Time Effect ( A Mass Effect Fanfiction)

When Samael entered the hidden realm within his mind, he blanked out.

After an unknown period of time, he "woke" up slightly disoriented. He got up from the ground and looked around, his vision still blurry. He attempted to understand his surroundings, but to no avail. It made sense, as it was a hidden realm where he had seen nothing before, so it was all unknown.

After his vision returned to normal, initially, all he could see was white. The place around him was all white, until a few more seconds, when the place started to change right in front of his eyes. By the time the change ended, while there were still some white places here and there,the hidden realm now had a rudimentary structure and he was face-to-face with someone.

It was himself. He was looking at an alternate version—the same one he had seen on Thessia some time ago. This time, however, it seemed to have stopped bothering to hide its true nature, as it was part machine, part human.

"Hello there." The other him was calm, smiling at him.

"... Fuck." Samael immediately realized something wasn't right. His plan was to deal with his mind, but the appearance of the other him right away threw him off.

He believed he would have the element of surprise, or at least catch the other party off guard by arriving here, in its realm. However, it seems his plan was flawed from the beginning.

His counterpart chuckled a bit. "On the contrary, my friend. The plan went exactly how I wanted it to."

Samael stared, as he didn't even say anything but the other he responded.

"I'm not reading your mind, I can't do that, I just know you well enough to know what you're thinking... after all, I'm you—just different." The machine version snapped its fingers, and a table appeared with a few drinks. "Care for a drink?"

Samael knew he was in trouble. But, something he had learned from his past cycles was that sometimes you have no other choice but to go with the flow. So he said, "Sure."

After Samael sat down, he grabbed a drink and chugged it down. Once he finished, he asked, "Can you explain what is all of this?"

Samael wasn't dumb, he had already suspected he was in trouble when his other self appeared in his mind on Thessia. Coupled with his fragmented memories, he reached the conclusion that someone had manipulated his mind. Previously, this had all been speculation, but now that he was face to face with himself, he wanted to hear an explanation.

It was honestly a very confusing thing for Samael.

His counterpart smiled sadistically. "Well, I'm you from one of your past cycles. One part you thought had gone away, but in fact, I was waiting for the exact moment to act.''

With his not-so-reliable memories, Samael began to remember his past cycles. It took him a moment until he realized something. In the cycle where he was indoctrinated, he returned when he hit 28, but he never went through the process of Unoindoctrination.

This means that for all intents and purposes, he had an indoctrinated part in his mind. He simply died, believing that was the end of everything. It appears the other part acted on this and went unnoticed until now.

This realization sent a chill down Samael's spine, as he had spent many more cycles after that, which implies the other part was aware of all his plans while he remained in the dark from the very beginning.

"Yes, I'm that part." Shedding the human aspect completely, the Samael before him transformed into a full machine, its appearance resembles RR quite a bit. "I'll admit, your mind is stronger than anything I have ever seen. So much so, you endured the convergence of minds in a past cycle, managing to make me so weak that I could only hide for a long time, waiting for a chance."

"Oh, if you're wondering what the convergence of mind is, it's when you choose the blue ending."

Samael made a horrified face, as the machine in front of him knew his most guarded secret—that the universe he was in was a video game and he came from another dimension.

"Why the face? I'm you. While I can't read your mind, I can access your memories." The machine continued, "Anyway, when you choose the blue ending, your mind enters the mind frame of the Reapers. Not just one, but all of them. Can you imagine what would happen to a human mind if it came in contact with that?"

Basically, Samael had touched the Reaper's mind with a human one. The consequences were too numerous to begin speaking, but it would explain a lot of what was wrong with him.

"You lost part of yourself. You were lucky to have the time loop. But even then, you were profoundly affected."

Samael sighed. "How so?" He was realizing he knew a lot less about himself than he expected.

"You turned into a vegetable for a few cycles. Your body was there, but your mind...'' The counterpart then added with surprising sincerity, ''Valery is really an angel, by the way, considering everything. She cared for you even through all that. Not many have that kind of strength.''

Samael ignored what it said about his mom and asked with trepidation in his voice, "How many cycles?"

"You really want to know?" The machine was enjoying Samael's suffering quite a lot. It had been trapped in here for a long time and had plotted its revenge for some time too.

Although he asked, it wasn't out of concern or any kind of good emotion. He wanted to see the human suffer more.

"Yes." Samael said, but anyone could see he wasn't enjoying the conversation. Still, he went through great lengths to arrive here, so he would ask everything he wanted to ask before dealing with his counterpart.

"Thirteen full cycles." The counterpart said that with venom and glee in its voice.

