Chapter 13: All Roads Lead To Virmire

Straight into it this time, no A.N needed...

Numb were my fingers and my feet as the Normandy shifted through the dusty fog to pick us up from Tora Vali, a sight to behold for both of us, they to me propped up on Kaiden and Ashley's shoulders and we so grateful for the hasty arrival. My eyes watered with joy as the bright lights clouding my vision blurred my senses into emptiness. And then darkness yet again for the umpteenth time that month alone...

I woke up barely two days later in the med bay, echoed whispers at the edges of my ears. As my vision slowly cradled the light like a baby, I could make out at least two blurry figures, one in a white coat and the other a scaly armour that I could not identify.

"How's he doing, doc?" The armoured alien spoke in a very gruff voice.

"Stable, like the last day... He's recovering quite well, bones and all." At the tone of her voice, I correctly surmised that Chakwas was the one opening her gums.

"Tough son of a bitch... Maybe Shepard had the right idea, bringing him in on this..." The figure turned slowly, watching me with what I perceived as pixellated eyes.

"Whatever the case, I fully expect him to recover by day's end." She surmised quite explicitly, setting down what appeared to be a datapad down on her table, next to which sat a curiously familiar pink bottle. Sherry Ice Brandy, how could she ever quit you?

"Understood, Dr. Chakwas. I'll inform Shepard." The person spoke, exiting the same way he came in no doubt. For a few minutes, I existed in that fugue state. My eyes filtered the world slowly, inch by inch removing rough edges until nothing but a clear crystal image emerged.

"Uhhh..." I muttered, finally finding the strength to convey my state to the good doctor. She swung around in her swivel chair, walking right up towards my bed and looking quite pleased indeed.

"Oh, good... You're awake." She said, using her datapad to monitor my vitals. Dull tones of beeps and bloops hit my eardrums as fingers landed on glass or whatever the future tablets used nowadays.

"Hey, doc..." I feebly intoned with a smirk, trying to lift myself from the bed. I barely mustered a strained uprise before I felt Chakwas' hand push me firmly down onto the bed again.

"Hmmmph... Well, I hope whatever was down there was worth the risk. Nothing I can't fix. Be more careful next time, okay Isaac?" Chakwas answered with a self-assured nod, the vitals probably checking out all right since her body seemed to relax into a more steady groove.

"You know me doc, I'm always... owww... careful." I cracked wise, feeling a shot of pain hit my legs in my vain attempt to sit upright again.

"In bed, young man... You still need to recover." She was right. No matter how legendary you might be or under whatever circumstances brought you about, you're still subject to the rules of the universe. And right about now, the universe is shoving one big middle finger in my face. I breathed a sign of contentment, relaxing my body back into the bed. A week or so of recovery time with nothing noteworthy waiting out there to send me up to the clouds? Sign me up.

The week was spent as usual with business. Shepard was more or less traversing the vast reaches of controlled space, doing errands for each and every one of the crew members. She would come in at least once a day, to tell me about the mission in vivid detail. I would listen in awe to the hero of the piece tell her tale, jotting it down in my old-fashioned journal in my own personal shorthand. Allison always seemed to look at me funny with those big emerald eyes of hers, something I slowly grew accustomed to over time. And yet each day Virmire would remain in the forefront, never brought up as if they were waiting for me to join the fray.

On about the fourth day of recovery when my legs had at least some modicum of motion left in them, Garrus and Tali came a-calling. Apparently the last mission had left the usually swift Garrus with a bad shoulder injury and he was going to check it out.

"Hey, buddy. Looks like your luck finally ran out." Garrus said with a wry smile amidst all that reptilian-esque scales.

"Lady Luck and I have been having an argument, that's all." I shot back in equal fashion. I always did like not having such a serious tone all the time. Why be so dour about anything when the silver lining is just waiting to be discovered?

"Really? Must be pretty bad considering... that." His reptilian eyes narrowed in focus, trained on my broken legs, cast in a metal...well cast, courtesy of the good doctor. The painkillers were a nice little bonus, kind of like those sweets the doctor gives you afterwards.

"Well, she did always want me to be more... spontaneous." I quipped, smacking my lips with a smirk at the end. Garrus seemed to snort and chuckle with my comment, lying back in his bed.

