Grey awoke suddenly, gasping for air, her muscles tensed and covered in a cold sweat. Her hand reached up and gripped her chest feeling her heart beat franticly.

  “She`s awake!.”, yelled Willow, running over and colpsing on top of her, tears in her eyes. “You idiot! You damn idiot! I told you never to do this to me.”

  Grey wrapped her arms around Willow, holding her as tight as her aching muscles would allow. She looked around the room and saw Max holding a borderline sobbing Mika.

  “It`s okay sweetie. I`m okay.”, Grey muttered weakly.

  “Mom!”, Mika cried out charging and diving onto the bed.

  Grey held her close too, too tired to cry but weeping none the less.

  Max walked over, a strong look of relief on his face.

  “It`s good to have you back.”, he said, reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder. “We thought we lost you. Heck for a few minutes we did. You were dead. But then your heart started beating again, and here you are, awake and everything. How do you feel?”

  “I feel… like I just woke up from a very deep sleep.”, Grey commented. “I`m sorry, I`m so sorry. I didn`t mean… I didn`t want any of you to get hurt. You`re all I have. I needed to protect you, both of you, from all of it.”

  “You did protect us.”, Willow mumbled through relentless tears. “But who was there to protect you? Why does it always have to be you doing the sacrificing? No more. Please, promise me you won`t leave us again. If you do we are done. I can`t… I can`t keep watching you die.”

  “I promise.”, Grey agreed, strengthening her grip on both of them.

  [---]

  Grey wondered outside the front door of the house with Willow and Mika supporting her from both sides. They looked out at the farm, damaged, but not destroyed. The fight had kicked up some dirt and crushed some mushrooms but it would be easy to fix.

  Stood in the centre of it all however, was the Ghoul Queen. Her back facing them, she just stood there, looking at the ground.

  “What, is she doing?”, Grey asked.

  “We don`t know. After you colpsed, she just stopped in her tracks. Looked at her hands, looked at everything around her and just stopped. The ghouls seemed to do the same, they kind of just lost the will to fight and scattered back into the tunnel. The guards cleaned up the bodies, couldn`t risk them festering.”, Willow informed her, ever vigint.

  “And the guards? Are they coming back? Just encase?”, Grey wondered out loud, fearful of it all going wrong again.

  “They will be back. For now though, she doesn`t seem harmful. If she wanted us dead we would be dead. But she doesn`t, at least we don`t think so. Something tells me she is waiting for you. We caught her looking back at the house once or twice. Maybe you should go speak to her?”

  “Not until the guards come back…”, Grey replied cautiously.

  It didn`t take long for the Grey Guard to return, in greater numbers too. Twenty of them came charging through the tunnel and surrounded the Ghoul Queen ready to take her on if she showed any signs of aggression. She didn`t, she just sat there.

  Grey took a deep breath and approached the Ghoul Queen, Willow and Mika at her side still. She would have asked them to stay back but she knew they wouldn`t. They were in this together now, as a family, whether Grey liked it or not.

  They approached and wondered around to face the Ghoul Queen. She looked up at them and locked her eyes on Grey. Her eyes were a calm emerald, devoid of the bloodlust Grey had seen earlier. Something was different now, very different.

  “You are Grey Lady.”, The Ghoul Queen spoke. “You touched my mind. Gave me crity. Thank you. Thank you.”

  “I don`t think I quite understand.”, Grey responded, noting the Ghoul Queens words came with a little more ease now.

  “Before, all was instinct. Primal desire and animal intent. Now, I can think, I can see, I can feel.”, The Ghoul Queen paused and looked at Willow, then Mika. “I am sorry. I did not know what I was doing. I was told to kill. To kill for someone I trusted. Now I see, that is wrong. Can you forgive?”

  Grey hesitated, it was hard to see the creature in front of her as anything other than the monster that tried to kill her family.

  “Forgiveness isn`t necessary. You didn`t know what you were doing.”, Willow interjected between the two.

  “Thank you.”, The Ghoul Queen replied, bowing her head.

  Grey looked to the guards standing around them and gestured for them to be at ease. They did so reluctantly, simply taking a few steps back to give them space to talk.

  “What will you do now?”, Mika asked suddenly, to Grey and Willows surprise.

  “I do not know. This is all new to me. What would you suggest I do little one?”, the Ghoul Queen enquired, looking at Mika innocently.

  “You could protect my mom.”, she proposed.

  “Protect her from the one who ordered me to kill you, yes?”, the Ghoul Queen crified.

  “Isabelle. She needs to be stopped. I`m sure the ghouls aren`t the only thing she has up her sleeve. We need to strike back, now.”, Max chimed in with his approach.

  “Are you insane? Grey is in no position. She can barely stand.”, Willow argued back fiercely.

  “We need to strike while the iron is hot, while their guard is down. There is no way they can know the attack failed. They will never be weaker than they are in this moment.”, Max argued back just as fiercely.

  “Max is right. It`s now or never. We can`t let this get any more out of hand. Max, assemble the guards and wait for me in the market. I`ll need a while to get my strength back.”, Grey decred weakly.

  “Honey no. It`s too dangerous.”, Willow protested.

