I'm a cleaner and fixer by profession. I just can't help it. I see a mess and I just can't help but clean it up. Sometimes my methods seem a bit...different. Sometimes I make a bigger mess of things before I fix them.

I was currently staying with a man named Johanson. I called him Jo. Pissed him off. For some reason he still liked me though.

"So, you gonna clean out your office or just let it stand as a monument to your hypocrisy?" he asked. The 'office' Jo spoke of was what I would (and did) call a broom closet. It was slightly bigger than a normal coat closet. "Your supplies are all over the place in there."

"Well, Jo," I put emphasis on his name, "I'll get to it when you stop lining up jobs for me and taking all the free time I've got. I can only do so much with so little time." I flung the door open and looked at my stuff inside. A small smile crossed my face as I reached in and wrapped my fingers around the long wooden staff inside. That odd feeling came back to me as I held the staff in my hand. Something wasn't right about it. There was an awkward feeling, like it was something so familiar and yet...something was wrong.

I pulled the mop on out of the closet and looked at it closer. Most of the time the mop felt great in my hand, but at times when I wasn't focused on cleaning it felt too heavy. Like it was off somehow, but I couldn't figure out what. I'd tried several different versions, but none of them felt right.

I guess I should introduce myself, my name is Walter Tyme. As I said before I'm a cleaner and fixer. I work in the small town that had taken me in a few months ago when Jo found me in the forest, naked and unable to remember a single thing about me. Jo brought me to Shimmer Town and got me medical care.

It took me a while to get back to a place that I could function again. Jo was there with me most of the time. The first thing I asked him when I could talk again was, "Who am I?" He looked at me with a large smile and laughed.

"Well, that's what I was going to ask you." came his reply.

"I don't know." I paused and thought about it, "But I feel like a Walter."

It was a long, and hard task to get back to feeding myself, and longer still before I could walk. I realized that I was a fixer when the first time I was able to walk around my room I straightened the mess left by the nurses. As I turned to go back to my bed, I noticed a broom sitting in the corner of the room. Slowly I made my way to the glorious piece of wood. Once there the handle felt so right in my hands. Quickly I swept the room, making sure to get every bit of dirt and dust on the floor.

I jumped a bit when I heard clapping coming from behind me. I turned to see Jo there. "You're pretty good with that thing. Once you get back on your feet maybe I'll let you clean my house too." I staggered a bit, having tired myself out from cleaning. Jo was at my side almost instantly. "Whoa, now. You suffered head trauma, and severe burns over most of your body. The fact that you're as healed as you are is amazing, but you still need to rest." He helped me get back to bed.

Shortly after that, I was released. I stood outside of the hospital and inhaled deeply. Closing my eyes I enjoyed the feeling of the sun on my face. I smiled. And then I stopped. I didn't know who I was, where I was, what I did, or if I had anyone who cared about me, wondering where I was. I didn't have a home or anywhere to go now. Nor did I have any way of paying for a place to stay until my memories came back...IF they came back.

"You need a place to stay for a little while?" A familiar voice asked from behind me. "I've got an extra room and you're welcome to stay with me for a bit...if you need to."

I shook my head, my smile returning, "I have to ask, why have you helped me so much? You don't know who I am, why I was where I was or why I was the way a I was." Say that five times fast. "It's not that I don't appreciate it, I just don't get it."

"Well Walter, the way I see if, there are all kinds of people in this world. I'm a helper. I help people. When I saw you in the forest, I knew that I'd found a kindred soul. You were like me. Maybe not a helper exactly, but you're a good guy. A good guy who happens to need some help." He shrugged. "It's who I am."

It was just who he was. He allowed me to stay until he felt I had recovered enough and then came home one day with a box full of cleaning supplies. "I'm a helper, Walter, not a millionaire. From what I've seen you're a cleaner. It's time to put your abilities to work. It's time for you to earn your keep."

It appeared that despite not knowing who I was, I now had a name, and a job. In short; I am Walter Tyme, I'm a Cleaner, hear my roar!

