(A-N: If you missed Ch 139 because of my flurry of updates moving the chapters over ... it's new as well. Nihlus versus the orbs of doooooom)
49 Days ASR
Shepard watched the public dock, her eyes searching the faces of everyone who disembarked from the human-registered passenger liner. Her heart pounded so hard and fast against her breastbone that she felt ever so slightly dizzy, her pulse throbbing in her ears. Was she nervous? Damned if she wasn't. She grinned. Other than the whole dead for nearly two years thing, she and Nihlus hadn't been apart for more than a day or two since Eden Prime, and she felt his absence as both an empty space at her side and in her gut.
A strong arm encircled her, and she turned her smile toward Garrus. She knew he'd missed his fratrin almost as much as he'd worried about his baby sister. But they were all back where they belonged now, all home, and the next day, they'd be on their way back to Palaven. A new wave of dizziness washed over her, her heart stopping dead at the thought of what awaited her on Palaven: her wedding.
Sweet baby Jesus, in a few days, she'd be a married woman. What then? Kids? On Omega? In the middle of the war? Were they mad to even be considering getting the whole family thing off the ground? Leaning into Garrus, she forced herself to take a few long, slow breaths until the terror eased back.
Jane Gwendolyn Shepard-Vakarian … and good lord, even worse, a little further up the road she'd be Jane Gwendolyn Shepard-Vakarian-Kryik. She'd need a limo to carry her name. Maybe she could go the way of pop stars: call herself JG SVK.
She caught sight of Nihlus as he exited the hatch at the end of the docking arm, and she pulled free of Garrus's side. Solana followed the Spectre out and tapped his arm, passing him a bag before they both turned to help Thane herd a volus and a very young-looking asari out through the hatch. Shepard grinned; none of them could resist bringing home strays.
A tall, regal-looking asari stepped out, her eyes scanning the docks with a stare that made Shepard wonder if she was the hunter or the hunted. The asari spoke to Nihlus, and he nodded, herding the rest of his brood down the ramp toward the dock floor. About halfway down, his eyes latched on Shepard, a slow grin spreading across his face, hitting the nitrous on Shepard's heart rate. Damn, he looked good. Exhausted, and worn thin, but he'd ditched the brittle tension that had plagued him for as long as she'd known him. Whatever he'd been through in searching out Saren's past … his own past … it looked as though he felt better for it.
"Welcome home," Shepard called as Nihlus reached shouting distance, a wide grin beaming up at him. Then, grabbing his hand the moment he stepped out of the passenger only area, she dragged him a few metres out of the traffic flow, and threw her arms around him. "Holy blessed Enkindlers, I've missed you."
"Mmmm." He lifted her off the floor into a soft, but passionate kiss, one arm wrapped tight around her back, the other under her backside, supporting her weight. "I've missed you too," he whispered against her lips before deepening the kiss.
Shepard let herself slip into that contact, into the rough, solid texture of his hide beneath her lips, the still shy dance of his tongue against hers.
"Dear spirits," Sol's voice groaned from behind Shepard, "do you have to go mining for stomach contents? Here … in public?"
Nihlus pulled back, a smile tweaking his mandibles as he stared into Shepard's eyes. "Yes. Yes, I do." He rubbed his nose against hers, his hide deliciously warm, even there. When he spoke again, his voice formed a soft whisper, tones meant to stay between them. "I dreamed about moments like these for far too long not to savour them."
Shepard swallowed hard, blinking back the sudden rush of warmth that prickled the corners of her eyes. "Welcome home, Nihlus." She kissed him again, lips tugging at his mouth with gentle suction. Letting out a soft sigh, she tilted her head back to include the rest of their small party. "Maybe we should get going. We can pick this up a little later on."
A wide grin met his reluctance as he nuzzled her lips. "Fine, but not too much later on."
"Deal." When her feet hit the floor, Shepard turned to greet the rest of the returning party. "Welcome back, everyone." She clasped wrists with Thane and Sol, then nodded to the asari in the uncomfortable looking armour standing just outside the circle.
"Jane, Garrus," Nihlus said, stepping up beside Shepard, "this is Samara, a justicar. Samara, I'd like you to meet Spectre Jane Shepard and General Garrus Vakarian."
Shepard grinned and held out a hand to grasp the nais's wrist. "I'm pleased to meet you, Samara. Thank you for helping bring my people home."
"I'm pleased to meet you as well, Spectre … General." Samara's grip wrapped around Shepard's wrist, firm and confident. "Spectre Kryik and the others assisted me far more than I did them."
Nihlus gestured to the volus and asari standing pressed so close together that they could have been a very odd pair of conjoined twins. "And these are a couple of new recruits: Niftu Cal and Elnora."
Shepard nodded. "Welcome to Omega."
Samara drew Shepard's attention, the justicar glancing around the docking bay. "I apologize, but perhaps we could become acquainted somewhere out of the public eye. I am closer to my quarry than I have been for more than four hundred cycles. I do not wish to lose that advantage."
Shepard nodded and forced a smile, stomping down the unkind voice that wanted to suggest that the justicar not wear her bright red, bathing-suit armour if she didn't want to be easily ID'd. Instead, she clamped her teeth down on the outside edges of her tongue and held an arm out toward the waiting cars.
On the way back to Archangel headquarters, she curled in against Nihlus's side in the backseat. He wrapped his arm around her as he brought them up to speed on Samara and her quest to kill the mass murderer known as Morinth. Shepard burrowed into him, trying hard to concentrate on what he said when all she wanted to do was breathe him in, to dive into the touch she'd denied both of them for so long.
