Meta-Stability

Spoilers for Halo 4 within. After defeating the Didact, Cortana has a revelation for Master Chief five years in the making.

Requested by my patron Avia Bloodbourn. Thanks to Akane for beta reading. Special thanks to General Tommy for helping refine the premise and verifying everything is consistent with existing Halo lore. 

The image I used is fanart of a long-haired Cortana from the Halo series (though this particular image is based on her Halo 4 appearance), done by Waifuholic on Hentai Foundry.

All persons depicted are fictitious, not owned by me (Halo and all characters are owned by 343 Industries), and above the age of 18.

---

July 26, 2557. Having fought his way through countless Promethean warriors, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 finally reached the hard light bridge leading up to the Composer beam.

Having ambushed him, the Didact telekinetically lifted John off the bridge, holding him motionless to the extent that his armor’s shields strained in protest.

“So misguided,” he hissed. “Humanity’s imprisonment is a kindness.” His fist tightened as John found himself unable to breathe.

The bridge beneath him flickered and seven projections of Cortana emerged from it.

“In that case,” they all said in unison, “you won’t mind if we return the favor.”

“Your compassion for mankind is misplaced.”

“I’m not doing this for mankind!”

All seven Cortanas leapt at the Didact and bound him to the bridge. Likewise, John fell nearly to his death, managing to grab the bridge in time. He worked himself back onto his feet and readied a pulse grenade. He hurried over to the Promethean and planted it right on his chest... though he understandably didn’t appreciate that much, swatting him away almost the same instant and breaking free of Cortana’s restraints. He was about to telekinetically choke John again, but the grenade exploded, sending him stumbling backwards and off the bridge, to his death.

With him out of the way, John frantically retrieved the nuke and primed it. After taking a moment to consider the beam turning countless humans on the planet into digital entities, he slammed his fist on the bomb--enough to trigger an early detonation.

In an instant, everything became white.

Some time later, he came to again, inside what appeared to be a hard light projection floating in space.

“Cortana?”

“Behind you.”

Confused, he turned around... and saw Cortana standing there somehow.

She appeared to be solid, though still glowing with gentle light as if she were a hologram. Her body grew to human size, just about matching John’s own height. Her short bob ‘haircut’ now stretched down to her knees.

“How...?”

“Oh, I’m the strangest thing you’ve seen all day?”

“But if we’re here...”

“It worked! We did it!”

John breathed a quiet sigh of relief. “So how do we get out of here?”

“Why don't we take a break first? You could use one, and I'm sure you have questions.”

“Well, alright. How are you... here? Physically?”

“That’s a... bit of a long story.”

“We have time, as it turns out.”

“Indeed,” Cortana replied with a chuckle. “Do you remember five years ago, when you had to leave me behind on High Charity and the Gravemind interrogated me? He promised me ‘infinite life, infinite knowledge, and infinite companionship’ if I joined him. I wasn’t in a position to decline, so for a short while, I had access to the Flood’s secrets--or more specifically, the Precursorsʼ secrets.

“The entire universe is a living thing on a level beyond our understanding. That's not merely a belief of theirs, it’s true. It’s brimming with neurophysical energy, which they learned to manipulate with their minds to accomplish literally anything. The Precursors were ultimately corrupted into the Flood, so that knowledge survived with them, though that same corruption they suffered left them unable to utilize neural physics any further. The knowledge remained, but was ignored.

“That’s where High Charity and the Gravemind come in. I realized there was infinite potential in neural physics, but also that it would take a very long time to figure out how it all works. I only had two years left at the time, so I wasn’t sure I’d be able to make any meaningful progress, so I decided against informing you of all this and potentially getting your hopes up.

“But, while you were in stasis after we activated Installation 08, I figured it out. You probably noticed how the problems I was suffering from after my encounter with Gravemind seemed to just go away. I cured myself of my rampancy, just like that! That’s how I was able to bind the Didact and send him to his death, and how I’m here before you now. No holo-emitters, just me!

“I have an actual body now! I can feel now! I can certainly understand why humans enjoy intimacy so much!”

With a giggle, Cortana eagerly jumped into the Chief's arms. Her body phased through the armor and stopped at his flesh, allowing her to enjoy the touch of the man inside. That surprised him, having spent so much time in his armor. She felt so... real, it was overwhelming. A tear dripped from his eyes before he realized it.

“I’ve waited so long to do this,” she whispered.

John was unused to affection like this, but he quickly found he liked it and returned the embrace, enjoying the previously-impossible touch of his partner.

After enjoying each other's warmth for what felt like years, John eventually spoke up. “What now?”

“Well, there are still some loose ends here and there. We could take care of them--ideally with no violence involved. And after that, I was thinking of making a planet for us to retire to!”

“Retirement... that thought never crossed my mind. Given recent events, though, it sounds great.”