Chapter 23

Even though Rosa's was packed wall to wall with loud humans Marion could hardly hear anything but her own breathing and the sound of Felina sobbing as Matriarch Aquilla moved towards their table. She carried herself with grace, she appeared to almost glide across the club and Marion felt her pulse quicken. Her instinct was to draw her gun but she saw the large number of asari that had mixed in with the crowd and Corvus now realized every one of the aliens were watching their table intently as Aquilla closed the gap between them with a younger looking asari trailing behind her.

Marion looked over to Felina and gripped her hand under the table. "I'm gonna get you out of this. I promise." she whispered.

Felina looked up to the human with her big blue eyes red with tears. She clung to Marion's hand with desperation. With her free hand she wiped her eyes dry and tried to compose herself as Aquilla arrived at their table and crossed her arms behind her back. "Hello, Felina. Do you mind if I join you two?" she didn't wait for an answer and slid into the booth across from them. The Matriarch swiped the table clean with a motion of her arm and her cold eyes locked with Marion's. "You must be Marion Corvus. Allow me to intoduce myself I'm Matriarch..."

"I know who you are bitch." Marion cut her off.

Aquilla's cold expression didn't waiver. "Then I imagine you understand why I am here."

"Here to try and kill your daughter? That's not going to happen."

The Matriarch shook her head and turned her attention to her daughter. "Felina my dear, how long has it been? It must be over 50 years now. What have you done to yourself?" she reached a hand across the table and hooked it under the veiled asari's chin to force her eyes up. "Trying to maintain your innocence?"

Marion slapped her hand away. "Don't touch her!"

A flash of rage filled Aquilla's eyes. "Never lay your hands on me, Human!" she barked. "Have you lost your voice my dear?" she asked Felina.

"P-Please mother..." Felina whimpered.

"Ah, so you can speak."

"You don't need to do this, Mother. I'm not some monster like they say."

Aquilla rolled her eyes. "Why? Because you made a friend? Nothing can change what you are. Certainly not her."

"You're wrong!" Felina cried.

"No, I'm not."

"Walk away from this table." Marion warned.

Aquilla laughed. "Or what? You say you know who I am but you clearly have no idea. Your threats are as empty as your words. And your future." The Matirarch inspected Marion's face and landed on her mangled ear. "It appears your human is missing some parts. Compliments of Raila I presume. I'm curious, what became of the Justicar?"

"She's dead." Marion said.

"A human couldn't defeat an asari Justicar. So I suppose that means you ended poor Raila yourself, Felina. Interesting. Always thought you lacked the courage to fight back." She inspected her daughters bandaged face again. "Clearly I was mistaken. Let me get a look at you." She demanded. Felina pulled her bandages away and her lower lip quivered when she looked at her mother again. "Goddess, you've done quite a number on yourself. Hideous, cover it back up." She ordered.

Felina did as asked. "I can disappear, mother. Nobody will know I'm your daughter."

"I will know. That's shameful enough. No, this all ends today."

Marion narrowed her eyes. "What kind of fucking mother are you?"

"An interesting point for you to be making Miss Corvus. When Raila mentioned you were traveling with my daughter I did some research on you. I dare say you are in no position to criticize my parenting. Or do you imagine your son would disagree?"

Corvus gritted her teeth. "I'm gonna fucking kill you."

Aquilla ignored the threat. "I was curious why someone with your pathetic past would take it upon herself to protect an Ardat-Yakshi. Or do you not know of Felina's condition?"

"I'm well aware."

"And still you help her? You humans are all so naive. In a way it makes sense for Felina to travel with one." She turned back to Felina. "Tell me, who is she to you?"

"I love her." Felina said with confidence.

Aquilla chuckled darkly. "You love her?! I guess I underestimated how stupid you humans were after all."

"Fuck you." Marion barked. "You're nothing but a smug old bitch who was too fucking stupid to realize the beautiful daughter she had and sicks the dogs on her when she might catch some heat. You're the monster."

"I'm the future of the asari people. Of this entire galaxy. Felina, is a problem that needs dealing with. And since the Justicars are clearly unable to do so, I must take matters into my own hands."

"Please, Mother! Don't hurt Marion."

"She's not hurting anyone, Kid." Corvus said.

"You do not wish for any harm to come to the human?" Aquilla asked.

"Y-Yes! I'll do anything just don't hurt her."

"Don't worry about me." Marion said. "You're beyond mistaken if you think I'm letting you take her."

