Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect or anything associated with Mass Effect.
Note:If it's in parenthesis and capitalized its a song title that I used to help write and envision that part of the story.
The Shepards
(Young and Beautiful) As he contemplated his life thus far, he lamented about all those he lost, all his friends and crewmates that gave the ultimate sacrifice. They weren't in vain, but still it weighed upon his heart, such a heavy toll. The faces fade by in his mind. He pulls his thoughts all together and decides to see if he can put them into words; words deserving the sacrifice they gave. "Can't do anything but try. Thank you friends, with your help we've accomplished that which has never been done before, the decimation of the reapers. "Now where to start," with that slight smirk that so often plastered his face, "I know.." (screen fades out)
'The Story of The Shepards'
The brothers had been together for the worst of it, all their lives, but it was in the flames from all those hardships that they grew so strong; strong enough to take on the entire galaxy and walk away with not a scratch... no scratches but maybe a few cracks...
(A Little Party Never Killed Nobody)They were born to John and Jane Shepard, simple colonists on the simple colony of Mindoir. The first son Eugene, Gene for short, developed in antitheses to his younger brother in all those ways that made them different but kept them the same. He enjoyed the party-life, hanging out with his buddies, and playing some good-old-fashioned football. Although he kept up with all these time-consuming activities he contained a cool intellect that he kept hidden, loving to be underestimated just as much as his younger brother. Speaking of whom, the odd enigma, the walking contradiction, Sherman Shepard, was an avid reader and hated being in crowds and around people. He had just the intellect people believed him to have, even if he never believed it or understood what others meant when they said it. Born just a year later, he grew up much like his older brother in terms of the morals and beliefs imprinted upon them by their awesome parents. Whereas Sherman practiced with his biotics as often as he could, constantly looking up and researching new techniques and ideas on how to use them, Gene spent his free time *occasionally* practicing biotics and was more interested in tactics and all those vids that showed wars and valiant warriors. They had a good childhood and adolescence and their teenager years weren't too far different from those with similar personalities, but it all changed that fateful day.
(Radioactive) When Gene was sixteen the batarians came quick and hit hard, many Mindoirians not knowing what was happening before they were already caged or killed. Gene was out hunting some deer when they attacked, far enough in the forest to be safe, but close enough to hear the carnage and mayhem all the same. He came running back as fast as his athletic legs could carry him, but no matter how hard his heart beat in his ears, he could still hear the screams and cries of his friends and schoolmates. Sherman was on the other side of the colony, helping his dad with a pet project which also focused upon Sherman's biotic control. That morning seemed so beautiful, the air crisp, sky a beautiful blue, the first time I put any true thought into karma…
(Romani Holiday Remix) John and Shepard didn't realize anything was the matter until Jane had screamed. They ran into the house and saw a dead batarian on the floor blood pooling the floor around it with a knife sticking out of where Sherman could only imagine its heart lay. The first time he ever saw a dead body, unfortunately nowhere near the last. As Jane had tackled John and Sherman in a hug, they heard all the screams and cries from the rest of the colony. John took Jane and Sherman to their basement and told them to wait until he returned with Gene. Of course Sherman being the young man he raised opposed him and wanted to help, but once John made up his mind, there was nothing changing it.
John hadn't even made it out twenty steps before being surrounded by nine batarian slavers. As Jane and Sherman watched on with bated breath as the one of the batarians asked whether there were anyone else in the house. Before the batarian had even finished his question John , with just three shots from his sidearm, had dropped the lead batarian and the two closest to him. Sherman released a breath that he wasn't even aware of holding as he watched in awe of the man he called dad. That victory was short-lived however as just as John had the last four to take care of, the remaining batarians ripped through his shield and shot John to shreds right in front of his wife and youngest son. Sherman heard his mom barely stifle her scream before the batarians cursed about the 'bastard' that almost killed them. One of the batarians walked up and spit on the corpse of John before saying "There's gotta be somethin' of worth in that basement he ran out of."
(Fear) As soon as Jane heard, she prepared herself and told Sherman to be ready to "run for the forest and try to join up with your brother." As calculating as Sherman was, he had already figured out what she planned and was about to argue. Jane, with tears running down her face, smiled and said "I love you, I can't assure we'd both make it out alive, and I have to give you a fighting chance out of this. Who knows how many more will show up if we wait, so when I get them to look away from the door I want you to run as fast as you can and don't stop." She hugged me so tight that one last time… the last time I ever saw my mom—the only time I ever saw tears on her courageous face—and I could actually feel the finality in the words "I'll always love you"…
She threw the basement doors open and charged the batarians while blasting her pistol. She would've most likely caught them off guard had John not already spooked them, but since they were prepared she was only able to kill one before they shot her in the shoulder. The one that she killed had somehow dropped and activated the timer for an inferno grenade as he was falling; the batarian next to him saw it roll on the ground just as the third batarian nailed Jane in the shoulder. The second batarian picked up the grenade and threw it right over Jane to land just in front of the basement doors. (To Be) Sherman saw it and yelled for his mom to move as he attempted to jump to the side, unfortunately Jane didn't have the time to react and was blasted forward as her entire backside was set on fire. Even as the flames overtook the house I can still hear her screams of pain and anguish…
Sherman tried finding another way out, just some way to get to his mother, but the entire entrance to the basement was overtaken in flames and falling debris. The whole house had set ablaze within minutes, and even though he could tell as the fires grew his chance at life dwindled, all he could hear and focus on were the screams of his mother outside. I pulled everything I had from inside and remembered what my dad told me that focusing was the key to my salvation—I made the strongest barrier I had made to that point and for many years after—It held enough oxygen to last me a bit; those flames and falling debris were loud, but I could STILL hear the screaming.
