SV: Garrus, finally.
GV: What's wrong? Is it Mom?
SV: What?
SV: No. It's you, you idiot. We've seen the news feeds about the attack on the Citadel. I've been trying to reach you for hours and you haven't been answering.
GV: Sorry. That special assignment got a little complicated.
SV: No kidding. Therix sent us a bootlegged copy of the security feed from the Council Chambers.
GV: Ah.
SV: We know you were there, G.
SV: Spirits, you were right there with Sovereign and Saren Arterius and that human spectre.
SV: When you weren't answering your comm, I think Dad called in all the favours Therix owed from his C-Sec days to get that security cam footage. Hell, G, it was awful. I heard this horrible noise from Dad's office. I don't think I've ever heard him make a noise like that. I thought his heart was going or something. I came running in. He'd managed to put his fist through the desk and was bleeding. There was this footage of rubble on his terminal and I had no idea what was going on.
GV: Didn't know he cared.
SV: Seriously, G?
SV; Seriously?
SV: You are the worst person, you know.
SV: The worst.
SV: Of course he cares. When I found him, he wouldn't even let me patch up his hand. Insisted on reversing the footage so I could watch the whole damn thing and I saw that section of the ceiling collapse too.
SV: We thought you were dead.
SV: Damn it, G – we KNEW you were dead. You were crushed under that rubble. And all I could think about was how impossible it was going to be to tell Mom.
GV: Okay, I'm sorry.
SV: Yeah, you better be.
SV: When he replayed the footage for me, he couldn't speak. Didn't say anything. But at the point where that debris flies through the window and you're buried under it all…he turned away from the screen. You should know that our father – who's spent his career dealing with bodies and bloodshed – he couldn't stomach watching you die.
SV: And then the footage kept going. We saw the humans come. Saw them pull you out.
GV: Yeah, that about sums it up.
SV: Are you okay? You looked injured.
GV: I did? No, I'm fine. A little banged up, that's all.
SV: I don't get it.
GV: Get what?
SV: The brother I know would have contacted us hours ago to brag about how he took down Saren. You should have been elated when they pulled you out. You had just saved the galaxy, took down a rogue spectre, and survived.
SV: Instead, in the footage, you just look…Spirits, G, you look devastated. Why?
GV: I thought she was dead.
SV: Who? The human?
GV: Yes, the human.
GV: Shepard.
GV: I don't even know how to explain it. If you ever meet her, maybe you'll understand.
SV: She's not like other humans?
GV: She's not like anyone in the galaxy.
GV: And, yeah, while I was waiting for the rescue, I thought she was dead.
SV: Doesn't feel so nice, does it?
GV: How many times do I have to apologize?
SV: Honestly, G? It'll probably never be enough.
GV: Yeah, okay, sorry. Again. The point is…the plan had always been to stop Saren. I wasn't lying to you about the special assignment. Finding evidence of Saren's betrayal was my investigation before Shepard got involved, so I requested to join her team. She accepted. The plan had always been to stop Saren...and at any cost.
GV: But, after we'd done it...I realized we'd been wrong. I'd been wrong. Losing her was too high a cost to pay, even for Saren's defeat. The galaxy needed her alive more than it even needed Saren dead. And I wanted nothing more, in that moment, than to be able to go back three days. To try and stop any of it all from happening the way it did.
SV: Huh.
GV: Liara—she's the asari you saw—didn't help. She may have been able to use her biotics to lift the rubble up…except she was completely tapped out and close to losing consciousness. She kept saying how Shepard was going to pull us out. I kept trying to explain to her that Shepard was dead, that we had both seen that section of the wall crush her, that her denial wasn't going to somehow bring Shepard back.
SV: Oh, G. You're such a ray of sunshine. Betcha she appreciated that.
GV: Yeah. Not so much. So, no, by the time they pulled us out, it really didn't feel like a victory.
GV: Until Shepard hauled herself out of the rubble.
SV: Even Dad seemed impressed by that.
GV: She's damaged her arm pretty badly – she's recovering in Huerta Memorial now – but, all things considered…yeah, impressive is a good word for it.
GV: I really am sorry I didn't respond earlier.
SV: Alright, fine. I'm calling a temporary hiatus on the apologies as a "thank you" for saving the universe, okay? Just as long as, next time you save the galaxy, you give your family a damn vid call to tell them you're okay.
SV: Got it?
GV: I'll see what I can do.
SV: Hey, take care of yourself, okay?
GV: Yeah, I'll see what I can do.
Chat ended.
