{Mass Effect 1: The Past} Love {Arina x Kaidan}

Arina looked at datapad after datapad, trying to distract herself. Her sister had basically sacrificed herself to save her, Kaidan, and Garrus from being indoctrinated by Sovereign. Now, she was save on the Normandy, while Vulpe was having only God knows what done to her.

Joker would occasionally report how much further it was from Ilos for her. It was where Saren would be. Without Anderson's help, the Normandy would still be on the Citadel. With hope, Anderson didn't receive too much backlash for sneaking into Udina's office.

A frustrated sigh left her, causing her to toss the datapad aside, before she fell back onto her bed. She stared at her ceiling, feeling more useless than she could ever remember feeling. If she had been quick enough on Virmire, then none of this would have happened. It would be her and Vulpe in this room, talking strategy and plans for what might happen on Ilos.

It was one of those moments where she wished she had biotics like her sister. She really wanted to make something explode by her punch...

Kaidan was worried about Arina after what happened on Sovereign. He was still shocked that Vulpe had forced them out of Sovereign, sacrificing herself. He had no idea she would even do that. When he first met her, it felt like she only cared about herself and Arina. Mostly herself. She was a strict person, she even made Ashley give her sixty pushups for talking bad about their non-human crew. But maybe he should've guessed that she would do that. Especially when she tried to get Ashley even though Arina told her not to. That she would breaking orders if she went to save Ashley. But still she fought against her sister and tried to. Of course she was too late. And just like that she went back to Arina and helped her out.

Once Kaidan go to Arina's room, the thoughts vanished from his head. She needed him right now more than anything, and he was going to make sure he would help her. He gave a knock to the door before entering it. "Arina?" He asked as he closed the door. He saw her on the bed, datapads were all over, making him even more worried. He slowly made his way to her bed and sat on it to look at her. It was clear she had been stressing out over it. A time that was meant to be sleeping and she was reading datapads.

"Arina, shouldn't you be sleeping right now?" He asked, he knew it was a dumb question, but he couldn't ask her if she was okay. That was even more of a dumb question.

Arina looked at the door when she heard the knock. She tried to smile a little at Kaidan, but it looked more like a wince. Her eyes returned to the ceiling, feeling him sitting on the bed, watching her. He silently wondered if he was expecting her to do a trick or something...

"Arina, shouldn't you be sleeping right now?"

At least he didn't ask if I was okay... She thought, sighing, before sitting up. "I can't, Kaidan... I keep seeing my sister on Sovereign every time I close my eyes."She stated, standing from the bed. "I need distractions... So I've had Liara give me everything she knows about Protheans... I feel like my head is about to burst...." She said, her back to him as she squeezed the bridge of her nose.

"I can't relax enough to sleep... I'm... I'm too tense and angry! Why the hell did she do that, Kaidan? And the Council still doesn't see Saren and Sovereign as a threat! I feel useless... and I hate it."