6/14/2021 Fanfic: A Different Game Ch 2, Mass Effect | FanFiction

Chapter 2: I'm Proud Of You

Samantha was in complete panic. The allied fleets had been fighting valorously against the relentless force
terrorizing the galaxy that was the Reapers. The fleet assigned to safeguard the Crucible, the ancient Prothean
device they'd pinned all their hopes in their desperation had managed to escort the enormous weapon to the
Citadel, which had turned out to be the Catalyst all along. When the two devices came together, the Crucible had
eventually sent out some sort of red signal that destroyed the Reapers the instant it hit them. Samantha had
been forced to tear out her earpiece to keep herself from going deaf when the comm channels were flooded with
the allied forces' cheers. Then the bad news hit:

Shepard was MIA.

Major Coats had reported that any and all member of the Hammer strike force that had attempted to reach the
beam leading to the Citadel had been wiped out by Harbinger. Samantha almost wished that giant synthetic
squid could come back to life so she'd have the chance to kill him again herself. Recovery forces were still
searching, but there was still no sign of Shepard's body.

Specialist Traynor was sick of just waiting in the CIC of the Normandy, monitoring comm channels, waiting for
any sign of her beloved Shepard. Deciding to actually do something, she went to the elevator, took it down to the
armoury, and strapped on an Alliance standard issue combat suit, and activated her radio.

"Joker, take us down to the surface. I'm going to help look for Shepard. I know he's still alive down there
somewhere."

*You got it, Traynor,* The Normandy's pilot told her. *About time someone said that. I'd go with you myself if my
bones weren't made of toothpicks.*

"I know you would, Joker," Traynor responded. "And thanks for doing this."

*Just find him, Traynor. Do whatever you have to do, but just find him*

"Specialist Traynor, Major Coats said that he saw the entire force, Shepard included, get wiped out by Harbinger.
If that Reaper's death ray hit the commander, there's probably not even a body to recover. And even if there is
it's buried underneath that pile of rubble somewhere." An Alliance captain told her.

"He's still alive!" Samantha deseprately screamed. "Shepard's alive in there somewhere, he has to be!"

"Look, Traynor, I don't like it either, but no one could've survived that. It's impossible."

Furious, Traynor rounded on the captain, and the look in her eyes alone almost made him grab his sidearm. "Is
that what you said when Shepard told the galaxy that the Reapers were coming? Is that what you said when
Shepard and his team went through the Omega-4 Relay? Is that what you said when Shepard tried to secure an
alliance between the turians and the krogan by curing the genophage? Is that what you said when Shepard
talked about making peace between the quarians and the geth? I'll tell you what impossible, sir: Shepard losing.
At anything. Right now, I honestly don't give a shit that you're a higher rank than me. The only thing I give a flying
fuck about is finding the man who just saved the lives of every fucking being in the fucking galaxy! Now if you're
not going to help me, then at least make yourself useful and go help the wounded, because right now you're just
wasting my time. So do me a favour, and just fuck off."

Stunned into silence, the captain simply gave her a dumb nod, and walked away. Hell hath no fury like a
woman's wrath.

Shaking her head, Samantha returned to her search for the man she had come to love. After a few minutes of
digging through rubble, she heard footsteps behind her. "I thought I told-" But instead of a useless officer,
Traynor was met with the sight of Shepard's crew.

Garrus stepped forward and said "Sorry we didn't come sooner, but the medics insisted on keeping us detained
until we declared 'fit for duty.'" He scoffed "The only duty I need to concern myself with right now is finding
Shepard."

"Damn straight, Garrus," Jack smirked. "Come on people, let's get to work! The boss-man's not gonna dig
himself outta there any time soon!" And as the ex-con from the Purgatory who had somehow become a teacher
at Grissom Academy used her biotics to clear a rather large piece of rubble, she muttered under her breath "I
swear, if Shepard got his stupid ass killed, I am going to fucking murder him..."

