Chapter 5: Not too forgotten moments.

Shepard could remember very far back into her youth from the age of four and beyond.

When she had the haircut that made her look like a boy not even realizing the fact that she did then coming to school in a dress as all the naïve boys called her a 'faggot' because they really thought she was a boy.

She could remember her first crush and how she saved him from bullies at the play ground and then when he called her an ugly tomboy she could remember beating him up herself afterwards.

She remembered when she finally decided to ride her bike at age ten because of her fear of falling off which was partly developed at age five when she climbed up a pine tree and fell almost fifteen feet meeting hard roots and earth. But then remembered she had stilled that fear by the age of eighteen.

It was this impressive memory that had made her special among other things she could so easily remember faces, sounds, voices even more so, but never names.

Typical she knew that, she could remember when she was fourteen and her father, looking tired and melancholy, walked through the door. He had come home late and when she had asked her mother she didn't say anything either then. "He's just having a hard day." She didn't like that almost dishonest tip-toeing around the truth. That had always bothered her.

It was well past her bedtime which had been set as a standard 9:00 pm, eleven-hundred hours. She had sadly carried this habit even in her teenage years out of habit never really into the idea of becoming a party animal or a late night jaywalker.

She heard her mother's soft voice soothing her father as he sat on the coach and laid his head in his hands. He looked upset, not crying or sniveling, but sad all the same.

"So, he at least… he died without any pain, right?"

"The way the truck had tipped when it fell on him I don't think he could have. It completely crushed him. It was… it was just a mess… a disaster." He repeated himself sounding less and less like the wise ass, hot shot that he usually was and more like a troubled helpless man seeking for some unknown answer. It was painful for her to watch.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that," her mother cooed lightly as she bent down on the floor looking at her husband's sad face. She said something she couldn't hear but whatever it was seemed to make him light up again as he looked into his wife's unblinking eyes. If Shepard had acquired an illustrious silver tongue that had nearly won her honors for speech she could easily say it had come from her mother.

She saw her mother rise and heard her ankles pop from the redistribution of weight as she had applied it to her feet making Shepard take a step back at how loud the sound seemed in such a quiet room. Her father was with his calm and collected self stood peacefully with his wife and Shepard contemplated just letting married folks be merry and running to her room when her father pulled out his work phone.

"Yah… Yes… Ok, Congratulations… yah… you too, see you tomorrow." He hung up his phone and for a moment his eyes light up as though he had just seen some brilliant light that everyone else was blind too.

"What was it?" Her mother asked.

Shepard had good memory but for a moment she was faced with the simple feeling of confusion. She felt light hit through the helmet's see through composite plastic slit that allowed her to see but was now blinding her. In an almost childish fit she reached for the back and pulling it off threw it away as she tried to get up. She felt sick, stiff, soar, and… was that the ocean? She felt whatever she was in now was slowly floating or shifting. She got up and looked around at the surprisingly strange surroundings.

It almost brought the nostalgic sense that she was on a freshly born earth as she viewed the thin narrow sand bar still thick and gravely as it stretched along the border of what looked like an ocean as clear as glass that lightly frothed as waves hit the shore pushing and pulling coaxing the pebbles in. She looked outward and there was absolutely nothing but fresh green hills meeting long fields of lush grass for miles. She breathed in the air noting how clean it felt as it flooded her lungs making her feel fresh, not to mention how sweet it was. It was untainted and unpolluted with the exception of the salt water that clouded her senses making it almost overwhelming. This world seemed so new, so untainted, and she was in marvel like she was seeing her own heaven.

It took a good minute before she could stand up slowly and notice she was in a big metal pod. So it was very safe to assume she wasn't dead and wasn't in heaven. It didn't even take much longer before Shepard was back to her senses as she rolled over and looked at the spot that was under noting the cracked screen. The communicator was broken… hell it looked like someone smashed it with a rock.

She had no way of letting the alliance know where she was. Forgetting the beauty she felt anger well up in a place as loss and turmoil rose from places she hadn't expected. She wanted to scream and yell at how stupid she was, could she have really just… could she… really… have… well to be honest she couldn't finish that angry thought. What had she done? Come to think of it… why was she here?

Shepard had a good memory and she could remember not all that long ago running into that damned Turian and… everything went blank. She looked herself over more carefully her suit had scuffs and burn marks on it in different spots, luckily no rips or holes. She looked like she had been in either one hell of a fight or… in an explosion.

She could hear the distinctive sound of a gun clicking by her ear.

