Help me!
Prologue
Disclaimers: I own no part of DA, more's the pity.
A/N: Logan only plays a peripheral role in this.
The ringing phone ruthlessly plucked Alec from the dream he had been thoroughly enjoying only a minute before. A groggy glance at the alarm clock on his bedside table showed that it was just shy of three am. "This had better be an emergency or I swear to god." Grabbing the phone off the hook, he peripherally registered that he did not know the number. After clearing his throat, Alec mumbled something into the phone an extremely generous listener would have interpreted as 'hello'.
"Alec?" The tiny voice coming from the phone was so small Alec had trouble identifying it.
"Who is this?" he asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. The only response was a sob barely heard above the static of the bad connection.
"Who is this?" Alec repeated a little louder.
He heard a deep breath, then: "It's me, Alec. Max." Again he heard the crying.
"Max, where are you? What's wrong?" As adrenaline surged through his system all traces of tiredness were washed away before it.
"I killed him, Alec. Help me."
"Max! Where are you?" Worry was gnawing at his gut. This was so unlike Max. She was strong and stubborn. She wasn't supposed to be sobbing down the phone, sounding like a child that had been beaten once too often.
"I don't know. White was here."
"WHITE? Max, get outta there. I'll come and get you. Just tell me where you are, sweetheart." Alec's heart broke at the renewed sobbing.
"I don't know, Alec. They took me. White was there. Then we were alone. I think I killed him. God, the blood. Ben, I'm so sorry."
Now Alec was really worried. For Max to confuse him with her dead brother Ben, something bad had to have happened. And the blood did not help. He had to find her.
"Okay Maxie. I need you to take a deep breath and tell me what you can see. I'm going to come get you. What can you see?"
A tremulous sound over the line showed that Max was trying to follow his orders. He heard shuffling, punctuated by moans that did nothing to alleviate his worries and only served to harden his determination.
"Alec?"
"Yes, I'm here. What can you see?"
"Big room. Skylights. Very dirty. There are lots of boxes. Says 'ray's' and then its smudged. Ends in 'etts'." A hitching breath followed by more shuffling and a groan. "Doors're locked. Can see something round. And spaghetti." Her voice trailed off in a sigh.
"Max!"
His desperate exclaim elicited no response from the other end of the phone.
"MAX! Talk to me. Deep breaths, honey. You have to stay with me." His reward was a tiny voice, inaudible to all but transgenic hearing.
"Looks like spaghetti. Blue and green. Meatball on top." Her words started to slur. "I can hear screaming?" Once again her voice trailed away.
"Max! Can you hear me? Max!"
"Alec, come quick. It hurts."
Alec thought he heard a heavy object falling and then there was only static.