Garrus leaned back in the lounge chair, taking a sip from a bottle that had a straw and wedge of tiri on it. He propped up his feet, kicking off his sandals. He unbuttoned his specially made Hawaiian shirt and closed his eyes, drinking in the heat of Sol. He wore specially modified human eyewear meant to block out the sun, and a floppy hat that had a hole cut for his fringe.
Nothing but quiet waves hitting the shore. Every now and then, a piece of space debris would fall and hit the water.
The island he was on was part of the Hawaiian Island archipelago. It didn't have any major cities. Because of that, most of the destruction that had covered the rest of the United North American States spared it, though oddly enough someone had reversed some of the street signs.
Only a few of the people that lived there walked the beaches, and they were too far away to bother him on his section of beach. Every now and then he'd see the tentacle of a hanar pop out of the ocean. It was a major tourist spot, but being one of the heroes that had saved galaxy did come with a few perks.
Small comfort, but he'd take what he could get, to get away from press and family and well-meaning people that really weren't.
Maybe it was cowardly, but he deserved a rest. They both did. He looked over to the seat beside him. A tall beer with a slice of lime slowly condensed on the table beside him. He cast his eyes back over the ocean, closing them as the waves hit the shore.
He wished she could be here. This was something they both should have been able to do together. He closed his eyes, picturing her running along the beach, curling her toes in the sand. Her laughter, so rarely heard but so very welcome.
He reached out his hand. He could almost feel hers beside him. He closed his around it.
Wait.
He could feel someone's hand in his grasp. It was furry. He jerked his hand away and glanced over. A little blue thing chittered at him.
Garrus blinked.
The strange animal skittered around. It reached for her beer but Garrus pulled it away and raised it above his head.
It crawled all over him trying to reach the beer he had in his talons. It scaled his raised arm like a tree trunk. "Hey no, little guy. Stop it. Stop it right now. That's Shepard's! Hey stop it." The little animal snatched it from him and drank it down in one gulp. He smacked his lips, then burped out the straw. "Hey!"
It tilted its head to the side, then leapt over Garrus and snatched his tiri and his beer and did the same thing to them. "You little—" He jumped and tackled him, but he only shoved sand in his face as he missed.
It tilted its head to the other side. "King?" it said, tone questioning.
"What?"
"King?" It asked again, doing a strange sort of gyration with its lower body.
"I'm not sure what you mean," Garrus said.
The little alien huffed. "Since my baby left me," he sang and growled the next bit, sounding like a musical instrument. "I found a new place to dwell. Da da da da da," he growled again. "Uh, down at the end of lonely street in Heartbreak Hotel."
"Elvis?" Garrus said, raising his brow plates. Shepard had loved the old human music, when she wasn't listening to the synthesized music the rest of the galaxy loved. Elvis in particular had been a favorite, and he recognized the song.
"Yeah, yeah," The little blue alien nodded enthusiastically.. He pulled a wig and a cape and a white suit from somewhere and started playing the music while thrusting his hips, dressed in one of the most outlandish human costumes Garrus had ever seen.
It crawled up into the hollow of his carapace. "Alien have no family?" it asked. "Alone on beach."
"I do. My dad's somewhere with the 12th, back on Palaven. I don't know where my sister is." Her biotic abilities put her on the front lines with the rest of the Cabals. She could be anywhere.
"Oh," it said. "Alien lost?"
Garrus thought about it for a long time. "Maybe."
"Alien man is sad. Miss them?"
"Yeah, but there's someone I miss even more. The Reapers got her."
"Reapers," the little blue thing hissed and the spines on his back flared. It mimed firing a gun.
"Yeah." Garrus said. "Tell me about it. I even thought she'd make it through, but there's been no word. They've been searching for her for months now and there's been no sign."
"Stitch has family now, but Stitch also miss Lilo. Lilo best friend. Grew old, died. More family, Lilo kids and Nani and David kids and one through six-two-five, but Stitch miss Lilo most." Its eyes widened. "Alien man need ohana."
"That word didn't translate."
"Ohana means family. Family means no one left behind or forgotten. Strange alien man can be Stitch family now, yes? Get big ohana."
"I'm not sure—" Garrus began.
"Too late. Alien man ohana now. Pinky promise." The alien hooked his claw around Garrus's talon and closed it before pulling away. Garrus held his outstretched digits over his face between him and the sun, just looking at them.
"Thanks, I guess." He looked over the vast expanse of beach, and the horizon Sol was just dipping below. It colored the sky a beautiful shade of purple and orange and reds. Shepard would have loved being here. He could picture it, turian and human kids running underneath their feet. Shepard building those things she called sandcastles.
The creature jumped down. "Now sing farewell song to sun dipping below ocean. And friend."
"Her name was Shepard."
Stitch corrected himself. "Sing goodbye to Shepard. Make you feel better. Sometimes still sing goodbye to Lilo. Have good goodbye song. Can sing along if you want to."
Garrus just listened.
aloha ʻoe, aloha ʻoe
E ke onaona noho i ka lipo
One fond embrace,
A hoʻi aʻe au
Until we meet again
ʻO ka haliʻa aloha i hiki mai
Ke hone aʻe nei i
Kuʻu manawa
ʻO ʻoe nō kaʻu ipo aloha
A loko e hana nei
The alien had an odd-sounding voice, but it carried strong feeling as it crooned. "Aloha. Feel peace. Let's go meet family now, 'kay? " He reached up a furry hand.
Garrus stood for a moment, wracked by indecision. He looked down at the outstretched hand. "Okay," he said.
And then they walked towards the boardwalk hand in hand, backs to the ocean.