*Really quick, before you begin this...interesting chapter, I wanted to adress the Mari Gia relationship. I'm not going to apologise for it or force those who don't like it to accept it. Honestly. Haha. I'm glad you have such opinions. I just want to explain WHY this exists. See, I didn't do it for gratuitous lesbian scenes or to be radical or something. I hate that sort of stuff. I did it because...the theme, to me, of this story is relationships. Friendships, enemies, loves. Relationship between leaders and followers. The relationship between the government and its people. I know, little complex for a fanfic story. LOL. But Gia is just...this friendship that goes deeper. It's not about Mari suddenly being a lesbian (let's face it she's SERIOUSLY attracted to Erol. lol) It's about finding friendship and love everywhere.
Again, not trying to force ya'll to like it. It's actually kind of flattering to me that it raises such a feeling of like or dislike. I feel really lucky to have some pretty smart readers. (Kind of surprised me at first. Not what I expected from fanfiction.) You guys are awesome! Thank you for reading. Okay, enough of me, you don't care about me! Hehe. Here's...oh yeah. The Battle.*

That day no one really slept. They may have napped but…no one could sleep. I didn't expect them to. This was the last day some of us would be alive. We all knew it. We didn't talk about it, but we knew it. We all did things to feel alive and somewhat normal. I talked to Daydream in my room for a bit about…everything. What we thought about the battle, the things we had gone through together, the things we had gone through before meeting and the things we would do when we made it through the battle. We made sure not to use any ifs. If was a scary word.

Eventually Desmond and Erol brought David back to my room so Desmond and Daydream went to spend some quality time together. And I mean quality time. I'm not using it as a euphemism. Daydream seriously worried me when she left because she gave me a long hug and kissed my cheek saying "Love you, Mari," before walking out the door. I started to worry a bit that she knew she wouldn't make it out. After all, Gia had refused to tell me anything about Daydream.

Luckily I was occupied with keeping David entertained until he fell asleep. Then Erol and I went outside and just sat on a bench, holding each other and talking. Geeking out a bit but mostly just talking about how prepared we were. I felt so safe for that hour and a half. I rested my head in the crook of his neck and he stroked my hair. I had a moment where I realized that this is how it could be, should we both survive. He wasn't wrapped up in the drama surrounding our relationship like Jordan had been. I knew that after all this was over, assuming things went our way, we could just sit together on our couch and feel just this way. I liked the idea.

Unfortunately, the day couldn't last forever. Soon everyone began assembling their weapons and meeting with their teams. As soon as the sun set we were going to be on the move so around four in the afternoon we had to begin getting ready. It's in the hours and minutes before a battle when you see the true character of people shining through. And I have to admit that I was quite impressed with the character of my friends. They were all being so brave. Lucas was getting a bunch of people to smile and relax a tad. Jason was glancing people over and giving them advice, making them surer about themselves. Gia was rallying her fellow young vamps, pumping them up, although when she smiled at me I saw the worry in her eyes. I couldn't watch that group for long. All I saw were young things who would die. It terrified me. Kimmy was with the other priestesses, praying to Nyx for strength and guidance. She looked so calm and powerful. Her cousin, Rosto, walked up to me holding a cross bow and with a machete strapped to his leg. "How you holding up boss?" he asked, smiling confidently.

"I'm not crying in a corner am I?" I replied with a smile, although it was hard.

He placed a hand on my shoulder. "Mari, we're gonna win this. You know that right?"

I smiled and covered his hand with mine. "You'd better believe it. Oh, hey, in case I forget to say something after, thank you. You've been…my most loyal friend and supporter. I love you and everything you've done. If I can ever repay you…hell I don't know how I could properly repay you. You've done too much."

Rosto grinned. "Actually…there is something you can do." I tilted my head to the side. Rosto cleared his throat and looked into my eyes, seeming exceedingly serious. "Please keep an eye on Jenn. I'm not worried about you or Kimmy making it out of this. You guys will, you're survivors. But…Jenn." He shook his head and tried to smile. "Just watch out for her, okay?"

