Disclaimer: Bioware owns the Mass Effect series and the characters within it. I only own the OC's and non-canon elements of the plot.

Days After Shepard's Death, Thessia

POV: Marcus Garvil

The next several weeks went by without incident. The data was slow to decrypt, and a lot of the information we ended up with was useless to our investigation. We had pressured the Council to send any possible upgrades to our decryption equipment to speed up the process, but we ended up getting nothing.

Weeks had passed and nothing we could use had come up in the data cache yet. Sriphina spent most of her time helping the computer decrypt the data, and I was often going out into the town to stop myself from going insane. We left the hideout together to stock up on supplies or to get some fresh air sometimes, but I was getting restless. Every day we spent doing nothing was one day closer to the Gray Rose finishing their plan.

At this point, I could find my way back to the hideout without any trouble. To stop myself from sitting around and worrying all day, I went out and tried to find information the old fashioned way: By going out and talking to people.

I realized quickly what Sriphina meant in her warning when I arrived. Spectres aren't universally liked on Thessia, especially non-asari spectres. It became just as frustrating trying to find information as waiting around for the data to decode. Two weeks were all I needed to decide that staying at the hideout was less stressful than trying to get more information.

One evening, I parked myself down on the couch. I could hear my companion typing away at the terminal in the next room, a normal noise. I turned on the video terminal and checked the Galactic News for an update on the rebuilding process. I kept close tabs on this, as I wanted to make sure our fight against Saren didn't end in permanent damage to the galactic community. I knew the Reapers were going to come one day, and we needed the galaxy at its best to be able to combat them.

My blood chilled when I heard the day's headline. A female human reporter I didn't recognize was on the screen with a picture of Shepard in the corner. She was already speaking, so I forced myself to calm down and listen.

"...dismayed to report that the hero of the Battle of the Citadel last month died several days ago in the Amada System. The Normandy SR-1, an experimental frigate constructed with both Human and Turian resources, was completely destroyed by an unknown assailant."

I blinked in shock. Shepard, dead?

"Initial reports say that over eighty percent of the crew made it out alive."

I smiled at that piece of news. Hopefully, Garrus and Liara were among them.

"Councilor Anderson has agreed to an exclusive interview. As humanity's representative on the Council, we are honored to have him on our show." The reporter stopped speaking for a moment as the screen changed to fit both her and Anderson's faces.

"Welcome, Councilor. We're honored to have you on the show," the reporter began. She couldn't stop herself from grinning like a buffoon.

Anderson smiled back. "I'm glad to be here. Commander Shepard was a good friend,"he responded. His tone had a hint of sad reminiscence. I was a little surprised. Although I knew Anderson wasn't much for politics, I would have thought he'd hide his emotions better now that he was humanity's Councilor.

The reporter nodded and began asking her first question without any other formalities. "So, Councilor Anderson. You were the first Captain of the Normandy. Is this true?" Anderson simply nodded. "And you willingly stepped down to allow him to take control of it when he became a Spectre?" Anderson's response was another nod. I raised an eyebrow at his willingness to use facial language rather than words to answer her questions, but I knew he wasn't much of a politician.

The reporter nodded as if the responses were completely natural. "What was going through your head when this happened?" She cocked her head to hear his response better. I didn't realize this until now, but I was curious as well.

Anderson smiled again. "Spectres are the will of the Council. When Shepard became a Spectre, it only made sense for him to have control of one of the most advanced frigates in the Alliance. I never once regretted that choice, and I know it was the correct one. So to answer your question, I'm proud that I was given an opportunity to help him complete his mission."

I was impressed with how Anderson tackled the question. He gave up command of a state-of-the-art ship before his retirement, and he had only positive things to say about it. I had to hand it to him; he had earned a new level of respect from me.

The reporter nodded again before shifting the papers in front of her around. "The word is that you trespassed into the Ambassador's Office and committed assault just so he could escape from his house arrest. Is this true?"

Anderson raised an eyebrow. "I did what I had to in order to keep Saren from taking the Citadel. I don't regret it for one second."

The reporter decided not to pursue that further, instead opting to change the subject. "Last question, Councilor. How did you feel when you found out that Shepard had been killed in action?"

Anderson sighed and looked down for a moment. "Shepard was a symbol of what humanity could achieve. He became a spectre and took another one down in the span of a few months. He will be sorely missed by the entire galactic community."

