Beautiful Flirtations Ch11

Title: Beautiful Flirtations
Author: zulija, ElCapitan18
Character pairing: James Vega/Miranda Lawson, Jane Shepard/Kaidan Alenko

James set his jaw, grinding his teeth in a poor attempt to keep his cool. On the shuttle ride to Sanctuary they'd stumbled upon a warning transmission from Oriana telling them to turn back. If the youngest Lawson sister was here that meant that Miranda wasn't far behind; if she hadn't found her way to the refugee center already, it was only a matter of time.

They'd been met with Cerberus stragglers at the entrance, Phantoms and a Nemesis had been caught between them and escape and he, Shepard, and Kaidan had made quick work of the Cerberus assassins. A synthetic voice sounded over the intercoms as they entered the facility, advising them to turn off and turn in their communication devices. A pit had started to form in his stomach the moment he heard Oriana's voice in the shuttle, and it continued to grow as they walked through the wreckage inside of the building.

They finally had the time to look around and scan the perimeter before they would proceed. Cerberus forces were fleeing from the tower which meant that was where they were heading, but first they had to find a way to get there. Carefully walking through the building they checked the few terminals around the reception, inspected the few dead bodies scattered about, only to find almost no evidence at all. Aside from the dead Reaper forces and dead Cerberus soldiers, there was nothing to tell them what had happened here. Almost every file they opened contained the same vague and uninformative garbage, and slowly frustration and confusion started to put everyone even further on edge, especially Shepard.

James noticed she and the Major had been extremely tense since the moment they set foot on Horizon, he wasn't a fool though; he remembered the little story Garrus had told him about Shepard and Alenko. He knew that this was the place where he broke her heart; maybe not this place, but this was the planet.

James could figure that being here together caused bad memories to resurface, but when he glanced at both of them he didn't see any animosity between them. He was relieved to see that their relationship was on the mend, ever since Rannoch they'd been working out their issues. Life was too short for old hostilities, and James was glad to see that they were making the best of what time they had. Shaking his head he picked up another datapad and flicked through the information within. He needed to stop thinking like that. They were going to win this war, and he was going to get that third date with Miranda.

When he realized that this datapad was like all the others, he set it back down a little more roughly than he should have. Turning to search the rest of the room, he stepped over a dead rachni and decided to inspect a door as the other's scoped out the other side of the room. There was a glow coming from a terminal, and then a short hall that looked like it might lead to another part of the facility. Once he realized that this was their way out, he turned to inform the Commander.

"Shepard," he shouted, realizing too late that he had just interrupted a conversation between her and Alenko. "Over here."

Their attention snapped up to him, Shepard and Alenko hurried over and the Commander led them into the lightless hallway. Just as James decided to scout the perimeter ahead of them the sound of a familiar female voice, with a familiar sensual accent sent a chill down his spine and stopped him dead in his tracks.

"This is a Cerberus Facility -"

"What's that?" wondered Kaidan as he gave James' back a curious look, watching him closely as James did his best to hide his reaction, even as he felt all over the color drain from his face.

Shepard also glanced back at James before she approached the terminal. "That's Miranda," she answered Kaidan's question and turned her attention to the screen to activate the recording.

James spun around and strode back towards the terminal, too consumed by his shock and concern to try and pretend like Miranda's presence here didn't disturb him. He noticed the sympathetic look he received from Shepard and knew for sure his features were giving away much more than he wanted them to.

Once he stopped in front of the terminal he gripped the console hard as he stared at the display; it was Miranda talking into the camera and his heart dropped at the sight of her. She seemed even paler now and more bruised than he remembered her being the last time they'd talked. She was trying to sound tough and strong, but James knew her well enough to know that she was draining the last reserves of her strength. Plus, seeing her bloody uniform made his heartbeat increase in fear; he didn't know whose blood that was. Was she hurt? Was it bad?

"Miranda," James whispered to the terminal, knowing that she couldn't hear him but hoping that maybe somehow she'd be able to feel his concern for her. His grip on the console tightened painfully as he tried to keep his anger in check, but he was failing with every heavy breath he took until he finally snapped.

"What the hell is she doing here?!" He shouted into the console, not able to control his anger, hurt, or anxiety.

Shepard placed a strong hand on his shoulder, "Seems that her father is here with Oriana. She must've gotten here alone to save her."

