A/N:

All ME characters belongs to Bioware and EA.

I don´t own anything, except Garth.

No money are being made here. Writing this story just for fun.

Special thanks to phnxgrl for being awesome and doing the beta of course.

Enjoy and tell me what you think. :-)

...

There are only a few things in that I genuinely hate: like burgers or red wine. Why I´m whining this much about it? No idea. Just because I can I think. And perhaps it had something to do with a fact that I seemed to have a one hell of a nasty hangover. It certainly felt like it. Everything was spinning turning and twisting in every way possible. I had finally decided to just give up and throw up. Surprisingly enough I didn´t do much damage. Apparently, I just landed in front of a toilet.

It took me a while to get together. Besides, such form of travel via centrifuge will do that to you. I was really glad that I was healthy. I knew that Lara needed me for some unexplained reason, but I seriously considered my demise. I found out later that whole trip took exactly 3 seconds of time by earth standards. So, in a way my mind literally flew by the speed of light.

But when I finally managed to get up I was pleased to find myself in a decent looking bathroom. The reason why I was so impressed was the fact that this was my first time in futuristically looking bathroom in general, which was, at least to me kind of awesome. Truth be told, I would probably visit it in rather more pleasant circumstances. However, considering what this travel turned out to be I give it a pass. I was glad for this little pit stop. Then I remembered the circumstances and the lack of choice I had at the end.

I found Lara in the kitchen slash living room making tea. Come to think of it, when it comes to term apartment, there had been an awful too much similarities with my old burned apartment. There was the couch and table. The only thing that was missing was my keyboard. Aside that everything from this point of view just screamed at me My Place.

I just sort of crashed on the couch kind of grateful not being able to care much. Or was it I in this state because I cared too much? Hell, I was literally dead by being blown up. It was the end of the story. Unfortunately for me, this story was just beginning.

"Here" Lara said motioning me to take the cup offered.

I hadn't notice Lara holding the cup until now. I must have been really out of it because otherwise, I would be able to detect a genuine concern in her voice. At this time I just wasn´t able to do so.

"You should drink this it´ll make you feel better." She coaxed.

Looking at her again I took the cup and gave it a sip. It was not bad and slowly I was feeling better. I sipped the cup almost mechanically. I then noticed three things. For one, the sickness did seem to slowly decrease. The mental pain however, just seemed to announce its presence quite loudly I may add. I tried my best to build a wall around it. I placed the cup back on the table. Suddenly, an odd feeling on my wrist wrestles me back from my moping to reality. Doing so I nearly dropping the poor cup.

It turned out, that Lara seemed to take advantage of my moment´s weakness. She forced a hypodermic needle containing a chip into my left wrist.

She didn't even try to hide her smug face.

"Nice aim, could you please stop being such a showoff?" I roar visibly annoyed.

She smiled with very bright shiny teeth. It seemed to me Dental Hygiene was much better in this time.

"Yeah, I don't like needles anywhere near me" I said out loud.

She ignored my comment.

So what?

"If I told you what I was going to do, you would freak out," Lara answered still with the same smug expression on her face. "Besides, I had to distract you somehow."

"So, you rather sacrifice the peace of dish, instead of dealing with me? How very mature of you" I snorted to show my displeasure. "So, what exactly did you do to me? Give me some kind of control chip or what?"

"And now you´re being melodramatic" she said being patient as if she was talking to a child.

My guide just simply picked up the damn cup and put it back into the counter.

"I gave you an omni tool." Lara said straightening the counter.

"Like that´s gonna help me a lot" I replied which turned out to be more sarcastic then it needed to be. I was still pretty pissed about this whole situation though.

Why I didn´t stood up for myself and just die? The answer is simple really. It is because the basic human instinct is to fight for survival. This wasn´t comforting thought though. It looked much more like I was fishing for an excuse on my part.

"What do you know about the omni-tool?" She asked staring right at me.

She leaned her back against the counter like she was expecting the simplest answer in the world.

At that moment my mind was racing. How could I have possibly known what this omni thing was? Lara picked me to this universe despite the fact I knew nothing about it. I maybe fit combat-wise, but I highly doubted that that was my value. When I really thought about it, I couldn´t find that I had any kind of value whatsoever. It was a really depressing realization.

"What do you know about the omni-tool?" She asked again with her voice being monotone and yet very persistent.

It was almost like from the pro hypnotizer.

Patrick Jane would be proud.

"Didn´t we establish my incompetence already?" I asked.

She didn't even try to hide her grin.

"Considering that you are here to overcome your incompetence I would advise you to cooperate. Now, what do you know about the omni-tool?" She asked looking visibly annoyed I had not answered her.

"Omni-tools are handheld devices that combine a computer micro-frame, sensor, analysis pack, and mini fabricator. It can be also used in combat with its military applications, depending on the user." I said competently.

My eyes went wide. I was sure, that I didn´t know that seconds ago. I gave questionable look to my guide who was now smiling full force.

