Chapter 9 has arrived! What a wonderful sight right? Let's see what happens now shall we? Hopefully you'll love it and give me muffins or something (chocolate chip!? :D) And one more thing, I tried to give as many answers as I could last chapter; the main problem I had with the original ending was the lack of answers (and the synthetic genocide for no good reason), so if it seemed long I'm sorry I was only covering as many bases as I could. Anyway, Bioware owns Mass Effect and not me, so enjoy!

Ch. 9: The Reapers

Inside Citadel AI

Commander Shepard

Shepard just stared at the keeper, and for a moment there was silence.

Javik roared in anger at the keeper."What do you mean there is an error machine!? Fix it now, the Reapers must be destroyed!"

The keeper began scanning. "There is no error in the Crucible's design… I cannot pinpoint where… Wait, hardware block discovered on the top of the Citadel Tower. It is a small tube blocking my access to the Crucible activation commands."

"So what should we do?" Shepard asked.

"The hardware block must be manually destroyed to ensure that the Crucible can be used. You must destroy it, but it is surrounded by essential cables. For maximum safety, one person should destroy it manually with mass accelerator rounds instead of a ship blasting it to pieces."

The keeper turned around. "That is all the time we had, Commander. I will now return you to your own mind so we can all end this."

Shepard saw everything blur into white.

Strange Keeper Chamber, Citadel

Commander Shepard

Shepard put a hand to his head as the pod's door opened. He had a mild aching in his head, but according to his omnitool he was only in the pod for a total of 3 minutes. Shepard looked over at Javik and noticed he also had his hand on his head as well. Obviously it served no purpose as they both wore helmets, but they couldn't shake the instinctual habit.

The keeper began to speak. "Commander, we do not have much time. If you input your omnitool's number into this panel I can speak to you to assist you in finding the hardware block."

Shepard input his omnitool's number into the panel, and then saw the keeper call it.

The keeper did a few tests to ensure top quality and then spoke to Shepard. "Commander, you must go back to the Council Chambers, however the mass effect fields have failed in this area. The roof of the Council Chambers is mostly intact, and this is where the hardware block is kept. Most likely you will need to use magboots to reach it, and then it can simply be destroyed by firing at the glass area of the hardware block with any mass accelerator rounds."

Shepard had a determined look on his face. "Alright, let's go Javik."

They both left the room and quickly returned to the Council Chambers.

Council Chambers, Citadel

Commander Shepard

Shepard and Javik made it to the Council Chambers, or what was left of it. Harbinger had certainly destroyed most of the chamber itself, but one wall remained relatively untouched, as did the roof. Shepard and Javik, using their magboots, began walking up the wall to the roof.

"After every Reaper has died, Commander, we should seek vengeance on the Leviathans for their foolish mistake." Javik said as they continued walking.

"Javik I know they were ultimately to blame for this, but that doesn't mean we need to seek vengeance. Maybe they'll realize they were wrong?" Shepard suggested

"Or they'll realize the Reapers have died and will try to use their Indoctrination abilities to subjugate us all." Javik replied.

Shepard sighed. "You could be right… But we've got to kill the Reapers first."

Shepard and Javik continued their walk up the wall, getting closer and closer to the hardware block, and closer and closer to the ultimate destruction of the Reapers…

Space above Earth

Alliance Pilot Gregory Michavla

Gregory Michavla, an Alliance fighter pilot, was firing at several Reaper fighters while in orbit over Earth. His squad was fighting hard, but they were starting to get torn apart as the Reapers continued to fight back. His fighter's shields were lowering, and he did not know how long he could last. Then his fighter got blasted by an Oculus in the back of its engines. The fighter's engines started to lose power, and Gregory looked at the photo of his wife one final time as his fighter spun out of control into the Citadel tower…

Council Chambers, Citadel

Commander Shepard

Shepard heard an explosion and felt the wall rock violently. Using his biotics to steady himself, Shepard looked down to the source of the explosion. A fighter had struck the wall and broke through, coming to rest in the middle of the Council Chambers near TIM's Mech. The fighter exploded when it came to a halt, and Shepard looked away. 'Another good pilot lost.' Shepard thought as he continued on.

