The story contiues with Mass effect 3 and in this chapter some reader questions will get answered! Enjoy!
Chapter Eleven: A new beginning
(Serah's POV)
-2 years later-
A lot has changed since Shepard decided to actually keep the Collector Base. Up until that very point she thought she could trust the Illusive man, I think. After we came back out of the Omega 4 Relay, we got dismissed from the Normandy, Shepard sort of got arrested from what I heard and we all left Cerberus to rot in hell. They'd be nothing without us.
Arcen and I left as well. I was finally living a normal life. As normal as a life can get when you know Reapers were going to kill everyone. But I knew Shepard was going to do everything she could to make sure we'd win a potential war.
It was pretty hard adjusting to a life so calm, with actually no danger in sight. Our relationship was still going strong after 2 years and we actually moved in together in Arcen's appartment. It took us a while, but Arcen's mom was finally comfortable enough with her relationship for us to meet him. So I was actually getting ready for a night out with Arcen's... parents.
I was getting ready with my make up, which I actually started wearing about two months ago, when my vidscreen bleeped. I pressed the button to answer and Tali's face appeared on screen. I hadn't spoken to her in.. well 2 years. She tilted her head upon seeing me. "Am I talking to the right person?", she asked. I chuckled and gave a nod, "Yes, Tali. It's still me".
"You're wearing make-up! Arcen actually has an influence over you", she said and her voice told me she thought it was amusing. "So, how've you been?", I asked. I was looking at my nails. Everything had to be perfect, Arcen's mom was going to see me for real for the first time. "I am the Reaper adviser for my people", Tali sighed, "It's pretty hard..",
I nodded, "It sounds really hard, yeah. Have you heard from Shepard?", Tali shook her head. "Ever since she was stationed on earth again, none of us have spoken her", she told me. Man, this really sucked. Getting arrested for saving the world. That is messed up. It kinda made me mad. This was not how you thank people. But okay, they'll knock on her door for help pretty soon.
"I see you are going somewhere, I won't hold you up much longer", Tali told me. I smiled at her. "Well, I do enjoy talking to you"
"Serah, you look beautiful", she nodded toward me. "Thank you, I hope Arcen's mother will like me", I said and looked behind me. Arcen was in the bathroom looking at himself. It was surpising turians actually didn't even need to get ready. Other than getting out of their armor. I mean, we humans have society tell us that women have to look a certain way to be appealing for the males.
But with turians it doesn't seem that big of a deal.
"She will", Tali agreed. She looked over her shoulder and then back at me. "I really need to go now, I'll talk you you later, goodbye Serah and keelah se'lai", she said. I nodded toward her, "Keelah se'lai, Tali",
I closed the vidscreen and Arcen exited the bathroom. He stopped in his tracks to look at me. It was still a bit... embarrasing to see him look at me like that. I've seen him look at his one night stands like that. "Uhm, do I look good?", I asked. Arcen walked over to me and placed his hands on my hips. "You look wonderful", he told me. I blushed lightly. "Thanks", I walked away from him to look for my purse. Arcen went to the bedroom.
Man, I am so messy. I looked around the appartment. Arcen was the cleaning one in the relationship. I do clean my stuff, but sometimes forget to actually clean it. But I was still learning and getting better at live. No more spying, unless Shepard needed me to infiltrate somewhere. I wasn't very good at it anyway. Now I was literally studying for medic. I was getting tutored by doctor Chakwas, who saw right through my facade, but decided to help me anyway.
"Found it", Arcen threw my purse at me, "Still don't know why humans carry those things",
I giggled. Arcen was still learning about humans and their ways. Honestly, some human behaviours are indeed a bit strange, but hey, if you wanna date one, you gotta learn about them. Vice versa I was learning alot about turians. Though I did know a few things from Garrus. Last I heard he was on Palaven, trying to save his dying planet. I was not religious, but damn I was praying to whatever god would listen for my friends to survive.
"It's pretty handy, you can carry things in there, like guns", I joked. Arcen's brow plates and mandibles flexed. He was interested. "Really?", I walked past him and hit him on the arm with the purse. "No, you moron. Metal detectors at the door would find out and I'd be arrested", I answered his eager sounding question. Arcen gave a nod of understanding and walked over to grab my coat.
"Might get cold outside", he said as he handed me my coat. I smiled at him and took it over. "Ready to meet my family?", he asked. I linked my arm through his. "More than ready".
