A/N: I haven't updated this in forever, but I was at a loss at what to do with this story for a long time. It's only now that I've come back to it that I've gotten the inspiration I need to continue it. Here's to another chapter of a long ass story that has no end yet.

~2~

~2183 CE. February 11th (human calendar).

Citadel. Ward 3. Lower Wards. District 52.

Time of Day: Sunset.~

The quiet hum of the transport ship had lulled Ana into a tired sleep. Her petite frame was curled on her chair, feet on her seat and knees folded against her chest to provide something to rest her head on. Her breathing was soft and steady and somehow...calming to Saren's ears.

Looking at her now, Saren had a hard time believing it was this slip of a human that had shown so much power in front of the council. How had she escaped notice until now? Surely something would have slipped? His train of thought was cut off by an alert from the shuttle and he brought his talons forward to confirm the landing prompt the VI queued.

The rundown city of the lower wards came into view as the shuttle made its way towards the docking bay, the artificial light dimming to simulate the night cycle. Saren never came to this part of the wards except for when a job called for it. It wasn't that it was crime ridden or poor, but it was mainly made up of low-income complexes. The only businesses in this part of the wards were small corner shops to provide to a residents occasional need. It was quiet and boring.

Saren reached over to nudge Ana awake as the shuttle entered the docking bay. Her body jolted and her legs slipped off her chair. Letting out a surprised gasp as she tilted forward, her hands flew to her seat to steady herself. "What-?" Her eyes found Saren's and the spectre felt her body relax under the grip he had on her shoulder. The embarrassed smile she sent him made him want to smile back, but he ruthlessly beat back the urge.

"Come, if you want to get your things it will have to be quick. No doubt our movements are still being watched." Saren rose from the pilot's seat after shutting everything down, checking his equipment and ammo as he waited for Ana to get up and follow him.

"Right." She straightened her clothes out and ran her fingers through her hair before standing next to Saren, stretching her arms out above her and letting out a pleased moan as her back and shoulders cracked. "Mmm...I needed that nap."

When she looked up at him however she noticed his eyes were already staring at her and his movements had stopped. She smiled nervously at him and tilted her head slightly to the side. "Um...is something wrong?"

Her voice seemed to get his body moving again, his eyes slightly more focused but still staring down at her as he finished clipping his guns to their assigned clamps. She felt a low rumble coming from his chest before he responded. "...No. Stay next to me and don't wander off."

His talon grabbed a small earpiece from a compartment on his armor before he reached towards her. His movements seemed incredibly slow as she felt his talons brush her hair behind her right ear, holding her breath as they trailed down her earlobe before fitting the earpiece into place. She couldn't help the gasp that escaped her when his claws scratched the spot right below her ear, sending shivers down her spine and a blush up her cheeks. That spot was...sensitive to say the least. The low chuckle she heard as he drew his hand back did things to her insides and she told herself not to think about it. She couldn't help it if her body was sensitive. Best to pretend it never happened.

She cleared her throat and felt the ear piece he had given her. "What's this for?" Her fingers gently prodded the piece of technology as she watched Saren release the airlock, noticing the broadness of the turian's shoulders as his back was to her. She had always liked that in a man.

Her own thoughts made her blush in embarrassment and she quickly shifted them away for later, following Saren as he started out of the shuttle. He answered her question offhandedly as he glanced around the docking bay, eyes sharp as he scanned for possible threats. "You're not properly equipped. Once we stop by c-sec headquarters I can get you better gear, but for now proper communication will have to do."

She blinked in surprise. "Gear? Why would I need gear?" She hurried to match his long stride, the rushed pace already burning her lungs. She recognized stores and street corners as they headed towards the tram that connected the different lower wards. The apartments that had views of space and direct shuttle access were pricey, and many of the working class who lived on the space station just simply couldn't afford it. When someone said they lived in the lower wards, they meant the lower wards. It wasn't bad though, the ward she lived in was safe and clean and her neighbors were all quite nice. Plus, there was very little chance of an accident spacing her.

