You said that we'd be forever…
How could you kill me and lie to my face?
Now that we can't be together…
There's just no hope for our final embrace…
So here we are, I'm in your head
I'm in your heart!
-Bullet for My Valentine, Your Betrayal
Having spent the first night in a long time on his old cot in the Main Battery, Garrus woke sore, stiff and not at all entirely rested. He swung his bare feet over the edge of the cot, onto the cold, metallic floor, and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, attempting to recall what had transpired the previous night following his call to Hackett.
Leaving the QEC, and walking through what had served as the War Room during the Reaper War, EDI's orb appeared on Garrus' omni-tool suddenly and without warning, causing the turian primarch to stop dead in his tracks.
"Hello, Garrus," she said, laughter on the edge of her voice.
"EDI!" he groaned. "You need to stop doing that."
"What? Frightening you and Joker? I am attempting to make myself scarce, and have to find innovative ways to keep myself… occupied."
"By scaring me half way to kingdom come?" he asked.
"Well," EDI began mischievously, "It is better than spying on Javik in the bathrooms…"
Garrus flared his mandibles in alarm, and stuttered, "I… uh… I don't particularly want to know... Please spare me the details... Anyways… how did you manage to get into my omni-tool? It requires a highly encrypted password to access it…"
EDI responded with a quiet chuckle, "Really, you can thank Tali for that."
"So much for national security," Garrus muttered under his breath.
"She managed to hack yours, hers and Liara's, remotely installing some of my software onto them, just to keep me close at hand… should the occasion call for it… Especially with all this sneaking around." said EDI. "Tali is, after all, very good at what she does."
He was inclined to agree with the AI, and nodded, "Alright, just no spying…"
"Understood Primarch," she said with a wink of her orb.
"So what was it you came to me for?"
EDI seemingly sighed, "Shepard is back in her cabin. Chakwas has finished her examination, and there doesn't seem to be any sort of physical or mental damage. Her brain scan came back normal... But…"
"But she still seems off…," Garrus finished.
EDI nodded, "I am truly beginning to think Cerberus did indeed brainwash her…"
Garrus frowned. The more, he thought about the notion of Shepard being brainwashed or indoctrinated to Cerberus' regime, the more it unsettled him. Shepard had been in close proximity with multiple Reapers and indoctrinated forces, and had resisted their influence. Why would she be so prone to slip under their spell now?
"You said she has returned to her cabin?" he asked.
"Yes…," EDI said slowly. "But on her way up, she crossed paths with Tali and Wrex…"
"And?"
"She made Tali burst into tears. I don't know exactly what was said but Tali ran down into the drive core, and refuses to come out. And Wrex… well…," EDI paused, attempting to best word what she was about to say. "She told Wrex that curing the genophage was a mistake…"
Garrus was aghast, "She said what?!"
"Yes… She looked him up and down once, and said 'I must have been out of my mind curing the genophage. I should have taken the Dalatrass's offer to sabotage you're people.' She then proceeded to walk away, without so much as a backwards glance… leaving Wrex entirely beside himself. I've never seen a krogan look as dumbfounded and as speechless as he did when the elevator door shut."
Garrus couldn't believe what he was hearing. Shepard had fought for a cure as much as any krogan over the years and to recant it all… well it just wasn't her…
"This is ridiculous," he said, exasperated. "I need to speak with her. Got to at least try to knock some sense into that stubborn head of hers."
EDI paused before allowing herself to continue, "Just… Just be careful… We are still unsure of what we're up against here, and I can't even begin to imagine how this is affecting you."
"I try not to think about that… or it will get the better of me…," Garrus murmured quietly. And with that, EDI disappeared from his omni-tool, leaving Garrus quite alone in the War Room. If he couldn't find a way to fix her, he didn't know what he'd do. Thinking a bit longer on the subject as he strode to the elevator, he came to the conclusion that if they couldn't figure out what was wrong with Shepard, he would spend the remaining years of his life scouring every last inch of the galaxy in an effort to kill and destroy every lingering affiliation and link and tie to Cerberus.
