Title: The Mirror's Edge

Rating: T

Pairing: Subtle hints of Faith x Celeste, but nothing too severe

Disclaimer: I don't own, so don't sue, none of the characters nor the original game plot are mine

A/N: Oh, yes, there will be spoilers. Covers about from the docks to the end and then some.

It hurts…

The pain of my betrayal still runs deep and won't soon be forgotten by those I once called my friends. I wanted to protect them and it cost Merc his life… He took me in when no one else would, I was like Faith once, living on the streets, running to survive, Merc found me and trained me, told me I had real potential.

I don't even know how they found Merc's lair; you couldn't see it unless you were right on top of it, unless there was someone else besides me who defected. It was like I told Faith, I wanted to live, not just survive, I didn't know it was going to have to cost them their lives.

The path runners lived on was like a mirrors edge, on one side was the gloss and shine of the city, the safe one, the city that the government tries to portray. And on the other, is the truth that the runners see, with all the surveillance, watching peoples every move and punishing the ones who so much as put a toe out of line. The runners are illegal information movers, for at least, what the government considers illegal information, runners are the path takers that by no normal means the information can otherwise take, without getting confiscated, we runners usually stuck alone like Jacknife, or in small clans that worked together, like what Merc and Drake had going. In each clan we had an information gatherer and provider like what Merc did, he kinda got out of the running himself, he had Faith and myself to do the running, he just told us where to go and where to avoid, unless we wanted to be shot, which is not desirable in the slightest.

I was caught by the CPF shortly before the shit hit the fan with Pope, I wasn't even on a running job, I suppose they had all my information from what they gathered for what is now called Project Icarus, a project designed to 'remove' runners from society, I didn't realize it was by any means necessary. When I was caught, I was given an Ultimatum, put a bullet in Pope's head, or take a bullet in mine. I was also told that if I didn't kill Pope all the other runners would be killed, one at a time, I think in my own way I did it to try and protect Faith. All I had to do was kill Pope and make sure a cop went down for it, however I chose the wrong cop, of all the cops in the CPF I managed to set up Faiths sister Kate for it, a sister I didn't even know she had. But instead of protecting Faith, I made her become the public enemy number one.

I tried to stop Faith, but after all the training she's had from me and Merc, she's become better at this than I have.

When I heard that I had framed Kate for what I had done, I had to try and find some way of undoing the damage and repairing as much as I could. It's a foolish notion though and I think I was even more foolish to try and undertake it. But I had to try. Muscle memory is a wonderful thing to behold as I traced the familiar path back to Merc's lair, I had to see for myself. Swinging onto the AC tower, I clambered down through the hole in the roof. The acrid smell of the shot out computers immediately filled my nose as well as the coppery smell of blood, Merc's sofa and table were turned over and riddled with holes, as though someone had tried to use them as a shield. And then I saw him, lying on his side, blood staining his shirt as well as the towel he had covering the wound and a weapon at his side. I gingerly picked my way around the fallen items to Mercs side, his eyes were closed and his skin was cool to the touch, Faith must have been here already, but what of her sister, is she dead already? No, she can't be, no extra blood or blood trails, the CPF must have her, Faith must be heading there now, if she isn't already there.

With a final look towards my former mentor I swung myself out of what was left of Merc's lair with ease and began to head towards the one place where I thought the CPF was taking Kate, it was one of the heliports on the top of the CPF building they were gonna use her to draw Faith out and then likely kill them both, it was clever and I didn't want to see it happen. I couldn't lose Faith again, not permanently. I still had so much to say to her, and I wasn't going to let the CPF stop me from saying it. Running over the rooftops is second nature, the wind flitting through my hair. Grab, swing, leap. The metal underneath my hands and feet, bending the environment to my will, like how a painter works a canvas. The way that runners see the world is different, we see an obstacle course, a playground that is ours alone, something we don't have to share with everyone else, something that we can change at a moments notice, but one slip and the chances are, it's all over forever, Faith was lucky with her fall, all that happened to her is that her leg got broken, I had to carry her back to Merc after that fall. You see, runners can't go to clinics, the doctors and nurses all look out for the telltale signs of runners, and when they see them, you only have to blink and the CPF are there to take you to prison. I wasn't going to let Faith go to prison or die just yet.

I got to the CPF building and saw someone on the ground, approaching him I saw a CPF uniform, it was Miller, Kate's CO. I recognized him around when I was still a part of Project Icarus though we never spoke, there were several bullet wounds in his torso. He must have been helping Faith, helping her where I didn't. As I made my way towards the roof I saw several PK personnel either disarmed and knocked out or dead, She's here…

The server room for all the surveillance was a mess, the banks shot out, by who, I don't know. Nearing the roof access, I heard the sound of a helicopter and an indistinct voice, I don't fancy getting shot so creeping up the remaining stairs and hoping that there were no PK or CPF people as I'm not exactly trusted because of what I was. The indistinct voice from earlier spoke again, as well as Faith. "You can't live on the edge all your life Faith, sooner or later you have to jump!" Jacknife! He sold out Merc!

