Pain.

Pain and suffering.

Always this has been our fate, Ko'le: To serve and to suffer. Why?

To what end?

-To survive, Beast. -

=NO! To SAVE THEM! To SAVE the Universe!=

-Kevin… the loop is closed. Our very existence proves that our plan has failed. If we succeeded, there would not have been a future out of which to pull us-

=Wow. If I had a week, I couldn't list all the reasons why that statement is wrong…. =

Why should we save any of them? They are nothing more than fictional characters in the world YOU came from. The ending of the Mass Effect 3 may have sucked, but at least it was an end. The Reapers will be defeated, with our without us.

=But Levi said…=

-WHY SHOULD WE TRUST A GIANT TIME-TRAVELING CUTTLEFISH? HE had ANY time he could have intervened in! Why would he choose a twenty-five year old boy from Manassas, Virginia to throw into the Mass Effect Universe? Why didn't he choose someone from LAST cycle? Or the FIRST cycle? Why not defeat the Reapers before they were EVER MADE?! WHY US? WHY NOW?!-

WHY?

-WHY?-

WHY?

*STARLIGHT STATION*
IN ORBIT ABOVE KAHJE

I could not wait to get some god-damn answers.

Jacob had been helpful enough. He had come by and we had chatted about what had gone on while I had been on ice. A lot had happened.

A whole lot had happened:

Apparently, Ko'le and his Conclave had reawakened Protheans, given the planet Ilos to the quarians as a new homeworld (in exchange for quarian membership in the Conclave), and eradicated piracy in the Terminus Systems.

All of this was on top of introducing the Thorians, the Rachni, the Raloi, and a rogue GETH faction to the rest of the galaxy.

Oh, yeah, and Ko'le private security force, the Immortals? They had now taken over Cerberus.

The same Cerberus that had killed Admiral Kohoku, and was directly responsible for death of my squad-mates on Akuze.

Oh, yeah, Ko'le had a lot of explaining to do. Especially since Miranda wasn't proving extremely talkative.

Oh, she was nice, all right, I don't mean she was a total bitch. But there was a kind of stand-offish-ness to her, as well. If we were going to keep working together, she and I were going to have to have a talk.

Also, she would have to learn that "The Imperator will explain everything" was not an acceptable answer to my questions anymore.

But now, here we were, riding the elevators up to the Imperator's Quarters here on Starlight Station. Have to say, Ko'le hadn't done badly for himself, if the gold-plated everything on this station was any indication.

The doors opened, and a young drell was standing behind the desk.

"Director Lawson…" he began, getting to his feet.

"We're expected, Krios," Miranda said dismissively.

"But ma'am…"

"We're expected…."

"He's NOT WELL!" Krios said desperately, panic breaking through his demeanor.

Miranda paused.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Is he sick?" I asked.

"No, ma'am…uh….ma'ams…" Krios answered, looking horribly uncomfortable. "Just that… ever since the mission to Heshtok… he's… he's… not been himself. He's babbling to himself, having conversations with people who aren't there. Something's wrong…. He asked me to send for General Javik. And he was scared. Very SCARED. I've never seen him scared before…."

Miranda nodded thoughtfully.

"Thank you, Private Krios," she said. "Send Javik in when he arrives."

"Yes, ma'am."

Miranda looked back at me.

"What do you make of it?" I asked. "'Scared' doesn't sound like the Ko'le I knew."

"Nor the one I knew," agreed Miranda. "Let's go get our answers from the source, shall we?"

The doors opened to reveal a dark room, illuminated only by the sunlight coming in from the massive windows on one side of it. A lone figure stood in front of the window, hands crossed behind his back. From his dreads alone, I could have recognized him.

"Ko'le?" I said gently, as the doors closed behind us.

"LIGHTS," the figure said loudly, causing Miranda and I to start. The lights in the room came on, brightening up the whole place. Ko'le turned his head, and then whirled around to face us.

"Welcome back, Shepard," he said walking forward. That warm smile of his lit up his face, and I couldn't help returning it. He opened his arms wide. "It's so good to see….."

Suddenly, pain twisted his features into an anguished sob, and he went to one knee. Miranda and I started forward to help him, but then suddenly he looked up at us.

And his eyes were glowing white.

