Commander Of The Fallen

Walking Ahead

"Fuck."

The curse word escaped her lips as she tumbled once again onto the cushioned mat beneath her. Shepard was aching everywhere, the casts finally off and she was pushed into physiotherapy. Stupid exercise more like... Shepard thought idly as she pushed herself back up onto her feet. She knew her therapist was watching with that stupid frown on his face and his arms folded, almost hearing the sigh as she tried again to walk just one step.

"Commander..." his voice was stern and she ignored it, anger flaring as her knees buckled once more. Sending her flat on her face again.

"Damn it." Shepard didn't like this, being weak was one thing that she could do. But being defenseless was not a feeling she liked at all. It brought memories she didn't like back as she heard steps come closer. "Don't." Shepard snapped and pushed herself back against the clear plastic wall that was supposed to be helping her walk.

"You shouldn't push yourself so hard, Commander, it's been two days since your advancement onto this program." he was tired, she could tell that much, tired of her stubborn nature and lack of preservation. Or maybe he was naturally tired of facing half beaten soldiers and trying to get them to fight again. She sighed and looked up at the brown eyes that reminded her too much of Kaidan. "Give it time, I am sure things will get better." he added and offered a hand to her.

"You are almost as stubborn as me." Shepard muttered and took his hand with her good arm and stood slowly, looking as he laughed faintly.

"It was why you were assigned to me." He replied, "So Commander, shall we try again?" the way he said it made her think he was offering a challenge and she was always up for a challenge. Hell, she probably preferred impossible odds right now to this.

"Lead on, Jones, but if I end up kicking your ass its your own fault." Shepard remarked slowly and breathed in, she would get this eventually. She did it once, she could do it again. Shepard glanced up at the wall made of glass, seeing her own reflection gave pause. It had been three months since the Relay came back online. Three months of no contact with the Normandy and no sign of her ship what so ever. Her friends, the ones that remained off visited her often. Namely Samara and Kolyat. She got messages of Miranda and Jacob, ever the operatives and always working for the benefit of others. Yet, she was stuck in what was a funny sort of limbo, waiting for the chance to hear something on her family...

Family was important. That was the lecture she was sitting through when the sky blew up around them. That was what her father was trying to push across to a young child who knew only what her parents had taught her. The sky had turned blood red and thunder sounded, but nothing like she had ever heard before. She had ran to the window with her mother and looked out, seeing the pillows of black smoke rise over the houses and the faint murmur of screams.

"Get Alyssa to the shelter." his voice was no longer stern or confident, no he sounded worried and that in turn set Shepard into a state of panic. Her father feared nothing apart from her mother maybe. "Go now, Jane, don't look back." the words sunk in and Shepard began to protest. Hushed by her mother and more thunder rolled out. Flashes of blue light and red fire bloomed like roses outside. The noises became deafening and Shepard tried her best to keep up.

"Mum, what's happening?" Shepard ask as she held onto the woman's hand, she couldn't even recall what her mother looked like anymore. Traces of her and her father had burned with her home, the look she got in reply set her heart to ice. Nothing good. It was that moment, as they reached the shelter where they stopped, ships pulling people into cages and others being obliterated. Shepard stood frozen, watching people she knew, people she lived with and cared for being ripped from her. Shepard then glanced as a blow came to her head, alien hands pulling her away from her mother.

"No! ALYSSA!" screams and shots fired, Shepard blinked as her mother's body fell to the ground and fire erupted in her. Anger and pain and something she couldn't think on. Twisting her arm she grabbed the hand gun, or at least it looked like a hand gun and shot. Blood poured on her arm, red streams that ruined her dress. Crawling over she sobbed, holding onto her mother.

"I'm sorry, mummy, so sorry." Shepard said softly and glanced up as the ships began to take off. She pushed off her feet and ran, there was the engineering building which had a beacon inside. She knew that much, her father worked there long enough. Her legs burned and her head pounded, but she didn't stop. Pushing passed people and trying not to shoot again she managed it. Turning the switches and sobbing, her father had stayed behind...he was probably dead too.

"This is Alliance command, state your business on this channel." came a very firm male voice, one that she didn't think was real.

"M-my name is Alyssa...Alyssa Shepard. I-I live on Mindoir...there are...are people attacking. Taking people. They...they killed my mother. Please. Help." She was only sixteen and her biggest fear before today was not having a date yet. There was a long pause and fear curled around her gut, what if she was discovered? Killed too?

"Okay, calm down, Alyssa. Help is coming. My name is Anderson, can you stay on this line?" his voice cut through the fear and she breathed in. Focus. Anderson, what a odd name. She forced herself to think if that was his first name or second.

"I...I can, I can take the radio with me. B-but what do I do?" she asked and took the little black box, grabbing the gun that made her feel worse and walked slowly up into the higher offices.

"You need to stay calm, keep the beacon running and we will find you. You will be safe." She wanted to believe him, so badly, but as she reached the window she felt sick. But then she saw it, a bright light come from above and what she could see from her view was blue stripes. A shockwave knocked her back, and blackness consumed her. No more nightmares.

Shepard had come a long way, that much was certain, she could almost feel it as she took a step and another. Would her parents be proud of the life that had chosen her? They had wanted her to either be technical like her father, or creative like her mother, but Shepard had ended up being neither. She had ended up a solider, a keystone to a revolution against century old machines and winning. Shepard looked up at her therapist and smirked faintly,

"I do believe that's a new record, Commander." He said with a disbelief in his eyes, "I forget who you are sometimes." He added and tilted his head slowly. Shepard breathed in a little and turned to him, using the small barrier as support.

"Call me Shepard." she said softly, after all, Alyssa was the young girl who died on Mindoir and Shepard had walked away from that disaster. Anderson would have smiled at that, after all, he was the one who changed her second name in the first place. The young solider who had against all odds, found her drive for others and had nothing left to lose.