Afterwards Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Bioware owns everything Mass Effect. I only own Aura and Marcus.

A/N: Thanks to The Red Celt for betaing for me.


A young woman slowly made her way through the rubble of what had once been Dublin, Ireland. She kept a pistol in one hand and flared her biotics along the other. She knew there had been no reports of living/functioning Reapers or husks since the red beam of light had come from the Citadel, but the nineteen year old hadn't survived this long by being stupid. The teen knew she was one of the lucky ones, and she unconsciously reached down and ran her hand over the pack that held the dog tags of the not so lucky ones. She knew it could have easily been her, she could have...

Shaking her head to dispel those thoughts before they could head further down that dark path, she stopped to take in her surroundings only to jump as the beeping of her omnitool broke through the silence of the area. Her milk-chocolate eyes glared down at her arm, before she brought it up and activated the device.

"This is checkpoint Delta, calling Aura. Come in, Aura."

"Aura here. What do you want Marcus?"

"Your locator shows you outside of your assigned zone. It's making the Cap antsy."

"Well one: tell the Captain to talk to Bill and Tom about why I'm so far out of my area. I'm sure he'll hear a very interesting story. Two: I've actually been finding a lot of tags, and some supplies. Isn't that the important thing here?"

"Yeah, yeah it is, but start heading back, huh? It's going to be dark soon and we wouldn't want something to happen to you, now would we?"

"Yeah, alright Marcus. I'll be coming back soon, just let me get my bearings. Also, if you could keep Bill and Tom out of my way, they'd probably appreciate it."

"They were that bad, huh?" he said with a groan. "I'll make sure they stay clear of you and have a nice little chat with the Cap. See you when you get back. Checkpoint Delta, out."

Cutting the connection on her omnitool, Aura began to look around and quickly realized that she wasn't sure where the checkpoint was. Silently cursing herself for getting so lost in her thoughts, she began to climb a nearby rubble pile to get her bearings. Reaching the top of a building she looked around and, spotting a few familiar landmarks that she knew was near the checkpoint, Aura began to plan how best to get back to base. Just as she decided to get moving, a weak groan sounded from the area behind her, causing Aura to spin around with her pistol raised and a biotic barrier forming around her. After a moment of tense silence she slowly lowered her pistol and allowed her biotics to fade away.

Aura scanned her surroundings and realized that the rumble she stood in front of wasn't of earthen design. Just as she had convinced herself to head back to base and leave the ruins for another day, a weak pulse of biotic energy washed over her. Realizing that there may be a soldier still alive and knowing that she couldn't just leave them to die, Aura decided to forget the dressing down she was sure the Captain had waiting for her and began to pick her way through the strange debris.

At the bottom of the pile, Aura found herself on a platform of a make that she was only dimly familiar with, when another weak groan from her left had her weapon up again. Slowly and cautiously working her way through the debris, the teen had almost convinced herself of the stupidity of her own actions, when she turned a corner and saw three bodies lying in front of her.

Running up she knelt next to the man in a suit and reaching out she felt at his neck, only to find exactly what she thought she would. No pulse, no breathing, no signs life. She sighed and shook her head at the waste, before she rose and made her way over to the older dark-skinned male body. Once again she reached down (without much hope) only to jerk back in surprise as she felt a heartbeat under her fingers. Reaching back down, Aura pressed more firmly and once more felt the weak beat of a pulse. As she reached for her ear piece, she heard a faint groan behind her and looking over at the third body (which she realized was an armored, red-haired woman) Aura could just make out the slight rise and fall of the woman's chest.

"Bloody Hell." she breathed out in disbelief.

The sound of her own voice snapped her out of her shock, and Aura once more reached for her ear piece, even as she took her bag of supplies off her shoulder.

"Checkpoint Delta, this is Aura, do you read me?"

"Checkpoint Delta here. Aura, you know you're still…"

"Can it, Marcus! I need a med team to my location, stat! I've found two live soldiers."

