Title: anything and everything

Author: sue

Rating: PG13

Show: DA

Genre: Angst/Romance/Adventure

Type: COMPLETE

Summary: under the chaos of a failed mission, somehow Logan had managed to do the impossible- infect Max with the deadly virus. Now, it's up to Alec to stop her from plunging into the bottomless crater of death. And he would do anything.. and everything to make sure of that.

A/N - Thanks for the reviews. As for Hortense, whom I have serious doubt is going to review again, I'm gonna make this as short as I can.

1. I never claimed to be a whizz in tenses. And human beings aren't suppose to be perfect, so I'm not that good in tenses. Big deal.

2. Logan was not the most adorable character ever invented and I don't have high opinions of him and it shows in my fics. So what? There's this thing called 'personal opinion'.

A/N 2- Anyway, thank you soo much to Alexis for helping me with this chap, even though she's swamped with her own stuffs. Isn't she an angel?

A/N 3- As for the sequel, I'll give it some thoughts..

The Epilogue

The first thing he noticed after he pried his eyes open was that he was in a hospital. Cold fear rushed in a freezing torrent through his still healing body and he was loath to admit that he found himself shaking at the thought of being confined in this hellish place. Breathing hard, his desperate eyes clawed every inch of the small room and what he found scattered around this place only confirmed what he originally thought.

He was in a hospital.

494 laid still, trying hard to put his jumbled thoughts in order but it was all in vain. Flashes of dreams, bits and pieces of past memories jostled painfully with each other, trying frantically to get out of his chaotic mind. He closed his eyes tighter and forced himself to take deeper breaths, urging his body to calm down.

Suddenly with a painful burst of clarity he remembered everything.

The torturous time he had spent in the hands of indifferent staff at Psy-Ops.

His jaw instantly tightened when only fragments of what he had been forced to go through filtered in. After all, the good people of Manticore had perfected their technique in making their soldiers conveniently disregard any of the unwanted stuffs. If that didn't work as it suppose to, they had ways of making you not care.

And it seems they had done a marvelous job in erasing his failure from memory. All he could grasp from the faint hazy memories dancing quickly out of reach with each passing second was of a failed mission. Somehow he must've done the unforgivable and as everyone knew here in Manticore, failure was not an option.

His gaze skittered to the side of his bed and bewilderment flared in his eyes for a moment. There was a... window there. As far as he could remember, these small rooms never came with a view. Slowly, he pushed himself out of bed, not caring about the argument from his screaming body. He was very much curious at this unfamiliar turn of events.

Hesitantly, his feet shuffled to the clear glinting glass and his lips moved slightly in a hint of a smile when he felt the warm sun dancing over his chilled skin. His fingers traced the faraway scene, a fierce longing to be as far away from here as possible starting to take root. He frowned when a small voice whispered that he was in danger, no, the frown deepened, someone else's safety was in jeopardy and he was the only one who could save her.

Her?

His eyes narrowed imperceptibly, none of this made any sense. Too tired to mull over this impossible matter, he let it drop and quickly it fluttered away from sight. He continued to enjoy the unexpected wonder of basking in the warm sun.

Suddenly, the small hairs at the back of his neck prickled uncomfortably and his body stiffened in an instant reaction. He kept his back to the door, even though he knew he was about to have company. The door squeaked open and after a second of silence, someone called out in a tone that almost resembled joy. But seeing that he was still stuck in Manticore, he must've heard wrong. Nobody ever considered happy a real emotion around here.

'Alec?' the soft voice had called.

His rigid body stiffened even more. Alec? Who's Alec?

Slowly he turned his body to face his new visitor. He saw a slender dark haired girl, whose dark brown eyes were shining with an unfamiliar sheen. As he stared at the young woman standing in front of him, a new outburst of chaotic thoughts swamped through his unprepared body. This unknown mixture of emotions churned around him in an incomprehensible manner and he had no idea what to make of it. Slowly rational thought took over and one word came to mind.

She had to be from Psy-Ops.

He was feeling unsettled enough to question her openly even though he knew he would be severely reprimanded for that later. He saw how her eyes widened at his words, her tentative step towards him and the fluid movement from her lithe form made him realize another possibility.

She was an X5, just like him.

Again, something flicked at his subconscious, something he knew was probably important but he was not in the mood to wait patiently for it to present itself. But after he realized that the woman in front of him was an '09 escapee, the fury he felt overruled all thoughts that tried to surface but that was not something he cared about at the moment.

The hot painful ray drilling its way into his eyes, burning any sane thoughts he ever possessed.

Traitor.

The way his broken body shook; the agonizing torment when the red beam continuously blazed its way into its target.

Snake.

Deserter.

He saw the wet substance clinging to her long lashes as she implored desperately for him to listen to her, but his renewed recollection of the pain and torture that had been inflicted on him on behalf of the brunette in front of him shoved away any hint of compassion he might have felt for her. Doing the opposite to what had been battered continuously into his brain, he pushed her away instead of apprehending her on the spot. Or killing her if she refused to be taken in.

Somehow, this young soldier in front of him had managed to awaken something in his hardened heart. He shoved her away, far away from his sight, although deep down something whispered that he had done the worse mistake in his life.

After she ran, tears streaming down her face, he closed his eyes in defeat. He had done the right thing, albeit it wasn't what he had been drilled to do but somehow he had the nagging feeling that he had just pushed someone very important away.

