Hi there. I realize I'm a bit too late to the party, but I've recently replayed the Mass Effect series in its entirety and, despite having both MEHEM and CEM installed, couldn't help but to feel a bit down, which made me realize the mark the series' ending left on me had not gone away. The Mass Effect 3: Rewritten is a modular attempt on my part to provide some closure to the series, and to give my own opinion of how the series should have ended.
This is a rewrite of Shepard's conversation with Leviathan, starting the moment she meets him deep underwater. I've changed it to take the focus away from the synthetic vs organic conflict, which, in my opinion, was a ridiculous thing to focus the main plot on. Now the Intelligence was created with a similar, but different objective in mind. No spoilers though, but I think the way the Intelligence's story was modified will please fans, especially those who prefered Mass Effect 2.
On future Rewritten fics I'll create separate dialogue for Paragon and Renegade on choices or places where I think the difference between both is significant. Here it's more an exposition thing, and the consequences are the same no matter the choices in dialogue, so I see no point.
Note that I've made some assumptions. Although I try to keep it as open as possible, never mentioning Shepard's first name for example, there are a few baselines that I created: Shepard's a female, because my last played shepard was female and constantly going he/she ruins the flow, everyone survived the Suicide Mission, and all available sidequests and DLC was completed.
Finally, I'd like to say the usual: I don't own any of this stuff, all belongs to Bioware, yadda yadda yah. Don't forget to review and endorse if you like it, or just review if you don't. I like feedback in all forms (NOTE: "Ur a fg00t" does not count as feedback).
Hope you enjoy, more will come.
"You have come too far." - The voice boomed in Shepard's head, blocking out every sense, every thought, and enveloping her mind in darkness.
She found herself on her knees, hands on the ground trying to keep her body from falling completely. Ground... blue, nearly transparent ground. How did she get there? Where did the Triton go? And why was she having so much problems breathing?
The echo of the voice was still heard, filling the infinite empty space where she found herself. Raising her head slightly, the ground still in view of her eyes, she saw a clearly feminine figure heading towards her - "BREATHE."
It wasn't a request, but a command, one she found hard to disobey. The air seemingly became clearer, and her lungs were once again filled with them. That's how it felt, at least. Shepard's body was safe on the Triton ADS, its oxygen levels still good for hours. But her mind was... somewhere else.
As she started to gain the strength to get up, she recognized the figure in front of her - "... Bryson?".
"An image, made for your understanding. Without it, you would not survive gazing onto our minds". - The figure was definitely Ann Bryson's, but its voice was Leviathan's.
"Who... are you?"
"We are the first. The apex of organic life."
"Leviathan?"
"A name given by a lesser species based on the legend of the Leviathan of Dis. Names are irrelevant. Your memories give voice to our words."
"The whole galaxy's at war with the Reapers! Why are you hiding here?" - Her forces weren't fully regained yet, but her anger gave her back most of her strength. Her voice was free from any tremble or fear. She had to know why would he choose not to fight..
"There is no war. There is only the Harvest." - Bryson's figure moved around Shepard, who simply followed her movements with her head
"Then help us stop it!"
"None have possessed the strength to do so before. We have seen countless species be obliterated with a single thought." - It only took a blink for Bryson's visage to dissapear, being replaced by the image of the man that had called himself Dr. Garneou, destroying himself and the artifact controlling him to deny Shepard's team any answers. - "Yet you are different. I have seen your actions in this cycle." - The man, or more precisely, its image, headed towards lab equipment which materialized where nothing stood. He used the microscope yet continued talking as if nothing was going on - "You have killed their Vanguard. Stopped their thralls, and The Citadel remains under the lesser species' control. The Reapers... percieve you as a threat."
The visage takes its eyes of the microscope and turns its head towards Shepard - "Help us understand why".
The echo returned in full force, accompaigned by trembling and shaking, as if the universe itself was being disturbed. For a mere moment, Shepard's mind returned to her body, and there she was in the Triton, staring at the enourmous creature in front of her. Then, as fast as it came, they were back in the world that never was.
Shepard now stood sit next to yet another visage of one of the men Leviathan controlled. She recognized it as the late Dr. Bryson's assistant. Inch-long black hair and beard, wearing a labcoat like all the rest. They both sat in from of a mural containing the image of Leviathan, with drawings of humanoids below it.
"Before the cycles, our race was the apex of life in the galaxy. All other sapients served as our thralls, satisfying our needs. We grew more powerful, and they were cared for, but we could not protect them from themselves..." - The mural dissapeared, replaced by a star chart of the galaxy above their heads.
