Ahhh...So this is: To all fans. I know this is a very short chapter compared to what I'm aiming for. 10,000 words a chapter, more or less. However, I need a fork in the road to lead toward the other side project that I want to work on.

That is the part I want to take the time to talk about it since I'm branching off WAY earlier than suspected. However, the plot for the two stories remains the same. Focusing on the mass Effect universe which will continue while the branch off will start AFTER this chapter and continue from there as its own story.

You already have a generalization of what this is leading toward and yes. I won't sit here and Bullshit YOU. But once you read this chapter you clearly see that this is the branch off between staying in the Mass Effect Universe and leaving it. I won't spoil what I have planned between the two.

What I WILL Spoil is the combination of universes that will meld together at the end of the First or second Chapter of the butterfly affected branch off. The first one or two will stay in the mass effect universe but when I leave it into the following...combined universes.

Black Lagoon (Anime) After the events of Roberta's Bloodtrail.

Hellsing Ultimate (Anime) Before the start of the OVA (And I will be involved during the Battle of London but not get directly involved with the story)

Bleach (Anime) Before the start of the show, or pilot if you will.

Jormungand (Anime) Before the start as above.

The last will be a tricky one...but it more takes place AFTER my own person ARC after the anime arcs above. It will be voted by you the fans between three...polls end at the end of January. You can vote with your reviews. The Choices are.

Tokyo Ghoul - realistically before the start (Oh dear...this is going to be a nightmare...)

An alternate Rosario + Vampire story. - Before the start (not adding the whole manga bit with Alucard since there already IS an Alucard, this will be more of a slice is life within the ANIME version, not MANGA!)

Is this a Zombie? - Before the start (Oh, fucking please. I'd make my day lmao)

Inuyasha - Before the beginning. (I can make this work but its going to be difficult)

(For shits and giggles, IF. IF! The fans decide) Highschool DxD. - Before the start (I CAN make this work but, ah...if the fans wish it. Then fuck it)

Now each Black Lagoon, Bleach, Jormungand, and Hellsing will all have their own original arc going on WHILE I pursue my own goals which will be explained by then I just HAPPEN to be in the general area at the time. Sometimes I might get involved during certain arcs. Depending on the situation. Chances are the major characters will have cameo appearances except for Bleach since the characters in that one are VAST with characters, that may get involved with what is going on with me. That being said, the butterfly effect can and WILL happen. As well as cross-overs. I could throw it in the X-overs category and make it one big universe, however, the reason why I will make each anime arc separate is that they barely intermingle unless it's a cameo phone call or some shit. The only time they will cross over is WHEN the focus forces them to intermingle like Bleach and Hellsing. Chances of that are slim. I'll stay as canon as possible with all of them. Other than that each anime is like an ARC for me basically. That way things don't get too confusing with all the mixing.

The Life of Living In a Multi-Anime Universe. Coming soon. Now enjoy the feature presentation. I DON'T OWN SHIT!

July 12th, 2157

2:00 AM

501st barracks, Northern Shanxi

A news report flashed just as I was finishing gearing up preparing for the conflict heading our way. I was adjusting my armor thinking about how fucked everything has become. For fuck's sake, my hands are still shaking ever since I heard the news. The "First Contact War" or "Relay 314 Incident", whichever you want to call it…it already has me in a bad place, mentally speaking.

For the ones that don't know, the "First Contact War" was what humans call the conflict with the alien species called, "Turians" from the video game "Mass Effect". Which, I'm SOMEHOW living in. How I got here even I don't know. Tear in the fabric of space and time? Who fucken knows at this point, and more importantly who fucken cares? It's the trauma that I had to live with afterward that has me all fucked up.

Just one fucked up thing after another then suddenly, I'm the commander of the frontlines of this god-damn shitshow. How the fuck did this happen? Eh, considering MY past… I guess it's better to focus on surviving it rather than thinking about shit that is over and done with.

