Important: Going to be focusing on Legacy of One so most likely Taught by Thirst will get updated every two or three weeks for a while. Legacy of One is going through a full clean-up/rewrite and that story has a bazillion chapters so it's really going to affect the speed of my other stories. Just a heads up to everyone. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Enjoy the chapter! Thank Elantil for

"… I wish to be Providence myself, for I feel that the most beautiful, noblest, most sublime thing in the world, is to recompense and punish." – Alexander Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 1: Living the Dream

Garrus dreamt of that day every night.

He remembered Mierin had been in Vortash's arms, locked in an embrace near the door to the arena. Ripper had been rechecking his rifle, and Montaegue and Butler were laughing in the corner. Sensat, blue skin and white facial marks. gave him a wide smile and a wave while she talked to a few of Talon's guys with Krul, their bomb specialist. Their group was chatting about the new rifle that came out in the market two weeks ago and Krul was going over what he done to improve it.

Almost five years of toil. He never thought Archangel would expand to this size and demand this much responsibility. But he felt something in his chest swell as he inhaled, holstering his rifle and watching his team smile and laugh. He brought up his omni-tool, checking his mail, frowning at the display. "No new messages" flashed at him.

"The kid hasn't mailed you, huh?" Titania's hand was heavy against his shoulder before she shoved him forward. He glared at her, albeit a little playfully, which she caught on and laughed. "Smile, Vakarian. Today is a good day."

"I was thinking of sending her a message." He looked at the typing interface and frowned.

"Oh? What happened to holding on to your pride and waiting for her to say something?"

"Hey, you said today was a good day." He typed and then erased, and then typed again and erased it. "I want the kid to know. And that Nalah has been fretting about it every day. Maybe schedule a visit."

"The kid is an Alliance reg now, right? Won't she be too busy?"

Garrus grunted. "An NCO."

Titania laughed. "That's your denial talking. You can't be first lieutenant and not be considered for full on Officer training."

He waved off her comment. "Details. She still needed a retainer."

"But now she doesn't have one, right?" She shook her head at him. "She has a superior officer but she practically ignores him— that girl has spunk, let me just say."

He looked away from his holo. "Why do you know so much?"

"Please, when we broke up and Melanis joined the Talons we've been talking." She hummed. "She's not so bad when she isn't thinking up ways to kill me."

"Which is what I told you."

"Well," She fixed a gaze at him—startling in its intensity. "We were fighting over something important."

He tilted his head. "Really?"

She huffed, scratching the back of her neck. Her grumble had tones of embarrassment laced in it. "And this is why we broke up—how can you always be so dense all the time?"

"As far as I know: we broke up because you said you wanted to break up." He shrugged.

She growled, mandible open to fight back but the doors opened and Nyreen Kandros walked in, followed by several of the other Talons. She nodded at Garrus and put a hand on Titania's shoulder. "I hope your argument isn't going to escalate like your last one? We still have some of the recruits running away at the sight of both of you together."

Titania huffed, crossing her arms and Garrus chuckled. Nyreen Kandros—the woman was impeccable. He had his doubts about her character and he knew from Sidonis that he had his own judgments about her—but despite being former black-ops for the Hierarchy and biotic, she had conducted herself with as much integrity and honor as he expected of himself—maybe even more.

Garrus should have known then, perhaps even before that, that what happened wasn't so much fate or destiny—just inevitability, because he put his trust and his doubts on the wrong people. But he didn't know then, because it was going to be a good day—the best day as the original Archangel and Talons stepped into the Arena, Aria was there with her own lieutenants. The cameras were all on them now as they stepped into the platforms, screens from every angle appeared everywhere. Behind him, he heard Ripper hiss a curse and he kept his trigger finger on his rifle. On the stands, Omega's residents and minor and major merc gangs were spectating.

Normally, Garrus would have felt the pressure of all their eyes but this time he didn't. It was the culmination of all their—Archangel and Talon's— labor. He took back what the merc gangs have stolen from the people here, what Aria had tricked them into thinking was just the way things were—now, he was more than just a step closer—he had crossed a whole road closer to his vision.

Aria T'Loak's forces were down to a few powerful but small gangs. Nothing the combined forces couldn't fight back. Although Aria still controlled the business and trade side of Omega, signing the contract to end their feud and finally establish real order rather than giving the throne to the strongest was the best option to put their stalemate to an end.

