Mass Effect 3 – The Boy
A/N: This story is about the boy that is seen in the most recent trailer and demo of ME3. I have not played beta, but I am a huge fan of ME, so I'm making a small story, telling the life of the boy in that game. I am not completely sure this is accurate, most of it is stuff I created, but the final bits are as close to the trailer/demo about the boy as can be. I have intentionally made Shepard ambiguous, not giving any details as to what gender Shepard is. This is a sad story, rated T for Reaper Invasion and Character Death. ***SPOILERS*** for those who haven't seen the trailers or demos for the specific reason of not wanting to be spoiled about what happens: don't read, it may ruin several things.
Enjoy!
Christopher Hawkings Greer, the name given to the infant born on March 3rd, 2174. He grew up on Earth, loving parents guided his childhood, and the schools were less biased than others on humanity's homeworld.
Chris' family moved to the megatropolis spaceport, where his father worked as a dignitary at the Human Embassies, in the summer of 2182. It was here that Chris learned of a legendary soldier named Shepard, the actions of this soldier, and Shepard's role a year later in the defeat of Saren Arturius and his Geth.
He grieved, as did the rest of mankind, when word of Shepard's death reached the headlines. Chris made a vow that day, September 18th, 2183, that he would honor Shepard by building a toy replica of the SV1 Normandy. It took many months, and his mother helped gather materials, for she grieved as well. She had been friends with one of Shepard's crewmates, and thought it sweet that her son wanted to honor Shepard, in a way honoring Chris' mother's friends.
Chris finished the ship near the point when word of Shepard's survival reached Earth two years later. Chris' mother didn't want to beleive the rumors, that Shepard was working for Cerberus, but Chris didn't know what Cerberus was. The innocence of youth kept him from such things. Chris kept the ship, in the hopes of finally meeting Shepard.
Then word of Shepard's trial came to Chris' ears, and he did not beleive it. He watched fervently as Shepard told of the Reapers' return, their Arrival at a remote Batarian colony, how Shepard had to destroy the Mass Relay there to stop the Reapers temporarily, culminating in the destruction of said Batarian colony. In the end, Shepard was found guilty of destroying a Mass Relay, and annihilating the colony.
Those who practically followed Shepard's every move like worship, as Chris had been doing throughout the Trial, joined a protest along with his mother to lessen Shepard's sentence of death. After signing a petition along with 45 billion other people, including non-humans, Shepard's sentence was lessened, and the burdened hero grudgingly accepted the grounding of his ship and stripping of rank.
But Chris had listened to Shepard during the testimony regarding the Reapers, and how they will return. The Reapers inhabited Chris' dreams thereafter, coming from under his bed and eating him alive, always with Shepard coming to save the day... or dream for that matter.
A few months went by and Chris basically settled with the fact that Shepard may have been wrong about the Reapers, and Chris still played with his toy Normandy, flying it around his backyard on a fateful day. For that day, the Emergency Broadcast System was sent throughout Earth, then all was silent. Several large sonic-booms were heard, and Chris looked overhead to see dozens, no- hundreds of gigantic machines that looked like blue-gray scorpions emerging from atmospheric distortion.
Chris understood immediately. The Reapers have returned.
Having gotten somewhat wiser since Shepard's trail, Chris decided that he needed to survive, above all else. During the chaos of the ensuing attack, Chris left his home, his mother having left to help father evacuate all the citizens. Chris hid in the ruins, waiting out the attack, hoping to whatever deities there were for his survival. Once, he saw Shepard, and ran away in fear, knowing that the Reapers will find him if they find Shepard. He ran so far so fast, his little body able to squeeze through corrugated beams and ruined skyscrapers.
He made it to the evacuation pad, where his mother and father were already loading up the passengers. He saw them get vaporized by the Reaper's attack just 40 meters away from him, the red beam of the space-scorpion slicing the pad right in half. In shock, Chris made a decision to leave Earth, escape the Reapers, and somehow survive the next day. He clambered on board the vehicle commonly known as a 'cockroach', and looked back at what used to be his home.
11 years of good things, all for nothing now.
It was time to start anew.
The pilot of the Cockroach took it into the sky. Chris looked out the window and saw Shepard there, stading with former crew of the Normandy, and for a second, wished he could've joined Shepard when he saw the hero in the ruins.
But he only had a second to think about it, for he heard people scream behind him. He turned around, saw a red beam of light coming from the nearby Reaper that killed his parents, and realized he was going to die.
The beam shot down, then sweeped up, destroying a Cockroach that was following Chris'.
Chris took out his toy Normandy, and held it to his chest, quenched his eyes shut, thinking very quickly as a form of loose prayer: "Shepard, please save the Galaxy."
He exhaled with a smile on his face as the Reaper's beam came in contact with the Cockroach Chris was on, and he did not feel the explosion or the heat. The beam killed him before all that. The Cockroach exploded, ripped in half, its fuselage ignited to create the flaming ball of gas that had once been evacuees.
The toy Normandy, blackened in the explosion, flew down to where Shepard was, and the hero picked it up, studying it, realizing it was the kid Shepard had seen several times that day. Shepard nodded at where Chris had been, as if hearing what the kid had prayed at that final moment. Shepard turned to the crewmen of the former Normandy, and ordered, "Let's save the galaxy."
A/N: I may, at some point in the future when I get ME3, will create an alternate version of this story, where the boy (most likely renamed to what BioWare calls him) and Anderson decide to accompany Shepard onto the Normandy, and see how that changes certain things throughout the story.