Chapter 4

The young woman cried out to her husband. A bullet shot threw his gut, blood spilling down his stomach.. The man fell down to his knees, face gone pale. Crimson red dripping from his lips. Running up to her husband, the young woman crawled over to his side, tears flying from her eyes.

"NO!" The woman cried. She pulled her husband close up to her chest, cradling him as his life slipped away. The woman screamed out in anger, vowing to take revenge against his murderer..

Melina placed the picture frame down back on her office desk, sighing ever so softly. What was cradled in the frame was a photo of Melina and her husband, smiling as they stood next to the Alliance ship 'Crusader'.

"I saw, your memory." Teyshan said, standing behind Melina's chair.

Jumping from surprise the woman looked back over her shoulder an nodded softly. It had hurt remembering the murder of her husband. She was about to leave on the last deployment of her military career when robbers had burst into their apartment an shot her husband. It had all come to a surprise to the young couple. She didn't have time to grab her gun to even defend them when the robbers burst in and started firing. They probably surprised the robbers being there as much as the robbers had surprised the couple. Running her fingers over her face, the woman sighed inwardly trying to shake the memory.

"Did you ever get your revenge?" Teyshan asked, obviously curious.

"No. C-Sec caught the robbers before I had the chance to do anything stupid." Melina relaxed a little. The thought made her cringe. At worst she would of received in-house arrest and suspension from the Alliance. It was probably luck alone she didn't catch the robbers, a untarnished military career was something to be proud of. Pushing her chair back, she turned around to look at Teyshan. Leaning back a bit her eyes seemed sad but she didn't let the old memory try and affect her mood.

"Did you have anyone?" Melina questioned.

"No."

Instead of letting the Prothean cut her off short like he normally did, the woman decided to pry a little. She was curious to learn more about him. Raising a brow a weak smirk spread acrossed her lips.

"No one, at all. You were single all your life?" She pried.

"No, well.." Teyshan cut short, he looked down at the floor once more, his eyes searching. "There was a young woman I had come to know in my squad. We grew close, but she was weak, ruthless and a bit foolish."

"What happened?"

"Reaper killed her." Teyshan closed his eyes slowly, he opened them once more but they had grown narrow and cold. Anger was obviously boiling up inside of him.

"I told her to not run ahead during one of our pushes, she wouldn't listen to command, being the way that she was, weak, she was killed." Teyshan's voice grew a little hard.

Melina leaned up from her chair, reaching out she placed a supportive hand on his arm. His eyes shot wide. The Prothean looked at the woman a bit puzzled. It wasn't common for someone to show comfort and support in front of another in the Empire. It was almost taboo. A Prothean would of feared being perceived weak. Only those that were close showed support and comfort in private on very rare occasions. The Empire pushed for strength constantly. Those that had been weak were snuffed out almost immediately. Yet Teyshan didn't pull away, he only nodded in thanks before Melina pulled her hand away from his arm.

"You know I think we have spent enough time on this colony. There is a shuttle coming in a few days to drop off supplies, we can hitch it back to the Citadel if you wish" Melina suggested, a big smile spreading acrossed her pale cheeks.

"The Citadel? You mean it's still around?" Teyshan questioned.

"Yes, why?"

"It was only a rumor during my time, only a legend. I heard the Reapers had taken it over. I would like to see the Citadel" Teyshan's eyes seemed to brighten.

"Ok.. Then we will go! Next shuttle out!"

#

Two days passed before the next shuttle was able to arrive. Boarding off the colony was easy. It was only Melina and Teyshan that had boarded to head back off to the Citadel. Travel between worlds was beginning to grow more an more rare. People had already flown off to find their families. It was a priority to stay with loved ones until the danger passed. Melina decided to take a week off from the dig site to just simply relax. She had been constantly busy ever since the Alliance started pushing on Thessia. It was like everyone was wanting more Intel. It was never enough anymore. Everyone was looking to gain some kind of advantage on the Reapers, even if that advantage had helped against ground forces. The more Intel meant more lives were saved. It didn't take long for the shuttle to reach the transport ship.

The trip out to the Citadel was a twelve hour adventure. Both Teyshan and Melina got separate rooms to sleep in on until they had arrived. The woman believed her new friend didn't sleep the whole trip up. It had seemed the Prothean was keeping to himself. The transport ship had a open kitchen to all visitors. Yet she didn't see him once. Probably to not draw attention to himself. Though avoiding attention when they were on the Citadel was going to be near impossible. She was able to get a few hours of shut eye before their temporary home had docked to the Citadel.

Popping out of his room briefly, Teyshan walked quietly over to her door and started knocking on it.

"Melina, your "captain" human has called that we have docked." His voice wavered a little.

The woman was sitting on her bed packing up her things when she stood up an slowly opened the door. Smiling softly she nodded.

"Yeah I heard, just packing my things up before we head off."

