Author's Notes: Hello there, dear reader! Recently, I replayed the Mass Effect trilogy, only to be once again let down by the ending. After a good rant, I decided to attempt to rewrite the ending into something that made more sense, while fleshing out what happened to the other people that participated in The Battle For Earth. This is based on my Male Shepard, who was a Paragon Soldier with the Colonist and War Hero background. Hopefully, you will enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. (A line separating the text means a change of perspective to another character, just to clear things up!)
Garrus Vakarian had grown used to impossible odds. Being Shepard's best friend had the side effect of thrusting him into extreme peril on a regular basis. It seemed to the turian that the galaxy itself had decided to make both their lives interesting, and Garrus had quickly decided the galaxy had a very twisted idea about what that word entailed. Not that living on the edge was all that unpleasant to him, of course. Certainly beat his old job at C-Sec, and being simultaneously adored and dreaded across the galaxy as 'Archangel' definitely had its perks. Not to mention the stories he would be able to tell his own family. He could see himself regaling his relatives, and perhaps children, with the tales. Well, which one do you want to hear? How Shepard and I took down Saren? Or how about that time we blew up a giant Collector ship? Maybe how I single-handedly took on the three largest mercenary outfits in the Terminus Systems? Thinking through his history with Shepard now, he had decided that facing the impossible had become something of a natural habit between the two of them.
Of course, charging head-on into the firing beams of a Reaper was a bit different. Sprinting behind Shepard, ducking and dodging to avoid the bombardments flying at them from the Reaper ground forces was proving itself to be a very, very difficult problem. The task seemed simple when they were briefed upon it, but somehow reality had that funny way of making everything so much harder than it sounded. Garrus could hear the robotic shrieks of dying marauders, intermixed with the hoarse, final cries of dead soldiers. Bolts of plasma and streams of lasers careened across the open landscape, as Harbinger fired streaks of fiery red death from above. It was all Vakarian could do to keep his attention to simply avoiding enemy fire, forgoing any attempt at return fire in favor of making sure his closest comrades, Shepard and Tali, were still moving. One scorching beam of destruction, courtesy of that goddamn Reaper, narrowly missed hitting his squad leader, as Shepard was only saved by his unnaturally fast reflexes. The laser continued past the three combatants, hitting one of the Mako units on their right side. The large vehicle was immediately ablaze, as the large fuel tank on the underside of the tank was seared through, sending it barrelling through the air.
"Get down!" he screamed over the radio, barely having time to duck before the flaming mass of metal came crashing down on top of them. The responses and cries of his teammates were swallowed by the sounds of wrenching, burning metal meeting the ground. Garrus was thrown back by the impact, crashing into a piece of rubble, and felt ribs breaking underneath his armor. Ears ringing, he spat the building pool of blood out of his mouth, the blue liquid slowly beginning to drip out of a crack through his breastplate. Garrus quickly scanned the area, looking for any sign of his two friends. The first he saw was Tali. The quarian was lying on her back, and Garrus could see her arms pushing against the ground, struggling to get up. Her movements were lacking energy and strength. Garrus pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the spasms of pain in his chest, and made his way over to his friend. The turian moved an arm underneath her back as she quickly moved an arm around his neck to support herself. As she slowly got to her feet, they saw Shepard sprinting around the wreckage. Garrus could see the fear clear on his friends face in the fires light, shooting a quick, relieved look at Vakarian before focusing on Tali. Shepard moved to place an arm around Tali, quickly taking her weight off his beleaguered friend, much to the quiet relief of Garrus.
"Normandy, need an emergency evac, Garrus and Tali are badly wounded." Shepard quickly called over his headset, before scanning frantically over his injured lover. Within a minute, Garrus could see the Normandy pulling up alongside the three soldiers, quickly lowering its bay doors. A few human marines stepped out to provide covering fire. Tali clung to Shepard's side, not wanting to let go, even as he gently pushed her towards Garrus. The turian took hold of her, and did his best to stop her from running back to Shepard. As they exchanged a few, quiet words, he took the time to examine her wounds.
To say Tali wasn't in good shape was an understatement. The quarian had a large piece of metal lodged in her mid-section, maybe a foot showing on the outside, and was bleeding steadily. While he knew his ribs could be fixed quickly with medi-gel, the quarian would require much more care than that. Not to mention the consequences of the puncture in her suit. This was only going to get worse the longer it was left unattended, and while Garrus grimly knew that this could be the last conversation Tali and Shepard may have, he quietly wished they would hurry up so he could get her inside to Dr. Chakwas. Just a few moments later, Shepard had backed down off the loading ramp, and with a quick salute to Garrus, had started sprinting back towards the beam. As the bay doors closed, Tali's grip on his armor tightened, and he could feel his friend shaking.