The demon had a hold of my throat and was squeezing, tighter and tighter. I could smell the putrid odor of it's breath as he (I could now feel his...umm...bits...pressing against my leg as he held me there, at least one of us was enjoying this) pulled me closer to laugh in my face. "Aww, is the poor wizard having problems breathing?" And he laughed again, another puff of rot hitting me dead in the face.

"The least you could do is pop a breath mint if you're going to kill me. Consider it a dying man's last wish." My words were braver than I felt. Lets see how brave you're feeling with a naked demon's penis pressing against your leg as he strangles the life out of you. But I was proud of myself. I didn't trip and fall on my face the whole time. Not that I could, what with being held a good three feet above the ground. Details. Blah.

"You're a brave little insect aren't you?" the monster asked. Was that admiration in his voice? He squeezed again. Nope. That was aggravation. I was good at that one. It was getting harder and harder to breath, let alone dazzle with my witty come backs.

"whhhhh toooo oooo" the rest was blocked in my throat by a large fist.

"What was that wizardling? Would those be your last words? Well, let us not deprive history of the last will and testament of Sage." he released my throat slightly and air came rushing back to my lungs. "Well, speak up, I don't have all day you know. I've got a wolf to hunt."

Panting I enjoyed the fresh oxygen my brain was now getting. "I. Said..." pause, "What took you so long?"

A flash of anger crossed the thing's face, "I could have killed you hours ago!" he bellowed.

I tried shaking my head, but couldn't, "Not. You." At that moment the demon was pounced on by a giant fur wolf, which started shredding it apart. I fell to the floor rubbing my neck. "Dumbass."

My eyes flew open and I sat bolt right in my bed. My hand instantly went to my throat and rubbed it. I could have sworn it was still sore. I'd been having these weird dreams for weeks now.

They started off fairly tame, and then became worse. At first I was just going around helping people, then I met a girl. There wasn't anything romantic between us. We were...partners...Why did that word keep popping into my head when I thought about her? Then she was gone, and replaced by being who's powers I had no chance of matching...but that didn't stop me from pissing them off.

Then there was a night of blackness. Nothing. Two whole nights of pure silence. All good things though...The third night it started over again. Me helping people, but I wasn't in the same place any more. It almost reminded me of Shimmer Town. And another girl came. What is it with me and women? I made a promise to myself to never get involved with someone ever again. They seemed to only cause trouble. At least in my dreams.

This was getting to be a bit too real for my liking. Why couldn't I get these dreams to leave me alone? That was where my mind was when I was walking down the street coming from a job several houses down. The Widow Miller was a regular customer of mine and I kept her house just as clean as she had when she was able to. I was brought out of my trance by a high pitched scream from down an alley I'd just walked past.

Turning quickly and looked down between the two buildings to see a large man and tiny woman arguing. I could see that he had his paw (yeah, it wasn't a hand, this thing was big enough to give me a flash of my dream from the night before) wrapped around her forearm. "Leave me alone asshole!" the lady screamed and hit him with her other hand.

Asshole just laughed, "Come of Sweet Cheeks, I just want to give you a good time and maybe, just maybe I'll have one too." he chuckles. I stood, frozen to the spot. Could I be brave enough to step in? I mean, I didn't know anything about...well, anything. I could clean, but I didn't think I could clean his clock. Sighing I turn and walk away.

Another scream pierced the streets. My fists clench hard on the mop handle I'm carrying. Before I knew what I was doing I was back in the alley, "Hey...assface! Let the woman go!" the goon turned and looked at me.

"Assface? Really? That's the best you can come up with?" He looked me over and just turned back to Sweet Cheeks, dismissing me completely. "Assface." he muttered shaking his head again, "Where were we?" he jerked her into him and forced his mouth onto her's.

In a flash the mop was swinging through the air, and hit him in the back of the head. The cotton end broke off with a snap, and as it did, I brought it around to sweep the back of his legs. As assface fell, my foot found it's way between his legs. Some people say "Never kick a man while he's down." me, I say that's the best time to do it. He pulled himself up, rocking back and forth, holding his junk. I pushed him back with my foot and fell on top of him, the mop handle going across this throat.

