Note: So I had this dream, and who the heck is Myra? I don't know. But it was cold. And Faith Hill sings "If My Heart Had Wings".

"You'll be safe," Saryn promised, squeezing her hand. "DECA's monitoring you from the Megaship, and no one will get in or out of this complex without me knowing about it."

"I know." She smiled up at him from the freshly made hospital bed and patted their clasped hands reassuringly. "I'm not worried."

Running a hand through his hair to hold it out of the way, he bent down to kiss her. "I'm going to do a final security sweep," he said softly, as he straightened up again. "I'll tell Myra she can come in now."

"Thanks," Cassie murmured, letting his fingers slide out of hers. "Be careful."

"Of course." He returned her smile before stepping out of the room.

Her cousin sat cross-legged against the opposite wall of the deserted hallway, but she jumped to her feet as soon as he appeared. "Can I see her?" she asked quickly.

He nodded. "You can go in. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Myra hugged her sweatshirt to her chest and darted past him into the room. He heard her exclamation when she saw Cassie, and he smiled a little at her concern. Myra was the only non-Ranger who knew all of what was going on, but no matter how set up the situation was, she didn't like seeing her cousin in the hospital.

He headed down the hall toward the nurses' station, abandoned with the rest of this wing by order of the Power Rangers. The patient wing was, for all intents and purposes, perfectly normal--the fluorescent lights hummed brightly, and the floors shone under their recent coat of wax. A linen cart was parked outside the laundry room, and magazines still lay open in the lounge.

Even the nurses' station looked no different than usual, as though its occupants were simply visiting the commissary on their coffee break. Only the silent patient pager on the desk proved that the wing was truly deserted.

A whisper of cool air stirred across his skin, and he glanced up at the ceiling automatically. Even something so minor as an aberration in the ventilation system could be trouble, and he was taking no chances. Not with Cassie's life on the line.

Blank white ceiling tiles stared back at him, and he frowned. Making a circuit around the nurses' station, he was almost back to Cassie's room before he found the hall's main ventilation duct. It wasn't anywhere near his previous location--and the air that breathed through it was of the same uniform temperature as the rest of the hall.

"Such an enthusiastic welcome," a voice purred from directly behind his left shoulder. "You certainly know how to make a girl feel appreciated."

He spun, but she was faster. Her crystalline form shimmered as she melted into him, chill permeating his bones and stiffening his body as they fought for control. He stumbled forward, hitting the wall and trying desperately to teleport.

She wouldn't let him, and he found his fingers clutching a doorframe--Cassie's door. *No!* he tried to shout, but he couldn't make a sound. He realized as she drove him through the door that he was now invisible, and in a surge of panic, he embraced her coldness and let his entire body freeze momentarily.

"What was that?" he heard Myra's childish voice exclaim, as he tumbled to the floor.

"Saryn?"

He focused on Cassie's voice, the memory of her warmth his only weapon against this monster. Something about his thoughts made the other being flinch, and his body convulsed as they struggled with each other.

Someone was pinning his arms down, and he tried so hard not to fight--it had to be Cassie--but the cold inside him rebelled against the restraint. "Saryn!" he heard Cassie call again, and he squeezed his eyes shut. He trusted her strength to hold him in place as he gave up every attempt to regain control of his body.

He thought instead of her, of their time together and the love they shared. Their love had been enough to carry them through every past crisis, and he had faith that it would not fail them now.

The thing that had tried to dominate him wrenched itself away, leaving behind only the most frigid chill he had ever felt as his awareness faded into roaring darkness.

***

The fight drained out of him even as his form flickered back into existence beneath her, and she held her breath. But instead of opening his eyes, Saryn's head fell back against the floor and his outline didn't fully materialize--her eyes widened in horror as he seemed to shimmer faintly in the bright light of the hospital room.

The shimmer was a characteristic she knew all too well, albeit from someone else. Cassie lifted her head and glared around the room, ignoring Myra's frightened expression. "Isis!" she shouted. "Show yourself!"

With a casual flash of light, the enemy that had defeated all of their security as though it was nonexistent appeared on the bed Cassie had just vacated. "Yes?" she asked idly, inspecting her fingernails.

