Lost Past

Author's Note: Hi! So this is the first Fan Fic I have written, so please have your comments be informative but gentle. In my past, I have written short stories for classes I was involved with, but this is the first for a large audience. Ok now that I have that down… I have played both Mass Effects and all the DLC and I often think to myself different scenarios I could throw original characters. (No this will not contain characters from other universes or any of that time-travel stuff so calm down). Bla, bla, bla legal stuff. I don't own Mass Effect titles yadda yadda. So any way onto the story. Rated M for violence, language, and some sexual stuff. I hope you enjoy…

Prologue:

He opened his eyes. The glow of the artificial light caused him to wince and bring his hand up. There were no solid colors, only shapes. He didn't remember where he was; in fact his entire life was a blur. He lifted his head up slowly, but an eruption of pain caused him to drop back down, with a quiet plop. He looked around as color returned to his vision. With his head on the ground he looked at where he was laying. He was in a pool of blood. His entire outfit had absorbed most of the blood, causing his white shirt to become a dark shade of red. He flinched in horror as he struggled to get up, more pain caused him to moan in pain.

Fighting through the pain he slowly drug himself to a wall, leaving a thick trail of blood behind him. Now in a sitting position, he surveyed the alley he woke up in. There were no one else around, leaving him to assume the blood had been his own. He reached into a pile of trash nearby for something so he could see his reflection. He let out a grunt of pain as he felt an icy blade sink into his finger. He griped the object, and pulled it out of the trash pile, producing a shattered piece of a mirror. He smiled as he looked into his own reflection. He looked like shit. His own blood matted his black hair down, his lip was fat along with multiple teeth knocked in, and his eye was black.

"Wonderful." He murmured to himself. With no recollection of the night, he began to search his pockets.

He produced a small slip of paper. The paper, as well, was covered in blood obscuring the bottom half. The only discernable words were at to top of the paper. It read:

Wards-

By Kenn's Salvage

20:22

He crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it aside as he pulled himself up. He winced as his vision blurred and his entire body went numb. He shook the sensation away and instinctively looked down at his wrist. He saw he was wearing a watch. He flicked the watch on and looked at the time. It read 19:59. He shook away most of the pain and hobbled down the twisting streets and alleyways to his destination.

He repeatedly tried to stop people to ask them for directions, but all of them passed him by with a "humph" or "filthy human". Dissuaded and tired, he sat down on a bench and buried his head in his hands.

"You look lost. Can I help you?" a female voice said.

Causing him to quickly look up from the bench. He saw a female figure clad in a worn black flight suit. Her body was trim, her hair was black, but her hazel eyes looked like they could see into his soul. Her eyes seemed so innocent, yet so knowing. Stumbling for words he could only say, "Yea."

"Well where are you headed?" the woman asked.

"Uh… Kenn's Salvage." He finally said, stumbling on the words.

"Oh well it is right there." The woman said pointing.

"Oh well, um… thanks." He said standing up and offering his hand.

The woman paused then shook it, "I'm Katherine, but I like to be called Kate"

"Nice to meet you Katherine." He said pausing.

"And your name?" Kate asked politely.

"If I knew, I'd tell you. Thank you for your help." He said releasing Kate's hand.

"Listen, I realize you're in a bad position. Here are 100 credits. You probably need them more than me." Kate said, placing them in his hand.

"I… I-" He said stumbling on the words.

"It's a gift. If you need any more help I work at the docks." Kate said, "Nice meeting you."

Sighing he walked towards Kenn's Salvage and rubbed his temples, searching for any memory or information on his past. He hit the wall and grunted in frustration when nothing came to him.

"Ah there you are!" a volus said waddling his way towards him. Its small round figure greatly resembled a pig, causing Him to smirk.

"What?" He said in confusion, as he stared at the volus in front of him.

"What happened to you last night?"

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" He said stepping back from the volus.

"I'm." it began then paused, "It's better this way. Here are your new documents, everything about your past life, and…" the volus trailed off, examining the human's form. "We need to get you fixed up. Follow me." It said waiving him forward."

He looked from the papers back to the volus. "Who is this?" he asked, greatly confused.

"It's you! Well the new you." The volus replied. "Get to studying it. I've set up multiple reconstruction surgeries for you; and by the way you look, you'll need them."

