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THR

Chapter 11

You pulled away from him in one fluid motion, feeling the numbness of your skin. His plate-like epidermis had caused the kind of friction and pain that had made your entire upper body raw. Everything from your cheeks to your lips to your bare arms was now tinted red.

The passion the two of you had just shared had been worth it, though. The way he had thrown you down onto the control panel in the main battery made your insides throb with fervor, not to mention the bites and kisses that now marked up your already battered outside layer. You had returned the favor by showing him some human customs, which he readily embraced. He wasn't used to you wrapping your legs around his slender waist and you didn't know how to respond to his more painful yet sexy advances.

The two of you were learning, though. That was supposedly the main step to inter-species relations according to a pioneering site that you had found on the Extranet. The important thing was that the two of you had gone farther than before. That was a step.

His original apprehension was also gone when he had closed and locked the doors upon your initial entrance. What was intended to be a calibration check ended up in a zealous rendezvous, not to mention the screwed up control panels that were now ready to be serviced by your very own Turian.

"Shepard," he had said, his voice reverberating against the metallic walls. That was the only word he had said before advancing towards you. After that, you were ravished and you had loved every minute of it.

Presently, he looked down at you with concern. He knew that you were a tough woman and could easily handle the scarring. This time, though, you could feel your face puffing up as you walked away from him.

This was your first real allergic reaction.

"I'll go to Mordin."

Your comment was more of a mutter, and he grabbed your hand before you left. By now, he knew that you didn't just leave because you were bored of him. Every romantic encounter the two of you had had ended with a sense of abruptness. As soon as one of you descended upon each other, the other partner made a habit of leaving quickly after the deed had been done. To be frank, you hadn't done much more than kissing. His lack of spontaneity made things overwhelming. This time had been different, though.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked. His face held an expression of genuine caring. Your hand tightened around his and you flashed him a smile.

He loved how devious it always looked. It was as if you knew something that he didn't, and you absolutely adored it. He got back at you by confusing you to the point of no return; it was like the both of you were puzzles that were just waiting to be solved.

You had opened up to each other, but there was still something being held back.

"Don't worry about it, sweetie." you purred. "It's nothing a little ointment can't fix."

The doors to the Crew Deck were soon unlocked, and you slinked out while smoothing your dress.

Your name was Commander Shepard and you were afraid to let someone love you properly

You didn't understand why she kept so much away from you.

Yes, she was a famous military woman.

Yes, she had gotten backstabbed.

But why couldn't she trust you?

She had gone past the point of camaraderie with you, which was a large milestone. When she suggested a relationship, you had been uptight. However, when the opportunity presented itself, you couldn't say no.

You knew you loved her. You had always loved her. It was a stretch to say or think about, but the way you straddled her on the panel made your knees buckle just thinking about it. She hadn't pushed away, either. She did the exact opposite.

Sure, it was love, but did she love you back or was it purely lust?

Sex had been something the two of you avoided for a good reason. You weren't sure if she could bend certain ways and when you warned her of the pain, she shrugged it off. It would be an acquired taste, but you couldn't say that you hadn't fantasized about it.

You knew that she didn't love you. Not yet, at least.

As the door in front of you closed, you started to wonder why you had chosen the path you did. You could have taken the high road and courted a Turian girl from Palaven or something. Your father would be proud of you and you might be able to go back to a normal job. You could have kids and live on your homeworld in peace. Hell, maybe you'd even end up in a classy condo on the Citadel.

Instead, you were having a fling with your own commander and you were starting to fall in love with her (that is, if you weren't already in love). You couldn't reproduce and the whole thing was likely a dead end.

The glint she had in her eye when she left made you realize something, though.

The relationship hadn't even been consummated and she still came around every day. Maybe it was because of the impending suicide mission that was approaching or maybe she just liked you a lot.

Either way, you knew that it wasn't solely lust. There was something else and one day you would get her to let her guard down.

The only bad thing about that was that if she took down her walls, you would have to too.

Your name was Joker Moreau, and just when you thought that the night couldn't get any more entertaining, something happened.

The people-watching had gone well so far. However, it didn't contribute to your plan to revive EDI fully. Two newbie dancers fell off of their poles and onto patrons, much to their delight. More than a couple bar fights broke out between some marines, and some guy had juggled bottles with his biotics. It was uneventful for some, but it had been enough for you to get a few laughs. On an even better note, you were entirely distracted and drowsy.

