A/N: Thank you for reading and reviewing! Brath should be back in the next chapter or so.

…-…

So. Let's start with some good news.

I'm not plagued.

I didn't really even know that was a possibility, but apparently that was what Neesera was freaking out about?

So, yeah. There's that at least.

After my panic attack in the science lab, well, let's just say I hadn't lost that first rogue quite like I'd thought. She had apparently been tailing me, hoping that I would lead her to all my friends, since I obviously wasn't alone.

I'm a really bad rogue.

But that's not the point. That bookshelf I was hiding behind? Well, it was a bit away from the wall and while I'd thought it was perfect to hide behind, I'd forgotten that that kind of pipelines my options for escape as either forward or back. And it leaves me open from behind.

I didn't even know the other rogue was there until I found myself teetering toward the floor, blackness swooshing over my vision.

I had some nightmares where I was swimming in ooze and stuff. They were pretty messed up. Imagine skeletons and death and destruction and giant martini umbrellas. I don't…I'm not gonna try to interpret that.

However, when I did wake up, I found myself in a mildly intact hotel room with Neesera, Senta'ri, and Hendric. Brath was nowhere to be seen. If I had to guess, I doubt these Forsaken have aerial units—most likely they don't want to draw attention to themselves.

I was a little surprised that he hadn't burned half the village down to save me, but then…well maybe he didn't know I was missing. He doesn't exactly use his crystal like the rest of us do.

As I was sitting up, Neesera was beside me in a second, asking me if anything hurt and if I felt 'odd' anywhere.

I was a little confused by that part, but this raspy, familiar voice interrupted her fretting. "I already told you, we're not working with the plague here."

Turning my head, even as Neesera muttered something about trusting them, I saw the same Forsaken woman from before. That rogue. Her head was turned slightly as though she was watching me, and when I looked into those empty eye sockets, she smirked at my cringe.

"I took them out myself," she commented, not moving from where she leaned next to the door. She flipped one of her daggers through the air, catching it by its point. "I'll let them know you're all awake now."

Without another word, she slipped out of the room. I heard a lock click into place behind her. Though I wondered briefly if I could pick it, I somehow doubted that she was our only guard.

Well, while the whole ordeal was puzzling, I didn't have much time to think about it. Neesera and Senta'ri both hopped onto my bed, sitting near me and leaning in so that they could take turns interrupting one another as they tried to explain how the Forsaken manufactured the plague and all that in Azeroth. Senta'ri told me about the Undercity and its moat of glowing green goop. Neesera explained something called the Wrathgate incident, where some of the Forsaken betrayed the Alliance—and Horde, Senta'ri was quick to point out—by plaguing them instead of helping fight someone called a Lich King.

Anyway, I've said this before, but there aren't a lot of stories circulating around where the Forsaken swoop in and save kittens from trees or help little old ladies across the street…unless they're helping said old lady across the street to their lab to experiment on her.

So the fact that we were trapped in an unknown location by a bunch of crazies who like experimenting on people wasn't exactly reassuring.

Now, the whole while that Neesera and Senta'ri had been chattering away, Hendric had been really quiet. Granted, the dwarf doesn't often make a point of talking a lot. He's kind of stoic like that.

But when Neesera and Senta'ri started suggesting we try to break out or contact Brath and see if he could break us out?

He punched the wall.

Well, he probably would have swung his axe into it, if our weapons hadn't been taken from us.

It was kind of funny, in a twisted sort of way. His fist went through the wall. And then, when he finally managed to pull it back, another, very boney and dead hand followed his through the hole and flipped us the bird.

So of course I went over to check it out. I guess we'd been holed up next to the guards' break room? I could see a dozen of the undead just hanging out in the room, not particularly doing anything—perhaps because they knew they were being watched.

That makes me wonder, though. Do they actually need breaks? I mean, it's not like they can get tired or anything, can they? Maybe it's a psychological weariness? Do they ever eat or drink just out of habit or to try to remember what it was like?

Before I could think to say anything to them, one of them moved a poster over the hole to block our view.

Hendric walked over to the far wall and waited for the rest of us to come over before he began speaking. Mostly, he directed his words at me, since he knew I wasn't quite so biased. "Look, lass. The Forsaken are some mean buggers, don't get me wrong. They blighted a whole town back in Azeroth. However, I've been ta South Shore. I've seen the damage." He shifted his weight a little. "This isn't the same. When we were being led through here…I seen plants growing. There's no way they'd be growing so close to the plague. It kills everything, and ye be a damned fool to not notice it." He glared at the other two. "There been vines and grasses all through this area. I even saw one of those little yellow flowers."

"Dandelions?"

"Aye."

I considered what he'd said. However, it was Senta'ri who replied, "Ah seen dis befora. Lissen, mon. Dey got all kindsa plague in Tirisfal 'n dere still be grasses dere. It ain' so simple ta tell."

"And I'm tellin' ye, I've been through Tirisfal," Hendric snapped. "I'm a damned explorer, lad. I've seen every inch of Azeroth…save that new continent in the south…" He looked a little wistful for a split second before continuing. "Anythin' growin' in Tirisfal is sickly like, ye see. It ain't so healthy. I ain't a shaman or anythin', but the stuff here's got a freshness to it. It ain' on the verge of dyin'. It's new."