He looked down at the papers of information and read the first line:

"Name: Sean Mason"

Chapter 1

Sean walked quickly down the crowded streets of Omega. Sean stood at 5'11". He was trim for a 28 year old, but the baggy sweatshirt and casual pants he wore managed to cover his physical features. The volus he met, after awakening, had taken him to so many places to reconstruct his own body that the only a few miniscule things remained the same, well that and his green eyes. His hair was now a dirty blond color and his skin was nicely tanned. He bumped into a turian who yelled after him, pulling Sean back to reality. The turian yelled an angry comment as he walked by. Sean shrugged off the insult and walked on.

He never liked Omega. It was a cesspool of the Galaxy's rejects. What only seemed like mercenaries and failures lived here, unfortunately that meant him too. He had been busy working and saving up enough money for Kate and himself to move off this god-forsaken asteroid, unfortunately, than meant Sean joining some questionable businesses.

"I don't see the reason we're doing this." Kate said walking inside the Afterlife club. Kate and Sean quickly became friends after their first encounter. It first started with casual meetings, and then slowly evolved to them sharing an apartment. The two were basically inseparable.

"Don't see a reason?" Sean sputtered. "Come on, man, you got promoted! That should be any reason to celebrate!"

"Still. It's a promotion. We don't have to go to a club, much less the Afterlife."

"Don't wimp out on me." Sean said grabbing Kate by the shoulder and pulling her inside. The doors opened, bathing the two friends in pink light. The pulsating rhythms matched the blue asari dancers as the mass of sweating people churned on the dance floor. "Man, are we going to get wasted tonight!" Sean said pumping his fists into the air.

"I don't think that's good for me." Kate said as she began to step backward.

"Come on!" Sean said pulling on her once again. "You're just nervous. Hey you may get lucky tonight with one of the men!"

"You know I'm not ready for that yet." Kate snapped back.

Sean had almost forgot. As they grew close, Kate told Sean that a man assaulted her when she was younger. It left her deeply scared. Sean liked that. It made Kate different from the other women. He felt welcomed when she offered to share her apartment. It felt like he had become part of her family. Sean quickly changed topics. "Ok fine then you can dance with a guy." Sean said, continuing to drag the insistent Kate through the club.

"Whatever." Kate said sitting down at a table, giving in.

"That's the spirit!" Sean said waiving over a waitress. "Um… I'll have the strongest thing you got."

"I'll have something light." Kate said politely.

"No way, you're not!" Sean insisted. "Give her some shooters."

"But… but… ah never mind." Kate said, once again giving in.

The friends bantered on as the night progressed.

"I think I'm done for the night." Kate said, body swaying.

"Yea that's a good idea." Sean said, helping Kate to his feet.

"How- how can you still not be buzzed?" Kate belched, obviously drunk.

"Practice." Sean said as he helped his friend out of the club. "Pretty awesome night? Huh?"

"Yea, thanks for setting this up. You're an awesome friend." Kate said. She slowly leaned her head in close to Sean's. Their lips brushed for a second. Sean quickly pulled away. Taken back, Kate pulled away as well, saying, "I'm so sorry. Please don't be angry."

Sean looked up and flashed a quick smile, "Hey it's alright. It's probably that Krogan liquor taking effect.

"Yea," Kate said blushing and looking away, "it's probably that. Thanks for the celebration."

"Anytime. Now let's get home." Sean said hailing a cab. Sean's omni-tool beeped as it lit up. He pulled up the screen and began to read the message.

"What was that?" Kate said staring at Sean's omni-tool.

Frowning, Sean said, "I got a job to do. Sorry, looks like you'll be headed home alone. Can you do that?"

"Man, you always get these calls around this time." Kate said pouting.

"Well I thought tonight was different."

"Well it was." She said playfully hitting him on the arm.

Smiling, Sean gave the directions to the cab driver and helped Kate into the cab. "See ya." He said watching the cab fly off. Once the cab was out of sight, Sean slowly slipped into the alleyways, pulling his hood up and blending into the crowd.