As the debris and fire fell around Sherman, Eugene was making his way across the colony seeing all the death, destruction, and slaughter of those he knew and grew up around. The Alliance ships were pouring in across the sky as the last slaver ships were escaping. Eugene pushed himself harder and harder till he saw the shot-up corpse of his father, the burnt-up of his mother, and the burnt remains of his childhood home. He was dismayed and grieving but he didn't see his brother's body, maybe just maybe Sherman was alive somehow in that scorched house. Eugene started yelling his brother's name as he started throwing debris out of the way just to dig for him. He dug with such determination and desperation that even if there were fifty slavers still there they wouldn't have been able to stop him. Eugene had this feeling, this kind of pull from the center of the house. After a minute or two of digging there Eugene found Sherman pinned underneath some giant metal beam but otherwise unharmed. Eugene tried and tried to move the beam but it was just too heavy for him, and so with all his experience and remaining energy he put forth a herculean effort for one so young in the biotic ways and lowered the mass of the beam just enough to move it off of Sherman.
(Light You Up) That is just how the alliance found the Shepard brothers, unconscious, worn-down, and covered in the ashes of the burnt-down house. When Eugene was old enough he enlisted in the alliance, he kept his biotics mostly a secret and joined the infantry. He got deployed to a great deal of fascinating locations and gained a great deal of experience in all sorts of combat. Sherman finished his school and got commissioned into the Alliance; he was one of the first biotics to be in the official Alliance. When he joined the famed Staff Lieutenant Anderson mentored him, and under Anderson's tutelage Sherman became a great soldier in his own right.
(A Little Party Never Killed Nobody) A few years later Eugene got commissioned and the brothers decided to take some shore leave to celebrate on the planet Elysium. It was at this time the infamous Skyllian Blitz occurred, and with the brothers having the experience and strength they had acquired by that point, the slavers and pirates didn't stand a chance. The siege occurred for hours and hours but only a marginal amount of loss was acquired on the brothers' side.
It was during the Blitz that Eugene was forced to use his biotics and it became well known that the Shepard brothers were two of the best biotics in the entire Alliance. The brothers went on to the N7 program and were two of the best and brightest to graduate from it, they rose through the ranks quickly.
Eugene eventually started a biotics program for the Alliance, focused on making special biotic squads to help the Alliance across the board. He got his brother's help occasionally on some specifics but came up with a lot of life saving techniques as well as training tactics on his own. He eventually got sick and tired of being bogged down in politics and red-tape so he got out of the alliance at the rank of Lieutenant-Commander just after disbanding the program he had started. His reasoning was that he didn't want to see the program get corrupted in the entire political BS that was ensuing.
Sherman made a name for himself as a biotic extraordinaire. Completing impossible missions by himself as well as serving on numerous vessels that helped fight pirates and slavers across Alliance space. There were two specific things Sherman was known for, his expert marksmanship with a pistol, and his amazing skills and control of biotics. Sherman constantly looked for innovative ways to improve upon his biotics and always wanted to help all he could with his abilities.
Both Sherman and Eugene were looked upon as Spectre candidates and this had never happened before in human history. As such when Sherman was placed as the XO on the SSV Normandy, the alliance decided to tempt Eugene back somewhat under their control with a beautiful designed contract. With this in place both brothers were soon to work together again in a mission they had no idea would become so instrumental in the direction the galaxy went.
My brother Eugene once asked me why even though we were human, even though we didn't have amp, why were we as powerful biotics as the asari even at such a young age. I told him I didn't honestly know. I had some theories, I said its most likely cause we are mutants, humans born with the innate ability to produce and withstand great amounts of electricity—It made sense, the more charge, the more powerful a mass effect field is made—I decided to mess with him and say maybe its cause we were meant to save the universe. I laughed pretty hard at that, little did I know how close I was to being right…
Disclaimer:
(Young and Beautiful) Lana Del Rey
(A Little Party Never Killed Nobody) Fergie, Q-Tip, and GoonRock
(Radioactive) Pentatonix and Lindsey Stirling
(Romani Holiday) Hans Zimmer
(Fear) Blue October
(To Be) Blue October
(Light You Up) Blue October