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Metzli hadn’t cried in years.
She hadn’t cried when she lost her lost teammates on Akuze. She hadn’t cried when she left Ashley to die on Virmire. She hadn’t cried when she talked Saren back into consciousness, only to witness him putting his indoctrination to an end.
No, Metzli didn’t often cry, but the last time she did was during her final breaths, hurling away from Joker’s escape pod, realizing that her life would end after a mere 29 years of existence, drowned in sorrow.
Her final breaths were wracked sobs, tears floating off her cheeks and around her face as the freezing depths of space enveloped and engorged her. She cried until she suffocated… and then everything was bright.
…
The sun’s soft rays kissed her eyes awake on a shore of black sand and clear water. She looked up into the clear blue sky, sprinkled with lone clouds dragging across her vision. Stirring awake to the calming sound of waves crashing the shore, Metzli looked down at her body underneath clear waters, watching the waves dragging beige sea-shells across the floor and near her hands. She remained laid down, letting the waves play with her hair, mixing water and sand into her white dress, adorned with multi-colored hems. She breathed, lifted sandy hands to her eyes, and cried.
Hours, days, months could have passed as she wept. But when she was done and looked up to the sky again, gray rain clouds stood in place of an opaque bright blue sky. Tears and rain ran down her face as she sat up, now in the middle of a dense meadow, flowers blooming all around her, drooping as if to weep by her side. She took in the scenery for the first time, thoughts suddenly clear.
This is the afterlife.
Tlaloc surrounds me.
As Metzli stood, the rain eased, wiping their tears together, but the gloom of the sky remained. Finally, she breathed in the clean air and sadly smiled for the first time in her new life. She took her first step through the meadow, transporting to a clouded, quiet village. Suddenly, elders from her youth surrounded her, hugged her, and smiled. Everyone in the village came to greet her, touch her, cry with her as the clouds once again opened up to softly weep alongside them. For the first time in 15 years, Metzli felt warm with love, food, and drink, breathing it all in as if to memorize the moment.
From a far distance, Metzli could hear the faint sound of a woman’s hurried voice calling her name.
There. On the monitor. Something’s wrong.
She looked out into the raining scenery. Her brow dipped in confusion, looking far past the crowd. She closed her eyes for the last time.
Wake up, Commander.
And she took her first gasping breath.