Chapter Text
Hardness. Pain. And Light, much too bright. She tried to move a bit but didn't get far. Something was holding her back. Immediately she was wide awake, eyes wide open she looked around. A small round metallic room greeted her. A capsule? She look down at herself. The thing which was holding her back was the belt.
Pictures flashed through her inner eye. The enemy ship. The fight. The final shot, for both ships. The way down to the crewdeck. All the dead people. Her People. Helen, Silas, Richard, Jamin and all the others. Some of them she even knew before she got onto the Normandy.
“Shit.” She hissed, rubbing her face with both hands. She hated it when people die. That was one of her greatest fears, her stuff for sleepless nights and nightmares. She knew it was somehow stupid, she was a soldier and so were they. In war it's normal that people die but that didn't mean she had to like it.
She opened the belt and stood up to her bit shaky legs. The capsule landed quite obliquely, so it was hard to stand on the plain floor. She climbed up to the equipment hatch and opened it. “Let's see, what I got.” Backpacks, she took one and looked into the hatch again. Found empty water bottles with filters and packed two. She got through the rest of the stuff. The capsule was prepared for up to six people so she was quite lucky.
At the end she had the two bottles with extra filters, some dry food rations, a sleeping bag, an oxygen mask, a first-aid-kit, a Walkie-Talkie, a cap (the one Joker likes to wear) and a extra jacket with hood she bound around her hip. And last but not least Pistol which she wore at her right tight. It was the standard equipment for Alliance rescue capsules, but all in all she was, for her situation, good equipped. Probably much better than the most of her remaining crew. At that thought she shouldered the backpack, and slipped down to the entry hatch.
When she opened it, hot dry air shoved its way into the small sphere. She jumped outside and landed on a meadow in a small grove. The Forest reminded of a rainforest. Not that she ever was in one, but that's how she have would imagine it. She took some steps before looking up to the sun which was brighter and bigger than the one in the Sol System. According to the position of the sun she assumed it had to be early forenoon. It was already pretty hot, presumably around thirty degrees Celsius. Shepard was happy she wore the Casual Crewman's alliance outfit with the short sleeve.
She got back to capsule. In the backpack was an small pocketbook and she wanted to leave a note in case one of her crew got here. They should know that she was alive and looking for them, also that there is still equipment in the hatch. She clamped the note at the entry before she turned around. She took one step while perceiving a small movement in the corner of her eye, followed by a slight rustle. She took another step before she drew her weapon and turning to noise in one smooth motion.
“Out of there!” she shouted. A high pitched squeak and something, which appears to be a monkey similar animal, rushed out of the bushes and up a nearby tree. She lowered her weapon and looked the little animal with the long tail after. “The great Commander Shepard scared by a monkey. Marvelous.” Laughing about herself she put the cap on and made her way into the jungle like forest.
She was wandering through the tangled maze of all kinds of unknown and exotic looking plants, some with strange colors like a flashy pink or turquoise, not knowing if she went in the right direction. She presumed the days are shorter than on earth too. Since she started were certainly less than two hours passed but looking at the sun it should be nearly noon. The whole way she tried in even intervals to reach someone over radio but the merciless white noise.
Short time later she passed a small stream. She filled her two bottles, and walked down river while waiting for the filters, so she could finally drink something this burning hell. She drank one bottle without settle once. She refilled it and walked further downriver not knowing where else to go. The stream started getting wider and the ground a bit marshy. The further she got the more muddy was the ground. She could feel her shoes and trouser bottoms getting wet and didn't helped her mood to get better. She decided to move away from the stream which was by then more a small river.
Shepard had natural tanned skin but nevertheless it started to get red and sting. To protect it from the sunshine she decided to wear the extra jacked. Which was black. “There are places on Earth where this is called low-temperature cooking. Seriously, I can feel my organs slowly getting cooked. If I don't...” She stopped her grumbling abruptly. She wasn't alone. She automatically switched to a crouching pose slowly moving towards the other person. She hoped she found one of her crew. She got half in cover behind a tree with a thick trunk and looked carefully around it. It wasn't one of her crew. It was one them. “Shit.” She hissed. It didn't notice her jet. The alien had it's back turned to her. She couldn't see what it was doing and she didn't really care. It's armor was silver blue and looked a bit damaged. Maybe it got injured through a shoot from the Normandy or while landing on this planet. Never mind.
