Eyes reddened with the sadness of remembrance, Shepard stared at nothing. The sun bore its rays upon the skies, but she rather prefer a gloomy and somber day; it would fit the mood much better. The children that played out in the parks didn't greet death, similar to Shepard, but they seemed to have their minds made up. This heaven was what they wanted, because gloomy days would never overcome them here like they would in the living.

She never fully registered that she was going dead. Saying it was too easy for her than being it. Sometimes she would walk outside and play a game of tag or something she rendered useless, just so people would stop staring at her with pity.

But today was her anniversary with her lover, and all she could do was drink her worries away. Well, that's all she wanted to do, but Admiral Anderson couldn't stand for it at all.

He sat from across the bar in a dark corner, sipping on what was left of his whiskey. David saw that her chair was occupied, and instantly knew that she already had her two drinks ordered. Anderson stood up and walked over to her. "Shepard, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Her only response was a soft hiccup, hardly even registered by Anderson, but he knew from the way the Commander's body jerked.

"You can't drink the day away. What would he think about that?" He was careful not to mention the name and set off any more tears. The last time he mentioned her soul mate in a story set her off for weeks. She didn't participate in any sort of social event, her eating habits became scarce, and hygiene wasn't anything of importance.

Shepard started to look towards him with a look of understanding and stubbornness. She didn't want to celebrate without Garrus here, but she didn't want him here either, because that would mean his mortal life was finished. She couldn't stand to think of that just now, not on their anniversary.

"I can't be happy without him." Anderson cast his eyes down at the bar table. "After all the shit I've dealt with, I thought I would be met with some sort of happiness. I thought that I could breathe again, without everyone relying on me to fix the broken in the universe."

It felt like hours ticked away as she swallowed back tears. Her arm wiped across her eye before anything would come out, and she exhaled heavily after gulping down the last of her drink.

Shepard stood up to leave, but he caught her arm. She turned towards him fiercely and reached with her free left hand to touch his firmly, pushing into his pressure points. "Let go of me." His eyes held the look of empathy, but Shepard was too busy looking at his hand to notice. She was far too annoyed to let anyone to feel sorry for her. People looked on her with pity in life and death, and that was something she didn't want any more of.

"Where are you going?" She finally looked up at him, but avoided direct eye contact and settled on his chin instead.

"I'm going to visit some friends. I just need to go." She left without looking back for Anderson's response. It was an obvious lie, and they both knew it was.

He sighed, but his feet didn't move from their spot. Running after her would be useless, she would only push him away faster.

Garrus approached the gates. He closed his eyes while he held back a tear; a smile was spread across his features. How long had he waited for this? How many months had he spent fantasizing how his arrival would be?

His Shepard. His light in the dark. His savior from perdition. His everything.

Vakarian would finally hear her voice, crisp and clear, instead of imagining her whispers inside his head.

The golden gates were open, showing the turian a dimension of natural happiness and safety, a place where he would find his love. His stride was purposeful and true, determined to find her. The Commander was the person who made him feel like someone, like he mattered more than anything in existence. Not his mother, not any of his friends, and definitely not his father.

If it wasn't fer her then he would surely be in hell with the Illusive Man and Kai Leng, or throwing back shots with the devil. Garrus would be a damned man if Shepard hadn't intervened in his life, and he knew this more than anything.

Doubts ran through his head like bugs. What if she isn't in this heaven? What if all of this was just some dream my mind has made up while I'm actually in a coma? What if she doesn't even recognize me?

What if she doesn't love me anymore?

However, the thought that glowed the brightest in his mind was an image of Shepard. It was before they stared dating, but after her first death. She was alongside operatives Lawson and Taylor, jeopardizing the gangs that ran the Terminus Systems. Shepard's eyes were as beautiful as the rarest jewel, and her hair was free and waving in her gait. From then, he truly saw what others saw in the Commander, a beauty with the devil at her side. His CO could walk on someone with stilettos and thanked, by the victim, for it.

He kept that burning image in mind as he searched for her, keeping what he said closest to him as he strode into heaven. Meet me at the bar...I'm buying.

Garrus hastened his pace, searching for a bar. Today was a very important day in his life.

Well, his death.