Skullface: Check out 'My World' on the Deus Ex Human Revolution soundtrack, it goes so well with this chapter. At least thats how I feel. (No copy righting intended)

(Although this chapter might seem to have some kind of a PM/Miranda idea, just to clearify its only friendship nothing more.)

Also my laptop is fucked and I can't update as fast especially from this bitch of a library computer.

(Just finished reading all the Hunger Games books! And I'm ninteen now!)


I stood in the mirror examining myself within the shower that was still steaming from my previous use. Shepard was oh so kind enough to allow me to use her bathroom and mirror to change my appearance as well as clean myself for our shore leave due to her cabin being the only place with a mirror for me to use while shaving. I had my hair down to the back of my neck dripping and a change of clothes were waiting neatly on the floor for me to put on. A pair of dark blue jeans, a white hoodie with a hood that could conceal my face and a pair of boots. These are clothes Shepard had asked, or more like ordered one of her crew men to loan to me. I have to cut my hair and at least shave my beard if I'm to try and disguise myself. More than likely if any authorities spot me they'll most likely try and arrest me. I really don't want to know what prison especially terrorist prison is like in the future. If I change how I look then things will become more easy.

I look at the scissors on the counter and pick them up.

If I want to go incognito I have to cut my hair, same goes with my beard.

I tell myself as I bring the scissors to my beard and begin snipping away. To skip all the unnessasary detalis I'll just skip ahead and say that I snipped away at my beard till I decided to pause in order to examine my facial features in the mirror. My beard although much shorter was still in existence.

This is good enough, although there are little tiny hairs covering my face that should be fine, shaved but not totally shaved to be cleaned off.

Next up was my hair, although shortening my beard does give my a slight advantage of changing my appearance I want to be as thorough as I can.

I apply the scissors to my head hair and begin to shorten my hair. Lumps fall from my head and into the sink. I turn the water on to wash away my hairs as I continue to cut. When I'm finished I gaze upon myself through the mirror and no longer see the man who had been a captive for almost a whole year by Armacham, nor the soldier who was forced into surviving in an apocolyptice city that he caused, but a man who is like any other. My hair was no longer long now, but rather in a crew cut as per what people would say. Average military issue length. I look exactly how I had before putting that balacav on all those years ago. I put my hands into the cold water and apply it to my face to wash away any hairs that haven't fallen from me.

I look different now. Like how I did before the night in Aubrum. The night that changed my life in so many ways that no one could have predicted. A bunch of hairs covering my face spruouting like needles poking from my face, a shorter hair cut to make me look different.

I retrieve my clothes and I walk out of the bathroom where I see Shepard standing in what appeared to be an outfit similar to the punk-themed look I had, if I were to be wearing the clothes Liara had given me, Shepard and I could both be taken as 'punk-rockers'.

"Look great, now move aside I got something to do." Shepard says to me as she brushes right past me into her rest room. I don't even get a chance to really say anything as she brushes right on past me. Gentle pushing me aside as she takes the bathroom to herself.

I sit on a couch looking at some orb that cast a reflection of myself as I wait for her return. I wonder what the orb does, but I don't bother on this for too long instead I occupy myself by waiting. I wait and I wait and I wait until I hear the door sliding open. I stand to greet Shepard and am taken back with her new feature. Her hair which was blood red was no longer its crimson color but rather now a much more vivid midnight black. Her face which was untouched by make-up was now lightly brushed with a black blush. Even her lips seemed to be covered with the dark color and her eyelids shrouded in eyeliner that made her look like she possessed no eyes due to the ammount of make-up she put into surrounding her eye sockets. She transformed herself from the commander I was occupancy of seeing into a 'goth-rocker'.

"Nice look." I say.

"Yeah well I kinda like changing my appearance every now and again. Especially now since we're about to land on Earth. Which by the way so happens to be occupied by Alliance Command. Plus also I hate the attention I would normally get from people when walking down anywhere. Hell I'm a celebrity practically." Shepard tells me.

"For your actions on the Citadel and from what happened on Akuze they made you into a propaganda idol of attention?" I ask.

"Never said I liked it." She says.

True, true.

We leave Shepard's cabin and head down to the cargo bay taking the elevator. I think of how the crew is taking our sudden change of course in going to Earth. "I take it the crew respects your decision on taking me to Earth?" I ask Shepard.

