On the Reaper
Pt. 3
It had been three days since they had fought the Reaper Sovernty. Shepard had woken up after the first day in his room. Six hours later he was making his rounds around the crew telling them he was sorry for how things turned out. After his rounds he sat down in the mess and stared at the polarized windows of the medbay where he knew Tali still was. Two days later he was still in that same seat. The crew took turns watching the Commander until it boiled down to Thane and Garrus. The only two that could get Shepard to eat and drink. Garrus would talk nonstop about his adventures during the two years that Shepard was gone. Thane would keep a silent vigil with him as they both watched Mordin and Chakwas switch periodically. During the fifth day Thane finally broke his silence.
"Shepard, you know that I lost my wife due to my profession. You know that I became a shell of my former self when that happened, that my body hunted down the men that did it. You know that I left my son to fend for himself, the worst mistake of my life. The only reason that I am alive right now is because you found me. You woke me up. You helped me make peace with my son. I have a son again. I have my soul again." Stopping for a few moments he looked at the Commander hoping for a reaction but not expecting one. Shepard just blinked out of necessity of keeping his eyes moist enough to keep looking at the med bay. The sound of footsteps behind him let him know that Garrus was there, ready for his turn. The Drell motioned for him to sit down.
"Shepard , my Shia was everything to me. When I went home the men had done every vile thing they could to her before they even started the slow process of killing her. Next to her body they had left a recording of everything they did to her. Her body didn't even look like a body anymore. They had skinned her alive…among other things. Needless to say they knew what they were doing and it took a long time for her to die. So long to die…" after a few moments of silence Thane slammed his glowing fist into the table, leaving a sizable dent and reopening his wound. Garrus knew this was the first time that Thane had shown any real emotion in a long time, let him be.
"I made sure the last thing those men saw before they died was my wife's dying face!" looking down to see blood running down his stomach. Bringing his hand to his stomach he held it there for a second before he held the bloody hand in front of his Commander.
"Don't you think that I would be more than happy to bleed out right now?" he hissed into Shepard's ear. "I would want nothing more than to be with my Shia again. I would have too if you hadn't come along." The Commander visibly flinched. Garrus made to move in thinking Thane went too far. Thane held up a hand to stall him. Bringing up his other hand he activated his omnitool and pulled up a picture. Thrusting it in front of Shepard's face the Commander unwittingly looked at it. The picture showed Thane with his arm around Kolyat. In Kolyat's hand was a framed piece of paper. The smiles on both of their faces may have been small but they were the most genuine Shepard had ever seen.
"That was the day that he was accepted into the Alliance Special Forces. I couldn't have been more proud of him. If you didn't find me, I would have missed this. My son would have died during that first hit. I have a chance to be a father that I never was. You should know better than anybody how valuable a second chance is. I thank you for my second chance." Getting up he headed to his room, a light trail of blood followed. Garrus watched him for a few seconds. Something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head Garrus saw a lone tear make its way down the Commander's cheek. The Turian decided it was his turn.
"Shepard, maybe it's time for me to tell you something that I have been keeping to myself. I told you all about what happened when you picked me up. I lied when I said that by the time I got back they were all dead. There were two left alive. A brother and a sister that I met on the Citadel. Somehow they found me on omega and joined my cause. The brother was the technical guru. The sister, her name was Sarize but I just called her Sara, was my right hand. I….um….I fell in love with her…" Thane came back out of his room with no shirt on and fresh bandages wrapped around him. "The three of us were able to hold out for several days until they were frustrated enough to bring in air support. The brother was killed on the first pass. Between Sara and me, we managed to damage the bird pretty bad, thought it was out for the count too." He ran his hand absently down the scars on his face.
"After that things started getting worse and worse. Sara kept losing her spirit. It kept getting harder and harder to bring it back. The day before you got there is when it all hit the fan. There was a long break in between attacks. So long I knew something was wrong. I turned around to go find Sara but she was already there with a gun to her head. By the looks of it the three merc groups had gotten together long enough to send their best in a three man team to kill us. They told me to drop my gun, of course I did. The moment my rifle touched the ground they shot her….I don't know how I survived. I don't even remember. I remember holding her as the light went out of her eyes." Garrus went quiet for several moments. Thane put a supporting hand on his shoulder. The tears were flowing freely down the Commander's face. For the first time in five days he made eye contact with them.
"Shepard, I'm not going to sugar coat anything for you. The good news is that it has been five days. If it's been this long she's not going to give up on you. Plus you still have a lot more testing of her flexibility."
"I have a shotgun Vakarian." A voice came from an external speaker. Shepard's head whipped around. Tali was leaning against the wall with help from Mordin and Chakwas. The Commander made to move to her but fell into a pile on the floor. Without missing a beat he started dragging himself across the floor. Thane and Garrus both grabbed an arm to lift him up.
"Knew you were out here. Wanted to put your fears to rest. She still needs time to recover." Mordin said. Shepard reached a hand out to touch her mask, a hand that wasn't there. Tali gasped.
"What happened?" The question went unanswered as his other hand caressed her mask. She leaned into it. Bringing her hand up, she held his hand to the side of her face. She looked him in the eye and asked him again. "What happened to your hand?" Shepard gave her a small smile.
"Some things are worth the sacrifice."
Funny thing this was going to be the last part to this but people wanted more on DA so im going to work on it :D