I'm back! Sorry for the waiting, I had exams and uni works and couldn't write anything... Here you have a new chapter. Hope you like it!

When we walked into the stage, we passed through a backstage. The only entrance we saw was a staircase leading down so we followed them. As we continued, I heard a man and a woman talking. I motioned Elizabeth to stop and I looked out to see that they were soldiers. I approached silently to knock them out but then they turned. Before they could react, I shot them with my revolver.

'Sorry.' - muttered looking at the dead bodies. We continued walking through the corridors and entered at a room that had a blackboard with numbers and names.

'Look! Chen Lin, cell number 9.'

'We know where to look. Can you open that door?'' - asked pointing to the only door that was there. In a few seconds she opened it and passed a boiler room and a warehouse with a projector, until we reached the cells. When we passed the door, both covered our noses.

'Ugh... what's that smell?' - asked Elizabeth disgusted.

'There are no privies down here. Sure they haven't allowed them to bathe at least one time.'

'They treat them like animals... What someone could have done to deserve to be locked up in a place like this?'

'It seems that Fink doesn't need many reasons. With someone he doesn't like is enough.'

'That's not fair.' - Elizabeth said frowning.

'Unfortunately there are so evil people in this world as in mine.' – we moved through the corridors and in the background there was the cell No. 9. Elizabeth took care of the lock and, when she opened it, walked into a dark room with stairs that were leading down several floors. Fink then spoke again.

'Clark, you're a lion. But you can't blame me for looking after my own interests, can you? Now, I know Fitzroy has come calling... but I think you'll find your business with her has come to an end, heh heh. Lions walk with other lions, Clark, not hyenas!' - after hearing that, I looked at Elizabeth as she did. That didn't sound good so we rushed down the stairs. When we reached the end, we entered to dark room. Only the switch was lit.

'Stay close to me.' - I told to Elizabeth and both slowly moved to the switch while I had my gun ready. When I clicked, the lights came on and I blinked several times.

'Marc...' - I saw Elizabeth completely pale and covering her mouth with horror. When I turned, I also paled. In the middle of the room there was a man sitting on a swivel chair and on the floor there was a huge blood pool. As I approached, I prayed with all my heart that he wasn't Chen Lin... When I turned the chair, I saw the man had his face completely swollen and bruised, showing how many tortures suffered the man. He was s disfigured but I knew it was him. Although checked his vitals, I knew he was dead.

'We're too late... God dammit!' - Muttered turning around. I was furious but not only because we couldn't get the guns, also for failing to help the poor man.

'Fink… This is what he meant.' - Elizabeth said looking at the body with horror and then looked at me. - 'What do we do now?'

'With him we can't do more. Death is death.'

'Death is death.' - Picked up the gun and pointed at the entrance. Then I put it down when I saw the Lutece twins. - 'How did you get here?' - Asked with a frown but they ignored me. Robert took a coin from his sleeve and showed it.

'I see... face.' - said Rosalind looking at the coin.

'I see tails.' – then said Robert.

'It's a matter of perspective.'

'What do you mean?' - I asked them feeling confused.

'What do you see here, from this angle?' - asked Robert.

'Death.' - replied Rosalind. - 'And that angle?'

'Alive.'

'Marc... Chen Lin.' – said me Elizabeth. She really seemed to understand what they were saying. Then, where Chen Lin was, a tear appeared and...

'The body... is gone!' - I said surprised.

'It was never here.' - Robert said.

'It's another Columbia.' - Muttered and I started to understand everything.

'The same coin.' 'A different perspective.' 'Heads.' 'Tails.' 'Dead.' 'Alive.'- Said the twins.

'We have to go through... to this other Columbia, but... how?' - Elizabeth asked looking at the tear frowning. The twins smiled.

'It's like riding a bicycle.' 'One never really forgets.' 'One just needs the courage to climb aboard.' – after that, the light that was lighting them blinked and suddenly they disappeared. That... I wasn't sure what to think about that but it was scary.

