She is tired of hearing that cannon fire. Nineteen shots, and she knows there will only be a few more. Four more, in fact. And one of them might even be for her. It's exhausting, every night, waiting to see whether not Kaidan's face will flash across the sky. It hasn't yet, and that seems to be the only good thing she can find in this place.
By now, the days have blurred together and she's more exhausted and hopeless than she's ever been in her life. She wishes she could chalk that up to being stressed out and maybe a little melodramatic since her time alone has really given her nothing to do but over-think things. But absolutely nothing is going right in this place, and maybe that's what has her so frustrated.
When the land under her feet crumbles and she finds herself what seems to be an unnaturally long distance from where she had been given the height she had been at and the general slope of the arena, she's pretty certain there is nothing natural about it. For the most part, she's unharmed. Minor scrapes and cuts and probably a few new bruises, she'd even twisted her ankle a bit, but nothing so serious that a bit of stretching and a few yards of walking it off wouldn't cure.
So when the cannon fires again as the dust is still settling, Shepard can only image that the rock slide hasn't been as kind to some, as it had just been for her. The knot in the pit of her stomach returns, as she wonders who it was for. The twentieth cannon for a nameless, innocent child? For Kaidan? It shouldn't matter, really. The fact that it fires at all enrages her. A life lost needlessly, for the sake of entertainment...
She's nearer to the husk of the cornucopia now, than she's been since this all began. The lower elevation, the thicker trees, the distant rumble of the waterfall that must only be a hundred yards away; it's all under the shadows of nightfall but it still makes her feel like she's walking back into a piece of an old, half-remembered nightmare and she tightens the grip around the hilt of her sword and prepares herself for anything. It's silent mostly, save for the night sounds of bugs and winds, but there's a tickle on the back of her neck, that sinking, knowing feeling deep in her gut that suggests there is something just around the corner. Just beyond her vision.
She moves slowly, sword unsheathed, and her green eyes sharp and alert. When she sees the flicker of blue, she hardly thinks before she's moving through the trees and a near-on sprint. It's a familiar blue. Biotic blue.
Kaidan recovers from the throw easily enough; the sharp throbbing behind his eyes dull compared to the strain he feels from simply surviving. He doesn't know who he threw-- only that he reacted on instinct. The canonfire makes him flinch. He knows that... He killed someone. He must have thrown them against a rock when he only wanted to get them away. The last person he'd met with hadn't exactly taken kindly to him. This time when he hears the trees and bushes rustle, Kaidan doesn't react with his biotics. Instead he turns to face whoever it is.
Chances are they'll kill him. Kaidan doesn't think he has enough energy to throw out any kind of biotics, any real way to protect himself.
"Kaidan," she huffs out a breath when he finally comes into view. It's a relief to see him there, even if he looks worn down and exhausted as hell. She isn't even certain that he's really even seen her yet; hasn't realized who she is. It makes her heart twinge, seeing him like this. Their days apart have not been kind to him...
The tension in her grip fades, though she keeps her sword in hand. This might be Kaidan, but if her math is right - and she's pretty certain it is - there is one more around here somewhere. No room for chances. But also, there is a realization somewhere in the back of her head that there is an advantage here. If numbers are anything to go by, well, the odds just shifted in their favour. With Kaidan here... it's two to one, now. And then this can all be over.
"Shepard." All of the tension in Kaidan's shoulders flows out the second he hears her voice, sees her face. After so long searching, seems like she was the one who found him. Kaidan's lips twitch, the smallest of smiles flitting across his lips before it settles; face tight and blank once more. "Good to see you're still alive."
"Ah, you know me," she says and there is a hint of softness on her voice but she stands there, still and solid beneath the cover of the pine trees around them. "Hard to kill."
That isn't, strictly speaking, true, and if there is anyone who would know that, it's Kaidan. Though to give herself some credit, she might be harder than some.
Standing there, she's so happy to see his face that she could just kiss him, and even though she wouldn't deny that Kaidan is a handsome man, that has surprisingly never been a consideration before. It still isn't, really. Shepard has never been a touchy-feely sort of person. But in spite of everything, and perhaps even because of it, she still sees Kaidan as a friend. It's hard standing there before him and not let that show.
Kaidan laughs, but it's a dark thing. Hard to kill. That's Shepard alright. Taking a few steps forward, Kaidan gets within arms length of the Commander, lips still tipped. He's just... he's happy to see her again. Everything that happened on Horizon doesn't matter when it comes to something like this. It was petty of him and it still hangs between them; a weight on his shoulders. "Commander, I..." Kaidan trails off, before he picks up, but somewhere else completely. "It's all winding down, isn't it? Last four, three?"
