I'm Nobody

by free man writer

He didn't have anything when he was born. Just a name and number. But over time, what he had grew. He, with his friends began to understand that there was more to their existence then just their name and number. They will prove that they were meant to be real. To exist. To become something more than just a Nobody. Co-written and created with Jebest4781. Fem Shepard. Now on Ao3.

6. Forward to Friendly Encounters on Feros

Thanks for all those reviews guys, means a lot.

So, closed the previous poll because that one was just… WAY too obvious.

And for those who had been paying attention and keeping their eyes on it, our young lad Roxas is getting everyone's favorite Quarian Tali and one of my favorite KH characters Xion.

Well, Roxas, Axel and Xion are my top three really. I've been wanting to do a story about them and hooray, here it is.

So now, we're onto Axel in the polls and so far Fem Shepard is leading considerably with a surprising Miranda Lawson in second. Aqua and Jack are on the board with only our favorite Kleptomaniac and Unofficial Queen having yet to garner any votes. Can't deny that, while J and I can do a lot with Shepard and Axel, the idea of our fiery red head and the uptight Cerberus cheerleader being a couple is equally tantalizing.

So keep voting people, that poll will be there for a while.

I'm Nobody Chapter 6: Forward to Friendly Encounters of Feros

The beach was dark with a moon far off on the horizon.

Upon a rock, a lone figure sat as he gazed upon the lapping waves ahead.

One might call this area quite scenic and even beautiful in a sublime way.

But this man knew better. This place was dangerous to those who came unprepared.

It is why he wore the cloak here.

Here, in the Realm of Darkness, where the Heartless thrive, there is a place called the Dark Margin. It's a shoreline along the dark sea. Fall into its depths and you'll be consumed by the concentrated abyss.

Over to the man's left, a shift in the air warped reality before out stepped another wearing the black coat with his hood up.

This boy was younger than him and the newest member to Organization XIII.

Roxas.

Arriving at his destination, the boy saw the leader of the Organization sitting on a large rock as he gazed at the perpetual moon-set, the only source of light in this darkened realm.

Approaching the leader, he heard him speak. "I've been to see him." He then turned towards him. "He looks a lot like you."

This confused Roxas very much on what he meant by that.

"Who are you?"

"I'm what's left. Or… maybe I'm all there ever was." The Leader said, turning back to the endless horizon.

"I meant your name."

"My name is of no importance." The leader then voiced an inquiry. "What about you? Do you remember your true name?"

"My true name is…"

It was at the tip of his tongue, but it didn't seem to come out. And just like that, it was gone.

Hearing the silence coming from No. XIII, the leader then said, "You have been with us for six days now." Standing up, he pulled back his hood to reveal his long and spiky silver hair with a tan complexion. His dull orange eyes stared into Roxas' form. "The time has come…"

When the leader walked past him, Roxas swore he said his name… but it didn't seem right.

It wasn't his given name… as it was something else.

As Roxas attempted to collect what the leader said, both his hearing and the darkness around him started to fizzle out.

*thisshig rrrerrk*

When the static cleared, Roxas suddenly found himself in some sort of undersea grotto… for some apparent reason. Lining up the many rows upon rows inside the chamber lay all sorts of random items here and there.

Before Roxas could have the chance to start looking at them, he was confronted by an elderly man who wore a barnacle crown, wielded a golden trident and appeared to be half-fish due to the fish tale he bore instead of legs. If Roxas remembered correctly, the man was a mermaid.

"-As the Keybearer, you must already know one must not meddle in the affairs of other Worlds." He sternly said, glaring holes into him.

*thisshig rrrerrk*

A red haired teenage female mermaid started floating towards the hole in the grotto's ceiling with a forlorn expression.

"So many places I want to see… I know I'll get there someday."

*thisshig rrrerrk*

He was free falling down, though at an extremely slow pace.

Donald and Goofy were with him.

In an instant, they were now in front of what appeared to be the trial of… Alice? Yeah Alice, that's right!

"Off with her HEAD!"

"Hold on!"

He ran forward to intervene on behalf of the unjustly accused girl.

*thisshig rrrerrk*

Roxas now stood in front of a short, stout, goat looking individual with a tall muscular man by his side. Donald and Goofy were with him as always.

"Thus, I do hereby dub thee junior heroes." The goat-man stressed out when he read from a rolled up scroll.

"Hey, whaddya mean junior heroes?!" Donald asked in an affronted manner.

The goat-man furled up the scroll and scowled at the anthropomorphic duck. "You rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a true hero."

"Then… do you know how we can become true heroes?"

"That's something you'll have to find out for yourself." The muscled man stated. "Just like I did."

*thisshig rrrerrk*

His vision changed, the sight of blue butterfly's fluttering about before him.

As usual, Donald and Goofy were with him along with a couple new individuals.

One was a woman in slightly torn clothing. The other was a gorilla and the last was another well-toned man yet his hair was wild and he wore nothing but a small loin cloth.

"I get it." The woman spoke. "Ee, Oo, oo ah, means Heart."

He gazed down at his chest, placing a hand over it.

"Heart?"

*thisshig rrrerrk*

Standing within a rundown home, a mid-teenaged man wearing baggy white pants, a red cap and a purple vest seemed to be contemplating on something. And floating in front of him was a blue entity with an ethereal tail instead of legs.

"I… I wish…" He said softly before speaking with a firm voice. "I wish for your freedom, Genie."

The entity now identified as Genie was about to grant something else, but suddenly wore an expression of utter shock.

"Al?!" Genie cried out.

In mere moments, bright purple-pink mist swirled around Genie as his ethereal tail formed into legs and the gold bindings on his arms broke apart.

*thisshig rrrerrk*

"But the boy is a problem." A sinister voice spoke. "He found one of the Keyholes."

*thisshig rrrerrk*

*thisshig rrrerrk*

*thisshig rrrerrk*

*thisshig rrrerrk*

Groaning awake, Roxas rubbed his eyelids in order to rid himself of any gunk and crusties forming as he slept. Once done, he blinked as he saw himself in one of the Normandy's sleeper pods.

He briefly winced, rubbing his head before frowning, lowering his head in deep contemplation.

Even though he was insured he would get a relatively good night's rest and wake up fully rested, the 'dreams' he's been having didn't make it so.

They had been happening for the past few days now.

