User blog comment:Ygrain/Between the Past and the Future 4: What Do You Want?/@comment-2250460-20121110170605/@comment-2228120-20121110182054

Exactly.

Besides, even though Akuze must have been a deeply traumatizing experience, I think it only shows Shepard's strength that he was able to overcome it. I've read some fics where they have Shepard having nightmares of it on a regular basis, and I don't think that someone so severely PTSDed even six years later would be able to lead the galaxy. So, while in my little piece the trauma is fresh, this is not what I intend him to be - what he is - six years later.