I'm honestly surprised how many people asked for the return of Garrus and Cynthia. Really I was concerned I didn't write that couple well enough. But at last, here it is.

Cynthia waited patiently in the Kodiak shuttle, her mind occupied by the dazzling possibilities of what she might be able to learn. Well, the dazzling possibilities being one of two things-Garrus had survived a full out Reaper assault on Palaven and was leading a resistance, being hailed as a hero amongst the Hierarchy or... well, the other was one she found herself concerned with multiple times in the past few days. She had lost contact with Garrus last week.

She felt her hand idly brush against the metal of the eyepiece Garrus had given her when he left the Normandy for Palaven. Engraved in it were the names of his eleven squadmates from Omega-with Sidonis' scratched out-Shepard's full name on the side, and her own name carefully and painstakingly engraved next to Shepard's. There wasn't a centimeter of unoccupied space on it, all filled with memories of the dead and beloved.

The shuttle doors opened and a voice came over the intercom. There were husks running alongside the jagged terrain of Menae. Shepard prepared to grab control of the turret, but Cynthia patted him on the shoulder, "I got this."

She booted up the holographic projectile accuracy assistance program in Garrus' eyepiece and put her hands on the side of the turret. She took a deep breath and began to fire. Each bullet pierced the skull of one of the humanoid abominations. Shepard's assistance with his assault rifle wiped up the few enemies she didn't get to as the turret overheated. All six of them-Shepard, Cynthia, EDI, Liara, James, and Ashley-stepped onto the surface of Menae. Shepard banged his gauntlet on the shuttle and Cortez took off.

All of them had helmets on and were armed to the teeth with enough weaponry to down an army of husks. However, the confidence this inspired vanished quickly as they all took notice of a jagged orange scar across the face of Palaven.

Shepard murmured, "Jesus..." Ashley bowed her head and Cynthia preferred to ignore the implications of what she was seeing. Liara took the chance to explain to James, "We have a friend there."

Shepard nodded and they began to march forward to the outpost ahead of them. As they entered the camp an 'atmosphere' materialized and they all took off their helmets. Shepard looked around, finding the turian commanding others about while he was bent over a terminal.

Shepard walked over and nodded, "I need Primarch Fedorian."

The turian, clearly appreciating Shepard's curtness, glanced at him and returned to the console, "Shepard. I'm General Corinthus. Fedorian's dead."

Liara interjected, "The turian Hierarchy has clear lines of succession, who is next in command?"

Corinthus sighed, "Normally the lines of succession are clear but now... Jesus, at this rate Vakarian is gonna be the next primarch."

Cynthia stepped forward at that, "Garrus, Solana, or Acaril?"

"Garrus."

Shepard smirked, "Where is the turian sonuvabitch?"

Corinthus ignored Shepard's phrasing, "I don't know. The comms are down. Think you can handle it? The zone is overrun with enemies." Shepard pulled out his assault rifle. "Point me in the right direction.

Shepard and his squad returned to Corinthus victorious, their task easily accomplished. Shepard nodded at Corinthus on approach, "Who is the next Primarch and where is Garrus Vakarian?"

"Your man is General Adrien Victus. Tough military man, plays fast and loose with the rules. I'll send you his coordinates, but the path is filled with Reaper ground forces, you might need backup. And as for Vakarian-"

"I can take them to Victus."

Cynthia felt an unstoppable grin appear on her face. She turned around to see a turian in silver armor with blue trim. "Take off that helmet."

"Why? What are you gonna do to me?"

"So many things."

"Well I-"

"Take the damn helmet off."

"Right!" The turian lifted his hands to his head, the helmet coming off and at long last, for the first time in over a year, they saw Garrus Vakarian. Clearly he had been slacking off on his burn ointments and other remedies-his scars, while smaller, were prominent. Cynthia threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into a deep kiss."

Garrus pulled back from the kiss and put his forehead to hers, "I missed you. The eyepiece looks good on you."

She noticed an absence on his face, "And the lack of an eyepiece on you looks weird. You never took it off. Not even when we-"

"Whoa! You can do that later! Or never!" Shepard interrupted.

James cocked his head and just stared at the interspecies duo, "She just... kissed him... Dude has mandibles! How the hell..."

