Chapter three;

Shepherd awoke to the familiar sight of Miranda staring down at him, a worried look upon her face. Momentarily he feared he was back at the Cerberus facility, these dark memories still haunted him from time to time, but his N7 training had drilled him into suppressing unnecessary emotion that may otherwise compromise the mission. Miranda he stammered weakly as he struggled into a seated position, ignoring the pains that coursed through his body, it was worth it just to see her again. She smiled weakly seemingly lost for words. After a moment of silence she whispered 'I thought I'd lost you'. He hushed he with a lingering kiss before pulling her into an silent embrace, tears welled in her eyes and rolled down her soft, rosy cheeks, falling upon his bare shoulders as she held him tight.

'Miranda, why are you crying I 'm not going anywhere for a while yet'…. He trailed of as she pulled away from him.

'Shepherd you know this is only the beginning, the Illusive man… well he's not just going to let us walk away…'

Shepherd was more than are what they faced, he knew the Reaper threat was now more prominent than ever, his display in the Omega 4 relay, while a minor personal victory had perhaps merely hastened their imminent arrival. As for the Illusive man, he still couldn't understand how he had been so gullible as to be taken in by his talk of a better world, of destroying the Reapers once and for all, ending the cycle… he realised now all too late that he had played them all along, using them to advance his own personal agenda.

'Miranda we will get through this, come on we just passed through the omega four relay and lived to tell the tale, yes this might only be the beginning but we have each other and that's what matters'.