Legendary Ending: Arlington

Christian blinked as felt himself returning to consciousness. The room he was in was dark, and his visor only revealed so much. He lifted his head up only to have a head-splitting headache hit him. His right hand found his helmet, and he slowly slipped it off. The cool air registered along his bare skin, and he wiped drops of sweat off of his forehead.

"What happened? Where am I?" Christian asked as he slowly tried to pick himself up. Many of his muscles were sore, and he groaned in response. He was going to get a lecture not only from Boss or Michelle when he got out of there, but his parents as well. They must all be worried sick.

Christian pulled up his omni-tool. It was 6:03 pm. There were also one-hundred and seventeen emails in his inbox. No doubt his teams were trying to make sure that he got out of there. He quickly flipped through them all, glad that everybody wanted to make sure he was alive. There were a few other emails that were random, but one that he quietly laughed at was the one from a guy named Zach Moore saying he was using Christian and Michelle as models for a few characters in the book he was writing called Love Conquers All. Sometimes the minds of fifteen-year-olds are funny, but if that book actually came out Christian would force himself to read it.

"Now to find some way out of this place." Christian began to move around the dark room, pulling out his omni-tool's flashlight. There was a device sitting in the middle of the room that was likely what got him out of the facility before it went critical. It was definitely some of that secret technology government companies were always working on. He assumed that company officials may try to pay for his silence, but there may not be a reason for that.

"Amazing." Christian turned away and saw a door. He walked towards it and opened the door. There was a staircase that led to another door, which appeared to be made of marble. Christian climbed up the stairs carefully, knowing that he's still weak from his time being knocked out.

The door opened slowly, and Christian began to make sense of where he was.

It was a cemetery. There were thousands of white gravestones lined up, marking the graves of many military members. It was only mere seconds later that he figured out he was in Arlington Cemetery. With his helmet still in his hand, he walked around the graves, unsure of what it was he was looking for. The sunlight had already passed, and it was an early night for the summer. Light was barely visible, and there appeared to be a fog settling in.

A man in black was looking at a grave.

Christian caught sight of him and walked over to this stranger. He was wearing a black coat and hat, and wore a mask to cover his face. His blue eyes seemed to glow in a mysterious way, and Christian was caught in curiosity over who this man was. He walked over and stood next to the man, looking at the tombstone in front of him:

Here Lies Sgt. Jessica Weaver

April 14th, 2154 - April 22nd, 2177

Only Grave With A Body From Akuze

Gone But Not Forgotten

"Someone you knew?" Christian asked, trying to hold respect in his voice.

"I knew her father." The Stranger stated. "His daughter lies in this grave. I planned to pay my respects to her tonight. Then the city of Metropolis was destroyed. I've been here a little longer to pay respects to the other lost souls. And I was waiting for you, Christian Tyson."

"And why's that?" Christian asked.

"You took the route to survive the fires of Metropolis because I set that path for you. You took one of my prototype Icarus teleportation systems so we can talk in private for a few minutes."

"I take it that means you're the leader of Calypso?"

"Yes. You may call me The Stranger."

"That's a bit of a cliché, isn't it? I mean, many men trying to hide their identities do things like you are now."

"It is the only name I've ever felt truly comfortable with. And I only protect my identity to protect my people. Every race, gender, sexuality, religion, and background that works for my company are valuable to me."

Christian looked down. "I'm sorry I couldn't stop Thatcher from destroying your facility, or all of Metropolis for that matter."

"You have no need to apologize. You did the best you could. Always look at the positives of a bad event. Millions of people may have died, but thousands were saved. And you defeated William Thatcher before he could do more harm to anyone else."

"But I couldn't save Eric. Sure, he was an asshole and he tried to have me killed, but he was blinded by his own greed. Nothing would've ever been the same again for him if he had killed me. I thought he would've done the good thing and put aside his hatred, and at the end, it looked like he would've given in."

"Some people say that history is written by the victors. You're the one left standing from that affair, so if you want history to remember Eric as a hero, it is your choice."

"I want history to remember the truth. He was going to betray me, but in his last moments, he showed that he still held the good inside himself. That's how history is meant to remember him by."

The Stranger smiled behind the mask, looking behind his shoulder to see Jensen and Michelle approaching. "Your friend is here. I think she wants to see you." Christian began to walk towards her, but The Stranger grabbed his arm. "Before you go, however, a word of advice: don't let your loved ones go. Because one day we all will meet with God on the day of our department from mortality. But we may depart before our loved ones, and if we ignore them, we may leave them hurt for the rest of their days."

"It sounds like you know the feeling rather well, Stranger."

"In a manner of speaking. Go ahead, now. I must finish up here." The Stranger released Christian's arm and allowed him to walk over to meet his friend. And as The Stranger drowned himself in the sounds of Christian and Michelle chatting, pouring their hearts out to each other, The Stranger began to remember what it was that made him come to this grave.

Do you truly believe anything and everything you have done is justified?! You turned someone into an abomination just because your creator went through a stupid heartbreak! And then you create me, expecting that I would not care if I knew the truth of my origins all along. Well you're wrong! I know of your sins! I know of your failures! And I know your darkest secrets! You'll never receive my forgiveness for the things you've done!

The Stranger's thoughts brought him back to reality, and he could feel the dark energies of his Rampancy forming around his hands. His black eyes became blue again as he steadied himself, losing the flow of his power as he kept himself in his mortal guise. He could've been Frankenstein killing his own monster during those events had it not been for Ariel's intervention. It was the only time she had revealed herself and what she had become. She was so beautiful.

Ariel gave her a chance to live. The Stranger and Ariel had to stop The Sentinel (as he preferred to call her now) by splitting apart her very being. One part The Stranger has kept watch over while the other part Ariel kept watch over. They both were destined for great things where they lay now; one being Champion and one being Savior. But there were parts that fragmented from her separating, and one of those fragments lay in that grave now. It was necessary, of course, for Sergeant Jessica Weaver to die on Akuze. If she had stayed in Commander Shepard's life, there was no knowing what things could've been changed on the timeline. And eventually, the soul of the departed body would merge again with the true part of herself closest to her.

But eventually, he will meet The Sentinel again. And when he does, one of them was going to break.