate.

*****

Krystal could not rationally explain her fantastically good mood. At the moment, things could not be going better. The war would soon be over, and Six was starting to open up to her even more. Before long, he might just be like everyone else!

It was a nice thought, but she was not sure if it would be so. She was making significant strides in their friendship. However, she sensed that there was still a long road ahead. There was a substantial amount of mental trauma to undo, but she had hope. Six would change, he had to.

The vixen recalled their first meeting with inwardly aimed amusement, how she had loathed his seemingly excessive stoicism and confrontational attitude. Back then he had been a repugnant brute and a man she had started to dislike. But, they had been through a great deal in a short time. She learned why he acted the way he did and discovered that he was not the callous person she had first made him out to be. The only thing that still worried her was his lack of self-worth. It troubled her that he appeared so keen to throw his own life away and held little stock in his survival. Once more she cursed the people that had done this to him, made him think in such a way.

And when she saw him at the crater….

Krystal had realized, no matter how hard he attempted to keep it hidden, Six was in a great deal of pain. She still did not know much about his personal life, the battles he fought, the friends he lost and she was still ignorant about this foe the Covenant he so often spoke of. Yet, from the tone of voice he associated with them and the story he had told, she knew they were a terrible enemy, perhaps worse than Venom. All they wanted was control of the Lylat System. The Covenant desired the complete and total genocide of his people. And she could only wonder why.

Now she had at last seen his face, saw the scars he bore, both inside and out. Krystal wanted to see more of that kindness and compassion he kept locked away. That cold gaze did not suit him, not anymore. She decided to make it a goal to draw such emotions out of him. Krystal could change him, she knew it.

He had showed her that he was capable of empathy, when he had comforted her and saved Miyu. Before they had come back to Corneria, Krystal had visited the feline in the Infirmary. And the cat had told her of what she had learned of him, and how he had saved her. She spoke of the fury he had entered moments after Miyu had been injured, how he had raged and fell upon the Chimera violently. And while it had not been easily apparent, Miyu had known that he had been deeply worried for her.

It seemed that the human supersoldier cared about them, both her and Miyu, she just wondered how much. True, she cared for him as well, perhaps more than any male she had met before, even Fox.

And even though Six did not show as much care or thought into her wellbeing, Krystal just felt that he had a special place in his heart for her, even if he did not realize it. After all, he had confided in her, shared his secrets. And just a few moments ago he had shown her his true self, she knowing that it was not an easy decision for him to make. If he was willing to go to such great extents for the vixen, he had to harbor some fondness for her in his heart.

And that knowledge made her inordinately happy.

Humming softly, Krystal made her way to the kitchen. If Six was intending to eat with them, she was hoping to impress. He had probably eaten military rations his whole life, and she was going to show him what he had been missing out on.

Once her clawed toes clattered against tiled flooring, she knew she had found her destination. As she entered the kitchenette, she glanced towards the dining room connected to it, the team already sitting around the table eagerly.

Krystal took a certain pride in her gourmet skills. Her mother had taught her quite a few recipes back when she had been a kit, and cooking was a way for the vixen to remember her. While her family had the palace staff, sometimes her mother preferred to make her own meals, and father had ever been the fan.

Such memories brought mistiness to her eyes, but she was not sad. Those had been wonderful times, and she was glad she remembered.

The vixen dismissed her recollections, wondering what type of meal would appeal to Six's interests. Perhaps something spicy? Or maybe she should make something savory, with a dash of creaminess…like Carobollen. Yes, that sounded perfect.

She was sure he would like it.

But first, she would get some help and explain to the team so they would not make a scene when Six walked in. Krystal wanted everything to go perfectly, and if they ruined this…she would not be happy.

*****

Six reverently placed the last section of his MJOLNIR on the ground beside the rest, leaving the spartan clad in only his bodysuit. For the first time it bothered him that he did not possess an off-duty uniform. There was an extra one in the sabre's emergency kit, but it was not the right size to fit. Perhaps he would need the currency he had first been offered, just so he could see about some custom order clothes. But for now he would have to make do.

