*Okay, okay, I’m still here. Just focus on Isabel, alright?*

Okay. Izzy? Max felt Liz fade back into the background and tried to squelch the automatic fear that accompanied it. He had to think about the others now.

**Max? Max- Oh god, PLEASE help Alex!** Max’s heart clenched painfully at the hysterical tone in Isabel’s voice. **I’ve tried everything and he’s dying. PLEASE! The orb is trying to make me leave him and I won‘t! I can‘t!**

Max hesitated. I’ll try, Izzy. He had already tried once to heal Alex and found it impossible. But maybe now that he was powered up more...

He focused his energy on the connection Isabel had made to the remainder of Alex’s essence. Dammit! Alex was barely even there.

Max felt hot tears scald his eyes as he started to send power through the connection.

Suddenly, Maria’s shriek echoed in Max’s ears. *I can’t stop it. It wants Isabel!* And the orb was pulling at Isabel again, at the golden essence of her that was connected to what was left of Alex’s pale, red energy.

**NO!** Isabel was fighting the orb and Max tried to throw his energy into the mix, seeking to block the orb somehow. But it just intensified its pull until Isabel was literally being torn in two. Her scream ended Max‘s patience.

STOP IT! STOP! Max thrust himself between the orb and Isabel, feeling the pull on himself now. The orb instantly halted.

Max took a few deep breaths, trying to steady himself. He was pissed.

You will NOT force her away from Alex. Is that clear? He had never given an order like that in his life. But he was the king and it had to be good for something.

There was a desperate silence, filled up only with emotional responses from the girls. Then Max felt a falling sensation and suddenly, he was in the psychic plane. He’d last been here when Isabel, Michael and he and Liz had fought against Doug, the first hunter they’d encountered. As always, the height of the plateau made him a little dizzy, and the stars overhead seemed to stretch on forever. Why had the orb brought him here?

He suddenly realized that the connections to the others had been blocked. He was here alone.

******

Kyle wiped at his eyes with irritation. The blindness was wearing off, but it felt like someone was rubbing his eyeballs with sandpaper in the process. Tears streamed down his face and he was glad to have an excuse to blame it on.

Joey was gone. She’d been in his arms, attached to his face in an incredibly mind-blowing kiss and then- poof. Like a rabbit in a magic hat. The Old Disappearing Joey trick.

He shook his head and fixed his grainy gaze on the parking lot in front of him. He’d known she was going to go. But dammit, that had NOT been a goodbye kiss. That was a “hello-I’d-be-happy-to-spend-the-rest-of-my-life-with-you-no-matter-what-freakin’-planet-we-happen-to-shack-up-on” kinda’ kiss.

He should know. He’d been trying to find that kind of kiss his whole life. Thought it had been with Liz, but that had been one-sided. He was all shacked up and she was busy moving to the suburbs of Maxville. But Joey...

Kyle let out an exasperated breath. He might as well get up and get on with it. She wasn’t coming back. It was over.

******

Joey was beginning to get a bad feeling about this.

The hunter had disappeared and the white tiled room they had followed him into was unnerving, to say the least. There was some sort of break in the tiles up near the vaulted roof, what might be an observation room covered in one-way glass. On the floor were two small circles. Other than that, the only other features in the room were the two metallic doors straight ahead and the ones behind them that they had just come through.

Joey looked ahead nervously. “Okay, he’s not here. He must be through the doors, right?”

Justin and Nathan chose this moment to be agreeably silent. Joey sighed. They had to at least find the hunter, even if they decided to wait until the others caught up to fight him. “Right,” she answered herself and started forward. Nathan caught up quickly.

“Allow me.” He used his powers to manipulate the lock.

A loud alarm went off and Joey slapped her hands over her ears. Through the doors, they could see another white room, this one even larger and with a higher ceiling. They all stumbled forward, still covering their ears with their hands. Joey looked around in vain for some way to kill that alarm.

This room had white bins against the wall, but nothing else breaking up the whiteness. Ugh! That alarm made it so hard to think!

Joey caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. Just as she turned her head to investigate, a shockwave ripped through her body and sent her to her knees. And she kept falling. She managed to turn her face at the last second to avoid breaking her nose as she hit the tile- hard. The impact stunned her for a moment. Then she felt herself jerked backwards, sliding across the floor, feeling every groove against her bruised cheek.

Finally, she stopped and looked up to see something that nauseated her. Justin and Nathan were climbing to their feet- and helping someone else who looked just like her. It was her- same clothes, same curly hair, same eyes- but it WASN’T her! It was the shapeshifter! Why couldn’t Nathan and Justin tell?

Joey struggled to move or scream or something. The sick feeling got worse. Couldn’t they see the REAL her over here? But she couldn’t move a muscle. She was trapped inside her own body. She found that with some effort, she could move her eyes around and saw immediately why the guys couldn’t see her. She was white. Somehow he had changed her. That was why she felt so bad. Her entire body was white. From far away, she would be completely camouflaged.

