Sara Pezzini took several deep, gasping breaths before jumping off the bed as she realized that she was free of the bondage of the Periculum. She looked down at the rumpled sheets on the innocent looking bed and automatically tried to twist the Witchblade on her right wrist. The bracelet refused to budge and she lifted her hand, eyes widening as she saw the ends buried beneath her skin. She looked around her loft apartment for any other changes before taking a hot shower and getting dressed.

Taking a deep breath, she began to clean the destruction of Conchobar's kidnapping. She had just bent and begun to lift the shattered mirror when she saw Danny Woo's reflection and heard his voice as she turned around to see him.

"You made it," he said before looking down. Sara smiled as she stood and reached out to physically connect with her dead partner in a hug him, feeling a familiar pain wash through her as he pulled back. "We can't touch anymore, Sara." He looked up before continuing, "You can see into my world, but you don't live here."

Sara frowned a bit, not wanting the possible connection she had missed so much to disappear again. "What do you mean?"

Danny stood up and explained with a bittersweet smile, "you're no longer dying."

Sara's answer was a tremulous smile, "You're right, Danny, 'cause I'm not afraid to. Not anymore." She saw Danny smile again as she reached out before clasping her hands together and bringing them to her lips before he looked down to the floor again. Unshed tears brightened her eyes as she thought of everything she had been through this week. She had been dropped from the heights of happiness to the depths of depression before finally discovering why the Witchblade chose her and what her mission was. A mission she couldn't wait to fulfill. "Hey, Danny?"

"Can I pop out?" A rueful smile graced his lips. "Now you don't need your wise Asian Master?"

Sara laughed, a slightly hysterical sound that held the remnants of all the emotions locked inside. "I'll always need you, Danny," was said seriously. "I just have a few things to think through." Relief at not having offended her friend spread through her as Danny nodded but before he could disappear, she had to ask one more question. "Danny, is this thing," she held up her right hand before gesturing to the bed, "always going to react like that?"

"Nah, not always. Think well, Sara; be careful not to sprain anything." Danny quipped before disappearing, leaving Sara alone in her self-induced prison of the past few days.

* * *

The wrecked apartment once again in it's normal state of casual disarray, Sara sat down on a long bench before the large windows placed in the walls. She pulled her folded her legs, pulling them close to her chest as she rested her chin on her knees and stared with unseeing green eyes at the wide sky broken by buildings. Her mind, instead on the view before her, was firmly entrenched in the past.

Death follows me. It reaches out to everyone I encounter: my parents, my partner, my friends, and my lover, but Cathain reminded me that I followed death. I've followed death my entire life, for years before I encountered the Witchblade. Which one of us is right? Is it possible that we both are?

It would explain why I talk to Danny after his death and why I could talk to Monsignor Bellamy. I can see into Danny's world, but I don't live there. What world is that? The same one that the rest of the Wielders inhabit?

Elizabeth Bronte speaks of death as if it's a friend. "We have died a thousand times and are born a thousand and one" is how she put it. She also said that she's me and I'm her, that we're both all of the Wielders, and that we all exist now. Logic says that that's impossible, but logic stopped being the guiding force in my life months ago.

Confusion tolerance, Danny's favorite quote. Danny again. I miss him so much. He was more than my partner, he was my best friend besides Maria. I can still remember the silence of the Rialto theatre when Gallo shot him. It felt like my life was never going to be the same; an all-consuming rage just filled me. It wasn't the determination to see Gallo go down, but pure bloodlust brought on by fear.

It always comes back to that, doesn't it? Fear of dying, fear of living, fear of failing, fear of succeeding. I had failed my partner. It was my idea to go to the theatre, my determination that Gallo pay for Maria's death that caused Danny's death. It's a never-ending circle that feeds itself. Fear feeds the hatred, the hatred feeds the violence, and the violence feeds the fear. Total and complete insanity.

