Don't own em, never will. Seems to be a recurring trend in my life.

Nameless

"Seriously, no matter what they tell you it's all about sound." 528 said animatedly.

"Sound?" 494 repeated.

"Everything's louder out there and has more layers." 528 said. It was dark and 494's unit was sitting up talking, or rather listening to 528 and 603 talk about their first away mission.

"It's not about sound." 603 interrupted. Behind his back 528 pulled a face, something she'd learned on the outside 494 guessed.

"Yes it is." She'd insisted. "When we arrived that's all I could think of, how noisy it was out there."

Alec glared at the barred door, it was at times like this he agreed with 528. All he could think of was the noise outside. The noise of the crowd outside Jampony talking, discussing how they should die.

No matter how hard she tried 528 couldn't get up. Something was very wrong she realised as she moved her hand from her stomach. Her blood was sticky and black and she felt so cold. 494 and 603's faces wavered in an d out of focus. They seemed worried and X5s shouldn't be worried. "I should tell them that." She said drowsily.

494 and 603 looked at each other over 528's head. "Liver?" 603 said.

494 didn't need to look again to make sure. "She's dead." He said shortly. "Orders are to retrieve all casualties, even KIAs." 803 nodded, even though he was technically in charge of this mission, it felt better having 494 make the decision. 494's face softened as he looked back at 528 who had closed her eyes, not long to go. "I'll carry her."

After that day 528 never reappeared. The others in her unit had to pretend they didn't care. But for the longest time they left a spot for on parade. It didn't matter that they did, a new soldier arrived to fill it. 528.

Alec watched Max through half-closed eyes, pretending to be asleep. It was too hard to feign, Logan was talking about Eyes Only again. Alec had never told Max that was one of the reasons the X5s of his unit had been less than friendly to her. She'd taken 528's place and she was no 528. "I wonder what name she would have chosen," he mused, straightening in his chair when it sounded like Logan was winding down.

Even though Alec had considered the meeting counterproductive Max declared it otherwise and dismissed them. It didn't bother him though, he had no commitments for at least an hour so he could do as he liked. As Alec wandered back to his apartment, he started thinking of what name he would have given to 528. The problem was, the only names he could think of were taken. Gem would have been okay, something sparkling and valuable. He pushed past Lucky on his way. Might have done at some stage, but it would have been a bad joke to call her that now.

"Something upsetting you pretty boy?" Mole asked gruffly, hiding a thin level of real concern.

Alec broke into a grin. "Nah, just thinking."

"Don't hurt yourself."

If it had been anyone else Alec would have had a retort ready, but since it was Mole he let the comment slide. "Anything that really needs to be discussed?" he asked.

"Mostly the same old complaints." Mole replied. "Food water, medical supplies."

"And cigars." Alec added. "Can't forget those.""

"Got that right." Mole gazed adoringly at his now much larger gun collection, while smoking one of the mentioned cigars. "Some more weapons and ammunition wouldn't hurt either."

"I'll see what I can do." Mole just nodded, probably to indicate he was free to go now.

Mole watched the X5 walk away, narrowly avoiding walking into people. If It had been anyone else, Mole wouldn't have cared it they were depressed. But Alec? Everyone looked to the guy to see how to behave. "Otherwise we'd be stuck with her highness and her ordinary for an example." Mole allowed himself a small grimace.

Alec made it to his home unchallenged still thinking of names. "Sparkle?" 528 had always seemed to shine. But Sparkle would be shortened to Sparky and it wouldn't suit her at all. Alec started sifting through his extensive vocabulary searching for the perfect word. "She loved sounds." He remembered. "Pitch, Chord. Hertz." He shook his head. "Not quite."

He wandered around picking up what few objects there were, hoping for inspiration. Something unidentifiable clicked in his memory. Watching 528 sample something on an away mission. Something someone had insisted they try. "Taffy." He remembered breaking off a piece and not knowing the right words to describe what he was tasting. 528 had lit up and the good Samaritan would accept no payment, not that they'd had any to offer.

A spider had spun a web above Alec's bed, which triggered another memory. They had been marching for a long way, he wasn't even positive where they were anymore. Setting up camp for a break, 603 and 528 had discovered a spider spinning a web. The pair of them had stared at it until finally he'd had to order them to get some sleep. He'd stood watch for a few hours and found himself fascinated by the web as well. He knew it was a trap, a lure for a carnivore, but still. "Isn't it pretty?" 528 asked softly.

He hadn't felt her get up to stand behind him. "It's just a web." He said.

"But look." She'd insisted. "The patterns the lights. It's dangerous, but it's so beautiful." 528 stretched out a hand to almost touch the thin strands. "Like us."

Only 528 could have seen the similarities between a spider's web and an X5. Figures. Now he was stuck with comparison. "What's another word for web?" he wondered aloud. "Gossamer." He pulled a disgusted face. "There goes that idea."

"Talking to yourself?" Original Cindy asked.

Alec frowned, he hadn't noticed her arrive. "What?"

"You were just talking and there was no one to listen."

"Just thinking out loud."

Original Cindy looked concerned. "You alright?"

"I'm always alright." He said automatically. He didn't even think when someone asked that question anymore, his vocal chords kicked in and he gave the answer

Cindy didn't look convinced, but seemed willing to let the matter slide. "Riker is looking for you, something to do with new arrivals."

"I'm getting to it." he said. "Tell him I'll be there in an hour."

"Sure." Original Cindy almost said something else then, but chose not to. "Later."

Alec stretched out on the bed staring up at the web and the cracks in the ceiling. 528 had always seen things in a very different light than everyone else. But she managed to persuade you that her strange views made sense. Like her opinion on butterflies. Most that Alec had wheedled the information out of admitted that butterflies were delicate and sort of pretty. Not 528, she thought they were downright creepy.

