"Alania? Mommy and daddy okay?" The little girl turned over to face her older sister. "Alania?"
The Shepard girl known as Alania had her ear pressed to the wall, trying hard to process what was going on. "Alania?" The little girl gripped her older sister's arm with a vice hold, baby blue eyes staring up at her.
"Shush." Alania said quietly. Suddenly a loud gunshot echoed in their small house and Alania held in her gasp, dark blue eyes wide with fear. She knew what that meant. "Casey. Let's go!" She said, her voice rising slightly as she grabbed her sister's small hand into her own small hand.
The two sisters opened the door inch by inch, making sure not to look in the way of where the gunshot was heard. But Casey couldn't resist, her small eyes peeking and she gave a loud gasp. Alania looked too and held hers, coughing down her sobs as she saw the blood trickling down the floor. "Mommy?…Daddy?"
She had received only one response. "Pistol…pistol…" Alania heard both her mommy and daddy's voice blend into one, the word they were saying was lying on the countertop. Alania was about to reach for it when she heard a swear word…then the shuffling of feet. They were coming back…
Alania snatched the pistol and felt its weight hold her down as she grabbed her sister's hand and started running out of the house. Their feet pounded the sidewalk, yelling heard from behind them. Suddenly Casey's cry stopped Alania cold. The blood gushing out from Casey's leg caught her eye.
"I can't get up!" Casey cried out, hand outstretched toward her. "Alania!"
More gunshots were whizzing past her head as Alania smacked her hand over her ear, refusing to hear anything more. "Casey! Come on! Get up!" Alania saw the Tenth Street Reds coming closer. The main man who had shot Casey was staring directly at her, gun raised up to bear.
"Alania! I can't!" Casey's scream as the men surrounded was too unbearable to hear as Alania started sprinting off, her own tears spilling down her pale cheeks. "Alania!"
That was the last she heard of her as she kept a solid grip on the pistol, one hand still covering her ear, eyes searching to find a place to hide. One of the many alleyways where she knew her Daddy would go to whenever the Tenth Street Reds guys came calling was there at her convenience and she took the sharp turn, scraping her knees as she fell but got right back up.
Fear had overridden her senses, her tears still fresh, Alania held up the pistol and had no idea what she was supposed to do with it. She had seen Daddy carry one all the time. Maybe…
Footsteps were drawing nearer as Alania bit her bottom lip, standing up to face the stranger. Her weak arms brought the pistol up to aim, mimicking the same way the other stranger was holding his. "Where's mommy?" She asked him, her black hair falling into her face as she glanced downward.
"Hey Finch! I found her!" The man had yelled over his shoulder, making room for the other guy who responded.
"…think its her?" Finch asked quietly, his tall stature over towering Alania's. "Did you get the other one?"
"No…the idiot shot her. She's not gunna make it. But at least we got one of them for payment huh?" The man said, holstering his pistol.
"Sure. Pick this girl up. Let's head out before anyone sees."
Her life with the Tenth Street Reds started.
Commander Shepard continued jogging on the treadmill, blinking rapidly to erase the tears that were threatening to fall. It was still another whole week before she'd have to report to Captain Anderson for her next assignment, which was apparently on the prototype ship called the SSV Normandy.
Shepard decided to sleep off the memories, even though she knew that they were still going to haunt her no matter what. Maybe when she would get on the ship that they would stop. A new assignment…new people…hopefully no aliens.
She jumped off the treadmill, not bothering to shower, and laid down on her small bunk. A nice little nap to ease her troubled mind.
"I'm John." The little boy raised up his small hand to shake, his innocent brown eyes boring into her own dark blue eyes.
"…Alania." She said quietly, mud caked on her face and her scrapped knee bothering her. She lightly shook his hand, the boy known as John giving her a tiny smile. For some odd reason, it comforted her, if only slightly.
Another girl beside her stirred in her sleep, eventually waking up. She looked to be the same age as both her and John, her short blonde hair gathered in tiny pigtails. Alania Shepard noticed a dark shadow on the ground and looked up. It was the same man who took her.
"Hey kids…look's like you guys are awake finally. The name's Finch. And we've taken you somewhere safer then your original homes." Shepard glanced down slowly, biting her bottom lip. What was wrong with her home?