Saren walked with quick, purposeful strides and everyone seemed to edge out of his way as they headed down into the tramway. Ana was grateful for it since the underground, as many humans called it, was currently packed from rush hour traffic. "You're a target now, getting shot at is going to happen regularly. Where I can't protect you, gear can." When they did finally get onto the overcrowded train, Saren had backed her into a wall and set his talons on either side of her head to protect her from the pushing and shoving of the other passengers. She tried not to be overly creepy as the position allowed her to breathe in Saren's scent; it was musky and distinctly turian she supposed, lacking any artificial scents from something like a cologne. He didn't talk nor look at her the entire ride, all his attention focused on his surroundings.

The gentle rocking of the train allowed her to think on his words. She supposed she was still in shock over everything that had happened today. Using her powers to fight off an evil entity, blacking out and waking up in a ship with two turians, being brought before the council and explaining things she had never talked with others about before. Being let in on some big doomsday threat. She still wasn't sure how she should be reacting to everything, but winging it was better than nothing.

Saren's scent and the rocking of the train was making her eyes droop and she might have dozed off if not for the name of her stop chiming over the speakers. She was about to speak up and alert Saren, but he had already placed a talon on her back to guide her out of the train. Her brows furrowed in confusion as Saren guided her towards the elevator that led to the wards different levels.

She was even more suspicious when he needed no prompting on which floor to choose once they entered the elevator, once more getting pushed in against the wall with Saren standing guard over her as more people got on. Her mouth opened and closed as she tried to decide how to word her question, Saren's warm scent making it hard to think. She settled for "How…?"

His steel-blue gaze, looking bright in the elevator's low light, just stared down at her, a twitch in his mandibles making her think he was smirking at her. "Spectre's have access to all kinds of information." The proximity of his voice to her ear and the low subharmonics made her breath catch. As was starting to become infuriatingly common around him, a blush rose to her cheeks and she avoided his eyes as she stared anywhere but at him.

It was this distraction that allowed her to spot another turian staring at them with intense focus. It unnerved her. He had gray plates and blue paint on his face, but that was all she was able to make out before Saren blocked her view with his body. "Pretend you don't notice him. He's been following us since the tram." His voice was even lower and even closer to her ear and she had to bite her lip to keep from gasping at the sensations it caused in her. She was embarrassed at how sensory deprived she was. This was the closest she had ever allowed someone near her.

She nodded her assent and breathed a sigh of relief when the elevator finally stopped at her floor. She walked out with Saren right behind her but was surprised when he wrapped an arm around her waist and leaned down to whisper in her ear as they walked. "Play along. He's following not far behind us."

Her heart was beating out of her chest and she had to remind herself to breathe, but she went along with Saren's plan and slid a shaky hand to rest above his hip. She had no idea what she was doing but she was supposed to play along right? She heard a low growl come from the turian next to her and looked up, afraid she had done something wrong. Her breath caught at the stare that burned down into her, Saren's own talon flexing on her hip. She felt like he was burning into her and setting a fire alight and couldn't help the almost magnetic need to lean into him, letting out a shaky gasp as his talon gripped her hip harder.

They were standing in front of her flat's door but neither were moving to open it. She didn't know what she was doing or what she was supposed to do but she was quickly brought out of her stupor when another voice broke her out of her trance. Wide eyed, she found the turian that had been following them pointing a gun at Saren's head. Her breath caught for a whole different reason this time.

"Let her go." The growl was tinged with subharmonics and Ana finally got a good look at him as she felt herself being pressed even further against Saren. She noticed he was wearing C-Sec armor and had a visor that covered one eye, the bright blue irises a striking contrast against the black lids as they glared at Saren with hate.

Ana pressed lightly at Saren's chest for him to release her, feeling a bit trapped against him, but his hold was like steel. "Garrus, right? Vakarian's kid?" Saren's tone was light but steely as he stared back at the newly named Garrus, not bothered by the gun that was now pointed between his eyes. "Didn't he ever teach you not to point guns at Spectres?"

