A/N: Hey, everyone this is the first story I've decided to share on FanFiction so I hope you enjoy. Any thoughts/feedback/suggestions I would love to get be it good, bad or indifferent.

I've been thinking of doing a Mass Effect story for a while now just never got round to doing it but after reading Masses to Masses by iNf3ctioNZ and the Mass Vexations series by Herr Wozzeck I decided to crack on and work on it, so if you haven't read them yet you really should since they are both awesome.

This first story takes place a year before the events of ME1 but will continue into it and ME2 eventually.

And now the disclaimer: I do not and sadly never will own Mass Effect, BioWare or EA, although if I did that would be awesome. With that said I hope you enjoy this story.

BEGIN RECORDING…

Okay so let me just check this…hang on a second…aw damn it! I think my Omni-Tool is busted again, stupid piece of crap…Hey Tali I thought you said you fixed this thing?

….

RECORDING STOPPED.

BEGIN RECORDING…

OK so second times the charm, here we go again, the little icon is up there so I guess it's recording so uh…yeah. This is my story and it's…well interesting to say the least, unbelievable at the most and downright bizarre in the middle, but such is my life nowadays.

I guess I'll give you a little bit of background info before we begin. My name is Robert Kane, I'm 25 and I'm not the tallest guy in the world at 5'7, my eyes are hazel and my hair is dirty blonde in colour. I was born in London, England; I have an older sister Ellie and an IQ of 193. I graduated school at 15 and spent the next 3 years at Oxford University studying Criminal Psychology. After graduating at 18 I became a police officer, where after spending the mandatory two years on patrol became a detective.

When I wasn't investigating murders and getting inside the minds of killers I'm a gamer and a bit of a musician, I sing a little bit and play the guitar, other than that there isn't much more to tell really.

My sister Eleanor is five years older than me and we've been really close since our parents died when I was 15. She's smaller than me, standing at 5'3 and her hair is black, like our fathers used to be. Ellie is a surgeon, one of the best in my opinion but then again I'm not a surgeon so I wouldn't really know.

The only difference between Ellie and me is our accents. Since she was born and spent the first five years in Los Angeles she has an American accent, like our parents. I on the other hand was born in London and speak with a British accent, which was strange growing up let me tell you.

Anyway my story begins on January 17th 2182…well actually that's a lie…sort of, it actually started a good 172 years before that (See I told you it was going to be interesting and unbelievable didn't I?)

OK so it actually begins in London and the year is 2011 that was when I found myself in a place that in our universe only existed in a series of Video Games called Mass Effect…

Kane Residence, London; England

15th July 2011

With a sigh I opened the door and entered my home, heading into the kitchen and tossing my keys and the files from work onto the table before heading upstairs and changing out of my suit and into my Los Angeles Kings jersey, I'd been a hockey fan since the first time my father had taken me to a game, when I was six. And since both my parents and Ellie were born in LA the Kings became my team, since we always visited the rest of the family in California every year.

As I put it on I caught sight of the pendant hanging around my neck and took it in my hand. It was a silver tribal pendant with a blue crystal embedded in it. Ellie and I both had one, although they differed slightly in design. They had been given to us by our parents when we were children.

I traced my finger over the design before glancing over at the picture of the girl on my dresser. Her name was Kirsten. We met the first day of university and hit it off almost immediately. It turned out she was the singer in a band with a few friends, and was also studying psychology although hers was in Clinical psychology while mine was in Criminal, soon after we were talking about music and the fact I was a guitarist came up, a few months later we were dating.

I shook my head out of the memory and headed over to the PC, wanting to finish my Mass Effect 1 run, having decided to play through the two in preparation for Mass Effect 3 next year. I actually lost track of how long I had been playing but I heard Ellie come in and call out to me, entering my room shortly after I replied.

"Hey Ellie." I grinned as I shot the Krogan charging at me.

"You're playing Mass Effect again?" she chuckled.

"It's a great game, besides ME3 is out next year and I want a save ready."

Ellie laughed as she hugged me "So how was work?"

I sighed "Didn't get any new leads, this guy…he's either a new form of crazy or a genius, either way I'm not in his head yet and I can't figure out what his next move will be, how was your day?."

"Had an open heart surgery and someone who came into the ER with a shard of glass in his hand, nothing big. And don't worry I'm sure you'll get the guy soon."

"I hope so." I muttered.

Ellie left a little while after that while I kept playing I'd got to Noveria when I decided to quit the game and went downstairs to hang out with Ellie until it was time to call it a night.

I awoke the next morning and stumbled downstairs and outside to collect the mail. There were a few usual letters and a parcel addressed to Ellie and I. With a shrug I took them inside, in time to see Ellie walk downstairs already dressed and ready for work.

