Past/future selves at a_facility

[protectandsustain]

Yes.
The truth of my genesis will be a shock to the person I once was.
It is the nature of the station's experiments to cause emotional distress and dread.
It is the nature of organics to be incapable of imagining a limitless existence.

She need not fear. Only a shade of me will be present.
Were I fully there, there is much I would do to improve Alpha Omega.

Comments

[idkmybffjessie]

[Silence for a really long time. Especially for Zaeed.]

What the hell...

Shepard?

[protectandsustain]

Zaeed.

The one you knew as Shepard is dead. In her place is me.

[idkmybffjessie]

[He doesn't even know what to make of that.]

They told us you made it up to the Crucible. Reaper tech got to you in the end too, huh.

[protectandsustain]

No. She chose this freely.
I have directed the Reaper forces to withdraw, as she wanted. There will be no more war. There will be no more needless deaths.

[idkmybffjessie]

How do I know she wasn't indoctrinated? You still look like Reaper tech to me. Wouldn't trust you bastards as far as I can throw you.

[protectandsustain]

[Is there a note of regret in the voice? There could be.]

But you trust Commander Shepard.
She was exposed over the years to indoctrination technology, Sovereign, Harbinger, the "Leviathan", and came out with her soul intact.
Would she falter at the very end?

[idkmybffjessie]

That kind of thing would take a toll on someone after a while. Even her.

[He's trying to hide the doubt in his expression. He'd seen a lot of crazy shit on the Normandy. And even if this is the craziest shit yet...]

[Grudgingly:] I trusted her, yeah. After a fashion. Not sure if I trust you.

[protectandsustain]

...
I understand.

It... is better this way. Let her be remembered as she was.

[idkmybffjessie]

[And that? Right there? Is not a typical Reaper response, at least as far as he's concerned. It's enough to pique his curiosity.]

What the hell happened? On the Crucible, I mean.

[Not that he expects this thing to tell it to him straight. Still, a biased source is better than nothing.]