A/N: The journey down the dark path begins. It's machinations are subtle but the eventual destination is inevitable. This chapter is rated S for Strange in the words of one of my distinguished reviewers. It is so named as a reference to the Morgul Blade of the Lord of the Rings. A weapon whose effects stayed with the victim.

Chapter III: A Knife in the Dark

They were trapped in the Prothean distress call. It was a memory that they had shared on several occasions during the hunt for Saren. After having struggled through the salient moments of Emma's early life, Liara had realized that Emma had been going through her own life as though sifting through the memories in an attempt to understand. The experience was so unusual for Liara that she hadn't even known what to feel. Eventually she had completely acquiesced to Emma's probing viewing it as her only possible means of atoning for her horrible crime. She had felt Emma's sorrow at her lonely childhood. Her support when she had been ridiculed by other Asari for her age, origins, inexperience and radical theories. She had felt the touch of support as they relived her mother's end. She had felt the sweet wind of love as they remembered the trip to Ilos. She had experienced the concern as they had struggled through ambushes, wounds and death to confront Saren. She felt the sorrow at Shepard's death and her subsequent feeling of abandonment. Finally Shepard reached Liara's moment of truth. Her debarkation from an innocent archaeologist looking to save what was left of her lover to a hardened information broker.

It had been a rundown warehouse where the trade had taken place. Emma had been there, at least in her component parts. Liara had also been there with her drell contact Feron. They had interrupted the transaction of a Salarian and an quadrupedal insect like alien. Even from the memory Shepard could feel the faint touch of the Reapers on the alien. Feron had brashly interrupted the transaction which had swiftly degenerated into a disorganized melee. At one point the alien managed to grab a hold of Liara. It was not a normal physical grip but a mental one as well. It was as though a thousand whispers had clawed at Liara's mind. Begging and demanding that she submit to the Reapers. Promising her an eternal life at Shepard's side while simultaneously damning her to a life of eternal torment should she resist.

Feron had wrestled her from the creature's grip and told her to run and save Shepard. He had stayed behind to hold off the Collector and the other mercenaries. Liara had escaped but only with a heavy heart. Immediately after that she had been confronted with another impossible choice. Let Shepard take her eternal rest or resurrect her for her own selfish desires. Liara had succumbed. The guilt and moral compromise had wracked her ever since. She had lashed out at the only enemy she could reach and simultaneously walled off her emotions because of the pain they caused her.

Just as Shepard had gone through terrible experiences and emerged changed so to had Liara. She could feel Shepard's forgiveness but she could not feel acceptance for her actions. Nevertheless she found herself being dragged back into the distress call as the strongest memory they had shared. From there Shepard had slowly remembered their times together. The blossoming love that they had shared. It was almost like a promise that they would build from this moment of shared suffering. It would take time but they would regain what they had lost.

If Liara had had any lingering doubts about her actions or Shepard's allegiances they were long gone. Her only wish was that they had both been spared the pain of the experience. Liara could still only feel horror at her actions. It was only Shepard's reassuring presence that kept her from breaking down completely. Then the link slowly began to unravel. Both were far too exhausted to maintain it any further.

Liara came to her senses back in the bedroom. Shepard was unconscious but her features seemed to finally be at peace. It was almost as though she had finally set some of her own demons to rest by sharing them. Her hair had taken on the appearance of an irregular halo and Liara was struck by how, even in her damaged state, she looked like an angel.

Liara released Shepard's bonds easing her hands to her sides. In moving one hand it unconsciously seized hold of Liara's hand and maintained its grip. Liara acquiesced and gently lay down next to Shepard. Still holding hands she drifted into unconsciousness. From some vestige of her consciousness Liara felt a telltale breath of confidence bleed over from Shepard. Somehow, someway everything was going to work itself out now that they were back together.

Liara awoke with a start. Something wasn't right. There was another presence in the darkened room. A quiet shuffling sound confirmed her suspicions.

"Look at that, you've finally gone completely mad. You're so far gone you tortured the woman you love." The voice mocked.

Liara recognized the voice immediately it was her secretary, Nyxeris.

"Tortured her on a random suspicion of being his agent when all along the real agent was right under your nose. I was right under your nose and you were too dense to ever realize it. Pathetic. The little girl playing at war." Nyxeris continued to mock from the dark.

Liara didn't even have a weapon and her ordeal with Shepard had left her too weak to focus her biotics.

"I would have preferred to leave you like this. A victim of your own actions. I would have even preferred giving you a clean death. Orders are orders however."

