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tank_rockarmsHe recognized the building, it was the one where he'd faced off against Von Bolt with Jake and Rachel and Hawke at the finale of the Omega Land war. And Jake was there, and Rachel and Hawke – he still held the gun that had fatally shot Von Bolt's chair. And the building, it's power-source now bleeding energy, was collapsing. They had to get out. Jake didn't want to leave Hawke behind, but Max grabbed him and forced him to get out of there anyway. It was Hawke, and if he wanted to die then Max would let him – he'd ravaged Green Earth and had fought against them in Omega Land, too. Jake was more important than Hawke was – Max would leave him to die if he chose it, but he wouldn't let Jake join him.
The three rushed out of the building, Rachel, Max, and Jake, Max still dragging Jake behind him. And somehow, it seemed impossible, Jake slipped Max's iron grip. Maybe his hands were sweaty from all of the running and the pressure but Jake's hand was no longer in Max's. And he darted back into the collapsing building. Max stood in shock, while Rachel took after Jake. Max tried to run after them, to get them before they got inside, but Max was too big and too slow to get there before the others did – they were much faster than he was.
The building shuddered and fell in on itself. Max gasped – two of his friends were in there. He barreled up to the rubble and yelled into it, "JAKE, JAKE, RACHEL, CAN YOU HEAR ME? JAKE? RACHEL?"
He heard a tiny, strained voice, it was Rachel. "Max, Max help, I can't see, something's crushing my legs, I can't, I cant move, Max."
There was a second voice, fainter, and further away, Jake's. "Max, bra, there's a rock crushing me, I can barely breathe."
"HOLD ON," Max cried, "HOLD ON, I'M COMIN.'" Max tore into the broken pieces of the wall, huge chunks of concrete and steel. He should have been able to move them. He couldn't. His arms strained, his back popped, his chest burned, the veins and sinews in his neck screamed with tension – nothing.
He wasn't strong enough to move it. He could still hear their voices, getting weaker by the minute, begging him for help. But he couldn't budge a thing – he was weak.
"I'LL BE RIGHT BACK I GOTTA GET SOME HELP YOU'LL BE OKAY," he hollered into the ruined building. He took off for the Allied Forces camp – he'd get some of his soldiers, some tanks, b-copters, something that would let him move the rubble. But when he got back to camp, he found it different than he had left it. There were pieces of Black Hole heavy equipment everywhere – tanks, bombers, a submarine (in the middle of a desert?). It made no sense.
He ran up to the first thing he came across – it was a tank. And then he saw Sami trapped underneath the treads of the tank. "Max," she wailed, "Max help me, I'm dying."
"SAMI," Max bellowed, "SAMI, I'M COMIN', SAMI." He ran up to the tank and did the first thing he could think of, try to tip the thing over. It was a tank but he was Max he was strong enough to do anything. But the tank didn't budge. "SAMI I'M GONNA TRY TO DRIVE IT OFF OF YOU." He leapt on top of the tank and Sami cried out in pain. Max tried to open the hatch, but it wouldn't open. It was stuck. And no amount of pulling would get it opened.
He leapt off of the tank again. Sami looked up at him and coughed – there was blood. She looked at him with bright, accusing eyes, "I'm going to die, Max, why aren't you strong enough to save me? What good are those muscles if you can't use them for anything?"
"Sami, Sami I'm tryin' Sami, you gotta believe me, Sami," Max said, as he tried to tip the tank over again. It didn't budge. He hit the tank in frustration – Sami shrieked in pain and stopped moving. "Sami," said Max, bending down, shaking her shoulder, "Sami, Sami, talk to me, Sami. Sami it's Max."
She didn't respond.
Max ran further into the camp. The submarine (what was it doing there?) had a leg sticking out from under it. A long, lean blue-jeans clad leg. Grit's leg.
"GRIT," Max cried. "GRIT I'M COMIN."
"Maxie," a weak voice called out, "Maxie I'm bein' crushed to death, you gotta get this off me or I'm deader than a possum on the highway."
Max tried to move it. But he couldn't. It wouldn't budge. "Grit," Max said, "Grit, I can't move it, I ain't strong enough, Grit. Grit I'm, Grit, I'm so sorry, Grit, I ain't strong enough to do it."
"Then I guess I'm gonna die and it's all yer fault, Maxie. 'Cause yeh ain't strong enough."
