Loyalties:

Mass Effect Trilogy is a Bioware game. For any reference to the Official Game All rights are owned by Bioware. The Fan Fiction "Mass Effect At Dawn Again" is fruit of my imagination and my work, it is a free tribute, passionate and personal to a great video game. It is not allowed any use partial or total for profit and not.

Chapter 46

Perfect Fusion

... I stood standing, next to Garrus, like a sculpture carved in ice, still staring at your back, as you moved away. I watched you bravely go through a hell of explosions, as you ran towards a destiny, as threatening as unknown. I, on the other hand, kept leaning my arm toward you who were getting ever smaller, unattainable. The more I listened to the rhythmic pulsation of blood, which echoed in my neck, in the temples, the stronger a cruel pain wriggled in my chest and tore me apart. I felt like my heart was bleeding, rubbed hard on a carpet of shattered glass.

I desperately looked through the hatch opening, one last time. It was closing in between metal and guttural growls, inexorably. Slowly, it became a sad slit, thinner and darker. The cold air shot that sealed the shuttle bay hit me like a slap, and wiped away the last silent tear. But above all, it definitively stripped me of the pleasant sensation of warmth that your fingers had left on my cheek, like an indelible imprint of love. Robbed of that golden perception, I found myself immersed in a deep aloneness, devoured by the unbearable feeling that I would never see your face again.

I rejected the thought, with disgust, as tried to shake off the shivers of fear that curled against my skin. I let myself sink into Karin's inscrutable eyes, and got almost mesmerized for a while. Like clouds of bright blue reflected in deep green lakes, my friend's eyes looked at me without seeing me, glued as they were to the neural scanner visor. She was pointing it with professional precision and equally firm hand, in the center of my pupils.

K: You got a monumental knock on the head, Angel. I suppose it's a miracle I'm not detecting any sign of concussion.

She said with a focused mind, although devoid of any tension. Her thin lips barely moved, seldom revealing the whiteness of her teeth. Actually, I thought I caught a nod of smug relief, or perhaps it was just some sort of professional disbelief. Truth be told, Karin has always been unfathomable while doing her job. She gets a remarkable ability to never let you understand her thoughts, the nature of her true emotions. Especially when it comes to someone she cares about. I mean, the more she loves you, the less you know what the hell's going on in her head. Actually, she said something unexpected, but... vaguely pleasant.

K: Remember to thank your father, next time you see her! I'm pretty sure that that famous "quarter Krogan", you inherited from her, has a lot to do with your skull so deliciously solid, my dear.

She stated in the exact same tone, without taking her eyes off the visor nor losing concentration. She said no more, but dosed me a slight smile, like the most effective medicine. My friend was probably trying to take my mind off my distressing state as best she could, even though she perfectly knew it would be vain.

I had lost a lot of blood. A freezing cold paralyzed my bones from within. I felt weak and tired, but pervaded by an insatiable craving, which kept me on my feet. I wanted to find you, join our minds and souls together, as one being. This had become the central purpose of my entire existence, and that was all I cared about. I yearned to be there for you, whatever the cost, and share with you whatever you were going through. It was more necessary to me than the blood in my veins, than the air I breathed. I needed to enlighten my heart with your presence, in the same way, give you all the strength of my love, as a luminous trail to return to! The Normandy was already far away when I realized that I could no longer wait.

L: S-Shepard...! I g-gotta... I-I... K-Karin, gotta... ah!

I stammered your name, in a hoarse whisper and limp that I myself could hardly recognize. I clumsily slapped the air with my hand as I struggled to speak. I tried to push the neural scanner away, and slip out of Garrus' grasp. The old friend was not surprised. I, on the other hand, was taken by a searing pain in my side, which sucked away the few forces I had left. My legs began to stagger dangerously, as involuntarily as unstoppable. Karin reacted with a feline sprint. She put both hands on my shoulders and held me with loving firmness. Preventing me from falling and, in fact, any further escape attempt.

K: Don't move, honey, you might die! You need surgery right now.

