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Viewing 1 entries
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Reunion
(Weepy melodrama) John-117, better known as the Master Chief, is on a UNSC hospital ship following the covenant invasion of Coral. The covenant practically own the planet?s major cities, and the situation looks dire. Lord Hood is aboard the hospital ship as well, having been seriously wounded when a covenant boarding party stormed the bridge of his command vessel.
The Master Chief is seen getting up from beside a very weak and bandaged Lord Hood, who is surrounded by many of his staff officers. The Chief looks around at all the wounded civilians in the same ward, and walks past their beds. Those who are awake or conscious look at the Chief with admiration and wonder in their eyes. The Office of Naval Intelligence has publicized all his exploits, including a censored version of events at Halo.
The Chief looks towards the old couple in the beds nearest to Lord Hood?s (Whose bed was set aside so that his staff officers could meet him without disturbing the other patients). He notices something a tad familiar with them, but he can?t put his finger on it. The old man is looking up at the ceiling, holding a dog-eared magazine. He lowers his eyes and sees the Chief looking at him.
He asks, ?So you?re John-117, aren?t you, son??
The Chief says, ?That?s correct, sir.? He?s a tad surprised. Other than his fellow SPARTANS, very few people have called him by his name.
He picks up a heavy metal stool and places it near their beds. He?s still in full battle armor including his helmet, and an ordinary stool would break under his weight.
The old man goes on, ?Heard a lot about you. Lot of people aboard this ship were very excited to hear you were on board.? He wheezes. ?You?re doing a damn fine job, John. I dare say every member of the human race is proud of you.?
Master Chief says, ?Well, I?ll see. My job isn?t over yet.?
The old lady says, ?Oh, don?t worry about it. Frank and I are sure you?ll come through. There really isn?t anything to worry about, John. As long as you take it in yourself to keep fighting, you?ll always win.?
The Chief notices that they exude a strange confidence in his capabilities, one that he hasn?t entirely come to terms with, even now. He nods his head. Someone scrapes up a stool and sits nearby.
?Shifted to PR work, Chief??
It?s good old Sergeant Johnson, minus his body armor and cigars (No smoking inside a hospital ship).
The Chief doesn?t answer Johnson. He leans forward and asks the two old civilians, ?Permission to?sorry.?
Frank (the old man) laughs, ?You don?t need permission to ask me anything, son! I?d have to get permission to talk to you.?
The Chief glances at the UNSC officers at Lord Hood?s bed. None of them object to his conversation with the couple, and one of them gives a reassuring nod.
The Chief asks again, ?Why do you call me John? SPARTANS aside, everyone else calls me Master Chief.?
The ghost of a smile hovers around Frank?s lips. ?I had a son named John.?
The Chief goes ?Oh.?
?He was such a bright, healthy kid, so strong and so intelligent and so different from everyone else??
The old lady?s eyes water. ?I loved him. He was such a dear. Tall and handsome and loving?and he died when he was only six.?
John(MC) grunts. A strange, uncertain tone comes into the music. There really is something wrong here.
The old lady goes on, ?Whenever someone mentions the name ?John?, Frank and I can?t help but think of him.?
John says, his voice low, ?He died at six? Do you?do you have a photograph of him??
Frank turns around. ?Jennifer??
Jennifer (the old lady) says, ?Why, yes.? There?s a strange look on her face. She looks as though she?s trying to see through the Chief?s opaque gold visor.
Sarge asks, ?What?s up, chief? Something wrong??
Jennifer pulls out a large locket, opens it and presses a button. A photograph expands from it.
She says, ?That?s his most recent photo. It was taken three weeks before he died.?
John pulls out the photograph and stares at it. It?s the photograph of a boy, apparently ten or eleven years old, with messy brown hair, freckles and a gap between his front teeth.
John asks, ?T?this is him at s?six??
Frank says, ?You?d never know he was just six, what with his height and those freckles.?
John?s stutter makes Johnson suspicious. He peers over the Chief?s shoulder. A staff officer hears the stutter and turns around.
John takes off his helmet, revealing the back of his head to viewers. His hair is brown, and closely cropped. He stares at the photograph in his trembling hands for several seconds.
Frank(the old man), asks, ?You know him? He isn?t dead??
John?s voice is a faint whisper. ?No. His clone replacement died. He?s not dead.?
The photograph falls from his fingers. Johnson picks it up, looks at it, and back at the Chief?s face(not visible to viewers). He rubs his eyes in disbelief.
John stutters, ?M?m?m?.mom??
The old lady?s eyes go wide as saucers. ?John??
John stares at his mother for several seconds. The music turns dreamy, fantastical. The staff officer watching them goes, ?My god. That?s his mother.?
The old man gasps, ?John??
John slowly turns around, and, with an effort, whispers, ?Dad??
John?s father gapes, speechless.
All the staff officers have turned around. Lord Hood tries to prop his head up on his pillow to see.
The music in this scene reflects the spine-chilling shock and awe of this moment. The hero meets his parents, shockingly, amazingly. It?s a moment unlike any other.
John?s father finally manages to say, ?We missed you, kid.?
Mom says, ?Honey, I never dreamed?? she begins to sob.
John turns towards his mother, and she reaches out. John extends his own hand, but refuses to grasp hers. Her frail, wrinkled hand stands in contrast to John?s mighty battle-armored hand. John holds her hand only after removing the pressure glove on his own. Mother and son make physical contact with each other after decades. Mom places John?s hand next to her cheek and kisses it.
John says, ?It?s been years since anyone kissed me, loved me the way you do.?
The camera refuses to reveal his face, but we do see a tear flow down his cheek.
