Mass Effect 3: The Real Ending
Author's note: For this ending I used the game in which my character was named Brianna Shepard, had romanced Thane in ME2, Samantha Traynor in ME3, and had followed the Paragon path almost exclusively. The first part of this story is pretty much how the game ends, if you got 100% galaxy readiness and as much military strength as possible. After that, it's my version of what should have happened.
"Shepard, nothing is happening. The Crucible is not firing. Do you copy? It's got to be on your end. Commander Shepard?" Admiral Hackett's voice crackled over the coms unit.
Commander Shepard stretched out her arm reaching for the console in front of her. Her hand and forearm were coated blood. Her charred N7 armor groaned as she stretched. A small piece fell from her shoulder to the floor with a hollow clank.
"I don't see… I'm not sure how to…," she gasped as she used the last of her strength. Her fingers just grazed the console's controls before she passed out.
A soft beam of white light shines from the ceiling covering her body in its warm glow. The small panel under her began to slowly rise into the air.
She was still alive. She didn't know how but after everything her heart was still beating. Slowly she opened her eyes. A glowing white figure stood in front of her. At first she thought it was an angel, come to finally take her and let her rest. She raised her head and gazed at the being.
"Wake up."
She nearly passed out again trying to sit up. Her battered and bloodied body protested the simple action. She looked closely at the figure and realized that it was not an angel but some sort of holographic figure. It looked like that boy from Earth. The one the Reapers had killed on the shuttle. The one she had been dreaming about for the past couple of weeks.
"Where am I?" she asked. Her voice was raw and rough.
"The Citadel, it's my home," its voice faintly echoed around her.
"Who are you?"
"I am the catalyst," it replied.
"I thought the Citadel was the catalyst," Shepard asked.
"No. The Citadel is a part of me."
"Why do you look like that boy from my dreams?" she asked.
"I don't. You see me as you want to. Your mind is trying to make sense of what it is seeing and creates the image. This form would appear differently to everybody."
Commander Shepard pushed herself to her feet. She staggered but remained upright. "I need to stop the Reapers. Do you know how I can do that?"
"Perhaps," it replied. It turned and began walking down a long platform. At the end a blinding blue beam of light pulsed. Shepard noticed two sections on either side of the light. One bathed in a dark blue light with electric bolts snapping from a pair of conduits. The other looked like a massive power cable covered in red light. "I control the Reapers. They are my solution."
Shepard slowly stumbled behind the Catalyst. "Solution? To what?"
The Catalyst stopped and turned to look at her, "Chaos." The Catalyst then continued to walk towards the blue light. "The created will always rebel against their creators. But we found a way to stop that from happening. A way to restore order for the next cycle."
Shepard stopped and glared at the glowing figure, "By wiping out organic life?"
The Catalyst stopped and turned back to face Shepard again. "No. We harvest advanced civilizations, leaving the younger ones alone. Just as we left your people alive the last time we were here." It then continued walking down the platform, leaving Shepard to stumble after it.
"But you killed the rest."
The Catalyst turned to look out the massive window. Shepard could see the battle for Earth still raging. Countless massive fires could be seen on the planet's surface. Ships continued to fight in space and debris littered the view. A massive Reaper glided past the window as swarms of Alliance fighters shot at it. "We helped them ascend so they could make way for new life, storing the old life in Reaper form."
"I think we'd rather keep our own form," Shepard countered.
"No, you can't. Without us to stop it, synthetics would destroy all organics. We've created the cycle so that never happens. That's the solution."
"But you're taking away our future. Without a future we have no hope. Without hope," Shepard turned away from the window, "we might was well be machines just like you."
"You have hope. More than you know," the Catalyst replied. "The fact that you are standing here, the first organic ever, proves it. But it also proves that my solution won't work anymore."
"So now what?" Shepard asked.
The Catalyst faced Shepard, "We find a new solution."
"Yeah, but how?" Shepard asked.
"The Crucible changed me, created new… possibilities. But I can't make them happen." The Catalyst faced the red lit power cable, "I know you have thought about destroying us." An image flashed in Shepard's mind. She saw herself raising a pistol and firing at the cable until it exploded in a ball of flame. "You can wipe out all synthetic life if you want, including the Geth." It turned to look at Shepard, "Even you are partly synthetic."