"I told them each individually that you had unfinished business. Taking it how each of them did months ago and how I helped them sort out their problems they were very understanding." Shepard explained to me. So, everyone was alright with me going to Earth then? Good, it shows that they understand my predicament and wish to have me take care of it.

When the elevator opens after a minute we both step out and make way towards the kodiak shuttle. The automatic craft no longer bore the Cerberus logo but rather it was scrapped off to make it look like any other shuttle in order to not draw in attention. I can't help but feel a sort of anxiety just a few short moments I'll be in Fairport and walking down its streets without blowing up cars or murdering half its occupants in a all out guns blazing approach like I had first time I visited the city.

The shuttle door opens and in we go. As I take a seat Shepard sits across from me. I take a look around and realize we're all alone this time. "No one's coming with us?" I ask Shepard.

"Oh...I wouldn't say that." Comes a familiar Australian accent.

"Hellow Ghost. Mind if I stay with you throughout your little visit?" Miranda asks.

"Not at all." I respond to her.

As the shuttle door closes I hear Joker's voice over the intercom. "Attention boy and girls you are now leaving the Normandy SR2 and flying planet side in a UT-47 kodiak drop shuttle. We hope you enjoy yourself and take note that although we saved humanity, that you Commander are still to be grounded by Alliance authorities so be sure not to stay together at all times and not sign any autographs today. Thank you!" Joker said over the intercom leaving me with a slight smile to his somewhat humorous announcement.

"Without any more interruptions shall we go now Commander?" Miranda asked.

Shepard looks to me and I nod.

"Let's go sight seeing." She says and we're soon off and away flying down to earth making our way to the United States city of Fairport.


I hold out the cigar that I still haven't lighten up and the lighter that Kelly borrowed. Pondering on when I should smoke this.

"You know Ghost, that cigar you holding is more of a party cigar than it is one you'd smoke casually." Miranda says to me as she crosses her legs.

"So its like a victory cigar. You smoke it at the right moment?" I ask.

"Exactly." Miranda responds.

"And when will it be the right moment?" I ask.

"That's for you to decide." She says.

Not long afterwards we land at a drop of port and the elevator opens up soon enough. Our parking fee is already paid for with Shepard's money and we soon make off leaving the shuttle behind and head off into the streets of a newly futurized city.

I take in every ounce of magnificence. Admiring everything from the bright shining metalic surface of each building and skyscraper to the clear dirt-less ponds with ducks quaking as young kids throw in bread. I spot a man with two children sitting on a quilt having a picnic and I also see an old man throwing seeds to some pigeons near by. The sky is a clear blue that radiates so beautifully with the bright yellow sun overhead that it reminds me of how much people of my time had imagined what the future would hold. Little did anyone know from the 21st century that it wouldn't be 2025 when everthign looks peachy up until 2185. This little utopian look is long overdue for this city. I recall personally dirty streets, brown skies, polluted out urban locations and gangs from the cities I visted. But all this here looks like the dream city that anyone from my era would hope for. Thank the brilliance of ancient aliens.

"Keep yourself concealed Ghost." Miranda reminds me and I put my hood over my face keeping people from seeing me. We leav the space port without any frustration. Shepard pays all parking and what not as well as tells the lady who authorizes people coming into the city that she is a woman here on personal business. I don't litsen too much to what Shepard says, but she was able to make a believable lie making it seem like we we're just touriest. Our pass ports are fake as our ID's. Apparently my name is Scotty Handal. And occompanying me are Mrs. Handal and Louis Cartwright.

And could you guess who was Mrs Handal?

"Come on dear we shouldn't spend all of our time vistiting staring at our ID's now shall we?" Miranda says.

You guessed it.

We walk by various shops seeing what you'd expect what anyplace would be selling. From restaurant food to nick-nacks and even a fish shop. Shepard who seems to have an obsession with fish spends at least ten minutes inside dragging us around the various displays of the many water life creatures. Some are familiar and others look...alien.

"Say Ghost while we're here why don't you get yourself something from one of the shops I'm sure they should have something you'd like?" Miranda points out.