Johnson sobs loudly, thinking of his own mother. ?Oh, poor mamma, what would she be thinking now? BOO-HOO-HOOO!? He blows his nose into a hanky (Real noisily). We Halo fans should?ve known better: Sarge has a soft spot for his mommy.
John swallows heavily, and holds his mother?s head in his (ungloved) hands. He kisses his mother on the forehead, and presses his cheek next to hers. Old memories are flooding his mind, rapidly, uncontrollably. He remembers things he was trained to forget: his mother?s kisses, his father?s smiles.
He slowly lets go of his mother, and turns towards his father, whom he also kisses on the forehead.
Dad says, ?I?d give just about anything to have another game of baseball with you, son, but it ain?t likely. Plasma burns in my leg, you know, and we?re all running low on biofoam.?
John, who?s kneeling on the floor between the two beds, gets up and says, ?Mom, dad. I?m making a promise, right here, right now. I?m not leaving you, ever again.? His voice rises in an anger and shame he never felt before, not even when he lost almost all his friends on Reach. ?No one, not the UNSC, not ONI, not the Covenant, not the Flood, not God if he wills it, are going to take me from you ever again. I?m with you, no matter what!?
John begins to remove the battle armor that encases his body with a vengeance, almost explosively shedding the machine part of him. Lord Hood and his officers, moved to tears by the surprise reunion, don?t like the idea of humanity?s hero deserting one bit, but given the circumstances-and the presence of civilian onlookers, they have no choice but to wait until John cools down before reminding him of his mission.
John?s mother asks, ?Son??
John says, ?Mom??
Mom swallows and takes a deep breath. She seems to be preparing to tell him something terrible.
?Honey, there?s nothing in the world we?d like to do than spend whatever?s left of our lives with you, but??
John says, ?You can?t. WHY??
Dad says, ?You?ve got a far more important task than any other human being alive. That?s why. Look, don?t get me wrong, son??
Mom and Dad are no longer shocked, and there?s a firmness in their voice that was never there before. John snarls. ?Yes, I?m to go about with the God damn UNSC, slaughtering all kinds of aliens, killing, murdering, butchering things, all fine for them not to care about me??
The staff officers at Hood?s bed melt away.
??you?re my parents, and you don?t care a damn about MEEEEEEE!!!!!!?
John?s voice is like thunder. He raises his armored ceramic helmet and prepares to smash Mom and Dad to smithereens. Johnson cries, ?NOOOOOO!?
John freezes as though made of stone. The only indication that he?s alive is his breath, which is rapidly hissing in and out of his lungs. The granite lines of his face soften. He drops the helmet and collapses, clutching his head. His dad and mom, who were unruffled during his insane attempt to strike him down, reach out and touch him on his shoulders.
Mom says, ?We love you, John. Don?t ever think we don?t love you. We love you more than anything else in this world. I can?t describe how happy I was to have met you again after all these years?but there are some things that God denies people like us, and he has a reason for doing so.?
John is cynical. ?God? It wasn?t God who took me away from you. It was the UNSC, and ONI. Men like?men like them!?
He points at the staff officers, who look as though they?re expecting the apocalypse to unfold.
Dad smiles. ?They took you away because you?re special.?
John said, ?What specialty? All that was??
Dad continues, ?Not a fluke. Look at all other, less hopeless missions. SPARTANS, supersoldiers supposedly like you, stronger than you, faster than you, have died in far less risky, far less chancy missions. You? You prevail where they all don?t. You get to go and do things that no other SPARTAN would. How come??
John said, ?I don?t know?I??
Lord Hood, on the other bed, says, ?That?s correct, John. Do you think any other SPARTAN could?ve succeeded in the battle on Halo? That you should have been there, in the right place and the right time, to foil everything the enemy did??
Mom says, ?There, John. You see? You were the only one who could?ve done what you did. You have no substitute. There?s no second John, not in the galaxy, not in the universe. You are what God made you.?
John nods. Of course, we still see the back of his head.
Dad says, ?Son, as long as you fight the covenant scum and save human lives, nobody, nothing, can stop you. You?re our savior, son. Let?s hear anyone question that!?
Johnson turns around. ?Anybody question the gentleman??
Silence. Lord Hood?s staff officers smile slightly at the reaction of a petty officer entering the ward for the first time. The light-headed officer staggers a little, shakes his head, comes back to his senses and gives his message, ?SPARTAN-117, HEV drop from the Alliance in ten minutes. Head to the pelican bay ASAP.?
The petty officer walks out of the room, more than a little giddy at the sight of a crying SPARTAN.
Mom turns to John. ?Go ahead, honey. Show them what you?ve got. Don?t worry about us. We?ve served our purpose out well. It?s thanks to God?s grace that we had a chance to meet you before our end. Remember, John, just do the job God has given you. Keep saving human lives, do what you do best?you?ll live through. So will the rest of us men and women.?
John says, ?Goodbye, mom.?
He kisses mom on the cheek, and eases his dad?s head back onto the pillow. He begins walking out of the room, wiping his eyes, looking back at his parents just one more time, and then burying his tear-stained face in his hands (We don?t see his face, ever). He sits on a darkened bench outside the ward. As he leaves, Johnson is seen getting up and picking up his pressure gloves and helmet. On the ward bench, we see the Chief?s face in silhouette, as Johnson comes with his gloves and helmet.
Johnson asks, ?We back in business, Chief?? (Johnson?s face is wiped clean of tears)
Master Chief puts on the gloves and helmet. A few seconds later, he gives Johnson a thumbs-up.
Johnson roars, ?Let?s kick ass!?
The scene ends.
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(UrsusArctos on 06-11-06 19:22 UTC, permalink)
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