"You can go in, you know."
Garrus cringed at the words.
How long had she been standing there? His gaze dropped from the hard surface in front of him and shifted to the left, taking in her form. He had to blink at the similarity of her features to his mother's. Or rather, to his late mother's.
Though Solana had their father's pale coloring - her high cheekbones, her narrow jaw and sharply angled mandibles were every bit their mother. She was tall for a female just like their mother had been. Lean and strong. Sol had always been the best at everything she did. She understood how to be Turian. She revered it. She was honorable in her mannerisms, her choices, her approach.
In short, she looked like their mother, but she was their father's protégé.
"Sol," he greeted on a sigh.
She tilted her head, a small vibrating chip fluttering through the hallway to him.
He just shook his head at her inquiry. No. No, he wasn't okay. How could he be? He had left the Citadel after watching Shepard be taken into custody. He had seen Joker being handcuffed as well as half the Alliance crew. He had understood in that moment that Shepard's decision to stop at Omega first to let those who chose to leave off board. He wouldn't have been able to handle watching Thane or Kasumi being arrested.
Would he be able to tell her that? He frowned at the memory of their last kiss. Her small hands gripping his face between them as she stared hard into his eyes. She hadn't said goodbye.
She never did when she left him.
Garrus looked back at the door before turning to take the few steps towards his sister. It had been years since the two of them had shared space within their family home. The last time he had been here he had still been a cadet. He had been healing from when... he swallowed thickly.
He had run.
To the Citadel.
On the call of his father.
It had been a willing and hasty retreat.
"I heard about your Shepard," his sister nearly whispered, "Is she really being held as a war criminal?"
"Yes," Garrus confirmed with a bite, "The Batarians want her head for what happened."
She nodded, "Not that I am crying over the loss of those four eyed cretins, but an entire colony? Garrus, surely there could have been another way."
He lifted one shoulder, "Shepard had been held captive for over forty-eight hours, Sol, when we picked her up -" he frowned, "the state she was in... what they had done to her. The wounds that had to be healed..." Garrus sighed, "She had to do what she did. It was not because of what happened to her on Mindoir even though that is what they claim. The Reapers were almost here, they were going to use the relay to get in."
Sol crossed her arms and glared at him, "You keep saying the Reapers, just what are these things?"
"From what we've gathered, they are machines. They arrive every 50,000 years and destroy all technology, all existence, erase everything to start over. They harvest and wipe out the galaxy."
The door behind him opened and the hallway seemed to shrink in size as Castis Vakarian came to stand in it. His pale plates seemed softer now as age was taking hold. His markings were bright against the ridges of his nose and cheek as if freshly applied. How long had it been since Garrus had even had the freedom to keep up with his? He frowned and nearly reached up to touch his cheek. Were they even there?
His father's pale-yellow eyes turned and narrowed in on Garrus.
"Both of you in my office now," he instructed.
Garrus looked to Sol who had lowered her head in an immediate state of respect. He frowned. He forgot about that or perhaps he was just out of practice. No one bows down to the Commander.
Turians and their hierarchy.
It wasn't just in their military. It was everywhere one looked. It started at home. With the fledglings learning to both fear and be respectful of their own brood. The oldest among them, the one to never cross. "Respecting one's elders" , Shepard had called it once when they had been crowding each other in the Mako before Ilos. He had tried to explain it was more like their wolf packs back on Earth. But Shepard had teared up at the mention of the long ago four legged creatures that had gone extinct.
It was how he found out she was obsessed with most extinct creatures that had once been inhabitants of Earth. When she described the oldest known creatures that had once existed on the planet – he had frowned at the fact that, okay, yes, he could see how he resembled both big birds and ancient beings called "dinosaurs". Shepard had spent weeks introducing him to different kinds of animals. He had found it remarkable that Earth had once been home to so many different kinds of species. Palaven couldn't compete. Earth was plentiful and Palaven was near barren in comparison.
"Garrus," his father barked his name from within the study. He shook himself out of his memory to notice he was alone in the hall. He lifted his chin and walked into the room, looking first to Solana and then at his father who gestured to an open seat opposite him. The same desk from his youth sat between them. Simple in its design, but sharply angled. His father always used this room to intimidate. It worked.
He almost rolled his eyes. If he had been capable of doing so – perhaps he would have.
He moved and relaxed down into the seat, "How much did you hear?"
