In this chapter we finally learn what Dani has been up to all this time. U-oh... I smell trouble ahead! As always reviews would be greatly appreciated, they make me happy XD. Thank you faithful readers for sticking with my story and a special thank you to those who left me a review. Now, on with the next chapter!
Falling apart - underground
"Look to the left, please. Hm-mm. Now to the right. Excellent. How are these implants working for you? Better, yes?"
Dani looked up at Dr. Torque and gave him a small smile.
"Yes, better. Thank you," she said softly. Dr. Torque always checked up on her health stats himself. She was grateful for that. Still, the thought that she was looking through artificial eyes made her as uncomfortable as when she was first informed about it. Cybernetic eyes. Cybernetic hearing implants. Cybernetic grafts strengthening her bones, where they hadn't replaced her bones completely. They had even gone so far as to manipulate her hair growth so it now had its previous length back. The first time she had seen her appearance in a mirror she had screamed in shock till she passed out.
Dr. Torque, the kids, Alex . . . they had all been so very supportive to her. It almost felt like home. Almost, but not quite. After her first time living with Dr. Torque, her sense of home at changed somewhat. Then she had lost it and now that she was back . . . she felt lost again.
"So Dani," Dr. Torque started in the same mild manner. "What are your plans for today?"
"Oh, I thought I'd like to go to the Underground level. I want to work on some algorithms for the phasing gauntlets. I believe they are near ready for testing."
"That's wonderful news, Dani!" Dr. Torque smiled at her. "I think work at the main facility is wasted on you anyway. Your talents are put to much better use in the Underground facility. I shall alert Alex immediately. He can escort you there."
"Thank you, Dr. Torque," she replied meekly. It became easier all the time. Responding in a way others expected her to respond. Even though most of the time she felt like responding in a completely different way. To them, she appeared to be more normal. But she wasn't herself. She couldn't be herself. At all.
The dynamics between her and Alex had changed. She wasn't sure how she felt about it though. He'd been her steady rock after Dr. Torque had delivered her that terrible news. . .
The Normandy. Shepard. She closed her eyes. . . Garrus. That name still held so much power over her. Yet, she was expected to put it behind her and forget. Put him behind her. Now, there was Alex. But somewhere down the line he'd started acting different around her. Sometimes she longed for the friend she had known for so long. But he too was gone. Now there was someone else. Someone who wanted more. And he'd kept pushing and pushing and pushing until finally, in her grief over Garrus, she'd given in.
Now he called her darling. Now she called him darling. It still felt awkward to say. And wrong. But Garrus was gone. He died two years ago and her heart had died along right with him. But she couldn't tell that to Dr. Torque. Or Alex. Or Captain Anderson who visited her from time to time. She was expected to move on.
When she had openly displayed her grief and misery, they had started asking her questions. Questions about the nature of her relationship with the turian that soon became uncomfortable.
The way they talked and reacted made it very clear to Dani that she had to reign her feelings in and that she could never be herself again.
Feeling more for someone not of your own species was not considered normal or desired behavior. But from the moment Alex had suddenly started to place a romantic interest in her, everyone was elated. So, the secret part of her heart that loved and yearned for Garrus got locked away, though it was never forgotten. At night, when no one could hear and no one could see, she silently mourned her loss. At least, the nights Alex didn't come to sleep with her.
Well, next to her, she wasn't ready yet for that final step.
For all intents and purposes, they were a couple. During the day, she called Alex darling and let him hold her and kiss her lips. Every time though, she had to push the thought away how his lips were the wrong shape, how they were too soft and moist, how his body was too soft and his eyes had the wrong shade of blue.
Her heart never let her forget that she belonged in the arms of someone else. Someone no longer available to her, but irrevocably lost. Dani idly wondered how things had turned so strange and awkward while everyone acted like things were perfectly normal. Still, here she was, waiting for Alex. . . Alex who would want to hold and kiss her again. Alex who lately wanted more, a lot more. . .
