I can see her face.
I had my arms around her, holding her so close it was as though we were one person.
Sometimes it shines brighter than the sun...
The usual shimmer in her eyes when the sunlight hit it just right melted into my soul. Her laugh was like music, her voice my favorite sound.
Other visions are lost in the void...
Then, she was falling away from me, the perpetual distance between us increasing with each passing heartbeat. But the more I stretched, the further she fell from my reach.
Then, she was lost to me forever.

I breached the surface of consciousness with a gasp, my eyes taking in my surroundings. Etrius's bunk was above me, with scattered papers, fallen bullets, and crushed soda and beer bottles littering the floor. Our dorm.

The bed above me creaked, on cue to the sound of a watch going off. Etrius gripped his pillow and flung it down into my face without looking. Every morning. He never missed. "Get up, Beecher. We got shit to do today."

I pushed the pillow to the floor and dragged my hands down my face. "Ugh, don't remind me..."

It had been almost a year since The Superior was erased and Blue went back to her world. Things have been quiet since, and for once, I enjoyed the silence. Blue made a promise that she would set things right, and there would be no more problems for us.

So far, she'd kept her word.

But there were still things that needed to be done. Gateways that needed to be closed.
We'd already destroyed all potential portals and gateways into other realms. Except one.

The portal that started it all. The portal that united us after spending years apart. The portal that served as the first gateway into the castle universe.

The underground base was abandoned, and the portal decommissioned. The General knew there were no more Crystal Shards left in the facility to jump start the portal, but I didn't want us to take any chances. This thing *had* to be destroyed.

Dragging myself out of bed from a night of drinking, I pulled my boots out from beneath my bed, tugged on my vest armor and jacket, assembled my sniper, and checked the built in GPS on my gauntlet, one of many that Blue had created for us. Etrius rolled out of his top bunk and collapsed on top of me shortly after.

"Off..." I mumbled, trying to push him off me. Footsteps resounded outside our open door. The General stopped by our room and stared for a second before moving more quickly down the hall. Boomer came next, but instead, he gave his trademark grin. "Let's go, lovebirds. The rest of us are waiting outside."

After Boomer disappeared, Etrius and I exchanged glares. We pushed away from each other and got to work.

We met the rest of the team by the facility garage, where several humvees were already running. Nox and Lloyd were looking over a holographic map, figuring out a trail on how to get to our first base. Angel was busy familiarizing herself with the Humvee controls, while Boomer and Creticus were stocking the Humvees. They both had the essentials. Weapons and whiskey. Why could go wrong?

Boomer had his own exclusive humvee packed with every kind of explosive device I could think of. The plan was to get the humvee near the portal, set the timer, and let it blow the place to shreds. I could tell Boomer was more than anxious. It had been months since he'd blown something up, and the only thing that sated his hunger was the sound of booming thunder on stormy days.

The drive was silent, except for Lloyd's directives on teaching Angel how to drive, and Nox occasionally shouting for Angel to slow down. I witnessed the events play out from my rearview mirror. Angel had one hand on the wheel, the other changing gears, a determined smirk on her face. She didn't want to go back to childhood. Even though Lloyd and Nox didn't agree with her decision, I was on Angel's side with this one. Growing up, she may have had power but she was defenseless. The Superior easily used obsidian to subdue her, and being older gave her more experience for training.

Even though Angel simply said she enjoyed being older.

Six hours later, the base loomed up ahead through the overgrown trees. It looked small, but the rest of the facility was built underground. Barbed wire and gated fences lined the outer perimeter, with powered down automatic weapons dropping from the roof. Arriving first, I launched several bullets through them to make sure they weren't still activated.

When the rest of the team made it, we climbed over the towering gates and landed on the other side. Boomer rushed ahead of us, eager to plant explosives and get the doors open. While the explosion went off, Angel's eyes took in the facility around her. Vines and brush were growing on the walls, and in between abandoned humvee tires. "Is this really where you guys worked and took orders?"

I bit my lip and avoiding my gaze from turning to the building that led to the interrogation rooms. "It used to be."

We emerged into the abandoned main facility, taking the spiral staircase since the power was still out. Everything was eerily silent. Nothing like when I first joined the Castle Project. There were always soldiers around me shouting and taking orders, vehicles coming in and out of the underground portal. Without all the noise, it couldn't compare.

Lloyd flicked on his flashlight, taking the lead. I caught a glance of the dual swords on his back. Since giving Blue his own, he'd crafted two more with intricate black swirling patterns on the blades.

The staircase gave away into a large open cave. Support beams towered above us, holding up the soil leaking water. Our footsteps echoed off the walls. Rusted humvees and trailers were parked around the area, with smaller buildings, offices and command posts scattered around. But the largest thing in sight was the portal. One of it's beams was slightly tilted to the side, but it was still as majestic as when I first saw it. The air was too quiet. Too peaceful. It was the perfect moment for something to go wrong. Which was why we had to destroy it.

Etrius gave Boomer a nod, who produced several packs of C4 from his pack, and began priming them. We were gonna blow this place to hell.

While Boomer got busy, the rest of the team began wandering around, taking in the memories before they would be gone forever.

The General stopped and stared at one building in particular. It used to be his. His eyes were unreadable, and I couldn't tell if he longed to return to the old days, or regretted every decision he ever made. Regardless, there was nothing here but broken memories, and no way to change the past. Josiah already proved that. There was nothing left to fix.

I found Angel lurking near the portal, her neck craned to view the whole structure. The sheer scale of it reminded me of just how small and insignificant we really were.

Angel stared at the portal. The gateway to the realm she descended from. Her home. What could have been her home if the Ancients had never spawned the Evils.

Then, I noticed something else in her expression. Sadness. I gripped her shoulder, and when she turned to face me, I gave a smile, seeing the Ancient-Descendant hybrid child again. Angel took a breath, then nodded to tell me she was alright. I turned away to see if I could salvage any weapons from the place.

"Alright, explosives are primed." Boomer stood up from his kneeling position. "Let's go and watch the fireworks."

Then, I saw it. A flash of blue light in my peripheral vision. I whirled around, seeing Angel still by the portal. Light leaked from her fingertips, eyes and mouth, swirling towards the portal. Her power. It was reacting to the portal.

Lloyd and Nox didn't notice. Nobody would notice in time. Reacting on instinct, I dived for her, grabbing her shoulders and pushing her away.

Then, I was weightless. Nothing standing between me and the portal. It's fractured light burst into streams, grabbing me like ice cold hands, beckoning me until I was inside. The screams of my team sounded faded behind me, like they were too far out of reach. Gravity tightened around me like a vessel. Time unraveled, and the unknown was stretched out before me.

Unable to control myself, I fell into the portal's light, and the gateway closed behind me.