Liara T'Soni watched the conventional, everyday traffic of the colorful metropolis that was Illium. She admired how the sun remained behind the slender figures of the skyscrapers the planet was known for. Only small slivers of light managed to slip past in the cracks between, illuminating Liara's office in an unusual, yet relaxing pattern.
She was unsure whether it really was relaxing, or if she had just grown accustomed to the front view of her office. She'd been confined to this space for years now, becoming weary of the challenging career of an information broker. She'd resorted to disclosing heinous threats to her less cooperative clients, selling protection from mercenaries for a pathetically helpless silver-tongued volus with a knack for gaining rivals.
The lonely asari exhaled, a silenced cry for a companion, a friend to confide in. She'd broke contact with all of them so long ago... on that day. The day when Shepard passed.
She nearly cried out verbally, realizing that today marked two years since Shepard had been killed by Collectors, according to what Cerberus had told her.
Cerberus... Their agents would occasionally contact her, ensuring her that the revival of Shepard was continuing as planned. At this rate, Shepard would be back from the dead within months, a task unimaginable; even with today's technology.
Liara never failed to ask the goddess if she'd made the right choice. If she was justified in turning over Shepard's body to Cerberus. Even if they were successful, would he be the same? Would he still be the Commander Shepard he was while on the SR-1? Or would he return a twisted cyborg Cerberus had grown fond of addressing as 'Shepard'?
She glided her gloved fingers over her face. That exact thought haunted her dreams. Shepard, raised from hell as nothing but a mindless zombie to carry out Cerberus' will. The guilt would eat her alive, not to mention that she would be subject to the wrath of her former friends if they ever found out she was responsible for Cerberus' acquisition of his body.
Even now, she would sometimes collapse in the doorway of her own apartment, littering the floor with tears. The shame was like a dagger in her chest. Until she witnessed the final product of Cerberus' efforts, these crooked apprehensions would never leave her.
She sighed, shaking her head to rid her mind of nightmarish possibilities. Few hours remained in the day, yet she had plenty of work to catch up on, plenty of clients placing their lives in her hands, plenty of enemies quietly waiting for a chance to take a knife to her throat.
She sat before her desk, rebooting her computer to check the thousands of different messages she must have received during her break.
And here's Liara's chapter. Been looking forward to writing this quite a while. Hopefully I didn't screw it up too bad. Also, I'm not sure about this whole process, but I've seen some stories with artwork that has a cool picture with the name of the story on it. I don't know if I can request for someone to make one for me, and I'm not directly asking for anyone to, but it would be nice. Especially since I can't find any decent images anywhere that I can use as the artwork for this fanfic. If you know anything about this, feel free to inbox me. I don't bite. Till next chapter!