by Sorrow Reminisce
Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix.
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December 25, 2021
As the sun was only just beginning to chase away the darkness of night, Max woke to feel strong arms wrapped gently around her and a warm body pressed against her own.
Considering she had gone to bed alone the night before and her relationship status was of no fixed abode, this should have alarmed her. But fortunately for the person who lay beside her on the bed, she was glad of the company. Although, the same thing could not have been said when she'd been jolted her out of dreamland at three in the morning.
"Ma-aaax" She heard the voice. She just wanted to ignore the voice. It wasn't often she managed to sleep and when she could, REM wasn't something she let go of kindly. "Hey Max, wake up!" Perhaps if she ignored it long enough, the voice would go away. "MAX!" That did it. Yelling in a girl's ear was not a wise way to gain attention. Rolling over in preparation for a serious verbal battle, Max encountered a wide-eyed smiling Alec beside her, looking as bright and chirpy as any budding young schizophrenic would be at this hour of the morning. "Alec! What the hell are you doing in my room?" He paused in his bed bouncing to shrug nonchalantly. "Oh, you know, I was just bored is all." Seeing her fiery glare, he laughed as his eyes lit up once more. "Come on Max! Where's your Christmas spirit?" "Hibernating for the winter." She rolled over towards the wall and threw the blankets over her head. "Like I would like to be."
With his eyes still closed, Alec listened to Max's breathing pattern change and knew she too was awake. He didn't want to move in case she pulled away, and so he pretended to be asleep. After all, there was still the chance that she might fully wake up and kick his ass for being here.
"You've gone quiet Alec. Why?" Although Max's voice was soft and surprisingly gentle, Alec couldn't help but chuckle at her. The girl just couldn't stop complaining for one minute. She even had to question his silence. "I'm just thinking Maxie. Why are you so anal about life? It's like you're the direct descendant of the Grinch or something?" He noticed Max stiffen beside him. "Who's the Grinch?" "Oh don't worry - you'd only hit me if I told you." He ran a hand through his hair before continuing. "Why can't you just loosen up and have fun for one night? God. This is my first Christmas and I plan to eat, drink and be merry. By my concern is, how am I supposed to do all that when you're busy trying to shut Christmas away out of sight?" Max suddenly sat up and sighed deeply. And then began to whack him about the head with her pillow. "Alec - it's three in the morning! I'm not trying to shut Christmas out of sight, I'm trying to shut you out of sight!" She fell back to the bed with a thud and turned away. Alec grinned in the darkness. He loved pissing her off.
Max stared into the fading darkness, wondering if she really was being a spoilsport. After all, it was Christmas. And not only that, having spent the past three weeks realising she actually cared about the smart-ass beside her, she could at least try and express such feelings in a manner appropriate.
"You see, I was thinking…" She released an exasperated groan as Alec began to chatter once more. "I know we got the made up part over and done with, but what about the kiss?" "What the hell are you on about now?" Max suppressed the urge to roll over and whack the nonsense out of him but by the laughter in his voice, this was undoubtedly the very action he hoped she would take. A ploy for attention she simply refused to fall for. "OC told us to kiss and make up, but I never got that kiss." Gentle fingertips brushed hair from the nape of Max's neck, startling her so much that she turned towards Alec, eyebrows furrowed in surprise. He lay facing her, his head inches away from her own and a soft smile on his face. She couldn't help but shiver deliciously at his touch. And so of course she jerked her head away. "Sorry to break it to you Alec, but there's no such thing as miracles in real life."
Well what exactly defined an appropriate manner anyway? Cutesy words and bashful smiles just didn't sit with her. She preferred affectionate annoyance. It was much more fun and far less prissy. Besides, arguing with Alec challenged her and enabled her to develop those fly insults she liked to deliver to the bad guys while she was kicking ass.
"Alec, why are you here at three o'clock in the morning anyway?"
Max spoke barely above a whisper, soft and shivery and Alec detected a tremble in her voice. He replied in a tone of subdued excitement as his lips turned up into a boyish smile.
"Well Maxie, it's Christmas Eve - and this is my first Christmas! I was too excited to sleep so I thought I'd come share some of my cheer with you."
