I don't own Mass Effect. My original characters are sort-of mine.. feel free to use them just note that I made them. And if they die, make sure it's awesome.

Chapter 2: The Silence

Waking up reminded me a lot of when I first awakened on this god forsaken planet. My mouth felt like it was stuffed full of cotton, my head was throbbing with pain, and I seriously didn't want to open my eyes.

"He's waking up."

"Already?" Aethyta's voice drifted closer. "You just said you didn't know when he'd snap out of it, it's barely been five minutes."

"I guessed." The Doctor primly corrected her. "I've never seen a condition this bad. I've never heard of it. If he was an Asari he would be foaming from the mouth and hemorrhaging blood in his brain from the initial reaction."

Well. That certainly didn't sound good. Yay for being human?

"He obviously isn't."

"No. His vitals spiked until the emergency cut-off shut the equipment off. The only thing I'm recording now is his version of a migraine and some aches and pains." There was a long pause before she made an exasperated sound. "Which I would expect but only if he'd just been attacked yesterday."

"So what in the goddess's name did we just see?"

"The sensors indicate he's got Floating Mind, but.." Her voice trailed off. "Aethtyta, this isn't some random rape by one of our people. Even the ones who go for that kind of thing are usually after something. A specific idea, memory, an emotion, something like that. Look at the screen... his entire nervous system, every bit of it, lit up the moment the connection was made. His mind started to go haywire at a brush. Humans don't normally take Floating Mind well but this is... worse than anything I've heard of."

Aethyta apparently didn't have any problems understanding her. "You're saying someone deliberately bonded with him, then ravaged him through it until he had Floating Mind. On purpose."

"You're lucky to be alive young human." Something cool fell across my forehead. "And I feel as if I should apologize."

"It's on me." There were a few footsteps and an annoyed sigh. "Goddess damn it all. I wasn't expecting you to actually have it."

"I told you about the certificate-"

"Which was faked. There's no record of him ever being there, the Doctor who signed it was paid off to do without examining him, but there's nothing to indicate who did it."

Not sure how I feel about the Matriarch being good enough to stay under Aethyta's radar... and just what the hell did she do to me?

I risked opening my eyes, wincing slightly at the light speared into them. I blinked several times, slowly at first before speeding up a bit as my eyes adjusted. I was laying on the floor of the room we'd been in, with only the two old Asari with me. Which was probably a good thing.

"...water? Damage?"

"Aethyta?" Sayran jerked her chin to the sink, while she focused on taking readings from me with her omni-tool. "The connection was brief enough that there shouldn't be any lasting damage.. but you shouldn't have had a reaction like that to begin with."

"Ok.." I gratefully reached up and took the water cup that Aethyta had filled, spilling some of it as I gulped it while still laying down. It didn't do much to help my pounding skull, but it did wonders for clearing up my throat. "Headache?"

"Should desist shortly."

Aethyta turned back to the doctor, "How long do you think it would be until he could bond?"

"Never?" Sayran shook her head. "I said six months before I realized how much damage he'd taken. If he..." she turned to regard me seriously, "Kean, seriously. If any of our people actually tried to bond with you, the best case scenario is you survive with some severe damage, but you'd be blessed by the goddess to have that happen. You'd probably be dead within a few moments of forming the full connection."

I winced and finished my water off before wiping my face.

"And the Asari?"

Sayran snorted, sharking her head at Aethyta. "If she was as old as us, or maybe was an extremely skilled good bonding counselor, she might survive being in his head when he dies. And even if she did, she wouldn't get anything out of his head beyond whatever flashes he's having while he's seizing up."

It was the Matriarch's turn to wince.

The Doctor just shook her head, then frowned at something on her omni-tool. "If you would excuse me, I need to check on other cases of humans with the condition, maybe its something about your species... I didn't see anything specific in my last checks, but maybe I missed something. I'll double-check what evidence exists to give you a long term prognosis given what we saw here."

She rose and moved back to her terminal, apparently becoming instantly absorbed in her research. The pair of us watched her for a few moments before Aethyta turned to stare down at me, her face carefully neutral. "So... Dammit kid, I fucked up on this one."

"Can't blame you for not trusting me..." I winced at another throb, "Could do without the pain though."

She snorted. "Let say I owe you one. Maybe two."

