Author Note: So, this will be the first chapter I'm posting directly, feels different somehow. This would have been out 2 days ago, but I managed to get sick enough that I couldn't post it till today, it took me a while to proofread. I will say, creating two Asari named Rielle and Rialle is probably a bit confusing, my bad. Either way, enjoy.

AN2: I just read my reviews, and I realised that the page breaks I had on word were removed when I uploaded all 29 chapters, thank you to all who pointed it out. Fixing it was just the worst. I figured that while i was already doing that, I would add in the POV changes as requested, I can see where it might get confusing. It might be alright with just the line breaks, but I'll play around with that another time, possibly another story so I don't have to go through all the chapters again. Also, assume that unless stated that it's from Jack's POV, although I think I did a third person section at one point which I didn't put a POV in. Maybe Line breaks would be enough depending on the time, let me know if you have an opinion, or don't - your choice.

Chapter 30

[POV: Shepard]

"So, how's it feel?" I asked the woman beside me. She looked around for a moment in silence, just taking it all in.

"Different, yet … also the same. It is odd, but I can't deny I missed the Normandy, and it's successor is a pretty good stand in."

"Glad to hear it. Even more so to have you on board, it's nice to have another familiar face around, there are far too few of them here." I smiled at Tali, more pleased than I even admitted. More than having another familiar face is having someone else I can trust. I don't know if its because I died only after they all left me behind, or something else, but the more of the first Normandy's crew I had on board the better I felt, I could do without some of that familiarity though …

"Come on, I'm taking you to the infirmary. You need to be checked out."

"I'm fine." Tali brushed me off, but I just frowned at her.

"You had a minor tear in your suit, that's not 'fine'. Do we want a repeat of the last time this happened?" Tali narrowed her eyes at me but stopped arguing either way. It was rather amusing to me last time, seeing a Quarian with a cold, but it was also kind of gross. Having excess mucus production when you couldn't really blow your nose wasn't exactly … pretty.

The walk over was quiet as Tali was still gaining her bearings here. I let her have the time to adjust, to see what was the same and what wasn't. To see who was familiar, and who wasn't. The mission certainly could have gone worse than it did, the heavy radiation on the planet the most annoying part really. The only enemies we faced were Geth, and Garrus is rather handy at dismantling them, having long practice at it. The moment we joined up with the Quarians it was even easier, as they had more than enough experience at it. Add in a battle hungry super-krogan, and you get the picture.

Haestrom wasn't like Horizon, it didn't carry the same risks as the colony did. We could have all died at any moment there, some of us nearly did. That mission, more than anything, is what cemented Fury's position on the crew for me. It wasn't for her massive displays of power, which while handy I deemed less important. It was her ability to keep all of us alive that I valued so much, I'd already lost too many fighters on these missions, I'd really like to stop it from happening again. It won't though.

The door to the infirmary opened before we got there though, revealing Fury in her full glory. She was standing easier than she did the last time that I saw her, but I could still see the tension in her frame, the way she was compensating for something. She must still be in pain, which is fair. I still would be, but then again I might have accepted the painkillers than Chakwas told me she denied.

"Shepard." Fury nodded, walking to the side of me with a small limp in her stride.

"Fury, it's good to see you up and doing better. How long before you're recovered?"

"2 days for normal life, preferably 4 for combat." Chakwas called out from inside the infirmary, evidently listening in to the conversation.

"Thank you Karen." Fury sighed, continuing on. I chuckled at the interaction, letting Fury passed me. Her recovery time is better than I expected, considering. She'll be healed before we get to the next potential fight anyway, Illium is 3 days travel from here. There's a few more recruits located there, and I'd prefer to have Fury with me for Thane. I didn't have much experience with assassins, but that was mostly what Fury did as an enforcer. It's kind of weird she's so good at direct combat come to think of it.

"What kind of name is Fury?" Tali spoke up from beside me, reminding me of her presence. Right, I was here for her in the first place. I began walking forward as I explained.

"The one she chose. We picked her up on Omega, one of the recruits forwarded to me by the illusive man. She got injured on the last mission, thankfully nothing permanent."

"Still weird, and what's up with the suit? Is she a Quarian?" Tali sounded suspicious, guarded at that.

