This is assuming you were able to convince Saren to kill himself at the end of ME1. poor baby ;A; *pets Saren*
And now you see why Maelorn was needed. I couldn't sacrifice one of the team for the sake of a Renegade option xD
The silver plated Turian looked much better than she'd last seen him. Though the last time he was just a collection of bones crackling with biotic energy and cybernetics. His body no longer showed the implants he'd been rewarded with, and she had to admit, it suited him far better than the machinery. Though, strangely enough, he was encased in a bright green glow, and a grid lined his entire being.
"Well I guess you were wrong again, Saren," she grinned. "I probably won't make out of this room, will I?"
"That remains to be seen. I always thought your fate was set in stone, after all. But you just proved me wrong." He fell in next to her, sharing the back of the console but leaned forward with his arms crossed over his right knee, and talons flexing inwards.
"You know, Harbinger was always the strongest of the Reaper force. One of the oldest. It's a feat in itself to fight off indoctrination of a lesser Reaper for just a few minutes, but it has yet to have happened until today for an Organic to deny Him completely." He studied her grime covered face intently. "You saw right through him. You withstood what my form could not. What your Illusive Man could not. What no one else in the history of any cycle has ever done."
"That's why you won't be leaving this room without seeing the end of this war. Harbinger offered you three choices, each of them in their own way a form of indoctrination. But I offer you one choice to counter the Reaper invasion. The question is, will you take it...?" He trailed off, watching her. His gaze made her uneasy.
"I think the question why should I trust my dead enemy? For all I know, you're just another vision attempting to indoctrinate me." Saren tossed his head back and laughed, as if it were the greatest thing he'd heard in years. She didn't find it very funny. Her concern seemed honest enough.
"Every other cycle, whether by accident or intentionally, as you came, never have I met a hero as amusing as you. The other three failed to meet my requirements, but you... You definitely amuse me."
"Others? I thought you said no one else had ever made it this far." Or at least that's what she thought he'd said.
"I said no one else had made it this far without Harbinger gaining control. Three others before you have made it to this chamber, but I had to dispose of them. They were tainted."
Shepard shook her head, confused. Was she hallucinating again? Everything that tumbled from her dead adversary's mouth made no sense to her in the least. "Just what are you?"
"I was wondering when you would ask. I," he stood again, stretching high above her, "am a part of the Citadel. I have been here since I was built by my cycle once they understood how to stop the chain, and I have been waiting for the Catalyst for a long time." He offered her his hand. She took it tentatively, wrapping her fingers weakly around the cool metallic talons.
"If you were built so long ago, then why do you resemble a Turian? And Saren, at that."
"I have taken the form of who you would most likely believe. Sampling your memories, I found the Turian you called Saren to be appropriate. After your last meeting, you believed you could pull him out of the indoctrinated state he was in. You believed he could change. I can think of no one else who would better deliver the message to you."
She was shocked how much he knew about her thoughts. And the more she thought about it, she realized he was right. Saren was able to clear his head long long enough to pull the trigger and give her the time to open the arms the first time she'd faced the Reapers. And here it was only fitting he was there to do it again at the end.
"There isn't much time left for you. You have many synthetic implants in your body, keeping you alive. But they won't be able to save you for much longer." That explained why she was alive after the beating she'd taken. And if he was telling the truth, which honestly she couldn't deny, considering how many injuries she'd sustained, he was.
"All right. I can believe that. What do I have to do?"
"You have a choice to make. A choice that will forever end this. But there is a sacrifice you must be willing to make. Only I will be able to open the arms with this console, and when you attach your crucible, I will activate it. But to destroy the Reapers, it needs a sacrifice. Someone who is willing to be the Catalyst, to do whatever they have to do to protect the galaxy."
The Catalyst really wasn't the Citadel after all. If she could trust this Saren VI, then the Catalyst was meant to be an organic, a sacrifice. "I have to... Kill myself, to make it work, is what you're saying?"
"It's the only way, You must present the Citadel with a proper power source. There must be a Catalyst. But... There is another with you. His mind is untainted by the Reapers as well. When returns, you could easily sacrifice him in your place, and you would have a chance to live. When you have made your decision, either you or the Salarian will be absorbed into the Citadel."
The AI set to work on the console, and within moment, the arms were opening. A bright white light erupted from the area below, and the floor shook as a circular portion grew out, creating two rounded tubes. One was a soft blue, and the other was a light red.
"When you have made you choice, step into one of the tubes. The blue indicates your sacrifice, and the red, your survival." And then, he disappeared. She had no idea where he went, but was glad she had the moment to think. She peered out the edge of the Citadel, examining Earth through the expanding arms, and watched with relief as the large blueprint had taken form of a great weapon approached. The citadel shook as the Crucible attached itself.
She didn't have much time left to think, before her ally returned, so she needed to do it quickly.
What were her options? Kill herself, and end the Reaper's torment, or sacrifice the Salarian who'd just saved her moments ago? Without a doubt, she would do anything to stop the Reapers. Shepard desperately wished he'd said nothing about Maelorn, though, because she found herself thinking about pushing him into the battery slot the Citadel had prepared for this moment.
She wasn't normally so conflicted on morals. She'd jump in a heartbeat, but...
"Forgive the insubordination, but your boyfriend has an order for you. Come back alive. It'd be an awfully empty galaxy without you."
Could she do that to him? She promised she'd make it back alive, and she had the choice to return in mostly one piece, could she abandon all morals to do so?
Her time for a decision was up. The door slid open again, and Maelorn walked in with an air of failure about him, which was replaced by confusion.
"You pressed the right buttons, commander?"
"I had help. I must have activated a VI somehow, and it helped me out. I know how to stop this now." This was it. "We just need to take these to the Citadel ground level to escape the energy the Crucible will release when it goes off."
"Which one do we take?" He titled his head. Did he know what they did? Had he heard? No, he couldn't have.
"Both. We can only fit one of us into each tube." She made her way to them, choosing hers first to make sure the Salarian didn't know what he was choosing. Now or never. "I'll see you on the other side, Maelorn." She smiled.
"Yes, will see you up top."
They stepped into their respective elevators, and they slid shut. The red one shot upwards, and the blue plummeted down toward the centre of the Citadel, the heart, where the energy was forming.