Quick note: In this story, the Normandy didn't jump out of the system before the Crucible fired.
Ashley Williams may have believed in hell, but she'd never spent much time imagining what was like. Now, she didn't have to. She'd fought on a hundred battlefields but she'd never walked through anything like the diabolic vision that was all that remained of the Citadel. Lit by a flickering red glow, the floors stained with a dozen kinds of blood, bodies strewn everywhere… she was only thankful that the filters on her helmet prevented her from smelling it.
The station was also a wreck. The energy pulse generated by the Crucible had fried most of the on-board systems and countless shattered beams and exposed wires added to the hazards of their search. Still, they couldn't give up. The war may have been over, but the cost had been horrible. On top of the massive casualties of the final battle, EDI had shut down and the Geth consciousness seemed to have been destroyed by the Crucible's blast. They could use some good news in the midst of all of this loss and finding the Hero of the Galaxy alive was their best chance at getting it.
Beside her, Liara's flashlight scanned ahead into the red darkness. "Goddess," she groaned, "How are we ever going to find Shepard here? She could be right around the corner and we might never know it." Ashley marveled at her single-minded determination. The Shadow Broker wasn't even supposed to be out of bed yet but here she was, trudging through the wreckage after making it clear that nothing less than strapping her to her bed and sedating her would keep her from joining the search for Shepard.
From some shadow at the edge of her vision, Ashley heard Kasumi reply, "Oh, it's not as bad as all that. We've got Shep's location from her last transmission. She should be near here, at the Citadel's control chamber."
"But what if she left after she fired the Crucible?", Liara protested. "Who knows where she could have gotten before she collapsed?"
"One thing at a time, Liara," Ashley told her softly. "Garrus and Tali and a hundred other people are checking the docking bays for survivors. Our job is to get to the control chamber and if the skipper's not there, then we'll worry about what comes next."
The Shadow Broker took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Ashley could sympathize with her fear. Every time they turned a corner, she half-expected to see Sha'ira's broken body on the floor in front of her and when they did find an asari corpse, she felt sick, and then relieved when it didn't turn out to be the Consort, and then sick again at being glad somebody else was dead. And beneath it all was the horrible, lurking guilt, fueled by the feeling that if she just could have found the right words the last time they spoke, Sha'ira would be safe.
Two Weeks Ago:
Ashley hunted around the floor of the Consort's chamber for her underwear, the bliss she had been feeling minutes earlier dissolving into her worries. "I'm sorry I have to go," she told the gorgeous asari she had just finished making love to, "But this doesn't need to be goodbye. You should come with me. This place isn't going to be safe for long."
"Do you know that?", Sha'ira asked, handing Ashley her bra.
"No, but the Reapers have been concentrating on large population centers and with Thessia fallen, it's probably just a matter of time before they hit here."
"And when that day comes," Sha'ira informed her, "I will evacuate with everyone else. Until then, however, I have work to do."
"Sha'ira…" Ashley stepped back over to the bed, cupping the asari's cheek. "Please. I need to know you're all right. Come back with me to the Normandy."
The Consort pulled away. "And what would I do there, Ashley? I am very fond of you, but you are not my bondmate. I have responsibilities here that I cannot simply abandon because you are worried about me."
"Of course", Ashley snapped, pulling on her pants and shirt. "You need to stay here and spend more time sucking up to whatever rich assholes want your advice."
"Is that all that you really think my job is?", Sha'ira snapped back, responding to Ashley's anger with some of her own.
Ashley should have let it rest there. Even in the moment, she knew that, but her frustration got the best of her. "No, that's right," she snarled, giving voice to the gnawing thing in the back of her mind, "It's not just advice that they come to you for. There's plenty of other stuff you do for them too. We can't forget about your other services."
The asari's eyes hardened and she stared at the door. "I think that you should leave now, Ashley."
"Wait," she pleaded, desperate to take the words back, "I didn't mean it like that."
"I think that you did," Sha'ira disagreed, "And I really do not see what else we have to discuss if you feel that way."
"But…", she tried to protest, but the Consort cut her off coldly. "Perhaps later, when we are both calmer we can speak about this again. But right now, you really do need to leave me to whatever it is that you think I do."
The Present:
Later had never come, lost in the blood and chaos of the war, and as she pressed onwards, Ashley tried to smother the fear that now, it never would.
Soon enough, their search brought them to a bridge overlooking a chasm and along it, small smears of blood were visible. Shepard's blood, Ashley suspected, and as she looked down, she tried not to dwell on the possibility that the commander had fallen off as she tried to escape from the battered station.
Reaching the other side, the path turned upwards and as they neared the control chamber, the Spectre could see in the distance two bodies laying on its floor. Across the comms, she heard the sharp intake of Liara's breath and the asari bolted ahead of the other two searchers.
