Chapter 1:
The first thing he remembered was feeling pain. It was almost all encompassing, and it was like nothing he had ever felt before. He struggled to open his eyes, only to find his vision was foggy at best. The darkness combined with blood loss from his injuries ensured he could only vaguely make out shapes of the rubble around him. His breath was labored, struggling to make use of the thin air clinging to the station's ruin.
This is where he would make the choice, the choice to lie down and die or the choice to stand and fight on. On seeing his injuries any sane man would say he was well past the point of no return. Anyone would be justified to think this would be his end, but he was John Shepard, and he would keep his promise.
"God damn it" he coughed, his voice hoarse from blood and dust. "Where am I?" Looking to his omni-tool it only took a glance to realize it was beyond useless. He would have to make his way back alone. A lesser man might have given up, but he was a survivor. His time on Akuze had taught him there was always a way. He just had to find it.
Shepard struggled to haul himself upright, just managing to sit up. His eyes glowed slightly in the darkness as he took stock of his surroundings. He spotted a corridor left unblocked by rubble, and silently thanked whatever deity was currently looking out for him. He struggled to his feet, grunting in pain and began the long slow trek to the upper levels of the now abandoned citadel.
Thoughts of purple swirls and bright eyes behind violet held his attention, motivating him to push through his pain. After an hour of struggling, the ground level of the presidium welcomed him with more silence. Shepard looked up to see the artificial sky gone, and a view of the smoldering earth far below him.
His consciousness was beginning to waver as he set off in the direction of the former C-Sec station where he could then access the docks. Hoping he would find some sort of escape shuttle there. The walk to C-Sec was arduous, not to mention painful and he was losing a lot of blood.
He stumbled into the deserted station, finding only a few dead officers there he immediately began scavenging for supplies. Finding only a single vial of medigel, he quickly injected himself with the tonic, and felt a wave of analgesic wash over him. "At least it's something" he mumbled to himself. Crossing the room, he made his way to the emergency elevator that would take him to the docks.
The elevator was as slow as ever, and he was running out of time. He had to make it to a shuttle, failure was not an option. He hauled himself down the dock, finding an older model shuttle. He opened the latch with great difficulty and clambered inside.
Making his way to the control panel, he prayed his SPECTRE biometrics would still be recognized. He sat at the panel and began the reactor startup sequence, and input his biometric signature. His vision was beginning to blur further out of focus, his mind getting sluggish. He felt cold.
Just as consciousness was leaving him again, he executed the commands that would carry the shuttle to Earth, to the ravaged city of London. All he could hope is that someone would find him there before it was too late. As the darkness closed in on the commander his thoughts were of purple swirls and bright eyes behind violet. A name left his lips, "Tali" he gasped. "I'm coming Tali".
To say Tali'Zorah vas Normandy was angry would be an understatement. Nothing was working right. The ship that had so faithfully carried them through the void these last years was seemingly on her last leg. "Drive core capacity remains at 15%" droned EDI matter-of-factly. "I know!" The Quarian vented. "You don't have to remind me EDI!" She had been cramped in the vents all day, every day, recalibrating sensors, replacing valves, and cobbling together shoestring repairs to try and get Normandy back in the sky.
"I apologize Tali, I will leave you to your work." The AI "left" engineering as quickly as she had appeared. A loud sigh reverberated through the vent. "Just keep working Tali." The words of self encouragement rang hollow. She wanted it all to be over. She wanted to be with him.
Damn him for leaving her alone the stupid human, the stupid male. He had known all along there was no coming back, and he left her anyway. He could have at least had the decency to let her die with him. Now here she was, alone, miserable, and a lot of other things she couldn't care to name. She silently vowed to tell him exactly how she felt when she went to meet the ancestors.
She knew he wouldn't want her to waste away. He'd have wanted her to continue on, to live for the both of them. His last words still rang in her ears, "build a home" he had said. "Bosh'tet" she grumbled. He had been her home. Humans weren't the brightest species, but they had a saying. Home is where the heart is, she could appreciate that. She had lost her home.
With a last spark of her plasma torch power began to once again flow to the ship's massive drive core. A week's worth of work finally finished. Now they could finally leave this god forsaken rock and go back. "Go back to what?" A sigh left her. She felt numb; perhaps she could go back to the fleet and go back to being a good quarian, whatever that meant. A lot of good that had done her in the past, without Shepard she would have been exiled.
Making her way out of the vent and replacing the grate she noticed it had been a while since she cleaned her suit. Patches of grease and engine grime covered her suit and realk. Perhaps a clean cycle was in order? Just as she made to leave engineering for the showers her omni-tool chimed. You OK? If you ever need to talk, I'll be calibrating. Maybe a chat with Garrus would do her some good, and so she decided the shower could wait.