A/N: I want to start out by saying a lot of things, but that would be detrimental to the enjoyment of any potential readers, so I'll try and cut out most of it and channel Mordin Solus for the rest, just to get it out of the way as quickly as possible :P

1: first time sharing on this site, have encountered persisting issues formatting story properly with paragraphs... Can hopefully fix after submitting chapters (update: no, still unsatisfying. Apologies!). For want of better alternative: "-" separates paragraphs, "-o-" denotes significant jumps in time. Not ideal, but currently sufficient.
2: emphasis on Kaely Shepard, originally written for self-serving purposes only (getting closure), later decided to share. Plot far from riveting, and content surprisingly far from original (outlined story back in March, only afterwards started reading other fan-fics, discovered commonness of themes). Very unique story not to be expected.
3: any corrections/criticism happily received. English not native tongue, wish to improve where possible.

Hmm, I think that ought to do it - and now, onwards! I hope you'll enjoy :)


"Sir, this is Private Wellers. I think I've found her."
Admiral Hackett felt the growing uneasiness subside, only to be replaced by the internal conflict between hope and the cold calculus of statistical odds.
"Where are you, Private?"
"Section D, just south of the blue building that looks like, uh, a cracked tooth, I guess."
"I'm on my way. Any signs of life?"
The aging admiral felt his heart rate increase ever so slightly.
"Unknown, sir… Can't get close enough yet, there's a lot of rubble. I'll try and clear a path."
By the sound of his heavy breathing, he had clearly started already.
It wasn't too far, but Earth was starting to get in the way of the sun and its natural light, transforming the ruined Citadel to a gloomy, grey no-man's-land inhabited by the ghosts of the dead. The fact that the dead bodies of so many different species had been removed from the streets, leaving behind only pools of dried blood in different hues, did little to ease Hackett's discomfort. But he showed no sign of it to the two men flanking him; he was their admiral, and besides, they had won. Against all the odds, the Reapers had been vanquished. Now it was time to count up how much they'd lost getting there.

The Alliance soldier didn't stop to salute Hackett, instead only acknowledging his presence verbally. Clearly, this man felt the same impatient urgency that had tempted Hackett to speed up in the previous minutes. It was only natural, the admiral mused; Kaely Shepard had been much more than a fellow Alliance soldier to private Wellers, she had been a symbol of something much more. She was even assumed, not least by Hackett himself, to be the person responsible for saving them all in the final battle. Although he'd lost communications with her, it seemed probable that she was behind the Crucible finally powering up when all seemed lost. It wasn't important at this point, however; Shepard had played a crucial role in the previous months and deserved the extra effort regardless of whether or not she got the Crucible to work. The question now was whether their efforts would only result in a body returned to a grieving mother, or saving a life.
This question wasn't immediately answered once they'd removed the debris blocking their rescue, but at least it was clear that it was Shepard: the shoulder-length red hair, the scorched suit that seemed to have been burnt into her very skin, likely from Harbinger's attack during the beam rush. She looked more dead than alive. The blood froze in his veins until the moment he could finally kneel beside her and confirm a weak pulse. He thought he'd been imagining the nearly invisible breaths, but for once there was some good news to be had, a bit of luck in their favour. The three soldiers around him immediately started carefully lifting the metal and stone from her injured body. Hackett turned around, let out an inaudible sigh of relief, and quickly called for a med evac shuttle.

"Sir, she's waking up!"
Hackett ceased talking, the essential part of the message having been received on the other end, and spun around. Eye lids were fluttering, the head moving slowly towards her left where Hackett was standing. He knelt down again.
"Shepard?" he tried. Her green eyes were looking in his direction, but unfocused and distant. He wasn't sure she could hear him.
"Shepard!" he called out, a bit louder this time. The woman closed her eyes momentarily, then opened them again and this time seemed more responsive, although they still couldn't find his own narrow-browed gaze.
"S-sir..?" Her voice could barely be heard despite the silence of the men around him. He leaned in closer.
"Shepard, help is on its way. Hang in there."
"Sir… The Reapers..?" Some of her words were unintelligible, but Hackett thought he heard a few of them and could deduce the rest.
"They're gone. Dead." Then, after a pause, he added the words that still defied belief: "We won." At first he wasn't sure she'd heard him, but then she let out a big sigh that briefly turned into a shudder through her body. With her eyes closed, he knew the message had at least been partially understood.
"Stay with me, Shepard," he said when her eyes remained closed. The rubble around her had been cleared now and he could feel the men standing nearby, watching. This was probably the main reason he uttered the words like an order. He was an old man with old habits, especially around his men.
"Li…ara?" she said with a strained voice. Up until this point he'd only noticed what appeared to be a bullet wound in her right shoulder, but now saw an alarmingly larger stream of blood from her abdomen. He turned around and ordered Wellers to put pressure on it. Then he looked back at Shepard and remembered her question when he noticed her eyes once again trying to locate him.
"Dr. T'Soni was onboard the Normandy, last I heard. Reports are still sketchy, but I think they survived the final moments."
The Commander closed her eyes again with a pained expression. He wasn't sure she was still listening, but the silence set something in motion within him, and he found himself continuing in a lower voice:
"I… ordered everyone to fly back through the Relay when the Crucible powered up. We didn't know what it would do and… well, it seems the Charon Relay was destroyed." He paused. Why did he feel like he was confessing? Everything had happened so quickly. He decided to stop there, this wasn't important for her to know. Besides, Wellers was within earshot now, sitting on his knees opposite him barely two feet away. The soldier was pressing down on her wound, the glistening blood almost completely colouring his hands.
After what felt like an age, the sound of an approaching vessel could finally be heard somewhere to his right. As their shadows grew ever longer in the fading sunlight, he stood back up and took a last look around. The Citadel was in ruins, but he knew that someday it would be rebuilt. The future seemed safe… for now.

