The wind howled across the icy surface of Alchera. The glaciers had moved on – here and there ice sheets had shifted to reveal permafrost. But it was the same place.

There was nothing visible left of the SSV Normandy. A skilled archaeologist, perhaps, could have picked out some of the remains from wherever they had been carried off to by the forces of nature. But on the surface, once-impregnable bulkheads had been ground away to nothing. The galaxy's most advanced technology had been cracked and broken by season after season and was utterly dissipated.

There was no Normandy, but one thing was still standing.

Wind and snow had stripped away all the fine detail. Nobody who came past this spot would know what it was meant to represent. The worn head, once the likeness of an Alliance Frigate, had bent down over the years to form a disturbing image. Not a ship sweeping off into the heavens, but one crashing ignominiously to earth.

The lump of metal that formed the memorial statue had survived. Perhaps it was all the gold and platinum used in its construction. It had certainly been built to last. It had lasted. One tiny memory of a time long ago clung to the galaxy in this hidden corner.

Next to the other mountain of metal, looming colossal over the Normandy memorial, it looked like just another twisted remnant of a ruined past.

The beast was still. Overhead, her subjects muttered in low tones. Masses of them, circling the planet, waiting for the next move. Hanging in high orbit, they seemed a dark cloud. No light showed through the blanket of Reapers.

Except one. Far above, a single light shone out defiantly. Although tiny at first, it grew as the beast watched. Dropping from above like a falling star, it passed out of sight beyond a nearby ridge.

It wasn't clear quite what the falling star was. But the Reapers' muttering became louder.


"Locked and loaded?", asked Aria.

Garrus checked his rifle over. Aria had explained the precepts of modern weapons technology and he was beginning to get the hang of it. Despite some efforts to integrate omni-tool fabricators into the ammunition process and any number of miniaturisations, a rifle still pretty much looked and handled like a rifle. He folded up the stock and slung the bundle over his shoulder.

"Uh-huh. Because we've going to kick some Reaper ass with a few small arms."

Aria snorted. "Hey, I'm ready to take on those guys with my fists after that trip."

"We might have to. Think I'll have a hard time pointing anything straight just now. Can you still hear them?"

The half-audible mumbles of indoctrination seemed to crawl out of the shuttle's walls, through the floor, out of the engines and inside their helmets. Passing through the eerily motionless cloud of Sovereign duplicates surrounding Alchera had been the worst. At least they were planetside now.

You will serve us again. Fear your masters. Our return spells your doom. No. Obey the controller. Join us. Become part of the solution. Resolve the imbalance. Conflict will be ended. The harvest will begin again.

"I've been hearing them since we came through the Omega relay. Bastards. How long did it take your guys to crack during the war?"

Garrus exhaled. "It's pretty much up to the Reapers. With this many of them, they could have turned us into mindless drones as soon as we entered the system. They're holding back."

"I hope you're right. Now where the hell are we going, Archangel? I didn't plan on taking any long cold walks under the open sky. Not with this headache."

"Oh, don't be like that. What's a little evil psychic brainwashing mind-control compared to living above Afterlife? I got us as close as we could to the center of Reaper communications. Did you see it on the way down? Something's there. I'd bet my last credit that's the Normandy crash site."

Garrus opened the shuttle door and the two of them crunched out onto the tundra. Leaning into the wind, Garrus trudged up the rocky rise which divided them from their objective. Aria followed, catching up before the turian reached the crest. The icy blast lashed the hillside and snow swept around them, obscuring the shuttle. With their environment suits muffling normal speech, Garrus heard her voice more clearly over the intercom than he had for the entire journey.

"Vakarian, I'll say this one more time, because why not. I know why you've come this far. Hell, I came with you just out of morbid curiosity. But we're about to meet the chief Reaper, right? Harbinger? And we could both be about to die. I need to know you've got my back. This may not work out how you want. We don't know why they went away. We don't know why they're back. And I actually have something to live for. Can't believe I just said it, but it's true. Are you ready?"

"Oh, I'm ready. Whatever the Reapers want, I'm going to make damned sure they tell me what happened to Shepard. I spent years of my life waiting for this, Aria, I've got to know! Head back if you want to, I'm going over."

Aria laughed.

"Sure as hell you are! I always knew you were a hardass. I'm with you all the way. So long as you don't choke when it's time to kill something. I need a co-pilot for the trip home."