Neesera hesitated and then wandered to the window. It had been boarded up, but it had been done from the inside. With the nails rusting away, it was easy for her to pull off one of the planks. As she leaned it against the wall, she looked out and jumped. There was a Forsaken standing near the window, a large mace resting on one of his shoulders as he stood with his other hand on his hip.

"I am not running away," Neesera stated, staring at the guard with wide eyes.

I had to say, they really didn't want us running away.

The Forsaken hadn't made an attempt to respond and Neesera hesitated, peeking out just a little, at the ground. Then her gaze went back to the Forsaken. He hadn't moved. "I would like to pick that flower."

Silence followed.

It wasn't until Neesera started to try to get a second board off the window so that she could lean out that our guard stepped forward, picked something and held it out to her. She took the tiny stem in her delicate fingers, and in a blink the guard was back to his earlier pose, as though he'd never left it.

Neesera frowned as she examined the little purple flower. I'm not great with plants, but I think it was a violet. Or maybe not. It was purple.

Well, even as Neesera went to commune with it or whatever—later she did express that the reason she was having trouble getting a read on all the nature-y stuff was because being in close proximity to something as unnatural as a large group of Forsaken threw off her connection with the elements—the door to our room opened, and I couldn't believe who stepped through that door.

I also couldn't believe he fit through that door.

Okay, you know those action movies where there's that stupidly ripped guy that makes all the guys you know in real life look like dweebs, even if they can, like, bench 200 lbs? The one that's basically a walking wall, shooting guns and shouldering bazookas like they weigh the same as a puppy and stuff?

That's V.

The Russian loyalist I was telling you about.

Except he uses magic.

That's right. The buffest guy I know flings spells at people. There's still kind of a stigma here on Earth that spell casters like mages—we don't allow warlocks unless they're from Azeroth and even then they're treated very poorly—are weak and easy to take out. Not because of their spells or anything. They kick ass with magic. I guess most mages are kind of scrawny, though? Like, they're stereotypically the kids who got bullied in school and stuff for being small. So some people are still kind of dicks to them.

Honestly though, I don't think people would try to fight V one on one. Like, even if you got close enough to interrupt his spells, he can still punch you hard enough to crack your skull.

I think.

I mean, he has to be able to with all of those muscles.

They're not just there for show.

Anyway! It was V standing there. With the Forsaken.

He gave me a broad grin when he saw me and waved. "Amy Ford. I should have known any human rogues here would have to be you." He walked over to the bed nearest the door and sat down. I heard the frame creak under him. "You must tell me; what are you doing here?"

The Forsaken rogue from earlier was leaning in the doorway again, though she didn't bother to close it. I saw a few other undead walk by. And then a living human. He was talking to one of the Forsaken scientists in a hushed tone and didn't even afford our room a glance.

V has the patience of a saint. He waited for us to gather the scattered bits of our blown minds without so much as tapping his toes. Finally, I sat down next to him. The bed felt like it was at a bit of an angle.

"Look, we heard there were…" I paused, glancing at our guard. "You know some of the rumors going around…"

"The body snatcher rumors. I am familiar with them, yes." The rogue in the doorway scoffed, but said nothing when V gave her a cross look. As he turned back to me, he arched an eyebrow. "As you can see, there are no bodies being snatched."

I leaned toward him. "But what's going on here? It can't be good—"

"On the contrary," V shook his head. "The Forsaken are possibly the only people who can help us with Rasseeya."

I should point out, even with the language spells, people still have accents. Like, I would have an American accent speaking Japanese to someone from Japan or an American accent speaking Portuguese to someone from Portugal. And then I hear them with a Portuguese accent or Japanese accent speaking English. It's really odd and Fizz said he was going to figure out how to fix it someday, but it's not really pressing enough for anyone to go out of their way to do at the moment.

Anyway, V must have known English before the spell, because he speaks pretty clear, but I can still really hear his accent when he says Russia and stuff like that.

I don't mean to get so off topic.

I remember that I fish-mouthed for a moment before finally asking, "Why them?"

"Because we're already dead," replied the Forsaken rogue in the doorway. She was playing with a few locks of limp, dead hair, clearly bored.

When I looked back at V, he ran a hand down his face. "Amy…and friends…" He nodded to each of my companions in turn, even pausing to inspect Cat, Senta'ri's pet, who was curled up and watching us from the corner. The giant animal's fur was dark and blended into the shadows so well that I hadn't even noticed her there. "This is not a pleasant tale, but if you can keep it to yourselves, I will tell you."

We all nodded.

For a moment, it seemed like he wasn't going to say anything. Then, he motioned for us to follow him and stepped out of the room. He walked down the hall and out into the foyer—the hotel was hardly that now that we could see the rest of the building. It looked like it had been made into a makeshift barracks, though what it had once been, I couldn't say.

There were quite a few living people here, mingling with the Forsaken. Most of them looked like scholars or scientists, though. Mages, basically. Almost all of them spoke with Russian accents, too.

