Shepard has been in a coma for months now, leaving Garrus alone with his thoughts.
Shepard had been in a coma for several months already.
The injuries she had sustained when the rescue teams found her beneath the rubble were such that anyone else would have succumbed to them. The fact that she had survived was nothing short of a miracle.
So Garrus couldn't afford to complain. At least, she was still breathing. That was what he kept telling himself over and over, like a mantra.
She's alive.
Yet the months went by and her condition remained unchanged. Seeing her like this, trapped in this leaden sleep, her eyes closed, her face motionless, her body still... it was truly heartbreaking.
Chakwas had assured him that humans were sometimes capable of hearing what was said to them even while in a coma. So he kept talking to her. Even if she remained silent. Even if she no longer reacted. Even if she no longer laughed at his sarcasm.
"The repairs are progressing quickly," he said softly. "It seems the horror of these past months is pushing everyone to look toward the future... now that the Reapers are gone."
No reaction. Her face remained the same, distant, unreachable.
Maybe Chakwas had only said that to lift his spirits. To keep him from losing hope. So he ventured into more intimate subjects. Things he usually kept buried deep inside.
Shepard had always known how to listen. And yet, even to her, he had never dared confide the heaviest burdens he carried.
"I received a message from my father. It must have taken weeks to get here. There aren't many communication relays still functioning."
He paused, his gaze lost on the blurred silhouette of Shepard lying on the bed in this makeshift hospital.
"My mother didn't survive."
The words scraped at his throat.
"Her condition was already... complicated before the Reapers arrived. She never had any chance of escaping them."
Silence fell once more.
Garrus remained still, his eyes fixed on her.
His mind involuntarily conjured an imaginary version of Shepard sitting across from him. He imagined her solemn gaze, the way she would say his name. She probably wouldn't say anything else. Because there was nothing to say. But her presence would have been enough. Her attention. The simple fact that she was there with him.
His eyes drifted toward the starry sky beyond the window.
Up there, his mother had joined the spirits of her ancestors.
And he couldn't help imagining her final hours: alone amidst the chaos of the invasion. No one to reassure her. No one to say goodbye.
She belonged to the stars now.
As sleep began to claim him as well, his thoughts drifted.
Memories rose to the surface, mingling with the images of this silent room. The way his mother had died… It was like when Shepard had disappeared years ago. When the Normandy had been destroyed.
Garrus relived the scene with painful clarity.
The rescue shuttle had just been recovered by an Alliance frigate. Admiral Hackett had come in person. Other shuttles were arriving as well. Many crew members had survived.
A relief.
Then a final shuttle had emerged from the darkness. The only one still transmitting a signal.
Joker stepped out of it. Alone.
All eyes turned toward him.
"And Shepard?"
Joker hadn't dared meet Hackett's gaze. He said nothing. He simply shook his head. His face conveyed everything else: anger, anguish, disbelief.
Garrus had refused to believe it. It was impossible. He had convinced himself that he was misreading human expressions. That he was mistaken. The illusion hadn't lasted long.
Hackett immediately ordered a search. Just in case she was still out there somewhere. Lost in the cold vastness of space.
They found nothing.
The days passed. Then the media stopped talking about a disappearance. They started talking about a death.
He remembered perfectly the moment they heard it for the first time. They were gathered around a table in a bar on the Citadel. In silence. And the little hope they had left shattered in just a few words.
Kaidan was the first to stand up. He muttered an excuse before walking away, his shoulders slumped.
Wrex drained his glass. “To the most formidable human I've ever met.” Then he left as well.
Tali and Liara stayed. Frozen. As if moving might make the news real.
Eventually, Tali spoke.
She talked about the fear that had followed her when she left the Migrant Fleet. The stories she had heard about how quarians were treated throughout the rest of the galaxy.
She told them how Shepard had taken her in with high expectations. She was ruthless, unforgiving. But also with respect. She treated her as an equal. As a full-fledged member of her crew. And that said more about Shepard than any medal ever could.
Garrus and Liara listened. Everything felt unreal. Just a few hours earlier, they had still been fighting at her side. Now they were speaking about her in the past tense.
Tali left to rejoin her people.
Then Liara let out a long sigh. A sigh laden with everything she couldn't bring herself to say. She seemed just as lost as he was.
Liara asked him to take care of himself. To stay in touch.