Six glanced down at his frame uncertainly, the bodysuit was not exactly ideal. The way it was designed did not have much decency in mind. While not too lurid, it was not what one would call decent. Still, it was preferable to walking around naked so he would just have to hope it did not make his allies too uncomfortable.

But, he supposed that's what happened when one did not own clothing of any sort. Gathering his determination, Six departed the vulpine's room into the hallway.

The spartan was impressed by Fox, his comparison to Carter had been an apt one. While still a little naïve and unsure of his role as commander, Six could see great potential inside him. He had the capability to become an excellent leader and might have made for a suitable spartan candidate if he had been human. Not that Six would wish such a life on his comrade. In time, Fox would be someone that anyone would gladly follow. Now though, he had his hands, or rather paws full with his current team.

Navigating the pathways of the large villa, Six neared the kitchen. That was one thing he did not understand however. Perhaps it was just because of the life he had lived, but Six found this whole place to be exorbitant. They would have been perfectly fine in a somewhat smaller building. But, he supposed if this is what they wanted there was no reason for him to complain.

But the least they could have had is a guest room. While used to bunking with other spartans and even marines during long stints in the field. The one thing Six allowed himself some indulgence was his privacy. But it was acceptable, it was Fox after all. He could permit his commander some room for non-spartan error.

Six soon detected a pleasing scent wafting along the hallway. One of several of his augmentations enhanced his olfactory receptors to a point that surpassed normal humans and even canines.

So he was easily able to tell that whatever it was, it smelled fantastic. The spartan's gut grumbled loudly in the quiet hall, calling out for whatever remarkable scent it had picked up. While his brain remained that of a spartan, his stomach was still in all accounts human.

Wanting to put an image to the tantalizing aroma, Six increased his pace by a small margin, arriving at the kitchen in moments and simultaneously uncovering the source of the savory fragrance.

Krystal, she was cooking over what looked like a regular stove, the kind he had seen in battles inside civilian homes in a few of his broad ranging campaigns. The vixen hummed softly to herself as she nursed a large fry pan with a wooden spatula, the origin of the mouthwatering aroma being the cast iron pan.

Beside her on a conjoined burner was a large pot that bubbled and steamed. He did not know what the contents were, but they smelled just as good as what was in the pan. This was something of a novelty for him. The last home cooked meal he had was almost literally a lifetime ago, which he did not remember to begin with.

Confused and plagued by conflicting emotions of times long past, Six stood frozen in the doorway. The scent of the meal was starting to bring old memories to the fore of his thoughts, ones he had previously thought lost.

He had smelled this before, in a time when he had still been a child and oblivious of the events that would soon alter his life forever. At that moment he had a fleeting recollection of his mother, yet her face remained shrouded, something that frustrated him to no end.

Krystal glanced over her shoulder as she cooked, and saw the spartan standing in the threshold.

“Ah, Six, you're here!" She exclaimed in excitement, yet as she took in the spartan's state of partial undress, her eyes widened and she blushed deeply. Without his armor's plating, there was far more of his herculean physique on display and even she could not ignore his striking figure. Six lived the life a warrior, and just as he excelled in combat, so too did he excel in physical form. The vixen forced herself to shift her gaze to his face, which was little better.

“I-I'm almost f-finished." She stuttered awkwardly, gesturing towards the dining room. “W-why don't you go t-take a seat with the others."

Nodding uncertainly, he passed through the kitchen and entered the dining room.

As he left, Krystal did her best to shake away images of his broad shoulders and chiseled muscles, further mortified to feel a stirring between her thighs. Whipping her muzzle back and forth, she banished such scandalous thoughts and focused on her task.

Still....he was rather handsome.

*****

Stepping into the dining room, Six was greeted to a powerful feeling of discomfort as several pairs of eyes bored into him. This was the first time that they saw his face, and they were just about as subtle as Krystal had been.