'Marc, I can open this tear. But if we get into it... I don't think I'll be able to bring us back.'- When she said that, I felt some fear. I wasn't sure how the tears worked but get into other worlds sure wasn't good at all.

'Right now we have no more choice... but I trust you.'- I said with a smile to cheer her up. She nodded and breathed deeply as she approached to the tear. Then she opened her arms with a great effort, like she was opening a heavy door and there was a big flash. I closed my eyes for the light and felt a strong tremor. When I opened my eyes, Chen Lin's body was gone and there was no blood or anything.

'We're in another Columbia...' - I muttered. Then I looked at Elizabeth and saw her staggering. Before she fell, I approached and grabbed her. She was pale and panting slightly. - 'Are you okay?'

'Yes... This tear was harder to open... but I'm fine.' – tried to walk but she failed and grabbed her again.

'You need to rest.' - Said as I took her in my arms. I carried her to a stool what was near a wall. When I left her, her face was red. - 'When you feel better, we'll continue.'

'O-ok.' - replied very nervous and avoiding looking at me. I sighed and looked around. The room was the same but this time the floor was wooden and looked more like a warehouse. There was a table with several tools and boxes and in one there was a weapon. It looked like the machine gun but this seemed to be more resistant and powerful. Also it had red paintings. When I realized that my machine gun didn't have much ammo, I decided to change it for the other one. After that I sat on the floor next to Elizabeth.

'So we're in a different Columbia... Well, if Chen Lin is alive we're in a better situation.'

'But it's very likely that many things have changed.'

'Is there a possibility we meet with ourselves? I mean… our versions from this world.' - Elizabeth thought for a few seconds and shook her head.

'I don't think so. Moving to another dimension, we have "substituted" ourselves in this world.'

'That's... Err… Okay, forget it.' – said tired. These things about other dimensions and temporal changes were causing me a headache.

'Hey Marc, when we go to Paris... What if we don't find my family there?'

'Well, if it happens… I don't know any other options to look.' - Elizabeth sighed and looked down.

'I guess I'm destined to be alone.' - said crestfallen.

'That's not true.'- Said approaching her and took her hand. - 'You won't be alone while I'm here. If we don't find your family... well, you could come with me.'- Said slowly as I considered the idea that I just shared and Elizabeth's eyes widened.

'B-but I don't belong to your family... and I am not from your world and your time.' - Said very nervous.

'Well, we just passed to another dimension and for now we're good. I don't think anything happens if we do it again to my world.'- . Said smiling. - 'And for my family, I can assure you that they would accept you easily.'

'How can you be so sure?' - Asked very insecure and I couldn't blame her. She has never had a family to live with.

'First, you're a great reader and love books. My mother would love that. You have a talent for medicine and my father would appreciate that. My sister would like you quickly and as for my brother Daniel...'- then I thought about what my brother would like.

'What?' - said when she noticed I didn't finish.'

'Well, you… you are really cheerful.' - I said nervously. Besides that, a man should be completely blind to not realize that she was beautiful. And with those blue eyes that were absolutely irresistible... If Ethan was still alive, he would have tried to flirt with her without hesitation.

'Marc, you're getting red.' - Said looking at me curiously.

'I... Well, what I mean is my family would accept you.' – she looked down and the looked at me in the eyes.

'You… Would you do that for me?'

'For you, anything.' – said honestly. She blushed and looked at my hand that was still holding hers. Then I remembered that my phone was still in my jacket. With so many fights, I forgot about it. Also it was useless in this world so… I took it out and touched the screen while Elizabeth was looking at me curiously.

'What's that?'

'It's a phone but this in particular is also a camera, a music player...' - put the last and touched the play."Synesthésie" by Malajube and Elizabeth's widened.

'How it works?' - asked as she took the phone and examined it.

'In my world technology is really advanced. This is just a small sample of what we have, there are much more modern and powerful machines.' – the song kept sounding and Elizabeth was focused listening and watching the screen.

'The song… is in French.' - Said with a twinkle in her eyes. - 'I've never listened music like this.'

