(A/N--Okay, so this is gonna take me a while to write because I think the ending of this chapter in the rough draft is pretty much un-salvageable, and I'll have to wing it. other than that, sry for the long time, I seem to have a LOT LOT LOT of homework these days. And no, how can you expect this to be the end??? There are too many loose ends (at least in my mind, and I'm the writer, so I should know) to just stop here. In any case...)

XIII: Lifeline

Ridley watched the tracking monitor as the ships from HQ grew steadily closer. A whole fleet of hard fighting federation police, officials, and elite corps. Many would die here today—and not all of them space pirates.

A light had been blinking in security for some time now; the dragon ignored it, eyes intent on the approaching enemy, mind intent on the perfect timing for the masterpiece of all his hard work to come to fruition. It was only when the shrill alarm whistle sounded that his head snapped around. That couldn't be right. Nothing was important enough to set off the alarm now except...

The lord of Kelta-Z stormed over to the panel, eyes widening. He'd assured that this wasn't going to happen until he activated his plan. But the message was clear: WARNING: STATION SELF-DESTRUCT IN 10:16:27.

Ridley's fist clenched automatically as he cursed aloud, rough words in the pirate language scalding the air around him. Aran. This was Aran's fault. All his elaborate work, after everything, had been undone by one pathetic homo sapien who could do nothing without a tin robot suit. His experiment's mission had failed.

There was only one thing to do.

Redness was swallowing Ridley's vision, and he roared, the sound shaking the computers and echoing back through his own skull. The dragon's huge wings stirred blasts of wind as he propelled himself wildly through the air and out of the command room, flapping like a whirlwind down the halls to the weaponry control room.

A heartbeat. A rhythmic ticking. Blue eyes stared down as unseeingly as now-closed grey ones had moments before. A different world before.

A heartbeat, but only her own.

And then, a roar.

A gust of air slapped into Samus's face, and the floor shook with the impact of all the force in the muscles of a gigantic creature. She could feel the power jolt up her knees, knocking chips of synthetic plaster off the walls around her; still, she turned her head slowly, knowing what she would see. A few minutes ago, she would've cared.

Ridley stopped just short of the entrance to the room, the situation changing in a glance. This wasn't right; it just wasn't right. Something was missing, something had changed. It was as if everything he'd known the world to be, unfalteringly, had just tilted sideways and now hung askew, dangling his mind off into a fathomless space. A frightening space.

Just before he'd entered, he'd been sure of what to do. Get in, fight the wretched bounty hunter for the millionth time, get out. Simple. But now...

He had no plan. The words sprung unbidden to his mouth as she took in the way she hunched over the man on the floor, almost protectively...

"I will never understand you, Aran."

Samus didn't answer. She only watched, impassive, as the dragon's fist darted out toward her bare skull, feeling the power building up behind it for the death blow...

Plaster splintered, raining down on her hair, and the wall shook just above her head, rending like dust with a dull thud. But she wasn't dead yet. Not yet. Ridley loomed above her, fanged snout just inches from her face. She could feel his breath scorching her face, sensitive from being protected by her helmet.

"I could kill you now. But I don't." It was almost as if he were talking to himself. "I should be tearing your head off your body. But instead I'm talking—wasting time—" His tail lashed out this time, making the wall shake. Rubble crumbled from the indentation. Samus didn't move, but her eyes were riveted to her foe's.

"They always said," Ridley hissed, his voice down to a venomous whisper, "that you had a heart of stone. Nothing could make the huntress yield. You could kill thousands and still show no mercy. Destroy planets and never look back. Turn a blank stare over every awed suitor. Yes, I've watched you, Samus, more than you think. But I never thought..."

He almost spat the words out, as if by saying them he defiled himself. "You love him."

Samus stared. A vague sense of something tickled the back of her mind, but she wouldn't listen to it, not now. The dragon's eyes bored into her own. "Well...well??! Is there nothing you can say?? It's not POSSIBLE!" He shrieked, filling her ears with the noise. "IT'S NOT POSSIBLE!! HOW COULD SOMEONE—SOMEONE SO—heartless—love anything?"

The words punctured her mind like a dart. A dim sense of logic raised its ugly head above the perfect stillness that had consumed her. "Love?" she whispered.

The silence stretched out behind the single word. Something so far back into her past that she couldn't remember when it had begun, a struggle centered on that thought, that humanity. There was nothing in her that even dared to mention it. A bounty hunter could not love, could not risk it. They had to keep away, keep cold, because there was an endless potential for hurt, betrayal, a life lived knowing it would never be fulfilled...but it was over now.

"You mean loved?"

