Chapter 38
Masashi Hamauzu: Blaze Edge
A/N: It's a damn epic tune. You should listen to it.
Time for the Battle of the Citadel!
"Did you really have to barrel roll us through there?" Garrus asks, groaning slightly as we dispatch the two husks that were standing by Avina, and break out into a jog towards the elevator to our left. "Could that landing not have been a little more…gentle?"
"It was that or miss it altogether," Shepard shrugs. "Which would you have preferred, Garrus? Slight crash onto the Citadel, or being stuck on Ilos with five geth Colossi bearing down on us?"
Garrus frowns. "That…makes sense. Stop being right. It's annoying."
"Someone's gotta be," Shepard laughs, though it's a little tense as we get into the elevator…then flinch slightly as an explosion goes off nearby. It's pretty haunting, actually, seeing all the geth ships in the sky, gunfire all over, the Council fleet engaging in battle…god, I'd hate to be in the ships there. Hell, Joker ought to be up there by now. The thieving bastard.
"Maybe they'll be able to stop Sovereign before he can get into the Citadel," Liara says hopefully, as we stare out the transparent glass as we ascend in the elevator. We're getting quite a good view of the battle, but I imagine that won't last too long. Saren's probably at the Citadel control unit already, which means those arms aren't gonna stay open for long…
Tali shakes her head next to me. "I doubt it. These things dominated the Protheans, and Vigil sounded confident it would be able to access the Citadel."
"Speak of the devil!" I exclaim, pointing up into the sky…where the Reaper itself is rapidly getting closer and closer, as the arms of the Citadel begin to close. Bugger. Looks like it's down to us, though it's not like I was expecting anything otherwise. "You think that cruiser will stop-" The cruiser we're all looking at, staying steadfast in Sovereign's way and firing missile after missile at it, is simply rammed by the Reaper and explodes, breaking into a hundred pieces. "Nope. No, it didn't."
"Shit, it's in," Shepard mutters. "We've got to get to Saren before it can open the relay. If this damn thing hurries up!" She slams a fist into the control panel…and it comes to a juddering hult.
"Good work, Shepard," Wrex grunts from the back of the lift.
The Commander gives him a little glare. "Saren must have locked the elevator. Everyone, suit up. We're going outside." There's a grumble from the rest of the squad, as they get ready to put their helmets on…I, on the other hand, just press the button on my suit and it slides up and over my face, as usual. HUD's all good. Good thing no-one can see my expression, because I'm probably looking far too pleased. As I imagine Tali is as well, since we avoided the hassle. It's the little things in life.
"How long until you think Sovereign gains control?" Kaidan asks, once everyone's finally got their helmet on and Shepard readies her pistol at the glass. Citadel's arms are fully closed now…so while the fleet fight outside, it's just us, Saren, Sovereign and a metric ton of geth now. Whoop de fucking do.
"No idea," Shepard replies calmly. "And I'd rather not find out how long it takes, as well. We do this as quickly as possible. Everyone ready?" There's a chorus of 'yes, Shepard' and suchlike around the elevator, giving Shepard her cue to blast the glass. It's surprisingly quiet…as the glass shards just hang in front of us, slowly gliding away into the distance. Zero G. This ought to be good…I just need to remember to keep the athletics to a minimum. Jumping is a very bad idea.
Shepard's first out, lightly stepping over the edge, tilting ninety degrees…then stabilising as the boots lock down onto the surface. God, that looks so damn weird. Kaidan follows behind, then Wrex…and then the horrible realisation it's my turn. And Garrus, Tali and Liara are all giving me a somewhat impatient vibe as a whole. Here we go!
I pop my leg out, bouncing slightly like Shepard and the rest, then tilting my body so my feet are pointing at the ground and straightening out. God, this feels so fucking strange! Never again! Never again! Thankfully, the gravity controls on the boots kick in, and I'm dragged down to Earth again. The movie and games industry are totally irresponsible for making Zero G look like fun. Actually, those bits of Dead Space sucked…never mind.
