The agony that had exploded in her shoulder as skin and flesh and muscle was torn away in a single searing shot cast a lone cry from her lips. Ryder stumbled backwards onto the ground, her hand automatically gripping at her wound, dark red already seeping into crisp white. Her breath fell from her in great gasps as arms took hold of her waist, secure fingers gripping her tightly as she was propelled forwards. Guttural, she heard Reyes grunt as she was dragged, shade cast over her eyes as her back met cold stone. She squeezed her eyes shut, trusting her life momentarily to the Charlatan without pause, without question.

Ryder felt his arms slide from beneath her and he was so close she could feel his ragged breaths on her face, "Sara, are you alright?" She felt something being tied, tightening around her shoulder, probably a bandage of some kind, and she exhaled sharply trying to fight back the light-headedness caused by further pressure on her wound. "I've used all my medi-gel, that'll have to do for now."

"I'm just fucking peachy," Ryder hissed between gruelling intakes of breath.

SAM's voice played in both her head and through her omni-tool so Reyes could hear, "That was a shot from an Isharay, I have analysed all potential trajectories and have a nav point available of the assailant's most likely position."

"Send it to my omni-tool, I have agents nearby," Reyes replied, as SAM accommodated his request and Reyes tapped at the device, "also remind me to never fuck with you SAM."

"I'm glad you are finding this amusing," Ryder grimaced. "All that will be no good if I bleed to death."

Ryder squinted at her companion. Reyes' keen eyes were turned upwards, over the edge of the rock they were perched precariously behind, "Whoever they are I think they've bolted, they didn't follow it up with another shot. They could've easily killed us both," he snorted, "amateurs."

Ryder moaned as the adrenaline which had been previously coursing through her body was beginning to subside, the throbbing pain arcing through her body like tendrils, spreading through her arm and into her fingertips, making root in her chest. Her fingers shook as they clasped over her shoulder, over the bloodied bandage. Reyes turned back to her abruptly, the shadows on his face rendering it inscrutable.

"Be that as it may, I'm rather glad they didn't," she snapped wearily, "I'm also glad you are being so very casual about all of this!"

"I'm not, I-" Reyes peeled her fingers away gently and she squeezed her eyelids shut as her skin seared, "shit, that's deeper than I thought. We need to get you out of here."

"You think?"

A light voice and padding footsteps announced Peebee's presence, along with a crackle in the air that suggested she had raised biotic shields around them, "I stayed in cover because I heard the shot and I couldn't see where it came from… Oh shit, Ryder!"

"Come on," Reyes murmured, as he leant over Ryder. He placed one hand firmly around her waist, fingers trailing down her side and resting over her ribs as he tried to avoid knocking her arm. Gingerly, she looped her uninjured arm over his shoulders and, after glancing at her for a second to check that she was ready, he hoisted her to her feet. They slipped out from under her, but Reyes held her steady until she regained her footing.

"Woah! Easy."

Ryder swayed slightly, her teeth grinding against each other as she fought back another groan.

A hand tilted her head upwards carefully in a feather-light touch, and even though she did not open her eyes she knew it was Jaal. He sounded deeply concerned, "What happened?"

"The Pathfinder was shot by an unknown assailant in the hills. Mr Vidal has called in Collective agents…" SAM informed him.

"Who are currently closing in on their position," Reyes finished his sentence, "I also have a ship coming in to pick us up. We need to get Sara to a doctor."

"That's not necessary, we'll take her in the Nomad," Jaal responded.

"She's better off with me, you can't go shaking her around in that death-trap."

"We're the Pathfinder team we should come with you, stay with her," Peebee reasoned, "but then there's the Nomad…"

"SAM can't the Tempest come directly to us?" Jaal insisted.

"The terrain is not suitable, the ship is already at the nearest accessible extraction point which is Ditaeon,"

Ryder's hand slipped on Reyes' shoulder as she struggled to keep standing, she let her head loll forwards, finding it difficult to concentrate on anything but maintaining consciousness as the red dirt at her feet blurred in and out of focus. Reyes' grip tightened in response.

"You can't take her to the outpost, that's where they will be expecting her to go," Reyes sounded impatient, "this was an assassination attempt, that's where they will wait to finish the job."

"An… assassination?" Jaal gasped.

"They waited for an opportunity when her shields were down, what else could it be?"

Ryder thought she could hear the heavy sound of a ship's engines as it descended.

"Where do you propose taking her then?" Jaal's voice sounded testy.

