The vehicle lurched to a stop ten feet below a rock outcropping and I looked up to see her body hanging limp and uselessly from her left arm. She wasn't laying at the bottom of this chasm, interesting. I threw open the doors and Bray checked her body.

I furrowed my brow in puzzlement while Bray scratched his head and said, "She should have been at the bottom of this shaft. Why is her body here?"

Bray began to check her body and pulled back his hand so fast that it looked like he had been burned by her.

"What's wrong Bray?"

He gripped my arm tight, "Aria! She's still alive!"

My heart almost stopped at his words and I tried to get a grip on myself as I barked, "Then get her down!"

He let me go and started to examine her body more closely. "Her left arm's jammed in that hole, probably broken, and her shoulder's dislocated. Lucky son of a bitch."

I shook my head, if she was alive then it was because of her wits, not because of sheer dumb luck.

"That's not luck Bray. She slowed herself down with her biotics; she did a terrible job of it, but it was just enough for her to stop."

At that moment Nyreen's face flashed before my eyes with those things surrounding her. Her eyes bore right into mine in that last final moment, telling me silently not to let her die in vain… I shook my head to chase the images away and cleared my throat before I spoke.

"Let's get her out of there."

Bray nodded, "Right. Good thing she's out cold, otherwise this would be much more painful."

I wrapped my arms around her hips and pushed her up to relieve the pressure on her left shoulder and Bray swiftly pulled her arm out of the jagged hole in the rock. Raven groaned and I gently laid her down into the back seat of the vehicle while Bray closed the doors.

As he flew us back up to the rest of my people, I glanced back over my shoulder and gently brushed my hand over the left side of her face.

When I withdrew my hand I left a smear on her face. I narrowed my eyes and inspected my now bloody fingers. "Hurry Bray. We need to get her checked out at Solous Clinic."

Raven's P.O.V.

I sat up fast and my shoulder screamed at the movement, which drew a hiss from me that turned into a groan as my head swam. I began to fall backward and a strong pair of arms supported my head and back, taking care to not bump my shoulder.

"Take it easy Raven." Said a low, sultry voice and my eyes flew open in recognition.

The scene before me was unfamiliar, I was in a very big, tastefully decorated, room. I tried to pull back to look at my boss but she was having none of it.

"Raven calm down, you're safe. We're in my quarters."

Her grip was gentle but firm as she held my head and back to keep me from falling back onto whatever it was that I had been resting on.

"I'm alive…" I was going to say something else but my head still felt woozy so I just stopped talking.

Aria put some space between us and she nodded with a serious look on her face, and a slight frown on her mouth.

"Yes, you're alive."

I blinked feeling sluggish, my shoulder didn't seem to hurt anymore and dimly I realized my arm was in a sling, and a cast was covering my arm from wrist to elbow.

"How did you find me?"

Aria gently laid me back against a pillow to support me and then stood up to pace back and forth in front of her fireplace, I noticed as she paced that I was laid out on a very large couch.

Aria had her arms crossed as she walked back and forth, the fireplace casting a contrast of light and dark across her face; it was as if the fire itself was projecting Aria's exact makeup as a person.

The light contrast to me looked like a symbolic form of ying yang, except for the part where Aria was definitely a yang trying to learn how to become a ying. Her voice was smooth and lethal as she spoke.

"When I hire my people I get their armor, weapons, and their body implanted with a tracer. Since you're incredibly new you don't have a body implant but luckily your armor and weapons have tracers, so I followed your signal with my omni-tool. Bray and I took a transport down into the old mine deposit shaft and found you dangling by your arm in a crevice."

Aria turned on her heel to face me, the fire cast a fiery halo along the silhouette of her body.

"You saved my life Raven, the least I could have done was recover your body and hold a proper ceremony for you."

I cleared my throat to cover my surprise at Aria's sentiment, not that she would ever admit to such emotions existing in her body.

"Well…thanks, for coming after me Aria."

My boss inclined her head to acknowledge my thanks and began to walk around the room, running her hand over some shelves, a table, and a case filled with what I assumed were pieces of art. She faced me again and sat down on the couch next to my feet.

