Red vs. Blue. Red Team. 046. Star.
Title: When You Wish...
Fandom: Red vs. Blue
Characters: Grif
Prompt: 046 - Star
Word Count: 805.
Rating: G, surprisingly.
Summary: A backstory to everyone's loveable lug of a Spartan, Grif.
Author's Notes: After a two month hiatus due to writer's blocks, bouts of depression and just flat out laziness, I have returned to the world of FanFiction for the time being. This is something I wrote on short notice due to the fact that Michy had restarted the brain trust by surprise. Hope you like it.
RED BASE - Wednesday - 2130 hours
In Blood Gulch, there was no such thing as cloud cover or overcast skies...or even the word "cloud" for that matter. Which sucked during the day, because there was no relief from the sun that beat down upon the canyon every single second of every single minute of those 12 hours that the sun was up there in the sky.
But at night however, it was a much different story. Since there was no such thing as clouds at Blood Gulch, you could stare up into space and see nothing but stars, the moon and the ridiculously large planet that blocked most of the view.
Yet that ridiculously large planet never stopped Pvt. Dexter Grif from going outside every night to light up a cigarette, lay down on the ground and gaze at the stars for a few hours before heading to bed. And tonight was no different.
It was his only source of nostalgia that he could recall in this desolate box canyon. Every single night while he was out there, he remembered back when he was a small child first learning the joys of stargazing. His father would bring him out to the highest knoll in the field every night when there was no cloud cover and teach his only son all that he knew about astrology. Once little Dexter had memorized the locations of most of the important stars in the sky such as the North Star, he would then proceed to learn the many constellations that scattered across the galaxy. Before long, he had memorized nearly all of the locations of these stellar images as well.
For years, he continued to scan the skies in wonder, following the waxing and waning of the moon, watching the annual meteor showers when he had the chance, witnessing virtually every significant event he could possibly encounter. He was ridiculed through high school for his intense interest, but he didn't care. He had friends and family that had supported him for as long as he could remember. He was about to start college when the Covenant Wars shattered the peace of those skies that he had watched for so long.
It seemed natural for him to protect what has been held so dear to him for so long once he had heard that the enemy was now "glassing" planets in other solar systems. He left his college ambitions behind and signed up for the Army to fight all those who would even dare to destroy what the universe had worked so hard to create.
However, he never got the chance to fight the enemy that he so despised. Around the time when Grif was just completing basic training, a lone Spartan warrior with the call number 117 had literally destroyed the Covenant Armada that waged war upon the human race and the planets they inhabited. Grif was disappointed that he never got the chance to fight, but at least he could return home and pick up where he had left off once his enlistment was expired. He never got the chance to do so, since the Red/Blue Civil War had began just as he was about to receive his discharge papers.
Grif was forced to re-enlist for another 5 years to fight another enemy that had not destroyed planets, that had not threatened to change the face of the universe for the worse. From that point on, he swore to himself that he would oppose the entire war effort as well as the military structure that now kept him locked in service. And it certainly didn't make him feel more compassionate about the army when he found out that he was going to be stationed at this useless piece of land that the higher ups called "a strategic location in the cordoned theater of war".
And ever since the forced re-enlistment, he gradually came to feel that the reality of one day leaving this wretched army to go and pursue his lifelong dream was slipping away from him. Now it seems as if sneaking out at night and watching the stars was the only way to make sure that he would never permanently lose that dream.
The hours began to pass as Grif lied on his back, staring off into the cosmos above. A shooting star floated slowly across his field of vision. He knew he had to make a wish whenever he saw one, recalling the very first thing his father had taught him about the night sky. He thought for a few moments, all the while tracking the white dash in the sky. He closed his eyes, his wish having been made, with the hope that none of the others would realize that he had fallen asleep out in the middle of Blood Gulch.
Fandom: Red vs. Blue
Characters: Grif
Prompt: 046 - Star
Word Count: 805.
Rating: G, surprisingly.
Summary: A backstory to everyone's loveable lug of a Spartan, Grif.
Author's Notes: After a two month hiatus due to writer's blocks, bouts of depression and just flat out laziness, I have returned to the world of FanFiction for the time being. This is something I wrote on short notice due to the fact that Michy had restarted the brain trust by surprise. Hope you like it.
RED BASE - Wednesday - 2130 hours
In Blood Gulch, there was no such thing as cloud cover or overcast skies...or even the word "cloud" for that matter. Which sucked during the day, because there was no relief from the sun that beat down upon the canyon every single second of every single minute of those 12 hours that the sun was up there in the sky.
But at night however, it was a much different story. Since there was no such thing as clouds at Blood Gulch, you could stare up into space and see nothing but stars, the moon and the ridiculously large planet that blocked most of the view.
Yet that ridiculously large planet never stopped Pvt. Dexter Grif from going outside every night to light up a cigarette, lay down on the ground and gaze at the stars for a few hours before heading to bed. And tonight was no different.
It was his only source of nostalgia that he could recall in this desolate box canyon. Every single night while he was out there, he remembered back when he was a small child first learning the joys of stargazing. His father would bring him out to the highest knoll in the field every night when there was no cloud cover and teach his only son all that he knew about astrology. Once little Dexter had memorized the locations of most of the important stars in the sky such as the North Star, he would then proceed to learn the many constellations that scattered across the galaxy. Before long, he had memorized nearly all of the locations of these stellar images as well.
For years, he continued to scan the skies in wonder, following the waxing and waning of the moon, watching the annual meteor showers when he had the chance, witnessing virtually every significant event he could possibly encounter. He was ridiculed through high school for his intense interest, but he didn't care. He had friends and family that had supported him for as long as he could remember. He was about to start college when the Covenant Wars shattered the peace of those skies that he had watched for so long.
It seemed natural for him to protect what has been held so dear to him for so long once he had heard that the enemy was now "glassing" planets in other solar systems. He left his college ambitions behind and signed up for the Army to fight all those who would even dare to destroy what the universe had worked so hard to create.
However, he never got the chance to fight the enemy that he so despised. Around the time when Grif was just completing basic training, a lone Spartan warrior with the call number 117 had literally destroyed the Covenant Armada that waged war upon the human race and the planets they inhabited. Grif was disappointed that he never got the chance to fight, but at least he could return home and pick up where he had left off once his enlistment was expired. He never got the chance to do so, since the Red/Blue Civil War had began just as he was about to receive his discharge papers.
Grif was forced to re-enlist for another 5 years to fight another enemy that had not destroyed planets, that had not threatened to change the face of the universe for the worse. From that point on, he swore to himself that he would oppose the entire war effort as well as the military structure that now kept him locked in service. And it certainly didn't make him feel more compassionate about the army when he found out that he was going to be stationed at this useless piece of land that the higher ups called "a strategic location in the cordoned theater of war".
And ever since the forced re-enlistment, he gradually came to feel that the reality of one day leaving this wretched army to go and pursue his lifelong dream was slipping away from him. Now it seems as if sneaking out at night and watching the stars was the only way to make sure that he would never permanently lose that dream.
The hours began to pass as Grif lied on his back, staring off into the cosmos above. A shooting star floated slowly across his field of vision. He knew he had to make a wish whenever he saw one, recalling the very first thing his father had taught him about the night sky. He thought for a few moments, all the while tracking the white dash in the sky. He closed his eyes, his wish having been made, with the hope that none of the others would realize that he had fallen asleep out in the middle of Blood Gulch.