Day 2, December 18th: Why Don't You Break My Heart?
A day to really let the angst flow. It could be about Shepard's death, the war, recovery, anything. Shatter our hearts!
Her lungs were burning but she couldn't stop. From the moment they arrived at the Citadel, everything had been chaos. Cerberus troops were everywhere. They were attempting to seize control of the station. Her and her team had managed to rescue the Salarian Councilor but only because Thane had been there to thwart Kai Leng. He had been too much for her and the thought stung her pride more than she could admit to herself. It had most likely cost Thane the precious little time he had left in this world. She would make them pay for that.
They were now in a race against time, desperately trying to reach the remaining Council members to warn them of Udina's betrayal before it was too late. Thane had told her that Kaidan had gone to protect them as his first act as a Spectre and she was far more worried about him than the Councilors. He nor the Councilors had anyway of knowing that Udina had turned on them and was leading them straight into an ambush. She was angry that it had taken so long for them to believe her and every life lost was on their heads as far as she was concerned, but they had to survive. With the war, they didn't have time to find a new Council. There deaths would just make things worse.
Bailey had been doing his best to help from C-Sec headquarters where he had barricaded himself after they had rescued him but they had been met at every turn by a slew of Cerberus troops and they were all running low on ammo. She tried to grab any clips the downed enemies had on them but they still had to be careful with their shots.
Finally they managed to catch up only to have the elevator doors close before they could reach it. "Dammit!" James and Garrus managed to pull the other set of doors open and after a quick check that it was safe, they jumped into the shaft and on top of the elevator. She radioed Bailey who took remote control of the elevator and sent it flying upwards. He was doing his best to slow Kai Leng by forcing his elevator to stop at every floor. When they caught up, a few quick rounds from her weapon took out the power conduits and sent Kai Leng's elevator plummeted downward.
Almost immediately another elevator appeared on the other side of them and Bailey's warning of incoming phantoms gave them enough time to turn their weapons and take them out. Once the last one was down, Bailey came across the coms to warn them that Kai Leng had found another elevator and had overridden his control. He couldn't stop him now. Every second counted now.
They finally caught up with the Council and Kaidan and quickly jumped over to their elevator. Kaidan must have thought they were Cerberus as several shots were fired through the roof, one grazing her side. That was gonna leave a scar.
She struggled to keep her balance as they came to a stop and a few quick kicks from James busted the access panel out and they jumped down into the empty elevator and took off running down the hall towards the roof. They locked the doors to the roof behind them and she finally came face to face with Kaidan as he aimed his gun at her. "Shepard what's going on?" he asked, his gun lowering slightly. "She is with Cerberus," exclaimed Udina. She kept her weapon aimed him but Kaidan moved quickly in front of the human Councilor. "Just hang on. I got this. Everyone calm down."
"You have to let me explain Kaidan. You know me. You know that I have to have a good reason for this. I need you to trust me."
"It doesn't look good Shepard. You have guns drawn on Council members."
She looked over at Garrus and James and waved them down, lowering her weapon as well. "I don't have time to explain everything but we have all been fooled. Udina is behind this attack. He is the one with Cerberus. The Salarian Councilor confirmed everything."
"Please," said Udina. "You have no proof. You never do."
"There are Cerberus troops behind that door!" exclaimed Shepard as she gestured behind her. "If you open it, you will die. I am trying to stop that from happening!"
The Asari Councilor stepped forward and spoke. "We have distrusted Shepard in the past and have been proven wrong."
Looking at her with disgust, Udina walked over to the control panel. "I don't have time for this. I am opening the lock." Shepard moved and raised her assault rifle again, aiming it directly at Udina, but Kaidan moved and put himself between them again.
"Kaidan please! He is trying to get us all killed." She adjusted her aim but he moved again. She lowered her weapon again, unable to stomach keeping it aimed at him. "Kaidan, you know me. Please!" She was growing desperate. His face remained expressionless but she could see everything in his eyes. He believed her. His foot shifted and he began to turn but before he could, a shot rang out and his body lurched forward. As he fell to his knees, she saw Udina holding a pistol that was aimed at where Kaidan had been standing.
Time seemed to stand still for a moment before a scream of such pain escaped from her lips that no one who heard it would have described it as human. Udina moved to shoot her as well but she was much faster and emptied her clip into him before he could aim his pistol at her. She rushed to Kaidan's side and turned him where he had fallen and pulled him into her lap.
"Kaidan! Kaidan you have to hold on! Please. Please." He was becoming blurry as her eyes filled with tears. There was so much blood. Why was there so much blood? "Kaidan please hold on. I can't lose you do you hear me?!" He raised his hand to cup her cheek and held it there with her free hand as she nuzzled into his palm. "Lo..ve….you." His voice was cracked and barely a whisper as he tried to speak. "I love you too. I love you so much. Please don't leave me. I need you. I can't do this without you."
She could see her own sadness reflected in his eyes and she watched helplessly as the light in them faded and her heart died while she held it in her arms.