Insert Unhappy Anniversary Here

Adrian was most at peace, when he slept.

Before the war, it had been so rare to catch him sleeping – properly sleeping at least. Oh he'd doze, and rest with his eyes closed. Or if she gave him an ear rub, he'd settle into a sleepy state, in which he became very affectionate and silly too. But whenever he slept, he was plagued by nightmares, and emotional scars that would never let him rest properly.

Now, she would just lie there next to him, just watching his face relax. That peaceful expression only ever crossed his face when he slept, or when she gave him ear rubs. His worries and fears could not touch him when he slept. And if nightmares came close, Tash had always promised that she would be there to help chase them away, with a cuddle and a soft whisper in his ear.

She loved watching him sleep. It was the most calming sight in the world. If they happened to be cuddling tightly together, completely naked, then so much the better. She loved being held by him. Even in sleep, there was something powerful beneath his relaxation that held her tight and kept her safe.

When they weren't cuddling, he usually lay on his side, covers drawn up to his chest. She'd push them away gently sometimes, and trace one finger over the muscle that lay there. She had never understood at first why he always slept with his back facing away from her...then she had seen the scars, and understood why. He hated them and she hated thinking of him going through that kind of pain. She used to trace them too sometimes, kiss at them, as though doing so would make them vanish. At the very least, it might help banish the terrible memories that accompanied them.

There were no scars now. Since Adrian had come back from the dead, his body had been completely repaired. She found it slightly ironic. He had lost all his scars in that time, and she had gained more than ever.

She traced her hand lower over his stomach, giggling as he purred deep in his throat. His ears twitched back and forth eagerly, and she swore she heard a moan escape his lips. He was such a kitty, always looking for an ear scratch, or a belly rub...or sometimes both. He looked happy as his unconscious pleas were rewarded with a little tickle. His tail snuck out from behind him and flicked curiously back and forth. She wound it once around her wrist, to assure him that she was still there, as she should be.

Nightmares rarely struck him since his return. He didn't speak much about his time in death, but she got the impression that he had found a way to come to terms with at least some of the things he had had to do in his long life. Now that she had served a tenure as Librarian, and got to know some of the Counter Guardians a bit better, she understood some of his pain... at least, she hoped she understood.

She hoped she made a difference to him - that she could chase away his nightmares and fears, even if just a little bit, the same way he did hers. But even though she wished it, she knew full well that her place in his life may be completely insignificant. He had lived for centuries. She had been in his life for two years. What difference could such a short space of time make? What difference could someone like her make to someone like him?

She shook her head and let her eyes wander over him again. Trailing her hand any lower was to risk waking him (however tempting the wicked thoughts in her head were), so she returned it to cup his face, and trace one finger underneath his left eye. She knew the power his gaze had over her. It could make her light headed in seconds.

It was not something she liked to remember, but Tash couldn't help thinking about the last year, spent mostly on her own. She had missed him so badly that it had sometimes felt like she would never get over it. No...that was wrong, she corrected herself, she knew she would never have got over it. There was no variant in that fact. She had tried her best to be strong, but Death had been right - her strength had been a face that had no substance.

When Valerie had told her that there was a way to bring him back, she almost had not believed it. She was glad Michael had been there to ask the sensible questions. She hadn't been able to do anything but listen. The whole process of bringing him back had felt like a dream, and she had to pinch herself regularly to assure herself that there would be no waking up. It was real. It was happening. She was going to see him again.

It hadn't been easy for him. She knew that. Nine months was a long time not to see the people you love grow. And they had all grown. His death had forced even the most childish of them to grow up. But still, she had smiled more since he had come back than she had done in her entire life, and she was determined to make sure he was just as happy and comfortable with everything.

One of his ears twitched suddenly, and she reached up to rub it. He moaned and rolled over a little more, the muscles in his face relaxing further at her ministrations. A curious hand pawed at her side, before pulling her close and nuzzling her neck. She giggled again. He was such an active sleeper.

She liked sleeping like this - cuddled up to him, close enough to feel his heart beating steadily in his chest. She remembered when she had first told him that she loved him, and how he had protested that he was not human. Since then she had always made a point to listen to his heartbeat whenever she had the chance, just as a silent reminder that he was not the monster he sometimes feared himself to be. The sound of it seemed to soothe her own restless pulse, which helped too. And she rarely had her own nightmares when she could hear that sound.

Yawning, she closed her eyes, and silently wondered what he was dreaming of. It was selfish of her, but she hoped she was in his dreams. He was certainly in hers, just as she planned on keeping him for the rest of her life.

OOO

Bevelle was a colourful citadel, a pinkish red stone with gold and blue borders and shapes painted here and there. Everything was grand, towering toward the deep blue sky as though able to touch it. As the centre of the Yevon faith, it had been built to be magnificent, and it had exceeded all expectations.

Ever since Sin's destruction one year ago, people who followed Yevon had been quieter and more subdued. Bevelle especially, had had its entire system of belief and everyday life shattered by the deception of their leaders. Yet despite this, many faithful still remained. It was the only way of life they had ever known, and so the beliefs and teachings of Yu Yevon lived on, in spite of their shame and the population's desperate need for new leadership.

Still, inevitably, life ploughed on as it always had done. More so since Sin's defeat. Now was a time for all of Spira to rebuild and restart properly, safe in the knowledge that their work would survive this time, and that their lives were now safe.

The people in Bevelle that evening minded their own business, and so the sight of a couple, walking hand in hand did not draw any attention – even if one of the pair had white kitty ears. Smiling at each other, the couple walked down the Highbridge. Final Fantasy X had been Tash's choice of venue for the date, and Adrian had been the one to suggest Macalania woods. Tash wore a knee high black dress, and kept having to brush her hair out of her face, as they walked. Adrian wore a pristine white trenchcoat, along with black trousers, and ruby cufflinks, which glittered against his wrists. He also carried a picnic basket in his free hand, sending it worried glances occasionally.

"You keep staring at that thing as though you expect it to blow up," Tash rolled her eyes, flexing her fingertips to stop them from going cold - there was an evening breeze on the Highbridge, and she was starting to get uncomfortable. The Librarian squeezed her hand.

"I've got one half of the basket spelled so that it stays chilled... for the strawberries," he added, seeing Tash's confused look. "And the other half is heated, to keep the sandwiches warm. I'm worried that they might get a bit... volatile, in such close proximity."

Eyebrows now somewhere in the region of her hairline, Tash shrugged. "Eh... if we blow up half of Macalania wood, I'm sure the author can write it back in."

OOO

Deep in the Library Arcanium, a small chunk of the Fourth Wall snapped off and fell to the floor with a crash, sending an earthquake all around the building.

OOO

Ears twitching in annoyance, Adrian swatted the basket at Tash, who dodged it and pulled a face.

"Too slow, Librarian."

A challenging glint entered Adrian's eyes, and he dropped the basket, and made a grab for his girlfriend. Shrieking, Tash flashstepped backwards, sending a surprised group of Yevon priests scattering, one of them tumbling off the bridge with a loud splash.

"Sorry!" Tash shouted, still giggling. The remaining priests shot her filthy looks, and she turned to see Adrian stalking towards her.

"No flashstep, that's cheating!"

"You're just jealous you can't catch me!" sticking her tongue out at her boyfriend, the leader raced off down the bridge. Tail erect in excitement, Adrian ran after her, ignoring the group of girls off to the side of the bridge, who were giggling madly at the scene.

Even though she had longer legs, Tash knew in a normal race, Adrian would probably beat her. Giving in, she flashstepped the next few metres, not noticing the man straight in front of her. She crashed straight into him and stumbled to her hands and knees.

"Owie..." she winced, shaking pain from her wrist, and finding an unfamiliar hand offered to her. The arm to which it was attached vanished back into a light blue cloak... odd clothing for people in Bevelle. Priest robes were more common.

"May I assist you, dear lady?" the man asked. Shrugging, Tash took the hand, but let go almost immediately - the man's skin felt like ice!

"How long have you been standing on this bridge? You're freezing!" she spluttered, picking herself up, and rubbing the circulation back into her hands. When that failed to warm them any faster, she channelled some of her magic into her fingertips, and instantly felt the heat return.

"Graceful, Wildflower," Adrian's voice appeared from behind her, and she turned to see her boyfriend, picnic basket in hand, a winning smile on his face.

"Shut up, Kitty," she muttered, now blushing hard. She dusted her dress off, and turned back to the man. He was staring at her hard, and she hastily took a few steps back. His gaze was unnerving, not in the least because his eyes were black.

"Thanks for the help," she said slowly, before hurrying off to Adrian's side, and continuing the walk down the bridge.

"You okay?" Adrian asked, seeing her smile vanish.

"Yeah... just my butt and my pride hurt," Tash admitted. Adrian slid his hand into hers, and she instantly felt warm again.

"Well, since you lost," Adrian's grin was wicked now. "You have to provide dessert."

Tash blinked in mock innocence. "But I thought you said you brought strawberries?"

Now Adrian's hand was sliding around her waist, pulling her close to him. "I did. But you know I have a very big appetite..."

OOO

"Happy anniversary."

The clink of the glasses echoed around the clearing. The picnic blanket was spread beside the pond, sparkling, spiky dark trees rising up as though trying to touch the night's sky. The forest seemed to sing, from the glittering crystal orbs that nestled between branches, like a million ringing bells.

"Much better than our last one," Tash admitted. Adrian tilted his head to the side, kitty ears twitching.

"...what happened on our last one?"

"You were dead."

"Oh..." now his ears flattened against his head. "Kitty sorry?"

She had given in at the first sight of those ears, moving so expressively, but Tash couldn't resist teasing. "You have to make it up to me...missing our year anniversary is pretty big."

Adrian thought for a moment, and then gave a devious smirk. Tash immediately opened her mouth.

"Whatever you're thinking, the answer is probably no," she warned him, relenting as she saw his face fall. "And besides, I was teasing. I'm just glad you're alive to see our two year anniversary."

Mock frowning, Adrian threw a strawberry at her. She caught it and bit into it. Predictably, her boyfriend swooped in and began kissing the juice off her lips. As their lips met properly for a kiss, Tash mewled, savouring a taste she had missed for nine months, a taste that nothing else could compare to.

One hand threaded into his hair as his weight pushed them over onto her back and she drank in the feeling of his body pressed against her, of his warmth that made her feel so safe. Her other hand wrapped around his waist while her legs threaded together with his, his tail twining around her thigh. The blonde held him tighter to her, kissing him deeper, not wanting the moment to end, wanting them to be together, to be one and never let go.

Mouths parted slightly and tongues teased one another, prompting a set of combined moans from them and Tash could hear- no, feel- a quiet purr build up in her other half. The hand in his hair slid across his head, finding a kitty ear and trailing fingers up the edges, rubbing the tip together between thumb and forefinger and the feel of the purr sharpened. For her part, she shivered as he cupped her cheek, his other hand slowly pulling up her dress and stroking her leg.

She drew that leg up, nibbling on his tongue and groaning as his claws teased down the length of her inner thigh, dangerously close to the sexy underwear she had put on for him. For nine months, she had never even considered putting on something like it and now she had, just for him... she had wanted to shed her dress, dance for him, feel his eyes on her. But now... all she wanted was for him to rip them off and take her... to spread the feeling of their kiss all over her body, to love him, to be part of him...

Their moans intensified and she kissed him harder, hotter, trying to let him feel how much she loved him and missed and how much she wanted him and how much he meant to her...

"Get your hands off of her!"

The heat evaporated, along with Adrian's body, as the Librarian was wrenched upward by the back of his trenchcoat, and thrown clean over Tash's head, into the pond behind them. The stunned leader bolted upright, just in time to see a sheet of thick ice spreading along the water's surface, trapping her lover in the cold below.

"Adrian!"

"He won't be bothering us anymore..."

Shaking, Tash yanked Nephthys from around her neck, but the attack she was expecting never came. As the sword appeared in her grasp, and she stumbled to her feet, her attacker merely smiled, icy blue cloak fluttering in the breeze.

"Who in the name of the Gods are you?" Tash shrieked, taking a few hasty steps back, as she realised just how close the man was to her. She felt the cold seep through her shoes, and realised that she had backed onto the ice.

Her unwanted guest continued to smile, his black eyes running over her as she backed away slowly across the ice. His hood was down now, revealing white hair, which glittered as though snowflakes rested on it. His skin was pale, but with his fine, almost angelic features, it did not look out of place. Beneath the outer layer of clothes, it was just possible to make out a white button up shirt, and trousers in the same shade of blue as his cloak. Politely, he bowed his head to Tash.

"That depends, Phoenix," he began. "That monster beneath the lake would call me a Stu... others call me Purity."

The name seemed to slot neatly into a mental file in Tash's head. She had never seen him herself but she had read the mission report from the rescue all those months ago.

"You're a Sovereign!"

He tilted his head, locks of white hair falling neatly into his eyes. "You can call me whatever you like."

There was something very odd about the way he said that, but Tash couldn't put her finger on it. Instead she sneered. "Not very pure of you, throwing an innocent man into a pond!"

"Ah but you are mistaken, my dear Phoenix," now Purity's face twisted into a glare, and he jabbed an accusing finger at spot where Adrian had vanished beneath the water. "That man was a wicked soul, forcing himself upon an innocent creature like you. I can see it all...all the sins that tarnish him. That is one of my gifts. I know every indecent thing that damages a person's soul, just by touching them."

As if to illustrate, he held up a hand, which seemed paler against the moonlight, and stepped forward, reaching to stroke her cheek. Heart racing, Tash leaped backwards across the ice shivering.

"You can feel every horrible thing on a person's soul just by touching them? No wonder you're so cold..."

Purity's face seemed to light up with joy. "Not when you're around. Normally I am like ice... pure, untouched ice. But when you touched me earlier I felt fire blaze through me! It filled me with such joy... such feelings! Its like the best rush in the entire world."

For all the talk of warmth, Tash had never felt colder. She squeezed Nephthy's handle tighter. Her fingers were tingling as though in a bucket of ice, and yet her palms were sweating. She tried not to show her fear, but her eyes kept falling on Purity's hands, now clasped in front of him. If he could sense things just by touch, what had he learned about her just by taking her hand earlier on the Highbridge?

"You're shaking, Phoenix," Purity was worried, and stepped forward, and it took every ounce of willpower Tash had to remain rooted to her spot, gripping her sword tightly behind her back. "You doubt my sincerity?"

"No," Tash finally found her voice. "I just think you're fucking nuts! You interrupt our anniversary and throw my boyfriend in the pond just for a bit of heat? Go stand by a radiator!"

"You don't understand!" Purity's crisp voice shook with emotion. "At first I thought it was heat too. Then I thought of all the things I saw about you. All that you have been through. All that has made you who you are. I looked at you again and realised how wonderful you were... how beautiful..."

"Beauti... oh Gods help me. He's flirting with me!" Another icy sliver of dread slipped into Tash's heart, which began pounding an irregular tempo in her tight chest. She knew a panic attack was imminent if she didn't do something soon.

"I'm not beautiful!" she eventually snapped. "And I still think you're crazy!"

The Sovereign shrugged. "Crazy for you, maybe."

"Shut up!" Tash resisted the urge to cover her ears, and chose to stamp her foot against the ice instead. "You don't like me! You're just crazy, and the only person crazier than you is Runoa for creating you in the first place!"

"You could come with me."

Rant interrupted, the leader's eyes went wide. "What?"

"Come with me, Phoenix," Purity's voice was steady and persuasive. "It's only the Librarian Runoa hates. Not you. You could stay by my side and become a Sovereign...Runoa needs a replacement for Death..."

"I'd rather die than become a Sue," Tash said bluntly.

"I know," Purity nodded. "But would it really be so different to now? You're almost a Sue already...you're beautiful, talented, a master with your weaponry, tragic past..."

"Shut up." This time the leader's voice was soft. Still it didn't disguise the fear.

"You know I'm right," he continued, stepping so that they were barely an arms length away. "We belong together. You can stay with me, and keep me warm forever. I'll keep you safe in return. You'll never have to fear anything in the world again. And you need not be ashamed of allowing a man to force himself upon you."

"Adrian never forced himself upon me!" Tash snapped. "I love him!"

The Sovereign's gaze didn't falter. "I wasn't talking about him."

CRACK!

Purity reeled backwards across the ice, and Tash squeezed her fist tighter, her knuckles aching from the impact, her nails cutting deep into her palms. As the Sovereign stood upright again, blood trickled slowly from his nose onto his pale, flawless skin. Suddenly all tenderness was gone from his angelic face, and for the first time, he looked angry.

"I see that man has corrupted your gentleness..." he hissed. "You have a wicked streak that must be purged!"

Before he could advance, the ground behind Tash fractured with an ominous crack, and for the first time, the leader relaxed.

"What have you done?" Purity roared, as more cracks appeared along the ice.

"You were so busy trying to chat me up, you didn't notice I had my sword stuck in the ground behind me," Tash replied, calmly stepping aside to reveal Nephthys, blade planted in the ground, ice splitting apart from the melted puddles that had formed from the fiery hot metal. A large chunk broke away, and the sounds of frantic splashing and gasping appeared, as Adrian surfaced.

Purity vanished, but Tash was quick enough to see him attack from the side, hand outstretched to grab her arm. Wrenching Nephthys from the ground she blocked his hand with the flat of the blade, the smell of burning flesh permeating the air. Purity did not seem affected by the scorching blade burning at his palms, and to Tash's horror, the spreading raw redness seemed to vanish back to fair white almost instantly.

