A/N: This is the final installment of the trilogy. For those just joining the chaos, enjoy but check out "An Empty Divide" and "Indefinite Schism".

Disclaimer: All characters, places, and what not, are property of BioWare. I just like playing with their dolls.

0600 Zulu 11.06.2185

Imprisoned by his own thoughts, ex-Commander Garrus Vakarian stared out of his cell watching as the human guards of the military prison ship patrolled the catwalk of his level. The steel walls reverberated with an energy of anger and hatred that seeped through the walls of his cage and tainted the barely sterile room. The waiting, oh, the waiting, that had befell him and the tedium that had marred his mind made him flashback to morbid times. His soul, long since dead, eked out of him and festered. The memories never left him. Her face, pale and ashen, streaked with red. Her hazel eyes, filled with a terror he had never seen before. It was the first time in a long time that he'd replayed for him in its entirety, the tragedy. He missed her, all of her.

He looked at his hands, still seeing the brown, dried, flakes of blood on his hands. Stained forevermore. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists holding up the pent up rage that never had a chanced to be released. Why her not him, he could have dealt with his own demise, like he would have had a real choice in the matter. She didn't deserve it, everything that she'd accomplished, everything that she'd lived through, snuffed out at the hand of one fucked up turian with a vendetta...

Winters and Dillon grabbed Nevara by the limbs and rushed her out of the room. Kaidan followed suit, yelling at them to hurry. Garrus stood there alone, gauze, tubing, medi-gel packs, and blood, god, the blood, littered the floor. His eyes followed the path of blood droplets to the door. It was still open, no one had even thought to close it after all the chaos. He could escape, but what would be the point. He couldn't leave her and the odds of him getting out alive were minute at best. He stared out of the room for a long while listening to the yelling and barking of orders that Kaidan was spewing. Winters was defiant though, words of deceased and statistical odds were laid out. He had little hope of her survival.

Kaidan was then in the doorway staring in at Garrus. His face blank and his eyes moist. Garrus couldn't look at him. His ire fueled by the monitors droning tone.

"It doesn't look good." Kaidan finally said looking around the room. Never making eye contact with Garrus.

"Well, you have to do something. You can't just let her die." Garrus yelled.

"Don't you tell me how to do things. I've got one idea left and if that fails, well, I don't know. She's not invincible." Kaidan answered back, folding his arms across his chest.

"Care to explain." Garrus asked, holding little hope to whatever life Nevara would have, if any.

"No, I don't." Kaidan snapped. He sighed looking one last time around the room before looking Garrus in the eyes. "Clean this up. The blood will start to stink."

Garrus was thrown aback by the order. He looked at the floor again and huffed out his acceptance to Kaidan. He turned his back to Kaidan, hoping that in some way he'd attack, ending the pain that he felt. His response was the door closing and locking. Garrus closed his eyes, trying to wash away the scene of Nevara lying there dying in his arms. Her smile remained, in her last moments. So strong till the bitter end.

He fell to his knees, never taking his eyes off the pooled coagulating blood. His hands searched along the floor for the wrappers and packets that laid in overwhelming abundance across the room. They were everywhere, just thrown aside once opened. He crawled along the floor, crumpling the wads in his fist. It was a slow process, never paying attention to the direction that he was going over finding nothing for a long while. He couldn't stop staring, replaying her last moments.

Finally, he stood up and walked over to the table and threw all the trash atop it. Where else was he going to put it. His last dreadful task was to clean up the mess of blood on the floor. There was nothing to sop it up. Scanning the floor again, he found her tank top, crumpled up under the foot of the bed. He shook his head and picked it up. Smelling her scent all over it, he shuttered. He missed her already, doubt and dread filled him. He couldn't use that to clean what was left of her up. He looked at the tattered white cloth, rubbing his fingers along the threads.

He ripped the tattered rag in half and pocketed a portion of it. A memento if you will. Taking the other scraps he swirled the material through the purplish puddle. Absorbing it to capacity, the once white shirt was a deep, dark red. It was heavy and stained his talons seeping into the crevices of his skin. His body ached as he choked back harsh breath each time the cloth splattered the blood. It splashed his arms and clothing with speckles. He sighed and shook his head, realizing that he couldn't clean it all, what little he had done was made worse by his feeble attempt to erase the prior events.

In a fit of anger, he threw the rag against the wall and watched it fall to the floor with a sloppy thud. The distorted staining left on the wall stared back at him brightly. He rose to his feet looking at his hands. They were caked in red and brown. He sat on the bed and put his head in his hands. He shivered and shuttered waiting and hoping that everything would possibly be alright.

Minutes turned to hours and Garrus's stomach growled with anger from its emptiness. Time didn't exist within the four walls of the confining room. The sound of the door opening made him jump with a start. He looked up shocked by Liliandaz standing in the doorway leaning on crutches. He hobbled into the room and cleared his throat and waited for the words to come to him. Garrus jumped from the bed and beckoned Liliandaz to sit. He was hurried and rushed waiting for the news he'd waited so long to hear.

