Aftermath

Chapter 12

HRRAAAAAAAW!

The scream of the Reaper firing was closer than ever. The heat from the red beam singed the hairs off of her arms and chunks of flying debris sliced into her exposed skin. Half of her armor was missing on her left and she could tell by the warmth spreading down her side that she was bleeding.

She pressed forward, clutching her pistol, not able to see but moving closer to where she knew the Reaper stood. The sound again, impossibly close, and the glow of the red eye swelled...

She woke, gasping for air, breathing in only acrid smoke and dirt. Her eyes burned. She groped around for her pistol and finally her fingers closed around the cold comfort of the grip. She forced herself up. Move soldier! She could see the light of the beam, the Conduit. She was close. She could feel the cold metal of her dog tags pressing against her clammy skin. She used the familiar feeling to ground herself. Move!

She was gasping for air again, this time no smoke, only death. The sick stench so overwhelming it made her wretch. Her ears were ringing. She pushed herself to her knees, her left side searing with pain. Then a voice. Anderson's voice.

Suddenly she was sitting next to him. Earth was on fire far below, dying. Like her. Like Anderson. She looked over at him. Her Commanding Officer, her confidant, her friend. He'd been like a father to her. And now, like her father, he was dead too. She had killed him. No! It was the Illusive Man! The Reapers! But she had held the gun that killed him. She had felt the trigger move under her finger. She wanted to weep.

But even then it wasn't over. She stood on top of the Citadel surrounded by the fleets of galactic ships exploding, starting their slow, hopeless spirals into the atmosphere. The Reapers attacked in space and below on Earth. The ghostly face of the Catalyst AI watched her. You must choose.

Destroy.

She stumbled towards the power conduit to the right. It's destruction would mean the destruction of the Reapers. An end to all of this. And with it, extinction of the Geth, a self aware race only just now coming into their own. An end to EDI, her own ships AI, no, her friend.

And an end to her own life, once and for all.

She used whatever reserves of strength she had to raise her pistol and stepped closer. She swallowed, thoughts of Liara surging forward in her mind. This was it. This was everything. The end for her, a chance for a new beginning for those that would survive. Her aim must be true. She looked through the sight, her hand somehow steady.

And then she froze. Terror raced through her veins like ice water.

In front of the cylinder she had to destroy stood Kaiden, Anderson, Mordin, and Thane. Her comrades. Her friends. The ones she'd lost.

The pistol dropped to her side. She fell to her knees.

"Get up Shepard," Kaiden said.

"I can't," she sobbed, unable to breath. "I can't kill you. Not again."

"This is how it must be," Thane said.

Their voices, so real. So impossibly alive.

"There has to be another way," she pleaded.

"It has to be you, someone else might get it wrong," Mordin said with a knowing tilt of his head.

"Get up child. Do what has to be done," Anderson said.

She stared at them, tortured. Feeling their loss all over again.

"Get up!" Anderson roared.

His voice vibrated through her limbs and spurred her into action. She stood and raised her pistol again, her arm shaking from the effort. Tears streamed down her face leaving streaks in the dirt and blood. "I can't!" she cried at them.

"You must!" Anderson demanded.

Kaiden shook his head, "Don't let it be for nothing Shepard."

Shepard's arm trembled violently. She gritted her teeth.

"Now Shepard!" Thane demanded.

She fired. Over and over she pulled the trigger. The projectiles ripped into her friends. She kept firing, using two hands to keep it steady until the clip was empty. Then she collapsed, sobbing. She felt the wave of the explosion wash over her. Her entire body swept with pain. When she managed to open her eyes again, she found herself laying in the grass.

She forced herself up to her hands and knees, still shaking. She looked through blurry vision above the grass. A tree. Bent from the wind. Salvation. Safety. Peace. Tears spilled from her unchecked. She forced herself to crawl forward. Pushed herself up to stumble onward. She clutched her side, feeling the warm, sticky blood pumping into her hand with each beat of her heart. Each step was harder, weaker. Instead of getting closer she seemed to be getting farther.

She hit the ground, hard. She struggled but there was no getting up this time. She rolled to her back, the darkness creeping into the edges of the bright sky in her vision. She could hear her heartbeat slowing in her own ears. She tried to moisten her scorched lips, staring into the sun, feeling the warmth of it on her face. She wouldn't make it to the safety of the tree this time. "Liara," she whispered, "I'm sorry," and then the darkness swallowed her.

###

Half way across the galaxy, Liara bolted upright, startled awake in her bed.

She blinked, taking her bearings, realizing she was in her room on Thessia. She slowed her ragged breathing, her eyes settling on the window and the dark night sky beyond doted with stars.

A realization settled into focus in her mind. A decision made. She knew what she needed to do and there was no time to waste.