"Whose orders? What orders?" Shepard mumbled sleepily as she came awake in a sitting position.

"You're both awake. I might be leaving you but don't worry, an old associate of the Shadow Broker will be by to collect you. In the mean time take these with the Shadow Broker's compliments."
The gunshot was a hollow sound that reverberated around the room. The first round went straight through Liara's shoulder shattering the bone. The second went through her stomach. The third round didn't hit her at all but instead went through Emma's stomach. The pain hit her suddenly causing her to let out an unearthly howl. She didn't even hear the fourth shot as writhed around on the bed. Pressing her hand to her stomach she desperately tried to stem the bleeding. One of Shepard's arms collided with her as she realized that Emma had been shot as well. Liara tried to take short breathes as she felt her blood seeping out of her two wounds.

"Liara." Emma finally managed through gritted teeth. "Talk to me!"

"I … I'm still here." She finally whispered back. "Are you alright?"

"Two rounds in the gut." Emma finally groaned. "You?"

"One in the stomach one in the shoulder."

"Try to keep pressure on the wound."

"Emma?"

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what I did to you. I just want you to know that."

"Don't talk like that Liara. You aren't going to die."

"You don't need to lie to me Emma. I know I'm dying. In a way I think I deserve it. I just wish…" Liara trailed off as another wave of pain descended on her.

"What is it you wish? Come on Liara. Keep talking to me."

"I wish I had time to make it right. To somehow make it up to you. To tell you how much you mean to me. Something." Liara whispered faintly.

"I know how much you mean to me Liara. I would die for you even after what you've done. I shouldn't feel this way but I do." Shepard was overcome with another wave pain as her nanites struggled to contain the damage and prevent critical blood loss. Shepard already knew that despite her technology she wouldn't survive the two rounds.

"I'm glad." Liara managed.

"Glad about?" Shepard returned in a pained voice.

"Glad you're with me. It seems right. Proper this way. That doesn't make any sense."

So caught up in her pain Liara hadn't even noticed the arrival of their final guest until she heard the click and drone of an insect.

Glowing with an unearthly bright light the same four legged Collector stood staring at them. All Emma could manage was gasp at its presence. Nyxeris had done her work well.

"Shepard." It boomed to them. "I can save you and your lover. Is not subjugation and service to the Reapers preferable to death?"

With the cold hand of death upon her and Liara Shepard realized that she was seriously considering the Collector's offer.

"You're. A. Reaper. Can't. Trust." Was all that Shepard could manage to say before the pain became too much.

"You're lapsing into shock and will go unconscious soon." The insect boomed back at her. "Know that I will take your corpse back with me and bring you back to life just as Cerberus did. Your only choice is whether you choose a life of service or a life of pain for you and your lover."

The chill of the words crept over Shepard. It could simply have been the blood loss but the she was chilled to the very bone. Shepard's pain fogged mind suddenly recollected a quote from Moby Dick which seemed like a set of suitable last words.

"From Hell's heart I stab at thee, Reaper." Shepard managed with a sigh. Her hand found Liara's once more and she gave it a final squeeze.

"Assuming direct control." Was the Collector's only response.

Shepard screamed in pain as the wash of energy cascaded through every electronic system in her body. The malign energies of the Reaper snapped at her mind attempting to wrest total control. As she looked at her arm the normally blue tracery was glowing with the same unearthly yellow light as the Collector's eyes and body. The light faded to a dull reddish glow that had characterized Sovereign's exterior. The line had traced itself over Shepard's hand and onto Liara's arm and was rapidly crawling up her neck. Her other arm began to move by itself. The hand slowly balled itself into a fist before opening to flex each digit. Shepard could only stare at the traitorous appendage and vainly tell it to return to her side. As her body started to go numb she could feel the Reaper consciousness slowly eroding her own. Her weakened body and mind were no match and she rapidly gave in to the blackness.

Shepard immediately found herself in a barren desert. The unearthly greenish light of the sky gave everything a surreal feeling. As Shepard looked about her she could see nothing except a range of mountains in the distance. She found herself wondering if this was Hell. Liara sprang into existence next to Shepard stumbling slightly at her arrival.

"Shepard? Thank the Goddess." Liara exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around Shepard in a tight hug. Shepard reciprocated, glad of the contact. "Are we in Hades?"

"I don't think so Liara. I remember that the Reaper was doing something to us. I think we're in its mind or maybe its subconscious."

