AN: Once again, thank you everyone for their supportive reviews and for those whom have added this story to their fav and follow list. I asked in the previous chapter who John and Jane Shepard are, I thank those whom gave a try. I have added a few hints into this chapter. Hope that this chapter turned out well. This is one of my first attempts at a fight scene. Let me just get on with it then;

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

"conversations"

"memories/written words"

Outside the orphanage, Erza gave one last look at the old building; hoping that she would never have to see this place again and to never be back in these slums. Crushing her last negative thoughts, she turned around and followed her now legal parents to the direction of their shuttle, her adoptive mother Jane holding her hand.

At least that was what she thought they were going to do until Jane decided to stop in her tracks half way and gave Erza a glance, her face lacking any visible emotion, but her eyes an undertone of rekindled rage and...malice. Apparently her adoptive father, whom is walking in front of them stopped and looked back to see why they stopped. His attention was diverted to Jane and his face holding a tinge of worry...perhaps knowing what her adoptive mother is thinking.

A few seconds later, Jane spoke, "remember what I asked a while ago Erza? About you telling me who gave your life a living hell?" Erza nodded, wondering why her adoptive mother decides to raise this question again.

"I told you I would end them and I was serious...so dear, could you please show me where those very mean people usually hang around. As a responsible mother who should stand up for her little girl, I will have to meet them myself and inform them of why bullying is very, very bad". Jane ended the statement with a deceptively soft smile, but it was likely anything but...

That smile was downright scary, suffice it to say that no one in the No. 11's slums was capable of drawing even a quarter of the terrifying aura that came out from her adoptive mother, and it was just from that smile no less. Erza really wanted to leave that problem at that but from Jane's look, it was very obvious that it was a 'nothing is going to change my mind' situation so what else could she do?

Erza was very aware of where the group of racist bastards normally gather, now why? It was because they used to drag her there once in a while so they can just escalate any of their twisted and sick torture on her, or just to avoid any alliance patrols or police . Keep in mind that since it was the slums area, there would be a lot of military and police surveillance around. Hence as much as she wished it was not the case, Erza was very well acquainted with their hideout.

30 Minutes Later

Jane's first words when they arrived at the gang's hideout, "Hmm, I was expecting some kind of abandoned building and I was right...abandoned warehouse, as generic as it can be for a pseudo-criminal gang or organisation with some ridiculous ideals. Sometimes I wish it was somewhere a little flashier like an elaborate military base in a very remote part of the galaxy housing hundreds of pro-human fanatics and thousands of mindless brainwashed super soldiers."

"Be careful what you wish for Jane, it could just happen...knowing our luck" Said John

It would appear that Jane has managed to persuade her husband to deal with Erza's tormenters in a more 'hands-on' manner. Initially, John recommended some form of formal crackdown on the thugs with his and her status in the military but it was shot down almost immediately. Jane wanted to personally see to their 'punishment' rather than having a group of Alliance soldiers and police rounding them up to prison.

Speaking of the abused child, she was downright nervous with her adoptive mother's decision. Essentially two people against a gang of perhaps hundreds will not turn out well. Due to her always being on the receiving end of the gang's wrath she did not have any confidence that anyone other than Rikudou could get rid of them. It had been less than three hours and she was worrying about her own parents rather than the other way around.

Erza tried to get Jane's attention and gave her a pleading look, hoping she would change her mind. Alas, calling her adoptive mother stubborn would be an understatement.

"Don't worry sweetie, me and daddy are going to handle those mean people, it's not going to take long." She the opened the back of the shuttle and pulled out a...sword?

Erza did not know what to think about the weapon, it was sheathed to she had no idea how the blade looked like. The hilt itself had a strange silver coloured L-shaped guard, a slick black grip with crimson lining and a silver pommel. She cought passing glimpses of swords in her dream but that was the most she actually knew about them. Though she was aware practically no one uses a sword, they were relics of the distant past.