He nodded. Without believing it for a single second.
Then he found himself alone with the empty bottles and abandoned glasses. And a special broadcast dedicated to the first human Spectre playing on the screen above the bar.
He should have left. Yet he stayed.
They talked about her achievements. Her troubled past on Earth among the gangs. Her elevation to Spectre status. Saren. The Battle of the Citadel.
But nothing about the real Shepard. Nothing about her relentless determination. The way she pursued a goal with the stubbornness of a varren on a trail. The enjoyment she took in driving the Mako at full speed. The music she liked to listen to while sniping Thorian creepers and competing with him. Or the meals and nights of sleep she often skipped.
Everything that made her real... Human.
None of it was there.
Nothing of the woman he had followed. Nothing of the woman who had given him the opportunity of a lifetime: to get out of that bureaucratic hell and finally act, make a difference.
How many people in this galaxy had truly known her?
The thought imposed itself despite him. She had left the way she had lived. Alone.
Garrus immediately felt disgusted with himself for thinking it. But the question remained.
He knew her file. Like many others did. The childhood in the poor districts. The violence. The Alliance as the only way out. Yet one day, Shepard had told him another truth. A truth that appeared in no report.
“I tried to kill Anderson when I was a kid.” She had spoken the words with unsettling calm. “He was on a mission in my streets. I still don't know why he spared me, even to this day.”
Garrus had never claimed to fully understand humans. But he had seen something in her eyes that day. An immense weariness. An ancient loneliness. Like a light that had gone out long before he met her.
Then the image returned. Shepard drifting alone through space. Vanishing into the darkness. As if the galaxy had swallowed her whole.
Garrus woke with a start in the chair beside the hospital bed. The oppressive silence of the room was still there. And so was Shepard.
I think what annoys me the most about the whole "how dare you work with Cerberus?" blame all those characters throw at me during ME2 and 3 is that I didn't choose to. The game never gave me the choice to work with Cerberus in a video game that's supposedly based on player choice.
Why are the characters blaming me -the player- for a choice I never made?
Why Mass Effect and Xenosaga Feel Surprisingly Alike
It's a theory I've long held, as a big fan of both franchises.
If you're not familiar with Xenosaga, it's a science-fiction trilogy, a very old-school turn-based JRPG that combines combat with characters and mechas.
The game can be difficult to get into, especially if you're not already familiar with this type of game. But the story and lore are truly worth it.
For everyone who viscerally hates the three-color ending of Mass Effect 3 and the Star Child scene, I think it's possible to find a certain form of clarification coming directly from the lore of Xenosaga.
Obviously, the connection is purely theoretical, and there is absolutely nothing official about it. These are two completely separate franchises that have never interacted with each other in any way whatsoever.
This is only a fan theory. So read on if you're interested, and take all of this with a grain of salt.
Similarities
Mass Effect and Xenosaga are both trilogies whose stories, characters, and events unfold chronologically.
While Mass Effect allows the player to create their character and make choices that can alter the direction of the story, the overall narrative remains the same for everyone. Xenosaga is a JRPG in which the main character is predetermined and pre-written, and the story unfolds as intended regardless of what the player does.
The universe of Mass Effect, as it is presented and ultimately revealed to the player at the end of the third game, can be summarized quite simply.
An alien species known as the Leviathans created an artificial intelligence whose purpose was the preservation of intelligent species. These species continually created their own AIs, which, in time, would inevitably turn against their creators.
The Leviathans, a dominant species that believed itself above the flaws it observed in lesser civilizations, ultimately found themselves trapped by their own AI. This is a classic example of the arrogant creator who believes themselves immune to the very vices they recognize in others.
From there, the cycle began.
The Leviathans' AI created the Reapers in the image of its own creators. Machines fashioned from the very genetic essence of the race they were meant to emulate. This is the vision of an intelligence devoid of flesh and consciousness, preserving life in its most fundamental form.
The Reapers, driven by the AI's imperial will, began harvesting every civilization advanced enough to be capable of destroying itself by creating the very tool of its own downfall.
From an organic perspective, it is an ironic repetition: an AI massacring entire species because they might one day be destroyed by an AI.
From a synthetic perspective, it is an evil committed for a greater good. The very essence of those species is preserved in the form of an entity so powerful that it can no longer be destroyed. Hence the term "harvest."
