Thanks to all the reviewers, and I'm ecstatic of such positive feedback. I really hope you continue to enjoy my story!
Callie
Title:The Rift
Rating:PG13ish or R
Characters:Max, Alec, Logan, Joshua, a few baddies, and a little of the Jam pony crew threw in occasionally.
Genre:Drama, angst, romance.
Summary: Slightly Au due to Max being cured of her virus. Max gets what she has always hoped for from Logan. Question is, why does it seem to effect her fellow X5 in such a negative manner?
Author's note:First DA fic, so be kind and R&R!
Disclaimer:Not mine.
The Rift
Ch3
2 nights later, Joshua and Alec's place:
"I'm outta here Joshua."Alec told him as he passed the couch he was sitting on while reading.
"Alec going out again tonight?"Joshua asked as his roommate picked up his coat from where he'd thrown it the night before and pulled it on.
"That's generally what ,I'm outta here, means."he replied a bit sarcastically, still more than a little pissed about the fact he'd been discussing him with Max.
"Where Alec going to?"he prodded, laying his book down in his lap.
"What, do you think you're my keeper or something?"Alec snapped in reply.
"Joshua just concerned for Alec."he said, not in the least put off by his attitude.
"Well, there's no reason for Joshua to be concerned for Alec. Alec a big boy who can take care of himself."he said slowly, and even more sarcastically.
"Alec have bruises when he come home for past several nights. Someone hurting him?"
"No, and Joshua should not concern himself with what Alec does."he answered, mocking the way he talked.
"Alec is Joshua's friend. Joshua always worry about his friends."
"Look, I appreciate it. Really, but I assure you, there's nothing for you to worry about."Alec said with a sigh, suddenly feeling bad about talking rudely to the big guy, but despite the remorse he still added,"So you don't have to run and tell ole Maxie that I'm being a bad boy."
"Joshua not tell little fella Alec is bad boy."he said, looking confused by his statement.
"Okay, whatever you say."Alec said in response as he opened the door and added over his shoulder as he exited their home."Later."
Regardless of his assurances, Joshua still felt very bothered.
Someone was hurting him because the bruises had to come from somewhere.
He would not tell little fella though, because due to her feeling that sometimes she felt he was the only person she could talk to openly, she had told him of the events that had taken place at "Crash" the night he'd woken up to find Alec drinking and upset.
Alec love Max, but Max love Logan.
He had told her with a frown that Joshua love Max too, but when she'd explained the differences in types of love he then felt that he better understood some of Alec's behavior, and it saddened him also to know that medium fella could get so upset over little fella not loving him in the same way he did her.
Little fella was not totally truthful with Joshua though, and he could sense this, and wondered if maybe she did love Alec in the same way, but if so, why did she not tell him?
Because Max love Logan too, but why hurt one person you love because of other?
So, due to this, Joshua decided not to tell little fella about Alec anymore.
Joshua make right decision, didn't he?
This love stuff make Joshua's head hurt, he thought with a frown as he picked up his book once more to enter back into the much less complicated world of fiction.
Fighting Arena:
"Now it's time for the main event of the evening!"the female ring announcer bellowed, seeing the looks of expectation on the crowds faces, and mentally counting all the money she was making with greedy lust."First ,our returning champion, who after coming out of an early retirement now stands before us undefeated, hailing from parts unknown, standing 6 feet tall and weighing in at a lean 176 pounds, MONTY CORA!"
Entering the ring, a cocky grin on his face, Alec listened to the cheers and catcalls from the crowd, not fathoming why he'd ever given up such easy money. What had he been thinking? Not to mention the fact he got to do something he was good at and enjoyed more than most things, kicking ass.
Nothing better to let out a little pent up anger on than another willing person.
"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about Alec!"he heard a voice yell, the use of his real name setting it out from the others, swinging his head in the direction it had came from, he looked into the mass of faces momentarily before his eyes landed on the face of Normal, who was pumping a fist full of money into the air.
"Great."he muttered, nodding his head at the practically salivating man, then turned his attention back to the announcer and winked as she introduced his newest opponent.
"I bet it all on Monty Cora!" Normal exclaimed, handing his fist full of cash to the man who was accepting bets.
"And now the challenger! Hailing from a place he just calls the Core, standing 7'1 and weighing in at 305 pounds of pure muscle, The White Beast!"
At this, a huge Albino looking man with dread locked white hair who looked like one big mass of muscle entered the ring amidst a chorus of jeers and boos from the crowd, leering openly at Alec when his eyes landed on him.