"Jurai-Ken – Doryuto!" She kicked upwards, sending the blade toward his throat. He bent backwards out of the way, and kicked at her legs. Flash stepping away just in time, the leader skidded to a halt, distracted as Adrian pulled himself out of the water. He was soaked and shivering, and his hair and fur were a mess.

"The sinner lives," Purity sounded livid. "But not for long."

Adrian was too cold to make a snappy retort, but Tash was in no way hindered, as she raised Nephthys and charge into flashstep again. She wished she could fly, but the spiked trees of Macalania prevented her taking off safely. She would have to rely on speed for this.

"Jurai-Ken – Tairenso!"

Her charge turned into a pounce, as she swung Nephthys over her right shoulder and leaped into the move flames exploding out around her. A wall of ice shot up in front of Purity, forcing Tash to pull up centimetres from the blockade. She spiralled out of her move and landed none too gracefully to one side.

"Jurai-Ke..." she was cut off as the ice beneath her feet began to rumble and creak. Deadly icicles shot up from the ground and she jumped left to avoid being skewered. The icy wall fell away to reveal Purity, crouched on his knees with one hand pressed on the ground. His eyes did not leave her as she dodged another icicle. Distracted, Tash yelped as another attack caught her right side, and sent her crashing to the pond.

"Tash!" Adrian was back on his feet, but his cry had alerted Purity, who rested his second hand on the ground. Icicles shot out of the cold earth, freezing around the Librarian's body, and binding him where he stood.

"You know," Purity said, his voice almost musing. "The human body is seventy percent water... that's more than enough to begin purging your sins, Librarian."

A frustrated scream drew his attention back to Tash, who had raised Nephthys above her head. She brought it down on the ice with a thundering crash, and a burst of fire rocketed towards the Sovereign. He leaped gracefully into the air on a pillar of ice, his eyes narrowed in focus. The ice covering the pond seemed to warp and rock, and Tash struggled to keep her balance. As a wave of tremors approached she jumped as high as she could...only to be smacked out of the sky by another icicle. It slammed painfully into her stomach and sent her crashing into one of the crystal like trees. Nephthys skidded across the pond, coming to a rest at the edge of the ice.

Coughing weakly, Tash pushed herself up against the tree. Breathing was painful and everything had a fuzzy tint to it. She saw Adrian struggling to free himself from his icy bindings, but it was just too thick for him to move against. Seeing Purity rise, and Nephthys so far away, Tash made to run for her sword. Two thick icicles shot from the ground and slammed against her wrists, pinning them to the tree in their freezing grip. She tried to wrestle free, but the crystal-like ice held her tight, even as two more icicles appeared and slammed into her legs, holding her tight against the bark. She could not move.

"Let... me... go!" the Assistant Librarian pushed with all her might against the ice, but it would not budge an inch. Purity was advancing on her, and her heartbeat tripled as he raised a hand.

"My sincere apologies," the Sovereign's hand was tangled in her hair. "He can wait. Ladies first, after all."

Both icy cold hands caressed her throat before he pulled her against his body. Her skin froze under his touch, going deeper and deeper until she thought her heart might turn to ice with her. Tash's strength abandoned her – she couldn't struggle against her bindings any longer. More terrifying was the sensation of her magic, usually simmering just beneath her skin, draining out of her, leeched away by the hands that now caressed her like some kind of prize. Desperately she tried to redirect her magic through her body to reheat her limbs, but nothing happened. He was sucking all the heat from her body. She had never felt so cold in her life.

But more sickening than anything was the feeling of his freezing hands wrapping around her neck and waist, forcing her into a cruel, desperate hug. The violation. The invasion. The hands were everywhere. She wanted to cry out, but her voice had deserted her as well. Her thoughts screamed for her.

"Let me go! Let me go! Stop touching me!"

There was a shattering noise, like glass breaking, and ice rained down like tiny crystals as Adrian finally blasted himself free of his bindings with magic. As Purity turned to glare at the interruption, the Librarian had let another blast of energy loose, and the wall of ice shot up again. Released from the draining grip, Tash hung limply from her icy restraints, her lips a faint tinge of blue.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY WIFE!" Even soaking wet, with icicles forming in his hair, the Librarian managed to look ferocious. Purity did not flinch, but crouched to touch the ground again. Icicles rocketed upwards, but Adrian flashstepped away with ease, his magic concentrated towards Purity, who deflected the blasts with more walls.

"You don't deserve such a pure soul, you demon!" the Sovereign hissed, raising up, a spear of ice in his hand, pulled back ready to throw like a javelin. This appeared to have been what Adrian was waiting for – a blast of magic crashed into the ground by the Sovereign's feet, and the already weakened ice gave one final crack, before splitting from his weight. With a startled cry, the Sovereign plunged into the freezing water.

The control of the ice was broken, and Adrian skidded next to the tree, and smashed his way through the restraints on his girlfriend. She fell weakly to the ground, and she flinched as her boyfriend touched her. Adrian barely repressed a gasp – she felt frozen to her core. Pausing only to grab Nephthys from the edge of the pool, he scooped her up in his arms and darted from the clearing, just as Purity burst through the ice again, his cloak still managing to flap despite being soaked. As he saw his quarry vanish over the treetops of Macalania, he gave a scream of frustration.

OOO

"For Gods sake, all of you!" the Librarian raged, throwing the blankets off. "I will let you take my temperature after I have found my girlfriend!"

Valerie gave him a look which parents usually wore upon discovering that their child was refusing to eat dinner because they had stuffed their face with biscuits earlier. "You were under that water for almost three minutes Adrian! It's a miracle you didn't drown, let alone freeze to death! You're not leaving that bed until I am satisfied that you are better!"

"Tash had her magic drained by a Sovereign!" Adrian burst out. "If anyone should be getting medical attention it's her! Now let me go and find her!"

"Out of the question! I'm worried about Tash too, but you need to stay in this bed!" Valerie insisted, as Aimee reappeared with the leather restraint straps sometimes seen in hospitals where patients were a danger to themselves. "Don't make me use these!"

It wouldn't be the first time that the healer had been forced to cuff the Librarian to the bed, but the instant she turned around she caught the familiar blur of flash step and the sound of the door slamming behind him.

Valerie blinked. He had flash stepped so fast that he had left his shirt behind. Dropping the straps, she pocketed the still warm silk.

"Well... this is his good shirt," she said to Aimee. "If he wants this back he's going to have to come and let me take his temperature."

Adrian at this stage could not have given a damn about his shirt, good or not. What he cared about was opening the bedroom door and finding every light turned up as bright as they would go. There was not a single shadow in the room. His kitty nose twitched and he smelt soap – she had been in the shower if the damp in the air was anything to go on. Yet the bed was undisturbed save for the fact that it was missing its topmost blankets.

Following his nose, Adrian sighed heavily as he dropped to his knees and found Tash curled up on the floor underneath the bed, covered from head to toe in a forest of blankets. From her breathing, he guessed that she had fallen asleep, and as he gently tugged the covers back, his heart sank. Her skin was bright pink – she had been scrubbing at it with considerable force.

The Librarian made a gesture and the bed slid away, allowing him to scoop his love into his arms, blankets and all. A twitch of the head and the bed slid back as he lay her down gently, kissing her on the forehead as he did. The blazing lights went off with a click.

Shucking the rest of his clothes, he picked his way through the mountain of blankets and snuggled into her from behind and fitting his body to hers before wrapping his arms around her. Her hair was still damp and smelled of violets. It prompted a small smile from him – she had grown inordinately fond of that shampoo and had insisted he tried it. Despite his repeated denials, she had ambushed one day while he was in kitty form with a bucket full of soapy water and the shampoo. He had grudgingly admitted that it did smell nice...but would never say it aloud, due to the roar of laughter that exploded out of all of the Society's women when Tash had paraded him around as a giant ball of fluff thanks to the shampoo.

Kissing her head, he gently rubbed a hand down her arm and privately winced as he felt how cold she was. Snuggling closer, he kissed at her neck and felt his ear twitch happily as she sighed and snuggled deeper into him, almost as she was trying to merge them. Even in the sleep of the dead, she always knew when he was near.

And even now, after all of the day's events, she was still so beautiful. Not in the Hollywood definition and he was glad for it. Too many people put stock in that and after all you were around for a few hundred years, particularly with Phoenixia and all her myriad and various forms, it just a wrapping on a present box. Pretty, but unnecessary.

Tracing the curve of her ear with a finger and breathing in her scent, he marvelled at her and his luck for having her. She loved him, as a person, as a Librarian, as a fighter, as everything and all he was and he could never understand it. But that was half the fun. He'd point it out to her and she'd just smile and say that she'd take as long as it took to teach him. He certainly didn't mind. Phoenixia was right, he really should get around to proposing... just had to get that perfect ring... but he had a few ideas...

And a few more entered his head as he ran his hand down the side of her body, over her curves and back up them. They drifted there for a moment and made a few calls to some happy memories of beautiful, wild night and fantasies becoming very real, of cuddles with clothing strewn about the room or in some cases, just a pile of ash somewhere in the Library and gentle, tender kisses that conveyed love beyond any words in any of the thousand's of languages that he was aware of and he could never get enough of it.

Then a breath of concern blew the thoughts away like a spiderweb out of one's face as his fingers, creeping down her shoulder, found the top of her scar. A scar she had gained shortly after his death and one that would never leave. He ignored the thoughts in the back, whispering about how painful it must have been and how much she had bled, to focus on how he felt about it. She had seem to have come to terms with it in the nine months he had been gone, but the first time he had seen it, he realized that she had grown-up in that time. Taken a big step into his life and faced the very dangers he had challenged all of his life and not come out unscathed-something that he regretted far more than anything else he could recall.

That regret was perhaps only matched by how he had come to rely on her for comfort, for love, support and comfort and when she had needed him most, he had not been there. And worse,he had been the cause of it. To her and everyone else. It was something he would have to make up for... maybe a cruise on a beautiful world or one of those crystal garden palaces... and to her... to Natasha...

He would put a ring on her finger and be by her side for however long she wanted him to be. And maybe have a few blue-eyed little Tash-lets running around.

After a moment's thought, he decided he'd want a litter of them rather than just a few. It might take a little persuasion, but he was sure she'd go for it. She couldn't resist the kitty back-rub...

Speaking of which, as his breath stirred a few dry bits of her hair, Tash snuggled and somehow managed grab his tail instinctively, cuddling it to her chest with both hands firmly. He smiled and nuzzled into her head, letting a purr slowly build up. When it reached its peak, he finally felt her body relax against his. Kissing her briefly on the lips, he held her tight against him and murmured promises of reassurances that he was there.

He always would be.

Insert Dramatic Rescue Here (part 1 of 3)

The Briefing Room was filled with a nervous silence, the vastness of it almost deafening and only made bearable as it was broken by the occasional squeaking of a chair as someone shifted their weight or the metallic noise of someone checking fiddling with their sword or checking that their gun was loaded for the umpteenth time in a row.

Nearly thirty Agents, making up nearly every single member of the Anti-Cliché and Mary-Sue Elimination, sat scattered around in the briefing room that was too large for them by half and again, either clustered in little groups or their preferred teammates. Nearly all of them were wearing Plot Amour and none of them in it looked really comfortable in it, some fiddling with the clasps or attempting to readjust it so it fit slightly better. Some were digging through the new equipment they had just been issued in the form of emergency medkits and were reading the instructions written on the various pieces inside the cases and hoping they'd never have to use them.

Ben was seated at the end of one row, constantly tuning Bahamut and fiddling with the strings while next to him, Lily fiddled with her pins, walking them back and forth on the backs of her fingers. Next to them, Avak was the most nervous, but didn't really have any idea of what to do and just shifted nervously in his seat.

At the opposite end of the horseshoe and across from Ben, Aimee was digging through a large case that rested on her lap, various wings of it spread open as she rearranged various items inside, occasionally reaching up to push her nurse's hat back atop her head when it leaned too far forwards. Standing a couple of feet away, Ossa was going through a series of yoga poses, looking rather calm despite the tension in the air.

A few rows back from the pair, Chrys, Akai and Mizuho sat together, the latter two trying to keep the former from panicking and only marginally succeeding, though Akai didn't seemed to helping all that much to the seriously angry expression that kept flitting on her face.

Down the aisle from the trio, Michael, Claire, Miri and Alice were all settled, the former three checking their weapons while Alice, arm in a sling from her most recent mission, looked decidedly worried and nervous, shifting and squirming uncomfortably and many similar scenes were play across the rooms with the rest of the Agents as they checked weapons again and again or tried to quash their nervousness, but the tension and worry was so thick in the air that it stifled any attempt at conversation before it began.

Then the main doors to the briefing room banged open and everyone glanced towards the front of the room as Tash, Hati and Phoenixia strode in, all with uncharacteristically grim and serious looks on their faces. No one was surprised to see Phoenixia in her Battle Dress and her guns strapped to her body, but it was a surprise to see Tash out of Adrian's trenchcoat and wearing her old clothes.

There was a low murmuring as Adrian strode into the room. They all knew he had returned, thanks to Aster and a whole host of other Agents running around and spreading the news, but seeing the man himself walk into the room, his coat billowing and that fierce look in his eyes was something else entirely.

Silence fell across the room as he strode up to the holoprojector in the center of the room and manipulated a few of the controls, dimming the lights as the projector activated and lived up to its name by generating the image of a good-sized mansion surrounded by a dense looking forest. "This is Einzbern Mansion in the Fate/stay Night fandom. Currently, it has been abandoned by its owner after the end of the game that is Fate/stay Night and normally, it would be of no interest to us. However, thanks to a lot of magical and technological detective work, we've managed to determine that this one of Runoa's bases."

"Four hours ago, Aster was sent on a recon mission to this location. Three hours ago, she informed us that at least one Sovereign-class signature along with at least a half-dozen signatures that were approaching Sovereign-class and multiple ordinary Sue and Stu signatures. Immediately after, we lost contact with her…" His face hardened. "We have reason to believe Runoa is at this location and captured Aster herself."

Grabbing a laser pointer, he used trace several paths through the forest." "Our infiltration strategy will be simple. The Society approaches on foot through the forest and our snipers, stealth agents and speedsters remove any guards outside the building at the same to prevent them from getting off an alarm…"

TTTTTT

The night air was still in the dense woods that surrounded then Einzbern Mansion, nary an owl or forest creature daring to break the stillness. Not that any creatures would care to live in the forest, for the mansion itself exuded an aura of darkness and abnormality that drove any sane living animal away and caused anyone who approached it to reverse direction and trying to shake a case of the shivers for the next few nights or so.

Still, there were those who could ignore such things and about a dozen of them patrolled the grounds around the mansion, armed with more tangible deterrents such as machine guns, rifles and grenades and aimed to make use of them effectively thanks to their night-vision goggles.

Two of the hired guards met up on the east side of the mansion, one of them slinging his weapon over his shoulder in order to use both hands to rip open the a ration bar. "How you holding up, Jon?"

"Bah." The other man took the moment to re-check that his assault rifle was loaded and twirl the unlit cigarette from one corner of his mouth to the other. "I hate night patrol, Dan. We're stuck walking around it freakin' cold and this damn place gives me the creeps. There aren't any damn animals in this blasted forest! And I can't even light a damn cig!" He glared at the unlit one in his mouth, as if blaming it for situation.

Dan took a bite of his ration bar. "Well, this was a fast deployment, I'll give you. But the boss says we're getting paid a few cool million to guard this dump, so I'd say a few hours of cold is worth the cut we'll get from this."

Jon grunted and glanced out over to the woods, obviously not too convinced by his comrade's argument. "There isn't even any action here-someone will trip our sensors a mile out if they try to come here. And who hell would want to storm this place, anyway?"

There wasn't a response and he turned back to his buddy. "Dan? Hey, you got anything to say..?" Then his jaw opened slightly and the cigarette fell out, the last thing he saw being a silvery-haired man with what appeared to be cat ears atop his head punching him in the face. A second later, he joined Dan in unconsciousness.

Adrian ears twitched as Tash flash-stepped into sight next to him. "I take it you got yours?"

"Yeah. Hit him over the head before he knew what was happening. And Phoenixia and Ingrid hit the ones on the roof with Stun Rounds and Michael dragged his off into the darkness and you and I got the rest." She pulled out her communicator as it vibrated once softly and tapped a button on it. "That was Ben. His team is in position and he's last the once to check in."

"Good." The Librarian gestured for her follow him. "Let's start the second stage."

TTTTTT

"You are currently receiving a note on your communicators-we are placing you into teams. This is for the second stage of our operation. Once the guards have been eliminated and Phoenixia and I have finished removing any technological and magical alarms and barriers, the teams will all move into the mansion for as many different entrances and floors as possible in the same moment."

"The mission is to get in, find Aster, and get out as quick as we possibly can. Don't drag out any fights and fight defensively, putting your own safety as your top priority. If you can help it, do not engage any of the Sovereigns or Runoa and if you do, immediately call for back-up. Don't take them lightly-you all saw what Death did and he was the weakest."