"No, Asari." I shook my head.

"How do you know? Have you seen her without the helmet?" Tali relaxed a little bit at that, to my confusion. Why would she be tenser if Fury was a Quarian?

"No, but if you'd seen what she could do, you would have no doubts either. The Illusive man forwarded me her profile because she was noted for great biotic ability. That was an understatement, I would call her more of a biotic juggernaut."

"But you haven't seen her out of her helmet, how can you be alright with that?"

"Because I trust Fury." I shrugged, finally moving Tali over to Chakwas for her to look Tali over. She had been silent for our conversation, and her gaze was somewhat cool as she looked Tali over, her voice clinical with her. Evidently she didn't like Tali's doubts about our resident biotic.

"But why do you trust her? If you know so little about her, how could you. Someone so closed off has something to hide, and I don't want to suffer for it when something goes wrong."

I grimaced as our argument was renewed, I had thought it over with. Apparently not.

"Tali, look. Is Fury private? Yes. But so what? So what if she's private, it's our actions that define us, and Fury had been nothing but good to me. She was the one to retrieve my body, to stop it from being taken by the collectors two years ago. If not for her, then I would still be dead." That had taken me a while to wrap my head around, the fact that Fury had saved me, even before I knew her. It hadn't really registered at first, but something just clicked after she injured herself for my team.

"Shepard …" Tali sighed, aggravated. "She may have helped you, but you have to consider why. Your body was saved from the collectors, but she handed you over to an organisation that experimented on your corpse. Sure, it worked out, but what if it didn't?"

"Except Fury didn't hand me over to Cerberus. She helped Liara rescue me. It was Liara that handed me over to them. Fury hates Cerberus with a passion, she would have never handed me over to them." I know Liara probably had the best of intentions for what she did, but it didn't stop it from hurting.

"Shepard … I…" Tali didn't finish, her words trailing off as she didn't find anything to say. I sighed, annoyed that I had gotten into an argument with my old friend so quickly. I didn't want to, but she was being unfair to Fury. She didn't deserve it, so I would argue for her even though she wouldn't, she probably wouldn't even care.

"Save it. Fury doesn't deserve this mistrust. She injured herself gravely on our last mission, saving more than a few of our lives doing so. Just know that she has a temper, and I wouldn't suggest trying to interrogate her."

I turned around and left after my parting comment. I still had to plan out my next steps, what would be done once we got to Illium, and boy was there a lot.

[POV: Jack]

It's a miracle what a few days can change. Mainly, my injuries are healed now. Or at least, mostly. The bruising on my back is still present, but it's mostly cosmetic. Just a mottled pattern of yellow and black that will disappear soon enough.

What does still hurt is my leg. The bone at the end of my leg is still tender and somewhat protests walking around with it. Karen said it would be healed if I hadn't aggravated it so much by walking prematurely, but I chose to believe that had nothing to do with it. Still, it wasn't too bad now. I could run on it if I needed to, but I would rather have another day or two before that, just to finish healing. Walking should be fine however, which is good as we had just arrived on Illium.

I walked off the ship. Following after Shepard. It was just the two of us, as she'd requested I accompany her somewhere to meet an old friend of hers, one Liara T'soni. Shepard had said it like it should mean something to me, but for the life of me I couldn't remember ever meeting her. The name was familiar though, and I figure I just need the face before I'll know her.

"Why are we going to see her again?" I asked Shepard as we thankfully walked leisurely. Shepard had made sure to account for my injury as she set the pace, which I was grateful for even if I wouldn't admit it.

"Because I got a message from her before we even arrived, asking to see me. She shouldn't have known I was on my way until I got here, so she must have connections of some manner, an information broker. I wanted you with me for two reasons, the first being a cool head. After what Liara did, gave my body to Cerberus, I'm not happy with her. I figure she could also tell us what happened that day, about Cerberus." Shepard scowled, and also reminded me of who Liara was. The Asari that had begged Aria for help years ago in retrieving Shepard's body. It's weird that I didn't remember her straight away, but I never really paid attention to her name back then. Shepard's idea to see what she knew about Cerberus wasn't a horrible one though, we'll see where this goes.

