BIOWARE OWNS ALL CHARACTERS EXCEPT THE PERSONALITY OF MY FEMALE SHEPARD!

ENJOY ^.^

Kiana Shepard sat, swinging back and forth on a park swing. The park was quiet and still. She was the only one swinging at the old park. Kiana had just arrived at the Citadel. Her brothers were already in the Alliance military, the Alliance didn't think she was the twins' sister. So she was sent to rot in a broken down orphanage.

Kiana stole away as much time as she could and snuck to the old park. It was a peaceful little place as always. The park was in a darker corner of an alley. It was a couple of blocks from the orphanage. Kiana was upset when she found out her oldest brother, John, had died on a mission to take over a merc base on Illium's outer rim territories.

An Alliance soldier had made his way to the orphanage to break the news to Kiana this morning. She had felt sick to her stomach when she was told and left the orphanage right after lunch and came to the park. Kiara swung her legs back and forth, with her head sagging down. She was staring at her worn shoes, and the puddle of brown mud beneath her feet. The orphanage was on one of the old slum parts of the Citadel. It was being taken care of, but it wasn't as new as the rest of the Citadel. She knew that for sure. She placed her head in her hand and sighed. Her chest was crippling at the thought of her brother dead. Now she missed her other brother Rick. He was the only family she had left. A sound echoed through the alley startling her and she lifted her head up. Her hand was shaking, coming to think of it her whole body was shaking. She swallowed and was able to choke out a raspy,

"H..hello?"

She stared into the darkness in front of her. Kiara stood up and the swing jiggled.

'I can't be afraid'

she thought to herself.

'Whoever is there will think I'm weak and scared'.

She straightened and curled her hands into fists. A small splash of a puddle echoed through the small area. She was never going to be able to tell where it was coming from when it echoed. She strained her ears and heard footsteps coming from in front of her. A man in a tan sweatshirt, worn out jeans, and mucky old boots, stepped out of the darkness and started toward her. She scanned the mans face and made sure she remembered every feature. Another man stepped out of the darkness and advanced toward her. The other man she figured was just a sidekick. Her heart pounded in her chest so hard that she could hear it in her ears. Not surprisingly, a third man steps out of the shadows and makes his way to the side of the first man. She breathed in and with all of her courage she blurted.

"What do you want?"

A short silence covered the small alley. The first man was about a foot away from her now.

"Look what we have here,"

The first man mused.

"She is a very pretty little one."

A lump caught in her throat. She had been in a situation like this once, but she couldn't get side tracked now.

"What would you want with a 16 year old orphan?"

She almost gasped at what had just come out of her mouth. That was suppose to be a thought.

"Well, what wouldn't guys like us not want from a pretty face, like you?"

The man grabbed Kiana's arm and she struggled to set herself free. She wiggled with all of her strength but the man was too strong for her. Laughs of amusement escaped the men's lips. Suddenly the third man dropped to the ground with a screech. A figure that she couldn't make out was knocking it's way toward her. The second man was strangled and dropped face forward on the cement. Kiana, had in the mean time, pulled out of the grip of the first man and had crumpled behind a metal pole of the park, hoping the other figure didn't want to hurt her too. Finally, she heard a groan and a body fall to the ground for a third time. Footsteps made their way toward her.

'Oh, dear Christ. Please no!'

She thought and her head was spinning. Her heart was racing and her breath was getting intense. The footsteps stopped to her left and she looked up. It wasn't a human man she was looking up at. It was a soft faced Turian looking down at her in concern. The Turian reached down and offered her a hand and she took it gratefully. She stood there and looked up at his face, looking at the light blue markings that covered it. He looked about 18 or 19 in her opinion. Turians were hard to come by with ages.

"Are you alright?"

The Turian's eyes scanned her for any wounds but didn't find any and looked back to her deep blue eyes. Kiana studied the Turian. He was wearing C sec armor. That was unusual. Why wasn't he back in the city or near the Council?

"Yeah, I think I'm okay."

She took a glance at the men that were crumpled in heaps of bodies on the ground. "Who were they?" She managed to ask.

"Well,"

The Turian started, the vibe in his chest made her skin crawl.

"The one that assaulted you was the leader. The other two were just his pals I guess."

He turned to leave, but she grabbed his arm and he whirled to face her. A confused look spread across his unreadable face and she sighed.

"Thank you."

He searched her eyes and his mandibles clicked.

"Anytime."

He turned to walk away,but stopped and turned to her.

"Oh, and by the way,"

He paused as if he was pulling the right words and was placing them into a sentence in his head.

"You were brave to stand up to those men like that. You would be a great soldier."

He turned and walked into the dark and disappeared...

OoOoO OoOoO

"H..hello?"

A voice of a female rung in his ears. He looked around. Where the hell was it coming from? His mandibles flared as he turned a corner and caught sight of a dark haired human.

She was in her teens and she looked scared. Quickly her fearful look turned into a fearless glare. Wow, he'd never seen a human girl stand up so quickly and look so unafraid. In his Turian culture he was told that humans were weak little bugs. Looking closer at this girl, he knew that this jeopardized everything he had been taught about human women. The girl had her hands curled into fists and her hair was pulled into a pony tail, but some of it still covered one eye. At the time, she would have made a great soldier.

She was wearing a violet colored sweatshirt, jeans that were dirty and sneakers. He couldn't quite figure out why he was examining a human so closely.

He had never really had an interest in them...till now. A male human was making his way towards her and his stomach dropped.

