This fic is a SEQEUL to: To Trails End. If you haven't read it, you'll be confused.
It was not clear, at first, that the little Crow lived. He feigned grief, drinking and lamenting that he had 'lost a kinderguardian'. But the death of two creatures of Light would leave ripples in the Ascendant Planes, echoing endlessly. When he cast curious feelers into that territory, he felt nothing. Two nights of careful examination yielded only his last location. It was a frayed place; the space between worlds had not only been breached, it had been pierced and destroyed.
It went beyond a mere portal to this solid place of reality. It had pierced into elsewhere, and then been violently rejected, slammed shut like a pressurized door. The space within and around was violated, confused, trying to fill itself in like a hole drilled through a pool of sluggish mud.
He hadn't realized this particular investment had born fruit again, let alone that it was intact enough to do so. Not only that, but it had done as was originally intended, catching his sister's eyes; though he had already provided her with a distraction, and she was still busy lapping up what was left of the Empire. He could... invest in it, again.
Another treat he could dangle in front of her, if need be. Or not. He didn't know if Crow was truly alive, of course; even he couldn't see beyond that veil, even frayed as it was from all the recent activity, but the potential knowledge of his whereabouts would make a tantalizing bargaining chip. Either way he ended up using this rediscovered weapon, it was still potent in it's value. He would have to wait and see.
Patience yielded the truth.
Ikora made to take the bottle from his hands, but he leaned away from her, convincingly drunk, and gave a toast; to the failure of old Warlocks, and the lost lives of young Hunters!
Crow's nerves were doing their thing again, but he was too tired to be on high alert, even though he was trapped in a confined space with a number of highly-trained, highly-dangerous individuals. Mentally, he tried to encourage Glint to phase, but his Ghost only snuggled deeper into his hood. At least he was difficult to grab in there, and the Light from his presence was a slight balm to Crow's nerves.
The shuttle rocked and rattled as it left the planet's atmosphere, and it swayed more than most jumps ships he'd exited atmosphere on. He gripped the bars on on his restraints a little harder. Flying had never been the same after the crash that led him into Spider's hands. An unfamiliar ship only made it worse. Shepard looked at him from where she sat, and Crow squirmed a bit under her gaze.
"So, Crow," she started, "before we get to the Normandy, I need to know if your AI is going to cause problems. We have one of our own on board, I don't want any cyberwarfare one board."
"Glint isn't an AI." It took him a moment to realize she was talking about Glint. "He's a sentient energy construct."
"The difference?" The Commander raised an eyebrow.
"An AI is all software, and it can only simulate emotions." Glint pipped up. "I'm mostly Light woven through small pieces of code, and I feel everything."
"What are you feeling right now?" Garrus leaned forward curiously. Glint's shell clicked in Crow's ear.
"A little frightened, really." He admitted. "Where we come from, 'if it isn't human it's trying to kill you'."
"Well, I have no intentions of doing any killing on board the Normandy." Garrus assured him, sitting back. "Unless we're boarded. All bets are off at that point."
"Either way, will there be problems?" Shepard asked.
"No, ma'am." Glint told her, before settling back down. The rest of the trip was quiet.
They arrived on the Normandy, and when the doors of the shuttle opened, Crow was assaulted by a sterile white environment. He didn't seem to be the only one who wasn't a fan of this; Thane squinted slightly, like someone who was annoyed, and distaste flickered briefly across Shepard's face. He couldn't get a read on Garrus, his face was a bit too alien.
"Crow, head to the med bay. Unkillable or not, our doctor will want a look at you." Commander Shepard addressed him as they filed out of the shuttle. "Thane, show him the way, would you?"
"Of course." The drell bowed slightly, before beckoning Crow and leading him towards what looked like a door with a holographic interface, as the other two hung back. Crow watched as he tapped several commands, and the door slid open at multiple points. Well that's fancy. It was a small room, and Crow lingered as Thane entered. On the Shore, getting into such a small space with a battle-proven stranger was typically a bad idea, even if they'd had your back previously. Betrayal was all too common.
"It's an elevator." The assassin indicated the room. "They have them in your reality, do they not?"
"Yes... but not on ships." Here goes nothing. He stepped on. The elevator started, and he was officially trapped. For... well, an unusual amount of time. "How... big is the Normandy, exactly?"
"The Normandy is a frigate." a female voice spoke up over the ship's internal comms, making Crow jump and Glint phase.
"That was EDI, the AI Shepard mentioned." Thane assured him. "She is no threat to you."
The doors opened again, to Crow's relief, and they were greeted by more white. It was obnoxious, especially compared to the dark, cool colors he was used to on the Reef. Thane led him around the wall and into an area that looked like a cafeteria of some sort. 'Med Bay' was plastered over the first door they saw, and it was where Thane took him. At least in an infirmary, the sterile appearance made sense. There was nobody home, though.
"Wait here for Doctor Chakwas." Thane told him. "A man named Jacob Taylor will be around shortly as well to see about getting you settled in."
"Thanks?" It was weird, thanking someone of his own volition. He was used to only thanking Spider, and only because he didn't want a beating.
"Thank you." The drell nodded slightly to him. "I am well aware that your decisions are why I am alive right now. I shall not forget."