The reporter waited a moment to make sure Anderson was finished, then grinned at the camera. "Thank you, Councilor."

Anderson nodded in acknowledgment and flashed a grin at the camera before the screen shifted back to the reporter. I decided to shut off the terminal, not wanting to hear what else the reporter had to say about Shepard. I leaned back and shook my head in disbelief.

The Reapers are coming, and our hope of defeating them may have just been taken away. I began to feel fear, knowing that if we still had a chance, it was up to me to make a difference. No one else both knew the threat and had any influence.

I stood up and walked into the room with all the equipment, stopping behind Sriphina and peering over at the contents she was busy translating. She looked up at me and frowned when she noticed my dismayed expression. "What's going on?" she asked, probing for what would've caused me to be so dejected.

I sat down on the chair next to hers and clasped my hands together, leaning forward against my legs. I took a deep sigh before responding. "Shepard's dead," I said softly. It felt like a betrayal to say it out loud, but Sriphina appeared to take it much less harshly than I did. I wasn't surprised, but it hurt regardless.

"Military men are like that, going off and dying for no reason," she responded with a calm indifference. I sighed in exasperation and stood up, towering over her seated form. She looked up at me with a surprised gaze, obviously not expecting this sort of a response. Then again, she might not have known about my involvement with Shepard.

I glared for a moment before I spoke. "Shepard was more than a 'military man'. He was a friend who helped me when there was little reason to. He's the reason I'm here right now," I told her. My voice had gotten more and more cold as I spoke, and I could tell it was having a small effect by the time I finished speaking. I didn't wait for a response, instead opting to immediately turn and storm out of the room. At the door, I turned back. "I'll be back," I stated before walking towards the front door and letting myself out. I needed time to think and process this.

I traversed the alleyway, lost in my thoughts. I was beginning to wonder why I was here. He was waiting around for a terrorist plot to finish while the Reapers likely grew closer and closer to finding a way to bypass the Citadel. I rubbed my temples and closed my eyes, struggling to get the stress under control. I lowered my arms back to my sides when I exited the maze of alleys, searching for a place to think.

Soon enough, I found a place to sit in front of a lake. I sat and stared, trying to clear my head and accept the fact that Shepard wouldn't be able to help in their future fight against the Reapers.

I sat there for hours, staring into the lake and sorting my thoughts as the Thessian sun lowered towards the horizon. When I finally stood up to go back, the darkness of night had engulfed the town. It fit my mood perfectly.

The data turned out to be a huge wealth of information, unfortunately for far more than the plot I had been sent to stop. As I slowly got over Shepard's death, Sriphina began finding snippets of information regarding the Gray Rose's preparations for the plot. As soon as we found any way to delay them, we immediately took the opportunity to do so. I had to smile when we found the piece of information regarding the projected length of the plan. The grand finale was scheduled for the month before, so our delaying work was doing wonders.

Eight months after Shepard's death, after several false leads, we found our biggest tip yet. We found out the name of the agent referenced in the first piece of info we had decoded. Helena Guartano, the terminal read.

We cross referenced the name into various databases, but found precious little to help our investigation. All we had found out was the name of the ship. Even then, it felt like useless information. If this plot was important enough to the Gray Rose that they spend close to a year doing everything they could to pull it off, they wouldn't make a rookie mistake like using that ship.

We persevered and kept complicating their operations for two more months. We finally got our last break a full eleven months and one week after I first set foot on Thessia. One of the last caches in the data pile was the master plan of the plot. My face paled when I read the first section of it for the first time.

You are to send our agent to the Citadel and give her access to the Council. Once she is in place, we can begin the revolution we've planned for.

Revolution? What revolution?

Sriphina stood up and flashed a victorious grin. "We hit the mother lode," she said excitedly as she directed the decryption program to finish that section. She stretched and moved over to one of the other terminals in the room. "Let's see who's around to give us a ride," she stated softly to herself as she began going through the docking bay directories.

After a moment, she turned off the terminal and turned to me. "The Thenda Ral is in the city. She's available to take us to the Citadel tomorrow. Better rest up, the rest of the document will be decrypted in a few hours," she ordered as she marched past me out of the room. I blinked after her as she walked past me, then shook my head. I never understood her then, and I still don't now.

