Chapter Eleven

In truth, Falere worried about sending Erenya away with the spectre. Torik was most definitely not acting like a conventional asari. But they had little choice in the matter. She settled for coaxing Aurus to chase after them, though the kapsecat got sidetracked and wandered aimlessly through the garden a little. She lingered by the garden entrance, and was just about to head out to look for them when she heard something. Footsteps scraped along the gravel path in an uneven gait, only one set. Someone had returned alone. Falere ran back inside and retreated into the main hall. She ducked down a narrow hallway that she could spy from without drawing attention. She hoped that she was wrong, that she was merely losing her grip. The footsteps stopped in the kitchen. No one spoke. Instead, the person moved again, this time walking into the entry way. Falere had to keep moving. She had to get away. If it had been Erenya, she would have called out. But where did that leave Erenya? Dead? Captured? She could not just run if Torik had injured her love.

Too late, the footsteps were closing in. She backed farther down the passageway and into a side door. She looked around the corner and waited for whoever it was to step into the view of the passageway. The footsteps continued. A military-boot clad foot stepped into view and Falere pulled herself away from sight. The spectre had returned alone. Her gait suggested injury. Erenya might be dead. She had to do something. Falere waited for Torik to move past the side passage and farther into the main hallway. She then crept down along the passage until she reached the main hallway. She glanced around the corner. Torik stood in the middle of the hall and looked around, probably deciding where to go. She held a pistol loosely in one hand. Her uniform was battered. She had obviously fought someone.

Falere acted before she could think it over. She threw a stasis field that trapped the spectre. "Where's Erenya?" she yelled, stepping out into the main hall. She sent a biotic throw in Torik's direction and charged after. She quickly had the spectre pinned against the wall. "Where is she?" She pushed against the wrists trapped under her hands. Torik snarled at her and struggled for a moment, but Falere was fueled by something stronger.

"Your friend's safe now, thanks to me," the spectre said. Falere still did not let go. It could still be a trap. All she saw was Torik, and Torik had returned without Erenya.

"You lie!" she yelled. "What have you done to her?"

Something came in contact with her stomach, a knee, and her grip lessened on Torik's wrists for a second. That was all the spectre required. Falere was thrown across the room. She saved herself from impacting against the ground too harshly with a mass effect field, but Torik already had a pistol pointed at her. She threw up her barriers, rolled to the side, and flung a biotic projectile at the gun. It went off and missed. Falere kept moving. She had to get to cover. Had to get to Erenya.

"I've done no worse to her than you could have," said Torik. Another gunshot. "Have you made her your thrall? She honestly thinks you care for her."

Falere shot another biotic field at her and took off for the dormitories. "I do care!" she yelled. She aimed and clenched her fist. The pistol cracked and exploded from the pressure. Torik staggered back then tossed the pistol aside before taking off after Falere. When she reached the dormitories she realized she had made a mistake. She would only be boxed in there with nowhere to maneuver. She turned and tried to move toward the kitchen, but Torik caught up with her, sending a biotic field crashing into her. Falere spiraled across the floor. She picked herself up and shot another biotic field over her shoulder. She ran a few more feet before Torik caught her arm and yanked. Falere cried out as the asari swung her against the wall. There was a glint of metal, and then a fiery burn in her side as Torik slashed a knife into her side. She reacted too late, but her biotics still sent the deadly weapon flying away. Torik yelled and slammed her now unarmed fist against Falere's shoulder. The blow made something crack. Torik's other arm came up across Falere's chest and pinned her against the wall. Her arm connected to the broken shoulder refused to work and her other clawed uselessly at Torik's arm that crushed her windpipe. Her shoulder burned. The knife wound burned. The world blurred as oxygen refused to enter her lungs. She opened her mouth, tried to breath. Her eyes focused on the face in front of her. The last face she would see.

"I'm sorry," Torik said. "You're too much of a risk."

Falere blinked. The words stirred something in her, something she had buried long ago. She snarled and her hand shot up to Torik's face. Her eyes darkened and she felt the unmistakable thirst she had denied herself for so many centuries: a true urge to feed. Her nervous system surged over Torik's obliterating anything within the other asari. The release she felt was incredible, every fiber in her being pulsing with the sensation. It was wonderful. It was… corrupt.

Falere gasped and let go of Torik. The dead asari slumped to the floor. Blood trickled out her nose and ears. I killed her.

