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Subject: Heretic or Hero?---An Elite's story (Remastered) Updtd: 6/26

Halo: Heretic or Hero---An Elite's Story
Choose your own destiny

FanFicFactor
Forged in the Flames of Passion, go forth and represent!

Chapter Four

Kovalee

The Phantoms slid in from either side of the great beach, forcing us to hold our own in the middle of a circle of rocks. I watched nervously as the humans hustled into position, some kneeling down under the cover of the rocks, others standing back to back, their weapons poised in defense.

We watched in anticipation as the violet gravity lifts descended down to the sand, where several Grunts landed heavily on their stubby feet, squealing war cries as they plummeted into the battle.

Shortly after, they were followed by a horde of fierce looking Sangheili. I felt a lump gather in my throat it had not occurred to me that I would be fighting my brothers in this battle. Could I do it? Could I really end the life of one my own kind? It pained me to think about it, so I thrust the idea from my mind.

At least, until, I saw him.

He was the tallest Elite I had ever seen, standing, at least, two feet taller than me. His great chest seemed to broaden as he calmly walked forward, his silver-plated mandibles twitching with the taste of war. With every step he took, new fear found its way into my very soul.

He was Zens Kovalee, the Prophet's most dependable hunter. He had chased heretics across galaxies, following his raw instinct. Never once had he failed at catching and murdering his prey. He was a monster who knew naught but to find and destroy.

"Hey, you gonna help out or what?"

The voice startled me as I drew out of my empty thoughts. Plasma and bullets were already being traded from either side. The battle was in session.

Before I could reply, a barrage of blue and green light flooded my vision, and I dropped to the sand for cover. They were closing in all too fast. In minutes we would be overrun.

As the bolts of plasma flew overhead, I lay against a rock, panting. Anderson was holding the side opposite of me, his bullets dropping Grunts and Elites alike like flies. Burns was beside him, rolling away from the swooping arc of an Elite's fist. He rolled a grenade beneath its feet, and it was swallowed whole by an explosion of sand and smoke.

Three bodies already lay motionless around me, their scarlet blood soaking into the sand around me. I looked at them sadly: in their faces was a grave shadow only death could bring. For the first time, I felt sorry for the humans. Sorry that we had engaged them in this war, that we were slaying more and more every day. I thought about my own family. My mother and father had been killed when I was very young. I could not bear to imagine the pain these humans' families would face.

Suddenly, my thoughts trailed off at the sound of a petrifying scream. "He's got a sword! Kill the one with the--"

The human's corpse was flung back into the circle of rocks to lay with the other dead he had so brutally joined. There was a huge gash in his stomach, where an Energy Sword had slashed into his flesh. I cried out in horror and leapt to my feet, meaning to run--

But a terribly strong, silver-clad hand caught me by the neck instead. The cold metal bit at my throat. I didn't dare move.

"What have we here?" a soft yet inevitably menacing voice whispered in my ear. "A little one who has strayed too far from his right mind, I suppose?"

My spine turned to ice.

"No matter," Kovalee laughed. "Do not answer before me. Answer before the Hierarchs before he has you burned before the eyes of all in High Charity."

I didn't whimper or struggle as he lifted me by my throat out of my safety of the rocks and cast me to the sand with little care. My breath came out as soft squeals, and every nerve in my body was screaming. Trying to calm myself, I took a fistful of sand and let it seep through my fingertips and blow away with the wind. I was going to die.

And then something happened. Something that I had never counted on.

"If there's someone you'd like to mess with, I'm always available," a voice behind me growled. My eyes darted around until they found Anderson, his gun extending in front of him. Kovalee laughed bitterly and drew out his sword, hanging the tip of it only inches from my face. I could feel its intense heat snapping at my eyes.

"What does he mean to you, scum?" he asked. "Would it hurt you if I sliced his neck open right now?"

"Probably," Anderson taunted. "But it would end up hurting you a lot more."

