A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed!!!
And to Gamegirl452: I thought the solar plexus was somewhere below the
sternum Oh well!! You had some pretty good points and I sorta forgot all
those little but important details... I hope you keep reading even though I
made a load of mistakes...
Chapter Five: Nightmare
'She was dreaming. A nightmare, to be precise. She dreamed that she was dead, lying in an ungraceful heap on cold black marble. Darkness surrounded her, interweaving around her body in freezing icy threads. The blackness was so thick that even her enhanced night vision could not penetrate it...
Then she heard a voice. It was distant, but she could make out the words clearly. "Here's a heart for you..." a loud clear metallic click resonated beside her, pursued closely by an earsplitting bang. The sound of someone falling to the floor echoed in her ears...
A sudden feeling of warmth spread through every inch of her body. The coldness was gone to be replaced by the comforting thud of her heart against her chest. She could feel it beating steadily, and her eyes flickered open. The moment she did, she felt the sense of wrongness envelope her...
A pair of cool blue eyes met her questioning gaze. "Listen to that heart," Elizabeth Renfro said, not unkindly. "X5-599 has a healthy, powerful heart. You're lucky to have him, 452..."'
"452?"
Max awakened, loosely conscious of her surroundings. White. All she saw was white. She was in an infirmary. That fraction relatively obvious since she was hooked to half a dozen machines, and was dressed in a mint-green hospital gown that was wide open in the back.
The new ambiance was unsettling, seeing as how similar it was to her dream. 'That wasn't a dream.' Max thought in deep contemplation. 'That was a flashback...'she absentmindedly touched her chest, where she could feel the stable thumping of her heart. It grew faster as the vivid events of her dream – flashback flew into her head. 'X5-599.' Renfro had said...Zack. Her Commanding Officer, her brother, the one who led her to her freedom had killed himself in order for her to live through giving her his heart. 'Live through?' She asked herself. 'More like died...'
She shut her eyes, as a taunting voice reverberated in the back of her mind. 'You're poison 452, you destroy everyone you love...Ben, Zack, Tinga...'
Zack, was presently alive. And thanks to Manticore's immeasurable brainwashing, he could no longer remember who he really was...who 'Zack' was...
"452," a new voice said beside her. She tilted her face to the left side of the bed in order to see her converser. Surprise, surprise. It was Lydecker. The events that occurred earlier that day darted back into her thoughts, the recollections of her past forgotten.
"What happened?" Max asked, struggling to sit up. A nurse appeared out of nowhere and helped her up, much to her protests. She whispered something to Lydecker and left the small yet very much outfitted clinic.
"You were shot," Lydecker replied as if this was nothing new to him. "The bullet landed inches to your heart. You're lucky to be alive."
"Where's White?"
"Dead," the Colonel said in an indifferent voice. "A bullet to the head, courtesy by yours truly. His men are goners as well. They made a bad decision in interfering. You and 494 are strictly Manticore's responsibility."
"Gee, is that a compliment?" Max asked sarcastically. The colonel ignored her, and Max continued in a more somber voice: "So what are you going to do to me now?"
"You remember what they say, Max." Lydecker said, using her given name. She had noticed that he would only use her name when he either wanted something from her, or pitied her. "In everything you do. There is always a choice. And I suspect that you still remember the choices I offered you?"
Max nodded curtly. She did not need to be reminded twice. "You realize that I need to speak with Alec, before I make my decision, do you?"
"Of course," Lydecker said with another indecipherable smile. He had been giving her a lot of that lately, and it was starting to annoy her. It was that kind of smile that usually meant he knew something she didn't. But then, she really didn't know everything. "I will call him," the Colonel stood up and headed for the door. "In the mean time – think. Think about the choices. Think about the future. That is if you decide to be in it." He smirked and disappeared through the infirmary door.
Max glanced around the room, taking in the tall white shelves lined with medicinal equipment, vials filled with clear, translucent liquid, stethoscopes, and almost everything else a doctor would love to own. There were several vacant beds across the room, and, a metal desk that was evidently for the nurse she had seen earlier.
To her disappointment, there were no windows, only the door that Lydecker had gone through. 'It's not like we can escape from this prison anyway,' she thought bitterly. Even the infirmary was most likely guarded. She tilted her head up to the ceiling, and saw, just as she expected, a surveillance camera looking straight at her. 'This place is probably even bugged.' But unlike Alec, she didn't know how to trace a bug in a certain place.
'Alec.' She and Alec were the only ones left. And they were the ones who will be playing a big part in the future... As if on cue, the door opened and in walked Alec himself, looking tired, and exhausted. There were dark circles underneath his beautiful hazel-green eyes, and although the cuts and bruises had healed, he still looked like shit. He was clad in the official Manticore uniform. A gray shirt, and black and white cammies. Nevertheless, he smiled when Max caught his eye.