Actually, these were the same flashes he had seen during times of combat or nostalgia that washed over him when he was awake. Only this time, these… dreams if that's what he should call them, were much clearer.

"Another dream about him." Roxas murmured to himself, unsure of what it could all possibly mean.

It took him a moment to recall anything that could possibly explain why he was having these dreams.

Thinking hard for a moment, Roxas recalled the boy named Sora using the Keyblade.

The same Keyblade that he-

"Roxas?"

The teen looked up to see Shepard who appeared to be up at the moment as well.

"Shepard? What are you doing up?"

"I could ask you the same question." Jane remarked, walking over to him and leaned on the pod beside him. "What's the matter, kiddo? Having some nightmares?"

Shepard didn't really mean the last question yet with the facial response she got with Roxas made her reconsider the possibility.

"I wouldn't consider them… nightmares." Roxas said slowly, hand resting on the side of his head.

She adjusted herself on the pod she leaned upon, making herself shift closer to her youngest squadmate.

"Oh? Why's that?" she asked curiously.

He didn't respond at first, removing his hand from his head and placing it over his chest.

"I… can't explain." Roxas said, voice barely above a whisper. "I don't know what it's supposed to be. They've been happening these past few days."

Shepard's face scrunched up at that little revelation.

"And you didn't think to tell me?" Jane asked. "Or anyone for that matter?"

"I didn't wanna bother anyone." Roxas said plainly, making Shepard snort.

"Be he ever so humble." Jane quipped, reaching out to ruffle his head and lightly shoved it down.

He looked back up at her in surprise at the gesture, seeing her give him an understanding grin.

"I know you wanna figure this out on your own." Shepard said. "But we are here for ya, Roxas. You don't need to keep everything to yourself and say you're alright. You can talk to us on whatever's on your mind."

"Like, what happened on that last mission of ours?" Roxas asked innocently.

The N7 marine grumbled under her breath. "Really hate that Nassana was keeping crap like that from me."

"Why would she lie to you?" Roxas inquired, slightly concerned.

Shepard scoffed derisively, thinking of that Asari bitch that set her up.

"Because some people are fickle, some are manipulative but all of them fall under the main umbrella of being gigantic assholes. Because they can." Shepard finished in a scornful manner. "When I see her again, I'm gonna make sure to give her a peace of my mind."

Of what exactly happened was not all that simple.

You see, they had arrived at the planet Sharjila in the Macedon system in order to find Nassana's captive sister from pirates.

It went along quite easy, at first, with an all so typical shootout with the pirates inside of their base. Then it escalated with another Heartless skirmish appearing from out of nowhere. Said beings of darkness had ended up "taking" many of the pirates, making more of their kind in the process.

Once the dust settled, Shepard wanted to find any sign of Dahlia, Nassana's sister, whether she was dead, alive… or taken by the Heartless.

During their search, the N7 marine had actually found the asari she was looking for, holed up in an office in the pirate base's second floor.

Now, one would expect to find an Asari either quivering in fear of her circumstance or dead due to not making it on time.

What one doesn't expect is that the one you came to rescue was worse than those that one had just finished killing off.

Nassana's sister was none other than a slaver herself.

Even worse, she was their leader.

Shepard was quite reasonably infuriated at being used as nothing more than a tool for some high ranking smug assholes dirty work. This sentiment was shared with the squadmates that had joined her on this mission with only Roxas being left out of the loop.

He didn't quite understand what had happened, with Ashley explaining to him that they had been lied to.

"Not getting the full picture of the situation leaves us in a disadvantage." Said the Gunnery Chief. "In this case, we were intentionally misinformed on the purpose of this little mission we went through."

It was strange how much those words rather resonated with Roxas. That first statement, not having a full picture of a situation, made him think back to the Organization.

"And by 'giving her a piece of your mind', what do you imply exactly?"

"Nothing that should concern you." Shepard said.

"If you say so." Roxas shrugged.

Jane chuckled a little before adopting a small concerned look on her features. "Now, what are these nightmares that have been bothering you?"

"Not nightmares." Roxas corrected. "But… something else."

"Well, what is this 'something else'?"

He paused in thought, recalling everything he had been seeing thus far.

"It feels like… visions of some kind." Roxas began slowly, trying to properly word this phenomena. "Every time I sleep, they appear. And they're clear. Concise. I can hear every word and feel everything that's happening."

"What are they like?" Shepard asked, getting slightly drawn into his description. It felt a bit familiar.

"Like I'm there." Roxas said. "All my actions are my own. They all come from me directly. I even have my Keyblade with me."

'Interesting.' Shepard internally mused.

"Anything else?"

"Yeah… a lot else."

She simply waited for him to continue as he continued on.

"There are these worlds I'm in that… I've never been to but it feels so familiar." Roxas said, a faraway look in his eyes. "I know I've never been to these worlds but seeing them, I get…"

"Nostalgic?" Shepard ventured a guess getting a nod out of Roxas.

"Whenever I have them, it's like my entire body is seizing up and I just don't know how to process it."

The commander adopted a thinking pose. "Sounds a little similar to my vision from the Prothean Beacon."

"Maybe." He mumbled.

Shepard hummed aloud in thought. "You mentioned that you saw your Keyblade in the dreams, right?"

Roxas nodded.

"Could they be your memories finally resurfacing?" Shepard suggested.

She watched as the teenager with the crazy powers thought over this possibility.

After several seconds, he shook his head. "They don't seem like my memories."

"What makes you say that?" Shepard asked.

"It's just that…" Roxas recalled one specific detail. "Every time I get a look at myself, it's not me. It's someone else. A boy my age with brown hair and red clothes. He's always with these two other guys named Donald Duck and Goofy."

'Donald Duck and Goofy?' Shepard internally repeated those names, a snort escaping her lips with Roxas looking up at her.

"Sorry, just found those names a bit amusing." She admitted. "Who has a last name as Duck?"

"He did apparently." Roxas remarked.

"So then, what do you think of this, Roxas?" Shepard asked. "Are they memories? Or something else."

Roxas looked down at the ground, replaying all these… visions? Memories? He just didn't know. Is it weird that he considered them as…

"...both?"

"Both?" Shepard repeated in slight amusement.

He slowly nodded though his eyes conveyed how unsure he was himself.

