A/N: This will probably be the last chapter before Christmas, so please consider it an early present. I hope to have another one out before New Year's Day though, so it looks like I'm going to be able to keep my promise regarding more frequent updates.

Reviews:

AnarionRising27: It's great to be back. I also hope that you have a great Christmas yourself. Regarding your PM; we will be seeing more from Kasumi's perspective, so stay tuned for that.

Chapter 9: Naturally

Shaela slowly removed her forehead from Rassen's, causing the human to look at her curiously for a moment. She smiled to reassure him that nothing was wrong, her grin only widening when he smiled back at her. That was one of the things she loved in particular about him, he could always tell how she felt just from examining her eyes, even though her face was otherwise nearly completely obscured. The quarian sighed contently as she rested her head against the human's shoulder, the side of her helmet meeting the armour there producing a gentle clunking noise.

She felt Rassen gently turn the two of them around so it was now his back that was pressed against the wall. They continued to keep their arms around one another as they enjoyed the moment, neither one willing to interrupt the silence. Well, what passed for silence aboard a ship, with the distant drone of the mass effect core and occasional groan of bulkheads. Still, Shaela thought, she'd take what she could get.

Eventually though, a nagging sensation appeared at the back of the quarian's mind. Shaela frowned in irritation, trying desperately to ignore the feeling and just concentrate on the moment. She felt Rassen tighten his grip on her in response, the Jedi obviously picking up on the fact that something was bothering her. Her frown deepened. She knew full well what the feeling was; curiosity. She wanted, no, needed to know what had occurred, what had happened to him over the last two years, just like she needed to tell him what had happened to her.

She glanced up at Rassen, noticing that the human wasn't looking back at her, instead staring at the wall across from them, jaw slightly clenched. Her frown deepened once again.

"Rassen?" At her voice he turned his attention back to her, one eyebrow raising slightly in curiosity as the corner of his mouth likewise rose. That was one thing about humans and Rassen in particular that she still found intriguing. They could convey so much emotion through just a slight movement of the area above one eye, a facial expression able to completely transform in a moment with virtually no effort. Shaking that particular thought away, Shaela raised a hand to the human's face, running it softly along his jaw, wishing that she could feel the short hairs her gloved hand brushed over.

"Yes, Shaela?" Rassen smiled, his deeper voice seeming to reverberate slightly through the cargo hold as he replied.

"Is something the matter?" She asked nervously, her arms now the ones tightening as she began to worry slightly. "You looked distracted."

She managed to catch the flash of guilt that crossed Rassen's features for a moment, before it vanished so quickly that anyone who didn't know him might have put it down to their imagination. Rassen sighed, glancing away again before turning his gaze back to her; blue eyes conflicted as he seemed to debate whether to tell her. Shaela kept her own gaze unwavering as she waited for his response.

"Not wrong as such, no." Rassen eventually replied. "It's more that I have so many questions about, well… everything. I didn't want to ruin the moment, but it seems as though I have anyway."

"You haven't." Shaela laughed as she leaned up to press her mouthpiece against his jaw. "I have lots of questions too and was just about to ask one, actually."

The slight look of relief that crossed his face caused her to giggle slightly, before Rassen then leaned down to gently kiss the top of her head. She caught the human's smirk as he noticed her freeze, obviously aware that she was blushing despite his inability to see the change in colour of her cheeks.

"I propose that we take turns then," Rassen smiled, not giving her a chance to gather her thoughts. "One of us asks a question, the other one of us answers it and then asks one of their own. That way we can sate both of our curiosities."

Shaela pretended to think as she adjusted her position, stretching her legs out as she did so. The quarian couldn't help but notice however that the atmosphere in the room seemed to shift slightly as she asked her first question. "Okay," she began, desperate to know but somehow still dreading what she might hear. "What happened to you after… after that moment?"

