Love and War

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"Maggie, you were attacked." Kandros replied firmly, though he still didn't open his eyes. "I never hated you, only what that bastard did to you."

"Brave? That woman?" Quinn snorted. "I hardly think so. She was a brainless idiot who only cared what would make her dear husband happy."

"Who... who's Anika?" Quinn whispered, afraid of the answer as she pulled her fingers back. 

"Andromeda is no place for gentle or kind, least of all both." Brutus remarked as he watched the female he had been paid handsomely to entice.

Unfamiliar eyes turned very familiar as Tyros finally met with a face he'd never thought to see again. "Kalahira...you bless me still..." he breathed, touching the drell markings on his forehead. "Ana...Anika is my wife...the drell I married in the milky way. She and I agreed to join the Initivie to create a better life for the future of the family she wanted for us. We had such dreams..."

"I know that. Why do you think I hired you? She can be whatever she wants to be because I am protecting her." It was clear by the way Tann was speaking that he was madly in love with the girl. 
Lori Talos had her nose buried in an ancient book her father had brought onto the ship with them. Her azure hair hid her from view and she had no idea just how closely she was being watched.

"Oh..." Quinn didn't even try to hide the obvious disappointment in both her voice and her face. It wasn't just hearing that her own marriage had now just been proven false, but Tyrosine had come here wanting a family, something she herself could never give him. "You should get some rest, we can figure this out tomorrow." She added, now unable to meet his gaze.

"Fine. Then leave me to do my job." Brutus replied, almost grinning at the thought Tann had no idea that the 'job' he planned on doing, and the one the salarian thought he would be doing were two very different things.

Tyros turned away from her and began inspecting himself in the bedroom mirror. Gone were the rocky scales that made him look like a monster. He once again looked sleek and honed. "We need to take this gift to the people of the Initivie. There may be more who can be saved. What about your mother?" He asked. 

Tann nodded, leaving Brutus where he stood to cross to Lori. He sat beside her and reached out  to turn her face toward his. 
Unlike with other women Tann did not try to force himself on her. The kiss was gentle and loving though to the astute observer, they would find the love a bit one-sided.

Quinn was looking down at her own cybernetic limbs, comparing herself to Tyros now. He was perfect, and so very beautiful. She never would be, not now. "I would rather rot in hell than save her." She replied defensively. Being kett didn't make her do these things to me, that was all natural Betty."

Brutus saw it right away. He wasn't just hired muscle, as everyone assumed, he was fairly astute as observing people too. He saw that Lori would choose her books over the director any day, if not for her desire to please her father.

"Then perhaps changing her back into her human form will be the greatest form of insult." Tyros said. "But...i need to find Anika first...Quinn...I...I'm sorry."

Tann didn't notice. He was leaning back and whispering in her ear and gesturing to Brutus. 
Lori fixed him with inquisitive green eyes. She pushed her glasses up her nose and frowned. She turned to Tann and began in hissed whispers, showing the gentle and kind was probably not the best way to describe her.

"S-sorry... for what?" Quinn whispered, barely able to breathe as she knew what reason was coming. She knew enough about Drell to know the answer to her question before she even asked it.

Brutus was grinning as he watched the exchange, relieved to see gentle wasn't all the young woman was. Gentle was boring. He gave them a few moments more before he approached with a gruff nod. "So... you paying me to just stand here?" He asked with a snort.

"Anakia is my wife...i have to find her. Now that I know..." He didn't dare reach out for her, knowing he had no right. "Forgive me."

"Actually...you aren't getting laid. You can go home now." Lori said, standing up and gathering her books. "Have a nice day, both of you."

Quinn took a step back, her arms hugged around a frame that much thinner than it had been before her cruel mother's experiments. The young woman had her lips pursed together, afraid to let her emotion show. It had taken Tyros months to tear down her walls when they met, which made her feel even more the fool for allowing it to happen. "Just go." She managed to whisper those two words and nothing more.

Brutus stepped into Lori's path, preventing her from getting very far. "Sorry, lady, but you ain't my boss." He told her gruffly, though he was smirking as he said it. She was the daughter of a powerful general, no doubt few people did anything more but bow to her every command.

"Go? Why?" Tyros was extremely confused. He knew Quinn was upset but he wasn't sure exactly why. Wasn't this what she wanted? For him to regain his memories? His past. It wasn't as if he going to stay with a woman he no longer knew. He imagined she too had moved on. He simply needed to confirm that with her. And that was all saying she still lived. 

