Chapter Text
“You’d better not be lying to me Reyes,” her playful eyes glinted in the dim lighting, causing a grin to make its way across Reyes’ face.
“My dear, what kind of scoundrel do you think I am?” he said in mock-tones of hurt.
She laughed. “You’re the smuggler on a pirate port, not me.”
“Ha. That’s where you’re wrong my dear woman. Not just a smuggler. One day, I’ll be running this show.”
“King of Kadara huh? You’ll need a big shiny crown.” Monique teased.
“Don’t forget the sceptre. Aha! This is what I’ve been looking for.”
“Whiskey? You dragged me out to gate-crash a party for whiskey?”
“This is not just whiskey, it is the true nectar of the gods! It is over –”
“Yawwwwwn.” Monique said loudly. “Gate-crashing is usually more fun Reyes.”
Reyes’ eyes turned darker as he slowly smirked.
“I can certainly deliver. This party was simply phase one of our night.”
“And phase two?”
“Well – shit, someone’s coming! We need a distraction!”
Monique looked behind her, then turned and dragged Reyes’ face down to hers. He certainly wasn’t complaining about her distraction methods.
“You lied to me.”
Her eyes were glassy with unshed tears threatening to spill as she stared up at him. Daggers tore at his heart, even as he forced himself to keep his gaze locked with hers and his aloof grin on his face. That betrayed expression was something he never wanted to bring to her beautiful face, but he knew it would end like this.
“Not about everything.” He said. “You already know who I really am.”
“No.” Monique said quietly. “I don’t know who you are at all.”
That hurt him more than he ever thought it would. Her eyes, like liquid gold, turned hard as her expression darkened. It was an expression he had seen before, but never directed at him. Usually such a look was reserved for the enemy on the battlefield, not him. Never him. He tore his eyes away, forcing himself to focus on Sloane.
“This place is beautiful.” Monique murmured. “It’s so hard to see over the scumbags and liars, but up here it’s like that doesn’t exist.”
“It’s gorgeous. I sometimes forget. This is my city, and one day it will be my port.”
“Sure, easy. You’ll just have to get passed the Outcasts and the Collective.”
Reyes grinned. “It’s easy to stage a takeover when two sides are shooting at each other, yes?”
“Can’t argue with that.” Monique chuckled. “So what’s your plans for the future oh King of Kadara?”
“Well…”
Reyes looped an arm around Monique’s waist, pulling her to rest comfortably against him. He rested his cheek against her head, taking in the scent of her hair.
“Every King needs a Queen, no?”
A lazy smile stretched over Monique’s face.
Monique stepped back as he and Sloane circled each other, not even bothering to reach for her pistol. Reyes saw her eyes move to the sniper behind him – SAM must have let her know of his position, was she going to tell Sloane? For a moment Reyes almost hesitated. He hadn’t planned this far ahead, he had no idea if Monique would take this opportunity to side with Sloane. And why not? Why would she not wish to take her revenge on him, why would she trust him now?
But the sniper hits its mark, and Monique did nothing to stop it. She glanced down sadly at Sloane’s body, and crossed her arms over her chest.
“I gave her my word I’d watch her back.”
“Technically that was her front.”
Monique shot a glare at Reyes which wiped the grin off his face. He cleared his throat, somewhat awkwardly.
“She didn’t deserve your word Ryder. She would not have honoured anything you would have done for her.”
“That’s not the point Reyes. I gave her my word!” Monique snapped. “I should have done something, instead of standing by and watching her get killed in cold blood.”
“So why didn’t you?” Reyes asked, curiousity getting the better of him.
“We both know why.” Monique stalked up to him, and for the first time since meeting the small spitfire Pathfinder, Reyes was actually afraid of her.
Her face was angry, her hands clenched into fists that were vibrating with biotic power. She trembled with rage as she got within a few inches of his face to glare him down. If she wanted to, she had the capacity to end him here and now, and Reyes knew that. Monique was usually easy to read for Reyes – she was kind and open, and just that perfect level of depraved, she had that wild side that Reyes loved about her – but the emotions flickering through her face now were going too fast for him to see.
“You knew she’d bring me here. You knew I wouldn’t save her from your sniper, because if I did, I would have had to kill you. And there’s no way I could do that.” Her voice broke, along with Reyes’ heart.
Angry tears welled up in her golden eyes again, and her bottom lip wobbled as she struggled to keep her composure. She didn’t want to cry, he could see that. She didn’t want to break down in front of him, but she was crumbling fast.
“I guess you got everything you wanted didn’t you?”
She turned away from him, and that’s when he saw the tears spill from her eyes. Reyes had never seen Monique cry before.
“Reyes is a better man than you think.” Monique death-glared the woman in front of her, already disliking everything about her.
