A/N: Sorry, guys. I expected this to be up a lot sooner, but I got sick. Sick on Christmas-ugh-I don't reccomend it. Anyway, I told myself I was going to finish this chapter today and chained myself to the computer desk to crank it out of my tired brain. (Slight exaggeration, but you get the picture.)
Disclaimer: Not mine. I'm just borrowing the characters. Dark Angel belongs to James Cameron, Charles Eglee and Fox.
Chapter Twelve
_________________________________________________________
Life
Sewers
Seattle, Wa., September 13th, 2021
He sobbed into the horrible stillness of her body, the narrow tunnels echoing his
cries of grief back at him a hundred times. She lay stiff and cold in his arms, the supple
curves of her body frozen in death.
Alec gripped her for dear life, this lifeless, spiritless husk now the only remnant
of Max. He wanted to feel her warm with life beneath him, wanted to feel her hand
reaching tentatively to dry his tears.
But no. And now, the things he'd so often wanted to say, the things he'd never
had the courage to say were of no use. He could scream them with every ounce of
strength in his genetically enhanced body, only to have such confessions fall on deaf ears.
Time, so precious and boundless, had slipped between his fingers, sought after but never
captured. So much of it wasted.
And here Time ended. Here Time ended, with the termination of Max's painfully
short life.
"I'm sorry." Alec whispered into an ear that could no longer hear. His voice
cracked. He turned her in his arms to face him, and bent to kiss motionless lips. Her
mouth warmed slightly beneath his own, his tears tracing the contours of her waxy flesh.
He tucked his head into the crook of her neck, shoulders heaving. *I'm sorry, Max.
I'm so sorry. I wish you could hear me. I wish you could understand what a sorry son of
a bitch I am. I killed Rachel, and now I've let you die.* Alec pressed her harder into his
chest as the sobs grew in power, quivering his entire frame.
"I'm sorry." he sobbed again, into the permeating silence of his surroundings, the
morbid quiet broken only by sounds of his grief.
*Where am I? What the hell is going on?*
Warmth, and a familiar scent penetrated the shadow embracing her. She drifted
aimlessly between sleep and wake, life and death, the world stretching black and lonely
ahead of her.
A throbbing awoke deep within her veins. She felt power surge within, rippling
throughout her body. But with the power came pain; sharp, wrenching. She writhed
within its hold, gasping and crying out, seeking light in this dark world.
Through the cloud of excruciating agony, however, she felt her senses returning
once more. The reek of gunpowder filled her nostrils. The scent of blood. A thundering
heartbeat, pounding close to her body.
She struggled through the darkness, clawing its immense shroud, reaching for the
warmth burning so close, and yet so far away.
Soft flesh whispered against her own. A single name resounded within the dark
world, within her. *Alec.* A meaningless word, and yet somehow it seemed greatly
important.
"I'm sorry." The whisper penetrated her world, two words spoken with such
softness she barely caught them. A wrenching sob tore the blackness. She sensed pain,
grief, these emotions so raw and taut they roused tears to her sightless eyes.
"I'm sorry."
*Why? Who are you?* And the name rose once more. *Alec.* "If I hadn't been
'stupid' enough to jump in front of you, you wouldn't be here right now. You said so
yourself. And most females would be a lot more grateful, having a stud like me swoop in
to save the day." "Maxie, Maxie, I think your fantasies are startin' to cross over into
reality. Now far be it for me to deny a woman her heart's desire, so if you're dreamin'
about makin' me moan, go ahead and go for trying it-no complaints here." Random
phrases tore at her, memories voiced by gravelly male vocal cords. "He's gone to be
with Annie, Max. They'll be happy together."
Gentle fingers, treading the curve of a cheekbone. *Her* cheekbone. She
recognized this soft touch, and now the name began to take on meaning. A face. Full
lips, beautiful hazel eyes, thick with dark lashes. Sandy hair.
*Alec.* Her lips formed this name soundlessly.
And Max came back to him.
"Shut up."
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"You're nothing but a goddamn screw-up! I'll never forgive you for this! This
was mine and Logan's last chance, Alec!"
"Guess you're not such a bad guy after all. Hell, you're an irritating asshole, a
womanizer, selfish and extremely good at pissing me off, but I suppose you have your
moments."