In the farthest back of my mind, only one thing still floats around. There was this…fucked up twist of fate that even I couldn't predict. Hannah Shepard, the mother of MY child. She was killed in action when she was a part of the scouting party that went through that damned Relay that ended being attacked by the turian forces. Luckily, I found out that our daughter was back on earth when it happened. Her ship held off the turian fleet so only ONE ship could make it back to warn the rest of us. The rest of the ragtag group of scouting ships got annihilated from what I hear. The surviving crew claimed that they were outgunned, straight up. When I heard of this, I thought of Hatsu immediately.

Knowing him, he is laughing like a psychotic madman. Generals wanted to focus more on speed rather than firepower, while Hatsu wanted to balance out the ratio. At the same time, Hatsu didn't argue with the generals, Hatsu said. AND I QUOTE: "It's their lives there fucking with. Not my fucken problem if they got what "THEY" wanted, and still manage to fuck it up." Even so, the mother of MY child died during that fucking expedition.

Even with half of the fleet above us, GONE. They still claim that we will hold these alien forces at bay to protect Shanxi. I know the truth… The turians will occupy Shanxi regardless of what I say or do. I could interfere with the timeline, BUT it's already fucked with Hanna dead. It's leading toward Shepard to be raised on earth as an orphan, thusly leading toward a bigoted, xenophobic, asshat that is the "Renegade" version which is frowned upon by most fans. I especially don't want that. Besides, even if I told "General Williams" then the butterfly effect will take things in a direction that will have dire consequences, perhaps that could effect the Reaper War in the near future. That's years from now, true, yet…I don't want anything to come back and bite me in the ass. I can't just be the fucken hero at every fucken turn. I don't want this "War", or should I say skirmish, to turn into a full-blown war as well. There is a fine fucken line, and I can't fuck with it. Worse yet, he is encouraging local civilians to law enforcement, and even criminal smugglers to join in on the fight. He personally will pardon anyone with a criminal record if they do. Which, he has no real power to do so. The situation is getting worse by the minute.

My platoon is being sent outside of the city itself and it's our responsibility to create a "beachhead" and is ordered to engage the enemy if they ever step foot on the planet itself. We have no idea where the turian forces are going to land AS a beachhead. I was being sent to the north and they could land in the south, that would make my point being there, completely-fucken-pointless. It was so aggravating and nerve-racking, hence my shakes and jitters. All forces are to create trenches along the outer edge of the colony and fortify the inner city.

Yet again, I'm being sent as FUCKING CANNON FODDER! This is not the first, second, or third time this has happened in my alliance career. I mean it was against Mercs, pirates, slavers, criminals, and whatnot but this is my first time as a fucking COMMANDER, AND I JUST ARRIVED WITH THIS PLATOON. I didn't have ONE damn day to see how green these guys were. Which were extremely green. I mean zero combat experience except for ME! GOD-FUCKEN-DAMN-IT.

At this point, it just feels like the Alliance is trying to do everything in its power to get rid of me. The irony is that I'm leaving service once my term was over! I just personally had enough of the bullshit that goes round and round.

"Commander!" Burrow said again snapping me in front of my train of thought. Apparently, he was yelling at me several times until he NOW got my attention. I glanced at him feeling annoyed more at the situation than at him. It was written all over my face. Typically, I don't hide such bullshit and I even informed him that fuckery was afoot beforehand. "General Williams ordering us out…"

"Of course, he is. We die while he sits in his fucking ivory tower. Fucken prick." I commented which Burrow tried to force a small smirk. Any man could see how scared he was…how we all were…We were all on a fucking death march.

"I only know you a day and I'll ready can sense the bad blood between you and the General." Burrow commented.

I sighed and lowered my head looking at the ground. I stared at the floor beneath my feet and counted to five. When I got to five, I stood up and grabbed my helmet, which I hated fucking wearing. "Yeah, well. It is what it is…" I irked while pulling out a joint of weed, I had three left after this one then I was out. I put the joint of weed in my mouth while reaching out for a lighter. I grabbed it and lit my joint, taking a deep drag once it was lit. I inhaled sharply trying to calm down my anxiety then exhaled.

