Authors note: G'day mates! Hope every one is feeling better than I am at
the mo! As per usual, its winter over here and I have once again joined the
millions of Australians that could not possibly continue their daily lives
without some sort of 'Flu medicine! But the fog in my head is a little
clearer, and I was able to revise and rewrite this chapter, so to those who
did manage to read this in the whole half a day that it was originally
posted, you get the almighty pleasure of reading it again! :O)
To everyone who reviewed : words cannot express how grateful I am , you are the people who convinced me to keep going with this story and I dedicate it to you!
As for the pairings in this story, im not really sure who Zack will eventually hook up with, but it will definitely be either Johndy or Max. Other pairings will include Krit/Syl & Zane/Tess. Ok. There is just one question I have been puzzling over, If 12 X5's escaped that night, including Zack, then when he paired everyone off wouldn't there have been one person left to run by themselves seeing as Zack didn't have a partner? I dunno, maybe im totally wrong. But any info or corrections would be greatly appreciated! ;O)
Forgotten but never Forgiven.
Chapter Two.
Mary stretched and yawned sleepily, gazing out the window at the gorgeous sunrise which had appeared only minutes earlier. Glancing at a movement near the front drive, she froze as she recognized Adam, striding purposefully out the front gates. "where was he off to so early in the morning" she wondered, a shiver of apprehension beginning its slow journey down her spine as she watched Adam glance around and as he motioned his head in her direction, she caught a glimpse of his face. "Buddy" she whispered, reaching out to shake her husband awake. "Buddy I think we might have a problem" turning she searched the place where she had seen Adam standing only moments earlier, only to find he had vanished. "Those eyes" she thought worriedly as his vanishing did nothing but confirm her suspicions. Those eyes were all she had needed to see, for they remained the color of darkness, where even the morning sun did not dare reach, and Mary knew Adam wasn't coming back.
"How could she" Zack growled angrily as he swiftly strode through the trees of the surrounding farmland, quickly putting as much distance as possible between himself and that shithole of a place Max had sent him to. Rage encompassed his entire being as Zack thought about the implications his absence would have held for the other X5's. He remembered that before the attack on Manticore went down, he had especially been worried about two of the others, Johndy and Zane. Since he had jeopardized their lives by stupidly making the mistake of giving their whereabouts to Lydecker and only narrowly getting word through to them ( via Eyes Only) to relocate, Manticore had continued to pose a threat and had always been close behind both x5's. "Damn Max" he muttered as he now began to increase his speed, caution thrown to the wind as he raced across country toward the nearest town.
"Stupid" Zack mumbled again as he drove quickly along the small country roads in his newly borrowed car, 'How could he have been so stupid'. Looking back at what had gone down before Max had electrocuted him, Zack was now just as angry with himself as he was with her. He had trusted her, and had let his guard down in the process even though he knew she was a rouge and that she was reckless. By letting his emotions cloud his judgment he was now paying the price, and through him, he had also ensured that the rest of the X5's paid too. As far as he could tell from the newest of his memories, at least two of his unit was very likely recaptured, if not dead, and he had no clue about the others. Cursing again Zack pressed his foot hard on the accelerator, running his hand through his hair distractedly. Last he remembered, Kai was still working on a big case in a small town law firm in Memphis. Krit and Syl he knew had assisted in the attack on Manticore but he had no idea whether they had made it out alive or not. And Tess was living somewhere on the coast of L.A. That left him with only Max as a certainty for still being alive, and he was 99.9 percent sure that she was still shacked up in Seattle and as involved in her own little life as ever. Checking the sign that flashed by, Zack calculated that if he drove continuously he had a two and a half day journey until he could get to a reasonable starting point for his recovery mission. 'Perfect' he thought grimly 'You couldn't have made it any harder for me if you tried'…
Tapping his hands on the wheel impatiently Zack found it almost impossible to concentrate as his mind kept drifting back to the last few time he had seen Max, and he cursed himself once again for being so blind. He was bitterly disappointed in her as a brother and as a friend. 'How could she have given up so easily?' 'All because he had posed a minor threat to her boyfriend?'. The way he saw it, Max had pretty much gotten rid of him , deciding that he would have taken up to much of her precious time to try and help and instead enlisted the help of Logan to send him as far away from them both as possible. Zack figured, the way this chip thing in his head worked, when he had been electrocuted and the chip *wiped clean* All the data that Manticore had uploaded into the chip and used to brainwash him had also been deleted. And if he really thought about it, to brainwash him in the first place they had to short circuit the chip anyways seeing as the chips purpose was to rebuild his old memories and Manticore had needed the chip to formulate a whole new set of memories. So when Max had the doctors shut the chip off and then activate it again, the chip had continued to function normally. Without anybody around to create another short circuit it had done its job and slowly begun to rebuild Zacks original memories. Zack had pretty much figured that that was what must have happened when he realized he remembered everything that had happened after the brainwashing, and that now when he thought of Logan, he didn't have that overwhelming urge to kill the idiot. Maybe just the urge to knock some sense into the man for constantly keeping Max and her identity exposed, but apart from that, which he knew he had always felt, the only new feelings he had were of anger and disappointment whenever he thought of what Max had done to him and he figured any normal guy would have those kinds of feelings after being put out to pasture on a farm in the middle of nowhere for god knows how long.