Much to the crowds pleasure, Alec made a big show of yawning, a bored expression on his face, as the man approached him, saying with a snicker,"Nice hair. Wash it much?"crouching in his fighting stance.
"You're going down little man."he growled in reply to Alec's words.
"Yeah, yeah. That's what they all say, right before I kick their asses."he said smiling cockily.
Sure this guy was big, but so were most of the men he fought, and one of the women, and he wasn't concerned in the least. This to him was seen as easy money, and nothing more.
The bell was rung, and after circling the smaller man for a second, the beast dove at him, throwing a punch which Alec easily dodged as he dropped down and swept the mans legs from beneath him.
He then with the enhanced speed and agility that made him a crowd favorite, quickly raised his leg and rammed his foot into the mans midsection repeatedly.
"Who's..the..little..man..now?"he asked, punctuating each word with a kick.
To his surprise, the man caught his leg and threw him backwards, moving swiftly back to his feet before he had even regained his balance.
Still Alec was not concerned, every now and then there was a opponent that put up a fight, or at least more of one than the usual, and truthfully he enjoyed the challenge. It kept things exciting.
The man threw another punch that he once again avoided with ease, but what he didn't notice was at the same time he was throwing a punch, he was also aiming a kick at his midsection, which he did not avoid.
The air knocked from him, he fell with an "oomph" but immediately jumped right back up and ran at the man, punching him in the face, following that with an uppercut.
"It's been fun, but now it's time to lose."Alec said as he hit him repeatedly.
The man stumbled from the blows, but did not fall, and after finally knocking Alec away,raised his hands with a growl, and splayed his fingers. Small, sharp claw-like nails flicking out from the ends.
"I know what you are."he hissed as he raked his hands at Alec.
"Then you should know that a bad manicure isn't going to do the job."Alec replied, catching each of his arms and twisting them behind him while kneeing him in the lower back.
How many times had people told him that they knew what he was? More than he could count, and after being alarmed the first few times, worried that people might actually know, he'd found that was just a way of talking shit, and that they knew nothing.
"The boss hasn't forgotten your betrayal boy."the man hissed so low that his opponent didn't hear all of what he'd said ,through pain gritted teeth as he flung his head backwards and with a loud thwack connected it with Alec's.
His grip on the mans arms only loosened briefly, but that small time was long enough for him to break free of his hold, and whip around to face him.
"Okay, that pissed me off."Alec growled, wiping at the blood that was now leaking from his nose.
No more playing, time to end this, he decided as the onlookers stared in breathless anticipation, wondering if maybe his undefeated streak was about to reach its end.
Even Normal, who had been so confident in Alec's ability, was now sweating at the thought of losing all the money he'd bet on him.
Nobody was invincible, and it seemed possible that Alec had finally met his match.
Swiping his claw like hands at the slightly swaying Alec once more, a triumphant leer on his face , obviously already having decided he was to be the victor, the Beast was unprepared for the unexpected burst of speed that came from his opponent
Alec ran at him, jumped up and sent him spinning into the cage that surrounded them with a roundhouse kick, then landed nimbly back on his feet in front of him as he continuously threw punches at his body, giving him no time to retaliate between the quick jabs.
The crowd went wild at his comeback and Alec felt a surge of energy at this reaction.
Rearing back for the finishing blow that would knock his opponent out, Alec laughed when the man caught his arm , wrapping the clawed nails around his wrist and squeezing tight, breaking the skin right above his left wrist with one of them.
"Pathetic."Alec said with a shake of his head, easily jerking his arm free and landing a last blow to the mans face, grinning with satisfaction at the sight of his eyes rolling into the back of his head as his limp body slumped to the ground.
"Yeah! You didn't stand a chance biatch!"Normal yelled, forgetting his doubts from earlier as the announcer walked into the ring, grabbed Alec's hand and raised it, proclaiming,"Winner, and still the reigning champion,MONTY CORA!"
After allowing the crowd a moment to cheer while the people carried out the limp body of his opponent, Alec removed his hand from the womans gasp and swaggered out of the ring and into the locker room, where he showered quickly and got dressed.
The woman brought him his winnings, and told him for the thousandth time since he'd walked up to her and said he'd decided to take fighting up once more, that he was bound for greatness, and that with them working together, there was no limit as to how far they could go.
Nodding politely, a bored expression on his face, he took the money and sat down on the bench in front of his locker with a sigh after she left.
You'd think having a nice chunk of cash placed in your hand would make you happy, but for some reason this was not the case.
Now he had to go home to no one but Joshua, who would most likely be sitting up awaiting his return as he'd been the past week or so, saying nothing as he stared silently at him with an accusing look of concern on his face.
