AN: Harry Potter and Mass Effect are created by JK Rowling and Bioware. Please check out the source materials if you have not.
So last chapter was fun in that it elicited a lot of strong opinions about Benezia's death. You could argue until you're blue in the face either way why she should have been kept alive or allowed to die, but this is the way that felt most right and natural so that's how I let the story flow. Also, I want to avoid a "wish fulfillment" story where Harry suddenly solves all of the problems in the Mass Effect world. Those fan fics can be fun to read, sometimes, but I do not want my story to go that route. If you always know that Harry is going to solve everything then there is no suspense. It's like playing a video game on God Mode. It's fun for a little while, but quickly loses its appeal whenever there is no risk involved. You have to have the bitter with the sweet in life to make the sweet moments a lot more appealing. Anyways, enough of me waxing philosophical.
This chapters a bit of filler/fluff, but I've grown to enjoy these moments in between the action. I hope you do too. Some of you picked up on some of the hints I've been dropping in the story and have asked excellent questions. Of course I hate to provide direct answers so you'll have to hang in there, but several of you guys are quite intelligent and I bet you'll figure it out as the story goes along.
As always- If you like the story please Favorite, Follow, Review, or PM if you feel the desire.
Bold=direct quote
CH 25
Liara tightened her arms around Harry's neck and felt another wave of tears spill from her eyes. A part of her felt embarrassed about how vulnerable she looked at the moment, but didn't care. Her mother was dead and Saren had killed her. Yes, she had a hand in this battle, but it was this control Saren had over her mother that caused her to burn out her mind with biotics rather than attempt to hurt her daughter. Another sob racked her body as she was reminded that her mother did it to stop from hurting her. A reassuring hand tightened around her back and she heard a voice whisper "I'm so sorry" again in her ear. She pulled back from the embrace and looked at Harry. His eyes had misted over somewhat and he looked at her with an expression that conveyed sympathy.
"We'll see that she receives a proper burial." Shepard said from behind Liara.
"Thank you, Commander." Liara said, wiping tears from her eyes.
"Liara, I don't mean to rush us, but we need to get back to help Kaidan and have these people rescued." Shepard said.
"It's OK, Commander, I know." Liara said. "We still have to find Saren. I will be fine...in time."
Liara moved to stand up and Harry lent his strength in doing so. She saw Shepard walking towards the edge of the viewing platform to look at the large rachni contained in the glass box. Aside from its size, the large creature was black in coloring and looked at them with intellect in its eyes and no hostility. Liara noticed one of the fallen commando's nearby shuffling towards Shepard. Apparently Harry saw it too.
"Commander!" Harry yelled.
Shepard whirled around to face the commando, but it made no hostile movements at Shepard. Instead, Liara saw it awkwardly shuffle towards the glass the separated the large rachni from the outside world. The rachni opened its flexible mandibles and pressed its mouth to the glass separating it from the outside world. The commando opened its eyes and, with a flat voice, began to speak.
"This one...serves as our voice. We cannot sing. Not in these low spaces. Your musics are colorless." The asari said.
"What are you talking about?" Shepard asked.
"Your way of communicating is strange...flat. It does not color the air. When we speak, one moves all. We are the mother. We sing for those left behind. The children you thought silenced. We are rachni."
"How are you able to speak through her?" Harry asked.
"Our kind sings through touchings of thought. We pluck the strings, and the other understands. She is weak to urging. She has colors we have no names for. But she is ending. Her music is bittersweet. It is beautiful. The children we birth were stolen from us before they could learn to sing. They are lost to silence. End their suffering. They cannot be saved. They will only cause harm as they are."
"Why?" Liara asked. "Why would you want us to kill your children?"
"These needle-men. They stole our eggs from us. They sought to turn our children into beasts of war. Claws with no songs of their own. Our elders are comfortable with silence. Children know only fear if no one sings to them. Fear has shattered their minds."
