Never Leave Me
By Kachimoochi
Chapter II
I'll Stop When You Start
4 Years Ago
RJ and the still living Revin were on their way to their respective homes, after a hard, long day of crime fighting. Their day had started in the early morning with 3 domestic disturbances, followed by a drunk and disorderly just before lunch. They finished their 20 hour shift with a red sand raid on an Asari kingpin warehouse.
Now they drove home in RJ's unmarked skycar, black with a white stripe lining the center and sides, it hid a camouflaged CLED logo and a siren upon its chassis, which exposed itself only when called upon for duty. Revin had cajoled RJ into stopping at Uvitikus's Drive Thru, a Turian dive restaurant with substandard food, but was enough to remind her of her childhood on the mean streets of Palaven.
She felt bad about it of course, as RJ would pester her to no end the next morning of the gastrointestinal time bomb he was forced to consume for dinner whenever they stopped there. She also knew that he wanted to make her happy; she hoped that one day she could establish a routine to balance out their happiness, to make him happy for once, but she had no such luck.
They rode in silence as they approached Revin's apartment, though it would take a few extra minutes to navigate the streets of the massive tenement building. RJ decided to break the silence by stating his opinion on her living quarter choice for another countless time.
"I'm telling you this place isn't safe, especially for a cop. You're good luck is going to run out someday" RJ stated, sighing as he noticed at least 7 simultaneous crimes being committed on Revin's apartment floor alone.
"I can take care of myself as well you know, besides, you'll protect me if I'm ever in trouble, right?" She whimpered, attempting her rendition of puppy dog eyes, Turian style.
"Oh yeah? The first chance I get I'm throwing you to the wolves, hopefully my next partner will choose a restaurant that serves palatable food" RJ guffawed sarcastically, enjoying the faux-hurt expression on his partner's face.
After faking having her feelings hurt, Revin broke out into a laughing fit alongside her partner. She supposed that was the best security in life she could hope for, having a partner whom she could always depend on, never having to watch her back, knowing another pair of eyes always watched out for her.
Police, especially C-Sec, always emphasized extreme stoicism in the training of their cadets. After breaking their spirit through boot camp, they were thrown to the wolves of Asari gangs, Batarian slavers, and even private Salarian spec ops. C-Sec now was little more than a private military company funded by the extravagant taxes supplied by the careless inhabitants of The Citadel.
CLED, she believed was the better alternative, emphasizing team work and results, politics and tabloids be dammed. She was thrilled when RJ stood by her and quit C-Sec alongside her, they had only known each other for about 2 years, but she never knew the full extent of his loyalty until he marched into their boss's office and flung his resignation letter in his fish habitat.
Those were the thoughts that permeated through her conciseness until a certain tune caught her attention. It was a familiar tune, at least to her, and was once she knew by heart. It was a song on the radio inside the sky car, and RJ noticed it almost as immediately as she did. It started out as a simple strum of a guitar, and soon broke out into a loud symphony of disco music.
"Oh no! I've suffered enough tonight, I'm not listening to this" RJ commanded, reaching the console to switch the radio station.
"Out of luck, I'm using senior privilege on this; this song is my jam, come on sing with me!" Revin exclaimed as she counted in time with the beat of the disco music, preparing herself to sing.
"You graduated CLED training a half hour before I did and you're using this to torture me?" RJ groaned, defeated.
She ingored his pleas of misery and begun the first verse, motioning with her six fingers for RJ to sing along with her.
Oh I love to love, but my baby just loves to dance, he wants to dance, he loves to dance, he's got to dance…
"Oh sweet god almighty I beg of you, please stop" RJ begged, pretending to sob into his steering console.
"I'll stop when you start, come on! Sing with me, please" Revin said, dancing in her seat, jabbing RJ's shoulder to join her.
"I'm not singing"
"Fine"
Hit it, the band begins to swing it, he's on his feet to dig it, and dance the night away…
Sundown, instead of going downtown, let's stay at home and get down, to what I'm trying to say…
RJ began to glare in frustration and anger, although it was a short lived emotion, as he turned his head slightly to view Revin in all her glory.
He watched as she closed her eyes and danced to the disco music in her seat. To any being with discernible taste, she would have looked beyond pathetic, but RJ had never seen something so adorable in his life. She bounced up and down the seat slightly with her eyes closed, waving her arms back and forth, her dual-toned voice out-singing the already high-pitched voice on the radio.
RJ wouldn't realize it until much later, but he could have sworn that the voice that left her diaphragm wasn't her voice, but that of an angel. He would later imagine that this was the moment he discovered that he was in love with Revin, never recalling ever hearing a more peaceful and beautiful sound from anything before then.
Even when he dropped her off at her apartment at last, and she apologized once again for dragging him to the Turian restaurant, as she did most every night, he was still mesmerized by her singing voice. He didn't recall much of what else happened that night, as most of the following weeks left him obsessed with her voice, and with her as well.
Present Day
RJ stood at the sink in his bathroom, staring into the unfamiliar being staring back into him through the mirror. His blonde, short hair had long ago become dry and brittle, now depending on constant combing to appear presentable, which he had only recently stopped doing as well.
