Samsara: Worlds Apart Chapter 2

AN: Another chapter...one that took a while to write. Sorry about that, Uni this semester is kicking my ass, higher-level engineering subjects are a bitch and that's all I'm going to say on that. On the plus side, I'm already about halfway through the next chapter, but I was also halfway through this chapter 2 days after I released the 1st one, so that isn't saying much. Anyway, enjoy.

beta read by .

"I'm just hanging around…yep. That's just what I'm doing," I said as I swung my legs back and forth, taking advantage of at least their freedom to move them as I passed the time. Shepard and her crew had been gone for about 10 minutes now, and despite how I could hear the gunshots getting closer after their initial disappearance, I was still impatient to get out of here.

I couldn't wait to eat something. Couldn't wait to have a shower. To have a proper rest. Hell, I was so hungry I could probably beat out Wrex in an eating competition if the opportunity arose. Yes, it would be MRE's, but at this point, I didn't care. MRE's they may be, but they were still food, just as rest pods were still beds if you looked at it from an angle and squinted.

Jokes aside, they really weren't all that bad. Future technology had allowed even military personnel to live in relative comfort when they weren't out in the field, and if you think they had it good, it's nothing compared to what the wealthiest Asari Matriarchs have to play with.

Those bitches are loaded and aren't afraid to show it. I should know. Before Benezia got tangled up with Saren, she was one of the most influential and wealthy birds of the bunch, only really being beaten out by Councillor Tevos and a few of the oldest matriarchs.

Let's just say that, while my childhood may have been a little lacking in affection and friends, it had not been lacking in commodities. In the latest technology, the latest fashion. Mother had always made sure to provide-gah!

"Fuck! I'm doing it again," I cursed, realising that I couldn't precisely say where my own memories ended, and where Liara's began. It was concerning in a way I couldn't quite describe, and I sadly couldn't think of a single way to resolve the issue.

Imagine, if you will, that one day, you were confident in who you were. That you were aware of all of your good traits and all of your bad traits and accepted them. You may not have been proud of every little part of who you were as a human being, but you still accepted yourself as a fully-fledged human being.

Still accepted who you were.

Then the next, you weren't that same person. Weren't that same human being.

"God, not even the same fucking gender," I chuckled woodenly as my eyes began to droop, an action I prevented by shaking my head. It had been a number of hours since my last power nap, and I was long overdue for my next.

But as different as I was now, I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't magically snap my fingers and go back to being the person I was rather than who I was becoming. No one could do that, not even humans who just didn't like the person they were becoming.

"Maybe if this was some world like dragon ball z or fate/stay night, I could, but in those worlds I am not."

No, as much as it galled me to say, I had to accept my fate. I didn't want to. Didn't want to accept my new reality despite how it was literally blaring in my face with the mass effect field restraints, but I would. Grudgingly.

Why grudgingly? Let me ask you this, do you think you would be okay being in my actual situation? As in, not just talking yourself up and making platitudes, but truly, very much okay with being in such a new and strange location?

No?

Yeah. I didn't think so.

Really, situations like this only came in two separate flavours. The first was where the change was accepted, voluntary. Things like undergoing reassignment surgery or having a cancerous limb taken off. It wouldn't always be pleasant, but at least you can still take agency over your actions for the most part.

It was the second group that had it harder. These were the people for which such drastic change wasn't their choice, where drastic change has been forced upon them instead of chosen.

Think of a car accident where you lose something precious to you, whether it is a limb or a loved one. Your house burning down while you were away. Being fired from the job you needed with no notice, or even being framed for someone else's crime and being sentenced away to life in prison.

For those people? They wouldn't be as accepting of the change. They would react more volatilely, with sudden bursts of anger and grief that they would have no way of controlling as they lashed out at a world that seemed to be out to get them.