TTTTTT

The doors to the mansion toppled inwards as the sounds of Bahamut slammed into it, Lily, Jess, Avak and Michael all sprinting into the mansion's large atrium. Their weapons were drawn, powers humming and ready to be unleashed, tentacles of darkness actually springing from Michael's back as charged, ready to engage whatever forces awaited them on the other side, to make most of their surprise advantage and cut them down…

…only to find that the entire atrium was completely barren and empty.

They skidded to a stop, Jess snuffing out the flame she had brought to life around, her bewildered expression mimicking those of her fellow Agents. "What the hell…? Where is everyone!"

"I don't know…" Michael made a quick gesture. "Spread out-see if they aren't hiding anywhere." Suiting action to his words, he used a tentacle of shadow to haul himself up onto the next level of the atrium as the others spread out below him.

They checked every room, every nook and cranny, behind tapestries and suits of armor, even poking their heads the windows to make sure someone wasn't clinging to the wall outside. But after a good five minutes of searching, they still had not found the enemy and more Agents began to filter into the atrium from the other parts of the house, reporting that they, too, had found nothing.

Adrian stomped down the staircase with a scowl on his face, Tash and Phoenixia behind him as the gathered Agents looked up at him. "Nothing! Not a damn thing!"

"Maybe it was a trick." Rhia suggested, idly running a hand along the knives dangling from her belt and making them jangle a bit. "Runoa could have moved Aster away from here as she soon as she kidnapped."

"Then why hire the mercenaries as guards? Mercenaries that come straight from the fandom itself? "Pete asked, folding his arms.

"It was probably to keep us from picking up Sue and Stu signatures in this fandom." Val said. "Ever since I've entered this mansion, my powers have felt funny…like they're not as strong as they usually are. She must have put a dampening field on the house, which kept us from detecting the energy signatures of her and the Sovereigns."

"But…why go through all this effort? Just to mislead us?" Jess folded her arms with a frown on her face. "And if there was a dampening field on the house, how did you guys figure out Aster was in the first place?" She nodded in the direction of Adrian and Phoenixia.

Phoenixia played with a strand of her russet hair. "The dampening field blocks signatures, true, but Aster is constantly connected to her dimensional counterparts at all times. We know one of them and thanks to her, we were able to figure out the energy frequency that link has. Since this particular fandom has three routes, which can each be technically considered their own fandoms, we simply jumped to one of them with our Aster and use the dimensional synch like a piece of string between two tin cans and followed it to this location, adjusting for the drift caused when the link slides between the two dimensions and the fact the dimensional synch doesn't exactly exist in any tangible fashion or exude anything tangible, either. However, we compensated for that using the Property of Inverse Tangibility, meaning because it didn't exist in a way apparent to the senses, we tracked through what our senses couldn't find and then triangulated it with Aster's last known location and the last detection of a Sue energy signature. " Then she noticed everyone but Adrian, Mizuho, Akai and Chrys were staring at her like she had grown two heads. "What?"

"That… that makes so much sense and yet at the same time, I'm so confused…" Ossa muttered and ran a hand through her hair. "But anyway, even if you found Aster like that, why wouldn't Runoa leave as soon as she got Aster? That woman's a bitch, but a smart one. She'd just leave a few clues to draw our attention, draw us in and waste our time on an empty house."

"There's no point in that- she can travel nearly anywhere in the Multiverse. We were here two hours after we lost contact with Aster. She was the Librarian once, she knows what kind of resources we can bring to bear to track and a two-hour head start is meaningless, especially when she has so much territory to flee to." Adrian shook his head with a scowl. Then his eyes widened. "It's a trap!"

As if summoned by his words, a golden sheen sudden surrounded the outside of the manor. The Agents reacted instantly, volleying off a series of weapons blasts and attacks through the main door, but the barrier simply absorbed them harmlessly. They were trapped.

"Greetings, Society Agents." The group of Agents scattered away as Runoa, dressed in her usual black turtleneck sweater and slacks, appeared in their midst, those of them not already having drawn their weapons doing so.

"Don't bother attacking her." Adrian grabbed Tash's wrist as the blonde was starting forwards, raising her blade. "It's an illusion-a magical message tied in with the activation of the barrier."

"By now you have realized that this is a trap and I'm afraid that the moment you said those words, you triggered the trap." She smirked at them. "Aren't clichés wonderful?"

The Agents nearest the stairs suddenly backed away as a seam of light suddenly unzipped itself in the middle of the air in front of them, slowly widening to reveal a swirling rainbow of colors. "However, the fact that I knew you'd come after the moment I kidnapped Aster was actually to my benefit. Not only do I get to show-off some of my more interesting experiments and give them a field test, but I get to kill some of you annoying pests. So, good luck and try not to bleed too much on the rug, it's so hard to get out of that material." The illusion winked out of existence.

The Society backed away from the portal as a figure started to emerge from the now eight-foot portal. It was nearly as tall as the portal it emerged from, it's body thin and sleek and clawed hands nearly dragging across the carpet. Gray skin was stretched tight over its body and it's eyes were a prismatic rainbow as it stretched out a trio of equally prismatic wings and let out a screech, revealing six-inch fangs in its mouth.

Behind it, two more figures emerged, a much smaller ogre-like being who's bulging red skin looked like it could barely contain the bulging muscle beneath and diamond-like protrusions jutted out all over its body randomly and the third being was human-sized, but his hair and eyes were sea-green and, along with his clothes, were constantly ruffling and fluttering in a incessant swirl of air around him.

"What…! What the hell are these things!" Rhia drew her kodachi and backed up a few steps even as next to her Cristoph pulled a handful of caltrops and Lily pulled her pins free, Ben and Avak un-slinging their guitars.

"I think they might Sues, but the energy is so warped and twisted, I can't be sure!" Blue energy danced around Val's arm as she activated Seiryu and drew the string back while Stacey gripped her staff tightly, a brief flicker in her eyes the only thing showing that Ezra was taking over.

"It doesn't matter what they are-they're in our way, so they have to go!" Adrian was already dashing forwards, magic crackling to life in his hands. Even as the towering gray one smashed a fist down at him, he leapt clear of it and volleyed off magical blasts like a machine gun before slamming both hands together and firing one continuous blast into its face, the creature roaring in pain as the energy exploded and sent it staggering backwards. Then it's wings flared and that was all the warning Adrian has beams of light leapt from them, smashing into him and sending him hurtling into the far wall of the atrium.

"Adrian!" Tash barely had time to spare a glance at her lover before she was flash-stepping around a floor-cratering bunch from the diamond ogre. Reappearing behind it, she let out a growl of frustration as her blade merely sparked off its protrusions and then she screamed as the protrusions fired themselves at her, opening slices on her form before she flash-stepped away again even as Willie and Marcus blasted the monstrosity with Hellfire and the Dragon Talisman respectively.

Phoenixia, Val and Ingrid were already backing up as much as they could, their bullets and arrows being deflected by the wind barrier generated around the approaching man. Suddenly, Cristoph dropped into view behind him, his sword aimed for the creature's neck, only for him to be caught the swirling wind and hurtled away.

"There's too many Agents and this place is too small! It's a goddamn deathtrap!" Tentacles of shadow hurtled chunks of debris, suits of armor and even the curtains off the windows into the air to intercept the seemingly endless volley of prismatic beams that flew from the tall creature's wings. Michael growled and prepared to vanish in the darkness to attack it from behind when the diamond ogre burst from the flames Willie and Marcus had trapped it in. Roaring, it casually swatted both Agents aside with a sweep of its arm and into the Chief Agent, sending them all sprawling into a wall.

"Michael, Phoenixia, Cristoph, Ossa, Adrian and Kyle-we'll dealing with those things head-on! Anyone who's got a ranged attack get to the upper level and start shooting these things! Anyone else either try to break down the barrier to get to another part of them mansion out of the way!" Tash commanded, scooping up Monika and Danielle just as the wind being shredded the ground they were one and depositing them up on the upper level.

Adrian pried himself free of the wall even as Ben's team dashed up the stairs to the next level and growled, leaping towards the diamond ogre and slamming a kick into its head, trying to ignore the pain shooting up his leg and the fact his kicked only rocked the creature on its heels slightly. "Damn!"

Landing, he thrust his left hand out towards the creature and a beam of silver light leapt from it, smashing into its chest and shoving back a few feet, but did little else save cause a few wisps of smoke on its chest. "Impenetrable hide, huh?"

He skipped back as it charged, throwing rapid punches and firing the diamonds on its body, the Librarian's arms a blur as his magic-charged hands deflected them, his own counter-strikes glancing uselessly off its body.

A couple of yards away, Kyle and Tash were circling the wind being, their energy and physical attacks being deflected by its swirling barrier. With a cry of frustration, Tash launched into her Tairenso attack, swallowed by a tornado of flames. Flame and wind collided, clashing and grinding against one another before the Sue-being just made a knock-away gesture and his air barrier suddenly sped up and temporarily doubled in size, the flames dispersing as Tash was sent hurtling away, barely managing to righten her body in the air to land on her feet. "How are we supposed to get through that thing's barrier!"

"Aurora Grenade!" Kyle hurtled the swirling prismatic sphere and it smashed into ground just in front of the being's feet, exploding violently and sending it staggering back several steps, but even the energy and debris from the explosion was deflected by the barrier. "Blast-even if we knock it off guard, the barrier remains!"

Even as Tash unleashed a wave of flame at the creature, the scene was lost as bolts of energy ploughed the ground and kicked up dust, Michael and Cristoph darting and weaving in and out of them as they charged the creature. It roared at them and the blaze of beams intensified, threatening to swallow the two Agents until a wall of Darkness rose up between them and the beams, buying them several precious seconds to dart out of either side of it and around the beams. Then it charged faster than they thought possible, an open-palm strike nearly flattening the ninja even as beams leapt from its eyes, forcing the Chief Agent to jump back to avoid being sliced neatly in half.

"Lord Michael, can you not use the Darkness to teleport us behind it or draw it into a black hole?" Caltrops and throwing stars flew, only to be blasted out of the air by the creature's beams.

"Nope. Teleporting is too risky-I'm using too much energy at the moment and I don't have the few minutes' concentration I need to open a Black Hole!" Michael's Darkness tendrils ripped a large statue out of its alcove and attempted to use it as a bludgeon, but a swift flurry of energy shredded the tentacle and the statue just crashed to the ground.

Then both their eyes widened slightly as Ossa was suddenly behind the creature, her katana's edge glinting in the light. Sprinting forwards, she drove the weapon into its knee, a howling roar of pain escaping the monster it's leg bucked and it fell on its bad knee, bracing itself with one hand. Not skipping a beat, the Cherokee Agent ripped her weapon free and flipped onto the creature's back, a swift flash from her weapon severing two of its wings from its body. As it bucked and reared in agony, she viciously stabbed her weapon into its neck, actually retaining her grip on the hilt as it lurched to its feet and flailed wildly, screaming and its over-long hands scrabbling to dislodge her.

Bracing her feet against its back, she pushed and yanked her weapon free, flipping away to land in a crouch even as it faced her, still standing despite the fact it had a gaping hole in its neck, it's one remaining wing and eyes already powering up to unleash its fury on her.

She was already in motion before the first beams fired, darting under them and then leaping up, a corkscrewing motion that scored a series of slashes up its body before the her weapon sliced clean through its skull, trailing an arc of blood and brain matter as the top of its slid cleanly from the bottom.

Ninja and Chief Agent stared as she landed gracefully in front of even as the creature's body toppled backwards and crashed to the ground limply. Straightening, she dusted off her jeans and pulled a cloth out of her pocket, wiping it down the length of her weapon. "Thanks for distracting it."

Then the trio was scattering as Adrian was jumping away from yet another of the ogre's punches, a snarl on his face as it as it simply absorbed another blast of fire and lighting from his palms. As it threw another blow at him, he vaulted over it and formed a sword of crackling light in his hands. He unleashed a whirling slash; his weapon collided with its next punch and then shattered into fragments. Even as he skidded back and swiped his palm through the air generate a sheet of shadow in front him, the second punch ripped through it like it wasn't even there and caught him in the gut, smashing him into a pillar.

"Crap…it doesn't have an elemental weakness…" Adrian was already leaping to his feet, but his fighting instinct told him that a barrage of diamond was already nearing him and he didn't have time to get out of the way.

Then guns roared and the projects shattered in mid-air as Phoenixia flipped down from above in front him, her pistols blazing even as the ogre lumbered towards them, bullets sparking off its hide. "Lover, you've fought things that couldn't be harmed before! This shouldn't be any harder to kill!"

"Do you happen to have a dragonlance, a drill made of Spiral Power or a lightsaber on hand!" Adrian snapped back, the two of them leaping to the side as it's punch shredded the wall, magic and bullets intercepting the wave of diamonds that followed a second later.

"How about Booting it in the head?" Phoenixia tossed him her pistols without looking and yanked her sniper rifle free, the armor-piercing rounds tearing chunks of the protrusions free, but failing to penetrate the ogre's head. "That should have enough force to generate some exploitable cracks."

"And shatter everyone bone in my leg." The guns glowed as Adrian charged them with magic, but the bullets merely caused tiny explosions on the creature and barely halted its advance. "And it doesn't possess any particular weaknesses I can see besides it being slow."

A volley of grenades, blue magic and fire struck the beast from behind as Val, Ingrid, Jess, Marcus and Willie struck it from behind, sending it staggering forwards as the explosions enveloped it in smoke. However, Adrian was distracted from it as Tash's pained cry filled the air and his head snapped to the side just in time to see Tash and Kyle go flying backwards, their clothing ripped and torn from the tornado of wind that the Stu-being was surrounded by, scything tendrils ripping through anything that got near it. "Tash!"

"I'm fine!" A beat of wings rightened his lover in the air while Kyle managed to turn his out of control tumble into a skid and heat swirled around her blade as she gripped it tightly. "But we can't even get near this guy!"

"Well, we can't hurt ours!" Phoenixia called back as the four fighters slowly backed together, a barrage of attacks and energy raining from the balconies in the atrium and failing to penetrate the roaring tornado or the diamond hide of other monsters while the other Agents on the ground unleashed their own attacks to equal zero effect.

"Don't worry, I got this!" The four looked up to see Jared leaping down from a balcony, drawing back the Boomhammer high above his head. The ogre barely had time to look up before the Agent slammed his weapon down upon him with a cry of 'BOOMHAMMER!'

Everyone present covered their ears as a horrible shrieking sound filled the air, the Boomhammer pouring every ounce of its power into the ogre, it's diamond protrusions howling in protest as cracks splintered all over them and many of them even shattered. A second later, the Boomhammer itself shattered into sound and Jared was sent flying backwards, a timely catch by Michael and the darkness the only thing saving him from smashing his head into the stone behind him.

The ogre howled in true pain, every movement of its shattering more diamonds and it charged forwards, but Tash and Phoenixia were already attacking, the blonde's white-hot sword slicing right through the torso while a point-blank blast from Incandescent Silverreign blew apart it's head.

Ears still ringing from the Boomhammer, Adrian turned to face the whirling tornado of scythes…only to see that last remnants of it vanish into a swirling black hole on the floor, which quickly collapsed in on itself as soon as it's job was done. A quick glance at Michael revealed him leaning heavily on his sword, panting from the exertion.

Though he could not quite hear, Adrian knew he had forgotten about the portal when he saw several Agents' eyes widen and a few more grab their weapon and start moving. Whirling on his heel, he saw another massive figure, larger than any of the previous three actually grabbing the edges of the portal to pull itself into the atrium, it's skeletal hands nearly as large his entire body.

In the next instant, he was sprinting the distance between him and the portal, shouting that it was two-way and it lead them to Aster. He felt rather than heard Phoenixia on his heels, Tash a second later and the more Agents. Then it was all gone as he slammed into the emerging creature's head and shoved it back into the rainbow of the portal, the energy swallowing up his vision.

Insert Jaw-Dropping Reveal Here (part 5 of 5)

"And I'd give up forever to touch you,
Cause I know that you feel me somehow.
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be,
And I don't want to go home right now.

"And all I can taste is this moment,
And all I can breathe is your life.
Sure, sooner or later, it's over.
I just don't want to miss you tonight."
—The Goo-Goo Dolls, "Iris"

-

Adrian the Librarian opened his eyes.

No one else even dared to breathe.

For a long moment, it seemed as though time had ceased, and the entire multiverse had shrunk down encompass five individuals with the shining walls of the little white room as its borders. There were no fandoms. There were no Sues to capture. There were no other Society agents. There wasn't even a Library Arcanium. There was only Adrian, blinking in confusion against the blinding white light and surrounded by those who were now bound closer to him than family.

Tash was the first to move, and her stride and demeanor looked dangerous. Michael was the second to move; he put out a hand to stop her.

"Give him a minute. He's probably disoriented."

The Leader rounded on him. "I don't bloody care if he's bloody disoriented! Adrian, you fucking bastard!" she shouted as her brother attempted to restrain her, "How dare you leave me behind! How dare you knock me out with the specific intention of going off to die! You know I'm supposed to die before you; how dare you break your promise! Well I've got news for you, mister—Tyler and Drake have found and broken through every one of your remaining booby traps, so you have no candy reserves left! None! And Phoenixia is hereby off-limits until I say otherwise! And you are grounded, with no Counter Guardian missions whatsoever; and if the Powers That Be have something to say about that, then I don't bloody care! And you're sleeping on the couch for a month, you bastard! And I'm filling your office with yellow Starbursts!"