John approached his wife and whispered "You are really serious aren't you Jane, the last time I saw you use a monomolecular blade was during the Contact Wars."

His wife looked back at him with a blank look and gave her reply "Believe it that I am serious. By the way, you have the 'permissions' covered?"

John gave an audible sigh "yes, I will see to the paperwork, just don't kill too many of them." Jane said nothing and started her walk to the warehouse entrance. He saw Erza was getting increasingly distressed, possibly the prospect of Jane and himself against a large group of thugs. So he decided to alleviate her fears;

"Don't worry Erza, both of us can handle a group of thugs no problem. Now just be a good girl, stay here and we will be out soon. God will bring pain on those lowlives." John said the last sentence to himself, but Erza's ever strong hearing caught it.

Erza remained doubtful as of yet and the last thing he said was very strange, but she did not want to show her doubts lest she inadvertently offended them. So she tried to calm herself down and gave a light nod to her adoptive father. John gave her a small smile, turned to the direction of the thugs' hideout and took out a...dagger from his side holster?

His weapon of choice confused her as well; she would have expected him to take out a firearm but instead resorted to more up-close weaponry, the dagger was of an unusual shape, it had a black leather-like grip, a metal ring at the base of the handle, its blade was tri-pronged and was sharp from her observation. As John held on to it in a reverse grip, the blade glowed a faint yellow.

John looked back at Erza, and caught her questioning gaze, he gave his adoptive daughter a light smirk, almost as if saying "don't worry yourself so much". He turned back to the direction of the warehouse entrance and followed after his wife.

Erza stood there for a moment, she considered just standing by the shuttle since she had less than pleasant experiences in the hideout. But her worry overrode her discomfort and so she decided to follow them and find a hiding spot and a clear view of what was about to happen.

Inside

Jane and John looked around, it was a typical warehouse turned hideout in their opinion; illegal weapons, drugs, beds, tables for gambling and hundreds thugs occupying them. Said thugs were walking around acting menacing and aggressive, especially so when they detected the both of them. It looks like they too had a pre-conceived mind that people from the Alliance were 'alien sympathisers' as they so put it, and given that they were the only one in the hideout and there was hundreds of them, it was reasonable to deduce that they thought them easy to intimidate.

The Shepards wondered, by the end of their little visit, who would be the one to be intimidated, if any of them were still breathing?

Erza followed her parents into the warehouse but hid herself by some crates and empty containers in the darkness but still offered a clear view of her parents. She prayed to any god, perhaps to Rikudou himself to make sure they would make it out of this encounter alive.

John and Jane walked a little further in until they reached a makeshift meeting room. Sitting on one of the seats was a rather short, overweight man. His face was greasy and sweaty, his eyes squinted, and he wore marginally better clothes compared to the other thugs, signifying he was a boss of some kind. He caught eye of the two intruders, but they lingered a little longer on Jane. Jane knew exactly what the man was thinking and gave off a fierce scowl.

By the time they stopped walking, the thugs in their general direction diverted their full attention to the couple and were crowding around them, some were on the upper floors of the warehouse and had M-8 Assault Rifles, they also had full view of the couple.

Erza was getting VERY worried and angry now, she caught eye of the fat bastard many times. When his thugs dragged her here, he was always there to witness her physical torture, always with that hideous evil smirk. During the odd times, when her insane persona took slight hold of her emotions, she felt she would really enjoy to rip off the bastard's eyes from his sockets and feed them to him , perhaps grab a knife and cut off his lips so his disgusting...Erza realised the direction her mind was taking and tried to rein in her rage before it took her over. She placed her full attention towards her parents.

Both Shepards stood in the centre of the makeshift room, giving off hard glares at the obese man, John's eyes were cold, whilst Jane's were filled with fury. This lasted for a good few seconds before the obese man started.

