A man was sitting at a bar. His dark brown hair was nearly all shaved on the sides, but long bangs hung freely in front of his eyes. He ran a hand distractedly through them, pushing them out of his face. Normally he'd have them slicked back with gel, but tonight he didn't care about appearances. His normally clean cut, sharp jawline was covered in stubble. It gave him that ruffian look of his youth, and everyone left him alone.

"You have to wake up eventually Shepard."

The commander put his drink down with a grimace, as if the words somehow robbed it of its taste. He looked into his own eyes reflected and distorted. His normally brown eyes seemed darker due to the amber liquid. He swished the contents morosely, erasing the deformed image of himself.

"But I wanted you to carry me!"

Shepard cast a sideways glance in the direction of the familiar voices. A little kid who couldn't have been much older than five piped up, his smile reaching up to his eyes.

Suddenly, the bar that the commander had been sitting at vanished. The sombre décor gave way to the grey of an undercity. Skyscrapers towered all around him, and trash littered the streets, but it was the stench of blood, sweat and tears that filled his nostrils.

The young child –the twinkle in his brown eyes was gone– was standing above a pile of rubble. The commander knew it was in fact a nameless gravestone. Or a failed attempt of normalcy; the rocks were piled on top one another. He'd done his best to find the flattest and easiest to stack.

Then it struck him: he was alone now. They wouldn't care about the shape of the rocks. They couldn't, unbreathing, cold; they were just bodies. His parents were gone.

He didn't remember what followed that event. What seemed like minutes had in fact been years. What came across as a bad dream had turned out to be the last 12 years of his life flashing before his eyes. He'd felt like he was on autopilot with only one thought keeping him sane: joining the Alliance.

The crime and dirty lifestyle that came with his orphaning was over. He'd traded in his worn out overall for dress blues. And despite the training, the subsequent fighting, he still felt dead inside. His body was heavier than before, days and nights blurred together on a spaceship, and the missions were shorter; their success tasted only of ash on his tongue. Everything he'd hoped the Alliance to be only came across as bitter disappointment. But he got the job done. That's all the brass needed.

Shepard never knew why he stayed in the military, or why he was so good at playing soldier. The lonely nights in his cabin, he realised years later, probably helped. His focus was unrivaled, and it came as no surprised that the Akuze incident saw only him walk out alive. The already walking dead man fearlessly trudged through the valley of the shadow of death unscathed. The subsequent attention it brought him, however, threw everything out of focus. His promotion, his induction into the N7 program, his recommendation into SPECTRE ranks…

Eden Prime.

It all cascaded from there. What started off as a routine mission blew up in the most spectacular of ways. Without realising it, he could hear his heart's steady beating again, the slow ins and outs of breathing; with a shudder he woke up; alive. He understood his whole life he'd struggled to be here. Now.

To hunt down rogue agents and shadow organisations, while keeping a seemingly unstoppable threat at bay; who else but he could have pulled it off? And as he fought, the numbness that kept him hidden from the world faded. He remembered his parents, his unit; he remembered belonging and what it meant to love and be loved. Everything seemed important again. He had purpose.

Liara.

It had been the asari's gift to him. Though he never knew he was missing any of it. Buried in work, kept in chains by duty; it had sufficed until that moment their minds had touched. His fascination with her grew, as did hers.

But as all things did, this newfound purpose and vivacity was extinguished in violence; scorched and broken, Shepard was gone. The void swallowed him and the Normandy.

Raspy breathing.

Where am I?

He opened his eyes, but darkness persisted. It was chased away only by the occasional sparks of loose wiring.

That's dangerous…

He thought to himself. He tried to move only to realise he was stuck. Wherever he was, somehow, he was completely incapacitated. With a groan of effort he tried to lift whatever it was that was keeping him pinned down. With a soft tumble and a plaintive moan, he realised he'd shifted a body from atop of him.

"What in the world…" he croaked out.

"Shepard?" A soft voice called out to him in the darkness. The drowsiness was quickly being chased away, making way for excitement as he recognised that beautiful voice.

"Tali…" he managed as loud as he could.

The soft purple hue of a visor shifted into his vision from the direction of the body he'd hoisted off himself. He felt her gloved hand caress his cheek, and he ignored the stinging sensation of a cut there.

"Hey there sleepy head," she murmured stroking his face. He took her hand in his, squeezing it affectionately. "Not that I'm not incredibly happy to see you're awake and alive, but… we've got bigger problems."

"Yeah… where are we?" He asked. Tali retracted her hand.

"We're in a mako. We got flipped over while trying to get you to safety."

"The Reapers?" Shepard frowned as images flashed in his mind.

The words Catalyst and Crucible echoed in his mind, but he didn't quite know what to make of them. He must have hit his head.

"No, those are gone, Shepard. Whatever you did worked. This… this is something new. Worse." That was Liara's voice Shepard thought. He craned his neck in all directions, but couldn't make out where her voice was coming from.

"What do you mean, 'whatever I did' ?" Tali's face came back into view.

"Now's not really the time for your jokes, Shepard," he could picture her beautiful face scowling, and suppressed a laugh. Before he could say anything, the screeching sound of metal against metal brought him back to reality.

