Author's Note: Welcome to Unbreakable Bond: Promises! This is the sequel to my first fanfic, Unbreakable Bond. For those of you who read Unbreakable Bond, I'm glad you stuck around! For those of you new to the series, welcome! While it's not required to read the whole prequel to understand this story, Ch. 40 and on provide crucial context for the events that will happen in this sequel. Because of that, if you're a newcomer, I strongly recommend reading those last five chapters of Unbreakable Bond before reading this story.

"All fleets, Commander Shepard has armed the Crucible. Disengage and head to the rendezvous point." Hackett ordered over the comms. "I repeat, disengage and get the hell out of here."

Joker heard the order loud and clear, but didn't follow it. He couldn't leave, the Normandy was missing one of its crew. And that crew member was on the Citadel, alone, for all Joker knew. Instead of turning and heading towards the Sol relay, Joker banked the Normandy towards the Citadel. Traynor came running from the CIC into the cockpit.

"Joker, what are you doing?" she asked, clearly not wanting to stay in this battle a second longer than necessary.

"I'm taking us to the Citadel, Shepard's still there. We're picking him up before we go anywhere, you know he'd do the same for us." he answered.

"We received a direct order from Admiral Hackett. We have to go to the rendezvous point." Traynor reiterated.

Joker was already on edge, considering he was flying a frigate in the middle of the largest space battle anyone had ever seen. Traynor's insistence on following Hackett's orders only served to wear his patience thin.

"Like hell we are! Shepard could be hurt, or in danger, so we're going to get him." Joker retorted. "Feel free to try to take the helm from me. But I got some good advice from Wrex and Garrus at Shepard's party, so you might want to think twice."

He shifted his body just enough so Traynor could see the Carnifex that was holstered underneath the helm. Joker had listened when they said he should arm himself.

"Alright, Joker, you win. Let's go get Shepard." Traynor relented.

Joker sighed, "Shepard already died once because of me, and I won't let that happen again."

Traynor cracked a sad smile, "I understand, Joker. Like I said, let's go get him."

Just then the elevator door opened, and Kaidan, James, and Liara came running to the cockpit.

"Ignore that order, Joker! We're going to the Citadel to get Shepard." Kaidan ordered. "I know what Hackett said, but we can't leave Shepard behind."

"One step ahead of you, Kaidan. We're already on our way." Joker replied. "By the way, when did you start giving orders?"

Kaidan stood up a little taller, "Well, with Shepard away and Garrus incapacitated, I'm the acting commanding officer of the Normandy. And my first order is for us to get Shepard."

"Aye aye, sir." Joker responded.

Suddenly, a large ball of golden energy expanded outward from the Citadel.

"Dios mio…" James said, eyes glued to the spectacle.

The ball rapidly closed the distance to the Normandy, and passed over it harmlessly.

"EDI, was that the Crucible firing?" Kaidan asked.

"That is correct, Kaidan. All Reaper signatures around Earth have been neutralized."

"It worked?" James asked, looking out the window.

Sure enough, thousands of Reaper capital ships and destroyers now lied completely inactive.

"It worked! Holy shit, we won!" he shouted.

"Attention Normandy crew, all Reaper signatures around Earth have been neutralized. The battle is won." EDI announced to the entire ship.

Cheers erupted from everywhere, with crew members hugging and high-fiving each other. Joker and James shared a high-five, yelling "We did it!" and "It's over!" repeatedly. Kaidan and Liara hugged each other, with Kaidan lifting her off her feet and spinning her around. When he set her down, the two shared a passionate kiss, to both their surprise. After a few seconds, they quickly separated and looked away from each other, blushing furiously.

Everyone in the cockpit watched in awe as a massive beam of golden energy shot out from the Citadel, heading for the Sol relay.

After a few minutes, EDI again announced to the ship, "Reports are coming in from every system, all Reaper signatures neutralized. The Reapers have been defeated."

