Hey guys, I'm really sorry it's taken me forever to finish this story. It's been a struggle to get it right. Not to mention to find time to work on it. Life has a way of keeping you busy. Enough apologising and on to this, the very last chapter of Solace.

For Cyan.

Illium.

Where it had started. Where they had kidnapped her. She had been taken to Pragia. She had been tortured, raped. She had survived. Thanks to Kaidan, James and Garrus, she had survived. And now she wanted revenge.

Shepard stared at the vista of skyscrapers. Elegant lines, stretching upwards, reaching for the stars. Somewhere, in one of those pretty buildings the man who had paid a fortune to have her kidnapped, tortured and raped, waited.

She had come to Illium to find him and end it.

Garrus came up beside her, resting his elbows on the rail. "You don't have to do this."

"I do", she replied, tearing her eyes away from the view to look at him. "You of all people know why."

He met her gaze. It was dark and haunted. Her nights were filled with nightmares as she relived the rape and torture again and again. "You where right", he said softly. "Killing Sidonis didn't help... I still see the faces of my dead team. The only difference is that he joined the ghosts haunting me."

"At least you stopped him from betraying anyone else", Shepard replied, turning back to the beautiful view without seeing it. "That's why I have to kill him. So he can't do this ever again. And I want him to die bloody", she added in darker tones.

Garrus put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm with you, Shepard. If this is what you want, I'll help you."

She nodded slowly. "Thank you."

Liara was tracking the comm-sequences Cotzee had given them. But she wouldn't be able to pin point his exact location until he went online and actually used his comm. Shepard took a deep breath and raised two fingers to her ear.

The person picking up the call didn't say anything but she could hear him breathing. The Dealer...

"I'm coming for you", she said, her voice low and hard. "Do you hear me? I'm going to find you and I'm going to kill you."

"I know..."

Shepard felt a jolt go through her and she couldn't hold back a gasp. She didn't know what she had thought would happen when she made the call, but she sure as hell hadn't anticipated that he would talk to her. A strange feeling of dread overcame her. He was a monster and she had expected he would sound like a monster, that his voice would be a snarling, animal-like growl, not this even, completely human sounding voice. He sounded so young.

"I'm sending the nav-point to you now", he said and her omni-tool bleeped as the transfer was completed. "I am looking forward to seeing you, Sarah..."

Sarah... The name seemed to echo through her mind and Shepard felt her legs give up under her and she had to hold onto the rail not to end up as a heap on the ground. Sarah... No one used her first name, not even Garrus. She was Shepard now. She hadn't been Sarah since she left Mindoir.

She took a deep breath and wanted to say something to the bastard... the monster... on the other end of the line, but she didn't trust her voice. She disconnected the call and turned away from the magnificent view. Behind her she heard Garrus talk to Liara via the comm.

"Did you get it?" He snapped. "We need this, T'Soni." His voice seemed to come to her from a distance.

"He is sending us the nav-point", she managed, her voice strangely weak and breathless. She felt Garrus' hand on her shoulder and looked up to find him watching her intently.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah..." Her omni-tool beeped and they both turned their gazes to it.

"It's him, isn't it?" Garrus asked.

Shepard stared at the omni-tool, at the nav. The location signified by a red dot was almost frighteningly close. From across the plaza with its merchants the elevator doors opened and they both flinched.

Shepard made a decision. She started walking towards the waiting elevator.

It took Garrus a stunned moment before he could move. He caught up with Shepard and grabbed her arm. "It's a trap! It has to be!"

She met his gaze calmly. "I know."

"Then don't do this!" Garrus' grip on her arm hardened as she turned towards the elevator again. "Please, Shepard. Let's take a moment and think this through. We can go in there heavily armed with a backup team standing ready-"

All the fear, the shock of hearing his voice, the torture and the pain both mental and physical she had gone through, it all boiled down to this moment. "I am finishing this."

When Shepard stepped into the elevator so did Garrus.

The doors closed and Garrus had to struggle not to grab for his rifle. This was crazy. This might very well be where they would die. He glanced at Shepard who was staring at the polished metal doors in front of her. If this was the end, at least they would face it together.

When a hissing noise sounded and gas started spewing into the elevator via the ventilation grid neither one of them was surprised.