"Well, this is certainly an unexpected visit, two people from the Alliance no less. It is a wonder how the two of you managed to get here in the first place, I wonder who led you here. However, I should just ask, to what do I owe this pleasure?".

"You should know why we are here, 'Sons of Adam', a pro-human gang with numerous records of murders of Asari, Quarian and Salarian visitors and immigrants. You have been causing quite a bit of trouble for the Alliance, and it is about time we bring a stop to this." John responded in a hostile monotone.

The fat man raised his eyebrows, and spoke loudly to the rest of the now armed thugs "Oh really? Well I suppose this is the end of our little group of freedom fighters then?!" A short pause, and loud booming laughter could be heard across the warehouse. The man then turned his attention back to the Shepards "There is certainly more to it that this, the 'Sons of Adam', are just a humble brotherhood, certainly the death of a few abominations would not leave too much of an impact to render the attention of Two Alliance members. So might I hazard a guess that you being here is somehow related to...a young red-headed girl by any chance, perhaps someone who looks almost exactly like you perhaps." His gaze lingered on Jane again. "You know, if she wasn't a freak of nature, she would have made an outstanding beauty, I may have even 'de-flowered' her when she was old enough, but since she is a freak, I just feel so...revolted just thinking about it. Perhaps you might just fill that role now..."

Erza shivered in disgust, anger and fear at what the monster said, he was not just a danger to her, but to anyone else who caught his eye in the future. She really hoped he would die a very painful death. Alas she was not strong enough to do it herself, and to her it still looked morbid for her adoptive parents, the number of armed thugs were just too many...

Jane seemed to have snapped, and in a smooth motion unsheathed her her sword, Erza had a clear view of the blade, it was single edged, and razor sharp. The blade shone with a silver light that was present in the hideout. John followed her example and held on tightly to his tri-pronged dagger.

Jane shouted in unbridled rage, "YOU SLIME OF A MAN, ASSHOLES LIKE YOU DESERVE NOTHING ELSE BUT DEATH! I'LL BE DOING EVERYONE ELSE A FAVOUR BY CASTRATING YOU AND SLICING OFF YOUR HEAD!" The thug all had their firearms focused on Jane, she did not give them any mind, her wrath focused entirely on the fat man. John held his dagger in a ready position. The lower part of his legs had blue energy coursing through them, whilst Jane's arms glowed discreetly. These details were surprisingly unseen by the thugs but Erza could see them.

The fat man gave a hysterical laugh before saying, "I would like to see the both of you try, I have hundreds of men in here, and all of them armed, so BIG TALK! Put down those useless, primitive toys of yours, should have considered bringing guns instead don't you think?" Seeing the two of them unmoving, he gave his thugs the order, "Kill the man, keep this gorgeous woman alive I want to spend some time with her. After that, find the little freak, and make sure she dies slowly and p...". He did not get a chance to finish that statement when he saw a glowing blue chain of energy surged toward him and in less than a second pierced through his nether regions, moments later smoke came off it and a distinct burning sound and smell came off.

The fat man wailed in agony, the chains were solid, like real metal and it was searing hot to boot. The chains came directly off from Jane's now open palm, appearing out of thin air. In a few seconds, the chain-like energy dispersed in a burning hot mist and the fat man fell to the ground yelling his lungs out. The thugs around them were confused for a short moment but soon snapped out of it and poised their weapons at Jane.

They were about to pull their triggers when close to 30 of the same blue energy chains came out of Jane's back, each surging towards an armed thug and in seconds hit their mark and impaled them through the gut. The remaining thugs finally opened fire, hoping to kill the crazed red-head but were met with a nasty surprise that was awe-inspiring at the same time. Jane placed her whole self towards the firing thugs and moved her blade in blinding speed to intercept the approaching bullets, deflecting each and every round that came towards her without fail.