"The other reason we're seeing her is to see what she knows about the potential recruits here on Illium. The Illusive Man was rather sparse in details, and the information is somewhat outdated now."

"I guess I'll just stand there and look pretty then."

Shepard glanced at me and snorted but made no comment as we arrived before a building and walked inside towards a desk with an Asari behind it.

"Yes? How can I help you." She asked pleasantly, smiling at us.

"I'm here to see Liara, I got a message from her." Shepard replied. The girl hummed as she looked at something on the terminal in front of her.

"Ash yes, Shepard. Go on in, she's been expecting you." The Asari smiled politely once more and waved us off.

Shepard nodded then walked through the doorway into a very spacious office that contained the familiar Asari working behind another desk. She looked up at the sound of the door opening and a smile bloomed on her face.

"Shepard!" she called as she stood up, walking over to us. "It's good to see you again."

"It's nice to see you as well Liara." Shepard smiled back wanly, making no move to get closer to the Asari. If Liara noticed the hesitance then she didn't mention it.

"Thank you for coming, would you like to take a seat?" Liara gestured to the large couch over in one corner of the office and finally took notice of my presence.

"Oh, my apologies for ignoring you …?"

"Fury."

Liara's eyes widened at my name, apparently she recognised it if not my look. I did change armour since the last time she saw me.

"Fury? What are you doing here? It's a pleasant surprise to see you again, but I thought you worked for Aria."

"I still do."

"Word of warning, Fury doesn't really talk much. Let's sit down before we continue though." Liara nodded in acceptance and we all proceeded to sit on the very nice couch. I could use one of these.

"Now, just to begin, why did you want to see me?"

"Is it too much to ask to see one of my old friends again? The last time I saw you …" Liara trailed off, brows furrowing. Shepard didn't respond for a second, then sighed.

"Liara, while I am glad to be alive, I'm not exactly happy with you turning over my corpse to Cerberus. You knew what they'd done, what they were capable of, so why hand me over?" Shepard wasn't smiling at Liara anymore, instead she watched her intensely, waiting for answers. The glowing scars on her face certainly made it more intimidating.

"Because they offered to bring you back." Liara sighed and leaned back, sounding exhausted. "I'd already lost my mother and you were one of my few friends. I wouldn't have even found you if not for them, so when that woman offered to bring you back? I leapt at the chance it might work. And it did."

"Liara …" Shepard trailed off. "You know it wasn't what I would have wanted."

"I do." She nodded, ashamed. "but I had to try anyway." Shepard smiled bittersweetly at her, closing her eyes and sighed.

I'm starting to think I shouldn't be here for this. I cleared my throat to remind them I was there, and judging by the wide eyes from both of them I had been forgotten. Was that a compliment or an insult? Didn't matter.

"I believe that this is a conversation best left for when you're alone. Lets cover the other things first, and I'll leave you two alone."

"Ah, yes. That would … would be preferable. What did you want to speak about?" Liara's face reverted into her pleasant smile from earlier, but that one hadn't been forced.

"I wanted to see what you knew about two people that should be on Illium at the moment, see what you can tell us about them. One of them is a Justicar, the other an assassin." Shepard reverted to mission mode almost instantly, an impressive transformation. She was much better at compartmentalising than Liara, I couldn't even see that anything else was on Shepard's mind.

Shepard gave Liara some more details about the two in question, telling Liara what she knew about them. Liara spent a minute typing away at her terminal before looking up, frowning.

"Hmm, I can help you with one of them at least. The Justicar, Samara, has been snooping around where others don't want her too. The police are keeping track of her movements at every turn, so it will be easy to find her. Recruiting her will be another story. The assassin is more of an issue, as his target was found dead 3 days ago. He will be long gone by now."

"I suspected that could be the case." Shepard sighed. "Still, thank you for your help Liara." Liara nodded in return, moving back to the couch.

"I also want to hear what happened that day, the day you found my corpse and what lead up to it. I want to here your perspective." Shepard asked Liara solemnly. Liara winced at the request but nodded. She got up to get a drink first though, and one for Shepard as well. I refused her offer.