"Morinth will know me on sight," he said, pulling away just far enough to look down into Shepard's eyes. "You, on the other hand, might just intrigue her enough to pull her into a trap." He smiled, his free hand reaching up, his gloved talon pads skating along her jawline. "You game to play the part of bait?"
Shepard shook off the warm, cozy, slightly amorous cocoon and nodded without the slightest hesitation. "Hell, yeah. We can't let her roam Omega. We have way too many angsty, hopelessly romantic kids in Archangel. I'm not okay with even one of them falling into her trap. Martin would be the first one in line." She leaned forward and slipped a hand between sections of Garrus's armour to squeeze his shoulder. "You okay with being my backup, Callor?"
Garrus nodded. "When we get back, I'll grab the kid, we'll dress for the occasion, and head for the major hangouts." He glanced at Nihlus in the rear mirror. "Samara have a profile of the places and types of prey Morinth goes after?"
"Not to mention a picture." Shepard sat up, sliding her feet off the seat onto the floor. "Although I suspect from what you've said, she'll come after me rather than making me look for her."
"She's a bold predator," Nihlus said, confirming Shepard's gut feeling. "She tried to take that child right in front of me, despite the fact I'd told her I was a Spectre." He shook his head and leaned down to nuzzle Shepard's temple. "She assumes that she can dominate the will of anyone who gets close enough to capture her, and she's not far wrong."
Shepard scowled, not liking the thread of fear woven through his voice. "Did she try to put the whammy on you, cikabeknai?" She looked up into his eyes, seeing the truth there. Morinth had tried, and come close enough to succeeding to scare the Spectre. She reached up to caress his cheek and along the length of his mandible.
He nodded, but then a small, gentle flutter of a smile eased back the haunted aura. "She did, went straight for that lonely, terrified little puer hiding from his mother's rage." He pulled her in tight, wrapping both arms around her. "But then his beautiful, invisible friend stepped in and took his hand, giving him the strength to fight the ardat yakshi off."
Shepard slipped her arms around his waist and laid her head against his chest. "I wish I'd been there for you, Nihlus."
He rested his cheek against her hair, the atmosphere in the car stilling into something comforting, almost reverent. "You were."
Shepard smoothed the wrinkles from the front of her dress and looked down at the moaning turian. "I didn't get dressed up and put all this crap on my face to wrestle with idiots, so go home, and don't let me see your face for the rest of the night." Turning her back on him, she ran a hand down the young nais's arm to squeeze her hand. "You all right?"
The asari leaned in and pressed a soft, lightly perfumed kiss to Shepard's cheek. "Thanks, the bouncers were totally sleeping on the job." She gripped the Spectre's hand for another second, then turned and stormed off to confront the aforementioned bouncers. Shepard winced away from her extreme use of the word fuck, and backed away. Maybe she hadn't had to step in to help that one, her mouth could flay the hide off even a turian.
Shepard glared down at the turian as she stepped around him. "Drunk is no excuse for treating people like crap. Call your dear old mari and ask her how she wants you to treat females … of any species." Turning on one high heel, she strode to the bar.
"Cranberry juice, please," she called, leaning easily against the bar. Suddenly, she remembered exactly why she'd never been a huge fan of the bar scene. Drunk people made really stupid choices.
"Thanks," she said, giving the bartender a curt nod as she grabbed her cranberry juice and wandered off toward a seating area. They'd been insanely optimistic believing that she'd lure this asari out of the shadows in a single evening.
"A lot of creds on display tonight," a dual toned voice said from somewhere behind her. "We just need to pick who to follow out of here."
"Seriously?" A low groan rolled deep in her throat. They couldn't help themselves. Turning, she scanned the crowd until she saw two turians huddled head to head in a corner. Well, if the fact she'd spent her night as some sort of vigilante in heels didn't intrigue the ardat yakshi, what would?
Shepard thumped down in the chair next to the turians. "So, is being a couple of small time crooks how you envisioned your life when you were peririn dreaming of what you would be when you grew up?" she asked, crossing her legs at the knee. She swung her lower leg a little and crossed her arms over her chest. "Is it what your mari's dreamed you would grow up to be?"
The one closest to her jumped up, looming over her. "Who do you think you're talking to, lady? Do you know who we work for?"
"Hink," the second one supplied, raising his brow plates like she should know and be impressed by the name.
She didn't, and she wasn't. Thugs, all such big cowards beneath the posturing and scary name dropping. Seriously though … Hink? How did that guy become a crime boss with a name that sounded like a mild hip cramp?
Ow, hold up, I've got a hink!
Eyebrows lifting toward her hairline, she chuckled and shook her head when the nearest one bristled. "Oh, come on." She nodded toward the chair. "Go ahead and sit down; you can't intimidate me." She leaned forward, arms crossed over her knee. She pointed to the chair, hardening her glare. "Go on, sit. I'm not the cops. I'm not going to arrest you. I might break your kneecaps to keep you from hurting any of these people, but let's leave the violence as a last resort."
The two looked back and forth for a second, then the first one sat, but next to his buddy rather than retaking his previous seat. "Look, lady," he said, all his bravado crumbling, "we just can't go back to Hink with empty hands. We don't hurt anyone."
Shepard nodded. "You don't have to go back to Hink at all." Eyes narrowed, she stared them down. "You could make a change, maybe even a few good, solid life choices." After a second, she leaned in, lowering her voice. "Head down to Kima District, talk to the folks at Archangel. Big guns, lots of combat against real enemies, and a steady income. Best of all, you can trade in being small time thugs for being big, goddamned heroes." She uncrossed her legs and pushed up out of the chair. "You could live honourably … maybe even make your mari's proud."