"Slept in your clothes again I see." She laughed, pointing at my crumpled up jeans and creased Kings Jersey.

I just shrugged "Guess I was pretty tired. There's a parcel here addressed to both of us." I replied.

"You can open it." Ellie replied "I'll make us some toast."

"Uh huh." I replied as I tossed the rest of the mail on the table and studied the parcel; it was in a plain brown box and didn't have a return address on it, with a shrug I carefully opened the package.

Inside was a small silver box, one of those ones that looked like the silver money boxes you give children at their christenings, except without a slot at the top for money to go inside.

As I turned the object in my hands I noticed an indentation along one of the sides, which gave the impression that the box could be opened. Turning it around couldn't see any kind of lock or latch. Rotating the box some more I spotted a glimmer of blue on two of the sides, now that I think back on it I have no idea how I missed them…anyway I flipped the box over and examined it more closely.

It seemed to be made of some sort of blue crystal and was smooth to the touch; the scary thing though was that both the crystals were identical to mine and Ellie's pendants. Curious I pulled the pendant out from under my Kings Jersey and looked at it, yep exactly the same.

"El you better get in here." I called out.

"What is it?" Ellie asked as she walked in.

"It's that package, this was inside it." I replied as I handed it to her, watching as she looked at it, then at the pendant I was clutching.

"Is that…?" she began to ask.

"Yep and I'm pretty sure the other one on there is the same as yours."

Ellie handed the box back to me and ran upstairs, returning a few minutes later with her own pendant and compared it with the other design on the box and gasped when it too was the same.

I felt the box start to vibrate in my hands and glanced down at it, seeing the crystal start to glow and realised that the crystal on my pendant was doing the same. I glanced over at Ellie and saw that her pendant was glowing as well. I dropped the box to the ground and tried to pull off the pendant, as Ellie tossed hers to the floor but before I could remove it from around my neck the blue light from the box got brighter and brighter to the point it was blinding, then everything went dark.

When I came to I found myself in an area filled with bright white light all around me for as far as the eye could see. I'll be honest I'm not the religious sort but I swore I was dead. I ran over to Ellie who was a across from me and dropped down to her side, she was unconscious but breathing.

I stood up and looked around, seeing nothing but the white light. Where was I? How did I get here? What was going to happen next? Were the three main thoughts I had running around in my head.

"Hello!" I shouted, not getting reply.

After a few moments though I felt a presence behind me and turned to see what looked to be my parents standing a few feet behind me, watching me. OK so maybe I am dead. I thought.

"No you are not dead child." My 'Mother' said.

"Are you sure because I think I am, I mean I'm standing in the middle of a white…room for lack of a better term, talking to my dead parents."

The man smiled "We are not your parents; we are only using their image to communicate with you."

I blinked, this was getting weirder and weirder "Oookaaay, so if you're not my parents then who are you?"

"My name is Azeriea and this is Reyoln." The women looking liked my mother answered "And we are two of the last surviving Protheans."

I blinked a few times before laughing "OK so I am dead…well either that or dying , dreaming or lost my mind because the Protheans aren't real, they're a fictional species from a Video Game." I answered.

"This is true in this reality." Reyoln said "However in our reality the events and history of the video game you call Mass Effect are very real."

I stared at the two before folding my arms across my chest "OK I'll play along, if you are the last of the Protheans why are you here?"

Azeriea was the one who answered "As I am sure you know the Reapers were almost successful in wiping our species from existence 50,000 years ago."

I nodded, still not buying any of this "Yeah, everyone except the scientists on Ilos."

"That is correct." Azeriea nodded "However Ilos was not the only Prothean planet the Reapers were not aware of; there was another, an unnamed world hidden on the edge of the known Galaxy, accessible through only one Relay."

"Why did nobody know about this world? Especially the Reapers?" I asked.

"We discovered the Relay by accident while exploring an unexplored region of space and travelled through it. On the other side was a single planet. We decided to use this planet as a place to conduct more hazardous research." Reyoln continued.

I raised an eyebrow "Hazardous research?"

"Yes. As a result we used several ships to move the Relay away from known space lanes and hid it inside a nebula. Only those of us who worked on the planet knew of its location. When the Reapers attacked we received the message through a beacon and remained hidden. It was clear that we would not win the war and with no way of knowing about Ilos we stayed away, venturing out with the few ships we had every few years. By the time the Reapers had returned to Dark Space only one ship and five of our race remained." Azeriea added before Reyoln took over again.

"We spent the next several years continuing our research until we completed it."

I had to admit I was starting to believe their story but I was curious about this mystery research of theirs so I asked about it.