The remaining crew members follow us out, and in the distance Sovereign stays attached to what presumably it the Citadel's control pole, or something. Red sparks and lines of electricity dancing around the Reaper, the Citadel tinged and oddly orange colour already thanks to the closed arms and lights spread out in front of us…well, technically beneath us. Ugh, don't think that!
"We waiting for something?" Shepard asks, voice distorted slightly beneath her breather helmet. "Come on! And try not to drift off!"
"That's really reassuring, ma'am," I mutter, taking a few careful steps forward…though it is just like normal walking. Provided I don't jump out of the boot's gravity range, I'll be fine. I break into a run after Shepard, aware of the fact I'm technically running down a wall. That's actually kinda cool.
Prince of Persia eat your heart out.
The path along the wall takes us down a dip, into this weirdly lit impromptu corridor, with an elevator shaft lining the side of it. None of us are talking…but it's quite comforting to see that, even after a Mass Relay jump and huge crash, Wrex has still managed to hang onto the rocket launcher. Bet that'll be handy…
Suddenly, a huge crash brings my attention rudely back to the battlefield, as an elevator slide next to our position and glass explodes outwards…thanks to assault rifle fire from the geth inside. You cheeky bastards! They're temporarily shrouded in glass as they appear, along with about six other behind them, casting odd reflections of light all over the battlefield. Kinda pretty.
A shot to the shoulder brings me firmly out of environment appreciation, though, the impact spinning me round slightly thanks to the zero g. Bugger! I duck for cover, blasting back with both pistols. I get three shots in on the geth who shot me, the other four or so shattering the various bits of glass now floating around the place. Screw pretty, they're really fucking annoying!
Shields are still at over 80%, though, despite the rough impact, so I quickly pop out of cover and blast the offending geth with an Overload, making it crumple to the ground, sparks flying everywhere.
Everyone seems to be taking their normal roles…Shepard and Liara causing biotic havoc, the former grabbing one geth, putting it back in the shaft then shooting it down at enormous speed, and it goes past next to me like a blur. Yep. It ain't getting back up here any time soon. It's odd, seeing the whole team working together like this…we all have a kind of synergy, bizarre considering this is the first time we've all been on the same mission. Can't complain, though.
Wrex is making a move up top…but he's not that far ahead of me in the kill competition, is he? Quickly holstering the pistols, I grab the sniper rifle off my back and aim at the krogan's target. Man, he's gonna hate me for this…
Wrex gets the first shot in, but it's a shotgun blast that only clips the geth, even if it's still enough to take its shields down. Thanks, buddy! My shot takes it in the chest, knocking the geth off its feet and sending it floating off into the distance.
Wrex turns around, locks eyes with me, gives me a glare, and points the rocket launcher in a rather threatening manner.
Maybe I'm not gonna make a habit of stealing his kills.
##############
I narrowly resist the urge to leap into a dive roll as I move to cover, instead simply sliding across and into the giant structure, one of the many that line the Citadel's walls, as we finally enter the area where the Citadel's Defence Turrets are at. Just as a geth dropship appears. I remember this…
Ten, maybe twenty minutes of fierce fighting so far to get to this point, geth corpses floating all through the air on account of Shepard and Liara's biotics lifts and pushes, coupled with the bodies of geth and krogan slain in more conventional ways. The slight shoulder wound I already had is now significantly worse, on account of a round actually going straight through the thing…but the medi-gel's holding it together. And I can still shoot.
The HUD tells me everyone's vitals are fine…well, apart from raised heartbeat and blood pressure, but that shouldn't exactly come as a huge surprise. This was a hell of a lot easier just holding a controller…
"We're not getting past that gunship!" Shepard yells. "We need those turrets online, now!"
"I can't access them remotely!" Tali shouts back. "We'd need to get to the actual controls to activate them!"
