A/N: Oh god I'm so sorry for the wait everyone. I've been just destroyed by Writer's Block for the past couple of months. This may not be the best quality because I'm still not feeling my writer's groove, but I felt that I had to give you guys something since you've been waiting patiently for such a long time. So please just bear with me. But, as always, please remember to rate and review! They help me a lot, and that makes you awesome.
This chapter was proof-read by the one and only Ms Sticha; you should go check her out, she's pretty awesome.
Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, Shepard, nor you my dear reader. Mass Effect belongs to Bioware, you belong to the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Shepard could have sworn that she would have heard the sound barrier shatter upon the figure screeching; that is, if she hadn't been covering her ears in pain.
Briefly, Shepard could see the figure jump down to the floor as they picked up her pistol in one swift movement. She would have reacted with a standard disarming, but her ears were demanding all of her attention at the moment.
Slowly, the pain faded to only a dull throb, ringing fading into the background.
Shepard looked up at the figure in front of her, and was greeted by the sight of her own gun being pointed down at her menacingly.
Before she could open her mouth to speak, the figure did so first.
"Holy freaking Mother Luna, why the hell are you in my bedroom?!" The figure demanded, visibly shaking as they kept the gun leveled on Shepard.
Unconsciously, Shepard noticed how the person seemed to be 'examining' Shepard, looking her over with an increasing anxious and surprised gaze. It was almost as if they had seen or known Shepard before, but couldn't quite put their finger on it.
Shaking these thoughts out of her head, Shepard began considering her options. She could plead for mercy, try to disarm the person, or jump out a window in an escape attempt. There was probably a paragon option in there somewhere, but Shepard didn't feel like searching for it.
Logically, there was only one option that would leave her in one piece. Because jumping out the window of a how many story building into unknown territory is just asking for some broken bones, and attempting to disarm the person as they were right now would result in Shepard getting shot, courtesy of humanity's 'Fight or Flight' instinct.
Seeing as there was only one remaining sensible option, Shepard opted to appeal to this person's sense of mercy, and hope that they at least had one.
"Whoa there, you wouldn't want to hurt an innocent person for no reason, would you?" Shepard pleaded, putting her arms out in front of herself in the customary 'Don't Taze Me Bro' stance. True, it may have been a slight lie, but Shepard needed to decree her innocence.
This person, whomever they were, appeared quite fazed by what Shepard said, as their pupils dilated and their stance seemed to waver slightly. Well, more so than it already was.
Not even three seconds later did they shout out a question, which hit Shepard like a Warp to the face: "What does Garrus spent all of his time doing?!"
This question, this simple and mundane inquiry, caused Shepard's mind to flip.
This person, a person that Shepard had no knowledge of ever knowing or ever seeing, appeared to have some knowledge of who Garrus was. And while Garrus might have met this person during the years that Shepard was 'dead', Shepard knew that Garrus had very little contact with anyone else during that time. During his time on the 'new' Normandy, Shepard had never seen him leave the ship. So how in the world did this strange person know about his odd calibrating habits?
Before Shepard could question any of this, she hurriedly answered their rushed demand, deciding to get answers after she wasn't at risk of being shot.
"Calibrating. 'Can it wait for a bit, I'm in the middle of some calibrations.'" Shepard replied calmly, her deceptively calm facade masking her panic; many years of dealing with politicians having given her the ability to easily mask her emotions.
The person's eyes widened considerably, and their jaw dropped. In their shock, their grip on the pistol faltered, letting it fall to the carpeted floor with a muffled 'thud'.
Before Shepard could react to this opportunity, the person rushed forward. Shepard assumed that this was an attack, and braced herself to counter anything that came her way. And what DID come her way, was an attack that she least expected; the person wrapped their arms around Shepard, and engulfed her in a tight hug.
The hug wasn't the suffocating, murder-type of hug you may get if you were hugged by Wrex. Nor was it the type of nervous, gentle hug that Tali would give you. No, this type of hug was very meaning-filled; a possessive, disbelieving type of hug. It was as if they couldn't believe that Shepard was truly there, that if they let go she would be lost forever, and as if Shepard was a childhood friend that they hadn't seen in years and now they were trying to give all of those hugs Shepard had missed out on during those years apart.
This type of hug was special. If you asked her years later, Shepard would tell you it was one that only that person was capable of giving.
"OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygosh." The person repeated over and over again, and Shepard didn't need to see their face to know there was a joy filled smile on it, their voice betraying their emotions easily.
Hesitantly, Shepard began to relax, allowing them to hug her. And she might have maybe actually liked the hug as well, not that she would ever admit it.
"Uh, care to explain what's going on?" Shepard asked awkwardly, her face flushed red as the person continued their unrelenting hugging. "Oh tits! I forgot, I'm sorry!" The person exclaimed in embarrassment, their face flushed red. Thankfully, they didn't seem to notice the light dusting of red upon Shepard's cheeks as well. They swiftly stood up, extending a hand towards Shepard, which she gladly accepted, pulling herself up off the fuzzy floor. The person was giddy with excitement, practically bounding in place.
A lopsided grin, fuelled by euphoria, lay upon their face as they next spoke.
"My name's Riley Sanderson, but most people call me Lee."
Finally, Shepard could label this person. 'Lee'...such an odd name, and something that Shepard hadn't heard in a long time. Then again, everything about this person was odd, so maybe this was normal for them.
"Well, I'm Commander-" Shepard begins, intending on giving Lee a proper introduction as well, seeing as Lee had been kind enough to give her one.
"Shepard. Commander Shepard, I know." Lee cut Shepard off excitedly, causing Shepard to pale a little in surprise.
How did Lee know her name? Not only did she know Garrus and his not-so-secret, forbidden love for calibrations, apparently she also knew Shepard's name. Now Shepard knew that something was definitely off around here.
"...Alright, so somehow you know my name, who Garrus is, and most likely a bunch of other unnamed things. Please, would you be so kind as to tell me how in the hell you know all of these things? Because for all I know, you could be a hired assassin out to snuff me." Shepard said with a raised eyebrow, eyes flickering with suspicion and doubt.
A full minute of pregnant silence passed until Lee next spoke, having appeared to have been in deep thought, almost as if she was carefully choosing her words.
"Well...you see, you're in my bedroom, as you may already have known. And..." Lee began cautiously, testing the waters as she desperately grasped for the words she needed.
Shepard couldn't help but notice the new presence of a form of 'poker face' on Lee's face, to which Shepard began to worry that she might be in some trouble.
"Shepard; I'm pretty sure you just broke a hole through the fabric of space-time and somehow came out of my computer and into my dimension. This, by the way, is the year 2013, and in this dimension you're a video game character that I helped create." Lee quickly flooded the words out, poker face remaining active during the entire ordeal.
Shepard's mind reeled, desperately attempting to process the information given to her. No, that couldn't be true, right? Impossible. No way, never, nope...unless it was true? There was no way it was true, it just couldn't be!...right?
The room was filled with a cold and awkward silence as Lee struggled to keep a poker face and Shepard struggled with herself internally.
Finally, Shepard broke the silence by turning slowly to Lee. Her face screwed up in a mixture of disbelief, unknowing, and tightly concealed fear. In those eyes shone so many emotions that a new one would have to be made just to describe it.
Shepard's mouth opened slowly, her eyes glued on Lee's, and she spoke one word:
"What?"