A/N : Well this is the new chapter, i hope you didn't wait long...the next chapter is half written. I really hope you'll like this one.
fan - Well i hope that i'll continue to write this story until it'll end, thank you for reviewing.
amy - hey it's not the end yet! I couldn't possibly want to make you suffer that much...and thanks for your review.
JG - thank you for reviewing...
KirstyKane - thanks for the review.
honey00 - i hope this is fast enough for you...
Guest type person - well, i'm sorry that you had tears in your eyes...thanks for the review...
Lozz422 - you're all asking the same question : did Max die or not? well read this chapter...i liked you're review...thank you...you're right about Max's thought about the fact that Alec 'rejects' her you know.
callie - how could you think that i could write a ML story...i mean, i'm sorry for all those who read ML but, i personally can't write an ML story...thanks for the review about the story...
Aur - i hope i did update soon enough...
pixie ray - did Max die or not? that is the question...thank you for reviewing.
Angel Of Darkness231 - hey you! thanks for the reviews and the compliment...don't pout...
Baby22 - so you think that killing Max wasn't better? I'm sorry but it was needed...thanks for the review...and i thought that a moment with Max and Alec was becoming necessary...they really some time alone...
willow98002 - I'm sorry for the end, and at the same time, i'm not, coz, well it was needed...thanks for reviewing.
Thanks to all of you who reviewed, i was doing my 'victory dance' when i read all you reviews yesterday...yeah, i know pathetic...You're the best...kisses and hugs for all of you...
Alec was kissing Max goodbye when Dix barged in.
« I decyphered it! » he shouted.
« You decyphered what? » snapped Alec angrily. He was about to go out and call Max's siblings.
« The papers you gave me, i know what it means! » said Dix with enthusiasm.
« It doesn't matter anymore, she's dead now. I don't care. » groaned Alec.
« But... »
« No buts Dix. I couldn't protect her, how am i suppose to lead you? »
« Stop that Alec! » barked CeCe who entered the room with Ari on her tail. « Do you think that's what she would like you to do? »
« It doesn't matter anymore! She's dead! Don't you get it! »
« Now Alec you're really pathetic! » said Ari harshly.
« Would you listen up! » shouted Dix at the top of his lungs.
During three years, they had never heard Dix yelling or shouting. Sometimes he groaned, mostly because he had an argument with Mole. But that was it. It was the first time ever, that Dix was shouting.
« What? » inquired Alec a bit curious as to why Dix wanted to have their undivided attention.
« The papers...what she wrote...I decyphered it... »
« So... i don't see how it will help us... » said CeCe.
« Would you let me finish! She wrote down the antidote! » Dix announced angrily, but yet with much confidence.
« What? » cried Alec and CeCe in unison.
« The first page gave me the solution. » Dix continued.
« And? »
« The antidote is the blood. We need to transfuse her. »
« But we are already transfusing her! » stated Alec angrily. Why did Dix told him he had the antidote and relive the fire of hope he had that Max could again smile to him, yell at him, put her hands on her hips, ride her baby...His train of thought were interupted by Dix.
« Not our blood. But familiar's blood. I already told Joshua to bring the phalanx guy. »
At that moment Joshua entered the room with an unconscious phalanx on the shoulder.
« Here's our antidote. » said Dix cheerfully.
« It seems like Max saw this coming : She was the one who wanted him to stay alive. » said Alec. « Put the IV on. »
As Cece was doing as she was told, Alec turned to Dix with thankful eyes.
« Are you sure it's going to work? » he inquired.
« According to what she wrote, it will. All we have to do now is wait. » the nomlie said reassuringly.
As the familiar was dying from 'giving' (It's not like he was happy to do it!) his blood away, Max's heart beat was getting stronger. And when the familiar died, Max woke up.
She panicked a bit when she opened her eyes to see the dead familiar chained to a chair next to her bed and the IV 'tying' them together.
« It's okay you're safe. » said Alec soothingly. He was on the other side of ther bed. « He's dead. » he stated.
The statement didn't have the effect he wanted. He wanted her to feel safe but instead, she took refuge in his arms immediately.
« Why you brought me back in the warehouse. I don't want to stay here Alec. » she paused a moment. Her breathing was ragged, he was clearly smelling her fear.
