*tilts head* First part of the last chapter. Now I just need to write the epilogues, and the pseudo-chapter leading up to them.

A/N 1: Rascal: *amused* Come on - would I really pull a stunt like that? Journey deserves a real ending, and one that suits the fic. And "they lived happily ever after" is just too...cliché *smirk* Not to mention seriously out of character ^^

Maxwell Dark: *grins* Hal? She could probably make an excellent leader, yeah. *amused* Unfortunately, the SA can't have two leaders, and Blade isn't about to let her take control.

A/N 2: Memento Mori: \Me*men"to mo"ri\ [L.] Lit., remember to die, i.e., that you must die; a warning to be prepared for death; an object, as a death's-head or a personal ornament, usually emblematic, used as a reminder of death.

Italics indicates thoughts/telepathy

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Chapter Eighty-Six: Memento Mori, part I

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The atmosphere was tense, the cars almost humming with suppressed anxiety, making the drive all the more uncomfortable for the two groups. And to Ryan and Diana, the tenseness was even worse - when being this close to the others, it was impossible to block out the emotion no matter how much they tried, every little change in the heavy atmosphere hammering against their minds.

Ryan's hands tightened around the steering wheel as another wave of fear hit him hard, making his mind spin. He wasn't sure whom the emotion came from, and he didn't dare to find out. Focusing on it would only make it feel that much stronger, and he didn't want to deal with that. Concentrating solely on the road made it a bit earlier to handle - by focusing on something else, he could push aside the emotions a bit and keep the headache down. Not much, but still it helped. That, and the small bit of relief that still lingered in the back of his head.

He wasn't sure how it had happened, but they had made it safely out of town. Sure, there had been a couple of close calls with police cars passing suspiciously close to them, but the cops had left again, apparently on their way to someplace else. It had been enough to kick his nervousness up a notch, but somehow, one way or another, they had still managed to get out of town safely. Ryan wasn't sure how, but it didn't really matter - they were clear of the densely populated areas, that was all that matters. Questioning a miracle would be insane.

A flicker of a motion in the rearview mirror caught his attention, and his gaze lingered on Diana for a moment as she moved restless in her seat, her eyes constantly scanning their surroundings.

"This is too easy," she mumbled and shook her head slightly "Something's wrong."

Beside her West shifted uneasily, clearly thinking the same thing, and Ryan turned his head to send them a brief look. "Of course not. This isn't a movie - we're allowed to be lucky without having it turn into a trap."

West and Diana didn't look completely convinced, and quite frankly, Ryan felt the same way. Things had gone too smoothly...they were overdue for a bit of bad luck.

Only Jhonen seemed unaffected by the brief conversation, his attention still focused on the horizon as he watched the landscape with an almost absent look on his face. Being in a hurry as they were, Ryan hadn't yet had the time to talk to the boy, and he regretted that now - it was becoming increasingly hard to tell what was going on in Jhonen's head, and Ryan didn't doubt that Laetitia was partly to blame for that.

"Ryan..." Diana's warning interrupted his train of thought, and Ryan looked in the rearview mirror again, immediately realizing what Diana had seen. Two military cars behind them, although neither of them seemed to be in a hurry.

"How long have they been there?" he asked, his eyes resting on the road again.

"They just showed up...I'm not sure if they're following us."

Ryan frowned slightly. Normally, he would have tried to reach out and take a look at their minds, but in this case, the tension efficiently kept him from doing that, leaving him to rely on his instincts alone. "I doubt they're following us...we're near the border, it's natural for them to be here."

"Still..." Diana trailed off, not entirely convinced, and then frowned as she realized something. "Wait...they're leaving."

"What?" Ryan looked up in the small mirror again, his eyes coming to rest on the two cars that were, in fact, rapidly disappearing from sight.

"They turned," Daryn added, twisting around to get a better look, a hint of relief in his voice. "Headed down one of the other roads."

Patrol cars, then, Ryan realized and nodded. "See? They're probably just patrolling the area. They weren't following us - we're fine."

Yes...it made sense. This was the border - patrols were not unusual here. And the two cars had already disappeared from sight again. It had just been a patrol, nothing else. They were perfectly safe for the time being.

Then why do you keep looking over your shoulder?

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Not very far away, in one of the other cars, Deirdre shifted restlessly, her eyes fixed on the horizon as Ben followed the road leading to the border. Long hours in cars had never appealed to her- it was, quite frankly, boring beyond belief, and even in their present situation she still couldn't help but feel restless. Maybe it was the tension - nobody had said it out loud, but they all knew that it was just a matter of time before something happened. Their good luck couldn't last forever, and the drawn-out silence before the storm was starting to get to her.

"You see anything?"