"But the Reapers will be destroyed?"
"Yes, but the peace won't last. Soon your children will create synthetics, and then the chaos will come back."
Shepard stared at the giant cable. "Maybe…"
The Catalyst turned towards the blue section with its electric conduits snapping. "Or do you think you can control us?" Another image flashed through Shepard's mind. This time she saw herself in the blue section grabbing the electric conduits as electric energy flowed around her.
Shepard looked stunned. "Huh. So… the Illusive Man was right after all."
"Yes, but he could never have taken control… because we already controlled him."
Shepard gazed at the conduits, "But I can…"
"You will die. You will control us but you will lose everything you have," the Catalyst replied.
Shepard looked at the Catalyst, "But the Reapers will obey me?"
"Yes."
The child then turned towards the pulsing blue light, "There is another solution."
"Yeah?"
"Synthesis," the Catalyst replied.
Shepard's brow creased, "And that is?"
"Add your energy to the Crucible's," it replied. "Everything you are will be absorbed, and then sent out. The chain reaction will combine all synthetic and organic life into a new framework. A new… DNA."
Shepard looked at the blue light then shook her head. "I… don't know."
"Why not? Synthetics are already part of you. Can you imagine your life without them?" the Catalyst asked.
"And there will be peace?"
"The cycle will end. Synthesis is the final evolution of life. But we need each other to make it happen. You have a difficult decision. Releasing the energy of the Crucible will end the cycle, but it will also destroy the mass relays." The Catalyst looked at Shepard, "The paths are open. But you have to choose."
Shepard examined her three options. None of them sounded great. Control over the Reapers would mean an end to the war. But she had told the Illusive Man that humanity wasn't ready for that kind of power. Could she really take it for herself? What would she have them do after they stopped attacking everybody? The options were staggering. Destroying all synthetics didn't hold much appeal. She had worked to broker peace between the Quarians and the Geth and the two were now getting along and working together again, and what about EDI who was just discovering life and finding some humanity. Could she really destroy them just to stop the Reapers? Was it worth the cost? Synthesis, destroy herself to save everybody else. As she stared at the blue light she knew it was the only option that she could ever take. But was changing everything and everybody the right choice? Was there no other way?
She looked at the Catalyst; it was so sure that these were the only options. That synthetic life and organic life were doomed to endlessly struggle against one another. The war between the Quarians and the Geth backed up its position. But that war had only been started because the Quarians tried to destroy the Geth, who wanted no part of it and were only defending themselves. An image of Legion sacrificing itself to give all the Geth real individual consciousness and finally ending the war between created and creator flashed in her mind. The two races were once again working together to make a peaceful planet where they both could live. Didn't this truce disprove the Catalyst's theory?
"What about the Geth?" Shepard asked.
The Catalyst looked at her, "What about them? They fought against their creators for centuries. Eventually the Geth would have destroyed the Quarians and moved on to the rest of the organic life in the galaxy."
"No they wouldn't have," Shepard countered. "The Quarians tried to destroy the Geth but they fought back. They didn't want to but they wouldn't allow themselves to be destroyed. Taking Rannoch was the only way they could ensure their survival and the survival of the Quarians. But the war is over now, thanks in part to you and the Reapers. They are now working together to make Rannoch a planet they can both share."
The Catalyst didn't respond right away. It walked down the pathway towards the pulsing blue light. "The peace will not last. Soon the Geth will turn on the Quarians and destroy them."
"I don't think so," Shepard responded. "You're basing this on things that have happened in the past. That doesn't mean it will always be this way."
"Yes, it does. It always ends this way."
"But it doesn't have to. The Geth used part of your Reaper code to change themselves, to evolve. They are now individuals. They don't think with a collective mind anymore. Who's to say they will react as others have in the past? Have any other synthetics ever done that before?"
The Catalyst turned to Shepard, "No, they have not. This is new… it is… different."
Feeling she was on the right track Shepard continued, "And what about EDI? She's advanced past her programming. She changed herself so that self-preservation was no longer her key function. She changed her programming so that the lives of her friends and Joker are now more important that herself. She wanted to be more and now she is."
Shepard, sensing that it had the Catalyst confused, pushed on, "You say 'chaos' like it's a bad thing. But chaos is responsible for organic life in the first place. It's responsible for the Geth becoming more than a simple VI. It's responsible for EDI falling in love and feeling that Joker's life was more important than her own. It's even responsible for you and the Reapers."
