Best Served Cold

Disclaimer- I don't own or claim to own any the characters, places, or major events that are seen in Mass Effect 1, 2, or 3. Those are owned by Bioware and all the lovely minds there.

AN: It has been quite a while since I've written fanfiction. This plot bunny has been something I've been thinking about for quite a while, as a solution for the inevitable death of my favourite character. This chapter is here to set the plot for the future chapters, which will primarily from Thane's perspective.

Fingers pass over my father's lifeless ones. He is still warm and although it has only been a few minutes since she has moved to close his eyes, it seemed like forever. There was no rush of white coats or gunfire. Little noise was made in the room. There was no coughing anymore. And although Shepard's eyes betrayed her with stray tears, there was no sharp incline of breath or open sobs. Shepard was trying to be strong, even though her fingers shook from weariness.

Kolyat walked Shepard to the door, both sets of eyelids blinking too much. He knew that was a sign. And just as Shepard took the step out into the hallway a surprise overtook him. The redhead turned around in full armor and hugged him hard. They had both lost someone today and that was enough to bring the two of them together. Kolyat felt sorry for the Commander because where he was allowed perfect memory that played out like a vid, Shepard had worn out picture books for memories. Simple places, colors, smells.

The last few moments washed over him, and although his father had spoken often about the Commander and his fears for her, it was out of love that he spent his last breath praying for her. Shepard opened her mouth to say something, but could not. And in the next moment, she was walking away toward the elevators. Kolyat turned his attention back toward his father's room; with the pressure lock from the door closing behind him he was alone yet again.

It was then that Kolyat cried too, staring at the lifeless body of his father. It was a just a body now, he told himself. His soul was beyond the sea. The drell pulled the small leather prayer book out of his jacket pocket and placed it on his father's bandaged chest, the white gauze slightly bloodied from the place where a sword had pierced him.

"Up! Up!" My little voice rang out, screeching at the happy sight of my ever traveling father, come home. His shoulder is bandaged, but his face is in a wide smile. Strong hands lift me up far over my father's head, sailing me about and making me laugh. Mother's joy rings out somewhere behind me. Father, switches me to the non-bandaged arm, not daring to release me. Not that he could have, for I had attached myself to his shoulder. He asks, "Have you taken care of your mother?" And I nod over and over, looking for acceptance. He rubs my back lightly, as Mother hugs his other arm carefully, the work satchel of his long forgotten behind him on the floor. "My Siha and my Kolyat what more could I need."

Kolyat slipped out of his solipsism, seeing that he was clutching hard at his father's bandage. He looked up at the wall and shook his head as if to try and jolt himself awake. The drell took a deep breath and pressed the call button. It was not long before volunteers in black, white, and yellow jumpsuits came and wheeled the body away. His body was to be made to ashes and spread across the sea. The urn was going to arrive in a few days, the asari doctor explained after offering her sympathies. Ceremonies had been paid already and the doctor instructed Kolyat to get home. Kolyat gathered up his father's prayer book seemingly having been dropped and forgotten by the volunteers. It was a great deal of time before Kolyat made it back to his apartment. And it was an even greater amount of time longer than that that the 'volunteers' who had taken his father's body were discovered to be Cerberus.

The Illusive Man tipped his cigarette into the tray, before deciding to blot it out entirely, the ashes cooling as he crushed the filter into the tray. At the sound of the com becoming active, he sat a little straighter. "It has been one month. Are you trying my patience?" He asked, obviously irritated. The scientist in the hologram cleared his throat, but the Illusive Man didn't turn around, opting instead to stare into the dying star.

The information that the scientist offered immediately uploaded to the Illusive Man's chair, while that scientist spoke about how the subject would wake in a day now. The biotics in his eyes twitched slightly as he noticed the progression of the project. Subject was physically perfected. He was given new drell lungs and complete tissue rehabilitation. Breathing tests were coming back normal. It was the mental profile that the scientist and his crew were having issues with.

Religion was left intact as that was a certain personality fragment that would deconstruct the drell if left without. The chain containing his religion was assembled too closely to the strand that made him such a deadly assassin. There was little error in the process. The report detailed every memory that had to be removed, or suppressed. And the cortex could only take so much.

Scientists warned of the likelihood of Thane regaining his memories through hand and sight. But, the likelihood was low. It was most likely that if Thane were to remember something of his memory, it would take so long for his solipism to fix itself, he would have already done the deed, as the compact would override any slight feeling he might have. For the most part, they had successfully wiped Thane's past two years away.

"He's ready." The Illusive Man offered callously, smirking to himself. There was silence for a moment and he was wondering if his scientist would be foolish enough to disagree, but when he did not speak, the Illusive Man was impressed. "You will wake him and release him by Afterlife with the contract in his pocket." He dismissed the scientist and picked up his glass of brandy.

He closed his eyes, relaxed to see things coming to fruition. So much was needed to secure humanity on the top of the chain after everything was said and done. Shepard had lost her usefulness to him long ago. Ever since she had secured the the Reaper for him, she had become a problem. She was a figurehead for the galaxy united. And that was something humanity didn't need. They didn't need to be placed on a lower level like asaris or drell.

Humanity was meant to rule, to shine like the bright star it was before discovering mass effect cores. Humanity was the only species that could stand on its own. The hanar were little more than jellyfish. Krogan, just reinforced toads. They were nothing to humanity, who brought themselves up from the primordial stew. The other species had their uses, but in the end, humans were head and shoulders above the rest. Krios was a remarkable assassin and his proximity to Shepard would be her weakness.

Without his memory of her, he would have no problem eliminating her when her usefulness expired. There was a certain sort of poetic justice to be had. Shepard, a woman who stands for all across the galaxy against the reapers, to be murdered by the alien she trusted most.

AN: Thank you very much to my beta reader Askeebe for her support and mad editing skills. I don't think I would have gotten the ball rolling without her.