REUNION

- by Moonlight -

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Chapter 1

"Go back to where you come from you monsters!" Shouted one of the mob angrily, throwing his fists into the air. It was a scary sight as all the people surrounding him actually agreed with him. Not all of them were shouting, but that didn't matter. The placards they carried and their faces so full of anger and hate showed their feelings in all clarity.

The sight let her feel all the desperation she had been trying to bury so deep inside herself well up all over again.

The feeling grew stronger and stronger until she felt like she would burst at any minute.

Without even realizing it her feet took on a life of their own and carried her to the front of the screaming mass of people. So fixed were they on their shouting they didn't even react as she was walking past them.

Anger started to boil in her veins;

How could they do something like that?

Wishing them back to a place that was worse than hell?

They didn't even know who and what they were talking about, they were just judging without any knowledge!

Her light blue eyes blazing; tears streaming down her face, she was a view nobody who looked at her would ever forget. A girl standing in front of them, average in height but way too thin, she looked like she hadn't eaten anything in weeks, her cheeks hollow and cavernous. But it was her eyes, eyes that were haunted; full of desperation and hurt, that forced everyone who did acknowledge her presence, to look away quickly again; they just couldn't stand it . Her long, once gold-blond hair was stringy and her clothes didn't show any colour anymore.

She was a shocking sight. The only lively thing about her was her eyes. They burned with a furious fire, betraying the tears that were tickling down her face and the sobs shaking her body. It was the braveness of desperation that lead her on.

She didn't want to feel anything anymore; she no more wanted to hear their shouts of hatred because they pained her to no end.

To her every word they were shouting felt as if she was again hearing those terrible shots – almost breaking her and bruising her whole body.

These monsters they were talking about, these transgenics – they were talking about her family.

The family she once had.

The family that had been taken from her: leaving her all alone, lost and hurting, forever.

She loved her parents with all her heart but they couldn't fill this big hole inside her heart either. Nobody would ever be able to make her feel alive again.

When she had been in the jungle with them doing things she never thought possible and experiencing feelings that she had never felt before a bond began to form that got thicker and thicker with each hour until nobody could break it anymore .Their hearts and their souls were joined forever. She could be alone in the dark without actually being alone. They were always with her, just as she was with them.

She never talked to her parents about the ones who had changed her life forever and had given her something she had craved her whole life. But one day, she felt like she couldn't take the pain alone anymore without falling apart and she wanted to finally tell them about what happened during the weeks she had been away. She wanted them to take all her pain away like they could do when she was young, but she knew it was a hopeless wish.

She never got to tell them though… fate chose exactly that day to call for her Mom and her Dad.

The only people she had left, it took them away from her as well. Both were killed in a car accident when they were on their way home from the theatre.

She didn't know why she had not ended her own life yet -there was nobody and nothing important left to her. She had wanted to so many times and she had even been about to do just that quite a few times, but each time there was something invisible holding her back. A feeling in the pit of her stomach; a tugging on her heart. She didn't understand it, but it had stayed her hand each time.

Now here she was, standing in front of a huge crowd of people venting their hatred towards the transgenics to the world, a deadly hatred. Somehow she didn't feel scared at all, she didn't care anymore. They couldn't do anything to her she hadn't want to do to herself so many times already. All they could do was to take away this terrible ache from inside her and honestly she wouldn't mind that at all.

She had had enough, she wouldn't take it anymore! She wouldn't allow these people to talk about them like that anymore! They were talking about her family! She wouldn't let them anymore. Even though everyone of her family was dead. Every single one.

The ones inside TC were almost as much her family as they had been. She didn't know them, she had never met them but she would die for them; wanted to die for them. Only then she would know that she did the only right thing to show her love for them to the whole world.

She didn't care that she was crying desperately, she didn't even realize it. All she knew was that she wanted to make them stop. Without caring about the reporter who was standing not far from her she climbed on one of the big barrels that were lying all around the perimeter fence. It was partly blacken with ash as the protestors had been using them as fire bins.