"Yes. That makes sense." Liara said. "Leave a child locked in a closet for years and it will not be normal, easily shaped into a weapon." Liara looked over to Harry and noticed he grimaced at this statement.
"Is there no other way to save them?" Shepard asked.
"We are regretful, but there is not." The rachni said. "Before you deal with our children, we stand before you. What will you sing? Will you release us? Are we to fade away once more?"
"There appear to be acid tanks above her, Commander." Harry said. "You could kill her and be done with it, but…" Harry trailed off.
"What is it, Lieutenant?" Shepard asked.
"She does not mean us or anyone else harm." Harry said.
"I can feel what she's talking about. The songs. I don't see it, but it's like a pleasant melody you can feel. This was a creature of peace, but something went wrong."
Liara stared at him in bewilderment.
"What does he mean he can feel the songs?" She thought.
"We… I do not know what happened in the war. We only heard discordance, songs the color of oily shadows. We would seek a hidden place to teach our children harmony. If they understand, perhaps we would return."
Shepard turned to look at Harry who returned her look with one of pleading. Shepard smiled softly and nodded after a moment.
"I will not doom your kind. Be free, but do not harm the others in this galaxy." Shepard said.
"We will remember. We will sing of your forgiveness to our children" The rachni said.
Shepard walked over to the console of the viewing platform and entered some commands that Liara could not see. The glass tank that held the rachni rose up and connected to a hatch on the upper portion of the ceiling which opened. The rachni spared one last glance at the group and moved out of the opening. The commando's body collapsed onto the floor where it stood and Shepard turned to Harry.
"Are you OK, Harry? You seem rattled." Shepard asked with concern in her voice.
"Yes, Ma'am. To be honest I could feel a wave of something every time she spoke." Harry said.
"Does this have to do with what you are?" Shepard asked, glancing slightly in Liara's direction.
Liara was confused. She had heard from Shepard's announcement that Harry had special abilities unique to him that looked magical in nature and to not ask him for details about it. Now they were talking around it which meant there was more to it that wasn't being said. She looked at Harry who was still focused on Shepard.
"Yes, Ma'am." Harry said. "I think that we share the same qualities that make me different. I suggest, however, not including that in your report."
"Agreed," Shepard said. "We should leave soon. Liara, do you need another moment?"
"Just one, Shepard, if that's OK? She said.
Shepard nodded and Liara moved over to her mother and knelt beside her body. She straightened out her legs and laid her flat on her back. She folded her mother's soft hands over her stomach and closed her eyelids. Thinking on it, she removed the ring from her mother's right hand. It was the ring she received from her mother's mate, Liara's father, over a century ago. Her mother had kept it all of these years. Pocketing it, she looked at her mother with tear filled eyes.
"Goodbye, mother. I love you. I'm sorry that we didn't get many chances to say that over the last few decades. Thank you for being strong in the end." Liara kissed her mother's forehead and stood up.
"Let's leave, Commander." Liara said. "I've had enough sadness for one day."
Harry straddled the opening between his pocket space and the real one. He flicked his wand at the large container and pumped as much of the stress of the day he could into the spell.
"It's levi-O-sa" he said to himself, trying to mimic his old friends voice. Today had brought up a lot of painful memories and he felt he was drowning in his sorrows. He was grateful for the tasks he had waiting for him on board the Normandy as he needed to burn off his anxieties. Once again he was grateful for his mental training as it was letting him take the sting off the current events and not letting them ingrain them into his psyche. The large red container with the Raisling Colonial Supply floated up about an inch which was impressive considering its overall mass. Harry pulled it through the extra wide opening he made for this task and walked it a few dozen meters away from the hole. Once he was satisfied with the general location it was set, he released the spell and the contained dropped and it kicked up some dust from the dry soil. Nearby, the large crate that marked with Synthetic Insights sat waiting to be opened as well.