Lori paused, holding the books against her chest. It took her a long moment to look all the way up at the gigantic turian towering over her but when she met his eyes she shook her head firmly. "I don't know why all these people keep thinking I need protection. I know how to keep my head down and my mouth shut. It's morons who don't that seem to get themselves into trouble."

"You have a wife, Tyros!" Quinn snapped. "That means we are not actually married, and even I know no drell walks away from their mate, ever!" Yes, she had wanted him to get his memories back, but the young woman had not planned for this. 

Brutus let out a quiet chuckle and shook his head. "You think I don't know your family history?" He asked. "Your youngest sister got your other sister traded to the kett. You think she won't do the same to you if she came back here? I'm paid to keep that from happening."

"I am not who I used to be." Tyros admitted. "I'm not sure staying with a bond mate I can no longer connect with would be good for either of us. It may only bring misery and pain. Please, Quinn...don't give up on me yet." He whispered. Again he didn't touch her. She was defensive and angry. He knew better. 

"Those two are not my sisters. They took great pains reminding me." Lori pointed out. "Quinn wouldn't bother trying to kill me. It would be a waste of her time. Try again." She gave him a smile, tapping a tiny foot as if she were impatient.

Quinn didn't move, not sure she could even put into words what she was feeling right then. Tyros was all she had, and now... there was every chance she didn't even have that. "I'm going to make dinner." She suddenly muttered, an odd thing given Tyros was the one who did all their cooking.

Brutus continued to smile too. "You underestimate how much she hates your father." He pointed out. "But the again, who knows the mind of a mad woman." He added, only knowing what Maggie had told him, and the whispers he had heard in the colony. None of them actually knew Quinn, not really.

"Uhhh...are you sure....?" Tyros asked uncertainly. "How about we see how this body is holding up? Take it into the settlement? Maybe the Nexus?"

Lori shook her head. "Quinn was never petty enough to go after anything but the source. And Maggie. She's too busy being in love or whatever she wants to call it." 
Tann sighed, wearing a puppy dog smile. "Soon you will be too." He told her, pulling out a sparkling set of earrings from his pocket. Like I am."
Lori gave the large turian an oddly pleading look but took the earrings. "They re nice...Tann. Really." She muttered.

Quinn paused in the doorway, her back to Tyros and the tension in her shoulders was clear. "If that's what you want." She told him, then carried on walking to find her exo suit to protect against the extreme cold of their home.

"Your fiancée is in safe hands, while you run the nexus." Brutus assured the smitten Initiative Director. "Hell, maybe I'll even feed her." He added with a chuckle.

Tyros didn't know why Quinn was suddenly so dark. He hadn't confirmed anything yet. And he certainly wasn't going to just walk away from everything that had gone between them.

"Not funny, bull." Lori grumbled, darting around Tann and making a beeline for the door when a crowd of people surrounded the salarian to complain about the state of things.

Quinn was simply reverting to the cold hard soldier she had been that day that Tyros kidnapped her. She had sold herself to an outcast for his freedom, she had been tortured and abused to keep her sister's husband safe, and for what? Did anyone really care about her? Those were her dark thoughts as she clipped her armour into place.

Brutus was no more than a step behind Lori as she tried to escape. "You do realise we're on a space station, don't you? Nowhere to hide, sweetheart."

Tyros spent his time in the warmest part of the ship. He was most often in prayer. He begged the goddess of life to explain to him why she'd seen fit to give him back his memories and taken away his happiness. Quinn had stopped talking to him completely. He didn't know how to fix this. He was so sure becoming a drell again would make her happy. That she would fall deeper in love with him. He wished he'd remained a broken kett. 
There was so much she didn't know about Anika. And he couldn't tell her.

"Despite what Tann told you, I am far from being a sweetheart." Lori said, pausing to push her large glasses up the bridge of her pert nose. "And I know exactly where we are. My father reminds me daily. He wanted to stay behind and fight the war against the Reapers." The door to the elevator opened and she stepped inside, closing it before he could follow. "Seriously, dad." She muttered to herself. "Where do you find these guys?" She returned to her book, blocking out the world as she often did.

Quinn had been through so many emotions when she was alone on the bridge of their ship. She had sobbed brokenly, punched her first into thing until it bled and tried begging for some way to understand why the universe thought she needed this kind of pain in her life. She loved Tyrosnso much, and that was why it was so painful to know she would not be his first choice once they found Anika.

Brutus was there waiting for Lori when the doors opened, having powered up the stairs like they were nothing. "Like I said, nowhere to hide." He told her with a cocky grin.