Straightening herself to her full height, she looked out over the crowd in front of her; she hadn't even realised that she got the full attention of the reporter and her camera boy who was currently zooming in on her back because the crowd was blocking his way to get her from the front. Neither did she hear their cussing; she just knew she had to make them listen to whatever she might say…

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"Alec, look at this!"

Dix shouted across the room to catch Alec's attention. He and Max had been busy going through some plans for their next heist but at Dix' call they were coming over to the TV, curious about what might be happening outside instead of the usual screaming mob that actually had Dix interested like that.

"Maaaxiiiee, you know... curiosity killed the cat, did I hear Dix calling YOUR name?"

Alec smirked at Max who was walking beside him, only to be slapped on his shoulder.

"Ouch! That hurt" he whined while making puppy dog eyes at her.

She groaned.

Before she could utter any further response they were standing beside Dix and of course got what the transhuman wanted to show them immediately.

"Now what? Another oh so lovely speech about how we all are supposed to be killed because we are a danger to mankind? That's old news."

But if Max hoped to get some sort of reaction from her friends, she failed. There was something of a commotion outside the fence to be seen on the screen, the camera zooming in on a girl whose back was to them. It seemed like she wanted to make an actual speech.

"Look at her", Logan who had come to join them, even though nobody had asked for his company, muttered in disgust . "How can you possibly be interested in someone that seamy? She is nothing more than a skin and bone, she is filthy, not worth any of our attention. Just look at her clothes, she can't even afford clean ones, how could she be of any interest to us?"

He casually used 'us' as if he was part of them, which he definitely wasn't as far as the other transgenics were concerned. He didn't even seem to notice everyone stiffen. Then it happened; so fast that Logan didn't even catch the movement.

Suddenly, his feet weren't touching the ground anymore and he was pressed up against the wall roughly. His eyes bulging he looked down into Alec's stormy wild eyes.

"Don't you ever dare to call her something like that again. Not ever! Understood?"

His right hand squeezing on Logan's throat giving a bit more pressure to affirm his words. His dangerously quiet voice and tense body made even Max falter in her steps to help Logan.

She had never seen Alec act like that. But to hell with it! He was the one who screwed up her life! He was the one without any sense of responsibility, the one who was much more likely to flee from it! How dare he speak to Logan like that!

"What the hell do you think you are doing! Let him down STAT!"

Her bad attitude towards him getting the better of her she started to yell at Alec. Alec didn't even move a muscle and now it was Max' turn to be even more shocked .He never opposed, he always gave in!

"Not before he promised", Alec growled.

Logan hurriedly nodded his head, his fear showing in his face. Alec let go of him without any other comment. Max stared at his strained back at a loss for words, still dumbfounded of what they just witnessed as his eyes went back to the screen, her eyes following his every movement .

Of course the three of them had caused a lot of attention among the other transgenics and only reluctantly did they get back to work. Only Cece and Kaz , one of the new arrivals, a member of Alec's and Cece's pack, walked up beside the still rage-shaking transgenic and moved beside him, slightly touching his shoulders .

The feeling of them that close to him calmed him down and the trembling stopped. His two friends changed worried glances. They had instantly known that something was wrong when they saw that feral look on his face but they also knew not to pressure him.

Alec didn't do react like that for nothing, whatever his reasons were; it had to be something that troubled him a lot. That was something they knew sure as hell, having known him for many years now and it made especially Cece quite angry to see that Max still didn't know him at all and didn't even bother with a simple WHY.

No of course she didn't, jumping to her own conclusions was much more effective.

Cece's bitter thoughts were getting the better of her.

How could Max actually defend Logan over her own kind ? Especially over Alec!

She just couldn't understand it and didn't really want to either.

Cece had already made up her mind to tell Max exactly what she thought of her and had just opened her mouth when she saw Kaz shaking his head with a serious expression upon his face pointing towards Alec's errant form, his dark blue eyes held a troubled look.

As soon as she cast a glance into Alec's face Cece too knew that something was terribly wrong. Worse even than they both had thought earlier. What they could see in his face made them almost tremble.

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Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own anything to do with Dark Angel. But I do own my original characters and nobody can make me
get rid of them:)

A/N: This is my first story :) Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think !