Author's Comment:
To me, Mass Effect has always been a story where you placed yourself into it, but one of the things the great works of Bioware cannot perform, is allow us to build our own endings. This is my view on how things could have happened, should we have as much control over our actions as if we were the character itself... without restrictions of dialog or actions.
I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you for your time.
Chapter One: Breaking the rules
There she was, staring at the beam up ahead. She knew it would be a difficult task, as Harbinger had already descended behind the pillar of light, waiting for someone to move. But Anna Shepard knew this was it; turning back now would condemn every effort made to bring this small chance at victory against the Reapers. She yelled, at everyone was on the march. Foot soldiers of several different species, several Mako type vehicles, as well as some fighters, all of them tried to clear the way to the beam.
The fighters were there as a self sacrificial squad, trying to lure Harbinger's laser away from the ground efforts, but the head of all Reaper forces was intelligent, and he knew very well that they were a ruse, shooting down a fighter only when it obstructed its view. Sadly for the ground forces, the path was long: a couple hundred meters of pure open terrain. Explosions, screams, death: these filled Anna's ears, as she kept running towards the semi-transparent blue cylinder that rose from the ground and up to the citadel.
Stumbling here and there, as the explosions - or Harbinger's laser – hit too close by, she pressed on. Occasional firing was heard, as Reaper troops, small pockets of these, tried to reach the path to the beam to stop the ground forces. Luckily for the latter, most reaper forces were placed within the city of London, forming cells and pockets of fighters within the buildings, making the fight within these environments hard. Anna's focus was then broken by Harbinger: he aimed at her, as soon as he thinned out her allies enough to have her in sight. The laser travelled across the ground at her, and all she last saw was a Mako swerving and putting itself in the way. What she last heard and felt, respectively, was an explosion, and pain around her waist. Then darkness ensued...
Radio chatter was off the charts, as it was reported that the ground forces had been decimated. This is what woke Anna up, forcing her to stand. With a light grunt of pain, she finally rose to her feet. Her left hand placed on the side of her abdomen, she quickly notices she is bleeding. She knew she didn't have time to waste, and with a sneak peak, she saw Harbinger float away: the Reaper was convinced that the Mako had crushed Shepard.
She chuckled. "Bastard always underestimates his targets." Anna stumbled over to a nearby dead soldier, and ripped off one of his sleeves. Tearing it in two pieces, she made a small patch she placed on her wound, using the second piece to tie it down. She knew that the wound could kill her if not treated, but Shepard needed just enough time to make it to the beam and whatever spot on the Citadel she required to activate the crucible.
She walked, slowly, as movement quicker than that triggered pain from her wound. It took her at least one full minute to reach the beam. From behind the debris of one of the fighters came out a Marauder, but Anna was quick to raise her M-76 Revenant rifle, and unload at least ten rounds on her foe, the last two hitting him in the head, destroying the same in the process.
She packed her rifle on her back, as the kick from it was uncomfortable. She decided to carry her pistol, if her enemies were as small as the one she faced, which she was now stepping over. The beam was wide: she noticed this as the distance to it was shortening. Only a couple of meters away, she started to feel the energy it used, as if the environment near her was charged and vibrant. She stumbled forward, just as Reaper troops crash landed nearby, ready to fight. With Harbinger making the ground shake upon his contact with the surface, Shepard forced herself from daydreaming any longer.
She regained conscience as a blue flash engulfed the room she appeared in. With physics and effects she couldn't bother herself to comprehend, she was materialized mid-air and thrown forward, landing on her left side, making her howl in pain. As she slowly got up, Anderson's voice appeared in the communications. "Can anyone read me?" Anna started to walk forward, very slowly. "Anderson, are you up here too?"
"Shepard?" An affirmative mumble is all he heard from her. "How are you holding up?" Anna chuckled lightly. "Worse than the moment I wake up with a hangover... but I am alive at least... where are you?" Anderson sighed. "In a dark corridor; there are human remains everywhere... and the keepers are busy messing around with the corpses..." Shepard mumbled. "Same here... but I don't see you..."
"I must be in another place that looks like the one you are in... wait... the doors in the far end of the room opened... I am now in this long opening... seems like a circular corridor that goes left and right... you?" Anna groans. "I am still halfway through the corridor... do you see something else?" Anderson nodded, as part of an instinctive reaction. "Yeah... there is this ramp up... hold on... I see a console in the platform it leads to..."
"Don't go too far ahead of me..." Anna said, as she exited the corridor. "I just found that opening you spoke of... and I see a ramp... I am coming over to meet you..." Anna tried to speed herself up, in order to reach Anderson quickly. As she walked with a mild speed up the ramp, she saw Anderson standing there, in front of the console he had reported earlier. "Anderson?" He turned around, stumbling, as he also had a wound near his waist. "Shepard... thank God you are alive..."
All of a sudden, they felt the presence of a third person. The Illusive Man walked up to the area they were in, looking unharmed and healthy, being the only difference the obvious blue tech that shot up his neck from this chest. Everyone could hear Hackett's report on their earpieces, of how someone made it to the Citadel. "You two should stand aside. I have had enough of you ruining my plans..."
