A/N: I know I should be writing the next chapter of WttF, but I had to do this. Of all the scenes in Mass Effect 3, this one brought me closest to tears. With all the hate for the ending going around, I think we should focus on the good-no, great-parts of this game. So here's one of them. Warning: there be spoilers ahead.

Scientist Salarian

"Mordin, no!" Shepard says, striding forward to stop the aging salarian. Once Mordin gets in the elevator, he stops and turns.

"Shepard, please. Need to do this," he says calmly. The Doctor's words stop Shepard right in her tracks. "My project. My work. My cure. My responsibility." He pauses and closes his eyes, taking a breath. When his eyes open again, there's a smile on his scarred, old face. "Would have liked to run tests on the seashells."

That sentence nearly break's Shepard's heart. She can clearly remember the conversation they had, not twelve hours ago, about the future. A future free of the Reapers. A future he's giving up so that an entire race might have their own. She closes her eyes, fighting back the tears.

"Mordin, please," she says, voice nearly breaking. "You don't have to do this."

She knows his answer before he even says it.

"Had to be me." The elevator door closes, and Mordin smiles again. "Someone else might have gotten it wrong."

When the door closed, Shepard ran forward, pounding against the glass, hoping beyond hope that she can get the damn thing open. Then she sees Mordin's smile, and she stops. He has no qualms about giving his life for his work. Who is she to deny him this?

"Goodbye, Mordin," she says, tears freely flowing down her face. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not," he says. "Have lived a full life. Made more than my fair share of history." He inhales sharply in his trademark fashion. The last time Shepard will ever hear that. "Proud to have served with you, Shepard. Goodbye."

The elevator begins its ascent, and in a matter of seconds, he's gone. One of the greatest men Shepard ever had the pleasure of knowing is gone. She falls to her knees in front of the elevator shaft with the tears still freely flowing.

She thinks back to Omega: the first time she met Mordin. In an instant, she had known that she was in the presence of a great man. Here he was, selflessly working to find a cure for a terrible disease. He was on Omega. No one gave a damn whether he succeeded or not. No one cared about the infected.

But Mordin cared.

An explosion brings Shepard back to the present. She needs to get out of here, or else Mordin's sacrifice will be in vain. Taking one last shaky breath, she gets to her feet and walks out of the lab. She doesn't look back. She can't.

Meanwhile, Mordin travels slowly up the tower. He is at peace. Thinking back on his life, there isn't a single thing he would change…especially this. Of all the things he could be remembered for, he hopes it's for this.

The door opens, and Mordin strides out of the elevator into the hell that awaits him. Fires rage and explosions rock the room while the VI constantly blares its warnings. The explosions don't faze him. He makes it to the console and calmly starts tapping away. It's a simple fix, and he's done in a matter of seconds. All the while, the song he sang to Shepard all those months ago comes back to him. Humming it under his breath, the VI announces that dispersion of the cure has commenced.

Dr. Mordin Solus, scientist, STG operative, uncle, and friend, looks up and smiles. His work is complete.

"I am the very model of a—"