"OH MY GOD," he said, but his voice was… different somehow. "Shepard… you're back already? Wow… no scarring on her face…. Way earlier than the game…"

"Uhh… what?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"Two years, 3 months, eight days," Ko'le continued, "That's how long it takes… that's how long it took…"

"Ko'le, what are you saying?" Miranda asked, slowly walking forward still.

Ko'le's eyes went back to their normal state and he straightened up back to his normal self.

"It's good to see you back, old friend," he said, that different lilt to his voice gone. "We will need you in the fight that is to come."

"And what fight is that?" I asked, still trying to grasp what the hell was going on.

Ko'le's eyes went pitch black, right in front of us.

"The only fight that matters," a VERY different voice spoke. "The Fallen come. Beast kill, but they come again. Rise again, kill again. Beast hunts. BEAST KILLS!"

Ko'le's green-black biotics swirled around him. Miranda flared her own biotics and stepped in between Ko'le and I as I stepped back, somewhat in shock.

"Ok… who are you, and what have you done with Ko'le?" she demanded. I reached to the small of my back, my pistol deploying. I didn't know what was going on, exactly, but that wasn't the Ko'le I knew or remembered.

The eyes went back to normal, and Ko'le started panting hard. Only now did I notice the sweat pouring down his forehead and face.

"You… should go… Miranda…. Shepard…. Until I can… find… some way to fix this… I mean… him… I mean, us… Dammit!"

"Fix WHAT?" Miranda asked.

"Ko'le, what's going on?" I asked. "How can we help?"

The eyes turned white again.

"We are… They are… fighting for control…" the other voice said.

Was that a kid's voice? I thought, but then the door opened behind us. I turned, and got one of the biggest shocks of my life:

A four-eyed alien with a lobster's head was walking towards us, in armor that matched Ko'le's, except it was red where Ko'le's was black.

"What is going on here?" he demanded. His Basic almost had a… Jamaican accent. It threw me off for a second, but Miranda answered.

"Ko'le's not well," she said. "There's someone else in there with him. At least two someones."

The alien narrowed his eyes, then turned to Ko'le.

"Brother, what ails?" he asked, genuine concern and worry in his voice.

Ko'le's eyes went back to normal.

"Brother," he panted, straining with each word. "Lock. Him. Down."

"Who?"

The eyes went black again.

"BEAST!"

All four of the alien's eyes went wide, and unmasked fear, bordering on terror, came across his expression for a second. Then he stood back, flaring his biotics and his eyes turned white.

"EEH DECUOM NOS MEH!" he bellowed, raising a hand palm-first toward Ko'le.

Ko'le's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed, unconscious. There was a moment when we were all looking back and forth at one another.

"Ok… what the hell just happened?" I finally asked. "And who the hell are you?"

"General Javik, Commander Shepard," introduced Miranda. "Shepard, this General Javik of the Reborn Protheans.

A living, breathing Prothean. Liara would love this…

"Javik."

"Commander," Javik said, returning my nod. "Ko'le has spoken highly of you. I hope you are worth the considerable resources he expended to bring you back."

"What is wrong with Ko'le?" I asked. "What did you do to him?"

Javik sighed, as if weighing whether or not to trust me. Then apparently he made up his mind.

"Ko'le possesses two distinct personalities, Commander. One is the commander, Seneschal, and brother we both know and have fought alongside. But… before that… he was Beast. You have been to your… Mars Archives?"

"Yes," I confirmed, "With Ko'le, actually."

Javik's eyes widened in surprise.

"Indeed? I am surprised he was able to go there again. Yes… that is where Beast was born. A living weapon to be pointed at the Reapers and expended. Very few knew the Master Words to arm and disarm that weapon. I am the only one to survive the Great Sleep."

"Is he going to be ok?" I asked. "I have a lot of questions that I'm told only he can answer."

"I can imagine, Commander," Javik said, and his tone was gentler, almost soothing. "But I do not know who will awaken from the slumber I have placed him in: Ko'le, or Beast. And you said there was a third?" he asked turning to Miranda.

"That seemed to be the case," Miranda said, still looking down at Ko'le. "He said 'they' were fighting for control, as if there were at least two more personalities in there with him."

"What do we do with him in the meantime?" I asked.

Javik rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "If Ko'le is fighting his own mind, there is only one being in the galaxy who could help him. The Mind-Healers of Thoros were famous for their abilities to fight Reaper-damaged minds. There is now only one Thorian left on that planet, as I understand."

"Protector-of-the-Weak," I agreed, shuddering internally at the memory, "We've met."

