Disclaimer: Don't have anything witty to say, so out with the boring, i don't own
AN: Thanks once again for the reviews people and sorry this took so long, it was a bitch to write! So without further ado, the next story, From Dreams to Nightmares, and btw italics are flashbacks.
Soundlessly slipping through the unlatched door, the frantic sound of rustling sheet alerted her. As she further entered the living room, a moan sent her hurdling into the bedroom.
The full moon outside the cracked window silhouetted the slumbering figure.
Alec.
Alec was having a nightmare.
Running to the thrashing man she tried to ease his struggles, but his flying limbs held her back.
This one was unlike the others . . .
. . . this one was fierce
. . . this one refused to let him go.
"ALEC!"
Grabbing his arms, she moved in behind him, clutching his body as his struggles continued. Fear seized her heart as she watched as he remained trapped in the past, fighting through his memories.
As his struggles began to cease, she squeezed in closer to him, silent tears rolling down her cheeks.
"NO!!!" He shot upright, soaring out of her arms and landing upright on the carpeted room, his eyes wild and unseeing.
"Alec." her voice soothing.
He blinked, clearing the horrors from his eyes; he looked down upon her silently.
"Alec?"
He shook his head, beads of sweat flying from his soaked hair plastered to his face.
"Just . . . I'm gonna take a shower," his voice cracked, pushing past her, leaving their bedroom.
"You need to talk 'bout this! It's killing you, Alec." her voiced pleaded softly.
He turned toward her, his eyes scanning her face and whatever he was looking for he apparently found, "Okay, yeah, but . . . shower first."
Rushing water erupted behind the door.
She waited.
10 minutes went by and she made coffee.
15 minutes and he emerged, freshly clothed, but still pale, the freckles that splatter his nose and checks dramatically clear.
Depositing himself on the blue couch, he sat stiffly, eyes forward, back straight.
Max sat down besides him, handing over the steaming coffee.
Silence overwhelmed the room, chocking the occupants.
"Alec . . . " she started.
"I'd rather not talk, let's just go to bed."
"Alec." her voice firm.
"Okay, alright." he sighed, running his hands through his hair after setting the untouched cup on the coffee table in front of him.
"So . . . what's goin' on in that head of your's huh?"
"It's 'bout Manticore," Max nodded, "It's pretty much starts about a year after you guys left . . .
"494!" barked Colonel Donald Lydecker as he steeped toward the X-5, entering inside of the kids personal space.
"Sir, yes, sir!" 494 shouted, hands down at his thighs, back stiff, starring straight ahead, not moving a muscle.
"You are report back your old unit, do you understand solider!"
After a grueling 5 months in PhyOps and another 6 months in redecoration, 494 was deemed ready to return.
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"Dismissed."
"Yes, sir."
Turning on his heels, he retreated back into the compound, his spirit sinking as he was looked upon with disgust as he entered his unit's barricade.
" . . . at first I was distrusted by my unit mates, the freak who's clone abandoned the rest of us and who's to say 494 wouldn't do the same."
Pause.
He took a deep breath, letting his mind travel further down the highway of the memories he'd tried to suppress.
"It took about 4 months for them to finally trust me and for awhile it was fine except for the different training and extra security everywhere. Then I was finally promoted back to my old position."
"What position?"
"I was CO of my unit," he answered.
"Really?" Max asked, kinda surprised. But a part suspected it after watching every transgenic stand at attention when Alec entered the room when they first organized TC.
A ghost of a smile appeared on his face, "Yeah" he said, "I was . . .
"Enter 494."
Standing at attention in front of the gray desk, behind sat Lydecker in his usual black shirt and leather jacket, flipping through a manila folder. The pasty mint green walls were bare, empty of any personal paraphernalia. The chairs to either side of him were, guess what, also gray. And the three filing cabinets were, you guess it, gray.
"Sir." he grounded out, these personal meeting with Deck were getting on his nerves. It was his clone that escaped, not him.
"Are you ready solider?" Lydecker smirked, that in itself freaked him out a little bit.
"For what sir?" Confusion swept through his mind, knowing that he hadn't forgotten anything. So what the hell was with that smirk?
"I think you're ready to be CO again 494." Of course Lydecker was the only one that thought so. But 494 was different then the others, challenging, confident, creative, like his own kids.
"Yes sir, I will not let you down sir!"
"You better not, and I have you're first assignment here . . . "
"Everyone knew i was gonna be CO again and the my 1st assignment went successful and the next one and for a year everything was back on track." he swallowed, his throat constricting as he strained to get through the next part.
"Alec? What happened?" She asked gently.
"697." he croaked, "She was the youngest of my unit, the baby . . .
"We're not leaving him behind!" 697 shouted at 494.
Gun fire erupted to their left, some small bombs exploded behind 697 and the little 4 ft 5 inched girl stood her ground, ignoring the bombardment around them.
"We have to leave, we've been compromised. Now 697!"
Hurt flashed in her honey colored eyes and she took off, blurring through the gun fire. Looking back at his unit taking cover and returning more then they got at the enemies. Torn between the two, he pursued her, he just couldn't leave her behind.