"Sir, I don't think…" Burrow warned then once he saw my expression of "really dude?", he cut himself off.

"Like I give a fuck. Besides, how else would I get the nickname the "Lazy Honeybadger". I said while taking another drag and exhaling. This time having a small coughing fit since this was a bit of a heavier hit than last. Burrow chuckled and realized that I was offering him a drag.

Burrow looked at it for a moment and scratched his nose before saying. "Eh, Fuck it." Burrow walked over and reached out pinching the end with his thumb and pointer finger and took a drag himself. He took a long drag than I'd expected and had a worse coughing fit than I did. He's a bit of a lightweight, huh?

"Let's get to work, eh?" I said as took the joint from Burrow, stuck it in my mouth, and started moving. The platoon was geared up and ready to move. Most were stunned that I was walking out with a fucking joint in my mouth. The last commander they had typically smoked cigars. This was almost as if it was completely new. It wasn't since Marijuana is now legal but treated as alcohol within the military. They don't care if you do it during your own time, just not on the Alliance's time.

Me, I just don't give a fuck. I mean that in the truest of ways and in all ways. I just don't care. I don't let shit bother me unless someone went out of their way to make it personal with me. Other than that, everyone in this galaxy can live however they damn well please for all I care. Want to be a murderer, criminal, assassin, holy man, ordinary jackoff, politician, law enforcer, lawyer, then fine, cool, whatever. It's you're life. Do whatever the fuck, YOU want to do. It always annoyed me when people gave people guilt trips about being "good people".

To be completely fair, life is subjective, that's common sense, no? Someone may say "in their belief, or "opinion" that [this] is evil and [this] is good" while another says the complete opposite. At that point, you question which is good and which is evil by looking at the action.

Sometimes the action might be neither, sometimes you look at the motherfucker and think "You think having a sex change is evil? What the fuck? Who are you to judge?" or "You think shoving household items up your ass for sexual pleasure is FINE? Dildo sure, but a TOILET PLUNGER!? WHY?! WHAT IF IT BREAKS OFF! WHAT IF YOU GET SPLINTERS?! INSIDE YOUR ASS?! MORE IMPORTANTLY, WHY IN THE BATHROOM STALL OF WHERE YOU WORK!".

I learned that it's better to let some shit go. Sometimes it's better not to hear those people's answers because sometimes they leave you more confused than a homeless person on house arrest. I always say, "In life and work. There is a method to the madness, you just got to find your own way." If someone is confused by that, I dumb it down by saying. "Just because it makes sense for you, doesn't mean it has to make sense for someone else."

If I were to describe my stance on shit, in terms of Dungeons and Dragons. I'd say I'm closer to Chaotic Neutral than anything else. If you view me as a piece of shit, then cool, if you view me as a saint, then… OK, I guess? People can view me however they want, and I'll just own up to it, accept it and move on. All in one giant stride. We humans may think we're these social creatures and whatnot. Some people maybe. Not me though. We're individual creatures at first. We choose to be more social or non-social second.

Me, I have a George Carlin-type stance on groups because the more people are added to that group the more it slowly changes to fit everyone's perspective of things. Personally, I adore individuals far more. If you take a second and look through their eyes, you may see things from a different perspective that a group may not see or question. That's me though. If someone enjoys my presence and thought process, then stick around. If someone doesn't, then you know where the damn door is.

OUR platoon moved deep into the thicket, taking about another 3 hours to get where we were supposed to be. It took so damn long because we weren't given any vehicles or armor since they couldn't make it through the path unless they take the old road that cuts along the forest. More importantly, I didn't want us being spotted by forces from the air.

