It had to be said that Jane Shepard didn't usually shy away from anything Aria asked her to do but this was completely different. She had accepted it at first but it all changed when her mother was introduced. She hadn't seen her for eight years and in those eight years she had changed. Before she joined up with the Eclipse she cared, she still showed that every time she visited but since she stopped something had changed. There was no emotion now not even a shadow of her former self. It scarred Jane, she was glad to see her mother but not this way.

Bray had only stayed around long enough to give Hannah a message in private as soon as this was delivered he had gone, apparently Aria had needed his help with something as soon as possible. This meant that Hannah had started the training straight away.

"Bray has given me an update and this means that your training starts now."

"What update?"

"I suppose you need to know. Cerberus have attacked all three merc groups at once. Aria has set out to help my sisters. Thus the need to bring your training forward. This will not be easy on you Jane, the toughest Eclipse associate has been known to drop out of training and you're going to have to do everything quicker."

"When do we start?"

"Right now basic combat."

Basic combat consisted of hand to hand fighting. They started by Hannah taking Jane through the basic steps of the Eclipse routine. It was fairly straight forward and ended up with Jane dripping with sweat. But Hannah wouldn't relent, she moved her onward to more intricate routines. She pushed her harder and harder every time she faltered she picked her back up and made her start all over again. By the end of the first day Jane was absolutely knackered, it took every ounce of strength left for her to get to the room assigned her. As soon as she hit the bed she was under. She was soon fast asleep and dead to the world, even the dream she was currently having wasn't able to wake her. In her dream she was back on Omega, working behind the bar of Afterlife, surrounded by her friends but more importantly Aria. They were able to show they're true feelings for in the dream Omega wasn't the cruel and unlawful place that it was in reality. But this dream quickly turned rancid within seconds Afterlife was under attack, by thousands of two headed dogs. The guards weren't quick enough and protecting the guests, it didn't take long for the guards to be over run. Once the guards were finished the dogs turned their attention to the guests. The frightened guests quickly turned to run in a blind panic, out of any exits they could find or create. Whilst the guests were running, Aria had grabbed hold of Jane and started to run to her safe room. With Jane directly behind her she opened the door and they both stepped, the magnetic seal quickly closing behind them leaving them safe from harm. As soon as the door had sealed Jane heard the sound of a gun being primed, turning round she saw that the man that she had seen two days earlier placing a gun against Aria's head. His name she didn't know and at that moment it didn't matter, the only thing that mattered was Aria. A grin appeared upon the man's face and he fired, Aria slowly slipped to the floor and the gun was turned on her. When the final shot was fired Jane awoke with a loud scream.

Hannah had been there at the first sign of trouble. Even in the world of mercenaries a piercing scream wasn't a good sign and she was trained to react to such things. With rifle in hand she ran towards the location of the scream, she kicked the door open and moved into the room. Once she'd entered the room she pinpointed the location of the screaming to find that it was Jane, screaming and thrashing about on the bed. The maternal instinct that she thought lost long ago kicked in and she was by her daughter's side calming her down. Just holding her in her arms and telling her calming words, it worked and Jane was soon back to a dead sleep. She stayed a moment longer by Jane's side making sure everything was okay and then she departed.

Jane woke up in the morning feel rejuvenated, she remembered the dream from last night and it made her shudder every time she remembered Aria's fate. She made her way down to what was designated the kitchen and to her first meal of the day. Stood waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs was Hannah, arms crossed and a scowl on her face.

"What time do you call this?"

"Breakfast time."

"Wrong, you do not get breakfast until after your first training of the day. Now get moving."

The first training of the day consisted of running, a nice long run through the slums of Omega. Okay maybe nice isn't the right description. From the 'house' they moved further into the depths of the slums, there were people begging with no home to go to, the shops were selling at extortionate prices and bodies littered the floors where anger had broken out. Omega's slums were notorious once in you never tended to leave without at least one broken appendage. Yet the running continued, they had reached the halfway point, Jane was tired but she wasn't willing to show it, not to her mother anyway. Hannah started to direct Jane back towards their lodgings and tried not to be impressed by the stamina Jane was showing. They'd been gone for over an hour running through Omega, not even the most impressive Eclipse recruit could go this long. Normally by this point they would have either turned back or had a short respite, but not with Jane. She just carried on following the directions that Hannah gave her. When the long slog finally ended Jane collapsed into a heap on the floor.