  “Allow me to accompany you. I shall aid you in any way I can, I shall put my life on the line for you if I must.”, the Ghoul Queen interrupted.

  “Do you think you`re kin would be willing to fight with us?”, Max asked sceptically.

  “My kin will do as I instruct, yes.”, The Ghoul Queen confirmed.

  “Have them follow us from the shadows. When the fighting starts they can attack the fnk. Give our people enough time to see they are on our side.”, Grey suggested.

  “A wise decision. I shall see it done.”, the Ghoul Queen bowed respectfully.

  “Nice to have you aboard Queenie.”, Max affirmed, giving her a gentle sp on the shoulder. She smiled at the nickname.

  Max and Queenie rushed off to do as they were instructed and Willow looked to Grey.

  “What do you need us to do?”, she asked.

  “I need you to help get me to my father. With Whiskers gone, he is the only one I can turn to, to get my strength back.”, she told them.

  [---]

  Willow and Mika escorted Grey through the streets. The whole way a question burned in the back of her mind. Max had said she died, heart stopped. It should have been impossible for her to come back from that entirely. To still be who she was, memories and all. When the soul was truly separated from the body it deteriorated into raw energy. That was it, final. It nagged at her all the way to her father`s front door.

  They knocked on the door and wondered inside, the pce felt colder than Grey remembered.

  “Dad?”, Grey enquired out loud.

  The store front was empty, all the bone meal sacks gone.

  “Dad? Are you here?”, Grey enquired again.

  They wondered through and back to the Kitchen, it too was empty.

  Grey had a sinking feeling. They were about to turn and leave, assume her father was simply out. But something pulled her towards her old room.

  “Dad?”, she enquired again.

  She pulled back the sheet that separated her room from the Kitchen and froze in pce. There on her old bed was a lifeless skeleton. Cold and immobile.

  “Dad.”, she said one st time, clutching at her chest. Feeling the grateful beat of her heart and the warmth of her father`s love.

  [---]

  After they left her childhood home Grey managed to work on her own. The knowledge of her father`s sacrifice gave her strength, enough to keep going. Willow wanted her to stop, to talk, to grieve. There was no time for that now, Whiskers and her father were dead. Isabelle was still alive. When she too was dead, and this whole thing was behind them, then she would mourn those she lost.

  They met up with Max at the market, the Grey Guard armed and ready for the battle to come. Wordlessly she nodded her head and started to march on towards the middle ring. They all followed her, mumbling amongst themselves, the outer rings denizens watching them go by.

  They made it to the middle ring unopposed, unchallenged. Word had reached them that all Enforcers had been ordered to retreat to the inner ring. Grey didn`t care, nothing was going to stop them from finishing this today. They pressed on and found their ranks swelled by common citizens who felt it their duty to fight for their city. Grey smiled when she saw the face of the Enforcer she had saved amongst the crowd.

  As they climbed towards the inner ring Grey could sense the presence of the ghouls lurking in the shadows. They assembled in great numbers and kept their distance waiting for the moment they would be needed.

  Grey took a gnce behind her at the sheer force that had amassed behind her. Thousands of people, ready to fight for their city, ready to die for a better tomorrow. She would not let them down.

  They made it to the walls and gate of the inner ring. Stood upon the walls battlements were lines of Enforcers wielding improvised weapons and projectiles. Clearly they were found wanting when it came to being outfitted the same as the inner ring Enforcers. Grey spat on the ground and shifted her feet in pce.

  “Disperse immediately! This is an unwful assembly! Any and all acts of defiance will be dealt with, lethally if necessary.”, a scarred Enforcer yelled from the battlements.

  Grey took a deep breath and looked to Willow.

  “Promise me you won`t do anything stupid.”, Grey whispered to her.

  “Don`t worry, I`ll just do what you do.”, she chuckled before yelling. “FOR THE UNDERCITY!”

  The crowd roared and cheered and charged the walls and gate. The Enforcers retaliated throwing bottles and bricks with grim determination. Citizens threw the bricks back at them providing cover for the Grey Guard who started to climb the walls. The first few to make it over were cut down by the cold Enforcers and colpsed to the ground. Those not dead were dragged away and tended to the others would be mourned ter.

  The Grey Guard kept climbing, kept fighting to get over the walls. One woman managed over the wall and shed at the Enforcers with two prosthetic arms beating them back, creating an opening. More of her fellow guards climbed and joined her kicking the Enforcers off of the wall. The defence had been penetrated, soon the wall had fallen to the control of the Grey Guard and they opened the gate.

  Beyond, the Enforcers still standing retreated to improvised barricades in the streets. They were no match for the sheer onsught and numbers of the Grey Guard and Undercity citizens.

  They stormed their way through the streets striking down or chasing any Enforcer that got in their way. Grey pushed forward with them adding her momentum to the charge. In a few bloody heated moments the streets were theirs and they found themselves at the perimeter of the Cartel`s headquarters.

  Their momentum slowed and stopped as they looked on at a defensive line of well-armed and armoured Enforcers. The true defenders of the inner circle. They stood ready, disciplined and unintimidated with polished armour and sharpened swords and spears.

