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When Alex woke again, he fully expected to be restrained in some way, be it locked in a cell or tied to something. He definitely didn't expect what he got.

Alex found himself in a bed, not overly large and ornate nor a cot that may as well have been made of stone, but it was comfortable. And warm.

He was rather surprised to find that this bed felt like it was his though it certainly wasn't. This wasn't his home so why did he feel as if it were?

Alex cautiously sat up, studying the small room he was in. It was spare with only the bed he was in, a small chest of drawers, and a few personal touches. What few there were though, gave the impression that a teenage boy lived within.

He had swung his feet over the side of the bed and started to push himself up when a glint of light off glass caught his eye. Turning, he saw that it was a photograph, framed and hung on the wall.

The photo was of a happy scene, but Alex felt himself go cold when he saw it, and he wasn't fully certain why.

In the picture he saw K-unit out on a sunny day and it had to have been a free day since he could see they were relaxing and goofing off. Snake was sitting under a tree, his nose in a book. A few feet away, Wolf was stood, watching over the other four. Eagle and Fox looked to be playing tag with, and this was where Alex's numbness stemmed from, they were playing tag with him.

Alex realized why he had gone cold. What he wasn't sure of was what else he was feeling. He hadn't met any of K-unit, didn't know they existed, until he was fourteen. So, why was he in this photo at the age of… twelve? eleven?

Alex shivered, slowly backing away. Who would go through this much trouble just to get to me?

He turned and hurried out the door, pausing when he found himself in a small house. He glanced around and saw another four doors, presumably to more rooms of similar size to the one he just exited, and a flight of stairs opposite the single window in the hall. As he moved toward the stairs, he noted that 'his' room was on the side with three, in the middle, and opposite one of the other rooms.

Alex carefully edged down the stairs, ears straining for any sound. He was able to hear muffled conversation that drifted through the lower floor, but couldn't quite understand it.

As soon as his foot touched floor at the bottom, Eagle poked his head into the room.

"Hey Cub," he said, lips pulling back into a warm smile. "Feeling better?"

Alex stood there, staring at him blankly. He was unsure if he should run, following his mind, or if he should join the man, as his heart so wanted him to do.

Eagle frowned slightly, stepping fully into the room and moving toward Alex. "Cub? What's wrong?"

Alex's eyes focused on the larger man even as he began to edge along the wall. He ignored the hurt look that flashed through the soldier's hazel eyes when he put the couch between them.

"I don't know what you want from me, but I'm not telling you anything."

Eagle's frown deepened. "What are you talking about? I don't… None of us want anything from you. We just want to know that you're okay."

Alex huffed out a disbelieving laugh. "Yeah, alright, I'm fine, okay? I'm going now." He continued edging toward the door he could see led outside.

A new voice joined the conversation, sounding irritated. "You sure as hell aren't acting like it."

Alex darted a look to the side and saw who he expected: Wolf. "And you'd know this how? You've somehow managed to figure out how I normally am in the, roughly, two weeks we've been remotely near each other?"

It was Wolf's turn to frown. "Cub," he started slowly. "What do you mean 'two weeks'? You've been here for three years."

Alex laughed. "Yeah, nice try. I don't know how you made that photo, or any of this other crap that's going on, but I think I'd remember living with you sodding bastards!"

Both men blinked, as did the other two who had appeared in the doorway behind Eagle.

"Snake," Wolf growled, turning to glower at the Scot.

The blond stepped into the room, looking mildly perplexed. "Physically, he's fine. Yes, this is Cub, and no, there's nothing on him."

"Then what is going on?" Wolf demanded.

Snake shrugged. "I don't know. I… I guess it might be possible he witnessed some sort of traumatic event and… repressed. I don't know. I specialize in the body, not the mind."

"So you don't know anything?" Fox asked, leaning against the door jamb but not removing his gaze from Alex.

"I'm not an expert. And who knows if Cub, being who and what he is, would conform to the standard," Snake answered.

