- soulguard
- |
- Exalted Mythic Member
“Yeah, you were pretty impressive for a freshman.” Eric laughed.
“So what, you’re a freshman too.” Rose laughed. This was a side that Rose had never showed in class, but it was something that her teammates knew quite well. Rose was a social typhoon, especially when alcohol was involved. But the way she flocked to Eric was shocking.
“We need to talk.” Eric stated. Rose looked up at him and sluggishly smiled.
“Kay.” She moaned. “Let’s go talk.” Rose led Eric through the crowd, staggering wildly as the pint she had just consumed began to quickly work through her. After a minute of blindly pushing through the crowd, the two found the exit and walked outside. Rose was no longer able to hold her balance and stumbled everywhere. Eric quickly wrapped his arm around her and they navigated to a nearby bench. “So what. . . what did you want to talk about?”
“You can’t hold a drink to well, can you?” Eric laughed.
“I’m better then Kim.” Rose loosely mumbled. “She can’t take a shot without passing out.” Rose suddenly burst into laughter.
“I’m enlisting next week.” Eric stated bluntly. Rose cut her laugh short and repeatedly blinked her eyes, in a failing attempt to focus. Despite her drunken demeanor, Eric’s words registered quickly. Her body wasn’t responding to what she heard, but her mind did.
“You’re serious… you can’t.” Rose stuttered. “You have to finish school.”
“The UNSC will wipe out my debt if I qualify, but school isn’t my thing anyway.” Eric stated.
“But you’re smart.” Rose stated, the shocking news clearly beginning to bring down her alcohol induced high. Her words were becoming clearer and her focus becoming sharp again; clearly the type of talk that would sober someone up quickly. “I know you’re all gung-ho about the war, but you don’t have to enlist now.”
“No, I really do.” Eric stated. “Don’t let the UNSC Announcements fool you, we are loosing this war.” Eric lowered his head and looked at Rose out of the corner of his eyes. She was no longer the happy-carefree girl from before, she was shocked.
“Then do what I plan to do; stay in school, graduate, and look forward to building better weapons to fight the covenant. Going into battle will only lead you to death if we really are loosing.”
“Maybe I can help at least slow them down.” Eric stated. “You’re the one with big plans for your life, Rose. I’m just a soldier at heart. If I fight, maybe I can give you and the others time to build better weapons and defenses.”
“The war is so far away, Eric. They aren’t anywhere near Earth. We have time…”
“No, Rose. We don’t have time. It seems like every week another colony falls, and they learn something new about us. UNSC my not admit it, but the Covenant is starting to find each colony faster and faster… they’re on to something and gaining ground. We’ve been at war for nearly fifteen year or so, and we can’t stop them.”
“Why do you want to go into war? And better yet, why are you telling me? We only know each other through class and we don’t really know each other that well.”
“I don’t know. I guess I just wanted you to know.” Eric sighed. “I saw you smile earlier. You have a nice smile. If we were at peace, I’d be able to see that smile all the time, but the covenant is coming. I want to help protect people like you. I wouldn’t mind dieing knowing that I’m protecting you.”
“I don’t need you to protect me, Eric. If you want to do something for me, then stay. Finish school and fight the future war when it comes.”
“I’d love to stay with you, but I’d be lying to myself. But I was hoping that maybe we could spend this week together. We can think only about anything but Lacrosse and the future. But even still, I will be leaving next week.”
“In some way, that sounded like you were hitting on me.” Rose stated clearly. Obviously her stupor had passed. Eric had to laugh at her response; because he was.
“Can’t slip anything past you, can I.?” Eric laughed.
“You know what, for a moment I had some respect for you. That’s gone now.” Rose laughed; jokingly picking on Eric’s approach.
“You’re not my type anyway.” Eric laughed. The two laughed, and Rose laid her head on Eric’s shoulder.
“Please stay.” Rose sighed.
“Will you sleep with me?” Eric questioned.
“Doubt it.”
“You were supposed to say yes, if you really wanted me to stay.”
“I’d rather not use my body to trick you into staying, besides, if I said yes I’d probably be lying.” Rose laughed. “But were you serious, serious about wanting to protect me?”
“Yeah.” Eric softly replied.
