Lost Among The Ashes
Disclaimer: I don't own Darksiders or Mass Effect, they are owned by THQ Nordic and Bioware respectively
Nomad-117: So… I am in some sort of Mass Effect fever since I want to see what they did with Andromeda and at the same time I watch the intro to Darksiders… well this is the result when you combine the two things in my head.
Summary: Shepard had fought in countless battles, she had won each of them. She had even managed to free the galaxy from the terror of the reapers. Yet there is still one last war left to fight, a war that is supposed to bring balance.
Chapter 1: The Beginning...
2196 CE
Sol-system Earth
London
Ten years, has it really been that long already? Shepard couldn't help but wonder as she let her gaze wander over the park, the few people that had decided to visit it just like her. Unlike the others though her own thoughts were in the past. Ten years ago almost to the day when she and Anderson begun the final desperate assault on the Reapers. The day she had lost someone who was like a father to her, but she had also triumphed over the reapers.
The memories of that day were painful, and bittersweet but she knew that without a doubt Anderson would be happy to learn that she had survived. Survived and won, and not only that. She now had a family, a smile found its way on her face as she saw a small blue child running across the grass towards her. Some sort of fossil in hand, eager to show it to her proud father.
"Daddy! Look! Look!" The small asari exclaimed and held the small petrification up for her to see.
"Oh? What have you got there?" She asked curiously and gently took the fossil from her daughter's hand. As she scrutinized the fossil she saw that it was a petrified ammonoid. Perhaps not valuable in and of itself, but to see her child so fascinated by it ensured that its value rose significantly in Shepard's eyes. "This is really pretty Arleyna. Would you like to take it home with you?"
"Can I?" Arleyna asked with huge pleading blue eyes.
"Of course you can." Shepard was quick to assure her and pulled her into a hug. "Daddy will even buy you a book about fossils. Would you like that?"
"Yes!" The child cheered enthusiastically and returned the hug with fervor.
"I see that Arleyna takes more after her mother than her father." A flanged voice remarked dryly from behind her. Even without turning around she knew that it belonged to none other than Garrus Vakarian. "Good thing too, I doubt the park would survive your prefered form of adventure."
"Good to see you too, Garrus." Shepard snarked back without missing a beat. "Say where is Tali? I would have expected her to hit you by now."
Just as she finished speaking she heard a dull thud from behind her and a muffled curse from the turian. "I am right here Shepard. This boshtet ran off once he caught sight of you. Probably to snark at you without me present."
"Good to see you too, Tali." She replied and turned to face her friends. "Glad to see that someone is keeping this nuisance in check."
"You hurt me Shepard." The turian said with mock sadness and shook his head. "The stories I could tell your daughter, so embarrassing."
"Stories about, daddy?" Arleyna asked eagerly and tried to wiggle free from her father embrace. "Could you tell me."
"Su-"
"Maybe later." Shepard quickly cut in and sent a warning glare at the turian who only gave her a smug grin in return. "You have to wait until you are older." She remembered when her own mother had used that line on her, and how she had hated it then. Now it seemed it was time for her to agitate her child with it.
"Ddaaaadd!" Arleyna whined pitifully and stared at her with accusing eyes. "Why cant uncle Garrus tell me about you? You never want others to talk about you."
"It's complicated sweety, but some of those stories you really shouldn't hear until you are much older." She tried to explain gently, even though she had some doubts that it would actually convince her daughter. Luckily for her Tali chose to interfere before Arleyna could become more vocal with her protests.
"Arleyna, sweetie would you like to watch Fleet and Flotilla with me this evening? I am afraid your uncle doesn't like it as much as I do." Tali told her gently and smiled softly at the girl. In response the girl shot towards her honorary aunt and hugged her with a loud cheer. Causing the quarian to chuckle in amusement. "I'll take that as a yes."
"Ah, to be young again." Grunted a deep voice to the side. Shepard inclined her head to regard Wrex who was accompanied by Ashley and James. "Should have known that your children would be just as wild as you are Shepard."
"I'll take that as a compliment, Wrex. Ashley, James how are you?"
"I am fine." Ashley said simply and shrugged. James though proved to be far more informative.
"I am good. But she's having morning sickness seven days a week and mood swings twenty-four-seven. Aside from that she is good."
"So have any of you seen my wayward wife?" Shepard decided to ask hastily before Ashley could murder her husband during one of her mood swings.
