Updated: 8th March 2012
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Chapter 11
Where is my mind?
The sound of her shoes tapping against the floor echoed through the empty corridor. On a different day, she would have marveled at the grip her new combat boots offered against the slippery marble beneath her feet, but not today.
Her distracted mind prevented her from registering a flustered dark-skinned woman jogging around the approaching corner until she let out a yelp, slipped and nearly smashed right into Sky. Without thinking, her arms shot out to stabilize the other woman.
"Crap-" She swore as her overflowing charts hit the ground. Glancing up, her eyes widened when she saw who she had bumped into. "Ah shit, I'm so sorry ma'am. I didn't see you there." She quickly got to her knees and reached for the scattered clipboards.
"Morning Dahlia." Sky bent down to help her clumsy assistant retrieve some of her fallen items. "It's fine, my own fault for being so out of it."
The poor woman looked positively terrified when she stood up once again. She shook her head, her curly thick black hair fanning out around her. Sky took the time to give her a quick one-over, taking in her disheveled appearance. She couldn't deny that Dahlia was rather absent-minded, more often than not she was the reason Sky stayed up late, correcting some of her figures, but she had always been able to maintain a very professional image in the office.
Actually, this was the first time Sky had ever seen her in her uniform without her hair up in her usual tight ponytail. "No- no. I just didn't expect to see you in today that's all. Shouldn't be running through these halls anyway, stupid floors."
She offered her a gentle smile in attempt to dispel her strange behavior. "Is everything alright?"
Dahlia gulped nervously, shaking her head once again. "I don't know, there seems to be some trouble with Twofa- I mean, 370923-8-483 ma'am." She quickly corrected herself.
The dark-haired woman sighed, and took half of Dahlia's large stack from her, ignoring her half-hearted attempts at protesting. She waved her off and continued down towards her destination. "Why didn't someone contact me? I have relayed specific instructions to be called in if he acted up."
"We didn't want to disturb you ma'am, with what was announced this morning." She dully noted the increase in intensity of her Barbadian accent, which seemed to happen every time she was under pressure. The other woman sounded so absolutely miserable that she was beginning to feel very sorry for her. "They wanted me to- to talk to him."
Send Dahlia to deal with…? Were they out of their bloody minds? Sky groaned, wanting very much to slam her head against the wall next to her. The sweet, Caribbean girl was a quick learner, but definitely not prepared for this sort of situation. Not wanting to come off as unprofessional she just rolled her eyes at the higher-ups' stupidity, before walking through the glass doors before her. "It's alright. I'm here now."
"Welcome to the Citadel Correction Facility."
Out of habit, Sky nodded at the orange hologram of a partially robotic woman that stood beside the entrance as it did an immediate scan of both herself and Dahlia. "Ah, welcome back Ms Ahleaa and Ms Skylar."
"Thanks Jen." She gestured for the other woman to follow her as she headed to the elevator at the far end of the room, but not before dropping the load of charts at the front desk. "Alright fill me in with what is going on."
Dahlia nodded, visibly calmer now that she knew the outcome of the situation no longer rested on her shoulders. "I'm not really sure what happened, but he started getting extremely violent during breakfast. And I mean, much more violent than usual." She shook her head and answered Sky's silent question. "No, he didn't kill anyone. But he did knock out five guards and three other inmates before they could get to him."
"Alright." She stepped out of the elevator but stopped the dark-skinned woman from following her. She reached back into the lift and pressed the button that lead to their office. "Don't worry about this. I've got it. You should head upstairs to inform the boss that I'm here."
The woman looked torn between wanting to put as much distance as possible between herself and the inmate and her loyalty to her superior. Sky shook her head and winked, "honestly, go."
She nodded slowly but as Sky stepped back to allow the elevator doors to shut Dahlia blurted out "Are you okay ma'am? I- I mean, with the Blitz and all…"
"I'm fine Dahlia, don't worry."
"Oh… Okay. Will see you later then."
Sighing, she made her way down to the hall as soon as her assistant's face disappeared. Being a psychologist, she wasn't used to people asking about her well-being as she was far more accustomed to asking about theirs.
The Citadel Correction Facility, CCF for short, was a detention and correction facility for criminals caught on the Citadel. It worked partially as a prison and a behaviour therapy centre, offering numerous programs to 'fix' deviants and delinquents. The facility contained a number of different departments and specialists. The building itself occupied a large part of the Tayseri ward, easily claiming the title of 'largest structure' within the ward itself.
