Mass Effect 2 - Monster

The more Kara examined her reflection the more she realised how monstrous she was every scar glowed an eerie orange glow.....even her eyes were a deep cybernetic red.....she was so artificial....so non- Kara it scared her even more so than the collectors or reapers....

Anger flared and glass shattered....the once perfect mirror lay in pieces in her bathroom sink mixed with blood, although she wasn't sure if it was truly blood or just some cybernetic liquid flowing through her veins. With her back against the wall she slid to sit on the floor cursing herself, cursing Cerberus for turning her into this...hideous monster wrapped in human skin...her gaze fixed on her hand, tears blurring her vision, stinging her eyes she wept, a once strong forceful commander now an empty yet artificial shell of the woman she used to be.

---

The door of her quarters opened, footsteps heard, along with a familiar voice "Siha...are you alright?" it was Thane, Kara didn't want him to see her like this....she wondered why he remained at her side all this time, how could he love her when she isn't even the same woman she was all those years ago....she couldn't speak....she just sobbed, the sounds of which alerted Thane to her whereabouts, in seconds he was at her side, helping her up, tending to her wounds, the whole time no words were said between them, Kara couldn't even look at him, ashamed of what she had done, ashamed of the memory she had burned into Thanes very being...finally the silence was broken
"You need to clean yourself up siha, take a shower; I shall be waiting for you when you are done," with that he walked to her bed and sat down.

Reluctantly Kara did what was asked of her, the water burned as it ran over her scars, no matter how much she scrubbed she still felt unclean, once she was done she stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself, trying to hide her scars as best she could, her tears never stopped flowing as she stopped in front of Thane her head bowed in shame. He stood and lifted her head up "Siha...look at me" she did, a soft kiss was placed on her lips, a feeling Kara never wanted to forget, Thane gently wiped her tears away




"What troubles you siha?" Kara sighed rubbing her arms; it was as if the room had become unbearably cold all of a sudden
"I'm a monster Thane...I...shit." How could she explain herself? More tears were threatening to flow...but she held them back
"I never told you about my life before I joined the Spectres and Cerberus did I?" Thane shook his head as he sat back on the bed and Kara walked over to the desk and out of one of the drawers she took an old looking well worn book and she moved to sit next to Thane on the bed, carefully and slowly she opened it, revealing photos of her old life back on Earth.

"This was me...before the Spectres...before Cerberus" Thane studied the pictures carefully, taking in every image, the woman in the pictures was certainly Kara but she did look a whole lot different, she still had black shoulder length hair back then but her skin tone was more radiant and she had the most amazing blue eyes. "Who is this other woman with you siha in this picture? And what are those markings all over your skin?" Kara smiled slightly as Thane pointed out the picture

"Those markings are tattoos Thane...I had quite a few back then, they represent...well I guess you could say they represented who I am, where I came from, all of them are Celtic, they have deep meanings, the main one I remember was on my left shoulder" Kara pointed to the tattoo

"It was a celtic cross, from what I heard about my parents they were very religious, the flowers around it are rosemary, they're a sign of remembrance, I guess I got it in honour of my parents, even though I never knew them, as you can tell I had many others, unfortunately I can't remember what they all mean but I miss them, they were gone after Cerberus rebuilt me. I never knew my parents, I was abandoned on a doorstep as a baby and I was taken in by these wonderful people Dean and Martha, they raised me, when I was about 16 I met the woman in this picture with me, her name is Lizzie, I guess you could call her my sister, she was the same as me abandoned and taken in by others, she introduced me to this group or organisation called Dynamo funnily enough the jobs we were given were kinda like yours...contract killing. Me and Lizzie worked together, she was my best friend back then, I haven't spoken to her since I joined the Alliance...I miss her too"
Thane was intrigued

"That's an amazing story Siha forgive me for saying but I would never imagine you being a contract killer, but it is a shame how much Cerberus has changed you"   

Kara nodded as she carefully closed the book, she shivered as she got up and placed it carefully back into her desk drawer, she then proceeded to change into her N7 tank top and baggy tracksuit bottoms which she normally slept in and climbed into bed "Join me Thane?" she asked and Thane nodded as he proceeded to remove his jacket, vest and pants and then joined Kara; embracing her and drawing patterns along her back to calm her as she was close to crying once more. Kara nuzzled Thanes neck "I want to go back to Earth someday...see how Lizzie is doing..."

"I understand Siha, you are feeling homesick"

"Yeah but it's not just that...I hate what Cerberus did to me, they took away my personality, really I don't count myself as human anymore Thane...I'm just a machine in human skin" Thane lifted Karas head up and kissed her softly

"Siha do not think that you are any different from the woman you were back on Earth, and do not think that you are any less beautiful than you were now, you are a strong beautiful woman Siha, you are my warrior angel, I do not care that you have scars or that your eyes are cybernetic, I love you for who you are now, you have awoken me Kara and I thank the gods every day that I have met you"

Kara sighed as she wiped the tears from her cheeks "I thank the gods that I met you too Thane, you've done so much for me, I'm really sorry you had to see me...like that earlier...I...shit" Thane kissed her knuckles where her new scars would form

"It's alright siha, it was...disquieting to see you like that but I have more good memories of you than bad"

"You're too soft to be an assassin you know" Thane chuckled

"I shall take that into account Siha", he kissed her once more before returning to drawing patterns on her back thanking the gods once again for Karas timely intervention at Nassanas penthouse, Kara soon fell asleep but not before she too thanked the gods for Thane, if it wasn't for him, she knew she wouldn't be the Commander Shepard she was widely known to be...