Javik almost grinned.

"So I have heard. It is past time that I meet him as well, then."

Suddenly, a button on Ko'le's desk started beeping and flashing. Miranda strode over and looked over at Javik, who nodded, lifting Ko'le up with his biotics. Taking him in his arms, he walked out of the doors, calling for Private Krios. The doors closed, and Miranda hit the flashing button. A holographic image of a seated man appeared on the far side of the room.

No…. not him.

"Director Lawson, good to see you again," General Oleg Petrovsky said warmly.

"General," Miranda replied, nodding. Her whole demeanor had suddenly gone cold and distinctly professional.

"And Commander Shepard," he said turning to me. "You have no idea how relieved I am to see you standing there. It's been… a long time"

"General Petrovsky," I answered, throwing a salute out of plain muscle-memory habit. "I hadn't heard that you had joined the Conclave, sir."

"Your friend Ko'le convinced me to… come out of retirement," Petrovsky said, smiling. "I wanted to talk to you about your next steps and introduce you to Operation Awakening."

"Sir," Miranda objected. "Operation Awakening is under the purview of the office of Imperator. Perhaps we should wait until Imperator Ko'le…"

"Imperator Ko'le called me just moments ago, Director," Petrovsky soothed. "Directive 314 has been initiated."

A document appeared on the left hand side of the screen.

"It bears the signatures of all the Circle members. As of two hours ago, the office of interim Imperator has fallen to me, in Ko'le's absence. He informed us that his injuries on Heshtok were more serious than first anticipated. Until his return, all files and operation reports have been forwarded to me."

Miranda stiffened, then nodded.

"Very good, sir. I will await your orders."

"Thank you, Miss Lawson," Petrovsky said. "Can you give Commander Shepard and I the room?"

Miranda nodded, then turned to me.

"I'll be right outside," she murmured, and then left via the double doors. I turned back to the general.

"You doubtless have many questions on your mind, Commander," Petrovsky said. "I may not have Ko'le's unique insight into all of them, but please, how can I help?"

I took a deep breath.

Ok… here we go.

"Why am I back?"

Petrovsky's eyebrows raised.

"The most important question first: I'm impressed. The simple answer is: we are at war. No one wants to admit it openly, outside of the Conclave, but humanity is under attack. While you've been sleeping, human colonies have been disappearing across the Terminus Systems. Entire colonies, gone without a trace."

"Slavers?"

"That's what we thought originally, too, but the methodology is all wrong. We now believe it's someone working with the Reapers. Just as Saren and the geth aided Sovereign. You've seen it yourself. You've bested all of them. That's why Ko'le and the Circle chose to bring you back. We need you, Commander: Again."

"If human colonies are being attacked," I said, my mind racing, "then the Alliance needs to know."

"The Alliance is well-informed," Petrovsky answered, "Ko'le saw to that. But their precarious position as the newest members of the Council have tied their hands to the point of inaction. They dare not deploy their fleets so close to batarian space. Not without provoking an all-out war."

"Let me talk to them," I said. "I've gotten in and out of worse situations before. If I can reinstated as a Spectre…"

"You'd be dragged along the entirety of Council Space on a goodwill publicity tour: Shepard, the Spectre who Beat Death," Petrovsky disparaged. "You know it, and I know it."

The sinking feeling in my gut told me that I did.

"What about my crew? If I can get them together…"

"I will forward you all the dossiers that I have on them," Petrovsky nodded. "In the meantime, go and see for yourself. I have ordered your ship to be ready to take you to Singapore Nova, the latest colony to be abducted. Miranda and Jacob will brief you."

"Is that an order, General?" I asked, my inner snark showing just a bit. "Cause it's been a long time since Torfan."

Petrovsky smiled, and shook his head. "You always have a choice, Shepard. If you don't find the evidence we're both looking for, you are free to take the ship to any destination you wish: the Citadel, Earth…anywhere."

"And what ship have you stuck me with?" I asked, feeling the Normandy's loss for the first time.

"Far be it from me to spoil the surprise," Petrovsky said, raising his hands in mock surrender. "Go down to the docking bay and see for yourself. Oh, and Ko'le did manage to find a pilot you might like. I hear he's one of the best. Someone you can trust."

The doors opened, and I turned to look.

Joker Moreau stood there, grinning from ear to ear.

I looked back at Petrovsky, but he had already cut the connection.

