Summary: After the firing of the Crucible, the dark energy from the blast sends Commander Shepard someplace ... different. Now her best (and only) chance to get home is a suicidal quest to destroy one ring. Fortunately Abigail Shepard is a rather old hat with suicide missions. Female Shepard, Vanguard, War Hero, Paragade.

General Disclaimer: The Lord of the Rings and Mass Effect are not mine. They belong to J.R.R Tolkien and Bioware respectively.

A/N: So, I've been daydreaming about this story for ages, wishing someone would write something like this ... Then I realised – I could! So this is my answer to the (Destroy) ending of ME3 because well, let's be honest, Bioware fucked that one up. I tried to keep it a grounded and possible as I could, but with stories like this, some willing suspension of disbelief is inevitably required – that and because I'm not a very good writer. So here it is!

Shepard is a woman, a Vanguard, with a War Hero Background. She is half Paragon, half Renegade - so essentially altruistic, but not above getting her hands dirty.

EDIT: 19/09/2015 - Did some condensing and cosmetic changes. Re-uploaded chapters. Be aware that this story is not dead - just being updated very, very slowly. Thank you for your patience.

Chapter One

An Unexpected Journey

Commander Abigail Shepard staggered up the steps, fiery pain blossoming with each desperate step she took, her vision smearing to the side like fading watercolours. Black spots danced across her eyes as exhaustion clawed at her, threatening to drag her into unconsciousness.

Ahead, the console glinted in the shadowed, half-light of the Council chambers, maddeningly just out of reach. Abigail coughed and tasted blood welling up in her mouth. Spitting it out to the side, she continued on despite wanting nothing more than to just lie down on the cool metal floor and let sweet oblivion overtake her.

She stumbled forward, eventually making it to the other side of the chamber. She must have blacked out for a moment because the next thing she knew, she was leaning on the console, her blood dripping down through the holographic controls.

Abigail squinted, trying to read the panels but her vision continued to swim in and out of focus. She reached out with trembling hands and somehow managed to open communications. Instantly, a thousand different voices, from every race, flooded the room, coming from every ship in the fleet above Earth, each locked in their own desperate battles. Screams for assistance, orders to flank the Reaper ships, cries of "Incoming!" and a myriad other calls mixed together into a cacophony of noise.

Another voice cut through the rest. "Sword fleet, this is Admiral Hackett. The Crucible is in position and will lock down onto the station in ten seconds. Stand by. We don't know what this thing is going do."

"This is … Shepard," Abigail rasped out, the words shooting a burning pain down her raw throat. She tried again, "Does … does anybody copy?" but her voice was drowned out, only one out of many.

There was an enormous dull grating sound that shook the whole Citadel. A moment later the console in front of her shimmered and was replaced by a pulsating blue oval orb. It resembled the core of a mass relay, floating in space. Thrumming with energy, it hovered at chest level in front of her.

Abigail squinted at it in confusion. …the hell?

"Something is wrong," Hackett said. "The Crucible is attached but it is not firing. Nothing is happening."

"Sir, we've detected a strange power surge among all the Citadel systems. There appears to be a huge dark energy draw increase from the Sol relay."

"So it's powered – but why isn't it firing?"

Abigail tried to think, wracking her weary brain. "Something …there must be … something… I can … do."

Shepard glanced around the empty room, hoping for anything, a clue, a hint. In her pain-addled state, her eyes rested on the blue orb and after a moment, she reached out, fingers hovering above the pulsating light. Blue sparks shot out from the orb, dancing across her fingertips. She shrank back, but surprisingly, there was no pain. Abigail closed her eyes and reached out a trembling hand.

"Fuck it. Here goes nothing," she said to no-one, and she slammed her palm into the blue orb. A flash of electric blue light lit up the chamber before the world dissolved and she found herself floating in blackness.

There was nothing, yet Abigail knew for certain that she was there, despite not knowing exactly where 'there' was. Slowly, tiny pinpricks of light started to come into being around her and Abigail came to the startling conclusion that she was floating in space.

Despite the impossibility of such a thing, she didn't have it in her to question it. She needed to find a way to fire the Crucible. Preferably before all life in the galaxy became extinct.

"Hello?" she called out. "Is anyone there? What … what do I need to do?"

A flicker of blue caught her eye and she suddenly spun around. A wisp of blue energy danced in the space around her before coming to a stop in front of Abigail and coalescing into an ethereal form of a young boy. His transparent body shimmered and seemed to be made of energy that trailed around in tendrils of light.

Tensing, Abigail asked it cautiously. "Who are you?"

"I am the Catalyst," the boy replied, his voice echoing with the words of a thousand others. His head turned to the side, almost curiously as he seemed to examine Shepard. "I am the beginning and the end, of everything. I am that which you call the 'Citadel'."

