All characters/places are property of Bioware and inspiration was taken from playing Mass Effect 2. Consider this your spoiler warning!

This is my first time writing any sort of fan fiction, hope you like.

Thanks for reading!

The cold, almost glowing planet tilted obscurely, the sense of weightlessness floating her through the stars. Light broke over the surface, pealing silence in the brightness of the rays, beautiful and unforgiving as she flailed, her breath failing, the only sound her struggling, panicked gasps. In her mind she could hear Liara cry her name, but her chest was burning, expanding, cells screaming as the last bits of her air slipped away. There was nothing to breath, and the light over Alchera consumed her vision.

Rolling over, Shepard woke with a start, propping herself up on one hand as she coughed and gasped for air. There was a cold sweat on her skin, and the sheets stuck to her, clad for sleep in a white tank top and panties. Her bed was empty and there was oxygen in her lungs.

She reached across the cotton sheets as her eyes fell closed again, an emptiness flooding her in the foreign space of her cabin. The few short weeks of perceived separation couldn't displace the reality of Liara's absence. She could still smell her skin and feel its pliability in a ghostly way beneath her fingers.

Her pulse was still thudding hard in her chest, magnifying the lump in her throat as she gingerly put her face back on the pillow, minding the still-sensitive scars. An ache throbbed in her temples, alternate to the rush of her pulse as she opened her eyes again, needing to visually soak in the world and confirm her animation. The memories of her death clung in her thoughts, an ichor that seeped into her dreams as often as the Protheans did. Peaceful rest was the real dream, and the last time had long since faded from her memory.

Shepard lay there for some time, staring through the dim, aquarium-lit loft, hearing the scarce hum of the Normandy's engines in the distance, willing sleep to return. She looked at the clock – once more, two hours seemed to be all she would be allowed. Rolling aside, she dropped her feet to the floor, rising to move and dress, starting the day as she usually did, many hours before the rest of the crew.

"I hadn't expected to see you here, Commander." Mess Sergeant Gardner's voice caused Shepard to turn with a start, the data pad in her hands resting down on the table. She slowly smiled, reaching to cradle her coffee mug closer, savouring its warmth as he stepped into the light of the mess-room.

"The first cup of coffee is always the best, you should know that." She spoke casually with him, swallowing away her struggle to assume command. She made a move to rise before he interjected.

"First cup." Gardner laughed, looking at the time. He waved towards her, "Don't leave on my account, Commander, I should be getting you a late night snack too." His voice was gruff and almost fatherly, and the glance he shot her was equally so.

"Well…maybe just something light to take with me." She stretched with a bit of a groan, smiling again as she looked to him.

He smiled in return, nodding quickly as he gathered her a bowl of oatmeal and blueberries, "As long as you're eating, I'm doing my job right."

Rising from the table, Shepard slid the bowl onto her data pad, nodding quickly as she quipped, "Thank you, Sargeant."

The bowl blocked the view of what she'd been reading, learning more from the attachés the Illusive Man had forwarded to her. They were on route to Illium, searching out a justicar and an assassin who sounded as interesting as they did useful. The elevator was taking its time back up to her cabin, and she leaned against the back as she picked a few of the berries out of the oatmeal. She didn't eat right, Gardner knew it. Truth be told, she rarely felt like eating. No doubt he thought it absent-minded of her more then the weight of stress and isolation.

The door slid open and her boots silently tracked back into the solitude of her quarters. Collapsing into the chair at her desk, her eyes invariably turned to the picture of Liara there, dropping the bowl and data pad before her with surprising lack of care.

Where are you, Liara? Why can't I find you?

The furrow on her brow accented her thoughts. Finally she looked away to her private terminal and started clicking through the night's messages, burying her feelings back where they belonged. Answering each with efficient precision, it wasn't long before the oatmeal beside her congealed into a bowl of cohesive, cold paste.

"Burning the candle at both ends, Commander?" The sarcastic twinge to Garrus' voice brought Shepard out of her reverie. She stopped in her tracks, having almost been pacing by the steps of the forward battery. Her hand dropped, data pad concealed against her thigh, though the other stayed upon her brow as she turned to him, pensive expression smoothing away. How long had he been standing there?

