Chapter Six: Shatterpoint
It was raining hard in Seattle, Washington. A usual event to those who have resided in the city for a long period of time. A lone figure was standing on the porch of a dilapidated house, staring at the distance. Staring at a panorama that used to be very relieving to look at. Now it was composed of nothing but burnt ruins.
Logan Cale briefly wondered where his transgenic friends were now living. In the mountains perhaps? Or near the sea? For a year, he had pondered over these questions. For a year he had no contact with any of them, just once. With Max.
He had committed that conversation in his memory, knowing that it would be a very long time until he'd be able to hear her beautiful voice again…
'Logan?'"Max!" Logan breathed in liberation. Ever since he saw the pitch-black smoke radiating from the distance, and saw the news portraying the image of a blazing inferno that Terminal City, he had been beyond frightened. He almost thought that Max didn't make it. But here she was, talking to him on the phone.
'Logan, the military bombed the place, and there are only a few of us left. We're heading off to--' A male voice cut her off sharply, and Logan's eyes narrowed. 'Sorry Logan, but I can't really tell you where were going. This call could be tapped for all we knew. All I can say is that we're in Canada. It's up to you to figure out where in Canada we are in.' She paused, and when she spoke, there was sadness in her voice. 'Listen Logan, I don't know how long it will be until it'll be safe for us to go back there to Seattle. In the mean time, we'll be going into hiding…please Logan, tell OC that I love her so much…' the line crackled. She was losing signal.
The last thing Logan heard was: '…thanks for everything Logan…love you…'
And the line went dead.
Logan smiled bitterly. At any other given time, that single phrase would have made him the happiest man alive. Unfortunately, now, it didn't. Original Cindy had told him recently that Max and Alec were together, and that both were very much in love.
Logan's heart had shattered.
The first woman that Logan severely loved that he would've died for her, loved another man. Alec of all people. The screw-up, the one whose ass she kicked daily, the man who ruined the one chance of him and Max being together.
You and Max weren't meant to be. A voice taunted in the back of his head. Dejectedly, Logan agreed. Max was better off with someone who was her own kind. And the only thing that mattered to him right now, was Max's happiness. If she was happy being with Alec, then fine. So be it.
…
We're here. She thought as the rented car sped past the 'Welcome to Seattle' sign. The second it did, a wave of memories that had been forgotten for almost a year crashed into her mind, startling her. How could she have not remembered?
"Max," she suddenly said, breaking the silence that had been around for most of the ride. Two heads whipped around to look at her, while a pair of surprised eyes glanced at her from the rearview mirror. "It's been a year now, I wonder how she is."
"They had a genocide to deal with remember?" Willow asked quietly, her emerald green eyes widening. "I can't believe that I forgot about them for a year."
"So much as happened Willow," Giles smiled softly from behind the wheel. "We had our own world and problems to look at."
"I wonder if she's still--" Buffy stopped herself. They really didn't have much time to watch the news, so they had no idea what had occurred at Seattle during that fateful day. The day they had their battle with the First, and the day the transgenics had their battle with the military.
Two wars had taken place in two entirely different worlds.
"I'm sure she is," Faith said confidently, although her voice wavered a bit. "Girl was a spitfire. Besides, I doubt Alec would let anything happen to his girl."
Buffy nodded slowly, her mind thinking. "You know, since we're already here and all…maybe we should pay them a little visit?"
Giles smiled. "That would be nice. But we need to finish our mission first, which is to find this unique Slayer that has been glowing blue all over our map."
"The question is though, where do we start looking?" Buffy asked, pulling out the map. The blue dot was firmly stated on Seattle, but where in Seattle?
"I'll do a spell on the map later when we get checked into a hotel," Willow offered. "It'll make the map more detailed."
They passed by several hotels before Giles was satisfied. With an exhausted groan, Buffy and Faith pulled out most of the luggage and trudged into the Skywalk. A towering five-star hotel that was luxurious beyond their needs. When Buffy had asked Giles about his choice of residence, he merely smiled and said: "There's nothing wrong with seeking a little comfort. Besides, we could use a mini-vacation."
