Note: I apologize for any errors. I'll try to go back through at some point one more time for editing. Thank you all for your faithful follows, reviews, and faves. It's a huge motivating factor.

As you'll see in this chapter, we're starting to get into the AU. Don't say I didn't warn you!

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The pair stepped confidently onto the soft grass of the clearing. It truly was the perfect patch of ground for a drop. For the first time, Jane looked at the area in a peaceful light. The overwhelming feeling of déjà vu was no longer present as it had been before. Instead, she was able to concentrate on the meadow for what it was; an innocent piece of land, cursed with evil.

She could hear the whirring of the first drones beyond their meadow. It effectively ruined the surreal moment between Jane and her memories. But her eyes fell on Nihlus once again, and she was reminded of why she was here. The drones didn't matter, the husks didn't matter, Saren didn't matter. While Jane's previous cycles were driven by her sole focus of saving her turian, this one carried another responsibility; to find the cause of the loop and fix it.

Step one of this new mission was to keep as many alive as possible. This included Jenkins. The first victim in her terrible story, she had watched him die just as many times as Nihlus. As she saw him step before everyone towards the next bend Shepard realized it was because of inexperience. The kid was talented, but he was just a kid; Old enough to fight, too young to know how.

"Jenkins! Get your ass back here right now." Shepard called authoritatively. Her yell was unintentionally loud, garnering the attention of both Jenkins and Nihlus. She glanced at the turian who stood ever watchful, likely cataloging her actions mentally. If he meant his words about her Spectre-ship in one loop, he was sure to have meant it this time around. His silent scrutiny wasn't surprising and she didn't mind. Let him see how well she knew this area from re-living it over and over. If her story wasn't convincing in the cargo hold, the trek through the wilds of Eden Prime should prove the truth enough.

Jenkins appeared in front of her sheepishly. "Sorry, Commander. Just got a little excited to kick some ass, I guess."

Nihlus bit out a harsh laugh, "As a soldier, getting a little excited is only allowed in the bedroom, Corporal." He casually bent down to study some odd foliage. Jane placed a hand on Jenkins' shoulder in a firm, but reassuring grip.

"Just remember not to charge in like that. You'll get yourself killed before the rest of us." A frown befell her face as she remembered the scene of Jenkins' lifeless body on the ground. Not this time.

Shepard motioned for her shore party to follow. She and Nihlus moved into forward defensive positions while Jenkins and Alenko brought up an offensive rear. They were seemingly untouchable to the drones hovering around them. Nihlus' shields proved extremely useful for the group, as the ablative plating emanated a strong magnetic field. Almost all of the projectiles shot at them at light speed were ricocheted off. The few bullets that did make it through his shield were slowed enough to merely tink lightly against armor before falling harmlessly to the ground.

Shepard found herself smiling through the fray, ecstatic at their success. Jenkins had survived, no one had been hurt, and they had managed to destroy most of the drones without even being seen.

"Well, that was a hell of a firefight!" Jenkins laughed as they stumbled out of the hills and into a clearing with large trees. Ashley's clearing. Jane walked a few feet in front of them to inspect a fallen drone. She smirked when her search revealed 3 ammo packs for her friend. Each cycle had always been stressful, but finding Ashley every time seemed to help ease her burdens. And in the last cycle, they had become close friends. The lieutenant had always been there for her when the going became rough. She thought fondly of a time when the two women reminisced about their first meeting at the edge of the tree line. If Shepard had to relive this part 100 more times, she would make sure to always have ammo ready for her.

Jane clipped the packs to her thigh and stood, cocking her pistol. Nihlus looked at her then glanced further ahead. His eyes were alert and…alarmed? When he started stalking past her, Jane became suspicious at the growing feeling of dread in her gut. She followed instinctively, motioning to the other two to come with.

When they finally reached the edge of the trees, she saw Ashley. She lay against the rocks, lifeless.

With a small cry, Shepard ran to her friend and immediately checked her vitals; barely alive. Nihlus spoke what Shepard already knew in her heart to be true.

"She's not going to make it out of here."

Tears stung her eyes as she reached out to cradle the dying woman's head in her lap. Ashley sputtered and coughed violently. When her fit subsided, Jane gently removed her helmet and set it to the side. She wiped blood matted hairs from her friend's face as Ashley looked up at her.

"I…a…a-ambushed." Ashley's breathing was ragged and her voice was barely even a whisper. She leaned heavily against Jane, breathing steady but strained. It gave an opportunity for Shepard to assess her injuries. Her legs were nearly ripped to shreds. The armor looked as if it hadn't done anything to protect her. Oil and grime was sprayed across her chest and was mixed with blood that seeped from a gruesome wound in her abdomen. Jane's fingers reached out to touch the hole in her armor lightly.

