Return

-by: Alan Wake

Forward:

Stephen King once wrote that "Nightmares exist outside of logic, and there's little fun to be had in explanations; they're antithetical to the poetry of fear." In a horror story, the victim keeps asking "why?" But there can be no explanation, and there shouldn't be one. The unanswered mystery is what stays with us the longest, and it's what we'll remember in the end.

Or, at least, that's what I once thought, before my very life became a nightmare.

My name is Alan Wake. I was a writer.

I've always had a vivid imagination, dreaming up my writings and manuscripts, before putting them down on paper to sell to my adoring, die-hard fans across the world. That is, until the infamous "Writer's Block" hit. It hit one day before I could even begin writing the next series following my Best-Selling Series featuring "Alex Casey".

My loving, perfect wife… Alice, she got me to agree to vacation in Bright Falls, Washington to get my mind off of my current situation with Writer's Block. She'd rented a cabin by the lake, little did I know that the main purpose of the vacation was to get me through my writer's block via therapy. When I discovered this on the first night… we had an argument. In my anger, I ran out of the cabin, leaving Alice alone in that accursed cabin. It'd only been minutes since I'd walked out, before she screamed.

I ran back as fast as I could, and only just got inside as I saw some unseen force drag Alice through a railing and deep into Cauldron Lake, the one in which our cabin was located in the middle of. My mind in a frenzy, I jumped in after her.

I could go through the entire story of my experiences in Bright Falls in the early twenty-first century, but I'd recommend reading through my previous writing: "Departure."

Regardless, long-story-short, I discovered Cauldron Lake contained a supernatural entity known only as the Dark Presence. It had the ability to turn fiction into reality… to a certain extent. You see, the fiction must remain true to itself, or the fiction will fail and not transform properly. In the end, as the Darkness was awakening and preparing to consume everything, I sealed it back beneath the lake while simultaneously freeing Alice… all at the cost of my own life. I was trapped beneath the lake with the Dark Presence with no hope to escape… knowing one day, that someone else may fall under its spell and free it.

I'd been trapped beneath the lake for untold amounts of time. The rules of reality bend and break on a whim down there. After nearly losing my mind once or twice, I began to write a sequel to "Departure". The purpose of this story would be to free myself from the Dark Presence, while also keeping it trapped forever.

In order to do this, I began to go back into the weird trance-like state I was in when I wrote Departure, and called it "Return."

I only forgot one thing… This wasn't a lake…

It's an ocean…

And just like my first story, it all began with a dream.

Arc 1: The Return

Chapter 1: A Shepard's Dream

The air was filled with smog and mist, increasing the difficulty of breathing and obscuring the night sky from view. Not that you'd want to see the night sky anyway; filled with the burning remains of a defeated fleet and enemy vessels engaging the final push of the war.

Luckily for Commander Shepard, she wore a helmet with a state-of-the-art filtration system and hud interface, allowing the woman to breathe and see easily in the semi-natural fog around her. To both sides, the forest spread out infinitely, hiding the Reaper horrors that likely lurked within from view. Behind her laid the burning remains of an Alliance shuttle, filled only with flames, smoke, and those she was unable to save.

Gripping her empty M-6 Carnifex tightly in her right hand, she raised her left to her head and she connected to her comm system, all while staring at the particular object in the distance: A functioning lighthouse.

"Shepard to Ground Team, negative on the shuttle. They were beyond saving." She announced with a heavy heart. She was sick and tired of losing everyone she tried to save. Her friends. Her family. Her men. Her crew…

Responding back over the radio, she heard the rough yet comforting voice of her best friend, Garrus Vakarian.

"Copy that, Shepard. We found a few survivors in the lighthouse, but they're in bad shape."

Shepard nodded despite the gesture remaining unseen, "Where's Liara?" She asked, "Is she still with you?"

"Yeah, she's attending to the survivors…" His voice paused for a moment, before continuing, "Shepard, you might want to get your ass over here. I'm getting reports from our Turian scouts that there's a large group of Reaper forces approaching your position. You need to- ttsshhszzzhzhhshhhhzzzhrrrhshsshhhhhhzzzzzhhsr…" The audio suddenly gave out, just a deafening Reaper Siren erupted from far behind Shepard in the distance.

