A/N: Sorry that I haven't posted in forever _ Life and all that. Anyway, this chapter is long, but I couldn't find a good place to break it up. Thank you for reading and I'll try to return to posting regularly!

…-…

It feels like it's been forever since I really let myself think. Really, it's been a little over a month, but…yeah. Totally feels like forever. Forever and a day maybe.

I…

A lot has happened. I really just wanna jump into what's going now, but, well…

I know I do this a lot, but let me go back.

My original, genius plan, was to sneak into the enemy base with Nicholas, right? He was going to be some hot shot from Europe and I was going to be his translator—never mind the fact that if the wrong person had spoken at the wrong time, I'd be in the wrong language. My plan had been to waltz right in pretending that we were with the demons, free Clara and the others, and then…honestly I hadn't thought that far ahead, so it's good that they pigeonholed that idea and came up with the fel energy one.

In retrospect, maybe I should have let them carry it out.

But, you know how it is, the past is the past and all that. Greg's in the wind, by the way. More on that in a bit, but…that's one of the things that makes it really hard to think. Because, you know, it's kind of my fault that he got away. Less kind of and more completely, really.

But again, more on that later.

The other reason I'm having such a hard time is Michel.

I know, I know. I'm hung up on the traitors, right? Wrong. There's so much more to Michel's story than we knew.

Backing up—again. Mr. Blackheart and I had left the group so that we could go play spy on our own. Well, as we were walking there, it dawned on me that he didn't really look like the kind of demon that I'd seen in my world and that if anyone had half a brain—or played Warcraft—they might notice something was off about him.

And it's not like I could shake him or anything. And he's so the type to go running back to wake up Brath and drag him into this mess just to get back at me for not letting him take part in the mayhem.

So when we were less than a block from the base, I kind of, totally found a heavy rock and knocked him out. Not that he didn't go down without a fight. Of course. Nothing can ever go smoothly for me. I missed him at first because my aim is so awesome, but luckily being hopped up on fel magic did, um…

Well for starters I was high. I don't want to really take a stance on drug use since I've always sort of been in the middle with it, but being high definitely helped facilitate a lot of the stuff that happens next.

For starters, remember how I was wishing that there was some way to hone my fel sense? Being hopped up on fel magic does that for you. It's also kinda like a steroid I guess, because I was faster and stronger. For sure.

It seems like the perfect weapon while you're on it, until you hit the withdrawal stage, but that didn't kick in for a few weeks, so more on that another time.

So, as I finally did manage to pin down Mr. Blackheart and knock him a good one, he gave me this look. Sort of like I was betraying him. My mind was a little foggy, but at the time, all I could think was, "This is what you get for trying to steal back my Brath."

Yeah, not one of my finest moments.

Anyway. So, he's unconscious and as I stand up, I hear jerky movements to my left, the direction I need to go to get to the base. Well our little scuffle caught one of the guard's attention and he was standing in the entrance to the alley, gun trained on me.

Now, had I been in my right mind, I probably would have had a panic attack. Luckily, that wasn't the case. I looked him over and then shrugged and motioned toward Mr. Blackheart. "You're welcome." When he looked at me all confused like, I rolled my eyes and started toward him. "You didn't think that group you caught before would be the only ones coming through that portal, did you?"

The guy looked at the corpse on the ground and then took a step back, like he was freaked that I even knew about the first group. "Who the hell are you?"

For a second, I didn't know what to do. But then—and I really need to make a bracelet for this—I thought, what would Brath do? I'm horrible, I know.

"Who am I?" I tried to be as bold as my newly colored hair. "Sweetheart, I'm the one who decides if your little base gets wiped off the map." I put a hand on my hip and pointed toward the gun. As my hand came into my line of sight, I realized that my finger nails looked a little more…claw-y than normal. By the way, if you aren't a continuous user of fel magic, those weird physical alterations do go away. It's when you never stop using them that they become permanent, I guess.

And I guess that Mr. Blackheart had actually given me enough fel energy that it should have killed me. Which is why I actually had physical alterations after a first use, which helped a lot, by the way, with my lies.

Oh, another thing. I think Mr. Blackheart's trying to plague me. But not because he wants to get rid of me anymore. It's really creepy, but Brath likes my heart beating, so…yeah.

Just…ugh.

Back to what happened.

So I pointed at the guy and in my head I was wondering if he'd really buy that I was working for the Legion, but I guess my eyes were glowing a lot too, so there was no doubt in that poor sap's head. I glanced back at Mr. Blackheart and then frowned at the guy and crossed my arms. "I'd explain everything to you, but I have a feeling that upper management considers you…" I tried to think of how Greg would have put it, and settled for one of his analogies I'd never really gotten, but figured this geeky looking guy might, "a red shirt, so why don't you let me help you out a bit, huh?" I walked toward him. "You take me to talk to someone who actually matters and I'll say that you even helped me with the prisoner."

