Chapter 10

The sky had begun to lighten, slowing chasing away the stars and the black that surrounded them replacing it with an ever lightening blue. The horizon itself was starting to brighten with reds and oranges. The light reflected off the water, making it look like it was dancing as it slowly eased onto the beach and around Shepard's toes.

She and Gerry had been walking for a little while right along the surf without a word between them. He had not divulged where they were going, but seeing as he looked like he knew, Shepard chose not to ask him. Normally this would spike her curiosity about a person and possibly put her on edge, but for some reason she was content to walk with the kindly bartender in silence.

She walked a little behind him right in the surf enjoying the feeling of the cool water as it came up and gently kissed her feet. Closing her eyes, she continued walking forward simply at ease with her surroundings which was completely unlike her when she was alive. A small smile crept up onto her face and when she opened her eyes again she noticed that Gerry had stopped ahead of her.

"You've always seemed to be dealt a hard hand in life my dear. And for that, I apologize," Gerry offered her a small, sad smile before turning to face the water. Gone was the jovial gentleman that Kaidan had introduced her to, replaced with someone wiser beyond his years. "I put a lot of responsibility on you, a great deal of hardship as well. But I knew that you were strong enough to handle all of it.

Shepard felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Who was this guy; she thought not taking her eyes off him.

"But I have realized now, that this is neither the time nor place for you. Not now at least,"

"Wha… What are you talking about?" Shepard continued eying the man in front of her wearily. She did not feel that she was in danger around him, quite the opposite actually. But what he was saying was impossible. She was dead. Granted she died and came back once before but there is no way to cheat death a second time.

Gerry turned and walked closer to her stepping into the surf. "One can tell just by looking at you that there is so much life still waiting to be lived by you. It was unfair to take that away from you earlier, so it is being returned to you now. Besides, there is someone who needs you still. And you need him."

"Garrus?" As she hopefully whispered his name, Shepard swore she heard his voice on the breeze, calling her name.

He nodded with a soft chuckle and took another step closer to her until they were facing one another and he held out his hand. "Will you take my hand, child?"

Shepard looked at the hand offered to her for a moment before look up at Gerry's face. The sun was about to crest the horizon and its golden rays illuminated the man's face, making his eyes sparkle with omnipotence.

It was then that she realized who was truly standing in front of her. She still saw Gerry the bartender but at the same time saw a being full of power and wisdom surrounded by a soft, glowing light.

Shepard felt all of her fears and doubts trickle out of her like water through a sieve and was instead filled with peace and love. She raised her hand and laid it gently on his open one, feeling a little zap of energy as soon as they touched. It was warm and surprisingly rough, like he used his hands on a daily basis.

"Go home, my child. I should not see you here again for many a great years." Gerry's voice was commanding yet warm as he looked her in the eyes smiling. He raised his other hand and let it hover over her heart without touching her yet. "Depart now with my blessings and be at peace, my dear."

Then Gerry gently rested his hand over Shepard's heart and she felt the sensation of falling backwards. She waited for the water that they were standing in to envelope her, but it never came.

Instead, she was surrounded by warm velvety darkness. She could not see anything around her except for the black but she wasn't bothered by it. To be honest, she felt incredibly comfortable, like she could just stay there forever simply curled up and dozing in and out of consciousness.

Even though she could not see anything, her eyes drooped until they closed and she felt herself starting to float in that comforting sea of nothingness. She imagined herself as a feather drifting on the wind she felt so light.

Then, bit by bit, she started to feel herself get heavier. It felt similar to when she slipped into her armor; first her torso carried all the weight making her limbs feel light and uncoordinated. But slowly the weight crawled its way down to her fingers and toes and Shepard finally felt balanced and whole.

She opened her eyes and while it was still the suppressing darkness all around her, she began to see little pin pricks of light twinkling in and out of existence in the distance. She focused on those and struggled to move her body towards them. It was like moving through mud on a cold day; think and unyielding. But Shepard was determined and continued to struggle against whatever was holding her back.

As she inched forward, more lights began to appear and began to glow brighter. This gave her hope and she put more effort into getting to them. She felt herself growing stronger and surer of herself with each step.

Then all of a sudden, she found herself surrounded by thousands of the twinkling lights. They were beautiful. She could not stop the smile that spread across her face as she slowly turned, gazing at their beauty.

One of the lights dropped down from its place to float in front of her face. It was tiny, about the size of a coin and pulsed with a soft blue light. Shepard studied it for a moment before hesitantly raising her hand and reaching towards it. The light quickly retreated a few inches, startling Shepard who retracted her hand but did not drop it to her side again. She watched, as the light bobbed up and down for a few moments before easing back to its original position in front of her.

This time when she reached towards the light, it did not retreat. Shepard gently nudged the light with a fingertip, finding it to be soft and humming with energy. She opened her palm and the light nestled itself into her palm without actually touching her skin and she brought it closer for inspection.

The light hovered a few centimeters above her palm, still emanating the soft light. Shepard could feel a warm coming from it in waves that were on time with the pulsing. All her focus was on the light to the point that she did not notice the other lights that still floated around them started to pulse at the same tempo and were slowly creeping closer to her.

As she watched, the light finally settled itself onto the palm, and actually sank into her skin. She felt the warmth flood her hand along with an electrical charge of some kind that tingled like a static shock; it wasn't unpleasant but she knew it was there. Then that warmth and prickle eased up her arm picking up speed as it continued to spread throughout her limbs. The lights around her continued to ease closer to her and began to crowd as the warmth spread further across her body.

Just as the warmth sensation reached her heart, the lights that had been surrounding her flew into her body and the prickle sensation changed drastically. It felt as if she was just hit by lightning. It was centered on her heart and shot out to the rest of her body.

Her eyes slammed shut as she was assaulted by the waves of burning and pain racing through body. There was nothing she could do to stem the flow or help to ease the pain that the assault had on her body, not even scream. For a fleeting moment, she wondering if she was actually in hell being punished for her actions that the war forced her to do. But nothing offered any answers except for the continuation of the agony.

Shepard barely noticed that, along with the electrical charge tormenting her body, her chest burned like it did when she was spaced after the SR1 explosion. But this time, when she opened her mouth, air rushed in and it took the edge off the burn. The air tasted dusty, but still so sweet. Greedily she gulped down another breath, eager to try and ease more of the burn that still resided.

Shepard heard another gasp that was not her own that managed to hold her attention over the pain. She struggled to focus on that sound and tried to force her eyes open. They felt so heavy, but she did not give up. They fluttered open and closed for a few moments before she was able to keep them open for any length of time.

Everything was blurry around her and bright. She squinted to try and shut some of the brightness out. There was one shape that was directly above her and she just knew that was where the other gasp came from so she focused on that.

At first, all she could make out was that it was gray. Gray and big. She forced herself to blink, trying to clear the blurriness from her vision. Each time it was a struggle to open them again, but each time she was rewarded with a clearer image in front of her. Gray plates. A bright blue tattoo across the nose and one cheek, the other disfigured with a maze of scars that extended down the neck and disappeared beneath an under suit collar.

Tearing her eyes from the scar, Shepard focused on the eyes of the being above her. They were a clear blue that shimmered in what could only have been tears. They were frantically searching her face but when they met hers, Shepard knew who he was.

Fighting through the pain that threatened to drag her back into the dark again, she weakly smiled and whispered, "Hey there, Garrus."

So sorry for the long wait. I've been really busy between work and my Rebel Legion build so I haven't had much time to work on this. But it all came together today and I couldn't wait to post it. Thank you to all my readers for reading and favoriting my story. Hope you enjoy and always remember to review!