Long way to the end. At first here will be part about John Connor in original timeline in 2027/2028. Second part contents both episodes "after" and "during" TSCC. Third part will give you the answers about the end of the whole story, and the conclusion of several timelines simultaneously.

This story has 'Future John/Alison' relationship. I did it because of several reasons, and one of them lies in future chapters. I wanted to show the leader of the Resistance as normal man at first. But then he was attracted by the machine… and since then welcome Jameron)

A/N: This is the translation of "Пепел судьбы". I'm sure, that not all of you are able to read it on Russian, so I decided to make a translation. The original has big chapters, but I divided them on fragments, and this is the first one.

Sorry for the grammar, guys. I'm not so good in English, so maybe there will be mistakes in text.

I do not owe any right of Terminator universe. All of it is just for entertainment.

Part one. Pain.

Chapter 1. Vices and Beliefs.

# # #

This chapter contains references to the TV series, to some scenes. For example, Derek's presence into the work camp (1 season, 6 episode), or capture of Alison (2 season, 4 episode). I purposely did not describe them in order to avoid confrontation with own vision of the series for each person. I show the story in a different way, from a different point of view, so the scenes that are present in the series are omitted for not cluttering up the narrative. I hope readers will remember those scenes.

# # #

First fragment

Late evening. 2027

Small and empty room. Only one shining lamp. Bunk was issued and moved to another room; table was dismantled to pieces and components. By and large, the room was standing empty. Due to constantly opened door, it was always cold inside the room. Not so cold to shiver, but you wouldn't walk inside naked. Too cool.

No one lived in the room for almost two weeks. The bunker's commander had forbidden settling anyone here, even temporarily – he wanted to honor the memory of the person, for whom this room had been like a home. A lot of people didn't understand why they should sacrifice the room. But all of them did understand their commander's feelings – he had lost his closest friend, dear to him, so no one contradicted his orders.

But today everything changed.

Inside the bunker gossip and rumors about the incredible resurrection of that person just started to spread. People whispered, as if miracles could still happen, at least sometimes, but could. And the thing was that the man that was so close friend to the commander, had returned today to the bunker. After almost two weeks of being away.

# # #

Young girl walked inside the empty room and looked around. The walls seemed utterly familiar to her, albeit dusty for a bit, but that emptiness upset her. It might be said that it depressed her. "Everything was pulled out permanently?" She asked sadly, over her shoulder.

At least ten people crowded behind her. All of them curiously looked at the girl, some of them with mouth open.

"Unfortunately, yes… ma'am." The one of the soldiers said, who was nearer to her than the others.

"It's a pity…" She said. "I was so hoping to stretch on my bunk…"

"Well… the commander took your bunk to his room." The same soldier replied. "He thought that it would be better not to allow anyone to sleep on your bunk. It would belong to no one, he said. The same about the room."

The girl smiled slightly. Single tear leaked on her face, but she immediately wiped it.

"Me… I'm very pleased to hear that he hasn't forgotten me." She said quietly. "It's a pity, that he has considered me dead…"

She still didn't look away from the walls, unable to look into the eyes of those soldiers, standing behind her. They were not supposed to see her face… like that. Sad, but at the same time a little bit joyful.

"He hasn't." Soldier interrupted her thoughts. "He is still confident, that you're alive, but… he was constantly told, that it was impossible to return you. The day you were kidnapped he instantly gathered a squad and went after you. Without success, though. He hasn't slept for more than four days, trying to track down those who kidnapped you. And then he, angry from being unable to do anything, tried to break into the nearest enemy's factory, alone, and to smash it all to hell. We stopped him on time. Now he with his scouts, they went to the north, trying to find you and to get you back."

The smile on the girl's face became brighter. Inside her, the pride for that man was beginning to emerge. The man, who was willing to do anything to get her back. Another tear rolled down her cheek. Not from sorrow and sadness but from joy.

"When… when he will be back?" She asked quietly.

"Should be here already. But nobody yet reported about that. I think he will be here at any moment."

