PROLOGUE
Originally posted on Archive of Our Own but posted here too! Spoiler warnings just so you are aware. (:
One moment it was sleep, the next it was waking up and feeling lost.
In the heart of the moment it begins with a breath. Suddenly her lungs were working and her chest pumped with a heavy rush of blood, rapid confusion reminding the turian that she was alive after years of stasis. The doctors spoke to her but she didn't register their words. This was her first memory in Andromeda and this moment reminded her of watching rocks fall into darkness; there was an instance that made her limbs tingle, as if she were flying, but heavy like sinking as she realized where she actually was. Eyes scanning and heart rushing. This was real, she made it.
They didn't know her from the others. To them she was just another confused and thankful-to-be-here citizen that the medics took care of. Wobbly, woozy, they grabbed her hand with careful comfort and helped her from the long sleep that brought them across the ever-dark of space. A fake name, fake job, fake life, they saw something ordinary and sent her on her way as soon as they were done evaluating the latest of the sleeping colonists that survived the Scourge. They wouldn't know of her biotics and that's the way it would be. Going across galaxies was no easy feat and the turian would finally be able to fit in, possibly.
They made it to the Nexus she was told, they finally made it and those who survived would be able to call it home. When she first laid her eyes upon it she felt like she could erase the past forever. Many would stare at her and none knew her just the way she liked it. To them she would be just another face dragged in with the tide, hopeful and thankful to be with others who had come. Quietly she found her safe place in among the gardens, the plant life calming her once more. The past few days that she had been here it was this spot that she had liked the most. The gardens were her sanctity.
Even now after waking and settling in it didn't fully sink into her mind that it was all due to six-hundred years of sleeping. Dreamless, empty, hollow sleep and the years passed by as they all slumbered in hopes of a better life. How many others were running away? How many were here to forget about the past and start anew? Hands upon the cold steel railing made the turian feel grounded and even a little comforted by the sturdiness. Though the turian woman's sleep was empty there was a feeling of hope nestled in her chest. Hope from the dream that brought her to Andromeda in the first place and it was all finally feeling real, even if they had to leave home behind.
Lowering her pale eyes to the ground there were sounds of life in the distance, there was a silver-lining to the fact they had left the Milky Way.
She would remember Palaven as something akin to fire- you play with it once and after you are burned the first time there was no more playing with it. Those of Palaven could not see past her biotics and in the end she could not see past their mistrust. It would hurt to say goodbye to the Milky Way, there was more than just hate and scorn to something she found so beautiful, but in the end it was the idea of beginning anew that sold her when the Andromeda Initiative came to fruition. At first there was hesitation and perhaps even a slight form of intimidation but in the end she vowed to see herself through it. There wasn't much in the Milky Way left for her anyway, not since her family turned away from her.
So when the Natanus was built and finished it was then the turian found her calling. Hope is what nestled in her heart now, not disappointment or sadness or even grief for being something she didn't have a say in. Most biotics in turian culture were meant only to be weapons. They were feared and many didn't trust them, even at times in the Cabal units there was a level of acceptance that needed to be achieved. If you didn't control yourself you were ousted, abhorred, treated like a monster for something that was never asked for. Luckily enough she never knew that kind of treatment.
Inhaling and tightening her grip upon the railing there was a moment of stillness. Thinking about the past made the turian take it all in from her steel perch. The Nexus was lovely and it reminded her of a kinder time in her life, before the biotics set in. Back then she was naive and carefree, or at least as carefree as turian ethics would allow her. Having a father in C-Sec was a strict life but back then they paid attention to her. She was the baby in their family, the littlest and smallest of her kin, and they loved her. Bitterly she smiled at the thought; back when they saw her as family.
The sound of life echoed far off in the distance and the turian listened softly.
Somewhere in this galaxy there was a new start for her. Somewhere far beyond the stars that she knew and missed now, through the far beyond and the dark between light. Fingers gripping the steel railing there was a heaviness in her heart that slowly began to fade. Andromeda was a new start for her, a new home for a new life. Lifting the light steel eyes towards the blue clouds that feeling of hope made it all worth it. From here on out she vowed to start again and to find a place to fit in, even if it was in the background. There was a lot of mistrust and loneliness in her life but that was in the Milky Way, not Andromeda. Here she would find her place, somewhere out there.
Releasing her grip from the steel and feeling a little more at ease there was a sudden noise behind her. It was the sound of soft breathing, it reminded the turian female of wind through leaves or the moving of clouds through the sky, and as she turned her eyes fell upon a familiar face. It was shocking and her heartbeat picked up as her eyes traced the features of her guest. "Salrixa?" the voice spoke softly, it made the air tighten in her lungs. "Is that you?"
And though the feeling of a friendly face was comforting it set off many alarms; whatever fake name she had pretty much didn't matter now.
