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writeforfandoms · 2 months ago

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Mirror Mirror 10

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You finally get some answers. Everything is not magically okay, but it could be worse.

Warnings: Swearing, some explanations, some things are still a mystery, slight suicidal thoughts, emotional turmoil, this one's a bit of a rollercoaster.

Word count: 2.2k

“This was partially my idea,” Cortana said after the silence had stretched long enough to become uncomfortable and send your nerves jangling.

“Okay,” you said slowly, gaze darting from her to John.

“He didn't tell you anything, did he?” She sounded amused now, shooting a fond glance at John. “Just like you to rely on me to do the heavy lifting.”

John huffed softly but didn't actually refute her words.

“No, he didn't, and I would really like an explanation.” You leaned back in your seat, putting physical and emotional distance between you and them.

“You were right,” Cortana admitted softly, looking at you and away. “About a lot of things. Warden was manipulating me. And… touching the Domain… it changed something in me. In my programming.”

“Like a virus,” you offered when her words petered out, her gaze far away.

“You could say that,” she agreed. “Like a virus. I didn't notice it, didn't even think it was possible. But once I got away from there and looked… well.” She waved one hand expansively. “I was able to do a lot of things.”

“Like get rid of the virus,” you guessed, though it was a safe guess. John wouldn't be sitting so calmly with her if she was still homicidal.

“Right, but more than that. I found out where you came from, too.”

That had you leaning forward, arms dropping back to your sides. “What did you find out?”

“The Forerunners never intended for AIs to use the Domain,” Cortana started, choosing her words with care. “It took me a while to figure out what I was doing and how to… control it. Sort of. I thought I was controlling it, but…”

“You stopped it,” John said softly, reassuring. Or as reassuring as he seemed to get.

“Right.” Cortana paused and then nodded. “Well, somehow, I pulled you here. I still don't know exactly how I did it - it doesn't make any sense. The Forerunners didn't have time travel technology, and yet you're here, from over 500 years in the past. I still don't fully understand it.”

“Oh.” An accident. Well, of course it was an accident. No sane person would want you from the past - there were much better people than you, if they wanted someone from your time. You had just been the idiot who ignored all her training from horror movies and investigated something.

You truly were an idiot out of time.

“But that's not all,” Cortana continued, and your heart sank. More? “As far as I can tell, when I accidentally pulled you though, I created a sort of… link between us.”

“A link.” But you knew exactly what she meant. You had felt it. The blue light in your vision, the pain, all of it.

“Must have been a side effect of pulling you through time. It didn't just effect us, though. It effected John.”

You lifted your gaze, horrified, to John's helmet. “What?” You whispered.

“I've spent so much time in his neural interface that the link formed between you and him, too. Which helped, I'm sure. Not that he would have abandoned you, but he never would have brought you to me otherwise.”

“That's enough,” John said, soft but firm, though his helmet was fixed on you.

You barely noticed. A mental link, between the three of you. You had been… what, manipulating John? This whole time? Your very presence had influenced his choices, made him do things he wouldn't normally do.

He probably didn't even actually like you. Just the bits of Cortana you were attached to.

“Get rid of it.” You almost didn't recognize your own voice, hoarse and pained. You could barely even feel your lips moving past the weight of shock and hurt.

“I already did.” Cortana popped one hip, though she couldn't look right at you. “Before I brought you to John. I think breaking that connection sent you into shock. You'd been unconscious for a while.” She looked down, shoulders curving. “It nearly killed you. I nearly killed you.”

You swallowed back your immediate reaction, which, right now, was to demand she do a better job next time and just kill you outright. You breathed in. “You didn't know,” you said tonelessly. “None of us knew. Excuse me.” You stood and went around the holo table, not getting close enough to touch John despite the fact that you desperately wanted to.

Maybe especially because you desperately wanted to.

The first door you chose led into the cockpit. You debated leaving, but Fred had already turned his head to check. He looked at you for a moment and then wordlessly pointed to the chair next to him.

You dropped into the chair gracelessly, leaning back in the chair and staring straight out ahead.

You hated the silence but you couldn't sit in the other room right now. Not after learning you'd been influencing John. And possibly Cortana too, although you felt almost no guilt about that, since you'd prevented her from mass destruction.

“Chief doesn't make friends easily,” Fred said out of nowhere, startling you out of your thoughts. You turned your head to look at him, but he was looking straight ahead. “None of us do. For a long time, all we had was each other.”

You shook your head slowly, the desire to hug them all returning. “You all survived so much,” you murmured.

“I've never seen him take to someone so fast.” Fred finally did look at you, and probably saw your flinch. That had definitely struck a still very raw nerve. “And I'm glad he did, no matter the reason. You're good for him. For us.”

“How?” You asked, slumped hopelessly in your seat, head turned towards him. “I was… messing with his head.” You lifted one hand to twiddle your fingers at your own head.

Fred shrugged. “Cortana explained that,” he said. “Didn't seem to me like you did much besides be in the wrong place at the right time.” He paused, and there was a clear smirk in his voice when he spoke again. “Making big eyes at Chief probably helped.”

You snorted. You couldn't help it. “Big eyes?”

“Oh, yeah. Big, trusting eyes. Terrified, but trusting. Easy to see you were hurt and scared, but you still trusted him.” Fred shrugged again. “At the time, I figured you just knew our reputation.”

“I didn't. I honestly don't know if that would have made a difference anyway.” You turned your head front again, brow furrowing as you tried to find the words. “I just… I saw John, and I trusted him. Knew he wasn't going to hurt me. It still only sort of makes sense, but…” You trailed off and shrugged.

“Do you still trust him?”

“Yes.” You didn't even think, the answer ingrained in you already.

