I do not own Mass Effect or any of the associated contact. Jagher Shepard is my Shepard and Fayelle Shepard is my friend's Shepard. This is a collection of moments set throughout the games. They're rated for language and violence mostly.
Mass Effect: Moments.
A Moment to Breathe.
They'd won.
We won?
They'd won. Soverign-controlled Saren was dead. Sovereign's body had been destroyed. They'd won.
Shepard laughed, despite her arm being pinned by a chunk of rubble that had come flying into the Council chambers after the explosions outside. They had been so close to losing… She laughed again and just lay there for a moment, recovering from the shock of completing the task no one thought they would, and surviving it no less.
Jagher could hear people moving around beyond the rocks and rubble surrounding her. She thought she heard someone calling her name. She tried to answer, but found her voice nearly gone. The Spectre rolled onto her side, facing the rock that was pinning her and attempted to pull the broken limb free, but it wouldn't budge. She wedged her good arm and her legs under the fairly large chunk and pushed with everything she had left, every ounce of strength she could possibly summon, and it moved. It moved enough for her to pull herself completely free. She rolled onto her back, breathing heavily.
She felt her euphoria increase and another laugh bubbled up.
Then the pain came.
She rolled onto her side again, cradling her broken arm to her chest and curling into a ball around it. No tears came, but she squeezed her eyes shut, ground her teeth and waited for the pain to pass. Jagher cursed her lack of medi-gels and gasped with each beat of her heart, the blood try to work through her arm bringing new waves of pain.
"Shit, shit, shit!" she breathed.
After a moment of suffering, the pain did pass enough that she was able to breathe normally, to relax slightly and sit up. Arm still cradled to her body, Jagher struggled to her feet and started looking for a way out of her rubble-prison. On the other side of those obstacles would be medi-gels.
And Kaidan.
The sudden thought of the dark-haired man was enough to spur her into motion. She scrambled over the rocks, pushing mostly with her legs and pulling with her good arm. By the time she got to the top, her skin was covered in a sheen of sweat and her entire body pulsed with pain emanating from her arm, but she was able to get to her feet and slide most of the way down the other side. Her vision blurred and she thought for a minute that she was going to pass out as she was sliding.
Her boots hit the ground and her knees buckled, but Kaidan was there to catch her. "You still in one piece, Commander?"
Jagher laughed and leaned a little heavier into her lover, her good arm wrapped around his neck and her face pressed against his neck, the scent of him, even dirty and sweaty comforting her. "For now," she replied breathily.
Kaidan pulled back slightly, took in her tired face, smiled and then kissed her, totally ignoring the eyes of everyone else in the Council's chambers. Surprised by her staff lieutenant's public display, Jagher paused. But it didn't last long. Heedless of the pain having her arm squished between her and Kaidan's bodies was causing, Jagher leaned farther into him and returned the kiss, suddenly glad she was alive, that she could be there kissing Kaidan. She didn't care who saw—rules be damned. She was alive, they were all alive.
They'd won.
We won.
They'd won, and though Shepard was sure the peace wouldn't last, that was what they had: a moment to breathe.
Author's Note.
Woo! Almost halfway done rewriting these!
Next Moment: A Moment to Remember.
It's the first of the Mass Effect 2 Moments!