Now, Shepard vs. Sephiroth, Round 1

Alas, I do not own Mass Effect 2 or Final Fantasy VII.

Chapter One

Black Horizon

Commander John Shepard breathed deep and stretched as he woke up from a deep sleep. The quiet breathing next to him told him that Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, the quarian he loved, was still asleep.

Easing slowly out of the bed, Shepard put on his robe and walked over to his sink. Filling up a glass, he drank the water in one swallow, and ran a hand through his hair.

While sitting at his computer, checking his e-mail, he felt a pair of arms encircling him, and a kiss on his cheek. "Morning, John."

Smiling, Shepard whirled in his chair and embraced Tali. "Good morning, lovely."

Tali sat on Shepard's lap, and their mouths met. But as Tali leaned in deeper, a voice interrupted them.

"Commander Shepard," EDI's electronic voice came over the speaker, "you have an important call from Admiral Hackett. It is listed as Code Orange."

Shepard and Tali both sighed, and Tali got off of him. "Route it through to my cabin, EDI."

"Understood. Rerouting."

"Sorry to bother you so early, Shepard. But this is an urgent matter."

"Of course, Admiral. What do you need?"

"We've received an emergency signal from Horizon. They say they're under attack by a mysterious enemy."

Shepard rubbed his face with his hands. It had only been four months since Horizon was attacked by the Collectors, and repopulation had been slow at first. But now the colony was almost to full capacity again.

"Did you get any information from the message? What's the nature of the attack?"

"One phrase was always repeated. One-Winged Angel. I need you to take the Normandy and fight this threat."

"Understood. Shepard out." Shepard closed the channel and activated the intercom. "Joker. Set course for Horizon. We need to get there as fast a possible."

"Understood, Commander. Setting course for Horizon."

Shepard ran his hand along Tali's cheek, then got up and went to get dressed. "Time to get down to business."

Shepard and his crew stepped off the shuttle, and surveyed the damage to the colony. Several buildings had enormous pieces missing, as if they had been cut through. Others had mysterious burns and other signs of battle.

But the worst was the bodies. They littered the ground, many of them cut in half or otherwise dismembered. Men, women, children, all of them were on the ground, the looks of fear still on their faces.

Shepard's grip tightened on his SMG, his anger boiling. This level of violence was senseless and unnecessary.

"Alright. Tali and Garrus, you're with me. The rest of you look for survivors. We're going to look for the ones doing this."

Garrus appeared to be smirking. "So while the others just look for survivors, we get to go into the siran's nest. Did I ever mention how much fun it is serving under you?"

Shaking his head at Garrus' usual snide comments, Shepard activated his weapon. "Good hunting, everyone." While the others went back to check the old areas of attack, Shepard led Tali and Garrus to the most recent area of attack.

The buildings were covered in fresh burns, and the blood from the victims was still flowing. As they walked through, listening for any sounds, Shepard thought he felt something.

Through his years of training, and his hyper-awareness, Shepard felt the attack before he saw it. "Get down!" he shouted to Tali and Garrus, and ducked just as something sliced through the air above him.

Turning and raising his gun, Shepard looked for the attacker. What he saw stopped him cold. Standing behind them was a man with long silver hair and glowing green eyes. He wore a long leather coat that left his chest exposed, and black pants. But two things caught Shepard's attention the most.

The first was the man's sword. It was what looked like an ancient Earth katana, but it was almost as tall as the man. The second was the single black wing coming from the man's right shoulder. "One-Winged Angel," he whispered to himself.

The man's cold eyes seemed to bore into Shepard's, and he felt true fear that he had only felt when facing Sovereign. "Commander Shepard?" The man's voice was cold and sinister.

"And if I am?"

A slight smirk emerged on the man's face, but it didn't reach his cold eyes. "Then I must eliminate you." He raised his sword, but before he could do anything else, a shot rang out from Shepard's left.

"You will not touch him!" Tali shouted as she cocked her shotgun and prepared to fire again.

But the man simply turned, and slashed down, slicing Tali's shotgun in half. Then he raised the sword again, this time going for Tali herself.

"NO!" Shepard dove in front of Tali and opened fire with his Revenant, sending bullet after bullet into the enemy. He had the satisfaction of seeing his enemy back up from the impact.

But his clip ran dry, and as he ejected it and fumbled for another, the man recovered and slashed down, cutting right through Shepard's armor and slicing him from shoulder to hip.

"Shepard!" Garrus screamed and opened fire on the target using his armor-piercing ammo, trying to get him away from Shepard.

While Garrus was holding off the enemy, Tali was trying to give first aid to Shepard, but he was bleeding too much. She grabbed his face in her hands, making him focus on her. "John, look at me! John!"

"Ta-Tali..." Shepard's face was becoming pale. She activated her comm-link, screaming over Garrus' shots. "Everyone, get back to the shuttle, now!"

Miranda's voice came back to her. "What's your status?"

"Shepard's been wounded! Garrus is holding off the enemy for now, but we need to evacuate and get him to the Normandy! NOW!" Tali shouted with authority.