Erza would have dropped her jaws, but after years of hardship she could rein in a large portion of her emotions, instead she had widened eyes. Was that even possible? She looked closer and saw that her mother's arms had energy coursing through them much like her father before the fight. She watched as the chains dispersed upon impalement and new one came out from her mother's back and went on to hit new target. All along she was able to deflect each and every bullets that came her way. The death toll was rising rapidly for the thugs.

All the time, they ignored John since Jane is putting up a very BIG show. Erza diverted her attention to her father, he had an almost bored look on his face but his eyes were showed hawk-like awareness. He apparently caught eye on a few thugs behind Jane, some on their floor and others on second, they had their guns raised towards her back, that was when he took action.

John's whole body was charged with the same energy and his body suddenly flashed with a bright light. It died down seconds later and he literally disappeared, Erza look everywhere else and then towards the thugs whom caught his father's attention, only to see them all dead with their throats slit. She saw her father on the upper floors of the warehouse, and he 'blinked' towards another group of thugs. In less than a second, they too fell to the ground dead.

Erza was awed, and almost confused, what type of people were her parents to fell hordes of ARMED men in mere seconds? Was this what her father meant when he said it would be easy...and just when did she stop calling them by their first name or having 'adoptive' placed in when thinking about them?

Now the thugs numbered to around forty, and all of them were in a state to panic. So what do armed thugs do in a state of panic? They bring out bigger guns, and one such thug brought out a 21st century LAW rocked propelled grenade. They were old, but still packed a hell of a punch. Seeing that Jane was the best target since she as pretty much stationary, the thug poised the LAW in her direction and fired away, hoping that it could finally kill the crimson haired Instant-death machine.

John saw this and flashed to the direction the rocket was heading towards, Erza saw this and outright panicked! What the heck was he doing? That is a goddamn RPG!

Her panic subsided and was replaced with more confusion when her father raised his dagger in front of him, facing the oncoming rocket, the blade glowed a bright blue and a black-hole like singularity erupted at the front of the blade, the rocket was engulfed into it and the singularity dispersed...he just literally made an RPG disappear. The thug whom fired it was speechless, and had a look of sheer hopelessness.

The singularity appeared again in another part of the warehouse close to a crowd of surviving armed men, the RPG charged out from it, and exploded. This killed off 7 of them. That was it, the thugs were severely demoralised. What was essentially over 200 men in the hideout were now around 15. Some of them decided to place their guns into their mouths and fired, that left about 9 men. The remainder were about to lower their guns and surrender but, the extremely pissed off older red-head beat them to it by literally sprinting at inhuman speeds to their position and sliced off their head with her sword. Now, all the thugs were dead, leaving the fat bastard the only one alive but only barely.

He saw everything, that Red Habanero of a woman killed so many of his men and supporters with such ease and in the most gruesome way possible, he was very sure he was watching a demon. The blonde man could literally bend space to his will and in seconds, so many of his men were killed off as well. He wanted to live!

There was movement in the air and he looked up, he saw the man and the woman, but in between them was...her, the little freak he alongside his scarred partner whom mysteriously disappeared always tormented and tortured. But there was no time for petty remarks, he needed to beg for his life. So begged he did.

"Please...please let me go, I will do anything! I will get a clean slate, live a new life! I will even apologise to the girl, you want money? I have a lot, I could..." he was cut off from his pathetic begging with a clean slice of his head by the older red-head. John already had Erza's eyes covered, and led her out of the hideout. He made a call to Alliance police to clear up the mess. Jane flicked her blade clean of blood, sheathed it and followed soon after out of the warehouse, her face impassive, almost stone-like and her anger fully dissipated. "Good riddance, scum like you are a plague to humanity..." was the last thing she mumbled.

