Chapter Ten: An End, But Not Once and For All

It was never a good thing to be distracted during a fight. Shepard knew this and he was rarely, if ever, distracted. However, trying to ignore the gnawing guilt he felt from sending hundreds of humans to their deaths to save the council was shattering his concentration. Fighting Saren was a difficult task when the only thing he could think of was the blood on his hands. Being distracted from loss was not an unknown feeling.

The Council was made up of heartless little shits, but yet Colt had made the decision to save them. His reasoning being that they wouldn't forget that he had saved their asses. Perhaps down the line they could repay humanity in a big way.

The sight of Liara's blue biotic glow surrounding her pulled Shepard out of his reverie. Electric blue shot out from her with incredible deadly accuracy. The firepower she possessed naturally made Colt a little jealous at his lack of biotic gifts. For the casual observer, Liara would have been a formidable sight that seemed to be growing with power every second. To the Commander, she looked exhausted; he knew he would have to end this fight quickly.

He took deep breathes; clearing his cluttered mind was the first step towards victory. Each breathe stole him farther away from his over active conscious and more into the combat. In a matter of seconds, his body was lining up with Saren's movements. Everything was cleared away until there was only him and Saren. Death nor destruction existed, just the hunted and the hunter. With any luck he would be the hunter. The bastard darted around quickly, but Shepard was with him the whole time. Shepard's bullets hit with precision unique to N7 soldiers; they rarely missed. Clear, oily liquid oozed out of Saren more freely with each passing second. Colt let his bullets fly more frequently when it was clear that the Turian/ Reaper thing was slowing. Shot after shot pounded the Turian's frame.

Saren slowed down to normal speeds when it happened. Shepard was ready when Saren poked his head from cover. The human's sights were perfectly lined up with his opponents head, so he pulled the trigger. Clear, and black tarry liquid exploded onto the metal behind the Turian when a sizable hole blasted through his head. His entire body jerked backwards, and spread his unorganic blood all around him. Tiny bits of skull, brain, and black tar leaked onto the floor. Satisfaction took over Colt's brain when it became apparent that his gun had produced such an affect. One part of Shepard was disgusted by the sight, another part was thrilled.

…

Everything had been alright. Saren was dead and Shepard looked so relieved. It was a nice sight, a fantastic sight. It was something that she had never seen on his face. For a moment the world was okay, until Sovereign started falling towards the chambers they were in.

"Run!" Shepard screamed at Wrex and Liara. He was looking over his shoulder at the looming shadow while he ran. Unfortunately, Shepard was several hundred yards behind Liara and Wrex. How Shepard was supposed to not be crushed she did not know. But all logical thought drained from her when panic took over. The only thought that was in her mind was go. So she did, and never once looked back towards Shepard.

The ceiling was literally caving in right on top of Liara. Every time she would try to run one way, a huge piece of metal, or plaster, or combination of the two would fall in front of her, effectively blocking her path. In fact Liara was so panicked now that she was running blindly anywhere and failed to notice the rather large pieces of metal falling her way. Something grabbed the back of her shirt, and pulled her down. She fought with all her might and punched and scratched blindly, but the thing holding her down didn't seem to be affected.

"Liara! Calm down, it's me Wrex. Goddamit, if you keep attacking me I'm gonna let you get crushed," Wrex's voice immediately calmed Liara and for the first time she actually saw her surroundings. Wrex had managed to pull her into a small opening between pieces of metal and was holding her tight. His body trembled and shivered. Could it be that the great Krogan mercenary was a little bit scared? No, impossible, he was probably just trying to get Liara to stop hitting him.

"Wrex? Is Shepard here?" It was dark inside their little cave and Liara couldn't tell if the whole squad was grouped inside.

"Yah… about that. Shepard isn't in here and I haven't seen him since the whole damn ceiling started raining down," his voice was nervous like he expected Liara to start going crazy again.

Liara was seething, Shepard didn't just disappear when things went wrong. He wasn't supposed to be crushed by some piece of metal. Commander Shepard didn't just save the galaxy and not get to enjoy the peace he brought. He fought against a rogue Spectre, metal didn't hurt.

