A/N: Pushed my very limited writing skills to the point where I had to take a day off work from the head ache I got myself. I now realise how childish my writing style is with "A Time To Somehow Maybe Remember" now that I've written this and compared them. I hope I've improved. So please read and review. All rights reserved to Bioware and EA.
Chapter One – Crucible Pulse + Three days
A gasp of air rushed in through Shepard's mouth and filled her lungs. She kept her eyes shut as the burning sensation of breathing caused her pain. She raised her left arm to rub her face as she exhaled the breath. The pain continued. She finally managed to slowly open her eyes; she was surprised to find not much light invading. But what light she had managed to spot through the rubble around she could only see through her right eye.
She reached up and touched her face once more, a finger slipped into where her left eye used to be. Her breathing became a little more erratic. She went to sit up by using her right arm to roll herself over. She yet again gasped as pain shot up her arm. She flopped back over on her back, raised her arm to wiggle her fingers but they were simply gone, so was everything else below the elbow. The erratic breathing continued as she realised that she was in a pretty bad way.
"I have to at least sit up, come on Jane, move it" shesaid to herself. With a push of her good arm, she rolled over her right side and flopped on to her stomach with a thud. Now that she could see the other side of the room, she noticed it was what was left of the presidium on the Citadel. "I wonder if the crucible worked? Where the reapers destroyed?" she said to herself. She went to crawl, but her legs seem out of balance when she moved them and the pain was again incredible. She peered over her shoulder; it was to dark behind her to see. She had little choice but to move over to the light and ignore the pain.
As she crawled, bodies lay everywhere. Turians, Salarians, Asari….Humans, men, woman…children. Every pull of her left arm was not only painful down to the bone but it was also upsetting to have to look at the destruction and death around her. It was becoming really hard to keep her good eye open and her stomach down.
For which seemed like an eternity she finally found what was left of a table that was on it's side that she could use as a back rest so she could sit up right.
She crawled up to it and with what was left of her strength she rolled back over and pushed her back up onto the table with an unbelievable amount of groaning and grunting. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, now that she has managed to calm herself down. When she opened her eye and looked down at her legs, she closed them again and threw her left hand over face. Her left leg was gone below the knee and the right was gone above the knee, almost up to her thigh. She brought her hand done and opened her eye to wipe away the tears. Then a sharp pain erupted from her stomach. As she looked down, she noticed the gunshot wound from Anderson's gun…"or was it from my gun…why would I shoot myself...it must have been the illusive man then…but I shot him after the fact" though Shepard. It was all so confusing.
"Well, Miranda is going to have her work cut out for her again…if I ever get out of here…if she is even alive…if anyone is alive…or is this heaven…or hell" she said to herself. Luckily she wasn't bleeding too much, she had no medigel and the arm that had her omni tool was gone. She had no way of getting a message out, or sending a signal or practically anything. And having no idea how deep she was in the rubble it was pretty pointless to crawl anymore, so was yelling which would be a waste of precious energy.
All she could do is wait. Wait to die, wait to live. She may not even be alive as she thought to herself before. She also had no idea how long she was out for and given the fact that smoke filled the air from fires that had been extinguished by time, it seems she had been out a while. She contemplated sleeping but given her current state, that probably was not the best idea. She needed to stay conscious and alert.
She ran her hand through her hair; at least she still had all of that. The red still slightly shining in the light even though it was full of anything and everything. God she wanted a shower. A slight chuckle escaped her mouth. "A shower. All I've been through and the first thing I want is a shower…actually no, not a shower…a whiskey…then a shower" she said out loud with a bit more of a throaty laugh. It had been a while since she had a good laugh for no reason.
But her smile faded has she remembered Anderson. He didn't deserve what he got. But the brutal and honest truth is, what's done is done and the best thing she knew he would want her to do is carry on and get out of here.
As she sat there contemplating anything she could think of…Normandy. She had almost forgotten. She drove her forehead into her palm for forgetting. Then…Samantha, the love of her life came barging into her thoughts once again and she cried tears of joy and sadness. She hoped dearly that she was alive. That everyone was. She hoped the Normandy and Sam were still in one piece, if they both weren't she was going to kill joker. Killing, not something to joke about that this point in time. Too much of it has been done already.