The CFF resembled both a mental hospital, and a prison. The inmates live underground, beneath the base of the facility. That area, dubbed 'Living Hall', consisted of all the prison cells, bathrooms, cafeterias and staff lounges and was easily four times larger than the rest of the building. Everything about the place, from the structure to separation of the criminals had been very well planned out and done to ensure maximum efficiency. Sky had only been down there eight times in her entire career here and she disliked it; it greatly reminded her of the Prison Ship Purgatory that they had to free Jack from in ME2: cold, metallic and uncomfortable.
Above ground, where the therapies and programs were mostly conducted, looked like a whole new world all together. It was a more expensive, larger version of a mental hospital mix clinic. The very tall building, although not the tallest, was designed with great detail, as was most of the architecture on the Citadel. It was beautiful and elegant, one of the more aesthetically pleasing structures within the ward. Sky had to admit, working and living conditions on the Citadel was rather impressive, especially for someone who had came from a developing country.
When a criminal is first charged guilty for a crime, they are assessed by a team of two psychologists and a psychiatrist. The three specialists must then place each individual criminal on a scale of '1 to 10'. The score is dependant on the nature and seriousness of the crime they had committed with their psychological and biological background. Criminals who are given the score of 1 to 3 tend to have committed petty crimes and have the greatest chance of successful behaviour correction while those with a score of 8 to 10 tend to be marked as 'lost causes'. The facility only housed inmates with the scores of 8 and below, and only for a maximum of two years. If there is no change in their ability to conform to Citadel's law within that period of time, or if they were given a score above 8, they would be transferred to an actual prison facility.
Forensic psychology had always been a subject of interest for the dark-haired girl, even back in her own universe. The fact that the CFF had aliens of all different species made it all the more fascinating for her. In the end, after Jane had enlisted with the Alliance, Sky chose to pursue a degree, and then a Masters, and was now a PhD student in criminology. Her innate ability to interact and understand people of all species quickly made her one of the University's best students, and then later one of CFF's most valuable employees. Furthermore, her continuous physical training under Staff Commander David Anderson made her most equipped to handle the more difficult inmates using more unconventional means.
Jen, the orange VI from before appeared in the terminal beside her, breaking her out of her thoughts. "Ms Skylar, Mr Odra would like to speak to you." Sky sighed. Great. Exactly what she needed.
"Patch him through."
Not that she had a choice either way.
To be honest, she wasn't even sure if she made the right decision to come into work today. She had spent the better part of yesterday pacing, thinking and imagining all the worst-case disastrous situations that she could do nothing about, back to worrying again. The leap of emotions from her absolutely amazing night of passion to the crashing worry over her sister had set her awry and her mind was still in a frazzled tangle. But she was fairly certain that if she spent another moment doing nothing, she was going to go insane.
The hologram disappeared for half a second, only to be replaced by an image of a salarian dressed in the alien equivalent of a business suit. "Sky. Very, very glad to see you in today. Very glad indeed." She nodded in response. "I assume you have been filled in? Ah yes, obviously, since Ms Ahleaa has came to see me. But yes, you can see, very dire situation."
Again, Sky nodded. "I'm on my way to handle him."
The blue-skinned amphibian blinked, eyelids shooting upwards then back down, before smiling widely, displaying a very thin row of small teeth. "Good. Good. Again, glad you're here. 483's evaluation is tomorrow. I hope you remembered that. Just a casual reminder." The doctor closed her eyes, trying to keep her face expressionless. "Will leave you to it then."
"Thank you sir."
"Oh, before I forget. Very sorry about the Blitz, heard your sister is still there. Was wondering why you didn't come in yesterday. But no worries, I really understand, you can make up for it in overtime." With that, the image of her boss disappeared.
Sky was already walking away from the terminal in barely-contained fury before Jen could finish her usual "Transmission ended."
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"It is very good to see you today doctor." The low, calm voice of the criminal washed gently over her worked-up brain. For some strange reason, she was more delighted to see the drell before her, than her own boss. Oh how she disliked that salarian.
"It's good to see you too Rahan." She leaned back forwards, hands on the table. Assassins were suspicious, nervous, twitchy people, and insane ones even more so. She knew that the appearance of calm that the reptilian-looking man had before her was just a façade. She watched as his eyes flickered to her hands for half a millisecond, before returning to her face. "You do realize your evaluation is tomorrow right?"
