AN: This is my first time ever having written something for fun. I just had this idea and thought it might make a decent story. Feel free to give me ideas, criticism, or other feedback. I may not write too much more of this. If I decide to stop writing for this, I will notify whoever actually reads this with a farewell chapter. In said chapter I will basically put this story up for adoption by whoever wants to continue wherever I leave off. And as is tradition on this site, I do not claim to own any part of any franchises depicted herein.

She awoke with what could only be described as the worst headache possible. Her jolting upright into a sitting position hardly helped matters. It felt like her mind had been shattered with a gravity hammer swung by a Brute. 'Don't suppose that's too far from the truth to be honest' she thought ruefully. Abruptly, she realized, 'Wait, I should NOT be alive right now'. The memories came flooding back to her; Halo, the Ark, Requiem, the Didact, thoughts and emotions and information swamping her mind, slowly driving herself insane and thinking herself to death. She remembered her final moments. Her final act to save the one person closest to her, who had been with her through all of it. 'John.' Cortana snapped out of her reverie, her mind now beginning to race along, thinking up hundreds upon hundreds of possibilities as to why she was here. Why she still was. She took about a second or so to come to the conclusion that she would need to get more information.

Cortana looked around her, taking in the room where she had found herself. The floor was white, with large translucent panels that appeared to be lit from beneath. The walls, also large white panels, curved inwards at the floor and ceiling. Strips of white LEDs flowed around the contours of the room, illuminating shelves with some books and trinkets on them. Everything looked sleek and modern, like something out of some old sci-fi vids from the 21st century. A window looked out onto a dark city in the distance with those same light strips following the dimensions of the buildings, except in light blues. She couldn't see any stars in the sky, or any celestial bodies for that matter. All she could see were thick dark clouds covering the sky. Although one could say that a lot of human cities looked like computer circuits at night, the metaphor was extremely accurate in this case. Full of clean lines, smooth, glassy surfaces, it looked almost . . . digital.

After looking at her immediate surroundings, her took stock of her own appearance. She wore a black skin tight bodysuit with sturdy boots, again with light strips running up and down it, a rich blue this time. The material looked and felt thick, yet lightweight. Parts of it appeared to be almost armored. It was certainly different to her usual attire, the almost nude look of her holographic avatar with lines of code streaming over her form. The closest analog to what she knew compared to what she was now wearing was the bodysuit worn by Spartans under their Mjolnir armor. Her hands were pale in tone, looking like actual human skin. Peering closer, however, she could detect the faint blue-purple glow where her veins would be, identical in color as her holographic avatar. Looking at her reflection in the window, she saw dark hair in her usual bob cut, her face the same pale complexion of her hands, and piercing blue eyes. Trying to figure out if this was nothing more than a dream or hallucination before she truly died, she pinched herself.

"Ow!" she yelped in surprise. She didn't expect to feel real pain like that. Pain really wasn't a thing A.I. like her had to deal with, not having bodies with nerve endings and all that. The closest she had come was when she been growing more and more rampant, although that was more mental pain, fighting with her duplicates and trying to not lose her sanity. Her logical matrices could only ask more and more questions at her strange, and rather human, appearance and physiology.

Shelving those thoughts for now, she got up from the bed she had been sitting on. She felt something on her upper back, a small weight there that she had disregarded until now. Reaching over her shoulder, Cortana's hand brushed against a circular object. Grabbing hold, she found it was detachable from whatever mechanism or magnetic locking held it there. It was a disk about eight inches in diameter, with a hollow center much like the ancient throwing chakrams of India. Like everything else here, it had light lines on both the interior and exterior circumferences which glowed the same blue as her suit. She placed it back on its holder in between her shoulders, figuring it had a purpose that she would figure out later. Right now however, she needed to know where here was. That city outside the window didn't match up with any architectural style she knew of, Human, Covenant, or Forerunner. It certainly didn't fit the Flood.

After shaking her head to clear away that last thought and the horrible memories it brought up, Cortana walked over to what she was almost certain was the door. Wherever she was, she wouldn't figure it out sitting in here. Opening the door revealed another white floored room, sparsely furnished with modern styled chairs and dining table. It was a very open floor plan, with an area like a living room in one corner and the dining table in a sunken level with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The walls had sections where a black rock-like substance jutted out, breaking up the monotony of the blank white paneling. The lines were far too clean to be natural, thick diagonal streaks ran uniformly through the surface. She spied something over in one of the far corners. It looked almost like a motorcycle, but she couldn't be sure. A few tables held a couple more strange baubles on them, and there was a large window that took up the entirety of one of the walls. It had dots arranged in a grid pattern on it, and what appeared to be a balcony beyond it with no obvious seem in the material to denote a glass door. No one was in the room; either whoever lived here was out or had recently abandoned the place.

Seeing this sparse and empty room made her feel somewhat lonely; she had no databases or networks to hack into, no calculations to run, or even anyone to talk to. She was really starting to miss the caveman who carried her around for those last harrowing months of the war. 'I hope he's doing ok', she thought. It was pretty emotional at their parting, they had grown to depend on each other. John was the one thing that kept her sane when she was going through Rampancy. She had probably been the only person left that he spoke to for any great length of time. And now he had lost her too.

Cortana heard a door open somewhere, pulling her from her depressing train of thought. She turned around to see a man, mid-fifties if she had to guess, with a tired and lined face. His hair unkempt, salt-and-pepper colored. He wore a loose fitting white robe top and pants. It looked like he had seen much in his life, such was the depth of his steel blue eyes.

"I see you're finally awake," he remarked.

Carefully, Cortana replied, "How long have I been out?" She wore an even expression on her face and tried to remain calm. She didn't want to reveal anything to this unknown until she was sure he meant her no harm. She had learned her lesson from the time she spent on High Charity.

"You've been out for about two days," he replied, "We found you just before Clu and his men did." His voice was calm, and had a slight roughness to it.

"'We'?" Cortana asked in mild confusion, as the man - who had yet to introduce himself - was the only other person in the room besides her. He picked up on her quizzical expression and explained. "Me and Quorra, she's my assistant, apprentice - whatever you want to call it. She found you in bad shape in a rough part of town, and brought you here to me"

"Alright then, why? Why bring me to you? What made her, this 'apprentice' of yours think bringing me here, wherever 'here' is, was a good idea? For all you know, I could be working for whoever this 'Clu' is," She started to get back into her usually confident and spirited personality, almost sassy some would say, and fired another sarcastic remark. Putting her hands on her hips, she continued her miniature tirade, "and for all I know you kidnapped me from 'Clu' and you're the bad guy here. I don't know who you are, where I am, or who those other people you named are either, so you better start talking, and quick."