James was furious as he put the pieces of the previous encounter together; now he knew why she was so distracted when she called him last time, why she said goodbye. She was going into this fight alone and she wasn't expecting to get out of it alive. He punched the terminal before gripping it tightly again, his head hung as he tried to regain some control over his ragged emotions.

His nostrils flared, his breathing escaped him in jagged bursts as Shepard's grip on his shoulder tightened, "Direct that anger at our enemies, James," she said. James closed his eyes for a moment, just to calm himself a little and to let his mind process everything. He saw flashes of their dinner date before his closed lids, heard her laughter in the back of his mind. He gripped the console harder. Why didn't she tell him? Why didn't she ask for his help? James couldn't help but feel betrayed; why didn't she trust me, he asked himself and came up with no answer.

He opened his eyes and gazed upon her bruised face on the terminal one last time before the screen turned black. His heartbeat increased with fear and anger, hoping that wherever she was that she was alive. Dios, por favor, he squeezed his eyes shut and prayed, let her be alive.

He lowered his head, still gripping the console hard as his heart started to crack like glass; Miranda, even though she was wounded, came here to rescue her sister with no qualms as to what could happen to her.

He released the console and stepped away before he could replay the recording again. He turned around and locked his eyes with Shepard's for a brief second; a silent plea that he hoped Shepard would recognize. She nodded sharply and James felt a little more relieved.

"Okay," said Shepard as she took out her rifle. "So we've got Cerberus, Reapers, and Miranda's crazy father. Any ideas how this all fits?" When neither he nor Kaidan replied she let out a sigh and observed, "We have to save Miranda and stop whatever is going on here."

"Aye, Commander," agreed Alenko and followed behind her as she strode down the hall toward the body of water. Shepard approached a control panel and fiddled around with it. After a second she activated it and a new, lower level appeared that was hidden on purpose from the others.

"Look at that," murmured Kaidan as the water level descended. "Why go through the trouble of concealing it?"

Shepard stepped toward the ladder. "I don't know," she replied. Glancing back at James, she returned her attention to the discovered level below and said, "Let's check it out. We've a back door into the facility, let's move."

Not waiting for further invitation, James was the first one down the ladder. His urgency to press on pushed him to scout ahead while Shepard and Kaidan made their way down the ladder. He stopped in front of some machinery, put off by its appearance and the magnitude of its size. At the sound of the other's joining him, James observed, "This looks like Reaper technology." When Shepard stepped up beside him, he glanced at her as he went on, "I'm guessing that Cerberus found a way to use it?"

"The answer has to be in here somewhere," she replied. "And Miranda's caught up in the middle. Let's pick up the pace."

James couldn't agree more.

-X-

This was worse than anything she could have imagined. All the hours spent trying to hunt down her father, Miranda couldn't have ever guessed that she'd stumble upon this. Sanctuary was a deathtrap, luring unfortunate and desperate refugees with the promise of protection from the Reapers. Protection, if she wasn't so close to the situation she might have found the irony amusing.

To think that she had defended Cerberus, that she had once admired the Illusive Man. Could she have really been so blind to the truth? When had everything she'd known about the group become so backwards? This level of madness was incredible, even from her father.

Miranda hurried through another office, searching for heatsinks as she ran past desks towards the med-kit in the back. Her ribs were still tender from her time spent with Dr. Silas, and she was operating off of a depleting reservoir of energy. She'd been prepared to fight an entire goddamn army to get back her sister, instead she found that she'd snuck past an ongoing battle.

When she'd arrived on Sanctuary it was to find Cerberus going head to head with an entire army of Reaper forces. Both sides had been too distracted fighting each other to realize she'd snuck through their lines. By the time Cerberus' forces had dwindled down to the dozens she'd already learned the truth. The Illusive Man had hired Henry Lawson to try to find a way to control the Reapers. Her father performed these experiments on the refugees that came here and turned them into monsters. It was... horrendous, and Oriana was somewhere trapped in the middle of it all. She had to get her sister out of here.

Throwing open the med-kit, Miranda rummaged through the bandages and aspirin until she found some medigel. Her ribs hurt like hell, and she had gotten into a bit of a scrape with some Cannibals while trying to avoid Cerberus troops. She was low on ammunition and she was getting too tired to be depending so heavily on her biotics. She needed to find some heatsinks and she needed to attend to the stupid cut on her arm.