"You know me, Garrus, can't rest while there's work is done." She chuckled a little bit, hand smoothing back over her neatly drawn hair, adjusting the bun at the back of her head.

"It's a wonder you ever sleep, then." His talons clacked along the metal walk way as he worked closer to her, a glint in his rich blue eyes.

"Who says I do?" She laughed a bit, crossing her arms as she looked up to him with a matching smirk, expression relaxing some in her evident enjoyment at seeing him.

Garrus' words softened as he leant against one of the beams, less then an arm's reach from her. "You should, Commander."

About to return with a dismissive rebuttal, Garrus continued and cut Shepard's words before they started. "This isn't the first time I've heard you about down here while the rest of the crew was asleep. Is it so bad I'm a little concerned?" He was grinning what he could, the wound on his right mandible still tender and preventing full expression.

"Believe me, I would if I could, Garrus. But since I can't, I make use of my time." Shepard's posture was rigid, fingers bridging to rub over her brow again, the dull thud of her headache scarce abated in the hours she'd been awake.

"I'm sure if you spoke to she'd be able to give you something to help. You're not doing us any favours losing sleep." The turian waved his hand, watching her carefully as he added playfully, "Just making my job harder, having to save your ass all the time."

"Saving my ass? Have you forgotten Omega so quickly?" Shepard turned to give him a shot in the arm, clanking against his armour, eliciting a pitiful growl from Garrus.

"See? You're getting weak, Commander. Barely even felt that one." His eyes betrayed that he was just as tired as she. If he'd heard her about that meant he hadn't been sleeping either. They hadn't found anything on Sidonis yet.

"Uh huh." She smirked at him, tapping the data pad on her upper arm as she looked at him. "It should be sunrise in Nos Astra soon." She looked at the clock in the mess. "We'll dock once the crew is up." He stood up from the bulkhead, nodding at her words.

"Aye, Commander. I'll be here if you need me."

A thanks on her lips was lost as Garrus turned and strode back to the battery, her succinct words an easy dismissal. She watched down the lit hall until the doors closed behind him, finally letting out a sigh as she looked down. Turning towards the elevator for a second time that night, Shepard squeezed the bun at the back of her head, eager to get in the shower and wash away the lingering haze of lost sleep.

Walking with calm assurance across the trading floor, Shepard's eyes stayed ahead, expression hardened to the swimming emotions in her belly. Liara had paid for their fees, she wanted to see her. Nervous joy strummed over her skin, and she tried to block from her mind the last fateful time she saw her face - when she'd ordered Liara into an escape pod, only to be spaced minutes later. She swallowed the memory of it, a shiver suppressing the lingering coldness of her dream.

Following the signage up the stairs to Liara's offices, Shepard lifted a hand to the administrative assistant outside. The doors aside her opened, and steeling herself, she walked into the office, catching the last snippets of Liara's conversation.

"Have you ever faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have." There was a grave chill in her voice the likes of which Shepard had never heard. "I'll make it simple. Either you pay me, or I flay you alive. With my mind." The male human in the holo before Liara suddenly flickered away, and Shepard's footsteps were magnified, the only sound left in the room.

"Shepard!" Liara turned with the sudden surprise. "Nyxeris, hold my calls."

The heated sweat on Shepard's body chilled as she looked into Liara's face, heart palpitating in the way it always had when they had been together. She looked so different. Their eyes met, silence but for the rushing pulse in Shepard's throat, frozen. Liara stepped close, taking her hands. Their lips enmeshed, flooding it all back, and for a moment the nightmare of her death and the weight of her mission lifted, uncaged and free. But it was gone.

Shaking her head, Liara pulled away, turning to her desk to sit down and leave Shepard standing alone. The hard thud of her heart ached, and she felt it in the scars on her face, but her veneer didn't crack.

"My sources said you were alive, but I never believed.. It's very good to see you." There was fatigue and time in her voice - more then two years worth. Her colour was off. Everyone had suffered so much.

"It's good to see you too, Liara. How are you doing?" Shepard casually asked, though the lingering compassion in her words didn't escape her.

Their conversation fell into formalities, with Garrus and Mordin lingering back in the wake of their embrace, allowing a modicum of privacy. Liara never smiled as they spoke, as though her lips couldn't form the shape anymore. Not even when Shepard asked her to come with them - commitments. She wanted Shepard's help obtaining information to help her with her work.