"Which makes my relatively mild reaction seem kind of abnormal," I admitted to no one in particular, no longer allowing myself the luxury of avoiding the topic. "Why, despite being imprisoned in an alien world in an alien body in a dangerous situation, I can barely muster up a sense of wrongness at my situation. Is there something wrong with me? I know I'm not the most expressive person in the world, outside of cussing a bit too freely, but I should feel more strongly about this than I do. Maybe not freely expressed anger, something I long ago learned to suppress, but at least…something," I complained as I jerked my arms forward, using them to more clearly express myself to the vacant air despite the strain it caused on my limbs.

I forced myself to frown, to scowl, to grit my white, shiny teeth and growl in a low tone at the bubble I was encased in. To express my inner emotions to the world, but dispute the hint of satisfaction this caused, the emotions felt hollow. My emotions felt…hollow.

But that's just it, I was thinking about how I should react in terms of my emotions, but I possessed more than just my own. The feeling of wrongness I was experiencing came from myself, I could tell, but there was someone else in here with me.

"Someone else who, if I'm not mistaken, is quite gifted at suppressing her own frustrations," I mused aloud thoughtfully, letting my head tilt backwards as I looked up at the ceiling, my blue eyes zoning in on a discoloured-looking roof tile as I let it distract me.

Trawling back through my mind, through Liara's memories, I could bring up countless examples of her needing to suppress her own actions, to suppress her own emotions when the time called for it. I may have needed to suppress my more violent tendencies in my life as a man, but my situation had nothing on Liara's.

Being the child, the only child, of Matriarch Benezia, a figure billions of Asari looked up to, had not been an easy thing. Asari more than five times my age had all come up to me in hopes of gaining my trust, in hopes of gaining the trust of the sole figure in Benezia's inner circle.

Her only weakness. Her daughter.

Benezia knew how to play the political game. She thrived in it, dancing around the practically blatant requests in comparison with an ease that defied convention as she navigated the bloodthirsty world of Matriarchal politics.

When your race didn't have a set leader outside of the pseudo-influential councillor, the upper echelons of Asari society were a series of endless manoeuvring and political gestures designed to elevate their users above their fellow competitors.

Of somehow moving ahead of the crowd and claiming the lauded spot at the top of the shit heap. This was a game that Benezia played just as much as the rest of them, and when they couldn't find any weakness in her own political shield, they turned to easier sky's.

Mine.

I…Liara…you know what, fuck it, I'm just gonna use I and save on the confusion. I found this truth out pretty early in life, far earlier than most Asari did. Hell, far earlier than most maidens did. At the tender age of 23, when I was barely beyond toddling around, I had been approached by the political sharks that Benezia had rebuffed.

At first, I'd found their interest exhilarating. Fun, even. That I, a 23-year-old Asari, was sought out by those far older than me to get to know. To play with. The questions they'd used had been pretty tame all things considered, things like what I did for fun, what kind of activities I did with my mother, even the food I ate.

But then their questions became more pointed, turning toward the mysterious donor of part of my DNA, to the identity of my 'father'. Young Liara had been confused by the question. I hadn't known that I was meant to have a 'father', as many of my own friends from my first year at school didn't really know their own or had one that seemed far too old to possibly be their parent.

Still, like a good little girl, at my new friend's request, I had gone to my mother to ask, curious as to just who my father was. Instead of the expected answer of them being out of the picture, Mother had frozen up, her face closing off from a warm gentle smile, into a more severe, cold expression that highlighted her sharp features as the warmth left her eyes.

That had been the first time I'd ever thought her of anything as my mother, but even at my young age, I'd been able to recognise just how frightening Benezia could be. Just why she was feared as well as respected.

"Just why do you want to know, little wing?" I remember her asking, her tone as flat as week-old Pepsi.

"Because the nice ladies at school were curious about it, and when I couldn't tell them, I decided to find out," I'd replied, my face the picture of innocence and childish naivety as I stared up at the statuesque Asari.

That had been the last time I'd seen my new friends, who I now knew to be poisonous vipers with the benefit of age and experience. It had also been the last time I'd been in public schooling until I'd gone to university, as Mother had decided that the risk was too great, my presence too much of a risk for her until I was older.

