54 – Back Home (2)

HOURS LATER

'' So, almost all members of your species lives inside a ship?... Is it good?'' Valery asked Tali after she learned that information.

Right now, it was just after dinner and everyone in the house was in the living room talking. Tali was the 'unlucky' one to be the first one to be questioned about life.

Tali didn't hesitate to nod, '' Well, yes. It's very cramped, but we can manage.'' She then told stories of her lifestyle.

Samael was watching that with a smile on his face. Oh, how he dreamed of a life where this was normal. But no, this was one of the first times in many cycles he had the luxury of having this kind of scene, with his mom and two of his wives. Oh, and both AIs too.

He was caught up in the moment, gazing at both with love-filled eyes.

Liara, who was also listening to Tali's story, suddenly looked at Samael. Almost like fate intended, Samael was looking at her too, with a gaze full of love.

This time, however, Liara was aware of what that gaze meant after a few talks with Miranda and Jack. Both girls were... very open about romantic stuff.

So, she recognized the look on his face as 'love'. The problem was the gaze was directed at her and Tali. That confused the young Asari, as romantics was not her area of expertise.

Liara turned her gaze away, confusion and curiosity on why he looked at both like that taking her attention.

While that was happening, Tali ended her story, '' Yeah, so we are forced to leave so as to not let inbreeding take place.''

Valery was learning a lot today. As she lived most of her life on Earth, her knowledge of other species was limited, '' Fascinating.'' She then looked at Liara and started asking questions, '' Now, Liara, tell me how does it work for the Asari to have babies? I mean, you are an all-female species, right?''

Samael smiled at his mom, as she had no qualms about asking difficult questions to anyone. ' I guess I inherited that from her.'

Liara took her time to answer her, '' It's like this, our species had something called the meld -''

A few more hours passed and Valery finally realized it was late, '' Oh my, look at the hours. You all must be tired from all that travel. Let's go to sleep, you guys can choose a room.''

'' Thank you.''

'' Goodnight.''

Tali and Liara said goodbye to Valery, as the woman went to her room. 

Both of them chose a room and went there. Liara noticed Samael was leaving the house and asked RR in a confused tone, '' Where is he going.''

RR and EDI were going to their room, but the android stopped and answered Liara in a somewhat sad tone, '' He is going to prepare.''

'' For what?''

'' For the Reapers.''

Tali, who was listening, asked, '' But, weren't they a decade or so away? Why would he do that and not sleep?''

RR looked at both with a strange gaze, '' You don't know, do you?''

'' Don't know what?''

'' About Samael's end goal.''

Tali and Liara stopped to think about it. RR was right, the only thing they knew about Samael was the gossip of the Crew and the things he told them at their date a few weeks ago.

So, they asked, '' Tell us more.''

Unbeknownst to them, they were getting interested in Samael more and more with each passing day.

RR then told both, as if reminiscing a long past, '' Samael supposedly found a Prothean Beacon at a young age, here on Earth, before making me. He was plagued by the vision of destruction, and death, that the Beacon showed him. It molded him into what he is today, a person plagued with knowledge of a future he could not change.''

'' So he changed himself. He only focused on trying to decipher the Beacon message and after a long time, he did. But, the future was worse than he thought. After learning about the Reapers and what they could do, he focused his entire life on preventing their success.''

'' He had no friends in that phase of his life, except one, and he spent most of his time studying, making tools, all to stop the Reapers. That was how I was born, and named Reaper's Reaper.''

For the first time since its creation, RR told others the meaning of her name.

Tali and Lira were shocked but RR continued, '' Can you imagine, you as a kid, learning about the future destruction of the galaxy, and the desperation and confusing feeling he must have felt?''

'' Even after he made LD, all his focus was on how to better prepare. He still didn't have time for a relationship or anything like that.'' RR then decides to play wingman, '' But, I noticed something changed when both of you arrived at the crew.''

'' What do you mean?'' Tali still didn't realize Samael was interested in her.

'' It means he views us both in a romantic manner. '' Liara said to the confused Quarian.

'' Wait, what?'' Tali looked at RR, who nodded. '' But, I'm a quarian...''

RR kind of snorted at that notion, '' He doesn't care about that. Samael is one of a kind, so if you ever get in a relationship with him and break his heart...''

The AI said nothing more but Tali and Liara gulped.

'' ... Can you lead us to where he went?'' Liara asked, her face pensive.

