AN: I don't really know what to think about this chapter...I like it but at the same time I despise it. Anyway, a little head's up, there's a Sawyer monologue going on in there and to make it easier for you I didn't put any Italian words during it. So yeah. However, you get to know a bit more about the Rory Carmichael character, and why Will frowned when Sawyer used that name for an alias.

And since no one vehemently opposed the idea of uploading on Tuesday (or the late upload on Wednesday) I won't change a thing. It'll just be a bit later than usual, is all.

Michael1110: I think everyone is just shy. I would start threatening them by saying "if I don't have x number of reviews I won't update" but I don't think that's fair for anyone else. You especially. Thank you for your regular reviews, you rock, mate!

Milky Way, Earth Systems Alliance Space, Local Cluster, Sol System, Earth, England, Chester, Hotel suite 4008

March 14th, 2174—Earth Standard

Will shot up in bed, gasping. Her violet-blue eyes darted around the unfamiliar room, and she sighed in relief when there was no sign of a four-eyed alien with a dagger in her hotel room. She lay back down on the plush bed, wiping the sweat building up from the back of her neck.

She knew she wasn't about to fall back to sleep, not after a nightmare like that, but she didn't want to wake Sawyer up and worry her. She rolled over to her side, and found her cousin's bed empty and untouched. Will frowned, and got out of bed, attiring her complimentary robe. She wouldn't feel guilty about waking her up if she was already up.

She opened the door slightly, and almost choked on the smell of a dozen cigarettes. She flinched away and covered her sensitive nose with both of her hands.

"Gah! Marni! Open a window, will you!" Will reprimanded, though with her nose all scrunched up by her hands she didn't sound as annoyed as she wanted to be.

"Mi dispiace1," Sawyer drawled, putting out her cigarette into the filled ashtray and opening the window wider next to her. She rubbed at her eyes.

"Couldn't sleep?" Will asked coming up to sit across from her cousin while trying to wave away the thick smoke around the room. She pulled her knee up on the chair, and hugged it to her chest.

Sawyer shook her head, "I've got a dinner date tomorrow with an investor, and a breakfast meeting with Alliance Command. Not to mention lunch with the diplomat," she sighed, putting down the datapad in her hand, and picked up another one on the table, scanning through it, "Do you know how hard it is to find dirt on these pezzonovanti2?"

Will gave her a one-shouldered shrug, "The know-it-all could help, but you're too stubborn."

"No," Sawyer shook her head, "It'll hurt us in the long run. I'd rather take my chances going in blind. Così dire3."

The violet-eyed teenager nodded, resting her chin on her knee, and closing her eyes. Despite that, she could still feel her cousin studying her.

"Talk to me, bambina.4"

"I'm not a kid," Will sighed keeping her eyes closed.

"Hai ragione,5" Sawyer drawled, "You turn eighteen in," she paused and Will guessed that she was looking at the time, "Three hours. Ma basta che.6 What's really bothering you, adulta7?"

Will opened her eyes to glare half-heartedly at her grinning cousin, "Very funny, Marian," Sawyer kept her mouth shut, the datapads lie forgotten on the table, and waited for Will to speak. Luckily she didn't have to wait for long: "How…How do you deal with your, uh, first kill?"

Sawyer was silent, and Will was afraid she overstepped some invisible line by asking her about Mindoir. Will was about to take it back when Marian replied:

"La colpa di uccisione non va mai via, né deve."

Will blinked, "Uh, what?"

Sawyer smiled and reached over to flick Will's ear, and the younger cousin jumped.

"I said: the guilt of killing never goes away, nor should it," Sawyer started arranging the datapads on the table, "That is what mio padrino8 used to say, although it does sound a lot better in Italiano," she smiled, "You heard of Don Cesare Bertinelli, right?"

Will nodded, "The most dangerous and influential mobster on Earth, kind of hard not to hear about someone like him. Though I can't believe the capo di tutti capi9 is your godfather," she paused, "Or for the fact that you have a godfather."

Sawyer grinned and leaned back, "There's a lot you don't know about my mother's side of the family, Will."

"He's here, isn't he?" Will said, "In England I mean."

"Sure is."

"Are you going to see him?"

"Not if I can help it," Sawyer scratched the back of her head, "But he would want to meet with me if he knew I was here. Which knowing him, he probably already does. I don't trust him, call me paranoid, but something about him and his Family rubs me the wrong way."

Will smiled, slightly, "Takes one to know one."

"Funny," Sawyer replied, smiling nevertheless.

