AN:Well, I have gone through this epic ordeal, I have seen things no person should see, faced sobering trials and tribulations...and this ordeal is called Exams.

Well now they are done, and there is now light at the end of the tunnel. So in recognition to the end of the exams, I am giving you an update to this short story on the same day my last exam was done.

Once again, I am really surprised with all the wonderful follows, favs and some reviews! Thank you everyone!

By the way, I made some minor alterations to Chapter 2, when Erza met her insane persona. Nothing too extreme but another aspect of Erza's super-biotics being unique from every other ME character known so far, I also included the new aspect of the biotic power in this chapter.

Also, this chapter will likely finalise everyone's thoughts as to who Erza is, in case any of you do not know yet. So let's just get this over with this

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, Mass Effect or any other implied series; this is Fanfiction for a reason.

"conversations"

"powerful being talking/Jutsu"

October 10th 2163:

Erza's eyes snapped open, she gasped and sat up, she was in her bedroom in the orphanage and it was still late at night, she was not in that forsaken alley and that insane personification of her was nowhere to be seen, for that she was thankful. It was at that moment when she realised what happened last night, the running, the alley, her near death and finally...him.

She looked around the room hoping to find him with her, but to no avail. It was then, Erza started to doubt...

Did her saviour Rikudou really exist, or was it just the product of her last speck of hope in a miracle? Some kind of cruel parody of a dream to keep her hopes up, only to squash it down when the heavy weight of reality came back? Perhaps, no one saved her; maybe the incident in the alley did not even take place. Maybe the scarred bastard was still alive, waiting to continue her torment, carve another word on her skin with that rusty knife or perhaps to kill her...

That dream, the moment she 'met' her insane other and what she said, it reminded Erza of what many people called her every day.

"We are freaks, aren't we?"

Erza started shaking, both her hands grabbing her head, her more lucid thoughts muddled from what her insane other had said, and from hearing what was essentially part of her admitting she was indeed a freak.

She heard that word so many times, been beaten to an inch of her life as often as she was called an abomination; so much so that over the past four years that she has lost count. Almost everyone whom met her, the kids in the orphanage, people on the streets, and her abusers, they kept saying the same thing over and over again, most of them after physically torturing her. She did not want to hear them, she did not want to let those hurtful words and all those pain get to her, but then again she was a still a kid she did not fully understand the her place in this world; rinse and repeat those physical and mental abuse, eventually she might just believe that perhaps they were right.

Well, that dream was proof that she was starting to believe what they called her was indeed correct; she was...everything they said she is.

Erza started crying again, four very painful years, everyone hated her, everyone despised her. Some would rather just kill her off or maim her if given the chance. If her saviour, Rikudou was just a part of a cruel dream, it meant everything would remain the same; she was still alone fending for herself. Suffice to say she was losing this very uphill battle, her mind was breaking, it was a matter of time before the people around her decided to end her life...or she would end it herself.

"Or YOU could end THEIR lives, so that all these pain can stop, wouldn't that be fun?" A clear and familiar voice sounded from the dark recesses of her mind.

She heard herself think, that much was certain, but at the same time she did not want to have that thought in her head. As much as she hated everyone around her, she still could not fathom the notion of fighting back. She wanted to be alone, but to kill was still too much for her to consider.

"nonsense Queen, you KNOW what you are capable of. WE know what we are capable of. What is mine is yours, you have to admit...when you saw those assholes dead in the most fucked-up ways possible I could feel your satisfaction. The dream was SO clear was it not? As crisp as a fresh spring morning..."

Erza tried to block off her darker side from talking, but the voice in her head remained strong. She knew what her voice of insanity said was very much true, she hated what she was for thinking this way, but all the same she enjoyed the moments when she saw their corpses in her dream.

Inadvertently, Erza's eyes started to glow a pale green, red lightning-like energy started to course through her. In her room, things started to float, the bed she was sitting on started to shake and so did everything else that were not floating.