The night was uneventful. I slept on the couch for several hours until Sriphina woke me up with an excited grin on her face. "The entire case has been cracked," she hurriedly stated as I sat up and leaned against the back. My body didn't appreciate the sudden change to being awake, and all I wanted to do was go back to sleep.

"Marcus, they want to kill the Council," she began. I cocked my head, making it clear that this confused me.

"Aren't they a Thessian terrorist group?" I asked in return. "Why would they go for the Council?"

Sriphina sighed in annoyance and tapped her head a few times. "Think, Marcus. The revolution they referred to. They're an extremist group that wants only Asari on the council."

I leaned forward against my legs and shook my head. "That's ludicrous. They won't have the same military and intelligence branch without the turians and salarians. I can understand them having problems with humans being on the Council, but this entire thing is too extreme."

Sriphina sighed again. "It's no different from Cerberus," she responded in frustration. "Do you know anything about them?"

That earned her a glare. I hadn't told her about my adventure against them. "More than you think," I shot back unhelpfully.

Sriphina ignored me and continued. "Cerberus wants humanity alone in power. They're insane as well, but think about it Marcus. That doesn't make them any less dangerous."

I stood up and blinked away sleep from my eyes. "I see your point. When do we leave?" I asked, suppressing a large yawn.

"Right now," she said as she turned towards the door. "Everything we need is already aboard. All we need to do now is get there," she explained with a glance back. I shrugged and followed her.

We hired a shuttle to bring us to the docking bay. Reyna flashed us a large grin when we stepped out, then motioned for us to follow her onto the ship. The asari crew looked less surprised to see me this time. I assumed part of it was because Sriphina was with us.

As we traveled, I spent a lot of time in my room. Although being the only human on a ship full of asari was the obvious reason, there was one other that bugged me far more. While the asari I had been fighting with always had an air of cold determination, she was also one of the only people alive that can understand my situation. She was used to fighting in difficult situations, and her opinion on my situation would be invaluable. Sriphina could have an answer.

On the fourth day of our flight to the Citadel, I decided to tell her. I knocked on the door of Sriphina's room. "Come in," she ordered from inside, so I activated the door and stepped in. She glanced up from the terminal before turning it off and standing. I sat down on the bed wordlessly and she followed, giving me a questioning gaze. "What is it?" she asked, noticing that my eyes showed worry.

"I've been thinking about the whole situation," I began slowly, unsure of how she'd respond.

She raised an eyebrow. "What did you come up with?" she asked with curiosity. I felt a pang of annoyance at her bluntness.

"The Gray Rose, the Citadel, Saren, everything." I hesitated a moment before I spoke further, opting to stare down into the ground instead. "I never told you about the reason I'm a spectre."

She raised an eyebrow. "I've seen you fight," she answered back. "I haven't seen any human do what you've done. It's obvious."

I shook my head. "No, that's not the reason," I shot back. I immediately felt guilty at how hard I had snapped at her, but she got under my skin very easily ever since our fight months ago. "I was part of the team that took down Saren."

She blinked at me, then started laughing. "I thought so. I was suspicious when I saw the reports, and your response to Shepard's death made it obvious," she explained confidently. "The Council is very picky with their spectres, and only a privileged few get accepted."

I shrugged, giving myself a moment to find something to say. "You don't understand what really happened," I said after a moment. "I endangered the mission because I couldn't handle the pressure. It gave me permanent nerve damage. I can't use my biotics too much or it flares and paralyzes me."

She nodded. "Hmm, so that's why you couldn't move," she said softly to herself, referencing the mission that caused us to get the data cache in the first place. "So what does this have to do with the Gray Rose?" she added on.

I took a moment before responding. "I crippled myself from my own mistake, and I've lost more than enough friends already. I was trained to do the most difficult jobs from the Alliance, but I've lost enough people that I'm not sure it's worth the price anymore," I explained.

Sriphina leaned back, placing her hands on the bed to take the weight. "Who exactly did you lose?" she asked, her voice softer than I expected.

I leaned forward with my arms on my knees. "Before I joined Shepard, I was part of a highly skilled team that was sent to put a Cerberus research facility out of business. We succeeded, but everyone on my team was killed." My voice broke, and I gave myself a moment before continuing. "When we went to Therum to go after Liara, I snapped and used all my biotic power to kill a krogan battlemaster. That's where I got my nerve damage."

Sriphina nodded, but remained silent.