As she walked past them, she slipped them both five thousand credits. "Go home, leave these folks alone, and think about it." Without looking back, she left the seating area, heading for a booth. Maybe there she could manage to just sit somewhere, drink her cranberry juice and not have to step in to halt criminal activity for a few minutes.
"I've been watching you," a silky-smooth voice said from Shepard's right.
Shepard jumped, spinning toward a deep pool of shadows. Chuckling, she clapped a hand over her heart. "Phew, that was a good jump scare." As her heart rate dropped, a slow chill moved in behind it, an oily shadow slithering across the floor. "Should I be worried about your stalking?" she asked.
An asari in a corset and sleek, floor length, black leather skirt detached from the shadows. A graceful shrug rolled along her bare shoulders, ripples spreading across deep, dark waters. "I don't know. Do you scare easily?"
Shepard chuckled. "No, but then shadows don't normally tell me that they've had their eyes on me. I'll get back to you once I've had a chance to process." A tight smile accompanied a stiff nod. "Have a great night," she said and continued to a corner booth, half-hidden in shadow. Now to see if Morinth took the bait and followed.
Blessed Enkindlers, shine the light of your corpulent, glowing asses on that decision.
The shadow moved, the asari keeping outside the bright spotlights illuminating the bar and dance floor. Despite the light blue of her skin, and how much skin she showed, she blended very well with the inky pools along the walls, appearing to materialize next to Shepard's booth.
"Do you mind if I sit?" the asari asked.
Shepard shook her head and held a hand out toward the seat opposite, breathing a sigh when it remained rock steady. Thank the sweet baby Jesus for Anderson and all his warrior training. "Not at all. It's a big table for one person."
She took a long sip of her juice and looked away to watch the dancing. The dancers all swayed like reeds along a river bank. Well, except one large turian, very handsome in his blue and black suit with gold trim. He swung his giggling human partner around the floor with enough flare to draw a crowd. She hid her grin behind a delicate swipe at her mouth. Her Callor was such a show off.
"My name is Morinth." The asari leaned back in her seat, one arm lifting to drape along the back of the booth in such a way as to showcase her elbow-length black gloves. Every centimetre of her screamed seduction.
"Jane," Shepard supplied. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Morinth."
"I just arrived on Omega yesterday, but had already begun to despair that I wouldn't meet anyone interesting on this rock." Tipping her chin down and to one side, the nais watched Shepard from under heavily lidded eyes, a soft, sly smile painted on her lips. "Then you came along and gave me hope."
Shepard shrugged. "I almost didn't come out tonight, I have an early appointment, but then I thought, what the hell. Life's short, you're young, take your chances." She cast a sideways glance at the asari.
"Must be my lucky night, then." Deftly painted lids closing over blue eyes, Morinth tilted her head back on the long column of her neck. "I love the music here," she said, her voice pitched just right to carry, but at a volume that forced Shepard to lean in to hear it. "It calls to my blood … like it's trying to seduce me out onto the dance floor so it can break through my body's defenses and possess me entirely."
"Space age siren of the new deep?" Shepard asked, one brow lifting. She smiled and nodded. "I like it. Very poetic." Shrugging, she looked back to the dancers. "I'm almost always deployed, so I don't get much of a chance to stop and listen to insanely loud techno noise. This is a treat."
"You? You're a soldier?" Morinth's incredulous smile slowly transformed as she narrowed her eyes, studying Shepard. "Yes, I suppose I see it." She nodded toward the scars down Shepard's arms. "Upgrades?"
"The sort that bring you back from the almost dead, yeah." Shepard shrugged. "My doctor says my body is as ornery as my spirit. It's taking a bit to convince it to accept the implants."
"Ornery, are you? That's promising." The nais's smile warmed. "Blind acceptance is for those without the courage to think for themselves."
The song changed to a wild, heavy-bass cacophony that sent Shepard's fingers up to adjust her aural implants. Blessed Enkindlers, what a racket.
A blissful, almost drugged-looking smile bloomed on Morinth's deep red lips. "Oh, Expel 10. They're sublime. Doesn't this beat just reach down inside you? This band's music … it's like they are playing the base code of my soul … all our souls."
"It really is something," Shepard replied. It reached down into her, but if it was playing the basecode of her soul, her soul needed to run some malware repair. A dull ache wormed in behind her eyes.
Morinth's arm lifted from the back of the seat and glided across the table, long digits grazing the back of Shepard's fingers. "Come, lets dance," Morinth said, leaning in, her eyes focused on Shepard, blinking long and slow. "If you don't get the chance to do this often, might as well take advantage of it." Her fingers wrapped around Shepard's, not giving her a chance to argue, and winked. "Come, you know you want to."
"Well, certainly not when you're dragging me up there." The captain laughed, stepping up rather than allowing herself to be dragged. The nais's emboldening demands easing Shepard's nerves. So far, so good. The snare seemed to be holding. "Just so you're warned," she said, tone light and teasing, "I'm terrible. Hooved animals on ice are more graceful than I am."
The asari's laugh rolled soft and smooth, warm butter over fresh bread. "After seeing you take out that turian buffoon, I don't believe that for a minute. You were a living work of art." Morinth stepped onto the dance floor, pulling Shepard just past her. Slipping in behind the captain, the asari covered both of Shepard's hands with hers, lacing their fingers as she began to move.
Shepard struggled to relax enough to not give herself away or drive Morinth off, but the nais pressed far too tightly against her back. Gloved hands slipped along the underside of Shepard's arms, the touch setting off the captain's tickle reflex as the asari lifted them over her head.
"That's it," Morinth whispered, her lips pressed just above Shepard's ear. "See, you dance beautifully." The words crawled inside Shepard's head, their whispers adamant and beguiling. 'Relax,' they said, 'enjoy yourself. You're safe with me.'
