ic ⌥ shepard & stephen [how it should have happened]

[femshep]

It eventually stopped worrying her, when Stephen went out on his own. By now, it's been so long since Kernos took Brian that the paranoia's started to fade. Her crew, she's much more worried for. Garrus, Tali, and Miranda are the only ones Kernos hasn't taken from her at least once, and most of them haven't come back. But her friends, her actual legitimate allies--Stephen, Sheva, Wesley--it seems like they're in it for the long haul.

So when she answers the incoming ping from Stephen's phone, she's expecting a 'found some ammo that might fit your gun', or maybe even 'I'm in the mall, d'you think Sheva would want more pancake mix?' But what she gets instead is gunfire and static drowning out anything Stephen might be trying to say.

The gunfire says enough, though. "I'm on my way," is her sharp reply, and it's true. She's already got her guns strapped to her back and is on her way out the door.

It doesn't take long for Shepard to reach the half-patched hole she and Erik put through the south wall a few days back, and her eyes are scouring the beach even as she's still sliding through the gap. But there's really no need for that, it turns out. Because the gunfire picks back up now, and Shepard's off like a shot, sprinting down toward the beach and drawing her rifle in the meantime. And after one final beach-grass-covered dune, she spots him. Or at least, the mess of monsters that she's pretty sure Stephen's in the center of.

Thank god she hasn't reached the soft sand yet, because nothing is going to slow her down now. With urgent efficiency, she sends a few shots through one monster's skull, then another. She's coming, Stephen. Just hang on.

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[femshep]

There was no point in stalling. By now, he was getting worse by the second. It was getting harder for him to breathe, harder not to shudder, harder to keep hold of some feeling of control over his own body. She understood. She'd been there. That was one of the times she hadn't died, actually, one of the close calls that her crack team of doctors and scientists (okay, doctor and scientist, singular) had averted. But either way, she understood how he was feeling, and didn't want him to feel like that much more than he had to.

So to his question, she nodded once, almost soldier-like. This was something she had to do, not wanted to do, and she hoped he knew the difference. "I'll bring drinks," was her only reply. And she met his gaze for a second, jaw setting, then lifted the muzzle of her pistol to the side of his head and fired off a shot.

Her eyes lifted to the sky again now, because this was honestly a lot harder than she thought it would be. Harder than it should have been, considering he'd be back in a few hours. I guess no matter how much you tell yourself it's not real, there's something about shooting an ally in the head that claws at your senseless emotions. It's why she hadn't let Erik do it, and why Stephen hadn't wanted her to, either.

And then there were the monsters to deal with. There was no chance they were going away, nor much of a chance that they'd magically stay dead this time around. And that was something Shepard was going to have to deal with. But not yet. The barrier would still hold for a little while. With luck, he'd disappear from here and show up at the Shrine before she had to fight her way out of this mess.