Well this is my new headcanon. One that kinda drew its own wings and ran away from me. Its a new start and honestly i've been having some issues with updating the other stories. Still trying to write myself out of the corner I put myself into. With things are they are, it might be slow after i post all the chapters i've writen so far. Either way, thank you for reading and as always, Bioware owns ME and MEA stuff but let me play in their sandbox. Leave love and critiques!

She put the finishing touches on her project, mouse pointer moving up to the file menu and clicking. Save scene, save project, exit. Sighing, she leaned back in her chair and watched as the program shut itself down on her primary monitor. Her IM on the other monitor flashed and she glanced over to see a teammate had asked something. She responded and then groaned as her hands rubbed over her face. It was late and her bed beckoned.

She got up and fell on to her bed, the cat jumping up after her waited for the woman to roll over to her back. Then the feline snuggled herself up under the woman's chin. Incidentally, the woman just shut down, sleep coming with a vengeance. Both monitors shut down after a half hour, flickering off and leaving the room dark.

The calico cat woke up first, her whiskers twitching as she opened her eyes and stared out in the dark. Slowly the fur along her back rose up and a low growl rumbled from the tiny throat. In the dark at the foot of the bed a light started to appear. It was just a dot at first and then suddenly it fell down, leaving a thicker line of light in its wake.

The cat's growling grew louder and between that and the bright light, they woke the woman up. Her eyes shot open and she blinked a few times trying to understand what that growling noise was.

"Nunn? Cat?" She said and her hand came down to stroke the cat who continued to growl. What was that light? She turned her head to blink at the line of light. Then she turned her head slightly, trying to hear the sudden voices that came from afar distance.

'….osing it! S….rep? ..enry… boo…power! Sir?! S…ethin… side. … t's goin…. low! Shut it down! What…. ell is tha…?"

Those voices echoed into hear ears and both the woman and the cat watched as suddenly the light grew brighter, masking the tendrils of energy leaking from it and it was too late before she realized they had reached for her and the cat. Then she felt a tug and everything went white on her then black as she lost consciousness.

The stasis machine caught the two creatures in its grasp before the energy rift expired and dragged them back from where ever they came. Once the light levels came back to normal he lowered his arm to see what they had caught. Moving closer he found a surprise and at the same time a puzzle.

"Are those primitives from N243AM?" Velor asked, glancing over at his colleague.

The first one moved closer. "Yes and no. More advanced than the ones we know of. Helnor did you get the readings before the rift collapsed on us?"

Helnor nodded. "Yes Galedo. We almost lose the entire facility to a power spike akin to a supernova. What ever happened caused this." He motioned with his tri digit hand towards the stasis field.

"Interesting. We might have accidently discovered the future of the N243AM primitives. Can you get any readings?" Galedo tapped one finger against his lip, curious.

"Seems to be a female of their kind. Her genetic structure has evolved well past the ones we know. The other creature, not sure what it is. Its genetic structure we will have to unravel."

"Good. Do so. We need to study the subjects. Perhaps this can be our hope of the future." Galedo sighed and turned away from the two and stared at his friends and co-workers. "We are the last and our empire has crumbled. We need some way of reaching to the future. Perhaps she is it."

Helnor titled his head slightly. "Female, age about 40 of her years. Sedentary lifestyle I would guess. Overweight. Musculature proves so, lack of movement. Eyesight is impared a bit, not too much but enough to make things blurry I surmise. She also…, dear gods of our fathers. Her brain functions at a higher level than even yours."

Galedo jerked his head up and the moved over to the console, entering in his own commands. He suddenly relaxed and sighed. "It appears the primitives of N243AM are the hope for the future. This one especially."

"Are you thinking of enhancements?" Velor stepped closer and Galedo nodded.

"What of the other creature?" Helnor motioned and Galedo frowned.

He moved over to the console and typed in a few commands, eyes glittering as he pulled up the display. "In its current state it is too small to do anything."

"True but we can put it through the reconstruction sequencer. If that primitive is the hope of our future we better give her something else to help with. Enlarging its skull would give it more room for a higher functioning brain."

"Include a ha'k'zen module," Galedo said distractedly.

