Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy nor Mass Effect (1 or 2). They belong to their rightful owners and creators.
Prologue
On the mortal plane of existence, one of the Council's wet works team had entered the small town of Sunnydale and headed toward the hospital. On the other side of town in a hospital bed, lay a young dark haired woman with little chance of waking up. If the nurses and orderlies had looked closely they would have noticed a slight shimmer around the bed.
On a higher plane, the soul of the young woman was standing in front of the two oracles. The female oracle asked, "You understand why you're here, Dark Slayer?"
The Dark Slayer replied, "No, I don't know why I'm here and my names Faith."
"You are here for your last and only chance for redemption. We are giving you this chance because your destiny has been disrupted by the other side so that you would not become a great leader like you were intended," the male being said before adding, "and your Watcher's Council is about to have you removed so that they can get a new Slayer."
"Why save me then?"
The female replied, "Because you are not meant to be killed before your chance at redemption but that is what's about to happen."
"So you have one of two choices, Dark One. You can go back to your body and be killed by the Council or you can accept our offer," the male finished.
Faith looked at them before asking, "If I do this will the Watcher's get their new Slayer anyway?"
Both beings nodded, "Yes but the young one would not last as long as yourself or even the Golden Slayer."
"Would I ever be brought back?"
"Only if the Slayers still on this mortal plane cannot defeat their opposition without your help," the beings replied.
"Okay. I'll do it."
After Faith spoke she watched as three different things happened on the mortal plan, the first is her body disappearing from the hospital, the second is Buffy getting a call saying, 'your sister past away an hour ago.' The last thing was the wet works team got a call from Travers saying, 'A new Slayer's been called come back.'
It was two months after the thresher maw attack on Akuze, when Faith Shepard woke up to find her twin brother John sitting at her bed side. The biotic Shepard watched as his sister sat up slowly in the hospital bed that she had been in for the last two months.
Faith studied her brother as she tried to sort through the two different sets of memories she had. She then first lifted the sleeve of the hospital top and noticed her tattoo was still there from her life as a slayer. She then looked at her stomach to find the stab wound was also there, before looking up and asking, "How'd I get this Johnny?"
He replied, "You somehow had a piece of metal stuck into your stomach that you didn't notice until after you were rescued from Akuze. And the tat is from our time with the reds on Earth."
The bed bound Shepard nodded her understanding. Just then the door opened and in walked Admiral Hackett and Captain Anderson. Faith tried to sit up even more but groaned in pain as the move was too much.
John had gone to salute the two commanding officers but at his sister's moan of pain ended up helping her instead.
Hackett spoke first, "It's good to see you awake, Commander."
Faith blinked, "No disrespect meant sir, but last I checked I was still a Lieutenant."
Anderson answered, "You were promoted after Akuze, Faith."
"Oh. Well then Thank you sirs." They nodded before leaving.
Over the next month and a half, Faith when through physical therapy to get movement back into her legs, she knew she really didn't need it but did so for her brother's sake.
The two Shepards heard about Torfan as it happened. They also spent some time on different assignments and leave posts.
Over the course of the next three and a half years, Faith could be found in the company of Captain Anderson as well as Admiral Hackett. The Slayer Shepard had over this time somehow gain or in her mind re-gained the nickname 'Dark Slayer'. She didn't know how that had happened.
Faith had taken leave on different colonies that had her getting to know many of the colonists. On one of Faith's leaves she entered a pool hall; she noticed a large group surrounding a single table so she sat back and watched as the female Gunnery Chief wiped the floor with her opponent. The woman turned around asking, "Anyone else want a try?"
Faith shrugged before calling out, "I'll have a go if you don't mind."
The Chief grinned like a shark saying, "Alright newbie. Shall we?"
"We shall." Faith smirked back as the chief let her break. The game was actually pretty close and almost over when one of the drunken men around the table threw a punch thus starting a fight. One of the men was thrown onto their table knocking the only ball left into one of the pockets. Commander Faith Shepard sighed and turned to the Chief saying, "Do you think we should put a stop to this?"
The Chief replied, "Yeah, I do. By the way I'm Ashley."
"Faith." With the introductions out of the way the two women helped the bouncers and bartender stop the fight before they were asked to leave. They went their separate ways not knowing they would meet one another in the coming years' time.
On one of her many assignments in the year 2182, Faith had met a woman scientist that both irritated and intrigued her. She had never found out the woman's name before she was recalled to join Captain Anderson and her brother on a ship that she was going to be XO of.
tbc...
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