*sigh* Bioware owns everything but my creative thinking guys. This is the first time I've written anything in almost 6 years, so please excuse any repetitive sentence structure. Also, if you notice any spelling, grammar, or structural issues, please don't hesitate to let me know! Thank you to all readers, and of course any comments are welcome.
Chapter 1
Deja vu set in quickly as Shepard took in the feeling of suffocation, only this time the galaxy was safe. Everyone she loved and cared about had a chance at a future. She had finally completed her mission, and with time the galaxy would rebuild themselves. As she took in the sight of the Earth, burned, but still alive, spots of blue and green still visible, she smiled slightly and closed her eyes. Tears brimmed as she could only think of Kaidan in her last moments. His anguish at being forced aboard the Normandy, injured yet still begging to help her, to stay with her until his last breath. "Please don't leave me behind..." His words echoed in her mind as she began to lose consciousness. She would die, yes, but he and so many others would live. Her love for him would be never-ending, and Shepard desperately hoped he knew just how much she adored him.
Shepard had been so afraid after Mars, silently begging him to open his deep chocolate eyes as she stared at his beaten, broken body for what seemed like hours. Once he finally did after a few days and missions later, she was so happy, but dared not to show how much. She was so reserved, not knowing how he felt, if he even still felt anything for her, and though bringing him his favourite whiskey, kept a casual facade. When she visited the last time he'd become a spectre, the highest honour in the galaxy. Barely containing her excitement, she congratulated him as one would a friend while secretly dreading him not returning to the Normandy, and once he'd decided to after the attempted coup by Udina she was ecstatic. Slowly Commander Seanne Shepard closed her eyes, knowing it would be for the last time. She was tired, and sighed as Kaidan Alenko's face was the last thing she pictured as she blacked out.
As her body fell through reentry, somehow mostly protected by the falling pieces of the Citadel all around her, Shepard's lungs habitually forced her body to breathe in oxygen. The pieces of metal landed on the ground with extreme force, yet almost enveloped Shepard as gently as possible, doing no more damage to her already broken and bleeding body than already caused by her confrontation with the Illusive Man only minutes before. Despite the war torn structures surrounding the pieces of the destroyed Citadel, the sun shone brightly in a clear blue sky, green blades of grass still visible through bits of dust and concrete.
Kaidan gripped the rail outside the med bay, staring coldly at the dull gray wall of the second floor of the SSV Normandy SR-2. He never even heard the footsteps of Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau approach him slowly. "A-Alenko?" Joker could feel his pain mirrored his own, only probably more severe if that were possible. He had genuinely loved EDI. Somehow the AI had become more human than most living, breathing, organics he'd known his entire life. She'd changed him, most definitely for the better, and it was all because of Commander Shepard. Joker had never known anyone like Shepard; She was cold, calculating, while at the same time so warm, caring and loving. Shepard would have done anything for any one of her crew, despite never getting to live her life the way she deserved to. She had to be alive, and not just for herself. He needed Shepard more than ever right now, and so did the broken man next to him.
"Kaidan!" Joker all but yelled, his voice clearly loud enough for half the ship to hear him. Kaidan's head snapped up, as he looked at his friend with glassy eyes. The pain he felt on the right side of his body was nothing compared to the pain in his heart. Realizing biotic energy began to fill the immediate space around him, he let go of the railing and turned to face Joker, knowing Joker would not judge him for his ragged, unkempt appearance. "She's not gone, man. We just have to find her." He heard the pilot say. He felt himself start to speak, his voice sounding foreign to him. "Joker, where are we?"
They opened the airlock and stepped out cautiously onto the soil of the unknown, yet familiar feeling planet. Garrus Vakarian frowning slightly as he adjusted his sniper rifle to peer around the area through the old, beaten reconnaissance scope. "ALENKO!" Garrus yelled, unable to believe the familiar sight in the distance. Kaidan jogged over with haste to the cliff Garrus stood upon, looking into the scope with a gesture from Garrus. The structure in sight had an eerie familiarity about it, giving Kaidan a hopeful feeling, causing his chest to tighten. Kaidan's mind flashed back to the first time he'd seen the structure. Three years ago, yet it felt like an enternity, a young Commander Shepard with her steel gray eyes and vivid coppery hair falling in wisps around her delicate face, stood quietly next to himself. He was so much younger then, naive and willing to believe anything he was told by those higher up. The spaceport was new back then, and the colony had just been attacked by Saren and his geth. "We're on Eden Prime, Alenko! We're close to Earth!" Garrus said gleefully, quickly pulling Kaidan from his memories. Kaidan took a relieved breath of air as he looked around the planet, still green with life and relatively untouched by the Reapers. They scouted the area to ensure safety as anyone with any technical training began work on the Normandy with haste.
It took 3 days of around the clock repairs, everyone working in shifts so as to be rested, before the Normandy was capable of flight once more. They had no weapons systems, kinetic barriers stabilizing at a mere forty percent, just enough for reentry into Earth's atmosphere, but everyone agreed there was no time to waste for full repairs. Kaidan stepped out onto the planet for the last time, taking in everything, and creating a mental photograph in his mind. The damp soil beneath his boots giving him a fresh determination he hadn't felt in days. "Everyone on the ship now! Donnelly's got her up and running enough to fly. We're going to find Shepard." He said, a hard tone in his voice and the look of a man with a mission even hell itself couldn't interfere with.
Seanne Shepard's eyes fluttered open at the sound of voices, though muffled she could make out a familiar sound: James. Disoriented, she tried to move and found she was pinned beneath rubble of some sort. 'Where am I? What is this? It looks like some sort of metal' she thought to herself as she realized she was breathing. Wasn't she dead? She should be dead. The voice of James again snapped through her thoughts, and this time she mustered all the strength she possibly could, she attempted a biotic throw. Shepard whimpered in pain as the attempt caused the rubble to shift, the sheet of metal on top of her becoming heavier, and causing a sharp edge to become lodged in her side. Before she lost consciousness once more she vaguely heard James yell for a medic.
James Vega hadn't been part of Commander Seanne Shepard's crew for very long in contrast to his crewmates. Of course he'd known who she was for a few years. Everyone had. After working with her, James knew why people followed her to hell and back; She cared for all her crewmembers, and took time to help each and every one when called for. She had even let him call her Lola without much complaint, and right now he needed to find her, or at least be able to find something to give her a proper burial. The woman who saved the entire damn universe deserved at least that much. Though he secretly hoped in his heart to find her alive, he knew how slim the chances were of that becoming a reality. Just as he, and his team, were about to start searching another area of the wreckage he noticed a slight movement out of the corner of his eye. 'Shit. Is that even possible?' He thought as he sprinted over to the area and began carefully, but quickly lifting torn, distorted pieces of metal and wiring. 'If that's her we don't have time to-" His thought trailed off as he noticed a glimmer of a battered N7 logo beneath the large hunk of metal he currently gripped. "MEDIC!" He yelled as he threw the metal away. Beneath it lay a severely injured, but shallowly breathing Shepard.