She looked me directly in the eyes and said, "I'm not used to having a life debt to someone. Anyone who has ever taken a hit for me has either been killed on impact or died a few hours later."

I started to tap my fingers on the couch, not many people could unsettle me but Aria T'Loak is a unique exception and I'm still trying to figure out why that is.

She continued, "- So that makes what I'm about to ask you a very special circumstance. I would like to keep you as part of my guard, but I understand if this brush with death would make you think otherwise."

She glanced away for the next part, "If you don't wish to stay I will make sure you have a secured job waiting for you, wherever that may be; whether it's on station or not. So I'll give you some time to think about it, this is a very difficult position for you I'm sure. Take all the time you need."

"I appreciate your little speech Aria but it's gonna take more than a bullet and a tumble off a platform to make me leave this job."

Aria's lips quirked up and a mischievous look glittered in her eyes making her seem even more lethal than usual. "Good, because it's hard to find people who are willing to take a bullet for me rather than put the bullet in me."

I snorted at her comment and took in my surroundings. The room was made up of blacks, greys, and white colors. Everything was clean and a bit sterile, like the apartment was being put on display instead of being lived in.

I looked around and wished that I had a place to call my own let alone something of this magnitude.

Aria watched as I took everything in, "Enjoying the view Raven?"

I cleared my throat to hide my embarrassment but red was already coloring my cheeks.

"Not used to seeing a view like this, that's all. So what drugs am I on?"

Aria smirked at me.

"One of the doctors at Solous Clinic gave you medi-gel in addition to pain killers. The vorcha who tried to shoot me made his own ammunition. Not only is it designed to shatter on impact, but it's meant to use explosive chemicals to burn the victim when it makes contact with another object. If it had been my head, I would have had half my skull scorched and a good chunk of bone taken off. With that said, your shoulder was shot off but it went all the way through and you suffered first and second degree burns but your suit put out most of the flames. The doctor says you have a good chance of not needing synthetic skin to be grafted onto your shoulder and that your shoulder will have scars both from the shot and from the burns."

I looked down at my left shoulder, it was wrapped so much that it may as well have been a cast itself. Aria stood up from the couch and sauntered over to a leather chair across from me on the either side of the coffee table that sat in between us.

Her gaze swept up and down me, "You're going to be out of commission for a while Raven. I'm ordering you to be off duty until one of my doctors says you are fit to return. I'll call Bray, when he gets here, tell him to take you home."

My gaze had been on her the whole time until she brought up having a home. I lowered my gaze and my jaw clenched slightly, next thing I know Aria's hand was gripped around my jaw and my eyes were brought up to hers. Ah crap.

"Where are you staying Raven?"

Her voice was low and demanding, it reminded me of a drill sergeant I saw once on the Citadel who was yelling at his recruits that every shot that was ever fired would be made to count, if you didn't have a lock on a target you did not fire or an innocent person could die due to that soldier's rash actions.

Aria's grip tightened on my jaw and her look grew even sharper. I took in a deep breath; I don't like telling people about my living situation simply because I feel guilty and ashamed by it. So I let my lungs fill up with as much air as they can hold and let it out slowly as I looked right into Aria's eyes.

"I'm a vagrant ma'am."

My voice cracked when I said ma'am and I mentally kicked myself for letting my emotions get the better of me. She blinked in surprise and let go of my jaw. "I see."

Vagrants take up space, air, and black credits in the Terminus Systems and Omega's economic system took both black credits and clean credits. Money means everything on this station and if I "bum" off of businesses and don't pay back my share into the system through rent or major sales then I'm taking precious resources and telling people more or less to fuck off cuz I think I'm better than them; at least that's how a lot of business owners, including merc groups would see it and that makes me fair game to have a bullet in my head.

I didn't move, this was an awkward position for me. I've never told anyone that I was homeless before and no one really suspected because I had good armor and weapons. I normally didn't dwell on my living situation much, I would just plan for the short term and long term.