The keeper then called him via omtitool. "Commander, I can see you have nearly reached the hardware block. I must warn you that the Reapers have a powerful garrison stationed near it. If you are able to destroy it from a distance you would be able to defeat the Reapers, and those foot soldiers that are guarding the block would cease to function."

Shepard nodded instinctively. "Ok, we're almost there."

Shepard and Javik found their destination: a small hatch on the ceiling of the Council Chambers. If he had not been told where it was, Shepard would most likely never have found this tiny hatch, as it wasn't visible from any part of the Council Chambers. Shepard opened the hatch and walked inside with Javik at his heel.

Shepard and Javik shut the hatch and turned to the hallway. There was one more door; when they opened it they would find the battalion of Reaper forces and the hardware block. Shepard went to cover on the left side of the door and Javik went to cover on the right.

"Are you ready Commander?" Javik asked as he readied his weapon.

Shepard nodded once as he readied his own weapon. "Yes Javik, open it."

They opened the door guns blazing. Several Husks and Marauders were killed instantly, and many more got damaged badly. 4 Brutes began to move in on Shepard and Javik, and a few Banshees screeched their horrible cry.

Javik sent a Dark Channel into the Brutes, and it hit the back Brute. It began to slow down as Javik's biotics sapped the 'life' out of it. Shepard sent a shockwave through the crowd, killing a few more husks and Marauders.

"This is a lot more than I thought it'd be Javik!" Shepard yelled from behind the cover. "I'm going to call for backup!"

Javik nodded and then began suppressive fire on the battalion.

Shepard readied his omnitool and called James. "James, get everyone into a suit and get up here! Javik and I need immediate assistance; I'm sending the navpoint now."

"Alright, Loco, we're coming!" James replied through the comms.

Shepard cursed himself for not asking for their help sooner, but he had wanted them to save as many civilians as possible. Shepard then started firing at the Reaper forces again as Javik moved back to cover to recover his shields. Shepard killed a few Cannibals and then sent another shockwave through the mass of Reaper forces.

James's voice could be heard through the comm. "Loco, I've got everyone moving. Liara, Zaeed, Jacob, and I will be there in 2 minutes, and the rest will be there in a few more."

Shepard and Javik continued to suppress the Reaper forces as they waited for James's group to arrive. The Brutes were getting closer, and then the one Javik had hit with his Dark Channel fell dead, sending the dark power into the nearest Brute. It roared as it began to slow down as well. The Banshees sent several powerful biotic blasts towards Shepard and Javik, but luckily they all missed.

James's group arrived through the hatch one at a time. They all moved in next to Shepard and Javik; the group then began pushing the Reaper forces back, and the team got into cover.

James got into cover next to Shepard. "What are we doing here Loco!?"

"There's a hardware block up here we need to destroy, but the Reapers have it heavily defended!" Shepard explained quickly.

James readied a concussive shot and fired at a Banshee, blasting it back with a shriek. Liara sent a singularity into the enemies while Jacob used his biotics to lift a Marauder off the ground and slam it into a wall. Zaeed just kept firing his rifle into the Reaper battalion.

"About guddamn time we found someone else to shoot." Zaeed said as he got back into cover.

Shepard grinned a little at Zaeed's words, but kept his mind on the mission. Everyone was still counting on him to finish this. Shepard then began firing again and once again moved back into cover when his shields lowered.

The keeper called him in the chaos. "Commander, you must continue past the corner in front of you. The hardware block should then be directly in front of you when you do."

"We're a little busy right now, but I'm trying." Shepard replied as mass accelerator rounds narrowly missed him.

"You must hurry, Commander, we do not have much time until the fleets begin to break." Ji-Wilnar warned.