The inmate just nodded.
Sky didn't push for a response. "Perhaps beating down eight people wasn't the most intelligent of choices." She looked into his eyes. "Why Rahan? Your record has been spotless for months."
The drell remained straight-backed; large, all-seeing eyes boring into hers as usual. She had to admit, they were alarmingly attractive creatures, despite their dry green skin and reptilian features, there was just something about the way they moved and held themselves. They reminded her of one of her favourite Earth animals: snakes; in grace, poise, and deadliness. He tilted his head to the right. "What makes you think I didn't lose control?" he asked softly, dangerously.
"Because no one died." Her voice matched his: calm, centered.
The sides of his lips turned upwards in a feral grin. The transition would have been fearsome to watch, were she someone else. "I didn't? I must have missed."
She took a deep breath, forcing herself to remain calm. He always had that very terrifying ability to sense fear. "You don't 'miss'. You never 'miss'."
"Well that can't be true since I have not been able to kill you yet."
The dark-haired girl smiled softly. "That is because you're no longer in control."
He growled and stared her down as a predator would his prey. "I can assure you, he can't hold me back for long."
She followed his movements with her eyes, but refused to turn her head or make any acknowledgement of his unspoken threat. She just shrugged and relaxed further.
He paused halfway through his motion of standing up, before letting out a breath and calmly sitting back down. Shooting her an apologetic glance he sighed and said: "Tomorrow will be my last day here." Voice strong, more himself.
Sky noted that he had phrased it more as a statement than a question. "If you don't pass the evaluation, then yes."
The CFF held an evaluation after the end of the regular two-year period to decide if more efforts should be made to reintegrate the criminal back into society, or if they should just be placed into prison for real. The crocodile-skinned male nodded, before standing up. There were no shackles around his wrists or ankles as one might expect from a criminal that just acted up. But Sky had been interacting with the killer for two years now, and knew how he thought, functioned and acted. Many argued that she was crazy to take such a risk, but trust was a big issue between the inmate and therapist. She would do nothing to betray him.
The drell walked to the corner of the white room. It was a simple square room with padded walls. Much like one out of a mental hospital; large enough for comfortable movement, with nothing but a simple metal table and two chairs. There were no cameras, windows, or mirrors in this one- they had total and utter privacy. Again, trust issues. There was no way for Sky to contact anyone outside the room unless she pressed the panic button on her omnitool. But of course, if Rahan really wanted to kill her, he probably would be able to snap her neck before she even reached for said button.
In more ways than one the man before her reminded her of one of the Mass Effect 2 characters, Thane Krios. They were similar in many ways: religion, attitude, abilities; Rahan was also a Compact assassin; one that upon fulfilling his final quest, had turned himself into C-Sec.
"I feel… A little sad at that thought and it surprises me."
"What makes you think you're going to fail?"
"Come now Skylar, do you think they're going to pass me after today's incident?"
She remained silent, knowing full well that the board would not. Rahan was already an odd case when it came to societal reintegration. If he had passed the evaluation, he would never fully able to return living in Citadel, but would be a full time citizen within CFF itself. "Is that why you did it? You want to go to prison?"
With his back turned to her she was not able to read his reactions, but she did see his back and calf muscles tense ever so slightly. "What we want and what we deserve are two different things." He replied cryptically, before turning around and walking back to her. "It is due processing."
She cocked her head in question. "Due processing? For your sins?" He nodded. "Your actions were not your own. You know that."
"Yes, they were not. But they finally are."
Sky understood what he was trying to tell her, but she disliked the way it made her feel. She had learnt to enjoy the drell's company over the past year. It was a strange situation, a friendship between psychologist and criminal, one that was definitely heavily frowned upon. But Rahan wasn't the evil one;
It was him.
They didn't name him, not wishing to give him the power of having a name, Rahan's 'otherside'.
Yeah, it surprised her as well to know that aliens suffered from psychological disorders. A very odd concept, but after giving it more thought she realized that perhaps people just underestimated how alike humanity and aliens are.
Rahan was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder after his trial. Having been orphaned at a very, very young age and given to the hanar to fulfill the Compact at 6, she theorized that he overcame the stress of his guilty conscience by developing a second personality; A dark, cruel, evil side of him that was equal in physical skill and power, but dominant during situations of discomfort. It took her two long years and an incredible amount of work to get him to where he is now. He would never be able to mask or control both his personalities completely, but he now had superiority when it came to function of his own body.
