#maxrev

Story Title: The Devil You Know

Story by Ladyamesindy

Art by Maxrev

Rating: Teen and Up

Tags: Mass Effect/WWII Crossover, crossover fic, Alternate Universe, Angst, Adventure, WWII typical situations, German Occupation of France, Game Level Violence, Field Medical Treatment, Blood mention (not graphic)

Relationship: Kaidan Alenko/Caleb Shepard

Characters: Kaidan Alenko, Liara T'Soni, Garrus Vakarian, Aria T'Loak, Major Coats, Abby Williams, Caleb Shepard

Setting: World War II - 1942 England and Occupied France

Summary:

Alchera was an unmitigated disaster for the Alliance and for Kaidan Alenko. Not only did they lose the prothean beacon data but Shepard as well. Seven months on, Kaidan is still trying to come to terms with it, both professionally and personally. But a rumor has surfaced at Alliance Command that Shepard still lives, and Spectre Alenko has been chosen to look into it. Deep behind enemy lines, Kaidan must make the decision if it's better to live with the loss or take a chance on the devil he knows.

~~~

Finally, posting day has arrived!!! The Devil You Know is my story for Mass Effect Big Bang 2023 and is also a part of my Mass Effect/WWII series, Something Wicked This Way Comes.

This time around, I got to work with the fabulous @maxrev for the art and oh, man, did she ever deliver! THANK YOU SO MUCH, MAXX!!!!! Folks, she's knocked it out of the ballpark for me and I am so very grateful and delighted she chose my story to pair up with! Go check it out and please let her know how much you like her art, too!

Also HUGE THANK YOU to @shadoedseptmbr for betaing again for me this year! Your suggestions were perfect and you always make the story look so much better than the initial draft! You're the absolute BEST!

And a HUGE shoutout to @azzydarling and @mebigbang for putting this event on again! I have a blast each time I participate and this was one of the BEST!

Full story can be found here

Series can be found here

fandom meme

Thank you!!!!!!

B - A pairing you initially didn’t consider but someone changed your mind

G - Do you remember your first OTP, if so who was in it

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice)

These three answered here!

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go (prompts optional but encouraged)

Ok. This is not going to be what you were probably aiming for, but I need to talk about Luke Alvez and Penelope Garcia for a hot minute, because I cannot get over the fact the Luke walked into a federal prison, sat down with an inmate, threatened the ever loving fuck out of him, and followed through on that threat, just because he saw Penelope cry.

He didn’t do it to protect Spencer Reid, who was getting beaten up in prison. Ok, that was part of the reason he did it. But he did that because Penelope was SAD that Reid was getting beat up, and fuck anything that makes Penelope cry.

Likewise, who’s the one who physically comforted Penelope at Reid’s arraignment? 

Luke. 

Who’s the one who was in a car accident, and still ran to her when he realized she was about to discover the body of Stephen Walker? 

(gif from this post)  

Luke. 

JJ HAD GLASS IN HER FACE, AND HE JUST RAN AFTER PENELOPE. WHO DID NOT HAVE GLASS IN HER FACE. She was just sad. 

Who’s the one who visibly got his hackles up once he learned she’d been shot, and asked where the guy who’d shot her was now, because he was gonna go put him in the ground right then if he wasn’t there already, even though it happened ten years ago? Yeah, that’s Luke.

Oh, and he also wanders off from local law enforcement giving important intel about a case because PENELOPE IS IN THE FIELD, and what if she trips stepping off that curb.  

Luke Alvez fucking adores that perfect ray of sunshine and I live for the way he looks at her.

Favorite Fellas, Individual Shots:

1. Levi Sky Summers, by @maxrev and me

Thank you friend!! Again, sorry it’s late, I’m playing catch up lmao

9. 

Answered already!

14. When one has a cold, what does the other do?

Well they both react to being sick very differently lmao Kaidan’s like “im totally fine i could go for a run” while actively dying, and john’s a huge baby. so when kaidan is sick, john spends most of his time steering him back to bed and keeping him occupied. when john is sick, kaidan takes care of him and lets him pout for as long as his patience will allow lmao

15. When they watch a film what do they choose and why? Who gets the final vote?

Kaidan’s not very particular, so he usually lets John pick. John likes action movies with a good love story. Also romcoms. 