Karin said, with a maternal voice, but inflexible. She then turned to the two young nurses, who were tinkering around the mobile rescue station, in her usual decisive but gentle tone. Meanwhile, she kept passing a medical omni-tool over my left side, back and forth, methodically.

K: Garner, Bowman. C'mon guys! Let's put her on the table on my count. We need to go back to the med bay, like yesterday! Sergeant Nuñez, you take care of Garrus.

L: No!

I screamed with a lot more breath than I imagined possible. I got stiff instinctively, putting my foot down, with a resolute mind. I stood still staring at Karin's two sturdy assistants from behind my clenched jaw, with swollen eyes but adamant. There was a nervous, worried silence in the hangar, as I was clenching all my stubborn determination tightly in my clasped fists.

By now I was thinking clearly, or so I thought. That's why having surgery was exactly the last thing I wanted. That meant being completely unconscious for several hours. A condition in which I would have been unable to join you in a "perfect fusion". I kept feeling something consuming, clinging to my stomach that I could not describe. It was like an insatiable need. I felt that I had to find you and merge with you, otherwise... I would have lost you! I couldn't reconcile myself to this awful foreboding. Maybe there wasn't much time left. I had to act fast!

The two soldiers stopped astonished at my reaction. They stared at me, with questioning eyes and frightened faces. Garrus also looked at me, but the blue in his eyes was warm, his fraternal and supportive gaze. I felt him close, and that was reassuring.

Even Karin gave me the same spirit. She seemed to have perfectly understood my nervous condition. She spoke in a warm voice and calm that made me feel protected. My friend raised her palms as a sign of full cooperation. Her eyes were extremely convincing and sincere, her forehead, on the contrary, was marked by deep furrows of concern. Suddenly, she didn't know how to hide her thoughts, keep her emotions in check. However, she looked at me with tenderness, as you look at a wounded kitten, clinging with her nails to the edge of a ledge.

K: Liara, dear, you know I can understand your feelings, but please, you have to listen to me very carefully now. The large metal fragment in your side is damn close to the hepatic artery. Just another hair to the right, and you'd probably be dead by now! I'll spare you the medical details, but you were very lucky, my friend! However, any wrong movement is likely to cause severe internal bleeding... even now, as we speak! Which is why I need to remove that fragment from your body before it can cause irreversible damage. I'm not gonna lie! It's going to be a little tricky surgery, but I promise you I'm perfectly prepared to perform it optimally. You needn't worry. Everything's gonna be okay!

L: Are you going to put me out... completely?

I wanted to ask, although it wasn't difficult guessing the answer. Karin grimaced in pure bewilderment. What dug into her forehead even deeper furrows. She remained calm, indecipherable face. Before answering, the doctor made a slow movement with her hands, as to push away all the air that divided us. Finally, she spoke, slowly, in a measured tone, weighing the words one by one, as if to print them in my mind, unequivocally.

K: It's too painful. Also, it would be a big risk not to. The slightest movement while extracting the shrapnel could cause dangerous bleeding or severe damage to your inner organs. So... I'm afraid so, my friend. I'm gonna have to anesthetize you.

She concluded softly. As she spoke, her analytic gaze probed the bottom of my eyes, in an attempt to decipher my thoughts, anticipate every possible reaction. I remained motionless, as my friend had advised me to do. Although, I told her my definitive decision, just as slowly and unequivocally.

L: In that case, I don't intend to have surgery. Unless, you do it without giving me any anesthesia! I'm fully aware of the risks, Karin, but that's my decision.

I suppose that Karin had to appeal to her self-control to stay calm and resist the irrepressible urge to come toward me. This time, a painful quiver of helpless despair was easily recognisable in her voice.

K: You're not serious, ain't you?! You need surgery, Liara, right now! It's not a walk in the park, it's gonna hurt like hell. I can't do it without sedating you. Damn it!

