Author's Note: With so many people asking me to continue from "Let Her Go", here's the final part of my trilogy! Thanks for the support of my work guys, it means a lot to me and keeps me going!

A generous tip of the hat to Blackhole1, PastPotatoes, and Ragnarok666, whose stories were an excellent guide in writing this trilogy!

Something to note for later: When I originally played HoTS, I started on Kaldir, then went to Zerus. That is the order of events in this reality. Also, the same plot paths that are canon in WoL are canon here.

A quick side note: if you listen to music while reading like I do, I'll provide a couple cues here and there. They are pretty much from games though.

StarCraft and all music used are the properties of their respective creators, including but not limited to Blizzard.

First Spawning Pool, Zerus

Sarah slowly approached the edge of the pool, dreading what was to come. It wasn't being killed during the process that worried her any more. It was the process itself, and whether Jim would approve retrospectively of it.

She had him back, if only for a week, but despite the destruction and chaos she had to cause during that time to reach Mengsk, it had been one of the happiest times of her life. Now, she wasn't sure what his approval meant that day. Did it mean he was at last fulfilling his promise to end her? Or did he truly want her to re-infest herself, even if it was for the right reasons?

Sarah didn't doubt she could weather the process. Zurvan had explained before his death that surviving it required mostly mental strength, and if she could survive four years of being imprisoned and tortured within her own psyche, she could survive this. But could she live in the aftermath?

Steeling herself, Sarah stepped into the pool and approached the center. She had to do this. It was too late to turn back now. The ground shook and the Chrysalis enveloped her.

Immediately Sarah noticed something was different. When the Swarm infested her, the infestation started from the outside. But now...now it felt as though she were changing from within.

"Jim..." Sarah slipped into unconciousness as the chrysalis continued its work.

It was barely a half hour before the transformation was complete, but Sarah didn't take time to revel in her new body.

She felt stronger than she ever had, both physically and mentally. She could feel herself radiating power. And she hated every second of it. She felt like she was wearing a disgusting costume that she couldn't take off.

It was only made worse by the fact that whatever processes that changed her body had left her mind alone. Seeing her Zerg form on her again was not a welcome sense of deja vu.

Shaking the thoughts from her head, Sarah called down an Overlord and ordered the Swarm to prepare to move out. The sooner Amon was dealt with, the sooner she could get out of this horrible Zerg carapace.

If only it would be that simple...

Unknown Location, some time later (music - Ace Combat 4: Mission 15 "Emancipation")

They had done it. Amon was no more. And with Sarah's hand in his death, the Protoss had, by and large, been willing to give her another chance to prove herself.

Jim walked up to Sarah, who hadn't moved since she had struck Amon down. Zeratul watched them both closely.

"You did it, Sarah..."

"Just charge that artifact and get me out of this damn skin."

Jim took a step back upon hearing the hostile tone of her voice. Sarah turned, wearing and apologetic expression, but they got no further before a deep voice interrupted them, speaking in the mind of every individual present.

"Foolish children, do not think you can so easily defy your fathers." (music - Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X Boss Appearance)

To everyone's surprise, the eyes of Amon's corpse ignited and glowed with the brightness of a supernova.

"Made of my Swarm. Made of our essence. Mine to control."

"Oh no..." Sarah gasped and collapsed, clutching her head. "Agh! Get...out..."

Jim stepped back. He wished nothing more than to be able to help her, but he knew he would be useless. All he could do was try to distance himself from any fallout.

Sarah cried out again and her body writhed on the ground as she struggled with the xel'naga for control of herself. But it was a losing battle. Her mental fortifications were crumbling. She couldn't hope to resist Amon's influence much longer.

As Amon made another attempt to possess her, she could no longer resist and she felt the xel'naga's influence overwhelming her mind. Her screams died in her throat as Amon assumed control of her.

Once more, she was trapped in her own mind.

