Before Kyle's kidnapping

Steele's POV

I was sleeping peacefully, my consciousness floating in complete darkness as usual. Next thing I knew, I felt a sharp pressure on my mid-section and loud shouting. I woke up with an oof!

What the heck was that?!

I sat up quickly and look around, hands up in fists. Then I sighed and looked the perpetrator in their mischievous face. Selina sat smiling on my lower stomach. "Can you get off now?" I asked irritably. She smiled wider and hops up. It wasn't just Selina that had decided to interrupt my rest, as it appeared I had an entire audience in my room this morning. I waved to the rest of the team and Team Prime. "What are you guys all doing here anyway? You are up even earlier than we were in training, especially you Smith. You never get up on time." Smith shuffled excitedly and gave a sheepish smile. Selina raised her hands, "Don't you know? It's Christmas!!!" I frowned, "So? We don't get breaks, even on holidays."

Kyle stepped up. "That's why we got up early. Selena planned it all out. First breakfast and presents, then we do a bit of a training game. I mean, why not? It's about time we all relax." They all smiled hopefully at me. Even Henderson was standing at the door. He was pretending to be disinterested but I could see a slight smirk on his gruff face.

I sighed loudly and wipe my face. "All right, let me get ready." I said reluctantly. Selina walks to the door, "All right, we'll be waiting in the mess hall kitchen." They leave. I sighed again and hoist my legs over the edge of the bed. This will be an interesting morning.

______________________

Mess hall kitchen

I yawn and walk through the empty mess hall to the kitchen. As I round one of the stoves, I walk in on what seems to be some kind of red and green extravaganza. Silver strands and red and green glass balls hang from the pot racks. Pieces of evergreen tree branches filled in the spaces on the metal counter where it doesn't have food. Some wavy red and white strips lay on a plate, bacon I believe. They give off a surprisingly delicious smell. Next to them is a large bowl of cooked eggs, all chopped up. Bottles of milk and orange juice stand randomly in their own little green cocoons. Finally, in the middle stands a large stack of soft golden brown saucers. Taste buds I didn't even know I had begin to water with the aromas. I try to think of the name of the stack for a moment, the name escaping me for lack of familiarity... That's right! They are called.. Pancakes...

All of the sudden I have a strong flashback.

My nose fills with the delicious smell of a Sunday breakfast. I come into the kitchen to see two plates on the table, along with hash browns, bacon, eggs, and pancakes. "Mom, it looks great! Thank you!" I say sweetly, my voice high pitched and juvenile.

The figure standing by the stove walks up to me. She's blurry, like a bad photograph. She hugs me. "Well thanks Steele. Nice to be appreciated." She laughs, her voice as silky as the chocolate we get on rare occasions. I squeeze her as hard as I can, smelling the smoke on her apron. She laughs, "You're getting strong. Let's eat before all the food I just made gets cold though." I smile and watch the blurry figure sit down, I can barely see brown hair.

"Steele?"

I'm shaken back to reality and close my partially open mouth, relaxing my pained face. Both teams are looking at me curiously. I give a half smile. "Are you alright?" Selina asks. I nod. "Sorry, I just had a small headache from waking up so early." I lie.

They exchange worried glances. "You might want to get that checked out later, you never get headaches. Anyway, come on, let's eat! I didn't have the cooks make all of this food and spend my time doing this just so it could get cold." Scott said with a hint of excitement in his voice. I nod and walk forward, brushing back a few strands of silver to grab a plate. The teams have already gotten their food and now stand around the backside of the table. I heap a bunch of each type onto my plate, pausing for a moment at the pancakes, and walking around.

"So, what exactly is the training game?" I ask between bites. Selina holds up a finger and swallows. "Well... I was thinking that we could a little bit of a contest. Last team standing wins." She smiles hopefully at me. They all look for confirmation. Once again I realize that I have commanding authority over anything they want to do. I nod and they all cheer. Kyle pats me on the shoulder. I flinch and Selina notices. She opens her mouth to say something to the surprisingly young soldier but I shake my head and let it pass. After all, it is Christmas.

After that we clean up and head back to my quarters for presents. I am a bit confused, because how are they going to get the presents there if they have been with me this whole time, but allow them to lead. They open the door and Kyle gestures for me to go in, looking mischievious. I slowly round the glass corner and gasp a bit. My entire bed is filled with boxes wrapped in shining paper and ribbon. "What are these?" I ask curiously. Selina frowns, "Christmas presents, haven't you..." she trails off, realizing how close to home what she was about to say was. She clears her throat and says, "They are Christmas presents. A lot are for you but they are addressed to everyone. Go ahead guys and look through them." She says. We all go for the bed, but Kade, Henderson, and Strang stayed back so everyone would fit.

I looked over a large red, green, and white striped box to see my name and have a secret bit of exhilaration. No wonder people like Christmas. I saw everyone else had a present and are now looking at me. Selena whispers, "Now you open it."