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Samantha was eventually forced to sit down as her hands were doing quite a bit of bleeding from all the digging
she'd done, and apply some medi-gel to them. Flexing them experimentally, she decided they were good enough
to get back to work. She saw Grunt lift a chunk of rock almost as large as he was, and heave it aside

"Hey!" An indignant Japanese voice shrieked. "You almost crushed me with that thing!"

"Kasumi?" The pure krogan frowned as he tried to spot her. Then he noticed the slight shimmer in the air. "Why
are you cloaked?"

"I am not... oh wait, I am! Sorry," She giggled as she deactivated her cloak, "force of habit. Still, you do owe me
an apology for almost turning me into a pancake."

"I'll consider it after we find the battlemaster." Grunt retorted as he turned back to the rubble.

"Not quite what I was asking for, but better than nothing." The master thief shrugged as she went to help him.

Traynor was helping Tali and Cortez dig when suddenly she heard a shout from James.

"Hey! I found something over here!"

Before her mind had even registered it, Traynor was sprinting over to where she had heard the lieutenant's
voice. She saw him clearing away the dust from some dog tags when he exclaimed "These are Shepard's N7
tags! He can't be far from here, we've almost found him!"

They found his body seventeen minutes later.

When Commander Shepard's faithful crew had reported finding the commander's tags, help had flooded in.
Eventually they'd uncovered a body encased within a shell of burnt armour, the N7 logo barely noticeable. Field
medics were immediately on the scene, checking to make sure if was him, and if he was still alive. Suddenly the
body had drawn in a breath, and the next thing anyone knew, he was being rushed to the hospital on the fastest
shuttle available.

"He's in critical condition. It's nothing short of a miracle that he's still alive after going through what he did. We're
still not entirely sure how his lungs are even drawing breath. And almost all of the implants that were keeping
him alive were completely fried. By all accounts, he should be dead ten times over."

"What matters is that he's still alive," Samantha insisted. "Now what's being done to save him?"

The doctor frowned. "Miss Traynor, perhaps you didn't hear me; Shepard's body is a complete mess. W-we don't
even know where to begin."

"Perhaps you don't." Samantha spun upon hearing the newcomer's voice, and was met with the sight of a
determined Miranda Lawson, Liara T'Soni, and Karen Chakwas.

Miranda continued "I am officially taking over all efforts to keep Commander Shepard alive. I have full
authorization from Admiral Hackett, as do Dr. T'Soni and Dr. Chakwas, who are here to assist me. Now, if you
don't have a clue on how to save the most important man in the galaxy, then now would be a good time for you
to realize that I have absolutely zero use for you. Now get out of my way so we can get to work."

Samantha sat in the chair she'd been sitting in for the past three hours, waiting for any sort of update from one of
the doctors that were trying to save Shepard. Suddenly a woman in her late fifties with greying hair wearing an
Alliance officer uniform with a rear admiral insignia stormed into the waiting room. She went up to Samantha and
softly asked "Excuse me, do you know where they're keeping Commander Shepard?"

"The doctors basically have him locked in a vault, ma'am. Why, were you hoping to see him?" God knew she
was.

The woman responded "I think a mother has the right to know what's being done to save her son's life."

"Hannah Shepard?" Traynor murmured in surprise.

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"Yes. I'm not surprised you didn't guess I'm his mother. A lot of people have trouble seeing the resemblance, and
I can't blame them – John's the spitting image of his father. He's got my eyes though." The senior Shepard
explained while giving an awkward smile. "Are you here for my son as well?"

"Yes, I'm a member of his crew, and he and I were-" Traynor stopped as she realized she'd been about to tell
Hannah Shepard that she'd been having sex with her son, and she was also his subordinate. Traynor had the
decency to blush.

