So yeah, page 2, made a few changes, dirtied up Shepard a bit.

Art © Me

Mass Effect © Bioware

With a gasp, Alex Shepard rejoins the land of the living. Incessant beeping alerts her that her shields were depleted. ‘Thank you… I know they’re gone’ and with a flip of a switch on her armor, silences the alarm. Tilting her head to and fro, then lets out a rattling sigh, and realizes she’s at minimum blind in her right eye.  Wincing in renewed pain at the attempt to take a deep breath, the Spectre starts evaluating her other injuries.

“Cough.. so, no pain. Painkillers have kicked in” Reaching over with her left hand, she feels the gaping wound in her right side. Lifting her right arm, she stares at the ugly severed stump, slightly in shock. Sighing, she carefully lowers her… stump, back to its resting place. Slowly checking her legs, she’s not really surprised when she saw her right leg ending just past her knee, “Great… If I make it out of this, no more dancing for me. Fortunately, looks like the media-gel did its job and stopped the bleeding.”

“Talking to yourself huh? Shit must have gone sideways” A familiar voice teases from her left.

Jerking in surprise elicits a hiss as new found pain pokes through the shields of her painkillers. Looking to her left, the gravely injured blonde views someone sitting on rubble, a couple meters away. The familiar brunette and her damn grin gazes over at her wounded superior. Her chestnut hair in a braided bun at the base of her neck, her body clad in that ridiculous Phoenix armor.

“Hey Ash… cough…cough” Trying again to take a deeper breath, and failing. Alex figures aside from her other injuries, she probably has a collapsed lung. Readjusting herself, she turns her head to her comrade, “So, what are you doing here?”

“Keeping you company Skipper.” Leaning forward and resting her forearms on her thighs. With a worries smile, “Damn Skip, you look terrible.”

“Cough… Thanks smart ass…cough. I’m strong enough to fight a Krogan” Mock glaring at her friend. Shaking her head a little, as lightheadedness sets in, trying to rattle free the cobwebs. “Going to be a short party, I think I’m on my way out.”

“Maybe. Maybe not, help’s on the way.”

“Heh..cough.. how’re you so sure?”

“Because we both know, She’s looking for you right now. She will find you, even if she has to knock Joker out and steal the Normandy” Ashley Williams explains with Earth-moving confidence. Looking over the crest of wreckage, the silhouette of a Kodiak descends in the smoke and fog. “See, what did I tell you. She’d mover the heavens for you, so do everyone a favor, live. Live for her, live for you.”

Shepard’s blue-green eye follows Ashley’s gaze and watches the Kodiak come in for its landing. Watching the shadows disembark from the small craft, flashlights cutting beams in the darkened smoke. She hears voices in the distance, but can’t make them out.

“cough… Okay… you win” Glancing back to where her companion was sitting revealed, nothing. With a weak grin, she lays her head back silently hoping her suit’s transponder was still working. Closing her eye she wills herself to keep breathing, as much as it was beginning to hurt. In the distance she could hear voices calling for her; Liara, Javik… EDI… and with a smile the voice she’d been hoping for, “Ash… I’m over here… cough…”

The crunching of debris signals the approach of her squad. Lifting her head with a groan as everything spins around her. Opening her eye, she sees them running to her position, with a weak wave to signal them. As they broke the mist, she’s not sure if she’s still hallucinating as she sees glowing eyes and energy paths in the skin of their faces. “Hey… did we win?”

Gaining a full view of their commander, their feelings are etched into their face. Her eye looks from one to the next; from Javik’s uncomfortable attempt to hide his concern, EDI’s look of confusion and sympathy, Liara breaks eye contact, looking away fighting tears. Looking fully at Ashley, she sees the seasoned veteran losing her fight with her own tears, her long chestnut hair hanging in her face, “Oh God… Skip… I…”

“Shh… You came, that’s all the matters…” her words cut short as she is wracked with wet raspy coughs. Once subsided, she reaches up and caresses the brunette’s face, frowning a little as she wipes blood and dirt on the Lieutenant Commander’s face. Alex’s eye focusing on Ashley’s, sure that it’s not another hallucination, her friend’s eyes glow with a bright soothing green, “You’re eyes are beautiful Ash…”

Clenching her teeth, and fighting away the emotions, Ashley goes about barking orders to the squad. The young Marine hugging her commander to her chest, as Shepard keeps willing herself to breathe. Wanting to say something to Ashley, the Spectre loses tack of her thoughts, the world swims as darkness begins to creep into the edges of her vision. A weak croak breaks her lips instead of words, the younger woman turns her attention from order to her commander. “Skipper? …Skip?? ALEX!!”

Shepard; N7 graduate, the first human Spectre, the commander of the SSV Normandy, couldn’t fight the darkness swallowing her whole, her last conscious thought, “I love you Ash…”

Art/Alex Shepard © Me

Mass Effect © BioWare