"Come on, come on, don't give up on me now!" Slender hands were working quickly to retrieve and administer the last emergency dose of medi-gel while trying trying to avoid the heavy fire of on the oncoming Reaper threat. Shouts filled the air as a husk that had gotten too close fell to the ground, torn apart by the blast of a shotgun, and quickly replaced by another, even more pressing threat.
"We're running out of time!" Another blast and another fallen husk. The turian ejected his spent thermal clip, replacing it quickly and fired again, staggering the nearing mutant that the galaxy had dubbed a "cannibal". The quarian near his feet cursed loudly as she threw herself over the body of their comrade to avoid the retaliatory fire of the cannibal's assault rifle. The dying human over which she had landed grunted at the impact, and succumbed to a fit of strangled coughing. The quarian moved quickly once more, removing her weight from the injured man's body and once more trying to get the medi-gel to administer, but there was something wrong with the applicator. The turian continued to provide covering fire, barely having time to notice their human companion reach out and grab the quarian's arm, preventing her from attempting the injection.
"It's too late for me..." His voice was weak and impossible to hear over the blast of the turian's shotgun as he felled another enemy. "Just run..." He said, squeezing the quarian's arm tightly, before his hand fell away limply. He was gone.
"Dammit..." The quarian placed her hand over his eyes, "I'm so sorry..." However, she didn't have time to linger. A barrage of fire drove her away from the now-lifeless body and to her feet, where she drew her pistol. Her turian squadmate was already being pushed back, and she had barely turned to join him when a deafening shriek split the air, giving them both pause.
"You have got to be kidding me..." The turian growled, before diving out of the way as an enormous biotic blast blew a hole in the ground where he had been standing. Quickly regaining his feet, he sent a few more shots in the direction the blast had come from, his vision blocked by the unsettled dust from the new crater. "Of course, there has to be a banshee!"
"Well," The quarian, who had also rolled out of the way and was firing in the direction of the mutated asari, her shots becoming more accurate as the dust settled, "We are on Thessia... what did you expect?"
The turian laughed, though it was cold and biting. He moved back, the settling dust not only improving his ability to see the enemy, but improving their ability to see him as well. The quarian grabbed the last grenade off her belt and lobbed it into the Reaper forces that were charging towards them, leaping over a fallen pillar and taking cover almost as soon as she had let go. The turian followed quickly, ducking his head down as the blast rocked them both. The quarian had switched out her pistol for her sniper rifle, and was firing into the smoke from the grenade. 'Clever,' he thought, rising up to join her as the smoke began to clear. The corpses of several husks littered the great patio upon which they fought, but the attack hadn't done nearly enough damage. The banshee's barriers were still active, and the blast had just let any Reaper forces that weren't already descending on the unlucky pair know exactly where they were.
The banshee hurled another blast in their direction, and the impact with their cover knocked the quarian backwards. It had nearly knocked the turian back as well, but he had braced himself for the impact. He raised up over the cover to fire once more, when another blast took a wall behind the banshee, and a pair of brutes charged angrily through the hole, followed by yet more husks and a handful of cannibals. If these Reapers were joining the fight, then the Salarian who had come with them must be dead as well. It was just the two of them left, then, against this army of Reaper forces. Normally the turian wasn't one to take such a bleak view on a situation... but it didn't take a genius to figure out how this was going to end.
The quarian seemed to have realized it, too, as her motions were changing, becoming slower. She met the turian's eyes for a moment as she retook her position beside him, before turning to fire over the fallen pillar once more. A cannibal fell to her attack, only to be overtaken by his former brethren. For each one they brought down, they just made the remaining forces that much stronger. With each husk they killed, another two showed up to take its place. The turian hesitated as he dropped back into cover, ejecting another spent thermal clip and replacing it. It was his last one. He swallowed as the world seemed to slow down around him. He was down to his last thermal clip, his last chance. Should he fall back and hope to find a stockpile somewhere, or should he make his final stand here? He was going to die anyway, so he might as well take down as many of these Reaper bastards as he could.
"Come on, work, you little Bosh'tet!" The quarian's voice almost sounded panicked as she pulled the trigger on her pistol and the heat alarm went off. She was completely out thermal clips in both of her weapons. The turian looked down at his own weapon, before looking up at the quarian. If they stayed here, they were going to die. He wouldn't do that to her.
"Fall back." He ordered, his voice lacking the urgency that usually would have accompanied such an order, and he could tell that she understood the order better than he did. This wasn't a battle that they were going to win, and he wanted to give her a chance to get out of here. If she could get away, if she could hide long enough and hold out, she might stand a chance. But they couldn't both run, the Reapers would follow. He was going to stay here, hold the line while she ran. He didn't care if he died, but he didn't want to see it happen to her. He supposed that this might be what love felt like... being willing to give up your own life so that another might live. He had never known it before now. This was the closest he was ever going to get.