" we are one of the same Queen, just admit you would rather skewer, cleave and mutilate every single one of those assholes, maybe liquefy their flesh leaving only their charred bones. They wanted to see a demon, they wanted to see a freak, let them see one. Let the image of a monster be the last thing they see before we rip their head off from their bodies. We have the power; all YOU need to do is embrace it."

Slowly but surely, Erza was becoming increasingly convinced by her insane other, her days in this hellhole were numbered. They would kill her eventually, so why not take the initiative and destroy them before they could reach her? After all, a part of her knew she could destroy them utterly, her other was aware of it...

Erza's face slowly contorted into a vicious grin, similar to the one displayed by her insane other. Her green eyes glowed brighter and a faint green fire flickered to life and both her eyes burned with a pale green flame, her eyes were literally on fire. The shaking in her room became even more violent and some of the floating objects around her started to break into pieces from raw energy emitting from her entire being. The red energy surrounding became more saturated and visible, very much the same in intensity as her insane other.

" here's the deal Queen, we will merge, we will be one as it should have been the moment I was born from this hell. Say yes, and you will gain power everlasting, power you should have rightfully used to make those you hate bleed, watch their life slowly flicker out...make them choke in their own blood! ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS ACCEPT!"

Her mind was almost at a breaking point, she just wanted all the pain to end, all those who wronged her to disappear, one way or another. If killing them could grant her this wish, this was certainly a fair trade, she did not need to hope, she did not need to take this hell any longer.

She was about to succumb to her darkest desires, but she did not notice her navel started to glow white, ancient marking light up. When that took place, she heard another familiar voice, not her voice of insanity, but rather the familiar voice of someone she thought was part of her imagination, part of her dream...

"keep strong and there will always be light in the darkest of abyss."The voice was merely a whisper, but was calm, warm and reassuring, the same voice of her saviour when he talked to her. Erza's train of thought froze, her desire to merge with her insanity slowly but surely waned. What was she thinking? How could she accept her insanity and become something she always hated to be, a monster?

"KEEP OUT OF THIS Ripple Eyes! Queen knows what she has to do! You better not interfere or I will rip out your intestines and strangle you wi..." her voice of insanity faded from her mind. Her mind was finally silent, after that very familiar whisper from her saviour; she managed to reel back her darker emotions, keeping it bottled up again.

The flames that covered her eyes subsided, the red energy coursing through her halted, and finally all the objects that were floating fell back down and the little furniture she had stopped shaking. It was then Erza suddenly slumped back to her bed, and she started to weep softly. She was so close to losing herself, so close to turning a part of Metropolis No. 11 into a massacre. They were right all along, she was an abomination, and her previous thoughts were evidence of that.

It was the she heard his whisper again from her memories, " You are special, an outstanding little girl who will grow up and make a difference in this world and perhaps beyond. I believe in you, but you must believe in yourself, even when no one else does."

She had her reservations when she remembered what he said, but she could not help but trust his words, even if they were real or not. She tried to muster whatever hope and faith she had left of her future, and hardened herself again.

Soon, her weeping stopped and she returned to an uneasy sleep, mentally drained from that ordeal, too tired to deal with the mess in her room.

Sometime later:

When Erza finally woke up again, she had took look at the clock by her side, it was late morning. She then looked around her room and scowled, it was a real mess with fallen and broken objects laying on the floor and everywhere else. At that point, she recalled what happened earlier... the objects floated again through her will and mind alone. Perhaps she could try something...

She raised her hand towards a book, willing it to come to her and she was certainly shocked with the results. She saw red energy coursing through her outstretched hand and the space between her and the book distorted and in less than a second the book was pulled through the air and into her hand. She tried to think of herself as a freak like they said again, but she tried to block that thought away. Erza certainly did not want to risk another mental breakdown and let her darker self take over.

