Disclaimer: I own Dali, Justin, Shorty, Susie, Wendy, JJ, Rose, Max, Logan, and Alec…oh wait, take out those last three :-(

Time-frame: Same as always

All of you wonderful reviewers (old and faithful; and new and fresh) you are BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE, and if anybody tells you differently…well, usually I don't condone violence, but punch 'em in the face!

A/N: I think I have mixed feelings…

Chapter 20

…Repent, and Thou Shalt Be Saved

Even as the wind whipped through Max's hair, she knew something was wrong.  Alec must've felt it too.  It had to be either that or he wasn't paying attention, because he was gripping way too hard for comfort.  Once they had reached Terminal City, she'd be sure to give him a piece of her mind.

They pulled around the perimeter fence, and snuck in through the back.  The children were quiet as they made their way back to the barracks.  Max, Logan and Alec followed them back to their room.  The kids filed in and stood at attention at the feet of their bed.

Alec and Logan waited by the door, as Max paced in front of them.  Finally, she stopped and stood looking from one to the next.

She began in a low, slow voice.  "I cannot even begin to tell you how disappointed I am."  The children said nothing, but continued to stare straight ahead.  "You not only put your own lives in danger, but endangered the lives of everyone who was forced to come to your rescue.  For the next three weeks, you will be lucky if you see the light of day.  Now go to sleep."

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" the children replied, afraid to be disobedient.

Logan and Alec opened the door and left, and Max came out after them, slamming the door behind her.

Alec stood looking at her, the look on her face all too familiar.  He had seen it just about every time she'd looked at him since he'd first met her.  It meant trouble.

"Uh Max, don't you think maybe you were a little hard on them?  I mean, they are just kids."

She turned her glare on him.  "Alec, my boneheaded and naïve brother.  We almost died tonight, or did you miss the firing squad aiming assault rifles at your head?"

Alec said nothing, but turned and walked away.

Max sighed and turned to Logan.  "Do you think I was being too hard on them?"

He looked away thoughtfully.  "I think they needed to be made aware of who was in charge.  And I think if you think you were too hard on them, at least wait until the morning to tell them.  Give them the night to think about what they did."

Max nodded and leaned a head on his shoulder.  "I'm tired.  Can we go to bed now?"

Logan looked down at her, noticing that she looked even more rundown than she had earlier, when she'd come to his room, to tell him…Well, they hadn't even really had a chance to talk about it, but the way she looked, she wasn't going to be too coherent much longer.  He nodded, and they headed off toward his room.  But Max still had a nagging voice in the back of her head telling her something was wrong.

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Though she was completely exhausted, Max couldn't sleep.  Something was bothering her.  Her restless shifting soon woke Logan.

"Something wrong?" he asked her sleepily.

She shook her head.  "I don't know…I was just thinking…"

"About what?"

"The last thing Dali said to us earlier."

"What? When she talked to Alec?"

"No, before that."

"Asking us to look after her brother?"

"No, after that…"

"'See ya around'?"

Max knitted her eyebrows together and sat up in the bed.  She began to hear past conversations with Dali flowing through her head…"Lying is my specialty, I do it all the time…Lately it just seems like everything's spiraling out of control…I think maybe it's time for me to keep going…Don't make the same mistake I did; cherish every second; life is too short…I always say goodbye meaning to say hello again, it's when I say 'see ya around' that you know something's up…there's something I need to do, and I don't know how long it's gonna be…"  Max shot out of the bed.  "I gotta find Dali."

Logan sat up and looked at her confusedly.  "It can't wait until the morning?"

"Logan, it's really not that late.  I have to find her now."

She threw the door open only to find both Alec and Shorty standing there, deciding who would knock.  Shorty found his voice first.

"Something's wrong with Dali," he whispered.

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Dali stood watching everything happening from afar.  She knew there was a sniper somewhere, but there were too many places they could hide.  Wasn't the NSA competent enough to find a better place to hold a controversial press conference?  After all, it was the president's daughter.  She looked from rooftop to rooftop of the buildings around her.  Seeing nothing, she trained her eyes to the woman at the podium at the top of the steps of City Hall.  She'd been there for more than an hour, and nothing suspicious had happened.  She was getting antsy, almost restless.  She hated spending too much time in one space.  The president's daughter was very into her speech, and the rallyers were right along with her, but she looked as though she were getting ready to wrap it up.  Dali hoped that for her sake, she did it, and did it quickly.

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Max's bike cut through the night.  She knew something was wrong.  She should have stayed with Dali, or convinced her to come back to Terminal City.  What kind of commanding officer doesn't look after his troops?

As soon as Dominic had told her where he thought she was, they had taken off.  She had made Dominic ride with Alec.  She needed her space.  They pulled up a block from City Hall.  They would have pulled closer, but the multitude of people in the streets made it almost impossible to drive.  They were going to have to walk the rest of the way, so they split up hoping to cover more ground.