-o-

Streams from an autumn sun and the sound of leaves rattling in the wind. Its familiarity is distinctly foreign. She turns her head ever so slightly, feeling the welcome warmth of star light that's only a few minutes old. It's too early to open her eyes. Too much pain still, too much confusion.
When she listens, she can hear distant voices. Human. The humming of electrical equipment and, occasionally, footsteps muffled by a door.
What had happened? She remembers being in London. Never ending swarms of Cannibals and Marauders amidst endless ruins of what used to be people's homes. Husks… So many husks. Each one reminding her that this city, this Earth, used to be filled with people. Some of them good, some of them bad, some working long hours for the benefit of all, some with dreams, and all of them with thoughts and feelings of their own. And then, billions of people suffering something worse than death.
So much death. The first husks on Eden Prime had changed her. It feels like ages ago, when it's been no more than a few years. It isn't until now that she realises how much that day changed her. Not just the Prothean beacon and its warning, but all of it: the macabre transformation of life, of innocent people, into simple tools used for warfare. No race had performed such atrocities in recorded history. None but the Reapers, and they'd been doing it for many cycles – countless even, if the Catalyst had been telling the truth.
Her head starts to spin. Fully grasping the nature of the Reapers and the magnitude of their past deeds is impossible right now. Instead, she tries to focus on something good. Something that doesn't hurt.
She thinks of Liara, but immediately realises this hurts too, albeit the pain is different. Sleep. Sleep is better. She dozes off while the leaves continue their dry songs in the gentle breeze.

-o-

"… and the krogan have really begun to take part in the rebuilding. It's incredible, Kae, the way they work for hours on end! I think they've realised that the more they help us rebuild our infrastructure, the sooner we'll be able to help the other races working on the Relay."
Hannah Shepard was sitting between her daughter's bed and the open window where, once in a while, the curtains swayed lazily. Outside, a tree could be seen, sporting only a few brown leaves now, and behind it the horizon was blocked from view by tall buildings of grey and white. Their many broken windows reflected the orange-tinted afternoon sun in jagged lines. Shepard looked back to her mother, whose distant gaze had settled somewhere on the bed, her hand slowly stroking her daughter's arm. How she managed to avoid the area that was still burnt without seeming to focus puzzled Shepard. Probably the power of repetition.
"What about the turians? Any news on an alternative food source?" Her mother didn't reply at first, but the distance in her eyes eventually faded and she looked her in the eyes instead.
"No… They'll keep trying, though. Luckily, they found another quarian liveship with its cargo mostly intact. By now they'll have enough to last a year on half rations. Hopefully they won't need more time than that." Shepard cringed inside at the continued talk of the Charon Relay, but kept quiet. She still couldn't keep her feelings under control when that subject was brought up. She figured it was the news a few days after waking up that did it: the Normandy had definitely entered the Relay with the majority of the remaining fleet. They were gone. For their own safety, of course. It had stung her, at first, knowing they'd left, even with later reports disclosing that they had been among the last ones to do so.
In time, she realised she didn't hold it against them at all. The thing about loneliness is that it's so pure that you can rarely confuse it with something else. Shepard had simply lost the people she loved the most. Between working with Cerberus and the huge losses when the Reapers arrived, there were few friends left on Earth, and the few that remained seemed strangers when they had come to visit. More than once she had momentarily thought of husks when they hugged her.
Everything had changed.
Hannah sensed she was lost in thoughts, so she leaned in and patted her shoulder reaffirmingly.
"Don't worry, my dear. With our top scientists analysing the Reapers, we'll have the Relay up in a few months. I'm sure the other worlds are doing the same thing. Soon, everything will be back to normal." Shepard felt the words burning inside, slowly making their way up her throat.
"But… what if we shouldn't rebuild it?"
"What, the Relay? But surely you can understand that all those left behind don't want to be stranded on Earth – and the turians and quarians, they would die from starvation."
"I know, but… You're assuming so many things, mother. How do you know the Reapers outside Sol are dead? What if the Charon Relay breaking apart has saved our lives?"
Hannah looked at her daughter with a combination of worry and surprise. Kaely realised she had never thought this far ahead – at least not consciously.
"The, uh, scientists have studied the Relay. They say it was designed to transfer the energy from the Crucible the same way it moved our ships."
"And you're sure they're right? You know beyond doubt that every single Reaper is destroyed?"
"Kaely, it's over! We won the war - you won it for us, for God's sake!"
"Damn it, mother, would you stop living in denial?" The Commander's voice couldn't hide the agitation any longer. "I told you they were coming, I warned you, but no one listened! And look outside, see how close they came to wiping out the entire human race! When will you people wake up and start listening for a change!" Her voice had become louder without her realising it, and her heart was pounding in her chest. While the echo of her words lingered in the silence, Shepard leaned back down and briefly wondered at what point in the conversation she'd sat up. Not daring to look her mother in the eyes, she quietly added with a quivering voice: "We can't survive another war."
The room had grown darker. It was the time of day when darkness falls quickly in the winter. Hannah just looked at her with worry. Then she turned slightly and gently touched a point on the wall above Shepard's head, instantly flicking on a light. The daughter looked up at her, noticing for the first time that wrinkles were starting to appear in the 89-year-old face. The war, however short, had of course left its mark on everyone.