(music - Breispower: X vs Zero)

Jim watched in horror as the being that had once been his love stood, supporting herself with her wings. When she turned, he saw into his worst nightmare. Her eyes radiated a demonic and harsh crimison rather than the intense but soft violet he had become accustomed to.

"Kill them all." It wasn't Sarah's voice, or even the echoing tones she had as the Queen of Blades. It was Amon's. Jim shuddered as he watched the xel'naga speak through his love's mouth.

Immediately, the Zerg in the vicinity turned on their surprised allies. Thankfully, with his attention divided, Amon wasn't able to completely usurp Zagara's control, and the broodmother was able to restore order to the Swarm not within the immediate area and send reinforcements to the retreating Protoss and Terrans.

The possessed Queen lunged at Jim, who rolled out of the way. Utilizing the distraction, Zeratul sliced her right wing off and blinked away just before the other ripped through his location.

"Dammit, I'm getting too old for this," Jim grumbled as the Queen of Blades lunged at him again. Jim sidestepped to the right, but as he raised his HEV rifle, he hesitated. Even if it was Amon in control, he still couldn't just shoot her.

Sensing his hesitation, Zeratul spoke. "James Raynor...!" He got no further in his warning before the Queen turned on him and unleashed a powerful psionic blast. The Nerazim was hurled backwards and hit the ground hard.

"Foolish Terran, your kind could not even stand against my Swarm. What chance did you think you had against me?" The Queen of Blades sliced down with her claws, barely missing Jim's power armor, but immediately kicked him hard enough to send him sprawling.

"I need to distract him or slow him down..." Jim pulled his last chrono-rift charge out and trapped the Queen within it. She roared in anger as the rift sucked her in and immobilized her. Zeratul took the opportunity to slice her other wing off before slashing downwards. To his surprise his psi-blade deflected off a psionic barrier. The time rift was waning, and the Queen was now free and as enraged as ever. Raising her hands, she charged psionic energy and tossed both Jim and Zeratul away like rag dolls, buying her time to regenerate her severed wings.

Trying to keep her down, Jim fired three shots from his plasma gun. But the Queen had already recovered. The first shot knocked her to the ground, but the other two were deflected off a psionic barrier. She laughed. "Go on, fight me with your pathetic weaponry!"

Jim waited until she had closed most of the distance before using his last plasma gun shot. The miniature nuclear blast stopped the Queen mid-charge and threw her spectacularly into a wall. But within seconds her primal strength allowed her to recover and she began hurling the debris on top of her at Jim. He dodged most of it, but one piece struck his armor square on, tearing through the metal and knocking him to the ground.

He just hoped Sarah was still fighting inside, or this would truly be for naught...

Sarah screamed in despair as she watched her body attack Jim from within her prison. At hearing Jim's thoughts she redoubled her efforts to break free. She couldn't let him die now.

With mild annoyance, Amon easily reasserted control. It was a shame that he could only channel her psionics occassionally due to her interference. That concession should have been reason enough for her to shut up. But the imprisoned girl would not be silenced.

The need to suppress Sarah, however, left her captor unable to continue the fight temporarily, and in that moment Zeratul had managed to close the distance for a psi-blade strike.

Amon reluctantly weakened his grip on her and turned his focus back to the battle.

The Queen grabbed Zeratul with her mind and used the momentum of his own rush to throw him into the far wall. Now, for the Terran.

Jim raised his HEV rifle as the Queen dashed towards him and managed to summon the willpower to squeeze the trigger. But the high-powered slug flattened on a psionic barrier. Zeratul managed to stand, though he was too far away to be of help.

At seeing Zeratul's state, a contingent of Protoss troops fighting the possessed Zerg broke off to assist their hero.

"No, my brethren!" Zeratul implored, but it was too late. The Queen cast her hands out and they glowed with power. A massive psionic explosion engulfed the approaching Protoss, leaving only charred bodies and shattered metalwork in its wake.

The Queen turned as a shot from Jim's rifle grazed her. She laughed with Amon's voice.