The expenses were nothing to be bothered about. They had enough cash with them, thanks to funds the Watcher's Council had been generous enough to provide.
"Woah, this place is plush." Faith remarked nodding at the marble flooring of the lobby, and glass chandelier hanging from above them. Everywhere they looked, the posh and the loaded were relaxing on sofas and duvets, glittering jewels adorning their designer clothing.
The four new guests looked strangely out of place, dressed simply in jeans and t-shirts. No one gave them a second glance, save for the front desk who eyed them suspiciously. He was a middle-aged man dressed in a crisp white business suit, a Rolex was wrapped delicately around his wrist and greeted them with a disbelieving tone. "Welcome to the Skywalk. How may I help you?"
"Two bedroom suitesplease," Buffy stated.
The man recited the price with a hint of disdain in his voice. Buffy silenced him with a quick flash of cash.
"Here are you're keys," the man gave them two card-keys. "Enjoy you're stay."
"Oh we will," Buffy said and made a beeline for the elevator.
…
Cats always had an attachment to incredibly high places. And Max was no exception, due to her feline DNA, most of her 'thinking spots' were usually high up in the air. Like the Space Needle for instance. That had been her favorite. Unfortunately, crazed lunatics a.k.a the military would kill her before she could even slip by the 'Welcome to Seattle' sign. So she had to improvise.
The Control Center's roof was where he found her minutes after they saw the news broadcast on TV.
"Penny for your thoughts, Maxie." he said in way of greeting, dropping onto the empty space beside her.
"Hey Alec," she said in return, not bothering to look at him. She was staring at the distance – at something he couldn't seem to see.
Night was beginning to fall, and the sky was a picture perfect portrait of reds and pinks cascading on one another in a rainbow of sunsets. A beautiful sight to look at. Almost as beautiful as the woman sitting right next to him. But what he couldn't see was the pain that swirled in her doe-brown eyes, making them appear almost black.
"Do you remember what you said right before we fled TC?" she asked quietly.
Alec smiled bitterly. Of course he did. It was something that had haunted his dreams for a whole year. Something that he knew was beyond the truth. It was reality.
"Our days of living are over, our days of surviving have just begun." Max quoted. This time, she did look at him. Her face was combination of emotions. Uneasiness and sadness blending together to form pain. Alec would've given anything in the world to wipe the desolation that stained her usually cheerful features.
Not knowing what to say, Alec wrapped his arms around her in a comforting embrace.
"You know Alec, sometimes I think that this is all my fault, releasing all of them from Manticore." She whispered, her shoulders trembling. Alec gently held her face up to his, expecting to see tears. But there weren't any. Seeing Max like this hurt him, and hearing those words made him feel pain that he had never felt before.
"No, Max." He said firmly. "This is not your fault. You gave us freedom, Maxie. Freedom from a hellhole that made us into killers. You gave us life. Which is more than we could've asked for."
She looked away. "We don't belong anywhere, Alec. Whether were back at Manticore, or here. We'll never be considered as a person. To Manticore, we're just weapons, tools they used to kill. And to the ordinaries, we're just animals. Animals who were never meant to exist. We're insults to humanity, Alec. And they'll never stop hunting us."
"All of us would be hunted down one by one. Until none of us are left…until not one piece of evidence would be left lying on this earth that proved that we ever existed."
Alec said nothing.
Because he knew that what Max had said was true.
…
Dawn watched as the blood dripped down her arm and onto the floor. Angry cuts decorated her wrists now. And she was already starting to feel dizzy from the loss of blood. But she was oblivious to it, oblivious to everything. She was in her own world now. Trapped within a dome of pain. Emotional pain. The physical pain that she was supposed to feel wasn't there. All she felt was numbness.
Numb to the pain.
Numb to her feelings.
Numb to her wounds.
Tears rolled down her cheeks, as blood simultaneously rolled down her arm.
Quietly she thought: What have I done?…
A/N: Angsty ain't it??! Review.