How long was she supposed to keep this up? How much longer could she be this Dani who was slowly becoming a total stranger to herself? While she stood there waiting for Alex, outside Dr. Torque's examination room, Dani kept her face as blank and bland as she could muster. Inside however, she was screaming and yelling and falling apart. For she knew what she had to do to keep her sanity and the realization was killing her. It was do or die and she was pretty sure that what she had to do would kill her. If not in body then at least in spirit. She had to let him go. Really had to let him go. Not this pretend letting go while secretly she held on to him with the tenacity of a drowning man. And that wasn't working too well, was it? With Garrus still rooted in her heart, she would never be able to take things to the next level with Alex.
But to let him go, she had to cut him from her heart and she didn't know if she had the strength to do that. He was in her so deep, even trying would result in a bleeding heart. Emotionally, she would die. But then maybe, just maybe, in time she could fake a different kind of life with Alex. In a short flash, the vast emptiness of what her life would be like, spread out in front of her in all its pale and frozen glory.
"Dani! Good morning, darling," Alex greeted her with his usual enthusiasm. He gently cupped her face and leaned in for the expected kiss. Dani tried, but couldn't persuade her lips to cooperate. They remained still under his touch. She was still reeling under the pain and insecurity of what she felt she needed to do. This kiss was too soon. Much, much too soon.
"Dani, love, are you okay?" Alex asked concerned.
"Yes – love," she nearly choked on the word. "I'm fine. Just, a bit of a headache," she lied through her teeth. But that was okay, she really had to because they expected her to be okay, so she would act and lie to be okay.
"Maybe you should stay at the mansion today? Skip work for once. You shouldn't strain yourself. We could, um, go for a little drive together or we could go out sailing, just the two of us."
His voice got that raspy quality again, his desire leaking through. Dani knew exactly what he had in mind should she say yes.
"No, that is not necessary," she replied in a flat tone. "Please, take me to the Underground. I need to work on the algorithms for the gauntlets."
Alex sighed annoyed. Outside the examination room, standing in the sterile looking white hallway, Alex shove a hand through his short cropped hair.
"You know, the way you so easily dismiss my suggestions . . . I don't know, do you even want to spend time with me? You've been holding off the boat for a while now. I feel like I'm hitting a wall here."
"No, no," Dani lied again. "I love spending time with you. But you know me. Once I get something in my head, I need to see it finished. Otherwise I would just space out again."
So effortlessly the lie slid from her lips.
"You're right. Of course. I'm sorry love, I just . . . Sometimes I get the feeling you're still hung up about what's his face, more than you are letting on. And then I can't shake the feeling he is still standing between us. But I know you, I know you need to get things out of your system. I'm sorry for doubting you."
"That's okay . . . love. I understand," Dani lied and willed herself to offer up her lips for him to claim. This time she forced herself to move her lips in such a way as he liked and expected.
"Hmm, that's much better," he smiled at her and his eyes settled on her fondly. "Come on, let's get you to the Underground. The sooner we get this out of your system, the sooner we can finally spend some quality time together."
Dani knew that wasn't likely to happen. After this, there were more projects to lose herself within.
They walked together in silence through the bright and spacious hallways of the Torque Compound where many of Torque's scientists worked and even lived. Only the East Wing was off limits to them, is this was the private dwelling of Dr. Torque and his family.
The Torque Compound was the face of the entire enterprise, the limb where groundbreaking innovations were being made, the tiny cog in a big wheel that had brought Dr. Torque fame and glory. The part that was most lucrative however, the part that was raking in the big bucks. . . that's where they were headed now.
Alex joined her in the high tech elevator that would bring them to one of the two entrances to a facility deep under the heart of the main structure. . .
a subterranean level that was several miles below the surface and ran several miles long. The biggest and best protected part of Torque Enterprises where their most secret inventions were being designed, created and tested.
The Underground Complex was so vast, so many people worked there, that a small community nearby was raised solely for the employees and their families.
That community also hid the location of the second entrance to the complex.
Dani took a brief glance at the man standing next to her. Alex Wright, once her anchor and her closest friend. Now, she had no idea what they were.
Everyone saw them as a happy couple. Alex acted like they were a happy couple and she just followed his lead. But to her, life had stopped making sense a long time ago. Even this - relationship, if that was what it really was, she couldn't make sense of.