"Good to see that your up and awake, how are you feeling Commander Shepard?" said a rather calm and cool Turian holding a red rope.

Chapter 6: Enemies stay closer

When Garrus Vakarian had risen from his all too uncomfortable nap it was plain to say that the overly cramped pod really didn't help with any of his claustrophobia, to such a degree he didn't even know he had any till this point. Not like his mind was really into trying to remember such problems. His head was pounding then he squirmed a bit and could feel his spurs being bent as his legs were stiff. Then before he knew it the three horns on his head had slammed into the back of the pod onto something glass giving him the equivalent pain of smashing a fingernail into its nail bed except on his head. The human hadn't made it any easier by taking up precious space so he scooted her out of the way before he tried the door. The power to the pod had all but shut off during the collision only taking the necessary procedures when bracing itself with the planet's atmosphere and surface.

"Looks like we'll have to do this manually," he said as he positioned his legs on the door. A single glance and it was obvious anatomy that a Turians most powerful asset was their strong muscular legs that were perfectly designed for speed and strength. He braced his arms against the sides as he covered his human "companion" and with all he had in him he pushed, didn't budge.

"Just perfect the one time humans make something good enough to be useful and I'm stuck in it." He complained lowly as he readied himself pushing again, still didn't budge.

"Ok spirits, like I usually say, I know I'm not a good Turian but could you give me some help here, just this once." He whined through a tight jaw starting to feel the pressure of being stuck in the pod. It was starting to get hot from all the radiated body heat and he could feel a strange mugginess that came from his heavy heaving and sweat.

"Ok, one more time." Instead of putting full force on the whole of the door he focused on the area without the hinges. He could hear the metal groan form the pressure, "A little more," he mumbled as he could feel his legs weaken from the strain. He could feel the doors lock give way as he popped it off bringing the bright sun in its absence.

He jumped out leaving the human to slump over in his absence; it looked to be a standard uninhabited planet. He could breathe in and out very well which told him that it was oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide based. There was soft green grass that grew as fine as threads but was strong and tough on the soft cushiony soil. There was a small bank next to a rather large body of water. It was strange; this planet seemed to have such massive potential why wasn't it teaming with more life. Like maybe some critters or even a city or at least a Turian colony by the water.

"This must be just some grasslands, there has to be civilization somewhere." He mumbled half heartedly to himself. It was uncommon for planets like these to be looked over for colonization he doubted he could be so unlucky as to fall on some unknown planet to rot.

There was also something he was overlooking. There was still that human in the pod. Granted he did save her earlier but now he had paid her back. These were times of war and he didn't trust any human. He went over to see if she was still asleep, he assumed so seeing as she was still lying limply. He looked over her more closely.

She was tall and skinny but not lanky she had muscle and impressive armor that showed it off. By the gloves on her hands he saw five fingers like Batarians or Asari. Wait, that didn't matter at the moment… he reached down and grabbed her arm, which even in armor, felt so frail and thin then he looked for an omnitool or just something.

"Good enough for me," he said as he brought up the blue screen and looked down at this cheap piece of human junk they used. He brought up his own orange screen pressed in the keys and downloaded whatever data he could find onto his translator.

Garrus Vakarian was a good sniper, when he was agreeable a good soldier, and he was an alright technician. Not the best of course but swell just the same. He started looking for a form of identification maybe even some information on what they had been doing there. He was sure she had some importance he dived back into the system until he stumbled back onto a file that said I.D. he accessed the file and found what seemed to be a whole human history he began to read vaguly: Commander Shepard, 28 years old, alliance military soldier, no spouse, "N7" special division.

He looked over at the human again, he looked at the armor more closely, it was the same symbol "N7".

Sounded good enough to him as he looked over the commander, maybe it was a good thing he spared her. If he could bring her back she could be a good negotiation peace or with enough persuasion give them vital information. It was always good to have little hostages like her when in times of war.

He grabbed her pistol and guns then looked around, he needed to bind her hands, he walked along the beach till he found some long, thick, red vinery that had been washed up on shore. It would do.

Chapter 7: The red roped prisoner

Shepard silently cursed herself for being so damned stupid. She couldn't remember how, and didn't know why, but the Turian, as he so eloquently stated, had saved her from under burning ship wreckage. Now her great hero of the day had made her take her armor off then bend over the pod, which she was really reluctant at doing earlier due to the basic natural instinct of assuming the worst before it happened even if it didn't make sense, but pistols are good persuaders besides she had good enough underclothes that consisted of a tank top, and loose shorts. He made sure she couldn't get away and held her still by using his, big chicken, foot as he tied her up with some slimy, crimson colored weed.