Ridley drew back suddenly, taking one gigantic step back, away from the huntress and her fallen comrade. And he laughed, even though the thoughts that raged through his mind were so intense that he couldn't fathom them. "You fool," he said. Were humans' senses so inadequate?...

Ridley's mind was racing. He couldn't do it. Couldn't kill her, not the way he could've minutes ago, when there were no doubts in his mind that she would've done the same to any living creature. At least, not directly...

Something was ticking. A red light blinked in the corner of his vision.

"This is not a favor, Aran."

He leapt into the air, feeling it cushioned beneath his wings, and propelled himself out of the room at top speed without a backward glance.

Samus stared. Something was missing here, something she hadn't gotten.

tick, tick, tick.

It was impossible; Ridley couldn't have left her like this. Not without a reason. Why on earth had he called her a fool, and why would she think he was doing her a favor? Was there something she'd missed? Some clue, some thought?

She was being dragged forcefully from her state of numbness, the events driving her mind to think even when she wanted to just stay here, forever, suspended, and not think about what had happened. About Adam.

You love him... you LOVE him...

Hope rose like a bubble in her chest, even as logic pushed it down. Ridley was a dragon; might not they have their own ways of determining...?

tick, tick, tick.

Samus looked down at Adam, face pale and weathered; there was no apparent movement, or was that just a tiny flicker of her imagination? She couldn't tell. There was no way. No way it could work. And then, a slight memory surfaced in her brain: that of childhood stories read to her by a mother she couldn't remember, about ancient warriors with bright blades and armor.

Samus picked up her cannon, lying on the ground, and brought the shiny, unnamed metal up as close to his lips as possible.

tick, tick, tick.

Her breath caught in her throat. The surface of the cannon misted just slightly.

And with that tiny breath, the rest of the world came crashing down.

Myriad emotions poured out of the recesses of her mind, fighting for uppermost in the inundation of thought. Samus stood still, torn between laughter and tears, energy surging through her veins but paralyzing her muscles. Tick, tick, tick. Only one thought blazed above the others with unwavering clarity.

We have to get out of here.

HQ, Ridley's plan, the explosives...

Samus leapt up from her position, her legs protesting with the sudden motion after her stillness. They must've set into cramps—something she hadn't experienced in years—from the beating; but that didn't matter. She jammed her helmet onto her head, stuffing her fingers into her glove and cannon as she checked her computer. 2:23:08. Seconds were sliding away even as she focused on the sight in front of her once more, at each letter in every word of her thoughts.

Adam was unconscious. Alive, but unable to move. Alive, but not if he stayed where he was for much longer... Samus shook his shoulder, and received no response. Her brain seemed to be moving too fast, skipping all the logical solutions— There was no time for this.

She knelt, sliding her good hand under his shoulders, and hoisted her friend up in her arms without looking at him directly. No distractions. And, without a second thought, Samus ran.

The path came flying back into her memory as she left the room, feet slapping the ground with the added weight. Her power suit was completely drained. She was on her own, alone in the empty corridor—muscles straining to work themselves out, knowing there had been no power even to heal herself.

A few more corridors...1:56:37. The hall seemed forever. Samus's breath came out in ragged gasps, her lungs pumping furiously as she urged herself faster, and faster still. A turn. 1:07:12.

This escape route had been designed for someone with wings, not feet, her mind told her, the logic resounding in her head for no apparent reason. Her brain was working wildly, thoughts racing through the upmost surface, unable to control what was going on inside her mind. She was going to die. 0:24:37.

They were going to die.

NO!!

Samus screamed out mentally, leaping forward on legs that felt like they were made of lead. Fly me, Chozo ancestors, she thought dumbly, fly... There was no way she was going to make it... 0:10:18.

The entrance was just ahead. And she was skimming the floor, her motion a blur even to herself, power she had never know she posessed making her legs race forward. Her mouth was open, gasping, sucking in too little air with each gigantic breath...

0:00:00.

The earth shook as tons of explosives detonated, the sound thundering through every bone in her body and every thought in her head. Samus put on a burst of speed, stumbled, and felt the ground that was suddenly against her stomach quake as a wave of intense heat surrounded her body.

(HAHAHA! Didn't I tell you I love cliffies?

On a different note, I'm sorry to all you dramatic people who think he should have died. I can put my chracters through a lot of cruelty, but in the end I'm really soft-hearted...I couldn't stand leaving poor Samus like that...besides, what's the point of bringing Adam back to life in a fanfic if he just dies anyway???

NeoAvatar—yeah, I meant yeldiR to be obvious (I mean, seriously. I spelled it out AND capitalized the last letter). Thanks for the thoughtful review, it seems there are very few people who are good at those.

Not that everyone who just says "it was good, update"doesn't rock, or anything... Thank you, all my reviewers!!

 so please review again  )

--AA-M