A Slave... Or A Pet
A SLAVE: The Fields of Eternity
She fell asleep again at some point. When she awoke, the dream she'd had still lingered in her mind. A pleasant dream, of her and Shepard together. Their collars removed, and their enemies defeated.
It hurt all the more, knowing that it was a dream that would never come true.
The door to their cell was still open. And still no sign of her fellow captives. There was a peculiar quiet in the air. No sounds of boots outside the room, none of the guards anywhere. Liara considered getting up and leaving the room, exploring the ship to see if she could find where everyone had gone.
But just as the notion entered her mind, the vidscreen on the wall flickered and glowed. The display was filled with the grinning face of Bowers.
"Testing, testing? Are you receiving?" Bowers asked, his voice filled with that familiar, sadistic glee. "Hey, there, babe. Not too long to go now. Word from the Broker is that we'll be reaching the facility in about 12 hours." Staring into the camera, Bowers let out a low, lewd groan. "Oh, are you ready for it, baby? You ready for me and my men to put the meat to ya? It's gonna be so much fun. Won't be long now until you're begging for it, just like your slut friends."
Liara stared at the screen dispassionately. As Bowers shifted around in the camera's view, Liara could make out someone behind him. She wondered if it was Shepard, but from where Bowers was standing, Liara could only make out the very edges of the person's form.
"But you know something, babe? I gotta make a confession to you," Bowers said, acting like some sort of demented showman as he spread his hands towards the camera in a feigned motion of guilt. "See, even when I was a kid, I was always the type who wanted to open his Christmas presents early. And I've been so anxious to get a piece of some hot asari tail that... well, I cheated."
Bowers stepped aside from the camera's view, and the person behind him was revealed.
They had stripped her naked, and she knelt shivering on the floor of the empty room, her hands secured behind her back. From the look of the bruises on her face, the swelling around her left eye that left it completely shut, she had not been treated kindly over the past few hours. The rest of her nude body was similarly abused, dark welts spotting her skin and gashes trickling purple blood.
Delaana stared at the floor, slightly rocking back and forth on her knees, all of her bravado and power drained away from her. Stepping confidently up to his once feared commander, Bowers stared down at her with naked contempt.
"We found this traitorous bitch heading towards your cell, with some weapons and a suit of body armor in a bag," Bowers spoke into the camera. "From all the grenades and spare heat sinks she had, I think she was hoping that you and her were going to go to war against the Broker." He barked out an incredulous laugh. "Don't know what kind of universe she thought she was living in, that you two would actually be able to take all the rest of us out, but I think you can see how that worked out for her."
The camera zoomed in on Delaana's face, and Liara saw that her lips were moving. Liara moved in close to the speaker, trying to hear the words coming out of Delaana's mouth.
"...I sit and watch the meadows sway, like lovers dancing through the night. Two petals caught upon the wind, drift far away and out of sight. The sun..."
It was "The Fields of Eternity." Delaana spoke the words to the poem quietly and rapidly, like a mantra. Her one eye not hidden behind swollen flesh was pointed towards the floor, but wasn't focused on any spot in particular. Whatever had happened to her over the past few hours, it had reduced the once confident asari warrior into a dazed, almost catatonic wreck.
As the camera's view widened back out, Liara could see that Bowers was in the company of the rest of the mercenary band. The men stood on the edges of the room, staring down at the defeated Delaana with scornful gazes.
"So, like I said, I got impatient for some sweet asari pussy. And so did the rest of the boys," Bowers raised his voice to the rest of the room. "Didn't we, fellas?"
The rest of the room let out raucous laughs, while Delaana shuddered in the midst of them.
Delaana didn't seem to notice that Bowers was even there. She remained staring at the ground, her lips moving faster as she feverishly recited the words of her favorite poem.
"I told her," Bowers turned his attention back to the camera, "that we were either going to do what we wanted to her... or that we'd take it out on her precious Liara instead. After that, the bitch got oh-so-obedient." He made an exaggerated, stupid expression and opened his eyes wide. "D'aw, ain't love grand?"
Standing up straight again, Bowers let out an exaggerated sigh. "But I think we've had our fun with the traitorous bitch. And while the Broker and I considered sticking a collar on her and letting her join the rest of you slave bitches... well, I hate to be shallow, but look at this face." He patted the back of his hand against Delaana's bruised and beaten cheek, and the asari flinched in pain. "Shit, I wouldn't fuck her with the Illusive Man's dick. And if she ain't good for fucking..."
Reaching down to his hip, Bowers pulled out a pistol, pivoting it down at an angle towards Delaana's head. "Then why keep her around, you know?"
Even with death staring her in the face, Delaana didn't flinch. "...nights I still dream of that place. Where the green stretches ever onward, forward into eternity's joy." she finished the poem and fell silent.
"I'll give you a minute, if you have any last words for your lovebird other than a bunch of babbling," Bowers said, his hand steady as he aimed the gun down at Delaana.
Delaana blinked, and for a moment, she seemed to return to sanity. She looked up into the camera, stared for just a moment... and then smiled. Even with her face in its battered state, Liara couldn't help but notice how beautiful it made her look. There wasn't a trace of fear in her eyes; they were completely peaceful.
"It's okay, Liara," she whispered, as a tear fell from her one good eye. "It's okay. I... I saw..."
The shot rang out, and a spray of purple fluids splashed against the floor, joined soon after by Delaana's body as she recoiled from the shot and fell sideways. The camera followed her fall down to the ground, and captured her face as she hit the floor.
Even in death, the peaceful smile remained.
Bowers stood over Delaana's corpse, an expression of sick glee on his face. Looking at the camera, he shrugged. "Oops. Guess my finger slipped. Sorry about that." Turning to the men in the room, he made a gesture. "Clean up this mess, men. I've got preparations to go over with the Broker for our arrival at the facility."
As Liara watched the vidscreen, watched the mercenaries grab Delaana's limp body by the arms and drag her out of the room, she observed with a detached curiosity how little it had all affected her. Strange. Seeing the last chance she had for escape die... the last sane, friendly face she had left in her life get reduced to a bloody mess... it should have made her angry. Or leave her despondent, realizing that once again, she was responsible for the suffering and death of someone else. Or make her feel some sort of emotion over what had just happened.
But she felt nothing. Absolutely nothing at all.