He had come to share this moment with her. That thought turned her insides out and she couldn't help but return his smile.
"Hey you know, I've never celebrated Christmas before either."
"Yeah. I can tell."
His laughter was cut off by a sharp knee to his thigh. "Oow.. But for more obvious reasons, neither have any of us here. That's why we've gotta make it so damned special - so for a few hours we can stop worrying how long we're gonna be in this world and enjoy ourselves."
Max smiled into the darkness. "Gotta keep up moral huh?"
Alec brushed a stray hair from across Max's face and she shivered beneath his touch. His voice deepened and grew husky as he tried to keep his mind focused on the conversation at hand.
"Indeed we do. I'm sure that the rest of the world will be too busy doing their own thing to bother with us. Just for Christmas day, we can pretend we're welcome in this world."
They had drifted off to sleep after that. But now Max snuggled in towards Alec and wondered whether to wake him. He was so excited about this day - his first Christmas. But it was still early, and she didn't want to have to break away from him once he woke. Festivities could wait, she just wanted to savour the fresh new experience of having someone to wake up next to. Hopefully, it wouldn't be the last time she'd know this pleasure.
Alec heard Max's breaths lengthen and knew she had drifted back to sleep. Wondering if it really was his life's mission to annoy her, he leant over the edge of the bed and picked up a finely wrapped gift. Joshua was adamant that he had to give it to her and this just couldn't wait any longer.
"Hey Max, wake up!"
Snapping her eyes open she sat up and prepared to deliver Alec a random stream of abuse for waking her - again.
But at the sight of the gift he held in his hands, he face softened into a smile and the insults faded away.
"Thank you Alec!"
She smiled shyly and pulled open the paper, her half-asleep mind not registering that she had seen the wrapping paper before.
Pulling the object out from the torn paper, she smiled in delight at the strange object in her hands made of melted candle wax, he mind understanding at once what it was.
In recent weeks, Joshua had been experimenting with new materials for his inspirations and this was one of his latest creations. The twisting mass of multicoloured wax was as abstract as 'Joshua 1', and filled with hidden meaning to those who wished to see its message.
"Actually, Joshua gave it to me to give to you. I sorry but I didn't.."
She waved his apology away and quickly stood up and stepped across the room. Pulling a similar package out from her closet, Max handed it to Alec. "Merry Christmas Alec!"
He grinned as his mind made the connection between her present and his, and opened the parcel to find a sculpture similar the one he had given Max.
As he was about to thank her, she took the sculpture from his hands and placed it next to her own. His eyes widened in surprise as the two halves fit together to form a whole. "And in his own way, this is Joshua's gift to us."
They both understood what the transhuman had been expressing in his art. Max and Alec were meant to be together.
"Open the door!"
Alec looked away from Max and made a move to stand. "Come on Max, we're being summoned."
She groaned and rubbed the last of the sleep from her eyes, wishing the interruption had come at a better time.
As Alec opened the door, OC's eye's widened at the sight of him in Max's apartment with hair tussled by sleep, and briefly wondered if someone had slipped GBH into Max's drink the night before. If so, she wanted to find the fiend and kiss him.
"Hel-looo Alec!" She gave him a knowing smile and strode past. "I'm not even gonna ask what's goin' on here. But you better hurry up and get your asses to the Christmas Party. You've slept the morning away and now Mole's gettin' impatient for lunch. Not that I wanna be there to see what that one eats..."
"Good things come to those who wait OC." Ignoring her friend's smug look, Max breezed past her and linked her arm through Alec's.
"Okay, let's go."
Joshua and his team of budding young X6 Picassos had completely revamped an old abandoned warehouse for the purpose of Terminal City's Christmas celebration.
The bare concrete walls had been transformed by vivid splashes of colour, and from the ceiling hung the star he had so carefully woven together with wire - the signal light to lead the transgenics home. Most stunning of all, was the nativity centerpeice all transgenics could relate to. A great fiery phoenix made of paper mache and rising up from the ashes of its past.
Around them, transgenics of all known variety relaxed and allowed the weight of their world to lift from tired shoulders. They didn't understand what Christmas meant to the ordinaries, nor were they interested. Instead they created their own reason to celebrate.