Her voice resonated throughout his head, so real he could almost imagine she
stood beside him. He squeezed his eyes shut and nuzzled his face into her hair, breathing
her scent for the last time.
Alec pressed his lips to her temple, gripping her body for dear life for a long
moment before laying her carefully to the cement. Her beautiful face, heartbreakingly
still and ashen, wavered and blurred in his vision. He closed his eyes once more, inhaling
deeply, lips trembling.
Then, going to his knees beside her, he bent and softly kissed her mouth, one
hand stroking her face. "I'll be back." he whispered, voice cracking. "I'll bring Logan.
We'll get you out of here, Max."
"I'll be back. I'll bring Logan. We'll get you out of here, Max."
*Don't leave me.* she thought, struggling to voice the plea. His warmth dissipated
into the surrounding damp of the sewers, and she felt a stab of fear grip her heart. *Alec!
Wait!*
Her full lips twitched. Lashes fluttered.
*Wait!*
His footsteps withdrew quietly, echoing off the tunnels. Desperation surged
through her veins. *Why can't I move? Why can't I call his name? Am I still dead?*
The cement burned cold beneath her. She felt the weight of her limbs pressing
heavily against the floor.
"Alec." A whisper even a genetically-enhanced ear couldn't have caught. Max
wrenched her eyes open, touched a tongue to dry lips. "Alec, wait!" Louder this time,
but his retreating back still didn't hesitate.
Her eyes slipped closed, then slowly blinked open once more. Her full mouth
pursed, and she summoned her strength, and all the lung power Manticore had bestowed.
"Wait!"
The footsteps paused. And slowly, lethargically, he turned, eyes wide and
disbelieving in a face glistening with tears.
*No.* he thought. His palms curved to hard fists, nails gouging flesh. *This is a
trick. Some kind of goddamn hallucination. A mirage, like in the desert. You want
something bad enough, you see it.*
Unbidden, her name escaped his lips in a pained whisper. "Max?"
"You just going to leave me here or something, asshole?" she demanded, but the
compassion in her mahogany eyes belied the harsh words. Her body writhed to sitting
position.
He stumbled forward a few steps.
"It's me." she whispered, her eyes beseeching him. "Look, I don't know how,
but-"
"You stopped breathing." he whispered. "How the hell...?"
She shook her head. "I don't know."
He blurred to her side, and collapsed beside her, reaching out to cup her face in
one hand. She lifted her own hand and slipped it over his, loosely entwining their
fingers.
"I saw you die."
Max pulled his face into her neck, the tears still coming, heaving his shoulders, as
she stroked the hair at the nape of his neck. His broken sobs drew tears to her own eyes,
and the world grew hazy before her.
"Shh." she whispered into his hair, and gently kissed the top of his head.
* * *
They crouched side by side, bodies shrouded in lurking shadows. The night
burned surprisingly cool, nipping at exposed flesh, drawing the breath from their bodies
in white clouds.
Sporadic bursts of static shattered the silence, loud voices crackling over the
radios dangling from nearby sector cop's belts. The light thud of boots added to the
menacing atmosphere.
Alec counted seven in all, heavily armed, grim-faced beneath their helmets as
they underwent their task. Or maybe just bored-faced; these boys looked like they hadn't
seen any action in a while.
"How the hell are we supposed to get to Logan's?" Max whispered into his ear.
"There's probably even more of them nearby." She glanced over at him. "They're
looking for us."
"What?" he asked, slightly startled.
"Those norms we killed; they found them, someone said a transgenic did it, and
now they're scouring Seattle for the killers. Maybe someone saw us do it."
They shared a grim look.
Alec nodded to the building at their backs. "Looks like the only way to go is up.
Logan's place isn't too far from here; we can probably use the building roofs to get past
the sector cops."
"Unless one of them spots us and wonders what the hell two kids are doing on top
of a building at 2:00 in the morning." Max grumbled, but obligingly turned to face the
brick wall. "I need a boost."
He laced his fingers for her waiting foot and, muscles bunching, tossed her up to
grasp the pipe threading the length of the building. She clung to it, hands trembling at its
chill touch, metal slick with precipitation beneath her flesh.
"Max." Alec whispered from the ground. She craned her neck to peer down at
him. "Be careful."