So she tried to divert her thoughts away by packing up the mess she caused. By the time she had done it, she looked at herself, she did not take a shower yet and she had grime and dirt all over herself.

Erza went through the morning rituals and was about to take a shower, she felt somewhat lucky that the room she was given came with its own lavatory. After splashing some water on her face, she gave a big sigh and spoke to herself...

"Well Erza, happy birthday...you are ten today, make a wish...well I wish this year will not be a living hell, though that is a big ask." she ended her bitter statement and took a look at herself in the mirror facing the sink, her eyes widened marginally.

Whenever Erza look at herself in the mirror, she had expected a pale, bruised and almost sickly face looking back at her; years of malnutrition and physical abuse would do that but instead it was something different entirely. Her skin colour was still alabaster, but the blue-black colouration and bruises she had yesterday were gone and looked healthier, the dark circles surrounding her eyes were also gone, her emerald coloured orbs were usually dull, are now bright and filled with life.

And lastly, her dull red hair was now longer, before it merely falls to her upper back now reached to her waist and was a brighter and deeper crimson. These were not significantly drastic that people would actually notice outright, but she has grown acquainted to her sickly appearance that in comparison, she might as well have fox ears and a tail!

Erza became increasingly curious, and she started to scrutinise every part of her body where her wounds SHOULD be. She checked her arms, her legs and found that they were no signs of her accumulated injuries. The only sign of her once fatal wounds were faded scars, though still quite clear there was nothing else. When she finally reached to check her stomach, she gasped at what she saw.

Right there, on her navel was a very intricate series of patterns and markings circling it, with an odd spiral symbol at the centre. There were also words written alongside the patterns surrounding her navel which looked exactly like the words she saw in her dream. She had no idea where it came from but its sudden appearance concerned her.

Erza took off her clothes and rushed into the shower. She tried washing off the pattern with water and soap but it would not come off, it remained as vivid as before much like a well-made tattoo. After minutes of doing so, she just gave up and begins drying herself.

A while later:

She was now lying back on her bed, it IS her birthday and she felt she had the right to do something that did not involve being beaten up, belittled or insulted; so lazing around was something she wanted to do. She pulled up her shirt and looked at the drawn-up pattern on her stomach, there was something mesmerising and hypnotic about the patterns and the spiral; as she spent minutes after minutes just looking at its design and intricate writings, she almost could have sworn she saw the markings glow black and then white...odd.

She placed her palm on the now faintly glowing pattern, and upon doing so she felt a surge of energy coursing through her from the tattoo. It was calming but held the same power her saviour had!

She gave its sudden appearance a little thought; did this mean that what she thought was a dream could actually be real? Was Rikudou real? Before this she wanted to believe it was real but felt impossible, this tattoo was perhaps a sign that what happened last night was not a dream. This tattoo was perhaps his way of saying that there was still hope for a change. Erza felt herself lighten up marginally, and wondered why did she put so much effort into cleaning what was essentially a sign that things COULD change, a sign that someone out there cared for her? Perhaps when he saved her he gave her this tattoo. She did not know why, and if it was some kind of memento, it was a weird one.

Thinking about him and having the foreign energy flowing through her, she felt relaxed; Erza felt safe, protected and warm from the now familiar energy circulating in her system, and she felt her eyes slowly closing again. This may just be a slight semblance of a normal birthday she had so far throughout her short life, to feel relaxed and all her worries being kept at bay...

But like all good things, it had to come to an end...

She heard a knock and a familiar voice "Erza, ya come out a moment, need ta' hav a word with yer", with that Erza silently cursed she really wanted the whole day to herself, before continuing another year of hell in this god-forsaken slums. She considered ignoring the request, but from the way the owner of the voice spoke, she knew there can only be one person calling for her so that would not be recommended. She rose from her bed and reached for the door.

"Yes, Father Anderson?"

