Alex Homeward Bound

## Story

> Chris
>
>

WORLD: Acrea

MISSION TYPE: Homeward Bound

MISSION OBJECTIVE: Retrieve Alex's brother and daughter.

PARTICIPANTS: Alexander Varias, Christopher

"Ok Alex, first up, where EXACTLY are we going? You have a house you want to go to, I could maybe find the last place you were in before you came here, what's up. What do you want?"

> Alexander Varias
>
>

“I’m not entirely sure how this whole thing works, but the last I saw my brother was right before I arrived at the Archive. There’s 8 towers in the Capitol. One for each member of the Council. We were in my Brother’s tower, he’d built a portal of sorts and we were about to go through it, we can start there?”

> Chris
>
>

Chris nods and waves his sonic screwdriver lazily. A magical screen appears playing a very familiar video - it appears to be the mission footage from when you were recruited. He fast forwards and rewinds through the video for a while, occasionally taking notes down. He keeps opening little portals, poking his head through, and shaking it as he pulls it out. You try to say something as he does this and he ignores you, seemingly lost in thought. After a couple minutes, he makes a sharp exclamation, and opens up a blue rift. "Got it, took a second but I got it. Hey, what's this city called, anyway?"

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Watching Chris do this was confusing and difficult to track for Alex, so once he realized he was being ignored, the Elf just sat back and watched as he worked. It was always interesting watching the God do his thing, and at some point you had to realize there weren’t answers to your questions. Not ones that would make sense anyways.
“Harbinger.” He answers. “The city’s name is Harbinger. You found it?”

> Chris
>
>

"Yup, even got the right tower you got pulled from even. Ready? Rifts open for you."

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex takes a deep breath, nods and steps towards the rift. “Let’s get this done.” He says, still a little nervous as he steps through.

> Chris
>
>

You step through the portal and into your ancestral home. It's hard to describe, but just taking one large inhale of the air here feels... right. Like you hadn't been breathing correctly for months now. However, the whiffs of smoke you smell... are less comforting. You look over the side of your tower and the city of Harbinger is on fire. The air is thick with black smoke and ash. You look down to the streets and they're filled with people, but they aren't reacting to the fires. Not a single one seems to even notice. Everyone is mindlessly wandering, wringing theirs hands, walking into walls. You hear a sharp scream occasionally but see no one in imminent danger. You have no idea what's wrong, but something nags at the back of your mind... You've seen this before... Roll intelligence.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

> Chris
>
>

It isn't hard to recognize, its not an easy thing to forget. They look like mages who have had their Soul Stones shattered. They've all lost their minds, every single person in town. It's a horrific sight and you don't know how it's possible, but you know exactly who to blame. You can see him from here. Of course you can, he's absolutely enormous - you even think he's bigger than he was last time you saw him. You see him on the edge of the horizon, a tangle of arms and tar and *hate*. You stare at The Architect with absolute venom in your eyes.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Detest isn't an expression Alex wears lightly. In fact in his entire time in the Archive so far, the look hasn't even appeared on his face before. Not even when he met August for the first time. But here, staring down the form of the Architect towering above his city. His home. Above countless people he's stolen their very minds from, the expression crosses Alex's face, and the very way it contorts his features looks wrong.

Alex doesn't hate easy. This Creature currently has earned all that he has.

"He couldn't even let them *die.*" He growls, a low, rumble in his chest. "Death would have been better than *that* and he's just leaving them there."

The tower could burn. The City could burn. They could have always rebuilt. But the *mind?* The mind isn't something so easily repaired.

Can he see anyone he recognizes in the crowd?

> Chris
>
>

Roll perspicacity.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

> Chris
>
>

Your obvious first thought is to search for you family, but you don't see Nicolai or Bailey anywhere thankfully. You do see a bunch of familiar faces though, the "background characters" that have filled your life. There's that nicer baker with the funny mustache who gave you a free cake to celebrate taking home Bayl'ok as Bailey Oakwood. There's that beggar you'd always walk by on your way to the tower. Last time you talked to him he said he finally found a job... There's that guy who gotten in a drunken bar fight with Nicolai. You ended up having to pull Nicolai off him... and the three of you were singing tavern rounds by the end of the night together.
You feel a gentle hand touch your shoulder as you remember you're not alone up here, "Alex buddy... I'm so sorry, I can't imagine what you must be going through. We'll come back here on day and save everyone I swear to you, but today we've gotta focus a little bit on your family."

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Citizens. They weren't even soldiers they were Citizens, and Alex found himself momentarily lost in the sea of faces. These were all people he had relationships with. People he cared about and people who, in one way or another, cared about him.
The touch to his shoulder earned a slight flinch, and Alex looked back over to Chris. "No, you're right... There's ways to help them, just... gods it's going to be hard." He takes a deep breath and recomposes himself, giving Chris a quick smile. It's not as bright as it normally is. "They're not in the crowd, so at least there's that."

> Chris
>
>

Chris smiles, "That's good. Where do you think they'd be?"
"Where should we start the search, captain? I'm not here to take the spotlight from you, so just say the word and I'll follow. You say jump and I'll say how high." Chris sends you a copy of his dossier on your phone. Chris has become your temporary support! He'll perform support actions on your turns according to your instructions.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex finally took this moment to look around the room he was in, rather than out into the city. The room looked pretty much the same as he'd left it, with the exception that the portal frame his brother had built was completely inactive.

"I'm not entirely sure. Nicolai always had contingency on contingency. It always felt like if something went wrong he knew exactly what to do next. But he didn't always tell me what they were until they were needed." He steps over to the portal frame and runs his hand along the edge for a moment. "He would have left me a note though. It's just a matter of finding it."

When his phone beeps, he takes it out of his pocket, taking a look at the dossier and turning to give Chris a gentle smile. "Thank you, for coming with me."

> Chris
>
>

As you run your hand along the portal's edge, your fingers run into a piece of paper tied to the frame. That wasn't there before.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

"Ha. A note kinda like this." He lets out a short laugh, reaching up his other hand to untie the note, taking it down to read.

