"See Grunt," Jack said as she slouched in the corner of the club with the krogan beside her. A wide variety of empty bottles and glasses were scattered on the table before them. At least three crewmembers were unconscious and drooling around them. "I knew you'd be able to hold your liquor."

Grunt huffed slightly, fingers coiled around a glass of ryncol as he blankly watched Kelly bump and grind with Gabby, and Kenneth laughed from the edge of the dance floor. They'd bought out the bar on Illium after returning through the Omega 4 relay, and obligingly got smashed. The dead could wait, for tonight they were revered and honoured.

"You know I bet we could do a lot of damage," Jack said, before downing the rest of her drink. Sucking a breath through her teeth, she said, "Might be fun getting in a fight with you next to me. See how long it is before they take us down?"

"We'd be off planet," Grunt replied, his eyes finally settling on Shepard. She was standing with Garrus and Tali, leaning heavily on the bar and laughing. "But for what purpose?"

"Shit, it'd be fun?" Jack replied, signalling the waitress and motioned for another round. Grabbing a bottle as it was put down, it was near her lips as she glanced to Grunt, "You still pining?"

"Hmm?" Grunt glanced at her and narrowed his eyes, "I'm not cleaning you off the floor."

Jack rolled her eyes and downed her beer, flicking the krogan off. Smacking her lips, she said, "You're pathetic."

Growling in his throat, Grunt leant across the table, "I'd like to hear you say that when you don't have Shepard's crew in the wings to defend you."

"Please," Jack sneered, "Like I need them."

Rumbling to himself, Grunt finished the rest of his drink, and it added to the intense fire in his gut. He made to stand up as he said, "Then enough talk."

Jack's eyes lit with mischief as she nodded, "Yeah, sure. Come on, kiddo – ain't that what she calls you?"

Grunt made a fist and smashed it down on the table, miscalculating the force as the near-turpentine flared in his veins. The table fractured, and the glasses on top bounced and clattered onto the ground. There was the successive shatter of glass as he reached across the table, overriding Jack's laughter as she skidded out of the way, waking the drunken crew nearby. All eyes turned to him, and the thud of music was left in the awkward silence.

Steeling himself as the liquor made his head spin, Grunt pushed the table out of his way and trumped towards the door.

Behind the bar Matriarch Aethyta smirked knowingly and shook her head, before calling out, "Don't worry, kid!" He was already out the door.

Huffing in Illium's night air, Grunt flexed his fingers. A nearby group of salarians scattered with a small sound of fright, and he watched them go with a brief chuckle. Pathetic. That was pathetic.

"Hey," Shepard said as the doors to the bar closed behind her. She had her arms crossed when he spun around.

"Shepard," Grunt offered, glancing over his shoulder as the salarians made it out of earshot.

"Here I thought out of anyone, you'd be able to hold your liquor," Shepard smirked, and the glowing red cracks in her cheek exaggerated the expression. "Or at least be some solid competition for myself."

Grunt huffed again, letting the teasing roll off his hump as they turned through a nearby door. It revealed another open market, the shops closed. He spoke as they wandered to the fenced edge to look over the glowing city, "I thought it better than grinding Jack's face into a fine paste."

Shepard laughed once and shrugged, her arms crossed as she said, "Alright, I'll give you that." She breathed deep as she leant onto the rail, a breeze stirring up from the city below.

"So," Grunt flatly said, crossing his arms and watching her. "The turian."

Inhaling deeply, Shepard turned around and leant back against the ledge. Some of her hair fluttered loose as she said, "He's back at the bar. Or did you mean a different one?"

"What's he got that I don't," Grunt rumbled, stepping closer to her.

Shepard was unfazed, glancing aside as she said, "Here I'd gotten the impression you learned turian anatomy in the tank."

"You know what I mean, Shepard," Grunt replied, bouncing aside to smash his fist into the metal ledge. His hand came away unscathed.

"Well," Shepard inhaled, looking skyward as she gathered her thoughts before tactfully saying, "He does have more scars than you."

"Is that it then?" he growled, looking back to her.

"Scars represent a lot," Shepard replied, coolly watching him. "Trials. Experience. Suffering. They're a road map of a person's life."

Another flicker of fire burnt under his hump, and Grunt paced again to dissipate the tension. He wanted to rip and maim, some exertion of dominance and snarl, to bear his teeth – but he knew better. Did he?

"So what are your plans now?" Shepard interrupted his thoughts, sniffing in and regarded him casually.

The krogan went to the ledge and leant on it, simmering down, "That depends. What battles do you have next?"

Shepard chuckled, a shadow in her eyes, "Preparing for the real one to come."

"The Reapers," Grunt plainly said. She nodded and they both looked over the city.

"I think it'd be good if you went back to Tuchunka. Wrex can use warriors like you. Your clan needs you."

