A/N: I realized while writing this chapter that this is two stories in one. Almost a story within a story deal, while her childhood will most certainly be dark twisted mess, it will be contrasted with almost pleasant times as she romances Liara.

She sat quietly in the empty mess basking in the silence. She had always enjoyed the peace that silence brought her and she used the usually fleeting moments to reflect. The images of Finch's dead body came back to the forefront of her mind, despite attempts to push it back down. What if that had been the wrong decision, what if they had sent someone else after her, someone who wasn't weak and clearly not prepared to deal with her. It was plausible that the rapid expansion had made them weak; a person like Finch would have been better as a street walker, or at the very least a low level drug dealer. He had been expendable.

The sound of footsteps caused forced her out the thoughts that plagued her and her eyes shifted to the source of the interruption. A small puzzled look crossed her features when her gaze fell on Liara, as she wondered what the Prothean expert was doing up at this time.

"Commander!" There was a mixture of shock and a hint of astonishment on Liara's features. "I didn't think that anyone would be up at this time. I simply wanted something to eat; I didn't mean to disturb you."

Artemis watched Liara babble on for a minute and the corner of her lips twitched as she held back her amusement, "It's fine," she assured her easily as she made a motion with her hand for Liara to take a seat. "I was simply...reminiscing."

Liara nodded, "I always did find it easier to think in complete silence," she offered trying to make conversation.

Artemis eyes flicked over to Liara studying her for a split second before shifting back to the file she had in her hand, "It is."

Liara bit her lip nervously unused to the woman in front of her and slightly afraid that she had offended her for some reason. After a few short seconds of silence, "I'm sorry if I have offended you in some way. I'm not used to deal with your species," she blurted causing Shepard to look up at her, a puzzled look on her face.

Artemis gave her a confused look before sighing and placing the file on the table in front of her, and turning to her finally giving Liara her full attention, "You haven't offended me," she reassured her taking Liara once again. "Why do you think you've offended me?"

"Earlier, when I asked you about your childhood, Ashley informed that it wasn't the best way to ask."

Artemis was quiet for a second, "No, it would take a lot more than that to offend me Liara." Her tone was surprisingly comforting; she had been there once upon a time. When she had joined the Alliance, it had been like entering a new world and it had confused her. She had been forced to adapt. "I'd rather you ask then watch one of those vids about me. They make my history seem like I just had a rough upbringing. They aren't even close to the truth."

Liara nodded looking at the spectre in front of her, it was clear the events of today had upset her in some way. She had been distracted after their one drink in Chora's Den. "Would now be a bad time to ask you about Fox? You mentioned that name earlier when you were talking about your childhood."

Artemis considered Liara had asked, maybe it would help ease her restlessness to talk more about her past. Telling Liara and Ashley about the first six years of her childhood had been a rather cathartic experience. "After I got my branding—"

Liara blushed suddenly feeling very ignorant, "I'm sorry to interrupt Shepard but what is this branding that you kept mentioning."

Artemis blinked in surprise astounded that Liara had never heard of the term before. She reached for the top of her shirt slowly unbuttoning it so Liara could see her own brand, "Branding is an act of body modification, in human history it was used on criminals, slaves. It was more commonly used to show ownership of cattle, the owner of the cattle would burn his mark into the flank of the cattle to signify, if those cattle ever got lost or stolen that it was his." Artemis slowly peeled away the top of her shirt revealing her upper chest. There right under the jugular notch, on the manubrium, written in gothic style was the figures one and zero.

Liara gawked at the burn mark on Shepard's chest. "Goddess," she whispered, unknowingly reaching out to touch the mark.

Artemis didn't pull away, instead letting Liara trace her brand. She could remember that day, as the hot iron pressed into her flesh it also seared itself in her mind. She would never forget that pain. "They used a hot iron—"

Her arms and legs had been tightly strapped down to what appeared to be a table with metal cuffs. She had been left alone, simply trapped to the table and she struggled as violently as she could, wanting desperately to be free. The urge to cry was overwhelming but Johnny's words were still fresh in her young mind. Weakness was bad, and she didn't want to be in that faceless boy's position. The thought scared her, more than anything in the world. She pulled on her bindings, but her movement was too severely limited to help her gain enough traction to break free, not that she personally had the strength to do so such an act.

