aftermath of a bloodbath

Noah wasn't sure how long he stood there, but his wet clothes beneath his cloak made his body go numb. It was the numbness he should have felt when he was trapped in the illusion of the Core. Though it was the lack thereof that brought him out of the illusion and gave him the room to save his fellow warriors. Now, though, it was a fear-gripped reminder that losing his father was not the only thing he had to hold grief for anymore.

He couldn't move, even when her voice broke across his eardrums. His glacier eyes had closed, and he had removed the cloak from his trembling body without noticing it. His lips were blue around the edges, his ears and nose a bright, alarming red against the stark white of his cheeks. But it came again, followed by more, and it wasn't a ghost. Sucking in a breath, the Sentinel spun around. His eyes immediately welled with tears as his body carried him to her in spite of the way his muscles trembled in an attempt to keep him warm.

"You're alive." He whispered into her hair, the breath he had been holding spilling out over the crown of auburn. "You kept your promise."

And so whatever Halo thought of her now, it was because of him. He would hold that guilt, he would carry her shame if it meant she didn't have to.

Noah

the sentinel of the north