Eden awoke to a feeling of floating. She opened her eyes and looked around. She was lying on a very soft, cozy bed. The room itself was rather ordinary, like something back home. Before it was raided anyway.
That thought pushed the warm, cozy feeling away, and Eden sat up, wincing as she did so. Someone had taken time to clean and bandage her wounds, but they were obviously far from healed. What remained of her armor lay at the foot of the bed. She was wearing the clothes she'd had on beneath them. Or, what was left of those clothes, anyway. There were several holes, and an entire sleeve missing.
There was also a wardrobe leaning against one wall, waiting for her to notice it. Standing carefully, Eden hobbled over, opening it up.
If she'd been expecting Alliance style clothing, she was sadly disappointed. She was confronted with sweaters, jeans, tennis shoes, of all things, and other sorts of items of that style.
She finally chose a dark blue sweater, and black dress pants, along with a pair of matching shoes. She had no mirror to check how bad she looked though, which was rather a shame…
…and she was certain that doorway hadn't been there a minute ago. Had it?
She stepped carefully over to the open doorway, as if expecting something to leap out at her any second. Nothing did. She poked her head around the corner.
Full bathroom, including a bathtub of all things, and a full length mirror, as well as a cabinet sink, and a smaller mirror above that.
Opening one of the drawers, Eden found several different brushes and combs, as well as some head bands and hair ties. And one of them was fuzzy pink. Opening the next drawer, she found a lot of cosmetics. She labeled them simply as 'cosmetics', unsure exactly what they were for. Miranda had once tried to get her to use some, but she'd just never had the interest.
The bath however, was very inviting. But that would have to wait until she found out where she was. She did pause long enough to run a brush through her hair, but then stepped out of the room, heading for the other door.
…Which wasn't there anymore. Apparently, someone (or possibly something) wanted her to take that bath. She resigned herself to it, (somewhat eagerly in fact, though she'd never admit it to anyone else) and headed back to the bathroom.
The bath was wonderfully refreshing, helping ease sore and aching muscles. Eden realized she hadn't relaxed for a very long time. By the time she was back into the new clothes, she was feeling far better than before. It helped seeing that the other door was back. Though she wasn't happy at the thought of dancing to another's whims.
But she'd find out who was behind all this soon enough, of that she was certain. She opened the door and stepped out into a hallway. It had a blue-green tinge to the walls, as well as what appeared to be old, well used metal. The place felt lived in, like…
…like a home. The soft glowing in the corridor pulsed calmly, almost as if it were alive.
Eden pushed the ridicules notion out of her head…until she remembered the derelict Reaper. Then she became a bit more worried.
Well, standing here won't solve anything. Eden thought crossly. She'd just have to find a way off, then contact the Normandy. Or almost any normal ship, for that matter. She needed to get to Earth. Find out what happened.
With newfound determination, Eden set off.
She soon came to a large, open room. The same blue-green color that had been throughout the rest of the ship (and she was certain it was a ship. She could hardly have missed a place like this before. Nor could the Reapers, for that matter) appeared here as well, along with the well-worn metal, crisscrossing the walls like a spider web. Wire and other unknown electronics were draped all over the place, like vines. Here, more than ever Eden had the feeling this thing, this ship was alive.
And in the center, near what appeared to be a console of some sort, the strange man she'd seen earlier, the one who'd called himself 'the Doctor', was waving his hands, shouting at the console.
"No, no, no, no, no! The transdimensional shifts lined up just a moment ago! They can't have fallen out of sync so quickly, it just isn't possible! No, something must be off. Or something is interfering with it. But what could interfere with it? No, it doesn't have the time. It's too busy elsewhere, and won't break through for another few years. It's got to be something…AH! Of course, how silly of me!" He reached over and pulled a lever, looked over at a screen, and smiled. "Forgot to get us back in sync, didn't I? Could have landed several thousand years in the opposite direction, and hello. Didn't see you there." The last bit was directed at a rather dumbstruck Eden, who was sure her mouth was hanging open. "Well, don't just stand there, welcome to the TARDIS. Never properly introduced myself: I'm the Doctor."
Eden stepped down into the central area of…the TARDIS. "Shepard. Doctor who?"
He grinned, eyes twinkling as if that was just what he wanted to hear. "Just the Doctor."
Eden nodded dumbly, staring at the place around her. "What happened to that little blue box of yours?" She asked. Maybe it'd been a shuttlecraft?
"Oh, this is that 'little blue box' of mine. 'Fraid it doesn't look the same both ways 'round."
Eden took a moment to process that. "But…but that's impossible! That box was tiny, and this…"
"…is bigger on the inside. Yes, I know." Once again, Eden got the feeling he was very pleased with himself. "But you of all people should know better than to consider anything impossible."
"Like a blue box with a strange man and my clone appearing on that platform?" Eden asked dryly.
His smile slipped a bit. "Yes…rather like that."
Eden frowned, studying him for a moment. "You cared about her," she realized.
The Doctor sighed, staring up at the ceiling. "I've lost a lot of people," he said quietly, "but I've never just let one go to their death without a fight. Well, no more than a very in-depth argument, but she's remarkably like you−and I don't mean that she looks like you, mind you−but she's very stubborn. I actually offered her another choice. She didn't take it."
"What other choice did you offer her?" Eden asked, curious.