Setting the now empty syringe of medigel onto a nearby desk, Miranda retrieved the bandages from the med-kit as well as a bottle of antiseptic alcohol. Pouring the liquid directly onto the gaping wound on her arm, Miranda hissed away from the pain with a curse before covering it with a film of more medigel and wrapping it up with a thick layer of gauze.

When the bandage was secured around her arm, she glanced down at her handiwork and sighed. Now she needed some damn ammunition and things might actually start looking up for her. The shrill screech of an approaching Banshee sent a chill carving right down her spine. She looked down at the pistol in her hand and checked how many sinks she had left.

Six. The odds of her killing a Banshee with six shots were about as good as Henry's odds of surviving a confrontation with her after everything he had done. Cocking her weapon, Miranda turned for the door and ran. She knew how to pick her battles, and a one on one fight with a Banshee was a fight she couldn't win in her current position.

As she quickly stalked through the halls, Miranda was careful to keep quiet and low to the ground. If she alerted even a husk, it could bring the bulk of the horde down on her and she needed to live long enough to at least see Oriana onto a shuttle off of this hell hole. Miranda could have really used some back up right about now.

Her heart tightened when it was James who came to mind instead of Shepard. There had been so much that she wanted to say to him during that last vid-call, but she didn't want to raise any suspicions or make him worry. It was selfish, even now she knew it was selfish, but it was the way it had to be. If James had asked her to wait for him, to let him come with her, she would have done it. Miranda would have let him talk her into a more solid plan, and that was unacceptable. Oriana needed her now, not after recovery time and planning.

Miranda was ready to die, was glad too if it meant saving her sister. Her only regret was that if the worst came to pass James would never know what his company had meant to her. He would never know how much she enjoyed his sense of humor, what that smirk of his did to her insides, the images her mind conjured when she was away from him. James would never know how much she'd come to care for him, and maybe it was better off that way.

At the blood curdling sound of a husk's groan, she skidded to a stop and crouched low to the ground, hiding behind a desk as she caught her breath. Miranda summoned a bit of her biotics to the surface, waiting until she felt the cool blue power start to glow a bit around her before she peeked over the desk. She saw a lone husk enter the room the same second she noticed some heat sinks lined up on a nearby desk.

Sucking in a steadying breath Miranda prepared herself for her attack. During their fight against the Collectors she and Shepard had encountered enough husks to know that the creatures traveled in packs. All it would take was a single groan from this one monster for a dozen more to come running. One husk was a non issue, but a dozen was another story.

She jumped out from behind the desk and launched herself over it the same second she sent the husk flying backwards into the wall, thrown back by her biotics with enough force to break a regular human being's back. It would take less than a second for the creature to react and Miranda needed to be quicker than that. Before it could open its mouth and sound for reinforcements Miranda shot it twice in the head and collected the spare heat sinks laying on the desk.

Without slowing her pace, she reloaded her pistol and pressed forward, knowing that other Reaper forces had probably heard her weapon firing and would be coming to investigate. There was a long empty hall between her and another room and Miranda stopped to rifle through some crates before going on. When she found some more heat sinks and a spare case of medigel, she was confident enough to continue her search.

As she entered the room the doors closed behind her. Miranda glanced back at the now locked doors, giving them a disconcerted once over before deciding to explore the entirety of this room as well. Her objective was to go forward, there was no reason for her to need those doors again, but having the option taken from her made her uncomfortable.

With her weapon ready, Miranda slowly walked through the office. Her attention was on some monitors as she rounded the room, when she had stalked a quarter of the way around the enclosed workspace in the center of the room she noticed a man standing in front of a terminal.

Her heart leaped into her throat at the sight of him, his familiar medium length black hair pulled back, the tight fit of his Cerberus armor, the arrogance of his stance. Miranda swallowed hard. She'd almost rather face a Banshee than this opponent. He stopped fiddling with whatever it was he was doing when he felt the weight of her surprised gaze on his back.

As the man turned to face her, a confident grin inched across his lips. "Miranda," his tone was venomous. "I was hoping that we might cross paths."

-X-

"Reaper forces have made a mess of the facility. I'm shutting down the power to the processing plant to lock them down."

James knew he wasn't imagining the desperation in her voice, the exhaustion. He stalked the length of the room as Shepard and Kaidan watched another recording left behind by Miranda, pacing back and forth as he tried to keep his shit together. Punta maricon! If he could run off without the others he might have just done it, but his duty to Shepard and the mission outweighed his personal desire to make sure Miranda was safe; just barely.

