Thank you for the positive response to the first chapter! I was worried about writing for a new fandom but that's all gone now. Also thanks to Punslinger for being my wonderful beta. Enjoy!
Shepard had only seen two kinds of night skies in her life. The first was the sky that she had seen as a young girl growing up the streets of New York. That sky was a light grey with only the brightest stars managing to shine against the light of the city. The second was the sky that she saw from her room on the Normandy; the darkest of black and filled with more stars than one could count in a lifetime. But the sky above her fit neither of these descriptions or any in between.
This sky was the color of blood.
She knew she was dreaming. She had to be.
Shepard forced herself to tear her eyes away from the sky. She tried to raise her left hand to her face to brush her hair aside but ended up crying out in pain. She looked down and was greeted by the sight of her shredded body, her skin barely visible through the blood and gore. It took all of her self-control to avoid screaming out in shock. Shepard squeezed her eyes tights and tried to slow her breathing. She knew that if she didn't get up she would die her. And nothing was a greater motivator than the sense of impending doom
With immense focus she began to push herself off the ground. Every nerve in her body began to scream with pain but Shepard ignored it and kept pushing. Soon she was sitting up. With her left hand Shepard grabbed her right side and began to stand. Her legs were wobbly and the pain radiating from her right leg suggested that it was broken. But still she continued, paying no attention to the tears streaming down her face and mixing with the blood, sweat, and ash on her cheeks.
When Shepard was finally on both feet she scanned her surroundings. The ruins of the Citadel towered over her, jagged edges jutting into the sky. The only light on the remains of the battlefield came from the occasional fire. And the only color came from the blood on the ground. Everything else, be it organic or synthetic, was burnt to a dark ash.
Suddenly, a speck appeared on the horizon; bright, glowing. And it was coming towards her at an alarming speed.
But she barely had time to react before the mysterious object was directly in front of her.
A voice came from the object. "Shepard?" It was feminine and slightly mechanical sounding. And incredibly familiar.
"EDI?"
The AI's orange eyes glowed as she smiled. "I am glad to see that you are alive Shepard. The Normandy had already taken on an extensive amount of casualties. It is a relief that you were not another."
Shepard began to respond but suddenly something drew her attention away from EDI. In her right hand was a pistol, her trusty Predator. She watched in horror as her index finger began extending and wrapped itself around the trigger.
EDI continued talking, delving further into the specific mechanical details of the Normandy's destruction and crash. She failed to notice the Commander's movements.
Shepard felt her thumb began to creep for the safety on the side of the gun. She tuned out the AI, instead focusing all of her will on stopping herself. But no matter what how hard she concentrated her hand did not stop moving. She heard the safety click off.
Slowly, her injured arm began to raise the Predator towards the chattering synthetic woman. Her mind was screaming. She tried to open her mouth but it refused to budge. She tried to move another part of her body or to make any sort of noise to draw EDI's attention but her efforts were futile.
When her finger pulled the trigger, it was if time itself slowed down. Shepard could see the bullet leave the barrel of her gun along with the explosion of sparks that accompanied it. Her eyes followed the short path as it approached the synthetic woman's head. When the bullet was just inches away from EDI's forehead, she suddenly looked up and realized her fate. Her eyes caught Shepard, filled with a combination of fear, surprise, anger, sadness, and at last, confusion.
Before the bullet ripped through the thick metal coating of the AI's artificial body and lodged itself in her cerebral processing core, EDI uttered one haunting word, "Why?"
Shepard awoke, a scream caught in her throat. She quickly looked around, trying to convince herself that she was still in the hospital room, not on Earth. Her surroundings were the same as when she had fallen asleep hours ago but darkness had fallen over the room. How long have I been asleep? Shepard asked herself.
She put her hand to her forehead, trying to calm the rapidly approaching headache that always followed her nightmares. Glancing to her side, Shepard took in the various monitors as she searched for the one that displayed her heart rate. It was easy to find as it was rapidly flashing; her heart rate was much faster than it felt. In fact, just a few more beats per minute and an alarm would go off, alerting the nurses and bringing them to her side. Shit shit shit.Shepard focused on her breathing, trying to push all remnants of the dream out of her head. She inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with air and exhaling with equal force. Gradually, her heart rate slowed to a normal rate.
As she finished her breathing, her door opened and the overhead light came to life. "Shepard?" her nurse Kara called out.
One last deep breath. "I'm awake," Shepard replied, her voice still husky from sleep. "How long was I out?
"About thirty hours. Which means that it's time to change your bandages."
Shepard winced. She had faced incredible amounts of pain in her life from injuries sustained in battle, both gang related and military. She had the scars to prove it. But getting the dressings changed on her burnt and shredded skin was definitely had a place her top five most painful experiences.