"He'll be fine, Tali. Shepard's a tough son of a bitch; it'll take more than the end of the galaxy to kill him." Garrus reassured, trying to alleviate the absolute feeling of dread in his own gut as well as assuage the quarian, knowing that if he was scared for Shepard that she was probably going through much worse. He felt her grip relax slightly, which he hoped meant that he was doing a passable job of comfort, that notion disappearing altogether when her legs buckled. Vakarian did his best to catch her, his chest searing in pain as he picked the quarian up, carrying her in his arms as gently as he could while he ran for the elevator. A nearby marine had accompanied them, hammering the console to get them to the crew deck. The dim light of Tali's eyes beneath her helmet was flickering, her breathing was becoming shallow. Garrus desperately wished the elevator would go faster.
"Stay strong, Tali'zorah," he gently whispered, "You aren't allowed to die on my watch, Shepard would have a breakdown. And I don't want to lose another friend in this war. That's an order."
"Level Three: Crew Deck." The robotic, calm, pre-recorded message was the most welcome sound Garrus had heard all day. Sprinting into the med-bay, he noted that Chakwas had already prepared the nearest medical table, with surgical tools, dispensers, and diagrams already set in place.
"Vakarian, get her onto the table, quickly! She's gone too long without attention already!" Chakwas commanded, her usual motherly tones replaced with the calm, crisp voice of a trained professional. The turian didn't need to be told twice, placing Tali's body down upon the slab, relief slowly working its way through his mind. That relief was slowly replaced by pain, as his stubborn body finally realized that it was in bad shape.
"The medi-gel dispenser is in the corner, Garrus. Go ahead and patch yourself up," the good doctor said, having already noted the turian's stoic distress, "I will need to focus on Tali, and by now I'd hope you've learned how to use the damn gel. God knows how many times you've needed it." Garrus simply nodded, before moving to take a seat beside the station. Retrieving an injector from the station, he pressed the small needle into his chest through the crack in his armor, before sitting back to heal. He held back his urge to talk, as the cold, quite frankly uncomfortable gel did its work. Garrus could feel the gel moving through his body, and the feeling of his bones knitting back together at an unnaturally fast rate wasn't at all a pleasant experience. In an effort to focus on more important matters than his own situation, he quickly tuned the radio in his omni-tool into the distant radio chatter, attempting to determine the state of the battle, while quietly wishing for news about his friends.
John Shepard was alive. He knew this because every part of his body felt like it was on fire. His vision was blurry, and his limbs felt numb. Shepard felt the scorched, warm ground pressing against his head, and the heavy sense of his armor against him. The distance, murmuring hum of radio chatter was dimly sensed, but was made unintelligible by the harsh, loud ringing in his ears. He barely felt the ground shake as Harbinger took off from the battle, back into the night sky. Slowly, his vision refocused, still shaky from the blast, and immediately saw the burns running along his body. Shepard's N7 armor was charred beyond recognition, the heated metal seemed to cling to the skin, and his clouded mind casually noted that it might be burnt into his body. This inspection brought with it a whole new world of pain, as his neck muscles burned in protest. John's vision clouded once more his eye His urge to scream was cut short by seared vocal chords, letting out little more than a gasp.
Shepard had died before, and dying had hurt less than this.
Every single one of his instincts was screaming for relief. Stay down, you've done enough. It's over, just stay down. The pain will go away. Don't move. Don't be a hero. His mind, still clouded by pain, confusion, and adrenaline, was becoming a battlefield all of its own. Shepard struggled to regain composure, and the slightest control over his mind. Through the chaotic storm of fear, anger, and suffering, he heard one firm, cold voice, his own voice, urging him on, echoing inside his skull. Get up, you jackass, get moving. The Reapers will kill everyone if you don't move. People are counting on you to FINISH THIS. Don't stop now; you're too close to die now. Move, you coward. They need you. Don't let them down.
She needs you. Don't let her down.
With that thought, the raging storm of sound became quiet, a single thought pushing its way to the front of his mind: End this, for everyone, for Tali. Shepard, sat up, and began slowly pushing himself to his feet, ignoring the pain coursing through his body. He noticed now the blood running down his arms, mixed with the mud caked along his limbs. Holding his hands up for inspection, a dim red glow from his face illuminated them. His foggy mind realized his old scars had opened up again. To his left, he spotted a pistol, clutched in the smoldering hands of a scorched turian corpse. Stiffly picking up the weapon, he quickly checked to make sure the gun was loaded, before beginning his slow, agonizing march towards the beam.
As he sluggishly made his way down the hill, the centre of his vision became focused, still leaving his peripherals cloudy and disorienting. Two husks emerged from behind a charred piece of wreckage, screaming their robotic growls. "Nice of them to run in straight lines, makes this just a bit easier," his distant mind commented. Raising the small hand cannon, he fired five shots into the two abominations, wincing every time the recoil impacted against his arm. Keep going, that firm voice urged, you're almost there, just a little further. Within five steps of the platform, a marauder stood up from behind sheet of metal, pointing its plasma rifle directly at the approaching human. John let loose with six shots, most bouncing off the shield of the wretched thing, the last two finding a home inside the chest of the cyborg.
With nothing left in his way, Shepard stepped onto the platform, and into the beam.
Author's Notes: I have much more written, and will be releasing the rest of the story over the next few days. Feedback of all sorts is welcome!