The Death of a Vigilante: Goodbyes

The resistance was high. They were surrounded. The Reapers were throwing everything they could at them. Shepard knew they were doing this on purpose. The only way to eliminate their threat is to make sure it was taken out. Waves of husks and geth, pushing them further and further back, they were outnumbered and needed an escape route.

"Shepard!" Garrus screamed over the rapid shots being fired at them. "We might be able to buy ourselves some time if we collapse the ceiling."

"Good idea," she nodded, giving him the command to set up the explosives.

"Buy me some time!" he ran to the door and began setting up the device.

Shepard and Thane set up behind a barricade. The drell took out each enemy charging towards him, their bodies flopping atop each other. Shepard had her assault rifle firing non-stop, changing out the heat clips faster than her gun could handle. Then she heard the distinguishing sound, one that haunted her many times before.

"ARMATURE!" she yelled. The stunning steel legs glistened in the distance, gaining ground as it ventured towards her team. They had to close the pathway… and fast. She saw it gathering itself to prepare for its attack, the blue light building.

"Shepard, the charge is set!" the turian confirmed.

"Get back here Garrus, NOW!"

As he ran towards her, he was unaware of the blue laser aimed right at him.

"Garrus! Watch out!" she screamed but she was too late. The laser hit the area dead on. Dust kicked up and engulfed around her turian companion. When the explosion went off, debris went flying everything and clouded their vision. The shockwave hit them with such force, it sent them stumbling backwards.

"Garrus?" she cried but the ringing in her ears made it difficult to hear anything.

The dust parted and her eyes rested upon his lifeless blue armor, lying on the ground. A puddle of his blue blood accumulating beneath him, turning black as it seeped into the grainy dirt.

"Garrus!" she ran to his side and frantically turned him to face her. Tears welled up in her golden eyes, concealed by the safety of her helmet's visor.

Gasping loudly, his weak voice begged for forgiveness, "I'm sorry, Reby."

"It's going to be okay, stay with me," she pleaded, immediately patching a line to the Normandy, "Joker, I need a pickup ASAP! We have a team member down!"

"Aye Commander."

Returning her devoted attention to the loved one in her arms, she "Come on Garrus, stay with me, don't close your eyes."

"Shepard," he coughed, the air running thin, "I love you."

His eyes closed and he became limp within her arms. His vitals still lingered but only barely. Shepard knew time was slim and the longer he was away from the safety of the Normandy, the faster her companion would perish.

Sitting quietly outside the Medical Bay was proving difficult for the sturdy Commander. She wanted to burst through the doors and rush to her bondmate's side. The minutes turned into two grueling hours, triggering her separation anxiety to pulse violently through her thoughts. The sliding of the bay's door perked her attention but all that exited was a dishearted elderly doctor. Chakwas strode towards the anxious woman and rested her hand on her should. Her eyes said it all… she did everything she could but his time was growing short.

Storming through the open doors, Reby's heart immediately sank when she saw Garrus. Every kind of instrument was plugged in and beeping loudly, a reminder of his dwindling vitals. The bedside was covered in bandages soaked from his blood and she fought every urge to break down.

He turned his head towards his visitor, his eyes glowed when he saw the Commander nearing, "Tell me, how bad is it?"

"You're going to be fine," she choked up.

"Liar," he coughed.

Reby came to his side and could no longer hold back the tears, crying out, "I should have left you on the Normandy!"

"You know I wouldn't have stayed."

"Garrus, you can't leave me."

"I'm not, I'm always going to be right here," using every bit of strength, he raised his hand and placed it over her heart.

"But I can't do this alone," she clasped onto his hand tightly, "I can't do this without you."

"Sure you can, not as stylishly of course."

Shepard attempted to chuckle at the same remark he made on their reunion after Omega but the breaths became sobs.

"Before I say goodbye…" the turian's piercing blue eyes no longer had the energy to restrain the tears pouring down his cheek.