She glanced up to see Rassen's jaw clench tightly. Inwardly, she already regretted asking that question so early on, but she had to know. Had he managed to escape without further harm from the man who had tried to kill them both? Was Zaressh still out there somewhere, biding his time and plotting as he had when he had observed Rassen on Omega? Was Rassen safe now, or was he in the same danger as when they had first met?

"I woke up to find myself on Corellia, not that I knew that initially." At her questioning look, Rassen elaborated. "Corellia is one of the most important worlds in Republic space, but is still back in my galaxy, and I knew what that meant." The human paused for a moment before continuing. "How I found out where I was… it was not my finest moment. I nearly scared the life out of a passer-by by trying to get him to tell me where I had ended up."

"And Zaressh?" Shaela prompted gently.

"I found him only moments away from death. His wounds were fatal." Shaela couldn't help looking away at the reminder of just how much damage she had done to him. A hand that was not her own appeared at the bottom of her helmet, gently guiding her gaze back to where it had been before.

"Do you want me to continue?" Rassen asked gently. "Or would you prefer to talk about something else?"

Shaela was shaking her head even before the human had finished talking. "No," she breathed, "I need to hear this. I know it won't be pleasant, but it's important that I know."

Rassen nodded slowly, clearly not convinced, but trusting her judgement. "I grabbed him, demanded that he take me back. He laughed in response. He knew that he was already dead and more to the point, he knew that I knew. He refused and then he was gone, just like that." Now Rassen was the one to look away. "For a moment," he whispered, "for one short moment, I gave up. It was all… I just… I'm sorry."

Shaela growled, catching him off-guard as she removed herself from the human's grip before taking his face in her hands, the Jedi's hood sliding off his head as a result of the suddenness of the motion. "Don't blame yourself," she demanded. "You… you weren't the only one to panic like that." As Rassen was about to respond, the quarian gently pressed a finger to his mouth. "I'll tell you what happened to me in a second," she promised, "but tell me the rest of what happened to you first." The human nodded slowly in response before raising his hood.

"After a while," Rassen continued, "I remembered what Zaressh had said. He had told me that there were other ways between our galaxies. I knew I could not return by using the same method he had. I could never bring myself to deliberately link my mind to another's the way he did, to use someone else in the way he did. So, I promised myself that I would find another way back." Shaela felt her heart speed up at the way he looked at her, the human's eyes filled with an intensity that caused the quarian's teeth to graze her lower lip. "I promised myself that I would find you again. That is what I have spent every day since trying to do."

"Well you managed it," Shaela whispered breathlessly, "and here you are."

Rassen smiled gently back at her. "I only managed to return several days ago. Besides, you do not give yourself enough credit. It would be more accurate to say that you found me."

"Maybe," the quarian purred. "What exactly-" It was now her turn to be cut off as Rassen pressed a finger over her mouthpiece, Shaela unable to keep herself from going cross-eyed in order to keep it in focus.

"My turn now, remember?" Rassen smiled, though his look of mirth quickly faded. "What happened to you immediately after that moment?"

Shaela found herself unable to respond, swallowing and blinking back tears as she remembered what had occurred. After a moment of trying to gather her thoughts, she spoke. "It took a moment to sink in that you were really gone. I spent two days in that damn valley before realising that you weren't coming back." Rassen flinched, causing her to reassure him. "I know that wasn't your fault," she said quickly, "but I eventually realised I couldn't stay much longer, since the food and water had almost run out."

"What happened next?"

"I somehow managed to get back to the colony. From there, I left Querra and tried searching for anything out of the ordinary, anything that could have been connected to you. I didn't get anywhere though; the last of our credits ran out and I had to get a job so I could keep looking. By the time I had though…" The quarian trailed off as realisation hit. "You don't know!"

Rassen frowned at her change in tone. "Don't know what?" The human ventured.