Tyros found Anika's information and was ashamed that he was disappointed by it. She was alive and well and part of the Nexus work crew that brought in ships. It was no surprise to see that she worked with Quinn's step sister. Fate mocked him at every turn.

Lori sighed deeply. "He must be paying you a lot. Or they're double paying. Or maybe you really are hard up for entertainment. But I'm telling you, I don't need some giant turian following me around."

Quinn still hadn't said much as their ship came into view of the Nexus. This was a place she had never wished to see again, the place where all her trouble started, all because a turian loved her sister and felt Quinn was in the way of him getting what he wanted.

"Good thing what you want isn't a part of the job, huh?" Brutus replied with another grin. "I'm following you, end of story. The money is too good to let some random asshole decide to kidnap you and make you his sex slave." He added cheerfully, unaware that was almost what had happened to her step sister.

Tyros had told Anika they would be coming and expected her to be waiting for them at the docks. He didn't tell Quinn that this was the case. Things were strained enough as it was. 

Lori pushed up her glasses as she looked up at him. "You should have applied to work in the new C-sec Tann is putting together. Or maybe the military. Merc guys are so...not turian." 
After a few hours had passed, it seemed pretty obvious Lori had decided on a new tactic. She was going to talk him to death. Currently she was going through every turian fact she knew as she guided flights into their docking stations. She barely took a breath as Ardwin announced his arrival in the dock closest to their location.

Quinn had come to find Tyros once the docking was complete. She was trying to find her words to tell him how anxious she was about this whole thing. In the end, all she could do was explain that the airlock was open, if he was ready.

Brutus knew what she was doing, and nodded his head every now and then, or added a 'that's news to me' comment. He wasn't going to let her win this game. He barely even listened to the male human voice as it spoke to Lori over the comm. Had he done, or even paid attention to the name, it would sound familiar. Even Reegar's ship got news every now and then of different power players on the different planets.

It hurt that Quinn wouldn't go with him but after a moment of waiting for her, Tyros stepped off the ship. 
He saw her in an instant. His heart recognized her dark blue skin long before he did. "Anika." He stepped toward his wife, his hands held out. "I'm glad you met me here."

Lori kept talking for hours. She didn't miss a beat. She'd obviously read a lot about the turian culture. What she did miss was the fact that she was being watched, even as she closed down her station and headed to her apartment to get ready for a date with Tann.

Anika threw herself into Tyros' arms, holding him tightly before simply resting her forehead against his own. "They told me you were dead, my love. That the kett had take you." She added, her large eyes filled with joy at seeing her beloved again.
Quinn wasn't all that far away. She had kept to the shadows as she watched them, wanting to see the other woman's reaction. She truly wished she hadn't. After everything that her mother had done to her, this was what broke the young woman, heartbroken tears dripping down her cheeks.

Brutus was right there beside her as she walked to her apartment, quizzing her on the point of human beauty rituals. He made a point of telling her it was so shallow and meaningless, not like turian clan markings.

"They did. I died. But I was saved. You wouldn't believe the stories I could tell you." He returned her embrace but didn't attempt anything more. "I'm glad to find you've gone on without me."

"It's basically the same." Lori said as she poked out her tongue to apply her eyeshadow and mascara. "My mother taught me how to apply this...its like our clan markings. No one wears colors this way. Sparkle green to match the eyes. It's a Merryweather-Talos thing she said..." the azure haired girl told told him.

Anika was quick to shake her head. "Not gone on, simply... managed." She had seemed to struggle to find the right word. "I could never replace you, you know that. It was only ever you or no one, my love."

Brutus was clearly not buying this. "And someone would kill you, based on that colour?" He asked.

"What a silly thing to say. All the men followed you. You could have had a dozen drell. Anika...there is someone I want you to meet."

"What? No!" Lori looked at his reflection in her mirror with a horrified frown. ""Your shoes, maybe. But never your make up!"

"I don't want a dozen drell." Anika breathed, tracing a finger lightly against the ridges on her husband's cheek.

"Then it's not the same." Brutus replied with an uninterested shrug. "So... this marriage your going to be a part of, bet it pleases your father, huh?"

"Ana. You're not listening to me. I said I have someone you need to meet. She is...Quinn is my wife."

"Of course. When Tann came to ask for my hand he practically fell out of his chair. I didn't think he'd agree given the way things went over with Tann and the benefac...
"I've been friends with Tann since I was little but my father hated him. He called him a snake in the grass. He's not. He's just high strung...." She went on, picking at her dress.