Shepard destroys the Human Reaper, chooses to destroy or sterilize the Reaper base and saves the day. Depending on your choices and ship upgrades, some squad mates may have been killed during the suicide run to the Collector base, or even Shepard himself. Seeing your favorite character die deserves a moment of silence, but then jarring image is displayed on the screen to take you out of the moment.
You've destroyed Sovereign and a human Reaper prototype now, but how many Reapers are there exactly? Thousands. The final moments of Mass Effect 2 show the Reapers awakening in Dark Space and moving towards the galaxy, starting the events of Mass Effect 3.
Godspeed Shepard, godspeed.