Your eyes were drooping from exhaustion even though the night had just begun. There were more funny things to be seen at the bar, but you chose to fall asleep instead.

Before you could, though, another thing occurred.

"Jeff!"

You hopped up in your seat, sending pain all across your body. With as much swiftness as you could muster, you looked around you and saw nobody in your immediate line of sight that was trying to talk to you. The sound had seemed like it was close, which was why you didn't suspect someone far away.

"Jeff, can you hear me?"

You raised your eyebrows when you realized that you still had a communicator device still stuck in your ear. The voice's owner was quite obvious after that.

It was EDI.

How she had managed to use and manipulate frequencies in order to speak to you was baffling. Your eyes widened and you quickly chuckled. She was still amazing you every day.

"I'm not gonna ask how you managed to connect up to this goddamn thing. How's the outdated hardware working out for you?" you answered jokingly. The bar was so loud that nobody would look at you oddly for talking to yourself; there were people weirder than you occupying the place, anyway.

"I have already told you that it is not sufficient enough to withstand my capabilities. I am always running at optimum performance, though. Accessing radio and Extranet signals was easy despite my lack of memory."

A happy sigh escaped your lips and you glanced around the perimeter a few more times.

"Does this mean that you can actually help me find my ship? Because I think I might have left something in the glove compartment."

You thought that you heard her laugh, but you could have been wrong. AIs didn't laugh.

Yet again, she wasn't just an AI.

"The way you find the ship is by staying here for another hour."

Your brows furrowed and you stopped looking around.

"I'm not saying that I don't trust you, but what's waiting around this place gonna do?"

She didn't respond after that, and you forced yourself to wait.

After all, how could you argue with EDI?

Your name was Liz Shepard and you felt like you were going to throw up.

Never before had an elevator ride felt so long to you. Yet again, you hadn't been on an elevator ride in over three hundred and sixty five night cycles, so it wasn't like the sensation was out of the ordinary.

Being in such an enclosed space was also contributing to your nausea. Garrus was beside you, but you couldn't help but feel insecure. For the first time in a long time, you would get to feel normal. You had been planning this moment out since you got incarcerated by the Alliance and Council.

You would take the elevator down with butterflies in your stomach. When the excruciating ride was over, you would step out and the nervousness would turn into utter euphoria. You could feel the simulated sunlight hit your skin and you could mingle within crowds of people as much as you wanted. You wouldn't have to talk to just yourself anymore.

Instead of this fairytale, you were feeling claustrophobic and annoyed. The feeling of bile creeping up your throat certainly wasn't contributing in a positive way, either.

"This question is going to sound like bullshit," you started. Your gaze was directed to the gray doors in front of you because you were sure that you would hurl if you looked at your partner.

"Go on, it can't be worse than what I used to hear from drunken felons at C-Sec."

The comment made you laugh, but you still didn't feel much better.

"How much has changed since I got boxed up? I mean, I get that there's no synthetic life and all of that. What's the extent of it, though?"

Garrus blinked a few times and leaned up against the wall of the elevator.

"The Citadel has gone to shit."

His response was blunt, which was to be expected.

"Of course, it already was like that before. This time it's changed physically, though. You can walk around and still see gaping holes in walls and some places are as bare as Palaven was during the war. For the most part, the synthetics are back up. That didn't take too long, but that doesn't mean that things aren't different. I don't know what it is, but you'll know—"

At that moment, the doors opened and the Presidium was revealed to you.

A large deck was sprawled across from you, and you could see some fallen glass shards from your accident. The view was the same one you had before except at a lower elevation.

However, seeing people of all different kinds again was overwhelming.

Asari, Volus, Turians, Humans, and Salarians were all mingling in front of you. Facial expressions varied from elated to irate. Things seemed the same on the outside, and it felt like only you and Garrus could tell that they weren't.

Noises reached decibel levels that you hadn't experienced in the longest time. Everything was starting to give you sensory overload and you couldn't seem to keep your head on straight.

As if it was a reflex, you reached for Garrus' talon.

When he took it, you looked at him gratefully.

Your name was Liz Shepard and you were wondering why you had kept your walls up for so long. If this was the payoff for loving someone, you should have done it so much sooner.

Being a hardened bitch was much less fun now that you got to be on the other side of the spectrum.