27. Why do their friends get annoyed with them?

Thanks! I really appreciate the ask!

9) In your xxx fic, what’s your favourite scene that you wrote?

We’ll just go with my favorite scene in my most popular work, The Difference between the Sea and the Sky. There’s a scene where Kaidan confronts Leviathan and I genuinely think it’s good writing. I toiled over that scene for days.

12) Who is your favourite character to write for? Why?

KAIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAN because I sorta wish I could be him and he’s kind and sensitive and a total badass and he feels like the realest character in the Mass Effect universe. With the possible exception of Tali...

17) Post a line from a WIP that you’re working on. 

Lemme dig one up real quick:

Tagged by @maxrev on this post!

Rules: Copy and paste the last sentence you wrote/from a WIP, then tag as many people as there are words.

I’m currently hard at work on my Reed900 slow-burn fic for Detroit: Become Human. What always interested me is the aspect of an android being stuck in some form of purgatory of indecision whether or not to go deviant. My Nines doesn’t want to be deviant. This is a very big part of the story and let’s just say that Gavin has his reasons not to be happy about it...

“What the fuck makes you different?”

Tags: None this time.

Thank you so much for the ask!

Your OC is forced to kill a member of their family or a friend. Who do they choose, and why?

This has already been forced upon her before she joined the Alliance. But it was out of mercy as opposed to a hostage sort of situation. She failed one friend and she vowed to follow through the next time it was asked of her. Watching a friend suffer through grievous injuries isn’t something she wants to repeat again. 

But if it’s a situation like she has to pick a family or a friend to murder for the greater good, she will still do it. Riley is ruthless but she is also utterly committed to her family. She doesn’t have blood relatives and so her found family are as close as she ever come to having one. Asking her to kill one of them is worse than cutting off a limb. 

If push comes to shove, she’d ask for volunteers, if there isn’t any, she will go by the person with the least impact for the immediate situation. If it was ME3, she might pick Kasumi reasoning the war effort could do without one master thief. But after the war, she’d seek atonement via whatever means she has. 

What is your OC’s greatest failure?

She has a laundry list of failure since her childhood on Earth. She failed her friends there. Everything she touched turned to shit. All good intentions were meaningless if it doesn’t translate into real results. 

Later she counts failing to convince the council of the Reaper threat, having to work with Cerberus against the Collector threat and being forced to destroy the Alpha Relay as her greatest failure. 

What does your OC love most, and what would they do to keep it?

Liara, She loves Liara a whole lot. Shepard is ace and aro, she loves in her own way and is over the moon that Liara accepts her as she is and is happy with whatever she can give. Liara doesn’t think she is less than whole and makes her feel that she is enough. To keep Liara alive, to keep their relationship going, there isn’t a whole lot that Shepard won’t do. Her failure to save Thessia is as much a blow to Liara as it is to Shepard. The one thing Liara asks of her and she fails so spectacularly to deliver. 

My entry to this year’s reverse Mass Effect Big Bang, now with links! I am still amazed that two of my fave authors picked my art to write for, and they did an absolutely brilliant job.  Please check out their work and leave them some love as well! (They’re both heavy on the angst as requested so have some tissues ready.)

Leave A Light On by @ellebeedarling

Shepard has gathered every resource he can; he’s recruited every ally. Everything comes down to this final battle, and he knows in his heart that this may be the last night he ever gets to spend in Kaidan Alenko’s arms.

Blink Of an Eye by @maxrev

War looms on the horizon and Shepard finds himself thinking about the changes in his life and how they’ve come about. Finally, good things are happening to him and now, he might very well lose them all. Kaidan helps him put things into perspective and along the way, Shepard realizes the most important thing of all.

And here is a second piece I did, which was inspired by the drafts elle and max sent during the course of their writing. 

Lastly, I would like to give a shout out to Azzy @mebigbang for making all this happen.  You are awesome!