Gunshots began to ring out above my head, running up the staircase I grabbed the nearest PK person and rammed his head into my knee, his helmet causing me minor pain as I removed the gun from his hands and used it to shoot the other one before he even realized his partner was down. A scream came from the helicopter as I turned to face it, only to see Jacknife falling out, with a small smirk I thought to myself just how much that is gonna hurt when he lands. The explosion from the helicopter rocked the heliport as I shielded my eyes from the heat and the light. By the time I had looked back at the edge where Faith, Kate and Jacknife were, all I saw was Faith embracing Kate and a small part of me was glad she was okay, however it wasn't going to be long before the other blues realized what had happened and surge the building after our asses.

As I turned to leave I heard someone call out to me, "Cel…?" turning back, I realized it was Faith approaching me. I ducked my head so I didn't have to look her in the eyes, the old me, the arrogant, self assured, cynical me was gone, it died on the boat harbor, all that was left was the longing to see her safe and unharmed, "Why did you follow me? You're with the blues…" Faiths sentence trailed off when she saw the two downed PK people who had been with Jacknife. Finally looking up I turned and said with a neutral voice "We have to go before the blues get here, they are after both of you, and I'm not exactly trusted either, we have to warn Kreeg, Drake and whoever else is left, I-" my sentence was cut off when Kate grabbed my arm, her handcuffs tinkling as they collided lightly. "You weren't responsible for Mercury were you?" She asked with seriousness both in her voice and in her eyes. Faith said nothing, her distrust of me still evident, she walked around me and began to head away from the heliport as I shook my head in response to Kate's question.

It took us twenty minutes to get out of the Shard and as far away from Callaghan as we could given that Kate couldn't go as fast as Faith and I, we were going to have to change clothes and get Kate out of those handcuffs so we could at least try and blend in with the crowds, unbeknownst to Faith I had a hideout of my own, one that I was sure the CPF didn't know about and I know Faith didn't. I had clothes there and I could probably find a saw or something to get the cuffs off, the mechanisms are kinda easy to break if you know how. Leading the way with Kate in the middle and Faith at the back seemed the safest way to go so I could show them where it was and we could both help Kate as needed. We headed to a lower monitored area and climbed the side of one of the apartment buildings so we could hop the electrified fence without getting fried, last thing I needed Faith to get mad at me for was crispy fried Kate. The tension as we neared the hideout was increasing, I'm sure that if Faith had a gun, she'd be holding it to the back of my head already.

"We're here" I called back to the others softly, I climbed up onto the roof of the hideout and pulled Kate up after me, Faith climbed up on her own and looked at me with a moody expression "Well Cel, how do we get in? Doors and windows are all barred and/or grated and I don't see any missing panels", the small smirk from earlier reappeared as I slid one of the roofing panels out of the way with my foot to reveal a shaft that lead straight into the living room. I told Kate and Faith to lay low while I made sure there was no one inside, dropping through the shaft, I checked all the rooms, there was no one here, "Kate, Faith, it's ok, we're alone" walking over to the entrance Kate's legs appeared through the hole in the roof and wriggled as she lowered herself down, with Faith following shortly swinging in like the little acrobat she is. Both of them were looking around the hideout, which was cleaner than Merc's was but lacking all the technical gear that he had, leading Kate into one of the bedrooms I grabbed some clothes and left them on the end of the bed before looking for something to get the handcuffs off Kate with. Nothing in the room, so I headed back into the living room where Faith was, she bumped into me hanging onto a toolbox, perfect. Between us we cut the cuffs from Kate's wrists, she rubbed them as she was freed, pointing to the clothes on the end of the bed, I said "Those are mine, they should fit you though, we should stay here until we can find a way out, we'll need passports, visas and a city pass" . Faith said nothing but merely nodded.

It took us two weeks to get all the things we needed to leave the city, the manhunt for us hasn't ended either so we had to be surreptitious while getting these documents, we couldn't do our running unless we absolutely had to, it was easier to blend in with the crowd and use them as a human buffer to the blues. We had to get out, Drake, Kreig and the others managed to get out a week ago, the tension between Faith and I had started to dissipate when she realized that I genuinely wanted to help her and Kate.

We left the hideout on a slightly foggy morning, the fog blocked the sight of the sun for now, when it cleared you would see all the buildings in their uniformly shininess. With most of the runners going to ground, the illegal communications trade would slowly die, there is still a few clans of runners left here in this fake utopia, but it's way too dangerous for Faith and I to continue running here, especially since Pope, besides, we have no tech runner anymore, not since Merc… Don't think about that. I couldn't get the sight of Merc out of my mind, "Hey, you okay?" Kate's soft voice broke through my reverie and brought me back to attention. Looking out over the balcony we were currently standing on, I looked at the exit gate patrolled by PK personnel, this was the last hurdle before freedom, there were a total of about 6 or 7 guards, two on the gate, one in the little side office with the computers, two standing offside doing something I couldn't see and the last two were checking vehicles… they don't give up do they?

