Heavy footsteps pushed to the flooring of the ship as Jane entered the Normandy's shuttle bay. As the hangar door closed, she took a last look at the two now dead reaper corpses burning on the cliff. She then looked at Garrus, carrying the giant turian on board. Time almost stopped for her.

Her head was pounding, and every move was suffering. Her ears still rang, and her lungs were struggling for air. As the wound on her side was burning like hell, her vision became more blurry with each step she took. Nonetheless, she acted like nothing had happened, and did not move from next to Garrus, squeezing her gun in her hand, like she is expecting an attack.

He was here, and he will not be taken away this time.

Half the crew gathered at the bay to welcome the commander, including Dr. Chakwas, Mordin and Liara. They did not expect what they saw. When Mordin spotted Saren, he immediately turned around, speaking hastily into his comms, but Jane could not hear it, it was distant, and vague. Chakwas came over to her and grabbed her arms, leading her towards the elevator.

Garrus asked something - something about where to put the turian - and she instructed the med-bay, under strict supervision.

Then everything went blank.

"Is she going to be alright?" Liara asked the doctor, standing above Shepard who was lying in her bed in her quarters. Dr. Chakwas just finished patching up her sides after her temples. "Is it serious?"

"Nah, she'll be fine, but only if she rests" she smiled at the asari "She's lucky her helmet was on. It protected her eardrums from the sound of the blast, and her lungs are also in good condition. But she needs to rest, her side and her temple were pierced by some fragments of the reapers. Her head will be okay, but if she doesn't stay put, her sides might give her trouble... Otherwise, her cybernetics are working diligently."

"That's good" she said, visibly feeling better.

"Yes. Considering she was not far from blowing up herself… This woman just can't take care… Say Liara, where is Garrus?" she just finished with the commander and lifted the blanket onto her.

"He's down with S-" she coughed "Down in the med-bay. He would not move away from that.. Beast." It was clear that Liara did not like this at all, and even the thought of Saren creeped her out. No wonder, their greatest enemy was suddenly alive, and on their ship.

"I can't believe it" Liara continued "He died.. How is this even possible..."

"Well, if you think about it, Cerberus resurrected Jane here" she looked down on her commander, passed out in the bed "And they did it because Jane is a symbol of hope. Her mere presence has become a beacon of some sort. I can imagine someone doing the same for Saren, for the opposite reason."

"I have to... find out... " came a quiet whisper from the bed, and they both saw Jane open her eyes. She raised herself on her elbows, and lifted her hand to her temple. "Oh lord, my head is splitting in two!"

"Commander, you should get some rest" the doctor insisted, turning to her.

"I'll sleep when I'm dead!" she called out, now sitting up and removing the blanket. "Where is Dr. Bryson?"

"She's with EDI on the bridge" Liara said "We'll have to arrange transportation for her so she can reach the Citadel after we're done here."

"We're done here. EDI!" Shepard looked up "Have someone pick Dr. Bryson up, and once that is done, set a course for Tuchanka - I'll figure Saren out in the meantime." she now stood up and left her bed, reaching for some proper clothes.

"Shepard" Liara was visibly worried about her commander, and started fidgeting in nervousness "I don't think this is a good idea."

"It's not" she agreed, while putting on a jumper "But it's the best we have." And with that, she made it clear that the conversation was over. She walked out of her cabin, not caring for the fact she left them there alone. As the door opened, she looked back with a smile:

"Thanks, doctor!" she waived at Chakwas and disappeared into the elevator.

She pressed the button to go to the crew's quarters, and set her back to the wall of the elevator. Her head was still spinning but she felt a lot better.

No, that was a lie.

Her legs now started to give in. She was more than frustrated, and all she could think of was the turian in the medical bay. She felt a very strange, sad nostalgia suddenly, and all her mind revolved around was the sight of shattering glass, flying in the air the day Saren died. She remembered the feeling, the shock of seeing him shoot himself, his last words. It still haunted her, but now it felt like it was yesterday. It all felt like it was happening again, like all this time she was just sleeping, taking a nap.

