It's All About the Attitude
by Owl
DATE: March 30, 2001
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: One of the X-5's think about their relationship with Zack.
DISCLAIMER: "Dark Angel" belongs to James Cameron, Charles Eglee, Fox, or all of the above. Or maybe none of the above. Or maybe only some of the above. But honestly, who cares?
FEEDBACK: Owlthepsychica@aol.com. Please, people, I'm dyin' here!
ARCHIVE: Please, but tell me first.
It's been so long since he's seen me. Zack, I mean. Sometimes I wonder if he's been captured, or if he's just forgotten about me. But then I think that he'd never forget about me, or any of the X-5's. How could he? He says it's his responsibility, and whether that's true or not, he takes it seriously. So maybe he's just laying low, waiting for a chance to come see me.
Who am I kidding? All I am to Zack is a soldier, and that's all he should be to me. A pseudobrother, a fellow soldier, but nothing else. Should be, but he isn't. He's more than that. He's...everything. When he says jump, I ask how high. If he told me to jump off a cliff, I'd do it, even though I'm using a cliché that doesn't really apply to me anyway. But it isn't just obedience and training that makes me listen to him.
I love him.
Yeah, maybe it's just phony sentimentality, but it's still there, a growing knot in my stomach whenever I see him. I don't know, maybe I just have a thing for people in charge. Reverse psychology after knowing Lydecker. Zack has to take the whole world on day after day, with only us on his team. So even when I know he's being pigheaded and macho and whatever else, I still listen to him.
Not doing things his way would mean losing contact with him and all of the X-5's. Tinga, Zane, Syl, Krit… my family. I couldn't handle it. Losing Max was bad enough. I hear Zack still sees her every once in a while, despite his attempts to deny it. Tinga says she's happy in Seattle, even though she never sees any of us. It'd be too dangerous anyway. Zack hates when we get together, says we're compromising the others, but we do it anyway.
Sometimes it's hard, never knowing where you'll be from one day to the next, never settling down long enough to make any friends, but I deal. Gotta keep it positive. After all, it's all about the attitude. And him.
Zack: 5. World: 6.
Time to even the score.