Cory: No way!

  He listens for a heartbeat and sits back up, astounded.

  Cory*under his breath*: How?!

  Susanna: Wait, what?!

  Annelise: Beyond’s alive!

  Levi: You’re serious?!

  Annelise nods. The four of them sit in silence for a few moments, waiting. After a couple of minutes, color returns to the Commander’s skin. A few minutes after that, his eyes blink open. He sees four people staring at him.

  Cory: Do you think he’ll remember us?

  Annelise’s smile fades: I…don’t know.

  After the Commander’s vision clarifies, he sits up and looks around the room.

  Susanna: Hey! Welcome back to the land of the living!

  The Commander smiles: Susanna.

  Susanna: Yes! He remembered me!...Wait, how did you remember me?!

  Commander: You gave me advice on how to treat my injuries, remember?

  The Commander reaches to touch the wounds on his head, but they have disappeared.

  Susanna: Oh, yeah! That’s right!

  The Commander turns to Annelise and Cory. Annelise wraps him in a hug and he hugs her back. Cory joins in.

  The Commander smiles and tears of joy fall on his face: Cory, Annelise.

  Annelise: Is this really happening?

  The Commander nods: Yes, it is.

  Levi: Hi…uum…You’ve probably never met me.

  Commander: You are Levi Forbe and you were in the safehouse with Annelise, Cory, Susanna, Tyler, and Ethan.

  Levi: Alright, I’m quitting science journals!

  Annelise:(To the Commander) Wait…have you gone back to your original…whatever you were before all this?

  Commander: No, I have not. I have regained all of my former abilities, but the part of me that was much more…conventional, is still very much a part of who I am. The form inspired by you and Cory will be as true a form as my original.

  Suddenly, Ethan and Tyler burst into the room.

  Ethan: Is everyone alright?

  Cory nods: We’re fine.

  Ethan looks over at Wyverna, who is still paralyzed.

  Tyler walks up to the Commander.

  Tyler: You’ve got some pretty hefty needles in your limbs. Here, let me take them out. Then, we’re gonna have to get to a place with more medical supplies.

  Tyler pulls the needles out of the Commander’s arms. He does not even flinch. The wounds left by the needles heal into white patches of skin.

  Tyler looks up in awe at the Commander. Susanna looks around.

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  Susanna: Where’s the girl who killed you?

  Commander: Emily? I am afraid that she has run off.

  Susanna: Well, why aren’t you going after her?

  Commander: She has a family that she needs to go back to. A life left to live. But, she will be back.

  The seven of them head outside, where it’s raining heavily, but a bit of sun shines through the clouds of early morning.

  Annelise: Beyond, there’s something I need to tell you.

  Commander: What is it that you need to tell me?

  Annelise: Starting yesterday morning, I was really hungry. Hungrier than I ever thought I could feel. It was painful and couldn’t be satiated by normal means. Do you know where this came from?

  The Commander nods: I gave you a connection to me so that you could feel what I perceived that I was feeling in that moment.

  Annelise: Why?

  Commander: I gave the connection to you so that I could prepare you. You are going to be critical in the universe’s protection.

  Annelise pauses for a few moments: What do you need me to do? Whatever it takes to protect this world, I’ll gladly do it.

  The Commander smiles: Then it will be done.

  Annelise: What will be done?

  Commander: You will find out in a matter of months.

  Annelise nods. Cory and the others catch up to them.

  Cory: So, is Wyverna harmless now?

  The Commander shakes his head: No, she still has power, but the universe will be safe. Earth will be safe.

  Cory: How?

  Commander: You will see soon enough.

  Susanna: So, how did you defeat the Empress?

  Commander: Well, she did not know what I truly am. Her arrogance clouded her judgement, as it often does. My blood was toxic to her.

  Levi: What would’ve happened if she had regular blood transfused into her?

  Commander: She would have become very powerful, indeed. Yet, still not powerful enough to be unstoppable.

  Levi: I promise this is the last question.

  The Commander smiles: What would you like to ask?

  Levi: How exactly is your blood toxic to the Evil Alien Empress’s kind?

  Commander: My blood, if I was in my original form, would have still been toxic to them, but not quite as severely damaging. Yet, in this instance, I had been channeling all of the emotions that I had been experiencing from the days past into my blood. My emotions for people like Emily Dante, Aaron Wells,...

  Tyler: Wait a second! Who’s Aaron Wells?

  Commander: He, as your kind would say, volun-told me to be captured by the Empress’s allies. But, I also placed the emotions that I felt for Annelise and Cory, and all of you, into my bloodstream. I must say that having all of these potencies coursing through my veins was quite draining. Everything that I felt was immediately directed there. But, it was worth the pain to see this world in one piece.

  Ethan: Will people come back to Earth?

  The Commander nods: They will return in a few days.

  The seven of them head back to the safehouse.

  Commander: I noticed a bruise on the Empress’s chest before the transfusion. I also saw her flinch right before it appeared.

  Annelise nods: Did you know that I hurt her?

  Commander: Yes, I did.

  Annelise: I don’t know what to think about what I was capable of doing to the Empress. What does it mean?

  Commander: It means that you are very powerful, Annelise. The absence of your Abramian organ means that you can fight off the Empress more easily than others of your kind.

  Annelise: Powerful?

  She looks downward.

  Commander: You are afraid of your powers?

  Annelise: Yes. If I can make a bruise on someone like the Empress, how much harm could I cause regular people? *she smiles* But, I suppose that it’s my choice as to how I use this…thing.

  The Commander laughs: You are correct.

  Cory sits down beside Annelise and the Commander.

  Cory: Do you think things will go back to normal after this?

  Commander: Many things will have changed, yet much will be the same.

  Cory nods: Alright, we’ll prepare for it.

  The group waits in the safehouse until a couple of days later. Everyone is eating one of the meals from the food stash.

  Cory: Annie?

  Annelise: Yes?

  Cory rests his hand on hers: I’ll always love you. Don’t forget that, okay?

  Annelise: Cory, I could never forget you. I’m still the Annelise that you met on that tour of Yellowstone. The Annelise that you fell in love with and married. Nothing will ever change that.

  There’s suddenly a knock at the safehouse door. Ethan puts down his food and creeps toward the door. To his surprise, when he opens it, a policeman stands in the doorway.

  Policeman: Is everyone okay? Is anyone hurt?