The short term was making sure I got enough to eat and find a safe place to sleep. As far as long term went I became a bouncer at Afterlife so I could make money to sustain myself and save whatever I needed to pay the cheapest place to rent, I had a few more paychecks to go in order to get a somewhat decent place on the station when Aria gave me a proposition.

The offer was to do a test run with Bray and his crew on a few missions, both on and off station. If I did well with Bray's group I could become part of the crew permanently. It sounded like a good opportunity and I agreed to do it, I didn't think that Aria would have a big catch in the deal however.

The catch was I would do the trial period without being paid, so I'm still free loading off the batarian running a kiosk near Afterlife. If I make his sales look good I get a bunk in his back room, I'm on my own for everything else.

Aria straightened back up and continued to examine me with her demanding eyes. I could feel my heart pounding in my ears, it was loud and it made my head hurt a bit, I kept my eyes on the floor and refused to look at her.

I didn't want to see Aria's judgment and anger in her eyes, regardless of what I may have done for her no one likes a vagrant.

I felt gentle pressure on my knee and I looked up in surprise, the only person to ever touch me like that had died a long time ago. Aria's face wasn't sharp, cold, angry, or even disgusted; instead she seemed surprised, in fact she looked startled.

I shifted so my feet were on the floor and I sat upright. I felt weird just lying about on a couch in front of my boss. I made eye contact with her briefly, but I looked away after a second or two. I never thought I would be in Aria's house for anything unless I was guarding her; and this was not that kind of situation.

"You can stay here Raven. For as long as you need. I have a spare room."

I opened my mouth to say…. I didn't know what to say. My head felt funny from the pain killers, I survived an assassination shot and fell off a mining platform that should have killed me, and now my boss was acting like a person who might actually give a damn about what happens to me.

"Thank you."

My voice sounded somewhat strangled and cracked so I cleared my throat and tried again but Aria held up her hand.

"You don't need to explain. Just stay here, rest up, and heal."

With that, she got up and motioned me to follow her. I slowly stood up, my head still felt woozy but I took a few cautious steps and followed her down a white and grey boarded hallway. She opened a sliding door and tapped it to get my attention.

"This door is bullet proof, you'll find everything here is bullet proof. My walls can't be scanned unless I give access and all the food I have here is checked multiple times for poison and tracers. Just in case."

She gave me a smirk and I chuckled at that last part. I looked past Aria's shoulder and saw the sleek looking bed that could be pushed into the wall. The desk and drawers were all pull outs just like the bed. I took a step further into the room and felt padding under my feet. I raised an eyebrow at Aria, "Isn't padding a bit much? The bullet proof walls should cover it."

Aria leaned against the doorframe and gave me a mischievous smile.

"This is my place and I'm letting you stay here. If you're going to question my padded floors you can find somewhere else to bunk."

Aria walked past me and I thought good point, better shut up. She pushed in all the slide out pieces of furniture back into the walls and stepped on a section of the floor. It clicked and raised up, it was a punching bag.

"I can turn this entire place into a high security bunker at the drop of a dime. Or I can use this space to train in."

She typed some things into her omni-tool and the white circular punching bag lit up a bright red. Aria threw a round house kick at it then landed and lifted her rear leg to do a front head kick, next she threw a double hand knife strike and then dropped to the floor.

The top section of the punching bag shot out and had tried to hit Aria square in the face. She had gotten back up but was still crouched low to the ground. A section of the wall came out and tried to sweep Aria off her feet but she nimbly jumped up and drove her foot down into the sweeper, making it retract and seal back up.

With that Aria turned the program off with her omni-tool and pulled out the bed again. I stood there in the door with my mouth hanging open and all I could think was, Holy shit she has the place totally rigged! Aria chuckled and pulled out a section of the wall to create a chair and sat down.

"Are you really that surprised that I can fight?"

I sat down on the bed and shook my head in response.

"No I know you can fight. I saw the vids from when you and Shepard were taking back the station. I was impressed by your biotic, really impressed- My jaw was hanging open cuz I can't believe you have this place rigged so well. I understand the bullet proof material and the poison scanners, but tracers? The fact this entire place can be used as a base of operations or training facility? Shit."

