Shepard groped her way in the semi-darkness to a corner of her cell. Reaching the far end, she leaned against the wall and slid down onto the ground. She drew her knees to her chest, rested her head on top and started taking long, deep breaths.

Though she looked calm, a storm of thoughts raged in her head. Memories on constant playback: regrets, wishes, questions, and more questions. Always, the questions. Where had she gone wrong? Could it have gone differently? Was her team able to escape? Are they alive? Will she ever get out of here? Should she have tried to escape? Would it have been worth it to take down a few turians before going out in a blaze of glory in a shuttle she couldn't even pilot?

She sighed, and leaned her head back against the cool metal wall behind her. There was no way to quell the stream of thoughts. What was that turian with the blue colony markings thinking?

Hmm. Strange question.

She sighed. Why was she even thinking about him, the enemy? Better than wallowing in despair, I suppose. If her treatment by the female guard indicated anything, it was going to be rough going from here on out. Answering one of the questions, maybe she should have taken a swing or kick at the female; show her captors that no one messes with Shepard. She glared at the wall opposite her.

She will not be brought down, she will not be broken. Next time she gets the opportunity, she'll take it.

The storm suddenly died as a beep sounded outside. She tilted her head towards the light as it flooded in. There was a turian standing against the light, but all she could see was his—the crest of horns gave it away—outline. Her eyes adjusted to the light and his features slowly came into focus.

It was the turian with the blue markings. Her overclocked brain failed to comprehend the coincidence; she was just too exhausted at this point to consider what it meant. He walked over to her and grasped her arm to bring her up to stand. Was it just her, or did he have aswagger? She shook her head in disbelief, scoffing at herself. Of all the things to notice. At this rate, they might as well throw her into the loony bin.

Pff, swagger.

When she finally got up on her feet, she slightly bent her knees to prepare for the inevitable shove. Now was not that time to retaliate yet. Her sprained ankle and her cuffed wrists still put her at a huge disadvantage. Even if she wasn't cuffed and injured, she had no illusions that she could take on a full grown male turian, especially when he had armor and a gun. She had once gone up against one and gone home with some souvenirs consisting of a black eye, a couple of broken ribs and bruises everywhere.

She felt a hand come up to her shoulder and braced for impact, but to her surprise, all she got was a soft push. Wait, what's going on? She stepped out of the container hesitantly, the turian following close behind. He nudged her with a finger toward the room's door. She complied and stepped out when the door slid open.

They entered the elevator that she had just earlier been roughly shoved into by the female turian. How long ago was that? A couple of hours or longer? She had no idea how long she was in the container, though based on her grumbling stomach, it was a day at most.

Shepard felt disorientated from a mix of the events of her capture: her hunger and exhaustion, her treatment under the female turian, the hours she spent in the dark with only the voices in her head, but mostly from the sudden difference in treatment. For a split second, part of her mind considered that what happened before the container might have been just a nightmare. This war wasn't real, she wasn't a prisoner and the turian behind her wasn't her enemy.

She needed to sleep.

It was a stark contrast, his indifferent gentleness to her blatant aggression. He didn't even have a weapon pointed at her back, though he had a pistol strapped to his side. Somehow, this made her uneasy. She understood and expected force from the enemy. But this? What's next, a pat on the head?

There were three possibilities: the female's actions were unusual, the male's actions were, or this was just a way to confuse her. She snorted in derision. It didn't really matter either way. They needed to do better that, though she grudgingly admitted that it did throw her off.

The elevator descended in silence. The female had spent the short ride muttering angrily and poking her every so often with the rifle, whereas Shepard could almost forget that the male was behind her. The silence was cut short when the elevator doors opened to let in a flurry of sounds from the turians preparing to disembark.

Shepard stepped outside, followed by her guard. She started to walk to the exit where the turians were making their way out, but was stopped by a firm hand on her shoulder. A dark hood was slowly placed over her head, reducing visibility to zero. She flinched when the turian's hand nudged her forward. She took a step forward and limped along slowly. At least this way, if she walked into something, it wouldn't be too painful.

Her worries were unfounded though, because every so often, a hand would come up to her shoulder to stop or steer her. She really didn't know what to think of this turian. If she had been in the hands of the female at this point, Shepard would now have added stubbed toes and a bruised nose or forehead to her injuries. Once in a while, the hand would wrap around her arm to control her more, especially when she had to step down or up or ascend some stairs.

They continued this way until he suddenly stopped her. A few beeps sounded off from behind her, probably from his omni tool and she felt a soft whoosh of air from what she guessed was a door sliding open in front of her. The turian lead her in and sat her on a chair, leaving the hood over her head. Another series of beeps sounded and the cuffs on her wrists separated from each other, while her ankles' cuffs attached themselves to the front legs of the chair. He quickly took her wrists in his hands and snapped them together behind the chair's back.

His hands withdrew and moments later the door slid open, then shut, leaving Shepard in the dark again.

Now what?