A/N: I hope I didn't scare too many of you off with the outright absurdity of the last chapter. I'm really sorry about that, I'll try not to do anything so ridiculous again. And apologies for taking so long to post this chapter, college sucks.

11: Ophelia

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Carn asked Lily as she fiddled with her omni-tool.

"Totally," she flashed her cousin a grin "Your girlfriend will love it!"

Carn felt the blood rush to his cheeks. Why did I have to be cursed with the ability to blush? He looked away, mandibles fluttering in embarrassment against his now pink cheeks. "She's not my girlfriend…"

Lily rolled her eyes "Whatever you say Carny." She tapped on her omni-tool a few more times before glancing back at her cousin "Alright, I think we're good to go, push the button and let's get up there."

Carn complied, tightly gripping the railing as the window-cleaner platform Lily had acquired started to ascend. He glanced over the edge at the ground slowly getting farther and farther away "Our parents are going to kill us…"

Up in the hospital room, Anna sighed as the nurse left. She'd been stuck in here for the last two days after the surgery on her intestines. The doctors said that she'd need to stay for at least another week to make sure the parasite didn't leave any dangerous bacteria behind. Anna glanced at the jar that had been placed next to her bed at her request. The strange creature looked like something that belonged in one of those old horror films from the mid-21st century that Lily liked so much, when parasitic aliens were all the rage.

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't a little bit curious about the strange creature. She'd pestered the salarian doctor for as long as she could on what it was and how it got into her. Eventually, the salarian had to be called away, but not before leaving her with a plethora of information on the parasite on her omni-tool. Apparently, the parasite was native to a recently colonized world in the Attican Traverse. As a microscopic larva, it can survive outside a host's body for about 30 hours, during which it will seek a new host to enter via burrowing through its skin. The parasite will then start making its way towards the host's intestines where it would tunnel inside and start feeding on the nutrients that passed by. It would then grow to almost a meter in length and lay hundreds of eggs that, when hatched, would tunnel out of the body in search of a new host. The parasite would be relatively harmless, were it not for the fact that it was also a known carrier for several dangerous diseases that, if left untreated, would kill the host.

There had apparently been an outbreak of the parasites on the Citadel recently, and now mandatory vaccinations were being enforced. Anna had gone to get her vaccination with her mom and step-dad when, during the exam the doctors had discovered that she was carrying one of the parasite inside her. The doctors had operated and removed the parasite quickly, and now she was stuck here under observation until it could be verified that she had not contracted anything from it. Her parasite had still been growing, so no eggs thankfully, but it was still long enough for her to wonder how on earth it managed to fit inside of her.

She turned her head when she heard her step-dad stir in the chair next to her bed. Agust had hardly left her side throughout the whole ordeal, something Anna was both grateful for and annoyed with. Her mom stayed whenever she didn't have work, usually bringing her get well cards and flowers from friends and relatives who couldn't be bothered to visit. It was not lost on Anna that she had yet to get a card or a visit from a certain human/turian hybrid boy that had been an almost constant presence in her 12-year-old mind for months now. That fact hurt a lot more than she thought it would.

Her step-dad's eyes slowly opened, he straightened up from the awkward position he'd fallen asleep in the chair. "Sorry honey, I must have dozed off without realizing it."

Anna smiled "Its fine Agust." She couldn't even remember her real father, he'd been killed in a car crash when she was only a few months old, and despite the fact that Agust had been a part of her life since she was two years old, it'd never felt quite right calling him "Dad".

At that moment, there was a knock at the door and it opened to reveal an asari nurse holding a bouquet of flowers. "Excuse me, Anna Malva?"

"Yeah?" Anna asked, a little confused. Normally people who sent her cards or flowers just gave them to her mom to deliver.

"This just arrived for you." The nurse gently handed the bouquet to Anna before leaving.

"Who's it from?" Agust asked.

Anna shook her head "I don't know…" The bouquet was a composed entirely of tulips, her favorite flowers, but only a few people knew that.

And one of them was…

Anna suddenly noticed a small card had been placed among the flowers. Carefully, she plucked the card from among the tulips and flipped it open to see four words written in semi-neat handwriting: Look out your window.

