Chapter Two

The top of the stasis pod split apart swinging down to the sides and onto the ground. Milena began to slowly lean over to try and capture a glimpse of what was possibly inside. Cold air rose up from the pod. What was inside had caused Diane to pass out from sheer shock. Milena didn't even notice her friend fainting because she was so entranced by their new inhabitant. What lay inside the pod was a Prothean.. A living Prothean.

It had taken a few moments for all of the frost around the Prothean to evaporate. The alien slowly twitched, eyes opening and looking around. The Prothean's mouth opened as sights were taken in. Leaning up he reached over to his side as if reaching for a gun that was no longer by his side. The alien shot up at the sight of Milena and started backing away from her. Not realizing the side of his stasis pod was next to his leg, he fell over and onto the floor, spooked at the whole situation. Not knowing what to do Milena just held her ground, careful not to make any sudden movements. She didn't know who she was dealing with or what to expect. The best thing to do was to remain still and non-threatening. The Prothean slowly stood up, quickly gathering what strength he had. He had been sleeping for 50,000 years after all.

"Beysha vron thana, dayvek va?" the Prothean suddenly spoke. His voice was rich, slight sub-harmonics underplayed his voice much like the Turians. Confused Milena only shook her head.

"Beysha vron thana, dayvek va!?" The Prothean asked again. His voice was more strained with confusion and fear.

Without realizing it Milena felt herself being grabbed by two very alien hands. A serious flood of memories and feelings poured into her head. She felt warm but weak. She could see images of Reapers, indoctrinated Protheans, warriors, civilians, all fighting for their lives. It was an epic battle that lasted thousands of years. She could see the fall of the Prothean empire around her when suddenly the memories pulled away from her. Reality came slamming back into her when she fell to her knees. The Prothean standing in front of her looked dazed. Putting her hand up to her head, she closed her eyes. Milena's head pounded from the serious exchange between her an the Prothean.

"I asked you what year it was, young one. I now know." The Prothean's rich voice was quiet and almost pained.

"50,000 years after you entered your sleep." Milena opened her eyes an looked up at the Prothean standing in front of her.

The woman slowly rose up from her knees and brushed her hands off, observing the Prothean standing before her. He looked pained, haunted an almost empty. From that exchange of memories she understood. Everything he had ever known was ripped away, his family, his friends, his dreams and hopes. He wasn't allowed to hope.. There was never hope.

"Did my Empire fall?" The Prothean asked.

"Yes," Milena responded quietly.

"I am the last one?" He asked

"No, The Reaper war has come full cycle.. But a soldier named Commander Shepard found another Prothean named Javik who is currently fighting as we speak, you are not the only one." Milena's voice grew more warm, hoping it would lighten the heavy atmosphere.

"Yet I am one of the last, my empire still fell and now there are only two of us left. How are we supposed to rebuild from that? What hope does this cycle have to rebuild on? My empire failed." The Prothean was stark and grim.

"Yet is still fighting 50,000 years later and progress has been made. One must not give up complete hope," Milena strained.

The Prothean almost spoke but slowly closed his mouth and breathed outwards. It was obvious he was shutting off the very words he wanted to say. Closing all four of his eyes he turned his head to the left and sighed. Opening up his eyes he looked over at Milena an nodded.

"I am Teyshan Shek Athan Nirvak, soldier of the Viran command. If you oppose the Reapers, then I will not oppose you," The Prothean quietly replied. With a hint of relief, Milena nodded in response. Her arms dropped down to her sides and she began to relax once more.

"Milena Denneth, retired soldier of the Human Alliance." She paused. "You have a very long name. You don't mind if I just call you Teyshan do you?"

"That is fine human," the Prothean nearly cut her off.

"Milena."

"Milena." He nodded.

Looking back from the sight before her Milena saw that her friend Diane had slowly started waking back up. Rushing over to her side, Milena helped her friend sit up from laying on the ground an to get her comfortable.

"Oh my, Milena do you see?" Diane questioned.

"Yes his name is Teyshan. He was a soldier just like I was," Milena smiled warmly.