Without making a single noise she drew her weapon. She leaned out of cover again. Just as she was ready to shoot one of the annoying monkey things uttered a warning cry. Then everything happened fast. She looked up to see some of the jumping and climbing away form the tree she knelt. It obtained probably a nest of these. “Shit. Again.” When she looked back to the alien she caught it drawing it's own weapon. She shot but only scraped it's arm. It made a strange noise and before she could shoot again it took this opportunity itself and shot. She'd hit its fire arm so the bullet just scratched her wrist but she lost her pistol and had to go back to cover. She looked at the wound it wasn't that bad but bled strongly.
She reached for her weapon but something hit her in the side. The alien threw itself on top of her. It tore at her backpack and a strap ripped off. Damn, it was strong and fast. She punched her elbow into its face and crawled away before turning around. The gray one made this strange sound again before following her. She kicked its foot so it stumbled and landed on her again. She kicked it again and rolled over so she sat on top of it. She punched it in its face with her fist this time but it caught her wrist before she could beat it again. It twisted her arm and she led a painful cry out. It twisted her arm behind her back and pushed her to the ground. Now the alien was on top and started chocking her with this creepy the fingered hand and talons which bored themselves into the soft skin of her neck.
With her one arm trapped beneath herself she had only one arm to push it off. Considering that this thing probably weight about 300 pounds this was a very dumb plan. She made a choking noise and started to feel dizzy when she moved her to its face an tore at, well what ever this things at its mouth were. It let her free with a small cry and she crawled coughing away. She tried to get up but it was faster and kicked her in the abdomen.
The heat, the pain and the lack of oxygen made her feel dull and helpless. Shepard tried to get up again. This time she was lifted up. She wiggled and fought to get free even through she was completely disoriented. Her back was slammed against something hard before her arms were lifted above her head. After the dizziness started to fade she looked up. Her wrists were bound together over a thick branch with some strange orange rings. Alien handcuffs, great. Her tiptoes barely touched the ground. She pulled and tore at them but they didn't move a bit.
“Shit. Fuck. God damn hell. Bastard. Aahh, fuck it” After several minutes she finally gave up and she went on watching her strange captor. Just to catch it rummaging through her back.
“HEY! Get your dirty hands off my stuff.” She kicked some mud into its direction, not excepting to really hit it. “Oops.” The alien slowly turned around, still kneeing. Some mud felt from its head, she snorted. It quickly stood and walked into her direction.
“No, no, no, Don't come near me.” The alien stopped directly in front of her. “I said Don't. You are way to close.” It answered something in its weird language. “Yes, fuck you, too, pal.” It leaned closer and smelled at her neck. “Are you sniffing me, pervert? What the hell?” She tried to bend away from it. It backed off. Talked again. Now it studied her from head to toe.
“What?” It reached out for her touched her exposed belly. Somehow gently but it still hurt. Her top probably slipped out of her trousers and she scratched her stomach during the fight. She did not even notice it. It hand slipped even higher bared more of her belly. The feeling of its talons on her bare skin gave her the creeps and she got goosebumps all over her body. It talked again seemed somewhat fascinated and moved its hand over her skin. A shiver ran through her body. That was enough. She kicked it back with one foot.
“Get off me!” It stumbled backwards. Just to make some growling noise and hit her with full strength in her face. Stars appeared in front of her eyes and she tasted blood. There was also something hot, wet on her cheek. One of its talons had cut her skin. “That hit home.” She groaned. It talked something in its rumbling language back. “Thank you for the flowers.” It grunted in respond.
The following time they spent in silence. It gotten dark and the temperature sunk. Maybe even down to 5 degrees Celsius but it felt colder because of her wet clothing. The Space bird – how Shepard now called her Captor – had built up a white box which looked a bit like lantern. The knee high thing started glowing slightly and it had settled down next to it in something what could be an alien version of a sleeping bag.
She felt terrible. Broadly said. Blood had run down her arm, neck and cheek and was dry know which gave her a strain feeling. Her head ached and her back was probably covered with bruises. Her neck was sore and it hurt to swallow. Her left arm hurt, her right one was numb except for the pulsing graze at her wrist. Her stomach pained in different ways. She know remembers where she got the scratches; from his kick. The pinching pain suggested that her front looked similar to her back. She was hungry, she hadn't eaten much only a small portion of the dry food. She was thirsty. She was tired but couldn't sleep. And she was cold. She was so god damn cold, shivering uncontrollable, chattering teeth. Her breath visible in small clouds in front of her mouth.
