The Normandy was dying. Explosions echoed in the background as emergency klaxons blazed. There was fire everywhere. Kaidan ran through the inferno, looking for Shepard. There.

"I've launched the distress beacon. Do you think the alliance will get here in time?"

Putting her helmet on, Shepard turned and paused. She lowered her helmet, and stared into space for a moment. Her eyes were gray.

"They'll get here in time, but not for me. Today... today I die."

Kaidan gasped.

"What? Shepard!"

Shepard glared at Kaidan sharply.

"Kaidan. Get everyone to the escape pods. Organize the evacuation. Don't mourn me. We'll see each other again, over..."

Her eyes glazed as she stared into the distance.

"...over the Horizon? On Horizon? But Horizon was destroyed..." she murmured. "Horizon..."

An explosion shook the hull, and they both stumbled. Kaidan grabbed Shepard, and she shivered. Her eyes refocused on him. She pulled his head close to hers, staring intently at him.

"It will be a few years, but I'm trusting you to take care of everyone, understand?"

Kaidan swallowed, throat suddenly dry.

"Joker's still in the cockpit. I... I don't want to leave you here."

Shepard smirked.

"Today, we stem the tide of destiny. I will find a way to cheat fate. Now go! That's an order."

Shepard turned, and dashed towards the CIC, pulling her helmet on as she ran. She didn't look back.

She could hear Joker cajoling and begging the Normandy to stay together, but she could feel the ship dying beneath her. Power was dimming, and the thrusters were gasping their last. The Normandy's crew was dead, or gone, and the Normandy was following.

She ran up the stairs, and the door to the CIC opened, showing shattered remains floating adrift. The top of the hull had been ripped off, and everything had been thrown into space. She could see plates of the Normandy's hull, floating away towards the planet that loomed above her. As she made her way towards the cockpit, it was almost peaceful. The only thing she could hear now was the sound of her own breathing, and only faint vibrations from the deck let her know the Normandy was still breaking apart. Her steps slowed and stopped.

Standing in the open, she knew. Looking up, she saw the planet above; a luminous pale blue, the color of death. It consumed the entire sky. She knew death. Around her drifted the dead, and the twisted remains of peerless machinery. The finest ship ever built. Inside herself, she could hear the baying and howling of dogs. She knew that when she opened the door to the cockpit, she would die.

She resumed her march across the CIC, and in the drifting wreckage she saw Pressly's corpse, caught in one of the consoles. She stopped, and gently closed his eyes. Then striding through the weak mass effect field that kept the air from venting, she walked into the cockpit, and to her death.

Joker was struggling with the controls as Shepard strode in.

"Joker! We have to get you out now."

"No, I won't abandon the Normandy, I can still save her."

Shepard stared at Joker.

"The Normandy is gone. Don't throw your life away as well."

Joker stilled, then started to nod.

"Yeah. OK."

Shepard grabbed Joker's arm and started levering him out of the pilot seat. Joker looked back at the flashing HUD, and blanched.

"They're coming around for another attack!"

Shepard gripped Joker's arm with both hands, and even though she felt the bones crack under her grip, she whirled him around, and threw him at the escape pod. She pointed at him with her right hand, as she pounded the ejection button with her left.

"This is not your fault, Joker!"

Then he was gone, and she was finally alone.

She turned, and saw the silhouette of the enemy bear down on her. Its weapons flared to life again, and stuck the Normandy. She stood patiently. She closed her eyes, and spoke.

"reincarnation-
already have a death poem
from the last time"

The Normandy shattered in two, and Shepard was flung into space. She asphyxiated before she reached the planet, burned to death entering the atmosphere, and died again on impact.