Disclaimer: I am not a part of Bioware or any of its' partnerships. I do not, nor do I intend to make money or profit off of this work of fiction. I do not own any of the characters of Mass Effect.

AN: This story will be one year old in two weeks. I have to say, I wished that I had a few more chapters on this, by this point. I have not given up on this story in the slightest and I'm thinking about what will happen next. Let me just say, it's only going to get better from here. As always, I love those reviews. This past chapter, I got an exceptional amount of favorites and alerts. That's truly lovely to get an email from.

Chapter 6

It was sometime later, after the dull glow of lights were the only movements on the street that Kolyat made his way to the rendezvous point where his father was supposed to meet him. But, Kolyat was three hours too late. He knew his father would not be on the street anymore; frequenting the same spot for more than an hour looked suspicious. Yet, he also knew his father would be watching. Waiting. The drell was hurt emotionally by what his father had done. What his father had done to one of the few if not only chances he had to become himself again. It was despicable. His father was a being used as a weapon. And the man he had come to know as his father, would have been ashamed of the valor he besmirched. The only thing that could save his father from this dark place was the faith he once held so sincerely. Kolyat believed that if there was one thing that could heal him, it would be the prayers to the goddesses his father held so dearly to him.

So it was rather gingerly that he opened the door for an Afterlife advertisement holo-casing. The Asari dancers on the screen only flickered for a moment, before resuming the rhythmic dance. With the little book secured in the hinge of the door, he snapped it shut and withheld the wish to look about. If he met the eyes of the Shell that his father was, Kolyat knew he would rage at him. And that was too much. He needed his father to come and read, and remember.

Kolyat made his way to the nearest walk-up and ordered a drink. When he walked himself home, feeling a little bit warmer, he saw with great relief that the book, and the looming presence of his father had gone.

Garrus straightened up a little when Javik entered the room, not even pretending to conceal his weapon. Garrus gave a sideways glance at Shepard, who hadn't stirred for hours now. It was Garrus' idea to keep watch over her until tomorrow when she could be moved back to the Normandy bay. They had patched up that nice chunk of flesh and fished out the bullet already, but she was still in a sorry state. He was no doctor, and certainly no human, but a bullet to the neck seemed nasty without the complications she was having. When Shepard woke up she'd be getting an earful. His best friend and commander, taking a bullet for him, well it was stupid, and his was grateful, but hell was it idiotic. 'Humans are more fleshy than turians,' Javik lovingly mentioned, when he heard the news. 'No victory in death.' He was sure Javik didn't have a sympathetic bone in his body. And the antique rattled on and on about the inferiority of the human body. But, Garrus had tuned him out, sometime around when he got an agreement out of him to come watch over Shepard for a few hours, while he went and checked on Kasumi.

It wasn't difficult to find volunteers to watch over Shepard of course, but they seemed too far away to come so last minute. Even with the Prothean, resting his arms on his gun in the chair next to Shepard's bed, Garrus would hurry. He didn't like the idea of leaving Shepard, when she was the most defenseless, but there was no one else that could take Kasumi and Dr. Chakwas back to the Normandy to prepare for their departure in the morning. Tali had gone straight back to the ship to contact T'Soni about what she knew on Krios' current situation. He awkwardly patted the top of Shepard's foot, and looked at Javik, giving him a curt nod, before storming out of the Huerta Memorial Wing, glancing at passersby for any signs of cloaking or mercs.

Garrus made it back to Shepard's apartment in record time. Kasumi was sitting on the back of the couch when he entered, and he was slightly relieved to see her up and about in just three days. Kasumi winked at him when Dr. Chakwas reappeared with two under-filled to-go cups of hot chocolate, handing one to Kasumi. He tried not to be too irritated looking at the pair of them, not seemingly in any sort of hurry, still the urge to coax them into a faster speed made him bite out an irritated, "Let's get a move on now, it's not like we've had assassins try and kill our team in the last week or anything."

Dr. Chakwas took that as her own cue. "You're completely right Garrus. If Thane was trying to do Kasumi and the Commander in, he would have done it, right? I mean, he was in a sorry shape when I cared for him while he stayed on the SR-2, but even then, with his troubling cough, he was able to lead the whole team, including myself back to the ship after you and the Commander found on that the Reaper…"

Kasumi just shook her head at her, giving Dr. Chakwas a not-so-subtle hint to take a good sip of her hot chocolate and stop talking. Garrus' temper was becoming more and more precarious by the millisecond. He didn't need anyone else giving Thane the benefit of the doubt. The only thing Garrus truly wanted to do was beat the crap out of said assassin until he was seeing galaxies, possibly while Grunt held him down. Garrus went completely silent, his mandibles and jaw cracking irritably. He took the stairs up by the double, packing anything resembling Shepard's into a duffle. He packed away Shepard's favorite pistol, feeling grateful that Liara and Cortez had taken the majority of her things back the Normandy after their shifts watching over Shepard the day before.