They succumbed to a comfortable silence for a few minutes with Sawyer studiously reading from the datapads, and Will watching her, before the younger said, "Are you still seeing Cornelia?"

Sawyer didn't look up, "You told me to take better care of myself."

"I did," Will agreed, studying her cousin carefully and caught the grey eyes flicker behind her then to datapad closest to her. Will leaned back on her seat, "She's here."

Sawyer smiled sheepishly, "She says hi."

"Marian—" Will started, exasperated.

"She also says to take it easy on me or she'll whack you upside the head in a," Sawyer frowned in concentration at what Will assumed where Cornelia was standing, "ghostly smack of awesomeness? Really, Corny?"

Will bit back a smile and her tears, but she turned to where Sawyer was looking, "You shouldn't really encourage her, it's." she stopped and smacked her forehead with her hand, "I'm talking to a ghost. That's it, I'm going to bed."

Sawyer laughed soundlessly, and Will suddenly shivered.

"Don't keep the window open for long," Will said, standing up.

"Sure, sure," Sawyer waved her away half-heartedly, but then her eyes widened, "Oh no…"

"Marni?" Will asked, "Are-are you—?"

"Yeah," Marian swallowed thickly, "She's on her way."

Will blinked, "Wha—?"

Marian tried to smile, but the tears made it almost impossible, "Happy tears," she paused for a while, before, "Go to sleep, Corny. I'll wake you up when the Alliance get here."

The coldness was forgotten, and Marian kept her eyes downcast. Will placed her hand over Marian's organic one, "Mar?"

"She's gone," Marian muttered barely audible.

"Did she…?" Will couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, but instead looked to where she thought Cornelia was standing.

"Yeah, just like Mindoir."

Will pursed her lips together, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," Marian moaned, burying her face in her hands. Neither cousin moved, until Marian looked up.

"I was playing with Talitha in the backyard when we lost contact with the main settlement," Marian started, her voice low and devoid of emotion, "Mom and dad came out to warn us. They took Talitha with them to the hospital to set up a resistance, we weren't sure what was happening, but dad didn't want to take any risks," she smiled sardonically here, "You can take the man out of the Alliance, but you can't take the Alliance out of the man.

"He told me to get to the main settlements to get Corny back—"

"He sent you alone?" Will gawked.

"He gave me his pistol. Still have it too," she shrugged, "If he didn't send me, I would've went anyway. I think he thought it would be better to send me somewhat prepared. My biotics were still a bit off, and my bio-amp was only six months old at the time. I could barely lift a datapad, let alone defend myself against an attack.

"I snuck into the settlement, and I remember there were two batarians cutting open a kid's head and putting in the control chip, the boy couldn't have been older than Talitha. I remember thinking what kind of sentient being would do this to another. I didn't notice there was another one behind me until he starts yelling—I'm not sure if he was yelling at me or at something else, and I still don't know—but I ran to the kid and took him away from them."

She paused and looked at her left palm, while Will held her breath, afraid that one little sound would stop Marni from recalling the events to her.

"I tried to hide him away so they wouldn't find him," she whispered, her eyes glazed over, "But he bit my hand and called them to us. Two batarians found us, I think they were the same ones that put the chip in his head," she traces the horizontal scar on her cheek, "one of them had a dagger, and," she smiled humorlessly, "I thought he was going to kill me, or turn me into an obedient slave. I was stupid, and pulled out the gun. I don't know what I was hoping would happen, I guess I thought they'd go away once they saw that I was armed, and I wouldn't have to spill blood," she scoffed, "Fat chance of that. They just laughed at me. Then, out of nowhere, two precise arrows drop them. I knew it was Rory without turning around. No one in the entire colony has—had—better aim than her," she rubbed at her eyes, "She was dubbed 'The Huntress' for a reason. The little kid tries to yell out again, but…" Marian sighed.

"Rory killed him," Will muttered.

"Yeah. Yeah, she had a point, but I didn't want to admit to that. If she kept him alive, we'd likely be dead. She also said it's better to die than live the rest of his life as a slave."

"I can attest to that."

Marian smiled, softly, "We got to safety, and I asked her if she knew where Cornelia was. Apparently, the clinic she was at was the first to be hit," she shook her head, "The one time I'm not around, shit hits the fan. Rory said they were led to the ship—Corny and her boyfriend, Vince. I told her I was getting her back, and she said she'd help," she smiled, "Actually her exact words were: 'If you're stupid enough to go to the enemy ship and stage a rescue, you're going to need help. Luckily, unlike you, I don't have piss-poor aim,'" they shared a smile.