Garrus growled even louder at Saren and took a step forward to press the gun harder against the white plated turian's head. "I've been shadowing your every move, trying to find a reason to bring you in. I know you're up to something and I won't stop until I figure out what." The turian's eyes flickered to Ana briefly, calculating how she could possibly play into Saren's plans, before settling back onto Saren with cold hate. "Release her."

They were both quiet for a while before Ana was suddenly free of Saren's steely hold and stumbled back a few feet in surprise. The situation was really starting to alarm her and she tried to reason with the c-sec officer. "Wait...it's not what you think-" But suddenly Saren blurred into movement and he had taken the opportunity given when Garrus had glanced at her to knock the barrel of the gun from his head. He twisted the other turian's wrist and Garrus gave a shout of pain as the gun dropped from his talons. However the c-sec officer didn't allow that to faze him for long and he brought a leg up to kick against Saren's chestplate, breaking the hold on his wrist and creating distance as the force pushed Saren a few feet from him. Saren drew a pistol and Garrus drew a spare gun strapped to his back. They stood in a standoff with Ana glancing between them with worry. "Please, you have it all wrong-!" She was going to stand between them but then a loud bang cut her off.

She cried out and held her arm, the force and burning pain making her fall to the floor. Both Saren and Garrus turned towards the sound, a long string of curses coming from the spectre as he spotted five gunmen on each end of the hall, totally ten in all. "Shit! Inside! Grab her!" Saren drew a second pistol from his hip and laid down suppressing fire on each end of the hall, quickly backing up as he did so and following Garrus as he hurried the injured Ana into her apartment. He slammed the door closed and used his omni-tool to code lock the door, a red circle appearing on its surface. A few shots ricocheted off the metal before stopping.

Ana was confused and in pain but was brought to her senses when Garrus spread some medigel over her bullet wound. It dulled the burning ache shooting up her nerves and she breathed a sigh of relief. She smiled shakily up at the turian crouching next to her. "Thanks." He nodded with what she assumed was a frown before glaring back up at Saren. "What the hell is going on?"

Saren was standing near the door with his gun pointed at the floor, listening for any noises on the other side. He reloaded his weapon as he answered Garrus' question. "Those mercenaries are after her. We need to dispatch them and get her to a secure location." He brought his wrist and typed at his omnitool, pressing a button to record a message. "Nihlus, bring back-up to these coordinates. Pinned in and need extraction. Sending a data package with this message."

Anastasia was on her feet now and she waved off Garrus as he hovered nearby to steady her if she lost balance. She vaguely noticed Saren typing away again at his omni-tool as she headed towards her bedroom. A sharp order from Saren halted her however. "Where do you think you're going? Stay where I can see you." She frowned in distaste at the order and disregarded it as she once more moved towards her bedroom. "I just need to grab a few things, that's what we came here for anyway. As long as they're on the other side of the door we're safe for now." She headed into her bedroom and Saren shot a look at Garrus. "Stay on her." Garrus' mandibles twitched in annoyance and his subharmonics growled at being told what to do, but he followed Ana anyway, seeing the sound reasoning in it. Saren turned his attention back to the feed he had on his omni-tool, watching the mercs from a camera positioned right outside the flat.

Ana quickly grabbed a backpack and emptied its contents on the ground. She disregarded the few books and other items now on the floor as she went to grab the things she knew she would miss. She reasoned none of her clothes would be of use since they were made for casual wear and moved past her closet. She instead moved to the items she couldn't allow to fall into the hands of others. Her journals on magic theory and experimentation went in first, followed by crystals she had enchanted and runestones she had carved from age old wood. She then moved to a table on the far side of her room, covered in welding tools and delicate equipment. She disregarded all of those and instead picked up a smooth shard about 1 foot in length and 6 inches in diameter. It was jagged and slightly curved, white on the outside and a strange, iridescent black on the inside.

"What's all this?" Ana jumped at the sound of Garrus' voice from behind her. She held a hand to her heart as she looked back at him. "God, you scared me." She watched an apologetic smile, if the widening of his mandibles could be called a smile, appear on his face. "Sorry," he gestured to the shard she held in her hand. "Is that special?"

