So this is not just my first FF but the first thing i ever wrote. So please dont expect too much. Besides English isnt my native language so please forgive typos or a bit wrong grammar. I hope you still have fun and i would like to make this more than just a oneshot.
Everything from the ME-univers is owned by EA and Bioware
Thanks to barbex for helping and correcting. U R AWESEOME!
Earth was fucked up pretty hard. No one knew how many people died or were transformed into husks or what other sick shit. But now the war was over. Earth will regain strength and they will rebuild it. They always did. Like phoenix from the ashes they will rise again.
A bit lost in the middle of all the relief and happiness among the races, stood one lost turian with indescribable pain in his heart.
He hadn't heard from her since the push to the beam. But he had hope, even after that strange red pulse who killed all the reapers. The only thing in Garrus's mind was to go up to the remains of the citadel and find Shepard, not just Shepard, Zoë, the best fucking person in his fucked up life. He never had dreamed or thought of a person in this universe that gave him this feeling.
He headed to the spaceport, pushing his way through the partying soldiers.
He would have loved to enjoy the victory, but even the fact that his whole family would be safe from now on, couldn't give him a good feeling. Not without her. He had lost her once, he wouldn't let it happen twice.
His heart was about to explode and his mind would drag him into darkness if it would come to the worst.
"She's alive..." he told himself.
But what if she wasn't? He thought about his gun... The barrel in his mouth...
"Yo scars!"
He turned around, Vega stood right behind him.
"Lieutenant..." Garrus wasn't in the mood to talk; the only thing he wanted to do was to take a shuttle and search the whole damn Citadel to find her. He would search the whole universe for her.
He thought about the plans they had had. Settle down, calm down, ease things up and maybe figure a way to find out what a turian/human baby would look like. The sorrow and pain in his heart made him clench his fist.
As they walked through something that looked like a grocery store, or what was left of it, Vega spoke up. "I know what you're up to scars... Hackett won't allow it!"
He wanted to rip the humans head off. Why had he accompanied him if he would try to hold him off? With his hands clenched, he stopped and faced the lieutenant.
"I don't give a shit on what Hackett allows and what not!" He shouted at Vega.
Shocked by the turians reaction, Vega took two steps back, holding up his hands. "Easy loco, me neither... I'm going to help." He grinned. "Now let's get a shuttle."
They were silent for quite a long walk. They passed and saw so much destruction and death, crippled bodies and burned down houses. Vega knew Garrus pretty well, so he knew when he should leave the turian in peace.
They walked through a destroyed hotel lobby. Paper, wood and bodies were strewn all over the place, it looked like a bomb had blown up. That was probably quite realistic.
When Garrus turned to Vega, he swallowed. "Listen Vega..." He begun, rubbing his forehead. "I... wanted to thank you for your help... I wouldn't know what..." He was at a loss for words.
"Keep it scars." Vega interrupted him. "I know what she means to you, besides, it would be pretty boring without any 'dancing' with her." He smiled at Garrus.
The look on Vega's face somehow helped Garrus to calm down a bit. He really liked this babykrogan-like human. More than that whiney little girl Kaidan.
"You mean get your ass kicked by her?" He replied with something like a laugh.
He remembered that great sight of her perfect, small body, placing her right foot on Vega's chest, both hands raised over her head in victory.
He missed the old times. Except for the Reaper threat.
His mind drifted back to the time he spent with her in private and the fear took over his body again.
He don't know how far they had walked and he hated his mind for showing him what could have happened to his love. He imagined her destroyed body, broken neck, blood everywhere and her taunting eyes staring at him for not rescuing her. He heard a quiet noise back in real life.
The lieutenant must have said something but Garrus had not heard him. "Sorry Vega... what?"
"I said, this scene reminds me of an old song. It was like: As i walked through the valley of shadow, of death. I took a look at my live and realized there's nothing left... Thought it fits, don't you think?" Vega said.
Garrus nodded. Nothing left. If something had happened to her, it would be fucking true. Fear was about to rip him apart and he sped up again.
The walk to the bay took a long time. They passed celebrating soldiers, collapsed buildings and lots of bodies. Right now it was unimaginable that this town had been the home to nearly 20.000.000 people or that it could ever be again. Nobody wanted to think about the casualties... millions, billions... who knew?
He stopped suddenly when he recognized an Alliance Soldier.
Vega turned around, "yo scars why have you… oh fuck no!"
The soldier was scarred and heavily bleeding, he was dying. Garrus sat at his right and Vega on the other side. He placed his hand on the man's chest, trying to calm him.
"What's your name?" Garrus asked.
"Hi… Hideko" The soldier coughed blood. "Hideko Maeda."
Garrus looked over to Vega. He shook his head. Garrus was about to say something as the soldier interrupted with a weak, fearful tone.
"Please, I don't want to die!" He had tears in his eyes. Garrus could almost feel the man's fear.