The guy shifted uneasily for a minute, like he thought he might just shoot me anyway. Luckily, before I could register that and panic—since even on fel magic, I so can't out run a bullet—he slung his gun over his shoulder and stalked over to Mr. Blackheart. His face twisted into disgust as he drew close, seeing as Mr. Blackheart's demon-y form had reverted to his rotting one when he'd been knocked out. "What are you trying to pull? This thing's been dead for ages—"

"It's called a forsaken," I muttered, turning to glare at him, and trying to maintain my same earlier level of arrogance. "And if you don't bring him with us, that corpse is going to get up, scurry home, and bring back friends." I stepped back over to him and leaned toward him. I admit, I was kind of having a power trip that he'd even believe that I could be a threat to him. "And unlike all the zombie apocalypses you may have prepared for, these ones throw fireballs."

No need to tell him we were immune to those, right? With luck he didn't know yet.

And luck was totally on my side.

He turned so many different shades so fast. Kinda red from humiliation that a girl was schooling him on zombies, then pale as it registered that what I was saying could actually happen, then sort of green as he picked up the rotting mass of flesh and put it over his other shoulder.

I let him lead the way so that it'd be harder for some trigger-happy nutjob to take me out before I even got into the building.

At first, I thought it was weird. You see, these guys had clearly been working with the demons, right? Well, there were no demons in the building. I could tell. Mr. Blackheart and I were the only things even remotely fel-oriented in there.

For a minute, I sort of wondered—hoped, really—that we'd been wrong about them. But then, the demons were wandering all through the city. They had to know these guys were here, which means they had to be letting them stay.

So I pretended my scrutiny was legit from a superior's standpoint. My first 'helper' passed me off to someone else so that he could secure the prisoner and he disappeared down the main hall as I was led over to a staircase.

Now, at this point, I was starting to worry. Now I was really by myself and if anyone recognized me, really bad things could happen.

What few guys—and even fewer gals—that we passed as we went up to the third floor of the building looked terrified to see me and I felt like maybe I'd grown some extra arms or eyes or something—again, I didn't know my eyes were glowing.

As we were walking down the last hall toward the main office or whatever of the guy in charge—and I was starting to panic about what I was going to say to them since I was sooo far from wherever the prisoners had to be kept—I finally caught my reflection and I stopped in my tracks.

Goodbye hazel. Even after the fel magic wore off, my eyes are still more green than they used to be.

Anyway, the guard stopped and I caught this suspicious look from the corner of my eye, so I reached up and ran my fingers through my hair like I was trying to fix it and then looked at him and shrugged. "The one downside to the end of the world is all the dirt."

I sounded more confident than before because I was. When I'd seen my face in the mirror, I'd been terrified for a second. But you see, that glow sort of blocks the whole 'window to the soul' thing that shows when I'm lying.

So even if I was unsure about things coming up, they wouldn't be able to tell. I just had to hope that my fel magic would last as long as I needed it to. Again, at the time, I didn't know it'd be in my system for weeks.

I strode past my guide and motioned toward the door at the end of the hall. "Through here?" When they sort of nodded dumbly, I gave them a dismissive wave. "You're unnecessary now."

The guy looked like he wanted to object, but I was already to the door and swinging it open. I'm not sure if I was relieved or uneasy to see that Greg wasn't the one leaning over the table, pouring over all these different plans and documents. A little bit of both, I suppose.

Now I really didn't know what to do, and as I saw the guy looking up with this really pissed off look and reaching for a gun resting near his hand on the table, I just stopped and crossed my arms, letting words spill out of my mouth without thinking.

"Shoot if you want, but it's my say so that keeps the demons from camping your doorstep until you either starve or kill each other. And if I don't show back up at headquarters, they're going to assume your whole base is against them." That made the guy hesitate and I let myself smile, because I really was relieved he wasn't going to shoot me. I didn't really know what else to say, so I just kind of let my eyes wander the room for a moment.

The guy forced a smile back at me as he straightened up. As he walked around his desk and over to the doorway, his steps seemed measured, like he was trying to maintain an air of confidence.

Great. So it was a standoff between two fakers.

He stopped a few feet in front of me and crossed his arms across his broad chest. He was a mountain of a guy, sort of like the human version of a draenei—though Maevlen would have still towered over him. However, he was easily tall enough to tower over me and even high as I was, it was hard not to shrink back.

I don't know how, but I stood my ground.

