Day 2
Garrus pushed himself up from the floor of the main battery as the Normandy finally stopped shaking, realising he was no longer in his armour. He was wearing the exact same thing he wore that morning. "What the-"
Garrus turned and hit his console. "Joker." He called to the pilot, steadying himself as another small shake rattled the ship. "What the fuck is going on?"
"For the love of god people." The exact same exasperated response he'd heard from Joker the first time echoed through the battery. "We do not know yet! EDI's looking into it, and you kiss your mother with that mouth Garrus? Jesus."
He clicked the comms off once again. Still leaning against the console he checked the date and time.
Same date. Exact same time the Normandy had been hit earlier that morning.
Garrus tried to decide whether whatever had been on that ship had just launched him back over seven hours, or whether the stress and grief of just - everythingin the past two years had finally caught up with him and he was finally losing his mind.
And if I haven't lost it, who the hell is going to believe me.
He finally took a few deep breathes before once again grabbing his jacket, pulling it over his head and leaving the battery.
It was all the same. The mess was empty, and the crew were wandering out of their quarters trying to figure out what going on.
"Do you know what the hell that was Garrus?" Hawthorne asked again as he came into view.
"Um, no idea." He lied, continuing towards the elevator. "Going to go ask Joker about it." Everything was the same, where the crew was, what they said. So I should just follow it though again, figure out what caused the…loop?
"I was finally getting some good sleep too." Talis voice brought him out of his thoughts when the doors to the elevator opened. "I have a bad feeling about this." She said as he stepped beside her, door closing again.
"So do I." Garrus agreed,you have no idea how right you are.
He listened to his friend talk about her theories behind the disturbance once more as they approached the CIC, looking at the familiar figure of Shepard standing behind Jokers chair in the cockpit. Arms crossed and the same frown on her face when she momentarily turned to look back at them while EDI continued to feed the collected data through the main console.
"Oh Keelah." He heard Tali say. "I have never seen anything like that."
He noticed EDI pop up on her holo this time before she spoke. "There is a star in the next closest system entering a supernova."
"The real kicker though," Shepard said, rolling her head from side to side in annoyance, "isn't that, it's the fact that it's swimming in dark energy."
"And that's what interfered with our mass effect field." Garrus commented, on cue.
"Exactly." Shepard confirmed. "There is so much dark energy in this thing that it is rippling through the entire cluster. Not just one system."
How the hell am I going to fix this? Garrus thought as he tuned out of the conversation repeating in front of him. Is it a one-time thing or is it going to keep happening? He exhaled slowly trying to think back to exactly what happened.
It was already getting a little fuzzy as the time ticked forward again. We made it to the top floor, Shepard was shot – it looked bad, but why would that cause me to…travel back in time?
Spirits, it's like one of those human science fiction movies Joker goes on about.
"Garrus." Shepard's sharp tone brought his attention back to her. "Did you hear a damn thing I just said?"
"Dark energy, reroute power down to engineering immediately - without killing the power to the guns entirely." He recited back. "I heard you, Commander."
She raised an eyebrow at him, suspiciously but continued. "Good. I want you both suited up and on standby as well once you're done, dismissed."
After making his way back down to the main battery Garrus found recalibrating the power back down to engineering easier the second time, Kenneth still calling him a stingy bastard and getting repeatedly slapped by Gabby for being 'an ass'.
It was still funny the second time around.
After promising to grab Talis gun for her he signed off the comms, finally moving to put his armour on - trying to figure out his next move. Assuming he wasn't currently a high functioning form of insane.
He considered going to see Mordin. The salarian was without a doubt brilliant, but he wasn't sure he could go ask him about travelling through time and not be benched by Shepard if Mordin mentioned it to her. If he wasn't on that ship he had no damn chance of making sure she wasn't shot again.
Or there's Joker. Garrus pondered as he pushed the last of the seals on his armour shut. He can at least give me a theoretical insight into this ridiculousness. The turian shook his head at the realisation that he'd just put the words 'Joker' and 'theoretical insight' in the same train of thought.
Setting out in the chaos of the mess once more he scanned the familiar scene.
"Gardner!" He called over the noise. "The bread is about to burn."
The mess sergeant looked at him perplexed before looking over to the appliance with a cry of "Oh, shit!" and popping it out just as it was about to burn.
Garrus kept walking forward towards the kitchen, holding back for a moment and grabbing the back of Goldsteins shirt as he was about to collide with the girl from navigation carrying the coffee mugs.
"Woah!" Goldstein cried as he was abruptly stopped, the girl passing right by where he was about to step. "Thanks Garrus."
