Disclaimer: Isn't it obvious don't own anything except for my own OC's?
A/N: Wow, I can't stop writing! Well, why should I stop? Exactly!
Realizations
Consciousness slowly returned, along with a ton of information. I felt like I should've known this stuff before. Maybe when I got to my original body, it triggered my original memories too. Wait a minute. How did I know I was in my original body? Well, whatever it was, I needed to get up and find out what was going on.
"Doctor? Doctor Chakwas, she's waking up!" I've heard that voice before… now wait just a damn minute. If that really was the voice I thought it was, then I may have finally died and gone to gamer heaven. I slowly opened my eye, just a tad, thankful for once that I had long, thick eyelashes. That way, they couldn't know I was opening my eye or not. I mean, sure I got compliments and stuff for them, but they got in the way a lot.
I peeked to my side and saw- no! Liara was sitting in a chair beside my bed in the damn med-bay of the Normandy! My eyes snapped open and I sat up so quickly, I startled the poor Asari.
"What is Liara doing beside my bed?" I stammered, overcome with joy, elation and confusion. The words were out before I could stop them and I realized my mistake. I wasn't supposed to know any of them!
They looked at me as if I had grown a second head and turned green. I suppose it was understandable, but why was I here? I frantically looked around, trying to find my brothers. Luckily, they were laid out on beds next to mine.
"How is it possible that you know who I am?" Liara asked, incredulous yet excited at the same time. It was a tad scary having her look at me like she wanted to dissect me. Apparently, they had left that part out of the game…
Before I could answer though, the door swished open and I glanced up to see Shepard. She came toward me, flanked by the entire frigging ground team! They all looked really weirded out, too.
"What happened, who are you?" Shepard asked, coming straight up to me and staring in my eyes. She was certainly striking in person. Her entire demeanor was stiff. Maybe she had yet to sleep?
"Uh, hey, Shepard…" damnit! That mouth of mine was going to get me killed! They all stared at me as the Doctor and Liara were, making me extremely uncomfortable.
"How do you know who I am? We found you in a millennia old ruin!" she exclaimed, clearly taken aback. They all looked at me, never breaking eye contact.
"I… just… do?" I shrugged helplessly, feeling my stomach sinking. She didn't look convinced though and leaned in closer, just inches from my face. Her gaze bore into mine and I could see why she had such an ability to frighten people.
"And how would that come about?" she asked, searching my eyes for any sign of deception.
"I have what you would call visions… they show me future events and every possible outcome of each choice made." I wasn't totally lying, but I was concerned she would inquire further. Then, Chakwas stepped forward and put her hand on the Commander's shoulder, pulling her from my face. It was a relief, but then, before I could react, Wrex stepped forward and looked me in the eye.
"You have the look of a warrior about you." he stated, his voice rumbling in my chest at his close proximity.
"Thanks?" I said, a little uncertainly. Him being a Krogan, was large. Really large. It was cool though, getting to see a real Krogan face to face. Not to mention that Krogan was Wrex, the most badass Battle master alive.
"Why are you not afraid of me?" he asked, sounding a little confused if not disappointed.
"Because you're Wrex. Though I have only seen you in my visions, I have come to respect you greatly as a Battle master. Not to mention you're my favorite Krogan." I smiled, earning a shocked expression from said Krogan and several gasps from a few people. He stepped back and left the med-bay, all the while grumbling to himself. Then, Garrus stepped up, looking down at me in amusement.
"Try me." he said it as a challenge, obviously thinking I wouldn't know him.
"Garrus. Former C-Sec officer, very skilled with a sniper rifle and hand-to-hand. Though,, I must say…" I trailed off, keeping up suspense. He leaned forward, seemingly taking the hint and I whispered in his ear, "Who won? Reach or flexibility?" I murmured. He immediately stood straight up, getting flustered.
"H-how did you-?" his voice cracked a bit and he stopped himself. He then beat a hasty retreat, leaving the med-bay. Everyone looked after him until he left, looking very confused. They looked back at me, a little intimidated now. My gaze landed on Tali as she shifted uncomfortably.
"Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya. Your father is Admiral Real'Zorah, yes?" she jumped a bit at my statement and nodded, stepping forward.
"You're a genius among your own kind, intelligent, kind, selfless, and as an added bonus, the sweetest person I've ever seen." I smiled as I talked, noting she was wringing her hands together furiously.
"W-well, a Quarian has to…" she stammered, trying to block my praise. I shook my head, making her stop.
"Tali, you may be a Quarian, but that doesn't mean you don't have unique qualities. I've seen a few arrogant Quarians too, you know. I don't see them trying to help people like you do." she didn't say anything, but nodded and quickly left.