"Thank you, Sergeant…" The girl replied. "If you don't mind, I would ask you to leave me alone, please…"

"Sure." Soldier turned to the others. "All right everyone! Disperse! Here is not the museum of antiquity! You will stare at her, if you want, but only in the battle! Come on, hurry!"

The soldiers obeyed. Most of them were shocked by such a miracle – enemy grabbed the girl, but few weeks later she again with them. Alive and unharmed. What was it, unheard mercy of the enemy, or just good escape?..

"Thank you again, Sergeant." She finally found the strength to face the soldier. He saw her pale face and light trails of tears on it. It was really better for her to be alone for a while, just to calm down.

"Maybe I should bring a bunk for you?.." He asked, tried to cheer her up by his little bit perky voice. "Or just, maybe, chair?"

"No, you shouldn't" She said softly. "I'll wait him here. If you don't mind, let me know about his arrival."

"Sure." Sergeant smiled. "I'm glad, that you're with us again, Captain Young."

"I'm glad, too." She smiled back.

The soldier left the room.

# # #

Midnight.

The outpost, where the inner circle of John Connor was located now, was situated in the northern part of LA. Not that it was very spacious, but was sizable among the others. Moreover, now there was the heart of the Resistance. John Connor and his inner circle were the most important enemies of SkyNet. However, SkyNet had no information about the location of the leader of the Resistance. Not yet.

Already midnight, when the scouts led by John Connor returned to base. It was not that they brought bad news, but John himself was very upset and saddened. Depressed? Maybe. But his face day after day had been expressing almost no emotion. It was possible to guess, that the commander was upset about something, only judging by his verbosity. When he was sad or in grief, he almost wasn't talking.

The soldiers returned to their rooms, and many of them just laid down waddle on the beds - they've been on the patrol for more than thirty hours, so there was no surprise that many were simply exhausted.

But not John Connor.

He immediately called his inner circle to discuss further action.

00:15 am

"So, we are safe for now?" The second Major asked.

"No one is ever safe," John replied wearily. "But right now we've got some time to rest and to prepare. Here's the latest news. Me and fighters will go to the Topanga Canyon to seizure the SkyNet Research Center, in two days. We captured several machines and intercepted their signals. It's clear, that this secret weapon now is in Topanga. We should as soon as possible to strike this spot, until this weapon becomes active"

"Topanga Canyon is not so close to us…" The first Major noticed.

"It's worth the cost," John stated. "If this is the weapon, and even the secret one, it has to be destroyed; we can't allow SkyNet to defeat us. After all, we can find something else in Topanga, except weapons. Access to SkyNet's researches will allow us to develop. And this is the advantage. More than that, if we'll be able to capture and not to destroy this secret, we'll find ourselves in an even greater benefit"

"Okay," The second Major answered. "So, what's the plan?"

"Tomorrow we'll move out to the Depot-II. The Bunker is located west, it's more spacious, and from there it's more comfortable to coordinate our attacks. And after tomorrow's afternoon there will be a delivery of our new weapon – modified version of the TM-35 grenade launcher, calling ATM-300. More damage radius, more distance, magazine is increased. The damage increased too"

"Depot-II?" Third Major surprised. "Are they ready? We didn't received any reports about…"

"That's right, because they gave it into my hands." John said and took out a folded piece of paper. "I was there with my group near ten hours ago"

John put the paper on the table to assure all the Majors in his words. Few minutes later, when everyone read the report, they resumed their briefing.

"At this point we need time to prepare the soldiers," the Second Major said. "I don't argue, most of them are skilled fighters, but not everyone can control even TM-35. Moreover, passage will be long enough and it requires appropriate equipment"

"Depot-II has its own test field." Said John. "As soon as we'll be there, you'll be able to train your guys. And there it's possible to provide them with first aid kit and provisions"

Second Major nodded.

"Do we have an action plan?" The First Major asked.

"Not yet," John replied coldly. "I just have some guesses about sizes of this building, but we'll make a plan, don't worry. Right now we should move to the Depot-II. There we'll start to think, what to do next"

Majors nodded in agreement.