"Perhaps she should curb your mouth. Might make you less noticeable..." Tali chipped in, to little fanfare. I was half expecting the sound of crickets to show up, just to make the situation that much more awkward.

"What?" She said, as soon as both our bemused faces looked with confusion at her.

"Don't quit your day job, Tali." I remarked, chuckling quietly.

"Hahaha... Very funny." Her hands clasped her waist firmly. 'Oh, darn... Please don't come back with your shotgun.' I remembered thinking as I looked pleadingly at her.

"I certainly thought so." I could offer up meekly, my expression emoting my fears clear as rain to Tali.

"How are you feeling?" Garrus thankfully avoided any further awkward conversation.

"My legs still suck and I'm hooked up to God knows what. I'm peachy." I sarcastically groan, reaffirming my painful injuries with a pained expression only mildly reduced by the faux inebriated state I was in at the time.

"How goes your Pilgrimage?"

"Actually, pretty well... Shepard found a cache of data that might tell us about the early days of the geth." She told us in a jubilant manner. It was understandable how she was aiming to please her father. At the same time, I knew deep down what this path was going to lead to. Yet, I remained deadly silent. How could I even break it to her?

"And she gave it to you?" I raised an eyebrow at that, trying to look like it was a surprise. Sadly, it did not get past her notice.

"Yes, how did you know?" she looked at me warily with unassuming eyes.

"Call it a hunch." I shrugged my shoulders. Suddenly I recalled Shepard mentioning Garrus' surgeon manhunt earlier when she came to visit, a point I brought almost instantly.

"And you? I heard you and Shepard went hunting. Get me anything?" I rubbed my hands together like any child would on Christmas morning.

"If you consider one of the most dangerous black market surgeons out there as a souvenir then yes, I did."

"Cool. I always wanted one for the collection." Tali immediately stared at me with what could only be wide, slacked jawed eyes from behind that opaque mask.

"I'm just joking, Tali." I laughed heartily, watching her glowing eyes light up in genuine shock, then slowly relax into an annoyed yet playful outlook. Her fist socked me in the shoulder as she laughed, Garrus slowly getting the punchline afterwards and joining with the laughter. The remainder of the conversation was quite casual, the kind any group of friends might share. I took it as a sign of the calm before the storm, wherever that may lead.

About a week and a half passed after that. My legs healed quite considerably given the time, yet I still was asked rather forcibly by the good doctor to use a cane to support myself in my daily activities, a wooden beauty at that with a metal handle. It became a routine of sorts, put cane forward, move leg in hobbled fashion in similar manner, repeat. My eyes watered on several occasions when any irregular pressure shot my nerves right to hell and I would sit down just to let the pain ebb away on its own.

Being confined mostly to my quarters reminded me ironically of home, the times I would spend with a new game on the family computer, the days when I would never leave save for meals and the bathroom. Perhaps it sounds bad to you, but to me, the isolation and silence somewhat suited me at times. On one particular day as I was going through my notes and double-checking the extensive library on the Web, a message prompt popped up with a ping on the right-bottom corner of my holo-computer. My interests piqued, I foolishly opened the prompt expecting a simple message, from Larry or even Irina Krukov hoping to at last thank us for the rescue. Instead... I got iced... by an ice queen.

"Hello, Isaac." The video was blanched and rife with static lines, no doubt due to whatever hole she was crawling in. Even beneath all that white noise however laid a very familiar face, one looking at me with a venomous glare that felt like it was drilling a hole into my eyes.

"Lawson." I answered with a deadpan tone, a poor attempt to mask my fear.

"I'm surprised you remember me. I sure haven't forgotten you." Her facial impressions curled into a sneer, with an equally wicked smile to boot.

"How are you...?" I started, spinning around as if to find her standing right behind me like some screwed up magic trick. Seeing my reaction, Miranda had visibly shaken her head, almost bemused by my fearful response.

"Those details don't matter. The ones I want... do." HEAVY emphasis on the 'do' part of the equation...

"And why should I tell you anything?" I shot back, visibly disturbed.

