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Shepard’s Personal Diary — Entry 018
This is Commander Shepard speaking.
If you’re hearing this… then I didn’t make it back. Release this message to my crew, my family, and my love.
If I return after defeating the Reapers… delete it. Let these words vanish with the fear that made me write them.
This is my last message to the world.
Remember me not for rank, or battles won, Remember me for what I was… a human. Someone who believed—sometimes stubbornly, sometimes foolishly—that different species could stand together. A person who failed, learned, and kept going anyway.
I wanted to see the world at peace. Not just quiet… but fulfilled. Whole.
Let there be no more wars among us. No more endless cycles of fear.
Let there be love. Let it be enough.
To those who knew me in life… carry me with you. I will live as long as I remain in your thoughts. Grieve if you must—but then live. Live inside the world we fought to build.
And to Garrus…
I hope that one day you can forgive me. I love you. I will wait for you—however long forever is.
Let what we were be proof that understanding between different worlds is possible.
…Strange. I never truly called Earth home. I wasn’t born there. It always felt distant—like a place I was only passing through.
But now… I understand.
And when I die… I think I would like to go back there. To between tree branches, the scent of soil after rain, the sound of waves folding into foam.
It feels… comforting… to return home.
Alliance Classified Archive — Final Record
Commander Shepard
Archive Status: Complete
Commander Shepard’s remains: not recovered.
Biometric confirmation of survival: not detected.
Operational status: deceased.
Commander Shepard — final status:
Mission complete.
Further instructions not provided.
Archive closed.