If the celebration before had been loud, it was now deafening. It was over. The war was over. The galaxy had prevailed, the cycle had been broken. All the reports were the same. From the turians on Palaven, to the asari on Thessia, to the krogan on Tuchanka, they all reported the blast from the Crucible had killed every single Reaper capital ship, destroyer, and ground force. Everyone aboard the Normandy went wild. More hugs and high-fives, more yelling and shouting of victory. Some even broke down and cried, so relieved that the war was over. The celebrations were short-lived, however, as everyone soon realized their mission wasn't over yet. They still had to get their Commander back.

As Joker approached the Citadel, he wasn't surprised to find their was no hail from a docking officer. He was surprised, however, to see that someone was trying to contact the Normandy.

"This is Commander Bailey of C-Sec and the Citadel Defense Force, attempting to contact the unknown Alliance frigate in our area of operations." the voice said over the comms.

Joker nodded to Kaidan, who answered the call, "Commander Bailey, this is Major Kaidan Alenko of SSV Normandy. What can I do for you?"

"Why am I not surprised the Normandy is the first ship to arrive on the Citadel? Though I am surprised to hear you answer, Major Alenko." Bailey responded. "Where's Commander Shepard?"

"He's on the Citadel... somewhere. He's the one who opened the arms and fired the Crucible." Kaidan answered. "We don't know where he is exactly. But we're here to find him."

"Glad to hear he's still alive and kicking. Unfortunately, when the Reapers attacked, the CDF was pushed back almost to the very tip of Zakera Ward." Bailey explained. "That's where we are now, those of us left. To my knowledge, the Reapers destroyed every other docking bay, except the one we held here."

"Send us the coordinates, Bailey. We'll dock there." Kaidan requested.

"Roger that, Alenko. I'll meet you there." Bailey answered.

Tali groggily opened her eyes, the anesthetic she had been given was wearing off. Tali shut her eyes again when the bright light blinded them. She opened them more slowly this time, and found she was in the Normandy's medbay when her eyes adjusted. Nurses were scrambling from bed to bed, providing aid to wounded soldiers from various races. Dr. Chakwas was barking orders and helping wherever she could. Tali turned her head to the side, and saw Garrus standing beside the bed next to her. He was helping administer treatment to a wounded turian soldier. She raised her head off the pillow, and scanned the entire room, looking for one person in particular. Her search came up empty.

"John…?" Tali weakly called out.

There was no answer. Or if there was, she couldn't hear it over the bustle of the medbay.

"John?" Tali called out again, this time at her normal volume.

Again, no answer.

"John?" she called out for a third time, this time in a yell.

Garrus turned around and looked at Tali. His eyes widened when he saw she was awake.

"Dr. Chakwas, Tali's awake!" Garrus shouted.

Dr. Chakwas was so busy she didn't even look at him, "Alright, that's good. Take her up to Shepard's cabin for rest, and don't let her leave."

Garrus quickly washed the blue turian blood off his hands, and came back to the bed Tali was in.

"Garrus… where's John?" she asked, still a bit groggy from the anesthetic.

Garrus chose not to answer her question, considering her previous outburst.

"Come on, Tali, let's get you to your cabin." he said.

"Okay…" Tali agreed.

Garrus thanked the spirits she was still out of it, otherwise this would've been much more difficult. He tried helping her to her feet, but had to catch her when she almost tumbled over. Garrus opted to just carry her, thanking the spirits again that quarians were so light.

"Is John… in the cabin?" Tali asked as the two boarded the elevator.

"No, Tali, he's in the cockpit with Joker. Don't worry, he's fine, and he'll come by to see you after you get some rest." Garrus lied.

He knew full well that Shepard was still on the Citadel, but again wanted to avoid another outburst.

"Okay…" Tali replied.

When the two reached the cabin, Garrus set Tali down on the bed. Within a few moments of her head hitting the pillow, she was asleep.