She looked back down at the shard in her hand and smiled. Anastasia had found it while out on a hike back on Earth a few years ago and had been drawn to it with a strange fascination. It was like something in her knew she was meant to find it. Or that it had a connection to her in a way she didn't understand. Sending some of her energy into it, Anastasia was comforted when it lit up briefly with a silvery shine before it flickered weakly and disappeared. She still wasn't sure what it was, but the warmth she felt whenever it lit up felt like home. So she always kept it near.

"Wow." Garrus was still standing next to her and his hand was on his visor. "What sort of energy was that? It made the readings on my omni-tool go haywire."

"You know, I'm not quite sure." It had never felt dangerous. And it often made her feel better when she was sick or emotional. And it's not like it had ever hurt her. "But I'll be damned if I leave it here for someone else to find." Carefully wrapping it in a silk pillowcase, Ana slipped it into her backpack with her other items and slid it over her arms.

She had just come out of her room, Garrus right behind her, when Saren started cursing and rushed towards her. "Get down!" She had no time to wonder what was going on because Saren's body barreled into her and she hit the ground hard, his pointy turian frame impacting hard with her softer body. She barely had time to groan when a loud BOOM resounded. She flinched briefly but there was no fire or heat so she opened her eyes. There were shouts and groans on the other side of the door but no damage had been done to their side. The only evidence something had happened was the way the door to her flat glowed gold, pulsing slowly before fading back into non-existence. A muffled what the hell from the mercs outside let her know they weren't the only ones confused.

"Oh," Ana said, suddenly realizing. "The wards." Saren's sharp bird-like glare hit her at her breathy exclamation. She was suddenly aware of how he was crouching over her, basically straddling her middle as she propped herself up on her elbows. "Explain." His growl was lined with annoyance and impatience.

A nervous laugh escaped her as she tried to look anywhere but at Saren's face. His glare was intimidating. "I etched some runes onto the four corners of the door. They're for protection…" her eyes glanced curiously back at the door, where muffled cursing could still be heard "...I've never tested them against a physical threat before though. That was actually pretty surprising." Garrus shuffled until he was crouched beside her and offered her a talon. She was grateful for it and took the offered help to get into a better position. She missed the glare the two turians exchanged as the c-sec officer pulled her from under Saren into a crouched position next to him.

A low growl coming from Saren drew her attention but he was facing the main door again. "Anything else I should know?" He voiced. Ana leaned against her kitchen cabinets as her thighs ached from being crouched. She was nowhere near peak physical condition. And Saren wanted to make her a spectre? She hummed as she considered Saren's question. "Well...not really? I didn't know the runes would react like that, I made them for protection yeah, but I didn't think they'd protect against anything other than spirits."

Garrus had been checking his ammo and reloading his gun beside her but this drew his attention. "Spirits?" Ana would have gone into detail but a sound at the wall beside the door drew their attention. She gulped in realization. Saren cursed once again. "Those wards wouldn't happen to stretch beyond the door, would they?" A drilling noise was coming from the wall and there was no flash of gold like what had happened on the door. "No…" she said with a gulp "...I don't think so."

Garrus unfolded a rifle from his back and set the end on the kitchen counter, lining it up with the section of the wall the noise was coming from. A silence on the other side of the wall made her peek over the counter briefly but then Saren was shouting "Get down!" and she was again roughly pushed to the ground, this time thankful when a deafening BOOM resounded for the second time, sending debris and metal shards raining down around them. Luckily the counter had protected them from any concussive blast.

Her ears were ringing but each shot from Garrus' rifle was even louder to her ears. Saren had joined the other turian in picking off any merc that tried to enter through the new hole in the wall, his pistol joining the steady staccato of fire going off around her. She found herself on her hands and knees again, crouched on the floor with Saren standing over her. Both turians were more concerned with keeping the mercs at bay then paying attention to her however, so they didn't notice her crawling to peek out around the counter.

