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When he finally came to, Max had a massive headache. He stood and gave a cursory glance to his surroundings while rubbing his forehead. He saw Ernesto fighting off Malakai, and Justin and Alex were nowhere to be seen. So aside from the headache, things were going well.

Then Max's brain started to work.

Wait a second... Ernesto's coat is brown, not gray...

He looked around again, more carefully this time, and spotted his uncle. He was still in wolf form, bloodied and unmoving.

That's right, he thought to himself as the memories came flooding back. He was beaten unconscious by Malakai. But there is another wolf holding him back. Has Justin finally merged with the wolf spirit, allowing him to transform?

"Max..." a familiar voice groaned.

The angel turned...to find find Justin lying in a pool of his own blood, a knife sticking out of his back.

Max felt some momentary confusion. If that was Justin, then who was fighting Malakai?

Justin groaned again, snapping Max out of his thoughts.

Right. Fix first, wonder later.

Max kneeled down next to his brother and pulled out the knife, causing Justin to scream.

As he stared into the gaping wound, Max hesitated. It was not the first time he had healed someone; he had done it countless times, on Ernesto and others. It should have come to him easily.

But something was staying his hand. If he scre- messed- up, Justin would spend the rest of his life crippled. Or he would die. For the first time since he absorbed the Grace and became an angel, Max was was worried. Because now, it was close to home.

Now it was personal.

It was the common belief that angels did not feel emotion...but Max knew better.

He would not let the last vestiges of his humanity get in his way. He looked at the knife that was still in his hand, stained with his brother's blood. This was the reason that Justin was helpless, the reason that he was dying. He slowly felt his worry turn to anger. That was good.

Anger was something he could he use.

Max placed his palm over the wound in Justin's back, and closed his eyes. He willed the Grace within himself to flow from him, to pour into Justin, to build and heal. Vertebrae re-calcified, sinew reformed. Soon, all that was left of the wound was a small, linear scar. And that too, would eventually disappear. Max stood then, his anger ebbing and flowing, giving rise to determination. He would make sure that that would never happen to Justin again.

The wolf lunged at Malakai, but he managed to doge its deadly teeth. That time. His robes were ripped, his skin oozing from the places where wolf had laid claim to him.

Malakai felt the thwunk! of the angel's blade as it embedded itself in his shoulder, rendering his left side useless.

Malakai removed it, thrusting it aside as the angelic runes burned his hand.

"Your aim is as good as ever, angel," Malakai crowed. " 'Tis a pity the blow came too late to be of any use."

The wolf whined. Max looked at it. It stared at Justin's prone form, and its ears drooped slightly.

And suddenly, he knew who she was.

"He's fine," Max told her. She stared at him, unbelieving.

"He'll be sore when he wakes up, but other than that, he's as good as new."

She looked at Justin again, then looked back at Max, the question in her eyes clear.

"Go," he told her, I've got things here."

Alex didn't need to be told twice.

Justin groaned as he rolled over onto his back. He'd had the strangest dream. He tried to stand, but doubled over the moment his back straightened.

Something growled. Justin looked to see a huge gray wolf standing in front of him. When had Uncle Ernesto changed color? And where was Alex?

"Hey!" Max yelled as he fought with Malakai. The wolf turned to him."Get him out of here!"

So it wasn't a dream, Justin thought to himself. Someone really had come to kill him, and they had run, he, Alex, their uncle, and Max.

Suddenly the memories coming back, at supersonic speeds. He tried frantically to reach his back, feeling for something, the knife, the wound it left behind. But there was nothing there. He looked around, saw the knife on the ground next to him. Someone had to of taken it out of him, and healed him. Probably Max.

But where was Alex! He searched frantically, attempting to stand again and failing miserably. The wolf surged forward this time, tucking its head beneath his arm, holding him up.

"Thank you," he told it. The wolf 's lips seemed to spread across its face, as though it were smiling.

Justin looked around again...and saw Ernesto on the ground.

He realized then that his initial thought had been right; Ernesto's fur was not gray. But he felt no danger in the wolf's company. In fact, he could not have felt safer if he tried.

The wolf was slowly nudging him forward, helping him move. Then it started pushing harder, apparently having lost its patience.

One of those pushes sent him sprawling "Hey!" Justin protested.

His retort was stopped short as the wolf reared its head back and began...well... barking. It took Justin a moment to realize that the wolf was laughing.