'Over the years have appeared so many musical styles. The song that is playing is from a group of Montreal. I think you would like it.'- said with a smile. I went to pick up the phone and removed the player. Then I put the photo gallery and a picture of my family appeared. It was when we went to see my brother who was playing a hockey game.

'Is it your family?' - Elizabeth asked as she approached to look and I nodded. – 'They look really nice.'

'I'm lucky to have a great family.'

'You miss them.' - Elizabeth said looking at me sadly.

'Yeah. I just hope that if they aren't aware that I have gone… or at least they aren't suffering a lot.' - Said crestfallen. Elizabeth stroked my face and smiled while I blushed.

'You'll be back with them.'

'I know.' - I said smiling as well. Then I heard screams and got up my gun ready. – 'Looks like we are not alone.'

'We should go.'

'Do you feel better?' - she nodded as she got up. Both left the room and went up the stairs. In the cells that were previously empty and dark, now there were prisoners screaming in protest. Then I realized they were Vox.

'They are from Vox Populi... Should we free them?'

'Some fuss could help us.' - Took out my revolver and fired at the lock of the cell. After that, the cells opened and the Vox men came out quickly, some of them giving me the pat on the back as thanks. We continued going up and, after passing the warehouse, we found two guards. They were a man and a woman...

'These two...'

'They're the two soldiers I killed when we went down here.' - Said frowning. The man was on the ground grabbing his head and the woman was standing but staggering and looking nowhere. Something vibrated through them and their noses bled profusely.

'But in this world they aren't dead...' - said her as she approached slowly. - 'Marc, their noses... They're all bleeding...'

'I'm disgusted, DISGUSTING, sick SICK sick…' - the man muttered as delirious.

'Did I... Why am I STILL HERE…?' - asked the woman her look lost.

'What's wrong with them?' -asked.

'They remember...' - said Elizabeth on dismay.

'Remember what? '

'Being Dead.' - after hearing that, I felt horrible. I didn't want to provoke that suffering... I couldn't imagine what it was like to feel it.

'We better keep going.' - said really nervous. I needed to get out of there asap. After reaching the top and pass the backstage, we walked into the auditorium and saw Fink's people patrolling all over the place.

'WHAT is GOING on HERE, SANSMARK?! As my HEAD of SECURITY, I suspect YOU'LL want to find out HOW these two slipped past YOUR MEN, and WHAT THEY WERE DOING IN THE BASEMENT!'

Hearing that... What happened to his proposal of me joining him? Then the men turned and pointed their guns at me. I put in front of Elizabeth and went to attack but someone did it before me from my back. Several Vox men came out from the backstage and attacked directly to our enemies. Taking advantage of the surprise, I also attacked and both moved quickly around the room to get out.

When we went outside, unlike the quiet one before, now there were dead bodies of Vox and Comstock people. When we went down the stairs of the club, police surprised us.

'STOP THEM!' – the men attacked us and Elizabeth and I covered behind a barrier. I shoot at the enemies and cleared the area that was close to me. Then I looked for other coverage.

'Flak cannon!' - Elizabeth warned me and I saw him at the end of the street. I sent a group of crows to the soldiers who were close to me and pulled out the sniper rifle. Although he was quite armed, the rifle had enough power to hurt him. He fired rockets but I dodged them and kept attacking. I pointed at his head and after several attacks, his armor broke and he fell. After that I took out my new machine gun and ended the other soldiers. As we moved down the street, across the corner we found another group of soldiers and a turret. A couple of grenades and new weapon were enough but I was starting to feel a little tired. - 'Are you okay? You look tired.'

'Yeah. Let's go to find Chen Lin… and the fucking guns.'

The place looked the same as before but Elizabeth looked around.

'You hear anything?'

'What do you mean?'

'No machines. No tools.'

'You're right. To be an armory, it's too quiet.'- Said looking around, as she has done. - 'Let's go upstairs. Perhaps Chen Lin is there.'- Went up and when we arrived at the second floor... there was something that didn't fit.

'Marc, look. The shrine... It's a figure of Comstock now.'

