For a seemingly bad decision, this one was turning out pretty great.
Having spent most of her life on the Citadel, Amelia was fascinated by nature and its beauty. Growing up in the beating heart of the galaxy certainly had its perks, but this heart was made of metal and glass. She longed to see the living, breathing worlds that beckoned her from the countless pictures and vids she kept stashed away on her omnitool.
She still remembered the first time when dad took them to Earth. She and Scott were nine years old, and it was the only time she saw the ocean. The warm, salty breeze, the silky sand under her bare feet, the sunshine dancing on the boundless expanse of waves... It was so breathtaking, so overwhelming that she couldn't help it and started crying. Even though her brother teased her mercilessly about that, it was a memory she treasured.
And now, strolling through a real forest on what turned out to be one of the most beautiful planets in Heleus, with Zap cheerfully whirring beside her and SAM supplying nerdy comments that she never seemed to get enough of, Amelia felt better than she had in weeks. She slowly wove her way between the trees, taking in both familiar and unusual details of the place. The forest was a rich tapestry of greens - emerald, lime and olive - stitched together with threads of golden light. It was lush without being oppressive like on Havarl, and she could see quite far into the distance. She even spotted a cave entrance at the base of the moss-covered cliffs on her far left. The sight made her frown and somewhat dampened her poetic mood.
According to SAM, Suuricco's mountains were honeycombed with caverns and tunnels, but Ryder wasn't too keen on exploring them. She'd never told anyone, and managed to hide it pretty well, but caves creeped the hell out of her. They made her feel trapped, and taking into account her abhorrent sense of direction, the threat they posed to her well-being was very much real. Even if that weren't enough, her last visit to Kadara provided her with another, very personal reason to hate them.
Pathfinder Ryder had no right to be anything but fearless. Right now, however, she was just Amelia, and Amelia would most definitely not come near a cave unless a pack of rabid eirochs was on her heels.
Local flora, on the contrary, interested her a great deal. Even if it wasn't the primary objective of her trip, finding some new useful plants would be a very nice bonus. In addition, she knew a botanist from the Nexus who would be ecstatic to receive some new samples to play with.
So she kept her eyes on the forest floor, and soon noticed a quite promising patch of what looked like weird purple dandelions. Pleased with her find, she knelt down to scan it.
"It appears that this flower can act as an antipyretic, Pathfinder," SAM commented.
Ryder grinned. "That's just music to my ears! Let's get to work, then."
She dug through her bag and fished out a plastic container and a trowel.
"Speaking of music… SAM, could you please play my favourite track?" she asked, starting to carefully loosen the soil around one of the plants.
"I should point out that excessive noise may attract attention to our presence, Ryder," the AI said.
Amelia snorted. "I seriously doubt that any remotely intelligent creature can find my voice attractive. Think of it as an intimidation tactic!"
If SAM had eyes, she was sure he would roll them, but after a short silence, a gentle jazz tune filled the air around her. The hand with the trowel stilled, and her eyes closed as she let the music fill her senses. She listened to the melody hundreds of times, and it was still as beautiful as the first time she'd heard it in that absolutely surreal old-fashioned jazz club on the Citadel.
Ryder could hardly survive a day without music, and it was no secret to anyone who rode in the Nomad with her or just happened to find themselves in the general vicinity of the Pathfinder's quarters in the morning. What she didn't let on was that she loved to sing just as much. No one needed to suffer from being exposed to that , so she only indulged herself when she was sure no one could hear her. And now was one of those rare moments.
She smiled, opened her eyes and started singing.
Her hands returned to their work on the flower, moving in time with the rhythm of the song. She'd done it so many times by now that she didn't even need to think about the process. Once she felt the roots were loose enough, Amelia gently pulled the plant out of the ground and placed it into the container. She stood up and packed it into her bag, then knelt down once more to clean the trowel.
And then she heard the voice.
His voice.
Her song stopped, and so did her heart.
The planet might've stopped turning too, but she didn't think she'd notice.
Was she going crazy?
SAM would know. So she asked him, and he said the voice was real.
And that meant...
Reyes.
The name left Amelia's lips in a soundless whisper.
It was soft like falling snow. It reverberated through her like deafening thunder.
Her pulse roared back to life as her heart echoed it and sent it thrumming through her veins, growing louder and louder, both gentle and powerful, pleading and demanding, hopeful and desperate as it swept through her, stoking the feeling that she'd tried so hard to quell.