"Stay still," the voice cut through the air.

Artemis stopped immediately. She didn't recognize the voice, immediately wondering if this new voice was Fox. She shook her head, the voice was clearly male, and Johnny had said that Fox was a girl. She craned her neck as much as possible to take a better look at the large man who entered the room. The first thing that she noticed was his several facial piercings. The silver studs and hoop caught the sunlight that was shining through the sole window in the room causing them to glitter.

"At least this one listens," the man grumbled to Johnny.

Johnny nodded, "Aren't you going to strap her body down? You don't want her moving," he took a drag of his cigarette.

The man turned on him, anger flashing in his eyes, "Do not tell me how to do my job."

Johnny immediately held up his arms, attempting to calm the bigger man down, "Easy their Bo, I was just trying to be helpful," Johnny said defensively.

The man identified as Keith stared down the shorter man for a minute before turning his attention to the girl strapped down on his table. "Where should I put the stamp on her ass or above her cunt?" he asked pulling out one of his poker. "And how big do you want it? Girl with a pretty face like that might be fought over in a turf war, you might want to put a big fucking sign on her saying that she's the Red's property—"

"She's not going to be a whore." Johnny interrupted, "She passed her initiation, and she earned her spot."

Keith gave the child in front of him a one over, her eye was still swollen shut and on the same side of her face was a scrape from where her face had skidded across the pavement. The parts of her arms he could see were also heavily bruised; some of her wounds were still fresh and oozing blood slowly. Her small child fingers were still caked in blood, who's Keith couldn't be sure but the blood had already clotted clinging to Artemis's skin. He turned to Johnny, "You're shitting me."

Johnny smirked, "She shattered another kid's kneecap, didn't stop till the boy begged her to stop. It's been the most brutal initiation I've personally ever witnessed." He took another drag of his cigarette, "I tell you this kid is special, a born survivor. I'm sure some kid took a vid of the fight, if I can find a copy I'll send it to you."

Keith gave the kid another look over, he personally saw nothing that was impressive. She was just another runt, who would probably be dead before she hit puberty, and if she did hit puberty there was a high chance she wouldn't see her sixteenth birthday. "If you say so," he finally grunted as he slid on a thick work glove picking up a long rod. "You keeping her?" he asked.

Johnny looked at Artemis who was sitting their quietly staying as still as possible, at least she followed direction well, he looked over at Keith flicking his cigarette down and stepping on it with his combat boot. "I'm giving her to Fox."

Keith nearly dropped the metal rod, "Shit Fox? Are you trying to kill her? You know she's fucking unstable."

Johnny studied Keith a serious expression on his face as he watched Keith using a blowtorch on the emblem part of the rod. The blackened metal turning a bright orange as it began to heat up. "I think the kid is special, if she can survive Fox's first week then she'll have a chance that no one else has. She's not made to be some common thug. The way she took out the kid's knee, she knew exactly what she was doing."

"You better hope that you're right," Keith waited until the entire Tenth Street Red Emblem was glowing a bright orange before turning to Artemis. "Which arm?" he asked her roughly.

"Not on the arm," Johnny interrupted him cutting Artemis off before she could respond. "On the chest, you know where you gave Fox her second one."

Keith turned on Johnny wheeling around almost forgetting that he had the poker in his hand. There was concern on his face, giving a child their brand was one thing but he certainly was no kid killer. "Are you fucking mad, there is no muscle their just a bit of skin and a bit of bone. She's a kid Johnny; she's not eighteen like Fox was."

Johnny turned to Artemis staring at her long and hard before he slowly made his way to the table and grabbed her by her shirt and pulled roughly, ripping the thin fabric in two as he displayed her chest. He pointed to the bare spot on her chest, "Do it. Or I'll do it myself," his voice was hard as he glared at the older man. His hands placed firmly on Artemis's shoulders keeping her pinned down.

Keith stared at Johnny slightly surprised that he had taken that tone with him. "Fuck you. If she dies it's on your fucking head," he snarled as he pushed the hot metal against Artemis's bare chest.

