***Author's Note***
I'm sorry this took so long :/ I really wanted this chapter to be good :)
Thanks to Gamer072196 for all the support! 3 what a bro...
Enjoy and review!
Chapter 16 - Earth
The Normandy burst through the Mass Relay and into the Sol system. Half the ground crew were stood about the cockpit as they leant their support to their small engineer. Thane stood beside her and laced his fingers with hers as the ship rounded and the planets came into view. She squeezed his fingers tightly.
She shook as they got closer and closer to her home planet and Garrus rested a hand on her shoulder as Jack nodded at her in support. Tali sighed through her helmet as the Earth came into view. Marie's eyes grew wide. "Whoa..." Joker chuckled.
The planet hung blue among the stars. It's clouds, white wisps that flowed and bunched and became hurricanes. They passed beneath Luna's shadow and began their slow descent to the human home. Glimpses of the continents through the hail of ships that came and went. A scattered array of debris hung in orbit around it.
Marie took a deep breath as she watched it get larger and larger from the cockpit. This is it...home.
Joker and Shepard were watching her in their approach, sending small smiles of encouragement.
"We'll have to stay under the radar and go in on a shuttle. There's no telling what the Alliance would do if they caught wind of us here." Shepard huffed.
Joker nodded and flicked a switch that would engage the stealth drive. "I can get you pretty close before you'd have to get of the ship...do you reckon you'd be able to bring me back a proper burger?"
The pilot looked up at his commander with pleading, puppy-dog eyes as Shepard simply glared at him. "We're not grocery shopping, Joker." He shrugged and began to make his way to the shuttle bay.
Marie smiled at Joker as she passed, a silent promise that she would try to get him his one request.
"Hey, Marie." He called and she turned as the crew began to file past her, following Shepard. "Good luck, yeah?" He tipped his cap at her before returning his eyes to earth.
Thane walked with her as she made her way to the elevator. Their fingers still entwined.
It was a cramped shuttle ride down to the surface of the planet.
Garrus piloted as Shepard sat beside him. "Marie! We need those co-ordinates!" He shouted over the general chatter of the squad.
Marie nodded from her seat between Thane and Jack and sent him the data from her Omni-tool. Wow, she really did her homework. There were dates, times, places and even pictures, anything that she thought would help her in her mission.
Shepard sighed and frowned before in putting the co-ordinates and letting Garrus find their way.
He heard a small gasp from Miranda and turned to see her rocked to the side in a small amount of turbulence and fall into Grunt. Jacob hastily pulled her up. Why are they even here? He shrugged it off and surveyed the rest of his team.
Samara was sat in conversation with Kasumi as they swayed from side to side as the shuttle rocked in the atmosphere. Zaeed looked out an observation window at the human capital, views of a sea that would eventually turn into the coast of eastern England. Tali was simply looking around politely as she waited patiently. Jack was scanning her Omni-tool quietly at the recent data he had given her on clues about her past. Mordin chittered to one side, speaking to Thane about the prospects of new samples from the local flora and fauna they would find, Thane was nodding politely.
Marie had her lower lip between her teeth, clearly deep in thought as she ignored any invitations to join various squad members in their activity. Her eyes were glazed over and her hands fidgeted with themselves. Her usual silence made the others look at her now and then with furrowed brows and thin lips. He was no exception.
This is too harsh, man. He rubbed a hand down his face and suddenly they were over England. Garrus working the shuttle to its limits as he pushed it at its top speed. The engines screamed in protest but nobody seemed to care. Everyone simply wanting to get to their destination.
Marie turned her attention to a window once Garrus announced that they were nearing their destination.
Manchester had grown. A crawling metropolis of skyscrapers and industrial buildings. Small clusters of housing were nestled in with the metal, patches of green and streaks of blue announced the trying ecological pursuits of the city. Neon pulsed and people bustled below them.
At least it isn't smog choked. Shepard thought.
The traffic pulled them in all directions and Garrus swerved and dipped the shuttle as he sped through stop signals and oncoming traffic. His hardened crew merely blinked at the noises of skycars blasting their alarms. Marie, however, would wince and duck when particularly close calls were made. Jack laughed and clapped her on her shoulder and Thane held her hand and suggested she not look out the window. She couldn't turn her eyes away.