"Start to warn your soldiers right now. Let them prepare all the necessary equipment"

The Majors saluted to John and left the room. John went to his own one. He had a bad feeling that this night there would be something that would change his life forever. Before locking up himself in his room, John had warned six fighters not to admit anyone to him. They took the order, took two dogs and stood up on guard.

00:30 am

Sergeant walked in to the girl's room. "May I?.." He asked quietly, gently knocked to the door-post. The door was open.

"Yes…" Alison turned around. "Something happened?"

"You can say so," he replied with a smile. "General has just returned"

Alison, with relieved smile, headed to the door, when Sergeant went away, and behind his back someone appeared. "Kyle!" Exclaimed Alison and rushed to him.

They embraced each other.

"Alison…" He broke free from the hug, though with reluctance. "How did you… how did you escape?"

"I didn't…" She said sadly. "They just released me…"

Kyle was dumbfounded. "SkyNet, and just released?"

"Yes… weird, right?" She unbuttoned her shirt and showed some cuts on her stomach. "They tortured me… without saying a word, just tortured… They did…" tears flowed from her eyes. "…did strange injections, right in the head…" she touched the back of her head. "And…"

"Shhh, calm down…" Kyle hugged her. "You are with us now, everything's okay…"

"Yes…" She drawled, crying. "I… I just wanted to visit John…"

"Oh, he will be happy to see you alive!" Kyle smiled and let her out of the hug. "During the last week it seemed to me that he almost turned into a machine"

Alison slightly shivered at this word.

"Yeah, that's right," Sergeant agreed. "No one has heard from him something like of approval words, or an ordinary encouraging speech. Only orders. All right… since you don't need in me, then I should go…"

"Yeah." Kyle said. "We'll handle that"

Sergeant turned and stamped to his room – it's after midnight, most should sleep already.

Alison and Kyle both walked through the tunnel to the John's private room. "How's Derek?" she asked.

Kyle's face suddenly changed. He didn't answered immediately, the memories about this patrol run through him. SkyNet captured his brother and two other fighters. That was all that Kyle knew. "I don't know…" He answered dryly. "I… we were on the patrol… he was captured… I was the only one lucky who got out."

Alison sobered. "I am sorry," she said. "I didn't want to…"

"That's okay," he interrupted. "Let's go to John."

They continued walking through the tunnel.

Some memories about Derek swept in Alison's mind. While Kyle Reese had been imprisoned in Camp Century, Derek had been raising her, teaching her, coaching her. She had grown up with these people, Kyle and Derek, and they were like brothers to her. They always supported her, taught her a lot. Then, several years later, she had met with John, and her life had changed dramatically. That's what love makes with people.

They both turned the corner, and in front of them several Resistance fighters appeared, they blocked the way. Behind them there was the door to John's room. "We came to Connor." Kyle said.

Soldiers didn't move. Next to them two dogs were, each stared at the newcomers. "He's not receiving anyone." One of the soldiers answered. "And asked not to disturb him"

"You tell him, that here is a woman, for the sake of which he four times for the last two week jumped into the fire!" Kyle glared at the soldier, who spoke with him.

"I don't care." He calmly replied. "He told me not to disturb him, and I won't disobey my orders."

Kyle almost boiled over, but tried to calm himself and turned to Alison: "Can you imagine that? And like that for the last two weeks!" He said angrily. "Just like a machine!" Alison again shivered at this word. "Okay… let's wait until the morning. Maybe, then he will relax…"

Kyle turned around and was about to go, but Alison didn't followed him. She stared at the soldier, who had just spoken to the Sergeant Reese.

"What's your name, soldier?" She asked coldly. Her head jerked slightly, but no one noticed that.

The dogs, that sat next took a fighting position.

"Michael Cript, Sergeant of Gamma-3 outpost." He replied without hesitation.

"And do you know my name?" She asked still coldly.

The dogs snarled. The soldiers started look around, but they didn't see anyone except girl and Kyle, who was standing behind her.

"Alison Young, Captain, first mate of John Connor," still coldly replied the soldier.

The dogs began to bark.

"Ali…" Kyle, who was standing behind her, lowered his hand on her shoulder, but Alison simply ignored it. Her head jerked again. "And as the first mate you must let me pass," she stated coldly.