Deirdre turned around to look at Hal, but found that the question had been directed at Zach, who was watching the road behind them with a frown. At Hal's voice he shook his head, then reluctantly looked away.

"Nah...I thought I saw someone follow us, but it was just patrol cars," he replied and looked back again briefly. "It's nothing."

He looked up, noticing Deirdre's eyes on him, and sent the girl a questioning look. Almost embarrassed to have been caught watching him, Deirdre quickly turned around again, a faint blush touching her cheeks.

She didn't really want to admit it, but she felt...kind of safe around Zach. Ryan would definitely disapprove of that, but still...Blitz *was* kind of cute. She blushed lightly again, and looked out the window again before Zach could comment on anything. And he wasn't a bad guy...he'd been sweet to her in the camps. Why couldn't he have been on her side, anyway? He was a cute guy - he shouldn't be with people like Nike and Blade.

There was a flicker of motion in the window, and Deirdre looked up, watching Hal's reflection. She wasn't quite sure what to make of the albino. She seemed sweet enough, and acted like a good leader...and Zach seemed to like her. Deirdre frowned slightly. In fact, he seemed to like her a lot. Now that she thought about it...he hadn't really left Hal's side since they escaped from the camps. They weren't together, she knew that much, but...maybe there *was* something between them? Or maybe they were just really good friends.

Yeah.

Deirdre nodded slowly to herself, happy with the conclusion, and pushed aside any further theories about Blitz and Hal. This wasn't the time for it, and she knew that.

"How much further?" Zach asked, his voice sounding uneasy somehow, like he expected an attack any moment - and truthfully, he probably did.

Hal shrugged and made a vague motion towards the map that lay neatly folded next to Ben's seat. "A few more minutes, I think. According to the map, we're almost there." She paused for a moment, her eyes lingering on her teammate. "Relax...we'll make it. We've been up against worse." Her words were light, but the confidence was forced, betraying her own worry.

Yes, but we were a full team, then, Zach wanted to reply, but didn't. Hal already knew this, Ben, too, probably, and Deirdre...some part of him was reluctant to make the girl worried. He wasn't sure why - they weren't even on the same team - but still...she was only around Aaron's age, and far more innocent than the people Zach was used to. He didn't want to make her anymore worried than she already was.

"She's right," Ben added, but whether it was for Deirdre's benefit or his own, Zach wasn't sure. "We know what to expect, and with a little luck Ryan can get us through without too much trouble. As long as they're not too focused on us, we're clear. "

"And if Ryan screws up?" Zach asked before he could stop himself. He already knew what would happened then - they'd be as good as dead - and the comment had only been intended to take a stab at Ben's complete faith in Ryan, but a part of him immediately regretted that as he saw Deirdre send him a sharp look.

"Ryan knows what he's doing. He's gotten us through checkpoints before," she said, her voice challenging, and something in it made Zach glare at her. Just how naïve was she? Trust in your teammates was good, but Christ...Ryan's control wasn't perfect, Zach has felt that himself during the fight at the press conference. He'd damn near been knocked out by a mindbolt - that alone was enough to make him wary about trusting Ryan's powers to get them past the soldiers.

"This isn't a checkpoint. This is a heavily guarded border, and we're wanted fugitives. We're dead the moment someone recognized us," he snapped.

"But they won't," Hal interrupted, cutting into the argument before it could get any worse. "We haven't been stopped yet, and since we haven't seen any cars follow us, it's unlikely that someone has tailed us all the way from Houston. In that case, we would have seen something by now."

"Still..." Zach trailed off. "I don't like it. It's too easy."

Hal sighed, and her expression told beyond any doubt that she felt the same way. "I know. But if we start to think like that, it *will* go wrong. Let's try not to think of the worst case scenarios and focus on the present instead."

Focus on the present, and be ready to fight when this whole thing does blow up, she didn't add. She was supposed to be a leader, and leaders weren't supposed to think like that. She should at least pretend that she had faith in Ryan's abilities...she owed him that much. And maybe - maybe he *could* pull it off.

And if not...then they'd just have to fight their way through. It wouldn't be easy, but it was possible. They'd tried it before, when-

-When Laetitia was still here. Shit.

They were all used to fighting, but that had been as a whole team. They'd tried to fight without Nike and Blade and Jordane before, when the three had been on a job, and Hal was painfully aware of just how weakened the team had been without them. Losing Laetitia had also meant losing one of their best fighters, and they would need everything if this went wrong.

"Hal..." Ben's voice was low and suddenly tense, and Hal looked up, vaguely surprised to see something ahead. She'd been so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed the change in the surroundings, and it took her a moment to realize where they were.

"It's the border," Deirdre said quietly, her voice echoing Hal's thoughts. "We're here."

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