Chapter 1 – Where the Hell Am I?!
A tall boy for his age, Jamie Cole tackled the shooters to the ground who had begun to fire wildly upon the fleeing students. The only thought in his mind was to ensure the girl of his dreams came to no harm.
Pain blossomed in his abdominal area. Blood already pooling around him as Jamie belatedly realized he had been shot. Other students had come over and were subduing the shooters as his breath became fainter and fainter.
Black guy always dies first, after all.
The second time he had been reborn as Amala Lucrantz in a world that was more magical than his wildest dreams. He had become a she. And she wasn't even fully human anymore.
Her new home was a harsh world overflowing with wonders and strange creatures. The people there were able to perform superhuman feats and she was no exception. She had been blessed with talent in this new world and quickly grew stronger than any other her age. Her mind was only just starting to catch up with her previous life's age.
Funny. Even though she was so much stronger as Amala than Jamie ever was. She was still going to die two years earlier than he did.
Amala could feel her life draining away by the second as crimson blood continued to pour out of her body from the large slash wound across her chest. Small wonder that she could feel anything though, considering that wherever the hell her teleportation treasure had taken her was someplace insanely cold.
All around her was an ocean of white, reflecting what little light it could that entered in the pit she was currently staining with her blood. One side benefit she supposed is that the pain from the wound wasn't quite so bad as it was before and the cold was doing a good job to stem the blood flow.
Not that she still wasn't going to die.
For whatever reason, she could barely feel any Universal Energy. Amala was doing her best to absorb it in an attempt to relieve some of her wounds, but it was far from enough.
Damn it! Damn it! After all that effort? I'm going to die? AGAIN?! Unbidden tears flowed from her eyes as they quickly became solidified before travelling halfway down her pale cheeks. Her mind raged at the weakness but her body could barely comply to wipe away the evidence of her distress.
A weak chuckle rocked her body as she thought of this. What did it matter if she cried? Not like anyone was around here to see -
There was a vibration that rumbled the ground beneath her. A tremor that continued to build in intensity accompanied by a sound that was not unlike a car engine. A thrill of hope went through her as she thought of this. Something that wouldn't be found on Lozen but would be found on her former homeworld.
Amala's eyes struggled to open themselves, she was now cursing the fact of her tears even more than before as they mired her vision. There was still a sea of white in front of her, but above her position in the snow pit was a fairly looking solid mass. The rumbling noise continued to increase and if that sound was an engine then that probably meant she was lying in a ditch off of a road.
She had one chance to get the vehicle's intention if she had any hope of surviving. The thought of hostile forces did cross her mind, but she was more focused on getting through the next hour. Still...was it possible that it might be a kinder fate to die in the cold, rather than risk the unknown?
Maybe.
Even so...I want to live! I want to go back to that warm place I had finally reached!
Amala had barely any Ki remaining in her body as she shakily raised her arm, channelling energy down into the tips of her fingers as she pointed towards the open sky. A bright glow enveloped her hand as her vision blurred, as she slowly began to drift into unconsciousness.
...I...want...to...LIVE!
A violet burst of Ki discharged from her hands and sprang outwards into the unknown world as she slipped, almost blissfully into the land of dreams.
A rumble shook through the MAKO as Commander Julia Shepard navigated the icy slopes of Dorvega while she whistled a jaunty tune.
"Damn it Shepard! Are you trying to get us killed?!" demanded Garrus Vakarian as he clung for dear life on the very limited handholds in the MAKO.
"Keelah...I think I'm going to be sick..." announced a very nauseated-sounding Tali.
"Commander, perhaps you could drive a little more...sane?" suggested Liara who was maintaining her own death grip on her seat.
In the back, in the gunner's seat, Wrex rumbled with equal parts annoyance and fear, "Or at least find us something to shoot that you DON'T immediately run over!"
Julia clucked her tongue in disapproval, "Where's your sense of adventure people? A relatively unknown planet with a geth outpost and a mysterious beacon belonging to the Alliance? Doesn't that just scream fun?"
"Perhaps if you stuck to the road instead of driving up mountains, then we might better appreciate this so-called adventure." snapped Tali.
"I'm starting to understand why Kaidan and Ashley were so happy to let us go along with the Commander." grumbled Garrus.
Julia eventually relented to the squawking of her so-called elite squad, if only out of pity for Tali who did look as if she was going to throw up in her suit. Julia was pretty sure that her suit could take care of such an event, but the mere thought of it happening wasn't something she wished to inflict on the poor girl.
The squad sighed in evident relief (even Wrex, though he later said that he only sighed because he was stretching) as Julia returned to a road that curved along the mountainside. According to the MAKO's sensors, they only had a bit until they hit the first outpost, having already taken out a few geth sentinels along the way.
With no new leads on Saren, the crew had debated on where to go to next. Julia was thinking that with the sudden downtime they had, in the absence of any leads, that she would pursue some of the missions Hackett had sent her in order to foster more teamwork amongst her team.
Particularly Liara, their most recent addition. The quiet scientist (when not severely dehydrated) had proved to be an exceptionally powerful biotic and Julia had wanted to better integrate her with the rest of the team.
Tali and Garrus she brought along both because of their respective Tech expertise and their unique talents. Wrex was an obvious choice simply because of all of the damage he could soak up for her – team, soak up for the team. Considering that she was a biotic herself, the team was balanced out fairly nicely.
Julia gazed almost absently again at the eerie beauty of Dorvega. It was far too cold (a balmy -62 degrees Celsius all year-round!) for anyone to set up shop and far too sparse in minerals to be of any value. The MAKO continued to chug along the road at a decent pace -
"Could you try going slower than FTL?!" demanded Garrus, a trill of fear in his subvocals.