"No," soldier answered in the same tone. "I was told – not to disturb him. As soon as he will leave the room, then…"

She didn't let him finish. Alison instantly snatched the gun from his belt and kicked the soldier to the stomach – he flew straight to the door of John's room. No one expected that from such a fragile girl.

"Alison?" Kyle asked in surprise, but she again ignored him.

Both dogs started plaintively whine. Alison shot five times – and soldiers, all dead, collapsed on the floor. Kyle, along with two dogs, slowly retreated away from her.

Alison froze for a moment. Few seconds she just stood ther, motionless, like a monument. The soldier slowly began to rise, holding his back, with his right hand. But the pain from the blow troubled him not so much as the girl, who stood next to him. He saw her eyes, her cold and empty eyes. Just like a machine.

The cyborg suddenly began to move. Fighter not yet had a chance to rise, when heavy leg of fragile-looking girl pressed down his chest. Soldier's eyes caught up a gun aimed at his head. That was the last thing he saw. "Wrong answer," she said and shot the soldier's head.

Sergeant Reese, in a daze, couldn't understand, what was happening until one simple thought came to his head – SkyNet didn't release her. He killed her and built a cyborg based on her, and then sent to kill John Connor. "Alison?.." with the last hope, in despair, trying to deny the truth with all his power, Kyle asked.

She turned to him. On her face it was impossible to find any emotion. Her eyes were empty, like they were dead.

"Wrong answer," she replied and lifted her gun. The Sergeant immediately jumped the corner. He just heard two shots – two lifeless dogs fell down on the floor beside him.

But the machine didn't even try to kill Kyle Reese. She must keep her word that had been given to Derek. She chose two dogs as targets and fired them.

The cyborg didn't start to haunt him. Her purpose was John Connor. She turned to the door and with the first beat by foot knocked it out.

The room inside wasn't so big, however, it housed here a lot of interesting gadgets and devices. A few laptops, a couple of small monitors, two beds (one of them wasn't filled). Table for a few people, close to the center of the room. Four chairs. The light in the room came from two lamps in the ceiling, and also from the monitors and displays of laptops. But the cyborg interested in nothing of that.

Near the far wall, next to the monitors, the only one person in the room stood his back to her. The terminator took two steps into the room and stopped. "John Connor?" she asked indifferently.

The man pressed the button that was on the control panel next to him, and metal vertical door slowly sank behind the cyborg. The thought came to the cyborg, that she might be trapped, and, for the lack of excess, just raised her gun and aimed to the only one person in the room.

"I've been waiting for something like that," he said quietly.

00:42 am

Four terminators removed one of the debris between the remnants of two skyscrapers, when they caught up a signal.

Transmission began… signal received…

The machines stopped. The signal wasn't encrypted by SkyNet, it was encrypted by humans. SkyNet's radio towers often caught random signals of humans, and after that the machines usually attacked found outposts. But this time the signal was different.

Despite human's encryption, signal contained codes known only to SkyNet. More than that, the information that was sent to the machines wasn't like negotiations between humans, it was aimed to SkyNet. The message from one of the machines.

TOK-715 to region ground troops.

Starting code: 0100011101001110110101.

Content: John Connor is found. TOK-715 is ready to start the task, to terminate the leader of the human Resistance. Goals and objectives: Redeploy the troops. In case if TOK-715 won't come on-line in 1 hour, start full-scale attack. Prisoners are possible in small quantities. Terminate the rest. Coordinates are transferred.

Return code: 0100011101001001001010.

One of the terminators transmitted the signal to SkyNet's Control Central. The reply came few seconds later.

SkyNet to all region ground troops. Be ready for the attack. Follow the instructions of TOK-715. Report about success or failure of TOK-715. Over and out.

The rerminators stopped to remove the debris, turned and took up the positions near the specified coordinates.

Somewhere far away, on the outskirts of the city, groups of the machines came to motion. Behind them two huge Trolls opened their tenacious paws. The HKs and Collectors launched their engines. Today was to find out, in vain SkyNet spent several months on creation the unique terminator, and if in vain – to hit with all force. Ruthlessly. To terminate all humans.