Silence.
Everyone knows how it feels at some point in their life.
When there is nothing more to do, to say, to change and one still gets bested.
Of course the difference is huge in this particular case.
This special silence is the most heartbreaking one, its dark, depressing and lonely.
Its the silence after doing everything a human could possibly accomplish and then more, but still lose everything.
A wise man once said "Stand in the ashes of a trillion dead souls and ask the ghosts if honor matters - The silence is your answer"
Those exact words, once spoken by a good friend, were imprinting themselves over and over again into mind of the last living being on the planet.
He still stands, proudly, with his head held high, even though he knows that there is nothing to be proud of.
He failed. He did what he could and failed. He united the Quarians and Geth, made an alliance between the Turians and Krogans, he managed to prepare the Galaxy to fight against one enemy.
Everything he did was always for the greater good, the survival had to be secured at any cost.
The united armies were gigantic, not only the trained soldiers fought, even the normal citizens of every race grabbed whatever weapon they could find and boarded the ships.
The united fleet had more spaceships than there is sand in a desert, it was magnificent.
Most importantly though, he managed to recruit the most intelligent and hardworking people to be his crew.
All of them earned his loyalty through their actions.
All of them fought with him on this planet, to the last bullet, their war cries shaking the air.
All of them died. It was not enough.
Bloody tears slowly flow from his red eyes. They miraculously find their way down his face, passing the many battle scars and drip onto the bloody floor.
The man slowly falls to his knees, all alone in a field of death.
He knows his end is coming, the wounds he sustained are too deep.
He knows that only the tech parts that Cerberus once implanted into his body to revive him are keeping him alive.
"I wasn't strong enough"
This lonely sentence that was almost whispered reverberated in the area, as if the words were part of a spell. Nothing moved, not a single sign of life could be seen or heard, no one answered his thoughts.
He was all alone, surrounded by the dead, cold bodies of every race.
"It is time to finally die, I guess.." the man muttered with a painful laugh. There was no satisfaction in his gaze, but also no fear. He knew what he signed up for, he always knew it, but there was a small part of him that thought everything could be somehow resolved in a way that didn't involve him or his friends and allies dying.
He slowly lifted his head to the sky, his gaze piercing directly into the sun that shone with a warm light onto his cold body.
"Savior of the galaxy huh.." he whispered and slowly closed his eyes.
"I wish I had more time..."
On this day the greatest hero of the universe, survivor and victor of thousands of battles, Commander Shepard, died in the battle against the reaper.