Another chapter of reaper rising, and I'm coming up with new ideas for this plotline every day. Let's just say that none of you will expect where I'm taking this.

There was a forest, it felt familiar to John Shepard. In fact he knew he had been here before. Voices were calling his name from every direction, and nowhere at same time. The last time John had been in this dream, there had been a young boy. One that the catalyst took form of at the end of the reaper war, but now there was nothing. That was until John heard a snapping twig behind him. He turned around, and saw his daughter. "Why are you here Tila?" he asked the young asari. Even though she was twenty, she still looked like a four-year old. John started walking towards her when a figure appeared behind her.

"Hello John," the man said, his voice sounding like a geth's, "Do you wonder what this place is?" The man's body was incomplete, and was completely made of cybernetics, save for parts of his head.

"Do I want to know what it is?" John asked, standing in a defensive posture. His mind raced on ways to bring Tila to him, but he couldn't think of a safe way to do it.

"You know exactly who I am," he answered, suddenly his body started to morph into a grotesque being that barely resembled the man before. "But how do you see me? As a monster? A murderer? No, you see me as salvation. I can save you, but you don't yet know how.'

"How can you save me! How can you be anyone's salvation, when all you've brought is pain and suffering?" The councillor was angry, and he couldn't hide it. Which was something he prided himself on for a long time.

"Am I not the same as you? You brought pain as well, you've brought sorrow, and you have brought death."

"I only killed when necessary! I cured the Genophage, I saved the Rachni, and I defeated the Reapers!"

"At what cost?" Figures started appearing next to the monster, each one a face John could only see in his memories. Mordin was covered in burns and missing his arm, Kaiden had a bullet hole through his chest. Anderson, the man who was his father figure for years, stood by the monster and put his hand on its shoulder, like he had done so many times to him years ago. Thane, Legion, Ashley, Tali, and Cortez stood with him. All of John's friends that he had lost during the reaper war all stood with the monster, and each one stood against him. "You lost so much, was it worth it? Was the life of all the people you sacrificed a proper payment to destroy the reapers?"

The betrayal that Shepard felt was unbearable, and he closed his eyes, "Why are you doing this?" One by one, each of his friends were engulfed in flames, but none of them moved. They were unmoving, as if a tree that had been ready to die.

"Because Commander," the monster started morphing again, and took the form of Shepard. "I want to destroy you." He and Tila were engulfed in flames together, and eventually all that was left was the ashes of his friends.

Shepard let down a single tear as he felt the world begin to fade. He woke up with a start, and turned to make sure Liara was laying next to him. He brushed her cheek gently, feeling the warmth of her skin. He sighed as he laid down again, then felt Liara stir. "John..." she said groggily, "What is the matter?" she moved closer to her husband's body, and put her arm around his chest.

"Just a bad dream..." He answered, not wanting to give her any details. "It must have stemmed from Grunts death."

"Shepard..." Liara said as she snuggled into his body, "There wasn't anything you could do. It was unavoidable."

"I don't know if it was," he sat up, and closed his eyes, "maybe all of this could've been avoided..."

"John!" Liara said sternly, sitting up with him, "We both know that if you didn't destroy the reapers, you would have died."

"Is that reason enough to ruin so many lives? A large amount of Quarians died from their suits being shut down, I destroyed the Geth entirely... I killed EDI, and broke my promise to Jeff."

"Why don't you call him Joker?" she asked, placing a hand on his bare back. It was clear she was worried about him. In all the years that they had been married, she never once saw him regret his decision to destroy all Synthetics in the galaxy.

"I don't deserve to call him a friend," John answered. His voice was solemn, and filled with guilt that Liara had never seen inside of him. She couldn't stand to see her husband this way, and it broke her heart. She kissed his cheek gently, and closed her eyes.

"Let us deal with this in the morning, when we are rested," she told him laying back down on the bed. John followed her, but couldn't sleep. His dreams were too much, and he didn't want to relive the reaper war.

Maikeru awoke, and felt something inside of his back. When he turned his head, there was a tugging sensation, and his movements were restricted. He felt his back, and realized there were thousands of wires inside of him. The synthetic flesh on his back was torn, and showed the cybernetic body he was given years ago. He was angry that this part of his body was visible, it was the one thing he hated about his body. "Pretender! Why am I hooked up like a damned machine?!"

"I am sorry master," Pretender answered, "but your power source had been drained by your use of Dark Energy. I had to connect you to my own in order to keep you alive."

Maikeru wasn't completely surprised by this turn of events, mostly because most of his body had been in standby before Pretender crashed on the Olympus planet. He tried to stand up, and knew he would have to find a way to move around freely. He closed his eyes and thought of several possibilities. "Pretender, I need you to create a clone of my body."

"Why, master?" Pretender's monotone voice gave no hint to his obvious confusion.

"I need a body that isn't limited in movement as my own is. I can control a brain dead clone easily," he answered. His biotics flared red, and he began rearranging the room to fit his purposes. The bed that his wires had been connected to turned into a throne, and the cords were reconnected to the ceiling to allow more movement.

"I understand."

"You understand, what?" he asked the living dreadnought.

"I understand, master."

"Good, now get to work."