Chapter 18: Revelations

Sol System, Normandy

Yang

The jump to a safer destination was made quickly as Shepard knew they couldn't remain anywhere near Sovereign. Doctor Chakwas was at capacity for wounded soldiers, some even laid on makeshift stretchers in the cargo hold. Those without injuries were told to keep clear and those with minor injuries were ordered to rest while those with any medical training saw to them. Medi-gel was used generously.

Yang, like many of the others had lined up and taken a shower after the mission, and was sitting on her bed looking at the armour she knew she'd have to throw away. The helmet with its spider web of cracks was on the floor by her feet while she looked at the body armour. Just like the hole and cracks in the helmet, there was a large hole in the bottom right of the armour and a little one higher and closer to the centre.

Almost sis, you trying to have a little reunion huh? She asked with a forlorn smile. Don't try to take dad either. All she had left was her parents, one of which didn't want anything to do with her, the other who was still living on Patch, and both who knew where or if she'd ever see them again. Her mind started to wonder, hoping they'd heard of what happened, what had happened to her team and the relics.

There was a soft knocking on the door. "Miss Xiao Long, Shepard wants you up top. Debriefing." The soldier said. Putting her armour down and moving to the usual spot while in her Alliance blues, she was surprised at who she saw and didn't see.

Shepard and Ingersoll were speaking by the door, Wrex, Tali, Liara and Ashley were all seated. Kaidan, Garrus, and Maulden were all missing, however, making the meeting much smaller. Grabbing herself a seat and looking around, she could see that most everyone seemed to be in a good mood, if a reflective one.

"Team, friends." Shepard started once she and Ingersoll had taken their seats. "Virmire was… enlightening, tragic, and terrifying. You're all now aware of what Sovereign is and what the Reapers really are. Any doubts you have should have been extinguished, especially for those that witnessed the conversation with Sovereign."

Yang recalled all too well the crustacean looking ship. How am I supposed to help kill those? They're huge. She was a little disheartened, all she could take hope in was the fact that they were machines, breakable, unlike Salem.

"Commander? Excuse me for interrupting. But I have an Idea. I think the beacon we found in Saren's base was similar to the one you found on Eden Prime. It may have filled in the missing pieces of your vision. I might be able to help you put all those pieces together." Liara said.

"You want to join our minds again, don't you? Go ahead." Shepard seemed eager to get the full picture.

"Relax Commander. Embrace Eternity." That phrase, Yang knew she'd heard that before.

Feros! She recalled the interaction with Shiala, when Asari there did the same thing with Shepard. She looked around at the group, waiting for this, joining of minds to end. Locking eyes with Ashley for a moment before the soldier looked away, Yang smiled. I wonder if she's annoyed that I chose to go help them anyway?

It was Liara's voice that brought her focus back. "Incredible. I… I never thought the images would be so… intense. I need a moment to collect myself."

"Did the vision make any sense to you?" Shepard didn't have the time to wait.

"It's a distress call, a message sent out across the Prothean Empire. A warning against the Reapers, but the warning came too late."

"What about the Conduit?" The Commander asked as Yang wondered if Shepard could even see what was in her own mind at that point.

"There were other images. Locations. Places I recognised from my research… Ilos! The Conduit is on Ilos!" Liara was full of confidence in that, and was another lead for Shepard to follow. "That is why Saren needed to find the Mu Relay! It is the only way to get to Ilos."

"Then we're heading to Ilos." Shepard declared.

"Forget it." Tali interjected. "The Mu Relay's inside the Terminus Systems. Alliance ships are not welcome there. Neither are Spectres."

"The Conduit's on Ilos. That's where Saren is heading. I'll be waiting for him when he gets there!" Shepard sounded agitated, to be told where to go and warned that it would be dangerous. Yang made a note to read up on these Terminus Systems during some down time.

"Saren will have his entire fleet orbiting Ilos. You will never make it down to the surface without reinforcements. You must alert the Council. We need a fleet to…" Liara trailed off and took a step as if to stumble, causing both Yang and Shepard to react. She caught her feet though and brought a hand to her head. "I am sorry. The joining is… exhausting. I should go to the medical bay and lie down for a moment."