Sean once again pulled up the message as he entered the Talon clan's space in the Omega wards. The Talon's were a small, all turian, gang that had been slowly growing inside of the Omega wards. Sean knew that any attack inside of their territory was considered an act of war. He needed to make sure his hit was perfectly clean. His employer wanted a batarian dead, Parak Balur. According to the report, he had constantly been selling tainted weapons to human companies. These tainted weapons would overheat and explode in the user's hands after three shots, causing multiple innocent deaths.

Sean didn't like his job much, but his expertise with weapons was his only marketable skill, and his job put enough money on the table to provide for both him and Kate. He felt he owed Kate that much. Kate had saved him multiple times as he restarted his life, quickly becoming a friend. When he found Kate lived in squalor he instantly pooled what he had together and rented an apartment for the both of them. The apartment was expensive, which lead to Sean starting up his job as an assassin. It helped knowing that the people he was killing deserved it, which brought his some solace.

He had to admit, what once started as a friendship was slowly forming into a relationship. There had been minor changes in Kate's reactions for the past year, but what just happened gave Sean evidence that it was inevitable. He didn't want them to go much further, to become becoming intimate. In his mind their friendship was priceless. He didn't want to throw it away with a sloppy relationship.

He sighed and pushed his thoughts of Kate to the back of his mind. His job was what was important at the moment. It had taken a long time, but Sean slowly became noticed by larger employers through his covert style of killing. He would perfectly execute his target and leave no evidence behind, earning him the call sign, Ghost. At first Sean didn't like the new name, but when his jobs doubled and his payout skyrocketed, he learned to cope.

As he neared his location, he smirked. Parak's house was simply defended. Only a few bars on the windows and a keypad lock on the front door. This would be his easiest kill.

Upon reaching the door, Sean pulled out an auto-hacker he had been supplied and placed it on the keypad. He heard a distinctive click and opened the door cautiously. Sean pulled out his silencedM-5 Phalanx pistol and scanned the house. The house was two stories, and his target was probably on the second.

He slowly rounded the corner, examining the layout of the house when a heavy weight smashed into him, carrying him to the wall. As his mind recovered from the shock, he realized his attacker was a krogan, Parak's bodyguard. The krogan was wearing light body armor, not expecting an attack, but still prepared. Sean silently cursed his carelessness as the krogan pinned him to the wall. Growling, the krogan beat the pistol out of Sean's hand and kicked it aside. Sean took the momentary weight shift as a chance to strike.

Sean kneed the krogan in the groin. The krogan groaned in pain as his grip lessened. Sean tore loose and expanded the distance from him and the krogan. The krogan then turned to face Sean and pulled a twelve inch blade out from its sheath, grinning. Sean's eyes widened as he realized that this job was about to become much harder. Sean, as well, pulled a blade he had concealed in his boot out. The krogan roared as he swung the blade at Sean. Sean easily parried it away, taking two quick slashes at the krogan's body armor.

Sean jumped back and saw that his attack had created a deep gash in the armor, a weak spot. The krogan, unfettered attacked again. Sean tried to dodge away, but the blade caught the side of his sweater, cutting it open. Sean spun and rammed his knife, as hard as he could, into the krogan's chest. The krogan stumbled then fell to his knees in the process, stabbing his blade through Sean's left foot and into the floor. Sean groaned in pain as he brought his right knee up into the krogan's face. The krogan fell backwards, stunned.

Sean took the opportunity as he pulled the krogan's blade from his foot. Twirling the blade, Sean positioned himself in front of the krogan, and drove the blade deep into its skull. The krogan shivered as blood coursed past the blade and through the wound, spattering on Sean's sweater.

Sean paused and listened, hopeful that he didn't alert Parak. He heard quiet thumping of the bass in a song and he slowly let out his breath. Sean quickly bandaged up his foot and found his gun then continued to survey the house. He heard loud music and running water in the distance and slowly made his way to the bathroom. Parak was in fact in the shower. Sean relaxed and made his way to the bedroom, sitting down on the bed and waited.

Minutes later, the water shut off. He heard footsteps near the bedroom as he raised his pistol to the door. The batarian entered casually then froze in mid stride.

"Hello Parak. I've come to return my pistol." Sean said raising his M-5 Phalanx to Parak's forehead, aiming in between his four eyes, "It's defective." He said pulling the trigger.