Nihlus had bent next to the pair, performing his own examination. "Shotgun blast; point blank. They take your gun?" Ashley nodded weakly. Shepard watched as Nihlus sighed deeply and shook his head. He placed a hand on the lieutenant's arm and squeezed lightly while smiling at her. "I bet you gave them hell, didn't you?"

The tears that had welled in Jane's eyes finally dropped when Ashley gave a small quirk of her lips in a weak smile and nodded. As Nihlus stood and backed away to offer them privacy, Jane bent to hug her friend closer. The woman that had been right there with her through her entire search for Saren was once again here; but dying before her time. It seemed she couldn't get anything right. This place really was cursed. If one person was saved and another died in their stead, what good did it do to change anything?

She felt a hand on her shoulder; it was Nihlus, offering support but keeping watch for another ambush. "Shepard…we need to move."

A painful sigh left Jane's lungs as she witnessed yet another soul die in her arms.

"Yeah. I know."

Folding Ashley's limp arms across her chest, Jane whispered a few parting words and rose to her feet. Alenko had just finished standing the lieutenant's gun in the ground as Jenkins moved to place the battered pink and white helmet on top of the barrel. The small company followed Shepard and gave a salute to the fallen warrior before turning to leave the clearing.

"You knew her well?" Nihlus inquired softly as they rounded the corner, just out of earshot of the two soldiers behind them.

"Yes. She was my First lieutenant on the Normandy."

"And I take it you were close…?"

Jane stopped and closed her eyes for a beat. "Like sisters." She looked at Nihlus. He was staring hard into her blues, just as he always had in her previous cycles. It was as if he could see right through her.

"She wasn't supposed to die, was she?"

"Look Nihlus, let's just keep going okay? The husks will show up in any minute and we need to be ready for Saren." She shrugged him off and marched passed him. He followed in her heated footsteps, hiking quickly up the hill to keep pace. She halted suddenly with her gun ready and aimed forward.

"Something isn't right. There aren't any husks."

"Shepard, are you sure Saren will be here?" Jane looked at him incredulously. Did he not believe her story? Did he still think that Saren was on their side? Ignoring him, she pressed on with angered steps. But the closer they got to the transport station, the more she began to doubt herself. There were no refugees to be found, no husks, no geth. It was completely silent all around them, save for the faint crackling of burning sheet metal and insulation material. This was the part she had initially bypassed because of the loud screams and gunfire that originated from it. Now all that seemed to be in the area was Shepard's crew.

Upon reaching the top of the hill, their new vantage point provided them with an unsightly picture. Human bodies – refugees – were in piles everywhere, burning and smoking. Only a few lonely souls were alive, moving dead bodies from their strewn about positions towards a pile for burning. And the smell – Shepard nearly gagged when the fumes reached her nose. Even the ever stoic Nihlus wasn't able to prevent himself from shying his face away from the stench. But they needed to press on through the carnage. This was quite obviously Saren's doing, and he was conveniently nowhere to be found.

"He should be here. This is where it happens, Nihlus." The two met eyes for a moment of shared unease before continuing on.

They were slowly making their way across the station grounds, taking care to avoid the fires, when Jane spotted an injured refugee nearby. He was seated on the ground, leaning against a damaged crate. A jagged spear-like object jutted through his chest, yet the man looked as if he were simply tired.

A ragged woman called out to them from around a small burning pile. "Don't touch that one! Dunno what's wrong with him, but he won't let us touch him to help. He sprays spit all over ya that drove the last one mad."

What the hell? Jane returned her focus to the man. It was obvious that he was turning slowly into a husk. Out of all of the times that she had dealt with them, she had never watched the process that brought them to their zombie-like state. Although it was intriguing to see, the act itself brought her guilt. She shouldn't be curious of this unholy transformation, she should be completely disgusted. She swore that these time loops were serving to numb her. She would have to euthanize the poor creature when they were finished talking. "What happened here?"

The man didn't answer. He stared down into his folded hands and remained silent.

"My name is Commander Shepard and I'm with the Alliance military. I want to help you, but you need to tell me what happened."

The refugee looked up at her with an expression that only revealed utter fear. His hands were shaking almost violently and sweat poured from his forehead. He seemed to be in a trance, staring only at Jane. But when Nihlus stepped toward him, the man jumped back in fear and cowered behind his frail and bloody arms. "Get away from me!" he shrieked.

Nihlus stepped back again and Jane grabbed his arm defensively. She walked slowly to the man, kneeling in front of him. "Was he turian?"

The refugee gaped at her through his arms. "Y-you saw him too? White and mechanical. He d-destroyed…everything. Searching though, always searching." Jane waited for him to continue. The man was clawing at his skin now. His eyes were changing color to a deep and dark black.