"Shepard!", the Shadow Broker cried out, but when she reached the two corpses, she exhaled. "It is not her. It is…" She sighed. "It is Admiral Anderson and the Illusive Man."
Ashley looked over the bodies. Both of them had been shot, and both had clearly been dead for the two days since the Crucible fired. "Rest in peace," she whispered to the admiral before closing his eyes. It seemed ironic that he had survived leading the resistance on Earth for so long only to die here, at the very end of the war. She hadn't known the man as well as Shepard, but he had always stood up for the commander, even when very few people believed in her and adding him to the endless rolls of the dead hurt.
Of the commander herself though, Ashley could find no sign. The blood trail led in here, her last transmission was from here, so where could she have gone? Next to her, Ashley could see Liara growing more frantic, scouring the room for some trace of her lover, but though there was another exit from the chamber, none of Shepard's blood was there. Just as panic was setting in, though, a sly smile crossed Kasumi's lips.
"Look up," the thief told her two companions.
Ashley tilted her head and above her, she could see that there was a hole in the ceiling. Liara was looking up as well, and asked, "But how could she have gotten up there?"
The smile never left Kasumi's lips. "With this." Tracing a finger along the ground, she indicated a seam in the metal that Ashley could now see went deep into the floor. "I think it's an anti-grav lift."
The Spectre shook her head in amazement at Kasumi's perceptiveness. Part of being a master thief, she supposed. "Good pickup. But how do we activate it?"
Liara didn't respond. Instead, she balled up her fists and a brilliant blue glow enveloped her, spreading out until it enveloped all three of the women. An odd sensation of weightlessness swept over Ashley and looking down, she could see the ground fall away as the team started to float up towards the hole.
"Are you sure you should be pushing yourself like this?", the Spectre asked as she saw sweat pouring down Liara's forehead and her eyes darkening with the strain.
"I…am…not….waiting," the Shadow Broker forced out between panting breaths and with a final effort, the three of them sped up, hurling through the gap in the ceiling before tumbling to the hard ground. The chamber they were now in was vast, with huge windows facing out into space and high, vaulted ceilings above them. At its heart was some massive machine, or at least what was left of one. There had been an explosion, and twisted piles of metal were strewn everywhere, including along the three bridges that spanned a great chasm at the other side of the room.
Beside her, Liara was doubled over, vomiting from the strain of carrying them up, but Ashley kept scanning the wreckage, looking for some sign of the commander. There was nothing at first, only a terrible stillness, but then she saw it. A glimpse of flesh was hidden amid the mess on the right bridge and the Spectre ran towards it as fast as the debris would allow.
Shepard was lying there on the ground, a few pieces of metal atop her, but thankfully, she was only pinned, not crushed. The Spectre threw the wreckage aside, ignoring its fall as it disappeared into the void beneath them. Beneath the pile, Shepard looked like shit. Her skin was pale and covered in soot. There was blood everywhere, and puncture wounds in both her legs and her torso lay beneath gashes in what remained of her uniform. Her eyes were closed. Her breathing was almost non-existent. But she was alive, at least for now.
Whipping out her medi-gel dispenser, Ashley found a patch of exposed skin and when she applied the healing substance to her commander, the reaction was almost immediate. Shepard's chest rose with sudden breath and her green eyes flew open.
"Liara!" The commander bolted up, crying out her lover's name with what little breath she had and Ashley grabbed her, making sure she didn't crash back down too hard.
"Sorry, ma'am, it's just me. But Liara's right over there, so you just stay with me and you'll see her real soon."
The asari in question had gotten back to her feet, stumbling towards them helped by Kasumi. "Ashley," she called out desperately, "Is she…"
"She's alive but she's hurt pretty bad. Kasumi, get on the comm and get a full medical evac team here on the double."
The thief did as she was told and Liara managed to make it the rest of the way under her own power before falling to her knees next to the two Spectres. There were tears in her eyes as she brushed Shepard's ragged red hair off of her face. "Goddess," she chocked out, "You're really alive."
"Waiting… for you…", Shepard gasped before Liara placed a finger on her lips.
"Shush, love, it's all right. There's nothing you need to say. Just rest. Help is here."
As Liara stroked her bondmate's forehead, Ashley put her first aid training to good use. Honestly, she could hardly believe that the commander was still alive after the injuries she'd taken but not only was she breathing, thanks to the medi-gel, her condition seemed to be stabilizing. Even if she made it, she'd need a long time to recover, but whether it was because of her implants or just being too stubborn to die, she was still here and if there was a miracle for her and Liara, then Ashley could hope that maybe there would be one for Sha'ira too.