The Doctor stood and started pacing, looking as if he was gathering his thoughts. "Thing is, there was only two things that could have happened. Three, if you count just standing by and doing nothing, but I can't see either of you doing that. Anyway, someone had to die there to stop the Reapers. That was going to be either you, or her.
"Whoever didn't die, would then have to take on the responsibility of what's coming next. Except you clone tried to kill herself before then. And while there is a slim−very slim, might I add−chance of things turning out well, the truth is, a Shepard has to be there to really make things go well. And she decided that she'd rather have you do that. And she might very well have been right."
Eden watched him. "Why do you say that?" She asked. Her clone had turned down the chance to be Shepard? She'd saved Eden's life instead. She'd saved the galaxy. It was a single, selfless act that Eden hadn't thought her clone was capable of.
It seemed she really didn't understand her clone as well as she thought.
"If you'd have died then, then she'd have to find a ship, able crew, possibly even have to convince your friends to help her−and almost stealing you ship was not a good résumé, let me tell you−or try to find others that would help, and that takes time, which both of you will have very little of when things begin," the Doctor stated, bringing Eden out of her thoughts. "On the other hand, all you have to do is convince Ashley to let you take back the Normandy−and believe me, she'd love to do so. Doesn't think she's cut out for that sort of thing, and how wrong she is about that…anyway, then convince the other races to unite again, and hope for the best."
"That's it? That's your master plan?" Eden asked, incredulous. Hope for the best? Even she'd never said that!
…although, sometimes, that was exactly what they were doing.
The Doctor looked hurt. "Well, normally, I'd try surrendering, but that's not going to work this time 'round."
"So what, you'll drop me off on Earth, and I convince everyone to work together against…what exactly are we fighting?"
"No, no. That won't work," the Doctor told her, waving the suggestion away. "Thing is, you're not going to be 'round forever to clean up after their little fights, so they have to learn to get along on their own. Besides, they already consider you a hero, and if you show up now, their opinion of you will just keep going up, and I hardly think that's what you want..." Eden's shudder said everything. "…so instead, you're going to pop out of nowhere just before things get ugly, and hopefully be able to hide under the cover of chaos. Believe me, it works amazingly well. I've done it hundreds of times before."
Eden wondered just what sort of life this Doctor led.
"So no one knows I'm still alive," she finally said, feeling a stab of pain at that. What the Doctor was saying made sense…but she could imagine her crew. How they'd take it.
I promised Garrus I'd be back. She thought. It hurt, but she knew he was right: if the world learned she'd survived all that, and was going to save them again…
But I didn't save them. My clone did. Her clone. The one who'd tried to steal her ship, tried to destroy her and all her friends…the one who'd saved her life. Saved the galaxy. And was actually a decent person, judging by the look she'd seen on the Doctor's face.
"What was she like?" Eden found herself asking. "What was my clone like?"
"You mean Amanda? She took that name, you know. After she decided not to take your identity," the Doctor said, seeming to take Eden's change of topic perfectly in stride. "As for what she was like…well I image she was a lot like you. I think you two could have worked marvelously together. Shame she was stuck on killing you."
Eden nodded. "So what is it that we're fighting? This thing that my clo−that Amanda died giving me the chance to stop?"
The Doctor looked a bit resigned at that. "Can't really tell you. Not yet anyway. Spoilers are very dangerous things."
Eden's eyes narrowed. "Then how do you know?"
"I'm a time traveler! It's my business to know," the Doctor said defensively. "As for your previous statement however, not everyone will think your dead. Least not forever, anyway. Did you forget I mentioned you getting the Normandy back? That's far more than just a simple ship."
Eden felt a flash of hope. "So…they'll know I'm alive? They'll get to see me again?"
"Of course! Unless you intend to take the ship in disguise. Bad idea, by the way. Don't forget Amanda tried that. Minus the disguise bit of course. Of course, the real question isn't whether you'll see them again, but whether you'll survive what's next." He gave her a pointed look. "You thought fighting Reapers was hard, but think of this: something the Reapers fought, but could not destroy."
Eden felt a chill. That was scary. The Reapers hadn't destroyed them, but they'd been trying to harvest them. Eden was certain that if the Reapers had really just wanted them dead, they'd be dead.
The Doctor abruptly clapped his hands. "Enough of the morbid stuff though. We'll have plenty of time to talk about it, but you just woke up. You need time to heal. The galaxy needs time to heal. And we're not going to just spent that time sitting around and moping, oh no. We are going to have an adventure."
"What sort of adventure?" Eden asked cautiously. The Doctor just grinned, and once again, Eden had the feeling he'd been waiting for her to ask that.
"You have spent a very long time saving this galaxy. I think it's time for you to see a little more of what you've been fighting for, eh? And I'm not just talking about now. You can go anywhere. Any time. Any place. Now you've got all time and space open to you. So, where would you like to start?
-=)O(=-
After watching the Citadel DLC, I've often wondered, what would have happened if Shepard's clone had taken a different path, or had been given such an opportunity. And come on: anyone that travels with the Doctor will change a bit (or, in the clone's case, a lot) so it makes sense that her perspective changes in the end. As for the great danger that is coming in the future years? No clue! (cue evil laughter) That is left up to your imagination. All things considered though, I just Please let me know what you think!