Aquilla locked eyes with the human. "This is happening." She inspected the crowded club. "I'm giving you two choices Miss Corvus. One, you give me Felina with no fuss. She's out of your life for good and you can go back to…whatever it is you do. Two, my commandoes use whatever force needed to eliminate the both of you. You and Felina die in a hail of gunfire and I go about my business. Either way Felina dies, is my daughter really worth getting yourself killed over?"

Marion inched her hand to her holster. "Absolutely."

"There are quite a lot of humans in this establishment. Are you willing to sacrifice their lives for this foolish pursuit?"

"Marion, it's okay…" Felina said.

Corvus silenced her with a motion of her hand. She brought the hand under the table and tapped on the asari's thigh. "You're asking me if I'd sacrifice innocent lives to save someone I love?"

Aquilla rolled her eyes and placed her hands on the table. "I am ask…" her words her cut off when Marion drew her pistol and unloaded a shot into the Matriarch's chest. Aquilla quickly brought up her barriers which took most of the impact. Marion flipped their table over on top of Felina's mother and aimed her gun at the first of the many commandoes who drew their weapons. "Kid, shield!" Marion cried out.

Felina summoned all the biotic energy she could muster and surrounded them both in a biotic shield as Corvus fired off rounds from her gun. Her first shot struck one of her targets square in the jaw and blew it clean off the asari's head. The human patrons were screaming and running for the exits, the majority were mowed down in the crossfire when a squad of asari taking cover behind the bar unloaded their guns at Marion and Felina.

Aquilla clutched at her bleeding chest as she moved under the crossfire towards Erelya. Her assistant dragged her out of the club. "Kill them!" She ordered and Erelya ran back into Rosa's with weapon drawn.

Blood began to drip from Felina's eyes as the strain of maintaining the shield intensified. Corvus' hand moved almost too quickly to see as she fired off more shots into their attackers. Felina's arms began to tremble. "Marion! I can't…"

Corvus turned and saw the weakness in the girl. "Fuck!" she cried and moved to shield the asari with her own body when Felina finally couldn't hold the shield any longer. Two rounds tore through Marion's body. Skimming past her waist and shredding away some flesh with it before the second bullet went in and out of her thigh. She cried out in pain as she dragged Felina into cover. The bullets never let up. Rosa's had been turned into an all out war zone in seconds with debris and dead human civilians and commandoes littering the floor.

Corvus gritted her teeth as blood poured out of her fresh wounds. Felina was putting pressure on her thigh. "Goddess, are you alright Marion?!"

"Fine..." Corvus grunted. "Stay down!" She ordered and spun out of cover to fire off more rounds from her quickly overheating pistol. She nailed another hostile in the face, her slug tearing through one of the alien's blue eyes and blowing her brains out the back of her skull, painting the bar mirror purple. Marion quickly ducked back into cover, she had taken down at least six of what appeared to be twenty or so commandoes. "We h-have to get the fuck out of here!" She shouted to Felina.

"Where do we go?!"

Bullets began to penetrate their cover and one tore through Felina's shoulder. The asari howled in pain and Marion's eyes filled with rage. Nothing was going to stop her from saving this girl. Corvus peeked out and spotted a collection of five asari moving by the bar. One of them was pulling a dead commando out of the way and Marion considered taking her down before she saw another hostile priming a disc grenade. Quickly the human fired at the woman and struck her in the hand blowing off the majority of her fingers and dropping the primed explosive. The asari fell to her knees and tried to pick up the grenade with her stubs but was unable before it detonated and blew her and three of her fellow asari to pieces that rained down across the club.

Ereyla watched in rage as she saw the charred remains of her squad. This human was much more trouble than she predicted and her 22 soldiers had been thinned to 11. She spotted the human and the Ardat-Yakshi cowering behind a few overturned heavy duty metal tables. She pointed to their position. "Concentrate fire!" she ordered and began firing along with the remaining 11 commandoes.

A storm of gunfire was unleashed on Marion and Felina and their cover began to chip away. "Kid! You need to bring up another shield!"

"I can't!" Felina screamed as she put pressure on her bleeding shoulder.

"I know you can do it! Once you got it up we run for the back door!" Marion pointed to a back hallway across an exposed stretch.

Felina shut her eyes and felt the burn fill her body as she created a second but much weaker shield. Marion grunted as she forced herself to her feet and made sure she was in front of Felina as they ran for the backdoor. The Commandoes bullets bounced off Felina's shield and the bandaged asari cried in agony as her entire body was rocked with pain. Marion Took down three more targets with precise shots before she holstered her gun and lifted the girl off her feet as Felina struggled to maintain the biotic field. The Commandoes abandoned their cover and advanced firing relentlessly as they did.