> Chris
>
>

It's written in a simple cipher Nicolai and you wrote when you were kids in case "one of you was ever kidnapped by pirates". Neither of you ever have been kidnapped by pirates, but its been useful to have a secret twin language between the two of you. It only takes you a moment to decode what it says:

> *Hey bro,*
>
>

> *Just thought I'd take the little missus and go on a vacation for a while; it's been a little too hectic here at home. I was thinking about somewhere with nice beaches away from the rest of society. Maybe somewhere we have friends? If you get off work, make sure to come and join us as soon as you can!*
>
>

> *Love, your brother.*
>
>

> Absolutely no identifying information and incredibly vague statements in a message already written in a code only the two of you can read. Even if you didn't recognize his absolutely perfect handwriting, you'd recognize the writer of this note by a mile. You smile. Contingencies on contingencies.
>
>

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex can't help the happy grin that spreads across his face as he reads the letter. Satisfied with the information he's gathered from it, he shows it to Chris. "I think I know where he is."
Letting Chris have the note if he chooses to take it and read it, Alex heads over to one of the bookshelves lining the room, running his fingers along the spines as he looks for the book of maps his brother kept.

> Chris
>
>

You walk to the bookshelf and all of the books have been knocked on to the ground in a giant messy pile... except the exact book of maps you're looking for. It's kind of eerie how well your brother knows you. At least, it would be if you hadn't known each other for more than a hundred years. And you know it must have been painful for Nicolai to throw all these books to the ground... He must've been really desperate to mess up his room like this just to remove any and all doubt you'd find them. There's a priceless ancient tome on the ground Nicolai spent MONTHS tracking down. The spine split in half when it hit the ground.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

In another life Nicolai would have gone on a *riot* if someone disrespected his books like this. These books were his life. Some of them he'd read a dozen times over, years of research and adventure and memories laid strewn on the floor.

But in another life, they weren't in a daily fight for survival.

Even still, Alexander was careful not to step on the books, stepping in places where piles of books gave way to wooden floor. Maybe someday they could come back. Rebuild.

Taking the book of maps from the shelf, Alex begins to flip through the pages until he finds the first map he was looking for. He bookmarks it with his finger then flips through to the next one. Once he's found the both of them, he steps over to Chris.

He shows him the first map. It's a map of the region around the capitol, and it's fairly clear from the way the map is cut off, that they're fairly close to the northern coast at the moment.

"We're here, at the moment." He says, pointing to the spot on the map where the capitol is depicted. He slides his finger north, off the coast, to a small island. "I think Nicolai took Bailey here."

He flips the page to a map entirely dedicated to the island. "There's a small town that Nicolai used to frequent. I didn't always go with him but I knew where it was." He points to a small dot right along the east coast of the island. "He's got to be here."

> Chris
>
>

You notice on the map, there is a long black square that has been drawn between the capital and the coast. In Nicolai's immaculate hand writing are the words, "TARBEAST HOTZONE. BE INCREDIBLY CAREFUL"

> Alexander Varias
>
>

He frowns. That must have happened after they lost that last fight. They’d managed to hold most of the northern coast. He looks back over to the city, all the people there, then back at Chris. “There’s a series of underground tunnels that’s closed off to the public. There’s an entrance to them at the base of the tower. We can probably take them out of the city but once we’re out we’ll probably have to deal with the TarBeasts a lot more. I’d suggest flying out, but I don’t want to gain the attention of the Architect. He’d probably notice us flying around.”

> Chris
>
>

"Alright, so what DO you wanna do if not fly then? You wanna go through the TarBeast zone?"
Chris says, drawing a finger straight through the black squiggles

> Alexander Varias
>
>

“I don’t want to fly out of the city.” He clarifies. “We’re too close to the Architect right now for that to be a smart move. But once we’re out, absolutely. It would be suicide to walk through them. We take off once we’re out of the tunnels.”

> Chris
>
>

"Ok, good plan. Tell me a bit about these tunnels. Are they just an escape route? Are they sewers? What are we about to walk through."

> Alexander Varias
>
>

“Mikkel, the High Mage of Soul, had them made. Before he died he had the ability to permanently bind undead to his service, but he was also able to temporarily rebind a soul to their body.” He explains, tucking the map book into the pouch that usually held his journal. He’d left the journal in the care of Ame before he’d left.

“Our soldiers could choose to opt into being made undead and continue to serve the country in exchange for being able to have a day with their families once a year. The tunnels are where most of their bodies were kept when they weren’t needed. Most of them were brought out to help fight the Architect, but with Mikkel gone, any that were left in the tunnels might be hostile.”

He looks up at Chris, “But I’d rather deal with a few undead than with the Architect.”

> Chris
>
>

“How did he die if he could do all of this necromancy stuff. Are you sure he isn't still alive somewhere? You know, like a lich with their phylactery?"

> Alexander Varias
>
>

"It's possible. It was publicly known that both Mikkel and Aurora have been alive for longer than either of them probably should have. She was his wife he was probably keeping both of them alive." He pauses. "But the Architect is a much stronger necromancer and I don't want to get my hopes up."

> Chris
>
>

"Alright. Anything else you wanna do before we go?"

> Alexander Varias
>
>

"No, I don't want to waste any more time. I've been away from the both of them for too long." He says, heading for the door. He opens it, and it leads to a spiral staircase leading down. Torches line the wall, having long since gone cold. It's a good thing Dark elves have basic nightvision. He looks to Chris. "Are you able to see okay, or should I find something to light the torches?" He isn't confident he has the fine control to light it.

> Chris
>
>

"Don't worry about the torches," Chris states. He points his screwdriver at his eyes and seemingly nothing happens, but from his point of view he just tuned his eyes to be able to see in the dark. Techno-Organic Physiology comin' in handy!
The two walk down the stairs to a huge wooden door. Alex knows that this door is always, always locked. But he does remember the special trick to opening it. After a series of complicated mechanisms too interesting to go into detail about here, Alex pops the door open and the tunnel awaits. As promised, it is filled with the shambling undead. "So, what next oh mighty leader?"

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex has no idea what just happened with the inner workings of Chris' eyes, but he guessed that at the very least, Chris was able to see in the dark now. He makes his way down the staircase, spiraling and passing different hallways, rooms, libraries, a meeting room with table map of Acrea in the middle of it.

In a normal situation, he wouldn't have opened the door with an audience, but at the moment, he did so without hesitation. Protocol sort of goes out the window during the end of the world.

