ivandundalov7: I appreciate it! It's quite a bit different than my usual style so hopefully it works. Also it occurs to me that my predisposition to Tali might need to be tempered a bit... I may need to start another story with a different love interest.

Armstrong: Thank you! Hope you continue to enjoy

Guest: Is back!

a/n: This chapter was originally posted incomplete. Don't know how, but I left out nearly half of it. Reposting it in it's entirety. Apologies for the mix up.

Chapter 2

Unknown Time
Unknown Cluster
Unknown System
Unknown Planet

A light breeze drifted past carrying handfuls of discarded dry leaves in it's gentle wake. Their brittle skins rustled against one another with a distinct sigh that could never be replicated by any other means. Their subtle earthy aroma's tinged the air as they lazily brushed along the craggy bark of barren trees that stood ever watchful over the never-ending flow of time. Faint rays of sunlight glinted through wiry branches that reached ever taller into the burnished bronze sky. All was calm and peaceful.

Shepard effortlessly glided between the silent sentinels, reaching out to brush his fingertips against their stony trunks as he passed. It had been so long since he had just had time to relax, and truly enjoy his surroundings. So much of his time had been spent racing from one hostile location to the next in what seemed like a never ending struggle just to survive another day. He relished the brief respite as best he could while he had the fleeting chance. As he wound his way through whatever grove he'd found himself in, his thoughts began to wander as well.

"I wonder where I am?" He nonchalantly asked to no one in particular, and wasn't really surprised when no reply answered back.

"How did I get here?" Again no response but the quiet whisper of leaves tumbling along the ground at his feet.

He continued on his aimless journey through the woods but the sky was steadily growing dark. Crickets began to chirp as dusk lengthened and bathed the world around him in bluish shade.

"Hmm. Better find somewhere to rest for the night before it gets cold."

As if in sympathy to his thoughts a tiny amber spec of light began to flicker in the distance. Like a moth to flame he instinctively gravitated toward the only sign of life in the quiet forest around him. As he approached he was able to distinguish the source of the light beckoning him onward. The distinctly angular lines of a small colonial prefab unit materialized out of the gloom as he neared. All of the windows were dark save one on the second floor of the unit. He hovered up to the door and lightly tapped on it's metallic surface with the knuckles of his right hand.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" He called out and waited patiently for a response.

"Yes, come in. It's open." A small muffled voice hollered back from inside.

He reached out to key open the door but it noiselessly glided open before he could even touch the console. He didn't notice that the breeze abruptly ceased as he entered the interior of the prefab unit, or the door clicking shut behind him.

"Thank you. I don't mean to intrude. Can you tell me where…"

"Up here." The voice interrupted him from the upper level. It still sounded muffled and far away.

"Oh… Um ok. My name is Shepard. Commander Aidan Shepard." His own voice seemed hollow and distant in the close, still air. "I was just wondering where exactly we are?" He asked again as he made his way up the stairs toward the rear of the unit, carefully avoiding the furnishings he somehow knew were there without actually seeing them.

"Up here." The voice repeated again still sounding no closer than it had before.

He followed the warm glow of light emanating from the top of the stairs and made his way up. His feet seemed to grow heavier as he ascended but he paid it no mind. One of the steps creaked loudly in protest as he put his full weight on it, but he felt as if he'd been expecting it to. He reached the top of the small staircase feeling somewhat winded.

He glanced over toward the window he'd seen in the front of the prefab house and the back of a small hunched figure dimly illuminated by a short desk lamp. The figure didn't move or stir.

"I uh… I apologize if I've disturbed you but can you tell me where here is? Honestly I don't even remember…" His body tensed as he edged closer to the diminutive silhouette seated beneath the window. His eyes flicked from side to side as disturbingly familiar details finally came into focus that had been obscured by the shadows. He recognized the bed from his room back on Mindoir. He saw the old Alliance Andy and Eclipse Eroba action figures that used to be his favorite toys growing up.