Max made her way, cutting through the crowd, making her way towards the steps of the old stone building, thinking she may catch Dali there.  She surveyed the audience, hoping to catch a glimpse of her.  She didn't see her, but searching in the windows of the buildings surrounding them, she saw a middle aged woman with light brown eyes, and straight black hair, observing the scenery with interest.  She looked oddly familiar…In her hand looked to be a .45 caliber semi-automatic hand gun with focus.  Those things aren't even legal!  Max turned in her direction, and slid through the crowd as fast as she could.  She only hoped she would make it in time.

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Alec and Shorty caught sight of Dali, hiding by the side of a building, close to the steps of City Hall.  They both breathed a sigh of relief, and began to make their way towards her.  The crowd was thick, and seemed to be getting more riled by the minute as the president's daughter spoke her last words.

"One day we will live in a world where we will not have to fear for the lives of our children…where we will not have to look over our shoulders to see if we're being hunted by a mutant, half-man, half-animal."  Dali had heard this speech before.  She stood transfixed as she watched the figure at the stand, instigating the crowds.  "Since the beginning of time, our human soldiers have done a fine job in battle, why should we need to send in animals to do our own job?  Pretty soon, they'll be thinking that they deserve our jobs, our families, when will we be safe?"  In the back of her mind, Dali heard what she thought might be her little brother's voice, but that couldn't be it.  He was safe at home back in Terminal City.  She knew the shot would be coming soon, she had to get the first daughter out of the way…She crept closer to the stage.  "The answer is when the entire transgenic and Conclave populations have been eradicated!"  A cheer went up through the crowd.  Dali raced up on stage, and threw herself at the young woman, throwing her off balance just as a single gunshot rang through the air.

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Max scaled the steps taking them three at a time, wondering, hoping she would make it in time.  Sure, she hated the first daughter, but assassination was taking it a little far.  She threw open the door, and was greeted by darkness and nothingness.  It was then that the gun went off…not from that room, but the one next door.  Damn it!  I was one door off.  How could I have miscalculated?  She bounded over to the next room and threw herself at the door, which broke off its hinges.  The woman standing at the window with the gun in her hand turned to look at her with grim defeat all over her face.  Dali's Aunt Brenda!  I knew she looked familiar…Max could hear through the open window the people outside running and screaming from below.  Brenda raised the gun to her own head, but Max blurred over to her and knocked it from her hand, before landing a solid left hook to the side of her head, rendering her unconscious.  Then she turned and headed toward the exit, hoping against wish that she wouldn't find what she thought she would.

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Alec and Shorty, who had been desperately calling his sister's name both physically and psychically, watched Dali dart across the stage, and saw the two figures fall as the gunshot rang through the air.

Alec's breath caught in his throat.  If there is a God out there, please don't let it be…

Dominic's gaze lay on the two fallen bodies at the top of the stairs.  He already knew what he was going to find.

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Dali picked herself up off the ground, and pulled the first daughter to her feet.  She looked her in the eye.

"End the war," she whispered.  Then she turned around, and lifted her hair to reveal the 13 digit barcode at the nape of her neck.  She turned to see the young woman nod dourly.  Then she brought her hand up to the growing blood spot in the middle of her shirt before falling to her knees.  Several agents, who had been delayed in the panic that broke out after the gun went off, dashed to the top of the stairs to help the first lady off to the side, checking her for wounds and making sure she wasn't hurt.

"Check the girl!" she kept insisting.  "Check the girl!" But they ignored her pleas, radioing for back up, with control of the mob that had broken through the streets.

Alec and Shorty finally made their way to the top of the steps and knelt at Dali's side.  Alec pulled her up by the shoulders so she leaned against him.

"Dali, wake up!" her brother pleaded.  Her eyes slowly fluttered open as Max finally approached them.

"Oh my god, Dali!"  She, too, knelt beside the young girl, and lifted her shirt a little to see the open gash in her stomach oozing a red river of blood down her side.  She put pressure on it, hoping to stop the flow.  "Come on, Alec, we have to get her to the hospital!"

Alec began to shift her, but Dali stopped him with a grip on his arm.

"No," she whispered, "there's no time.  They won't be able to save me, and I'd rather spend the rest of my time here with you."

"Don't talk like that!" Dominic scolded her.  "They can save you!  They have to!"

She shook her head slowly.  "No, Shorty.  Not this time…I want you to listen to whatever Max and Logan and Alec tell you."

"No!" he persisted.  "I won't have to, you'll tell me.  You can't leave me!"

"I'll always be with you," she said, her breathing getting more and more ragged with every breath.  She turned to Alec, and smiled a little.  Then, summoning all the strength she could, she pulled a folded paper out of her pocket, and pressed it into his hand.  "Every time you look at the stars…" she whispered.  Tears filled her eyes, and she found she could say nothing else.  She hoped the letter would say everything she wanted to but couldn't.  She looked up at Max, trying hard not to lose consciousness.  "I did it, Max.  I did what I was supposed to…but it's not over.  One greater will rise; one with power and wisdom matched only by the Chosen One.  You—" She coughed a little.  "You must save them."

