Title: Road Full of Promise
Rating: K
Word Count: ~650
Characters: M!Shepard
Spoiler Warnings: Directly references a scene in the ME3 Demo, so spoilers for that.
Summary: When Shepard was young, he dreamed of the stars. Then one day, he made it happen. Signed his name - his life, his regrets - away on the dotted line. Got on board a shuttle, and never looked back. Never spared that third rock from an unimpressive sun a second thought.
Author's Notes: Still trying to get back in the fanfic mindset at large, and the ME mindset in general, so this here is a little character introspection piece on Commander Shepard. The title (and in part, the inspiration) for this fic comes from the song "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise" by The Avett Brothers. Hope you enjoy!
Road Full of Promise
When Shepard was young, he dreamed of the stars. Would stare up, up up... out into space. Past the towering, metallic infrastructures that housed millions of lost souls just like him. Past the thin, gray clouds weeping acidic tears. Past the satellites that littered the sky, little red lights blinking away in a slow cadence. Out into the vague blackness that he knew made up the rest of the universe.
He would stare. And he would dream.
Dream of getting out. Out of the city, out of the country, off the world. Would dream of three meals a deal, of food that didn't come pre-chewed, or that he didn't have to battle a rat for the rights to eat. Dreamed of a life where running Sand for the Reds wasn't a career to aspire to, and where sleeping unarmed wasn't a death sentence.
He'd stare, and he'd dream.
And then one day, he made it happen. Signed his name - his life, his regrets - away on the dotted line. Got on board a shuttle, and never looked back. Never spared that third rock from an unimpressive sun a second thought.
Not when he was speeding through training, on a fast-track to command. Not when he had the unfortunate luck of a brief shore leave turning into an intergalactic incident. One resulting in his face splattered all over the news vids. Not when a rogue Spectre sent his life into a tailspin that included him careening through the universe in a Mako of all things.
Not even when he was sucked out into the vacuum of space - gasping as the air quickly bled from his suit - did he think of the little green and blue planet of his birth.
Nothing that he did - none of his actions, none of his speeches - was done for that place. No. No, he didn't do it for there. He did it for them. For the vast, teeming masses of humanity scattered throughout the galaxy. For all the people that dreamed and got out. Just like him.
That all holds true until the day he finds himself standing on a loading bay door - the sounds of battle exploding in his ears - promising his mentor, his friend, that he'll be back with reinforcements. He should just tell them to cut their losses and run. To shuttle everyone that they can the hell off planet. It's just a rock, after all. There's millions more like it out in the reaches of space. There's no use in wasting their time, their energy, trying to salvage what's going to be left.
Which won't be much.
But then his eyes catch sight of a child, a child who was so certain that Shepard couldn't help him that he chose uncertainty in an air-duct instead of escape with an armed man. A child that stares up, up up at Shepard, across the small expanse between shuttle and ship. Eyes afraid, but stance determined - and Shepard feels something that might be hope swelling in his chest. So much potential standing there, wrapped up in such a small package.
He watches, breath caught in his throat and his heart pounding away at its cage, as the shuttle takes off. Watches as a beam of light cuts down and across and through it - shattering it in a burst of fire and smoke. And suddenly the words that he spoke to Anderson take on a different meaning. He'll be back. And not just for Anderson. Not just for them.
No. He'll be back to save this place. To save Earth. And with it, all the potential that it may one day bring to life.
He'll be back. And he vows that when he's through with them, there won't be enough left of the Reapers for them to regret having set their targets on humanity in the first place.
It's a promise he fully intends to keep.
~End