Across The Sea
Disclaimer: I don't own ME3. But I shall never forgive BioWare for killing off Thane and for the crappy, unsatisfying ending they left us with.
"I love you. If all else whispers back into the tide, know this for fact. By grace given me by the Goddess Arashu, I bid her divine protection to you, my warrior-angel, my Siha, to succeed in your destiny. To light your path through the coming darkness. To give you hope, when all seems lost.
I will await you across the sea."-Thane Krios
Every breath brought a new, stinging, burning sensation of pain. Every movement of her muscles sent fire through her body. She was a dying star in its brilliant last moments of existence, and she planned to go out with a bang.
Her sniper was gone. So was her hand cannon and assault rifle. Even her grenades had been used up prior to where she stood, trapped between three paths.
Somehow, Ailsa Shepard managed to hobble past the holographic child of the Citadel, disregarding how everything in her life had gotten to such an incredible point of weirdness, and directed her barely able body to the power cell.
She was flaring with fire and light as she aimed her pistol, firing at the glass casing with the last thermal clip at her disposal. One hand-probably fractured or broken with several gashes and bruises-remained clutching her injured side. So much of her was bleeding or aching or shooting unbelievable agony through every nerve it all started to blend together into one excruciating mess.
Her finger pulled the trigger again through sheer willpower. Then again. And again. And again.
When the casing splintered where the power cell was with cracks spreading across the surface like a spider web, Commander Ailsa Shepard focused her glassy dark brown eyes onto her target, light entering them once more as she continued to fire.
It gave her the strength and determination she needed to complete her mission. She surged with power, unknown, sudden strength returning to her limbs. Her posture straightened as every shot sounded increasingly musical. The end was near; she could feel it.
If someone asked her how she knew her time was coming to its conclusion, Shepard wasn't sure she could justify the feeling with words. It sang through her blood, her nerves, her soul. She knew.
Was this how Thane felt in his last hours?
The thought of him only made her strengthen further. The glass shattered, much like her heart when she lost her beloved drell.
Her hand left her side. Her limp lessened. The unexplainable force that was Commander Shepard sparked back into action as her rounds increased.
One explosion. Then another. She thought one burned the side of her face, perhaps, but she was too exhausted and focused all at once to care. All that mattered in that moment was seeing to the destruction of the Reapers.
She saw her long, scarlet hair-free of its usual bun-whip past her face, sticking to her cracked lips and sweaty, bloody neck. For some reason, she wasn't afraid as she charged forward, unrelenting in her assault on the power cell that swept her up in an eruption of flames and explosions.
Ailsa shut her eyes when it got too blinding, overcome by such intense torment everything went white. She accepted her fate. As long as peace was restored, she was ready to embrace the end.
"We shall meet again..." she murmured, left unheard due to the force of the explosions.
'...across the sea...'
She was a dying star collapsing in on itself as it bids a dramatic goodbye to the galaxy.
Needless to say, Shepard was confused when she opened her eyes to...well, she wasn't sure what she was seeing. It was like choosing how to deal with the Reapers: there were many paths.
But there was only one place she desired to go to, only one person.
"Thane..." she whispered, afraid to speak any louder in case of either breaking inside all over again or losing her chance to reunite.
A bright light shined ahead as her thoughts and soul repeated Thane's name. One moment she was presented numerous paths, the next she stood before a sea unlike any other. She wasn't sure if it was water or a sea of stars.
In the back of her mind, a small voice marveled at how the sea Thane spoke of actually existed. She remembered how he once told her how he believed no one ended up where they belonged: they ended up where they chose to be. She asked if she could choose to be with him across the sea, and he said that while he didn't want her rushing their future reunion, he would wait for her because without her he couldn't be complete.
Tentatively, Ailsa stepped closer to the shore, her toes-no longer burned and broken-dug into the silky sand. When it posed no threat, she went in deeper so she stood in the sea shin-length, then waist-deep, and then she was immersed.
When she emerged from the depths, her breath hitched at the sight of a familiar green-scaled body at the distant, gleaming shores just a few feet away. Shepard's eyes welled with long-suppressed tears. Her legs pumped so fast she was a blur as she dashed out of the sea and into the waiting arms of Thane.
"Siha."
His deep, gravelly voice caused her tears to shed faster. Her lips quivered as she let herself cry from not grief or agony, but happiness. The happiness she only felt with him.
She was no longer a star. She was as free as the wind, eternal and shifting.
"Thane. I found you."
He pressed a kiss to her glossy scarlet hair. "Yes, you did. And I am glad you did."
Ailsa wrapped her arms tighter around his frame, pressing her wet face against his ever-muscular chest. "You waited for me."
He chuckled, the vibrations sending a familiar rumble through his chest, but stronger than ever. "Of course, Siha. I said I would, did I not?"
"Yeah. Yeah...you did. I promise I didn't rush into this. I...damn it, I did my best. I gave it my all. It was one hell of a fight, but I did my damnest."
Thane's hand caressed her cheek with a tenderness she only ever experienced with him. "Yes, you did. And in the end, it is all we can ever ask for. I'm proud of you, Siha."
She beamed such a breathtaking smile it'd punch the wind right out of his lungs if he was still alive. "I love you, Thane."
Her face tilted upward to his. He instinctively captured her lips with his own in a slow, heated kiss. One hand moved up her back to rest behind her neck, grabbing a fistful of her flaming hair. The other wrapped around her waist, pulling her body closer to his. They still fit together, their bodies molding against one another as easily as they did when they'd been alive.
"I love you too, Siha. Now and forever."
"Forever sounds nice." She smiled, resting her forehead against his.
And it did.
Ailsa Shepard and Thane Krios drew together once more, losing themselves in each other again and again, having eternity to love with all their souls. And it was enough. It was perfect.