According to Joan, that's my mission. To end the insanity in the world, to cleanse the human race. How can I do that? How can any woman do that, even with the Witchblade? I passed the Periculum, the test of worthiness the Witchblade gives it's Wielders. I still don't understand how. I was truthful in admitting I didn't know if I passed and that I didn't, don't, feel wise. The others were. Is that wisdom something you only get when you have the Witchblade for longer? Something you only get when another goes through the Periculum?

A branch ripped from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. It sounds important. Frightening, but reassuring. It gives everything that's been happening a sense of reality that's been missing. The Witchblade isn't just a bracelet that turns into armor when I need it; it isn't just a thing of myths and legends, but something real. It has a real history, real people who've worn it. There's a reason it's worn and a reason it chooses certain people.

Is that why I keep seeing things others don't? Elizabeth explained that time slipping was a gift of the Witchblade, and I already knew it could be used to talk to the dead. Is the ability to see into other people another? That's what happened with Eddie Nolan. "My name is Legion," he said, "for we are many!" I saw him standing there in that alley after Dante gave the order to fire and was flooded with images of hatred and death, and every instinct in me told me that he was innocent, that it was imperative I save him. I looked into his eyes, and something flashed at me. Like it was mocking me.

Legion. Another symptom of the insanity of the world or something more? I think DelToro's a part of it. The insanity I'm supposed to clean in the insanity of the human race, and he wasn't human. He was here simply to get the Witchblade back. Was he the reason Nolan was possessed? So he could be a convenient scapegoat? I do wonder which side DelToro was on. The Vatican, or whatever guided Hitler? His clothes would say the Vatican, but that voice and face while we were fighting was plain demonic. Jake's first thought about that case was that even the Devil can quote scripture for his purpose. So was DelToro the Devil?

Everything in my life is connected now. Irons, Nottingham, Gabriel, Danny. Gallo killed Maria, which sent me after Gallo. His protégé, Vespuci, drew on Danny, and I chased him into Midtown Museum. Nottingham was in the museum, and that's where I found the Witchblade… or the Witchblade found me. Whatever. Vespuci's death made Gallo take out a contract on me, and I still went after him for Maria. That's why we went to the Rialto, where Gallo killed Danny. I learned to control the Witchblade better when fighting Gallo for my life in the subway.

Then Mobius came along, a member of the Black Dragons. Covert Ops. Mobius was connected to Nottingham, who's connected to Irons. The Black Dragons had a base in drugs, genetic research, and the perfect warriors. I kill Mobius, leaving Nottingham the only surviving member.

Gina Mavis was murdered and connected to Dominique Boucher. Dominique was connected to both Irons and the Witchblade. Because of those connections, I meet Karen Bronte, a woman whose grandmother is identical to me… whose grandmother is me. Gina was killed by mistake, it was supposed to be Karen, luring me in so Dominique could get the Witchblade back. Karen disappears.

There's a murder that leads me to Isaac Sullivan, whose father is Peter DeAngelo, a doctor who inseminated women with his own sperm. Irons backed his research. Genetic research. Through the first murder, I met Gabriel for the first time, and later asked his help with information regarding the Witchblade. Help Irons obviously doesn't want me to have, since he sent his watchdog to pay Gabriel not to talk to me.

Next comes a case that deals with someone trying to bring Cathain back to life. I met Conchobar because of a symbol scratched on the wall of the murder scene and got tickets from Gabriel. He sang of Cathain's legend and the witch's glove. The murders are identical to the song: not once but twice slain. Were the murders to lead me to Conchobar?

Then there's Monsignor Bellamy, Eddie Nolan, and Father DelToro. Adolf Hitler had the Witchblade in his collection of objects of power; he got the Witchblade from the Vatican. Bellamy translated the letters between Hitler and the Pope during the war. It was the journals from those years that were missing. Where are they? DelToro's excuse for coming was Bellamy's murder but he really came for the Witchblade.