The ardat yakshi's hands caressed their way back down Shepard's arms, the touch repellant and enticing in equal measure as it slipped along her sides. Resting on the captain's hips, insistent pressure coaxed her to sway in time with the body pressed tight against her back.
"I noticed you the moment you walked in," Morinth said, her voice weaving a private bubble around them. It pressed in, safe and so very easy. "There's something special about you." She chuckled, a spring breeze that twined around Shepard's limbs, caressing them with sweet warmth. "The only person in here who isn't dazzled by you, is you."
A slender finger pointed to the dancer Shepard had rescued earlier. "She wants you so badly that she'll end up dragging one of those bouncers into the back room on break just to ease the ache." Morinth smiled and nodded in answer to Shepard's dubious frown, and then tipped her head toward Garrus. "And that one might be dancing with every other female in the place, but he can't take his eyes off you." She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, a hungry smile curling across her lips, and when she spoke, the words came out raw and edged. "He wants you with an intensity that I can smell in his sweat. It's intoxicating."
Morinth pressed closer, every movement brushing against Shepard's body, somewhere different each time, as if the asari drew the runes of a spell, one that pulled the captain in tighter. "But you won't be leaving with him will you, lovely Jane?"
Shepard shook her head, a breathless, "No, not him," tumbling from her lips. Morinth captured the words with a quick, lusty inhale before Shepard could even be certain she'd said them.
The song changed, but Morinth merely adjusted the weaving of her web to suit, slowing it down, moving in tighter, the silken strands thicker, coated with perfumed honey. "That's it," she said, breath stirring the short, delicate hairs on the side of Shepard's neck. "It's just us. We're the only two people left in the galaxy."
A gentle, grey fog surrounded them, the effect a little disorienting, making Shepard feel as though she floated adrift amongst the clouds. Shepard turned to face the asari, her hands following the long, graceful arms to bare, heated sapphire shoulders, using them as an anchor. Morinth's skin felt like silk, textured but so soft that it practically begged Shepard's fingers to caress it. "The only two people left in the galaxy," she agreed.
Five, then six more songs drifted past, the changing rhythm the only marker of time. Morinth said little, her voice the least of her weapons. When the throbbing bass eased back for the seventh time, the nais led Shepard back to their booth. That time, she slid in next to the captain.
A pill appeared on the table, a single black-laced finger tip pushing it toward Shepard, but she shook her head. "No, thank you. In another life, I took enough of those to support the industry for the following decade."
Morinth nodded, and the pill disappeared. "I knew I sensed pain in you." Before Shepard could answer, the asari smiled, and changed the subject. "What sorts of things interest you?" she asked, leaning back, an arm draping itself across the back of the seat so that her fingertips rested at the base of Shepard's neck, drawing slow circles of fire on the bare skin. "I want to know absolutely everything about you."
Shepard smiled and shifted to end the maddening touch. "That will take more than a short conversation at a bar." She shrugged and forced herself to hold her ground when those fingers stroked through the hair around her ear. "I'm interested in a great many things: art, books, old movies, sport shooting."
At the mention of art, Morinth perked up, her eyes sparkling with an innocent zeal that left a swelling bruise in Shepard's resolve. "Art? Really?" A bright, curious smile took her expression all the way to heartbreaking. "Do you know the artist, Forta?" Morinth asked.
Shepard nodded, but then looked up and flagged down a server. "Cranberry juice, please," she ordered, then looked to Morinth.
"Thessian Cloudburst," the asari said, her eyes never leaving Shepard. "So, Forta? What do you think? Have you seen his latest?"
Shepard shook her head. "No, I haven't seen his newest pieces, but I prefer sculpture that I can look at for more than five seconds without feeling as though I've overdosed on a badly mixed batch of Hallex." Tearing her eyes away from the asari's, she bolstered her resolve. The nais might not have been able to help being born an ardat yakshi, and it might not be fair for her to spend her life locked away, but the choice to kill hundreds of times … that was all on her, and it made the lovely Morinth a monster.
Note to self: She intends to kill you before the week is out, you soft-hearted … or is that soft-headed ... idiot. And that's if she decides to toy with you a little. Otherwise it'll be tonight. Focus on that.
Shepard cleared her throat. "When it comes to elcor artists, I prefer Drothal. Her paintings … " She purred a little in the back of her throat. "... they transcend form in a way that shattered the curtain for me, letting me glimpse into the void." Waggling her head, she chuckled. "However, my real passion is hyalus, the older the better." She wrinkled her nose. "But I think a part of that is the mystery of it, you know? How the hell did the ancient turians create most of it?"
A soft sound from beside the table drew Shepard's smile to the server. She accepted the drinks and paid for them. "Thanks."
The asari took a sip from her drink, then set it down, one fingertip swirling around the rim of the glass. "That's a secret to which the answer might just drive us mad," she said, a throaty laugh punctuating the sentence.
"Probably, but still, the ones that stand guard over the front doors to the Seat in Cipritine … . I can't even guess at how they were made." She shrugged. "I suppose I don't really need to. Not when the light hits them just right, and you'd swear that blood and fire flows through them." Ducking her head, Shepard blushed a little under the weight of Morinth's regard. "Sorry, my mouth runs away with me when I get passionate."
Morinth reached out to caress Shepard's cheek. "Never apologize for passion. There's nothing else in the galaxy worth striving for. Without it, life is just a cage with invisible bars." She swallowed her drink in one and nodded toward the door. "Want to go somewhere a little bit more conducive to talk? I'm tired of yelling over the music."
Shepard met the invitation with a raised eyebrow and a dubious head slant. "It might be a bit early in our friendship for going somewhere quiet. What do you have in mind?"