Alex scowled, stepping forward. "Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" he snapped, drawing the unit's attention. He focused on Snake. "And what do you mean 'what I am'?" His scowl grew more severe when he saw the concerned looks the soldiers exchanged.

Snake stepped closer, slowly, with his hands held out. "Cub–"

"Stop calling me that!"

"Alright. But I need to know, what's the last thing you remember?" Snake asked, tone gentle.

He's treating me like I'm a skittish animal, Alex realized. He rolled his eyes before he answered, his voice an interesting mix of sarcasm and blandness. "Oh, gee, I don't know. What was it? Oh yeah, being shot."

Alex blinked when the men exploded into sound.

"When is it going to happen?"

"Who shoots you?"

"Were we there?"

"Where was it?"

Alex stared at them. "…What? It already happened; a random terrorist; yes… a warehouse?"

Snake sighed. "No. Where did the bullet pierce?"

"Lower back. Why do you care?"

"Why? What do you mean 'why'? Because I'm your primary healer, we're a team, and we're responsible for you."

"Hang on," Fox said, holding up a hand. His eyes met Alex's. "What do you mean that it already happened? You've never been shot."

Alex rolled his eyes. "I've been shot twice and you'd know that if you really were B– Fox."

Snake stepped forward again, halting when Alex backed away, bumping into the wall in his haste. "Cub, you've never been shot. Gunshot wounds always leave scars and you don't have any. Look for yourself if you don't believe me."

Alex narrowed his eyes, gauging the man's honesty before he carefully pulled his shirt off. He looked down at his chest and froze when his gaze was met with unmarred skin. His hearing went dull with shock and he was unable to focus on anything other than the lack of scar. He carefully probed the smooth skin over his heart, not even noticing the suspicious frown that crossed Wolf's face. He dimly noticed the lack of muscle and additional scars, including one he had gotten at twelve when he and Tom fell out of a tree. H-how is this possible? I… I know I was shot. I remember all of those missions; Jack, Ian, Tom… There's no way I imagined all that. What is going on?

Alex was jarred back into the insane reality he had stumbled into by a gentle shake. He felt warm hands on his arms and, when he looked up, saw that they belonged to Snake. The other three were ranged behind the medic, looking down at the teen. It was about then that Alex realized he was sitting on the floor.

Another gentle shake drew his wandering attention.

"Cub, I need you to answer me," Snake said, voice low with concern and urgency.

Alex blinked. "I'm fine."

Eagle laughed, lips pulling back into a smirk though his eyes were still worried. "That doesn't really answer the question."

Alex looked at him in slight confusion. "Which question?" he asked, still dazed from his discovery, something that concerned the men.

"What did you See that made you believe you had been shot?" Snake repeated patiently.

Alex scowled, hearing the capital 's' this time but disregarding it for now. "I didn't 'see' anything! I lived through it!" He felt himself begin to panic, but couldn't find it in himself to completely suppress it. He was just so tired of needing to hold that iron control being a spy forced him to have that the rope keeping him together was fraying and he just didn't care. Not anymore.

"I don't know what you want from me or why you're doing this, but stop it! Just fucking stop! They don't care! You don't care! No one does! Just leave me alone!" Alex yelled, beginning to struggle against the gentle hands lightly restraining him.

"Cub! Stop! You need to–"

Alex freed a hand and cut Snake off with a fist to the jaw. He kicked out and knocked the larger blond over before scrambling to his feet and dashing for the door. He hurdled over the couch rather than go around – a move that seemed to mildly surprise a couple of the men – and ducked under Fox's outstretched arm, grabbing it to throw him a second time. The brunet crashed into Wolf, sending them both to the ground, as Alex disappeared out the door with Eagle just behind him.

Alex ignored the yell of "Cub!" behind him in favor of pushing between a few soldiers. He heard but didn't register Eagle's call for someone to grab him, so when thick arms wrapped around him, he acted on instinct, trying to wrench around while letting his entire body weight fall.

Unfortunately, it didn't work, though the man holding him did blink in surprise. He looked from Alex to Eagle as the man slid to a stop next to him.