He looked at Mordin's photo briefly, as he put it away as well. So many people had lost their lives for the mission. And he was no dupe. Garrus knew the costs of war, yet, to have so little in this bag, it made him wonder if the Commander was tired, if she was ready to give up too. He found himself smirking. No matter if Shepard thought she'd had enough, she'd put her heart and soul to finishing this war on her own terms, and no one, not even Thane would keep her from that.

Garrus bounded back down the stairs, duffle slung over his shoulder. He picked up his own semi, looking Kasumi over as she tried to walk as confidently as she could toward him. She tucked an envelope into one of the zippers, the shape of vids. He was not interested in knowing at all what those were. Kasumi holstered her Locust and held fast to her hot chocolate, winking at Chakwas as she led the way out of the apartment, hoping her limp was far less prominent than it felt. It would be nice to be back on the Normandy again after so long. The port observation deck would be a relief to nestle into once more. Looking back between Garrus and Dr. Chakwas, she had to wonder if the good doctor felt out of place, with both of her allies loaded, or maybe she felt like princess. Chakwas did look rather secure drinking her hot chocolate as they made their way to the elevator.

"Kalahira, this one's heart is pure,

But tested by wickedness and contention.

Guide this one to where the traveler never tires, the lover never leaves, and the hungry never starve.

Guide this one Kalahira,

And she will be a companion to you as she was to me."

The words struggle to form shapes in his mind, like record player needle scratching on the vinyl. Each word hits a tune, but all fail to make a full memory in his mind. Thane threw the book down on the bed, frustrated at himself for his actions. For his feelings. For the memories refusing to make birth in his mind. He had read through each of the newest prayers four times now.

"Again." He whispered to himself. He would have to do anything in his power to get the memories of his son back. He turned to a prayer of Arashnu, his own small writing in the margin. "For Kolyat, for myself."

"Amonkira, Lord of Hunters. Grant that my hands be steady, my aim be true, and my feet be swift.

And should the worst come to pass, grant me forgiveness."

Thane spoke the two lines out loud, his hands moving to clasp together in prayer. He took time to speak each word with devotion, the words adding moisture to gravelly voice and then all at once, it hit him.

The politician didn't matter. Kolyat only chose him to be remembered, to be noticed. He only wanted his father to see, to recognize him. And now, Shepard is there, her eyes on Talid and his henchman while I look for my boy. I am grateful. Grateful to have a Siha once more by my side. If we are able to save my son, I will tell her what it means. Her red hair visible behind her precision visor is on the edge of my vision as she moves to raise her gun firing a warning shot and knocking some sense into him, and dismisses the hostage. Bailey is there, says he is going to take him into custody. But, Shepard she ignores him, all I can do is watch. Kolyat shouts at her and all she says is, "Your father doesn't have much time left Kolyat. He's trying to make up for his mistakes."

It all comes rushing back to him, each moment that night was more precious than the last. There was so much he wanted to do, so much he needed to do all at once. He wanted to search his feelings, to find out more about Shepard, about Kolyat. Thane wasn't sure how long he had, but any time he had left, he would spend trying to remember what was taken from him, and more importantly; who had done it. Before all that though, he would have to build a basis for these memories. A starting point. He looked through his prayer book, and read the last name on the list he had said a prayer of forgiveness for taking the life of. It was unlikely Shepard had simply stumbled upon him. A spectre was more in the business of stopping lives from being taken, then searching out sickly assassins.

He searched through the book, Nassana Dantius was the last entry. The name didn't ring a bell, but gods if he couldn't help his memory along a little bit, by looking her up on the extranet. Out of everything, he wished he reach out to his son, but this was not the time. He had done the unthinkable in his son's eye. Was Kolyat ashamed? Could he ever forgive him? And what about Shepard? He had to know everything he could about her, chances were of course, he would never have the opportunity to be close enough to offer an explanation again. The light from his omni-tool filled the room of the cheap motel. Docking manifests say that the Normandy, Shepard's ship leaves tomorrow. If he ever wanted to know the full truth he would have to get there first.

Thank you to Jocasta Silver, Kassy22, Chainline, and Elariya for the lovely reviews. I devote this chapter to you.

Don't worry dearies the IM gets his due and Thane will be remembering a little more in future chapters. He'll be himself again when those memories start settling in. A Drell's memories are not so easily taken away.