"I… I don't know. They could have the Port covered, same as the outpost, we could go to Draulir but that's…." Reyes sounded hesitant.

"They don't all know you're the Charlatan, do they? Other members of the Collective would learn who you are..." Peebee finished.

"I'm sure I could spin them some story..."

There was little conviction in Reyes' voice.

Having listened to them talk, Ryder had been trying to force something of a plan from her frenzied mind. She heaved an agonised sigh, forcing her eyes open and her face upwards, fighting to keep her voice even, "Look. Let Reyes take me, I'll be fine. Both of you get the Nomad back to Ditaeon. SAM, tell Vetra and Drack to scope out the area around the outpost, make sure it's safe for the settlers."

"I assume you have a plan for where I am taking you?" Reyes asked.

"Tartarus," Ryder forced out the words in a jumble of half-uttered syllables.

"What?" Reyes breathed, staring at her from beneath her arm with a confused expression.

"Are you insane?" Peebee shook her head vehemently.

"The Pathfinder's logic is sound. It is unlikely to be somewhere that anyone looking for her would expect. I will alert Dr T'Perro and she will meet us there with an escort, " SAM stated.

"I'll get men on the boundary to the slums that know who I am, they'll watch us while we get inside," Reyes nodded, before glancing over his shoulder, "the ship's here, we should go. Now."

In the periphery of her vision, Jaal stumbled forwards in a motion that suggested he wanted to stop them, "Wait-"

"Hold on…" Ryder murmured, "…the architect, it needs reprogramming."

"You can't be serious, Sara you can barely stand," Reyes rebuffed her suggestion, incredulously.

"Reyes, I have to. I'm not fighting this fucking thing again."

After further protestations made it clear she would not change her mind, Reyes guided her the excruciating hundred metres or so it took to reach the architect's face. Ryder clung onto Reyes' shoulder as she held out her arm, activating the remnant's code and sending it careering into the sky at speed.

"What the…" Reyes muttered.

Ryder fell against him weakly and the constant security of his hands did not falter as he held her close to his own body. Her vision hazy, she looked over his shoulder and saw they had the same length to walk back to reach the ship, "Fuck."

"You could let me carry you?" Reyes asked, though with her senses dulled Ryder couldn't tell if he was serious or not.

"I'd rather bleed to death."

Reyes steered her around, guiding her back towards the ship with firm, stable hands. She was vaguely aware that Peebee and Jaal were still close by.

"That reminds me, did I ever tell you about the time I accidentally sat on a krogan mercenary's chocolate rations?" Reyes continued.

"Krogans… like… chocolate?"

"You never want to find out just how much. You see…"


Reyes lowered her onto a seat.

"Lie down," he murmured.

Tears stinging her eyes, Ryder wheezed as she did as she was bidden.

"They'll be here any minute."

Everything after the fight had been a blur. They had climbed onto a ship, she hadn't even seen what it looked like, where what she assumed had been a Collective agent had staunched the blood flowing from her wound. Reyes had continued with his story as though nothing were amiss, telling her about how, after a fist fight in which Reyes was grossly overpowered, the krogan had thrown him through a window, resulting in him nearly flattening a family of elcor and spending the following month in intensive care, re-learning how to walk. It was only now that they had reached their destination, after her semi-conscious walk from the ship, up the stairs and into Tartarus where he had fended off questions from exiles with a wave of his hand and a "Pathfinder can't hold her alcohol," that Reyes sounded concerned.

"They'll be here soon."

The only sound that accompanied his voice was the low beat of the music carrying from the next room. Aching, she squeezed her hand into a fist as splintering pain jackknifed down her arm. Although the bleeding had stopped, they'd had nothing in the way of painkillers to give her, and there was still a hole in her shoulder which sent lances of fire through her body at every vibration of her quickened pulse.

"Thank you," she croaked, her throat dry.

He chuckled warmly, "For what? Not leaving you to die?"