"For starters... your name's not Isaac. In fact, you don't belong here at all." She dropped the bombshell with as matter-of-fact tone I ever heard someone use.

"You little..." My swear caught itself in my throat. Who knew who was walking outside and could barge in at any time? I couldn't risk that, not if I wanted to keep this relatively contained. Just to be safe, I looked around the room before returning full attention back to Miranda. 'Thank god for small miracles. If Liara was an information broker now...'

"It's strange how your saviours just...let slip this little tidbit to me." Miranda looked as dumbfounded as I was, except her mind cared little for that slight detail, while my head was reeling from what this entailed. Would I have to watch out for these guys, keep an eye out for them?

"After the Virmire mission, you are to meet me at the Citadel. The club where you met Shepard will do." Miranda expressly stated, putting a heavy emphasis on the word meet.

"Oh, and if you tell anyone... Well, you know..." And with that, Miranda severed the connection, leaving me naught but a racing mind and a sudden urge to punch the hull of the ship for all the good that would have done. I panicked, obviously. My first thought was complete and absolute compliance. If Lawson were to jeopardize my plans far too early, then every step I take after that would no doubt be scrutinized by the Reapers. They were the last things I want in the know. Secondly, I might not even get a chance. I would be sequestered and tossed into the loony bin, far away from making any sort of change that mattered. Plus, that would leave me with zero opportunities to grab any remaining Kronostyl-2 still out there.

No... My best plan moving forward was to go along. Hopefully, I could convince her to drop the matter, ignore my little meddling and part amicably, for a time. If not... Well, it wouldn't be optimal and I'd have to find some sort of alternative, perhaps Jacob... But Miranda Lawson would have to go. Permanently... And that was not a decision I dared resort to.

I had time... Time to sort through my mess and clean it up... Virmire needed to be checked off.

Two Days Later

By now, the drill to every morning was lodged right in my brain, I could recite it by memory if anyone wanted me to. Wake up to the dark abyss of the universe staring out at me in the window, complain about the pain in my bones and do the bed. Take a shower, scrub down every part of my body that didn't smell like a krogan. Dress in my garb, take my breakfast, sit silently and eat. Maybe even converse with the crew.

Today that list went one further. Get ready for Virmire... So I trudged my hobbled feet to the armoury where predictably Garrus was double checking through every equipment going down with us to the planet twice over. As I neared him, he noticed me, laying down the Avenger he was looking over on the table in front of him.

"Morning, Isaac." He smiled, waving to me. 'Yep, definitely unaware…' I mused, unable to stomach such a happy outlook on a day that called for pain.

"Morning, Garrus." I yawned back, my hand covering most of my gaping maw.

"Rough morning?" He looked at me with a noted hint of concern.

"Nightmares of us getting our asses handed to us. You?" I said, still barely cognizant, going through the motions of cleaning out my armor, my weapons and the like. It felt weird to snake my thumb over the scratch marks in my armour again, considering I've been out of action for the last week or so.

"Having the Council denounce the Turians because of Saren..." Garrus said jokingly, seemingly taking my talk to be another punchline. I didn't have the heart then to contradict him. It was… terrifying to imagine. I had lain awake in a cold sweat the last day or so, trying to tell myself that it was just a dream, that none of it was real. Hence, the reason why I was so tired to begin with.

"Back to work?" I said, hoping to move the topic away from such scary thoughts.

"Keeps the dreams away..." Garrus said with a smirk. It was like that for us now, those little inside jokes we laugh at. I could scarcely believe that I was actually making friends with Garrus right now. And to be honest, it was a feeling that I have rarely experienced in my life.

It was a feeling that would not last long. From the moment we landed on Virmire to the moment we rolled into the camp felt like a blur to me then and a hazy memory to me now. I remember getting into the Mako with the team. Allison. The two sacrificial lambs. Wrex. The other three who would be the least affected by what was to come. Then gunfire as the geth rattled our cage and tried to stop us, only for the turret to blast them away to smithereens thanks to some well timed shots on Kaiden's part. Then, the camp. And of course, the incident with Wrex.