"Are you threatening me?"

"No. I'm warning you, that if you so much as lay a finger on him, I'll make sure it's the last thing you do."

Kovalee looked shocked for a brief moment, then he gave a great guffaw, as if this was all a hearty joke. Then, without another word, he brought the sword down toward my chest.

End Transmission

  • 08.27.2009 3:36 PM PDT

By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.

I decided to read this from the beginning again, brilliant work as always Murph. Sheer genious.
Also, I'm leaving the world of Halo fan fics behind. Gonna work on a Percy Jackson novel myself.

  • 08.27.2009 3:45 PM PDT

Halo: Heretic or Hero---An Elite's Story
Choose your own destiny

FanFicFactor
Forged in the Flames of Passion, go forth and represent!

Posted by: ajw34307
I decided to read this from the beginning again, brilliant work as always Murph. Sheer genious.
Also, I'm leaving the world of Halo fan fics behind. Gonna work on a Percy Jackson novel myself.


Is that so? Well, I hope you decide to come back to it one day Ajw, because you really had a great talent for it.

You'll have to give me a link to your upcoming story...that, or you could post it at FanFicFactor.

  • 08.27.2009 4:44 PM PDT

By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.

Will do.

  • 08.28.2009 1:52 AM PDT

Posted by: ajw34307
I decided to read this from the beginning again, brilliant work as always Murph. Sheer genious.
Also, I'm leaving the world of Halo fan fics behind. Gonna work on a Percy Jackson novel myself.


Will you still frequent Bungie.net?

  • 08.28.2009 9:18 AM PDT
Subject: Heretic or Hero?---An Elite's story (Remastered) Updtd: 6/24
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When life gives you lemons, ferment them and get drunk.

I have yet to resad one of your stories until now. I can easily see why you have a large following. In truth, after only a few seconds of reading, i found myself a little closer to the computer screen than i should be. Excelent work!!!

  • 08.28.2009 12:55 PM PDT
Subject: Heretic or Hero?---An Elite's story (Remastered) Updtd: 6/26

By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.

Posted by: Wolverfrog
Posted by: ajw34307
I decided to read this from the beginning again, brilliant work as always Murph. Sheer genious.
Also, I'm leaving the world of Halo fan fics behind. Gonna work on a Percy Jackson novel myself.


Will you still frequent Bungie.net?


Of course.

  • 08.29.2009 3:04 AM PDT

Halo: Heretic or Hero---An Elite's Story
Choose your own destiny

FanFicFactor
Forged in the Flames of Passion, go forth and represent!

Chapter Five

The Last Betrayal

Death?

No, certainly not. I was not dead. Not yet. There were voices around me, shouting incoherent words, shadows swelling and disappearing before my weary eyes; the crack of gunshots and the hiss of Plasma fire.

For a moment I reestablished eyesight, and I looked around nervously. Someone had knocked Kovalee off balance. Two humans brawled with him on the ground, wrestling the sword from his grasp.

Burns and Anderson.

They'd saved my life.

But why? Why, when I had nearly killed one of their own men and had hidden in fear when they'd needed me in battle, were they sparing my life? This question I could not answer, and it would haunt me for quite a long time.

And then the world disappeared again. I was floating. Floating on the border of life and death. With each passing moment I was losing more and more energy, as if I was being crushed upon by some heavy weight. I couldn't move. I couldn't attempt to move.

Another flash of light. Kovalee kicked Burns aside as he focused in on Anderson. His Energy Sword was outstretched, ready to plunge; ready to kill.

He saved my life.

Fading...

He didn't have to. He could have watched me die, but instead he put his own life to risk to save me.

Overwhelmed by shadows and bursts of light. I was departing now. Everything shrank before my eyes. The blackness encircled me, closing in, taunting me

I won't let him die.

With every bit of life I had left in me, my left arm shot outward and snatched the pistol Anderson had given me. The shadows took form again, and my vision was crystal clear.

