So many times had I seen the Citadel, but to see it in person was…breathtaking. It didn't taken long for us to reach the Widow system since the Aquila system has a mass relay. Looking out the window, the sight that met us was beyond beautiful.
Swirls of purple hid the station, giving you only glimpses of the station itself. Pass the nebula, however, and you will see the station in all its glory. The Citadel, capital of the galactic community, headquarters to the Council. It was overwhelming, to put it lightly.
"It's beautiful." A familiar voice said beside me.
"It's gorgeous." I replied to John, my eyes never leaving the sight. "Can you imagine how many people live there? Humans and aliens alike."
"Would you like to live there?" he asked after a small moment of silence had passed.
The question caught me off guard, not because he spoke suddenly, but because of what it could mean. As if reading my thoughts, John clarified.
"You know…in the crowded streets, the loud environment. Wouldn't it, I don't know, be too crowded?" he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Telltale sign of a nervous Shepard…
"It'd be the like back on Earth." I replied. "Only with aliens. What about you? Would you like to live there?"
"I-"
"All crew, prepare for docking. Get your credit chits ready for some three-day shore leave." The captain announced through the intercom.
"That's our cue." John said, pushing himself away from the window. "Where should we go first?"
"You say it as if you know your way around the place." I said, grabbing a bag where I had a packed a few essentials. After all, we were having a 3-day shore leave.
"Well… no." John said, slinging his own bag over his shoulder. "But I was looking around the extranet. There's a lot of sight-seeing to do. Starting today, we're going to tour the Citadel."
He looked so excited. And proud. He looked like a little boy that had gotten an A+ on an exam. It was quite endearing.
"C'mon, you." I chuckled. "Let's get going before the captain locks us in here."
"Whoa…"
"You can say that again…"
Exiting the airlock, we were met by the view of the Serpent Nebula once more. Its colors swirling and dancing as dozens of ships passed. The arms of the Citadel, the Wards, outstretched as far as the eye could see, its glowing lights shining like stars. Truly, this place was beyond beautiful. Never had I seen so much detail of it.
"It's quite the view, huh? Better than when we saw it on the ship." John commented.
"And a whole lot better than the vids." I remarked. "Come on, let's go before C-Sec throws us off the station."
Walking towards the elevator, I couldn't help but giggle. The elevators were infamous for their 'speed.' John gave me a sideways glance but said nothing as we boarded the elevator. Slowly, it began its descent, a quiet melody playing. Moments later…
"Jesus Christ! Can't this thing move any faster?!" John exclaimed, mashing the "Down" button on the panel.
"Maybe if you smash the button a few more times." I said, chuckling at John's predicament. "I'm sure that'll work out."
"Oh, ha-ha." John faux laughed. "You'd think these things would move faster, seeing as how many people live here."
"Calm down, John." I chuckled. "It's probably just this one. It must be broken or something. Besides, look." I pointed to the clear elevator door, glimpses of C-Sec showing. "We reached the end of your suffering." I joked.
"About time!"
The elevator came to an agonizingly slow stop and the doors swished open. Playing Mass Effect was one thing. Living in that universe was another thing. Blue lights filled the area as C-Sec officers came and went. Turians, asari, humans, salarians. It was a trail mix of species. It felt quite overwhelming, so many people in one place.
"So! Where to now?" I asked.
"Well, we're going to need a place to stay. You heard the captain, the Alliance wants it empty." He lifts his arm up, activating his omni-tool. "There's a hotel at one of the wards. Seems nice and it's not expensive. Let's head there." He began walking to the rapid transit terminal when a thought struck me.
Hotel…expensive… ah, crap.
"John, how are we going to pay the hotel? And anything else we want to purchase? The Alliance isn't paying us."
"We had a job before, remember?" he said, looking at the terminal. Yeah, what a great fucking job… "If there was a good thing we got out of that was money. Helena is bitch, but she's a well-paying bitch, I'll give her that."
The money we made with the Templars? What?
"The Alliance knew we were Knights. They must've searched for-"
"Nope." John said, turning to face me. "Either the Alliance didn't find the account or they didn't look. Whatever the case may be, we still have the accounts."
Holy crap! We're kinda rich. We didn't even touch the money we got, only occasionally.
"Come on, now." John said. "We got a Citadel to explore."