I take a brief look around and I see nothing that interest me. From what I care to see is the giant skyscrapers that pack the city like a massive jungle of metal and other alloys and metals I can never name, the countless people crowding the city and reaching to different tram stations look like fish crossing through different streams, the sun that beams down onto this once hell hole city now cast a rainbow from the metal windows covering the massive towers, and the complete norm of this city makes it all look boring yet magnificent. If you asked me if I had only dreamed it up, the disaster that had happened so long ago, than I might have actually believed it to be true. Because right now I can't believe how much the city has progressed and transformed into something wonderful and beautiful than ugly and chaotic.

"I'm only here on a detour. I just want to look around sweetheart." I say to my 'wife' as I keep walking while Shepard goes from shop to shop picking up different things. I think I even spotted her going into a comic book store. I suddenly think up of anime for some reason due to the way Shepard goes about store from store hopping in line buying different things like how you'd see in those Japanese cartoons when characters get over joyed or annoyed or whenver the artest decides to make something look funny.

She eventually tells us that we should be fine alone as she goes on a shopping spree. I think to myself and wonder how she can spend so much money on such different things, but then I remember that with someone of her status she clearly has almost a limitless account of money.

As it was just me and Miranda I take her down by a pond where we sit on a bench, we avoided traffic well enough as to not get caught up in the steam of people that bobble to their destinations. She simply sits by me not minding. For some reason however I fell that I am actually being on strict surveillance by her. As if they expect me to blow up the city. Again. I don't hate Miranda, in fact I trust her and admire her. Not just for her body but rather who she is. In a way she and Jack both remind me of myself. Born to fit the desires of a corrupt corporation and then pushed over and beyond limits to meet satisfactory level. Born as children, but then grown to become killers

"You know Ghost although you did destroy this city, you shouldn't feel so guilty about it now. I mean look around you. All that you've done has been swept away and replaced by this marvel of a metropolis. You should let the past die Ghost." Miranda explains ttrying to reassure me, but I refuse to listen. The state's been wiped clean but the scars beneath the surface still remain.

"But that's the thing Miranda, the past lives on through me because although it was a century and a half for everyone else, it was still only months ago for me." I tell her.

"Ghost listen what happened, happened. There's nothing you can do about it now. Just let it go you don't have to live on feeling the way you do." Miranda said.

"I don't think its that easy. You kill half a city and leave countless people permanently scarred by your mistake and you just can't feel the same like how you used to." I tell her. And I shake my head still feeling the guilt of the thousands I killed in a single night. "Unforgiving genocide. The whole 'I was following my orders', or the 'I was trying to stop a great evil'. Its all bullshit." I tell her keeping my face down. My pride and moral dropping the more I remind myself of what I did.

Think of the man who dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, think of all the lives that were ended by the press of a button. think of all the lives that are still damaged after fifty years. Think of the nightmares you'd caused. Think about how the men who ended the war felt after that day. Think about how they went on living knowing they did a great evil to end a war.

"Can I show you something?" Miranda asks me.

I look up at her and she stands up off the bench walking away. I get up and pursue her through the pathway in the park. We walk from the park into the city streets and then into a tram. Inside I ask. "Miranda where are we going?" She just sits down in one of the passenger seats while I sit next to her. Her hands laying palm flat on her lap as I sit by her. I'm looking out at the window to the right and I can see the city buildings stretching as far up to the tip of the clouds above. In a way it's beautiful. Fairport looks incredible in the fall. The clouds that cover some parts of the city leave a darkness while beams of sun light cast a golden glow through the cracks making the city look like tomorrows city. A heven of its own.

I get a chance to look at the various buildings and corporate entertainment and clothing stores. I even spot a few aliens walking by with some humans. A salarian with a human child blowing up a balloon and a asari Maiden talking and laughing with two human teenage girls. I even see a turian body guard watching the door at a club. This whole city has become the melting pot of cross culture and evolved into the city in which people of my time could only see in movies and imagine in the books they read, and walk in the video game worlds that had such cities. It almost makes me wish I were a civilian.

"In a way it looks beautiful despite being crowded." I say to Miranda.

"Even from a disaster, a flower can still bloom." Miranda tells me.

As the tram stops at its next station Miranda and me get out and head off into the station.

"Where are we going?" I ask her.