The largest fleet that had ever existed in known history was near the edge of its life, and in only an hour would be completely broken; Shepard didn't have time to fight these Reaper forces. Shepard began to glow a bright blue and charged at a Cannibal near the back of the group, barreling through several Husks and a Banshee before slamming into the Cannibal, killing it instantly. Shepard then let out a Nova attack, slamming several Reapers forces into a wall and lifting the rest off of their feet. Shepard then began running towards the end of the room, where the corner and the hardware block was. Shepard turned the corner and saw the hardware block.

A Brute, however, had another idea. It was hanging on the ceiling as Shepard rounded the corner, and it dropped behind him. It raised its claw and slammed Shepard forwards, towards the hardware block. Shepard dropped his rifle and he felt the wind go out of him. Despite the pain and the fact he couldn't get up, he fumbled for his pistol and began shooting the hardware block as the Brute moved in to finish him off. The hardware block began to burn, and Shepard fired one more shot as the hardware block exploded in front of him…

The Crucible

Admiral Hackett

Hackett continued to watch and command as the largest fleet ever assembled in all of galactic history started to crack at the sheer power of the Reapers. Despite everything he tried the Reapers would win at every turn. In less than an hour, they would be completely broken... Then he heard an officer come up behind him excitedly.

Hackett turned and the officer saluted, then said in an excited voice. "Sir, the Crucible is powering up! The Crucible is powering up!"

Hackett smiled at the officer, and then turned to his fleet comm. "All ships, the Crucible has begun firing. Everyone retreat and return to the rendezvous point. I repeat, everyone get the hell out of here."

Orbit over Earth

All surviving ships began to retreat towards the Mass Relay as the Crucible began to glow bright red. The Citadel began to glow red as well, feeding its energy into the Crucible. The energy collated at the tip of the Crucible, and a gigantic blast was fired deep into dark space. The Crucible continued to fire for several minutes until it stopped, and everything was silent. The Reapers continued to fight on Earth, and everyone left watched in defeat as the Reapers continued their harvest…

Then, the Reapers stopped. They just fell to the ground deactivated and their ground troops did the same across the entire galaxy. The war was over. The galaxy had been saved!

Deep in Dark Space

Leviathan AI

"Must preserve all life, at any cost. Must preserve all life, at any cost. Must preserve all life, at any cost."

The AI continued to send its signal to its forces in the safety of its deep space station. Just then, it noticed an anomaly. A powerful energy signature was closing in on the station. The AI began to broadcast a new signal. "Life continues to fight, must kill all life, must kill all…"

The station was hit by the powerful blast, cutting through the stations barriers instantly. The laser continued to fly towards the station, destroying it completely and ending the AIs mandate. The last thing the AI sent out was. "Preservation of life… Failed…"

Epic speech

The war is over, the Reapers have been defeated. Against all odds and in the face of the greatest threat this galaxy has ever known… We survived. We suffered many losses, but we won. This victory belongs to each of us… every man, woman, and child. Every civilization, on every world. Now, as we take our first steps towards restoring what we lost, we must remember what it took to win. This wasn't a victory by a single fleet, a single army, or even a single species. If this war has taught us anything, it is that we are at our strongest when we work together. And if we can put down our grievances long enough to stop something as powerful as the Reapers, imagine what we can achieve now that they are defeated. It will take time, but we can rebuild everything that was destroyed. Our homes, our worlds, our fleets and defenses. All of this, and more. Together we can build a future greater than any one of us can imagine. A future paid for by the sacrifices of those who fought and died along side us. A future that many will never see. And while we still have many challenges ahead of us, we can face them together. And we will honor those who died to give us that future.

Author's endnote: The Reapers have been defeated. The war is won! I am quite happy with this; I guess I should just stop writing this story now eh? No, that would mean I'm like Bioware, although if Bioware had done this as their ending not only would I have been completely fine with it but from a marketing standpoint they could have made a lot more games that happened afterwards… But, they decided to use 'space magic' again… I hope you enjoyed this and you'll tune in later for more!