Castis sat back in his high backed chair, looking every bit the Head of House. The backdrop of bookshelves lined with service metals, old journals and books from all around the galaxy creating an atmosphere of reverence. Castis was not a loud man. Not in decor, not in presence, not in words. His silence, however, his calm, could move rooms to agree with him. He could hold his tongue and still convince some of the most stubborn Turian to follow his lead.
"Enough," he would finally answer, his pale hands coming to clasp in front of him on the gray toned desk, he looked to Solana, "Your sister and I were informed of your return from the Omega Relay in the very breathe that told us that Commander Shepard had been the reason for the Bahak System." Garrus swallowed at the tone his father was using. Training, however, kept him quiet. Allowing that silence to prompt Castis to continue, "Which has left me with only one question," he looked at Garrus, "Why?"
A brow plate lifted at the question, but Sol cut in before he could speak, "Some species called the Reapers, apparently," she scoffed indelicately, and Garrus wanted to snarl at her. His eyes narrowed and the slap of his good mandible was loud in the room. His subvocals flaring to life with annoyance, insult and anger. She shifted away from him, wide eyes turning to look at him as her own subvocals curled in confusion, "Garrus, you cannot seriously believe her claims? It's...outlandish."
"As if she were the only one that has been fighting the Reapers? Did you forget that I have been with her since Saren?" Garrus shoulders tensed at the name, "I watched the Normandy get destroyed by the Collectors, I fell from the sky and crashed on Alchera, Sol – none of that is outlandish, it's true." Garrus looked to his father, "And the Reapers are as well."
Solana shook her head, "Father, honestly, his obsession with the little human is going to have him thrown into the Trench."
He snarled, "Her name is Shepard, Sol, even if you do not believe her, spirits-know, you owe her the respect of using her name."
"I will not," she countered, her mandibles flaring outward, "That human has dragged you across the galaxy on a mission that is moot. You have nearly died, Garrus, because of her negligence. How can you sit there and be so blind? What has she done to your senses?"
He stood and pointed at her, "That human has died," he growled, "and has saved all of us, time and time again and you will show her some damned respect."
She glared up at him, "I will not. People, no matter their race, Garrus, do not come back from the dead. I am a doctor, have you forgotten? If she had truly died -"
"Solana," Castis spoke and both Garrus and his sister turned their attention to him, Garrus nearly had forgotten he was in the room. "Leave us."
"What?!"
Castis turned to look at her steadily, "Do you really need me to repeat myself?"
"Father," she stood, leaning her hands against the edge of the desk and harshly whispered, "I am meant to be here," and she truly was. It was her place now to take over when Castis was no longer to lead. Garrus had thrown away that right when he had defected from the Citadel.
A fact that Garrus did not regret for a second.
"I have spoken."
Solana stepped back as if she had been burned, her glare turning on Garrus, "You are lost," she snarled at him, "No brother of mine would blindly follow a human to disgrace," she stepped closer to him, "No brother of mine would have disgraced this family as you have, Archangel."
"Solana," Castis growled low, his subvocals threatening. "You will do well to watch your tongue when you speak to your elder."
She blinked and looked at their father just as Garrus did. The title had been stripped of him, what...how...what? Garrus frowned as Solana asked the question for him, "Elder?"
"Garrus has gone through the Omega-4 Relay and destroyed an entire race of beings that had been abducting human colonies for months, or have you forgotten this fact?" One of his mandibles twitched, "No crew have ever completed this feat and," he gestured to Garrus, "...here he stands, it would seem, because of that human ."
"Father," Sol gasped, "She nearly got him killed!"
"Though I see him still, alive," Castis dismissed her words calmly. "Now, leave. I will not repeat myself."
Garrus was just as shocked as his sister at the turn of events. He had feared coming back to his homeworld and coming to stand before his father due to his disgraced status. He had not told a single person about it, but Shepard. The conversation about him coming to warn his people had been the reason he had even mentioned it to her. How was he supposed to convince anyone when no one would look him in the eye? His very presence would be ignored in rooms far grander than this small study. Or so he had thought?
"When did..."
"It was an easy decision the Primarch himself decided upon," Castis answered the moment the door had shut behind Sol. "Now sit down and have a drink."
Garrus followed his command to sit, but he did not reach for the drink, "If I start now, I will not stop." And it was the truth. The moment he tasted the nectar on his tongue, his body would crave it until he drank enough to fall asleep. It had been far too long since he had had hardy Palaven meals to keep him nourished adequately. Ship rations only went so far, and adrenaline picked up the rest.
Castis nodded, "We will need to get you healthy, but that comes later," he sat back in his chair again, "Now tell me everything."
"Everything?"