Conchobar's kidnapping. Irish terrorists who wanted to exchange him for his brother. Fiona, wanting the Witchblade. I don't think she knew what it was, though. Dante refuses to help, and I push Orlinsky with my 'evidence' on film. I take the money from lock-up, but they don't accept it. Nottingham comes with more money. Always Nottingham. A fight breaks out and Fiona uses the Witchblade to kill Conchobar. I wake up and the Witchblade is back on my wrist, but I didn't put it there. Who did?

Both Cathain and I loved Conchobar. All the Wielders loved Conchobar, since Elizabeth said that we're all the same person. And we do get him back. Maybe there's an expiration date on the relationship? In the song, the king Conchobar abandoned Cathain for his throne. Maybe there's just that window of time for Conchobar and any Wielder to be together.

Everything in my life is connected now . The blade weaves a web. Unbreakable. I can see parts of the web, but not all. It's like a game of connect the dots and half the dots are hidden. How does Gabriel fit into it? Does he just act as my friend and supply me with information? How does Jake fit into it? Does he? What is it that Irons really wants? Or Nottingham? What was with Orlinsky? Why has Dante always been so against me? How is he connected, other than to make my life miserable?

I don't know the answers but I will find them out. If the Witchblade draws everything in my life that I need to return sanity to the human race, then I better figure out what goes where and who I can trust..

Sara came back to the present to find the sky reddish orange from the sunset. How much time had passed, she didn't know, but it was definitely time well spent. She uncurled her legs, groaning softly as the muscles stretched. At least she could tell Danny next time she saw him that she didn't sprain anything. A movement to her left caught her attention and she turned to see Gabriel Bowman sitting on her couch with his dark head bent over a book. "How'd you get in here?"

Gabriel looked up, a smile breaking out. "Chief! I thought you'd never come out of that trance."

Sara shook her head and stood. "Not a trance, just some deep thinking… Have you added breaking and entering to your list of criminal activities?"

Gabriel shrugged. "Nah, just told your super that I had a delivery. Worked last time; why mess with success? Besides, what criminal activities are you maligning my sterling character with," he asked while batting his eyelashes.

"Well, for starters, some of the clothes you wear are a walking fashion crime in progress." Sara grinned as she said it to let him know that she was teasing and went over to her stove for the pot of coffee. She got down two mugs and poured the strong-smelling liquid into them before taking them back to the couch and handing one to Gabriel.

He reached out for the offered mug as he self-consciously stroked the brightly colored retro shirt he was wearing with the other hand. "I'll have you know that these clothes are very hip."

Sara nodded after taking a sip. "Yeah, yeah. At least none of your clients can fall asleep when talking to you."

Gabriel grinned and lightly punched Sara in the arm. He placed a piece of fabric in his book to hold it's place and leaned over to put it on the coffee table before turning to Sara. "It's good to see you, Chief. I've been worried about you."

Sara nodded and reached out to squeeze his hand. "I know, Gabe. I'm ok."

Gabriel looked her over, noticing the slight shadows under, as well as the new knowledge in, her eyes. He nodded and leaned over to hug her. "Yeah, you are, Chief." They stayed in that position for a few minutes before parting. "Oh, did you hear me telling you about that test?"

Sara nodded. "'Course. What am I, deaf?"

Gabriel took a long drink of his coffee. "Well, you never responded to the message on your machine," he looked at the blinking red light, "and you didn't answer when I came to the door… You might have been out."

"No, I've been here. Haven't left for even a minute." Sara finished her coffee in one long drink and moved to the edge of her seat. "Gonna finish yours? We can empty the pot then make another fresh."

"Thinking about Conchobar?" He finished the bitter liquid in one quick gulp and handed the dark blue cup to her.

"Among other things." She got up and walked to the kitchen, pouring the dark liquid into the cups before rinsing out the pot.

"I was shocked to hear about his death. All of his fans were." His tone was quiet, checking to see if the subject was ok.

Sara nodded distractedly. "They'd have heard by word of mouth alone, never mind television and magazine articles."

"Wonder what the band'll do?" While not the greatest start, Gabriel thought it had just enough casual interest to get her talking.

