Beyond the Horizon.

Painful Goodbyes.

Shepard never gave much thought to his death. Being a soldier meant he could die at any point, from any bullet, but watching the Normandy before him be destroyed was not one he expected. His home, the place he felt most content with was nothing but fire and fragments as he worked on trying to get his crew off the dying ship. 

The emergency beacon was deployed, and all Alliance ships in the area would soon know their best ship was sinking. Shepard opened all escape pods for the crew to get on board before they were deployed. He'd turned around only to run straight into his lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, also his best friend. 

"Kaidan," Shepard shouts over the ripping metal and blaring alarms sounding around them. "What are you doing, get to an escape pod." 

Kaidan grabbed a fire extinguisher, turning his attention to the fire close to them both. "It's Joker, he won't abandon ship," he explained, then turning to look at Shepard. "I'm not leaving you behind either." 

Shepard pulled the fire extinguisher from his grasp, throwing it to the side as he began to push them both towards the mess hall. "Get to a pod, I'll grab Joker." Kaidan fought against his grip, both men cared deeply for the other, and leaving each other behind was hard. "I'll be on the pod with him, go," he ordered.

"You best be, John," he sternly states before patting his shoulder and running off. Shepard was not called by his first name much, Kaidan only called him John when he was being serious. John had every intention to get on an escape pod. 

---

The galaxy was vast, cold, and harsh. But also the view was outstanding, Shepard always thought that, however he never would want to get a view from an unsafe position. Here he was, watching his home fall to pieces, he got Joker to the escape pod, but the beam that hit them so many times before hit them again, throwing Shepard away from the pod. He pressed the ejection button before being thrown from the last standing bits of the ship. 

He wasn't worried at first, Joker could turn the pod around manually, pick him up and they'd land on the ice-cold planet below. The hissing noise scared him, his oxygen was cut air seeping into the nothingness of space. He tried to clasp it, but it was too high up his back to reach. The life in his lungs began to fade, and he gasped, scratching his neck. "Kaidan," he whispers with the last breath falling from his mask as he loses consciousness. The planet swallowed him. 

Joker tried, he watched his Commanding officer fight for his life, the panic could be seen by any prying eyes. He tossed himself around, trying to control the breach, then nothing. His body went limp, Joker waited, hoping he would move, but it was too late. Shepard had gone, the oxygen ripped from his frail body. 

---

"Kaidan, we need to find the others," Dr Chakwas, the ship's doctor shouts as Kaidan paced a few feet from the pod. The planet was freezing, they wouldn't live long without help. Kaidan didn't care for that, he needed to know where Shepard was. His comms were nothing but static. 

"Shepard, Commander?" he says swiping through different channels to pick up even a slight noise. The other pods were a few clicks from him and Chakwas, it was a matter of finding each other. 

He began to lose hope until a voice called through. "This is Joker!" 

Kaidan throws his arm close to his lips, "Joker! What is your position? Where is Shepard." There was static until a location pinged, the pod's location. Kaidan took off running, he needed to know John was okay. 

The pod was stood in a deep incline of snow, the door jammed. Kaidan began to work manually opening it, he could hear banging on the inside. He told himself it was Shepard, it had to be. Joker wouldn't have left him behind, John wouldn't have left Kaidan behind. The pod door creaks open, Joker pulls himself out coughing smoke up. Kaidan moves him to the side, throwing his torso inside to look.

Empty seats stared at him. "Joker..." he began as he pulled himself out. "Where's Shepard?" 

Joker looks to the ground, the harsh ground wasn't a welcoming one to stand on. "I tried," he whispers. Kaidan steps back, mouth agape. It couldn't be true, Shepard wasn't dead, it's impossible. He looks up at the sky, seeing the smoke above the clouds, he is gone, John is gone with the Normandy... 

---

"Commander Shepard has been recovered. The Lazarus Project can proceed as planned." 

A/N: Hi everyone! Welcome to my KaidanxMaleShep story. This will be based on the ME2 storyline however when Shepard asks Kaidan to rejoin the Normandy, this time he says yes to get inside Cerberus, find out who this Commander Shepard is, and if it's his old dear friend. Hope you all enjoy it.