"I think you owe the lady an apology." I growled in his face. I realized though that would be hard with me cutting off the air to his mouth. A flash of the dream from the night before made me pause, and he took full advantage of it. His fist came up and met my face, they didn't get along well and my face moved away, and so did the rest of my body as I fell off of him and onto the dirty ground. Next thing I feel is a boot in my ribs and another fist in my face.

"Fuck you!" he spits into my face. He pulls back and looks around, Sweet Cheeks was gone. She'd ran when the fighting started. "Damnit, you made me lose her!" His foot met my ribs again and I coughed up blood. Oh Jo was going to have a great time with this. I was fully expecting another blow of some sort when suddenly the goon was gone. I opened my eyes and saw Jo there.

"What are you doing on the ground Walt? We need to be going. Come on." He helped me to my feet. That was when I noticed that I hadn't actually let go of the mop handle the entire time. I told Jo what had happened. Including my suddenly standing up to the beast of a man. "What were you going to do with that thing anyways?" he motioned to the stick in my hand as we got closer to his house. "You think you're a wizard or something?"

"Time!" my voice echoed in my head. "We don't have time! Get your ass over here!" I looked impatiently at the man who'd become my partner. Of course you almost couldn't tell that he was a man in his present state. The fur ball was covered from head to toe in blood. Most of it wasn't his. "Damnit Quinn! The portal is going to close!" Quinn, The Redeemer, I felt a pang of guilt as that name came to mind.

Quinn had been a good man, a knight in shinning armor. Don't get me wrong, he was still a good man and a knight...just not as shiny. He'd lost someone and it had done a number on him. Grief does that to people. He'd gone off on a revenge kick and I'd gone along to help anchor him. As I watched him slicing through demons and their minions, not caring that some of them were human still, I couldn't help but feel like I failed him.

Finally, the bloody mass of fur came bounding over to me. "About time!" I yelled, "You need to jump through first. It'll close when I go through." As he got to me, he shifted. The massive wolf transformed into a handsome (so I've been told) man, who unless you looked into his eyes, you'd never know the pain he lived with daily.

"I know. You already told me." He looked at the portal questioningly and back to me. "You're sure it's going to take us home?" He asked. I gave him the 'Why are you questioning me?' look and he put his hands up in defeat. "Sorry! I had to ask though." He moved forward to the portal but stopped and turned to look at me. A sad smile crossed his face. "Thank you. You've been a good friend, and without you I'd never have been able to get as far as we have."

"There are much better places to be having this conversation then here Quinn...Like...home." I motioned to the portal. He moved in as if to hug me and I sighed, but as I was about to berate him for his sentimental gesture, his powerful hands grabbed my arms and flung me into the portal.

"I'm sorry." he said as the portal closed and I began to fall.

--------------

"Tyme! Tyme!" I was being shaken. "Tyme, wake up! You're going to be late...again!" As my eyes opened I could see Jo's face floating over me. He wasn't smiling as he used to. Admittedly I hadn't given him a reason to smile at me for a while. It'd been months since my fight with Assface and ever since then the nightmares had gotten worse and started to effect my work. I wasn't showing up on time, or doing the job as well as I normally would have. I couldn't focus on anything other than the dreams.

"Sorry Jo...it was another one of those dreams..." I started only to stop as he shook his head.

"It's always one of 'those dreams' Walt. Right now the Widow Miller is waiting for you and while she may still think you're doing a grand job, her caretakers don't. They're threatening to have you replaced if you leave her house looking like you did last time. Get your head back in the game." After a brief pause he looked at me with sympathy in his eyes, "When you're done we'll talk about these dreams. We need to figure them out."

That's Jo, even when he was mad he understood. "Thanks Jo."

"If you really want to thank me, get up, get dressed, and get your ass out to the Miller's and clean like you've never cleaned before!" he chuckled.

"Oh Captain, my Captain." I muttered, a smile now on my face too, as I got up and got dressed.

As I made my way back to The Widow's house, I paused and looked down the alley way that I'd had my "big battle" in. It was quiet and empty. Like it had been every day since. No matter how many times I passed it never changed. I kept moving and finally made it to my appointment...only 3 minutes late (go me!).