I knew ONE thing and that the turians were going to have air superiority regardless. So, if we're going to have any chance of holding out or surviving confrontation. It's we are going to need the element of surprise, thusly guerrilla warfare is the best option. Lucky for us. The Shanxi forest is vast and covers a lot of territories. It's rocky and had bulky, thick tree roots that could hide excellent small group ambush parties scattered throughout the forest. The trick is to lure the turians into the forest where things are going to turn into Vietnam fast! I'm talking about the Mel Gibson film, "We Were Soldiers" than anything else.

Everyone covered themselves in mud, dirt and hid throughout the forest while hiding mines, claymores, and shit like that throughout the forest as well. Meanwhile, I lead the team to lure in the turians. Meanwhile, not trying to trip over our own damn mines and pray we don't get hit by friendly fire. The plan is to lead them away from Shanxi and deep within the forest and cause that much confusion and disarray that they get confused and lost in the forest to bide Shanxi as much time as possible. We all accepted that we're going to die, so might go down swinging with a fucking fire ax. We were all armed with combat knives, omi-bayonets, a few had hand axes, or whatever personalize hand-to-hand weapon they had.

Personally, I was equipped with the "Old Man's" Katana that Hatsu had given me prior just before leaving, a M-7 Avenger, top-of-the-line N-7 armor, and the last gift Hatsu had for me. It was the Recon Hood seen in the game itself. Apparel that too was made by Hatsu himself. Who knew? Gave me a reason not to wear that fucking helmet. Everyone was super jealous because, not going to lie, it's fucking dope. It makes targeting faster, smoother, easier, and plus various different visions. Infrared that I could turn off or on, 2x to 10x zoom, and can protect my head from light arms fire. Can't take a shotgun, sniper, or assault rifle round to the head but it can deflect a pistol and SMG rounds, for limited times that is.

I pulled over my hood and now, the waiting game. The small unit was scattered all around the tree line waiting for anything in the grassy, swampy, planes in front of us. We have no idea where or when these aliens will show. If they're going to show that is. The Lieutenant was adamant about coming with whatever was whatever. I left each squad to do as they see fit because who knows if I will survive the first wave, let alone the following ones, or even during the retreat. Worst case scenario we are to retreat to an old abandon power plant at the other end of the forest. Turns out if worst comes to worst and they follow us all the way there, then fuck it. We blow the power plant and take as many with us. We already have estimated that the explosion would only take out the majority of the forest anyway and if we are going to go out then go out with a bang.

That's when the calls came in. All space flight commlink chatter went fucking nuts and eyes were looking up at the stars. As dawn set, you could briefly see the orbital combat from the ground. You couldn't exactly hear anything except for the chatter. They were barely holding their own until…

"Sir, the alien shuttles have been sighted.…SHIT!" A private reported over the commlink. "Several shuttles got past our defenses! All Northern ground forces! ETA!" There was a pause as static interference cut up the chatter a bit. I could make out what he was saying though. Barely. "ETA. 15 Minutes! GOD-" Was the last thing was reported until a brief scream interrupted the message, and the com went to complete static. That's when I snapped myself to get ready for anything by placing the bottom of the rifle on a branch for support and aimed at the clearing waiting for them to land. There was nothing at first until you could hear the unfamiliar sound of engines from above.

"Hold your fucking fire. Wait until I give the order!" I whispered as an order through the omi-radio as every gun in my platoon aimed at this turian shuttle, from what it seems, trying to find a solid place to land to deploy their troops. As for the order part, they are to wait until I make the first shot, after that fire at will. We waited until they got comfortable then make their lives complete hell. There were only say, 30 of us at the tree line while the rest were deeper in. Once their air support started on us, or the numbers got uncomfortably high then we bolt back where the real fun begins.

I guess, the turians decided to land in a clearing to the north of the forest and it appears that these guys were going to attack from the north as suspected. I would suspect they were going to use the forest as cover; however, we beat them to the punch. I sighed knowing full and well…once I pulled the trigger…I will have killed my first alien…this isn't something I find pride in…in fact…I HATE IT. However, if I don't…then chances are they'll just kill me. I must do what I must to survive…God damn it.