Suddenly, the Librarian seemed able to focus, and his gaze stopped on the love of his life. "Oh, come on!" he whined, "The yellow ones are disgusting!"

Letting out a choked sob, Tash threw herself at her lover, trying and failing to simultaneously kiss the life out of him (or back into him, as it happened) and continue her rant, which began to involve expletives in multiple languages. When she finally managed to tear herself away, Michael took his turn with a great bear hug around his best friend, grinning from ear to ear. Aster was completely unable to contain herself—the fae took flight and immediately began circling her friends and zigzagging all around the room, whooping her joy to the world.

In the midst of all this, Adrian spent a long while simply being the most confused he'd ever been in his life. Looking around, he seemed even more puzzled by his surroundings—he could make out a little of the golden designs' meanings on the luminous walls, but that just confused him further. What was he doing here? What were his friends so happy about?

And then he caught sight of the broken Hoshikuzu pendant resting atop the fourth pillar.

Adrian's eyes went wide as everything came back to him in a rush of memories—the invasion, evacuating his friends to the Real World, the battle inside the Pillar of Knowledge, his own death, even his visits to hell and purgatory. He looked at Tash, who was still alternately hugging him and cursing his name. But when she saw his face, she knew.

He swept his lover up in a fierce hug, for once with the intent of finding his own comfort, rather than the other way around. This was a lot to take in, even for him, and he found stability in the familiar scent of her hair. "Tash," he whispered, his throat raw, "How did this happen?"

The slender blonde Leader—Librarian no longer—pulled Adrian down for another kiss, this one gentler than the others. "There'll be time for that later, love. Right now we need to celebrate."

Adrian could only nod as she began to lead him out of the room. Michael quickly followed, rapidly relaying everything the Librarian had missed in his absence and completely unable to stop grinning. Aster brought up the rear, still in flight and still shouting happily in Japanese.

And Valerie?

While Adrian was being welcomed back into the world, Valerie could only take a step backward, and then another, until she was leaning against the curved walls of the shining room. As silently as she could, she slid down the wall and hugged her knees to her chest, tears already pricking at her eyes. By the time the others had left and she was alone, she was sobbing uncontrollably. Tears rolled in rivers down her cheeks until her body trembled with the sheer weight of it all, and still she did not make a sound.

She kept her head bowed, but soon became dimly aware of Kuroneko's light footsteps, followed by those of her teammates. Concern emanated from all of them, but Valerie did not move.

"...It's probably best if we leave her alone," she heard Kuroneko say to the others.

There was a pause as Stacey and Monika exchanged a look.

"No it's not," said Monika.

Stacey and Terrie knelt down and wrapped their arms around their friend while Monika and Danielle, who did not do the hugging thing, sat down across from her and placed a hand on the empath's knees.

Valerie, who was finally feeling the impact of her grief at the death of a friend, grief she had so long suppressed for a death she had so long denied, merely leaned into their touch and cried until she had no tears left.

-o-

"And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming, or the moment of truth in your lies..."

Valerie sang to herself as she worked, for the first time in ages. She was cleaning up the section of the monitor room that had been "hers" for the past few months. In actuality, it had been almost a week since she'd seen it last, the last day or two of which had been busy indeed.

The moment Michael set foot outside of the shining white room into the calm ocean of shadows beyond, the Darkness had roared awake from its forced hibernation, determined to both catch the company off-guard and to make up for lost time. However, lightning-fast, Tash lit a controlled bonfire under the creature's nose, driving the parasite back into the safety of Micheal's mind in a manner that left Adrian both pleased and impressed. Not surprised though. He knew he'd left the Library in good hands.

When discussing how to break the news of his return to the rest of the Society, Adrian was all for simply showing up at breakfast the next morning and waiting for someone to notice (though Phoenixia suspected he had another reason for desiring privacy during his first night back). However, there was no stopping Aster—the little fae had zipped through the building, joyously passing the news around. Given her brief fling with insanity, most of the Library's occupants weren't exactly inclined to believe her, but little by little, they started to grow curious. Only a few hours later, Adrian's booming voice could be heard echoing through the halls in an exasperated shout:

"By the Powers That Be, if I catch one more person peeking into my bedroom door, I will make them dust the encyclopedia shelves until Phoenixia is straight and I'm not! Which is five days after the end of my immortal, eternal life!" This was followed by the sound of a door slamming shut.

In the silence that followed, a small, poorly restrained giggle managed to be heard.

"Can I glomp you?"

And all bets were off after that.

"When everything feels like the movies... Yeah, you bleed just to know you're alive..."

With Adrian's return, the title of Librarian was, by default, passed back to him. However, Tash wasn't exactly willing to step down—partly because she claimed that Michael was a thousand times better Chief Agent than she ever was, but mostly because, now that she had experienced some of what her beloved went through every day, she was determined to ease that burden in any way she could. In the end, the blonde Leader was given an intermediary position, temporarily dubbed "Assistant Librarian" until someone could come up with a cooler-sounding title. Her exact duties were still being worked out, but so far everyone was pleased with the arrangement.

In the end, it was kind of a surprise to find out that, even though everything was different now, very little had actually changed. Rhia still cooked, Tyler still ate, Aster still read manga, Shirley still beat up Ben, Phoenixia still showed off her body at every opportunity, and Valerie still kept mostly to herself and sang softly in the hallways. The worlds continued to turn, just like they had when a life was taken away from them instead of given back. None but those in the Library Arcanium would know of the miracle that had occurred that day. Only this time... this time it felt right.

"And I don't want the world to see me, 'cause I don't think that they'd understand..."

"I'd missed that."

Valerie whipped around in surprise to see Adrian leaning against the doorway, a small smile on his face. It still hadn't stopped being wonderful, seeing the man in mundane, everyday situations, alive as anyone could be, and she couldn't help but smile in return.

"The singing, I mean," he said, shoving off the doorframe and stepping towards her. "Wherever I was before you rescued me, one of the things I really missed was listening to you sing absently as you went about your day."

Valerie blushed, though she was secretly pleased by the praise. "It's not as though it's anything special..."

"Quite the contrary," Adrian interrupted, "Memories of you and Tash and Michael and Aster were what kept me sane. It was all I could think of—finding some way to get back here, to all of you."

The empath covered her reaction with a small chuckle. "Nine months is a long time to wait, I suppose..." Then she laughed. "You're lucky we only have a handful of new agents to introduce to you, Adrian. One of us could've had a baby in the time you were gone!"

A curious expression crossed the Librarian's face. "...Did any of you?"

"No!"

A split second passed, and then they both burst out laughing, tears pricking at their eyes. "Though I suppose it's appropriate, in its way," Adrian decided. "Nine months must be how long it takes for a man to be reborn."

"We were all reborn, Adrian," said Valerie. "One way or another, very very few things are the same as how you left them."

"But it's the important things that are the same."

"Yeah."

Adrian swallowed. "I... I don't know how I could possibly begin to thank you for everything you've done—"

She turned red again. "I just did what anyone here would have done, had they the right set of talents and information," she said hurriedly. "Besides, if you want to thank someone, talk to Kuroneko. She's the one who—"

"I've already spoken to Kuroneko," Adrian interrupted with a smile, "and believe me, she was not nearly so unnecessarily modest! But she did tell me to give you this, and Tash and I both agree you should have it." He uncurled his hand and offered its contents to her: it was the broken Hoshikuzu pendant.

Valerie was confused. "But... aren't you going to fix it?"

He shook his head sadly. "It wasn't just broken that night, Valerie, it was shattered. I doubt there are any sizable pieces left to be found, and everything else was swept away by the wind. It really is just stardust now."

The healer was silent for a moment, then accepted the gift with reverence.

"I don't know what I can begin to do repay you," Adrian said solemnly, "—and don't try to argue with me, because I will!—but I figure this is a start."

"Yeah, well..." Valerie said, her throat beginning to close up, "Just... You'd better not do this again! It was quite a lot of trouble bringing you back, so if you pull any more stupid stunts, then I'll—" but no more words would come through.

"Trust me," Adrian said after a time, "you're not the first person to give me incomprehensible death threats today."

Valerie let out a choked sound that might have been a laugh, and suddenly they were both swept up in each other's arms. And all Valerie was able to do was hold him tightly... and cry. He was here. He was real. He was safe. It wouldn't always be that way, she knew. As Zero had said, everyone dies. But for now, today, their own mortality seemed like such a far-off thing. And maybe, for a while at least, they could pretend it would always be that way.

"Thank you, mi'hala," Adrian whispered hoarsely into her hair. "Not just for this. For everything. I honestly don't know where we'd all be without you."

"Knee-deep in shit, that's where," the empath replied with a tearful laugh.

"And we'd all do best to remember it!" he finished, releasing her and holding her at arm's length. He looked her over a time or two, and smiled at what he saw. "You're different too, you know," he said finally. "I mean, you've always been different, but you're different than how you were before."

"Yeah," said Valerie. "I am."

After a moment, Adrian gave a small sigh. But the smile remained. "I should get going," he said. "There's so much I've got to catch up on, but I just wanted to come in and say that. The thank-you bit, I mean. And—"

"Relax, Adrian," Valerie said with a smile. "I will definitely be seeing you around."

"And that," he said, "is one of the best bits of news I've heard all day."

"Not the best?" she teased.

"Oh, I think you know what the best was," he replied, grinning. "See ya!"

Valerie watched him as he left, the familiar swish of his trenchcoat so wonderful in her ears. "See you, Adrian," she said softly.

And she was alone again.

Except... she wasn't alone. She'd never been alone in her entire life, and it had taken her twenty-two years and the uncannily accurate advice of a brand new ally to realize it.

In her life—but especially in the past two years of it—Valerie had met more people and been to more places than she might have ever imagined. As anyone in the Society could attest, life in the Library was a dream come true for those who wanted more from life than Reality could offer, for those who turned to books and stories for the release to travel to far-distant places... for those who wanted, more desperately than anything else, to believe that magic was real. And yet none of the, not one, spoke of a deep feeling of connection, of unity with something larger every time they used their powers or special skills. Of hopes and fears so basic and universal that they were impossible to ignore!

Valerie didn't know whether this feeling was unique to herself or something everyone had the potential for but didn't quite know how to access. She certainly hadn't had access to it before, although she knew deep down that it was there. Everything is connected, deep down, she thought. And now, because of what happened, we've drawn that connection a little closer to the surface.

It was at once the loneliest and least lonely feeling in the world.

Without knowing precisely why, the empath turned to her monitor and keyed in a set of coordinates that she had come to know quite well of late. A small plothole opened behind the monitor, and through it she could see that familiar grassy knoll where she knew someone was awaiting her return.

"When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am..."

Valerie gripped Hoshikuzu tightly, smiled, and stepped through the plothole.

"I just want you to know who I am..."

-o-

The man who called himself Zero was waiting for her.

Valerie looked at him and resisted the urge to smile—he looked so like Adrian, it was hard not to. There were several key differences though: light, mousey brown hair instead of white; pale pink eyes instead of violet; and, of course, the distinct lack of cat features. Of them, the latter probably made the most sense. Zero was a genetic replica of Adrian created by Runoa, and the Librarian's furry features were added by Tash and not an inherent part of his DNA.

When he saw her, he stood up and approached her, all the time wearing that odd little half-smile she'd come to associate with him. "Did it work?" he asked.

She nodded. "But it's probably best if Adrian's return is kept a secret for now. We finally have an advantage that Runoa doesn't know about. I'd like to keep it that way for as long as possible."

Zero nodded in understanding. "With the Sovereigns and Silri running around, you'll need every ace-in-the-hole you can get your hands on."

Valerie clasped her hands behind her back. "I... I also wanted to thank you. For what you said before. Empathy may be a calling, but any calling requires passion... and passion is the first thing to go when you calling turns into your job. It made me bad at what I do, and everyone almost suffered for it."

He smiled. "Nah, you would've found a way."

She rolled her eyes. "How, oh smart one?"

"I dunno. I just know that you would have." He continued grinning at her.

Valerie drew in a breath to retort... and then let it out as a sigh. Zero was nothing like Adrian, but something told her he was good all the same. "I know it's kind of a funny thing to say, since I'm not going anywhere, but... I'm glad I got to meet you." She bit her lip in thought, and then smiled as she looked up at him again, drawing something from her pocket. "Adrian gave me this, but... I get the feeling you should have it. Tash doesn't need it anymore and... well, neither do I, really. So here." She handed it to him and smiled when he took it gently in one hand. "Maybe you can think of something appropriate for it."

Zero looked at the Hoshikuzu pendant thoughtfully. Valerie noticed that the cut in his hand had already healed over. "It's good," he said slowly, "knowing I have a friend around somewhere. You don't come across those too often, especially not in my case."

"What do you mean?"

He chuckled and pocketed the trinket. "I'm on the run, remember? Maybe Runoa doesn't think I'm worth chasing, but Order isn't going to let me live, and neither will Creation. And in case you hadn't noticed, it's rather difficult keeping your whereabouts a secret from a pack of near-omniscient beings."

"Then come live at the Library," Valerie said earnestly. However, the smile fell from her face as Zero burst out laughing. "What?" she asked, vaguely insulted.

"Don't misunderstand me," he said, still chuckling, " Technically, I am a Gary-Stu. Even if it's not the basement I hang out in, I'd still be a prisoner there. No matter how pretty it is, a cage is still a cage."

"We'll prohibit you. After two hours, we'll know you can be trusted and you'll be free to come and go as you please. We can protect you, Zero!"

"Not happening," Zero said as the healer's eyes widened. "First of all, don't make the mistake of thinking I need protecting—I said it'd be difficult, but not impossible. Not even remotely impossible. And second of all..." he paused to gather his thoughts. "Even though world domination does not interest me the way it does most Stus, I take enjoyment and pride in my abilities and have no wish to relinquish them." With a smirk, the replica summoned a plothole behind him and slowly stepped through. "I get the feeling we'll meet again soon, Valerie. I certainly hope we do."

And he was gone, leaving Valerie wondering in increasing apprehension if she had just made a grave mistake.

-o-

Zero smiled as he stepped out of the plothole and surveyed his surroundings. He had arrived at a craggy cliffside, somewhere near the ocean if the smell of salt water was any indication. That was good, he liked cliffs. They made him feel as larger-than-life on the outside as he did on the inside.

This one, however, was doubly nice. There were boulders and other such giant rocks, but there was also greenery and plant life—grass beneath his feet and leafy branches overhead, even a handful of rosebushes, though the Powers That Be knew how they thrived in the salty air. The sunset darkened the budding red blossoms a deep indigo color, almost violet, and Zero just had to laugh at the irony.

He took Hoshikuzu out of his pocket.

Valerie was right, of course. There was no more need for stardust in the world, because stardust was everywhere—hell, people were made of it. So was everything else, for that matter. It connected everything in the universe, deep down. So what did it matter if one sword, however powerful and symbolic, was broken? It just meant that it was time for a fresh start.

It was then that Zero realized that Valerie was right about something else as well: he did know what to do now.

He looked around for a moment, and spotted a tree growing on the edge of a narrow piece of rock jutting over the cliffside. It was a young tree, barely a sapling, really, and the cliff hung so far over the side it was dizzying. It would break apart and fall into the ocean below someday, he knew. But for now, it suited his purposes just fine.

He chose a branch at about eye level, and hung Hoshikuzu by its string, where the little pendant dangled and swung in the breeze. He then took a moment to dig around in his trenchcoat pockets until he found a small, unlined notebook bound in black. In actuality, it was one of Creation's unused sketchpads, and Zero had nabbed it the day before he left Runoa's fortress as one last "Take that" to his creator. A cheap and probably useless shot, he knew, but he hadn't exactly been in a proper state of mind that day. But there was a miniature pencil attached, so it too served his purposes, even if he hadn't known that at the time.

In spiked, slanted handwriting, he wrote:

Journal: Final entry.

I doubt anyone will read this. By the time this book is found, it'll probably be underwater somewhere, completely illegible. Regardless, fictional characters don't mean much in the grand scheme of things, but that doesn't mean it doesn't mean something to me.

Willowe said that Sues and Stus lock themselves into a never-ending cycle corrupting and conquering. Silri said that she and I were born as nothing but weapons for those who would use us, and that it's impossible to escape that. Runoa said it was my purpose in life to be a relentless hunter who would never stop until I achieved my goals. All three of them were right, but Valerie helped me realize something else:

Every door swings both ways.

Runoa and the Sovereigns are powerful, far more powerful than anyone save Adrian might realize. Silri is confused, but she's a loose cannon and loose on the worlds; there's no telling what havoc she might cause. Willowe... Willowe died a broken woman, and there was nothing anyone, not even herself, could do to save her from that. "Being born into perfection eventually corrupts us all," she said. "We keep doing the same thing over and over again, always expecting a different result. And yet we can't stop."

I wasn't born into perfection—I was created. And that puts me in a unique position indeed.

There Zero paused in his writing a moment, pondering to himself exactly what that position would be...

Adrian had a purpose in life from the moment he was born to the moment he died, he wrote, and that purpose defined him in ways even he didn't realize. But I think I understand now, what it means to be a hero. It's not about giving up your life in order to save others, it's about being the kind of person that others would go to impossible lengths to save.

The Society's enemies are powerful, but so am I. Runoa thinks she's always three steps ahead, but I'm the one thing she can't predict. I'll be the wild card in this game of hers, and when the time finally comes that she backs herself into a corner, I know exactly where I'll be standing. Look out world. I won't be in hiding for much longer.