Garrus took a seat on the couch, he wanted to be there when Tali woke up. Not only to prevent her from leaving, but also to break the news to her. The news that Shepard was on the Citadel, but nobody had any idea where. Considering he was able to open the arms and fire the Crucible, Garrus deduced that he had to be on the Presidium somewhere. He rubbed his face with his hands. Garrus felt guilty, he should've been there with Shepard to finish the fight. Instead, he was careless and got himself wounded. Sure, Shepard had ordered Garrus to get Tali to the medbay, but he wanted to rejoin the fight after he did. Joker had taken off as soon as they were aboard, though. He was impressed to learn that Shepard had opened the arms and fired the Crucible. It was fitting that the man who first learned about the Reapers was the one to defeat them.

About an hour later, Tali stirred in the bed. She slowly sat up and yawned. Tali winced as she remembered the numerous, small lacerations littered over her body. She inspected her suit, and found that all the holes had been patched up.

"Hey, Tali." Garrus greeted.

Garrus' voice startled Tali, who thought she was alone in the cabin.

"Keelah, Garrus, you scared me." she scolded.

He grinned slightly, "Sorry, didn't mean to. Dr. Chakwas had me move you up here from the medbay and keep an eye on you."

Suddenly, Tali recalled all the previous events of the day. The ground team landing on Earth and pushing towards the beam. Her getting injured and being taken aboard the Normandy. Her painful goodbye with Shepard and watching him run off towards the beam. Towards Harbinger.

John! she internally screamed.

Tali scrambled out of bed and darted for the door. Garrus blocked her path and stopped her.

"Garrus, where's John?" she asked frantically.

"It's okay, he's on the Citadel. We just docked at Zakera Ward." Garrus explained. "He did it, Tali. He opened the arms and fired the Crucible, all the Reapers have been neutralized. He won the war for us."

Tali was relieved to hear that he was believed to still be alive.

"How long ago was that?" she asked.

Garrus hung his head, "About an hour, that was the last time we could confirm he was alive. He's… still MIA, we're not sure where on the Citadel he is."

Tali immediately tried to brush past him, but he stopped her again. She winced again at the pressure being applied to her wounds.

"Garrus, I'm going to find him. You said it yourself, it's been an hour since you heard from him and you don't know where he is." Tali defied. "He could be hurt or in danger. I need to find him, make sure he's okay."

"I understand, Tali, I really do. But you're injured, and Dr. Chakwas fears you probably have an infection." Garrus said. "She wants to keep you here in case anything happens."

Tali had to admit that she didn't feel well at all. She had a fever, a terrible headache, and could feel pressure building up in her sinuses.

"Okay, I'll… stay here." Tali relented.

Garrus nodded, and turned to leave the cabin.

Before he left, he turned back around to her, "You should get some more rest. I'm sure Shepard will want to see you uninjured and healthy when we bring him in."

Tali smiled, though Garrus couldn't see it, "Thanks, Garrus."

He flashed a grin at her before he left.

"EDI, make sure to alert Dr. Chakwas if Tali tries to leave the cabin." Garrus told EDI on the elevator ride down.

"Of course, Garrus." EDI responded.

Tali laid back down on the bed, and tried to fall asleep. After a few minutes of trying and failing, she got up and started nervously pacing the room.

What if he's hurt? What if they can't find him? Tali wondered.

To say the keeper was confused was a monumental understatement. The voice in its head, the one that constantly gave it orders and told it what to do, had fallen silent. Just by making that observation, the keeper discovered it could think. All its life, it had just been given an objective to complete. Once that objective had been completed, it was given another. Its latest objective had been to collect the human bodies for processing. Since the keeper hadn't received another objective, it assumed it was supposed to keep doing its current one. For the next hour or so, the keeper continued collecting bodies. It had almost cleared out the Citadel Tower, when it saw three more bodies lying in the Council chambers. The keeper strode over and examined the closest one. Most of the corpses had been in bad condition, they had been killed, after all. This one was worse, however. It had burns covering portions of its body, and what appeared to be a gunshot wound in its stomach. What was also strange, was this body appeared to be wearing what was once a full suit of body armor, with an N7 logo on the right side of its chest. The keeper dismissed these thoughts, and grabbed ahold of the body by its biceps. It was completely shocked to find that as soon as it pulled, the human gasped for breath.