She felt his fingers brush the length of her hair, tentatively at first until they assumed a regular, reassuring motion. At intervals, his thumb would slide, tracing delicately the angular lines of her cheekbone, before tangling back into waves of red. The softness of his touch surprised her, when before his caresses had often been so firm, so commanding. Despite the fog-filled pounding of her head, the sickening tremors that shook through her, Ryder opened her eyes a fraction so she could look at Reyes. Reyes was knelt on the floor next to her. Kadaran dust covered his flightsuit accompanied by the streaks of crimson she had left, as well as the culmination at the rip at his shoulder where the shirt beneath was stained a darker red. One rather more profound alteration to his appearance was the unusual expression on his face. His tapering black eyebrows were furrowed, the almond eyes below wide open, exposed, not cloaked by a guise, anxiously flicking from her face to the door. Although his face was lined with experience, several years more than hers, the apprehension made him look younger somehow. When he saw her looking his expression shifted and he smiled at her so convincingly she found herself wondering, not for the first time, at why he had had to learn to deceive so easily, his lips turning up at the corners like the grin of the Cheshire Cat, the warmth even finding a place in his eyes.

Far more than comforting her, it filled her with a soreness that was unrelated to her injuries.

"You don't have to do that. Not with me."

Her words came out faintly, but she was determined he should hear them.

"What?"

His voice sounded different. Quieter. Before, ike a wounded animal would don its defence mechanism, his face transformed as he attempted to cloak his vulnerability with his usual mask, the creases in his face smoothing out, the worry in his eyes hidden as he glanced away from her. "Sara, you…"

"Don't," Ryder reached for the hand that he had leant against the seat, her voice as determined as she could make it, "pretend."

He gazed at her uncertainly, façade slipping again. In his eyes she could see the unfamiliarity, even the hurt, at being so exposed and she trailed her fingertips over his knuckles as though this small gesture could convey that he was safe with her. After a moment, in which the troubled honeyed haze of his eyes didn't leave hers, he enfolded her hand with his, his fingernails arcing into her palms as though to make the motion more finite. He leant closer, less by conscious thought and more by instinct, and she saw his jawline harden, his lips setting into a line as he clenched his teeth together. What had looked like a haze in his eyes had whipped into a storm, anger and concern searing with such an intensity it made the amber flecked amidst the light brown look as though it were ablaze.

"Sara, I am going to find whoever did this."

Reyes' voice was low and terrible and resolute. That together with the look in his eyes would have made her shiver were she not already. She felt a different kind of ache in her chest, one that blossomed into a warm fluttering. Without thinking she reached up and touched his face, her fingers sliding over his cheek until she winced as the action sent a burning twinge through her chest. She hissed aloud, all strength in her limbs failing as she let her arm fall back onto the seat, biting her lip in an effort to stifle another whimper at the contact. The anger in his expression dissipated as swiftly as it had come. Reyes' eyes flickered at her reaction, his dark eyelashes no longer disguising that he was worried about her. Although she knew it shouldn't, this knowledge only served to add to the growing warmth in her chest that was the only thing she could feel besides the throbbing of her wound.

"That's not… That's not necessary. I'll be alright," Ryder responded, watching him now beneath heavy eyelids.

"Now who's pretending?" Reyes smiled affectionately, and this time it was so genuine, so warm she felt heat rise in her face.

Maybe it was the loss of blood, but she felt braver somehow.

"I like you when you're like this."

"What? Upset? Wow, Sara. Just wow," he responded, jokingly, the way he always did. The way he knew she liked to be teased. The way he liked to tease her.

"No. When you're… just you."

Usually she wouldn't have dared to say such a thing, careful as she always was to open up to him slowly.

"You know… you're not like anyone else I've ever met," Reyes responded, thoughtfully.

"In a good way, or a bad way?"

"A good way," he said carefully, before frowning slightly, "I think."

Ryder was unable to keep the surprise from her face when he responded seriously, she had been expecting him to taunt her again.

"Huh, if I'd known before that all it takes is getting shot for you to be nice to me…"

"Don't make a habit of it."

His nose brushed against hers as he leant towards her, those glorious eyes so very close to hers before they closed as his lips ghosted hers with the lightest touch. The doors to his private room opened, and Reyes jerked upwards, hand moving reflexively to the gun he had placed on the floor at his side. Feeling vulnerable, Ryder strained to sit up, exhaling sharply as this sent a stinging sensation through her chest.

"It's alright, it's us."

In unison their bodies relaxed as several people walked in, all clad in Initiative white and blue, all with familiar faces. It was Cora that had spoken.

"I let them in," SAM announced.

"You could have warned us," Reyes replied, agitatedly as he stood up.

Ryder's vision was momentarily obscured by Lexi as she bustled over to her, "Ryder, why is this shockingly familiar?"

The asari knelt and placed a bag at her feet and as she was emptying its contents Ryder watched Cora and Liam take up defensive stances by the doorway as SAM locked it securely behind them. There was a sudden pressure in her hand. She glanced at Reyes as he stepped to one side and let go of her, moving out of the doctor's way, "I'll be over there, don't go anywhere, Ryder."