"Three," Shepard nods, and reaches out to touch him on the shoulder, just a soft brush of her hand because she can't know how badly he's been hurt or where.
"But I'm glad its you and me. I thought I lost you back there," she makes a small nod of her head, gesturing toward the mountain top where they had last seen one another. It seems like years ago, but has to have only been a few days.
"You hungry? I got a parachute this morning. Bread and cheese and some kind of jerky," she offers.
"No thanks." Kaidan shakes his head, jaw suddenly tight when she confirms that there's only three of them left. When the realization that only one of them will make it out alive hits. "Won't matter in a bit, anyways."
Something in her shifts, tightens, draws back at his words. Not at Kaidan himself, but the reminder he's just decided to wave around in the air. Sometimes, even in the worst of it all, she's blindly optimistic. They're still alive, and there is still time, maybe they can figure this out.
She tries to smile at him, but the happiness has all but drained out of her, "You know what I have always admired about you Kaidan?" she doesn't pause long enough for him to respond. "You always keep me grounded."
Kaidan's lips pull, like he's trying to smile but it falls short. "Yeah, that's what I do." Kaidan reaches up, rubs the back of his neck and rolling his tense shoulders-- trying to work out the hurt laid in them, from his implant, from living here in the Arena for what feels like years. He knows Shepard feels it too, the weight between them suddenly. One of them will be dead soon. Probably by the other's hand. Kaidan-- Kaidan has a good idea of who will be left standing in the end.
"So what do we do now?" she sounds exhausted. Feels exhausted. Is exhausted. She's so ready for this to be over and done with, whatever that means, that in some dark and twisted manner she's almost looking forward to it. But her stomach is in knots. She and Kaidan and one other still stand. And only one can survive.
She doesn't want to think about what that's going to mean, soon enough.
"We find the other tribute. We'll... We'll figure out what happens then." Kaidan swallows a bit, jaw tight. He can tell Shepard is winding down and he shifts forward, just a touch, offering her some kind of support even if it will be short-lived. He remembers Lily, how she asked to die, for Kaidan to kill her... The person he just threw against a rock, the person he killed just now. "I just... I need you to know that I won't hurt you, Shepard. I won't."
"One last mission?" she says, and is glad he's on the same page; there at least. She wishes it were something more meaningful. Something actually worth doing. Something good. It isn't though, and they'd be fooling themselves to believe otherwise. But she needs this right now; needs a distraction. Even if this distraction happens to be the two of them setting out to look for the last of their competition. And it likely won't end well for whoever it is they find....
"God, this place is fucked," she growls under hear breath, as if that is supposed to answer anything at all. That she and Kaidan have to be saying things like this to one another is madness. "And don't feed me that crap, Kaidan. We'll cross that bridge when we get there."
But that isn't now. She rolls her shoulders and takes one deep breath, and just like that, she's ready.
Kaidan watches Shepard for a second before he drops his arms back down to his side and straightens out his shoulders, holds his chin up high and nods. He knows when to drop the subject, when to bring it up later. He's made his stance known, whether Sehaprd accepts it or not. They'll have to face it soon enough. "Aye aye, ma'am."
"From what I can tell, everyone that was left as of this morning, was forced in this general area by the rock slide," she tells him, though she would guess that he's already surmised that himself. Old habits die hard though. A good old fashioned briefing before a mission - just making sure everyone is on the same page.
"Yeah. Seems like rock slides are their... favoured natural disaster." Kaidan bristles a bit, keeping his bad hand hidden still. At least his nose is healed up. Two rockslides later, and he's almost out of this place-- only he knows that's not going to happen. "The biotics are a little spotty right now, but I'll follow your lead on this. I have your back, Shepard."
She nods, taking a small step forward. She wants to say something to him, something reassuring or comforting. Something to let him know how glad she is that he's here at her side, even if the circumstance is grim at its best. She can't think of anyone she'd be happier to know had her back - that she trusted to have her back. Even after all that had come between them, she still trusted him. Kaidan was... he was such a good guy. Better than she was at times. But she doesn't say any of that. It
She takes their point and begins to move. "I came in from that direction," she points back to the area she had been. "The one the rock slide took out was at our six. Where were you?"
She just wants to get an idea of where they should look. She doesn't think it's necessary to mention the... other tribute that was eliminated. The biotic blue she saw just as she came upon him. She doesn't ask because it doesn't matter. Not anymore.
"Just a bit further up the mountain. I've been going in a straight path towards the Cornucopia. Figure it's where they want us to go, after everything." Kaidan rolls his shoulders and looks out towards the lake. Wherever the other is... who the other tribute is-- what if it's someone who shouldn't be here, like Amy, Ariadne, Lottie, Lily: a whole pantheon of people who should not be fighting-- "Shepard, just promise me you won't shoot first." There's no guns here, but the concept is what's important.
