With the Mass Effect Remaster just around the corner *cough* five days *cough* I decided to post a concept that I created for a writing challenge. It was originally for the Mass Effect Amino but I don't have it anymore and I'm really proud of it so it's gonna be here now. Woo! If any readers haven't played this game not only do I HIGHLY recommend it but it's gonna be confusing.
Anyways, as said, this is set after the Fall of Thessia in ME3. If you don't remember who the quotes are from I'll say at the end.
"The last time I had a briefing with Anderson he told me to take care of you. The guy leading the resistance; on EARTH - is worried about you and I'm suppose to help."
"-A penguin is driving through the Arizona desert."
"You were the one who was right all along. You fought when no one else would. When no one else believed you. You can do this, I know you can."
"A battle doesn't make a war. We're still in this."
It's not enough.
Despite the reassurance from those she has grown close to, heck, even grown to love, it still wasn't enough.
Everyone was counting on her, putting their hope into her to end this war once and for all. She knew what Cerberus was capable of yet she didn't- no, she should of prepared for anything!
Still..their words had somewhat calmed her mind.
Shepard sat down in her cabin pouring herself a glass of red wine. Picking up the full glass she heard a soft beep and turned her attention to her message pad seeing the light blink to notify her of a recently sent message. She picked it up with her other hand and leaned back to try and relax reading the subject title, 'Asari Military'.
"News of survivors, hopefully." She thought while bringing the glass to her lips and opening the message, light, upbeat, eletronica music playing in her cabin to drown out the silence along with the constant bubbling of her fish tank.
The first sentence immediately grabbed her attention causing her to freeze mid sip, pulling the glass away from her line of sight, full attention on the message.
"Good. You opened this message. This isn't actually asari military command. They're busy tending to what's left of their planet. So, you survived our fight on Thessia. You're not as weak as I thought. But never forget that your best wasn't good enough to stop me,"
Shepard sat upright, clenching her fingers around the device instantly knowing who it was but her eyes couldn't leave the screen, reading on.
"-Now an entire planet is dying because you lacked the strength to win. The legend of Shepard needs to be rewritten. I hope I'm there for the last chapter. It ends with your death."
-KL
Sweat trickled down her brow while rereading the paragraph, the grip on her glass slowly tightening unable to hear the cracks beginning to form and grow. It wasn't til her eyes landed on the initials that she finally snapped, breaking the glass in her hand. "Kai Leng." She whispered with pure hatred staring at her hand covered in glass shards, wine, and her own blood but her mind was too preoccupied to register the pain.
She shot to her feet, her chest rising and falling with uneven, heavy breaths, her eyes darting in every direction hearing the sounds of the Reapers mechanical roars as they landed followed by the screams and cries of their victims. She squeezed her eyes shut and threw her hands to her ears to drown out the noises when she remembered the message pad still in her hand. With wide eyes she read over the message one more time.
It was all her fault.
The scars from her cybernetics burned and her eyes glew red in rage as she gripped the pad tightly in her hand and threw it as hard as she could across the cabin, hitting the fish tank square in the center not only causing it to slightly crack but the fish to scatter in fright. Her body trembled when her eyes landed on her reflection in the cracks of the tank her mind filled with images of every close call from this war all the way to the beginning when she had lost her entire crew on Akuze. She couldn't take it anymore.
A mix of a scream and cry escaped her mouth as she flipped her table over, knocking it's contents onto the ground; shattering the wine glasses and bottle. Grunts, yells, and screams replaced the upbeat music along with the sounds of her model ships being thrown off their shelving and scattered everywhere, her bedding looking as if an animal had done laps on it.
It wasn't til Shepard had stood in the center of her completely trashed cabin that she dropped to her knees and began punching the ground instead, screaming into nothing. A minute passed with her knuckles starting to bruise and bleed her punches growing weak til she was hunched over on her elbows.
She failed.
Her eyes were returning to their natural blue color but there was a small hint of red from her cybernetics. Her brows lifted in sadness, tears prickling her eyes til she couldn't fight it anymore. Tears hit her bleeding knuckles and she lowered her head. "I'm sorry." She repeated to herself as she wept, the turned over clock playing the music having changed to a slow, soft piano music.
I wish they had added something like this to the game to show that despite what Shepard has done they are still human and have emotions. I had a lot of fun writing this and I hope you did too. First quote was Joker. Second was EDI. Third was Tali. Last was Garrus. Please leave reviews for I enjoy hearing from you all. :)