I hadn't known just how bad this was at that age, hadn't even been able to comprehend it. I'd learned though. Goddess above, did I learn as I spent my childhood years locked up in a cold abode of luxury and servants.

They had treated me well, I knew that. But when I sought to deepen my relationship with them, to be their friend, there had always been some kind of barrier stopping me. Hindering my progress. By the time I'd reached 40, I'd basically given up on becoming friends with them, deciding to instead throw myself into my studies and hobbies.

Whenever I'd asked Mother to go back to school, to go back to my friends, she'd always rebuffed me, saying that it wasn't yet time. The first couple of times this happened, I threw a tantrum, insistent on leaving our mansion home.

That had earned me a time out with my holonet access restricted even further than what the child-locked setting allowed, as did the next dozen. At some point, I'd learned that throwing a tantrum wasn't getting me anywhere, so I'd progressed to asking why I couldn't go out, and then when I would be allowed to go free when Benezia had talked around the point.

Good practice politically speaking, but still fucking frustrating when you were just trying to get a straight answer.

It took some needling, but eventually, she'd agreed that as soon as I'd finished the Asari equivalent of high school, which was just called standard education, I'd be allowed some more independence in my life in the form of the University of Thessia.

That…had not helped me with throwing myself into my studies. In fact, it had only made it worse with how I let myself be immersed even deeper into endless memorisation, practice problems and exams, all with the explicit desire to finish my education as soon as possible in some vain hope that I'd be done in a year or five and then be on my way.

That had been another mistake, as Asari standard education was meant to take place over 80 years, to allow our young, developing minds enough time to fully understand the vast number of topics and history that was expected of us. To allow us some grounding in the art of biotics, where we harnessed the eldritch energy to make reality out bitch.

"No wonder so many of us turn to exotic dancing when we become of age, so many years of mandatory education is bound to make anyone pent up," I chuckled, recalling the temptations I'd had to do just that before the embarrassment that thought created squashed it down.

Stupid history. Who needed to know the full, excruciatingly detailed, life story of Tessa the Wise, the Asari Matriarch, then Matron, who discovered the Mass Effect mass relay that orbited around the edge of our solar system?

I was still bitter about the exam I'd failed due to not knowing that one, stupid little tidbit about the stupid matriarch who went to that stupid moon to find the stupid…ahem.

Anyway, as I was saying, I threw myself into my studies, like literature, mathematics, and biotics, while only occasionally detouring to other things that interested me like Varren fights and the Prothean's. More of the latter, if I'm being honest, but I couldn't help in. They were such a powerful civilisation, the founder of our greatest technology, why wouldn't I be intrigued?

Sure, other things had happened here and there to break up the monotony, small social gatherings and the like, but they hadn't really mattered to me. To Liara.

It was something I had taken a vindictive amount of pleasure in when I'd seen how much it bothered Mother. The younger me had thought it would serve her right for keeping me locked up for 'my own good.' With the benefit of hindsight...well, Liara still thought it was worth it even if it had left her a little awkward when engaging in casual conversation.

50 years passed like that, and at the grand old age of 73, I finished my last exam with glowing marks and got ready to finally go out and explore the world that was university, to finally connect with Asari that were closer to my own age

"Boy, was I disappointed," I chuckled, finding it slightly amusing to think about with my new perspective. At the same time I said this, a loud THRUM of power filled the air, making my cell shake slightly with vibrations as the shield around me flickered before restabilizing itself, the buzz making me wince slightly due to the pain of the noise.

I'll give 'em this, the Prothean's sure made shit to last. On the plus side, that was probably the laser I could vaguely remember from the Liara retrieval mission, so I'd be out of here shortly. But back to my backstory.

Don't worry, I'm almost done. Now where was I…oh yes, the University of Thessia. Right, I showed up there at the ripe old age of 73, the equivalent of a little over 14 and a half for a Human, eager to meet my new friends as I darted from new place to new place, my face bright and my hopes alight. Sadly, I was let down at every turn.

Turns out that Asari who were at least 100 didn't like someone so much younger than them learning in the same classes. They had not treated me well, and the ones that had were just more suck-ups trying to butter me up for having such a famous mother.

