"Emma!"

"Shepard!"

The woman couldn't have been far - the signal was coming from this zone and she knew better than to move after signaling. All of the men and women were shouting, hoping that she would respond somehow. Though to be truthful, no one was in any shape to be searching. He paused and closed his eyes, trying to calm himself before moving on. Saren stood absolutely still on a cliff of debris in London, and opened his eyes a moment later to scan the area for that stripe of red. It had only been a day, she could still be alive. He needed her to be alive.

Garrus eventually strode up to his left, a calm breeze picking up dust and moving it away.

"Some of the men are saying that based on the debris, she could be anywhere within ten miles of here. Are you sure you don't want to move on?" Garrus sounded tired, but concerned. Likely because Saren hadn't gotten any rest since before he'd come here.

"I know she's here. She set off a signal, she knows better than to move." He replied, eyes fixed on a particular pile. He didn't see anyone near it, and so he motioned for his friend to follow him. "I know the signal isn't 100% accurate, but I know she's here somewhere."

"I believe you, Saren." Garrus said, "I want to find her just as much as you do." the undertone in his voice shot pain into Saren's stomach, reminded that there was still some conflict. For now, he tried shoving the thought out of his mind.

They walked to the pile, and Saren crouched down to examine it closer. Something heavy had been here - some of the metal was bent oddly. His eye caught something shiny and he moved to pick it up. His body tensed and he grew worried when he saw the Alliance symbol on the dog tags. He wanted to turn it over to look at the name, but... He was afraid. If Emma had parted with her tags, that meant she had been here, and that she had either moved herself, or had been moved by someone else. But he turned it over, right as Garrus went to assist someone else with something decidedly more urgent.

David Edward Anderson.

"Anderson..." Saren lowered his head, aware he was speaking rather loud despite Garrus no longer being right there. He didn't feel much better, but he decided that the least he could do would be to find someone to give the tags to. Saren didn't want to think about what had happened on the Citadel, but he could only assume that he wouldn't be meeting David again in this lifetime. It was a shame, the two were actually starting to get along better than when they had first met. Saren had changed so much.

"He was a good man." a familiar, quiet voice said off to the far right, near a building.

"He was." Saren murmured just as he put the chain in his pocket. Saren looked to his right, only to find that there wasn't anyone there. He scowled, and looked around before heading towards the building. All the windows and doors had been shattered, or blown away. So when he walked inside, glass cracked beneath his feet. His eyes had to adjust to the darkness, but he froze.

This had been a store, judging by the long counter, and rows of shelving. Everything was damaged beyond repair, there were a few long-since charred bodies strewn about the debris-cluttered floor. He would have turned to walk out, but he saw a familiar face in an unfamiliar place. Just around the corner of the counter, close to the window, she had clearly dragged herself here with extraordinary effort.

"Sorry." she smirked, eyes half closed. He turned to take a few steps out of the building, waving his arms as he called for a medic before he ran inside to get her. He dropped to his knees before he reached her, but the momentum caused him to slide right beside her, able to take her into his arms. Her armor was blown to hell, and fused to her skin in some parts. Her shoulder and part of her right leg looked out of place, too. But she was here. Emma was alive.

"Why the hell are you over here?" he half-scolded as he nuzzled her, trying to avoid looking at all the blood below her neckline. Emma laughed a little and then coughed once or twice. His subvocals let out a strained whine at her condition. Saren lifted his hand to her face, trying to wipe away some of the blood and dust from her usual creamy porcelain skin. He then sat down, pulling her as close as she could get to him.

"Medi-gel kicked in about... seven hours ago. I thought I'd move inside just to make sure that no one would haul me away like last time." She leaned her head against his shoulder, lifting her good arm to place it on his shoulder. "Lost my omni-tool when I hit the ground."

"I didn't see it-"

"I bounced... A lot." she looked up to him, and he closed his eyes as he pressed his forehead against hers, holding the back of her head. He let out a relieved huff, shaking a little at how happy he was feeling.

The medic arrived just minutes after he had called and Saren was unwilling to move away from Emma as he began to work. Saren moved to sit behind her, though, and watched as several needles were shoved into her veins, making her drowsy and helping the color return to her face. Since he was supporting her head, he was given a wet, clean cloth to wipe her face off, all the while talking to her to make sure that she didn't have a concussion, or any other serious injury to her head or neck. She told the medic that the only thing hurting was her shoulder and leg. A dislocated shoulder was easy to fix on the spot, but a broken knee was not. After her leg was put into a makeshift cast, Saren was allowed to pick her up to carry her to the shuttle that had landed about a half hour later. Emma clung to him happily as she began to feel the effects of the drugs pumping through her system to prepare her for a full medical examination. Hackett stood at the lip of the shuttle when it landed, looking relieved when Emma had emerged from the building.

"Let's get her to the hospital, Ben." Hackett ordered the second Saren stepped in, setting Emma down on the bench. She was starting to fall asleep and no one was about to bother her. Saren merely sat down on the small sliver of bench that was left, brushing the hair from her face as her head rested on his lap and took her hand when it reached for his. He didn't care about how things looked right now, and he doubted anyone else would care, either. No one spoke the whole way to the hospital, except for the small murmurs that came from Emma as she dozed off. If anything he assumed everyone was simply relieved that she had been found alive.