"Don't worry about it." He replied, continuing his way to the elevator, no smell of burning causing him discomfort this time. The more events he was able to change the less crazy he felt as well.
He hit the button to call the elevator, hearing the soft beep of the doors as they opened. Quickly remembering the last time he was in the lift as it opened, Shepard standing exactly where she was before.
"Garrus." She greeted again as he stepped into the lift beside her. "Where to?"
Shit, he still had to grab his and Talis weapons and then go talk to Joker. "Ah, Deck two."
"Same here." She hit the button again and the doors closed. "Donnelly is still bitching about you down in engineering by the way." She said to him, that smirk on her face. "There was also something about you doing calibrations naked."
"I have no control over Kenneths sick imagination, Shepard." Garrus laughed again, this time turning to face her, maybe this time he could stop her from busting her forehead up against the wall. "How's the search for the ship going?"
"EDI and navigation are still searching; the energy is playing havoc with our syste-."
Garrus braced himself as Shepard swore loudly when the Normandy abruptly began to shake; he caught her as she was sent flying in his direction, both of them hitting the wall of the elevator as it came to a stop, the red emergency lights coming on as the shaking died down.
"Shepard?" He asked, looking down to the woman pressed against his chest armour.
"I'm good." She groaned, pressing her hands against his armour for support as she willed her head to stop spinning. "EDI, status report."
"The last wave was more severe than the last, but all systems are stable Commander." EDIs voice echoed back to them. "It will take me a few more minutes to safely get the elevator back online."
"Thanks EDI." Shepard replied with a sigh, Garrus' arms releasing her as she stepped back to collect herself. "Sorry about that." She said, that same uncomfortable silence between them happening again.
"What's on your mind?" He asked, breaking the silence.
"What makes you think there's something on my mind?" Shepard countered, moving to lean against the wall beside him.
Garrus gave a small shrug. "You look like you do and," he motioned to their still surroundings, "we have a bit of time."
Shepard was silent for a moment, the air of tension between them feeling thicker than before. "I was wondering if you were…" She started. "Still interested."
"In you?"
"In us."
Garrus let out a sigh of relief, that's exactly what he had been wondering for the last two weeks. "Of course I am." He replied. "I… just wasn't sure if you were."
Shepard let out a laugh. "I feel a little stupid for worrying so much now."
"Yeah." Garrus drawled. "That feeling is mutual."
"Good thing too." Shepard said, pushing herself from the wall. "The whole point of a 'tiebreaker' is to decide a clear winner, not cause another tie."
Garrus' mandibles clicked in amusement as she gave him that smirk again. "Is that a challenge, Commander?" He asked closing the space between them.
Shepard just smiled, placing her hands on front of his armour and pulling his face down to hers. His hands found their way to her waist, moving her closer as she kissed him.
Which was the moment the lights came back on, and the elevator began moving again.
Of course.
Shepard quickly pressed her forehead against his own before moving backwards as the doors opened. "Remember, make sure you're ready to go when we find that damn ship."
He nodded to her as she turned and walked down through the CIC, before taking off towards the armoury.
He could not allow another fuck up this time.
Garrus had made his way back up to the CIC after he had gone to see Tali and dropped off her weapons, his mind racing through ways to approach the subject with the Normandy's helmsmen.
"Joker." Garrus addressed the pilot as he walked up beside his chair. "I have a question for you."
The pilot gave a grunt in response. "Kinda busy here Garrus."
"I'll get you those magazines you wanted next time we dock." Garrus offered.
Joker paused for a moment before his hands continued to wander over the screen in front of him. "Fine, go."
"In theory," Garrus began, "if you were repeating the same day over, how would you stop it?"
Joker raised his eyebrows at the turian. "What, like a time loop?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"In theory, something in that period of time would have to be corrected, you have to find out what's causing the loop and fix it." Joker explained. "If all those vids I watched as a teenager taught me anything at least." He pondered as his attention was drawn back to more data EDI was sending through to him.
"Thanks." Garrus replied, taking his leave before Joker began to ask questions.
"You owe me." Joker called out to him. "And lay off the booze until we get to the Citadel or Shepard will be pissed, damn."
The run through the Khronos had gone as before, he and Shepard split off from Tali and the others. Making their way upwards towards the artefact, Garrus' nerves built as they closed in.
"Shepard." He started as they made their way through the second floor. "What would you say if I told you I had… lived through this day before."
