When the catalyst finally shut up, Sarah Shepard walked towards the panels to control the reapers, and shot them. When she sat down and closed her eyes, she saw Miranda smiling while they looked at Oriana after killing captain Enyala. It then turned to the look of terror in her face as she fell to her death, her arm slipping through Shepard's fingers. A few moments later, she was hit by a wave of dark energy, and woke up in the thorian's lair. Liara asked, "Shepard are you ok?"
"I'm fine, Liara." Shepard replied, before turning to Shiala and saying, "Thanks, we need to leave now though." Back on the Normandy, Sarah learned that sure enough, all that was left before heading to Ilos was Virmire. She sighed, at least last time around she'd been able to go kill some cerberus agents. She smiled when she thought about how they'd already handled EDI on the moon. Back in her quarters, she was surprised to see Kaidan, who said, "Commander, what's going on? You've been acting really weird. Ever since you got the cipher you've been completely ignoring everyone. Normally you talk to everyone for hours on end, now you just head right to your quarters."
"That's none of your business, Lieutenant." Shepard growled.
"If it's something that'll affect the mission, as your second in command it's my job to make sure that you're in good enough shape to do your job."
"I'm fine, Alenko. Now get out of my quarters now, if you don't want to be forcefully thrown from the room."
Kaidan glared at her and said, "I'd like to see you try." while flaring his biotics. Shepard grinned and charged him, he managed to hit her with a stasis, and she struggled against it, without any success. He smugly said, "That's what you get for trying to beat the shit out of me, Commander." Shepard didn't reply, but instead swore under her breath. When Kaidan left, she said, "Stupid. Still thinking as if I have the upgrades Miri gave me." Then, Liara walked in and asked, "Sarah, what's wrong?"
"Go away, Liara. I'm not in the mood to listen to you ramble." Shepard growled. Liara asked, "What's gotten into you? You've never been like this before."
"Right. I'm not in the mood to speak to you Doctor, so please, leave me alone." Shepard said.
"Fine, Sarah. But I think the cipher may have affected your head." Liara said. Next, Chakwas walked in, and said, "Sarah, why did you chase Liara away? You broke the poor girl into tears."
"You too, Chakwas? If only you remembered." Shepard whispered. Chakwas caught it and asked, "What are you talking about?"
"Nothing, Karin. How are things in medical?"
"They're fine, but what's gotten into you?"
"Nothing. I'm fine, Karin. I'm just really tired." Shepard said.
"Alright, maybe you'll be better after getting some rest."
Three hours later.
Shepard walked into the shuttle bay, and had Wrex and Garrus go with her to the surface of Virmire. After fighting their way through to the STG team and having a chat with Kirrahe, Shepard talked Wrex down, and told Ashley to go with Kirrahe's men. Shepard, Tali, and Garrus went in behind as Shadow team, and when they found the indoctrinated salarians, Tali said, "We should let them out."
"They're indoctrinated, willing puppets of Sovereign. They'll do whatever it tells them to. It could even take direct control of them. We need to get moving and they'll just delay us." Shepard replied.
"How can you be so certain?" Garrus inquired.
Shepard blurted out, "They did it last time when I let them out."
"What?" Garrus and Tali asked.
"Shit!" Shepard said, "Do not ever mention this."
"Mention what?" Garrus asked, "The fact that you're completely insane?"
"You would be too if you'd seen what I have." Shepard replied.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Garrus asked.
"That's classified." Shepard replied.
"What the hell could you have done that is that classified?" Tali asked. Shepard smirked, and said, "One day you'll find out." Garrus didn't accept this, and said, "If you don't tell me what the hell is going on with you, then I'll put this knife into your knee."
"If I told you what it was, you wouldn't believe me." Shepard said.
"Give me a damn answer, Shepard!"
"You don't want to know the truth, Vakarian. If I heard it, I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't experienced it myself."
"Such as?" Garrus asked.