Covering his eyes as a flash grenade went off, he chased after her squinting as the dirt filled the air, searching the horizon, the dust clogged his nose and filled his lungs as he breathed in the polluted air.
Grenades, bombs, and gun fire moved to the back of his mind as he caught sight of the bobbing hair of the young child kneeling next to a fallen figure. In a flash he was there, by her side.
He wrapped his arm around her waist, guiding her away from the scene of their fallen comrade who had just joined his unit a few weeks prior.
"Freckles." she whimpered.
"I'm sorry Squirt, we have to go." he whispered into her strawberry blond curls.
Nodding numbly, together they left the body and scurried back toward the rest of the unit, whom were covering their asses until 494 gave the final command of retreat. Grasping her baby like hand in his, he whispered, "Come on, Squirt, let's go home."
She aimed a small smile at him, the tear trails clear as it washed away her dirt smugged face.
Then it happened.
He didn't see it.
The opposing side chucked a grenade, landing a few feet away from the small kids, the blast rocketed them away from each other, their small bodies flying through the air, and landing hard upon the unforgiving gravel.
With a groan and a handful of coughs, 494 struggled into a sitting positions gathering his barrings, assessing his own damage. A few shattered ribs here, burn marks there, a probable concussion, cuts and bruises, and deep abrasion bleeding heavily above his eye brow, but nothing with his the years of training he couldn't put the pain behind him.
'Oh god, 697!' With that thought, he blurred toward the crater in the ground, a couple feet away lay the 8 year old.
He dropped down besides her, gauging the damage and ruling it unfixable.
"No, no, no! No Squirt! 697 wake up!" he howled, caressing her cherub like face.
Seconds, minutes, hours passed by, nothing registered in his head, not the shouts of his fellow X-5s nor the firing assholes.
But it didn't matter, for when 494 laid his head upon her broken body and weeped he was startled when hearing a small voice, "Freck . . . les?"
Looking up, hazing honey eyes meet his own moss colored ones and he muttered "Oh my god, Squirt, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
But all she did was smile, "It's okie dokie, Freckles . . . watch out for everyone . . . be safe or I'm gonna come back and kick your ass . . . love you."
Her eyes closed, ever so slowly, the blond lashes shutting, blocking out the image of the crying face of her best friend , 'brother', protector, never to see him again. Her breathing stilled and her heart stopped it continues drum beat.
She was dead.
And she left behind a broke soldier as he experience his worst fear, losing her, the one that meant the world to him. The only one who could make him laugh and smile in any given situation, her infectious laugh and play brightened his life.
And now she was gone.
"No! NO! I love you, don't leave me!" He wailed at the child's body.
Scooping her remains in his arms, he started at a blur toward the rest of his unit, they needed to get the hell out of Dodge before he lost anymore of his friends.
"She died and it was my fault! I was suppose to protect her, she was my responsibility! If, if only . . . ." the broken sobs he'd bottled up for years, exploded, filling the room with his sorrows.
Tears poured down his checks, falling as he shed tears for her loss and every other unit mate he'd lost, every fallen soldier.
Stunned but the scene in front of her, Max watch in wonder as the 'always alright' Alec was indeed this blubbering figure in front of her.
Not that he hadn't cried before her, but he'd hadn't just let it all go.
Once the initial shock wore off, she wrapped her arms around his neck and brought his face to her neck as she rubbed soothing circles onto his back. Nuzzling closer, shifting so he sat in her lap, he clutched her hoodie as if it was his only life line.
Leaning into her, seeking the comfort and warmth and love he'd been deprived of for so long, he continued to bawl, his tears pouring down his face, bathing Max as she cooed comforting words.
Only minutes passed as the sobs reduced to sniffles but he stayed in his position in her lap, his head resting in the coop of her neck.
"Feel better?" she asked softly.
"Yeah, little. I just started and just . . ."
"Couldn't stop, I get it, hell I've done it, don't worry 'bout it. Alec?"
"Humm?" Now that he poured every emotion into his tears, he was not only emotionally drained, but physically too.
"You can't hold everything in, it's not good for ya."
It wouldn't do any good to say it wasn't his fault for 697's death, he was just stubborn to hear her out. He had accomplished the first part of the grieving, so hopefully he's be able to move on and heal.
Time heals heals all wounds or something like that.
Shifting so they were now laying on the lumpy couch, they fell into silence that was only interrupted by the soft piddle, paddle of the rain spattering the windows.
Kissing the top of his blond laced hair, she whispered, "It wasn't your fault."
So it wouldn't hurt to say the words at least.
Clutching him tighter to her, her own snuggle-able teddy bear, she fell deeply into dream land, but alone this time as Alec remained awake only just to mumble, "Thanks Maxie."
With time, hopefully Alec could grieve for his fallen, and move on, forgetting how they died, but instead of remembering how they had lived.
AN: I'm if-y about this one people. Not so sure about this one. Please point out any mistakes, that would help a bunch. And hopefully next one will be up in two weeks time. If you got this far, please review, if not then i'll say thanks for reading!
-Brianne