CHAPTER 36
The room... smelled different. The last few times she'd woken up in... a hospital bed, everything had smelled clean – too clean. Sterile. Not this time. The air still smelled clean... but with the slight undertone of... lilacs?
She flickered into consciousness. She tried to move but her body didn't feel like doing that. Okay, I guess I'm staying here for a while. It wouldn't be such a bad thing, after all. The air smelled great. She'd always been partial to the scent of coffee, chocolate, and vanilla... but man, lilacs were amazing, too. … It occurred to her that her lilac-obsessed train of thought wasn't normal – to her, at least. I think... I'm on something. I feel... kinda drugged up.
"How is she?"
That voice sounded familiar. Garrus? She tried to open her eyes... and failed. Bah, I'll get it next time.
"She's alive – which is saying something."
That was Doctor Chakwas. It all made sense now. She'd always smelled lilacs around that woman. Lilacs were fantastic.
"What do you mean?"
That one was Balint; no question. Balint... Just thinking of his name made her want to smile – but her mouth wouldn't cooperate. Stupid drugged-up face muscles.
"What I'm saying is that in one year – she's survived being shot at, an attempted decapitation... She barely escaped an exploding skycar – and now, a stabbing. Her medical file reads like a soldier's."
It does? Cool. No... not cool. I don't like pain. Pain is like a clingy, hump-everything varren. … 'ssstinks.
"She fights like one, too," Balint said, agreeing with the doctor. "She just fights... differently." His voice all of a sudden, sounded strangely subdued.
Garrus noticed it, too. "Will you be okay, Balint?"
"... I will be. She's alive, isn't she?"
Silence. Then... "I've never seen you like this."
"I've never been like this," Balint laughed mirthlessly. Chakwas coughed, who, like Rosemary, suddenly realized the direction the conversation was going.
Garrus and Balint didn't seem to hear her. Rosemary heard the door to the room slide open, retreating footsteps, and the door sliding closed. Had Chakwas just... left? Damn it... 'snot fair...
"... You love her, don't you?"
The room was silent again. Then... "... I think I do."
Oooookay, now this is awkward. This would definitely not be the right time to alert them to her conscious state. But she... was happy. He loves me? The thought sent warmth seeping into her bones. And she realized... I love him, too.
The tomboyish side of her instantly cringed at the onslaught of the softer, sappy feelings – but she didn't care. So... this is what love feels like. She found herself lost in the wonder of it. It wasn't at all how she'd imagined love would be. It wasn't like being struck like lightning or being consumed by a fire-like passion... Well, the fire-like passion kinda happens when we have sex, but other than that... It wasn't an all-consuming experience that she had been led to believe from others' accounts and from what she'd read. Love was... camaraderie, trust, and... the feeling of security and warmth one felt with another. She and Balint were not only lovers, but friends too. It that what makes this feel so... awesome?
She heard a pair of footsteps enter the room. A pair? Chakwas and... someone else?
"I'll be available to take calls soon, Wikeps. I need to take Fletcher's vitals."
"Someone else can do that," Wikeps said anxiously.
Wikeps... Wikeps... Oh! One of the salarian scientists. She sounded excited.
"Doctor Chakwas, we have a visitor."
The doctor sounded more than a little annoyed. "And like I said, I'm in the middle of something."
"Doctor... I think you'll want to meet her."
"Fine," Chakwas grouched. "Both of you – tell me when she wakes," she ordered Garrus and Balint. The room's doors opened and closed again after the doctor and scientist.
Rosemary counted to ten. It was now or never. She shifted, and let out a dull, rattly groan. She opened her eyes and smiled sleepily at the two turians. "Hey..."
Garrus and Balint stilled. Garrus looked to his friend. "... How long do you think she's been awake?"
Balint grinned and shook his head. "Judging by the splotchiness of her face – for a while."
Rosemary's entire body felt warm with embarrassment. She sat up. "How did you know?"
"You're a rotten actor," Balint said plainly.
"He's right," Garrus agreed, his grin unrepentent.
"You two are awful."
XOXOXOXO
A full hour passed before Chakwas came back. Garrus let the two of them alone while Balint brought her up to speed. Rosemary had so many questions.
"What happened to Grandma Vakarian?"
"Grandma...?" The turian shook his head. "She's been arrested. Her trial starts next week. The Council want this done and forgotten."
Rosemary could understand that; they were all politicans, after all. Politicians had a particular aversion to scandal, unless, of course, it had the potential for influential manipulation. "How long have I been out?"
"Two days." Balint's mandibles flared and set. "She stabbed you literally an inch away from your heart. We're lucky she was old and consequently, her aim was off."
"Yeah... lucky." Even with all that she'd been through the past months, knowing how close she had been to dying... again... was still jarring.
Balint tucked an errant curl behind her ear. "Hey, you're still with us."
Rosemary didn't want to think of how good if felt when he touched her. "And Imitha?"
Balint sighed. "A weeping mess," he said bluntly. "Her father sent her home last night and took a shift by your side. He's..." Balint hesitated.
Rosemary smiled wryly. "It's okay, Balint. He's my friend; he always will be."
Balint nodded. "He's showing indifference, but he is... mortified by his mother's actions. He had no idea Saeli had befriended her – and that she had been engaged by Saeli to take you out."
Rosemary grit her teeth. Her friendship with Saeli was beyond a thing of the past: it was dust. Evil bitch, she thought scathingly. Even she didn't know if she was referring to Saeli or Grandma Vakarian. Probably both. "And Castis' brother?" She couldn't quite recall his name...
