Chapter 2 - The End, Once and For All

Amelia
October 21st, 2186

I watched as the SSV Everest, the flagship of the 5th fleet and Hackett's personal ship, pulled up alongside the Normandy, dwarfing my frigate. "Commander." Joker's voice crackled over the shipwide comm system, "Admiral Hackett is requesting permission to come aboard."

"Permission granted," I told him, walking from the galaxy map to stand near the airlock. The airlock hissed open, revealing the aging admiral flanked by two Alliance marines. Everyone on the command deck immediately snapped to attention and held a salute. "Admiral." I nodded to him, "Welcome to the Normandy." I offered her hand, to which Hackett took with a firm shake.

"Thank you, Commander. Are you ready to bring the might of the galaxy to bear on the Reapers?"

"Yes, Sir."

Hackett stepped up to the galaxy map to address the crew, "Never before have so many come together-from all quarters of the galaxy. But never before have we faced an enemy such as this. The Reapers will show us no mercy. We must give them no quarter. They will terrorize our populations. We must stand fast in the face of that terror. They will advance until our last city falls, but we will not fall. We will prevail. Each of us will be defined by our actions in the coming battle. Stand fast. Stand strong. Stand together."

Once he stepped down, he walked back over to me, "Commander, is there a place where we can speak privately?"

"Of course, Sir, right this way," I answered, leading Hackett into the conference room.

Once inside the room, Hackett resumed his usual posture of hands folded neatly behind his back. "Shepard. I wanted to tell you what an honor it has been to serve alongside you. Your actions in this war have given us an edge. You have done what no one else could, and for that, Earth, and the whole galaxy, thank you. Anderson wanted to do this himself, but he couldn't. Commander Amelia Shepard, I hereby promote you to Admiral of the Systems Alliance Navy." Reaching into his pocket, he produced a small box, which he opened to reveal O-10 Officer bars. "Congratulations."

I was blown away, "Sir… I… I'm not sure what to say."

A smile crept across the face so commonly devoid of emotion. "Say yes. When we win this war, every man, woman, and child in the galaxy owes you their lives."

"Yes."

Garrus

On the battlefield, Amelia was one part valkyrie, one part vengeful spirit, and three parts Spirits-be-damned crazy. Every time we fought together, I couldn't help the predatory lust from shocking down my spine while simultaneously having my heart squeezed with dread. One second, she was to my right, slicing a leg off a cannibal; the next, she was to my left, biotic charging into a marauder; after that, she'd bash a husk with her omnishield. With contented glee, she tossed a pull field, and five cannibals sailed up from their cover, giving me easy shots on all of them. "You don't have to make the shots easy for me, you know!" I shouted, "I won our sniper contest on the Citadel!"

"I missed on purpose!" She shouted back, stabbing another marauder between the eyes with her omniblade, pulling down, gutting it fringe to spurs. "Rematch tomorrow, and I'll try this time!"

"You're on Ame!"

The fight was quick and brutal. We got to a roof adjacent to the Hades Cannon, and Amelia successfully took a shot with the Cain to destroy it, but a Harvester flew past and destroyed Cortez's shuttle. Despite her facade, I knew that each death weighed heavily on her, especially if it was one of our crewmates.

After a few more minutes of Shepard charging, throwing, stabbing, and flaying passed, our escape shuttle arrived. To our surprise, Anderson was on board the shuttle.

"Anderson!" Amelia flung herself around his neck.

The gesture was quickly returned, "Ame… boy, are you a sight for sore eyes."

I knew some of Amelia and Anderson's history together, mostly that after the Rape of Mindoir, Anderson was on one of the squads of Alliance personnel that rescued a sixteen-year-old Amelia from batarian slavers and that he and Kahlee had adopted the young girl. I knew that Amelia saw Anderson as a father figure, a guiding light in her life.

Anderson turned his attention to me, offering his hand, "Vakarian, how are you?"

I grabbed his hand, shaking it human-style, "I will be better when this is all over, Anderson. Glad to see you're still kicking, though."

"Like a mule, Vakarian, like a mule."

Amelia

The last truck from Hammer company finally drove through the gate at the forward operating base. I jumped off the turret, wiping the sweat from my brow. It was time to face the Reapers. I walked inside to see most of the Normandy ground crew dispersed throughout the room, helping with various preparations, organizing troops, or staying out of the way.