Lucky for us, the restaurant was closeby. I wasn't used to walking in heels just yet, but I was pretty short compared to turians, so this was handy. Arcen's mother and her boyfriend were already waiting for us at the entrance. "Ah, you must be Serah", Arcen's mom said and she gave a nod toward me. I figured some turians didn't want to shake hands with humans, just had to respect that. "Mom, you've met her before, that one time through vidscreen", Arcen reminded her. His mom's eyes widen and her mandibles flexed a bit.
"Right! I remember now, well, then it's good to see you finally in person, Serah",
I gave a nod, "Same here, ma'am", The krogan chuckled a bit. "You may call me Vericia", she said. Then she turned to face the krogan. "Rud, seriously?", she sounded a bit amused though. "Arcen never brought a girl home to meet the family, so it's new to me", she said to him. I looked over at Arcen in a bit of a surprise. Arcen sure as hell was a ladies man, but never dated a girl long enough for his mom to meet her.. Wow. That was a bit.. shocking.
"Shall we enter?", Rud asked and opened the door for us to enter. The restaurant was pretty fancy, so I was glad I was wearing a fancy dress for the occasion. While Rud and Vericia were talking to the host about our reservation, Arcen and I looked around into the restaurant. The theme was really white, with golden accessories everywhere.
"It's really beautiful", I said and I wasn't lying. It must've cost a lot of credits to get this place this pretty. Arcen gave a nod and turned when Rud and his mom walked over to us. "Our table is ready", Vericia said and the four of us followed the waiter to take us to our place. We sat down across from each other. Or well, Arcen and I sat across from his mom and Rud. I took a look at the menu and was suprised at how many diffrent dexro food there was. And so many unknown normal food. This was indeed a restaurant were every species could eat.
"So Arcen", Rud started, "I heard from your mother that you were a mercenary for Cerberus, how did that happen?",
I could tell Arcen didn't want to talk about it, but it had peaked my interest as well. "Yeah, as far as everyone knows, Cerberus hated aliens before they brought the Normandy crew together again", I said. Arcen fiddeld a bit with his talons before answering us. "As far as I remember, Cerberus needed someone for a 'special project'. Back in the day I only thought about the amount of credits I'd receive for transporting the special project to the Normandy. Little did I know the special project was a human with extrodinary biotic abilities", he explained.
I frowned. "They had no idea they hired a mercenary?", Arcen shook his head. "They knew, but since I was the only one stupid enough to take on any job, they saw past the fact I was what they so despised. I mean, there were alot of people who didn't agree on Cerberus creating a super human, they'd want to kill it. My guess is that that's why they eventually hired me", he shrugged. "But I cut ties with them after the mission ended".
Still didn't make much sense to me, but it seemed none really knew why they'd hire a turian mercenary. Maybe for a better rep? But there were other questions Arcen and I had.
"How did you actually meet Rud, mom?", Arcen wondered. Vericia's mandibles flared in and out. Rud took her hand and it seemed so cute. It was either a lovely or a sad story. My guess was the sad one. Vericia sighed a bit. Yep, a sad one.
"We met on the citadel. Rud was on his way to the council and I just left from them. Since the council was still in a meeting he had to wait. So we got to talk and well... a week later Rud asked me out on our first date and he hadn't left my side since", Vericia said. "But... no offense toward any of you... A krogan? I thought turians and krogan hated each other?",
Rud nodded. "The krogan blame the turians for deploying the genophage, but I hold no such resentment toward the species. It was a mistake made centuries ago, this generation is not to blame for their ancestors mistakes", he explained. I was baffled. He was the first krogan I met who didn't want to kill turians. Well, Garrus had told me about Urdnot Wrex, a friend of him.
Never met the guy, but from the stories, he sounded like a very great krogan.
"Wow..", I said, "You are really.. a great guy", I said. Rud gave a thankful nod toward me. "Thank you, Serah", he said. Arcen took my hand in his. "So, Arcen is treating you good I hope?", his mother asked me. I smiled. "Very and if not, he'll definately hear it from me", I looked at him. Arcen flared his mandibles. "Serah's great mom, I couldn't be more happy right now",
It made me fuzzy inside to hear that. Someone was actually happy with me. That made me feel great and loved. It brought sort of a permanent smile on my face. Until my omni-tool bleeped and I saw it was Joker.
"Serah, we need you on the Normandy ASAP! The Reapers are attacking in full force on earth and other planets!",
My eyes widen and I shared a look with Arcen.
This meant war.