Shepard curses under her breath. "No way we can send everyone out…it's too open, we'll be slaughtered. One person, lay down some covering fire. Ian, you're probably the quickest on the squad?"
Wait, what? Me? "I've done some sprinting in my time, but…"
"Shaw!" Shepard says firmly. "This is not the time to be pedantic! We need you to get out there and activate the turrets, we'll cover you!"
"Is that it? I get volunteered for the suicide mission because I can run the quickest?" I protest, but I can see Shepard's eyes looking at me behind her visor. They say everything I need to know. "You owe me a drink after this!"
"We're going to need more than one of them, I'm guessing!" Shepard replies. "Go!" Err…bloody hell, not really much planning I can do here. Just run and pray. But if I'm going on some incredibly dangerous mission by myself, only one thing for it.
"LEEEEEEERROOOOY!" I yell, leaping out from cover and bolting towards the first turret. For a few moments, there's nothing on me, no gunfire…maybe the geth can't calculate someone being this stupid, or can't handle my fearsome battlecry.
Then, without warning, one bullet passes in front of me. And after that, about twenty. SHIT! My instinct is to jump to try and avoid them, but I just keep on running, doing my best to ignore the slight impact of the rounds as I come to a halt at the first turret, which also gives me cover from the geth. Alright, activate that…immediately, it starts firing rockets at the geth dropship…but they don't seem to be doing much.
Break for number two, then. Wait for the shields to recharge…and go! This time, no respite, as the shots come straight away. Fifty metres approximately, but the geth have obviously worked out what I'm trying to do, and are attempting to ensure I fail. And, unlike what action movies would have you believe, they aren't missing horribly just because I'm sprinting. Shields down to 10%, with as many metres to go…a round suddenly chips off my visor, and the shield display flashes red. 0%. FUCK! I put on one last burst of speed, sliding next to the terminal…just as a bullet tears through my left bicep.
The whole limb spasms with pain as I grind to a halt next to the terminal, temporarily safe but arm feeling like it's on fire. Motherfucker, that hurt! Godfuckingdammit! The medi-gel starts smoothing onto the wound, patching over the skin and acting as a pain-killer, but it still throbs slowly as I move to activate the turret.
Which is locked, and needs hacking.
I hate my job.
"I got shot, Shepard," I hiss into the radio, setting off a hack module, since thankfully it's a rather basic security system. "Which now means you owe me two drinks."
"It goes up every time you get shot?"
"Think of it as injury insurance," I mutter back, as the shields finally recharge…and my hack breaks through at the same time, doubling the fire on the dropship. "Do I really need to get the last one?"
"Sovereign and Saren aren't waiting," she says firmly. "Go!" Thank you, Shepard, for being so bloody understanding…ignoring the arm pain, I break out for one last time, but fortunately this one is only thirty metres away. I burst into a sprint, ignoring the bullets, closing in on the target…
And then suddenly I'm falling, lurching forwards as one foot managed to get in the way of the other! Damn it! Shit, I'm not falling towards the ground, I'm falling towards the turret! And not on ground level! I'm ascending at a horribly quick rate, but I just manage to grab onto the edge of the turret as I'm about to fly past.
I breathe a sigh of relief…which quickly turns into a yell of distress when I notice the geth looking up at me, and aiming assault rifles. Fuck my life! "Shepard!" I yell, ideas out of the window. "I'm stuck! Help!"
"Hold on, I've got an idea," Shepard replies coolly, and I see her flare up blue, grabbing a geth. What is this shit? "I'm going to bring him up to your feet. Use it as a springboard, and jump down to the terminal!"
"What?" I shout back. "That's bat-shit insane!"
"Or, you can just float there and get shot by geth," Shepard grunts, as the biotically pinned geth floats towards me. "Your call!" My kinetic barriers are failing rapidly…like I said, zero g? Never again. NEVER.