"I see," Hannah calmly said. She took a seat next to Traynor. "I'm not surprised John didn't have time to tell me
about you. Honestly, I'm surprised he was even able to find time for a relationship, what with the Reapers. I
mean, the galaxy's in total war, and everyone's hopes were riding on his shoulders. I can't imagine what this has
been like for him."

"He's the strongest person I could have ever imagined, Mrs. Shepard. And he did it. He beat those synthetic,
genocidal bastards."

"At what cost to himself, though?" Hannah demanded, tears glistening in her eyes. "Dammit, I couldn't care less
about the Reapers, the Alliance, or even the galaxy right now. I just want my son back. I already lost him once,
and I... I just can't go through that again..."

Suddenly the doors leading to the room where they were keeping Shepard opened, and Miranda stepped out.
Traynor silently thanked whatever deity existed. She didn't know what to say to Hannah after that.

The two women went up to Miranda, who sighed "It's probably best if I don't give you the specifics about
Shepard's condition, but he-"

Hannah held up a hand, silencing the former Cerberus operative. "Please, just tell me... is my son going to live?"

With a genuinely worried look, Miranda answered "Best case scenario, right now I'd peg his chances of survival
at around... two percent. Rounded up."

Traynor's eyes widened. Once she's recovered from the shock enough to form a response, she stubbornly said
"He's going to make it. I don't care what those stupid machines said, Miranda. Shepard is going to live. The odds
have never beaten Shepard before, and they won't now."

"You're damn right they won't," Miranda vowed. "I was the head of the Lazarus project. If I can bring Shepard
back from the dead, I'll be damned if I can't save him while he's still alive."

On that note, Miranda Lawson went back to continue her work, but stopped when Hannah spoke.

"Please, just save him. Do whatever it takes, but please save my son. If there's anyone in this galaxy who
deserves to live, it's him."

"I know, Mrs. Shepard," Miranda said as she turned around, her eyes uncharacteristically soft. "I care about him
too."

Five days later, Traynor received a surprise visit from Liara.

"Miss Traynor, I-"

"Is Shepard okay?" The specialist interrupted. That was honestly the only thing she cared about at this moment.

"We're still trying to stabilize him, but-"

"Then what are you doing out here?" Traynor screamed. "Get back in there and help save him!"

"Traynor!" Liara snapped, "Shepard's is still under the care of the other doctors. They don't need me right now,
so I have a bit of spare time, and thought I should come see you."

"Oh," Traynor said, now embarrassed at her outburst. "Sorry. I'm glad you came to check on me. Is there...
anything you wanted to talk about?"

"Listen, Traynor," Liara said as she sat down. "The other day, we were having a bit of trouble with Shepard.
We're making progress when it comes to healing him physically, but yesterday there was... an unusual spike in
his brain activity. And not the good kind. Eventually I suggested melding with his mind to search his memories so

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we might understand what had caused the problem. The recent memories, at least. And while going through
them, I found something that I think you should see."

"What was it?" Samantha asked, now interested.

"I'll have to show you."

Samantha hesitated briefly, then nodded. Liara wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't important.

The human and the asari stood to face one another. Liara rested her hands on Samantha's shoulders.

"Embrace eternity."

"I tried, Shepard."

And then the monstrosity that the Illusive Man had become pulled the trigger, ending his own life.

Shepard, went up to the console, and while clutching his side, he typed in the commands to open the Citadel's
arms.

With nothing to do now but wait for the Crucible to arrive, Shepard took a seat next to Admiral Anderson.

"Commander..."

"We did it, sir" Shepard groaned.

"Yes... we did," Anderson smiled softly. "We both did."

The two soldiers took a moment, and just looked at Earth. "It's... quite a view" Anderson noted.

Shepard smiled through his pain, and forced a small chuckle. "Best seats in the house."

"God," The old soldier muttered. "Feels like years since I just... sat down."

"I think you've earned a rest." Shepard told his friend and mentor.

A soft groan came from the admiral.

"Anderson?"

He groaned again.