"You'll see." Miranda tells me as she leads the way.

I keep up with her staying by her side as I keep my hood covering my face while two police officers walk by. We cross a non busy street and come to another tram station. However before entering the station I stop to look at the holographic message that rotates on the top of the entrance.

"To the Fairport Memorial Lake"

The words strike me and I feel a spark in my chest. Miranda was taking me to a memorial? Why? "Miranda, why are you taking me to a memorial?" I ask.

"Because Ghost you need to see it. Just come with me Ghost and I promise you you'll feel a lot better." Miranda says as she stops midway in the steps. I hesitate and just look at the sign above with its moving virtual letters. "Please Ghost, just trust me alright?"Miranda says as she walks down to meet me. She takes my hand and guids me up towards the station.

We sit down in a personal cart, me and Miranda both are across from each other. During the ride to the memorial site a lady comes by offering tea. Miranda asks me if I want any and I nod. She pays six credits for two warm cups of tea and she hands me mine.

I stay silent, not knowing what to say. I sip my tea slowly and admire the apple flavor along with the cinnamon and ginger blended in with the liquid. Miranda sips her tea delicately and eyes me as I keep my gaze down along with my hood. Do I make you nervous Miranda? Do I give you the impression I may do you harm? Do you think me as a man and not a monster? Has Paxton made contact with you too? I think as I keep my eyes trained on my tea. feeling her eyes watch me carefully.

When the tram stops, we leave the cart and begin to walk towards a huge crater that had once been the location of the Vault my mother was trapped in. It has now been filled with water and has become a massive lake. Buildings surround the lake as museums to what had happened to the city. I take in the marvel. It looked so beautiful, so peaceful. So unlike the devastation I had left behind.

People carry flowers by the boquite to a holographic wall surrounding the mile wide lake. Huge highlighted signs glowing with purple and blue and crimson colors say museum, photo memory shots of the city as it had been, a small floral shop for giving flowers to the dead. I don't have money to give flowers to anyone, but I have to give something. I think.

"Let's go take a closer look Ghost." Miranda says as she leads me. When I get to lake I see countless images of people and holographic letters detailing how they survived. Their faces are above the letters detailing who they were and how they survived the 'terrorist attack.' along with detailing of a chemical drug spread throughout the city through the bomb that was detonated. The drug spread into the air and had hallucinogenic affects and caused most people to sturr insane. There are even pictures that were 'enhanced' to show the carnage that people were causing from the 'drugs' messing with their minds.

I end up sitting on a bench. My cigar in my hand and my lighter in the other. I need something to take out the images of seeing people getting eaten, ripped apart and even shot down by the monster and Replicas my mother controlled. I think personally I deserve to be here. Along with these names. How dare I survive and they die. Me who caused there suffering, they should be the ones living and enjoying life. Every time I shut my eyes I see my mother and I see the city sky red with blood and the water crimson with the countless bodies of victims who never made it out alive.

'Fiona Redwood, a little girl who saw her father slice up her mother in a frenzy and feed her to his daughter in order to survive.' That was one of the victims. Just a small kid who only survived because her father brainwashed by my mother. I don't even think about what it must have been like to see one's mother being killed then fed to her daughter. I try my hardest to think something else. I end up thinking of a brick wall and focus on that. But even so I can't escape the faces and names of those who died upon that tragic dawn. Their names and faces imprinting themselves into my mind. Impossible to get them out of my head.

'Danny Ashton, 32 died saving a pregneant woman and her two sons from crazed survivors.'

'Lona Birk, hero of seven who lead a group away from the city that was occupied by crazed survivors from a chemical drug placed in the air.'

'Rocky Miles, ten year old found by U.S. National Guard who had survived eatting out of cans and remained as last survivning member of his family.'

'Mitch Fluke Rue killed while trying to hide in subway tunnels.'

"Ghost come here I want you to see something." Miranda says and I look up to see her. She begins leading me back to the monument of my sins. She stops as she reaches a tablet with holographic letters on it. She motions for me to come and I do. Unable to turn away from the memorial.

"You see this Ghost. This is the memorial of which all the people who died, their names are all right here in this terminal. You can look up anyone if you know their first or last name. Including the names of those who thwart the 'terrorist bombing'." Miranda explains as she reads the terminal.