"Go ahead, Liara. Thank you for your help." Shepard squeezed her shoulder and dismissed Liara. Once the Asari was clear of the room, the Commander turned her attention to the others. "First thing first, Yang. I want to thank you for saving the lives of my crew, the Salarians, and my family. It was dangerous and reckless… but from what Captain Kirrahe tells me, you were more devastating to the Geth than what remained of his men."

"Thank you, Yang. When Shepard made the call, I had accepted death." Ingersoll bowed her head in gratitude.

"Ah… same goes for me." Ashley joined in. "Thanks, for opting to choose another path."

Yang was smiling by this point. "It was nothing. All in a day's work for a Huntress."

"Second." Shepard looked more serious at that moment. "You mentioned the cycle and how long it had been going on for. How did you come across that information?"

This caused Yang to swallow and look around the group. Ozpin hid terrible things from us, lied or withheld truths, spoke half-truths. She didn't want to be like Ozpin. "It happened after I fell, a Maiden is a powerful person on Remnant, someone with much greater power than even myself. I was fighting one such… bitch, but I was dazed and knocked off the side of a platform we were warned not to fall from." Finding all the eyes upon her, she continued after a breath.

"After falling for a while, I stopped. There was no sudden impact, not pain, no light, nothing. I found I could move about a little, or at least it felt that way to me. I was floating, nothing solid beneath me or around me, it was like I was suspended by an invisible force. I fired my gauntlets hoping to see something during the flashes of my shots, but I never saw anything." Lowering her head, she recalled the loneliness she felt, isolated and alone, losing herself to the fear of being stuck there until she died, or if she was already dead, stuck there for an eternity, floating in the middle of a void, was that all death is in the end?

Taking a deeper breath and looking up once more, she focused on Shepard for a moment. "I don't know how long I was there for, but it wasn't hot or cold, I didn't get thirsty or hungry. I may have… screamed a few times in frustration, fear, panic.. hysterics. But eventually, hours, days, weeks or months, I heard something." Hearing that gave Shepard pause, the Commander narrowed her eyes and leaned forwards, resting her chin on her closed fists.

"It got close and closer, and I could tell what I was hearing was the beating of wings, massive wings." She recalled the two God brothers, but what she met there in the darkness was something else. "As it got closer I fired a shot, that is when I got a look at what had found me. In that flash of light, I saw this great beast, bigger than Wrex twenty times over, probably even more." That got the attention of Wrex too, a low hum coming from his large frame.

"It chuckled at me, the shot must have glanced off or missed it. I pulled back to fire again, but the area around me lit up into a brilliant blue. I got to see what was in front of me, it was like the stories of old, fairy tales, like the Grimm dragon that attacked Beacon years earlier. But this dragon was much, much bigger."

"A dragon? You can't be serious." Ashley interrupted, quickly getting hushed by Shepard.

"Please, continue." The Commander insisted.

At least someone wants to hear my crazy story. Clearing her throat and speaking again, Yang did as Shepard asked. "The wingspan was huge, the body wider than anything I'd ever seen. If it had chosen to eat me then and there, I might have been able to tickle it at most… Thinking on it, definitely bigger than twenty Wrex's easily." She smiled but not one returned it.

"Whatever, fine. I'll get to the part you want to hear. We talked for a bit and eventually it gave me a second chance. I thought I'd be going back to Remnant, but apparently that's not how things work. So I was sent here, to your galaxy, to Feros. And as parting gifts it gave me a few things. Biotics for one. Information as another. It told me about the cycle and how another was approaching, though not how damn close it was." She glared at the floor.

"Any specifics that it told you, anything that could help our cause against the Reapers?" Shepard asked.

Yang frowned and began racking her brain. "I don't… It said I could help but surviving wasn't guaranteed, in fact it was actually quite a small chance." That seemed to sour the mood in the room. Fine, fine! "Don't seem too defeated yet. I don't and I'm new here. Our enemies are machines, we can break them, kill them! That wasn't the case on Remnant. We couldn't kill our greatest enemy, I tried, I failed."

There was a silence in the room for a while, the others exchanging looks of disbelief and now boredom. Of course they wouldn't believe in an unkillable being. Thankfully Tali asked a question.

"As in, you couldn't kill them because she was too strong?"

"Her strength is formidable, that's for sure, but when I fought her it was like she toyed with me." She looked at her gauntlets and then activated them. "Some of you saw the little sticky bombs I can plant on things I punch, I did this to her, to Salem. I landed half a dozen or more blows on her and got out of the way, I watched her explode, I saw the deformation of her body, twisted and smoking, bones sticking out."