She had screamed as all the muscles in her body contracted as the pain began to slowly radiate through her entire being. The sound of her flesh sizzling hit her ears first and before the smell of burning human flesh, her burning flesh, assaulted her nose. Her body began to violently thrash as much as it possibly could given the fact that it was restrained tightly. The pain didn't stop as her back arched, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head unaware that Keith had already removed the poker, throwing it into a container filled with water which sizzled violently as the metal was rapidly cooled. Her body bucked a bit for a few seconds more before it finally went limp as she blacked out from the pain.

Keith's hands immediately grabbed her wrist and began to look for a pulse, he found one but it was weak. He let the Artemis's arm drop. "She's fucking alive. No thanks to you."

Johnny looked down at the child in front of him and gently wiped a bit of drool from the side of Shepard's mouth, watching her now branded chest rise slowly before falling down. It had been a risky move, but she had lived. The kid was a survivor, "Patch her up," he ordered. "I want her delivered to Fox by the end of the night. No medi-gel, the old fashioned way. She needs to remember this pain." It was the only way she was going to survive her first meeting with Fox.

Artemis watched Liara's fingers as she gently traced the mark on her skin, despite the fact that she had lost most sensation to the area where Keith's hot iron had pressed into her skin, Liara's gentle touch felt nice. "Your body doesn't forget trauma like this. I've been shot, I've been stabbed, whipped, electrocuted, you name it I'm sure it's happened to me, this was one of the worst pains that I've ever felt. It definitely within the top three." It was probably why her pain tolerance was so high.

Liara, as if suddenly realizing that her hand was on Artemis's chest, jerked her hand back her blood rushing to her cheeks as she blushed, "I'm sorry."

Artemis accepted the apology with a small nod of her head as she buttoned her shirt back up. She finished and quickly and smoothed out her shirt. Her pale eyes focusing on the Asari in front of her, "Tattoos can be removed rather easily, brands, they can't and no one wants their cattle running off without a way to identify them," she explained.

"With cosmetic surgery you could have it removed," Liara informed her. "They would no longer stake a claim to you."

Artemis shook her head, she had thought of it of course when she had left, she had to remove all sign of what she was. "I don't want to. It reminds me every day that I've survived the worst this galaxy has thrown at me and survived. They remind me of all the lives I ruined, all the people I killed while I ran with the Reds, they tell the story of who I was and what I have to atone for. "

"I didn't see you as a spiritual person Commander," Liara said thoroughly surprised at Artemis's words.

Artemis shrugged a slight blush rising to her cheeks it was as if she were embarrassed, "I am not a common street thug. I did have an education sort of. I got my GED at the very least had to teach myself." her voice was almost defensive, it was true she would probably never have a fancy degree like Liara's but she was not stupid. Her education had comprised of a couple hours of lessons daily and a lot of what she had learned had been applied knowledge. Everything else she had substituted by reading as many books as she could whenever she had spare time.

This time it was Liara's turn to blush, "Again I seemed to have offended you, I didn't mean to imply that were uneducated Commander. You can see why I prefer to spend time by myself I can't embarrass myself."

Artemis sighed, "You didn't offend me, though many people who have graduated from a university, who have their doctorates look down at me because I don't have a degree."

"I can understand how you feel; my work has been looked over because I'm only 106. My age has nothing to do with what I can contribute to my field."

Artemis nodded in agreement, pleasantly surprised at Liara's attitude, she was not like the others; the ones who were born to privilege and had rather easy lives, and who looked at her as if she were dirt. There was silence as the two women were lost in their own thoughts, before Artemis broke the quiet, "I have some cookies in my cabin."

Liara blinked, "Cookies?" she echoed, "What are they?"

A smile crossed Artemis's face and she got up to go retrieve her secret stash, she had them imported from Earth, one of the few things that she indulged herself in. She opened the tin and placed it on the table pushing it towards Liara, "They're good, chocolate chip with real chocolate, not the synthetic stuff they try to pass off as the real thing."

The Prothean scientist took one of the thick chocolate chip cookies, watching as Artemis picked up one and took a bite, she followed suit. She was pleasantly surprised at the sweetness of the chocolate as it melted in her mouth. Her eyes widening in surprise at how good the cookie was, she swallowed and looked up at Shepard who was watching her curiously from where she was nibbling on her cookies. "Shepard, these are amazing."