Lately, Alex pretty much functioned as her personal body guard as opposed to Dr. Torque's. Alex was basically around all the time and when he wasn't, then someone else was. She was never alone.
Not even her calls went undetected. Captain Anderson she could call but any attempt to reach out to the families of her deceased crew mates was frowned upon. Dr. Torque felt it stood in the way of her full recovery and she should focus on her much approved relationship with Alex Wright. She had never been the director of her own life, but she had never felt more orchestrated than now.
"What's that song your humming?" Alex asked her.
"What?" Dani frowned when Alex pulled her out of her reverie while the elevator brought them down.
"That song you were humming. I've heard you sing it before. What's it from?"
"I was humming? Sorry, I didn't even notice," she replied a bit absentminded.
Only one song that could be. The Ballad of Shalei. Best not to tell Alex about Fleet & Flotilla. The romantic but cheesy movie about the love between a turian and a quarian and the obstacles they had to overcome to finally be together. She swallowed hard. Painful memories tried to surface. She tried to fight them back, but she couldn't and also she really, really didn't want to.
For a brief moment, she indulged herself in conjuring his picture, as perfect as the day she last saw him. The day she had placed a kiss on his mouth plates that had felt so foreign and yet so right. For just the tiniest of moments she allowed herself to taste that metallic twang on her lips again. The feeling of her lower lip caught between his mouth plates, his alien tongue – dry and slightly rough – quickly darting over it, right before slipping into her mouth where it caressed her tongue. That wonderful taste. That wonderful feeling. . . There. Enough. That would have to do. No more, at least not today. Cutting him out all at once was impossible. She would have to let him go bit by agonizing bit.
When the elevator smoothly slowed to a stop, they both stepped out and Dani felt like she had just killed one more tiny bit of herself. She nodded in greeting at the scientists working in the front office.
The front office was the most southern part of the complex, where lead scientists put their heads together. The smartest people in the world, who could -
if given the assignment - probably solve world hunger in a moment's notice. Instead, they thought up expensive ideas that in the end would make a lot of money. They also kept track of everything that went on in the Underground.
While Alex escorted her all the way north, where Dani worked, he was talking animatedly about the advances of Abby and Noah Torque in martial arts, under his tutelage. The further they traveled, the less refined their surroundings became. At the far north, where the emergency exit was along with Alex' personal office, Dani knew the complex was really more of a grotto.
Alex suddenly pulled her close to him again. It caught her off guard. The bittersweet memory of her first and only kiss shared with Garrus was still lingering in her mind. This sudden and unwelcome invasion of her mouth made her eyes sting with the pain of missing him. If Alex noticed, at least he was wise enough not to mention it. He winked at her before disappearing to his small cluttered office.
Her station was lined up against the eastern cavernous wall down a hallway to her right, where the walls weren't polished but existed solely of the stone they found themselves buried within. Here, gone were the intricate design lamps and source of light consisted merely of thick fiber optic light cables lining the walls. Instead of work offices still found in the south part of the complex, here there were just different stations where scientists got to work. All supplied with state of the art equipment of course.
Near her station was one of the many vaults where inventions were stored that were not yet completed. Once they were, they got transferred for approval to the front office. In this particular vault, she had stored the little project she'd been working on. . . the phasing gauntlets and their powering belt.
Ever since the work she had done on Garrus' sniper rifle, she had tried to push her own imagination in inventing new ways to use the phasing ability.
Though her new cybernetic eyes still freaked her out, she had also understood their potential. When she had first pitched the idea of phasing to Dr. Torque,
his eyes had gained a certain gleam. Dani could vividly remember how they had made her uncomfortable at first, but Dr. Torque quickly seemed to return to his usual self again. In fact, he became very supportive of her ideas and gave her full access to any resources she might need. That was when he first introduced her to the Underground. Come to think of it, it was also round that time that Alex became more - insistent - in his pursuit of her.
Dani shook her head in an attempt to rid herself of the nagging feeling at the back of her head. Her mind was running away with her when she had to focus, concentrate on her work. She was so close, she just knew it! The powering belt was all but finished. There was just a bit more to work on with the gauntlets. They just didn't work properly with her eye implants yet.
