READ ON ONLY IF YOU ARE PREPARED FOR SPOILERS OF MASS EFFECT 3 (because they will be subtly mentioned) also a forewarning that this takes place after the events of Mass Effect 3 under these pretenses:

1) Kaidan Alenko is the Virmire survivor

2) Commander Shepard chose the Destroy ending

3) Commander Shepard romanced Kaidan in ME1 and Garrus in ME2 and ME3

4) Wrex survived Virmire

5) All party members survived the Suicide Mission

6) The Council was spared during the attack on the Citadel in ME1

7) The Genophage was cured

8) Saved the Quarians, but not the Geth. Legion died as a result.


'It's what Anderson would have wanted. It's what Garrus would have wanted. It's what humanity needed, and it's what I have to do to save the galaxy.' Shepard's vision was swarming with blood, as well as fear. She bit her bottom lip as she hesitantly thought of the future. What if destruction of the Reapers and all Reaper influenced synthetics wasn't the right choice? What if synthesis, or control was? She stood atop the Crucible, gun shaking in her hand as she looked at all three options. Blue. Green. Red. Her head was pounding, and she was basically running on borrowed time. Moments remained before Shepard would lose function, and be the downfall of life itself.

'But this isn't real,' she thought, 'all of this isn't real. The starchild? Pfft. Likely. The Illusive Man sneaking into the Citadel? Impossible. Anderson being shot, then me recieving the wound? An illusion. This can't be real. What I'm chosing has to be some sort of...mind game. The Reapers...yes, it has to be them. I won't let them get to me.'

Shepard looked back at the quivering, electronic holo of the starchild. "Choose," it commanded, "Or be the death of all you love." Shepard inhaled deeply, narrowing her eyes as she limped up the ramp and to the red flashing lights, which were becoming even more blurred by the second. Tears started to brim in Shepard's eyes. Her arm was shaking even more, now.

Images flashed in her head of Kaidan, the man she had loved once upon a time.

One shot fired.

Anderson's image looked back at Shepard, nodding at her. Proud. He was well, not sickly. Alive, not dead.

Another shot fired.

More succeeded the latter shot, becoming sloppier and sloppier as the images became more hazy. Shepard never cried. This time, however, she did.

Joker looked up and back at Shepard, tilting the brim of his hat with a sly smile. The rest of her crew appeared in her head. Liara, a thin smile on her lips. Tali, waving to Shepard. Memories flooded Shepard's conscience. Curing the genophage. Saving the Quarians. That was when she realized that this was the right choice. The last ditch effort for the Indoctrination had failed. Shepard... had won.

The energy tube that had been fired on, now multiple times, was starting to leak gas. Little eruptions of fire came from it, scorching Shepard's arm. She flinched, hiding her face from the heat. One last shot would destroy it, thus destroying the Reapers, and all synthetics with Reaper DNA. She would feel guilty, if she lived, for killing EDI. Any surviving Geth would be killed too. The only guilt to that she felt was the ghost of Legion, whom she had shot down and killed. Who knew someone could feel guilt for a machine? But Legion was an AI unlike others. He was Shepard's friend.

But Shepard's aim was failing, and she felt her legs begin to crumble beneath her. She wouldn't do it. She couldn't do it. But the final image appeared. The final motivation of memory for Shepard.

Garrus.

The turian she found herself to love, after her heart had been decimated by Kaidan on Horizon. The turian who had given his heart and soul to a human, something not many would imagine. The turian Shepard loved. The turian she didn't want to leave. But she had to. If it meant that Garrus survived, as well as her friends and loved ones, she would do this. She would sacrifice herself, just as Legion had - and Mordin, if it meant that the galaxy would be safe from the Reapers. So she fired. One last shot caught the gas and the entire energy tube exploded, blowing back Shepard. The last thing she saw was the destruction of the Crucible, and the last thing she understood was the ensured safety of what she loved, at the cost of the destruction of Annie Shepard.