Concurrently
Achilles Cell, Unknown Location

Tanaka and Hernandez were down in the firing range conducting live-fire training simulations. After they finished their current exercise, they decided to call it a day.

"So, when do you think we'll have an actual mission? You know, where we hit something a little more difficult than an unaware asari civilian cruiser?" Hernandez asked.

Tanaka just shrugged. "Hell if I know. I mean, probably sooner than later." he answered. "Damien doesn't seem like the type of guy to sit back and wait for opportunities to come to him, ya know? You could say he's a real 'go-getter'."

They both laughed at the obvious understatement. Someone who took a team all the way out to the Tasale System just to hit a asari civilian cruiser with 100 or so refugees on it was definitely a little more than just a 'go-getter'.

"Did you ever hear how much we got for those refugees?" Tanaka questioned.

"No, but I assume we made a good profit. Damien probably would've killed those batarian slavers otherwise." Hernandez answered.

Tanaka nodded, "Good point."

The two cleaned out their assault rifles, before storing them back in the armory.

"Do you ever miss it? Being an N7, like, officially?" Hernandez inquired.

"Sometimes. I mean, don't get me wrong, the Alliance is run by a bunch of fucks." Tanaka responded. "But the legitimacy of being part of the Alliance was nice. You could go anywhere without worrying about the Turian Hierarchy, the Asari Republics, or the Salarian Union considering you an enemy."

"Sure, I get that. But, they're not bad enemies to have." Hernandez positied. "The big three look down on humanity, even though we have a Council seat now. If push comes to shove, they'll back each other over us any day. We're better off on our own."

Tanaka nodded, "Believe me, I agree with you. Though the asari are good for two things, strippers and sex."

"Amen to that!" Hernandez agreed, slapping Tanaka on the back. "We should try to convince Damien to give us leave at Omega."

As they exited the armory, they saw Clark leaning against the wall in the hallway.

"Tanaka, Hernandez, got a minute?" he asked.

Both operatives immediately snapped to attention and saluted Sebastian.

Shit… they both thought.

They knew from their previous Cerberus experience it was never good when a senior operative wanted to talk in private. They scrambled to think of what they had done that could be considered a serious mistake.

"At ease, guys. Follow me." Clark said.

Hernandez and Tanaka shared a confused look. Sebastian's tone was not that of a senior operative about to punish his subordinates. He sounded almost nervous. They went to a seldom travelled area of the compound. Clark leaned in close to the two operatives.

"What do you guys think of Damien being in charge of Cerberus?" he asked, his voice just above a whisper.

Hernandez and Tanaka shared a nervous glance.

Shit! they thought.

First, Sebastian asked to talk in private. Then, the top lieutenant of all people, asked them their opinion of Damien's leadership. Either they were being set up in a trap, or Clark had heard their previous conversation and was not happy about it.

Clark noticed their hesitation and nervous glance, "Guys, relax. It's just a question."

"Forgive us if we're a little suspicious of not only a senior operative, but the lieutenant, asking us for our opinion on the new leader." Tanaka replied.

Clark grinned slightly, "Can't say I blame you. I'd be thinking the same thing were I in your position."

He looked around to make sure no one else was in earshot.

Sebastian leaned in even closer, "Just know this, not everyone approves of his leadership. Even those you'd least expect."

He looked Tanaka in the eyes, then Hernandez.

"Consider what your answer to my question really is. Food for thought." Clark added.

With that, he walked away. Both operatives had no idea what to think. Maybe this was an elaborate ruse to trick people into admitting their disloyalty. Or maybe, the lieutenant had just confided in them that he wanted Damien gone. The two went their separate ways, both their minds racing with questions. If there was a schism forming in the new Cerberus, whose side would they be on? Food for thought indeed.