Kara saw the Commander's expression and smiled compassionately. "I know it's not the most pleasant experience in the world. But if we don't change your bandages everything will get infected. And that's a much worse experience. Trust me, I've seen it happen. Not pleasant. Besides, I have news from the Normandy crew that you will probably be interested in."
"Tell me," Shepard demanded.
Her nurse smiled mischievously. "Not until you let me change your bandages. Make my job easier and I'll tell you the news.
"No one told me there would be an ultimatum," Shepard glowered.
"Ultimatums make unruly patients cooperative. One might say that they are an essential part of a nurse's tool kit," Kara shot back. "Now sit up please."
Shepard gave a quick sigh as she propped herself up with her elbow and pushed herself up with her other bandaged hand. She noticed that there was less of a strain on her ribs then there had been yesterday. A good enough sign.
She felt hands on her back as Kara searched for the end of one bandage. "Ah, got it," she cried victoriously .The pain was instantly intense, close to unbearable and the dressing was pulled away from her burnt flesh. Shepard's teeth dug into her lip with such force that she began to taste blood.
"So," she said with gritted teeth. "I followed through with your part of the deal, if you could call it that. What is this news you're holding over my hand?"
"If I would tell you now you would bolt out of the room, bandages trailing behind. So I can't give you all the details. But it is good news. Something we all need a little bit of. Now sit still so I can finish."
For forty more minutes Shepard sat on her bed, enduring the constant pain of her skin literally be torn off and then when some sort of gel was applied to her open wounds which hurt more than the bandages being removed. Just when she thought she couldn't take any more, fresh wrappings were applied, grazing her tender skin with just enough pressure to make the pain flare up again.
Finally, she was done.
"Are you ready for the news?" Kara asked as she handed Shepard a few pain pills and a glass of water.
Shepard popped the pills in her mouth and took a swig of water before nodding.
"You sure?" Again that mischievous smile.
Before Shepard could snap something back, Kara had disappeared out of the room and had closed the door behind her. She could hear the nurse's shoes clattering down the hospital hallway but soon lost the sound. The silence was filled moments later by many more footsteps coming towards her. It sounded like there were several people walking. As she listened more closely, she heard a slower set a footsteps accompanied by two tapping noises. Lastly she detected a fast sound of steps. So fast that the person must be running.
There was a rapid knock on her door followed by an aggressive rattling of the door knob. Someone, Kara, was saying something, her voice muffled by the door. "…let me…the door," was all that Shepard could make out. There was a reply but that was too quiet.
The sound of a key rattling in lock rang through the room. There was a clicking sound which was followed by the door flying open.
"Shepard?"
She had to rub her eyes, just to assure herself that the woman standing in front of her was real. And indeed she was. Dr. Liara T'Soni stood at the foot of her bed. Her white armor was filthy and broken in some parts and her cape was shredded. Her usually flawless blue skin was scraped and her arm was in a sling.
Shepard was barely able to get the name out before breaking down "L-Liara…"
The asari had the Commander in her arms in less than half a second. Their lips found each other as they desperately groped one another to close the small, but unbearable distance between them. Liara moved her hand up to Shepard's hair and threaded her long fingers though the red hair, eliciting a gasp of pain from Shepard. The asari pulled away immediately.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't realize how badly you were hurt," Liara apologized. "By the Goddess Shepard you look…"
"Like shit?" Shepard said with a weak grin. Liara giggled.
"I was going to say beautiful. "
"Flatterer."
Again Liara laughed and leaned back in to give her lover a gentle kiss on the lips. But before their mouths touched, the sound of someone clearing their throat filled the room.
"As much as I enjoy a touching reunion Liara, the rest of us came to see Shepard as well," Garrus said, his mandibles twitching with amusement.
The couple pulled apart, both blushing furiously.
"Still ugly as ever Garrus." Shepard shot back.
"Those bandages on your face suggest you'll be joining the club," Garrus replied.
"Oh please you two," sighed Tali. "You both come face-to-face with death and you come back acting like children." She bent over the hospital bed and gave Shepard a hug. "I'm so glad that you're alive. When the hospital first made contact with us they refused to tell us how you were doing. We were all pretty worried."
"That's what Kara, my nurse said. She had talked to Joker but I guess she didn't say much."
"Confidentiality?" Liara suggested.
"Or trying to protect us if something had gone wrong," Garrus said. The crew paused for a moment uncomfortably to consider this.
"Speaking of Joker," Shepard started. "Where is he?"
"You called?" All turned to see the pilot standing in the doorway, leaning on a pair of worn-out crutches. His trademark grin spread across his face when his eyes made contact with Shepard's. The moment she saw it, she broke.
His eyes. His eyes were dead, all previous traces of his jovial nature gone.
It was at that moment that Shepard learned that a person didn't have to stop breathing in order to die.