Minutes Later

No long after, a few shuttles arrived bearing Alliance Insignia, and soon squads of Police started to flood in the hideout. Suffice to say it was a mess in there, even the fire outbreak dispatch was needed due to the RPG's explosion. Erza looked at the various people going through their tasks and cleaning up the mess, she would have expected to be shell-shocked , disgusted or frightened by the sheer display of violence from her parents but that was given that she was a normal girl, which she is not. Replacing those sentiments, were the feelings of awe, and joy. Awe from the display of John and Jane dispatching those thugs with nothing but a sword and a dagger, and joy knowing that her parents were very much alive and unscathed from the encounter. She did not mind that death was occurring in front of her back then, she outgrew that stigma a long time ago.

She was sitting by her parents' shuttle, Jane was next to her with the older red-head's arms wrapped around her. John was talking to what she assumed was commander for the Police dispatch whom arrived at the scene. Soon, John walked back to them, he was muttering something under his breath that sounded like "damn paperwork". Soon both of her parents were by her side, concern in their features. John decided to voice out said concern,

"So Erza, are you alright?", she was a little confused with what he meant by that, all she could do was blink. But her very developed little head soon caught up what he meant, her father was asking her how she felt watching the death of so many, and in her mother's case, in a reasonably violent and graphic manner.

Erza put on a small reassuring smile and gave her step-parents a small nod, John and Jane scrutinised her for a short moment, making Erza a little nervous. Moments later, their concern was now replaced with regret and slight guilt? This time Jane spoke,

"I'm sorry sweetie...I just got too carried away. You shouldn't be one to see that, their deaths and the way they died...it's my fault, I allowed my anger to get the best of me. What kind of mother am I?" Her step-mother's eyes were slowly tearing up, the more she spoke. Erza did not want to see one of the only people who now cared for her to cry, so she nudged her repeatedly trying to reassure the older red-head that she was fine and what had happened did not affect her in any way. Soon enough, her step-mother calmed down, and she looked somewhat relieved and impressed with Erza's show of mental fortitude. Her step-father decide to voice this out.

"You are a strong girl, to look at so much death like it was nothing and still remain so resilient and unaffected...though such resilience is something that no child your age should ever have. Those monsters deserved what was coming to them. They will never hurt you anymore Erza, you can now move on to a new life, a life as our daughter." John gave Erza a firm hug again, whilst Jane gave her a light kiss on her forehead.

The young red-head was still very unused to all this show of affection, she was also shocked to the core to know that her adoptive parents were willing to go so far just for her, they were willing to KILL just to protect her, even if she would never see those monsters again. She did not know why they would do such a thing for someone whom they met for just a good few hours, but from the moment she met them, there was an odd feeling that what they did were very much sincere and they genuinely cared for her. Perhaps it was times like these that such discrepancies have no explanation...they just happen. They loved her immensely and right now Erza was willing to open up her heart, for these two people whom left such a large impact on her, as much as Rikudou.

"Mother...Father...thank you." Erza said in a soft, small voice, but it was said very clearly. Both Shepards heard her; John gave soft smile whilst Jane's face lit up.

"Come on sweetie, time we get out of this place, and we ain't ever coming back, believe it!" the shuttle car opened and Jane helped Erza into the back seat. Before anything else happened however, Erza realised what she wanted to ask and was about to do so, but Jane beat her to the punch,

"Wondering how we did those awesome stuff, well that is called...biotics, the power of being AWESOME!" Jane declared proudly, John just face-palmed at her wife's antics, but decided to break the truth to Erza and her potential.

"Biotics, was what you performed when you met us, but you are special. No one your age should ever be able to do what you did and yours was red instead of blue." John said almost proudly, but his face darkened slightly and he continued, "but do not let anyone else know you can do it Erza, not until you are at least fifteen, you can try it at home and we will train you but it is very important no one knows about it yet. Promise me that Erza."

Erza nodded furiously, after all it was because she demonstrated this power...biotics in public that she had to live so many years of hell. She was more than willing to keep this under wraps. Who knows what would happen if other people knew about this, Erza mentally shuddered thinking about that prospect. With that said and done, John took the driver seat and Jane sat next to him in the front.

