Chapter 7

Gentle Touch

I don't own Halo or Metroid. Microsoft and Nintendo do.

Samus POV

I found myself waiting for John to come out of his compartment again. After we got back on the ship, I handed him the suit of armor and literally shoved him into his room to change. Perhaps he would have needed help with some of the armored pieces- he did not seem too familiar with the design- but I figured that Cortana would be able to at least help him figure out what pieces went where.

I still could not believe that I spent all those credits on him. I had chosen to go with a full on suit of armor instead of individual upgrades because it was cheaper to do so, at least, that was what I kept on telling myself. If I truly wanted to save money, though, I would have left him in his old suit, given him the ammunition that he needed and also the power-supply that he needed. Instead, I got him a better than military grade armor set that was upgraded even after the fact. Something must have been wrong with me. I slumped down in my pilots seat and ran my hand through my bangs, letting them fall back to their earlier resting position when my fingers met the ends of each strand. I would have never done that for someone I had just met a few days prior. I would not have let him work with me on the mission, either. Instead, I would have pushed him to the side and gone on the mission solo.

I sighed. Something about John made me do things that did not make sense any way that it was put. The fact that he now knew about the bounty on his head put me at ease, too. It was as if he was a special case because I would have been just fine if some other person had a bounty on their head and did not know it. I probably would have collected that bounty as well. I closed my eyes and gave myself a sheepish smile. Something was definitely wrong with me.

"Lady," Adam started as I placed my hand over my eyes, "It seems that-"

"Samus, Chief is having a hard time latching all his armor pieces in place." Cortana cut off Adam and placed herself to his side, "It seems he's more unfamiliar with the armor types in this day and age than you had first calculated."

I removed my hand from my eyes and sighed once more, "Alright, I'll help him. Is he at least presentable."

"If you count his black jumpsuit as presentable, yes." Cortana smirked as she folded her arms, "Not that he would care."

"I'm sure he cares to some degree. It looks like he hides behind that helmet of his, after all." I grunted as I pulled myself off the chair and went to the door that led to the compartment that Chief was changing in. As I stood near the door, I let my hand lightly tap the metal door, "I hear from Cortana that you need help with your armor... Is it alright for me to come in?"

For a moment, there was no response. I tapped again, harder, only to hear an unsure, "Yeah" coming from the other side of the door. I thumbed some of the buttons nearby and walked through the door once it opened. I had kept my gaze to the ground, mostly, but as I looked up, I found John had gotten only the boots and the arm guards placed around his black jumpsuit. His muscles around his abdomen and chest were very pronounced even in that suit of his. However, that was not were my gaze lingered. Instead, what caught my attention was his face.

John had short, military cut brown hair, deep navy blue eyes, dark, thick eyebrows and a pronounced angular jaw-line. On the left side of his face, there were scars that looked as though they were caused by plasma burns going from his neck to just above the mid point of his cheek. There were more scars that looked like scratches, although less prominent, just above his right eye. His eyes, themselves, looked guarded and yet soft as he looked at me. I had never seen someone quite like him. It took me a moment to realize I was staring when I finally snapped myself out of my daze and asked, "So, what do you need help with?"

John took a moment to look down at his half armored body before saying, "Well... Everything that you don't see on me."

I chuckled for a moment before smiling and picking up the breast plate of his armor and placing it on him, repeating the process with all the other pieces of armor he was missing. He flinched a few times, not knowing what to do and feeling vulnerable, no doubt, especially when it came to a few areas on his back when his sight was away from me. When I got all the armor pieces placed where they were needed to be placed, I walked around him as to inspect my handy-work and then looked him in the eyes, smiling. "Looks like we got it all on without too much trouble. How does it feel?" I happened to have my gaze travel back to the scars on his cheek. It made me wonder how he got them, if they were from a tragic accident or if they were from being in the line of fire.

John moved his arms around in circles. He looked to be pleased, without smiling, at how well the joints moved and then placed his arms back to his sides. He looked down to me and said, "The joints move around a lot better than my old armor, it's lighter, but it seems to be stronger. It also seems to have more comfort built in. It's like a second skin more than an armor set." His voice still sounded gruff but less so since his helmet was not there to impede his speech. He was right about the armor being lighter and stronger, we had modern science to thank for that. His over-shield would also be able to handle more than one or two shots before starting to take physical damage. The design was build for as much mobility as possible, for a human being, without sacrificing protection. Considering the fact that we also added on the upgrades to the physical armor, it would have lost some of it's mobility but would still give him enough to let him do more than he could in his old armor. It was as close to my Varia suit as anyone, besides the Chozo, was ever going to get. It was a work of art.

