A/N:Thank you guys for the reviews!

So apparently when I went all catatonic, Nicolas took it upon himself to write to Fizz and tell him that I could really use a buddy right about now. He got Fizz's full name from the letter he'd sent off with me. So as much as I hate to admit it, in this single case, Nicolas' annoying stalker-ish tendencies to go through other people's stuff paid off.

Well, it took a few days for the courier to get down to Booty Bay, but as soon as Fizz got the letter, he threw some stuff together and went up to Stormwind to get a portal to the Exodar.

Apparently, because he's not an Alliance mage, he doesn't get to learn the portals for the Alliance cities. Because I guess then the Horde might send their goblins in pretending to be neutral and then they'd be raiding the Alliance cities all the time or something. And vice versa or whatever.

Oh, and more reasons to be mad at Brath. Apparently the draenei have emissaries or ambassadors or something in Stormwind. So I didn't have to fly across an ocean. I mean, I might have eventually, but I could have opened a dialogue weeks earlier. Though…I guess they're like ambassadors to the human king, so maybe it would have taken me that long to fit myself into their schedule or something.

Look at me, making excuses so that Brath's manipulative, evil plan doesn't seem as detrimental to my attempts to save my world. I so need to get back at that dragon. Maybe get him a t-shirt that says, "I love hugs." I'm sure that'd upset him.

…Actually, that'd probably just get a bunch of people killed. Never mind. I'll figure something out. Retribution will be had.

Anyway. Back to portals.

The Alliance still let Fizz use theirs, though he's dropped more than a few blatant 'hints' that he had to pay a lot to come to my rescue.

I wonder if I have to pay him back for that…

Anyway. He got here during my exploration of the Exodar and gave the draenei a really hard time, even though they assured him I hadn't left the ship because all the guys at the exits knew to watch for me and that maybe I just needed time to myself.

Well, even though he's complained that I seem to be doing okay and all this other stuff, he's stuck around. He's a really good friend. And he's helping me look through the images of signs. There's a lot more of them than I thought there'd be. Like billboards and flyers and street signs…the draenei guy—Maevlen—didn't know what I was looking for in particular, so he pretty much just brought up all the old images for me to look at.

They're grisly. And at first I nearly threw up—I still almost do, sometimes—but I'm getting better at tuning out the bodies and just looking for words, or parts of words. Neesera has joined in and our little trio to be bugging Maevlen. He's still mapping things, you know?

No awesome news from my world yet. I'd love to say that when I looked at the pictures that they were of some northern country that had already fallen, but I haven't been able to tell so far. I'm not even sure that the signs are in English. I mean, there's a decent number of cars and multi-story buildings, so I'm thinking it's somewhere in Europe or something, but honestly, I could be way off. I don't know much about other cultures for starters. And then, I don't think I'm looking at like kanji or Arabic or anything, but with Fizz's translation spell, I can't be sure.

And as much as I want to ask him to remove it so that I can see if I can tell what language, I'm sort of worried that my body will somehow treat his spells like a virus. Like, it'll build up a higher resistance to the spell and he won't be able to cast it back on me. And then I'll be stuck without a way to communicate. Again.

So, like I said, no news on that front. I am working on it, though.

However, there has been a rather…ugh. I was gonna say 'strange turn of events', but strange isn't really the right word. I don't even know what to call it. Annoying? Stressful? Disastrous? Bad? Actually, possibly, slightly good?

The worst part is that, not that I would ever tell anyone, but part of me is really, really happy about it, too.

So. After a long day of trying not to throw up while I strained my eyes combing over those images, it was pretty easy for me to pass out. By the way, I'd been in the Exodar about eleven days at that point.

Well, in a way, working so hard is kind of nice. Even though the images haunt me, I've found that if I push myself really, really hard, then I sleep so soundly that I don't even dream. That's like the best thing ever, by the way. Because trust me, my dreams are all nightmares and they're so much worse, now that I've seen what actually happened to Earth.

But there is a down side of sleeping like the dead. People sneak up on you.

It was sometime in the night, but something disturbed me from my dreamless log-slumber, and suddenly images were flitting through my head. I was in those decimated streets, looking for people. And as I walked, my feet felt like they were sinking into the ground. It wasn't until I was up to my waist in this gross muck that the bodies started moving and reaching toward me. I panicked and tried to push them away, but they whispered that I belonged with them and their boney fingers grabbed at me.

Just as I was managing to pull myself out of the street and tried to run, one of the skeletons grabbed me around the waist. With a cry, I snapped awake and tried to sit upright in bed. But I couldn't.

Something really was around my waist.

Well, in my half-awakeness, I just knew it was a corpse. However, even as I went to claw at the well toned muscles, I heard a soft, condescending laugh that I had been pretty sure I'd never hear again.

Rolling over as best I could, I saw that Brath was lying next to me, in human form, with his arms around my waist. I wanted to skin me a dragon. Still do.