She almost laughs because, yeah, she can get that way sometimes and she's so ready to be done with this entire charade that her skin feels itchy. Luckily for a lot of people, she doesn't have a gun. Though she's pretty sure she was dreaming about her M-97 Viper the last time she'd slept.
"Sure, Kaidan. I promise," she tells him, and continues onward. Back toward the cornucopia where this all began. "But we have to find them first..."
She likes the idea of harming innocent civilians as much as he does, and this is of course to say: not at all. But there is a thought stuck in the back of her skill like a thorn. It's a selfish, arrogant thing...
What good is a scared civilian going to do outside the Arena? If she dies for them, this last hidden tribute; this nameless person she has never met or known... will they be lifted from here and demand answers and retribution from those that put them all here? Will they do their damnedest to try and put an end to this? She isn't sure she's willing to let go so easily, when she knows that she will.
"They'll show themselves eventually. Not much use in hiding, not when we're the only three left. I have enough energy to do a wide barrier if they attack, either way." Kaidan flexes his fingers gently, ignoring the headache he's developed from the heavy biotics he's been using lately. Against the guy who caught him after Lily, just now, during the rockslide... "Not much else, though."
"Save your strength. You may need it later," she insists. Though she's pretty sure he'll ignore that if things get harried too quickly. She can't imagine the pain he must be in. He's probably had a migraine for days. And she's seen his hand, even though she'd pretty sure he's been trying to hide it from her. The bags under his eyes. The flakes of dried blood that he hasn't been able to clean off....
But he'll do what he has to. She knows he will.
It's taking everything she has to not focus on the fact that today is likely the last time they are going to see each other. Ever.
"We'll have to see how this goes, Commander. I know what I have to do." Kaidan shifts his weight before he's standing closer to Shepard. He's done this once before, on Virmire. Armed a bomb with no assured way out. They lost Ash that way-- but the Commander had survived, and that's what is important in the end.
From their angles, he probably can't see the smallest smile that tugs on the corner of her lips. Oh Kaidan. Stubborn till the bitter end.
The ground around here seems less ruined by landslide, the trees less damages and the dust and rock settled and slick with moss. The rumble of the waterfall thunders just beyond their line of sight, but she can feel the dampness of it on her skin. She rolls her shoulders again, adjusts her grip on the hilt of her sword; it's never been even a consideration for a weapon of choice before but it's been in her hand for so many days now it feels almost a part of her.
Kaidan senses it too; body tense and drawn, ready for an attack or to attack. He's always worked well with Shepard and this is no different. His biotics are kept tucked away until absolutely needed, but the air around him grows heavy as he prepares for their use. There's no noise, no need for it now.
She's on point, and all she needs to do is make the subtlest of hand gestures and she knows Kaidan will follow suit. It will be easiest to flank their target. Surround them and leave them nowhere to go.
Back in the Capitol, and all over Panem, screens everywhere are showing nothing but their faces. The gamemakers in their control room - wherever it might be - already have a canon ready to fire... She knows this and is trying her best not to think about it.
Kaidan made her promise not to take the route of shooing first and asking questions later, and she'll keep it if she can. But the end is so close and she knows she can't save this person. If she doesn't do this, something else will befall them instead. Another rock slide. Giant bears. Or maybe just the cold and starvation. But they aren't getting out of this place alive. The best she can do is make it a clean death.
She turns to look at Kaidan and gives him a nod, silent and in the direction they both know the last tribute must be; hidden amidst the underbrush.
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2. Kaidan vs. Shepard
By now, the days have blurred together and she's more exhausted and hopeless than she's ever been in her life. She wishes she could chalk that up to being stressed out and maybe a little melodramatic since her time alone has really given her nothing to do but over-think things. But absolutely nothing is going right in this place, and maybe that's what has her so frustrated.
When the land under her feet crumbles and she finds herself what seems to be an unnaturally long distance from where she had been given the height she had been at and the general slope of the arena, she's pretty certain there is nothing natural about it. For the most part, she's unharmed. Minor scrapes and cuts and probably a few new bruises, she'd even twisted her ankle a bit, but nothing so serious that a bit of stretching and a few yards of walking it off wouldn't cure.
So when the cannon fires again as the dust is still settling, Shepard can only image that the rock slide hasn't been as kind to some, as it had just been for her. The knot in the pit of her stomach returns, as she wonders who it was for. The twentieth cannon for a nameless, innocent child? For Kaidan? It shouldn't matter, really. The fact that it fires at all enrages her. A life lost needlessly, for the sake of entertainment...