Normally he didn't go home much, only to take a shower, or to pass out from sheer exhaustion. He eat less and less with each passing day, but couldn't bring himself to eat anything else than the half-rotten spicy chicken from Uvitikus's. He found himself working more and more, for overtime he wasn't interested in, for credits didn't have any purpose in spending. Ever since Revin's death 6 month ago, this is how RJ lived his life.
Every minute that he didn't spend on the clock, was spent trying to find out who murdered the love of his life.
"Boo!" Revin exclaimed, waving her hands in a ghost-like fashion, in a vain attempt to frighten her compatriot.
"Nice try. It didn't work on April fools, as it sure as hell isn't going to work now" RJ replied, still staring at his unfamiliar reflection in the mirror.
"Aw come on! I'm totally scary, I'm the ghost of you lost love, destined to curse your existence for never confessing your feelings to me, you let me die unloved. Ooo!" Revin continued to act, peeking behind RJ's shoulder in effort to scare him better, to little avail.
"You're not a ghost; you're a manifestation of my traumatized brain, or your proof that I've gone completely insane, either way I'm screwed" RJ whispered, stepping away from the mirror and exiting his bathroom.
RJ entered his bedroom and flung his brown leather jacket onto a nearby chair, before changing into his pajamas, in a seemingly futile attempt to decrease his sleep deficit. Although in reality, it may have been a ploy to divert suspicion away from his Captain, Vikeni. He was the only person aware of the phantom that stalked him, and though he was sworn to secrecy, he would throw RJ under the bus in a heartbeat if it interfered with his job.
RJ tossed himself into his unmade bed, and closed his eyes despite the burning which permeated his pupils. He ran a hand through his unkempt blonde and brown beard, he may have appeared as a homeless person with a badge, but his hardboiled attitude was unmerciful in the face of such criticism. He peeked a single eye open to see if Revin was still there, she was, still smiling while sitting in the chair, covering herself with his jacket like a blanket.
"This isn't right and you know it" Revin announced loudly.
"What isn't?" RJ groaned, annoyingly.
"You have to find out who did this to me"
"What do you think I've been doing the past 6 months?"
"You have to think about how I led myself to my own death; tell me, what do you know?" Revin asked, setting RJ up for yet another night of hypothetical investigating.
"You were found in an alley way, shot through the abdomen once point blank, you were alive for a half hour afterwards wheezing for help, but no one noticed. You died of blood loss. No one knows why you were in that alley, not even me, your most trusted friend" RJ whispered in anger, or in grief, they tended to mix together.
"Okay. Now what does that mean?"
"You either couldn't trust me enough to tell me earlier, or you were too prideful to ask for help, even from me. I could have saved you, dammit!"
"Yes, you could have, but we both know it's too late" The phantom said, still sitting, and facing the ceiling.
"Alright…alley way…you were found with your wallet and Omni-tool, meaning robbery isn't likely, and the exit wound was on your back meaning you faced the murderer face on…"
"Yes, you're getting closer, keep going" The phantom encouraged.
"Were you meeting an informant? You must have recognized them, or else you would have drawn your pistol first, I know how paranoid you were."
"Where was this again?"
"Uh…the alley beside the AM PM and the development complex you lived in, I always told you it wasn't safe there, you didn't listen"
"Maybe I was there for a reason?"
"Maybe"
RJ's objective was clear, he had to make it back to the scene of the crime, he had been there at least once a week since the murder, but there must have been something he missed, a witness who didn't come forward. This was Revin, this was the only person in his life he loved, no matter the risk and no matter the consequences. RJ would get revenge for her; she'd have done the same for him.
RJ stood up, grabbed his jacked from the body of Revin, causing her to shiver and walked to his dresser to equip his gun and badge. He wasn't a single step before his front door before his Omni-tool activated, it was Captain Vikeni. RJ thought it was presumptuous of him to assume he'd be awake at this hour, but he wasn't kidding anybody, he needed to keep busy. Maybe this was the Salarian's way of keeping him from Revin's case, in effort to preserve as much of RJ's sanity as he could. Or maybe he was trying to save his own ass from being known as the Captain who turns his detectives schizophrenic.
He answered the call, audio mode only, RJ realized he still had his pajamas on under his jacket, and raced to redecorate himself as he conversed with his Captain.
"Yeah Captain?"
"We have an identity on the Asari, Milika Yuvora, age 234, lived in the Development Complex alone, worked at…"
"Development Complex? That's where Revin lived"
"Yes, along with 3,547 other beings, it's a coincidence I assure you"
"Revin didn't believe in coincidences"
"Just get to the station, were going to brief the other detectives before going to her apartment, can I trust you to keep your cool?"
"Yes Vikeni, Revin keeps to herself mostly, I hardly know she's there most of the time"
"It's Revin still talking to you that I still have a problem with"
"I scheduled an appointment with the department grief counselor alright, I'm getting help, just let me help you, okay?"
"Fine, just keep her to yourself"
"Aye Aye, Sir"
RJ deactivated his console, just as he finished putting on a grey pair of dress pants and a black tee shirt under his leather jacket. Now equipping his gun and badge, he met Revin at the front door, ready to brief her first on the next mission.
"The murdered Asari lived in your apartment complex, I smell a connection"
"Ooo, the plot thickens, if you solve my murder I'll stop haunting you, Oooo"
"Stop it!"
"What're ya gonna do? Kill me?"
