That Part Chapter 25: Dead Man Walking

This is a Skyrim/Alan Wake 2 fic. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

This chapter has been edited due to content. If you want to see the unedited version GO HERE.

ALEX

My lungs and muscles burned under the strain I was putting them through. I always put my emotions under a disguise while on the job. Though they always tended to find cracks that only my rare friends could see.

But now Jash's life could be in danger. And he had said that if his human disguise died that he would be lost to me forever. I didn't want to live without him now that he had come back into my life.

So I ran fast through the police station.

The horror had started when Tim Breaker had blinked out of existence. One moment the sheriff had been getting an important manuscript and the next it was as if he had never existed.

However, the reason I was getting odd looks now wasn't because of that. If that had been all then I could have calmly walked out of the police station with Saga Anderson by my side. But something far worse had happened.

Agent Robert Nightingale had been killed by the ****** Cult of the Tree. He had been the reason I was in Bright Falls at all. His death wasn't rumored and I had looked at his decaying corpse while Saga conducted the autopsy.

He shouldn't have been able to get up and act as if he were alive. But he had attacked Saga and managed to kill the deputies that were unfortunate enough to be in the same room. Then the now not dead agent had disappeared.

Had he managed to get to Jash?

The sunlight hit me like a punch as I opened the door. My eyes quickly went to Jash who was currently leaned calmly against the car. He was still not fully used to being human and so he wouldn't be able to hide any sense of unease easily. He was here only because we had planned to go on a proper date if the investigation allowed for it.

Before he had a chance to react, I grabbed his head roughly and bent down and kissed him deeply. His lips answered my own with reassurance. One of my hands ran down his side and rested on his hip.

"What is it, my love?" Jash asked when I was finally able to end our embrace.

"The sheriff disappeared." I answered. "Then Agent Nightingale attacked us before disappearing."

"The dead dryskin?"

"Yes."

Jash's look of concern was out of place on a human face. He couldn't hide his emotions as he usually did because being human was new to him. So what was meant to be a look just for me turned into something the entire world could see. If there was anyone else here to see it.

"Did you see him leave?" I asked quickly as the brief silence was too much for me.

"You're the first person I've seen leave the building since I arrived." Jash reassured me.

We both turned to see Saga walk calmly out of the police station. Though she hadn't run out like me, I could tell that she was worried. What had happened had shaken us both. Unlike Jash, we weren't used to anything but the world as it should be.

Full of pain and terror that made sense.

"Jash should be made a consultant." I suggested.

"I have still to learn the rules of your world." Jash said in Jel and added in English. "But it is ours to deal with the unexplained. Even for a world as magical as Nirn."

"I wouldn't usually recommend adding a consultant so late on a case." Saga replied. "But what happened in there...we're going to need all the help we can get."

Instead of going to the driver's seat, I tossed Saga the keys and sat in the back with Jash. I was frightened to my core and wanted to be with my husband. That's what he was going to be when we made it to Skyrim.

Because we were going to live through this and go to Skyrim.

"Where are we going?" Jash asked as Saga barely restrained herself from flooring it.

"Cauldron Lake." Saga said with a tone that could almost be described as curt.

This case had gotten a lot more complicated than I thought it would. Even with what I knew Alan Wake was capable of from the Cult of the Word. So it would be deadly for me not to mention my own biases in case they ended up playing a part.

As we made our way to Cauldron Lake, I explained my true reasons to the others for wanting to be on this case.