Garrus was right, she needed to get moving. Her best bet would be the lighthouse. It's position and the fact that there were others there meant that it would be the best spot for a pick-up. Unfortunately, her heavy pistol was empty, and the shattered, broken remains of her other weapons laid behind her in the wreck of the shuttle.

She sighed. She'd faced worse odds before. Akuze, Mindoir, Virmire, the Collector Base. Each time she should have died with those odds, but she didn't… while others did. Regardless of her feelings, she inhaled deeply, before starting on her path towards the lighthouse.

Commander Shepard continued moving forward as quickly as she could without making excessive noises, watching her surroundings carefully as she continued down along the old, seemingly unused asphalt road. That's when she made a peculiar discovery. A streetlamp. It may not normally be out of the ordinary, but in this case, it was lit, shedding light in a circle beneath it, despite the power systems being down worldwide aside from private, personal generators. However, here it was, shining brightly among the accursed darkness of the Earth.

Stepping into it carefully, expecting a trap, she felt suddenly at ease, as if most of her worries were burned away, just as the darkness pooling at the edges of the light seemed burned away under the streetlamp. Feeling slightly rejuvenated, she continued forward, returning to the darkness beyond the light. Following the path further, she couldn't help but feel like she was being watched from behind.

Turning around quickly to observe the threat, she quickly opened her eyes wider in alarm.

Standing far behind her, just in front of the wreck of the now-dark shuttle, stood a humanoid being silhouetted in the darkness. She at first thought it was a husk, but quickly dismissed it due to its stature and lack of excessive undead moaning. She wanted to shout-out to the possible survivor, but something within the Commander warned her against doing so, instead urging her to run.

Staring at the possible illusion for a moment longer, she watched as its form seemed to flicker and vibrate in the distance. Her unease grew as she noticed the image holding a scrap piece of the shuttle, which appeared sharp and deadly. Whoever or whatever it was, it probably wasn't friendly.

Despite her skills in hand-to-hand as an N7, she decided conflict wouldn't be best in this situation, so she decided to continue on her way. That's when the light behind her shut off, bathing the whole world in darkness once again.

Right as she was about to turn away, she turned back in horror as the 'thing' suddenly appeared a mere ten feet away from her. Now, much closer than before, the 'thing' in question appeared to be an Alliance soldier. Or, at least, what's left of one, but made only of physical darkness.

This abomination might have made another individual run away in fright, but not Shepard. She holstered her empty pistol and prepared for CQC if need be. Suddenly as the being before her began to approach her slowly and menacingly, it spoke in a broken, distorted tone.

"You don't even recognize me, do you, Commander?" The male-like voice asked, "You think you're some big-shot? Our savior? That you can do what you want and feel is right?" It asked her as it began swinging the twisted metal in its arms toward her, "All you do is bring death to those around you. Well now, death is coming for you, Jennifer…"

Wisely, as this was happening, Shepard began to retreat backward, away from the mad man and towards the lighthouse. She felt the material beneath her boots change from asphalt to wood as she stepped upon an old, antique bridge.

Racing across it in an attempt to get to the lighthouse and away from the man's words, she stumbled across the bridge and into a small clearing, where the madman now stood. The thing raised its weapon at her menacingly as she returned to a combative position.

"Your end is near!" It shouted in rage. It rushed at her as she timed her duck perfectly, rolling under the swing of the metal and returning to her feet and kicking at full cybernetically-enhanced strength towards the man's back sending him stumbling as he miraculously remained on his feet.

He shouted once more, "You can't stop me!" Once more, he swung at her, which was a fatal mistake on his part. Dashing slightly to the side, she punched the man in the head quickly, before following up with another enhanced strike in the form of an uppercut.

What should have knocked the man unconscious, or at least send him to the ground, did little more than send him stumbling a few feet back. Shepard stared at this monstrosity with a mixture of bewilderment and slight fear. "What the hell are you?"

The being simply laughed as it melted back into the surrounding shadows, further cementing the idea that both this thing was an unnatural abomination and that she should probably get to the lighthouse as soon as possible.

Spotting another lit streetlight in the distance, she raced forward once more, before she heard the voice of the monster behind her once again.