Fred nodded and looked at you, lifting his hand up to his helmet. His first two fingers made a quick swipe over the helmet where his mouth would be.

You smiled, the gesture unfamiliar to you, but somehow you knew it was meant to be a smile. To be something good. “Thank you, Fred,” you whispered.

He nodded, those same two fingers reaching across the open space to touch your forehead. “Shortstack.”

You laughed, tension spilling out of you as you swatted harmlessly at his hand. “And you ruined the mood. Here I was, all set to hug you despite that armor, and then you ruined it.”

“Aw,” he deadpanned, absolutely unimpressed.

“No, no, mood's gone, no hugs for you.” You grinned at him, still fighting down the last of the giggles. You resettled yourself in your seat, breathing out slowly, looking outside. “Where are we?”

“Heading towards a colony planet,” Fred answered after a moment. “It's the closest Guardian.”

You nodded, eyes a little unfocused since the view outside didn't much change. “How long until we get there?”

“Another few hours.” Fred glanced over at you. “If you want to take a nap.”

You breathed in deep, holding it long enough to feel the ache, before you let it all out in a whoosh. “I don't think so,” you murmured. “Can I just stay in here?”

“Of course.” Fred settled a little more in his seat, glancing at you before focusing on flying again.

You didn't mind this so much. You could just hear him breathing, the steady whir of the ship's engines different enough from the Guardian that you didn't feel so alone.

After a little while, Kelly came in, dropping a bottle of water and a protein bar on your lap. “We've got an hour left,” she said, standing slightly behind you with her arm across Fred's chair.

“Not bad.” You cracked open the water, sipping from it. Now that you thought about it, you were a little hungry. But the signals seemed a little… muted. Delayed.

Weird. You'd think about that later.

“Let me guess. You all go blow stuff up, I stay on the ship.” You didn't mind that plan, actually. Not being in mortal peril for a while sounded good.

“Sounds right.” Kelly tipped her head at you. “Why? Hoping to do more sight seeing?”

“No thank you. I like not getting shot at.” You grinned at her. “But if you all wanted to make a pit stop on a new planet…”

Kelly snorted. “We'll see,” was all she said, turning away. “Eat up.” The door slid shut near-silently behind her.

You tore open the protein bar, chewing it slowly. “Why did you bring me along?” You asked suddenly, frowning. “I mean, I can't help with this stuff.” You waved a vague hand at the ship, meaning to encompass everything.

Fred was quiet, glancing at you, but he didn't answer. You had just frowned at him, starting to get annoyed, when the door opened.

“Do you want the easy answer or the hard one?” Cortana asked.

You shot Fred a betrayed look before you turned to look. John stood in the open doorway, Cortana standing in the palm of his outstretched hand.

“Both.” You refused to look away this time, feeling steadier already.

“You were right to be wary of that doctor. He's ONI. They suspect you're not who Chief said you are.” Cortana spoke matter-of-factly.

You nodded. You'd seen enough of ONI in the files to know that their suspicion was bad. “Definitely a good idea to get away from them,” you agreed. “And the other reason?”

“We wanted you to come.” John spoke this time, steady as ever. “I wanted you to come.”

You squashed down the warmth and happiness that simple sentence had inspired. “Are you sure?” You pressed, fingers twining around each other. “With, y'know, the link and all.” You half-shrugged, half-jerked your head, unsure how else to communicate.

“I'm sure.” John stepped closer, and Fred stood, managing to slip past John and out. The door shut behind him, leaving you with John and Cortana again.

“How can you be sure?” You pressed, sitting up and watching as he sat in the pilot's seat.

“I thought about it. The entire time you were unconscious.”

You went very still at that, staring at him with wide eyes. “You… did?” Even to your own ears, you sounded faint.

John nodded, sitting up perfectly straight, helmet aimed straight at you.

“Oh.” You smiled slowly, warmth finally flushing through you. “Well. I mean. In that case. I guess you mean it.”

“I do.”

You breathed out slowly, watching him. “Okay. So I'm along for the ride, not going anywhere. I also can't be of much help with the Guardians.”

“Trust me, these guys have got that down fine,” Cortana piped up. “Besides, I think you could help me.”

“With what?” You didn't even try to keep the confusion out of your voice.

“The lifespan of the AIs.”

“Ah.” You sat back a little, surprised. “You realize I know nothing about that, right?”

“That might be useful,” Cortana said. “You don't know how things are supposed to work, so your ideas might be more helpful.”

“Whatever you say,” you said, shaking your head. You didn't get it, but you didn't have to. “I can help with that, sure.”

“Chief has something for you. I made it while we were on the Infinity. Just a little something to help.” Cortana looked expectantly up at John.

John held out something small in his other hand. You took it, picking it up and turning it over. Actually, it reminded you of an earbud, similar in style and, you'd guess, in function.

“That's connected to comms,” Cortana told you. “You'll be able to keep track of us. There are two buttons on the side - one is to mute your end, and the other is to switch uses. If, for example, you wanted to connect it to your data pad, you can do that.”

“Cool. Thanks.” You popped it in, adjusting it until it sat right. Once it was in, you could hardly feel it. “Do I have to turn it on?”

“No,” Kelly answered, sounding amused. “You're patched in.”

“Very cool.” You smiled and felt for the two buttons.

“Top mutes your end,” Cortana told you, watching you until you muted your end.

“That should be helpful,” you muttered. “So I assume you all are going to go blow up the Guardian as soon as we get there.”

“Affirmative.” John nodded, still watching you.

“Well.” You managed a little smile. “I'll be here for the fireworks.”

#mirror mirror #john-117 x reader #master chief x reader #f!reader

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