A slight note; this chapter ties in with the Citadel DLC, at first I figured, wait, that would be a bit over the half of the game, but from what I gathered.. ME3 is in the span of a few months, so it could happen. You guys might like this, but this'll be the longest chapter I've ever made. So yeah, slight spoilers if you haven't played the DLC and enjoy! :)

Chapter Twenty-Six: The surgery
(Arcen's POV)

Today was the day of Serah's surgery. I'm relieved Joshua agreed to give her her eyes before that event he was mentioning. I wasn't to fond of the proposition he had for Serah, but like she told me, this was just an event, it wasn't an actual date. That's what I've been telling myself as well. I trust Serah, more than anyone I've ever met in my life, but Joshua? Not so much.

We were done packing Serah some clothes for after the surgery. With all that technology a surgery like this seriously took about.. ten minutes. Even though it has been around for like the past fifty years or so, this still surprised me. Hopefully they could manage to restore her eyes the way they were. I grabbed a picture I had of us from the nightstand, just in case they needed to see her eye colour.

Serah was pretty nervous on the way to the hospital. She brought her stick and Mim, for which she actually needed both her hands, but she refused it and held my hand instead. Lucky for us Mim was good in what she was doing, the fact that the walking stick kept softly hitting her didn't even seem to bother her. It kinda made me curious how Serah would react seeing Mim for the first time.

The doctor was waiting for us when we arrived at the hospital. The man looked old, well, not old enough to retire yet, but I was glad he seemed like the type to have a lot of experience with this. That made us both a lot more at ease with this surgery. The man wasn't a man of a lot of words. Just the neccesary things. The nurse accompanying him seemed nicer. She explained everything to us while the doctor was away to get his stuff. I could see Serah visibly relax.

When the doctor came back, he had a trolley with stuff on it. Syringes, scalpels and most importantly, which seriously grossed me out. There were eyeballs in a jar on that trolley. I tried to not make myself sound. If Serah heard me make disgusted noises she might want to stop the surgery or something.

I had to leave the surgery room, but the nurse made sure she'd get me when the surgery was a success.

While waiting in the hall where appointments were made and people were waiting, I sat down. Watching people going everywhere, people discussing things and overall, just watching everyone else. I was so busy watching, I didn't notice a familiar face sit down next to me. "Waiting for someone?",

I turned my head to be greeted by the sight of Kolyat Krios, Serah's friend. But he also became mine. We bonded over many things, mainly our jobs that were in the same line. Mercenary and assassin. We both kill people. Well, our adventures made for great stories.

"Serah. Some dude she became friends with needs her for an event that's tonight, but her being blind didn't work with it", Kolyat raised his eyeridges. "I know", I sighed. That was actually the jist of it. Didn't want Kolyat to like the guy. I sure as hell still didn't.

"So she's getting.. eyes now?", Kolyat looked at the door to the patient wing skeptically. I nodded. "Synthetics I guess, well, she completely mauled her eyes with a knife back then, so I don't know exactly what they're going to do",

Kolyat looked back at me and gave an understanding nod. "We'll just have to wait", he concluded. And so we did. It took them about an hour or something. It seriously made me wonder what they were doing to her. But finally the doctor came back. At least he cleaned himself up, otherwise, all covered in blood, I'd be freaking out.

Both Kolyat and I got up when the doctor made his way over to us. "She's fine. The bandages can come off after one hour, thanks to the state of the art technology", he explained. He handed me a bottle, which I looked at confused. "She needs this for a week, three times per day", Kolyat and I nodded.

We followed the doctor to the room Serah was resting. At least we assumed she was resting. When we got there, she was on her omni-tool, talking to Tali'Zorah. Tali was a close friend to Serah. I was grateful as to how well she treated Serah when she first came onto the Normandy. It was a relief to see that the crew really valued her.

