oOo
My lips purse as I try to get the curve of the nose just right, tilting my head as I do so. I shake my head and erase the line, wiping the eraser shavings off the paper. I freeze when I hear the blanket from the bed across from mine shift a bit, and I look up to gaze at my sleeping sister.
The noises stop and I let out a small puff of air in relief before going back to try and master the nose I'm attempting to draw.
'No… too straight…'
Scribble, scribble.
'No… too upturned…'
Scribble, scribble scribble…
'No… now the rest of the nose doesn't look right and the eyes are crooked..!'
Sighing in frustration, I crumple it and toss my latest attempt at drawing my femshep across the room. It bounces off the wall and lands almost silently on the carpet.
'I can't draw her anymore. I've tried everything! I've looked at pictures, and compared them to my own memories. The lines and colors just don't match up. I've never been able to draw people. I just can't seem to make it look right. Whether it's the eyes, the nose, or the mouth! Gah!'
My face ends up in my pillow to mask my groan of frustration, as to not wake up my older sister, Rose, who is asleep in the bed across the room from me. Sadly, my attempt to not wake her doesn't work and she throws her pillow at me.
"Shut up and go to sleep already! It's almost eleven!" She hisses at me as she tries to get back to sleep.
I tuck the pillow under my arm and stick my tongue out at her.
"I'm keeping this."
Without turning to look at me she holds up her hand.
"Give it back." She demands.
I pull it a bit closer.
"No!"
I watch as her hand disappears back under the covers. I think for a minute that I'm in for another attack. I wait for a bit, before huffing and tossing the pillow back. She tucks it under her head and I snap my sketchbook shut.
"Why do you keep drawing her anyway?" My sister asks from under the blankets.
I look up at the ceiling and sigh, "I dunno... I just can't help it. You know how obsessed I am with Mass Effect. And with all the cool fanart out there mixed with Brittany's skill," I mention my older sister, "I just wanna get to that level."
Rose turns on her side so that her back is to me. I hear the covers being pulled back over her as she does so, "You know you're a genius when it comes to drawing and painting."
"So you say." I sigh and nuzzle into my pillow and turn off my lamp, before drifting off to sleep.
oOo March 21ST 2183 10:30 AM Century Omega / Hoc / Virmire / Saren's Breeding Facility oOo
When I wake, I find that my bed has changed, from the soft, warm, plush mattress, to that of cold metal. I groan and stir, before a loud explosion rocks the room around me, making me sit up with a start, my heart pounding.
It's followed by a shriek as I see a very large, reptilian face staring back at me, red eyes unblinking. He growls and I press my back to the wall, throwing my hands up in front of my face, my worn nightgown not doing anything to protect me from the cold.
Normally, I'd shrink away from the icy metal but that reaction was culled by my fear of the creature in front of me. The creature opens his mouth to roar but I squeak in response, "KROGAN!"
My words only seem to agitate him more as he roars in my face and I turn away from him, just to be picked up by the scruff of my gown. I yipe and wiggle in an attempt to free myself, and the Krogan turns to display me to a very familiar blonde woman, who's looking at me past the barrel of a gun.
My jaw drops as I stare into the icy blue eyes of my Shepard.
"Shepard?" I ask, in shock.
The blonde woman glances between me and... Tali?, before turning her attention back to the red eyed alien, who's holding me like a kitten.
"Wrex, put her down." She then turns back to me. "Who are you?! What are you doing here?! Are you with Saren?!" She demands.
I don't even notice the tears that are pooling in my eyes. I'm so confused. I want to know what's going on, where I am, but I can't get a word in.
"I-I... I don't know... I... I'm not with Saren, I swear... I just don't know how I got here..." I manage to squeak out, trembling.
Another explosion rocks the room, which, now I recognize as an elevator, and Shepard curses.
"Dammit, we don't have time for this! Grab her and let's go! We have to get to Ashley before the place goes up!" Shepard growls and slams her hand on the haptic, making the door close and the elevator rise.
As I'm being picked up and carried, I feel like I've fallen into the void of Mass Effect. This is what I've wanted for so long, to actually meet Shepard and now, I'm not sure I want to anymore. I've been here five minutes and I've already been yelled at, had two guns trained on me, and a friggin pissed off Krogan in my face.