"Do you know me?" Liara asked excitedly, beaming up at me. I smiled and nodded.
"Doctor Liara T'soni, Prothean expert. Your mother is Matriarch Benezia, you prefer solitude versus crowds, you may only be 106, but you can certainly take care of yourself and you are, by far, my favorite Asari in the galaxy." as I spoke, she smiled, nodded and blushed. There was definitely a blush going on. I was actually pretty cute.
"Oh, I'm not that wonderful." she smiled, looking around and avoiding my gaze. I frowned and huffed, getting her attention once more.
"Nonsense!" I announced, putting mock anger in my voice. She jumped at my outburst and looked at me, then relaxed, seeing my wide grin. Ashley stepped forward, flanked by Kaidan and looked at me expectantly.
"Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams." I said, smirking at her. Her eyes widened slightly, but she stayed expressionless. "Grand daughter of the first human to surrender to an alien species. It's ridiculous really… the arrogant fools who held pride above life while he and his men did all they possibly could to survive. He was a hero. He refused to sacrifice his men just to save face for humanity." at my words, her eyes teared up a little and she squeezed my shoulder in gratitude. Then she left, leaving Kaidan.
"Kaidan, the biotic. Remember that time back at camp when you defended a girl from that nasty Turian?" I asked, getting a smirk in response.
"Yeah, I do. You don't have to go into detail." he said, patting me on the shoulder and leaving.
"Alright then, you know my crewmates. But do you know me?" Shepard stepped forward, a smirk prominent on her face.
"Commander Shepard, first Human Spectre. I'd have to go with…" I scrutinized her body language, scratching my cheekbone. She seemed to be in good humor and carried herself much lighter than a colonist or sole survivor would have. She was Paragon, so ruthless was out the window. She didn't look like a former street gang kid either…
"Yes?" she urged, leaning on my bed.
"Your mom is Captain Hannah Shepard. You saved Elysium too. I don't feel like recounting everything having to do with Saren, but I'll say that you've got a lot ahead of you. If you have any questions, I'll answer them to the best of my ability at any time." I said, going out on a limb.
"Either you're psychic or you really do have these visions." she smiled. A wave of relief washed over me as I thanked God for my awesome skills at reading people.
"I do have some questions though, if you feel up to answering them?" she wondered.
"Like I said; at any time." I said, giving her a smirk. She returned it and shook her head in amusement.
"Alright. Who are you?" she asked.
"I'm Avaera. My brothers are William, though everyone calls him Corey, Jake, Gregori and Victor." I said, pointing to each one respectively. "At least, that's what our names are when translated in to your language." I said, making sure to cover the old Earth names thing. I didn't feel like coming up with new names off of my sleeve, so it was best to just come up with some weird reason.
"How can you speak our language so fluently, let alone understand it?" Liara asked, sounding eager to learn more.
"I seem to have knowledge of it from the information stored up here." I said, tapping my head. They nodded, accepting the answer as another vision thing.
"How did you get imprisoned in that ruin? It's apparent that your not Human…" Dr. Chakwas' words cut through me like a knife. I wasn't Human anymore. I never was, really. I 'remembered' that my own species called themselves the Reagas'Kar. But how was it that I knew that? I would have some questions for that damn voice the next time I saw it. If I ever did…
"My people were the Reagas'Kar…" I trailed off, getting a headache. Wait, the start… that voice said we were going to 'return'. But what did it mean?
"Cool name. Why do you look Human, though? Well, other than your eyes…" Shepard said, catching my attention.
"My eyes?" I asked, giving her a quizzical look.
"Yeah, they're a really vivid crimson." she said, staring at me. I sighed and reminded myself I'd have to get used to being scrutinized.
"You know, from my perspective, you Humans look like the Reagas'Kar." I smiled, trying to cheer myself up. Well, at least the Reagas'Kar lived for a long time. It averaged twelve hundred years, anyway. Wait, maybe that was a bad thing.
"I suppose so. How is that possible?" Liara asked, seemingly looking me up and down like a new research toy. I was already starting to think she was going to hound on me indefinitely.
"It's possible Humans evolved from a closely related organism originally and adapted to similar conditions." I ventured. It did make sense, but such minute differences like eye color wasn't much of a leap. Maybe my insides were whacked up or something. Maybe it would be cool to be an alien. Even if me and my brothers were the last of our kind…
"Yes, that makes sense." Liara said thoughtfully.
"So why were you imprisoned?" Shepard repeated, noticing I was lost in thought.
"Well, I… I don't remember." I said, trying to think back. I probably had yet to recover my original memories.
"In time. You did just wake up, Miss Avaera." Dr. Chakwas said.
"Please, go ahead and drop the Miss. It's too formal for me." I said, giving her a small smile. She hesitated slightly, then nodded.