A gruesome, dark reality hit her suddenly, but she felt more awake than ever before. The elevator ride ended, and she made the first move, and turned to the med-bay's door. Everything felt slow, and heavy, the air barely passed through her lungs. She could feel her own heartbeat.

Maybe, she wasn't the only one who survived.

She opened the door, and the med-bay was revealed. She stepped in. Garrus was standing in the corner, rifle in his hands, like a guardian. His eyes were fixed on the silhouette lying in the far end of the room, not moving an inch.

"You ready?" he asked quietly, still looking at the turian.

Jane did not answer.

"Where's Eve and Mordin?" she asked.

"Mordin took her to another cabin to rest, he did not want to have Eve in the same room as our guest, which I understand, considering the fact that if Wrex learns this, she'll rip your gut out.."

"Good, I would have ordered the same thing" she nodded "And I'll deal with Wrex. Now, you can leave us, I'll try and… wake him up."

"Shepard, I'm not going anywhere" Garrus said without hesitation "You don't even have armor on, and we have no idea who this really is." Shepard knew this was not a request, it was the cold truth. She sighed.

"All right."

And with that, it was done. She slowly walked over to the bed in the far corner, and looked at the turian. He was lying on his back, undisturbed. His face was tired looking: his plates were pale as ever, but the skin around his eyes was darker, as if he had no sleep for a long time. There was something else that was different - his geth arm was missing. Both of his hands looked the same to her now, she wasn't sure how that happened.

She gathered herself together, and without touching him, she called:

"Saren! Wake up!" His brow-plates moved, then his eyes opened.

Garrus had to squeeze his rifle and try his best not to shoot him straight away, Saren moved so fast. He jumped up on the bed, practically falling down from it, and immediately reaching for the commander, grabbing her by the shoulders and pushing her to the wall.

"Stop right there!" Garrus shouted, disrupting the turian.

Shepard let out a small groan as her back hit the wall, and she found herself looking straight into Saren's eyes. She could see the surprise in them: he was confused, his instincts acting in him as self defense. His taloned hands held a tight grip on her arms, towering over her.

"It's me" she whispered "Jane Shepard. You're on the Normandy."

The predator-like look softened in his eyes, and his grip loosened a bit. He took a moment, and his harsh hands slowly slid down on the arms of the commander.

He was on the Normandy…

He looked up again.

The first things he could properly see after the bloodrush subsided in his mind were two jewels. Two blue, silverish jewels, and as he looked into them, somehow Palaven's waters came into his mind. Glasses shattering, a scream in his mind. But it wasn't Palaven, nor the past, that he saw. They were two eyes, two very familiar set of eyes, with long lashes. His vision started clearing out, and he started to see the face - ashy pale skin and long, fiery red hair cascading down. No armor, just a jumper, and the fresh scent of her skin - sweet cherries.

"Jane" he exhaled, removing his grip from her arms, stepping back.

Garrus twitched for a second, hearing him call her by her first name.

"Are you who I think you are?" asked Jane as she crossed her arms and leaned on her left leg. She seemed to be put together on the first look, but her heart rate was crazy, and the patch on her temple indicated she was injured.

"Are you?" was all he replied.

"Believe it or not" she started, stepping closer "You're on my ship. And on my ship, I don't have to prove myself, am I right, Garrus?"

"Yup" sounded a voice from the other end of the room. Saren coldly glanced in that direction, only briefly, then his gaze returned to Shepard. The sheer presence of this turian indicated to him that she was the real thing. The Shepard he fought against was known to never make a step without his turian sniper - it would only make sense that he's here now as well.

"Who are you?" Shepard asked again.

"I am Saren Arterius." he said, frustrated, still scanning the room.

"Prove it" she demanded.

Typical.

"You can't catch me." he hummed without a second of hesitation, stepping closer to her. His figure was giant compared to Jane's, who had to jerk her neck to keep eye contact.

She knew that this was Saren even before this, his eyes told everything to her, but this just confirmed it. This was the message she received after she started her pursuit of Saren.

