Chapter 1: Grunt
Date: 2186
Location: Battlefield Earth
Grunt watched in awe as the light come down from the heavens and hit the ground of the earth. He felt the ground beneath him shake and turned in time to dodge out of the way as a Reaper leg come down as it to crush him. Hefting his weapon he began to shoot at the husks that followed the Reaper. Suddenly he spotted a tiny human standing there, seeming to be caught in fears grasp. Charging forward he grabbed the tiny human child. Children; no matter the species, were sacred to his people because of what the genophage had done to the krogan people.
Suddenly the light washed over the Reaper and as Grunt curled into himself to protect the child from the oncoming husks; only to not be attacked. Looking up he watched as the yellow-red light stopped the hordes or husks and they vaporized as they self-destructed. That was when the Reapers themselves began to shake. Looking up at the one that was nearest Grunt watched as the half destroyed Reaper exploded. Those that were not heavily damaged began to take off and leave the planet. Those all throughout the galaxy did likewise; which confused many people at first, but Grunt knew who had done this. Battlmaster! He thought.
That was when he heard the roar of victory from his fellow krogan and turians, followed by the high shrieks of asari and humans. They'd beaten the enemy. Now it was time to find their injured and go home.
Looking down he saw the child looking up at him with large eyes full of fear. "Did we win?" she asked.
"Yes, my Battlemaster won this war for you." He stated as he lifted the child up and put her on his hump. Picking up his weapon he began the long treck back to HQ. It was then that he heard a scream of fear. Looking for its source he saw an asari pointing upwards. Looking up he saw what had the asari's panties in a bunch.
The citadel was damaged beyond what he thought it would be. Large pieces began falling from the sky. The child on his hump began to whimper in fear at the thought of being crushed by the thousands of tons of steel. Making a mad dash for safety he and many others who followed his example, began flocking to where it would be safe. Grunt heard and felt the ground shake as the steel began crashing into the earth below it. Diving out of the way and running as if he had dozens of threshers after him, Grunt made a silent prayer to his ancestors for protection.
As he rounded another destroyed building he saw a shadow come over him and saw a piece of the citadel debris coming right for his position. Growling he pushed his legs to make himself go faster. The child on his hump whimpering and yelling "run faster" every so often. That was when he saw a sewer hole open. He was thankful it was a big hole and jumped it and kept running. There was a suddenly crash above his head and was even more thankful when the tunnel's roof didn't collapse.
Tired as hell, he felt his legs give out from beneath him. Activating his omni-tool he made contact with HQ. "Grunt where are you?" came Wrex's voice.
"In a sewer tunnel. The citadel is falling from the sky." He said as if Wrex didn't already know.
"We know." came the scared krogan's voice. "Can you get out?"
"I'm a krogan," he stated as if Wrex shouldn't even question that.
"Good. Shepard activated her location beacon, but it's a weak signal from where we are." Wrex said sounding worried.
"She's on the Citadel." Grunt said trying to figure out what he was supposed to do.
"The part that she's in is located near you." There was a pause. "In fact, it's right above your position."
Grunt looked up at the sewer pipes and growled. He grabbed the kid off of his hump and put her down on the ground. Pointing forward where he could see a light in the sewer tunnels roof he spoke. "That's your way out. Run, I've gotta got upward from this point and get my Battlemaster."
The child looked up at the krogan and then wrapped her arms around his one leg. "Thank-you for saving me Mr. Nice Krogan Man."
Grunt was about to correct her on his name when she took off for the exit. Looking upwards once more he pulled his shot gun and began shooting through the roof and debris and everything that was between him and his Battlemaster.
M-Angel: Okay, so I've been working on this story on archiveofourown since April. It's a story that goes between Before the Dawn and After the Dawn. Yes, I know that the After the Dawn has been on hiatus for a long time, but I will be finishing the story up before I bring on the last of the Hero series in December. So with that said, I hope you enjoy these tiny stories that happened before the After the Dawn.