For efficiency and yield, the Reapers created the Citadel and the mass relays, undeniably useful tools for galactic expansion, but with one major flaw: they are gilded cages.
The species that discover and use them have no true mastery of the technology. They do not know how it works or how it was built.
Thus, in each cycle, every civilization develops exactly in the direction intended by the Reapers. There is no randomness, no real free will. The Reapers follow a pre-established schedule with phases and checkpoints. Once all the elements are in place, they begin the harvest, then return to where they came from, and the cycle continues.
It is a constant rollback of the universe. A reset.
The universe of Xenosaga is governed by a system known as Eternal Recurrence. In other words, it follows a constant cycle. The universe forms, then species develop, evolve, and progress. Humanity reaches its technological and societal peak, before declining under the weight of its own vices.
In order to preserve the integrity of the universe and human consciousness, a reset is programmed, called the failsafe, which erases everything and returns it to a starting point.
In other words, humanity lives in an eternal loop without knowing it, for an unknown length of time, and brings about its own destruction without knowing why or how.
A major agent of this failsafe is Wilhelm, who serves as the representative of this principle within this universe. A kind of physical avatar.
“God” is the term given to an entity that dominates this domain. In Xenosaga, it is called U-DO (Unus-Mundus Drive Operation (One World Drive Operation). A complex principle that provides for humanity’s needs, while humanity remains ignorant of its workings, its nature, and its motivations. A useful and practical gilded cage.
Wilhelm is to the Reapers what U-DO is to the intelligence.
Let’s say that Mass Effect presents a more materialistic version than Xenosaga. But the underlying idea remains the same.
Then comes the action of the protagonists.
Shepard’s role is to break the cycle, just like Shion.
To restore free will to organics in Mass Effect, just as to humans in Xenosaga.
In both universes, we do not know what the future will be after the end, nor the impact of our choices in Mass Effect, or Shion’s choices in Xenosaga.
It is possible that, through their desire for preservation as well as freedom, Shepard and Shion may have completely doomed their universes. Perhaps the Intelligence and Wilhelm were right, and only a reset can preserve life from its own flaws.
We do not ultimately know who is right.
But perhaps life might ultimately transcend them, not without damage, from which order would be born out of discord.
In Mass Effect, as in Xenosaga, two opposing visions are in conflict: calculated order versus the chaos of free will.
And the hope that, despite the recurrence of all these cycles, organics will manage to fight against their own flaws, which have each time led to their own destruction.
This is why the endings of both trilogies feel bittersweet. Because we don’t know whether we made the right choice, whether we truly fought for good, or whether we instead condemned all existence to nothingness.
However cruel the methods of these entities may be, their goals were not fundamentally malicious. But it is in the nature of living beings to thrive in uncertainty.
I know this is only my interpretation. But it is my view of the ending of Mass Effect 3.
Shepard fought against the Eternal Recurrence, just as Shion fought against the Cycle. Each may be wrong, or right. But each reclaimed the right to free will from the hands of higher entities.
I know this has been talked about a million times already, but I will literally never get over the leap of faith that Garrus and Shepard had to take with each other in ME2. The depth of trust needed to jump into all that vulnerability without fear of rejection, I'm gonna throw up. When Garrus says his "I just need one thing to go right" and he's laid completely bare before her, stripped of all walls and barriers, and he's fully trusting her to see that side of him, because he's been hurt so much and she's been hurt so much and they've both lost so much but he still believes this is going to finally be that right thing. And replaying the trilogy it's easy to look at this vulnerability and faith and hope(!!!) from him when you know that it will in fact go right for them and that it will be a good thing, but he doesn't know that!!! All he knows is his best friend, and he trusts her so much and cares about her so much that he's willing to be completely vulnerable before her and jesus f christ I will literally never be over shakarian. never
Ranting is great, as long as it's not constant, I guess. I actually think it helps me sort out my thoughts and focus on what I like most. I'd definitely make a post about what I like in ME2 as well, for the sake of balance. Because I don't hate ME2; I just think it's the weakest entry in the trilogy, and it has a TON of issues that nobody really seems to care to address. But I still replayed it a million times (well, because it's part of the trilogy, so yeah... not much choice if you want to get to ME3 lol), and there are still plenty of things I like about it.
I'm replaying the Shadow Broker right now, and it's a perfect example of Shepard being a complete dumbass, whereas in ME1 she was actually cunning and smart.