Crow could only stand there, blinking. Nobody except Glint had ever thanked him sincerely for anything. Spider gave plenty of thanks, but always in mockery. He didn't know what to do with this, and before he could, Thane was leaving. Finally alone, Crow let himself relax, and he staggered over to one of the beds, sitting down heavily. Glint materialized next to him.
"Lay down and rest." He advised. "I'm sure they won't mind."
Crow was too tired to argue. He lay down on his side, an Glint settled in the crook of an arm. He though it would be hard to sleep in the bright, white environment. He was wrong.
"We don't know anything about him!" Miranda was pitching a fit. Big surprise.
"He just stranded himself to save all our asses." Shepard pointed out, grinding her teeth. This woman loved testing her patience.
"At the very least we should send him to a secure facility-"
"Over my dead body." She cut the woman off. Sending anyone off-grid with Cerberus might as well be asking for a horrific experiment. "He's staying, that's final."
She strode out before any more arguments could be had, and made her way down to the crew deck. She had a mountain of questions for Crow, about his reality, about his powers, about him in general. The lights in the med bay were dim when she entered, and Chakwas spun in her seat, signaling to keep quiet. After further examination, Crow was fast asleep on one of the beds. Glint looked rather 'asleep' as well, a tiny, pulsing light by the strange man's side.
"Well?" She whispered.
"The scans register him as human." Chakwas told her softly. "I can be more thorough when he wakes, but his biology so far looks to be an exact copy of our own. It's already making my job easier."
"Anything of note, so far?" She queried, curiosity burning.
"He's malnourished and likely anemic." The older woman informed her. "Even with that drone fixing him up, it's obvious he's been through the wringer. I advise not taking him anywhere until he's gotten a week or two of good meals in, with supplements, maybe longer depending on how much that drone can help with. He's a levo, by the way."
"Anything you'll need that we don't have?" Life must be tough in his reality, if someone like him has trouble finding food. She hadn't noticed anything too wrong with him groundside, but looking at him now, she could se it.
"There are certain foods and supplements he'll need, I'll make a list." Chakwas picked up a data pad. "Now if you excuse me, I need to sort out these increasingly confusing readings."
"I'll leave you to it, doc." Shepard nodded, and, casting one last glance at Crow, left. As soon as the door closed, she let out a groan. If Miranda was thrilled about having an unkillable soldier who could set himself fire aboard, she would be ecstatic about having an anemic unkillable soldier who could set himself on fire aboard.
He was going to cost extra.
When Crow woke, the lights had been dimmed, and he could hear some sort of funny tapping noise. He felt worlds better than he had before. There was a pile of what seemed to be fresh clothes folded on the next bed over, and what was ostensibly a sandwich next to them, both marked by a note with his name on it. He sat up, and Glint rose into the air, stretching his shell and shaking it out slightly. Crow rolled his shoulders, finding he was far less sore than usual. I think I like beds.
Looking around, he found that the source of the tapping was a bearded man in a hat, toiling away with a holographic interface that was wrapped around his forearm. He glanced up when he noticed Crow watching.
"Doc said to tell you to clean up, if you woke up." He jerked his thumb in the direction of a room with the words 'emergency contaminant shower'. "Shower's in back."
Crow had never actually used a shower before. Only Spider's favorites had access to that kind of privilege. "Um... thanks?"
The man gave a nonchalant wave and continued his tapping. Crow gathered the clothes, hiding the sandwich between them out of habit. Once he was alone in the shower room, he devoured half of it, and had Glint store the rest in case he didn't earn another. The shower was confusing at first, and he spent more time figuring out the temperature controls than he did getting clean. The clothes were a bit loose, and the sleeves didn't even come down to his elbows, exposing all the small scars he'd gotten from Spider 'authenticating' the "anti-Guardian" weaponry that people often tried to sell him.
He hoped nobody asked about them. He wasn't quiet comfortable telling anyone there were ways to truly harm him, even if they didn't have access to such means in this reality. At least, that he knew of. In better news, Glint had found a pair of scissors, and he was able to even out his hair slightly. He still looked a mess, but he looked like less of a mess, and he felt fairly good as well. Being clean, fed, and in fresh clothes was a good feeling.
Hopefully he could earn enough of a keep for it to happen again.
Hello, all, and welcome to part two of this insanity! in case you forgot, this is mostly an exercise for me, and I will abandon it if I lose interest. I will, however, complete as good a chunk of it as I can! I have a couple of chapters already lined up for this sequel, so expect random but regular updates until I run out of said chapters and have to write more.
Season of the Lost is becoming more like Season of the Crow Drama. Savathun is only trying to trick us into thinking this is her story. It's going to end badly, and I'm going to be there like that snoopy neighbor who will gossip about you choice in crackers.
As for the Mass Effect side of things: It goes without saying that this fic will contain SPOILERS for pretty much all ME2 story DLC's. If you have not played Legendary Edition, or never bought the DLC's for the original and haven't gotten around to Legendary Edition but plan to, HALT, and BEWARE! I will put up DLC spoiler warnings at the top of chapters that contain them. This fic picks up about halfway through the game, if you count DLC's, Shepard is a female Sentinal, and the following Loyalty missions have been completed; Kasumi, Jack, Jacob, Miranda, Zaeed, Mordin, Grunt. Aside from Grunt, they bore me in-game, and I don't need them to bore me in writing as well.
As you can see in this fic, Crow still doesn't have a healthy mindset, so lets see what we can do about that...
Fare Thee Well!