Morinth slipped from the booth. "Skewers and salarian pale rice? All of it very public so that I'm not too tempted to find out if the body under that dress is as perfect as it is tiny." She tweaked one eyebrow, her eyes sparkling again but nothing in that twinkle could be called innocent.
Shepard stared up at the asari for long seconds, not wanting to appear too eager. Screwing her face up a little, she nodded. "Sure, why not. I could definitely eat. Spent so much time running around today that my stomach thinks my throat's been cut."
Morinth winced. "That's a terrible saying." As soon as Shepard slid out of the booth, the nais slipped her hand through the captain's elbow. "You humans can be so tragically morbid."
Shepard chuckled and guided them through the crowd to the door. "Wait until I introduce you to country music. Now that is truly depressing." She palmed the door and stepped through. "I swear it's all written by people who've just had their heart broken. All of it."
Morinth nodded. "Pain is the driving force behind all art. That's why it's so beautiful and precious: it's been purchased with shattered hearts and dreams even before the artist's hands give birth to it." She let out a long, slow breath. "It's why art transcends race and class, individuals and genders. Pain is the universal language." She froze at the top of the flight of stairs, her eyes glaring down at the approaching asari in red. "We all speak it." She slipped her hand out of Shepard's arm. "Isn't that right, Mother?"
"Don't call me that!" Cloaked in an aura of blue energy, Samara stormed up the first handful of stairs. She launched a throw that flung Morinth back against the door and pinned her there.
Morinth flared her power, breaking free. She landed balanced and controlled. "Step back, lovely Jane," she said, brushing a soft kiss along Shepard's cheek bone even as she hurled a throw that tossed Samara back down the stairs. "This little family feud will only take a moment to sort." She stepped down two stairs. "I can't just choose to stop being your daughter, bitch." She launched a careless warp that Samara batted away with equal ease and carelessness.
Shepard grabbed the bouncer and shoved him toward the door. "Get inside before you end up being a collateral casualty." Even as the door closed behind him, a warp seared across Shepard's back, impacting the wall. She yelped, and backed away, trying to press herself into the corner.
Samara came back, throwing two warp fields in quick succession. The first sent Morinth and Shepard both diving out of the way, the second bore the ardat yakshi to the floor, bowing backwards as she writhed in agony. "You made your choice long ago."
"What choice?" Morinth sprang back, furious and terrible, far stronger than anyone had a right to be considering. "The choice to spend my life imprisoned? And for what crime? Falere, Rila, and I … our only crime was the accident of our birth … the gifts you gave us."
Both launched powers at the other at the same time, the result forming a ball-shaped nimbus trapped between them, the thing building in power until neither could shift even the slightest without taking a near fatal blast. Shepard shuffled forward a little, one hand held up to shade her eyes from the brilliant light. The crates next to the wall shifted, the mass effect field pulling at them as it gained strength. Mind racing, Shepard crept closer, trying to see a way to end the standoff without any innocent bystanders getting hurt.
Morinth focused on Shepard, that gaze a fathomless black through the crackling blue aura of her biotics. "Jane, help me. What kind of nais hunts her own daughter for four hundred cycles, killing hundreds of innocents just to destroy what she brought into the universe?" That stare sank hooks into Shepard's mind, pulling her in, demanding that she do what Morinth asked.
Shepard pressed her eyes shut, ducking her head and yanking her chin in toward her chest as if she could tear the seductive, pleading ties pulling her toward the ardat yakshi. Morinth was a murderer. She killed for the thrill of it. No matter what her words and the whispers in Shepard's mind said, she was no victim. She did not need—
"Save me, please, Shepard. You can't let me die." The gossamer ties doubled in strength. "You care about me! You know how good we could be together. You'd never let her hurt me." The black void drew Shepard's eyes back to stare into the depths of eternity. "Just grab her hand. Give me a second's advantage, and we can be together. We can escape … ."
Escape? The beacon images tore through Shepard's mind, the horror and chaos of a dying galaxy smashing her into pieces then grinding them beneath its heel.
Joy swept in to greet her terror and helplessness, the whispers growing louder, more insistent. "Yes! We can escape it all, disappear. We can be happy. I can take away all these burdens you carry. No more fear, no more terrible responsibility."
Shepard felt the hooks loosen. Responsibility? Who would shoulder it if she ran away? Garrus? Nihlus? No! Molten steel poured into her gut, and the scent of iron bloomed deep in her sinuses. She couldn't run. The battle needed her. Her torins needed her. She'd been brought back to fight, and as painful and terrifying as it might be time to time, she'd damned well fight.
Wrestling against the bonds shackling her body through her mind, Shepard threw herself forward, straining to reach for Morinth's hand. The clashing biotic fields ripped along her skin as she entered that mass effect battlefield, two titans locked in a battle of equal power. Panting, sweat trickling down her neck and between her breasts, Shepard laboured forward, one agonizing millimetre at a time. trying to grab the ardat yakshi's wrist, but the voice whispering in her mind pushed back against her will.
"Then I will join your fight. Give in to me. Help me kill her, and everything will be all right. I can help you stop them. I can help you save everyone." The whispers wrapped tight, pushing Shepard toward the elder asari. "Do as I say, and the Reapers won't stand a chance."
"Kahri!" The club's door opened, letting loose a heavy wave of the throbbing, pounding music, but then heavy footsteps raced toward her and strong talons gripped her shoulders, shattering the whispers' hold on her. Twisting, she lunged into the competing warp fields, grabbed Morinth's arm and hauled back on it.
"Nothing you could offer me can hold the tiniest spark to him." A razor-wire grimace slashed across her face as Morinth's wide-eyed stare flicked to Garrus. "You're just a parasite."