I knocked on the door and a man I'd never seen before opened it. "Um...I'm Walter Tyme?" I started, "I'm here to clean the Miller's house?" The man nodded and smiled.

"Of course you are. Unfortunately the Widow has passed, and will no longer be needing your services." The smile stayed on his face. I didn't like it.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know..." I started.

"Oh that's quite alright." the man said, "How could you have known? I've just killed her after all." Anything I was about to say after that caught in my throat. What does one say to that anyways? 'Oh, well, sorry for interrupting'? "No worries though Mister...Tyme, was it?" he shook his head. "You know, you don't look like a 'Walter Tyme', you look more like a, 'Sage'. Victor Sage."

The man in front of me stopped smiling and his eyes went from normal to solid black. I'd seen eyes like his before, in my dreams. I knew who...or what...I was looking it. It was a demon. A demon had just killed my best customer and was now trying to rename me. "Look man, I don't know who you are or why you called me Victor, but you just killed someone that I was very fond of. And I don't like that."

A mean smile crossed the demon's face. "Oh well, then Sage, you probably won't like that I plan to kill that loser who's been hiding you these last few months as well. I knew that the editor of that crap rag this place calls a "news paper" couldn't always be wrong! You were here, hiding in plain sight. And that's exactly where you're going to die." With that the demon jumped at me.

I don't know if you've ever been in an actual fight, I hadn't until the other day, but it's scary as hell. It's even worse when you know for a fact that the person you're fighting, is a demon who thinks you're someone else and is hellbent (no pun intended) on killing you. It was like my worse nightmares come to life. Then it struck me. That was exactly what this had to be. Just another nightmare. Once the demon got his hands around my throat and started choking me, something or someone would come along and save me.

So I just stood there while the slobbering beast pounced on me and slammed me to the ground. That actually felt like it hurt. That was weird. This was a level of realism that I hadn't felt in my dreams before. Then the clawed hands (when had that happened? Must have been while I wasn't paying attention...then again it was just a dream.

Of course, the lack of air to my now burning lungs, felt very real.

"WALTER! WALTER!" I tried moving my head words the voice yelling my name. I couldn't, but I moved my eyes, and could just see Jo standing a bit away. "Walter, this ISN'T a dream! You have to fight back!"

Shit. If this dream was right, it wasn't a dream. Now I knew that it wasn't a dream cause that made sense. I raised my arms and pressed against the demon's chest, I got him back just enough to get a fresh breath in. Where were the crazy, blood-thirsty werewolves when you need them? Inhaling again I did the only thing that came to mind, and yelled, "Rafaga!"

A blast of air so powerful that it ripped the demon's hands from my throat the threw him into the wall of Widow Miller's house. "What. The. Hell. Was. That!?" I muttered. As I stared at my hands in disbelief, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned and raised my hands again shouting, "Fuego!" I pushed forward when a burst of flame came from my hands. I don't know why but all my anger and pain and confusion from the last few months was poured into the fire, adding to the power of the spell.

That's what I was doing. I was casting spells, but how was that possible? I was a cleaner, not a spell slinger. Yet here I was yelling two words over and over again. They were the two that kept coming to mind, eventually I yelled both together, "Fuego rafaga!" I poured out all my anger into the last spell and the wind that shot out of my hands started spinning, a small tornado formed around the demon, lifting him off the ground, just as his feet left the ground, the fire started shooting from my hands as well.

The firenado flared up and out, I had to shield my eyes from the light as the demon ignited and his screams echoed out through the streets. Finally, the wind and fire died down to nothing and the chard bones of the demon fell to the ground. Then, so did I. I was exhausted, drained, and breathing heavy.

"Well, well, looks like the cleaner has expanded his business." Jo walked over to me and leaned down to show me his big smile. "So, Walt. What's next?"

I looked up at Jo not saying anything for a while. I closed me eyes and rested for just a few minutes, then using the pain blocking methods I'd been taught years ago, I sat up. The pain was still there, just in the background, a nagging reminder that once I laid down for the night I was in for it. Standing, (with Jo's help) I looked at him. "I'm not sure, but I know one thing..." seeing Jo's questioning look I finished. "My name isn't Walter. My name is Victor. Victor Sage. Conjure by it at your own risk." I looked around, "Damn, this place needs a cleaner."

