Chapter Text
It was less than a second, maybe half a second, but it changed everything. A single moment that seemed to stretch on and on, until that tiny, insignificant measure of time became a lifetime. Call it fate, call it destiny; be it the Maker’s will or just dumb luck, the actions of Honor Cousland set off tiny explosions throughout the universe, ours and so many others.
The moment her sword pierced the Archdemon, the moment chaos and pain exploded around the young woman, she began her true destiny. A fate far greater than the life she started in our world. A journey.
An adventure.
It was another time, another world, another life where she belonged. It was in this dimension, his dimension, where she would fulfill the paths set before her long before she was even born.
It is a story, a triumphant, terrible story that holds so much suffering even as it gives such promise of hope. Sacrifice shapes our tale, death defines it. But what is death but another step in our life? Be it our own or those we love, death has a way of shaping the world, twisting and turning it, giving us a purpose. Death can be cruel, unyielding. It can also be beautiful and peaceful. Death can be a gift.
He is a hero. Savior and warrior; he is the first Human Spectre, The man who saved an entire universe from annihilation and pain. A man who may be called yet again into battle. Death began his tale, but shall death be the end of it?
And she, a young woman who clawed her way out of the darkness, a champion who fought for the very soul of world and won. She stood on the precipice of change and hurtled herself over the edge. Sacrificing herself over and over again, until naught was left but a shell, until her final moments screamed for her light, for her soul.
Decisions and actions that shaped their paths, bringing them closer and closer together. Two worlds were about to meet. Lives that had no reason, no semblance of reason to intersect.
But intersect they shall. And it all began with her death.
-----------Ferelden, Dragon Age 9:31-----------
She thought that death would be different.
Her death was not kind; it was neither calm nor quiet. No, there was pain, such devastating pain. And the light, the blasted blinding light was enough to have her senses shrieking in horror.. Unable to move, unable to cry out, Honor flew as she fell.
Aye, she thought death would be far, far different. No pain, no nauseating sounds and lights. Or rather she had hoped that there wouldn’t be any pain, maybe just a bit less light and confusion.
She knew she had to die, knew she was to sacrifice herself to slay the Archdemon. Knew it, accepted it, and almost welcomed it. The moment she was told that Riordan had died, she and Alistair had looked at each other, and she had known. So she had sent him away, far away from the Archdemon to battle the darkspawn attacking the city. She would much rather it be her than Alistair. He had a future, a life ahead of him. He was to be king, in a place in desperate need for a man like him to rule.
So, was it really too much to ask to at least be able to die peacefully? Maker, she felt as if every bone in her body was being crushed as she was thrown around, the sounds and blinding colors were almost enough to overwhelm the debilitating pain. Unable do anything but feel. It was not a good way to die, to leave her friends, her future behind.
There was screaming, hissing, voices speaking all at once and one by one. Languages she didn’t understand; white noise, chanting. Lights swirled around her as she hurtled through chaos. It seemed as if she were swimming, drowning maybe, in the stars.
Her battered body, damaged soul fell. Fell through the heavens, through time. She just kept falling. It seemed to take forever; time stretching on unbearably, but it took mere seconds. Seconds of falling, seconds to suffer. Moments to think back on her life, on mistakes she made and chances she never got. She never had a chance to find love, to have children. She never got a chance to see her friend take the crown, or to see he and his love marry. She never got to say goodbye, and that seemed to hurt more than her many wounds and injuries put together..
Images and memories swirled around her, confusing her with their strength and disorder. Memories of her parents, of arguing with Sten, being healed by Wynne. Swimming in a lake with her brother, drinking with Oghren, and the darkspawn arrows piercing her as she watched as an army is massacred.
Her father bleeding, dying on the ground as her mother sobbed over him. Duncan dragging her away from her parents as screams and cries of battle followed her as they ran.