Aria laughed at me. She laughed so hard she threw her head back and was holding her stomach. When she finally stopped laughing she shook her head and smiled at me.

"I like your honesty. Most people wouldn't dare talk to me like that and normally I prefer it that way; less chance of being crossed."

She leaned back into her chair and gave me a meaningful look that said so remember who you're talking to. The bed I was sitting on was very comfortable and I still felt a little bit sleepy but I had a question. Why would Aria have a spare bedroom?

"Why do you have a spare room?"

Aria's eyes narrowed a bit and her body tensed up.

"Came with the place."

Yeah right I thought. She has so much money she could design this place and I would bet every single piece of equipment that I own that she didn't just "find" this place. I wouldn't push the subject on why she had a second room but that line was complete bullshit.

I shook my head and ticked my reasons off my fingers, "You have bullet proof material, you can shape any of these rooms any way you want, and you have this whole place synced up to your omni-tool. There's no way you just found this and bought it. You have a lot of money Aria. I would bet an arm and a leg that you designed this whole place."

I must have struck a nerve cuz Aria's fingers curled into her palms and she was making fists. Shit… I slowly positioned myself so I was on the edge of the bed, if she was going to attack me I'd be ready. It doesn't take much for Aria to issue an order for someone to die and it didn't matter what her reasons were; people just did as they were told and shot em. If I was lucky I could clear the door before she threw her biotics at me, but like I said earlier she can fight. And boy does she fight dirty. I'm fucked.

She glared at me but she visibly took a deep breath in and closed her eyes. Some time passed and she slowly breathed out.

"I don't need to explain my home designs to you."

She stood up abruptly and stiffly started to head for the door. I gave an inner sigh, damn that was close. I need to watch what I say; must be these damn drugs. I watched her start heading for the door and I saw something pass over her face. It was similar to a look I had seen once before when a drunk customer at Afterlife said that Nyreen was the only hero Omega has ever head besides Archangel. Aria had looked sad, slightly pained, and at the same time I saw a look of old love. I had heard that Aria and Nyreen had once been together, but they parted ways. I could see how it wouldn't; given Aria and Nyreen's personalities are way too different.

I compared this look from what I saw last time. She looked sad for sure, but it appeared that what I said had made her think of an old memory too. Perhaps this had been Nyreen's old room. If that was the case then no wonder she got so pissed.

Aria saw me balancing on the edge of the bed and she had a cold smirk on her face.

"You can relax Raven. If I wanted you killed I'd have Bray take you outside. I don't need blood stains on my carpet."

She walked over to where I was sitting and I pushed myself further away from her. I don't like getting people too close to me if I don't know them real well and Aria is not exactly someone you want to have up close in your space. It usually means you'll be shot, ripped apart, and stabbed before being thrown off a cliff. Her smirk got even bigger and she stretched her arm to open a compartment behind me that held bedding, blankets, and a fluffed up pillow.

"Here."

Aria gave me the bedding and headed towards the door.

"-and Raven, I appreciate what you did for me yesterday, but that doesn't mean you get to ask 21 questions. If there's anything else you need just let me or Bray know."

I nodded my thanks and cleared my throat.

"Yes ma'am."

Aria dismissed my comment and left.

Aria's P.O.V.

I left the bedroom I put Raven up in and sighed once I got into my own personal chambers. I sat down in front of my private terminal and typed in my password for the month.

I called up years' worth of photographs and videos. Why do you have a spare bedroom? I pulled up the picture I had taken of Liselle and I when she was born.

She looked so small and fragile then but the truth was that it was I who had been the fragile one that day, not her. I was a woman who had grabbed Omega from Patriach's claws and allowed him to survive to tell the tale on how I had defeated him. I was powerful, dangerous, and lethal to the point that I turned Patriach into a broken krogan, a very hard thing to do but I had indeed done it. When Liselle had been born though I wasn't any of those things.

