Random prompt: The first thing Oriana did after the war
Oriana couldn’t sleep—not after the message that she had received that afternoon.
I can’t tell you much right now, but I want you to know: if I have done nothing more than to help you live in freedom and safety, even for a little while… my life will have been worth something. I love you, and I will always be your sister.
Oriana sighed. Miranda rarely did anything without reason, but what were her reasons for sending a message like that? Was she in even more danger than usual?
For what felt like the hundredth time that night, Oriana switched on her terminal and navigated to the Alliance News Network—and her train of thought was shattered by what she saw.
Image after image of the Reapers, and all of them were crumbling—over cities, into oceans, under skies full of smoke. Other images flashed by: an asari commando clapping her hands, a salarian gunning down a husk, a pair of krogan huddled close to each other behind a pile of rubble.
Oriana gathered her breath from somewhere in her chest. “Mom?” she called in a voice that didn’t sound like her own. “Mom!”
As her family members awoke and clustered around the terminal, chattering in disbelief, she felt as though part of her heart had chipped away and floated off. There was someplace else where she needed to be—where, in some ways, she already was. With the lightness and certainty of a sleepwalker, she rose, went to her room, and began to pack her suitcase.
A moment later, she heard the familiar shuffling footsteps of her mother. “Oriana? What are you doing?”
“I’m going to find Miranda.”
“What?” Her mother knelt beside her. “Do you even know where she is? Will it be safe? She always has someone on her tail.”
“That someone is me, now.” Oriana folded a shirt with a decisive, slicing movement. “Maybe she wants to be found. Maybe she doesn’t. But if anyone is a match for her, I think I am.”