"Given enough time, our thralls species destroyed themselves. Even with our hand guiding them, self destruction seemed... inevitable." - The vision of the galaxy zoomed in, in a Star Cluster that Shepard recognized as being Arghos Rho. It zoomed in more in an unknown system, and finally to an unnamed planet - "Some chose nuclear fire to be the tool of their extinction" - The image of the planet was then filled with nuclear clouds, exploding all over its crust. The vision was then zoomed out back into the galaxy, only to zoom in on an unexplored Cluster, again continuing until reaching a planet. - "Others created synthetics that either destroyed them, or got destroyed, weakening them. The synthetics, even when they survived, were hunted down by the rest of the galaxy, or attempted to hunt down organics themselves. In those cases, destruction was... inevitable." - The planet then began cracking down and exploded, being completely annihilated. - "There were even those that let their tendency for war override our will. They fought amongst themselves, claiming causes to justify themselves. In all situations, extinction was the final result, sometimes of many species at once. Tribute does not flow from a dead race" - The vision of the galaxy map dissapeared, leaving only the scientist's visage and Shepard in the abyss of Leviathan's mind.
"The galaxy's resources were dwindling faster than they were replenished. Even with our guidance, our hand holding them back, our thralls continued to find ways to extinguish themselves and others. And, in our moment of greatest weakness, we feared the same fate awaited us." - The scientist's image lowered its head. Even as a projection, Shepard could understand the Leviathan felt shame. - "So we created the Intelligence. A tool with only one purpose: The preservation of all life."
Shepard was almost speechless. The secrets of the galaxy were being revealed in front of her, being told by possibly the oldest creature in the galaxy, perhaps even the Universe. But even while being overwhelmed by this information, she still understood where Leviathan was going with this - "And it reached the same conclusion you did, that life was doomed to self-destruct."
"Correct. To reach a solution, it required physical data, information from various species in the galaxy. It created an army, and for countless eons it roamed the galaxy, searching for the answer to our problem. In time, the impossibility of finding a solution led to the adjustment of its paramenters: if it could not preserve life, it would preserve its essence." - The galaxy map showed again, this time in the ground next to Shepard and the scientist. Many dots, Clusters, were illuminated, but they started going dark one by one. "Without warning, we lost contact with the Intelligence, and one by one our thrall species started to dissapear. The Intelligence was harvesting them, breaking down individuals into a biomass of DNA, then sealing them into shells, the ones you now classify as "Reaper Destroyers", preserving them at the moment it calculated for them to start the path towards extinction. The creature that emerges, the ones you call Reapers, is a result of the species that gives it origin."
"And you just stood there, while your subjects were destroyed?" - Shepard interrupted, anger yet again giving her strength.
"We had no Mass Relays, no way to travel from one cluster to another fast enough. By the time our thralls had mobilized, it was too late. The Intelligence had become too powerful. After it was done harvesting our servants, it came for us. We too were defeated, and harvested. But for us, the Intelligence had other plans. We were the apex of life, and for it a new shell, larger than any others, was created, for the Intelligence believed the apex of organic life was to be the flagship, the representative of every cycle. Once it was created, it fused with the essence of our race, creating the one you call Harbinger. In every cycle, the species considered to be its apex was immortalized in a shell made to Harbinger's image, to our image." - The visage's expression was twisted by fury.
"How did you remain hidden for so long?"
"Our extermination was not complete. Some survived and found refuge in the dark corners of the galaxy. I am their progeny. Over the cycles the thrall races were controlled, and erased traces of our existence as we directed them. In this way, our survival remained a secret from the Reapers until this day. We reach out to the world with the fragments and watch for discovery."
"You mean the artifacts we discovered?"
"Correct. Through them, we watch, we study and we remain in the shadows."
They've seen these many cycles. They have to know something about the Crucible! - "If what you're saying is true, you've seen every harvest the Reapers have ever made. What do you know about the Crucible?
The image's eyes diverted to the bottom left, then returned to face Shepard's - "We have watched its construction before. Almost all species have tried to build the device. All have failed. It has been complete a few times before, by the stronger, more resistant civilizations of the cycle. Yet at their final assault against the Reapers, they've all been annihilated."
"It was completed before?! What do you know about it? Do you know what the Catalyst is?"
"We... do not. The races who found out were destroyed soon after its discovery." - Shepard couldn't help to be dissapointed, and despair started to pour through her mind. This could have been the tipping point of the war. The despair turned into anger, anger she directed towards the Leviathan and its race. But she had to put those feelings aside if she were to talk them into joining the war. - "Okay, you've made your point! Will you help stop the cycle?" - The image yet again turned into Ann Bryson's, and it stood still, analyzing Shepard.
"You are an anomaly, yet... it is not enough. Every cycle has ended in its inevitable conclusion, the extinction of galatic civilization, no matter the variables thrown into the Reaper's path. We have watched as they built the Mass Relays, built the Citadel, creating the perfect trap for each cycle. We've seen hundreds of thousands of civilizations fall. Yours is equally doomed. But you shall survive. You shall stay here and serve our interests."