A throw tore Morinth's wrist from Shepard's grip and spun them both around. The nais slammed headfirst into the corner of a large crate, hitting with enough force that she flipped over it and into the pipes lining the wall. Violet blood and gore splashed across Shepard's face and shoulder as bones cracked and splintered, tearing through the once flawless blue skin.
Talons latched around Shepard's shoulders, pulling her back against Garrus's body, but she resisted when he tried to turn her away. Samara stepped around them, striding to her daughter's body. The nimbus that had surrounded the entire nais drew in, concentrating around the asari's fist, growing brighter and brighter as she raised it, then smashed it into Morinth's jaw. With another horrific crack, the ardat yakshi's neck broke, and the body slumped, dead.
The hooks inside her mind vanished, the sudden freedom sending a flood of ice water pouring through Shepard's veins. How close had she come to giving in? She didn't know, but she felt pretty sure that the part of her mind trying to reassure her that she never would have let Morinth dominate her was a fucking liar. Clenching her teeth together, she sucked in long breaths through her nose, fighting to avoid throwing up. Pieces of skull and brain stuck to the crate, smaller pieces flowing along the thin river of blood toward the edge of the stair.
"Nihlus?" Garrus called, startling Shepard from her horrified fascination. She looked up then turned to see the Spectre hurrying up the stairs from the market. Garrus wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his heat envelope. "Can you and Samara see to getting this sorted? I'm taking Shepard back to base."
Warm, rough palms cradled Shepard's face, then Nihlus nuzzled her brow. "Are you all right, haksaya kubenar?" His thumbs brushed through the blood on her cheek, spreading the chill dampness into the hair in front of her ear. "She didn't hurt you?"
She nodded and straightened, the numb shock drawing back. "I'll live." Sniffing, she reached up to grip his wrist. "Yeah, having a ardat yakshi begging for her life inside your head, then having her ripped out is … well … ." A fragile chuckle tumbled out, shattering even before it hit the floor. "Don't worry, I'll shake it off."
Nihlus touched his brow to hers for a second, then drew back and looked to Garrus. "I'll stay here with Samara and take care of the body. I'll see you back at base an hour before departure time."
Shepard wrapped an arm around Garrus's waist, allowing him to lead her to Afterlife where Martin waited with the car. No one spoke all the way back to base, Garrus seeming willing to wait for her to make the first move. For her part, Shepard relished the silence, a slow-building headache pressing into her temples. So, instead of talking, she laid her head against her dilan's chest and closed her eyes.
After ten minutes or so of flight, his arm tightened around her, alerting her to their arrival.
Taking a long breath, Shepard pulled away. Time to push it aside and get ready for her wedding. She didn't even own an appropriate dress for the occassion. "Okay," she said, policing up all the random bits of crazy, "I need to take a shower, get dressed, grab my mother, and run out to purchase a wedding dress." She grinned up at Garrus. "Which you're not allowed to see until the big day."
Garrus arched his neck, looking quite pleased with himself as he chuckled. "I'll retrieve our things from the laundry and pack our armour?"
Shepard leaned up and kissed his mandible. "Thank you, Callor. You are the very best almost husband there is."
The top and sides opened, and Garrus got out, but it was Martin who reached in to help Shepard out of the car. When she stood on her own, he grinned. "You look insanely hot in that dress, Shepard." He leaned in, his mouth pressed to her ear. "Are you sure you don't want to ditch the general and marry me, instead?"
Shepard scarcely got a chance to chuckle before Garrus grabbed the kid by the shoulders and propelled him toward the door. "Sorry, kid. I guess not," she called after him.
Martin shrugged and walked through, but then popped back around the door. "Think about it! We'd make beautiful babies!"
Garrus planted a hand on the top of Martin's head, pushing it back over the threshold. "Get out of here and go pack for Palaven. And quit hitting on my mate. As best man, it's in very poor taste."
"Best man?" The joy in the kid's voice wrapped a tight hand around Shepard's throat. "Really?"
"Really," Garrus replied, "so get moving."
"Okay, I'm … thanks, boss … General … Garrus." Running bootsteps retreated across the tile, disappearing into the elevator.
Shepard smiled and shook her head, watching Garrus with a warm, weighted stare as he turned from the door. All her earlier panic about being married, having kids … it all vanished as their eyes met. "I love you," she whispered, emotion washing her brain clean of thought.
He smiled and closed the few metres between them. His hands cupped her shoulders for a moment, before sliding down her arms, to close his talons around her fingers. "And I love you." His grin turned wicked, his eyes flashing a little as he shrugged and swallowed hard. "And you do look insanely sexy. I would have much rather you were rubbing all of this … " He lifted her arms away from her sides and twirled her around, pulling her in tight against him. "... all over me rather than that psycho."
Shepard relaxed into his arms, laying her head back against his arm. "Trust me, that would have been my preference too, and I will, but I fully intend for us to be naked at the time." She closed her eyes. "Right now, however, we need to get packed and get our butts onto our ships." Pulling from his grip, she turned, reaching up to cradle his face between her hands. "You're okay with Nihlus and I spending the trip on the Ypres?"
The question ached in her chest as she asked. There it was, the down side of the three way relationship.
"Yes. I've had you all to myself for the week, although most of that was sleeping in our armour propped up in a corner somewhere." He leaned down and nuzzled her lips. "When we get to Palaven, you'll be all mine again, so definitely spend this time with Nihlus."
Shepard kissed him. "I am the luckiest woman in the entire galaxy." She stepped out of his arms. "Now, I'd better get changed, grab Mom—and Bunny, if she'll come—and go find something to wear." Standing on her tiptoes, she kissed him again, then dashed into the building. "But first, I need to pee."
