No.

That's not how it's going to go.

I looked up at the stars, blinking rain out of my eyes and took a deep breath, drawing in fé. I stretched my consciousness out and took hold of Alex's escaping energie.

It struggled slightly as I wrapped it in fé, calming once it recognised me.

Then I pulled it down to earth, dodging between the falling raindrops.

And suddenly I was

doing something I'd

only seen once before.

I tethered Alex's energie to the cold body at my feet and sent my fé back up, into the sky, racing through the stars until I found mine. The star tethered to my energie, keeping me alive.

It was one of two.

I had always wondered why she'd chosen one of a pair.

I guess she knew what was coming.

I drew on the star's energie, forcing every last bit of magick out of my faé stone. I wrapped the star's energie in fé, passing the magick around it again and again.

I pulled it towards Alex, feeling the heat of the star burn rapidly through the layers of fé. I sped up, using up more and more of my magick, until I was literally scraping the barrel.

Well, maybe not literally.

Figuratively.

The two balls of energie, Alex's fading one and the -pretty much- immortal star one came together.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then there was a bright flash and I went flying backwards.

I hit the ground and immediately stood up, scrambling back over to Alex. He lay still, still looking like death. Then his chest heaved and he took a gasping breath.

'Alicia?' his voice was raspy.

I smiled faintly, 'Yeah, I'm here, I'm okay.'

I couldn't hold myself back as he sat up, throwing my arms around him, 'Thank Morgana. I thought you were never going to wake up.'

Alex hesitated for a moment, then hugged me back, 'Who's Morgana?'

I let out a shaky laugh, 'Seriously, that's what you want to focus on?'

He raised an eyebrow and I sighed, 'Well, um, you know, Morgan le fay? Legend of King Arthur?'

Alex's brows furrowed, but he smiled as he said, 'You're a strange one Cinderella.'

I gasped in mock outrage, 'Me?! I'm not the one who goes around blackmailing people into going to tea houses.'

He grinned and stood up, carefully pulling me to my feet.

As if I was the one who had just died and come back to life.

As I stood up, exhaustion crashed down on me. It takes a huge amount of effort to bring someone back to life you know. I stumbled slightly, bending down to pick up my glock as if it was all part of the master plan. Which of course it wasn't.

My hands were shaking slightly, but I ignored them, only almost dropping the slippery gun twice before I slipped it into my holster. Then I picked up my rifle, shoving it back on my shoulder.

Alex looked concerned but I ignored him too.

The double doors at the entrance of the station were open and a trail of bodies, some still moving, littered the hallway. Obviously the main force had been stationed here.

Alex and I moved further into the station, glocks up, alert and listening for any sound at all. We could only hear the faint sounds of a battle deeper into the building.

One of the doors along the hallway opened into the main room. It was interestingly decorated, with a black and white patterned floor, high ceiling and large window at the end, behind a couple of large machines.

'I presume those would be the radios.'

Alex nodded, already pulling wire and explosives out of his pockets.

Thank Morgana they hadn't exploded earlier. Then Alex wouldn't have had anyone to bring him back.

We set to attaching the bombs to the machines, tying some to the handles and placing the others around the base. Alex attached them all together with the wire.

Then he stopped, handing me the reel, 'I'll go find the others and make sure they're out. It's not a huge building so they can't be far. You'll be alright on your own here right?'

I nodded and he flashed me a grin, pulling his glock out again and heading out the door, pulling it closed behind him.

I sank against the machine as he disappeared from sight, dropping all pretence of being fine. Sighing, I pulled out a new gun cartridge, reloading my gun.

Footsteps echoed down the hallway and I winced. Alex is always so loud.

The door started to open and I frowned. That was very quick; and there was only one set of footfalls.

I lifted my gun, calling out a code. The only reply was a gunshot. I ducked, the bullet embedding itself where my head was only a moment before.

There was another gunshot as I retreated round one of the machines, returning fire once I had cover.

The door opened a little more and I aimed carefully, then pulled the trigger. The soldier dropped and I sighed. It's surprising how exhausting aiming and firing a gun is.

There were more footsteps in the hall, multiple people running it seemed. I quickly reloaded my gun, preparing to fire as Alex burst through the doors.

I lowered the gun again, stumbling forward to meet the rest of the team. I pulled William into a hug, whispering into his ear.

'Alex died, I had to bring him back.' He pulled back, studying my expression carefully.

'Alina tell me you didn't-'

'I had to, there was no other way. And besides, he might not be immortal. It takes a lot of energie to bring someone back.'

'How are you going to tell him?'