"Why did I have to take my armor off again?" she said looking over her shoulder.

"Because, human, if you run I have a better chance of 'detaining' you."

"Detaining? You mean I run you shoot." She muttered raising her eyebrow looking behind her and up. Why were Turians so damn tall?

"Well if you want to put it that way," he said in what seemed like her to be some cocky smart ass tone.

'Cocky bastard,' she thought as an image of shoving her big steel toed boot in his face almost made her grin. That was of course if he had allowed her to wear them in the first place instead of just some old army grade socks.

"So…" she said as she slowly nibbling her lip, thinking as the soft plump skin glided out slowly from between her teeth. "What exactly is your plan? Are we just going to wander about out here or what?"

"Just stay quiet and don't worry about it."

"What do you mean don't worry?"

Then there was silence. She just about expected it.

"Cause I mean we're just kind of running around through these stupid hills. It doesn't seem like we're really getting anywhere. How do you even know if anyone's actually out here?"

She had a point he didn't have any idea, and the more they walked the more he felt himself sway toward the thoughts of, 'I'm making a big mistake.' Sadly he wasn't the type turn tail he had to see everything through to the end. He had too much pride to give up.

"Good, if there isn't anything you should have nothing to worry about? Now stay quiet." He said as he gave her another nudge with his pistol.

He looked around and could see familiar plants mixed in with foreign ones. Bushes or trees he had seen growing in other colonies and bits of foliage here and there. Something about this didn't seem right; it was setting him on full alert.

The day continued on in this fashion as they went from hill to hill and Shepard began to notice the similarities in her surroundings. These hills, as odd as it sounded, were like a labyrinth and were very steep forcing them to move and twine about. She could see the occasional bits of foliage but could only guess as to what they looked by earth standards. Every now and then a small amount of rubble and rocks would fall over the edge but she just ignored it. She tried stashing away small memories and mental pictures of every rock and narrow steep. She wasn't planning on becoming a hostage of war.

Number one rule when in command or serving under, never become the hostage. Death is a better alternative to degradation, experimentation, or torture.

The day seemed to last forever as night slowly crept over the crevasses, cracks, and canyons. Garrus cursed himself. He knew he was lost now he would have to rest for the night and think of his next move. By the time night had just about settled they had gone beyond the labyrinth of hills and made it to a cave that had been formed. Garrus kept pushing her on even though she vocalized her bad feeling about all of this. If this was a habitable planet then something had to live here somewhere, and if there was nothing here then there was a reason for it.

"Just shut up and stop worrying, if anything is in here then I'll take care of it." He said as he pushed her on with another tap of, her own, pistol. They continued on as far as they could without going into complete darkness before settling down.

"Ok," he said with a gruff as he grabbed Shepard's arm and brought her to a stalagmite and loosened up the bindings to tie a section of the rope to the skinny spike.

"What are you doing?"

"Making sure you don't sneak off on me, now go to sleep. You'll need it in the morning."

The next hour went on as uneventful as the others of the day as Garrus sat and stretched out. There wasn't much to do but he felt twitchy. Like something wasn't right about this place, this whole damn planet. No real signs of animals were apparent. He saw shrubberies and grains, and the occasional low growing tree none of which were exactly edible but he could recognize them. It meant that Turians had discovered this planet, if so then he should have been able to pick up a signal on his omnitool but the damn scanner had been on the frits as it couldn't pick up anything.

He looked over at the human who had been staring at him the entire time. The cave was dark but that didn't stop him from getting that eerie, creepy feeling. His eyes were better made for this dark cavern, he could see her watching him, and it was really starting to bother him. He wanted her to stop but didn't know how, he could tell her but she would probably try to converse which he had been trying to avoid all day, violence was out of the question by far, so without thinking he resorted to a younger sense of lose and growled at her like a immature child would a dog or small animal low, quiet and with clenched teeth. He wasn't really sure what he was trying to convey but she seemed to get the message as she scooted farther away and lied down.

This sadly only bothered him more to find she was so obedient to such a thing. Were humans so primitive or did she think he was this feral. That seemed the more likely reason and he wasn't sure who was more ignorant now… he sighed, he was thinking too much, he had to move. He stood took in another deep breath and stretched his tired neck before he started further into the cave.

