Thank you to all the readers who follow, favorite and/or reviewing. I really appreicate it. I believe after this chapter I only have three more. All of which are written, but need editing. Thanks again for reading! Enjoy!
PE
"Rise from the Ashes"
Tali had seen pictures of Rannoch in old history books. She had heard the poems and stories passed down from generation to generation, but stepping out of the Kodiak and onto the soft white sands of Rannoch was completely different than what she had pictured. The sand beneath her foot crunched softly like a whisper. It called to her like the sigh of a long lost lover finally home...home. She looked around there were towering desert mountains all silvery and soft, tuffs of green shrubs and jagged trees speckled the light ground. She was home. This was home. It wasn't burning, it wasn't lost anymore. The quarians had taken it back. Soon she would have no need to wear the suit she had been practically born in. She would be free to rise from the ashes of death and destruction as a new person.
The smoldering remains of the Reaper Shepard had destroyed were below her in the valley. Soon geth and quarian teams would be removing what was left of the Reaper. Even the presence of the dark machine couldn't dampen her spirits about being home. Still a strange word. She smiled beneath her mask. One day, soon... She thought looking up into the sky overhead. That one day wouldn't be soon enough.
Shepard remembered the first time she had visited Earth. It was one of the rare moments that her parents had been on shore leave together. They had gone back to visit her father's mother, her grandmother. She had heard stories about the dark emerald lined coast of the island, but she had never imagined the chilly sea breeze or the misty white foam that formed as the sea waves crashed against the black glass like rocks.
The contrast was beautiful and deadly. But these were the rocky coasts of her father's family…her ancestors. There was something exhilarating and intoxicating about the shores. Something foreign and familiar in the same deep soothing cool breath which touched her being. In that moment she wanted to believe that the world was at her finger tips even though she was only fourteen at the time. She realized she would fight for that land. That view again and again. It was on that day she decided when she turned eighteen she was joining the Alliance.
Palavan was dark. Minus the orange glow from the center where the city Garrus had been born and grew up in was on fire. The world was dark. He had heard from his family. They were alive and off world. Thankfully they had made it to a nearby colony that the Reapers had yet to bother with. But Palavan was almost gone. It was like watching a really bad dream come true. The news feeds where all the same:
Palavan Burns! Krogan to help Turians regain Homeworld. Millions dead on Palavan.
Despite his better judgement he had read them all. And every single one of them made him winch and want to tell Shepard to turn the ship around and take him home. Those writers really knew what they were doing. But that still didn't change the fact that his world was on fire and all he could do was watch others do the fighting without him. He still needed to help Shepard and he knew his best chance of doing that was right there on the Normandy.
Liara wondered if the garden that had served as her backyard growing up was still there, or if the Reapers had destroyed that too. She had watched the Reapers destroy everything and there hadn't been a thing anyone could do, least of all Shepard. The one person Liara thought could have helped or could do just about anything including come back from the dead, haven't been able to do a thing. Shepard had watched just like Liara had.
Liara wasn't upset with Shepard. No, Shepard had done everything possible to stop the Reapers and Kai Leng from getting the information. And even if they had the information how would it have stopped the Reapers from invading. Whatever the Catalyst was it would need to be constructed, right? So they would have lost Thessia anyway. The pain of the cold hard truth did soften the feelings of lost. She had thought that like Shepard she could focus on the positive aspects, but she had noticed that even Shepard was having a hard time doing that. And her mind kept coming back around to that damn garden in her backyard.
Javik couldn't remember what his home planet had looked like. It was only looking through the Shard that he remembered. He didn't want too. But then Commander Shepard had convinced him it was for the best. Remember those you are fighting for, because no one else was alive who did. The pain was exactly as he remembered it. The pain wasn't just his own, but of millions crying out in fear, desperation and death. Even after the Commander had slapped the Shard from his hands he still felt their cries. He still felt their pain. Washing his hands would never remove the stench or the grime of death from his hands. He didn't want to remember anymore. He wanted to forget the worlds lost. He wanted to forget the pain and become lost in the feel of battle.
