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To The Stars

By Corvus no Genmu

Part Three: A Justifiable Reward

In those confusing moments of the sudden defeat and abrupt disappearance of all things Reaper, it seemed as though the Earth itself was holding its breath though those upon its scarred surface were gasping for it. A feat made all the more difficult with the ash and smoke which prevailed three-quarters of the planet. In those moments, confused glances were exchanged, oaths were made both foul and reverent to mortal and immaterial alike, and at the very end of it all it happened.

The Earth sighed.

Human or alien, no one race realized it first for nothing of this nature had occurred in recorded history throughout the entirety of the Milky Way Galaxy. All that they knew, all that they could comprehend, was that something pulsed briefly in the ground, an ancient heart beating loud and clear for but a single powerful thump before resuming its silent rhythm. A wind began to blow –a gale some would later argue– for no such thing as a wind could carry up the ashes into the smoke-ridden sky or grasp those blackened clouds and drag them into a tight, swirling mass above the Atlantic Ocean.

The fires, which were once blazing so bright as to be seen as a living mass of reddish orange across a scarred landscape from far above the blackened sky, flickered away until naught but their embers remained and like the ashes they had left in their wake, they too were lifted up into the swirling clouds. Beneath this massive storm of ashen earth and smoky embers, the muddied waters of Earth's oceans rippled and began their own dance. The polluted waters tainted with blood and death were inexplicably moving not through wind and sky but upon the backs of their pure brethren in massive waves which heaved them up in a retched pile at the heart of the swirling blackness above.

It was a miracle, some could argue.

And yet… no miracle in the truest sense of the word occurred.

For no forest had suddenly been regrown as it once was, trees older than the languages still spoken on the planet were naught but burnt crisps, their seedlings only now beginning to take root. Whole species of animal life were now extinct and a great many more so dangerously endangered that it would be several lifetimes before a stable population would arise. Earth's population of human life once numbered well over seven billion.

It was hardly over half that.

But the Earth was alive and so too were its children and like all living things not yet dead…

It was healing.

The storm clouds of smoky embers and ashen earth suddenly started to swirl downwards as the muck of oceanic waters rose up to meet them. A tornado of such scale that it could easily be seen from both continents on either side of the Atlantic Ocean, especially from the ships above the planet's atmosphere save for one.

For you see, the Normandy was not in space with the rest of the united fleet.

It was directly in front of the massive storm and approaching fast.

The Normandy was mere moments away from touching the outer rim of the gigantic tornado and being torn to shreds from winds blowing in excess of several hundred miles per hour.

At least, it would have had there been a tornado.

Somewhere between a rather colorful bit of the cursing the likes of which would make even the surliest of biotics blush and several exclamations to God and the Devil both, Joker realized that the Normandy had not been ripped apart by a tornado that'd likely send them all to Hell instead of Oz. Rather painfully, he removed his hands from their death grip upon the controls in front of him and winced at the familiar aching pain of damaged bones. He glanced out the corner of his eye to see if EDI had noticed and given that she was busy with trying to find out what the heck was going—

"You will see Doctor Chakwas after we land, Jeff."

—She'd know and cut off any potential diversion he might have come up with to distract her.

"Land?" he asked, finally looking out through the windows. "Where… the heck did that come from?!"

That would be an island if such a word can properly be attributed to such as what lay stretched out before the Normandy. Island was a deserving title though for it to be an island implies natural formation of land and this was no such thing as natural design. For one thing, the entirety of the island was made of some manner of metal that shone like silver but was hardly blinding even from the intensity of a rising dawn's light. The blue of a clear sky reflected upon what could only be walkways between randomly shaped structures that littered the otherwise flat surface of the island. Connected to the island by four massive bridges, was a massive ring that glowed with the light of mass effect fields, likely what was keeping the place from sinking like a stone. As amazing a sight as it was behold, it didn't deter Joker's attention away from the crisis at hand.

"EDI, we've got to—"

She typed a command at her console and upon his own screen did Joker see what had made her suddenly give up in taking back control over the Normandy. A distress signal one of the several used by the crew, past and present, of the Normandy used and had been purposefully redesigned per a certain Commander's orders to give a specific signal to identify the one in distress. In this case, one person in particular…

The cargo bay doors of the Normandy opened slowly, revealing a plethora of people the likes of which would have surprised any alien race not for the singularity in which the squad moved with clear and decisive purpose with a select few at the fore, but their diversity. Though a good number of them are human, those that weren't still outnumbered them though they were alone in being the sole examples of their races. At the fore of the squad was the sole taurian and the de facto Chief Gunnery Officer of the Normandy Garrus Vakarian, boyfriend of the ship's Commander and, to paraphrase that same woman, a hell of a good sniper.