Zero paused again, biting the tiny pencil in thought before continuing.

It's a strange feeling. I suppose I should be nervous, or at the very least questioning my own existence, what with being Adrian's replica and all... but there doesn't seem to be a point to either exercise. Sure, I'm different from everyone else, but who isn't? That's another decision I've made lately: it's not the destination that counts, and certainly not the starting point—the former is the same for everyone, and the latter does nothing but give you the basic tools for your journey. And it's the journey that matters the most in life, because of the people you meet and the person you become along the way. Simple as that. If nothing else, that is what I will remember.

I wonder what adventures I'll have?

I guess I'll find out, won't I?

And he closed the book.

Gently, carefully, Zero set the little notepad against the trunk of the tree so that it rested directly beneath the pendant, nestled between two roots. It wasn't much of a marker, since neither the pendant nor the book were particularly noticeable unless you were looking for them. In fact, he realized with a small chuckle, it wasn't even a marker for anything anymore—Adrian was alive now. But then, maybe it could mark something else entirely: not a death, but new life. More than one, actually.

"Damn-fool lucky is what you are," Zero said softly. "Type IV Immortal or not, you would have died, but for an extremely unlikely set of circumstances. You really gotta wonder what that says about the validity of destiny. Not that I'd trade places with you for anything, but I gotta admit, you've got some pretty cool friends." A wind blew up, and he chuckled to himself. "We'll meet someday," he said. "Maybe not someday soon, but when you're ready to meet me and I'm ready to meet you, we'll find our way to each other... And then I've got some questions for you. After all, what kind of Librarian leaves his help desk empty?"

He did not expect an answer, though, for all he knew, there might have been one. This cliff was narrow and uneven, destined to break apart and be swallowed by the ocean someday. And yet the trees were strong and unyielding, and their roots ran thick and deep. Roots break rocks apart, but they can hold them together too. Just as the rosebushes shouldn't have been there, but were, perhaps the cliff itself would defy all logic and cling to life. Maybe the trees would die, and the ocean would claim this place, as it eventually claimed everything. Maybe the little crystal pendant and the notebook would wash away, never to be seen again. But maybe they wouldn't. Maybe this place would survive.

Hoshikuzu swung back and forth on its string, and the pages of the little black book fluttered in the breeze. Zero smiled, and turned to leave.

Maybe someone would find it one day.

-o-

Valerie quickened her pace as she strode up the Library's hallway. Despite being worried about Zero, she had decided to keep his existence a secret for the moment. He certainly wasn't against the Society, and while he wasn't quite with them, he still had a right to his own path in life. She just hoped that it wouldn't force Zero and her friends to cross swords someday... because she wasn't quite sure which side would need her most if it came to that.

But that was put out of her mind as she rounded the corner, for something else had caused the healer to quicken her step. Mingling with her own worry was an air of tension, of fear and worry in the Library. Something had happened while she was out... something bad.

"Valerie."

At the sound of her name, she stopped as Adrian emerged from a doorway, a silvery trenchcoat flapping on his heels. Though barely a few hours ago, he had been laughing and relaxing and happy, it was like that had never happened now. Every inch of his body was in combat readiness, but she could feel the hot anger roiling just beneath the surface and the fury burning in his violet eyes.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"Go get Aimee and Miriku and equip yourselves with whatever healing kits you think you'll need. Then give field first aid kits to all the Agents, ASAP. We're probably not going to have time to evacuate back to the Library on the battlefield."

"What? I don't think we have anything—Adrian what are you talking about?" Valerie had to hustle as he moved past her, pulling out his communicator to talk to someone. "What's happening?"

"I know it's sudden, but we're mustering the entire Society into this mission." His grip tightened on his communicator so much it creaked in protest. "Aster's been taken... by Runoa."




Note: This Zero is not to be confused with Agent Zero. Agent Zero was a one-off villain and is now dead. This Zero shall be around for quite a while yet...

There's An Ak'Zahar In The Library!

Cristoph left Rhia tucked up in bed in her darkened room and made his way to the hospital wing. The Library was nearly silent today, with nobody in sight; unusually so following the chaotic battle of yesterday. Or at least, it may once have been thought of as unusual.

However, less than ten yards from the door to the hospital, the tranquillity was shattered by a scream ripping through the air. Cristoph instinctively pressed himself to the shadowed wall, holding his left arm in front of him to protect it from further injury. The pain shot down his wrist and he bit his lip until he could stand to move it again.

He glanced towards the double doors to the hospital; that cry had been one of sheer agony, and the low keening sound coming from the same voice had not stopped. He edged to the door and slipped inside, in time to hear a second scream, lower and much more teary than the first.

"Cristoph? I was wondering when you would show up," came a voice to his left.

"Lady Valerie…" He smiled weakly at the healer. The curtains were drawn around a bed in the far end of the room, and there was desperate movement coming from within – and yet more cries of pain. The sight stole the words from his mouth.

"Let's have a look at your wrist." She took his elbow and guided his arm forwards, gently pulling back his sleeve to reveal the splinted support bandage. She judged her actions by his facial expression, cupping the injured joint in her hands. Instantly it felt a little better. "The swelling's going down. Bruise is quite a pleasing array of shades…"

"Hmm."

"…there's definitely a break. Feels quite clean. I'll take another X-ray tomorrow, perhaps. I think with the splint and myself you should be fine within three weeks."

"Thank you."

Valerie replaced the bandage, then picked up a square of fabric from the table behind her. "Could I persuade you to wear a sling at least for the first week?"

Cristoph was about to refuse, but when Valerie folded the cloth into a triangle he saw that it was black on the outside. The care shown at customising the bandage made him smile, and he allowed her to tie the sling around his arm and neck. The extra support was a relief, but he still felt ridiculous.

"It's been rather quiet otherwise…" Valerie cringed as the shriek of distress coursed through the hospital again, and she sighed.

"Most of those who were scratched or cut by the Ak'Zahar are rather ill today, and they've taken to their beds," said Cristoph, wariness permeating every word.

"I know. We've been getting reports all day. That venom is…" She swallowed hard. "How many at the last count?"

"How many? Eleven, I think…Tash, Michael, Ben, Dave, Harriet, Ingrid, Drake, Tom, Chrys, Miriku…and Rhia."

Over the last night things had gone from bad to worse. Everyone had patched up their wounds as normal – some had been so lightly cut during the skirmish that they had thought little of it. However nobody expected the effects that the Ak'Zahar's venom would have. The first thing Valerie had known was that Lily and Claire had come to her at around two a.m. both reporting that their boys were sick: a very pale Ben had fled to the bathroom after tossing and turning for a few hours, and Michael had collapsed in his attempt to get a glass of water. Their temperature had skyrocketed; Michael had a fever of 102.8. Valerie ordered the two straight back to bed, which neither complained about – but by then more concerned reports of heavy flu-like symptoms had come in, even from people she had no idea were actually there during the mêlée; she had identified that all the wounds inflicted by the Ak'Zahar appeared darkly bruised, their immune systems struggling against the unknown poison in their bodies.

Cristoph was actually the better off out of all who were injured; with his skin not broken the Ak'Zahar venom had not affected him. It was the closest thing the Society had ever had to an epidemic; thankfully the work was quiet, and there was no infection involved.

"Are you not able to do anything?"

Valerie shook her head, biting back several things she wanted to say. "No… they should… they should be fine in a few days. I've seen improvement already. The venom appears weak against otherwise healthy people. One of us will go around and check on them all later."

The same could not be said for the one who was even further beyond Valerie's help; who had nearly died from her encounter with the vicious, inhuman vampires. Yet more cries punctuated the stillness of the hospital; only this time they were weaker, and carried words.

"Ah – it – Louise – ahhhh!"

The curtain was shoved aside and Aimee hurried to the open collection of bottled medicines and drugs, filling a needleless syringe with a white liquid. Louise knelt on the chair next to the bedside, her hands clutching her friend's and whispering to her incessantly. Phoenixia, her scrubs revealing the least amount of skin many had ever seen, worked frantically on the other side of the bed. Her clothes and even her hair were spattered with blood and streaks of dark sludge, and above her surgical mask her eyes were fixed in a scowl. Alice screamed again – long and loud – her legs thrashing and twitching beneath the blanket and being held down by Louise. Aimee returned with her syringe; Phoenixia barely looked up from her work, only to nod towards the IV line. The curtain was closed behind her.

"Sweet Kami…" Cristoph whispered. "What's happened to her?"

Valerie seemed to deflate as the scene played out. "Alice has been affected by the venom worst of all. We didn't think… we got to the trauma long within the hour, we flushed the wounds; they should have been clean so we stitched them up…which we shouldn't have done, because they were hell to take out this morning. I wish we had known about the venom's delay beforehand. It keeps coming back, keeps swelling up and making it hurt badly. It's too much for her… this looks like the third time we've had to sedate her today. We can't keep doing this."

"Is there not a – a cure? An antidote?"

"It's… a little more complicated than that. The Ak'Zahar aren't poisonous like snakes or scorpions; they are in the same way as putting curare on an arrow. And the way it just builds up over time – Phoenixia said something a few hours ago about taking a culture to see what it really is, because antibiotics are working against it."

"So she will be all right, yes?"

Valerie sighed. "She is no longer in danger of death… we have no idea how this is going to proceed. I haven't talked to Phoenixia yet. And remember, Rhia was one of the blood donors… and today she's sick."

"More venom in the system." Cristoph grimaced, then noticed a few books and a TV feed from the Monitor Room spread across the corner table. "Research?"

"I took a leaf out of Alice's book. The fandom itself isn't promising; people are dying in droves, though I keep telling myself that is because they don't have the facilities we do… also the Ak'Zahar have been referenced in other texts, always with fear, and there's little to do with treating any injuries inflicted. Oh, and according to Akai, the Sues in the basement were clamouring to know what the din was yesterday – it was rather loud down there apparently – she eventually told them, and only one of them knew what the Ak'Zahar were and she hid under her blanket in terror."

He noticed then that the hospital was now quiet again. The curtains were once again drawn back, and Phoenixia, head bowed, walked to a chair on the other side of the room and slumped, pulling off her surgical mask and sighing. She shook her head when Valerie went to speak.

Louise still sat by Alice's side. She had refused to leave that seat for any period longer than ten minutes. Cristoph ventured towards her, placing a gentle uninjured hand on her back; she looked up at him briefly, but said nothing. Alice was unconscious, the blanket twisted around her and the loose gauze covering her arm already spotting red…

"I…forgive me, but I think I should return," he mumbled.

Cristoph shared the small and rather depressing update with the others who, like him, were still well and were acting almost as nursemaids to those that were ill. There were a few grumbles about having to do this, but they were friends and in many cases significant others – they all mucked in. They received the news in thoughtful silence.

After checking on a few other poorly agents he finally slipped back into Rhia's room. The light was dim, but he was unhindered; he checked the bucket by her bed and was relieved to still find it clean. She was tucked up in a brightly-striped duvet, dead to the world.

"Lady Rhia?" he whispered softly, crouching by the bed and placing the back of his hand on her burning forehead.

"Nnnnnnhhhh."

He smiled, and settled down to watch her.

OoO

"It hurts… it's burning!"

"I know it hurts. Allie, look at me – "

"I can't – stand – "

"Shh. You'll be fine, okay?"

"Make it stop – it – uhhh – "

"Allie – "

"Ahhhh!"

For the fifth time today the same frantic tableau was being played out. The Ak'Zahar venom had broken through the potent painkillers once more, swelling the weeping wounds and bringing Alice round from her drugged stupor into a world of living nightmares and agony. The medical team worked once more in the continuing siege on Alice's right arm, Aimee as assistant and Valerie stopping Alice from flailing around. Louise held Alice almost on her left side, hands holding her head so all Alice could see was her best friend, preventing her from seeing the bloody work on her arm – but she couldn't prevent her from feeling it.

Phoenixia had scrubbed up hurriedly and was hastening to flush the long gashes, cursing inwardly all the while; she damn well should have known about the venom and what it would do. She had made this mistake, this oversight, and Alice was suffering for it. Now she had this struggle on her hands, this and now with nigh-on a quarter of the Society incapacitated…

Alice was losing strength each time this happened. She was at constant risk of going back into shock. Rhia, Claire and Ossa's blood donations had saved her life yesterday; but they still had to keep her pumped full of fluids just to keep going, and that was before the venom swung into play. She suffered the flu-like symptoms too, her hospital gown soaked with sweat, but this was barely noticed past the injury to her arm.

It was hurting Valerie too, being unable to help, unable to do anything but hold Alice's ankles to stop her from thrashing around and injuring herself more. She kept an eye on Phoenixia, growing increasingly worried about how far the ex-hologram was pushing herself and neglecting food and rest.

She was at her wit's end. Morphine was about as effective as water at the moment, forcing them to use much more potent and complex analgesics; but giving her any more was likely to kill her. Aimee scurried back over to the medicine cabinet to collect yet another dose of the only other thing that could prevent the pain – a heavy sedative to knock Alice out instead. They were approaching overdose with that too…

Louise sensed Phoenixia falter in her work; Alice's arm was a complete mess and no-one risked bandaging it up again.

"Phoenixia?"

"There's got to be something else… instead of drugging her again…"

"Nixie?" came Aimee's voice from the cabinet. "Problem, we've only got a fifth of a Propofol dose left…"

Phoenixia sighed. "That's practically useless… look for another!"

"I don't know what I'm looking for!"

"Give her what we have – I'll be over in a tick…"

Louise remained at Alice's side, watching; the sedative wasn't kicking in, and Alice remained staring at her.

Phoenixia leaned on the cabinet shelf in despair, speaking softly. "This can only go on for so long, before we start risking brain damage from all the drugs…but we can't stop because the venom isn't letting up. And I'm worried…"

Valerie placed a hand on her back. "What about?"

"No. Not until it gets to that stage…"

"Phoenixia – what?"

She sighed. "I'm fearing for the limb's viability. If the venom doesn't abate it could poison her blood. I'm trying everything I can to prevent it and get her arm back to use, but there may be a point where our only course of action is to… amputate."

"What?" Louise's head whipped round, her face aghast. She slipped from her chair and shot over. "You can't be serious!"

"Look, we may have no choice! Would you rather she – I've fought enough on her to not let her die – "

"But that's her right arm, and she's right-handed – she draws, writes, uses her sword with that hand – "

"I know!" Phoenixia shouted. Louise only barely held herself back from storming from the room – she had to be here for Alice. But the ex-hologram sighed and sank into a chair. "I know what she'd be losing. But if the other choice is potentially her life… I promise I will fight to keep her in one piece."

Louise, as well as Valerie and Aimee, was silent. But over on the bed, the news filtered in through Alice's hazy senses, and she screamed again, thrashing weakly against the bedsheets. The team returned to their old positions, a slight feeling of bleakness among them, trying to stop Alice's panic.

"What would you do?" Phoenixia sounded exhausted. "You've sat at her side for long enough."

Louise's head dropped from the old guilt of leaving her in the tunnels to Tiarond. "I'd want Alice to get better, and stop suffering."

Valerie nodded in silent response, and Aimee said, "If only we could get Alice to sleep more. Sleep where the pain doesn't keep breaking through."

"There is… I think there is something else we could do," said Phoenixia softly. "Something that will give us a better chance of saving her arm without Alice coming in and out of distress. We could drug her deeper, get her through these next few days without this…"

"Isn't that what they do on TV?" said Louise.

Phoenixia looked uncomfortable.

"What?"

"If we do this, it could be very dangerous. It'll be almost to the level of anaesthetic. We'll have to watch her at all times. She won't be asleep; she won't just be unconscious either, she won't be able to breathe by herself."

Louise had a moment to take in what she was saying, and what it meant. "You mean…she'll be in a coma – "

"No," said Phoenixia hurriedly. "No. Not really. I can bring her out of it at any time."

"But will it help her?"

"Yes…"

"And will it help you?"

Phoenixia couldn't answer.

"Do it, Phoenixia."

Then Valerie intervened. "Louise, she can't just drug her into unconsciousness – we need her permission – "

"She's in no state to give it! Look at her!" snapped Louise.

"You're not – "

"Please…" Alice cried, almost in response. " – oh God make it stop!"

"That's consent enough for me," whispered Phoenixia. Valerie was approaching tears at Alice's sudden lucidity.

"Allie, are you sure?" asked Louise, feeling the squeeze on her hand.

Phoenixia vanished off back to the medicine cabinet, and Valerie hustled Louise from Alice's bedside. "Putting her under is going to take us some time, and until then we need to work cleanly. I'll let you back in the moment she's stable, okay?"

"Val – "

The empath fixed her with a stern look. "Come on. I know you want to stay. But not now. Not through this."

Louise left under somewhat teary protest. The medical staff started the risky procedure, and Valerie went to make an announcement to the small group of sound agents who had gathered in a TV room.

"Okay guys, news might have spread already, but we have had to put Alice under." Frantic shocked whispers began. "Everyone else looks to be recovering in a few days. We're setting up a low-level isolation protocol in the hospital. From now until the threat to Alice's arm has passed, if you are entering the wing – sleeves up, tie back long hair, and use the alcohol gel up to your wrists. We're moving Alice to a corner, and there will be tape on the floor to section off her right half – nobody crosses that line except the medical staff. I'm restricting visitors to two at a time; and I'm sorry, but paraphernalia will have to wait – I know someone's sending round a little Get Well card, and you're going to have to hang onto it at least until Alice wakes up."

