Oh shit, Oh shit, Oh shit….

I booked it back to the colony, my mind full of panic not to mention full of the memories of the shadow clone that, after an unlucky fall. Had dispelled, right in front of Jane. If she didn't know something was up with me before, she sure as hell did now. A person isn't supposed to explode into smoke. No matter how weird things in this universe might get. That's still pretty damn strange.

I at least owed her some sort of apology, or at the very least an explanation. I suppose she was going to have to learn my secret. I just prayed to god she wouldn't go off and tell the first person she saw.

Jane stared at me, her expression incredulous as I finished my explanation. A single eyebrow raised in contemplative skepticism.

"So what you're basically saying is..."

She said as she uncrossed her arms, her expression beginning to change subtly.

"...is that you can do magic?"

She finished, her expression questioning. I sheepishly rubbed the back of my head, giving a small tentative grin.

"Well i wouldn't exactly call it that, but i suppo-"

I stopped when i saw her expression, she was wearing the hugest grin i'd ever seen. And she seemed to be subtly vibrating in place. I had only ever seen that expression a few times before, and when I did it usually meant that we were about to do something very stupid.

"Showme!Showme!Showme!Showme!"

"So what exactly am I looking for?"

Jane asked, as she sat crossed legged across from me, her eyes tightly shut as she concentrated.

"It's not so much a thing as a feeling. An inner warmth, trust me. You'll know it when you feel it."

"What exactly should i feel?"

I took a moment of consideration before I gave my answer.

"Well it should feel something like..."

I took a moment of concentration, before I flared my chakra. Allowing it to spread and permeate throughout the small glade in which we sat. For Jane, it was like sitting next to a roaring fire after a day out in the winter cold.

"...like that."

I finished, letting my presence dissipate into the open air around us. Jane seemed a little disappointed to feel the pleasant sensation go.

"Oh-um wow..."

Jane said, her expression a tad bit unfocused. I felt a little guilty, relatively speaking my reserves weren't anything to write home about. Though compared to somebody who had never channeled an ounce of chakra, it must have seemed quite potent.

"So that's the feeling I'm looking for?"

I nodded.

"Yes exactly, an inner fire. And once you find it, grab it and pull it out."

Jane gave a grunt of understanding, before she once again composed herself. And shut her eyes in tight concentration. I focused my Rinnegan and stared intently at her chakra network, I could see small occasional ripples. Fluctuations and changes. She was obviously making some serious headway, she suddenly grinned. As I witnessed a particularly powerful flare. And suddenly...

If I had to compare it to anything, it would be like looking directly at a supernova. Her chakra didn't just glow, it radiated. Roiling off her in veritable waves. It raced throughout her network, dancing and weaving its way through her tenketsu. It seemed almost as if it would spill over at any moment, such was the potency of her chakra and life force. Not even Merlin's chakra had been so full of vitality.

"Jane...that's... Y-your amazing!"

I didn't exactly know what I had been expecting. But this certainly wasn't it, I knew for a fact that she had never used an ounce of chakra in all her life. And yet, her reserves were nearly half as large as mine! It was uncanny!

"I've never felt so alive!"

Jane said, her smile as wide as could be.

"So this is how you feel all the time?"

I grinned.

"More or less."

I said.

She looked down at her hand and flexed her fingers. Looking around the clearing as if she had just been let in on some deep revelation.

"Everything looks...feels, so different. It's as If I'm seeing everything with completely new eyes."

"I suppose you could say that, this energy naturally enhances your senses and physical capabilities. And the more you practice using it, the more those benefits are felt."

Jane gave an almost roguish grin as she looked at me.

"Oh I definitely want more of this! What else can you show me?"

I stepped forward, smiling.

"Well..."

Everything hurt, everything ached. He was withered and elderly, his form wracked with the torment of age. It had been, by his count, 49,951 solar cycles. And by the beneficence of the holy tree's had it been boring. He had sung every song, told himself every story he knew. The only interesting thing to happen in that time had been a particularly powerful earthquake. It had collapsed most of the cave system he had created, and pinned several of his tails under about 50 tons of rock. It had been a major inconvenience, and frankly quite irritating.

Other than that, there was nothing to do. And of course the bloody tree was no fun at all. All it did now was stand there, and wither. It of course still radiated energy, but its roots had long since withered. It had long since stopped absorbing the planet's chakra. So now it was dying, its trunk cracked and breaking. Its fruit long since rotted, He had spent the last few eons down here. Listening and waiting, and hoping beyond hope that they wouldn't find him.

At the outset of the Prothean purge, he had lent his support in whatever way he could. But as the war dragged on. And more and more of them began to fall to the foul ones, it began to become abundantly clear that this was a war that the Protheans could not win. And so after much internal debate among them within the mindscape, they elected to pull out. They buried themselves, shutting themselves off from the planets and people they had sworn to protect. And suppressed their power as much as they could After that, no one entered the mindscape. Perhaps to maintain their silence, or perhaps so they would not have to give voice to their shame. And so they remained, listening and waiting for any sign that it was finally over. And they could once again emerge. To help the survivors start anew, and pick up the pieces of what others had left behind.

But there were no survivors.

The foul ones had left nothing, but flat barren plains where nothing could live. And the glassy vitrified remains of the galaxy's once mighty cities. Whole species that had not been deemed 'worthy' were now reduced to naught but ash and memory. Some of them had wept, others had stayed silent. And some had simply gone mad, their minds becoming nothing more than a maelstrom of chakra and directionless fury. But regardless of their reactions, or lack thereof. They all felt the same rage, the same hopelessness. The same crushing, inescapable guilt. He himself had gone back into hiding, shutting himself off from everything. And had silently waited for death. And then in his dreamless sleep he had felt…. something.