"It should work wonders for you." I smiled and then found myself drawn to his scars once more. My face fell from the smile that had taken its place there, my hand reaching for his cheek as it did so. His scars were interesting. The one on his cheek looked like some type of flower and had a beauty that it could call it's own. It spread across his cheek almost like vines would. When I finally realized what my hand was doing, I made it freeze in it's tracks. It fell back to my side, just as I had ordered it, hoping not to make John feel uncomfortable or on edge. I looked down to my feet before saying, "Sorry, I... I was curious as to how you got those scars..."

John's blue eyes focused on me for a moment before he looked down to his side, "Thank you for helping me with this new armor." He then strode over to the bed where his helmet lay, "Perhaps... Perhaps I will tell you the story of these scars some other time." He picked up his helmet and placed it over his head. His new visor was just as opaque as the visor he had before, only instead of gold, it was a dark blood red. His armor was more sleek and fit for his form while the color was a slightly richer, darker green than the color of his old armor. He still had the same features from his old suit, namely the magnetic back and motion tracker, but he had it without all the bulk of his old suit. As he walked around, the sound of his footsteps were quieter as well. His armor would do well in stealth missions whereas my armor would do well when heavy weaponry was needed.

I looked back into his visor, hoping to find his blue eyes again, but having failed, looked back down, "I understand." I looked behind me, back towards the door, before turning around and walking to it. He had already told me plenty of things about his past, but I still wanted to know more.

"Hold on for a moment." I turned back around to see John sitting on his broken bed, "I've told you about my times on Halo... I think it's time you tell me more about yourself." John stood back up and walked until he was only a few inches from me, "I think I have a right to know more about the person who has brought me with her to fight along side her."

My eyes widened a bit before looking back to my side. I had asked him about his past and I got an answer straight off the bat. I, on the other hand, kept to myself about my past. Sure there were reports from the Galactic Federation Archives that Cortana might have been able to find and tell him about... But he would not have gotten it from my point of view. "I... I would much rather not talk about my past." And yet I found myself shutting him out of any possible story he was going to get from me. I closed my eyes before opening them again, looking back up at John's red visor. His emotions were hidden from me as he turned around and walked back to the bed and sat again.

"I can't force you to tell me about yourself... But I find myself curious anyways." He looked at me with his red visor, "When you are ready, I will listen. And, perhaps, I will be ready to share the story of my scars."

I looked at him for a moment longer and then slightly bowed my head, "Thank you for understanding. I will leave you now." I brought my head back up and walked back into the cockpit to sit back in the pilots seat. I looked back at John's compartment's door before looking back at the starry scenery before the cockpit's window. He made it clear to me that, if I were to learn more from him, I was going to have to let him learn more about me. I closed my eyes and let myself think about it without the distractions of the stars before me or the flashing buttons that littered my ship's interior walls.

I had always kept myself at a distance from other people. I traveled a lot when it came to bounty hunting jobs and working with the Federation. No one really had the chance to get to know me. Even the other hunters, some of which I worked with on other assignments, did not know the true me. I was just a hunter who was good at what they did. Many would, actually, mistake me as a man, just as John did before... But no one would really make the effort to get to know me, either. The only other person who asked me about my past was Adam... And he was found dead. Part of me wanted to tell John about my past, if only to learn more about him. The other part of me wanted to keep to myself as to not have to suffer with the pain of losing someone who understood me again.

I opened my eyes to look at the clusters of stars before me. It was beautiful and made me feel at peace. Say I was to tell John of my past... maybe he would understand me... Perhaps... I would be able to know that I had someone else to come to when my past started to haunt my dreams. I looked back towards the door and sighed, "Maybe I should open myself up to him... If at least a little." I closed my eyes again and leaned back in my chair. As I did so, I felt the chair recline. I could no longer keep my eyes open. I found that I had been awake much longer than I had expected myself to be. After a few moments, I had drifted off into my past...