"I'll give you a bit of background first. How it al started." Liara took a sip, deep in thought. "The moment I heard what happened, I chartered a ship to where your body was reported to lay, only to find it empty. I looked for a trail, anything hints or scraps of knowledge that I could. While I followed the few that I could, I quickly hit a dead end. That is, until the Cerberus agent contacted me. She offered what information she had to me freely, only requesting I contact her again once I had your body."

Liara took another sip, sighing.

"It didn't get better from there. I would travel to your location, fight through any resistance present only to find you had already been moved. This happened again, and again, and again. Along the way I gained a companion, Feron, who helped me. Finally, the trail took me to Omega. That would have been another dead end if not for Fury." She nodded towards me. "She was the one to tell me where on Omega you were, and the one that stopped you from being taken once more." Liara grasped her glass in both hands, leaning forwards.

"I will never forget that moment. The moment where you fought against a ship, and you won. I've never seen such …. Strength, such power before. Biotic ability far above my own, and I am considered a prodigy among my people. Watching what Fury did," she looked up to meet my hidden eyes with poorly considered awe, which made me somewhat uncomfortable, "what you did? It humbled me. Thank you for helping me that day truly, I can never repay what you did." Liara stared at me with conviction in her eyes.

"That was when I talked to the Cerberus agent before, she never gave me her name. She told me of what she wanted to do, and in a moment of weakness I let her. I just wanted to get you back Jane …" Liara's eye began watering as she closed them for a moment. Swiping the moisture away and finishing her drink."

Shepard didn't say anything for a minute, eyes narrowed in thought as she finished off her own drink.

"Thank you for telling me Liara."

"Of course."

"Befroe I leave you two alone, I wanted to use that favour of yours. Cerberus, what do you know about them?"

"Some, but not a lot." Liara frowned. "But I can look into them if you'd like."

"I would. I would like to know in general what they're up to, but I specifically want to know about a facility that they had in operation about ten years ago. It was a biotic experimentation facility, the test subjects stolen children numbering in the hundreds. I want to know everything about it, who was behind it, and who involved is still alive."

"To children …?" Liara gasped in horror, covering her mouth. Shepard grimaced as well, as I had never revealed that bit to her yet. "I would be more than happy to. Do you want me to send you any information I find or would you rather do so verbally."

"Here." I forwarded her my contact info from my Omni-tool, noticing another message present.

[Jack, I don't know if you want to hear from me but I would like to speak to you, in person if possible. I'm still on Illium, so if you would like to talk then I will be here. I heard what happened, I'm sorry. – Rielle]

Rielle? I'm on illium, should I?

"Shepard. I just got a message from an … old friend. Would I have the time to go spend a few hours with them?"

Shepard raised an eyebrow at me but nodded.

"Krios is already gone, and he was who I mainly wanted you for recruiting. I'll be here for a while myself, and we have nowhere else to be for now. It will be fine." Shepard nodded.

"Thank you. I'll leave you two alone, you have much to talk about."

I got up and walked out of the room not even noticing the farewell Liara's assistant gave me. I just kept walking until I found myself before a terminal where I booked a skycar to take me to Rielle.

The trip was quick, but then again distance mean little when you're on a planet, not compared to the sheer vastness of space. Maybe it was I that just didn't notice how time passed, who could say. All I know is that when I stood before a door and knocked on it, the door opening to reveal Rielle, I was glad to see her.

She smiled at me and welcomed me inside, shutting the door behind me.

"It's good to see you Jack."

Going straight for my name huh? Fine. I reached up and gabbed my helmet firmly, twisting it to the side and lifting it off. It took me a moment to adjust to the feeling of air brushing over my face once more.

"I'm glad to see you too Rielle, it's been so long. Why did you want to speak to me?"

"Because you need someone to talk to, after what happened." She spoke softly, grabbing my helmet and setting it to the side, then pulling me over to a couch. "Jack, you can't just ignore it, you need to process."

I looked away from her, knowing what she was speaking about. All the same, it wasn't something I wanted to speak about, something I wanted to even think about. If I did for … for too long, it would break me. At least that's what it felt like.

"Jack, please talk to me, if not for yourself, than for her." Rielle pleaded, placing her hands on my cheeks and turning my eyes towards hers. They were warm, gentle, and something about it made something within me loosen, and it was like a dam broke within me. All the emotions I had been ignoring, the ones I had been putting off, they came rushing back. I swallowed back the heavy feeling in my mouth. I didn't want to do this.

