Author 2

Thanks for the reviews! They really keep me writing, and everyone, especially Zanna, has been great. Sorry if Max's brothers' deaths were too fast, but I didn't really bring them into the story to be characters, they were meant to be kind of a physical haunting to Max of what she could have been. I also apologize for the wait between posts, but since I've started this story, I've had carpal tunnel syndrome in my wrists, the site keeps on crashing, and I've started high school, so I haven't had a lot of writing time lately. Anyway, thanks for staying with this for so long, this is the last chapter.

EPILOUGE

A breeze ruffles my hair on top of the space needle, where I've been sitting for the last 4 hours. I'm home. Manticore's gone. Before Jondy took off to think things out, she gave Logan a piece of paper. One miracle piece of paper filled out with her first assasination assignments, that she was supposed to do after she got me back to Manticore. One little thing that she'd had folded up in her back pocket, with enough evidence on it to take Manticore out of my life for good.

I don't know what happened to my sibs when they shut down, but I'm not sure I really want to know. They might have been turned loose out here, but I don't want to see them. All that family goodness stuff kinda went out the window when they abandoned me after I 'failed' to keep up the good tradition of killing people on command. Jondy…I don't know, she might still come around after she clears her head out wherever she is. She saw what Manticore was, and she saved my life, I'll just have to wait and see. If she ever comes back, she knows where to find me. The others, wherever they are, they're still my family, so I wish em luck, as long as they stay the hell away from me.

Now that I've been home for a while, everything's pretty much gone back to normal. And except when I sleep, it's almost feels the same. Almost. Seeing Logan's fingers still in splints makes my stomach knot with guilt. Seeing OC's cheerful face cloud when Sketchy asked her about some bruises that Jondy left on her face.

Sleeping's the worst part though. I might actually be able to shake off everything that happened, all of my past, or at least push it to the back of my mind, if it wasn't for my dreams. I dream about Ben and Zack, ready to kill their family simply because they were ordered to. I have nightmares of being like them. Of killing Logan like I was supposed to, seeing his eyes go blank and then close forever. I came so close to being like them, just a heartless, cold-blooded killing machine.

But I'm not heartless. I'm reminded of that every time I see Logan. I see him, and I can't help but smile, and whatever's bothering me just doesn't seem so bad anymore. And things are looking up. Every day, I feel a little better, I laugh a little more. But most importantly, I'm not just a Manticore soldier anymore, I'm Max, and I wouldn't trade that for anything.

THE END

PLEASE review, I really want to know how I did on this story.