Shepard gasped for breath after regaining consciousness. For the second time that day, Shepard thought he was dead. And also for the second time that day, the pain in Shepard's body convinced him he was still alive. He thought he had felt two three-fingered hands grab his biceps and pull. Shepard's mind instantly jumped to the first person he knew who had three-fingered hands.
"Tali?" he called out, hoping to see his bondmate.
There was no answer. Shepard had been sure he felt someone, or something, pulling on him. He looked around, and came face to face with a curious keeper. Two big, black eyes stared blankly back into his own. Shepard sighed in disappointment and set his head back down on the floor. The Council chambers were eerily quiet. Besides the patter of feet from other keepers, there was no noise. It wasn't that surprising, considering that for all Shepard knew he was the only person on the entire Citadel. But just like London, it was unnerving to see a place so dead that would normally be full of commotion.
The keeper tried once again to move him, but Shepard shook his arms free of its grasp.
"Let go of me." he demanded.
The keeper tried a third time.
"I said let go of me! I'm not dead!" Shepard barked.
He reached behind him and swatted the keeper's arms away. It made a startled chirping noise and backed away. The swatting motion had aggravated Shepard's stomach wound, and he groaned in agony as he clutched it. The keeper was intrigued, and moved around Shepard to get a better look. It leaned its head in close as it gazed at the wound.
"If you're going to stay here, why don't you make yourself useful? Can you go find me some medi-gel?" Shepard asked.
He knew it was a long shot, as the keeper probably didn't understand a word he was saying. But he didn't really have a lot of options at this moment. If just swatting at the keeper's arms caused him this much pain, there was no way Shepard would be able to go anywhere.
Unfortunately, his assumption was correct, the keeper had no idea what Shepard was trying to communicate. It just stared back at him with its black eyes, blinking a few times.
"Medi-gel? Me...di...gel?" Shepard inquired.
Again, the keeper just stared back at him. He groaned in frustration, and laid back down on the floor. Suddenly, an idea came to him. Shepard made a cross with his two index fingers.
"Medi-gel." he explained.
Shepard then pretended to rub medi-gel on his stomach wound.
"Medi-gel." he repeated.
Shepard did the same two motions a few more times. The keeper recognized the symbol he was making with his fingers. It had seen the same symbol countless times around the Citadel. The keeper knew what the symbol represented, and the rubbing motion confirmed what it was thinking. It determined that this human wanted the substance that was kept in the dispensers with the cross symbol. The substance it had seen people treat wounds with.
The keeper now had an objective, and keepers always completed their objective. It scurried away to go find the substance. Shepard smiled, thinking he had gotten through to the keeper. He dreaded what he was going to have to do next. In order to apply the medi-gel to his wound, Shepard would have to expose some surrounding skin for the medi-gel to bind to. That meant tearing away at his spandex undersuit. The only way to do that was with his hands, and his hands would no doubt come in contact with the wound. Shepard knew he just had to do it in one swift motion, like ripping off a bandage. He gingerly slipped his fingers inside the hole in his spandex undersuit, wincing as they grazed over the wound.
Come on, John. You can do this. Shepard thought.
He counted to three mentally, then quickly got his hands inside and tore. The pressure his hands inadvertently exerted on his wound caused him to scream in pain. As the pain slowly dulled, he looked down and saw he had torn a big enough hole for the medi-gel.
The keeper returned a few minutes later with a packet of medi-gel. Shepard thanked God that the keeper had come through for him.
"Thanks…" he said.
The keeper just stared at him in response. Shepard applied the medi-gel to his stomach, stopping the bleeding. Based on how light-headed he felt and the amount of blood on his hands, he knew he had lost a lot of blood. It was probably a miracle that he was still alive and conscious. His cybernetics had no doubt been hard at work trying to stop the bleeding, and that most likely had saved his life. Shepard shifted his weight so he could check his back for the exit wound. His heart sank as he found no exit wound, his suspicion confirmed. The bullet was still inside him. At least the most pressing issue, blood loss, had been addressed.
Unfortunately, Shepard's wound had been open and exposed to the environment for a while. It had been about an hour between getting shot and falling unconscious, plus however long he had been unconscious for. That was plenty of time for pathogens to work their way into his system. Not only that, but since Shepard had been shot in the stomach, there was the possibility that the contents of his stomach had leaked out. Both possibilities were equally hazardous. He could do nothing about that now, all he could do was wait for help to arrive. That prospect concerned him. Shepard assumed that people knew he was on the Citadel, he had opened the arms and fired the Crucible after all. But he never told Hackett where on the Citadel he was. Shepard just hoped that whoever was looking for him knew that because he opened the arms, he had to be somewhere on the Presidium.