She noticed a few bodies on the floor, salarian, human and turian, but then she noticed the krogan on the other side of the wall. And of course, he noticed her as well. His grin was bloodthirsty. "There you are, you little piece of varren meat!" She gasped and quickly hid back behind the counter, but the damage was done. The krogan let out a loud roar as he charged through the hole, taking the fire as his racial regeneration mitigated the damage, allowing the other mercs to file in and charge towards them. Garrus' rifle took out a few with headshots, but the rate of fire wasn't fast enough.

The krogan continued charging, making a dash for Saren who cursed and fired an incinerate at the krogan mercenary, greeting the charge head on as he leaped over the counter and used his momentum to blindside the krogan with a high kick to the head, using his biotics to put more force behind it. He followed it up with a few shots from his pistol and then bent low, shooting off at the krogan warlord in a biotic charge, knocking them both through the door of her bedroom, a loud sound of shattering glass ringing out from whatever they crashed into.

Ana stupidly shot up in surprise and fear. "Wait! Not in there-!" While she had taken the essentials, there were still things that were pretty delicate if shaken around too much. And now there was a raging krogan in there with them! A bullet flying past her cheek and cutting a furrow into the skin however brought her back to reality and she dropped down with a shriek.

She was starting to get mad now. She had spent years on many of the amulets and statues she had crafted and now they were all get trampled on by a fucking krogan! "Are you alright?!" Garrus glanced down at her as he ran over to cover her, an assault rifle now in his hands as he fired periodically at the mercs. Tears of frustration formed in her eyes as she bawled her hands in her hair. "No!" She shouted. "They're breaking all my things!" As if to emphasize this point, a particularly large and preserved amethyst crystal she had had for years shattered above their heads, raining crystal shards down around them. That was a breaking point for her.

Just like that crystal, the control on her anger shattered as she screamed, using her rage to fuel the fire she gathered in her hands, twin suns forming as light gathered at her palms and from her backpack. She stood up and thrust her hands out at the gathered mercs, the suns shooting out and growing in size as they shot toward the mercs, twisting in a violent inferno. They tried to jump out of the way but the two suns quickly exploded once coming in contact with whatever was unlucky enough to get in their way, one particularly unlucky salarian taking it to the head. The boom was deafening and she might have been burned by her own attack if not for Garrus quickly pulling her down.

Her ears were ringing even more than before and she wasn't sure if the silence was because of the explosion or because there were no more bullets flying around. Garrus was on top of her and his weight was becoming annoying, so she pushed at his shoulders. She felt him cautiously get up and she followed suit. The sight that greeted her when she finally looked at her handiwork stunned her. Everything was ruined. Her walls, her furniture, the mercenaries, her books; burnt to a crisp. And it was all her fault. She slumped to the ground, shocked at the turn of events. She had no words so she simply settled on a weak whine.

"Spirits, what happened here?" Nihlus' light timber felt like music to her ears and she let the tears escape as her body finally relaxed. She really wanted this to be over. This was too much stress for one day. She didn't want to think about the burnt out husks she had briefly glimpsed when peeking out from the counter.

A taloned hand on her shoulder caught her attention and she stared up at Saren's growling, bloody face. She was all tear stained cheeks and hitched breaths as she tried to hold back the need to break down. His words as he spoke to Garrus and Nihlus were hazy as she quickly lost the battle on her emotions, sight becoming increasingly blurred as tears blocked her vision and her shoulders shook with sobs. The stress of the day finally won over and she gave in to the need to let it all out. Her cries weren't loud, but she couldn't stop crying, the tears just kept coming.

She was vaguely aware of Saren bringing her in close and sliding an arm under her legs. However when he lifted her up and carried her in his arms she gasped in shock. Her eyes were wide and the green stood out vividly against the red backdrop of her crying. She had no doubt she looked horrible, but Saren just took her head and placed it in the crook of his neck and she took the offered comfort.

She let the world fade away as she tried to stay as quiet as possible as she cried into his crest. He was really warm and she was just noticing how tired she was. Maybe forming two suns after the first one this morning was a little too much. Just as she was thinking that her sight slowly faded to black.

A/N: This chapter was longer, but this seemed like a better place for the end of this chapter. It was getting a little too long, and the second part just would have made it even longer.