The plan was to split the power between four people—himself, T'Loak, her batarian lieutenant who went by the name Rev, and Nyreen. The Codex of Rules and Conduct had already been ironed out and a system of passing on leadership was given to whoever earned it. Now, a lax hand wouldn't be given to the merc gangs who abused their positions and people weren't going to be kept alive because of their entertainment value. Omega was on its ways to becoming a place where people can build lives and homes.

The signing was beginning, the collective breath of everyone present and spectating at home were held. Kandros was signing the contract first, then Rev, Aria herself, and him last. As Kandros opened up the holo to add her fingerprint to make it contractually binding, Garrus held his breathe with the rest of the crowd—

And kept it held when he felt the nozzle of a rifle against the back of his head, the safety latched clicked off.

That day was supposed to be a good day, instead, he felt the quivering of someone holding a rifle to his head— Ripper' string of curses as he mumbled: "I'm sorry, boss. But my family, shit. Shit. Fuck-fuck-fuck."

Several shots rang out behind him, and a body fell next to him with a thud.

Krul's blood was green, crawling its way to him before bumping against his boot. A shot rang closer to him and Ripper's beloved rifle fell on to the floor. Ripper followed soon after, landing on his knees before he slumped down dead. On the back of Garrus's neck, something warm slid down his cowl and into his armor. He reached for his own gun as turned around, his sidearm fell as a blow to the shoulder rang in his ears and his shields went down from the sniper's bullet. A vorcha stood close, ready with his flamethrower and he aimed it Garrus—

Everything burned.

Montaegue from the side, a savage scream on his throat, rammed into the vorcha and emptied his clip on the merc. "Protect the boss! Get out of here, now!"

He heard more bodies fall but he failed to comprehend when he heard screams, orders being said, hands on his arms that dragged and begged him to move. But the pain seared itself through his skin, and he held back a scream as Mierin held his burned wrist.

The last thing he saw before the doors to arena closed was Lantar Sidonis standing over Montaegue's body, a foot on the man's corpse as he stared back at Garrus.

Today— that day— was supposed to be a good day.

Why? Why did it happen?

He reached for his assault rifle, clutched it between his hands. Never mind that he had to fight not to black out. Nevermind that his right eye had been melted shut. His visor illuminated his face like a vicious, flickering blue fire as it overclocked itself from the sustained damage. Somebody in that other room had to die, had to pay for this.

"Boss!" Mierin pulled him back by the uninjured shoulder. "You can't go back in there! There's too many of them! The west door might open too."

"Fall back, Vakarian!" He heard Kandros' order but he didn't care. He needed to open that door—

"Mei!"

Vortash stood in front of them, between the bullets, his shield torn to shreds. Garrus couldn't count the guns, only saw the flashes as Mei screamed— falling to kneel beside Vortash's body before she pulled out a gun too and shot one man down while his line of men reloaded.

Garrus aimed but was pulled aside by Kandros at the same time he saw Mierin's head get blown. Kandros threw a Lift Grenade and pulled up a barrier before it exploded, sending the mercs flying against the walls, cracking skulls, and burning through armor.

Now they were on the run, slipping into tunnels and leaving neutral territory. In the base, everything was finally revealed when one of the recruits showed a recording of the aftermath.

He saw Ripper's and Montague's body being piled atop all the other Talon and merc corpses. Saw the trail of green Krul's left behind as they let him be dragged and torn by the varren. He heard the laughter as a Blue Sun Merc put a headless Mei on top a bloodless Vortash in a mocking embrace. Aria put her hands up, signalling the people to be calm as the Blue Suns leader, Tarak and Lantar Sidonis stood behind her.

Sidonis— his right hand man, his confidante, his friend.

"Citizens of Omega, it is an insult to all of us that weaklings even attempted to rule you, to tame you. You have seen for yourself that the Convocation do not know you the same way I do, they cannot protect you." She smiled. "But I can."

"So, who will you rally behind? Who will you depend on? Choose, Omega. And choose wisely." She signaled for her men to start filing out. "Because it will cost you your life."


Every night Garrus had seen the same dream.

Every night Garrus woke up, screaming.

Garrus saw the darkest days of his life since then.