The doors of the bulky shuttle open and as soon as the first turian's boots kissed the planet. Everyone was getting impatient as hell. Burrow, who was say 20 yards away from me was eyeballing me and glancing back at the turians. He was nervous as fuck. I could see the beads of sweat rolling down the side of his face from here. However, I wanted to know how man forces one shuttle held, and to my horror and surprise. One Shuttle held about a half dozen squads. They looked like a cross between the Clone Shuttles from Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and the Shuttles from Starship Troopers. They were goofy-looking but contained more infantry than one would suspect.

In that instance, I knew and thought. "Fuck it' and fired in controlled burst only focusing on one target at a time. The first burst damaged their shields then the second burst finished him/her off. I think… During the first burst, the turian was scared shitless causing him/her to dart for cover, the second volley dropped him/her before it could find some. I couldn't tell what gender the poor bastard was since it had a helmet on. I managed to hit it in the mid-section. It dropped like a sack of potatoes, yet still moved. I couldn't tell if it was a confirmed kill or not.

The others joined in on the fray until shit really got real. Three more of their dropships came in. Hell, someone on our side was bold enough to fire a rocket round at the shuttle. Direct hit. The pilot lost control and crashed into the earth. It didn't explode but that's when I knew. Things are going to get bad quickly. However, before I could signal the retreat. The turians fired at the tree line forcing me to hit the deck since they were firing toward me.

I covered my head as dirt, bullets, and parts of the tree flew all around me. I crawled backward out of the little, rooty nest I was hiding in. Rolling to my right behind the tree, I crawled up and that's when I saw one more shuttle that quickly turned into two, two to three. Three to five. Jesus-fuck'n-Christ…they were going to throw the entire kitchen sink at us…FUCK!

The fighting didn't stop for a millisecond once it started. Guns, sniper rifles, and RPG were fired at random from both sides. Further down a turian's started using some type of grenades, I guess because small explosions were going off down the line past Burrow.

"Sir! We need to pull back!" Burrow cried over the radio since I didn't know where the fuck he went. I was turned around and knew I had to retreat as well. It's soon time for the ambush teams to have their time to shine. As the turian forces grew, our odds of survival shrank. Their numbers escalated faster than we could put them down and they began to look like a real army marching toward the tree line and we were completely outgunned.

"YEA! YOU THINK?!" I barked over the radio while firing at the growing sea of turian forces. Only one shuttle was shot down from a direct impact from an RPG. I didn't see how ANYONE could have survived that explosion as it crushed a few turians below. The soldier who did it howled in triumph, raising his fist in the air, only to have a bullet go through the center of his forehead almost immediately.

"JUST GIVE THE ORDER, SI-" Burrow was about to say, but before I could say anything at all. That's when I heard aircraft coming in…ah, fuck! They came in hammering the god-damn entire tree line with rockets. I was sent flying in God knows which direction. Everything went silent, I was disoriented. I could barely move, but lucky enough for me. I was fine…

I forced myself to up by propping myself against a tree and looked around. I saw soldiers starting to get picked off and the sound of Burrow giving the retreat until the second volley from another airstrike. Everything sounded muffled and miles away and then I noticed my radio turned to static. My side had fewer numbers and was already beginning the retreat. That's when I forced myself up since if I stay here…I'm a dead man.

As I retreated… there was this young lad who laid against the roots of a tree screaming for his momma. He was holding on to his innards as he was screaming and blood pouring out of his mouth as he held in his innards. I tapped the commlink. "Retreat! Issue the retreat! They control the fucking sky!"

As I forced myself to run as fast as I could manage, some soldiers grouped up with me and prepared to move deeper into the forest…we were being pushed back by the turians just by sheer numbers. "GOD DAMN IT! WHERE THE FUCK IS OUR AIR SUPPORT!" A soldier screamed.

