I'll wait for you, Ryan. Unfaltering, unwavering, because I know you will return, just as I knew you would come for me in the arboretum.

With all my love, Nadja.

Ryan smiled, feeling the tightness of his newly healed skin.

He looked down at the Dragon Heart and thought about Nadja's words. She wasn't completely correct. He didn't have to leave if he didn't want to.

Ryan felt the Heart's power fill him.

I could keep it.

The idea made him giddy, just as it had the last time. When he had been consumed by Roxborough's personality and had decided to keep the Heart. To have all this power at his command, the wonders he could do.

Then, without bidding it, Miranda's face slipped into his mind. Her final request had been to make sure her sacrifice had meant something, that all the ruin and destruction hadn't been for nothing.

Ryan knew he was more than a little responsible for her death. He looked down at the new scar tissue on his hand, and that hand balled into a fist. Those scars brought the image of Nadja, soaking wet, nearly killed because of Burnout's desire for the Heart.

And my own.

As long as he kept it, he knew that wouldn't stop. There would always be those who desired it, and one day someone would come along with enough power to take it away from him.

Then it would all have been for nothing.

Ryan felt the Dragon Heart's power wane inside him. With it, his desire to possess the artifact faded as well.

Ryan looked out the window at the beautiful sunshine.

"Don't worry, Dunkelzahn, you're going to get your way, as usual. Even dead, you're still going to get your way. But there's a difference this time, you bastard. I'm not doing this for you anymore. I'm not doing this for some holy crusade to save the fragging world either. I'm doing this for me, Dunkelzahn. You hear me? I'm going to finish this thing for me, and for everything and everyone I hold dear."

Ryan smiled to himself. "But you knew that, didn't you, old wyrm? You knew this would be the only way I'd take on the mission. By making it my own."

Ryan carefully set the Dragon Heart back on its velvet bed, and watched the breeze gently rock the blinds. "Be at peace, you old lizard."

Ryan smiled, as a single tear fell from his eye to be quickly absorbed in the bandages on his face. "I miss you."

The steady drizzle of rain spread a glossy sheen over the mirrored glass skyscrapers of Wonderland City. Alice brooded, her head bent as she watched the ground, seeing the reflection of the buildings in the shiny black of the street.

She stopped suddenly, taking a long drag from her cigarette. She gave up, admitting to herself that she didn't know what to do. I need outside counsel.

Wonderland placed the call for her.

"Hello?" came the man's voice, remarkably alert considering what he had been through. And his image came on-line. White bandages covered his head and face, though his silver-flecked blue eyes shone like glittering jewels.

"Ryan," Alice said. "Are you all right?"

"I've seen better days."

"I need your advice."

"You need my advice?"

"I don't know what to do with Rox."

"What have you done already?"

Alice told him about locking Roxborough in Wonderland, about torturing him with his own disease, and when she was finished, Ryan sank back into the pillows of the bed he was in.

"I know exactly what to do," he said. "The only thing worse than anything you've already done.

"What?"

"Let him go," he said.

"What? Ryan, are you insane?"

"Send him back to his miserable life."

"But…" Alice couldn't believe that Ryan of all people would want Rox released.

"Think about it, Alice. He hates his life, hates being trapped in the Matrix. It's his clockwork asylum. A mechanical prison of his own creation. All I want is to make sure he doesn't continue his spirit-transfer experiments, and you've already wiped that data."

"I also had his head scientist transferred to Saeder-Krupp."

Ryan laughed. "Perfect."

Alice was silent for a few minutes. She took a drag from her cigarette as she thought about it. Maybe Ryan was right. Roxborough would never be happy unless he was in a physical body, and Alice had taken away his ability to do that. At least for many years.

She looked at Ryan. "All right, I'll let him go. I know his system inside and out now, and I've riddled it with back doors for myself. He'll never be able to lock me out unless he isolates himself so completely that he's totally alone."

"He hates being alone more than anything."

"Exactly."

"Glad I could be of help," Ryan said.

"Perhaps I can return the favor."

"What do you mean?"

Alice had not meant to share her knowledge of Ryan's mission, but she owed him, and Alice made a point of repaying her debts generously. She had accidentally misled him with the bogus Damien Knight information, and she wanted to make up for that. From what Alice knew, which was almost everything, Ryan's mission was far from over, and it was going to get a lot more dangerous very soon. He could use all the help he could get.

"Just be cautious, Ryan. There is data to indicate that Dunkelzahn and Harlequin were long-time associates, perhaps friends, perhaps enemies. Going way back.

"Alice, how do you know this?"

Ryan, come on, I have access to nearly every source of information in the cybersphere. Harlequin is very powerful and quite possibly a long-time enemy of the dragon. He's high on my current list of assassination suspects."

Ryan shuddered. "Thanks for the warning, Alice, but I need to ask his help. Dunkelzahn specified it."

"I know," Alice said. "I just wanted you to go in with your eyes open."

"I appreciate it."

"Get some rest, Ryan Mercury. You'll need it."

Ryan leaned back in his bed. "I'll do that," he said, "Give my best to Roxborough. I just wish I could see the look on his face when he realizes you've wiped all his data."

"I'll record it for you," Alice said. Then she disconnected and felt a thrill of excitement race over her skin as she thought about Rox's reaction. She was anticipating the joy Rox would feel when he found himself back in his own system. Home. And then the severe disappointment that followed when he realized that his hopes for escape from the Matrix were crushed.

Alice smiled the Cheshire grin of the Cat, jumping up and down in excitement. This is going to be so much fun.

FROM: JANE-IN-THE-BOX TO: NADJA DAVIAR DATE: 20 AUGUST 2057 RE: THE LEGEND OF THAYLA Dunkelzahn's histitute of Magical Research just unearthed this document. Thought you'd be interested. Text follows:

Ages ago, before written memory began, lived a queen of great beauty and even greater heart. Thayla reigned over a rich green valley nestled between two mountain ranges that rose like spikes into the heavens. Under her rule, the land she loved prospered, and her people lived their days in joy.

Each morning Thayla greeted the rising sun with a Song. She sang in a voice as clear as the air and as bright as the great burning orb itself. Nothing foul or dark could prosper in her land, for her voice was too pure for such abominations to bear.

One night an army of dark creatures made to enter the valley, seeking to overrun the prosperous land and corrupt it with their vile presence. Thayla rose that morning as she always did, and upon seeing the black army, sang. Her voice filled the valley with power and hope.

The evil horde, shown the depravity of their existence by her voice, had no choice but to flee. And as they did- running and flying with wild abandon for refuge beyond the valley-one black soldier slowed and, for the briefest of moments, listened to Thayla's Song.