As The Hearse Goes By

Present time,Normandy SR-2,Comm Room.

Miranda paced the table like a large cat. Jacob was pretty sure that if Shepard was here, he'd have half his face ripped off with a biotic warp.

“He let that thing on board! We don't even know the details behind Project V and he let's it waltz right in-”

“She's a little girl Miranda. One who's been on the run for a very long time.”Jacob said,cutting her off. “Besides, with her here maybe we can get some answers on what the hell happened to her.”

Both looked up as the doors swished open. John Shepard walked in, eyes downcast and his anger and frustration clinging like a cloak.

“Commander, we were just discussing your choice on letting Project V on the Normandy sir”Jacob said, trying to bring Shepard around from his funk.

“She's staying with us”

Both Jacob and Miranda blinked in surprise at the sudden order. “Commander?”

“She's staying here, we're going after the ones who did this to her.”

Day before,Omega,Clinic

John stared at the girl with unbelieving eyes. He was holding a gun between her eyes and she was hardly blinking. He hesitated for moment before putting his pistol away.

“Alright,I'm always up for answers. Why do you need a hemoglobin supplement?”

“I have porphyria, or rather the Cerberus doctors mutated an advanced version of porphyria,and I was the only one who survived the transfer.”

John blinked,shaking his head slightly. He was a solider,he understood enough to know what to shoot at and what not to. When he said as much to her,he noticed her lips twitched in a small smile. The first sign of emotion she had given.

“Porphyria, rare genetic disease. Blood disorder in truth. Believed to be the cause of many vampire rumors”Mordin injected,walking away from the terminal and over to their young friend”Never thought I would meet one who had it. Thought it was eradicated?”

“I was born in New York back on Earth. We still used cell phones”She smirked softly”Again,I wasn't born with it,I don't think at least. Cerberus engineered this in an effort to create.....something.”

“Something?”Garrus' flanging voice caught their attention. John raised a brow in his direction, questioning him silently.

“Something, I was just a little girl when they called quits. The others....didn't make it”

“But why the hemoglobin supplement?”

She shifted slightly, hands clasping into the dark t-shirt she wore. John noticed for the first time how ragged her clothes appeared. Rips in the jeans she wore,and the shirt she wore was three times her size. Her jeans covered her feet,but he has a sickening feeling she wasn't wearing shoes.

“It's better than the alternative”

“Which is?” Mordin pressed, taking another step closer.

She looked up,eyes narrowing slightly in anger. John took a step forward to defuse the situation before Mordin overstepped his boundaries with her.

“Guess”

Day before,Omega,Abandoned Apartment

“You live here?”John asked, coughing into his fist as his feet kicked a cloud of dust into his face.

“For now”

John followed the girl's figure as it darted around the tiny,dark,and damp apartment. He felt slightly uncomfortable just standing there.

Not unlike visiting Jack He thought with a chuckle.

He was surprised to find a vase filled with dry flowers on a small table, along with a leather bound book. The gold lettering was faded away,and only some of the design was showing. Picking it up he noticed that the pages also had faded gold on them.

“Wonder what this is”

“Elementary my dear Shepard”

John whipped around was the girl faded back into view, smirking and holding her hand out for the book.

“Sherlock Holmes?”He asked,disbelieving.

“My first book, I've carried it since. The flowers are Syringa, Lilac. They stand for memory”

John nodded, not really understanding,but glad she was talking openly. Watching her pack the book and flowers away he realized something that had been nagging in the back of his mind.

“You never did give your name”

She paused, leaning up and away from her bag. The quiet settled around them,awkward for him, but seemingly normal for her.

“Look, Cerberus has a lot of databases on board the Normandy. If it helps at all, you can have a look at them,maybe figure out what and why they did this to you”

“Thistle”

“I'm sorry?”

“My name.....is Thistle”