'A memento to all who had died in the year of 2025 August 16th. These are the victims and heroes who had died and fought and saved a city that was under terrorist occupation for nearly a year.' I read as I'm shown the terminal. I think about typing down a name in particular. One person whom I never found out made it or not.

Betters.

I look for the right name and see two matches of the same last name. But I can't find him anywhere. Of course Rowdy isn't going to be in here. It was a quiet operation, no one knew about our operation in Fairport nor our names. Classified knowledge kept from public eyes. I hope he made. But then again I'm not completly certain. I just hope the U.S. Army has his name under someplace that regognizes good people like him. Wish I could've known him better.

"You see Ghost. Your not a monster. The monsters are those who had made you what you are and the ones who transformed your mother into a raging spirit of wrath." Miranda says confronting me and I can't keep my eyes of the monument. All the faces staring at me. Their killer. I memorize all the names and photograph their faces within my thoughts. I never cried. I don't want to now. But deep down I feel guilt. If I could meet these people now. Tell them I'm sorry. Will it make things better?

"I'm no hero. Heroes are things of legends and stories. I'm no legend and I come from no story." I tell Miranda responding back to her remark telling me I'm not the villain and that I didn't cause the crime.

I feel Miranda griping my Shoulder and I turn to met her. "Ghost your right. Your no legend, and you certainly don't come from a story. But you are a warrior. You've fought a battalion of super soldiers just because you were ordered to. And you were able to prevent the Apocalypse that your mother was going to cause. Your not a hero, but your a survivor and warrior who is willing to fight and go into the depths of Hell. Because that's what warriors do Ghost. They fight." Miranda says to me.

"Come on. Let's go find some place to eat at. Its getting late and the memorial closes at eight sharp. We can spend the last hour and a half looking around and I'll buy flowers for you to put by the memorial lake." Miranda tell me and begins to lead me as I follow. I take one last look back at the monument and I can't help but give a salute to all the people I've gotten killed. It wasn't a snappy quick reply you'd give when an officer passed. No, this was a salute to those who didn't make it and to those who surrvied the catastroph I casued. I salute to living and the dead. To the names I'll never know and the faces I'll never forget.

I failed you, but I promise you. I will never fail again. This I owe you and this I swear.

After promising these silent words from an unspeaking mouth I turn to walk away. I feel almost as if countless eyes are bearing into my back as I turn away. Those people that Paxton had summoned to harm me...they weren't really the survivors. At least...that's what I like to think. And that's what I choose to believe.

I'm sorry. So sorry about everything. I want to be better...I want to make it up to you somehow, but how? One day, there will come a time when I can make things right. And when that day comes...I want you all to know that I carry on your spirits. I will fight for you.

"We know."

I turn back almost immediately only to see no one. I look all around but only see people dropping off flowers and going into buildings. Did I hear the voice of one of the people who died by my mistake? Or was it just my imagination? Did they hear my thoughts and did they acknowledge my condolence and deepest appology? I may never find out if it was real or just my mind playing tricks. But I choose to believe it was them. Only beacuse it makes me feel beter.


Miranda and me sit down at a coffee shop eating steak and some rolls along with obviously coffee. I end up playing with my food instead of eating. I poke at the meat with my fork and just eying my coffee.

"Ghost...I know this all feels bad for you. In fact you remind me of Shepard almost when she visited the Normandy crash site. It was very emotional for her as well. For an entire day she locked herself in her room. You've got to move on Ghost. Please." Miranda says as I look up from my food at her.

"I'll do what I have to when the time comes Miranda. But for now. I have to at least let the grief bleed out of me." I say.

"You may not have a home to come back to Ghost, but consider this. Wherever you go...think of the Normandy and...me along with everyone else as family. Although some of us are...afraid of you, we look after each other." Miranda soothes me.

I sigh and I caress my face in my hands.

Think of the Normandy as home?

It was an option I would agree. But even so staying aboard will only stir up more troubles. I'm a criminal now. One day the authorities are going to catch up to me. I can't keep running. Sooner or later I have to stand and face the crowd and thier stones.