Shepard sighed. "I would naively say it's just you reading too much codex entries and whatnot, but that would be stupid."

He glanced back up at her as Shepard placed a hand upon his shoulder.

"If anything is troubling you, don't hesitate to talk to me or anyone else on the crew." Shepard stated in a comforting manner. "Whatever it was that you were facing before, you're not doing it alone anymore. You're here with us and you're one of us now."

He gazed upon Shepard, a warm feeling swelling within him. Slowly, a small smile appeared, a look of appreciation being clear to see.

"Thanks Shepard."

Slightly surprised by this display of emotion from such a usually emotionless Roxas, Jane only smiled in return.

She ruffled his hair once more in an affectionate manner before pushing herself off the pod she was leaning on.

"Try to get a bit more sleep, Roxas." Shepard instructed. "We're gonna have a busy day."

"Got it."

-Scene Cut-

Later in the day, the Normandy had arrived at the planet Eletania of the Hercules system.

Their task in being here was relatively simple. Admiral Hackett requested they recover a data module that crash landed on the planet's surface. Within its data lies intel of Geth movement in the Attican Beta Cluster.

For this simple mission of theirs, Shepard had brought along Wrex, Garrus and Roxas with her.

After departing from the Normandy, the N7 marine was haphazardly driving all over in search for the lost module.

It was during the drive that Garrus made a remark for Jane not to drive off a cliff.

"Don't tell me what to do, Garrus." She said.

And then she drove off a cliff, just out of utter spite.

After the rough, tumbling landing, the group was forced to exit out of the Mako.

"I'm surprised this thing is in one piece." Roxas remarked as he gave it a quick inspection. "Nothing seems to be broken or misaligned."

"Thank the Spirits that didn't happen."

"I thought the drop was fun."

"Of course you would say that Wrex."

"Hey, what's that?"

Hearing Roxas' inquiry, the others turned and saw something quite peculiar.

"Is that-?"

"Looks Prothean to me." Wrex interrupted Shepard's dialogue.

It was a small set of ruins seemingly hidden through the mountain terrain. And in its center was this gigantic, floating ball of shiny metal. When the four got close, the metal seemed to ripple a little as it appeared to be mercury or something.

It didn't take long for the others to discuss what to do with it while walking around and inspecting it.

Roxas opted for a closer look, though he recalled how Jane told him about the beacon on Eden Prime that gave her those visions of the Protheans' extinction. So he exercised caution by staying a good yard away from the floating sphere.

It didn't seem all that special for the most part.

Just a shiny ball of floating metal.

Nothing all that special when he saw something that he considered out of the ordinary on this otherwise perfectly spherical ball.

Examining the strange Prothean artifact a little more closely revealed a small, irregular slot on the underside of the surface.

Remembering the strange trinket he received from the Asari consort on the Citadel, Roxas pulled it out of his coat and placed it into the slot. The mercury surfaced ball soon vibrated and gave off a green hue.

"What the?"

"Roxas?"

"Roxas, what did you do?"

Before he could have the chance to respond, the green light started to grow brighter and brighter until it suddenly exploded in a flash, momentarily blinding and disorienting everyone present.

Next thing he knew, he heard a loud *clang*.

Slowly opening his eyes, he saw the mercury surfaced ball was no longer extremely large. Now it was the size of his head.

"Shepard!"

Roxas looked back and saw the commander was lying on her back.

Rushing over, he and the others looked down and saw her coming too.

"Ugh, what happened?" She groaned out.

"There was a flash of light from the artifact and you just toppled over." Said the Krogan.

"Are you okay, Shepard?"

She didn't answer right away, unsure as to what she could tell them all on what she exactly saw.

Like the Prothean Beacon on Eden Prime, she received another vision. But instead of fragmented, it seemed a bit more whole. Yet she still had more questions than answers.

How long did the Protheans study the primitive humans, observing them and analyzing their results at their base on Mars? And what, if anything, did they learn from humankind?

"I'm fine." She finally replied, realizing the questions she just had will never be answered anytime soon, probably never. "Forget about it."

"So… this thing happened."

Shepard looked over and saw the head sized metal ball lying on the ground, unmoving.

"So it just shrank in the end?" Shepard asked, standing back up with Garrus and Roxas assisting her.

"Kinda disappointing, isn't it?" Garrus quipped.

"What should we do with it?" Roxas inquired.

"I say we sell it." Wrex suggested. "Prothean artifacts fetch a lot of credits."

"Maybe we can give it to Liara to study." Garrus added in. "She is our Prothean expert, after all."

Shepard hummed. "Both are good points." She then gazed at Roxas. "What do you say? You were the one who activated the damn thing. You decide on what to do for it."

"You sure?" Asked the Nobody.

Seeing the N7 marine nod, Roxas thought for a few moments before quickly coming to a decision.

"Let Liara have it."

"Well, you just made her day Roxas." Garrus remarked approvingly.

Satisfied with the decision, Shepard had Roxas bring the now shrunken artifact into the Mako as they went back to find the fallen data module.

Once departing the mountain terrain, the Mako sped through a large valley. During the silent drive, they soon came across their intended target.

Hopping out of the tank-like vehicle, the group were soon greeted with the only sign of life on this planet.

"Oh, great, them." The Battlemaster grumbled aloud.

"C'mon, Wrex. Pyjaks aren't that bad."

"Say that again at a later time."

When gazing at the Pyjak, Roxas saw it resembled that of a monkey. Before he could try and inspect it more, he quickly moved his head aside as something sailed passed it.

"WHOA!"

Wrex looked over and saw the last few moments before barking out a laugh. "Ha! Glad to see your reflexes are good in avoiding that."

Composing himself, the Nobody asked the obvious question. "What did it just throw at me?"

"What else, Pyjak shit."

Ignoring the unsavory moment, Garrus approached the Alliance satellite and gave it a quick inspection.

"Is the data module intact?" Asked the commander.

"I would give a proper response to that if there was a module to actually see here."

Upon hearing Garrus' statement, Roxas knelt down and inspected the immediate area.

"I see tracks leading up to this. And from there… they headed off somewhere up north."

Wrex groaned. "Great… Pyjaks stole the module."

"Guess we're doing this the hard way." Shepard drawled out.

Once getting back into the Mako, Shepard took off as the four person team headed off to their possible destination.

