My vision was still very hazy, but I could make out a wall. Or rather, the wall of a tent. Dark, slightly olive green. I wasn't in any pain, but it was very difficult to move, my entire body felt heavy and sluggish. Painkillers, sedatives. The type that made sure anxious soldiers ready to get back on the front lines didn't go anywhere. No chance of me getting out of that bed yet, so I waited. Waited for my vision to become clearer. I didn't hear anyone

"Hello." My voice was dry and cracked, but I was able to speak.

"John. Hello." A simple voice replied. It was female, but my head was still swimming, so I couldn't make out who it was. It came to my right, and I tried to tilt my body towards her.

"Where am I?" I asked as I tried to move.

"You are in a Cerberus holding facility. Tests will be imminent now that you are conscious."

"What!" I tried to move, but I still could barely lift my arms.

"That was a joke." The female voice continued, and now I could recognize it. I finally had my body tilted enough to see EDI's infiltration unit looking at me.

"You suck, EDI."

"Your vital signs and neurological signs are in no danger. I knew you could handle a joke."

"Wait, EDI? What happened, I thought the Crucible..." Maybe the blood loss triggered my own sort of crazy memories, but I thought activating the Crucible would destroy all of synthetic life. It wasn't my first idea of a solution, but dead Reapers were the only way I was going to save this galaxy.

"The scientists working on the Crucible determined that it was capable of emitting large quantities of energy that could be also be transmitted through the mass relay network. Due to samples of Reapers recovered from Cerberus, Sovereign, Tuchanka, and Rannoch, we were able to modify it and have it selectively target the Reapers, leaving others to be unaffected. Once the Crucible activated, it overloaded and shut down many of the Reapers's systems. Kinetic barriers were offline, weapons were weakened, mass effect fields could not be sustained. Admiral Hackett destroyed the Reapers in space, and Major Coates took command of ground forces to destroy any remaining Reapers on the ground. You have been unconscious for an entire week while this unfolded."

"It just affected the Reapers? Not you?" When I made the decision to activate the Crucible, I thought it would mean EDI would die. She was synthetic, synthetics would be destroyed. Another painful cross to bear. But here she was, standing before me. Did I dream the whole thing?

"This was anticipated due to the Reaper technology both myself and the geth used in their upgrades. Doctor Gavin Archer offered to find a way to fix the problem and interfaced with the geth consensus. He worked with the geth engineers in order to tweak the Crucible's energy, preventing it from fully affecting them. The efforts of their work determined that the geth only suffered a ten percent decrease in their processing capabilities, which the consensus deemed an acceptable sacrifice. Admiral Xen was eager to determine how exactly the geth were affected, but they insisted there was no additional data could be gathered from her...dissections. As for myself, I only suffered an eight percent decrease." I laughed.

"Good...Good...You said it went through the mass relays..." I'd lost enough people as it was: I didn't need another dear friend, and the genocide of an entire race, piled onto my soul some more. Doctor Archer did that? Now I had to forgive him.

"Correct, although the relays themselves seem unaffected. To be cautious, relay traffic is restricted, only a few ships travel at a time. Did you believe they would be destroyed, John?" Maybe, maybe not. It didn't matter at this point.

"Where is...where is everyone?"

"Most of your crew is not here." I had more feeling in my legs, so I pushed the blanket off of my body and tried to stand up. I needed to go find them. Say thank you, one last time, before we went our separate ways. But I didn't like EDI's choice of words.

"Lieutenant Vega had taken the rear guard position during our charge to the beam with Dr. T'Soni and Tali. He was barely injured by the attack. Because he was in peak condition, he was asked to coordinate an assault to eliminate the remaining Reaper forces on Thessia and Palaven. He mentioned that he would enjoy a world full of, quote, "grateful blue senoritas." I have sent him a message on your recovery as we were speaking. Liara did not leave Earth, but a shortage of doctors has her providing what assistance she can to the wounded. Tali suffered a suit rupture and is currently in a sterile facility. She will only be allowed to leave when she recovers."

Even under the sedatives, I felt lighter as I tried to push myself off of the bed. I only managed to get myself seated upright.

"There is a turian medical facility not far from here where Garrus is recuperating, his injuries were more serious. A survivor from the Citadel, Doctor Chloe Michel, is attending to him." I laughed again. Tough bastard, that was for sure. I wasn't about to have him watching me from turian heaven. We had vids of this to make, and royalties to collect. I counted on my fingers...there was only one person missing.

"How's Kaidan doing?" I asked EDI. She didn't answer at first. Even through the painkillers, I could feel the chill from her silence.

"Major Alenko suffered the worst injuries. He pushed himself to recover you and attempted to bring you to a hospital before collapsing. He did not apply any medi-gel while doing this." EDI's words were echoing in my mind. What happened to Kaidan?

"Please, EDI...Is Kaidan alive?" I heard a loud thump, and thought it was just my heart. And it sounded again. And again. And that thump was followed by a footstep. I hung my head backwards to see behind me.

