N7 Rose

Volume 3, Ch. 7: Calm Before the Storm

~Citadel Prison, Interrogation Cell Omega-45~
*Commander (Y/N) Rose POV*

"Hello, Neo..." I greeted the "Salarian" which was Neo in disguise. "It's good to see you again. Now... let's chat."

Seeing Neo, now caught, even though I acted surprised to see her, a part of me still felt the ping of betrayal from the highway.

"How long has it been since the Highway Incident, hm?" I asked Neo while walking around the dark interrogation room. "Three, maybe four weeks? A month or two? I lost track since then."

I saw the expression on the disguise's face until the said disguise shattered into glass showing Neo rubbing her arm while looking elsewhere other than me, but I could tell she held a saddened expression. I, on the other hand, held the emotions of anger, sadness, and happiness rolled into one. The two of us stood in the room in silence until I broke the said silence.

"Neo, look at me..." I told her. Neo was reluctant but looked up and I saw her eyes about to give out some tears. Honestly, it hurt seeing her about to cry, but... things don't work like we want them to. "Neo, I want to know... Why? Why join Roman? How long have you been with him? Why are you doing this? Causing all of this destruction and madness?"

Neo grabs her scroll and types her response before showing it to me.

"Because I'm indebted to Roman," Neo replied. "If it wasn't for Roman, I would still be on the streets stealing whatever I can to survive..."

"The streets? I asked confused. "Why were you on the streets? Didn't you have a family?"

"I..." Neo replied while a bit hesitant. "I did have a mother and father, but... they didn't treat me like a mother and father should. My real name was Trivia Vanille, but I abandoned that name since then. My father, Jimmy Vanille, was an abusive, arrogant, and controlling bastard of a father. Even with my muteness, he physically abused me and demanded me to speak for myself. I grew a deep hatred for that man, and I didn't feel any remorse when he was killed."

"And your mother?" I asked.

"Carmel Vanille, she was my mother," Neo replied and continued. "At first, I was neutral with my mother as she didn't abuse me like Jimmy did, but she didn't even glance my way, because of my heterochromia eyes. She wanted me to be "normal," but it got to the point where she would keep me hidden in the dark until I did so. Over the years, like Jimmy, I grew a hatred for my mother. I didn't show any guilt or remorse when I let... someone I know kill both Carmel and Jimmy within their manor. I was alone since then, but Roman... He helped me... and I owe him for everything."

After Neo told me her story, I was in thought about what she told me.

"She says she doesn't feel remorse or guilty, but deep down, I think she does," I thought to myself before looking at Neo, who was waiting for my response. "I understand, Neo. Your childhood was absolute hell, and Roman helped you from that, but you're still in darkness."

Neo, even though mute, gave an expression of silence before looking back onto me.

"On the train... Yang and Grunt mentioned what happened after I rescued Roman from the highway," Neo said to me. "Was that all true?"

"*sigh* Yes, Neo, it was all true," I replied. "When I saw you working with Roman, I was hurt. I felt as if I was betrayed once again."

"Again?" Neo questioned. Although I was a bit reluctant to reply, I told Neo anyways.

"Back when I was in the Milky Way, in the other dimension," I began. "Shepard and I were on a vacation, so to speak, until we were attacked by a group called CAT-6. Mercenaries, so to speak. Thus, led to a meeting with a woman who I thought was an ally, a friend, to us. Her name was Maya Brooks, despite that as her alias as her real name was never mentioned, but overtime with our fight against CAT-6, I thought of her as a friend, and maybe someone who could've been a lover... until that day came when we found out, she was working with CAT-6 and a clone of Shepard."