"If Mikkel's alive, they won't be aggressive towards me or anyone I'm with. If he's dead, well..." He chuckles a bit. "Ready to find out?"

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Taking a deep breath, getting ready to use his draconic fire if need be, Alex knocks on the door to get the closer undead's attention.

> Chris
>
>

A pit drops in your stomach as the undead corpses turn to look at you with those dead expressions and start shambling over. You really had hope there for a moment that Mikkel... this isn't the time to mourn.
Alexander what do you do about the approaching horde?

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex releases the fire breath that he was holding in case this was how it was going to go.

> Chris
>
>

Roll appeal.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

> Chris
>
>

No time for weakness. No time to pay attention to the faces of the undead in front of you. No time to recognize the face of one of the bravest and most decorated generals you've ever seen. The High Mage of the Phoenix breaths a gout of intense flame and you light the zombies in your path up like candlesticks. Within moments they're nothing but ash. There are definitely more further down the tunnel however.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex looks to Chris. "Is there any way you can clear out the tunnel? Get us passage through?"

> Chris
>
>

Chris touches Alex and turns him into wind, before doing the same to himself. "Lets just float on through like this, they shouldn't be able to touch us."
"We gotta hurry, this won't last forever. Let's fly."

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex seems relieved when Chris turns him into wind, "Right, yeah, let's go." He agrees, beginning to move through the crowd of Zombies with Chris. They may have already been dead, some of them for centuries now, their souls already moved on, but it would have been hard to fight them all knowing their faces.
He's grateful.

> Chris
>
>

"Just follow me Alex, don't look down." Chris leads Alex through the tunnels, holding him by the windy hand. While he doesn't know these people, it is completely unnerving to see all those corpses walking around. Years of divinity haven't erased that particular human revulsion, thankfully.

It is an amazing feeling when you finally taste the fresh air of the surface. You've popped out on the northern city walls, exactly where you expected to be. What you didn't expect is the land in front of you. It is coated in blood but... no corpses. There was a big battle here, but no dead bodies. The area past this past field looks... sick. It has been wholly infected with tar. You can occasionally see tarbeasts milling about without the tainted wilds, doing whatever is they do when not destroying lives. The trees drop black tar and the water is replaced with pools of the disgusting ichor. This looks absolutely suicidal to try and cross on foot, you were right. You are very thankful Nicolai warned you this was coming so you were mentally prepared to see your homeland so twisted.

Doesn't make it easy, though.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

It was heart wrenching to see his home this completely destroyed. Farmlands that had surrounded the edges of the city were *completely* unrecognizable aside from the skeleton of buildings that dotted the landscape around them.

He'd seen this kind of devastation further south when he'd gone to help rescue pockets of refugees with Chris, but the fact that it was this far north now...

He knew they had lost when the retreat was called. When Aurora was struck down, but it was a different kind of know. It was the kind you can attempt to detach yourself from. The kind you don't have to acknowledge because you don't have to face it.

Looking at the field he felt the loss of that fight all over again.

"We're going to have to fly over this. Whatever happens, don't get in contact with the Tar. Tar infection in adults through touch is incredibly rare but it can happen..." He forces himself to tear his gaze away from the devastation and look at Chris. "I'd rather not take any risks."

With that, Alexander lift off the ground with his own wings for the first time since they arrived at his home.

> Chris
>
>

Chris took off next to Alex, staying as close as possible in case of emergency
Roll luck for me Alex.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

> Chris
>
>

It's smooth sailing at first - relatively speaking. It feels like you're looking at another world down there though. A world ruled by non-euclidean demons that hurt your eyes to look at for too long. The beautiful vibrant green of these rolling hills has been exchanged for an angry stygian black. Just as you start thinking you're gonna get to the coast unmolested, you hear a 'CAWWW' come from something making a cold mockery of a bird. Before you even fully realize what's happening, there are two aerial TarBeasts following after you. One is a lumpy ball of dripping tar with one gigantic eye and an uncountable number of ever shifting wings. The second looks like some sort of strange octopus, it's tentacles twisted together into a drill. Roll intiative.

> Chris
>
>

> Alexander Varias
>
>

> Chris
>
>

The ball of living tar opens its eye wide and fires a beam of light at you.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex curses and attempts to drop out of the way of the beam and catch himself in the air beneath it.

> Chris
>
>

You are surrounded in a beam of light before you can move out of the way and feel yourself slowly being pulled towards the TarBeasts...

The octopus begins to spin its tentacles in a wild circle and begins to start picking up speed. It is currently floating directly next to you in the tractor beam.

Your move.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Fuck how do you get out of a tractor beam?

Alex looks around, unsure if he'd be able to effectively pull himself out, and attempts his Bolero of Fire spell on his flute.

> Chris
>
>

You set both of your assailants ablaze and they both make discordant screeches of pain. The tractor beam vanishes as the ball can't keep his eye open. Both creatures start to stall and fall behind a bit as you and Chris keep flying.
What do you want to order Chris to do?

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex, heart pounding and having recently regained control of his flight looks to Chris. "Can you keep them from following us?? Take away their flight and ground them or something?"

> Chris
>
>

Chris stares for a moment. "Are TarBeasts mindless monsters with no chance of saving them?" He says as he pulls out his armament.
"Because if there's even a chance to save them, I don't know if I feel comfortable slicing them in half. If it really is hopeless though... I can definitely ground them."

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex looks back at the TarBeasts, "I can't see or sense souls. If you can, the ones with souls can be saved. The ones without souls can't be."

> Chris
>
>

Chris thinks for a moment, even still, he can't bring himself to do it. Just because Alex doesn't know a way... Not when there's other options. "Dogoda, lullaby!" An ethereal young-looking blonde man with two sets of angelic wings appears next to Chris. He has a guitar in his hands that he's lightly strumming. Music notes carried on the wind float to the tar beasts and within moment they're dropping back to earth, seemingly asleep. "Alright, that should keep them from following for a while."