Upside down, I saw a face. Black hair, brown eyes. But the same voice.

"Welcome back, John." Kaidan's beaten up, scarred face looked down with the same smile. EDI mentioned that the damage was severe, it showed: I could see lines from cybernetics being installed in his face. He also needed retrofit to a newer biotic amp model, to avoid permanent neurological damage, according to EDI. Carried a huge risk, but he seemed no worse for wear, and he was now an L4, like the kids at Grissom. The tapping sound was a cane he was using for balance. Just a temporary measure, he said. Not sure if I believed it, he had a hard time walking.

But he was still kicking. I kept my team alive. High-risk, highly dangerous mission that my team volunteered to join me on, and I kept them safe from harm. We beat the Reapers, saved the galaxy, because of that.

It was a damn good thing I was sitting, otherwise I might have fell to my knees and cried. That would have been embarrassing.

I wasn't released until two weeks later, and I was ready to get out of that damn bed. I flew from London to Rio, down by the beach. Reapers went after heavily populated centers, so the city in the background wasn't great, but near the beach, the damage had been cleaned up.

I helped Kaidan out of the shuttle: He still carried that cane, and limped a bit, even with the cloned tissue healing his leg. Maybe it was a side-effect of the retrofit, maybe it was psychological. I'd prefer a limping friend to a dead one.

"This is a nice place." Jacob had mentioned he knew a nice little place down in Rio, a good bar. Don't know if this was the same one, but it would have to do. I still saw Jacob, Miranda, and everyone else. Sometimes, but not all the time. Whiskey didn't need to drown them out.

Beside me, Garrus only nodded. Jacob must have told him about Rio too.

Seated at the bar, still wearing her hood, Kasumi Goto waved to me. I had tried to get in contact with everyone. The few I got a hold of, those that were still on Earth. I told them to meet me here. Even in peacetime, I still drew people to me.

"Hey there, Shep. Glad you could come." I handled introductions for Kaidan.

"Now, I seem to remember saying the first round was on me." She smiled as she ordered us a round of sake. Wasn't my first choice of drink, but I'd drink it.

"Save one for me." A gruff voice pulled up to the bar as Zaeed Massini took his seat next to us. I wasn't surprised he made it through: He always did. He saved Din Korlack, though, when he had the chance, when he could have just let him die: Guess even old dogs learned new tricks.

Like moths to the fire, I began to see remembers of my team again. Steve Cortez, who looked just fine after that crash, settled right into shots of tequila with limes. Never did get any good tequila on board. Joker, with EDI in tow, quickly followed. Jack, not with her students, guzzled down an entire bottle of rum. It made my stomach churn, and I once had ryncol. Tali joked with us, and I made sure she didn't drink too much: Joker could break a rib laughing from that; while Liara and Samantha Traynor played a game of chess. Major Kirrahe was going to play the winner, Never thought he'd be a good player, but salarians, they thought quick as hell.

Not everyone could come: Wrex had to get back to Tuchanka, Eve, or Bakara, still had a hard time remembering that was her name, was about to give birth to Urdnot Mordin. The genophage may have been cured, but krogan still suffered the Rite of Life, and this was Wrex's child. Grunt had gone back with him. James was still ensuring Thessia and Palaven were free of Reaper forces: I suppose it could be considered N7 training. I hadn't heard a word from Samara, but I knew she wasn't gone: The only thing that stopped her was Kaidan, and he was right beside me.

But I was glad to have this, at least. Cortez laughed as Traynor took one of Liara's bishops. Zaeed launched into a contest of stories with Garrus.

I motioned for another glass, and tried to remember one of Ash's poems as I traced my finger around the rim. She liked poetry with her booze. But Tennyson's poems were darker, mostly with the death of a friend. I already had enough of that reminding me of her, Legion's choice to upgrade the geth like Ashley's decision to activate that nuke. And Kaidan, standing between me and Udina, with me about to sacrifice the very thing she gave her life to save.

"Wonder what the plan is next, John? Still going to consult for Blasto?" Kaidan, right beside me, asked. In the end, I didn't pull that trigger. He stepped out of the way. Wondered if he heard Ash's voice when we were staring at gunpoint too.

"Right now, everyone's doing reconstruction: I plan to spend the next three months in a drunken haze and when it wears off, we'll see."

"Sounds like a good plan. I think I'm going to take my mother to Ilium: She needs a vacation after this. Never went off planet, best way to start." We clinked glasses and knocked back our shots together. I didn't even remember Horizon anymore, or Jump Station, or any of the words. Bury it, I said, we did more than that. War against the Reapers was three years in the making and it took a lot out of me. It gave me things, but it took more than it gave. Kaidan was probably the one thing I lost I managed to get back.

Another round for us, as Tali filtered her brandy and we talked more. My thoughts and words were muddled now thanks to the booze, but I did know I was where I wanted to be.