Worse than a woman, Alec thought as he put the money in his pocket and stood up, momentarily dizzy as the ache that had been growing within his head since showering intensified.
"Dammit."he muttered, putting a hand on the row of lockers to steady himself.
Next time he wasn't going to give anyone a chance to actually hit him he decided as the feeling passed.
So what if the crowd liked to see an actual fight? He'd just maybe allow one swing before he took them out. As long as he got the money he really could care less about fans.
"Yeah! That's my boy!"someone exclaimed from behind him, apparently having entered the locker room unnoticed.
Spinning around, prepared for anything, Alec was barely able to stop the punch he'd thrown out of reflex from connecting with the startled, surprised face of Normal.
"Whoa Tiger, save it for the ring."Normal said, raising his hands in defeat as he stepped back slowly.
"What do you want?"Alec asked, annoyance on his face as he lowered his fist."And how'd you get back here?"
"Uh..well I just wanted to come tell you that I now understand why you quit so abruptly and let you know there's no hard feelings on my part pal."Normal answered the first part of his question with a gracious smile.
"Wow, I'm touched. That makes me feel so much better."Alec replied with mock sincerity, turning his back on the man and picking up his bag.
"No problem pal, as far as I'm concerned we're still buds."
"Whatever, now, how did you get back here again?"he questioned , thinking how slack the so-called security had to be for someone like Normal to get past them unnoticed.
"I told the lady that we were old friends and I wanted to congratulate you on returning to the ring, so she told the guys to let me pass."Normal replied with a shrug, looking around the locker room with curiosity.
Huh, Alec thought to himself with a humorless chuckle, no wonder Whites guys got past them so easily before.
"So...whens your next fight?"Normal asked expectantly.
"I don't remember. Tomorrow night maybe."Alec replied distractedly, his head pounding, wanting nothing more than for Normal to get out of his face and quit bugging him.
He was definitely going to have a word with those security guys.
"Tomorrow? Awesome. I'll be sure to be here for that."Normal said, unconsciously patting the now much fatter wallet in his back pocket."You can bet on that."
Alec said nothing as he put the last of his belongings into his bag, and flung it over his shoulder, hoping that his silence would be enough to make the other man take a hint and beat it, but nooo...
"That Beast guy put up a good fight huh? I wasn't worried for a moment though."Normal lied."I knew without a doubt that my man Monty Cora would beat his ass in the end."
Beating Normals ass just to shut him up seemed like a pretty good idea to Alec, but the small part of him that kinda considered the man, if not actually a friend, an acquaintance that might one day be of use to him, won out in the end and he just nodded at his words .
"That last kick, it was all like Pow take that bitch."Normal continued on undaunted by his silence, illustrating his words with some very comical actions that Alec thought Max would probably have paid to see.
Max...
"Look, it's been really great to see you again, but I've gotta cut out, so...bye."Alec said, his decision to put up with the mans chattering now changed due to his thoughts of Max.
"Oh..okay. Hey, you need a ride? I'll drop you off at your place or anywhere else you'd like."Normal offered a bit to desperately in Alec's opinion.
He must be the one man who's worse at making friends than me.
"That's okay. I'll walk. I'm sure you have to get up early and need all the rest you can get for bossing people around" he replied automatically, not even considering his offer.
"Ah, I could do that with my eyes closed."Normal said with a dismissive wave of his hand, not catching the sarcasm in his statement.
"I bet you could."Alec said with a smirk, and was about to come up with some other excuse to get rid of the man when the dizziness he'd experienced earlier returned suddenly, but stronger.
"Hey. You alright?"Normal asked, his ongoing chattering interrupted by the sight of Alec paling and swaying suddenly on his feet, and he reached out to put a steadying hand on the younger mans shoulder.
"Yeah. It's nothing . Just a headache." Alec replied unconvincingly, shrugging his hand off as he started walking towards the exit.
"Sure you don't want a ride?"Normal asked worriedly, sincerely hoping that his new found source of extra income wasn't coming down with something. Oh, and the fact he was a friend mattered too, yeah.
"Yes, I'm..."grabbing onto the wall, barely stopping himself from falling to the floor, Alec took several deep breaths before he straightened, though still leaning against the wall, and turned to the other man, a forced smile on his face as he said,"You know what? A ride would be great."
"Really?"Normal asked eagerly.
"Really."Alec replied with a nod as he slowly pushed himself away from the wall and followed the other man, who continued talking constantly, to his car. Passing several women in the process who tried to entice him into stopping for a chat, but he was having to concentrate hard on putting one foot before the other without falling on his face, so he turned them down.
