When she awoke, her vision was blurred, but she could tell that Javik was hovering over her. She felt wetness on her face and realized that she had been crying. She blinked away the liquid, its drops falling down the sides of her temples, where she could feel three soft pressure points. Javik's face came into focus then. If it were not for the fact that some of his alien expressions continued to elude her, she would have guessed that the fluttering of his ridges and the furrow—or something like that—of the part of the carapace between his eyes meant that he was very worried. His eyes followed the arc of her tears and one of his hands lifted to gently wipe the liquid away with a digit. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, she rallied herself.
"Ugh," she groaned as she blinked up at him. "How long was I out for?" Her voice was raw.
"A few minutes," Javik replied.
"Figures. You were right. I'm sorry, Javik, I should have listened to you." She expected him to follow up on that, chastising her in the usual high-handed way he dealt with everything. From the way his visage darkened and he opened his mouth, the onslaught of caustic ire certainly seemed imminent. But instead, Javik seemed to arrest himself and only thrummed gruffly in agreement. "What is that odd saying you humans use, 'curiosity killed the cat'?"
She laughed lightly. "Yes, that's exactly right," she affirmed and made to sit up, but the three digits resting on each of her temples applied light resistance. "Don't. You will have a bad headache. Let the effects subside, first."
"Effects?" She blanched and started anyway, but instantly regretted it. She yelped and collapsed back down, head swimming and throbbing badly. Javik's hands came up to her temples again and began massaging them, throat thrumming gruffly.
"There is no need to worry, Commander," Javik soothed, beginning to massage her temples. She felt the throbbing lessen and—oh—those ministrations felt so good. Her eyes became half-lidded and a small moan escaped her lips. She hoped that he would pardon the indiscretion, but there was absolutely no way that she could not bottle it in. Hell, she longed to groan in pleasure but knew that would be wildly inappropriate, so she simply enjoyed it in silence as Javik continued talking. "That object is a Thoi'han sphere. I remember it now from the memories in the Echo shard and from stories some of my people used to tell. Their writing was not preserved since the Inusannon ultimately triumphed and wiped them out, so very little knowledge of their race survived into my cycle. But now I do know for certain that they had the same technology as our beacons and used it similarly." At her puzzled look, he supplemented, "When I saw that you could not remove yourself from the sphere, I tried to help you, but touching your body meant I was also exposed to the same energy. As you are not Thoi'han, and I suspect they thought your species too primitive for study, it needed to adapt your physiology to its transference process.
"Hence, the unfortunate side effects," she added. He nodded thoughtfully. "I have not experienced any... though, I am puzzled as to why."
"Well, I assumed it was because the Thoi'han had... contact with your people and so their technology might recognize—" She tried to put it as diplomatically as possible, but as soon as she said 'contact with your people', Javik's eyes flew wide. "You did not see the vision of the prothean child, did you?"
"No! What did you see?" He asked this urgently, fingers already firmly cradling her head. Their eyes locked and she showed him her vision. When it was over, he looked astonished, dare she say, aghast. "Yes, that is not what I saw... but nonetheless, it is..." He unconsciously let his fingers slide off her face while considering his next words. But as soon as he did, the throbbing came back, making her wince. Javik's eyes snapped back to hers and resumed the massage. "I will have to think on it some more," he continued softly. She wondered what the thought of the Thoi'han uplifting the Protheans as the Protheans had done to the Asari and if he shared the same anguish she did over the fate of Eng'agea. But she let it be for now.
"I can understand that," she said, simply. He looked at her curiously. There was sincerity and weight in her words. She did not miss his look and decided to share something she had not thought about in a long time. "You know, I never told anybody this before," she began, garnering a flicker of interest in the prothean's gaze, "but I had a very similar experience to this one, a few years back, during that same mission Garrus was talking about earlier on—" here she paused and choked up a little, "—Eletania." She realized the shared name between the prothean and the planet and wondered if there was a connection between Javik having been shown her vision on the planet, Eletania, and her being shown the vision of the prothean, Eletania. Now that was probably a mystery she'd never solve. The sound of soft rumbling came from Javik's chest and throat. For some reason, she felt instantly soothed by it.