It was laughing at him. There was only one person he knew that enjoyed seeing him make a complete fool of himself.

He approached the wolf, taking its face into his hands.

"Alex?" he asked.

She nodded, nuzzling into his side.

They both jumped as Max was thrown into a building.

A yell of pain filled the night as Ernesto, healed and fully awake, bit into the assassin's injured shoulder.

"We should go," Justin said, and they began to move, though slowly, because he was still leaning heavily on Alex.

Alex howled suddenly as another of Malakai's knives hit one of her hind legs. She buckled under the pain, and both she and Justin collapsed.

And that was when Justin reached his breaking point. It was one thing for him to suffer because of this curse, but it was another thing entirely for Alex to suffer. He wasn't going to let her die for him.

He felt himself fill with anger. Some was for himself becoming a monster, leading to their current situation. But most of it was for Malakai, the man who hurt the woman he loved.

Justin closed his eyes, trying to find that place inside himself where the beast lived. He didn't know what he had done differently this time. Was it because he was so angry, or because the wolf had been there, at the tip of his consciousness, just waiting to be called out?

For whatever reason, the beast heeded Justin's call.

When Justin opened his eyes, Justin found himself in the fantasy world he and Alex had shared when the mind link was still active. It was still shrouded in mist and fog, but it was not as heavy. It seemed to lift at times, and Justin would catch glances of the castle where Princess Russo had lived with her knight, a remnant of a world gone by.

The wolf stood before him in humanoid form, with its arms crossed. He said nothing.

"I need your help," Justin told him. "I need your strength."

"Give me a reason," the wolf replied.

"What?"

"I have called for you many times. Each time, you have refused me. So why should I help you? Give me a reason."

"I need to protect someone I love."

"This person is important to you?"

"Yes."

"More important than the many you have let suffer and die when you refused my summons?"

"Every life is equally important. I refused you then because I was afraid of you."

"And are you still afraid, Justin Russo?"

"I want to protect her more than I fear you."

"Why?"

"Because she brings me peace." Justin smiles. "She obliterates that peace as easily as she gives it, but I lover her all the more because of it. She's the reason I wake up with a smile, the reason I can let go and have fun every now and again. She gives me strength; she's the reason I'm here now, in front of you."

The wolf says nothing.

"Without her, there is no Justin Russo. She is the best part of me."

"Once you have accepted me, there is no going back."

"What do you mean?"

Once we have joined completely, the distinction between us will disappear; it will not be we, only I."

"I'm prepared for whatever comes, so long as I have her with me."

"So be it."

The wolf produced a book, which Justin recognized as the copy of the magic journal, the one Alex had drawn, so they could make additions to their world while still dreaming.

The wolf opened it to a page filled with archaic inscriptions.

"Sign your name."

Using magic to conjure up a pen, Justin signed his name.

"Don't you have to sign your name, too?"

"I already have," said a voice that was too much like his own. Justin looked up from the journal...and saw himself, smiling at himself.

"I told you, once the joining was complete, there would be no distinction, no "us."

The doppelganger began to disappear. "Only I."

The fog lifted, and color returned to the fantasy world.

"Only me," Justin finished, his eyes feral.

Malakai stared as yet another God Hound stepped forth to challenge him.

Just how many of them are there?

He was now facing three God Hounds (Alex was healed by Max) and an archangel, with numerous bleeding wounds and a useless left arm. He did not like those odds.

He was out of throwing knives as well. He lunged at the brown wolf, tossing him into the gray one. He feinted by the angel...and stepped right into the path of the black one.

He tried to sidestep the beast, but managed only to get his right hand caught in its jaws. After a moment of agonizing pain, he sent the God Hound sprawling with a powerful kick.

Malakai ran, hoping to make it to the alley where he had prepared the seal for a teleportation spell. He needed to regain his strength. He had grossly miscalculated; he had not counted on the presence of the angel and his little pet, or the that the girl also possessed the ability to change.

He would not make that mistake again. They would not be so lucky the next time they met.

Justin contemplated chasing Malakai down, then decided against it. He was still new to the change. He wanted to get all the help his uncle could give him before he faced the assassin again. He would be ready next time.

He walked over to his sister and nudged her with his nose.

Are you okay?

Ye- hey!

Justin smiled. Our mind link is back.