"The paths are open, but you have to choose." The nameless AI stepped aside and stared at her with its soulless eyes, waiting for her choice.
Shepard stood motionless; hesitant. She was used to knowing what to do. Her gut brought her so far, and her ability to react quickly under pressure was prized by many, but her head was swimming. She just needed a moment to consider.
Destruction might allow her to live; to brace herself in a crash back to earth. Might... No. That's selfish. Besides, she was not a heartless killer. She could not betray the Geth after giving them life. She was a soldier, ready to die for others. Control would only put her in charge of the next cycle; there to watch as this "chaos" of man versus machine returned and forced her to become the reaper. Synthesis was the best option for everyone. Her life had been given to this cause long ago, when she first faced Saren. She was ready to make this sacrifice. She was destined to make it.
She walked toward the beam, her body cold and empty. Her motions were mechanical, weighed down under the destruction of her body and the approaching death. It didn't sit right, and her gut churned. She'd had to make such critical decisions many times before, but it had never felt like this. Death had never felt so hollow.
A tender voice vibrated from her memory, "Forgive the insubordination, but your boyfriend has an order for you: Come back alive."
Garrus. She knew what her death had done to him before. He was stronger now though. He would understand. She knew he understood. The archangel would not fall this time.
"It would be an awfully empty galaxy without you."
She blinked away the tears. This was not the time. He will be ok.
Pushing back the thought of her personal ties, she stepped up to the beam and held out her hand. A sinister claw gripped her heart. This is not right! Her gut was screaming at her. She breathed in the air, hot from the radiant light in front of her. Wait... air? But she was floating in space; the platform around her open to the stars and no mask to hinder the view. She turned back to see the boy. His voice was so innocent, yet he carried heartless message. How... deceptive? Her mind was hazy, but it fought to add up all the details intuition tried to reveal. That boy…
Why was HE here? This was the boy she had seen die, the boy who haunted her dreams and illusions.
This time, Legion's words seized her mind, "When was the last time you had seen a creator without their mask, Shepard-Commander?"
It was in her mind.
What the HELL was it doing in HER MIND! This boy had come to represent the family she could never have, the life she was denied, the pain of so many losses finally taking its toll on her psyche. And now he appeared before her and tried to convince her to sacrifice everything? Threatening her with the death of so many she'd saved to steer her away from her only chance to finally end them. Whatever created the vision of this boy was using her memories to manipulate her into an impossible choice, and she wouldn't allow it.
Everyone had fought so hard, sacrificed so much, to see the destruction of these… machines. These things. And here she was standing on the edge, ready to throw herself away to allow them to continue existing. How did she even get here?
But her body was so battered and heavy. She swayed over the beam of light, willing every muscle to turn away. She pulled from her last reserves of strength and limped toward the power conduit. The boy merely blinked in response. As she approached and readied her gun, turning to him one last time.
"I'll see you in hell, Harbinger."
The shots went off, and before she could absorb what was happening, her vision was engulfed in hot flames and red energy.
"Shepard. Your resistance will be your undoing." The voice in her head was the Harbinger of Death himself.
Blackness. Nothingness. Is this death? No tunnel, no bright light, no bar with a certain turian waiting to order her drinks? Just nothing. No… She'd died once before. That was nothing. But this...
Light slowly crept in, turning and molding, gaining colors and shape. A leaf, and a tree. A vision of a distant planet. The Normandy! They're alive!
"Joker, Garrus!" Shepard called out to them.
Wait. That had come from her own lips. Was she watching them from heaven? Garrus...
"Garrus! Come quick!"
Was that… Tali?
"Shepard! Spirits, she's breathing!"
Air filled her lungs. Real air. Her eyes opened and burned from the bright beam towering above her. Suddenly there was a shadow on top of her, lifting and pressing into her. She coughed up blood on its shoulder.
"Garrus?" She managed to spatter his name against the metal armor pressing around her broken body.
"We need to fall back now, Garrus. Grab her and hurry." Tali pressed urgently.
She felt, more than saw, her body shifting painfully. They were retreating again, running away from another threatening beam from Harbinger. Back toward the line of tanks.
"W-what's happening?" Her head was spinning, but consciousness was taking hold and strength was returning to her synthetically enhanced limbs.
"Hammer team was hit hard by Harbinger. You were leading the push. There weren't many survivors." Garrus explained as they moved. He sounded as defeated as she felt.
"The Geth! What about the Geth?"
"The Geth? They're fairing about the same as the rest of us." Tali reported back from ahead of them.
"And the relays?"
Garrus looked down at her anxiously, "I - uh. I assume they're the same as usual. Are you ok, Shepard?"
"Never better." The smirk on her lips cracked and bloodied them anew.
As they entered the tank, everyone present wore the same blank, grim expression. These men and women had clearly lost hope.
"Commander Shepard! Send for the med team, stat!" One soldier shouted as Garrus set her down on the hard metal bench.
"Where's Anderson?"
"He… didn't make it. We've been waiting for orders from Admiral Hackett, but comms are down." The soldier averted his gaze.
"What are our orders, commander?" Another equally lost private spoke up from the bench across the narrow vehicle.
"We do the only thing we can do: keep fighting." Shepard turned to Garrus as she spoke, "If only one person is left standing when the last Reaper falls from the sky, we win."