Liara

I ran to Shepard as her knees crashed against the floor, grasping her shoulders and propping her up. Her eyes looked glazed, her skin seemed paler than it had moments ago, and I noticed the slight tremors shaking her body. I wrapped my arms about her, trying to support her, surreptitiously looking at the hand that touched her back, biting my lip when I saw my glove soaked with blood.

"You need to get back to the Normandy." I whispered. "You've lost too much blood and if you aren't stabilized soon, you'll go into shock."

A breathy laugh whispered against my neck. "No shock there, huh?"

"This is not the time for your insipid puns." I glared at her.

"Have I…" Shepard growled as I helped her to her feet, biting back the pain, "…taught you nothing?" a sick grin struck her face, lopsided, sweet, and completely out of place. "There is…always time…for insipid puns."

"Not when you're bleeding all over the floor." I felt more of her weight sag against me as we walked through the halls we had just fought through. "Call a shuttle, quickly."

"Roger that." Shepard pulled up her omni-tool. "EDI, this is Shepard. Need med-evac shuttle to the Broker's base ASAP."

A cool, almost seductive, feminine voice responded. [Affirmative. Dispatching shuttle now. Your breathing sounds labored, Commander. Are you in distress?]

Another crooked grin from Shepard's split lips, opening the gash across her face further and causing more blood to slip out from the ripped skin.

"I'm fine, EDI."

[F.I.N.E.] the voice responded. [Human acronym. Fucked up. Insecure. Neurotic. Emotional. Am I translating this correctly, Commander?]

"Absolutely. Shepard, out." her burning, heavy silver eyes turned to me. "See, Liara? Even the shipboard AI has time for insipid puns."

"AI?" I questioned, interested in the subject, but also desperate to keep Shepard awake and speaking.

Her color had become worse, sweat beaded on her forehead and trickled down her face, and every now and again she winced as the salt seeped into the cut. Her breathing did sound labored, too shallow and stilted. The woman would never admit when she was in pain, when she suffered, and this simply worried me further.

I have seen you dead once before, Serena. It is something that I never wish to see again. You were once the light of my entire existence. You brought me out from my isolation. You gave me strength and then you gave me love and you made the darkness of the galaxy so much less terrifying. Somehow, you are still you. Somehow, you are still the woman I loved once…and still…

"Yeah." Shepard answered as we entered the shuttle bay, with nothing to do but wait. "Cerberus incorporated an AI system into the new Normandy. She's shackled but…"

"Artificial Intelligence systems have been outlawed by the Council." I muttered. "Shackles or no, it is simply too dangerous."

"I agree, but so far it's worked out." Shepard answered, but her reply was too low, the simple syllables were slurred. "Liara, I think…I need…I need to sit down."

"All right." I agreed, tightening my grip around her waist and guiding her into a kneeling position.

"Fuck." Shepard cursed. "It didn't feel like I got hit that bad."

"Well you did." I growled, taking time to examine the wound to her back.

The puncture wound was wider than I had seen in the darkened room, and I knew already that it had gone deep. I could see the remnants of a medi-gel seal from where the armor's medical systems had attempted to treat the wound, but the puncture was too deep and too large for the medi-gel to act as anything but a stop-gap. I noticed, to my dismay, that the streams of blood flowing down her armor had reached her legs. She had bled a great deal, and was still bleeding.

"Guess so." Shepard murmured, her head drooping low. "Miranda's going to kill me."

I ignored Shepard's comment and stood up, running to the far edge of the room and grabbing a small crate. I returned to Shepard and made her lie down on her back, trying not to aggravate her wound, but knowing that even the slightest movement caused her pain. I lifted her legs and placed them on the crate, struggling to remember how to treat humans for shock.

"Miranda might not have a chance to kill you." I spoke as I pressed two fingers against Shepard's neck, feeling her pulse beat too fast and thready. "You might very well have done that to yourself."

In the harsh lighting of the shuttle bay, Serena looked absolutely terrible. Her skin had become a pasty white, her hair was soaked through with sweat, her lips had a bluish tinge to them that terrified me. I had seen it before, on the shuttle to the Normandy, when Shepard's heart had stopped beating.

"I…don't…wanna die again." Shepard murmured, her words and their anguish cutting straight through to my heart. "They…won't…be able to…bring me back."

I ripped off my gloves, knowing that she needed skin to skin contact, knowing that, even though so much had happened, I would not deny an injured woman any small comfort I could offer. I placed my hand against her un-injured cheek, frightened anew by how cold her skin felt against mine. I brushed away her sweat-drenched hair, begging the goddess for the proper words.

"Of course they will." I tried to offer her encouragement. "They brought you back once before and this time…" tears stung at my eyes, "…this time you will be much more…intact."