The people who weren't like that, the people who had a genuine interest in getting to know me with no ulterior motives? I had unknowingly rebuffed them as well. I hadn't been able to tell them apart from all the other leeches due to a distinct lack of social interaction as I'd grown up, so their earnest and friendly demeanour had confused me into thinking it was a fake veneer of platitude.

Which, in fairness, a number of the more exploitive Asari possessed, so I suppose not all of the fault lies in my upbringing. No, it was the simple fact that I was in over my head at far too young of an age.

So, I'd resorted to the one path of action I knew well by now, and threw myself into my studies. With Mother's support, I'd been able to do just about anything, so I did what interested me the most, and that was the Prothean's.

I wanted to explore just who they were, to uncover their deepest secrets with the goal of somehow discovering just why they had disappeared. Maybe that would get me out of my mother's shadow, the Liara at the time had thought.

So, over the next 23 years, I earned a degree in Archaeology. I hadn't spent all my time on just that however, as by coincidence, 75 was actually an age of significance for the Asari. It was the age that our bodies finally developed enough to be able to comfortably handle the rigours of Biotic energy, and was thus the age that I began my military biotic training.

Not the standard training that every single one of our race went through, which most other races would consider enough to half-qualify for a biotic licence in the military. No, this was Asari brand basic training, and it gave a basis for almost every single technique known to the council races, a benefit of our extended lifespan.

The military biotic training took it up a nudge, allowing individuals who graduated it the ability to always defend themselves no matter the situation. To turn themselves into living weapons.

It was one thing that my mother and I had both agreed upon, which was a very small list. So, using her connections, she signed me up for the military classes, designed to give me a thorough grounding in martial practice before I got more private tutoring from some of Mother's elite guards to finalise my education in the field.

Not from Benezia herself though, despite how a small part of me had wished she would.

That's where I met Teresa, an Asari girl only a couple of years older than myself and only a touch less awkward. She looked like, well she looked like an Asari. She possessed skin that was a touch more purple than my own, while also being both taller in height and thinner in build.

Teenage Liara had also been smug to see that Teresa possessed the smaller figure as well, but I'd at least had enough tact not to throw that fact in her face. Much.

Naturally, we got on like a house on fire, playing off on one another's awkwardness as we progressed through the biotic program, pushing ahead of many of our classmates despite how much older some of them were.

I'd thought I'd earn a lifelong friend out of her, and maybe something more, but things had turned bad after our romantic melding session and never quite recovered, so that had been a bust. And what did I do when I had been left in emotional turmoil, a turmoil that I didn't want to speak to anyone about?

I threw myself back into my studies, pushing down those emotions with practised ease until I finished my degree and got the funding for my archaeological dig sight. You know where that went, I suspect, but I've been kind of waffling on from my earlier point.

Liara, for almost all of her life, had suppressed her emotions. Had muted them so as not to so fully experience the despair, loneliness and frustration that a life not of her own directing had caused.

"And because she did that all her life, I'm feeling that effect now," I spoke aloud, grimacing as I shifted in my restraints slightly, the shiny black of my undersuit glinting in the light. "That's why I'm not freaking out despite everything that's going on. I got too used to ignoring those feelings as Liara, and while I am also David, the effect is still bleeding through."

Which sucked quite badly, but there was nothing to do about it. The only things that could possibly influence my mental state delicately enough to separate out the mixed feelings would be the reapers, and I'd rather just put a shotgun barrel to my head and pull the trigger to get it over with, thank you very much.

Besides, it's not that different from suppressing my violent tendencies as a man in a modern, human world.

My thoughts were side-tracked at the sound of footsteps clattering up the metal behind me, a series of footsteps echoing throughout the solid architecture to let me know a number of beings were coming.

I guess I'd better hope those violent tendencies can help me now, because soon enough, I was going to be in a firefight, which, not gonna lie, I'm low-key looking forward to. Now, if you could just come and press that button, Shepard, that would be swell.