"I bet you must get all kinds of women, huh?" Normal questioned, but Alec didn't really hear that or any of the many other questions the increasingly annoying man asked, but in turn, Normal didn't seem to even realize he wasn't being answered. Rattling right on. Content just to hear the sound of his own voice it seemed.
After finally reaching the car, Alec got in with a sigh of relief, and though he still felt pretty crappy, it wasn't near as bad when he was sitting down, and after giving brief directions to his place, he leaned back against the headrest and closed his eyes.
Fucking headache. His kind rarely ever suffered the things that regular people did, but It figured one of the few times he did, it would be to the extreme.
"My shitty luck."he muttered under his breath.
"Whats that?"Normal asked, turning his head to look at him with a questioning look."Shitty luck you say? I think not. I'd say you're about the damn luckiest man I know. You fight men twice your size and barely get a scratch, hell most the time you make it look easy. Almost makes me think that maybe I would stand a chance in there. What do you think? Do I have what it takes?"
"No. Not in the least."Alec answered bluntly without even opening his eyes to look at him.
Clearing his throat, Normal said,"Well...maybe not, but why do I need to fight anyway when all I have to do to get rich is bet on you every time? Why strain myself when you can do all the work for me?"
"Are we almost there?"Alec asked, praying that they were and he could escape the nagging sound of the other mans voice.
Maybe dragging himself home wouldn't have been near as painful as this car ride.
"Yeah, we're here."Normal answered a moment later as his car came to a stop."Looking a little green there, need a hand getting in?"he asked Alec as he let the engine idle.
Not even an option since he couldn't risk the other man seeing Joshua, or even worse, trying to come in and hang for a while. He'd rather take his chances at going it alone.
"I'm good man, thanks for the ride."he answered, swiftly getting out of the car, trying to act as normal as possible so the man wouldn't try to insist.
"No problem. Just go in and take you some drugs to clear up that headache. You've got another big night tomorrow, and wouldn't want to disappoint the fans would you?" Normal asked, leaning over the passenger seat to look at him as he spoke.
"Oh no, never."Alec replied, taking deep breaths to try and combat the dizziness that had returned as soon as he stood up from his seat, only it was now also accompanied by nausea.
"Well, bye then."Normal said with a wave of his hand as Alec closed the passenger door, and then pulled off.
What the hell is wrong with me? Alec wondered as he held tightly to the banister along side the short flight of stairs leading to his place in an effort not to fall flat on his face, stopping only once to dry heave when his stomach spasmed painfully.
Hang around a bunch of crazies you're bound to catch something sooner or later, transgenic or not, he rationalized stumbling towards the door to his home.
He considered knocking, assuming that Joshua was still awake inside, but decided against that and fumbled in his pockets to locate his key.
If he wasn't it wasn't awake, it would only add to Joshua's suspicions that he was doing something he shouldn't be.
Just open the door, go inside, and get in bed, was the plan going through his head.
After all, there was no better cure for anything than a good nights sleep.
His fingers wrapped around the keys finally and he pulled them out, then putting a shaky hand towards the doorknob tried to unlock it.
His vibrating fingers would not allow this, and after several tries he actually dropped the keys.
"For fucks sake."he said aloud in a whisper, leaning over to retrieve them."Can this night get any worse?"
It could, and did, because as soon as he leaned over he lost his balance and fell into the door he had his back to with a loud thump, then slid down it slowly, landing hard on his ass.
The shaking spread throughout him, and he was really starting to get concerned.
He considered the option that maybe he was experiencing a seizure, but this felt different.
I'll just sit here for a minute then try the door again, he decided.
That wasn't going to happen though because seconds later the door was pulled open and loosing his means of support he fell on his back, part of his body in the hallway, the other in his living room.
Looking up he saw Joshua's snouty face hovering above him.
"Alec?"Joshua asked, looking down at him in confusion.
"Yeah, dropped my keys."he replied sheepishly."How about giving me a hand."he added in request knowing he'd never be able to get up on his own at this time.
Reaching down and easily pulling him to his feet, Joshua must have sensed he couldn't make it without being supported because he held on to him tightly.
"Alec hurt?"Joshua questioned as they slowly moved towards the couch.
"No, just a damn headache is..."he started to explain, but his words were cut short by another pain, the worst one of yet,shooting through his head, accompanied by an equally bad one in his stomach.
"Damn."was all he could get out before losing consciousness.
TBC
I know I said Max would be in this chapter also, but the Alec part got longer and longer, resulting in my making this one solely about him.
Hope you like!
R&R!
Much more goodies to come!
