The Truth
A/N: I decided to write this small piece after reading Terrorize's fanfic 'Mass Effect 3: Aftermath'. I am a serious Talimancer, and after reading what happens to Tali in that story I am in pain from just thinking about it. It's not that Terrorize is a bad writer, quite to the contrary, his writing skill is second to none, however I do not like his portrayal of many of the characters, and many of the plot elements contained within his story, especially what happens to Tali. So I wrote this more for myself than anything else, but feel free to review if you so wish.
…
Shepard was in pain.
Physical.
Mental.
And emotional.
After shooting the Crucibles' power conduit, all he could remember was the whites, reds and oranges of the explosion.
The Catalyst had given him three choices, and from the get go he didn't believe half of what the damn thing told him. How could the relays explode and not wipe out every system that contains one? How can jumping into a beam of power cause a chain reaction that rewrites the DNA of every organic everywhere? How could the 'Destroy' solution target only synthetic life?
Before the Catalyst had finished explaining to him how good synthesis would be he had raised his Carnifex and shot an entire thermal clip into the conduit, as the Catalyst screamed in protest.
The Citadel glowed red, as did the beam. The Catalyst disappeared with the first explosion.
Shepard tried to run from the Crucible but with his injuries, he was unable to move any faster than a hobble.
After a breathtaking red light, and an explosion. He was here.
'Where is here' Shepard thought to himself as he pried his tired eyes open millimetres at a time. He saw Earth, his homeworld. He remembered leaving after being promoted to XO of the Normandy SR-1. Staring out the window, It had been beautiful then. Greens, blues and whites. Now it was black and red. Ash and fire.
He would have cried if he wasn't so dehydrated, as he lay there for what seemed like hours. He suddenly noticed a large, black familiar ship drifting in space. A reaper. Dread filled Shepard's gut before he realised that this one was different. It was dead. Shepard smiled as he scanned the space around him, he tried to count the dead Reapers, but in his weakened state, he decided not to bother. He smiled as he saw the Alliance, Geth and Quarian ships in orbit. They had won.
But Shepard had not. He and the only people in the galaxy that he could call his friends, had rushed the beam, only to be wiped out by Harbinger. Vega and Javik had been ahead of him, Shepard had watched while Harbinger blasted them. Javik had turned to ash in front of his eyes while Vega had crumpled to the ground.
He had kept his eyes trained on the beam, trying not to think of Garrus, his best friend, and Tali, his lover, as the damned Reapers' lasers impacted beside and behind him. Almost at the beam he had to know if she was ok. He had turned to look but was interrupted halfway by a red beam that was all too familiar. When he had recovered, he had not seen anyone.
Shepard reached into his melted suit and activated his distress beacon, hoping that it hadn't been damaged and the Alliance would send a ship before he bled out. He spread the last of his medigel over the bullet wound on his torso, and rested his head on a steel support column, closing his eyes.
…
Admiral Hackett sat back on the captains chair of the dreadnought SSV Paris. And breathed deeply, trying to relax for a moment. Shepard and Anderson had done it. The Reapers were dead. The clean-up efforts had now begun, starting with the Reaper capital ships in orbit. The Citadel tower had exploded and that was now drifting through space towards God knows where, and the Turians, Asari, Salarians, Krogan, Batarian, Elcor, Volus and Hanar fleets had already left the system to start clean-up in their own territories.
Hackett sighed as the stress of the last few months left him, only to be replaced immediately. 'Im getting too old for this' he thought to himself.
The Geth fleet had stayed to help the humans rebuild, stating that they owed the Alliance a debt for saving them from destruction from not only the Reapers, but the Quarians as well. The Quarians were trying to catalogue their losses, something that they insisted to do is Sol rather than in their own system. Hackett couldn't blame them. They would be travelling to the other side of the galaxy and if one ship broke down along the way it would harm their entire fleet.
'Admiral im picking up a distress beacon coming from the Citadel tower' Comm Specialist Bannon stated flatly breaking Hackett out of his reflections.
'What's the designation?' Hackett asked curiously. He had seen the tower explode, Nobody should have survived that.
'One moment, Admiral' Bannon replied typing quickly on his terminal.
Hackett was an intelligent man. He knew only one person could have possibly survived that big of an explosion, and before Bannon had cleared up the signal he had opened communications to his XO.
'Howard, contact the Normandy, have them move to the Citadel tower, deploy a search and rescue squad and prep medical. Shepards alive.'
…
EDI's platform stood in the AI core room as Garrus worked to reattach her arm. Garrus was good with technology, but he was out of his depth here, and he knew it.
When Hammer rushed the beam, he found himself almost fourty meters behind Shepard, with Tali and EDI to his left and right. As they ran Harbinger fired a beam that would have hit him directly if EDI hadn't tackled him out of the way. As the beam impacted less than a meter away from EDI, her left arm had been blown off her body by the shockwave.