Shepard didn't bother to ask any questions as a faint glow from outside slithered across his figure and he disappeared into darkness. She waited a minute before she quickly set to work on her escape. She tightly forced her body into the fetal position as she lay on her side bringing her tied hands under her feet and to the front of her. Now came the hard part she brace herself as she opened her mouth taking as much of the plant in her mouth as possible biting into it. She wasn't sure if it was poisonous or not but it was better to be dead then a hostage.

The things in life that had revolted Shepard to sickness were few but the bitter metallic taste was enough to make her gag as thick red sap invaded her mouth. The plant itself felt like she was biting a cucumber in half as she spit out the chunk and stretched her free hands running outside dry heaving as a vile stench had permeated her nose burning her sinuses and attacking her gag reflex.

She heard a growl…

Chapter 8: The Story of the lovely bones.

Garrus continued on through the cave as his eyes held onto the smallest bits of light. He could just barely see where he was going as he made his way through. It didn't bother him so much until he started stumbling over debris of rocks. It smelled of something foul and rotten he couldn't quite place. He pulled out his pistol getting an old instinctual feeling something was about to happen and something bad. His body was telling him to run back as soon as possible in fact he almost did until he tripped and fell on his face.

His omnitool flashed on his arm illuminating the cave and he froze wide eyed and terrified for only a brief moment as he came face to face with a worn leathery figure. He could see the dark hollowed area's where eyes were supposed to be. It was a molted skin and even if he had never seen a molted skin from this particular animal in his life there was no mistaking that shape of creature.

It meant something was here or had been here and a chill settled in his gut. He leaned his head up and looked around as he saw bones of pure white littering the cave floor as parasites moved about twirling around the old carcasses.

"Oh Spirits," he muttered. This scene seemed rather unreal like it was from some bad horror vid.

He heard a loud shriek from outside. This time without thinking he started up out of instinct and forgot his, well… her, gun in the clutter.

He ran out to find the human nursing a cut on her arm that was bleeding badly with red blood as a large scaly creature circled her fully intending to enjoy his prey.

"Varren," Garrus muttered as he watched the scene. He could see the bright orange eyes locked onto the commander and wondered how she had even escaped. He hadn't seen many humans but something about her made him think she didn't look well at all.

"What the hell are you?" She faintly muttered trying to sound threatening as she shook a little still feeling the effects of her body trying to throw up due to whatever that thing was. She had never seen anything like this creature before so it took her completely by surprise as she yelled. It was totally foreign except it kind of looked dog like. It growled at her in response as it crept closer.

Garrus could just run sadly it was obvious the human couldn't handle something like a Varren in the first place, at least not without protection or a weapon. She was completely defenseless. Now he could do two things. One: he could save her, again, and dance the same dance they had since they met each other or, Two: He could just turn tale and run. Sounded pretty damn simple didn't it.

But, Garrus was not the type of person who would just turn tail. He had to see everything through to the end… and cursed his damn pride.

He used one of his sharp pointed teeth to pull off his gloves feeling the cold night air hit the skin between his three, razor sharp, clawed digits.

He waited for the right moment as the Varren was about to pounce before he leapt out and tackled it. Opening his mouth and using his pointed teeth for the purpose they were designed for as he bit down holding his prey in a death lock slightly piercing the thick skin. He used his claws to try and slit the Varren's throat but it worked quicker as it rolled over and side swiped Garrus's face ripping through his skin and knocking him off before throwing him aside. The Varren plunged for Garrus this time catching his right shoulder with powerful jaws sinking them in breaking the expensive blue armor causing it to crack and break as long teeth pierced his teeth.

Garrus growled out in pain and frustration trying to pull the damn thing off as blue blood was pooling on the ground. The Varren used it foot and began to claw the right side of his face again rather lightly trying to get him to hold still as Garrus heard a cracking noise.

The Varren fell over dead as orange blood oozed slowly from its skull and out into the pool with his own bluer shade.

Shepard stood there with a rock looking down at him as she smashed it again and again. Dropping it and falling to his side using the tips of her fingers to lightly graze his injury.

They just continued the same dance as Shepard took the tank top and with all her might ripped it taking out a chunk of the material ad cleaned his face to get a better look.

Garrus was looking up surprisingly not stunned by this simple action. He just breathed in and out as he felt himself grow weaker and weaker. The last thing he could remember were her glowing irises off set by white corneas. A dark outline accented by the glow of two moons that were larger then he had ever seen. But then again his head hurt too much for him to think about it now as he drifted back off to a deep sleep.