"He's claiming innocence... but you can never be too sure," Balint said, making a face. "That reminds me... Castis wanted to see you when you woke up. He was glad when he learned you would make a full recovery." After a moment's hesitation, "I... was glad, too. I thought for sure, I would lose you this time."
Rosemary tried to make light of it, but her heart pattered at his words. "Hey, apparently I have nine lives."
"Nine... lives?"
Rosemary waved her hand. "Human saying."
"You and your sayings... You should play to your audience more," Balint chided. "You know – the alien one?"
She startled them both when she drew him down to kiss him on his mouth plates. Balint drew apart and stared at her, looking concerned. "Rose?"
She knew there were tears in her eyes. She didn't give a shit. "Thank you," she whispered.
"For what?"
"Loving me."
Balint's golden eyes softened. "Rose..."
The moment was abruptly cut short when Chakwas stalked back into the room. Rosemary frowned. "Doctor...?"
"Good, you're up," Doctor Chakwas said curtly, avoiding their gaze. She looked pale, and troubled; her hands were shaking.
Rosemary was immediately worried. What could shake the doctor like this...? "Karin?"
"We have a visitor. This is – you're about to get a visitor. Here. In this room," Doctor Chakwas told them. Rosemary had never seen anyone with such a calm and controlled personality so rattled.
"Who is it?"
A tall figure glided into the room with an almost ghostly grace. Rosemary froze with shock. Balint drew Rosemary closer and stared, with complete disbelief. "What in the Spirits is that?! Doing here?" He was beyond angry; he was confused, and in a state of furious, hostile outrage.
The 'visitor' was a husk. A tall one, with blue-streaked gray skin... and purple eyes. Rosemary couldn't even blink. It was a husk... wearing a sleek black uniform. "The... shit is this?"
XOXOXOXO
"I was given the name Executioner."
Okay, that does NOT make me feel better, Rosemary thought, still in shock. She had recovered enough to demand an explanation, however. God, even its voice sounds terrible. Dead, and... well, it's just very dead.
"Who are you? How did you...?"
"He was escorted," Chakwas answered her. "The Council sent him."
Oh, so it's a 'him'. She honestly hadn't able to tell that one. "Why would they...?"
"I have the answers you seek," the husk told her in that strange, cold voice. It almost had the sound of turian subharmonics, but... not. The vocal undertone in a turian's voice accentuated the emotions revealed in one's voice, but the husk's... retracted emotions. She had never heard a colder, more hollow sound before in her life. Her side throbbed; she repressed the urge to touch it. "I would not give them to this human woman until I had seen... you with my own eyes."
"Me?"
"You are the unforeseen byproduct of the husk conversion process. You... intrigue us."
"What...?"
The husk turned to Chakwas. "May I sit?"
From the look in the doctor's eyes, Rosemary could see that Chakwas would rather not let it do any such thing. Rosemary couldn't blame her; he was a talking husk, named Executioner. She would have lived the rest of her life quite happily without seeing another Reaper mutant. Still, this one spoke, and was promising answers. Rosemary spoke for Chakwas, "You may."
The husk sat in the chair at Rosemary's bedside. It took all her self-control not to shudder with revulsion and fear. I'm going to have that chair burned...
"As you know, our... what the organics called 'husks' are synthetic-organic creatures created from organic bodies. For millenia, we employed what your kind have named 'dragon's teeth' to convert the organic matter into a synthetic-organic blend. Over time, the body's organs, skin, and water content were converted into cybernetic materials."
"Yes, yes, we know all that," Rosemary said sharply, trying to to snap. She didn't want to hear this; she wanted this... thing to get to the useful bit already.
The husk studied her as she fought the urge to squirm, before continuing, "During the last few months of the War, the process was... reformed... refined, even, and was released by the Reapers attacking Earth."
"What... do you mean 'released'?"
"Your doctor has explained your experience to me. You were bitten by a husk meant for human conversion."
Rosemary felt sick. "What now?"
Chakwas took over, looking sick herself. "What he's saying, Fletcher, is that the husk that attacked you... was one of the husks meant to be walking versions of the Dragon's Teeth. It... managed to convert the Marine that rescued you, and the Marine became..."
Rosemary shook her head, overwhelmed. "Wait, how...?"
Executioner's nod was slow. "Your insides were meant to be devoured and your body, transformed into one more suited to our war efforts."
Rosemary could feel bile rise in her throat. Balint held her, and rubbed her arm. He glared at the husk; Rosemary was starting to shake in his arms. Chakwas shook her head. "My guess is that the husk only managed to infect your with whatever..."
"Yes," Executioner agreed. "But it still managed to damage your insides."
Chakwas' lips pursed. "From what I'm gathering, whatever was injected into you... managed to rewire several of your anatomical structures."
"The process was far from complete," Executioner interjected. "Instead, it appeared to have hollowed out and... prepared several sections of your brain."
Something clicked. "... It... prepared me to receive Keeya's energies." The discovery was staggering.
"A completely unforeseen consequence," Executioner mumbled, more to himself than anyone else.
Doctor Chakwas suddenly looked... ill. With the expression of someone catching the scent of vomit, the doctor looked to the husk. "I know you won't like this, Rosemary... Balint... but I must ask you, Executioner..."
"What is your question?"
"Can you do it again?"
