On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love seven to me seven swans a-swimming.

Mike couldn't believe his luck. For all his life he had wanted this one wish, which had always been something that he had always know would never happen, no matter how hard he prayed or counted his lucky stars. Annabelle and Elyse both had told him the wonders of this place so many times that he had just wanted to see it himself with his very own eyes. As a Spartan, he had always wondered if he would ever be able to use one of those vacation days -he probably had like three billion by now anyways. He was now though.

And there wasn't another place he would rather be than planet Earth.

It was snowing where they were, someplace in the mountainous range of a place called Virginia. He was constantly blowing on his gloved hands to keep them warm and pulling down the striped stocking cap upon his shaved head. His breath was coming out in a frosty cloud, his nose blood red. He'd been in cold environments before and had never enjoyed it, but, when he was sitting on the planet Earth, he was perfectly okay.

The bench he was on suddenly tilted and he glanced over to see a young woman slide next to him. She was bundled up almost as much as he was and looked stressed, her short blond bangs all ruffled to one side and her face was fallen into what looked like grief. And even then he was completely blown away. He was used to seeing the harshness and tougher side of women and this one, with small trails of little pearl tears rolling down her cheeks, he was instantly captured by her beauty. But even he knew when a woman was upset.

"Hey," he called out in greeting to the young lady. "You alright?"

She whipped around so fast that her blonde bangs whirled around into her red face. Her eyes, a vivid green that he had never seen before, widened in surprise when she saw him and she quickly wiped away the tears staining her face. "Yes! Yeah, I'm perfectly fine mister!" she quickly reassured him with a small sniff. "Um... who are you?"

"They call me Mike."

A small smile came across her lips. "Mike?"

"Yeah. Very intimidating on the battlefield."

"You're in the army then?"

Mike cringed, closing his eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath. He wasn't sure how she would react to him announcing that she was sitting beside one of humanity's most dangerous weapons. "Uh yeah. I'm a Spartan."

Her head whipped around once more from staring at the beautiful winter scenery before them. "You're a Spartan?!"

"Yeah."

Silence drifted around them. She suddenly pointed, leaning slightly over him so she could point. "Look! Mike! Swans! I doubt you've ever seen any so I'm want to be the first too!" She surprised him even more when she grabbed his hand and dragged him to his feet, pulling the giant after her. He was easily a foot taller. Like a blind man he stumbled after her, too awestruck to say a word. "My name's Susan, by the way," she blurted when she had finally stopped them underneath a tree.

He found himself smiling. "I like your name. Susan," he said, trying her name on his tongue. "Are those the swans?"

There were seven gorgeous creatures with long white necks and large wings. After a while, he found himself watching Susan instead, even as she pointed and told him interesting facts about them. She was hanging onto his arm, clinging in a way that he found rather nice when he admitted it to himself.

It was then that he decided that he wouldn't forget about this little lady, this little Susan. His hand found hers and interlocked their fingers together. She looked up at with wide eyes and he gave her a small, reassuring smile before squeezing her hand a little. A matching smile appeared on her lips before she squeezed back.

Maybe a Spartan could find love.

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