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex breathes a sigh of relief. "Thank you. Hopefully we're out of sight by the time they come to." He says, continuing forward through the skies. He stares down at the sea of Tar below him. "There's two kinds of TarBeasts..." He starts explaining, going into it a bit further now that they're no longer in combat. "The ones that come from Tar, which are soulless and only care about consuming life. There's nothing to be saved because that's all they are. They're Tar given shape."
He takes a deep breath, then continues. "Then there's the ones that are corrupted by Tar. The Tar takes hold of their soul and bodies and uses it as a vessel of sorts to create more of itself. If you can get them to talk, they'll obsess over one thing or another. It takes an enormous amount of effort to bring them back. It took a month of preparation and my Mom, Brother and Myself to cure Bailey."

> Chris
>
>

"What did you end up doing? How did you cure her exactly?"
Go ahead and toss one more luck roll at me when you get a chance.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

“Mom had to find several things, a few she had to pull in favors for. Artifacts of Life, Soul, and Creation. Life and soul were relatively easy, but creation artifacts were only made once when the Gods, well, *created* Acrea and all of its people. A lot of them were abused and so the Gods took most of them from us.” He smiled. “But Mom was a servant of the True God of Order, and he has a personal hatred for Tar, so he agreed to help."

"Once we had the artifacts it was just a matter of each of us pouring enough magic into each of them with the intent of helping Bailey and it freed her from it. That was to reverse a complete infection of Tar though. It's a *lot* easier when someone hasn't succumbed to it entirely yet."

> Chris
>
>

Soon enough, you're thankfully traveling out of the tainted badlands and approaching the shore. The water is thick and black before it gives way to much more natural ocean tides. Just a little further north, and you know you'll be at this island. It's starting to hit you that if everything goes according to plan, you'll be seeing your family again after a short ten minute flight.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

For the first time since arriving home, since seeing Harbinger, and the state of the people there, and the Architect, and what he'd *done* since the retreat, Alex felt himself feeling hope.

And that wasn't to say he didn't have hope to begin with. Had the elf been hopeless when Chris had made the offer he probably wouldn't even *be* here. But there was something to be said for the rush of endorphins and adrenaline when your doubts and concerns and fears begin to be soothed.

Chris would see him staring out over the horizon, a genuine smile on his face growing wider as the island becomes visible on the horizon.

Alex turns his head to Chris, excitement brimming in his eyes. "Are you ready to meet my family?"

> Chris
>
>

"So just a little bit farther, right? Have you been to this island before? Do you know what it looks like?"

> Alexander Varias
>
>

"Yeah, I have once or twice. Nicolai brought me here a few times to meet some of his friends, but it was more his place than mine."

He points towards the center of the island. "Most of the island is covered in snow almost year round, so a lot of the livable land is along the coast. There's a few spots further inland that people have settled but they rely on food from the coast towns." He glances back to the mainland, unable to see it at this point in the flight. "Though at this point it's probably some of the *only* livable land."

"Nicolai is probably in Bayham, that's where most of his friends lived. It's a harbor town off the eastern coast. A quarter of it's built on the water on wooden platforms."

> Chris
>
>

As you get closer and closer, you notice that things aren't quite how you remember them here either, but not in the same way. The entire island is absolutely covered in ice, while this is normally a snowy place, it has *never* been anything like this before. The land seems like it's been completely flash frozen in an instant. You fly over to Bayham and find there are people milling around the town in big, thick parkas. One of them points at you two as you fly close.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

"*This* isn't normal." Alex mutters to himself, the smile on his face giving way to concern as he glances back and forth between Chris and the island before he goes to land several feet away from the person looking up at him and Chris before jogging up to him.
"Hey, what's going on? What happened here?"

> Chris
>
>

"High Mage Alexander... We thought you were dead, your brother insisted you weren't but we thought that..." The man trails off. He refuses to make eye contact with you. It seems like no one here will make eye contact with you, everyone much more interested in their feet than The High Mage of The Phoenix literally rising from the ashes.

"*ALEX!!!*" You hear a familiar scream come from behind you and you turn to see Bailey, dressed in more furs and winter gear than her tiny frame can handle, sprinting towards you at top three-year old speed. It is just like Nicolai to get her a wardrobe's worth of winter clothes, contingencies on contingencies... Hey, where is Nicolai? He has to be somewhere around here, he wouldn't just leave Bailey alone...

Bailey pounces at your shin and gives your leg a hug with all the ferocity of a bengal tiger. "I missed you so much, Alex!"

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Why wouldn't they look at him? No one here was looking at him, not one would look him in the eyes and it was making his stomach churn as he tried to read anything in their faces. He had a good reputation with these men and women, they weren't scared of him, he hadn't done anything to make them fear him, so what *happened.*

Before he had the chance to ask, a scream of his name catches his attention, and he turns around to see his daughter. Even with all the furs masking her silhouette, he recognizes it as her, who else could it be?

The moment she latches herself to his leg, Alex reaches down and picks her up, tossing her slightly in the air before catching her and pulling her in a tight hug just like he used to do. He holds her close and his wings wrap tightly around them both protectively, beginning to cry in relief as he holds his daughter in his arms again.

"Hey baby girl, I missed you too." He chuckles, slightly, pulling her back just a little bit as he begins to fuss over her, "You're not hurt are you? No injuries? You made it here okay?"

Once he's confident that his daughter is fine, he turns back to the villagers.

Nicolai wouldn't leave Bailey alone. The Villagers weren't looking at him. His brother didn't come out with Bailey.

"Guys... Where is my brother?"

He dreads their answer.

> Chris
>
>

The villagers look at each other awkwardly. One man looks at you like he's about to speak, then looks pointedly at the little girl in your arms. Chris takes the hint and starts leading Bailey away from the group.

"Hey there, honey! My name's Uncle Christopher, Alex has told me all about you. What do you like to do for fun, sweetheart?"

Once Bailey is out of earshot and making snowmen with Christopher a distance away, the villagers finally speak. "High Mage Nicolai is... gone. The corruption he's been fighting for so long finally took hold of him." The man pauses. "Would you... like to see him?"

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex's heart sinks deep into his chest when he catches the hint that this isn't something for his daughter to hear. He looks with a distressed look at Chris who's already caught on, and is already making his way over to take Bailey from him.

He kisses her on the forehead as a quick goodbye. "I'll be back in a bit, okay?" He gives her a big smile, then looks at Chris. "Thank you."

He watches the both of them as they walk away, then turns to the villagers.

