Gunshot Lullaby [Mass Effect]
Title: Gunshot Lullaby
Characters/Pairings: Tali'Zorah vas Normandy
Rating: G
Warning: Mild violence
Prompt: Gunshots. Original post here.
Gunshot Lullaby
It’s just a scratch, he says.
But nothing is just a scratch. Not for her.
Tali can see the dust in the air, and smoke curling around buildings. The architecture is alien and familiar all at once (she remembers that tower, the one with the clock on it, from one of the old vids she’d snuck from Shepard’s cabin). Beautiful, she thinks. Or at least it must have been. She’d always wanted to visit Earth after seeing those, but...but not like this.
She looks down at her hand, sees a faint streak of blood. Tries to slow her breathing but it just keeps getting faster. Feels guilt, heavy in her chest, because Shepard wasn’t scared on Rannoch, and Tali shouldn’t be scared here on Earth. Have to be strong, always.
Except she’s not, not right now.
(It’s just a scratch, he says, but there's blood and--)
No, right now? She’s scared.
Then there’s the crack of a rifle next to her, precise and efficient. The sound of impact comes next, and along with it the crack of bone and the sickening thunk and splatter of flesh.
She sighs in relief.
Then she has to laugh (though it's barely more than a huff of breath, honestly), because if anyone had told her as a child that gunfire and sounds of death would calm her down, she would have called them crazy.
But it does, even if it’s just a little. And that hand on her shoulder, giving a light squeeze before it snaps back to reload?
Yeah, that helps too.