Across the Sea

Eternity

"Your time is at an end. You must decide."

"Let's get this over with," Shepard said, her voice heavy.

"Do what you must." The Catalyst walked to the back of the room. It looked like the child she'd seen on Earth before the reapers had mercilessly destroyed his transport. It freaked her out, and she was glad to be walking away from it.

She'd been given three choices: synthesis, control, or destruction.

Destruction not only applied to the reapers, but to all synthetic life. She thought of EDI and how happy she and Joker were together. She thought of Legion and how he died so that all geth could be freed. She ruled out that option.

Control meant taking control of the harvesting cycle, but Shepard couldn't figure out if she'd be choosing when the harvests occurred or ending them entirely. Her conscience would be implemented into an AI, and all her memories would remain intact. But no one would know what happened to her, and she wouldn't be able to go back to her friends and let them know that she still existed in another form. And what if, as an AI, she would believe in the harvest?

And then there was the synthesis, the merging of organic and synthetic life. The Catalyst seemed to be pushing for this one most of all, but that only made Shepard trust it less. It guaranteed that there would be no more war and everyone would understand each other. They would still have their own minds and opinions. The final evolution, it had said.

What Shepard really wanted to do was shoot that annoying star child, but she knew it wouldn't solve anything. She needed to end this war, once and for all. With this thought clearly in her mind, she walked straight ahead, where the Catalyst had pointed her.

She ached all over from having undergone two near-death experiences in the past hour. She could feel the dried blood on her face as she limped on the walkway. Everything seemed so surreal, and the shiny gray floors weren't helping. She tried to keep her eyes focused on the bright white light, but her vision started swimming. At that point, she realized that this would be the last walk she'd ever take, the most important walk anyone had ever taken. And she was about to pass out.

Shepard's sore muscles screamed in agony as she starting full-on sprinting, noticing that the walkway ended with a sharp drop. She kept running, forcing herself to go on. Mordin's face made its way into her head, remembering how he sacrificed himself to ensure the krogan had a future. Legion's face came next, gave up his life to give freedom to all geth. And Thane...

His prayer was for you.

Her last thoughts before she jumped were of him, his smile, the way his hands felt holding hers. She jumped, and as she fell, she closed her eyes to avoid the blinding green light.

I will await you across the sea.

Thane's last words to her echoed in her mind as she felt her body disintegrate. And then, just like that, there was nothing.

She woke up on a beach with a gasp, confused and unaware of what had happened. Instinctively, she touched her face, looking for traces of her dried blood. Nothing but smooth skin met her fingers. She was wearing her civvies, the N7 hoodie EDI and Joker had gotten for her and black sweatpants. She stood up, wiping the sand off of herself.

Shepard walked around, taking in the view of the beautiful sea. It was an aquamarine color and the sun had just started dipping under the horizon. She kept going until she got to the other side of the crescent shaped beach, and when she got there...

"Siha?"

Shepard turned around. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"Thane?" There he was, just where he said he'd be.

"Shepard-Commander?" a robotic voice questioned. She looked to Thane's right and saw -

"Legion?"

"Hello Shepard." She shifted her gaze.

"Mordin?" Nodding, he picked up his bucket of seashells. He'd always said that he wanted to run tests on them.

Tears filled her eyes and she quickly closed the distance between Thane and herself. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he held her tightly at the waist. Pressing her head against his neck, she let the tears fall from her eyes. He released her and leaned back for his hands to cup her face and his thumbs wiped away her tears.

"Thane...I..."

"I missed you, siha."

"I love you," Shepard blurted out.

"I love you too." Thane smiled.

"We have the rest of eternity to catch up, don't we?"

Thane gave a hearty laugh.

"Yes, we do."