Thessia, Armali. Sanaa building.
4 month post-reapers.
Shepard was a soldier. She was used to simple truths.
If you run around with your shields down... goodbye.
If they catch you in a crossfire away from your team... goodbye.
If you run out of ammo... who the hell thought heat sinks were a good idea ?
Home was a small prefab unit they had airlifted on top of that building. It wasn't much, but she was finally there.
Her week had been gloomy. Liara had been away for a few days. Shepard had meetings, decisions, interviews, media... so many people to save...
Everyone I talk to feels like they owe me their life.
I was not alone, damn, there was EDI, that nameless Keeper guy, you, the crew, everyone...
I didn't really do anything... you should honor the others...
And the dead... so many dead...
Am I alright ?.. How the hell could I be alright...
Shepard felt so damaged, beyond help, useless. She tried to hang on but over the last few months, the depression was slowly winning.
Her legs had found a way over the railing, all by themselves, and she was staring at the ground five hundred meters below. It would be so simple. It would be over. Peace at last, relief.
.
Her knees start to give way, she's almost in freefall, as her body is yanked backwards by an overwhelming force, flies through some chairs and heavily crashes into a wall.
Liara is there, panting, her arm extended, glowing with biotics. She looks at Shepard, in distress, rushes close to her.
Liara
"Are you alright ?"
Shepard
"No..."
Liara
"My love..."
Shepard
"I'm so sorry..."
Liara
"Shepard, take this memory."
Liara doesn't ask. She just holds her, then her eyes turn black.
Shepard sees her own barely recognizable, burnt, utterly dead body inside a capsule. It's not much better than a human shaped piece of dried meat with a helmet and some armor on. It is hard to take in.
Now, she knows Liara has really seen her like this. She was less than a thing.
Inside the memory, her corpse glows with hope and love. Shepard realizes these were Liara's feelings at the time. All she had to go through to recover that body. Liara somehow knew all was not lost, against all odds.
Shepard remembers taking in a breath of vacuum and dying. She then hears a voice. Yelling at her, inside her head.
Yelling Apparition of Zaeed Inside Shepard's Head
"Damn you, Shepard !
Even when you were dead, burned, gone... that's as hardcore as you can get... What other proof of love do you need ? Could there even be anything above that ? What else could you possibly need from her ?
Stop looking at your little personal pain and stop being a selfish bitch ! She is just as damaged as you are, she's just better at hiding it. Get over your fucking emo bleeding heart I wanna die bullshit. SHE NEEDS YOU.
And if you get weak at the knees and kill yourself again, I'm gonna come over here myself and make you regret that.
Zaeed Fucking Out."
He kicked her back into shape without even being here himself ! Always so badass.
Liara
"(crying) I couldn't let you go...
(pause) I couldn't let you go.
(with utter determination) Shepard, I am NOT letting you go. Get used to it. Everyone knows Shepard never gives up, and I'm not going to give up on Shepard.
Get yourself together. I need your help."
Her body hurts like hell, and somehow this simple physical pain is a relief compared to how she felt before.
She cries a river, then cuddles against her reason to live.
Shepard
"Ouch. Ow. Thank you."