I sat on the edge of my bed...well, the bed that I'd been using the last few months. I don't know that I could call it mine any more. Bits of my memory were coming back. It was like I'd been asleep for a very long time and was suddenly woken up by a bucket of cold water to my face.

Jo was standing on the other side of the room looking at me. "So, Vic, how are those memories coming?" He had a look on his face, one that I wasn't sure I liked. Have you ever gotten that feeling what you're twelve steps behind everyone else, and worse of all, they all knew it? That was the feeling I had when I looked at Johanson.

"Yeah," I said slowly, "But I've got a feeling that you could help fill in some of those blanks for me..." I left it open at the end and watched Jo's reaction. Was it my imagination, or was there a twinkle in his eye?

"Maybe." Yep, bastard had a twinkle alright. "Look Victor, I told you when we first met, I'm a helper. You weren't ready to know the truth. You had in your new name, your new personality, which between you and I, wasn't really that much of a stretch." he said in a conspiratorial tone.

For some reason this guy was starting to piss me off. I'm not sure why, but I was. He knew more about me than I did right now, and that wasn't right. He withheld Me, from me. And that wasn't right. I could feel myself gathering power to me. My anger was building up in me and I was ready to unleash it.

That twinkle was still there. Jo knew. He knew I was about to lash out at him with my power, and his eyes were still twinkling. Why? I knew that if I was going to get this information out of him I had to play it smart. Not push too hard. Be smooth.

"Why are your eyes twinkling?" I'm Mister Smooth.

"Cause, you're about to unleash some of that power you're so well known for, and once you do, I'm positive all of your memories will come rushing back to you. Go ahead. Hit me. Once you do everything will come back." He spread his arms and smirked. I swear that smirk pissed me off even more.

Standing, and gritting my teeth, I raised my arms and pointed them at the bastard in front of me. I was standing there about ready to kill Jo for keeping information from me. How could he keep information from me? I hated it when people kept things from me. Especially, when it could keep me from figuring out a case.

A case? Why would I have cases? Wait. That's right. I was a private investigator. Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations. Consultation and Advice. No Love Potions. Endless Purses. No Parties or Other Entertainment. Reasonable Rates. I am Victor Sage, Wizard, Hear me Roar.

I didn't kill people. Demons? Yes. People? No. Jo laughed. "Very, very good!" he slowly clapped. "So, Sage, don't have the guts to go through with it huh?"

"That voice..." I muttered. Jo looked a little blurry suddenly. No, he -was- a little blurry, but that was because he was changing. His form was literally changing. His clothes disappeared, his hair grew longer and changed from the brown I was used to to a disturbingly familiar red...And then...It hit me.

"Yes, this voice." Six smiled at me, in all his naked glory, "Welcome back Victor. Been a while huh?"

The stars shone bright. It was a peaceful night actually, a rare calm night in Aleris. Or it was until a new star formed. Of course anyone "in the know" would recognize it for what it was, a portal. The only question anyone who knew might have would be, why was the portal opened so high in the sky that if you couldn't fly, you would certainly die?

Of course He knew what it was and who's it was before anyone else. He'd been waiting for it. It was actually because of Him that it was redirected that high off the ground. Six watched as the portal flared for a moment and a lone figure fell from it. Then it closed.

"No! There's two of them! Where's the other one?!" Turning from the scene in front of Him, He reached up and ripped a hole into the demon realm that Victor Sage and Quinn Redmont had just been in. The Demon poked his head through and looked around.

Quinn was covered in blood and turning from what Six was assuming was where the portal had just been. Then he started back into the throng of demons (obviously lesser than himself or the wolf would have been dead already).

Sighing He pulled his head back through and watched as the wizard tried to save his ass. A cone appeared in front of the falling man and the force at which he was entering.the atmosphere of the planet lit it up like a Christmas tree.

"Oh, this could be good after all." he sat back in chair that wasn't there before and ate a handful of popcorn that wasn't there before.

The night sky lit up like a Christmas tree as the falling wizard neared the land. If He was very lucky, Sage would kill a few people when he landed.