I felt trapped. Like I was looking at a disaster in slow motion. Shepard had argued with Wrex over the cure for the genophage, over rebuilding the krogan back to their usual strength. Ashley stood over to the side, her fingers curling ominously around her trigger as she readied her weapon. Wrex was advancing on Shepard now, thrusting one big finger in her face, tufts of blonde hair flying back at the sudden gust of wind that followed. Shepard seemed rather adamant, but pleading at the same time.

"Wrex, please just listen. I understand that this is important to your people. But Saren will not use this for good. It will be nothing but a tool to be used against everyone." Shepard exclaimed, pointing to the laboratory fortress sitting in the distance from their camp. Wrex was fuming, already clutching his head as he wrestled internally with her words. 'Crap, please tell me she dumped her points into charming him…' I prayed, rushing up to watch them.

"I won't let you do this, Shepard. This is my people we're talking about! I won't throw away the one chance they have of regaining their glory!" Wrex bellowed out, hands whipping behind him as he produced his shotgun, the business end of which he put towards Shepard's face. Shepard responded in kind, pulling out her sidearm and staring him down. It was her next words that confirmed just what kind of 'save data' I was dealing with, so to speak…

"Put it down, Wrex! You're making a big mistake!" Crap! So that means this only ends one of two ways. Either Wrex gets blown away by Shepard. Or by Ashley. And by the way Ashley was looking at Wrex, eye twitching with her finger almost in unison, I knew better than to hesitate any longer.

"Hey!" I screamed, all three pairs of eyes turning towards me, heads shifting to look me down. I was still clad in my armour, so at least one round wasn't going to put me down. But if I'm being honest, I was right about that point of letting my legs drag me down to the ground in fear.

"Look, I may not be a big part of this crew. And I may not truly get what you're going through, but look at yourself! Playing to every stereotype people have about the krogan!" I decided on a tactic of playing to the krogan's innate sense of pride and honour. Attacking them as little more than a played out stereotype would wound that pride. And to be honest, Wrex wasn't as steeped as the other krogan were in that sensibility. So colour me surprised that Wrex sent his attention my way.

"And what do you know of us, Isaac?" He said gruffly, shotgun still pointed at Shepard. I had him at least!

"I know that you're proud. And smart. Better than letting some idiot ply you with promises. Sure, it works." I made finger quotations when I said that line, trying to get him to think beyond simple motivations. "But how sure are you that there are no adverse side effects? Or something else in that little cocktail of theirs? Because if you really believe the offer, then walk down that road." I finished with a dare, prompting Allison to immediately take offense with my suggestion.

"Isaac! Stop talking!" Ashley nudged me hard, staring me down with that icy look in her eyes. It almost reminded me of Miranda to be honest and my legs seemed to connect the two events in some ways, if the wobbling in my knees was anything to go by.

"Heh… Hahaha…. You've grown some balls, human. Almost as much as Shepard here." Wrex laughed, almost doubling over in light of it all, the gun going a little slanted in his grip. Shepard seemed to look at me, as if to question if this was really working as intended. I just shrugged to her, deciding to end with a dash of honesty and ego boosting.

"I learned from someone. And to be honest, I feel like pissing my pants right now." I winced, the fear slowly subsiding as Wrex continued to look at me with a bemused look along his scarred face, his better eye squinting to note me.

"Well, now I can't shoot anyone. Be a shame not to see this for now." Wrex chuckled, slowly clasping his shotgun on the pack strapped to his back, his surrender the splash of cold water that Shepard and Ashley needed to lower their own form of defensive aggression. There was a sigh of relief escaping my lips as I saw this, my hand reaching to my chest to feel my heart thrum steadily.

"We good, Wrex?" Shepard stared at Wrex, holding out her hand to the disgruntled krogan. Wrex answered firmly, his hand clasping onto Shepard's with an iron grip, cementing the friendship between the two comrades in arms.

"We're good, Shepard."

"Okay, on that note… I need to go…" I squeaked, rushing away to find an impromptu bathroom to relieve myself. As I left, I could not help but feel accepting eyes start to gaze at my retreating form. It felt like being a part of the crew at long last, something I didn't think would happen so soon. I could count the weeks I had been with them on two hands. Who could have known what would happen next?