"Hold your arm out for me, I can tell you who entered your room", I heard Tali's voice say. Serah stretched her arm and Tali seemed happy. "It's Arcen and Kolyat for you", she said. I gave a nod. "Great to see you again Tali", I greeted her. Serah showed a smile. "Are you in a lot of pain?", Kolyat asked. Serah retracted her arm and said her goodbyes to Tali. She turned the vidscreen off. "I'm fine. My eyes are a bit sensitive but we've tested them a little, they work and move around in my sockets without pain", she explained.

I walked over to her. "The doctor gave me..", I took a look at it. "I believe they're eyedrops or something. You need to take these for a week, three times per day", I repeated the doctors orders.

Serah gave a nod and kept her smile. "Thanks. Uhm, Arcen? Can we go home?", she asked. I knew how much she hated hospitals. Since she was created in a lab that had features of a hospital, Serah doesn't want to stay any longer than she can. I suppose none would want to stay longer, but she'd rather be home already by now.

Kolyat and I helped her up. I grabbed her bag and handed Serah her walking stick, which of course she still needed. Exiting the hospital, Serah actually shielded her eyes with her free hand. I raised my brow plates. "You can see the sun?", I asked her. Serah gave a nod. "Yes, my eyes are a bit sensitive to light. Really, I don't blame them", she smiled.

Seeing her genuinely smile made me happy. She hasn't been that happy in a while. She had her downpoint and pretty quickly got better from there, but she never became the same. How could you? If you were meant to be a dead reapers eyes and ended up gauging your own eyes out, I don't think you'd be the same again. But Serah was strong.

Finally after walking like what felt like forever, we arrived at the appartment. Serah's bandages were about to be taken off. It actually made me a bit nervous. Was she going to look like the girl I fell in love with? It felt like I was meeting a whole new person, even though she just got new eyes. But we didn't know if she was going to get the same eye colour as before.

(Serah's POV)

Arcen made sure he didn't hit anything with his talons while removing the bandages from my eyes. Kolyat had offered to do it and I couldn't agree more, since drell didn't have anything dangerous about their hands.

The bandages were off and I blinked a few times. It was a bit foggy at first. But I managed to blink it away. Kolyat handed me the bottle we've gotten from the doctor and I walked over to the mirror. It felt disorienting, being able to see where I was going. I unscrewed the top of the bottle which revealed a pipette. I held it to my eye and pressed the pipette so the medicine would get out. It hit my eye and instinctively I blinked. It eased my eye.

At least that went well, onward to the other eye. After I used it on both my eyes, I went over to my closet to look for something to wear. Opening the closet revealed a black dress. It was knee height, no sleeves and a high collar. I raised an eyebrow.

"Arcen?", I asked. Arcen, who was talking to Kolyat, made his way over to me and frowned himself. "What is this doing here?", he asked. I looked over my shoulder and up to look at him. "You didn't get this for me then?", I asked in confusion. Arcen shook his head. "No, definately not", he replied. I looked back at the dress, still frowning to myself. Either Joshua placed this here, or his lackeys broke into our home.

Either way, this seemed kinda disrespectful, entering someone's house without warning the person.

"Well, I suppose Joshua is the responsible one in this", I shrugged. I wasn't to pleased about it, but I had to be nice to him. But the dress was a necessity. From what I gathered on the vidscreens, the dress code was black tie. Couldn't walk around in a red dress or something.

Arcen's mandibles clenched into his jaw. He wasn't happy with this. Still, I can't blame him. "Arcen", I lightly touched his arm. He visibly seemed to relax. "I don't like this one bit", he answered. I sighed and nodded. I wouldn't be to pleased with him going somewhere fancy with another girl either. But Joshua gave me an opportunity to see again. I had to do it.

I grabbed the dress of the hanger and went into the bathroom. I changed into the dress, placing my normal clothes on the washing unit. I looked into the mirror. It felt and looked strange to see myself again. But man, I looked horrible. It seemed I haven't slept in a month. My hair needed a proper cut and maybe some hair dye. I needed a total make over.