-when a bright flash of light erupted just ahead of them and shot into the sky before erupting like a violet firework.
"Shit!" Julia stomped hard on the brakes of the MAKO as the squad tensed up.
A moment passed, "Nothing on scanners, Shepard!" called out Garrus
"I'm not seeing any traces of signal blocking either, Shepard!" added Tali.
"Wrex?" asked Julia, the vehicle had come to a full stop now.
"Nothing that I can see from here, but whatever that was, it just gave away our position."
Julia chewed her lips for a bit before she eased the MAKO forward towards the spot where the flash had erupted from. Without needing to tell Wrex, the Krogan aimed the MAKO's main gun towards the ditch in the road.
Nothing further emerged from the ditch, but once Tali increased the sensitivity of her scans, she detected a very faint heat signature coming from within.
The snow crunched beneath them as Julia led Garrus and Tali with her as they cautiously approached the ditch. Julia almost dropped her pistol in shock when she saw what lay within.
"Keelah, is that?..."
Julia quickly holstered her weapon and darted forward as she gingerly felt for a pulse on the neck of the small form in the ditch. Her skin was as pale as the snow around her and her dark black hair stuck out in strong contrast to the blood and snow that covered her form. A strange glint of blue from some crystalline material briefly caught her eye when she felt something.
It was faint, but she felt the barest hint of life beneath her fingers. "She's alive!" said Julia incredulously. There was so much frozen blood in the ditch, that she thought for sure that the kid was...
Memories of Mindoir briefly ran through her mind as she opened up a comm channel to the Normandy. "Shepard to Normandy! Do you read me?! We have a heavily injured child here who needs immediate treatment! Get Chakwas ready and get your ass over here ASAP!"
Amala's first thoughts upon waking up were relief.
I'm not dead...
Her eyes opened as her thoughts turned to curiosity and slight shock as her ears picked up the tell-tale sound of medical equipment. Something she never thought she'd ever hear again. Amala was relieved that whoever had found her had seen fit to patch her up, rather than throw her in some lab for dissection.
She cautiously tested the movements of her limbs underneath the warm blankets that were piled on her. None of them were restricted. She breathed a sigh of relief as the tell-tale signs of a panic attack that had been building up soon faded away.
Amala moved her hand out from underneath her blanket and examined the dark blue bracelet wrapped around her wrist. She had felt her shape bracelet break when she had used it to ward off one of Regis' attacks, but Amala was curious about the extent of the damage.
A large crack ran through the crystalline material of the bracelet, but the overall shape and form was more or less holding together. Still, the damage meant that she had at least a few day's worth of repair to look forward to.
Great.
" #$d #$!"
Amala quickly became aware that she not alone in the room as she stared wide-eyed at the clusterfuck before her.
There were three humans in front of her. One had greying hair and had a sort of grandmotherly-feel to her. Another was a brunette whose hair was pulled back tight into a ponytail and practically screamed military. The third was the most eye-catching of the trio, and had bright red hair that stopped just above her shoulders with piercing green eyes.
Despite the two younger ones being incredibly attractive, that wasn't what had held Amala's stare.
No, behind these women, was what Amala could only describe as a blue woman. She certainly looked female, but was clearly not human as evidenced by the odd...tentacles adorning her head.
What. The. Fuck.
"#$% $%%#?" The gorgeous red-head said something and Amala's head whipped back towards her, though her eyes still kept flicking back towards the aliens behind the glass. It was eerily similar to English, but that couldn't be possible.
"Uh...hello?" greeted Amala sticking to the Common Tongue out of caution.
She was met with blank stares. The brunette seemed to be focusing on something above Amala's head while the redhead and the older woman shared concerned looks.
"Thank you for saving me." Amala doubted that what she was saying would be understood, so she followed it up by a grateful bow towards the trio, indicating her wounded chest.
A smile touched the older woman's face as she said something in return. Amala smiled back hesitantly, but didn't know what else to say. Out of more of a nervous habit than anything, she brushed back a strand of her shoulder-length black hair.
That was when Amala realized something was missing. Amala's hands flew towards her neck and her fingers only met bare skin. Her panicked motions drew the attention of the trio who had suddenly entered into a conversation with each other. Amala didn't care as she threw off the blankets that were covering her, wincing from the violent movement as her chest sent a flare of pain.
Amala ignored it as she padded the bed, looking for her Crystals.
Where is it?! I know I still had it on me when I escaped from the bastard, so where is it?!
A flash of blue suddenly caught her attention as Amala's head shot up and saw a small gold necklace with six different Crystals hanging off it held in the hands of the redhead.
" $#^$#%yours?" She had a gentle smile on her face and was talking calmly, gesturing with the necklace. Her heart pounded when she heard the last part of the redhead's sentence.
Amala looked up towards her and gingerly reached for her necklace with her tail. The eyes of all three women widened as they saw this and the brunette was saying something to the redhead. The redhead shook her head and put her palm up in what seemed to be a calming gesture. Her eyes fell back towards Amala and still held that gentle light in them as she continued to offer the necklace.
Amala unclenched her fists that she didn't even realize were under tension as her tail took back her necklace.
"Thank you." said Amala quietly.
The redhead stooped a bit so that she was eye-level with her. She pointed towards herself and said: "Julia."
Her name? Amala pointed towards the redhead and said cautiously, "Julia?"
She smiled and nodded and then pointed towards Amala, a question in her eyes.
Amala patted her chest (wincing a little bit from the action) and said, "Amala."
Julia's smile widened as she extended her hand towards Amala. Were handshakes so universal?
Amala could feel that several other people, both in the treatment room they were in and beyond the tinted glass were staring at them, but she felt drawn towards Julia. Amala extended her own hand and shook it firmly.
Where the hell am I?