"Jack … tell me what happened."

I don't know why, but something within me just made me start talking.

"It happened about 4 months ago …" I trailed off. "How much do you actually know about me and Rialle?"

"Only what you've told me, but I'd like to know more." Rielle spoke softly. "Would you tell me?"

I shuddered as I breathed out.

"I've told you about our 'dance' competitions, that's how it started."

"I certainly appreciated the pictures, they were very useful."

"I'll bet." I smirked, before returning to my sober state. "The others weren't exactly subtle with what they were trying to do, but I can't say it didn't work."

"So …"

"Mhm" I hummed, breathing deeply.

We were lying down on Rialle's bed again, having found our way there after another of these dance competitions we've fallen into every now and then. The first one may have been instigated by Peros, but I can't say I minded them. They really got my blood pumping, as you could say. I hadn't won any since the first time, as my boldness seemed to only spur the others on in turn. The 2nd time, two of us ended up naked, and I wasn't even one of them.

As you could probably guess, the nights generally didn't end when the competition did, and I loved every, single, minute of it. Bari really knew how to use her …, ahem, not important. What wasn't exactly subtle was how often Rialle and I were pushed together during these times, sometimes with others and sometimes by our own. Everything just developed naturally from that.

Tonight was the first night we did group performances in pairs, a nice change which made things even more chaotic, and more depraved if you could believe it. Rialle and I were paired together much of the time, and for the finisher Rialle got fully naked for the first time. There had always been a barrier in her mind that stopped her from doing so before but doing so with me seemed to break that barrier. The sex after had been incredible, and that's where we lay now.

"I've been thinking …" Rialle trailed off, so I turned towards her to find her biting her lips. The sight was somewhat distracting when you considered how much blue skin I could see, but I was worn out enough to ignore it. I raised an eyebrow at her, curious about why she was hesitating. "Well, um …, you see we've been partners for a while now, and while we've done … things, with the others, it feels … different with you." Rialle smiled at me then breathed in deeply. "With you I … it just feels different. I wanted to ask if we could go on a date. A real one."

My eyes widened. A real date? What … why … Okay, she just said why but, I don't know. I've sometimes thought about dating before, with how much teasing Aria did when I was younger I was bound to, but I'd never considered it seriously. The idea scared me, so, so much. I didn't want to ruin what I had with Rialle. We began hanging out more since the first dance competition, and she was my best friend, yet also … different.

"I don't really know how to do that. I'm not … normal." I grimaced, but that was the best way I could word it. I felt Rialle place her hand on my face, tilting my eyes back to face hers. They were filled with acceptance, and warmth, and something else I couldn't identify that left me feeling breathless.

"I don't care about that Jack. I care about you."

I … really? Do I dare try …?

"If, if you're alright with it … I wouldn't mind trying it out." I muttered shyly, embarrassed about the unfamiliar situation. Rialle grinned widely at me, then pulled me towards her and locked her lips with mine, suddenly having found the energy. Seems like I have too, as I wrapped my arms around her and tried to get even closer.

The night is still young after all.

"She asked you that after sex, and you still had to think about it?" Rielle raised an eyebrow.

"Not my best moment. To be fair, I was fucking most of the others at the same time, in some manner or another."

"You naughty girl you." Rielle mock scolded and I chuckled, properly too. I really was, wasn't I? Let's be honest, I haven't changed that much since.

"It was hard for me at first …, scary, but …"

"… but?"

"I was happy."

"Is it really that hard for you to relax? We'll be fine." Rialle whined, her hand intertwined with mine.

"We live on Omega." I grumbled in response, keeping my eye on our surroundings. I hadn't really registered that I would have to wear nice clothes on dates, at least at first. Rialle quickly put that to rest, along with the help of the others who had effectively kidnapped me. It took me a few minutes to make them believe I actually had other clothes, I just hadn't worn them in a while. I bought them back with Rielle, and according to the dancers she had good taste.

I couldn't actually remember the last time I'd left the club not in armour. I only took it off when I was going to see the girls. I suppose I'd just gotten used to wearing it again. After I had managed to injure myself so much when wearing the armour, it just didn't feel safe to me to not be as protected as I could. I know that my injuries were mostly self-inflicted, but I didn't say it was a rational belief.