Artemis grinned, glad that Liara had liked, what she considered the only Earth delicacy worth talking about, "I know."

The woman were silent sharing the cookies between them. Liara spoke first, "You still haven't told me about Fox. Who was she to you?"

Artemis chewed quietly. Fox had been everything to her, she had been her mentor, her abuser, her friend, her boss, her lover, and there was so still so much. She had loved Fox, adored her and would have done anything to keep her happy. But at the same time she had loathed the woman. Their relationship had been complex, but if it hadn't been for Fox she wouldn't be where she was. "Fox? I lam who today because of Fox."

"She sounds like an amazing woman Commander."

"She was—is." Artemis was quiet; had it been Fox instead of Finch..."She was both the most amazing woman I ever had the pleasure of meeting and also the worst person. Our relationship was, well, complex from day one—"

"Do you remember what I said?"

Artemis looked up at Johnny for a split second as if she were acknowledging his existence, "Yes."

Johnny looked at Artemis with mild surprise at the defiance in her tone, he reached to put his hand on her shoulder, and he wasn't surprised when she pulled away from him. She glanced up at him once again and he could see the betrayal on her face and the anger in her eyes as well the hint of confusion. "And what was that?"

This time Artemis didn't look up at him instead focusing on the dashboard trying to keep her breaths shallow enough so that the still sharp pain in her chest didn't hurt so badly. It had been a few days after her first branding experience; "To keep Fox happy."

Johnny was quiet for a moment choosing his words carefully, "You're mad because I let Keith hurt you." Artemis didn't make any notion that she was listening still staring at the dashboard with concentration Johnny didn't realize was possible in a child of six. "I hope you've learned the lesson. The closest people to you, the ones you trust they will be the one to betray you. You think what I did hurt you? Fox will cut you so much deeper and cause you so much more pain if you let her. You may not like how I'm doing it, but I'm making sure you don't go back to Craven and teaching you how to survive." There was still no response from Artemis, and Johnny rolled his eyes; she would learn the hard way.

The vehicle was quiet for the remainder of the ride; Artemis had eventually stopped staring at the dashboard and instead focused her attention on watching the cars pass by her window till finally the vehicle came to a stop. She finally turned to Johnny, "Are we there yet?"

Johnny didn't answer for a moment, a childish attempt to punish the six year old, as he stepped parked the car and opened the door stepping out of it. "Let's go."

Artemis unfastened her seatbelt and opened the door sliding out of the seat and landing on the ground, her eyes immediately scanning her surroundings before falling back on Johnny who was watching her. She scowled at him waiting for him to lead the way so she could follow. She was rewarded with a smirk which caused her to scowl more as she followed the older man. Her eyes taking in her surroundings, the area was certainly much better than where she had been living. Everything was so much newer, there was no graffiti sprawled on the sides of buildings, no scantily dressed women in the street. And there was a distinct lack of children running about. "Am I going to live here?" The place reminded her of better times when her mother and father were still alive.

"If you impress Fox you might be able to live in some place without any children, and you'll be able to earn some money so you'll be able to buy whatever it is you want." Johnny was quiet for a moment, "I hear that she's looking for a protégé, if you really impress her you'll live with her and have her personal attention. She'll make sure you are groomed to become her." Artemis looked at him, not particularly impressed. "You'll never be that boy."

A determined look crossed Artemis's face, but she said nothing, planning to do whatever it took to become Fox's protégé. They entered the elevator and Johnny pushed a button taking them to the top floor. The ride seemed to be painstakingly long, especially for a six year old and she began to fidget tapping her foot nervously.

Johnny looked over at her and gave a strong cuff on the back of her head, "Don't do that in front of her, Fox doesn't like fear so don't be afraid, don't cry." The elevator door opened, "Screaming though...she likes that," he muttered the last bit under his breath as he pushed Shepard to Fox's apartment.

Artemis looked up at him a confused look on her face, "Will she hurt me?"

"Yes, she probably will," Johnny answered honestly. "But at the end of the day it will be worth it. You will not be like most of the common thugs that we have, you'll live longer than average and you may end up doing something great, might even be one of the few to break away from this life. Or maybe you'll make it your career, right now anything is possible." With that being said, he pushed the green panel on Fox's door.