Dani entered the code and picked up one of the small devices. They weren't really gauntlets. More like . . . they kind of looked like large bugs actually.
Large bugs with small straps that fitted over her hand. They had started out as gauntlets though. Big bulky ones which, though created from sturdy but flexible material, had severely constricted movement. Now they were reduced to these buggy like things, but still she called them gauntlets
She placed the left gauntlet in a small mass effect field, leaving it suspended in the air and started the VI program. She ran the numbers over and over again in her head while she fed the VI different algorithms. Working on the small object Dani could feel her troubles melting away. This. . . working out a problem . . . this she loved. She submerged herself entirely in her thought process, completely setting aside that nagging feeling that something in all of this was. . . wrong.
Her mind briefly drifted to Dr. Torque's desire to create phasing gauntlets easy enough to use for anyone willing to pay the price. Just as briefly she felt guilty about deceiving him, because that would never work. The numbers she had to run, just to make them work for herself, were astronomical. It felt wrong to lie, but if Dr. Torque knew the truth, he would kill the project in a heartbeat. And it was just too good to kill. Even if she was the only person ever able to use them.
The numbers danced and shifted in front of her mind's eye. Suddenly they started to fall in a different sequence, different equations and it all sort of . . . clicked.
"Dani, how far are you with the – " One of her colleagues interrupted her, but Dani shot up her hand to silence him. So close, she was so close!
She fed the algorithm to the computer and the computer sent the information to the mass effect field where the gauntlets absorbed the new information.
Her heart started beating a bit faster. She quickly got the other gauntlet, reversed the algorithm and fed it to the computer as well.
With trembling hands she clicked the belt around her waist, put the left gauntlet on her hand and then the right one. She flexed her fingers and saw the blue electric veins engulf her hands. She started breathing just a bit heavier. All pain and grief momentarily forgotten. She'd done it! Just a momentary small singular idea that suddenly had sprung to life. And suddenly she was done. It would be so wonderful to test them out. But Dr. Torque would never allow it unsupervised.
Dani turned around, found her colleague had left her alone, and looked around her as if to take in her surroundings with new eyes. In a way, that was maybe even the case. All solid objects she looked at were translated into numbers and raw data via her cybernetic eye implants. It would be so easy to try and take the gauntlets for a spin. So easy and so very tempting!
She stood there, contemplating her options when suddenly the noise of explosions shook her up. What the hell? Tremors shot through the walls and the ground started to tremble ominously. Forgetting the gauntlets on her hands she quickly moved to the hallway next to the one she was in and quickly scanned the room that held several other research stations. Only one person inside, clutching to his station with a death grip, a look of fear crossed his features and Dani knew that same look was evident in her own eyes.
"Fredrick!" she called out to him. "What's going on? I heard explosions and it didn't sound like they were made in a controlled environment."
"I don't know Dani, I'm still waiting for word from –" The ground quaked and seemed to come to life as a loud rumbling sound echoed through the halls.
"What the hell?" Dani asked no one in particular. She turned back round and suddenly all hell broke loose. Debris fell from the high ceilings, the floor started to shift and an ear-splitting crack split the earth. Fredrick's scream made Dani swirl around again and she gaped as she saw how several stations were swallowed by the suddenly existing gaping chasm, right at the place were just a moment ago her co-worker had stood.
She just kept staring, frozen to the spot when she suddenly noticed the screaming. As if starring in some kind of disaster vid, Dani jumped over the large cracks splitting the ground and left the room via the small hallway. The screaming seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. She took a couple of confused steps in the direction of the other hallways when a large plain of the stone floor tilted down and several scientists running for safety, people she knew, men and women she had conversed with, plummeted to their deaths.
All she could do was look around her and see the destruction taking place. She was seeing it, but she had a hard time believing what she was seeing.
She didn't have to be a genius to figure it out what had happened. Then again she was and running numbers was second nature to her. So, without really giving it conscious thought, she ran the numbers in her head. and she saw everything. . . the dimensions of the Underground facility, the distance to the surface, the strengths and weaknesses of the structure. . . and she understood. She understood what had happened, also how and where it had happened to create this chaos. This was no accident. This was deliberate!