Anna did just that and laughed when she saw Carn and Lily waving at her from a window-cleaner's platform attached to the building across from the hospital, a sign hanging below them that read: Get better already! Causing trouble is no fun without you!

…

Carn gave an involuntary shiver as another one of those weird eyeball things slithered past on its tentacles. Granted, he now knew that the strange alien race, called the ontolca were actually land faring cephalopods, and that the large "eye" was in fact a self-defense mechanism left over from the species early years designed to make them appear larger than they actually were to predators, but they still creeped him out.

He looked forwards to where Lily was walking ahead of him, "Where exactly are we going?"

Lily glanced over her shoulder at him "I told you, we're visiting an old friend of mine."

Carn cocked a brow-plate "And why is it just you and me?"

Lily rolled her eyes, but didn't answer him, electing instead to keep leading her cousin through the bustling streets of Tortuga. After a long minute of silence, Carn spoke up again "So… you and Chase…"

"What about us?"

Carn quickened his pace so that he was walking next to Lily "You kind of gave me an eyeful yesterday."

Lily shot him a smirk "Ah, yes. I'm so sorry about scaring your little virgin mind like that."

Carn bristled "I'm not a virgin!"

"Nyn told me you were cowering in a corner when they came in."

"…Okay, so maybe I overreacted a little bit." Carn said sheepishly "But what exactly is your relationship with Chase?"

Lily cocked an eyebrow at him "Why do you care?"

"You never mentioned him in any of your letters." Carn stated.

"Why would I?" Lily said with a shrug.

Without warning, Carn grabbed her arm, pulling them to a stop. Lily was about to ask what he was doing when he gave her that look. "Oh no…"

His blue eyes were wide and pleading, his mouth doing as close to a pout as it could, his shoulders were slumped. The bastard even had his mandibles do that little quivering thing that used to work wonders on his mom when he was little.

"Don't you dare…"

Her warning went unheeded. "I told you everything in my letters." His voice was small and hurt "Everything. Especially about my relationship with Anna… But… but you couldn't even be bothered to share that you'd found someone with me…" his breath hitched at the end of his sentence like he was about to cry.

Lily threw her hands up in defeat "Alright! Alright! I get it! Just stop with the puppy face!"

The pitiful expression was instantly replaced with the biggest shit-eating grin Lily had ever seen on her cousin's face. Lily poked an accusing finger at Carn's chest "You're a manipulative bastard."

Carn only shrugged, he hadn't really been faking some of the hurt he felt at Lily keeping this from him, but he'd never really had any illusions that she told him everything in her letters. "You forced my hand. Now spill."

Lily sighed and dragged him off to the side of the street so that they weren't blocking the other pedestrians. "Chase and I met a little less than six years ago. I'd been on the run for weeks, and had done a lot of things I'm not proud of to survive. Eventually, I found myself out here on Tortuga. I was doing a bunch of odd jobs here and there, eventually landing a position as a waitress in one of the slightly less scummy bars. The boss was an asshole, and the customers were pigs but I didn't have many options left, so I stayed. Then one night, this really handsome guy walks in. He was nice to me, and incredibly charming, flashing me a smile and a wink whenever I passed him."

"Let me guess," Carn interrupted "That was Chase."

"What? Oh God no!" Lily quickly shook her head "And don't interrupt. Anyways, near the end of my shift, he decided to take it one step further, and groped my ass as I walked by. Now, normally, I'd just ignore it, but it was so unexpected that this nice guy was just as much a pig as all the other customers, that I just lost it and punched him. Naturally, his buddy didn't like that so he tried to tackle me. Of course I just stepped to the side and let him slam right into another group. From there things sort of get a little confusing, but basically, within thirty seconds I'd started a massive bar fight." Lily grinned proudly at this. "Chase had been there meeting with an associate of his, and saw me kicking ass in the center of the brawl, so he decided to wait and watch. Once everyone else was either unconscious, or just didn't feel like fighting anymore, Chase approached me. I was one of the few people still standing- I have your dad's hand-to hand combat lessons to thank for that. He told me that he was impressed by my fighting skills and that he had an opening in his crew if I wanted to join up. I was probably fired anyways so I thought 'Fuck it, if this turns out to be a trap I'll just kick his ass too.' So I went with him, and you know what? He never treated me with anything but respect. Sure, we flirted occasionally, but he never invaded my personal space without permission. Over the next couple of years, he taught me everything he knew. Remember that coin I shot? He would have me carry my pistols around with me all throughout the ship and at random times he would toss a coin up into the air for me to shoot. If I missed, he had me repeat the exercise over and over again until I managed to hit it. Sometimes it took me hours to finally get a shot on that damn coin." Lily grinned "I learned very quickly not to miss."