I was a new mother who stared at her beautiful child in awe. I was in awe because despite all the things I was capable of doing to others there was nothing that could have prepared me for what I felt when my daughter was born. I felt pure joy and experienced a lightness I had never felt before. And when Liselle gripped my finger in her little hand I felt a wall just break within me and all kinds of emotions flooded into me. Love, adoration, being in awe of bringing life into the world, and absolute shock that a being who couldn't even feed herself had managed to tame me for a moment and bring me to my knees.

That day had changed my life forever. I went through a few more photos of Liselle growing up. Her first birthday, first tooth that fell out, that day I bought Liselle a jumper she just had to have.

My heart ached and I closed my eyes. I missed Liselle. Despite the fact I had to keep her hidden and make her live a life of secrecy and danger, she had been a little ray of light in my very dark and dangerous world. Then I pulled up footage of Shepard killing Kai Leng. My hands clenched and I zoomed in closer as I watched Shepard deflect his sword and brought his own omni-blade out to skewer him like the low life dog he was.

I hadn't known it at the time but it was Kai Leng who had killed my daughter and I was very happy now about the fact the filthy bastard was dead, but I wished so badly that I had been the one to kill him and not Shepard.

I released a breath I hadn't known I had been holding and I made my hands unclench. If I wasn't able to kill the bastard though I was glad Shepard had been able to do it for me. I exited out of my terminal and sat back into my chair.

It's been almost two hundred years since Shepard took out Leng but every once in a while I still see Liselle and Nyreen around. I rubbed my forehead and tried to ease the headache I had coming on.

I haven't thought about Liselle in a long time. It still hurts to think about her. A mother never gets over the death of their child. The concept was so….putrid. A parent never should have to outlive their child. But there's nothing I can do about it now, so there's no point in dwelling on it.

I looked at the clock and noticed six hours had actually passed since I left Raven's new sleeping quarters. I smiled a little at the thought of Raven. I find her amusing, but I can't have her questioning me so I need to keep an eye on her. No one has had the nerve to ask me about my private life or question me in hundreds of years, I didn't like it.

Why do you have a spare bedroom? I pulled up the security cameras and looked at the room Raven was sleeping in. The room had been Liselle's and I haven't really been in there since….. the day she moved out and again when I discovered she had been murdered.

Raven tossed in her sleep and muttered something but I wasn't paying too much attention to the screen. Instead I was thinking about the events that took place the other day.

The way Raven threw herself in front of me, it looked like she didn't have any second thoughts about getting shot; she just did it. Her actions were admirable, but what were her reasons? My boys have been guarding me for years, I command loyalty and experience from them. But not Raven, she was brand new, this was just to give her a trial run and along the way she ended up in the cross fire of an assassination.

But why? I drummed my fingers on the desk as I thought about this. She seems to have some ethics like Nyreen did, perhaps she was just being honorable. Nyreen was never a gun for hire though, and it looks like Raven may not be either. Nyreen also never wanted civilians to get caught up in mercenary drama nor did she want life to be wasted, if the life was a good one. Did Raven jump in front of the bullet because it was her job or because she thought I was worth saving?

That question could only be answered in time by letting Raven stay on as a guard. Then another comment Raven made entered my mind, I'm a vagrant ma'am. Raven most likely doesn't have any money and the kid is doing a trial run for me. She's certainly proven she can handle the job.

I tilted my chair back and scoffed at that thought, of course she'd proven it! She took a shot that was meant for me. Her duty couldn't be questioned, or her skills, so I suppose that means she should get paid now.

I picked up a pad and sent Bray a note to put Raven down on the rolls for when she gets back on her feet. He acknowledged my order and made a note of it in his files.

I set the pad back down and my thoughts drifted back to Liselle. I was glad at the way she had turned out. To be honest I couldn't have asked for anything more. I may not have planned for Liselle being born, but once she came into the world I made sure she was taken care of and safe, at least as safe as a unknown daughter of Aria T'Loak can be.

I documented everything I could with pictures and videos of her when she was very young but I had to get back to work, my absence had raised questions. So I had decided to keep an eye on Liselle, have the best people teach her and train her in secret, other than that though I had to keep her at arm's length.