His smile stretched as he tilted his head. "May I help you, Miss…?"

I ignored that he was asking for my name. I needed a reason for being there. I tried to think. There were no demons in the base, so if we were somehow wrong about what was going on in here, I'd be digging my own grave.

I abandoned all caution and shrugged. "I know it may seem like this world has fallen into chaos, but it's an organized sort." I motioned around, trying to take up more space and seem bigger. "And while the Legion doesn't mind a bit of slack and hell, even the screw ups can be fun to smooth out, a portal to a very capable world has opened up on your doorstep." I paced around him so that I was between him and his gun. "More importantly, it's still open." I tilted my head as I got an idea for a fishing expedition. "Whispers are beginning that it was someone in this base that made contact with the creatures in that other world, seeking help against the Legion."

"My people are loyal to our cause," the man replied and I frowned. Did he have to be so ambiguous? I was trying to find out if we were somehow on the same side, darn it.

"The Legion isn't going to leave anything for us, you have to know that," I replied, keeping my voice as even as I could. If he detected any frustration, hopefully he'd misread it. "So the only way to survive is to join their ranks and move on to the next world."

"I'm well aware."

"Why would they let us in their ranks if we can't even clean up our own messes, hmm?" I leaned back against the desk, my hands lightly gripping the edge of it. He didn't say anything. "The portal. What. Are. Your. Plans?"

"So the Legion's found out about the portal?" He ran his hand down his face and whispered, "That bastard…I should have known he'd do this..."

I didn't like the way he was talking. "Who'd do what?"

He shook his head slowly as he looked at me and shrugged. "Burn in hell, you bitch."

He reached into the back of his belt and it was like I was trapped in some movie, the edges of reality hazy with fel magic. He had a second gun. Nicholas' training kicked in and I rolled back over the desk, my hands going to my daggers. Why was I wearing those when I was against guns?

However, even as it dawned on me that, durr, there was a gun right there on the desk, I heard a shot and then a thunk almost in time with my boots hitting the ground. I stopped myself mid duck as I looked to where the man had been standing. Just in the doorway was the guy who'd led me into the office. He arched an eyebrow and shook his head as he grinned at me, spinning his own weapon in his hand.

As he entered the room, he stopped next to the man, laying on the floor and gasping. I felt sick. And trapped. I saw him point the gun down and laugh as the man tried to curse him as a traitor. Then he shot twice.

And all the while I just stood there.

He'd been a loyalist.

I'd just stood there as someone on my side was murdered.

My 'savior' holstered his gun and smiled up at me as though seeking approval. I let my gaze wander up to his face slowly and he stood there, frozen for a moment. His smile slipped and then he shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'll get this out of your office."

"Wait."

I couldn't believe what was happening. It couldn't be real. None of it could. I shouldn't have come alone.

But then, what had I thought would happen when we stormed this place? That somehow no one would die?

No one good.

The guy was watching me, confused. I had to salvage the reason I'd come. I couldn't let this nutcase catch me. That guy was already dead and nothing I did would bring him back. I wanted to throw up, but instead I masked a shiver with a shrug and walked around the desk, making sure not to look back at the body. "Don't worry about that for now." I stopped in front of him and motioned around. "I'm here to find out about plans to close that portal."

"Right," the guy smiled and nodded excessively. "Well, um, I'm not the greatest at explaining, but—"

"Get great," I gave him a thin, slightly disgusted smile. I didn't care if he knew I didn't like him. Let him think it for whatever reason he wanted. All the while I kept telling myself not to throw up and thanking the powers that be that my glowy eyes were hiding how scared I was. I thought about Nicholas and tried to keep my face as calm as he would.

The guy shuddered under my stare and his smile slipped. "Well, we've been keeping watch on the portals, as we were told," he seemed quick to emphasize that last part, "so when this one opened, we caught them by surprise." He glanced down at the guy he'd killed and then back at me. "Well," he motioned down, "Jonathan said that we should take care of it ourselves. To prove our loyalty." He took a step away from me as I narrowed my eyes. "W-we thought it was weird, since the demons could close it way faster than us, but then a few of us figured out that maybe Jonathan wasn't, uh, devoted to our cause, if you get what I'm saying."

I crossed my arms, forcing my thoughts away from what had just happened. I think, that if I hadn't been high, I wouldn't have been able to ignore the body near my feet as I did. Like I said, that fel magic helped in so many ways. "Go on."