Sara shrugged, obviously not interested. "I dunno, get another lead singer, maybe."

"It'll be hard to find another one who wrote like that. Conchobar was the main writer in the group," he pointed out.

Sara looked over her shoulder at the young man. "I know, Gabriel."

He flushed. "Sorry, Sara."

She brought the mugs and sat back down on the couch. Handing him his, she shook her head. "It's ok, kid. You're right: his fans are shocked and the band'll have a hard time replacing him. I've always hated fishing. If you have a question, ask it."

"A detective who hates fishing? How d'ya manage your interrogations?" He sighed as she raised her brow again. "Okay, okay. I knew that you two were tight and I came over here as soon as I heard, but you weren't here, or at least not answering your door. Had you just found out?" He watched as Sara shook her head tersely in answer. "Did the police tell you?" Sara shook her head again, just as tersely, but the glimmer of tears in her eyes was all he needed. "Man-o-man, you were there?"

Sara nodded and looked over him. "I went to negotiate. I know, I failed. Obviously." Gabriel nodded and sat quietly, waiting for her to continue. "I don't remember everything that happened. I just remember seeing him tied up, hoping that he'd be let loose, and then killed."

"The TV reports say that some type of sword killed him?" The question was asked softly, and Sara nodded as she lifted her wrist in silent answer. "You killed him?"

Sara shook her head. "I gave it to one of the terrorists as part of the ransom. She killed him."

"I thought only the wielders could wear it." His tone puzzled, Gabriel sat back a she tried to make sense of what Sara was telling him.

"Not always. Kenneth Irons wore it before, so did Dominique Boucher. They were both pretenders, same as Fiona." She continued as Gabriel nodded, obviously not needing to be told who Fiona was. "The past few months have been an initiation, like class and taking notes before a test."

"The test I came earlier to tell you about."

"Right." Sara paused and looked at Gabriel. "Why don't we order a couple pizzas and eat while we talk, ok? I don't think I've been fair to you."

Gabriel blinked. "Huh?"

"Well, think about it. You've been helping me find information about this," she held up her wrist, "possibly risking your life to help me, but I haven't told you anything I've learned."

Gabriel shook his head. "Hey, listen, Chief, don't sweat it," he shrugged, "if you think I need to know something, you'd tell me. Pizza sounds great though."

"Gabriel, I need to talk to someone." Sara sighed. "I have Danny, but as helpful as he's been, I'd like a friend alive who knows about it. You, Irons, and Nottingham are the only three people who do. You definitely are a friend, Irons definitely isn't a friend, and I haven't figured out where Nottingham fits in yet. Hold on a minute and let me order it."

Gabriel thought about while she was on the phone before nodding. "Tall, dark, and scary is just that and he works for Irons. Why isn't Irons a friend? He's seemed pretty helpful to me."

Sara snorted and took a drink of her coffee. "I found it when it was in the Joan of Arc collection at the Midtown Museum; Irons' collection. He's helpful because he wants the Witchblade."

"Why doesn't he take it back if he wants it?"

Sara shook her head. "Gabriel, he doesn't want to own it; he wants to control it. You said it yourself, only women can wield it. He can't wear it himself and he gives me just enough information to keep me going back for more while sending Nottingham to watch out for me. He can't control it himself, so he wants to control the person who can."

Gabriel blinked. "News flash: you aren't easily controlled."

Sara laughed before nodding. "I know, but that doesn't stop Irons from trying."

Gabriel nodded himself. Just because the man was rich didn't mean that he was particularly smart, right? "Uh, Chief?"

"Yeah?" Sara put her coffee cup down and reached out for the book he had been reading.

"A friend who's alive?" His voice a bit high and a touch on the incredulous side.

Sara glanced at him before turning back to the book. "That's what I said."

"Who d'ya know who's dead?" He paused and held up a hand. "Sorry, stupid question to ask a homicide detective. Lemme put it this way: who do you talk to who's dead?"

