Chapter 45: Tragedy

The air in around the ground team on the shuttle ride from Tuchanka back to the Normandy was thick and heavy with sorrow. All of them had watched sacrifices and death; ones that could have been prevented. All of them kept to themselves any bickering about how the mission could have gone better, or how they could have saved those that were lost.

Garrus looked across from him to Shepard and saw that her eyes were closed even though the orange tint of her visor. If it wasn't for how close he and Shepard were, Garrus wouldn't have noticed the tension in her shoulders or the pain that was hidden behind her closed eyes. Garrus looked to Vega who was sitting next to Shepard. The two men's gazes met and Vega nodded before they switched seats.

Now that he was next to her, Garrus could feel the pain, the hurt and the self loathing that radiated from Shepard. as stealthily as he could, Garrus slipped his taloned hand into hers. Shepard squeezed it tight, and didn't let go until the shuttle had returned to the Normandy.

Garrus and Shepard were the last to leave the shuttle. When the two of them caught the last elevator, Garrus had to stop Shepard from pushing the button to go to the CIC. Instead, Garrus pushed the button for their cabin, and blocked the control panel.

"Garrus please…" Shepard began, not looking at him.

"I'll tell him soon enough Kate, but I'm not letting you do it." he told her, his voice soft and gentle, but holding a firmness to it. "He'll understand the delay and he'll agree with me. In this war Kate, the living come before the dead."

"It's my fault."

"Not it's not. No one could have gotten to him in time. Had you tried, you'd have only ended up dead just like him. He died a hero Kate, even with all his screw ups, he'll be a rallying point for the entire Turian race. The soldier, son of the Primarch, that gave his life to restore old wounds and bring us closer to victory."

Garrus put his hands on Shepard's shoulders and she looked up at him. Garrus knew that she needed more, something to truly know that the sacrifice of Tarquin Victus wasn't in vain.

"Kate, for Turians, death in war, for your race, for your squad, for everything greater than yourself, it's just expected of us. That ideal, that if there's just one person left at the end of a war to make it worth it, it's drilled into us since boot camp. It's an idea that many at starting to falter behind. The very thing that makes the Turain race the fighters that they are, it's crumbling.

"Tarquin, his sacrifice will spread, and it'll spread like wild fire. His death, it'll be the very thing that sparks new fire into the hearts of every Turian in the galaxy. It'll turn us from just good fighters, into the greatest army of this war. It will rally us, it will give us something to remember. 'Remember Tarquin' it'll become something greater than even 'Remember the Alamo' was back on Earth for America."

"You know about American History?" Shepard looked up at him with curiosity in her eyes. Garrus smirked at feeling the tension begin to seep out of her. His topic change, along with his words, managed to reassure her, at least for now.

"Only because I looked through your terminal history once back on the old Normandy." he smirked back. "I must say, I didn't quite know what to think when I stumbled on your tastes in porn."

"Garrus!" Shepard shrieked out, pushing him into their cabin. He hadn't even noticed that the lift had stopped. "Why the hell would you…"

"Curiosity." Garrus smirked to her. "Plus I took a bet with Joker."

"I'm going to kill the two of you." she growled to him, pulling her helmet off. "And if it wasn't for you being so… alien back then, I wouldn't have needed it."

"I never said I didn't like what I saw Kate." he smirked, pulling starting to pull off his armor and seeing the look in Shepard's eyes, a look that sent a rumble through his chest. "Joker on the other hand thought you had poor taste."

"Garrus if you don't stop…" she threatened, pulling off her chestplate.

"You'll do what?" he goaded, growling possessively to her. "Do something I won't like?"

"Keep you from getting what you want." she shot back and pounced on him, still half in her armor.

"I don't think you could resist me for long Kate, or stop me for that matter."

"Oh really? Think tha-" Garrus silenced her by forcing her into a deep and bruising kiss.

Garrus was glad that both Turians and humans worked the same in terms of handling grief. Both races needed someway to "blow off steam", some way to let out all the energy that their emotions caused. Garrus knew exactly what Shepard needed to begin healing over the loss of so many on Tuchanka.


"Eww." Shepard shuddered when she stepped into a green pool of… something. "I really hope I didn't step in what I think I stepped in."

"Don't think about it Kat." Liara replied, the flashlight on her pistol pointed at Shepard. "Only way I'm not retching up my lunch."

