The wind was howling around the Shepard household, blasting the rain against the windows, heavy drops of water thumping against the glass trying to break through. Dark, angry clouds blotted the sky, plunging the world into a darkness that seemed without end. Blinding lighting flashed throughout the sky, followed closely by the deafening roar of thunder. The storm outside created a swirling vortex around the house, shaking it to and fro, threatening to rip it from the ground. It seemed as mother nature herself was trying to get in and spread her havoc to the inside.
At least, that was how the Shepard children felt.
Wrex eyed his charges with a smirk, observing their shivering with a caring eye. If someone had told him that he would end up babysitting two Quarian children, he would have called them stupid and caved their skull in. Though the thought made him laugh, he soon realized that there would always be a soft spot in his heart for the Shepard children, and not just because they were the kids of his best friends. They had the spirit of their parents, a sense of character that only came about once in a lifetime, or two in this case. Lorna'Shepard, the younger of the two, was obviously frightened. She was shaking with so much intensity that Wrex would have been concerned all her bones would shake out of place if he didn't know any better. Still he knew, when Lorna got the courage, there was a fire behind that mask. She was loathe to let anybody stand in her way when the mood struck her, never backing down from a challenge when she invested herself completely in it. She even stood up to Wrex, a nice surprise considering that most adults ran away in panic, let alone a six year old. "Girl's got spunk." Wrex liked saying to himself.
Maal'Shepard, Lorna's older brother by one year, tried to emulate his father more often than not. He was a suave, charismatic young welp whom everyone liked, but he never let it go to his head. He was never arrogant, always ready to learn from his mistakes, and always ready to do better next time. Even better, he cared for other people. He was always there to lend a helping hand, never complained if he got shafted with an undesirable job. He even tried to copy what Shepard called his "Captain Persona": the man who wasn't afraid of anything, ready to take the lead against the unknown. He would make an excellent leader one day, Wrex knew. But Wrex also knew that, for now, he was still a child. He could see behind the mask, already accustomed to reading Quarians by now. His head was zipping all around checking every corner, every shadow that showed a hint of something malicious. His glowing eyes were as wide as stars, and he was holding his sister tight against him. Whether or not that was for his benefit, Lorna's, or both Wrex couldn't say.
More lightning flashed outside the window, illuminating the dark house for a brief second before it was consumed by darkness once more. Both of the young Quarians, sitting on the floor of the living room, flinched though Maal tried to hide it. Their shivering increased, but Maal tried use Lorna's shaking to mask his own. Wrex, sitting in a chair nearby, grinned a toothy grin, a predatory gleam coming to his eye. Wrex may have cared deeply for the Shepard younglings, but he would never let an opportunity such as this pass by.
Adopting a look of trepidation he leaned in close to the siblings, getting their attention. They saw the look on his face and began to whimper softly, as if they expected him to tell them that their parents had just died. But Wrex wouldn't be that cruel, he would just tell them an innocent little story.
"Did your parents ever tell you..." he began with a gravelly voice, pausing as if to compose himself, "about the Headless Helmsman?"
Both children said nothing, unable to say a word through their whimpering. They instead quickly shook their heads, squeezing each other tighter. Internally Wrex was smiling, but externally he played the part of the scared old man, widening his eyes and quivering his lips. "I thought not," he said ruefully, "it's not something they like to talk about." Wrex then looked over both his shoulders, as if making sure no one was behind him, before continuing.
"Years ago, back when your parents both served on the Normandy," Maal perked up slightly at that, as anything dealing with the Normandy was about the most important thing in the world to him, "they received a distress signal. A ship was damaged and floating alone, deep in the middle of space."
"W-what did they d-do?" Lorna squeaked, sinking further into her brother.
"They went to investigate, of course." Wrex answered, shaking his head as if it were a mistake. Maal started rubbing Lorna's back softly, trying to comfort her while he himself looked like he was trying to shiver out of his suit. The action almost brought a smile to Wrex's lips, but he caught himself in time.