His apprehension grew as he carefully crept up behind the silent form. He could clearly see tussled blond hair and the worn grey hoody jacket the boy was wearing. "Wait don't… Don't I know you?"

The air around him was unimaginably heavy, almost oppressively so. Even his own rapid breathing sounded like it was being heard from underwater. The cheerful song of the crickets outside ceased entirely leaving nothing but the smothering stillness. The light on the boy's desk flickered and winked out plunging the room into total darkness except for a small shaft of moonlight shining in through the open window. Shepard's pulse quickened and nervous sweat began to bead on his forehead. He reached out toward the boy.

"Come on. This doesn't feel right. I need to get you out of here."

In an instant the child rounded on him and let loose a blood curdling shriek. Shepard recoiled in utter terror at the face of the Reaper Husk staring blankly back at him. He instinctively reached for a sidearm at his hip but his hand came away empty. He backpedaled to get away from the ghastly abomination stalking toward him but his legs felt as if they were filled with concrete. His back butted up against the wall behind him halting his escape from the advancing monster. He threw his hands out to keep the skeletal creature back but it pushed past them like they weren't even there. It's dead eyes stared unblinkingly into his, holding him transfixed, as it's face came within inches of his own.

Then, like flood gates had been thrown wide, memory returned in an overwhelming rush. The war. Death. Carnage. Destruction. The voices of billions crying out in anguish as Reapers burned a bloody path across the galaxy in their never ending crusade to purge sentient life. The final stand on Earth, and his ultimate sacrifice to save every sapient species from the threat of harvest. He remembered standing atop the Crucible on the precipice of indecision with the incorporeal representation of a child he had failed to save standing at his side. It had mocked him and his ignorance. Proclaimed itself to be the gestalt consciousness of the Reapers made manifest, while simultaneously trying to save itself from destruction by offering him the illusion of a choice. He hadn't listened. He remembered crimson light and a titanic explosion as every despicable act the Reapers had ever perpetrated was finally answered for. He remembered his Saleya, Tali'Zorah's face, for the briefest instant before the world around him was swallowed up by the void. Then he had found himself in the forest.

"Everyone is dying… You can't help me." The monstrosity before him squealed in the frightened voice of a terrified child.

"No! You're dead! I killed you!" Shepard shouted and finally managed to shove the creature away.

It stumbled backward, cackling as it's face began to transform into something Shepard had never seen before under the pool of illumination spilling through the window.

"You're right." It hissed through rapidly sharpening teeth that started to curl up into a vicious smile. "You destroyed them but now you've thrown wide the gates… How ironic that you escaped harvest only to be consumed by fire."

It lunged forward, reaching out with enormous claw like fingers. Shepard willed every cell of his body to move out of the way. To fight or to flee. The long claws dug into the prefab wall behind him as he scrambled down the stairs, the sound of the creature hot on his heels spurring him on. He lowered his shoulder to plow through the front door to what had once been the home he had grown up in. As he cleared the threshold an enormous fire erupted within, bathing the woods around the house in a hellish glow.

He picked himself up as the dying screams of his mother and father drifted through the night air, but he didn't dare look back as he fled into the trees. He could feel the beast behind him, gaining on him with every stride he took. Razor sharp branches reached out of the shadows to grasp at his clothing while the radiance of the blaze at his back illuminated piles of bodies strewn amongst the encircling trunks of the nightmare forest.

And then the creature was upon him. Something heavy connected with him from behind and sent him tumbling forward to land face down in the blood soaked dirt. He rolled onto his front and leaped up to face his attacker as it bore down on him. He threw his arms up to ward off the blow of one fiendishly barbed limb that stabbed at his face. A ragged scream tore from his mouth as the vicious serrations on the monster's scything appendage mercilessly gouged through the flesh on his right forearm. He tried to surge forward and pummel his attacker into dust with his bare fists, but was stopped short by an explosion of unbearable agony across the breadth of his body.