Anna gained an expression of anger. "You still think you can control the Reapers?" The Illusive Man chuckled. "Isn't that obvious? I am close to achieving my goal, and even though I respect you, Shepard, I am sure your goals are different, so I can't allow you to continue..." Anna felt an outside force controlling her, making her pull out her pistol and shooting Anderson in the abdomen. "See? This is the kind of power I already have with Reaper tech... Imagine what I could do with full control!"
Anna struggled. "You... you really think they will let you take over? By the looks of it, they already own you!" The Illusive Man began ranting and mumbling on how he was so certain that he would win, but after so much fighting, after seeing so many of his friends being sacrificed, Shepard's patience ran out in that very moment. She dropped her pistol, breaking his control, and pulled out her M-300 Claymore, shooting her foe in the centre of his chest.
Anderson slowly let himself fall to the floor, sitting down. "I thought you were going to talk your way out of this..." Anna shook her head. "Talking is a good way to fix things, but I was not going to stand here and hear him trying to convince himself he was still in charge of his own mind... I am tired, and I want to get things done..." She stumbled forward, letting the shotgun fall from her grip. She tapped away at the holographic console, and soon heard radio chatter about the arms opening.
She then sat down next to Anderson. "Commander..." Anna smirked. "We did it..."
He nodded. "Yes we did. It's quite a view..."
"Best seats in the house."
"God... feels like years since I just sat down..."
"I think you earned a rest." She notices his eyes feeling heavy. "Anderson. Stay with me... we are almost through this..."
"You did good, Anna. You did good. I am proud of you."
"Thank you sir..." Anderson's eyes closed. "Anderson?"
She sighs and leans back, letting herself rest, with the same temptation to close her eyes slowing taking place. Hackett's vibrant voice appears in Anna's ear. "Shepard? The Crucible isn't firing... it must be something on your end..." She slowly gets up, and stares at the console, her vision blurry, and her judgement clouded. "I don't know how to make it fire..."
Suddenly, the floor under her shook, and she was lifted upwards. The platform stopped, and she found herself right below the Crucible. She looked around and saw Avina staring at her. "Avina?" The hologram shook her head. "No. I am the Catalyst." Anna was confused. "I thought the Citadel was the Catalyst." Avina once more shook her head. "No, the Citadel is part of me."
"Why do you look like Avina?" The Catalyst stared at Shepard. "The Citadel has records of your interactions with the VI known as Avina, and so I chose a form familiar to you." Anna groaned, the pain of her abdomen slowly becoming more prominent. "Why am I here?"
"You broke the cycle. By constructing the Crucible, and coming so close, you have changed how things can be done... but you still have to choose..."
"Choose what?"
"How to stop us... I know you came here with the purpose to stop the Reapers... Harbinger knows you, and I control Harbinger..."
"If you control the Reapers..." She flinched in pain. "Why are you allowing me to decide their fate?"
"Because you have proven things to have changed... I was created with the purpose of seeking balance and finding a way stop war between organics and their synthetic creations..."
The Catalyst stares at the beam of energy descending from the Crucible and down onto the Citadel. "I know how you achieved peace between the Quarians and the Geth... so... I am letting you choose..."
"What are my choices?"
The Catalyst slowly rose her left arm and pointed to the left. "You can merge yourself with us. Control the Reapers like I once did... they will you do your every bidding..."
"What else is there?" Anna said, despising the idea of taking over the Reapers.
"You can destroy us. The cables need to be damaged in order to allow the burst of energy coming along with it..." She says, pointing to Shepard's right side. "But I must warn you... the energy will target all synthetics... even you are part synthetic..."
"So... the Geth..." Anna said, realization sweeping over her.
"They will be destroyed..."
Anna looked at the middle. "Is there another option?"
"Yes, there is... Synthesis... the final evolution of all life, where life organics will become partly synthetic, and synthetics, partly organic..."
Anna grinned. "You are so pathetic..."
"Why?"
"I know what you are, and your ideas are amusing at best..." Anna coughs, seeing some blood drops hitting her hand. "You claim to be finding a way to stop the synthetics from betraying their creators, but you betrayed your creators... you fell into the very same stereotype you claim to try and stop... the Leviathan was right about you... but I just needed to see it for myself... send me back down, I need to do something before I can choose..."
The Catalyst, still unaware of Anna's plan, let her descend back down in the elevator. She laid Anderson down on the floor, his hands resting on the middle of his chest, on top of each other, and then closed his eyes. Anna then stared at the console and opened her omni-tool, and began transmitting its info into the console in front of her.
The Catalyst ahd kept a neutral expression until this time, but now, it was of fear... "What are you doing?" Anna smirked at the Avina look alike. "Breaking the rules, like I did when brokering a peace between the Geth and the Quarians... like I did when I put Krogan and Turian fighting alongside each other... like I did when we destroyed Sovereign, and your minion on Rannoch... as well as the Collector base..."
The Catalyst was now in panic. It knew something was changing. Anna tapped away at the console, summoning the last few shreds of strength she had left, in order to pull this off. Suddenly, the base shook, and the Crucible began to charge a sphere of purple energy. The Catalyst looked in horror. "What have you done?"
Anna smirked as her vision became cloudy. "Like I said... I broke the rules..." With a shriek, the Catalyst gained the aspect of a disturbed transmission, before exploding into holographic cubes. Anna saw a blurry blue form come towards her, but passed out, falling on her back, her cloth soaked in blood.