"Yes," his affirmed, his voice low and grave. "I experienced your memory. It was very disorienting... I was you on the planet surface approaching the orb and then I experienced living as one of your ancestors but, at the same time, this was overlaid with your perspective." A look of disgust crossed his face and he added, "I was covered in hair and animal fur." Shepard chuckled at this garnering an unamused look from the prothean. But another thought crossed his mind and seemed to soften his features. He seemed to struggle with what to say next. All this interplay she watched with avid fascination. She could not help it; she had never seen him so openly display his emotions before. "Though... it was a humbling experience," was all he left her with. She smiled up at him softly, in understanding, and placed her hand on his arm. He looked at it, but did not shrug it off as she supposed he might.
After a moment, he spoke again. "Why did you not tell anyone about that vision, especially the asar—Dr. T'soni?"
"Well... without the transference ability that you possess, I was at much of a loss as to how to fully relate the experience. And I guess since I thought that this might be a mystery I'd never solve, I just filed it away." She then added as an afterthought, "I'm glad I was able to share it with someone after all." He hummed thoughtfully at her words. She took it as a return of the sentiment.
"And speaking of, Liara would just love this." Shepard could picture her asari friend now, eyes wide jumping up and down in glee, tapping away at her console with dizzying speed, or perhaps hugging her and tackling her to the ground. Hm, actually that last bit would be nice. She would make sure she'd break the news to Liara, personally. "Perhaps the Inusannon actually got the technology for the beacons from the Thoi'han," Shepard suggested after a moment.
"Perhaps," Javik said thoughtfully. His hands drifted slowly from her temples down the side of her face before pulling away altogether. He knelt on one knee and then lifted himself up to standing position. She waited for a moment to see if he would extend a hand to help her up. When he did not, she asked him if he was going to. Javik stoically replied, "No. You have two legs. Or did you forget how to use them?" Shepard huffed at this, but rose to her feet. "Always the gentleman," she quipped, sarcastically.
They were silent for a few moments and then Shepard asked, "Javik. You do know how to swim, right?"
"Of course," he responded casually.
"Good." The reply came on a devious laugh.
He should have known.
But it was much too late for him to stop her from tackling him off of the cliff into the deep water below.
When a coughing, sputtering prothean bobbed up, all four golden eyes snapped to Shepard's, blazing with annoyance. Shepard blinked at him, completely unfazed. "Garrus warned you. That was for your earlier comment about my 'cousins'. We primitives stick together. Species solidarity."
"I will have my revenge for this, primitive!" Javik roared in answer, his voice heavily tinged with the same harsh flanging that Shepard had only heard once before, when Victory announced it was rerouting life support power from the other stasis pods to Javik's.
Shepard just continued to stare down at him placidly. Cat-like. Whatever happens, totally worth it! She grinned, internally. She had already come to terms with having a death wish. She built a goddamn suicide squad, after all. So needling him a little more did not even compare. Or so she figured. Flashing him a feral grin, she shot back his own line earlier: "You can certainly try!"
This, of course, garnered even more ire from the Prothean. An intense wave of green light flickered across his skin as a vicious snarl erupted. Shepard chuckled as she watched him as he plowed through the water with a determination she'd only seen him use while fighting Reaper forces, hell-bent on reaching her and then doing God-knows-what to her to exact his vengeance. The thought made her taut with delicious anticipation. Presently, he was scrambling up the rocks over the wet seaweed. She could not help but howl in laughter when he, in his haste to reach her, slipped and fell face first onto the seaweed, sliding all the way back down to where he started. And she damn near hyperventilated when she heard his dark thoughts being muttered from below.