"Get back!" She cried to her crew as a stream of nanobots poured from the spear and covered the man's body in a dark cloud. She heard a grunt from Nihlus and soon after, 3 gunshots.

The nanobots fell to the ground in some sort of taciturn puddle around the now dead body. The body lay bleeding, adding to the puddle with thick, black blood. She saw the aftermath of Nihlus's shooting; One shot in his forehead, one in his throat, and one in his chest where his heart was. So this was why Saren had killed him. Nihlus was deadly, and it seemed he might do well to be on her side through all of this. How would this loop play out for her? Would they apprehend Saren faster? Learn about the Reapers sooner? Ashley's death might have been extremely unwelcome and certainly surprising, but if it meant they would stop the looming threat before it gained momentum…Then they must carry on, no matter the cost.

She bit back another gag and forced herself to walk away from the very spot where Nihlus had died next to her so many times. It was odd to see the concrete without the blue staining of turian blood that had unfortunately become so familiar.

"Okay, you two." She motioned at Jenkins and Alenko. "You stay here and call for evac. We need these remaining refugees out of here, and a damn cleanup crew if possible. Nihlus and I will be moving on to scope out the rest of the station. We'll give you the all clear when we're done so we can get the hell off this rock."

"Aye, Commander!"

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Nihlus had been purposefully silent for the majority of the mission so he could see how Shepard handled things. That had been his original assignment, to watch her as best he could except for when he was needed on Council business. He was currently choosing to ignore the fact that he directly disobeyed orders to meet with Saren alone, but that wasn't Shepard's business to know. Why had the council asked him to meet with another spectre on Eden Prime of all places? The mystery was thickening, and it brought about an unintentional silence. For he started off meaning to only watch, and instead found himself incapable of speech altogether. Nothing could be said for how atrocious the scene was that they had stumbled upon.

As she led them through the station, Nihlus recounted the events of their mission thus far. Everything tragic that could have happened, did. And he could see it in her eyes when something happened that didn't before. He had initially been on the fence about believing her story of their time loops, but how could he not believe her after all this? She was an honest person to begin with and her actions held true conviction in them. So here he was, following a woman who he could only hope knew what she was doing, and yet trusting her fully. There was something about the way she spoke to him, the way she looked at him, the way she touched him lightly at times and compelled him to focus on her. He realized that he had followed her blindly through this whole thing. Nihlus, a Council Spectre, taking orders from a Lieutenant Commander of the Alliance.

What was it about her that caused him to trust her so completely? As they had fought through the drones, they had their backs to each other, defending and guarding. They helped and protected, working in tandem with the other as if they had…done this before. He felt an unmistakable connection with her.

And all too soon, his thoughts were interrupted with the sight that he hoped he wouldn't see. Saren stood below where he and Shepard had emerged, engrossed in ordering around his army of Geth. Chains were strapped around some large machinery and drones and scouts alike were working to move the thing onto a transport platform.

"That's the Beacon. After he kills you, I find that thing and it implants Prothean memories in my head before malfunctioning." Nihlus simply looked at her and stayed silent. If she uttered gibberish, it would have made more sense than what was just said. He knew about the Protheans; the Council had special assignments that centered around the confiscation of Prothean artifacts found in various places. But the details were never mentioned. Of what use did these artifacts prove to the Council to the point where they needed to keep it a secret? At this point, Shepard seemed to know much more on this matter than the Council certainly intended; especially if they hadn't even bothered to fill him in.

But he didn't have the chance to ask her to elaborate. As soon as he turned his head, he realized that she had mumbled a quick 'stay here' and proceeded ahead to their flank down below. Unable to move without drawing attention, he gripped the railing in front of him intently as he watched. She had a grenade primed and ready to be flung at the unsuspecting army. Is she fucking crazy?!

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It certainly wasn't the best idea she had ever had. But as soon as she and Nihlus had turned the corner to see Saren and his Geth hauling the beacon from its original position, she was convinced that the loop would be affected by it. It seemed to her that every little action she took had some adverse reaction later on down the road. It was only logical then, that she would have to pay for it later if she didn't get the same interaction with the Beacon as she had before. At the very least, she needed to prevent Saren from taking the device. If she couldn't use it, then she would make sure no one else could either. So she acted first, and would absolutely think on it later. But for now, there wasn't time.

Looping through the cycles must have made her a bit complacent, because when she looked down, her grenade was already activated. With only a second left on its timer, she flung the explosive directly at the Beacon, effectively delivering a powerful shockwave throughout the Geth forces.

As the smoke began to clear, she saw Nihlus point his gun toward a looming figure.

"Saren!" She heard him call to his rogue counterpart. The figure turned menacingly toward Nihlus and laughed.