"A room for two, please."
A quick ride on a skycar (which still made me giddy since I loved the damn things), we made it to Zakera Hotel, named after the ward it's on. It was a nice place, not huge like the skyscrapers (space scrapers?) we saw on our way here, but it was still pretty big. The owner, elcor, was a jovial, friendly guy.
After getting our keys, we made our way up to the room. It was of a reasonable size, nothing fancy, nothing cheap. A refrigerator, a bathroom, a T.V. screen, a small table for two, and…a king-size bed? Didn't John tell the elcor it was a room for two? As in, you know, two separate beds? This…might get awkward.
"Well, here we are!" John exclaimed as he sat heavily on the bed. "Ooh, it's nice. A whole lot better than the bunks."
"Yeah…Cozy." I said, taking a seat on one of the chairs set at the table and putting my bag atop the table.
"What should we do first? Go shopping? Sight-seeing? Or do you want to rest?"
"I guess we can go sight-seeing. The wards seem like the best place to start. We could also buy more comfortable clothes while we're at it." I said, pointing at my Alliance fatigues.
"Something more casual would be nice." John chuckled. "The wards it is then."
The wards are amazing. Grand, elegant, splendid, and all the other words I cant think of right now. Every way you turned you would spot a store or warehouse. Aliens and humans alike filled the place, browsing and shop-keeping. Weapons, furniture, clothes, video games, car dealers, anything that you could possibly want, you could buy.
Walking down Zakera Ward, we spotted a clothing store, which we quickly entered. BDU's may be efficient, but they're not as comfortable as they look, especially if you just want to relax after three months on a do-nothing mission.
"Greeting, friends!" the owner greeted as we entered, a human. "Welcome to my shop! Were you looking for something in particular?"
"Not really." John replied. "we're just looking for some comfortable clothes."
"Ah, I have many comfortable clothes in stock! Look around, I'm sure you'll find what you need!"
And look around we did. They had quite a few things from Earth and from other human worlds. Most of it was the new galactic-wide look, a weird-looking dress, a very revealing top, way too short skirts. For some girls, this would be perfect, alas I've never been a 'girly-girl,' in this life or my past one. I am not a lady-like girl. If I were, I would probably have died when I figured out was this universe is.
Fortunately, they had a few 21st century clothes. A few awkward glances were thrown my way, giving me the impression that this 'look' isn't used as much anymore. I, however, don't mind since in my mind, jeans and a t-shirt will always be the universal look.
After grabbing a few pairs of dark blue jeans and some t-shirts, I met up with John at the register.
"What did you get?" I asked him.
"A few sweatpants, some t-shirts. You?"
"Pretty much the same things, jeans instead of sweatpants."
After paying and changing into much more comfortable clothes, John and I continued to peruse the Citadel. As we walked, we came across a familiar-looking bar.
"Let's get a drink." John suggested. Nodding in approval, we made our way inside.
Big fucking mistake.
The name of this place quickly raced back into my mind as soon as we stepped inside: Chora's Den. Not exactly the best place to be. Strippers and waitresses, both human and asari, sauntered about, serving drinks and getting a bit too friendly with customers.
John stood awkwardly next to me. "We can, uh, go to another place. If you want."
While this isn't exactly my go-to place to grab a drink, I could really use one.
"Why don't we grab a quick drink first?"
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" John asked hesitantly.
"Come on. Just one." I insisted.
Relenting, John began to walk with me to the bar.
"What can I get you?" the bartender asked, an asari in a very revealing suit.
"The strongest thing you have," John quickly answered.
As we sat down, I noticed John's face shaded with red.
This requires teasing…
"John, are you blushing?" I asked teasingly.
"What? No, its just… warm…in here."
"I'll bet." I smirked.
He blushed even harder and stuttered. "No! T-that's not what I meant! I just… I-"
"Your drinks." The bartender said, putting two glasses filled with a purple liquid in from to us. "Enjoy."
Before the asari even left, John grabbed the glass and downed it all in one gulp. He then ordered another.
"Don't overdo it. These girls want you sober." I teased once more. It's just so much fun to see him blush.
"You know I wouldn't, Sel." He said after downing the second drink. I hadn't even touched mine.
"Do you have any idea how much fun I'm having here? It's just absolute fun to make you blush. It's endearing."