I promised Rosto that I'd watch out for Jenn, although it pained me to see him so scared. But that just showed the character I was talking about. He wasn't worried for himself. He was worried for Jenn. Gotta love that in a guy.

Colonel McKean gave a great speech. I couldn't tell you what he said exactly but it gave us all courage and determination. I noticed how great a leader he was and wished to be more like him. He was gruff and ornery but boy did he inspire confidence.

We broke into our groups. Colonel McKean, Jason and Lucas were going to lead the first wave of the attack, the power houses like the Sons of Erebus and Lucas's men. Christopher and David were going to be in place before the first wave so they could activate the smart bombs the technical crew had designed and deploy some of the ancient assassination techniques. They would catch the soldiers by surprise so that the power houses could strike hard and fast. Boudicca and Gia would lead the second wave, those with more stamina and strategy. They would come after the soldiers with hand held weapons, some guns and a few strategically placed rocket launchers. The third wave was led by Kamakura Bakufu. The third wave involved the specialized fighters like the samurai. Kimmy was among them what with her training at this very facility.

I couldn't be with them, much as it pained me to say. I was with the secret force. Ours was the main objective. We were going into the facility. Jenn was to lead us in terms of navigating the halls and cracking the codes but Desmond and I led us militarily. My team lurked in the wooded area beside the facility and waited for the battle to begin. We couldn't have been there longer than twenty minutes but it felt like forever. We sat, hidden, trying to breathe quietly and silence the pounding of our hearts. Desmond kept glancing around nervously, scared that we'd be found out before we could attack, but I kept my eyes on the main loading doors, where the battle was going to take place.

The first strike was a rocket launcher which blasted open the main doors of the facility. It wasn't any normal rocket launcher. We may have messed with it a little. There were shouts from within and a large number of soldiers came running out, shouting questions and orders. I had to remember that they were the enemy and they were the ones hunting us down, killing us and capturing others. I had to remember that as the first round of bombs were set off and a handful of them were blown to pieces. War is not pretty. More soldiers piled out and my flying guillotines were deployed quite effectively. Now the position of the assassins was known so the first wave struck with deadly accuracy. The battle had begun. We watched as the first wave fought then as the second wave moved in. That was our time.

Desmond motioned and we all began to move quietly. We were a pretty highly skilled group. We moved like the night and I begged the shadows to keep us covered. They felt like a blanket. As we ran through the dark, towards the side entrance, Daydream's eyes were wild and alert. She was not someone I would have ever expected to be so good at this. She looked so alive. We got to the side door only to be met with a small handful of soldiers. Desmond, Marco and I made quick work of them and Jenn rushed forward to enter the first code. The alarm chirped and the door unlocked. We were in.

Now Daydream took the point with Jenn. We knew these guys would have guns at the ready, if they were paying attention to what was going on at all. About a dozen soldiers came at us but Daydream and Jenn took them out with their guns. The girls were insanely accurate. Marco was grazed by one of the soldiers' bullets but he told us he'd be fine.

Jenn led us through the halls, which were like a maze. We cleared out anyone who got in our way. At one point a scientist pleaded that she just wanted to help "their kind". Desmond broke her neck swiftly and painlessly with a sad look of disdain on his face. We made it to a large room with several halls leading away from it.

"This is the common area," Jenn shouted. "Baggers and spies are through that way, careful they may be brainwashed already."

"Desmond," I sighed. "That's your group." Desmond nodded. He'd volunteered to take out those who were already lost. I admired his strength.

"PCs are through that way," she continued. "They should be no problem at all."

Daydream nodded. "We're on it!"

"Experiments are that way!" Another group broke off. "And fledglings are that way Mari."

I nodded. "Where's your area?" She pointed to a little room up some stairs. It was an observation deck. "Alright." I pointed to Marco and one of Boudicca's girls. "You two guard her. She has to get through. If she doesn't, this will be practically useless." Marco nodded obediently and they escorted Jenn to her spot.