« You're not in the warehouse Max. you're in TC. You're safe. »
Now she was starting to remember, the treaty, the coktail at Marshall's mansion. And then, she was shot. God it was painful. Why was she always shot in the guts? Alec was a bullet magnet compared to her, but he always managed to get shot (not that he did it on purpose) in the shoulders. One time, he was even shot in the butt. But never in the guts.
She put a hand on her stomach as she felt the constant aching area.
« I was shot. » she stated.
« We almost lost you tonight. God i was so afraid. Miles already said that you were dead. That we couldn't do anything. »
She raised her head to look at him and noticed he had been crying. He had dark circles under his eyes, he looked haunted. In a few hours, he had aged. He was obviously worried sick about her. How could she think that the fact that he didn't aknowlegde her meant that he didn't feel any connections to her and was planning to mate with a more interesting X5. Someone that didn't escape in 09 probably.
« I'm not dead Alec. » it was all she could say.
« I know. » he nodded with a little smile on his lips.
They were staring at each other openly, taking strength from their silence. This silence wasn't an eerie one, it was warm, hot, really hot.
« Where are the others? » she finally asked.
« We didn't know for sure that it could work...so we said nothing to the others...they should be here in any minute...plus, Jondy and Syl couldn't stand seeing you that way...dying... » he choked on the word.
She put her hand on his.
« It was that bad, huh? » she whispered.
« That bad. » he said on the same tone.
« What he is doing here? » Max asked pointing the familiar. She couldn't help that an ennemy (he was dead but it didn't changed the fact that he was ennemy) was witnessing her intimate interaction with Alec.
« You needed his blood to live. » he said.
« Oh...oh! Nice way of dying. » she joked half heartedly.
« For once those stupid familiars are useful. »
Silence.
« I'll get him out. » said Alec.
Max was happy that he felt her uneasiness and dragged the familiar out of her room. For a few seconds she was alone and thousand questions went through her head. Why she needed that amount of blood and why from a familiar? She had already been shot (more than once), and as an X5, she should have been able to get on her feet the day after. Why did they all thought she was going to die. She didn't hear Alec ushering himself in the deserted room again.
As if he read her mind, again, he started to tell her about the last eight hours.
« How did you knew about the blood? » she inquired.
« Dix had managed to translate your scriblings... » Alec started.
« Really? »
She chuckled a bit.
« You saved yourself. He said you wrote that the antidote was the familiar's blood. Is that why you kept him around? The familiar i mean. » asked Alec.
She shook her head no.
« I thought about the X7s and probably get him to talk a bit. I don't know about what, but i don't know why. I just felt he should stay alive. » she admitted.
Miles and Tara, the chief medics choose that moment to make an apparition.
« Max! » Tara breathed. « Thank God you're alive. »
« Thanks to Dix. » Max said. « I don't even know what those writings meant. » She admitted.
« That's why we need the psy tests. » said Miles. He was happy that Max was alive but he was worrying. They need to know what happened in the warehouse.
« Give her some room. » chided Tara. « If i'm correct, it's the second time your back from the dead. » she teased.
« It's becoming a bad habit, like smocking you know. » Max replied on the same teasing tone.
« We'll do your check up later so that you two lovebirds can catch up. »
Max laughed. She wasn't sure yet if Alec was ready to tell her how he felt. She didn't know if she was herself.
« Can you believe it, they think that we're... »
She was cut in by Alec crushing his lips on her, kissing like there was no tomorrow, afraid that he was only dreaming, that she hadn't woke up and was really dead.
She parted her lips and let him exploure her warm mouth. When they finally pulled away – reluctantly – for some much needed air, Alec looked at her straight in the eye.
« After last night, i don't give a damn about what they think. I really thought i lost you...i... »
He sighed.
Max's breathing was ragged again, but it wasn't because she was afraid this time. It was the thrill of the moment. Alec was pouring his heart to her. Something she thought she would never witness. Not because she would die, but Alec had never been the type of person to tell you easily what his feelings was. Well, she wasn't that type either. Probably because of what they had endured at Manticore.
« I don't know what i'm going to do without you Max. » he said.
« Who said i was going anywhere? » she inquired in a teasing voice.
« You almost died tonight. »
« Ok. But it's not the first time, probably not the last, that people want me dead in a bad way. It'll happen to you too. » she said impatiently. « What's that has to do with the kiss? »
« I don't want to waste any seconds or minutes that i would spend with you. I...I care about you. »
« I know Alec. » she whispered taking hold of his hand again. He need help. « I know. »
« I'm sorry if you don't...you know... »
Max kissed him with the same passion as Alec.