"Hey Maxie," he said sitting down on the chair Lydecker had vacated. He surveyed the state she was in and frowned. "Are you okay? Good ol' Deck told me that you were almost killed out there trying to save my ass."
Max smiled wearily. "I'm fine. And you owe me one."
Alec shook his head, with a grin. "Max, I owe you lot. This is the second time you saved my life."
"Let's just say that I couldn't bear to live a life without you – not yet, anyway." Max said softly, watching as his eyes swirled and glimmered, with faint amusement.
"Although, at the point where we are. I doubt I'll be able to repay any of those debts I owe you," he looked away, and Max could hear the resignation tainting his speech. "We've reached a dead end, Maxie. There's no way out this time."
"I know," Her voice cracked as she spoke. "We've lost Alec. We've lost our friends, our family, all of our dreams," Max ducked her head, not wanting Alec to see the tears that were spilling down her cheeks. "We've lost our 'lives', Alec. We're back to the cages we were once locked up in. It's almost like being dead, now."
"Not all is lost, Max." Alec said gently, wiping away her tears with his thumbs. Their eyes met and locked. Emerald green and russet brown, intermingling along with the pain and desperation that each of them felt. "Lydecker gave us an alternative."
"Not much of an alternative," Max said lowly. "He's going to force us into reindoctrination, either way."
Alec nodded, thought for a moment then grinned. "Hey, at least we still have each other."
Max's lips twitched. "And where did you hear that? Some sappy romance movie you saw?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow.
Alec feigned hurt. "Those words came from the heart, darling."
"Call me darling again, and I'll kick your ass from here to the moon." Max said waggling her finger in front of Alec. To her surprise, Alec became somber.
"You do know that we're going to be breeding partners, right?"
Max sighed. "Yeah – again. That was the beginning of 'Alec' remember?" she asked, trying not to lose the companionable bickering they had. This was one of those times that she was happy to have Alec around. It made her forget about the unpleasant situation they were in.
Alec rolled his eyes with a smile. "And as I recall, you kicked all the way across the room." Something flickered in those hazel-green panes...Max couldn't be so sure. Alec echoed her sigh. "Guess that means we'll be getting reindoctrinated."
Max was stunned. 'He actually thinks that I'd rather be reindoctrinated than be his breeding partner.' She could tell by the look on his face that he was now getting flashbacks on times he had spent in Psychological Operations, undergoing reindoctrination. That was after the Berrisford Mission...after the incident with Rachel...
A/N: REVIEW!!!
Chapter Five: Nightmare
'She was dreaming. A nightmare, to be precise. She dreamed that she was dead, lying in an ungraceful heap on cold black marble. Darkness surrounded her, interweaving around her body in freezing icy threads. The blackness was so thick that even her enhanced night vision could not penetrate it...
Then she heard a voice. It was distant, but she could make out the words clearly. "Here's a heart for you..." a loud clear metallic click resonated beside her, pursued closely by an earsplitting bang. The sound of someone falling to the floor echoed in her ears...
A sudden feeling of warmth spread through every inch of her body. The coldness was gone to be replaced by the comforting thud of her heart against her chest. She could feel it beating steadily, and her eyes flickered open. The moment she did, she felt the sense of wrongness envelope her...
A pair of cool blue eyes met her questioning gaze. "Listen to that heart," Elizabeth Renfro said, not unkindly. "X5-599 has a healthy, powerful heart. You're lucky to have him, 452..."'
"452?"
Max awakened, loosely conscious of her surroundings. White. All she saw was white. She was in an infirmary. That fraction relatively obvious since she was hooked to half a dozen machines, and was dressed in a mint-green hospital gown that was wide open in the back.
The new ambiance was unsettling, seeing as how similar it was to her dream. 'That wasn't a dream.' Max thought in deep contemplation. 'That was a flashback...'she absentmindedly touched her chest, where she could feel the stable thumping of her heart. It grew faster as the vivid events of her dream – flashback flew into her head. 'X5-599.' Renfro had said...Zack. Her Commanding Officer, her brother, the one who led her to her freedom had killed himself in order for her to live through giving her his heart. 'Live through?' She asked herself. 'More like died...'
She shut her eyes, as a taunting voice reverberated in the back of her mind. 'You're poison 452, you destroy everyone you love...Ben, Zack, Tinga...'
Zack, was presently alive. And thanks to Manticore's immeasurable brainwashing, he could no longer remember who he really was...who 'Zack' was...
"452," a new voice said beside her. She tilted her face to the left side of the bed in order to see her converser. Surprise, surprise. It was Lydecker. The events that occurred earlier that day darted back into her thoughts, the recollections of her past forgotten.
"What happened?" Max asked, struggling to sit up. A nurse appeared out of nowhere and helped her up, much to her protests. She whispered something to Lydecker and left the small yet very much outfitted clinic.