******

Max looked around the sky with trepidation. The wind was picking up and dark clouds were rolling in. In several minutes, the stars were blotted out and rain began to fall. Max had waited long enough.

“What are you waiting for? My best friend is dying and you’re playing with the elements? Get to the point.”

Immediately, the wind picked up and the rain turned to hail. The ice-encrusted pieces stung Max’s body mercilessly, until he began to try to block them with a shield of sorts. They bounced off harmlessly.

The hail increased in size and velocity. Max grimaced as they began to beat into his body again. Each piece dug in the shield a little farther. One struck his head hard and he went down to his knees. The shield failed. More and more chunks of hard ice beat into him until he was cut and bruised and bloody all over. He could barely register all the pain. He fell over onto his side, laying his head on the ground.

“So you can kill me,” he whispered with a grimace. “Is that your point?”

The hail stopped.

The wind calmed.

Once again, it was a clear, starry night on the plateau. Max groaned and managed to flip himself over on his back despite the pain. He lectured the open sky above him shamelessly. “Alex is my best friend. Isabel loves him.” He stopped to take in a shuddering breath. “The only reason he’s here is because he was with Liz, my queen, protecting her the only way he could. He deserves better. You can give him better. You will heal Alex and complete his transformation. He will become one of the twelve.”

Max couldn’t take enough deep breaths to make up for the beating he’d taken. He was losing consciousness. Just before he gave in, the orb sent him a message...

******

Isabel waited to feel Max again. What had the orb done to him? It seemed like he had been gone forever. Alex was no worse, but then, was it possible for him to get any worse? She had no way of knowing. She was just glad that she could still feel Maria here with her, watching over Alex, cursing the CDC and praying for a miracle.

Suddenly, the orb punched through the defenses Isabel had resurrected. She scrambled, knowing all along it was useless. It would do what it set out to do. But this time, when the power surged through her, it continued into Alex- into his essence.

And it was burning him. She could feel it burning him. But before she could start to fight against it, she realized the burning was healing him. She could feel the pain register in his mind and his determination to survive kick in, as if someone had flipped on a light switch.

She held her breath.

Alex?

*Isabel?*

Yes, oh god, Alex!! She could feel Maria’s joy in the midst of the severe power drain in her friend’s body. Alex was alive! Isabel could feel him-

*Okay, this may not seem like a very good time to ask, but why in the hell am I glowing?*

Isabel opened her eyes and saw that it was true. They were both glowing. She stared in awe at the shimmering, fiery red of his essence that lit up the handsome face from within. She could feel his love, his surprise that she had been so devastated by his condition. She shook her head and poured every bit of love and reassurance into their connection until he looked away in embarrassment.

You never did know how to take a compliment.

Then his eyes found hers again. *So, has anyone ever told you you’re beautiful when you’re iridescent?*

Isabel smiled and looked down at her body... a smooth, golden sheen of power lit her up. There was only time to notice that clothing was apparently not a necessity before the orb sent another call to them both.

This time, Isabel went gladly, pulling Alex along for the ride.

******

Max fell forward into Liz’s arms. He was desperately trying to gain his footing, but he was so weak. At least the wounds had only been in the psychic plane.

*Max, what happened? What- oh my god.*

Max felt her stagger under his weight and then Michael was helping them both stay up. Liz’s thoughts were a stunned jumble, barely coherent. After a moment, Max could finally turn around to look. It was Alex and Isabel, their arms wrapped around each other, foreheads resting gently together. Alex looked great.

“Alex!” Liz was jumping Alex in a second, pulling him away from Isabel and into fierce hug. Max was finally catching up to her racing thoughts. She hadn’t seen Alex since they had been in the damn tubes in that room...

Max swore softly to himself. Michael gently helped Max stand on his own feet and then he moved away. Max barely noticed. Liz was walking back to him, her face a wreath of smiles. He was surprised she’d left Alex so soon, but then he saw the tears in her eyes.

*Thank you, Max.*

It was the orb, sweetness.

But as she enveloped him in a hug, she corrected him. *I felt everything you felt. I know what that cost you. And I’m saying thank you- for that.*

Max buried his face in her neck and held on for dear life.

******

Maria was swaying on her feet.

Whoa. Severe loss of power. Where is that butt-kicking shot of alien power when I need it? Hello? Fairy godmother?

But warm arms went around her and she gladly sank into them. She realized fuzzily that she wasn’t glowing anymore and that Michael was frowning down at her.

“Damn orb,” he muttered.

She smiled. That damn orb had just saved Alex‘s life. Oh, but her brain was too fuzzy to really appreciate that... or the intense way Michael looked as he stroked her cheek so gently. Maria sighed. Bookmark that feeling, please... I’ll want it again, later...

She yawned and gave herself over to exhaustion. Definitely too much alien crap for one day... Guess I’m going to miss out on the crapping juju beans part... too bad...