Corruption? He'd only been gone a month, maybe two, what did he mean so long? How long had he been fighting it??

He stares at the man with a look of fear and confusion on his face as he feels his heart stopping. "Y-yes, please." He chokes out. "Take me to him."

> Chris
>
>

The man leads you to a small warehouse with a large iron-wrought door. It immediately catches your eye because it is absolutely *covered* in ice. It shoots off it in gigantic spikes and spires. In a way it's beautiful. In another, much more palpable way, it is absolutely terrifying. Whatever did this was incredibly powerful. You feel another pang as you start thinking about what the most likely culprit was...
"Nicolai felt the corruption coming on and knew his time was short. He's locked in the basement of this building. He had us wrap him in chains, destroy the stairs that lead downwards to him, lock the door, and destroy the only key. He was very particular and precise, as he always is. A couple of hours after the securing was complete, the entire island was covered in ice. We assume that's when..." The man coughs. "If you ever came to find him, he made us promise to tell you one thing. Leave him. It's too dangerous to try and save him by yourself, not when the world is in so much turmoil. Maybe one day when The Architect is dead but... Bailey needs you. You can't risk the last person she has in the world."

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex doesn't want to believe it. He doesn't want to believe his brother's down there, and as the man speaks, he starts to tune him out. Bits and pieces get through, like how Nicolai didn't want him to risk coming after him, but he has to be sure. He *has* to be.

And so he walks closer to the building, and touches the Ice, leaning against it and focusing. A free hand comes up to clutch the glowing orange stone tied around his neck as he tried to sense his brother through the bond between the two of them. If Nicolai was down there, if he had turned, that was the other half of his *soul.* He'd feel *something,* right? Even with the Tar his brother would still be in there, deep down, somewhere.

"Come on, Nicolai, please. Give me some hope I'm begging you."

> Chris
>
>

You hear a very faint roar, it sounds like a word you can't quite understand... You feel him in there, he IS in there... And from the roar, you think he feels you too.

"I don't know about Nicolai, but I can give you some hope." Chris  walks over, giving Bailey a piggyback ride. She's cheering for him to go faster and there's a giant smile on her face. "I heard everything, Alex. I've got very good ears, and I think you brought just the right person to help you out."

"Excuse me, High Mage Alexander? Who is this man in the strange blue clothing?" The man you've been speaking with looks very, very confused at the stranger approaching. Chris walks by him saying, "My name's The Doctor. I make people better." Bailey giggles, "You just told me your name was Unca Chris'opher."

"I'm a complicated man, Bailey. I've got a lot of names." Chris comes and stands over next to Alex, a big grin plastered on his face. "You ready to introduce me to the rest of your family, or...?" You can't lie, despite the sorrowful moment and learning everything you just learned, Chris' confidence is absolutely infectious.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex turns his head around as Chris approaches with Bailey, unable to help the laugh as she giggles. God he loved her laugh. He walks up towards Chris, reaching his arms up so that he can snag Bailey from him. "Come here Bailey Bee."

Chris's confidence *was,* in face,  infectious, and as he made himself think about what the man had said. About what his brother had said, and a thought flashed across his mind.

"Christopher is a friend of mine." He smiles, at the man, while he's still hurting from what he learned, there's a spark in his eyes. He takes Bailey from Chris, and brings her over to the man.

"He said it was too dangerous to go by myself, right?" He grins, there's a slight hesitance behind it, but it's clear he's not going to be talked down. "I suppose it's a good thing I didn't come by myself then."

He looks to Bailey, then back to the man. "Can you hold her for me? I need to go save my Brother."

> Chris
>
>

The man looks stunned for a moment, "But High Mage Alexander, I really must insist you-" And then he sees the look on your face and knows he's wasting his breath. "Come along, Bailey. You'll catch your death out in this cold."

Before she goes, Chris kneels down to eye level with her, "Hey honey, before you go I just need your help. Can you tell me what you like about Nicolai? What's your favorite thing about him?"

Bailey looks like she's thinking for a moment, "I like that Nicky is always really nice to me and he teaches me things and he shows me fun magic tricks." Chris smiles. As she talks you swear you feel some strange energy coming from Chris. Nothing bad. It feels friendly.

"So you like magic tricks, eh? Well here let me show you something. Because I thought I saw something weird earlier. Did you know..." Chris reaches his hand out next to Bailey's head and pulls a cookie out of his sylladex, "You've got a cookie behind your ear?" Bailey giggles and claps as Chris hands her the cookie and he ruffles her hair. "Alright, get back inside honey. We'll see you real soon."

Chris stands up and watches Bailey and her babysitter walk away, "She's a great kid, she really is."

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex watches as the two of them leave, glad to know that she was safe for the time being while he and Chris attempt to save the third of their little family.

"She is." He smiles, watching her, then looking at Chris. "She's managed to keep a smile on her face even with everything that's happened. She deserves the best." He takes a deep breath, then looks back at the tangled spire of ice.

"We need to find a way in. I don't want to just, melt everything. Nicolai put this in place for a reason, and if we fail-" He didn't want to think about that.

Instead, the man lifted himself up off the ground and started circling the spire, looking for someway into the icy fortress.

> Chris
>
>

There's no obvious way in. The ice cover is absolutely complete. Chris watches you walk around for a moment before saying, "You know I could just teleport us in there, right?"

> Alexander Varias
>
>

For a moment, Alex had a moment where in his mind flashed the thought of, 'You can?' Before he remembered how they'd gotten here in the first place, and an embarrassed expression crossed his face.

"Right- uhm, could you?"

He's a little overwhelmed at the moment.

> Chris
>
>

"Hmm, I'm not sure." Christopher leans against the ice over the iron door, "Hey future Christopher, bang on the door twice if I can teleport in there."

There's two bangs from inside.

"And there we go, ready to go?" Chris said, holding out his hand.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex nods and reaches out to take Chris’ hand. He’s not sure what to expect once inside but he hopes he’s ready for it.

> Chris
>
>

In a flash of white light you're inside a dank, cold meat locker of a building. Your breath is near solid in this cold. "Alright, so they said that- Hold on," You hear past Chris yelling into the room. Current Chris knocks on the door twice. "OK, so that guy said Nicolai is chained up in the basement of this place. So we just need to get downstairs, turn him back into a person, then head home with him and Bailey. Simple enough, lets get going."