Shepard stepped out through the curtain and twirled, the cream, gauzy material of the dress whispering around her legs in a most delicious way. After a couple of spins, she held out her arms. "I love it. What do you think?"
Lucy—it was so very hard to think of her as Mom after so long—smiled and stood. "It's beautiful, Janey." She adjusted the peasant neckline so that it draped off Shepard's least scarred shoulder. "What are you going to wear on your feet?"
Pulling the neck back up, Shepard shrugged. "The part that I'm wearing the dress for is in his parents' garden, so nothing more than likely." Meeting her mother's eyes, Shepard reached up to brush a stray lock of brilliant red behind an ear. "I'm so glad you're going to be there." And, despite the strange newness of Lucy's presence, she meant it. She just wished that her mother would stop staring at her like she was trying to give her an xray.
They hadn't had very much time to get reaquainted, with dashing off to Palaven to meet with Victus, and then straight from there to Korlus. If Shepard had to tell the truth, the awkwardness of it … well, once the initial joy settled, the whole mess brought about by Bunny's hatred, and the fact her mother kept looking at her like she was some sort of alien … . Well, it all sent her into avoidance mode.
Stepping back, Shepard twirled a couple more times, grinning as the skirt spread out. "I definitely think this is the one, don't you?"
Lucy pressed her lips together in a tight smile and nodded. "Definitely the one."
"I remember the last time you came in here," the asari attendant said, smiling wide in the mirror's reflection from behind Shepard's left side. "Are you marrying the one you bought that last dress for?" She stepped up, a gorgeous beaded belt stretched between her hands. Without asking, she slipped it around Shepard's waist, tying it in a loose loop off to one side. "There, perfect."
Shepard grinned as she remembered the way Garrus hadn't even recognized her in that other dress, then just stared, his mouth and mandibles hanging. "Yes, he's the one. That mission was a few weeks before we started seeing one another. I needed the dress to get past the Blue Suns."
The asari nodded in a knowing way. "I saw the way he looked at you and knew something was there."
Shepard chuckled and cocked her head one way then the other, swinging her hips to watch the beaded tassels on the belt sway. "You knew more than I did at that point, then. That was one hell of a crazy night. Went in to find a doctor and came out with a whole pile more people needing a doctor." She nodded, loving the way the light played off the cream and gold beads. "I'll take the belt too." Ducking inside the change room, she felt those few days close around her, heavy and rich. Her fear for Nihlus, how safe she felt with Garrus at her side, even walking into that viper's lair. She untied the belt and looped it over the hook on the wall.
Crazy times. She smiled. And good ones. Strange how often her life paired those two things.
"Wait," the asari called through the fabric barrier, "you needed the dress to get past the Blue Suns?"
Shepard squawked as the curtain flew back, the asari standing in the gap. Thank god she hadn't taken off the dress. She flinched back, having spent far too much time with boundaryless asari in her space. "Yes, I went in under the guise of prostitute servicing a rich bastard in the district."
The asari lunged forward and flung her arms around Shepard, squeezing another squawk out along with all of the captain's air. "You killed Donovan, didn't you? You saved his victims?"
Shepard pried herself loose and held the nais at arm's length. "Yes. My dilan … Garrus … General Vakarian helped."
Tears rolled over the lavender cheeks. "Thank you." Breaking free of the vicelike grip on her arms, she wrapped Shepard in another strong, but much briefer, hug. "My neice was one of the girls you saved that day," she explained, wiping her face on her sleeve. Flapping a flustered hand at the dress, she shrugged, her shoulders crumpling as her cheeks flushed violet. "Sorry for grabbing you like that; I'll let you get changed." Still fussing, she pulled the curtain closed behind her. "Just pass the dress through when you're ready, and I'll put it in a garment bag for you."
Shepard grinned and slipped out of the beautiful layers of sheer fabric. As startled as she'd been, it felt good to see the effect of her actions. Knowing that she'd saved somebody's loved one almost wiped away the look in Hock's eyes when she'd murdered him.
Violet blood splashed across her face, the terrible crunch of bones shattering … .
No! Shepard shook her head and glanced at her chronometer. The Ypres departed in just over an hour. She didn't have time for indulging that nonsense. She scrambled for her clothes.
When she emerged from the stall, her mother and the sales assosciate stood over by the door, speaking in hushed tones. Suspicious, she sidled up to them, but they saw her and broke off before she could hear what they were talking about.
"I'm ready, I think," she said, letting out a short sigh as she nodded. "We'd better get over to the docks and get ready to go."
The asari thrust the garment bag and another, smaller bag into Shepard's arms. "Here." She waved Shepard off when she tried to pay. "No charge. Consider it a thank you for my neice's life." A wicked gleam sparkled in her eyes. "And … ah … I threw in a little something to thank the general as well."
Shepard peered into the bag, but couldn't make out much other than black lace. She chuckled. "Thank you, and I'm sure the general will thank you too."
"Have a wonderful bonding ceremony," the nais called, waving them off.
Shepard headed across the markets to the stairs that led up to Afterlife. She stumbled to a weary stop at the bottom of the flight leading to the club's VIP section. Only a couple of hours before she'd been dancing with a murderer, trying to seduce her to a terrible but justified death. She hadn't fired that shot, not like Donovan Hock, but she'd still taken justice into her own hands again. Her stomach rolled. She didn't want that sort of power. She couldn't be trusted with that sort of power. No one could, that was why courts existed.
Courts? Really, Janey? You'd trust your fate to a court overseen by the council?
Clenching her jaw, she brought that train to a screeching halt before it derailed.