The look he was receiving from Miyu was particularly disconcerting. The feline almost looked…hungry. And he was not sure it was because of their impending meal.

“Why don't you sit down right here big guy?" The feline suggested with a multifarious smirk, gesturing for him to take the seat beside her. Seeing as he had no real preference for the arrangement, he decided to take her offer, uneasily setting himself down on the wooden chair. The only saving grace from this whole affair was that he could now sit down in a chair without the threat of it collapsing underneath him. But that offered him little comfort as he felt something long and fuzzy as it laid itself on his thigh.

Six glanced down in alarm and saw a brown and black speckled appendage slither back and forth along his thigh, like a writhing snake.

It was…unnerving.

“I gotta say. You don't look like I thought you would." Miyu spoke boldly as she scrutinized his furless features.

“How…so?" He questioned with a sense of foreboding, certain that he would not enjoy the answer.

“I like this more." She replied vaguely, her tail still clinging to him.

He stood correct. Her answer was not enjoyable.

“So…where'd the scar come from?"

Six was surprised to feel relief when Falco spoke next, the spartan now able to focus on something else.

“Which one?"

“The one right here…" The avian mimed a line alongside the right side of his head.

Despite the invasive premise of the question, it set him more at ease. It was better to talk on his past conflicts then dwell on what exactly the feline was doing beside him. The faint rumbling slipping from her bosom was unusual.

Was she purring?

“Close contact with an energy sword." He explained, doing his best to ignore the feline at his side.

“Energy sword?" Falco repeated skeptically. “What the heck is that?"

“Sangheili close combat weapon, created using partially ionized electron gases and molded into blades by advanced magnetic-field generators." That at least, is what UNSC scientists had observed from those dreaded weapons.

“Okay…so what's a sangli?" The bird inquired with a rise in interest as he stumbled over the foreign word.

“Sangheili," Six corrected him, “are the backbone of the Covenant military arm. They are force commanders and warriors without peer. Furthermore, they are directly responsible for a majority of human casualties in most groundside engagements. The standard sangheili warrior stands at approximately seven to eight feet on cloven hooves and digitigrade legs. Heavily muscled and highly trained, most are the equivalent of a spartan on the field."

“They sound like a nasty bunch." If each one was as strong as Six…Falco did not like the sound of that.

“Indeed…" Six nodded. “Each sangheili warrior wields a varying arsenal of Covenant weaponry, from plasma rifles to fuel rod cannons. One of the highest tiers of these soldiers is the sangheili zealot, who is a master of their favored armaments, the energy sword."

“And one of them gave you that horrid scar?" Fay rightly supposed.

“Correct. The surviving members of Noble and I were assisting UNSC army personnel with the evacuation of New Alexandria when we encountered a trio of zealots."

Six recalled the battle vividly. The three sangheili warriors had jumped down from an overhanging balcony, engaging Noble's 4 and 1. The last zealot set his sights on Six and the spartan had moved to engage. The battle had been brutal and short, the sangheili assaulting him with a flurry of deft sword strokes. During the melee, the zealot's fist had knocked his helmet off and the elite pounced on him, intending to drive the energy blade's prongs into his exposed throat. Grabbing the alien's wrist, he was able to swiftly deflect the blade into the concrete to the side, but not without it slicing across his cheek. Before it could strike again, he drove a fist into its gut with enough force to break its impressive shields and forced the alien warrior to the ground, driving his combat knife into its shoulder and sawing the serrated weapon across its throat.

“I assume you got the guy, right?" Falco anticipated.

“That I did."

“What about the other scar?" Miyu entered the conversation with a curious meow.