"How are you alive?" she asked with genuine curiosity, as the turian turned away.

"I was… reconstructed..." he savored the word "...by the reapers." He looked deep into her eyes, and only then continued "You are something the reapers never seen before. An anomaly. They don't just simply want to destroy you, they want to wipe away your existence and the meaning it represents to the galaxy. And I am your omega."

He stopped. His words penetrated deep into Jane's mind, and they rang true.

Saren was the only person, ever, who had represented the reapers and had a personality. He was an individual people recognized: the favourite, brutal spectre turned to destroy the universe. His name bore the same significance as Jane's; but with opposite meaning. His return would be paralyzing for the galaxy.

"I don't remember a lot of it" he continued, slowly making his way into his memories "But I know I'm not a clone. When I died, Sovereign somehow captured something from me."

"You mean -" she said "Your essence."

"Like the Collectors did with the colonists" inserted Garrus.

"I know I am me, I heard them talking" Saren looked at his hands "They used the information from Sovereign's data banks to rebuild me, but with reaper technology. They are able to extract data from everything they control, and reconstruct it, shape it, collect it. That is how reapers are made." he looked up, his cold gaze softening for a second "I cannot hear them anymore. My mind is my own, but I am somehow one of them now."

Silence.

"I escaped from them in a ship, but crashed somehow. Then the only thing I remember is the feeling, coming from the dig site - it was like indoctrination, but it did not have any effect on me. It just needed me to go" he said, deep in his thoughts. This was the first time Jane seen his face like this: deeply in concentration, not understanding what had happened.

A Saren that was trying to piece together reality was a strange sight for her.

"That was Leviathan's signal" added Jane.

"Then I found this corpse - the reaper you saw, and I knew I had to move, you were all in danger."

"Wait-" came a surprised growl from Garrus "You were the one piloting that derelict reaper?"

Saren stepped backwards, crossing his arms, as his grip on reality became stronger with every minute.

"Yes. It was a derelict reaper corpse. It had somehow responded to me, and so I took the opportunity."

"But why did you help us?" Jane asked with genuine curiosity.

"Jane, the reapers have come - and I never repeat my mistakes." he said with cold confidence "Whatever they planned to do with me backfired. They wanted to use me against you - but I don't intend on helping the machines destroy our civilization anymore."

Garrus started laughing. There was no way that the Saren they knew was going to help them.

"You've got to be kidding me-"

Saren's eyes fixed on the turian, and he slowly but surely made his way to Garrus. They now stood face to face, inches from each other. Saren was taller then Garrus, but he didn't back down. Garrus stood his gaze, and Shepard could feel the tension building between these two.

"Listen Vakarian," he started aggressively "You would do damn well to stay silent and drop your ego a bit. If you could use your brain, for just a second, you'd already know that I am possibly the biggest weapon you all can ever have against the reapers. You don't understand them. Having someone who is like them is our only option in winning this war!"

Jane didn't like this. They already looked like two hounds, ready to tear each other apart.

"Not if you kill us all in our sleep. Why should we trust you?" snarled Garrus, a low growl starting in his chest, his talons digging into the handle of his rifle.

"You've got a problem with me?" provoked Saren, snarling, his teeth almost showing.

"Enough!" Jane was standing right next to them now, her eyes beaming with anger. "If you plan on fighting in the med-bay, I will toss you both out of the airlock right now, and all our problems will be solved." she said with passion, her eyes darting back and forth between the two turians.

"Mordin will examine Saren, and see if any of this is true." she decided "EDI!"

The salarian doctor was a strange creature.

He performed scan after scan after scan, but there wasn't a moment where he was afraid of Saren. He was hustling around him like he was no different than any other soldier on the ship, and did not seem bothered by the possible reaper technology in their med-bay - the opposite in fact - he was singing a little song under his nose quietly, and was constantly amazed by the scan results.

"How long is this going to last?" Saren asked, with not a small amount of annoyance in his rough voice. These scans creeped him out a ton and he'd rather be over with them as soon as possible.

"Almost done" the doctor answered, not leaving his work for a second.