"Ah, I see. This is an evolved version of those creatures with the long teeth that hunt the primitives and other smaller creatures." Helnor motioned to the displace he threw up on the main haptic. On the holographic screen was a tan creature, another feline with two long fangs, a sabretooth. "We could resequence it to this?"

Galedo shook his head slowly. "Not to that. Refocus the body though to that size. The appendages, those claws, they need to be tougher. Tough enough to carve through zeldinum. Higher brain function. Ability to communicate with the female I think."

Velor paused and then chuckled. "I can reformate the control module into a link between them."

Galedo noded. "Do it. We have a lot of work to do." He touched the console again and Velor brought out two rolling beds where they put the two and then wheeled them to another room. The feline went into a large pod while the female went into a smaller one.

5 years later

Velor sighed and rubbed his arm. "It is time."

Galedo set his drink down and glanced at Velor then at the sleeping Helnor, nudging his friend with a foot.

Helnor woke with a blink and slowly sat up. "What?"

"It is time to wake Sal'ven," Galedo said softly.

He nodded and rose up with a groan. "It is done then? The final enhancement?"

"It worked. The brain waves are off the chart. On both." Velor spoke up and then smiled at the both of them.

Galedo stood up on one side of the pod, Helnor on the other and Galedo nodded to Velor. He hit a button and a hissing came from the pod holding the female primitive for over 5 years. After the hissing stopped the lid slowly rose up and came to a stop. In the cradle inside was the evolution of humanity enhanced by Prothean ideals.

She laid there, unmoving and the three glanced at each other before Velor tapped at the console. "Heart rate is steady, brain waves are rising. She should be awake." He was puzzled a moment.

Helnor jumped back as a hand rose up and rested on the edge of the cradle. Galedo smirked at his friend and then moved closer and reached in. "Here, sit up slowly Sal'ven," he said softly.

The female groaned and grasped at the helping hand, slowly sitting up and then shivering. The words sounded strange to her, like they were not English yet she understood them. She was cold and started to shiver more.

"Helnor grab the under suit," Velor said as he moved over to detached the wires from the back of her neck and body.

Helnor hurried over and with his and Galedo's help, they dressed her up in the under suit that evened out her body temperature. She stopped shivering at that point. And that's when she looked up and before any of them knew it, she flipped literally over the pod and came to rest on the far side without thinking about it.

"What the fuck are you?" Her eyes were wide in shock as she sat down heavily and then scrambled away in fright.

The three looked at each other and then Galedo sighed. "Please Sal'ven, we will not hurt you." He held his hand out towards her, making no move.

"Hope? No… my name is Riley." Her grey eyes flickered between the three beings who while strange brought up a sense of familiarity that made her freeze up.

A laugh from the one holding its hand out to her made her dart her eyes towards him. "You are our Sal'ven, Riley," he said quietly. "Think a moment."

She blinked at them and then furrowed her brows as information suddenly popped up like an old memory. The war for generations, the defeat, the lack of hope, the last of them. Her eyes slowly moved between the three then lowered to her hands. All this information while new wasn't quite new to her. Some yes, but a lot of it… was the game.

"How did I get here?" Riley stared at Galedo.

"Through a rift we created by accident. I believe we brought you from the future of your race," Galedo said.

Riley laughed and shook her head. "More than just the future. You breached into a alternate future. One where your past never happened. To be honest, where nothing really too exciting happened up to this point for me."

Galedo gave a curious look to her as she sighed and then Helnor started cursing. They all looked at him in surprised shock as he started pacing.

"Remember Bathor's writings?" He glanced over at Galedo who slowly nodded then his eyes widened in sudden realization.

"By the ancestors." Galedo lowered his arm and shook his head before freezing a moment and turning back to Riley. "Why?"

She understood right away what he was asking. "Because in my time you are nothing more than a game that I played. A game that is set a few hundred years in my time's future." She shook her head and then rubbed her hands over her face. "I mean in the game your race became extinct due to the Reapers. Well except for one but he will be the last after. Things go on for far too long and powers supplies didn't last as long as they could have. The AIs had to slowly power down pods. Never did get the entire history." She sighed and looked up. "And now, I am sort of stuck here in the past."

They all watched as she suddenly turned her hand over a few times then looked down. Slowly she rose up and her hands ran over her body. "What exactly did you do to me…?"