It took some time till they spotted a Pyjak colony situated in front of what appears to be an abandoned mine.

After combing through each and every one of them, the team soon came to the conclusion the Pyjak they were looking for was somewhere in the mine.

"I don't know if this is gonna be a trend or anything, but what's up with us going into the mines lately?" Garrus said aloud.

"Beat's me, Vakarian."

"I just know we're gonna get buried under a mine." Garrus bemoaned. "Damn near happened to us on Therum and now we're entering yet another one."

"Don't try to tempt fate too much like that, Garrus." Shepard joked. "She'll answer in quite a spectacular way."

Reaching the bottom, Wrex used his biotics to pry the broken doors open for them to pass on through easily. The lights flickered on and off in the underground cavern. And scurrying on the floor were a couple of Pyjaks.

"Alright, you guys know what to do." Said Shepard.

"Can I kill them?" Wrex pleaded.

"No."

Trying to catch his Pyjak, Roxas stumbled into a large locked crate.

Out of instinct, Roxas summoned his Keyblade, twirled it and bopped the lid. Moments later, the electronic lock fizzled out, granting the Nobody to properly open the container.

Peering inside, Roxas soon called out to his team. "Found something."

"Did you find the module?"

"No, but I found these."

When seeing the state of the crate, Garrus let loose a small chuckle. "Still weird to see that Keyblade of yours opening up any locked up container; no matter how hard the inscriptions are."

Roxas only shrugged. "I guess so."

"Is there anything it can't unlock?" Garrus inquired in a curious tone.

The Keybearer frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know. Never really tried it out."

The Turian accepted the answer before he inspected Roxas' recent find.

"Hmm, a Katana IV shotgun, an Edge IV pistol and several sets of armor." Garrus muttered aloud as he inspected them. "Don't know how well their conditions are, given how long these might have been down here for."

"Could check them out back on the Normandy before possibly selling them to the Moogle."

"Ah yes… the Moogle." The C-sec detective murmured, still not really used to having the little guy on the Normandy.

As a matter of fact, Garrus still wasn't used to everything that had been happening that was either directly or indirectly connected to Roxas.

But… he was a good kid.

And a dangerous opponent on the battlefield.

So, he'll just roll with it as best as he was able to right now. It's basically what the entire crew had been doing since first seeing the teen's astonishing abilities.

Seeing as the present Pyjaks didn't have the module, the group ventured further into the mine.

Upon entering the next couple of chambers, the group repeated their same duty as before. And within said spaces, Roxas "opened" some more locked crates. In total, he found a number of shotguns, pistols, sniper rifles and an assortment of armor sets.

Eventually they were finally able to snag the thieving Pyjak they were looking for.

"Sooner you let go, the sooner you can run free, you stinking pile of shit." Wrex growled out as the Pyjak was falling within his grasp.

As it tried to get itself free, the module dropped out of the pack's grasp. Not wanting to have it fall and break, Roxas dived and caught it just in time.

"Good catch."

"It's a miracle the data module is still intact. Joker can transmit this info to Alliance Command once we get back above ground."

Departing from the deepest mine chamber, the four started heading back towards the entrance. But upon entering the next chamber up, the group heard some movement up ahead.

It wasn't a Pyjak, given the heavy steps the sound was emanating.

Volunteering to check it out, Roxas went up ahead and ducked for cover. Peeking over, he saw the source.

Geth.

Summoning his Keyblade, he quickly fired off a Fira spell, blasting the synthetic being away.

The moment the spell was cast, more Geth started appearing in the mine shafts and congregated at their position.

"What the hell was that, Roxas?" Garrus said over the Omni-tool comm.

"There's Geth down here."

"Finally some action!" Roared the Krogan.

It didn't take long for the Battlemaster to arrive at his position, charging in and firing his shotgun at the incoming Geth.

"And here I thought this mission was going to be a simple walk in the park." Shepard remarked, firing off her assault rifle as she closed her position onto Roxas'.

"Would've been boring if it were, sadly." Garrus added in, firing his sniper rifle from behind a crate.

Upon receiving enemy fire, the Geth deployed their hexagonal barriers. Shortly afterwards, a number of them were electrocuted through Roxas' Thunder spell. With them momentarily short-circuited, it became easy pickings for Shepard's team to take care of them.

"Move on up, people." Said the human Spectre, prompting them to head into the next chamber.

When they were about to step foot into the next area, the air cracked, signaling the team to quickly duck for cover.

Without being ordered to, Garrus went to work in finding the Geth Sniper with his own weapon.

"I can barely see it." Said the Turian. "Can't get a clear shot. Need someone to push it out."

"I'm on it." Said the Nobody, rushing out as his Keyblade cleaved through several Geth along the way.

As this was happening, Shepard was doing occasional shots at their synthetic opponents. The commander spotted a cryo container near a grouping of Geth. Firing a shot at it, the container soon exploded and froze a number of them while the rest didn't seem to be entirely affected.

The Krogan Battlemaster, meanwhile, eventually grew tired of firing at the Geth coming to him. So he left his spot and went towards them. Getting in close, he used a biotic throw to essentially throw his opponents off the ground before his shotgun rounds helped finish them off.

Reaching near the enemy sniper, Roxas quickly maneuvered around it and kicked it out of its hiding spot. The moment it was in the open area, Garrus fired a round from his sniper and blasted it's flashlight-like head dead center.

"And that takes care of them." Garrus said, standing up from his cover.

"Hopefully, it's just them." Roxas said as the rest regrouped.

"Let's not stick around to find out." Shepard stated as they went as fast as they could.

Once exiting out of the abandoned mine, Shepard radioed Joker.

"Mission Complete, Joker. We need a pickup at our coordinates while you transmit this data back to Alliance Command."

"Will do, Commander." Said the Normandy Pilot. "Oh, and I was just about to call you guys. Something came up."

"What's wrong? Is the Moogle acting up again?"

"No, not that. We just got reports of Geth activity on Feros, and a large amount apparently."

Shepard nodded. "Right. Set a course to Feros once you retrieve us."

-Scene Cut-

Exiting out from the relay that brought them to the Theseus system, the Normandy flew towards the colony world of Feros.

