Disclaimer: I don't own them, so stop looking at me like that!
Summary: Set right after She Ain't Heavy. White makes a deal with Sam, but will everything go as he planned? - He ripped her from her life, stripped her dignity, and left her in the dirt. Now she has to fight back.
A/N: This was supposed to be a tribute to someone I used to know, although I kind of abandoned that idea the main line will always be the same: trying to get a message out there in the world.
The universe is right on schedule. Everything happens the way it's supposed to. Don't waist time figuring out why bad things happen, focus on trying to figure out how to deal with the consequences. Don't give up and never stop fighting.
Anyway, on with the story! And yes, I know Logan said that, and I know I'm M/A ;) I'm not crazy!
You may trod me
in the very dirt
But still,
like dust,
I'll rise.
-Maya Angelou
~*Epilogue*~
On top of the Space Needle ...
Sam looked down at her feet. Her leather boots where soaked with mud, she could almost see her red, cold toes through the black fabric. But she couldn't feel them. She couldn't feel anything except the soft breeze of air caressing her cheeks and making her hair float with the waves of the wind, resembling a willow in the middle of a storm. Somehow she had made it here, and now she was making her way up, just looking at her boots.
They were like her: dark and dirty. No matter how hard you tried to wash the memories off you could always see the remains of mud and dirt.
Careful not to slip and embarrass herself in front of the darkness watching her, she stepped onto the cold, grey material of the Space Needle.
The broken world beneath her looked so peaceful from up here. Almost like there wasn't a war going on there, right under her. That's why she had come up here, she had seen the Space Needle from down there... It looked so appealing, only transgenics would come up here. Humans didn't like heights, but the feline DNA inside of her certainly did.
It doesn't matter if I surrender, even if I did... The war would not be over.
She crouched down soundlessly, touching the dust that had made the Space Needle its home.
The war will never be over.
Sam sighed mournfully and sat down, pulling her legs to her chest and hugging them to her.
I don't want to remember. But they're right. The longer you push the memories away the harder they'll come rushing back to you and no matter how much it hurts right now I need to remember. Humans are clever. They figured that out. Memories burn, and you can't just pull your hand away from the fire.
She let her fingers trace the cold metal, letting the dust slide between her fingers. It slipped away unnoticed and fell back onto the metal as if it hadn't even moved.
I can't believe I let him do that to me.
She closed her eyes, enjoying the soft breeze playing with her hair, drying the tears she didn't know she had cried.
She pulled her legs closer to her and rested her head on her knees, letting the sobs that had been building up inside her finally out. Damn you, Ames White. Damn you for taking everything I worked so hard for away.
Still sobbing she let the memories of what happened to her overcome her...
Note: If you want to know what happened, go on to chapter two ;-) (Does this sound like a scavengers hunt to you, too? Eek.)