As His luck would have it...he didn't. "Wizards can't get anything right." He muttered to Himself. He approached the crash site in the middle of no where and an idea came to Him. It was a delicious idea and it made him smile.

Six changed His appearance and clothed himself before Victor woke up. Picking him up, He carried the unconscious man into town and the hospital. Johanson/Six took Victor into His "home", helped nurse him back to health, and gave him a new purpose.

Why? Because He wanted to completely destroy the bothersome mage. Unravel him, strip him naked, and have him tear his own guts out. Six hadn't planned on it taking him so long to get back to himself. He had to wait until the thick headed dimwit to get his memories back. It seemed that he'd blocked them in an effort to save his sanity...what a loser.

For months He watched "Walter" clean and get his legs under him again. He needed to move things along, so He grabbed a low grade demon who owed Him a favor and gave him an innocent little bit to have fun with. Of course he fucked that up and didn't knock Victor's memories back into him. Six took care of that failure.

It took Him a while to find another demon who He thought stood a chance against Sage. When He did, The Demon set things in motion. His lacky killed the old lady, had some fun with her, and greeted the cleaner at the door. As Six watched what happened next, His excitement was had to contain. "Walt" was finally starting to show his true colors. Destruction abounded, as per usual when Victor Sage was unleashed. And then the glorious moment...he remembered!

His plot was almost complete. Six knew that the demon, while a demon after his own heart (if he had had one), wasn't enough to beat Vic, but he would be able to wear him out. To get him to remember and then that glorious anger would drain him. As the wizard passed out again (it seemed he did that a lot), Six carried him back home.

The next part of His plan would be the final straw that broke the mage's back. He waited. Patiently. Something He wasn't really good at. Usually He had several things going on that He kept an eye on so that when things got boring He'd have an escape. This time however He'd cleared his calendar. No appointments were being taken today. No sir! His full attention was directed at this final act in the play he called "The Death of a Pain in the Ass: The Final Days of Victor Sage." but that was just a trial name. He may change it when He went to press.

Finally, he woke and he had questions. He couldn't help himself any more. The twinkling in his eyes gave him away any way. He shed the skin he'd taken (literally) and revealed himself to Victor. After months of boringness and mundaneness he was himself again. It excited Him. Victor took notice too as his eyes darted to Six's crotch.

"No need for shy looks Vicky, we all know you like what you see. I'm glad to finally get that goofy Johanson face off. I never liked that guy...probably why I killed him. Not that I remember why." he added in a fake whisper. He could see from the look on Victor's face that he was about to say something (probably boring) and He cut him off. "Oh don't worry. He's been dead longer than you've been alive."

The look of anger and hatred was exactly what He'd wanted from this whole thing. The wizard was going to strike at Him. Not many people knew Victor's "dirty little secret", but Six did. At one point in his life, Victor lost all of his powers. And the beauty of it had been that it wasn't a spell or a curse that a god laid on him, it was all his own doing. He had failed to save a woman he vowed to protect and she died. His subconscious stripped him of his powers and he didn't even realize it at the time.

Now Six planned to do the same thing to him. "Go ahead. Strike me. We both know that while you may have grown in power and learned some new tricks in your time in the demon realm you're nowhere near strong enough to kill me. And that'll never bring the Star girl back."

He paused watching the mage's face. "Yeah, while you and your pet dog were out hunting demons, I was here." He got a sly look on his face, "You both thought you were chasing me. But I wasn't even there." He laughed. The look on his face was well worth all waiting. "And while you were gone someone had to keep the fae girl company. Oh she cried, and wondered where you were, but eventually the loss of blood quieted her down. She became a little less fun in the sack after that. No more passionate kicking, screaming, and trying to rip my eyes out, but she always gave poppa what he wanted." with that He winked at Vic. "If you know what I mean, and I think you do."

The phrase "If looks could kill" popped into His head at that point cause Victor would have slain him several times over by now if possible. He was just about where He wanted him too...

"Don't worry though, I did everything I could to make my pleasure last as long as possible. As a matter of fact I might still have a piece of her laying around if you want it?"