I walked over to Javik, staring out the ruined side of the building we were in, looking at the beam on the distant horizon. "Commander." He greeted.

"Was it this bad in your time?"

"Worse. I have been listening to the krogan speak to his men. In our cycle, the races never came together. There was no rallying cry. I envy you."

"Really? There's not much left out there."

"The future is still out there. It is something my people could never say: there will be a tomorrow."

"Only if we win today." I crossed my arms, staring out at the battlefield to come.

"No one else has made it this far."

"You came a long way, Javik. Further than anyone else here."

"And I look forward to finally completing my mission. But you are now the Avatar of the cycle. The exemplar of victory. Not just for humanity, or turians, or protheans-but all life. Every soul that has ever existed is watching this moment."

"As if there wasn't enough pressure already…." I said, eyes drifting to the floor.

"Do not waiver. Victory always requires difficult choices."

"I've made my fair share of those."

"There may be more. But I know that you will win, no matter the cost." Javik paused for a moment. "Thank you for letting the last voice of the protheans speak." Javik handed me the shard that had been sitting in his cabin since I had opened his stasis pod. "Here. This shard is now yours. Add to it. The progeny of this cycle will study it. They will know this was the day when the Reapers were no more. And that you were their conqueror."

After finishing with Javik, I walked over to where Garrus was giving orders to a group of turian soldiers, trying to wipe a tear from my eye. If Javik nearly made me cry, Garrus almost certainly would. Once he caught me out of the corner of his eye, we dismissed the soldiers. Turning to face me, he said, "Ame… So I guess this is…."

"Just like old times?" I finished for him, flashing a smile.

Garrus gave a short chuckle, followed by a hum, "Might be the last chance we get to say that."

"You think we're gonna lose?"

"No, I think we are about to kick the Reapers back into whatever black hole they crawled out of. Then, we're going to retire somewhere warm and tropical and live off the royalties from the vids. Maybe even find out what a turian-human baby looks like." He capped off the last sentence with a sly wink.

"Sounds amazing, Big Guy. I'll do anything as long as you're there, Garrus." I settled my hand on his unscarred mandible, running my thumb along his blue clan markings.

"James told me there's an old saying here on Earth: 'May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead.' Not sure if turian heaven is the same as yours, but if this thing goes sideways, and we both end up there… meet me at the bar. I'm buying."

"We're a team, Garrus. There's no Shepard without Vakarian, so you better remember to duck."

"Says the woman already on her second life. And Amelia, forgive the insubordination, but I have an order for you… Come back alive. It'd be an awfully empty galaxy without you."

"Don't worry, Garrus. I'll look down if I'm up in that bar and you're not. You'll never be alone."

"Never."

Garrus

The beam… It was so damn close. Just a little further, and we'd make it inside. We're finishing this, once and for all. A few moments before, Harbinger itself landed next to the beam and began destroying anything within thirty meters. It didn't matter, though. It was this push or death for all of them anyway. All around me, soldiers from every species were turned to dust, vehicles destroyed and thrown as if they were feathers. Amelia was a few meters ahead, running at the beam, determined as I'd ever seen her, and James was trailing a few meters behind, breathing heavily.

Two Makos raced past them down the hill, one immediately getting hit directly by Harbinger's beam, flipping it directly in front of Shepard. With a quick reaction time, she slid under the flying tank, barely clearing it as the burning hulk returned to Earth. The second Mako was also sent flying. 'Well, that's just not fair. Who said he could have two beams….' I thought, before realizing the burning wreck was flipping head over tail directly towards me. Unfortunately, I couldn't get out of the way in time, and it came down hard on my trailing leg, pinning me to the London mud.

Immediately, James and Ame were on me. "GARRUS!" Amelia yelled, pain radiating from her voice. She looked around frantically, seeing the last of Hammer cresting the hill and being destroyed very quickly. Amelia opened her omnitool to dispense a dose of medigel into my hardsuit, quelling some of the pain. "James, help me lift this. Garrus, when we do, pull your leg out. Ready...? One, two, three, lift!" The husk of the tank was raised just high enough to pull my leg out, and I did before it quickly crashed back down.

"James, you've got to get him out of here."

"And you've got to be kidding me!" I protested, but in my injured state, I couldn't free myself from the large marine's grip.

"Don't argue, Garrus."