Maker, she was tired of running, of fighting. Tired of the life she had foolishly dreamt of, tired of the adventures that had come at such a high cost. Growing up she had fought tooth and nail against her mother’s teachings. She didn’t want to be some housewife, she wanted to be a soldier, she wanted to fight and travel, and live gloriously. But once she got her wish, she had quickly realized that her dreams of honor and love had been nothing but a foolish dream, and she was tired of it, tired of the adventures that had come at such a high cost, tired of the life she had lived.
She was getting bloody tired of falling too. Wherever she was falling, flying, to, she would very much like to get there soon. Is it odd to be bored of dying? She wondered, wildly, brokenly, if everyone who died went through the same madness as she. If she could laugh, she would have.
It was the very next moment where her entire world went black.
And then exploded in heat and light as she hit the ground.
-----------Valence----------
“Looks like a storms a comin’, Will.”
“Thank you, Ten, for that brilliant observation.” Will Shepard muttered to his sister as he stared up into the darkening sky. The clouds were churning and swollen, slowly turning black, distant rumblings promising thunder, and the air cackled with electricity.
Perfect, he thought to himself. We can’t even dig through some dirt without a shit storm following us.
Normally he wouldn’t be too worried about a storm, he and his crew had survived a hell of a lot more than a puny thunderstorm, but this planet was known for its ‘pleasant’ climate, a climate that is a temperate one hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit with little to no wind to even begin to stir the hot air into any sort of semblance of ‘pleasant’. So the fact that the sky was looking more and more foreboding as the moments passed seemed significant enough to cause some alarm.
The scans had shown nothing, absolutely jack when he had EDI analyzing and scanning, doing what she does best, to ensure that there were no nasty surprises in the horizon. She had given them a report of ‘all clear’. And EDI was never wrong, as in never ever. He was also fairly certain that the planet hasn’t seen a drop of rain in ten years.
“I’m positively brimming with brilliant observations, brother dear.”
“You’re positively brimming with something, Ten. But that’s just my opinion.”
James chipped in, seemingly unconcerned with his sister’s famous temper and the situation brewing above them, and grinned widely when Ten gave him a helpful suggestion of what to do with his opinion. “I’m pretty sure that’s anatomically impossible. Plus, no way I’m that flexible.”
“Do some yoga.” was the sickeningly sweet retort. Will snorted; both at his sister’s tone and the look on James’ face and moved a few feet away from the group.
“Yoga.” James repeated, disgusted at the thought. “Hell to the no.”
“What is yoga?” Garrus wanted to know.
“Stretching and shit. It’s for chicks and pussies.”
She didn’t even miss a beat before replying, “Hence why I believe it’d fit you perfectly, Lieutenant.”
“Shit.” Vega muttered.
Garrus laughed at that, at Ten’s sarcasm and Vega’s inability to keep up with it. But his humor fled at the rumbling in the distance, a sense of dread taking its place. It was a familiar feeling. A feeling that he had learned to trust as it has saved his ass more often than not. Thank the Creators for indigestion.
After listening to Ten and Vega's banter for a few more seconds, he walked over to Shepard, rolling his eyes as the humans continued to argue. He knew something was up when the commander, who would have usually shut his sister and the lieutenant up by now, stayed silent, his eyes narrowing as the results from his scan scrolled through.
The tension grew thick as Garrus walked up to the commander and began studying the darkening sky next to Will, his mandibles twitching every so often. There was something in the air. A hint of danger, enough to have his grip tightening on his rifle, his finger ghosting over the trigger. He couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong, just that the last time he had gotten this feeling, they had been attacked by Cerberus agents. Shit.
“Shepard, I’m starting to get that bad feeling again.”
Resigned, Will brought up his omni tool and started scanning the air around them, not that his omni-tool was anywhere near as accurate or strong as anything EDI could do, but hopefully it’d catch something, anything, to give them some insight to --
Beep.
“What the hell is going on?” He glared down at the glowing results, squinting and practically willing them to have the answers. Garrus leaned over to him, and Will held out his arm to him, allowing him to read over the results.