When the guards change shifts is our best chance to get out without getting shot or recognized. Moving slowly towards the gate, wearing a baseball cap to hide part of my face, I had cut off the majority of my hair with scissors a few days ago, and the clothes I was wearing was suitable for the weather, being winter, long sleeves and a scarf was suitable, it also served to hide Faith's tattoos and suitably hide Kate's face, all we had to do was get through the gate and far enough away. The gate itself was slightly intimidating, a wire fence stretching the width of the road, razor wire adorning it's top, the cross link gate was on wheels so it could be closed quickly in case of suspects. As we headed towards the gate, the tense knots in my stomach began to tighten, I wasn't just afraid for myself, but Faith and Kate too, it was all or nothing for us. Handing our Fake IDs to the PK guard, we slowly moved forward, my shoulders and gut tensed as I waited for them to recognize us and start firing, nothing so far… If all else failed we could run like hell and pray their aim was bad today.

We scanned through okay, something was wrong, this went too smoothly, and sure enough, the warning bells went off, quickly, we had to run, it was our only chance. People scattered as gunshots rang out all around us, I ducked below a car dragging Kate as a shot went through the window and the glass exploded over my head, making sure she was okay, I yelled out to Faith and a small trickle of relief swept through me when she yelled back, but we had to keep going! Grabbing Kate and pushing her ahead of me, we ran and ran and ran… my chest began to burn as we wound our way down the street trying to dodge bullets we couldn't see unless they hit us, concentrate! My arms and legs pumped as my body got used to the idea of running again, my breath coming in shorts but steady bursts as I saw Kate and Faith ahead of me.

Running down the street Kate slipped on the dewy ground and skidded her scarf torn away by the friction of the ground, Faith looked over her shoulder as she turned to go to Kate, but I was closer "GO!" I yelled at Faith, stress and a slight bit of panic seeping into my voice, I skidded to a stop next to Kate and grabbed her arm, torn skin was hanging off her palms and a small amount off her chin, it'd have to wait until we got out of here though, hauling Kate to her feet, we kept running, the gunshots still bouncing off the ground around us and whizzing over our heads. Turning out through the last section before we got free Kate and I had caught up with Faith and we ran as a trio, freedom was in sight.

Suddenly, I felt cold, you know that feeling when you know something BAD is going to happen, yeah, that one. I felt that as another gun shot rang out, this one however found its mark, the searing heat as it travelled through my shoulder and blood splattered as the bullet exited my shoulder and continued on, burying itself who knows where. I stumbled and fell, beginning to go into shock as I hit the ground, stunned… Faiths voice is drowned out by my own heartbeat as it goes mad trying to compensate for the sudden shock of adrenaline going into my body. My vision blurs and my legs feel weak as I'm dragged along, my senses and body are both numb, I faded out after that.

I woke up feeling strangely warm, but at the same time strangely sore, it took a few minutes to remember what had happened, putting my hand up to where the bullet had gone through my shoulder my other arm felt stiff and leaden as I touched it to the area and found it bandaged, blinking my eyes hard, I began to be able to see my surroundings. A neat looking room decorated in various shades of wood colours, a cedar desk in the corner with a small desk lamp on it, the walls, flooring and curtains were all earthy shades, so far away from what you'd have found in the city, which made me think we weren't in the city anymore, making a small ray of hope begin to shine in my heart.

The door creaked slightly as it opened and a head poked in, the visitor made their way over to the side of the bed, coming gradually into the light I saw the face, "How are you feeling?"… with a slight smile I softly replied "like I got shot…" soft chuckling met my reply, and it was something I rarely heard from her. Faith trailed her fingertips across the bare skin near my wound, I tilted my head and followed her fingertips, she gently rested her palm over my heart and felt its beat. Looking up at Faith I raised my better arm and cupped the side of her face, tracing my thumb over her smooth cheek, I asked Faith the vital question "Did we all make it out?" Faith only smiled as several more people entered the room. Turning my head to see my new visitors, my eyes fell on several familiar faces: Drake, Kreeg, Amber, Kate, even Dusky. Letting out a long held breath, that small ray of hope grew in size.

The city had got worse in the few months after we left, Callaghan reigning with his iron fist, a hold of which he was slowly losing, the runners began to get a better hold as people began to realize the truth about Pope's murder and all the places that the story didn't add up in, such as the inception of PK and the decline of the CPF in the 'control' of the runners, it was looking like maybe another November riots was going to happen, only this time, the people would be better armed against Callaghan. Not to mention the people who were injured and in one case killed during our escape.

Hope still exists… as long as we remember not to give up…

My scar left by the bullet to the shoulder only serves as a reminder that running is what I do best. My name is Celeste Greene.

This is part of a runner's life…

A/N: Reviews are welcome, but flames will be ignored or put out