I quickly found an edge and pulled it off, revealing part of some kind of box. I quickly tore off the rest and held it up. It was a small holo-projection bubble in it's box. I look up. They gesture me to open it. I lift the bubble out of the box and set it on my desk. It immediately camd to life, projecting a 3-D picture of the whole team inside. I am standing valiantly in the front of both teams. "Oh wow... Thank you guys." I gave them an awkward smile. I don't do that often. They respond with varied versions of "No Problem, thought you should have a keepsake."

Then they opened their presents. There are a few weapons, pictures, and keychains. All are received with joy. After we clean up all of the wrapping paper, Kyle seemed impatient. "Can we go do Last-team standing now?" I looked at Selina. She nodded, "Sure, though we need our armor on. So everyone go do that and we will meet in the outdoor training forest."

They nodded and dispersed. I held Selina back. "Has there been any covenant activity recently? Scouting groups, things like that?" She shook her head, "No, don't worry about it, I've made sure the game was safe, and no scouting parties have been reported. We will be fine." She said. I sighed and let my hand drop from her shoulder. She nodded at me and walked out.

I looked back at my holographic picture. That is the first keepsake I have ever owned. I shake myself from staring and walk to the armory. Well, time to get ready.

I quickly dressed up in my black and grey Helioskrill-class armor and walked down to the weapons section of the armory. As soon as I rounded the corner I saw Selina waiting. I quickly stood next to the door with her and waited for everyone else. "So, I've outfitted replicas of our weapons to shoot paintballs, except these have extra weight to them so they will hurt just as much as a bullet." Selina remarked. Henderson joined us with Smith and Rogers. "Good Job Selina. Thank you for setting all of this up." I said with a hint of a smile. She nodded and stood back against the wall.

Finally, Kyle was the last to arrive. She nodded us into the armory and we filed in after her. We passed many racks of equipment and a few hallways before she pulled us into a side-room. I squeezed in first and she gestured to a small section of the wall. There was my assault rifle and DMR. I lifted them off and inspected. They felt... almost the same. I quickly pulled back the slide and saw a small green pellet with a brass back to it in the small opening where a bullet should be. I released and slid it onto my back. I nodded at her and stepped out of the room so everyone else could have a fair share. I had also grabbed some modified grenades from the wall. I assumed they exploded with the same green paint.

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I waited for everyone to come back out. Once everyone was here, Selena gestured for me to assign teams. I looked around for a moment, "Let's switch things up this time. New teams. Kyle, Henderson, Selina, Smith, you are with me. Rogers, Grey, Scott, Kade, and Strang, you guys are blue team. Got it?" They nodded and simultaneously said, "Affirmative!"

"Okay! Let's go then!" I commanded. The other team hurried out to the training forest. I led my team also to the training forest, but at a fork I went left instead of right with them. My team followed and we entered a small armory. We waited near the double doors for the countdown to start.

After a few moments a speaker high above the course said in a smooth but monotone female voice, "Training game... Team Deathmatch... will begin shortly. There will be no foul play, no outside collaboration, and no moving once shot on the training course. The game will begin in 5..." I brought my rifle up. "4..." Kyle glanced at me quickly and copied me. I smiled to myself. "3... 2... 1" The door slid open smoothly with a whir. We raced out and I had to call them to a stop, remembering that this was a new team and they didn't know the routine.

"Hold up." I called to the eager Kyle. Henderson and the others had already stopped. He skidded in the green leaves, throwing up a small flurry, and walked back. "What?" He asked, a hint of annoyance present in his voice. "We need a plan of attack. No doubt they are doing the same." I said calmly. He sighed and set his rifle down, looking expectantly at me. "Since these are new teams, I need to be able to trust you all." They both nodded. I didn't need a response from Selina and Smith. "So, the best plan of attack would be to stay together but still spread out. We will move out on all sides but must stay in visual contact. The object is stealth, if we can sneak up on them, we can take them out easily. They will most likely be in a small group. Got it?"

They all nodded. I waved my hand forward and we dispersed into the trees. We moved quickly for a little while but as we reached the middle I waved my hand to Kyle and he passed along the message to slow down. I darted from a moderate sized bush behind a tree. I spotted Kyle copying and was amazed at how well he could do it, even if it wasn't perfect. I peeked my rifle about and looked over. Still seeing no one in sight, I ran a few feet and ducked behind a thorn bush. I held up my fist to Kyle for him to stop and looked out. That's odd, we should have seen them by now, we are almost at their base, and spread out the way we are we should have spotted them.

I stood up next to a trunk and listened closely as I tried to figure out what was wrong. The wind played through the trees, dancing with the leaves. There was some new sound but I could not identify it. The wind quieted and a bird chirped, tweeting softly a few times before falling silent. I could finally hear what my highly trained ears strained to hear, the sound of gunfire, spotted with distant explosions. From the direction it's coming from, that's on the far corner of the training forest!

I quickly relayed through the comm, "Group up, standard formation. We need to move fast."

The three acknowledgement lights winked and Kyle physically nodded to me. I ran forward and they slid out of the foliage, running in a diamond-like formation. The sound of gunfire neared and I could now hear the distinct humming and burning of plasma rounds from what could only be Covenant weapons.