"They boarded the ship only to find that there was no one aboard." he let his voice fade out, trying to increase the story's scare factor. "They began to search the entire ship, room by room, hallway by hallway, and still they found nothing." Lightning flashed again, causing the two Quarians to jump off the floor and onto their feet with a startled yelp. For a second Wrex was worried they were going to flee to their rooms, ending his story, but after a moment they slowly sat back down on the floor. They fixed their focus back to the Krogan, invested in the story despite how scared they were. The best kind of audience Wrex thought happily.
"It was pitch black on the ship, the only light coming from their flashlights." Maal resumed glancing about the dark room nervously, making sure that there was nothing hiding in the shadows here. Lorna sunk her face into her brothers neck, hiding herself from the terror of the room. The predatory gleam came back to the Krogan's eye for a split second before he dashed it away, lest they get suspicious. I've got them now
"To try to figure out what happened they headed for...the bridge." Wrex said, emphasizing the last word for dramatic effect. It seemed to work as both children flinched lightly at the sound of his hoarse voice. Wrex then audibly gulped and darted his eyes about the room, selling the scariness.
"The slowly crept down the hall until they got to the helmsman's chair." he said, lowering his voice so that the two siblings would be forced to lean closer to hear him. Maal had now stopped looking every which way and focused on Wrex with eyes wider than they had ever been before, and Lorna was now peeking at him with one eye, her head still half buried into her brother.
"They then turned it around...and saw him." Wrex shut his eyes tight and leaned away as if he couldn't bear to continue. He took a deep, shaky breath and waited.
"S-saw w-who?" Maal asked quietly, Lorna too scared to say anything. Wrex opened a fearful eye towards him, intentionally drawing out how long it took him to turn back towards them. Taking another shaky breath he continued.
"They saw a body with no head and no sign that there had ever been a head." Wrex began leaning towards the children, who unconsciously did the same. Lorna lifted her head away from her brother and they both leaned in close. Soon their faces were only inches apart, Maal and Lorna wearing looks of pure terror to match the one Wrex was sporting.
"And then...it...CHARGED!" Wrex bellowed, grabbing both children and lifting them into the air. The surprised siblings screamed in his ears as he held them tight and spun them round and round. They screamed for what seemed like minutes while Wrex laughed heartily at the results of his little game. After a while though the terror of the moment had faded and the two Quarians were laughing as well as Wrex spun faster and faster. Soon he got dizzy and held them to his chest as he fell backwards, landing on the floor with a loud thump while all three of them laughed hysterically. In an instant the mood changed as the two children began to beat on the old Krogan's red armor.
"That...was...mean!" Lorna said between hits, scowling behind her mask. Maal on the other hand simply rolled off Wrex and giggled lightly.
Still laughing Wrex took on a coy tone, saying, "Aw, what's the matter? Didn't you like Uncle Wrexy's story?"
Deciding that the hitting was getting her no where, Lorna sat down next to him and crossed her arms in a pout. "No, it was just mean." Maal, too, stopped hitting Wrex and sat next to Lorna, rubbing her back in an attempt to calm her down. "I liked it." he said, earning an indignant glare from his sister. He only shrugged in reply.
As his laughter died Wrex rolled onto his side and looked to Lorna, doing his best to do the Krogan version of a puppy-dog face. "I'm sowy, Lorna. Pwease Forgive me." he whined. Lorna tried her best to give him the evil eye, but couldn't hold it and began snorting. "You look co...con...constipated." She said, trying out the word she learned just last week. Wrex grinned at her and wriggled his eyebrow. "Well, I've been called worse before."
Both Lorna and Maal devolved into laughing messes, falling over as they clutched at their stomachs. Wrex chuckled lightly at the sight, sitting up and pulling them into a hug. "Come here you whelps." he said with mock authority, but they still did as he said and hugged him tightly. Neither one could reach all the way around him, but he liked the hug all the same.
"I love you, uncle Wrexy." Lorna said, doing her best to nuzzle into him. "Me too." Maal added, stretching his arms as wide as they could go. Everytime they both can reach a little further Wrex thought, remembering when he first met them. They've grown up so much and yet still had a long way to go. But Wrex didn't like thinking about the future, he lived for now. So he hugged them as tight as he could without hurting them, pouring as much affection as he could into his best friends kids. His niece and his nephew. That thought made him smile
"I love you two, too." he sighed.