"You Terrans have never been able to see beneath the surface of things! Your kind have always been blinded by your sentiment and pride! I need not fight you; you are your own worst enemies!" the xel'naga mocked.

Jim pulled a grenade and threw it. The Queen was knocked backward by the grenade and the shrapnel dug into her carapace, but she shrugged off the damage and had managed to remain on her feet.

"Matt, is the artifact charged? We need it now!"

"Nearly, sir. We're showing a 90% charge reading. Just a little bit longer."

"We don't have that time...!" Jim cut off as the Queen lunged at him again. This time he fired without hesitation. Just a little bit longer and this would be over...

The penetrator round struck the Queen's abdomen and tore through the hardened carapace before exiting out of her back. She looked down in annoyance at the hole in her stomach, which was already closing.

Roaring in anger, she blasted him into a wall with a psionic blast. Jim hit the wall so hard that several pieces of debris fell from it and buried him.

"No!" Sarah screamed at seeing Jim fall.

"Foolish Terran; you may be stronger than the rest, but you were naive in thinking you could stand up to me!" The words were directed at both Jim and Sarah. With both Zeratul and Jim incapacitated there was no need to remain particularly vigilant.

"I can't let him win!" Realizing that Amon could soon divert his entire attention to keeping her in check, Sarah mustered all of her will one last time to try and break free.

"What is this?!" The ferocity of the counterattack surprised the xel'naga, but he quickly recovered. To his surprise, Sarah did not budge an inch, matching his will in intensity.

Amon focused his energies on her, but she still didn't yield. While this was the limit of his powers, he knew she had to be pushing herself far beyond her own and that a simple battle of atrition would inevitably end with his victory. He had no cause to be concerned.

"Pull back!" The order was hardly necessary as the possessed Zerg were all dead and the Protoss and Swarm had already evacuated the area. But Matt wanted to make sure. At this key moment, a single life lost at the wrong hands could shatter the fragile alliance, and though the Protoss had demonstrated they could survive the original pulse if they were strong enough, now that the artifact was in its true form there was no telling what it would do.

Matt watched the charge meter as it slowly filled. It would only be a few more seconds. He just hoped that Jim was still alive.

"What about Zeratul?" asked Artanis. Matt cursed.

"Squads three and four, get Zeratul out of there!" Two contingents of Marines, along with Marauder, Ghost, and Spectre support, raced towards the spot where the Nerazim leader lay.

It only took a few minutes to get Zeratul to the Shield of Aiur, the only Protoss ship left within the artifact's radius, and a few more for it to escape the artifact's range. But to Horner and every other sentinent member of the alliance, it seemed an eternity.

Finally, the all-clear was given.

With a blinding flash, the xel'naga artifact was unleashed.

The energy pulse left the Raiders and Jim alone, but Sarah and Amon both felt its full magnitude.

Both of them screamed within Sarah's mind, but unlike Amon, she kept fighting. With the help of the artifact, she threw off his dissolving influence at last.

"Do not...think this...comes freely...Terran! You shall feel...the price of victory...forever...!" Amon warned as he was finished off.

Sarah dismissed it as an idle threat. She collapsed to the ground and blacked out after the pulse had gone, exhausted from her struggle with Amon and weakened severely by the artifact.

Author's Note: First and foremost, the xel'naga artifact. It wasn't used as it was on Char, and the "original" role I had in mind for it was as a reset-type device for any failed xel'naga experiments so they wouldn't run rampant and harm their creators but still be able to be re-experimented on. Since Kerrigan's primal infestation isn't the work of the xel'naga but has some commonalities, I thought that the artifact would need the aid of other means of stopping or reversing infestation to complete its job. You'll see what I mean soon.

Speaking of that, I want to give Kerrigan a happier ending than what I predict LoTV will bring because of the closer relationship prior to the parallel ending of HoTS in my own universe. My prediction is that the Protoss will likely execute her one way or another, so unfortunately I can't promise a happy ending as the title suggests.