A glance at the clock told me I had an hour or two left before I was picked up. I exited the bathroom. Arcen and Kolyat turned around to look at me. It made me feel a bit uncomfortable, having two men looking at me. I do trust them, but I've had men look me over before, still didn't like it.

"You look great", Kolyat nodded. I looked down and up at them again. "I need a make over", I replied. Arcen raised his brow plates. I went with my hand through my hair. "It hasn't been cut in months", I declared. Arcen had no idea how hair worked. Kolyat neither. They were slightly lucky they didn't have hair. Arcen flashed his omni-tool.

"I transferred some credits to your account", he said. I raised my eyebrows. "Arcen..", I wanted to complain. Sure we both had our own bank accounts and one together. But I made my own money and I could afford my haircut. It gave me the idea he was doing this because Joshua got me a dress. Seriously, Arcen needed to stop this trying to one up Joshua.

"You've earned it", he said. He seemed a bit moody. "Yeah, I earn my own money. You don't have to provide for me just because Joshua brought me a dress", I snorted. Arcen's brow plates raised. Now I've done it. He walked over to me. "I'm not doing that".

"Yes, you kinda do",

I almost choked back some laughter when I heard Kolyat say that. I decided not to give into a fight with Arcen. Things were already tense with him disliking Joshua to a high degree. I kissed Arcen on the mandible as a thank you and waved goodbye to Kolyat.

An hour later and I was ready to show Arcen my new look. Not much changed. They cut my hair and dyed my hair a darker brown than I naturally was. And of course Arcen was going to see it first. There was no way that Joshua would see the full picture first. When I came home, Kolyat had already left. Arcen was sitting on the couch, watching something on the vidscreen.

I cleared my throat. Arcen immediately looked in my direction and flared his mandibles. "Wow, you were right", he complimented me. I smiled wide. The whole hair make over did make me feel better. Now I only needed to wear that dress and I was good to go to that event.

The dress fitted me as a glove. It was so beautiful. Lucky for Arcen, it covered everything it needed. He'd complain that someone would see stuff they weren't supposed to see. I exited the bathroom, showing the dress to Arcen. His brow plates raised and his mandibles flared.

"You look amazing", he said. I smiled. Hopefully I got to keep the dress for any future events. Shepard and Garrus' wedding maybe. My eyes casted to the ground. How I missed my friends. I seriously missed my work at the Normandy. Helping doctor Chakwas with things. Just being with my friends was something I wanted. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing Arcen as much as I do, but still, this wasn't healthy.

I grabbed my clutch and walked over to Arcen. "I don't know when I'm home", I said, "But I'll send a message when I'm leaving",

Arcen just nodded, still not happy with this entire situation. I leaned in and kissed him on the mandible. "Have fun while you can", he said when I opened the front door. I looked over my shoulder, smiled and left the appartment.

Lots of famous and influential people were at the event. It made me feel out of place. But Joshua led me through the crowd pretty easily. I noticed there were a lot of humans, a few asari and a few turians. Not a very diverse crowd. Joshua was talking to some people, I don't know what about, since I either didn't work in that industry or just wasn't interesting enough.

Sure you'd think some sort of biotic superhuman was interesting, but I wasn't rich, so I wasn't good enough to talk to.

"Never thought I'd live to see the day. Serah can see",

I turned to see an all to familiar face. Garrus Vakarian. My jaw almost dropped when I saw him. Unfortunately it was a fancy event, so really hugging him wasn't an option. "Garrus!", I said and I didn't care, I hugged him. I've missed my friend for so long. "What are you doing here?", I whispered.

He looked around a bit before answering. "We're here on a special mission, someone tried to kill Shepard",

My eyebrows raised. I shouldn't be surprised. But none had ever made an direct attempt on her life before, so this was indeed very strange. "I take it you guys are trying to find out who actually did it?", I asked. Garrus still looked around. "Well, we have an idea. But of course you can't just barge in there and demand some answers", he explained.