She felt powerless to fight it.
But she had to.
Because it was all a lie.
The man she thought she knew, who seemed the only one who had seen her for who she was and still looked at her as if she mattered , didn't exist. There was no Reyes. There was only the Charlatan, for whom she was nothing but a chess piece. A mindless, but useful pawn that he moved around the board as he pleased.
"Surprise!" he spoke up again, just like he'd done back there in that cave in Draullir, and the memory sent a wave of anger through her.
She was done being used.
When she snapped her gaze to him, though, it was all she could do not to let her voice quiver.
"What are you doing here?"
For the tiniest fraction of a second it seemed to her that there was a flicker of hurt in his whiskey-coloured eyes, but she pushed the ridiculous thought out of her mind. Imagining things that weren't there was a mistake that she wouldn't repeat.
Even if with every step he took toward her her stupid, oblivious heart beat faster and faster, thrashing in her chest like a wild bird locked up in a cage.
Even if when he stopped right in front of her, every inch of her skin silently screamed for him to touch her.
She wouldn't .
So she clung to her anger like a lifeline, hoping that her failing reason would hold out long enough.
It turned out that she didn't need to worry about that at all.
Instead, she needed to worry about his hand over her lips. And probably about the sudden feeling of being watched by many pairs of invisible eyes.
And definitely about the chorus of snarls that erupted around them.
Challyrions. A whole lot of them.
Judging by their identical tactical analysis consisting of one single expletive, he shared her opinion on the situation.
It looked like their heart-to-heart would have to wait.
"Any suggestions, Pathfinder?" he inquired in a low voice, reaching for the assault rifle on his back.
The heavy weight of the Carnifex in her hand had somewhat calmed her, but not by much.
"Just turn around and try not to get chewed on."
"Such an elegant strategy."
Exchanging one last glare, they turned back to back.
And the forest descended into chaos.
One after the other the challyrions flickered out of camouflage. They charged forward, spraying up earth behind them as sharp claws raked through the soil. She counted five of them, and those were just the ones she could see.
Where the hell did this horde even come from?
The air filled with ozone as her biotics flared to life in a flash of sapphire blue. She let the energy course through her, swelling like a tide, and sent it out in a chain of explosions.
Then, just like her father had taught her, she concentrated on keeping her breathing steady as she picked off creature after creature with precise, lethal shots.
But they still kept coming.
"A little help on my side wouldn't hurt!" her unlikely companion shouted over the rattle of gunfire.
"Only if you take over mine while I'm at it," she shouted back, spinning on her heels with another shockwave ready to burst from her fingertips...
… and barely had time to release it before one of the beasts' jaws closed around her forearm. The challyrion crashed into several more behind it as the violent pulse sent it flying, and she finished them all off with a couple more well-placed shots.
For a second it seemed that it was over, and she took a deep inhale to let it out in a relieved sigh.
And had to hold it, because even more of the nasty creatures appeared in the clearing.
She cursed under her breath and slammed a fresh clip home.
Even with Zap's assistance, they were having a hard time fighting the scaly monstrosities off. She threw up a shield around them both whenever she could, but several splashes of acid still landed on her arm and leg. Judging by the bouts of swearing that came from behind her back, her ally was having similar problems.
And then she ran out of ammo.
"Switching to melee, try not to shoot my head off!" she exclaimed, charging at the nearest challyrion, her asari sword slicing the air in a shining arc of light.
"Please, I'm an excellent shot!" his voice sounded clearly offended, and she would very much enjoy that fact if she weren't concentrating on keeping her limbs attached to her body.
She'd lost count of her kills long ago, and she was starting to feel drained from overuse of biotics. But it looked like the seemingly infinite supply of the local fauna had finally come to an end.
It was a good thing because now they were both out of ammo.
She rounded on the last predator in sight and propelled herself toward it. The force of the impact knocked the animal to the ground, and her blade ran through the side of its head with a wet crunch. Standing up from her half-kneeling position, she pulled on the hilt, but the weapon refused to slide out.
"Seriously?" she muttered, pulling harder to no avail.
With her focus solely on the sword, she didn't notice the subtle shift of the ferns to her right. What made her whip around was a combination of a low growl and a shout of her name.
