BioWare Bard

Shepard grunted, pulling herself up on the bar and glared at James when he paused hitting the punching bag to chuckle at her.

“You still got it, Commander.”

Sienna let herself hang for a second as she narrowed her eyes at him, steadying her breathing before saying, “Don’t distract me, Vega.”

He laughed as he punched the bag, the sound filled with genuine humour. “I didn’t think I could, Shepard.”

She had already resumed her pull-ups, mentally keeping count of how many as she was intent on beating James’ record. Deciding not to reply to him, she focused on her breathing as she pulled herself up for the 120th time, releasing her inhaled breath as her head rose above the metal bar.

James had come over for a visit to see the apartment and to show her the N7 tattoo on his back, and seeing his bare skin within touching distancd had sent her hormones raging. When he diverted from exiting, distracted by the punching bag in the room he’d passed, she was way too happy to release the unspent sexual energy by exercising. His not-so-subtle challenge when he mentioned his pull-up record was another welcome diversion, even as she tried not to watch his arm muscles bunch and move while assaulting the bag.

If not for her years of military control, she would have done something about her attraction to him months ago and now, with the whole galaxy in disarray, she’d lost her chance.

A seemingly unending darkness held her in its grasp for an unknown time, accompanied by a deafening silence that dulled her senses. She didn’t know where she was, who she was, or how she had gotten there. For the longest time -or maybe an endless time- she floated through nothing, felt nothing, remembered nothing.

Sometimes there were flashes of light, little starbursts that seemed to call to her, to float towards them, but they were too bright and hurt her eyes. She kept floating through the endless dark, finding it peaceful as though she was finally at rest, but those little starbursts kept popping up, blinding her as she drifted.

One of them burst close to her and the silence was broken, a voice emanating from the light. “Shep-” she heard before it cut off, intriguing her and reminding her of something, but she didn’t know what. She sought out the next starburst on her own, curious about the voice and the memories that it wanted to bring back. “…alive?”

Her peaceful rest in the endless dark became a frantic search for more snippets, more words to tell her who she was or maybe had been.

“Come on!”

“…extensive injuries…”

“…bring her back!”

“…can’t lose you.”

A name appeared in her mind, but it wasn’t her own. “James,” she whispered, and the light grew bigger and brighter, blinding her to the point of pain. She closed her eyes, squeezed them shut, but the light behind her eyelids burned through the dark, burned away the vast expanse of nothingness and brought back her memories.

Her name was Sienna Shepard, Commander of the Normandy, fighting a war against the Reapers, in love with James Vega.

Sienna blinked her eyes against the bright light coming from the window to her left, where the sun hung high in the sky.

A long, relieved exhale came from her right and before she could turn her head, a strong hand gripped hers and a familiar face came into view. He had dark circles around his eyes and a worried set to his brow that relaxed when she looked at him.

“James,” she said again, her voice raw and scratchy from disuse for who knew how long.

At least I have Zayne to support me these days. 😆 New player so I don’t have many good cards yet, but I can’t wait to get to know the guys more.

Thanks for bringing my attention to this game, @mrslyncx!