"So," he seemed to be regaining his confidence, "we've been keeping an eye on him and watching the people he's closest to—" He snapped his jaws shut and ran his fingers through his hair. "This can wait! I need to give the word to round those idiots up—"

"No," I said, maybe a bit too quickly. When he looked at me, confused, I arched my eyebrow. "You said this was my office, didn't you? I say no." As he looked ready to protest, I decided to pretend to be Brath. Or Mr. Blackheart. "Do have someone clean this mess up, after we're done with our little discussion," I pointed down without looking—I couldn't see Jonathan's face and not cry. "Did they know that you were looking into them?"

"No—"

"I want a list of their names and I will deal with them," I forced a smile and the bile down in my stomach as I spoke again. "Not that I don't…appreciate what you've done, but I'm a tad more creative with punishments than you are."

He nodded quickly.

"Now then. You will get me that list of names as soon as you finish telling me about the portal."

He nodded again, and I swear his head was ready to fling itself off his shoulders. He stepped around the body, frowning when he realized he'd stepped in the blood, but went to the desk anyway and started rummaging around for a piece of paper. As he searched for that and a pen, he began talking again. "Yeah, right. Well, there was a kid from our world with the people on the other side of the portal." He found a pen and began writing names down as he spoke. "Michael, I think? I don't know, I didn't really deal with him." I couldn't stand the scritching sound of the pen against the paper, but I managed to keep myself from freaking out as I walked back to the table and stood beside it, glancing toward the hall to look for anyone else. Luckily, it seemed this was the exec floor and even gun shots weren't enough to draw people running.

It made me kind of sick. This was what my world had come down to?

"Greg…Greg Ford and a few others have been looking, well, for you," the guy smiled and motioned toward me with the pen. "Oh, I'm Chris, by the way." He paused like he was expecting me to give him my name. When I didn't, he shrugged and kept going. "We figured the Legion would find out about the portal and be suspicious, but well, we were hoping to have at least cleaned house before you got here."

"Well, now it's my job." I muttered, though in my mind I was thinking of Brath dropping Chris to his death—over the ocean maybe.

However, he just figured that with my glowy eyes, I was on his side and he shrugged again. "So, Jonathan was keeping us away from the portal as he 'studied' how to close it and we were looking for a way to contact the demons." He paused and then straightened up. His hand shook as he handed me a list of about fourteen names that I could see from a glance. I pretended that I wasn't terribly concerned about who was on that scrap of paper. "Okay, look."

I let my frown deepen. He was panicking about something and I didn't want my hope that something was going wrong for the Legion to peek through.

When he started speaking again, it was as though he didn't need to breathe, he was so fast. "I know you're gonna be pissed, but it's not just the portal that's still open. A few of the prisoners escaped right away, but we weren't worried because of the cameras on the portal…"

I had to clench my jaw to keep it from dropping. There were cameras? No. No, no, no. Were there more in the city? I didn't realize I'd voiced my question until Chris was biting his nail and shrugging again.

"I…there were. Um, about the prisoners…we just figured that we'd see them go back and close it after them, if worse came to worse." Luckily Chris had missed my freak out as he was too busy panicking himself. "But, well, the little prick, Michael or whatever his name was, he wasn't really working with us. He…" Chris took in a deep breath. "He disabled our cameras. All of them," he winced and glanced at me, as though to see if I was already conjuring up his doom. When my expression didn't indicate that his doom was nigh, he added, "I didn't know kids could do viruses like that, but they're still not operational."

I tilted my head, trying to hide my relief. "So Mi—" I had to stop myself from saying Michel's name right, figuring that would be suspicious. "The child blinded you to the city?"

"Yeah," Chris' face fell. "And he sort of bought the prisoners time to make a portal back to their world. A smaller one," Chris glanced down at Jonathan and started toward him. "I should really move this for you—"

"I already said that could wait," I said as calmly as I could. Maybe I could get to Michel and find a way to get the two of us out of here. I needed to get back to Nicholas and the others and to let them know what was going on. And they needed to know Michel wasn't a traitor. "Where's the boy?"

Chris' smile returned as a bit of confidence filled his voice. "Dead." He nodded firmly. "And we still have the…m-ma-mages? I think they were calling them?" He frowned. "But the…the girl got away. Along with some prisoners from this world. But they weren't really a threat," he tried to assure me. "Just some civilians and stuff that we, uh, were keeping for…" He looked at me, paled, and then scratched the back of his neck. "It's not important, really."

I tried to ignore what I was pretty sure he was leaving out. "There are still prisoners, then?"

"We, uh, we've been trying to find out how much they know about our world and what else is coming," Chris' shoulders slumped slightly. "They're pretty tough, from what I hear…" he hesitated and then added, "I don't really deal with them, so I can't answer any questions—"

"That's fine." I said, wishing for the world that I could get out of there and away from him. "Why don't I have a look at your prisoners while you take care of this?"