"Finish this, Shepard. And find me."
.
A/N: Just felt like writing some kind of end-of-the-world one-shot... must be the stormy weather outside... This could be seen as set between "Still trying..." and "The days...", but you don't need to read them to get this one-shot, nor will you miss out on anything if you don't read this one... You've been warned... :)
Shepard gasped. She shot up, but the pain shooting through her entire body at the movement let her fall back into the pile of rubble behind her, groaning. She blinked and carefully lifted one of her arms to rub the dirt out of her face, enabling her to scan her surroundings. Not that there was a lot to see in the first place... The destruction around her was devastating, but compared to the sound of the war that had surrounded her and her team on their way through London, it was almost quiet and peaceful now. The cracking of a fire here and there, but other than that... only death.
She started another attempt to rise and this time, as she was careful to move as slowly as possible, she was able to reach a sitting position. Taking a deep breath and immediately wincing as a fit of coughing shook her entire form, she ground her teeth and waited until the fire in her lungs and down her throat had somewhat settled. She groaned once more as she shoved a large chunk of rock off her right leg, taking deep, slow breaths to make the black dots popping up in her vision vanish. She scanned her surroundings once more as she pushed herself off the pile of rubble and crawled forward on her hands and knees. There, in the distance, she could see a smoking body... Medi-gel!
Miranda angrily shoved her way past a group of soldiers who'd gathered near the entrance of a makeshift clinic tent. Some of the soldiers turned their heads as she pushed them aside and she could have sworn she even heard one of them whistle as she passed (Ugh, men! Present them with the possible destruction of the entire galaxy but they still turn their heads at every ass walking by...), but she didn't have the time to turn around and break some of his bones, there were more pressing matters at the moment...
She finally reached her destination and entered the communication barrack, evading a turian storming out of it.
"What the hell happened?"
One of the men in front of her raised his head from his omni-tool and shrugged. "We don't know that yet. All communication was suddenly cut."
"What happened to Shepard? What about her team?" Miranda balled her fists so that the nails dug into her palms, trying to relieve at least some of the tension in her body that way. The man shook his head and lowered his gaze, tapping more controls into his omni-tool.
"As I said: We don't know that yet," he murmured.
Ah, shit! Shepard ground her teeth as she stared at the broken casing of the medi-gel unit she'd found on the dead marine's body. The salve was still leaking out of the cracked casing, decimating its content rapidly, but still, it was better than nothing... She leaned back and inspected her wounds, deciding which one she should take care of first... Her leg hurt, probably broken, and her face felt like it was still swelling up, but those wounds weren't fatal... Neither were her burnt arms, but hell, did they hurt! She took a deep breath, the sharp pain in her abdomen bringing her attention back to the task at hand. There, at her side, was a gashing wound, the blood still spilling out of it and coloring the ground below her in a dark red. That damn marauder! She turned the medi-gel unit and smeared the remaining gel on the wound, immediately hissing as the cool gel set to work, itching and pulling at her flesh, the anaesthetic quickly doing its job of numbing the area around the wound. It wasn't enough, but turning her head, she could see at least a dozen more bodies lying around. She sighed. That would keep her occupied for a while...
"I need to go there!"
The soldier rubbed the nape of his neck as he shook his head. "No way, lady. As long as we don't know what happened, all vehicles will stay here. We can't spare anything right now!"
Miranda's eyes narrowed. "You will let me take one of those makos behind you! I'm not even asking for your men, I'll go there myself, I just need your bloody mako to get there!"
He shrugged, unimpressed. "Can't do. Do you even know how far away they are? Lady, if you'd have wanted to hop from destination to destination within seconds, you should have stayed on board the ship that dropped you off an hour ago... The vehicles will stay here and so will you! There's nothing you can do about that right now. If you want to help: there are a lot of soldiers that need your help more than... whoever it is you're trying to find out there..."