Shaela found she couldn't keep from trembling with excitement. "A call eventually went out for all quarians to return to the Migrant Fleet. The admirals had decided that it was time to retake Rannoch from the geth. To cut a long story short, somehow we ended up making peace with them and were able to return without having wiped each other out. However, we ended up having to face the Reapers as well."

She couldn't help but notice that Rassen had gone very still at the mention of both conflicts. "You fought in a war?" The Jedi asked, concern and something else the quarian struggled to identify present in his voice.

"No. I helped the injured as best I could. That's still what I'm doing now actually." Shaela looked straight into Rassen's eyes. "I didn't fight anyone, Rassen, though I did make sure to keep practising with my pistol just in case I ever had to."

"I… Good. That is good to hear."

She smiled at him. "My turn again, right? Okay, how did you manage to get back?"

She noticed Rassen stiffen slightly, the human obviously uncomfortable about what he was about to say. "Not long ago," he began, "I learned that members of a group called the Mandalorians had begun disappearing. It was not much to go on, but I was desperate enough to try and find out more. They used… I'm not sure how to describe it, but they used a strange device to transport themselves, even though as far as I am aware, none of them are Force-sensitive. When I touched the same device, a voice in my head asked me if I wanted to be transported and I told it yes. I woke up on Horizon, not that I knew that was the name of the planet at the time. That was a few days ago by my reckoning."

Rassen took a deep breath before continuing. "The Mandalorians… they attacked the colony and killed all of its inhabitants. I tried to stop them, tried to save some of the people, but I failed. They managed to leave the colony despite having no ships of their own. It seems some batarians helped them." The human looked away from her. "I… Force, Shaela. All of them are dead."

Message to the current Shadow Broker sent, Kasumi stood up and stretched languidly before stifling a yawn. She hadn't had a chance to rest since taking Liara's job, and the consequences were beginning to make themselves known. The thief glanced in the direction of the still closed door that led from the cockpit to the cargo bay. She then looked at her omni-tool before concluding that she had given the two of them enough time. As much as she didn't want to intrude, it would take hours for Liara's reply to come through. Sitting around while her ship remained motionless in space was not really her style, and she would much rather be doing something productive instead of nothing.

The door slid open and she paused in surprise before finding herself unable to keep from smiling. Rassen was currently sitting up against the wall next to the airlock. Shaela was sitting next to him; the quarian's head resting on his shoulder, as the two of them quietly spoke about something. Kasumi felt her smile fade slightly as Rassen glanced in her direction, unable to completely school his features into an expression of calmness. The quarian leaning against him turned to follow his gaze and the thief raised a hand in greeting.

"Hi, you're Shaela, right?"

The quarian removed herself from Rassen and rose to her feet before walking over to her, body language clearly showing she was curious as she examined Kasumi. "Yes, that's me. Who are you?"

"Kasumi. Kasumi Goto if you're being formal." She smiled at Shaela, who seemed to relax slightly, her posture no longer quite so rigid. The thief glanced over at Rassen, who had begun to rise to his feet. "So you found her then," she beamed, despite her suspicions happy for him as Rassen walked over to stand next to the quarian.

"Like I said to her, it was actually Shaela who found me," Rassen smiled briefly, taking one of the quarian's hands in his own before turning back to face the thief. "I met Kasumi earlier today. She was investigating what happened to Horizon, and has very kindly transported me off-world. Which reminds me." Rassen turned to Shaela before returning his gaze to her, causing Kasumi to raise an eyebrow in curiosity. "What do you plan to do now?" He asked.

The thief hummed for a moment. "I've sent a message to my friend, but it will likely take several hours to receive a reply, given that communication is so poor for some reason. I need to hear back from her before deciding what the best course of action is. In the meantime though, I want to get out of this system. Just being near Horizon is making me uncomfortable."

"I know what you mean," Rassen nodded, and Kasumi couldn't shake the feeling that there was more meaning there, though she didn't know what it could be. "There is nothing for anyone here, which means it would be best to leave as soon as possible." The thief watched as he turned to Shaela, the quarian tilting her head at him. "Shaela," Rassen began, "can you find your way back to Rannoch safely?"