That was not a good sign. The girl said something her couldn't make out and two more men had made there way to the side of the leader. The leader stifled a laugh and said.

"Well, what wouldn't guys like us not want from a pretty face, like you."

That was it he couldn't stand there and watch anymore. He made his way up from behind the third pal and carefully cracked the back of his neck. The man fell to the ground with a thud and he advanced on the second man.

Strangling him to the ground with yet another thud that echoed in the alley. Next was the leader. He watched as the girl that was in the leader's grip, pulled out and ran behind the old structure. Frankly, he wasn't sure what the structure was.

He quickly punched the man hard in the abdomen and he crumpled to the ground. He heard her heart beating wildly and her breathing was getting out of control.

He made his way over to her and turned the corner. Her eyes slowly rose to his. He reached toward her, she took his hand and stood up. Her eyes were looking at him curiously. Her eyes were a dark blue and her hair was a deep red-black.

"Are you alright?"

He managed to ask. Her facial expression changer dramatically. He wasn't sure if she was sad or it was just a straight face.

"Yeah, I think I'm okay."

She rubbed her neck and sighed.

"Who were they?"

She gestured to the human males that were laying on the ground.

"Well,"

he paused making sure he knew what to say.

"The one that assaulted you was the leader. The other two were just his pals I guess."

He turned to leave, but a hand grabbed his arm. He turned to the girl again and she whispered.

"Thank you."

He was shocked. No human has ever shown him gratefulness. Everyone he had done something for, just excepted it from him just because he was a C sec officer. It was his job. He decided he should give her a little thank you back.

"Anytime."

He turned to walk away. For some reason he found himself turning to her again.

"Oh, and by the way,"

His mandibles twitched when she pulled her hair out of the band it was in, but she had stopped to listen in respect when he had started to speak.

"You were brave to stand up to those men like that. You'd make a great soldier."

He turned and kept walking he looked back at her. She had turned and was walking back to the alley he had originally come from.

'How can a girl like that be an orphan?'

He thought to himself. That's just awful. He had to get his mind back on patrol. Now he knows where to find the girl again. He thought to himself. Now was not the time to be fantasizing, he needed to keep focused on his work..

OoOoO oOoOo

From what happened this morning, to the park and back. Bad luck was following her everywhere all day. She had got news this morning that one of her twin brothers died. Then she almost got kidnapped by a group of men. Now she was sitting in an empty room, locked in, and alone. It all had started when she walked in the door of the orphanage.

"Kiana Rebecka Shepard!"

The door slowly closed behind Kiana as she quickly looked up at the sound of her name.

"Where have you been?"

'The Warden' as the kids of the orphanage call her, was towering over Kiana. The Warden's icy glare was just enough to make a shiver go down her spine.

"I went out Ma'am. I was getting hot and I needed some fresh air."

"No, excuses are not allowed in this orphanage. You should know that by now."

That wasn't an excuse...or was it?

"I can't believe you Becka. Your a nasty old brat like your father. I should have expected this especially from you. Your father was a disgrace to his people and your no better than a sewer rat. Now go to your room and think about what you've done."

That was the last straw. Kiana had had enough of the Warden and her snide comments. She was done with the woman's disrespect for her family and her father's name. She was through with the way the woman treated her. She was being treated like a child!

"I'm not a little girl. I'm sick of your yelling! I've been in this awful piss hole for a little while and I'm already getting treated like crap!"

Kiana yelled at the Warden at the top of her lungs. At that moment Kiana realized what she'd said. It actually felt good..no wait, it felt great! Kiana was grabbed by the arm and pushed into the dark empty room.

"You've crossed the line Shepard. Good night."

The Warden snickered as she slammed the old rusted metal door and Kiana heard the click of the lock snap in place. The room was stuffy and dark, not the best room you'd ever wanna be locked in. Kiana wandered up against a warm part of the metal wall where the heater was. She put her back to it and slid down and sat. She put her head in her hands.

'I need to get out of here'

She pressed her temples with her index fingers.

'What if'

She reached in her pony tail and pinched out a bobby pin. She got up and examined the door lock, then she started to chew on the bobby pin. She waited for a couple of hours until she didn't hear any footsteps or noises outside the door. She started to turn the bobby pin from side to side, and almost immediately heard a click from inside the rusty door. She grabbed the handle and opened the door slowly, and peaked through the tiny crack.

'No one is here so far.'

She pushed the door open quickly, slipping through the crack in the door and closing it quietly behind her. Looking from one corner of the room to the other. Bookshelves stacked with old books lined the walls and desks and a chalk board on one side of the room.

'So far so good'

She stepped quietly across the main entry room and unlocked the door. She opened it and stated in the dark. This was it. After all she'd been through, Mindoir and Earth. Even the orphanage was bad enough. Suddenly her thoughts were disturbed by a soft tug at her sweatshirt. Kia whirled to see a little girl rubbing one eye and blinked the other wildly.

"Kia, what are you doing?"

The little girl peeped.

"Tarah, it's late go back to bed."

Tarah stopped rubbing her eye and was yawning now.

"What are you doing Kia?"

The girl demanded.

"Tarah, I told you go back to bed."

The girl shrugged and slumped off. Kiana watched the child slide back into the sleeping quarters. Kia looked down. She'd known Tarah since she was first brought to the Citadel herself. Leaving Tarah was going to be like losing a new found friend. Kia stepped out of the door and closed it behind her. She stepped out into the alley.

This was it... Now to get to the "real" Citadel..

OoOoO oOoOo