The orphanage was run by priest...Father Anderson was his name, but she just called him Anderson in private. He was a strict, holy-man and he was fair to all the children, the red-head believed that he was the only person whom did not care for the "magic" that she inadvertently displayed that fateful day. For that, he was the only person other than her saviour who is not on her community-wide shit-list. Though there was no hate, she had no other thoughts towards the keeper; he was too serious that it was practically impossible to actually like him.

As expected, waiting for her by the door was the impassive stern face of the orphanage keeper; he was a tall, well built man, wearing a long coat and a minister uniform under it. Chained around his neck was a very large cross he wore white gloves almost all the time. His eyes were slightly squinted, and he wore an antique pair of round (and very light-reflective) glasses, he had very short greyish-blonde hair. All in all, even if Father Anderson was not in her 1-mile shit-list which was saying something, his appearance was always intimidating and she could not help but feel nervous whenever he had his attention on her. Father Anderson also spoke in such a strong Irish accent; she often had problems understanding when he spoke too fast to her.

"I received a call from someone tryin' ta make an adoption', since its yer birthday today...I thought my gift.. would be yer get ta meet them first, no guarantee that they'll like wat' they see but wort' a try...aye?"

Erza was somewhat surprised, she was first to be considered for adoption which was quite rare. She believes that it was even a rarity in itself that someone would even consider adopting a child in this part of the city. Most parents wishing to adopt were pretty much from an upper class society and in her opinion, they had too much money and too few people to spend it on, so they try to 'invest' on a child and boost their reputation as 'kind' people for finding a little boy or girl 'from the streets' and raise them. She has seen so many celebrities on the television to come to that conclusion, pathetic.

She did not have high hopes for this, but regardless, this may be something remotely nice the orphanage keeper would ever do for her, so might as well just accept the offer since there is nothing to lose. She gave the Priest a polite nod; he told her to be ready in two hours time and left her to herself.

Although she was less than optimistic of her chances and she lacked trust in the parents coming to possibly adopt her...she continued to deliberate it and frankly she was starting to get nervous. It was still a chance to leave, to escape from this hellhole, almost anything else is better than living here! Whilst considering the prospects of adoption for about an hour, she became a nervous wreck; what if her they thought her to be a freak as well? Will they kill her too when they found out? Will she once again succumb to her dark desires and kill them instead? These were the chaotic thoughts running through little Erza's head, and it would be reasonable for her to think that way.

The tattoo on her stomach started to give out energy throughout her being, subtly calming her, almost saying 'everything will be all right'.

Though her thoughts were still too preoccupied with her current predicament to take any notice.

2 hours later:

Well it was now or never,

She was going down to Father Anderson's office; she heard the Keeper speaking to someone she could only presume were the people looking for a child to adopt.

"John and Jane...thos' nam' sound rat'hr...nondescript don't ya think?" Father Anderson spoke in his serious and impassive voice.

She then heard a distinctively feminine voice, trying to sound the same but failing somewhat, "Well, your name is also a little to the nondescript side don't you think...Mister Anderson?"

Silence...

Erza heard the feminine voice broke into a fit of laughter whilst she heard Father Anderson gave a light huff. "That's what you get for questioning my identity and my existence, BELIEVE IT!" Erza would have to admit that was quite a funny comeback, but she could not for the life of her laugh, giggle or even give off a faint smile. It was funny, but she just could not react to it.

On a side note, she had quite a bit of experience in her short life to know a verbal tick when she heard one. Ah well, might as well get it over with, the 'Mother' sounded friendly enough. With that she gave a knock, upon hearing Father Anderson's call to go in, she did so.

Obviously, Erza was starting to feel that fate decided to clump together all the surprises and shocks onto her person on one day. Starting things off, she had expected her prospective parents to either be stuck up blue-bloods, or overly nice to the point they were obviously pretending, but what she saw instead was NOTHING like any couple she envisioned.