"Great. Now I'm endearing."
"And adorable."
"What am I, a teddy bear?'
"I could hug you and have you around me all the time, telling you my secrets."
"But I already know your secrets." He smirked.
"Then I guess it's official: you're a teddy bear." I said, wrapping my arms around his neck as hard as I could.
"Sel… can't…breathe…"
"Teddy's don't complain." I sing-songed.
"A dead teddy…is a not…a good thing… Sel." He struggled.
"Oh, fine." I relented, letting him go. "You're not a very good teddy bear."
"You're not a very good teddy bear caretaker. Can we leave now?"
I pretended to contemplate, rubbing my chin with a thoughtful look on my face. "I suppose I've tortured you long enough. Let's go."
We left after John paid with his omni-tool. The whirring of cars passing below the walkway greeted us as we exited the bar. Deciding to take a quick shortcut through an alley, we turned left. The place seemed oddly familiar, but couldn't place it.
We entered the dimly lit alley, I felt…odd. There was a feeling I couldn't precisely place. It grew and grew as we made our way to the center of the alleyway.
"Do you feel that?" John suddenly asked. "There's…"
"Someone here…" I finished.
"Maybe we should-"
BAM!
A bullet zipped past us, barely missing our heads. John threw me to the side, taking cover behind a crate. Out of nowhere, he pulled out two pistols.
"Where the hell did you get that?!" I asked, the sound of bullets drowning out my voice.
"I brought them just in case!" he yelled. "Here!" He handed me one of the pistols. Years of training with the Knights and military training automatically kicked in.
Peeking out of my cover, I spotted two turians carrying assault rifles and four salarians with pistols. All of them were armored with light armor, so taking them out wouldn't be a challenge. Taking a deep breath, I stood and fired my gun, John following suit.
One.
Green blood splashed out as a bullet passed through a salarian's head.
Two, three, four.
Blue blood burst forth as an arm flew back, gagged noises coming from the dying turian.
I took cover again, waiting for the gun to cool down. Where's a thermal clip when you need one?
"C-Sec! Cease fire!" another, very familiar voice yelled. Peeking out of cover, I spotted a turian, armored in blue armor, pistol in hand, a blue visor covering one of his eyes. He began to open fire on the remaining enemies and, with our help, the thugs were defeated.
"Drop your weapons and put your hands where I can see them." The blue-armored turian ordered.
"We're Alliance." John said as we stood, hands up. "We're were attacked by these thugs."
Getting a much better of the turian, my heart leapt as I realized who it was.
"Garrus?!"
"How do you know me?" he asked skeptically, his pistol not wavering.
Shit.
You fucked this up big time now.
"I-"
"Vakarian, take them to the station." A voice ordered from behind Garrus, another turian.
I'd rather be arrested than trying to explain my big fuck up.
The processing was long. And absolutely boring. That is, until they found we were Alliance. We were stuck in a cell for an hour at least, John in a separate cell. After what seemed an eternity, a guard came and led me to the entrance of the station where John was waiting and, without another word, we were set free.
"Well… that was time-consuming." I commented awkwardly as the guard left.
"How did you know that C-Sec guard?" John asked, looking down at me.
Think, brain, think!
"I…Saw him in a report. A news article."
"Why did you act so…surprised to see him?"
"It…was an interesting article. Can we go to the hotel? This whole ordeal made me weary."
I began walking, not looking back. A strong hand stopped me, grabbing me gently at the arm.
"You know I don't believe you, right?" John said.
I should've known he wouldn't buy it…
"Look… I… I can't tell you. All I can tell you is that this is just the beginning of a shit storm."
Pulling out of his grasp, I began walking again.
AN: Oh. My. Goodness. I finally got to writing this. I want to apologize for taking three months or so to get around this, but with A New Beginning and school and other RL shit, I just didn't have time. But, I am back (hopefully) and will try to update more often. I posted this on my profile, but if you want to know when updates will (or won't) be coming, you can check out a Twitter I made exclusively for fanfiction. selena_shepard is the thingy so you can check out things there. I haven't put anything there yet, but I'll be able to inform y'all about the stories. Anyway, this has gone far too long. I'll work on the next chapter as soon as I can.
Also, thanks a billion for all that reviewed, followed and/or fav'ed while I was gone. You, along with my long time followers, are awesome!