"Eagle, what–" He absently caught Alex's hands and held them still with one massive hand, his other arm still wrapped around Alex's waist. "Stop that Cub."

Eagle ran a hand through his hair, looking at Alex with… displeasure? Concern? He sighed and looked at the other soldier. "Thanks Bear. He Saw something and isn't himself. Could you get the word spread, in case anything happens?"

Bear shrugged. "Sure. Want me to carry him back or do you want to do it yourself?"

"I'll do it. Thanks again," he responded, reaching forward to gently grasp Alex's wrists. Like Bear, he held them in one hand and snaked his other arm around Alex's waist. "I've got him."

Bear nodded before carefully letting go. He walked away when he saw Eagle had Alex held tightly.

Alex, on the other hand, was getting annoyed that they were able to so easily ignore his struggles. Why was he suddenly so weak? He turned his head to glare at Bear's retreating form and was able to see that his head was shaved bald and he was built like a tree. He turned back to glare at Eagle, who was already leading Alex back to their house, hidden amongst others he hadn't seen while running. Mentally, he cursed at himself for losing awareness of his surroundings like that.

"Christ, Cub. When the hell did you learn that?" Eagle half-demanded, carrying him into the house as if he were a small five-year-old rather than the five foot seven near fifteen-year-old he was… Or was supposed to be anyway. He wasn't so sure anymore since he apparently hadn't been shot. He decided that he needed to find a mirror.

"Learn what?" Alex snapped, glaring at the other three men who looked mildly amused in addition to the concern from earlier.

"Proper throws and punches. Last week you still fell over more times than not," Fox answered as Eagle set Alex down.

Alex shot them a scathing look. "You people didn't do your research well. I've been in karate since I was six."

The men all blinked and looked at each other.

"Snake?" three of them chorused, looking at the blond.

"I don't know. Why do you expect me to know?"

"You're the mage and the medic. You'd know before we would," Eagle said with the tone of one stating the obvious.

Alex blinked then let out disbelieving laugh. When the men looked at him, he shrugged. "I got shot and all of you went insane. Why else would you be mothering me? …Or care enough to, for that matter?"

There was a beat before Eagle looked at the other three. "I didn't know we were insane."

Wolf glowered and hit Eagle upside the head as Fox answered Alex. "We've been taking care of you for the past three-ish years. Bit hard not to care."

Alex glared at him, grabbing his shirt to pull on. "I haven't even known you a year much less three. Stop bullshitting me."

Snake moved into Alex's line of sight. "Cub… Alex. It's possible everyone is telling the truth. Let me explain first, before you try running off again. Will you listen?"

Alex hesitated then nodded, filing away the use of his real name for later. "Listening and believing are two different things."

"Good enough," Snake responded, gesturing Alex to the couch.

Rather than cooperate, and turn his back to them, Alex flopped onto one of the two armchairs. He scowled at the indulgent smiles he saw exchanged. The men settled themselves and Alex looked at the older blond.

Snake met Alex's eyes and the teen looked away, remembering what had happened last time. The Scot sighed then began to speak. "Three years ago, we were told that our unit would be receiving a fifth member. When we saw you… well, you can imagine that we weren't pleased."

Alex nodded, thinking back to his own reception. It wasn't hard to think of how they would react to an even younger addition.

"All we were told was to make sure you didn't die or anything," Eagle tossed in. "Which probably wasn't the best directions to give a group of guys who had never been all that to close to a kid."

"And you weren't exactly… normal, when we first met," Fox added. At Alex's questioning look, he elaborated. "You were staring at the clouds, mumbling about something. Sarge had to actually walk you over."

"Anyway," Snake cut in, frowning at the two. "Since we didn't know what to do with a child, much less one we thought was insane, we ignored you most of the time."

"And yelled back when you started up," Eagle said equably. "…Which usually sent you running to hide under a bed."

"That was routine for the next couple of months. Until you collapsed in front of us and had a seizure," Snake continued.