Suddenly, the rubble above shook and a large section of it fell with a defining crash. She coughed slightly at the rise of dust. She looked as closely as she could to the now bright whole and to her amazement, three blue glowing objects floated to the ground and landed about one-hundred metres ahead of her. Then they were still for a moment, but soon started to get closer. The noise of running became louder. "Shepard!" yelled a voice. "Present and accounted for!" she yelled back.
"Hey its queen of the girl scouts, still alive and kicking" yelled a very friendly voice. As all three finally came into view, Jack, Samara and Liara all came rushing over. All three came to a halt over Shepard. They all gasped. "Well when I say kicking" said Jack. "I am still…in a small way" replied Shepard. Liara and Samara came in close. "Are you in any pain?" asked Liara. "I was, but I'm all num now after crawling". "You crawled? In your condition? Dam Shepard, can nothing keep you the fuck down" stated Jack. "Almost" replied Shepard. Samara said nothing as she applied medigel to her eye socket, right arm and both legs. Plus various cuts and bruises. Liara scanned Shepard, checking her over thoroughly. "What about on your left hand side Shepard, where your holding your hand over?" asked Liara. Samara moved Shepards hand out of the way. "A gun shot wound" said Samara. "When did you get sh- actually never mind" finished Jack. Realising how dumb that sentence was about to sound.
"It was the illusive man". All three looked at each other. "That asshole was here? With you? On the Citadel?" yelled jack with her biotics flaring. "Yes, he killed Anderson too". Shepard shut her eye. "I got him to shoot himself so at least something good came out of all this I suppose" said Shepard. Samara stood and walked up to Jack. "Calm down Jack, we have more important things to worry about right now" stated Samara. Jack looked at Shepard, back to Samara and nodded. "Shepard" said Liara placing a on her shoulder. "I'm so very sorry".
"All the bullshit he went through, the life he lived and it came down to him being shot by that creep of a human being and the worst part is there was nothing I could do" said Shepard. Keeping her eye shut.
Samara looked up at Liara and Jack, "We need to move her now", she then looked at Shepard. Her eye still shut. "Shepard, please tell us if we cause you any pain. We are going to encompass you in a biotic field and lift you out of here".
They all stood up and all three of them flared their biotics and lifted both themselves and Shepard heading for the hole in the rubble. "What about the Normandy? What about the crew? The fleet? Samantha?" asked Shepard. "Shepard, lets get you back to one-hundred percent before anyone brings you up to speed. Anyway Hacket said he wants to be the first to know if we found you alive. But just so you know…Samantha misses you dearly" said Liara. Shepard smiled.
"Doctor T'soni to Admiral Hacket" Shepard heard Liara say. "We have found Shepard and she is alive. Requesting she be made the number one priority over anything else at this current point" said Liara. "You'll have more than number one priority doctor. Everything is heading your way" said Hacket. "And Commander, if you can hear me, it's good to have you back, you have just achieved something remarkable". Shepard smiled. Eye still shut. "Thank you sir and it's good to be back".
Once she could feel a breeze she opened her eye, it took a while for it to adjust to the light and once she looked around, she realised it was wrong to open it. Words could not describe the devastation and Shepard now felt even worse than she did before. "How did I help anyone with this mess I created?"."You helped millions of lives Shepard, and don't you think for a second that you did anything wrong. If anyone says otherwise they'll have to fucking deal with me" said Jack. Liara and Samara smiled. Shepard remained silent with her eye now shut once more.
"Shepard we are about to set you down now, brace" said Liara. The landing went smoothly; Shepard said nothing to start off with. As six Kodiak shuttles landed, medics, nurses and doctors came running out of most of them and headed straight for Shepard. Then the questions came "Shepard does it hurt here? Can you feel this? Is there any pain there?". Shepard opened her eye. "Enough!" she yelled. Everyone went silent. Shepard took a breath and to the amazement of everyone she sat up. "Shepard, calm yourself please" said Samara, as she laid her back down again. Liara straight away spoke to everyone else on site. "Shepard you continue to amaze me with how you can just shut everyone up with one word" joked Jack. "The only person it never really worked on was you Jack" replied Shepard. Jack laughed.
