Everything was chaotic after that. At some point Thracius was handed off to auntie Sam, and told not to let go of her. He didn't need telling twice. The air smelled funny, his scratches hurt, and he could barely hear anything as the two of them navigated a sea of terrified children looking for their frantic parents. He tried to spot Kal, but there were too many moving bodies. Every second brought a hard bump or push that felt like it was trying to tear him away from Samara, and he reinforced his anchor by grabbing her arm tight with both hands. They flickered with drifting blue briefly.

"Breathing exercises, Thracius." Samara reminded him, raising her voice to be heard. "Keep your calm."

Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm. The sky was filled with cars and shuttles, and when he saw his mother jump out of one of them, fear of getting trampled was the only thing keeping him from running to her.

"Mom!" He cried, launching himself into her arms when they finally got to her. He held onto her tight, trying not to cry. He was seven, he was too big to cry. He could hear things breaking through the atmosphere, but when he looked up there were no ships; just bright, burning flashes of light. He let out a squeak of surprise as Tali picked him up. "Mom, I'm big!"

She jumped into a shuttle with him anyway, dropping him next to her. He clung on to her shirt as the shuttle rose and wobbled.

"Samara, go help Kasumi and Javik." Tali shouted over the chaos, before hitting the button. As Thracius saw his aunt nod, and then the doors closed in his face. His mother ushered him into a seat and pulled the security restraints down.

"Mom, what's happening?" he asked as she prompted him to stick his arms through the loops. "Where are we going."

"There's fighting over Rannoch, we're going to the Citadel." she told him, securing his restraints before getting into her own seat.

"Where's dad?" he asked, a sick feeling in his gizzard. "Is he fighting?"

"Yes." was all she said as she pulled her own restraints tight and took his hand with her own. The shuttle pitched with turbulence, Tali squeezed his hand, and never before had Thracius felt so afraid while flying. He felt them angle upwards, and everything rattled and roared as they struck through the atmosphere. He couldn't remember it being this frightening when he left the orphanage.

Thracius couldn't remember falling asleep, but when he woke up, it was because his mother was undoing her restraints. He was sore all over, and his neck hurt particularly from sleeping upright.

"Mom? Are we there?" he asked. She paused, and cupped his face with one hand.

"Yes, we're here. I need you to stay put while I get on my suit." she told him, kissing his forehead. "Sit tight, I'll be right back."

Thracius nodded, and Tali went to the back compartment. He brought his backpack around, unzipped it, and brought out his Alliance cruiser. Setting it on his lap, he focused, and gripped it with his biotics. Lifting it, mandibles clenched in concentration, he made it drift lazily about the cabin. Half the problem was keeping it upright, and the cruiser was flying upside-down within a minute.

He was just about to bring it back to his lap for a landing when his mother came back out.

"Thracius!" she exclaimed, causing him to drop his toy.

"Mom!" The ship fell with a clatter of plastic. Tali scooped it up hurriedly, and shoved it back in his bag, and grabbed his shoulders, eyes bright behind her mask. It was upsetting, not being able to see her face, and he fought the urge to cry again.

"You can't use your powers here, Thracius, not even when you think you're alone." she urged. "You must understand how important this is; no biotics. What if the pilot had come in here? You need to be more careful, do you understand?"

He nodded, sniffing. Tali undid his restraints and pulled him into a hug. "It's to keep you safe, Thracius. Everything will be okay."

He stood, still sore, and his mother helped him put his backpack on. "What about dad?"

"He's fine, he's just busy." she told him. He couldn't see her face, so he couldn't tell if she was telling the truth or not. Taking her hand as the shuttle door opened, he supposed all he could do was trust her.

The Citadel was even bigger than he'd imagined, with even more people to go with it. Everywhere they went, from the moment they left the shuttle, there were people lining the street, flashing bright lights in their faces and shouting questions. He could do nothing more except cower under his mother's arm as she led him through the bright, loud halls and crowds.

Everyone spoke about the Citadel as if it was a wonderful place. But there were too many people, and Thracius was terrified. Why were they shouting? were they angry? What were all those lights, they were threatening to blind him.

"Mom, I can't see!" he cried. Could she get the flashing to stop, or could even she not hear him over all the shouting? If she said anything in reply, or tried to get them to stop the flashing, he couldn't hear her. At some point they found a moment of peace in an elevator, where it was just them and the Geth pilots that had come with them.

"Crypt, get ahold of C-sec and get us a car, those bo-reporters are stressing Thracius out, I want to avoid more of them if I can." his mother demanded as the elevator went up. Thracius shut his eyes and buried his face in her suit.

"I want to go home!" He sobbed. It was just too much, nobody had warned him about all those people! School, he could handle, but that many adults...

"I know, Thracius, I know." Tali gripped him a little harder. "But we can't yet, I need you to be brave for me. Just a little farther and we'll be on our own."

The doors opened to more flashing, but not as much as there was before, and his mother snapped something at them that he didn't quite catch. She pulled him alongside her until they came to a black skycar, and she quickly bundled him inside before jumping in herself. The two of them huddled in the back seat as the skycar took off and Tali did his restraints before pulling her own, and putting her arm back around him.

"Just take us straight to the embassy quarters. We've had a long day." she told the driver. "Almost there, Thracius."

He nodded, too exhausted to speak, and just pushed himself closer against her. I think I hate pirates. He decided, closing his eyes. Yeah, I hate pirates.

Just a short chapter as a treat. I actually had a bunch of stuff for this fic, but it all got deleted or lost somehow, and rewriting is an exhausting process that I will procrastinate to the ends of the earth to avoid, so don't expect frequent updates. I only got this done because I found an epic cover of The Last Agni Kai.

HelenTheMoon: Here, have another.

Braveseeker3: Wolf, he was in book 6 of Wolves of the Beyond.

Spiritstrike: Yeah, he really doesn't. I'm pretty sure that if Javik receives any sort of affection from another sentient being, it short circuits his brain. In his cycle they communicated with punches to the face or something.

jensen6: why thank you for the 10/10!

RPGWarrior4824: Kal will be fine... for now. I think. Can't remember what I had planned for him.

seabo76: Yeah, coincidences. Don't we all hate those.

Wow, I haven't updated this since High School. Where the hek did those years go? I have a LIZARD now, for petes sake(his name is Pippin, he's a real cutie). Anyway, in other news, in order to get my writing mindset back into the ME and Destiny headspace, I started a new crossover fic. It features Crow from Destiny 2, and you only have to have played Season of the Hunt to get the context, but basically I'm yeeting his traumatized butt into Mass Effect 2. It'll be fun.

As always, reviews are appreciated, especially considering this is my first chapter after so long.

Fare Thee Well!