He sank to his knees and looked down to see hundreds of chitinous hooked spines buried deep in his flesh. Each one sported a thin, fibrous strand that snaked it's way back to the unholy beast standing over him. It's twisted grin parted slightly to allow it's long serpentine tongue to slide across unimaginably huge obsidian fangs.

He screamed again as the hooks yanked him forward, many of them ripping free of his body in the process. Massive, crab-like claws clamped down on his torso and limbs crushing the bones within like they were no more than rotten twigs. The pain was like nothing he had ever experienced before but his mind remained stubbornly coherent. He could barely breathe past the crushing grip constricting his lungs and heart. The monstrosity pulled him in toward it's glistening jaws. He tried to struggle. Tried to fight free of it's unnaturally strong clutches but any strength he had left had been crushed out of him.

"I had expected more, Shepard." It said condescendingly in a low, guttural growl. "… Shepard… Shepard." It continued to repeat his name. Each time it's voice becoming a little smoother and higher in pitch.

"Shepard… SHEPARD…" The voice started to become more urgent as the pressure on his body subsided.

He tried to open his eyes, but their lids now felt as if the weight of the world was keeping them shut. With as much might as he had left he desperately forced one eye to open the tiniest crack. At first he couldn't see anything and wondered if his eye was even open at all. Then he caught sight of an amethyst halo hovering over him and two glowing ivory orbs looking back at him.

"T… Tal… Li…"

"I'm here with you…" Her beautifully soothing voice floated after him as he drifted into dreamless unconsciousness.

2187 CE
Local Cluster
Sol System
Planet Earth

Heart rate monitors and blood oxygen level sensors beeped their incessant, never ending rhythm as Shepard gradually began to stir into wakefulness. His eyelids still felt unbearably heavy, but he had marginally more strength than before with which to pry them open. At first he could only manage to split them open a hair before the harsh glare of hospital lights above him forced them to snap shut again. He never remembered having such difficulty opening his eyes before. He summoned up the determination to try again, this time intending to keep them open if he should succeed. The steady keening of the monitors around him increased in tempo as he readied himself for another try. However before he could, familiar voices excitedly murmured to one another and interrupted his concentration.

"Hey. I think he's waking up!"

"Doctor… Doctor! His life signs are picking up."

"Yeah doc. Make with the stims already!"

"Hush all of you! He still needs his rest."

A hint of a smile tugged at the corners of his lips at all the fuss his friends were making which helped him continue his efforts to open his eyes with renewed vigor. At long last he was rewarded with bright light once again flooding into his retinas. His eyes stung and watered from the exertion but he valiantly fought to keep them open regardless.

It took him a few minutes to realize that everyone had gone completely quiet around him while he patiently waited for his eyes to adjust to the glare overhead. With agonizing slowness the world gradually came into hazy focus. He blinked once to try and wipe away the fuzzy after images that tenaciously clung to the outer edges of his peripheral vision without success. He tried turning his head to take in his surroundings but couldn't manage more than a slight tremble.

A deep thrumming voice with multiple layers of subharmonics quietly spoke at his left side. "I think he's trying to look around. Can we elevate his bed a little so he can see where he's at?"

Another weak grin quirked the sides of Shepard's mouth. Garrus always seemed to have his back.

The doctor hesitated for a few moments before finally acquiescing. "Very well but only a quarter of the way up. I don't want to put undue pressure on his spine."

Servos whined in fits and starts beneath him as he felt his upper torso inclining with the bed, and the expectant faces of the people he called his family slowly entered his field of view. He could see Garrus beside him fumbling with the bed's controls while Liara leaned over trying to show him which button he was supposed to be pressing. Joker sat just to his right with Jack standing against the wall doing her best to look aloof. Kasumi sat with her legs crossed at the foot of his bed propping herself up on one slender arm. Doctor Chakwas stood just behind her with a data pad in one hand and a concerned expression on her face.

Shepard's eyes weakly flicked between the friendly faces arranged around him but didn't find one in particular that he was searching for. "Whe…Where…" He tried to speak but his mouth felt like a desert covered in cotton balls.