"Janey?" Lucy said, her tone soft and confused as she interupted Shepard's guilt storm without dissipating it. "Are you all right, sweetheart?"
"I'm fine, Mom." Shepard tried to nod and smile, to show the brave, unaffected face, but the nod decayed into a slow shrug, the violet stain on the stairs holding her eyes captive. At least Nihlus and Samara had gotten the body removed. She didn't know if she could keep herself from throwing up if she had to hold her wedding dress and stare at Morinth's crushed skull and broken neck. "I'm just very tired and a little over emotional. Nothing to worry about."
Sucking in a ragged breath, she spun away. They needed to get to the ship. She could go through the eighteen stages of vigilante guilt and grief once Nihlus's arms sheltered her from the rest of the galaxy.
"Jane?"
She spun towards his voice, its warm timber coaxing a soft hum of relief from deep in her chest. Her torins both possessed spectacular timing. He jogged over and pulled her straight into a tight hug.
"How are you doing, haksaya kubenar?" He pulled back, holding her away by her shoulders. "You looked rattled when Garrus took you back to base."
She just shook her head and wrapped her arms around him. "Get me to the transit station, please, love."
He held her tight and leaned down to nuzzle her temple. "Of course." Wrapping an arm around her waist, he pulled her in tight and started toward the doors.
"Janey?"
"Oh sweet baby Jesus," Shepard whispered, keeping the words too low for her mother to hear. She hadn't prepared her mother for the whole two turian boyfriends, marrying both of them eventually, thing.
Shepard pulled a tinman turn, practically able to hear all her joints creaking. "Mom, you've met Spectre Kryik before?"
Lucy nodded, just as rusted and stiff. "I have." Her eyes looked to Nihlus. "Hello again." Then darted right back to pin Shepard to the wall.
"Nihlus is my boyfriend, Mom." She sighed. "It will take quite a lot of explaining, but he and Garrus are sort of … blood brothers, I guess you could say."
"Does the general know about this?" Lucy demanded, pointed and bristled.
Shepard smiled. "Of course, he does, Mom. He talked me into it." She nodded her head in the direction of the transit station and started shuffling that way. "I'll explain everything … actually, the three of us will, but for now, let's get to our ship."
Please, sweet Jesus, just let me get her to the cab before she detonates.
Shepard shuffled a couple more steps sideways. "Come on, Mom. It's all okay. The three of us are a family."
Lucy's jaw remained clenched, her neck stiff as she moved, but at least she started moving. Nihlus loosened his hold on Shepard, but she gripped his hand and pulled him in tight again. She loved Nihlus, they were together, and if her mother couldn't handle that … well, then she couldn't.
They managed to make it to the cab, where Nihlus gave her a quick nuzzle goodbye, then took off with some excuse about having a couple last things to take care of. Shepard watched him run from her mother, then got in. Holding her breath as the cab closed around them, she felt her mother's disapproval like a small crate of grenades sitting in the back seat, waiting to detonate.
"The general is a very good man," Lucy said, her stare burning a hole through the front screen.
Well, at least Shepard could agree with that. A thin sigh preceded her words. "He's the very best, and I love him so hard it hurts."
The heavy, painful rigor of Lucy swallowing reached Shepard even over the engine noise. "Then why isn't he enough for you?" She whirled around, lunging a little, her face that brittle mask that Shepard remembered so well. "I didn't raise my daughter to be that selfish or greedy." A sound rolled low in her throat, a sound rotting with disgust. "And I didn't raise some mare to brood herself out."
Shepard locked her jaw shut against the words that struggled to get out. Armed with shivs and broken bottles, they rioted across her tongue, clamouring to cut as they bashed against the insides of her teeth. Instead, she focused on programming the car to take them to the Ypres. When the guards wrestled the prisoners into straight jackets and tossed them into their padded cells, she took a long breath in.
"You know, Mom, you spent my whole childhood believing that I was Dad. That I had somehow been created to test your patience and your connection to God." The destination entered into the cab's computer, Shepard let her hands fall into her lap. "And I agreed. How on earth could we ever have anything in common?" A long breath whistled through her nose.
"It took about five years after Mindoir before I realized something. I am you. I've always been you. You raised me with this will that is a match to your own." A soft chuckle dissipated the last of her anger at being called a selfish broodmare. "And that's why we've always butted heads. And it's also why we always stayed connected even as much as we drove one another crazy." Shepard turned in her seat to take her mother's hands then leaned forward to press her lips to Lucy's brow.
She shrugged, ducking her head toward one shoulder, and squeezed her mother's warm, dry fingers. "And now, I'm going to take the two gifts you gave me—the impossible will and the great big heart—and I'm going to set my own path as I always have." She pulled back just far enough to meet her mother's eyes. "I'm going to marry Garrus in his parent's garden with his brother standing behind us. And then I'm going to marry Nihlus with Garrus standing by our sides, and I am going to love them both the very best that I can."
"Janey … ." Lucy tugged back on her hands, so Shepard released them, watching as they drifted back to rest on her mother's lap.
Shepard shook her head, not willing to let her mother gain any steam. "And if you can't be there for both weddings, and love and celebrate both of my bond-mates … then don't come to either wedding." Focusing on Lucy's eyes, she buttoned down her resolve. "I'll miss you, but Nihlus doesn't deserve to be made to feel second best, and I don't deserve to feel like I am some sort of horrible bitch or whore on the two most important days of my life."
Shepard turned back to the car's controls. "I hope you'll decide to be there for both. I really do."
(A-N: Having decided that the reason people have quit on the story is likely the pace, I'll be moving along a lot more quickly. So yeah ... thanks for still being here. Love yah ... yep, even if I don't know yah. *hugs*)