Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, all rights belong to BioWare!

MEFF: Project Darwin CHAPTER 1

Author's Note: Hey thanks for checking out my story! This is my first fan fic, and I am adding this note in a little later than I probably should have, and I am mainly doing because I forgot to put up any SPOILER WARNINGS – there are a lot of spoilers for all 3 Mass Effect games in this fic, a lot (most) of it in this first chapter! This is a Self-Insert story, I love SI's and wanted to add in one of my own :) I hope you enjoy and would appreciate any and all reviews!

*IT STARTS*

My face was probably pretty amusing to watch as I played Mass Effect 2's suicide mission for the first time, hoping I was making all the right choices to keep my crew and squad alive. And my big sister Melody was keeping an eye on my progress as she played a game on her XBOX 360 – she had already played through, multiple times, and wanted to see how good I was gonna do.

So far so good – Legion survived the ducts and Miranda had kept my people alive as the first squad leader. Nearly lost my mind when that poor colonist got melted and then could only watch and hope I'd played it right to get my crew out in time. Playing as Joker had been fun, but I DID NOT enjoy seeing Kelly get dragged screaming into the elevator by a Collector. Picked Jacob for the crew's escort, they all made it back in one piece; Samara's a biotic beast, so I chose her as the Barrier escort; as much as I wanted Garrus always on my team, I had to choose him for the second squad leader as he's the best; and then I took Garrus and Tali with me for the last part of the mission, since they were with me from the start and are my faves.

So we went in, I decided to blow the base, we destroyed the stupid creepy human Reaper, and then when we all started falling I freaked out and nearly jumped out of my seat as Garrus slid down the platform and Shepard barely managed to catch him. The whole cut scene had me on edge and I cheered as Joker got to shoot some of the bad guys as the three of us jumped to safety.

HUZZAH! Everyone survived! And then I finally got to tell TIM to piss off! AWESOME!

Uber excited and bouncing in my seat, I quickly saved (after feeding my fish, I love my fish) and I spun to Melody, who had just joked about not having the option to further a romance – I had Garrus, she had Thane, so no conflict there – and I just rolled my eyes with a laugh. I shut the console off as I stood.

"Dang that feels good! How many days until ME3?"

She laughed at me, "14."

Only two weeks! "So close and yet so far!" I sighed.

"Hey, I've been counting down since December. You can chill."

AND FOURTEEN DAYS LATER…

Melody and I were beyond excited as we hung around in GameStop for the midnight release of ME3 – she had pre-ordered the Collector's Edition (I still think it's ironic that they called it the Collector's Edition, heh) and had taken a vacation from work so she could play non-stop.

Midnight came – the game was ours!

She, of course, had first dibs and everybody else was going to wait 'til she was done before we played, and I had made her promise beforehand to not reveal anything to me. I didn't want anything I did to be influenced by knowing what could happen.

That changed when Thane died – she had to tell somebody, and I was afraid it was going to happen so wasn't shocked. I let her tell me a few things after that, though nothing major.

She finished the game on Friday; and given her reaction I said yes very quickly when she asked if she could tell me the endings because she knew I might not want to play after.

And she was right.

I had about the same reaction as her: What the heck? That makes NO sense! WHY?

Absolutely. Ridiculous.

The ME forums, fanfics, and fan-arts quickly filled with fix-its and parodies, though I didn't look at many and only some I looked at made sense. I favored ones with a totally different ending or a sensible 'fourth choice', something to fill in the gaping plot holes, maybe the Indoctrination Theory that Melody told me about.

And yes, I love fanfics, especially the funny ones and self-inserts, I read them all the time. Really well written ones can make me cry.

That aside, it had been a few weeks and I decided to finally get started on my own Shepard, still not sure what choice to make at the end.

Didn't get far before it was six-thrity and time for the family to eat dinner and Melody headed to bed (she has to get up at an ungodly hour to go to work - yuck). At eight my younger brother and youngest sister went to bed (they're still in highschool so have a bedtime, hahaha), and I watched t.v. with my mom and other younger sister Sam while Dad did some work in his downstairs office, and I messed around on my computer, looking up Mass Effect pictures and stuff.