Eventually, they came upon its outskirts, the skycar alerting them that they had arrived. Shepard looked down at what Marie wanted to do and frowned.
A graveyard.
It began to rain.
Thane sighed as the shuttle landed at the gates of the massive cemetary. He frowned at the rain and he frowned at the graves. It was strange for him to see the bodies of ancestors buried beneath mud and grass. Would the sea not be more appropriate? He chose not to voice his opinion. He was here as support to a friend, not to debate religions.
Mordin tutted and handed him a breather mask. As the crew filed out, Marie stayed behind to wait for him to assess his...condition. Mordin strapped the mask to is face and Marie smiled a small smile at him.
They left the shuttle and Marie took a deep breath. Her face torn between happiness and sadness as she looked around. On one side of her was her home town, the place she had grown and supported her family. On her other side, that family lay beneath the ground. Kalahira...
They approached heavy gates that were locked with a keypad. Marie huffed and brought up her Omni-tool, quickly hacking into the lock and opening the gates. They opened silently and smoothly and the group sighed in relief. All of a sudden, this simple, albeit sad, task had become one of tension.
Shepard laughed gently from beside Garrus. "Breaking into graveyards now? I think I've done everything, Garrus."
They walked through the gates and into the place of the dead.
Marie had a small map up on her Omni-tool and she looked at it closely before taking the lead and winding her way through the tombstones and onto the paths avoiding stepping over the graves. Thane decided that this must be a custom of her time and respected it, avoiding the graves as she did. The group followed in a similar fashion.
They passed a large house and paused as they noticed a man stood smoking a cigarette.
"Hmm, I'm sure I locked the gates." He blew out smoke and stepped on the end. "Wanna tell me what you're doing here?" His white hair and beard were collecting fine droplets of water from the rain. "Well?"
Marie stepped forward. "I'm here to see the graves of my family. Are you the groundskeeper?"
He nodded. "Such as it is. More a ceremonial position now." He frowned down at Marie and Thane felt himself get defensive, stepping forward one pace with Shepard and Garrus. The groundskeeper gave them a cursory glance and sighed. "Don't get that many visitors nowadays. People don't come to tend to the graves of those long dead, more interested in technology and space and aliens." He gestured at the group. "Few get buried here anymore. Most plots are being bought up in the new high-tech areas." He looked over at the graves. "I tend the graves myself."
"They're very well cared for then." She said with a smile.
"Aye. Tell me," He crossed his arms over his broad chest. "What graves you looking for? Could be I know where it is."
"Oh, well that would be easier I suppose." She turned to look at Shepard who nodded. "Travis."
The groundskeeper frowned. "You havin' a laugh?"
"What? No! I-"
"Travis is a very old name. That grave hasn't been visited in as long as I've been here. Who're you?"
Shepard tutted and stepped beside her. "I don't see how that's any of your business. She want's to see the site, so just tell us where it is."
"It is my business. All that happens on these grounds is my business." He huffed. "Tell me who you are or you can get out."
Idiot.
Shepard growled and his biotics swirled around him. Marie rubbed her forehead with the palm of her hand. This isn't how she wanted to do this.
"Shepard." Shepard turned to Thane with a frown. Thane simply shook his head and nodded at Marie. His biotics went out and he rejoined the group.
"I'm Marie Travis."
The groundskeeper merely shrugged and nodded. "Fine. I'll show you where to go."
Thane's brow rose along with a few others in their group.
"That's it?" Garrus asked and Jack merely shrugged.
They walked deeper and deeper into the graveyard. Ten minutes had passed and Thane was beginning to get irritated. Not for the walk but for the tightness of the mask on his face.
And then they stopped. The groundskeeper nodded his head in a direction to Marie and walked away, warily eyeing the group as he passed and mumbling "...come back and find it vandalised...Jesus..."
Marie slowly walked in the direction indicated. Her light footsteps wet in the rain. Her eyes were trained in front of her and the group looked over.