Tali had helped them back to their feet just as Shepard had been hit. She tried to run to him just as Hackett ordered Hammer to retreat, and Kaidan, who had been twenty meters ahead of Garrus, had to grab her and carry her to the regrouping point, kicking and screaming the entire way.
When they had returned to the Normandy, she had sprinted to deck one bawling from the loss of Shepard. Garrus tried to console her, but she had sealed the door and even managed to lock EDI out, much to the AI's annoyance.
'EDI I think I might have to leave this to someone who actually knows what they're doing' Garrus said hesitantly. He had been trying to keep busy and keep his mind off Shepard's death. But it wasn't working
'Of course, I understand' EDI replied sitting down on the bench that Legion had once used.
'I'm sorry EDI I guess with Shepard... missing, I can't really..' Garrus was interrupted mid sentence as Joker's voice blared over the intercom.
'Garrus, we have a transmission from Admiral Hackett, and you may want to hear this!'
…
Tali lay in their bed. She reached over to his side and felt nothing, Bringing a fresh wave of tears to her eyes. She didn't know how long she had been up here crying, and she didn't care. She had run up here, thrown her visor on the sofa and laid down on their bed.
She wiped the tears form her face, only for them to be replaced by new ones seconds later. The pain and grief she felt now was far worse than what it had been when Shepard died the first time. And was even worse than when her mother had died. She had bonded to Shepard. They were going to be lifemates, they had already talked about silly things like where the ceremony should take place, and who would preform it.
She hated now that she had brought it up with him. She wished she hadn't. The pain was too much.
'Tali' EDI's voice came over the intercom she thought she had disabled.
'Go away' Tali managed to choke out through her weeping, grabbing the bed covers and pulling them over her head.
'Tali, Shepard's combat armour distress beacon was activated twenty minutes ago on the Citadel tower.' EDI continued calmly.
Tali froze, her crying stopped as a small candle of hope lit the darkness she found herself in.
'He.. He's alive?' Tali whispered as if saying it louder would make it not true.
…
Kaidan piloted the shuttle out of the Normandy's cargo bay at ridiculous speeds. He wasn't too familiar with the Kodiak's controls, but until Cortez had recovered from his crash, he was the best pilot they had.
Garrus, Tali and Liara were standing behind him looking extremely impatient as the shuttle zoomed towards the tower.
'We're damned lucky the environmental fields appear to be working, so there will be oxygen inside' Kaidan mentioned.
'There, we can land where the councillors used to stand' Garrus pointed to the location.
'Yes, the beacon is coming from about halfway down the stairs' Liara replied with worry in her voice as she re-checked the scan of the tower on her omni-tool.
Tali began wringing her hands together and was silent.
Kaidan spared her a concerned glance 'We will find him Tali. Dont you worry.' he said softly
'I hope so' Tali croaked. The pain in her voice made Garrus want to weep. Liara seized Tali in a hug.
The shuttle landed in the ruins of the tower, as soon as it was down, Liara, Garrus and Tali sprinted down the stairs towards the beacon. As they turned right Garrus saw the console Admiral Kahoku had worked at and next to it, leaning back against the wall and sitting in a shallow pool of his own blood, was Shepard. He was staring up blankly through a hole in the ceiling, which offered an excellent view of Earth, dead Reapers, and the Alliance and Geth fleets.
'John!' Tali called as she slid to a stop next to him and kneeled down.
Shepard's eyes moved slowly to hers and he smiled, a smile that he reserved only for her, as his love for her saturated his eyes.
'T..Tali' He whispered he moved his hand up to the right side of her face and pulled her visor down against his forehead, a Quarian kiss. Tali began crying again, but they were tears of joy. She held his hand as Liara began scanning him and applying medigel to his wounds.
'Tali, we need to move him, he needs to get to Chakwas now!' Liara said sternly.
Garrus moved in to pick him up but Liara had already hoisted him up in the air with her biotics.
As Tali let go of his hand Shepard continued to stare deep into her eyes, and while he was moving quickly through the air, Tali kept up so that their gaze would not be broken. Shepard's eyes were full of raw emotion as he said
'Tali, I love you.'
…
The sun woke Shepard up as it crept through the blinds and treetops. He smiled at it, welcoming a new day. He felt the weight on his left shoulder shift as the sun warmed her bare arm that was draped across his chest. Her uncovered face and head snuggled into his neck with a deep breath. Shepard began stroking her hand, and as she began to wake, moved it to his lips and kissed the back of it softly. Tali replied with a kiss on his neck as she stretched her legs.
'Goodmorning Tali'Shepard' Shepard whispered gently to her.
'Goodmorning, my love' She whispered softly into his ear.
Rolling onto her back she looked around the room as she did every morning, taking pride in the home John had built for her, with a little help from the Geth.
'Did I ever tell you how much I love this house John?' She asked smiling at the model SR-2 on their desk
'Did I ever tell you how much I love you, Tali?' He countered
'Maybe once or twice' Tali replied in a playful voice. Rolling back onto her right side to face him with a huge smile.