I kept myself up as late as I could, eventually being the last one still awake, trying to make sure I would be totally zonked when I fell asleep. I'd been having the same nightmare for two weeks, a really horrid one, every single night…except I couldn't actually remember the dream itself, only the feelings of fear and anxiety left over after and it absolutely terrified me. So I dreaded going to sleep, but dragged myself downstairs a little after midnight anyway.

Only a couple hours after going to bed I woke with a gasp, burying my face in my pillow to suppress my scream; didn't wanna wake up Melody or Sam. I sat up and pushed my covers away – the nightmare had already been blanked from my memory. All I could bring up was the fear, devastation… I shuddered and let out a deep, slow breath and looked at the clock.

2:15 a.m.

Grinding the heels of my hands against my eyes I decided I'd better leave the room. I still had goosebumps and the back of my neck prickled like someone was watching me. I didn't like it and knew I wouldn't be going back to sleep for a while. So I swung myself out of bed and into my slippers and robe, tiptoeing out the door. As I walked towards the stairs I kept rubbing the back of my neck; the prickling wouldn't go away and it was making my nerves buzz uncomfortably.

I paused as I heard a familiar chiming noise in front of me; then the humming chirp of a machine made me look back. Frowning, I shook my head to clear it –obviously my sleep deprivation was making me hear things; it sounded like someone was playing Mass Effect, but I knew everyone was in bed, and the noises were coming from different directions…

A clicking swoosh like an airlock opening came from my left making me spin around –

-but a second later I jumped and hunkered down, looking at the ceiling as the loud, deep thrum the Reapers make when attacking blasts a few times above my head. It's a cool noise, but not something I want to hear when already PARANOID!

Trying to stop myself shaking, I trudged up the stairs; I bet Dad got up to play, that's all it was, he's a lunatic gamer, too, probably wanted to get going with ME3…

The Reaper blast sounds again and I felt a heavy wave of vertigo, causing me to slip on the top stair and I barely managed to catch myself. Breathing shakily, my neck still prickling, I pushed myself into the dark hallway and reached to flip on the light, closing my eyes so I wouldn't be blinded.

The light flashed on and I opened my eyes… but I wasn't looking at my hallway: spread out before me was a vast expanse of empty space, like outer space, with stars and a freekin' solar system! Oh God, I must either still be asleep or seriously hallucinating, and I tried to flip the light back off, thinking that would help.

But the switch wasn't there anymore, nothing was there, I couldn't move – the blast rushes through me and this time I almost hear words in it just before everything went black...

And not a minute later, as far as I could tell, I was standing on rough ground, the red and orange light of a sunset behind me. My ears were ringing but I could hear voices and city noise in the distance. I turned around, staring wide-eyed at the sprawling city. I was on the outskirts or something, smaller and less-important looking buildings about half a mile away.

How the heck had I gotten here? And where was 'here'? I was still in my pajamas, and it was cold and getting windy so I was thankful for my robe. I was still trying to make my stunned brain work out whether to start walking or not when a man's voice called out angrily:

"Hey! What're you doing out here kid, get lost!"

Startled, I looked to my right and saw him and another person, it was too dark to see properly but I thought it was a woman, walking towards me. He motioned for his companion to wait where she was and he stomped over to me.

I was trying to not freak out, but his glare was scary enough to make me stumble back as he yelled at me again.

"Dammit I am sick of you crazies coming out here to get high, you're ruining the reputation of this colony! "

Say what now?

He looked around and snapped his glare back on me, "Tell me who you're meeting and I'll let you off today kid, but if I catch you out here again-"

I decided it was time to speak up. "Hey hey, wait a minute, I'm not – I'm not a crazy, or a druggie or whatever, please-"

"Then what the hell are you doing this far out?" he demanded.