"Saren, we'll give you clearance to see her once we've taken a proper look at her." Hackett replied once they reached the packed hospital. A couple of doctors and nurses cleared a way to the back where it was less crowded, and much quieter. Saren had set her down on a bed and then walked away after a moment, talking with the other man once she was whisked away to a sterile room.

"Thank you." he said, still staring off in her direction for a few more moments. He'd like to help, but Saren knew that there was only so much he could do to help. Right now it was best he leave the helping to someone else.

"I should be thanking you. If it weren't for you, we never would have found her."

It was true. The moment the Citadel had released that strange energy, Saren had pulled out his omni-tool to search for hers, looking for any sign that she was alright. Or at the least where she was. It was an hour later when he finally got a reading to looked too fast for her to be running, and managed to pull together a decent group of men and women ready to go search for Emma right then. She had just saved all of them, they owed it to her to help Saren search. Of course the search wasn't limited to just Emma; several thousand men had become lost in the final moments of the war. Anyone they found was considered worth the search. And with each hour, more and more were turning up.

"Hackett," Saren said, just as the man was turning to walk away, "I found these where she said she landed." he pulled Anderson's tags out from his pocket. Hackett held his hand out, taking them with a somber nod, turning them over thoughtfully in silence.

"He will be missed..." he took in a deep breath, and put them in his own pocket, before turning to look around the hospital that was becoming more and more like Huerta had been towards the end of the war. "If I'm being honest, I didn't expect to see this many survivors coming from the wreckage. I didn't even really expect Shepard to come out of this in one piece."

"She did break her knee." Saren said, letting his voice lift some. Hackett smiled.

"That's true." he turned to face Saren in full again. "You should get some rest while you can get it. I don't doubt that the media will be hunting you down after this."

"My favorite people." Saren grimaced, before holding his hand out. "I don't doubt we'll be running into each other again in the next few weeks." Hackett took his hand.

"That, you can be sure of. I'm not about to let Shepard out of my sight until she's well enough to leave this place. Take care."

Hackett walked briskly past Saren, needed elsewhere no doubt. Saren wished there was something he could do, but he really didn't know what there was for him to do anymore. There wasn't a war to be fought, or anyone to go chasing after. He had to find his way again. After waiting for a woman at the reception desk to be free enough to talk to him, Saren found out there was a shelter just a block down the street where he could likely find a place to sleep. It was close enough that, if for any reason there was an emergency, he could be there quickly. Thanking the woman he walked out the front door and headed towards the shelter.

There was no way of telling what was road and sidewalk anymore, but for the most part it was assumed that the middle-most part of the space was reserved for trucks and other vehicles. Saren trudged on, glancing around without taking in his surroundings. He was tired, and in need of some warm food. From the corner of his eye, he saw his omni-tool light up, and he recognized it was receiving a call from Garrus.

"I meant to call a few minutes ago. Slipped my mind." Saren started.

"Did you find her?" he looked worried, and likely just as tired as Saren was.

"I did. She's alive and she's at the hospital. Right now she only has a broken knee, but they're giving her a full examination. We won't be able to see her until tomorrow, I assume." He looked up and paused, stepping to lean against the building.

"That's a relief." He paused, and Saren could see he was hiding something.

"Out with it."

"We think we found Anderson's body... It's hard to tell, though, there's no identification on him." Garrus' subvocals came through clearly, and Saren could tell that he was hurting.

"His tags were with Emma when she landed. I'm assuming he was dead before that burst of energy happened..."

"Probably." there was a long pause and Garrus sighed, "Either way, it would be nice to know who we found. But where are you now?"

"Just outside the shelter they set up here. It's about a block from the hospital."

"I'll meet you there. I think we should talk, now."

"Alright. I'll wait outside for you." Saren ended the call, and let his arm be pulled down by gravity, lightly bumping the wall behind him as the momentum carried it. He shut his eyes, trying to keep calm.

Right before the final push had been made, Saren saw Garrus and Emma talking. He wasn't at all concerned, they seemed to be absolutely fine with the fact that they used to be in a relationship, but that she had ended it. They were good friends, there was no reason that they couldn't talk with one another. Saren had kept his distance, so he wasn't able to hear everything that was being said. But then Emma left abruptly, looking more tense than when she'd come in to the room. That had sent off a warning to Saren that something wasn't right, so he'd rushed over to Garrus to find out what had happened.

He should have seen this coming. Garrus had been spending a lot of time with Tali lately, but Saren couldn't exactly say that the man had moved on. Emma still talked with him regularly, they had easy conversations, and if anything, she still valued his opinion over most everyone else's. It seemed like she hadn't really moved on, either. Garrus admitted that his time with Tali hadn't really been able to fill that void that had been left when Emma left him. And from what he could gather, it was only a matter of months from the breakup to when they'd come to Omega for him.