The murmurs quietened, some faces of dismay amongst the crowd. Someone asked, "Will she be okay?" to which came the reply, "I think this will significantly increase her chances." She neglected to say anything about the looming risk of amputation.

Back inside the wing, Louise paced around the entrance area, waiting and hoping that someone would come and collect her. A small part of her wanted to flee back to the sanctity of her room, or to someone she knew; but there were very few people that were as close to her as Alice, and she couldn't bring herself to tell her family anything. With Alice being an only child, and Louise only having brothers, the two were as sisters to each other.

Eventually Aimee came and fetched her, and she took her seat at Alice's bedside again.

Alice, at the mercy of the medical staff, had been plunged so deep she was completely unresponsive. This dangerously preserved state saw almost her entire body's systems hooked up and monitored by the machines. But most obviously, her face; eyelids taped shut to protect her eyes, and her breathing sustained only by the tubes in her mouth and nose.

It took all Louise's strength to stay from bursting into floods of tears; the guilt threatened to swamp her. But for now, this was the right choice…

OoO

Phoenixia lay on top of a hospital bed, her much-needed sleep evading her. She had got up twice already to check on Alice's monitor, which hadn't changed in the last several hours, and this was the second day. Pacing up and down and prowling the gloomy and silent hospital wing were only sending her mind into more of a wide-awake flurry. So she lay there, trying not to stare at the ceiling, the dim light sending faint patterns across the backs of her eyelids.

You tended to think a lot about the person you operated on, wonder about them, imagine what they'd say if they knew what you were doing to them. Their life was in your hands. It was one of the many reasons doctors and surgeons were often not permitted to treat their own family or friends.

But she hadn't had a choice. It had been operate or die. The blasted vampires just made everything worse.

Phoenixia had found herself thinking about Alice a lot over the past days. She had grown fond of her, as one would for a young relative. She was bubbly, optimistic and friendly overall; when it came to romance she was all 'cute and innocent', missing innuendo and pulling faces at obvious making out. It was not a façade either, as evidenced by her overwhelmingly happy cluelessness after she had lost her virginity on the Rome mission, at least until they got back to the Library. Phoenixia found her sweetness adorable, and had briefly wondered what it would be like to sleep with her…but had discarded the thought just as quickly as a mere flight of fancy. Besides, Alice had said as much to her once; breasts 'just didn't do it'.

The first four words that had come from Alice's mouth when they had been first properly introduced was 'Can I glomp you?'. Phoenixia, suspecting nothing, had agreed with a shrug – then regretted it as she was enveloped in the most rib-squishingly hug she had ever experienced. Alice was strong enough to even lift her off her feet and twirl her around! It was only the beginning of her legendary glomps as she sought out everyone in turn, and openly telling the stories the other people in Real Life who had arm-shaped bruises after they had chanced across the girl at conventions or shows. However she always asked first, would give gentle hugs if asked, and would even refrain without question or protest if she was told no.

But Phoenixia now knew all this was a veneer, merely what she presented on the outside. A thick, hard-to-break, reinforced by a somewhat pragmatic optimism veneer, but one nonetheless. At the core was a very different Alice: desperately clingy and deeply insecure, completely unsure of herself, and utterly terrified that she would be left alone and friendless. It explained her desire to please, to assist wherever she could, and her fierce defence of her friends and her generally easy making of them. It also explained why Louise wasn't leaving her side right now.

She opened her eyes, and that was a mistake. The soft glow of the hospital stung her eyes, and initiated a headache to pound behind her forehead. She groaned softly and levered herself up to sit on the bed. The brightest glow came from the corner, drawing her inexorably towards it.

Louise seemed constantly glued to her seat, having borrowed a pillow from a nearby empty bed and draped it against the bed rail. She had the slow breathing of the deeply asleep. She was having trouble sleeping too, but at least when she got to sleep she was out till morning; unlike Phoenixia whose insomnia made whatever doze she managed as light as a feather.

The ex-hologram pulled her rather lank hair over her shoulder, retying it into a simple ponytail. It had been a bright snow-white ever since this ordeal began, maybe because it was easier to clean any muck off, or perhaps because she recalled Alice saying once how much she was enthralled by the silvery tresses…

She went around to the right side of Alice's bed, over the tape line. The life-sign monitor was built into the wall, black with coloured lines and figures reading out everything they needed to know and then some. She gazed at it sleepily, rereading everything twice over…and then she noticed the problem.

A row of silver hearts was scrolling across the top and bottom of the monitor, waving to and fro the moment Phoenixia noticed.

"@…" she sighed. "Get out."

The hearts stopped, but more were beginning to emerge on the sides. Phoenixia glared at the screen closely.

"Don't you understand? No, I guess you don't. Get the hell out of that monitor! You screw it up, and I'll…"

@'s hearts vanished, all but one, sneaking to the middle. A burst of silent computer code gave her reply.

"You're concerned too? Why? Just because Alice released you? It wasn't just her, you know – "

The heart slowly began to fade.

"I'll find who wrote your code, and who sent you out… when I have a moment…" Phoenixia yawned. She took in the monitor again, trying to actually register all the figures.

Hey, you slut!

Phoenixia nearly jumped out of her skin. That voice – her own voice, threaded through with bitter cynicism and an evil delight in tormenting her – was only in her head, but sounded like another her standing right behind her…

The fuck're you doing acting as a doctor? Aren't we delusional all of a sudden! The closest thing to a doctor you are is a nurse stripper.

"I am not… all like that…" She had to lean on the wall just to keep standing up.

Bullshit you aren't. Look at what you've done. LOOK!

Her head snapped round of its own accord, staring at Alice and the situation she had been forced to put her in.

This is all your fault. You aren't a doctor; you're closer to a murderer. All these mistakes you've made. And not just her either, is it?

"No… no… I saved her, we saved her… no…"

Dumb luck. You already missed the venom. Now you're running out of all those nice drugs. And tomorrow it'll be – whoops! There goes an artery!

She was beginning to hyperventilate, tears streaming down her face. She was repeating 'GO AWAY!' in her head over and over, but that voice simply got louder…

You barely know what you're doing… don't you? You're riding on hope and a prayer. But that's pretty much how you choke your way through life, ain't it?

"I do know… I am not like that…" She had to sink into a chair, now leaning over her patient.

Suddenly the voice grew softer, almost insidious.

You've fought a good fight, but it's an uphill struggle… isn't it? Wouldn't it just be kinder to… put her out of her misery?

Phoenixia stifled her gasp.

She's not going to live, you know it. You're just too self-absorbed to admit it, and too much of a bitch to tell the others there's no hope…

"NO! You're lying. You're LYING! I know she's– "

Even though the life-sign monitor had the heart rate lines crossing it, she could not trust it in this moment; she scrabbled for a stethoscope from the side, pulled on the earpieces and near-blindly pressed the bell to Alice's chest, shifting until she could hear it loud and clear.

There it was…

Phoenixia had never been truly 'born'; she had never spent nine months of her life in the womb surrounded by warmth and the comforting sounds of the mother's body around her. But even so, even to her, the low rhythmic throb of Alice's heartbeat was very soothing. The sound drowned out that damned voice in her head at last, proving that she was in the end doing the right thing; and finally, it lulled her to sleep.

OoO

"Louise?"

She stirred from her half-doze, sat as she always was at Alice's bedside. She had barely eaten, spoken or slept for the preceding four days, and except for only a few occasions about once a day, she could not be persuaded to do either.

"You look like death microwaved," said Phoenixia, although she didn't look much better herself.

"Uhhhh," 'said' Louise. She didn't move much, except to get up and stretch her legs and click her elbows when she had been still for too long. Alice was, as she had for the past several days, still and completely oblivious to all around her, and it made Louise somewhat depressed.

Phoenixia's hand pressed itself gently against Louise's chin and turned her head. "Look, I'll tell you what. You've probably heard from one or other of us to look after yourself, and it's not worked, so I'm going to try bargaining… I have a little tidbit of news for you, but I'm not going to tell you anything until and unless you promise to go to bed!"

"Phoenixia…" Louise groaned. "I can't…"

"Alice isn't going anywhere! There's plenty of folk around to look after her, isn't there? Now you look awful and I want you to go and have a decent night's sleep, and I'm bribing you to do it."

"Why can't you just tell me now…?"

Phoenixia poked her. Her good mood – which Louise had only just noticed – was almost infectious, and it made her curious. She accepted Phoenixia's hands in pulling her up out of her chair.

"Tell?"

"Come over here." She guided Louise away from Alice's bed, towards the hospital wing doors. "Now, will you go to bed if I tell you?"

"Mmmm…" Louise nodded sleepily.

"Okay." Phoenixia put an arm round Louise's shoulders, shepherded her out of the doors and into the low-lit corridors. "Well, I think that the Ak'Zahar venom has been all but eradicated from Alice's systems."

The hope filtered into Louise's eyes. "Does this mean…!"

"Yes, it does. I'll be waking her tomorrow, if all is well. She's going to need you, so you need to be as fresh as a daisy."

"I'll set my alarm, I'll go and wash my hair, I'll…"

"Lou, just go and sleep, that's all I ask."

OoO

However, Louise overslept the next morning. She woke at her early alarm, but even though it was the third different clock she had used since she came to the Library she reached over and turned it off, rolled over and went back to sleep. She woke again and glanced at the time – then shot out of bed as she realised she had slept another three hours.

She hurried into the hospital wing still in her pyjamas, rushing to the corner where she had spent the last several days. Phoenixia, who had been working to bring Alice out of the sedation for several hours, shook her head and smiled as Louise approached, her hair sticking up everywhere.

"Morning, Medusa," she quipped.

"Damn you, Phoenixia, you said you'd come and get me!" Louise grumbled.

"Did I?" Phoenixia shrugged. "Oh well. You're up now, aren't you? Means you won't have to wait long for Alice to wake up."

Louise took her usual seat on Alice's left, while Phoenixia worked on the right. Louise looked over at her best friend, and her sorrowful situation, as she had done hundreds of times over the past four days. "How's her arm?" Louise asked.

It was good to see the ex-hologram smile again. "Much better. Swelling's gone, everything's clean, and it's knitting already. I've stitched up some of the smaller wounds. It looks very promising now."

"Will her hand – "

"Lou," Phoenixia interrupted. "One step at a time."

"But it's her right hand, what if she can't use – "

Phoenixia sighed; she knew this was a worry of Louise's on Alice's behalf. "It will be weak for a time. But judging by the fact she had quite a tight grip on my finger earlier on…" She trailed off, tilting her head at Louise.

Louise nodded, taking Alice's left hand as she usually did and watching her friend's face. Her eyes were moving beneath the lids and she was beginning to stir.

"Allie?" said Louise anxiously.

"Give her a moment," said Phoenixia, watching the monitor.

Louise rubbed Alice's hand, whispering softly to her. She felt a gentle pressure on her fingers, increasing gradually…

"Allie…"

Her head moved slowly towards Louise.

"Aaaallie…"

Her soft sing-song voice reached through the last dregs of Alice's unconsciousness, and she opened her eyes. Louise smiled widely.

"There you are."

Alice stared at Louise, but her panic was growing immediately. She slipped her hand out from her grip and reached up the tube taped into her mouth – clutching it and trying to pull it out.

"Alice, don't – " An alarm rang out from the otherwise silent monitor. Phoenixia and Louise tugged Alice's good hand away to prevent her from hurting herself further. They tried to calm her down, and Phoenixia leaned over to fill Alice's blurred view.

"Alice, look at me, hon," she said clearly. "Do you know who I am?"

Alice blinked, recognised her and her white hair and nodded, then winced silently as her lips moved around the slender tube.

"Good, that's good. Don't try to speak, it probably hurts."

Alice nodded again.

"Okay, now listen, Alice. You're all right, but we've had to help you. I'm going to put you on a spontaneous breathing trial. This means that, for the next two hours, I'm going to let you breathe under your own power but still hooked up to the machine so I can keep an eye on you. If all goes well, at the end of the two hours I'll take the tube out. Okay?"

It took her a moment to understand what she was saying, but nodded for a third time, and relaxed at last. Phoenixia gently ruffled her hair, making sure the tape holding the tube secure would not be dislodged by Alice's nodding, and lifting the bed so she was sitting up a little more.

"It's good to have you back with us, girl. Lou, I'll find you a notebook…can Allie write with her left hand?"

"We'll see," said Louise, slipping a pen into Alice's hand and putting her glasses carefully on her face.

Alice blinked as the world came back into focus and slowly gripped the biro, but turned her head to watch what Phoenixia was doing with the scary-looking machine to her right. Then she felt the artificial support drop, forcing her to suddenly regain control of her own body; she struggled for a moment, but at last she drew in breath by herself. It was still a very awkward and unnatural feeling, even with a little sedative remaining to allow her to tolerate it; she placed the pen on her bed and once more reached up to where her airway was connected to the machine – and once more Louise and Phoenixia stopped her.

"You're doing well. Don't worry," smiled Phoenixia. "Louise will stay with you."

Alice looked back to her left, at her best friend. Louise gave her the pen again, and slowly she scribbled it on the proffered note pad. The ink started flowing, and Alice wrote a large and scratchy 'Where?' on the paper.

"You're still in the hospital wing."

Alice's right arm twitched; the hand gripping the cushion. 'What?' she wrote.

"What? What do you mean?"

She underlined the word with a thin wavy line, then drew an arrow pointing to herself.

"What happened to you?"

Alice nodded.

Louise was glad there were only a few people in the wing at the time, for this one-sided conversation would otherwise make her very self-conscious. The ever-bouncy and hug-loving Alice being reduced to utter silence was unnerving…almost frightening. She started her explanation from what she knew of the Ak'Zahar attack; Alice stared around the hospital in immediate fear, but calmed as Louise assured her that her friends had managed to deal with them. Louise jumped from point to point but lost Alice quite soon. She could not remember anything past the Monitor Room. Louise brought her up to date, having reached the detail of having to drug her to save her from the pain of the venom.

Alice's eyes widened as Louise's tale sunk in. She put the pen down again and her hand reached for her friend's, slipping over the low bed rails. Louise smiled earnestly at her.

The pen was lifted again, and Alice wrote 'What is th…' before the dark blue faded swiftly to white. Alice shook the pen, winced as the effort hurt, and Louise tried to rekindle the ink flow but to no avail. Clearly annoyed at the blockade of communication, Alice threw the pen over the end of her bed – much to Phoenixia and Valerie's surprise – pulled Louise's arm over the bed rail, and tapped her wrist twice.

"What is it, Allie?"

She tapped her wrist again, and in a flash Louise realised what she was doing. She only had one hand to do it with, but she still had a way of talking to her.

The two, mostly goaded on by Alice's obsession of researching all kinds of random stuff but encouraged by Louise's highly indulged-in hobbies, had once pooled their varying resources and learnt a few words and phrases in British Sign Language. Neither had a reason for it aside from interest, and neither were anywhere near fluent, but once again Alice's relentless studies had proved valuable.

Time?

"It's… uh… it's just gone eleven in the morning."

Alice shook her head, frowning at her lack of sentences. She tapped Louise's wrist again, thought, then turned her palm face-up and moved it up and down. Time… today?

"Oh. It's, uh, the seventeenth. You've been out for four days…"

That was what Alice wanted, and she sank back into her pillows, trying to take it in. It was more than just four days; she had lost an entire week, as she had returned from The Shadowleague fandom on the eleventh. She was still not used to breathing like this, and a tiredness nagged the back of her mind.

"Allie? You're going to be all right… your arm is healing now."

Alice looked at the loose bandages swathing the limb. She reached over and carefully touched her upper arm.

"Does it hurt?" asked Louise, concerned at Alice's wince.

Alice nodded once, then her hand with little finger and thumb extended waved like a see-saw. Good/Bad, not sure.

"Well, that's better than you were…" Louise stopped before she said anything more.

Alice didn't pick up on it, and made another sign: a hand flat on her chest sliding off to make the thumbs-up.  How are you?

Louise sighed. "I'm just happy you're back."

Alice pointed to her, then held her cupped hand to the side of her head. You slept?

Louise mumbled softly and nodded. "They kind of made me go back to my own room last night. I've been here otherwise."

Alice reached down and pulled Louise's hand closer, unfolded the fingers flat and tapped her own hand on the edge. Work?

It was the best she could do in asking how the interview went, knowing only some words. Louise's shoulders sank; being reminded of the interview invited in a twinge of guilt, but to Alice she only shook her head. "Nope. Didn't get it."

Alice scowled. Usually she would have launched into a tirade of 'what bastards these people were to dare reject her housemate'. Louise found them amusing, if a little silly, knowing she was only talking hot air to cheer her up. Alice did the next best thing and bumped her fist repeatedly against the side of her head, the little finger extended: Stupid, stupid!

Louise snorted with laughter. "Yeah, aren't they just."

Alice sighed silently, resting in her pillows. Louise told her a little more about the interview, some things she had picked up from it, after which she went onto the escapades of the freshers who had joined their gaming society and her plans for a LARP set on the 1930's Queen Mary. Alice merely nodded at the right points, Louise at times forgetting her friend couldn't speak and asking for ideas that she couldn't give. The two lapsed into companionable silence for a time.