You can hear the roars of a caged animal coming from below. It seems to be repeating the same words over and over, and now that you're closer you can actually make them out.

"ALEX. GET BAILEY. RUN AWAY. ALEX. GET BAILEY. RUN AWAY."

Nicolai is a clever man, brilliant in fact. He knows how TarBeasts work. It seems he made sure these were his last thoughts so his TarBeast would give you one last warning...

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex watched as Chris knocked on the door, and became aware that for a brief moment there were two of him. It was a weird thing to realize sober. Time was weird.

“He said he told them to tear down the stairs as well.” He continued to walk towards the sound of the noise, his heart aching at the words. He could only barely make out his brothers voice underneath the sticky growl TarBeasts tended to have.

“He forced himself to hyperfixate on getting me to leave.” He breathed, racking his mind. “I don’t know if it’ll be easy to get him to calm down, we might have to cure him while he’s agitated.”

He stood as they made it to the stairs, staring at the empty stairwell. He was starting to wonder just how they were going to do this. “We don’t have any of the artifacts we had last time and I’m a significantly weaker mage than I was, how is this going to work?”

> Chris
>
>

"First off, tell me about your brother. What do you like about him? What's your favorite thing about Nicolai?"

> Alexander Varias
>
>

"What I like about him?" Alexander asked, looking at Chris, the roars of the TarBeast that was his brother echoing behind him. "He's my brother, I love everything about him. I love how he gets so caught up in a new book after a mission that I have to bring him food or he'll forget to eat for a few days. I love the way he chastises me when I get myself into trouble, yet still helps me out of it. I love how no matter what he's always been there for me. I can't pick a *favorite* thing, there is no favorite thing that I could pick because he *is* the favorite thing."

He looks back down the hole.

"He always put me first. And then when Bailey came into our lives he put her on the same level of priority as he put me and I never thought I'd see him do that for anyone else. I love watching him grow as a person."

> Chris
>
>

"Alright, I think that should be good." Chris pulls out a very ornate looking keyblade. This is the second person you've seen wielding one of these overgrown keys, but this sword is nothing like the one you saw Skipper wielding. It's a deep blue with complex lattice work across its length. A large purplish pink heart sits in the hilt. And you see his eyes glow a bright ethereal blue. You can feel divine energy coming off him in waves. "I'm gonna need you to keep Nicolai off me for a bit while I get this charged up, I wanna make sure this goes perfectly and I can't be distracted by him trying to take a bite out of me. I'm sorry but you're probably gonna have to actually attack him to get his attention focused on you but I promise, this will be worth it and this will work, Ok? You just have to trust me."

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex watches as Chris takes out the Keyblade. He isn't sure he's ever seen Chris like this before, in fact he's pretty certain he *hasn't,* but there's a sense of confidence that comes with seeing your god friend powering up. Alexander nods.

"I trust you. I'll keep him on me, just do what you have to do."

He looks back to the hole, and steps forward towards the edge of it. "Let's go."

> Chris
>
>

Trusting the god standing beside you, you jump into the hole. Chris jumps in a moment afterwards. And finally, after months, in a strange and twisted way, you reunite with your brother.

Before you, you see a hideous abomination of tar. The creature has no eyes and no head to speak of, simply a gigantic gaping maw filled with rows upon rows of spinning razor sharp teeth. Its back is covered in icicles. It has eight long legs like a spider, all scrambling to gain purchase on the icy ground now that it has sensed you nearby. The shackles have held true since his transformation, but he's struggling hard against them, trying to break free. Since you came down, his speech has became faster and more intense.

"*ALEX. GET BAILEY. RUN AWAY*." He always thought he knew what's best for you, always taking care of you. Now you're gonna take care of him.

> Chris
>
>

The monster breaks free of his chains and fires a barrage of icicles towards the two of you. Chris bats the ones flying towards him out of the air like they were tennis balls.
"***ALEX***." The beast roars.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex could feel his heart ache when he finally sees his brother.

No.

That was wrong.

What he felt was infinitely deeper than that.

As his gaze rested upon the mutilated, Tar covered form of his brother Alex realized that he knew exactly when Nicolai had become infected. He could name the date. The time and place. Were it safe, he could even take you to the *exact* spot he was standing when it happened.

The day the Architect fused with the Night Stalker.

The day a God used his brother as an *ingredient* to open a portal that brought *all of this* down upon his world. Upon his home. Upon his people.

The day he froze, as for a moment, he felt truly, wholly, and completely *alone.*

Nicolai didn't tell him, because he didn't want Alex to harbor any more guilt about that day than he already did, and because of that, he'd become *this.*

So his heart didn't *ache* when he saw his brother. No it wasn't something so simple of a phrase. Alex felt like he'd completely and utterly failed the one person in his life who had, and would always, *always* be there for him, and he felt the very fabric of his soul *burning* with that knowledge.

But instead of freezing, or allowing grief to take him over, Alexander silently vowed, on the name of his brother. On the name of Nuara, True Goddess of Mercy, Forgiveness and Life. On the name of the Pheonix, the sacred beast that he represented as leader of his country, and on the name of this New God, Christopher, the god of Friendship and Ingenuity, who was also, and most importantly, his *friend* that he was going to make up this failure to his brother.

And he was going to bring him home.

Icicles flying towards him like spears, Alexander made the attempt to quickly dodge out of their way.

> Chris
>
>

Roll deftness.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

> Chris
>
>

Jagged icicles dig deep into your shoulder before you can dodge and you reflexively scream in pain at the frostbitten invasion of your body. Nicolai roars in triumph.
Next to you, Christopher holds his keyblade aloft and a blue circle of energy surrounds him. He yells to you, "Alex! To do this I'm gonna need your help! Tell me about your brother and you! Anything, good, bad, big, small, as long as it showcases the bonds you two share. Stay with me, man!"

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex nods to Chris as Alex plays his Duet to empower the both of them, glad he has his flute on him as he wasn't sure he'd have the co-ordination to play his violin with the icicle in his shoulder.

