Ali sat at the curb in front of the orphanage, her elbows resting on her knees. She had calmed down from her earlier outburst, but Devon paced nearby, throwing glances at her to make sure she didn't try to run back to Emery.

"This is too hard," Ali said, not rising from her spot.

"It's the best we can do right now," Devon replied.

"No it's not, I could be helping Emery."

"I already told you--!"

"If Emery didn't want to lose me, she wouldn't have sent me to the Hive in the first place!"

"You're still precious to Emery and she doesn't want you to get hurt," Devon said.

Ali jumped to her feet, her eyes were wide and her mouth hung open. She stood like that for a second longer before doubling over and grabbing her head. She cried out in pain, gripping her head tighter.

"Ali? Ali, are you alright?"

Ali didn't answer at first, the pain searing through her head kept her silent. Suddenly, just as quickly as it came, it vanished.

"Ali? What happened?" Devon asked, coming to her side.

"Emery's…in trouble," Ali answered, getting shakily to her feet.

"Ali, no!" Devon said, already knowing what Ali was planning, "You have to stay here!"

"Emery's in trouble, I'm not going to stay here, hanging around waiting for it all to be over!" Ali said.

"You have to, Emery can't stand to lose you and neither can I," Devon said.

Ali rolled her eyes. "Oh please, don't start with that crap again--."

She was cut off as the pain came back, stronger than before. But, despite the pain, Ali was going to help Emery.

"Ali, don't do this!" Devon shouted.

Ali ignored him and the pain as she started walking. A second later, the pain evaporated again and she was able to think straight again. She picked up her pace to a run and raced across the cracked street. Footsteps thudded behind her, but she ignored Devon and picked up her pace.

"Ali, wait!" Devon said.

At the same time, he repeated the command in Ali's head, but she blocked him out and continued running. She didn't even think of her surroundings as her feet pounded across the pavement, she used Emery's thoughts as a guide. Suddenly, the scene came into view, Emery and Aisha were locked together, both pair of arms slashing and tearing at each other. The landscape around them had been trampled into rubble, buildings were crumbling and dirt was being flung in the air. Emery was sporting a gash on her crest as well as an open wound on her back. Aisha, on the other hand, was faring much better, which only infuriated Ali.

But, just before she could reach them, something strong slammed into her side and smashed her into the side of a building. Her shoulder flared in pain as it made contact with the brick wall. But Ali ignored the pain and focused on what had crashed into her. Her first thought was that it had been Devon, but the creature coming toward her was an alien. She felt her insides freeze up; she was in no condition to fight. But then, she realized that the alien was keeping a distance, while keeping its eyeless face glued to her. That was when she knew it was one of Emery's aliens.

"You're against me too?" Ali demanded.

The alien hissed in reply.

Ali groaned, besides the fact that it hurt to move much, she wasn't exactly keen on fighting one of Emery's aliens. But she didn't have a choice, it was obvious that Emery wanted Ali to stay out of the fight, but Ali wasn't going to let anything stop her. The Warrior screeched in surprise when Ali came at it and dodged out of her way. But it wasn't going to let her get away that easily. After recovering from its initial shock, the Warrior came at Ali, swinging its tail. Ali ducked and grabbed its tail. The Warrior screeched as Ali pulled on its tail, yanking it off its feet. She ran past it before it could get back on its feet and made her way to Emery.

"Emery!" Ali called out as she neared the fighting Queens.

But it was Aisha who turned her head. She hissed and wacked Emery with her tail, knocking the younger Queen off balance. However, instead of attacking while Emery was recovering, she turned her back on her and charged toward Ali. Ali came to a skidding halt as Aisha charged toward her.

"Oh shit!" she cried and she spun around.

Ali ran back the way she had come, weaving in and out of the giant piles of rubble. But she knew it wasn't enough to slow Aisha down. The crashing sounds behind her grew louder as Aisha gained.

Ali?! What are you doing here? Emery called as Ali jumped over the crumbled remains of a building.

Ali didn't get a chance to respond as something brushed across her back. The attack wasn't close enough to cause damage, but it made Ali quicken her pace as she tried to outrun the Queen. She took a sudden sharp turn in an attempt, but Aisha seemed to be expecting it and her tail swung out to meet Ali. The air was knocked out of Ali as she was flung back several feet, where she hit the ground and skidded another foot. Fortunately, she had landed on her good shoulder, preventing further damage to her injured shoulder. Groaning, she got slowly to her feet and tried to ignore the pain running up her body. However, a sizzling sound caused her to look down to find the ground at her feet smoking and burning away. Studying her body, she saw that her entire left side was scraped up and bloody and there were several rips in her clothing.

Ali made a small noise of anger, but she wasn't able to dwell on her ruined outfit for too long as Aisha charged towards her. She tried to move, but her body was too beat up and she fell to her knees. She looked up as Aisha drew closer with a clawed hand raised high. Ali closed her eyes. She was too hurt to run, but she wasn't going to give Aisha the satisfaction of seeing her fear so she waited for Aisha to strike. She heard the sound of Aisha making contact and something wet splattered her across the face. There was a loud, piercing shriek of pain and Ali opened her eyes to see that Emery had somehow gotten in front of her. Aisha hissed and stepped back, away from Emery.

The young Queen moaned in pain and she swayed in her place. Ali got to her feet and was able to see clearly the long, deep gash that ran the entire length of Emery's back. Emery swayed one more time before falling flat on her stomach right in front of Ali.