The man who would be her father looked scarily similar to his saviour; similar facial structure, a little less tanned though. Unlike Rikudou, he had neck-length blonde hair which was slightly spiked; his eyes were a piercing ocean blue. He was wearing a casual military uniform. For most part, the blonde man had a calm and confident smile on his face.

When she looked at the woman, she nearly gaped; it almost felt like looking at her older self, the woman had deep crimson hair that was tied up to a ponytail, had fair but healthy skin; all in all she looked beautiful. Instead of her emerald green eyes, she had bright violet ones instead; she too wore a casual military uniform. Though her demeanour is the polar opposite of the blonde-haired man; while his smile was calm and restrained, she had a bright and almost childish grin on her face. Erza could not help but wonder if this was how she would turn out to be if she had a more...normal life.

Before she could verbally respond, the woman beat her to it.

"Oh my god, aren't you the most adorable little angel ever!" In mere seconds, Erza was forced by her likely older self into a bear-hug. She felt the air being forced out of her, and she was starting feel dizzy because she could not breathe...

"Jane, I believe that the child is struggling for air, and her face is turning blue could you kindly let her go so she can breathe again?" said the blonde man in an exasperated tone. The red-head woman let go of Erza and went to glare at the blonde man and argued back "well I don't see you getting excited, we are getting ourselves a DAUGHTER here and you just SIT there and say I am too violent for reacting to kids?! When did you become a cold-hearted bastard John?"

"I did not say you were violent Jane, I did not even imply anything like that. I merely asked that you give her some air. Besides, you were practically running to grab the child before I could do anything..."

"SHUT UP!"

Erza just blinked, here they were two people with such different characters arguing and bickering like an far older married couple. She had seen these in shows, couples yelling their lungs out but in the end they still love each other very much. She felt a slight pang in her heart, love...she heard that word off and on but never got the chance to feel it before, let alone understand what it truly means.

Father Anderson forced a loud cough to gain the young couple's attention, when they managed to calm them down, he diverted back his attention to Erza, "child, 'ere is Mr. and Mrs. Shepard, they are the couple lookin' fer a kid...and it looks like Mrs. Shepard has taken an interest in yer, I'll leave the girl with yer both, just to let ya get to know her more." Anderson then went to the door and left his office, leaving Erza and her prospective parents in private.

The blonde man decided to start things off, he gave Erza a polite smile and started "All right, I believe we should introduce ourselves in person rather than having...Mr. Anderson do the talking. I am John Shepard, and this here is my charming wife Jane Shepard. It is great to meet y-"

"HOLD ON A MOMENT! I can introduce myself thank you very much! *Jane narrowed her eyes* and what did you mean by charming anyway. Just because we are out in public does not mean I won't kick your ass for saying such a smart-ass response..." the now name John Shepard just pointed back to Erza. The woman, Jane just looked back at Erza and blushed in embarrassment.

"Uhhhh... looks like I'm not making a very good impression to you, am I?" Erza blinked, and just shrugged. The woman breathes a sigh of relief, believing that she can still make a good impression. So she started anew, by giving the younger red-head a bright and somewhat cheesy grin "how ya doing? As what 'Mr. has-a-stick-up-his-ass' said...", John interrupted her by saying "language", Jane just gave him a withering glare for a moment before she continued "... I am Jane Shepard, and as you can see I married Mr. Uptight over there, sometimes I wonder why I even bothered."

"Someone needs to keep you in line Jane, otherwise who knows what would happen to you. You have never been tactful when you speak to others AND you often adopt a fight-first-speak-later approach. Sometimes I wonder if we should switch roles..." John retorted, with a slightly more amused voice. Jane just gave him a pout by which the blonde man merely chuckled.

