"Damn you, Shepard, even after everything we've been through... your the one that has to wait at the bar?"
Garrus Vakarian, perhaps the most notable Turian alive now, was sat on a park bench. Drinking. Sat in the middle of a pair of corpses. His rough toned voice, that seemed to carry a low reverbing quality to it, projected itself across the field that Garrus had touched down upon, dragged a bench out of, and then was now looking at the sky.
"You just couldn't help but die, could you? I've dealt with years of your shit, accompanied across the galaxy on your escapades, had me walking into hell on shit such as your little suicide mission; and you don't even have the decency to have a final drink with me before you left?"
Garrus looked over to his left, to the deceased man whose head was slumped towards him, eyes closed with a scar gouged in his forehead and covered by burns. He was the man who saved the galaxy - Commander Shepard, the hero of the entire Milky Way and all its races, still in his ruined and damaged, yet iconic black N7 uniform. But Garrus left him like that - Shepard was here, and to take away any part of him was to disrespect him, Shepard had always been a soldier first, not a commander - always charging from the front in his chosen squad of 3, and Garrus kept him like that to remind himself of the man Shepard had been.
"Nevermind, you bastard, I'll have one here with your physical remains." Garrus grunted out, before seizing Shepard's cold hands and then forcing it to clutch a glass. He then reached out to his feet and to an awaiting bag - before then pulling out a clear glass bottle filled with light green liquid that sloshed about the bottle as he raised it to his face to read the label. "Ah, good old Batarian ale, I know you were a fan of it whenever you went into that Dark Star lounge before it closed and got replaced by that shitty Purgatory place - oh, but I'm rambling again, here, just have a drink."
The light green alcohol cascaded into the glass in Shepard's hand, before Garrus then pulled out another glass. "Oh, Admiral Anderson, my apologies for forgetting about you." Garrus then poured more ale into the glass into his hands and then pressing that into the hands of the man on his right - the Alliance admiral Anderson. He was still in his Alliance uniform as well, and Garrus fully respected him too for giving up his life on the citadel and helping to stop the Reapers. "You were a damn fine man, Anderson, from what I heard, it's a shame I never took the time to get to know you when I could."
Garrus then took out the final glass from his bag and poured out a double serving of ale this time into it. He then clinked his glass of strong alcohol against the ones grasped by the dead men before throwing his head back and downing the double shot in one go, throwing his arm around behind Shepard's head. It's not like he could care about personal privacy anymore. Garrus just took the time to study his surroundings, contemplating the events that had occurred ever since they defeated the Reapers a week ago. It felt nice, coming to a deserted planet in the middle of no-where in unchartered space. No one to bother him, nothing to interrupt him, he could just take his long-time best friend and a man he now highly respected and come to terms with their deaths. He could think.
And so with that, Garrus suddenly leaned forward in a fit of rage and flung his glass at a nearby tree, letting loose a growl as the glass smacked into the tree and imploded, letting out high-pitched shrieks as the glass scattered all over the grass and bark of the tree. "Dammit Shepard." Garrus growled in frustration. He didn't want to accept his best friend's death. The man who he, about which he had never told a soul, deeply admired. His bravery, compassion, and stubbornness - his willing refusal to give in and find a way to save everyone. He had loved the man in a way nobody else had ever done - he had been with him there from the beginning, since Saren for fucks sake, and it had ended like this? "You weren't supposed to die like that you bastard."
And he had to admit to himself - Shepard had died with all the glory, the galaxy now praising his name, he'd hit it off on a high note whilst he, Garrus Vakarian, was now stuck on clean-up duty. Oh, he was a bit jealous alright. No matter how much Garrus had rebelled against his father and some of the Turian's ways, he was still one at heart - and all Turians, in their militaristic society, probably envied Shepard his glorious death.
Garrus flopped back with a sigh against the bench, and looked at both dead men with a tired face. "Well." Garrus began. "This is the only time I'll ever say such a thing - I respect you two a damn lot, Shepard more so - I make no apologies, Anderson - and wish you two the greatest afterlife any soldier could ever get." Garrus then put his head into his hands and sighed again, before then letting loose a snigger as he quickly tuned his depressive mood around. "And here I am yapping to the dead."
Garrus's left arm shot out, his four fingers enclosing around Shepard's glass. "As punishment, I'll make you wait a bit longer for that drink, bastard." He snatched the glass containing the strong alcohol from his dead friend's grip. "Besides, it's not like you can drink it now, and we can always have one together when I'm done carrying on your immortalised legacy." With that, he'd downed the liquid in that glass.
Garrus then gave another chuckle as he snatched glass from Anderson's cold grip, and then throwing the contents into the dead man's face. "And that, you bitch, is for not stopping Udina." He snickered, the holo-eye lens seeming to flash momentarily as Garrus's scarred mouth lifted into a smirk. "Not that I can blame you - he was subtle in his racism, and who would ever have thought Cerberus could literally brainwash people, hmm?" Anderson could not answer as his mouth remained unmoving in the satisfied smile it had set itself into in his final moments - the green alcohol seeming to be symbolic (in a way Garrus didn't know - he was a soldier, not a one them sappy poets dammit) as it slowly trickled down his face. "I think the best thing is the fact that Admiral Hackett has offered me a job in leading a 'peacekeeping' force, where I choose the squad and carry out missions on his behalf. Looks like Archangel is back with a vengeance, eh?"