Cynthia, her arms still wrapped around Garrus' neck, turned to look at him, "Wouldn't you like to know. Garrus, you can lead us to Victus?"

"I can. Good to see you guys."

Ashley raised an eyebrow, "The fuck happened to your face?"

The now seven trained professionals stormed down the path to Victus. Shepard grunted as he pulled himself up a rock ledge, "So I need the turians, among others, for a summit."

Garrus looked up at Palaven, "Is it like this on Earth?"

"Worse."

"Spirits... You see that large orange scar, the big one? I was born there. Last I heard Solana and my father were still there."

Cynthia cast a glance at the ground, looking at Shepard for a moment. Their mother had-last they heard-been promoted to Rear Admiral, but other than that several months ago, they had no news.

Garrus shot a worried look at Liara, then asked Shepard, "Where's Tali?"

"No idea."

"Does she know you're... you know."

"Dying? No she does not."

Ashley and James halted at this. Shepard stopped and sighed, "I forgot to mention that, didn't I? I'll explain later, come on."

The team finally approached Victus' encampment. Seeing a turian soldier gripped by one of the monsters that had been identified as a brute, Shepard whipped out his monomolecular blades, "Check this out Garrus." The turian witnessed as Shepard biotically flung himself into the brute, severing the turian head from the body with one sword and using another to slice through the arm about to crush a turian soldier to death.

Under his breath Garrus whispered, "Damn show off."

Cynthia shrugged, "You get used to it pretty quick."

The remaining six Normandy members charged the encampment, ripping through the shielding and subsequently the synthetic flesh of the mutated abominations before them-husks, marauders, cannibals and brutes alike fell to the approaching onslaught of firepower. Shepard whirled from one enemy to the other, decapitating and blasting them apart in a single graceful, fluid movement.

As the last brute fell, a red-armored turian stepped down from one of the fortifications, "I've got to hand it to you Vakarian, I tell you to get a brute off my men and you bring me Commander Shepard."

Garrus smirked, "Thought it might be convenient to let him come along."

Shepard rolled his eyes, "Let me? Great."

Victus turned his attention to the human, "What brings you to Palaven Shepard?"

"I'm putting together a summit. We need to unify if we're going to stop the Reapers, and we need cooperation to do that. Fedorian is dead, and you're the new Primarch."

Victus staggered backwards as if he'd been struck by Shepard's words, "Me the Primarch... Negotiating on behalf of the turian Hierarchy... But I can't just leave my men here to-"

"The battle is won on the field, but if nothing changes you being here won't help. Trust me, I know how much it hurts to hear this, but you're more useful to your people in a boardroom than fighting besides them. That's the only way this-" Shepard gestured to the area around them, Reaper troop forces around them as Reaper Harvesters soared through the air, "-can end. Your people need you."

Victus cast a downward glance, "... Alright. Vakarian, I presume you're accompanying us?"

"Couldn't stop me if you wanted to."

"I'm quite certain of that. Shepard, get a shuttle over here and let's go."

Shepard pinched the bridge of his nose, this was ridiculous. Wrex, Victus, and Dalatrass Linron were just arguing fruitlessly. He let go and slammed his fist on the table, "ENOUGH! Victus, you need relief on Palaven. Wrex, what will it take to make this happen?"

Wrex stared down Shepard, "I'll tell you what I need Shepard. A cure. For the genophage."

"Shit. He might as well have said he needs a vorcha pacifist."

Linron reeled backwards, "Abso-lutely OUT of the question! Without limits, your people-"

Shepard stared her down until she froze and stopped talking. "Thank you. Now, Dalatrass, I have a question for you. Has Sur'Kesh been hit by the Reapers yet?"

"Well no but-"

"Salarian military strategy DOESN'T WORK on Reapers! There is no intelligence to gather, no way to play them against each other. If you don't support this then you will find yourself isolated as the Reapers bear down on your planet. With the turians and krogan on your side however, you might just have a fighting chance."

Victus shook his head, "It's a moot point, it would take years to synthesize a cure to the genophage."

Wrex grinned, "A month."