This isn't what I wanted. I'm not Shepard! I'm a geek who can't draw anything but people that look like anime characters!
"Wait... where are we going?" I try to get a look at our surroundings.
The elevator opens and I'm met with a tropical atmosphere. The peaceful environment was interrupted by gunfire and the sound of explosions.
'Think, Anna, think! Tropical… Ashley… even though there are two other crew members here… Oh… Oh no… Virmire…' I curse internally. 'Crap… Crap crap… I'm gonna die… If Shepard doesn't tell Wrex to throw me off the cliff first I'm gonna be left for the Geth or worse… Please tell me this is a dream… please…'
My body trembles as I look around in a panic, unsure what to do. Well… there isn't exactly much I could do from my current position… right now I was being treated as a shoulder bag for a Krogan. I take a few deep, shaky breaths to try and calm myself as I bounce along before Shepard stops, talking to someone on her ear piece.
"Okay then we need to head back to help with the nuke! … What? Kaidan, what are you doing?! No! Joker, can you head back and pick up Kaiden? …" Her face falls as Shepard looks between the elevator we just left and the catwalk we were following,
"I-I… Kaidan… I…" *Her lip trembles for just a second before her face hardens and her head lower* "Kaidan… I'm… Sorry…" *She takes a deep breath as something is said in reply. For a split second I thought I saw… tears? But they were gone fast enough that I doubted that I saw them at all.
She lets out a breath and turns back down the catwalk.
"Right… let's go. We have to save Ash and her team." Shepard raises her gun and jogs down the catwalk as I remain silent, fidgeting with the blonde locks that frame my face. Fortunately my hair was short enough to not be an issue.
As much as it was tearing me apart inside… I knew there was no way I could help now. If this was some kind of screwed up dream… Why couldn't I even try to help…? What use am I if I can't stop something I knew was going to happen…?
My thoughts were interrupted by a barrage of gunfire as we ascended another elevator and stepped into a firefight. I squeal in surprise as I'm swung from Wrex's shoulder and placed back on my feet. He points behind a pillar with a growl and I stand there frozen in fear at the hulking creature in front of me.
"Cover! Now!" Shepard yells and snaps me out of it.
I dash and cover my head as I duck behind the pillar, still trembling as gunfire and explosions echo around me. What the heck have I done to get myself into this…? This would be one heck of a vivid dream, or nightmare, if that's what it was.
"Okay… deep breath… you've done this millions of times in game… you can do this…" A few more breaths and I'm able to calm myself enough to look around. Shepard is taking cover behind a pillar in front of me, while Tali and Wrex seem to be tag teaming the rest of the Geth. I flinch when one is shot down a few feet away from me, by Wrex.
With trembling hands I peek out, and spot the pistol it dropped. I take a deep breath, before dashing out and running to grab it, before returning to my cover.
'Okay… okay… Dad taught me how to shoot a nine mil… it can't be that much different… Right…?' I look it over and find the trigger, before peeking out and looking down the sights.
'Alright… Deep breath… don't lock my arm… aim… exhale…' I walk myself through the process my Dad taught me, slowly squeezing the trigger. I yipe when the pistol recoils and it hits one of the Geth Troopers in the shoulder. I pale when it turns to look at me, raising its pistol and marching towards me.
I squeal and rapidly pull the trigger. It takes another four shots before I get it down, but I don't stop firing until the gun clicks and hisses. I yelp and drop the pistol, waving my hand around to try and stop the stinging. I'd apparently been holding it a bit too high when it overheated and now had a burn on my thumb all the way around to my index finger.
Panicking, I move to scoop it back up when I see two more take aim at me. I shoot at them both, and stop just as the gun starts to heat up again and the two drop to the ground. I let out a sigh of relief and leaned against the pillar. I take in my surroundings again and notice the fighting is over. Saren is gone and the Geth that accompanied him are all scattered around us. I pale when I notice Shepard stomping towards me and I drop the gun in a panic, shrinking into the pillar.
"What the hell were you thinking?! You could've gotten yourself killed!" She glares down at me as I stare at the ground.
"i-I just… wanted to help… my Dad taught me to shoot… so I thought… but… it's a bit different than I'm used too…"
I keep my head bowed like a chastised child, as Shepard holds out her hand.
"Let me see."
Bending down, I scoop the pistol back up once more and hand it to her.