"No… we don't… we aren't...," the Catalyst tried to interrupt.
"Without it, the galaxy would be a void. By trying to stop chaos you're trying to stop life; trying to stop evolution, for organics and synthetics. You might as well wipe out all organic life yourself. Life is chaos." Shepard stopped and waited for a response.
After a few moments the Catalyst looked out the window at the battle still raging on. "What if you're wrong?"
Shepard joined it at the window. "What if you are?"
"If you are wrong, we will not be back to preserve organic life. The cycle will end and whatever happens… happens."
Shepard turned to the Catalyst, "That's all we ever wanted."
The image of the boy faded away and as Shepard looked on the Reapers broke off their attack of the Alliance ships and began retreating.
"…pard! Shepard, nothing is happening. Are you there? Can you hear me?" Admiral Hackett's voice boomed over the com unit.
"I hear you Admiral. Break off your attack with the Reapers. It's over."
TEN YEARS LATER
A large white farmhouse sits in the middle of an open field. A white picket fence surrounds the house and a forest sprouts up behind it. An old varren and a golden retriever lay next to each other at the top of the steps to the large wrap-around porch. A woman is sitting on the porch swing gently rocking it back and forth, her flame red hair falling down around her shoulders. She stares out past the fence into the distance, her breathing deep and relaxed.
The front door to the house bursts open and a young boy with caramel colored skin and bright eyes flies through the opening. "Mom, I found her," he calls back into the house.
"Is she dressed and ready to go?" a woman's voice responds from inside.
The woman on the swing stands up and straightens her Alliance dress uniform, a uniform she hasn't worn in almost ten years. She snaps to attention and salutes the boy.
"Yup," he answers. "And you were right; she does look kinda scary in that uniform."
The woman inside the house follows her son out onto the porch. "You should have seen her in her N7 armor, now that was scary."
"You always said I looked sexy in that armor," Brianna Shepard says.
Samantha Traynor smiles, "And I meant every word of it. But, you have to admit you did look very intimidating."
Shepard steps up to Samantha and embraces her, "Didn't seem to stop you."
"Well I'm a sucker for beautiful and powerful women," the two women kiss until the boy interrupts them.
"Come on, the shuttle is going to be here any minute. We don't want to be late."
Shepard breaks the kiss and looks down at the boy, "Is your sister ready to go Thane?"
"I think so," he nods. "She said she wanted to finish the picture she was drawing for Aunt Liara."
"Well go make sure," Shepard tells him. The boy snaps to attention and salutes before running back into the house. "Kelly! Mom says it's time to go," he bellows before the door closes behind him.
Samantha looks her wife in the eyes and kisses her again. "Are you sure you want to go? We don't have to if you'd rather just stay home?"
Shepard kisses her back, "I'm fine. Besides Thane and Kelly would never forgive me if they didn't get to see the museum. They've been looking forward to this all year."
A small blue Alliance shuttle flies over the house, turns around and lands gently on the lawn. A large man in military uniform steps out and salutes, "Commander Shepard."
"I told you you're not supposed to call me that or salute me anymore Captain Vega," Shepard calls out to him.
"Sorry ma'am, old habits and all," he responds.
Shepard and Samantha both smile. "James I didn't know you were coming to pick us up," Samantha says. Shepard and Samantha walk up to him and each gives him a hug.
James Vega welcomes the embraces. "I wasn't letting just anybody fly you guys to London."
"Excuse me! I'm the one doing the actual flying here," Steven Cortez calls out from inside the shuttle. "If we let Vega fly we'd crash before we got off the lawn."
Thane and a young girl with flaming red hair come out of the house. When Thane sees the shuttle and Vega he breaks into a run calling out, "Uncle James, what are you doing here?" When he's a few feet away from the man, Thane launches himself into the air.
Vega catches the boy and spins him around. "Estaban and I are here to take you guys to the museum opening."
Thane looks past James to the shuttle and waves at Cortez, "Cool. Can you tell me some more stories about the Reapers on the way?"
Samantha rolls her eyes, "You'll get to hear all about those at the museum."