Even as she spoke, Aura began to apply a pressure bandage to the bullet wound in the man's stomach.

"Two?!" he shouted incredulously. "Okay, locking on to your coordinates now. Looks like Team Six is the closest to you; they should be there in five minutes. Just keep those soldiers alive until then!"

"I'll do my best Marcus, but I can't make any promises."

Aura heard a sigh over her ear piece.

"Yeah...I know…just...roger that, Checkpoint Delta out."

Aura held back her own sigh, before she finished with what first aid she could give to the older man. As she rose Aura sent out a silent prayer to anyone or anything listening--that they would not lose any more lives today. Dropping tiredly down next to the red-haired woman, she took in the damage done to the solider and couldn't help but wonder how the woman was still alive. The sunlight shining off the dog tags hanging from the woman's neck gained Aura attention, and she reached down to turn them over to read them. As she did a gasp of shock escaped her and her eyes snapped back to the woman's face.

"Commander Shepard?!"
***********************************

Kaidan couldn't help but smile as he watched Shepard enjoy the afternoon breeze as they walked down the beach on their last day of shore leave. The dark-haired biotic was just thinking of how lucky he was to be with her, when she suddenly turned to him a familiar smile on her face that told him the red-head knew exactly where his thoughts were going. Just as he reached out for her, she suddenly disappeared and Kaidan found himself alone, standing at the top of the crater that led down to the Reaper transport beam. Looking around in confusion, the Major could feel the tension crawling up his spine as he took in the death and destruction all around him. Just then, a brightening of the beam drew his attention down and he could just make out a figure as it stepped off the platform. Realizing that someone else was alive beside himself, the biotic began to run toward the beam and the figure.

"Kaidan."

He barely caught the sound of his name over the roar of the beam. He was now close enough to realize that the figure was human shaped, but the brightness of the beam behind it kept him from making out any details.

"Why, Kaidan?"

Stopping a few feet from the person, he could now see and recognized the armor the solider was wearing and the red hair on top of her head.

"Why weren't you there when I needed you most?"

Kaidan found himself stumbling back as Shepard looked up and he stared into the eyes of a husk.

Kaidan shot up in the darkness of his room with a scream trapped in his throat. It took him a moment to get his bearings. As the sight of the familiar objects of Shepard's loft finally penetrated his sleep/nightmare hazed mind, he felt the tension slowly drain from his body. He fell back onto his pillow before he reached over and grabbed the pillow Shepard had used, holding it to his face. As the familiar scent of raspberries and vanilla washed over him, he felt both his heartbeat and breathing slow. Putting the pillow down, the biotic reached up and rubbed at his face, cleaning off all signs of tears, before looking over and staring at the space in which Shepard should be sleeping.

He sighed tiredly and knowing he would get no more sleep tonight, he threw off the covers and began to get dressed. As he stood in front of the bathroom mirror, Kaidan couldn't help but notice how pale and broken he looked. Splashing some water onto his face, he took another moment to gather the shredded remains of his control before straightening and heading for the elevator.

It wasn't until he reached the crew deck and entered the mass hall that Kaidan realized how late/early it was in the ship's night cycle. Except for one light above the stove and the soft glow of the occupied sleep pods, everything was dark and quiet. Going over to the kitchen, the biotic grabbed a bottle of water and a couple of energy bars before heading back to the elevator.

Once he was in the CIC, he made his way slowly toward the cockpit. As he walked, Kaidan nodded at the few personal still up and eating his way through one of his bars, he began to mentally catalog some of the repair work that still needed to be done. Once in the cockpit the Major was surprised to find it empty, he knew Joker had been moping since they had crashed nearly three days ago and, as far as Kaidan knew, Joker hadn't left the pilot's chair the whole time. He realized that his friend probably needed to get some rest, the battle had been hard on him and when he had been ordered to leave Shepard, it had really shaken the pilot (all of them, in fact) up.