She admitted with concern as her calm expression was fading like steam. I ignored her sparkling eyes, didn't get distracted by her flushed face. Before the doctor recovered from the surprise, I spoke with a voice warm of emotion.

L: Karin, please... I'm begging you! I know you're worried about me. I really appreciate that, but... I've already made my decision. So, if I need surgery, make it quick! But, no anesthesia. I'm not gonna sleep at a time like this! Otherwise, please leave me here! I need to be alone for... oh, Goddess! I have to find her. Do you understand Karin? I must find Shepard!

I could barely hide a frenzy of emotions, under a suffocated sigh. Being motionless was an equally difficult exercise and painful. Just when I believed that the forces would leave me, Garrus turned to Karin in a vibrant tone and confident.

G: No way, Doc! She isn't gonna change her mind. If you're gonna remove the damn piece of iron before it kills her, you should do it her way! You'll do it, Karin. You both will. So, what are you waiting for?

Garrus' pithy ways described the situation with dramatic precision, and brought the effect I was hoping for. What was sparkling Karin's eyes warmed my heart with hope and gratitude.

K: You're right, old boy! Fine, then! Maybe, I got an idea. C'mon, let's move!

K: Do you feel comfortable, Angel? Maybe you prefer a more tilted position. Do you wanna lie down a little more?

Karin wanted to know, as she lifted me almost to a standing position, carefully. She had secured me to the operating table herself, gently fixing my arms, torso and legs to the appropriate restraint straps, in order to prevent any accidental movement. Curious as it may seem, I felt comfortable in that position, so I didn't want to change it.

She gave me a smile, put on the gloves and began preparing for the surgery. First, she skilfully placed a complicated functional bandage. A sort of curious colored elastic lattice, which involved a large area around the fragment to be removed, along the entire hip and abdomen.

K: Here we go! Unfortunately, this method does not act directly on pain, but will greatly reduce the risk of any involuntary muscle movement. I'm spraying a local anesthetic around the wound. You'll see that soon will penetrate into the tissues, which become less sensitive. That's all I can do. I'm sure, an Asari doctor could help you control the pain much better than I do, but... well, hope I don't hurt you too much! Are you ready, honey?

L: I'm ready! Thanks, Karin, and... I wouldn't want any other doctor!

I told her, warmly, with sincere gratitude. Karin had an affectionate look, and smiled at me gently in response, with a slow nod.

K: Relax, then. I'm about to begin.

I inhaled as much air as my lungs could contain. I could feel Karin's hands, working around the splinter. The pain crossed my body like a spear. Acute, but definitely bearable. I exhaled slowly, through slightly parted lips, ignoring the twinge that quickly spread through the abdomen. I focused on my breath, cleared my mind of every thought. Tension began to drain away from my body and get it free from negative energy. This allowed me to quickly slip into a meditative state.

I slowed my breath, the heartbeat, and moved my mind to an abstract dimension, an ideal room. A happy place, where the only tangible presence was the boundless love, the unbreakable connection between us. Where I could focus completely on you, my love, and start looking for you.

A vigorous biotic field flashed around my body and glowed in a vibrant halo and iridescent. Eternity colored my wide-open eyes as embraced me, effortlessly. At first it was only silence, interrupted by the voice of my mind...

"Shepard! … Shepard! ... Oh Emy, please, talk with me... can you hear me, my Life?!"

Soon, the sounds of the battle emerged from the silence. Muffled sounds, distant voices, cries and... a familiar moan, a labored, rapid and suffering breathing. And all of a sudden, it was a blinding white light that pushed the darkness out, and poured like a wave into my mind, sucking my breath away. Then... it was dark again. Silence again and no more pain. I was restless. Waiting.

"Shepard!"

From inside the dark and happy room, I called you again. My mind to your mind, your name resounded, many times. My senses in yours. Slowly, I began to feel something. At first it was just a big chill. A cold, hard and wet floor. Then, it was the flickering darkness of closed eyes and a frantic twitching of sore eyelids. It was a taste of salt in the parched mouth, on chapped lips. It was a great, insatiable thirst. Everywhere a slightly sweet smell of clotted blood penetrated the nostrils and mingled, unpleasant and suffocating, with the smell of death. I shuddered.

