Mindoir - 2170
I collapse to my knees, panic swelling around me. They're dead because of me. I killed someone. My brother tries to say something, the words muffled by his gag, and it brings me back to right now, how much danger we're still in. I turn around and untie him.
"It's okay, it's okay. Right now we just need to focus on getting out of here." He says, shaking me lightly.
"But wait, what about mom and dad?" I ask, looking over to their lifeless forms.
"There's nothing we can do, they're...they're gone." He says, choking back tears.
He releases me to pick up the dead batarians weapons and hands me a pistol. We walk over to the door and he opens it, peeking around the corner. Slipping into the hallway, he motions to follow him. He stops in front of a door, kneeling in front of the console, his omni-tool sputtering to life.
"Almost got it..." He mutters.
Suddenly a blaring alarm goes off and shouting from down the hall can be heard. He curses as his finger fly across the console and his omni-tool. The door opens as the voices get closer, sunlight streams inside the hall.
We run across the threshold and through the open cargo bay door. Shots go off as we run and my brother yelps in pain as a bullet pierces his leg. I pull him behind a tree, bullets nailing the tree.
He grunts in pain as I rip his pant leg up to see the damage. The bullet hit him in the thigh and is still lodged in his leg.
"Asara, you need to leave me. I'll slow you down. Go, escape, live. For the both of us. I know what I have to do." He says, grasping my hands in his.
"No, I can't. I need you, I don't know what to do without you. Please, Nathan, don't do this." I plead, tears overflowing as I try to keep his hands in mine.
"I love you." He says, standing & kissing the top of my head before he turns and limps out into the open.
I scream his name out and watch his body jerk as bullets pierce him. I know I should run but I can't pull myself away and leave him. He falls and I tear my eyes away and run into the forest. There is a pain in my chest that grows in strength the farther I move away from my brother, my last friend and family. It feels as if I've forgotten something, a piece of myself is missing. Gone forever.
I don't know how long I run, but the light has faded from the world when I crawl into a fallen tree. I curl up around myself as reality settles around me.
I am completely alone for the first time in my life.