The fear of that failure, the realisation that what Jinn had shown and told them was true came rushing back for a moment, causing the hairs on the back of her neck and arms to stand up. Deactivating her gauntlets, Yang looked up with a defiant gaze and made sure everyone saw it.

"Don't believe me if you don't want to, but I kept fighting, my team, my allies kept fighting. Machines can be broken, regeneration isn't something that they have." She didn't know if the Reapers did or not, but Salem was the only one with that kind of regeneration she'd ever seen.

Shepard stood up and looked around, evaluating the expressions in the room. "I want to believe you Yang, and I have an idea. Joker, recall Liara if she's still conscious."

"Roger that, Commander."

Yang just took the time to reflect, wondering if she had said too much, if they'd believe her even with this plan of Shepard's. Looking over to Tali, she gave a smile. The Quarian patted her back gently, a reassuring gesture that the brawler appreciated.

The door to the room hissed open and Liara stood there, still looking tired. "You needed something, Shepard?"

Shepard would proceed to give Liara the shortened version of what Yang had told them about her falling, the immortal foe she faced, and asked if Liara could verify any of this through her means of joining their minds. Gulping, Yang didn't know if she wanted that. It exhausted Liara and she didn't know what else the Asari might see.

"If you agree to this, Yang, I can try and see your memories." Liara offered.

A cold spread through Yang's body. "Can… can I choose what memories you get to see?"

"That could depend on your control, but I will only inform the Commander of these interactions with this immortal and this… entity." Liara's offer was reassuring, but the possibility of letting her see other aspects was a little worrying.

"Alright. Tell me what to do." Yang said as she stood up, going to the centre of the room.

"Try to relax, focus your breathing. Slow and steady, deep breaths." Yang followed Liara's instructions and when the Asari was happy she gave more. "Think about what you're wanting to show me, try to replay the memories in your mind. Once you have them replaying, close your eyes."

Shuddering a little, Yang nodded. Trying to focus on only the memories that she wanted to share. Salem and the great glowing blue dragon within the void. Though as she closed her eyes, she felt her fight with Salem come to the front of her mind.

"Embrace eternity."

With that phrase, Yang felt something. An intense feeling of calm washed over her for a moment and she briefly forgot to think about the memories. Beneath her closed eyes there was some rapid eye movement as Yang adjusted to this feeling, another person was in her head, in her body almost. She could feel warmth and comfort, searching for who she was.

Finding the memories of her fight with Salem once more, Yang focused on them quickly. The explosion of the fleshy wall that was Salem's grimm whale creature, the floors a gooey flesh too. The purple magic and the sudden panic of what was to befall them. Yang felt the fear return, the adrenaline. While Liara got to see Salem for the first time. A pale skinned human with these red corrupted looking veins crawling over the edges of her face and arms.

Emerald was grabbed while Ren opened fire with Ilia moving to flank Salem. The pale woman used Grimm tendrils to catch Ilia's feet before blasting Ren with magic, something Liara had never seen. Then Yang found herself looking through her eyes, jumping and assaulting Salem to the best of her ability. She could feel the impacts of her punches as if she were doing them all over again, hearing the beeping like it was a real threat.

Then as she darted away and detonated the explosive, Salem's twisted and disturbingly shaped body appeared as the smoke faded. As Yang had told the others, bones were exposed, but more than that it was like these black and red poles reached outwards in many directions from the explosion site.

The sickening snap of Salem's shoulder echoed in their minds as Salem shot something at Yang who blocked it. Watching, feeling herself being pulled towards the queen, they watched as Salem's body regenerated. The blood and guts, bones and destroyed insides rapidly healed until Salem was upright and staring right at them with cold, unimpressed eyes.

Yang wanted to fight, but she felt a sudden disconnect and stepped back, raising her arms and activating her gauntlets out of instinct. Panting slightly, Yang could see Shepard gently holding Liara and guiding her to a seat while Ingersoll and Ashley looked at Yang, both on their feet. Collecting herself and shaking her head, she would quickly take a seat and look at the ground. Everything had felt so real, those same emotions had come back, almost reliving everything she experienced in that memory, the failure against Salem and the confirmation of her immortality.

"Liara, are you ok?" Concerned she might have caused Liara problems, Shepard was worried.

