We burst out on to the second floor landing ready for…well, something, I guess, but nothing happened.

"Something is moving over there," Leliana said quietly. She aimed off to our one o'clock. I could see a couple of bodies, but nothing else.

"That's the storeroom," Wynne said. "Owain?"

A man appeared at the entrance to a caged area. "Senior Enchanter Wynne," he said flatly. "It is good that you are well. Has the danger passed?"

We walked over as a group. I kept a close eye on an open door to the left; there was a closed and barred door to the right. We didn't see any danger, but I watched the open door and made sure Leliana was watching it as well.

"No, it's still dangerous. But what are you still doing here?"

"I was unable to find a safe route to an exit, so I returned here. I am…comfortable here. Although I must apologize for the current state of the stockroom. Enchanter Niall was searching for the Litany of Adralla and caused part of the mess. The rest was caused by an abomination. I killed it. I was cleaning up until I was interrupted by your arrival."

I was facing away from the conversation, but a movement caught my eye. Morrigan was walking away, and though she was being quiet and careful, was doing her best to put as much distance between Owain and herself as she could. There was a look of disgust on her face.

"The Litany," Neria said. "Jeff, isn't that what you said Niall was trying to use?"

"Yes, but I don't-"

"The Litany of Adralla," Wynne interrupted, "is used to counter attempts at mind control. I fear we may indeed be facing blood magic on top of everything else."

"Wynne," I said, "ask your guy there when Niall got the Litany."

Owain answered immediately. "You may address your questions directly to me. Enchanter Niall retrieved the Litany of Adralla near midnight two evenings ago."

Wynne spoke again. "We need to hurry. Owain, are you safe here?"

"As safe as can be expected given the circumstances."

"You stay here then. We'll come for you when it's safe."

"I will remain here, and I will await your return."

Alistair walked up and patted me on the shoulder. "Ready?"

I nodded back towards Owain. "That was creepy."

Alistair shrugged. "I've met tranquil mages before. You get used to them."

"If you say so." I looked back at Owain. He was already cleaning things up. "Good luck, Data."

"What's that?" Alistair asked.

"Nothing."

"Jeff!"

"Wynne?"

"You say you spoke to Niall in the Fade. Did he tell you where in the Tower he encountered the demon that trapped him there?"

I had to think about that for a moment. IIRC it was almost the last thing to encounter before the boss fight, but the 'verse has been throwing curve balls at me, too. I gave her my best guess. "I think it was right before the stairs to the top level, but he wasn't clear on it. And that was nearly a day ago; things might have changed."

Wynne looked up. "Two levels above us, then." She sighed and shook her head.

"You okay?"

"Okay?"

"Are you all right?"

"I see. I'm tired, and I'm afraid of what we might find, but we need to push on."

We regrouped and headed for the open door. The acoustics in this place are weird; right as we got there I could hear voices, not clearly, but there were at least two. Then I heard a third voice. I called a stop and looked to the group. "Three," I mouthed. "Mages, I think."

"Can we take them alive?" Neria whispered. "They might not be…."

"We should try," Wynne agreed.

Leliana got a predatory look. "Stand back," she whispered and peeked around the corner. She drew her bow and dropped her head. "Maker, guide my hand, but please, protect the righteous." She stepped into the doorway and aimed. "Wynne is with us! Do not-" There was a shout from the mages. Leliana loosed her arrow and immediately jumped back away from the door; I heard a cry from the other side. A fireball impacted on the doorway; another came through it and burst harmlessly on the far wall.

They weren't friendly, but fortunately these two mages weren't thinking tactically, either. They both came running through the door right after the fireballs. Alistair did his Templar shockwave thing; they both staggered. I grabbed an auburn-haired woman and spun her into the wall before anyone else could act. The impact knocked the wind out of her. I ripped her staff out of her hand and threw it away. I used my weight to pin her against the wall and put my forehead right against hers. "Don't move and don't talk and you won't get hurt." Her eyes were wide open. They were brown and pretty and scared. "Blink if you understand me."

Blink.

"Derrick. And Ulla." Wynne obviously recognized the mages. "Who was with you? Ulla?"

"Answer her."

"Ross."

"I struck him true. He is no-"

"Orlesian bi-oof!"

I'd cut Ulla off by shoving my weight into her. "I said don't move. That means no talking unless we tell you to."

Wynne put a hand on my shoulder. "Let her go."

I released Ulla and backed off. Derrick was lying on the ground, frozen, I thought. Paralyzed, I found out later. Alistair was watching him closely.

"Ulla, why did you do this?"

"Wynne, I'm sorry, but the Templars. I just couldn't…. Neria, you know what it was like. The Templars just...watching us all the time. And then the last few days. I just couldn't…. I didn't mean for this to happen, but Uldred went further than we thought he would."

I reacted to that about the way you'd think. I swore under my breath and turned away. Dealing with the people who'd caused this mess was setting me on edge on again. I'd promised Alistair that I'd keep myself under control and meant it. The problem was how to do it. But I wasn't alone. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Jeffrey," Leliana's voice was soft but firm. "This was not your fault."