"Scared the shit out of all of us," Fox commented. " 'Course, it also made us realize that we had grown attached to you and that, human or not, you were still a child and we weren't doing a very good job as caretakers."

Alex frowned. "Wait. What do you mean 'human or not'? What else would I be? A cat?" he demanded sarcastically.

They stared at him blankly before Wolf ventured an answer. "As opposed to werewolf, vampire, demon, mage, or anything else."

Alex stared at them in return then started laughing. "Funny. Pull the other leg why don't you?"

The men exchanged worried looks.

"Well," Snake began. "This does lend support to my theory."

"What theory?" Wolf asked, glancing at Alex in concern.

Snake paused to order his thoughts before he spoke. "This Cub has lived an entirely different life from ours. Whe–"

"This Cub? So he's different?" Fox asked, worry in his voice.

Snake nodded. "Mentally, at the very least. Physically, he's still our Cub."

"So what does that mean?" Eagle asked, looking at Alex who was watching the byplay with interest.

"That we're going to have to adjust, be patient. Cub, Alex, he'll need us to help him." Snake looked at Alex. "Which do you want us to call you?"

Alex blinked, surprised at being asked his opinion since he was used to being told how things would be. "Cub," he answered after a beat of silence.

"Exactly how is Cub different?" Wolf asked.

"We can't know for certain until he decides to share," Snake responded with a nod to Alex. "But regardless of whether he's a counterpart with different memories or a subconsciously created persona, he's real." He again looked at Alex, who was growing annoyed. "And sorry for speaking like you weren't here. Would you like us to finish explaining now or would you like something to eat?"

Alex blinked again, choosing to study Snake rather than answer. Different? Then I guess the other… me I saw is, or was, the Cub that belongs here.

"Cub?" broke into his thoughts.

"Either is fine," Alex said absently, still thinking.

Eagle stood to stretch. "Well, I'm hungry. Why not move into the kitchen?"

Alex smirked. "So long as Wolf doesn't cook…"

"Why wouldn't I cook?" Wolf demanded, shooting a look at the teen.

Alex looked at him then at the others. "Don't tell me you actually let him cook here. Even Eagle won't eat his cooking. Ten days may not be long but it's more than enough to not want to experience it again."

Eagle laughed. "At least that's something that's the same."

"Two things," Fox said, elaborating when he saw the question on Eagle's face. "You eating everything and Wolf not cooking."

"He never said I ate everything."

"No, you eat everything," Alex said. He trailed after the soldiers into the kitchen, wary but willing to go along with it.

"So Cub, why the sudden change?" Wolf asked.

Alex shrugged. "I figure that this is way too much effort into a story I'd see as insane and full of it and since you haven't tried to kill me yet…" He shrugged again and sat at the table. When he looked up, he saw the men were frowning at him. "What?"

"How can you sound so blasé about someone trying to kill you?" Fox asked.

Alex looked between them. "It's typical? Bes–"

"What?" was chorused from the soldiers, varying levels of anger upon their faces.

Alex shrugged. "What? I'm used to it by now. Can we talk about something else?"

"No," Wolf growled. "How many people have tried to kill you?"

Alex shrugged. "I don't know."

"How can you not know?" Wolf demanded.

"It's not like I stopped to count," Alex snapped back, starting to push to his feet.

Eagle pushed him back into the chair, all thoughts of food gone. "Why were they trying to kill you?"

Alex sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Because I got in the way or tried to stop them. Both usually. Why are you so surprised? You already know this."

"Know this? How the hell could we possibly know this?" Fox demanded.

Alex scowled and retorted sharply, "Because you and Wolf have been there at least twice each and you all were there the last time – when I was actually shot again."

"You were shot in front of different versions of us? Why didn't we do anything?" Eagle asked.

Alex shrugged. "For all I know, you did. I blacked out. When I came to, it was quiet and you were all there looking at me. I don't know exactly what the hell was going on since I was a little busy dying at the time," he snapped back sarcastically.

Snake, seeing that the teen was growing defensive, annoyed, and oddly, confused, cut in before anymore questions could be asked of Alex, "Why don't we eat and finish telling Cub what is going on?"