Movement out of the corner of my eye drew my attention, making me look backwards to see Shepard leading the charge into the room, her heavy N7 armour looking a little more pockmarked and weathered than before but sporting no other obvious signs of damage.

"Shepard!" I cheered gleefully, a smile donning my lips as I looked back at her. "Good to see you. Now, if you could go and press that button," I gestured at the terminal with my head, "it's the big one, you can't miss it."

"This one?" Shepard asked, walking over and pointing down at the terminal to the only other large button.

"Somehow, no. I meant the large red one. Yeah, that one," I nodded as her hand moved to hover over the button that would cut the power to the inner shield, already lowering it.

"Hold on commander," Kaidan interrupted with a raised hand as he stared at me, his expression masked even through the clear glass of his helmet. Based on the context though he probably looking at me suspiciously. "Her mother is working for Saren, can we trust her?"

The statement caused an outburst of emotions to rise up from within me, holding elements of bitterness, loneliness and loss. It made me laugh aloud even as I shook my head, the sound of it cold to even my ears.

"You mean the mother I haven't seen in years? The mother who kept me sequestered away for all of my childhood due to the simple fact that it could threaten her political reputation? Or the mother who sent the Geth alongside that slimy turian bastard who started this whole thing? Yeah, I'm totally working for him."

I paused a touch awkwardly as I turned my head around the other way, looking over my other shoulder as a sheepish expression appeared on my face at the unimpressed-looking cop.

"Eh, no offence."

"None taken, princess," Garrus replied, the joke clear in his voice as I felt my lips twitch upwards, not offended in the least. Maybe if I was still Liara, that joke would have gotten under my skin, but for much of my life as a man I had been called princess as a joke by my friends.

It comes with having long hair, I'm afraid, but it was all in good fun.

Still, our little exchange took place under the watch of the ever-vigilant Commander Shepard, and it seemed like she saw what she needed to.

"Liara's right, Kaidan. If she was working with her mother, and through her Saren, the Geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard decided, making me sink into my restraints in relief.

"Thank you, Shepard," I said gratefully as I looked forward, away from them. "Now, please tell me when you press the button because-"

I didn't get to finish my sentence, because from one split second to the next, the energy field holding me disappeared, leaving me floating in mid-air for a moment as a stupefied expression appeared on my face.

While time seemed to slow down when this happened, it wasn't enough for me to react to what came next. That's kind of why I wanted her to warn me when she pressed the button.

The moment passed and gravity resumed, leaving me falling the metre to the ground as I face-planted, only my vaguely outstretched hands breaking my fall and preventing me from smashing my scalp open.

It didn't make the fall to the metal floor pleasant, however, as the impact caused air to rush out of my lungs.

"O-or t-that will happen," I forced out as I grit my teeth, lying on the floor for a second without moving, wanting to wallow in self-pity for a moment. It was great that I was no longer stuck in my bubble, but my old aches and pains, joined by their new brethren, hadn't exactly gone away.

No, like a team of pre-pubescent boys, they seemed to rile each other up, making my various aches and pains compete for my attention in an aggravating battle.

"Liara! Are you alright!?" Shepard barked, concern laced in her voice as she rushed to my side, the sound of her boots echoing through the room. Or maybe that was the vibrations travelling into my skull, my cartilage plates were placed against it after all.

Still, judging by how she was poking and prodding me in various places, I should probably get moving.

"Just peachy," I groaned as I pushed my hands underneath me, wiggling a little for the proper leverage as I pushed against the ground. My muscles yelled in agitation at the action, protesting at the sudden movement after so long, but they still obeyed my command as I made it first to my hands and knees, and then my feet.

This is where my legs decided that no, they didn't want to listen to me as I lost strength in them, causing me to begin falling to the floor once more. I watched with wide eyes as the floor moved closer, dreading its eventuality in an action reminiscent of about 10 seconds ago.

I always did think that sequels were often overrated. It's a shame how I'm about to prove myself right.