"Danny." She looked past him, hoping to see him.

Gabriel sighed. She wanted to talk but this was like pulling teeth! "Who's Danny?"

Sara reached for her collection of photographs on her coffee table. Picking up one of her and Danny taken a few months before his death, she handed the picture to Gabriel. "Daniel Woo, my partner."

He automatically accepted the picture and looked at a laughing Sara trying to pull away from a smiling Asian with long hair. One arm was around her waist and the man was pulling her into a hug. They were obviously at a park or in a backyard since there were trees and grass in the background. "Sorry Chief, you looked like good friends."

Sara looked at the picture, remembering that afternoon. "We were. We still are." Sara took a deep breath before revisiting the past once again. "Danny was killed right after I encountered the Witchblade. We were going after Tommy Gallo when one of his men pulled on Danny. I chased the man, Lorenzo Vespuci, into the Midtown Museum. During the fight, the Witchblade found it's way onto my arm. I thought I was going crazy, his bullets bounced off the gauntlet."

Gabriel started to nod but then stopped. "Wait-a-minute. What day was this?"

"November 11th."

He blinked. "November 11th was when the Midtown Museum got destroyed during a firefight."

"I know."

"You were inside?"

"Yeah. I remember the fight, then it felt like a grenade hit, the entire place turned into a ball of fire. I came to basically unharmed on an ambulance stretcher outside the museum." Sara shrugged. The incident was a life changer, but not one she had recognized at the time or dwelled on.

"The Witchblade protected you! Oh, that's awesome."

"Yeah, it did."

Gabriel continued without noticing what she said. "Were you aware during the fire? Could you still move? Could you see…"

"Gabriel." Sara said, hoping to stop his questions.

"Yeah?"

"I can only tell you what I know." Her tone was one of humored exasperation, the one she normally used when Gabriel went off on one of his tangents.

"Well, that's a given, Chief."

"Interruptions don't always help," was stated in the same tone.

"Sorry, Chief," he said, sounding like a sulking child. He pushed his lower lip out a bit in an exaggerated pout.

Sara chuckled. "Listen, I'll tell you what I know, what I'm comfortable with. It might not be everything right now, but I promise to answer most of your questions as best I can, ok?"

Gabriel nodded. "Okay. How can I knock it? I'm finally getting some answers!" He laughed himself and took a drink of his own lukewarm coffee as the doorbell to the apartment rang. "Ugh, gimme your cup, Chief, I'll get the pizza and do the refills this time." He waited until it was handed to him before getting up. Walking over to the counter where the coffee pot was, he asked, "so, did that Lorenzo guy kill Danny?"

Sara shook her head. "No, just pulled on him. Danny was killed by Gallo in the Rialto Theatre. One shot, straight to the heart. He didn't even have his gun on him at that point, since Gallo made him drop it." The remembered anger and shock laced her sadness-roughened voice.

"Talk about unfair." He went down the stairs and paid for the pizza, coming back up and putting it on the table.

Sara gave a quick bark of laughter. "We're talking Tommy Gallo here, remember? I doubt fair was even in his vocabulary."

"Good point," he said, taking a piece.

"Anyway, Gallo kills Danny, and then a day or so after, during his funeral he shows up out of nowhere. Just pops in. Scared the hell outta me." She took a piece for herself and took a bite of it.

Gabriel laughed, as much at the idea of Danny showing up as the idea of Sara being scared. Nothing he'd seen so far showed it. "Completely understandable."

"I went and talked to Irons, the owner of the Rialto, and asked him about the Witchblade. He doesn't tell me much, just that if it belongs to anyone it belongs to me, only women can wield it, and it abandons it's Wielders. Later, Nottingham tells me about bloodlust and it's really controllable only if the woman wearing it sheds blood." She looked over at him. "Obviously, I did."

Gabriel nodded silently, not knowing what to say, if anything.