He paused behind them to watch her, observing how she'd become progressively pale throughout the course of her recordings. Miranda was typically lily white on a good day, the woman couldn't afford to lose any color. Seeing her like this was destroying him. He shut his eyes as he listened to the strain in her voice. She should have told him about this. He should have been here with her to protect her.

"It should keep them out of the entrances as well." He opened his eyes in time to watch her turn to continue with her mission and James ground his teeth to keep from voicing his displeasure. They were just standing there like a couple of idiotas while Miranda was out there trying to save her sister. They needed to be moving. James needed to keep her safe.

Shepard fiddled with the console and the video sped up a few frames. A familiar man dressed in form fitting Cerberus armor stepped into screen, and James' heart nearly stopped in his chest as he realized who the bastard was.

"Kai Leng!" Kaidan also said in realization. Glancing back at James, he turned his attention to Lola as he observed, "She doesn't know he's here."

The sound of Kai Leng's voice kept Shepard from responding. "Miranda Lawson has arrived sooner than expected. You want me to deal with her?"

Felio da punta! James barged between Shepard and Alenko and gripped the console tightly as he glared at the flickering image before him. That piece of shit! If Kai Leng misplaced a single strand of hair on Miranda's head James was going to give him the slowest most painful death imaginable.

"Only if she gets in your way." The sound of the Illusive Man's voice emanated in the deadly silence of the room. "Stay focused on the research data. Find it and get out."

"Yes Sir."

"Damn it," Lola didn't need to look back at James. He knew that she could feel his urgency. Unholstering her weapon, she gave the order, "Let's move," and James was only too happy to follow. They needed to find Miranda before Leng did. He needed to be there to keep her safe.

-X-

Miranda ducked away from Kai Leng's flying fist and rolled out of the way before he could follow up with a bone breaking kick to the chest. As she landed she shot him twice, his armor deflecting the shots before any real damage could be done. Miranda moved with a curse before he could retaliate.

Their fight had consisted mostly of Kai Leng chasing her around the room while Miranda avoided being cut down by his sword. If she'd been at one hundred percent she would have stood a chance against the assassin, injured as she was the best Miranda could hope for was that he might get bored of chasing her around and just leave. Kai Leng wasn't the type though. She was in his cross hairs, and he wasn't going to back down until his blade was red with her blood.

She moved her shoulder when she felt the air shift with the speed of his movements, a milisecond later and he would have had a firm grip on her shoulder and his sword protruding from her chest. Miranda spun, shooting off another two rounds into the empty space Kai Leng had been standing only a second before. He cartwheeled out of range, and Miranda threw him back with her biotics, taking a second to reload her weapon before he came at her again.

Setting her jaw, she knew that she needed to get on the offensive. Even if she didn't have enough strength left in her to defeat Kai Leng, she needed to make a fight with her too much of an effort and not worth his time. It was the only way she was getting out of this with her life. The odds weren't exactly in her favor, but it was either that or certain defeat.

Kai Leng pushed himself off of the wall and charged after her. Without turning to run for it like she had been doing up until now, Miranda did the same. She ran for Kai Leng, glaring at the man as she summoned another surge of biotics. He was on top of her in a second, and before he could cut her in half with his sword, Miranda arched herself backwards, turned and warped down his defences.

When the assassin whipped around to retaliate with his own biotics, Miranda shot through his armor. She landed three shots, his blood spraying out before him as he was thrown back by the force of the impact to his shoulder. Kai Leng was moving again before she could unload what ammo was left in her pistol. He kept low to the ground, careful with his injured arm, and threw her back against a desk with a powerful blast of his biotics.

Miranda cried out when the impact of her back slamming into the desk's hard corner was strong enough to break one of her cracked ribs. She fell to the ground and forced herself to roll under the desk before Kai Leng could bury his sword into her chest. When she heard the clang of his blade colliding with the flooring where she'd been laying seconds earlier, Miranda pointed her pistol at the desk shielding her from the assassin and shot.

She shouted as she unloaded the entirety of her pistol and only stopped when her weapon clicked, announcing it's empty heat sink. Every breath was a stab in the chest as she tried to steady her heart beat. Miranda waited for Kai Leng to flip the desk over and finish her off, but after a few seconds of nothing happening, Miranda realized that he was gone.