Only, as time passed, I didn't seem to be moving any closer, the floor remaining a steady distance from my eyes as I blinked curiously. As I did, I could feel a powerful arm wrapped around my torso, its strength keeping me upright with ease.

"Thanks for the save," I said in gratitude to my saviour, turning to look up at the neutral face plate of Shepard's armour, "it seems that three days suspended in mid-air doesn't allow for much coordination once released."

"Don't worry about it," Shepard replied with amusement, making me flush slightly. Yeah, I imagined the sight would have been kind of funny, but it wasn't so funny being on the other side of it. I dwelled on the thought for a moment before I snapped back into reality.

"-you stand?"

"What?" I asked in confusion, frowning for a second before my mind caught up to the present as I shook my head, nodding as I stood from the embrace, shaking slightly from the action but no longer needing to be supported. "Oh, yes. Thank you for your consideration."

Funny, I wasn't usually this polite as a man. Well, not unless I was trying to impress a girl or speaking to my mother. Etiquette training for the win I guess.

"As I said, don't worry about it," Shepard echoed her earlier stamen as she stepped back, picking her rifle up from the ground from where she had dropped it to catch me. "It would have been fine if you couldn't, I just would have had Wrex carry you."

The aforementioned Wrex gave a grunt of surprise, his narrow eyes widening slightly from under his head plate as he gave a sound that from anyone else, would have been a squawk of surprise.

"Shepard!?"

"Oh quiet down you big baby," Shepard, who I should really learn the name of, chastised him as she looked around the closed-off area, focusing on the exits. "Liara must weigh, what, 50 kg? Your shotgun weighs more than that."

Wrex grumbled at the statement as he hefted his gun closer into his body, stroking it with his off hand as if it was his child.

"58 kg, actually, but point taken," I replied as I decided to do something about the stiffness I was feeling as I reached up to the ceiling, elongating my body as much as possible as a series of cracks came from my spine, the pops echoing off the solid surfaces of the detainment cell as I leant over, arching an impressive distance to the side before I repeated it the other way.

We really should be moving considering I knew the area was now unstable, but just this little bit of stretching was making me feel so much better.

I performed another couple of movements that helped with loosening my tight muscles, in my hips and neck and such, before sighing in relief and looking up at a group of aliens and humans, who I guess were also aliens, staring at me with varying degrees of fascination and/or jealousy.

"What?"

The question broke them out of their stupor as they turned away, going back to their jobs as the marines went to the entrance of the stairway, standing guard while Wrex and Garrus moved to the side to prevent a close grouping.

It didn't stop Garrus from sending me a thumbs up while Tali stared down at her own suit in despair, holding her hands out in front of her chest and groping thin air as she slumped slightly, earning a pat on the back from Ashley.

Shepard, meanwhile, coughed into her fist before bending over to pick up my discarded overcoat, holding the green garment out to me at arm's length.

"You should probably put this on," She said with a hint of embarrassment as she looked anywhere but at me.

I tilted my head in confusion even as I took the outstretched clothing, holding the surprisingly heavy material in both hands as I looked at it curiously before looking up at Shepard, then back at the clothing, and then at how Shepard was looking away, before looking down at my chest and seeing how it was still only covered in the slick black of the undersuit.

The very tight, undersuit.

"Ah," I said with a sound of realisation as I pulled the jacket on, slotting my arms through before I sealed it at the neck with a couple of button presses. I suspect I gave them all quite a show with my little stretching routine, but in my defence, Liara was extremely flexible and I'd wanted to test that fact.

I don't know if it was an Asari thing or just a Liara thing, but on a whim, I discovered I could do the splits with ease, and then fold my torso forward into a classic middle split with my chest compressed against the floor.

That meant that, despite not intending to, I'd shown the others just why the Asari were considered the most sexual species of the galaxy.

I didn't know where to look as heat flooded my face, mortification rushing through my veins at what I'd just done.

"Can we just…I don't know, pretend that didn't happen? Please?" I said, looking hopefully at the others with wide blue eyes. I may not have been able to do it as an adult man, but Liara still had some cunning underneath her air of innocence. While she hadn't used her womanly figure for anything, that hadn't stopped her from learning the power of her giant, child-like eyes.