She only had the strength to smile weakly at his joke as Lexi leant over her, gently peeling back the bandages that had been placed over her wound, causing Ryder's fingers to dig into the material of the seat beneath her. After a few more piercing prods and pokes, something metallic stabbed her arm and Ryder flinched.

"Give that a few minutes and the pain should ease a little," Lexi continued, "lie still while I take a closer look at your wound."

Ryder nodded dumbly, closing her eyes once more. The asari fussed and tutted, likely admonishing her, but Ryder found it difficult to focus on what she was actually saying, and after a while stopped trying to listen in at all.

A moment or so later, a hand pressed on her uninjured arm and squeezed, "That would've made it the second time you died in two weeks, careful Ryder, you're beginning to look like a bit of a drama queen."

She smiled at the sound of Liam's voice, not sure if it looked more like a grimace, "You know me, I just love the attention."

"You don't get enough as Pathfinder?"

"Nah, there's four of us now I needed the edge," she wheezed.

Liam laughed, "Well you should stop cockteasing Cora like that, she's been eying up your bedroom."

"Have not! Ass!" Cora added, her voice coming from somewhere near the door.

The weight of Liam's hand moved from her arm, "Seriously though, you really shouldn't make it a regular thing, Ryder."

She chuckled weakly, "Believe it or not, I'm not trying to."

Liam moved away. Though the pain had not been completely alleviated by the medication, it had dissipated somewhat, making it easier to breathe, to think. She wondered vaguely what Reyes was doing, wishing he would return to her side, return his comforting warmth to her hand. Curiously, she eased her eyes open. Distracted, Cora was stood by the door speaking to someone over a comm. Lexi knelt next to Ryder, fixated on something in her bag. Ryder turned her head a fraction. Reyes was stood a couple of metres away, arms folded, a look of displeasure on his taut face, eyes dark. With a sinking feeling, she realised he was mid-conversation with Liam, who looked equally discomfited, his stance more rigid than usual. Uncertainly, and with a foreboding she couldn't quite place, she returned her heard to its original position, closing her heavy eyelids, too exhausted to do anything else.


Although he had been reluctant to engage the other man in any way, Reyes gave in and asked the question that had been bothering him.

"What did you mean, second time she'd died in 2 weeks?"

Kosta shrugged, "Look, if Ryder hasn't told you it's not my business to get involved."

A multitude of questions slid simultaneously onto his tongue, but Reyes bit them back.

He tapped his fingers on his arm impatiently, "You do realise there are other ways I could find out, covert mission or not."

"Well, if that's the case then you don't need me, do you?" Kosta responded, brown eyes filled with a scorn that didn't suit him. "I'm sure Ryder would appreciate the Collective poking around, invading her privacy."

"Which is precisely why I have asked you," Reyes responded, testily.

They were stood fairly close together now, speaking in low tones. The air between them was heavy with scathing comments unsaid, fierce accusations and rebuttals unvoiced. Their companions didn't appear to have noticed the heated nature of their conversation, each of them already occupied with other things.

Kosta swallowed, as though he were choking back a number of things he would like to say, "Look, I don't know what your angle is with Ryder…"

"You assume I have to have one?"

"It seems too convenient. Especially when there are a thousand ways a man like you would benefit from a relationship with the Pathfinder."

"Well perhaps I, unlike you, don't pay so much attention to her title as much as I do the woman behind it," Reyes responded, unfazed by the comments aimed at his character.

"I'm well aware there's more to her than that. We've been through a lot since we woke up on the Hyperion," he sounded as though he was trying to keep his irritation in check, although a frown ghosted his features.

A bitterness twisted within Reyes at his words as he thought about quite how often Kosta would have been alone with Ryder, all the memories, a history that she did not have with Reyes.

"Well that's something we can agree on, Sara has far more charming qualities than simply being Pathfinder. So why you think that should be my only reasoning is more of an insult to her than anything else," Reyes shrugged, forcing a sardonic smile onto his lips, trying to keep his appearance cool.

"That isn't what I meant," Kosta's eyes were narrowing, slim shoulders tightening, "and I have every reason to be suspicious of you. Just because she trusts you doesn't mean we all have to."

"So, you don't trust the Pathfinder's judgement?" Reyes asked, deliberately trying to pull at the other man's strings.

