Chapter 7

Teyshan stood at the edge of the archive he awoke in a few months back. His golden eyes closed, his hands no longer gloved, balled up into fists. The Prothean's breath was calm and collected. Behind him stood Melina, her brown eyes looking pained. Diane stood next to Melina, her hand wrapped around her friends arm in comfort. The Prothean opened his eyes and walked up to the doorway. Kneeling down onto the ground he tucked his legs under him. Teyshan bowed his head and held his hands out in front of him as if offering someone a gift in honor. Melina pulled away from her friend Diane and slowly walked over to where Teyshan was at. The woman sank down to her knees at the Prothean's side. Her eyes wide with worry. She could see that her friend was almost meditating, his mouth quietly wording off what looked like to be a prayer. His lip was pulled up at the corner and one of his eyes slowly opened.

"Will you join me in helping the ghosts finish their journey?" Teyshan asked softly.

Melina nodded in response. Her hand slowly reached out over for her friends. He took it and held it. Closing his eyes once more. Melina joined him, bowing her head gently and focusing on his words.

"Valasad na vree, valasad na soohn. Shan ja nire kay iveren une, Ina nir Teyshan sad nay va." the Prothean's voice never wavered, his sub harmonics grew soft yet he almost sounded a little strained.

"What did that mean? It sounded beautiful." Melina whispered.

"It's the prayer of fallen warriors. Brothers be free, brothers be strong. Join together in soul as one, Granting this I Teyshan pray to you. The best translation I can offer in your human English language." Teyshan nodded.

Letting go of Melina's hand. The Prothean stood up and turned around over to Diane. The Asari's blue hues met with Teyshan's. His face had written with a sad empty resolve.

"I wish to close this, it is no archive. It is a grave." Teyshan's sub harmonics grew tight. Diane was about to protest the Protheans decision but Melina put up her hand.

"Please.. Close it. Out of respect." Melina insisted.

"Yes. Right away." Diane hurried past the two.

Hooking up her data pad to the small power source of the archive. She keyed in the trigger and the doors to the archive started creaking closed. Patting Teyshan on the shoulder. Melina motioned that she was going to go speak with Diane before they left to go back to her house. Turning away from Melina, Teyshan stood in front of the now sealed archive, deep in thought.

Diane placed her data pad onto the small table. The Asari placed her hands over her face and let out a deep sigh. In all of the time she had spent digging at the different archeological sites, looking at ruins, it didn't hit her this personally until seeing the Prothean prayer to his fallen brothers and sisters. It made the Asari think about her own family in the war. She wondered about her dad and her mom. She had not heard from them for several months now. She was worried, yet staying busy at the dig sites helped keep her mind off of things. Walking slowly up to Diane. Melina reached out to her friend and pulled her into a hug.

"I appreciate you calling me out here." Melina spoke soft.

"I knew it was the best thing for him to say goodbye to his friends." Diane replied, her voice wavering as she tried to hold back tears.

Pulling her into a tighter embrace, Melina buried the bridge of her nose into her friends shoulder, letting this moment sink in. Melina realized the only thing this Prothean ever had to live for now was these two women and the dig site. He had a purpose helping out with the Alliance, but Melina began to realize he was preferring to help her out instead. It was to make her happy. That thought made her heart drop a bit. He lost everything, yet that resolve was stronger then ever. Teyshan wasn't fighting on the front lines, yet he was fighting every possible battle he had encountered, even if it wasn't dealing with fire fight at all. That thought drove deep into Melina's heart.

Melina pulled herself away from Diane, patting her friend gently on the shoulder.

"Do you need anything?" Melina asked gently.

"No."

"You sure?" she pressed

"Yeah, I will be ok. Thank you for coming as soon as possible." Diane whipped a stray tear off of her blue cheek.

"Anytime, well if you need anything. You know you can give me a call anytime. I am going to head home with Teyshan and go relax. We are going to need it. Specially after seeing all of those pods.." Melina sighed.

#

Coming home, Melina dropped her bags down onto the floor next to the door. She even dropped her leather jacket onto the floor not really caring. It had been a long trip back home from the Citadel, there first stop onto the colony was to the dig site. The woman was sluggish in her steps. Her face looked sunken in, her face slowly framed her eyes with dark circles. Plopping down onto the living room couch, she leaned her head back and let out a deep sigh.

"Teyshan.." she called out.

"Yes?" the Prothean called out from the other side of the room.

"I am sorry about… finding your comrades… I know that wa-"

"No, now the ghosts can rest." He interrupted.

Getting the significance of his statement. Melina shut her mouth, her lips pursed wanting to say more, but she didn't,.. couldn't . She saw the Prothean walk up close behind the couch. His face was gentle. All four golden eyes staring intently at her. He leaned close, his hands gripped the back of the couch, still not saying a word. One of the woman's eye brows raised up, she could feel the room growing heavy and began to wonder why. Instinctively biting her bottom lip the woman's breath grew heavier, was she getting nervous?