"If it will help you, I'll take care of it." Shepard couldn't say no to her, even if the voracious, exuberant young archaeologist was nowhere to be found. She could feel herself closing off. Working on autopilot, she inquired about the justicar and assassin, and Liara's replies proved what the others said about the quality of her work. Like so often, her core was in turmoil, but Shepard maintained the line, rising fluidly to continue doing the work that others wouldn't.

"I'll talk to you later, Liara."

There was distance in her words, and as Shepard turned back to join her crewmates, Liara was consumed in her work once more. Garrus was watching her again, though she wouldn't meet his gaze. They fell in line behind her without a word as she turned back into the noise of the trading floor.

The sun was sinking towards the horizon, shadows of twilight playing over the edifices and towers of the city, glowing reds and oranges. They would be meeting with Seryna in less then an hour to head to the towers to find Thane Krios. Shepard leant her hands onto the ledge, a precarious position that let her gaze drop down the face of the building. The ground was obscured by the encroaching darkness.

For once it had seemed she wouldn't have to trace the precarious paths she always found herself on alone. She'd been weak in letting herself believe and indulge, manipulated by her tenuously freed emotions. Liara had been different from others who had tried to slip through the plating of her armour. Her throat ached the way it did deep into a mission, parched and dry, burning for a drink. The pain hardened from where it seeped, overlapping coils tightening in her chest.

It had taken time for it to sink in that she had lost everything again - a vicious cycle in her life that for a moment made her question how safe others really were around her. A part of her thoughts chimed in about the Blitz, and her fingers upon the ledge tensed, the sound of her gauntlet scraping on the stone just barely audible. Once there had been a smoothness to Liara's innocent voice that had reminded her of the way her mother sounded before her morning coffee. A death and a lifetime away, she could still hear her mother's laughter. An older twinge glowed alongside her heartache, each weakened sensation thankfully trapped in the confines of her armour.

What was worth saving if she was alone? The monologues argued within her as they often did, a flurry of voices behind her collected demeanour. She always kept going though. That was what mattered in life, more then strength or intellect or anything – the will to continue on.

"Commander?"

Her fingers had spread on the sculpted ledge, and she pushed off, posture stiff as she turned to look at Garrus. He was waiting expectantly, unobtrusively. There was a steady determination on his face, an expression that suited most turians she'd seen. Something she hadn't lost, even if he had become more jaded - but she felt closer to him because of it. Morlin was beside him, eyes down and absorbed in some calculations on his omni-tool.

Checking the time, she motioned with her left hand and strode off towards the rendezvous, the sure pace of her steps punctuated by the heavy presences of her armour. Weaving to the cargo transfer level, Seryna was on the distant end by the transport - she'd agreed to take them to the tower. Nassana, Krios's target, had been the asari's former employer. Shepard thought she'd been lucky to just lose her job and not her life, given the executive's history. Hopefully the drell assassin wasn't as much of a moral disappointment as the other hired help had been.

"Shepard...but, you're dead."

"I got better." Shepard wondered if the deadpan timbre of her voice went unnoticed.

The three guards surrounding Nassana drew their guns as she dropped a foot back, posture defiant.

"And now you're here to kill me." The guards dropped their clips, prompting Garrus and Mordin to draw their guns. Shepard was unphased.

"You really are paranoid, aren't you?" She could see the barrel of Garrus' gun in her periphery.

Waving a hand, Nassana turned away, safe within her cluster of guards. "Don't patronize me, Shepard."

"Charming as ever."

"I'm sure you find this all very ironic. First you take care of my sister, and now you're here for me." There was a brief, grim flash of teeth as Nassana looked back to her, before her eyes returned to the blind-broken sunset that came through the windows behind her. She shrugged.

"Well, you made it this far. Now what." There was a hint of fatigue in her bitter words. The light continued to die as Nassana kept turning, coming full about to narrow her eyes and look at Shepard.

Shepard shifted her weight, resting it on her hip as she asked with mild exasperation, "You really think I'm here to kill you?"

