Max was heading towards the tunnels when she ran into Logan.
"Logan?" Max said.
"Hi, Max. Where you heading to?" he asked.
"I'm going to go check up on, Isis." Max said.
"Do you…do you want some company? I could go with you." Logan asked.
Max was about to respond when Alec came out of the tunnels. Logan turned to see Alec and he just sighed.
"Maybe another time, Logan." Max said walking past him and towards Alec.
"Yeah, another time." Logan said staring at Max as she walked away.
Alec didn't see Max or Logan at all. All he had on his mind was Isis. He needed to make things right between them. Seeing her again had awakened feelings he had thought lost.
"Alec!"
Alec looked up to see Max standing in front of him.
"Max, what's going on?" he asked.
"That's what I'd like to know. You went to Josh's place?" Max asked certain that that had been the case.
"Not right now, Max. I can't right now." Alec said walking away.
Max was going to get to the bottom of this. She needed to know what had happened between Isis and Alec. She didn't want to emit it, but she didn't like seeing Alec like this. She hadn't seen him like this since he had said goodbye to Rachel.
Alec reached his apartment and he slammed the door shut. He shrugged his jacket off and threw it on the sofa. He started pacing around the room, unsure of what to do. He felt like shit. Even after he had lost Rachel, his first love, it didn't compare to what he was feeling right now. It was as if something was awakening inside him.
"Why should I care? If she doesn't want to talk to me, listen to what I have to say…why should I care?" Alec said, questioning everything that he was feeling, and trying to make it stop.
"You know why?" he whispered.
Alec ran his hands over his hair. He felt lost, confused. He didn't know what to do anymore. He needed to talk to someone. He needed help, and he knew who he had to get to help him.
"Fuck, why her?" Alec said turning around to grab his jacket and head out.
(I could not find out what language was used for the Breeding Cult. It was said to be "Minoan Language" but there is no way of finding any translation of some sort. So I picked Latin language. It seemed a bit close to it, so I'll keep a few of the words originally used in the series, like Fe'nos Tol, but the most part it will be Latin.)
~~~Open Field behind an Institute~~~
White is standing outside looking up into the sky.
"EGO animadverto vestri nixor, Frater," ('I see your struggles, Brother'), came a voice behind him.
"Indulgeo mihi," ('Forgive me'), White said.
"Dies est super nos. Quid iam they habitum key." ('The day is upon us. And now they hold the key').
White turns to look upon the Young Priestess.
"EGO mos addo suus tergum. Quod EGO mos have 452's caput capitis in a patella." ('I will bring her back. And I will have 452's head on a plate') White said with determination.
The Young Priestess walks closer to White and places her hand on his forehead.
"Volo vos haud molestus, Frater. Addo key, quod mos vadum terminus lemma." ('I wish you no trouble, Brother. Bring the key, and we shall end them').
"Fe'nos tol," White said.
"Fe'nos tol," said the Young Priestess taking her hand back.
~~Back at Joshua's House~~
Isis was coming downstairs when she noticed Max coming up from the basement.
"Max," Isis said.
"Hi, is Joshua here?" Max asked.
"Yeah, he should be with Chuck. Chuck's taken an interest in Josh's painting, that he asked Josh to teach him. They're upstairs," Isis said.
Max nodded. Isis could see that Max wanted to ask her something more.
"You could ask, you know." Isis said.
Max looked at Isis as if she was a child caught doing something she wasn't.
"Look , I know you don't know me that well, to tell me anything about yourself. But I would really like to know what is up with Alec and you?" Max asked.
Isis gave Max a small smile.
"I knew, Alec. Back at Manticore. He…he was my friend. Or at least I thought he was." Isis started.
"What happened?" Max asked.
"He showed me… what a good soldier he was," Isis said.
~~Back at Terminal City~~
Alec walked into the command center in Terminal City looking from Max. He found Logan instead.
"Hey, have you seen, Max?" Alec asked him.
Logan didn't respond to Alec. He didn't even turn his way.
"I really need to speak with her," Alec said getting irriated with Logan's attitude.
"I thought you'd know. Being as you two are so close," Logan said still with his back to Alec.
Something just clicked inside Alec. He walked up to Logan and turned him to face him.
"Look, I'm tired of your bullshit. If you want to be with, Max, then stop acting like a fuckin five year old. Be a man dammit! I don't see, Max the way you think I do." Alec said.
"I won't lie, at the beginning I would have, but now…I see her as a friend. Nothing more. If you want to be with her, than be with her. Don't sit here playing the jealous boyfriend act, go to her. Tell her what you feel, and that you're sorry for hurting her and…" Alec stopped realizing he was telling Logan what he should be doing.
Alec looked at Logan and saw the stunned look on the guy. He let him go and walked away.
Logan stared at Alec as he walked away. He finally saw he had Alec all wrong. Maybe there was more to Alec then he thought. But he could also see something was bugging Alec, too.
~~Back at Joshua's House~~
"So, that's what happened." Isis said.
"Isis, have you ever thought maybe….maybe he did that for a good reason?" Max asked.
"You're defending him?" Isis said surprised.
"No." Max said quickly.
"It's just…Isis, he went through a lot, back at Manticore."
"I know. Re-indoctrination, Psy-ops, Rachel…"
"You knew about, Rachel?" Max asked shocked.
"Yeah. He would talk to me about her. It was his first long-term solo assignment. He told me how he felt like it was his fault she died in the explosion…."Isis stopped when she saw Max eyes soften.
"Isis, Rachel was still alive. Alec…he saw her not to long ago. She was in a coma and she died just recently." Max said.
Isis placed her hand over her mouth.
"Alec," she thought.
She knew how much he had loved her and for him to have to go through that again...she knew it wasn't easy for him.
"Is he okay?" Isis asked.
"Well, like he says, he's 'always okay'." Max said giving Isis a sad smile.
Isis nodded. That did sound like something Alec would say.
"I just think, before you make any judgments, you should listen to him. Listen to what he has to say." Max said.
"You care about him?" Isis asked.
Max could see Isis wanted to know if she was with Alec. She smiled at that.
"Yeah I do," she answered.
Isis diverted her gaze to her hands.
"He's a good friend," Max said.
Isis looked up to Max again.
"Just listen to him. Give him a chance. I might always bug him and tell him he's a screw up. But I guess that my way of telling him that I care about him. That he's a friend and I would never want to see him hurt." Max said.
Max had never told anyone this and if word got out, she would just deny it. Isis thought about what Max said. She wasn't sure how she could do that. Listen to what Alec had to say. What she hadn't told Max was she knew why he had done what he did. And that's what hurt the most. He had let Manticore decide what they thought was best. They wanted to keep him away from her, just like they had every other male X-5. They were afraid of what could come of her being with an X-series. With her being a Hybrid, they feared what could have happened between Alec and her.
"I did know why he did what he did." Isis confessed to Max.
"And still…you can't give him a chance to explain himself?" Max asked.
"Max, you weren't there. You don't know how his words hurt me. I was so in lo…." Isis stopped herself from saying what she wanted to say.
But Max knew what she meant.
"Isis, take it from someone who knows how it feels to not be with the one person you care about. Don't let Manticore keep you from being happy. Look at me," Max said.
Isis looked at Max. She then grabbed Max's wrist. Max stared down at her wrist. She saw Isis trace the ancient writings on her wrist.
"You'll find happiness, Max. It's written." Isis said giving Max a sad smile.
Max frowned.
"Can you…can you read them?" Max asked.
Isis nodded.