And all she could do was covering herself in self-pity. But she didn't make a noise. She would keep the last bit pride and wouldn't make a single sound. She clenched her teeth to have something to concentrate on except for the pain. She thought of her crew. And her dad. Even she didn't want to. He'd always known what to do. How to draw a smile on her face even she wanted to cry. How to settle things without starting a fight. Always knowing an advise. She missed him. She missed him so much. She could feel tears burning in her eyes.
She didn't recognize even the alien until it made a sound. Her head snapped up and felt immediately dizzy again. It talked again. “What do you want?” The space bird made another sound. “Go away.” She turned her head away. It stood in front of her for a couple of seconds, motionless, before reaching up to her wrists. She didn't flinched. She didn't had the strength to stand on her own but it caught her. Lifted her up and carried her back to the provisionally camp, sat her down onto the sleeping bag. Maybe she should have been anxious but she felt just numb. Numb and painful.
It put her backpack in front of her. She looked up to it . “Why are you helping me?” It tilted her head to the one side seemingly confused. It knelt down next to her opened her backpack ransacked it until it got her food, water bottle and sleeping bag. She took some bites and sips while it opened her sleeping bag and laid it next to it s. Shepard put the food and water back into her backpack. She crawled onto her sleeping bag and it got into it s. When she was in hers it pulled her closer.
Well, that was awkward. But she accepted it. It was so warm. She had to move much around to find a position which didn't hurt or well hurt the less, in her new situation. The silver gray alien just let her be. After she found a position which fit, the space bird laid an arm around her and she didn't had enough time to wonder before she finally fell asleep.
When she awoke there was a strange picture in front of her eyes. Some sort of gray plates, she stared at them for a couple of moments before got what that was. It was it s chest. She didn't realized the evening before that it got out of it s armor. She had the strange urge to touch it but refused to pursue this want. She looked up to it s face. It s bird like eyes where closed and it s breathing was even and calm. For what she could tell it was asleep. She rolled to her back just to get a painful reminder of what happened yesterday.
It s arm was still laying on her and it was a time consuming challenge to get it of her without waking it up. When she was was finally free, she sat up and looked around. Sun was already up but the canopy was so close that nearly no ray of sunshine got through it. Carefully she stood up. She really had to use the little Shepard's, well, bush.
When she came back it was awake. She sat down on her sleeping bag and dug in her backpack and brought her food and first-aid-kit to light. Ignoring it, she ate something and started to clean herself up a bit. She looked around again this time searching unobtrusively for her pistol which should lay somewhere in the mud. She couldn't find it.
Sighing she grabbed the first-aid-kit. Her stomach looked like she'd expected it, but her back didn't was that bad. Even the cuts and scrapes were not as worse as expected. But some of them would leave a scar behind. The temperature was already over 30 degrees Celsius again so she didn't freeze even through she was sitting there in just her pans and bra. But knowing it's eyes on her naked skin let her get goose bumps. She wasn't prudish. Living on ships since she was born, she became really hardened when it comes to nudity.
She hurried to get dressed again and then looked at the alien next to her. It looked back. She didn't knew why she came back, why she didn't got her stuff and ran for what it's good. Maybe it was because it helped her. Because it didn't let her hand at that god damn tree and let her freeze. It huffed and sat up without breaking eye contact. It laid one hand on his chest. “Garrus.”
She raised her eyebrows. “That nearly sounded like a word.”
It did it again. “Garrus.”
“What, that's your name? Garis?”
“Garrus.” It repeated.
“Yes, I got it.” She sighed and turned to it – well, him. She laid her hand onto her chest. “Shepard.”
“Shraperd.” He tried.
“Well, almost. Shepard.”
“Shepard.”
“Exactly, space bird Garrus.”
He got up and started dressing himself. Wait. So he'd been naked all the time? Not that she cared but there wasn't anything, you know, between the legs. He noticed her starring and looked at her. “Shepard.” She looked away quickly, feeling a slight heat on her cheeks. This was stupid, she was acting like a teenager. She got up herself and started to pack her things.
As soon as the camp was broken down, the two looked at each other. Somehow they came to the silent agreement that they would go together from now on. He handed her her cap. Well, not as good as her weapon but it was a start. Although she doubted he would give her her pistol back. Not after she tried to shoot him in the back. She put her cap on and the uneven pair started walking. This was going to be interesting.