Turians, when they were in a serious relationship, tended to commit more seriously than most humans. It was often said and seen that once a turian committed to someone, there was no way that anyone else could fill that space. For Garrus, it had the potential to destroy him - Saren could say the very same. He used to think that he could never find a human that would hold any respect for him, until Emma had come to him with the proposition of redeeming himself. She understood how much his actions haunted him, and how badly he needed direction in his life at that moment. The sheer act of offering him what he desperately needed, yet allowing him to be in complete control of his destiny, was something he found to respect, and admire about Emma. It grew into affection quickly after, and the conflict within himself grew when he admitted that he might actually be in love with a human.

Emma never gave up hope that Saren was capable of returning to being a good person. Her belief in him kept him going day in and day out - he loved her because she had given him new purpose and had somehow managed to charm her way into his life. They had so much in common - he didn't doubt that for the same reasons she loved him. But now he wasn't so sure.

Garrus confessed that he still had feelings for Emma. Though it was never expressed in words, both were sure that Emma had seen the look in his eyes. And if Emma still had any feelings for Garrus, then how was Saren supposed to hold her back, keep her away from Garrus if that's who she wanted to be with? It was so agonizing that the mere thought made Saren begin to let out small cries with his subvocals. He might die if she left - he would have nothing to hold him where he was. Even the thought of sharing - a practice not uncommon among either species - was enough to make him feel lightheaded. But he supposed if he could remain with Emma in some way, it would have to be enough.

Saren was dreading this talk with Garrus. But he would have it nonetheless, because even he knew that if they could agree on some arrangement, or come to a decision, it would make Emma much happier than if the two fought over her. After all, that was the only thing the two could say mattered the most. And when Saren saw a shuttle come in, letting off a load of people, he pushed off the wall and stood up straight.

"Thanks for waiting." Garrus said as he approached.

Saren nodded, and motioned for them to go inside. Even in a crowd they could have privacy, and from the looks of the place, privacy wouldn't be very hard. The whole warehouse had been cleared, and different means of dividers had been put up for the illusion of privacy. Families were piled onto the empty shelving units at least five stories high, and while it looked like a mess, it was actually very well organized. For the time being, the two could share the same space, and were being shown to their space. As they passed, Saren couldn't help but notice how many of the families were actually groups of children. Hardly any adults were here, but it looked like the older children were holding together the younger ones. Many of those children were crying, and it made Saren somber to see that so many didn't have it as lucky as he did at such a young age. And that was putting things mildly.

After being led to the far back, where it was quieter and filled with more turians, the two closed themselves off with a mere tarp so they could talk. Each sat on the mats provided to them, silent for a while as they tried to find a starting place. Saren was the one to start it off, trying to phrase his words so that things had no chance of escalating.

"How long have you been keeping this feeling to yourself?"

"It never went away. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how much it hurts to hear when someone you care about doesn't want you around anymore." Garrus started, his voice quiet. It grew louder as he continued, taking the opportunity Saren had given him to explain everything the way he saw it. "I was pretending to be mad at her at first - I thought maybe if I could push her away she might realize how much she missed me. Not my brightest moment, but it seemed like it was working after a while. Then I realized she didn't want anything more from me than a friend to talk to. It was more than I thought I would get so I guess I was happy to go along with it."

"You didn't look too happy when she offered me help and I came aboard the Normandy." Saren pointed out.

"She took an interest in you, and I could tell that it wasn't just because she could take you to the Council and get a reward. She didn't even seem interested in that - she genuinely wanted to help you. I couldn't imagine why and so it upset me that suddenly you were taking her time that she used to spend with me." He lowered his head even more, letting out a soft whine as he spoke, "It was hard for me to see her moving on, and not taking into any consideration how much that hurt me. It wasn't even two months and you two were already best friends. I'd been replaced.

"Don't get me wrong, I warmed up to you too, after a while. But I thought I was over her for the longest time because I became so numb. And after I went to Palaven, I thought that maybe I could forget about her. Honestly, I didn't expect to ever see her again."

Saren let him be silent as he thought of something else to say. But this was turning into something Saren was hoping would never happen.

"Ever since then, I've been trying to move on, but it's like I said. She's left a void and it can't be replaced by anyone else enough for me to be happy. That's it." he shrugged and brought his knees up, wrapping his arms around them. Saren glanced to the concrete floor, sighing.

"All I've wanted since Emma started to show me even the slightest kindness was for her to be happy with the rest of her life. I'm not about to fight you over her, because what good would that do for either of us?"

"She said that was part of the reason she didn't want to be with me anymore. She said I got too... clingy."

"And maybe you've changed since then - maybe you're supposed to be with her." Saren suppressed the growl rising in his gut, "But I don't want to think about what I would have to do to be able to carry on with my life if she wasn't there beside me. Emma means so much to me, and I'm sure you can say the same. We both stayed behind to wait for her for a reason."

They were both silent. Neither would be able to say one had any more reason to be with Emma than the other. She'd helped them both rise from their own ashes as a better turian, and she'd given them compassion when others might have turned them away. She was something truly special.

"Let's get some rest. We'll see if we're allowed to see her tomorrow, and when she's feeling up to it, we can all talk about it." Saren said. Garrus nodded and they both laid down to sleep for the first time in days.