“How can the scans bring up nothing with all that going on?” Garrus asked him. “Faulty tool?”
“That’s what she said.” James laughed, despite the ‘shut-the-hell-up’ looks he was getting from Garrus and the Commander.
“To you, maybe.”
“Aw, Ten. Don’t go tellin’ everyone our secrets now.”
“In your dreams, meatcake.”
“EDI, can you run the tests again? Get me something. Please. This crap is coming in fast, and I for one do not want to be stuck out here with my thumb up my ass.” Will cut in, shaking his head at the lieutenant, who just shrugged and grinned.
“She started it.”
“Shepard, according to the scans, this looks like an electrical storm which, though extremely unusual, there has been records of a few storms throughout the planet’s existence. But,” The AI’s voice seemed hesitant, uncertain. Things he never thought EDI could ever be. “There are additional readings that I am unsure... I don’t know what they are.”
Damn it, this was supposed to be an easy run. Just land, collect some soil samples, and head back to the Normandy. Sure this planet was mostly rocks and dirt, and the air was stale and hot, and sure digging around for hours on end in the blistering sun wasn’t fun, but it should have been easy. Easy breezy.
Nothing was frickin’ easy breezy any more.
Uneasy and growing more and more concerned with each passing moment, Shepard weighed the need for the platinum and element zero over the chances of getting stuck in the freak storm. It was quiet in their universe, a bit too quiet, but nevertheless, they were taking the time to stockpile necessary supplies, which unfortunately included elements. That meant traveling planet to planet, scanning and surveying, the two things all soldiers and marines hated more than anything in the universe.
“Commander, I believe that the chances of Lieutenant Commander Shepard making the rendezvous point before the storm hits are... poor.”
Joker cut in, his voice full of cheerful snark. “Basically, what she is saying, is that you’re kind of screwed, Commander.”
“What ‘she’ is saying is that you should seek shelter, Commander. And Lieutenant Commander, you should find somewhere to land the shuttle, and wait out the storm.” Concern soon turned to dread when the sky went even darker, as if it weren’t midday but sometime in the evening. Switching on the flashlight on his rifle, he heard Vega mutter ‘shit’ as he and Garrus did the same.
“Still sounds like they’re kind of screwed to me.”
“Thank you, Joker. Ten, park the Hammerhead. Now,” he growled when she began to argue, “Wait the storm out, like EDI said, but the moment that it’s done, haul ass to the rendezvous point. I want off this damn planet. Vega, Garrus, let’s get the hell out of here. I see a cave up there, we can probably get it in there before whatever is up there decides to— Shit!“
The ground began to shake as the light suddenly went out. Oppressive darkness quickly replaced the sun, rain and thunder following. Stumbling, he braced his feet apart and threw his arms out to keep balance. Shepard searched for a cave or an outcropping of rocks they could huddle behind, anything to get out of this awful, pounding rain.
A lightning bolt struck between James and Shepard, both diving to the side to escape the resulting sparks from lightning meeting rock.
“Shepard!” Garrus yelled over the booming thunder and shaking earth. Stumbling and cursing, the three men attempted to make their way to the cave when a huge explosion of light blasted them right off their feet.
Landing a few feet away, the rain began to fall harder as Will quickly rolled to his feet, despite the pain radiating down his left side. “Vega! Garrus. Damnit, Joker! Ten! Report!” Slipping on a slick rock, he went down once again. “God damn it all to hell, someone better freaking REPORT!”
James was muttering curses in Spanish a few feet away and waved when Shepard called out to him again. “James?”
“Present.”
“I broke my damn scope.”Garrus yelled. “I spent half a year’s salary on it. Son of a bitch.“
Relieved that they were alright, he couldn’t help but grin at the disgruntled Turian. They were stranded in a violent storm, unable to move more than a few feet out of the line of fire due to the ground shaking as it is, and he was more concerned about his scope.
