REUNION

- by Moonlight -

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Chapter 3

They had broken her. And with breaking her, they had broken him as well. Then he had given up.

She didn't recognize any of her family, not him, nor Jill. Not Cece, Biggs or Kaz...nobody. It almost killed them, the only thought that kept them going, was the one to be free of Manticore one day, find her and get back the warm-hearted and courageous girl, who had wriggled her way into everyone's heart to stay there forever.

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Why couldn't this stupid camera show her face? He wanted to see her face, he needed to! He recognized her voice... but what if he was wrong? What if it wasn't her?

He began panicking when she climbed down that barrel.

She couldn't go. She couldn't leave him now! Not before he had seen her. And never if it really was her! His heartbeat increased and his eyes began to move rapidly searching the screen for any clue – but the girl was already walking away, with her back still to them.

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"Now, do you care to tell us who that was?"

Alec was frozen in shock and helplessness but Max's question shook him out of the state he was in and brought him back to reality. His brain finally caught up with his heart and within the blink of an eye he was blurring out of headquarters, not bothering to reply, leaving speechless transgenics behind, not including Cece and Kaz who were following Alec closely.

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"What the..." Max yelled incredulous, her temper getting the better of her, "He can't be serious! That jerk is getting himself killed running right into the mob! He can't expect me save his sorry ass every time he gets into trouble! When will he start to take responsibility for his actions?

Not only will he get himself killed but Cece and Kaz, too! You should think Biggs' death finally forced him to grow up but nooo. He is a transgenic damn it but he acts like a five year old without any common sense! I will never understand how Manticore could make him CO!"

Fuming Max grabbed her jacket before blurring after them, still fighting these weird feelings inside her with all her mind. She wouldn't loose him, not to death and not to a foreign girl! But why did she care? After all she couldn't loose someone she never had. The thought should have been a comforting one but somehow it was the opposite. Her heart stung at that thought.

But what about Logan? He was the one she had been fighting for all the time in a desperate try to get back what they had lost. In a try to find a cure so she could finally be with the man she loved. It was all Alec's fault! If it wasn't for him...

Being preoccupied like that she didn't notice the hostile and angry glances directed at her. They had put up with her bitching about Alec because he told them to stay out of it and they respected him too much to go against his wishes. But this time Max had gone to far.

The transgenics in TC were still shaken by Alec's reaction and strongly worried about him but Max? Max didn't care about his feelings, only about herself. She may be the self-appointed leader of TC but their real leader was no other than Alec and it was time Max got to learn about that the hard way.

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The three transgenics jumped the perimeter fence without caring about the people standing behind it. Their only thought left inside them, was the girl who was walking away from them slowly. They wouldn't let her disappear again, because deep down in their hearts they already knew, it was her.

Alec had known from the beginning when he felt this weird tug in his heart but he still didn't dare to believe it.

Some people were knocked to the side but they didn't even have the strength to get angry ,they felt exhausted after their fury had gone, leaving them behind with nothing but their conscience that started to pull them down. They also realized that they had come for the girl. The reporter did too and made her cameraman follow them, giving the transgenics inside TC the chance to follow the events outside.

It appeared that everyone was holding their breath when Alec, Cece and Kaz finally reached the girl in the distance.

The hectic reporter cursed because she realized her cameraman wouldn't be fast enough to catch the conversation.

They came to a halt only few steps away from the retreating back of the girl. Cece and Kaz looked at Alec and suddenly he felt as afraid as never before in his life. He extended his hand to touch her shoulders but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

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It was her, he could smell her familiar scent but he could also smell her devastation and he cringed inside .He wasn't able to take away his eyes from her for even a second.. There could have been White's Familars around him right now and he wouldn't even have realized. All his senses were completely fixed on the girl beside him only few steps away.

"San...Sanji?" He whispered shakily, his voice rough with restrained emotions.

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There was that tug again, this all too familiar tug at her heart, only this time it was much stronger than it ever was before. It reminded her of feelings she once had, feelings she once received - but that was a long time ago. They were all dead.

A small tear trickled down her cheek, she wouldn't be alone for a long time anymore, soon she would be with them again. No more feeling hollow and empty. No more feeling devastated, sad and alone. Cold and afraid. Even though there seemed to be something that wanted to hold her back, she kept on walking towards the Space Needle, her haven.

It had been too much, she was an empty shell now, walking around, having lost all connection to the conscious part of herself. She couldn't think anymore, couldn't remember, all she could do was feeling the coldness inside her.

There was a voice beside her, a familiar one , but Sanji kept walking without faltering in her steps. She wanted to turn around but her body didn't do what she wanted it to. She was captured in her own mind. She knew this voice! She did! She had to turn around, she just had, she knew it!

This voice, it couldn't be! It had been her life for a while before they took it away from her, before he left her! It couldn't be, her mind was playing tricks on her. Inside she fought with herself, to make herself turn around.

It felt like ages until she finally was able to do so. To the outside she still looked the same with hollow eyes but inside she was awake again, screaming to be set free .

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Max stopped dead in her track when she saw the scene in front of her. All three transgenics gathered around this girl with similar expressions on their faces. A mixture of hope, sorrow, disbelief and most of all fear.

Such gazes had never been directed at her. Alec had never looked at her like that.

Suddenly she felt tired, oh so tired. All anger leaving her, her shoulders slumped down. The wall she had erected around her heart crumbled and then broke down entirely when Alec extended his shaking hand to touch the girl. There she was, finally admitting to herself that she had fallen in love with the hazel-eyed transgenic, when at last she was just able to turn away from her bitchy attitude towards him, taking every feeling of happiness, vibrancy and belonging with him – leaving only self-hatred and pain.

With eyes as dry as sandpaper of un-cried tears, she watched them immobile, torturing herself. She would never see his eyes on her with such a breathtaking look of love, she would never get to feel his soft lips on hers and never could she enjoy the pleasure in telling him she loved him.

Never.

He didn't love her and even if he did...she didn't deserve him. His lips would be on someone else's ...and she would watch and break inside over and over again because that was what she deserved for treating Alec the way she did , as an annoying side-kick who never could do anything right. After one last glance she turned around, walking away without any spirit left in her.

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Preview

Slowly he lowered his head until his lips were only millimetres from her own; as if he were asking for permission he stopped for a second and looked up into her glittering eyes again with something like hesitancy shining in his own.

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Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own anything to do with Dark Angel. But I do own my original characters and nobody can make me get rid of them:)