The ringing wouldn't stop. That was the first thing she noticed as she blinked her eyes back open. Through the ringing in her ears as a voice echoed hollowly.
"It's Thane. We are holding, but they keep coming. Kasumi and Samara have been severely injured. A quick exit is preferable."
Samara blinked and looked down at herself, the burned and blackened hole in her side from one of the Collector weapons. It sapped her strength, and she blinked back tears. Oh Goddess, I pray that I have done as you want.
A whimper draws her eye to the small, prone form of the thief, her neck and shoulder burned. Kasumi shakes in pain, even as the furious armored form of Garrus looms protectively over the little human.
It was a worthy fight.
She closed her eyes. It would be over soon. She could rest, and see her daughter in the embrace of the Goddess. And yet through the gunfire, the pain in her side, the screams of the dying Collectors as they hurled themselves at the furious defense mounted by the handful of defenders from the Normandy, she couldn't block out a single the noise: the pained cries of Kasumi. She felt her eyes open almost against her will and she turned her head, just looking at her, the pain from her injuries as she struggled to hang on to life. And one last time she heard HIS words as clear as day. Not. One. More. This ends today.
Not one more. The words echo in her mind, racing like wildfire in a dry grass land. She swore to follow him. His choices were her choices. Not one more.
It had only taken her a few seconds for the thoughts to race through her mind, to make the decision. To choose.
"Get out of there, and back to the Normandy. " She heard him in her ear. But this was an order she would not follow. Her path was clear.
She sat up and grabbed Thane's arm. The Drell assassin looked down at her in surprise. "Help Garrus. Get Kasumi out. I will hold." The pain was excruciating, but she was Justicar. Pain meant nothing.
"We will all-"
She dragged him so he was eyelevel with her. "My wounds are too serious, I cannot run, and if you attempt to carry me, we will both die." She looked down at Kasumi and back to Thane. "Go."
Thane watches her and finally nods in ascent. He will always remember this moment she knows. He will always be able to see in his mind's eye her drive, her will to do what must be done. He will tell Shepard what she did, and why, like no one else can.
Agony burned through her, a dull aching throb as she releases him and Thane slides past her, lifting Kasumi like he would a child. Pain means nothing. Closing her eyes, she breathes slowly pacing. Hearing the others fall back. Grunt's roar of challenge. Garrus's shouts of defiance and anger. All of it punctuated by bursts of gunfire.
She breaths, and draws in her power, sheathing herself in layers of biotic barriers. And stands.
The battery of focused fire that hit her nearly threw her to the ground. Burning energy beams and bullets rebounded off of her biotic shield. And for just as moment she just stood there, a small light in defiance of overwhelming darkness. And she smiled.
"Not. One. More."
Thane felt rather than heard the explosion. The constant weapons fire had half deafened him, as had the myriad of explosives that had been set off in such a short period of time. But for a moment he feels the stations floor bucks under him, nearly sending him and his charge to the floor as a pulse of blue light burns bright as a star gone supernova behind them.
And then he can only hear silence. The stillness. The peace.
Two weeks later, high on the mountains of Thessia, Thane looks up at the monument before him. He is unable to decipher its lettering for most of it, except near the bottom, but he knows what each one is. Carved in in the stone is the name of every Justicar who has fallen in defense of The Code, stretching back as far as the memory of the Asari could reach. He kneels, and brushes the snow from the freshly carved name there.
"Be at rest, Samara. Find the peace you have earned, in the embrace of your Goddess."
Author Note: Thank you all for reading, and hope you enjoyed it! You should go and check out the other stories from the Aria's Afterlife forum for the Writing Competition!