Shepard finally manages to line the geth up with my feet, and I press back against it, angling at the floor…here we go! I spring off, way too fast, and go crashing into the ground, clumsily flipping over. For a second, I'm not sure which way is up…then the gravity boots finally kick in, and I'm left standing next to the final turret.
Right, that's scarred me for life.
I'm just about to activate the third and final turret…when the geth dropship suddenly explodes, the force of which knocks the rest of the geth troops up into space. No. That did not just happen. So I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO COME HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?
"Oh," Shepard says quietly. "Maybe you didn't need to get one after all."
"Well observed," I say back sardonically, shaking slightly from stress after all that. "I almost thought I was going to die there, twice. I've been shot in the bicep, had a hard impact with the floor, and generally freaked the fuck out."
"And you did it admirably," Garrus chuckles, as he and the rest of the team advance towards my position. "Though, I think it was kind of self-inflicted. You did jump at the last turret, after all."
"I tripped!" I protest. No-one seems convinced. "You know what, forget it. Let's go and get Saren," I say, feeling proper riled. "I can go and get counselling straight afterwards."
Shepard nods firmly. "He's right. Well, about Saren, anyway. We don't have much time, let's move!"
"Man up, Ian," Wrex grunts, as we start another unsteady run towards where we can see Sovereign, suspended high above us.
"Wrex," I say calmly, "how would you like it if I knocked you into space?"
The krogan calmly hefts his rocket launcher.
"I hate how you have that thing."
############
Wrex hefts the rocket launcher at the final Geth Heavy Turret on our route, pulling the trigger as we all watch the rocket sail through the air…and impact the turret with a huge explosion. That's it. As far as I'm aware, the penultimate enemy down…now it's just Saren. Wrex looks somewhat despondent as he looks at the rocket launcher.
"I love how you have that thing," I say, as we break into a sprint towards what I know is the Citadel Tower. The door into the top floor. Into the final confrontation.
"You've changed your tune. But it's empty," he frowns. "I thought it didn't have ammunition, like our weapons."
"How would that work?" I ask. "I mean, it's rockets. They're a physical entity."
"I don't know," he shrugs, chucking it out into space. "Guess I'll have to use the shotgun again. It just seems so…boring. I was hoping to have it against Saren."
I raise an eyebrow at him. "What happened to drawing it out?"
"Oh yeah," Wrex grins, the memory coming back to him. "I forgot. Thanks for the reminder."
"No problem, mate." Shepard suddenly shouts something, and we all move towards her…and the door she's standing on. Guess this is the way in. And the way out of zero gravity, thank Christ for that! That's shit was horrible! Liara presses the door panel, and Shepard gracefully steps inside…and back to the normal orientation of the world. I'm far, far too eager to follow, quickly stepping inside, followed by the rest of the crew…and the door shuts behind us.
I was half expecting to hear a voice say 'exiting zero gravity'. Though it would have been incredibly weird if that had happened.
But fuck me, the Council chambers are a mess. The trees lining the sides of the room are all in flames, red embers floating around the place and casting an odd tinge upon the grand chamber, already darkened by the closure of the Citadel's arms, red tinge set firmly by Sovereign and the flickers of electricity around him.
And in the middle of it all, Saren. Far, far in the distance, at the end of the chamber, maybe two hundred metres away…but unmistakably him.
Time to end this.
"SAREN!" Shepard yells, breaking into a full on sprint at him. Crap, not more sprinting…I'm still recovering from my previous efforts, but I set off after her, thankful that Laet's armour is slightly lighter than the standard issue stuff Kaidan's wearing.
There's four or five geth as we approach, but there's no way they're stopping up now. No way in hell. I reach for the sniper rifle, still running, quickly bringing up the scope in the vague direction of one of the geth and pulling the trigger. Miracle shot! It goes down, one bullet straight to the head. God, I'm a flukey bastard sometimes…
One lunges out in front of Shepard, but she simply puts out one hand, fires up the biotics and throws it out to the side, the geth following her body movements to a T and flying into a flaming tree…where it too proceeds to burst into flames. Awesome.