Later

Whilst in the car, Erza felt exhausted; but instead of physical exhaustion which was so common to her, it was instead emotional. The surge of such foreign feelings and the 'display' she was subjected to made her feel so drained, so the moment she was in the car, she wanted the familiar aura of her saviour enveloping her, calming her, so she placed her palm under her shirt on her stomach where her tattoo was. The surge of ever-present energy returned to her, she could almost hear it hum. Despite having parents now, the person whom she really missed was still her saviour, his face and his eyes were forever ingrained into her mind. One day, she promised herself to see him again, and thank him for that key moment in her life. For saving her from death, turning her luck around, and finally giving her faith again.

There was a comfortable silence until...

"Hey Erza are you hungry?" asked her mother.

Erza wanted to say no, but her stomach begged to differ and hence a rumbling sound was heard. Jane giggled while she blushed.

"I'd take that as a yes then! Anything you would like to eat?" Erza just shook her head.

Frankly speaking, she had no idea what she wanted to eat. All those years in the orphanage did not really help in developing her personal tastes; it had always been plain bread, or some kind of saturated nutrition gruel.

A long story short, she had no preferences because she has never ever tried anything else.

"OOH how about RAMEN!" declared her mother, but her father gave an exasperated noise.

"Not again, we had that this morning, and last night for dinner. I think it is much more responsible for us as parents to take her somewhere where there is a healthy variety of -"

"Johnny, shut up or I'll kill you" her stepmother said in a VERY sweet voice. She could see her deceptively gentle smile again, and she was terrified. Her stepfather still kept a calm look, but she could see faint drops of sweat on the side of his head.

"Perhaps...it would not be such a bad idea; I suppose she has not tried ramen before..." Jane looked back at Erza, she gave a furious nod.

"THEN IT'S SETTLED!" cheered her stepmother, with that they head to one of the ramen bars they both frequented on Earth. Erza was curious what ramen was, though she did not realise the energy radiating off the tattoo on her stomach hummed...gleefully?

Few hours later

Being the first thing she ate that was NOT tasteless, Erza thought that Ramen might as well be the food of the GODS. That being said, it was likely that even if she had anything else, she would still enjoy this steaming hot bowl of noodles the most. She could not believe that she had taken NINE bowls of this.

But this was nothing compared to her mother, Jane had a miraculous fifteen bowls, if Erza was not busy feeling so satisfied with her first wonderful meal, she would have wondered how herself and her mother could fit so much food in their small frames.

Her father only had two bowls, but for most parts he was unaffected by the quantities his wife and daughter ate, perhaps he was used to all these and had come to expect it.

"AH that hit the spot! Still better than Citadel's." Jane gave a happy sigh and rested her head on the counter.

"Moving on, so Erza how was your first real meal?" John asked his daughter, his response was a loud burp from the younger red-head. Erza immediately blushed a deep crimson and tried to hide her face. The shop owner gave a hearty laugh.

"That is a gorgeous little angel you have there Shepard, looks a lot like your wife, though her eyes are such a beautiful green, I should know, I've been to Ireland." Erza became increasingly embarrassed from the man's compliment and her blush turned full bodied.

"That she is, we adopted little Erza from an orphanage. She is sweet little girl, but she experienced a little too much hardship, and too little happiness." John commented a little solemnly.

"Hm adopted you say, there is so much resemblance. The universe works in such interesting ways, some might call it god's will. Never been one to believe those stuff though." Replied the owner.

"Oh Yeah! It's your birthday Erza and we need to find you a present! What do you want, come on spill!" Jane snapped up from her short nap and started shaking the younger red-head. Erza herself never really thought about birthday presents before, if she could have one whole year without problems or sadness, it was more than enough.