"Perhaps we could…" He then trailed off, unsure if he should follow through with his request.
"Of course." Sky smiled softly and nodded, before shifting the bare furniture to the corner of the room with his help.
This ritual started when he first came to her, unable to handle his other personality. He was originally given a high 8.9 score and was due for transportation to prison when she discovered him. There was just something that attracted her to this case. She knew that prison would only make the situation worse, and would force the real Rahan deeper into his unconscious, allowing the darker side of him to take full control. She could not let that happen, it was as impossible as letting a poor kitten starve. So she begged, pleaded and pulled many strings to get him as her patient.
He was wild, crazy and seriously psychotic. He barely spoke in full sentences, could not control his bloodlust and was incredibly difficult to work with. She tried everything and was so close to giving up, when that faithful event occurred.
She remembered the incident as clear as day. They were scheduled for their session in a room similar to this one except he was shackled and chained to the ground and there were five guards standing outside the door to intervene should she come into a position of harm. But for some unexplainable reason, either to her great misfortune or luck, she still wasn't sure, his restraints had came loose, and before she knew it, she was in his chokehold.
Instincts honed after years and years of physical training with the Alliance's top fighters were the only reason she was still alive. He had underestimated her strength, assuming that she was just some regular doctor, and was unprepared when she smashed the back of her head into his nose, hard enough to break it. When his grip had loosened in surprise she went for his temple using her knuckles that was quickly followed by him crashing into the ground and her hidden knife to his throat.
The guards came rushing in, guns blazing and threatening the criminal that was on the floor. But he made no attempts to resist her grip, nor did he acknowledge their new company. Instead he stared at her in a mixture of respect and contemplation, before his eyes cleared and she met the true Rahan for the first time.
Since then she had been interacting with both sides of the drell. She fought with words, teeth and nails against his darker personality when she needed to, and offered comfort, solace to his true self. It was a complicated three-way relationship that involved a lot of back-and-forths, progression and regression, for them to get to this stage. But as she looked at her patient before her, she could not be more proud.
And yet, at the same time, there was nothing she could do to change the outcome of his future. All she could do was pray that he would always maintain in control.
The drell gave her no hint before he rushed at her. Adrenaline of a fight flooded through her as her mind cleared to a blank. She blocked his strike and retaliated with a kick of her own.
Perhaps some might think her insane for even thinking about sparring with such a dangerous, deadly enemy of the state, but Rahan never went too far, never truly hurt her. Plus, he was the best teacher she had. Through the vigorous exercise that they went through almost every week she had grown stronger, faster and even managed to learn a number of maneuvers from him. They had very similar fighting styles anyway: fast, silent and sharp.
She grabbed his oncoming fist with her right hand, swallowing the need to shout at the excruciating pain vibrating up her arm and instead used the momentum to twist her body around, delivering a kick to his face. His eyes widened slightly in surprise before he ducked and rolled underneath her, moving out of the range of her long legs.
He raised his eyebrows. "That is something new."
"What can I say? Improvisation." She cradled her right arm. "Hurts like a bitch though."
He tsked, "Language."
She loved fights like this, where it involved nothing but pure, unadulterated skill and intelligence. Her mind was churning at a million miles per second, trying to predict and retaliate. That was the beauty of hand-to-hand combat. It was precisely what she needed after the news she received yesterday.
'Elysium is under attack… Situation is still a little unclear. Will let you know when I find out what is happening. -Anderson'
'This just in, the human colony within the Skyllian Verge, Elysium, is currently under siege by a large band of what seems to be pirates, slavers and batarian warlords. Rumors suggest that the attack is retaliation against the Alliance's pirate suppression campaign. Stay tuned for more information.'
'The System Alliance has sent reinforcements, but the situation looks dire. Elysium was unprepared. –Anderson'
'The estimated death toll-'
A swift punch struck her on the side of her face and she was jerked backwards, colliding heavily against the thankfully padded walls. Her opponent blinked, as though amazed his attack hit. She moaned and rubbed her cheek.
"That… should not have happened." He said as he hauled her onto her feet.
"Yeah sorry, a little distracted."
The drell frowned, and took a step backwards. "You should know better than to fight with me when you have other things on your mind Doctor."
Sky sighed, "I know." She touched her face gently and winced, that was going to bruise heavily tomorrow.