Home. The Reaper voice inside Garrus' head seemed to hold on to that word. It was the last thing he heard as they reached the summit and looked down at the remains of the Normandy monument.


The wind dropped as the two figures picked their way carefully down the slope. The sky seemed to clear. Far above them, the shadowy forms of a million hyperintelligent warships still hung implacably. As they advanced, the black was gradually broken by red points of light. One by one, the Reapers opened their eyes and watched the tiny organics approach the hunched form of the beast.

"Stellar fucking Athame..." said Aria. "Looks like we have an audience."

Garrus felt the red glow but didn't look away from the thing which crouched at the centre of the Normandy crash site.

It was vast. Its back seemed to come from a giant suit of krogan battle armour. Its many limbs ended in rachni claws, or turian talons, or the long fingers of salarians. Its living metal skin was mottled with the markings of a thousand species.

It wasn't Harbinger.

I knew someone would come. You can tell them why I'm here. All the organics. Do you know why I picked this spot?

The voice boomed louder than any indoctrination. Garrus heard weariness, anger, frustration, but mostly sadness. Resignation. Whatever it was, it wasn't here to kill anything.

I put it here because it was the most solid place. Hard rock, all the way down. A thousand years wouldn't shift it. If I'd left it on an ice shelf, it wouldn't have lasted a season. If I'd put it below a cliff, it would have been buried long ago. Do you understand? I needed it to last. It did. It's the only thing that did.

And Garrus understood. He set his omni-tool to broadcast his voice on all available frequencies.

"It's not the only thing. Garrus Vakarian reporting...Commander."

She turned. Slowly, a head unfolded from the mass of cables, servos and hydraulics. Its red eyes locked on to Garrus.

The pert, fleshy, busy little human face he remembered was gone. Garrus choked. The rictus visage which looked at him was part steel skull, part rippling circuitry, but it certainly wasn't human.

Garrus?

The ground trembled as she shifted to face them both. The voice screeched through Garrus' and Aria's bodies. They both took a step back.

Garrus!

He wasn't sure what to say. He half-felt like reaching for his gun. It was too much at once.

You... you can't be here! How is it you?

"I made it, Shep. I'm still here. I never left."

Aria laughed a tense laugh.

"That's right, Shepard. He waited in the cold for this long."

I don't believe it. I never dreamed... of all people... I knew you'd be gone. You can't be here!

The Shepard - thing doubled over and smashed its head against the ground with such force that Garrus and Aria were knocked off their feet.

Not again! When will you just lay off? Just one minute alone, that's all I want!

Garrus hauled himself upright and darted forward to where Shepard's head lolled off her giant body.

"Shepard, I... I'm real. When you said we'd be together when you beat the Reapers, after death, after whatever came next, I... couldn't let it go. I found a way, Shep. I always thought... maybe we'll find each other again. Somehow. No Shepard without Vakarian. As long as I was here, you'd come back. I knew it. I just knew."

Garrus put out his hand to touch the metallic surface of the skull. Her grating synthetic voice had cracked into a wail like a siren. The head was warm and smooth, like a cooling drive core. As he placed his hand on the surface Shepard made a sound like a thermal exhaust.

You... you're real? Everything was so different when I came back, Garrus. I saw all the cities on Earth, changed, gone... I couldn't find anything the same as I remembered.

Garrus felt his tear ducts spilling over as the mechanical voice accented words in the old familiar way. She was here. It didn't matter how.

They told me organics had forgotten all about me. Nobody remembered. They told me nothing was left. I didn't believe them. I came here. I wanted to die here. I knew the statue would still be here. The statue was for you. You were my crew. I would have here stayed forever... this was the last place in the galaxy that remembered you. Anything to bring you back.

"Shep... we fell apart without you. Everyone else moved on, but I couldn't. We never found you on the Citadel and I knew it couldn't be over. You always found me when I was lost in the dark. You were always with me when I felt like I was alone. When I... when I wanted to die, you helped me back to the light. Nobody else could have found me, but you did. I couldn't let you be lost... out there. I remembered the monument, too. And when Aria woke me up and said... I knew it had to be you. I love you, Shepard. I could never leave you behind."