His homeworld was nothing. Not even history had remembered the Empire correctly. He wasn't fighting for an Empire anymore or a piece of rock destroyed thousands of years ago…no, he was fighting for something less grand. Now, he fought for a good death. A death worthy of the cries and pleads in that Shard. It was all he had left.
Vega wanted to go back home. He didn't want anything to do with Spectres and Council members or Mars. Why were they heading to the red planet anyway? The fight was back on Earth. His home was back on Earth. He should be there fighting, not running away from the fight. That's what this was. It was running away. It was cowardly. Commander Shepard wasn't a coward- at least that was what everyone including himself believed. But here they were running away from Earth, away from the Reapers, away from the fighting.
James Vega wasn't a coward! Running away wasn't in his blood. It wasn't in him. But Shepard was in charge she was making the calls. Just hold out a little longer. He gritted his teeth strapping on his armor. We'll be back soon.
He listened to the recording again. This time he wouldn't cry. This time he would be able to hear his voice and keep the tears from falling. But even as his voice started to speak, his eyes grew moist. He sucked in a breath listening.
"Don't make me an anchor, Steve."
It still hurt. That gaping hole in his heart was still fresh and worst he didn't know how to go about fixing it. It wasn't like a requisition order or an engine that he could replace a part that had broken. There didn't seem to be any cure all medi-gel for the grief. Even the words that should have set him free just weighted him down.
Don't make me an anchor.
The ship jolted to the side sharply to the side. Traynor gritted her teeth as she swayed in her safely harness. There wasn't anything she could do. This was a fire fight between ships and there wasn't a thing she could do, but sit swinging like a monkey from a vine. She was useless in this fight. Useless.
The word didn't sit well with her. She hated it. Useless was trash, something you threw away. She didn't want that. She wanted to contribute to help Shepard defeat the Reapers. Killing the Reapers was their priority. And she found she wanted too. She wanted to smash the blasted synthetics to bits and watch their mechanical parts twitch and wiggle with whatever pain a synthetic like the Reapers might feel. She didn't like that in this moment she was useless, but this would be the last time she was that.
Next time she would be helping smash her boot heel into the Reapers.
Joker watched EDI slide into the co-pilot seat. He tried not to look directly at her. The first time he had stared at her for a good fifteen minutes not truly believing his eyes. She hadn't seemed to notice his attention until that time, but it had been awkward when she had asked why he was staring at her. Now he tried to be less obvious about it. Though he still found himself staring longer than was necessary. It was just hard to believe. EDI was with a physical form was…was…was…he didn't have a word for it.
Confusing? Yes.
Scary? Yes.
Potentially bone breaking? Yes. But then everything was to him.
Amazing? Yes.
The last thought sent a rush of emotions running through him. He kept telling himself this could potentially be a bad thing.
He didn't believe himself, yet.
The Reapers were attacking Earth. Earth. Home. It wasn't possible. Earth was safe. At least they should have been. For a little while longer anyway. Kaidan ran a hand through his hair causing a small release of dark energy in the form of a very soft crackling sound like the noise produced by a static shock.
Shepard had been right. He had always known Shepard was right.
Was he family okay? His mom? Dad? His Cousins? His students? They were all scattered to the wind. He didn't know how of them were alive. Were they fighting like Anderson was? He hoped so, while at the same time hoping they were ready for this. He had been training them for it.
Hackett's call to head to Mars was strange. What would they find there? What was so important Hackett would send Shepard there before the Citadel? Was Shepard even trustworthy anymore?
He wanted to believe she was. He had known Vaina Shepard. He had loved her. He leaned back against the work bench and watched as Vega finished strapping on his armor and grabbed his weapons checking them over before heading toward the Kodiak. Shepard stood waiting for the lieutenant as he boarded the craft. They exchanged some words before Vega jumped in.
Shepard's eyes caught his. He felt his breath catch. Those green eyes were exactly has he had remembered. Bright and calculating. Beautiful.
"Coming, Major?" She asked without awaiting his response she jumped into the Kodiak as well.
Kaidan sighed exhaling the breath he had been holding. Yes, he would follow her. If nothing else to finally get some answers.