Miranda's lips thinned and she considered smashing the man's head against a nearby wall, but there had been enough casualties today and there were bound to be more... Shooting him another angry glare, she turned on her heels and stormed away. Maybe she'd steal one of the makos tonight...
Damn it, I'm sick of this! I've had it! Shepard crawled forward, trying her hardest not to let the wound on her side scrape across the ground, pulling her weight with her burnt arms. Her eyes narrowed. I am so over this! The next time they need someone to save the entire damn galaxy, they can do it themselves!
The hint of a smile spread across her face while she leaned against the next body, applying the new-found medi-gel on her wound. Heh, I'd have loved to see Councilor Tevos or Valern make a run for the beam...
While the medi-gel set to work once again, she took another deep breath and leaned against the smoking body with her back. She scanned her surroundings once more. The smoke had started to clear the more she'd crawled away from the pile of debris she'd woken up on. From where she was sitting now, she could even make out some destroyed houses... The pain in her leg got worse and she groaned once more, closed her eyes and leaned backwards, resting her head on the corpse's stomach. He wouldn't mind...
'Guys, guess what I found out... There are these ancient machines called the Reapers and they'll come to wipe out all intelligent life in the galaxy. You don't believe me? Oh, that's fine, I'll just travel across the entire galaxy to find more evidence, why don't you just wait on your fat asses while I risk mine trying to convince you?'
Feeling the exhaustion threaten to overtake her, Shepard clenched her teeth as she pushed herself off of the corpse and crawled forward, toward the ruins in front of her.
'Guys, I just sacrificed 304,942 batarians to postpone the Reaper invasion. That should give you time to prepare for their arrival... What's that? You didn't prepare? Oh, that's fine, why don't you just let me handle this and drag your asses out of the mess once more?'
Shepard gave a short laugh as she crawled past a smoking mako. Only seconds later, she roared through her still clenched teeth as her broken leg grazed one of the mako's tires and new pain shot through her body. Shepard do this, Shepard do that... 'Commander Shepard, my pyjak got stuck in my skycar's engine, could you get him out of there without damaging the vehicle or killing my pet?' 'Shepard, I totally need my grandma's hair-band. Could you travel to a deserted planet with toxic atmosphere and get it for me? It should be in a cave filled with rachnis... or was it husks?'
She finally reached the nearest house and crawled through the destroyed entrance door, not caring about the damaged door control's sparks hitting her already burnt skin. She pulled herself up at a nearby table and sat down on a chair, looking around the room. Cozy...
3 days later...
"Everything within the beam's immediate radius is destroyed. No survivors so far."
Miranda tightened her grip on the chair she was leaning on. A few other soldiers and doctors were standing in the room with her, all focusing on the voice coming from a slightly damaged terminal. After the first confusion, it was decided to send a small scouting group to Shepard's last known location to find out what had happened. Since they hadn't been able to reach Admiral Hackett yet, Anderson and Shepard were the next logical contacts in the chain of command... Or so Miranda had convinced the people now surrounding her, not feeling the slightest bit guilty about the self-interest in that proposition...
"There's a trail of blood. It looks like someone crawled or was dragged away, but it's hard to tell with all the dust and dead bodies lying around..." the voice continued over the comm.
Miranda's heart skipped a beat. That could be her. If anyone would have managed to survive this, it's her!
"No survivors to be found here. We'll spread out to the nearby buildings."
A sound made Shepard shoot up in bed. Even though she still felt a bit light-headed from the remaining medi-gel still pumping through her veins, her trained senses were immediately on alert. She swung her legs out of the bed, pausing momentarily to wait for the dizziness to vanish before she got up. So far, her body never had to deal with that high amount of medi-gel being smeared all over it...
She didn't know how long she'd stayed, but the (strangely enough almost completely filled) medi-gel stash she'd found in the kitchen had convinced her to stay in this house... There was another sound, voices this time. They were still in the distance, but they were bound to come closer eventually... Shepard silently thanked her instinct that had told her not to stay in the first house she'd entered. Instead, she'd searched a couple of the houses nearest to the destroyed beam for anything useful and had settled for one of the most intact houses, surrounded by ruins that didn't obscure her view and with enough exits in case of a quick escape, which seemed to be necessary now...
