If I could find assurance to leave you behind…

The mission to Desponia was turning out to be a nightmarish one. Their shuttle had been hit by an unknown energy surge, Garrus and Liara were being outflanked by Reaper forces, Shepard had been gone for over an hour, there had been no sign of Leviathan, and to top it all off, it was raining. Garrus swore even his bones were soaked from the torrential downpour. Much longer and they would certainly drown from the storm or be annihilated by the Reapers… and drowning turians weren't a pretty sight.

Cortez was located further down the deck of the ship, working on the Kodiak. After what seemed like an eternity, the shuttle pilot finally shouted, "Almost got it!" He was barely audible over the crashing of the waves, but the shuttle was nearly ready.

Garrus spun around in Cortez's direction as Liara continued to blast the enemy with her biotics and smg pistol.

"I'm giving Shepard five more minutes. If she's not back by then, we're going down and looking for her!" Garrus roared back into his comm, sending a Concussive Shot into a group of cannibals.

"I'm not sure if the Kodiak can withstand the pressure!" said Cortez, pulling his own pistol from its holster and firing.

"You said it yourself before we landed, the Kodiak was built for all terrain combat!"

"And that was before it took a nose dive into this damn ship!"

"We still have to-" Garrus was interrupted by two brutes that had converged on their position. Husks and cannibals were one thing, but heavy ground forces like brutes and banshees were something else entirely.

"Shit…" groaned Cortez. Garrus dropped his Black Widow and opted for his assault rifle, blind firing it over his small bit of cover as Liara sprayed the brutes with her smg, hitting several husks in the process.

Just then, there was a very audible and very loud clang of metal on metal that came from their right. Looking in the direction of the sound, Garrus spotted Shepard's mech, clambering to stay upright as it powered down. Relief washed over him as the mech opened up, revealing Shepard.

Almost immediately, however, that relief changed to fear as he realized something was wrong.

Shepard toppled forward out of the mech onto her hands and knees, her nose bleeding profusely. The brutes took notice to the situation as well, turning toward her instead. Shepard glanced at the enemy and attempted to stand. She wavered a bit, walked a few steps on shaking feet and fell to the ground once more, unmoving. The Triton Mech behind her, keeled over backwards and tumbled into the violent sea.

Garrus jumped to his feet as the scene unfolded, the brutes advancing ever closer to Shepard, with one beginning to raise its mangled claw to strike down at her.

"No…," he breathed.

"Shepard!" Liara called out, but their commander remained motionless on the deck.

All of a sudden, much to all of their surprise, the brute closest to Shepard turned on heel and struck the other with its appendage. The second let out a terrifying, guttural howl and retaliated.

Garrus took the brawl as an opportunity and sprinted to Shepard's side. Heart nearly beating through his ribcage, he hauled Shepard to her feet and slung her arm around his neck. Dragging her back to the shuttle, he said into his comm, "Shepard's back! Cortez, talk to me!"

He watched the Kodiak lift off and circle around to a better position to meet them.

"We're good to go," came Cortez's reply. "I don't know what the Commander did, but the pulse is offline."

Dodging under and around the two fighting brutes, Garrus didn't respond. Upon reaching the shuttle, he hoisted Shepard up and onto the floor of the Kodiak, Liara covering their retreat with gunfire, while Garrus had his back turned.

"Let's go Liara!" Garrus shouted, clambering up after his commander. Husks swarmed on their position, scaling the shuttle with impossible swiftness. Liara continued to fire her weapon as they lifted off and the shuttle door closed right, shutting out the storm.

Garrus was knelt down beside Shepard, his omni-tool glowing around his forearm, as he rapidly punched in numbers to get a read on her vitals.

"Shepard! Wake up!" he cried, his subvocals teeming with panic and anxiety. "She's freezing!"

Without warning, Shepard bolted upright, coughing with water spewing from her lips. Garrus finally let out the breath he had been holding in for the last few minutes, relief once again swelling within him.

"Garrus?" she mumbled, still short of breath.

"It's ok. I'm here," he whispered.

"Garrus?" she said again, only this time, louder. "Garrus where are you?!" she repeated, looking around wildly.

"I'm here! I'm right here!" he said, alarmed. She looked straight at him. It was only then did he realize she was bleeding not only from her nose, but her mouth as well, her eyes glazed over.

He glanced at her chest, and what he saw terrified him. Her armor looked as if it had been burned and scorched by an extreme heat. He could smell her burning skin as it fused tighter and tighter with the chest plate. Exposed beneath it all, her ribcage was blackened from fire and ash, and her heart beat against bone, as if it was frantically struggling to escape.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. Please! Shepard!" his voice breaking, as he pleaded with her to hear him.

"Garrus?!" she called out for a third time. "Garrus?!"

"Garrus? Garrus?" Tychus Vakarian's voice came from a distance, jolting Garrus from his stupor. Several moments of blinking himself back to reality, and with stark realization, Garrus looked down at his feet, becoming aware he was standing on the gangplank leading from the Normandy to a docking port in Nos Astra.

"Sorry… What?" he replied, attempting to shake the feeling his daydream had left. Concern was etched upon his father's aged face. "I said 'are you alright?'"

"Yeah… Yeah… I'm fine," Garrus answered, his thoughts and his heart in another star system entirely, as his father gazed at him as if he had gone mad.

Updated 6/7/14

Song used Follow You Down by Shinedown