Shepard's eyes went wide and the pain in them felt like a fist rammed into my gut. "Oh God." she breathed, her words trembling as she shivered. Her hand reached up, drifting, weak, until she found my cheek, cradling it in her palm. "You…you saw…fuck." Tears joined the sweat-sheen on Shepard's face. "Never meant…didn't know…I'm sorry, álainn anam. I'm so…fucking sorry."

"It doesn't matter now." I whispered, desperate, wondering when the shuttle would arrive. "What matters is that, even if the worst happens, they…those who need you…they will bring you back."

Shepard shook her head, her neck tightening against the tremors that were growing worse by the minute.

"It…won't…work." she insisted.

"I thought it would not, the first time." I tried to reassure her. "But you are here, you are you, wholly Shepard and I…I did not think it was possible. But if it happened once, it can happen again."

Serena's eyes welled with tears once more and her lips trembled. "No it can't." she gasped, taking several short, shallow breaths. "You…you hate me now."

What? Her words shocked me, hurt me, and made me question everything. I don't know what you are saying. You are hurting, you are going into shock…you're not coherent and yet I can sense nothing but truth in your words.

"I do not understand." I whispered, watching her eyelids flutter.

"I don't…know where I was." Shepard struggled to speak, fought to breathe. "It was dark…terrifying…wrong. But…in the dark I heard…I heard the most…melodic voice…in the galaxy. It screamed, Liara…so much…pain. So much…anguish. It…it was your voice… álainn anam. You were…calling my name…begging me back. I…followed…and…woke up. Followed you…out of…the dark."

Oh Goddess. I pressed a hand to my trembling lips, overcome by a swarm of emotion that I did not think I could claim to comprehend. I had argued with Miranda, had sworn by all the gods that she would not be able to bring Serena back, for the warrior's soul had ventured far into the land of what transpired after death. I had known that it could not be returned, could not be dragged back from the universe that had claimed it.

"Serena," tears welled in my eyes and spilled down my cheeks, "I never mourned for you." I admitted, feeling a crushing shame spread through my chest, into my lungs, pressing against my ribs and making it difficult to breathe. "I never cried your name."

Her hand slid from my cheek, coming to rest on my breast, over my heart.

"Here." she murmured. "You cried…from here. I listened and…when I…woke up…your name first…crossed my lips. But you…" she shifted and moaned, a pitiful sound of pain and anguish, "…hate me now. Just like…I failed...Elizabeth…and Avi…I…failed you."

All of my breath flooded out of my lungs as she spoke the words that I had said to myself in my bitterness. She spoke the words that had driven the needle into my veins. She admitted what I had claimed of her in the darkest times of my existence…and as those words crossed her lips, I realized that they were not true. She had not failed me. She had failed no one, but still she remained as she had ever been. Willing to bear another's hatred. Willing to do the horrid things that must be done to protect the galaxy's innocent and weak.

I parted my lips but I could not speak; could but watch as Serena grew visibly weaker before my eyes. She had lost too much blood, fighting for me. I had dragged her into this, planning to use her and let her go after my own ends were met. I had saved Feron. I had made good on my secret promise but now…now, instead of completion, I felt empty and void and…and despicable.

"Li…ara." Shepard spoke so low I had to lean down to hear her. "When this…is over…when I'm fixed I…I want to talk…to you. Please don't…say no."

"Okay." I agreed, pressing my fingers to her pulse point once again, feeling the weak, sluggish beat against my fingertips.

"Cold." Shepard crossed both of her arms over her chest and shuddered, pain creasing her brow and pinching her eyes shut. "So…fucking…cold."

"Help is on the way." I promised, begging the goddess for my words to ring true.

[Shepard, this is Shuttle One.] I heard a voice from Shepard's omni-tool. [Requesting permission to board.]

I swiped across the screen, receiving the message. "Shuttle One, this is Liara T'Soni. Permission granted."

I ran from Shepard's body to the door control, slamming on the button and watching as a shield fell into place in front of me and the bay doors opened on the far side. A shuttle flew in, landed, and the doors closed. The shield dropped, the shuttle door opened, and a crew of Cerberus medics poured out, carrying a stretcher. They raced to Shepard and I prayed that they had enough time. Enough time to save her. Enough time to fix what I had broken…broken by my selfishness and my anger.

A young man with dark skin, kind brown eyes, and the strange facial hair that human men were so partial to, approached me.

"Dr. T'Soni?" he asked. I nodded. "I'm Jacob Taylor. Doctor Chakwas asked that you come with us back to the Normandy."

"I…I do not…" I looked past Jacob, saw Shepard's body being loaded onto the shuttle, the worried expressions on the faces of the medics. "All right." I conceded. "I'll go."