"Shepard!"

I received a soft moan in response, then an uneven breath clung to my throat. I sensed a single thought, just hinted, floating in your dazed head and mine. Your pain, in my pain. My fear, in your frenzied heartbeat. I finally found you, along with the terrible feeling that everything had been accomplished. Irreversibly and painfully. We rejected that idea in less than a second.

"Hmm… damn. It hurts too fucking much! So... so, I'm probably still alive!"

You thought slowly, one word at a time, trying to regain clarity. That was all I needed to reach you, merge into your mind, become One.

"Oh my love! Thank Goddess! I feel you now... I feel you, but... you're in pieces! Oh Emy, I'm so, so sorry!"

I was happy and desperate at the same time. You were alive, but lying face down in a pool of blood. Without shields. Your armor torn to heat-hardened shreds. Your pain in mine. Wounds everywhere, wherever pain. And your bare arms, so covered in blood. Many bruises on the hand that held the gun, firmly, in spite of all. The priceless cold metal of a gun not yours, found who knows where, fortuitously. You were happy and desperate at the same time, just like I was.

"Liara! Thank goodness! Are you... Baby girl... are you okay?!"

As you regained control of your aching body, memories of the last rush to the Conduit suddenly flooded my mind, like a river breaking through its banks. Harbinger's plasma sabre, hellish heat. My name cried out against the darkness. Then light, silence, boundless love, in your heart and mine.

"I'm ok! Don't worry about me. You're in, now! That's the main thing."

I thought with all the fortitude I could muster. Now we were sure it wasn't over! The intimacy of our merging was intoxicating, and pervading both of us with consuming emotion. However, a devious awareness reeled in our certainties. It had no name, but it was like sinking into the unmistakable feeling that the worst was yet to come. There was no more time. You had to get back on your feet, right away!

"Yes, but... to go where?"

You thought, as got on your hands and knees, and look around, trying to spot something familiar. It didn't look like the Citadel at all. The dim light made it difficult to recognize what was emerging and was slowly materializing all around. You squinted again as the blurred silhouettes became sharper and sharper, revealing a gruesome scene in front of your eyes and mine. Everything sounded awfully like what we had already shared in another merger, back on the Collectors' Base.

"Goddess! Seems..."

I couldn't finish the thought. Corpses and human remains were scattered everywhere. The blood and stench of death poisoned the air, ravaged the eyes and tormented the soul to tears. The Keepers wandered in the core of that horror, like automata, indifferently. Probably intent on following orders, cruel, indecipherable and silent.

"Yeah!... They wanna make a Reaper! Bastards!"

You hissed tight-lipped. Our jaws painfully clenched in a spasm of shared rage. You absolutely had to figure out where you were, and how to open the Station's arms. The anger helped you back on your feet. You limped conspicuously. Your back was curved by a sharp and piercing pain, pounding on your left side at every breath.

That was how I felt about it, too, the same way. Each "perfect fusion" merges us in such depth that everything slips from one to the other. Emotional, physical and mental perceptions. The transfer is so perfect that our sensory awareness is a completely shared experience, in an absolutely realistic way.

"Come on, take a few steps, there's no one around..."

I suggested. You staggered forward. The gun shook in your hand, visibly.

"Courage!"

I thought again, gently. The dark wall at the bottom of the room moved with no warning, for no apparent reason, revealing a vast space full of light. You grimaced while you covered your eyes with your forearm, to protect them from the blinding glare. Just a soft moan escaped your lips. Bewilderment. There were an indefinite number of long walkways, aligned with each other They ran parallel, arranged neatly over an abyss. You had no idea what you were gonna find, nor how far away, but you could only move on. You had to save your energy and try to recover as much as you could.

S: Anderson! Good news at last!