"No, no goodbyes. I'll kill you if you die on me," she protested.

He attempted to laugh but added to the strain on his chest, "Ow… I guess I can't laugh anymore. Reby, I have something I want to give you."

Garrus slowly took off his visor and placed it in Shepard's hands. Wrapping his fingers around hers and closing them around the gift, he commented, "There are some songs I want you to listen to on there."

"Why don't we listen to them together?" she asked, begging for any bit of

"I…" his gasping became louder, "I love you, Reby."

"I love you too, Garrus," she rushed to his lips and kissed him passionately. Their tears exchanged as the warmth slowly departed from his mouth. She watched with swollen eyes as he slowly closed his eyes to this world. Unable to control herself, she collapsed by the bed with her hand still grasping onto his. Loudly sobbing into the sheets that contained her loved one, she refused to move. No one dared to enter the Medical Bay… otherwise they received her bright renegade eyes forcing them to leave.

Commander Shepard sat alone in the front row of the memorial, vacantly staring at the metal coffin housing her mate. She was dressed in complete battle armor, daring the Reapers to try and ruin this final goodbye. Her helmet sat in the chair next to her with Garrus's Mantis sniper rifle propped up near it. She held his visor firmly between her hands, occasionally running her finger across the smooth ridges.

Glaring out of the corner of her eye, she peered around the room to see who entered. Many came to pay their respects but none were brave enough to go near the coffin. They knew if they wanted to continue living to not cross her path. She recognized a few turians who sat in the crowd, like Chellick and Executor Pallin, but there were two she has never seen before. One had a striking resemblance of her fallen companion and triggered every bit of emotion to rush to her eyes. Shepard knew this must have been his sister, Solana, and the one standing near her had to be his father.

One by one, the room slowly emptied until there was only three remaining… Shepard and the Vakarians. Garrus's father approached the whimpering woman and placed his hand on her shoulder. She glared at the hand and then up at the elderly turian. He could see the redness in her eyes, swollen and bloodshot from the many tears she cried for his son.

"Commander Shepard, I just wanted to let you know that I am happy my son found you. He couldn't have found a better mate. You have given him honor and I respect you for that. It's too late for me to patch my relationship with Garrus but I want you to know that you are welcomed to come visit us at any time," he removed his hand and began walking away, "And Shepard… thank you for what you did for my wife."

Solana rushed up to Shepard and wrapped her arms around her as best as she could, squeezing the soft human against her firm turian chest. Reblicah had difficulty looking at her… she looked too much like him.

"I couldn't have asked for a better sister-in-law," her raspy voice confessed, sounding so similar to his.

As she proceeded to leave with her father, the Commander sat motionlessly for another three hours. Breathing deeply and fighting every urge of her tears, she couldn't find the will to leave. This all seemed too surreal… she and Garrus were supposed to fight together until the bitter end… not like this.

Finding the strength to finally mobilize herself, she treaded towards the coffin containing her companion. She placed her hand on top of it and immediately grew weak. Collapsing to her knees, her fingernails clawed at inanimate object in hopes that it would awaken the corpse within.

She propped her back against the metal prison and began sobbing her heart out, speaking to his lifeless remains, "You hear that Garrus, your father is proud of you. Even your sister came. She looks so much like you. Such a pity it takes extreme measures to bring us together. That doesn't give this world very much hope, huh. I will avenge you, don't you worry about that, they thought that I was pissed then, they haven't seen me now. You told me once that when turians die you just spend your time at some big bar in the sky… well, don't have too many drinks without me. I will be joining you soon but not until every single one of those bastards pays in blood for your death. You can call me crazy when I get there but I am going to spend every day talking to you… think of it as returning the favor. And who knows, maybe they'll resurrect you just like they did for me and we can escape somewhere and live peacefully as vigilantes…"

Without another word, Shepard's smile turned wicked. She stormed out of the memorial screaming, "Close that bar tab, Garrus. I'll see you soon!"