« ...feel the same. » he whispered to finish his sentence.
« I thought you'd never shut up. » she teased.
Again, his mouth was on hers and their tongues were battling.
It was in this very compromissing position, Alec on top of her, still fully dressed, (thank god, she thought later), kissing her wildly, that her siblings and Alec's unit entered her room.
« I told you all we should have knocked! » said a very amused Ari.
Krit and Zane were staring daggers at Alec but at the same time, they couldn't help but smile too. Too happy that their baby sister was alive and well.
Syl and Jondy were already hugging Max.
« Air needed here! » Max managed to say.
« Sorry. » Jondy apologized.
Syl punched her playfully.
« Don't do that again! » Syl ordered Max. « We were worried sick about you! We thought we lost you. »
Her sisters eyes were starting to water.
« Come here. » said Max opening her arms again.
Alec had to wait two hours before his unit and Max's siblings left the room. Before they left, Krit and Zane had cornered him away from Max and the girls and told him clearly that if he broke Max's heart, they would fed him to the X7s, but not before ripping his heart.
He just nodded. He was sure, he and Max were about to live happily together till the End. Not that it was going to be easy, especially with her temper and all, but she was what he wanted, she made him feel special, loved and safe.
The day after, she had to reassure Marshall that she was alive.
« I'm alive. » she said for the hundred time.
« When i saw you...and the blood...i've never see so much in all my life. » admitted the senator.
« I'm stronger than that. » she assured with a small smile. « I'll be ok, i just need to rest a bit. »
« Be assured that we'll do our best to find who ordered this terrorist attack. » informed Marshall.
« I know that. And i trust you. I'll better go now. My babysitters want me to stay in bed. » concluded Max.
« Of course, of course. I'll contact you as soon as i get more info on it. »
Max nodded.
Later that day, she had managed to convince Alec to let her come with him at the meeting.
« What do we have? » asked Alec.
« The guys we brought. They were not familiars. No mark, no twisted caduceus. But at the base of their neck, there's some hints that tell us they regularly received a shot of some sort there. » informed Nate. « I already asked Miles to do some blood test. »
« Dix? » said Alec turning to face the nomlie.
« Well it seems that you saved yourself when you wrote the solution down. » started Dix.
Max squeezed Alec's hand. It was common knowledge that they were together.
« But beside that, you just wrote some nonsense. Or maybe it isn't. » he continued.
« What did i wrote? » Max inquired.
« Something like : They'll come! They'll come! They'll come! The last line is a bit hard for me to trasnlate and it may not be the exact translation but you seemed to have wrote that 'a trinity will divide and remain one' » looking at his audience, Dix shrugged and added « I told you i'm not sure of that part. »
« You mean that's what i wrote on three pages? »
« Well the first page, you only wrote blood! Blood!. Mix the familiar blood with the Manticore. Actually you wrote mantikhoras. It's greek. But i'll come to that later. So : Mix the familiar blood with the Manticore will be our salvation. »
« That's how you got me back. » commented Max as Alec pulled her more tightly to him.
« I think the greek word is a hint you gave us. So i've made a research. After all the familiar's mark is a sort of caduceus, which was Hermes' symbol in the greek mythology. Remember Joshua's medaillon. »
« And? »
« It seems that there is another group. Similar to the familiar. But they don't seem to get along with the familiars a lot. In fact, their rivalry is as old as their existence. »
« You're wrong Dix. » Max intervened.
« No. I made the research myself... »
« No. Not about that. But the thing with the trinity. It doesn't mean trinity, it means three. As the familiars, the Seekers, and us. »
« The what? » inquired Nate.
« The Seekers. » repeated Alec eyeing Max.
« I think, i wrote :From the three only one will rise. »
Dix seemed to think about it and then he nodded his agreement.
« It makes sense. » he added.
« How do you remember? » asked Alec to his raven haired mate.
« Remember what? » said Max.
« The Seekers. You said that when you entranced. » informed Alec. « You said they'll come for you. »
« I...I don't know. I just...know. » Max plopped on a chair with weariness. She was frustrated. She didn't want to remember but yet sometimes, there were bits of informations like this one for example that pop into her mind. It was starting to get to her nerves.