Carn nodded, finally starting to get a clear picture of Lily's relationship with Chase. "And eventually you fell in love with him."

Lily stared at Carn for a moment before doubling over and laughing uproariously. Carn blushed, now very confused. "W-What did I say?!"

Lily managed to calm down enough to get out "You… think that I'm… in love with him?!" Lily burst into a fresh bout of laughing "That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard!"

Absurd?! Do you even listen to what comes out of your own mouth?! Carn thought, rather offended. "I saw you two having sex!"

Lily rolled her eyes "Yeah, and that's all it was: sex."

Carn felt a little foolish now, realizing that he'd been way off in his assumptions "So… you're just friends?"

"With benefits." Lily added with a wink. "Well, my sheltered little cousin, is there anything else you wanted to know?"

Carn shook his head, still embarrassed about his mistake. "No… no let's just get going."

…

Lily led Carn to a quiet neighborhood near the edge of the city. They entered a small apartment complex, heading up to the third floor. Lily stopped outside a door labeled 37 and gently knocked. From the other side, Carn heard a muffled "I'll be there in a second!" and a moment later the door opened to reveal a middle-aged human woman. She immediately beamed, flashing her pearly white teeth. "Lily! What a pleasant surprise!"

Lily smiled and hugged the woman "It's good to see you again Ophelia." She stepped back and gestured to Carn "This is my cousin, Carn. Carn, this is Ophelia, a friend of mine."

Carn hesitantly stuck out his hand which Ophelia immediately shook, still smiling. "Lily has told me so much about you!"

Carn cast a confused look at Lily "Really?"

Ophelia nodded "Oh yes! She said you might visit!"

Now Carn was really confused. "Why…?"

"Whelp," Lily interrupted, "I'd better go. Head over to Pattie's Tavern when you're done."

Carn barely had time to blink before Lily was gone. "Um…"

"Won't you come in dear?" Ophelia said suddenly, stepping to the side and beckoning for Carn to enter her apartment.

"Sure…" Hesitantly, Carn stepped through the doorway past Ophelia. The apartment was small and poorly lit. The main sitting area consisted of a couch, a small table, some chairs, and a holo-screen. The kitchen was no more than an alcove in the wall with a fridge and a stove. There were two doors, leading to the bedroom and bathroom Carn suspected.

"Please, have a seat." Ophelia said, gesturing to one of the chairs as she moved to the kitchen. Carn hesitated before complying, sitting down at the table. Ophelia returned from the kitchen with two small cups of tea, handing one to Carn and sitting across from him. "I'm sorry if it's not very warm. My stove has been on the fritz lately."

Carn nodded and took an uneasy sip from his drink. The moment the tea touched his tongue however, he immediately recoiled at the bitter taste, sputtering and coughing. Ophelia gave him a sad smile "Too strong?"

Carn shook his head, forcing himself to take another drink from his cup. "N-No. Ahem, I'm just not used to tea, that's all."

Ophelia smiled, taking a drink from her own cup and wincing. "Yes." She coughed, giving the tea a disapproving look "Definitely too strong." She tsked and set her cup down with a shake of her head.

Carn studied this strange woman for a moment. She looked to be a few years younger than his mother, though her hair was completely grey. She had pale green eyes and pasty white skin, like she hadn't been outside in a very long time. Wrinkles had started to form around her eyes and the edges of her mouth, giving her a perpetual smile. Her hair was cut in a bob, a few loose strands falling in front of her face. Her clothes were simple, like the outfits worn by settlers on the colonies bordering the Terminus. Carn noticed that her hands were oddly flawless, lacking any wrinkle or blemish, as smooth as a babe.

"If you don't mind my asking," Carn said "Who exactly are you?"