He could tell He'd pushed the right buttons. The snarl on Victor's lips as he shouted at Him was a piece of beauty. The growl from his throat, music to His ears. Six closed His eyes and spread His arms out waiting for the blast.

As a wizard there are a lot of expectations that you either have to live up to or out of. For example, most people expect me to have every spell ever memorized and down so well that it just takes a thought to cast it. To be fair there are a few spells that i do have memorized that well. For example my fire spell i can toss out without even thinking about it. Its almost become a natural reaction to being intimidated. 'Oh, you jumped out at me from behind my bed! Sorry about your hair...it'll grow back...I think. Thanks for the birthday wishes.'. (On a side note, don't ever 'surprise' a wizard by jumping out at them. Its usually detrimental to your health)

Back on topic, there are some spells I know and others I don't know as well as I'd like. Fire? Piece of cake. Ice? I can do that but its not nearly as effective. Illusions? Masking spells? Forget about it. I -might- be able to blur my face enough that casual glances don't jog people to recognize me, but if they're actively looking for me...I'm better off running for it.

My dad used to tell me stories of monsters and the brave heroes who would slay them. The valiant knight (or my favorite, the wize wizard) would draw their weapon and strike the villain. The baffled guy dies and things go back to what they were before. The hero usually gets the girl if one was involved, and they live happily ever after.

I'm not a hero. I don't play fair with the bad guys and I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty (a fact that surprised Quinn). I've been known to play dirty and to lie to the bad guys if it gets my butt out of the fire (even if its only for a second).

As I listened to Six tell me what he'd done to my girlfriend while I was off helping Quinn, I could feel every urge in my body tell me to strike out and kill the monster while it spoke. And to be honest, when he smiled and said that he still had parts of Wish if i wanted them...I saw him in my mind burning, and begging me to turn it up to quicken his death, but no. Remember what they say about wizards, "subtle and quick to anger"? In my fantasy, I slow roasted the beast standing before me. I snarled pointed my hand at him in a threatening manner.

He closed his eyes and prepared for the hit. Who was I to let him down? We weren't that far away from each other, the room not being that large, my right fist came across his chin and knocked the cocky demon back against the wall, making him fall to the floor. I was pretty sure it was the force of the blow and not the sheer shock...sure.

In my defense, I had just gotten my memories back and the parts where attacking those stronger than me and in turn getting my ass handed to me were still buried pretty deep. The anger parts were near the forefront of my mind though. So was the fact that I'd never let anything (myself included) take my powers from me again.

As Six pulled himself up to his feet again, I could see he was furious. Wishing I still had my staff or even my rod, I gathered my will once again. You see, punching Six first allowed me time to gather my power. I'm not as stupid as i pretend (yeah, pretending. That's what I do). As he stood and leapt towards me, his arms reaching for my throat, I unleashed the power I'd built up. "Venteu!" my timing couldn't have been better. With Six in the air already the torrent of air I sent into him, hit him hard and.sent.him backwards into the wall...And through it.

I'd only planned on knocking.him hard enough to get out of the room. This worked too though. If I'd had my rod and staff I would have been more confident to use my flame spells, but as it was, I can apparently do just as much destruction with all the elements and not just fire...good to know.

I stepped through the hole into the dying light of day. Apparently I'd been out longer than I thought. That was fine though. I always liked working at night better...spell casting just looked cooler in the dark.

The demon was standing by the time both of my feet were resting on the dirt ground. "You've got two options, Six." I started. "One, you can stand down and get out of here in one piece. Or B, we fight. You may very well win." most likely actually, but I wasn't going to say that aloud, "But even if you do, I'll make sure that you're so beaten and hurt that it'll take a year of non-stop orgies for you to recover, and I'll make sure that every hunter in Aleris knows you're damaged. You'll be on the run the rest of your life, which probably wouldn't be too long. Your call."

Damn it felt good to be back home. This even seemed like a decent welcoming party. The only problem was, and I hadn't thought stop and ask myself this question yet, was Six telling the truth about Wish? If he was, was there really a point in me being back at all? Now I knew why Quinn has pushed me through the portal. Deanna was gone and he knew this wasn't his home any more. Was it still mine?