Wolf growled and shot a look at Alex. "We will finish this later," he ground out before stalking out of the kitchen.

Alex looked at the others. "What else crawled up his ass?"

Eagle looked at the teen like he was insane. "Did– Am I– Wha– I can't deal with this right now," he said, once he finished sputtering, and followed his team leader.

Alex looked at the other two, confused. "What'd I do?"

Fox and Snake exchanged looks.

"Well," Fox started. "You don't seem to care that people have tried to kill you."

"I care! …At the time anyway. It just doesn't matter anymore. And definitely not now."

"You don't act like it," Fox countered.

Alex scowled. "There isn't much point in worrying about something I can't do anything about."

"You act like you don't care at all," argued Fox.

Alex's back straightened. "Well, I'm not going to be very open with people I don't trust, am I?" He looked at Snake. "I'm not very hungry."

"Okay," the blond nodded. "Why don't you go rest? The room you woke up in is yours."

Alex nodded curtly before turning and staking up the stairs.

"That could have gone better," Snake sighed, leading Fox onto the porch.

"What the hell is going on?" Wolf demanded.

Snake sat on the railing. "Like I said, Cub is different. Because of that, we'd be best off treating him as an equal and an adult, rather than the boy we've basically raised the past few years."

Wolf growled. "But he's our cub."

Snake nodded. "Yes. We know that, but he doesn't."

"How can he not?" Eagle asked.

"Weren't you paying attention?" Snake asked scathingly. "This boy, this Alex, this Cub, barely knows us. And what he does know of us is vastly different from what we are… I wouldn't be surprised if he thought we all were human."

Snake rolled his eyes at the blank looks he received. "I know we're all worried and tired, but come on guys. Haven't you figured anything out?"

"Nope," Eagle chirped with a smirk. "We leave the thinking to you, book boy."

Snake glowered at him. "Demon or no, I can still turn you into a frog."

Wolf shot a glare at Eagle. "What'd you mean, Snake?"

"Judging by what he's said and his reactions, I'd assume that the world he's from," he held up a hand when Wolf went to interrupt. "Or fashioned for himself, has no form of the supernatural. No widely accepted form at any rate. Remember his reaction when you referred to his being a Seer? He acted like being anything but human wasn't possible."

"But I still don't understand how this… switch could've happened," Fox said.

Snake let himself lean back slightly. "Since he claims remembering being shot, that trauma could have drawn his spirit into a nether-realm and having a vision at the same time could possibly be enough to allow them to exchange places."

"So, not only do we have a different Cub, but we have no idea what he Saw?" Fox asked.

"…Basically."

"Alright, assuming I understood you correctly, how do we get the old Cub back?" Wolf asked.

Snake sighed. "…I don't know. It may not be possible."

Eagle held up a hand. "Hang on. First: clarify 'nether-realm'. Second: what do you mean that we might not get him back?"

"Don't you pay attention at all?" Fox demanded, smacking Eagle's arm. "Nether-realms are the dimensions between, like Limbo."

Eagle glared at Fox. "I knew that. I just wanted to make sure."

Wolf growled at the pair, shutting them up, then looked at Snake. "He has a point with the second question."

"Well, logically, an event similar to what precipitated the original transfer could reverse it. However, if the body of this Cub expired, then our Cub would have faded with it. And, even if we could affect a transfer, there's no guarantee that they'd be returned to their original states. Add to that that this may be purely psychological and… well, we'd be best to just let things play out. With any luck, they'll switch back on their own."

Three blank stares were all he got in response until Eagle spoke. "We know he's worried since we need to find a thesaurus."

Snake shot Eagle a sour look. "Regardless, we'll just need to cope. And if this is going to be hard on us, it will be harder on Cub."

Wolf pushed off the post he was leaning against. "We'll take it as it comes. I'll go tell Sarge what's going on. You guys… do something. Keep an eye on Cub." He walked off, stomping rather audibly.

Fox sighed then summed up their thoughts nicely. "This is not going to go well."