Before he realized it, the door to the elevator hissed open revealing Shepard's hallway and a red lock on her door, glaring angrily at him. Garrus approached it and hesitated briefly before knocking. He was certain he wasn't going to like what was hidden from view.
"Coming," came a cheery voice from behind the locked door when Garrus rapped on it softly. He watched as the lock change from a livid red to a more welcoming green, and he almost sighed with relief when it opened to reveal Shepard standing in the doorway, greeting him with a smile.
His relief was short lived, however, and his world came crashing down around him once more as she saw him and her smile dwindled and faded into a furious scowl.
"What the hell are you doing up here, Vakarian?" she scathed, her arms folding across her chest.
"Expecting someone else?" he growled back, his temper beginning to rise.
"Certainly not you," Shepard snapped back.
Garrus finally cracked, advancing on her, causing her to take a several steps back, her frown and her fury never faltering under Archangel's glare that would have sent weaker men cowering to their knees.
He grabbed both her shoulders and shook her ever so slightly, just so he could hopefully convey to her how deeply all this cut.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" he seethed. At first, Shepard didn't say anything, only glared up at him, hatred in her eyes. Her eyes… they were cold… and dark… and… and empty… devoid of anything except loathing and disgust… They weren't her eyes… The eyes he knew were bright, azure, caring, loving… full of life and emotion… and these... these were anything but…
He ceased to shake her, realizing he was contending with a different type of monster, one that he didn't know how to deal with…
"Touch me one more time," Shepard breathed, disdain etching through her voice. "Touch me one more time, Vakarian, and I will chuck you out of the airlock faster than the trash disposal. And that's a promise."
She pointed to the elevator and said, "Out."
Garrus paused, not wanting to believe her. In his hesitation, she picked up a nearby datapad and chucked it at his head, screaming wildly, "OUT!"
Garrus jerked himself from his stupor, wanting to forget what had happened, wanting to erase it all from his mind, but to no avail. He wouldn't rest until he was satisfied. Finally, he decided the best way to appease his racing thoughts was to give Dr. Chakwas a visit, double check with her, make sure she wasn't overlooking something.
As he exited the Main Battery, Garrus noticed several members of the human crew conglomerated around the dining table in the mess hall, heads bet low over their breakfasts, speaking to one another in hushed voices.
Garrus ignored them and rounded the corner to the medbay. As the door slid open, he spied Chakwas looking over a number of datapads on her medical cart beside the female turian's bed. Without turning to face him or even look up from her work, Chakwas said, "I know why you're here Garrus… and I don't have any more answers for you."
At first he remained silent, observing the room around him. Chakwas' desk was in the same spot it had always been, littered with papers, supplies and more datapads. The left corner bed was empty, but the one across from it held the injured human female. It was the first time Garrus had seen her up close, and it made him cringe to see the extent of her injuries. Getting a better look at her, the first thing Garrus noticed was that she wore different clothes than what she was wearing when she was brought in. The Doctor must have changed her tattered and dirty clothing to a more sterile and clean hospital gown. Her burns were swathed in bandages that took over the majority of her left side. More gauze stuck out from behind her shaved head where Garrus assumed some of the scars and tattoos that Hannah had mentioned were covered. The woman's eyes were still swollen shut, deep purple bruising surrounding them and the rest of her face. But on a good note, she was no longer thrashing and screaming violently. Instead she appeared to be sleeping peacefully, but he knew Chakwas had sedated her heavily. She would occasionally mutter incoherently in her sleep.
"How's she doing?" Garrus asked quietly.
Chakwas finally set down her datapads and turned towards her patient, sighing worryingly, "It's still too early to tell if she'll make it. I can't wake her to ask her who she is out of fear she'll hurt herself, but at the same time, I have no idea who she is and don't have the capacity to run her prints or DNA. Hopefully she'll fight until we can get her into an Alliance hospital. As for this one…," Chakwas turned back to face the female turian. "Tanaquil, this is Garrus Vakarian, the Primarch I was telling you about."
