DreamWalker

It’s been 84 years but finally it’s here!

29.“It must be hard with your sense ofdirection, never being able to find your way to a decent pickup line.”

 Reyes took another sip of his whiskey and nonchalantly checked the timeon his omni-tool. Scott was half an hour late to their meeting in Tartarus.Rude, but not completely unheard of. The life of the Pathfinder was full ofsurprises, and because of that punctuality suffered sometimes. Usually, though,Scott called him to let him know that something came up and he couldn’t make iton time. Things happened, Reyes knew that better than most, so he wasn’tworried in the least, just relaxing and enjoying his drink.

Another half an hour later, he still wasn’t alarmed. Not at all.Habitually checking the hour and his messages was just a way to pass the time,nothing more. Reyes finished his whiskey, but didn’t order another one,preferring to have a clear head. Just in case. His fingers tapped on the tableas he wondered what Scott was up to. After yet another half an hour hecontacted some of his people to confirm that the Tempest was still docked atthe landing zone. Then he used his vast network of spies to find out whereScott could be. It turned out that someone had seen him briefly about two hoursago in the slums but after that POOF, nothing. The Pathfinder seemed to havedisappeared into thin air. Now Reyes was properly worried.

“What did you get yourself into?” he muttered, considering what heshould do now. If needed, he would move heaven and earth to find him. For now,maybe he should divert more members of the Collective to the slums and–

The signal of an incoming call broke his chain of thoughts. He lookedat his omni-tool and breathed out with relief when he saw the name of thecaller.

Scott.

Finally. Reyes laughed to himself to mask his embarrassment. Honestly,he fretted too much over Scott. He was the Pathfinder, for God’s sake, ofcourse he’d be fine. In higher spirits, Reyes pushed the button to answer.

“Ryder. Did your watch malfunction?” he asked in a light tone, withsome shades of flirting thrown in for good measure.

“Vidal.”

Reyes’blood ran cold. That voice didn’t belong to Scott. It was a woman’s voice, aturian perhaps? Full of smugness and a thinly veiled contempt.

Even though he wanted to scream and snarl at her, he kept his voicecalm, casual even. The Charlatan had balls of steel.

“You have me at the disadvantage here.”

“Ha, we’ll meet soon enough, face to face. Eight o’clock sharp, firstcave in the Sulphur Springs on the left. Come alone.”

Reyes narrowed his eyes, hatred burning in his veins, but his toneremained amiable.

“I don’t know, I already have plans for the evening.”

“Oh yeah?” she growled. His composure had obviously thrown heroff-balance. “Hope they didn’t include the Pathfinder because if you don’t showup he’s gonna bite the bullet. Same if you bring an entourage.”

Reyes grit his teeth. She was calling from Scott’s omni-tool, so hedidn’t doubt that she, whoever she was, had truly somehow gotten to Scott. Andit was pissing him off. But time for anger would come later.

“I want to hear his voice. Need to know that he’s unharmed.”

There were urgent whispers and some shuffling. After a moment thedevice seemed to have been transported back to its rightful owner.

“Reyes?”

Scott sounded a little groggy and hoarse, as if he had just woken up,but not in pain. Reyes was careful not to show his relief.

“Scott. Are you okay?”

“Yeah… They took me down with a sleeping dart, can you believe thisbullshit?”

It took all Reyes’ self-control not to burst out laughing. The lastremnants of worry disappeared from his heart. Scott wasn’t hurt, he was enraged.And that didn’t bode well for the bandits.

“I’m coming for you. Don’t do anything stupid until I get there.”

“Reyes, I don’t need­–“

“Promise me.”

A beat of a pause. Reyes could almost see the gears turning in Scott’shead.

“Okay. Fine. But you better show up soon. Or I’ll­–“

“That’s enough.” The woman’s voice cut him off brutally. Reyes thoughtthat he’d be happy to cut off her head. “And you better do show up,Vidal. Or else.”

The call ended.

Reyes sighed, shook his head, but then a smile appeared on his face.Well, this was going to be interesting. In more ways than the woman could evenimagine.

* * *

“Hello? I’m here!” Reyes yelled as he walked through the cave, makingas much noise as possible. He found himself in a huge, dimmed cavern,pretending not to see three thugs skulking in the shadows. He almost tsked atthem. What amateurs, honestly this was just pathetic. Criminals these days…

Suddenly, all the lights went on.

“Haha! You fell into my trap!” The turian woman stepped to the middleof the room, grinning triumphantly. She held an assault rifle in her hands,aiming it at him. Reyes blinked and sized her up without much interest. Hevaguely recognized her as a member of one of the gangs who tried to cut a sliceof his smuggling business. A small fry, no one significant.Certainly not someone with whom he should be concerned.

“It seems I did,” he said, bored. Sensing a person standing behind him, theirgun trained on his head, didn’t change that.

“Now I can take you out, Vidal, and take over your clients!” She reallyseemed very excited at the prospect.

Reyes ignored her. Instead he turned his attention to the metal cage onthe other side of the cavern, which housed the Pathfinder. Scott stood there,leaning against the bars. He looked unscathed. And irritated like a hornet onits bad day. He also wasn’t bothered that one of the goons was targeting himwith a pistol.

There was something deeply comforting in the fact that neither of themseemed to give a shit.

“You okay, babe?” Reyes asked.