She grabbed an old leather jacket she'd found in one of the houses and carefully stepped closer to one of the wide, open windows. As expected, she could make out a group of soldiers just exiting one of the houses nearby. There was still time... Her eyes narrowed as she focused on the emblem on their armor. They were Alliance, but that didn't matter... She wasn't ready to face the galaxy just yet. She didn't care about medals or statues and she was tired of hearing everyone's accusations, asking her why she hadn't done more, why she hadn't saved who-knows-who (her knuckles still needed time to heal before they could collide with Al-Jilani's chin once more). And she damn well wasn't willing to take up her job as the galaxy's favorite living sacrifice again!
She turned away from the window, grabbed the pistol from under her pillow and swung the bag she'd already prepared for an occasion like this over her shoulder.
"...done with the first few houses. No survivors yet. We'll continue our search."
Shepard let her eyes wander over the room once more. The torn uniform she'd peeled herself out of as soon as she'd found new clothes was still lying in one of the room's corners, but she didn't care if they found it. They could have it, it was the only thing they'd see from her for the next time... She turned her head to the window once more and saw them entering the next building. She smiled as she pulled the zipper of her jacket up and left the bedroom. They'd be too late...
"...done with the first few houses. No survivors yet. We'll continue our search."
Damn it! She can't have just vanished!
Miranda raised her head and saw the man who'd denied her to take a mako three days ago shaking his head. "What if there is nothing? What if everyone died? We should focus on reaching other outposts instead of wasting our time trying to-"
He was cut off as Miranda shoved him against a nearby wall, her forearm pressing against his throat and her eyes gleaming with fury. "If Commander Shepard is alive, we need to find her! She saved all our bloody asses and as long as I don't see her dead body, I won't believe that she's dead!" she hissed through clenched teeth.
The man choked and clawed at her arm before she took a step back and let him fall to the ground, gasping hectically. Miranda met everyone's eyes in the room, daring them to object, but all the men and women surrounding her evaded her glare.
"We found clothing. Looks like a uniform," the voice over the comm informed, making all heads turn back to the terminal. "Can't say how long it's been here and who it belonged to. It's torn and burnt."
It could be hers! Miranda shot forward and activated the comm on the terminal. "Are there any insignias? Anything that could tell us who it belonged to?" she burst out.
There was silence before the comm cracked again. "As I said, it's too damaged to make out anything like that... I can't even tell if it belonged to a man or a woman... a soldier or..."
Miranda roared and pushed herself off the terminal. She was about to unleash a biotic push as she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe it's best if you wait outside, Miss." The female doctor smiled at her and let her hand slide down, placing it on Miranda's back as she pulled her with her towards the exit.
"What if it's hers? What if she's been there?" she murmured weakly. The woman patted her back as they left the building.
"We don't know that, Miss."
Miranda heard one of the men in the room activate the comm as soon as she'd left the building. He sighed and then ordered, "Abort the mission. Return to this outpost..." Quieter, he added, "And bring everything useful you can find along the way with you. We need it here..."
Two years later...
Miranda's eyes were fixed on the drink in front of her. Her hand turned the glass absent-mindedly while she contemplated its content. She didn't even remember what she'd ordered or how many drinks she'd had before this one... Despite the bar's lousy interior, the asari barmaid seemed intent on cleaning her table after every single drink Miranda'd had, taking the empty glasses with her and thus making it impossible for her to keep count. Not that she'd have cared about doing so, anyway...
She let her eyes wander around. Right after the necessary hospitals and communication centers had been rebuilt, shady bars like this one had followed swiftly. Miranda huffed. It seemed the entire galaxy still had its priorities...
There wasn't much known about the how, but the Reaper threat seemed to have been dealt with and the only person who could know the answer had vanished...