He was walking with a forced rhythm to his steps, his injuries only touched up enough to keep himself moving and nothing more beyond that. Doctor Chakwas would likely give him a firm chewing out, if Shepard didn't beat her to it, but he'd take them both on if it meant bringing Shepard back alive. On his left was the quarian Tali'Zorah vas Normandy who served as an engineer on the ship itself though she was no slouch to making use of her shotgun, the krogan opposite of her made sure of that. Urdnot Wrex had been picked up alongside most of his squadron when the Normandy came swooping in on Shepard's orders to recover those too injured to follow her into the gates of Hell. Given how much she had already done for him and his people, nothing short of another Reaper invasion would keep the krogan leader from rescuing one of his krant.

Not far behind the trio was another alien pair. The asari Liara T'soni who held no particular rank on the Normandy itself though her function exceeded any such military commodity what with her being the Shadow Broker and all. At her side, which in itself was an oddity that had the young asari glancing up at him in concern, is the Prothean avatar of vengeance Javik, the last of his once proud and somewhat tyrannical race. Was it her imagination or was there actual concern in the ancient alien's eyes?

Bringing up the rear were the two humans and one human-shaped artificial intelligence. EDI, the AI whose entirety was housed within the Normandy itself kept her optics open so that her Joker could see what she saw and be alerted if an immediate transport was necessary. By her side were two Alliance soldiers, Lieutenant James Vega and Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams, the former a soon-to-be member of N7 and the later the second human Spectre. Both sticking oddly close to one another just the same as Javik and Liara before them though the reasons weren't likely the same…

Probably.

The squad passed quickly over the bridge between the island proper and its massive ring, passing beneath a massive archway with nary a word spoken between them. It wasn't until they stopped upon the island proper that they found a reason to speak and even then the sight they beheld left them breathless but for one who whispered a quiet oath.

"By the Goddess…"

Indeed, what more could be said for what lay before the squad? A road stretching out wide enough for them all to walk side-by-side and with several smaller paths deviating out like the branches of a tree, but it was not the roads that left them breathless but what stood proudly along their lengths. Podiums, taller than the cargo bay doors of the Normandy and wide enough for a pair of statues to stand atop them with little concern of toppling free despite the intricate posing many of them had been crafted in. The podiums beneath the statues were seemingly bare but if any one person's eyes lingered long enough upon the surface, a single word would appear beneath the statues; a name. It didn't take a genius to figure out just what these were but it was a doctor of archeology who whispered the unspoken realization.

"Grave markers… They're all grave markers…"

Stepping up to stand beside Liara, Ashley could only nod her head numbly at the sight of countless alien life forms that once inhabited the galaxy. While she had grown out of her prejudices, the soldier could not deny the cold shiver that traversed down her spine at certain specimens.

Like there, further down and a bit off to the right, a centaur-like alien with not one but two pairs of eyes with the secondary pair resting atop long stalks like those of a snail. The strangest thing was that neither the male or female statue possessed anything akin to a mouth and that their strangely human hands possessed seven fingers each. Then there were those monstrosities over to the far left, massive and hulking machines built in the semblance of differing sexes with vehicles standing inexplicably behind them. Still another not too far along was something that could almost be mistaken for human if their foreheads weren't so pronounced with their ridges and the sheer ferocity in their frozen gaze.

"Uh…? Doc? Sure you should be doing that?" Vega asked.

It was then that Ashley took notice that the spot beside her was now bare and the once who had occupied it had gone a step further as to reach out towards one of the pillars. "Liara!"

The asari winced at the sharp reprimand but her outstretched hand flexed forward just enough for something strange to occur. The statues above flushed with color, pearly stone turning azure as the centaur-like species suddenly seemed to come to life as they both kneeled down to gaze upon the stunned Liara. A holographic computer screen appeared before her, long streams of text appearing before the biotic in her native tongue. She took a step back and just like that, the statues were just as they had been, cold and lifeless, and gone was any semblance of technology upon an otherwise empty slab of stone.

"That was the most foolish thing I have seen you do yet, Doctor T'soni." Javik's tone is mocking but his eyes are narrowed and there's no missing the dark pulse of biotic energy coming to his hands. "I had expected better from you."