The rest… The rest was a haze of gunfire and bullets. I felt my teeth chatter in rhythm with the rounds pulsing out of my SMG, the lack of bullets clattering only adding more tension to the feeling. Fire in short bursts, let the heat sink hiss away, then fire again. Security was tight as we herded the nuclear bomb into the center of the facility, fired upon on all sides. After that? I heard them split up. Ashley and Kaiden shifting away to their respective positions, Kaiden by the bomb, Ashley with the salarians. 20 minutes later, as me, Shepard, Tali and Garrus moved to take out some errant snipers giving us heck, I heard those words echo in our earpieces. It was time… Time to see what would happen…

"Heads up, L-T. We just spotted a troop ship headed to your location." Ashley's voice alerted us, my head spinning to see a mass of purplish steel shift behind me, no doubt unloading a horde of geth all around Kaiden.

"It's already here. There's geth pouring out all over the bomb site." Kaiden exclaimed, bursts of errant gunfire cutting into the audio feed intermittently. I had to wince when the loud noises cut in. I had more than my fair share of gunfire without having to listen to it.

"Can you hold them off?" Allison asked, moving to look at the bomb site, hand resting on the stone overhang as her eyes darted towards the din echoing in the distance.

"There's too many. I don't think we can survive until you get here." Kaiden chirped back. I could almost feel his head shake back and forth through the earpiece. To my left, Garrus looked worried for his friend's survival. Tali also seemed worried, though I wondered if that was because of Garrus. Those two did hook up afterwards, if not prompted by Shepard.

"I'm activating the bomb." The minute I heard that, my mind already shifted into high gear. 'How to save them… How to save them… Maybe I can reach one of them and bring them over to Shepard. Wait, but if the bomb's left unchecked… It needs to be Ash I grab, then…' my mind cycled through the problem in a heartbeat.

"What are you doing?!" Allision let out an uncharacteristic yell, almost reprimanding in tone. I jumped a little at the sudden shift in tone.

"I'm just making sure this bomb goes off. No matter what." Kaiden explained, another burst of fire punctuating his dialogue. Then, several beeps filtered through faintly, my three comrades' faces paling at the very notion. Now we were on a ticking clock, a countdown to nuclear winter.

"It's done, Commander. Go get Williams and get the hell out of here." Kaiden argued to her, his banter cut off by a burst of static.

"Screw that! We can handle ourselves. Go back and get Alenko." Ashley responded in kind, she too cut down by static before Shepard could even make or inform them of her decision. Shepard looked conflicted, brows furrowing into her nose as she struggled to choose between her two comrades. I stepped forward with a plan, gamely hugging my SMG close to my armoured chest.

"I'll go. I'll get Ashley. You guys go back and get Kaiden." I said, making for Ashley's watchtower, already a plume of smoke billowing from the front side of it.

"Alone?! You won't even make it to her!" Shepard held fast to my shoulder, looking at me with incredulity. She looked pleadingly at me, as if to say 'Don't go getting yourself killed. I don't need for more of my team to die here.'

"I'll accompany him, Shepard." Garrus volunteered all of a sudden, raising his hand like one would during class. Shepard looked at him with the same look of incredulity she had shot me, but sighed deeply. She was relenting to let me and Garrus go.

"Fine. Come on, Tali." Shepard said, motioning to the quarian engineer to follow suit. Nodding, Tali followed after her commander, leaving me and Garrus to stand and stare at each other gormlessly for about a few seconds or so.

"Isaac to Williams. Calvary's coming to pick you up." I said in a very announcement like style, one hand to my ear as the other held onto the SMG by the grip, feeling the sniper rifle on my back shake and shudder with each deliberate step I took.

"What?! I told Shepard to save Alenko!" Ashley screamed, wincing as I heard a shot ring out in the background. Garrus seemed to pick up his pace as he heard this. I guess the turian was just as invested in the idea of a team as Shepard was.

"She is. You're stuck with us." Garrus jokingly jested, earning a light chuckle from

"Well, hurry up then!" she barked, cutting out the feed as we raced to get to her.

When we got there, the battle was pitched and fierce. Ashley was apparently the only one still left alive in the tower's highest level, sending bursts of rifle fire down onto a squad of geth slowly advancing on her position. When we had arrived, we assumed that the salarians were still alive and kicking, not dead and laying around Ashley in a heap, slathered in blood from their wounds.