"Louise?" came Michael's voice after some time, breaking through her guilt-tinged reverie.

"Alice is awake!" cheered Claire from the same direction.

The two looked to their visitors, Alice waving a gentle hello to them both.

"Hi, guys," said Louise.

"We just stopped by – we'd heard some rumours of good news filtering through folk today," said Michael.

Louise nodded, informing them of Phoenixia's test for Alice's breathing.

"You'll be back to glomping people in no time!" smiled Claire, coming round to beside Louise. Alice smiled and nodded, then laughed silently and poked her gently as she quipped "Never known her this quiet!"

Claire wore a Grecian-esque lavender top with a black and white Greek key design around the neck; ever since going to Rome, she had loved tops that reminded her of the clothes they had worn for that mission, even going as far as raiding the Library's wardrobe and getting Alice's help in custom-making something pretty with the ever-strange Automatic Tailorisation Machine. Michael, however, looked ready for bed; he wore a loose T-shirt and red and blue pyjama bottoms, both festooned with dragons both large and artistic (on the shirt) and small and cartoony.

"It's good to see you on your feet again, Michael," said Louise. "Everyone else the same?"

"Thanks. Yeah, no longer feel like I want to curl up and die. Most people are better now, too, but still feel a little 'urgh' so there's kinda been mass sick days issued until folk feel like doing anything other than watching movies."

"What did you peak at, in the end?" asked Louise.

"Uhh, what, it was about 104? Damn thing was I was freezing, kept fighting Claire for my quilt."

Alice knew nothing of the large-scale sickness, of course, and stared at the three in quick succession. She looked at Louise and waved her index finger side to side: What?

Claire giggled as it looked like she was telling her off, but Louise explained quickly. "Oh…don't worry, Allie, some people got scratched by the Ak'Zahar and the venom made them ill for a few days." She made the 'OK' sign, which was the same both in general use and in formal sign language.

"So, anyway…"

Alice then waved her hand to catch Michael's attention, glanced at Louise, looked back to him and tapped a bent finger against the bridge of her nose a couple of times.

"Huh?" he voiced.

"So that's how you're communicating…" said Claire.

Louise worked out what she was trying to say. "Allie, which one?" she said, holding her hand out flat. Alice used her hand to make a T-shape. "Ah, okay. Michael, Alice wants to know how Tash is?"

"How'd you figure?" he said, with a note of fascination.

Louise mimicked the finger-to-nose sign. "Sister," she said, " – and she could have signed M, for Miriku," she placed three fingers on the palm of her hand, " – or T."

"Clever," he said, a grin coming to his face. "Yeah, Tash is on her feet too. I think she's plotting something to do with you, Alice, so I'll tell her you're awake."

With the promise of a second visit, soon the pair left the wing, leaving the housemates alone again. Alice looked to Louise, took her arm and signed time again, pointing towards her tube afterwards.

"I think you have about an hour left."

Alice sighed and her head flopped backwards into her pillows.

"I'm sorry… you're beginning to feel it, aren't you?"

Alice nodded, her hand tightening around Louise's before slipping off and resting on the blanket. She then had a thought and pulled Louise's hand up for a third time, making the 'M' symbol demonstrated earlier.

"Uhhh…"

Alice made the 'M' again, pointed to herself, then to her arm, and then to her head. Many signs meant different things depending on the context, and this one was a particular worry of Alice's.

Does my mother know?

"Oh. No, I don't think anyone here's brave enough to have told your mum…and I certainly ain't, you know what she thinks of me!"

"Oh come now Louise, surely Alice's mother isn't that bad?" said Valerie, bustling past.

"You don't know her, Val…when we moved into our flat she pronounced it untidy already, scrubbed the kitchen worktop to within an inch of its life and then nagged us as to how we 'MUST' arrange the damn living room!"

"That's a little invasive, isn't it?" said Valerie, with a hint of shock.

"Alice is an only child, and still her mother goes nag-nag-nag – mostly to lose weight but sometimes to drop everything and go up to see her and never listens to what she says! And you know something, Val…you and her share first names…"

"Is she the person who has all the rumours flying around? The agent's mother who can beat any Sue by nagging them to death but will then turn around and do the same to us?" asked Phoenixia, a smirk coming to her face.

"Oh God yes!"

Alice facepalmed – not technically sign language but effective enough. The three laughed rather guiltily.

"Oh noes, seal the doors and run for the hills, for Mrs. Wood is coming!" giggled Phoenixia. "And she has her feather duster of dooooooom!"

The chortling died down, and Louise turned back to Alice. "Sorry about that, hon."

Alice shrugged, still smiling. Her hand rubbed her stomach.

"Hungry?"

Alice nodded.

"Mmm, we'll see if we can hunt down the nearest cow for you, and chase it through Rhia's hot kitchen. Though you may have to lay off the salt…"

Mentioning Alice's love of steak only made her stomach growl. Both of them knew Alice wouldn't be eating her slab of cow for some time, but seeing the signs of her appetite returning could only be good.

And speaking of food, in came their awaited visitor, bearing the ever-traditional invalid gift of a bag of grapes. Tash bounced in with her arms full, nodding at the medical team and pausing just before Alice's bed.

"Aww, Allie…" she said, smiling forlornly.

Alice rubbed her cheek and held her hand out to the gold-haired leader.

"It's a Tashy!" cheered Louise, on Alice's behalf. Tash approached the bed, about to go around to the right side but stopped as she was about to cross the tape on the floor (Phoenixia clearing her throat also helped) and instead came to hug Louise.

"Hello! I have brought you grapes," she said, proffering the net bag. "But – well, they're green – "

Alice's half-cupped hand circled a few times in front of her mouth, pointing to the bag, and then almost as an afterthought she pointed to Tash and waved her bent index finger in front of her face. Tash looked bamboozled.

"Alice will actually eat fruit, Tash," said Louise. "Oh, and she called you silly."

"Heeey," Tash grinned. "You like fruit? I think I'll get Rhia to test that. Anyway, welcome back to the land of the conscious, hon; we have a small something for you." And she handed Alice a large A3-sized purple envelope with sparkly stickers all over it.

Louise gave her a hand in opening it, revealing an equally-sparkly handmade blue and swirly card with a large 'Get Well Soon Alice' written in bubble writing. Inside were tens of little messages in all kinds of inks and handwriting – practically every member of the Society had signed the card. The sentiment brought tears to Alice's eyes, and she looked at Tash and placed her hand over her heart, then brought it to her lips and moved it away in a single paused movement. You're so kind… thank you.

Louise didn't bother to translate; the gratitude was obvious.

The two talked for a bit, Tash becoming a little more comfortable. Alice only listened, making no signs; she was beginning to blink back sleep and she longed for the two hours to be up.

"…hung over the washing line, you serious?"

"I don't know, something like that."

"Ha! She wouldn't like this place, she'd probably give cleaning all the shelves an actual go…I shouldn't speak ill of anyone's parents, I'm sure she's lovely to live with. Alice?"

Alice twitched as she was addressed, jarring her arm and making her wince softly. There was a note of fear in her eyes before she realised what was going on. Tash said nothing of it, but patted her hand anyway.

"I should probably go. I'll come and say hi again soon, 'kay?"

Louise watched Tash leave the hospital wing, wondering whether Alice was all right, but saw that she seemed to be dozing off. Then her hand crept up towards her chest and she stirred awkwardly.

"Allie?"

Alice opened her eyes, staring at her friend; she relaxed slightly. She gestured to her arm.

"Does it hurt?"

Alice shook her head, but gestured further into the white room; Louise followed the motion, and saw Valerie turn on a lamp, further brightening the room. Alice sank back into her pillows.

"Huh?"

Alice glanced back to Louise, and rubbed her fist on her chest. Sorry…

Talk had dried up, Louise prompting Alice to sleep and nodding at her refusal. Soon the two-hour mark came closer, and as the remainder of the sedative began to wear off, Alice was visibly struggling. Her friend turned to call for Phoenixia, but the tired ex-hologram was already at her side.

"Alice?" A gentle experimental touch on the right arm saw another twitch, but it was healing pain rather than destructive pain. Alice's hearing was getting fuzzy, but she saw Phoenixia check the medical paraphernalia before leaning over her.

"Everything looks good. We've always said you're stronger than you look. Okay, I will take it out now… brace yourself, this will be uncomfortable…"

Louise cringed away, unable to watch the extubation. She heard Alice cough harshly, cry out and gasp for air, Phoenixia talking softly to her all the time. There was a slight creak as she lowered the bed halfway, and Louise turned back.

Phoenixia made the 'Okay' sign to Louise.

"Allie?"

Alice, tears streaming from her eyes, tried to speak but failed to make much more than a sore croak. Forming her fingers into a circle, she tapped her cheek – water…

Phoenixia watched carefully in the critical first moments; Louise filled a glass from the water jug and let Alice sip, holding her back from taking too much. "Slowly, Allie…we don't want your pillow getting damp."

"Lou…" Alice whispered.

"I'm here."

"Thank you…" Alice's hand went to make the sign for it, so quiet were her words.

"No problem, kid," Louise said softly. Nearly everyone in the Library was 'kid' to Louise at times, due to her years.

"Thank you… for staying…"

"Allie, I left you in the fandom. I left you to the Ak'Zahar. It's all my fault… I should have stayed, sod the Council and their shitty temp jobs."

Alice weakly reached for her friend's hand. "No… Lou, no… you stayed here, next to me." She closed her eyes and breathed out heavily, fighting sleep. "'Sides… Nixie wouldn't have coped… with both of us in here…"

Phoenixia's face fell, unseen by all.

Louise smiled. "Alice… when I became your friend I promised I would never abandon you. I did in the Shadowleague, and I feel awful about it. But I'm not leaving you now."

"Lou, you shouldn't… feel… bad…"

"Allie, you should sleep. You've been through a lot. Go on. You won't be alone."

Alice nodded, mumbling incoherently, slipping into sleep easily – pain-free and healing at last – and her grip on her friend's hand remained.

OoOoO Part 2 OoOoO

It was the twelfth day after Alice's fateful return, and for the last five days she had been on the mend. Her right arm, while lacerated from shoulder to hand, was now all stitched up and beginning to heal cleanly, thanks to the tireless efforts of the medical team. And finally, she was out of bed and back on her feet.

Phoenixia had started physio on the arm as soon as she was able, testing the limb's strength in short but frequent exams. Valerie, now that every trace of the Ak'Zahar was gone, was also lending a hand to make sure it healed well. Alice, who had never really been seriously injured in her life up till now, was finding it tough going.

"Yup, I think you'll be back to crushing ribs in no time," said Phoenixia on the afternoon of the twelfth day. She took the stick from Alice's hand, testing her writing grip, and let her rest in the armchair now next to her bed. She rubbed her securely-bandaged arm, and now able to bend her elbow without pain placed it in a support sling around her neck.

"So, could I go for a walk now?" she asked. The hospital wing had become dull and unstimulating, even with her best friend's almost constant presence. She had walked around the rooms on unsteady legs in the past few days, and any concern she had about her health or sanity about going outside had been overtaken by boredom.

Phoenixia and Valerie sized her up, and glanced at each other. Alice was certainly compos mentis and they no longer worried about her arm, although she was still on an IV drip and supplemental oxygen from the strong drug Phoenixia was using as a combination sedative – to save the difficulty of getting Alice to sleep – and painkiller.

"Mmm, I think she's good for a walk," said Valerie.

"Agreed. There's plenty of folk around if anything goes wrong, and it will stop you whingeing, won't it?" said Phoenixia, ruffling Alice's hair. "You should be okay without this for a few hours," she continued, slipping the nasal cannula from Alice's face, " – so just remember your drip, and you'll be fine."

Alice smiled and gave both of them a one-armed hug. She now wore a pair of pale blue pyjamas dusted with tiny hibiscus print; much better than a hospital gown. The right sleeve had been unpicked to ease her bandaged arm. The IV line was taped several times around her wrist to keep it secure. She took hold of the steel pole, tested the wheels' run, nodded to the pair and stepped out of the door.

The transition from a clean white and blue to the cosy wooden tones of the Library proper was very warm; it was like stepping from an air-conditioned airport out into the heat of the day. It made her vision swim and sweat to bead on her forehead. Alice reached up to dab it off, walking until she felt a tug on the tape on her arm, reminding her of the drip stand.

Holding the pole close to her, she realised how unsettlingly quiet the Library was. The shadows lining the corridors held deep portents. She looked back to the double doors of the hospital, the safe, cool, nightmare-free hospital, seriously considering admitting defeat from her own fear and returning. But Alice took a deep breath, and drawing from her well of stubborn bravery, ventured into the passageway.

Dave and Harriet were manning the Monitor Room, both of them just getting over their bouts of flu-like illness. They sat in the comfy swivel chairs, Harriet with her feet on the desks, watching the screens of varying fandoms and the radar-esque detection systems. Thankfully, for once all was pretty quiet, almost as if the onslaught of the Ak'Zahar in the Shadowleague had caused many others to lie low. The smell of the result of the battle in this room, and their repeated cleaning attempts, was beginning to dissipate at last after just under two weeks, but the huge dark stain remained; it took the pair several moments to realise there was a third presence in the room.

"Alice?" enquired Dave, turning and seeing her there. She stood at the edge of the stain, looking down at the expansive mark and clutching her IV pole.

Harriet stood and immediately wrapped an arm around Alice's shoulders, deftly avoiding the bandages. "You all right, pumpkin?"

"I'm, er… just…" Alice looked up into her smiling face, shuffling her slippered feet at the edge of the stain. She could not help but stare down at it in a mixture of wonder and horror. "Just looking…"

"Mmm, pretty isn't it?" Harriet quipped, rubbing Alice's back as she stared at the taller woman in near-shock, missing the humour completely. "Don't worry, we've given up on trying to clean the damn thing so we're getting a new shagpile instead!"

"Sorry…" mumbled Alice, her voice choked. "I didn't… mean…"

"Aaaaa-llie…" came a familiar comforting voice from the corridor. Alice whirled around; Harriet and Dave exchanged glances. "Where aaaaaare yooou?"

Alice didn't reply, but Louise came into the Monitor Room with a cheerful "There you are!". She took in the concerned looks of Harriet and Dave, and started to steer Alice towards the door. "Why didn't you wait for me at the doors, silly? Come on, Rhia's promised to cook you whatever you want." Harriet quietly informed Louise that Alice didn't seem quite herself; Louise replied that she wasn't surprised Alice had tried to apologise for something far out of her control. With the pair on duty reassured, Louise claimed Alice's arm and gently guided her friend away towards the kitchen.

They walked across the Library, Louise's banter distracting Alice from the shadows of the corridors. Eventually they turned the corner to the door to Rhia's kitchen; it was flung open and the merry-faced chef stood at the threshold. A few others gathered around the large table within.

"Alice!" Rhia cheered, glomping her gently, but Alice had to pull both arms out of her way. "Fantastic, you're up! Now," she said, grinning at Louise and steering Alice towards a seat on the table. "What's for breakfast? Anything you want. Not sure if we can rustle up anything as weird as a peacock or something like that but we'll see what we have in the cupboards…"

Alice smiled for the first time. "Uhm… pancakes?"

"Pancakes? Comin' right up."

"No, no, er, Rhia… I mean British pancakes…?"

Rhia screeched to a halt on the kitchen tiles, amid some chuckles. "There's a difference?"

"Oh yes!" giggled Tash from the other side of the room. "Our pancakes are thin and flat and are flipped in a pan! American ones are almost like floppy cakes."

"They're like French crepes, only they don't taste like cardboard," said Louise.

"Heeeyyy…" said Tash.

Rhia smiled. "Okay, but do you have a recipe?"

Alice nodded, gesturing to the computer terminal set into the wall. "I put a few recipes in the shared folder…"

A quick dive through the Library's shared folder, which was full of fanfiction, original stories, failed poetry, smut, @'s immature and flowery mockings, rants, embarrassing but unnamed diary entries and half the source code to the next Legacy of Kain game, and the recipe was found. Rhia quickly mixed up a jugful of thin cream-coloured batter with eggs, milk, water, vanilla flavouring and icing sugar, and experimentally slid a ladleful into a hot pan.

All the British agents in the room talked at once, firing hints and tips at Rhia to keep the first one from being the usual disaster. She attempted to flip it with a spatula, but an excitable Tash took the pan from her, took a step back – and threw the half-cooked pancake into the air and caught it on the other side. The kitchen cheered.

"That is insane. Is it done? Awesome! Gimme the jug, I wanna go at flipping it! Allie! Pancake!"

Alice, still smiling, took the first pancake hot from the pan and drizzled it with maple syrup. She watched as Rhia made the second, then tried to emulate Tash's amazing flip – but the half-soggy circle landed on the rim of the frying pan, fell off and landed with a satisfying splat on the floor. The kitchen laughed.

"Oh noes!" giggled Rhia.

By the time Rhia was on her sixth pint of batter, everyone was stuffing themselves with the surprisingly good and somewhat chewy pancakes, smothering them with maple syrup, golden syrup, lemon and sugar, honey, jam and Nutella (though not all at the same time).

The current playlist ended, and folk hustled Alice to go and choose the next song. She returned to her seat smiling as the song started with Beethoven's 5th. Several groaned softly, being not too keen on classical, but Rhia turned from her pan. "Hang on a moment, this is – "

The classical shot into rock 'n' roll; several recognised the song, but few could place the electric violins that made it different.