'Anyway the house isn't done yet, we still have to build a proper garden, and a pool' John added as an afterthought while rolling on his left side to face her.
'A pool?' Tali questioned with an amused look on her face. Pools were unheard of on Rannoch as most Quarians lived next to the coast on on a river and they could cool off in the ocean.
'Well, the way I figure, Quarians have got to learn how to swim again, and im going to teach you, love' Shepard said with a boyish smile on his face, tapping her nose.
'That sounds wonderful' Tali purred as she leaned in and kissed him lovingly on the lips.
Their kiss lasted a long time, but when they finally broke apart, love could not have been more evident on Tali's face. She took his hands in hers and squeezed tight.
John leaned in so their foreheads were touching and whispered
'I am never going to let you go Tali. You wanted more time, so here, have my life' As he guided her right hand to his heart.
Tali let those words sink in as she stared deep into his eyes. After a while, she led his right hand to her heart.
'And you mine'
…
Epilogue
Javik was killed while rushing the beam. The Hanar made the anniversary of his death a public holiday, and his words and deeds were added to the Hanar's most sacred texts.
James Vega was seriously injured while rushing the beam with Javik and Commander Shepard, however, after months of recovery, he was finally able to complete the N7 program, and has achieved the rank of Captain. He is currently CO of the SSV Normandy SR-2.
The Geth helped the Quarians and Humans rebuild, and were given their own portion of space by the council in the Terminus Systems. They quickly moved all of their hubs and platforms into their new space and gave the Quarians back the space and resources they lost in the Morning War.
Admiral Steven Hackett retired a year after the Reaper War. He was named a hero by almost every species in existence, and has disappeared from the Galactic stage. He currently owns five-hundred hectares of land in rural Australia and is a loving grandfather to six.
Engineer Adams was offered many promotions, but he declined, stating that he proffered to remain chief engineer of the Normandy. He remained, as did Engineers Daniels and Donelly, who are currently planning their marriage.
Steve Cortez became a flight instructor, training fighter pilots out of New Arcturus Station. He visits Ferris Fields regularly to remember his husband.
Specialist Treynor became head of Alliance R&D. She speaks of her adventures with Commander Shepard fondly to her young children.
The Citadel tower was rebuilt, and the council was reformed to allow a member of each race to represent on the council. The Citadel was moved back to the Widow system with little difficulty.
Urdnot Wrex returned to Tuchanka and ushered in a new golden age of the Krogan. He united the clans and created the Krogan Parliament, which is made up of only female Krogan. Tuchanka recovered from the environmental disasters that had plagued it since the Krogan uplifting, with the help of the Salarians and Turians.
Dr. Karin Chakwas remains on the Normandy. She meets up with Shepard semi-anually for a bottle of Serrice Ice Brandy.
Kasumi Goto disappeared without a trace. However, she always remembers Tali and Shepards anniversary and has lavish gifts delivered perfectly on time.
Zaeed Messani returned to mercenary life, with some killer stories.
The Mordin Solus biography was published and is a best seller all over the galaxy.
Grunt actually calmed down a bit after his life was saved by Wrex on Earth. He is currently one of the highest ranking military officers on Tuchanka. He uses the lessons Shepard taught him, talk them down first, and if that doesn't work, then blow them apart.
Jack went back to Grissom Academy, and remains a somewhat respected teacher there.
Samara was killed by a Reaper Destroyer while rushing the beam. Her daughter, Rila continues to live in peace in the rebuilt monastary.
Miranda Lawson went to live with Oriana on Terra Nova after the war. She keeps in touch with Shepard and Jacob.
Jacob Taylor settled down with Dr. Cole and had a baby boy, Benjamin Shepard Taylor.
Kaidan Alenko was swiftly promoted to Admiral to fill David Anderson's place. He is currently in command of the Alliance fourth and fifth fleets.
EDI's body was repaired by Tali soon after as Shepard was recovered from the Citadel. Shepard even preformed the marriage rights between Joker and EDI as soon as he was able. EDI still resides on the Normandy, with her husband at the helm.
Liara T'Soni kept her position as Shadow Broker and is now moving around the galaxy in a ship of her own, the Shepard. She still makes time to catch up with her friends.
Garrus Vakarian was named Primarch of Palaven after Primarch Victus stood down soon after the war. Garrus oversaw the reconstruction of Palaven personally, going as far as helping rid cities of looters and other criminals with Palavens military forces. He still visits his two best friends, Tali and Shepard.
Shepard's story became legend. After he recovered from his injuries, he resigned his post in the Alliance and Spectres and left almost immediately for Rannoch with Tali. They built a home and adopted two girls, one Human, one Quarian. Shepard and Tali live off of the royalties from the trilogy of vids, and the series made about them, as well as a huge sum of money that was given to him from all the governments of all races. They continue to love each other, and live in peace.