Links in the Chain
by Universitas
Yes, I have jumped on the 1sentence bandwagon, and yes, I did it for Hunter/Ashley as promised back in one of those weeks of "Chains." I tried keeping things as simple as possible, and I hope the attempt at this thing was at least somewhat successful.
I do not own Mass Effect. BioWare and EA do.
1. Walking
The sight of Ashley walking towards him made fighting through a horde of Collectors worth it.
2. Waltz
Ash was unsurprised that Hunter, too, had a soft spot for the soft stuff when she found "The Blue Danube" playing in his cabin.
3. Wishes
Hunter gave her an incredulous look at her "Make a wish and blow out the candles" when she presented him with a birthday cake.
4. Wonder
She gazed at him, at the glowing red scars on his face, and wondered if he was really the man she wanted to believe he was.
5. Worry
Ashley spent a while telling herself that Hunter would be fine and kick ass when she got his reply telling her that he was en route to the Omega-4 relay.
6. Whimsy
He had lived for eleven years according to the whimsies of shitheads in suits; what he had with her was the one thing that truly belonged to him.
7. Wasteland
"And I will show you something different from either your shadow at morning striding behind you or your shadow at evening rising to meet you," she said to herself after speaking with Vigil, and Hunter responded with "I will show you fear in a handful of dust."
8. Whiskey and Rum
She couldn't help but say "lightweight" while Hunter spat out his drink… fortunately all over Pressly instead of Garrus or Tali.
9. War
It didn't surprise her how quickly a research facility could turn into a war zone, but it did surprise her how quickly Hunter threw himself into it.
10. Weddings
Laughing it all off was difficult after Hunter had that same dream for the fifth time.
11. Birthday
Hunter usually didn't care about his birthday, but after Ash pretty much dragged the crew to the Orbital Lounge, seeing Wrex threaten to headbutt Joker made the whole affair worth it.
12. Blessing
He almost joined Ashley in her silent prayer as she stood in front of Kaidan's empty coffin.
13. Bias
Ashley figured that Shepard was trying to teach her something when he placed her under Garrus' command for a mission to a fortified geth outpost.
14. Burning
They agreed that setting a geth on fire was the most satisfying use of incendiary rounds.
15. Breathing
He spent his last breaths living out one of his worst fears: dying alone.
16. Breaking
Miranda saw the entire crew feel the effects of Shepard's dangerously unstable mood following the mission to Horizon.
17. Belief
Hunter didn't take well to the idea of an all-powerful, all-knowing being controlling his life; he had plenty of real people doing that already.
18. Balloon
Hunter was just glad that the birthday party didn't have any balloons with happy faces.
19. Balcony
Hunter was relieved that his second attempt at holding her hand succeeded as they gazed at the stars from the balcony of her apartment.
20. Bane
Ashley saw Hunter get showered with all kinds of new titles after the Battle of the Citadel; she liked "Bane of the Geth" the best.
21. Quiet
Sickening silence overtook the escape shuttle as Ashley watched the Normandy burn with Hunter and Joker still aboard.
22. Quirks
When Tali told him how Shepard flipped out at her for mentioning Ashley, Joker could only say "It's one of his quirks."
23. Question
Shepard's reaction to "Who's the special lady in the picture on your desk?" made Kasumi's shoulders slump.
24. Quarrel
Ashley had no idea why Hunter was the one apologizing to her when she started the argument about Feros in the first place.
25. Quitting
Williams had responded to Anderson's message with a request for shore leave; after meeting with an angry Shepard, he knew exactly why.
26. Jump
Their opinions on the jump from "Butcher of Torfan" to "Savior of the Citadel" couldn't differ more.
27. Jester
He didn't regret taking her out to a comedy club on Terra Nova during their week of shore leave, especially when the geth jokes started rolling out.
28. Jousting
She didn't envy in the least when she watched him argue with the Council over going to Ilos; in fact, she almost felt sorry that he had to deal with those thick-skulled idiots.
29. Jewel
He was glad it was Garrus who caught him browsing a jewelry store's ring selection instead of Ash.
30. Just
Shepard's orders should've been enough, but Ashley still felt like she was doing something horrible by gunning down the colonists of Zhu's Hope.
31. Smirk
She only offered him the smallest smirk after she saved his ass from a charging krogan.
32. Sorrow
Ashley hated how she was jealous of a sobbing Liara as Anderson gave his eulogy.
33. Stupidity
In anger, she once chewed out Joker for getting Hunter killed and regretted her stupidity immediately.
34. Serenade
Sometimes they simply cuddled in bed while Ashley recited Tennyson to him.
35. Sarcasm
"Wow, skipper, I had no idea you liked charging headfirst into geth traps so much."
36. Sordid
Miranda didn't need to wonder why Shepard had Joker pinned to the wall with biotics, fist milliseconds away from the pilot's face.
37. Soliloquy
He spent half an hour in his quarters trying to convince himself out loud that this thing with Ashley was a bad idea.
38. Sojourn
The stop at the Citadel wasn't just for Thane and Garrus; Hunter wanted to tell Anderson exactly what he thought about keeping Ashley's activities a secret from him.
39. Share
Hunter let Kasumi keep Keiji's graybox out of empathy, because even though their situations were different, he had lost enough to share her grief.
40. Solitary
As much as he distrusted the Normandy's Cerberus crew, he spoke to them because he hated being alone.
41. Nowhere
After Horizon, he ordered EDI to find some nowhere merc base to shoot up because he didn't know how else to vent his anger.
42. Neutral
He watched Ash and Garrus argue, wondering if he should take a side, before deciding just to head into engineering for a chat with Tali instead.
43. Nuance
Hunter didn't quite understand what Ashley meant when she told him that he was "stressing all the wrong feet" in "The Charge of the Light Brigade."
44. Near
They exchanged no words when the blue glow of the Conduit came into view, only nods as the Mako kicked into high gear.
45. Natural
She found that saying those three words to him wasn't as hard as some people said; in fact, it came a bit naturally to her.
46. Horizon
As much as Hunter didn't want to admit it, the colonists came second on Horizon.
47. Valiant
Ashley knew better than anyone that Hunter hated being called "valiant" or "heroic."
48. Virtuous
Ashley never expected Hunter to rescue a diplomat's child held hostage by Blue Suns, especially after wiping out Zhu's Hope; when she asked him about it, he said "Some deserve saving more than others."
49. Victory
She watched him emerge from Sovereign's rubble, and she couldn't help but mirror the triumphant smirk on his face.
50. Defeat
He watched her walk away, until Horizon's gutted prefabs consumed his sight of her.
And there you have it, obligatory poetry and classical music references and all. I also have an unofficial double 1character thing with Natalie Shepard (Renegon / Colonist / Sole Suvivor / Sentinel) and Adrian Shepard (Paragon / Spacer / Sole Survivor / Soldier) going on, so there is plenty more 1-sentence prompt crap coming from me later.