In mythology, the bird would build a nest and set itself on fire when it cycle of life had drawn to a close. It would then be consumed by the flames and a new one would spring from it's predecessor's ashes. As Joshua's flag had brought the transgenics together as a nation, so did this great mythological bird symbolise their journey from the ashes of Manticore as the birth of their new life. A transgenic rebirth.
"Oh wow!" Max stared around the room in wonder and turned to Alec. "Can you believe how amazing this is?"
"That's Joshua for ya - our very own Activities Co-ordinator." He smiled back at her and stepped further inside the building.
They continued to stare around them in amazement. Christmas would have been just another day to the transgenics if Joshua hadn't claimed he could make the event actually symbolise something to the ex-Manticorians. And indeed he had.
Alec leant close to Max and whispered in her ear, "You know, Logan would stress about the complete irrelevance to Christmas."
She smiled up at him. "Then isn't it just as well Logan's not here?"
The afternoon rolled into evening and everyone made the most of the festivities. Dix had produced an old stereo to he had repaired and assorted music played from the speakers. OC spent a large part of the day chasing after her two favourite X5's with a sprig of Mistletoe and Joshua was dubbed 'the spirit of Christmas' and given a Wreath of Honour to wear on his head.
"Hey Max! Come stand under the mistletoe with me!"
Alec grabbed Max around the waist and proceeded to drag her towards the green leaves and berries OC had left lying on a table.
Laughing, she fought to push him away, although her efforts were half-hearted. "Hell no! We've ditched every other Christmas tradition, we're gonna lose that one too!"
She squirmed in his arms and eventually broke free, dancing backwards as she waited for him to lunge at her again.
"Hey, isn't that Match?" She gestured behind him to change the subject.
He turned to see his friend sitting alone at a table, a wistful expression on her face as she watched everyone celebrate around her.
"Hey Match!"
She looked up and waved, a smile lighting her face at the sight of the two X5's. "Well it's good to see you two have sorted your differences out at last!"
Alec grinned as he feigned ignorance. "I don't know what you're talking about?"
She rolled her eyes and shook her head in amusement before her attention fell to a different direction. Turning to follow her stare, Alec encountered Sketchy.
"Sketch! What are you doing here!"
The Jam Pony messenger smiled broadly. "Heard there was a party, thought I'd crash."
Alec's eyes lit up in thought. Taking his friend by the arm, he led him to the table where Match sat.
"Match, I'd like you to meet my good friend Sketchy."
She looked at him wearily and crossed her hands across her chest. Rembembering her animosity towards humankind, he continued. "Oh don't worry, he's not an ordinary - he's extraordinary!"
Looking up into the warm innocent eyes of a blonde haired ordinary, she couldn't help but smile at his goofy grin as he stretched out his hand to introduce himself.
"Hey, uhh… I'm Sketchy, I'm a buddy of… umm… of Max and uh… Alec." Trying hard to stop fumbling over his words, Sketchy took a calm collecting breath before continuing.
"Mind if I umm… interview you?"
Alec turned back to Max who was still studying the phoenix and wandered over to stand by her side.
"So Max…"
Having decided to pull the stick out of her butt for at least one day, she turned a bright sunny smile in his direction. Alec laughed nervously at the thought of how much she was about to kick his ass.
"So I notice we've got our own traditions going on here and that's okay right?"
She stared at him without comprehension, intent on studying the look in his eyes, wondering why it scared yet excited her so much. "Yeah. I guess so."
"Excellent!"
Before she realised what was happening Alec stepped closer and cupped her face in his hands. She stood in frozen surprise as he leant in and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.
Max closed her eyes and let herself give in to the feelings he provoked within her. The warmth and closeness of him felt so right. As she was about to draw her arms around him and deepen the kiss, he pulled away, a soft smile on his face.
"What the hell kind of tradition was that?" She smiled as her lips and mind still tingled from his touch.
"I have no idea." He grinned and pulled her closer. "I was just looking for an excuse to kiss you."
She stared at him in utter puzzlement as he waited for the blows to start raining down upon him, then broke into a smile of her own and pulled him toward her to finish what he'd started.
Yip. Things had definitely changed between them.
THE END
Well, actually no it's not. Don't forget to check out the sequel, Locura! Rolls eyes