Note: Here it is: the final (and lengthy) chapter of Before the Storm. I hope you enjoyed this spectacle, and look forward to- well, that'd be spoiling, now wouldn't it..?
Time Elapsed: 1 month, 3 weeks, and 4 days (TCU)
"Shepard? …Shepard!" Shepard broke out of his daze, looking over to Clint at the front desk. "Phone for you."
Shepard dragged his way over to his colleague, positioning the device next to his ear. "…Hello..?"
"It's done," Ken said over the airwaves. "Everything's ready to go."
"Yeah?"
"Yes. And I spoke with Clint; he filled me in on what this is for, so I hope you don't mind if we made a few adjustments."
"No, no that's fine. As long as it flies."
"Well, the thing is, we're not positive it'll fly. The engine fires up, but we can't exactly launch it until tonight." Ken sighed, which came as a rush of static. "Sorry again, Shepard…"
"Don't be… Not for me…"
"I'll see you later, then. We've got a lot of work to do before tonight, and not a lot of time to do it."
"Later, Ken." He hung up, handing the handset back to Clint.
"Well?"
"…It's ready. We don't know if it'll actually work, but restoration is complete."
"Great. Now…" Clint handed the checkout sheet to Shepard, "Go ahead."
Shepard signed the page, granting him permission to see Tali out of the clinic indefinitely. "Thanks…" he said, handing the folio back before heading to Tali's room.
Although the walk to the quarian's chamber was a short one, Shepard felt as though he'd never endure such a trek for as long as he lived. He knocked on the door, waiting the brief amount of time it took for Tali to let him in. "Hey, Tali," he said, a mask of happiness shrouding his current gloom.
"Good morning, Shepard," she replied, genuinely happy that her favorite human had come to see her.
"Do you wanna… maybe… do something today?"
"Sure. I'd love to."
"And you know what? Why don't we make today special? Just you, me, and a day on the town."
"Sounds perfect."
"Alright," he said, offering his hand. "Let's go."
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Their day started with breakfast, of course. Tali, unable to eat human food, snacked on a bit of food preserves she'd brought with her. Shepard had eggs and bacon, and was presently telling an amusing story. "…So then, Mark thought it would be funny to lower the platform! I was trapped for a full hour and a half while they got the backup generator to get it off me!"
"No way!"
"Yeah!"
"How could he? Why would anyone want to do that to you?" She slapped her hand onto the table in mock frustration. "You're too nice to pick on!"
"Well, around here, being too nice is basically like saying: 'Hey! Kick me, pinch me, push and shove me!' You get it."
"No, I don't." Tali crossed her arms. "Are humans always that mean to one another?"
"Sometimes, but when it's friends picking on each other, it shows they care. When friends don't fight is when you know something's wrong. …Yeah, I've never been able to understand it."
"I don't think I ever will, either." They shared a laugh, finishing their breakfast before heading out once more.
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Next on the agenda, they decided to take a stroll through Main Street, which was nearly finished after the calamity that occurred there nearly four months ago. All-in-all, things were starting to look normal again. Save for the incomplete buildings dotting the sides of the road. "Keelah, I can't believe how quickly they started fixing everything," Tali breathed.
"I know… It seems like just yesterday you crash landed into my life." Shepard paused, noting a near-complete three-story building. "…And into the department store."
Tali snickered, but caught herself quickly. "I shouldn't laugh. What happened here seriously impacted the lives of everyone here." They both paused, noticing the 'impact' pun she'd unintentionally made just then, and chuckled. She looked up at him, sighing to alleviate herself of the giggles. "Do you remember how I said that you're the nicest human I've ever met?"
"Yeah?"
"I originally meant that it was because of the others, how little they like me for destroying town. But I realized that that wasn't the sole reason, or even the biggest one. The biggest reason was because I'd discovered just how nice you can be. You're smart, funny, kind…" She hugged him, continuing, "…warm inside as well as out," she looked back up, and Shepard met her gaze, "and I don't believe you'd do anything to hurt me. I feel safe with you around, like I have someone watching over me; someone who would do anything to keep me happy; who would break down when I cry; who would never want me to even think of being sad." She snuggled into his chest, and could pretty easily hear his heart accelerate.
Shepard felt a tear run down his cheek. He wiped it away, and checked the time. There were still five hours until they needed to be at the impound, and it took two to get there on foot from the clinic, three from Shepard's house, and one from their next destination. Shepard knew where they were headed next, and it would take two hours to get there from where they were at.
He whispered, "There's one last place I want you to see."
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Shepard led Tali through a maze of trees, being careful to plot the safest route there. If something were to tear her suit, she could die from the exposure, and Mindoir didn't exactly have the cleanest air in the galaxy. "Why," Tali grunted, stamping around another ivy-covered spruce tree, "are we even going up here? I saw from the bottom, there's nothing to find."
"It's not what you see looking up," Shepard replied, exiting the woods at the top of the hill. "It's what you see when you look down."
Tali joined him, kicking some mud from the bottom of her boot. "That doesn't make any…" she was awestruck by the sight. Here, at the top of the steppe, one could look out over the city, where lights glowed sparsely across the buildings, giving a soothing feeling as the ocean reached out in the distance. "Wow…"
"Sometimes, I come up here to unwind on my days off. I just sit back, take in the view, and forget all the bad things that happen." He sat down and offered her a seat next to him. She accepted, seating herself comfortably as the sun dipped toward the western horizon, bathing the sky in orange and purple light.
"It's beautiful…"
Shepard took the chance to be just a bit corny by replying, "Second to you."
She giggled. "Now that's not fair!" she joked, "You haven't seen my face yet."
"You're right," he conceded. He sat back, admiring how Tali looked at twilight. "Maybe someday..?"