Saren looked at the corner where Jane was standing not long ago. She was just as small and just as collected as she was before: or at least compared to what he had seen from her back then. She had some effect on him: she wasn't as annoying as the humans he met so far, he didn't actually want to scratch his eyes out when she spoke, and that was a huge accomplishment. A strange uneasiness went through him as he thought about her, and he wasn't sure why.

"Are you fucking crazy?" Garrus dropped his gun on the table at the mess hall, which was empty at the time. His mandibles were clicking in anger as he turned to face Shepard. "He can't be trusted! Especially not now! We have reapers swarming everywhere, we don't need one on our own ship!"

"Garrus, he piloted a derelict reaper to save our asses!" she was visibly angry at this point "I have no idea how he did it, but he saved us all. If he is capable of things like this, I say he belongs in our team more than ever. We need an ally like this!"

"Oh spirits" he sighed, moving his hand to his forehead, looking at his commander "And if it is just a trap? What if he's still indoctrinated and that is why he could control the reaper? What if he's here to help us only to turn on us at the right moment?"

"He's not." was all she said, confident determination in her eyes. Garrus' look softened a bit, and he lowered his voice.

"How do you know?"

Shepard new this was the truth. Every atom in her body told her that this is the right thing to do. She wasn't sure how, but her gut feeling was so strong it gave her anxiety. If she were in Saren's place, she would have done the same.

"I just.. know" she said softly "Everything I am tells me that we need to do this. Not to mention that his whole life got fucked up by the reapers… it's logical he wants to fight them when he's not indoctrinated!"

The turian smiled.

"All right, Jane" he gave in, and put his gloved talons on Jane's shoulders. He trusted his commander with his life, and this time was no exception. He then proceeded to say:

"... But if he tries anything, I will tear him apart."

"Commander, the scans are ready" came a very fast paced sentence from the med-bay door, Mordin looking out, and disappearing into the room. Shepard and Garrus shared a quick glance, then followed the doctor.

"Incredible!" he started, his scientific excitement going off the charts "Never seen before, synthesis of organic and machine, much like reaper structure! Metal skeleton, but most organs are fully organic. Cybernetics present in all joints and the whole nervous system."

"Mordin" Shepard put a hand over her face "Slower please."

"Yes, apologies, very interesting discovery" he inhaled a large breath, closing his eyes, preparing to make his way through his statement a bit slower. "He seems to be half organic and half synthetic, the synthetic part being reaper technology. I have cross-examined his DNA with the DNA the old Saren Arterius provided in the Spectre databanks-"

"I destroyed that archive, that's impossible." interrupted Saren.

"The salarian STG has more information that you might know" said Mordin with an all-knowing glance. Saren did not like this.

"Did they match?" asked Garrus.

"They did." Mordin nodded at Garrus, who was at this point already looking at Shepard. She was silent, drinking every word of the doctor. Mordin continued "He seems to have every memory of his past as a spectre. In addition, his brain waves are a bit different than regular turian waves, but are not considered alien. He can produce infrasound, but seems to be indifferent to it, possibly because of the metal skeleton blocking incoming low frequencies. Advise to keep him here, fight reapers - interesting outcomes, unforseen reaper casualties."

Infrasound. Shepard swallowed her nerves as a feeling of ease went through her body. Infrasound was the frequency of the reapers… the sound of their cries have all been observed to happen on low frequencies.

"You don't respond to indoctrination" she said it out loud, carelessly letting her curiosity show. She was looking directly at Saren, like the others weren't even there. "And that will win us a war."

Saren also looked at her, and their eyes met. A strange feeling ran through him, as he saw something familiar: a small smile on Jane's face, a little smirk, that signaled a victory on its own.

[Commander, we have a problem-] Joker shouted from the comms, and not a second after he got cut out, the Normandy took a U turn and the whole med-bay sloped suddenly down. Almost all of them fell on the ground, tumbling to the walls and the beds.

"JOKER, What is going on?" screamed Shepard, trying to stand up.

[Reapers!] came from the comms, and Shepard looked up at Saren.

What a timing..