"It's *me* you want," Cassie said fiercely, twisting instinctively to shield Saryn from the woman's predatory gaze. "Not him! Let him *go*!"

Isis lifted her head to regard her through narrowed eyes. "Oh, but it isn't you I want at all," she said, her smooth voice unchanged. "You were never anything more than an obstacle."

Startled, Cassie gripped Saryn's arm harder. He was cold--far too cold… "An obstacle to what?!"

The shimmering, woman-shaped entity glided to her feet and seemed to stare straight through Cassie. "To *him*, of course."

"Over my dead body," Cassie snapped without thinking, as the crystalline being approached.

"So I see," Isis agreed, and her calm voice dropped to a venomous hiss. "But he would forget you, given time. As he forgot the one before you."

Saryn twitched behind her, and in her mind she heard suddenly, *Cassie, go, now.*

She gasped, resisting the urge to turn. *Saryn?*

*Go!* His voice echoed in her mind. *She can't hurt me except by killing you.*

*But--*

*Please!*

The pain in his mind was the only thing that sent her scrambling out of the way as Isis reached for her, but she was too late. The woman caught her wrist and Cassie cried out as ice crackled around her arm where those cold fingers touched her.

She jerked away, her eyes darting back to Saryn, but he had been right--the malevolent being went for her instead of him. Cassie turned and ran, praying that Myra would stay where she was and not draw attention to herself.

She heard no footsteps behind her as she raced down the hall, but the whisper of cold air at her back when she paused by the fire door told her the other was following. Without another thought, Cassie shoved the emergency exit open and dashed into the stairwell, ignoring the wail of the alarm that had activated as soon as she touched the door.

The night was unseasonably chilly as she burst out into the alley behind the hospital--Skull turned in surprise at the sudden clatter, and his eyes widened when he saw her racing toward him. "Cassie! What--"

"Isis," she panted, and she saw him look over her shoulder.

He pushed her toward the truck, yelling for Bulk as he climbed into the driver's seat. Cassie heard the passenger door slam as she grabbed one of the metal struts--she shivered abruptly and whirled, lashing out in snap kick that knocked the suddenly visibly being off the back of the truck.

The engine roared to life even as Isis flowed to a stop and climbed to her feet, lunging for Cassie just as Skull hit the accelerator. Cassie hung on for dear life, finding some small amount of satisfaction in the brief flicker of frustration she saw on their enemy's face as the truck took off down the alleyway.

***

"We'll double back to the hospital and alert the others," Skull told her, as she leaned on the driver's door. "If she's still following, she'll find herself up against the entire team."

Cassie nodded, unable to help glancing over her shoulder. She *knew* Isis was still following, and she was less than convinced that the other would be fooled. But staying with Bulk and Skull would put them in danger too, and she couldn't do that.

"Cassie--" She looked back at him and saw him frowning. "You're not going to do anything stupid, are you?"

"Of course not," she said, giving him her most reassuring smile. "Do me a favor and make sure Saryn gets back to the Megaship as soon as possible. Isis did something to him--"

"We will," Skull promised. "Now get out of sight! I don't know what's wrong with DECA, but as soon as we get in touch with her we'll get her to pick you up."

She nodded her understanding and backed away from the truck. He made shooing motions, and she obediently took cover behind the brick entrance arch to the library grounds. Even under the cover of night it wouldn't hide her from anyone but another human, but Skull must have been satisfied for the truck roared off a moment later.

Silence settled in as the sound of the engine faded into the distance, and she slowly sank to the ground. There was no sense worrying--Isis would be there soon, and she might as well try to stay calm. The grass was damp beneath her, and she reached out to run her hand through it idly.

She froze as the dew turned to frost beneath her fingers.

She lifted her hand and stared at it, mind racing. No matter what she had decided about staying calm, a feeling of dread overtook her as she lifted her head and looked around. But the seconds ticked by, and the evening air remained quiet and only mildly cool.

She touched the grass on her other side, staring as tiny ice crystals formed on the green stalks. The unconscious awareness of Saryn in the back of her mind was all she could feel of him, but she knew with sudden certainty that Isis had done more than simply possess him.

