A/N: You know the drill, I don't own Mass Effect or any character in it. This fic will follow the original story-line, with some small changes from my side. Enjoy!

Love of mine, some day you will die

But I'll be close behind

I'll follow you into the dark

No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white

Just our hands clasped so tight

Waiting for a hint of a spark

If Heaven and Hell decide

That they both are satisfied

Illuminate their "No"s on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you

when your soul embarks

then I'll follow you into the dark

.:I will follow you into the dark – Death Cab for Cutie:.

- Shepard!

She had done what she could to save as many as possible, but it wasn't enough. And Joker, that dutiful bastard, didn't realize the ship was beyond redemption. She had to drag him down from the cockpit, through the corridor and forcefully throw him into the last evacuation pod. The sight of horror and realization in Jokers face when she pressed the launch button filled her with sadness, but also joy that he hopefully would survive. He would never understand why she did this sacrifice for him, and he would probably blame himself for a while. But that was the thing. Shepard couldn't let anyone die for her if she could help it. She watched the pod drift away from the ship in the same direction as the others, and had never felt so lonely.

Normandy was a blazing inferno and would soon be a dying wreckage beyond recognition. Shepard ignored the explosions and turned back to the bridge. Burned corpses lay on the deck among armor pieces, cables and scrap metal but she tried to ignore what she was seeing. Shepard grabbed the railing where she just minutes ago was planning their next route, before hell broke loose. She would go down with her ship, as any true captain would. Fear rushed through her veins, a rare feeling for her. When it came to combat she was always ready, full with pumping adrenaline and staring death in its face. At those times she knew what she was doing. But now…She couldn't do anything about the situation and had never been so afraid in all her life. Suddenly a big explosion roared from the cockpit where Joker sat not five minutes from now. The monstrous force ripped the ship apart and knocked her out of the ship and into the vacuum.

Shepard was surprised she survived the blast, but it felt cold and something was leaking. She reached for the airtube behind her back and felt the oxygen escape her armor. Damn it! She didn't fight Saren and save the galaxy just to end up like this; alone in space while suffocating. It wasn't right. Shepard felt the panick rise when she tried to breath in the last ounces of oxygen. What did she do wrong? Why didn't she see the threath in time? The guilt for the lost lives on Normandy pounded in her chest but regrets wouldn't help her now. She felt the tingling sensation of asphyxia in her fingers and in the face. Shepard was not yet ready to let go of her last inhalation, even though her lungs burned like fire for the longing of more oxygen. They said life passed before your eyes upon death, but instead known faces flashed by; Kaidan, Ashley, Tali, Liara, Pressly, Andersson. She didn't regret her choice to sacrifice Kaidan for the better good of the mission, he knew what he signed up for. But atleast he died for something, unlike what she was doing now. A meaningless death. Ashley, who barely obeyed the last order given – to get herself to an evacpod. Sweet little innocent Tali who'd become like a sister for Shepard. The exotic, thrilling and smart Asarian who was the closest to a female friend she had had in her adult life. When she thought about Andersson her eyes watered a little. The man who always had believed in her and mentored her through all the years since she enlisted. She would never see them again. Would they be allright?

Her chest cramped, fighting frenetically for more air but she stubbornly held her last breath. The closer to death the more important the visions, some believed, and now she saw the turian face in front of her. The tall C-sec officer who was too good for the citadel bureacracy. He had fought with her to the end and they still argued about who had taken the last shot, before Saren killed himself. She smiled sadly. Shepard regretted she never told him how much he meant for her, how much she relied on him to be there at her six, how she never learnt to trust anyone fully before he came into her life. God, she missed his vibrant, rumbling laugh. The long nightly conversations during the endless reparations of the Mako. His beautiful ice-blue eyes. A single tear ran down her cheek. She was ready to let go. Shepard exhaled, and the love she never had the chance to feel slipped through her lips…

"Garrus…"