It had poked at the edge of his mind, a vaguely perceived feeling. And oh so familiar. What the hell was it? But over time it grew and expanded, becoming a constant pressure that threatened to overwhelm every other sense. And finally after months of analysis he had finally figured it out.

Something up there had the blessed eyes.

He had hardly dared to believe it. Life? Life on the surface? Powerful and complex enough to house such a power? Had the foul ones failed in their mission?

Had something against all odds… Survived? Feeling those eyes so close, it had given him a feeling he had not experienced in so long, he had almost forgotten it.

It had given him hope.

Omega, the terminus systems.

186 years ago….

Explosions and gunfire echoed all throughout the station. Not that it mattered, the coup had failed. Kavira's little power play had failed. It was only a matter of cleanup now.

Broken and defeated, Kavira looked up at Aria with undisguised, pure hatred. Aria sighed, barely a year into her rule over omega. And already an opposer had sprouted to challenge her. But of all those she would have expected this from, her own best friend had been the very last. Kavira gobbed up a puddle of blood.

"I just don't get it..."

Aria said in a near whisper. Her voice shaky. And filled to the brim with uninhibited emotion.

"We shared a dream, an ambition. We were going to make Omega a place worth living in! Everything we've ever worked for, and you're tearing it down! Why goddess damn it!? We were going to do it together!"

Kavira stared at her, her face twisting into an expression of absolute contempt and disgust. The ugly expression marring the beauty of her azure features. And then she laughed, giving low unpleasant little giggles that she forced out between each rasp of heavily drawn breath. Her eyes giving way to a spark of madness.

"Spare me such childish naivete! Do you think true power is reaped from such weakness?! You're too soft to lead Omega! Let alone change it for the better. There's only one thing these low-life scum respect! Power, wielded with an iron fist! There is no other way to control them."

Aria looked on in shock and incomprehension, where had her best friend gone? And what monster had been left in her place? Aria's breath hitched, as her vision swam with tears. And her gun arm fell limply to her side.

"What in the name of the goddess happened to you?"

She whispered, her voice beginning to break. Kavira simply smirked, the darkened lights of the lower omega wards casting her face's features into shadow.

"This is always who I was Aria, you were just too naive to see it."

Kavira began to raise herself shakily to her feet. Every movement was strained and forced and seemed to extract a herculean effort from the asari. Until finally she stood before Aria hunched over and barely alive. Her breaths heavy and labored, and her broken armor caked with blood and other assorted grime.

"I really can't say I'm surprised that you don't share my true ambition. For all that tough exterior you really are pathetically soft."

Aria's fingers closed tightly around her holstered pistol, its custom molded grip practically leaping into her waiting grasp. She raised the hand cannon slowly, deliberately. Until the iron-sites settled dead center on Kavira's forehead. Just a few inches above the glabella, it would be a perfect shot. A perfect ending. One of the greatest possible threats to her reign would be eliminated.

So why couldn't she pull the trigger?

Why after all this, could she not bring herself to strike the final blow?

Kavira smirked,

"What's wrong Aria? Don't tell me you're getting cold feet."

She said, as Aria continued to stare at her, tears running down her cheeks. Kavira began to slowly back away, melting into the shadows, her smirk now wider than before.

"Just like I thought, too weak to even kill your worst enemy."

A bang sounded from across the chamber, as the locked door imploded inwards. And a squad of armed Batarians and Turians charged into the space. Rifles at the ready, and trained squarely on Kavira. Yet despite her barely alive state, she didn't seem to view them as anything but a minor annoyance. As she backed up against the wall behind her, Aria and the fireteam began to close in. Surrounding her in a rough semicircle, still her expression and demeanor remained unchanged. Aria stepped forward, her pistol raised and at the ready.

"It's over, Kavira."

Kavira bared her teeth, her expression murderous.

"No."

She said, and it was only then that Aria saw something in Kavira's hand.

"Not even close!"

Kavira pressed a button on the device, and threw it to the ground. Half a second later, there was a deafening bang, and the whole world went blinding white. The others yelled out in pain and confusion. As Aria felt something blow past her, bowling her over. And knocking her flat on her back. A few moments later, the spots in her vision faded. And the ringing began to die down, Aria took stock of her surroundings. Kavira was nowhere to be found.

"Make no mistake."

Kavira spoke, startling Aria. Her voice reverberated throughout the room. As if wholly surrounding her in Kavira's presence. She felt an involuntary chill run down her spine.

"I will rule the terminus systems one day, there's plenty of ways to go about doing it. It's only a matter of time, live in fear until that time comes."

Aria stumbled to her feet, assisted in part by one of the hired guns. The leader of the group spoke.

"Should we send out a search party? She can't have gotten far."

Aria waved the turian off, and holstered her pistol.

"Don't bother."

Aria said, holstering her pistol and limping toward the exit.

"She's probably halfway across the station by now, and I pity anyone stupid enough to get in her way."

She rounded a corner, and found herself on a balcony overlooking most of the station's upper districts. eee

Most of them were on fire.

She sighed, and slumped exhausted onto the wall behind her. Her breath coming in deep heavy gasps. From the sound of it, Kavira was dead serious.

And Aria was deathly afraid that one day, she would return to make good on her promise.