"You were right about the clairvoyance, being able to see things others can't. 'Piercing the veil of the senses,' Irons called it. I can see flashes of murders that I'm investigating, memories from other Wielders, even the Wielders themselves at times. It's nothing I can control right now, but maybe in the future." She paused "Time slips for me, too; sometimes forwards, sometimes back. A gift of the Witchblade, Elizabeth said."

He whistled through his teeth. "Bet the clairvoyance is great at work." He took a bite, swallowing it quickly as another thought hit him. "Elizabeth?"

Sara nodded. "Yeah, Elizabeth Bronte."

"Enigma code Elizabeth Bronte?"

Sara nodded again before taking another bite.

"The woman who's identical to you?" Gabriel swallowed as Sara once again nodded and raised a brow at him. "Did you at least find out why?"

Sara laughed. "Yeah, but it gives me a headache."

"Well?"

"According to her, we are related, but not really by blood. We're the same person." She gestured to her chest as if Elizabeth was inside her.

"But she's dead," Gabriel stated with confusion.

"Think 'Terminator.' I told you it gives me a headache."

"Well, now you're giving me a headache. Thanks a lot, Chief."

"You should work on your confusion tolerance, Gabriel." Sara laughed at the look on his face. "Just something Danny said to me once."

Gabriel looked closely at his friend. "Before or after he died?"

"After, of course."

"And this test I came to tell you about?"

"The Periculum."

"The Periculum?"

"Yeah, thought you'd like an actual name to it instead of just 'the test.'"

"Uh, okay." He paused, obviously figuring out how to phrase what he wanted to ask and Sara used the pause to continue.

"It's a test given by the Witchblade to test the worthiness current Wielder. Basically, the current Wielder… I talked to three of the past Wielders. About why it chose me, why I have it, what I need to do… My mission, for lack of a better title. I got some questions answered, got more questions raised. Basically, as a test, it was confusing as hell at times, but I'm alive. I passed."

"Was Elizabeth Bronte one of the three past Wielders you talked to?"

Sara nodded, "Joan of Arc, Cathain, and Elizabeth Bronte, in that order."

Gabriel sighed. "Either you're a great storyteller, Chief, or you're telling the truth. The scary thing is that I'm leaning towards the truth. It'd really explain some things."

She raised her brow at him again. "Oh?"

"Talking to thin air? Spacing out for minutes or hours at a time? Hold out a coffee cup for no reason with the lid off? A picture of a lady spy from World War II who's identical to you?" He waved the hand holding the pizza in front of him. "Ring any bells?"

Sara laughed. "Hey, I can't help it if Danny misses the smell of coffee!"

"Like I said, I'm leaning towards the truth. Gimme a while to get used to this, kay? I mean, I've been operating on only the information I can find, and suddenly you're confirming or denying everything for me. It's gonna take me a while to assimilate everything." He looked over at his friend. "Why are you?"

"I'm finally getting it through my head what Dominique Boucher said to me. The Witchblade's controlling my life now. It's playing a game of connect the dots that I don't always understand, but that I obviously need in my life."

Gabriel chewed on his bottom lip before asking "I fit into this how?"

Sara shrugged. "I dunno yet. I know that you're one of the dots, but beyond that, only this knows," she held up the Witchblade.

"Gee, thanks, I'm a dot now," Gabriel laughed.

Sara laughed with him. "It wasn't meant as an insult, you know."

"I know." He looked at the partially eaten pizza. "What do you say we finish our food then I leave? You probably haven't eaten much, and if you're going to work in the morning…" His voice trailed off, obviously asking a question.

"I am. I don't think I could stand to spend another day here alone."

Gabriel gave a sympathetic chuckle. "Well, least you don't have to go food shopping tomorrow. Your fridge looks pretty well-stocked."

Sara looked over at the full shelves behind the glass doors. "I know, but I wish I knew how it got that way. I needed to go grocery shopping before everything started."

"You have no clue?"

"Well, I do have a clue, but I dunno how well it'll pan out. C'mon, kid, let's eat."

* * *