"We snuck into the ship," Marian said, suddenly turning somber, "Rory did all of the killing on the way, but eventually we found Corny and Vince relatively safe. We tried to get them out of the cages and the ship but," she sighed here, "But, a large group of batarians came about. Ro couldn't take them all out, and Vince—that idiot—picked up one the dead batarian's rifle and gave us covering fire."

Will rubbed her thumb over Marian's hand as she continued, "I don't know what was worse, losing my closest friend or hearing my sister wail over him," she rubbed at her eyes, "I guess it doesn't matter now. We got out and…"

For a full minute, Marian said nothing, and kept her grey eyes downcast. Will leaned forward a bit; she squeezed her hand and whispered, "Marni?"

Marni took a deep shaky breath, "I killed my first man that night."

"You don't have to—"

"No, no," Marni waved a lazy hand, "The Alliance tried to get me to talk to someone after the attack, but I didn't trust anyone enough. Maybe it'll help if I talk to someone who's alive about it for a change," Will pursed her lips, but Marian didn't seem to notice, "We—Corny and I—got separated from Rory and the others when a batarian started chasing us. There was another one around the corner, but I didn't see him until it was too late. He took me down, and the other one—the one behind us—grabbed Cornelia. Next thing I know, the first one was trying to," she closed her eyes, and breathed out, "Anyway, I bit his ear and pulled out my gun.

"We wrestled for it, and he ended up over me, but the gun was in my hands. I pulled the trigger, and took off half his face," she shook her head, "he was still twitching when I pushed him off. I didn't have the time to grab my bearings before the other one broke Cornelia's leg and came for me. I still had the gun."

Will tried her hardest, but she still couldn't keep a few tears from falling at the loss of her cousin's innocence. She decided to take a page from Sawyer's book, and try to diffuse the solemnity of the situation with a sorry-attempt at humor, "So, you shot the other one, and you didn't miss? I'm impressed."

Marian laughed, surprised, and opened her eyes to show her gratitude, "I think Cornelia was surprised the most. She never did forgive me for hitting her with that arrow in gym class.

"It didn't take us too long to get to the hospital, we thought it was the end of it. Just stay put 'til the Alliance shows up. Only dad didn't think they would get there in time—and he was right—so he devised a plan to show the batarians that we mean business," she frowned, "He rigged a bomb, and Rory volunteered to place it in one of the ships."

"Why didn't Uncle Garrett go?" Will asked.

"He hurt his leg during the last mission with the Alliance, otherwise he would've been all for it," she leaned back in her seat, "But I couldn't let her go alone, so I went with her. Don't know what good that did, she died in the blast."

"How?"

Marian sighed, "She was setting up the bomb and I was keeping watch when the ringleader appeared on the screens in the ship. He ordered the ship to leave and empty it's contents before coming back to restock.

"I tried to get her to forget about the bomb and focus on getting our neighbors out of here, but she wouldn't have any of it," she faltered, "I—I told her she was no better than the batarians for wanting to blow the ship and everyone in it up."

Marian stopped, and Will muttered, "You didn't mean that, did you?"

"Of course not," Marian mumbled, "I was pissed. If I could take back what I said I would in a heartbeat. Gods, Will, I love her."

Will's eyebrows furrowed slightly. Love, not past tense. Will couldn't believe that Marian still loved—loves—that whore. She only met her in person once, and that was when she was sucking face with her catch of the day. Despite cheating on her thousands of times, Marian took Rory back in a heartbeat. If that isn't love, Will thought bitterly, I don't know what is.

"What happened next?" Will reeled her cousin from her thoughts of her ex.

Marian shrugged, "I don't know. All I remember is leaving her to get to the cargo hold, but I never made it before the bomb went off. When I came to, it was morning, the batarians were gone, the ship was in flames, and the hospital was completely destroyed. No one was alive except Cornelia, but even then," her voice trailed off in a choked sob.

Will went over and wrapped her arms around her shaking cousin, "It's okay, Mar. It's okay."

It felt weird to have their roles reversed, but Will was going to help her cousin get through this in any way she could. Even if it meant sticking by her and the Family.

"I couldn't even find Talitha's body," Marian sobbed, "I couldn't…"

Will tightened her hold.

1 "I'm sorry" = Italian

2 "Big Shots" = Italian

3 "So to speak" = Italian

4 "Girl" or "kid," = Italian

5 "You're right" = Italian

6 "But enough of that" = Italian

7 "Adult" = Italian

8 "My Godfather" = Italian

9 "Boss of Bosses" = Italian