I haven't written fanfic in ages, but I was inspired by the season finale of Chloe King. I'm also a huge Chloe/Alec fan. I like Brian, but he just never won me over like Alec has. This first chapter is relatively short, because my muse insisted I not write the entire story in one sitting. Just fyi: this fic is going to be more about Alec/Chloe than any real forwarding of the Uniter storyline or any other plotline going on in the series.

Of course all disclaimers apply. I do not have any right to Chloe King and I do not make any income by playing ABC's sandbox!

I think this is what people mean when they talk about having an out-of-body experience. Amy and Paul were staring at me with twin expressions of horror, but it was like I was seeing it from far away. I couldn't feel Brian's weight across my legs, either. I just felt … numb. In that moment, I wished that I could die and escape reality.

But one thing I had finally figured out: reality is a bitch.

The sting of a slap across my cheek sucked my back into my body. Amy was crying as she reared back to hit me again. I shook my head. "Don't."

I looked down to find Brian wasn't draped across my legs any longer. Paul had moved him down to the floor and was checking for a pulse. It only took a second before he looked up and shook his head. Even in the dim light, he was white as a ghost.

"Chloe. Chloe, we need to get you out of here," Amy insisted. I heard the shock and tears in her voice, but I was still too numb to react.

Paul stood and backed her up. "We all need to get out of here."

Amy pulled me to my feet then gasped. "Oh my god, Chloe. Are those … are those bullet holes? Did they … oh, god, did you die again?"

I met her eyes for a moment before I looked down at myself. "It doesn't matter."

"It doesn't … Jesus," Paul muttered.

My eyes were drawn to Brian's body. Alek had been right. There was so much I regretted; so many things I wished I could go back and do differently. I couldn't, though, and Brian was dead because of it. I'd killed him because of my selfishness and stupidity.

It was only when Amy gently pushed my head down to get into the car that I realized we'd left the museum. I was frozen and couldn't break out of the icy shell that seemed to have formed around me. Honestly, I didn't want to. I knew the pain would be crushing when the shock ended.

Even though Amy was sitting right next to me, her voice sounded like it was coming from far away. "… don't know! Just … drive! We can't take her home. We don't know who might be there and we can't take her home like this anyway. Just drive and I'll call Alek. He'll know what to do."

Alek. Again, reality hit me like a sledgehammer and it sketched my life out in painful clarity. How many times had I hurt Alek when all he had done was protect me and care about me? But no, I had to fight against truly accepting being Mai and insist on acting human. Not just human but a flighty teenager. I couldn't excuse my indecision because of my age anymore. In a handful of minutes, reality had forced me to grow up quickly.

Ironically, I understood Alek's frustration with me when I insisted on clinging to Brian as my friend. Even if I had been able to be truthful with Brian about who and what I am, he never could have truly understood me. There would always be a barrier in between us. But Alek understood me all too, well. He'd also forgiven me more times than I deserved. I didn't think I'd ever be able to look him in the eye again.

Amy's voice broke into my thoughts again, her voice shrill with panic. "I've left four messages, Paul. He's not answering! I don't know –"

The phone in her hand rang loudly. "Alek!" Amy gasped.

Alek's voice was sharp and stressed when he answered. I could hear him as if he were whispering in my ear. "Amy, this isn't a good time. I've got an emergency—"

Amy cut him off. "And Chloe just died and Brian is dead and we don't know where to go or what to do."

A split second of hard, dead silence filled the car. "Chloe … is she …?"

"She's alive again, but she's … I think she's in shock or something."

Alek must have covered the phone with his hand, because I could only hear muffled voices. A second later he was back rattling off an address that Paul was to drive to as quickly as possible without attracting notice.

Time ceased to mean anything as we drove. I gave in to the numb, icy void that seemed to encase me and closed my eyes. I was vaguely aware of Paul and Amy's voices and Amy rubbing my hand, but that was it.

The sound of car doors closing and hands pulling me out into the night air brought back some sense of awareness. I swayed on my feet and would have fallen if not for Paul and Amy acting like my bookends. Alek was there, too, with other Mai, all dressed in black.

"You were right," I whispered without thinking.

"Now what?" Paul asked. My whisper had been too low for his human ears to have heard.

Alek apparently ignored both of us and began shooting questions at us about what had happened. Amy answered for me, explaining the contact with my father and the set-up. She told Alek about Brian as well – I shivered, feeling my bones were freezing – although I had never been able to answer her questions about what had happened.

Alek was stoic throughout the short conversation. "It was the Order," he finally said, hatred coloring his tone. "There were other casualties tonight as well. I'm taking Chloe into hiding until the situation can be dealt with and stabilized."

I dimly noted that neither Paul nor Amy argued with that pronouncement, which just showed how scared they were. Still, Amy being Amy, she had questions.

"Casualties? Who?"

I stopped breathing as I waited for the answer.

Alek's answer was just as curt and sharp as before. "Valentina and Jasmine. It was Zane, so we've been infiltrated by rogues."

It was Paul who asked the question that would ultimately break my fragile numbness. "But they're going to be okay, right?

Alek's laugh was hard and cold. "Okay? If they live through the night, it will be a miracle."

With those words, the ice around me shattered and the pain rolled in like a tidal wave. I heard a scream in the night – mine, though I didn't realize it at the time – then blackness closed in around me and I knew no more.