#halliana

[starrdoodles]

First time doing a year in review for my art! It was fun, I think I’ll probably do it again for 2025!

[ocreatus]

GOD THIS IS A TOUGH ONE. hrm... cassandra is Up there, katalina too...

definitively. #1 Katalina, #2 fruticosa, #3 Paix, #4 Halliana, #5 Cassandra

WHEHEHEHEEHEHEHE- PAIX?????? PAIX BOALS THE FLESH MONSTER????

[theherocomplex]

halliana prompted: Shepard in the apartment, looking at Thane’s picture right after his death and imagining he’s there with her.

**********

"You were a bastard. Oh, not really, you know that and so do I, but dammit, sometimes figuring out what the hell you meant was harder than fighting the Collectors. You really had the whole cryptic-smile thing down. That smile. God. I missed that back on Earth. You made me fight for every single one. Didn't you? I know you did."

She set down the picture on the piano and walked back to the bar. His gaze fell heavy on her shoulders, and for a moment she saw the way light broke against his skin, as he rose over --

Don't think about it. Don't think about how it only happened seven times, and then you turned yourself in, and then you only had the hospital.

The hospital. Kolyat praying while her throat closed ever-tighter, and she counted every breath until finally his chest rose and didn't fall. When the doctors came in -- when they moved his body -- that final breath slipped out of him, faint as a sigh. 

The last of him, lost to air purifiers and antiseptic. 

Now all she has is the way he watched her, always balancing his longing with the sweetness of anticipation. 

Don't think about it, she told herself. You've got work to do. 

"There is no joy in this work, siha." 

She jerked away from the bar. "It's the end of the world, Thane," Shepard said, "and you're dead. Tell me where the joy is in that." 

"Find joy in those still with you." 

"They could be gone tomorrow." She pressed her fingers against her eyes. "Sometimes, I think it would be easier to --" 

"You may think that, but I know you. You will not let yourself fail." 

Shepard took a deep breath. She knew the voice was nothing more than an echo, a shudder in the air, but it was better than nothing. Some of him remained. 

"No," she murmured. "I won't."