I took my group through to the fledgling area, meeting only a few opposing soldiers which I dealt with easily. There was a loud beep and every containment area was opened by Jenn's override code. The fledgling area was a long hall filled with fledglings in what looked like the reptile house in the zoo. They were caged up and many of them had shaved heads. The glass doors slid up and the fledglings all looked around nervously.

"Everyone who wants to get the hell out of here come with me!" I shouted. "We're breaking you out of here. One time only offer." There was a loud clamor as everyone got to their feet and fled out into the common area. "Stay in the common area," I shouted. "We move as a group!"

In the back I saw my fledglings and caught my breath. I ran back to Minerva, Tara, Lin and Selena. Minerva hugged me and Selena told me that she was ready to do whatever I said. The strangest thing was Lin. I looked to the strong girl, though it was almost hard to recognize her without her beautiful thick, black hair. She wrapped her arms around my neck and began to sob. "I knew you would come. Oh thank Nyx. I knew you wouldn't leave us. Thank you so much, Mari!"

I had to peel the sobbing fledgling off of me but I held her hand as we ran. I wanted her to feel safe. The number of people we were freeing was overwhelming, to say the least. How there was room for the thousands of people in this facility I could never figure out. Desmond reported back saying that there were very few he had to take care of and most of those he was freeing helped. "Now is the time to test what they've learned," he sighed.

Every group checked in and we were ready to move. "You've got EVERYTHING you need?" I double checked with Jenn.

"Oh yeah," she grinned. "I'm good!"

"Let's go!" Desmond cried, taking the lead. We tore back through the way we came. It's not always the wisest plan in situations like this, but it was the safest. The other entrances were under attack. We encountered very few obstacles in the halls.

We burst out of the side door and found that the battle had spread. Desmond called for any of the Baggers and spies who wanted to fight their captors to come with him. A seriously surprising number of them did. Daydream and I went to lead the rest of them away, but we were spotted. "Mari, we're gonna have to hold them off," Daydream warned.

I nodded. "Jenn, take them in circles just in case then lead them back to the city," I ordered. Jenn nodded in understanding. "And Jenn….please be careful."

"Always," Jenn replied calling for everyone who wanted to live to follow her.

I shook my head, praying that I hadn't just broken my promise to Rosto. Then, as I fought off some weak soldiers, I was able to see the dent our army had made. I saw Desmond contacting Jason, letting him know that the job was done, and they started calling for everyone to begin heading out. We were in no rush, it wasn't a retreat, we just wanted people to see that we weren't the terrorists here. Still, the fight wasn't over. We got into it, those of us who had missed out on most of the fighting. We barreled into the fight.

I was doing fine, taking down everyone in my way. I only sustained a couple of broken ribs and some gashes. I was on a roll. Then I saw something I never wanted to see. I saw a man drag a large blade across Daydream's stomach. I screamed, unintelligibly, and Daydream locked eyes with me. She looked terrified. I was more scared. I grabbed a sword from one of my fallen soldiers and began hacking away to get to my friend. By the time I got there Desmond had ripped apart the man who'd done the deed.

I knelt beside Daydream where Desmond was screaming "No, baby, no please!"

I shook my head, ignoring the tears in my eyes. She wasn't cut too deep, but she was cut well. She was losing a lot of blood. "You're going to drink from me," I told Daydream.

She nodded, weakly. "I know."

Desmond lifted Daydream up and I cleared the way so we could get to a place where we wouldn't be killed trying to save her. He laid his mate down, tears dripping from his cheeks. I wouldn't let this happen, I knelt beside Daydream. I wouldn't let my big brother hurt or my best friend die. I lifted Daydream up, carefully. She looked into my eyes before I could cut myself. "I love you, Mari, and I'm so sorry."

Before I could question what she meant, Daydream pulled my head to the side then sunk her teeth into my neck. Desmond shouted and I could hear Jason and Jordan calling out too but…I can't remember what. I just remember feeling the life leaving me. And I remember not caring. If I could give my life to save my best friend, so be it. I held onto Daydream the best I could. If she felt she needed to then I approved. I wanted Daydream to live. I was good going now…and being with Nyx.