"What," Grunt huffed, "You don't anymore, Shepard?"

"I will," she looked at him straight faced. "So go where I know to find you, and train with a better krogan than you."

Grunt pressed his lips in a line before flashing a line of teeth at her, "If anyone else said that, I'd shoot them."

Clapping his hump, Shepard shook her head, laughing as she said, "Come on. We need another drink."

The roar of the krogans nearby went up as the varren in the pit finally darted and caught the jugular of its opponent. With a quick jerk, it shook the other fighter and there was a spray of blood as the tough hide ripped in its jaws. Shepard grinned widely, nudging Grunt before she activated her omni-tool, swiping it with a few of the Urdnots nearby to collect her winnings.

"I never get tired of that," Shepard said, turning away as the victor continued to rip sinew and hide to feast on the fallen.

"You've certainly got a knack for picking winners," Garrus said, mandibles flaring as he kept close to her and Grunt. Some of the krogan around the pit followed him with their eyes.

"You'd like to think that," Shepard winked, and they stopped as one of the honour guard approached.

"The clan leader will see you now," the krogan growled, and turned back amidst the collapsed concrete and rusted steel. Shepard followed close on his heels, and Wrex came into sight. He dismissed the others present, baring his teeth in a wide grin.

"Shepard," Wrex said, nodding to Grunt and Garrus in turn. "Not dead yet, it seems."

"Wrex," Shepard answered, smiling as she crossed her arms. "They keep trying, but somehow I keep rising from the ash."

"Hah," Wrex said, motioning for them to follow. He walked up the collapsed structure towards his perch that overlooked the main camp of the clan. "It true what they say about you and the Collectors?"

"Depends what they're saying?" Shepard easily replied.

"That you came back through the Omega 4? Long as I've known, no one's ever returned. Seems fitting that the woman who cheated death would find a loop hole for it too."

"Let's just say the Collectors won't be making house calls anymore."

"Good," Wrex said, waving for Shepard to join him as he sat on the stone. "They took their share of valuable krogan. Females. Children. Don't know what they wanted with them, but that's enough to get on my list." He reached down to retrieve a bottle, breaking it open and offering it to Shepard, "Ship's still intact?"

Taking the bottle, the Commander took a swig and sucked air through her teeth before handing it back and nodding, "Yeah, mostly. Lost some good people."

"The consequence of any worthwhile battle," Wrex replied, taking a slow drink. Glancing from Garrus to Grunt, took another sip. "So what brings you here, Shepard?"
"Needed to see my favourite warlord," Shepard casually replied, smacking her lips before she motioned nearby. "And bring Grunt home."

Wrex nodded and ruminated with a low growl, looking over the tankbred Urdnot, "Tell me, boy - earn your keep under your Battlemaster's command?"

"Of course," Grunt replied in a bit of a huff. "The enemies we felled cannot be counted. I was there when the Reaper offspring screamed its last, and the Collector's home base collapsed on itself in the galactic core."

Nodding again, Wrex passed the bottle to Shepard, smirking as she took a swig and handed it back, "What do you bring back to your clan? What worth are you to Urdnot?"

"Battle experience," Grunt said without hesitation, and Wrex made an amused sound. "The value of patience. And the value of scars. One to reign the fire and wait for the moment of the kill - and the other, a memory and pride of those you've slain, of those who've died. Of the trials you've survived."

"Well," Wrex said, capping off the liquor and tucking it back out of view. "It's a start. But then again, the thresher was a start." He chuckled and stood alongside Shepard. He nodded to her, "And what about you, Shepard?"

"Prepare," she replied, putting her hands on her hips. "I might have taken out the Collectors, but the Reapers are still coming. And somehow I think this'll have been a cakewalk by comparison."

"Cakewalk..." Garrus said from nearby, putting down a mangled skull he'd found.

"Child's play," Wrex offered, nodding as he crossed his arms. "I don't know what to tell you. Guess we'll see when it happens. If it happens in your lifetime. Afraid I can't chat much more - talks off-world."

"I'll see you round," Shepard said as she took a few steps back.

"Shepard," Wrex nodded and turned to where one of his clansmen waited. Grunt lingered, glancing between the grizzled krogan and his battlemaster.

"Been a pleasure, Grunt," Shepard said, clapping arms with him and slapping his other hump. "Keep in touch, hmm?"

Grunt nodded a few times, shifting his weight, "I'll be expecting to hear from you. Taught me a lot, Shepard."

"You bet, kiddo," Shepard said, crossing her arms and nodding. Garrus was already walking away. Pursing her lips a minute, she contemplated the krogan, but grinned instead and hit him in the cheek. "Make me proud."

THE END

A/N: Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading! Grunt was a blast to write - and Wrex too at the end hehe.