You exclaimed the moment the Admiral's baritone voice awakened your communicator. The flush of genuine happiness did what it could to ease the spasms of tension, still stubbornly tangled in your stomach and mine. Supported by new energy, you set out in the direction of the unmistakable dark silhouette, which was materializing in the distance. Inside your chest, your heart seemed lighter.

The broad platform, right in the middle of the gigantic structure, seemed suspended in nothingness. All we could see was a mysterious control panel. Next to the panel, the Admiral Anderson was moving with excitement as he tried to bypass a firewall.

Bravely facing the pain, with devotion, you reached the admiral at the fastest pace you could keep. At first glance, your friend looked less tested than you, but he didn't look so good. Although his combat uniform was in good condition, when your eyes rested on the unsettling dark spots that encrusted his chest plate, I felt a deaf thud coming up from your stomach, with a suffocating grip that held your chest until it hurt. The man was staggering, along with your stomach, which crumpled into cramps of concern increasingly nagging. The more you looked at your friend, the more the seeds of apprehension grew up within you, within me. A subdued fear spread like wildfire in your mind, dug a furrow of bitterness in your heart and mine. Impossible to ignore it.

"It will be easier, now that you're together!"

I ventured an instinctive thought, spurred on by the urgent need to set a half-full glass on your table. Sadly, there was not much I could do to console you, since you also felt my body. Every single thought that crossed my mind, the entire river of my emotions. You too were reflected inside me, like in a mirror, without filters. So, there was no point in lying. However, we could still deceive ourselves, and above all, we could still hope, together.

We were clinging to the edge of a nightmare. Our species one step away from annihilation. Our destinies hung on a last desperate attempt. We dared to hope that for once, everything would go smoothly. No unforeseen events, no surprise factors to deal with, with our poor unstable energies. Indeed, without any warning, a new threat crawled out of nowhere behind your back, and came to life...

IM: I underestimated you, Shepard!

Cold, hostile, ruthless. An obnoxious voice and disgustingly familiar, froze the air, like a sudden gust, causing a wave of disgust on your skin and mine. A primal rage took hold of every inch of your body, of my body. It began to rise, ancestral and relentless, like the bubbling lava rising from the bowels of an erupting volcano.

The desire to put a bullet between the eyes of that monstrous being was savage. It filled your veins with an insatiable murderous fury. I indulged in the same thirst for revenge, with dilated, pulsating arteries in my neck. I felt an icy pleasure in being overwhelmed and dragged into your own fury. I was boiling from the irrepressible urge to pull the trigger of the gun myself, which vibrated in your hand, resolutely. Over and over again, until the heat from the overheated thermal clip would burn my fingers so much to be forced to drop it.

"You motherf...! ... What... the hell...?!"

We thought as one mind. Bewilderment and stillness. On your tight skin, in your contracted jaws, in the muscle bundles stretched to the breaking point. Sorrow and torment. In the rough air of the platform suspended in the void. In the exhausting effort of not letting go. I felt your stiff fingers, around the butt of the gun. Fingers instinctively clinging to the trigger, like the talons of a sleeping eagle, unable to latch its prey. Compulsion. In your exhausted body, glued to the floor by an unbearable burden, which was freezing you on the spot, doomed to stillness.

The Illusive Man's presence aroused threat and coercion. It weighed inside your head, wrapped around your brain, like the coils of a constrictor. He tried to drive me away too, but... I hung in! It was an unnatural, poisonous strength, though... some sort of physical and mental power over Anderson, and over the two of us. But, we were together! We wanted to hold out, and could still fight, with the strength of our minds.

What we had discovered back on Cronos Station about the illusive man, the Obelisk, and the Sovereign, had been staggering. Both we and Miranda have been waiting ever since, with icy patience, for the moment when we would finally get our hands on the leader of Cerberus. Sadly, things went wrong in a flash, and Jack Harper had become a half-erased, very secondary target on our list. The only reason you were there, and you kept hanging on, dragging yourself on that platform, with your last strength, was to get the arms of the Citadel opened, and the Crucible activated, before everything went worthless!