“That…is an altogether different story." Six replied, recalling the boarding action with distaste. The spartan held a deep seeded hatred for the insurrection. Most of this might have been because he had been taught by the UNSC to do so. But this was not the case. Six had seen what they were capable of, and they were little more than terrorists, worse in his opinion. Even after the Covenant began their genocidal campaign, the insurrection did not cease their activities, rather they upped the ante, increasing attacks and blaming the UNSC for humanity's woes. Those loathsome traitors had decided to instead capitalize on the suffering of their people instead of putting their own interests aside for the common good. For that alone they were irredeemable and only their deaths would satisfy him.

“That is a tale I will not tell, for it would leave me with an unsavory taste in my mouth. There are better things to speak of. I am curious. Tell me, how did this team get its feet off the ground?" Six was interest to hear how such a strange group had originated. He of course knew that Fox's father had been the progenitor, but not how this team had replaced the old one.

“Better leave that to Peppy, he's the makeshift historian." Falco nudged his beak in the hare's direction.

“Ah yes, that is my area of expertise." Peppy admitted. “But perhaps not now…" The hare suggested, noticing Krystal approach with a heavy pot in her paws, struggling to hold the large container.

Unaware as to what possessed him to do so, Six rose from his seat and hurriedly relieved the vixen of her burden, placing it on the table for her. As she thanked him, he merely nodded in puzzlement, resuming his previous seat in confusion.

“Viola, dinner is served!" She declared with a flare, removing the lid from the pot and allowing the delicious aroma to seep into the room.

Curious as to what the contents of the pot were, he leaned forwards and looked inside, discovering a large batch of pasta with spherical chunks of meat mixed in. The sight of the foodstuff kickstarted his memory once more and Six could not help but feel as if he had seen its like sometime in the past.

Krystal began the process of distributing the meal in bowls and divvying it up between them. And when the spartan was handed his bowl, he carefully placed it upon the table and scrutinized it in more detail, wanting to determine why it was so familiar.

“Aw yeah, I love this stuff!" Falco exclaimed excitedly as he grabbed a utensil and delved into his bowl with hungry abandon. The others soon followed suit, just as eager, the spartan able to interpret from this that whatever Krystal made was something good.

Looking up from his bowl, Six noticed that he and the vixen were the only ones not partaking, her focus instead aimed at him.

“Go ahead, try it." She urged with a warm smile, gesturing for him to pick up his fork.

Seeing as it would be rude to not at least try after all the work she had put into it, Six hesitantly inserted his fork into the bowl, twirling it and wrapping the utensil's tines with pasta. Spearing one of the balls of meat as well, he brought the loaded fork close to his mouth, uncertain why he was so cautious of food. There was no reason to be and judging by the smell it could be nothing but pleasant.

It took another soft smile from Krystal before he at last relented and placed the contents of the fork into his mouth.

Six was shocked by an explosion of flavors and memories.

The spartan had in fact eaten this before. It was Svenska köttbullar, Swedish Meatballs. His vision was commandeered by a brief flash of a different time and place, a homely kitchen and a much smaller Six. His mother….she had made this for him many times when he had been a child.

For just a moment, he could see her face in his mind's eye, a glimpse of hair as beautiful as spun gold and eyes the color of jeweled sapphire. The obscured imagery was shadowed by a laugh….a soft, warm, and comforting laugh. It had an odd effect on him, Six feeling as if a dagger had been suddenly plunged into his heart, but it was not proceeded by pain just an overpowering sensation of loss.

And just like that the vivid memory was gone, having returned once more to the real world. Six deliberately placed the fork back in the bowl and reached to wipe a bead of warm liquid that had mysteriously appeared on his cheek.

Had he accidently spilled something on himself?

Confused, he brought his gloved finger into sight and noticed a single droplet of water balanced on the tip. Where had that come from? There was a cup of water beside his food, but he had yet to drink from it.

Six was uncertain as what to make of all of this. But, there was one thing he did know.

“This…this is good." He congratulated Krystal, taken back by the odd huskiness in his voice.

In response the vixen smiled that same indulgent smile and nodded in thanks.

Clearing his throat, Six sat up a little straighter and picked up his fork.

He had barely touched his food.

And he was unexpectedly feeling quite hungry.