"And when has it been safer? Now that we have our own personal bogeyman" Rialle nudged me in the side with her elbow, hard enough that I rubbed it after she finished. Okay, maybe I had become a little proactive in making sure Asari were protected after my girls got attacked one time, no one was hurt but the fact that they had the audacity enraged me.

"Still."

"Oh relax, we're here miss grumpy."

The restaurant we were going to was one of he nicer ones on Omega, for the given definition of the word. It was actually pretty decent, but that was probably because it was one of the places Aria liked to frequent every now and then. She had certain expectations, when it came to … well really anything.

Once we were in the restaurant I was able to relax a bit more, I felt too exposed out on the streets like this, but the enclosed space added a sense of security that let me ease up a bit. The dinner was nice, but what I think I enjoyed even more was the chance to just sit and talk. I'd spent plenty of time around Rialle before, but we were usually doing something that made it hard to talk at length. Dancing, fighting, 'dancing', I'd never had a chance to just sit with her on our own.

Rialle was more than happy to talk about herself, knowing I had a troubled past. She got so animated while she did so, her eyes lighting up with amusement whenever she was telling a funny story and her lips twitching. It captivated me enough that I actually let a few details of my own life spill. It wasn't much, nowhere near as much as she, but it was kind of nice just to tell her about myself, as much as I was willing. I don't really remember when I started smiling.

".., and when she finished she would rub this cooling cream over the tattoo, soothing the skin somehow. It ah … felt nice." My face felt a little warm as I told her about getting my tattoos, none of them had actually asked before, not about how I got them.

"Oh really?" Rialle leaned forward with an impish grin on her face. "Do go on. I have some ideas."

That was a fun night. The end of it was notable as well, but it wasn't what I remembered when I looked back on our first date. I can't exactly place what made it so special to me, but I think it might be the normalcy. Rialle made me feel normal, like I so rarely did. I know I stood out on nearly any metric. My tattoos weren't ordinary, my biotic ability was extraordinary, my childhood was abnormal, even my current job was unique. So little of my life had been normal, so this chance at normalcy was … wonderful. If I had to give one moment that I would keep in my mind forever, it was when we left the restaurant.

Rialle interlinked our arms and was leaning into my side, softly chuckling about something that I wasn't sure about, she squeezed my forearm gently with her other hand, and I looked down to see what she wanted.

"Thank you for agreeing to this."

"No," I shook my head, turning to her completely. "Thank you for asking."

Then I took her face with my hands and leaned in to give her a soft kiss. It didn't have the fiery passion it normally did, but it left my lips tingling all the same. Her blushing fiercely after it was a nice bonus.

"That sounds lovely." Rielle smiled at me, I smiled back but it was bittersweet. I knew what came next.

"She was the first person I ever dated, in case you couldn't tell. The only one"

"Trust me when I say I could tell. Still, what she was doing was good for you. I'm glad you got to have that chance, you so easily could've turned her down. I only wish I could have met her." Rielle sighed, as did I.

"So do I. Knowing her she would have asked for a threesome though. She really grew out of her shell after we met." We shared a chuckle at that. I hesitated to continue though, what we talked about so far was the parts I remember fondly, how our relationship began, next came how it ended.

Rielle saw how I was struggling, so she got up to get us some drinks before we moved on. I made no effort to resist her, I wanted to tell her at this point. I'd already opened up the memories, I refused to not finish them.

"What happened next?" Rielle asked gently, making no move to rush me.

"Not wearing your amour has some perks after all, huh?" Rialle grinned at me, grinding her body against mine in time with the pounding music. We were in a different club on Omega, one that she had wanted to go to. I didn't actually see too much appeal about dancing in a club, but she wanted to and I certainly agreed with it being a different one. I didn't want my issues with Aria to interfere with this joy I had. She wasn't horrible or anything, but I feared she would somehow mess this up for me, and I wanted nothing less. It's why I had been trying to hide this from Aria, out of some sort of paranoia. That was my reason, but I think Rialle just didn't want to go to the club she worked in. I say that, but I hadn't seen her dancing as much as she once did.