Despite the constant "Vasir this, Vasir that," which I find so annoying, like... I'm Commander Shepard. Why do I need Vasir to hold my hand like that?
She literally just gave herself away. She's working with the Shadow Broker. She practically admitted it. And Shepard? Doesn't even take note.
If this were the Shepard from ME1, she would have picked up on it immediately, and I would've had a dialogue option to call her out as a traitor. But no. This is ME2, where player agency got thrown straight into the trash. I just have to sit there and play dumb.
And this is a constant problem throughout the game. Shepard lost all her brain cells when she died and came back as a ghost of her former self, so passive and so... slow-minded. She's just so... how do I put it? I never feel like I'm actually in charge anymore.
Whenever she talks to the Illusive Man, he gets all the cool animations and body language. Meanwhile, Shepard just stands there, barely reacting, like some kind of yes-girl.
Where is my option to say no? I'm a Spectre, let me be a Spectre.
Everyone's angry at me for working with Cerberus. And all I can do is either lie about it or complain. It's always something like, "No, I'm not working for them, actually..." or "Yeah, I know I can't trust them, but I have no choice."
Bullshit.
If this were the real Commander Shepard, she'd tell TIM to screw himself, shut down that AI, and head straight back to the Alliance.
And btw, I'm a biotic. But I guess my ME2 Shepard just sucks now.
She's so pathetic. I don't like it.😞
I just want my ME1 Shepard back.🥺
from my original post:
💬 0 🔁 1 ❤️ 1 · I'm rambling · I’ve replayed the Mass Effect trilogy like… I don’t even know anymore. I’ve got around 3–4k hours on ME1&2,
Tags: SFW; Shepard x Garrus; angst; serious discussion
Haunted by another nightmare, Shepard finds comfort in the one person who has always been there: Garrus.
Another nightmare. Again.
Shepard jolted awake, drenched in sweat. It was becoming routine.
She had always been a light sleeper, but never this restless. Not even during the darkest periods of her life.
Back then, her nights had been nothing but darkness, empty of dreams and visions alike. She would close her eyes and open them again hours later, never truly aware of the time that had passed.
But ever since the war began, ever since she'd been forced to leave Earth behind, she hadn't had a single peaceful night's sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, images, voices, and memories came back to haunt her.
And if she was honest with herself, she missed those dreamless nights.
She wandered through the Normandy's corridors.
There was no real day-night cycle aboard the ship, but the crew did their best to maintain an artificial schedule, preserving at least the illusion of a normal circadian rhythm. A skeleton crew was always on duty to keep the vessel running, but at this hour the decks felt almost deserted.
Without even thinking about it, Shepard headed for the maintenance bay. Her feet carried her there of their own accord.
Or perhaps she knew exactly where she was going.
Maybe she simply needed to see the person who mattered most to her. The one who listened without expecting her to be a symbol, a hero, or a savior. The one who still saw her as a person.
The door slid open with a soft hiss.
Just as she'd expected, Garrus was still awake.
Shepard wondered what could possibly be left to calibrate on that cannon. Unless he simply couldn't sleep either.
He looked up as she stepped inside.
"Shepard. Can't sleep?"
A faint, tired smile tugged at her lips. "Looks like I'm not the only one."
"It's easier to keep your head clear when you're busy. When the silence sets in..." He glanced away briefly. "Well..."
"Yeah. I know what you mean."
Garrus studied her face for a few seconds.
"Bad dream again?"
Shepard immediately lowered her gaze, as though an immense weight had suddenly settled on her shoulders.
"I feel more on edge when I'm alone with my thoughts than I do out in the field."
His mandibles twitched slightly. "I know the feeling. In the middle of a fight, everything's simpler. You know what needs to be done, and you do it. No time to think. No time to second-guess yourself."
"Exactly."
A silence settled between them.
"If talking about it would help, I'm here, Shepard."
She smiled. She already knew that. But hearing him say it made all the difference. He had always been there. Always.
He had understood her when no one else did. Stood by her when others walked away. Even when she'd made the hardest decisions.
There was nothing more constant in her life than Garrus Vakarian.
"Ever since Eden Prime... ever since that beacon put those visions in my head, I was never really afraid."
She spoke slowly, as though every word cost her something.
"I knew what I'd seen. I knew what was coming. I knew what I had to do." Her gaze drifted into the distance. "And deep down... dying in battle never really frightened me."
