As he lay sprawled on his back across the old couch, Jamie's consciousness hovered somewhere between reality and a whole other plane of existence. His body, cocooned in a soft quilt, merely made the slightest of twitches as the strong sedative flooded his system. He felt as if he were laying deep down upon the ocean floor, sounds and sensations distorted and muffled.

It was cold wherever he'd ended up, the skin of his face chilled and lips numb. Groggily, Jamie managed to force his eyelids open. They still felt extremely heavy, much like the rest of his body. Staring straight up from where he'd landed, all was blackness.

Yet, this blackness had a familiar quality. He could feel it in his bones that he was well acquainted with his current environment.

"What's going on?" Jamie groaned, struggling to sit up.

One hand braced his forehead, his thinking still fuzzy and unreliable.

When he was finally able to scan his surroundings, Jamie gasped in terror and disbelief.

"No! It can't be!" he whimpered, quickly finding his feet.

The room was the same as the day Drakkon left for his battle, never to return. A fire burned in the fireplace before the overstuffed chair. The ornate four-poster bed with lush emerald comforter stood against the far wall. On the side table sat the bejeweled box of expensive chocolates Drakkon enjoyed. Rare occasions following a bloody, violent cage fight would see the tyrant lovingly slip one of the sweets between Red's lips, his thumb lingering provocatively on his pet's open mouth.

"This isn't possible," Jamie almost sobbed, his stomach tightening in knots. "I don't want to go back! What did he do to me?"

A quiet voice spoke up from the opposite side of the chair, facing the fireplace.

"It's my fault."

Timidly, Jamie turned to cautiously approach the person seated before the fire. It didn't sound like Drakkon, although it was still deep and growly. Leaning around the high back, Jamie stared in shock at who he found curled in his former master's favorite piece of furniture.

The man glanced up at him, then quickly averted his eyes, gazing into the dancing orange flames. He had the same shaggy, thick, grey hair, dark grey beard and facial scars as Jamie. The body dressed in a black and grey Ranger-esque uniform was the same build as well.

Sitting with his knees drawn up to his chest, black gloved hands hugged his legs, chin resting upon them. He seemed almost sad.

"Red?" Jamie ventured, unsure how he should proceed.

Deep ember eyes returned to his face, both eyes appearing slightly larger than a normal human's. The arrangement of his facial features had a canine quality yet was alarmingly beautiful at the same time. Tucked around the man, resting on the chair's cushion, lay a bushy, black tail.

The signature toothy grin spread across his face; it seemed that the odd grin was his baseline expression, even when enraged and killing.

"We're getting to meet 'face to face'. Imagine that," the human-canine whispered. "He wasn't kidding about the medicine knocking us on our ass."

Jamie frowned.

"What are you talking about? What happened? Where are we? And how am I able to see you? I don't understand."

Red shrugged, straightening his legs before him.

"I fucked up," he admitted, tilting his head up at Jamie. "I accidently shot us up with the sedative in your pocket."

Jamie's brows rose in brisk fury.

"The medication the doctor sent for David's episodes? Are you fucking kidding me?" he bellowed down at the alter. "How the fuck…"

Red pulled himself out of the chair; the more aggressive alter was also apparently a good deal taller than Jamie in addition to his other features. Reflexively, the smaller man took a step back.

Could one alter attack the other in the strange in-between they were visiting?

"You know how he is, small one. He can never resist testing me."

Taking a deep breath, Jamie bravely stood his ground, glaring up into Red's fire hued eyes.

"I seem to remember that he claimed you two were rolling around in bed together, feeling each other up. What the fuck was that about?" he challenged.

Red brushed past him as he strode towards the massive bed.

"That was a punishment I designed especially for that perverted asshole," he snarled over his shoulder. "He had the honor of listening to me playing with myself from the other room while he laid in bed, rock hard and alone! Looking back, I should have made him beg me to allow him to at least watch!"

"Hey!" Jamie yelled, pointing his finger at the alter's back. "That's my body too! Did you even think that I might object? Or am I just some mindless little puppet to you?"

Red spun around, his eyes blazing and he snarled indignantly.