I didn't mind her working as a dancer at the club, their clothes hid everything important, and no-one was even allowed to touch her. It was also a pleasant surprise for me when I caught a glimpse of her while I was working. It gave me something to think about for the long hours I stood near Aria.

"It certainly gives me …," Rialle reached around and too my ass firmly in her hands, giving it a squeeze, "access." I inhaled sharply at her actions but made no moves to stop her. We may have had a few drinks, her more than me as I didn't want to be impaired somewhere I didn't trust implicitly. It was enough to get her randy though, as basically the only times Rialle drank was when things got spicy.

That was far from the last time Rialle groped me tonight. She made full use of the somewhat scanty dress I was wearing (she bought it for me). You would think Rialle would restrain herself considering we were in public, but it was dark in here and she grew bolder by the day. At some point she's going to rip my clothes off me in full view of everyone and I can't say I hate the idea. Alas, tonight wasn't that night. I think she had gotten herself too worked up from trying to tease me, and wanted to get back to her room. I figure that's the reason she's currently pulling me by the hand through the brightly lit streets. I took the time to fully appreciate her own dress now that she was properly visible to me. It was a stunning shade of purple, and the way it gripped the contours of her body, left a decent portion of her glistening skin exposed … A flash of motion caught my eye and without thinking I jumped forward and pushed Rialle out of the way.

A gunshot echoed through the night and I felt a sharp jolt in my side at the same time before the burning sensation took over as I collapsed to the ground.

"Jack!" Rialle shouted, pushing herself up from the piece of pavement she landed on. Her dress made it tricky to get up, and she barely managed it before our assailants revealed themselves. Three dirty looking men appeared from behind a build brandishing guns. Their eyes were bloodshot, clothes tattered and filth ridden. They were saying nothing legible as they shouted at us, the wordless grunts and shouting made no sense.

"Get away from us!" Rialle shouted, now standing in front of me. Even to my currently buzzing ears, I could hear the fear in her voice. She was terrified, I needed to help her. I grit my teeth as I rolled to the side, trying to push myself up but the sudden motion pulled at my injured side. I was hurt, badly enough that I couldn't hold in the cry I let out while falling back down. Rialle must have heard it, because her hands suddenly started glowing as she tried to form an attack but she was too slow.

Despite my advice, Rialle had never really improved on her biotic techniques, she didn't see the need to, and to be fair neither did I. I should have pushed it with her, but I never did and that was coming back to bite us in the ass.

The sudden activation of her abilities must have registered in the addled minds of the fuckers attacking us, as they started raising their guns. I saw this happening and started forming biotic pulls in both of my hands, pulling the guns from two of their hands, but there was three of them. He managed to release a spray from his assault rifle, right at Rialle. She cried out as she fell back to the ground, her biotics fading away without her concentration. My heart sank into my stomach at the sight.

"No …" I breathed. "Get the fuck away from her!" I roared at the still standing bastards. Taking no concern with the surroundings, I released a barely controlled blast of biotic energy at the one closest to me in my rage. It hit him and burst into a flash of light, throwing him back violently into his companions and shooting them all back into the wall a dozen metres away from them, a crunch being heard at the point of impact.

They weren't important though, only one thing was. I rushed over towards Rialle, finding her on her side. I grabbed her side and turned her over gently, finding the front of her dress soaked. Her eyes were closed as I grabbed her face, but she must have registered my touch as she opened them.

"Jack…I'm sorry." she gurgled, spitting out some blood.

"No … no, don't be sorry. You were perfect. I … I," I didn't know what to say, I wanted to get her to a doctor, but I knew with a terrible familiarity that it was too late.

"Don't," she coughed up even more blood, "don't become … Fury .. again. Now, give me … one … last … smile." I did so, my lips trembling as I did, but I tried to inject all the warmth I could into it. All the positive emotions I could think of.

"There's my Jack." She smiled one more time.

Her chest stopped moving and she became still, her eyes still locked onto my face. I held the smile as long as I could, but it dropped after a few more moments and I set her down gently, closing her eyelids with my fingertips softly. I stood up, my entire body trembling, and I turned to the men who had done this. I could feel the storm within me, but instead of trying to control it I let it out, surrounding my form and enhancing my entire body. I'm going to make them pay.