We started pulling back into the thicket. A Soldier screamed. "Covering FIRE!" As they held down the trigger spraying in any direction at the pursing turian forces, whom all were right on my ass. As I managed to get further ahead, I glanced back just to see around go through the back of a soldier's head that was running in front of me. He collapsed where he stood. "SHIT!" I snapped as my body was moving on its own. My instincts kicked in and forced me to move through hell. Wasn't the first, sure as shit won't be the last.

From what I gathered; we were heading deeper into the forest and ambush parties started hammering turians when they entered their kill zones. The turians didn't suspect it and we took out three or four at a time. However because of the sheer number of them. The Ambush parties did one or two things. One, just engaged to hand-to-hand combat, to hold them back as long as possible for the others to escape. Secondly, just retreated with the rest. Some poor unfortunate souls got stuck in the roots and were killed on the spot by a turian standing over them or from a grenade that happened to land right in front of them. It was chaotic nightmare. I turned around to catch a turian getting too eager to catch my group which caused me to spin around to unloaded on him until the Lancer was damn near overheated. Shit! SHIT, SHIT! That's when one or two of the soldiers that was running with me spun around finishing him off and then without reacting, we pushed on ahead.

It continued like this until we reached somewhere in the middle of the forest where explosions started going off near and behind us. The turians found the scattered explosive traps. Hell, even our own soldiers ran into them as well. Sometimes a soldier would disappear because of a landmine or whatever was hidden so damn well, that or because of the chaos, they simply forgot about them. No one was really thinking clearly. I sure as shit wasn't. After that soldiers started grouping up to lead each other through the explosive area.

The explosives slowed down the turians immensely because they weren't on our heels anymore. The gunfire behind us grew distant as we ran. I guess some stayed behind. I did tell everyone they did as they saw fit. It was all too vague to determine the reason for anything that was going on. Everyone knew to retreat to the power plant.

I glanced back at everyone one a while to see the flashes getting further behind me as we ran. At the same time…I just hope they didn't land any forces at the power plant to cut us off or we're fucked. Still…Had to keep moving…

The turians gained ground, however, their forces were nowhere near as large as the first group. Maybe they are only sending a small platoon or company after us and the rest of them headed for Shanxi. Either way, the point was to reduce their numbers as much as possible. I couldn't tell you how many died or got lost since everyone was scattered, everyone. Entire squads get separated and broken up into random groups. I didn't see ONE person from the squad I was leading.

I ran until I fell to the ground because my feet nor my body couldn't keep going any longer. I had to take off my recon hood and I just held it in my hands as I leaned against a tree and placed my rifle between my legs and let it rest against me. I was huffing and puffing trying to catch my breath. I couldn't speak nor think clearly and needed a minute.

A young petite woman that had fiery red hair turned that was bruised and scratched up turned around. "SIR!" The other group of guys turned around and came back and then kneeled around me wondering what to do next. They were confused and lost just by looking at their faces. That's when I realized that they were all younger than I was. All of them weren't even in their mid-twenties yet. All of them could have passed as high school kids. For fucks sake…

I pressed my back against the tree and thought about the situation. That's when it occurred to me…there was no one in front of us for some time now. I think we outran everyone…FUCK! I didn't do it because I was a coward…I did it because it was the plan EVERYONE agreed upon… I guess some people would rather die looking like fucken heroes or badasses than stick to the fucking plan.

That's when I realized I only have two options. One, say fuck the plan and head for Shanxi, or continue mission… Either way, both are a suicide run. I run away with my tail between my legs back to Shanxi and hopefully get there before the turians do and at the pace, I'm going NOW, which is a STRONG possibility. There is still time.

The second option is to head back and find anyone I can while luring in as many turian forces as possible in the process and self-detonate the station killing myself in the process. The System Alliance would straight up honor me as some fucken hero, however…I get this weird feeling about that abandoned place. I can't quite put my finger on it.

It feels like a fork in the road in a way I can't explain…It was like a choice between two major decisions in a video game that will forever change the landscape of the universe. I lightly tapped the back of my head against the tree thinking of what to do as these kids glared at me.