However, Javik certainly made up for lost time by bounding up the rocks. By the time he hauled himself up, Shepard had pulled herself together and was calmly waiting for him near the edge of the precipice. If he had not been so flustered, perhaps he would've been able to catch the sparkle in her eyes. Instead, he ran forward, biotics flaring. Just as he was about to reach her, Shepard cloaked and rolled out of the way… Javik had no chance to correct his trajectory and careened, full-tilt, over the edge.
She lay on the cliff in stitches listening the sound of Javik's frustrated bellows as he fell into the water once again.
Suddenly, the thrill of being hunted settled on her. I really should go, she thought, since her position was no longer of any strategic value. While Javik was still submerged, she allowed her cloak to recharge while making her way down from the cliff. Once he surfaced, she activated it again and high-tailed it back to the rendezvous. Shouts of "Commander, show yourself!", "Come at me, primitive!", and "COWARD!" floated up to her over the sound of the crashing waves as she slipped into the shoreline canopy.
ooooooooooooooooo
Garrus cocked his head. He had been cleaning his sniper rifle when, all of a sudden, he heard shouts coming from the direction of the beach. He stiffened and became edgy in case it spelled trouble. But then he recognized Javik's voice. Curious, he was about to rise and go see what the commotion was about, when he heard the sound of someone running toward the camp. Presently, the Commander came rushing out of the bushes grinning like a madman. She stopped next to him, shaking with laughter.
"Commander?" Garrus queried with mixed amusement and confusion. "…Where's Javik?"
Shepard pointed in the direction of the beach, still wheezing partly from sprinting and partly from laughter. Through bursts of laughter, he got the gist of the story and he chimed in, too, with his own.
"You are so asking for it when he returns."
"Oh, we'll see about that," she replied confidently. Garrus mused at how much she looked at the fresh N7 graduate that he met several years ago on the Citadel, the same glow back in her face.
Suddenly they heard rustling coming closer. Only, it began to sound more like snapping branches. Shepard yipped. "You didn't see me, okay?" She winked, and scurried onto the top of a boulder, hiding herself from view.
Garrus winked back and he returned to attending his rifle just as the livid Prothean emerged from the treeline. One glance in his direction and told Garrus that he should not even attempt to look Javik straight in the eye.
"Where is the Commander?" It was not even a question, really. His icy tone was a perfect, deadly contrast to the fire in his eyes.
"Haven't seen her… you know that she can cloak." Garrus drawled idly.
"You are lying!" Javik snarled, stepping close to Garrus, making even the stoic turian wince. "She was here! I can smell it! I can also smell your deceit, turian, or did you forget I am capable of higher functioning than you primitives?"
Not wanting to drag poor Garrus further into this monster of a situation she created, Shepard silently slipped off of the boulder and presented herself. "I'm right here, Javik."
Javik's eyes snapped to hers and he stepped away from the fascinated turian, stalking toward her, but slowly this time. Shepard smiled and hummed approvingly. "I see that you adapt quickly." Javik's look was a dark one indeed. "You cannot escape my vengeance, Commander. I will have it."
Shepard sighed. "Well, I can't have you offing me in my sleep, now can I? Reapers to fight, battles to win and all that. So... let's make this a 'peacekeeping' lesson."
Garrus became confused at the look she gave Javik when she said 'peacekeeping'. "Am I... missing something?" But his question went unanswered. For the moment.
Javik smirked. "Nice try, Commander, but I know the difference between peacekeeping and bluffing. No, you started this and I will finish it."
"Heh." Shepard grinned devilishly. "I was counting on that."
A fiery look blazed between them. Javik was the first to break it, springing toward her with frightening speed, but Shepard had calculated this and dove to the right at the last second. He whirled around… only to grasp at air. Javik seethed. The Commander smiled. Garrus wished he had dextro-amino popcorn.
Prothean and turian snapped their heads to their left at the sound of her laughter from across the clearing. "Over here!" She smiled brazenly and broke into a run for the beach. Javik snarled after her. "Try not to kill each other!" Garrus called after them. Once alone again, he just shook his head and went back to cleaning his rifle.