God, he loved that turian. “Tell you what, if we get out of this alright, I’ll buy you a
brand new one.”
“You’re such a pal, Shepard.” He managed as the ground began to shake even harder. “What the hell is this? What---“ The rest of his words were lost as the sounds of the thunder and shaking ground drowned out the all other noise.
Unable to answer, though he was pretty sure they wouldn’t really be able to hear him, Shepard stumbled and crawled, stumble-crawled, and just basically tried to maneuver his way closer to the cave.
He had never heard of a storm causing an earthquake, nor had he ever heard of a storm completely blacking out any light. Those coupled with the pounding rain and hail, the vicious lightning and booming thunder made one hell of a mystery.
A mystery he’d love to get the hell out of.
“Will---damn st---y—ok?!” Ten sounded pissed. A bit scared, but more pissed than anything, which meant she was alright. Thank God. He yelled into his mike, just in case she was able to receive transmission. “Ten, we’re battered, pissed, but OK. STAY WHERE YOU ARE OR SO HELP ME GOD I WILL KICK YOUR ASS.”
Hoping, praying, that his stubborn sister actually listens to him this time, and if she didn’t, he would frickin’ kill her, he thought darkly to himself, kill her dead. He fell to his hands and knees, muttering curses, swearing like the marine he is; he crawled closer to James and Garrus. He let out a particularly vulgar one when a rock wedged itself between the plates of armor on his arm and dug into his elbow. “Goddamn rocks. Goddamn storm!”
Garrus slipped, his rifle landing in the mud with a splat. Will was pretty sure the Turian gave a shocked gasp, but he couldn’t tell if it was his friend or the rain. “I hate the rain. I hate storms. I hate this damn planet!” Garrus’ voice was punctuated by rolling booms of thunder that shook the world around them. Will gripped the ground tighter, trying desperately not to slip farther away from his team.
“Garrus, where is that eternal enthusiasm we’ve grown to know and love?” Will shouted.
Joker attempted to contact them again. His voice mixing with the white static noise and thunder made it even harder to understand what the hell the guy was saying.
“Does anyone speak gibberish?” Will called out to his friends.
“Now he jokes... now you joke!? “ James yelled over the noise. “You have got to be shit—“
They were interrupted when the ground was hit with another strike of lightning. Scrabbling for purchase on the wet, rocky ground, he managed to roll, sliding away from the torched ground.
And just like that, the sun came back out as the clouds seemed to practically melt in the air. Rain still fell, but it was more of a light shower than the drowning downpour it had been. Soaked, aching, confused Shepard stood up slowly, covering his sensitive eyes from the sun.
“I must tell a damn good joke.” He said seriously, and then grinned when Garrus and James groaned at him.
Still shaking his head at his friend, Garrus began to inspect his rifle, the sight of the new scratches and dents almost physically hurt him, as did the mud that was covering the once pristine metal and he vowed, as soon as they got back to the Normandy, to polish her until she shined.
“I’d say you’re a damn sight better at telling jokes than dancing, that’s for sure.”
Will laughed, as he was well aware of the sight he made any time he attempted to dance. Ten had told him he looked like he was getting electrocuted and had constipation at the same time.
His sister was such a charmer. Not that she could talk. Bless her uncoordinated heart; she was better at making the shuttle dance than herself.
“Shepard.” He was still smiling as he followed James slack jaw stare, to his hand that was pointing to something behind him, turning around, he squinted as he saw a small, dark shape on the ground. “What is that....?”
“Jesus Christ.” He breathed as he realized what the dark blob on the ground was.
A young woman, bloody and unconscious lay a few feet from them. Her back was to them. With thin, brown plates covered her back and silver buckles interrupted the dark material in places, and her legs encased in what looked like leggings and had boots up to her knees, it looked almost like... armor. She was wearing armor.
Oh, yeah and there were two wicked looking knives strapped to her back and there was a bow, a huge, wooden bow laying on the ground next to her. “What the hell?”