From what Roxas learned of their destination, they were heading towards a colony founded by the ExoGeni Corporation. Feros was founded as a pilot colony to explore the Prothean ruins that blanket 2/3rds of the planet's land mass. Much of the visible Prothean ruins were skyscrapers that were tall enough to peak above the clouds, because the clouds below trapped the dust and debris that littered the planet's lower atmosphere which made traveling to explore the surface impossible.

When Roxas was peeking from the cockpit's window, he saw that some of the Prothean structures looked as if the work was incomplete, showing signs of exposed scaffolding on the top of certain buildings.

It kind of gave the impression that the Protheans disappeared while in the middle of their work.

When Joker had attempted to contact anyone on comms earlier, it came back as static.

This immediately put the pilot and the crew on edge.

More so then they already were with the advent of the Geth being present within this system and the colony.

At the sound of the static being broadcasted in various parts of the ship, Roxas winced, feeling his ears ring briefly before it subsided.

Piloting the ship down to the surface while engaging the Normandy's stealth functions to go undetected by the Geth. Of course they also knew it was only a matter of time until they would be dealing with the synthetic AI directly.

Really, all the ground platforms had to do was look up at one point then they'd come runnin'.

Flying through the atmosphere of Feros, Joker picked up on a transmission of some kind. With the Normandy's VI assisting him, he managed to clarify the transmission, revealing it to be a distress call.

Reaching a tall building, where the colony was primarily based at, Joker maneuvered the ship into the docking bay. Once properly docked, the assigned squad began preparing themselves for the planet.

They had themselves geared and armored up with their equipment and weapons checked over several times to be sure. Though there was a bit of hesitation from several of them, the squadmates for this mission equipped themselves with some of the items that the Moogle had prepared for them.

Apparently, armor pieces that they had were strengthened and increased in endurance. It really looked a bit shinier if anything.

Then there were their weapons.

For the most part, the Moogle simply told them that the caliber and power behind them have been made stronger and next time they come back for synthesis, he'll have something special for each of them.

So, aside from Roxas vouching for the little guy(who really needed a name), the crew would just have to trust his word for it.

And speaking of…

Normally, Shepard would make sure to select her squad for each planet and assignment right before the start of the op.

However, with an entire colony not sending out any transmissions other than distress beacons and the presence of the Geth apparently being so large, Shepard knew this was an all hands on deck operation.

So, upon the Normandy being docked, the entire ground squad of eight stepped out onto the platform.

Shepard led at the front, Ash to her left, Garrus to her right and Wrex to his.

Behind them were Tali, Kaidan, Roxas and Liara respectively.

Transitioning from the Normandy to the port's long walkway, the ground team had their weapons drawn. They didn't know what was going on to greet them.

Their suspicions were momentarily put to rest when a man was waiting for them at the end of the walkway. They approached the man and when they got a closer look at him, they saw his present condition. His clothes have been worn thin with several tears here and there, his face was covered in smudge and his eyes have the look of someone who witnessed too many people die.

When the group got close, the colonist spoke. "We saw your ship. Fai Dan wants to talk to you immediately."

"Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked.

"He's our leader." Said the man. "He needs your help to prepare for the Geth. They're making another push. Please. Up the stairs and past the-"

In an instant, Roxas pushed the man out of the way before using his Keyblade to deflect an incoming rocket.

The moment he swatted the projectile away, which exploded soon after, the rest of the ground team went into action; pulling out their weapons and firing at the Geth that had ambushed them.

"Numbers?"

"I'm counting four so far!" Garrus responded, firing a round from his sniper rifle. "My mistake, three." He gazed upwards through his scope and gave his next report. "There's another grouping coming down the stairs."

"Tali, you're up." Shepard ordered. "Roxas, Wrex, back her up. Kaidan, Biotic cover."

Instantly, Tali had Roxas and Wrex in front of her with the two fighting off the Geth whilst Kaidan provided cover for them.

Unleashing an overload, the first group of Geth began to shake about with Kaidan dropping the shield. Wrex and Roxas charged forward, the gunfire from behind them backing them up at the Geth that were still mobile.

From under the platform, several Geth crawlers came up from behind the advance group.

Shepard rushed forward with Liara and Ash by her side, Garrus slightly behind them to better utilize his sharp shooting skills.

Getting to the closest Geth, Shepard immobilized it with a stasis and promptly bashed the butt of her rifle into its head, shooting it a moment later.

Liara and Ashley worked in tandem with one another, the former using her Biotics to either fling, pull in or freeze any Geth she got within her sights and the latter taking them out with exceptional efficiency.

Garrus was firing at anything that wasn't organic, taking out a group of Geth Troopers that came out a doorway that led into the main structure of this building.

Soon after, the last Geth was brought down by tail, clearing the platform of enemies.

Once the fighting was over, Shepard went over to the colonist Roxas pushed out of the way. When getting close, she saw something unusual about the man as he didn't seem scared at all.

'Strange.' She pondered. Shaking her head, Jane offered her hand to the colonist, which was ignored as the man got up himself. 'Weird and rude.'

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"Yes," the colonist said in a monotonous tone. "Like I said, Fai Dan wishes to speak with you. Please, this way."

Unnerved by the colonist's strange behavior and speech pattern, Shepard signaled the rest of her ground team. As they neared a set of stairs, Shepard raised her arm, blocking their guide's way.

"Wait." She ordered.

"What's wrong?"

"This place is too perfect for an ambush." She answered. "We'd practically be entering a bottleneck, here."

In her field of view, she saw a different Geth hugging the walls with a red laser point flashing in the Spectre's eyes.

"DOWN!" She yelled, pulling the colonist into the nearby cover, just as a bullet came screaming past.

Immediately, the group swung back into action, shooting at the newly arrived Geth through the entryway. But the synthetic was too quick, hopping away out of sight.

"It's too quick!" Tali commented.

"Can't get a good shot." Ashely added in.

"Leave this to me."

Upon hearing Roxas' words, the team hanged back as he rushed in and leaped into the air. Feet planting on the wall, he ran up its length and went after the hopping Geth. The synthetic swung it's head at the Nobody, aimed and fired a shot, all in a span of a second. But Roxas had a better reaction time, moving his head over slightly to avoid the hit.

Seeing the hopper launch off the one wall, Roxas flipped towards the wall opposite, launching himself forward in an interception play with the leaping Geth. With a swing of his Keyblade, Roxas caved in the flashlight head in, causing the synthetic to fall down.