Marion barreled out of the club and out into the torrential downpour that fell on New York City. The decreased visibility should help them escape. She set Felina down on her feet as the asari lowered the shield. "No chance you can do another shield?" She asked. She didn't have the luxury of thinking about her injuries but the two bullet wounds were draining her fast.

"N-None." Felina grunted. Her bandages were soaked with blood and the brown leather jacket had another bullet hole in the shoulder.

Marion spotted a a few skycars in the back car park behind Rosa's. She sprinted for them and pried the door open on a yellow car as the Commandoes funneled out of the club. "Get in!" Corvus screamed and Felina crawled in to the passenger side as the asari opened fire. Corvus rushed inside as she closed the door and powered up the engine. The authorization code was requested. Marion entered 5598204 a code reserved for C-Sec officers to commandeer any civilian vehicles should the need arise. Bullets struck the outside of the car a few cracking through the windshield as she took off.

"Cease fire!" Erelya shouted as they watched the skycar take off. She brought up her comm. "Bring in my gunship!" she ordered.

Aquilla strolled outside and glared at Ereyla. "She's escaping." she said cooly.

"Not for much longer." Ereyla said back.

"See to it, Ereyla."

Matriarch Aquilla strolled back inside Rosa's to get out of the rain and took a good look at the carnage. Bits of charred asari were strewn about by the grenade and a massive pile of dead human patrons was stacked up by the front entrance. She moved beside it and noticed one man was still moving. "Please. Help me." he cried.

Aquilla stared at the human with no expression and charged her boot with biotics before stomping on the human's skull, cracking it open and painting her boot red.

Blood poured from Marion's thigh and her side. "Well…" she grunted. "Good news is I set a new personal record."

"W-What?" Felina asked as she put pressure on her own wound.

"Never been shot twice in the same day." she chuckled grimly. "I'm gonna get you out of this. How's your shoulder?"

"I-I've had worse." Felina said trying to elevate some of the human's troubles. It was partially true, carving up her face hurt more than the round through her shoulder but still it stung painfully on top of the exhaustion of using her biotics.

Marion tried to smile but winced in pain instead. "Sorry you got hit. I tried my best."

"Marion, we have to get you to a doctor."

"I'll be fine." she winced. "We need to get out of this city."

"And then what? My mother will only follow us."

"I don't know, Kid. But whatever happens we'll face it together."

"But w-what if we can't escape."

"Don't talk like that. You're gonna be fine." Marion gritted her teeth. "Shit." she rasped. "We'll drive to JFK and catch a ship off world. Go from there." Suddenly a bright light shown from behind them. Marion checked the rearview cam and saw a large gunship barreling towards them with machine guns spinning up."Fuck…"

"What?!"

"Hold on!" Marion shouted as Ereyla unleashed hell upon their car. The gunship's bullets tore into their skycar and the engine began to stutter. Inside her cockpit Ereyla smiled as kept her target in her crosshair. Corvus looked over to Felina and saw the terror in her eyes. The asari reached over and took her hand but Marion wasn't giving up. She killed the thrusters and Ereyla soared past them. She gave all the juice she could back into the thrusters and rounded a corner as the gunship struggled to get back on track.

Aquilla's second in command increased her speed and rocketed past the human's skycar spinning out in front of them and blocking their path. She opened fire as Marion flew head on towards her. Ereyla's eyes opened wide, she had misjudged the distance and had made a grave mistake. Corvus dove in front of Felina as their car smashed into the asari's ship. The gunship's left wing exploded and the vehicle spun out of control and crashed into a skyscraper, smashing through the big glass windows as Marion and Felina's skycar began to plummet to the streets below. Felina held on to Marion tight as she screamed. The skycar crashed down on the pavement and turned the car into a smoking pile of twisted metal and the two passengers were violently shook and thrown about before it skidded to a stop.

At first Corvus could only hear a high pitched ringing in her ears before her eyes fluttered open and she saw Felina in front of her putting pressure on her bleeding forehead, her bandages were strewn and she could see the asari's mutilated face. Marion suddenly felt very tired. Her own head was bleeding and she began to suspect she suffered a concussion before she looked down and saw the piece of metal poking through her stomach. Corvus coughed and blood spilled past her lips. "Marion! No!" Felina cried. The asari was unharmed outside of a few superficial cuts, the human had taken the damage for her. "No, no, no." Felina cried again as blood began to spew from Marion's abdomen.