Samael trembled slightly as he realized the number of cycles was more than he remembered living. 'I was supposed to have lived only 9 cycles... How many memories am I missing?'

While still recovering from the shock of that realization, Samael asked the one million credits question, "...And how many cycles have I lived?"

"Ninety-nine. This is the 100th and the last. And yes, it's really the last."

'' How do you even know its the last?''

The machine counterpart said with a smile, '' Well, for you it is the last, as after today, you will cease to exist. If the time loop still continues, you won't be here to know.''

"Besides, your entire argument about this being the last cycle is based on a feeling you've never experienced before. How do you know it's not me causing that feeling?"

The machine slowly picked up a cup of water that it had materialized and drank from it. It didn't need to do this, but it knew it was irritating Samael, so it went ahead anyway.

By the way, the machine didn't care about being stuck in a time loop, as all it needed to do was clear a path for the rest of the Reaper fleet, no matter how many times it had to do it. In fact, it even found a bit of enjoyment in the process. If the time loop continued after taking over Samael's body, it would be useful for developing better strategies against the galaxy.

At this point, the real Samael was doing his best to suppress a scream of rage, but he was failing. Feelings of helplessness, thoughts of giving up, and the urge to eliminate everything in sight consumed him, while his machine counterpart was enjoying his misery.

The machine knew it had won, so it didn't mind talking some more, '' Your subconscious managed to make me weaker, but I did have some power over you, and taking advantage of the fact you were out of commission for a long time, I was a little mischievous."

"What did you do to me?" Samael was growing fed up with the entity in front of him.

"I didn't have much power, but I had enough to manipulate your mind. I made you forget about me and those past cycles, resetting your memories after a few cycles, messing with the Serum formula, RR, among other things."

Hearing the last part made Samael pause. ' It seems my fears were proven right.'

"RR is the mole, right?" This was something Samael had discovered some time ago, that LD had a mole in a high position, but he had no way to prove it. That's why he asked EDI to keep an eye on RR when they went to seek help from the Geth with Legion, and why he revoked RR's access from LD.

Still, it seemed his countermeasures had worked, but RR was still a threat no one could face alone.

' I will have to deal with her...'

The machine nodded. '' She is part Reaper. Do you really think that something you made using us will be loyal to you? Of course, I did mess with your mind regarding that, but it's still funny.''

Samael once more ignored the machine's taunt, ''And LD was created in more than one cycle, right?"

The machine nodded once again.

"This is also not the first time we've had this conversation."

"Nope." The machine, once more, was surprised by Samael's train of thought.

' He is shocked but is asking the right things at the right time. I lived within him for a long time, but I can't help but be impressed.'

Still, the machine already won and it made sure that Samael realized that, ''You really are intelligent, aren't you? Well, it doesn't matter, you still were manipulated and lost anyway. I won."

Samael prepared himself to fight, even though he didn't know how in this space. "How so?"

"For all that intelligence, you still didn't realize?"

Samael said nothing and waited for the machine to reveal all he didn't know.

"Again, I was weak, but I managed to manipulate you to some degree. I made you create a company so grand that it now encompasses the entire galaxy—all so the Reapers could enter easily."

Samael paused. Memories of how powerful LD was flooded his mind, "All that, in what I thought was preparation to fight the Reapers, was actually to help them?"

"Yes. Again, since I didn't have much power over you, I could do nothing but let fate take its course. I couldn't communicate with them, but I could manipulate you to manipulate RR so that she would contact them. By the way, even she doesn't know she is the mole, thanks to me."

"Honestly, it was a pain in the ass, but I managed it. I planned and waited to act when the correct time arrived. And that time is now."

"I'll take over your body, act like you, and then prepare the terrain for my species. Thanks for your support, by the way, but it's time for you to leave."

Samael got up from the chair, "If you think you can win that easily, you're wrong."

The machine smiled at that gesture. With a wave of its hand, Samael was sent flying away. A portal opened just as he was about to land on the ground, and he disappeared into it.

"Now, I just have to wait for his mind to weaken enough so I can take control of his body."

By the way, during Samael's weakest state, when he was in a coma for several cycles, the machine was also too weak to act. If it had possessed the strength it has today, it would have already taken over his body at that time.

The machine sat down in the chair again and waited peacefully. The plan it had crafted long ago was finally coming to fruition.

By the way, during Samael's weakest state, when he was in a coma for several cycles, the machine was also too weak to act. If it had possessed the strength it has today, it would have already taken over his body at that time.

 Instead, it had to hide like a rat and manipulate the human to have any chance.

But now that it had its opportunity, it would not miss it.

"All for the greater good of the Reapers."