'Here's something very weird.' - I muttered with a frown. Both continued the stairs and finally reached the top. Chen Lin was among the completely empty platform, waving his arms, like he was turning a crank.

'Um, Mr. Lin? Chen Lin?' - I called softly and the man turned to my startled.

'Who are you? You speak up. Speak up! Can't hear you over all these machines!' - his body vibrated and I saw his nose bleeding. It wasn't good...

'I'm Marc Clark...' – I replied, trying to calm him but he moved around nervously.

'Stand back! These machines very dangerous! Wait downstairs with Mrs. Lin.'

'Uh, Daisy Fitzroy sent us. We need to talk to you about... getting guns.' – insisted, trying to reason with him but the poor man was still delirious.

'Machine very dangerous. No place for stupid people. Want to lose pretty head?' - replied angrily. I was starting to get a little nervous.

'Mr. Lin...'

'Downstairs!' - Shouted at us, making gestures for us to go to the stairs. I took a long breath.

'In this way we will get nothing...'

'Remember him dead in that cell? Maybe in some way he remembers that, too. How would you reconcile that?'

'I don't know... I can't even imagine.' -said something restless. We went down and in front of the shrine there was a woman praying. Unlike Ms. Lin, she wasn't Chinese.

'Heal my husband. Calm his troubled thoughts. Ease his burden.' – murmured the woman while sobbing.

'Excuse me, ma'am, I'm looking for Mrs. Lin. Have you seen her?' - I asked softly.

'I'm Mrs. Lin.' - Well, she had changed a lot.

'Uh… Well, your husband looked like he wasn't feeling good…. Do you know what's wrong with him?'

'They took his tools. What's he got without his tools? If he could work again, maybe... if-if he could work, he'd...'- murmured and then cried again. Elizabeth tried to comfort her.

'Mrs. Lin, can you tell us who took your husband's tools?'

'Goddamn police. They took them and locked them up, in the impound in Shantytown.'

'We'll try to bring back the tools. I promise.'- said to calm her but she turned to the shrine and prayed again. As we walked down the stairs, Elizabeth looked at me doubtfully.

'Returning his tools will fix his mind?'

'We have to try. For now we have no other choice.'- Said shrugging.

'Have you noticed? His nose was bleeding.'

'I think move to another dimension provoked it. It seems that those who died are now alive.'

'This tear... I think it was a bad idea.' - Said crestfallen.

'Hey, you've done nothing wrong. For now we will look for these tools... and hopefully Chen Lin will get better.'- Said trying to cheer her up. When we passed by the entrance of Shantytown, saw several vending machines. I bought several improvements for vigors and enough supplies to hold out a few more battles.

'If you want to ask me, ask me.' - said Elizabeth suddenly and I looked at her confused.

'About what?'

'My finger.' - Said touching her pinky covered by a thimble. I didn't wonder about it because I had no time… but yes, I did. At least once...

'Well... I didn't want to get into personal matters. You know...'

'It's all right.' - Said with a smile. – 'It's as much a mystery to me as anyone else. Maybe Songbird knows, but he's not talking.'

'Honestly, I can't imagine him talking.' – said laughing slightly. She hid a smile and looked at her pinky.

'At least I can wear this stylish thimble to cover up my hideous deformity. I hear they're all rage in Paris.' - Said touching the metal.

'The idea of the thimble is very good but, even if you miss part of your finger, that doesn't mean it's hideous. It makes you unique.' - said with smile. Elizabeth looked at me surprised and a blush covered his cheeks.

'Thank you.' - Said smiling as she averted her gaze. I activated the lever and the cargo was moved. With our path cleared, the next road was full of guards and gunner patrolling on a higher bridge.

'That tear, the cover.' - I said to Elizabeth. She called the tear and both ran towards it before receiving any attack. I took my carbine and attacked the nearest enemy, trying to avoid the rockets coming from above. With the closest are cleared, I saw another tear to my right with a turret.

'That one!'