V led us out front, onto the street. He walked into the middle of it and then turned to us, waiting for us to stop near him. With one hand, he pointed up to the sky. "Tell me, Amy, what do you see?"

I was puzzled, but complied. I half expected Brath to be bearing down on us or something. However, all there was overhead was the dark gray clouds scattered across the horizon. If I looked west, I could see them tapering off with hints of blue breaking through, but there were more to the east. They looked thicker there, like a storm was coming in.

I frowned as I realized that they'd been that way since I'd come to Wales. I could remember commenting to Brath and Senta'ri that I'd hoped we would outrun the storm, only to forget about it when it never came.

"In the Western hemisphere, the clouds have mostly receded. It is receding here, but much slower." V sighed and tugged on one of his sleeves. "And, you may not know this, but it is colder here than it should be. It is colder everywhere than it should be. That is why crops have been struggling and why we are digging ourselves more and more into debt with Azeroth."

"I don't get it," I replied slowly. I will never be recorded as one of the great thinkers of my time. "The demons brought the clouds and as we push them back—"

"No, Amy." With a halfhearted laugh, V held up a hand to keep me from arguing. "They did not bring this. This was our doing." He paused, looking back toward the east. "In all the stories people used to scare others out of nuclear war, they say that a hundred strategically placed nukes would send us into a global nuclear winter that would kill everything." Looking back at us, at me, he pointed toward the east. "This is what happens when you use only seventeen."

I felt light headed. "You mean, the U.S. attacked—"

"What? No," V laughed abruptly. "Amy, you are a good person, but you suffer the same as every other American. You are not the only people in the world." His sadness was replaced with an odd sort of pride. "They came down from the north to take us. Our cities were falling one after another. Rasseeya decided that if it was going to fall, we would do so on our terms. We did what we could to find their base in the northern wilds and bombarded it."

"With seventeen?"

With a shrug, V dismissed my dismay. "From what I am told, we could not quite find it. Better to be safe when smiting monsters, yes?"

"You started a nuclear winter!"

"I do not see why you are complaining," V frowned. "It is not like we bombed your country. And it is fairly localized. Another…" With a sigh he shrugged again. "It will go away. My people are used to the cold. We will persevere and rebuild Rasseeya better."

It was a bit much to take in. In all honesty, I'd never really considered what had made the clouds. If I'd been asked before this, I likely would have floundered and finally said that it was the demons' evil presence or something. But this…

"What about the radiation?"

"That is where the Forsaken come in," V nodded to the rogue, who was standing beside us. "They are helping us gather samples and find a way to neutralize the radiation so that it will not negatively impact the environment. It is a long road, but we are working."

"Be grateful you stumbled across this area instead of the one further west," the rogue offered, a hint of fake sweetness to her rasping voice.

Laughing, V nodded. "Here, we are manufacturing the solvent that will negate any harmful effects. You go fifty miles from here to the west, and you fill find where we are storing small amounts of nuclear waste to test on."

"I've heard some of the Forsaken there are already starting to glow."

The rogue really enjoys saying things for shock value. I'll get to that later.

"The Welsh are cool with you doing this?" I asked, suddenly inspecting the area with renewed interest.

"They are…not so much aware," V admitted, grimacing as though admitting such a truth was distasteful. "However, we need a place where the demons are not likely to attack, where people are gone, with plenty of space."

"There've gotta be dozens of countries you could go to."

"Yes, and we are in pretty much all of those dozens," V reached up and scratched his chin. "Now, Amy. I am telling you this because from what I have seen of you, if you or your friends decide you are going to do something, you do it. I cannot have you deciding to destroy this facility. I cannot have you bringing attention to this facility. What we are working on will benefit all of Earth, not just my people. It needs to be done."

"Then why does it need to be a secret?"

"For one, we do not wish the demons to get a hold of our nuclear studies." V started back toward the building. "When we were taking back Rasseeya, they managed to get a hold of one of our nuclear plants. We were able to stop them from firing most of the missiles, but not before they bombed Moskva. Those of us infiltrating the base were lucky. Otherwise, we'd have perished with the others in the city."

And there it was. The reason that we'd lost Moscow was…sort of our own fault. If we'd never split the atom, they wouldn't have been able to do that…

I felt a little sick, thinking about the people there. How many had survived through hell just to have that happen?

A hand rested on my shoulder, dwarfing it, and I looked up at V. He grinned at me. "Also, you know how people react to anything nuclear. We would like to have this mess cleaned up before others find out just what we did. I don't want my people persecuted for making the rest of the world need sweaters for a few years." He stopped at the doorway leading in and directed one of the guards to get our weapons. "Now then, you will keep our secret, yes?"

I stared at him for a moment, wondering if people would really go after anyone from Russia, just because of what their government had done to try to stop the Legion. It broke my heart to realize that there were people who would.

"I won't tell a soul." The others echoed the sentiment. I think it would have been easier for them, anyway, as they didn't quite know about nuclear stuff the way people of my world did.

"Excellent!" V clapped his hands together, making a mini boom with the air caught between his hands. He smiled at the rogue with us. "I told you we would not have to kill them!"