The Ending We Were Owed

They told you how the war ended. They never told you how we lived. This is the part after the legend. This is the ending we were owed. Hang the rifle by the doorway; let the Williams name stand tall. We’ll trade command-room midnights for my sisters’ Sunday calls. Two old soldiers quote old poets, arguing till dawn - And every medal gathers dust because the war is gone. Vancouver rain on windows, distant mountains breaking through. I teach young biotics kinder ways than Jump Zero ever knew. The headaches pass like weather; no more orders left to give. Your armor in the closet says we finally chose to live. On Rannoch, morning enters through a window built by hand. Our daughter draws the Normandy, then traces stars in sand. One day she’ll breathe the open air - no visor, no alarm. I crossed the stars to find a home; now home is in your arms. WE SAVED THE WORLD TO LIVE IN IT, TO WAKE BEYOND THE FIGHT. LET EVERY RELAY BURN AGAIN, LET EVERY STAR BURN BRIGHT. THE ARMOR RESTS, THE WOUNDS WILL CLOSE, THE DAWN OUTLASTS THE NIGHT. THE GALAXY GETS TOMORROW - AND WE GET BACK OUR LIVES. First we’ll raise Palaven’s cities, count the living, name the lost. Then a house beside an ocean - no more tallying the cost. The guns stay calibrated; one slow song begins our dance. You gave Archangel more than victory - a chance. No father writes our future; no template, no command. My sister at our table, your scars beneath my hand. The child we choose to raise will never be designed - No dynasty, no perfect genes, no blueprint for their mind. Your son and I still say the prayer; Some days I swear you're sitting there. I keep your voice, but leave the room; I will not make my heart your tomb. You called me Siha. Let me fly - To love again is not goodbye. WE SAVED THE WORLD TO LIVE IN IT, TO WAKE BEYOND THE FIGHT. LET EVERY RELAY BURN AGAIN, LET EVERY STAR BURN BRIGHT. THE ARMOR RESTS, THE WOUNDS WILL CLOSE, THE DAWN OUTLASTS THE NIGHT. THE GALAXY GETS TOMORROW - AND WE GET BACK OUR LIVES. The school bell drowns the sirens; my students shake the hall. I teach them power isn’t rage, and scars don’t own us all. You paint one stupid N7; I swear, then let it stay. No child here becomes a weapon. That’s the future that we made. I won't pretend I caused no pain, Or ask you for your heart again. With Brinn, I rock our child to sleep; This time, a promise that I keep. You've found your home; I'll find mine too. My future doesn't end with you. I leave the Broker’s shadows for the Prothean worlds of old. Little blue children fill our home with stories still untold. A human century with you will not be borrowed time - You taught the oldest stars how one brief life can outshine. Let the uniform grow quiet. Let the old pain lose its name. Let the windows open wider. Let the cities rise again. Let no blood decide a future. Let no child be forged for war. Let each breath become a blessing. Let the lost come through the door. Let the legend become a lifetime. THAT IS WHAT WE FOUGHT FOR. WE SAVED THE WORLD TO LIVE IN IT, TO WAKE BEYOND THE FIGHT. LET EVERY RELAY BURN AGAIN, LET EVERY STAR BURN BRIGHT. THE ARMOR RESTS, THE WOUNDS WILL CLOSE, THE DAWN OUTLASTS THE NIGHT. THE GALAXY GETS TOMORROW - AND WE GET BACK OUR LIVES. WE GET BACK OUR LIVES. WE GET BACK OUR LIVES. THIS IS THE ENDING WE WERE OWED. WE MADE IT HOME ALIVE. We laid the armor down. We heard the silence fall. The legend had an ending - But life came after all.