"Shepard!"
Shepard heard the faint voice somewhere so far away, but its owner was indistinguishable. She was vaguely aware of who she was, though everything was covered in a thick haze. She gazed around her to view her surroundings. She saw no sky, no sun, no clouds, only a thick white fog limiting her vision to barely in front of her face.
"Shepard!"
Shepard's head spun around this time, seeking the direction of the voice. Why am I here? She started vaguely walking in the direction she had heard the voice come from, her whole body feeling sluggish. Why do I feel so weak? The more Shepard walked, the lighter the fog around her became. She could see the greenest grass she had ever seen, a sky so serene and clear, a soft breeze blowing across her face. She looked down at herself and saw that she was wearing a silken blue dress, and barefoot. She continued walking, still wondering what in the world was going on.
"Shepard, please!"
The voice was starting to sound very familiar to her, though she couldn't put her finger on it. With the fog now almost entirely dissipated, Shepard could clearly see all around her. Off on a small hilltop, under a tree, she saw a figure whom she assumed the voice was originating from. She picked up her pace slightly, her body feeling slightly less sluggish than before. She didn't know who the figure on the hill was, but she wanted answers about what was going on.
"Shepard, where are you?"
Shepard definitely remembered the voice now, and cursed herself for ever forgetting it. "Liara!" she called out to her lover. It all started to make sense now. They were on Thessia. The tree that Liara was under was one they had discussed before when they talked about places where they wanted to live together. Shepard had never remembered being so happy.
"Do you mean it? You will come with me to Thessia?" Liara asked. Liara had hoped for a very long time for any relationship with Shepard from the instant that Shepard rescued her on Therum. To be talking about a future together, on her home planet of Thessia, was unreal to her.
"Mhmm," Shepard replied. "I've always heard Thessia is so beautiful and peaceful. It sounds like a perfect place to live. Besides," Shepard drew Liara in close and gave her a sensual kiss on her gorgeous lips. "I have you. I'd be happy with you anywhere." Though they had known each other for less than a year, neither of them doubted their love for one another.
Liara smiled and reached out for Shepard's mind with her own, eyes turning black."I would be happy with you anywhere as well," she said as she flashed images and memories of her favorite spot on Thessia. "What do you think of this?" she asked.
Shepard was in awe. She had never seen anything so beautiful in her life, save for Liara. "It's... I don't have words to describe how much I love it," she said. "We can live there?" Shepard asked hopefully.
Liara giggled at Shepard's cautious hope. "Yes, Isabelle, we can live there. We could make a large house there. I spent so much time there that my mother bought it with hopes of adding it to the T'Soni estate."
"I love you, Liara," she said as she dipped in for a kiss.
"I love you too, Izzy."
Shepard was getting closer to the tree now, a large smile lighting up her face. The one thing she couldn't remember was how she gotten here. She remembered defeating Saren and Sovereign, and saving the Council as well. She recalled the many, many ceremonies that she had attended, with Liara there to bring her spirits up afterwards. She loved the months of shore leave after that, the true bliss that Liara and herself had, found learning every detail and quirk about the other. It was the happiest time of her life. Then, the crew had all been called back and they were ordered to go after Geth. She remembered being on the Normandy.
"Commander Shepard, wake your sorry arse up now!" a strange voice said in an Australian accent.
Shepard's eyes fluttered open. He head was swimming in the fog she had seen earlier, though it was quickly fading the more she blinked her eyes. As her vision cleared, she looked around and was severely confused. Thessia was gone, as was Liara. Replaced by that was the strange voice over a speaker, a white lab room, and a loud drone of alarms flaring. Shepard attempted to sit up, only to immediately lie back down after lances of pain shot through her entire body at the movement. What the hell is going on? "L-Liar...a?" she asked shakily.
"Shepard, I know it hurts to move, but you need to get your arse out of there right now!" the woman on the intercom yelled. "The stations droids have gone rogue and are attempting to kill you. There's some gear in a nearby locker. Get it and I'll direct you to the shuttle bay."