"I need to hear everything that has happened. Start with your decision to join her."
"You know all about Saren," Garrus frowned at his father.
"Yes, I have read the briefing and the news clippings and even what Sparatus has put to record, but I have not heard your side of any of it," Castis countered.
Garrus looked at his father for a long moment. Thankful that the turian sat there quietly, steady, expectantly. He had not thought he would have this chance. Every part of this meeting was going in a completely different direction than predicted. It was a bit unnerving. Normally, he would be able to adjust far quicker, but ...
"She is in prison," he would say softly, a pitiful mewl following the confession, "Because she did destroy that system. She wiped the entire thing of the map to keep this galaxy safe, father."
"I said from the beginning," Castis gently reminded him.
Garrus reached up and took his visor off, he frowned down at it as his thumb traced the etched names on it, he leaned forward and placed it on the desk, "Every mission, every enemy, every...important discovery is on here."
His father looked at the device, "Risky."
"It's encrypted, the best tech expert I have ever met helped design it, the second helped try to hack it. She was unsuccessful," he smirked at the memory of Kasumi's annoyance when she had failed.
His father lifted his gaze back to settled on him, "I will still need you to tell me, Garrus."
"Dad," Garrus nearly begged, "The last few years...I don't..."
"You are safe with me," his words came to embrace him, "It is just us here, Garrus, tell me why you chose to follow the human."
"Shepard," he corrected immediately, aware of the glare he sent being unnecessary. "I followed her because she could do what I had not been able to. I wanted Saren. I wanted to bring him down."
"And yet you had no evidence..."
"None," Garrus shook his head, "Small lead, here and there, whispers, rumors sure – but the bastard was slick. He knew how to keep himself out of the line of fire."
"Spectres tend to be that way."
He made an odd, humor-filled noise through his nose, "I agree with you, though I still think they are essential to keeping this entire galaxy safe."
"Do you?"
"I do," he nodded, "As long as there are Spectres like Shepard and, may he be at peace, Kryik, then yes."
"He was the one killed by Saren?"
"Right in the back of the head or so the Alliance crew confirm," Garrus nodded and then it was as if something just opened inside of him. A dam of sorts. What was the old story that Williams had always joked about? A damned little boy pointing his finger? Whatever. He felt himself open to him. He told him about the first moment that Shepard and he worked together in the medical wing. The way she scolded him for shooting carelessly. The way he had been so excited to find that Saren truly was dirty, and she had calmed him down to see the bittersweetness of the entire situation.
He told him about meeting Liara and how she had been stuck inside of an old Prothean bubble being hunted by the Geth. Garrus explained how Shepard had shot the ground with the beam and damn near condemned them all to being buried alive, and yet she ran behind them urging them to hurry.
Story after story after story came to him. Some relevant. Some not so much. The old Santa story he had shared with Krul was shared. Garrus shared little moments with the crew. How Wrex helped him at times with recalibrating the Mako – though really, the old beast would just tell him stories about his younger years as he had tinkered. He went into detail about the Quarian's pilgrimage, something that had never really been thought about in the Turian structure.
His discovery of the best pilot he had ever known, being a cripple, had his father visibly shocked. The Normandy was well respected, as it was a mixture of both Turian engineering and human ingenuity that had created her. However, it was the pilot that truly made her legendary.
He spoke of Virmire and the genophage, of losing Williams and the sounds of Shepard when she had cried for her fallen friend in his arms.
On and on he went until he had to pause to take a small sip of nectar to calm himself when he described the feeling of having Tali throw him into the escape pod. His eyes glazed over as he told his father about the yellow beam that ripped apart the Normandy in seconds and he struggled to keep himself in the present as the memory of Tali's agony filled cry filled the small pod. When he spoke about Kaidan and the two dead marines, Garrus had glared hard at his father as if daring him to speak on that.
Castis, at this point, sat unmoving as if he were a statue.
When he didn't react, Garrus kept on.
His near death on that planet had his hands shaking and it wasn't until he mentioned Vonzda that he was pulled from reliving the memory by his father questioning him.
"An elcor doctor?" The elder Vakarian's brow plates lifted, "I have never seen one do something other than trade."
"That's what I told her," He grinned, "She was none-too-pleased about my comment either."
Garrus told him all about her educating him on her people. He told him about losing control in the hospital, about Liara, ignoring the sudden intake of breath when he told him that she melded with his mind to keep him from killing the medical team. None of it mattered, he had told him, Liara was gone – Tali went away – Wrex too, Kaidan had fallen deep into the Alliance crutches and Shepard was dead.