"Explosions. 5.3 times 10 to the sixth power Joules," she whispered to herself. She knew, somewhere in the back of her mind she needed to move, but she couldn't bring herself to do so.
"Dani!" She heard Alex yell for her. Time seemed to slow when she turned around and she saw Alex looking for her through falling debris and the smoke of dust.
She wanted to call out to him, run to him and the Emergency Exit located right across of his office, but suddenly the ground she was standing on shifted. It was going down! Dani whirled around and quickly determined and calculated her chances. Considering the manner the floor she was standing on moved, in exactly 30 seconds it would lift to a position where she could jump to a piece of still intact floor.
It looked stable enough to take a chance and she could figure out her next move from there. Without thinking further she ran down the sloping floor, away from Alex and away from the Emergency Exit. Her heart hammered in her throat as she felt like she was running straight at the jaws of death. Suddenly the ground lurched and moved up.
Not much time left! Grateful for her strong titanium legs and the grafts on her bones she kicked herself into a higher gear and launched herself towards the out jutting piece of floor just before the large plain crumbled and fell into the chasm.
There was little time to catch a breath as a slight tremor shot through the small solid piece of rock she was standing on. She let herself hang from the ledge and shimmied across to where she knew she would find a hallway. Dani pulled herself up and was caught off guard by a sudden tremor.
She flailed her arms, desperate to keep her balance and pushed herself forwards before she could fall back into the chasm.
Fucking hell, where was this hallway leading to? The Underground had two main entrances and exits, not counting the Emergency Exit at the far north end of the complex that was completely unreachable. While on the run and mindlessly avoiding cracks and other obstacles, Dani envisioned the entire complex.
Both entrances were located in the south smack down in the middle of the front office. Across from each other but divided by the huge space between them that was the front office.
One entrance led all the way to the nearby community, the other to the Torque Compound. Distance wise, the entrance leading to the community was closest to her, but next to the elevator leading to the Compound was a set of stairs, roughly hewn from the earth itself. Dr. Torque had always meant for the community entrance to have a set of stairs as well. He had never been comfortable putting all his trust in the fickleness of human designed electronics. But, the creation of the stairs leading to the Compound had taken so much time, the other was simply never mentioned again.
So now she had to make a choice. . . Take her chances with the solution closest available to her and risk the fact the elevators were by now out of commission, or take the much longer route to reach the stairs?
Still running for her life, Dani clung to the stone cold facts to calm her down. Taking in consideration she was now faster than she used to be, the distance from her present location to both possible exits and the likely chances of the elevators not functioning, she decided to put faith in her own strength and ability, rather than technology.
Now that the choice was made, she visualized the destructive path of the explosives, taking into account the speed and force with which the Underground was collapsing and quickly plotted an optimal course of escape for herself.
She dashed through the hallway and, no matter how difficult it was, she didn't stop when she heard the screams of colleagues facing their demise.
All she could do was run and yell to the panicking flock of people to warn them.
"Go for the stairs near the Compound entrance! Forget the Emergency Exit, you cannot reach it!" She yelled until her voice was raw and hoarse, but the people around her were screaming too loud and were mindlessly running in all directions except for the one that led to safety.
Dani even went so far as to grab the arm of an unknown blond woman standing in her way, tried to drag the woman with her for safety. The woman just screamed and lashed out at her in panic. Dani cried out in pain and pushed the woman away from her. The next moment the woman was gone, had disappeared inside a crack that Dani seconds later had to jump over.
She clenched her jaw and fought back tears. There was just a small chance for escape and timing was crucial. She couldn't waste more time trying to help people that refused the help anyway. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her and launched herself over a desk that came hurling towards her. The force slammed her down against the floor. Damn, damn! The entire floor of the Underground was shifting! She was losing time. Faster, run! Faster, faster! The floor lurched again and she jumped down to a piece that suddenly moved up while another part crashed down.
Her heart was drumming in her ears and she leaped from safe spot to safe spot. Another cabinet came smashing down her path and she had to move quickly to duck out of the way. In doing so she prevented from getting crushed by the cabinet, but she also missed the jump to the next safe spot. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed another window of opportunity and she took it, without thinking.