"Alright then." she said. After exchanging glances with Shepard, she returned to her desk and started to work. She certainly was grandmotherly in real life.
"So, Avaera. I have a proposition for you." Shepard said, crossing her arms.
"Yeah?" I asked, getting a nod in return.
"Do you and your brothers want to help me defeat the Reapers?" she asked. Well, that was a surprise, but also not really. Weird.
"Why would you want us?" I inquired, trying to find the logical reason she'd want us along.
"You have advanced armor far beyond what we have now, all of you certainly look like you can handle yourselves and I really don't want to hand you over to anyone just for you to get dissected in some research lab." Shepard responded, ticking them off in her mind.
"And you may hold extremely valuable information that could help us." you have no idea, Liara…
"Cool. Sounds like fun." I said, shaking the Commander's hand. She smiled, then looked over to my brothers.
"Glad to have you aboard." Shepard said, stressing the 'you'.
"I can tell you of my brothers if you wish…" I offered, sensing she was concerned about them.
"That would be great." she said, moving to face me.
"Well, I'm the oldest. Corey there is a year behind me, being the sensitive one. He'll hide it and it's hard to see sometimes, but his feelings get hurt easily by those close to him. He's really smart, but he acts like a real idiot sometimes." I said, pointing at my brother on the bed beside me. I moved to gesture to Jake on the next bad down.
"Jake is something of a two-face like me. Well, actually, we're all like that. Anyway, he's the hot head. Smart but immature, he loves talking about killing things. When he's not in a good mood though, he's either quiet or overly grouchy." I finished, moving down to Gregori.
"Gregori is smart and I guess you could say elegant. He's my advisor in some ways, but he can be clingy at times. He loves to follow me around and such, always insisting that I need someone to spur the suitors that harass me." I explained, earning odd looks from the two. I used the fancy talk, but really, back at home, all of us had several stalkers each. It was terrible, really.
"And last is Victor, He's Gregori's twin. He's mischievous at times, but he's very understanding and kind. He does the same with me as Gregori does, but it usually causes them to fight and bicker over who's my 'favorite'. He's insightful too, very observant." I finished, taking a breath. Shepard and Liara had listened intently, memorizing each detail.
"Hm. They all seem like good people. But how old are all of you?" Shepard asked, clearly interested. I wracked my brain to remember our original lives, trying to recall at least our ages. A light went off in my head and I quickly added the ages to the ones of our Earth years.
"In Human years, I'm roughly a hundred and ten." I said, proud at my age. It was weird, being older than seventeen, but hey. I wasn't complaining. Of course, my declaration brought complete shock to the two. Their jaws just about hit the floor.
"But you don't look a day over twenty!" Shepard said, completely taken aback.
"Then that means you're older than I am!" Liara gasped, her eyes wide.
"I guess… anyway, Corey is a year behind me, Jake two, then the twins are three from me." I wasn't sure if is was a good time to actually wake them up, but… it would be best if I woke them up after Shepard and Liara left. I didn't want anyone having a panic attack.
"What is the average Reagas'Kar lifetime?" Liara questioned, leaning forward.
"About twelve hundred years…" I answered, starting to feel strained from recalling so much at once.
"Amazing!" she declared, grinning full out.
"And here I thought I was the old one." Shepard muttered, smiling to herself. I pushed her slightly, but couldn't help but laugh.
"What abilities do your people have?" Liara asked, eager for more. I tried to think of something, but my head just started to hurt worse the more thought.
"I can't quite remember." I admitted, unable to keep the dejection from my voice.
"It's fine. I'd rather be surprised anyway." Shepard said. It brought my mood up and as I stopped trying to remember, my headache started to fade.
"Wah- Shepard?" I turned to see Corey and the others waking up and staring at the three of us in disbelief. I smiled, but couldn't help the feeling of anxiety that settled in my gut.
"You guys, before you say something stupid, try to remember what happened." at my firm tone and request, they snapped their mouths shut and tried to remember. I could almost see the cogs working in their minds. As they each seemed to realize what we were and such, they looked at themselves and each other, seemingly looking for flaws. As they finally looked at each other's eyes, they looked surprised, if not shell-shocked. Their eyes were all like mine, and now that I saw, Shepard was right in saying they were a vivid crimson. It didn't look mechanical like TIM's though. They were much deeper and natural looking.
"Cool…" Jake mumbled. I then took the time to recount to them what went down and made sure to tell it in a way that got them in the loop, but to where it sounded like I was just summarizing to throw Shepard and Liara. I didn't want them knowing what we were just yet. Though, it wasn't really black and whit for me either. I wasn't sure if my Human years were even the real me. Well, I'd just have to figure that out later.
