Family Reunion

"Commander, Justicar, it is an honor to receive you," Gallae said as they both bowed. Shepard and Samara returned the gesture. None of them noticed the scowl which crawled across Samara's face. "We have to admit we were a bit surprised to receive word of your concerns. Generally, the young women in our care are among the finest charges we have ever had. As far as Ardat-Yakshi go, they are among the most well-behaved we could hope for." She let out a soft chuckle. "Of course, they are still young, so they do get up to some minor mischief, but nothing that poses a security risk as far as we know."

"Our intelligence suggests otherwise," Samara insisted. "I hope you are not so isolated out here that you cannot understand why I would take such intelligence very seriously."

"Hold on, that's not fair!" Superintendent Jethra interjected, but Gallae silenced her with a wave of her hand.

"Any mother has a right to worry about her daughters, especially when... Well... One loss was enough, I think," Gallae's face darkened, and then she looked to Samara with a solemn face. "Samara, if you believe that our charges are in danger, or worse... Then that is sufficient to warrant some investigating. You are free to look around the facility, but I must ask that you keep us informed of your activities."

"Thank you matriarch," Samara replied. On the inside, Morinth wanted to puke. Being this respectful to her would-be jailers and/or executioners... They'd get what was coming to them soon enough. "I will need to interview your charges one at a time, but... If I may matriarch, I'd like to speak to Rila and Falere privately first if possible. I believe they may be more... forthcoming, if our meeting was more informal."

Superintendent Jethra looked her over with an unreadable expression, then sighed.

"Much as I hate to admit it, you're probably right about that Justicar. I'll have them rounded up. We'll find somewhere quiet you can talk. Follow me." Jethra started walking towards the monastery and Samara followed. When she was passed Matriarch Gallae, she looked over her shoulder, smiled, then winked at Shepard, whose still entranced mind failed to register it even occurred.

"Commander, if you would follow me to my office please. I'm afraid that despite your resilience to Ardat-Yakshi, having one as beautiful and exotic as yourself wandering around the monastery may prove distracting to our students." Shepard let out an involuntary cackle of laughter. Gallae looked surprised. "Is something the matter dear?"

"Huh? Oh! No. It's just... Heh..." She giggled, embarrassed. "I've never been called 'exotic' before." It was a fact that on Earth, a young white woman with red hair, green eyes, and freckles on her cheeks was hardly what anyone would think of as exotic, hero of the galaxy or no. There was also the small matter of the glowing red cybernetic scars which crisscrossed her face.

Matriarch Gallae simply smiled. "Well as I understand it, you wooed the daughter of Benezia, so much so that she helped bring you back from the dead... I think exotic is just the right word for you."

...

When Rila and Falere were called up by Superintendent Jethra, they expected the worst. When they were led into a soundproofed room and their estranged mother was standing across a table from them, they realized they were right.

"Sit down girls," Jethra commanded. They did so and shot each other nervous glances as Jethra walked over to Samara. "I don't anticipate trouble, but should anything happen I'll have guards posted outside the door. Don't worry. They won't be able to listen in. When you're finished, just let them know on your way out, and they'll bring you the next ones. Matriarch Gallae has given you carte blanche on this. You have all the time you need." Jethra gave the girls a nod as she exited the room. Both Rila and Falere watched her as she left, then turned to each other as the door closed, and then finally back to Samara.

"Um..." Rila started, searching for words as Samara stared at them with that stoic expression of hers, one which 400 years onwards, she still had nightmares about. "Hello mother..."

"Long time no see?" Falere tried. "Uh... You're looking well?" A pause. "You're not here to kill us or anything right?" Rila jabbed Falere in the side. "Ow! It's a valid question!"

Samara continued to stare at them wordlessly, making them even more nervous and tense than they already were. Then... Without warning... She started laughing. This was somehow even more intimidating than silence and caused the sisters to flinch. As she cackled, her voice seemed to fluctuate, and she suddenly sounded younger than she had just a moment ago.

"Oh god!" She laughed hardily, struggling to take breaths. "The looks on your faces! That was priceless! Ha! Oh... Oh goddess... I'm sorry... I just... Ha! You really were terrified of the old hag weren't you? And she wasn't even trying to kill you! Ha!"

"Uh... What?" Falere asked, confused.

"Wait a second..." Rila said with a start. "I know that voice... But... That's not... It can't be..." Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull. "Mirala... Morinth, is that you?!" Falere's eyes widened with her sister's exclamation.

"Were you expecting someone else?" She asked sarcastically, with a grin. Both Rila and Falere looked dumbfounded... and then they practically leapt from their seats, darted around the table and hugged their long lost sister, which she returned earnestly.

"I thought you were dead..." Falere admitted, tears forming at the corner of her eyes.

"We heard mom had finally run you down..." Rila looked up at her.

"Not exactly what happened..." Morinth admitted as they all let go of each other.

