Work Text:
“No matter what happens, know that I love you.”
Those words haunted him. No matter what he was doing, no matter who he was with. Those words echoed in his skull until it was all he could think about. And then after they had fixed the Normandy and they were back in space, the words changed.
”When this is over, I’m gonna be waiting for you. You’d better show up.”
-
Without EDI navigating was difficult. Heck, without EDI everything was more difficult. Especially getting Joker to do something other than mourn her. But life had to go on.
When they found the mass relay, it didn’t respond to Joker’s commands. A conversation with Hackett via the repaired QEC enlightened them to the fact that the entire system was down; no one was going anywhere.
So imagine their surprise when rachni appeared and swarmed the device. Kaidan called Hackett and was informed that the Rachni Queen had been in contact with him; her children would repair the mass relays, as well as the Citadel and anything else he asked of her.
After a few days, Hackett called back to say that the Normandy could now travel back to the Sol system because the necessary relays were now operational. Kaidan wondered if that was a coincidence.
-
Kaidan shied away from thinking about all the people lost as Joker weaved the Normandy through the debris which littered their solar system. And when the Citadel came into view, or what remained of it, he refused to entertain the notion that Shepard was not waiting for him.
As soon as they had docked with Hackett’s ship, the man himself stepped onto the Normandy with news. Someone, or something, had activated Shepard’s suit’s distress beacon.
The area the beacon emanated from was an air filled pocket accessible from two sides; so they divided into two teams, piled into the shuttles supplied by Hackett and set out to find their CO.
His team’s entry point was obstructed by a large piece of concrete which he lifted biotically, almost losing his concentration when a keeper appeared. Liara’s voice came over the open comm line; her team had also come across a keeper, it seemed to want to lead them somewhere. So they followed.
The passageway they walked down was surprisingly intact leading him to wonder if the keepers had already begun the reconstruction of the Citadel. Eventually they entered a large open area scattered with debris, the keeper had come to a standstill just inside the entrance. Liara’s voice came over the comm again; her team were in the same large open area, and had begun the search for Shepard.
Cortez found him. He was slumped against a broken column, used medi-gel packs and empty MREs lay scattered around him, body bruised but still breathing. A weight lifted from Kaidan’s chest when blue eyes slit open, lips curled up into a small smile and when he spoke; his voice was rough with disuse.
“I knew you’d show up.”