Judging by the look on the Protheans face, who was normally so reserved; showed a hint of edge. Was it excitement? It was hard to tell, but it was a good thing to see. Turning around and picking up her backpack. The woman slung it over her shoulder an lead her friend out through the transport ship and onto the docking bay. The pair followed the lines until they were lead up to a check point. A biometric scanner and a Turian C-Sec guard lay ahead of them. Walking up to the scanner first, Melina nodded to the guard as the scanner read who she was. It didn't take long to clear. Being retired military, the woman knew what kinds of things would set the scanner. Weapons, illegal drugs, unpaid taxes. Turning around from the scanner, she waved at Teyshan to come through. The Prothean looked over at Melina then back over to the Turian. The top of his lip was curled back in disgust.

"Your 'scanner' is foolish Turian." Teyshan remarked. All four of his eyes blinked slowly, beginning to hold up others travelers behind him.

"And who are you? I don't think I have seen very many of your kind." The guard snapped.

"Prothean." Teyshan's eyes grew narrow.

"Uh huh.. I heard the same excuse from the last one who questioned my scanner. Now please just go through. I don't want to cause any trouble." The guard signed.

Teyshan's mouth never closed. The level of disgust and annoyance was obvious all over the Prothean's face. It made Melina giggle seeing this. The Prothean shuffled through the scanner the woman could of swore her friend would of blown the Turian away with a singularity if she wasn't there waiting for him.

It didn't take long for the pair to board the Citadel. Nothing really changed much from Melina's last visit. Just the sheer number of people aboard, shuffling and pushing past. More news reports rung out on the speakers about the war, though it wasn't hard to tune out. Walking slowly just so Teyshan could easily follow, the woman made her way to one of the large windows on the docks. Putting her hands on the railing, her head slowly turned to Teyshan. Out the window, the long arms of the Citadel lay stretched out as far as the eye could see. Slowly spinning, each arm sparkled with lights from the buildings and activities of the sky cars. It was a truly unique and beautiful thing to experience, Even at least once in your life time. A small smile was pinned on Melina's face. Teyshan walked slowly up beside her, his mouth open and all four eyes open wide. The Prothean was staring outside the window in sheer awe. She could see his mind go blank.

"You are going to like where I picked out the hotel. There is a view much like this where your room is at." Melina's voice was gentle.

His eyes darted over in her direction for a moment before gazing back out the window. At least the Prothean finally closed his mouth.

"Thank you Melina" he nodded.

Making their way over to taxi, the pair got in and flew over to the hotel. They weren't very far from the Presidium. Melina wanted to make sure their trip to the Citadel was going to be fun and action packed. She didn't know how much Teyshan lived it up in his time, but she was going to make sure her friend was going to have the time of his life. Once the taxi landed at the hotel, Melina paid the driver an they both got out. Strolling inside the hotel and checking in, the pair made their way over to the elevators an boarded. The ride up the elevator was incredibly slow. Standing on the far side, Teyshan's arms were crossed. His weight was shifted to one leg and his eyes narrowed. Awful music drummed along in the background of the elevator. Looking over at her friend Melina's brow rose.

"So.. Are you enjoying the visit so far?" She inquired.

"Yes." Teyshan's answer was short as usual. His eyes slowly looked her over. "The Turian's scanner was foolish." He blurted.

"How so?"

"It would be easy to hold him hostage. One could let forces in and shoot everyone down. It was a foolish attempt at security" The Prothean's voice tightened.

"Well, not everyone thinks like you do." Melina snorted in amusement.

Before the Prothean was able to retort, the doors on the elevator slid open, distracting both of them.

"Ugh, finally. You would think they would fix these elevators." Melina grumbled as she left. Teyshan following closely.

Walking down the small hallway, Melina's eyes kept a close note on the door numbers. Counting down until they had found their hotel room. She slipped the key in the door an it slid open. Walking in, followed by Teyshan, the woman dropped her backpack down by the door. A giant smile spreading acrossed her face. The hotel room was a lot more elegant then her own house was. It was painted a light brown with warm accents. The room was open and inviting. Off to the side was a small kitchen and down the hallway was two rooms. Sometimes it paid off to spend a little extra credits when getting away. Teyshan briefly looked around paying no mind to how the hotel room looked.

"Hey Teyshan over here. Come check out your view!" Melina called out from one of the bedrooms.

Perking up, the Prothean followed her voice into the bedroom she was in. His steps were light and brisk. Upon peering in, Melina pulled back the curtains. The woman was not lying about the view. Teyshan slowly made his way back over to the woman's side, eyes pinned to the view outside. A small smirk crept up on the corners of his lips.

"Thank you." he breathed.

Authors Note:

My goodness, thank you everyone for all of the views. I didn't think everyone would be so curious about this story! I really appreciate it! I finally have a plot written out an I know now where I want to take this story. I really hope you enjoy it. Oh an I noticed that I originally spelled Melina's name as "Milena" yet I seemed to eventually flip flop it. Oops.