...There was giggling as I chased after a small rabbit into a thick patch of trees. I chased after it and chased after it but I could not catch up to it, no matter how hard I ran. Soon, there was a red and gold light welcoming me from behind one of the trees, stretching forth it's wispy fingers as to beckon me towards it. I followed the rabbit that had decided to hop towards this red and gold light, the wispy fingers becoming more lively and menacing.

After the rabbit got close enough, it was swallowed by the red and gold flame. When I realized what it was, I tried to run away, turning around only to find a giant space dragon holding the bloodied corpse of my birth mother. I screamed and tried to find an escape but there was none. The space dragon smiled from ear to ear before throwing my mother's corpse at me, the smell of blood and ash starting to fill my nostrils.

I looked at my mothers corpse and started to cry. The space dragon bared his claws and got ready to swing. There was no where to run, no where to hide. The space dragon clawed at me and I...

...I woke up, sweat beading on my forehead and my hands clenched against the arm rests of the pilots seat. My chest heaved as I tried to bring my blood pressure down to normal levels. I unclenched my hands from the arm rests only to have them go up to my head and clench it instead. My past had come to haunt me again.

"Lady, take deep breaths." I did as Adam told, "Relax, it was a dream." I closed my eyes and did as he instructed. Even after defeating Ridley so many times and knowing that I would be able to defeat him, I still suffered from his memory. Sometimes the dream would be when we first met on K2-L. Other times it would be from the times I met him on Zebes. The dream before this one was when I found him on the BSL station, alive and upgraded with robotic limbs. It was as though there was nothing that I could do to be rid of him. He would always be there to take something precious from me.

My gaze turned to John's compartment door, only to find that John was right by my side, looking as though he wished to help in some way. His arm was outstretched and was about to touch my back, his visor was pointed towards my face although I had no idea what his expression was, and Cortana was standing right next to him looking dumbfounded as if he had done something surprising. I looked at John's Visor as my breathing slowed, "I'm fine... It was just a bad dream."

John retracted his arm and pulled off his helmet. His deep blue eyes bore into mine, "That seemed like more than just a bad dream. I came out here only when I heard you scream."

His eyes showed genuine concern. I looked away for a moment and then back at him, his eyes still showing the same concern. I sighed, my breathing finally getting back to normal. "It was... Just a dream."

John's eyes narrowed for a split second before he looked down to his feet. He looked as though he was thinking about something. Then, his gaze was brought back to me, "If I tell you about my scars... Will you tell me about your dream?"

I was caught off guard for a moment. I had not realized that he wanted to know me so much that he was willing to tell his story before I told mine. I looked away, thinking of what I would say, thinking of what I would do. I looked back at his deep blue eyes that were waiting for an answer. I looked to the ground and rested my arms on my legs, my expression the same as it was before. It would have been unfair of me to make him tell his story before I told him mine. He had already told me plenty and I was trying to get more just like a spoiled child would, without giving anything else in return. "...I guess... I'll tell you. But you have to tell me your story afterwards otherwise I'll feel bad." I looked up at him as he gave a slight smile.

"Of course."

I let my gaze return back towards the ground as I started my story, "When I was less than three years old, my parents and I moved to a mining colony on the planet K2-L. Everything worked out well for us until the space pirates came for what my parents were mining." I looked up to John's eyes, "When the space pirates came, they stopped at nothing to get what they wanted. They slaughtered my friends, their family members and my parents." I looked back to the ground, not wanting to talk about the next part of the story. However, I forced myself to continue on, "They're leader, Ridley, nearly killed me. The only thing that stopped him was my mother who rushed to my rescue when she saw I was in danger. She was killed right before my eyes, impaled by Ridley's claws. Ridley nearly killed me afterwards, only stopping when he learned he needed to retreat. The Chozo had come with backup to rescue all who were left in the colony. That wasn't the last time I saw Ridley. I've seen him many times since then. Many times, I thought I killed him... But it seems that the pirates find some way to bring him back."

"So, then, this dream... It was about this Ridley?"

"Yes. It was. Every time I fall asleep, he haunts my dreams. All those dreams are filled with horror... And every horror ends with either me or those close to me being killed." I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around myself, "I don't want to see anyone else taken from me by his hand. I don't want to have to deal with all this pain... But I do. I do because I have a duty to carry out... For my parents, my friends and their family members. Do you understand that feeling?" I looked back at John's eyes, hoping to find some sort of answer within them. Instead, he closed them.

"I do. Is there... Anything more to this story?" John's eyes filled with more curiosity as he opened them again.