“She wasn’t there before, right?” Garrus asked, uneasy. His mandibles twitched as he placed his hand on the butt of his rifle when Will shook his head. “I don’t like this, Shepard.”
Pressing a finger to his lips, he signaled for him to do a quick perimeter check. Nodding, the turian patted his trusty rifle and took off. Vega, his own rifle already out and loaded mouthed that he would watch his six.
Will gave him a ‘thumbs up’ and walked over to the unconscious woman, his own hand on his gun, ready for anything, eyes scanning for danger, for anything. Up close the woman was in even worse shape than he thought. Jesus, she was a mess.
Lying on her left side, her head was pillowed on her arm; the other was curled protectively around her head. Her legs were long, covered in some sort of cloth and plates. Long, red, matted hair covered her face, dirt and blood covered the rest of her. Kneeling down, he reached a hand out to feel for a pulse. After a few tense seconds, he found it, faint and slow, but it was there. So she was alive, but barely. God, there wasn’t a part of her that wasn’t bruised or cut.
Still watching for movement, Vega moved closer and groaned sympathetically as he studied the crumpled form. “Holy shit, is she still alive?”
“Yeah, she’s alive.” He said. Barely, he thought. He could see the hilt of something sticking out of her side, a knife maybe? It was round, ivory, and looked an awful lot like a... “Holy bleeding Christ.” He breathed.
“What in the... what the hell is that in her side? Is that a tooth, Shepard? A tooth!”
“Vega, please tell me you have some medi-gels with you.” Relieved when the Lieutenant nodded, he caught the thrown pack of medi-gel, and looked back down at her to assess the damage.
Wincing in sympathy at the multitude of injuries she possessed, at the thing in her side. The blood seeped sluggishly out of the wound, and deciding that that injury was the worst, he covered it with the soothing gel, he made sure not to touch the... whatever it was in her side. Pleased to see that the blood had already stopped flowing, he applied what little left he had to the numerous cuts on her arms and shoulders, the smell of medicine and sweat, of blood reached his nose as he brushed a hand over her face, pulling the curtain of hair away.
Hand still buried in the thick tresses, he winced at the damage to the young woman’s face. One eye was completely swollen shut, there were scratches and bruises and bloody scrapes all over her face. Her lip was split, her chin covered in blood.
“Holy, half-dead chick.” James whispered. “You're sure she is..?”
”Definition alive.” Will signaled for another medi-gel pack when the woman stirred. Eyes fluttered open and impossibly green eyes unfocused and filled with pain met his. It must have been the pain, he would realize later, the pain and the drowning fear he saw in her eyes that made his gut clench. She blinked slowly once, twice. Then her eyes cleared, and then instantly went hard.
Tense, he stood up slowly and stepped back from her. Though she was clearly exhausted and injured, she was an unknown, and Shepard knew enough about unknowns to be cautious.
“Hello.” He said, holding out his hands to show he was unarmed. “My name is William. What is your name?” She managed to make it to a sitting position, her hands holding onto the knife, tooth? Grimacing, shaking, she looked at James, at the weapon pointed right at her, eyes going wide and then back at him. “What is your name?” He tried again.
Green eyes narrowed in confusion, she tilted her head as if studying him. “You speak my language?” Her voice was soft, lilting, and tight with pain. He had never heard an accent like hers before. “What are you?” She demanded suddenly as she grabbed her blades. Despite the pain that seemed to be radiating off of her, she rolled away and to her feet in one graceful move. He heard the slight ‘click’ of a safety being switched off.
Shooting a look to James, Will put his hands up and stepped in front of him, “We aren’t going to hurt you. Please—“
“Commander freaking Shepard!! What the frack is going on down there? Your sister is freaking out and threatening all sorts of bodily harm to anyone who is listening to her if we can’t find you.” Joker’s voice cut through the tension, causing everyone to jump with its suddenness.