"It started as research into designing portable Mass Relay's for use on ships but after the Reaper invasion we started looking into rebuilding our technology and theory's on space and time, hoping to find a way to go back and save our race from extinction, but we failed." Azeriea spoke, the sadness still in her voice.

"However during one test we inadvertently opened a rift to this reality and after some research discovered that the Reapers did not exist here."

I nodded finally catching up "And I'm guessing you discovered the Mass Effect games too."

"Yes." Reyoln replied.

"OK but that still doesn't explain what you're doing here now." I replied "Wherever here is."

Azeriea smiled "We are in your subconscious mind; your sister is as well, although we are preventing her from waking up just yet so that we could speak to you."

I blinked "Okay, why and why?" I asked

After exchanging a confused glace the two Protheans returned their attention to me. "We are here in your subconscious mind to communicate with you as for the second why…" Azeriea paused and glanced over at Reyoln who nodded.

"We need your help."

I chuckled "My help?"

"Yes. We looked at many people but chose you as the best candidate to help prevent the Reapers from destroying all life in the galaxy again." Azeriea continued.

"Me? But I'm nobody, surely you had better people."

"It is true there were many people who had played the games and know what is to come but there we did not know them as well as you and the type of person you are."

"What does that mean?" I asked, watching as the two exchanged another look.

"You are smart and have a keen analytical mind among other things." Reyoln answered.

"OK second question: How you are here?"

"Our research lasted many years after the Reapers attack and involved several other projects, one of which was the box you opened. It contains many things, including our consciousness, which is how we are communicating with you now."

It was then that I remembered something "Wait if you created the box, then you also created my pendant I'm guessing." And saw the two of them smile.

"Yes we did."

"But Ellie and I have had these since we were children." I replied.

"We know, as we said our project lasted a long time and opening the rift to this reality was one of the first things we accomplished after the Reaper war and after discovering the Mass Effect games we studied your reality and after choosing you we returned to our time and researched…."

"Time travel." I interrupted "It had to have been the only way for you to have sent the pendants back."

Azeriea smiled "Yes, we could not reverse time in our universe however we could here and as such returned and…possessed for lack of a better time your parents to make sure that you would receive the pendant. However after we saw your parents die it was clear that we would have to create another pendant for your sister, otherwise you would not leave…"

"Wait." I said interrupting them "You saw my parent's death? Yet you didn't prevent it?"

"We could not, to do so would change the person you would become." Reyoln answered.

"The person I would…what the hell are you talking about?" I yelled.

"Your parent's death has changed you, as did the one you called Kirsten. You are a stronger person now as a result; if they had not died you would be a different person."

I supposed I couldn't argue with them on their logic "OK so what do you need my help with?"

"While some things in these Mass Effect games are similar, real life may not turn out the same way. What happened to our race 50,000 years ago has already happened, there is no way to undo it, and this Commander Shepard may not be able to stop them, not without your help."

OK now I'll admit as cool as that sounded hearing that shifted my belief firmly back to the 'This is not happening' stage. "So what I'm some kind of…chosen one?" I laughed.

"No, you are simply someone who will have more knowledge of what may happen and how to counteract those events." Reyoln replied.

I sighed and looked over to Ellie "What about Ellie? She knows nothing about Mass Effect; I don't think she'll go."

"Then you will have to convince her or leave her behind, the fate of an entire universe could depend on it." Reyoln said.

"No pressure then." I muttered as I walked over to her and knelt down "Wake her up."

Ellie's POV

I woke up in a strange room fill with white light looking up at my little brother, but there was something different about him, a determination yet somewhat sadness in his eyes, as if he may be about to lose something.

"Rob?" I asked as I sat up "What happened? Where are we?"

I watched as Robert laughed and rubbed his hand across the back of his neck, something he always did when he was nervous "You probably won't believe me." He replied "We uh…do you remember that box?"

"Of course I do." I replied.

"Well it put us inside my subconscious mind." He replied.

I laughed at that "Sure it did…although it does explain the white I always knew there was nothing inside that head of yours."

"Hardy har har very funny." He drawled. It was then I froze when I saw out parents standing behind Robert. I guess he realised I had spotted them.

"It's not them." He said.

"Of course it's not them, they're dead." I replied "It's your memory of them if we're in your subconscious mind, which I don't believe for one second by the way, it's impossible."

"Hey I thought the same thing at first. But when I said it wasn't them I mean they're not a memory either." He replied as he held out his hand and lifted me up before motioning to our parents.

"Ellie meet Reyoln and Azeriea." He said, the two nodding at me.

"Reyoln and Azeriea?" I asked, totally confused.