"Yang, is everything alright?" Tali asked from her side.

Turning and faking a smile, she nodded. "Yeah… I never… that was so weird. I could feel what I felt back then. Have you done that before?" Tali shook her head.

Once Liara had rested for a moment she answered one of Shepard's questions. "I saw Yang and her friends fighting. This Salem she mentioned, she showed me. She took on four of them and only Yang landed hits on her."

"Was she playing with them?" Shepard asked. "Did Yang kill her?"

Liara and Yang shared a look with the blonde sighing. "Shepard, if she did to you, did to anyone in this room what she did to Salem, none of us would be remotely alive. And she came back Shepard, within seconds she had grabbed Yang with… something I can't explain. It was like a tendril came out of her hand and grabbed her from several metres away."

Shepard looked paler upon hearing that, and the others didn't look too pleased about the news either. "Anything on the other entity?"

"Sorry, I couldn't take any more." Liara said.

"It's alright. Let's get you some rest. Ingersoll, can you help Liara back to her bed." Ingersoll simply got up and did what was asked of her, escorting Liara from the room.

"So," Wrex started, "you fought an immortal. You still think we can beat the Reapers?"

"I do, most of my world didn't even know of Salem, save for a select few in each generation that continued fighting against her. Most didn't know she couldn't be killed, our most ancient ally didn't tell us that part. When my team found out there was… conflict. For a long time we ignored that ancient ally, but we still fought against Salem, we all decided that if we didn't then Remnant was lost. So yeah, fighting against an enemy that I can actually watch be destroyed or killed is a bit of a moral boost really." Her chuckle had Wrex grinning.

"Well, what are you waiting for Shepard? Let's head to Ilos. I still owe Saren a whole lot of pain." Wrex said, eager to head out.

"Alright, you're all dismissed until further notice." Though before they were out the door Joker's voice would reach them all.

"Commander, there's a comm buoy nearby. I can link us in if you want to report back to the Citadel Council. You know, to warn them about Sovereign."

"Set the link up Joker, they need to know." Shepard answered as the rest of the team filtered out.

Yang would return to her bed, lying down on it and checking the recovery of her aura so far. It was barely in the yellow after a few hours of resting, and now her mind was racing. She felt like several of the people in that room, or those who were injured and should have been in that room wouldn't believe her, even with that strange joining thing Liara did with her. Reapers are big ships then… don't really know how I'm supposed to help these people… god? She asked, wondering if maybe the entity she'd met in the void would answer her. It didn't, but her name was softly called from the doorway.

"Yang." Tali called. "Can I?" She gestured to the bed. Yang just moved, sitting up and making room for Tali to sit. "Do you think the Reapers are like the Geth?"

Always with the Geth. "I don't think so, you said the Quarians created them a few centuries ago. So they're different, but now they're working with or for the Reapers so maybe they would turn that way anyway?"

"That's what I've been thinking too. But I don't understand how the Geth could decide to join with the Reapers. Was it their choice or can they suffer indoctrination like us organics? Or maybe it was some kind of virus that spread through their network?" Tali's concern was real and Yang quickly connected the dots during their silence.

"Worried it might come back to be blamed on you people?"

Tali nodded. "We created them, and if our creation is used to help accomplish another cycle, then my people would be blamed."

"If no one is around, no one can blame you." Trying to lighten the mood failed. "Look, sure your people created them. But if they chose to join with Sovereign and the Reapers, then that was their choice, not yours."

"The Council won't see it that way." Tali argued.

"People are stupid, though I've only dealt with humans and Faunus, I think I can say that pretty confidently." That got a laugh from Tali. "Better?"

"A little… you really faced an immortal then?" As Yang nodded, she saw the eyes within that visor open a little more. "I can't imagine how scary that would be. How did you manage to get away?"

"So, one of her people betrayed her and our… friend, detonated a massive explosion. It turned Salem to like, a dispersed mist like form. Apparently that takes her a little bit of time to come back from, but he was confident she'd reform and come after us again." Taking just a moment, she patted Tali's knee. "I suppose it's kind of like you Quarians. You try to avoid getting sick, though every time you do there is a chance of you dying. Same for us really. Every time Salem's forces crossed our paths there was a fight, a chance of death. But dying to a simple and curable cold sounds way more terrifying to me than being able to openly fight back against an immortal, even if it's just buying some time until the next encounter."

