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A turian had joined up for the military, as was required of all males at his age. He was related to a high ranking member of the turian hierarchy, so a lot was expected of him. He needed to show that his family was still the right people to be making decisions. Although they didn't actually interfere in politics much anymore, they were still well respected. Although they were well respected, the turian military promised to treat him as if he were any new recruit. It was his 15th birthday when he was recruited. Aetius was his name.

5 Years Later...

It was night, but the night was not dark for the Turian home world. The skies above Palaven lit up with bursts of light caused shuttles and ships blowing up. Each bright light was a life lost. Beams of red light fired by the reapers cut through the air, on their way to their targets.

"GET THE FUCK DOWN!"

The turian yelled as he put his hand on top of a salarian's head, and pushed him down forcefully. He then shortly pressed his body to the floor as projectiles hit the metallic building behind them. All they had for cover was a burnt out sky car, and that was starting to give way. There were only three other armed turians around, and that included him. Unlike most, his facial paint was very elaborate. His facial plates were gray, almost looking more like the color of ash. His entire nose was painted blue, and at his lips and chin, the paint spread out forming many sharp points. From a distance, it looked like the tail of some kind of strange bird. The strange pattern continued to his eye plates, which had big full outstretched wings painted on them. The wings had a very distinctive feathery pattern to them. The feathers from the wings reached down to his cheek bones, framing his bright blue eyes. He was 6'3 in height, and besides the pattern on his face, he didn't look particularly different from any of the other turians he had served with.

"Aetius! We need another gun over here!" One of the other turians replied. His face paint was rather simple. His eye brow plates were completely colored in using orange face paint. A single line of orange ran right down the middle of his face, going down to his lips. When the line reached his lips, it split to make an almost peace symbol shape. His metallic plates were darker, sandy in colour. His voice was slightly deeper, clearly being the oldest out of the trio of turians. There was a small scar on top of his forehead, about an inch in length, diagonal in form.

"Stay there, and don't move until we say so." Aetius said to the salarian before then moving towards the older turian.

They were in the middle of a big long street, and right now they were the only thing standing between a safe zone, and about a hundred hostile reaper creatures. They were the most hideous things any of them had ever seen in their lives, each one more twisted than the last one they saw. Some of them made even the hardest of turians pause in horror. The cannibals they reapers were currently throwing at him were a good example of how cruel these machines could be. The cannibals were called that because of their ability to regurgitate stomach acid before consuming whoever falls victim to it. It didn't seem to matter what kind of corpse it was either, as long as there was organic matter. They were clearly reaperfied batarians, but if one looked closely at the arm with the gun graphed into it, one could clearly see a human face. The teeth were exposed, the mouth hanging open as if screaming out in pain. What was once a fully functioning person with family, friends, a job, maybe even a wife or husband was now nothing more than fleshy binding for the creature's gun. The batarian's head looked swollen, bubbles of puss and other vile liquids were all over the cannibal's shoulders and back. The eyes were replaces with some kind of lenses that emitted light, one in each eye socket, and another right on the batarian's forehead. One could only imagine how painful it must be to have that kind of procedure while still awake, and fully aware of what is going on. Aetius could only hope that they were dead before the operation even began.

"Fire!" The older turian yelled as he dropped to one knee and leaned around the car and fired back at the creatures. Aetius stood above the older turian, firing his phaeston rifle straight at the creatures trying to end them. A barrage of bullets flew right back at them, slamming into their shields. They could see the projectiles crashing against their shields, the shards that came flew off made such beautiful and frightening lights. Suddenly, their shields were gone. Aetius let out a grunt as he felt a round smashing against his armor, piercing the protective clothing right before he collapsed back into cover.

"I'm hit!" Aetius yelled as his hand went to the right side of his chest, right where the hole in the armor was. He saw the older turian about to take a look, but suddenly, they all heard three thumping sounds almost in complete unison. Grenades launched from the arms of the cannibals hit the burnt out sky car, one of them hitting the other turian shooting from the other side of the car.