« Back to the seekers – as you put it Max – i haven't found anything else but i'm still digging. »
« But why are they attacking us now? » wondered Nate out loud.
« They only shot once. » noted Sid who spoke up for the first time. « They shot Max. »
« What are you implying? » inquired Max.
« I think they killed the familiars back in the warehouse and i think that Max witnessed it. » continued Sid.
Max flinched. She had made herself forget. But now they needed the informations in her head, and she wasn't sure if she was ready to remember what happened. She was afraid of the images she would find there, in that dark corner of her memory.
« They don't really attack us. They want to kill Max. » Nate concluded following Sid's argument.
« Lydecker told me there was something unusual with my DNA. Do you think there's a link? » guessed Max.
« Probably. » nodded Alec though he didn't trust Lydecker, like all the persons present in the room.
« You need to remember Max. » Sid stated. « For our sake. For the humanity's sake. » she added after a few seconds of silence.
Max just nodded absentmindedly.
Max had requested that Alec stayed with her during her sessions with Sid. Sessions that she nicknamed the 'psycho time'.
Two weeks had passed since she'd been shot but they still had nothing. Max didn't remember, or more clearly, Max didn't want to remember and she was making a good job at it.
« We're going to try something new today. » announced Sid.
« Something new like : you're going to leave my mind alone? » Max teased.
« You seem to be in a good mood. » stated Sid.
« I am. » confirmed Max.
« I think that you'll like my surprise then. » Sid continued.
Alec entered their apartment with OC.
« Cindy! » cried Max jumping out of the chair she was sitting to hug her friend.
« Hey boo! »
Since she had been shot, she didn't saw her friend, not once. Miles and Alec refused that she leave her bed during one week and then Alec was overprotecting her by preventing lots of people to approach her. Only her siblings and Joshua were authorized to do so and only one hour per day.
« I missed you. » murmured the raven haired X5.
« You better. » said OC as she pulled away.
« What are you doing here? I mean it's not that i'm not happy to see you but...um...what does it have to do with Sid? » Max inquired.
« Well, you don't respond well to our sessions. For a girl laking ten years of training you're doing a pretty good job of keeping your mind shut. So i thought that an afternoon with Cindy would help you to later, open up to me. I won't stay. There's no sessions today. » said Sid.
Max was nodding her head happily.
« Thanks. » she said sincerely.
« You're welcome. » uttered Sid as she exited Alec and Max's apartment.
« Ladies, do you need something to drink? Tea, coffee. Scotch, beer? » asked Alec turnig to face the two girls.
« Coffee will be fine. » said Cindy.
Sid always needed twenty minutes to get Max to talk. At the opposite, Cindy didn't need that amount of time. By the time Alec came back with the coffee, Max had told her about her life of the last two weeks, the fact that now Alec and her lived together now and some details of her life. Like the fact that in her opinion Miles and Alec had tortured her. Max was never a very talkative girl but she need to speak to someone who wouldn't ask her tons of questions and inquire if she remembered anything. OC wasn't a threat in that sense.
Soon they were talking about her feral state and all the 'stupid' things she did during that period.
« At least, I did one thing intelligent. » Max said.
« And what would that be? » asked OC in a teasing tone.
Max nodded toward Alec who was in the bedroom watching his boob tube.
« I agree! » cheered OC.
They were giggling like teenage girls.
« There is also one more good thing you did. » continued OC more seriously. « Killing Ames. »
Max fidgeted a bit on her seat but then nodded.
« I'm not the only one to have survived them you know. » Max whispered. « There was this familiar. He was Ames' second. He left soon after the Seekers. He was dying. »
« You killed Ames? Right? » inquired OC.
« They made me. » Not that i didn't want to, thought Max as she remembered the tortures she underwent. « The Seekers. They did something to me. »
Cindy didn't know who the Seekers were, but she needed Max to keep talking.
« That's why you became a big cat? » inquired OC.
« I had to fight them. They are strong. Really strong. I had to stay alive. » continued Max not really answering Cindy's question.
« Why they left you behind? »
« They thought i wasn't a threat anymore. »
As the memories flew through her head, she tilted unvoluntarily her head back and her eyes rolled back.
« She's not... »
Far in her mind Max was hearing a male voice. It wasn't talking to her.
Where was she?