"So now what am I? Some sort of walking encyclopedia?" I asked as my brow went up slightly.

"No, you just consumed my knowledge," Lara patiently explained with her eyes fix on me. "Thanks to the genetic shot I gave you, you now have improved combat skills and stuff."

"Stuff, what stuff?" I asked curiously.

"Stuff you need to survive. And before you start feeling all God like you have no superpower." She said.

With that said all my excitement was gone.

"So where exactly am I now?" I asked tried to keep the conversation flowing.

For some reason Lara didn´t make any attempt to sit on the couch. It felt almost like she was trying not to get attached towards me. It made me wonder why.

"You are on Omega in the year 2180, which is three years before the events of the game. So try to survive until then ok?" Lara answered my question with a little bit of sarcasm in her voice.

She started cleaning up the kitchen area.

"Omega has been a haven for criminals, terrorists, and malcontents for thousands of years. The station has been used and abandoned for centuries, only to be reactivated by a new group of outlaws seeking a fresh start." I said out loud again.

I sighed. Even though I experienced this thing only twice so far, I could tell that this memory sequences will be annoying as hell especially when I seem not to be able to not stop from speaking it out loud whenever the thought came to me.

"Relax the memory will not activate your voice in time. You will need to learn to control it." She said with a bored expression.

"How much are these memory blocks important to me?" I asked it seemed to be the next logical question to ask until I realized that it was most ironic and also stupidest thing to say.

You are really a big dummy Garth…

I could see Lara freeze there for a second before cautiously speaking.

"Some people are important and some of them are more important." She said cryptically.

"So you saying, once I get to know them better I will get more options plus a background?" I inquired.

"Yes." She replied.

"So I have to basically mingle with people correct?" I asked.

I did not mind that too much since I was sociable person. However, what could I realistically talk about?

"Yes." She responded again.

I sighed and got up.

"You know, you really should care about this apartment…" I said observing the surrounding once again.

This comment made Lara to turn her face against mine

"This is my former place and since I did pay the rent in advance I should care." She said with a bit of fury on her face.

"I guess I figured why we are on Omega then." I voiced my thoughts before stopping my lousy mouth. However, that comment got Lara curious.

"Why then?" She asked.

"It must be on Omega, teenagers can clearly purchase property." I smugly replied.

That made her chuckle.

"You're such an ungrateful ass. Do you know that?" She said truly smiling for the first time.

…

I've been thrown on the street. Just like that. Wait, I have to be truthful here. First there was a change in some fashion. And jeez, how that was creepy. I know that Lara is a girl but I felt like she robbed a store or something. What was even more creeper was the fact that she knew my size? So instead of wearing 20th century jacket jeans and trainers, I was wearing 21st century version. So maybe I had few sarcastic remarks before that. Where was I? Oh Yes, I've been thrown on the street…

Let me tell you something. I could tell Omega wasn´t going to be a pleasant place to be right from the get go. Why you may ask? When you nearly are a pickpocket victim twice when I only went around a block? That says something about the place. It was none good. At least I got some information on Batarians and Turians. There was something that bugged me about it. According to the memory blogs, despite some flaws, Turians were honorable race who were military driven. It made me sad. It had been only one hour?

So after some information salvaging, I learn also a bit about Krogans and the Asari too. Word of advice: Krogans are really, intimidating creatures. This was probably why they were considered as heavy heaters, not counting their historic impact. I almost bumped into a Krogan in dirty alley as he was collecting from some poor guy. Apparently, memory blogs had some combat tips and history lessons. But to be fair, I wasn´t exactly combat suited and didn´t like the idea being toss into the dumpster.

Also, the big lizard didn´t feel like talking with me about some ethical or political stuff either. He just looked me in the eye and then spoke.

"Word of advice kid, you have five seconds to vanish before you start interfere with the Cara´s business … I would take it if I were you." He said as if he meant bodily harm would commence soon after this warning.

Let's just say, that at that particular moment I was more than happy to oblige. What about the Asari? Well, we´ll get to that in a minute.

I didn´t get what my housekeeper meant when she said to get to lose a little. Perhaps she wanted payback from my constant teasing. But then why would she give me this chance? Why would she give me an invitation to the night club which was run by the so called Queen of Omega? No matter how big of a screw up was my life right now or how futuristic this reality looked? I didn't want to drop my second chance. I had always wanted to do something big with my life. Anyway, so I decided to take it. I never saw myself as a side line type. Just didn´t seem to have enough of an opportunity to prove it. It was a certainly a better mindset than to slowly go insane about it.

So, I was finally able to get to my destination only to be stuck in a queue. This place called Afterlife, turned out to be really popular for many kinds of people. There were spoiled people who didn´t give a crap about anybody. They thought they owned the place. Then, there were gamblers and drunks, simply just looking for luck to come to their way. Also, there were thieves. Being stuck in the queue meant being an easy target. An above this all of this chaos were bouncers. Who were trying to keep order among mortals customers? Well, at least in theory that was their purpose.

