Garrus Vakarian

Send me 'Fading to Dust' for my muses reaction to watching yours die right in front of them.

Why’d he let her hand go?

They were at their wits end, running away from Cerberus as they tried to get back to their ship before the nuclear bomb set up and blew anyone in a 100 mile radius to bits. At least on the Normandy and the ships accelerating speed they’d be fine and get away pretty fast with under 2 G. Segen and he were just about towards the end, they cut off ties with Cerberus and she was trying to reinstate her status with the Alliance, preparing the Crucible for the Reaper war. Everything was turning out fine, Garrus had little doubt in his mind and he was assured that things would be perfectly well and they’d make it out alive.

As Garrus lurched over a small crate and hid behind it, pressing his back against the steel and reloaded his magazine clip for his sniper rifle, he was situating himself to unleash a proximity mine so that all they had to do was run. They were on a cliff area, a bridge separating them from the facility Cerberus was running. Segen was to the right of him, firing whatever she could to buy him some time. Once he was ready to deploy his mine, he tossed it towards two operatives and cocked his rifle, looking through the lens, taking out a sniper on the roof. “C’mon Shepard, we’ve got nine seconds!” Garrus shouted. 

Garrus moved to his feet, the pulsating beep of the mine ready to go off, Segen moved and stepped back, gaining speed on Garrus. She yelled something but he couldn’t hear it behind the loud explosion. Dust from the ground filled the air, making him partially blind to everything in front of him but the ground rumbled and Garrus fell to his knees trying to catch his balance. Once the cloudy air cleared he saw Segen gripping onto the edge of the ground, the bridge destroyed and some of the ground they once stood on. Quickly as he could he threw himself towards her and grabbed onto her wrist. Garrus could feel the ground becoming weak under him. “Give me your hand!” He shouted, she looked scared and this bothered Garrus. He hated seeing her like this, it was unnerving, different. He never thought Shepard as being scared, just brave and prepared. In this moment, his ideal view of her changed. His grip around her wrist tightened and he attempted to reach down and hook his hand under her arm to lift her, but the ground was becoming too weak and he’d most likely fall with Segen.

“Go Garrus, go take care of yourself.”

He shook his head, refusing to listen. “I’ve got you, I’m not going to just let you die here.” Garrus promised, said these words with meaning. But the look she gave him, he knew she wanted him to save himself. All of this just to let her die? He couldn’t. 

The ground shook once more and with his gaze on hers her wrist slipped slowly from his hand, a gasp escaped from Garrus’ lips and horror presented on his face. This was not what he wanted, to see her die and to be the one who couldn’t save her.