Meanwhile, cat and mouse continued with Javik catching up to Shepard and the pair exchanging a few blows only to end with Shepard cloaking again. Javik had had just about enough by the time they got to the beach. He was a panting mess while Shepard had barely broken a sweat. Most of his bloodlust having been spent chasing her, he was now able to consider switching tactics by letting her come to him. He huffed. "I am disappointed, Shepard." Normally, Shepard would brush this off, but something about the tone of his voice and hearing him call her 'Shepard' instead of 'Commander', for the first time, struck a chord with her. She remained silent, but when he did not continue, she grew impatient for clarification. "Oh?" His eyes snapped to where he heard the noise, but he made no move yet. "I judged you capable of easily defeating me one-on-one. Instead, you keep retreating behind your cloak instead of facing me. That is not strategy; it is cowardice." He turned to leave.
Shepard positioned herself right behind Javik, dropping her cloak. "As you wish." Javik smiled and made to turn but suddenly his legs were no longer beneath him. The next thing he knew, he found himself suddenly flat on his back, the air knocked out of him, his arms pinioned and a knee planted firmly onto the midline of his chest. Shepard was above him looking down at him with victorious glee. "What was that you said back on Sur'Kesh?" She let arrogance positively drip from her teasing lilt. "'Idle threats are empty threats'?"
She expected him to start on her at this, but Javik did not stir. Though his strategy had not worked as he'd hoped, he realized that what he said had affected her, at least. So he decided to simply staring at her, making himself look bored to throw her off even more. She did not let on if she was thrown, but he waited patiently, coiled to spring when she would begin to show signs of tiring or confusion. Several moments passed and though Shepard felt that she had him firmly subdued, doubt eventually did begin to gnaw at her. More moments passed. He watched her supreme visage slowly begin to reveal the tiniest cracks of insecurity. Her eyes began to rove slightly, but still he did not move. Her right index finger and thumb readjusted. Still, he remained silent. Shepard began to reconsider her position. Perhaps I should get off and— She never finished the thought.
It was in that precise moment Javik saw the opening he had been waiting for. Shepard's eyes had lost their focus on him for just a brief moment. But that was all he needed to launch a sudden counterattack. He shot her off of him with a biotic blast and turned the tables.
Arms went above her head, legs snapped hers closed, and a chest plastered itself to hers. Javik loomed above her with a wicked grin.
"Do you find anything idle about this?" She could feel the puffs of air from every word.
He did not mean for it to sound sexy, truly he did not and Shepard knew this. However… his deep, richly thrumming voice… their closeness… the way they were positioned… and, hell, the fact that he himself could not help the huskiness that crept into his voice… well, that pretty much made Shepard's breathing halt and all thought processes stop. And she could not help the husky "No…" escape from her lips.
Much to her dismay, Javik seemed to pick up on this—if raising his left eye ridge was any indication. But instead of then showing disgust like she thought he would, he smirked deliciously, lowering his lips to be inches from her own. All of Shepard's focus was on those smooth lips, and he parted him in reply but was cut off by Garrus's arrival.
"Commander, Cortez is a minute away from—" came the flanged voice, which arrested suddenly when Garrus spotted them. Shepard felt Javik stiffen as she tore her gaze from Javik's lips to Garrus. The turian wore an expression Shepard swore she'd never seen before: slack-jawed. And then she realized what a position she was caught in. Shepard let out a soft chuckle against Javik's collarbone. "It's alright, Garrus. Javik and I were just sparring."
"Uh-huh…" He did not sound at all convinced. "Yeah... well, shuttle… Cortez… five minutes…" He backed away, awkwardly, and headed back to the rendezvous.
When Garrus was gone, Javik lifted himself off of her. Shepard felt the sudden loss of his warmth keenly, though she did not want to admit it. She realized this train of thought could make things very awkward between her and Javik, and she wanted to avoid that at all costs. So she just smiled casually at Javik and tossed her head in the direction Garrus headed in.
But as she brushed past him, he snaked an arm around her waist and whispered warmly in her ear, "this is not over, Commander."
~ THE END ~