Disclaimer: I own nothing! Only my own OC's.

A/N: Let's see if I can't pull something fresh…

The Discovery

I sat in my room again, staring into space. It was a usual thing fro me. I would wake up, go to school, come home, play games and sleep, all the while thinking. I would just think about everything, work out scenarios on my head, wander around in my own mind. You could say I was the ultimate introvert. not that I cared, any way.

My parents always called me a genius and force me into nothing but advanced programs. I was only seventeen, but my level of maturity was that of an old lady. Even though they put me on this kind of pedestal, I was always abused. My parents had long since divorced and got with other people. My step dad was the very definition of evil. He'd always yell and scream or throw things around, while my mom constantly forced me to be his little servant so he wouldn't yell at her. My dad on the other hand always treated me and my brothers like stupid kids who didn't know what they were doing, but always expected us to do what we had to do without having to be told. Basically, a non-crazy Hitler. And you know the whole shtick on evil step moms, so I shouldn't have to describe her, right.

Anyway, I was sitting in my room as usual and playing a favorite game of mine; Mass Effect. The storyline was really cool and the choices you had to make effected the outcome of the galaxy. I had already played and beaten both games several times so far, but the second one was too depressing for me to play it too much. Sure, it was awesome and all, but seriously? Dying, getting brought back by Cerberus two years later, getting an 'I hate you now' speech from Ashley, Liara rejecting you and being a complete ass throughout the game, etc. See? Depressing. Awesome, sure, but still…

I had just cleared Therum again and finished talking to Liara when my screen started to twitch. I stared at it, assuming it was some kind of glitch caused by the storm outside. It was a pretty bad one, too. It was practically a monsoon- thunder-storm. I looked back at the screen and noticed my Shepard was…moving? I glanced down at my hands to make sure they weren't moving, then set the controller down. Sure enough, Shepard was moving on her own. I even turned off the controller, but that affected nothing.

Well, this is new… I thought, examining my console. Instantly, pain burst through my head. An impossibly loud shrill noise impacted against my brain and I clamped my hands over my ears, trying to keep the horrible noise out. It was coming from inside of my own head though, so it did nothing to ease the pain or noise. After it died down, slowly fading away and echoing through my mind, I fell to the floor.

Then, darkness overtook me.

…

"Commander, there's some creepy message coming from a planet nearby." Joker said, scanning the console before him. Shepard had come to the cockpit to ask him a few questions, but as soon as she entered the small space, her pilot spoke. She looked over his shoulder and noticed the message was a type of unknown coding.

"Put us in orbit, Joker. See if you can't decode it." she ordered, heading for the cargo bay to get ready.

"Right when we leave the lava planet too…" he muttered, shaking his head. He thought the Commander stopped too much on little errands. They were always some trap or random facility just waiting to try and kill her. He was amused by her apparent want to take in strays, too. It had to be because of her parents or something.

After a small while, Shepard was ready and waiting inside the mako for the drop. She decided to bring Ashley, Wrex, Garrus and Tali on this since Liara was still recovering from her rescue and Kaidan was busy with something. Personally, she preferred to have him far away from her anyway. She was getting really tired of his obvious flirting.

She didn't normally take so many people with her, but the planet below was unexplored and unknown. It had a breathable atmosphere, but the temperature was worse than Therum. It might as well have been a giant volcano. Other than that, the strange code they received was in a language previously unknown as well. Shepard had asked Liara if she recognized it after checking on her, but the scientist was stumped. Whatever it was, she just had to find out for herself.

"Let's go, Shepard. I'm itching for a fight." Wrex's voice rumbled from behind her. She nodded in agreement and jumped from the bay. They fell for a short time, then the jets activated, slowing their descent. As they roughly hit the surface, the mako jugged around a little.

"Shepard, do you have to drive?" Ashley whined from the gunning station. Wrex and Shepard both shared a small laugh while Garrus shook his head and sighed. Tali stayed silent, but wholly agreed with the Chief.

"I like driving, Chief. It's faster." Shepard said, regaining her composure and checking the blip on the map.

