So, I spent all day in an airport and by default wrote this chapter and part of the next. Thought I better capitalize on my free time and the fact a lot of people have been reading as of late. Thanks for that! Also two quick things, this chapter starts to explain some ideas that were brought up in the never filmed movie. So please let me know if they make no sense what so ever... and second, do people like the flash back to the college years scenes? I love to write them since I think they're cute, but if they are not, I would love to know. Anyway, enjoy!

Six Years Ago: College Library

"Arrrrgggggg." Chloe groaned as she dropped a book as thick as two bricks onto the table with a resounding thump. I could see the cloud of dust rise from the cover.

"Where did you find that thing? At the bottom of stacks?" I asked, trying not to cough from the air-bound particles. The noise continued to echo in the college's library. We were at our favorite table and I was trying finish a translation for my Greek class.

"And then some," Chloe responded, "but I found it and that's all that matters."

Moving my stuff out of the way as Chloe's study area continued to grow spontaneously (it happened every time we studied together). "And why is that?"

"Because… if you had been listening to me for the past two weeks, this is the centerpiece of my research for my honors project and I finally found it on the bottom shelf of some forgotten part of this place where nobody has visited since the 1950s."

I looked up from my work to see her mock-glaring at me. After holding eye contact for a beat, I broke out my signature smirk, "Sorry, I was too distracting by your gorgeous… beautiful… stunning eyes."

She narrowed her glare before wrinkling her nose and then broke into a smile herself, "Almost good enough, but you forgot exquisite."

"My bad. Sorry."

"You should be, but anyway, this book is the perfect source for my paper on the ancient Egyptian ritual chalice. It has the only known depiction of the cup." She flipped wildly through it, stirring up even more dust, "aw, here it is."

Chloe turned the book to show me a faded drawing of a gold goblet decorated in hieroglyphs and the symbol for Basset.

"Wait, is this that cup you had at the warehouse? The one that was never found in the rubble?"

Chloe slid the book back over to her and pulled out her notebook, "Exactly the one, I thought I would take this project as an opportunity to research it. This cup seemed awfully important to the Order, and if they want it, it must have been special. I'm surprised you can be remember that considering you had been shot and it was four years ago," she teased.

"Pssh," I leaned back in my chair with my hands behind my head, "I never forget."

"Oh really," Chloe scoffed, "so what are we doing tonight?" There was a challenge in her voice that I had forgotten a plan we must have made.

Dropping my chair back into all fours and with cat-like reflexes, I leaned forward, only a couple inches from her, "it's a surprise." The statement was meant to mask the fact I had no idea to what she was referring.

"You forgot," she accused, closing the gap even more.

"Did not," I defended.

With a laugh, she connected her lips with mine, planting a quick but tender kiss, "Date night, it's your turn to pick," she whispered as a reminder.

I smiled, partial because of her kiss, but mostly because she could see right through my façade. "I knew that," I tried to play it off as cool as we returned to studying. Chloe was already ingrained in her research. But she still had time for a witty comeback.

"Oh right, of course you did," she stated with an eyeroll.

Present Day: The Apartment

I had forgotten. The chalice had not crossed my mind in years; the last time being Chloe's honor's research project back at Berkley. But that did not stop me from instantly realizing that I now held it here in my hands.

"That's not…" Jas started to say, "I mean it can't be."

I spun the goblet slowly. The only time I had seen it in real life was through the window of the warehouse as adrenaline was pumping through my veins and I was more focused on rescuing Chloe from the clutches of the Order. All I had seen was that when she held it, it glowed and she looked like she was dying.

"I think it is, this is the same chalice from the night of the warehouse." I responded.

Jas kept looking from me to the cup and back to me, "but it was gone. We had Mai warriors searching for hours and all they found was a melted chunk of metal. How is it that it was sent to you?"

"Chloe must have tracked it down or something." That was the first time her name was spoken since she had fled the apartment, for the second time.

"But HOW?" Jas asked.

"Why would you think I would know? I'm just as much in the dark as you." That was enough for her to stop asking me. "I think the real question is, what I am supposed to do with it?"

Jas scoffed, "I thought that was the self-explanatory part." She held up the note with the curly handwriting.

Alek, Drink Me

I fixed her with a look, "No shit Sherlock, but why is that?"

She let out a sigh and reached to remove the plastic wrap from the top of the chalice, "I have no clue, but if there's one thing my years with Chloe taught me, especially now, we should follow the will of the Uniter."

"But why now?"

"Because, I don't know if you have it through your thick head of yours Alek, but she's changed. She knows more about the Mai and other races and being around her actually feels like being around the Uniter. I mean, not that it didn't before, but now she just has this sense of power and…." Jas searched for the right word, "purpose."

Now it was my turn to let out a sigh. "No, you're right, I have felt it. I was just afraid, because it was the old Chloe who…" I paused. I hadn't admitted this aloud in years, but now my fears were surfacing, "It was the old Chloe who loved me, and what if this one doesn't?"

Jas looked at me with a stern expression, searching my face as I had searched her's minutes before. She must have seen the genuine fear, but also the torch I still held for Chloe. "Alek, your head must be hella thick because it is clear that she still loves you. I could see that just in the past 24 hours."

"Thanks." But I only felt slightly reassured.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here for you and all that other gushy family stuff," Jas smirked. I could tell it was getting a little too emotional for the both of us. Talking about our feelings was never a common practice for us. Jas continued, "But back to the task at hand, Chloe sent this to you and obviously wants you to drink it. So, I think you should."

I stared at the glass, "Do you have any idea what it might be?"

Jas looked at the glass too. The liquid inside had a faint blue tint and when it caught the light it looked like it was glowing. "I do, but I'll tell you after you drink."

I raised an eyebrow, "That bad?"

"Not bad, per say, but I want to be sure."

"So, you're going to wait for me to stop breathing to declare it as poison?"

"Basically," she smirked.

"Fine." I grabbed the chalice with both hands and raised it up to my lips. It felt like there was an electric current pulsing between myself and the glass. In one foul swoop, I dumped the liquid down my throat. The flavor was practically non-existent. Just a slight note of vanilla, honey, and if it was possible to say… warmth? It tasted like warmth.

I felt the liquid settle in my stomach and then there was a gut-retching pain. I doubled over, knocking the chalice to the floor. Flashbacks to the warehouse and seeing Chloe go through the same agony rushed to the forefront of my mind. Then suddenly my eyes changed to their cat-form, all the sounds of the city amplified in my ears and my claws instinctively extended.

And I swear there was a flash of golden light.