"We're the Tenth Street Reds. Pretty soon we'll be more organized and populated, with your help. Don't worry…we're not the bad guys. Your parents were. They damaged a…promise made to us and that's not good. So we took care of it, and in turn we'll take care of you." Finch looked no older then seventeen, his gangly appearance making him look even younger then that.
The other little girl finally awoke, rubbing her hazel eyes softly and stared at Finch for a moment before breaking out into tears. To the kid's surprise Finch bent down and ruffled her blonde hair before stalking off. John, who seemed to be the more social one in their small group, stood up and went over to sit next to the other girl.
"My name's John." He smiled more fully, his gap in his front teeth showing, and offered his hand to shake. Whoever his parents was, they obviously made sure that their kid was polite instead of making sure to keep a roof over his head.
"…Casey." Shepard flinched visibly at that. It was just coincidence, not a sign that she had done something wrong. Shepard's bottom lip quivered, remembering vividly on how she had gotten her little sister killed. It wasn't her fault? Was it?
Alania Shepard made a vow. She'd take care of her new friends, unlike how she had taken care of Casey Shepard, the little sister who was now currently dead.
Sweat dropped from her forehead and her breath heavy, Shepard awoke with a startle. She rolled out of bed and dropped to the floor with a loud thud, making sure that she was awake and not still in her memory induced dream world.
She had no idea why she second guessed her decision to leave her sister behind that day on Earth. It had to be the right one. It made who she was today. Shepard shook her head, slapping her hands over the side of her head. She still felt drowsy and decided to go back to bed.
Shepard tried her best not to think of Casey, but the task seemed harder then it perceived.
"Casey…you can't." Alania Shepard just stood there, watching the blonde haired girl known as Casey Thrace hold a gun to her head.
"I can…and I will." Casey still bore the pigtails she had worn the first day they were introduced to the Tenth Street Reds. "…I can't take it anymore. All this killing. All this anti-alien crap. Its stupid."
Shepard didn't say anything for a moment. It felt strange to hear someone defending aliens. She had gotten so used to the anti-alien speeches, the pro-human gang movement meetings. They were low-time gang members, but soon they'd build up to something more.
"Don't tell me you don't feel the same. Don't you feel as if everything we do is useless…not worth the effort?" Casey's hand was shaking, the gun still held tightly against the side of her head. "What's the point of this anymore…all we do anymore is shit. I can't do this anymore…not anymore…"
Shepard finally looked up, staring at Casey disbelievingly. "Casey…one day everything we do now will make a difference. Pretty soon those aliens will realize who's boss. One da-"
"Listen to yourself! You're being manipulated by Finch and the rest of them! Anti-alien, racist, whatever you wanna call it…its bullshit! I'm done!" Casey pulled the trigger. Shepard just watched, the blood splattering against the wall and against her face.
Shepard failed to save her sister, and now she also failed to save her friend. And both of their name's were Casey.
Shepard curled up into a ball, blankets having fallen on the ground, and held her eyes shut. The thoughts and memories were getting too vivid for her.
…but she needed her sleep.
"Name?" The Alliance recruiting officer looked up at the gangly skinny form of Alania Shepard, typing down the information on a holopad.
"…Casey. Casey Shepard." Shepard sighed, having taken on the name of her little sister and her friend.
"Age?" Shepard knew that she was only seventeen, and that she'd need a parent consent form to join the military but she needed to do this. She promised Finch she'd find a better life, a place where maybe she could spread the word of going against the alien races, and that place was the Alliance.
"…eighteen." The alliance officer only merely raised an eyebrow at that, sighing a little.
"Very well. Go the left and down the hallway. Your…training will begin today." Shepard only nodded, wishing she had at least brushed her greasy black hair and try to leave behind that one holophoto of her and the gang. They could find it and question her past life about it. Not that it mattered, but it could affect her social status in the Alliance. And the brushing of her hair was only to make her less unkempt.
That day the anti-alien antagonist known as Alania Shepard, now Casey Shepard, was handed a weapon and to become a soldier for the Alliance.
Shepard kept ignoring the sob that threatened to blow her emotions out of proportions.
The image of a little brunette girl with baby blue eyes, arms outstretched for help, popped into her mind. The image of a teenager with tiny blonde pigtails, gun held against her head, was still fresh in her mind.
…Shepard sighed heavily, willing her tired mind to go back to sleep so she could be ready for her next assignment.
The SSV Normandy.