Just then, three people walk in through the coffee shop door. A child wearing a knot and a dark dress that forms around her skeletal body. A tall man with a shaved head wearing similar dark clothing with a cotton jacket and black shirt followed by dark pants and shoes. A woman with crimson hair and a white face wearing a black suit similar to what everyone seemed to wear now days except hers had white patterns.

"You've come back." The man says smiling. I only look at him.

The little girl who I realize is wearing a morbid necklace made out of the skulls of dead birds holds between her chest an even more morbid doll. "I made this for you Witness of The Child of the Dead Mother."

I look out at the doll the little girl holds out to me. To not take it will be disrespectful and to shatter this little girl's heart for wanting to give me a gift. I decide to be a paragon and accept the gift.

"Thank you I'll keep it." I say to her and she smiles a wide smile. A childs smile.

"We've longed for your return. The prophecy of the Dead Mother is coming true with every day and night that passes," The man says as he pulls out from his sleeve a flyer. "Please if you have time Witness come to the church and listen to the word of the Dead Mother. Listen to her prophecy. Come dearest Witness and child of the Dead Mother." He says.

"Ill consider it." I respond. Miranda gives me a look and I do my best to give a nod.

"Please do Witness. We've longed for our Dead Mother. Others preach a false Maker, a Goddess and of blind ignorance. But we know who is our mistress, we serve her always and forever." The woman then informed.

The three of them give a bow and the man proceeds with saying. "Our church is located here come by for a hearing dearest Witness whenever you have a chance. If you stop by we will also give to you something that was once lost. You won't be disappointed." He says passing the information into my omi-tool.

I think of what he could mean by something that was once lost from me.

"What is it exactly you have of mine?" I ask.

"It is an old relic but one we wish for you to see for yourself if you have the time dear Witness." He says and then turns away with his family close behind him.

When they leave Miranda gives me an unapproving look. "You don't actually plan on going do you?" Miranda asks me.

"I know it's a crazy idea Miranda, but it won't hurt to at least stop by for a few minutes. We got time. Besides they say they have somethign of mine. That, and what's the worst that can happen I blow up the city again?" I say to her half serious and the other half trying to make an attempt at some black comedy even though it was a poor and actually very horrible joke. She shakes her head.

"Ghost if you say so. But do tell me your not going to keep that." She points out to the doll in my hand. I look at it and then back at her.

"That little girl probably spent a long time working on this. I think I'll hang on to it since she put effort into it." I say to her. I take another look at the doll and I can't help but be reminded of my mother due to how much it looks like her. Might as well call this morbid child's toy an Alma Doll.


We finished up our food and we went into a floral shop. Miranda paid for my flowers so that I can place them near the monument. This place was beautiful and so tranqual it looked like a garden of beauty and peace. The sun was already setting and night would come shortly. We had to be leaving now. Leaving me to some final moments alone, Miranda waited by the tram station as I placed a decorated assortment of roses, velvents lavander and other exotice flowers upon the shore to the lake of the monument. All the holographic faces looking at me. Ignoring some stares I was recieving I bid one final salute to the people of Fairport.

They're hearts and souls living always in me.

We're back inside the tram in our own cart looking out the windows of a city re-modled, the busy streets crowded with people as the night awkens. When the tram stops we exit and are back in the busy streets of Fairport. I get out along side with Miranda by me as we walk around. Down one street we look down different roads and allyways. When were reaching what could be possible a night club. I think of places to go and Iimagine going to that one church those people directed me to. I consider this for a while and decide that gooing to this 'church' of some people I barly knew can wait.

I end up dragging Miranda through crowds and carry us to a ledge overlooking another part of the city. Were standing above on an observative lookout where touriest would come to oversee the city. Miranda pays two credits for me to look out through a set of binoculars. The moon was overlooking everything below. Turn off all devices in Fairport and you would be able to see the blue glow from the moon shining down on the city creating a romantic setting.

"You know you never told me about your sister." I ask Miranda as she just leans on the edge of the rail guarding us from a forty storey fall.

"What is it that you'd like to know?" Miranda ask back.

"Anything." I say as I keep looking at everything from our vantage point.

"Well her name is Oriana in case you didn't know." Miranda tells me.

"Oh. That's different. Different in a goodway." I mention never hearing a name like that before.

"You can say were twins. However I'm much older where she is younger. She's a clone subject as am I." Miranda explains.