“Damn it, Joker!”
“Demon!” The woman launched herself at him, tackling him to the ground with surprising speed and strength.
“Shit!” James choked out as he aimed. Nervous as hell, maybe just slightly impressed, and so totally unsure if he was supposed to be shooting her or not, he followed the woman with his rifle, ready to fire in a second, though he was pretty sure that Shepard could take a little thing like her, even if he was too nice to actually hurt her.
“Or maybe not.” James amended to himself as a small fist slammed into Shepard’s face causing the man to begin cursing viciously. “Damn, lady. Nice right hook.”
Pain shot through his jaw as her fist connected that and surprise at the strength of the hit had his head whipping back, the second hit landed almost seconds after the first. Grudging respect warred with general pissed offness as he leapt towards her, his arms stretched out, reaching to grab her.
His fingertips had barely touched her when she whirled around, ducking under his outstretched arm as she grabbed his other one, twisting and pushing at the same time, James could only watch in horrified amazement as that tiny female flipped Commander Shepard, Commander Freaking Shepard, over her back.
“Shepard!”
“Damn it!” He was dazed from the punch, and the wind had been knocked out of him when he had landed on his back, for the second time today. His breathless condition was exacerbated as she sat on his chest; she was small, but quick, agile, strong. She pinned his hands to the ground beneath her knees as she brought a knife to his throat. “Seriously? Freaking seriously?” He grounded out between clenched teeth. His eye and jaw throbbed where she hit him and he could feel; actually feel his temper brewing past the boiling point. He could easily get her off him if the sharp tip of the knife wasn’t digging into his throat, but since it was, and she was a shaking pile of crazy, he tried not to make any sudden movements.
He really, really needs a vacation.
“Who are you? What... what are you? A demon...” She paused, and then dug the knife in just a bit more. “Where am I?”
“My name is William Shepard. I am not a demon; I am a commander in the Alliance Navy. You’re on a planet called Valenca, in the --. “
“The Navy? Planet...” Her blade moved slightly away, but it was enough for him to flip over, pinning her beneath his weight. He hissed out a breath when her elbow caught him in the gut, and if he hadn’t of moved quick enough, the knee she brought up viciously would have ensure that he’d be singing soprano for a while.
Damned if he wasn’t impressed. Pissed, but impressed, nonetheless. God, he was pissed.
He glared down at the squirming woman. She glared right back. She was shaking, from fear or from exertion, though most likely from pain, the stubborn woman refused to give, refused to stop. Her eyes were shooting daggers at him, not unlike the ones she had strapped to her back. Damn it.
Garrus and Wrex would laugh their asses off if they knew he let someone who was so obviously beat to hell overpower him. She was strong though, and fast. Scared and in pain. He gritted his teeth, trying not to just bonk her over the head to get her to stop. p>
“Let me go, you bastard.” Snapped back to reality as she struggled beneath him, he leaned on her harder when she bucked up, almost unseating him.
She screamed hoarsely as his gun hit the knife stuck in her side. Instantly he rolled off her as she curled up on her good side and began to gag, tears running down her face.
”God. God, I’m sorry.” Sick with guilt, Will pulled out his bottle of water and knelt beside her. “Here. It’s water. Just water.” He said when she eyed the bottle in his hand with uncertainty. She was still pale, so pale. Breathing hard through her nose, her hands were still clenched around the thing in her side. Will swallowed back another apology. He hadn’t meant to hurt her, not like that. Subdue her, arrest her even. But not hurt her. Shit.
“Uh, Commander, do you need... help?”
“Yes, toss me a---” Before he could finish, a huge blur of brown barking madness barreled around the outcropping of rocks in front of them, and sprinted towards him. He had a second to marvel at the size of the thing before he was hit again and went sprawling backwards with 300 pounds of angry, growling mass of demon spawn. Landing on his back for the third, count it, third damn time today wasn’t fun, slamming his head on the rocky ground and being pinned down by what seemed like a dog that was more like a bear, or a monster, than a dog bearing its teeth at him and snarling in his face, even less fun. “Mother of God, what in the hell is this?”