I grimaced, 'I didn't think about this very well, did I?'

He shook his head, smiling slightly, 'We'll cross this bridge when we come to it.'

'Or burn it,' I muttered under my breath.

William meanwhile had turned back to Cap who was already giving instructions.

'The entrance where we came in has a squad of soldiers outside it, so we are going to have to find another way out.'

Harris pointed towards the back of the hall, 'There was a door out the back. Or there's the window.'

Cap nodded, turning to look, 'That could work. Not very stealthy though.'

He rubbed his eyes, thinking silently. None of us interrupted him, quietly preparing weapons or scanning the room for possible escape routes.

There was a bang as the door opened and we scattered, taking cover behind machines.

A squad of soldiers entered and immediately retreated, several falling from our bullets. Cap motioned us over to him.

William went first, crawling over to the machine Cap was behind. Alex followed him, meeting Harris and Walker halfway. I went to follow them.

Then heat spread through my leg, followed by a wave of pain.

I guess I just wasn't fast enough.

Alex ran back out to meet me, hauling me up onto my feet. I stupidly tried to put weight on my injured leg and almost collapsed, leaning more on Alex.

Of course it's when I'm crossing that they decide to be accurate

A bullet grazed Alex's arm and he stumbled, dropping us next to the others. I bit back a groan, as fingers probed the wound carefully.

Apparently Harris was a trained medic.

He continued to poke at it for a few moments, then withdrew his fingers, 'The bullet's still in there. I'll have to dig it out, then I can tourniquet it,' Harris looked up at Cap, 'But she won't be able to put any weight on it.'

'Then leave me here,' My voice held strength I didn't feel, 'You can't exactly carry me the whole way back.'

Cap frowned, running a hand through his hair.

'Come on, you know it's the only way. And besides, you have to get that information back to London.' I gestured to his pockets.

Cap stiffened, 'How did you know about that?'

I rolled my eyes, 'Your pockets are literally stuffed with something. What else would be important enough to warrant slowing you down?'

Cap smiled slightly. Harris chose this moment to start getting the bullet out and I hissed.

'You could've given me a little more warning.'

Harris shrugged, 'Half the pain comes from imagining it before hand. And I didn't want to tell you that I had no morphine.'

The German soldiers chose this moment to start firing again, drowning out my muffled yelps and groans.

Everyone not helping Harris returned fire, taking it in turns to reload their weapons.

With a last few pokes with his pocket knife, all more painful than the rest added together, Harris got the bullet out and it pinged onto the floor. Then he pulled out a bandage and tied a quick tourniquet around it.

Cap stretched a hand out to pull me up, but I shook my head.

'I meant what I said. I can barely walk and I'm not going to put the safety of the team at risk.'

Cap clenched his jaw, 'And I don't want to leave any of my team behind.'

My voice was hard as I aimed my gun at Walker, 'Captain Walker, withdraw your team or I shoot your nephew in the head.'

Poor Walker was right on the edge of our cover. He had nowhere to go.

The team was silent as Cap stared at me. The attacking soldiers started firing again, bullets ricocheting off the machines around us. Walker really had nowhere to go now.

I pulled the trigger, aiming slightly off to the left of his head. The bullet skimmed post his ear and Cap jumped into action, 'You do realise that that's a court-martial case, if we ever manage to get you back.'

I nodded, 'I'm well aware,' my face softened, 'And thank you, for trying to keep our team together. There just isn't any other way in this situation.'

I turned to Alex, 'When I'm back in London, we need to go to a coffee house together.'

He nodded, not trusting himself to speak as tears pooled in his eyes.

Alex moved to let William take his place, then stopped, leaning down to kiss me.

I hesitated for a moment, then deepened the kiss, only pulling away when Harris let out a loud wolf whistle. Alex groaned and pulled back, giving me one last kiss on the forehead, before he moved away.

I turned to glare at Harris as William handed a couple of coins over to Cap.

I punched William, then hugged him, muttering, 'I'll be fine. Friderich won't let me die. I think. Haven't seen him in a while.'

William smiled sadly, 'Bye Liebchen,' He pulled away, then turned back, 'I'll have that talk with Alex for you. I'll try not to make him hate you.'

I chuckled quietly, 'That would be great thanks.'

The team packed up, sending sad glances in my direction. I didn't look as they left, hiding my shaking hands under my gun.

When there was a lull in shooting, I dragged myself up and, putting my hands up, walked out from behind the radio.

Within moments I was on the floor with my hands behind my back, all weapons stripped away.

As their Captain came over, I smirked through the pain from my leg, 'Take me to Friderich Von Lübeck.'