"For fuck sake. When's the last time this poor bastard had anything to drink?" Jack griped at the doctor.

"Watch your language Jennifer." The doctor scolded back.

Jack glanced angrily over at Liara. "Godamnit, she knows too? Jesus I thought the Shadow Broker was supposed to be better at this kind of thing."

Liara folded her arms across her chest. "You did not ask nicely."

"Will someone just go get the Commander some water please?" Joker broke in.

"What you're too busy?" Jack quipped.

"Ok sure. Fine. Make the poor guy in the WHEELCHAIR do all the work."

"Oh alright that's enough. I've got some right here. Garrus would you so kindly make way?" Doctor Chakwas asked coming to the rescue.

The old easy banter would have had Shepard chuckling to himself if he'd been capable. The doctor gingerly slid past Garrus and weaved her way through the myriad of hoses and conduits connecting the Commander to various pieces of equipment. She gently tilted his head back with one hand while ever so carefully holding the edge of the cup to his lips. He fervently wished she had used a much bigger vessel but was still unimaginably grateful for the soothing liquid trickling over his tongue. All too soon the tiny cup was emptied.

"Thank… You." Although the water had helped to alleviate some of the dryness in his throat his mouth still felt like he'd been chewing on sawdust.

Garrus took up his former seat beside his Commander as the doctor made her way back to the foot of the bed. "Alright. You all have a few minutes to sit with him, then I want you to clear out so he can get some rest." She stated matter-of-factly.

"But…" Kasumi started to protest.

"No buts. Everyone needs to be out in five minutes."

Everyone knew better than to argue with Doctor Karen Chakwas when she meant business. For nearly ten awkward seconds she glanced around at the small gathering to make eye contact with every single one of them.

With no challenge forthcoming she excused herself from the room calling back over her shoulder. "It's good to have you back Shepard."

His only response was a small grin. Somehow his injuries always seemed far less severe when being tended to by the good doctor. It could have been the soothing tone of her voice with it's welcoming accent. It might have been the motherly way in which she instinctively knew exactly when to assert her authority or when to simply let things slide. It could have also been that she was one of his oldest and closest friends since his tour aboard both Normandys. Or it could have simply been a combination thereof.

Garrus, shuffling his chair so that Liara could perch herself on the side of the bed, jarred Shepard out of his brief inward reflection. "Nearly lost you there Shepard. Was starting to think I might actually be stuck getting drinks with Joker."

"You should be so lucky. You'd have just cramped my style anyway." Joker countered.

"You have style?" Liara asked in her sweetest ignorant tone.

Jack smirked. "Ooh. Burned by the nerdy Asari. That's gotta sting."

"Well maybe but think of it this way… Shut up." Joker grumbled trying to deny the burn but failing.

Shepard couldn't think of anywhere he'd rather be as he listened to his friends' banter. Still despite his lifted spirits there was still one thing that nagged at his good mood. "Where's… Tali?"

The lighthearted atmosphere evaporated in an instant. All eyes, that had until only moments ago been directed toward the Commander, now flitted nervously around the room in a vain attempt to avoid contact. He mustered all the strength he had to slightly swivel his head to look over at Garrus who was acting intensely interested in the toes of his boots.

"Garrus…" The Commander's tone was as even as he could make it given his current circumstances but carried with it the heartfelt plea he was asking of his best friend.

The Turian tried valiantly to evade Shepard's prodding stare but ultimately couldn't. "She's… Out getting a little fresh air…"

Shepard's expression quickly fell as everyone assembled winced at the poor choice of words while Jack sighed under her breath. "A Quarian went out for some fresh air? Good one dumbass."

Kasumi tried to salvage the situation by suggesting that Tali had only gone to stretch her legs after spending the last few hours at Shepard's bedside but it didn't work. The damage had already been done. As if on cue the doctor returned to shoo everyone out leaving Shepard to stare absently at the ceiling and wrestle with the implications of why Tali'Zorah of all people had seemingly forsaken him.