All feedback is greatly appreciated. Reviews are welcome. Recommendations are… well, recommended. Swooning is optional. But be warned, I have great, cunning evil plans for this fanfiction…

If you prefer to contact me via BSN, then there are some who call me Tasha Vas Nar Rayya.

'Heroes never die' is named after a beautiful song by an underground band called 'Mostly Autumn.' I recommend listening to them. Enjoy ;)

After destroying the collector base and miraculously escaping a suicide mission, the remaining crew stood in the engineering deck, gazing sorrowfully at the steel containers that held the bodies of those that gave their lives for the galaxy. Their names were etched onto the front of each coffin: Miranda, Grunt, Jacob and Samara. Tharrissa Shepard took each death as a fault on her part. She felt that she had failed them, so when she stroked her hand mournfully against each coffin, she reminded herself that she would make herself worthy of their sacrifices. Tears suddenly threatened to destroy her deadly calm composure. 'No,' she amended, 'I vow to myself that I will not rest until I am worthy of their deaths.' The risk of tears receded, and she turned to face the remaining crew. After all, their mission was a success.

"We have done the impossible, something that could never have been accomplished without all of you, and these." Tharrissa motioned to the cold coffins, "who gave their lives to save the galaxy. We must go to the council immediately to present this evidence of the reaper threat. It is so much more than just Sovereign, but I promise you all, that once we have taken out these reapers, we will all have the most alcohol fuelled shore leave of our lives." She smiled, as did Garrus. The commander still tried to lighten the air in the most difficult of circumstances. Something which he did himself.

"Anything but Flux. Chora's den perhaps? I imagine it's a better place without assassins and mercs trying to slaughter us." He replied.

"I dunno, it was pretty fun. I found it amusing that assassins would be so noisy when conducting an ambush co-ordinated by the shadow broker's agents." Tharrissa walked over to where the crew stood.

"Assassin is not a worthy term. An assassin would not attempt to kill Tharrissa." Shepard laughed at Thane's remark, he was normally quite reclusive among the crew.

"I agree with that." She replied before Joker's voice reported on the intercom.

"We will arrive at the citadel in eight hours. You all have fun now, because EDI will probably block my favourite websites if I go over the drinking limit."

The crew dispersed, and Tharrissa retired to her quarters on the top floor. Alone once again, she could not stop the biotic energy that swelled around her in a blue haze. The power built up, fuelled by grief and anger, a culmination of pressure, strain and loneliness. The turmoil of emotions finally elapsed with her driving her fist right through the reinforced walls of her room. Where no one could hear her, she roared and howled, feeling all her hope dissipate. How could she stop an army of reapers and break a cycle that has been in place for millions of years? Maybe Saren was right, that the only way to survive the reaper attack would be to join them…

She shook her head in denial, that was an option she ruled out on Virmire, and she would not go back on that decision. The reapers would never negotiate in such a way, and Saren was naïve to think so. The hero of the citadel buried her head in her hands, as her hope dwindled.

At last, she decided to go to the only person she truly trusted. The only person who she could voice her honest opinions to, and not receive judgment. Following a path she had taken many times, her numb body took her to the main batteries.

Garrus' proud smile greeted her as soon as the doors opened. Relief immediately took the weight off her shoulders.

"We kicked ass Shepard! The council can't reject this evidence, this time, we will be prepared." His confidence in her abilities was encouraging, and yet, she felt undeserving of such unwavering loyalty. At her silence, he continued. "But, you wanted to talk about something else, didn't you?"

"Yeah. I did. Garrus, I am supposed to be the one raising morale, and yet you always seem to be the one dishing out all the optimism. How do you do it?"

"Shepard, with you, I have wiped out hordes of Geth, destroyed a reaper, saved the citadel, defeated the collectors and slayed a human reaper. By now, I think we have become professionals at doing the impossible. So yeah, I think I have a reason to be a little optimistic now?"

"I won't lie to you Garrus. It hasn't convinced me. This is something on another scale."

"Is it? We have killed two reapers, and Sovereign claimed they were immortal. I think we can manage whatever they throw at us." He paused, deducing from Tharrissa's dim eyes that she wasn't convinced. "Look Shepard, you have a squad who have followed you to hell and back, some of us twice, you don't need to worry about us."

"And yet, some of them died anyway."

"Not because of you, because of the collectors. All we can do is honour their memories, and avenge their deaths."

Tharrissa heaved a weary sigh. "You're right. Anyway, I am sure that you will want to have some celebration with the rest of the crew in the bar." Tharrissa suggested abruptly, she didn't want her most trusted friend losing faith in her wavering confidence. She rarely spoke about any of her emotions since Akuze. But the turian before her looked at her straight in the eyes as he spoke the one line that Tharrissa would forever remember.

"I will only do whatever you want." The sincerity of his promise shocked Tharrissa and hit her to her very core. Before she knew it, she found herself walking towards Garrus and putting her arms around him and leaning against his armoured chest. She felt his arms enclose around her too, mirroring the action.

"Thank you. I just want the galaxy to be safe from complete extinction." She managed to whisper, before abruptly leaving the main battery, leaving Garrus speechless behind her.