Before he could go back down and regroup, Roxas gave off a warning.

"We've got more incoming!"

Geth descended down, crawling along the walls.

"Pick your targets." Shepard ordered, raising her rifle up and letting out bursts.

Tali pulled out her Omni-tool under the safety of the Biotic barrier Kaidan threw up. Punching in an override, several of the Geth Crawlers spasmed upon the walls, feeling the effects of Tali's override.

Raising his sniper rifle, Garrus paused for a moment as he glanced at the side of his weapon. Next to the trigger, just above it, was a new knob that he was supposed to twist whenever he wanted to test out one of the new capabilities the Moogle had installed into his weapon. He was greatly unsure on just how this was supposed to work but he recalled what the hood wearing puff ball told him.

When he turned the knob, his weapon would connect to his eyepiece and he had to "lock on" to his targets before firing.

Well… no time like the present.

Flicking the nob, Garrus's eyepiece glowed with multiple crosshairs appearing.

He was greatly overwhelmed by this influx of visual stimulation, having to shake his head in order to get a grasp as to what was happening.

Gritting his teeth, Garrus gazed through his eyepiece, trying his best to concentrate on one of the Geth.

Eventually, the multiple crosshairs vanished with one being displayed, turning red as it marked one Geth on the walls. He then shifted his head over to a Geth trooper on a higher floor. Then to another Geth crawler.

It was then that the crosshairs blinked rapidly and he felt his weapon jolt. Looking down, Garrus saw it slightly transformed, with the barrel breaking up slightly and expanding forward. It began whirring and shaking.

Garrus balked, instinctively pointing the barrel upward just as a large beam was shot out from his weapon.

As it reached a certain elevation, the beam burst and became three separate shots that swirled and swerved into the three Geth's he had targeted. The synthetics didn't even have a chance to respond properly as the beams smashed into them and destroyed them entirely.

Fighting momentarily stopped, save for one, as the Normandy squad looked to their Turian sniper in stunned disbelief.

Roxas, who was used to insane displays of power that Garrus had just pulled off with his weapon, continued fighting against the Geth with not much left.

The others however just stopped to stare, with the Geth appearing to focus more on the immediate threat over the easy targets.

All the while, Garrus was holding his gun like it was the most delicate thing in the galaxy with a look of giddy reverence.

A Geth head abruptly fell next to the Turian with Roxas landing beside it a moment later.

"How is it?" Roxas inquired, looking at the gun with interest.

Wordlessly, Garrus placed a hand upon Roxas's shoulder. He had his head down for a few moments until he looked up at the Nobody with his eyes appearing to have tears in a comedic fashion.

"I'll never doubt anything you say ever again, Roxas." Garrus said with a dramatic flair of joy.

The rest of the squad could only look to their own weapons, a sense of shaking excitement now at giving them a test run.

"God damn." Ashley murmured, pretty much summarizing the collective feeling they were all sharing.

Looks like the Moogle more than lived up to his word.

"Oh!" Roxas spoke up, making everyone look to him as he pointed up. "Uh, clear Commander."

They all held blank looks before they couldn't help but guffaw at the casual nature in which Roxas addressed them. No surprise though, considering what he is capable of.

"Alright, let's-"

The colonist that had greeted them suddenly walked past the group. "This way. Fai Dan is waiting."

Following the guide, Kaidan couldn't help but comment about something. "I've got a bad feeling about this colonist."

"How so, Alenko?" Asked Garrus.

"Didn't bother to introduce himself, for one. Could just be me on that." Commented the lieutenant. "Asides from that, it's just the way he talked is a little odd."

"How would you describe it?" Liara inquired.

"I dunno." Kaidan frowned. "It was kinda like he was a zombie. Not all there, you know?"

Roxas, meanwhile, merely thought to himself. 'Was that how Axel reacted to me when we first met? Me being a zombie?'

Shepard gave a brief nod. "Yeah, I noticed that too. There's something a little off about him, but we'll just let things play out."

"Understood, Commander." said the group in response.

The ground team continued their way up to the colony when they came across a poorly made sign over the entrance called Zhu's Hope. The entrance was either guarded by security officers or people who have never held a weapon in their lives.

The mood of these colonists was downright bad. And when the team showed up, they didn't receive a warm welcome at all.

"This is rather pleasant." Ash said with a bitter voice, not liking the situation they found themselves in.

"Can't say I blame them for being nervous." Kaidan commented as he gazed at the surrounding people. "Some of these people probably never trained to fight prior to coming here."

"And now they're learning first-hand of actual combat while being very unprepared." Spoke the Turian.

"Surely there's something we can do." Liara said as she gazed at the many colonists suffering from the Geth attacks, suffering from fresh wounds or a previous assault.

"We will." Shepard said reassuringly. "Just need to talk to this Fai Dan and see what's what."

Traversing through the "warzone", the ground team's guide eventually led them to a human man and woman, who were engaged in what sounded like intense planning. After that, said guide merely walked away without saying another word.

The conversation taking place was put on hold when the human pair saw the group approach. "Oh thank goodness! I'm so glad they finally sent people to help us." Gleefully said the man.

The woman, however, seemed more upset. "You're a bit late, aren't you?"

"Arcelia!" Rebuked the man. He looked back at the commander and expected her to be offended, but with a raised hand, she showed she wasn't really offended nor intimidated. "I'm sorry, but everybody's on edge."

"It's no problem. I'm Commander Shepard. And you are?"

"I'm Fai Dan and-"

"Watch out!" Arcelia yelled out, upholstering an assault rifle from her back.

Tali looked over and yelled. "Geth in the tower!"

"Protect the heart of the colony!" Fai Dan shouted, before Shepard roughly pulled him down, placing herself between the colony leader and the direction of the Geth.

The surprise attack ended up becoming rather short. A result from the Geth caught in the bottleneck this time around and was destroyed easily.

"Clear!" Garrus called out.

Hearing this, Shepard holstered her weapon and pulled Fai Dan up. And while the others were holstering their respective weapons, Roxas didn't dismiss his. Presently, he was looking around, wanting to be ready for any more sudden attacks.

It was then that Roxas heard something from within the tower.

"Shepard…"

"Yeah, I heard it too." The N7 marine turned to Wrex, Liara and Kaidan. "I want you three to stay here by the entrance. I don't want any Geth breaching, understand?"