It was a hard-pitched battle. Garrus shifted from cover position to cover position, letting his rifle speak for him. One shot would leave him and a geth would fall forward, a bullet lodged in its temple. I kept close, using my SMG to deter any geth attempting a suicide run to dislodge us from our cover. One geth attempted to strike me down with a metallic sword made of some material I didn't recognize, my gun chattering as it carved a hole in its chest, the bot toppling backwards in two pieces as the sword clattered on the ground next to me harmlessly. The remaining geth split their attention between us and Ashley, caught in the crossfire as they were cut down into pieces as they tried to escape and regroup. After the noise let up, we started to make up the steps to Ashley, meeting her halfway in the middle.

You wouldn't believe me if I had said that she looked different. After all, it had only been an hour or so since we last split up. When I looked at her then, she looked very different. Splashes of black lines were cut across her figure, no doubt as a result of glancing fire from the geth's pulse rifles. Her hair, usually tied up in a nice little bun was left hanging, tufts of brown hair falling down her face, almost like her appearance in the third game. Her hands were slick with red, which I assumed was her attempt to resuscitate one of the salarians during the battle. And she seemed to wobble a little, body barely able to keep up.

"Nice of you to join me." Ashley spat out, clutching her rifle like it was a dear old friend. Garrus was the first to snap out of his trance, moving to help Ashley stay upright, placing one of her arms around his shoulder. I gamely took the role of guard, racing down the stairs to check for any danger. In our haste to rush upstairs, I hadn't noticed a large cell on the second floor of the watchtower.

"Come on, Lieutenant. We need to go." I heard Garrus echo from the floor above him, followed by a miffed grunt from Ashley in response. Carefully, I inched closer and closer to the cell, staring at a room shrouded in darkness. Half of the cell was completely dark, only the thin line of an errant shadow shifting in the corner any indication to me that there was anything living in there.

"Hey, let us out!" The figure in the dark screamed at me, its shadow stumbling forward as it did so.

"We have room. Two more won't hurt us." Garrus said, tossing me a handful of keys he had grabbed from one of the krogans that had been amongst the geth on the way over here. It flew into the air and while I tried to catch it with my bare hands, the ring of keys clattered onto the floor when it slipped through my hands. It took a while to find a single key to fit the lock, but I was relieved to hear the lock clink as the cell door opened. I swung it open and motioned for the figure to step forward.

To my surprise, it wasn't just one. It was two. The shadow stepped down to coax one other shadow up to their feet. It seemed a little healthier and braver than the first, a fact that shocked me even more when they stepped out of the light and into view at last.

"Rennie?" I heard my sister Erin's voice echo in my ears, even as my eyes settled on her form, my brother following behind her. Their clothes were not of our understanding, but rather something that prisoners in this world seemed to wear. They looked a little gaunt, skin cracked in a couple of places. Their lips looked dried, cracking as much as their weak voices. Their hair was a little darker than normal, dirt or just the passage of time. But I was lost for words, my tongue wagging in place as my eyes bulged in their sockets. My hands went slack to my sides, unable to comprehend what was standing right before me.

"Matthew? Erin?" I said with a quiver, my lips barely able to mutter the words. I heard the footsteps behind me get closer and closer, but I couldn't care less… They were in front of me, like a dream. I didn't want to wake up.

"Oh, thank god you're safe." Matthew hugged me tightly, my lips letting a slight oof escape me. Erin just smiled, joining in on the hug a moment later. It was a moment of silence I'll remember for as long as I lived, one of the few in this messed up situation I found myself in.

"Rennie? I thought your name was Isaac?" Garrus sounded off from behind me, still carrying Ashley by the shoulder.

"How… how did you…?" I ignored Garrus entirely, too caught up in the reunion to care. I felt my brother and my sister relinquish their grip on me, standing back just to smile warmly at me.

"What the hell are you playing at? Who the hell…?!" Ashley screamed out as I was stuttering to ask them. I spun around to see Ashley weakly point her pistol at my head, her veins angrily pulsing in her forehead. I was about to make my own move when Garrus pressed his hand down on the sidearm, shoving it forcefully down. Ashley turned head to glare at Garrus, as if to say, 'What the hell, Garrus? I thought you were on my side!'