"Spirits..." Garrus mumbled, struggling not to give into the instinctive fear of choking. Shepard started coughing, she stumbled and started to claw at her own throat. Garrus ignored his own discomforts and caught her and gently lowered her to the floor.

"Can't breathe..." She gasped, her eyes luminous with fear.

Garrus tried to think of something to say, something that would calm her and give her some comfort... that would give them both some comfort, but it was as if all the oxygen had been sucked from the cramped compartment. His field of vision narrowed until he was suddenly plunged into a darkness filled with pin-points of light, and then those too disappeared.

Shepard slowly opened her eyes. The ceiling above her was white and smooth with rounded corners. The design was so distinctly Asari that it told her she was still on Illium. She raised her head a little and the pain exploded behind her eyes like a supernova.

Ignoring the headache she looked around. The room was dark but she could make out Garrus laying in a heap by the wall.

Shepard pushed herself up. She felt wobbly and every movement seemed to take an enormous effort but she managed to crawl over to where Garrus lay. She grabbed his shoulder and shook him. "Wake up, Garrus." The turian groaned a little but other than that didn't move or open his eyes.

"He is quite heavily sedated."

The voice came from behind and she spun herself around, her hand going for the heavy pistol only to find it wasn't there.

A man, silhouetted against the panorama of Illum's skyscrapers raised his hand. "Are you looking for this?" Her gun dangled from his fingers. He had his back to her but she could make out his profile when he turned slightly to look at her over his shoulder.

The line of his forehead, his straight nose, the shape of the chin, it was strangely familiar. Shepard managed to climb to her feet but remained where she was, unwilling to leave Garrus unprotected. "Who are you?" She demanded.

"Strange", the man said and once again she had that feeling of familiarity. "I was so sure the very first thing you would say to me was my name."

She frowned, trying to see through the shadows. "Do I know you?"

He turned towards her, his face still hidden by the darkness. Her gun was still dangling from his fingers as he took a slow step towards her. "Don't you recognise me, Sarah?"

That voice...

Shepard started shaking. "N-no... It can't be..." She started to back away. "No... This isn't real..."

"But it is, Sarah", he said in that youthful voice that was so painfully familiar. As he came towards her in a strange, slow limp, light from a discreet source fell across his face and she gave a strangled moan of denial.

The face was hideously scared. A part of the left side of the temple together with the left eye had been replaced by synthetic prostheses, and by the crude look the event that had rendered him scarred must have been treated too late for a reconstruction to have been possible. But the right eye and the right side of the face was free from scars, and the recognition hit her like a stunning blow.

She was standing with her back pressed against the wall, overwhelmed by disbelief. What was coming towards her was a ghost. "No... I saw you get shot by the batarians. I saw you die..."

His shattered face was twisted further as he smiled. "I survived. Sort of..." He took another step towards her. The cumbersome limp told her that it wasn't just the face that was damaged, most likely either on of his legs or maybe both had been replaced by prostheses as well. "I have waited so long for this, little sister..." he said, coming to a halt a few steps away from her. There was a certain warmth in his voice that indicated a pride in her resilience, in the sheer stubbornness that had brought here here. He watched her, waited, as if curious to see if her first reaction would be one of shock, disgust or perhaps rage.

But her first reaction was one of complete incomprehension.

"You...", she began, her voice wavering, her eyes wide as she stared at him. At her brother whom she had seen die during the slaver's raid on Mindoir. "You did this to me..." She looked into his eyes, the same dark blue colour as her own, and saw nothing. They were empty voids. "Why?" She demanded in a whisper.

Once again his scarred face twisted into that mirthless version of a smile. "Can't you guess, Sarah?"

She shook her head and his eyes came alive with hatred and rage. "BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT THEY DID TO ME!" He shouted in her face with such force that drops of saliva flew from his lips and hit her. "BECAUSE I WAS TORTURED! BECAUSE I WAS RAPED!" He grabbed her face, the metallic claws of his artificial hand dug into her cheeks. He yanked her too him, his burning eyes boring into hers. "You ran!" He gritted out. "You left me for dead! Left me to be caught by them!"

They had been doing their chores, watering the plants in the green house, checking the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. It was early evening and the setting sun made the wide-stretched grasslands look like they were bathed in gold.