That was an unlikely scenario, absolutely ridiculous to even think he had some sort of rapport with a former escapee. It was incredibly incongruous.

But somehow he had sensed something from 452, as if he had known her.

Had... cared for her.

Again, he pushed those thoughts away.

Damn Psy-Ops for messing with my mind, he glowered before smoothing his face into a blank hard mask and waited to see what else Manticore had in store for him.

His eyes caught sight of a tall tower in the distance and he turned his body around to study it more clearly. The vacant green eyes scrutinized the image with minute precision; missing nothing, finding everything. Something flittered through his mind. Again, he had the feeling that that particular tower should have meant something to him. He frowned, analyzing his sudden attraction to the said landscape as the urge to stand at its top, looking down from its lofty height intensified by each moment.

This is the only place I ever felt like a normal person, looking down from here I can imagine I'm one of them, something whispered in his ears.

And dammit, normalcy was something he desperately needed at this very instant.

Original Cindy ran as fast as she possibly could after one of the nurses alerted her that something was horribly wrong with her friend. Her feet skittered on the smooth floor and then she saw the horrifying scene. Max was crumpled in a desolate heap, staring with wide vacuous eyes at Alec's room while a nurse was hovering over her.

'Max, what's wrong, boo?' She shook the girl's unresponsive shoulder. 'What happened?' OC turned to the nurse by her side. Suddenly she took in the empty room in front of them. 'Where is he?' she asked with a gasp.

'He... he left. Earlier today. He checked himself out,' the nurse answered somewhat hesitantly.

'What?' In danger of having a slackened jaw, OC turned back to her broken housemate. 'Max... Max... listen to me. Max, you need to snap out of it! Now!'

'He's gone, Cindy,' she whispered brokenly, still staring at the vacant room. 'He's gone.'

'So go! Go find him, now. Come on, boo, you can do it,' she urged anxiously, desperate to drag her best friend from the deceptive comfort that being numb offered.

Max let out a weak chuckle that was closer to a heart wrenching sob. 'He could be practically anywhere right now.'

'But if you don't even try to find him you'll lose him, Max.'

'But I already have,' she whispered back and Original Cindy shuddered at the naked agony flashing over her boo's eyes. 'I've lost him.'

'You can still prevent that,' she said with certainty, pulling Max's hand firmly. 'Go out there and start looking for your boy. You have to do this.'

Bewildered and disoriented by what had just taken place, Max just shook her head feebly. 'I don't even know where to start.'

'You found him before, when he was fighting that freaky man, you can do that again, hon. Come on Max, you can do this,' Original Cindy pleaded, not able to even consider what would happen if Max failed in this.

Broken down spiritually and mentally, Max shuffled to her feet and walked uncertainly out.

'You can find him, Max,' OC shouted as a parting remark. You have to.

As if she was in a dream, Max walked slowly out of the hospital. Her dazed eyes looked indecisively around, not knowing where to head next. She took in the busy crowd, wishing desperately that none of this was happening to her. It was just all a dreadful nightmare. But Alec's cold unfeeling words scratched at her still bleeding heart and she almost broke down then and there.

The need to run was very strong, screaming loudly for her to comply and unconsciously her eyes darted around, trying hard to find a destination. Her frantic eyes stumbled on the tall dark tower in the distance and she almost wept at the sudden reprieve.

The Space Needle.

Just the place she needed to sort out her muddled thoughts.

He stood silently, letting the cool wind to dance softly on his still form. He lifted his arms before wrapping them around his chest and slowly the feeling of being free started to envelop him. It seemed that Manticore was no more.

A hard fact to swallow but apparently, according to the doctor who had spoken to him, that was what had happened. But still, he had his suspicions. It was unthinkable that a force as powerful as Manticore had ceased to exist.

He continued to stare unblinkingly at the view sprawled under his feet. Suddenly, as if he had just made up his mind, he turned and walked away from his previous spot at the edge of the tower. He was about to descend when he was aware of another arrival. Instantly, he stood stock still, hidden from view with the aid of the quivering shadows.

His hazel eyes narrowed to a slit after he recognized the features. It was 452. With unexpected interest, he studied the young woman intently. A frown furrowed his smooth brow when he saw that she was making her way to the edge of the circular top, much like what he had done earlier.

Suddenly, the image of her at the brink of the tower's peak brought forth another wave of unrecognizable feeling. His eyes saw the way she was wrapping her arms around her raised knees and suddenly he was reminded of a hazy dream. In it, he had been concerned about her as he walked cautiously forward. Quickly, he shook his head. It was just a dream, produced by his questionable mind.

His jaw tightened and decisively, he turned his back on the girl who was still unaware of his presence. Without waiting for another second, he walked noiselessly down.

Max tightened her hold around her knees, resting her chin on her bent legs. She sighed softly as the soft wind whispered around her, playing gently with her dark hairs. Her heavy heart was still thudding stiffly against her chest and suppressed tears were burning painfully behind her red rimmed eyes. She bit her lips hard so that pain could overcome the much more excruciating anguish that was hidden deep within her. That pain she could cope with but not the one which was threatening to erupt at any moment.

Abruptly she whipped around, her long dark hair flared out behind her like a silky fan; somehow her chaotic mind had sensed that Alec was near. Very near. Her eyes swept the surroundings but she was the only one in sight. Chewing on her inner cheek, Max turned bleakly to the waiting scene. It was all in her mind.

Alec was never here. He never was.