'' Sure. Follow me.'' RR then led the way, as Tali and Liara followed her. EDI stayed behind because she wanted to.

The trio left Valery's house and walked through the slums unperturbed. This was Samael's turf just as much as it was Tarzan's, so anyone who came out of that house was automatically protected.

Soon, the trio arrived at the base they had in the slums, the same where Samael trained LD soldiers. As it was night, everything was dark, with everyone sleeping.

RR navigated the place with ease, as she knew everything about the place. When she arrived close to Samael's office, she stopped and looked back, '' Don't make much noise.''

Tali and Liara nodded as RR opened a small gap in the room. There, Samael was shirtless, working out and at the same time, he was writing something in a paper.

The trio could not see the contents but it must have been important, as Samael didn't even notice them. But, they could watch Samael work out.

And, at least to one of them, it was a nice scene. Samael stood at 1,90 meters, had good muscle, dark hair, and brown eyes that looked like they could read you in an instant. He was a handsome person by all accounts.

Tali and Liara looked at that scene with worry and concern, as it was already very late in the night, but he showed no signs of stopping what he was doing.

'' ... Does he do this every night?''

'' No.'' Just as Liara and Tali were relieved, RR continued, '' This is tame compared to before.''

'' My guess is that his time at the SSV Phoenix must have changed him quite a bit. Sometimes, he would go a day or two without eating and I would find him passed out on the ground out of exhaustion.''

That was a side no one except RR, who was with him almost from the beginning, knew about Samael. All they saw was the successful man on the outside, but they never saw what he did to get there and to prepare for the Reapers.

'' Now, let's return home.''

Tali and Liara said nothing more to RR and followed the AI back home. Their feeling for the human was consolidating quite a bit thanks to what they learned about him.

It also helped the way he treated both with nothing but respect.

--

WITH SAMAEL

He was in his office, training, and making plans. By all means, the space trip was a resounding success. He put a lot of things into motion but there's still a lot to do.

The paper he had at hand was a list of things he should do. He crossed a lot of them already, such as making the Genophage cure, the quarian pill, etc.

But there's still a lot, like the following: Resolve the conflict between the Geth and The Quarians;

Find and free the Rachni Queen;

Make Legion the leader of the Geth;

Go to Thessia to honor the deal with Tevos;

Wipe out the Illusive Man personality;

Wait for Shepard's files, so she can become a human spectre;

Romance Shepard, Tali, and Liara;

Find someone or something that would help with my broken mind;

Deal with the Reapers once and for all;

Make sure Project Andromeda was on track and recruit everyone who should be recruited;

Make Anderson a Councilor;

Create the Serum and take it;

Help Wrex from the Shadow, so he could become the Krogan emperor;

Make sure people like Kasumi, Samara, and Thane are okay. Help them from the shadows if necessary;

Make sure Garrus joins the crew down the line;

Samael sighed seeing what he still had to do. Right now, he just wanted to rest but he knew he could not. Each second he spends preparing for war is another second won in his books.

It meant he could not be free as much as he wanted, but it was a price he had to deal with. He just wanted to be in bed with Shepard, Tali, and Liara, as they told him about their days.

' How I miss those times... But, no rest for the wicked.'

Just then, Samael remembered something, ' I forgot to send a message to the 3 of them.' 

He was talking about the reporters. He had sent the files containing the proof of the existence of slavers and evil organizations within the Alliance System. He also knew they would be in danger if they posted those files without protection.

So, he sent another message to the three of them, '' If you fear for your life, look for Officer Garrus Vakarian at C-Sec and explain the situation. He will protect you.'' 

With that out of the way, Samael returned to training.

Time continued to pass, with Samael thinking about the future and possible outcomes, and finally, sleep came like a wave and Samael lost to it.

--

NEXT DAY

Samael immediately noticed Liara and Tali looking at him almost like they did in past cycles when they got together. ' What happened?'

He figured something must have happened and looked at RR. The Ai noticed that look and nodded at Samael.

Samael looked at RR with pride in his eyes. His AI was an amazing AI.

He would take advantage of this newfound interest they had in him to pursue both more aggressively.

'' Good morning, mom.'' Samael kissed his mom's forehead while she was in the living room, '' Girls. How was your first night in my humble home?''

Tali smiled at Samael, '' It was good, way better than the cramped Migrant Fleet.''

Liara nodded at that affirmation, '' It was cozy.''

Valery chimed in, '' How do you guys plan on spending the day? I mean, you still haven't told me why you guys are on Earth.''