"Do you have another reason for destroying my tower?" The asari commando closest was shuffling her weight, moving the scope of her pistol in a way that betrayed her unease. She was shaking. "Decimating my security?" The indignation in Nassana's voice gained strength.

"I'm just looking for someone." Shepard maintained her casual air, knowing the cool confidence unsettled more inexperienced soldiers.

"You expect me to believe that? Is it credits? Is that what you want?" Much like her guards, Nassana was growing agitated, her words desperate and hard. "Just tell me your price. We can make this problem go away."

Shepard played her game, if only to gain the upper hand. "Make me an offer." She crossed her arms, staring the asari down.

Smiling in a knowing, cruel way, Nassana crooned, "Double whatever you're getting. And I'll pay double again if you tell me who hired you." The guards at her sides shifted with discomfort as the distant echo of buckling metal thunked amidst Nassana's words.

The asari commando aside her gripped her pistol with renewed vigour, the barrel sweeping aside as though tracing a target.

"What?" Nassana quipped with venomous annoyance.

"I heard something." The commando had a demeanour more suited for battle, addressing her employer with silken words.

Nassana looked down, her hands on the wide console before her as she shook her head and spoke firmly, "Damn it. Check the other entrances!" She was losing her edge.

"You... stay put." The simple words seethed with fear and indignation. Nassana was used to being in control. Flanking the two guards farthest back from the executive, a dark, lithe figured dropped down from an unseen vantage in the ceiling.

Pointing and speaking with accusatory conviction, Nassana spat, "When I'm finished dealing with this nuisance, you and I are going to..." Amidst her words the assassin flowed, cleanly twisting the human bodyguard's neck until it snapped with a satisfying crunch. Turning without hesitation, he punched the second male guard in the throat, and the mercenary crumpled to the ground without retaliation.

"Who...?"

Drawing a gun from his coat in the same motion, the drell turned, shooting the commando square in the chest and levelling her threat. The asari's tenuous grip on her pistol released, and the assassin snatched her gun from its place in mid-air, rolling to leave its barrel squarely abutted to Nassana's abdomen, his free arm catching hers to steady her as he wished. Nassana's breath seeped out as she leant forward into him, and without so much as a word, he pulled the trigger, the point blank distance muffling the shot.

The sound of surprised pain caught in Nassana's throat as the drell cradled her body into him in an almost tender way. His hand touched over the back of her head, comforting her form against him as he leant forward, laying her upon the consol, his black eyes half-closed. The sounds in her throat were broken, her life escaping in them as her killer's head tilted apologetically, folding her hands over her breast.

His shoulder dropping back, the drell held his hand over Nassana's in her dying moments, her breaths falling silent. Still he looked to her, scarce acknowledging Shepard or her companion's presence as the asari died. His target silent, Thane's gaze dropped and his eyes closed, hands clasping at his chest in silent prayer.

"Impressive. You certainly know how to make an entrance." Garrus' dry wit broke the silence.

Relinquishing her pistol and stepping forward, Shepard watched the assassin with a peculiar fascination, silent herself as he remained in prayer. The setting sun let its rays bleed across him as he remained immobile, reverent.

The silence hung in the air until Shepard spoke, feeling almost callous in her words, "I was hoping to talk to you."

Eyes open, Thane squinted a little, the expression betraying his faint annoyance at her interruption. "I apologize, but prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken."

"Do you really think she deserves it?"

The drell's expression shifted, and though his hands were still clasped his head lifted with a brief shake, the annoyance in his features being lost in their hardening. His face became an unreadable mask as he looked to her. "Not for her. For me."

Turning aside from his quarry, Thane's expression became serious once more, eyes downcast to follow his hand as he holstered his pistol and traced the edge of the consol. "The measure of an individual can be difficult to discern by actions alone. Take you, for instance." He spoke matter-of-factly, his voice low with a soft rumble to it that left her wondering how much it was changed by the translator. His hands moved, "All this destruction...chaos."

Shepard's gaze turned from the assassin to Nassana, form inert on the console. She could feel his eyes upon her as his casual, confident steps brought him closer.

"I was curious to see how far you'd go to find me."

The knot in Shepard's stomach reasserted itself, lips pressed together in silence. Those who had died had been mercenaries who'd done far worse. The chaos had saved workers trapped in the building. Her thoughts returned to the Eclipse member with the perfect hole through his skull, the armour pierced and his threat disabled succinctly and efficiently.