"Honestly 494, they are." She insisted.

494, for he wasn't Alec then, looked sceptical. "How so?"

"All those legs, the flying right at your face and where do they go at night? I'll tell you where, they crawl across your face in the middle of the night."

494 didn't have a reply. "Spiders have lots of legs." He offered as a weak argument.

"Spiders have webs and that's where they live." 528 said defiantly. "You can't win 494, butterflies are just evil. I think anomalies have butterfly DNA and that's where the mistakes come from." 528 folded her arms across her chest. "And they taste with their feet, that's just wrong."

"Anomalies?"

528 gave him an 'are you insane?' look. "No, butterflies."

There wasn't much in Alec's apartment. But hadn't thought there was much to see in the barracks. Beds became enemy soldiers to be pounced on when she was very young, any unlucky enough to be in the bed when she did were collateral damage.

Pillows were ammunition to wielded against the unwary. Walls were patterned with pictures that 528 would describe to them all. Alec wasn't sure when 528 had lost the ability to imagine so easily. One day 603 had teased her about abed being an enemy soldier and she had given him a pitying look, she had moved on. If she saw anymore pictures on the walls she'd never told any of them about them. It was a sad day the day he realised she didn't daydream anymore.

He worried about her when she was outside. When Max had told him about Ben he'd nearly panicked, in some ways 493 and 528 sounded similar. Would his little 528 have turned crazy too? She'd been watched very careful after an officer had found out about her pretend games. Alec found himself glad sometimes that 528 had never had to find out if she could live out here on her own.

She had infiltrated a school once, she'd told them all about the students there, about how slow they were, her voice tripping and bubbling as she tried to fit everything in. In whispers she told them she'd left her friend out of her report. Her friend Susie. Susie who befriended her even though the popular kids thought she was strange. The girl who had invited her to her birthday party. Then their unit had known about birthdays. 528 hadn't cared that she didn't have one, but 603 had been upset. 528 told him that his birthday could be the third of June, like his designation.

Alec had put a stop to the conversation then. He knew it was dangerous to let her talk about the better thing that were outside.

Would 528 have named herself after Susie? He'd seen 603 and 803 had kept his birthday as the one she'd given him. 603 had called himself Deuce, a nod to the fact that he was just one of a set. Deuce had fared okay on his own, although he had been extremely pleased to see him. Alec had forgotten what it was like to see someone who was unconditionally pleased to see him. Didn't want a phone call later, didn't want anything done, had just been happy he was there. Deuce had also learned to hug on the outside.

Deuce didn't mention her at all. There were only little pieces of her left behind in the way Deuce said things sometimes. It wouldn't be much use bringing up the idea of what 528 would have called herself with Deuce. It was a cruel game to play, Alec knew, but somehow important to figure out. He'd finally worked out the importance of a name and sometimes regretted that he hadn't chosen his own. Max had become a friend, but he would have liked a real friend to have chosen his name so it was a gift. Names should be a gift, Alec decided, so the person knows that they are a gift too.

She caught him once, when he'd fallen. Stretched out a helping hand when she shouldn't have. Risked punishment for him, ignored the fact that he'd tried to shove her away and held him up. He could barely walk then, had hurt so much that he'd just let her carry him along, his arm slung over her shoulder. The corridor had never seemed so long as it had that day. Alec couldn't remember if 603 was there, his memories of that time were hazy and confusing. He just remembered her being there, something that wasn't steel or sharp, for the first time in months he'd considered trusting someone.

She was a light in the dark in that moment, guided him to a bunk, helped him sit. She'd tried to hide her frown over his injuries, the worry. No one had given a damn about his well-being for so long that he only watched her. Right then she was the hope that things could possibly get better, that he could get better.

Alec frowned, Hope wouldn't have suited her, or Faith. Their unit hadn't believed in much. Sunny? Alec thought about the dark places they'd all seen and rejected it. 528 had always sort of preferred the shadows anyway, lurking on the edges of what was happening. Never too comfortable standing out, but being unable to hide her own brilliance. He had no doubt that 528 had inspired many ordinary soldiers covered in blood and dirt, simply by being there. 603 had been put on report for beating up an ordinary soldier that he'd caught staring at her while she was sleeping. The soldier had claimed that she was a muse, poetry, a sonnet. Deuce and Alec had agreed that he was a lunatic.

Although the soldier had been right, Muse, Poetry or Sonnet could have been her name. But Alec refused to let 528 have anything that the soldier had thought of her. He hadn't like the way the man had looked at 528 at all.

Alec moved to his window staring out at a rainy day. He vaguely recalled being told that it rained an amazing amount of days in Seattle. The falling drops bounced on the edge of the window outside. He didn't really have a memory of 529 that involved rain. Overcast days, sunny days, but not rain.

He'd seen her wet, emerge dripping from the tank, or wander in to the barracks hairs still damp. But he'd never seen her standing in the rain. Part of the cat in the cocktail he guessed, maybe she hated being wet, hated the rain. Deuce would have been the one to ask, possibly one of the many secrets he'd kept for 528. All of them had their secrets, conversations and memories that they fought to keep for themselves. A tiny piece of private life in the public arena that was Manticore.

Rain was meant to be a name too, and there were many names for rain. Downpour, drizzle, shower, mist. Misty could be a name too. Something that concealed things, but could sometimes be seen through like glass. Mist shrivelled up and dies in the sunshine, just like she had.

It was hard to choose a name for someone who was dead. Harder than for someone who was alive and there to offer their opinion about it.

AN: Well? I've got two endings planned for this. Read and review if you feel so inclined.