Ophelia smiled, "I suppose Lily didn't tell you why you're here did she?" Carn shook his head "Well, to put it simply, she thinks I can help you with your nightmare problem."

Carn was instantly on edge "So you're a therapist?"

Ophelia immediately shook her head "Not exactly. Your cousin told me about your… uncomfortable history with therapists."

"That's one way of putting it." Carn said bitterly. None of the therapists who his parents had made him see when he was younger had been able to relate to him. The closest anyone had gotten had been Kelly Chambers, but she had left the Citadel to receive help for her own PTSD on Thessia when he was 8.

Ophelia smiled "Well don't worry, I'm not going to go rooting around in your head trying to diagnose you with some strange disorder that nobody can pronounce. That's not what I do."

"Then what do you do exactly?" Carn asked.

Ophelia shrugged, studying her cup. "That's a little hard to answer. I was one of the first humans to study under the Consort before she left the Citadel. And I've done work on former Indoctrinated after the Reaper War."

"Weren't all the former Indoctrinated eventually declared insane and euthanized?"

Ophelia nodded sadly "Yes, an unfortunate and controversial decision. I left the project before that however and came out here."

"Why?" Carn asked. "Tortuga doesn't exactly seem like a good place to retire."

Ophelia smiled at Carn "Say what you will about Tortuga, but there are good people here, just like everywhere else in the galaxy." She leaned forward, clasping her hands in front of her. "Now, let's start talking about your nightmares."

"I'm not exactly comfortable talking about something like that with a total stranger." Carn said, tensing up again.

Ophelia nodded "Understandable. You have a right to keep what goes on inside your own mind private." Sighing, she stood up "I won't press you further." She took her and Carn's cups and moved back into the kitchen, emptying their contents out into the sink and putting the cup into the dishwasher. Finally, she turned back to him. "I would just like to know one thing however. In your dream, are you in a forest?"

Carn blinked, caught off guard by the question "No. Why?"

Ophelia moved to sit back down across from him "Many of the former Indoctrinated I studied would speak of dreaming of a dark forest where they were haunted by the ghosts of their past."

Carn frowned "You think my nightmares are somehow related to the Reapers?"

Ophelia shook her head "Not necessarily, though there are similarities, but the forest was a constant in the Indoctrinated. Some details varied from subject to subject, such as the kinds of trees, but it was always a forest." She paused, her eyes taking on a haunted look "…except for Anne."

Carn frowned "I'm sorry?"

Ophelia shook her head "Nothing, just old memories." She activated her omni-tool "Well, would you look at the time! I'm sure Lily is already waiting for you at the tavern. You should get going."

Carn frowned, glancing at his own omni-tool. Barely ten minutes had passed since he had arrived. Still, he wasn't exactly eager to stick around. "Well, I guess I'm off then." He said, standing up.

"Feel free to return if you change your mind." Ophelia called after Carn as he left the apartment.

Ophelia continued to sit at the table long after Carn had left before finally getting up. She went into her bedroom, opening up her closet and pushing aside her clothes until she could see a small keypad. Quickly, she input the code and a small section of the wall at the back of the closet slid back. Kept safe behind a containment field was a strange orb, its aquamarine depths swirling about like water, protecting a darkness that could only be found within the deepest reaches of the sea.

…

Erin spun around, her heart racing to the beat of the vibrant tune from Old Ireland back on Earth. Her arms were flung wide like wings, the edges of the dress Nyn had bought for her lifted up off her ankles, unfolding like an umbrella as she twirled around the dance floor. As she danced, Erin let the music flow over and around her, the melodies bringing to life images of rolling emerald hills, warm pubs filled with merry drinking, lush green shamrocks dotting the grass and sweet misty air that filled your lungs with its cold breath. I'll have to ask Lily if we can go to Earth next, the small part of Erin's mind that wasn't caught up in the fantasy noted. I've only ever seen pictures on the extra-net. I'd love to finally visit.

Sitting at a table just off the tavern's dance floor, Lily, Nyn, Mort, and Alec all watched as Erin danced with the music, not a care in the world. "I swear to God, that girl is floating a foot off the ground." Lily mused with a grin, her legs propped up on the table.

Alec nodded in agreement, casting a glance a Sara sitting next to him, still tapping on her omni-tool like she had been ever since they got here. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"Talking to Mars." She said without even looking up.