"I would say." Shepard replied, not missing a beat. "Did you get drunk again with Tali last night, and if so I'm disappointed that you not only disregarded my request to wait until we go to the Citadel to get trashed." She ducked out of cover, pushing a few mercs near the door back with her biotics. "And then angry that you didn't even bother to invite me."
"I didn't get drunk with Tali last night."
"Then you need some serious shore leave, Garrus." She remarked. "Come on, we're almost there."
Damn it. He thought as she rounded the corner, heading towards the stairs that would lead them up to the third defiantly wasn't going to work.
However, this time - while EDI and the others had been scanning the system for the location of the ship, Garrus had been doing some modifications to his omni tool. He'd managed to sacrifice some other functions to boost his ability to overload by double its normal power, if he could take that mercs shields down, make Shepard aware of him earlier – then they'd both get out of there alive.
"You getting the feeling this is a little too easy?" Shepard asked as they dove into cover, picking off the few mercs in view as they entered the third deck.
"Yep." He replied quickly as he sent a shot clean through the furthest mercenarys skull.
"Tali, status report." He heard Shepard ask as the merc fell.
"We almost have the area secured, no problems."
"Good job, keep it up." Shepard replied back, before turning to him once more. "Picking up anything?"
"Maybe." He lied. "The energy is messing with my visor, but we need to be careful, I think I'm reading one back there."
"Alright, hold back and cover me." She ordered. "Nothing we can't handle"
Garrus took cover once more, readying his omni tool. He watched Shepard carefully as she made her way around the boxes scattered through the room, pistol ready.
"Shepard, watch your right!" He yelled just as he expected the merc to appear at the door.
Garrus watched as his warning registered in her eyes as the mercenary Commander rounded the corner right on time. Shepard attempted to push him back with her biotics as he sent an overload to the mercs shields, cracking his kinetic barrier.
Shepard moved backwards, pulling up her pistol as he pulled his shotgun on her.
Garrus watched in horror as the shotgun blast ripped through her barriers once more before the merc fell from the bullet she had put in his head. This time the blast hit her midsection, sending a splatter of organic and synthetic materials to the wall behind her.
Shepard still stood there, looking down slightly where the blast had hit her, before looking back towards Garrus as her legs finally gave way.
"Jane!" his voice echoed through the empty room as he jumped the crate in front of him and ran towards her.
"Mordin I need you up here now." Garrus yelled through the comms as he slid down to the floor beside Shepard.
"Garrus, it-it just –"
"I know." He said, trying to administer some medi-gel, he had no idea what to do, there was a huge hole where the strange shot had hit. The sight of the shattered cybernetics and the blood everywherewas sickening.
"S'not going to work Garrus." She said, starting to shake. "Feels like last time."
"No." Garrus ordered as he pulled her into his arms, slowly resting her head on his legs. "Mordin is coming, we'll get you back to the ship, you are notleaving again."
"Miranda's going to be pissed all her hard work has gone to waste, apologize for me ok?" Shepard let out a small laugh despite the turian shaking his head at her. "Don't let it be like last time, Garrus. You all need to work together to stop them, I knowyou can."
"Not without you, damn it-"
"Garrus, please." Shepard cut him off. "My cybernetics are the only thing keeping me going right now, it can't be like last time."
"It won't be." You won't be alone this time.
Shepard gave him a shaky smile as he pushed a few stray pieces of hair from her face. "EDI will have some messages for you; one is for the mission – information only I've known until now, it'll help you get the council off their arses. The others are for you and Tali, I had them just in case I – fuck." She let out a groan of pain and
Garrus knew she didn't have long.
"I will fix this." He told her quietly. "I promise."
"No, no fixing. No Lazarus bullshit. I've had a second chance, don't you darelet Cerberus near me again." Shepard countered, tears running down from the corners of her eyes.
"I won't." Garrus pulled her closer, taking her hand in his, leaning down and resting his forehead against hers, it was cold.
Cerberus weren't going to fix this. He was.
"I've been so lucky to have more time with everyone, to have you." She finally said, squeezing his hand back as much as she could. "I love you, you know."
"Don't go." Garrus choked out. Turn back, turn back, turn back.
He barely heard the rest of the team yelling out to them, him,as they entered the top floor, as Shepards hand let go of his own - her body still and silent, eyes lifeless as he pulled himself back.
It was the first time he'd ever seen her look truly at peace.
Turnbackturnbackturnback.
"Garrus. Where is-"
Mordin stopped mid-sentence as Thane moved the cargo box aside, the four of them looking down in shock at the silent Turian holding their Commanders body. The last thing Garrus heard was Tail's anguished shriek as she pushed past the Professor.
The world began to shake, crackled around him and went white once more.