Tali dispatches one with an omni-tool, while Liara lifts one for Wrex and Garrus to shoot down by conventional means. Frankly, that resistance was pathetic. Good effort, Saren, but nowhere near good enough.
Though I probably won't be saying that when he transforms once we shoot him…or he kills himself. God, that fight doesn't really bear thinking about.
"SAREN!" Shepard yells again, as we finally get up to the area where the Council have stood all this time, and the turian whirls around…then jumps off the edge of the platform. Huh? I was expecting some shooting, or something…I exchange a quick look with Wrex, who just shrugs. I don't like this…
Then, Saren suddenly rises up above our heads, on his fucking hoverboard, clutching something in his hand. A shape I know far too well.
"GRENADE!" Tali yells, as we all dive to separate sides as the turian hurls it at us. The blast knocks me in mid-air slightly, and I feel the air knocked out of my lungs as I hit the ground…but thankfully, no lasting damage. Only problem is, now if we try to engage him, he's got us bottlenecked down here. Bugger. All that can happen now, is Shepard works her magic. I hope.
"I was afraid you wouldn't make it in time, Shepard," he grins. Yep, he's still mental. And he's still gonna pay.
"Sorry it took so long!" Shepard yells back sarcastically. "We were busy wiping out a few hundred of your followers on the way here!"
Saren chuckles mockingly, but I don't know why…hell, that was genuinely funny. Well played, Shepard. "You've lost," Saren mutters. "You know that, don't you? In a few minutes, Sovereign will have full control of all the Citadel's systems. The Relay will open, the Reapers will return." Through some stroke of luck, Tali, Garrus and I have ended up on the right hand side of cover, while the rest of the squad are on the left…so as Shepard shoots back her reply, Tali nudges me lightly on the shoulder. "Should we do something?" she asks. "Shoot him? Help Shepard talk to him?"
"Nope," I reply, shaking my head. "This is her time, her role here. With luck, she'll get him to shoot himself. We don't need any more risk as it is." Tali nods in agreement, then settles back into cover. Gotta get ready for the fight…going into it with a torn bicep and injured shoulder isn't ideal, but I gotta make the best of it. And there's seven of us. We'll be fine. Just got to make sure we stop Sovereign in time…and see whether Shepard chooses to save the Council or not. I really can't call that decision, though.
"Your squad survived our encounter on Virmire," Saren says, as I tune back into the conversation. "Well, most of them. But I've changed since then. I have trained harder, analysed the fight…their weaknesses. And a squad's weakness is your weakness." Whoa, hold up…he didn't mention the implants? Maybe he's saving it…an ace up his sleeve, or something.
"It's not going to help you now!" Shepard yells. "You can't win here, Saren!"
"I will. It is how it must be," Saren hisses. "But I suppose I should thank one of your squad members. The one I talked to on Virmire." Wait, me? Okay, what the fuck is going on here? "I couldn't stop thinking about what he said, about Sovereign manipulating me, about indoctrination."
Shepard quickly glances over at me, looking a little surprised, then turns back to Saren. "So what?"
"It helped strengthen my resolve," Saren says. No, that's not right, the doubts were supposed to eat away at him! "Sovereign wished to implant me. I…I resisted." Oh. My. God. Saren doesn't have implants. Because of me.
Shit. That's…that's a big canon change.
"The resistance cost me dearly," Saren continues, voice shaking a little. "Sovereign…Sovereign did not want that resistance. But he knows I am still useful to him, that I am on his side, so he did not break me. This is what I want. Implants or not, my goal is still the same. The Reapers must come through the relay!" Well, provided he still shoots himself, all this does is save us a boss fight. So, actually, it's not that bad… "The Reapers need organics! Join us, and they will find a place for you, too."