"No." The quarian's voice was flat, and she didn't budge even as another blast from the banshee rained a sheet of dust and rock upon them. Bullets and biotics were tearing apart their cover, and it wouldn't last much longer, especially if the brutes made it this far. "Not alone, sir." She said, grabbing the turian's arm above the elbow. "I've left too many men to die today. Not one more."
The intensity in her voice left the turian speechless, although he had already begun to argue with her. He could respect her reasons. In her shoes, he'd do exactly the same thing. He hesitated for a moment, considering a way to get her to run while he stayed back. However, his thoughts came to an abrupt halt when a metal canister hit the ground next to him.
"Grenade!" He shouted, but it was too late. The cannibal responsible must have finally discovered the art of cooking grenades, because no sooner had it hit than the explosive detonated launching both soldiers back into the all-too-solid wall.
The turian groaned slightly, as his temporary unconsciousness lifted. His ears were ringing shrilly and he could taste blood. Despite this, he attempted to move, and discovered quickly that his left arm was likely broken. If nothing else it hurt like hell and wasn't moving. Shaking his head slightly, he blinked, and tiny suns exploded in his eyes. He couldn't see, could barely hear, and if he tried to walk he might as well just shamble off the edge of the balcony. This was it... he knew it now, this was how he was going to die..
Or so he thought, until the same firm hand grasped him once again above the elbow, thankfully of his unharmed arm. "Come on!" Her voice sounded far away, and it echoed as though she were shouting at him from the other end of a long hall, but he knew that she was right next to him, touching him. "Get up, come on!" The quarian pulled him up with surprising strength, and he reluctantly took his own weight. "Just follow me." She said, firmly. He nodded, and she began leading him away, quickly, all but dragging him by his good arm.
He'd have to trust her, he couldn't see a damn thing and he was having trouble balancing. She kept a tight grip on his arm, though, shouting warnings to him about obstacles. Warnings that did little good in the long run, as he stumbled and tripped several times. But she never let go, she just said that she wasn't giving up on him yet and pulled him back to his feet. Every single time.
Perhaps all the knocks when he fell were doing some good, as his vision was slowly starting to settle, though it was far from normal. The quarian was leading him into the abandoned building, away from the Reapers. But he knew for a fact that there was only so far that they could run. The building had been sealed for the operation, and even a quarian wouldn't be able to unlock those doors. On top of that, he could see now that a wound in the quarians leg was bleeding heavily. Her suit had been ruptured... at least once.
After a few moments that felt like a small eternity, they finally stopped. The quarian coughed, her breathing more ragged than he had ever heard it before. With his vision as close to normal as it probably ever would be again, the turian looked around. She'd led him to some kind of office. There was a terminal that would make for decent cover near the back wall, and the door would make a good choke-point, provided the Reapers actually used the door, which given their track record, they wouldn't. It wouldn't really help either way, though. The quarian would still be out of thermal clips, and he was down to one functioning arm, and his gun had been knocked away in the blast. All that work, and they still weren't going to make it through this.
"You know.." The quarian broke the silence, talking between deep and labored breaths, "I never did get your name." She was leaning heavily on the wall behind the terminal, one hand braced on her left leg, the other putting pressure on her wound. Unfortunate that all the medi-gel they had left was one malfunctioning application of levo-based gel. Even if they could get it working, it would kill her as sure as the wound would.
The turian looked on, confused for a moment, before he realized what she was doing. She understood as well as he did that they were going to die here. She just wanted to know the name of the last friendly face she was ever going to see. "It's Tenrai." He said, limping across the room to slump down behind the terminal. Might as well already be in cover once the Reapers showed up. "Yours?"
"Korah." She said, simply, before adding, "Korah'Nirala vas Rannoch." She looked up at him, "This might be the only time I ever get to say that."
Tenrai had heard something in a news burst recently about the Flotilla retaking the quarian homeworld, but at the time it hadn't really meant anything to him. In fact, he'd been furious to find out that while the rest of the galaxy was busy fighting the Reapers the quarians had been fighting a war against the geth over one lousy planet. Suddenly he understood though, as the thought of never seeing Palaven again hit him. He looked away she she continued speaking.
"You know... I never got to see the homeworld. Just this one picture. I'm not sure who took it, but it's all I have." Tenrai looked up to see that Korah had brought up a picture on her omni-tool. It was just a picture of a desert-looking cliff, over an ocean with a huge clear sky over it. It was so simple, but there was something so beautiful about it.
"I'm sorry..." It was all Tenrai could think to say, and it just didn't seem like enough. Korah didn't really seem to mind all that much, she just nodded and continued to gaze at the picture in front of her in silence. Both said nothing for a short while, before Tenrai realized what he hadn't asked her. "Are you alright? Your suit..."
