Shepard awoke to a faint buzzing in her ears. It was odd really, she willed it to go away, but if anything it just got louder.
"Im dead." she muttered
"Just leave me alone." Only then did it strike her as odd. The dead generally didn't feel annoyed. She would know too, she had been dead before, after all. Shepard's eyes opened, and saw only a haze of blue. The buzzing grew louder still. She frowned, trying to remember what happened during her last moments at the Citadel. There had been a flash of light and heat, she had seen Joker, Anderson, and...Liara. Her vision cleared, and she saw Liara standing over her bed, a look of the upmost concern over her face.
"Shepard!" she gasped, as if hardly believing it.
"Liara? What's goi..." Liara disappeared, quickly replaced by Chakwas, who flew into motion checking bandages and medical readouts. The sudden flurry of activity made Shepard feel nauseous, and after a few seconds she lapsed into unconsciousness, the last thing she heard being Liara's voice calling out
"Jane!" as she slipped again into oblivion.

It was dark, and quiet. The med-bay had long since been empty, the last few occupants being ushered out by Chakwas, insistent that they needed rest. All that remained after them was the still form of Commander Shepard. Other than the small rise and fall of her chest, no movement was discernable. Nevertheless, EDI kept her vigil, silently watching over the Commander. She had allocated considerable processing time to this task, she admitted to herself; the unit on the bridge was functioning at less than peak efficiency. After taking a moment to rectify that error, she continued to watch, ready to summon the doctor lest something happen to her...friend? Well, she thought, the Commander had certainly acted like one. Yes, the more she processed the idea, the more certain she became. She had acted with remarkable kindness and understanding throughout their relationship, remarkable really considering that EDI had actually been created by Hannibal while Shepard was destroying it. She let the bridge unit's efficiency slip once more. Nothing would happen to Shepard that she could prevent.

Liara was quiet, laying alone on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Chakwas had assured her that Shepard was stable, but she couldn't help but worry. What if something happened to Shepard? What would she do then? Liara didn't think she could stand loosing her again.
"Shepard" she whispered, as tears ran silently down her face.

Tali sat in the lounge again, a glass in her hand, sipping the brandy-triple filtered of course-through an emergency injector straw. Port, She reminded herself. It seemed like such a trivial matter as she recalled who was laying just across the hall, still in a coma. She told herself it was just another toast to Shepard, but it was really an attempt to block out what she had seen on the Citadel. The bodies, the experiments, the Illusive Man, Anderson, and most of all Shepard. She still recalled the state in which they had discovered her, she Liara and Garrus. Bloodied and tattered, they had dragged both bodies off the station and back to the Normandy, were Chakwas was still treating Ashley and James for the wounds they sustained holding the gun battery on Earth. Chakwas quickly pronounced Anderson dead, and began to operate on Shepard. She was said that the operation was a success, but none of them had left her side until Chakwas had forced them out. Time for another drink, she decided, and poured another glass.

Ashley decided the same thing, and took the bottle from Tali when she was done with it. She had only recently been discharged from the med-bay herself, only to stay, watching Chakwas try to save the Commander. She had said that the operation had been a success, and in truth, the Commander had survived worse, but she just didn't know. And like any soldier, faced with an enemy they can't fight, she groused about it over a drink. Vega had done the same, but had passed out after downing several bottles. Ashley smiled grimly. He would have on hell of a hangover tomorrow. Come to think of it, she would too. Her smile turned to a grimace as she reached for a glass of water.

Joker had been at his station for sixteen hours straight. EDI had told him that he needed his rest. He had, of course, completely ignored it. EDI was quiet now, he noticed, unusual for her. Then again, he had been unusually quiet, and he usually initiated verbal communications, as EDI once said. He was worried, and since he had nothing better to do, he flew the ship, unaware that EDI had isolated his terminal and was flying the ship herself-Joker wasn't in the healthiest state of mind. Joker was, like all crew members, worried. Shepard had survived everything the galaxy threw at her, she beat Sovereign and Saren, the collectors, she had even bested the Reapers with the crucible. It was only fair that she got to live in the galaxy she had spent o long trying to save.