He hated people. There were very few people he didn't hate and even.of those people there were few that he didn't dislike. He'd forgotten the times when there were people he liked, and if you told him that there were people he once loved he'd slaughter your whole family and tell you that there were once people you loved as well. Six wasn't really a "people person". He used them for what he needed and threw them away like a used napkin.

That being said, He'd grown to despise Victor Sage. The mage had shown no respect to him whatsoever and had refused to fall into his planned traps time after time. The latest being his refusal to strip himself of his own power and then, flaunting it in his face. Like Six was a minor villain in some sleazy detective novel.

The final straw had been when the wizard dared to physically strike him. The thought of the nasty moral's flesh touching his own was revolting. Victor probably thought he'd actually knocked him over with his blow but the demon had simply been trying to get out of the beast's reach so not to touch him again.

This thought sent his mind into a brief frenzy and the mastermind hellspawn flung himself at the soft squishy part of the other man's throat. The stupidity of the wizard continued when he sent the demon through the wall into the streets outside.

Add a third idiotic thing to his list and Victor Sage had finally pushed him to do something he would never normally do. Well, he might have done it once...or sixteen times...before, but he didn't know that. With the threat ringing out into the night air, Six smirked.

"Very well Victor Sage!" he shouted, making sure anyone who hadn't come running at the sound of the crash heard. "I'll stand down." As he spoke the demon's hand were behind his back, making quick and precise movements. He was chanting the spell in his head that he'd cast not too long before when he'd first met the douch of Star and Sage. His words now louder, "You have saved the day Mister Sage. Everyone, Allow me to introduce your savior the long thought dead, Victor Sage."

The noise around them grew as the crowd started talking and pointing at the wizard. He'd been talked about quite in depth back a few years ago in the local news for all his antics and supposed sexual depravity. With the noise masking what he was saying the chanted he'd been doing mentally became verbal. Softly he chanted "Rise. Rise. Rise. Rise and serve me! I bind you to this task until it's completion! Come to me and receive your orders."

The entire time he spoke, Six kept the smile on his face and eye contact with the mage. Well, as close to eye contact as he wanted to. Eye contact with wizards could have unexpected results. When he spoke this time it was loud enough to be heard over the crowd "So, what are we going to do now mageling? Should I tell you again of how I pleasured myself with your beloved Fae, Wish Star?"

People are stupid. It was one of the reasons he hated them so. One of the people in the crowd picked that moment to prove it. "Wish? Wish Star? She's not dead. Everyone knows that." the young lad who spoke grinned like a dope.

Sighing, Six looked at the boy and promised him a painful death...silently. Then, turning back to Victor he shrugged. "Got me! Truthfully I haven't given the Bitch two thoughts since you left. I only tried pissing you off to misuse your powers." He smacked himself on the wrist, "Bad Evil Demon." He said with a slight pout.

"Luckily for her, she's in the very forefront of my thoughts now," his voiced lowered and something crept into it that promised something...extreme pleasure? complete and total pain?...Yes. "And once I'm done here I'll be paying her a visit. And I promise to tell her you said hello. As a matter of fact I won't even get mad if she screams out your name as I violate every hole in her body...and make a few news to use too. Don't worry...I'll leave a little something for you to play with."

He almost didn't see his opponent's hand shoot up and blast a burst of flame at him. But he felt the power building as he spoke so he knew something was coming, and he was able to dodge it quickly enough. "Close but no cigar Vicky, You'll have to do better next time."

A rumble could be felt coming from roughly behind The Demon and he smiled as at least a hundred of undead zombies poured into the streets. "About time you got here." he glared at them. The rotten corpses didn't reply. They just stood there waiting his command.

"Well, this is embarrassing, I seem to have an army of undead soldiers while you have a village of innocent bystanders. I wonder how this is going to end?" the grin on.his face was bigger than ever. It was obvious that Six was enjoying himself. Just about every woman in the crowd stole glances at how much he "enjoyed" it.

Still smiling he said, "Kill them all..." he pointed at the dumbo who had ratted him out about Star. "Start with him." The undead army swarmed around him and headed straight to their target.