1 - an end once and for all
It was five years since the Reapers had been defeated and the galaxy was in a constant state of repair. What was destroyed in days would take years to properly rebuild, but races which had previously fought each other to the death were now helping each other to live. Samantha Traynor had been living on Earth since the war ended aiding the Alliance where she could to try and get London to where it once was before. She and her partner Jane lived beside their two adopted sons; Ryan and Bentley, who were now 18 and 20 respectively. Bentley had moved to the Citadel about a year ago after getting an admin job. Ryan also dreamt of living off-world and they were soon going to fulfil that dream after they announced that they would be moving to the Citadel wards for a new Alliance opportunity Samantha had agreed to.
Samantha and Ryan stood in an empty room with rays of the sun casting triangular shapes on the carpet below. Samantha Traynor looked very similar to how she did 5 years previously, a combination of good genes, advancing medical technology and a healthy interest in spa regimes she often thought. Ryan Traynor, who had taken her last name, was a fairly standard looking 18 year old. He had short black hair which had a tendency to peak and spike itself up above his forehead and an unmistakably smooth face pierced with 2 brown eyes. If nobody had known otherwise one could probably assume that they were actually biologically related somehow aside from the age difference.
"Do you remember what I said?" Samantha asked, head tilted.
"How long until we take the shuttle?" Ryan replied, absent-mindedly as he looked out of the window up at the light blue sky spotted with diluted clouds.
"Never if you answer another one of my questions with a question."
Ryan sprung himself from his leaning position and spun around, "I remember what you said."
"Good." Samantha couldn't help but curl one side of her lips upwards, before forcing her face rigid once more. "So you'll enrol at the biotic academy when we get to the Citadel. No excuses."
"Yes, ma'am" followed-up by a mocking salute. Ryan made his way towards the centre of the room and sat on the empty floor.
They had a modest apartment in London; 10 floors up, lots of right-angles and a warm, non-offensive colour scheme. However while they lived in this space and before they had moved all of their things out it was surrounded by tech and otherwise useless accessories.
"Are you looking forwards to seeing your old crewmates? Do you even know where they all are?"
"I'm not entirely sure to be honest, I'm still in contact with some of them who work for the Alliance off-world; James Vega, Steve Cortez, Ashley Williams, EDI and Joker." Now it was Samantha who had moved to the window and was looking longingly up and out over the sky.
"That's the guy and the robot?"
"It's not quite… okay, yes, that's them." Samantha didn't really have the energy to explain and she quite felt in the mood to talk about her beloved old comrades.
"Garrus Vakarian – uh, that's the blue Turian scar-face with the robotic eye accessory."
"Gotcha."
"He's a hHeigh-profile C-Sec officer and Tali…" she turned her head to Ryan quizzically.
"I know, the Quarian lady."
"Well Tali vas Normandy works for the Quarian government now, but she still visits the Citadel regularly to see Garrus. I keep in communication with most of them. In fact, I'm not sure if Tali's name is even 'vas Normandy' anymore now that the Normandy is grounded."
"It seemed like a really cool ship, why did they dock it?"
"I don't know. Maybe after Shepard and Anderson... or maybe because there's no need for a super-advanced war machine anymore."
"Or maybe they're going to open a museum? You know, like an Alliance freak show? 2 credit entry, 10 credit thresher maw burgers."
"Ha, with VI's of all of us on display?" Samantha allowed herself to laugh after being deep in thought about her old squad mates. "Have you packed all of your things?"
"Pretty much, apart from my toiletries. You've got your toothbrush, right?"
"Of course."
"Now we're really ready to go then, I suppose."
Samantha's attention turned to the window once more and she soaked in the vista one last time, her head moving from the skies to the distant buildings to the ground below.
"What's up?" Ryan joined her at the window, the two stood there as the last remaining objects in their apartment.
"It's just… when I was younger I lived in London with my parents then we moved off-world. We were so lucky to avoid the Reapers. I can't help but feel a sense of deja vu."
"So using that example, doesn't that mean that it'll be for the best?"
"I suppose." She eventually responded. "But in that case…" she turned to face her son, "Does that mean this is all going to happen again? If I leave will something else tear London apart?" she took one last look outside the window, at the sight she would see for the last time from this point.
"Isn't the cycle every 50,000 years? Not every 5?" said Ryan, sarcastically trying to ease the atmosphere.
"Maybe, but I'm not even sure if that's true anymore. Nobody knows what happened when Shepard took down the Reapers, the Citadel was damaged and the conduit was completely destroyed. They could be gone for good or they could be back any day now."
"Then I suppose the Citadel would be the place to be then, from what I've heard. The catalyst? They have a better idea of how to stop them if they come back now."
"I hear that the team who helped stop them were geniuses." Samantha allowed herself to smile once more and with one last breath moved away from the window. She and Ryan gathered the last of their things and left the apartment for one last time.
The two made their way through the familiar streets that they had known for all of these years, nothing much was said but they knew that they may not be back here for the foreseeable future. Samantha found it strange; she had travelled and lived on Earth, outer worlds and even the warships in between but she felt sad and even worried about leaving. Ryan, on the other hand seemed excited and not phased at all by leaving the planet. Maybe she was getting old, she thought. Or maybe she just had the experience to know that things could change at a moment's notice.
They arrived at the Alliance shuttle heading to the Citadel and the soles of their feet left the ground of Earth one final time. The journey up wasn't too long, but they took the time to look over the sights of the planet they called home.
"Are there many people up there who speak like… us?" Ryan finally broke the silence, his accent while obviously English, less refined than the Oxford-educated Samantha.
"Not many." Samantha smirked, "but some. There was this one guy who used to work with Commander Shepard on the Normandy before me, he was a bounty hunter called Zaeed Massani. I don't really know where he was from or what his story was, but I met him once at a gathering and he seemed to have an accent which originated from somewhere in London. Can't say that I got to know him very well, though."
"He sounds kind of dangerous. What happened to him?"
"Garrus told me that he was killed in some kind of mercenary fire fight on an outer world a couple of years ago, doing a job."
"Wow, bounty hunters? That doesn't sound very much like an Alliance member. Was he the only one?"
"Yes, I think so anyway. The members of the crew were legendary and had done all sorts, so who knows. I think that Grunt might have dabbled in some mercenary work over the years too from what I've heard."
"Well then, it sounds like the Citadel is a place to call a home to me." Ryan and Samantha both turned and smiled to each other as they left the atmosphere and travelled into the starry expansion beyond.
"You are clear for landing, do you need ground transport?" came the sharp voice through the shuttles comm. system.
"No, thank you. We'll be fine. It'll be nice to have a walk around the Citadel after all this time." Samantha seemed to be relaxing now that they were close to landing. Ryan had travelled to the Citadel a few times before for a short period of time, but now that he would be living under the holographic sky it would be very different, Samantha thought, she hoped she had made the right decision.