Return of Spartan 117 - A Halo Story

CHAPTER 13 - Escapees

"Arbiter?" Master Chief asked. "How did you survive?"

There was a pause and with a grunt, Arbiter lifted his head and answered,"The Hornet that I was in...crash landed. I barely survived and the Flood found me. They took me here like what happened to you."

"This isn't what the Flood usually do to survivors." Cortana commented.

"That is because the Flood that you have met before were IDIOTS!" Gravemind boomed louder on the last word. "We are the more civilised type of Flood. We are the head race."

Gravemind stepped forward and stopped in front of Master Chief and leaned forward. "You see, many thousands years ago, us-the Flood-and the Covenant lived together. We were...family. You could say that.But then there was an incident that separated us forever. It separated the genes that were inside us and we started changing. Bit by bit...nothing could stop us. After years of metamorphosis, we ended like what we are today. We thought it was a curse. We separated. Destroyed the Halo that the Covenant originally lived in.But they escaped and managed to keep their technology and created another Halo. The rest...you have learnt from your stays there."

Gravemind paused and turned back around.

"You see, we separated, but we-the Flood-that you see around you also managed to get the technology to build Halos. We stayed here. But then hundreds of years ago, a group of us, decided to go off. They found the cure, and became peaceful."

"The ones that we communicated to. Were they-?" Master Chief started.

"YES!They were the same ones. But then you humans came along. And we've heard of what you've done to the other Flood. We were distraught. But then we started thinking. We devised a plan that would destroy your races and now it is up to the last part. This is where you guys come in. For we need your bodies to reproduce on your home worlds."

"But that will fail," Arbiter said weakly, "The others will notice the difference between mutations and the real things."

"That is when you're wrong. You see, we have perfected the art of mutating. We've perfected it so that there will be no difference in your appearance."