Insomnia (Mass Effect)

Chapter 5

A/N Well here it is!! Insomnia Part 5... Unfortunately I am going away next week for a technology free camping week!! So this will probably be the last Insomnia update until next Saturday! Maybe, if I try really hard I can get Part 6 in! :)

Shepard is plagued with nightmares, and she can't seem to get rid of them. They often jumped all around to different times in her life, but this one goes way back. Back to Saren. Back to Virmire. Shepard had been forced to pick. Ashley or Kaidan. She chose Kaidan. She had always felt guilty. Shepard wishes that she could've saved them both.

She is unaware of it, but she twists and turns in her sleep. Thane had fallen asleep by then, he lay silently and peacefully. Fear overwhelms Shepard and she bolts upright, sweat beading her forehead, her blanket clung to her sweaty body. She couldn't be here, not right now. She knew what she needed. A drink. A nice, strong, drink. She creeps out of her bed and out of the room, her eyes locked on Thane's body as she moves past him.

She is soon out of the room and in the clear. She knew she should be sleeping. She had two important missions tomorrow, but she needed this. She feels a bit dizzy but dismisses it as she nears the lounge. She is kind of relieved that Kasumi was not aboard the Normandy anymore, or the thief would've surely caught her. As she enters the lounge alone a strike of loneliness hits her. She realizes then that she misses the Master Thief, the talks they could have. She misses the rough, scarred mercenary who shared drinks with her and didn't ask questions or tell her that she should be asleep, she missed the Asari justicar who would sit with her and tell her all about her adventures no matter how late at night. She missed her old crew, not just the people who helped her take down Saren and Sovereign, the crew that had helped her take on the Collectors. She wanted them by her side.

She shakes her head and ultimatley accepts that they weren't coming back. She spots the bar eagerly and practically races for it. The Commander grabs a shot glass from under the neon lighted bar and grabs a bottle of a bright purple liquid. Just as she unscrews the cap to drown her worries, fears, feelings, and regrets a sudden wave of more dizziness hits her and she looses her balance. Shepard catches herself on the counter, but not without somehow breaking the glass and cutting the palm of her hand. She blinks hard a few times and then pulls herself back up, smearing blood on the counter. But that doesn't help. Shepard tumbles downward again, this time not catching herself and hitting her head hard on the counter.

Shepard feels herself fading into black, and she's not sure why. She hadn't even taken a drink yet. Shepard begins to feel scared, she was going into the unknown and she didn't want to. Then, with much struggle, Shepard looses and is brought into the blackness.

***

Thane awakes, slowly at first, then he eventually had the strength to pull himself into an upright sitting position. He glances over at Shepard's bed, and is somewhat surprised to see her not there. Thane tries to stand, but his legs don't corporate. The assassin sits back down quickly before he, himself, tumbles to the floor. Thane considers all the options. She went to the bathroom, went back to her cabin, went to talk to a crew mate... But he didn't think that she would just leave him.

''EDI?'' Thane asks the AI, she in the past had always tried to joke with him, she was somewhat amusing. He still felt a little strange about talking to her, even if she did have a body now.

''Yes, Thane?'' She replies almost immediately.

''Can you get Dr. Chakwas for me?'' Thane croaks and he clears his throat quickly.

''Yes,'' She answers and moments later Chakwas runs into the room.

''Is anything wrong?'' She asks quickly, looking around and assessing the room.