A/N: I'm sorry! I really am! But I swear I haven't abandoned this story. In
fact, I only have about half a chapter to write, then there will be four
chapters and an epilogue ready to post. There has been a huge delay though,
and I apologise - RL in the way yet again. As always, thanks to my beta,
Aimee.
This is a brief interlude -Zane POV- to lighten things up a little. I originally wrote this as a chapter ending, but decided to save it for a rainy day (or a chapterless month - now months.) Enjoy.
Interlude
"Max thinks on top of the space needle. It's her high place. I can't imagine how she must have missed it at Manticore. I don't have a high place. I don't even believe in the Blue lady. That was Ben's thing, not mine. Ben. My brother. We were always inseparable back at Manticore. That's probably why Zack didn't pair us up for the escape. Or maybe it wasn't deliberate. There wasn't enough time for details like that. Not that it mattered anyway, he forced us all to separate right away. I suppose if we hadn't been so bewildered by our new lives we would have made an effort to devise some secret meeting place. But we didn't expect Zack to come back so soon. I miss him. I miss them. Zack, Ben, the others that I haven't seen in over ten years, I miss them all.
"I can't make friends with someone who is the complete opposite of my brother, yet steals his face. I can't place Ben's seriousness on Alec's smart-ass expression, or rid my mind of the leering looks Alec gave my sister in order to imagine Ben's young serious eyes in this, which would have been his grown up face.
"I never had a high place. My place is here, the open road, riding against the wind, feeling the cold wind slap at my face. This is where I do my best thinking, this is where I take my problems, this is where I am free. If Max or Ben hated leaving their high place, and returning to normal heights, then I hate arriving at my destination, beginning again, and leaving my thoughts on the road.
"It's always been this way. No matter where Zack sent me, I'd choose the longest route, hating the thought of starting again, having nowhere to call home, no friends waiting for me at the end of my ride. Now I have family. Max is already bothering me to find out where Jondy is. Between the two of them they could run up quite a phone bill, talking all hours of the night with their uncanny ability to survive without sleep. I wonder if Jondy is still the same. I wonder if they all are; does Jai still talk in his sleep? Does Krit mumble away in Kjenyan, the complex babble he invented combining 6 languages? I wonder about them all. I want to know first. I'll give Max the excuse that I want to secure their locations, but I really want to see them, know them, remember them, before I give them to her.
"I'm jealous. Jealous of Syl and Krit, who, according to Logan, have stayed in contact since Zack reunited them and now live within three blocks of each other. I'm jealous of Max for knowing the grown up Tinga and the non- Manticore Brin, and for meeting Syl and Krit again, even if only for a short time. And for knowing Ben. I'm even jealous of her for killing Ben, stupid as it sounds. She spent time with him. She defeated him, and she knew his deepest darkest secret before she ended his life. He trusted her enough to deliver him away from Manticore, which took so much strength. I love my little sister. I'm proud of her. But jealous. She's had a home to go to, friends to welcome her, for years.
"But I have that too now. I can't stay jealous of Max. I envy what she's had, but I'm not without it any longer. I have a place to call, well, almost a place to call home, friends, a batman, and a sister to return to. And soon I'll have my dog. I have this, the open road, and a stolen motorcycle that's becoming a liability. I have another sister that I'm heading towards, and, well, whatever Brianna is to me. I never need to dread my destination. Because I'll always return home."
This is a brief interlude -Zane POV- to lighten things up a little. I originally wrote this as a chapter ending, but decided to save it for a rainy day (or a chapterless month - now months.) Enjoy.
Interlude
"Max thinks on top of the space needle. It's her high place. I can't imagine how she must have missed it at Manticore. I don't have a high place. I don't even believe in the Blue lady. That was Ben's thing, not mine. Ben. My brother. We were always inseparable back at Manticore. That's probably why Zack didn't pair us up for the escape. Or maybe it wasn't deliberate. There wasn't enough time for details like that. Not that it mattered anyway, he forced us all to separate right away. I suppose if we hadn't been so bewildered by our new lives we would have made an effort to devise some secret meeting place. But we didn't expect Zack to come back so soon. I miss him. I miss them. Zack, Ben, the others that I haven't seen in over ten years, I miss them all.
"I can't make friends with someone who is the complete opposite of my brother, yet steals his face. I can't place Ben's seriousness on Alec's smart-ass expression, or rid my mind of the leering looks Alec gave my sister in order to imagine Ben's young serious eyes in this, which would have been his grown up face.
"I never had a high place. My place is here, the open road, riding against the wind, feeling the cold wind slap at my face. This is where I do my best thinking, this is where I take my problems, this is where I am free. If Max or Ben hated leaving their high place, and returning to normal heights, then I hate arriving at my destination, beginning again, and leaving my thoughts on the road.
"It's always been this way. No matter where Zack sent me, I'd choose the longest route, hating the thought of starting again, having nowhere to call home, no friends waiting for me at the end of my ride. Now I have family. Max is already bothering me to find out where Jondy is. Between the two of them they could run up quite a phone bill, talking all hours of the night with their uncanny ability to survive without sleep. I wonder if Jondy is still the same. I wonder if they all are; does Jai still talk in his sleep? Does Krit mumble away in Kjenyan, the complex babble he invented combining 6 languages? I wonder about them all. I want to know first. I'll give Max the excuse that I want to secure their locations, but I really want to see them, know them, remember them, before I give them to her.
"I'm jealous. Jealous of Syl and Krit, who, according to Logan, have stayed in contact since Zack reunited them and now live within three blocks of each other. I'm jealous of Max for knowing the grown up Tinga and the non- Manticore Brin, and for meeting Syl and Krit again, even if only for a short time. And for knowing Ben. I'm even jealous of her for killing Ben, stupid as it sounds. She spent time with him. She defeated him, and she knew his deepest darkest secret before she ended his life. He trusted her enough to deliver him away from Manticore, which took so much strength. I love my little sister. I'm proud of her. But jealous. She's had a home to go to, friends to welcome her, for years.
"But I have that too now. I can't stay jealous of Max. I envy what she's had, but I'm not without it any longer. I have a place to call, well, almost a place to call home, friends, a batman, and a sister to return to. And soon I'll have my dog. I have this, the open road, and a stolen motorcycle that's becoming a liability. I have another sister that I'm heading towards, and, well, whatever Brianna is to me. I never need to dread my destination. Because I'll always return home."