"Grit, no don't say that, Grit, I can't move a submarine, Grit, please, Grit, don't say that," said Max. Things had gone blurry, he couldn't see right anymore for some reason and his breathing came in gasps.
Grit never replied again.
There was a sudden burst of noise as from every strange piece of Black Hole machinery a voice called out, "Max, help me, Max I'm dying, Max." So many voices, so many friends, he heard them all mingled together, crying out for his help – Sonya, Colin and Colin's hot sister, Eagle and Javier. All of them crying out for help.
"Max!" cried a voice, "Max help, I can't see anything, and I hurt everywhere, Max please." It was Andy's voice. "I'm dying, Max, please help me."
Max stumbled towards Andy's voice. He had to save Andy, he just had to. He'd already lost Sami and Grit, he couldn't move the rocks to save Rachel and Jake, he had to save Andy. He didn't even know Andy was here – he thought Andy was back in Orange Star. But through blurry eyes he jogged to the voice.
He found Andy – and there wasn't anything on top of him. But he was sprawled out on the ground, and covered in cuts and bruises; blood had begun to pool around him. "Andy, " said Max, "Oh Andy thank God, Andy, everybody else, I can't, I can't, I'm not strong enough, Andy, I can't save them."
"Max," said Andy weakly, "Max I hurt all over, you've gotta get me to the infirmary."
"Yeah, Andy, yeah, I'll get you there, " said Max. "I'll get you there." He kneeled down beside Andy. "You're gonna be okay, please Andy, be okay." He put his hands underneath him, and gently pulled up. Andy didn't budge. He pulled harder. Andy didn't move. Max tried with all of his strength to pull him up off of the ground, more than he strained with the building, the tank, the sub, Max tried to get Andy up off the ground.
"Max," said Andy, "Max what's wrong? Why are you so weak?"
"Andy," said Max, "Andy I'll save you, you gotta believe in me, I'm strong enough to save you Andy." His arms were slick with Andy's blood, it was warm and wrong. "I gotta be strong enough to save you." Max strained, grunted, and pulled with all of his might – what was the point of all of that weightlifting if he couldn't even pick up a boy who couldn't weigh more than 150 pounds? Finally, finally, like Atlas carrying the weight of the world, Max got him up off the ground.
But his arms were too wet with Andy's blood, and Andy slipped out of them and hit the ground, hit his head on rock, and there was a spasm, followed by another one, and another. Andy's eyes met with Max's and in them Max could read the accusation – I'm dying because of you.
Andy's body stopped convulsing and Max was on his knees again, trying to shake him back into consciousness, but nothing. Andy was dead. Sami, Grit, Jake, Rachel, everyone else – they were all dead or dying. He wasn't strong enough to save them. It was his fault, all his fault.
"I ain't strong enough to save them, Andy, Grit, Sami, Jake, Rachel, I can't do it. I can't do it," he fell to the ground on top of Andy, grabbed the dead boy, buried his face in Andy's blood-slicked hair, and wept. The voices that had begged him for help were silent now – the only sound was his sobbing as he held the body of his friend. The only thing he saw was a world of brown and deep red while the taste of copper and salt burned on his tongue.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-07-25 03:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-25 04:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-25 05:08 am (UTC)And...you saved me.
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Date: 2009-07-25 05:41 am (UTC)::Max still has his face buried into Andy's hair::
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Date: 2009-07-25 06:39 am (UTC)GODDAMMIT MAX YOU'RE A SOLDIER! GET UP! REMEMBER WHAT HACHI SAID!
"DON'T ASK FOR IT; GO WIN IT ON YOUR OWN. DO THAT AND YOU'LL SUCCEED." YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!
THAT'S NOT ANDY, IT'S JUST A DREAM!
no subject
Date: 2009-07-25 11:57 am (UTC)[That was an odd reaction]
What do you mean it's a dream, I'm holdin' Andy, I can feel him.
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Date: 2009-07-25 06:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-26 01:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-27 12:09 am (UTC)You just have to wake up.
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Date: 2009-07-25 10:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-25 11:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-25 06:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-26 01:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-27 12:08 am (UTC)Would you rather I just call you Max?
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Date: 2009-07-25 09:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-26 01:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-26 01:08 am (UTC)Please wake up.
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Date: 2009-07-26 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-26 01:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-26 03:57 am (UTC)