A/N: Sorry it's up a bit late, I didn't have wifi for the past days, but I worked on it some more and there's going to be a total of four chapters to this fanfic. So let's go with the second one…


Shepard came back three days later. I must admit that I was surprised to see him because I thought he was dead or gone and although he was my best friend for years, what he'd done before he left had remained in my head. I couldn't totally forgive him for having threatened my life after everything I'd done for him – and his mother.

It was late night, the fire was dying but I'd noticed his silhouette in the darkness after a metallic noise'd caught my attention. I opened an eye, my hand searching for my knife, pretending to be still asleep. With a flashlight between his teeth, he was shifting his weight down, then left and down again and each time he'd go down, the noise of something metallic meeting the ground would break the silence of the night. I watched him dig his mother's grave for a few minutes until he kneeled and took the flashlight in his hand, searching the inside of the whole. Shepard bent forward to pick something out of it and examined the object. It reflected the light straight in my eye and I groaned at the feel of it.

He swiftly turned to look at me, pointing the light at my face. I sat straight and did the same with my own flashlight.

He had red marks on his wrists, a few cuts on his forearms and dry blood at some places. His fingertips had begun to blacken and I couldn't figure out if they were only dirty or if the drugs were already attacking his system. Between them, he held a silver ring with a light blue diamond in it. The contrast of dirty fingers and fancy jewelry felt odd but fascinating.

His clothes were bloody and ripped at a few places and his eyes were still bloodshot, telling me that he'd found what he was looking for… and most likely more.

"There's people," he simply said on a tone I wasn't able to read.

"In town?" He nodded. "What are you doing with your mother's wedding ring?" I asked confused at what was going on and still a bit asleep.

"Ain't got no choice if I want more, man. Have to pay them."

"Shep, it's the last thing your mom has left from your father, can't you let her have it?"

"She won't know anything about it, bro. Gotta go now, you may not see me anymore. Stay safe, I trust you on this."

He stood and I watched him walk away toward the village in the darkness when I felt my lungs tightening and I found myself chocking and in need for air. Why was he doing that? Why was my brother putting his life in danger like that? At that exact moment I wish his mother were still here to talk him out of his nonsense, but she wasn't. And that's exactly why he was harming himself like that: to forget.

That night I barely slept, couldn't stop thinking about Shepard, his last words echoing in my head as I realized that I may never see him again if I didn't do anything to stop him before it's too late. The more I played the words in my brain, the more I felt fear and anguish in his voice – or perhaps was I imagining it? – as if he knew he wouldn't make it out alive and that's why he'd taken the time to say goodbye. Perhaps didn't he want me to put my life in danger like his was already and that's why he'd barely talked to me.

After that long night of guessing I took a decision: I'd go after him and get him out of whatever he'd put himself into because that's what brothers do and I wasn't ready to give up on him so easily.