"Yeah. Sure." she whispered back, meeting his gaze. "Can you make it?" A
slight inclination of her chin to indicate the distance between the ground and the pipe.
He shrugged. "I'm taller than you."
"Right."
And with that, she set to work nimbly scaling the side of the building, pitting her
feet against solid brick as she climbed. Beneath her, she felt the pipe rattle in protest as
Alec joined her.
Max reached the top only a few moments later, and heaved herself up and over
the lip, rolling as she hit the roof and coming up on both feet. "Hurry up." she called
softly over her shoulder.
He appeared to be struggling, and too late she remembered his shoulder wound.
In the light of the moon, it glistened in a fresh sheen of crimson.
"Shit. Alec, are you ok?"
"I'm fine." His voice sounded slightly ragged.
She crouched at the edge of the building, reaching both hands down to him.
"Give me your hands. I'll pull you up the rest of the way."
"Max, I don't need-"
"Quit arguing, you stubborn bastard, and give me your hands before you fall!"
she snapped.
Obediently, Alec slipped one hand from the pipe, and set it in her own. She
clasped it tightly, leaning back to compensate for the shift in weight. "Max, are you sure
you can pull me over the side? You know, a half hour ago you were dead. I think that
takes precedence over a bullet in the shoulder."
"I can handle it, as long as you shut your big mouth."
He offered his other hand, and she tugged him up, onto the roof with her, giving
him a moment to gain his balance before releasing his fingers.
Together, they blurred to the end of the rooftop and leapt to the next, landing
easily.
"Why did you care?" Max whispered as she scanned the cops milling below,
searching for some sign that they'd been spotted.
He sneaked a quick glance over at her. "What do you mean?"
"When I...died. Why did you..." she let the sentence trail off, and shrugged.
He swallowed hard, and looked away. "Why do you think, Max?"
She blinked, surprised, and ceased her scan of their surroundings to turn to him.
"You blamed yourself. You thought it was your fault. Just like Rachel."
He shrugged. "Yeah. But that's not why."
"Then...I don't get it."
He smirked, an empty twisting of the lips without the usual spark behind it. "No.
I don't suppose you would." Then, throwing her a sarcastic two-fingered salute, Alec
surged to the end of the roof, and sprang into the night air, landing safely on the next
building over.
A/N 2: Don't worry. I'll explain Max's miraculous recovery in the next chapter.
Disclaimer: Not mine. I'm just borrowing the characters. Dark Angel belongs to James Cameron, Charles Eglee and Fox.
Chapter Twelve
_________________________________________________________
Life
Sewers
Seattle, Wa., September 13th, 2021
He sobbed into the horrible stillness of her body, the narrow tunnels echoing his
cries of grief back at him a hundred times. She lay stiff and cold in his arms, the supple
curves of her body frozen in death.
Alec gripped her for dear life, this lifeless, spiritless husk now the only remnant
of Max. He wanted to feel her warm with life beneath him, wanted to feel her hand
reaching tentatively to dry his tears.
But no. And now, the things he'd so often wanted to say, the things he'd never
had the courage to say were of no use. He could scream them with every ounce of
strength in his genetically enhanced body, only to have such confessions fall on deaf ears.
Time, so precious and boundless, had slipped between his fingers, sought after but never
captured. So much of it wasted.
And here Time ended. Here Time ended, with the termination of Max's painfully
short life.
"I'm sorry." Alec whispered into an ear that could no longer hear. His voice
cracked. He turned her in his arms to face him, and bent to kiss motionless lips. Her
mouth warmed slightly beneath his own, his tears tracing the contours of her waxy flesh.
He tucked his head into the crook of her neck, shoulders heaving. *I'm sorry, Max.
I'm so sorry. I wish you could hear me. I wish you could understand what a sorry son of
a bitch I am. I killed Rachel, and now I've let you die.* Alec pressed her harder into his
chest as the sobs grew in power, quivering his entire frame.
"I'm sorry." he sobbed again, into the permeating silence of his surroundings, the
morbid quiet broken only by sounds of his grief.
*Where am I? What the hell is going on?*
Warmth, and a familiar scent penetrated the shadow embracing her. She drifted
aimlessly between sleep and wake, life and death, the world stretching black and lonely
ahead of her.
A throbbing awoke deep within her veins. She felt power surge within, rippling
throughout her body. But with the power came pain; sharp, wrenching. She writhed
within its hold, gasping and crying out, seeking light in this dark world.