This caught the attention and forced the silence of everyone in the room. "There are fertile krogan females on Sur'Kesh, survivors of experiments by a salarian named Maelon. One who grew a conscience."

Shepard frowned and interjected, "His methods were barbaric. You know there are fertile females on Sur'Kesh?"

"I do. At an STG base located-" A holographic map of Sur'Kesh appeared from the table and rotated, "-here."

The Dalatrass looked shocked, "Where did you get this information!?"

"I have my sources."

"You are not-"

Shepard glared at the Dalatrass, "If curing the genophage is what we have to do for the support of the krogan, then that is what we will do. We don't have a choice, Dalatrass. You don't have a choice."

The Dalatrass returned his glare and tapped the holographic globe, "I will authorize it now." As the trio of Wrex, Shepard, and Victus left for the war room she yelled after them, "A bully has few friends when he truly needs them Commander!"

He turned and quipped, "Wouldn't you know."

Garrus held Cynthia in his arms in the main battery, "It's good to be home."

She looked up at him, "It wasn't home without you."

He looked around the battery, "Where's the cot we had installed in here?"

Cynthia walked to the back of the battery room, "They moved it. I managed to convince them it was a necessity so someone could keep track of and maintain the weapons systems." She pulled out a cot from the wall. "Care to join me?"

Shepard sat patiently at his desk. Finally his door opened, Liara T'Soni walking in. "Liara. I need to talk to you."

Liara shrugged, "Well you invited me up here, I figured it wasn't to show me your models. Speaking of which, where they?"

"I have no idea, for some reason they're scattered around the ship." Shepard stood up and looked Liara up and down. He walked past her and took a deep breath, "Do you remember what Benezia said when we met here on Noveria? About indoctrinration?"

Liara felt a chill up her spine at the subject, "... His teeth are on my ears-his fingers on my spine... I... Why are you bringing this up Shepard?"

He began to pace back and forth in front of his bed, "What I'm about to ask you... You're not going to like it, but I need you to listen to me. And I need you to do it."

Liara bit her lower lip and nodded, "What?"

Shepard sat down on the end of his bed, "I... The Reapers are... I can feel them. I can feel their influence worming its way into my mind. I don't know what thoughts are mine and what I just think are mine. Every time I move I have to question what I'm doing, how I thought of it, why it's the right move. And I can't keep doing this."

Liara cast her eyes down and returned them to Shepard, "How bad is it?"

Shepard bluntly responded, "I'll probably be insane before I die from my organs failing."

"I... What do you need?"

Shepard sighed and stared intently at Liara's eyes, "Liara you've known me longer than most. I've always trusted you. When I died you worked tirelessly to bring me back, I know you'll follow my every command. I need you to stop. I don't want to do this to you, but I need you to... monitor me. By the time I'm indoctrinated I'll probably be too far gone to notice. I need you... I need you to..."

Liara's eyes widened in surprise and realization, "You want me to kill you. By the Goddess Shepard..."

Shepard maintained his steely gaze, not averting his eyes for a second, "When the time comes I need someone to stop me."

"I... I... Shepard I can't-"

"Liara when I'm far enough gone it won't be me anymore. It'll be some collection of artificial will wearing my body. And at that point, you would be sparing me. I know it would... I know you might hesitate. But I believe you have the will to do what no one else could. The others... Ashley would feel guilty, not knowing if she was right because of how she mistakenly doubted me before. Vega would want me to fight it when I'm beyond help. Cynthia and Garrus... I don't think they could do it. You're the only person I trust to do this Liara. And I know that when the time comes you'll do the right thing. When the time comes you're the person I trust to make that call."

Liara gave Sheparrd a shocked stare, averting her eyes from him as he spoke. "I... I can't..."

Shepard stood up and wrapped his arms around Liara, "I know. I don't want to make you do this, but I don't have a choice. I need someone to keep an eye on everything I do." He pulled back and put his hand on her shoulder, "I need you Liara."

She nodded and hastily left the room while Shepard fell back into bed. They would be at Sur'Kesh in a few hours, and he didn't want to fall into the agony that sleep now brought daily. He was left little choice though, as soon the darkness consumed him and he was pulled under.

Tali should be here in a few chapters. Maybe two. Also GARRUS IS BACK!