"He's still controlling you through your mind!" Shepard shouts back. "Godammit Saren, don't you see that? Sovereign hasn't won yet! I can stop it from taking control of the station! Whatever part of your mind is still left, whatever part of your free will remains, hear this! Step aside and the invasion will never happen!"
Saren throws his arms up in the air in anger. "We can't stop it! Not forever. You saw the visions. You saw what happened to the Protheans. The Reapers are too powerful." I'm still struggling with the fact he's not implanted…I knew he looked different somehow when I saw him. I.e. he didn't look like a robot.
"The Protheans have a plan to stop them!" Shepard shouts. "Some part of you knows this is wrong! You can fight!"
"Maybe…maybe you're right," Saren suddenly says, staring at his hands. "Maybe there is still some…agggh!" The turian yells in pain, clutching at his head. "No! This is not how it ends! Get out of my head!" Is he…talking to Sovereign? No, no, this is going horribly wrong! And suddenly, Saren goes limp, falling from the hoverboard and crashing to the ground, though the glass holds firm as he does.
No…did Sovereign just destroy his mind?
Shepard bolts out from her position in cover, all of us keeping our guns trained on Saren as she kneels down next to him to check for a pulse. He's dead. I mean, he's got to be, right? That's how this has to g- "I've got a pulse!" Shepard shouts. "Everyone, keep your guns on him! If he moves for any kind of weapon, anything¸ shoot him dead!"
"Shepard, after everything he's done, you want us to keep him alive?" I ask. I can't let this happen! It would change too much…and he killed Ash!
"I want to see him dead too, Ian, but he's had the closest contact with the Reapers. We think we know of his plan, but do we really know?" Shepard replies. "We need him alive, to find this out. If we can destroy Sovereign, it should get rid of the indoctrination. This is not your call!" I could just shoot Saren, end it…but then that'll probably end in Shepard pulling a gun on me. I could get arrested. Thrown in prison. Maybe even killed. And if Saren does really have useful information, even if it changes canon…I can't just kill him.
I really don't like this. But I don't have a choice.
Shepard approaches the control panel, omni-tool open, and starts frantically pressing buttons. Saren looks out cold, his pistol extremely far away from him…he's fine. The others are watching him, anyway. I lower my helmet, and turn to look at the Commander. "Vigil's data file worked!" she says triumphantly. "I've got control of all systems. I'm going to open the arms, see if the fleet can attack Sovereign…just let me see if I can get a communications channel."
"This wasn't supposed to happen," Garrus suddenly whispers in my ear from behind, making me jump slightly. "What the hell is going on?"
"I know this isn't very reassuring," I say slowly. "But your guess is as good as mine."
Garrus looks utterly horrified.
"…the Destiny Ascension," the communications channel finally opens, to the distress call. It runs its course, but I'm too busy looking at the control panel, then back to Saren, to actually care. He's alive. We might even take him in alive. Because of what I said on Virmire.
Saren is alive, because of me. That…is not good. At all. I just catch the end of Joker's transmission, presumably asking about what to do in regards to Sovereign and the Destiny Ascension.
"The Council have done nothing for us," Wrex says firmly. "Let them die! Save the humans while you can!"
"This is a threat to all the organic species in the galaxy," Liara protests. "It's bigger than humanity. The Council must be saved."
Shepard stares down at the floor with a look of concern all over his face, Saren's still lying unconscious next to me, and the biggest battle the Citadel has ever seen is waging over my head.
I'M FREAKING OUT SO MUCH RIGHT NOW!
"What's the order, Commander?" Joker asks. "Come in now to save the Ascension, or hold back?"
Shepard is still staring at the floor…then suddenly her head snaps back up. "Save the Ascension," she says firmly. "Opening the relays now, Joker. We need to save the Council, no matter what the cost!" Personally, I'm behind that decision…it'll be useful come ME2, since they'll give her Spectre status, and most likely the Council could be our allies in the events after that.