"October 10th is your birthday? Well this humble shop owner wishes you a happy birthday. Tell you what, the nine bowls of ramen you had, it's on the house. Think of it as my gift to you." Erza's responded to that by rubbing her head and giving a sheepish look. If she knew he was going to give her food for free, she would have taken less. After all, credits are very hard to acquire and she did not like taking food off people. But her mother thought differently,

"Awesome, thanks old man!" John shook his head from his wife's lack of respect for others, he then asked the owner for the bill.

"Let's see, that will be 102 Credits." declared the store owner with a happy glint in his eye and a shit-eating grin, John gave an audible sigh and paid the owner. Suffice to say any ramen store that had them as a customer will always declare them, or Jane to be their best customer.

After paying for it, Erza and her parents left for their house, her new home.

Shepard Residence,

Erza was surprised to say the least, her parents' house was a far cry from what she was used to. It was an apartment in the heart of the city, a very big house (to her) that could fit four people in it. Her room was clean, and well furnished and it came with a bathroom. Her parents saw her gaping at every little detail of their house, and trying to keep herself from touching any of them in case they broke. They could not help but laugh, and feel a little saddened by it, these little luxuries and comforts were so highly valued by the young girl, whilst other kids with better lives only take these little things for granted.

Erza was given some privacy to clean herself up and put on more comfortable clothing, which was limited to shorts and t-shirts and were often too baggy for her. Jane decided one day they will need to get her something more comfortable to wear that did not make Erza look like a starving child.

After freshening herself, her parents took her for a tour around the apartment. It was reasonably well furnished with a large living room, and VERY well equipped with a VR Television. There was also a kitchen but it looked far too clean for it to have ever been used, all the appliances looked practically brand new...

Finally, there was a training room which contained a large assortment of weapons in it. In the training room there was a large picture by the side of the walls and some writing below it. Erza was curious once again, and gave a questioning look to her parents.

"By all means, go ahead. This is now your home after all." responded her father so Erza approached the picture.

It was an electronic photo, in the setting was in some kind of grassy battlefield with buildings in the distance. In the sky was a large strangely-shaped superstructure that had a bright blue light at the centre. Standing at the centre of the photo were six individuals all of them bearing stoic expressions.

Erza instantly recognised her mother and father, they were at the centre of the picture, though much like the other individuals she did not know of, they had a serious expression on them. They had their weapons she saw them use in their hands, her mother with her sword and her father with the dagger. They wore armour pieces with an 'N7' on them. She had a look at the other four individuals, all of them bore the same symbol at different parts of their attire;

To the far left was a man who had a rebreather that resembled a late 21st century gas mask covering his entire face and his head , only leaving his brown eyes visible. He wore clothes similar to her parents when she met them for the first time but had slight more armour to it. He too had an 'N7' symbol as an armband. Unlike her parents, he did not hold any weapons but there was a pistol holstered to his side, and he had his right arm resting on its holster.

Next to him was a dark-skinned man wearing light, fabric-heavy armour, he had a blonde goatee and wore a plated bandanna with the symbol. He was wearing dark coloured military-grade protective goggles that covered his eyes. He was holding what could possibly be a shotgun with his right hand, resting it on his shoulder relaxingly.

To the far right was a heavily armoured and bulky individual, Erza had to guess was a man as well. His appearance was fully covered by his armour and helmet so there was nothing else she could discern from it. His N7 symbol was on the side of his chest-piece. He too was not having his weapons on him, preferring to keep it on his back.

The last person, to the left of the armoured individual was another woman, though she looked significantly different from her mother, she too had brown eyes like the man in the gas mask, but instead of red hair, the woman instead had dark green hair that reached her upper back and one long and short strand of hair with orange tips framing both sides of her face. She wore a cloak, and beneath it was light tight-fit black armour. She had a VERY large scoped rifle that was placed on the floor and leaning on her person. Her N7 symbol was on her forearms.

All in all, the people in the photo were very diverse in appearance, all of them looked different to the point that it would have been so unlikely for them to be in the same place, but here they were, and obviously closely associated to this 'N7' group Erza suppose since her parents were in the military, they must have either been teammates or friends.