Eyes that I was now using in an attempt to push past the awkwardness.

"I don't know what you mean," Shepard said a tad stiffly as she looked me in the eye, bluffing with the best of them.

"So…princess," Garrus smirked as his one visible eye trailed down for a moment before refocusing on my face. "Any idea how we get out of here?"

"Yes, actually," I nodded, moving past his subtle flirtation as I started walking on shaky legs toward the staircase. "There is an elevator, or what seems like an elevator, back at the centre of the tower. As long as it still works, and the odds are pretty good considering the prison cell does, it should be able to take us all the way to the top of the ruin."

As long as it moves quickly enough to avoid being crushed under the rubble, a grim part of my mind noted as another tremble ran through the rock around us. It vibrated the metal around us, leaving me a little more unsteady underfoot. I wouldn't be truly combat-ready until I got some rest, I suppose. But on the plus side, there was one thing I could do that I knew would help.

Lifting my hand, a purple, eldritch glow appeared around it as space around me cracked and then warped, lightening my body weight as I sighed in relief.

"What are you doing?" Kaidan demanded from behind me, the tone in his voice insistent as I glowered, resting the urge to throw him into the wall with my new powers. Powers that I oh so desperately wanted to play with. That's right pretty boy. Just come and try it.

"I'm lightening my weight, soldier, because I've been stuck in a prison cell for three days. Or have you not noticed that I'm a little unsteady on my feet right now?"

Kaiden, rightly so, seemed chastised at my words. I didn't blame him. My tongue could become quite vicious when I was stressed or exhausted like I was right now, but he deserved it. He should know to have a little more tact, especially when he was around the commander.

A commander that he liked, if I remembered right.

"Kaidan…" Shepard warned, seeming to agree with me.

"Sorry Shepard," Kaiden apologised as he shifted the gun in his hand, notably not apologising to me despite the fact that I was the one he offended. Funny, I thought Ashely was the xenophobe. Or maybe he was just scared that I would steal his girl?

On that amusing thought, the faint shaking around us started to become worse, and I could even see some dust particles vibrating through the air.

"You guys might want to hurry up," I said as I sped up, taking advantage of my low weight to start jogging awkwardly up the stairs, following the mental map I had of the place as best as I could in my addled state of mind. I'd been here for a little over three months, so I knew my way around here.

"And why is that," Shepard asked curiously as she started jogging as well, the sound of her mass echoing on the metal steps as she followed me, starting a long chain of soldiers and mercenaries running after us.

"Because this ruin is unstable, it's one of the reasons no one has explored it before. You're little trick with the mining laser seems to have set off a seismic event, and I for one don't intend for my last moments to be crushed under a thousand tonnes of rock and silt."

I couldn't see it, but Shepard's eyes rose behind her visor as she looked down at her Omni-tool and pressed a few buttons, cursing at what she found.

"Liara's right!" Shepard yelled. "Double time it people, we need to get a move on!"

Her voice had taken on a commanding pitch, not a single being under her command complaining as we all sped up, plain running now as Shepard overtook me, followed by Ashely, then Kaiden, and then Garrus and Tali.

I cursed as I tried to speed up, but the instant I did my vision started to waver, showing that it was a bad idea.

"Fuck," I cursed, spitting out the swear with vigour as I stared at their rapidly moving backs in jealously. I was finally in a superior body of my own, one that should have been capable of easily matching the rest of them, and once again I was too slow.

Story of my freaken' life.

The stairs started vibrating even harder than before as a slow rumble appeared around me, and for a moment I feared that they were about to fail on me. That I was about to die just after earning my freedom.

The thought made me quiver inside as fear and anger warred within me, the two emotions coming to blows. Before the batt;e could get too heated however, a thick pair of arms wrapped around my torso, pulling me up into the air as I started moving at a pace faster than my legs would allow.