Her plan had been so far fetched that she hadn't actually thought that it would work, but it did. She'd taken the offensive and Kai Leng had actually decided that she wasn't worth the fight. A mildly insane laugh burst through her, stabbing into her cracked and broken chest until she stopped. Miranda dragged herself out from under the desk and pulled herself back up onto her feet.

Panning over the room she was relieved to see that the Cerberus assassin was actually gone. She'd made it out of that one with her life, incredibly enough. If it didn't hurt her ribs so much she might have danced in celebration of the unpredicted victory. Forcing in a deep, steadying breath Miranda knew she had to press on. It was too soon for a victory dance. Oriana was still somewhere in this God forsaken facility, and she needed to get to the tower and reestablish off world communication. The galaxy needed to see the atrocity that had happened here on Sanctuary, and if it took her last dying breath to make that happen then Miranda was ready to make that sacrifice.

-X-

His heart was pounding against his ears as though sounding the drums of war. James pressed himself against a pillar as he tried to catch his breath. Fucking Brutes. He checked how many rounds he had left in his shotgun, then moved to take stock of his grenades.

Really the Brutes weren't the problem. Yeah, they were big, mean, and ugly motherfuckers, but when they weren't charging their fastest speed was knuckle dragging crawl. The real problem was the Banshee. That abomination was powerful, and that scream could stop a man's heart from beating in his chest.

James peeked around the pillar in time to catch the Brute trudging in his direction. Stepping out from around the corner, he opened fire on the beast, roaring out a loud battle cry as each of his shots weakened the Brute's natural defenses. When he saw the protective plating start to crack along the Brute's surface, James unhooked a few grenades and threw them underneath it.

Ducking back into cover, James shielded himself from the blast and laughed out at the sound of the creature's body parts splattering against the walls. No, Brutes definitely weren't the problem. He reloaded his weapon and his smile vanished at the sound of Shepard shouting over the Banshee's cries.

"Kaidan!" She sent a shockwave crashing through the room, knocking the Major out from the Banshee's grasp. The second that Alenko was out of the line of fire, James called out for the disfigured thing that had once been an asari, that had once had friends and a family and had been a living feeling person.

"Hey!" he shot the Banshee, drawing her dark soulless eyes in his direction. "Yeah, look over here you ugly bitch!"

She pushed her arms back as she screamed at him. The air rippled around her and James cursed as he recognized her advance. One second the Banshee had been on the other side of the room and the next she was halfway towards James. Kaidan scrambled up onto his feet and Lola rushed up beside him. The Banshee was surrounded by the three of them, being shot to pieces by James while Alekno and Shepard both used their biotics to bring down the creature's defences and inflict as much damage as possible.

The air rippled around the Banshee again, one more move like that and she was going to be directly on top of James. He swallowed hard when the space she'd just been standing flashed with a blinding blue color. A second later the Banshee reappeared, she stood at an imposing height, taller than James by more than a foot, her large black eyes sucking the life out of James as she grinned liplessly at him.

Her deafening cry stabbed into his ears only to be cut off as James stabbed into the Banshee's gut with the sharpened blade attached to his shotgun. Screaming back into her face, he lifted her off of her feet and shot into her stomach three times until she slumped lifelessly at the end of his weapon. James threw her off of the shotgun with a growl and panted as he tried to catch his breath.

Shepard and Kaidan ran to where James was standing, their unphased gazes on the dead Banshee as they approached him. There was an approving smile on Lola's lips as she placed a hand on his shoulder, "Now that's how you kill a Banshee," she commented with a laugh.

Setting his jaw, he gave the creature a final glance before turning on his heel and heading for the room the Reaper forces had exited from. "Come on," they had to save Miranda. He had to be sure that she was okay.

They followed him into another room filled with terminals and control panels. James was grateful when Shepard didn't spare a single one of them a second glance. Instead she led her team over to the elevator and the three of them stepped on board.

"Tower access granted," a synthetic voice announced before the elevator started moving.

James double checked his weapons and counted how many grenades he had left. The tower was their last stop. If Miranda wasn't there then he didn't know what he was going to do. He needed her to be okay. James needed to hear her rare laugh again. He ground his teeth impatiently at the lift's casual assent.

When the elevator doors parted again, the sound of an ongoing battle could be heard on the other side of the door on the far end of the room. "Miranda," James whispered as he approached the door.

