Chapter 1

Mass Effect © Bioware

Okay… I wanted to do this for a while after reading a prompt on masskink. It inspired this little puppy, but I'm planning on expanding on this. So…we'll just see how this works out for me. Also I apologize if this seems quick, and if there's a lot of grammar mistakes. I tried my best to catch them.

Shepard spent the last week with this bitter turian who just happens to hate humans. Not that she cares whether or not he likes humans; Saren is just a pain in the ass. He made it his life goal to make her miserable however he could ever since she was assigned on the same mission as him. Shepard glares at the back of the turian's head, curious as to what he's planning—that's if he is at all. There were a lot of things she wondered, like how old is he… does he actually hate humans, or is it only for show? Questions such as these normally cloud her mind, but she often shoves off to the far reaches of her mind.

"We're stuck here for another 24 hours, you know that right?" Shepard continues to glare at Saren as she curls up on the chair next to him, feeling too close.

"It's obvious. I wouldn't be in this situation if the Council didn't force me to tag you along," he retorts.

"Not my fault you decided to blow up the base without telling me—not only that, the stupid nuke took out our engines! I'm surprised we haven't frozen to death…"

She shivers as the cold outside sucks the heat from inside the vehicle. She knows for a fact that Saren will probably survive this, but that doesn't mean he will enjoy his time. In fact, Shepard remembers Garrus mentioning that turians didn't like the cold very much. Oh, Garrus. She kinda misses him, but then again, she misses her whole damn crew. They're so much better than this irritable old turian. Shepard huffs and rolls onto her side as she rubs her arms for warmth—away from the bastard beside her.

"You sound like a spoiled child right now," Saren insults. She snorts rudely and returns to focusing on getting herself warm.

All the soldier can do to ignore him is to zone him out like she normally does whenever he's shouting at her over the comm. So she isn't expecting him to suddenly grab her by the scruff of her neck and pull her into his lap. Struggling to get away, her eyes frantically searches for his, wanting an explanation for his behavior. Her mind keeps coming up with ridiculous reasons, but he assures her by cutting these thoughts off.

"Stop struggling! Didn't you hear me just now?"

"What…? No, I kind of zoned you out," she admits after collecting herself.

"Typical… Well, anyways, I'm not going to allow you to get hypothermia while under my care. That would be too much paperwork," he snorts in disgust. Shepard becomes confuse again by this statement, but she ignores it after settling down into his inviting warmth. She may hate Saren… this is nice though. If she can ignore the fact it's Saren she's cuddling with, she might have a chance to fall asleep, which she actually does in mere minutes. It's probably because she imagined Saren as Garrus.

Saren wakes up to a horrible sense of pain—as if his whole being is ripping apart. He couldn't move or scream out; it's just silent… no familiar hum ofSovereign's engines or whispered promises of a bright future. There's just a void threatening to swallow him, and it simply drives him mad. He tries to call out to the machine, but the void is the only thing there. He suddenly remembers raising a pistol to his jaw, angled just right and pulling the trigger to escape the Reaper's influences. After that, it was just darkness where he felt at peace.

Now, all he feels is intense pain, which makes him want to crawl back into the darkness; the void looks inviting. The turian can remember a woman—Shepard—convincing him to commit suicide when he was able to gain some control back, though he assumes it wasn't what she intended to do. Saren tries to move his limbs again, but his own body doesn't even twitch.

He gives in the urge to just lie there, unsure of where he is or what to do. He can't even open his eyes, so why bother? Saren collects his jumble thoughts, trying to figure out how he's still alive. He no longer can feel the old machine's controlling fingers lingering in his conscious, which leaves him in this void that is still trying to swallow him. Lying there for what seems like an eternity, his mind wanders to his memories buried deep in the corners of his mind. Memories he forced himself to forget a long time ago.

Saren isn't sure why he had killed those who were close to him. Like Nihlus and his brother—their memories only haunt him now. The Reaper told him Nihlus will only try to foil its plan, so he took care of him; his brother is another story. A story he didn't want to remember. As for his protégé, he was sacrificed for a greater cause, or so he thought. Without the whispering voices and the living engines of Sovereign, Saren feels empty, without purpose, which disgusts him. He's just another useless organism in this galaxy.

A quiet swoosh yanks Saren out of his thoughts, and footsteps echo throughout the room. He opens his eyes slightly, only to have a bright light obscure his vision. He flinches and squeezes his eyelids tightly. He tenses when he feels a pair of hands trail down his arm.

"The Council knows. I already told you that," a familiar voice whispers, which Saren desperately clings to.

Finally… A voice. He tries to turn his head to search out the voice, but his body still refuses him. He scolds himself for being unable to reach out.

"The Councilors are idiots for letting you do this," an icy voice retorts and sighs in frustration. "We did all we could for him. We removed all the implants from the Reaper and replaced them, which I should add wasn't easy. All I can say is he was lucky the Illusive Man offered to take this for you."