Zita laughed. “Oh honey, how wrong you are. You don’t even know, do you? Oh well, you will in time.”
“You leave her out of this!” Reyes was quick to step in front of Monique, as though he was shielding her from whatever Zita had to say.
Monique felt butterflies flutter in her stomach at the action, and she smiled minutely at Reyes’ back, her heart squeezing in adoration, though the feeling was fleeting was Zita laughed again. Ugh, could she just kill her already?
“My Reyes. You must really like this one huh?”
“That’s enough out of you, time to die now.” Monique drew her pistol and shot our Zita’s shields over Reyes’ shoulder. “You talk too much anyway. If you’re going to monologue at least make it interesting.”
“I agree!” Reyes grinned.
Zita disappeared from Monique’s sight soon after the battle began, and her reinforcements poured into the room. Her squad dealt with the intruders at the door, while Monique hurried up the stairs to where Reyes had gone, hoping to find Zita.
“Reyes behind you!” Monique cried, spotting Zita before he had.
With a jet of biotic energy, Monique put herself between Reyes and Zita, taking the omni-blade to the shoulder, wincing as it sunk deep into her skin through her armour. Zita’s smug grin was soon replaced with a grimace of agony as Monique shoved her own omni-blade straight through her chest.
With a thud she hit the ground, and Monique dropped her pistol to press a hand against her bleeding shoulder.
“Monique!” Reyes was down by her side in an instant, prying her hands from her shoulder to assess the damage.
“I’m alright. It’s okay Reyes. SAM?”
“I am patching up your wound Pathfinder. One moment.”
“I’ll need to get new shoulder pads.” Monique tutted.
She noticed that Reyes was still beside her, still staring down at her wound. She looked up in concern.
“Reyes?”
“You put yourself between her and me.” Reyes said quietly. “You threw yourself into danger, know you’d get hurt.”
“I didn’t want you getting hurt Reyes.” Monique said simply.
Reyes looked up at her. She smiled, and reached over to hold his hand.
“I’m alright. A scratch like that is nothing. If someone really wants to get to you, they’re going to have to find a more creative way than that, because they’re not getting through me easily.”
Reyes smiled softly. “Like a guardian angel. Well if that’s how this will be, I better up my game of keeping you safe. I can’t have you always throwing yourself into peril for me.”
“It’s not a competition Reyes.” Monique laughed.
“Of course not. But someone has to protect my angel while she’s busy protecting everyone else yes?”
“N-No – Monique – my angel no, do not cry...”
This is not how he thought this would go. If one could even prepare for these things that is. Out of all the things he thought Monique might do, it wasn’t this. He pulled her back into his chest, like he’d done so many times. Mid-hiccup, Monique found herself wrapped up in the warmth of Reyes Vidal. She almost sighed in contentment, but the idea of him comforting her just made her want to cry more.
“Angels shouldn’t cry Monique. Please don’t cry.” He murmured. “That last thing I would ever want to do is make you cry.”
“Should have thought of that before you lied to me.” Monique whispered.
She was tempted to stay in his arms and let him explain, let him smooth talk his way out of this, let him convince her it wasn’t what she thought. She wanted to stay there and let herself forgive and forget, but how could she trust a single word he was going to say?
With a sudden surge of biotics, she pushed herself away from him, and whirled on her heel, forcing herself to look him in the eye.
“Why didn’t you trust me?” she demanded.
“It was never a matter of trust. I…I liked the way you looked at me. I was afraid that would change.”
Her eyes widened at his sincere answer.
She might have understood if he’d just told her. If he hadn’t forged their relationship based on complete lies. Who was Reyes Vidal, really? Did she even know? Did anyone? What else would he feel so comfortable lying about if his entire identity was an easy lie to him? She could have understood. She could have trusted him with anything. They could have been happy. She could have loved him.
“You’re not the man I thought you were.”
“I wanted to be.”
Reyes’ voice was so soft and sad it broke Monique’s heart. She choked on a sob.
“I loved you Reyes.” She said tearfully.
He looked up at her, eyes begging, pleading. She wanted to badly to answer that plea. She wanted his arms around her. She wanted his lips on her, whispering words of assurance to her. She wanted to trust him so badly. She wanted to let herself love him.
“But the Reyes I loved was a lie, wasn’t it? A man who respected me enough not to lie to me. A man who cared about me as much as I cared about him. A better man that doesn’t exist.”
“Monique –”
“Goodbye Reyes.”
Turning on her heel she marched away, letting her tears fall freely as she all but ran from the cave. Using her jump-jets she scaled the cliff face outside, and disappeared from sight. Reyes shut his eyes, letting out a long, slow breath.
He prided himself on not shedding a single tear until he got back to his room in Tartarus.