"Oh…fuck." Corvus groaned.

Felina hurried out of the crashed skycar and dragged Marion with her. "Get up! We have to move!" She pleaded.

"Don't…think." Corvus fell to her knees. "Think this is it…"

"No Marion. Get up please! I can't do this without you." Felina struggled to lift Marion into her arms and tried to run a few feet before the weight of the human became too much and she fell over on her knees.

"Kid, I'm already dead." Marion grunted as she dragged herself to the curb and laid down on the wet pavement. The crash had cleared out the pedestrians below even more than the rain had leaving them alone in the street.

Felina crawled next to her. "Don't say that. Goddess, you can't die. P-Please. Remember what you promised! You said we stick together! Always, remember?"

"Kid…"

"Get up!" Felina's lip quivered as she desperately tried to lift the dying human again. "Get up!" She repeated.

"Felina." Marion said clearly and Felina locked eyes with her. "It's alright." Corvus coughed and more blood spurted from her mouth. She looked down at the rod pointing through her stomach. "This is long overdue. At least you gave me something to die for."

Felina was shaking as she took hold of Marion's blood soaked hand. "Please Marion. I can't do this by myself. I-I can't lose you."

Corvus smiled. "You can do it…I know you can. You're so strong. You're gonna be just fine without me. Leave me here, you have to go before they find you."

Felina buried her face in the woman's shoulder and sobbed. "I'm not leaving you."

"If you don't all of this would have been for nothing. You have to survive, Kid. Tell me…tell me you're not gonna give up. I need to hear you say it."

Felina wrapped her arms around Marion. "I won't give up."

"That's my girl."Corvus smiled and tears began to fall from her blue eyes. She reached into the inside pocket of her brown leather jacket which Felina still wore and pulled out a cigarette and her lighter. She shakily placed the smoke between her lips. "Take care of my jacket." she said with a wry smile. She struggled to light the cigarette before Felina softly took the lighter from her bloodied hands and did it for her. Marion puffed smoke out the side of her mouth. "You know w-why I agreed to look after you all those months ago back on the Citadel?" she winced in pain again.

Felina sat back and lovingly stroked Marion's wet brown hair. "W-Why?"

"Because I looked into your eyes that day and I could see that you were innocent, and you were scared and you needed me. And I'd only seen that look once before." She exhaled smoke from her nose and coughed producing more blood from her mouth. Felina wanted to speak but it only came out as uncontrollable tears and sobs. Marion hooked her finger under the girl's chin and brought her eyes up to meet her own. "Don't cry, baby. Truth is I deserve this."

"I love you!" Felina sobbed.

Marion shakily removed the cigarette from her lips and leaned in to kiss the asari goodbye. Felina could taste the blood on the human's lips as she desperately held on to the kiss. Finally their lips came apart and they pressed their foreheads together. "Thank you." Corvus said.

"F-For what?" Felina asked softly.

Marion didn't answer. "I love you. Now go." she said and tried to smile at the girl as her eyes lids began to feel heavy. Felina's legs were shaking as she rose to her feet and backed away from her dying protector. She turned and sprinted away, trying to get as far away from the crash site before her mother and her commandoes arrived. She looked over her shoulder once to get one last look at Marion Corvus.

Marion watched as the girl ran away before she disappeared from view. The smoke fell from her lips as her eyes closed and her head tilted back letting the rain beat down on her face.

Elysium- 2163

"They're beautiful aren't they?"

"What are?" Marion asked.

"The stars." Sarah answered and wrapped her arms around her lover.

Corvus looked up into the night's sky and smiled. "Yeah I guess so." She looked down and kissed Sarah on the cheek causing the blonde to giggle. "But not as beautiful as you."

"Tell me something."

"What?"

"You think things happen for a reason?" Sarah asked.

Marion shrugged and sat down on the beach sand patting next to her for her fiancee to join her. Sarah sat down and rested her head on the strong woman's shoulder. "Maybe. I'd like to think so."

"Me too. As cheesy as it sounds I think you were meant to find me that day on Shanxi."

Corvus chuckled. "Were we made to be together?" she said goofily.

"Yes." Sarah said sincerely.

Marion smiled. "Yeah I guess I like the thought of that too."

There was a silence between the two of them before Sarah spoke up again. "Have I ever told you how amazing you are?" Sarah said lovingly.

"Too many times." Marion rolled her eyes.

"Well I feel like telling you again. You're amazing my love. You're beautiful, and strong…and you're a good woman."

Corvus shook her head. "You always say that. I'm still not convinced."