While Shepard had been treating his wound, the keeper had been thinking. Every other time it had seen the substance being used to treat someone's wounds, there had been other people around them. It remembered the uniforms they wore, and how they had taken the wounded person to another place. Since this human had needed the substance, the keeper assumed that he needed those other people in uniforms to take him to whatever place they normally took wounded people to. It set off to find those uniformed people and bring them to this human, having given itself its new objective. When Shepard looked for the keeper, it had already left. He was all alone now.
At least Shepard could still see out the enormous chamber windows. He gazed down at Earth, which was no longer under Reaper occupation. Shepard hoped to take Tali there one day. There were so many places he wanted to go, things he wanted to see. And Shepard wanted to share those experiences with her. It would make for a great vacation for the two of them, or maybe for their future family. He smiled at the prospect of starting a family, adopting and raising either quarian or human kids. Perhaps both. It didn't matter what race they were to him, he would love them deeply regardless. Shepard just wanted a family. Wanted to be a dad, and to be a loving husband and bondmate. He yawned, and it was at that moment that he realized how tired he was. Shepard had been awake for nearly 30 hours. He could feel the sleepiness tugging at his eyelids. Within a few minutes, without the worry of the Reapers hanging over his head, Shepard fell into a deep sleep.
No matter what Tali could do, she couldn't fall asleep. Her mind kept returning to Shepard. Endless questions about his condition raced through her head, preventing her from relaxing. Tali didn't want to fall asleep, truthfully. She had asked EDI to alert her when the search party left, and when they found Shepard. Neither had happened yet. Tali was wondering why it was taking so long for them to leave, every second they stayed here was another that Shepard would have to spend alone. Possibly hurt or in danger. She noticed a small object that was on her desk, shaking her from her thoughts. Tali didn't recognize the object, it wasn't her's and she definitely didn't place it there. She walked over to her desk, picked it up, and noticed it was a recording device. Tali turned it on, and saw there was only one recording on it. She pushed the play button, and heard Shepard's voice.
"Hey, Tali. Saera. If you're listening to this, then I… must be dead. I had a feeling I wouldn't make it through this one, I'm pretty sure everyone did. So I decided to make this recording to tell you how much I love you, and how much you mean to me. When I first saw you…"
Tali paused the recording and set the device back down on the desk. She didn't want to hear Shepard tell her how much he loved her through a recording, she wanted to hear it from him in person. And he could tell her when she found him. Tali immediately went to work hacking the lock on the cabin door, and had cracked it in no time. She got on the elevator and pressed the button for the CIC.
"EDI, I know you're supposed to tell Dr. Chakwas if I leave the cabin, but I'm begging you not to. I need to help find Shepard." Tali pleaded.
"I'm not sure what you mean, Tali. My scanners show you are still in the cabin." EDI replied.
If a disembodied voice could wink, Tali assumed EDI would've.
She beamed, "Thanks, EDI."
"You're welcome, now go bring him back." EDI encouraged.
Tali exited the elevator and practically sprinted out of the Normandy. She called Garrus' omnitool, and thanked the Ancestors that he picked up.
"Garrus, I know what you said about Dr. Chakwas wanting me to stay in the cabin. But there's no way I can stay behind while Shepard might be hurt or in danger." Tali explained. "I just left the Normandy, just tell me where to meet up with the search party. And please, do anything you can to stall them until I get there."
Garrus chuckled, "I had a feeling you'd find a way to get out. I'm sending our location to your omnitool, we're not too far away."
A few minutes later, Tali arrived at the makeshift staging area. The remnants of the CDF had managed to scrape together a C-Sec shuttle and a skycar, possibly the last means of transportation remaining on the Citadel. Tali knew it was odd to be thankful that transportation was so scarce, but the search had prevented the party from leaving long enough for her to join them. Needless to say, Kaidan, James, and Liara were surprised to see her, but welcomed the extra help.
Garrus tossed Tali a Katana shotgun, "I figured you'd want one."
It wasn't the Claymore she was used to, but it would get the job done. The party most likely wouldn't run into any opposition, but it never hurt to be prepared.
Commander Bailey walked over, "Alright, so there's only two locations Shepard could've opened the arms from. I suggest we start our search at those locations." he stated. "He was either at the Council chambers or the C-Sec Executor's office. Since you're his crew, I'll let you pick which one you want to take."
"Council chambers, that's where we defeated Saren. He opened the arms from there that time, he would've done the same thing." Tali posited.
Bailey nodded, "Alright then, my three guys and I will take the skycar and search the entire C-Sec Academy. You five take the shuttle, make sure to search the entire Citadel Tower."
The five boarded the shuttle, and Garrus went full speed to the Citadel Tower. He set down the shuttle right outside the main entrance, and the five moved inside. It was a grizzly scene, very similar to the attack on the Citadel three years ago. The only light that was present was the red emergency backup lights. Human, turian, asari, and salarian bodies littered the reception area. Most had numerous bullet holes in them, but a few must've been killed by husks, judging by their deep lacerations. The five checked every male human body they came across, hoping they wouldn't find Shepard in the same state. When the reception area had been cleared, Tali immediately called the elevator.