*She's changing him,* Cassie thought viciously, clenching her fist. He shimmered, not because Isis had been inside him, but because he was becoming like her.

But Isis could not have known how deeply the two of them were connected. By changing Saryn, she was unwittingly changing Cassie too.

*My weapon.* If there was any way to defeat a creature like Isis, she had just been given it. And the beauty of it was that her enemy didn't even know what she had done.

This time, the voice brought a fierce grin to her face. "What loyal friends you have, to leave you here all alone," it purred.

Getting slowly to her feet, Cassie stepped into the middle of the archway. "What do you know about friends? You have to change people to make them like you at all!"

"It isn't about liking," Isis said calmly. "But they *are* loyal."

"He won't be," Cassie said with certainty. "Whatever you've done, it won't work on him."

Isis actually sneered at her, the first open expression Cassie had ever seen on her face. "You overestimate his strength. Without you around, he will be the easiest of any I have taken."

"No one takes a member of *this* team!" Twin streaks of light discharged from astroblasters behind Isis, and Cassie saw two shadows racing across the street toward them.

The weapons didn't faze Isis, whose shimmering form absorbed the energy without the slightest fluctuation. She turned in time to block Andros' kick and knock Ashley to the ground, and as much as Cassie hadn't wanted her friends to appear, she couldn't just stand by and watch.

"Isis!" she shouted, racing forward.

The woman turned, and Cassie would have sworn her eyes widened as she caught sight of the Pink Ranger's upraised fist. The icicle in it stabbed into her translucent form, and the crystalline entity staggered back. Her form flickered--the icicle vanished, but the woman clutched her chest nonetheless.

"You can't separate us, Isis," Cassie warned, pressing her palm over the other's hand. "What you do to him, you do to me. *That's* why whatever you're trying to do won't work."

The woman gasped as ice snaked frigid tendrils around her shimmering form, radiating outward from Cassie's fingers and holding her in place. "Not… possible," she managed weakly, as Cassie pushed harder.

"We *love* each other," she growled. "You *can't* take that from us, ever!"

The ice started to shimmer itself as it expanded, and Cassie felt a deep, bone-numbing chill creeping into every part of her. But Isis had to be stopped… she *had* to be--

She heard Ashley cry out her name as white cold flared around her, enveloping her sight, her touch, until every sense she had was overwhelmed.

***

He was shivering uncontrollably when he woke, and all he could see was white.

The neutral ceiling finally came into focus above him, its stark lack of color in sharp contrast to the rush of feeling at his side. He tried to say her name, knowing the only warmth he could feel had to be coming from her.

A quiet moan was the only reply to his unuttered question, and he managed to turn his head the slightest bit. Every muscle in him was stiff and aching with cold, and he couldn't seem to stop shaking.

Cassie lifted her dark head off her arms with what looked like a tremendous amount of effort. "Saryn?" she whispered hesitantly, a confused expression on her face.

"Are you all right?" he mumbled, feeling his hand twitch as he tried to reach for her.

"I… I don't remember…" She took his hand automatically, and her eyes widened as her fingers touched his cool skin. "You're freezing!"

"Isis," he said with sinking certainty.

"It must have been," she agreed, looking around apprehensively. "Where is she now?"

He made his fingers close, and she looked down as he wrapped them around her wrist. "Your arm," he murmured.

Her arm was wet, a few droplets of water glittering in the bright lighting of the hospital room. As though ice had melted there…

"Did we win?" Cassie asked uncertainly, lifting her gaze to his again.

"I don't know," he admitted, clinging to her arm as they stared into each other's eyes.

Then she forced herself stiffly to her feet, climbing onto the hospital bed and lying down beside him. "Turn over," she whispered, and he obeyed gratefully as her arms went around him and her body pressed up against his.

He shivered harder as her strength seeped into him, but she was warmer than he was and her heat gradually became his as well. "Thank you," he murmured, starting to relax at last.

She let out an amused sigh, and her warm breath tickled his ear. "You're the one who's cold--I'm probably supposed to thank you."

He didn't remember what happened, and he wasn't sure he wanted to. "It doesn't matter," he said softly, reveling in the warmth between them that kept the chill at bay. "Not as long as I still have you."

"Same here," she whispered, hugging him harder.