Teyshan only looked at the two women with hollow emotions. It was a lot to take in, sleeping for 50,000 years only to wake up to find everything gone and two crazy women almost admiring you. Milena looked back at the Prothean. He was tall and muscled. His armor looked different from what she had heard Javik wore. It was a dark black in color, the flare had caused part of it to reflect green back in color. His armor covered much of his body, the pauldrons large. His skin was a beautiful tan in spots, blue in others, the carapace on his head was dark. The Prothean's eyes looked like they had seen the sights of horror but did not judge. He didn't speak much but observed everything around him.

Once Diane had recovered from her fainting spell earlier and over the utter shock of finding a live Prothean. Diane went ahead an left to go back home to document her findings, leaving Milena with their new guest by herself. Milena showed Teyshan around the dig site, asking questions on artifacts they had come across. Memory shard here, a broken beacon there, a broken weapon. Old memories to Teyshan. He now had no home, no where to go, no friends or family to return to. He didn't know Javik personally so he didn't feel bothered to seek him out. The soldier was fighting his own battles. Teyshan was alone. Seeing this look haunt his face Milena turned to him. They were in her office looking over data from the dig sight.

"I have an extra room back at my house if you wish to stay until you figure out what you want to do," Milena offered.

The Prothean looked at the woman with all four eyes, no emotion, emptiness. Seeing that bothered the woman. Biting at the inside of her lip she waited nervously for his answer.

"That sounds welcoming hum…Milena," Teyshan corrected himself. "I will take up your offer for now."

"Sounds good," She nodded in response.

Stepping out of her sky car, quickly followed by the Prothean, Milena looked back over her shoulder to observe what Teyshan had thought. Two of his eyes gazed back at her, blank and empty like before. Teyshan was hard to read, she didn't have enough time to really understand his actions or body language but his emotions were well hidden. Maybe it was just a human thing to be able to read each others thoughts by body language alone. Humans were very vocal in that manner an even the reserved could be read easily from someone who was trained well enough to read it. Briefly sighing Milena walked to her front door, shoved the key into the lock and pushed the door open. Stepping inside, she held the door open for Teyshan. The Prothean looked a bit confused, his four eyes scanned around the entrance before stepping through an turning around to look at Milena. Shutting the door in after him she gave an empty smile.

"Your entrance is very primitive Milena human" Teyshan remarked, still scanning over the door.

"Small colonies don't really put their money into automatic doors" Milena chuckled before putting her keys down on the end table.

Standing there awkwardly the woman crossed her arms waiting for Teyshan to say something or inquire about how she lived. All her guest did was stand there staring back as empty as ever. Clearing her throat, Milena slowly slid off her jacket an hung it up on the hook.

"So… are you hungry?" She asked slowly, hoping to break the awkward silence that grew wider between them.

"No" he answered shortly.

"You have been asleep for 50,000 years, surely you must be hungry." Milena pressed.

"I don't.. no.. Milena, I am not hungry." Teyshan grew quiet.

Frowning, the woman dropped her arms back down to her sides an walked a little closer to him. Her eyes scanning carefully over his face. She had hoped the wall he had put up was dropping, maybe hinting at what was going inside his mind. Teyshan was staring down at the floor. His eyes looking briefly to the left, then to the right. His body language was showing he was thinking.. Thinking deeply about something. Milena could read that much. Teyshan's eyes shot up and stared Milena deep into the eyes. She froze with how intense his gaze was. Not paying attention, she didn't notice the Prothean had reached up an touched her on the shoulder.

Memories, warm feelings, emptiness, then suddenly cold. It had all hit Milena at once. Teyshan was transferring his memories into her once again. She could see Teyshan, his soldiers, his unit of men. The very friends he had knew. All of them running to that very archive she an Diane found earlier that day. The door closed behind them, each respective warrior crawling into their pods. Each one closed after them, all of them to sleep until the war was over. Teyshan was the last of the men to enter his pod. An suddenly the memories an the feelings stopped. Milena was ripped back into reality with a screaming migraine.

"Can you warn me the next time you are going to do that!?" Milena snapped, quickly covering her eyes with her hands.

"We ate, they attacked.. We fled then slept" Teyshan's voice was quieter. The sub harmonics wavering. "I was the last of my team to enter the archive. The only one to survive." His voice dropped.

"Teyshan I am so sor-"

"I am not hungry." Teyshan interrupted.

"Ok, I respect that." Milena stepped away from Teyshan and sighed.