"How does it feel to die by the hands of those you were supposed to save?" He asked once more in that distorted voice of his, before a tornado appeared out of thin air behind him, racing towards the Commander. Her eyes widened once more as she took off in a full sprint despite the heavy armor she was wearing.

Racing forward through the wooded, now dirt-laid path before her, she refused to look behind her at the pursuing production of nature as she tried to get as far away as possible. Further, into the forest, she spotted another man. Before she could begin to panic, she noticed he was wearing an Alliance uniform and, most importantly, wasn't made of darkness. Armed with an Avengers rifle, he waved over towards her.

"Commander, this way! Hurry!" Shepard raced forward, quickly reaching the man, "Commander, we need to get out of here!" The soldier shouted to her above the powerful winds from the tornado, just as his weapon was taken from his hands by the swirling vortex rapidly approaching, "We need to get inside, hurry!" he said, motioning to a log cabin nearby.

Nodding, Shepard continued inside the cabin for temporary shelter, followed closely by the unnamed soldier. However, be it luck or the unnatural wind, the door slammed shut behind Shepard, locking her inside and worse yet, the soldier outside. She could hear the soldier banging on the door from outside as the winds died down slightly. Through the small window within the door, she watched as the man made of shadows reappeared.

"No, no, no!" The soldier yelled as the being walked toward him menacingly, all while Shepard did her best to break the door down and save the man outside from certain death. If she, a trained N7 couldn't take him down, what chance did an average soldier have against that thing?!

"Stop!" The soldier yelled turning around to face the enemy as he pulled out a loaded M-6 of his own from his holster on his hip. Shepard had felt a small sliver of relief. Maybe now that thing would be gone.

With the gun out, the soldier aimed it upon the approaching man. Firing at will, he unloaded his thermal clip into the man's torso and head, each bullet simply slowing the man's approach, quickly dashing all of Shepard's fears as she continued to try to break down the door. This monster was bulletproof.

"No, no! Dammit, die!" He quickly ran out of ammo in his gun, which he realized just as the man raised the metal weapon above his head, "NO! NO! NAaah!" He screamed as his pleas were ignored and cut off by a metal fragment entering his head, silencing the soldier forever. Rather than stop there, however, the monster continued to swing at the dead body, leaving no chance of revival. Shepard watched in horror as she stopped trying to open the door, knowing it'd be coming for her next.

Just as she realized this, the monster stopped what it was doing, raising its head towards Shepard as it seemed to remember that she was there, too. Panicking a bit more than she might have liked, she backed away from the door quickly as the tornado seemed to rematerialize outside.

The tornado, now much closer than before began to rock and shake the cabin, preparing to break down the walls and doom Shepard to a death within the cabin, regardless of the shadowy monster's location. Looking for a way out, the cabin shook again. The walls creaked and groaned from the strain of the winds. Only a second later, the whole foundation shook, knocking Shepard to the ground as death approached. Her body was groaning in protest as her vision threatened to turn red from her thrashing about, when it suddenly ended.

Still in pain, the wind suddenly died instead, as a second exit door opened within the cabin. Holding her injured arm, Shepard began to stare at the open door with an unnatural amount of light pouring out of it, as if beckoning her towards it. That's when she heard another voice.

"Follow the light."

Despite everything, she did as she was told. 'Damn, guess there really is a first time for everything.' She thought to herself. Lightly limping towards the alit doorway, she walked through it, tripping as she few a few feet down to the ground. Luckily for her, she landed on her feet with very little additional pain.

She continued forward down a ruined path through the woods now that she was out of the cabin, attempting to get to the bright light despite knowing it would be an easy target for Reapers and their forces. Finally, she found a ball of hovering light.

The floating ball of light before her spoke once more as a beam of said light pointed to a nearby light pole, turning it on, "You shouldn't be here, but you are. You must go into the light. You are only safe there."

She nodded, she spoke as she did as he asked, "Who are you?", she asked, limping towards the pole before entering the warm light. It bathed over her, calming her nerves and heart rate. Her injuries seemed to be inconsequential. It was relaxing, like enjoying a dip in a hot spring after a long day at the office. However, the voice soon interrupted her momentary bliss.