Shepard was dead.
And he...
Omega should have been harder to talk about. Instead, it was as easy as breathing. He found himself enjoying talking about meeting each member of his crew. Vortash's attitude reminding Garrus of his own father had his dad glaring at him as if insulted. A batarian was no equal to a Turian, he could almost hear the old teachings. But Garrus didn't give him the chance to speak, he didn't pause. He described Mieren and Weaver, the love they had. The oddity it was to witness. The jealousy he felt and yet hadn't understood. He told him about Butler and Nalah, about Sensat and Ripper and how he found them everywhere with their pants down. Melenis' ability to speak through touch and his sentimental ways of feeding them.
When he got to Monteague and Grundan Krul, Garrus had to collect himself as their memory always hit him hardest.
He described in detail how Monteague had saved him from the Blood Pack leader. How he helped him meditate. How he helped him grieve. He told him about the Drell and their memories. How he had been trained. He told him about his choice to leave the Hanar and how small the galaxy truly was as he had ended up working side-by-side with Monteague's mentor just months after he had passed.
He told his father he loved him.
How he fell for him.
How it was the little things just as much as the big. He looked his father in the eye and explained how much his death changed him. How much he wished that he had just a percentage of the drell's ability to recall memories so he could just feel him one more time. They had just started; he told his father. It took him so long to forgive Shepard for dying. It had taken him over a year to open up to Monteague. Garrus confessed that he resented Shepard's memory for keeping him from loving his drell longer.
But it was Krul that caused his subvocals to vibrate outward in pain for. Speaking about the clanless youngster had his heart twisting painfully in his chest. Garrus gloated about him. How smart and quick and noble the youngster had been.
How angry.
How alone.
He vowed that if he ever had any authority in the Turian Hierarchy he would fight to eradicate that banished mentality for the clanless. The orphans of their kind should not be without.
They deserved better.
Krul certainly had.
"Thank you," Garrus told him, "For letting me bring him into our family."
Castis gave a slow, but stiff nod to him, "It was an honor, my son."
Garrus gave the same slow, stiff nod as he pushed forward with his story. He told him about the bridge, about feeling as if he were at the end of his life. He had spoken to Sol who had reminded him of what Castis always said to them. He promised his father in that moment that he would make the Vakarian name proud.
And then Shepard came.
Red fringe, green eyes and blasting guns.
He snorted a laugh as he took another sip, explaining that he thought she was the Angel of Death. There to take him away. To take him to his crew, but then she was calling his name and was in his arms and wouldn't fate have it, Shepard was actually alive and was pulling his ass out of the fire.
After the rocket to the face, of course.
Telling his father that he willingly worked with Cerberus was the only part of his story that seemed to actually make his father look disapprovingly at him. Garrus understood. Cerberus made him a wanted man with blood on his hands. They were corrupt in the way that made even the vorcha seem honorable.
It was here that he reached out and touched his visor, "Every mission, Dad, I swear to you – we were fighting the Collectors – and well," he sighed, "For each other. It's a one-way trip through the O4," he shrugged. "We had to wrap up some lose ends and Shepard had to build a team. Shepard knew that not one of us could go through that Relay with unfinished business."
"Smart woman," Castis would say.
"Beyond smart, Dad," Garrus smiled softly, "She never wanted to lead, you know? Always just liked pointing her gun and shooting. Favors biotics a little too much for my taste, but she is a force of nature. She..." he swallowed, "She fights for the people around her, not for a cause, not for herself, she knows that the mission is the mission, but it's the people she is helping that matter. The people who stand beside her," Garrus ran both of his down his face, "The woman came back from the literal dead and was willing to walk right back into it if it meant saving all of us."
Explaining the ins and outs of Shepard being rebuilt by Cerberus felt odd. He didn't have the right words, he didn't quite know the lingo, or even how it was possible, but he had the reports. He had the evidence that Shepard had been dead for two years, technically. Clinically dead for a year and seven months before she was brought to life and left in a medically induced coma until the attack on the Cerberus station that had her waking up and being thrusted into the war once again.
"She just keeps going," he would say. Because she did. Even with the visions that had brought the message of the Reapers still causing her nightmares. Even when she came face to face with the ship that had sent her to the grave. When the missions kept coming from the Alliance even though they shunned her. Claiming her "under the radar" because of her affiliation with Cerberus. He snarled at that. The only reason she had to work with that rouge company was because the Council and her own people were all cowards and imbeciles. Degrading her time and time again. Calling her crazy, demented, power hungry.