That night Zack decided he had put a good amount of distance between himself and that farm and pulled off the road into a quiet little gas station, parking next to their public phone. He figured this was as good a place as any to start and in order to do that, he needed to check his messages…
To everyone who reviewed : words cannot express how grateful I am , you are the people who convinced me to keep going with this story and I dedicate it to you!
As for the pairings in this story, im not really sure who Zack will eventually hook up with, but it will definitely be either Johndy or Max. Other pairings will include Krit/Syl & Zane/Tess. Ok. There is just one question I have been puzzling over, If 12 X5's escaped that night, including Zack, then when he paired everyone off wouldn't there have been one person left to run by themselves seeing as Zack didn't have a partner? I dunno, maybe im totally wrong. But any info or corrections would be greatly appreciated! ;O)
Forgotten but never Forgiven.
Chapter Two.
Mary stretched and yawned sleepily, gazing out the window at the gorgeous sunrise which had appeared only minutes earlier. Glancing at a movement near the front drive, she froze as she recognized Adam, striding purposefully out the front gates. "where was he off to so early in the morning" she wondered, a shiver of apprehension beginning its slow journey down her spine as she watched Adam glance around and as he motioned his head in her direction, she caught a glimpse of his face. "Buddy" she whispered, reaching out to shake her husband awake. "Buddy I think we might have a problem" turning she searched the place where she had seen Adam standing only moments earlier, only to find he had vanished. "Those eyes" she thought worriedly as his vanishing did nothing but confirm her suspicions. Those eyes were all she had needed to see, for they remained the color of darkness, where even the morning sun did not dare reach, and Mary knew Adam wasn't coming back.
"How could she" Zack growled angrily as he swiftly strode through the trees of the surrounding farmland, quickly putting as much distance as possible between himself and that shithole of a place Max had sent him to. Rage encompassed his entire being as Zack thought about the implications his absence would have held for the other X5's. He remembered that before the attack on Manticore went down, he had especially been worried about two of the others, Johndy and Zane. Since he had jeopardized their lives by stupidly making the mistake of giving their whereabouts to Lydecker and only narrowly getting word through to them ( via Eyes Only) to relocate, Manticore had continued to pose a threat and had always been close behind both x5's. "Damn Max" he muttered as he now began to increase his speed, caution thrown to the wind as he raced across country toward the nearest town.
"Stupid" Zack mumbled again as he drove quickly along the small country roads in his newly borrowed car, 'How could he have been so stupid'. Looking back at what had gone down before Max had electrocuted him, Zack was now just as angry with himself as he was with her. He had trusted her, and had let his guard down in the process even though he knew she was a rouge and that she was reckless. By letting his emotions cloud his judgment he was now paying the price, and through him, he had also ensured that the rest of the X5's paid too. As far as he could tell from the newest of his memories, at least two of his unit was very likely recaptured, if not dead, and he had no clue about the others. Cursing again Zack pressed his foot hard on the accelerator, running his hand through his hair distractedly. Last he remembered, Kai was still working on a big case in a small town law firm in Memphis. Krit and Syl he knew had assisted in the attack on Manticore but he had no idea whether they had made it out alive or not. And Tess was living somewhere on the coast of L.A. That left him with only Max as a certainty for still being alive, and he was 99.9 percent sure that she was still shacked up in Seattle and as involved in her own little life as ever. Checking the sign that flashed by, Zack calculated that if he drove continuously he had a two and a half day journey until he could get to a reasonable starting point for his recovery mission. 'Perfect' he thought grimly 'You couldn't have made it any harder for me if you tried'…
Tapping his hands on the wheel impatiently Zack found it almost impossible to concentrate as his mind kept drifting back to the last few time he had seen Max, and he cursed himself once again for being so blind. He was bitterly disappointed in her as a brother and as a friend. 'How could she have given up so easily?' 'All because he had posed a minor threat to her boyfriend?'. The way he saw it, Max had pretty much gotten rid of him , deciding that he would have taken up to much of her precious time to try and help and instead enlisted the help of Logan to send him as far away from them both as possible. Zack figured, the way this chip thing in his head worked, when he had been electrocuted and the chip *wiped clean* All the data that Manticore had uploaded into the chip and used to brainwash him had also been deleted. And if he really thought about it, to brainwash him in the first place they had to short circuit the chip anyways seeing as the chips purpose was to rebuild his old memories and Manticore had needed the chip to formulate a whole new set of memories. So when Max had the doctors shut the chip off and then activate it again, the chip had continued to function normally. Without anybody around to create another short circuit it had done its job and slowly begun to rebuild Zacks original memories. Zack had pretty much figured that that was what must have happened when he realized he remembered everything that had happened after the brainwashing, and that now when he thought of Logan, he didn't have that overwhelming urge to kill the idiot. Maybe just the urge to knock some sense into the man for constantly keeping Max and her identity exposed, but apart from that, which he knew he had always felt, the only new feelings he had were of anger and disappointment whenever he thought of what Max had done to him and he figured any normal guy would have those kinds of feelings after being put out to pasture on a farm in the middle of nowhere for god knows how long.
That night Zack decided he had put a good amount of distance between himself and that farm and pulled off the road into a quiet little gas station, parking next to their public phone. He figured this was as good a place as any to start and in order to do that, he needed to check his messages…