"You should be healing… Here, take this. This may work instead." She turned towards the voice to find a vial of Medi-Gel descending from the glowing orb of light. Snatching it out of the air without a worry, Shepard searched over the vial to make sure it was still sealed and legitimate, before popping it into her suit of armor, where it distributed the life-saving gel throughout her body.

Now her wounds truly were inconsequential.

The light went out as she remembered the words of the orb, before it suddenly approached her towards the end of the trail, where a drop off existed and a wooden staircase once did as well, "I apologize, it has been some time since I've seen the outside world." The orb informed her, "I have something important to tell you. It goes like this." The voice paused a moment, before reciting some kind of poetry.

"For he did not know, that beyond the lake he called home, lies a deep, darker ocean green, where waves are both wilder and more serene. To its ports I've been. To its ports I've been."

"Wh-what?" Shepard asked in a slight daze, the Medi-Gel still kicking in fully, "I… I don't understand."

"You will…" The voice responded vaguely, "Follow my light."

She was about to make a witty remark about how she was unable to do so thanks to the drop-off before her, when suddenly, light rained from the orb, somehow causing the rotten wood chunks thirty feet below her to reassemble into their original form.

No longer questioning things, she proceeded forward towards the light, taking her time on the newly made set of stairs as the voice spoke again, "I entered your dream to teach you, and to warn you." He said, "The darkness is dangerous. It's sleeping now, but not for much longer. It is waking up. There's no time, I can only show you the most important thing." He said, further confusing Shepard. Darkness? Waking up? Sleeping? She didn't understand… and did the voice say this was a dream?

She continued further, quickening her pace towards the orb as it continued, "Your soldier has been taken over by the Dark Presence." He informed her. Is that what that man was? A real Alliance soldier being possessed by something called the Dark Presence? "You can't hurt him now. The darkness protects him from all harm." He informed her.

"What do I do then?" She finally asked.

"Only light can drive the darkness away and make him venerable again." The voice said, before suddenly, a beam of light hit Shepard's arm, "Such odd technology…" The voice remarked, "Here, use the light on your arm." He said as the shadow-like man rematerialized from the surrounding woods.

Shepard nodded, turning on the flashlight option within her Omni-Tool. Whatever that voice-orb-thing did, it seemed more powerful than before, and there was some sort of option to narrow the beam.

"Now, turn the light towards him and burn the darkness away." It commanded the Commander.

Shepard did as she was told once again, aiming the light at the creature of darkness. In retaliation, it raised its arm defensively in an attempt to block out the light as a steam-like fog seemed to roll off of it. Trying out the option of narrowing the beam, she noticed a number of things. Primarily, the fog seemed to roll off of the man fasters as the light shined brighter. Unfortunately, it also seemed to be killing the rechargeable battery of her Omni-Tool even faster…

Wait a moment, it was killing the Omni-Tool's battery… but how? She turned off the light and noticed the battery was coming back. She guessed that the improved flashlight with the ability to harm this creature came at such a cost. Turning on the light once more, she continued burning away the darkness, until something peculiar happened.

A small burst of sparks erupted from the creature as he was pushed a few feet back. The radiating dark aura around him vanished, and his features were more readily visible. However, she could still easily tell that this wasn't a normal soldier. It was still a monster.

"You did it." The voice congratulated her, "Now the darkness no longer protects him. But it's still inside, controlling him." Shepard was about to protest, when the voice seemed to almost read her thoughts, "He can't be saved. He is still a threat. He is still your enemy. Just like the Indoctrinated, they cannot be saved." The voice paused and seemed to examine Shepard, "You have a gun. Here, one of your… thermal clips." The voice paused for a moment, as if unfamiliar with such a term.

Just as he said it, the light beam from earlier descended from the sky with a thermal clip held within it. Reaching out, Shepard easily grabbed it and slammed it into her Carnifex, pulling back the slide and fully reloading it.

"Now you will die!" The monster soldier from before cried out finally, ready to kill Shepard.

Unfortunately for him, Shepard now had the means to make him vulnerable… and you don't become an N7 for nothing. Now weakened, Shepard shined her light quickly into the creature's face, blinding it temporarily and causing it to stumble and stop advancing. With the thing distracted, she placed two well-aimed shots into the creature's head.

The final blow sent the former human into the air for a split second, before the body exploded into sparks and disintegrated. No body. No monster.