"What?" The quarian asked in confusion. "Why would that matter right now? You're going after these 'Mandalorians' and I'm coming with you." At Rassen's look of surprise, she continued. "I came to get you, Rassen, but I know what you're like. You want to try and stop them, which means I'm going too." The quarian paused. "I'm going to have to notify some people though."

"When did I-"

Shaela huffed, and Kasumi couldn't help laughing under her breath as the quarian poked a finger into Rassen's chest. "Oh save it, the moment you mentioned what they did, I knew. Like I said, you want to go after them and there is no way, I repeat, no way I'm letting you go off on your own and put yourself in danger unless I'm there to help. I can't… not when I only just got you back." The quarian nearly tackled the human to the ground as she hugged him, burying her face into his shoulder. Kasumi had to hide her mouth behind her hand as Rassen looked to her for support.

"Well," the thief said, noticing Shaela pull away from Rassen so she could see her, "since your boyfriend has decided to help, why not you?" Rassen turned away from her in irritation in order to face the quarian, who crossed her arms victoriously.

"This will be dangerous," Rassen began, "I do not-"

The entire ship rocked suddenly as something seemed to strike it from the rear, sending the three of them flying. Kasumi grunted as she struggled back to her feet, having fallen onto her back. She looked up to see that Shaela and Rassen were in the same position, both of them looking around in alarm as to the cause of the disturbance. Kasumi frowned as she began to stumble in the direction of the cockpit, only to be almost knocked over again when the ship rocked almost as hard as the first time. What the hell was happening? Space was a vacuum; ships did not just rock for no good reason. The thief felt her blood freeze in her veins as she noticed the readout on the haptic interface. She lunged towards the pilot's chair, barely able to reach it before her ship shook again, this time a groaning noise accompanying it. Kasumi swore violently as Rassen and Shaela reached her, the interface confirming her worst fears.

"Batarian ship, just the one as far as I can tell, but it's between us and the relay. The proximity alarm failed to trigger." Stupid, cheap VI. No, stupid programmer. What is the galaxy coming to if you can't trust a stolen VI to work properly? "It's between us and the relay; it must have come through while we were distracted."

"We can't outrun it," Kasumi began to feel fear setting in as she took the controls and began to try and pull away from the vessel on her scanner. "Even if we didn't have another ship attached, batarian ships are built with speed in mind. It helps to be fast when your whole civilisation is built around owning slaves." She turned to look at the people behind her as the direness of their situation began to sink in. "Any bright ideas?"

Rassen punched a wall in frustration before turning to her, causing her to blink in surprise at the unexpected aggression. "We cannot make it to the relay, this ship has no weapons, and there is no way we could detach Shaela's own ship in time, even assuming that it is faster than their own vessel. On top of that, there could be Mandalorians on-board." He turned to the quarian next to him before looking back at her. "Could we make it to the nearest planet before they shoot us to pieces or capture us?"

Kasumi didn't turn to reply as a sudden whining filled the ship, indicating that the kinetic barriers were weakening. "The nearest planet is called Watchman. It's got an average temperature of minus one-hundred and sixteen degrees Celsius, but it's only a few minutes away." She turned to look at Rassen. "I don't know if we can make it, but it's our best bet." The ship rocked once again, this time even harder than the first, though the three of them were at least expecting it now. She gunned the engine and her ship, with Shaela's still attached, shot towards the inhospitable surface of Watchman, the batarian vessel right behind them.

I wish Joker were here. He'd be able to do this.

"Both of you grab onto something!" She shouted, the freezing surface of the planet in her sights as their pursuer began to close the gap between them. "Things are about to get interesting!"

Her head seemed to be splitting open.

