Everyone gathered at the memory wall in front of the elevator on the crew deck. No one knew exactly what to say so they remained quiet. Liara clutched the nameplate tight before stumbling up to the wall. She looked down and ran her hand across the letters "Shepard". She looked up at the board and a small smile started to form on her lips. He heard it faintly even though her lips didn't move. I'm yours.

Gasp

Pain. That was the first thing that registered in Shepard's mind. It was hard to breathe, his ears were ringing, and his entire left side was on fire, but the pain was good. The pain let him know that he was still alive, barely. His head was heavy, and weighed down from the war that had raged in his mind. He tried to crack his eyes open and instantly regretted it. Through the static on his sentry interface the blinding, blue light was like a sledgehammer to his brain. He closed them again trying to get any idea of where he was through his other senses. He was lying on something hard and cold. He could smell dust, blood, and sweat. Shepard breathed in as deep as he could and tried to open his eyes again. His gut wrenched, as he was able to register where he was.

The blue beam of light was twenty yards away and there were scattered bodies everywhere, both reaper and allied. As the ringing subsided he could hear a radio with Coats' voice, "God...they're all gone."

Another marine came over the channel, "Did we get anyone to the beam?"

"Negative. Our entire force was decimated."

Son of a bitch! It wasn't real. He never made it to the beam, he didn't kill the Illusive Man, and the reapers were still alive. Despair and failure was closing in on him like never before. He had never let either take over. He couldn't in his job, but this defeat was harder to take. I need to know your always coming back. Liara's words were running through his head. No, he had to stop this, if not for all life, at least for her.

The headset was buggy and shorting out so he ripped it off, and threw it to the side. He had to put most of his weight on his right side, but he was able to get up. He looked around and saw no one else around just like the dream, but instead of the silent emptiness he saw the battleground littered with destroyed Makos, bodies, and ash. He could hear Harbinger groaning off to the left dealing with an assault attacking it's left flank. This was his chance as he stumbled toward the beam. He grabbed the Paladin on his side in case a Marauder popped out like the dream, but no such luck. Ten yards from the beam two cannibals looked up from their scavenging to see Shepard approaching the beam. They let out a scream and started firing. He started running as fast as he could towards the beam his breath sawing through his lungs. He could feel the blistered tissue on his left side stretching and ripping as he moved closer. He lunged through the beam. His body was ejected out onto a metal floor. Instead of a red-lit hallway littered with corpses and keepers, Shepard found himself lying in what looked to be one of the access ways under the wards that was shutdown and closed off by the keepers after the Saren attack. The hallway made him uneasy as he made his way through the sterile steel and empty corridors. The Citadel was usually crowded and loud. The walkways would be bustling with people and the occasional keeper. The silence just made it unnatural. Shepard had found a welcome sight as he approached the terminal. The blue and pink VI blinked in front of him with a cheery disposition that didn't seem to mesh with the current events. "Welcome back Shepard. It has been—"

"Avina, I need to know how to open the Citadel arms."

"I am sorry, that information is classified."

"I have Spectre authorization. I need to know how to open the Citadel arms."

"Processing Spectre clearance. Spectre access granted. Access to the Citadel console has been moved after the Geth attack. The access point is now located in a secure area on top of the Citadel Tower. To access this area you must proceed to the Counsel Chamber and take the elevator to the top level. An elevator is located seven meters on your left. Have a nice day Commander."

Shepard walked away from the VI. He had to hack the elevator, but it soon took off toward the embassies. Shepard went to lean his face on the cool surface of the steel wall and tried not to look at the distorted reflection. The metal felt good on his still smoldering skin, but the pain was almost unbearable. He was just grateful his legs still worked, even though he couldn't feel his left leg. He tried to concentrate on anything else, but the only thing that helped was Liara. He tried to focus on big cyan eyes, and soft blue skin. He could see her standing in front of him on their flight to Illos. She was usually so shy and sometimes soft-spoken, but this time she looked him in the eyes, her voice steady. The next mission had everyone worried. Low odds of success and possible death have a way to spur people into action. I want this to be special.

"Second level Embassies." Shepard walked through the deserted offices and toward the Chamber when he came upon two bodies. They were cannibals, both fresh kills. He was not alone. Someone did make it through. Could Coats have been wrong? Was it Anderson? A sense relief flowed through him as he continued on. He approached the stand that faced the council. Standing there now he could only smile wryly. It was at this very place that Shepard tried to convince the Council to believe him. Every thing he had warned them about—Saren, the reapers—they ignored him. Now here he was bloody, bruised, and right. Unfortunately, he couldn't dwell on this small victory long. He lurched forward and started accessing the terminal. He was able to find the encrypted code and called the elevator. A platform started to descend from the high ceiling, and landed in front of the stand. The railing retracted and he stepped aboard. He didn't dare try to lean on the railing knowing he could very easily topple over the top of it. The platform stopped and Shepard looked around with disbelief. He was standing in the very same control room he had seen in the visions. A great window spread out before the panel, but instead of Anderson, there was a figure he knew too well.

"Shepard. Are you still alive?" The Illusive Man turned around. His eye implants glowed blue as he looked at the Commander. The reaper implants were starting to breakthrough the skin around those eyes making him look more mechanical than human. An M-9 Tempest was lying on the console ignored. "You are proving to be more tenacious than even I believed. The Alliance thinks your dead you know. I've been listening to the chatter. I think they aren't sure what to do with themselves now that the great Commander Shepard isn't there to save them anymore."

"Get out of my way before you make me do something I really want to do." Shepard held out his gun and aimed it at the indoctrinated traitor.