'Done!' - Elizabeth called and, while the gunner was busy trying to avoid the attacks of the machine, I took the opportunity to attack him. With him dead, I kept going and several enemies with armed with clubs came running. I saw a broken tank that was pouring water. I quickly threw shock jockey to the water and men were electrocuted. They fell dead to the ground and didn't see any enemies closer. We continued walking and entered in an office with an elevator. We entered inside and waited for our destination. Elizabeth crossed her arms and sighed.

'You must think me some sort of... freak. A girl who can bring dead men back to life. Whose only acquaintance is… a giant bird creature. I must seem ridiculous.'

'I never thought like that and you shouldn't feel that way.' - Said putting a hand on her shoulder. - 'Now it seems that everyone is against you and I understand that you feel that way, but you're not ridiculous. You are special and that's not bad.'

'I am not going back to that tower, no matter what happens.' - Said very determined.

'And you'll never return there. I won't allow it.'- When the elevator stopped, she looked at me and smiled.

'Hey, Marc... Thanks.' - Said taking my hand. I really liked when she did that... Then I looked in front and my expression changed. Seeing that place, I realized how bad the situation was in Finkton. We entered in a dirty and completely neglected street with buildings that looked like they were going to collapse. There was a small group of people reunited in front of a man who was giving a speech about Finkton, others were scattered in the street, cornered in small holes and portals.

'These people are like this because of Fink?' - said Elizabeth looking around. - 'Maybe Daisy is right. Maybe she should pay him back for all this.'

'One thing is do justice and avenge is another one. They should never pass to the second.'

'What do you mean?' - asked me surprised.

'If they are focused on revenge... innocent people will die. They will want to kill those who are related with Fink and Comstock, and won't look if they had something to do with their suffering.'

'That... isn't right.'

'If they fall into these intentions, they will prove they are no better than Comstock.' - Said really serious. As we walked, I saw a woman huddled in a doorway and hugging his son. For their appearance, quickly I deduced they were starving.

'I wish I had an NGO here to help them...' - said sadly.

'NGO?' - repeated Elizabeth clearly confused .

'Charity associations dedicated to help the poor. In my world there are many that do what they can to help people.'- Looked in my pocket and saw enough coins. Counting the money I saved in the backpack, I had enough to buy groceries for several months. I grabbed enough money and I approached to the woman. She snuggled on the wall with scared expression as she saw me approaching.

'W-what do you want?' - asked quietly.

'Help you.' - Extended my hand and showed her the money. She looked surprised at the money and then the child moved between her mother's arms.

'Mom... It hurts...' - complained him and I knew he was sick. I looked at Elizabeth who was watching us in silence.

'Do we have some health vials in the bag?'

'Uh...Yes!' - She searched in the backpack and handed me the vial. I turned to the woman and offered it.

'He needs medicine. This will help him.'- she looked at the vial and then looked at me uncertainly.

'What do you want from me?' - asked with some fear and I couldn't blame her. An unknown (and armed) man offering you money and medicine can be weird.

'I just want to help. I want nothing more.'- Seeing that she made no movement, I left the money and the vial close to her. Then the boy looked at me.

'Are you from the good side?' - He asked sleepily and curiously at the same time.

'I could say so.' - said with a smile. - 'Be strong. And take good care of your mother.'

'Yes, sir.' – replied him with a smile that was missing some teeth and his mother looked at me in shock. I approached to Elizabeth who was looking at me sweetly.

'That was very kind.'

'I always try to help.' - We got to the stairs that where leading down to a bar called "The Graveyard Shift" and we went there. As we approached, two filthy men came out of nowhere and were armed with pistols.

'Stop now!' – cried one with his gun ready.

'Heh. These privileged folks... Let go everything you have and fast.'- Said the other.

'Hey, we don't want any trouble.' – said calmly but secretly I put my hand in his pocket for the revolver. The first one looked at Elizabeth up and down and grinned.

'Look what we have here... Hey beauty, why don't you let that idiot and come with us? We'll have fun.'

'What...' – said Elizabeth in shock. He was to continue but before he could, I took out my gun and ended the two men in just a few seconds.

'Thinking things like that in the situation they were... Idiots.'

