Scavengers

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Clean up was slow in the weeks after the battle for Earth had concluded. The rubble that remained of the citadel was still being picked over by many. Not all of them were the good guys. Commander Shepard's people had already come through and collected the body, leaving everything else as it was. They wanted no part of it. Not even to make it a memorial. 
At that moment a group of Salarians were poking through the rubble, scowling deeply. "No." One them said to the other. "This is not the area. It wouldn't have been here." 
"Quiet, fool." The other hissed. He was looking in the other direction, frowning deeply. "The Quarians are here. We don't want to tip them off. We can't afford to lose this to them. It's too much. Do you hear me?!"

"I said I would take you to see him while he slumbers and then I would demand to have dinner with you. You are adding the rest yourself." Mimic told her, his smile making it clear he was mocking her. "Do you want to see him or not?" He asked, moving closer to her and staring into her eyes. 

"Why are you still talking?" Orinia asked him, her lips finding his as a flash of lighting illuminated the car. 
Orinia was still asleep in Victus' arms the next morning when his omni tool began its ominous ring. The night had been nothing short of perfect for the both of them. The term lover's storm had more than coined the phrase. The passion that had ignited a fire had taken all night to extinguish and not even really then. But they had had to rest eventually...
"Primarch, answer me damn it!" His assistant barked, overriding his privacy codes. That meant that there was an emergency. "The councillor is dead. You need to come back and deal with this. Now."

Ceres stared back, the only act of defiance she had right then, draped in material the tailor had brought to create a new dress. "I want to speak to him." She demanded after a moment of them simply staring at each other.

Victus groaned, muttering something about a most irritating sound as he shifted Orinia in his arms to try and find at least one piece of clothing. "Which councillor." He asked wearily, still half asleep and very much exhausted as he answered the call as audio only.

"Must you be so...defiant?" Mimic muttered, rubbing at his forehead. "Fine. But you had better enjoy the dinner and smile the entire time." He growled, turning his back on her. "Get dressed. We'll go now and you can doctor his wounds. I don't have anyone on staff to do that anyway." 

"The councillor that represents our people on the council that consists of all races. Remember that one? The father of your future wife? Which by the way...I have continued to keep her immentent return a secret because it seems her mother, the new widow, held a funeral for her a day after you left to fetch her. 
"At any rate, I am holding the councilor's body here until you return. Even though his wife is demanding an immediate and private space burial. I keep telling her high ranking official are treated differently but she isn't listening. You need to resolve this. Maybe the sight of her daughter alive will settle her down?" The assistant named, Turigan, spoke quickly. He was trying to get everything out in case he forgot something.

Ceres tried not to appear too overjoyed, and so simply nodded her head. "Then you had better leave while my dress is finished." She informed Momic as she turned away.

Victus was staring at Orinia as Tirigan blurted out all that information. He hated her mother even more, but also knew there was no place for his hatred when a woman he cared deeply for had just lost her father. "I shall return right away." He breathed. "Do not let that woman near the body until then."

Mimic didn't seem pleased with being told what to do. He turned his head to glare at her, his eyes flashing. "Wear something old. He is covered in blood and I am not paying for your new dresses to get filthy." He snapped. "You have ten minutes."

"What about the announcement and replacing him? His wife has offered her services..." Turigan asked. "Should I release information or wait and the council.. What should I do with them?"

Ceres smiled, glad she had gotten under Mimic's skin. In all truth dresses matter less than nothing to her, seeing as she had never worn one before now anyway. "Fine." She replied with a shrug. "Give me five, and my old suit." She added, just for the mast word.

"Nothing is to be done or said to anyone until I return, understood?" Victus asked, very much awake now. Hi mind was ticking over with things they needed to do to get them out of there as quick as popssible. It was going to take a day or two anyway to get back to Palavan without the mass relay. He could figure things out on the way.

"That I can do." Mimic nodded, thinking that in her old suit she was going to have to have her face covered. It would be yet another way to keep the two apart. That he could handle. "I will be waiting in the hall." He told her, motioning to the trunk beside her bed.

"I'll post guards. But make it quick. The madam is not going to like this one bit." Turigan said, turning off the communication. 
Orinia stirred when Victus began to get up. She gave a soft moan and grabbed for a pillow pulling it over her head. "Why is the sun shining?" She groaned. "Didn't someone tell it that it's far too early?!"

True to her word, five minutes later Ceres was joining Mimic in the hallway, sans helmet. She smiled sweetly and looked up at her captor expectantly. "Well? What are we waiting for?"

Victus couldn't say anything for the longest few seconds. Last night had been a dream. Orinia had agreed they she would marry him, and they had spent the knight celebrating this while the storm raged overhead. And now this... He had had to tell her her father was dead, and that he actually suspected her mother.