"Shepard, you won't shoot me. I know you too well for that threat. You must know this is all for humanities sake."

"Your not even human any more. Look at you! The reaper implants are taking over your body. No one can control the reapers. Power like that doesn't last."

The Illusive Man continued to walk farther from the console. "The same thing could be said about you. All those implants we put into you. Most would say your more machine than man. The sheer fact that you are standing despite your injuries is a testament to that. But you are right about controlling them. Like all life the reapers would just evolve to reject that control. But I have been shown a better way. The Catalyst has shown me."

Slowly a realization had occurred to the Commander. "How did it show you?"

"Like all truths: through visions. I could see all the death this so-called war has caused. All the shadows. Their inky blackness would stand off to the side as a boy lead me through the dark forest. Are you familiar with Isaiah Chapter 11 Verse 6? 'In that day the wolf and lamb will live together; the leopard and the goat will be at peace. Calves and yearlings will be safe among lions, and a little child shall lead them.' Don't you see Shepard; the Catalyst came to me as a little boy. He said that we could save every living being. Peace will be restored."

He became nauseous as everything fell together. Everything that he saw, and the dreams were all apart of it. This entire time he had blamed those that were indoctrinated when all along he...no. He thought back to all the reports he read, and the scientists' logs on the dead reaper. He knew what was involved in indoctrination, but as he stood here some facts just weren't adding up. Before, when he stood in this room with Anderson and this twisted shell of a man he remembered how the two had fought. He could see the inky black apparitions pushing at the edges of his vision every time the Illusive Man talked and the headache that always came with them. In the end he chose to ignore the Illusive Man and he chose to destroy the reapers. Now as he stood here looking at what could only be described as a reaper puppet understanding started to form. "What did you chose?"

"What are you talking about, Shepard?"

He gripped the gun tighter feeling the bones in his hand crack with the pressure. "In the vision you had three choices: control, synthesize, or destroy; blue, green, or red. Which one did you chose? You could only choose one, now which one was it?"

"This was no vision, Shepard. I talked to the Catalyst. It stood in front of me as real as you are, and it told me that synthesis was the only way we could save everyone. I would have figured that someone like you would see this was the only choice. The first human Spectre, the man who united the galaxy to fight the reapers." The Illusive Man turned back to the console. "You'll thank me for this. I have finally seen the truth. For years I have been charged with bigotry against all other races, but I have seen what you've been saying all along. All life must be preserved: human, asari, and reaper. The entire galaxy will thank me for my sacrifice."

All Shepard could do was hold his head as his thoughts spun around his confused brain. What does this mean? Suddenly his head was hit with a sharp piercing pain. Yet, when he looked up there were no black shadows dancing in his periphery. Instead there was pain. Horrible, horrible pain that started in the front of his head and spread down the back of his neck. He could see the Illusive Man standing there trying to initiate the console. "I hate to disappoint you," Shepard leveled his gun at the Illusive Man, "but like I said when we first met, 'You don't know me.'" With that Shepard pulled the trigger and shot him. A double tap to the lower back brought him down. He walked toward the console and smiled. It felt good to finally shoot that asshole after all that has happened. He was able to open the arms and watched as the Crucible pulled in to position. He opened a COM channel to listen in.

"My God! Someone actually did it. All ships move ahead and protect the Crucible at all costs." The mechanism was locked into place and the console seemed to recognize the mechanism as a new menu was opened. He went to continue initiating the code when he was hit by a crippling headache. He looked down at the Illusive Man to find his eyes glowing green and his voice was distorted like that of the Catalyst. "You must not proceed. If you do this, chaos will consume the galaxy. Think of all those lives you'll be taking away after you gave them hope. You must think about the upgraded Geth, think about EDI. If you proceed they all die."

"Or are your just pleading for your creations. Leviathan told me about your betrayal. Software that was corrupted into what it was suppose to prevent. How do I know your not just trying preserve your work?"

He was hit with another migraine that brought him to his knees. He could hear the Catalyst crawling way. "How is this possible? How can you repel my touch? You are just one man. You will bend to my will."

It felt like a hot omni-blade was slicing his skull open. His vision blurred, and he began to heave. You cajole and threaten and you make tremendous sacrifices. No, he must do this. He cannot fail. Screaming with renewed purpose Shepard stood and sent the command. "Command Alpha sent. The code will be sent at 3.7 Petawatts, which is hazardous to unshielded organics. Warning: interior of station—"

"Let me guess is not shielded. Sounds familiar." Shepard turned around to leave when the Illusive Man stopped him. He was trying to crawl towards him, but Shepard just ignored him. "You will regret this. My work is not finished."

As Shepard got onto the platform he pulled out his handgun and shot him in the head. "I guess we'll see about that." The platform touched down and Shepard started to run as fast as he could but his legs didn't want to cooperate. He could hear the countdown over the automated system. "10...9...8...3...2...1" The blast was sent across the galaxy with a great yellow beam. Everywhere reapers fell into giant useless heaps of metal. As reaper codes were destroyed Cerberus agents writhed on the ground in pain. Geth stopped and powered down in the middle of the fray as a great yellow wave flowed over the battlefields like a biblical flood taking all the reaper forces with it.

Back on the Citadel Shepard lay on the ground where he was thrown. He just couldn't hang on any more. He was so tired. He just wanted to stop and rest. Tears started to gather in his eyes as he thought of her blue eyes looking up at him. He could see the soft smile she wore every time she woke up and saw him. He wouldn't be able to keep that promise he made to her. I love you too. Show me. This was the best way he could show her how much he loved her. He closed his eyes and finally let go.