She's right, but, "Still doesn't feel like it."

"We all know who is to blame for this, and it is not you."

"I know. I just- I just need some time. But, Leliana? Thanks."

I got a smile in return. "You are welcome."

I missed something during that short conversation. Sten was dragging Derrick and Alistair was walking Ulla towards the storeroom. She was looking back over her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Neria. I just don't know."

Wynne was speaking quietly to Neria, who in turn was nodding. Then she took a sharp, deep breath. "Let's go."

"In a moment. We need to wait for Sten and Alistair."

It only took a moment. The pair came out of the storeroom; Sten looked particularly satisfied. "They are secure. The kostos seraboss will watch over them until our return."

"You didn't have to be that rough with them," Alistair said.

"I needed to ensure they could no longer pose a threat. Should their limbs lose feeling the kostos seraboss will care for them."

"If you say so."

"I do."

"Hello, is someone there?"

Alistair pointed at a wardrobe in the corner of the mage quarters. We'd got pretty paranoid by then so we took our shoulder-to-shoulder formation and squared up.

"It's safe," Wynne called. "You can come out now."

"Senior Enchanter Wynne?"

"Yes, it's me. And I have Mage Neria with me. And some other help."

"Ah, thank the Maker!"

The door rattled and opened. A mage half-fell out of the chest and hit the floor hard.

"Godwin!" Neria cried. "Are you all right?"

"Well, I'm fine, except my bum's gone to sleep. It's numb all down the left cheek."

"Young man, how did you survive?" Wynne asked.

"Well, when the demons started swarming, I…hid. In there. For as long as I needed to. I'm happy to say. Because I'm alive. And now, if you'll excuse me…." He climbed back into the wardrobe.

"There's no gold. Uldred said there'd be gold."

"Well, Uldred said a lot of things, but it hasn't worked out for us yet, has it?"

"That's why we need the gold. When we get out of here-"

"If we get out of here."

"When. Even if Uldred doesn't come through I'm not spending the rest of my life in this place!"

I leaned into Alistair. "Think we should call him out on that?"

"Why don't we just-"

Alistair was interrupted by an anguished scream from the room. We looked at each other (we'd been doing that a lot) and silently decided to stay put. A few seconds later a mage came rushing out of the room and bounced off Alistair. He (the mage) screamed again and tried to scramble away, but Sten caught him.

"De-"

"Oh, shit!" I yelled. A demon came out of the room and immediately came after Alistair and me. But we tanked it almost perfectly (that is, hid behind our shields) while the ladies took it down. I'm telling you: tanking sucks. Why couldn't I have just been an all powerful magus when I showed up?

When we came back up for air Sten was dragging the mage down the hall. He came back a few minutes later. Owain had a third prisoner to watch.

I winced as Wynne carefully worked on my sword hand. I'd gotten it out too far and had the back of my glove torn open by an abomination, along with the back of my hand and wrist and a bit of my forearm. It looked and hurt like hell, but Wynne was sure I'd be fine. I'd got lucky; my chainmail was ripped apart from the elbow down.

We were in the workshop where we'd been attacked by more abominations and demons. We didn't have a choke point working for us so the fight was a lot tougher than we would have liked, but mine was the worst of the wounds. But this time everybody took a hit; at the very least they got scorched by an explosion.

But there was also a good sign. There was a large door leading to a cave used for storage. Neria had checked the door and announced it locked, but no one could find the key. Leliana managed to pick the lock, but the door only opened a few inches before bumping into a mage barrier. Neria wrote a note on a random piece of parchment, tossed it in between the door and the barrier, and closed the door. We had some time to wait while I and the others were being patched up, but during the time we spent in there nobody opened the door from the other side. I probably would have made the same choice.

"Jeff, I know how you feel about disturbing the dead, but just take the bloody gauntlets."

I frowned at Alistair and the dead Templar. "Pardon me for having to work to overcome fifty years of cultural conditioning."

"There is no way you're fifty years old."

"Wynne, do you know what this is?"

"I'm actually forty-seven, but you wouldn't believe how often I hear that."

"Voshedan. Will you wear them if I retrieve them for you?"

"I…don't know. I've never seen anything like that before."

"Only if he's still got all ten fingers when you get them off him."

"What's that paper?"

"You know, I'm going to go over there while you do that."

I walked over to wear Wynne and Leliana were examining the back of the toppled statue of Andraste. Something started tickling the back of my brain as I got closer; I realized what was about to happen just as Wynne reached out.

You'd think a mage would know better than to touch something hidden in the back of a frakking statue. "Don't touch that!" I shot forward and literally pushed Wynne away from the statue. There was a small, hollowed out space that held a black vial. Yep, I was glad I caught that one.

"What in-"

Everyone in the room was looking at me. "I'm sorry, Wynne, but part of the research I did before coming here…. I'm not sure exactly what's in that-" I pointed at the vial. "-but it's dangerous, it's evil, and it's thoroughly pissed off. Touch that vial and you'll turn it loose. And that'll piss it off even more."

"How did you know…?"

I shook my head. "Pure luck." Pure luck that I walked over to them. I let out a slow, shaky breath.