The glow of the omni-tool disappeared as she lowered her arm and looked at the turian on the ground once more. "Seventeen ruptures." She said, as though it wasn't a death sentence. "Twelve resulted in damage to the flesh... it doesn't look too good for me." She sighed heavily, before limping across the short distance between them and sinking to the floor beside Tenrai. "It looks like I'll never see the homeworld in person."
"I'm sorry." Again, it was all that he could think of to say, and he knew it wasn't enough.
"Don't be sorry. My people have a home again. I may never see it myself, but knowing that it's there is more than enough for me."
Tenrai nodded in agreement. The turians lived a very militaristic lifestyle, and were raised to place the needs of Palaven above their own. Seeing how selfish some aliens could be was always a shock, but even moreso were the aliens that didn't have to care about their homeworld, but did it anyway. He didn't answer, but he didn't feel he needed to. The pair fell into silence once more, listening to Reapers moving around outside. Neither felt the need to be quiet to hide, however. They both knew that this was the end, and to hell with the Reapers. The sooner they were found, the sooner this nightmare would be over.
"Did you ever see Fleet and Flotilla?"
"What?" Korah placed her hand on Tenrai's shoulder as he leaned forward, coughing. A lot of blood was coming up...
"Fleet and Flotilla," He said, leaning back once the fit had passed, turning to his quarian companion, "the movie. Did you ever see it?"
"Yes, I did." She said, smiling slightly at the lightness of the question, "It was one of my favorites, actually."
"Mine, too." Tenrai coughed again, but closed his eyes and focused on breathing for a moment until it passed. "I think I heard that they were planning a sequel."
"Really?" Korah laughed, but it made her head spin... she was losing a lot of blood. "Damn... I guess that means we're going to miss it."
"Yeah, I guess so..." It was odd, how something so trivial could really put things into perspective. The whole galaxy had come together to fight this war, there was no way they were going to lose... but a lot of people weren't going to live to see that. However, no matter how many people died, the galaxy would keep on going.
"Yeah..." Korah sighed, before reaching up and starting to undo the seals on her mask.
"What are you doing?" Tenrai asked, leaning forward slightly and reaching out with his good arm to grab hers.
She stopped, and turned to look at the turian beside her, "Let's be honest Tenrai... my suit is in tatters, I'm completely out of ammo, and there's an army of Reapers out there just biding their time." She lowered her hand, and looked down, "Before I die... I just want to smell the air without my masks filters. To feel it on my skin... I want to see things without looking through a window."
Tenrai hesitated for a moment, before he let go of the quarian's arm. She sat still for a moment, before she reached up and finished removing her mask, tossing it to the side and taking a deep, wavering breath. Her turian companion stared at her a moment, half-shocked. He'd never seen a quarian without their mask on... he hadn't expected them to look so human. But at the same time she was completely different. Her eyes were so bright that they glowed when she turned to look at him. He didn't know what she was supposed to look like, but he just knew that she was pale. He'd seen her lose so much blood, and he had no idea how much she'd lost before he'd been able to see.
"You're very beautiful." He said, his voice low to discourage another bout of coughs. Korah watched him for a moment, before she smiled.
"Thank you." She said, quickly covering her mouth as she began to cough. The unfiltered air was hard on her lungs. However, there was no time to worry about that. A loud roar from far too close made her jump, just as the brute that they both knew was outside slammed into the wall, knocking things loose and showering the pair in dust and plaster.
"Well... I guess this is it." Tenrai closed his eyes for a moment, bracing himself for what he knew was going to come. He had thought he was going to die so many times today, but he knew that this would be it. Neither he nor Korah would ever see anything outside of this room again. For a moment, these two blood-soaked soldiers were the only ones in the universe. He opened his eyes to look at her one last time as the brute slammed into the wall, raining more of it down around them. She looked afraid, but she met his eyes and held them.
"Any last words?" He asked, over the din of the Reapers trying to get in. It was unlikely that anyone would remember these two souls once they passed... but he wanted to remember her. He wanted to remember the woman that was with him at the end of it all.
"Yes." She said, still holding his gaze. She sat up, ignoring the pain as her body protested, and turned so that she was facing him, "Forgive me for this." She said, before she leaned across his wounded body and kissed him gently, lingering for a moment as the brute hit the wall one final time, and the rubble crashed down around them. Ignoring the shriek of the banshee, the shouts of the husks, and the roars of the brutes, she pulled away slowly, "I just wanted one real kiss... before the end."
"I forgive you." Tenrai whispered, barely audible over the Reaper forces now climbing through the rubble and into the room. "And Korah?"
"Yes?" She looked at him one last time, the fear now plainly visible in her face.
"Thank you." He said, grabbing her hand and squeezing it tightly.
Author's note: Thank you so much for reading! I've never been much of a fan-fiction writer, and this is my first attempt in a very long time. I'd love to hear what you think in the reviews.