A/n: Once again, huge thanks for your reviews, guys.

I'm posting this early in case Maria uses her powers on me again, so there might be a few mistakes. I really don't need hypothermia right now. Unless I get warmed up by Logan…

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Chapter 24: The Story

X8 313, AKA Sky, was bored. Deeply, deeply bored. He had nothing to do in the infirmary but sit and rest; sleep was out of the question. His recurring nightmares about falling through the air made sure of that. The only times he slept was when the doctors administered sedatives; but even then the dreams plagued him, leaving the boy feeling less rested than before.

Sky couldn't help but feel a lingering worry about Mark. If he'd shown any kind of reaction to Sky's fall he'd be imprisoned in psy ops for reprogramming. Everyone feared psy ops. Sky could never remember what happened to him there, but the others could, and their stories made him shudder.

There was another source of concern for the small boy. Lydecker had been stopping by regularly for updates on his progress. Sky couldn't help but wonder about the sudden interest. The colonel had never been particularly concerned with the X8s as a group; he was usually too busy with the older units. Far more worrying was the thought that perhaps it was Sky, and only Sky, who had attracted his attention.

The injured child looked up as he heard a sound, focussing his hearing. He caught sight of a small, pale, shaven headed figure ducking beneath a table to hide from the security cameras.

"Snow?" He whispered, not letting his lips move. "What are you doing here?"

"Seeing you," Snow replied, blurring from her hiding place to a new one under his bed. She moved to the side, raising her head just enough to meet his bright blue eyes with her smoke grey ones. "Are you recovering adequately?"

"Yes. The doctors say I'll be back on duty in two weeks. What happened to Mark, Snow? Is he in psy ops?"

"He ran to you, when he saw you fall," she told him, seriously. "And he called you by your name."

"No…" Sky's features crumpled in anxiety for his friend.

"We both know what they'll do to him," the girl said sadly. "I'll try and tell you when he returns to our unit, if I can evade detection."

"Thanks, Snow. Will you tell me the story, before you go? Please, I want to hear it again."

"All right, Sky. But I don't have long before I'm reported AWOL."

"A long time ago, there was a group at Manticore called the X5s," she began, Sky listening eagerly. "They all protected each other and would do anything for the rest of their unit. Their CO was X5 599, but he called himself Zack. All the X5s gave themselves names instead of numbers. Then one night the youngest of them, 452, or Max, had a seizure. The X5s had a defect that caused them to shake sometimes. To stop the doctors taking her away the unit attacked them and jumped through a window to escape. Some were recaptured; others were killed. But a few made it over the wire and they've been living on the outside ever since."

"What is there on the outside, Snow?" Asked Sky with a yawn.

"On the outside there's civilians," she said firmly. "And they live in little barracks called houses, and they never have live ordnance drills or psy ops sessions."

"I'd like to go outside one day," yawned Sky, settling down in his bed.

"Me, too," whispered Snow, touching his hand briefly before blurring back towards the door.

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What did you think? Not a very plot heavy chapter, I admit, but I thought I needed to bring in a bit more of Sky's life at Manticore before we get into the Logan angst I'm planning for the next one.