"Hey, Commander," that voice said. That voice I didn't even know I had missed. "Just like old times, huh?"

"JOKER, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I yelled, running towards him. Suddenly he had a panicked expression on his face and he raised his hands.

"Watch the bones, watch the bones ohgodwatchthebones…."

I pulled myself to an abrupt stop at the last minute, and gently put my hand on his shoulder.

"I can't believe you're here… that it's really you…"

"Look who's talking," he snarked back. "I saw you get spaced."

"I got lucky," I shrugged, "With a lot of strings attached… How'd you get here?"

Miranda and Jacob joined us from the lobby, and we were taking an elevator ride back down to the docking bay. Joker and I were still talking about the crew, while Miranda and Jacob looked slightly awkwardly like third and fourth wheels. But I didn't care at the moment. Apparently everything I had tried to stir up had been wiped aside by the council. My team had been broken up, all records of the Reapers or Sovereign being anything other than a geth ship had been sealed. And Joker had been grounded. Until Ko'le had sent Tali to come and get him.

"I mean, who were they going to get to fly her besides me?" he asked, with Miranda sighing in resignation in reply. He just grinned in answer.

"Wait, to fly who?" I asked, just as the elevator doors opened.

"Her."

The Normandy lay spread out in front of us. But this one was… bigger. Almost a frigate, rather than the small SR-1 corvette.

Miranda and Jacob were smiling at my shocked expression.

"Commander," Jacob said, "May I present: the Normandy SR-2."

"The fuuuuuuuuck?" I thought, and must have said it out loud, because Joker answered, "I know, right? And she flies like a dream! I mean, her banking time is still shit, but I'm working on a booster algorithm to improve that…"

Frankly, I didn't hear a word that he said after that. I walked down the gangplank, almost in a daze. As I approached the door, they opened, and I saw a gold orb on the wall appear. A woman's voice echoed over the ships PA systems.

"PIPING ABOARD COMMANDER REBECCA SHEPARD. ALL COMMAND CODES TRANSFERRED. IMPERATOR KO'LE STANDS RELEIVED.

WELCOME ABOARD THE NORMANDY, COMMANDER."

Author's Note:

Aaaaand that's the conclusion to Beacon's Effect 2: Reborn, everyone! Thank you so much for all of you who've been so supportive and so patient with me in all of my ups and downs. I will be posting THIS SAME CHAPTER as the FIRST chapter of Beacon's Effect 3: Awakening, which will be going over the events of Mass Effect 2 (altered, of course, by the efforts of everyone's favorite Seneschal).

A lot of you have been PM'ing me asking for more perspectives in Awakening, and I have answered with this chapter being from Shepard's POV. What do you guys think? Would you like to see Awakening from Shepard's POV, with Ko'le of course interacting with her, or stay with Ko'le's POV? Or a combination of both? Review, PM me, you know what to do!

Thanks so much, everybody! Keep reading and I hope that you will all follow along with Kevin/Ko'le's continuing adventures! The REAPERS ARE COMING!

I've said it, I say it, and I always will say it: You. Guys. Rock!

Reviewer Responses:

griezz1 – Yep, Rebecca has a WHOLE bunch of surprises still in store for her, and an entire crew to gather before taking the fight to the Collectors.

Blaze1992 – I consider the Raloi and Turro'le more of a tribute to the Arakkoa, rather than the Na'vi.

Nagato21, BrotherCaptainSheperd, Berserker of Klyntar, dekuton, tamagat, Biorr the Old, METALHELLSPWN, Guest, swedish nerd – Yep, Kevin/Ko'le/Beast's multiple personalities are beginning to crumble into one another. And the image of a previously OP Ko'le begins to fall apart. That is an issue that will be addressed in the sequel.

5 Coloured Walker – Three words: Blood. DRAGON. Armor. Lol

Tahkaullus01, Cptslapem, Lord Mortem, TheFoolishDreamer – Jane and Rebecca's interaction will definitely be fun. I'm excited to be writing it…

Vo0d0o-D0L – As you can see, Javik was f-ing terrified of Beast.

dragons guard - *EVIL LAUGH*

general-joseph-dickson, I-Y-T-Y, Elvisfonz23, Squadpunk 2.0, Toothless is best, Guest, vampireharry the 2, Jim – Thanks so much, you guys! Your words keep me going and inspire me to do better! ROCK ON!