[Fill] False Dichotomy: 29 Minutes (part 2)
anonymous
January 1 2013, 16:30:08 UTC
11. Aria wants to see Shepard. (One foot in front of the other.) Omega smells like desperation. (Focus on the mission.) In Afterlife, she buys ice brandy from a turian bartender. (Don’t think about Garrus.) Aria’s words are uninterested, but her eyes are intrigued. (Don’t think about Liara.)
12. She takes the rifle Garrus offers and looks through the scope. She’s vivid, invincible, for the first time since she woke up, she can take a deep breath. He’s a comforting warmth behind her, her shoulder against his chest; they were never one for casual contact, but neither can help it now. United in the belief that they’d lost each other, she cants her head toward him when he leans down to speak in her ear. His voice strokes down her spine as he outlines the battle before them; her shot is precise despite it and he hums in approval.
13. Shepard and Garrus stare at each other in silence. He will always wear Omega’s goodbye kiss on his skin and betrayal on his spirit. Scars rip jagged trails over her cheeks, like bloody tears. He keeps his old armor, because hers is lost to her, and doesn’t comment when she presses her fingers to the jagged edge. It isn’t easy, even with Garrus at her back, but it’s easier.
14. The Illusive Man isn’t happy with Shepard’s obvious disinterest in continuing a relationship with Kelly or pursuing one with Miranda.
15. Shepard sits on a crate more often than she sleeps in her quarters. She questions Garrus for his take on the crew, their mission, strategies for the upcoming battles; he never questions why she’s so often there. When he tells her about Kelly making a pass at him, she laughs for the first time since her resurrection, laughs until she can’t breathe. He watches her with an air of amused confusion. If she has any doubts as to Kelly’s role on the ship, they’re gone now.
16. Ashley is vicious with her scorn. Her attack scalds nerves raw from Harbinger, burns into Shepard’s skin like the Praetorian’s choir. There is no defense against the truth. She can force no words through her lips, lungs empty of air.
Garrus has never been one to fight battles for her, and she’s never been one to let anyone steal her kills, but really, there isn’t anything more to say.
17. Liara’s voice is professional, smooth, and detached. (Shepard hears Aria’s voice echoing in her mind.) It is enough that Shepard wonders if she made it up, wonders if her memories of her lover were actually something Cerberus crafted and planted there, to make this moment more painful, to widen the divide between her old life and her new.
Garrus and Kasumi follow her out of the office, down the stairs. Kasumi stops, looks back. She starts to ask: “Wasn’t she Shep’s---”
Shepard stops, the question twisting the knife in her back. She doesn’t turn to see what interrupted Kasumi’s question; she’s too busy trying to force breath out of her lungs. The attacks are almost familiar, by now.
She expects the pain and the panic. What she doesn’t expect is the fury.
18. Shepard beats her knuckles raw against the bag kept in the hangar, lulled into a false sense of peace by the rhythm of her fists, dull thud after dull thud. Her implants fight a Sisyphean battle to heal her before she splits her knuckles open again. Blood drips on the floor, a counterpoint to her beat.
EDI reports it to Miranda and runs a feed from the security cameras to the XO’s monitor. Miranda watches in silence for a long minute, debating with herself before she finally leaves her office.
Garrus says Shepard’s name without looking up when the doors to the main battery open, only confirming Miranda’s decision as the right one.
19. Her heart turns over, skips a beat when she hears his footsteps, smells the faint scent of pine and gun oil on the air. Her beat doesn’t falter, but she’s no longer lost inside her head. Her attention is on him, blood humming in anticipation.
She’s always felt breathless when she looked at Liara, panic attacks aside. She feels like she can breathe, when she turns to look at Garrus.
Aria wants to see Shepard. (One foot in front of the other.) Omega smells like desperation. (Focus on the mission.) In Afterlife, she buys ice brandy from a turian bartender. (Don’t think about Garrus.) Aria’s words are uninterested, but her eyes are intrigued. (Don’t think about Liara.)
12.
She takes the rifle Garrus offers and looks through the scope. She’s vivid, invincible, for the first time since she woke up, she can take a deep breath. He’s a comforting warmth behind her, her shoulder against his chest; they were never one for casual contact, but neither can help it now. United in the belief that they’d lost each other, she cants her head toward him when he leans down to speak in her ear. His voice strokes down her spine as he outlines the battle before them; her shot is precise despite it and he hums in approval.
13.
Shepard and Garrus stare at each other in silence. He will always wear Omega’s goodbye kiss on his skin and betrayal on his spirit. Scars rip jagged trails over her cheeks, like bloody tears. He keeps his old armor, because hers is lost to her, and doesn’t comment when she presses her fingers to the jagged edge. It isn’t easy, even with Garrus at her back, but it’s easier.
14.
The Illusive Man isn’t happy with Shepard’s obvious disinterest in continuing a relationship with Kelly or pursuing one with Miranda.
15.
Shepard sits on a crate more often than she sleeps in her quarters. She questions Garrus for his take on the crew, their mission, strategies for the upcoming battles; he never questions why she’s so often there. When he tells her about Kelly making a pass at him, she laughs for the first time since her resurrection, laughs until she can’t breathe. He watches her with an air of amused confusion. If she has any doubts as to Kelly’s role on the ship, they’re gone now.
16.
Ashley is vicious with her scorn. Her attack scalds nerves raw from Harbinger, burns into Shepard’s skin like the Praetorian’s choir. There is no defense against the truth. She can force no words through her lips, lungs empty of air.
Garrus has never been one to fight battles for her, and she’s never been one to let anyone steal her kills, but really, there isn’t anything more to say.
17.
Liara’s voice is professional, smooth, and detached. (Shepard hears Aria’s voice echoing in her mind.) It is enough that Shepard wonders if she made it up, wonders if her memories of her lover were actually something Cerberus crafted and planted there, to make this moment more painful, to widen the divide between her old life and her new.
Garrus and Kasumi follow her out of the office, down the stairs. Kasumi stops, looks back. She starts to ask: “Wasn’t she Shep’s---”
Shepard stops, the question twisting the knife in her back. She doesn’t turn to see what interrupted Kasumi’s question; she’s too busy trying to force breath out of her lungs. The attacks are almost familiar, by now.
She expects the pain and the panic. What she doesn’t expect is the fury.
18.
Shepard beats her knuckles raw against the bag kept in the hangar, lulled into a false sense of peace by the rhythm of her fists, dull thud after dull thud. Her implants fight a Sisyphean battle to heal her before she splits her knuckles open again. Blood drips on the floor, a counterpoint to her beat.
EDI reports it to Miranda and runs a feed from the security cameras to the XO’s monitor. Miranda watches in silence for a long minute, debating with herself before she finally leaves her office.
Garrus says Shepard’s name without looking up when the doors to the main battery open, only confirming Miranda’s decision as the right one.
19.
Her heart turns over, skips a beat when she hears his footsteps, smells the faint scent of pine and gun oil on the air. Her beat doesn’t falter, but she’s no longer lost inside her head. Her attention is on him, blood humming in anticipation.
She’s always felt breathless when she looked at Liara, panic attacks aside. She feels like she can breathe, when she turns to look at Garrus.
He tells her he has a lead on Sidonis.
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