Stowing her shock for the moment, she tried to remain focused. "Can you tell me how to destroy the Reapers?"

The Catalyst paused for a moment and looked up into her eyes. "That is within my programing," he said.

"Then do it already!" she snapped.

"I –" The Catalyst suddenly cut off, its form wavering, fading in and out of being. Abigail frowned. What the…?

Then with a flash of white light, the child disappeared, replaced by a tall, ethereal figure. Garbed in loose, flowing light green robes, with a hood over its head, it seemed humanoid, yet at the same time – not.

Abigail took a shocked step back, her hand automatically going to her pistol. "Who are you?" she demanded. "What happened to the Catalyst?"

The figure raised both its hands, palms up. "Peace child. I mean you no harm."

"Who the hell are you?" Abigail repeated firmly.

The figure turned to the side, before seeming to fade, its robes and body growing slightly translucent. It doubled over in pain, gasping. "It's fighting me – we haven't much time." It looked up at her, its face still shrouded in a fuzzy darkness. "Listen closely child. The fate of many rests in your hands. You must not fail."

"What –?"

"No – do not speak. There is no time. I have overridden the Catalyst – Crucible will now fire. Do not lose hope. We have waited for so long – the end is now near."

With those last words, everything began to blur and the stars disappeared, the black of space once again engulfing her. A rushing sensation filled her and Abigail began to tumble uncontrollably through the darkness.

Abigail found herself back in the Council chamber, along with all of the pain which came rushing back, the intensity of it forcing her to all fours. The console had re-appeared and a moment later, the cacophony of voices rushed back, as if someone had suddenly turned the volume back up.

"This is Hackett. The Crucible is unresponsive. Repeat, the Crucible is not firing! Reaper forces are converging on the Citadel, all units engage. Don't let them near it!"

"Wait – Sir, I've got dark energy readings. The input just tripled!"

A low hum vibrated throughout the Citadel, followed by a loud groan. Abigail could feel the very floor thrumming with energy.

"The Citadel arms are opening!"

Abigail managed to push herself to her feet, her head spinning with vertigo, and slammed her hand on the communications console, activating a broad open channel.

"This is …" she coughed, blood rising up her throat. She spat it out and continued, " – Commander Shepard. The Crucible is ready to fire. Get your people out of there. Repeat: Crucible is about to fire."

There was a burst of static, before a voice responded, "This is the Orizaba. Roger that! We read you Commander! You did it!"

"This is Admiral Hackett, all units, break off! We are showing that the Crucible is activating. Estimated time to fire is sixty seconds."

Abigail sighed and slumped to the floor, her back against the console. They had done it. Everything in she had done in the last few months had been leading to this, all of the death, the pain, the sacrifice. She knew she probably wouldn't survive but just knowing that the others would be safe – that they had made it was good enough. Incomprehensible relief flowed through her.

"Commander, this is Hackett. Goddamn, you did it Commander! … Commander Shepard –respond!"

Everything was becoming blurry and the voices in the channel grew muffled, fading away into echoes.

"Commander? Commander Shepard? Do you read ... do you … read … Commander –?"

A burst of static, then: "Crucible … is firing. Dark … readings are off the … charts! Stand … for … impact!}

There was a shuddering groan, then the world lit up white. Energy filled the air, hissing and crackling. The entire Citadel seemed to come alive, every surface glowing a radiant white. The wave of white energy engulfed Abigail and she felt the unmistakable crackle of her biotics come to life around her.

"What …?"

She was cut off as the white energy – tinged with odd shades of green – seemed to pour into her, mixing in with her biotics. Flashes of blue, green and white filled her vision and she let out a wordless scream as the entire Citadel violently shook. Then Abigail felt the familiar tug of a biotic charge, the low swoop of her stomach, reminiscent of travelling through mass relays. The energy enveloped her and for a brief moment, she could see nothing; there was utter silence.

A loud rushing noise assaulted her ears and the very air around her lit up with energy in every colour of the spectrum. Abigail found herself slipping away, the pain of her injuries finally taking their toll. She more felt than saw the stream of energy around her, and for a brief moment, she saw endless stars, shining brilliantly against the black of space. Then an enormous explosion – like she was being torn apart and put back together again – sent her tumbling into darkness and Commander Abigail Shepard knew no more.

The white energy died down and the Citadel returned to its normal colour. In the Council chambers, the console flickered to life. "Shepard! This is Hackett … Shepard, do you read … Commander! Respond!"

The chamber remained silent and empty.

Hours later, when C-Sec and Alliance personnel managed to breach the Council Chambers, they found the body of Captain Anderson, the mangled corpse of the Illusive Man and various other bodies of Cerberus personnel.

But though they tried, scouring the entire Presidium – and even the Citadel, it was all in vain. Not one trace of their hero remained.

Commander Shepard was simply gone.