"You got it, Shepard." Wrex grunted out, hefting his shotgun.

"Understood, commander." Came Kaidan's reply.

"Of course." Liara simply said.

"Stay here," Shepard said to Fai Dan and Arcelia before turning to the rest of her team. "Everyone else, let's move. Tali, you're point. Garrus, cover rear. Ashley, with me. Roxas, you're back up."

When the group made it into the tower, they heard a colonist yell at the top of his lungs. "Help me! Please! I don't want to die!"

What followed was an explosion of Geth chatter on the floor above.

Realizing what needed to be done, Roxas reacted immediately. "I've got this!"

No. XIII leaped onto one of the supporting columns and bounded off of it onto the side of the stairs before leaping further up onto the second floor. Grabbing the ledge, Roxas pulled himself up and came face to face with three Geth pointing their weapons right at a colonist.

Without thinking, Roxas rushed over and intercepted the coming fire. With the rounds being blocked by his Keyblade, he soon delivered several quick strikes and wrecked the synthetics rather easily.

Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashely stormed up the stairs, only to stop when they saw Roxas speaking to the colonist. "You better get back to the colony."

"You got it, kid. Thanks."

With that said, the colonist bolted as fast as he could. Once disappearing from sight, the ground team heard the violent chatter of the Geth.

Looking to their right, down the hall which led to the tower, Shepard saw another Geth squad closing in. "Incoming!" She called out.

As the enemy opened fire upon them, the ground team retaliated and made quick work out of the present Geth.

As the five eventually reached the entrance to what was the top of the tower, they burst through and took the Geth by surprise at the speed and ferocity of their attack. Dashing up the side of a sloped incline, they ducked into cover as the Geth returned fire.

Pulling out her Omni-tool, Tali momentarily left cover and aimed her hand at an incoming Geth. In an instant, several bolts shot out and struck the synthetic, scorching it's frame. With the attack successful, the Quarian retreated back into cover and deactivated her Omni-tool for the time being to initiate it's ten second cooldown period.

Popping out for a few moments, Ashley fired her assault rifle as the incendiary rounds were doing their job. While ordinary ones have a hard time going through metal, the ones she carried had an extra kick to them. Once the special rounds pierced through several joints, the synthetic frame started bursting into flame. The Geth started flailing about before collapsing onto the ground and ceased functioning.

Peeking out from cover, Garrus was taking shots with his sniper rifle. Before he could fire anymore rounds, he saw a larger Geth was charging its way towards their location.

"Roxas! We got a Destroyer incoming!"

A second later, Roxas casted Blizarra, freezing the large Geth model in a thick chunk of ice. From there, the Nobody rushed forward and cleaved through the entrapped synthetic as its top half slid back and fell onto the ground.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

The battlefield was in a momentary state of peace, leaving the group to get a small birth of relief.

"These weapons…" Ashley now shared a similar expression to that of Garrus when he first tested out his upgraded rifle. "My God."

Roxas suddenly had his head caught by Shepard's arm, her pulling him close while grinding her fist against his head in an affectionate manner.

"Roxas." She said with a beaming grin as she kept on her noogie, despite his flailing. "You've outdone yourself."

"Don't thank me." He groaned out, trying and failing to rid himself of Shepard's little assault. "It was the Moogle."

"Yeah, but you're the reason why we didn't just kill it." Ash said with a large grin, now poking Roxas's side, eliciting a small laugh out of him.

Eventually, Shepard stopped, yet her wide smile had yet to leave her face.

Despite the current circumstances of Feros and the Geth attack, Jane was finding it hard to suppress her giddiness after utilizing her newly upgraded weapon.

A sentiment shared by the others with Ashley grinning from ear to ear as she rested her weapon on her shoulder.

"The Geth are in for a rude awakening now." Williams stated boisterously. "This is what I call an eye opener."

"Boo, that pun is lame." Shepard jokingly said, a thumb down.

Garrus grinned, mandibles turning upwards. "C-Sec's got nothing on these bad boys!" He then muttered to himself as he gazed at his rifle. "Wonder what else I could maybe do on this."

For a moment, Roxas thought Tali was smiling in response behind her helmet, but he couldn't quite tell as he could only see her eyes.

Suddenly, a low rumble could be heard. Looking around, Roxas noticed a large mass moving past the opened ceiling.

"What's that?!" Roxas said, aiming his Keyblade at the moving purple object, which hovered above the opening with light illuminating the bottom.

Tali gasped in recognition. "That's a Geth dropship!" She exclaimed. "Th-T-They never had anything like this before the war! They've developed so far!"

Not entirely unfazed by the sight of the dropship, which soon disappeared from their line of sight, Roxas moved over to the far end of the room where he found an odd console. Telling by the color and designs, it had to be something the Geth used.

"Do you guys know what this is?"

The group gathered around the Geth designed console with Garrus giving a quick look over. "Don't know if I could get into it. What about you, Tali?"

The Quarian stepped forward, checking the device. "It looks like a beacon of sorts. Almost like they were searching- Oh no! It's got a self-destruct sequence!"

"Take cover!"

The group dove away at the nick of time. Not a moment too soon as the Geth console exploded, sending shrapnel all over.

As everyone got back onto their feet, Tali growled. "Those Bosh'tets!"

"Something wrong?" Roxas asked.

"Most of their technology is rigged to self-destruct if captured." She explained. "Their firewalls and security protocols are too advanced for me to work through."

"Seems they're getting more out of hand lately if that's what they're doing." Garrus coolly commented.

Tali said nothing as she somewhat scrunched around to possibly see if there was anything salvageable, only to find nothing.

"Alright people, we need to head back down." Shepard said, basically ordering the team to head on out.

The present team compiled as they were making their way down the hallway and towards the staircase not far ahead.

*Taptaptaptaptaptaptaptap*

Shepard's ear twitched, making her freeze in her tracks.

"Did you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"I heard something…" Shepard looked around. "It sounded like tapping."

"Tapping?" Garrus repeated.

"Yeah, but really fast." Shepard added. "There's got to be another word for it."

Before anyone else could provide an answer for Shepard, they heard it.

*Taptaptaptaptaptaptaptap*

The group tensed up, weapons drawn and pointed on all sides. They went back to back to make sure they covered each other's blind spots as they kept their eyes and ears sharp.