Shaela screamed as the pressure continued to grow, a drill seeming to bore deeper and deeper into her head. Images flashed before her eyes, moments of all kinds; some related to general knowledge and some to things that were private. She weakly tried to push back against the intrusion into her mind, but was no match for the man intent on ripping her knowledge from her, the man intent on learning all he could about her and the other person in the clearing with them.

The agony seemed like it would never end, but then suddenly, it slowly began to fade. Shaela whimpered as she lay on the hard, rocky ground. Although the pain was receding, there was still enough of it to render her barely able to think straight. A few moments passed and then someone was grabbing her, trying to pull her upright. She was about to scream again, but then she released who it was.

Rassen.

The human was pleading with her, trying to get her to run. She barely managed to nod and sagged against him, Rassen supporting her weight with only slight difficulty. Suddenly, he pushed her away, and Shaela could hear the sounds of fighting as she landed on her stomach and tried desperately to get back up.

The world seemed to drift away for a moment as the quarian attempted to rise, muscles trembling as a result of exhaustion. Shaela returned to reality at the sound of several heavy impacts off to her side. Looking over, she saw that Rassen had collapsed and was also trying to stand, though like her, he was unable to do so. She was vaguely aware that someone was talking, speaking in a voice that terrified her. The quarian focused on the speaker as she crawled over to Rassen, trying desperately to make out what they were saying.

Whoever they were, they were talking about her. They were taunting Rassen and telling him what they knew about her. They were the one who had driven a spike into her mind, who has caused the pain that still throbbed viciously in her head. Despite her fear, hate, pure unadulterated hate seemed to suffuse every fibre of her being as she began to remember who the speaker was. Zaressh, his name was Zaressh. He had hurt her, and now he was hurting Rassen.

Time blurred and now she was the one hurting Zaressh. All Shaela knew for sure was that no matter how many times she threw him around like a rag doll, it wasn't enough.

The quarian snarled in rage as she brought the Sith smashing into the wall of rock over and over again. She had grown bored of slamming him into the ground, so she had decided to mix it up a little. A small part of the sick monster she was hurting probably appreciated the change anyway.

Shaela was dimly aware of Rassen moving next to her, of the hum of his lightsaber. There was a sudden hissing noise as he stabbed something, but she paid it no mind. She had to keep hurting the man in front of her. That way he couldn't hurt anyone else.

As Rassen had been destroying whatever he been destroying, Zaressh's mask had come loose, the darkly-coloured object being torn away by the constant slamming of its wearer into the ground and then the wall. Sickly yellow eyes filled with agony seemed to bore into her soul as Shaela continued to pummel the Sith with every ounce of her strength. One particularly hard impact later though, and the eyes drifted shut, Zaressh having been knocked unconscious by the sheer amount of punishment he had taken.

She vaguely heard Rassen talking and turned to him in anger. Why should Zaressh be allowed to live? Hadn't he done enough? Didn't he deserve even more pain than she had been able to inflict on him?

Rassen was still talking, but it was about her now. About how she wasn't beyond saving, about how the rage she felt wasn't her. He was right; a small voice in her head told her. Taking joy in the suffering of others? That wasn't her. She tried to tell him that she didn't know what to do, but the human was talking again, trying to get her to listen. A fog the quarian hadn't even realised was there suddenly seemed to lift from her mind and the world snapped into sharper focus. She was crying now and she felt Rassen hold her tightly as he softly reassured her. Shaela closed her eyes as she hugged him back and told him that she needed him to stay. He promised that he would. It was okay now, it was over. Everything was going to be okay.

"How sickeningly sweet."

She opened her eyes as Rassen vanished and screamed.

Shaela gasped as she abruptly sat upright. The quarian trembled all over as the events of her dream replayed themselves over and over in her mind. She closed her eyes and fought to keep calm.

It's okay, it all happened years ago. It's over.