John gave her a playful shove. "Race you to the tree-stump", he said, grinning at her, sure that he would win.

She shook her head. "No... I don't want to. I'm too tired."

He made a face. "Aww... Come on-" But before he could finish the sentence she was off, her long dark hair streaming out behind her as she left him in a cloud of dust. "You cheat!" He shouted before taking up the chase. "I'll get you!"

Their laughter rang out across the grass plain as they followed the trail back to their house.

Sarah dared a glance over her shoulder. John was closing in on her and she increased her effort but he was faster and stronger and caught up with her. He grabbed her shoulder, pushing her back so she lost her balance, forcing her to slow down. He passed her, taking the lead.

The tree-stump was half overgrown by some sort of indigenous vine and moss. He smacked his hand against, and cried out triumphantly: "I won! John Shepard! Undefeated champion of Mindoir! Hero of the Galaxy! Yeah!"

Sarah laughed in between gulping down air. "You're an ass, Johnny!" She flopped down on the tree-stump while her brother sat down on the ground. The sunset painted the sky in hues of red, orange and purple, and the large moon was still but a spectre close to the horizon.

The balmy air was filled with the scent of flowers and grass still warm from the day's sunshine. Sarah inhaled deeply, filling her lungs, then frowned. The familiar perfume was tainted by the stench of burning plastic.

"Do you smell that?"

John nodded and got to his feet. He looked down towards the valley with its flowerbeds and fields of corn and grain, to the orchard that hid their small farm from view, and there. "It's smoke!" He pointed. "It's coming from home!"

The siblings exchanged frightened looks and started to run. The previous playfulness was gone replaced by fear. Once again John took the lead while Sarah struggled to keep up.

The path took them through a small field of sunflowers and corn. John burst through the last row of corn-stalks reaching as high as his head when a figure stepped out from the orchard. A batarian carrying a shot gun.

John skidded to a halt.

Still hidden from view, Sarah stopped and sank to the ground. She peered through the leafs and watched in horror as the batarian lifted its weapon and aimed at her brother.

The shot seemed to be fired in slow-motion. John instinctively raised his hand as if trying to shield himself from the blast. From her hiding-place Sarah saw the bullets hit her brother. The hand disintegrated into red mist before the bullets ripped into his body, turning the left side of his face into a bloody mess of meat and shattered bone. The impact knocked him back, spun him and the second and third shot took away his shoulder and leg.

Sarah screamed and the batarian's head turned in her direction as he slammed a fresh thermal clip into the shotgun...

Shepard blinked, returning from the past. "I saw him shoot you", she said. "I didn't know you were alive..."

"Well, I was", John sneered. "And when the batarians realised they decided to have some fun with me. I'm sure you can imagine what they did. After all, I paid good money to give you the same experience."

Anger rose up within Shepard and battled with the horror. "You're sick... evil..."

"I am what you made me!" he growled in her face. "I survived! I forced myself to live! The batarians turned me into an animal... But you turned me into a monster!"

Shepard winced when his fingers once again dug into her cheeks. "You turned yourself into a monster!" She managed to break the paralysis brought on by the horror and pushed him away. He made a grab for her again, reeling her in, his strong artificial fingers wrapping themselves around her throat as he pressed her against the wall.

"I watched you", he said in that brutal snarl. "I stayed in the shadows, watching as you became the celebrated hero, the saviour of the Citadel. Honoured and respected." His face twisted into a snarl. "Loved..." The shock of it all made her slow to react and John's rage and hatred was overwhelming. "Why did you run?" He demanded. "Why did you leave me for dead?"

She struggled to answer but he had cut off her air-supply and she was clawing at his vice-like grip, slowly succumbing to the lack of oxygen.

"WHY?!" He shouted, slamming her against the wall hard enough that she saw black stars explode across her field of vision. She blinked and looked into his eyes. There was nothing there of her brother. John had died in the soft grass between the corn field and the orchard, what had risen was a twisted wounded creature who lived and breathed hate, and her heart wept for him.

A part of her wanted to give up and let death claim her. Would that not repay the debt she owed him? It was so tempting to simply let the darkness claim her and suck her down. But then her gaze fell on Garrus who had started to stir.

You have to survive! You have to!