"Please, I want to see my mother again."
What was he supposed to tell this poor kid? He wasn't good in guessing humans age, but he was sure that this kid wasn't even twenty.
Garrus looked him directly in the eyes. "You are right; you are going to die now." This was hard for him, the look in the boy's face as he said that. He wanted to run away but continued. "But don't be afraid of that. You will be in a place without fear, without pain. All is bright and clear, like the sunniest day on earth ever and you will feel peace and relief."
The kid pulled on his arm, his eyes full of fear. Fuck this war. He prayed to the Spirits to give his soul peace.
The boy tightened his grip on his arm for a moment and then his hand fell away. He had passed. But Garrus could see something like a smile on his face.
He shook his head and collected the boy's dog-tags. He wanted to return them to his mother.
Vega tipped on his shoulder. Garrus looked at his face, seeing traces of tears on the lieutenant's cheek.
"We should go now, still a bit of way." Vega said.
Garrus nodded.
They were silent as they walked.
Garrus had watched so many people die but this one would never leave his mind again. He looked at the dog-tag. Thanks to Zoë he could read human words pretty well, so he found out that the boy had just turned 18 six months ago. 'What a stupid waste of life,' he thought and shook his head.
At least this incident kept his mind busy for a few minutes instead of him of picturing what could have happened to Shepard.
They arrived at the shuttle bay. There was no soldier on guard. He was probably partying or, in the worst case, dead.
The place had been hit pretty hard. The tower was collapsed, smoke and fire rose from the destroyed shuttles. Corpses of alliance, krogan, turian and reaper forces were scattered all over the place. They walked around a bit but found no functional shuttle.
Anger rose in Garrus's chest, paired with fear. He slammed his fist in one of the destroyed shuttles. The pain in his heart was immense.
"Spirits be damned! How the fuck am I supposed to get up there..." he looked up to the remains of the citadel,"without a fucking Shuttle?" He half howled and growled.
Vega stepped beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Easy scars..." He said as he gave an order over voicecomm.
Garrus turned his head up just in time to see the Normandy descent. Oh, how he loved this ship. Then he heard jokers voice over comm: "Let's bring her home G!"
Spirits, he couldn't agree more.
Darkness and pain was the only thing she recognized. Nothing was there. Just her, the pain and her thoughts. At least if she was conscious.
She couldn't really remember what had happened after she had decided to destroy the Reapers. At least she knew now that the little piece of shit had been lying about the consequences. She was still here. Definitely not dead.
Anderson crossed her mind, she had tried to shoot him. But had she? She couldn't remember and if she tried, her head wanted to explode.
She remembered a big explosion and all the people she had been thinking about when she had made her decision. What had happened to them? What had happened to Garrus? She felt fear in her heart and then the darkness took her back.
He headed straight for the cockpit just to find out, that everybody else of the squad had had the same idea. So there he stood with all of them. He didn't like the way they looked at him. Like they wanted to tell him that he shouldn't hope. Well, he wouldn't give up till he found her, dead or alive.
Everybody was there. Tali, Liara, Vega, EDI, Ash - even Javik was with them.
"I promise we'll find her Scars." He heard Vega say. Garrus looked at him, nodding slightly. He never would have thought that he would count a human as his closest friends.
The Prothean looked over in his usual annoying way. "Don't be too unrealistic turian, the chances to find her alive are low."
He felt the need to punch him in his fucking four-eyed face, but before he could react, Vega shouted at Javik.
"Hey buggy, watch your fucking mouth or I swear to god I…"
Garrus interrupted him by grabbing his shoulder, signalizing that it was not worth it. Still, he appreciated the help.
The rest of the trip was quiet, at least for him.
He heard Liara and Ash talking about what could eventually await them.
EDI checked the system and he heard Joker say that they should be glad that there was still so much traffic in the orbit. With all the starting and landing ships from different species, nobody really cared about them.
Everyone of the Alliance members on board had volunteered to this rescue mission, because nobody knew what they would find up there and nobody knew how Hackett would react after they returned.
Two minutes later they arrived at the Citadel. Docking was difficult because the normal docking bays weren't functional anymore. So he decided to take the shuttle. The whole team of Shepard's friends was with him and three additional Alliance soldiers.
Cortez flew them in as close as he could to the center of destruction, because that was where Shepard would most probably be.
As much as he could see from the shuttle, the Citadel was a mess and Garrus wondered if anybody could have survived there. But he didn't want to think about it. He wouldl search and find her, no matter in what shape she was or what it took.
The shuttledoor opened and he set his foot on the Citadel or what was left of it, more or less ready to face what ever could await him.
So this it, the first thing I ever wrote. I hope u enjoyed it I gave my best to bring it down.
There is more to come. This is no one-shot I just wanted to figure out if this is worth keeping on. So please give me your opinion on this. And please forgive any typos or wrong punctuation characters. As I said earlier English is not my native language.