With a sharp groan of fury, I discharged one bullet; the bullet that ultimately defined me as a traitor; the bullet that, with a little luck, would save the life of a brave and kind-hearted man.

And luck was on my side, for Kovalee gasped in pain as the bullet sliced through the open palm of his hand. He dropped the sword and reeled backward, hissing in agony, and Anderson struck with one swift blow, grabbing hold of his own weapon and blasting a projectile directly into Kovalee's enormous chest. There was a moment's hesitance, and then the enormous Sangheili gasped and crumpled to the ground, motionless.

And then, once more, I succumbed to the eternal pain roaring inside of me. The clear image of the world blurred, and the voices faded away until they were only distant echoes.

Everything went black.

End Transmission

  • 08.31.2009 6:17 PM PDT

-eddy!
huh! What? It was the other guy, honest! ;)
'it was a sniper!' looks down at my sniper
uhh yeah? hes got one too. XD

wow! this is amazing!
ETA on the next part??

  • 09.11.2009 8:06 AM PDT

Halo: Heretic or Hero---An Elite's Story
Choose your own destiny

FanFicFactor
Forged in the Flames of Passion, go forth and represent!

Hey, thanks! I was beginning to think no one was ever going to read it again.

Anyway, I will try to have the next part out by tomorrow night. Cheers!

~Murph

  • 09.12.2009 5:17 AM PDT

-eddy!
huh! What? It was the other guy, honest! ;)
'it was a sniper!' looks down at my sniper
uhh yeah? hes got one too. XD

no problem, hell i fogot to save it lol
took me ages to find, was worth i tho!

  • 09.13.2009 11:52 PM PDT

I saved it to my threads, this story is an awesome one. I wonder if he lives when the elites join up with the humans.

  • 09.14.2009 7:34 PM PDT
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when ar you guna make the rest? great story btw!

  • 09.15.2009 9:21 PM PDT

Posted by: Dropship dude
No, acnboy. Spartain Ken 15 is a lesser being. Much like the bacteria that lives in your shi­t.
Posted by: mike120593
My shi­t bacteria takes offense to that comparison.

Don't make me lel. You won't like me when I lel.

Message says maybe monday.

  • 10.02.2009 6:17 AM PDT

Halo: Heretic or Hero---An Elite's Story
Choose your own destiny

FanFicFactor
Forged in the Flames of Passion, go forth and represent!

Chapter Six

Up For Adoption

William Anderson bit down on his lower lip, his back pressed against the medical room door. It had been only a few hours since they'd won the skirmish, barely pulling out of the battle with four marines left, two badly injured. It had been a victory, but off of luck only.

After that they'd fled into the safety of the thick forest and made their way back to the Beehive, the base they'd set up at the bottom of one of the ring's great canyons.

And now here he stood, perplexed, speechless. That Elite --the Elite whose life was now on the brink of death behind the very doors he leaned against--had, he reluctantly admitted, given his last essence of energy to save his life.

Anderson's life.

A human's life.

Sure, he'd stood up for the pitiful creature when he'd been in death's hands, but he'd never asked for anything in return. He'd never expected the damned Sangheili to shoot one of his own kin to save a his life. It was outrageous; unheard of. Not even in the most hellish stages of this war had the two oppositions worked together, fighting for the same cause.

Was this the turning of the tide, then? Would this Elite be the first of many to leave the Covenant?

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted as Captain Roger Conners turned the corner and saw Anderson. He glared at him for a moment, shook his head, then started towards him.

The man was tall and thin, with a scruffy black beard and bushy eyebrows. His nose was always high in the air, and his voice always seemed to be delivered as a sneer. Anderson didn't care much for him.

"Care to explain all of this, Sergeant?" Connors demanded as he stepped before Anderson. "Why are you having my surgeons operating on this Elite instead of our own wounded troops? It's pointless. It's treason!"