"…Maybe."
Shepard watched the light from the sun fade in the last few seconds of day before rising. "Well," he said glumly, "it's time to go…"
"It is late, isn't it?" Tali confirmed. She stood, facing Shepard. "So, I'll see you at the clinic tomorrow?"
Shepard slowly shook his head.
Tali faltered, "W-Why not?"
"Because…" he began the march back down the knoll, "…we're not going back to the clinic."
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Tali hesitantly followed Shepard through town. He hadn't said much since the hill, so she decided he mustn't want to talk. But the silence was too much for her to bear, so she piped up, "Where are we going?"
Shepard didn't immediately respond, instead wiping his eyes before replying, "It's… It's just something you need to see."
Tali caught him by the arm, spinning him around to face her. "Shepard, I can tell you're upset with something, but if you don't tell me where we're going, I refuse to move another step! So please, just tell me…"
Shepard wiped his eyes again, and Tali could see he was crying. He turned again, continuing the trek while he spoke. "Clint… He figured out the reason I visit you so often. He wagered that I liked you. He didn't know at the time, but he was right. Truth is, you're the best thing to ever happen to me…"
"Shepard…"
"…And, at the same time, you're the worst… When I first saw you, while you were unconscious, I was heartbroken at what your people had been through: the geth, exile, general dismay, low tolerance… So I volunteered at the clinic, just so I could help you. I felt I was doing a great deal to help, yet I knew that wasn't true. When you finally awoke…" he looked back, making sure Tali was still following. "…When you finally awoke, I was overjoyed. I truly believed I'd contributed to the continuation of someone's life. I continued to visit, even after my volunteer work, and sorted out the mess that was my emotions.
"When you talked, I felt warm; when you laughed, I was ecstatic; when you cried, I would die inside until you were happy again. When Clint started letting me check you out of the clinic, I was more than happy, and jumped on the first chance I got… The next month, he said it was time for you to go…"
"'Go..?'" Tali asked.
"Leave… bon voyage… And it killed me…" He wiped the tears from his eyes once more. "So, I went to the garage I normally work at, and got them to do this." They arrived at the impound hangar, where the very ship Tali came in sat, intact and ready for launch. Over to the side, there was a bright banner reading "Goodbye, Tali" slung above a table, where Clint sat with two engineers, holding an envelope with a ribbon around it.
Tali nearly broke down. "You did this all… for me..?"
"Well," Clint said, approaching with the gift-wrapped note in hand, "not strictly for you, but mostly so."
The female engineer spoke up, "We also did this for Shepard's sake."
"He's been missing days at work to see you," continued the male mechanic.
"He can't focus on what he needs," Clint iterated, "when he can't let go of what he wants." He handed Tali the sachet before returning to his seat.
Tali's hands began to shake as she opened the envelope, pulling out a bright yellow card. It read: "Goodbye…" and when she opened it, she started to sob. Inside, the little slip of paper read: "We'll miss you."
Handwritten at the bottom was a message from Shepard himself:
Tali,
If you're reading this, then it's time. I don't want any bad memories of you, and I hope the same for you. If this truly is our last goodbye, I just want you to remember me when you're gone.
Keelah se'lai,
Love,
John
Tali wept, going to Shepard for comfort. He embraced her, neither of them wanting her to go. Shepard finally looked down into her eyes, his own welled with tears. "It's time…"
"I'll miss you, John…" she sobbed.
He kissed her, his lips futilely pressing against the glass of her helmet. Although she knew he wouldn't be actually kissing him, Tali pulled him in closer, pressing her own lips against his through the opaque sheen that separated them. They stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity before parting.
Clint spoke up. "You two realize you get virtually nothing from that, right?" This comment earned him an elbow from both engineers, who walked over to the pair for a group hug.
"I'll miss you too, Tali…" Shepard said.
Clint cleared his throat, grabbing everyone's attention. "Look, Shepard…" he sighed. "I guess she doesn't have to go right now. Why don't we give you two a little more time to say goodbye? I don't want to spoil what you have just yet."
"…No…" Tali said.
"Tali..?" Shepard inquired.
She looked up to him, the silver illuminations that were her eyes pushing to show determination through her helmet. "I have to go. If I don't, I may never find anything to bring back home. Quarians leave on their pilgrimages to find goods and information to aid the Flotilla. That's the whole reason I even left…" She embraced John Shepard of Mindoir one final time. "So I have to go… But I promise I will never forget you…" She turned to address everyone. "…Any of you."
Tali turned, walking to the small craft that would hopefully work well enough to free her of the planet's gravity. "…Wait…" Shepard approached her, pulling a small piece of burned paper out of his pocket and handing it to the quarian. "After the crash, they found this on you. I figured it was important to you, so I hung onto it."
She unfolded the slip, seeing now a photo of everyone from her birth ship bidding her a fond farewell, including her father. "…Thank you…" she said, stowing the picture before climbing aboard the familiar vessel. The cockpit was better than new; it had a gel-padded seat, voice activated controls, and an up-to-date galactic map. Funny, she thought. They fixed the map that nearly got me killed… She looked out of the front window, seeing everyone file out… everyone but Shepard, who waved her a last goodbye before following the others. "I'll miss you…" she whispered, starting the engines.
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"Everyone, stand back," Ken warned. "Those jets are going to fry everyone in here unless you do."
As per instructions, everyone left the hangar. The only people left were Tali in the ship and Shepard on the ground. He waved her goodbye one last time and exited.
Shortly thereafter, Tali's ship launched, burning a trail of smoke high into the sky in her wake as she ascended beyond the atmosphere. …I miss her already, Shepard thought solemnly. He shoved his hands into his pockets and headed home.