“Don’t fight for me.” Rose simply stated. She lifted her head from Eric’s shoulder and stood from the bench. “I’m not worth it.” She stated as she began to walk away. Eric stood up and watched as she walked back toward the Field Club.
“What’d she mean by that?” Eric questioned to himself. Eric didn’t have the chance to ask her face to face, he skipped the final week of classes in order to train. But he was able to keep his eyes on Rose because of her popularity; she was always in the spot light on campus.
The day came for Eric and his small group of friends to entrust their lives into the capable hands of the military. Eric and the group boarded the campus tram and looked back into the heart of the campus. He saw a large group of people migrating toward over a central figure, but he couldn’t tell who it was. He hoped it was Rose, but he dared not think about it. She was gone, and chances were he’d never see her again.
“Four weeks of recruit training, here we come!” One of Eric’s friends roared from the front of the Tram. Eric smiled and cheered along with his small crew of classmates and never looked back.
Rose wanted to see him off. She hated that Eric was going off to war with dreams of protecting her, he hardly new her. But it was oddly comforting and sweet of him. She ran across campus from her dorm room once she found out when the group was leaving, but she was thankful that she didn’t make it in time. She stopped nearly one hundred yards away from the tram and watched as the group piled in. She was soon crowded by fans and press as they questioned her about the Lacrosse match later that evening.
Rose began to address the press and as she spoke she realized that it was best that she didn’t see Eric, that way she wouldn’t think of him. It was better for her.
*Private Wesley Williams and Rose
Wesley watched as Rose quickly sped toward him along the conveyor system, and reached out to grab her hand. She slowly and cautiously stepped toward the edge of the light and took Wesley’s hand into her own. He pulled her close and looked her over quickly. His eyes looked around her figure quickly, but not to see if she was wounded. He studied her every curve and loved they way her marine fatigues hugged her frame in all the right areas. He thought to himself that he still desired to be with her, but he had to focus. They were falling behind the rest of the squad and they were in hostile territory.
“What was the hold up?” Wesley asked as he and Rose began to jog toward the rest of the squad.
“I was daydreaming and playing with the system.” Rose responded.
“You still get attracted to pretty lights, huh?” Wesley laughed. But Rose didn’t reply. They reached the rear of the squad and doubled checked their weapons. Rose flipped off the safety and pressed the butt of her rifle loosely against her shoulder. Wesley simply slid back the barrel on his magnum and made sure a bullet was in the chamber, but his sniper rifle was securely strapped to his shoulder; it was useless in tight quarters such as the small rooms in the brig level.
Will and Red Squad cautiously stepped toward a closed door and took positions all around it; taking aim at every possible angle into the room.
“Siren, whenever you’re ready.” Will stated into his com.
“Standby.” Siren replied. “Ten brutes and eighteen jackals in this section. All interior doors are now closed. There are two brutes on the other side of this door. Opening the door in 5.” The squad peered down their respected barrels and watched as the door opened. Two brutes stood in shock as the door quickly hissed opened and revealed the squad of humans. Red squad didn’t hesitate. Once the two brutes were nullified Will waved the group forward to the next available door.
“Rose, you and the Private can go down the center pathway.” Siren stated on their com channels. “It’s clear all the way to the holding cells. There is one guard jackal sleeping at the alarm, but I deactivated the alarm system when we first took the ship.”
“Roger that, Siren.” Wesley replied.
“You’re looking for an armored Elite in gold.” Siren added. “He is the ship master, or Captain of this vessel. He’s the one I want you to speak with.”
“Siren, are you sure this is a good idea?” Will chimed in. “If those elites decide to make a move, they aren’t going to stand a chance.”
“Don’t worry, Spartan 043.” Siren sighed. “I have no plans on letting the elites out of their cells.”
“Be careful you two.” Marks stated.
“Next door, Red Squad.” Will quickly stated. “Watch yourselves, those elites can be cunning.” The Spartan and Red Squad pushed through another set of doors and vanished into the maze like corridor of the brig. Wesley and Rose turned down the long center corridor and quickly pushed their way toward the holding cells, leaving Will and Red Squad to handle the remaining brutes and jackals that were scattered around the deck.