Ames was dead. She made sure of that. But...who were the persons around her...she wasn't safe yet...
« She's not a threat anymore. »
Now again the voice.
« She's just a frigtened animal. Soon she'll be crazy. She won't live more than five days... »
Was he talking about her? And what was that constant buzz in her head, like voices talking in to her...calling...her?
She was confused.
She knew she was in danger but yet none of her opponent were attacking her.
« I still think that we should bring her back with us. »
No, thought Max.
« No! » said another voice. « We won't bring an impure with us! You know the rules! Ler her die alone. We've enoughly played with her. »
What did they do to me?
Slowly she felt all the presence around her fade. They went away.
She had stayed alone, on her own for what seemed an eternity to her. And then Alec arrived. He had arrived to rescue her but it was too late. Or was it?
« Alec! » yelled OC.
As Alec entered the living room, Max's eyes snapped open.
« Be aware of the Seekers. They are monsters. In the blood are the answers! »
then she passed out.
« you taped everything? » asked Cindy. « I don't want to do that again. And i don't think she'll trust me again. »
« Yeah i did. Don't worry she'll never know. At least i hope. Anyway, she'll be pissed at me, not at you. I'll take her to the bed. » he said as he lifted her off the ground very easily.
« Why is it so important that she remember? » inquired the African American girl.
« She has answers. The answers we need to defeat the familiars and some other looneys. And those ones are stronger than the familiars. Therefore, stronger than us. »
Cindy was one of the few humans he trusted with his life. He knew that he could trust her with everything and especially with everything about Max. He had always envied the relationship Max had with OC.
When the sessions with Sid didn't work, he had thought of Original Cindy. He had even been scolding himself for not thinking of it more earlier. It was so stupid because he knew that OC was the only person Max confided into freely.
With the right incensitive (a little something in her coffe) and she would be chating like a parrot.
He knew it was...wrong to do that to her but they needed answers...fast.
Max woke up very pissed off.
« I know you did it! » she said coldly glaring at Alec and flicking off his boob tube.
« Max! It was my favorite show... »
« You put something in my coffee! » she stated.
That stopped his train of thoughts as he was about to tell her how interesting the 'New Jerry Springer show' was.
« Answer me. » she yelled.
She was doing something rather contradictory as she put her hands to her ears.
« Would you calm down?! » he shot back.
Ok, he knew one way or another, she would end up knowing he played her. But not that soon. Someone hadn't keep his mouth shut...but then again, nobody came to see her yet and she had been sleeping since she passed out. There was no way she could have...
« Answer me Alec! » she repeated.
At least, he wasn't wrong when he said that she would be royally pissed at him.
« I don't know what you're talking about. » he lied.
She pushed the play button on the radio cassette player and her voice and OC's filled the apartment.
Alec sighed.
« Not very intelligent. » she commented.
« I...ok...I did it...but you would have done the same thing. » he said.
« You shoudn't have done that. Don't do that again. Don't use my friends like that again. »
She didn't need to add 'or else i'll leave you' for he was reading it in her eyes. 494 gulped down.
« I'm sorry. Really sorry. But I...we needed you to remember. »
« I know. » she agreed. « But i really don't like your methods. »
« Max? Do you remember? » he inquired.
« Yes. I remember. »
Alec was thrilled about the fact that she remembered.
« That's great! » he said exitedly.
« Don't shout. It's already hard to hear your normal voice. » she complained. She put her hands to her ears again.
« Well thanks! » he pouted. « It's good to feel I'm appreciated. »
« You don't understand they changed me. And if you could whisper when you talk it would be great. You're like yelling when you talk normally. »
« Wh...but...What? »
« I said don't yell, ok! » she pleaded. « I swear i could hear a pin drop in six miles around if i want to. I'm trying to shut down my senses, or at least controlling them. »
Alec's jaw dropped.
« Thank God you took your shower. I can tell you Jaz didn't. And he's heading here. With Ari and Syl. »
Five minutes later, Ari, Syl and Jaz arrived at their apartment. Alec looked at Max.
« How did you do that? » he asked.
« Smelled them. Heard them talking. »
« Heard you passed out? » inquired Syl.
« I'm ok. Don't worry. But my sense are kinda more sensitive. More accurate. »
« More that sensitive. » commented Alec. « She smelled... »
« And heard. » Max added.
« And heard you coming five minutes ago. »
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