I shrugged. I've heard he did that. Some guy named Harkin he knew hid information about Archangel's former teammate. Garrus almost broke the guy's neck by stepping on him. That actually shocked me at that time. Sure, I knew Garrus had a rough time, but he didn't strike me as someone who'd go that far. But he was in a dark place and he seemed to snapped out of that.

"Where is Shepard?", I looked around the room myself. There were so many people here, it was hard to spot her amongst the crowd. Garrus' mandibles flared in and out. Which for me was an indication he saw her. "We need to-", she stopped to look at me. "You've.. got your eyes back", she said in surprise.

I gave a nod. "In return I had to go to this fundraiser thing, but I can be of assistance if you want", I offered. Shepard took a long thought about it before she was interrupted. "Brooks?",

I frowned. Who was this Brooks character? And what was Shepard doing with this person? Garrus noticed me frowning at the whole ordeal and leaned in toward me. "Brooks was there when the attempt on Shepard's life was made, she's been helping us", he explained. I gave a short nod, still not liking this. It felt like I was replaced by someone else.

Joshua made his way over to me. I gave a small smile and he placed his arm around my shoulder, causing both me and Garrus to be surprised. He hasn't tried anything since that dinner Arcen and I had with him. "How are you enjoying the fundraiser?", Joshua asked me. I could smell the alcohol. It made me pretty uncomfortable. He was supposed to be connecting with others, not getting super drunk.

"It's fine", I said. "But you're drunk, way to drunk",

Joshua laughed. A kind of sad, pathetic laugh. I was starting to believe the reason he got so stupidly drunk. He didn't like it one bit. This society thing wasn't him. I knew him as someone who was actually nice, but didn't know how to react to people who have as much wealth as him. It made me take a hard look at him. He wasn't someone I'd fall for. As much he thought he could get be because he had wealth, hell no.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Garrus looking. From what the look told me, he was looking out for me. Just like he always did. But I wasn't as important as Shepard right now. What if those people that made the attempt on her life were at the party? Seemed to predictable to be true.

About half an hour later Shepard had returned. "Garrus, I've found where Khan is hiding, I need your help to distract the guards", she said. She didn't even pay attention to me. They walked off and I saw Garrus glancing over his shoulder toward me. I gave a short wave and looked around. Of course Joshua was nowhere to be found. He was most likely pukeing in a bathroom or something.

I sighed and went to the bar for a drink. Hell, I might needed more than one. It felt like the worst night of my life. I was all alone, my friends left me. They don't need me anymore. They found someone with the name of Brooks, who was probably way better than me. Otherwise they wouldn't have kept her around, would they?

"You okay?", I slammed the glass on the counter and was about to give the person behind me the bussiness, when I noticed who it was. Reena, Arcen's friend. By this time I was nearly convinced she was psychic next to a biotic. She always shows up at random times, it's like she knows when you need a friend.

"Could be better", I admitted. Believing I looked like a mess, I decided I wasn't going to sugarcoat anything. I told her about my eyes and how Shepard had found someone new to work with. I felt replaced and it hurt like hell.

Reena just sat there and nodded occasionally. That's what I needed right now, to pour my heart out and not be judged by anyone. She still didn't say anything after I was done talking, she just tapped something into her omni-tool. A few seconds later mine bleeped, receiving a message from.. Reena? What was she doing. The message showed an addres.

"What is-?',

"Shepard got an appartment from Anderson, figured I'd show you where so you might be able to help them out", Reena explained. I raised my eyebrows at her. How did she know all this? Was she a spy? An infiltrator for the asari?

"How..", I didn't want to know so I just said a simple thank you and decided, well, Joshua's probably over somewhere on the toilet, puking his liquor out of him, I was going to have a fun night with Reena instead.

Phew, I'm so sorry this took so long, but as promised, a way longer chapter than usual! Hope you enjoyed it!