"You were shot," Lydecker replied as if this was nothing new to him. "The bullet landed inches to your heart. You're lucky to be alive."
"Where's White?"
"Dead," the Colonel said in an indifferent voice. "A bullet to the head, courtesy by yours truly. His men are goners as well. They made a bad decision in interfering. You and 494 are strictly Manticore's responsibility."
"Gee, is that a compliment?" Max asked sarcastically. The colonel ignored her, and Max continued in a more somber voice: "So what are you going to do to me now?"
"You remember what they say, Max." Lydecker said, using her given name. She had noticed that he would only use her name when he either wanted something from her, or pitied her. "In everything you do. There is always a choice. And I suspect that you still remember the choices I offered you?"
Max nodded curtly. She did not need to be reminded twice. "You realize that I need to speak with Alec, before I make my decision, do you?"
"Of course," Lydecker said with another indecipherable smile. He had been giving her a lot of that lately, and it was starting to annoy her. It was that kind of smile that usually meant he knew something she didn't. But then, she really didn't know everything. "I will call him," the Colonel stood up and headed for the door. "In the mean time – think. Think about the choices. Think about the future. That is if you decide to be in it." He smirked and disappeared through the infirmary door.
Max glanced around the room, taking in the tall white shelves lined with medicinal equipment, vials filled with clear, translucent liquid, stethoscopes, and almost everything else a doctor would love to own. There were several vacant beds across the room, and, a metal desk that was evidently for the nurse she had seen earlier.
To her disappointment, there were no windows, only the door that Lydecker had gone through. 'It's not like we can escape from this prison anyway,' she thought bitterly. Even the infirmary was most likely guarded. She tilted her head up to the ceiling, and saw, just as she expected, a surveillance camera looking straight at her. 'This place is probably even bugged.' But unlike Alec, she didn't know how to trace a bug in a certain place.
'Alec.' She and Alec were the only ones left. And they were the ones who will be playing a big part in the future... As if on cue, the door opened and in walked Alec himself, looking tired, and exhausted. There were dark circles underneath his beautiful hazel-green eyes, and although the cuts and bruises had healed, he still looked like shit. He was clad in the official Manticore uniform. A gray shirt, and black and white cammies. Nevertheless, he smiled when Max caught his eye.
"Hey Maxie," he said sitting down on the chair Lydecker had vacated. He surveyed the state she was in and frowned. "Are you okay? Good ol' Deck told me that you were almost killed out there trying to save my ass."
Max smiled wearily. "I'm fine. And you owe me one."
Alec shook his head, with a grin. "Max, I owe you lot. This is the second time you saved my life."
"Let's just say that I couldn't bear to live a life without you – not yet, anyway." Max said softly, watching as his eyes swirled and glimmered, with faint amusement.
"Although, at the point where we are. I doubt I'll be able to repay any of those debts I owe you," he looked away, and Max could hear the resignation tainting his speech. "We've reached a dead end, Maxie. There's no way out this time."
"I know," Her voice cracked as she spoke. "We've lost Alec. We've lost our friends, our family, all of our dreams," Max ducked her head, not wanting Alec to see the tears that were spilling down her cheeks. "We've lost our 'lives', Alec. We're back to the cages we were once locked up in. It's almost like being dead, now."
"Not all is lost, Max." Alec said gently, wiping away her tears with his thumbs. Their eyes met and locked. Emerald green and russet brown, intermingling along with the pain and desperation that each of them felt. "Lydecker gave us an alternative."
"Not much of an alternative," Max said lowly. "He's going to force us into reindoctrination, either way."
Alec nodded, thought for a moment then grinned. "Hey, at least we still have each other."
Max's lips twitched. "And where did you hear that? Some sappy romance movie you saw?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow.
Alec feigned hurt. "Those words came from the heart, darling."
"Call me darling again, and I'll kick your ass from here to the moon." Max said waggling her finger in front of Alec. To her surprise, Alec became somber.
"You do know that we're going to be breeding partners, right?"
Max sighed. "Yeah – again. That was the beginning of 'Alec' remember?" she asked, trying not to lose the companionable bickering they had. This was one of those times that she was happy to have Alec around. It made her forget about the unpleasant situation they were in.
Alec rolled his eyes with a smile. "And as I recall, you kicked all the way across the room." Something flickered in those hazel-green panes...Max couldn't be so sure. Alec echoed her sigh. "Guess that means we'll be getting reindoctrinated."
Max was stunned. 'He actually thinks that I'd rather be reindoctrinated than be his breeding partner.' She could tell by the look on his face that he was now getting flashbacks on times he had spent in Psychological Operations, undergoing reindoctrination. That was after the Berrisford Mission...after the incident with Rachel...
A/N: REVIEW!!!