"We'll call it one," I closed my eyes for a long moment, "And I don't end up staying here overnight for observation."

She gave the Doctor, who was apparently ignoring us entirely, a glance. "You sure?"

"Honestly this isn't anywhere nearly as bad as waking up the first time." A hand rose to rub slowly at my head. "And I'd rather not have to deal with Nyn and Trena showing up in an hour and exploding on us."

"I could handle them, but deal." There was a sigh, "I was hoping for answers but all you're giving me is more goddess damned questions. Why in the deeps would someone do that to you? Easier just to slit your throat and dump the body in the ocean. And this wasn't some maiden on a sand trip, you'd need a lot of experience with bonds do that much specific damage."

I winced at the image.

"Someone who didn't want to kill you, openly or not, but didn't want you to remember who you were. Or be able to bond with anyone who might be able to put your memories back together." She growled. "Need a damn drink to deal with this. Sayran, we good to go or what?"

The doctor glanced over as I slowed pushed myself to a seated position, resting back on my hands. "I'd rather he stay overnight for observation."

Aethtya just stared at her.

"Fine, want to risk his life some more today, that's on you. You feel any lingering sensations, hallucinations, coordination problems, get back here as fast as you can all right?" She looked down her nose at both of us, "This is serious."

I survived it before. I groaned as I started to get up to my feet. I'll survive it this time. "I know doc. I'd rather my brain stay intact too."

"Aethyta, I'll mail you what I find. There's more cases than I thought... I might have to talk with some of I-Sec's medics as well." Her screen flickered as she turned back to it. "Remember what I said Mr. Kean."

"I will." I managed to shuffle past her on my own, not stopping until I was out of the room where I put a hand out on the wall and expelled a long breath, trying not to throw up.

Aethyta slipped out behind me, closing the door behind us before grabbing my other arm and throwing it around her neck.

"Seriously?" It came out as a mutter as she helped haul me along. "I can walk on my own."

Just

"Shut up and accept the help kid."

Not seeing an alternative, I did so.

The perky receptionist gaped at us a bit as we moved past, but didn't say anything after Aethtya had firmly shaken her head in her direction. That scene repeated itself after the elevator deposited us in the atrium, several nurses or doctors starting in our direction before backing off when Aethyta gave them severe looks.

I was able to shake her arm off about the time we made it to the doors, my legs firming up a bit beneath me. She still kept a wary on me in a way that reminded me of Trena, but I managed to get back to her car on my own.

"So..." I tried not to sigh in pleasure as I leaned back in the passenger seat.

"More damned questions kid." The Matriarch quickly set the autopilot to take us back to the mansion before settling back to rub at her forehead in an almost identical manner to Liara. "All right. Xerol told me what you told him. You woke up in your apartment with a Matriarch who wouldn't name herself, and a corpse."

"Yes." I wracked my brain, trying to remember exactly what I'd told Xerol. "Actually.. it felt a lot like the test. I did, I mean. Pounding head, hard to talk, everything hurt... though worse, like I said."

Aethtya frowned. "She must have just finished whatever it was she did to you."

Yeah. She did all right. "She wasn't squeamish about the body or anything. Actually she seemed way more concerned about what I knew than about the fact that there was a corpse in the room.."

"What did she ask?"

"My name... where I was from.." I frowned, doing my damnedest to tell as close to the truth as I could. "If I knew what she was, where I was. She had two assistants come in and take the body out, then told me she'd put me in touch with Trena to help me adjust I guess."

She kept on frowning, staring at nothing as she seemed to think that over.

"I've heard about her. Or someone like her." Her finger started to drum on the control panel. "But never connected to something like this. Let me guess, she offered a few threats to stop you from doing any looking of your own?"

"Something like that." I glanced away, not exactly proud of that entire sequence of events in hindsight.

"Well, you're going to stay out of it and let me look into it." Brown eyes narrowed slightly. "I don't care much for someone who's capable of doing that much damage to someone, human or not, being free to walk around. At least an Ardat Yakshi can't help what they are. This tides taken bitch chose to do what she did."

"Um... all right?" I shifted uncomfortably, not really sure how to feel about that. On one hand, it meant someone was actually looking into that old hag. On the other, I had absolutely no knowledge of her whatsoever, and the last thing I needed was for me being her to cause Aethtya to get injured or killed.