Max held Dali's hand in hers as a tear slipped down her cheek.  "Save who?" her voice barely whispered.

"Save…the world."  Dali breathed her last, and sunk back against Alec's chest.

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Dali's life flashed before her eyes…

A three-year-old Lacey saluted her superior officers when she was rewarded for the best aim in her marksmanship class…

A five-year-old Lacey stood and watched as the man was dragged away, a smiling Lydecker with a hand on her shoulder.  She hadn't meant to rat on him.  Her orders were to read the man's mind, and tell her superiors what he was thinking.  She guessed he shouldn't have been selling Manticore's secrets to the highest bidder…

A six-year-old Lacey jumped the perimeter fence.  She looked back at the TAC team officers, who weren't far behind, and tripped on an uprooted tree.  She gasped as she sprawled on the ground, and flipped over just as one of the guards aimed his gun at her, finger on the trigger.  Then an X-5 kicked the gun from his hands, and landed a blow to his chest, knocking him back into a tree.  X5-599 reached down and pulled her to her feet before heading off in another direction…

Dali at age 10, splashing with Justin in the river…

Dali at age 13, watching Dominic at his piano recital.  He sat in the midst of the room, fingers frozen above the keys.  She left her seat, and strolled up to him casually, sitting down beside him.  She began to play the beginning of his piece, and he smiled up at her before joining in…

Dali at age 16, running into the room to find a dead Justin lying in bed.  Then remembering nothing as she was hit from behind…and waking back up in Manticore…

Dali remembered spending three months at Manticore before the mysterious night when the building caught fire, and all the doors opened, freeing them.  It was only during her month on the run did she learn that it was Max who had freed them…

Playing chess games with her brother…stolen kisses on the rooftops with Alec…the day Cindy brought a camera to Terminal City, and Dali had taken picture after picture, saying that pictures were memories on paper…

The pictures began to fade out, and Dali was surrounded by darkness…

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Dominic sensed his sister's spirit leave her body.  His head turned away, and the feeling of Max's arms enveloped him.  He tried desperately to remember everything he'd been taught over the past year.  He was a soldier.  Soldiers didn't cry.  But as he began to remember everything that Dali had taught him, and all the times they'd spent together, good and bad, the tears sprang back to his eyes.  It wasn't long before they had spilled over, and his vision turned blurry.  He buried his head in Max's shoulder, seeking comfort he knew could only come from one person…and now, she was gone.

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Alec felt Dali's body go limp in his arms.  He wanted to scream; he wanted to cry; he wanted to lie down and die beside her, but his body allowed him to do none of these things.  Instead, he unfolded the note she'd given him.

Hey Alec,

If you're reading this right now, I'm probably either dead, or on my way to being.  I've had this terrible feeling for awhile…and I know it's coming soon.  Take care of Shorty for me, and listen to Max when she talks…she really does know what she's talkin about.  I know that you still have feelings for a girl named Rachel…I hear you talk about her in your sleep sometimes.  It's never a good dream though…I can tell.  And I wonder what I can do to make the hurt go away.  When we first met, I thought you were the most arrogant, self-centered egotistical guy to walk the planet…then I met Ames White.  Since then, I've come to see the beautiful person that you really are, and you've become very special to me.  I just want you to know that after everything we've been through, I do love you, even though I never said it.  I guess somehow I knew this day was coming, and I didn't want you to be angry with me.  I never expected that you would say it to me…but maybe if you or I had, things would be a little different.  I want you to go on Alec, meet other people, other girls, have friends, and have relationships.  Don't let anybody take that away from you.  Most importantly, don't let Manticore win…I love you.

Dali

Something fell from the fold in the paper, and as Alec reached over, he gazed hard at it.  A picture from the day Cindy had brought her camera to Terminal City.  The picture was of him and Dali, smiling at the camera, cheek by cheek as she rested back against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her.  On the back, she had written: A memory on paper…with love, there are no boundaries…Reach for the stars Alec, reach for the stars…

As the paper dropped from his hand, Alec's heart felt as though it were breaking in two.  He leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes as a single tear dropped from his eye onto her cheek.  "I love you," he whispered.  And for the first time in his life, Alec cried.

Post:  Yes, I know, I cried too.  I know what you're all thinking, 'how could I do that to Alec…again? If anybody, he doesn't deserve it.'  I completely agree, but hey, someone had to go, and Dali drew the short straw.  Look at the category, it says drama…crying is very dramatic.  Anyway, sorry.  I decided since you guys were so open and honest on your thoughts on the story, that I would post the next chapter with this one. Congratulations on your gift.  Let it be known that on this day at this time, in this year, I have finished my story (sniff, sniff)