"It's gratitude," said Anderson defiantly. "With all due respect, Captain, he saved my life. I'd have been lunch for that Energy Sword if he hadn't been there. I owe him, whether I like it or not, sir."

Connors stared at him, one eyebrow up, looking disgusted. "And what do you propose we do when this enemy is back on his feet, Sergeant? Wave it off? Let it loose so that it can come back and slit out throats while we sleep?"

"Not if I look after him."

The words seemed so impossible, so breathtakingly fictional that the Captain's other eyebrow shot up to join its brother. Anderson was one of the best the UNSC had to offer; one of the most well known soldiers to ever walk the battlefield, famous for his valiance but infamous for his recklessness. Now, after nearly twelve years of fighting, he was going to adopt a pet Elite?

"I'll look after him," Anderson repeated, and Connors finally saw that he was serious. "I'll protect him; train him, even. He'll make a great soldier, I promise you. He needs a bit of work, obviously. Still has a few kinks in there." He frowned, remembering how the Elite had hidden from the battle after he'd agreed to fight. "But those can be fixed, in time." He smiled. "They did for me."

"He's an ELITE! Open your eyes, Sergeant, for god's sakes!" Connors scolded, his usually quite stoic face turning an ugly shade of red. "The ELITES kill thousands of our men every day. The ELITES burned Reach. Those goddamn ELITES killed your wife, Anderson!"

There was silence in the hallway as the Captain glared with iron-hot fury at his seemingly incompetent prey. This guy's defiance, he finally realized, was too strong to be so easily countered. His mind was already set, and no words could ever break through.

But actions would, soon enough. The betrayal would, and he was most certainly being lined up for one of those. Connors sighed and averted his gaze away from Anderson's electric blue eyes, taken

"You'll see, Sergeant. You'll see firsthand that this is the biggest mistake you've ever made."

With that, he turned to storm off, but not before Anderson's final words cut straight into his veins, pumping an icy sensation through his body, making him stop, rooted to the spot by sheer shock.

"He isn't like them," Anderson said quietly, looking quite perplexed with his own words. "And he'll show you that before the end."

This time it was Anderson who turned and walked slowly away.

End Transmission

  • 10.06.2009 3:38 PM PDT

Posted by: Dropship dude
No, acnboy. Spartain Ken 15 is a lesser being. Much like the bacteria that lives in your shi­t.
Posted by: mike120593
My shi­t bacteria takes offense to that comparison.

Don't make me lel. You won't like me when I lel.

Yay! New part!

  • 10.07.2009 3:43 AM PDT

Posted by: random no337
Yay! New part!


I want a sequel, not a reworking :'(

  • 10.07.2009 3:47 AM PDT

Halo: Heretic or Hero---An Elite's Story
Choose your own destiny

FanFicFactor
Forged in the Flames of Passion, go forth and represent!

Posted by: Wolverfrog
Posted by: random no337
Yay! New part!


I want a sequel, not a reworking :'(


As I've tried to tell everyone many times before. no one was reading Through My Eyes...AT ALL

Seriously, though, I think I have the chance now to do all the things I never got to do after I recklessly wrote HoH. For those of you that have already read it, I am changing it up a lot! The storyline that I'm going by now DID NOT HAPPEN IN THE ORIGINAL!

In other words, could you guys also check out The Darkwing Chronicles?. It is my newest story, and will need a few comments to get it up ;)

Thanks, everyone!

~Murph~

  • 10.07.2009 4:35 AM PDT

Remember,
It is easy to be male
it is another thing to be a man.

I've just got around to reading this Murph and i must say that it meets all my expectations of you.
It has good descriptions and makes you connect with the characters. A brilliant read and i look forward to the next installment.

  • 10.08.2009 2:00 PM PDT

Halo: Heretic or Hero---An Elite's Story
Choose your own destiny

FanFicFactor
Forged in the Flames of Passion, go forth and represent!