"Me destroying a mass relay, among other things." Shepard said. This made Garrus drop his knife, and say, "What the fuck? Why would you destroy a mass relay?"
"It was that or have us all certainly die." Shepard said.
"What threat could make it necessary to destroy a relay?" Tali asked.
"You'll see in a few minutes." Shepard said. When they had fought their way through to Rana Thanoptis' location, Shepard said, "In the next room you'll see what threat could be dangerous enough to merit the destruction of a mass relay." After using the second beacon, she walked up to where Sovereign said, "You are not Saren."
"Hey Nazara, how you doing? You harvest any civilizations lately? Oh wait, you can't because your pals can't get into the galaxy."
"How do you know of this?"
"I had a little chat with good old Harby before he tried to kill me a while back."
"How do you know of Harbinger?" Sovereign asked.
"Stopped a plan of his. Trying to make a human reaper. Had to blow up a base of yours. Wonder what your little spidery buddies are going to do? Look for the leviathans? 'Cause I can tell you that's a waste of time."
"We are each a nation, independent of all weakness."
"Right, want to go on about how we are insignificant compared to you? Or perhaps how when you come your numbers will darken the skies over every world?" Shepard asked. Sovereign was clearly confused, and when Shepard added, "Or maybe you'll go on about how we can't understand your motivations are not something we can comprehend?"
"This communication is over." Nazara said, before leaving. Garrus said, "You handled that well. What was that thing?"
"Nazara." Shepard said.
"That doesn't explain anything. What are Nazara and Harbinger?"
"Reapers. Ships that harvest organic life every fifty thousand years. The destroyed the protheans a long ass time ago, and they're planning to take us out. If I hadn't detonated that relay, they would have had a back door into our galaxy. Now we need to get going." Shepard said. She moved on, and after killing a few krogan and geth, she chose to rescue Ashley instead of Kaidan, because of how he'd acted towards her on Horizon. And she took note that Saren didn't come to fight like he had before. After that op, and the following discussion with the council, Shepard walked over to Ashley, and said, "He didn't die because of you. He died because he was the best one to detonate the bomb." Ashley nodded, and headed to her quarters. Liara walked up to Shepard, and asked, "Sarah, are you alright?"
"That is none of your business, Doctor T'soni."
"That's it, Sarah. What the hell has gotten into you? Before Feros you were flirtatious, but now you're cold and distant."
"I've been through a lot of shit since then. So, whatever you think I was before I got the cipher, I'm probably not. It subjugated me to experiencing the entire history of the prothean race. It isn't very easy to stay the same after you've experienced that." Shepard said, before settling down in the airlock until they landed on the Citadel. The Council once again ignored her, but she wasn't surprised. After that, Shepard collapsed into her bed, and was surprised when T'soni actually left her alone. Then, Joker said that they'd arrived on Ilos. After landing on the planet, Shepard quickly guided Garrus and Tali through to where they managed to open the doors to the Conduit. Therein, they met Vigil, and Shepard said, "Hey, Vigil. Good to see you're still running. We don't really have much time, so can you just give us the cliff notes on the information on the reapers?"
"Of course. Interesting to see the effects of the Crucible Project. Reapers are ancient alien spaceships that destroy all organic life every fifty-thousand years. The Citadel's secretly a giant mass relay, the Conduit is a prototype mass relay that leads to the Citadel, and a few of the prothean people used it to gain access alter the signal the Citadel gave the keepers so they didn't open up the relay. And here's a program to gain complete control of the Citadel's systems." Vigil replied. Shepard nodded, and walked back to the mako. In the vehicle, the drove towards the Conduit, and it was almost completely torn apart by the attacking colossi before they went through the Conduit. After a few harrowing moments of moving through the mass free space, and then it crashed into several geth units on the presidium. Shepard stepped out of the mako and killed the two other geth. She continued moving through the presidium, and soon they were walking towards Sovereign, but were blocked by a geth drop ship. Shepard quickly began hacking into the turrets, and Garrus and Tali fired on the geth units that dropped down. After hacking the first turret, Shepard sprinted towards the second turret, but was sent flying into a wall by a geth devastator. When she hit the wall, she collapsed to the ground. Before she blacked out, and was back on the Collector Base, watching Miranda slide to her death while Mordin shot at the Collectors from a different platform. When Miranda slipped out of her hands, Shepard was brought to by Garrus, who said, "Shepard, we've got to hurry!" She nodded, and began sprinting to the Citadel Tower. Therein, she killed Saren's two geth guards, and said, "Saren, what the hell are you doing?"
