So I took a (really long) break from writing, but I just played the Mass Effect series again and this idea wormed its way into my head. I admit I have a massive crush on the asari councilor and after witnessing the heart-wrenching end of the series again I wanted to change it to something that was more my taste.
That being said, this is an alternative interpretation of the Mass Effect ending. It implies onesided F!Shep/Tevos and contains errant commas and grammar abuse (oh the tenses). I know it's really short, but it's supposed to be. A short one-shot. I have NOT planned to continue this. ... Okay, I have. We'll see where this goes.
Anyway, despite the errors on my part, have fun and leave me a little review if you can :)
The moment Councilor Tevos stepped through the doors to her office she knew something was off. The lights were out and the windows shielded by the embassy's curtains. Granted, everything was still in a state of disarray, rubble on the floor, circuits that usually were inside the walls exposed, broken glass all over the place and most electronics not functioning but Tevos knew that the curtains weren't supposed to be drawn. Repair work had already started on all levels and everywhere technicians were all over the place trying to do their jobs but mostly just standing in the way of the keepers, who luckily had survived the reaper onslaught on the Citadel. Looking back it was a miracle they had survived. Many didn't make it but the greater majority of the Citadel's population had actually managed getting out of it alive all to the point where Commander Shepard sacrificed herself to stop the reapers.
The sound of breaking glass shook her out of her thoughts and very cautiously she positioned herself with her back to the door and her biotics already flaring up. Then suddenly something moved in the low light of her office and seemed to look at her from where it stood near the windows. Moving her right arm to the side Tevos hit the light switch and the sudden brightness blinded her for a moment. When she regained her sight she was left breathless and dropped her arm, her biotics already retreating back under her skin.
The figure that stood facing the windows was clad in a tight body suit in black with silver linings and burgundy red patterns on torso, legs and arms. A hood covered the obviously and very familiar female form.
„H...How?" Tevos breathed and the figure turned around, showing the asari her masked face. A sight she had thought to be buried.
„I was offered something I should have never accepted" the voice answered, muffled through the mask but still as clear as ever, thick with sorrow and exhaustion. Tevos shook her head and put her hand on her head, trying to stop the oncoming headache.
„This is not right... you were reported to be killed in action..." she said, her thoughts scattered. How could she be alive? There was no way she could have survived the explosion in the center of the Citadel. The woman near the windows chuckled humourlessly and looked at the floor.
„But they never found the corpse" she added lowly and Tevos looked up, mouth slightly opened, eyes hollow.
„We thought it burned" she answered, emptiness lacing her voice. Only days after the end of the war she had not expected her. Not alive.
„I'm not here to mark my glorious return" the woman said and took a few steps towards Tevos who, unconciously backed away against the wall. The woman stopped dead and dropped the hand she had raised. With a low, unamused chuckled she shook her head and retreated again.
„After this day you're never going to see me again... which is why I wanted to say goodbye" she said quietly and folded her hands in front of her body, not meeting the asari's eyes. Processing what the woman had said Tevos looked up again and couldn't stop her face from displaying the confusion she felt. First it turned out that she was indeed alive, not dead as everyone had presumed, and now she declared that she would leave and actually came to say goodbye?
„My time is over and I served my purpose. My place is in history records and maybe one or two memorials if you're feeling generous. I don't expect you to understand... but Commander Shepard died, Councilor. All that's left is... me. And my place, the task that's waiting for me... among the Reapers" The pause that followed was pregnant but the woman shook her head again and hugged herself.
„I've already said more than I meant to. I just came to... see you one last time I guess" she added, helplessly and shy even, so oddly unusual for her. All her confidence was gone, the air of serenity that used to surround her gone... and what was left was a broken woman with hunched shoulders. Tevos shook her head in confusion and blinked twice before clearing her throat and straightening her back.
„Please... explain" She sounded more helpless than she had thought she would... after the cruelty of this war and with broken pieces no matter where she looked (Thessia was gone, Illium was gone, every planet was mostly just gone, civilizations evaporated, where would they get resources, how could they survive?) and no idea how to try and repair the damage. How did one do that without knowing where to start?
„Can you keep a secret?" she asked and unthinking Tevos nodded, licking her dry – and partially split – lips. Slowly she came closer, one step after another, until she stood in front of Tevos.
„I had a choice. Destroy the reapers. Synthesise organic and synthetic life. Control the reapers" she said and stared right at Tevos through her mask.