He then asked the little red-head girl "so, why don't you introduce yourself so we can get to know you better?" the woman looked back to the girl and gave her an encouraging smile. Erza was very hesitant to respond to them, she did not trust anyone and she did not want to be hurt when she started to place trust in someone only for them to crush it into dust and leave her alone again, but they seemed like nice people, one of them looks like her saviour, the other almost exactly like her. Yes she did realise how stupid that sounded in her head, coming to such a conclusion by appearance alone but leaving the orphanage and going with a family was way better than staying another year here.

She gave a soft sigh, might as well take a leap of faith and see where this goes.

"My name is Erza, no surname because I did not know my parents, and I am now ten years old. Nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Shepard" she kept her head down and her voice was subdued and bashful, she had no idea what else to say and for the most part she was still worried that they did not like her.

The Shepards apparently detected her distress so John decided to take over the conversation again, "that is a good start, Erza is a beautiful name. You said you are ten years old, so when is your birthday?"

Erza kept her head down replied in the same way she did before "...today is my birthday sir, 10th October..." she was met with a short silence, but long enough to be noticeable. What did she say wrong, that was the thought invading her head, did 10th October bring unwanted memories for them? She wanted to know so she looked up slightly to see what reactions her prospective parents had, she was once again not expecting to be embraced by the red-head woman and being yelled at as well.

"TODAY IS YOUR BIRTHDAY?! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO? AND WHY THE HECK DID MR. ANDERSON SAY NOTHING? OH MY GOD HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERZA!" Erza was shocked out of her words again, they were the ONLY people who actually wished her happy birthday period, Anderson over the years did not do so except for today, but even then he did not outright say "Happy birthday". The older red-head let go of her again, but Erza remained speechless her mouth was agape.

Once again, the blonde man seems to detect her shock and visibly frowned, "no one has ever wished you happy birthday before, did they?" She snapped out of her stupor and heard him, and was surprised that he could come to such a conclusion just by assessing her reaction. But nevertheless he was right, so she just mumble a "yes".

The man replied, "I have seen other orphans in here; all of them seem sociable enough with each other and sufficiently lively. But you...you are different child, you look sad and remained so throughout our time with you, and it does not look like you have any friends. Why is that the case?"

Erza froze; he asked the question she really hoped she did not need to answer. She could not dismiss that question because his observations were spot on and in all likelihood he would not believe her if she came up with an excuse. She looked back at the woman; she also had a curious look on her face and without a doubt expecting an answer too. Well, it had to happen eventually so might as well lay it bare right now rather than later.

"I-it's because..." she stopped talking and instead willed a pencil on Anderson's table to float and move on its own. The red energy visibly coursing through her arms again. "...they think I am a freak. I can do things other cannot...I can make things move without touching them. The adults, they say hurtful things to me, some hurt me, and the other kids...they just stay away from me. They say I am an alien, that I should not be here, an abomination." Well now that the secret is out, it was time to face the music. Erza was expecting the both of them to yell at her, give out the same insults, or just outright leave her alone; perhaps she placed too much faith in her situation...

"Foolish", she was right, "those people, they are foolish, all of them", and NOW she was wrong. Her head snapped back up, looking at the man and just to make sure her ears did not deceive her.

The man's face was contorted in silent anger, and his face was as cold as ice. He continued, "I did not expect anyone to treat a little child with such coldness and intolerance, for the sole reason of being different. Ripping away her innocence, her happiness and most importantly, her childhood..."

Erza directed her attention to the woman, her face was impassive and she gave her an order;

"show me your hands Erza, both of them" the little girl did not want to say no to that voice and did just so. The woman had a clear view of all the faded scars on her arms, which were still very much noticeable, especially a scar that looked suspiciously like the word "demon" that was carved on her skin. The woman gritted her teeth, struggling to rein in her anger.

The woman spoke in silent fury, "Okay, Erza tell me who hurts you and I swear I will end them." Erza did not know how to react to this, she was just too new to this experience, the feeling of being supported or having someone standing up for her. She remained silent, she wanted to say something but she could not do so. So she just shook her head, indicating there was no need to resort to such extremities.