Through the cloud of excruciating agony, however, she felt her senses returning
once more. The reek of gunpowder filled her nostrils. The scent of blood. A thundering
heartbeat, pounding close to her body.
She struggled through the darkness, clawing its immense shroud, reaching for the
warmth burning so close, and yet so far away.
Soft flesh whispered against her own. A single name resounded within the dark
world, within her. *Alec.* A meaningless word, and yet somehow it seemed greatly
important.
"I'm sorry." The whisper penetrated her world, two words spoken with such
softness she barely caught them. A wrenching sob tore the blackness. She sensed pain,
grief, these emotions so raw and taut they roused tears to her sightless eyes.
"I'm sorry."
*Why? Who are you?* And the name rose once more. *Alec.* "If I hadn't been
'stupid' enough to jump in front of you, you wouldn't be here right now. You said so
yourself. And most females would be a lot more grateful, having a stud like me swoop in
to save the day." "Maxie, Maxie, I think your fantasies are startin' to cross over into
reality. Now far be it for me to deny a woman her heart's desire, so if you're dreamin'
about makin' me moan, go ahead and go for trying it-no complaints here." Random
phrases tore at her, memories voiced by gravelly male vocal cords. "He's gone to be
with Annie, Max. They'll be happy together."
Gentle fingers, treading the curve of a cheekbone. *Her* cheekbone. She
recognized this soft touch, and now the name began to take on meaning. A face. Full
lips, beautiful hazel eyes, thick with dark lashes. Sandy hair.
*Alec.* Her lips formed this name soundlessly.
And Max came back to him.
"Shut up."
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"You're nothing but a goddamn screw-up! I'll never forgive you for this! This
was mine and Logan's last chance, Alec!"
"Guess you're not such a bad guy after all. Hell, you're an irritating asshole, a
womanizer, selfish and extremely good at pissing me off, but I suppose you have your
moments."
Her voice resonated throughout his head, so real he could almost imagine she
stood beside him. He squeezed his eyes shut and nuzzled his face into her hair, breathing
her scent for the last time.
Alec pressed his lips to her temple, gripping her body for dear life for a long
moment before laying her carefully to the cement. Her beautiful face, heartbreakingly
still and ashen, wavered and blurred in his vision. He closed his eyes once more, inhaling
deeply, lips trembling.
Then, going to his knees beside her, he bent and softly kissed her mouth, one
hand stroking her face. "I'll be back." he whispered, voice cracking. "I'll bring Logan.
We'll get you out of here, Max."
"I'll be back. I'll bring Logan. We'll get you out of here, Max."
*Don't leave me.* she thought, struggling to voice the plea. His warmth dissipated
into the surrounding damp of the sewers, and she felt a stab of fear grip her heart. *Alec!
Wait!*
Her full lips twitched. Lashes fluttered.
*Wait!*
His footsteps withdrew quietly, echoing off the tunnels. Desperation surged
through her veins. *Why can't I move? Why can't I call his name? Am I still dead?*
The cement burned cold beneath her. She felt the weight of her limbs pressing
heavily against the floor.
"Alec." A whisper even a genetically-enhanced ear couldn't have caught. Max
wrenched her eyes open, touched a tongue to dry lips. "Alec, wait!" Louder this time,
but his retreating back still didn't hesitate.
Her eyes slipped closed, then slowly blinked open once more. Her full mouth
pursed, and she summoned her strength, and all the lung power Manticore had bestowed.
"Wait!"
The footsteps paused. And slowly, lethargically, he turned, eyes wide and
disbelieving in a face glistening with tears.
*No.* he thought. His palms curved to hard fists, nails gouging flesh. *This is a
trick. Some kind of goddamn hallucination. A mirage, like in the desert. You want
something bad enough, you see it.*
Unbidden, her name escaped his lips in a pained whisper. "Max?"
"You just going to leave me here or something, asshole?" she demanded, but the
compassion in her mahogany eyes belied the harsh words. Her body writhed to sitting
position.
He stumbled forward a few steps.
"It's me." she whispered, her eyes beseeching him. "Look, I don't know how,
but-"
"You stopped breathing." he whispered. "How the hell...?"
She shook her head. "I don't know."
