A Notice of Importance
Okay so. First of all, I want to once again thank all my readers for all of their support. Over the months, I've had a few days where my life sucked, and I would see that I had a new review, and that would cheer me up.
Second of all, I have decided on a definite publication date for the sequal, which will be title Three's a Crowd (Subject to change, if I find something better.) The first chapter will be up on 11/15/13, one year since the start of Three Are Better Than One. It seems like a long time, and it is. I just want some time to get caught up on my other stories.
Thirdly, The Journey Ahead is now being continued, so please check that out. It really could use some more reviews. Please. TJA and TABTO are kinda connected to each other slightly, with TJA focusing on Ashley while Six, Emile, and Chief are on Halo. Neither one will major affect the other, other than the occasional reference or something like that.
And lastly, since I don't want this to be a completely short A/N, an epilogue to Three Are Better Than One.
"Finally, dry land!" Six exclaimed, jumping out of the Longsword's hatch and into the hanger of the ONI space station. He, John, and Emile had been cramped up in the bomber for over three weeks, hanging on by rationing food and other supplies.
Emile sighed and looked around, noting all of the wounded Marines being attended to in the wide room, with medics and doctors running around. Chief silently took the lead of the three of them, leading over to two Marines smoking by some crates.
"Who's in charge here?" Chief asked one Marine, who glanced up at the towering Spartan as he lit his cigarette.
"Laverty," he replied, taking a breath of smoke. "He's in the observatory, top floor."
"Thanks." They walked off, heading for the elevator. John and Emile got on, while Six hesistated.
"You guys go on ahead," he said, "I have some business to attend to."
As the lift went up, Six turned back to the groups of Marines, some mourning lost friends, and other celebrating the fact that they had lived. The Spartan's eyes darted from person to person, scanning for a certain red haired human.
A smile slowly crossed his face as he saw her, sitting on some boxes in the corner, reading something on a data pad. "So, Cortana was wrong. I wasn't hallucinating," he muttered, as he began walking over to her.
Ashley looked up as he approached, and the two just stared at each other in silence. She was still in the olive outfit she was in on the Gates of Hell, while Six was still in his armor.
"You look like shit," Ashley said after a second, observing all of the dents and dings in Six's new armor. She glanced back down at her datapad, reading a few more sentences before switching off the screen.
Six shrugged. "Maybe, but that's not important. There's a few things I want to clear up."
"And those are..?"
Folding his arms, he continued. "How did you get to Halo? You said that you were on the Truth and Reconciliation, which wouldn't be possible since that ship went down to the ring far before the Gates of Hell even jumped into the system."
Ashley tried to cover up her wince, but she failed. "Why would you care?"
"I don't," Six replied. "Just the next time you lie, make sure I don't have a smart AI with me." He paused, turning to look at the stars outside of the hanger. "You never told me that you had a child."
Releasing a deep breath, Ashley stood up. "You weren't supposed to find out about that."
"I didn't think I was," he said. "Something makes me think that ONI had something to do with it."
"When they saw that I was pregnant, they saw it as the opportunity to study what a Spartan's offspring would be like. As soon as he was born, he was taken from me, and given to the care of one of the top ONI officials." Ashley paused, letting that sink in. "You do know who the father is, though, right?"
"Yeah, I killed him."
"That was you?"
"Yep."
Ashley sighed and sat back down. "I've always wanted to meet my son, see who he is, and how he's doing. The Covenant probably got him."
Six didn't say anything, instead choosing to look around the hanger, trying to think of something to say.
"It was that Tallert guy."
Six flinched, and then realized that he hadn't turned off his helmet radio. So basically Emile had heard the entire conversation, given Ashley was close enough for his helmet speakers to pick up.
"What?" he asked back, mentally cursing himself.
"That Marine Tallert is Ashley's son," Emile replied.
Suddenly, it hit Six. Tallert had red hair, green eyes. Ashley had red hair and green eyes. He really wanted to facepalm, wishing he had seen it sooner.
Six jerked his head back out to the groups of Marines, looking over the crowd. Deciding that it would be easier to use IFF tags, he activated the helmet's feature, and read the names of the Marines.
Ashley watched in confusion as Six suddenly ran off into the hanger, pusing aside Marines and CO's alike. Laughter erupted as Six returned, literally dragging a Marine behind him.
"What was that for?" the Marine asked, standing up and brushing his shoulders off. Tallert then looked up, and locked eyes with the person sitting in front of him. She was the splitting image of him.
"Ashley," Six said, putting his hand on Tallert's shoulder. "I want you to meet your son."
Eh, just there to add a little bit of story in there. As for the other side characters, Getu, Michelle and Pango, I plan on starting a separate story for them as soon as I finish up other stories. I'm still going to give them a small side plot in the sequal, but their own story will be more in depth.
And I think that's it.
Peace out!