Shepard started to struggle for real, choosing life over death, fighting against the madness and the hatred that had claimed her brother. Her desperately flailing hands threw punches at his face, his shoulders, but she was too weak. She fisted her hands in his shirt, tugging, begging him silently to relent.

Her field of vision was a narrow sliver, darkness threatening at the edges. The burning in her lungs made brought tears to her eyes and her whole body felt cold and numb.

Then her hand hit the butt of the pistol sticking up from the waistband of his pants, and she grabbed it. Her weak fingers found the trigger and she pressed it.

Shepard's whole world had been reduced to a burning need to breath, to survive. The sound of the shot was strangely dull. It seemed to come in waves, like ripples on a water-surface.

John slumped against her for a moment. Then his grip on her throat eased and she fell to the floor. For a moment she just lay there, completely numb. Then a spasm went through her and she sucked down air into her deprived lungs.

Her throat burned as if it was acid she gulped in and not oxygen.

A hissing noise made her remember where she was and who it was that lay no more than an arm's reach away. She wrapped her fingers around the gun more securely and struggled to raise her head.

John lay on his stomach, reaching towards her with his good hand. "Sarah..."

"Johnny..." Compassion for the brother she had played and argued with during those happy years before the batarian raiders, struggled with her hate for the monster who had ordered her to be tortured and raped.

His breathing was rasp and blood rain from his mouth as he struggled to speak. "Finish it..."

Shepard let go of the gun, pushed herself up and turned away from the broken thing that had once been her brother. "No."

The sound of Garrus moaning and coughing weakly made her roll over and crawl over to where the turian was laying. Shepard put her hand against his scarred face. "Garrus, wake up..."

He moaned again and struggled to open his eyes. "Shepard..."

Relieved she brought her forehead to his. "It's over." Together they climbed to their feet.

"Are you okay?" Garrus asked, taking in the bruises on her face and throat.

She nodded, then smiled. For the first time since the abduction it was true. She was okay. She had been through hell but she had come out the other side. "Let's get out of here."

"NO!"

They spun around to find that John had managed to climb to his knees. Blood flowed freely from the bullet-wound that had ripped through his stomach and more blood ran in rivulets from his mouth. "NO!" He hissed again. "This isn't over!" He raised a trembling hand. The blood-stained fingers were wrapped around Shepard's pistol and he held it aimed at Garrus. "Someone has to die here, little sister..."

Time wound down and all sounds faded into the background. Shepard saw the finger's twitch as John squeezed the trigger. She moved, pushing Garrus out of the way. The momentum brought her into the bullet's path and she felt an intense burning pain in her right shoulder. She met John's crazed gaze and dove as he fired again.

She could hear Garrus shouting something behind her as she launched forward, the omni-blade flickering a sharp orange. Shepard pushed the hand holding the gun aside and brought up the blade. It pierced John's throat. Blood spurted and the warm drops splattered across Shepard's face.

John's eyes widened, his mouth working to get the words out.

"I'm sorry, John", she said, her voice broken up by hard breaths. "This wouldn't have had to end this way." It was as if everything she was, everything she had become and everything she hoped to be, stood in the balance.

For the first time she could clearly see how her choices had shaped her, how they would continue to do so. Just like John's choices had turned him into who and what he was. It wasn't much comfort but there was strength in the knowledge.

"Sarah..." The scarred face relaxed and Shepard could see something of her brother in it. "I..." His eyes rolled back and he slumped as life left him. Releasing her hold on John, his body fell backwards and hit the floor with a sickening thud.

She turned away from it, to Garrus. "Are you all right?"

He nodded, then pulled her into an embrace, careful not to touch her injured shoulder. "Spirits, Shepard..." He mumbled against her hair. "I nearly lost you..."

Together they made their way back to the elevator. No alarms had gone off at the sound of gunfire, no mercs came rushing to attack them. They simply rode the elevator down to the first floor and exited the building.

Illium's skyline stood out against the soft sunset in purple and gold. Shepard took a deep breath and winced a little as her body suddenly remembered it was injured. She turned to the turian by her side. "I love you, Garrus."

His flanging voice hummed with emotions. "I love you, Shepard. There's no Vakarian without Shepard." Then his scarred mandibles flexed. "Come on, we have a galaxy to save."

The end.