When everybody enters the shuttle Vega closes the hatch. "Should only be a couple hours until we arrive." He joins Cortez in the cockpit and the shuttle lifts off the ground.
A couple hours later the pulls up in front of the David Anderson Memorial Museum that is finally opening to the public. The hatch opens and Thane jumps out the shuttle and begins running toward a row of tall statues.
Samantha steps out of the shuttle and calls after him, "Thane David Shepard, you know better than to go running off like that."
"But mom, I wanted to see the statues," Thane whines in reply and once again takes off toward the statutes.
Samantha Traynor follows her son, "They're fifteen feet high, you can't miss them."
Shepard follows her out carrying her daughter Kelly who looks like a miniature version of her mother. Kelly looks up at the granite statues in awe. Twenty of them in total fan out in front of a quarter scale model of the Normandy SR-2.
Shepard follows the line of statues with her eyes, pausing at each one for a few moments. Each statue has a nameplate in front of it, but she doesn't need the plaques. She knows them all: Urdont Grunt, Miranda Lawson, Jacob Taylor, Samara, Jack, Kasumi Goto, Thane Krios, Legion, Mordin Solus, Javik, James Vega, EDI, Joker, Ashley Williams, Kaiden Alenko, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, Garrus Vakarian, and Liara T'Soni. In the center of them all is Brianna Shepard, standing there in her N7 armor and Avenger assault rifle raised in one bent arm the other pointing straight out an enemy only she can see. Samantha and Thane are reading the plaque in front of Shepard's statue.
Commander Brianna Shepard
Alliance Military and Spectre
Birth: April 11, 2154
Commander Brianna Shepard, Captain of the Normandy led the fight against the Reapers. She convinced a sentient AI called the Catalyst that peace with synthetic life forms was possible, ending the Reaper War. She brokered peace between the Turians, Krogan and Salarians as well as the Quarian and Geth. Through her actions the different species of the galaxy have worked toward true peace for the first time.
Thank you, Commander Shepard for all you have done.
Shepard sets her daughter down and turns to walk away when she notices some people in the crowd. Garrus and Tali holding hands and standing in front of each other's statues. Grunt, Wrex and Bakara are standing in front of the statue of Mordin with a few Krogan children running around them. Jacob and Brynn with their son and daughter are talking to Miranda and Jack (who actually seem to be getting along for once).
"It's nice to see them again, isn't it?" somebody asks her from behind.
She turns and finds Liara watching the others as well. Shepard smiles, "Yes it is. I've missed them."
Liara nods, "Me to. Have you seen Joker or EDI yet?"
"Not yet, but EDI called yesterday and said they would be here."
"When Joker sees he got a statue too we'll never hear the end of it," Liara says.
"Well we can always tease him about this version of him not breaking whenever somebody touches it."
Liara laughs, "That will shut him up rather quickly. Ashley couldn't make it. She's got some Spectre mission to finish up. But we're supposed to meet next week for dinner. You and Samantha should join us."
"I'd like that. And I know Kelly misses her Aunt Ashley," Shepard replies.
"That's because Ashley spoils her rotten."
Shepard looks and her daughter and nods, "Yes she does. I read the book you wrote with Javik. It must have been difficult to realize how different the Protheans were from how you thought."
"You mean to admit how naïve I had been?" she smiles. "I didn't want to believe him. I wanted to hold on to the idea that the Protheans were a great and noble people, and in some ways they were. But keeping that ideal when Javik forced me to face the truth would have made me know better than the Hannar trying to help the Reapers because they turned their Enkindlers into collectors. I owed him for opening my eyes."
Shepard takes Liara's hand in hers, "I'm glad you were with him in the end."
"I couldn't let the last of his race just fade away. He let me come with him and record his last moments." A tear slides down her cheek, "He wouldn't let me talk him out of it. I suppose he was right."
Liara is interrupted when Kelly tugs on the back of her dress. "I made this for you Aunt Liara."
Liara bends down and looks at the drawing Kelly has made for her. It shows Shepard, Liara, Garrus, Tali and Ashley ready for battle while the Normandy flies overheard. She picks Kelly up and hugs her. "I love it, thank you."
"Mom, they're about to open the doors," Thane calls out. He's dragging Samantha behind him. When he reaches Shepard he grabs her hand and begins to pull her along as well. "Come on, we don't want to be the last ones in."
THE END