The dog-bear’s bark was more of a roar as Will fought with both hands to keep the things face away from his. He managed to get his arm up before the animal’s huge jaws snapped down on his face. Crushing weight bit into his arm, causing him to yelp and he barely managed to stop himself from wrenching his arm away.
Probably would have ripped his arm off, knowing his luck.
Vega was dancing around the writhing pair, screaming. “Do you want me to shoot it?! Should I shoot it?! I’M GOING TO SHOOT IT!”
“No!” Will and the woman yelled at the same time.
“No,” she said again, “don’t hurt him. Cheese, good boy, good dog. Come here, come here Cheese. Friends, they’re... friends.”
Cheese? Friends? Will thought wildly as the dog released him and ran over to the woman. “”What the... hell?”
Stunned, Shepard and James watched, mouths open in shock, as the evil monster turned into a sympathetic, worried pet. Nudging the woman softly with his nose, he whined when she managed to bring a hand up to scratch his ears.
A noise behind them had both men whirling around, Will still down on his knees, weapons up, ready for God knows what else this day, this stupid planet had in store for them.Relieved to see Garrus, Will lowered his gun and turned back to the strange pair in front of him.
Garrus ran up, breathing heavily as he took in the scene before him. There was a small, bloody woman hanging on to a... animal? Monster? Alien species? She looked barely alive, a lot confused and even more defensive. “What did I miss?” He also noticed that Shepard was sporting a black eye and teeth marks on his armor-clad arm.
“Complete mayhem.” Shepard said to his friend. “I need a goddamn drink.”
“Holy... Shit. Shepard, are you alright? That... that monster—it almost ate you!” He couldn’t keep the slight amusement out of his voice. “And that...chick almost kicked your ass.”
Equally amused, Garrus just gave his Commander a pointed look. “Having an off day, are we?”
“Please, guys, try not to be so sympathetic next time.” Shepard groaned as he brought a hand to the back of his head. The skin was unbroken, but he could feel a knot already forming. Great, yet another knot for the Doc to hound him about. He probably had a mild concussion, too. His arm, thankfully, seemed to just be bruised.
Aware of two pairs of unblinking eyes on him, he lowered his gun, “Uh, Hello.”
“Will, I’m hauling ass to save your sorry one. You can thank me later. ETA 3 minutes.” Their comms turned on with the rush of static. Ten’s voice rang out, and Shepard saw the woman stiffen. He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring look, and moved slightly away as he responded to his irate sister.
“Ten, I want you here ASAP. There is a—uh, a situation.” He added lamely when green eyes met his. God, he really needed to get a grip.
“More like a injured human and monster animal.” Garrus corrected, still watching the monster dog and woman with a mixture of shock and wariness.
“Wow. All I got from the storm was rain and a bad case of whiplash. You guys sure know how to party.”
“Just get here.” He told his sister as he rolled his eyes. To the woman he said, “Listen, I’m not going to hurt you. None of us are. We just want to help, maybe get those wounds looked at. Can we try this again without the freaking out and trying to kill me stuff?”
Unsteady, shaken, she managed to climb to her feet, with the help of the dog. “I’m sorry.” The woman whispered as she laid her hand on the dog. Then with a stronger voice she added, “I’m sorry I attacked you. I thought I was dead, I was supposed to die, and then I woke here... I...I’m...I’m very sorry, but I believe I am about to faint.”
“Wha—“
Her face went deathly pale and she collapsed. Will leapt towards her and caught her just before she hit the ground. Instantly concerned, more frightened than he should be, he gently sank to the ground. Rearranging her so he could hold her more comfortably, he took the wet rag Garrus offered, and wiped the dirt and blood from her face.
“Well, at least she’s a polite crazy woman.” James said, to no one in particular.