Enjoy everyone! It's short, but the next chapter will be up shortly. Please be kind enough to leave a review! They seriously brighten my day!

1054SS325MP- That sequence you were asking for will be next chapter. Will probably be posted tomorrow or two days from now.

DapperT- You are absolutely right Dapper. I could have most definitely kept all ambiguous, but I don't want to lead readers into thinking it's something when it most certainly isn't. I'm not big on the spiritual stuff and I'm sure you can tell from the way I write.

Kellise- Was it really confusing? Sorry about that. And thanks for the consistent reviews bud. Does me good.

|Chapter 14|

|Date: 10/2/2184|

|Location: Serpent Nebula/Citadel/Kithoi Ward/Ullison Medical Center/8th floor/Room H-8|

"How's it feel?"

"Definitely better than the last one," Juel said when he flexed his machine fingers into a fist, "It's awesome."

Tali nodded happily and Juel gave her a serious look.

"Thank you." Juel mumbled.

"No need to thank me." Tali said, "Thank Liara. Without her good grace, we'd still be stuck getting new patient paperwork."

He nodded at that and kept staring at his new arm.

"Yeah."

"How long's the therapy?"

"A week." The salarian doctor next to her answered for Juel as he typed something into his tablet, "About eight hours each day with breaks in-between. After that, he'll be discharged from the hospital."

"Good." Tali said with a small smile before taking a few light steps backward to the door to leave, "Juel? Rest and listen to the doctor, okay?"

"Don't worry." Juel said as he rolled his eyes, "I will."

Both the doctor and Juel watch her leave.

"She yours?" The doctor asked.

"Mm? Oh. No. Not at all. Not ready to be making jumps like that in my life."

"Why not? She seems lovely."

"Last girlfriend got atomized in an explosion. Really not interested in love right now."

"...Oh." Is all the doctor could mumble before burying his attention into his tablet and keeping his mouth shut for the rest of the check-up.

A Day Later...

"John?"

Tali's whisper sent ripples of unimaginable pain through his head and he screamed.

"...You promised." She whispered sadly.

John fell to his knees and covered his bleeding ears in a vain attempt to stop the sound from killing him.

"Stop please! I didn't break it!" John screamed as sweat dripped from his nose as he squeezed his eyes shut, "I didn't!"

"How could you...?" She cried into him, "How…?"

He felt blood run down his nose and he fell to the floor curled up in a ball. His hands pressed harder into his ears to stop the whispers and pain.

"Please! Stop! You're killing me!"

Tali was there no longer.

And just when John felt like he could take a breath, Saren appeared.

He stared at the poor looking soul and bent down to look at him with a distant look in his eyes.

Everyone You Know And Love Will Perish.

John forced himself to open his eyes. Past Saren, he watched Tali staring lifelessly into the eyes of a looming reaper high above her.

"Tali!"

The Visions Cannot Be Denied.

In some desperate attempt to escape the inevitable, Tali leapt away from the beam of energy racing after her. But she wasn't fast enough. A cloud of destruction and fire consumed her and John screamed.

Through the pain and raining dirt, John forced himself to stand before pushing through Saren's ghost to her.

"Tali!"

"...Here, John."

The smoke cleared away and John felt the blood drain from his face. "No... No nonono."

"H—Hold me..." She whimpered quietly as her life pooled beneath her, "...please."

Saren reappeared over John's shoulder with his empty stare.

You Will All Die.

"There. On the monitor. Something's wrong."

John's labored breathing from the lab forced Wilson to look up from his work.

As Shepard's eyes opened, he could see Wilson and Miranda walking around him.

"God. He's reacting again... I think he's waking up." Wilson set down his tablet on the counter behind him in a hurry before facing John.

"Wilson... give him the sedative! We can't risk another accident like this!" Miranda ordered harshly.

"Go!" Wilson said, "Get the techs and the crash cart!" Wilson firmly pressed Shepard's arm back down onto the table. "Do it, Miranda!" He yelled before turning back to John, "Commander, calm down. Lie still. You were just dreaming. Nothing happened."

John didn't relent and Wilson leaned over him more. "Shepard? If you wanna stay awake, you need to calm. down."

John did his best and started taking deep lungfuls of air to get himself to calm down.

"...Good. We're here to help, okay?" Wilson set a hand on his shoulder as Miranda came up from behind with a look of what John could only guess as 'almost shocked'.

"My name's Doctor Wilson. You're in a medical facility. We'll answer any questions you have as soon as possible, okay?"

John tried to open his mouth to say something, but Wilson interrupted him quickly by raising a hand and giving him a serious frown.

"Don't talk. We had to repair some stuff in there. It's healing. You thirsty?"

John nodded and pain shot up like needles into his skull. He felt like groaning, but he stopped himself from doing that too.

"Okay... Don't move or you'll be on that bed for another three months. Got it? ...Good. I'll be right back."

Miranda kept staring at John and he ignored her. He looked up to see several cameras and over a dozen instruments hovering around and above him.

His back felt damp and his skin moist. That nightmare he had just moments before really took it out of him.

Seeing Tali like that...

He didn't even want to think about it. So he kept staring at the ceiling and tried thinking about the last thing he could remember.

The collectors flashed into his mind. Ullipses. The crash landing.

It was all coming back to him. But the very last thing he remembered however, was being sucked out of the Denmark's cargo bay into space.

...Things got a little fuzzy after that. But the question remained. Where was he now? How long was he out?

...Did anybody else even survive?

What about Tali? Or Garrus, Wrex, Liara, Ash, and everyone else in his crew?

"Back." Wilson said with a pitcher and cup full of water. That Miranda woman still stood by him, staring.

"I'm going to put the straw in your mouth, Commander." Wilson said as he put the cup near his mouth, "Drink slowly. I cannot stress that enough."

Just as he said he would, Wilson put the straw in John's mouth and he began to drink. When John looked satisfied, he pulled the straw away and set it beside him.

"Here's a notepad. Go ahead and write your questions down if you have any." Wilson handed him a paper and pen. "After, we'll ask you some questions too."

John scribbled sloppily on the paper and handed it back to Wilson to read.

-crew. where are they-

"God. He still remembers." Miranda said, completely astonished.

John furrowed his brows in worry. What the hell is that supposed to mean?

"Anyone who survived the events of Ullipses were posted elsewhere..." Wilson handed him back the little notepad.

-who survived-

-Only half your crew lived, Commander." Miranda answered evenly, but under a tone of slight caution and understanding, "As for the non-Alliance crew? They came out alive. All of them."

John felt himself relax slightly.

-how long-

Both Wilson and Miranda exchange glances.

"...A long time." Wilson said quietly.

John wrote the words again before underlining them repeatedly.

-HOW LONG-

"...It's the second of October, 2184, Commander. It's been almost a year."