But now, he was right there, a few steps away from you, from us. Cerberus' mad leader was right there, just came out of nowhere, deranged more than ever. The Illusive man wanted to get hold of the Crucible. He ranted and raved about taking control of the reapers. It was bitterly clear how indoctrinated, and captive to his own obsession he was. Nevertheless, there was something very disturbing about him able to penetrate your mind, the Admiral's, and tame our thoughts, hinder them. The will of that being flowed into your bodies like poison, which penetrated them and spread within you with evil tendrils of oppression. It was like drowning in thick mud, wrapped in dark quicksand. The more you tried to get out of it, the more you sank into a thick immobilizing slime.

IM: I've dedicated my life to understand the Reapers, and I know with certainty: the Crucible will allow me to control them!

The monster's delirium continued, hysterically. He was staring at you with a devious smile and cold metal eyes injected with madness. There was nothing human about him anymore. The data fragments we found in the terminals back on Cronos Station turned out to be correct. It was all too obvious that the Illusive Man had truly experimented with Reapers' technology on himself. Changes had been as radical as loathsome. Under a peel of shreds of human skin, lacerated and worn out, the large grafts of synthetic alien technology disfigured his face and neck, erasing any doubt. Jack Harper bore the mark of the Reapers. Just like Saren before him, he took the same dark path without return.

Contempt, rabid despair and a sense of powerlessness pulsated within us, nurturing the desire to dispose of Harper once and for all. We wanted to kill him! With every ounce of our being. And yet, you couldn't move a single muscle, no matter how hard you tried. You could only stare dismayed at what was left of the man, who had funded the Lazarus project, like a predator, paralyzed by a dart, a few steps from his unattainable meal.

"Don't listen to him. Get him out of your head... Hold on, my love!... Listen only to me!"

I urged you, one sentence at a time. All my love flooded my heart and plunged into yours. Our will was indestructible, faultless, hard as stone. Anderson's was too. For a few minutes, both of you had no longer been able to move freely. In addition, the Illusive Man seemed to be able to prevent you from speaking, and even to poison the source from which your thoughts took shape.

"We can resist, my love... together!"

I whispered as I wrapped all my willpower around your mind like a shield. Your cracked lips shook with the effort. Then, your clenched jaws moved with a popping sound, which crossed the air, like a rifle shot. Even your wrath has been valuable to break the chains of silence. Finally, a loud voice began to gush from your lips, like a rabid cry.

S: You fucking bastard! Look at you, what you've become. You're more abominable than the monsters you presume to control!

You growled in the Illusive Man's face, violently. The effort made your body tremble and vibrate. Small steps, shaky movements, not enough yet to pull the trigger. It looked like this one was fused to the butt of the gun into a solid block of steel. Instead of surrendering, you kept trying to shoot, and at the same time ranting, more ravenously.

S: You're the genius who brought them here, damn it! By waking up the Sovereign, you started it all! You brought our all species to the brink of annihilation and... for what? Did you look around coming here? You know, there's human remains all over the place. You saw them, didn't you? It's the poor remains of those same human beings you're blabbering about saving! Their clotted blood paints every damn wall on this Station red. Jesus Christ, Harper! When I think of all the pain... that all this fucking shit started because of YOU! You wretched worm! Putting a bullet in your head won't make up for what you did, but... the way you did it... doesn't deserve any mercy!

With the passing of seconds, your vehemence was swelling, like waves in a storm. I felt pervaded with the same wild hurricane. You yelled at the abomination again with all the breath you could find. Your words hit him, one after the other, like incendiary slugs. The air burned like tongues of furious fire. Your body moved again, this time with determined flinches. The moment your muscles responded, you raised your arm, with superhuman effort, and pulled your gun on Jack Harper's face.

