Title: Water
Pairing: Implied F!Shepard x Thane
Warnings: Canon game violence
Summary: Shepard wakes after the destroying the Reapers and finds herself on the shore of the sea and must decide if she's ready to cross it.
Word Count: 535
The gentle, rolling slosh of waves woke her. She was at the shore, laying just out of the water on the sand. Before her stretched the wide expanse of endless blue. Above her the sun was bright, but off in the distance, beyond the horizon, the deep, black clouds of a turbulent storm loomed ominously. Behind her was a jungle, thick and dense. Within the vines and trees she heard shouting and gunfire. It was familiar but muted and she couldn't make out the words.
Standing, she brushed the sand off her armor and processed her surroundings. Something wasn't right about that place. The sun beat down on her, yet it wasn't warm. Before her was the ocean, yet there was no taste or smell of salt on the air. A shell lay at her feet. Picking it up, she held it to her ear.
And heard nothing.
It wasn't real. Her last memory was firing on the Crucible. Making the choice the Catalyst, that damn child, forced her to make. She chose to destroy the Reapers. Despite the costs, it was what they set out to do. It was the only choice she could luce with...despite the costs.
Siha...
Thane's melodic, velvety voice lilted on the incoming wave. Then it stuck her. She was standing at the precipice of the afterlife. The sea was her judgement, her atonement for her life of deeds both noble and selfish. Her test was to face the storm of her life's work, what the God's thought of her choices and if, only if, she passed their appraisal, would age return to Thane's arms.
Despite the uncertainty, she was ready. As she lifted her boot to take a step, she froze. Another voice reached her ear.
Shepard!!
It was Liara. Her voice was desperate, pleading. Garrus was injured, but Liara worse. She had sent them away to safety, knowing every person on that ship would gave followed her to the bitter end.
The gunfire and shouts continued, pulling her attention away from the water's edge. Shepard stared into the jungle, suddenly feeling a the deep, trained instinct to run toward the fight. Looking over her shoulder, she silently apologized to Thane. She longed to be with him, but her fight wasn't over just yet.
It wasn't her day to die.
With burst of energy, she bound headlong into the undergrowth. Her arms and legs pumped as she sprinted through ferns and around trees. The smell burning flesh began to twinge in her nose. Pain began to creep back into her body from her injuries. Around her the scenery became a blur as she rushed back to her duty, to her life.
She neared neared the edge of the jungle, flashes of light penetrated the darkness beyond the trees. As she ran, her lungs began to burn, chest heaving as she ran. Not matter how much her chest heaved, the burning became stronger and stronger.
She closed her eyes as she broke through tree line and pushed through the pain.
She lay in a pile of rubble, the Citadel burned around her. She heard voices nearing, calling her name. Searching for her.
Her eyes drifted open and she gasped.