Scott rubbed his temple. “Worst hangover ever and I haven’t even drunkanything.”

Reyes laughed. “We’re gonna rectify that later.”

The leader of the gang looked stunned, as if unable to believe thescene unfolding before her very eyes.

“There won’t be any later for you two!” she yelled, frustrated.

Reyes looked at her, a crooked smile adorning his face. And then letout a full-on laugh.

“You stupid fucks.”

That really, really confused the woman.

“I don’t think you realize how deep in shit you are,” she said, shakingthe gun as if to remind them of it.

“Oh no, I don’t think you realize that you’re pretty muchdrowning in it.”

A shadow of a doubt flickered over the thugs’ faces. The woman seemed alittle worried, but she pretended not to be.

“How so? There are more of us and we have guns.”

“Maybe. But you have made one grave mistake,” Reyes said, locking eyeswith Scott, who nodded slightly. “You kidnapped one of the best biotics inAndromeda.”

Just like that, Scott extended his hands, now alight with a purpleaura. With one he threw a shield around himself, the other he pointed at theleader. Her gun jumped up, crashing painfully against her mandibles. A secondlater and she was flying across the cavern, knocked back by a powerful forcepush.

Reyes didn’t waste time either. As soon as the gun hit the leader’sface, distracting everyone, he fell on one knee, his elbow aimed at the crotchof the guard behind him. When the man gurgled and bent forward, Reyes tore theassault rifle from his numb fingers, shot him down, and rolled to safety behinda crate. His bullets took the thugs out one by one, and if he couldn’t reachthem, Scott’s biotics did the trick. Soon there was no one left standing butthem.

Reyes put the gun against his arm and strutted towards the cage withScott in it.

“Hey, handsome. Come here often?”

“It must be hard with your sense of direction, never being able to findyour way to a decent pickup line.” Scott shook his head, a small smile playingon his lips. “And I’m offended, I’m the best biotic in Andromeda.” As ifto prove his words, he grabbed the door to his prison with his biotics andripped them from their hinges. He stepped out from captivity and graciouslyaccepted Reyes’ arms as they wrapped around his waist. “You know that I couldhave rescued myself. I’m no damsel in distress.”

“I know.” Reyes grinned. “I just wanted to see you kick ass. That’shot.”

They looked at each other and started to laugh.

“Am I the only one having flashbacks to a certain cave?” said Scott,smiling coyly, though the fire in his eyes was anything but chaste.

“No, you’re not…”

I received a question on my AO3 from a reader about what Azzan really looks like. Because I’ve failed to give an in-depth analysis so far, I want to do so now.

Basic Description: Height: 5′ 10″ Weight: 165 lbs. Build: Lean/Muscled Skin: Tanned Hair: Shoulder-Length, Black Eyes: Cerulean Blue

Azzan has a strong jaw and wide chin, with blue eyes approximately the color of cerulean. His lips are half-full, with the bottom lip larger than the top, and lined with a constant stubble; he has arching brows.

His black hair falls to about the line of his shoulders, and thus he always pulls it back into a half-ponytail to keep it out of his face. (Fenris loves to take the ponytail down.) With a strong browline and an aristocratic cut to his nose, his only real facial flaws are the odd line of his jaw to his chin and his high ears. (Fenris traces the jawline often, trying to find the exact structure of the bone.)

Though he looks fierce in these pictures, usually he looks like a teddy bear. The deep line of his brow couldn’t be fixed in DA:I without making him look permanently surprised. DA2 didn’t have as many options, so his eye color and brow color isn’t quite right, but this was what I’d settled with:

Rating: Mature Pairing: Scott/Reyes (Mass Effect: Andromeda) Warning: Language/Alcohol use/basically crack fic Word count: 586 This was written for @sybillspace. I do have a part 2 intended I just haven’t been able to finish it yet. ______

So there’s some comfort thinking about the months after taking Danarius manor where fenris, fed up with how it looks, slowly picks it apart. He hates the disarray Danarius left it in because it was Danarius’ disarray. So Fenris cleans it up really well, and maybe unlike how we see in the game he gets the roof repaired (with Hawke’s help, even?). And the floors, too. And he keeps it clean. Not magister approved clean; dust still settles, some cobwebs build up, some of the plaster chips and cracks. But it’s clean and it’s homey. Lived in.

He doesn’t need a lot, he doesn’t need all those rooms. But all that space? There’s something so gratifying about it all being his. So he fills it with whatever he wants. He’s still sort of reluctant on Things, Purchases, Stuff, but he fills it with friends, and with memories too? The card games he plays, and times Isabela shows up with alcohol and that beautiful infectious laugh, jokes always on the tip of her tongue. Cooking with Merrill and Sebastian, and Fenris grows to enjoy Dalish and Starkhavener food simply by how good he felt making it. He’ll never touch the fish pie, but Sebastian shows him how to make apple tarts and he likes those better. Aveline showing up to check on him, and they talk, and she’s easier to talk to when she’s relaxed by a fire and not tensed about work.

And moments with Hawke; moments like kissing or confessions, Hawke teaching him how to read and write, Hawke with a steady hand an unshakable patience. Hawke, Hawke, Hawke, who Fenris comes to adore, learns it’s okay to fall in love with. Hawke takes up a lot of space.

“Welcome back, again, Fenris”.