"That's not what I," Kosta sighed, breath hissing through his teeth, "look, fucking with me isn't going to get you what you want. You should ask her yourself."

"I would, but she's a little preoccupied with the hole in her shoulder," Reyes bristled, his eyes unconsciously darting back towards Sara, who was sat forward, her face concealed by the asari that bustled around her.

Something of his thoughts must have been betrayed in his face, his careful control slackened in the impulse of the moment, as when he returned to scrutinising Kosta he found the other man's gaze had softened, eyes wider, jaw unclenched, "Something happened on the last mission and I think it stuck with Ryder. She hasn't talked about it with any of us but I… I think she's hurting underneath. If by some miracle you're genuine, then you should ask her about it."

The other man was trying to ease the tension between them, but Reyes could not let the animosity slip from his determined clutches so readily.

"Hmm, you seem to have thought about this a lot."

"What are you getting at?" Kosta snapped, looking suddenly flustered and indignant, pressing his lips together before exhaling a small puff of air.

Reyes knew he shouldn't keep baiting the other man. Reyes knew he was projecting his own insecurity over the fact that Ryder had not confided in him, intermingled with his shock that someone on Kadara had the audacity to attempt to take the life of the Pathfinder, his Pathfinder. He was using all this to fuel his misplaced anger. But he didn't care.

"I'm just surprised you have such an insight into her feelings when you've kept her so distant, held atop that pedestal you've been carrying around for so long," Reyes replied, grinning viciously as he landed his low blow.

"You're such a twat," Kosta scowled at him, "I will never understand what she sees in you."

"That's a shame then because you'll be seeing plenty of me," Reyes stepped closer to him assertively, the fiery intensity of his confidence making up for the fact he was slightly shorter than the other man. The image he'd been unable to rid himself of, of Sara strewn, bleeding on the ground, brittle in a way she had never been, was making him prickle possessively. "I'm not going anywhere."

Kosta was not to be intimidated, the usually amiable man responding with a surprising ferocity,

"If, when, you hurt her, because you will, I'm going to hit you so-"

There was a sudden cry, one which tore right through Reyes' defences and made his heart hammer. It had a similar effect on Kosta, who jerked his head in the direction of the sound, towards Sara. For a moment, they were like a mirror image of one another.

The Pathfinder was on her feet, with Cora supporting her in the same way Reyes had, her hand clutching at Sara's arm which was cast over her shoulder. Sara's eyes, which usually sought out his own when she had the opportunity, were downcast and barely open, dim lights in her white face. He hated, no loathed, how uncharacteristically delicate she looked. It made him want to find the perpetrator, find them and beat them against the brunt of his rage until there was nothing left.

Cora looked taut, angry, "If you two are quite finished."

"She'll be alright, but she needs blood, soon," the asari doctor stated, and Reyes realised she had directed this at him, "is it safe for us to pass through the port?"

"I have already positioned men at intervals between here and the Tempest," Reyes nodded, "they will watch for any suspicious behaviour, but her shields are down, they can't stop a rogue bullet. Cora, can you shield yourself and the others?"

Cora nodded confidently, "Of course."

"Then we should go, any further delay is just prolonging Ryder's discomfort," the doctor added.

"Let me take her, you need to focus on the barrier," Kosta suggested as the biotic agreed, transferring Sara's weight onto his shoulders.

Seeing her so limp against Kosta's strong form caused another surge of sourness in his gut, until it felt as though it was rising up his throat. Reyes choked it down. He had to let the other man be the one to take her home. For now. For he had an assassin to find.

Then they were turning to leave, the doctor striding in front, Kosta and Sara at the centre, Cora taking up the rear.

"Wait."

Her voice was soft, yet very rough. He was relieved to hear it.

Kosta paused reluctantly. Reyes stepped past him towards Sara, angling her pale face upwards with his hand, "Stay safe, cariño."

"Reyes…" she murmured, but that was all she was able to muster as she rocked backwards on her feet and both men steadied her.

"Go," Reyes looked at Kosta, who looked satisfyingly envious of their exchange.

After they had left Reyes paced backwards and forwards, feeling irritated, useless. He wondered whether he should have gone with them, even though he would not have gotten on the Tempest he could have served as extra protection. That was foolish, however, his men would be watching over them and would soon send reports assuring him of her safety. Frustrated, he stopped moving, heaving out a sigh as his mind mulled over another option. Then, after kneeling to check the knife he had obscured in his boot, he slipped out after them, intent on watching from afar, ensuring for himself that Sara boarded her ship without incident.