"Not the time, Ash. We'll worry about that later. For now, we need to go!" Garrus said, though he looked at me with a hint of disappointment. 'Well, I expected as much… Sigh… I'll deal with it after this….' I had told myself as I followed after, making sure Matthew and Erin were in a condition to follow us before we made towards the bomb site.

By the time we made it to the bomb site, it was sheer chaos. As we raced down the steps, I could see Shepard in a stand-off with Saren on his hover-board thingy, while Kaiden was nursing a gut wound next to the big glowing bomb, Tali head-first in the rushing water around it. Garrus and Ashley immediately rushed to their aid, while I motioned to Matthew and Erin to keep to the wall and keep out of sight.

"I'm forging an alliance between us and the Reapers. Between organics and machines. And in doing so, I will save more lives than have ever existed." Saren continued to rant, which I recognized as the very end. Shepard grimaced from her position, holding onto her sidearm for dear life as she tried to find an opening to get a shot in.

"But you would undo my work. You would doom our entire civilization to complete annihilation. And for that, you must die!" As the words left his mandibles, the former Spectre threw a heavy ball of energy right at Shepard, forcing her to duck and tumble away as it pinged off the concrete harmlessly. Growling, he was about to make another shot before an extremely powerful gust of wind buffeted him off his board and sent him flying backwards, ironically hitting the wall that Shepard was hiding behind with a sickening thud. Framed almost in an almost iconic matter was the Normandy, its hanger bay door opening down to the ground with a thump.

"Everyone, move!" Shepard screamed to haul ass. I needed no further question. I motioned for them to go ahead of me, just so they would get to safety faster. As they raced past me, Shepard gave me a quizzical look, one that I returned with a curt nod. Explanations had to wait when a former Spectre had you more or less dead to rights. Garrus, Tali who had recovered, Ashley and Kaiden followed suit behind me, bringing up the rear of our little party as we tumbled across the waterworks to reach the Normandy.

"I won't let you get away again!" Saren bellowed. It felt like time was slowing down, like I was able to see the ripples in the water as footstep after footstep ran up the metal door, their muscles moving as they raced for relative safety. I instead was treated to a bolt of blue energy racing towards our general direction, ostensibly aimed at Shepard herself. Instead, I watched with abject horror as the bolt sliced past Shepard's cheek and punctured its way through Erin's chest, her body thrust forward like a limp and lifeless corpse…

Sorry… Sorry… It's hard to write it now, to even think about it now… You can't see it but… I had wept a little… Darn it… Damn it all… Where was I…?

"NOOOOOO!" I felt myself scream, just as the doors closed with a loud thud and Shepard barked over the intercom to the pilot, my feet carrying me over to the body, where Matthew was already cradling Erin's body, shaking to wake her up and end this nightmare.

"Get us out of here, Joker!" Shepard barely looked at us, just ordering Joker to go full speed and escape the incoming nuclear blast. If I had to… say one positive thing about that mission, it was that. The end of that SADISTIC… sigh… his plans…

"Please… Please wake up…. Please wake up…" I heard Matthew whisper, uncertain as to who those words were supposed to be directed to.

"Oh, god… No…" Matthew sniffed, a tear rolling down his cheek as he looked at me almost pleadingly. I could feel the eyes of everyone else finally stare me down, questions no doubt filtering through their brains as they watched the two us in our states of grief. I could tell you much more about that moment, how they spoke in whispers, Ashley and Garrus no doubt sharing my false identity to the crew. I could tell you how I felt someone's hand tug on me, my eyes closing as I almost waited for some shackles to go clack on my wrists. But I'm tired… And I just want to sleep… and forget everything I just put on these pages…

I'm sorry, Erin… I'm so sorry…

Yeah, so this is an update for a fic from two years ago. I have been busy with stuff lately and interest for this fic in my case just left me. Don't expect me to update this regularly again. I'm doing this to get some traction on writing for my more recent efforts. Who knows, maybe I'll keep going for a few more chapters…