#archkarian

The Citadel was a completely different place from what he remembered. He had left for Omega and hadn’t looked back. Now, the construction was completed, and all traces of Sovereign’s destruction had been wiped away completely. He doubted C-Sec had changed much, though. If anything the reconstruction just meant that now they could go back to the way things were.

Shepard was determined to see Anderson before anyone else. Of course when they opened the doors to his offices the council had already been in session. Anderson among them, who recognized him immediately. He made a brief gesture toward him, pointing to his face, apparently inquiring about the still fresh scars. A simple wave of recognition would have to do for now.

Meeting with the council went about as expected. It was the same bullshit as before, and Shepard, while trying to be her pragmatic self, was clearly seething. About as much as he was. The council hadn’t listened before, why were they expecting any help this time around? Just more bureaucracy and denial. Typical.

What wasn’t typical was when they accused Shepard of being a traitor. That she had sold out to Cerberus. That she was no longer welcome there. He about had it at that. If he hadn’t been done with this shit before, he definitely was now. The Collectors were the real threat, of course nobody believed them. He had been there on Ilos, he had seen what Sovereign did. So had they, but no, they had dismissed that claim. Whole colonies disappearing and all these bastards could concern themselves with was politics. Shepard had given the order that lead thousands of humans to their deaths just to protect this damn council. He could tell Shepard was thinking the same thing, she was clenching her fists, and that cold anger was in her eyes. However, it was Anderson who verbalized their thoughts.

It was Anderson who called them out, defended what Shepard had done for them, and what she could continue to do.

In the end they awarded Shepard back her Spectre status, under certain conditions of course. He was more than a little disappointed in Sparatus, the turian representative. He hoped he, at least, would recognize the sacrifice Shepard had made on their behalf. Turian politics at its finest. He shook his head. It was a hollow victory, and they all knew it.

After the council was dismissed Udina came in and had a few words with Anderson, but he could tell Shepard was growing more and more restless. Her jaw was clenched tightly and her hands were still balled into fists. Even the small scars on her face seemed to glow slightly. He couldn’t remember seeing her like that. Not even the council usually got to her like this. Clearly something else was bothering her.

She waived them off as she took some time to talk to Anderson alone. He kept a close eye on Shepard and Anderson while Mordin fiddled with his Omni tool. He hadn’t failed to notice that Shepard hadn’t brought any Cerberus representatives here. Not like that mattered in the council’s eyes, apparently.

As the conversation went on Shepard’s mood only became darker. Her shoulders slumped and the cracks in her face now seemed to radiate a crimson-orange light as she turned and walked back toward them. Clearly the conversation had not gone as planned.

She didn’t say a word, but just gave the signal to move on. There was clearly no warm welcome for any of them to be found on the Citadel, and the trip back to the Normandy was a quick one.