Garrus shared the same thought, sitting alone in the main battery. He really didn't know what else to do. Shepard was in a coma, and once again, he found himself grappling with something he couldn't fight. But ever time he felt like that, he tried to do something about it. He tried to fight injustice, joining C-Sec, only to be trapped in the bindings of bureaucracy. Shepard had given him a way out of that, and a chance to really make a difference by fighting Saren. After her death, he had tried to do the same thing, and gotten his entire squad killed in the process. Shepard had not only saved him, but helped him exact revenge on the turian responsible. He had fought alongside her, and commanded the second squad both times, during the assault on the collector base, saving hundreds of thousands of humans from abduction. He fought the Reapers on the moons of Palaven, and Shepard hive him the chance to fight beside her again, and they had done it. Now he was fighting another battle against hopelessness. And he had a feeling that Shepard couldn't help him now.

EDI noticed a increase in Shepard's heartbeat, and called in Chakwas. She came bursting through not two seconds later, and ran to Shepard's side, flying into motion once again, trying to discern why Shepard's heart rate was increasing so much.

She ran. the noises growing louder behind her. The ground rumbled, and a man screamed out in agony, and was cut silent. She was tempted to turn back, but the sound of gunfire stopped her. Women and children screamed. Tears welled in Shepard eyes, Mindoir was burinig, and she couldn't stop it. Suddenly an armored four eyed man stepped in front of her, blocking her path, she turned around and saw two more running towards her. One of them looked human, and she tried to plead with him, but he simply smiled and reached for her. Then his head disappeared, replaced by a cloud of red and pink. The man next to him fell too clutching at one of several red dots that appeared in his chest. She turned, and found that the one behind her had fallen over too. A group of men, clad in blue swept her up assuring her that she would be all right. The she was one of them, and her surroundings had changed. It was flat and barren. Several other men were around her. patrolling the area. Shepard heard a faint rumbling beneath her, and knelt down to check. Then the ground around her exploded up, enveloping the men around her she was threw several feet backwards and landed, sprawled, on all fours. Several thresher maws appeared out of the ground and began slaughtering the others. She began to fire back, to no effect. She watched helplessly as her squad-mates were massacred in front of her. Tears welling up in her eyes, and knowing that there was nothing she could do, she turned and ran, hoping to get back to the LZ. Then she was on Virmire, covering Captain Kirahee and his men as they boarded the Normandy. Ashley called out to Kaiden on the comm, but got only static in reply. Shepard ordered her on to the ship as they left their friend to die. The scene changed again, this time it was Vancouver, and there were Reapers everywhere. She heard screams, explosions, and bursts of gunfire, saw Reapers level entire city blocks in seconds, and knew once again that she was completely helpless. Anderson called to her, and they made their way down the side of the building amid the cries of the damned. Then she was in a dark forest, filled with bare trees and shadowy figures. She wandered through the woods, hearing whispers of the dead. Her old squad on Akuze, Mordin, Thane, Legion, Kaiden, Anderson. Her parents. Ahead she saw a boy, a young child in a whit sweatshirt and blue jeans, clutching a model fighter in his hand. She ran forwards, reaching out to the boy. He turned, and her heart stopped. Where the face of a young boy should have been, there were instead Reaper implants.
"Fool" the boy growled at her.
"This changes nothing." and he disappeared in a ball of fire, one that began to consume the forest around her, she turned to run, but the shadows started to move towards her, but they werent shadows anymore. They were reaper thralls, but she knew them. Liara, Garrus, Tali, Ashley, Joker, EDI, Miranda, James, Thane, Kaiden, Anders, Hackett, Kelly, Adams, Cortez, Gabriella, Donnely, Chakwas, Talitha, Toombs, Wrex, Grunt, Samara, Kasumi, Jacob, Zaeed, Jack, Saren, the Illusive Man, Udina, Mom, Dad. Then she realized that it was over. No more running. She simply stood still as the lumbered closer. She shut her eyes tightly.

Then opened them. and saw the figures standing around her. She closed her eyes again. But nothing happened. She opened her eyes, and realized that they had no Reaper implants, they were not the figures fo her nightmares, they were real, and she was still alive. She felt a hand clasp hers tightly, and looked up to see Liara crying at the side of her bed. She turned, and saw the rest of her squad beaming down at her, Chakwas having just pronounced that she would make a full recovery. Shepard was again close to tears, and saw that she wasn't the only one.