"Both circumstances have their benefits, I'm just glad we've got someone who has seen the Reaper threat as something more achievable than dealing with an immortal entity."

Sitting in silence for a little more, Yang would remember she had something for Tali. "One sec!" She said, going to her footlocker and grabbing out some cookies, taking two for herself and then handed Tali two packs. "They're dextro-amino treats called Graxen. I found them on the Citadel. I don't know how you'll eat them on here but…" She pursed her lips, really unsure if Tali would want them.

"Thank you. I'll have to be careful eating them, perhaps ask Doctor Chakwas to… sterilise an area sometime. But that would be a waste of her time, she's so busy at the moment." Not wanting Yang to feel discouraged by her little gift, Tali would would speak again. "You've mentioned Grimm a few times. Is there a way you could show me what they are, or draw them?"

Excited to show Tali what a Grimm was, she pulled her scroll up and searched through some of her saved photos. Leaning over and holding the scroll to Tali, she would let the Quarian take it. "Keep scrolling left and you should see a few different kinds."

Tali would get to see a few different angles on a few types of Grimm. There were the Beowolves, Boarbatusks and Centinels, Goliaths and Griffons, Manticores and Megoliaths as well as the Sabyr and Ursa. Each covered in a black skin or fur with white bones for armour. Reddish-orange eyes that seemed to burn and red markings over the bones and body in some cases. Tali looked shocked at some of the pictures, especially the ones that had a little information on them.

"And you've fought… all of these?"

"Yup, and some others that aren't on there too." Yang confirmed. "There have been some really big ones too, and ones that I can't handle alone either."

"I would say you're joking… but with that aura thing you use…" Tali trailed off as she continued flicking through. "These things would rip right through my environsuit."

"Yup, the flying ones are annoying, and sometimes those bones are super thick." Yang froze as the pictures of Grimm ended and a picture of Weiss and Nora appeared. She didn't even notice Tali looking at her as she hoped that her friends were alright. Another slide and she saw Ren and Jaune. An early one of Blake too, and a couple of Ilia.

"Friends of yours?"

"Yeah." Yang would flick back to the first picture. "The girl with white hair is Weiss. The ginger is called Nora, she's almost as strong as me. Blonde guy is Jaune and the other with the pink streak of hair is Ren. Blake is a Faunus, you can tell that by the ears on the top of her head. Ilia is also a faunus, but it's hard to tell unless you already know or she changes colours. She can blend in with just about anything."

"Active camouflage? Now that sounds really handy." Tali commented.

"Oh it was, she heard some great pieces of information that we were able to use to our advantage. Saved our lives a couple of times honestly, and made us distrust someone we thought was an ally." Yang told her, having fond memories of when Ilia joined her team.

Yang and Tali would continue talking for a while, mostly it was Yang answering her questions about her world. The Grimm fascinated the Quarian and Yang was happy to use her knowledge to seem like the intelligent one for once. She knew asking for information in the new galaxy was important, but feeling like the smartest one in the conversation was almost a first for her in a long time. Tali didn't mind either, but they were soon interrupted by Joker who was announcing their return to the Citadel.

"We're not going to Ilos then?" Yang asked.

"The Council must have wanted something from Shepard… oh! Maybe they're going to send a fleet with us to Ilos so we can finally stop Saren and wipe out the Geth with him." Tali's cheerful tone had Yang happy, though she wondered if Tali was thinking more about the Geth being taken care of, wiped out.

"Let's just hope they send a lot. Shepard said that Reaper was absolutely massive when she saw it on…" It was on the tip of her tongue, Liara had said it during the meeting but there was just so much new information for Yang to keep a track of.

"Eden Prime." Tali finished for her. "We should get some rest, it's only a short jump. And remember to ask Shepard to buy you some new armour. You're going to need it."

"I will." As Tali left, Yang's eyes followed. She had no idea what a Quarian looked like beneath the helmet, but the more she wondered and the looked at Tali, the more she was drawn to the young woman. Her wide hips and powerful if oddly, to her, shaped legs were more than appealing. Comparing her to Blake or Ilia, Yang realised she might not mind staying on the Normandy depending who was on it.

Lying back on her bed and closing her eyes, Yang felt the fatigue setting in once more. She recalled that she had a custom order that might be waiting for her upon their arrival, something she started to look forward to as sleep found her.