And wouldn't that just fuck things up more..

"Just... don't get killed all right?"

"I can handle myself kid. I'm guessing T'laria knows?"

"Knows?" I blinked for a moment, dragging my head back to the proper conversation. "Oh. Yeah, she knows as much as I told you. She might know more about the Matriarch... I know she owed her, but she's never told me for what. Neither one of us really wanted to dwell on her."

"Too bad." She gave me a glance. "I'm tracking her down when we get back. You run along and do whatever you're going to do. Better if you focus on living through the next few weeks. I'll forward you what Sayran sends me."

"Thanks. Take it easy on scales, would you?" My eyes flicked to hers before quickly shifting back to the rolling skyline. "I got the feeling it was something rather severe."

"Not much about her past isn't kid, but that's for her to tell you."

I had to fight back a wince. I didn't like being reminded that there was a lot about the first friend I'd made on this planet that I really didn't know about. Where she was from, how she knew Xerol, how she knew Aethyta, what she had owed the Matriarch for...

Where she learned to fight.

We fell silent for a while, Aethtya probably working out how to start her new search, me trying to put the entire thing out of my head. I had enough problems with Chacksin and the Blue Suns without bringing the Asari who'd dragged me here back into my life.

Or worrying about my 'long-term prognosis.'

The way the doctor had said that hadn't exactly been reassuring. I'd been under the impression that Floating Mind was basically benign so long as an Asari didn't try and meld with me. But now, suddenly, I wasn't nearly so sure. And given that I'd blacked out for five minutes from a simulated touch, nothing near even a shallow bond.. there was definitely research in my future.

Wait.. there's an Asari Matriarch right here. "What do you know about my condition?"

"Hn? I'm guessing you're looking for more details beyond the obvious."

I waved a hand. "Yeah. I have those down, what I didn't know was that I'd need a long-term prognosis to worry about."

"I've only ever seen it in Asari and Krogan." A muscled shoulder rose and fell as her head tipped. "And never to the extent that happened to you apparently. Don't know what happened to the Krogan, but an Asari should recover from it in a matter of months, few years at the outside."

"Sounds like I have research to do then." My right hand rubbed at my face as Khar'shan Minor slowly came into view far below us. "I'd rather not survive this and then die to some side-effect."

"I can understand that kid."

She took manual control as the car dipped into a slow dive, heading towards the large patch of green in the center of the small city. It was getting late, so there wasn't much traffic around the mansion as we descended. The few mechanics wrapping up some late work gave us short waves of greeting before resuming their tasks.

"Now to figure out what to tell Nyn." I muttered, swinging the door open.

"Well." The Matriarch grinned slightly as she exited the vehicle, "You're a shitty actor. Best go with what happened."

My eyes rolled. "Because telling her that I blacked out is going to go over really well."

"At least she won't have to worry about you running off with a nightclub dancer." She pointed out, waving a hand in my direction as she headed towards the doorway closer to Trena's rooms. "Luck kid."

"Thanks."

I took my time on the familiar route from the garage to Nyn's chambers, almost as afraid of her reaction as I'd been when I was on my way to the hospital with Aethyta. Regrettably there really wasn't much to distract me during the trip. The servants were all probably either in the kitchens or main dining hall, getting things ready for Xerol's formal evening meal. Combine the time with the heavy losses the security teams had taken, and I actually didn't run into a single person during my walk. And so, yet again, the trip didn't seem to take nearly as long as it normally would have, and I found myself licking my lips as I carefully pushed the doors open.

"Hey Nyn, I"m..." My voice trailed off as I found myself gaping at the sight in front of me.

She'd moved the couch and end tables out of the way entirely, leaving plenty of room for a small table filled with steaming food. All of it was food that she knew that I enjoyed, from human pasta to Asari fish fries and Batarian breads. She'd even had someone mix an Illium Moonlight into a frozen mug.

All of that, of course, was totally secondary to her.

My Tarath'shan was standing patiently next to the table, wearing a light brown dress that was cut along one side to show off her muscled calf as she shifted that leg out a bit. It was sleeveless, and dipped enough to show the cartilaginous ridges protecting her sternum and stretching between her breasts. If that wasn't enough to get my attention, the dangling crystal earrings reflected the light across her teal skin, letting my eyes naturally follow them across her bared shoulders.