Garrus gave a barking laugh, before then clinking the glasses together in his hands - and launching them high into the air. Quicker still, he pulled his iconic Mantis sniper rifle out from the back of the bench where it had been resting and aimed it at the glasses which were just starting to fall back to the field below it.
The sniper rifle barked twice, filling Garrus's senses with the familiar smell of momentary spent gunpowder as the wind trickled the smoke past his nose and out into the open beyond. Glass then began to rain down in a shower onto the open field before Garrus as he raised his sniper rifle up into the air.
He pumped his sniper rifle up and down in a victory pose as he yelled out. "I'm Garrus Vakarian, and this is my favourite spot in the Terminus systems!" He let out a series of rough laughs as the sniper rifle fell back down to his side.
Garrus then looked back at the two corpses and smirked. "Just like old times, eh Shepard?"
Silence greeted him.
"I chose the Terminus systems for two reasons as your final destination." Garrus began to explain to the two deceased men before him, uncaring of how he looked to the empty wilderness he'd landed in. "I found your bodies whereas everybody else thought you two disintegrated in the explosion, so it's only fair that the man giving you a respectful burial chooses where to bury you. Number one - Shepard had a rather unhealthy obsession with the Terminus systems, what with all the chasing and action we've done all over it. Fuck, just look at Omega for your proof - how many favours did we have to give to that Asari bitch to get her support for anything?"
Garrus interrupted himself to let out a quicker snigger before then coughing and continuing. "Oh, you'll love the next reason, Shepard." Garrus once again paused to let out another chuckle. "Number two - it's ironic! Think of it, the great Commander Shepard, known and praised all over the galaxy for saving it and unifying it, bring peace and order to all over the Milky Way - buried in the very systems that represent anarchy! Consider this your punishment, almighty spectre, for leaving behind your best friend - buried in the place that has sheer lawlessness! Oh, I can see you grumbling now." Garrus could not help but let out more laughs as he found the situation so comical.
Garrus then wiped out the moisture from his left eye as he stood back up. "Forgive me, friends, I guess I haven't been the same as of late." He heaved a sigh. "None of the survivors would've."
"Ah well." Garrus sighed as he placed the sniper rifle on the bench in between the two bodies, before then waltzing back round to the back of the bench. "I would ask for one, final picture with the ...lads, is it?, but it wouldn't do your scarred face any justice Shepard. Don't wanna ruin that rep you have going for you now, do we?" Garrus quietly tutted as he observed the star the planet orbited beginning to set in the distance, before then looking back at Shepard's face. "Guess who's the handsome now, eh? That's right, the old handsome rogue of a Turian, yours truly."
Garrus let out another laugh as he pulled up a shovel from the ground. "I've disturbed you fellas enough. After all that action you've been under for years, I'd say it's about time you two got some high quality rest now, hmm?"
Garrus then put the shovel to rest against the back of the bench before then himself resting on the back of it, leaning forwards as he looked down at the two comrades in a war narrowly won, one a respected figure; the other, a long-time friend whom he was going to spend a few last moments with before he moved on and accepted his death. "But first, just allow this scarred warrior a last drink with his pals, hmm?"
His right arm slowly reached downwards and grasped the now half-filled bottle of Batarian ale, before then leaning the bottle over and, taking his time, took a long drawn-out slug from the bottle. Finishing up and wiping his mouth, he took a few moments to contemplate his surroundings and himself, before then clutching and pushing the bottle up into the air in a form of paying respects. "Well, here's to you, Shepard, you crazy bastard. You had one hell of a life, and I'm honoured to have accompanied you through it all. Fuck, I still remember you becoming a spectre - fuck the historical moment for humanity, that the was the moment I knew you were somebody to follow. And god damn, am I pleased I did."
Garrus pulled his arm back down and took another sip from his bottle of ale. "You pulled me through hell, partner, but looking back on it now, I'd quite happily say that it was a great adventure in which you only succeeded because you had a handsome Turian on standby to pull your ass out of trouble. I only hope they remember that in the songs they'll sing about you." Garrus closed his eyes as he relived the great memories he had, raising the bottle to his mouth for the last time.
Garrus drained the bottle as a tear slowly squeezed itself out from his clenched eyelids. "And most importantly, I'll see you around partner." He whispered. "Just keep the bar stool warm for me." And for the first time in years, going before joining Shepard in his fight for the reapers, the suicide mission, his hunt for Saren and joining C-sec, Garrus Vakarian cried.
Garrus slowly put the bottle on the bench as he admired the view. He would accept his friend's death in time, and he would never forget the great experience he had had with him - an adventure filled with ups and downs, thrilling fights that they would win outright or by the skin of their teeth, daring chases across entire star systems, the satisfying downtime between missions as they hung out savouring a job or mission well done; and most importantly, an experience with no regrets. So Garrus stood there, reminiscing in the memories with a smile and tear as he admired the view with his comrade and long-time best friend. The wind blew softly across the field on this unknown planet in the middle of unknown Terminus space, past the broken glass as Garrus made his final memories with his partner, and figure of admiration.
This was Garrus's goodbye.