Throwing around what happened to her when she was a child.
Claiming that it warped her.
He frowned, "They have seen a Reaper, it was at the Citadel. The footage may have been edited, but it was there – they know it just as I do. She sacrificed the human fleet to save the Council and still they turn their back on her. People are so easy to manipulate."
Because they were, weren't they?
The truth could be right in front of them, and they would swear there was nothing there.
Garrus continued, telling him about the discovery of the Mule and the elcor doctor's death, Kaiden's words and the pain he felt when the dark energy course through him. About Jack's power and being held prisoner for sell to the highest bidder. Hell, he spoke about Jacob's father and everything in between.
He wondered if his father found what he was telling him relevant. How could he? Why would a Turian give a damn if an old mercenary got revenge on his old partner or if a baby Krogan found out there was nothing wrong with him at all. Though, he did figure that knowing Wrex was rallying the clans of the Krogan together to address the Reaper threat was more than relevant. The old battlemaster was unyieldingly loyal to Shepard and wise enough to know that if an old machine race is fighting its way to the galaxy that – perhaps- it would be wise to prepare.
The Bahak system's mission was a little less informative. All he could tell him was that the entirety of the Normandy crew was in chaos. No one knew where Shepard had been taken. Not even the AI that had been installed. It was the longest two days of his life, and that was coming from a person that had fought against three different mercenary groups for twice that long – solo.
When he got to the Collector base, Garrus was feeling the anxiety of the result all over again.
Yes, they survived.
But what waited for them?
No one believed them.
Not because the truth wasn't there, but because the truth was terrifying.
He understood that because he was terrified.
How could one not be? The proof of entire galaxy being systematically wiped out laid before them. The ignorance of their current leaders was feeding right into the plans of the enemy. The complacency. The willful ignorance.
Even the last ditch effort of the previous cycle knew it was too late for them. They were beyond their years in knowledge and understanding. If the Reapers came through now, how long would it take them to fall?
"They're real, Dad," he would say at long last, "She sent us all back to our people to tell them and to prepare." He shook his head, "I told her that I was disgraced, but she told me to come to you. She told me to tell you everything. To show you," he pointed at his visor, "To get you to at least see it – once you do then you had to believe us."
"All the data is on here?" Castis picked up the visor.
Garrus' shoulder fell slightly, he didn't believe him? After all that? "Yes."
Castis looked at the visor slowly, looking at the names there, running his thumb over them and then he placed it back down on his desk. "Go get your sister, Garrus."
He stood immediately, almost annoyed at himself for the natural habit of obedience. Still, he moved from the room and found her just in the hall, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and her mandibles tight.
"Listen to all that, did you?" Garrus clipped.
She looked at him with a carefully guarded expression, "Is he ready for me to come back?"
"Yes," Garrus took a step to the side, opening the doorway for her to go through. He followed and closed the door behind him. Sol sat in her recently vacated seat and Garrus returned to his own.
"I want to see..." Solana started, but Castis lifted a hand and she quieted immediately.
Castis lifted his omni-tool and clicked through its menus. A few subtle beeps later and the sound of the dial tone filled the room. Two rings later and a gruff voice answered: "Vakarian."
"Primarch Fedorian," Castis greeted, and Garrus sat straight up in his seat as looked to the small orange hologram of the Primarch.
"Speak your mind, Castis," the command.
"My son has returned to Palaven, he has brought with him information that you would be wise to explore."
"Garrus has returned?" The man questioned, "He was not flagged, tell me, Castis, does he have a habit of breaking rules?"
"Discretion in message delivery is always expected in times of war, Barcus."
"War?"
"War."
There was a long pause before the Primarch finally answered, "I will clear my morning, bring your son and this information. If talks of war is within this, then perhaps his presence should remain unknown."
"At your command, Primarch," Castis gave a short bow of his head.
"Indeed," the Primarch said, "Tomorrow morning, bring that Earth dirt you have."
"It is called coffee, Barcus," Castis' mandibles shifted in humor.
"Just bring it," came the reply before the hologram disappeared and the line went quiet.
Castis lifted his gaze back to the two turian in front of him, "Solana," he turned his attention to her, "Garrus is going to unencrypt this data and show us what he has been up to for the last three years. You will watch, you will ask any questions you may have, but you will show respect to your brother and to this house."
She visibly cowered at his words, "Yes, Father."
"Good," he picked up the visor and held it out to Garrus, "We have a long night – you get that started up while your sister and I prepare the Earth dirt."