Malandros and Lorik had been good on their word and delivered their payments to Harry, which they found waiting for them on the loading dock outside of the Normandy. Once they had returned from Peak 15 and to the Normandy they saw Harry's "payment". Harry retrieved Kaidan from his safe space and they rushed him to Dr. Chakwas. She saw the damage to his leg and quickly ushered them out of the med bay so she could work in peace. Shepard looked extremely worried about Kaidan. To be honest, Harry was too.
Harry walked back out to the Normandy's cargo bay and funneled this new surge of worry into another levitation charm aimed at the last of the delivery. A large modular housing unit floated in the air. It was a bit larger that the shipping container, but both were large rectangular prisms. Harry read on the shipping manifest that the unit contained several other pieces on the inside that would be taken out and added to the outside to expand portions of the house. He was impressed how they could fit this whole kit into relatively small packages. The large red container would act as the storage building, but also held the solar units, water and air filters, and the panels for the greenhouse. The activity was working. His mind was musing on things other than his anxieties.
"We'll not all your mind." Harry thought.
One of the drawbacks to training your mind to facilitate two different lines of thought at the same time is that you had twice as much to worry with. He needed more of a distraction. Harry walked back out to the cargo bay and shut the gateway behind him. He saw Ashley patiently waiting for him at the workbench. Her eyes looked distant, but she smiled slightly when she heard Harry approach.
"Hey there, stranger." She said. "You done being a superhuman for now?"
"Yeah, I'm done for now." Harry said, leaning up against the bench next to her. "Are you alright?"
"Yes… no, not really. I'm worried about him." Ashley said.
"Me too." Harry said and he draped his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him and Harry noticed her hair was not in its usual bun as it spilled over his arm. He grabbed a portion of it and let it slide through his fingertips.
"You look nice like this." Harry said softly.
"Thanks, but it's against regulation to have it long if you wear it down." she said.
"Are you on duty right now?" Harry asked.
"No."
"Then who cares?" Harry said. She nudged him slightly in the side with her elbow. They were silent for a moment before she spoke again.
"Harry," she said. "How are you not upset over this?"
"I am." Harry said evenly.
"You don't look like it." She said.
"I know. I've seen a lot of bad things in my life. I guess I've learned to put negative feelings aside."
"Must be nice."
"It is and it isn't. It helps keep me from collapsing into a worthless heap when it counts, but people have considered me distant growing up."
"You don't seem distant." Ashley said.
"I've gotten better. Grissom Academy and the military have helped me learn with better ways to cope with my experiences. Still, seeing a friend get hurt and another lose her mother in the same day is rough. That's not counting having to kill a bunch of asari who may or may not have been in control of their actions."
"You don't know if Benezia was lying or not about that." Ashley said.
"I didn't believe her, but her killing herself made me doubt that." Harry said.
Ashley wedged herself closer to Harry and wrapped an arm around his waist.
"I was jealous at first when I didn't get picked for this assignment." Ashley said. "Now, I don't envy you guys at all."
"I'm glad you weren't there." Harry said. "As hard as it was to see Kaidan get hurt, I would have lost it if it had been you."
"Harry," Ashley said, sitting up and looking him in the eye. "If you ever need someone to talk to about anything, I'm here."
"I know." Harry said. He leaned in and lightly brushed her lips with his. "I'm going to go check on him."
"OK." She said. "I need to get my mind off things. I think I will stay down here and work on patching up your gear. Those rachni did a number to everyone's armor."
Harry sat up and made his way up a level to the crew deck towards the med bay. It was an odd shift so several others were asleep or attending duties in other areas. He walked into the med bay and saw Kaidan asleep on one of the tables covered in a sheet. His injured leg was elevated and bandaged. As he got closer he noticed a head of red hair on the other side of his bed. Drawing near he saw that Shepard had fallen asleep sitting next to Kaidan. She had her head resting lightly on one arm next to him and her other hand intertwined with Kaidan's.
Harry smiled to himself at the scene. He knew both cared for each other, but he never thought Shepard would ever realize it. He looked at Kaidan's face and it held a look of contentment. Shepard's face just looked exhausted, but how tightly she clung to his hand indicated her feelings for his friend.