The power vacuum attempted to swallow them: territories fell, people were bribed and conquered, men either left Omega in droves or rallied behind T'Loak's banner. Only the most loyal remained but even the most loyal felt that they were better off dead. Garrus had killed more people in a month than he did in three years: some of them people he knew as men of his Archangel team and other Talons. Most were Aria loyalists, however, and he took immense pleasure by taking them out.

For a long time it was only getting worse. On the Talon's end it wasn't much better and Kandros was burning out: brighter and more stunning than before but how long would that last until Aria finally had her hands around all their necks?

Steadily, things got better and the powers balanced themselves. T'Loak may have had more people but the loyal who stayed with the Convocation were fierce and die-hard. They retained enough land to be a threat and enough people to protect that land. People who believed in their fight held strong— even when all around them people ran to the other camp, begging for their lives. Fights broke out between turfs and they were back to their stalemate with the only difference being more bloodshed— anyone who was even suspected of supporting one camp over the other had a target on their head. Economy slowed down till a near halt until No Man's Land was established in Tuhi but even then there was more looting, larceny, and death than Garrus ever wanted. Things outside Omega dimmed—as far as anyone knew this was all the galaxy comprised of.

What was left of the original Archangel, his lieutenants, were a show of great courage. They remained strong in the fight by fighting harder. But away from all the men, away from prying eyes they were haunted by the same ghosts. Melanis and Weaver took to the training hall a lot more, Sensat and Grundan talked about upcoming missions in great detail. The worst of them was Erash, who had become more neurotic and more paranoid of every recruit, burning through psychological examinations, background checks— and even more background checks atop that. Butler had not spoken since the day he saw his best friend die.

As for Garrus, he woke up every day to look himself in the mirror. The fire had taken half his face, had seared his old armor into his right shoulder and arm. Solus, had done all he could. He managed to save Garrus's eye and his eyesight. He might have lost his shooting arm too but Solus had repaired the nerve and muscle damage, replacing it with a bone weave that might have been even stronger and more efficient than his real arm.

He looked at himself and went about the rest of the day with just one rule: How will this bring me closer to killing Lantar Sidonis?


"Boss," Erash nodded, his four eyes blinked at the same time as he turned back to the plethora of feeds he had before him. "Good, you're here."

Garrus squashed his impatience and his complaints. Erash didn't explain whether this was important to the goals of the day, whether this was about recruitment or Sidonis or anything. All he said was that it was important and that he should make the time.

"The feeds in the borders of Tuhi caught some people."

"Near Eden Blue?" Garrus looked at the frozen screen. Of course he cared about Nalah but it didn't look like any attacks were happening so why was he called here? "What about it? They look like tourists to me."

"One of them isn't. Look," He tapped his screen with a long finger nail. Spirits, someone should tell Erash to keep up with the standards of grooming. Even the room was starting to smell like mold and stale air. Erash, unbeknownst to Garrus's thoughts, activated his omni-tool and let the video play.

Two women stood beside each other, one of them covered in tattoos and smoking. The other holding a bag of groceries— by them were pets, a varren and a Kendra. The one holding a grocery bag turned around and began to walk. She looked up, directly at the hidden camera and mouthed something as she stared up with a smile—

"Hi, cranky." Erash said as he paused the video. "Only residents could possibly get familiar with cameras around this place— especially the ones near Eden Blue. And she called me cranky. I've played this video 1,367 times to read what she said and I am sure that is what she said."

Garrus looked at his hacker impassively. "I don't see your point, Erash."

Erash sighed, in the same manner he used to before— before that day— like he was surrounded by idiots that couldn't possibly understand the intricacies of his work. "That same pair was sighted near Forlorn— the battle pit at the east end of Tuhi— an hour ago. Today, Aria had reserved a fight for her men's entertainment." He brought up the feed of entrance of Forlon, the krogan guard stopping them as they cut in line until a batarian ran out and hit the krogan over the head and let them pass. "They got in with barely any trouble. They're important to Aria. And if they're important to Aria..."

They're worth killing, Garrus supplied mentally. He felt the tremors of excitement to the tips of his talons at the thought of moving closer to Aria, and in effect, moving closer to killing Sidonis.

Garrus turned away from the screen, making his way out of the surveillance room. "Tell Sensat to gear up. And Kandros to bring some people along. We're leaving in ten."