That sound… if they were to choose a proper word to describe it, it sounded like skittering of some kind.

And it was proving to be a bit difficult in pinpointing just where the source of it was coming from as the sound was bouncing all over them.

Shepard grasped her weapon tightly, the feel of her comrades on her back assuring her to a slight degree but her form was still stiff.

The damn tapping and skittering was all over the place and it was setting them on edge. Where was it coming from?

Better yet, who or what was causing all this noise.

Geth Crawlers?

Possibly, but they would have attacked by now.

A new enemy? A Heartless perhaps?

"Movement, twelve o'clock!" Ashley sharply called out, four weapons snapping in said direction.

The team was ready, with their fingers trailing over their triggers.

*TapTapTap*

They shifted about at the sound again.

*TapTapTapTap*

It was getting closer now.

Coming right for them.

*Taptaptaptaptaptap*

"Keelah." Tali muttered under her breath, her anxiousness beginning to get to her.

"Steady." Shepard said in a calm voice.

*Taptaptaptaptaptap*

*Taptap*

*Tap*

From behind a large pile of rubble, out came…

"The hell is that supposed to be?" Ashley asked the question on everyone's mind.

The newcomer faced them and jumped up on its legs to stand and gaze at them intently.

The attacker(?) was a small blue creature standing around three feet tall with a small, short stumpy tail. It bears large rabbit-like ears with asymmetrical notches on the outer rims of each ear. It's wide mouth held very small, sharp teeth with a long tongue sticking out as it reached towards it's round nose. There were two pairs of arms with odd spinel's on its back with a pair of antennae on its head. And on its chest and on top of its head -asides from the antennae- were three tufts of fur.

Presently, it's black eyes looked around the present ground team members, who merely looked on in varying states of surprise.

"What is that thing?!"

"It looks like… a dog?" Said the Commander.

"More like an odd koala." Ashley commented.

"What the hell is a koala?" Garrus questioned.

Roxas only stared in silence, analyzing the creature with an unusually intense look.

"Animal from Ea- ah forget it, not now." Shepard murmured, cautiously lowering her weapon.

"Shepard?"

"Easy." Jane gestured her hand down to keep them calm.

Slowly, they lowered their weapons.

Seeing this, the blue creature's ears perked up, with it inclining its head up before bringing up its top left arm and seemingly… waved?

"Ha-Ha-Ha-HIIIII!"

Basically everyone sputtered before the majority of them spoke as one.

"IT CAN TALK?!"

The creature proceeded to laugh excitedly, clapping its four arms together until it retracted its lower pair of arms.

The gun wielders quickly aimed their weapons at the new arrival, causing the creature to hold up its present arms up in a gestured calming manner.

"Okay, okay." it said placatingly.

"Keelah, it can talk!" Tali said aloud in complete astonishment.

"Spirits." Garrus rubbed the side of his head, trying to make sense of this. "Anybody got any ideas what this thing is?"

"I don't know what it is."

"Doubt it's a new breed of Varren."

"What should we do with it?" Ashley asked, warily staring at the curious new alien.

It appeared docile and… well, it greeted them in its own strange way.

So, did that mean it was friendly?

That remains to be seen.

"What do you think, Roxas?"

"He's… good?" The Nobody said in an unsure way, as if it was debating for some reason.

The group practically raised a respective brow with Shepard voicing their unified thought. "And how can you tell that?"

"...I can tell…"

Roxas didn't know what he was feeling now, but there seemed to be something(?) telling him to trust(?) this thing."

Shepard exhaled a weary sigh. "Only you, Roxas. Only you…"

In a moment, the little blue furred alien looked past most of the ground team and looked at the black coated teenager.

It's jaw fell slightly with its ears drooping and eyes widened in astonishment.

"Ven…?"

"Huh?"

The creature scurried right up towards the Nobody and before he knew it, the little alien leaped into the air, landed on him and started licking his face like crazy.

The action caused Roxas to fall onto his back as the licking kept on going.

"Ew!" Ashley grimaced. "Why is its slobber green?!"

Tali quickly backed away as she fiddled with her hands. "I don't want to get slobbered! It would take forever to wash out!"

Ceasing it's licking, the small blue koala-like alien rubbed its head against Roxas' face in a joyful expression being clear as day to see.

"Ven! Fren-! Messa foun- you!" it exclaimed in complete happiness, clinging on to the teen with all its might.

The Nobody seemed to have a hard time trying to pry the creature off of him, yet it's grip was too strong!

"Roxas?" Shepard was unsure of what to do at the moment.

The little critter appeared to recognize Roxas with how it was reacting to seeing him.

But what was it that this thing called him?

Ven?

Why did this blue furred creature call him Ven?

"Fren!" The blue creature said happily. "Fren!"

"Is it trying to say 'friend'?" Ashley said aloud.

Without realizing it, a number(?) escaped from the confines of Roxas' mouth.

"626?"

This merely made the alien, 626, laugh in utter joy.

"You know this thing, Roxas?" Tali asked in bewilderment, hesitant to get close.

"I… don't know."

AN

Oh? Would you look at that?

Surprised I hope.

Yes, we got Stitch on board ladies and gentlemen. Something J and I have been planning from the start.

The official true start of the melding of the KH ways and ME universe have begun.

Pray that the Milky Way Galaxy is prepared for the crazy things to come.

Jebest4781: So if you guys have already noticed, the poll for the Roxas pairing on this story ended a few days ago. The results were a practical landslide with duh duh duh duh… both Xion and Tali being the winners!

So now another poll had taken its place for the Axel/Lea pairing on this story. Presently, both Miranda and femShep are neck and neck. Who knows who'll be the winner, but only one lucky lady will have the chakram wielding redhead all to herself. That means no sharing option, people!

FMW: Yes, we shall be giving you all ample time to get your votes in as I intend on having the poll up for a good number of chapters. Possibly five or six, maybe even longer. J and I have thought about the pairings and the circumstances for each one with all of them having their very own unique spin on each.

Jeb: I mean, don't want to end it too soon. Want some more readers to check it out and hopefully some of the other girls on the list get some lovin' with the votes.

FMW: Yes (sinister fingers tapping together like Mr. Burns). We shall see how things shall play out. And by play out, I mean us writing and you all reading it afterwards. As it goes.

Until then folks, vote, vote, vote.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.