AppealDuet-88DB7.png
> Chris
>
>

You feel a drive within you to save your brother and your enotions flood your music. You create a skin of scales around both you and Chris, and you feel seriously inspired. You gain two extra dice to your actions for 2 turns. You have one move action and two simple actions left.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

With that out of the way, Alexander reaches to get his crossbow off his back, and Aims a shot at his brother. No where vital, he's not wanting to kill him, but he absolutely wants to get his attention.

Focus on me. I'm the threat.

"We used to sit in his library for hours at a time." Alexander says, as he lines up his shot. "He'd be sitting there reading and I'd come in and start messing with things just to get a reaction of of him. He'd pretend to be pissed off but it always ended with him and I sitting down and talking about something new he'd discovered."

> Chris
>
>

Roll deftness, dont forget your buff and your ally bonus.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

> Chris
>
>

"Good, keep going!"

Your crossbow shot makes contact but bounces harmlessly off Nicolai's tar-infused hide. However you did what you intended. You've got his attention now.

Nicolai roars out, "***GET BAILEY!***" and begins charging angrily towards you.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

He's going to attempt to fly up above him, and use his mechanical bonus to his wings to give him some added speed this time, get him to slam in to the wall behind him.

> Chris
>
>

Deftness.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

> Chris
>
>

In an flurry of limbs, Nicolai has you pinned to the ground and roars, "***RUN AWAY***" in your face, tar dropping from his gaping maw. Fortunately your protection spell is keeping him from actually making contact with you.
"Remember, don't worry about getting infected with the tar or getting hurt, you'll heal back to normal when you get to base as long as you aren't fully transformed yet. Keep focus, keep talking, Alex! Tell me something else!"

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex is going to attempt to pull one of his arms free

> Chris
>
>

Robustness.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

> Chris
>
>

You're juuuust able to slip your arm holding your flute free.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alexander attempts his Serpent's Waltz. That uses up both of his actions right?

> Chris
>
>

You feel your magic take hold and Nicolai looks open to suggestion. He's simply standing there blankly.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

There's a brief moment of relief as Alexander looks up at his brother. "Get off me, let me stand up, and *listen,* Nicolai." He says, staring up into the beastly maw.

"Do you remember when we were kids?" Alex is talking directly to Nicolai now, still being sure to talk about their bond while also trying to break through to his brother. "And I started growing my wings, and I was *so scared* because we didn't know what was happening, because neither of us knew we had *dragon blood* in our veins. And I was convinced that I was going to hurt someone. How was I going to be able to control the power of a *dragon?* You told me to trust you. So I did, and you made sure I was going to be okay. Trust me, Nicolai. I'm not going to run away from you. *Trust me.* Let me help you."

He remembers how he calmed Bailey while she was still a TarBeast. Impaled on her arm, hugging her close, or, as well as he could as he promised her she wouldn't be alone. And she calmed, and stayed calm long enough for them to heal her.

Now here he stands, impaled once again, this time on his brother's ice, trying to do the same for him.

> Chris
>
>

Roll appeal.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

9 successes.

> Chris
>
>

"Alex." Nicolai says it very calmly this time, as if he is not hyperfixated, but as if he's recognizing you for the first time. The TarBeast steps back off of you and gives you a chance to stand up. At the moment, it seems very docile, but there's saying how long that'll last.

For its turn Nicolai stands there, gently swaying from side to side, occasionally saying your name as if it's trying to remember who you are exactly. Why are you so important? Why does that name *burn* so much?

It's your turn.

> Chris
>
>

"Alex, we're almost there. One more thing, one more story."

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex, slowly, stands, and closes the distance between them. Had he more control over his fire the way he used to, he would have pulled the fire into his palm, but he didn't, so he pulled it forth the only way he knew he could control it, he took a breath, and tried to summon fire into his lungs.

Pyrophobia-8B704.png
As he did, his chest began to glow, and with it, with the magic of his blood and his soul working together, so did his soul stone, the light from both of them mixing together before in a slow, steady stream, he blew the heat down towards their feet. Not large enough to burn, or hurt, just enough so that Nicolai could *feel* his magic even if he couldn't see him.

"Do you remember when we brought Bailey home the first time? We weren't expecting her to turn into a child. Children turning into TarBeasts at the time was unheard of, right? We didn't know what to do, we were planning for a war, we were trying to do everything in our power to make sure our home was going to be okay. And now we had this child to take care of." He let out a slightly choked chuckle, "I knew we were going to be okay that first night when I saw you curled up with her on your bed after she'd been crying for hours. So long as we all had eachother we were gonna be okay."

Tentatively, and with the slowest of motions, Alex reaches out to touch the top of his brother's Tar ridden form, a touch of comfort. Reassurance. Putting his fear of Tar aside to comfort his brother. "You're gonna be *okay.*"

> Chris
>
>

With that final show of fraternal affection, an intense burst of light shot of Christopher. His keyblade, a beautiful blend of calming blues and brilliant oranges, exploded in an intense display of power. Alex, this may be the biggest display of power you've seen in your time in thr multiverse so far, but it isn't scary in the least. It's a power born of love and the bonds that tie us together.
The Keyblade of Christopher's Heart (+5 Appeal, +5 Deftness, Release The Bonds - As a simple action, you may attempt to use the breeze in conjunction with the will of your heart to immediately free ALL allies from ALL movement impairing effects.)

> Chris
>
>

The tar holding Nicolai doesn't give up without a fight though. It bubbles and ripples in waves across Nicolai's body and the tar itself seems to screech in pain. The icicles on Nicolai's back go flying out in a gigantic arc. Most of them embed themselves in the walls of Nicolai's self-imposed prison, but two of them are flying directly towards you Alex.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex is going to wrap his wings around himself as a sort of protective barrier.

> Chris
>
>

Vitality.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Can I use his Impulse luck roll since its an instinctual reaction?

> Chris
>
>

Go ahead, you havent used it yet.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

> Chris
>
>

The stray icicles penetrate your metallic wings with tremendous force, but they stop the spikes before they hit you directly in the heart. Sparks from your mechanical wings are spraying in your face, but it actually doesn't hurt to have them damaged. So there's that. You won't be doing any flying though.

Christopher approaches Nicolai with his keyblade held aloft, energy pouring forth from it like a geyser. As he gets closer, The Tar screeeeeeches in response. He isn't fighting with Nicolai now, he's fighting with The Tar itself.