She did not have time to panic though. Erenya was still out there. She stumbled forward to the kitchen, but she pitched to the side. The slash wound hurt. She managed to get out to the garden before collapsing on the ground. She fell face forward and rolled onto her back. The sky was a deep blue. She blinked. The edges faded to green. The green crept along the skyline. It absorbed the sky.

"Like rose vines," Falere whispered. Her eye lids felt heavy. The world dissolved.

Erenya

Erenya threw herself at the door again. She threw biotic punch after punch at the alloy. It barely dented. "Falere!" she screamed. "Falere!" She listened, but no sound breached the walls of the cargo door. Tears stained her cheeks. She walked around the hold again and tried to find a weakness. Nothing. Just like every time.

A harsh scraping sound came from the cargo door again. Erenya ran forward and began banging on the door again. The hydraulics gave way and day light spilled into the room. Erenya threw herself into the door, trying to push it down even faster. She burst into the outside to see Aurus clinging to the control pad of the ship, cocking his head at her. Erenya stood up and looked around. No sign of anyone else.

She took off down the lakeside, running faster than she had in any firefight. By the time she reached the edge of the garden, she noticed something was wrong: the sky was green. Even worse, the green light expanded, consumed, swelled. It was going to cover the entire planet. Erenya raised her arm to cover herself, convinced she was about to be vaporized, but nothing happened. She squeezed her eyes shut even harder, and still nothing happened. She felt a warm rush hit her like a breeze off an ocean. She opened her eyes and looked around.

Synthesizing.

The light had not killed her. She looked down at her hands. Paths of circuitry ran over the skin. I've gone crazy, she thought. She ran off into the garden. Erenya did not know what she hoped to find in the monastery, but she wanted to get there on time. She could not be too late. A universe on the brink of destruction was not worth living in without Falere.

Falere lay at the garden entrance, her arm limp over a slowly bleeding wound. Paths of circuitry ran over her body, the electric paths sparking as they came in contact with the anomaly. "No." Erenya ran forward and stooped down to Falere's side. She checked for a pulse. She found a fading one barely present. Erenya scooped Falere into her arms and moved into the monastery. She carried her toward the first aid equipment, but the sound of coughing made her stop. She looked to her side. Torik lay on the floor in a pool of her own blood. The spectre's eyes glanced up at the two of them. Her chest rose and fell erratically.

"You can't save her," said Torik, her voice a whisper.

Erenya continued toward the bedrooms. "Minerva! I need medical equipment!" she yelled. She then turned to Torik. "Watch me."

The asari laughed. It sounded rough and wet. "She almost killed me, you know," she whispered. "Would have melded me to death if she hadn't lost the nerve."

"Shut up!" Erenya yelled. Minerva came into the entryway with an automated trolley large enough to lay Falere upon.

"Please, let me assist Master Falere," said the VI. Erenya lay her down on the cart.

"She's going to die," said Torik. "I cut her with a poisoned blade. There is no antidote."

Erenya lost it. She ran forward and kicked the spectre with all her strength. It sent the body smashing into the wall. Threat terminated. The cold, internal voice did not make her pause. She had to follow after Minerva, who carted Falere away to the bedroom. She reached them and found the VI using several instruments to monitor the wound. "We have to help her," she said.

Minerva looked up. Her usually orange matrix projected green. "The asari did not lie," she said. "I had hoped I could find something else, but…" The VI's words died. "I will leave you and Master Falere be. She would have wanted that."

The VI flicked off and retreated before Erenya could protest. She walked over to Falere and cupped the asari's cheek and trails of green circuits connected them. It already felt a little colder. She lowered her fingers to the neck and tried one more time. No pulse. The circuits ran over the asari's skin. Synthesis. "Falere," she said. The tears came again. "Falere, I'm going crazy here. You're gone a few minutes and I've completely lost my mind. I'm seeing things. Hearing voices. At least you're still the same beauty that I remember." She sniffed and her hand trailed down to Falere's shoulder. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you," she said. "The reapers have taken away everything in this galaxy that mattered. The one thing I had the power to stop, I failed. I love you, Falere." She leaned down and kissed her lover's forehead. Her tears dropped onto Falere's cheeks. She brushed them aside carefully. "And I can't live in a doomed universe without you." She picked Falere up off the cart and moved her to the bed. She knelt down next to her and pressed her forehead to Falere's. She picked up one of the asari's limp hands in her own. She blinked and drew in a deep breath. She had to calm herself for what she was going to do. "Embrace eternity."

Reality faded away as she joined herself completely with her lover. She would be with Falere at least once in life, and always in death.