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Shepard was glad to have her team together as they fought their way through what was left of London on the way to the beam. The closer they got, the more thickly the Reaper troops were gathered.
"Shouldn't we have run out of these guys by now?" Vega complained. "Where are they all coming from?"
Garrus looked around them pointedly at the fallen bodies of humans and krogan and asari and turians.
"Oh. Right." James took down a marauder with a shotgun blast. "Assholes."
Kaidan shot a husk as it climbed down a wall. "Couldn't have said it better myself."
"Come on, guys. No time to dawdle." Shepard vaulted over a wall and nearly ran into a brute. Her team took it out with a concentrated burst of fire.
She had never felt such a sense of urgency in a battle before. Now, with victory so close, it felt as though she could feel every life that ebbed away, every heartbeat that ceased. Such a waste. If she could only move faster, run harder, she could save one, or two, or ten, or a thousand.
Her lungs were burning, and she had stopped bothering to try to shoot anything. Every part of her was focused on running, on getting there, on finishing this.
And then a cry of pain came from behind her, and she stopped as though she had struck a wall. "Kaidan!"
He was down, clutching his side. After the first shout, he had clamped his jaw on whatever pain he must be feeling. Between his teeth, he gritted out, "I'm okay."
"You aren't," Garrus contradicted.
"Just … go. I'll keep up."
Over his head, Shepard met Liara's eyes. He wasn't going to keep up. It was quite possible …
No. No, it wasn't. She was not losing him; not like this. Reaching into her suit, Shepard withdrew a packet of medigel and tore it open, plastering it over the wound.
"Shepard." Kaidan's voice was fading. He had already lost a lot of blood.
"Kaidan." She wasn't going to cry. She couldn't. There was no time to cry. She damned the Reapers and all their ilk—they had taken the time she'd had left with Thane, and now they were taking any chance of a proper good-bye with Kaidan. "Kaidan."
"Juniper." His hand lifted to touch her cheek.
"Shepard, we have to keep going." Garrus's voice was soft but firm.
"I know. Kaidan, I'll—" She wanted to promise she would come back, but … she couldn't know if that was even possible.
"I'm coming with you."
"You know you can't. Don't argue with me, Kaidan."
"Don't leave me behind. Not again."
She took his face in her hands. "No matter what happens, know that I love you. Always." Softly, gently, for probably the last time, she kissed him.
"I love you, too." His voice was little more than a breath now, his consciousness fading.
Shepard hated to leave him here alone. If he was going to—whatever happened, he shouldn't be alone. She hit her comm link. "Steve! You up there?"
"Right here, Commander."
"I need an evac, my location."
"Now?"
She knew what she was asking. For him to leave the combat, to come here to pick up the man she loved, just because she was Commander Shepard. And why the hell not? She had dragged this entire galaxy, piece by piece, kicking and screaming, into this battle together. If they won, it would be because of her, because of what she had paid, what she had lost, what she had sacrificed. The galaxy owed her Kaidan's life. "For me, Steve. Please."
There was a pause, then his voice again. "On my way, Shepard."
"Thank you. Please—" She wanted to say 'please save him', but she didn't know if that was possible. At least, whatever happened, Kaidan wouldn't be lying here alone and forgotten. Someone would be with him.
With a last gentle touch on his face, that beautiful face she loved so much, Shepard turned to the others, who had been keeping the Reaper forces at bay in order to let her say good-bye. "Let's go."
As one, they turned to keep moving toward the beam.
But of course, it couldn't stay that way. One by one, they were taken. None of them with wounds as serious as Kaidan's, but all of them eventually fell by the wayside. Shepard left them each with guilt and sadness, certain now that while they might survive this, she wasn't going to.
When she finally reached the beam, the only one still with her was Javik. She suspected he had sustained wounds himself, but he refused to pay attention to them. The last Prothean would be there at the end.
She hit her comm link. "Hackett. Anderson. I'm here."
"Of course you are."
"I knew you could do it."
"Thank me later. There's some kind of force field around it. I'm going in. If— Well, it's been an honor."
She didn't wait for their response. She and Javik looked at each other, nodding once, and then together they moved through.
Inside it was silent; the field kept out all the noise of the fighting, and all the Reaper troops, too, it seemed. Shepard rushed toward the console standing at the center, ready to uplink with Leviathan and get this done, but into the silence spoke a voice she had never expected to hear again.
"Not so fast, Shepard."
Behind her was the Illusive Man. It was the first time she had ever seen him in person. How he had gotten here, she didn't know, but it clearly hadn't been easy. Black blood was caked all along the side of his face. But he was on his feet, and his hand was steady, as was the pistol he held in it, trained on Shepard and Javik.
"Don't move, or I'll end it all, right here."