The man stood up from his chair and approached Erza, he knelt down to her level, placed his hand on her shoulder and made eye contact with her, his face determined and his voice firm "you are special Erza, you are not a freak and we will never see you as one. From what I can observe, you are a sweet and polite little girl, a child whom has seen too much, and a child whom should NEVER have the eyes you have. Most importantly, you are a child ANY parent would ever want, do not at ANY point see yourself as anything less, you understand me?"

She felt a sudden surge of déjà vu, he sounded so much like her saviour that it was frightening. She was so close to falling into darkness and insanity a while ago, but it was her memory of her saviour which kept her from doing so. She hoped so hard that she could find the light at the end of the abyss of her pain, and was this really her chance to do so?

For the second time in so many years, she felt tears streaming out from her eyes, but they were not as much as last night and she certainly did not break down and cry. She managed to rein in the rest of her tears and tried to give the man the most appreciative smile she could muster, but fell morbidly short, appearing merely as a slight upward twitch of her lip. The man apparently understood her gesture in return gave her a small grin and hugged her softly, a while later the woman held down her rage and gave her a firm but more gentle embrace as well. For a moment there, she really hoped the moment could last forever, to feel accepted and protected the same feeling as when her saviour embraced her last night when she really lost control of her emotions.

Is this how love could feel like?

This moment lasted for minutes, and when the two adults parted with her, the blonde man declared "from this moment on, my wife and I have decided that you will be our daughter. We will take care of you, and protect you with all our strength."

The woman then said, "Our only request to you is that you will give us a chance, to be part of your life, and to accept us. I know it is hard for you to call us mother and father immediately, but if you give us a chance to get to know you better and for you to know us, perhaps one day we may deserve your acknowledgement."

Erza was...happy for the first time. She was happy that she did not have to go through this hell again, and that she could stand a chance to acquire something she knew so little of...love. She felt herself giving them a smile for the first time in her life, and her eyes welled up in tears again, but it was not tears of sorrow or pain. It was instead tears of joy, these two people alongside her saviour...Rikudou made her feel safe, gave her the will and desire to trust again. She wanted to give this man and woman a chance.

She gave them a nod, her weak smile still intact.

The blonde man, John Shepard ruffled her hair in a familiar manner and gave a light hearted chuckle. Turns out he was not as uptight as she initially thought.

Moments later, she was once again subjected to the tightest bear-hug from the woman, Jane Shepard, and once again she could feel the air leaving her.

"YAY! Erza is now part of the family, THIS IS SO AWESOME! I always wanted a little sister, think of all the great time we will have!"

"Jane, I think you mean mother, we ARE adopting Erza as a daughter, and please let go of OUR little girl before she suffocates..." Jane dropped Erza again, gave John a death glare and responded, "Are you implying that I am old John? Don't go there because you won't like what you see." With that the bickering started again, and for once in her short life, she was happy.

The tattoo on her navel seems to hum in energy, responding to her rare display of positive emotion.

John and Jane went through the formalities of adoption with Anderson, and thus it was made official; her name was now Erza Shepard, daughter to John and Jane Shepard.

AN: Not much action in this chapter, but then again this short story does not capitalise on fight scenes, more of setting up the plot and character development for my coming challenge. Though rest assured that this story is not over yet, still too much in my head so might as well use it all up.

Now you know who Erza is? I hope I expressed her inner conflicts well and how close she was to turning into a mindless murderer like some of the more infamous anime and games.

By the way, anyone notice what series influence did I get from Erza's revised biotic potential (hint her eyes).

What did we learn from this? Who is John and Jane Shepard, you might know the names as the default ME Shepard first names. But in this story, who are they really? Once again kind of obvious.

I will update when I can, faster if I get a sudden surge of inspiration or am very clear of the direction of the last few chapters. Please leave some comments or a review, I appreciate anything constructive! Until the next update

Druid