Right now, I thought I'd be cracking open the champagne. But looking up into the sky, watching as the Normandy and the Alliance save the Destiny Ascension, along with the rest of the squad, I'm just left with worry. About Saren.
But maybe this is what I was supposed to do. Keep him alive, so we can gain information off him? Risky, but what he knows might be able to stop the Reaper plans once and for all…though revenge for Ash is still playing on my mind. I'm not comfortable with letting him live. But I can't just kill him, not with everything he knows.
Geth ships alongside the Ascension destroyed, the rest of the Alliance fleet swoop in as the Citadel's arms open up, blitz of rockets and various other projectiles assaulting Sovereign. The Reaper is wracked with red lightning against the unstoppable barrage, unable to cope…shooting two ships out of the sky, but to no avail. And then, without warning…it just topples. The lights around it extinguish, it's grip on the Citadel loosens, and the once great Reaper tumbles to the ground, letting out a gigantic, synthetic screech as it falls.
And then I see it. The Normandy, hurtling down towards it at breakneck speed…and explosions that strike through the core of the Reaper, the cries echoing away…and its limbs going limp. And yet, for some reason, the piece of it that is supposed to destroy the Citadel chamber never comes.
Sovereign is dead. The Citadel is safe. For now, at least…it's over. But at what cost? And I'm not just talking about lives. Saren still lives, and we're going to take him in. God…now what happens?
I glance over to Kaidan and Wrex, who both give me a relieved grin, and I can't help giving them one back. We did just save the galaxy, to be fair. Whatever problems Saren brings up…I can deal with them. The more I think about it, the more I realise, he could actually be quite useful. But this…this is a huge change in canon.
I seriously bloody hope it's not the first of many. I need to think it through...the sudden realisation the threat is over suddenly makes me realise how exhausted I am…and the various aches and pains all over my body. God, I got shot, didn't I? Twice. Now the adrenaline's worn off, I am really not feeling tip-top.
"So," Shepard finally says. "What do we do with him?" I glance down at Saren, about to compose some reply about 'bringing him to justice'…then I see where the turian's talon is at.
It's slid down to his belt.
It's on a stun grenade.
And he's got his eyes clenched tightly shut.
Oh, FUCK.
"GRE-" I start to shout, trying to close my eyes, but the grenade detonates as I talk, blitzing my senses with noise and light. It's absolutely blinding, high pitched whine screaming through my ears as I fall back to the ground, faintly aware of seeing the rest of the squad do the same next to me…and Saren rising to his feet, huge burn up his left hand side where the grenade detonated. But he's up and walking. No…I try to reach for my pistol, but it sends a huge judder of pain up my body, and I all I want to do is curl up into a ball, make the pain in my ears and retinas go away…
He's escaping, and I can't stop him! This can't be how it ends, not after everything…I roll over, trying to get a look at him, where he runs to…and I see the Spectre faintly beneath the whiteness in my eyes. And he mouths something. It looks like…
'I'm sorry.'
With that, the turian breaks into a limping run down the Council chambers. I make one last desperate reach for a gun, a weapon, something to stop him…but the pain it causes is too much for my already weakened body.
The whiteness in my eyes starts to die out, replaced by black spots, and the ringing in my ears is dampened as, once again, I slip into unconsciousness.
A/N: Bet y'all didn't see that shit coming.
The mission may be over…but Saren lives. And although this might not really change much now, since he's out of the picture as he was at the end of ME1, this time he's not permanently gone. This isn't the last of Mr. Arterius. Trust me.
Two chapters left now, two epilogue chapters. One, dealing with the direct aftermath and other things…then the final one at the memorial ceremony to mark the battle, where a conversation that Ian desperately needs to have will be going down.
So, MtM2 could be over by the end of the week. (gasps). Crazy times.
Thanks for reading, reviewing, etc, and see you next chapter!