"Alright, now that everyone is up to speed, how about we get you all some food?" at Shepard's invitation, our stomachs growled in unison, startling the poor Doctor.
"Is it too late to say we're starving?" Victor joked, getting a laugh out of all of us.
We exited the med-bay quickly and noticed it was empty save for Wrex and Ashley. They were having a heated argument over guns or something, I didn't pay much attention. We all got food and sat down with the Commander and Liara at the table next to the two gun freaks.
"Well, look who's here." Ashley said, apparently finished with Wrex. She grinned at me and turned to see everyone.
"The strange Humans." Wrex grumbled, also turning to face the group.
"Actually…" Gregori started.
"We're not." Victor finished.
"Not Human, anyway." Corey stated, digging into his food.
"We're Reagas'Kar." Jake said, joining Corey in eating. Wrex and Ashley looked at each other, then back at all of us and laughed. As we all just looked at them, their laughter died down and they realized we weren't kidding.
"What's a Reagas'Kar?" Wrex demanded, eying me. I shrugged, occupying myself with eating. It was okay, but I had definitely had better MRE's.
"I guess that explains the freaky eyes." Ashley laughed, slapping her knee in the process.
"Gee, thanks." Victor mumbled. We all ate in silence for a few minutes until Liara broke it.
"It is amazing that you are older than I am." Liara gushed. She was sitting across from me, so she automatically said so to me. I could tell it would start all these weird rumors across the ship, but I couldn't help getting excited. I was on the Normandy for Christ's sake!
"What?" the Chief sputtered, staring at us.
"Avaera is a hundred and ten! Her brothers are only a few years from her." Liara explained, making me blush. It was hard not to when someone was gossiping about you right in front of you!
"Who's Avaera?" Ashley asked, totally confused.
"You really know how to make a girl feel special, Ashley." I muttered dejectedly, taking a bite of food. She looked at me for a moment before she seemed to realize what she said.
"I'm sorry, I didn't…" she hastily said, trying to apologize. I just waved her off to show I didn't mind. After we all finished the meal, Shepard said it was getting late, so she showed us to the crews quarters.
"No one's using this room since they have the pods, so…" As my brothers hastily chose beds, I noticed she looked exhausted. Just as I went up to her to ask if something was wrong, she half collapsed. Luckily, I caught her and threw her arm over my shoulder. I was thankful we were the same height to, so she wasn't getting dragged. I was tired though, and I didn't have much energy left.
Jake came over and took Shepard's other arm. He looked as drained as I was, but together, we were able to get the Commander to her quarters. Jake left me to take her into her room, saying he didn't want to intrude upon her space.
"But why?" I asked, shifting Shepard's weight to hold her more easily.
"I'm not a girl, so I don't want to make Shepard think I'm a pervert or something if I go in her room!" he said in a 'duh!' tone of voice. He really said the strangest things sometimes. I sighed, noticing he was already gone and turned back to the door. It opened and I carried her through as she awoke with a small start.
"I really need to stop pulling those all niters…" Shepard mumbled. I chuckled as I led her to her bed and set her down.
"It's okay, Shepard. Just get some rest, you deserve it." I said, pulling off her boots and helping her into her pajamas. This was reminding me of the times my mom would do this for me. The realization that I'd never go back hit me like a ton of bricks. Sure, my life sucked, but at least my mom still did what she could to raise us.
"Ava…?" Shepard's tired voice trailed off, not finishing my name. It only served to further pull me down. That was the nickname my dad called me by when he was actually in a good mood.
I hadn't even noticed tears were coming from my eyes, until Shepard brushed them away. She looked concerned, but I said nothing as I got her into bed.
"Ava?" she tried again. I had to let go of that life. It wasn't even mine to begin with. I smiled down at her as best I could shook my head slowly.
"Get some rest." I whispered, not trusting my voice enough to speak normally. Luckily, she was too tired to argue as she slipped into a deep slumber. I left the room and made a beeline for our room.
Once there, I saw that everyone was sitting on their beds, looking at the floor. They looked a little flushed as well, so I went to my bed and sat down.
"Did we ever have a real life?" Corey wondered, the atmosphere in the room one of sorrow.
"I don't know which was ours anymore…" Gregori muttered.
"We have to move on…" Jake said, failing to sound convinced himself.
"Either way…" Victor added, looking solemn.
"We have this now." I finished, looking to each of them. They returned my gaze and nodded, the air in the room no longer so oppressive.
"Thanks, sis." Gregori said, coming over and giving me a hug goodnight.
"Anytime, little bro." I smiled, ruffling his hair a little. He smiled and went to bed as we all bid each other goodnight.
A/N: Was that better? I made it longer, but if you have advice or anything, either review or send me a message.