A/N - I wrote this after finishing ME3 for the first time. I wanted to go and give more insight into what my Shepard was thinking as she chose what she did. Also, this is my first ME fanfic. I hope it won't be my last either ^^
An End to a Legend [a one-shot]
WARNING - This contains SPOILERS for the ending of Mass Effect 3.
Disclaimer - I don't own Mass Effect.
Pain. So much pain.
Sky Shepard tightened her grip on her pistol as she confidently limped her way to the power conduit. She had made her choice long ago on how to deal with the Reapers-they must be eliminated. There was no way she was going to take control of them even if the Illusive Man had been right; Shepard couldn't accept doing that. As for ending the cycle, giving herself to the Crucible...something inside her didn't want to do that.
It was getting harder and harder to limp to the power conduit. The hand which held her pistol shook from fatigue and pain. Memories flooded through her mind of the Normandy, its crew, her friends. Those she loved and cared about. And Earth. Its people. It might not have been her home, having grown up on Mindoir, but it felt like home when she had stayed there with the Alliance. Before the Reapers invaded.
She almost collapsed when an image of Garrus flashed through her mind. Her heart skipped a beat and constricted when she thought about not being with him, dying. He was her heart and soul. He made it possible for her continue on when everything seemed impossible. He was always there, until the very end.
"Shepard and Vakarian, storming heaven... I guess there are worse ways this could end."
The memory made Shepard smile, regardless of the pain it caused. She continued to the power conduit until she could aim her pistol at it with her wavering accuracy. It was time to end this war.
Every shot echoed throughout the strange chamber she was in, hitting the conduit on mark. Each one made her think of everyone she had made friends with over the past three years and for those who had passed on. The conduit exploded with her sixth shot sending her backwards through the air.
Shepard landed with a dull thud on the floor with a small smile on her lips as debris landed around her.