Her fury was quickly replaced by disgust. The quick exchange of emotions left her in stunned silence. How could she have left Shepard to fend for himself? How could she have thought only of herself? If there was one thing she should've first learned from her mother and then Shepard, it would be the art of selflessness.

Liara could have been sitting with Wrex for hours or minutes, she didn't know. Time was irrelevant. She clung to Wrex like he was her only life line. He said nothing.

Liara heard movement on the outside of their now entirely enclosed cave of metal. She was glad; a fight would take her mind off things. A biotic corona started to spin around her right hand as the shuffling grew closer. Wrex was also starting to shift around, a good sign that there were hostiles close.

"It's Anderson, anybody in there?" The Captain's voice was just on the other side of a piece of metal that enclosed Liara.

"Yes, yes! Doctor T'Soni and Wrex are in here," Liara called out; her voice sounded weak even to herself. The sound of metal against metal stung Liara's ears.

"Where's Shepard?" Anderson asked, he was looking all around their sad dwelling. She had dreaded this moment. Telling other people that she had failed Shepard and had allowed him to be crushed was almost as bad as the thought of her boyfriend being dead. She couldn't even look Anderson in the face, but she did hear a soft gasp escape him. Anderson looked as dazed as Liara felt, but he still somehow helped Liara and Wrex out of the alcove.

Light hit Liara in the face and she blinked hard, not entirely registering that everything was completely destroyed around her. When she did open her eyes, nothing clicked. She looked at wreckage but did not see it. Her only thought was Shepard; there wasn't any room left in her brain to worry about the decimated Citadel. Somehow a small light of hope was lit in her chest; after all she had not seen him getting crushed.

A little off in the distance, the whine of shifting metal started. The sudden sound carried with it the hope of an asari. Liara prayed to anyone who would listen that it was Shepard. Her mind screamed, and screeched at her to run to the sound but her body remained immobile. The entire galaxy stopped everything to see if its savior would emerge. A mix of worry, shame, longing, and emotions she did not know bubbled into every piece of her until the sensation dwarfed every other bad emotion she had ever felt.

A few more seconds of movement could be heard until a lone figure appeared at the top of a metal pile. It was him. That gut wrenching feeling was gone. The worst thing she had ever felt was surpassed by the best thing she had ever felt.

Shepard looked serious as he surveyed the area, but when his eyes reached the trio, a huge grin spread across his face. Relief was a mild word for what Liara was going through.

When Shepard started stumbling down the hill, she was moving. She rushed towards him, completely ignoring the calls from Anderson to be careful. Everything besides her human target blended into silver streaks and blobs. With little care, Liara raced over metal sticking up haphazardly. She reached Shepard in an impressive amount of time and crashed into him. Both of them nearly went over backwards from the impact. Her hands were thrown across him in a hug in an effort to confirm that he was indeed alive. "Hey, hey. Its okay, I'm okay. I won't be though if you continue to squash my broken arm." Shepard was returning the hug the best he could with only one hand.

"Oh Goddess, I'm sorry Shepard. I ju-just thought you were dead," Liara immediately pulled back and started to inspect Shepard. She was satisfied when his worst injury appeared to be his arm.

"The universe will have to do better than a piece of metal to do me in," he gave her a smile and a reassuring pat on the back. "Really, I'm okay." Anderson and Wrex were almost to the pair.

"Shepard, I think you're the only person who could survive the sky falling," Anderson walked up to Shepard and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"Chicken Little sure got a run for his money," the two humans shared a good laugh while Liara and Wrex stared dumbly at them.

"In all seriousness Colt, how are you?" Anderson asked the human Spectre.

"I'm so damn tired, it's like all the tiredness I should've felt over the course of this mission has finally caught up to me. On the bright side, however; I get to go on shore leave now," Shepard winked at Liara, and she turned away embarrassed. Anderson looked between the two but said nothing more.

"Come on guys, I think its time to go," Anderson said while he turned away. No one paid attention to the destruction around them.