It had been the best way to protect her given my position on Omega but as Liselle grew up I could tell she understood why I did it.

When Liselle turned a hundred she came into my office and informed me that she had been learning how to fight and wanted me to teach her about how my business worked. I laughed outright at the situation. I had been keeping my daughter at arm's length to keep her safe and she wanted to learn everything that I did for a living.

I had given it some thought, it actually hadn't been a bad idea. I was good at running Omega but if I had been trained from Liselle's age… I could only imagine what would have been accomplished.

So I taught Liselle how to fight. She was taught weapons, tactics, and the art of torture for information by Bray while I taught her how to use her biotics to the best of her advantage. In addition to that I taught Liselle how to draw out torture to make a point and provide a message for other people who may think to challenge her later in life.

I got up and picked up the clay cup Liselle made for me on Mother's Day when she was twenty-five. My daughter did very well in her studies so when I felt she was ready I told her she could enter the business and work for me.

Liselle had agreed that she was ready and moved out of my little sanctuary for her and made a life for herself out on Omega's streets. No one ever suspected that Liselle was my daughter either once she entered my ranks.

In fact Liselle made it a point to question commands a few times during her service. She even disobeyed an order her commander gave her once during a mission. She was told to stay with a cargo shipment of red sand on a shuttle that was docked at the Citadel while the rest of her squad fought off C-Sec officers, but instead she left the shuttle to help get all of her squad mates onto the shuttle. Her commander later yelled at her for insubordination and made her sit on watch duty for the next month to make a point.

My daughter did well to conceal her identity and I was very proud of her skills and intelligence. She did better than what I had expected of her and really what else could a mother want?

I sighed though and put the homemade cup back down. I needed to get my mind off of Liselle. Dwelling on the past would do nothing, I needed to think of the here and now. The past can't be changed but the present can shape the future so I needed to just focus on work and move on.

I went back to my desk and picked up a pad to take a look at profit shipments that came in recently when I heard something. I grabbed my gun out of habit and scanned the room but no one was there.

I looked at my screens and saw no one besides me and Raven where in my place so I relaxed my hold on the gun and took a closer look at my security cameras.

The noise was coming from Raven. The young girl was struggling against something in her sleep. I noticed her movements were slow and sluggish but she was indeed fighting something, and if she didn't wake up soon that arm of hers was going to hit something. I got up from my chair to wake up Raven before she caused herself more injury and that's when she began to moan in her sleep.

"Let go of me!"

She tossed and turned some more and moaned again.

"Get off me!"

I quickly left my chambers and went down the hall and palmed open Raven's door. She was a mess. Her bandages were coming apart and I saw that she was very close to falling off the bed soon.

I strode over to her and gently supported her head and torso with my arms and guided her back towards the bed but she tried to resist me.

"Nooo.."

It came out as a sob and I frowned, Raven struck me as a tough woman who could handle her own but this display was showing me a different side to the young human. Whatever she was dreaming about was causing her a great deal of stress, but that wasn't my problem.

So I hit the light switch near the bed and the lights came on.

"Raven." I gently shook her, "Raven wake up."

Her body jerked and she gasped like she wasn't getting enough air. The sheets were stuck to her body every which way and she was shaking like a leaf.

Raven tried to struggle out of my grasp but I kept a firm grip on her, couldn't risk her getting more injuries.

"Calm down. You're still in my quarters."

She took a few deep breaths and I could tell she was trying to subdue her shaking, but it wasn't going over well.

Raven sat up all the way and swung her legs over the bed, then she put some distance between us.

"Sorry boss." She mumbled. She tried to cross her arms but due to her injuries that wasn't going to be possible and she grunted in pain from the motion.

I stood up and nodded, "I hope there will be no more of these outbursts tonight."

Raven didn't speak, she just nodded and went back to the bed. On my way out I said, "We'll need to change your bandages in the morning too." Then I left her room and I went back into my own room to sleep. I turned the lights off when I slipped into my bed and my last thought was about Liselle before I closed my eyes and went to sleep.