"It's suicidal!" said Chief quickly countered, gripping the turrets' handles. They all laughed again and, as if accenting their response, Shepard gunned the accelerator.

…

I looked around, seeing a place I was unfamiliar with. It was nostalgic, but I couldn't remember being there. There were stars and planets floating by, voices in the back of my mind, as if from a distant memory. I turned and saw my younger brothers, Jake, Corey, Gregori and Victor. They saw me and glided over, confusion in their expressions. I simply shook my head slightly.

"Your blood calls to the past. Maker's chosen warriors of Fate." the voice reverberated through my mind. It sounded ages old, but there was no gender to it.

"What do you mean?" I asked, looking around myself, but finding no sign of the origin of the voice.

"Your souls have been lost in time. Bodies misplaced and forgotten." it continued. It sounded as if it was chanting, but had a tone of fact to it. This was only confusing me further.

"What are you talking about?" Jake demanded, sounding completely lost.

"Your bodies have been imprisoned. Your souls were lost and sent to Earth. Now, you will return and fulfill the destiny laid upon you by Fate." it resounded, explaining at least a little. But still, this didn't make any sense. If me and my brothers didn't belong here, then… where?

Before any of us could speak, I felt myself being pulled away.

…

"We're here. Stay on guard everyone." Shepard announced, standing from her seat on the mako and opening the hatch. She and Wrex were fine, but Ash looked like she was about to hurl and Garrus seemed tense. As Wrex stood, he laughed at them and followed Shepard out the mako with Tali, who looked like she was in pain.

"I'm gonna kill that Krogan." Ashley muttered, trying to keep her breakfast down. Garrus nodded then exited the vehicle, followed by the Chief. As soon as they got out, the dry, hot air assaulted them. It was definitely worse than Therum by at least twenty degrees. Why the Commander wanted to come her, Ash had no idea.

"There's nothing here…" Garrus muttered, scanning the area. Shepard knew it was here, though. She looked about, then rounded a large boulder to find a huge structure. It was in the shape of a pyramid, but it had peculiar spikes and large crystals coming out of it. Her team joined her as she slowly approached the structure. The pyramid itself seemed to be made of obsidian or something akin to it. Symbols and hieroglyphs adorned it's walls, even the spikes.

"What is this?" Wrex wondered, going to a wall and placing his hand on the surface. No one answered, but they all had the same question. Tali did the same and examined the symbols closely, trying to figure out what language it was. She had briefly come across Prothean after joining Shepard, but these were altogether different.

"Tali?" Shepard asked, running her hand over the markings.

"It's not of any known language, that's for sure." she answered, still studying the hieroglyphs.

"Prothean?" Ashley ventured, staring at the building.

"No. I would assume it's even older than that." Tali said, noticing the way the structure was slightly buried. Not even Prothean ruins were old enough to be so infused with the ground, so these must've been ages older.

"What do you mean, older?" Garrus inquired, frowning at it. Tali looked at him, then explained what she had noticed, leaving the others awestruck. Shepard nodded her head and started to slide her hands around as if looking for something.

"Shepard?" Wrex asked, confused at his fellow warrior's behavior.

"I'm looking for the door." she answered, a mischievous grin coming to her face. Ashley sighed, but decided to aid her Commander. She knew it was just best to indulge her in her crazy ideas sometimes.

"Door?" Wrex asked incredulously, as if such a thing didn't exist and slammed his fist against the ruin. "There's no door." he finished. Just as the words came out of his mouth though, a loud rumble emanated throughout the area. Shepard had found a small, almost invisible dent in the wall and pressed her finger to it. It had hummed and, as if responding to her, it warmed up and seemed to scan her finger. Then it started to rumble.

"See? There's always a door." Shepard smirked as the rumbling stopped and an opening formed in front of her. Wrex started grumbling but said nothing loud enough to hear. Tali stepped back in surprise, but was definitely excited.

"Huh. Well, if it's the Commander, then I guess you never know…" Garrus said absently, stepping forward a little. Ashley shook her head and smirked.

"You have no idea…" she said.

"Garrus, Wrex, guard the entrance." Shepard commanded, getting nods in return. The two aliens took up their positions and watched the others enter the enormous ruin.