"Later on, I found out that my mother died weeks after it happened, and I had a fight with my father about it. Neither of us have tried to speak to the other since," I explained, voice suddenly dropping to a whisper. I shook my head to get the memories to leave before speaking further. "Next, I had to choose for one person to die on Virmire. It was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make."

I stood up and walked towards the large round cabinet in the middle of the room. Leaning against it, I faced the front door with Sriphina to my left. "None of that hit me harder than Shepard," I finalized with, eyes becoming unfocussed from my stare.

"Shepard saved the Council," Sriphina explained back to me. "He was a hero and a martyr. His death affected everyone," she continued. Her voice gave the hint of condescension, as if she were annoyed at having to state the obvious to me. She sat up and leaned forward on her legs the way I had done moments before.

I shook my head. "You don't understand, Sriphina. Shepard was the first person who truly gave me a chance to succeed. After I nearly killed myself, he took the time to make sure I got enough medical care to be battle worthy again." I looked directly into her eyes with a piercing gaze. "It might have delayed the mission for too long, but he did it anyway. When I attacked a crew member, he understood my reasons and defended it when almost every other captain would have court marshaled me on the spot. When the mission was over, despite all of this, he told the Council that they should instate me as a spectre."

Sriphina sat there silent for a moment, then stood up and stretched. "Sounds like you were more than just a crew mate to him. You almost sound like you were mates," she added lightly. I shot her a fierce glare and walked towards the door. "Calm down," she stated behind me. "I was just joking. Obviously he meant a lot to you. I'm surprised, actually."

I rolled my eyes and opened the door. "You don't understand what it's like to have a friend like that," I shot back coldly before stepping through. "You make me sick."

I didn't wait for a response, instead shutting the door and marching back to my own room.

The rest of the ride was uneventful, although it was partly because I kept my distance from Sriphina. She never tried to speak to me again after our talk, which made it considerably easier. Some of the crew noticed and tried to find out why, but I began ignoring them the moment they made it clear they wanted me to tell them. They got the hint fast, and began leaving me alone.

When the ship approached the Citadel, I wasn't looking forward to knowing what Sriphina would say.

I didn't have to. She was strictly business, just like on Thessia. We took a shuttle to the Citadel Tower, where Sriphina said the agent would be. My heart began to pound as we got closer, displaying my nervousness to myself. We stepped out of the shuttle and began to march towards the tower while I tried my hardest to keep it under control.

The tower loomed above us soon enough, the height intimidating rather than impressive this time. We walked in and took the elevator towards the top, ready to see the Council and warn them of the plot. When the elevator stopped, my heart skipped a beat.

The agent from the Gray Rose was there. I had seen her picture, and this was definitely her.

"Stop!" I yelled at her as I pulled out my pistol and aimed it at her face. "Turn around and put your hands in the air." Sriphina followed my lead and pulled out her assault rifle.

The three alien councilors stared at me in shock. Anderson simply gave me a small smile. Sparatus shot us a glare when the shock began wearing off, then addressed us in a cold voice. "What is going on?"

I stepped forward slowly as the asari agent in question turned and raised her hands with a cold scowl. "Helena Guantaro is going to kill you if she isn't stopped," Sriphina said loudly as we drew closer, keeping her assault rifle steady. "They're going to use your deaths to place an all-asari council in power."

Helena gave a small grin. "So you figured it out," she said coldly. She quickly reached into her armor and pulled out a small cylinder, hovering her thumb over the top. "Make any more movements, and this entire room gets blown out of the sky."

I stopped moving, but didn't lower my gun. I scowled, my frustration deepening with each passing second.

The asari gave another cold smile. "Don't think about killing me either. The moment I die, there's a failsafe that sets off the bomb regardless." She looked around at the guards in the room, .

I lowered my pistol and looked into my hands, suddenly getting an idea. I thought back and remembered that Sriphina told me I instantly appeared next to one of the Gray Rose members in the warehouse. I activated my biotics and focused on Helena, unsure how exactly I had done it last time. Sriphina gave me a confused glance, but I ignored her and concentrated.

Helena didn't notice. She had already turned back towards the Council. "If you step down peacefully, you can live," she threatened. "We will get what we want whether you're dead or alive. Better to do it the easy way."

I thought back to when I used a biotic charge against the Gray Rose. How did I do it? I forced myself to calm down and thought logically about the situation. I looked up towards the asari agent and narrowed my eyes, letting out a small grin. I had an idea.