Chapter Seven

One Big Happy Family

The moment my eyes snapped open and stunning, blinking lights stung into my retinas, I was in panic. Such a panic that I vomited, right there, such a panic that I found myself screaming. Screaming for mercy, screaming to stop the panic.

"Whoa! Relax, there, son, just relax."

I recognized the voice from somewhere. But where? It was not the voice of another Sangheili, no, the voice's vocals were much lighter. Then who? What? Where was I? I was so exhausted, so confused, and so panicked. So, so panicked.

"C'mon, don't hit the snooze button on me again."

I peered around, hoping to find the source, the source of this alien voice, but still I could not see. The lights stabbed into my pupils like daggers, one shard at a time. I tried to cover my eyes with the back of my hand, but there was no energy left about me. I was too weak, too frail to even twitch now.

"Lower the lights, Doc, you're gonna blind the kid!"

Suddenly, the daggers of light ceased raining down on me. Cautiously, I slid one eye open, then the other, and then blinked a few times to abate the stinging.

I glanced around the room, and immediately the panicking decreased a small bit as the memories of the past few days surged into my mind. Escaping the temple as it collapsed. Meeting Anderson. Kovalee. Betraying the Prophets. Choosing a new side.

I tried to sit up, but found all of my muscles strained and sore and flimsy, as If they'd all been stretched in opposite directions. There was a throbbing pain knocking on the inside of my skull. What had happened to me, before I'd blacked out? I couldn't remember. I only saw that last shot, the shot that I had fired.

The shot that had changed everything.

Looking around, I saw that I was in a tiny white room with no windows. There were several humans standing around me, each one more perplexed than the other, a mixture of concern and confusion on their faces.

Anderson stood beside the long table that I lay on, one hand shoved roughly in his pocket and the other on the edge of the table.

"Don't rush yourself, kid," he told me. "You've had a rough night. You were out for nearly two days. None of us counted on you making it, but, hell, here you are now!" he chuckled. I didn't. I just stared dumbly at him, not knowing what to say, what to do. I couldn't decide whether I was in grave danger or the hands of a savior.

Averting my eyes to the left but making sure I didn't crank my head, I saw Burns, his helmet cradled in his arms and his brown hair flopping down over his forehead. He nodded to me, smiling crookedly. "When it comes to injuries, you Elites put up one hell of a fight," he acknowledged. "I'd have been cooked if I'd been sliced with one of those swords."

Cut with an Energy Sword? What was he talking about? I gave him a blank look, and he pointed at my chest. Peering downward, I saw the long, thin scar that Kovalee had left on me. It had cut directly through my blood-red armor. I could feel a sense of emptiness as my chest heaved up and down with each struggle of a breath.

"You lucked out on this one," said one of the white-coated humans, whom I assumed to be a medic of some sort. "It didn't hit any of your vital organs. Just clipped the flesh, nothing too serious."

Although I considered almost having the upper part of my body severed relatively serious, I nodded my head very mildly. I was grateful, yes, but still quite bewildered. I felt that I was not meant to be here right now. I was not one of them, and I never could be. So why was I here, placed under their care? What lesson were the gods trying to teach me now?

"Hey, boys, do you mind if Burns and I have a word with-- uh, what'd you say your name was, son?" Anderson turned to me, his eyes glistening. I froze. Every nerve in my body tautened, and my heart skipped several beats. It wasn't that I couldn't answer the question, but rather that I didn't know if I was ready to speak to these humans.

  • 10.10.2009 8:51 AM PDT

Halo: Heretic or Hero---An Elite's Story
Choose your own destiny

FanFicFactor
Forged in the Flames of Passion, go forth and represent!

"Solonee," I croaked. "My name is...Solonee."

Anderson nodded. "I think 'Sol' should do better." I didn't, but I disregarded it, anyway. "Anyway, do you mind if we have a word with him?"

