From Emma's point of view she was struck by the lightning and immediately transported in to a dark and sterile room.

"It is diseased." Said a low, hissing voice. "I shall eat it."

Chills passed through Emma as it spoke and she was filled with a dread beyond imagination – somehow knowing that she was about to be digested by some sick and evil force.

"No." Said a deep knowing voice. "It was noble. Let it go."

Hope washed over Emma in waves as though peace and healing were inspired by the deep resonant timbre.

"Diseased!" The other shrieked in a voice that cut through her. "MINE!"

"No." The deep voice said again with finality and compassion. "It has been seen and it is so."

"Hello?" Emma asked, standing in the darkness. "Who's there?"

A beam of warm, watery light descended on her and she felt immediately loved. "I am I. The other is He."

"Oh." Emma said, still overcome in the feeling.

"Your last actions were to save another…" The deep voice sounded amused. "That is a rare thing. Even more rare in this instance…"

"…ssssssoulmates…." The other voice hissed dejectedly. "…tasty…tasty…sssoulmates…" It sounded deprived.

"Kurt's my… soulmate?" Emma asked, feeling confused. "As in…"

"As in your souls have mated outside of the spectrum of life. You are polarity in union. He is the + to your -." The images hit her instead of words and she understood. "As in – You belong together."

"He saves me, doesn't he?" She realized, shocked. "In every life. Over and over…"

The deep voice was laughing and the so it seemed was the hissing one.

"He's… He's…" She shivered all over and felt an extreme vertigo. "My hero."

Emma's eyes fluttered open and she found herself lying on the beach where she had pushed Kurt away. Kurt was smiling down at her. "Well.. .Thank you." He shook his head.

Emma sat up quickly. "Was that out loud?" She shivered just a bit. "What…" She shook her head. "Something's fading… like a dream. Something like a court room… What… What did I just say?"

Kurt and Wilson laughed.

"You called me your hero." Kurt said. Helping her up. "Emma…" He shook his head. "Your clothes."

Emma looked down and was shocked herself. She was wearing a conservative and concealing (for her) white leather outfit.

"What the?" She shook her head. "I look like my old school teacher!"

"Some school." Wilson smiled at her and her tight outfit.

"…forgotten…again…" The hissing voice cursed – unheard by almost all.

The deep voice was laughing. "They'll win now. They have all the pieces."

"…" The hissing voice just hissed in confusion. "Pieces? Win? … How can this be? Dead isssss Dead."

What? God thought. Surely He must see it. The pieces… They… The voice shivered. What if they don't see it either? What if…What if Excalibur fails this trifling test?

The deep voice didn't like the thought of this at all.

No. No… It thought. The greater good must be done… They can do it themselves. It's out of my hands…

Then the deep voice got sneaky.

Surely… If I just point out the obvious… Someone will… You know… Pass the message along…

And the lord did grin as he found just that special someone – buried under a quarter ton of rubble and his dead girlfriends body.

Forge suddenly awoke with a start. Oh, no… His eyes opened wide in the darkness. It was the smell that consumed him now. He knew that smell. It was the smell of decay. The smell of the dead.

Lucy… his thoughts rolled in torment. Lucy… My Lucy…

And Forges mind went in to over-drive.

Words, images and concepts washed over him in a cloak of sheer, cold panic.

Medical devices, coma patients, necrosis, suspended animation, healing factors, blood transfusions, reanimation, the sulfer switch in mice, Lucy's meat trick, suggestability, Theta wave racations… Waves… Wilson!

Wilson…

And Forge knew what he had to do.

Wilson… I have to tell Wilson… I have to…

He swallowed and reached out, extending his hands slowly through the small confines of the crevice.

He found her hand and he drew it up to his face.

He was crying and he wiped his tears on the back of her hand then he kissed it.

"Hold on." He whispered, curling her dead fingers in to a fist and putting that fist under his chin.

"I'm coming." And he pulled both at her wrist and her elbow, and triggered her claws.

And the last thing he heard was a 'snikt' – in the once of a life time experience of truly perfect stereo sound – as they passed through the center of his head.

His eyes flew open and his body twitched and spasmed in overt trauma… And then…

Forge stood up slowly. He was breathing heavily and shocked to discover himself rising right through the rubble that covered him.

Damn. He thought. I couldn't dig my way out of that. I was caged in rebar…

He stood up and immediately wished he hadn't. The lighthouse was in ruins.

His heart ached.

"But the view remains unchanged." Said an old voice from behind him.

Forge whipped around. "Are you?"

"Dead now? Like you? Yes." The old man smiled at him. Forge had not seen this man since before he came to England. When Forge was met by his Shamanic instructor in the wilderness after receiving a vision – a vision which prompted Forge to return from the wilderness in time to receive Kurt's call for assistance in England.

"I'm sorry to hear it." Forge told him.

"Meh." The old Indian shrugged. "It suits me. I like the work."

Forge smiled at him. "And … thank you for coming."

"What are friends for." The man smiled and patted the blanket draped over his shoulder. "I've still got your blanket."

Forge nodded happily. "Right on."

"You should move now." The elder man told him. "It's coming."

Forge jumped toward the man. "What is…"

But the black lightning slammed down hard behind him.

"Suisides must be judged." The old man told him, catching him. "In case you're not going on any further… Is there anything I can do for you?"

Forge met his eyes, he was terrified now. How do I encapsulate it all in to…

"Tell Kurt! Wilson is the answer. Wilson can…"

"Krackpowwwwwwwwww…" But the thunder – directly over head – interrupted them as the lightning coursed through Forges body.

"Forge!" Lucy screamed as she rounded one of the last remaining walls in the lighthouse and found Forge's old instructor standing there. "I thought I heard…"

The old man nodded. "He wanted me to tell Kurt that Wilson is the answer. He can somehow affect this situation."

"But where is he?" She asked.

The old man's eyes were tinged with sorrow. "Since he's not here… I can not say."

And suddenly Lucy felt very much… Alone.