"She is fetching Joker and EDI." Wrex supplied with a shrug. "The rest couldn't make it this time." Shepard merely nodded in reply, she had known that not all of her old team members would be able to visit her today.
They kept in contact after all, no matter how scattered across the galaxy they were, they were still a team. Besides there would be chances for them to visit at another time. Now that the threat of the reapers was gone, they all had time to spare.
Still it felt good to have at least some of her old team here with her. She might have settled down, but that didn't mean that she had forgotten what they had went through. Nor did she want to, and neither did the others. Even though their occupations have changed, in some cases drastically, since their shared adventures.
Tali taught young quarians the art of how to turn a pile of scrap metal into something extremely useful. Although the official description was closer to teacher of technology rather than miracle worker. As opposed to that Garrus taught the residents of Rannoch how to fight, and showed them a few tricks he had picked up during his days in C-Sec. His reasoning was that while quarians weren't prone to criminality it was inevitable, especially now that other species were visiting Rannoch again.
Ashley and James though had remained with the Alliance. No surprise there, both of them were born soldiers to a degree. They wouldn't know how to do anything else. Jeff still flew for the Alliance, given his love for spaceships and flying in general Shepard couldn't picture him doing anything else. And of course where Joker went EDI wasn't far behind.
Wrex was of course still leader of the Krogan people. He often grumbled about it, but Shepard knew a part of him enjoyed telling all those krogan that desired war where to shove their fantasies. Something that Bakara helped him with, even if he was too stubborn to admit it.
Her thoughts though wandered to her wife, as she saw her approaching in the distance as if she had been summoned by her thoughts. Behind her trailed Joker and EDI, the former still unable to walk too fast, though the treatments for vrolik-syndrome had improved in the last ten years. With some luck someone would make a breakthrough in the next few years.
If so she would be one of the first to know, for her beloved wife was still working as the shadow broker. Even if only part time, the rest of her time was either spent with her family and friends or had her following the exploits of some of her former archeology colleagues. Shepard swore to herself that once Arleyna was older she would make sure that Liara would be able to spend at least some time around digsites once more.
It was not like she had any pressing matters to attend to after all. She was currently employed as an adviser for the systems alliance, similar as to what Garrus was during the reaper war. Only without much to advise on, though the brass still found reasons to call her in from time to time and ask her opinion.
Unfortunately more often than not to ask her about things she never wanted to think about again. For example on how to deal with the citadel council and the like. She supposed that was her own fault for not specifying what kind of advice she was prepared to give. Her thoughts were once more cut short when the trio arrived. Before she even had the chance to say something Liara had already stepped forward and planted a soft kiss on her lips.
"EDI, please tell me you are recording everything." Jeff mock whispered to his robotic girlfriend who only shook her head at his request.
"I would not impose on the commander's privacy like this, Jeff."
"Aww, come on." The pilot whined before he decided that he had spent enough time on futily trying to convince EDI. "Hey, Commander. Good to see you and Arleyna doing okay. Speaking of which, when can I teach her how to fly?"
"She is seven, Joker." Shepard reminded him wryly and raised a single eyebrow in amusement.
"Yeah, so? When I was her age I literally dreamed of flying everyday. So what's wrong with that?" Joker asked her with a shrug. To be fair though it probably made perfect sense to him.
"If you really want to teach children how to fly, Jeff. Then may I remind you yet again that adoption is a perfectly viable option for us to purchase an offspring of our own."
"Yeah, and everytime they want to hug their daddy they break his legs or arms. Great idea, EDI." Joker snarked back and huffed. "Besides I would be a terrible father. You know me EDI. It would be disaster."
"You should practice." Wrex told him bluntly and glared at the pilot. "Perhaps get a varren first, or start with trying to keep up with Shepard's kid, if you survive that you are good."
"Why do I feel like I've just been insulted?" Shepard asked her friends idly not that any of them reacted save to chuckle at her. "But that's a good idea, Joker you and EDI could get Arleyna some ice cream. I think I saw a vendor just a few streets away."
"That's-" Jeff began only to be interrupted by the AI beside him.
"An excellent idea. Thank you, Shepard."
"All right fine…. Arleyna, would you like to get some ice cream with me and EDI?" Joker asked the child with uncharacteristic nervousness. The small asari nodded enthusiastically in reply and took hold of one of his hands, gently though, thankfully for his bones. "Okay good, no broken bones so far. Lets keep it that way shall we?" He muttered as he was slowly tugged away, towards the edges of the park as EDI followed the two of them with a smile on her face.