As she sat there reassuring herself, it slowly dawned on her that something was very wrong. She was no longer on a ship, the metal floor she remembered sitting on having been replaced by rock and ice. Despite her enviro-suit, the quarian shivered as the cold seemed to seep through to her skin like mist, the sensation deeply unpleasant. Querra had been rocky as well, but at least it had not been bitterly cold. In truth, that had always been one thing quarians took for granted, even before they had begun resettling Rannoch. Their enviro-suits were very good at ensuring that the wearer was exposed to a constant temperature, meaning that they could only become uncomfortable in extremely hot or cold areas. If she felt cold, then the planet she was on must be far below freezing.

There was something much worse than the temperature, however. Something that meant a great deal to the quarian. Then the events before her dream caught up with her. Shaela slowly stood up and looked around, before she froze in horror at the sight behind her.

Pieces of debris lay strewn in every direction. Warped metal caught the weak sunlight from above, the bright reflections painful to look at, even through her visor. Somehow, most of the structure of Kasumi's ship was still intact, though pieces of the exterior had been torn off by the craft's impact with the ground. The ship itself was a dozen metres away from her; she must have been thrown clear during the crash. It was a miracle that she was alive and unharmed.

Rassen!

The quarian sprinted towards the downed ship, her attention completely focused on the vessel in front of her. Perhaps too focused.

After all, she didn't see the blurred outline of the figure observing her as she ran.

The first thing he became aware of was just how cold it was.

Rassen grunted as he opened his eyes, idly noticing how his breath misted in the air. He glanced around groggily, not entirely sure where he was. After a moment though, his brain caught up and he tried to stand, only to find himself unable to do so. Glancing down, the Jedi groaned again at seeing that a slab of metal bulkhead had come loose during the crash, now pinning his legs to the floor. He concentrated for a moment and the offending object rose a few feet off the ground. He barely managed to withdraw his legs and stand up before his strength failed him and the chunk of metal slammed back down with an ear-splitting crash.

"Rassen?"

He glanced in the direction of Shaela's voice just in time to see her enter the ship through the largest gash in its hull, the quarian being especially careful not to catch her suit on the jagged edges of metal. Rassen couldn't help smiling despite the direness of the situation as she spotted him despite the gloom within the ship and began to approach, the quarian shivering from the bitter cold she had been exposed to outside. He winced at the thought. It was freezing within the ship, but it seemed that whatever had regulated the temperature while they were in space still just about worked, despite the damage the vessel had taken.

He felt his expression shift into one of concern. "Are you all right?" He asked, meeting her halfway and checking for any signs of injury or damage to her suit. "Was your suit damaged in the crash? You were outside, are you hurt?"

He felt himself calm slightly as Shaela shook her head. The quarian stepped closer, beginning to examine him in return. "No," Shaela reassured. "No damage of any kind, though I do have a splitting headache."

"Likewise. Truth be told, we are both lucky to be alive."

She nodded. "That's true."

Rassen pulled away from her gently. "Whoever shot us down might still be nearby," he explained. "We need to find Kasumi and decide what to do next." Shaela nodded in response to his words, before she suddenly went very still, barely breathing as her eyes widened in fear. A moment later, Rassen saw why.

A figure, barely noticeable save for a slight outline, stood behind the quarian. For a moment, he thought it was Kasumi, but it couldn't be. Whoever it was stood much taller than the missing woman and was also far bulkier. The outline flickered and their appearance transformed as their stealth technology deactivated, revealing a man covered in grey armour. Rassen's world went red as he saw that the figure held a blaster pistol against the back of Shaela's neck, the quarian remaining motionless in fear and shock. The Mandalorian, a commando, he realised, stomach sinking, looked at him, and Rassen could practically see the man's smile, despite the helmet he wore. The smile no doubt broadened as several other figures entered the ship through the gap in the hull before also uncloaking, so that another five grey-armoured Mandalorians stood alongside their leader. Knowing he held all the cards, the one threatening Shaela spoke.

"Jedi, impressive job evading us on Horizon. Your luck has run out now, however. Mandalore sends her regards."