"You are NOT just some mindless puppet! We need you!" he hissed.

"We?" Jamie asked, now following Red towards where the bed stood. "You mean you and Jason, don't you?"

Gesturing to a figure positioned atop the mattress, the human pet nodded.

"Yes."

For reasons he couldn't explain, the newer alter felt anxious.

"That's Jason? Um, does he know we're here? Is he always like that?" Jamie stammered, words jumbling in his nervousness.

Red easily slipped into the bed next to the slumbering man, curling around him protectively.

Jason looked essentially just like the Red Omega in the 'out-there.' He still had the thick, dark hair, full cheeks, and smooth unmarred skin. He was asleep for all intents and purposes, his chest rising and falling rhythmically.

"How do we each look so different?" Jamie pondered, not truly asking Red specifically for an answer; it was just the marked difference between the trio was confusing.

Red nuzzled his face in the top of Jason's head; he felt the need to attempt to answer Jamie's question.

"I'm no expert, but it seems these 'forms' are the way we see ourselves here. It won't necessarily match the physical body we inhabit," he murmured, gesturing at his swishing tail glossing the top of the silky green comforter. "I imagine I'd frighten someone out there in the 'real world.'"

Jamie slowly nodded as he continued to stare at Jason.

"He just doesn't respond then? Even if you shake him or prod him?"

Red shook his head sadly, his eerie grin still affixed to his face.

"I've tried many times, especially when I was in the escape pod. I really thought he'd come back, take over, and I'd just 'dissolve', I guess. But it didn't work that way. Which is why I said that we need you," he explained.

"I tried to pull together every positive emotion, memory, skill," Red struggled to continue. "Every positive 'essence', the parts of us that were good, the parts of me that could still feel something besides rage and hate. Somehow, you were created."

Jamie now sat down on the bed, opposite Red.

"You never tried to talk to me before," he softly accused. "Even when the hound first appeared, you were radio silent."

Red's eyes shut tightly in frustration.

"How would that have helped anything besides to confuse you? I never intended to have to be 'present' again as that motherfucker was incinerated. The coin was in our possession, but we never needed it. It didn't look like we ever would."

He gave a very canine-like huff.

"What was ever going to come our way out in the woods? On our farm? To our little community? We were 'no one', remember? I thought if we kept things that way there would be no reason for anyone to seek us out."

The thick black tail thumped in agitation.

"Obviously, I was mistaken."

Jamie's hands fidgeted nervously in his lap.

"Well, what now? Jason's not dead. He might wake up one day."

Then he frowned thoughtfully.

"Red, when we were morphed into the Fox Ranger, I didn't feel like I was just myself. I was braver, more in tune with the environment, more skillful with fighting. It was like I was 'more.'"

The pet was silent a moment.

"It's like we were integrated," he whispered. "I felt that too."

Jamie glanced back at the still figure.

"Jason was in there too. I could sense him in some weird way," he explained. "So why is he like this now?"

Red brushed a few strands of hair from Jason's face.

"I don't know. I'm still just a 'dog' remember? There is a lot I can't explain, even thought I seem to be the only one of us that was 'aware' the entire time," he grunted.

Looking around the familiar room again, Jamie shuddered.

"Of all the places we could be, why this room?"

Red's ember eyes gazed about the bed chambers as well.

"Possibly because this is where most of my memories are. Besides the fights and the throne room. He's unconscious and you aren't a big enough alter yet so I have more influence. I'm not sure," he sighed.

Jamie also reclined next to Jason's warm body.

"I hope this gets out of our system soon. That hound is still looking for us for some reason. I don't suppose you have any theories about it, do you?" he asked hopefully.

"Not really. Just that's it tied to Drakkon somehow. He's the big piece of the puzzle."

Red was quiet for so long that Jamie thought he had gone to sleep as well. Then suddenly, he spoke again.

"I am pleased with how you turned out, small one. You've done well by us. For what's it worth," the growly voice whispered tenderly.

"Thank you, I think," Jamie smiled at Red over Jason's dark head. "It looks like for now, we wait."