"When they adopt a kid… they are gonna be a pretty unusual family." Ashley remarked with small smile of her.
"When?" James asked and looked at his girlfriend. "You make that sound like it's already been decided."
"Because it is." Liara and Shepard said simultaneously before the asari continued on her own. "Joker has a hard time saying no to EDI no matter the circumstances. Now with something so important to her? It's only a matter of time."
"Huh, good to know that sooner or later we fall under the thrall of our female overlords." James quipped only to receive a slap on the back from Wrex.
"See now you are forewarned. Don't underestimate them, they practically took Tuchanka overnight." The old krogan told him with a chuckle.
"Thanks for cheering me up." James chuckled dryly and slapped the krogan on the back as well. Though it didn't nearly keel Wrex over as it did with James.
"You are welcome." The old krogan replied simply and turned to look at Shepard probably to ask her something when he paused for a moment. "Haven't we seen that one before?" He asked after a short moment and pointed at something behind Shepard.
When she turned her gaze locked with the eyes of one Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani. The woman looked at her for a moment before turning around and walking towards a Westerlund News skycar. Apparently the reporter had been sent here this day, most likely for the upcoming tenth anniversary of the reapers defeat. Still, it seemed that even after all these years Khalisah still chose to respect Shepard's wishes enough to stay away from her. Even though that didn't stop her from slandering everybody else she could get her hands on.
"Yeah, an old… acquaintance." She answered Wrex question slowly and turned back to her friends. "One that I am glad is not imposing on us."
"Yeah, I'll say." Garrus was quick to add. "Isn't she the one that you wanted to and I quote: 'Bash her head against the nearest wall until she couldn't walk straight anymore,' after the first interview?"
"That's the one." Liara confirmed cheerfully and put an arm around her lover's shoulders.
"I am still surprised that you didn't." Tali admitted shyly and clasped her hands together. "I wasn't even being asked and I still wanted to sick Chiktikka on her."
"I would have just shot her." Wrex supplied bluntly. "But I didn't listen to her prattling. I know when someone has something important to say."
Shepard was about to steer the conversation towards less violent topics when her omnitool began to blink. For a moment she was confused, for who would call her today. She had already talked with her friends, and work wasn't supposed to call unless there was an emergency. With a feeling of dread she opened the connection. On the holographic screen she could see a Lieutenant in his dress-blues.
She knew him from work. One Lieutenant Chad Irons, he was the second in command for the security of the alliance installation in the city. "Commander Shepard, this is an emergency. Meteor clusters have just shown up in earth's atmosphere. Get to a shelter now!"
Several reasons shot through her head just as to why the situation he described should be impossible. Yet any other thought was drowned out when she looked up at the sky and saw multiple fiery streaks racing towards the park she was in. Arleyna! She thought worriedly, turning towards the direction EDI and Joker had went with her child.
She didn't have the chance to run off, for the first meteor struck the ground right in her path. The shock wave raced towards her but was absorbed by a blue barrier that sprung up around her friends and herself. Both Liara and Wrex had activated their biotics to keep them safe, even though they were still thrown to the dirt by the vibrations of the impact. Curiously they were still alive at all, Shepard had always been of the opinion that meteors should cause far more destruction then these did.
Not that she was complaining. "Everyone okay?" She asked absently as she disconnected the still active call with Lieutenant Irons and tried to get a hold of EDI or Joker.
"Fine." Garrus shouted as the others gave similar affirmatives. The two biotics lowered the barrier around them as everyone began to get back up. The group looked around in an attempt to see the scale of the destruction. Craters were everywhere, and still more meteorites continued to rain into the city although the park wasn't hit by anymore of them. At least for the moment.
"She-rd?" EDI's voice asked from her omnitool. "Can you he-ear me?"
"EDI, I am here. Is Arleyna alright?" She asked immediately and Liara stepped right beside her looking at her active omnitool in worry.
"She is fine." Joker replied this time as the minor interference seemed to clear up. "Scared but fine."
"Go-" She was just about to reply when she saw the rubble of the meteor strike began to shift. She turned towards it in confusion, confusion that quickly that turned to horror as some sort of mutated varren climbed out of the crater. And it was not alone, three others of its kind followed it. And as soon as it's what she guessed were his eyes fell on her group it hissed and ran towards her.