He blurred to her side, and collapsed beside her, reaching out to cup her face in
one hand. She lifted her own hand and slipped it over his, loosely entwining their
fingers.
"I saw you die."
Max pulled his face into her neck, the tears still coming, heaving his shoulders, as
she stroked the hair at the nape of his neck. His broken sobs drew tears to her own eyes,
and the world grew hazy before her.
"Shh." she whispered into his hair, and gently kissed the top of his head.
* * *
They crouched side by side, bodies shrouded in lurking shadows. The night
burned surprisingly cool, nipping at exposed flesh, drawing the breath from their bodies
in white clouds.
Sporadic bursts of static shattered the silence, loud voices crackling over the
radios dangling from nearby sector cop's belts. The light thud of boots added to the
menacing atmosphere.
Alec counted seven in all, heavily armed, grim-faced beneath their helmets as
they underwent their task. Or maybe just bored-faced; these boys looked like they hadn't
seen any action in a while.
"How the hell are we supposed to get to Logan's?" Max whispered into his ear.
"There's probably even more of them nearby." She glanced over at him. "They're
looking for us."
"What?" he asked, slightly startled.
"Those norms we killed; they found them, someone said a transgenic did it, and
now they're scouring Seattle for the killers. Maybe someone saw us do it."
They shared a grim look.
Alec nodded to the building at their backs. "Looks like the only way to go is up.
Logan's place isn't too far from here; we can probably use the building roofs to get past
the sector cops."
"Unless one of them spots us and wonders what the hell two kids are doing on top
of a building at 2:00 in the morning." Max grumbled, but obligingly turned to face the
brick wall. "I need a boost."
He laced his fingers for her waiting foot and, muscles bunching, tossed her up to
grasp the pipe threading the length of the building. She clung to it, hands trembling at its
chill touch, metal slick with precipitation beneath her flesh.
"Max." Alec whispered from the ground. She craned her neck to peer down at
him. "Be careful."
"Yeah. Sure." she whispered back, meeting his gaze. "Can you make it?" A
slight inclination of her chin to indicate the distance between the ground and the pipe.
He shrugged. "I'm taller than you."
"Right."
And with that, she set to work nimbly scaling the side of the building, pitting her
feet against solid brick as she climbed. Beneath her, she felt the pipe rattle in protest as
Alec joined her.
Max reached the top only a few moments later, and heaved herself up and over
the lip, rolling as she hit the roof and coming up on both feet. "Hurry up." she called
softly over her shoulder.
He appeared to be struggling, and too late she remembered his shoulder wound.
In the light of the moon, it glistened in a fresh sheen of crimson.
"Shit. Alec, are you ok?"
"I'm fine." His voice sounded slightly ragged.
She crouched at the edge of the building, reaching both hands down to him.
"Give me your hands. I'll pull you up the rest of the way."
"Max, I don't need-"
"Quit arguing, you stubborn bastard, and give me your hands before you fall!"
she snapped.
Obediently, Alec slipped one hand from the pipe, and set it in her own. She
clasped it tightly, leaning back to compensate for the shift in weight. "Max, are you sure
you can pull me over the side? You know, a half hour ago you were dead. I think that
takes precedence over a bullet in the shoulder."
"I can handle it, as long as you shut your big mouth."
He offered his other hand, and she tugged him up, onto the roof with her, giving
him a moment to gain his balance before releasing his fingers.
Together, they blurred to the end of the rooftop and leapt to the next, landing
easily.
"Why did you care?" Max whispered as she scanned the cops milling below,
searching for some sign that they'd been spotted.
He sneaked a quick glance over at her. "What do you mean?"
"When I...died. Why did you..." she let the sentence trail off, and shrugged.
He swallowed hard, and looked away. "Why do you think, Max?"
She blinked, surprised, and ceased her scan of their surroundings to turn to him.
"You blamed yourself. You thought it was your fault. Just like Rachel."
He shrugged. "Yeah. But that's not why."
"Then...I don't get it."
He smirked, an empty twisting of the lips without the usual spark behind it. "No.
I don't suppose you would." Then, throwing her a sarcastic two-fingered salute, Alec
surged to the end of the roof, and sprang into the night air, landing safely on the next
building over.
A/N 2: Don't worry. I'll explain Max's miraculous recovery in the next chapter.