  The crowd hesitated for a moment, just a moment, then the ghouls cried out. From the darkness of the shadows they charged forth into the wall of iron and were struck down for it. Regardless, they were unrelenting and kept throwing themselves onto the Enforcers.

  Grey yelled out, with Willow, Mika and Max, Queenie yelling too from atop one of the buildings. The crowd yelled with them and charge forth unafraid once more.

  The ghouls took the brunt of the assault dying in their hundreds. Their corpses blunted the Enforcers lethality and they found themselves overwhelmed, their line breaking. The battle broke down into a melee Enforcers, Grey Guard, ghouls and citizens scattered all over fighting for their lives.

  With every second the battle went on like this Grey knew more people would die. With every second there would be more people to mourn, more pain to overcome.

  “Queenie!”, she cried out above the cries of battle.

  The Ghoul Queen descended the roof tops and muscled her way to Grey.

  “How may I assist?”, she enquired loudly.

  Get me inside that building. I don`t care how you do it. If I can get in there I can kill Isabelle and this all ends.”, Grey decred. She locked eyes with Willow from across the crowd. “I will be back, I promise!”

  “You better be! Or I will never forgive you!”, Willow yelled back.

  Queenie lifted up Grey and put her on her back. Grey held on tight as the Ghoul Queen charged through the melee bashing aside any Enforcer that got in her way. She took a spear to the thigh and cried out in pain before tearing the head of its wielder off with her cws. She muscled further and found a sword cutting into her arm. She grabbed the Enforcer chopping at her and through him away like he was nothing. With every inch they got further the thicker the resistance became.

  The Enforcers surrounded Queenie and began stabbing and sshing at her. She fought them back as best she could but there were just too many. She bled from several wounds and shed around savagely losing her focus. In a final act of coherency she reached back and grabbed Grey and with all her might threw her over her shoulders and over the Enforcers, through the front door of the headquarters. The doors burst open and smmed close behind her dulling the sounds of battle.

  [---]

  Grey rose to her feet and took a deep breath ready to do what needed to be done. She charged her way up to the office where she hoped Isabelle would be waiting for her. She pounded against the doors and pushed her way in to see the head of the Cartel, back pressed against her obsidian table, with a knife in hand.

  “We could have been good together you know. Could have ruled this city as our own personal kingdom you and I”, Isabelle remarked her face twisted with a seething hatred.

  “A kingdom of blood and suffering.”, Grey replied disgusted.

  “There you go again being all dramatic.”, Isabelle rebuked. With that said two Enforcers who had been hiding in the shadows emerged and apprehended Grey.

  She tried to fight them off but they were too strong. She looked ahead to Isabelle, walking towards her brandishing her knife coldly.

  “You know, I think I`m going to hang your corpse in the lower level market. Let it serve as a reminder to those who would swim against the current.”, Isabelle spat, getting closer to Grey.

  Grey watched her approach and felt the two men beside her, she took a deep breath and a faint smile formed.

  “You know, you were right about one thing. That the greatest strength is to be under estimated.”, Grey spoke confidently.

  Isabelle stopped and looked at Grey cautiously then in confusion as the two Enforcers restraining her began to spasm.

  Grey had her hands rested on their arms as they held her and she tapped into their souls to feed her own. They grew weak and colpsed unconscious before Grey could drink them dry. No matter, she had more than enough energy to take on Isabelle now.

  Isabelle screamed and lunged out angrily thrusting her knife towards Grey. Grey stepped aside and knocked the knife from her hands. Isabelle wasn`t ready to give up yet, she shifted her momentum and struck Grey in the stomach with her fist.

  “I am not going to just sit back and let you destroy everything I have built!”, Isabelle screamed.

  Grey keeled over and coughed before spotting the next punch blocking and grabbing it before it could connect. Isabelle tried to follow up with a knee to the face but Grey saw it coming and shifted her momentum forward taking Isabelle down to the ground.

  “You haven`t built anything! You simply stole and exploited the bour of others.”, Grey yelled back.

  The two wrestled on the ground exchanging blows before Isabelle attempted to crawl towards her discarded knife. She kicked Grey off of her and grabbed the knife getting to her feet and sshing wildly. Grey got up and backed away from each strike waiting for the right moment to retaliate. One of the swings was less driven than the rest and Grey took advantage of it grabbing her wrist.

  Grey breathed deeply and began to channel her energy into Isabelle and tapped into her soul. Isabelle gasped and looked at Grey in disbelief.

  “What are you…?”, she began before feeling her body grow weak.

  “I am a Necromancer. Like my father before me.”, Grey replied using Isabelle`s own strength against her.

  With her other hand she grabbed Isabelle by the neck and lifted her off the ground. With her free hand Isabelle tried to free herself but Grey was too strong now. With every second that went by her strength left her and flowed into Grey. She dropped the knife and tried in vain to fight Grey off. Her eye`s began to water as the reality of the situation sunk in. Her arms dropped beside her the muscles in them too atrophied to function.

  Grey walked over to the window of Isabelle`s office and pressed her against the gss.

  “For the Undercity.”, she decred, mustering all of her strength and forcing Isabelle through the gss and down into the battle below.