"Get ready!" Shepard instructed as she punched open the door and they entered the room.

His heart leaped into his throat at the sight of Miranda hidden behind a desk. She looked worse off than he had thought. The dark circles under her eyes looked like bruises, and her skin was so pale he could see her veins underneath. She looked exhausted, like she was on her last stretch, and all James wanted to do was run to her and cradle her fragile form in his arms.

"James," she croaked at the sight of the three of them entering the battlefield. Her blue eyes gave away how shocked she was to see him, but her father spoke before James could fully recognize what also looked like relief in those big blue depths.

"Commander Shepard," Henry Lawson had an arm hooked around Oriana's neck as he used his own daughter as a human shield. His gun was aimed on Lola as a scowl formed along the man's features. "Excellent timing."

Shepard led them further into the room and the three of them fanned out around Henry, blocking all of his exits. "Put the gun down," she advised, even though James knew a man like Henry couldn't be reasoned with.

"No, Oriana tried to shoot me," his eyes narrowed as he bore a disgusted look into his youngest daughter's head. "Miranda's poisonous influence no doubt."

"I'm sorry she missed." Shepard glanced around the room as she wondered, "Where's Kai Leng?"

A displeased look settled on Henry's face as he answered. "I don't know," he growled. "Gone. He took my research and left us here to die."

"Miranda," Shepard stated calmly. "Can you hear me?"

When her question was answered by silence, James nearly panicked. It took all of his self control to keep from rushing toward the desk she'd been hiding behind and making sure that she was still alive. When he looked towards the Commander, pleading for permission to do just that, he bit into the his cheek to keep from cursing when Shepard slightly shook her head, belaying his overprotective instincts.

Miranda groaned as she hoisted herself back up onto her feet and James exhaled a breath of relief at the sight of her standing on her own. She was cradling her chest like her ribs were hurt, and she was slumped over as though at any moment she might succumb to her injuries, but she was up and that counted for something.

"That's close enough," Henry aimed his weapon at Miranda. "Both of you." He glared at his oldest daughter and stated, "Kai Leng didn't finish the job, but I will."

James felt Shepard's gaze land on him for a second, long enough for her to catch the tick in his jaw. If this piece of merda didn't shut his mouth he was going to get a facefull of James' shotgun. What kind of man did this to his own daughters? Oh that's right, James realized, the kind of man that runs horrific experiments on thousands upon thousands of hopeless refugees.

"This ends here," said Lola.

"On the contrary," Henry argued, his grip around Oriana's neck tightening when she moved a bit. "Now that the Reapers are taken care of, we have a way out."

"Let her go."

Miranda turned towards the Commander and beseeched her. "Shepard... don't let him take her."

It should have been him that she had turned to. It should have been James she was asking for help. He was the one who cared about her. He was the one who nearly had a heart attack when he saw that Kai Leng had found her. He was the one that was ready to lay down his life if it meant saving her. Miranda should have turned to him from the beginning.

"Shepard, please," Oriana gripped her father's arm as she pleaded with the Commander, begging for Lola to find a way out for all of them.

Furrowing her brows, Lola kept her aim firmly placed on Henry's face as she admitted, "I have no problem with you. I just want Oriana and the research data."

"You want a lot." Henry replied.

"You get your life in return," Shepard rebutted with a question. "How much is that worth?"

Henry considered Lola's offer for a moment, glancing at Oriana as he weighed his options. "Alright," he shoved Oriana onto the floor. "Take her. But I want out alive. Deal?"

An angry blue light flared around Miranda as she summoned her biotics. As she wound up to throw a powerful blast in her father's direction she roared, "No deal!" and sent him flying through the window.

Before his body impaled then broke the glass, Henry lined up a shot on Miranda and fired. James watched as the world had slowed down to move as though wading through water. Henry Lawson was sent flying through the window the same time that Miranda was shot with enough force to shove her off of her feet, a mist of red formed in front of her as she was thrown back onto the ground.

His heart stopped in his chest and James felt as though the universe itself was shattering into a billion pieces. All this way he had fought, all this way they had run, and for what? For Miranda to die right before his eyes? He started running but he felt like he was moving through a deep pool of water, every step took him nowhere, every second took an eternity. He hadn't come for nothing. She needed to be alive. She needed to know how much he cared about her.

"Miranda!"