"I –I don't know…"

The man opened his mouth the berate me some more but was interrupted by a soft female voice as his companion joined us.

"Now Raj, that's enough, the poor thing is terrified, and look at what she is wearing; I don't think she is out here by choice." The woman took the man's arm as he looked me over, but I was too busy gawping at her to pay much attention to him.

It as an asari – holy crap I was looking at an asari! Wow she was pretty but …What the heck? How? I clamped my mouth shut and swiveled my face back to the human.

Raj gave a frustrated sigh, but his expression was nicer at least, "What's your name kid?"

"Megan." I didn't appreciate the 'kid', since Raj didn't look too much older than my 22 years (soon to be 23 – great I was zapped away right before my birthday), but annoyingly I look younger than I am so I wasn't gonna say anything and cause a problem.

"It is nice to meet you Megan. My name is Mayla, and my friend here is Raj," the asari said with a sweet smile.

Yay for nice aliens, even if I don't know why I'm talking to an alien in the first place.

"You said you don't know why you are out here?" Now she sounded concerned.

I bobbed my head in a quick nod, "Yeah, I - honestly the last thing I remember is being home in bed. I've never come out here before either." Mostly honestly, anyway.

Raj frowned, "It's possible you were drugged and brought out here, or just drugged and you stumbled out here yourself. Where were you before you went home? At any parties, hanging with a friend?"

I figured it was a good idea to roll with it and not have to come up with something myself, "Uh, well, yeah, I mean I don't do drugs or really drink either, but… my friend had this drink she wanted me to try and I did, but it tasted odd so I didn't get one myself…"

Raj nodded, "It was probably spiked then; want to tell me where this was and have me write up-"

"Now Raj, you're off duty, let someone else deal with it," Mayla said with a slight pout, "This is your first night off in a while, I want us to enjoy it."

So Raj was a cop or something; huzzah for the save and I felt myself get slightly red as I realized what these two must be out here for.

"Yeah don't worry, I'll… I'll go report it and check on my friend, make sure she is okay."

Raj stared at me for a minute and nodded, "Alright, but hurry before it gets fully dark, you don't want to get nabbed by anybody. This side of Elysium isn't the safest, even after the Blitz."

Elysium? Cool, at least I know what colony I'm on, and that the Skyllian Blitz has already happened. I wonder what year it is here; if Shepard was a War Hero maybe they had that memorial up already…

I was about to turn and head toward the city, but I had a thought, "If it's so dangerous, are you two gonna be okay?"

Raj chuckled and Mayla smiled, "Yes, we will be fine. We are headed farther down, but wanted to take a walk first. Raj is a tough fighter, and I am a decent Biotic. We appreciate your concern, friend."

I nodded, "So, uh, which is the best way to head back?"

"Straight that way you should be good. But keep an eye out just the same, and holler if you get into any trouble," Raj pointed a direction and then he handed me a small round radio.

"Okay I gotta admit, I'm not real tech savvy – do I just push this button to talk?"

That got a real laugh out of him, "Yes, push that one to talk, but flip this switch to turn it on. Volume adjust is here."

"Right. Thanks. Okay, I'll go now. Guess I'll…see you guys later." I slipped the comm into my robe pocket.

Raj nodded and Mayla waved as they walked off and I started to walk slowly towards the colony, my mind whirling.

Somehow I was in the Mass Effect universe. Not sure whether it's really happening or not, could just be a dream… better check. So I pinched my arm. And again and again. Ow, yeah I felt that. But that doesn't mean it's not a dream, maybe I'm just… imagining the pain.

So I slapped myself in the face, hard as I could and –

OWWW! Crap yes I felt that, OW, now my face and hand were stinging and I imagine my cheek was turning extremely red.

Sooo… not a dream? Again I had to wonder how that was even possible. Nothing epic had happened to bring me here, just a series of minor hallucinations from sleep deprivation and BAM! here I am.

Dagnabbit, what am I supposed to do now?