"Good. You've done well. Remember what I've taught you." The voice paused for a moment, "That is all, I will give you back your dream now." And with that, before Shepard could even try to make it stop and ask her questions, the odd light-thing vanished, leaving her alone in a dark, smog-filled forest on the way to a lighthouse.

She still, somewhere in the back of her head, knew this was still a dream, yet her goal remained unchanged. She needed to get to the lighthouse. Continuing forward, she encountered another one of the fallen soldiers.

"You made me this way, Commander! This is your fault!" It cried out.

However, Shepard was used to these kinds of verbal abuse from the media, and simply flashed the fallen soldier with her Omni-Tool, blinding it for a few seconds as she burned the darkness away. Aiming once more, two well-aimed shots ended the monster's short, meaningless life.

Continuing forward as the winds picked up, Shepard found a pair of fallen, shadow-filled soldiers.

"This is your end, Shepard!" One of them shouted as they rushed forward more makeshift weapons.

Playing smart once more, Shepard quickly flashed both of the creatures with her narrow beam of light, blinding them for a moment as she focused on baddy number one. Just as she finished burning the darkness away, she saw the second creature swing at her with some sort of sickle. Ducking underneath it, Shepard felt a tingling sensation from within, and launched a warp at the first creature, blowing it to pieces as it disintegrated.

"Huh. Guess biotics work pretty well, too." She said to herself as she threw a warp at the final remaining enemy. However, this one merely shrugged off the blow of biotic energy and continued advancing. "Or maybe the darkness still needs to be burned away…" She observed. She aimed her flashlight at the remaining enemy, burning the rest of the darkness away before using a biotic throw to send it off a nearby cliff.

Proceeding, Shepard continued down the path to find another streetlamp alit, with some sort of emergency supply box attached to it. She opened it to find a few more thermal clips, a new vial of Medi-Gel, and some sort of old-fashioned flare gun. Loading herself up with the provided supplies, the Commander continued on her journey to the Lighthouse.

Along the path, with the flare gun still in hand, a large group of seven of those dark creatures exited the shadows. One shouted at her. "You're dead! Just like us!"

Using her wits and what she knew about this particular flare gun model, she decided to test her luck and see how this would work out. Surely, a flare gun would be a formidable weapon against the darkness.

Pulling the trigger, she watched as a small red projectile sailed through the air, hitting dead center of the group of shadowy men. Once it hit the ground, it exploded in a spectacular flash of red light, vaporizing all seven of the creatures instantly, before leaving a small red burning flare on the ground, continuing to produce light.

Shepard couldn't help but smile at her handy work, "Mama like… if only a solution to the Reapers was this simple…"

She continued running down the path now, before she returned to the paved road, which led directly to the lighthouse. However, another one of those soldiers stood in the opposite direction, shouting at her in anger, "I can keep this up forever, Commander. Can you?!" Suddenly, the shadow-filled tornado reappeared in the soldier's place.

Seeing as the lighthouse wasn't too far away now, she took off in a full sprint towards the lighthouse, running as fast as she could away from certain doom.

She ran and ran, dodging rocks and tree limbs being tossed at her from behind, somehow, by the tornado.

Before long, with the force of nature right behind her, she reached the lighthouse. Opening and closing the door behind her, Shepard smiled as the light from within bathed over her. The beam of light from the lighthouse now landed on the closing-in tornado, burning it away and leaving the building safe. Letting out a sigh of relief, Shepard couldn't help but laugh.

She survived. She survived… whatever the hell all of that was!

"Liara! Garrus!" She cried out, "Where are you?"

Suddenly, the lights went out, flooding the once-safe building with darkness. If that wasn't bad enough, the light that once filled the building was soon replaced with the sounds of her friends' dying screams.

In a panic, Shepard cried out repeatedly for her friends and tried to locate the origin of the screams, but was unable to do so. That was when something struck her from behind, piercing her back as she felt indescribable pain sear across her body. She, too, screamed out within the lighthouse.

Suddenly, everything went black, and all sensation vanished. Only a single sentence was heard in her ears before everything ended.

"She's here."

"Commander."

She ignored it.

"Commander Shepard, wake up."