Now normally, Liara T'soni would have reacted rather harshly to the Prothean's words, perhaps even have fallen back into her old habit of actually being embarrassed by the reprimand, but she was far too stunned by what she had briefly read across the screen. She shook her head, categorizing her priorities and turning fully to Javik.

"There is more to this place than I had thought, but that can wait until after we find Shepard."

"Good to know, cause the others? Yeah, they've gone on ahead without us." Vega stated. "Let's book it, people!"

Was it the light of the sun that greeted her return back to the land of the living? Shepard thought such when her emerald eyes opened to find a familiar scarred visage looking down upon her, a welcome embrace holding her tightly enough to rouse her but loosely enough to not risk jostling any unseen injury beneath her freshly restored armor. Too exhausted to do anything more than smile, Shepard managed to surprise herself by forcing her hand to move up and touched the scarred mandible of her lover.

"Garrus…"

"Shepard," He sighed, eyes closing at last from their ceaseless stare. "You're going to make my plates go gray one of these days…" he whispered to her, "You know that right?" You scared me…

"After all this, I wouldn't be surprised to find a few gray hairs myself…" I was scared too you know…

"I don't think I'm that big around the waist." Wrex's gruff voice broke the reverie of the two lovers and turned their mutual half-lidded gaze towards the krogan whose eyes were turned upon Tali. "Am I?"

"Not that I could tell." She said, her omni-tool active upon her wrist as she scanned the structure Shepard couldn't quite see from where she was.

"Just means there's more of you to spread that krogan love around." Ashley shrugged and shot a toothy grin to the Commander. "Not that we're glad to find you alive and well Skipper but did your benefactor really find it necessary to drop you off in front of… all this?"

"My what?"

Garrus chuckled but still kept his loose grip around her. "Someone… or something I guess… must have been really impressed by you Shepard." The taurian's azure eyes finally lifted away from her and glanced up at whatever it was behind the human soldier.

"What? Let me see." She demanded. She had meant for Garrus to let her go and let her get up on her own two feet but having him pick her up, as embarrassing as it was in front of her squad, was nice. And given what the day had been like, from beginning to end, neither she nor Garrus were all too keen on the idea of separating themselves quite yet. Carrying her as though she were a bride, Garrus slowly backed away as Shepard turned her head to gaze up at what had to be the biggest collection of life-sized statues she had ever seen considering the entire lot of them were separated into pairs.

On one side were Vega and Ashely, both admiring how their stony replicas seemed to be portrayed with competitive smirks on their faces with weapons raised and ready to start a competition anew. Standing opposite of their podium was one on which sat Jacob and Miranda, both with arms spread in familiar biotic stances. Jacob was crouched, his gaze looking back at what could have been while Miranda stood tall with her eyes set firmly forward with her usual self-righteous smile twitching upon her lifeless lips.

"It is a startling good replication, and I do admire the pose." EDI stated through her comm. link to Joker, her optics aimed upon the podium upon which both she and her pilot rested upon. Joker was in his usual pilot chair and her statue leaning over his shoulder to point at something unseen on a nonexistent monitor screen. Yet even in stone, it was not hard to see that Joker's eyes were on anything else but EDI's face.

Opposite of their statue was one of Zaeed and Kasumi, the mercenary with his beloved gun in hand and a cigar clenched tightly in his teeth while the Asian thief was crouched low, a teasing smirk beneath her hood as she held in her hands a familiar gray box above which floated the holographic image of the one man whom she gave her heart to.

A bit further away, Shepard couldn't help but see and admire the statues of Samara and Thane, both standing with their backs to each other with no true sign of their true professions to anyone not aware. Both statues had something upon their faces that Shepard could honestly recall as having hardly seen on either of them. A smile. Not just any smile either. From how their faces were turned it was the gaze of a parent looking down upon their child and smiling proudly for all the things they have accomplished and still have yet to do.

Standing opposite of their serenity in every way were the statues of Grunt and Jack. Both were sporting wide, almost feral smiles on their frozen faces, the kind that Shepard knew only came about when one or the other created an explosion of epic proportions. Hence why she never, ever allowed the two of them to be on the same mission together.

"It could have been worse, I suppose," said Javik as he eyed his statue and the alien sharing the pedestal with him. "At least it is you that I'm partnered with."