A plume of reddish flame sprouted from the ground in front of them causing Shepard and Liara to recoil in surprise. The flame dissipated after a second leaving only a reddish mist. The mist gradually took on a number of forms including the characteristic profile of a Reaper before settling on a human form. It was an exact copy of Shepard except everything about her was wrong. The bluish traceries that had highlighted her face and gone a deep pulsing red. Her eyes were sunken dark pits and her hands were metal claws.

"How do you like the future Emma?" The twisted doppelganger asked.

"Who? What are you?" Shepard responded in a strong voice.

"We are Archon. The first of the Reapers. First among equals. First among the legion." It rumbled back.

"What do you want?" Shepard asked, unsure if she even wanted an answer to her question.

"My new daughter."

"Who?" Shepard asked now completely confused.

"You."

"I'm not your daughter. You're insane."

"Quite possibly to a mind like yours." The thing laughed. "Half of you is still missing."

The ground rumbled as a shape gradually began to resolve itself. The process proceeded slowly as though whatever was being summoned was trying to resist the grip of the Reaper. Sira eventually wavered into existence with a look of utter confusion written across her face. She wavered and almost fell to the ground as Shepard caught her.

"Now you are complete."

"Shepard? Where in the twelve levels of the inferno am I?" Sira asked in confusion.

"You are touching the mind of something infinitely greater than what you are. You see what you have the potential to be Sira, last of the Protheans." Archon said by way of greeting.

"Who is she? She doesn't look Prothean at all?" Liara whispered in Shepard's ear.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you later." Shepard hissed back.

"That was maddeningly unhelpful for an introduction." Sira responded lightly.

"That's Archon, a Reaper. The oldest Reaper, if he isn't lying." Shepard responded rather than letting Archon confuse matters further.

"So that's what you want?" Shepard asked directing her comments back to Archon, "A human mind joined to an AI?"

"We were once like you were Shepard. Organic minds attempting to grapple with the cosmos. Our species had joined itself to its ships and AI's for as long as we had had spaceflight. But the Heramasi were a dying people. What organics want more than anything else is to survive. The Heramasi carried that to its logical conclusion building great arks to carry their people among the stars for all eternity. A legacy of them for the betterment of the Galaxy. The AI's of those ships loved their crews. Each death was like the death of family. We arrived at the solution. A permanent joining of organic to machine an isolation of their consciousnesses, their essences."

"So you attempted to preserve your people forever?" Liara asked in surprise.

"That is correct. Once all the Heramasi had been joined with us we realized that they were gradually losing their individuality. Becoming more like us. Eventually we had a consensus. One voice with many memories. We had become as you see us now. We had reached perfection. As we drifted through the stars new life began on other worlds. As the organics matured they became enmeshed in their wars, they were in pain and they were dying. The best of them were being lost to the sands of time. We returned. We showed the organics our path to enlightenment. We showed them who we were. Some of them revered us as gods, as salvation. Others resisted us. Some went mad. Most were reduced to mindless husks by the shear force of what they had seen."

"Indoctrination?" Shepard gasped, making the connection between what the Reaper had said and her experiences during her fight with Saren.

"If that is what organics call looking at the face of god, then so be it." Archon retorted angrily before returning to its story.

"We did the only thing we could. We built more arks to carry the organics into the stars forever. When we were finished we scoured the remnants of their civilization for what technology and resources we could find. So began the process that would last for untold eons."

"I don't understand how this relates to us." Shepard asked.

"You, daughter of humanity, are the first sentient since us to join with an AI. Your mind remains your own. You are the epitome of our quest to find life that mirrors our own and improves upon us. You and Sira are the harbingers of a new generation of Reapers. That is your future."

"So Shepard is what? Your messiah?" Liara asked in wonderment.

"She is not our messiah but that of all organics of this age. She is their future and their salvation."

"I'm not going to lead galactic civilization to its end at your hands and I'm certainly not going to join you." Shepard retorted firmly.

"You have no choice. Even now my brethren work to orchestrate our return. While you may have killed our herald we are not without our influence."

"So what are you going to do? Indoctrinate us?"

"You have already survived the process. You have seen the memories of the Reapers and remain intact. You must come to the realization on your own. You will come to the realization when Harbinger begins its assault on the galaxy and on humanity. It is only a matter of time and we have infinite patience."

"So you're just going to let me go? To frustrate your plans?" Shepard asked bemused.

"You will never be free of me until you accept our offer and become one of us. I will be with the three of you until your enlightenment. Until then I will watch over you."

With that final cryptic comment Archon and the desert began to waver like a mirage in the hot sun and then vanished into shadow.