"I know this song, but – the hell is this?" asked an incredulous Ben. "Elvis on crack?"

"Close," said Alice, struggling on only her second pancake. "It's Electric Light Orchestra."

"Oh dear."

Eventually several were doing a kind of warped caramelldansen, singing "Roll over Beethoven, roll over Beethoven, roll over Beet-hoooo-ven!" and doing a funny little twirl on the last bar. Tash had shoved a camera into Louise's hands and led the impromptu dance.

"And to think, most of us are classed as adults now…" chuckled Louise, filming the insanity.

"It's trippy…" murmured Alice, smiling a little. She slid from her chair and took up her pole, wandering to the kitchen door and slipping through the door. She was feeling a little nauseous, unable to look at another pancake even though she'd barely had any.

The laughter of the kitchen was drowned swiftly by the solitude of the Library. However as she turned a corner, she all but collided with the Cliché Stick.

"Sh-Shirley?"

"Ah, yes, you. I've been looking for you…"

Normally this kind of address by the rather fearsome walking polished dowel would have sent anyone running for cover, but Alice remained, looking more confused than anything else.

"I was thinking about what you told me about that mantelpiece of yours… French polished mahogany, did you say?"

Alice blinked a few times; the shrieks died in her ears and she even gave a half-smile. "Uh… yes, yes it was. Looked like it had a sheen of glass over it…"

Shirley made an odd crooning noise and hopped closer. "Do you have any… photos?"

"I do, yes…"

"Well… you know where to send them…"

Shirley chuckled and left, just as Ben and Lily came tearing round the corner with a cry of "Don't maul her she's injured!" Alice jumped in sudden terror, but the familiar green-haired woman said, "Oh, you're unmolested…"

"I think so… hi, little chesspiece," said Alice, greeting Deebs who sat on Ben's shoulder. The 'cliché pencil' giggled, hopped down his arm and bounced off after her mother. "Ben, uh, I think Shirley wants some of my old family photos…"

"What… ever for?" he exclaimed.

"We had a mantelpiece made of solid mahogany with a really nice finish…she's never mauled me, yet, because I keep telling her of all the woodworking stuff that my family used to do…but now I think she want my snaps for, uh, 'fun reasons'…?"

The pair both face-faulted, scrabbling mentally for some extra-strength Brain Bleach.

"Gaaah," was all Lily could get out.

"I'll… be sure to keep them away from Deebs…" said Ben. "Allie, you're not seriously… no, you'd probably better… you all right? You look a bit distracted…"

"I'm okay…" mumbled Alice.

"Maybe you should go sit down or something."

"Okay… be, uh, be careful…"

Alice left the pair a little nonplussed, and went into the network of corridors that wove the Library's thoroughfares. It was good to walk around again, but a sense of deep nausea was uncoiling gradually. The corridors seemed much darker than usual. They seemed to stretch far away into the distance, curtained with shadows on both sides.

She felt the scream from behind her, and whirled around. Only the silence remained, with her rising heartbeat sounding in her ears.

What was wrong with her? She'd walked these passageways hundreds of times before… she knew little could hide here.

And yet she continued to see them.

She could hear the shrieks – she would never forget the cries those creatures made. She could feel the whoosh of their wings as they swept around her. The feral red glow of their eyes loomed out of those shadows.

Alice's bravery failed her; she clutched hold of her IV pole and ran. She found a corner and stood under the lightbulb, staring around in growing horror…the lightbulb began to fail and flicker…

"Who's there?" came the strong, oddly-accented voice from out of the blue, making Alice nearly jump out of her skin with a cry.

The light was normal, steady. Cristoph, recognising that Alice was extremely rattled about something, slid into the lit part of the corridor and approached her slowly.

"Lady Alice?" he queried warily. "It's all right. Don't be afraid."

"…C…Cristoph?"

"It is I."

She hugged him suddenly with her good arm, burying her face in his chest and almost yanking the stand over; he caught it, patting her back gently. He still wore a splinted bandage on his left wrist.

"Perhaps you should be in bed, milady?" Alice shook her head, her hair sticking to the black fabric; he was nine inches taller than her and she barely reached the midpoint of his chest. He upgraded his mental estimation of the situation when she did not resist detaching from her hug. "What's wrong? Tell me."

"I… I…" her eyes darted shakily to the shadows surrounding her. He followed her gaze, ascertaining the safety of the corridor. "I think there's an Ak'Zahar in the Library…"

Cristoph stiffened immediately, his good hand reaching for a weapon. "Where?"

"I – I don't know – I keep seeing them – "

"Them?" he thought, re-evaluating his memory of the mêlée and its aftermath. From what he could gather, stealth was not one of the Ak'Zahar's strong points, and he had been certain that none had escaped the Monitor Room.

And yet Alice looked genuinely terrified…

"Fear not. Find someplace safe, with a door – I shall find whatever you are seeing."

"But – "

He found a light control and turned them up, brightening the silent corridor in front of her. "Go. Hurry."

Alice fled, the pole wheels rattling as she went. She tried to stay in the light.

She ventured only down the lit corridors, taking a roundabout route to reach the Library's wardrobe, and the wonderful contraption that sat in the corner of the Unisex floor. The Automatic Tailorisation Machine responded immediately to her touch, showing a list of precise measurements on its small sepia screen; she found to her delight that it had built a setting for her to remake her floor-length light blue cloak in but seconds, emerging pressed and folded from a drawer built into the side of the booth. The gold embroidery was ever-so-slightly different, and shimmered wildly in the dim light of the wardrobe…

She whirled around, clutching her new cloak in her arms. Its warmth died in the face of the sudden darkness, and the creatures that dwelt there. She was sure she had closed the door, sure that this room was secure… but there they were, their red eyes burning brightly in the gloom…

She didn't know how she escaped, but her breath failed her and she sank down against the bookcase-lined corridor wall and curled up. Her right arm ached terribly; her left was being rubbed raw from the constant tug-tug-tug of the IV, and her head was spinning.

"Allie?" came the clear voice, piercing the miasma almost instantly.

Alice gasped and looked up, meeting the gaze of the slightly nonplussed dog-eared young woman.

For want of something better to say at Alice's terrified expression, Chrys simply said, "You have a new cloak."

Alice blinked; she looked down at the soft baby blue fabric, stroking it gently and wrapping it, still vaguely warm from its making, around her injured arm. She tried to get to her feet, setting the drip line swinging, but only succeeded in tumbling onto her knees. Chrys, conscientious enough to know she was in severe distress, crouched down to help her, unknowingly tugging on the bandaged arm; but Alice jolted forwards and seized Chrys's elbow with her good arm. Her eyes were wide and she was blinking a lot.

"Chrys – listen to me – I think there's an Ak'Zahar in the Library!"

"W-what? How?"

"I-I don't know…but I keep – seeing – " Alice was weeping now. "Please… warn… warn people… they're in the shadows!"

Chrys stared down the corridor at the faint gloom, then back to the desperate woman in front of her. She had never seen Alice like this, and though even Chrys could discern little sense from her, the panic was genuine enough for her to be concerned.

She patted Alice's back gingerly. "Don't worry, I'll go and ask Tash, or someone…" Chrys hurried away, making Alice cringe behind her as she walked straight into the corridor shadows without hesitation.

Clutching her cloak, Alice used the bookshelves as an impromptu ladder to pull herself to her feet, and continued to keep her left hand firmly on the polished wood as she shuffled to a corner in the passageway. The shadows screamed back at her, the glowing red eyes shifting like baleful stars. She was anxious to find her safety again, anything to get away from more danger…

"Alice?" came a higher-pitched voice behind her, and she felt a pair of small arms wrap round her waist. "Glomp!" cheered the young Emily, grinning as she was able to hug the resident glomper before being glomped herself. She peered round, being about a foot shorter than Alice, and gave a beaming sunny smile. "How are you? How's your arm? It's really good to see you up again. Hey, did you hear about the…"

Alice didn't even have the strength to jump, but her horror at the unknown risk to the child was immense. She couldn't bring herself to speak, merely watching the shadows and trying to edge herself in between her and them.

"…and I'm really hoping I get something like that for Christmas. Oh, and I almost forgot, Allie, could I have a look at your goggles at some point? I want to have a play with all the view settings on it, 'cause I wanna see what the rainbow thingy was through the Curtain Walls…"

Alice's arm snaked around Emily's shoulders, pulling her close. Emily looked up in dismay when she realised that Alice had tears pouring down her face. "Little one… listen, please, you've got to run… please!"

"But what's wrong? Should I go and get Hati or someone?"

Alice pulled Emily to her front, crouching and using her pole for support. "There's an Ak'Zahar around, in the shadows – I think there's more – run, now, not you!"

Emily saw the expression on Alice's face and took off, genuinely frightened by her terror. She ran down the corridor, heading back to the main rooms and dodging the shadows.

But then she stopped, skidding to an abrupt halt. She had seen or heard nothing that had raised the alarm. Something in Alice's eyes was not right.

Slowly, after a long moment of thought, she turned and headed towards the doors of the hospital wing. She could hear Louise's voice asking whether anyone had seen Alice. As she approached she saw Chrys, Cristoph and Ben along with Tash at the doors.

"I saw her in the corridors, just now," said Chrys, her voice full of confusion.

"Likewise. She reported that she could see Ak'Zahar…" Cristoph.

"What?" said Louise, Tash echoing the exclamation. "I've got to find her – "

"Guys," said Emily, stepping forwards. "She was just near the history rooms. She told me to run. I don't know what she's seeing, I thought to ask Nixie…"

"Ask me what?" said the resident ex-hologram, pausing in her errand at the now-open door. The six all spoke at once, clamouring around her until she stepped backwards and some of them almost lost their balance. "One at a time, one at a time!"

There was a pause, then everyone tried to speak at once again. There was a sigh, and Aster blurted, "There's an Ak'Zahar in the Library. In the corridors!"

"What?" They could almost see Phoenixia's mind bring up the 'ERROR' message. She glanced up to the ceiling briefly, tapping into the computer systems.

Valerie, over on the other side, started with alarm. "There can't be. We've had no reports of injuries, and it's been nearly a fortnight – "

"Alice kept seeing them. She seemed genuinely terrified," reported Cristoph.

Phoenixia shook her head. "Six came through, and we cleaned up six…" She paced back and forth.

Louise looked worried. "I'm going to go and find her…history rooms, right?" Emily nodded, and Louise was off.

"Then what is Alice seeing?" mused Ben.

Phoenixia paused, turning towards Valerie, a somewhat ugly thought building in her mind. "Val, would you check the side-effects of the bottle on the counter there? Just in case…"

Valerie went over towards the medicine cabinet and the worktop that went with it. She picked up the large glass bottle, the clear liquid inside swirling like water. "Isn't this the combination you've put Alice on?"

"Part of it, yes…"

Valerie's calm demeanour almost broke as she looked at the title label. "Wait – this is Ketamine, it's like PCP, it's a Schedule – "

"It doesn't matter!"

"But it's illegal for a reason, surely!"

Phoenixia sighed in exasperation. "There's a cold medicine that's sold over-the-counter in formulations aimed at children in the United Kingdom, yet is completely illegal in the United States. I even have some of Bayer's famous cough syrup and it can be as useful as morphine in certain pain cases. If a drug has a documented medical use then it is useful; I can't afford to abide by anyone's declaration of what's legal or not."

While Valerie had the 'gonk' expression on her face as she worked out what Phoenixia was saying, Aimee turned into the cupboard and briefly checked the first few shelves out of curiosity – then pulled out a different kind of bottle all together.

"Phoenixia, why is there a bottle of vodka in the medicine safe?"

She had to smirk. "Emergencies."

Now everyone gonked at that.

"Somehow I don't think Smirnoff is on the Essential Core Medicines list…" came the comment from Valerie.

Phoenixia smiled. "A long while ago I had to treat someone with acute antifreeze poisoning. I ran out of medical-grade ethanol, the antidote, so I had to substitute. Still worked, and they were rather merry when I'd finished. Now can I have those side-effects, Val?"

Valerie rotated the bottle and read them out. "'Potential side effects include: Nausea, sedation, hypertension, tachycardia, respiratory depression, hallucinations…'" She trailed off as they both realised it at the same time.

"Damn it…" came the sigh. "She's hallucinating… in the Library Arcanium… yeah, that's not a good thing." Phoenixia took a medical bag from the side of Alice's bed, and took Aster, Cristoph and Emily to hunt down her patient.

Tash and Ben remained, fairly thrown by the happenings. Valerie sighed and closed the medicine cabinet.

"I don't think I'll think the same thing about vampires again for a while…" mumbled Ben. "The last time I said that, it was just after Twilight."

"They're not simply animalistic. There is definitely something evil there. They post sentries, they stage organised attacks, they stalk people planning to pounce and steal their shiny things!" said Tash, her mind heated by what the Ak'Zahar were putting her friends through, even after the fight was over. "Those bastards ought to be sent the way of the smallpox virus… exterminate every single one of them."

"You're talking genocide, Tash," said Valerie gently.

"Well maybe some things deserve to be wiped out!" Tash screeched, her temper momentarily getting the better of her. She took some deep breaths and turned towards the wall, leaning her forehead against the cool tiles.

"Mmm, if they're this much of a nuisance, maybe we can round some of 'em up and use 'em as a weapon against Sovereigns or something…" mused Ben.

"You volunteering?" said Tash incredulously.

"Well… no."

Valerie smiled and shook her head.

Back in the Library corridors, the four hurried to Alice's last known whereabouts, some surreptitiously glancing to their lefts and rights just in case the Ak'Zahar weren't hallucinations. They could hear Louise's urgent pleas and Alice's soft whimpering.

"Louise," said Phoenixia, as soon as she came within sight. "How is she?"

Louise glanced up from being crouched at Alice's side, who was huddled against the wall. "She won't talk – she can't see me…"

Phoenixia worked quickly, disconnecting the offending drip bag and replacing it with saline in an attempt to flush the drug from Alice's system. Louise, Emily and soon Chrys tried to get her to respond; Cristoph kept an eye out for danger – or more likely, others unaware of the situation running down the corridors.

He and Phoenixia exchanged a nod; the three girls tried to rouse Alice from her stupor.

"Allie?"

"Alice, please…"

"Alice?"

Slowly they tried to edge Alice back to her feet, the girls supporting her sides and her good arm. She could not focus on any of them; instead she stared to the wall on the other side of the corridor, a good four metres away. Then she said a word no-one expected.

"Mum?"

Everyone's head shot to the opposite wall, and then back, wondering what had changed. Then Alice gave a shriek and tried to shield herself against the bookcases, the four women stopping her from sinking back to the floor and keeping comforting hands on her.

Gradually they guided her back into the cool, sterile, calm hospital, easing her into the armchair by her bed. Phoenixia slipped the oxygen supply tubes back onto her face, talking softly all the while.

Another of the side-effects soon hit, almost as a backlash against being purged from the system, prompting a bucket to be found before a mess was made. Phoenixia noticed that her eyes seemed much clearer, and she smiled when the plaintive voice came from the corner.

"Nixie?"

"I'm here, hun."

"I… er… I'm sorry…"

"Oh, you!" Phoenixia leaned over and hugged her. "Come to bosom."

Muffled, Alice laughed quietly. "Niiiixiiiie, that's my line!" she whined.

"I know. I've nobbled it."

"Alice, were you really seeing Ak'Zahar everywhere?" asked Louise, sat as she always was at her friend's side.

Alice nodded, tensing a little, her gaze sweeping the hospital. The drug may have been lessened but the effects of what she saw was going to make her shaky for a while, along with the healing of her arm. "Everywhere, eventually," she said softly. "Swarming. I should have thought – I should have realised…"

"Alice, you are not infallible. None of us are," said Phoenixia gently.

Alice relaxed against the soft armchair. "There was one stage… when all the Ak'Zahar kind of… coalesced into people. Different people, all switching really fast. There were lots of voices around, but I couldn't make them out…"

"You mentioned 'Mum' at one point."

Alice nodded. "First you," she gestured at Louise. "Then Tash. Then Mum and Dad. Then you," she pointed to Phoenixia, " – and several other Society folk…then it got a bit funny. Two men with black hair in red togas – only one was smiling, the other was scowling. Peony. Then Merle. Then, um… others… white hair, purple eyes," Alice missed the silent exchange between Phoenixia and Louise, " – and black hair, green eyes. Can't put a name to them…"

Phoenixia swept around; after the first one, the second one had almost been expected. "But where on earth have you seen Runoa?"

Alice looked blank for a moment, associating name with reputation, then thought. "I read her file…all fifty pages of it. Was that who it was?"

"What did she do?"

"Nothing. None of them did anything. They just were there, and their eyes were glowing. Then they changed back into Ak'Zahar… and I panicked then."

Phoenixia patted her on her good shoulder. "They were hallucinations. They're not meant to make sense. We polished off those vampires and they're not threatening us any more… if you can, Alice, try not to worry about it."

Alice was left with Louise. "So much for a walk, eh?"

Louise shrugged. "We weren't to know. At least you weren't hurt further."

She looked sad, gingerly touching her bandages, and sighed lightly.

"You'll get better, Allie. You're already back on your feet."

"Barely."

"Still. You've come a long way from being on death's door. You'll have all the time to recover, you'll get back to drawing and using your sword again, and everything will be just as it was. Won't it?"

Alice smiled.