"Not the pistol. Your hand." She says, her voice a bit softer than before.
My cheeks flush as I show her the burn on my hand, a bit embarrassed to be treated like a child by my role model. She reaches into a pack on her belt and pulls out a small packet of what I can only assume is medi-gel and spreads it on my burn. The stinging fades to a dull throb and I relax a bit.
"We definitely need to talk about a lot of stuff. Mostly how a child ended up in Saren's Breeding Facility. But first we need to get out of here."
"Yes Ma'am…" I nod and she puts a finger to her ear.
"Joker! Ready for pick up! Get us outta here!"
As soon as the words come out of her mouth, bullets ping off the metal around us, and she grabs my arm, making a dash towards the edge of the platform as the Normandy flies overhead. I stare up at it in amazement, and despite the loud noise, it was awe inspiring.
My shoulder jerks forward with a piercing, burning sensation, sending me falling flat onto my face. Tears pooled in my eyes as I shifted, looking back at the Geth behind me.
"Crap… is this it…? Brought down by the weakest enemy in the game…?"
I feel a tug on my good arm as Shepard hauls me back to my feet.
"The hell are you talking about?! Don't be so dramatic!"
My face pales as I'm pulled along behind her. Whether it was from the pain or the fact I actually said that aloud, I'm unsure.
She drags me onto the ship, turning to cover Wrex, Tali, Ashley and Kirahe's team, and I stare out off the ship, my had clutching my shoulder. I swayed a bit before Shepard grabbed my arm again and pulled me away from the opening as it began to close, stopping to stare at a vid screen as we took off, away from the facility. She watches as we leave the atmosphere, and winces when the screen flickers, before turning away.
"H-hey… for… what it's worth… I'm sorry about Kaidan…"
I swear I heard an audible snap as she turned to look at me, her eyes narrowing.
"How do you know about Kaidan?"
"U-um… I uh… can we… talk about this later… this is… really starting to… hurt…"
My vision starts to fade and I hear Shepard curse as I fall forward.
oOo
March 22nd 2015 12:45 AM Sol System / Local Cluster / Earth / United States / Nebraska
oOo
My body jerks as I wake up, and I look around the room rapidly, my heart pounding. I sit up and wince when I move my shoulder. 'What the heck…?'
I climb out of bed and quietly open the door to slip into the hallway. I head into the bathroom and quietly close the door behind me before turning on the light. Shifting the now tattered shoulder of my nightgown, I see its bandaged, only a small spot of blood visible through the starch white cloth. Whatever Chakwas did, assuming it was her, worked, as I barely felt the pain in my shoulder now, and the burn on my hand was now relatively nonexistent. I need to get myself some to take home…
Taking a deep breath I open the door and peek out into the hallway, listening for any noise. I hear the front door open and close the bathroom door again, holding my breath until I hear my brother's door open and shut. Will had been on the nightshift for the past month and it's still a bit of adjustment when you're not used to people coming and going in the middle of the night.
Waiting a few more seconds, just to be sure, I quietly open the door again and creep down the hall back to my room. I quietly open the door, and Rose sits up, squinting in my direction.
"What are you doing up…?" She asks through a yawn.
I freeze for a second. Rose and I are really close… Close enough that some people think we're twins, but this… How would I explain this?
'Yeahhhh, I went to bed, woke up on Virmire, helped fight off the Geth, and got shot on my way back to the Normandy before the bomb went off.'
….. I'd be admitted to the psych ward for sure.
"Earth to Anna…?"
"Sorry… uh… Bathroom." I chuckle and quickly slip back into bed, keeping my injured arm away from her sight.
She gives me an odd look, staring for a second, before shaking her head and settling back in.
I stare at the ceiling, pondering everything that had just happened. 'There's no way all of that just happened… right? I mean… I have a hole in my shoulder… but like… It can't be real… I had to hurt myself in my sleep… right…?;
Tossing and turning, I continue to ponder, until I'm sure Rose has fallen back asleep. I quietly get up and stuff my nightgown into a bag, changing into an oversized t-shirt and pajama pants. I crawl back into bed and continue to stare at the ceiling.
'Well… Regardless… its over now… maybe I can just… Sleep and act like this never happened…"
I roll over onto my side and sigh softly, before closing my eyes and forcing myself to sleep.