Still she wasn't fast enough. The challyrion pounced on her and she fell backwards, hitting her head on something hard. Black spots erupted in her eyes as she fumbled for her biotics, but it slipped from her grasp. She gathered all her strength and kicked the creature off of her, but it just poised for another attack.
Through the throbbing haze, she could see its claws rise above her…
… only to be swept to the side in a blur of grey and brown as a human figure tackled it off of her.
The ringing in her ears muffled, but didn't drown out completely the vicious snarls of the animal and its yelp of pain. As its echo died out, silence descended on the forest once more.
Her movements jerky and unsteady, she scrambled to her feet. Panic flooded her senses as she looked over the ferns where they disappeared.
"Reyes?" she called, her voice coming out brittle and faint.
No movement. No response.
A challyrion could seriously wound a man in proper armour, and he didn't even have that .
"Reyes!" she cried, much louder this time, icy shards of fear piercing her like knives.
Nothing.
It took her numb, trembling fingers four tries to activate the scanner. When the interface lit up, she slowly moved the beam from right to left, concentrating on keeping it steady.
The orange light coalesced into the shape of the challyrion. It wasn't moving. And right next to it, just as motionless...
She staggered into the mass of plants, wading through them like a green river. Her gaze slid over the knife handle sticking from the predator's eye and landed on Reyes' still form. It seemed like she dove underwater when she dropped to her knees beside him, cupping his face in her hands, stroking her thumb over the streak of blood on his cheek.
Tears burned in her eyes as she whispered his name.
She waited. And waited. But he didn't move.
Her panic gave way to terror, and she couldn't seem to draw another breath. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the nightmare to end. Because it was clearly some kind of sick dream. It could not be happening.
"Amelia," SAM's voice barely registered against the mad staccato of her heart, "please calm down. I have detected Mr. Vidal's pulse. Its rate is within normal range."
At first, she didn't understand a word.
But then she heard a resigned sigh, followed by Reyes' voice.
"Thank you for your timely input, SAM."
She opened her eyes to find Reyes looking at her.
The first thing she felt was relief. It melted away the ice in her blood, leaving her lightheaded.
But then she realised that he must have heard her calling. And that he'd been clearly conscious when she'd found him.
"You are welcome, Mr. Vidal," the AI answered.
If she were in a normal state, she would probably point out that his algorithm had failed to recognise sarcasm yet again.
But she wasn't. There was nothing normal about the way she was feeling.
Reyes was still watching her, and there were sparks of something dangerously close to amusement dancing in his eyes.
"I didn't know you cared," he said, the slight smirk tugging at his lips growing wider and wider.
She opened her mouth, trying to say something. She was sure she had something to say, something about how she thought he was dead and how it wasn't fucking funny, but the words just wouldn't come out.
She snatched her hands away and stood up, swaying slightly as her dizziness intensified. Then she turned around and headed back to the clearing.
"Amelia, wait!" he called behind her, but she had no intention of stopping.
She didn't even understand what she was feeling anymore. Her emotions had tangled into such a tight knot that she couldn't discern one from the other. Part of her wanted to explode at him for that abhorrent practical joke. But the other part, much more insistent, screamed at her to pay attention to the fact that he had just endangered himself to save her life.
She didn't know what to think, so she just shut it all out and kept walking, her eyes firmly on the ground.
"Okay, it wasn't funny!"
Pausing only to rip her sword from the challyrion's head, this time with relative ease, she continued forward.
And then he grabbed her by the hand, forcing her to stop.
"Please, just listen," he asked, and the way his voice sounded turned the sparks his touch had evoked into a full-fledged electrical storm.
She realised with perfect clarity that if she let Reyes speak, her last defences would crumble into dust.
Almost wishing for another pack of challyrions to provide a distraction, she was about to tell him to let go. But when her gaze lifted, it picked out a large moving shape in the distance, heading their way. Then another. And one more.
At some other time she'd probably find the situation hilarious, but now was not one of those times.
"Are those… eirochs?"
So he'd seen them too. Excellent. And she hoped she'd just hit her head too hard…
With no ammo, no cover to speak of and the way back to the shuttle cut off, there weren't that many options left to choose from. In fact, only one.
Run like hell.
The only question was where. Where could they run to with a pack of eirochs at their heels?
The thought triggered the memory of her earlier walk through the forest.
And just like that, she had her answer, even though it made her wince.