She fell silent.
What came next suddenly felt far harder to admit. Especially to him.
She let out a long sigh.
Garrus waited in silence. Patient. Never trying to fill the void.
"But now... now that it's all real..." Her voice wavered slightly. "I think I'm scared."
Another pause.
"Now that I have something to lose."
This time, she couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes. Her chest tightened painfully.
"I shouldn't have said that. Not to you."
And yet she wanted him to know. It was selfish. And what made it even more selfish was knowing he would accept it anyway.
"Shepard..." His deep voice gently broke the silence. "You really think I don't feel exactly the same way?"
She looked up sharply. Of all the responses she had expected, that wasn't one of them. The sincerity in Garrus's eyes was disarming.
"Spirits... I didn't hesitate for a second to go to Omega and make enemies of the worst criminals in the galaxy when you were..."
The word refused to leave his lips.
Dead.
"I try not to show it. Because I already know how much you're carrying. Because this war matters more than my feelings."
He paused.
"But every time we hit the ground and I watch you charge straight at a Reaper army..."
His mandibles tightened and his gaze darkened.
"Believe me, I can't afford to miss a single shot. Because I'd never forgive myself."
An impossibly gentle smile appeared on Shepard's lips. A rare smile. A smile only Garrus had the privilege of seeing.
"You've always had my back, Garrus."
"And I don't intend to stop now." His voice softened. "Whatever you're facing, my rifle will be right there behind you."
"Yeah..." She held his gaze. "I know."
For a moment, everything felt lighter.
Then the memory of her nightmare resurfaced. Her smile gradually faded. Tears shimmered in her eyes, though she stubbornly refused to let them fall.
One hand rested against the edge of the monitor, clenched tightly. Without a word, Garrus placed his own over it. Her hand disappeared completely beneath his fingers.
"What if it was me?"
"What?"
"What if I became the one I had to fight?"
Concern flashed across his face.
"Shepard..."
"If the Reapers took control of my mind. My will."
"I don't want to think about that."
"But it could happen."
"No."
"You know it could."
Silence fell once more. Garrus's mandibles shifted uneasily.
"Then I suppose we'd all be doomed. And the Reapers would only have to finish what they started."
"That's not what I meant, Garrus."
This time, he was the one who looked away. His hand slowly slipped from hers.
"I don't want to end up like Saren."
"That won't happen."
"But if it did..."
She drew a shaky breath.
"I want you to put a bullet between my eyes."
A low sound escaped him, somewhere between a growl and a snarl. The very thought made him want to tear something apart.
But he swallowed his anger. For her. Always for her.
"You won't end up like Saren."
His voice was firm. Unshakable. He met her gaze without the slightest hesitation.
Having a favorite comfort game is such a life hack. Every time I feel down, I know I can just go back to it and feel better immediately. It’s like a friend that never leaves you, no matter what, and is always there for you whenever you need it.
saw a post about how Mass Effect gave Shepard the Spectre title in the first game, then killed them off and brought them back in the next, rendering Shepard a literal walking, talking, touchable ghost that haunts their own life
but like. it is crazy that Shepard is specifically a vengeful ghost with unfinished business.
Shepard fended off the first Reaper attack, and is killed before they can stop the actual threat. Then they're brought back to life, with the express purpose of stopping the Reapers, for real this time.
Shepard avenges their own death, finishes their unfinished mission, and then, like all ghosts who resolve their unfinished business, has to go. Maybe they die for real, maybe they only lose their body, but they're not allowed to stay. The purpose of the haunting is over.
like idk how purposeful any of this was, but it is immensely satisfying to me to know that from the moment Shepard wakes up in ME2 they're on borrowed time. Shepard is given enough time to set their untimely death to rights and not a minute more.
The fact that all the prisoners in Purgatory are human will never stop making me laugh every time I replay the game. I wish there were a dialogue option pointing this out to Warden Kuril, who’s a turian.
Surely that’s just a coincidence, right…
And the guards are turians or batarians (okay, there is some human guards too, but still)
Shaking Holding Garrus's hand on Menae is so fucking Victorian, and I love it.
Wait. Wait, wait, wait! What?! Up until this very moment, when I zoomed in and slowed it down, I had no idea that he was actually "holding" her hand.