"It is your sister isn't it?"
The dark-haired woman looked up in shock. "How- how did you hear about that?"
He shrugged. "The guards are not as subtle as they think. And I do remember every single detail after all."
"Right." She momentarily forgot about drells' insane memories. Sighing, she leaned against the wall, "Yeah, I'm worried."
"You always worry."
She huffed. "Sue me."
"Tell me about her."
Sky shot him a questioning look, as though to say 'seriously?' He had never expressed real curiosity about her life before. Not to mention he was her patient.
"I will be leaving to a prison tomorrow after all." She hated the nonchalant way he said it. "What would it matter what you tell me now?"
She wrinkled her nose, "I don't know. It just doesn't seem professional that's all."
"Indulge me. Think about it as goodbye gift from you to me."
The Chinese girl sighed, before sinking down to the ground. The drell sat a few feet away from her, cross-legged and back straight. For someone of his size and muscle composition, it still astounded her that he could be so flexible.
"She's family. Perfect in almost everyway." She shot him a look. "I think you two would get along. Strong, almost virtually indestructible; one of the most intelligent women I've ever met and incredibly gorgeous."
He didn't respond, just stared at her in a way that requested she continue.
She told him about how they met, how Jane had basically saved her life and how they were each others' lifeline for a long time. "She never left me behind, even though she was way ahead of me, in terms of academics or physical training, she would coax, push, shout, shove and whine at me until I reach the level she deemed satisfactory."
"She sounds like a great woman."
Sky nodded thoughtfully, "she is."
It wasn't as though she was extremely worried about Jane's safety. She knew she would survive Elysium. But she was sure that the blonde would return with significant emotional scarring… And no matter how much she knew of the future, she could not bring herself to accept that.
"Then she will pull through."
A high pitch bell broke their comfortable silence telling them that their hour was up. The dark-haired girl sighed and shook her head slowly. "I really thought you could have stayed."
The drell stood up gracefully and walked towards the other corner of the room where blue mass effect restraints materialized and clasp around his wrists and ankles. She could see from his eyes, he regretted nothing.
"It was an absolute pleasure working with you Skylar." He said gravely as the door opened and two guards walked in, 'escorts' to move him back to his cell. "Take care and don't worry too much about your sister. I'm sure she will be fine."
"I'll see you around then." Her throat constricted, it was difficult to see him go.
He turned his head at the last moment, a small sad smile gracing his handsome face. "I doubt it." Before he disappeared out of the room.
Sky sighed and placed her face in her hands. She hadn't mentally prepared herself for this. He was the first of all her patients to ever leave. And as much as she tried to maintain that rigid professionalism, it would be a lie to say that Rahan was not her favourite.
She prayed for both his and her sister's safety, but as she walked out of the empty white room, she couldn't help but feel as though she had just lost something very important and that it wasn't going to stop there.
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Hello all. I am back from my mini break. Sorry it has taken me so long to update. Been quite busy with mocks and all that. But that is done and hopefully I can get back into the swing of things. I also do realize that today perhaps isn't the best day to upload this, since everyone would be busy with ME3. I haven't got mine yet =[ Preordered it but I can only pick it up tomorrow. Sigh. But I guess better late than never.
I wonder what you think about this chapter. It explains more about Sky and her career path, etc. But I don't know how well it relates to the last chapter. Let me know if you think this flows right, and what you think of Sky's character now. =]
Also, Rahan is an important fellow. Not for a long time, but do remember his name. =P Juuust a heads up.
No mention of mystery man this chapter. Won't hear about him for at least two chapters (if not more) but still, who knows who this person is? ;]
Thank you Rosiegirl52, greed11, S058, Helljumper 1337, Liege Lord and on anon for reviewing. Again, your words are the reason I'm still writing.
Anon, Liege Lord, Hell Jumper 1337: Nope, won't be revealing him for a while. I love to keep y'all in suspense, and I'm afraid telling you whether he is a canon or OC would ruin it sooo...
greed11: As you know, I've changed it. Constructive criticisms are much appreciated so don't worry. I will be editing previous chapters as I move along, the language and what not.
NB! My laptop is running out of battery so I might have to spell check and tweak this chapter later.
Hope to hear from you guys.
Much love,
Fee
xx
ps. Skylar does not have a last name, this is not an error.
EDIT: Added a little more detail to explain the situation. I also tweaked Sky's thoughts a little to make her seem more like herself.