"You've got vigour girl. Shame you don't have the body for it," Wrex rumbled complimentary with a grin as I looked down at his red eyes from where he was princess carrying me. As it turns out, the shakiness wasn't because the steps were crumbling.

No, it was because a 7-and-a-half foot, 360kg space lizard had been coming up behind me, the force of his pounding legs shaking the rusted metal apart at its seams.

"You…" I grimaced, swallowing the venomous comment that wanted to pour out as I instead nodded. "You have my thanks."

It seems like my attempt at being polite was seen through, however, as Wrex's grin only became even wider, and a touch more wild. Shaking my head, I decided to just enjoy the ride, pointing out the correct direction to the central tower when asked.

The relatively little thought this required let me turn introspective as we passed through lifeless hallway after lifeless hallway. Like how it was kind of strange that we hadn't run into any of the Geth yet, as there had been more than 200 of them sent to the ruin judging by what the battle master had bragged. But of those 200, probably less considering just who I was being carried by, not a single robotic soul was in sight.

Well, not a single intact one I thought as a grin twitched on my lips at the sparking body lying to our right, a white, lubricating material that smelled kind of foul leaking from its corpse. Speaking of foul though, Wrex gave off a surprisingly dim scent, coming off as kind of dusty at best, which was covered up by the smell of metal coming from his equipment.

I was sad to say that I smelled the worse of us, but I would be sure to change that as soon as a shower was available.

"Is this it?!" Shepard yelled from up ahead of the group, pointing at a grey terminal centred in the middle of a circular room, my trusty steed carrying me forward as he sat me down, letting me look at it.

"Yeah, this is it," I nodded, as I pulled up my own Omni-tool, connecting it to the terminal as a glowing green interface appeared from it, making me grin.

"It looks like we're in business," I said cheerfully as I messed with my Omni-tool, flipping a few metaphorical switches as another rumble filled the area, this one intentional as the metal platform we were standing on vibrated in place before it pulled itself loose, starting its slow ascent to the top.

One of the main reasons I hadn't used it before, and had thus resorted to a combination of stairs and ropes, was that the amount of vibration and movement the lift emitted was enough to risk setting off a seismic event much like the one we were escaping from.

Seeing as one had already been triggered, I didn't let that bother me as I looked at the reading my Omni-tool was giving off.

"We'll reach the top in about 3 minutes, but we'll need to be careful. The ruin is getting more unstable by the second."

"Got it," Shepard nodded as she lifted her hand up to her helmet, pushing on a button on the side as a beep was emitted.

"Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock on my position. On the double mister!"

A moment passed before a voice came back through, loud enough that the rest of us could hear it.

"Aye aye, Commander. Secure and away. ETA eight minutes."

It was nice to see that Joker sounded the same as he did in the game, as outside of Fem-Shep, he had one of the nicest voices to listen to alongside Liara.

It also seems like a number of the others weren't so appreciative of his flippancy, staring as both Tali and Wrex grumbled, holding their shotguns tighter.

"He needs to move faster, the bosh'tet!" Tali cursed as she shifted on the spot, the smallest of the Normandy's ground crew moving from foot to foot.

"If I die in here, I'll kill him," Wrex promised darkly with a glint in his eye as he cocked his massive shotgun, a massive clunk echoing through the room.

"Quiet down, everyone," Shepard ordered, looking around the room, the picture of stability. "We can't kill our pilot, we need him."

Aw, it looks like we have serious Shepard.

"I didn't say anything about annoying him though," she continued mischievously, with what I imagined to be a devious look in her eye to join the playfulness in her voice.

Never mind then, I thought with an amused smile, wondering at just what maladies should befall the brittle-boned man should the opportunity strike for the ground crew, letting the thought distract me from the dark shadow of the encroaching fight. A fight that would be quick and dirty, and one that I definitely wasn't ready for.

A fight that I very well may have to fight for my life in.

So, you know. No pressure.

AN: That's all for now. A bit of an infodump about Liara's life, but I wanted to give a reason for being way to calm about things other than the MC just being a boss. Don't worry, it'll only extend so far.

Until next time, cheers, Ervin.