It was all her fault, really.
Garrus Vakarian stared down the barrel of his rifle, picking off anyone stupid enough to put their head in view of his scope, and waited to die.
She'd given him a chance to really make a difference, not bogged down by regs and politics, listened to him, even been a damned good friend when he'd had so few. He had found his place in the world, a niche he finally filled perfectly. And then Shepard died.
He took out an engineer that tried to run between covers in a single shot. No pain, no prolonged suffering. Not like Shepard, spending her whole life fighting tooth and nail to be blown into the depths of space, slowly suffocating as air drained from her hardsuit into the void. Not like his own aimless existence.
He took out another merc and watched someone out of range strike up an animated conversation with the gunship mechanic, then returned to his thoughts.
Without Shepard he'd had nowhere to go, nothing to do with himself. Couldn't go back to C-Sec after working with a Spectre and seeing real history made, couldn't go back to Spectre training because he'd seen what the council did every time Shepard had brought them anything. So he'd become a vigilante, and even managed to screw that up. And now he was going to die here.
A spark of electricity drew his eyes to the gunship again, but there was no one in sight now. He drew one of his mandibles back in a smirk, maybe they'd learned their lesson this time. He checked the piles of heat sinks next to him. He might hold out another day before exhaustion and hunger made him sloppy.
Bullets hit the wall next to him and he turned back to his post. They were rushing him now. At least he wouldn't get bored. Then he witnessed three figures toward the back fire on the rest of their party. What the hell was going on?
A salarian, a male human, and a female human in red and grey armor with a shotgun...
"Mordin, watch your six!"
He knew that voice! But it couldn't be. Garrus watched the woman slam headfirst into a merc twice her size with a biotic charge, then turn to splatter the walls with his friends.
That had to be Shepard, he thought, firing a few rounds around her and her allies to keep up appearances. He could wait for an explanation until later. He could feel himself grinning widely under his helmet as he and Shepard laid waste to their enemies, just like the good old days. The others on her team were an afterthought for Garrus. He had a purpose again.
Follow Shepard.
He watched the bridge as she cleared the lower levels, thundering up the stairs with her usual lack of finesse.
"Archangel?"
She didn't even know it was him! Garrus picked off the last mercenary before turning and removing his helmet as she removed hers. Shepard looked almost the same. But he could see from here that whatever she'd been through had taken a toll on her. The fire in her eyes was dimmer.
"Shepard, I thought you were dead." He tried to say it casually.
"Garrus!" Shepard yelled exuberantly, throwing her arms wide. She looked so happy to see him, it made him smile back.
It felt good to talk to her again for the few minutes they had before the seige reconvened. Then it was back to business. They mowed down mercs left and right, looking for a way out. And then he heard the engines.
Garrus had just enough time to turn towards the gunship and see the RPG coming at him before his world went spectacularly bright, then dark. His face hurt. Was he on the ground? His could feel his heart working, pushing more of his blood onto the floor. There were more gunshots. Shepard was screaming and screaming. Was that a hand on his face? He was so cold he couldn't tell. Garrus felt himself slipping away, though he told himself he couldn't die now. Now he had to go with Shepard. Why was it raining inside?
He could not die now.
A/N- I'm doing a few revisions because I just realized I kind of wrote myself into a corner. Nothing too major, don't worry.