//------------------------------// // Krogan's advice // Story: Mass Effect: Element of Kindness // by CommanderApplejack //------------------------------// Chapter 40 Krogan's advice Go to Wrex 58% Fluttershy stood in the elevator down to the garage. Wrex was already used to hanging around there, and now that Ashley was gone he had taken it upon himself to maintain the armory. Fluttershy decided she wanted to speak to the krogan because he had just thrown away a cure to the genophage, a decision that might turn out to be fatal to his species in the long run. The fact that he listened to her and Shepard and helped destroy the facility was still baffling to the pegasus but showed Wrex’s dedication to the cause. He might act as if he were just tagging along, yet in truth he seemed to want to take Saren out just as badly as anyone else on the ship. The elevator stopped and, as the pegasus had predicted, Wrex was standing at the armory, cleaning his shotgun. “Hello Wrex, do you have time?” Fluttershy asked the working krogan who glanced down at her. “Sure. Mind if I keep working while you talk?” he replied as he started reassembling the shotgun. Fluttershy shook her head. “No, I don’t mind,” she told him before asking him about what she really wanted to know, “So Virmire…” “Yeah, what about it? We went there, blew up the base, and got out alive. I’m pretty sure that’s mission accomplished.” He then shrugged as he finished assembling a part of the shotgun. “And the cure for the genophage?” Fluttershy asked, bewildered as she hadn’t expected the nonchalant reply. "Better to be rid of it and find our own cure. Saren probably made it so that everyone who took that cure would fall under his influence, and I believe it was you who suggested that," Wrex noted. Fluttershy blushed in self-conscious embarrassment at the reminder. The krogan continued before Fluttershy could say anything else. “Look, as of this moment my species is not even worth saving.” The pegasus was taken aback by this opinion. Wrex had nearly gotten into a fight with Shepard over this topic, and now he was dismissing his entire race? “What?! Why is that!” “Because we stand for nothing. Krogans used to have a warrior culture that once valued courage, strength, and honor, now we only find more reasons to kill each other. Anything worth saving was lost long ago, it just took me a while to figure that out,” he growled as he finished reassembling his shotgun. Fluttershy only stared blankly at the krogan, thinking of ways to get through to the krogan as talking obviously wasn’t working. Does Fluttershy think up a way to get through to Wrex? Yes Is her method unconventional? Critical yes Fluttershy flew up and raised her hoof to let it crash down onto the krogan’s head. It wasn’t a hard impact by any means as the shy pegasus wasn’t strong enough to truly hurt Wrex, but the extremely unexpected action made the krogan flinch backwards. “Now you listen closely. Your species might be a bit violent, but that’s through no fault of your own! You evolved on a planet where if you weren’t as aggressive you are you would have been driven to extinction. Your species needs a good leader to keep them in line. If that’s the case, that warrior culture can be revived and give the krogan some purpose again,” Fluttershy lectured. “No life is truly without value. Even among ponies we have bad apples who want to hurt others, but most of the time they just need someone to look after them.” “Good luck finding a krogan like that,” Wrex huffed in dismissal. “But I see you have troubles of your own you are trying very hard to hide.” Fluttershy frowned at Wrex’s observation and fluttered back to the deck. Is it that obvious? Fluttershy felt tears forming in the corners of her eyes as the images of last mission flashed through her mind “I-I… there was so m-much blood, and I k-killed those krogan a-and then Ashley…” “Kid, stop it,” Wrex said as he crouched down and placed his hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder, “What’s done is done. They made their choice, you made yours. No point thinking back on that now. They would have happily killed you and probably eaten you after if given half the chance.” Fluttershy felt her stomach churn at the blunt way Wrex had shot down her concerns, though it made sense that he’d have less trouble getting to the point due to his krogan heritage. “How do you do it?” “Point my shotgun and pull the trigger,” Wrex blankly replied, but after seeing the shocked expression Fluttershy shot at him, he sighed and elaborated. “Look, my kind doesn’t have any problems with killing. It’s just the way of survival for us. You shouldn’t let stuff like that get to you kid, because in the long run you probably saved a whole lot of others by helping to blow up that facility. As for the human female, she chose her own death. That’s something a fellow warrior can respect.” Fluttershy weakly nodded as Wrex stood back up and stored the shotgun into his weapons locker. “Good. Now go get some sleep. You need to be fresh when we reach Ilos.” After wiping the tears from her eyes, Fluttershy turned around and quietly headed for the elevator. She had a lot of new topics to think about. As she walked past the mess, she noticed Garrus talking to Tali, wearing a set of regular clothes instead of his signature blue armor. Fluttershy couldn’t help but stare at the turian as he leaned on the large central table, her heart pounding in her chest. The pegasus was snapped out of her near trance by a light tap on her shoulder, jumping around as she let out a startled yelp. Looking up, Fluttershy found a smiling doctor Chakwas looking down at her. “You should let him know, if it really is what you want,” Chakwas softly told the pegasus to make sure neither the quarian nor turian heard her. Fluttershy swallowed nervously as she looked between Chakwas and Garrus. Should I really tell him? What if he rejects me? Would he never want to see me again? 1. Confess to Garrus,maybe? 2. Go sleep in the medbay. He has enough to worry about. 3. He wouldn’t want to be with me anyway. It’s better to give up now. [Vote link]