"If you would close the door, Cieran, I would appreciate it." her voice was lower than normal, almost husky as her dark eyes glistened merrily.

I did so, finally managing to snap my mouth shut from where I'd been practically letting my tongue hang out.

"I... see that you had confidence in me..." Stupid as it was, it was all I had the mind to say. "I mean, wow... you look..."

"Your initial expression, I believe, illustrated your approval well enough." Her lips pulled into a small grin. "Perhaps you should sit down?"

That seemed like a very good idea, and I quickly crossed the small distance, fumbling only slightly with my chair before seating myself as she turned away, primly taking her own seat.

I had to close my eyes for nearly a minute, trying to throttle the arousal and lust that was threatening to overwhelm me. "Can I ask what this is about?"

"You may ask." My eyes didn't need to be open to know that she was grinning at my near loss of control at just her appearance. "I had thought you might enjoy a... comfortable night after having to deal with just tedious suspicions."

I risked flicking my eyelids back up, unable to help a smile. "So you did all of this in less than two hours."

"Perhaps I had planned for this to occur even before the Matriarch interfered with our affairs." She calmly took a sip from her wine, her lower eyes flicking down to her food while her upper set remained on mine. "Come now, surely you must be hungry."

I most certainly was, though not entirely for food.

Shaking off that kind of thinking, I carefully began to serve myself, trying to not notice how she would occasionally shift to give me the best view of the lights dancing across her chest and shoulders. I considered it a point of pride that I only missed my mouth with my food once or twice when my eyes started to wander.

She contented herself with teasing me for the first few minutes, making little comments whenever it became obvious that I was paying her more attention than my food. It wasn't until I'd managed to calm myself enough to focus on eating that she allowed the conversation to take a more serious turn.

"How was the test?"

I had to take a quick sip from my Moonlight to cover up any twitch I might have had. "Well..." My drink swirled a bit in the mug. "I do have Floating Mind. The doctor is going to get back to us on any long term affects."

All of her eyes narrowed, the flirtatious tone vanishing. "What happened?"

"Seriously," I lowered my drink and stared at her, a bit incredulous. "How did you already pick up that something happened?"

"If I told you, you would attempt to cease revealing your emotions, and that would complicate my life." Her right hand drummed its fingers on the table. "And, if you would?"

I sighed. "It's apparently.. unusually severe. They cut the test off almost immediately because of the reaction. I might have... blacked out for a minute or two."

Her fingers froze mid motion, and I mentally braced myself for the explosion.

"Cieran." It was hard not to wince at her growl. "You are telling me that you lost consciousness, and not only waited until now to tell me, but you actually came back here instead of remaining at the hospital?"

"I'm fine now Nyn," My hands rose as if I was trying to hold her off, "I promise. All I really had was a mild headache, and even that's faded already. It wasn't even as bad as when I first woke up after... after the first time."

She hardly looked convinced. "And what exactly was Aethyta thinking when she allowed you to leave?"

I might have winced slightly.

"You talked her into it."

"Well... yeah, pretty much. You look amazing tonight, you know that right?"

"Yes." Her lower eyes narrowed in exasperation while her upper set seemed to roll. "Cieran... you are normally so cautious, why risk something like this?"

My mouth opened, then closed, and did that again before I settled back and tried to think about it. At the time, I just had wanted to get the hell out of there before more bad news elected to show up. But that being said, it probably was a pretty stupid thing to do for me to have not at least stayed an extra hour or two, especially considering how severe things seemed to be.

"I... guess I wasn't thinking." I dropped my fork onto my plate, feeling a bit like an idiot.

"Well..." She slowly rose from her seat, almost gliding as she moved around the table towards me. "I suppose some allowances must be made. You will, however, be speaking with Doctor V'Rae first thing in the morning."

It was a bit hard to respond when she casually stretched out one of her legs, revealing her shapely thigh as she moved around the corner to stand beside me. "I... of course."

"Good." She leaned forwards slightly, and I couldn't stop my eyes from briefly flicking to her chest before I tried to unfocus them to take in her entire face. One of her arms rose, a hand tracing across my cheek. "Now... finish your meal."

"Ah.." My mouth snapped shut with a loud click. "..You..."