"That was how it happened."

I closed my eyes, trying to control the burning I could feel within them.

"What happened after?"

I took another large gulp of my drink, the second I'd poured but I thought better of doing a third. I didn't want to take the chance I wouldn't stop.

"Bari and Peros, took her body to her home, and Rimel left soon after. "

They asked me if I wanted them to stay, but I would rather they get away from the station that already took one of their lived. I knew they wanted to leave as well, Rialle's death hitting us all equally hard. They had known her much longer than I had, the only reason they were all even still on Omega was because of her. They were all old for dancers, but Bari especially. She had long since passed the normal age that Asari dancers grew tired of the profession.

By the sounds of it, they were all going to quit soon anyway. Rialle even had another job on Omega lined up, it's why she was dancing so much less. She had been planning on asking me to move in with her in another apartment that she bought a week before she died, I only found out when Bari told me.

"… and you haven't taken your armour of since." It wasn't a question.

"No." I admitted quietly, looking down into my lap. The only place that felt safe enough to me had been my new apartment, Rialle had made sure to get a secure one knowing my paranoia. Well …, she was right. That night in the infirmary with Karen was the longest I'd spent with my armour off in a long, long time, and that was only because I was drugged up enough to forget about things for a while. I'd been sleeping in my armour on the ship, the cleaning systems were thankfully robust enough to handle it.

"Is that what she would have wanted?"

No, it wasn't.

"Come on, you're taking off your armour right now. You can't keep going like this." Rielle stood up and pulled me up before feeling around for the hidden clasps holding it together. I thought about protesting, but I was honestly tired. This conversation had been … exhausting. Having to relive what happened, it weighed on me, enough that I couldn't find the effort to resist Rielle. I was also tired of living like this, the irrational fear that was ever present, it took me back to a time in my past I didn't like. Back when I was first reliant on my armour, when I couldn't even bare to see my own skin. I'd grown so much since then, reverting to that state was spitting on all the people in my life had done to me, and I hated that I needed help even despite that.

I could tell you that I spent so much of my time aboard the Normandy in armour because I didn't trust them and wanted to keep my identity a secret, but that was an excuse. My behaviour had started long before I joined Shepard's mission.

"Here…" I muttered, showing her how the clasps worked. They were custom made and purposely different from the standard configuration, Vassen had spared no expense on the armour. With my help, the first click was heard, and with each second gone more and more of them occurred. Piece by piece, the armour was removed until I stood there in my sports bra and thin pants, surrounded by the scattered parts that comprised my second skin.

"There, is that really so bad?" Rielle grinned, hands on her hips.

"We aren't exactly exposed inside here." I deadpanned at her. Her grin dimmed a little as she thought that over, nodding at my point.

"True, but I'm not really dressed for going outside, nor are you." She was wearing some lounging pants and an oversized top, nothing on her feet. Ironically enough, while her outfit was far more modest than mine you were far less likely to see it on the street. I think they may be used as pyjamas by some people, come to think of it.

"Doesn't matter. Still let's sit back down. I think I've spent long enough dragging up poor memories, so lets look at some good ones. What else can you tell me about your time on Omega since I last saw you that you haven't already mentioned?" We sat back down on her couch, this time she pulled me into her side now that I no longer had some hard armour to dig into her side. The contact was … pleasant, after so long touching someone else. She was warm, and soft … and just plain comforting. "I certainly wouldn't mind hearing more about these 'competitions' of yours, they sound more extreme than my maiden days, that's for sure." Rielle grinned lasciviously.

Just how old is she? I've got no clue. Still If she wants to know … who am I to judge, I was there after all.

We spent the next few hours there, just talking. No moves were made to change from our current position, and I was just fine with that. While I wouldn't have … objected, to anything else, I wasn't in the mood for it. Talking about Rialle, it was still raw even now, but I think getting it off my chest to Rielle, the memories were just a little less sharp. I think I can finally start to heal. But before I do that, I want to do something to remember Rialle. She taught me so much, helped me in more ways than I can count, she more than deserved to be remembered.

The conversation having petered off a couple of minutes ago, we were both just sitting there leaning into each other, so I tapped her hand to get Rielle's attention.

"I don't suppose You're still taking commissions?"