Miranda raised the glass and downed the drink in one gulp, trying to ignore the sharp pain that had started again at the thought.
"Is this seat taken?"
Miranda raised her head and tried to focus on the person standing in front of her. A man with curled hair and a beard smiled at her, but Miranda waved her hand dismissively.
"Yes, it is. Your ability to notice when you're unwelcome just left for a bathroom break, but I'm sure it will return soon..." Her eyes narrowed as she leaned forward. "Now get lost!"
The man's smile vanished and he raised his hands. "I'm just saying... maybe you shouldn't be sitting in a place like this all by yourself while downing one drink after the other..."
Miranda snorted and ran a hand through her hair, regaining her balance by quickly propping her chin in the palm of her free hand. She grinned at him. "I can take care of myself," she announced proudly, slurring only slightly. As if to prove her point, she raised one of her hands and let her biotics flicker around it. Her brows furrowed. In her mind, that gesture had looked a lot more threatening... In reality, the graceful flicker she'd imagined turned into weak, sputtering flames that quickly vanished. Huh, never had that problem before... she mused as she contemplated her hand.
The man standing in front of her table gave a short laugh. "That's what I thought..." He leaned closer, placing a hand on the table for support as he lowered his voice, "Listen, I'm just saying you should be careful no one follows you out of the bar when you leave... I can count at least six men looking in your direction every other minute." He straightened up. "If you need someone to bring you home, I'm at the bar..."
"Pfft..." Miranda waved her hand dismissively and the man nodded and walked away, heading to the bar just like he'd announced, shooting warning glares at some of the patrons as he passed their tables.
Miranda slumped back in her chair, leaning her head on the chair's backrest and inspecting the bar's ceiling. Only seconds later, the asari barmaid appeared in her vision and smiled at her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Can I get you anything else, babe?"
Miranda simply nodded and the barmaid took the empty glass, wiping the table with the cloth in her free hand before she left.
After three more drinks (or were it five?), Miranda got bored of staring at the ceiling and she couldn't stand another song from the quarian band playing in one of the bar's corners. The alcohol had stopped the thoughts racing through her mind (which had been the only purpose she'd ordered that many drinks in the first place) and she decided that it was time for her to leave. She staggeringly got up from her chair and shoved past the at least ten pairs of hands offering their support on her way out. She turned her head to smack a very persistent hand off her backside and as she turned back to the door, her head was suddenly buried in a warm fabric, obviously belonging to the person she'd just ran into... She closed her eyes for a second and inhaled deeply, involuntarily leaning on the other person for support. The smell of leather surrounded her, but there was something else... Something familiar...
Her eyes flew open and she took a stumbling step backwards, immediately losing her balance and deciding to let herself fall forward into the stranger's arms again instead of backwards into a horde of waiting hands, ready to grope her once more.
"Don't worry, I've got you."
That voice... Miranda didn't dare looking up as the stranger supported her on their way out of the bar, too scared to get her hope destroyed like so many times before whenever she'd seen red hair... Red hair... She paused and inhaled the cool night's air outside of the club, still keeping her eyes on the ground. The stranger's arm remained protectively swung around her midsection when the woman suddenly gave a short laugh.
"Well, well, Ms. Lawson... I certainly never thought I'd find you in an establishment like this..." the now very familiar voice teased.
Miranda's heart skipped a beat and her breathing stopped for a second before she swung her arms around the woman's neck and buried her head in the soft leather once more. Now that she knew for sure whose scent it was, she inhaled it deeply like a drowning person.
"You ass..." she mumbled weakly against Shepard's neck, smiling.
A/N: Gotta love those medi-gel & ammo stashes everywhere... :) As always: I don't really care about the ending itself, which "solution" Shepard chose, etc. and I just assumed that Miri would be somewhere on Earth when it all happened. As for the other squad members: I'm sure they were all picked up by a pink unicorn and brought to safety... ;)
I'm kinda tempted to add another chapter to describe what happened in those two years, not sure yet... Anyway, thanks for reading!