Tanaquil inclined her head in greeting, in the turian fashion. Her plates were a light grey… too light… almost sickly… The clan markings on her face were unknown to him, a dark shade of red. As he returned the greeting she began coughing, a deep, gurgling cough. It sounded as if she was choking on blood. The fit lasted several minutes, with Garrus waiting awkwardly for it to stop.
"I apologize Primarch," she finally wheezed.
Garrus pulled an empty chair beside her bed and sat down, saying, "No worries Tanaquil… How are you?"
Tanaquil glanced down at her hands that were folded over the white bed sheet, shaking her head sadly, "Not so good…"
Garrus eyed Chakwas from the corner of his vision. She was busying herself around her desk, moving slowly... deliberately, wincing at the conversation taking place; whatever was wrong with Tanaquil, it was bad.
"I'm bleeding internally," she said at last. "A ruptured lung... stomach... intestines… also fluid and swelling of the brain… or so Karin says."
"Spirits," whispered Garrus. He couldn't even begin to comprehend how she was still alive.
"No… no, it's alright. While I'm sad with how it came about, I've come to accept it, and am just plain lucky that you're crew rescued me before…," her voice trailed off as she began another coughing fit, this time spraying blue blood into a handkerchief. No matter which way he looked at it, he wasn't prepared with losing someone under his command… again…
"How long does she have?" Garrus asked Chakwas.
"Probably only a few hours…," she replied. "Th- there's nothing else I can do…"
Garrus shifted uneasily in his chair. Though death was just another part of life, and he had witnessed it countless times through his years, even leant his hand in it, it still made him uncomfortable when someone had to die needlessly. Soldiers in war, mercenaries, cops in the line of duty, he understood that sort of death, but when it came to the casualties of civilians, women, children, the elderly, or this… pointless torture, he would never be able to wrap his mind around it.
"Do you want me to stay with you? Until… until it happens?" he asked as gently as he could manage.
Tanaquil nodded, her mandibles flaring into a small, but grateful smile. "Yes… I would like that very much," she said weakly.
"Good," Garrus said softly. "No one deserves to die alone."
They spoke for the rest of the day and continued to do so long into the night. As it turned out Tanaquil didn't remember much before her capture, accept that she was a soldier onboard a turian dreadnought during the war. Cerberus told her when they first captured her that they had rescued her from a shipwreck, that she was the only survivor and they wanted to help. At first they ran evaluations on her, allowing her to think it was for her own good. But not long after, those evaluations turned into tests, which became brutal experiments and finally just outright torture. Cerberus mentioned it was to discover something about dark energy and finding the light within, but as Tanaquil's tale became more absurd, Garrus figured Cerberus was weaving a tale of their own that made no sense to a sane mind.
The human female stirred a number of times throughout the night, muttering and groaning in her medicated sleep. Chakwas stayed close at hand, dosing out painkillers when necessary or when Tanaquil's pain became almost unbearable.
Garrus shared stories of their chase for Saren, of the Collector Base and of the Reaper War. He told her of his time spent with his Shepard, of the woman behind the hero. He voiced his concern to her that the woman they retrieved from the Cerberus station was not the same woman he fell in love with.
Around 4 in the morning, both parties fell quiet and Tanaquil put a comforting hand over Garrus'. Her breathing had become labored, as she struggled to keep her eyes open.
"Thank you Garrus, for staying with me. I wish I could have known your crew longer… they seem like a wonderful group."
Garrus smiled sadly, as her eyes fell shut, and her chest heaved one final time. The machine she was attached to silently went off as her heartbeat dropped, slowed and at last, flat lined.
He stood from his chair, bending close to her ear and said, "May the Spirits guide you back home. Rest easy, for you are not alone."
The human female beside her broke the silence as she murmured uncomfortably in her sleep.
Updated 6/7/14