The other turian swore after feeling the grenade hit his chest. At first he didn't even know what it was, tunnel vision setting in. Only when he was about to switch over to his pistol did he see the grenade right by his feet. By then, it was too late. The explosions went off, the heat burning them, the shrapnel shredding through their skin, and the sheer force of the blast causing internal hemorrhaging. For some, the blast was worse.

Aetius let out a primal scream as shrapnel pelted his armor, and scraped over his face and neck. What was really hurting him was his insides, feeling as if someone had drove a knife into his gut and chest repeatedly. He didn't have the shields to protect him from the sheer amount of damage the grenades inflicted. The injured turian grunted in pain, blood leaking from his mouth in a small blue river. He looked to his side, seeing the turian who had the grenade at his feet now dead, both legs blown off at the knees. His cold dead eyes were staring up at the night sky, looking straight up to the moon that was currently being bombarded. The older turian however was still up, still alive, but clearly messed up. His armor was damaged, blood was pouring from the side of his face caused by a piece of metal lodged between his right brow plate and the plate that formed his cheek bone.

"Get up! Get up!" The older turian near growled as he pulled the turian up by the collar of his armor. The older turian knew that there was no way either of them were going to make it out of here alive, not unless one of them managed to serve as a distraction. The older turian shot out the window of a nearby clothing shop before then looking back to Aetius. "You will make it out of here alive, or neither of us will. When I run, you go through that building, and live to fight another day. And before you say go with you, no. That's a stupid fucking idea, they would hunt us both down. At least this way, you will get a head start.

Aetius wasn't in a position to complain, he could barely gather the energy to speak or walk. Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet. "S-sir..."

"Run." The older turian whispered before throwing his very last grenade over the top of the wrecked sky car. The grenade rolled straight to a group of cannibals, blasting their legs into a gorey mess. It was then the older turian charged out of cover, so many projectiles hitting his shield as he dived behind an overturned mako.

Meanwhile, Aetius limped away, moving through the entirety wrecked clothing shop only to run into a mall it was apart of. The pain was so unbearable, he wasn't sure if he could take it. Eventually, he found the toilets that the staff used back when everything was normal. He walked into the women's, guessing that would probably be the cleanest of the two. The turian opened up one of the stalls, and sat down on the closed toilet seat. Slowly, he began taking off the top half of his armor, revealing his alien body. The wound on his chest was leaking blood, he knew that treatment couldn't wait, he had to do something to stop it from slowing him down at one of the pouches by his waist, he pulled out a small tube of medigel. This was the first time he was going to actually use the stuff, he had never used it on himself before. He opened the tube, and poured the stuff into his wound. He braced himself for pain, but it never came. Instead, the cool clear liquid instantly acted as an anaesthetic, and gripped tightly to the open wound. Quickly, it sealed up the wound, stopping the bleeding and taking care of the pain caused by the shot to the chest. Once it was taken care of, he put his armor back on, and started moving through the building, back to the safe zone.

On his way back, through the ruined buildings, he heard screams, yells. It was coming directly from the safe zone. He knew that it must have fallen already, which meant he was stranded here, alone. He decided to go see exactly what was happening, climbing a staircase, moving to the tenth floor. He only stopped on the tenth floor because it was propped open by what looked like a military grade gun case. Without a second thought, he checked the case, but saw it was empty. He then walked on into the hall way the door led into. There were meant doors that led into different places. This place looked like it was an office, but what was that gun case doing back there? Hoping that someone was around, he searched the area. There had to be something here, he could feel it. He was guess and praying for either someone friendly to be hiding out in this place, or to perhaps find a good gun he could use.

"Hello?" He said as he pulled out his sidearm, an M-3 Predator pistol. Shortly after saying that, he found evidence of struggle and fighting. There was bullet holes and blood on the walls. Not long after he found those signs of fighting, he found what remained after the fight. "Oh... Shit..." He whispered to himself as he saw what looked like a makeshift barricade in the corner of the large room made up of desks, chairs, terminals, pots, pretty much everything one would expect to find in the office. It looked like a good barricade, but it had been destroyed at some point. Around the barricade was around twenty dead human husks, and inside it was a single turian soldier. Pieces of armor looked as if it had been ripped off him. There were what looked like claw marks and dents on his armor that remained on his body. On closer examination, it looked as if the turian had his throat torn out before he died. In one hand, the dead man held an M-97 Viper, just what Aetius wanted. Carefully, he pried the rifle out of the fallen soldier's hands before then checking his body for anything else he had on him. He knew he had to do this to survive, but he didn't feel good, scavenging from someone that could have so easily been him.