Shep's hand is open, fingers loose. He rests her palm against his fingers, brings her hand waist level, and moves closer. Then, once his other hand comes over to cup the top of hers, his thumb finally closes over the back of her hand.
I mean, I knew it was a subtle, tentative communication of connection and/or of maintained interest. Testing the waters, so to speak.
I just... huh. Yeah, I'm chill about it. Definitely.
Untitled WIP I’ve been working on off and on to help with writers block for a different fic. I kinda really liked it so here ya go!
Inspiration: mass effect 3 owes me a decent shep/garrus/kaiden love triangle, and I plan to collect.
~~~
“I don’t know what you’re in the mood for tonight, Shepard. But Vega insists that we watch something called…Hard Death?” Garrus was saying as he entered her cabin. He was reviewing the title of the vid on his omni-tool. “Scratch that. Die Hard. He said it was a traditional human holiday vid, so I thought…Shepard?”
He stopped short when he looked up and caught Shepard staring at him, silently, from her couch. Humans weren’t exactly the easiest species to read - they were expressive, but often he could never figure out what each of their hundred of expressions meant - but he’d like to think he knew Shepard pretty well. She looked…stricken.
“Shepard?” he repeated, fully entering her cabin and approaching her. He went to sit next to her but she held up a hand to stop him. He paused at an awkward angle, halfway between standing leaning down to sit next to her. She stood up, standing in front of him with her hands fidgeting before her. He had never seen her look so…nervous.
“Shepard,” he repeated, for the third time, his voice soft. Confused. “Talk to me.”
“I…I have something to tell you and I don’t…want to.”
Well this was new. Shepard wasn’t afraid of anything, least of that being talking.
Thoroughly confused, he asked, “Ok?”
Shepard stared up at him and pulled her lower lip into her mouth, biting it. He’d seen her do that before, in a very different circumstance. Here it was just further proof that she was worrying. Panicking. “You are starting to freak me out a little bit here, Shepard.”
Shepard released her lip with a POP and raised a hand, running it through her fringe - er, hair. Judging by how it was sticking up she had been doing that for awhile.
“Are you hur-” he started, reaching out a hand to touch her face.
“Kaiden came by. A little bit ago.” Garrus’ hand froze. He didn’t know why, but the way she had said it…made him feel cold. He waited for her to continue, dropping his hand. Shepard’s green gaze followed it’s movement before she dropped her own hand from her hair. Her eye flicked between his for a moment before she let out a harsh breath, turning away from him to pace.
“He…said he wants to try again. After that bullshit he pulled I almost threw him out. But…he seemed…sincere. He kept bringing up Ilium and the SR1 and…uggh.”
Garrus remained silent, and frozen, where he had paused near the couch.
“I didn’t tell him yes. But I did…agree to a date. One date. We never got closure after…I died. Not really. And I wasn’t sure if we - you and I I mean - were still, I mean you’ve been back no the Normandy for a month and we haven’t even talked about…oh my god, I’m rambling. I never ramble.” Shepard stopped her pacing, turning to look at Garrus. “If you tell me not to go I won’t go.”
That pulled him out of stasis. “What? Why is that my decision?”
And it was an easy decision.
No.
Don’t go on a date with Kaiden spirits fucking forsaken Alenko. He had his shot, and he blew it. It was Garrus’ turn now. But what had he been doing with ‘his turn’? (and how pissed would Shepard be if she could read his thoughts right now). Movie nights, quips across the battle field, platonic if lingering touches as they hung out in the battery. She was right, he’d been back on board the Normandy for a month and he had nothing to show for it. He’d had a chance - a hundred chances - to bring up how he felt about her but he hadn’t. She’d always seemed so stressed, so harried. He hadn’t wanted to burden her, to pressure her. He’d let her take the lead on their reconnection. She’d been friendly, so he’d been friendly. And every two minutes there was some damn crisis - a dalatrass to bribe, a galaxy-changing medical marvel to facilitate. He’d wanted to be the calm at the center of her numerous storms. And now it sounded like she’d been waiting for him to-
“We were, you know, together recently. So I thought-”
“Seven months ago.” Garrus clarified, unsure why he was bringing up the time frame.
“Huh?”
“We were together seven months ago. And we thought we were going to die.” What was he talking about? Why was he saying this?
Why did he sound so cold?