I quickly keyed the main comm. It was accepted and a voice said, "S-118, what is your reason for contacting this channel?" I kept my voice steady despite my heavy breathing. "Sir, I have reason to believe Covenant forces have infiltrated the training forest. Requesting reinforcements immediately. Number of hostiles unknown."

There was a pause. "Reinforces inbound, alarm ini..." I interrupted, "Negative Sir, do not initiate the alarm, the Covenant forces may flee with prisoners. I have reason to believe they do not know of their detection." I said. He paused again. "Affirmative S-117, forces ETA five minutes."

"Acknowledged." I said, and the feed cut off. The sound of explosions was now almost deafening. I waved my hand and we slowed down. I pointed and Smith and Selina and had them spread out next to me. We came upon a clearing and I hid behind a bush, pushing back a branch to look into a very much paint splattered clearing. There was quite a large Covenant force struggling with the other team. At least ten Elites were struggling to exterminate the band of Spartans. If I was right, it seemed that they had not known we were here and were trying to keep it quiet to get the advantage on Fort Cause. Rogers had speckles of paint on her, bashing a grunt with her rifle. Scott and Kade were darting between a group of elite, slowly draining their shields. A few were drenched in Red paint.

Strang and Grey were also engaged in smaller battles with grunts, even managing to pick up some plasma pistols. A hunter appeared close to them and they broke apart, darting around it's large gun and shield.

I signaled Henderson and Selina to attack the Elites and Smith to help Rogers subdue the main force. I gestured Kyle to follow me. I waited until they were in position and then waved my hand forwards rapidly to allow them to engage. We rushed out of the bushes, terrifying the Grunts closest to us as we took them down quickly on the way to our targets.

I keyed the other team's short range comms and said, "Thought you might need some help." There was a short acknowledgement light from Rogers and the others as I moved in on the Hunter.

I shot my gun into the hunter's face, unsure if they even saw from that point seeing as they are essentially a hive of worms all joined together inside armor. It roared in anger and threw it's heavy shield out at a surprising speed. I would have moved swiftly out of the way if Kyle hadn't darted into my destination as he avoided an Elite and kept me from moving in time. The edge caught me in my chest and I was flung backwards, smashing through a medium sized tree and rolling to a stop several feet behind it before landing on my face. Splinters of wood exploded outward when I hit the tree and fell all around me. The top half of the tree had fallen off to one side. I groaned and wobbly pushed myself up, feeling a few broken ribs grind painfully against each other.

I looked over the splintered stump of the foot-wide tree to see the Hunter's large green barrel ready to fire. However, as it was releasing the clamps, Kyle ran up to it with one of the paint grenades and tucked it into the hunter's neck. It swung out the shield but he jumped back and the gun mounted to it's arm fired slightly off. I stood up just in time for it to explode to my left, throwing me once more into another tree, but this one held. I got up on one knee and looked back to see a headless hunter covered in green paint fall to the ground, orange pieces and mist of the worms it was made up by, falling to the ground.

He smiled and I got up. Suddenly an energy sword appeared where his chest should be. I stopped, stunned. Kyle was jerked forwards, stunned as well. Then Kyle seemed to grab the sword's handle through his chest and twisted it around, stabbing the owner. The Elite fell to the ground and Kyle fell to his knees. I ignored my broken ribs and ran to him. He was just sitting there, looking around him in shock and stabbing a grunt that came close.

I knelt down next to him, but when I looked over his chest, there was no wound to be seen. I spotted a small melted piece of armor on his arm and realized what had happened.The Elite missed and had stabbed him through the gap between his arm and body. He had been surprised and jerked forwards. I actually almost laughed. Almost. I helped him up and we engaged in the battle again, but the Covenant were retreating. I soon saw why.

The reinforcements had arrived. They attacked from the direction of the base and ran past us at the Covenant. Terrified Grunts and Elites fled with a cry to fall back in Sangheili. Soon we were left in an empty clearing, only the commander of the allied force remaining. I sat down on the stump of the tree that I had smashed through, sitting up straight to keep my broken ribs from moving too much. Distant battles cries sounded and a minute later a cheer went up. They had driven the Covenant off.

The commander approached me and I stood slowly, wincing but even with my efforts to conceal, he noticed my injury. I saluted. "Looks like we got here just in time." He said. I nodded. He looked at the two paint-splattered teams gathering up their weapons. "Well I think you've earned this victory, go to the med bay and then go to the Sergeant Major for debriefing. I'll let them know you're coming." He said. I nodded and he walked off, back towards Fort Cause.

The two teams gathered around me. I noticed with some humor that it seemed like each team was covered in the other team's paint despite no actual battle happening between the two of us. "Get cleaned up and ready for the day, I might be a bit longer than usual so don't wait for me in training. Good job team." I said, wincing as I moved. Kyle noticed and looked down in shame. I paused for a second, and then added, "Thank you all for setting this up. It may not have been perfect but it has been the best holiday I've had in a long time." I couldn't see it but I knew several of them were smiling. They walked off towards the armory and I went my own way, in pain but feeling truly happy for once.