"Nihlus. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"He's here because you owe him an explanation." She cocked her pistol and aimed for his face.

"Please." With an almost nonchalant wave of his hand, both hers and Nihlus' pistols were flung over the edge of the cliff in a blur of biotic energy. He was fast as lightning in the next moment. Biotics at maximum, he pinned Nihlus to the floor of the railing and pulled Shepard towards the transmat like a magnet. She was helpless to the force as it nearly crushed her against the Beacon itself. Jane hoped that her being practically on top of it now would activate the memory synthesis, but when she looked up, the hope left her.

A large fracture in the device likely stopped its functionality, for it was no longer humming as it did before. Her head felt dizzy from the impact and she lay against the metal structure as the faint sound of Nihlus' voice wafted in the distance. It sounded frantic, but she couldn't move no matter how hard she tried. She felt the biotic energy field around her, weighing on top of her body. Jane tried to call out to him; to beg for him to just run. It was to no avail. Her voice was non-existent as the sound of a lift beam drowned out any sound she emitted. Her head pounded with the force of a few G's as the lift pulled her and the Beacon up off of the ground. She closed her eyes and hugged the structure, fearing both for her life and for Nihlus's.

She didn't care at this point what happened to her, as long as her turian made it out safe. If he was captured, she'd find away to help him escape. If he were injured, she'd find away to fix him. As long as he lived, he could continue his mission in stopping Saren.

Upon finally landing in the ship that had pulled her up, she whispered a prayer to the empty hangar for Nihlus to be safe. She was in the belly of the beast; the mantle of saving the galaxy now belonged to him.

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Nihlus sat in the cargo bay of the Normandy with a polishing pad in one hand, and a glass of turian brandy in the other. He had come down here to clear his head by cleaning his armor. But one look at the armor that he had worn for the mission brought memories of it flooding into his mind. It was enough to knock the wind out of him. So he instead poured himself a glass and rested on the same crate that Shepard had fallen asleep on a week prior.

It always came back to her. He would first try to think about his encounter with Saren.

Cybernetic eyes stared into his green ones with amusement. The fool was having fun with this. He truly had gone insane.

"I'll take your little pet, Nihlus. You can run off and report back to the Council. But who do you think they'll believe?"

"Then why let me live if you think you'll win anyway?"

"…Because it's more fun this way. I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious about the outcome. They won't listen, but I should like to watch you try. But maybe they will! And it will be too late."

"Too late for what?"

"The clock is ticking, Nihlus." Saren moved toward the tractor beam, but Nihlus certainly wasn't finished.

"Give Shepard back, Saren. You can keep the Beacon."

"That's rich. But I think I'll take both."

And the memory would always end with her. Saren had not only taken the Beacon, but he had taken her as well. Jane had mentioned that she hadn't tried dying before him. Well, they could cross this one off of their list. Perhaps if he…

No. Killing himself wasn't an option at this point. He had no idea as to what would happen. What were the rules to this time loop? Were there even any boundaries at all?

And why did he care so much? Nihlus knew exactly why, but he was in denial. He had been in denial throughout the whole mission. He had believed her story from the very beginning when she had first told him. She didn't need to try to convince him; he was compelled to trust her. Seeing Saren was simply a reassuring bonus, but it certainly wasn't necessary. So this brought about the question from before.

Which kind of interested was he? He was inclined to think that the situation wasn't about interest anymore, but it was. Nihlus had every opportunity to speak with the Council about his findings when he returned. He could have bypassed the Normandy and taken a direct route back to the Citadel. Instead, he was here, thinking about her intense way of looking at him when he was under attack, or the slight hitch in her voice when she spoke of his deaths, or the light touch of his mandibles with her fingers, or the kiss. She held a certain air of passion about her when they were together and it was…comforting. She felt familiar, as one would feel around a lover. But they weren't.

They were still strangers, and yet the way she looked at him was more than that. He could feel it in his bones that she knew him well. He trusted her and her story of the time loops wholeheartedly and that was what was making him hesitate. He was afraid; for the first time in ages, Nihlus Kryik was afraid of what would happen next. He always lived a day at a time, but this affair with time left him anxious. Shepard had lived through hell in a matter of only seven days in his eyes. For all he knew, it could feel like an eternity for her.

He had promised her action, and that he would deliver on. She had taught him everything she knew about Eden Prime. Yet, it still wasn't enough. Everything they experienced differed from what she had told him. So he would find out why. But he needed her back. The more Nihlus sat and thought about it, the more he began to believe that she was the key. His deaths might have been the trigger, but that was only what Jane thought. They seemed to have only scratched the surface of what was going on. So his next order of business was to confront Saren once more, and get her back. The Council could wait.