Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't sue. I own nothing but what's in my head. And about 2000 books.

A/N: Well, here it is. The last chapter. Did kinda turn out different than I thought. More violence for one, Ben popped up and left again. Weird. Just once I would like a story to stay on the road I mapped out, even if I do lose the plan. Have I mentioned that I like half-open endings. Potential is a great thing, although having said that I have a teensy idea for a one-shot sequel. Darn. Will post it as a post epilogue epilogue.

Dedicated to candyabble, who wrote the most reviews - thank you - and made me cry with her last one - in a good way. Hope you like the end.

Epilogue

The rain was a slight drizzle at this point in time. Over night a thunderstorm had raged across the city, torrents of rain hitting the buildings and sluicing down the walls, washing away the detritus of the long weeks before, leaving the city clean and cool. Towards the morning the storm had faded away, and now the clouds were breaking up allowing the first rays of weak sunlight to filter through the clean air.

Only the quick actions of some of the transgenics had stopped the rain from ruining everything.

Max was glad for it as she sat in her window seat, staring out with nary a blink from her veiled eyes. No thoughts were apparent for the discerning watcher. Still as a statue, she might as well have been one for the emotion she showed.

The image of Ben still haunted her. When she had been in that park it had been almost fun to battle the Familiars. She should have known straight away that it was a trap, White never sent less than eight Familiars when he once again tried to kidnap her. The dance had been swift and brutal. Just because she didn't use a gun didn't mean that she couldn't do some serious damage. The Familiars weren't even holding their own, another sign that things were not quite as they seemed. It had been amusing, until that voice broke through her concentration. It didn't even surprise her that she knew immediately who it was. She could never mix Alec up with anyone else, had come to know him too well in the time since springing him from Manticore. Which only left an impossible answer. As if choreographed the Familiars had parted so she could see who stood behind them. Ben, alive and with a ruthless sense of purpose exuding from his body, making perfectly clear that this time round she was his quarry, the person he had come to get and take with him. The fight had sagged out of her, she deserved this, having sent him to the nothingness. The following few hours were a blur, as she was roughly bundled up, shoved in a van and driven around town for a while, before ending up in that warehouse.

She had come to lying on the ground, with Ames White standing over her and taunting her. If she closed her eyes she could still hear his words as if he stood right next to her.

"Hello, 452. Like my present for you? Took me ever so much effort to get it for you. You wouldn't believe the time it took, not to mention the money." He kicked her in the ribs. "But then again nothing is too good for my little enemy of choice." Lifting one finger, he ordered Ben over to join them.

It made Max's heart ache to see the void on her brother's face. This was the soldier, devoid of any and all emotion, intent on only one purpose, to eliminate the target. Moving slowly, she pulled herself up against the crate behind her, realising once again her purpose. Ignoring White, she addressed Ben.

"Ben, you don't have to do this. It's me, Max."

Ames White had laughed so hard he cried. "That's the funniest thing I've heard all week. There's nothing you can do 452 that will stop 493. He is here with only the one order. To kill you." Looking between the siblings, he left with a final parting shot. "I'll just leave you to it then, shall I. Family reunions can be so messy. Fen'ostol."

As if that last word had been an order, Ben dropped into battle stance. A single tear hanging to her lashes Max followed suit. The battle was horrendous, worse than the forest so many months before. Throughout, Max pleaded with Ben to listen to her, didn't he recognise her, he was her brother. Not a single word managed to scratch the surface of the perfect soldier. Only Max's will and the feeling that she could not die with so much left undone and unsaid let her prevail in the end. The finale was an eerie repetition of their last battle. Max ended up with Ben immobilised against her chest, on her knees in the centre of the warehouse. Staring down into his hazel eyes, that had once shown so much emotion but were now blank with hate, Max steeled herself and keeping eye contact this time broke his neck once again. At the last possible moment, when it was too late to stop the movement, Max thought she detected a flash of the old Ben buried deep within the depths of his eyes.

She should have been surprised when the phone dropped from her pocket, but nothing could get past the shock coursing through her system, leaving room for only one thought. Alec. Alec would fix this. Alec would find her.

And he had. Caught her when she was falling, saved her from herself, let her grieve, had the right words at the right time, helped her organise the funeral. Nobody was going to get their grubby paws on Ben this time round. It was his idea to make a great funeral pyre in the centre of TC. White's body was placed below Bens, as Dix had found old legends in which heroes were burnt with the bodies of their enemies, that these may serve them for all eternity. It seemed fitting. All the transgenics turned out to watch, as Alec carried the white clad Ben and laid him out on top of the great wood pile.

The transgenics came to watch, in part to see the man who had meant so much to their leaders and in part to finally see their enemy burn. It was Max who held the flame to the base of the pyre. And in the end only her and Alec watched it burn down to the cinders. It had been Alec who held her as she cried, helped her back to her room and stayed with her until she felt well enough to resume her duties.

Well, their duties. Max had finally realised that she did not need to do everything alone. It was okay to share.

"You ready?"

The voice from the door shook her from her reverie. Turning slightly she looked at the person standing in the door. Alec was leaning comfortably against the jam, a slight smile playing his lips. An oh so familiar glint was in his eyes. The black suit looked truly fantastic on him, defining the form and giving an elegant edge to the power inherent in every line of his body.

A brilliant smile came to Max's face, filling her eyes with light, transforming her from very beautiful to stunning.

"Of course. Just lost in memories."

"Good ones?"

A wistful smile swept her face and past tragedies played in her eyes.

"We'll make good ones."

Alec smiled at her, the smile he reserved only for her and sauntered over to her. Bowing ever so slightly, he held out a hand to help her to her feet. Gracefully, Max placed her white gloved hand in his and stood up slowly, careful not to snag her full skirts anywhere.

She shivered when Alec traced a single finger along her bare shoulder and twirled one of the little curls framing her face, leaning into the familiar feeling.

"You look ravishing."

A light blush stained her cheeks and her gaze fell away from his. Then swung back with an impudent glint when Alec chuckled.

Turning them both, he tucked her hand into his elbow.

"Shall we?"

"We shall. It's time."

Their flat was left empty, but not desolate, awaiting the time when they would return with laughter and maybe one day a new family.