"Clones, you?" I ask.

"Yeah my father made us both. Born from tanks without no real motehrs. Only the so called 'love' of an uncareing father." Miranda explains.

"You seem real bothered by your dad. He really a prick like how you make him seem?" I ask.

"I'd preffer your mother over my father. At least your mother was willing to destroy the world for you and your siblings." Miranda has me smirking a little.

"You know your funny right?" I say.

"Don't kid me Ghost. Humor isn't my thing." Miranda tells me as I remove my eyes from the binoculars for a moment.

"Your something special Miranda. You and everyone aboard the Normandy who fought along with Shepard and saved the galaxy. You guys are the things people would imagine in movies and video games." I say admiringly.

"Oh don't flatter me Ghost. Your the one who save the universe from you mother." Miranda whips back at me.

"Yeah well...don't forget I'm the one who in a way fucked up a whole lot in the process." I mention back towards my inccident with Fairport.

For a while we just stood their in a silence then breaking the moment I went ahead and decided to say somthing different to thwart our conversation from refrencing anything of my doings. "So when this whole thing is over. With the Reapers, what will you be doing with the rest of your life?"

"I plan on just maybe getting started with a life with Oriana. Maybe in time we'll find a place we can live together, I can get a simple job and she'll go off into college or someting. Whatever so long as I know my sister is happy and were living together." Miranda explains to me.

"And what about you Ghost? What will you do when everything is all done and clear?"

I stayed silent not knowing what to say. I couldn't think of anything. I only stared at the pale dark haired beauty before me. Not knowing what to do, I never thought of how my life might be here. Sure Liara would talk to me about these things, but I never had a lcear answer. And then a thought come into my head. Without thinking on it I blurt it out in a simple acknowledging way.

"I'll do what I'm born for."

"So that's it then Ghost? Just fight on until your old and grey?" Miranda ask me questioning my line of judgement regarding how I choose to live my life.

"What do you preffer miss Lawson? I just move out to some foriegin area where I spend my days in a cabin letting time catch up with me?" I respond.

"No but maybe it would be nice to just meet up with someone, raise a family and perhapse leave something behind so the world knows you existed." Miranda says offering a suggestion.

"It's not easy Miranda. What you and everyone else does on the Normandy are is something I'm not. Your heros. I'm..." I trail off trying to find something to put into definition of who I am. What am I? I'm no hero that's for sure. Everything I've done was on instinct not heroics.

"Ghost trust me alright. Your not all that bad. We don't hate you, if anything you can say some of us...kinda fear you." Miranda says and her voice kinda hallows out speaking sofly. Was it true? Was everyone afraid of me especially of the unknown forces I've brought up into their lives?

"The things we've seen. The things I know about you and what your brother and mother are capable of..." She trails off a bit as she recollects what she's gatherd from investigating about me and my family's origins. I wonder what part of my family tree hasn't spooked her completly.

"Sure there are set backs to your good nature. But your better than them. Morrally speaking of course." Miranda rest a hand on me and then nods. I return the gesture.

"Come on there are still plenty of wonders in this marvelous city." She offers me and we walk down a flight of stairs together.


Next chapter will focus on Shepard a bit more and give a detail of the new mega corp running the show in Fairport, give PM a break out of the spotlight. Also my computer is loaded with viruses so I'm not updating anytime soon. I wrote this all in the library (FYI) and will be very unactive. (Shit I really hate not being able to write like how I used to with this story) I really want to just finish up with this story like you guys wouldn't believe. I have the ending and final chapters all plotted out etc. But without any fucking internet I can't update!. Sorry. I'm pissed. But yeah this sucks. Normally I don't swear, only if I'm showing a large amount of a certain emotion. Anger mostly right now. Alardem thanks for the tips with describing Fariport and I would like to tell you all that The FEAR Tracker is a pretty good story and is worth the couple of spare mintues at least. I got nothing else to say other than I'm sorry FEAR Revelations fans. Hopefully I will be able to get a new laptop or get it fixed.

Peace out.

\m/(*_*)\m/

(Also if there's any spelling errors I would have fixed those had the timer on this computer not run out. And this will be the last chapter with the Point Man looking like an angesty ani-hero next chapter will have him be a superb Renegade hero!)