"How is she?" Garrus asked, breathy and overtly concerned.

Liliandaz's head dropped and he shook his head with grief. Garrus's heart stopped. It couldn't be, she can't be.

"I'm sorry, Commander." Liliandaz finally answered.

"I want to see her." Garrus yelped, starting towards the door.

Liliandaz grabbed Garrus by the arm and shook his head. His eyes were a solid green and piercing. "You can't."

"Why the hell not?" Garrus asked, his breathing shallow and his eyes darted from Liliandaz to the door and back again.

"It's not going to change anything." Liliandaz answered in a cold tone.

"Damn it, let me go." Garrus yelled, pulling his arm out of Liliandaz's grip. "Don't I deserve a chance to say good-bye? Can't I at least have that much?"

"No. I can't let you do that. If you go in there, we'll both be dead." Liliandaz stated.

"So? It's better than being locked up in here with no idea as to what is going to happen next." Garrus sulked.

"I know what you're going through, Garrus."

"You have no idea what I'm going through." Garrus snapped, turning away from Liliandaz and kicking over the table.

"I do. Trust me. I was in your shoes eighteen months ago. I lost someone I loved right before my eyes." Liliandaz started. Garrus turned around shocked at the confession. "Just after I was called back to active duty I was a doctor. Seems harmless, right? I had a girlfriend. She was human. We met on the Citadel sometime before the war broke out." He stopped and looked at Garrus. His mouth gaped open and he blinked heavily. Liliandaz cleared his throat to continue. "She was a marine, too. Did recon and what not. I was stationed here as a doctor of course. I hadn't seen her since the fighting broke out. Six months had passed when word had gotten round that one of the patrols had captured some recon scouts near the compound and that they were to be executed at dawn. I had no idea it was her unit. They called me out to the courtyard to call time of death. I stood there as they marched the four man unit out and stood them in a line in front of the firing squad." He paused again, collecting his thoughts for a moment, not wanting to continue to the inevitable.

"What happened?" Garrus asked, breaking the silence that had held both of them. Liliandaz blew a steady stream of air and coughed again, trying to urge himself forward.

"I saw her and she saw me in the same moment. I could read her expression from across the yard. She was scared but defiant. Angry, but reserved. I couldn't do anything. If I had attempted anything my own death would be upon us. They lined them up. Shoulder to shoulder as your predecessor gave the final orders and counted down. They killed her, Garrus. Quickly, but dead nonetheless. I checked each of them for any signs of life, but there was nothing. It was my fault and I keep that thought with me all the time. Your human reminded me of her. Strong, stubborn, beautiful. I envied you."

"Nevara is-was something." Garrus stopped feeling ill at the prospect of speaking of her in the past tense. "I'm sorry, Liliandaz."

"I tried, Garrus. I wanted to at least try to save yours to make amends for failing mine." Liliandaz murmured before hobbling back to the door. "I need to get back to my room before Nihlus has a conniption fit."

Garrus snickered as Liliandaz walked back to his room. Ashley walked in, sullen for the first time since they met. "Well, be leaving in an hour."

He nodded, realizing the gravity of the situation. "I'll be ready to go." He answered back.

"I don't condone what you did. Feel remorse, or guilt, or whatever you need to, because in all actuality, this is both of your faults that got her killed." Ashley grumbled before walking away.

Now he stood within the small confines of his personal hell. His prison jumpsuit itched as he leaned up against the wall watching people pass by. A guard would pass and look in, shaking his head all the while.

They taunted him incessantly, saying things about execution and how they wish that they could be there for it. The idea of execution was unnerving to say the least, but he had accepted his fate with open arms and a realization that he'd probably be better off. He was already dead and had been for the last five months.

One of the guards had finally stopped in front of Garrus's cell and smiled.

"Tomorrow's the trial. I hope you burn in hell. All of you bastards are going to burn." He snarled before chuckling away from Garrus.

Garrus shrugged slightly and sat on his rack waiting for time to go by. There was nothing there for him. Crappy food, no real company, no outside. There was nothing. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the tattered white cloth that he'd held onto so dearly on the way home.

The only time that he saw Shepard after her death was when they were loading her on to the shuttle along with the rest of the prisoners. Kaidan had let him look out of spite, but Garrus didn't care, he wasn't in the mood to play games; he just had to see her one last time. Beautiful even in death, his heart beat faster and faster. You couldn't tell that she was dead. She was naturally very pale, but if no one had told him that she was dead he would be sure that she was asleep.

He sniffed the fabric, that faintly, even after all this time had still retained her scent. She had never died to him, not in spirit. As long as he held on to her, she was very much alive, just couldn't be by her side anymore, not yet anyways.