His tone tripped Shepard up. She suddenly looked less frantic. She stopped wringing her hands, and was looking at him with an expression he could not even begin to interpret. “You’re right. We didn’t make any promises to each other. You aren’t…responsible for me, nor I you. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you about this. I guess I just…wanted to make sure you and I are…good. If I do this - the date with Kaiden, I mean.”
Garrus needed to swing by the medbay - there was a pain in his gut that had to be from something physical - a bullet wound his medi-gel had somehow missed?
Tell her to not go out with him. Fucking idiot, tell her!
“We are good Shep. You go on that date - or not! Whatever…whatever you want. We are good.” Shep? Where the hell had that come from. “If that’s all, I got to go - guns to calibrate, you know-” Garrus began making his way back through the door. He paused at the doorway just as Shepard called.
“What were you…saying about a movie?”
“Uh, oh that? Nothing. I’ll tell you later. See you in the morning, Shepard.” And before he could say something embarrassing, or pitiful, he left.
As he made his way to the elevator he stumbled. He felt off-balance - like the artificial gravity had abruptly been turned off. What had just happened? What the hell had just happened? He felt a sick, heavy feeling rolling along his veins, originating from somewhere deep in his gut. As the doors slid open on the crew deck, Garrus had had the chance to examine the sensation coursing through his body, finally setting in his chest like a heavy weight.
Do yall think he ever notices that we take him on every single mission? Even the ones that would benefit greatly from bringing other squadmates? What do you think it would make him feel? Mass Effect 1 Garrus would probably get a massive ego boost. Mass Effect 2 Garrus would be happy to get the stress off even though he feels like he doesn't deserve the attention. Mass Effect 3 Garrus would realize that aside from his god tier shooting, he is literally Shepard's biggest moral support keeping them from falling apart because regardless of whose better for the mission, no one does a better job than him keeping Shepard's sanity in check🥹🩵
A scenario where Shepard jokes with Vega, saying she's practically Garrus' wife now after she promotes him to her XO during the war, resulting in them unintentionally spending a lot more time together.
The joke goes over Vega's head, and he goes to congratulate Garrus personally. Garrus is confused, and Vega promises to keep the "secret marriage" a secret. Garrus now has to figure out how in the hell he accidentally proposed to and married a human and how is he supposed to tell his dad he missed the unplanned wedding and the ceremonial meeting of his fiancé. He was almost 30, but this was going to get him grounded for at least another 30 years or maybe even life.
Was he supposed to get his new wife a gift? Where they supposed to get matching tattoos like Turians? He could've sworn he read somewhere that humans consummated their vows the same way Turians do. Where did he go wrong dammit!?
He adores the idea of Shepard being his wife and loves knowing that she was so excited that she even told Vega about it. He just now has to figure out how he married her in the first place without her knowing he doesn't know. Because then she'll think he never wanted to marry her, and that is NOT the case. Maybe Tali will know? No way. She'd just call him a bosh'tet. Wrex will also call him a professional idiot. Liara won't judge, but he's sure she still hasn't gotten over her crush on the Commander, and he doesn't want to rub his new marriage in her face. Maybe Joker will tell him if he promises him the new fornax issue.
Garrus has had his fair share of giving his dad a pseudo aneurysm, but this one was going to send him into cardiac arrest for sure when he finds out his son married a woman the family didn't even meet. He needs a drink...after he finishes bribing Edi to scrub away everything she just heard him say out loud.
Garrus doesn't know that Vega is the galaxy's worst secret keeper, telling Shepard he's keeping the secret marriage a secret unwilling to let Shepard convince him that she's actually not married yet. She goes to see Garrus to have a good laugh about Vega's idiocy but walks into Garrus telling Edi he will use Shepard's override if she doesn't get rid of something.
Garrus is absolutely mortified and gives the cheesiest greeting to his "wife." She assumes Vega already brought the joke to Garrus but she's not overlooking him trying to be suspicious with Edi. He recovers, mentioning it was for his sesrch history for a gift he wanted to get her. He did intend to get her a gift so the phrase wasn't a complete lie...
She jokes about it and calls him her husband. Garrus, the realist he is, does not take this as a joke. She leaves him to his vices, and Garrus is now in a full-blown panic. He needs to understand what he did, and he needs to know now.
(If my brain gets any more random ideas, I'll at least finish and provide a resolution to this concept, lol. Feel free to offer your own ending)
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