It didn't get far before a loud shot blasted its head apart and another of its kind was blown apart by another as Wrex stepped in front of her, still smoking shotgun in hand. If these things are in all the craters… She thought with dread before she turned to shout at her still active omnitool.
"Joker, EDI, get Arleyna out of the city. Now! There ar-"
"We know commander, we see the ugly bastards ourselves. They just killed a police officer with their freaking axe." Joker replied quietly obviously trying not to draw attention to himself.
"Axe?" She asked surprised before she looked to the side only to see that not every meteor had carried the same payload. All kinds of monstrosities were crawling out of the craters. These strange hounds seemed to be the least intimidating of the bunch. "Joker, can you get to a skycar?"
"Maybe in a bit…" Joker said with uncharacteristic shortness in his breath. "There…. There is just some very big thing tearing through… things." He didn't need to elaborate further. People were getting slaughtered.
"Can we help?"
"Unless you have anti-tank weaponry… I doubt it." Was the terse reply, which complicated things. Still it wouldn't stop her from getting to her daughter. Shortly after the call disconnected, undoubtedly to make sure they were not discovered by a sudden noise from their omnitool.
"We are coming." she replied even though she knew he couldn't hear her, she made a few hand motions to signal her team that they were moving out before turning off her own omnitool for the moment. Though the situation was a bit more complicated than she would like. Aside from the unknown enemies they had no weapons, well Wrex had his shotgun and his biotics, the later which he shared with Liara but that was it for the moment.
As they carefully made their way towards the ice cream vendor they did their best to both avoid detection and to ignore the screams of the people less fortunate than them. They couldn't help them as they were now.
"For the light!" A voice shouted high above them, and Shepard could do little else but blink stupidly as what appeared to be winged humanoids shot down from the sky, lances in hand and attacking the creatures she had seen before. Perhaps she would have viewed these apparent angels as saviours were it not for the fact that they seemed more concerned with killing their foes rather than saving people.
If the others shared her thoughts than no one said anything as they silently continued on their way. A distance that should have been less than ten minutes away took them far longer as they had to find a new route more than once due to all the rubble lying around.
Their silent wanderings were brought to a halt when a loud scream tore through the air. It sounded close, very close. With a nod to each of her friends they slowly moved forward again. And carefully looked around the corner. A gigantic beast lay on its back, chains hung loosely from its neck and hands, and both of its hands was adorned with mammoth claws. Aside from that it seemed to be made up out of pure muscle and what little armor could fit its frame. Not that it had done it any good as a tall figure in a red hood and mismatched armor pushed a great sword into its chest.
The creature tried pushing the figure off its chest but all those efforts ceased when the red clad figured pushed its sword further into its chest. All movement of the creature ceased and the sword was pulled out of its dead flesh without effort. As if sensing the group's gazes the figure turned to look at them. A surprisingly human face stared at them with white, glowing eyes, as its equally white hair fluttered in the breeze.
His face was further adorned by an oddly shaped slightly orange glowing symbol. Shepard didn't know what to make of the man as she slowly sheathed his sword on his back and continued on, not sparing them another glance. Thankfully though he didn't seem to be killing humans. That thought was promptly disproven when a Westerlund News shuttle shot over his head, probably thinking that he was under attack the man wasted no time in grabbing a nearby skycar and hurling it after the news shuttle.
Like a skycar shaped bullet the car made contact with the shuttle and tore it from the sky. Wrex lifted his shotgun but Shepard shook her head. So far he hadn't had any reason to attack them, and after what she had seen so far of him she wasn't eager to give him one. Thankfully the krogan complied as well with a short nod of his own before he took point once again, marching down the street the red clad man had come from.
What followed was simply put a slaughter. Dead humans were everywhere, but this time their corpses were joined by those that had attacked them and more than once Shepard saw a slain angel as well. It was only a guess but she supposed that the man hadn't differentiated between the two and mowed down everything that had attacked him.
Not that she could fault him for that, having employed the very same strategy more than once in her lifetime. Besides his indiscriminate slaughter quite possibly secured the safety of her daughter. Though it seemed that luck was finally on their side. A downed kodiak lay on the street, still mostly intact. It would undoubtedly possess a weapons locker, and they would have the ability to fight back in case of an attack.