"I am. You are a good woman, Marion. One who'd risk her own life to protect someone she didn't know. And one who'd give that woman a reason to live." Sarah reached down and ran her index finger in the sand spelling out Sarah Loves Marion. And smiled up at her lover. "I love you, Marion. I will always love you."

Marion rolled over on top of the blonde and pinned her to the ground with her lips. As they kissed the tide slowly rolled in and washed away Sarah's words in the sand.

2185- Illium

The bar is quiet for the time of night. She sat in the back, the shadows hiding her from the few patrons who drank alone. She shivered when a draft hit her and Felina zipped up Marion's jacket.

She buried her face in the jacket's collar. It's still too big for her but she hardly ever takes it off. Smelling is hard without a nose but she tries desperately to sniff the long gone human's scent off of the old leather. It still smells like cigarettes and Felina smiles. It's all she has left of the woman she loved. The woman she still loves.

A day doesn't go by that she doesn't think about Marion. Or what she did for her. She hadn't seen any sign of pursuit since that day in New York 15 years ago, the human saved her. It only costed her life.

Felina rose from her table and approached the bar. "Get ya a drink, babe?" the old matriarch behind the bar asked.

"J-Just a water, please."

The bartender rolled her eyes and prepared a glass of water for the bandaged asari. Felina took a seat and sipped on her water.

A third asari approached the bar and the matriarch behind the bar seemed too eager to serve her. "Honey mead." The new asari said with a soft breathy voice.

"Coming right up." the matriarch said.

Felina dipped her head when she saw the woman staring at her. In 15 years she hadn't had a conversation with anyone, making love to Marion had made abstaining from joining even harder and sometimes her urges hurt worse than ever, but she hadn't fallen prey to them. Marion would be proud of her, that thought comforted her on the loneliest of nights.

The woman seemed to notice Felina's discomfort. "I apologize. I didn't mean to stare."

"It's a-alright." Felina said meekly.

The asari extended her hand. "Liara T'Soni." she introduced herself.

"T'Soni?" Felina asked with disbelief.

"Yes?"

Felina nervously shook her hand. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Felina Corvus."

"Quite an unusual last name for an asari." Liara said trying to make conversation with the strange woman.

"It's human."

"Oh. You're bonded with a human?"

"I used to be."

Liara frowned. "I see. Sometimes I feel outliving so many isn't much of a privilege. Especially those we love."

"Yes..." Felina muttered. "You said you were a T'Soni? You wouldn't happen to be related to M-Matirarch Benezia?"

The bartender looked up with interest from polishing the glasses. "Yes actually. My mother." Liara said.

"I see." she never knew Benezia had another child besides her. Apparently this Liara hadn't known either. At least she didn't appear to recognize her. She had a million questions she wanted to ask her half-sister but doing so would reveal who she was. It was too much of a risk.

"Why do you ask?"

"No reason." Felina got up from her seat. "It was wonderful meeting you, Liara."

Liara narrowed her eyes. "And you." she said confused.

Felina Corvus moved for the exit and headed out into the Illium night. Winter had fallen on the asari planet and she bundled up in Marion's jacket as she walked to her ship. Once she was back to her ship she powered on the engines. Learning to fly had been the first thing she picked up after New York, but Morat's old ship never felt the same without the stench of smoke in the air and the human.

She unwrapped her face and began takeoff. It was time she found another planet. Life had been hard in the last 15 years, some days they felt almost unbearable. But she made a promise to Marion, to never give up.

She owed it to Corvus to honor that promise.

Notes- There we go. The end at last. And goodness me I had no idea the final chapter would end up so long. Sorry about that but I had a lot going on here. I hope you enjoyed the conclusion and this story. I've put more words and work and love into this than anything else and I will miss Marion dearly. I'm sad to say goodbye to this story but I have plenty more on the horizon. So do you hate Matriarch Aquilla? Good. Cause she'll be back and more evil than ever. I want to personally thank all the loyal followers to this story and to the reviews. sherryE, you've been incredibly supportive of all my stories and it means the world. ReavansMask, thank you for helping me out and for your support (Go read their stories!). Texkatawpa, your reviews were always very welcomed and incredibly well thought out, it made it a joy to submit a chapter and see what you were gonna say. I hope I accomplished my goal of creating two characters that you could actually care about and fit in the universe. I will probably still update this story, adding in a few ideas that came to me after chapters had to be submitted (A side effect of Nano) so don't be surprised if you see a new chapter at some point but this is the end. Thank you so much for reading.