Then she looked at the written message below the photo,

"People's lives do not end when they die, it ends when they lose their faith." below it was another,

"Be it for peace, order or to protect, faith and purpose drives us and they might just make the impossible achievable."

"See the gas mask guy? He came up with the first half of the message, it didn't help that he had a large stick up his ass but he is okay. The second half of the message...I have no idea where that came from." Her mother stated. Erza had to face-fault at that, that was very anti-climatic.

She thought back of the message, her parents had a purpose, they were part of the military. They fought and they protect, every single person in the photo fought for whatever purpose they had. Erza was now in a dilemma, what was her purpose? What did SHE want to do for herself? Did she even have confidence that she could make a difference?

Then she thought of Rikudou, her saviour and what he said;

"Grow up strong, grow up brave, and when you are strong, protect others in need, do what is right."

That was what he said to her, before meeting her parents, she did not know how she could be stronger. But now she knew what she wanted. John and Jane Shepard were her parents, someone precious to her, Rikudou saved her from falling to darkness, he had faith in her when no one else had, he was precious to her and Erza wanted nothing more than to meet him again. She wanted to be stronger to protect those precious to her, and to help those who could not. She made a decision that would give her that strength.

"Mother, father...I know what I want...for my birthday." She declared softly, but it did not lack in firmness. John and Jane were surprised by her sudden statement, but nevertheless motioned her to go ahead.

"I want to join...the Alliance military. I want to get stronger, so I can protect others in need, and to make a difference in this world, to change it for the better." She looked up at her parents, her emerald green eyes shone in determination.

Both her parents remained speechless for a short while, her mother looked deep in thought, whilst her father gave her a response, "is that really what you want Erza? Being a soldier will be hard." Erza in return gave a firm nod to her father, and received a nod back.

She continued, "I also want to train in my powers, I want to master biotics and control them, so I won't hurt others with it." Both of her parents nod back at her, and she could see their faces, they once again looked impressed with her determination.

Her father voiced out again, "That can be done, when do you want to join, I recommend starting next year during..." Erza nudged her father lightly so she could respond to him, "I would like to start now father, please."

He blinked, Erza saw him considering her request and after a short moment, he said "are you really sure Erza?" She gave him a nod again, her father gave her a calm smile and replied "you must be the toughest and most stubborn little girl I have ever met, other than your mother." her mother huffed slightly hearing that.

"I will organise your enrolment to the academy, and you will meet with the Chancellor there, he is an old friend of ours. Your mother will kickstart your biotic training, and I too will help you along with learning it." Her father noted.

"BUT, we will start on that NEXT week. You should rest up until then sweetie, but don't worry because next week we will begin your tor- I mean training, okay?" Jane interrupted with a kind smile, but Erza knew better.

Her parents urged her to rest for the night, but Erza had one more question,

"Mom, dad, what is N7?"

The older Shepards looked at each other, Jane decided to answer "N7...is a little group of ours in the military. Myself, your father and the other people in that photo you saw are the founders, the first members!" Her face turned boastful " You could say we are the best of the best, and your father and Gas Mask Man hate adding people into it. Always wanted the whole 'exclusive' feel to it so they put in some ridiculously hard test for anyone wanting to join...but who knows, maybe you can."

John continued, "you will know more about N7 soon, for now rest Erza, you must be tired."

Erza was still curious, N7 according to her mother was 'best of the best', she wanted to know more about it. But that will have to wait, she was too exhausted to think right now.

AN: Here we are, another Chapter for all of you, it turned out to be a little longer than I had expected. I really hope I did the fight scene good enough, I am still practicing on that at the moment.

What did we learn from this chapter? I have added a little more hints as to who John and Jane Shepard are, and I also added some character pseudo-appearances at the end, do you know who they are?

Reviews are greatly appreciated, I will also consider anything constructive. Learning never ends after all. Thanks!

Druid