"Get up Jane. Don't give me that whole I'm absolutely knackered routine, I've seen it before. Hell I've even done it before, now get up. It's time for breakfast."

With that Hannah left Jane to herself, she was right of course she wasn't as tired as she looked. You didn't keep the body she had by doing no exercise at all. She was used to running, she did ran every morning before her shift at Afterlife. This was by far the furthest she'd ever run, so she was of course feeling something. A little ache here and there, but that's about it and of course the promise of food is always more tempting than lying on the floor. With the temptation of breakfast wafting through from the kitchen she finally got up and went to see what was cooking.

"Took you long enough."

"Well you were right; I wasn't nearly as tired as I was playing. Breakfast wins the day. What's the plan for today then?"

"I'll tell you that when you tell me about you dream last night."

"How did you know?"

"Call it an educated guess."

"Hmmph. I suppose your going to insist?"

"I am."

"Well then…" Jane then divulged every part of her dream from the absolute boring to the exciting, from the love to the fear. The process of telling someone everything was very therapeutic to Jane, having never had anyone to tell her dreams to, it was a release. The more she told her mother the better she felt, when it came to the conclusion of her dream she stopped and let everything sink in.

"Your dream is obviously your imagination playing on your fears. The two handed dogs were Cerberus the man was their leader. Clearly Aria holds a special place within your heart hence the danger she was in. You need to let your fears and doubts go, or else they'll continue to eat you up, leaving your defences low. Now eat up you've got a long day ahead of you."

She was right of course, the day that she had planned for Jane was long and arduous. More hand to hand combat training followed by a trip to the armoury. The trip to the armoury gave Jane a new wardrobe. Her mother sized her up and fitted her armour, with a few adjustments from Jane she was fitted with a light weight armour. Good for movement and would give basic protection, she then upgraded Jane's omni-tool.

"Now Jane, your omni-tool is basic, I'm going to transfer some of the protection that I've installed on mine. A sub routine that will enhance your shields for a short period of time, an omni-blade and omni-shield. You'll be trained to use these before you leave."

"Thanks."

"One more task, it's time to choose a weapon."

Hannah led Jane over to a table with five different weapons on display. On the table there was a M-15 Vindicator rifle, a M-23 Katana shotgun, a M-97 Viper sniper rifle, a M-9 Tempest submachine gun and a M-6 Carnifex heavy pistol. The temptation to just pick the biggest looking gun overwhelmed Jane. She had been around Aria enough to know a little bit about guns but not enough as to take the first plunge. Hannah saw the confusion on Jane's face and took the lead once again.

"You'll try each weapon becoming proficient in each. But ultimately you will always have one weapon that you find easier to handle. Once you've completed your training you'll get to keep the M-6 Carnifex and one other weapon. Which would you like to try first?"

"Since I'm going to be given the M-6 Carnifex I might as well get used to it first before I make any decisions on the others."

"Good idea, pick it up and we'll start your training."

Which is exactly what they did for the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon. With each passing hour Jane's proficiency with the weapon increased. Hannah was astonished not even she had picked up the training this quick, within a short time she will have finished the training, having given Jane everything that she possibly could. Once Hannah was satisfied with Jane's proficiency with the weapon they moved away from weapons and went for another run. The route was the same as before but now through the busier streets, having to dodge the people of Omega making the work out more strenuous. Once they arrived back at the lodgings there was no fake tiredness this time, Jane just strode straight in and went straight to the kitchen to prepare their final meal of the day. Nothing else happened that night in fact Jane was starting to fail, after the day she had had her willpower was drained. After the meal she excused herself and went to straight to her room and fell asleep.