Commander Jane Shepard jumped up suddenly in her bed, sweating profusely as she took deep, shuddering breaths in an attempt to calm her heart rate.

"Commander Shepard, are you alright?" The female voice called out over the speakers in her Captain's Cabin. Shepard took another deep breath before responding.

"I'm fine, Traynor. Just a nightmare, is all." She responded to her friend. Was it really though, she wondered silently, the dream still fully remembered.

Deciding not to push her superior, Samantha Traynor continued, "Anyway, we've just been cleared by docking officials in Seattle, and you're clear to leave whenever you wish. Lieutenant Cortez is ready to take you to Bright Falls at your convenience, Commander."

"Thank you, Traynor."

"No problem, Shepard. Logging out." And with that, the room was plunged into silence. Using her omni-tool, Shepard turned on all the lights within her room, now feeling slightly uneasy within the usually comfortable darkness of her room. She frowned as she realized how silly that was. Being afraid of the dark? She hadn't been that bad since her Mindoir days.

Sighing, knowing she had to get up for her mission, Shepard unwillingly left her comfortable bed and stood up. Fully turning on her Omni-Tool, she decided to open up the mission summary from the Council. The reason she was back on Earth right now.

Commander Jennifer Shepard,

As of a few days ago, a seemingly active Reaper artifact was dug up on Earth despite the complete destruction of all Reaper and AI technology that occurred nearly three years ago. Against all odds, it was discovered in the United North American States in Bright Falls, Washington, and consisted of four active Husks and a functioning Dragon's Tooth. This is alarming on many levels, and suggests there may be far more than just that lying around the area. Your mission is to investigate the town and attempt to locate the artifact. In all likelihood, indoctrination may be affecting some citizens there. The Alliance Military has currently blocked all non-essential space-travel between the west coast and the rest of the Galaxy, and martial law is ready to be put into effect within the entire county containing Bright Falls if need be.

With the Military busy trying to maintain order and the illusion of control and lack of issues, you must accomplish your goal in as little time as possible. As an additional note, the town is notorious for supernatural myths and beliefs, so take much of your information with a grain of salt.

Good Luck, Commander.

-The Galactic Council

Yeah, just another day at the office.

Author's Note:

This is kinda like a bit of an apology for being away for a while, and to those of you following The Pinnacle of Evolution, do not fear, I'm working on the next chapter as you read this.

So, this was an idea that had suddenly popped into my mind a while back that I slowly but surely managed to write out the first chapter for, as a little demo. If you think this story idea is interesting, please let me know.

This may or may not become a full story. If it does, it will be a while, but I think it's a cool and unique idea. For a bit of context, here's some additional information:

Commander: Jennifer Shepard

(Default female appearance) [Colonist Background; Sole Survivor] {Paragon}

Most Important Choices Made:

Recruited Liara first.

Saved Rachni Queen.

Saved entire colony on Feros. (Not Fai Den)

Left Kaiden on Virmire to Guard Bomb.

Romanced: Kaiden Alenko.

Saved Galactic Council.

Convinced Saren to kill himself.

Chose Anderson as Councilor.

Stopped the Asteroid toward Terra Nova.

Recruited all Crew Members. (Including DLC)

Full Squad Loyalty.

No ME2 Romance.

Finished Suicide Mission with 0 deaths.

Destroyed Collector Base.

Completed all ME2 DLC stories. (LotSB, Arrival, Overlord.)

Recruited Javik.

Cured Genofage. (Mordin Dies)

Saved Rachni Queen 2nd Time. (Grunt lives.)

Convinced Ashley to turn on Udina. Recruited Ashley. (Ashley lives. Thane dies.)

Achieved Peace between Geth and Quarians. (Tali lives. Legion Dies.)

Completed all ME3 DLC stories. (Leviathan, Omega, Citadel.)

Maximum Galactic Readiness.

No ME3 Romance.

Ashley and Liara charged beam with Shepard. (Both live.)

Convinced TIM to kill himself.

Activated Crucible. Chose DESTROY.

Shepard lived. (Geth and EDI died.)

Shepard maintains Spectre Status after war.

Shepard is assigned mission in 2189 to Bright Falls.

N7 James Vega and Spectre Ashley Williams join her as squad mates.

Hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you think! And thanks again!