Chapter 14
As I'm staring at Liara and Thran talking normally with each other, I think about why Liara and the crew of the Normandy were tracking me down. Did I matter that much to them? I know Liara had a reason to, but the whole crew? It seems suspicious. Then, as I'm lost in thought about it all, I sit up with my legs over the side of the bed. For the past few months, I've managed to dig up more information about the krogan. They've made more attempts at taking Alliance fleets. While this has been happening, I've been getting threats from all over the galaxy—the Alliance included. "I need to plan our next move." I say and stand up. "I'll be walking around the Normandy, if you need me."
"Knight?" Liara asks as I start walking, holding my hand up to my wound as I walk. "Wait, you need to rest…"
"Doctor…" Thran says as I start to walk out. "…we have an update on the situation."
I walk around the Normandy, alone, trying to find Lorek and Orchid. As I reach the observation deck, I notice that the ship is nearly empty. Where is the crew?
As I notice that I'm getting tired, I decide to rest on the starboard observation deck. So, I sit on the couch and lay down. Almost instantly, I fall asleep.
Hours later, I feel someone stroking my hair. Liara? "Knight, are you awake?" She asks and I smile as I open my eyes.
"It's good to see you." I say and put a hand to her face. Then, I feel tears on my hand.
"Don't ever leave like that again." She says through her tears.
"No promises." I say and pull my hand down.
"I heard about what the Alliance did to you…and what they are still doing to you. I'm so sorry." She says and I sit up.
"It's not your fault, Liara. It was the council and Admiral Coen." I say and look at her.
"I'm sure you probably figured it out by now, but…the Normandy is no longer allied with the Alliance."
"What?" I ask, shocked. "So, that's why the crew is gone."
"Admiral Coen threatened to ground the Normandy, but we've been ignoring his calls for many months now." She says and I look out the window. "The Normandy is a rogue vessel now."
"I'm sorry. This is all my fault." I say and she puts a hand on my knee.
"No. Like you said, this is the council's fault." Liara says and I look at her again. "You had no way to know what they were planning."
"Thran is an information broker. He knew." I say and she looks shocked. "He didn't tell you?"
"No. He didn't." She says and I smile.
"Remember when you asked me how I got the information on Commander Shepard?" I ask and she smiles. "Thran helped me find the information and the libraries I could steal data discs from."
"You seem pretty close to Thran." She says and looks away. I can already see where this is going. She thinks Thran and I are dating.
"Thran is like a brother to me." I say and put a hand on hers. "Besides, I've never had anyone as special to me as you are in my life." I say and see her smile again. Then, she turns to look back at me.
"He seems quite protective of you." She says and I nod.
"He was there when Serana rescued me from the experiments on Tuchanka." I say as I remember it. Serana had to have called someone to get us off the planet. "He's Serana's boyfriend."
"I see." Liara says, looking mildly concerned. "If Thran is with you, then where is Serana?"
"We lost contact with her a few months ago." I say as I remember going to her house on Illium and seeing the note that she was leaving to some science lab across the galaxy. "We found a note telling us that she was going to some science camp somewhere in the galaxy—she never said where."
"That's Serana for you." Liara says with a laugh.
"She has a house on Illium, if you ever wanted to see it." I say and she shakes her head.
"Serana is 300 years old. She has her own life now." She says. "She will come to me when she wants to see me."
"I see." I say and look out the window again.
"You disappeared that night…where did you go?" Liara asks as I think about it.
"I took the shuttle to Omega. That's where I started building my…I don't really know what to call them really...allies?" I ask out loud. "I met Lorek and Thran there. They rescued me from almost being captured by a mercenary band not too long after I landed."
"What happened?" She asks as I sense her nervousness.
"The mercenaries that captured me wanted to make me their leader—I refused." I lie and she glares at me. "Okay…they wanted to sell me on the street."
"Why?" She asks with a sigh. "Why do you always get yourself into these kinds of situations?"
"I didn't have my armor on. As far as they knew, I was just a lone crew member of the Alliance." I say and turn to face her. "Thran and Lorek saved me before they could do anything. They never touched me and I was never in any real danger." I say and she looks slightly relieved.
"Thran told me about it. He said that you arrived on Omega just hours after leaving the Normandy." She says and I nod. "He said you knew he would be there."
"When I was thirteen, I got separated from Thran on Omega." I say as I think about the past. "He told me to stay close, but I wanted to explore Omega. It was my first time there." I continue as I think about the separation. "He told me that, if we were separated, he would always wait for me at the heart of Omega. Because, he was also waiting for Serana the same way…with less kidnappings of course."
"How come you never told me about Thran?" She asks and I look away.
"Thran isn't as special to me as Serana. We always manage to butt heads." I say as I remember the day we separated. We were arguing about me wanting to learn how to fight. "I didn't leave him to explore, exactly…I wanted to learn how to fight. He didn't approve, of course." I continue as I remember Thran facing away from me. "We…had an argument just before I left him."
"He did tell me you two had a falling out…" Liara says and I feel her holding my hand, tighter.
"I met Katar shortly after…Thran warned me about him, but I wouldn't listen…I told him, if he wouldn't train me, Katar would…" I continue as the scene plays through my mind. Thran and I yelling, back and forth, as Katar crosses his arms in determination that he had won. "…then, he told me he had no need for a…corrupt human like me." I say and feel Liara wrap an arm around my back. "I told him I never wanted to see his face again…but, he quickly apologized because Serana just broke up with him—his anger at Serana translated into anger towards me. It wasn't his fault, but I told him I didn't need him anymore…and, I left with Katar." I say and hear someone walk in behind me.
"You never told me…" Thran says as he walks into the room. "…you knew about Serana and I?"