Kaidan shook his head to clear away those thoughts and taking a drink of his water, the biotic reached down to power up the pilot's console, only to frown as half of the screen remained dark. Turning the console back off, Kaidan put down his drink and, lying on the floor, slid under the controls. Not long afterwards, he heard the cockpit doors slide open and a familiar limping walk heading toward the chair.

"You couldn't sleep either, huh Joker?"

"Yeah, the ship is too quiet. I'm used to sleeping with the sound and feel of the engines humming under me."

Joker limped up to the pilot's chair and, sitting down very carefully, he kept it turned so he could still see and talk to his friend.

"So what about you, Major? Same old nightmares?"

Kaidan froze in the middle of his work before letting out an exhausted sigh and allowing his hands to rest on his stomach. Craning his head to meet Joker's eyes and seeing the concern in them, Kaidan gave a slight nod of his head before he closed his eyes. The pilot would be one of the only ones who would understand what he was going through.

"Old dreams, new nightmares. Joker, what if I lost her again? I'm not...I'm not sure I..."

Seeing the absolute anguish crossing his friend's face, Joker felt a small amount of fear mix with the concern he already felt for his friend. The pilot still remembered the time right after Shepard's death (before the crew had been broken up) and how he would find his friend awake from vivid nightmares and mentally beating himself up for leaving Shepard to die. The scariest time had been when Joker had come across Kaidan as he stood in front of an air lock; it had taken him three hours to talk his friend out of spacing himself to follow the Commander. After that, Joker had tried to be there for his friend as much as he could, but in the end the pilot had only been able to watch as the biotic closed himself off from everyone that still cared for him. His friend would not go down that path again; Joker would make sure of it. So reaching over, Joker hesitantly patted Kaidan's knee, before leaning back and trying to avoid his gaze.

"Look, this is Shepard we're talking about. You know she fights even harder when there's something she really cares about on the line. Knowing her, she's going to be standing there in the docking bay, tapping her foot, waiting to ream me out for crashing her ship."

Joker felt a small surge of victory go through him as he heard his friend give a small wet chuckle. His eyes then grew unfocused as he remembered another reason the Commander had to survive.

"Besides, the Commander has the main part of EDI's code, and we need that to get her up and running again. Though now that I think about it, EDI will probably join Shepard in reaming me out over the Normandy, though I think I'm actually looking forward to it if it means I get to see both of them again."

Kaidan looked over at Joker and, seeing the lost look in his eyes that he knew matched his own, decided to share something with his old friend.

"She said she'd be waiting." Feeling Joker's gaze on him, the Major stared at the panel above him as he remembered that moment.

"Shepard, just before the final push to the beam … she told me she would be waiting for me, and that I had better come back. But Joker, what if we get back and she's...she's..."

"Don't! Don't even start down that path. Shepard would kick your ass if she knew that you were thinking that way again. She gave you her word, right? If there's one thing I know about the Commander, it's that she HATES people who break their promises."

Letting out another watery chuckle, Kaidan reached up and tried to rub away all traces of the turmoil that still brewed deep in his chest.

"You're right, Joker. She doesn't go back on her promises and neither will I. I told her I'd fight like hell to hold her again, so I guess I need to stop moping and get to it."

Joker had to smile as he watched Kaidan pick up his tools and begin to work on the control panel again, a burning determination replacing the despair that had been in his eyes.

"Ok, Joker, try turning it on now," said Kaidan a little while later.

Reaching over, the Lieutenant brought up the flight controls with practiced ease.

"All controls show green, Major."

"Right, so what's next?"

"Well, if you can get the main communication station up and running, we could hopefully get a message to Earth. Maybe find out what the situation is there."

"Good idea, Joker." With that, Kaidan stood up and walking over to the comm station, tried to turn it on only to find that it wouldn't even light up. So with a sigh, he bent down and tired to figure out what was wrong with it.