Garrus... I can't... It's been so long. So long out there. It's cold, but I don't feel it. I know you're there, but I don't see you. I don't feel you. I haven't felt anything for... I can't describe it. Help me, Garrus. I need you. I need to feel something. They're in my head, Garrus, and I'm in theirs. They can't fight me... but they want to. I'm in control and I want out! I made the wrong choice! We've gone so far... So far away... I should have known it would be you...

Garrus dropped his helmeted head to lean on the awesome expanse of hers. Hard surface clanked on hard surface. He just barely managed to speak between his own sobs.

"We'll get you out, Shepard. I don't know what they did to you, but we'll get you out. You'll be you again, I promise. We can do it. I know we can."

Please Garrus. Please. I know you can. I need to get out. They can't be killed, Garrus. They'll never let me go.

Garrus again felt the gaze on him, and looked up at a sky seemingly blazing with angry red stars.

"Like hell! We'll fight them again! You're in control? Get them to hold still and we'll call in the Citadel fleet, or... whatever it is now. We'll blow them out of the sky. Just hold them and we'll come back with every warship in the galaxy!"

No... Garrus. It doesn't just work like that. I am them and they are me. And there are so many more of them. I was alone for so long... but they were with me. You can't kill them. They won't let me go... but they're not evil, Garrus. They were made for a purpose. You can't just wipe them out.

Garrus couldn't hear the whispers of indoctrination, but a shiver suddenly ran down his spine.

"Shepard? I... don't know if I can trust you. You've been with them for longer than anyone. Do you know what you're saying?"

Garrus! Don't go! Don't leave me! I need you, Garrus! You always believed me before. You never doubted me when I came back! I can control them! They won't... they don't get inside your head if I stop them. I can stop them. I'm in control. But they need to solve the problem, Garrus. They need to solve it and so do I.

"The problem?"

Conflict. When the crucible worked... he told me the Reapers are here to solve the problem. The harvest is the solution. It's the only solution, Garrus! It's the only one they have!

"Shepard, we'll get you out. You can... you can disconnect from them, right? We'll find some way to... to fix you."

Garrus... I... we can't go back. I'm different now. I've changed. All that time... I realised too late that what we had together was the most important thing I ever had, but...

"But?"

We can't just fight this one, Garrus. I wish so much I could just hold you again, and we could go back to that time we had forever... I miss your arms around me, I miss your skin and your hands... but I can't touch people any more. I can't feel the wind or taste food. I don't even remember those things. I need to solve the problem. It's all I can think about.

"Then we'll solve it, Shep. We'll solve it. You and me, just like always."

When you say it, I believe it. No Shepard without Vakarian. They always said it... I guess it's true.

"And... because I might as well make another crazy promise while we're here... I promise you we'll get you out. I'll hold you again, Shep. It'd be a lousy solution to any problem if I couldn't."

Shepard made a noise which might have been anything. Garrus prayed it was a laugh.

At that point, Aria interrupted.

"I don't know whether to be touched or disturbed. So I'm going to go with disturbed, and freezing fucking cold. Oh, and... does anyone want to tell me what the plan is?"


One day before the Reaper fleet left Alchera, a shuttle of arcane design docked at the Sahrabarik fuel depot. The two mercenaries on board demanded passage to the Amada system. Trading ships were clearing out of the backwater Omega Nebula altogether, but one hard-bitten hanar captain agreed to take the shuttle into the Reaper-occupied system. Nobody followed. Nobody dared.

The civilian vessel and its mysterious passengers were long gone by the time Council investigators showed up. But contrary to everyone's expectations, they were seen again.


Thanks to everyone following this story, for your encouragement and for your interest. Needless to say I don't own any of the characters or concepts depicted, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.

The hard-bitten hanar mentioned goes by his soul name of Swaggers-Heedlessly-Under-Bombardment. There's a whole digression on him and his ship that I didn't end up wanting to write, and in the director's cut he is voiced by Cary Elwes. It's one of the curses of writing an alternate epilogue like this that none of the background materiel can quite get the treatment it deserves.

A couple of people have enquired about Aria's survival beyond the normal asari lifespan. Also, Liara was mentioned earlier and will feature in the plot resolution. It's a fair question and while the following chapters will provide an explanation of sorts, I can't promise you'll like it. For now, I appreciate you reading on and hope you don't mind me moving things along at my own pace.

Happy Easter!