"I'm a tactician, Thran. Observation is a big part of my job." I say as he sits next to me. Liara takes her arm and relaxes it to hold my hand. "Besides, you were all Serana wanted to talk about. It was obvious."
"The only thing about that retelling you got wrong was…I never admitted to the break up with Serana. You knew about that too?" He asks as I think about it. He's right, I never actually knew.
"Maybe…I just assumed." I say and look at Liara. It must have been Shepard's will.
"But, you were right. We broke up just before you left." He says and I look back at him. "How did you know?"
"Intuition?" I say and he shakes his head.
"No, it has to be more than that." Thran says as he looks serious. "Don't tell me—"
"It must have been my…connection with Commander Shepard." I say and Thran sighs.
"This again? I told you they were just dreams." Thran says and I hear Liara sigh. "Knight, you can't have a connection with the commander. She's dead."
"Now I see why you believed so strongly that they were just dreams, Knight." Liara says and Thran looks at her, nearly angry. "He doesn't believe in the facts."
"Did she let you believe in those things?" Thran asks, nearly yelling, while pointing at Liara, then he points at me. "I should have never let you leave Omega." He says and I feel my biotics react to my anger.
"But, you did!" I say and take my hand from Liara to stand up. Thran stands up with me. As I'm ready to fight, I look at Liara and calm down. Then, I look back at him. "And, whether you like it or not, I grew up. Without your teachings." I say as I walk up to him. He backs away until I have him pinned against a wall. "We reunited eight months ago because I needed your help. Do you know how hard that was for me? To go back to the person who I pushed away all those years ago…and now, you try to pick a fight with the one I love. How dare you." I say and notice he looks scared. Liara stands up, shocked. "I put my past behind me so I could move on. You should try doing that too." I say and back off.
"I'm…sorry, Knight." He says as he looks me in my eyes. "I was only trying to…"
"Protect me?" I ask and feel my biotics react. Even I know that no one can protect me. These past eight months have made me realize the danger I'm in. It's made me realize the danger I let the ones I care about get involved in. "You know what we've learned, Thran…I'm beyond the point of being saved."
"What are you talking about?" Liara asks and I realize I still haven't told her.
"Knight, you didn't tell her?" Thran asks with a worried look.
"Tell me what?" Liara asks and I slowly turn to face her.
"I should…go tour the Normandy some more." I say and make my way out the door, but I'm stopped.
"You need to tell her." Thran says as I hear his nervousness. Then, he drops his hand away from my arm. "You knew this wasn't going to be easy. I'll let you two be alone." He says and walks out.
"Knight? What's going on?" Liara asks and I turn to face her. Then, I slowly walk to her and grab her hands.
"Remember the vid I showed you…just before I left eight months ago?" I ask as I feel a great sense of sadness. How am I going to say it? How will she react when I finally do say it?
"What about it?" She asks as I feel her nervousness and her heart beat faster as I hold her hands.
"I've been in contact with Clan Janok for a few months now." I say and she sighs. "The lab that was destroyed was rebuilt nearly a decade ago. The clan's warriors have been experimented on the same way I was."
"I don't like the sound of that." She says and I sigh.
"Neither do I, but there's something else you should know…" I say as I remember talking to one of the scientists. I wanted to know why my biotics would be as unstable as they are. It's been making me worried that there might be some complications with the biotic implant they used on me—and I was right. "…since I talked with that asari scientist, Shira, from one of my first missions on the Normandy, I've been worried about my implant. My biotics eventually becoming uncontrollable."
"I told you not to worry about that." She says and I put a hand to her face.
"Liara…the implant they used on me was damaged after I was let out of the tank, not during the mission I was on with the Alliance." I explain and she puts a hand up to my face as she looks worried. "That's why my biotics react during a conversation. That's why I can move so fast on the battlefield."
"I'm a biotics expert, I can help—" She says and I shake my head.
"No, Liara…the biotic implant they used on me is woven into some of my organs…I was grown in the tank in order for my body to grow around the implant. It can't be fixed…if, someday, I manage to damage it again…I might not be as lucky." I say, trying to convey to her that I have the possibility of dying, and I sigh as I feel myself shaking. Then, I lower my hand. Liara looks like she's about to cry. "That's why I couldn't face you again, Liara, after three months of knowing this…I'm sorry."
"So, you avoided me?" She asks as a single tear runs down her cheek.
"Yes. I'm sorry." I say and she lets go of my hand she's still holding. "Liara…?"
"I've been there for you this whole time. You told me everything about you, and still…I feel like I don't really know you." She says and sighs as she looks down. "Knight, I've spent these past eight months searching the galaxy for you…"
"I know." I say as I feel my body continuing to shake. I don't want to lose her over something like this. "The only things I've never told you are painful for me to remember…I don't want them to burden you." I say and grab her hands with my shaking hands. "If you really want to know those things, I will tell you…I just don't want to see you hurting because of me." I say and she looks up at me. "Liara, I gave you my heart a long time ago, because I truly love you. So, tell me what you want to know."
"I think that's the first time you said you love me." She says and, through my nervousness, I smile. You know, now that I think about it, this is the first time I've told her that I love her. "Knight, I don't want you to be hurting either." She says and I start feeling light-headed from relief.
"Liara…" I say and lean towards her. Instead of kissing her, I rest my forehead on her shoulder.
"Knight?" She asks and I feel her take her hands from mine to hug me.
"…don't scare me like that." I say and hug her back. "Looking at the stars without you next to me was really lonely."
"It was for me too." Liara says as she hugs me tighter. Then, for the first time in many months, I cried on Liara's shoulder as she comforted me.
Though the days to come were going to inevitably become harder on the both of us, at least we were able to share this moment of honesty under the stars.