Mimic narrowed his eyes at her, his fingers balling into fists at his sides. "Follow me." He hissed, stomping ahead of her.

"It's too early." Orinia protested. "We don't have to have the car back until noon. Come back to bed." She peeked out from under the pillow and yawned before yanking the covers over her head.

Ceres was grinning the entire way, almost to the point where she was skipping aling behind Mimic. "How did he hurt his head?" She asked at last when Mimic said nothing as they walked.

"Orinia... We need to return to Palvan." Victus breathed, glad she had pulled the cover back over her head. "There has been an accident, it... I understand it to be your father."

"He was trying to get out of the chair he was tied to and fell over. The idiot hit his head on the floor. I might as well have just said things to him and let him do damage to himself rather than waste time and manpower having someone else do it." Mimic snapped. "He's not the brightest human I've ever come across." 

"What?" The cover came off and Orinia was looking at him, her cinnamon colored eyes now alert and filled with worry. "What do you mean accident? Is he all right?"

Ceres wrapped her fingers around Mimic's arm and pulled him to a sudden halt without really thinking what she was doing. "Why do you feel the need to have anyone do anything to him at all?! You got what you wanted, I'm cooperating, aren't i?"

Victus could look into those eyes for very long. "No... Orinia, there is no easy way to tell you this, but your father... He is dead."

Mimic looked down at the fingers holding his arm, barely able to hide his look of surprise. No one ever dared to touch him unless he gave them permission. What did this woman think she was doing? "You could do better." He muttered, shaking his head. "I am keeping up appearances with him. He thinks he is here because of a turian. I want to keep it that way. Now get your hand off me." 

"What?" Orinia nearly tumbled out of the bed as she sat up, her eyes widening. "No. Who told you? Why would they say something like that? It's not true." She grabbed for the sheet, her mind already ticking through the people she needed to call to confirm this. "My brother...he will know. I need to speak to him..."

Ceres didn't let go right away, making it clear Mimic had still not broken in the way he wished. Eventually she did let go to turn and face the locked door that lead into Jared's cell. "You could do better at a lot of things!" She hissed.

Victus shook his head and gently rested his talons on Orinia's shoulders. "I asked for all access to his body be prohibited, and no information to be leaked. I want to get to the bottom of this, Orinia, and I want to do it for you, not because he sits on the council."

Mimic surprised himself yet again. He actually managed to keep himself from making a grab for her and slamming her head into the wall as he was so tempted to. Instead he unlocked the cell and shoved her inside. "Do not tell me what to do." He snapped, motioning someone to flip on the light. 
Jared was on the floor, still tied to the chair. No one had even moved him. 

"My mother knows?" Orinia asked, her voice so soft it was probably hard to hear her. She was fighting to keep her emotions in check this time. The passionate night she'd enjoyed only a few hours ago seemed like a long forgotten memory now.

Ceres couldn't move, and barely even breathe when she saw Jared on the floor. This was all her fault, he had said so the last time they had spoken. A moment or two later and she managed to edge forward, dropping to her knees to gently untie Jared's wrists and feet and pushed his blood crusted hair from his eyes.

Victus nodded his head. "She is demanding that his body receive a space burial immediately." He breathed. "I won't allow it though, she wants him gone much too quickly. You, and your brother, have every right to have a say in where he will spend eternity."

"I think I drank too much." Jared groaned, his eyebrows lifting even though his eyes didn't open. "Big guy...I'm not going to forget her...stop trying to get me drunk..." He slurred, shifting his body to try and get away from the chair that had left him cramped and hurting. 

"I have to call my brother..." Orinia said, her tone rather wooden. "He's serving on Resever..." She paused, realizing she was beginning to shut down. "We have to go home, Victus. I'm sorry. We can't stay here anymore..."

Ceres felt her lower lip tremble and she bit down on it as she angrily kicked the chair away and sat a little more comfortably to cradle Jared's head in her lap. "I'm so sorry..." She whispered. "If only I had never said your name!" As she gasped those heartbroken words a fat tear dripped off her chin onto Jared's blood smeared cheek.

Victus didn't want her to call anyone, he had wanted to keep her sleeping while he flew them home, but had thought that rather primitive of him. "Ask him to come home, I have already sent a request for a faster ship than the one I used to get here, it is being prepped as we speak."

"No shower. I'm not that dirty..." Jared grumbled, trying to swipe away the tear. 
Mimic chuckled. "You see that? He isn't very intelligent is he?" He purred. "Can't even tell the difference between a lover's tears and a shower. What a fool." 