Droids trying to kill me? Shepard heard the sound of gunfire somewhere in the station, and figured it was best to listen to the woman. She summoned her strength and gritted her teeth as she rose up from the bed and swung her legs off it. She almost lost her balance the second she was on her feet. Her legs felt like jelly, and she was already tired from just getting out of bed. What is wrong with me? Why am I so weak?
Shepard made her way over to the locker the woman was talking about, and opened the latch. Inside were a pistol and a simple black body suit. Shepard threw off her medical gown and took out the body suit. She was about to put it on when she saw a familiar yellow logo on the left shoulder of the suit. "Cerberus," she snarled. She had no idea why she was anywhere near Cerberus, the human terrorist group, but she didn't like it one bit. Needing the body suit, she ripped the left sleeve off of it with all the strength she could muster, and put it on somewhat satisfied with herself. She grabbed the pistol inside and some of the spare thermal clips. She around and saw a trail of emergency lights lead out of the door. "Guess that's my guidance," she said. She made sure that her pistol was loaded and slowly made her way over to the door. "Okay, Izzy. Gonna have to take this slow, no way you'll win a straight out fight like this," she said to herself. Mustering up her strength, she pressed the release for the door and walked out with her pistol raised.
"Why did you kill him!?" she asked. She knew that man Wilson was trying to kill her from the start, but she wanted answers. She had been about to get them when they arrived at the shuttle bay, only for the woman over the intercom to show up and shoot him straight in the head.
"He was going to kill you. I prevented that. Nothing else matters but you on this station," she said.
Shepard had to admit that the woman before her was quite stunning, but right now her anger coupled with confusion consumed her mind. "I wanted answers! I can't get them from him now. I needed to know why he was trying to kill me!" Shepard was furious. She had no idea why she was here, where her crew was, what was going on with Liara, or how she ended up on a Cerberus facility.
"You will have your answers, Commander. For now, you have to trust me and get on a shuttle with Jacob and me," she said. Her tone was one of authority, making suggestions into orders.
"Why the hell should I trust you?" Shepard was flabbergasted. "I don't even know your fucking name! I only know that you work for Cerberus, and that is a huge reason not to trust you!"
Miranda was growing impatient, and they were running out of time. "I will tell you everything you want to know once we're off this station. It's set to self-destruct in less than five minutes, and I'd rather you not be caught up in the blast."
Hearing that the station was going to explode changed Shepard's train of thought immediately. She faced back out of the shuttle bay, a look of worry on her face. "Explode?" she asked. "What about the other people on the station?"
Miranda let out a sigh. "They are dead," she said coldly. "Even if they weren't, you are the only thing that matters on this station. Everyone here knew that when they signed up, that they would give their lives for you if necessary." Miranda's left foot began tapping absently. They were seriously running out of time. "We need to go, Shepard."
Shepard glanced back one more time, then sighed as she realized she didn't really have a choice. She walked onto the shuttle bay and plopped down on one of the benches. Miranda and Jacob were right behind her. Miranda jumped into the pilot seat and frantically started up the shuttle, letting it roar to life.
She managed to get them to safety with a couple minutes to spare, and the shuttle shuddered a bit as the station finally exploded behind them. Miranda slumped back in the seat and let out a sigh of relief. Stubborn woman almost got us all killed, she thought.
Once the autopilot was engaged, Miranda left the cockpit and went to the main seating area intending to give Shepard an earful for the stunt she had pulled. Instead, she felt an oddly warm feeling deep inside as she saw Shepard sprawled out on the bench sound asleep. She looked over to Jacob, who gave her a shrug of his shoulders. Miranda gave a nod and returned to the cockpit, a small smile creeping across her face.
Shepard, still sprawled out on the bench, had never felt so exhausted in her life. The fight to escape the station had taken every bit of energy she had in her. Towards the end, she had barely been able to lift her pistol at Miranda let alone actually fight anyone. She felt completely helpless. Thousands of questions and emotions raced across her mind, though one in particular stood out. Shepard felt lost. It was on that feeling she finally succumbed to sleep, falling into a dream that featured her favorite asari.