A/N: I don't usually do one shots, but this occurred to me and I just had to write it.
###
To die, to sleep. To sleep, perchance to dream; aye, there's the rub.- Hamlet
###
Commander Abbie Shepard groaned as she lowered herself to the ground, using her M98 Widow sniper rifle as a makeshift crutch. Fighting through to the Crucible had been one hell of a thing, but they had got there. Her team had dropped one by one - it was a miracle that any survived.
Vega had been overwhelmed by Husks, acting as a rearguard while the rest of the crew had escaped to the Alliance shuttle. It had taken near twenty of the zombie creatures to pin him down and thirty more before they had finally slain her friend, the kind of blast that came from several grenades at once obliterating both Normandy crewman and Reaper automaton.
Tali had taken a Banshee's claw swipe to the head, the blades shattering her mask and scoring thick slashes in her face down to the skull. If it wasn't for the Geth immune reprogramming she would be a corpse - as it was the Normandy had a new front runner in the facial scar competition and she'd be rocking an eyepatch until a synthetic replacement for her left eye was available.
EDI had taunted no less than seven brutes with fire from her SMG and Incinerate blasts, leading the beasts on a merry chase while Abbie and her crew focused on arming and firing the Thanix missile. After six and a half minutes she had been cornered. It was fortunate that EDI lived in the computer core of the Normandy, but still her body had screamed out in fear in the instant before it was crushed beneath the crab-like claws of the monstrous mutants.
Liara had gotten embroiled in a knife fight with five Cannibals at once. Abbie's heart had swelled in pride to see Liara using the katana gifted to her by her commander and lover so skilfully, that is until one of the Cannibals had blindsided her and ripped her sword arm off at the shoulder. Even with her blood hosing across the battlefield the timid archaeologist turned Shadow Broker had the gumption to beat the last two Cannibals down with the soggy end of her own severed arm before collapsing due to blood loss. The team had managed to stabilise the Asari long enough for a medevac but whether she would live was down to chance.
Ash's death had been sudden and shocking. Leading the charge to the beam, the second Human Spectre had taken the full brunt of the Reaper Thanix discharge that had missed Abbie by centimetres. The woman had been reduced to nothing before she could even scream. The only remnant of Ash, ironically enough, was ash.
Javik had made it to the beam along with her and around three hundred other soldiers of every imaginable shape, form and creed. What they found waiting for them was a Cerberus army, this one so openly indoctrinated they had started to outwardly resemble Reaper creatures. In the running battle through the Citadel Tower to the master control unit the last living Prothean had been cornered by Phantoms. Despite taking three out with biotic blasts, the fourth managed to stab him in the chest, then lazily spun on her heel and decapitated him even as a hail of gunfire smashed the Cerberus assassin's fragile body.
Anderson had fought alongside her all the way through London and up to the Citadel. He stood alongside her as she duelled the hideously mutated corpse that had once been the Illusive Man, her iridium/palladium bladed katana Paladin flickering in the baleful light of gunflash and fire as it clashed with the flensing claws of her nemesis. Anderson had thrown himself at the creature, giving her time to slash into its twisted body and shove a final grenade into the bloated corpse. The manoeuvre had cost his life however, the blades he had fallen upon impaled through his gut. His last words were lost in the rattles and gurgles of his sundered lungs as he died choking on his own blood.
Last to fall was Legion. While the dwindling warriors held off wave after wave of Reaper soldiers, Abbie and her team had rushed through to the Catalyst chamber. While EDI and the Geth Consensus had fought the Catalyst for control of the Crucible, Abbie's ground team had dashed back and forth upon the AI's instruction, opening and closing data relays. At the final relay Legion had been caught in a crossfire from three heavy calibre ceiling mounted turrets, the rounds shredding the N7 armoured Geth body. It was lucky that Abbie insisted Legion back himself up on the Normandy's server - that was the second time Legion had sacrificed himself for the greater good although at least on Rannoch his body had still been intact. As it was, Legion was now on his third life.
Abbie let out a sigh as she carved out a patch of peace among the chaos of the Citadel. All around her, medics, engineers and search teams rushed around but she could do nothing but heed the deep exhaustion dragging her bones down. She could see the other survivors of their last stand at the Crucible control unit, some in groups, some on their own, all just as weary as she.
"Thirsty, Abbie?"
A smile stole onto her grime-smeared face as her favourite Turian slid down next to her, grunting in pain as his fractured spur bashed against the ground.
"Hi Garrus."
He held up a bottle and after a moment she took it.
"I think this is the one you like."
"It is. Thank you."
She sighed and leaned against Garrus as she unstoppered the bottle of honey rum, taking out a pair of spent thermal clips.
"I learned this trick from Ash."
She reached for her sword and winced as her ribs protested, instead calling up an Omniblade. She swung the blade at the thermal clips held in her other hand, slicing the top off, and then tipped out the spent heat cells inside them, leaving just the casing.
"And voila. Shot glasses."
The two of them poured out a shot of their respective liquors and clinked them together, then knocked them back.
"It's been one hell of a ride. I can hardly believe it's over."
Garrus sighed.
"Now we've won, I can honestly admit I thought it couldn't be done. Beating the Reapers, I mean."
"To be honest neither did I."
"What are we going to do now?"
Abbie chuckled.
"I reckon I'm going to retire, move in with Liara, raise our kid."
Garrus turned to her, surprised.
"You and Liara are already thinking about kids?"
"Not thinking about. I'm going to be a mum. Or dad. I'm not sure, it's confusing."
Garrus went quiet for a moment.
"How long have you known?"
"Liara only told me at the firebase before the big push."
Garrus grunted again as his injuries protested but he managed to get his arm up and around her shoulders, giving her a reassuring squeeze.
"Liara's going to be fine. It was her unlucky arm, that thing was practically ready to fall off on its own."
Despite herself Abbie let out a wry chuckle. Liara's right arm was a trouble magnet. Even Dr. Chakwas had lost count of the number of times the limb had been shot, stabbed, blown up, coated in acid etc. etc.
"I'm serious Abbie, she'll make it. That girl's made of rubber, I swear."
"What about you and Tali? Am I going to have to deal with a horde of little Zorah-Vakarians anytime soon?"
"You forget that for us the species barrier is a little more of an issue."
"Then again, the galaxy does have a surplus of orphans at the moment. You could always adopt. Maybe a couple of little Krogan."
"Woah there, we haven't really discussed it yet. We're still trying to figure out us, let alone kids."
Abbie made to shoulder bump him but her muscles refused to comply, so she subsided.
"You two are so cute together. Plus Tali is one hell of a catch. She's like best friend, hot girlfriend and teddy bear all rolled into one."
"You know, Tali tends to get annoyed when you compare her to a teddy bear."
"You're right. She's a sea otter."
Garrus couldn't argue. The resemblance Quarians had to androform otters was remarkable, although they commonly shaved their dense fur to better cope with living in exosuits. Javik had even once mentioned that Protheans had once hunted Quarians for their pelts, a revelation that left Tali somewhat displeased with the antisocial ancient.
"The entire galaxy has fallen to pieces. I wonder what it will look like when we finish putting it back together."
"Stop it. You dragged the galaxy kicking and screaming to victory. They can't ask any more of you."
"They will."
"You've earned the right to ignore them. Go to sleep Abbie. You earned it."
Abbie felt her eyelids begin to droop. Just before they closed she mumbled a final question.
"Will you still be here when I wake up?"
As she drifted off to sleep, her head pillowed on her best friend's shoulder, she caught his whispered response.
"Always."