> Chris
>
>

The Tar is an incredibly powerful force and normally wouldn't give up its host without a fight. You normally need incredibly powerful  artifacts and magicks to cleanse someone of this corruption. But these aren't ordinary times, and Chris is not an ordinary person. And he isn't alone either. He's got Alex with him. And he's got Bailey. None of this would be possible without their love for Nicolai, their bonds powered this spell. But he has one more friend who's been with him for thousands upon thousands of years... The Breeze.

Tier 22

Roll Beseecher - Once per day, a target must roll a second time. A friendly target (or yourself) may freely choose which of the two to take. A hostile target must take the lower of the two results. Once every two weeks, make target roll one more point than a successful DC or contest.

There is an enormous gust of wind, powerful enough to rip flesh from bone and to turn rock into canyon, but neither Alex or Chris are harmed by it. All of this raw wind-powered fury is aimed directly at the tar itself, blending with Chris' own divine energy and making one simple thing clear.

The Tar is no longer welcome in this body.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex has seen incredible displays of Magic before. Being in his position as High Mage, they're kind of something you have to get used to, after all, he himself has had a few of his own displays in his time as leader of this country.

This was on another level entirely.

Alex watches awestruck as divine powered wind, no, the Breeze, whips around him and attacks the Tar infecting his brother's body. He's heard TarBeasts scream before but to hear the *Tar itself* scream was a new sound he hadn't heard before. Haunting, horrifying, *vindicating* as he watched something that had been a source of so much pain and fear and destruction meet it's match for the first time since the start of the War.

So Alex waited for the spell to finish, watching intently for signs of his brother coming through so he could be there the moment he was needed.

> Chris
>
>

There's a flash of blinding light and the TarBeast is gone. As your eyes adjust you notice two things. One, Christopher is lying in the ground. He's fine, he's breathing. "I'm just... gonna lay here for a minute... Jesus Christ..."
The second is your brother, laying on the ground next to him. Nicolai sits up quickly and looks around like a startled animal. There are multiple emotions that cross has face - confusion, recognition, relief, confusion again, and then finally it seems he's settled on indignation. "What the hell is wrong with you, Alex? I made myself perfectly goddamn clear that you were not supposed to try and help me! How could you do something this goddamn stupid and reckless, what if something had happened to you? What would have happened to Bailey? Did you even think of that? No, don't answer that. Of course you didn't, you never think Alex. I swear to God if it wasn't for me you would've killed yourself years ago. And look at you! You almost did kill yourself! You've been peppered with goddamn icicles, you stupid fucking asshole."

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Once Alexander is certain the both of them are okay he can’t help but laugh as Nicolai starts yelling at him. God it was probably mildly deserved. But he was still elated to hear it.

He didn’t say anything, just went over and threw himself at his brother, giving him a huge hug squeezing him as tight as he could before pulling back with a smirk.

“You said not to come *alone.*”

> Chris
>
>

"So you just thought you'd twist my fucking words around, you knew what I meant you..." As you hug him, he seems to run out of steam. He never could hold a grudge. He hugs you back. "Thank you for saving me. How did you even do it? It took more than a month with Bailey and we had Mom back then. What did you do?"

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Wounds heal, and he knows he’ll be okay back at the Archive, so while the Icicle that went through his shoulder still hurt he brushed it off so he could enjoy this moment with his brother. He glances over to Chris as Nicolai asks how he did it. “I brought a friend.” He answers simply, giving Chris a broad and thankful smile before looking back to Nicolai. “He fixes people.”

He says it matter of factly, like it answers all the questions, even though he knows it doesn’t. Alex pulls back a little bit.

“Let me see if I can help him really fast, then we can go get Bailey.”

He wonders if he can pull something out of his pocket to help Chris recover his energy. Last time he tried he pulled out a ‘Monster Energy’ whatever that was. Maybe he’d have better luck this time.

> Alexander Varias
>
>

> Chris
>
>

Alex, you reach into your pocket and pull out... a Monster Energy. God dammit. To your surprise, Chris sits up and says, "Yo, that's actually exactly what I need right now, thank you for this, I am in your debt." Chris chugs the Monster and then places it lightly against his chest. Grey Goo comes to the surface and the can is quickly transformed into a small cube. "Ha, neat. Hey, you must be Nicolai. I'm Christopher, but that isn't super important. What is important is there's a little girl who is dying to see you right now."
Nicolai looks pretty irritated with himself for not immediately thinking of Bailey, and turns to you Alex. "Where is she?"

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Huh, maybe there was more to those weird drinks than he thought. He was glad it helped.

Alex points up. “I left her with the villagers who’ve been taking care of her since you came down here. I wasn’t going to bring her down here, it wasn’t safe.” He hummed.

“Let’s go get her, shall we?”

> Chris
>
>

The three of you reunite with Bailey and there are a lot of tears shed, but also a lot of laughter and a lot of relief. After you've all had a chance to catch up and become a family once more, Christopher opens the portal home.
"Is everyone ready to go?"

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex plays a song before he leaves, amplifying it so it's heard by as many people as possible, the Drake's Lament. He wants to leave his people in the best condition possible before he has to leave them.

When he comes back, though, it'll be to take back Acrea.

Then, he turns to Chris. "I think we are now, yeah."

> Chris
>
>

Not only do you heal the people around you, but you heal the island itself. The fire inherent in your music melts away the permafrost created by Nicolai's transformation. Everyone cheers for you, the High Mage of The Phoenix.
Nicolai smiles, "Where'd you learn to cast spells like that, Alex?"

> Alexander Varias
>
>

Alex smiles as he looks at the island. As far as he knows, this is the last refuge. The last resistance against the Tar. He's glad that his magic was strong enough to return the island to normal before he left.
Alex smiles at his brother. "I've been learning a lot of things recently, there's a lot to talk about" He says, picking up Bailey and walking towards the portal, "But they're things we can talk about more later. Let's go!" He smiles widely at his brother.

> Chris
>
>

"We better." Nicolai said, smiling nearly as wide.

Chris smiled as he looked on the scene, happy he could be part of making this happen. Together, the four of them walked through the rift back home.

MISSION COMPLETE!