I gritted my teeth, pulling my mandibles flat against my face. "We're in this to the end. No Shepard without Vakarian, remember?"

"Know that no matter what happens today… you know I love you… I always will. Now GO!" Shepard turned and began running towards the beam again, and James started walking me away.

Amelia

It took every ounce of my nerve not to burst into tears after forcing Garrus to leave. The last time I cried was after Mindoir, after batarian slavers brutally murdered my parents and brother. But I knew that if I did, the whole galaxy would fall. Now was not the time. For now, I am Commander Shepard, not Amelia.

I threw everything I had into running down that hill now with the last of Hammer, just a handful of on-foot marines and a gunship. Harbinger noticed soon after and began sending beams at us. The first destroyed the gunship, which spiraled and crashed, and the second killed the two marines closest. The third and fourth cut a path along the wet mud straight towards me. At the last second, I tried to dodge out of the way but still took the edge of the weapon. My whole world turned white and then black as I faded to unconsciousness.

It only took a few seconds for me to return, and I took a cursory glance around. Hammer was destroyed. Vehicles lay burning with their occupants still trapped inside. Bodies littered the entire pathway to the beam. But Harbinger had left, sensing that the crisis was over. Now was my last chance. The galaxy's last chance.

I struggled to my feet, appraising my injuries. Most of my hardsuit was gone. All that remained was my chest piece, upper right leg, and right arm, all of which almost completely melted. My left side was burnt, angry blisters rising through the ruined skin. I ran a quick diagnostic on myself with my omnitool, which thankfully still worked. My shield generator was completely fried, and I was too injured to muster a biotic barrier for myself. 'I guess I'm doing this the old-fashioned way…,' I thought, beginning to limp towards the beam, only a few meters away now. I stopped for a second to pick up a weapon off the ground. Luckily it was one of my favorites, a Carnifex.

After walking most of the way there, a Marauder emerged from behind cover, aiming its assault rifle at me. I quickly fired a shot at its head, the slug from the heavy pistol ripped through the once-turian's skull, killing it instantly, but the creature had gotten two shots off before it died, one of which tore through my left arm at the shoulder, leaving it completely useless, and the other hitting the remnants of my hardsuit, but hard enough to puncture my abdomen. I pressed on, finally reaching the beam.

A fraction of a second later, I landed hard on my back, the wind knocked out of my lungs. I looked around, trying to figure out where I was. It looked like the Citadel, but not a part I'd ever been to. Once again, I forced myself to my feet, vowing that one goddamn marauder wouldn't be the end of me. I quickly applied another pack of medigel to my injuries, hoping the miracle goo would keep me alive for long enough.

I walked forward, following the only path I could see in the dim, red light. Bodies of all species were piled on either side of the room, with keepers walking to and fro, picking up bodies from one pile and moving them to another, seemingly with no rhyme or reason. The room opened up to a narrow bridge, which I limped across. Once I entered the next room, I finally recognized where I was. It was just below the Council meeting chambers, where I fought the Saren/Sovereign abomination. A console flickered to life on the far side of the room.

Upon interacting with it, I started the sequence to open the arms of the station. Once they were open, I saw Hackett and the remainder of the Shield fleet flying towards me with the Crucible. Just a moment later, it was docked. Lines of code began running on the console, recognizing that an object had docked.

I uploaded the script that contained the instructions on how to activate the Crucible written by the prothean VI we rescued from the Cerberus base in the Horsehead Nebula.

It took a moment to execute, and I began to worry that Vendetta was wrong and that this was all for naught, but then the station began to hum, and the wings had started to spin. The humming grew steadily louder, becoming almost deafening, and the lights on the station started to glow brighter, nearing the intensity of Sol. I could feel the power in my teeth, the feeling not unlike a ship when it went through a mass relay, only much, much more powerful. Code continued running along the console until a button appeared in the center of the screen, in prothean text that read 'Fire.' I hit the button as quickly as possible.

The humming ceased, and a ball of blood-orange energy formed at the top of the tower, firing out in a beam towards the Charon relay. After a few seconds of a constant stream, the eezo at the core of the mass relay turned the same blood-orange color and fired its beam out. Once the beam ceased firing, the station started to break apart. I watched as Zakera ward exploded and detached from the Citadel, slowly dropping into Earth's atmosphere. That was the last thing I remembered seeing.