I was somewhat surprised to hear that he understood how I felt... But at the same time, it came to me as no surprise. Everyone had to have something for fight for. I looked to the ground again, "...There is. After the Chozo came, they looked to see if there were any survivors from the assault. They found that everyone, save me, was dead. I was the only survivor." I looked at John for a moment, "The Chozo, seeing that I had no where else to go, took me in and raised me as they would their own child." Once I got started with the story, there was no stopping me. Something inside of me must have needed to let everything out: my past, my emotions, everything.

I told him about how the atmosphere on Zebes was toxic to humans and how I had to be infused with Chozo DNA. After that, I told him about my days in the Galactic Federation and how I got to know Adam Malkovich. Then I told him about my adventures as a bounty hunter, working with the Federation to eradicate the Metroid species and those involved with it. I ended with how I escaped the BSL station with the X-parasites being destroyed along with that station/ I told him everything, only leaving out the details that were not important. When I finished, he was on the ground, looking at me with surprise.

"That's... You are a very skilled individual."

"You think so?"

John nodded and looked to his side. It was his turn to tell me his story. "I promised I would tell my story..." John brought his hand to his scars and sighed, looking back at me as he dropped his hand, "You've been through a lot... But you've always had a choice whether or not to follow through with something." John's gaze pierced mine, "From the time I was 6 years old, I was taught to be a soldier. I didn't have any family to come looking for me. I was simply a test subject." John closed his eyes and pointed at the scars that were just above his eye, "These scars are part of the surgical procedures that were done on me back then. There was no DNA infusion, like you. I was given and implant to improve my sight." John opened his eyes again, "I have several more scars like this around my body." John dropped his hand that pointed to the scars above his eye and pointed to the scars that were on his cheek, "These scars, on the other hand, were not the fault of surgical procedures. Instead, these scars were the fault of my own inexperience on the battle field." John dropped that hand and continued to look me in the eye, "I was in a team on a rescue mission, trying to find some of our missing soldiers. I was one of two spartans on this team... And the only spartan that got out of that mess alive. The rescue mission was more of a suicide mission. Their defenses were too strong and we ended up losing more than half of the rescue party." John ended up looking down at this point.

"It wasn't your fault, was it? You were just following orders."

"Orders that shouldn't have been given. Orders that I shouldn't have followed. Their weapons were too advanced and there was nothing that we could do to protect ourselves. We were sitting ducks until evac arrived." John shut his eyes and furrowed his brows, "I feel like those deaths were on my hands."

At this point, I slid from the pilot's chair and joined John on the floor. I hated the look he had on his face at that moment. I had no reason why... I just did. I reached forth my hand and placed it on his cheek. He flicked his head up, not sure what I was doing perhaps, and then relaxed a little bit. I half expected him to pull my hand away but he did no such thing. Instead, he closed his eyes again and held onto my hand with his own. For a moment, I felt my heart skip a beat. He then looked at me again with his deep blue eyes and smiled sweetly. I smiled back.

"Thank you, Samus... I don't know why... But I feel a lot better. I feel like..." John trailed off.

"I don't know how you feel, but I feel as though we could make great friends." I smiled and he smiled back.

"Yeah. I think you're right."

A/N: Woah, woah, woah... I meant to post this earlier. Sorry guys. ^_^; Siblings decided to take all my time... yesterday... to play some Mario Kart 8... Which is fun, by the way. Especially if you are playing online... Anyways. Yeah, sorry about that, guys. Meant to post this... Technically yesterday for me.

Also, I decided that it was time for some sort-of fluff... Mostly because I have been REALLY wanting to write it... Even when it comes to my own characters... V_V I'm such a girl. Anyways, there's some fluffy-ish-ness for you. But they can't be a couple quite yet. No relationship that starts as something couple... Ish lasts. At least, that's what I've seen with my friends. You have to get to know the person and actually become friends before anything happens... Though, that doesn't mean you can't be attracted to them. XD I actually have a picture of how I envisioned John in this chapter... Though I don't have it posted on my dA account. Otherwise, I would tell you guys to look at it... Instead, I'll just have to post it and hope some of you guys see it later. XD

Anyways, I skipped a week so you guys might get two chapters next week... Maybe... I would have given you two this week but... That didn't work out. Writer's block is NOT awesome. So... Yeah. Have an awesome week, guys.