"I'm going to take it that that's whatever put us into this mess?" He whispered. Tali looked to the direction of the sound and she nodded mutely. She turned back to him, placing a finger on his lips, keeping him quiet. He felt her hands wander up and down his torso, looking for his arms. As she gripped them, she hoisted him to his feet, and it was only then that he realised the entire vehicle was askew. For some reason, he hadn't registered this as a fact when the quarian had first told him it was so.

The vehicle had to be stuck on its nose, or whatever was left of it. He hadn't realised how cramped they were until he stood up. The roof of the vehicle was far too high for it to be in its original position. Abruptly his suspicions were confirmed as Tali turned on her omni tool.

The mako was a mess. Liara was clinging on to the side rails further ahead. She motioned for him to look behind him, all the while keeping a finger on her lips, telling him to keep quiet much as Tali had. He frowned. He didn't quite understand. Whatever had attacked them knew they were in the vehicle. It's not as if they'd give up after incapacitating them. If he were they, he'd make sure the job was finished.

He turned around as his thoughts ran wild. Garrus was unconscious at what was left of wheel. He realised sickeningly that the turian had been impaled by whatever it was that they had struck. He adeptly made his way down despite Tali's attempts to stop him. The closer he got, the clearer a whirring sound could be heard from his left. He ignored it. Nothing would stop him from getting to Garrus. He needed to make sure.

As he reached his friend's body, he was relieved to see that the turian was still breathing, despite the severity of his injuries. What he originally thought had pierced Garrus' body, had in fact just missed it. The metal pole had struck just above his shoulder. He nudged the turian softly, earning a soft hiss. Garrus' left eye shot open as he glared at the commander before his gaze softened with recognition.

"Shepard…" he made out feebly, his mandible clicking in a turian grin.

"Yeah, it's me. But we're cutting this reunion short it looks like," Shepard said as sparks began to fly from his left and he realised that the whirring had intensified. Whatever was out there, it was sawing its way through the mako's plating to get to them. Shepard propped himself right next to where the sparks were flying, shielding his eyes in the process. "This is gonna hurt buddy," he said and before Garrus could say anything Shepard kicked the turian's shoulder, successfully breaking the armor free.

Garrus howled in both anger and pain at Shepard's reckless manoeuvre, clutching his arm. It was surely broken from the awkward position it had been in and the commander's attack. Shepard grabbed hold of Garrus right arm, hoisting him up just as the whirring grew in intensity and he could make out the saw blade in the inner chamber of the mako now.

As the last bits of panelling gave way, Shepard lifted Garrus with all his strength, giving him enough height to reach Tali. The commander turned to the new opening that had been formed, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Shepard!" a deep voice boomed. "Is that you?!"

"Wrex?" Shepard laughed disbelievingly.

The giant krogan's face barely fit in the hole that he'd cut open. He'd turned his head sideways to get a better look inside before his a throated laugh rumbled in the mako.

"Hold on while we pull you out of there."

Shepard helped Tali get Garrus back down as the krogan widened the gap enough to allow the wounded turian through without hitting anything.

"Who would have thought you'd be the one out there," Garrus mumbled gratefully.

"Someone's gotta pull your scaly ass outta the fire," Wrex laughed smacking Garrus on the back causing him to wheeze in pain. "Sorry," came the krogan's insincere apology, punctuated by laughter.

"How'd you know it was us?" Tali asked once they'd all made it out of the ruined vehicle. "And what about those things that were chasing us? Did you kill them?"

The large krogan's smile vanished instantly.

"No, they slithered away the second we shot at you. Sorry about that. We were actually hoping you'd have information for us. We lost contact with HQ about an hour ago when you came, bombing through the streets in that wreck. Hell, we didn't even know you were driving it." Wrex crossed his arms before shrugging.

"So you have no idea what's going on?" Liara asked.

The krogan turned to her, his dark red eyes radiating in the moonlight. "No," he settled for as an answer before shrugging again.

It was Shepard's turn to cross his arms. "That's lovely. Last thing I remember I'm headed towards a beam of light, and then I wake up in a busted mako with you guys telling me the Reapers are gone. And despite that, you manage to be just as confused as I am when it comes to knowing what the hell's going on."

He could sense everyone tense around him. The commander was obviously acting strangely according to them. No doubt it had to do with the gaps in his memory. Liara placed a hand on Shepard's shoulder, gaining his attention, and his hard gaze softened at her worried expression.

"Do you really not remember anything?"

"I… I don't, Liara," the commander's voice came out much more vulnerable than he intended it to. "Last time this happened, I was enlisted in Cerberus. I'd like to not have a repeat." He continued, regaining his composure. Liara nodded understandingly.

"First, we need to get to safety. Then I promise to fill you in. At least, tell you everything I know."

Shepard suddenly felt exhausted.

"Now that that's settled, let's get you pyjaks back to base. There's no telling when those things will be back," Wrex grumbled.

"Please, I'm just a sca—" the young boy didn't even have time to finish his sentence as a mechanical arm pierced through his chest. He gasped as his lungs were punctured, his terrified eyes looking directly at the monstrosity before him. The white of his eyes slowly turned black and he shuddered violently, but not from the pain of dying.

Black ooze leaked out of his orifices, and he continued to spasm uncontrollably. He mouthed silently as the black liquid continued to pour out of him. With a final jolt he stopped, falling to the ground. The creature before the body fell into a puddle of rotten flesh and metal in a clatter.

Slowly, the young boy rose.

"You will give us voice. Through us, you will grow beyond the constraints of mortality. And through you, Shepard will be ours."