Her reflective gaze was blocked as Thane stepped across her view, standing in front of Nassana and meeting her eyes.

"Well...here I am."

Shepard held his gaze a moment, expression steely and unyielding of information to match his own stoic one. A hint of curiosity caught in her words though, "How did you know I was coming at all."

Thane held her gaze, striding towards her and forcing her to step aside out of his way. His gait carried him unimpeded, and Shepard's eyes followed, watching him take a place between her and Garrus, the turian's gun still poised.

"I didn't. Not until you marched in the front door and started shooting." He spoke with concise clarity, the words snipped and belying his displeasure in a subtle way that not all may have caught. It didn't escape the Commander.

Hands clasping together low on his back, Thane looked at Garrus as he spoke, scarce a foot from the end of his barrel. The position on any other may have been arrogant, but for the drell it was merely stating the obvious. There was no challenge in it.

"Nassana had become paranoid. You saw the strength of her guard force. She believed one of her sisters would kill her." Thane turned his head just enough to track Shepard's position, noting how she'd turned to watch him. He looked back a little farther, taking her in once more.

"You were a valuable distraction."

"Let's cut to the chase. I need you for a mission." The nights of lost sleep were weighing down Shepard's limbs. Though impressed with Thane's efficiency and skill, she was in no mood for games.

"Indeed?" Thane was looking at Garrus once more, leaving Shepard in his periphery.

"You're familiar with the Collectors?"

The drell turned around, coming to Shepard's side, and she turned with him, both facing the window now, as he took more casual steps away. His gaze carried over the cooling corpse of his target and through the window into the autumnal hues of the lingering day, the sun gone now beneath the buildings that blocked the horizon.

"By reputation."

Drawing a silent breath, Shepard watched him, and shifting her weight onto her hips, crossed her arms to speak. "They're abducting entire human colonies. Freedom's Progress was their handiwork.

His back to her, the drell was silent a moment, before his head dropped in consideration and he quipped, "I see."

"We're going after them."

Turning sharply to match her gaze once more, Thane spoke quickly, "Attacking the Collectors would require passing through the Omega 4 relay. No ship has ever returned from doing so."

Uncrossing her arms, Shepard inclined her head and more lightly said, "They told me it was impossible to get to Ilos, too."

He was looking at her again, and the assassin's own posture relaxed as he admitted, "A fair point." Shepard took the few steps forward to stand aside him once more as his impenetrable gaze turned back to the glowing windows. "You've built a career on performing the impossible."

She kept her eyes upon his face, studying the subtle inflections therein, and behind she could see Garrus and Mordin slowly relaxing their weapons. Though versed with at least a rudimentary dossier of most races in the galaxy, she had never seen a drell outside of vague extranet reports. She wondered if the natures of his expression were a result of his physiology or personality. His eyes almost closed, visage almost revealing before the stoic mask returned.

"This was to be my last job." As if by courtesy his head tilted her way, gaze still prophetically upon the setting sun. "I'm dying." A flicker of concern sparked in Shepard and her eyes refocused upon Thane with greater attention.

"Low survival odds don't concern me. The abduction of your colonists does."

"I hadn't heard that...is there anything I can do?"

"Giving me this opportunity is enough." The gloss securing his expression slipped some, shoulders relaxing as he looked down and spoke to her in quiet introspection, "The universe is a dark place. I'm trying to make it brighter before I die." His professionalism resurfaced as he slowly turned to her.

"Many innocents died today..." He closed his eyes to conceal the true emotion and guilt of his condemning words. "I wasn't fast enough and they suffered. I must atone for that."

Shepard held her tongue in the moments of hesitation before Thane moved, extending his hand. She met his firm shake, his slender hand in control of the motion, an assertive jerk of the wrist that was met with his words, "I will work for you, Shepard. No charge."

Uncomfortable in the assassin's control of the situation, Shepard drew her hand away at the same moment Thane recovered. He clasped his hands together behind him in a militaristic way, and Shepard unconsciously crossed her arms, weight on her hip as she observed him. Though not showing on her lips, a hint of a smile escaped in her words.

"I'm very glad to hear that."