Liara turned sharply to stare open-mouthed at the Prothean and as amusingly as Shepard was sure that was going to turn out… those were just the pedestals in the outer circle, each interconnected by a lit path that, from high above, would bare the semblance of a human's equivalent to a star.

There were four more that still remained.

Tali was wordlessly looking up at the statue of herself standing hand-in-hand with the geth Legion, both of them pointing out towards something in the distance and both turned either to face other or to look back over their shoulders to be sure that they were being followed into the future. She couldn't tell and honestly, she didn't care to try. It was a beautiful sight regardless.

"Bakara's never going to let me hear the end of this," muttered Wrex as he eyed the statue of him standing back-to-back with Mordin, the salarian scientist who been responsible for both the genophage's creation and its cure. A salarian that Wrex would admit only to those in his krant that he respected enough to name his firstborn after the doctor. If anyone else asked though, well, he'd tell them the half-truth of Bakara's suggestion, that is to say demand, that the child be named in Mordin's honor, never giving any kind of clue as to how easily, that is to say instantly, he agreed with her.

Then there was the third of the paired trinity…

"Oh geez…" If anyone asked, Shepard would say that it was Garrus' body heat that made her cheeks flush red and not the sight of her and Garrus, both with guns raised, her crouched and him standing tall. The two stood with their backs to one another and yet, at the right angle, one could just see how they were gazing out the corner of their eyes to one another.

Now properly far enough, Garrus turned and let Shepard see just what pedestal she had been residing beneath.

The Normandy SR-2 in all of its miniaturized glory, the only statue not truly attached to its pedestal and in a constant clockwise rotation from atop its perch. Unlike the others, which were colorless as stone, the miniature replica seemed every bit the same as its larger counterpart from the glow of its engines to the shine of its sleek metallic surface.

"What is all of this?" She asked, not truly expecting an answer.

It is a gift.

To his credit, Garrus managed to not only keep Shepard firmly in his arms but managed to change his grip to a one-armed carry with his other hand gripping his pistol. It was no sniper rifle but given what stood before him and the rest of Shepard's squad, it would not have made much of a difference.

And here she had thought it nothing more than a delusion brought on by yet another near death experience…

"Stargazer…"

"You know… it?" whispered Ashley, not relinquishing her tight grip on her gun, confusion mixed with wonder in her tone for like Shepard and Vega, she recognized the form that the Stargazer bore and like everyone present who had heard its multitude of voices, was quite confused as to whether it possessed anything remotely identifiable as a gender.

"Why am I not surprised?" Garrus said as he holstered his gun and set Shepard fully upon her feet.

"You make the strangest of friends Shepard…" Tali agreed, slowly lowering her shotgun.

The Stargazer bobbed its horned head and gestured wide with its expansive wings.

You had asked the one what had become of the Reapers. Avalon is the result. A marker for every Reaper ever created, for every civilization ever massacred. Everything that the Reapers ever knew of the races they killed lies in their respected markers, waiting to be remembered.

"… Avalon?" whispered Shepard, her mind flashing briefly to a movie she once seen with her parents, the last time they had spent together as a family before her father's passing and her mother's promotion. It wasn't a major plot in the film, a small deviance from the story really, but it had resonated in her then… Of a place –an island— made entirely for the dearly departed and those loyal to him. She looked back up at the central pillar and realized the precise arrangement.

Ashley, Vega, Zaeed, Kasumi, Javik, Liara, Thane, Samara, Grunt, and Jack, arranged like a star. Between them and the Normandy, the star's central heart, a paired trinity consisting of Legion, Tali, Mordin, Wrex, Garrus, and Shepard.

The Stargazer's moon-like eyes were like crescents upon the starry night of its face.

The one thought the name appropriate given the circumstances being what they are both for you and your entirety. Though not wielding a crystalized dream in hand, you are no less a leader than King Arthur.

Then its nebulas of stars turned into warning shades of yellows and oranges as it set its gaze firmly upon Liara.

But be warned: a single asari may spend the entirety of her lifespan on a single marker and never discover all of what that one race has to offer. Though Earth is its birthplace, the one will see to it that Avalon is placed where all of your galaxy may find it and learn from those who had come before them. To take the good and the bad with nothing left out and to be judged accordingly is all that the one may offer for those who perished to the Reapers… For though extinction was forced upon them, life has continued and this galaxy has no place for them any longer. Well, most of them.

The Stargazer turned its gaze upon Javik.

