Elario & Tifa II

[Tifa Lockhart]

Cthar was shaken almost to the core by all the new possibilities this human had presented to him. What if the prophets had allowed them to negotiate the absorption of humanity into the covenant? How would things have been different?
He nodded to Kylar readying himself for whatever they were going to encounter once they entered the building. He said nothing though, too troubled to speak.

[Elario Luminus]

Kylar knew better than to walk around an unknown area with a combat knife drawn, so he searched for a quieter way in than just smashing through the glass. He went into a thermal vision mode on his visor, and it showed nothing moving inside. Not even any point lasers as a method of security. He found the door easily enough, however, and proceeded that way.

When he reached it, the Spartan gently pushed the door and thanked his luck that whoever watched the building had left it unlocked. Kylar moved in at a crouch, then stopped dead. He switched his vision over to electrical, and found lots of small white lines travelling over his head. As he followed each one, he realised they ended at a surveillance camera. He looked back at the Elite.
'Any way you can disable those?'

[Tifa Lockhart]

Cthar assessed the situation silently, before activating his camouflage once more. Without so much as a word he walked into the foyer, the cameras unable to see through his cover. The immense creature was then able to reach up to the back of the cameras and pluck the power cord from behind. The entire action was executed with much more care then seemed usual for one of his species, and once he was sure all the cameras were diarmed, he dropped the camouflage and gestured to Kylar.

[Elario Luminus]

Kylar continued on, making sure he placed the removal and/or destruction of surveillance tapes as a secondary objective. He moved at a crouch the entire way up the spiralling staircase. When he glanced inside the glass tube in the centre, Kylar found that what made that noise earlier had been bells.
'Bells? That's what it was? These things are old. Too old...' He continued up, silently worried about things now. Things like not just where he was, but, although it made no sense, when he was.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Cthar gave a roar of frustration when Kylar made his observations about the bells and their apparent age.
"I thought those security devices seemed archaic even for humans!" he exclaimed, seeming almost insecure. "By the prophets, where are we human?"

[Elario Luminus]

Kylar was silent with shock. 'I...I don't know. These bells...'
He gasped inaudibly when he realised what was going on.
'They haven't been used for centuries. Any bells left intact were removed from museums and destroyed in the year 2169.'
The Spartan turned on the Elite. 'We have to find the nearest person and ask what year it is. Now!'

[Tifa Lockhart]

The Elite was very suddenly towering over Kylar, standing immediately in front of him, his mandibles split in what could have only been a Sangheili gesture of shock.
"Think Human... what will old-world humans think when they see me?" He pressed a four fingered hand to his breastplate. There was a brief pause before he spoke again, his voice strangely weak.
"I do not wish to die in such dishonour, human."

[Elario Luminus]

Kylar looked back at him through his visor, glaring.
'Have you forgotten that you have the technology to go invisible? I don't want you seen, and if possible, I don't want you nearby when I ask.'

[Tifa Lockhart]

Cthar snarled slightly and stepped back, turning away from the SPARTAN. His active camouflage activating until he was but a shimmer standing on the far side of the room. He disliked this situation, he disliked being so far from others of his kind. His cloaking did not last indefinitely, and he hoped the SPARTAN would sort matters out sooner rather than later.

[Elario Luminus]

Kylar felt sorry for the Elite. He knew he must have been frustrated with things. Pushing that out of his mind, Kylar started back down the stairs and headed out the door.
Once out onto the street, he stuck by a road, but hung close to the trees so he could be somewhat hidden.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Cthar followed a short distance behind, under the cover of his cloaking. He was less then pleased, but he continued on anyway. Anything to get out of this forsaken place and back to his fleet.

[Elario Luminus]

Kylar quickly came upon a human, and realising he'd look alien if he walked up to a human dressed as he was, took off his helmet. He stepped out onto the pathway in front of the young lady. The Spartan looked her over once, coming to the conclusion that if he was a civilian, he'd like to pay closer attention to her. As it was, when she saw him in his armour, she stopped dead in her tracks, frozen with fear. Kylar came towards her slowly, palms out peacefully.
'I'm not going to hurt you, ma'am. I'm just a normal human. Now, if you could please tell me the date?'
The woman just blinked at him silently. He sighed.
'Ma'am, the date. What year is it?'
'I-i-it's the 7th of July.'
'What year?
'2012.
Kylar blanched at that. Not certain he'd heard her right, even with his augmentations, he spoke to her again.
'Could you repeat that?'
'It's the 7th of July, 2012.'
Kylar backed away from her slowly, walking backwards against the treeline. He put his helmet back on and disappeared into the darkness before she could do anything else.

The Spartan ran uphill, towards a monument of some kind. He stepped out into a grass patch, bare of trees, and quickly saw a sign nearby.

YOU ARE AT KING'S PARK, PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. WELCOME!

Kylar slumped to the ground onto his back.
'I'm...home...but in the past. Approximately half a millennia into the past. How is this possible..?'

[Tifa Lockhart]

Cthar had followed closely behind Kylar, keeping his distance as he spoke with the human woman. His keen sense of hearing allowed him to hear her answer, and so he immediately pursued his human companion as he fled. The air beside where the Spartan sat would shimmer and moments later the Sangheili's form would appear, kneeling beside the human. It was rare to see one of the huge creatures kneel to the level of a human in any way.
"2012... before the conversion of the Unggoy," he mused, his voice low. "Before the discovery of your outer colonies..."
A low rumble gurgled from the alien's throat, "before your kind... before mine."
He realised quickly that adaption into this new society would be difficult but possible for the Spartan... but he was as good as dead already.
He straightened then, rising to his full height once more. There was a strange silence from the Elite for a moment, before he spoke again, a strange sincerity in his voice. "I am sorry... human."

[Elario Luminus]

Kylar acknowledged the fact that the Elite was there nearby with a short grunt. He sighed and stood up to full height as well, though he was considerably shorter than the Elite.
'The name's Kylar. Seems you and I are exiles then. Perhaps we should put aside any differences and try and get back to our own times.'
Just as he said that, the Spartan picked up a helicopter coming in at speed in the distance.
'We'd better get somewhere hidden away. We've got incoming.'

[Tifa Lockhart]

"Cthar," the Sangheili offered curtly, before he faded once more from sight, his camouflage being reactivated as he too saw the helicopter approaching. "Lead. I will follow."