Inside, the walls seemed to glow with an inner light, illuminating the cavernous space. Symbols decorated the inside as well, but they seemed to glow and pulse. It was as if a collective heartbeat coursed through the obsidian structure, an atmosphere of power, clearly tangible. The air felt as if it was charged with electricity and even tasted like it.

The three made their way to the middle of the ruin, noticing five pillar-like things. As they neared though, they saw an advanced interface. Shepard approached it, noticing it looked like a type of biometric scanner.

"Is that a good idea, Commander?" Ashley asked, glancing at the mysterious pillars. They felt strange, almost alive.

"One way to find out." she said, pressing her hand to the interface. It hummed and ran a bright red light against her palm. After only three seconds, it blinked off and continued to hum. Suddenly, the pillars, flashed brightly, briefly blinding the newcomers. Just as fast as the light came, it went as the ruin's 'pulse' quickened in a soft rise and fall.

As Shepard looked up, she saw the symbols on the floor and walls start to crawl towards the pillars, glowing and spiraling into them. They absorbed the hieroglyphs quickly and pulsed themselves, as they started to open up. All pillars seemed to almost fade in the front, disappearing to reveal five young humans.

"Keelah!" Tali gasped, seeing the youths and swaying a little. Ashley's eyes were wide and her face was pale. Shepard looked on in a mix of excitement, curiosity, dread and even horror. How were they still alive? The glowing slowly faded away as the pulse, even the light itself, infused with each of the beings in the pillars. The symbols finished their 'transfer' and the machines went quiet.

Shepard looked at the humans with awe, realizing they were… how old? Who cared, they were really old either way. But how was it that no one ever discovered them before? Was that message Joker received always transmitting?

Shaking her head a little to clear it, Shepard stepped up to the closest pillar. It contained what looked like a human female, maybe twenty years old. She had a strange set of advanced looking armor as the others did, but she couldn't recognize it. Her hair was short and messy like the Spectre's, but instead of being red, it was auburn with red in it. She looked perfectly healthy, but that wasn't possible, was it?

Better than finding dead things. A little voice in Shepard's mind said. She couldn't help but agree, but this whole situation had the alarms her sounding off. They may have looked human, but there was no telling what they were on the inside. She stepped closer to get a better look and noticed a chain under girl's armor. She slowly reached up and eased the chain out to see what it was. The metal of it was impossible to determine, and at the end was a medallion that bore a strange emblem on it.

"What are they? I mean, sure, they look human, but…" Ashley wondered, staring at the beings.

"I don't know, but they are very intimidating…" Tali muttered, a hint of fear in her voice. Shepard looked up at the girl's face and realized she had very sharp features. Even in a state of slumber, she looked frightening. She had hawk-like features and a serious expression that reminded Shepard of her mother. The woman was very daunting to strangers and Shepard gained that trait from her. It came in handy, but it made an unapproachable aura about her to most people.

"But you have to admit… they're easy on the eyes." Ash muttered, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. Shepard chuckled quietly, but said nothing. Tali just mumbled something and went to get Garrus and Wrex.

Shepard looked down at the medallion again. She felt as if she'd seen it before, but wasn't sure. Maybe Dr. T'soni would know.

"Shepard?" Wrex walked up to her side and studied the girl as well.

"I don't know, Wrex, but is it a good idea to leave them here?" she wondered, hoping the Battle Master had advice.

"They have the look of warriors, Shepard. I'd like to see what they can do." she smiled at his assessment and tucked the medallion back under the girl's armor. She reached up and looked for a way to release her from the pillar, but as if it read her thoughts, the pillar's last remaining glow diminished. The girl fell and Shepard caught her with deft speed, and gently throwing her over her shoulder.

"Let's go, the faster we get them to the Normandy, the faster we get out of here." Shepard said. The others followed suit and soon the mako was full. As the Normandy picked them up, the Spectre couldn't help but wonder who the beings were. They hadn't awakened yet and she wanted to know as fast as possible.

A/N: Cool, huh? I tried putting a twist on it, you know, something a little new. Review if you want more!