"Then.... Does that mean..." Rila struggled to put the words out.

"You killed her didn't you?" Falere asked. "That's why you're dressed like that. Those are her clothes aren't they?"

"It was her or me. I did what I had to do to survive." She left out the part where Shepard had gamely intervened on her side.

"...Good." Falere said her face darkening with sick satisfaction. "She deserved it for doing this to us."

"Falere!" Rila looked surprised, but Morinth knew someone being performative when she saw them. She was just as glad to hear the news. She just was too proper to admit it.

"You've come to break us out then, right sis?" Asked Falere.

Morinth nodded. "That's the plan. We ride out of here as one and the galaxy will be our oyster." She saw Falere's eyes light up, but Rila was more skeptical.

"No offense, but assuming you've actually got a plan, what are the odds of it succeeding? I don't like being stuffed in here to rot the rest of my life, but I don't like the idea of dying young either, and they will shoot first and ask questions later if they see us trying to escape."

"They won't," Morinth stated confidently.

"How?"

"Because they're only going to see me, and they think I'm mother."

"But you just said we were going to ride out of here together..." Falere said with no small amount of alarm. Rila said nothing, but her eyes had the look of a mouse who just spotted the cat in the room.

"No... I said we were going to ride out of here together as one." Morinth said, and then her eyes turned black. Involuntarily, so did both Rila's and Falere's as they became suddenly transfixed on Morinth, who seemed to them to suddenly glow with the radiance and beauty of a thousand sunrises. Their eyes widened to take in more of her glory, and their mouths fell open.

"Wha... W-What are you..." Rila stammered out.

"F-Feel... S-Strange..." Falere added with a shiver. "C-Can't feel a-anything... C-Can't t-think... S-So C-Cold..."

"M-Morinth..." Rila tried again to form words, stammering and shivering like her sister. "W-What are you d-doing to us?"

"You're about to become a part of me. Just like mother," she grinned as she walked over to the frozen and shaking forms of her sisters, gently fondling their breasts underneath their outfits. Neither seemed to register it, instead simply looking up at her in equal parts reverence and fear. "I learned something from devouring her mind," she continued, "something hidden away. The Ardat-Yakshi aren't a genetic defect. We're a part of the natural order. We were always meant to be born so that we can rule the Asari. When regular Asari meld their minds, they give a part of themselves and take a part of their partner. We don't give, and we take all. We take everything they are even on an **** level and add it to ourselves. We can live forever, be faster, stronger, smarter... and sexier than any other living thing." She grinned as she felt up her sisters firm asses. Monastery work had shaped their bodies into fine pieces of art.

"Our powers grow every time we mate. We are the apex predator," she continued. "The top of the food chain. They reject us only because they're too afraid to sacrifice their precious sense of individuality to enjoy the mindless bliss of servitude. They don't understand; it's a wonderful thing. No one has to die. With a little concentration and a little discipline on our part, they'll simply have the greatest orgasm of their life, and when it finishes blotting out their minds with pleasure, they will be reborn as a loving obedient thrall... or a braindead sex zombie if they're a little too weak." She chuckled. "However, I need to be stronger before I can realize my own potential, and that requires an inordinate amount of time. It'd take centuries of feeding off lesser creatures, decades of feeding off regular Asari, or a few hours alone with our own kind. Everyone whose ever come before me that learned the truth never thought to simply devour other Ardat-Yakshi. It cuts the cost dramatically," she smiled as she came back around to face them, but then frowned. "For what it's worth, I wish we could have been a normal family," she said. "I really do, but there's no use dwelling on a fantasy. My dreams are about to become reality."

At that moment, she leaned in and locked lips with Rila, who could no longer so much as formulate sentences. The blackness of her eyes represented the blackness of her mind. The sheer overwhelming psychic presence was enough to simply crush any part of her that could think for itself. As they kissed, Rila began to glow and shimmer, then before Falere's barely comprehending eyes, she saw her sister begin to thin. Morinth tightened her grip on her sister's arms as her body became hollow and deflated. Morinth continued to press her lips against her sister's, and in the brief moments where she let go, Falere could see a channel of energy exiting Rila's mouth and entering Morinth's as Rila's cheeks sunk. After a few more moments, Rila looked like a hollowed out corpse, and when Morinth released her, she simply disintegrated in a flash of light, leaving nothing behind. Morinth took a breath of satisfaction.

"Y-You killed her..." Falere pushed out. "S-She was your s-sister and you k-killed her..."

"No I didn't. She's still with us. She's just a part of me now. Just like mother. I am her, and she is me."

"M-Murderer..." She croaked. "G-Go on... G-Get it over with..."

Morinth sighed. "You really don't believe me do you? All right. As a show of good faith..." She closed her eyes for a moment, tilted her neck side to side with a series of soft-clicking sounds. Then opened her eyes again.