A glance up above and she noticed the ventilation shaft with a heavy heart. Now that would have provided the ultimate safe escape if it weren't for the fact it was just too high up. Plus, there was not enough time and too little resources available to stack on each other to reach it.
The ground thudded behind her, a desperate roar, did someone call her name? She paid it no attention, there was no time to lose on someone who would just slow her down while she needed every precious second. She was too close to the front office now to slow down! Dani just kept running down a hallway which was still largely intact. She had to move fast because she could already feel the ground beneath her feet shift and give away.
She skidded inside the tiled environment of the front office but even here everything was slowly crumbling down, adding to the ever growing abyss.
There! At the south-west side of the front office, there was the elevator leading to the Compound, lifeless as she had thought it would be, and next to it, the stairs!
Problem, the remains of the floor were slowly sinking while crumbling down. The entrance to the stairs was high up. She quickly calculated that two things might happen, either the shifts in the floor would lower it more or lift the far end near the entrance a little upwards. If the first happened, she was doomed.
If the second happened, she was probably still doomed, but at least there was a slight chance. Knowing there was no chance in hell she would make it if she stopped to think, she just kept running, trying to put off the inevitable for as long as possible.
Time slowed down around her as she jumped over debris falling in her path, avoiding the cracks that rippled through the remaining bits of floor before they crumpled away with large chunks.
She had to force herself to keep moving, to not give into the temptation to look for other options. There were none. The set of stairs was her one and only shot and standing around would only get her killed faster. Maybe, if just that far end would rise, then with all these cybernetics in her body she could still make the jump.
Another yell right behind her. It sounded like her name again. Don't stop, don't turn around, don't waste time! She heard a thudding noise not far behind her. With every step she took, it felt like someone right behind her was mimicking her exact same actions. Fear gripped her heart like a steel claw and it nearly destroyed her ability to think.
The cold calculated facts of solid objects moving, breaking, falling, she could handle, but the thought of someone unexpected stalking right behind her was nearly her undoing.
A large metal object crashed down from somewhere above. She didn't stop to look what it was, she merely ducked out of its way and felt how the person behind her did the same. By now she knew it was no illusion. Someone was in fact running right behind her. No, gaining on her!
She ran, turned every ounce of despair into adrenalin to make the final jump. But when the moment finally came to launch herself to safety, she suddenly stopped anyway. The far end didn't tilt up, just sank further down. She looked up. It was no use. That was no jump she could make. A tear trickled down her cheek as she saw the floor crumpling down around her. This was it then. The end of the line. She was scared but found she didn't regret her end too much.
Wait for me, Garrus, she thought, I'm on my way. . .
She bent her head in defeat when suddenly she heard a mighty roar right behind her, right before something heavy crashed in to her. A startled gasp escaped her lips as a strong armored arm clasped around her waist and she was crushed tightly against more armor. Strong legs braced themselves before they took off. They looked oddly familiar in form. As the unknown individual launched them into the air, Dani instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck. She gasped when she felt the large armored bulge, like in the armor of a turian to protect their cowl. She clasped her arms more tightly around him and tried to steal a peak. A large blue helmet obstructed her vision but she saw enough to know this was indeed a turian that soared through the air with her, to safety.
The turian crashed through the open entrance and inside the stairway, shielding her from the impact with the steps. She could hear him grunt in pain. No time to recover. He grasped her hand and pulled her along. When she looked down she noticed the steps started to crumple down. Even those mighty solid steps were no match for the force shattering through them.
She looked up and winced at the miles and miles of steps looming above them. The stranger didn't make a sound of disappointment. He just took off, never letting go of her hand, dragging her with him. But, despite her grafts, she was no match for his superior turian anatomy. She couldn't keep up with his mighty strides. Without warning the turian lifted her up and swung her on his back. Dani didn't struggle, she merely put her trust in this stranger and wrapped her arms around his broad neck. She dug her fingers into his deep collar, tightly clasped her legs around him and found footing in his hip spurs.