"Stay with me," Shepard said. "We're almost through this.

Anderson sighed. "You ever wonder... how things would've been different? How our lives would be... different if
this... hadn't happened? I never had a family, Shepard... never had children."

"There'll be time enough for that now." Shepard assured him.

Anderson coughed as he gave a small laugh. "I... I think that ship has sailed." He looked at Shepard. "What
about you?" Anderson wondered. "Ever think about settling down?"

Shepard took a breath. "I'm a soldier, Anderson. Like you." He gave a sad smile. "Not really fit for doing anything
else."

"Sure you would." Anderson argued.

"Yeah," Shepard said, a genuine smile on his face now. "I like the sound of that... Not sure I'd be much good at it,
though."

"I don't know, Shepard," Anderson grinned. "I think you'd make a great dad."

Shepard coughed several times before let out an unconvinced "Uh-huh."

Anderson could picture it in his head perfectly. "Think how proud your kids would be; telling everyone... their
dad... is Commander Shepard."

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"I don't know about that," Shepard sighed, his expression regretful. "Not everything I've done is something to be
proud of."

"You did good, son," Anderson assured him. "You did good. I'm... proud of you..."

"Thank you, sir."

Anderson didn't respond.

"Anderson?"

Shepard pointed his pistol at the power conduit, and pulled the trigger. His armour was destroyed, his bones
were shattered, and he felt like he'd been bathed in his own blood, but he had never been more determined to
do anything. If someone had looked into his eyes, they wouldn't have thought that anything in the galaxy
mattered more than destroying that conduit.

As his resolve strengthened, so too did his body. He straightened his back, his strides became filled with
purpose, and he bared his teeth as he set out to destroy the Reapers once and for all.

The Conduit began to burst into flame, but that wasn't enough for Shepard. He just kept shooting.

He pulled the trigger.

There was Joker, giving him that trademark grin of his as he tipped his hat.

He pulled the trigger a second time.

He saw Anderson, in his uniform, nodding respectfully with the tall, bright towers of Vancouver behind him.

He pulled the trigger a third time.

Samantha gave him a smile that was beyond cute while her cheeks turned bright red.

"I'm sorry, Samantha."

He pulled the trigger one last time.

And then the fire consumed him.

Samantha gasped as she returned to herself. She would've collapsed if Liara hadn't caught her.

"Sorry about that," The asari told her. "The experience can be quite... intense."

The words didn't even register in Samantha's mind.

"He was thinking of me... He thought he was going to die, and he spent his last moments thinking of me."

Three weeks later, Shepard was still unconscious, but he'd been stabilized enough that the doctors were willing
to allow visitors. But anyone who wanted to see Shepard had to have the full authorization of both Admiral
Hackett, and Miranda Lawson, and the only people they were permitting to see Shepard were current and former
members of his crew, and his mother.

Samantha sat down in the chair next to Shepard's bed, grateful that they were the only ones in the room.

"Shepard... oh god, I don't even know where to begin." She sighed. "I... I don't know if you can hear me, but I
need to tell you this. Liara showed me your memories of what happened. I should've told you this back on
the Normandy, but I was... scared. Scared that you'd say no. That you'd think it sounded stupid. But I don't want
to be scared anymore, and I've come to realize that with you, I don't have to be."

Samantha sniffed as she felt the tears start to come. "I want a house, Shepard. A big house, with a white picket
fence. A-and a dog, some kind of retriever. And kids. I'm thinking two, but if you want more... we can talk about it
when you're feeling better. And I want you, Shepard. I never imagined saying this to a man, but I love you. I want
to spend the rest of my life with you, and have a family with you."

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Samantha stared at Shepard as he lay there, hoping that it would be like in the stories where the woman has just
poured her heart out, and then the man suddenly wakes up and responds with a line that's either witty or
incredibly sweet.

But this wasn't a fairy tale.

And Shepard's eyes remained closed.

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