'How... I-I didn't expect...' - murmured still in shock. With so much to know about the world, those men saying things like that had to frighten her.

'Just forget what they have said.' - When I saw she didn't react, I grabbed her hand and she looked at me. - 'I'm here. Nothing will happen.'

'Y-yeah... I'm sorry.'

'Don't be. Let's go inside and get some rest.'- from outside, it was clear that it wasn't the best bar in the world. When we entered, my opinion was the same. Inside there was just the right things: a few tables, chairs, a bar, a few vending machines and enough alcohol for those who wanted to forget their problems. There were people who sat at the tables and held their bottles of alcohol. When they realized our presence, some looked at us askance and Elizabeth hid behind me, grabbing my arm. Slowly we approached to the bartender who was cleaning a glass with indifference.

'Excuse me, is there any place where my friend and I can rest?'

'No drinking, nothing.' - He replied without looking.

'Water.' - He put a glass in front of me with water and gave him some coins.

'There is a basement. If I heard weird moans, you're out.'- Threatened me. Elizabeth turned red and I held my desire to punch him.

'Thanks for the warning.' - said sarcastically and took the glass of water. We went through a small corridor leading to wooden stairs. These went down to the basement which was full of barrels, empty bottles and dirt. It wasn't much but it was enough to rest. As we got off, we saw a boy trying to catch an apple from a shelf.

'Hi there!' – said Elizabeth to him. When he saw us, ran under the stairs and hid. As I look down, the boy looked at me with fear. - 'He's scared... Maybe there's a way to calm.'

'You want some water?' - Told to the boy offering the glass but he didn't move. I sighed and left the glass so he could catch it.

'A guitar. I wish I know how to play...' - she said pointing to the instrument that was propped on a chair.

'I can do it.'

I approached and sat on the chair as I picked the guitar. As I adjusted the strings, I thought what song I could play to calm the child. I thought of a song of my favorite band but the kind of music I knew didn't exist yet so it would be weird. Then I remembered the song I heard in the church, when I came to Columbia. After remembering the melody, I started to play the guitar and Elizabeth sang.

'Will the circle be unbroken… by and bye… by and by…

Is a better home a waiting… in the sky… in the sky…'

While she was singing slowly following the melody, Elizabeth went to the shelf and grabbed an apple. While the child was looking at her curiously, she approached to him slowly and he was going to hide. But she continued singing and offered him the apple. The boy finally went to take the fruit and returned to his hideout. Elizabeth finished singing and looked at me with a smile.

'Now he seems to be better.' - Then she realized how I was looking at her. - 'What?'

'You have a lovely voice.' - Said with a smile. Elizabeth blushed and brushed a strand of hair. I realized she did that when she was nervous.

'Thank you. I've had a lot of time to practice, you know.'- she grabbed a chair that was in the room and sat close to me.

'With all the time you've had, don't you know to speak French?' - She looked at me surprised at my question.

'Well, in fact I know. But I never could talk to someone, so I have no practice.'

'Je pense que c'est le bon moment pour le faire.' - said suddenly in French smiling. She looked at me with widened ayes and smiled widely.

'Bien sûr!'

After that, we spent a good time in which I encouraged her to speak in French and corrected some small mistakes. She paid close attention to my advice and made a great effort to speak the language. Meanwhile, I could tell she was enjoying like a little girl and couldn't stop smiling. I couldn't help but smile and I felt very comfortable with her. Then I realized... Until then I hadn't realized that, although I hadn't much time, I always noticed how she smiled, how she looked at me, how she reacted... I think... I think I fell in love with her.

Well, as the rest of the students, soon I'll finish this year at uni so I'll had a lot of works and exams. I'll try to write when I can and update soon.

About this chapter:

1st: About the Malajube group: you should listen them. They group broke but their music was so good...

2nd: Finally I put a scene of Marc talking in French. I wanted it to be more longer but I'm don't French at all and use so much the translator isn't good... Anyway, if you have any suggestions, you're free to tell.

3rd: Marc finally admitted he is in love with Liz!

Until next time! (good luck to everyone who has exams/ works/ ...)