Chapter 2: Alive

Location: Earth's Orbit

Date: May 20, 2187

"This is the SSV Normandy to ground team, over." Joker spoke into the comm connection to Faith and her team. "Come on, come on...somebody's gotta be alive," he mumbled as he looked at EDI's mobile platform. "I'm not getting anything, try another channel," he ordered her, which she began doing so as he swerved the Normandy out of the way of another Reaper beam. "Commander!" he yelled into the connection. "Somebody talk to me!"

"Stop...yelling," came a gruff, but welcoming voice.

"Garrus, damn it's good to hear from you." He sighed in relief. "What's your position?"

"Argh..." came a complaining moan. "I'm laying on my turian ass, as you'd put it. Can't feel my left side...need...medical help." He gasped.

"Where's the Commander?" he inquired as EDI began getting Dr. Chakwas on the line to go down for a medical pickup.

"Gone..." Garrus gasped, causing Jeff to pause for a second. "Gone...through the...beam..."

"I believe what Officer Vakarian is trying to say is that Commander Shepard is on the Citadel." EDI translated.

"Yeah," was the turian's reply.

"Right, you hang on Garrus, Chakwas and her team are on their way for a pickup," Joker relayed.

"Tali's..." Garrus began. "...hurt." he finished, his voice sounding hoarse.

"Can you see anybody?" Joker inquired as he weaved through ship debris and narrowly missed getting hit by another Reaper beam.

"Jack's down..." he gasped. "No husks...spirits...Grunt's down, as is...Javik?"

"Can't see that ugly Prothean falling down willingly," Joker joked, trying to keep the turian's attention.

"See a light.." Garrus whispered.

"Shit," Jeff cursed, if the turian was seeing a light, wasn't that bad? "Stay away from it! Shep will kill you if you die."

There was a chuckle. "Not...sure if..." Garrus' line went dead.

"EDI get me that line again!" he yelled as his own hands flew across the console, firing a thanix canon blast there, a guardian laser beam here, then blowing up a Reaper here and diving down away from a beam there.

"Unable to get a secure comm connection with Officer Vakarian," She reported thirty seconds later.

"Get me Anderson or Hackett...damn it!" he growled as he narrowly missed getting hit by an exploding Geth fighter ship.

"Jeff," EDI alerted him. "I am picking up a large EMP buildup coming from the Citadel and the Crucible."

Looking up, Joker gasped as an orb of pure energy resembling a white light burst from the open arms of the Citadel and surrounded the Earth and all of the Sol system. Suddenly several ships seemed to be being sucked towards the center point of the Citadel/Crucible firing mechanism and a beam of pure white energy passed through the system, hitting the Mass Relay and forwarding outward into space. "Holy..." he gasped.

"Jeff, the Reaper ships have stopped their attacks. They don't seem to be operating any longer." She paused. "I am unsure as to what is-" just as she was going to speak the Reaper ships began exploding, one by one until one very large Reaper was left and seen fleeing through the relay. Aboard the Normandy Joker could hear everybody cheering, for this was truly the end, wasn't it? "Medical team arriving. Chakwas reporting Officer Vakarian is extensively injured and is asking for assistance from myself and Dr. Solus."

"Go!" Joker ordered her. "Come in Anderson, do you hear me Admiral?"

"Here...y-you Flight Lieutenant," was his reply. "What's going on out there?"

"Reapers are done for, whatever you guys did up there, it's working!" he yelled excitedly.

"Excellent, what's the word on the grou-" The connection broke up as suddenly the Crucible broke away from the Citadel and began a freefall into Earth's atmosphere, breaking up on it's way down.

"Shit!" was Joker's only response.

Location: Earth / Texas

Date: May 25, 2187

The day after the Reapers had either exploded or left Earth, humanity and its allies had begun the clean-up. It was decided that Earth was as good a place as any other planet. Humans, turians, asari, and even quarians and geth had begun landing on nearby ports and helping with the clean-up of dead bodies, finding the injured, and taking care of homes that were burning. That was happening by the end of the first day. By the third day the volus, hanar, and erelong had begun appearing and building new hospitals, temporary homes, and taking down the missing's names. By the fifth day, they'd begun clean-up around where the Crucible had fallen. During this day a discovery was made. A single female human body was found. She wore an N7 armour set, which was tinted black from being burnt upon re-entry, but what was amazing was that despite her second and third degree burns, she was breathing and very much alive.

Location: Earth

Date: Unknown

Pain was the first thing Faith felt, undying pain. A part of her mind knew that if she was in pain, she was alive. Pain also meant she still needed to fight, but fight what? Next, as she opened an eye, she found she was blinded by light. Groaning, she tried to cover her face with her arm, but couldn't seem to gather up the strength to lift her arm. Upon trying again she found her arms, neither would move. Panic set in. Her left eye opened right away, giving her a view of the left side of the room. She found herself in a white room with her body in a full body cast. The heart monitor was going off as her heart was still in panic mode. Turning her head she came face to face with one man she could always trust. 'Garrus,' she thought. The turian had his left leg in a cast and his right wrist in a wrapping. To top things off he was leaning his head against the wall as he slept. Her heart calmed down at the sight.

She scanned his body to see if he had any other damage, but didn't see anything. Beyond him was a window with the curtains open. As a fresh wind blew the fabric, she could see the sun was rising. She smiled as she inhaled the fresh air. Turning her head slightly she caught her eyes with that of the now awake turian. "Hi," she whispered

"Hi," he replied as he leaned forward towards her. "You know, if you didn't want to come back to me, there are easier ways to break up than a freefall into Earth's atmosphere."

She chuckled. "Oh don't joke Garrus," she groaned as a pain in her side flared up.

Sighing, he took her hand into his. "Don't scare me like that again, sweetness," he whispered as he leaned his forehead against hers.

"Didn't mean to," she whispered tiredlessly. After a moment, he pulled away and leaned back into the chair. "How bad do I look?" she questioned.

He sighed. "You have third degree burns on the left side of your body, second degree burn splotches on your right side, your left arm is broken in three places, and two places on your right. Broken left ankle, sprained your right." He paused. "Right side of your face has second degree burns on it. Your hair had to be shaven off because it was too matted with blood. Your right knee was broken. You have five rib fractures, a broken collar bone, and a fractured nose." He sighed and looked at her in her eye. "But you're still the most beautiful sight I've seen in the last fifteen days." He gave her a turian smile, causing her to smile back.

"It's dawn," she whispered as she saw the sun fully rise on the horizon.

"A new day." He sighed. "Think we can cause trouble today?" he asked. Faith tried to stifle the yawn, but failed. His eyes softened. "Maybe later," he whispered.

"Yeah," she sighed.

Location: Arcturus Station

Date: October 20, 2187

"Today marks five months since the last Reaper was seen," came a voice over the station speakers. "Five months since, not just humanity, but all species came together as one to fight a common enemy. Today we set out a new way of living. No longer will the Citadel be the home of our Council, our governments, or our living. We live together, from today on, here in the Arcturus System on the planet Zareth. This is where we begin planing our futures together, not separately. We live together, fight together, and die together." In the midst of the speech, holo-projectors showed people what was to come for the new planet. Their new home, with new cities, and a new bright future.

M-Angel: Hope everybody enjoyed this. So now that I've got this out of my system I'll go back to my other story and hopefully finish that by this fall.

xoxoangii: d'awwww Garrus and Faith! :D This would have been an AWESOME ending, but instead of garrus at my side I would rather have Kaidan :D