"I think he's awake."

"I'll get the—"

"Don't worry about it. He needs to wake up some time," the voice from before hushes the other.

"You will have to take him to another base because he isn't stay here."

"I'll do it tomorrow." From the information Saren just taken in, this only can mean Cerberus has their clutches on him. A weak growl erupts in his throat at the thought.

"Saren?" Why does that voice sound so familiar?

The light goes out with a soft click, causing either to go dark again. A hand tilts his head slightly as the cybernetic implants adjust to the dark room. He can make the outline of a woman's face—a human. "Saren, it's Shepard," the woman says quietly.

Saren blinks in surprise and isn't expecting Shepard to be the one who brought him back to life. His vision becomes clearer, so her features are more recognizable to him now. He tries to respond, but only to be restricted of that as well. He glowers at Shepard for putting him in such a state. Shepard touches his cheek lightly as she observes him with her unusually dark eyes. An emotion he couldn't figure out flashes in those appealing eyes when Saren leans into her touch without thinking. After realizing his mistake, he quickly withdraws from her touch in absolute disgust—mostly with himself.

Shepard removes her hand and sighs wearily, "I guess I should let you sleep." With that said, she heads for the door, leaving his view. No… Don't leave. I can't handle the silence! Suddenly, Saren finds the strength to thrash in his bindings, becoming more alert to his surroundings. Tubes and wires lace from his body and hooking him to machines that beep frantically now as his heartbeat rises. With brute strength, he yanks his prosthetic limb free and reaches for the tubing in his mouth, but before he could, a sharp pain stills him. He turns to see a woman he never encountered before stab a needle into his neck before his vision fades into utter darkness.

The weaken turian slowly awakens in a dimly light room. He observes the new room to find the same equipment surrounding him. He discovers there are still bindings and that annoying tube in his throat, which enables him to breathe. His mind is loopy from the sedative or whatever drug the woman gave him from to him seems like years ago, so he didn't hear the soft snoring next to him until a few seconds later. Saren jerks his head in surprise to see Shepard bent over on his bed.

Shepard lifts her head suddenly and looks over to him, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She lets out a loud yawn as she reaches for Saren's tubes. Muscles tense up as she start to remove the tape holding his jaw in place, and after removing the tape, she stops for a moment and warns, "This may sting a little, but Lawson said you should be fine."

She reaches for the tube again and pulls it out slowly as to avoid causing him any discomfort. Saren gags and coughs like a pathetic slim in the streets of Omega as the tube rubs his throat raw, relieve to be rid of the tube. When it finally comes out, his throat is rubbed raw, making it difficult for him to talk. She pries open his jaw effortlessly and pours a little of water to soothe the burning. As the water flows down his sore throat, he doesn't notice Shepard's hand rubbing the soft skin just under his jawline to relieve anymore discomfort as she draws out a soft purr.

"Feeling better I assume?" She smiles at his reaction and continues to do it until he pulls away, which he doesn't at first because of the drugs in his bloodstream. Saren listens attentively to her voice as if it is the only thing in the universe. Finally, he notices of her urging and growls in displeasure as to warn her he's more aware now. He almost regrets doing that when her touch leaves the soft spot.

Saren clears his throat and asks in a whispery voice, "Why did you spare me?"

It takes her a long time to answer, so long he starts to think she either didn't hear him or is ignoring him until she replies, "You deserved better, especially after everything you have done before Sovereign controlled you."

"That makes no sense, Shepard."

She doesn't say another word as she busies herself with checking on the monitors near his bed.

"I had assumed it was something more reasonable," he says in a reasonable tone.

"Like what?" Her back is turn on him, avoiding any eye contact as she fumbles with the screens.

"Don't play coy," he growls in irritation.

"I'm not," she argues, twirling to face him suddenly. Shepard glares at him as she returns to his bedside, and the room grows silent yet again.

"You should have left me for dead."

"Oh…not this again. Don't start with that."

"Are you going to torture me then?" Saren watches her carefully as her eyes squint in disgust at him.

"Now, why would I do that? I'm too nice, even you said so. Remember?" Shepard reminds him, settling down into a chair that she claimed as her bed for the night. Saren becomes silent again, flinching when she runs a delicate finger over his misshapen fringe, which confuses him even more of her true intentions and somewhat frightens him. Of course, he doesn't allow himself to show it because he has a reputation to keep up—even after death. He isn't going to allow some human destroy what he worked so hard to build. "We should do something to get you out of this bed," she whispers as she fingers the binding on his prosthetic arm, sending a shiver down his spine.

"What do you have in mind?" Whatever it is… Just don't leave me in the void. Saren shakes his head at the odd thought that obscures his brain.

She smiles—a smile he had grown accustomed to from their past experiences—while she touches the lock, and a click echoes throughout the room.