Shepard thought back to this memory with bitterness. All she wanted now was for him to be back with her, on the Normandy. She yearned for his presence in her dreams, and in every waking moment. But he had disappeared. The news reporters claimed he had died. Any machine that announced that Garrus was most likely dead in the vicinity of Tharrissa had the misfortune of being smashed into oblivion. She would never tell anyone, but after his disappearance, Shepard realized that she had a much closer bond with the turian than she thought. And it took his agonizing absence for her to realize this.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor of the Captain's cabin on the Normandy, her gaze drifted towards the gaping, hollow dent in the wall. The same dent that she made when anger overwhelmed her, just after the collector attack. One year ago. And eleven months ago, Garrus had vanished from the Normandy. They were docked on Illium and Shepard searched the entire planet for any indication of his presence. There was none.

She had furiously tried to contact him on his omni-tool with no success. She had asked Kasumi and Legion to try and hack it, but even their combined efforts proved fruitless. Legion had concluded that his omni-tool was absent, as it emitted no signal whatsoever. Tharrissa suspected that Kasumi kept her conclusions to herself after Tharrissa almost charged at Legion for his statement.

Tharrissa contacted every person who knew Garrus in desperation. She still remembered vividly when panic took over and she contacted Liara. The asari informed Shepard that despite her innumerable resources, she still couldn't locate Garrus. Tharrissa had yelled at Liara until her voice became raspy and her lungs seared with pain, demanding that she must know where he is, yelling that she would be the only person in the world who could find him. Liara had just shook her head, replying that even a shadow broker can't find every single shadow in every darkened corner.

Liara's implied meaning wasn't lost on Tharrissa. Everyone else had lost hope, but she knew that Garrus wasn't dead. Her biotically fuelled anger had overwhelmed her senses again, and Liara barely had time to put up a barrier to prevent her from being ripped apart from Shepard's reave. Liara didn't retaliate though, Tharrissa calmed down, and the blue mist around her gradually dissipated. "I'm so sorry." She had said. No anger broke through Liara's cool exterior, just sorrow.

"Shepard, I will devote my best agents to finding him. But don't let his absence turn you into something you aren't. He wouldn't like that if he was here." Shepard was reminded of Garrus' comment, that her crew had followed her into hell and back, and even when she nearly killed Liara, she still helped her.

The blare of the intercom interrupted her reminiscing.

"Commander, we have an incoming transmission from the illusive man." Joker reported.

"What? I thought we lost that channel?"

"I know commander, but he says he has a lead. On Garrus." A feeling of elation consumed Tharrissa at the mention of his name in a positive context for once.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Joker set up the connection immediately and Tharrissa found herself hologrammed in front of the leader of Cerberus. A cigarette rested in his hand, as ever, and he was seated in a chair directly in front of an image of a burning sun.

"Where is he?" Tharrissa demanded.

"Shepard, you cost me. You destroyed resources that would have been invaluable to humanity's cause. It has become evident that you care more about the welfare of other species than your own."

"Alien races have as much right for dominance as humanity. Except the galaxy shouldn't be dominated by one race, it should be united by all species."

"Your idealism will be your undoing Shepard. But that is not why I have contacted you." He inhaled deeply from his cigarette before continuing, infuriating Tharrissa with his delay.

"You search for a former crewmate. Garrus Vakarian."

"I know." She responded bitterly.

"I have information as to his whereabouts. However, by destroying the collector base, I don't really have much incentive to impart any information to you."

"What do you want?" Tharrissa practically growled.

"You are the only human spectre, able to operate outside of laws. The only advocate we have to further our cause, without legal problems." The Illusive Man calmly took a sip from a glass of water that rested on his armchair while Tharrissa brewed in impatience. "I have a proposal for you Shepard. You can redeem yourself in Cerberus' eyes, and gain information as to Garrus Vakarian's whereabouts, if you follow my orders."

"You're blackmailing me." Tharrissa spat venomously.

"Perhaps, but I believe finding this turian means more to you."

"Don't pretend you know me."

"Then don't pretend to know my motives. I am the only person in the galaxy who can give you any information as to the location of the one you have sought for the past two months. Here is my proposal: We have recently uncovered a Prothean city embedded within the Citadel. A place that the keepers have stopped anyone from discovering. Until now. No one else but you and I know of this. You may face opposition from the keepers. But you must follow my forwarded directions to enter this city, and obtain the technology that lies there, untainted. Bring that technology back here without anyone else discovering the city. This must be something that only humanity can benefit from, and if it is solely humanity that benefits from the masses of Prothean technology that lies in wait, then we will have a chance against the reapers. Human dominance will be secured, and you will find Garrus. Everyone gets what they want."

Tharrissa didn't trust the Illusive man, and never had. But he had a point, this discovery could give them a better chance against the reapers, after all, the Protheans had fought, and as Vigil had told them, the reapers hadn't made the Protheans extinct. Many had lasted in stasis for millennia after the reaper attack. She disapproved of the nationalist uses The Illusive Man would have for the technology, she had always considered alien species to be just as important as humans. Another reason she opposed Cerberus. Automatically, she thought of what Garrus would do, and a pang of longing caught her off guard. That hollowness in the pit of her stomach when she thought of him made the answer for her.

"I'll do it. Not for the sake of humanity, but for the sake of the galaxy. And for Garrus."

"I knew you would. I would have sent Cerberus scientists to investigate, but that would have attracted attention, and then all races would be salvaging from the Prothean ruins. Also, I doubt they would survive against the inevitable opposition they would have faced. Only you can do this, Shepard. Make humanity proud."

The transmission ended. Tharrissa stood alone in the briefing room. "I'll make Garrus proud." She whispered to herself.