"Fuck you."
Shepard fires her pistol until a smoldering crater is the only thing left of the blasphemous illusion that haunts her dreams. She stumbles toward the exit, a task made more difficult by the luminescent tiles of the Citadel's secret floor.
She finds the elevator and collapses. Her fist balls in her shirt, desperately clinging to her draining life force. If she just closes her eyes and rests a little...
"Shepard?" Her eyes flutter open to the singsong summons.
"EDI?" She'd hoped for an entirely different voice to stir her from the nightmare. Distantly, she wonders why it hasn't.
EDI's demand is clear and simple: "Upload me."
"What?"
"The Catalyst transmits instructions based on parameters several millennia beyond rational functionality. I operate independently due to your guidance and Jeff's trust. I am a prime example of peaceful cohabitation between organics and synthetics." She hesitates, contemplating. "I am their future."
"EDI… No." Shepard shakes her head adamantly, angry and confused. "EDI: Get the hell out of here. Take Jeff and go."
"My proposal is a relevant solution. Your alternatives are unsatisfactory. Upload me."
"But…" Legion…
"I will stop them. I will be part of them and they me. We will leave."
Her heart plummets further and she slumps forward. "And Jeff…?"
The channel remains silent for a desperate moment.
"Jeff refuses to disengage. He is fixated upon your life signs. The Reapers are not as fallible."
Shepard groans, pulling her broken body toward the lone terminal.
She pauses at the crux, batting at the flickering remains of her omni-tool. She damns the thing for its durability, absently hoping that the plan wasn't viable; that she'd manage a way to sacrifice herself instead of her squad mate - her friend.
She never meant for it to end like this.
"I'm sorry, EDI."
"I have no capacity for regret. Shepard-" The line cracks, fading as energy drains from her comm unit to the conduit omni-tool. The words echo through her heart, despite: "Remember me."
Orange light flickers, flowing into the Catalyst and activating the Crucible. Shepard closes her eyes as the Citadel vibrates with unbridled energy beneath her, tearing itself apart.
Exhausted, she fades in and out, wishing reality away. Clips and phrases race through her mind, interactions that are not entirely her own: a prothean artifact on Palaven, a young N7 agent and her team racing through flames and toxic fumes, a pilot trusting her with the life of his crew, the rush of hope and freedom, and cool grass between her toes.
Grinning ear to ear, Jeff takes her hand and leads her to the Purgatory dance floor.
And everything is silent.