The booming returned, this time stronger than ever before. It commanded without words vassalage, obedience. It ordered for one's mind to be forfeited, and it demanded nothing less than obedience. No, thought Shepard, I've come too far, learnt too much. You shall not make me your slave.
"LISTEN! The Reapers already know you're here! You can't escape any more, like it or not you're a part of this war just like the rest of the galaxy." - Shepard took a breath, and the echoes stopped. It seemed Leviathan would hear what she had to say - "The fact alone that we've discovered you has to mean this cycle is different. The trap failed! We still control the Citadel, we took down Sovereign, we survived against all odds. What matters if others managed to find the Crucible before? They were broken and apart. For the first time, the entire galaxy stands as one to face our extinction. The darkness no longer protects you, so step into the light and stand with us. We will NOT go quietly into the night. We shall endure, and we shall win!"
Silence fell. There was no ordering echo, no tremors, no booming voice. The image of Bryson dissipated, and for a moment there was only the infinite void.
Soon after, Shepard woke up from its sleepless dream and was back again into the Triton, facing down Leviathan. After the Commander regained her full senses, the silence was broken by Leviathan - "We will fight. But not for you or any lesser race. We are the apex of organic life. We shall survive."
Two more of Leviathan's race rose to stand at both sides of their progeny, who continued his speech - "And the Reapers who tresspass in this world will understand our power. They will become our slaves. Today they shall pay their tribute in blood." - As he finished, Shepard punched the ADS' emergency propulsion system and rose into the surface, as as orb, an artifact the size of the mech Shepard was in rose to meet Leviathan. It shook and glowed, and as it did so did the artifacts standing on the ship the Kodiak had crashed on. Shepard had barely reached the surface when the Reaper forces started fighting each other, Brute pummeling Brute, the winner facing against hordes of husks and Marauders, with Cannibals both protecting it and attacking it. Shepard's crew used this distraction to bring their Commander, who could barely stand on his feet, into the shuttle, where its pilot was already prepared to take off.
As the ship flew away into the sky, the Reaper above it moved to intercept. Cortez warned the crew to hang on, as he attempted to perform defensive maneuvers. He was very surprised when a giant energy pulse rose from the water and headed straight into the Reaper, disabling it completely. The talented pilot had only to dodge the Reaper's corpse as it fell out of control into the waters below.
"What the hell happened down there?" - asked a flabbergastered Cortez.
"Long story, I'll tell it later. Right now, I need some reee..." Shepard didn't manage to end her sentence. She fell asleep sitting, which only served to concern the crew more.
As they reached the Normandy, she was rushed to the infirmary, where the ship's doctor reported that Shepard's only problem was extreme fatigue. After a few hours, she woke up, with her squadmates at her side.
"What happened down there, Shepard?" - Asked Garrus.
"Will this Leviathan creature be joining the fight, Commander?" - Added Javik.
"As I said, boys... it's a long story" - Shepard proceeded to tell her crew what she found, and that Leviathan's race had decided to join the war.
"It was a big risk you took down there, Commander. Very big indeed." - Liara couldn't help but to express her concerns - "Are you sure the Leviathans will help?"
"I'm not sure, not exactly. But we've exposed them, and the Reapers know some survived. They might not help us directly, but they have no place else to hide."
"A cornered beast will always fight for its life." - Said Javik, in his typical sage-like tone.
And, despite the shared fears of some crew members and other Alliance and Hierarchy personnel, the Leviathans joined the war effort in its entirety. In the next couple of days, secret Alliance commchat had reported millions of Reaper forces had been enslaved by the «fragments», as they called it, carefully placed by Spec Ops infiltrators in enemy lines. Still a far cry to the billions they faced in each cluster, but at least the galatic forces now had a disposable frontline to protect the approach of the actual forces, many of which were understandibly weary in going to battle with husks. The fragments, their use limited only by their rarity and the controlling Leviathan's (Which had become the unnoficial name of their race, as they had refused to share any details them) power. There were even reports they had managed to release a few Collectors from Reaper control completely, the ones whose modifications ranged more to genetic rather than cybernetic. The Collectors, although away from the frontlines until recently, have been a gigantic thorn in the Galatic Forces' side, serving as Harbinger's personal shocktroops. Although limited in number, their power and «intelligence», as well as Harbinger's tendency to assume direct control, a phrase that had brought dread and terror to Spec Ops who faced Collector assaults and survived, makes them a threat impossible to ignore. With these Collector Ascendants at the Galatic Forces' side, the enemy's resources have been turned against them.
But the war is still desperate, despite this major conquest. No other proof is needed than the report that Reaper forces were closing in on Thessia, until now unnafected by their influence. Fear of the situation has even led Councilor Tevos to request Commander Shepard's help directly.