A few hours later Orinia found herself sitting in the copilot seat, unable to open the communication window. She couldn't call her brother. She couldn't tell him that their father was dead. If she spoke the words aloud they just might be true. It would kill Derius to lose their father. Quentius had been a good man and had loved his children dearly.

Ceres lifted her head to glare at Mimic, with with tears dripping from her eyes she didn't cut a very menacing figure. "I told you, we were not lovers!" She shouted, her shoulders beginning to shake.

"I can request a ship be dispatched to find your brother." Victus breathed when the silence became too much for him. "Perhaps he is simply out of communication range..."

"That's a shame.." Jared whispered, his eyes now opened. "I dreamed we were." He was smiling at her, his head settling in her lap. "Ceres...where have you been? I've been worried about you. I'm dreaming again aren't I?" 

Orinia nodded after a moment. "It might be best that he be guarded before he gets home." She said softly, still staring at the monitor in front of him. "But...Derius will want answers. He's not going to just go with men who say they work for the Primarch..."

Ceres looked down at Jared again, her gloved fingers gently brushing his cheek. "I hope your dreams would be better than this." She whispered, trying her best to smile for him, though it couldn't reach her moonlight coloured eyes.

"What would you suggest then? I can't allow you go to him yourself, it's too dangerous. I know you don't want to believe it, but it is very likely your mother is behind this." Victus replied sadly.

"Yeah. You weren't wearing the suit." Jared said, now trying to sit up. "Ceres....what the hell is going on. Why are you here? Why is Mimic's name cropping up all of a sudden? I know you two are together...I just can't figure out why..." He knew he was rambling but he was terrified she was going to leave. He hadn't seen her in so very long.

"I can't call him." Orinia said after a long moment, shaking her head. "But maybe...I can give you his number. If you called him... I just can't tell him. I can't say it, Victus. I don't want to...But if you told him and then made him promise to go with the guards...He would be safe until we got home... He's on the ship called Reverse. They are patroling the Palaven border for stragglers from the war..." She pleaded.

Ceres was about to blurt everything out when she remembered the desk she had made with Mimic. Jared couldn't know that she was a bought pet, nothing more. "Jared... You couldn't wait to be rid of me. You said I caused you nothing but trouble." She didn't want to say those things, she just wanted to forget them and tell him how sorry she was.

Victus sighed, not wanting to delay anything that would have Orinia's mother locked up. "I will. But I want to take you to your father first. Will you at least let me do that for you?"

"You called me stupid and annoying." Jared reminded her, smiling as he managed to sit up. "I seemed to remember that quite well. But it doesn't seem to matter now, does it? You've moved on. So...I guess take what I said however you want." He finished, his voice taking on a softer tone. 

"Derius needs to be there too." Orinia said quietly, wishing she could change the subject to anything else. "I'd feel better if we arrived at the same time. Please, Victus. Call him?"

Ceres' lip quivered again and more tears spilled free. It was as she reached up to wipe them away that she touched the deep bruise on her cheek too hard and it caused her to wince.

"If he didn't answer for you, you really believe he will answer for me?" Victus snorted, like always he seemed to forget just how important he actually was.

Jared reached up, resting his hand over the bruise. "You're still a walking disaster, aren't you sweetheart?" He breathed, a smile praying across his lips. 

"My omni tool isn't dialing out, Victus. And besides, I'm not the primarch. No one listens to me." Orinia sighed softly. "Don't make me beg."

Ceres closed her eyes as Jared touched her cheek. The moment she opened the again, Ceres couldn't help it it she leaned forward and pressed her lips to Jared's. To hell with what Mimic would do to her.

"I truly wish I wasn't either." Victus breathed. "Once we have left orbit, I will contact your brother, I promise."

Jared gave a soft sigh his own fingers sliding through her hair and pulling her even closer to him. He deepened the kiss, dreaming of this moment for much longer than he wanted to admit to.  He didn't want the moment to end either. It was going to tear him apart when it did. He knew the drell was there and he knew the drell wasn't going to stand for it. This was like a goodbye kiss. He didn't have to be a genius to figure that out. 

Orinia prayed to the spirits that leaving orbit would take forever but unfortunately, it didn't take long at all. Soon enough they were that much closer to Palaven and she was watching Victus dailing her brother's omni tool number on the pilot's screen. She'd give anything not to have to hear what Derius had to say about all this.

Ceres' kiss was both hungry and desperate, yet also tainted by fear. The young woman knew this kiss would forever burn every time she closed her eyes, or each time Mimic would again come and demand something from her. Tears still dripped down the Quarians cheeks, making the tender moment all the more bittersweet.

Victus didn't want to do it. He knew the pain of losing a parent, and he didn't want to have to be the one to bring that pain to yet someone else. As he waited for Derius to accept the call, a dark part of him hoped something had happened so they never had to speak.