Sten came up behind me. "Here is your gauntlet."

"Just the one?"

"You do not want to wear the left one."

"I was half-expecting to find Irving here, but I guess that's too much to hope for." Wynne looked and sounded disappointed.

"So many books," Alistair said with a touch of awe, "and they're all his. Do you think he's read them all?"

"He's certainly read more of them than you have." Morrigan was walking along the shelves, running her fingers along the tomes. "Hmph. You would think the mages here would find other ways to spend their time."

"We do, but books are one of our more productive pastimes."

"I see." She pulled a book, seemingly at random, examined the cover, and shelved it. "Perhaps there is something in here that would be interesting. Later would be a more prudent time, though."

"Yes, it would. Why don't we continue?"

"Sir! Sir! Can you hear me? Sir!"

"J9qhl"

"Sir! Can you tell me your name?"

"85y8hi85[wU3rrl"

Sudden, blinding light in my right eye, then my left.

"Not responsive."

I bounced off the stone wall in front of me.

"Why won't you sleep?"

"Because I don't want to."

"Yes. You. Do."

"Hit him again."

"Wait; we've got rhythm."

"Sir-"

"His name's Jeffrey!"

"Jeff, Jeffrey, can you hear me?"

"Neria?"

"No, my name is Susan. You've been in an accident- Sir!"

"I know you."

"You know me?"

"You're the Z-monster; you used to sneak up on me on mid shifts. But I know your tricks; I just have to-"

"Go. The fuck. To sleep."

"Come on; stay with us!"

If you thought that was confusing try experiencing it first hand. Yeah, we'd run into the sloth demon as we came out on the third floor. I went down as easily as everybody else and ended up having paramedics working on me. But I kept slipping away from the medics and bouncing back to this world, and then demon would knock me out again and I'd end up being treated by emergency responders.

But I wasn't able to stay in my home 'verse. It kept fading out. If I was in a car accident like I'd thought I'd been it was possible I was too badly damaged to come back. OTOH modern medicine is pretty damn good, and if the docs could keep me alive for a day or so my long-term prospects would look pretty good.

But.

What if the paramedics were simply my desires that the demon was tempting me with? Make it look risky, and I'd be more likely to take the iffy chance on getting home than the sure thing. And then I'm trapped.

What's the demon-induced hallucination? What's my hallucination? Which is the real reality? What if both are?

I'd finally stopped bouncing back and forth and ended up in an unlikely place. A hospital room; an ICU from the looks of it. Modern, complex, and empty of others. With a bed prominently positioned directly in front of me. And doors to a hallway that seemed to lead nowhere. Oh, yeah, I was in the Fade, and apparently the demon didn't know what to do with me. Or it did know and was letting me choose to embrace the lie it was offering me. Or maybe this was my was of coping with the Fade and the situation and the demon wasn't even in the picture any more.

I looked at the bed. There were tubes, wires, all the crap needed to keep somebody alive, but there was no body. Instead, there was a me-shaped hole where the body should be.

I looked at the door to the ward. In contrast to the bright lighting the hallway was barely lit. No overhead lighting, no emergency lighting, just the splash of light from the ward reaching a few feet then darkness.

What do I do? Do I go lay down in the bed? If I do, what happens? Am I back in my body with a chance to have it repaired? Which means a chance to wake up. Which means a chance to go back to my life in the 'verse I'm supposed to be in.

Unless this is the trap the demon's set for me. I lay down in that bed, and I "get better," and I live a life back in my world until my DA'verse body gives up and I'm trapped for whatever reason this thing has to want me trapped.

So if I walked down the hall what would happen? Do I wake back up in my DA'verse body? Do I end up in some out of the way corner of the Fade again? Or do I wander until something happens?

If I pick wrong will somebody come along and help me out?

I honestly didn't know what to choose, or even how to choose it. I didn't even have a coin to flip. I just couldn't keep standing there. But I couldn't come up with anything to differentiate my choices. I started pacing, I started breathing (yeah, I know) hard, I felt like throwing up. I felt real enough as it was, but I knew where I was didn't meet my definition of real.

So what is real? I'm real. Cogito, ergo sum, and all that. But what about reality? What's feeding me? Where am I getting my input from? Even right now I'm not really sure about the answer, or even if there's an objective answer. But I did know this: the last place I was in that felt objectively real was the Tower. Even if I couldn't remember how I got to the DA'verse, it felt (wonderful: subjective objectivity) real enough. I've cried there, been scared shitless there, been hurt, been healed, been comforted there.

But damn it, turning my back on a chance to go home? Even if it wasn't a very good chance. I decided if that damn demon was gonna take me down I was gonna make him work for it.

I choked back some tears and swallowed the lump in my throat. I opened the door and walked down the hall into the darkness.

A/N: Some housekeeping notes first. I made some minor changes to the opening of the previous chapter. I just wasn't satisfied with what I'd published, and it was bugging me all day. Also, please let me know if it looks like Jeff is getting into Gary Sue territory. I'm trying to keep things under control with regards to that, but, as you might guess, I'm not the most objective of observers.

And again, thanks to all the readers and reviewers out there!