I took a deep breath and imagined myself at her side and pushing her away. Smiling to myself, I felt a strong flare in my biotics as it came true. Helena stumbled forward, the detonator flying out of her hands. She stumbled over the edge towards the garden where I had fought Sovereign a full year ago, and I grabbed her leg just in time to stop her from falling down to what was likely her death. I glared as I pulled her up. Several guards began crowding us, but I ignored them.

"Your little plan is over," Sriphina coldly told the agent as she walked up with her assault rifle lowered. "You have no weapon against the Council anymore. Surrender now, and you might be given mercy."

Helena scowled, but did nothing else as the C-Sec officers pulled her up. When she was dragged past Sriphina, the failed assassin spat in her face in contempt. Sriphina smirked and slapped her harshly in return. I rolled my eyes and turned towards the Council. "I'm sorry this had to happen," I told them as I stood straight again.

Tevos grinned at us in gratitude. "No need to be. You just saved not only our lives, but possibly many more. Who knows what would have happened if their plan went through? We would've probably had a bigger war than the one we just finished," she explained. "You two are to be commended. You've done the galaxy a great service today."

I nodded and grinned back, catching Anderson's knowind nod in the process.

"Both of you have earned a rest," Valern continued. He nodded curtly at us. "Stay on the Presidium for a few days and enjoy yourselves. We'll call for you when we need you again."

I nodded and turned, but Anderson spoke up next. "Marcus," he said, causing me to turn back with a curious look in my eye.

He waited a moment, then nodded. "Meet me in my office in fifteen minutes. There's something important we have to discuss."

I raised an eyebrow, but he shook his head in finality. I nodded and turned back around, walking with Sriphina towards the entrance. "Looks like we're done working together for now," she told me. "I've been going after the Gray Rose for decades. I don't think they'd send me anywhere else."

I shrugged. "Who knows," I responded almost sarcastically. "They might think you need a break from fighting terrorists."

She rolled her eyes. "Right. Anyway, it was fun working with you. I hope we meet again." She accented her last sentence with an extended hand. I debated with myself for a moment, but I decided in the end to grab it, giving it a single firm shake before walking out of the tower.

I walked into Anderson's office fifteen minutes later to find him sitting at his desk. He nodded to me and motioned towards one of the seats on the other side of his desk. I sat and waited for him to speak.

He typed for a moment on his console, then leaned back and turned his gaze to me. "There's something disturbing we've found out about recently," he began. I raised an eyebrow, but let him continue.

He sighed and stood up. "It's about Shepard. We got an anonymous message recently that both Cerberus and the Collectors are interested in his body."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Wouldn't it be mostly rotten by now?" I responded, clearly confused. I knew Shepard was an important person in life, but I never would have thought anyone would be interested in a rotting corpse. Regardless, I was interested in finding out more.

Anderson shrugged. "Apparently not," he responded calmly. "The one who sent the message appeared to know a lot about it. If this person knows anything about Shepard's body and what Cerberus and the Collectors want with it, our best interests lie in finding out."

"I understand. Is there any indication where I should go?"

Anderson nodded back. "Yes. The message was specifically for you." Alarm bells began to ring in my head. There was someone who was interested in Shepard, had knowledge that I wouldn't think very many people would think of, and knew my identity on top of that. It sounded more and more like a trap by the second.

I let Anderson continue, knowing that he probably had thought this all through.

"I would assume that our mysterious contact here would have a plan for when you get there. But as to where you're going, it's someplace even more interesting than Thessia."

He sat down in the chair again, his gaze becoming even more serious. "The message is from Illium."

A/N: I have a few quick announcements before ending this chapter.

First, Chapter 18 will likely take longer than usual. A lot of the earlier chapters are going to see changes, and I'd like these changes to be done before I go on since some of them are going to change how the story continues.

Second, this is for anyone who likes roleplaying. One of my friends, LarugeNoa, has come up with a very interesting story taking place 100 years after the end of Mass Effect 3. I've seen some of what she has planned, and I can tell a lot of thought has gone into it. If you're interested in joining it, the link to it is in my profile. Everyone is welcome to join.

Third, I'd like to thank Abstract1106 and Carleen for dedicating several hours of their time to helping me improve my story. I'd like to thank Roseria Sylvester and TheRev28 for their ongoing help as well. Every little bit is appreciated.