Samael paused. Yesterday was a busy day, with them arriving on Earth, so he did not explain things to Valery. It was time now.

'' Mom, what I'm about to tell you it's top secret. Like, really. You can't say this to anyone else, at least not now.''

Vallery could sense the seriousness of the situation, '' OK. Hit me with it.''

So, for 10 minutes or so, Samael explained the whole Reapers situation to his mom.

When Vallery heard about that, she stumbled a bit, '' I have to sit down for a bit.''

Liara helped her sit down while Tali went to grab her a cup of water. Samael approached his mom and took her hand, '' Mom.''

No reaction.

'' MOM!''

That shout brought her back to reality, '' What is it?''

'' We can win.''

No more words were said. The conviction of that statement shocked Valery a little. It was like he wasn't even a tiny bit afraid. That made her ashamed as his mom.

' I can't delve much into this. Besides, there's nothing much I can do but trust him.'

'' Here.'' Tali gave her the water.

'' Thank you, dear.'' Valery gulped down the water and calmed down a bit. She looked at Samael, '' ... I trust you, my love. Just, please, don't do anything reckless.''

Samael patted his chest, '' Of course, I'll not be reckless! When was I?''

RR suddenly said, '' When you fought 45 times in a row in Omega, when you infiltrated Cerberus alone and killed the head, when you fought a Krogan bare-''

'' OK, ok! Stop.'' Samael could see the light leave Valery's eyes as RR spoke the things he did, so he stopped his AI. Then he turned to his mom once more, '' Also ... I have a planet.''

'' ... WHAT!''

'' Not only that, I want you alongside a few others to move there in a few weeks.''

While the LD headquarters were still at the beginning stages of being built, the facilities for the Prothean and the LD army were still there. So, he wanted at least the family of those who lived here in the slums, to go to the planet, to live there. His mother included.

Valery spaced out once more. It was too much information to take in , in so little time.

Samael knew she reached her limit, so he said, '' Think about it for some time. We will train for a bit, then we will come back.'' He slowly backed away from his mom.

Samael then said to Liara and Tali, '' Let's go.''

'' Where?''

'' To train. I made you both a promise to train you to be the best. It's time to keep that promise.''

Also, that was an excuse to train their bodies, because as of now, if they took the Serum he was about to create, they would literally explode.

The duo had no reason to say no, so they put on their training clothes and left the house. Before leaving though, Samael said to RR and EDI, '' Make sure mom is okay.''

'' Leave it to us.''

So, the trio left the house and went to the base to train. As this was morning, it was crowded, as it was literally the place where LD personnel were trained.

Samael greeted those he passed and soon enough, the trio arrived at the training area. There Veronica was fighting John.

' Ohhhh. They both grew a lot.'

Veronica was trained by Samael since young and John recently joined in the sessions. So, the experience was on the girl's side and it was clear she was winning.

Tali and Liara watched the scene with fervor, as they also wanted to fight like that.

After 5 minutes, John lost and Veronica smiled at him,'' It was a good match.''

John groaned a bit, '' I need to train more.''

'' Not really, you just need a little more calm. You had a few chances, but you wasted it.'' Samael interjected as he gave some advice.

Veronica brightened up when she saw Samael, '' What are you doing here?''

Samael motioned to Liara and Tali, '' From today on, those 2 will join us in training.''

John's fighting spirit reignited, as he finally wasn't going to be the newbie one. Veronica also had no problems, '' Welcome aboard... And good luck.''

Liara and Tali were confused as to why she said that last part but before they could react, they heard Samael say, '' OK, introductions were over. Let's get started.''

GROAN

Veronica and John groaned at the same time as they got into a fight position. Tali and Liara did the same but they had no idea why.

'' Why are you guys doing that?'' Liara asked while looking unsure about the whole thing.

Veronica said with a grinding voice, '' You see, Samael's training is effective but the way he goes about it... He says the best way to learn is to experience the move by feeling them.''

Liara paused. It meant they would get beaten, '' But, we would not just stay still and get hit, right? I mean we should fight back.''

Veronica nodded, '' We could, but do you remember the first time you saw him?''

Liara sweated (?) as she remembered the scene. Samael had won the 40+ fight in a row and faced Wrex and Javik. 

Tali also remembered it and the Quarian wasn't so sure about the training anymore.

But Samael didn't care about that, '' Ready or not, here I come!''

The training of one of the most powerful Asari and Quarian that ever lived started like that, but that is a story for another time.