Even as I shot up and away from him—more because he was a guy than because he was a Brath—he finally let me go and I basically propelled myself off the bed and onto the floor. I don't know if I hadn't actually screamed out loud or if Fizz had just somehow slept through it—the inn is basically like several rooms with several beds in each and ours had four, by the way. I always think about medieval times when I think about Azeroth, but in ways they're more advanced, right? Like, it's not overly scandalous for a guy and a girl to share a room, at least so long as there's multiple beds. And we aren't the only ones in the inn, either, so it's sort of like, you stick with your friends? If that makes sense. Now if me and Fizz were snuggling up in the same bed, people might ask questions, but we don't so…yeah.

Oh, and apparently interspecies relationships are, while not common, not unheard of either. When I tried asking about genetics and stuff and how I didn't see how say a draenei and a goblin could have kids, they just stared at me blankly and said love wasn't just about reproduction.

I guess that's common sense, but…yeah. I dunno why, but I'd just sort of assumed that, well, I feel kinda racist, but, wouldn't a draenei be more interested in like horns and tails and stuff? And humans and goblins and whatever else is out there don't have those at all? Or like, a troll would be interested in tusks and neon hair, which tauren do not have.

Maybe I'm still thinking on too physical a level.

But it's not that bad that I was surprised, right? Because there's only the one species on my world. And you know, the sentient species in Azeroth are literally different species, like cats vs. water buffalo.

I feel so horribly closed-minded when I think about it. At least I learned that now, before I meet some odd-by-my-standards couple, like a troll/gnome pairing—I actually know what both of those are, thanks to that species guide—and gawk at them or something.

Anyway, so off topic. When I thudded to the floor, it woke Fizz up. However, even as he tried to get his eyes to open the same amount and figure out if he needed to be tossing fire balls around or not, Brath leaned over, resting his chin on the edge of the bed as he stared down at me.

"You look surprised to see me." His eyes seemed to almost glow in the dim light. "I left you a note; surely the draenei are honorable enough to have given it to you?"

While I admit that I had been wishing he'd show up, I was hoping that the next time I saw him would be when he walked through a door or something. Not curled up with me in bed.

Remember how he reads facial expressions really well? He got this amused light in his eyes and slid off the bed to sit in front of me, tilting his head and faking this innocent look. "You did read my note, didn't you?" His voice had this mock hurt tone to it. When I didn't respond immediately, his grin widened, showing off his pronounced canines.

"The one that called me dumb for freeing you?" I hissed, trying to play off that maybe I had read it. It's amazing how in just a few short days I could forget how much smarter Brath is than I am. Or maybe I'm just too easy to read.

"The one that reminded you that Nicolas has been assigned to assassinate all black dragons and that so long as I was merely a mount I was hardly a dot on his page, but that once I was free I was bound to become a priority? The one that said I was heading to visit his employer and see if I couldn't convince him to give me a stay of execution." He abruptly reached out and hugged me to him and I heard Fizz hissing something behind me as Brath added, "Since I've taken on so noble a cause, my request was granted, by the way. Consider me your man."

Okay, so, pretty sure he was throwing a double meaning in there and I have to wonder if he tried some crap excuse to whoever he was talking to about being in love or something. I really hope he didn't. If he went to see Nicolas' employer, then that guy is going to have to tell Nicolas to back off and with my luck he'll tell him why.

And despite whatever ruse Brath pulled off, pretty much everyone who talks to him for more than three minutes knows he's evil, so I really don't want to give Nicolas a reason to start turning people against me, saying I'm an evil dragon's girlfriend.

…

Well, I can honestly say that of all my concerns in high school, I never thought that would be one of them. Life is just full of surprises, isn't it?

I should probably explain what was going on as I had a temporary freak out moment that Brath was probably spreading unsavory rumors about me. It wasn't hard to figure out that I was not loving Brath's touchy-feely actions and Fizz pretty much tried to smack Brath in the head with his staff to get him away from me. However, Brath just caught it, wrenched it from his grip, and tossed it back into Fizz, warning him that if he tried it again, he'd impale him with it. Apparently his fondness and humor only perseveres through my attacks.

Brath is so good at making friends.

Well, he did release me and stand back up and about that time one of the guards who generally slept in the inn—I guess they sleep in really weird places in general, instead of just having their own homes, so that if there's a raid on the city, they're already there to defend civilians—came up and asked if everything was okay.

Well, Brath was quick to announce with flourish that he was back to save the world and that just depressed the guard, since everyone already knew my world was dead. Which is, in retrospect, probably why Brath said that.

Anyway, so…yeah. I now have my goblin and my dragon back with me, even if they aren't talking to each other and if Fizz is temporarily—I hope—giving me the silent treatment for not immediately setting the guards on Brath for being as evil as he is. And Brath is mad at me because I suggested that he could let Fizz ride him, too, and apparently that is out of the question.

I guess he's a one person mount.

But! I am trying to stay positive here. I have people willing to help me, even if they don't get along. And, legendary heroes who are willing to back me up in my valiant quest to save the day. …After they finish their valiant quest to save the day.

Now all I need to do is prove that there's still a world to save.