I'm back again! No smut yet, though. I'm going to let the poll go one for a little while longer.
In the meantime, here's this!
'Thoughts are in bold. Like this. Notice how I use apostrophes and not quotation marks.'
:
8
8
8
:
Shepard was numb. He watches the sky. Little flashes of light twinkle like stars.
Stars.
He remembers lying in a field as a child. He would stare up at the night sky. He would watch the stars. They would calm him, whenever he needed it, when he was stressed.
But not now.
Anyone else would have found the twinkling lights to be a beautiful sight.
But not Shepard.
Shepard knew what those flashes really were.
It made him sick.
He can hear it over the comm. People screaming, children crying. There are so many distress calls, almost indiscernible. But Shepard can hear them.
All of them sound panicked, shocked. They can't believe this was happening to them.
Shepard reaches up and rips the earpiece out. He can't stand to listen anymore.
This was a mistake. Shepard now hears Tali. She is sobbing. Her focus is on the balls of fire raining down from the sky.
Her people are burning.
Men.
Women.
Children.
All of them, burning.
Tali trembled, choking out a cry of anguish. Shepard winces. He turns away. He can't watch.
Shepard hears a familiar whirring noise. He turns to the source. It's a geth. It has N7 armor grafted onto itself.
Legion.
When they first met, Shepard didn't trust the synthetic. After awhile, though, he began to trust him, even regard him as a friend.
Now, Legion is on his knees. His optic blinks several times, trying to stay functional.
There's a blade protruding from Legion's back. Quarian design.
Legion reaches out to Shepard, his optic flickering. More geth platforms appear. All on their knees. They all reach for Shepard-Commander.
Legion speaks.
"Shepard-Commander."
Shepard finds that he can't respond.
"Does… this… unit… have…."
Shepard tries to respond, to say yes, to provide some sort of reassurance to his friend. To anyone. He can't. He just can't speak.
Legion's optic finally flickers off, like a candle being snuffed out. The empty shell crumples into the dirt. The other geth follow. All of them, fall.
The sound they make, a sickening "thud". It haunts Shepard.
Shepard stares at them.
It's his fault.
"I'm sorry."
Shepard is surprised. That wasn't his voice. But he's heard it before. No warble, though.
"Oh, God." He whispers.
Shepard spins around.
He sees her. She's not wearing a mask.
He's seen her face before. She was beautiful that night on the Normandy.
Now, her pretty face is contorted into an expression of anguish. Tears roll down her cheeks, her eyes bloodshot.
She leans back.
"No."
Then she falls.
"Tali!"
Time slows down. Shepard runs to her, screaming. He reaches out for his friend, his comrade, his lover.
He's too late.
She's lost.
There are no words.
Shepard stares ahead, unmoving.
He looks up to the skies of Rannoch, watching as the geth and the quarians send each other to oblivion.
He has failed.
BWWWWRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHH
The horrible noise pierces the human's ears. It is familiar to Shepard. He heard back on Earth. He heard it on Tuchanka.
Shepard turns around.
The reaper is back on its legs. It survived the salvo from the quarian fleet. It's giant red eye looms over Shepard, charging up, staring down on the pathetic insect.
Shepard closes his eyes and lets the red overtake him.
8
8
8
John is quickly jolted awake, inhaling sharply as he was slammed back into reality.
He was in a cold sweat.
John starts breathing deeply as he frantically looks around his cabin.
It dawns on him.
'Just a dream'
Many emotions flood John's mind.
Relief.
Happiness.
Fear.
It was then that John made up his mind. He got up, out of bed, and stormed towards his locker.
8
8
8
Tali was busy in the war room, typing away at whatever it was that she does. Across the room was Raan, doing roughly the same thing.
Neither of them noticed Shepard enter the room, already in his combat gear.
Both quarian women jumped in surprise when Shepard called out Tali's name.
"Shepard? Something you need?" She asked tentatively.
Shepard said nothing. Instead, he tossed Tali her gear. The quarian caught it with ease.
"We're going somewhere?" She asked again.
"We're going to go save Admiral Asshat." Shepard declared, a look of determination on his face.
Tali was surprised. Shepard was originally going to leave Admiral Koris for dead.
"Is there a reason for your change of heart?"
Shepard looks Tali in the eyes, past her visor.
"Diplomacy."
:
8
8
8
:
Well, there you have it! I know, a little more depressing than usual, but this isn't all about smut! I got to get some respectable entries in here, too!
Hope you enjoyed!
Don't forget to leave a review and vote in the poll.
Both pay my rent.
-Harold.