Tali looked over to Garrus, who was trying to reload with one hand while firing with the other. "Leave him Garrus. Get Shepard. I'll hold him off."

Garrus nodded, and with one last shot, dove around the enemy, who tried to slash at him with his sword. Garrus grabbed Shepard's arm and put him over his shoulder, and started to run to the shuttle. The enemy started after them with a measured pace.

"Stop him Chatika!" Tali ordered, and sent her drone out to distract the enemy. The enemy slashed it, just as she had hoped, and released a cloud of smoke that obscured them from sight, and took off after Garrus.

She caught up just as Garrus was putting Shepard on the shuttle, and the others were coming up from the other side.

Tali heard a sound behind her, and turned to see the enemy coming up behind them, walking with determination.

"Everyone, open fire! We have to stop him from getting to Shepard!" Miranda ordered. Samara, Jack, and Miranda sent blast after blast of biotic energy at him, while Thane, Legion, Zaeed, Mordin, and Grunt opened fire with their weapons. Garrus, Jacob, and Kasumi helped get Shepard prepared for departure, with Tali holding his hand tightly.

The man suddenly stopped, and raised his right hand, a strange glow emerging from it. "Firaga."

A blast of fire shot from his hand, and flew toward them. Jack, Samara, and Miranda threw their biotics into a shield, and they strained to hold the attack back.

"We're ready!" Kasumi shouted. "Let's get out of here!"

With one great push, the three biotics shoved the attack back at the enemy, who made no attempt to block. He disappeared in a blast of fire, and the team jumped into the shuttle, and it took off.

But the last sight Tali saw as she looked out of the window, as the smoke cleared, was the enemy, standing unharmed, watching them leave with an unconcerned expression.

Tali held tightly to Shepard's hand as he was wheeled on a stretcher from the elevator to the medical bay. Dr. Chakwas was already prepared, having been informed before they arrived.

Chakwas shooed out the rest of the crew, except for Tali, who refused to go, and prepared for surgery. As she and Tali removed his armor, Tali was aghast to see the wound he received, a long gash going from his right shoulder to his left hip.

Chakwas pushed her out of the way, and started the long process of repairing the damaged organs and muscles.

For hours, Tali sat in a chair, running her hand through Shepard's hair, waiting as the doctor went through the process of repairing him.

Eventually, she nodded off, but her dreams were plagued with the silver-haired man with the cold green eyes and the single black wing.

Some time later, Dr. Chakwas shook her awake. "Tali, you need to wake up."

Tali shook the last remnant of sleep from her mind, and looked over at Shepard, who still looked pale and injured. "We're you able to help him, doctor?"

Dr. Chakwas sighed and stripped off her surgical gloves, and pulled down her mask. "I've done what I can here, and we're on our way to the Citadel for better treatment. But for now he's stabilized. He's very lucky to be alive. If it weren't for his armor, and for you getting him here so fast, I doubt he would have survived."

Tali sighed, and put her hand on Shepard's cheek, wishing she could take off her suit so she could truly feel him.

Chakwas put a comforting hand on Tali's shoulder. "He'll be fine, Tali. Why don't you get some sleep in your quarters, and we'll let you know as soon as we arrive at the Citadel."

Tali nodded and rose from her chair, dropping her hand away from Shepard's cheek. Leaving the medbay, she ignored the whispers of the crew, and went to the elevator. Taking it up to the captain's cabin, she shut the door and walked to the bed, throwing herself onto it. Now, finally alone, she allowed her tears to flow.

Shepard groaned as he finally came awake. His head felt funny, like he'd been drugged, and there was a dull pain in his midsection.

"Keelah Se'lai, John! You're awake!" Suddenly, all he could see was black and purple as Tali threw herself onto him, completely embracing him.

Shepard heard a deep, familiar laugh, and the matching voice. "Alright, Tali. Give him a chance to breathe."

Tali released him and stepped back, allowing Shepard to see the familiar form of David Anderson, his former commanding officer and current human representative on the Citadel Council.

"Good to see you awake, Shepard. You've had us all worried."
Shepard ran his hand through his hair, and felt his whiskered chin. "How long was I out?"

It was Tali who answered. "You've been unconscious since you were attacked two weeks ago."

That surprised Shepard. "I've been out for two weeks?" While he took that in, he looked at Anderson. "Who was that that attacked Horizon?"

Anderson cleared his throat, and looked pointedly at Tali. "Would you mind informing the rest of the crew that Shepard's awake?"

Taking the hint, Tali left, promising to return soon. Then Anderson's face became serious. "The entity you encountered was described to me by Tali, and while we don't know anything about him, some people who appeared here on the Citadel do know who and what he is." Anderson stuck his head out the door, and said, "You can come in now."

Through the door came a man with spiky blonde hair, a blue uniform, and carrying an enormous sword on his back. But what drew Shepard's attention were his eyes. They were the same glowing green as the enemy's.

"The man you encountered, the one with the black coat and giant sword, is named Sephiroth, and he is far deadlier than anything you've ever encountered."

Round 1:Sephiroth

Next Time:Cross Worlds

Please R&R