Rating: R (for language)
Summary: Set 2 years after events in Dancer in the Dark. Max is alone on the Space Needle, thinking...I hate writing summaries...you're here, so just read it :)
Disclaimer: The plot belongs to me, but the characters and premise belong to James Cameron and company.
Broken
On top of the Space Needle sat a lone woman, guitar in hand. If anyone could have seen her, they would've sworn they could see the despair permeating her features and the air around her. But no one saw her. In fact, no one had seen her in a days. For three days, Max had sat here on the Space Needle, reflecting on the past 3 years of her life in the hopes that she could forget the last 3 months.
Her thoughts drifted back to the first time they'd met. He'd had waltzed into her cell, having the nerve to look like her dead brother, take off his shirt, tell her she was to breed with him, and then call her diseased. Despite all of that, she had almost instantly fallen in love with him. The remembrance of their first meeting brought a small reluctant smile to her saddened features.
She'd spent the next year avoiding him, avoiding herself really. He was the bodily representation of everything she'd loathed her entire life. And yet she felt herself drawn to him, almost as if by magic. She grimaced in almost physical pain as she remembered how she'd treated him for that year. Her expression brightened only minutely when she remembered that night two years ago, the night she'd sung to him. The night she'd told him how she felt, finally. The night he'd accepted. The second best night of her life. The first, of course, being the night exactly a year after that, the night of their honeymoon.
They'd sung together a lot after that night first night at Crash. At Crash as well as on their own, they turned to song for comfort. Singing together seemed to bring them closer. 'I haven't sung in three months,' she thought the moment before her fingers began to move expertly over the guitar strings, almost fluidly.
She had to fight hard to push back the tears as her mind flooded with the memories of the numerous times they'd sung this song together.
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away
The memories were flooding back now, the dam gates had opened and there wasn't anything she could do to stop it.
The way he laughed when she threatened to "Bounce him on his ass". The way he smiled when she said she loved him. The way his strong arm would find its way to her while he slept, no matter where she was on the bed.
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain
because I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you've gone away
Unbidden, the memory of what had happened that day, three months ago, floated to her mind's surface.
White was attacking Terminal City and he'd brought roughly 300 Familiars with him. Max and Alec were dividing the mere 200 transgenics and transhumans into defense units.
"Max, you aren't going with me on this one!" Alec had argued, although he knew his wife by now, knew how stubborn she was.
"You know I'm coming with you! I outrank you, soldier," she'd said roughly, immediately wishing she could take the words back. She'd never pulled rank on him before, due in part to the fact that she knew at Manticore, he'd outranked everyone they had in TC. "I need to be there, so I can know you're okay."
At the concern in her voice, he'd caved.
They'd taken their unit and headed straight for White, sending the others to flank them, surrounding the much larger group of Familiars.
After an hour of fighting, things had been looking up. There were a mere 10 Familiars left, and Max and Alec's people had suffered very few casualties, and even fewer deaths. They'd captured and contained all the Familiars. But White wasn't with them. And they'd had everyone check twice; he wasn't among the dead bodies either.
Max and Alec were on their way back to HQ. It had taken Max a lifetime to hear the shot and feel the bullet pierce her shoulder. It seemed as if it took her even longer to turn around. An eternity to grab the gun Alec had insisted she take and fire at White, killing him. Only a moment to register the man at her feet, the red liquid pooling from his still form. In reality, it had only taken 30 seconds for her to lose everything worth living for.
I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain away
There's so much left to learn
and no one left to fight
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain
flashback
She dropped to her knees, the pain in her shoulder gone numb like the rest of her body.
"Alec! Baby, please, talk to me!" She held him in her arms, the action bringing back horrid flashes of the way she'd held her brother, exactly the same way. Her eyes frantic as she eyed the blood pouring from the chest wound. "Alec, oh God. Please, just stay with me." She rocked him in her arms as his eyes fluttered.
"Max," he spoke, his voice cracking. He coughed and a thin stream of dark blood trickled down the side of his mouth. Max looked in horror at the colour of the blood. Blood that dark meant a heart wound.
"Oh no...please, no," she pleaded to whatever diety there might be, that there had to be.
"Shh, Max. Listen to me. I love you, baby. Please just know that I've always loved you."
"Don't talk like that. You're going to be okay. You always are," she said, knowing in her heart this would be the last time she would talk to him.
Alec shook his head. Laboredly he brought his arm up, taking her face in his hand. "I love you. I know you can make this place safe for our people. They need you now." His hand began to slide down her face.
"I love you, too. I can't do this without you! I can't do any of it. I need you! I love you!" she almost screamed. "I love you. Live for me Max. Live." Alec smiled weakly, the pain making it only the shadow of the smile she remembered. His arm fell limp to the ground, his head lolled to the side.
"NO!" Max screamed, pulling the limp, dead body of her husband close to her. "No, no, no," she murmured quietly. "You can't leave me, I barely just found you." She heard cheers raise up from around the corner. "We won. There's no one left to fight. We're safe, and you're not here."
Her expression turned stone cold as she gently placed Alec's still warm body on the ground. She stood up and began walking calmly to the holding area where the Familiar captives were being held. She ignored the looks she received, dark blood all over her, and the voices asking her what had happened. She ignored everything but her seething hatred. She shoved the transgenic guard out of her way and flung open the holding cell door. She brought up both hands, her own gun in one hand and Alec's in the other. Before anyone could react, all 10 Familiars were dead, a well-placed bullet in each of their hearts.
Then, Max collapsed to the floor, finally allowing the tears to fall.
End Flashback
And I don't feel like I am strong enough
Because I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away
She put the guitar down, openly sobbing. The last time she'd sung was at Alec's funeral. That was three months ago today. Max stood up, her body still racked with tears. She walked to the edge of the structure, kicking off a piece of metal and watching it fall to the ground. So tempting it had been not long ago, to let herself follow its path. She'd come here the night of Alec's funeral, that being her very intention. But then his words had come back to her, so clear that it seemed like he was right there with her. And maybe he had been.
"I love you. Live for me, Max. Live."
Max wiped the tears from her eyes. She would do that for him. She would make all the dreams they'd dreamed together come true. She would live.
Okay, I almost cried while writing that! I'm can't believe I killed him!
Thanks for reading anyways! Please review
Much love,
The Vamp