A medium-sized stone building was set back from the path. Thane frowned, the atmosphere was heavy and as Marie approached he looked at the name engraved above the door. Travis.
"A crypt?" Marie whispered as she ran her hands over the white stone. "We have a crypt?" She turned to look at the group who all had somber faces. Her eyes met his and he nodded at her in encouragement. She sniffed and turned to the heavy stone door that blocked her way.
Shepard, Garrus and Jacob moved and pushed the stone away from the entrance and stepped aside for Marie.
She took a deep breath and entered, a light erupting from her Omni-tool.
"Do we follow her?" Tali asked.
Shepard looked around. "It's probably best if only a few of us went in." He rubbed at his stubble. "Thane, Tali and Jack. Go in with her."
Thane was instantly by the door, Tali and Jack at his heels. From deep inside the tomb he could hear a light sniffling. He and his...team, he supposed, marched through the tomb toward the light at the far end the signaled Marie.
"I can hardly believe it." She whispered to no one in particular. "They...they did so much."
They stood beside her, in front of the graves of her dead siblings. Her fingers traced their names.
Ryan Stephen Travis
Beloved brother and friend
Stay strong.
1988 - 2065
Libby Travis
Sister, mother, friend
Sister to Ryan, Marie and William. Mother to Ava.
She never stopped searching.
1997 - 2072
And then there was her own grave. Tali sniffed behind them and jack crossed her arms with a frown.
Marie Travis
Sister
She kept us safe so we never stopped looking.
1992 - 2014
A tear fell from her chin and Thane wrapped her fingers in his. She turned to the last grave.
Captain William (Billy) Travis
Baby brother and defender
2007 - 2045
There was a small data chit at the foot of the stone grave and Thane bent and took it up, handing to her as her lip quivered. She pressed a small button and the signal transmitted to her Omni-tool.
A 2D projection appeared on it.
A young man with blonde curls and startling blue eyes. A sob escaped Marie at the sight of her brother all grown up.
"Captain William Travis.
They told me to leave a message behind incase I don't make it back. So, err, Libby...tell Ava that Uncle Bill loves her and he'll send her some space rock as soon as he can. I love you aswell, I guess." He grinned into the camera, blue eyes sparkling. "Bro! You're the man of the house now! Hope you can handle those two alone!" He laughed and scratched his cheek. "I'm doing this for you. And Marie. You told me so much about her, about how she provided for us and taught me stuff when I was a kid. She was an engineer and, well, here I am. Going to the moon to help set up a colony! I know she would too if she could." A sad smile. "I'll miss you whilst I'm out and I promise I'll be back soon. And if not...I'll be with Marie and she can tell me all the things I hope she wanted to years ago. I'll always carry your picture." He held up a small photo of him and his siblings, the same photo Marie had on their wall on the ship. "See ya in space." He winked and the message ended.
Thane turned to the other women, Jack had a tear falling down her cheek and Tali's shoulders shook.
Marie cried, her body shook with the force of her sobs. Thane took her by the shoulders and pulled her to his chest where her cries were muffled and her tears wet his skin. He rested his chin on her head and hummed to her, the vibrations his chest a throat made seemed to soothe her and she settled after a while.
"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep. But I have promises to keep. And miles to go before I sleep." She nodded against him and pocketed her brother's message to his dead family.
Thane closed his eyes and prayed for them. "Kalahira, Mistress of inscrutable depths, I ask forgiveness. Kalahira, whose waves wear down stone and sand. Kalahira, wash the sins from them, and set them on the distant shore of the infinite spirit. Kalahira, their heart's are pure, but beset by wickedness and contention. Guide them to where the traveler never tires, the lover never leaves, the hungry never starve. Guide them, Kalahira, and they will be companions to you as they were to her."
"Thank you, Thane." She looked up at him and he cupped her cheek and rubbed a tear from her skin.
"They await you across the sea, siha."
Tali choked back a sob behind them. "Keelah se'lai." She muttered.
A happy chapter is due I suspect...
The poem Marie recites is Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" (Thank you to 'Guest' for pointing that out to me)
Hope you've enjoyed!