There was a little smirk on her face as she pointedly leaned back, giving me an excellent view of her very shapely ass as her hips rolled, carrying her back to her own seat. I could only gape at her for a long moment before I almost growled, trying not to irritably stab my fork into my fish fry.

"You seem... tense." That same damn smirk remained very much in place as she slid back into her chair, casually putting a bit more pasta onto her plate. "I doubt that it is merely from your evaluation."

I took an irritated drink from my mug. "It couldn't be because my Tarath'shan is enjoying teasing me with her body."

"That does rather seem like something she would do." She agreed, "Although she might have enjoyed it more if her Harath'krem had thought to call ahead and warn her that his medical condition was worse than he originally knew."

My lips might have twitched slightly, and I sighed before standing and formally putting my hands behind my back. "Tarath'shan Nynsi Shaaryak, I would like to formally apologize for not alerting you of what happened before my arrival. I would also like to request your forgiveness for not staying at the hospital for supervision as I should have."

Nyn leaned back in her chair slightly, both sets of eyes tracking up and down me for a long moment as she hands folded primly into her lap. Her own expression remained completely composed, excepting for the slightest hint of a smirk. "I suppose that I can forgive your behavior, in light of your past accomplishments."

I bowed slightly, "Thank you Tarath'shan."

The rest of dinner passed quickly. She largely left me off the hook, but there was still an undercurrent of concern to her coquettish commentary. Still, she seemed to be very much enjoying herself, and I did my best to encourage her. In part to help her not think about yet another problem that we seemed to have, but mostly because I definitely wouldn't mind seeing her dress up like this again.

Naturally, I finished eating long before she did, watching as she casually enjoyed the rest of her food.

"You seem impatient, as well as tense, now, Cieran."

My eyes narrowed a bit at her coy tone, and I slowly stood up, politely tucking my chair back under the table. "I wonder why that could be."

"Do you?" Her upper eyes tracked me as I started casually walking, circling the table. Her torso turning so that she could follow me as I moved behind her, my hands resting on the warm skin of her shoulders as I started gently massaging her corded muscles.

"Not really." I admitted, leaning down to press my lips to the skin behind her ear. "Though I have to wonder if you're quite finished eating."

She made a pleased little sound as my fingers worked. "And if I am not?"

"Then I will wait for you to finish." I lowered my head bit, trailing kisses down the side of her neck before gently nipping at her skin.

"That.." Her hands both settled onto the table, and her tone lowered further. "Is hardly waiting."

I chuckled quietly, "It isn't as though I could get you out of that dress without ruining it."

"Clasps." She seemed to quiver slightly as I shifted a hand to run down her spine, pausing only slightly to touch the skin between the plates protecting it. "Let me... stand..."

She was up the moment I helped to pull her chair back, irritably shoving it to fall on its side before grabbing my plain shirt and pulling me closer. Our mouths met roughly, her earthy taste filling me as our tongues deepened the kiss. Her strong form seemed to melt against me as my hands started to fumble with the clasps on the back of her dress.

Hers started to push on me, trying to direct me towards the bedroom. It was interesting to move that way, and I had half the clasps undone before my back hit the closed door.

The kiss was broken when she pulled back, almost hissing in irritation. "Cie... the door."

"Nyn." I stopped her from pulling away, grabbing her by her waist and firmly keeping her warm body pressed against me. "Too much time. And shut up."

There was a little growl before she lunged back in, and the duel for dominance was on.

Next up is Chapter 3: The Rush

This chapter was interesting.. very much a continuation of the last, and the start of some details about whatever it was that the Matriarch or her subordinate did to Cieran. How much that will affect him long term remains to be seen, but he won't have very long to worry about that, as we'll see in the next chapter.

I have to say, writing Aethyta is rather difficult, mostly because she doesn't have much characterization in game.. I'm trying to go with the old-spy / wearied-mentor route, but don't be surprised if her screen time decreases a bit from here on out.

Expect the next Chapter tomorrow, work is a bit slow right now, but given that I'll be moving pretty soon, there might be a bit of a break in the story. I'm hoping that I'll find the time to at least get another chapter or two out to keep the creative juices going, but can't make any guarantees.

Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."

Thanks, Kat

Review Responses:

Toothless is best → Probably, :)

Ranger Station Charlie → I'll go ahead and say that you have the basics down, but there is more to it that we'll see later.