"So what if you step in Rachni shit, not like it's any worse than being covered in blood, guts, and brains." Vega quipped back, stepping past both women, his borrowed flame thrower held out in front of him.

Shepard was forced to squint her eyes when Vega let out a burst of fire from his weapon. Even with the light adjustments in her helmet's visor, going from the greens and blacks of night vision to the harsh orange and red lights from the flamethrower was starting to give her a migraine.

When her vision cleared, she caught the brief glimpse of more char broiled eggs in the ground team's path. They'd cleared out innumerable numbers of the eggs, and still they found more. Shepard hoped that she and her team didn't need to fight off too many of the twisted Rachni, handling just two or three of them at one time had proved to be more than they could handle. Garrus sported a massive burn on his chestplate that was proof enough of that fact, one shot from the Reaper twisted monsters and Garrus was a goner

"Why do you insist on doing that James?" Liara asked, pulling her hand away from her eyes.

"Faster than just stompin' on them, and no point in wearing you and the Commander out with shockwaves." James shrugged, walking forward towards more of the eggs.

"You regretting not having a helmet yet Liara?" Garrus asked, following the large marine.

"I'll stick with having clear vision when it counts." the Asari snapped back.

Shepard had to shake her head at her friend. The only two of the squad that weren't wearing helmets were Liara and Javik. Liara simply refused to wear one, and Javik told her blankly that his vision "was not as poor as that of your primitives". EDI also didn't have one, but as she was a synthetic, she claimed that her optics didn't suffer from adjustment issues like organic eyes did.

"We're getting close." Shepard told them all, following behind Garrus and Vega.

"How do you know Commander?" Vega asked before shooting out another bout of flames.

"I have no idea, just a feeling I have." she replied, feeling slightly worried about her lack of knowledge.

Ever since they'd descended into the Rachni tunnels, Shepard had the weird feeling that directed her through the maze of caverns. While grunt and his company of elite Krogans went one way, Shepard and her team followed her feeling. For all she knew, this was some sort of Reaper trick that was pulling them into a trap. If that was the case, the waves of Husks and Rachni that would swarm out over them gave no hint of confirmation or not, they all just seemed to be mindless beasts to her.

After only a few more minutes of making their way through the winding caverns, they found themselves in a massive cavern that was large enough to fit the Normandy in with room to spare. James let out a low whistle at the sight before them. All over the floor, walls, and even the ceiling a hundred feet up, eggs covered the massive cavern To their right, another tunnel emptied out into the room, only seconds later, Grunt and his Krogans stomped through the entrance.

What drew Shepard's attention however, wasn't the size of the place, or even the eggs, but a massive silhouette on the other side of the room.

"Release us!" A dozen voices spoke out around the cavern. Everyone looked around to see various maimed and dead Krogan bodies around the room. Their mouths all moved as one, speaking for the silhouette.

"Release us from the hold of the cold yellow ones!" The voices spoke out, Shepard didn't hear the voices however, instead, she heard a voice in her mind. The voice was flowing and musical, almost as if it was singing its words. The voice was pained and stressed, yet hope lay deep in the notes of the voice.

Shepard paid none of the others any mind and walked towards the massive form. She could hear the yells of warning and caution, but she tuned everyone out.

"Are you who I think you are?" Shepard asked, putting her shotgun away as she walked.

"We are the Rachni, or what remains of them." the voice sang in her mind, relief washing over her. "I am the Rachni Queen. Please help us Singer-of-Endings, just as you helped us so long ago."

"Three years is hardly a long time." Shepard replied, stopping only a dozen meters from the Rachni Queen.

Shepard felt waves of sorrow and revulsion at the sight of the Rachni Queen. Where once she was a beautiful yet terrifying force of nature, she was now a sick creature corrupted by technology and pain. And the base of each of the Queen's legs a piece of Reaper tech held her to the ground.

"To your kind, perhaps, it is eons to us." The Queen sang, her voice becoming slightly panicked.

"Commander! We're about to have a hell of a lot of hostiles on us! We need to get out of here!" Vega called out to her. Shepard picked up the earth under her beginning to shake and a rumbling sound coming from behind her.

"My corrupted children! They are coming for us!" the Queen cried in her mind. "We must leave! They cannot be controlled by me any longer!"

"What?! What's wrong with them?"

