True Loves
Chapter 1: Seeker Swarms
Shepard, Garrus, and Kasumi had to move fast. The Collectors were storming up from both ends of the metal walkway. Samara was doing well holding up the biotic bubble, but Shepard could see the pain of prolonged use of her biotic abilities on her face. She didn't know how much longer Samara would last if they couldn't get out of the seeker swarms soon.
"Go, Samara, move, move! We'll take care of the Collectors in the way!" Shepard shouted. Samara nodded, her arms quivering with fatigue, as she ran quickly toward the end of the walkway. Shepard and Kasumi shot wildly at the lines of Collectors in front of them while Garrus fired at those approaching from the rear. As they neared the end of the walkway, Shepard could see a slope at the end leading down to a room with a heavy metal door.
"There!" Kasumi shouted in between her never ending stream of flashbang grenades. "Get us down there and I can seal that door!"
"What she said!" Garrus agreed, picking off several Collectors with headshots. "I can't keep these Collectors off our backs forever. I don't even have a chance to say 'impressive' after each one I take out!"
The group reached the end of the walkway and Kasumi and Shepard realized that no other Collectors were arriving to replace the ones they killed. They looked down the slope and could see that, for the moment, the horde in front of them had subsided. The pathway was clear all the way to the door. There were some small metal barriers at the top of the slope. Samara walked between them while Shepard and Kasumi vaulted over them on either side of her, keeping a wary eye out for any Collectors that might fly in. Garrus turned to follow them, but as he was about to climb over the barrier, he was struck in the back by a Collector bullet. He tripped over the barrier and fell face first onto the slope. Samara continued moving, unaware of his fall as the outer edge of the biotic bubble approached Garrus's legs. He scrambled down the slope to remain in the safety of the envelope as Shepard saw what had happened.
"Arrrggh!" Garrus shouted. He swatted at his leg. The biotic barrier had moved further along the path and Garrus had not been able to keep up; his legs now fell outside it and a seeker flew away, having just stung him. Shepard saw Garrus on the ground and reached out her hand to him. Garrus reached to grab it when he realized how stiff his arm was. Not only his arm, but his entire body felt tight and unmovable. Wow, I haven't felt this stiff and sore since the morning after that tiebreaker match back in the military, Garrus thought.
Shepard quickly grabbed his hand, a look of horror appearing on her face as she realized what was happening, and started pulling him back fully inside the bubble. She could see that Garrus was frozen like the colonists on Horizon. Ready to be taken away for processing. She wasn't about to allow Garrus to the mercy of the Collectors. Before she could pull him fully in, however, Shepard felt resistance. Something was pulling him back out of the bubble. Suddenly, Garrus felt himself floating. He was somehow rising above Shepard as her mouth opened in horror. He strained his eyes to look to either side of him but couldn't see anything. He rose higher than the bubble and soon only saw his arm poking through the giant blue orb, Shepard being the only thing anchoring him to the ground. He could no longer see her; the opaque, shimmering surface of the biotic bubble obscured her face.
Shepard had never been so terrified in her life. Seeker swarms had latched on to Garrus's legs and were attempting to pull him away from her. She held on desperately to his hand with both of hers, trying hopelessly to set her feet in the smooth metal below her. "No, no no nononono!" she screamed as she realized she was losing ground. Her feet were beginning to slide up the slope, unable to find anything to catch on. More seeker swarms arrived and latched on to Garrus's unprotected torso. Their added force pulled Shepard so hard that she felt her legs leave the ground. She continued rising and her arms left the protection of the biotic barrier.
Shepard was brought back to the night before. The night when she was surprised by a rather nervous looking Garrus carrying a bottle of cheap wine. The night when he tried so desperately to set the romantic mood by playing dance music from Flux. The night when he awkwardly attempted to compliment her looks but was quite unsure of what to say. Everything about that night only made her love him more. He had bought a wine for Shepard that he couldn't even drink because of his DNA. He had actually remembered an innocuous comment Shepard had made back in Flux about liking the music. And, damn it, he just tried so hard to make her happy! She did her best to help him relax, set him more at ease. He seemed so edgy that he looked like he would pass out. But his quirks only endeared her more to him. She remembered first meeting him in the Council chambers. He apologized for not being able to find any hard evidence in his investigation against Saren. He also seemed to be averting his eyes from Shepard during that conversation. And, later, when she encountered him in Dr. Michel's office. (She always referred to that as his first real "Impressive!" moment.) He was so eager to join her after that meeting! When Shepard agreed to let him on her team, if he was human, she would have sworn he was blushing.
She developed a crush on him soon after they met. His personality simply drew her in. As they spent more and more time together, she realized that she was falling for the turian hunk. She tried to provoke him into revealing any mutual feelings. She stealthily watched his tireless work on the Mako, hoping to catch the rare glimpse when he would be forced to take off his armor to slide underneath it. Then, she'd ever so casually "bump" into him for a chat, hoping for him to emerge from beneath the vehicle, though he always seemed reluctant. Deep down, she did believe that he felt the same way about her that she did about him, but she was too nervous to approach him without fully knowing his true feelings. She felt he was too good of a friend to jeopardize their current relationship by admitting unreturned affection. But as she lay floating in space, dying, she felt like a complete idiot for not admitting it to him before. Garrus was not the kind of man who would abandon her for a simple admission of love.
But her rebirth had allowed her to find him again, and she made certain that she would not make the same mistake. She remembered their reunion on Omega. He took off his helmet, revealing how he'd changed after two years. His face was harder, more emotionless. His stance was wary and combative, the result of living a lonely, dangerous life as a vigilante. She felt as though she were melting as she quickly ran in to embrace him for the first time in what felt like ages. Garrus seemed unprepared for such a vigorous welcome as they both tumbled to the ground. As he fully realized that Shepard was alive and on top of him, he seemed to melt, as well. His new façade disappeared and he became the same old quirky, lovable Garrus she knew from before. They had been granted more time with each other. Time for their relationship to truly blossom. When she was fully certain that he held feelings of affection for her, she asked him for a date for them to have shortly before the base infiltration, knowing they might not get another chance. He seemed both ecstatic and panicked as he agreed. They fully realized the depth of their love for each other, and she would never leave him again. He was the love of her life, her perfect complement. And now everything had gone to hell. Her love was about to die. She couldn't let go of him. She'd rather die with him.
"Oww!" she yelped, a sudden pain shocking her back to reality. She felt a prick on her hand and saw a seeker buzzing away. She felt her fingers lock in place, immovable. The rest of her body soon followed; Shepard couldn't force herself to move an inch. Every muscle in her body felt tight and contracted. The seekers pulled her further out of the bubble as Kasumi and Samara realized what was happening to her. Shepard's feet left the bubble and Samara strained to stretch it over Garrus and Shepard. Her hands shook violently as she attempted to manipulate the biotic field to no avail. She collapsed to her knees, too tired to extend the bubble's range any further. Kasumi lobbed multiple grenades at the seekers, trying to scare them away. The seekers were unfazed. She took out her SMG, aiming at the swarms that had latched onto them. But they all knew that that wouldn't do any good; there was no way Kasumi could shoot the seekers to death, and she could not fire with the risk of hitting either of them. Shepard and Garrus rose higher, no one able to protect them. They were unable to look away from each other and unwilling to if they could. The bubble rapidly appeared to shrink as they rose higher and higher. They realized that they were going to die.