Once he had the gun and everything else of use, he made his way to the nearest window, and looked through the scope of the rifle. He saw people running in the streets, running from the monstrosities chasing after them. He tried his best to save them, but he was no sniper. He fired off rounds, but nearly all missed their target. It was so frustrating, infuriating, heart breaking to see all these people being torn apart right in front of him. But, he kept trying, firing round after round at the strange reaper creatures. He felt so useless with this damn sniper rifle, he felt like he could do more of he was down on the ground with them. But, he knew he could do anything more for them than remain here, and try to cover their escape. Even if he only saved one person, it would be worth his time.

1 month later...

Day after day, the turian was fighting for his life. Every day was a struggle, a beating he was barely surviving. He was out there, scavenging for food. He caught a lucky break though, having caught up to some of the survivors helped patch him up in exchange for protection. Aetius was a lot healthier than he was a month ago, although he could always use more food. He was wearing the same uniform he wore the day this all started. He barely managed to have a wash, wanting to conserve water for drinking. In addition to the armor he started out with, he also wore an olive drab scarf he had found while scavenging. Aetius was walking down a dark ally, looking side to side, holding his pheaston assault rifle in both hands. Suddenly, he got a massive headache. Grunting as he closed his eyes, his nose began to bleed a little. When he opened his eyes, there was a man in front of him. Immediately, he raised his gun, pointing it straight at the unknown turian's head. "Identify yourself!"

The turian dressed in military armor put his hands up, although it was clear he wasn't quite turian anymore. It didn't look like armor anymore, it looked like it was a part of his body, like the metal had been mixed with flesh. There where gaps in the armor, making the armor look more like a second ribcage, showing the dark blue flesh underneath. It looked like mostly muscle tissue that was exposed. The turian's lower jaw was replaced with a completely metal one, although it appeared to have seams that allowed it some small amount of flex at certain parts of the mouth. Both arms had been altered, making the talons much longer. Some kind of strange tube filled with blue blood spiralled around each forearm from wrist to just below the elbow. The turian's eyes were still fully intact, a rare sight to see amongst creatures spawned from the reaper nightmare factory. "You don't remember me, Aetius? Has your memory really gotten that bad? Too many blows to the head, I think..."

Aetius couldn't believe what he was hearing or seeing. He never thought he would have to see someone he knows like this, it was even more horrible than he imagined it. He was still recognisable by the orange face paint, but that peace sign shape was gone, along with his lower jaw. "Tullius? What did they do to you?"

"They made me stronger... Better... I know you will resist too like I did, but they put something inside me to show you the way... Soon, you will understand why this is the way forward like I did." Tullius replied with a strange sort of smile as he made his way towards the younger turian.

Not taking any chances, Aetius pulled his gun up as he stared his old leader straight in the eyes. This wasn't his leader anymore, not like he remembered him anyway. He had been changed, corrupted, mutilated. Whatever he was before was completely gone. "I am sorry, sir." Aetius said to his former leader before squeezing the trigger. Almost immediately after saying those words, the reaperfied turian ran straight towards Aetius as bullets smashed his metallic ribcage. In a flash, the reaperfied turian bashed the rifle with the back of his left hand, causing it to almost break against a nearby wall. Aetius' eyes widened as his hand went for his pistol, but before he could even pull it out, Tullius threw a punch towards Aetius' head. The turian ducked underneath his fist, only to feel his armored knee slamming into his face.

Tullius chuckled as he saw Aetius' head yanking back from the force of the blow, seeing more of that blue blood gushing from his nose. "You're so predictable, you always were."

"Fuck you... You're not him!" Aetius yelled as he pulled out his pistol, firing a round off right into the reaperfied turian's metal jaw. The round didn't seem to do anything but dent the metal and move his head slightly to the side. In response, Tullius grasped his forearm with both hands, forcing the gun to point towards the wall.