"Good." Harry thought. "If anyone deserves to be happy, it's her."
His mind drifted off to back in his first year when Hagrid had given him a photo album. He was suddenly reminded about a photo with a black haired man and a red haired woman holding each other and waiving. Harry smiled and turned to leave the room. He looked to see Liara standing in the doorway of the medbay looking at the scene as Harry was. She met Harry's eyes when she noticed he had turned to face her and turned swiftly to walk away. Harry quickly followed behind Liara.
"Liara." Harry called. "Are you alright?"
She stopped when he called her name, but didn't turn around. She brought her hand to her eyes and Harry noticed that she had a bandage on the back of her neck where she was burned.
"I'm fine, Harry. Thank you." She said in a strained voice.
"You are a terrible liar." Harry said.
"I know." She said, turning to face him. "But I figured I would give it a shot."
"Thinking about your mother?" Harry asked.
"No...yes...I mean, not entirely." Liara said as she fumbled with the ring on her finger.
"It's funny, you know?" Liara said, sitting down at the nearby table. "I go years and years without speaking with my mother and yet I am a mess over this whole thing."
"It never leaves you." Harry said joining her across the table.
"You say that like you know." She said.
"Yeah."
"Would you tell me about your family, Harry?" Liara asked.
"I don't know, Liara. It's not a very happy story."
"Please." she said quietly.
Harry sighed softly to himself. "I was very young when my parents died. A little over a year old. We were in hiding because a terrorist group was after my family. We were betrayed from within and someone close to my parents revealed our location to their leader. He came and killed my parents. My mother gave her life to save me in my crib. Something happened and the leader was driven away and I ended up with this." He said pointing to the now barely visible scar on his head.
"I don't know what happened to the monster that killed my family or his followers. The only people I considered family were a few friends, but they died years ago too."
"I'm sorry, Harry." Liara said. "You don't have to talk about it."
'It's fine, honestly." Harry said. "I came to terms with it all years ago. I remember the good times when I can. Often small things remind me of my parents or friends and it keeps their memories alive within me. Your mother died to protect you too, in a way. Always remember that."
Liara eyes brimmed with unshed tears again and fumbled with the ring again, but she smiled and looked at Harry.
"Thanks, I will do that." she said, and looked at the ring in her hands. "I remember when she told me about this ring and what it meant to her. She said that one day I will find a person I will love and I should give it to them. That seems like it is a long way off for me."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked. She looked over towards the door to the med bay and Harry understood.
"Shepard." Harry said.
Liara laughed mirthlessly to herself. "I feel so foolish now." She said. "She's so amazing and I thought I might have had a chance."
"It's not you, Liara." Harry said. "People cannot help what they feel for others sometimes. Honestly, I think she was fighting what she felt for Kaidan because of duty. I guess him nearly getting killed made her honest with herself."
"I know, I know." Liara said. "It's just...hard. Kaidan's a wonderful man and a good friend. I simply wish it wasn't so raw feeling right now." She wiped her eyes. "Goddess, it's not really that big of a deal. A crush really. I guess this ring just made me wonder if I could find someone too."
"You will." Harry said. "And someday they'll get to wear that ring of yours with pride."
Liara's tears stifled some and she raised a hand to wipe her damp eyes before looking at Harry.
"Thanks, Harry." She said, smiling genuinely for the first time since they arrived at Peak 15. "You are a dear friend. I hope that continues even after we've dealt with Saren."
"Of course it will." Harry said brightly. "We've got an entire galaxy of bad guys to face. Who would stop them if the amazing Harry Potter and Dr. Liara T'Soni weren't there?"
"Hmm, they might begin to think they are safe from my deadly knowledge of the Protheans and your tendency to make a mess out of anything." Liara said mockingly.
"Exactly, we'll always be a team." Harry said, extending his hand.
"Agreed." Liara said, taking Harry's hand and shaking it.