"Ah, Commander Shepard. I was wondering when you were going to arrive." the turian replied.
"I wouldn't want to show up late, Saren. Or early." Shepard said with a smirk, "Why don't you put the gun down and walk the hell away from that panel?"
Saren didn't reply, and Shepard continued, "Can't you see that Sovereign's controlling you? You were a Spectre, one of the best. You were a bit harsh, but you still got the job done. Now you're undoing everything you worked for before, the preservation of galactic peace. You're a willing slave of the reapers."
"You're wrong, Shepard. We can prove that we're useful to them!" Saren said.
"No, we can't. They are harvesting us, to protect us! Their master himself, the little bitch that he is, said that the reapers harvest all organic life in the galaxy to preserve it. Removing the old life to make room for the younger life. Just like they left us behind while they harvested the protheans."
"And yet you still insist on fighting them when you know you can't win." Saren said.
"Maybe, but I'll fight them as many times as I have to. If I have to fight them a hundred times to find a weakness that I can exploit to win, then I'll do it. But ask yourself this, Saren, why the hell are you fighting? Is it for the preservation of your people, or a desperate attempt to save your own ass?"
Saren was shocked, and said, "What right do you have to defend your actions, Shepard? You left your squad to die on Akuze, and your family on Mindoir."
"Yes, but I didn't turn against what they stood for. I didn't betray them to help a group of ships that would murder them. And I've fought the bastards who caused their deaths. I've fought and literally died to protect society from the reapers, but you refuse to even listen. Did Sovereign give you some upgrades?" This got the reaction from Saren that Shepard had hoped for. A look of pure shock crossed the turian's face. She said, "It's controlling you through your implants. You're its puppet, but you can break free, if you've got the balls."
Saren said, "No, I'm not Indoctrinated, Sovereign needs me at my best, so my mind is still my own."
"No it isn't. Sovereign's controlling you, and you don't even recognize it. You're attacking the Citadel, and you're not stupid enough to do that unless you were under something's control." Saren took a moment to think about what Shepard said, and was surprised when he found himself agreeing with the human commander. He said, "It may be too late for me, Shepard." Before putting his pistol to his head and pulling the trigger. It flew through his head, shattering his skull and leaving a massive hole in his brain. He collapsed down into the lower area, and Shepard said, "Time to get this finished." while she activated the program Vigil had given her. A few minutes later she had opened the mass relay and the Destiny Ascension had been rescued. Then Saren was animated by Sovereign through his implants. She calmly dodged his attacks, and fired a round into his head, causing him to stagger backwards, where Garrus and Tali were waiting, grabbing the possessed corpse. She put her assault rifle to its head, and fired until it overheated, where she tried to pop out the thermal clip, which only resulted in her hand getting hit with steam, and Tali and Garrus laughing at her. She glared at them and was soon hit by some flying debris. A day later, she staggered out of the rubble. A few weeks later, she was sent to the Terminus Systems and there the Collectors struck again. When Shepard felt the air leaving her suit, she just smiled, knowing what she would wake up to.
A\N: So, to those of you who read Meus Mundus I haven't quit writing it, but every time I tried to write it, I kept writing it basically like this one. There'll be more chapters, but they may be sporadic in coming. Thanks for reading and please review.