On the Other Side

by Ygrain

Chapter 54: Dark

Jack, we need to talk, he'd said, and now she's looking at him, her eyes wide, uncomprehending. The eyes of the little girl who had only a table to hug; the girl who has been abused and betrayed each and every time when she came to trust, and now it's happening to her again, all over.

And it's him who is doing it to her, he who has made such a spectacle of being there for her and not wanting her hurt.

It's not like that, he tries to tell her, I do love you and I will be back, I promise, but she cannot hear him, lost in that dark, angry and lonely place where not even that table exists any more.

When he comes to, there is not a trace of her, and Chakwas is fussing over him with her 'tool and a tube of medigel. His nose is a swollen, bloody mess, and there is also a bloody lump at the back of his head as he has hit the locker.

Neither hurts half as much as he feels he deserves.

"Where is she?" he asks, his voice sounding weird because of the nose.

"Jack has left the Normandy, EDI informs him when Chakwas doesn't say a word.

"Where to? How long has it been?"

As he tries to get up, Chakwas holds him down, unexpectedly firmly. "Don't, Commander. Just don't. It's bad enough as it is."

You're wrong, doctor, he thinks. It's worse than that. She is out there, without protection, angry and hurt and alone. And it's all my fault.

 

Notes:

So this is the end of the ME2 storyline. Thanks and hugs to everyone for the kudos!
The events after the ending of ME2 and the continuation into ME3 will be a separate story, under the title Moments In Time, Moments In Space.

Notes:

For the new readers: I'd like to point you to some other works of mine which are related and might be referenced - though you are, of course, most welcome to read everything :-)

Shepard's pre-Akuze life is featured in chapters 2 and 3 of Unmemorabilia, and be warned, this is a collection of stories where he doesn't exactly shine.

The events of Akuze are told in detail in Long Days, Long Nights, and the debriefing that followed is chapter 4 of the Anderson collection Between the Past and the Future. His convalescence after Akuze is chapter 4 of Unmemorabilia and a catharsis of sorts will be a stand-alone story A Measure of Things, but I'm afraid this plot bunny is still running free for the time being.

Shepard's first experience with Cerberus aka his revival and roots of his dislike of Miranda are set in chapter 1 of Unmemorabilia and further played on in Detrimental to the Mission, on a somewhat humorous note.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 7 of Connor Shepard