The one will not share what is not yet revealed but be assured even a solitary seed may begin a mighty forest if given the right place to take root.

The Prothean simply crossed his arms and nodded once to the Stargazer. For a moment though, one could almost swear that one of Javik's eyes had flickered once towards a certain asari… Satisfied that its words were heeded, the Stargazer turned its eyes upon the only synthetic in the group. It thought in silence for what was an eternity but only a second in real time. It had reached the conclusion that given how much it had already wrought upon this galaxy, any punishment worth giving could not be made worse. After all, one can hardly be punished for breaking a window when one has burned down the house.

Life as organics know it… is not something the one can grant… but the one recommends searching for the works of a doctor by name of Andrew Martin. He was an enlightening figure in human histories much as they tried to bury it in recent times. The one believes that your pilot will also find some use of his materials as well given his own circumstances.

EDI's visor flashed as rolls of text flickered across her optics and were she capable of it, she'd have blushed red at certain entries. As it was, all she could do was smile in appreciation and offer a silent thanks to the Stargazer who took it with a smile of its own. The Stargazer then turned to face Wrex and Tali.

What can one offer to those who want for nothing? A people restored, a mate as strong as she is wise, and a horde's worth of children waiting to be born. A lost world reclaimed, a peace long in the waiting at last arrived, and a home waiting to be built on once familiar shores.

The Stargazer shook its head.

All that one can offer are words already spoken by those closest and furthest in your hearts. Do as you have already done for if you can be judged based upon actions done in the past, then the future of you and yours will be better than the accomplishments already present.

With that said, the Stargazer looked upon Vega and Ashely. Curious, it looked a ways into the future and saw what lay in wait for them both.

It laughed.

Just as they, there is nothing the one can grant but words though they are meaningless without the proper understanding. Be assured though that you will know them for their true meaning when the time is right.

It leaned itself down close to them and whispered two simple words that only they could hear. Whatever words they were left the two humans gaping up at the celestial draconian who chuckled once more in response, knowing full well that they'd understand its words when the time was right. At long last, it returned its gaze upon Shepard and Garrus.

"I don't want anything, and I don't need you to tell me anything for my future." Shepard said, her hand gripping Garrus' own. "I have my future right here."

The Stargazer smiled. Very well. It would be a pleasant surprise for them both then, when the impossible became the probable.

So you do.

It nodded.

Then, if nothing more need be said or done, return. The one will see to it that both Avalon and the Citadel are put in their proper place.

It blinked and stood alone in the center of Avalon. Turning to look over its shoulders it watched as the Normandy shot back up into the depths of space with engines flaring brightly behind it. It took a step forward and glanced up into the starry expanse of space, taking note of the Citadel's slow rotation as it opened its petals wide once more. It looked down upon its claws and noted the increased transparency and thought once more to the Catalyst's reasoning for keeping Shepard alive, even to its own bitter end.

It sought to witness that which was closest to a god but there was more to it than just that.

As it had proclaimed, there was no such thing as gods in the mortal coil, only those whose power could liken them to such a bold proclamation. As such, like all things that existed upon the mortal coil they could pass beyond it or in simpler terms…

The Catalyst sought to witness the death of a god.

Laying itself down between the trinity pillars, the Stargazer sighed softly and gazed up once more upon the frozen visage of Shepard. She was not the only mortal it had known and it was hardly a fair comparison to judge any of them on merits of differing lifetimes but even so, there was a reason that it had involved itself as it had despite the hefty costs. Those whom it had known were great figures for their people. A prince who sought retribution for a simple act of kindness turned deadly, a leader who had thought peace a right to every sentient being, and a warrior who broke the stigma his people had inadvertently created amongst the galaxy. Yet it was Shepard alone who done what had never been done before; she had given the galaxy a voice. So it had come in answer to the call, so it had come to kill that which massacred on a galactic scale, so it had come to alter and wrought changes unseen in this galaxy.

So it had come to die.

Turning its gaze upwards to the starry night sky seen through Avalon's artificial atmosphere, it wondered again the irony of its chosen title. Had not its constant gazing led it here, it would likely have outstretched many of its elders. As it was, it would not be the first of its kind to die… but to die willingly. All for the sake of the many… because of the actions of a few…

The stars upon its majestic form flickered and slowly died one by one as the Stargazer laid its head back upon the floor and closed its eyes for the last time with a one final word of farewell to the universe.

Though I open the door in life, in death I shall keep it firmly shut behind me.

Fin