„How does one make a decision like that? Who... gave me the right to play god. Could I be responsible for destroying the reapers along with all synthetic life and thus sacrificing the geth and any other sort of artifical life? Or could I be responsible for destroying every single species and creating a new sort of life, a perfect unison of organic, living, breathing and mechanic life, effectively committing genocide to countless species? Or would I simply harness control over the reapers, placing me above them and raising up to be their... queen? They bowed to me, Councillor. In an instant I had countless voices in my head, all humming in unison, speaking to me... in an instant Commander Shepard died and was replaced by me who became part of, the loudest voice, of their conciousness. I was responsible for so many deaths. I had to put an end to that. And what is one sacrifice in comparison to the horrors I could have inflicted upon a galaxy that has seen too much war for its entire existence. Every death I caused... brought me one step closer to my next victim being you"
Tevos was frozen. Her eyes had widened further with every sentence the woman has said. She had no idea... everbody had been so painfully oblivious to what had happened. She didn't doubt what she had said. She had mistrusted her before, more often than not and she had accepted that Shepard was the kind of person that turned out to be right. No matter the cirumstance. But the truth slapped her right in the face and left her paralyzed. How could anyone have known...? How close had they been to total extinction...
„As soon as I had... control... I told them to leave. They are still out there, Councillor. They cannot be destroyed or the cycle will begin anew. They cannot return to dark space for the mass relays were destroyed. I know where they are... in this moment I see them, their entire fleet amassed just outside the Veil. I will spend the rest of my mortal days playing cat and mouse with the entire mortal race. And once my body dies my mind will keep doing so for eternity. I'm a queen in a golden cage"
The woman raised her arm and slowly grabbed her hood, pulling it down. Slick black strands poured out from under the leather and framed her masked face. Then, she raised to touch the edges of her mask and pulled at it. Holding it in the air so that it still hid her face the woman gripped it tight enough so her knuckles turned white.
When she spoke again her voice sounded off, not like it used to, with a distinct mechanic undertone that made it sound almost haunted, an echo that sent shivers through Tevos' body.
„I changed beyond the point of no return. I cannot go back and I don't expect to be accepted. Who would want a constant reminder of their near obliteration?" she asked and painfully slowly lowered her arms, dropping the mask and revealing her face.
Once beautiful blue eyes were now icy blue glowing voids with no pupils or iris. Two lines were carved into her skin that went from her eyes down and stopped shortly above her mouth on either side, splitting the skin and revealing reaper tech underneath it that glowed in a mure muted, darker blue. Two similar lines were drawn from her lips down to her throat and rested just above the collarbones, painting a sharp contrast to milky white skin.
„I am synthesis" she ended and looked Tevos straight in the eyes.
Horror began to overwhelm her. Horror at the sight of what had happened to Shepard, horror at the knowledge that the reapers were not gone but still out there. Lingering. Waiting. Her knees gave out under her and she dropped to the ground, resting her head in her hands.
A hand touched her shoulder and she flinched violently, scrambling back further against the door. Sadness spread on her mutilated face and she pulled her hand back, kneeling down in front of her and just looking.
„I still remember the day you made me a Spectre. How I looked at you with pure adoration. How the thought of you kept me pushing through the Citadel and towards the Catalyst. How you were the last thing I thought of before my mind was melded with the reaper collective. Thank you... for being my guiding light... Tevos. I shall devote my existence to keeping the peace and never... return again. I just wanted to let you know that you saved me. In more ways than one"
A hand cupped her cheek and Tevos shuddered at the cold touch. Then the hand withdrew and the woman got up.
„Farewell. May the Goddess be with you" she said and left.
With a gasp Tevos woke up, beads of sweat on her forehead and her breath ragged. She shot up and looked around – she was sitting in her office chair, a forgotten cup of tea now cold in front of her and a beeping noise coming from her omni-tool. With a sigh she rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes. What a dream that had been. Nightmare, rather. Tevos shook her head and opened her eyes again, answering the call.
„Madame Councillor, your three p.m. appointment has arrived" the voice of her assisstant came through her omni-tool.
„Thank you, Neara. I'll be there in a moment" she answered and pressed a few buttons on her omni-tool, causing it to disappear. She got up from her chair and looked at herself in a mirror. Straightening her dress Tevos blinked twice. She looked presentable enough. Shaking her head again, trying to stop herself from thinking about how she had managed to come up with a dream as absurd as that, she turned around and walked towards the door, intent on seeing to her business.
And then her gaze fell on her bookshelf where in between history books and biographies, laid a mask.