"My turn..." Tullius replied with a sick sense of enjoyment filling his voice. Immediately afterwards, both men heard the sick sound of the bones in Aetius' forearm breaking as Tullius folded it in half, the armor keeping his mangled arm in place. Intense searing pain shot through his arm as he screamed in complete agony. The pain was so overwhelmingly agonizing, he felt light headed. Just when he thought the pain couldn't get any worse, Tullius threw an incredibly powerful right hook, causing Aetius to stumble to the side before a left hook caught the other side of his head, this time sending him stumbling back into the wall of a building. Aetius tried to push himself off the wall with his mangled arm, pain overwhelming him as he was given a painful reminder of what just happened a few seconds ago. Blood was pouring from both sides of his head, his nose, his mouth. Aetius couldn't take much more of this.

"F-fuck..." Aetius spluttered as he looked into Tullius' eyes, shortly before dropping to his knees.

"Do you give in? Are you willing to change as I did?" The reaperfied turian asked.

"... Yes..." He replied hesitantly. "I will change..." Aetius glared as his omni-blade slid out, and was pushed in between the cracks of his ribcage-like armor, causing the reaperfied turian to let out a loud mechanical screech. The blade of orange light was jammed deep into Tullius' chest. For a moment, both of their eyes met, both men scowling at each other. Suddenly, Aetius began choking as he felt Tullius' huge hand wrapping around his neck.

"I will tear your soul from your corpse!" The reaperfied turian yelled as he pulled his other hand back to slam it into Aetius' face, but it didn't hit his face. His fist connected with Aetius' right mandible, snapping it right back, the joint that kept his mandible in place snapping like a twig. The twisted sound of the bone breaking reverberated throughout the alleyway causing his mandible jut from the side of his face was quickly drowned out by the sound of his screams. The reaperfied turian felt the omni blade slipping out of his gaping wound only to be slammed right back in, cutting the metalic innards as well as what remained of his mutilated flesh.

"FUUUUUUUCK!" Aetius yelled out as he shoved his omni-blade straight into his reaperfied friend again and again. As he did so, the reaperfied turian grabbed on to Aetius' damaged mandible, and began twisting it off as if it were nothing more than a chicken leg. His grip tightened on Aetius' throat, tightening to an almost crushing point. The immense pain coming from his broken mandible was driving Aetius mad. He used all that anger and pain to keep shoving his blade into Tullius' chest. Just when things couldn't get any worse, the reaperfied turian tore Aetius' mandible right off, blood spurting from the wound as he opened his mouth, but he couldn't scream. His throat was slowly caving in from Tullius' grip. Beneath both men, a pool of blue blood was forming, the strange alien liquid covering them both as their struggle for survival continued. Both men were weakening quickly. Aetius was losing consciousness, his eye sight blurring up as his brain was starved of oxygen. There wasn't anything he could do about it. The fear of death was setting in, he didn't want his body to be mutilated, he didn't want to turn into something like tullius. With that in mind, he deactivated his omni-tool. He then reached behind himself, grabbing something hanging off his back.

"Giving up?!" Tullius yelled at him, seeing the life draining out of the man that was once his friend. The reaperfied turian was getting weaker and weaker. The twisted pipes carrying the fluid he needed to survive were severed by the soldier, who now appeared to to have lost the will to fight. The soldier couldn't answer him, he didn't have the breath in his lungs to do so. But, he did respond. He raised his one working arm as his lungs screamed out for oxygen. In his hand was a grenade, which he held in between both of their heads. Aetius survived long enough to see the look of shock on the reaperfied turian's face. Immediately afterwards, there was a bright flash, the grenade shattering, tearing both of their skulls apart along with the arm Aetius held it in. For Aetius, the suffering was over. His life was ended, just as billions of others were. All those memories, all those thoughts running through his head were all lost. No one would ever know what he had to suffer through, and he would never know if the war was won, or lost.

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Author's note: I have wanted to do a Mass Effect story for a while, but due to the stories I already need to finish, I couldn't find the time. So instead I did a quick one shot! I think I am getting used to killing off main characters. XD