Jane's sleep was once again interrupted, with just one small difference. It started out exactly as it did before. She was of duty and with friends and Aria at Afterlife. There was no need to hide the relationship that had clearly been growing between the two and everyone accepted them for what they were. The attack came just as before two headed dogs came bounding into the club and immediately attacked the guards, with the guards quickly defeated they turned on the crowd. At this point blind panic erupted around them innocents were being killed and they needed to get out. That was when everything changed, this time Jane jumped behind the bar and pulled out a pistol, she quickly took aim at the two headed dogs and quickly defeated a few of them, but for everyone she removed two more would replace them. It was a hopeless battle, the dream then moved forwards and Aria grabbed hold of Jane's hand and pulled her into the safety of her private room. Once again it played out exactly the same, as soon as the door was locked a man appeared and pulled a pistol out and aimed at Aria. This time Jane reacted with the pistol still in her hands she quickly pulled it up and fired at the man's exposed face. Unfortunately the man was too quick for Jane and he pulled Aria into the line of fire. The bullet that was intended for the man soon became embedded in Aria's neck.

Once again Hannah was disturbed by more screaming. This time she knew exactly where it was coming from, even though she knew this she still dashed towards Jane's room. As she reached the screaming just grew and grew, her daughter definitely needed to sort her problems out, they would soon become a liability if they weren't seen to, Hannah knew this. If this was how she was now as soon as she fell asleep in the field and started screaming she would be killed without a moments hesitation. Just like the night before Hannah sat on the bed and calmed Jane down. This time going further and fully waking her up, she needed to talk about it as soon as possible and they needed to find away out. The sooner the better.

"Jane wake up, it's just a dream."

As Jane opened her eyes you could see the fury and hurt in them. Still trying to figure out what was real and what wasn't. In her mind she had seen Aria die yet in front of her was her mother, she didn't know which was real and which was the dream. In the end she gave into the real world and decided that Aria couldn't be dead.

"Mom, what's going on?"

"You were having a bad dream. Was it the same as last night?"

"No, it was different. This time I had a gun, I defended us and killed some of the beasts. But we still ended up in the private room and Aria died by my hands. I fired at the man but he grabbed Aria and moved her in front of the bullet. I killed her, I killed Aria."

With those last words Jane broke down. The tears were coming automatically and there was nothing she could do about it, the more she tried to fight them the more they came. She wanted the comfort of her mothers arms, just to be held like she was a child it wasn't going to happen but its exactly what she needed in that moment. As it happened Hannah was in her own personal turmoil. She had lost all those motherly instincts years ago but at the sight of her only child crying they came back she knew what her daughter needed but the mercenary in her didn't want to help out. She was stuck in perpetual motion, half of her moving forward to envelop her daughter in her arms whilst the other half was happy watching the turmoil of others. Eventually the maternal side broke through and she quickly enveloped her daughter in her arms. As soon as her arms were around her she quietened. Jane never really expected her to do this but it was what she needed, the love of another in order to quieten the demons resting on her breasts. It took her awhile but she finally felt at peace, it was then that her mother spoke.

"Jane we need to get these dreams sorted. They're only going to cause harm in the future. If every danger that prop up against Aria is going to do this to you then you're not going to be much help to her. I'll arrange something for tomorrow where you should eventually be able to put these dreams to rest. Get some sleep, you'll need it tomorrow."

"I'll try. I don't want the dreams to come back though."

"Tonight they won't do. Just remember that I'll be here as soon as you need me if they do. Good night Jane."

"Night mom."

As soon as she was sure that Jane had finally drifted back of to sleep she left the confines of Jane's room and went to make a quick call. She found the contact on her omni-tool and quickly left the comm. Channel work. Within a few seconds the contact answered.

"You're going to need to pay a visit tomorrow."

"So soon?"

"Yes, there are complications. Reoccurring dreams that need removing, you're the only person who'll be able to do it."

"The usual fee."

"If it works you'll get double. I'm on Omega how long will it take you to arrive?"

"I can be there for tomorrow evening, will that be suitable?"

"Yes, I'll see you tomorrow."

Hannah ended the conversation as quickly as it had begun and made her way back to Jane's room. She looked in on her and noted she was still fast asleep, before turning in herself.

A/N This is what I had in mind for the previous chapter, I think it definitely works better this way, it seems to give more meaning to the whole training. With a mysterious character coming into it as well. New chapter coming soon.