"Come on, if Shepard's here he's probably still in the chambers." she guessed.
"He could be anywhere, Tali. It would make more sense to start on this floor and work our way up there." Garrus explained. "If we go to the chambers and he's not there, then we'll still have to clear the entire tower. And all we'll have done was wasted time going all the way up there."
She didn't like to admit it, but he was right. There was no guarantee Shepard was still in the chambers.
"Okay, let's go then." Tali relented.
The team cleared every room on the ground floor, with no sign of Shepard. All they found were more bodies. It became more and more likely that besides the CDF and the civilians they managed to save, no one else on the Citadel had survived. The team moved up the the second floor, and split up again. Tali was busy clearing an office when she heard movement down the hall.
"John?" she called out.
There was no answer.
"John?" Tali called out again, louder this time.
Silence.
"I heard movement near my location, I may need backup." she reported over the comms.
"Roger that, everyone move to Tali's location." Garrus ordered.
Tali raised her shotgun and slowly began walking down the hall. She heard movement again, this time closer to her. She wrapped her finger around the trigger, prepared to blow a hole in the source of the sound if it was hostile. Tali got to the end of the hallway, where it met another hallway at a 90 degree angle. The patter of feet could be heard around the corner. She leaned against the wall at the corner, and took a deep breath.
Tali spun around the corner and kneeled on one knee. A very surprised keeper chirped and took a few steps back.
Tali sighed in relief, "Forget the backup, it was just a keeper."
After she had finished, the keeper tugged on her arm.
"Stop." Tali said, slightly annoyed.
It grabbed her arm again, this time tugging a little harder. She pulled her arm away.
"I said stop." Tali hissed.
She considered just blasting it with her shotgun, nobody would miss one keeper. However, Tali was slightly intrigued, she had never seen a keeper act this way. Come to think of it, she had never seen a keeper interact with anyone.
Is it trying to get me to follow? Tali wondered.
It grabbed her arm again, and started walking backwards.
"This keeper is acting weird. I think… I think it wants me to follow." she stated. "Maybe… it knows where Shepard is. I know it sounds crazy, but…"
"Tali, I know you want to find Shepard, we all do. But come on, do you really think a keeper would care about leading us to Shepard?" Garrus asked.
"I don't know, and that's the point. What if it does know where Shepard is, and we ignore it?" she asked in return.
"If you want to follow it, go ahead. The rest of us can clear this floor." Kaidan replied. "Just don't follow it for too long. If you think it's leading you nowhere, rejoin the search."
Tali quickly prayed to the Ancestors that this keeper was leading her to Shepard.
The keeper led her into one of the keeper tunnels. She had to bend over slightly to fit inside, which made progress a little slower. After a few minutes, they exited the tunnel at the Council chambers.
"The keeper led me to the chambers, I'll start searching here." Tali updated.
Instead of clearing the entire chambers as she probably should have, she instead bounded up the steps towards the console. When she arrived, she found the bodies of Anderson and the Illusive Man. Tali quickly ran over to Anderson, and saw the gunshot wound to his chest. She checked multiple times for a pulse, but found nothing each time.
"I found Anderson and the Illusive Man up here, they're both dead. No sign of Shepard yet." Tali reported.
She got up and began searching near the console. Tali didn't get very far before she found Shepard, leaning against a wall about 20 yards away.
"I found him!" Tali yelled into the comms.
"We're on our way up!" Garrus replied.
She raced over to Shepard, and knelt down beside him. The first thing she noticed was his stomach wound. Tali was glad to see that medi-gel had been applied to it. The second thing she noticed was that he was nonresponsive.
"John, can you hear me? You need to wake up." Tali said, shaking him lightly.
He didn't respond.
"Please, John, wake up!" she begged, shaking him a little more forcefully. "I lost both my mother and my father, I can't lose you too!"
Shepard's eyes fluttered open slightly, "Tali…?"
"Yes, it's me! I'm here now, you're going to be okay." Tali comforted, immensely relieved to see him awake. Thank you, Ancestors, thank you!
She turned her attention to his stomach wound. Tali turned him over to check for an exit wound, and found none.
"Shepard is alive, but he's wounded. Gunshot to the stomach, no exit wound." she relayed. "He's barely conscious, we need to get him back to the Normandy, fast."
"I came… back to you… saera." Shepard said.
Tears began welling in Tali's eyes, and she hugged him gently, as to not hurt him.
She put a hand to his cheek, "Yes, you did, saera. You kept your promise."
"I think… I'm gonna… retire now." he admitted.
Tali let out a quick laugh, "If anyone deserves to retire, it's you. I think saving the galaxy three times is more than enough."