"Ok everyone, lets move" Shepard heard Liara say. "Shepard, we are moving you to a shuttle to take you aboard the SSV Kilimanjaro for proper medical treatment and so you don't try to…hurt anyone" said Liara smiling as she walked closer to Shepard. "My mothers ship?" asked Shepard. "Yes, and she is expecting you soon so I suggest we don't keep her waiting" replied Samara.
An alliance stretcher was then laid out beside Shepard and rolled onto it. She was the carried to the Kodiak with care by four Alliance marines. "Liara, Samara, Jack?" asked Shepard, as they jogged into the same shuttle as Shepard. They all moved closer to Shepard. She held out her hand and all three gripped it. "Thank you" said Shepard with a smile. Staring straight at them. "No need to thank us Shepard" spoke Jack. "Yes, it was a pleasure to be able to assist you once more" added Samara. "And we do owe you a lot more" said Liara. Shepard shut her eye once more. "Actually, I need a favour Liara?" ask Shepard. Liara smiled. "Of course Shepard, anything". "Could you arrange for Sam to be shuttled over to The Kilimanjaro, I'm sure she is climbing the walls on the Normandy". Liara nodded and activated her omni tool.
"Liara to Normandy". A crackle was the reply to begin with. "Ashley here, What is it Liara? Have you found Shepard?". Liara grinned with joy. "Yes, she is alive. Please could you arrange for Traynor to be shuttled over The Kilimanjaro, Shepards orders". "That can be arranged with no problems if I say "Shepards orders", hell I could probably get Admiral Hacket to give me a pay raise if I used that line. Ashley out".
"It's done Shepard" said Liara. Shepard looked at Liara and smiled again. The shuttle bounced around a bit and jerked from side to side a bit but soon Shepard could see space from out of the window from the Kodiak. And soon the gaping hull of The Kilimanjaro. They Landed on the flight deck with a thud. As the door opened, instead of eight people stepping out, one person jumped in which cause all the Alliance marines to turn and salute. "Jane" said a voice from the other side of Shepard. She turned her head and smiled. "Hi mu- I mean Admiral. I was told that Hacket was going to be the first to see me?" said Shepard as she went to salute. But Hannah took Shepards arm and laid it back on her chest. "It's mum from now on and forever. Hacket sends his regards, was called away on an emergency" she replied. She looked all over her daughter. "My darling, what happened to you?" asked Hannah as she stroked her daughters cheek. "Your guess is as good as mine mum but I'm ready for duty" said Shepard with a very serious look on her face.
"Yes dear indeed you are" Hannah relpied. She then leaned forward and kissed her forehead slightly and bent back up. She then tunned to the marines. "Medbay, stat people!" she then opened her omi tool as everyone walkout of the shuttle with Shepard on the stretcher. "All personnel, this is the Admiral, Commander Shepard is aboard. The path from the hanger to the medbay is to be clear immediately of all crew members, failure to comply will be met with stern measures, all medical staff are to report for duty and will remain on duty until future notice" said Hannah, closing her omi tool. She then looked at her daughter who she had been walking beside. "Only the best for my girl, the saviour of the galaxy" she said smiling. "Mum.." Shepard said, sighing.
"Admiral Shepard?" a voice came over the com. "Yes what is it?" asked Hannah. "A shuttle from the SSV Normandy is requesting permission to dock, they say they have a priority one passenger aboard under Command Shepards request, should I alert the CAP to intercept?" said the voice on the com. She look down at her daughter who was looking up at her. "We can talk about it in private but treat this priority one as your own flesh and blood mum, please" said Shepard. Hannah nodded. "Negative, Commander Shpeard is aboard and she has confirmed the priority one. Permission to land granted, have this priority one brought to my quarters on arrival". "Understood" and the com clicked off. "Everyone got a little over excited over finding you alive, the whole fleet knows now" said Hannah.
It wasn't that long to the medbay and Shepard had agreed to grin and bear what ever medical treatment had to be done without question or argument. Only just. She was placed on a medical bed and once she had said another thank you and said goodbye to her mother, jack, Liara and Samara. The medical team went to work. "Shepard, we are going to do the very best we can for you, you have my word on that" said one of the doctors. "We are going to put you under for a few hours. Goodnight commander" said the doctor. Shepard smiled and nodded as everything went black.