One of the medics nodded. "Of course, Sergeant, but please make it quick. Um..Sol needs his rest."

"It'll only take a minute," Anderson assured him. The medics turned and exited through the double doors, leaving me alone with the two humans whom I knew all too well by now.

"How does it feel?" Anderson asked timidly.

"Strange," I said with matching shyness. "I feelout of place. To be here right now. Mymy people would be ashamed."

"Well, I meant your injury, actually." I wanted to scream. How could I be so insolent? Embarrassment throbbed inside of me, and I hoped I concealed it well enough by nodding stupidly.

"It's alright," I muttered, still unpleased with my previous outburst.

Both Anderson and Burns looked at me for a while, standing beside the table in complete, awkward silence. At long length, Anderson expelled a long sigh and pulled a chair over to the table and sat roughly down. Judging by the expression on his face, something troubled him deeply as he was in my presence. He looked as if he'd been fighting an inner war with himself-- over me.

"Look, Sol," he said. "I don't like this any more than you do. The last few days have been my personal hell. My commanding officers are roughing me up because I gave the order to keep you alive."

"You didn't have to do that."

"It was the least I could do," he admitted, his gaze now fixated shamefully on the floor. "You saved me, back there on the beach. You didn't have to, either. But you did. And a part of me wishes you hadn't."

There was a short, hesitant silence before he went on. "Since that day, since the moment you fired that shot, you changed in my mind. I know you aren't like the rest of them. I know you're the first whiff of goodness humanity will ever see in the Sangheili. You could be the key factor to ending this war, and we need you on our side."

Burns nodded grimly, and Anderson very briefly cast his gaze upon me again. "What do you say, Sol?"

I don't know what I would have said if I ever got the opportunity to answer that question, for in that instant, two human soldiers cascaded through the doors, panting, guns at the ready.

"Sergeant, they found us!" one of them shouted.

Anderson immediately shot into an upward stance. "How many of them?"

"Too many to hold off without backup, sir."

Anderson chuckled dryly as he started for the door, beckoning Burns to follow. It was then, as he laughed in the face of death, that I realized that Anderson was born for battle, much unlike me. "Just enough for my tastes, then," he said.

  • 10.10.2009 8:51 AM PDT

"Oh, death was never enemy of ours!
We laughed, knowing that better men would come,
And greater wars: when each proud fighter brags
He wars on death, for lives: not men, for flags"

"The Next War"
http://www.blackwaterops.net/forums/index.php?referrerid=795

woohoo, lovin it

  • 10.11.2009 2:31 PM PDT
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whoa, this is still going on? I read this like a year ago and i forgot all about it until now. i see you are redoing the story from the beginning. will you ever finish the second book :(?

very, very cool though Murph. anderson seems twice as badass in this version! i'll read darkwing eventually too i guess, gonna go read some others first tho.

  • 10.12.2009 5:28 AM PDT
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Do not waste your tears, I was not born to watch the world grow dim. Life is not measured in years, but by the deeds of men.

Posted by: goldhawk
We should know better, because we are better.

Posted by: Sergeant Murph
The storyline that I'm going by now DID NOT HAPPEN IN THE ORIGINAL!
~Murph~
So that means no giant plasma grenade and Frankstein references? :(

  • 10.12.2009 1:43 PM PDT

Halo: Heretic or Hero---An Elite's Story
Choose your own destiny

FanFicFactor
Forged in the Flames of Passion, go forth and represent!

Posted by: Xd00999
Posted by: Sergeant Murph
The storyline that I'm going by now DID NOT HAPPEN IN THE ORIGINAL!
~Murph~
So that means no giant plasma grenade and Frankstein references? :(


What? Arr you insane? Of COURSE said giant plasma grenade will be included, er. somehow.

What frankenstein reference is this? You mean the whole thing about Kovalee?

  • 10.13.2009 3:12 PM PDT

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