"Melina, I must tell you of something I have.. Noticed." Teyshan began to ramble on.

Breathing harder, the woman began to turn herself to be able to look at her friend better. He looked.. Scared? Nervous? She wasn't able to explain what was going on, but it was very new to her.

"What's up?" she pressed. Her heart was hammering in her chest.

"I.. have noticed I have grown to lik..-"

"Did you hear that?" Melina interrupted grabbing his arm.

Hearing a noise from the kitchen, the woman slowly rose up from her couch. Teyshan followed closely behind her. Feeling a breeze blowing in from her back door. Her eyes grew wide seeing that it had been kicked open.

"There is someone in the house…" Melina whispered at Teyshan.

His eyes had focused in on her. Her arm reached back for Teyshan, subconsciously checking if he was still by her side. Hearing a loud bang emanating from the kitchen. Melina slowly and quietly stepped towards the sound.

It had all happened quicker then a blink of a eye. A stocky man with no hair flew out from the entrance of the kitchen. A large steak knife gripped tightly in his hand. His knuckles white from holding the knife so hard. The man swung the knife up at Teyshan's neck. The Prothean didn't have enough time to react but that split second, Melina reached up and grabbed the man's knife wielding arm. The Prothean was knocked back from Melina throwing herself at his attacker. The stocky man tumbled backwards against Melina's dining room shelves, glass plates shattering all over the floor. Managing to wedge the knife free from his hand. Melina pushed herself away from the intruder. Snapping himself up right from the broken shelves, he turned his attention back towards the Prothean. Launching himself at Teyshan, Melina dodged in, stabbing the knife deep into the intruders soft belly. The man slowly crumpled over on top of her, blood gushing out from the stab wound. Panicked, Melina raised the knife back up and stabbed the man once more in his side. She scrambled out from his bleeding body, trembling in shock. The woman, whose face had gone ghost white, dropped the knife and slowly backed away from the dead body. She quickly turned to sit at the far end of the kitchen table, face riddled with fear, her eyes empty.

Processing what had just happened. Teyshan's eyes glanced over the dead man's body. He then turned his head to see Melina trembling, her muscled frame covered in the dead man's blood. Stepping close to the body, The Prothean reached down, touching the dead man's shoulder. His eyes snapped closed, reading the fading aura.

"Call.. Call.. Diane.. Teyshan call Diane immediately. Something" Melina begged. Her voice wavering.

"Yes." Teyshan pulled back away from the dead body and brought up his Omni-tool.

"Hello?" Diane answered her call.

"We were attacked." Teyshan snapped.

"Is everyone alright?" Diane's voice grew tight in alarm.

"Yes. We need security over here."

"I will call them right away." Diane nodded before hanging up.

Walking over to the knife Melina had dropped earlier. He crouched down, placing a finger on the blade. All four golden eyes closed as he read it. I

It didn't take long for the authorities to arrive at the house. Melina still sat at the far end of the table, her face blank, body still trembling. Walking in the two Turians wrote down notes from the crime scene, asked Teyshan to take a report and quickly transported the dead body out of the house. Quick and precise.
Putting her head down on the kitchen table, tears started spilling out from Melina's eyes. Her body trembled, her emotions a roller coaster. Everything happened so quickly, the intruder attacking, to her actually killing the man. Melina was tired of losing people in her life. To see the intruder try and stab Teyshan had caused her to be blinded with anger. Teyshan walked up to the woman, putting his hand on her back supportively. Jumping from his touch, Melina pulled away from his hand and stormed off into her bedroom. Slamming the door behind her, the woman scrambled her way into her shower. Her hand grasped the faucet and cranked it hard to the left. Hot water came spewing out from the shower head, pouring over her bloodied form, soaking her cloths. Slowly sinking down to the floor, the woman covered her face crying out in sheer shock, her tears mixing with the rivulets of water.

The Prothean, who was standing alone by the kitchen table slowly walked his way towards Melina's bedroom door. He heard her crying inside. He had never heard the woman sound so broken before. His fingers danced over the door handle for a moment, debating if he wanted to bother her or to leave her be. Yet his heart had pulled at the sound of her sadness. Opening up the door softly, the Prothean stepped into her room. Hearing the shower going, Teyshan dropped off his armor to the floor carefully. Stepping in to the bathroom, his two main eyes peered down gently at the woman. She was balled up in the corner of the shower, her arms wrapped around her legs. Teyshan slid down next to the crying woman. Water dripping off the crown of his head His eyes were staring at the woman intensely, yet caring. Noticing that he was there sitting next to her, Melina looked up her eyes searching his own. Reaching out, the Prothean wrapped his arms tightly around the upset woman's form. Turning towards him, Melina buried the bridge of her nose into his shoulder. Feeling his warmth, she drew herself close, wrapping her own arms around his torso in a gentle hug.

Authors Note:

Wooooo! Things got crazy there. If you haven't noticed this is a big turning point in the plot. This chapter was really fun to write and I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for all the love once more.