Galedo shrugged. "We fixed you. You were evolved from the primitives of your planet already so we had a good idea of how the evolution was going. All senses are enhanced. We fixed the issues with your eyesight and your body's weight was caused by radical cells that would have killed you eventually. Bone and muscle were enhanced with carbon fibers. Some cybernetics were added to help with your companion."

"Companion…? Wait… did you drag Bell here too?" She gave them all startled looks.

Helnor pointed to the pod she was leaning against and Riley turned, using it to pull herself to her feet and peered in to it. "What did you do to her?"

Velor moved over to the console and typed on it. The body rotated till its door was facing her. Then a hiss came from it and once that sound stopped the door opened. Bell slide out onto the floor and Riley marveled at the changes to her one time pet. She was huge, larger than a lion or tiger. Her hand stroked over the still calico pelt of the feline and suddenly both froze up as another set of thoughts entered Riley's mind.

'Light… danger… defend…," it was like an echo of recording from a distance.

Sensations came over her as the thick and heavy muzzle twitched. Warmth and other things she couldn't quite understand at that moment hit her. Riley leaned over and smiled, scratching behind Bell's ear. "Hey baby girl," she said and rubbed her face against the cat's muzzle.

'Mama?' That voice came again and with it a purr rumbled from the feline's throat.

Riley glanced up at the three Protheans and then arched a brow. "So… you made her able to talk to me?"

Helnor frowned a little and then did a scan. "Not… exactly. We cannibalized a bonding module but that seems to have some unexpected effects. Hmm."

Velor moved over and looked over his friend's shoulder to watch the reading. "Ah it somehow connected to the translation module." He pointed to something on the screen and Helnor nodded. "We only wanted a connection between the two of you, one that would keep the feline at your side as a defender."

Bell opened her eyes slowly, seeing her mama there but her touch calmed her. The others, those strange creatures she didn't growl at because she knew they were not trying to harm her mother or her. Nose and muzzle twitched as scents filled her nose and she sat up slowly, trying to untangle too large limbs.

Riley started to giggle softly at Bell because she was hearing the confusion about her size change. The sound was enough to make the three Protheans pause and give a version of their own smile. They realized they had pulled someone from a alternate timeline into their war.

Galedo sighed and sat down. "Forgive us for pulling you into a battle that we are unsure anyone can win. Our desperation to find the key…" He trailed off.

Riley turned her head and studied the old Prothean who sat there a moment. "In a way you did find the key but the problem is. What I know of the future can be changed by the actions I take unless there is a real reason to change it. I do know that because of you and others, that the next cycle will most likely be the last. Many lives will be lost but nothing like what happened to your empire and all previous cycles."

Helnor nodded. "Very true. We enhanced you and meant for you to sleep till the next cycle was almost upon the galaxy. Because of this, and what you say and what we know. Its possible what happened to us will happen to you if we put you in a stasis pod."

Riley snorted softly. "I know of what place that would work. Humanity in this timeline found what is called the Mars base. It's the red planet past Earth."

Velor nodded. "Research station Gamma743. As far as I know, we did not keep any stasis pods there which mean it is possible that power sources could be fixed."

Riley held her hand up. "Solar power but it has to be something that can rise up and descend after collection. Otherwise it will be discovered too soon.

They nodded the Galedo tapped his chin. "I believe they had Courage there. It might be shut down. It can be restarted though."

Riley looked around the room. "I hate to ask but I know we are not there, so how are we going to get there?"

Velor chuckled. "This is a ship, it was buried under the ground and shut down till the Reapers returned to dark space.

Riley nodded slowly. "It is best that I learn all I can and then we be put in stasis pods till the facility is discovered. Have it release me at that point when they crack it open."

It took them a full standard year before they finally made it to the planet that would be Mars. In that time frame Riley learned all she could of the history of the extinct race called Prothean. After these three, the last would remain buried till the time came to unearth him.

Then the time came for Riley and Bell to sleep again. They had built a room deeper in the facility and hid it. The AI known as Courage would keep her safe and keep the collection of solar energy safe till it came time for Riley to awake. The three Protheans watched as their Sal'van once again was laid to sleep along with her companion. Each of them kept vigil over to her till they all expired, leaving her as the only gift they could give for the future.