Alec nodded, deciding to let the matter be. His half-sister's antisocial behavior was hardly anything new to him. Even back on the station, Sara had mostly kept to herself. She'd been that way ever since she found Dalek's body eleven years ago. Alec shuddered at the memory. Dalek had been the fourth resident of his, Erin, and Sara's dorm. An experimental attempt at combining three races instead of just two, Dalek had always had trouble with his nervous system, and one night, he'd had a seizure and died, being discovered the next morning by Sara. She'd never been the most social person, but after that, Sara had taken to barely speaking at all. Alec was glad that Sara had found someone to talk to, even if that someone was an AI with questionable maturity and/or sanity.

While Alec was musing on the past, Chase appeared, getting Lily's attention with a tap on the shoulder. "He's ready to meet with us."

Lily grinned, lifting her legs off the table and getting to her feet with a stretch. "Good ol' Dilly. Did you have to kick his hungover ass awake?"

"Obviously."

Lily smirked "Honestly, before I met him, I didn't even know volus could get drunk."

Chase smiled "Just try not to scare him too much this time, alright?"

Lily's lips curled into a sly grin as she stepped past Chase, giving him a quick pat on the cheek. "No promises."

Near the entrance to the tavern, Kal glared at Lily and Chase as they made their way around the dance floor to a door behind the bar. I don't like him.

[Really?]

Don't you get sarcastic on me, I'm serious! Kal's eyes narrowed as Lily and Chase slipped through the door. Something about him rubs me the wrong way.

After a minute of silence, Dex spoke up once more. [I still say we should contact the Spectres and tell them where we are.]

We've been through this, we're not turning them in.

[Why?] Dex exclaimed, irritated.

I don't need to tell you why. Kal said defiantly. They're our friends!

[They kidnapped you!]

We're not turning them in. and that's final!

There was a pause before Dex asked [You're not seriously considering staying are you?]

Kal didn't respond, but he knew Dex could feel the sudden wave of guilt wash over him. Before the geth could comment however, Kal noticed that Carn had finally arrived at the tavern. After a moment of looking around, Carn saw Kal and moved to join him.

"Hey."

"Hey." Kal replied before nodding to the table where the rest of their group were sitting "If you're looking for the others, they're over there. Lily and Chase had some business with a contact of theirs I think."

Carn glanced at their group "Why aren't you over there?"

Kal shrugged "I don't really feel like it."

Carn didn't really know how to reply to that so instead he turned his attention to the dance floor. "Is that Erin?"

Kal nodded "Yep."

"She certainly looks like she's enjoying herself." Carn noted.

"Yeah."

Getting annoyed with Kal's distant act, Carn remarked "Well you're mister talkative today, aren't you?"

Kal snorted, glancing away "Sorry, I guess I just have a lot on my mind."

Carn was about to inquire further when Lily and Chase burst out of the door behind the bar. Lily made a beeline for their group's table while Chase quickly got Erin off of the dance floor. Frowning, Carn started towards the others, Kal trailing behind him. He got there at the same time Lily did and he immediately noticed that she was tensed up, like a cat ready to pounce at any moment.

"We've got a problem." Lily said, addressing everyone.

"What's wrong?" He asked, a trickle of cold worry starting to leak into his chest.

Lily looked at Carn, her eyes filled with an emotion he hoped to never see again: Fear.

"It's Dread. He's found us."

A/N: I know, I'm mean. Making you guys wait this long and then ending with a cliffhanger? I should be ashamed of myself.

Okay, time to clarify a few things. The Leviathan DLC DID NOT HAPPEN. Why? Because by the time I got around to playing it, I had already completed "The End of All Things" which has my own version of how the Reapers came to be. So Shepard never encountered the Leviathans. That doesn't mean they don't exist however. I'll go into more depth on what exactly happened with the Leviathans in Part 2, but suffice to say that they will become a factor in this story.

Also, this chapter was a bitch to write. I changed A LOT of things, and I mean, A LOT. To give you an idea of just how much I changed it, let me say this: The original title of this chapter was "Large Ham"

…Yeah I know.

Now, if you need me, I'm off to write an essay. Fucking college…