He furiously snarled in response, while his clenched fist agitated in midair, angrily. His eyes flashed into yours, sharp as razor blades. The man swung the barrel of your gun with a nervous movement of his fist, and drove it wherever he wanted. You could only stare in disbelief at your gun with wide eyes, as it slowly moved towards Admiral Anderson, and took aim at him, relentlessly. I could hear your despair screaming in my soul, as you resisted with all your might, trying to stop your own arm that neither of us could stop. Anderson also resisted. He had understood, and was struggling with all his might in an attempt to draw the attention of the Illusive Man, and give you a few seconds advantage.

A: Hmm... they're controlling you!

He said through gritted teeth. His mighty voice gave you some extra energy. However, the power of the Illusive man kept growing. He ignored Anderson, and looked at you, defiantly, as he spoke pervaded by a feverish madness.

IM: You... dumbass, pigheaded, little soldier! You never understood anything, Shepard! Yet it was that simple. I've been chosen! I got the key for achieving the perfect evolution of humanity. I can finally master the technology of the Reapers, use it to my advantage, because they showed me the way themselves!

A: Bullshit! You are indoctrinated. We'll destroy them, or they'll destroy us!

The admiral thundered again, in a crystal-clear voice. Carless of the threat that your gun continued to pose.

IM: No! I can dominate them, use their power... control their weapon!

Harper's lips twisted with an evil grin, as he continued to pontificate. His fist fluttered in the air again, and took control of your hand, with apparent easiness. The nagging tingling, which wrapped you from head to toe, turned into a burning pain. It ran through your arm spreading like a fire in your hand tightened around the gun. You felt a paramount power weigh down the finger placed on the trigger, which was pulled, for a will not yours.

The sharp shot sound went through our soul, as the bullet lodged in Admiral Anderson's light chest plate. The valiant officer gave a stifled groan, but he did not fall. I can't tell how long we both stopped breathing, hearts frozen in our chests. Your despair rose like a silent cry, tearing away your insides and tormenting you with anger and pain. I could hear your voiceless prayer sobbing inside you, inside me, like a plea, desperately rising from the depths of your soul.

"No! ... Oh, please don't let him die! If you can hear me... I'm begging you, give me the strength to resist... to find a way! Look around... this can't be how it ends!"

Your pain was my pain. All the strength of my love, the deep intimacy of our bond, were palpitating in my heart and pervading you completely, with the intensity of an embrace around your soul. My faith in you filled every thought with hope and courage.

"No, this is not how it ends! You're not alone Shepard, and... you didn't shoot your friend. Harper did! He must be stopped. He's finally letting his guard down, you must act now. C'mon, Commander, shoot! You're stronger than him! Only you can stop that abomination and you will! Shoot him!"

I can't tell if the feeling that the Illusive Man had let his guard down was real. Perhaps it was just my determination to be at your side. Or the pain, and guilt over Admiral Anderson's fate. Maybe it was a real miracle, or all these things together. In any case, there was a tiny crack in Harper's constraint, which began to grow. We both warned it, at the same time. That's when I realized you knew what to do. You slowly lowered your gun, looking at the Illusive Man, submissive face.

S: Ok, you win! I'm gonna give you the Crucible codes, but please... don't kill the Admiral!

You said in a yielding tone, looking down as a sign of submission. A victorious expression shone like a trophy on what was left of Jack Harper's face.

S: Do you really have a plan to protect humanity from all of this?

You asked humbly, but without giving him too much time to think. The arrogant confidence in his own means of constraint was a fatal error. He didn't even consider the idea that you could fool him. On the contrary, his attitude even became protective.

IM: Of course, I do, Shepard. I always wanted to protect humanity!

He hastened to reassure you, in a fatherly tone, as he savored the benefits of such a precious ally to seize the Crucible. The bullet hit him right between the eyes, even before he had time to figure out he was dead. However, the metallic glow of his demented look continued to gleam, until the weight of death pulled his lifeless body to the floor with a big thud.

S: Then, you've failed miserably!

You hissed in a cold whisper, as you gave him the final blow, three or four more times.

"With the greetings of Miranda!"

For a moment, we both indulged in the pleasant feeling of accomplishment.

To be continued...