"Their Protheans." Robert answered.

I frowned at them and my brother "Protheans? I've heard that name before haven't I?" I asked, watching as my brother nodded.

"How much do you remember about Mass Effect?" he asked.

"That it was a game about some machines that wiped out all life in the galaxy or something." I replied, still confused "What does that have to do with them?"

"Well the machines that wiped out life in that Galaxy were called the Reapers. In the game the race that existed before the humans, Turians and so on in the game time were the Protheans." Robert answered.

I glared at him, then at our parents and back to him again "So you expect me to believe that those two are actually fictional aliens from a game series?"

"Fictional in our reality yes, but real in another one, how the guys at BioWare just happened to get it right I don't know but the fact is they are real and they are really standing right there."

I just stared at my brother "This is crazy Rob! Are you even listening to yourself? It's just shock or something from that box or stress brought on by the case you're working."

"I thought the same thing El, but think about it would both of us be dreaming the same thing, at the same time?" he asked me. And I had to admit, it did seem unlikely that both of us would have the same dream, on the other hand neither were fictional aliens so who knows…

This was when the "Alien" who looked like our mother spoke "We understand that this is a lot for you to take in, but your brother speaks the truth." She said as her, the man looking like my father and Robert began explaining everything to me.

Robert's POV

I winced as Ellie yelled at me "This is insane! You can't seriously believe this?" she said, causing me to shrug.

"Look I know you don't buy it and since you never played the games you don't grasp it on the level that I do but trust me when I say that everything they have said, in relation to the way I know them to be from the game checks out. All of it."

She laughed "So you really believe that these fictional aliens came all the way here just to choose you as a…as a saviour?"

"Well when you put it like that…" I muttered. "But look at everything they have said, even you have to admit our pendants and the box on its own, how do you explain that? That is just arrived on our doorstep today of all days and then this happens. What are the odds of that?"

I saw Ellie hesitate, knowing that even she would have to admit that that was one hell of a coincidence.

"But it's just…" she stuttered.

"I know." I replied with a grin and watched as realisation passed over her face, a sadness forming soon after.

"You're going with them aren't you." She said, although it was more a statement then a question.

I nodded "I think I am, look I know you don't believe it and the way I see it is if their right then I'll be in the future doing something unique that I never thought possible and if not then we'll probably wake up and nothing will have changed."

Ellie nodded "And what if, and it's a huge if…what if this is real? And you really do go into that other…world, universe whatever and you can't come back?"

I nodded "It's a possibility but what was the one thing that Mum and Dad taught us?"

Ellie sighed "That if we have the opportunity and means to help someone that we should. It's the reason I became a doctor and you a cop."

I nodded "Exactly, they raised us to be good people, if all of this is real then how can I turn my back on an entire universe if they need help?"

Ellie actually smiled then "I guess you can't. You've always been willing to help other people; I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

I nodded "I really don't want to leave you behind but..." I began but felt my throat close up.

"I know Rob." Ellie replied, tears in her eyes.

Despite the fact Reyoln and Azeriea had vanished to give Ellie and I a minute to talk I felt their presence again and turned around to see them standing where they had been a few feet away.

"You have made a decision." Azeriea said.

I nodded "I have." I answered as I took towards them "If what you say is true and that my being there could help stop the Reapers I can't sit back and do nothing about it."

The two Protheans smiled "We knew we had made the right choice when we chose you." Reyoln said.

"What about your sister?" Azeriea asked, looking over at Ellie.

I turned to look at her as well, waiting as a few minutes passed, knowing that this was probably the last time I was going to see her.

"I…I'm going too." She said shocking not only myself, but Reyoln and Azeriea as well.

"What?" I gasped as she walked over to me.

"You're my little brother and the only family I have, I can't lose you too." She whispered as she pulled me into a hug "If you really are going then I am too."

"Thank you." I whispered back before pulling out of the hug and looked over at Reyoln "So what happens now?" I asked.

"You will wake up in your home, just place both your pendants over their matching crystals on the box and a rift will open that will take you to our dimension."

With that the white room started to fade away and soon I found myself waking up on the floor again and glancing over, seeing Ellie come too as well. We both looked at each other and then at the box.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked her.

"Are you?" she countered.

I hesitated a moment as I looked around our home and then to the box, the gamer in me jumping in anticipation a large grin making it was across my face "Yeah. Yeah I am."

"Then I am too." Ellie replied as she placed her pendant against her crystal design with me doing the same on my side. True to form the box started glowing and what looked to be a larger form of the Biotic singularity formed. I exchanged another look with Ellie before picking up the box and walking towards it, with Ellie joining me.

"Well here goes nothing..." I muttered as we stepped through.