I could have sworn I heard multiple swearing, before I was able to get to the bouncer. Dude was getting clearly annoyed and I guess this was meant to be some form of punishment.

"You can go in…" he said as I shown him the invitation.

Soon as he cleared me, the whole swearing effect got even louder. I felt genuinely sorry for that guy.

So, I finally entered the famous Omega club scene, hurray to me right? Let´s be honest here. I´m not a fan of the electronic dub step slash techno music. I just can´t understand how can loud noise with drums can be considered music. When I think about electronic music I always think of the name Jean-Michel Jarre. This man was incredible. I remember watching of one of his concerts on TV. This was something completely new and innovative. I was sitting in front of the screen with my mouth open. It was also the first step for me to want to play the piano and eventually get a keyboard. Unfortunately, after some stuff I picked on the radio I lost faith with electric music. But enough of my little musical rant here.

After I mentally isolated myself from this club unwelcoming noise and confusion, I decided to crash the bar. I had entire club scene in my sight. The dance floor was in the center. It was where all the action starts and often finishes as well. Then, there were dancers in private booths, mostly Asari ones. I guess being sexy and powerful is something that draws people no matter where and who you are? And of course there was the VIP lounge. The Queen of Omega was rumored to inhabit one of those.

As for me…I seemed to be stuck next to an ex-military Turian, whiny human ex-husband and current Turian bartender. After decided to go mediocre then stand with the Turian leaving the drunk Human on the other side of him. As I drank my first drink I started thinking about my options. The way I saw it, I had to survive somehow. With my combat experience I doubted that I would be much of challenge. Of course I had to pick things up at some point, but as things went on right now being anywhere near guns didn´t seem like good idea to me right now.

With frustration I just turned over the glass and signaled for another. In the mean time my bar friends were in the middle of a relationship conversation.

"I just can´t believe - hic – she left me like that," the drunk human was saying. "I gave her everything you know - hic – Everything."

"Women," the Turian nodded sympathetically. "But sometimes you have to man up and move on."

"I just can´t," the man shook his head, "What I and Ellie had it was something wonderful."

"Clearly man," the other guy laughed. "You're looking through the bottom of the bottle. Look, let me show you how it´s done."

Despite already having some shots already, the Turian Casanova managed to get up relatively swiftly. The guy had clearly some alcohol resiliency. I was watching carefully while raising my eyebrows questionably. He just shrugged obviously not caring. This stuff he was drinking was probably nothing to him. I didn't know why but ever since the unintentional meeting with the Krogan I felt ashamed. Even though, I probably get my ass kicked but I thought of it as redemption.

The Turian was making his way towards the dance floor followed by his companion. There was currently one girl on the floor. I cautiously left my place. In my experience this could only end two ways and none of them were pleasant. I could see the man trying to sway in some sort of drunken dance with the girl but so far without success. But I could clearly see her discomfort when he touched her arm.

"…Let me go, you creep!" she screamed at the drunk who had dared to touch her.

I could clearly see that was the last bits of civilest dialog right before the slap.

"You bitch!" The Guy said.

Casanova was clearly hurt or at least his pride.

"Hey, hey," I jumped between the two supposed lovebirds. "Lady clearly said no!"

"Actually, she didn´t say –hic – no such thing." the drunk human gave his two cents.

"Shut up!" I said while I and the Turian agreed on this one.

"And what´s your stake on this human? This doesn't concern you." The Turian said

The military man wasn´t amused. I tried my best to control the situation.

"Let's just calm down here, I'm sure that we can all agree that we all had a very shitty day? So, let´s just called it quits and hug it out alright?" I said spying something in the corner of my eye.

I was really glad for my periphery vision. The second I finished my sentence my face would made contact with the ex-soldier's arm. However, much to my surprise I've was able to catch him then using his momentum to send him to the floor. That brought the crowd's attention and in matter of seconds there was a large circle. Fights must have been quite a thing on Omega. There were others who support the Turian and very small group who were obviously neutral. However, there were none in my corner.

"Come on, Marvin you lover boy get your drunk ass up!" somebody shouted from the crowd.

This was like a wakeup call for Marvin who got up slowly and then smiled.

"This one was for free." He said as his foot connected with my stomach and his paw in my face.

Surprised by the impact I fell backwards into my corner. Then I saw him launching towards me and I did one and only logical thing I could do. I kicked my legs as high as I could. I hoped it would stun him and give me time to get right back up. It did, momentarily but it was enough. I got right back up and with roar I took him down. I don´t know how long it took, but when the security from VIP separated us, my right hand was bloody and possibly broken.

I couldn´t see where they were taking me I was numb. Every inch in my body cried in pain. This pain rocketed right through me. When I was finally able to perceive I found myself sitting in VIP lounge in front of amused looking Asari.

Oh, crap.

...

A/N: (2)

As you probably noticed I´m a huge Jarre fan. If you had time look him up. He´s a really interesting person.