"Hello Falere, it's me... Rila," Morinth spoke in the voice of the sister she had just consumed moments earlier.

"T-Trick..."

"It's no trick," said 'Rila'. "I am your sister. I am Rila. I am part of Morinth now. Just like mother. She's here Falere... Oh... It's so wonderful. To be part of something greater as a family."

"L-Liar..."

"Still not convinced?" She asked. "Let me prove it... How about I tell you something only I would know?"

"Y-You... k-know... n-nothing."

"Oh Falere... That's no way to speak to your older sister... or your lover." Falere's body was almost completely out of her own control, but she still managed to widen her eyes. "Do you remember how it started Falere? I do. We were young, exploring ourselves, as is natural for maidens. We were also so very, very bored... Do you remember how exciting it was to break their taboos, one by one, until finally you and I..." She closed her eyes and smiled. "I can still see it. The two of us, naked in the cold moonlight, our bodies entangled with one another, our lips gently joining and parting... Even if we couldn't meld our minds, we made love the old fashioned way." She let out a joyful sigh of reminiscence. "Two sisters deeply and totally in love, slaves to their forbidden desires, unconcerned with either the stigma or the consequences. It was bliss, wasn't it?"

Falere still struggled against the immense psychic pressure being exhibited on her, but through it, she was able to formulate one word.

"Yes."

"For all our nights together since, nothing has ever compared to that first time, but now... Now as part of Morinth, we can be like that again Falere." She raised Falere's chin and met her gaze. "Forever."

"R-Rila... I... I..." Her resolve was slipping. Morinth smiled, letting go of her sister's chin and closing her eyes. Her head twitched, she took a deep breath, and looked into her eyes again.

"Listen to them, Falere," she said, this time in Samara's voice. "I was wrong to fear the power of the Ardat-Yakshi. I was wrong to abandon you here. To be part of Morinth is to be part of something wonderful. Stop resisting. Let her take you, my youngest daughter, let her take you so that we may be a family again, and you will experience pleasures beyond your imagination for the rest of eternity.."

"Mother... I... I obey... Take me... Morinth..." And with that, Morinth felt the last of her sister's resistance crumble to dust. Now she was free to consume her mind without any fear of damaging the contents. She clicked her head again and leaned in. Just before her lips touched Falere's, she said in her own voice.

"Good girl. Now embrace eternity."

They kissed, and once again, the glow which had hollowed out the mind and body of Rila appeared as Morinth's mind fully connected to Falere's. She was barely a conscious entity at this point, but a dim part of her was still aware of what was happening to her. Thoughts, feelings, emotions, streaming out of her head through her mouth and into Morinth on a continuous stream of energy. Morinth was, essentially, sucking out her soul, and it was mesmerizing. The orgasmic pleasure she felt as her body withered and Morinth devoured her mind... Had she been capable of this herself all these years? Of sharing this extraordinary pleasure with others? Is this what the Asari had sought to keep from them? She used some of the last independent emotions she would ever feel to register disgust at their weakness. It was clear to her through the bliss of dissolution that the Asari deserved to be dominated mentally and physically. They deserved to be made a **** race to their ultimate evolution. She looked forward to her energies being used to bring them to their knees. Those were her last thoughts as a sentient being.

Her body withered, then disintegrated in Morinth's hands. Morinth smiled, sifting through her sister's essence and partitioning a space for her mind just like she had for Rila and Samara. She then digested the rest of the biotic energy she had consumed. In the future, she wouldn't need to go to such painstaking lengths to preserve her victims, but she wanted to keep her sisters just like she had kept her mother. She would simply digest the minds of the rest of the Ardat-Yakshi in the monastery along with their biotic energy. She had no use for them. They would simply be totally absorbed, indistinguishable from any other part of her.

For a moment, nothing happened as she concluded the consumption of her sisters, and then in an instant, she felt her awareness expand exponentially, and euphoria wash over her like a tidal wave. Power was surging through her body and she glowed with majestic biotic flames. She didn't know how long she was in that state, but when it settled, she felt really damn good. She took one step forward towards the door, then noticed how tight her chest was. She looked down. Apparently absorbing the girls had made her girls bigger too, and they were suffocating in the tight confines of her mother's old outfit.

With a smile, Morinth started to glow, and used her biotics to tear what remained of those clothes to shreds. They had served their purpose. Naked, she walked to the door, and gave the guards a brief shock when she opened it. Their minds didn't last long enough to react; they were under her spell in seconds, minds emptied of thought and filled with devotion. Guards at an Ardat-Yakshi monastery they may be, but they'd never met anyone like her before.

"I'm all done with my daughters," she said in Samara's voice. "Now you will forget they ever existed and bring me the next Ardat-Yakshi for interrogation. We must be thorough. If anyone else should ask you any questions, bring them to me as well. We'll clear up any... misunderstandings."