Up they raced, up to where Dani could already see the daylight and hear people yelling, urging them to hurry. Dani rested her head in the crook of the turian's neck and closed her eyes. Tears were welling up in them as this turian, this person unknown to her, triggered so many memories inside her. She noticed she felt more comfortable on the back of this complete stranger than she had the past two years. She tried not to think too much. She was still clinging for her life.
The stranger running for both of theirs while the steps beneath them kept crumbling and crumbling at an ever faster rate. She suddenly got the awful realization that at the rate the steps were crumbling, neither of them would make it. She gasped, he seemed to hear her and yelled to someone above.
"Jacob! Pull, now!"
Right as the steps started to crumble beneath the turians' feet the flare of blue biotics engulfed them and pulled them up. The turian picked her up from his back and cradled her against his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around her as they floated up to safety. A sob escaped her and she buried her face deep inside the neck of the turian. It's not fair! Not fair! She clung to him for dear life and was afraid she'd never let go again.
When they reached the light, hands reached for them to help them out. Outside, pulled to safety, Dani watched as the remainders of the entrance to the Underground crumbled into the dark of the abyss. The comforting arms were still wrapped tightly around her and Dani felt grateful for that. She was sure she would bawl like a baby once her savior would let her go.
"Dani!" She heard Alex call out to her and she couldn't suppress a smothered cry escaping her throat. Instinctively she pressed herself tightly into the embrace of the turian. Odd, she didn't even know this person and she should probably feel embarrassed for the way she clung to him. But it felt so good, so familiar to be held this way. He didn't seem to mind anyway as she felt his arms were as tightly wrapped around her as before. Even if she had wanted, she wouldn't have been able to escape his embrace. But she didn't. So, even when she heard Alex go berserk somewhere in the background, yelling something about the bastard having to let her go, all she could do was bask in the position she found herself in.
It took her a while before she heard the high keening noise. She frowned as the noise triggered something deep within her. The turian's sub-harmonics were going haywire. She knew this was known to happen in cases of high stress and emotional onslaught.
Her heart started hammering in her throat. She knew she was reacting absurdly to this strange turian holding her so tightly against him, but she could understand the reason. But why, why did this turian react so strongly to her?
She looked down at the shadow of the person standing behind them. That silhouette, so hauntingly familiar! She shuddered and trembled. It's not possible.
It can't be! But still. . .
Her eyes went large, insecure and were swimming with tears, but she pulled herself back to have a closer look at the turian holding her. He didn't protest.
He didn't keep her trapped.
Tears were sliding down her face while her hands trembled and reached behind his head. They faltered in searching for the security clasp. It snapped open.
Her hands trembled violently trying to pull off the helmet. He winced a couple of times and she knew her clumsy attempt hurt his fringe. But he didn't protest. Finally the helmet fell away. Her breathing came ragged and shallow. She was afraid to look. Afraid of what she would see. Afraid of what she wouldn't see.
Her heart was straining like the wings of a caged bird desperate to soar freely. It's violent beating drowned out the sounds of angry swearing and cursing behind her. Alex? Dr. Torque? She didn't know and she didn't care. All that mattered was this moment. Still on the threshold, she wished she could freeze this moment forever. What if?
She bit her lip hard. Too hard, she drew blood. Slowly she let her eyes travel upwards to the mandibles. She gasped seeing the familiar color and right after she felt like her heart crashed out of her chest when she noticed the scarring and the large bandage. A pained cry wrestled from deep within her as her disappointment threatened to overwhelm her.
She was a fool. Such a fool! It wasn't him. Why had she even allowed herself to think that? She searched his eyes in a quiet plead for understanding. When their eyes locked, she suddenly stopped breathing. His eyes! Blue as fragmented crystals or displayed ice. The soft burning within them. The lack of air made her go woozy and she gulped in a large breath of air.
"It is you!" She finally managed to whisper. "It's you, it really is you!" She repeated in wonder and nearly cried in the relief that washed through her, when the turian – her turian – gently placed his forehead against hers and nuzzled her. And then she smiled. For the first time since two and a half years, she really and genuinely smiled. Her limbs felt heavy and she could feel her hands slipping away. She didn't protest this time when darkness claimed her. She knew she was safe and her nightmare was finally over.