"The sour notes of the cold yellow ones have corrupted them, much as they are trying to corrupt you." the Queen looked to her with pleading and fear that anyone could see, even on the Rachni's bug-like visage. "If you free us, we will help to cleanse you, we will free you from the grasp of the cold yellow ones!"

Shepard didn't need any convincing. She'd saved the life of this Queen, or at least her fore mother, and she wasn't about to let the Queen parish now. For her, the promise was just icing on the cake.

"We're getting the Queen out of here!" Shepard barked to the others.

She looked around and found what looked like it was the mechanism holding the Queen in place. She fired off a blast of biotic energy at the device. When the energy struck home, the bindings on the Queen clanged open.

"Kate, are you sure this is a good idea?" Garrus asked, a worried look on his face.

"I'm not letting her die this time Garrus, didn't let her die on Noveria, not letting her die now." she replied with conviction.

"We are injured Singer-of-Endings. You must protect us while we flee!" the Queen pleaded to her, hobbling out of the bindings.

"Garrus," Shepard sighed out, knowing what she had to do. "Take the others and cover the Queen. Grunt, have your men protect her as well."

"What about you?!" Garrus barked, grabbing her arm. "I'm not leaving you here!"

"I'll be right behind you." Shepard smiled to her lover, though he couldn't see it, she knew he could hear and feel it.

"Just-just don't wait too long. I'm not losing you, not again." Garrus told her, ordered her.

"I won't." she pressed the visor of her helmet to his before pushing him away.

"You heard her!' Garrus barked to the others. "Let's get moving!"

Shepard looked to the others, her squad and her friends, and saw them all hesitate for a moment.

"GO!" Shepard yelled to them. "I gave you an order!"

Everyone bowed their heads before turning and following the Queen out of the cavern.

"Shepard." Grunt spoke, almost purred next to her.

"I told you to leave Grunt." she grunted, pulling her shotgun from her back and slamming a fresh clip into it.

"Not happening. If you go down, I go down with you," he replied, doing the same to his shotgun before turning to her. "Battlemaster."

"You don't have to call me that Grunt." she told him softly, tears forming in her eyes.

"Krogan don't call their parents 'mom' or 'dad' like you humans." he grunted back. "Not in our blood."

"I love you Grunt." she whispered out, holding back her emotions.

Grunt began letting out a low bellowing laugh. Shepard couldn't help but join in on it with him.

Out from the tunnels, countless Husks and Rachni swarmed towards them. Both Grunt and Shepard let out a battle cry before running towards the approaching horde.


Garrus stared at the opening to the Rachni tunnels. He and the others had managed to get the Queen to the surface of the planet where she assured them she could hide until she and her free children could leave the planet.

Ever since they'd made it to the surface, he and the others had been waiting for Shepard and Grunt. In that time, he cursed and damned himself a hundred times over for letting her stay behind.

"Garrus, It's been over an hour," Liara's soft voice broke into his self loathing filled thoughts. "We can't stay here any longer."

"Five more minutes." Garrus replied, his voice muted and concealing his sub-vocals.

"Garrus, please," Liara pleaded, placing a hand on his arm. "She couldn't have survived for this long. You have to accept it, she's gone."

"Five. More. Minutes." Garrus snarled to the Asari.

Liara left his side, knowing that the Turian was starting to lose his grip. Garrus had to admit, he was on the verge of going back in and finding her himself.

Minutes more passed, before grunts and groans of pain echoed out from the tunnel. Garrus felt his legs turn to stone until a familiar form emerged from the tunnel.

Covered in blood and gore, that was both his and that of his foes, Grunt stumbled out of the tunnel and into the sunlight. In his arms was Shepard's limp form, also in a state of covering in gore.

"Anybody. Got something. To eat?" Grunt asked, stumbling towards the shuttle, his grip on Shepard never faltering.

"Kate!" Garrus shouted and ran over to the Krogan. "What happened to her?!"

"Knocked out." Grunt panted, barely staying on his feet. "Don't know why."

"Liara! Fire up the shuttle and get Chakwas on the line!" Garrus barked, taking Shepard from Grunt.

Garrus carried Shepard's limp body back to the shuttle, completely ignoring that Grunt was right on his heels.

"Come on Kate, hang in there." Garrus muttered more to himself than to anyone.


A/N: There we are folks! Sorry about the long wait, life and not wanting to writ much over the last few days have been a pain for me. Hopefully you all still enjoyed reading

Please let me know what you thought and thank you all so much for continuing to read!

Until next time!