She's nearer to the husk of the cornucopia now, than she's been since this all began. The lower elevation, the thicker trees, the distant rumble of the waterfall that must only be a hundred yards away; it's all under the shadows of nightfall but it still makes her feel like she's walking back into a piece of an old, half-remembered nightmare and she tightens the grip around the hilt of her sword and prepares herself for anything. It's silent mostly, save for the night sounds of bugs and winds, but there's a tickle on the back of her neck, that sinking, knowing feeling deep in her gut that suggests there is something just around the corner. Just beyond her vision.
She moves slowly, sword unsheathed, and her green eyes sharp and alert. When she sees the flicker of blue, she hardly thinks before she's moving through the trees and a near-on sprint. It's a familiar blue. Biotic blue.
Kaidan.
And the sound of the twenty-first cannon fire.
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Chances are they'll kill him. Kaidan doesn't think he has enough energy to throw out any kind of biotics, any real way to protect himself.
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The tension in her grip fades, though she keeps her sword in hand. This might be Kaidan, but if her math is right - and she's pretty certain it is - there is one more around here somewhere. No room for chances. But also, there is a realization somewhere in the back of her head that there is an advantage here. If numbers are anything to go by, well, the odds just shifted in their favour. With Kaidan here... it's two to one, now. And then this can all be over.
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That isn't, strictly speaking, true, and if there is anyone who would know that, it's Kaidan. Though to give herself some credit, she might be harder than some.
Standing there, she's so happy to see his face that she could just kiss him, and even though she wouldn't deny that Kaidan is a handsome man, that has surprisingly never been a consideration before. It still isn't, really. Shepard has never been a touchy-feely sort of person. But in spite of everything, and perhaps even because of it, she still sees Kaidan as a friend. It's hard standing there before him and not let that show.
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"But I'm glad its you and me. I thought I lost you back there," she makes a small nod of her head, gesturing toward the mountain top where they had last seen one another. It seems like years ago, but has to have only been a few days.
"You hungry? I got a parachute this morning. Bread and cheese and some kind of jerky," she offers.
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She tries to smile at him, but the happiness has all but drained out of her, "You know what I have always admired about you Kaidan?" she doesn't pause long enough for him to respond. "You always keep me grounded."
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She doesn't want to think about what that's going to mean, soon enough.
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"God, this place is fucked," she growls under hear breath, as if that is supposed to answer anything at all. That she and Kaidan have to be saying things like this to one another is madness. "And don't feed me that crap, Kaidan. We'll cross that bridge when we get there."
But that isn't now. She rolls her shoulders and takes one deep breath, and just like that, she's ready.
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"The last one shouldn't be too far from here."
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She takes their point and begins to move. "I came in from that direction," she points back to the area she had been. "The one the rock slide took out was at our six. Where were you?"
She just wants to get an idea of where they should look. She doesn't think it's necessary to mention the... other tribute that was eliminated. The biotic blue she saw just as she came upon him. She doesn't ask because it doesn't matter. Not anymore.
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"Sure, Kaidan. I promise," she tells him, and continues onward. Back toward the cornucopia where this all began. "But we have to find them first..."
She likes the idea of harming innocent civilians as much as he does, and this is of course to say: not at all. But there is a thought stuck in the back of her skill like a thorn. It's a selfish, arrogant thing...
What good is a scared civilian going to do outside the Arena? If she dies for them, this last hidden tribute; this nameless person she has never met or known... will they be lifted from here and demand answers and retribution from those that put them all here? Will they do their damnedest to try and put an end to this? She isn't sure she's willing to let go so easily, when she knows that she will.
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But he'll do what he has to. She knows he will.
It's taking everything she has to not focus on the fact that today is likely the last time they are going to see each other. Ever.
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The ground around here seems less ruined by landslide, the trees less damages and the dust and rock settled and slick with moss. The rumble of the waterfall thunders just beyond their line of sight, but she can feel the dampness of it on her skin. She rolls her shoulders again, adjusts her grip on the hilt of her sword; it's never been even a consideration for a weapon of choice before but it's been in her hand for so many days now it feels almost a part of her.
Her skin prickles.
Movement. To the left.
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Back in the Capitol, and all over Panem, screens everywhere are showing nothing but their faces. The gamemakers in their control room - wherever it might be - already have a canon ready to fire... She knows this and is trying her best not to think about it.
Kaidan made her promise not to take the route of shooing first and asking questions later, and she'll keep it if she can. But the end is so close and she knows she can't save this person. If she doesn't do this, something else will befall them instead. Another rock slide. Giant bears. Or maybe just the cold and starvation. But they aren't getting out of this place alive. The best she can do is make it a clean death.
She turns to look at Kaidan and gives him a nod, silent and in the direction they both know the last tribute must be; hidden amidst the underbrush.
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