December 21, 2187, New Huerta Memorial Hospital

1 Year after Alliance Victory

After the explosion on the Citadel, everything went white. I was completely motionless; I couldn't move my limbs, bend my fingers, blink, breathe, see, feel, I was just… there. Stuck in the middle of nowhere, neither living, or dying. Even though I couldn't eat or drink anything… or move… or breathe… It somehow felt like I didn't even need to. It was like what I imagined what it was like to be that one random painting you have framed in your house. You know; that one random picture you have hung up in your living room, but you have no idea where it came from because you've had it for so long you can't remember where you bought it, or why you even bought it in the first place.

Occasionally, for some reason I'm still not sure of, I'd be able to move my eyelids for a bit. When I realized that, I'd always try to fall asleep. Even though I was pretty much just "existing" at the time, if that makes sense, I still felt exhaustion. And considering the fact that I couldn't do a God damn thing, not even breathe, I took every chance I got at sleep.

But every time I did, I kept getting these weird visions; visions of my past. There were ones where I was a little kid, walking with my parents while my sister kept messing with me. There were ones where my sister helped me with homework and chores while my parents were busy working. There were more recent ones where I was training under the Higher-Ups to join the Alliance, walking around the Citadel, joining the crew of the Normandy, so many memories. And when the vision ended, my eyes would automatically open. I wouldn't actually fall asleep, but I'd still feel refreshed, ready to face another unspecified amount of time of nothing.

It was when I finally got to Eden Prime when I finally woke up.

It was just another day(?) of doing nothing, when I finally got the chance to close my eyes. How I hadn't gone crazy by then from the absolute nothing around me, I don't know, but I shouldn't be looking a gift horse in the mouth. Anyway, I closed my eyes after I finally got the chance. I was extremely tired for some reason at the time, so I was ecstatic for some "rest" in exchange for a little movie-watching. But when I blinked, I was consumed with fear, and I wanted to open my eyes, but I couldn't for some reason, no matter how much I tried. I was scared, but soon, I started hearing voices.

"So, who've we got this time?" One voice said.

"Hang on a sec, the scanner's still loading." Said another. Soon, something was happening to my body.

"Let's see…" Said the second voice. "Oh God… It's Commander Shepard."

"Really?! Let me see!" Said the first voice. There was a brief silence. "Wow, That's a damn shame… Well, let's get this over with, we'll call the Normandy once he's been cremated." My whole body felt so weird, like I was covered in nails, feeling had returned to my body.

"Okay, so… Commander Fox N. Shepard… Whoa, you're not gonna believe this…"

"What is it, are you gonna tell me he's a robot? A Turian? A woman?"

"No… According to the files… He's Nearly 200 years old!"

"Bullshit, what do you think I am, a Krogan?" Racist.

"No, just listen." My lungs started working again, but I couldn't inhale.

"Full Name: Fox Noble Shepard. Race: Human. Age: 171 Years. Birthdate: December 21, 2016. Alliance Rank: Commander, Specter. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Discovered in an abandoned research lab in 2180. Shepard was discovered in the main lab inside a malfunctioning Cryo-Chamber. According to notes left in the lab, rogue scientists resulted in kidnapping unsuspecting children for experiments in perfectly preserving life for the "future generation". From what the notes say, he was the only survivor… His sister died in the cryo-pod right next to his."

"Holy shit… So, how old was he when he was frozen?" I was suffocating, but I still couldn't move, I couldn't get help.

"Umm… 13. Once he was revived and accepted the fact that he'd never get to see his parents again, and the fact that his sister was basically murdered, he began to show extreme talent using guns and tech, so many Turians and Krogans began to get together to help him join the Alliance, arguing that even though that even though technically he was 15 at the time, considering the freezing process, he'd technically lived over 100 years."

"And he made it?"

"Well, considering the fact that the only reason we're still alive because of him, I'd say yes, he made it."

"Also, it says that once he joined the Alliance, his first mission was the incident that happened on Akuse. Jesus Christ, this kid's gone through so much traumatizing shit, yet he still ended up saving the entire Galaxy…"

"Man, it's a shame that he finally kicked the bucket. But at least he's with his family again."

"Yeah… Let's just get this over with."

"Would you two help me already?!" I thought.

I couldn't take it anymore. My lungs were on fire, and since I just found out that I wasn't actually dead, I didn't really want to go back to white nothing. So, I focused all I could into activating my omni-tool, and once it appeared, I activated the blade, and pulled all my strength into shoving it into my leg, hoping the shock from the blade would reactivate my respiratory system. It thankfully did, and I immediately sat up and gasped for as much air as I could.

"Oh my god!" I said, after 5 or 6 long breaths. "Oh my god, it feels so good to breathe! I have been stuck in that goddamn place for so long, I forgot what it was like to fucking live!" I proceeded to ignore the two gentlemen in front of me who had just been horribly traumatized for around 10 minutes, reveling in the fact that I had overcome my own death yet again. But eventually, once I finally calmed down, I soon took notice of the two men hugging each other in utter fear.

"Oh… Um… Sorry." I said, getting up from the surgical table my body had been laid upon. Pain still hadn't come back to me, so the giant cut in my leg still hadn't registered to my brain" I apparently have a habit of... not dying. You guys okay?" I reached my hand out to help them get off the floor they were currently sitting on. Eventually, one of the two took my hand and got up. "So, mind if I asked where I ended up this time?"

"Y-Yeah…" The first man said. He was the one who was apparently looking at my file earlier. "T-This is New Huerta Memorial Hospital, on the Citadel. We rebuilt it after you caused the explosion that short-circuited the Reapers."

"Really?" I finally took the chance to look at my surroundings; the room looked like the same one Kaidan was treated in after we escaped Earth when the Reapers first attacked. "It looks about the same to me."

"Well… Trust me," The second guy got up after a bit. "There are a lot of changes we've made in the past year."

"…Wait… Did you just say "year"!? I've been dead for a year!?"

"…Apparently…"

"Great," I hunched my back in depression. "Now that's 3 years of my life that I'll never get back…" I looked at the ground out of sadness, and soon realized the small pile of blood that was forming underneath my feet. Not only did I have a giant cut in my leg, but the busted-up armor I was still wearing from my encounter with a Reaper laser beam was now jamming itself into my malnourished body. "Oh, umm, you two wouldn't happen to have any medi-gel on you, would you?" I looked down again.

"…And a spare set of clothes?"

Chapter 1: End