Quietly and with the an efficiency that could only be gained through experience they raided the downed craft. While the armaments were not among the top of the line equipment each of them had gotten used to it was still infinitely more preferable to having no weapons at all. Now armed in such a manner they felt more comfortable with a faster pace. It nonetheless took them another five minutes to reach the ice cream vendor.
The glass now shattered, the door blown of its hinges and the bodies of more than just a few of its visitors strewn across the floor. The team entered slowly, weapons at the ready covering every possible angle. In this part of the city things seemed quieter but they could still hear explosions and screams in the distance.
"Arleyna? Joker? EDI?" Shepard tried lowly and looked around only to whirl around towards the counter when she got her answer.
"We are here, Shepard." Jeff groaned out and slowly stood up. One of his arms was in an unnatural angle the other held onto the hand of Arleyna. Without thinking she ran towards her daughter, Liara right behind her and began to check her over.
"Are you alright, sweetie?" She asked hastily and put her arms around her child.
"I am scared." The young asari sniffled and clung to her for dear life.
"I know sweetie, but now mommy and daddy are here. It's gonna be alright, I promise." Shepard told her and pulled her in an even tighter embrace. Still clinging to Arleyna she looked up at Joker and EDI. "Thank you, for taking care of her."
"You should thank EDI, not me." Joker replied embarrassed and scratched his head with his good hand. "She pushed us under the counter and shielded us with her body… apparently these things don't care about AIs." Shepard merely nodded gratefully in reply, hoping that it was enough to get her feelings across.
From the way the AI nodded at her she guessed that she had succeeded. With great reluctance she released her daughter from her hug and lifted her left arm to reactivate her omnitool. Now that she had made sure that her daughter was safe she could think clearly again. Which meant that she realised that they needed help. The moment the omnitool came online it began to blink again madly.
She opened the connection without hesitation to stare into the pale face of Lieutenant Irons. "Commander Shepard… I- we need help!"
"Lieutenant calm down, I need you to be calm for me, alright?" She asked him gently and softly apparently her tone of voice was enough to start thinking somewhat rationally again.
"I- yes, Commander. It's just, there is chaos out there!"
"Believe me I know, but right now I need your help. Can you send a kodiak to my position to extract my family and I?"
"Yes, but where to? The whole city-"
"Then get us outside the city. If you have any means of getting a message to the masses tell them to get outside the city anyway they can. Once we are in the countryside we can regroup."
"Yes." He agreed slowly and nodded to himself. "Yes, I can do that. I'll dispatch a kodiak to your position… Greg? I mean Sargent Abney, I need you to prepare a perimeter defence for this place." He shouted at someone of screen. "We are the only evac point for the civilians, we have to hold as long as we can." He turned back to her and tried to give her a brave smile that ended up as a grimace. "Don't worry Commander, we'll get you out of there."
"Thank you…. and take care Lieutenant." She told him earnestly to which he simply saluted once and broke the connection. "Now we wait." She told the rest of the group with a helpless shrug. None offered her an audible answer as they did what they could to make the ice vendor more defensible while they waited.
In the distance they could hear the screams of great beasts and of dying people, accompanied by the occasional explosion. Thus every minute spent doing nothing but waiting felt like an eternity. Just when Shepard considered calling Chad back and asking him whether or not the kodiak had been shot down she heard the soft sound of an approaching engine.
Still none of them moved outside until they saw the kodiak for themselves. It flew low most likely to avoid the various fliers that circled over the city and landed directly in front of the vendor.
"Time to go." Garrus remarked softly as he made his way towards the waiting dropship the rest of them following in a rough diamond formation around Arleyna. Without allowing her daughter a chance to look around herself anymore than she already had Shepard lifted her into the kodiak and hit the door to the pilot's cabin three times in quick succession.
Without a word in reply the pilot lifted off the ground and flew of. Still close to the ground but clearly on a course to the edges of the city. Shepard had no idea what had happened this day, but for the moment she was content to have her daughter and wife beside her as she leaned against the cool metal of the kodiaks cabin and simply closed her eyes.
Author Notes:
Nomad-117: Well, that was something I suppose. First before someone has the idea to make use of this chance to tell me that I should focus on one story for god's sake I would like to point out that I am aware but I am just horrible at this. Furthermore I apologize for not updating any of my older stories, this chapter was just a spur of the moment thing I could not deny. But I am afraid I am very busy with real life and other projects at the moment.
I will try to update another story soonish… which isn't saying much I know but I shall try. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this bout insanity. Until next time.