The door slid open after a moment and Artemis finally met the woman who was to be a blessing and curse. The tall athletic woman with a light tan and several scars stood in front of them, her amber eyes focusing on Johnny as she brushed a strand of her auburn hair out of her face. She was half hidden, leaning against the wall.

"Johnny," her tone was curt, impatient even, but it carried her authority that had been earned. "I'm busy, so where is this amazing child that you've been trying to pawn off on me."

Johnny immediately pointed down to Artemis who was busy studying Fox, quickly taking in all the scars that littered her body, mixed with the occasional tattoo. Her eyes finally fell onto what would soon be matching brand marks when hers healed. She suddenly shifted her gaze looking up at Fox who had turned to her and was studying her with the same intensity.

"You saw the vid I sent you?" Johnny asked, "It's rough I know, but what can you expect from kids."

Fox stared at Artemis for another second more studying the faded bruises on her face and on her body, before turning to Johnny. "You've got to be shitting me. She's a runt, and I watched the entire fucking video, this little piece of shit got her ass kicked the entire fight and then cheats to win," she said, her tone was suddenly so much colder. "I don't have the fucking time to babysit fucking babies."

"But the vid—"Johnny began. "Talk to her, she's intelligent and has a talent that is too rare to let go."

"I hate fucking repeating myself..." Fox began about to launch herself into a tirade.

Artemis's continued to study the woman in front of her as well as her other surroundings, "You're hurt," she commented out loud, forcing both adults to turn to her. Johnny looked positively pale as Fox's eyes flashed in anger.

"What the fuck did you say?"

Artemis looked up at Fox, "You're hurt," she repeated again.

Fox snarled and raised her hand to backhand the child who was clearly not interested in being hit again as she took a step back out of her reach a proud look crossing her features. She turned her eyes back to Johnny, wondering if he had fed the child information that she had been shot a few hours prior. No, it would be highly unlikely she was several pay grades above Johnny. She frowned as she pulled herself away from the wall and took a step into the wall giving Artemis a good hard backhand across the face, finally revealing the fact that her white shirt had a dark red patch on her left side. The ring on her finger catching as it cut into Shepard's face, the blood immediately welled up and slowly dripped down her face. The child didn't flinch or pull away instead choosing to continue to stare at Fox an irritating defiant look in her eyes. The intensity of her gaze was almost unsettling. Maybe Johnny had a point.

"Holy shit you got shot!" Johnny cried out and Fox turned to him her eyes flashing for a second before turning back to Artemis.

"How did you know?"

Artemis looked at her, "Your body is acting just like mine."

Fox sneered looking at the fading bruises before turning to Johnny, she was about to say something when Johnny reached over to Artemis pulling on her shirt enough to reveal where she had taken her brand, "The kid knows pain. She's a survivor, and her observational skills are better than most. She's six and she could tell that you were injured before I did. She's an asset to your side and imagine what she'll be, what she could become under your wing."

Fox was quiet, her mind racing, she had seen the video, she had been curious about the kid, "Beauregard will take her," she finally said as she re-entered her apartment. "If she proves to be as good as you say Johnny, then I'll reconsider. Until then, well maybe she can learn to be useful I can't do much with an underweight kid who can't hold her weight in a fight."

"Bo?" Artemis asked looking at Johnny. "I'm not going to live with Fox?" she asked confused.

"Live with me? Fuck that, how old are you three? I don't want your grimy little hands on my stuff, it's expensive. You can ruin Bo's shit." Fox informed her. "Bo is my right hand man, if he thinks you're shit...well I don't like dead weight, I'm sure Craven will find some use for you. Do you understand?"

Artemis stared at the woman in front of her an unreadable look on her face, but finally nodded. She had no idea what had just happened but anything was better than letting Craven get her hands on her.

Liara yawned and Artemis stopped speaking as amusement danced in her eyes, "And I thought my life was so incredibly fascinating," her sarcasm was lost on Liara who looked ready to apologize again, "It's fine," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "You should get some sleep."

"As should you Commander." Liara was quiet for a moment, "Maybe we could...well this could be our habit."

Artemis looked up at her, "I tell you my history?" she was met with a nod from Liara and a moment of silence passed, "I think I'd like that."