Fic: Never Alone (G) Kris/Adam

Title: Never Alone
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,381
Warnings: AU, crossover - well, sort of
Summary: When Kris doesn't return when he's supposed to, Adam worries.
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone in this fic. They belong to themselves. The ideas from Dark Angel belong to James Cameron.
Notes: I've wanted to do this since I saw the "brainwashing/reprogramming" prompt on my H/C bingo card but rather than show the actual reprogramming, I went with the aftermath and the idea that it's not new so there's already a foundation for coming back from it. Also inspired by this week's prompt at tamingthemuse (prompt: "Your prison is to walk the world alone.")


The day had been slow to the point that he’d seriously considered starting a fight just so that he’d have something to do but the idea of being punished just wasn’t worth it. Sighing, he paced, covering the space of the room in five steps before spinning to do it all over again.

“Problem, X5-861?”

Reminding himself that no one else actually knew about the names he and the others had given each other, he turned and shook his head. “No, Sal, just trying to decide on an exercise to end the night with.” He smiled, knowing that the security guard would believe it with no problem.

Sal laughed and shook his head. “Always on the move,” he said, continuing down the hall.

He watched as Sal walked down the hall and then turned the corner before sighing and turning to begin pacing again.

“Adam.”

Automatically, he glanced up and down the hall to make sure that no one was around to hear the whisper before he answered,

“Yeah?” He knew that the question had come from Matt, X5-349, who was across from him.

“Anything yet?”

Adam shook his head, glancing at the wall that separated him and Kris, X5-942, who had been sent out on a mission and was supposed to return sometime yesterday if everything had gone well. “No.” He frowned and leaned against the wall, feeling the stone dig into his shoulder.

“Incoming,” Allison, X5-542, whispered from the cell on the other side of Kris’s.

Adam straightened and moved so that he was out of sight, sucking a breath when he realized that it was Kris practically being dragged back to his cell. He bit his lip as he got a look at the blank look on Kris’s face, knowing exactly what it meant.

Something had gone wrong; something that had caused Kris to be held downstairs for a day of reprogramming, which meant that if something wasn’t done, Kris would be acting like the perfect soldier tomorrow instead of acting like himself.

There was silence as Kris was dropped on to his bed and Adam barely dared to breathe as he listened to the security guards walking away. The moment that he was positive that all of the guards were out of hearing range, he crouched and lifted his bed so that it was strapped to the wall before he dropped to the ground and carefully pulled out the single block that he and Kris had each spent time carving out from either side of the wall so that they’d have a way to talk without any of the guards knowing.

Adam closed his eyes when the sound of shaky gasps and whimpering reached his ears. Normally, they only kept a person down there for a couple hours. Kris had been there for an entire day, who knows what they’d done to him?

“Kris,” he said softly. “Kris, can you hear me?” When there was no answer, he stretched out, making sure his head was as close to the hole in the wall as it could get. “That’s your name, remember? You’re not just a soldier like they told you. You’re more than X5-942. You’re Kris. Remember when you got that name? You insisted on naming me before anyone else and you said that I was Adam.” He paused and listened, biting his lip when he realized that Kris was still crying, something he usually didn’t do.

“You once asked me why I picked the name Kris for you. I told you that you just felt like a Kris to me and you rolled your eyes because I couldn’t give you a better answer than that.” He paused when he heard Kris shifting, his breathing becoming less shaky, and then continued. “The first time we went out on a group mission, Archie was completely freaked out by the idea of animals being out in the woods and even though it sounded ridiculous for one of us to be afraid of something like an animal, you made sure no one picked on him over it. When Megan wanted to get a tattoo, you were the one that saved her from getting punished by saying that it had been part of the mission and I still don’t know how you got away with that.”

Adam held his breath when he saw Kris’s legs swing over the side of the bed and then watched as Kris slid to the floor, lying down so that he was facing Adam. The windows in each cell were just big enough to let in enough light so that Adam could see Kris’s face.

“When they took David away and never brought him back, you were the one that got Allison to calm down so that they wouldn’t take her away too, remember? You always said that I was the one that did it but I don’t think you’ve ever realized that it’s you that Allison goes to when she needs to talk. I can make her laugh easier than other people but you’re the one who can get her talking.”

Kris shifted so that he was even closer to the hole in the wall and Adam smiled. “You remember when they decided our unit had done so well that we could have some down time last month? We got into a water fight and you dunked Anoop in the lake.”

Kris rolled over so that he was on his stomach and reached out a hand slightly. He still hadn’t said anything but Adam was happy with the fact that he’d even moved this much. Adam took a deep breath and reached out with his own hand, sliding it through the empty space until his fingers touched Kris’s.

“When I screwed up on that retrieval mission two months ago, they took me downstairs,” Adam said, his voice just above a whisper. Kris’s fingers curled into a fist and Adam watched as he lowered his eyes. “You talked to me until I felt normal again, until I remembered that I was more than what they tried to make me. You sang to me and told me stories and I remember thinking you were going to lose your voice.”

He stopped talking for a moment and thought back to when Kris talked about songs that he’d heard out there and which ones he liked the most and then started to sing,

“Fly away, this ship is taking me far away, far away from the memories of the people who care if I live or die; starlight, I will be chasing the starlight...”

As he sang, Kris’s fingers slowly straightened and he slid his hand forward until their fingers linked together. They stayed that way as Adam continued to sing, going through as many songs as he could think of over the next couple of hours. He knew from personal experience that Kris wouldn’t be able to sleep after having been downstairs and he was determined not to let him lie awake and think about it.

When the sun began to fill their cells, Adam reluctantly pulled his hand back after squeezing Kris’s hand. Quickly, he put the stone back into the wall and dropped his bed, settling on it and making it look as if he’d been asleep, thankful that X5s could go so long without sleep.

The sound of the doors unlocking caused him to roll off the bed and he didn’t bother to slow down as he went into the hallway, only stopping when he saw Kris standing in his own doorway.

“Okay?” he asked, knowing that Kris wasn’t okay now but hoping that Kris would be able to say that he would be.

Kris stared at him for a few moments and then nodded, a small smile appearing on his face. “Okay.”

Adam let out a breath and glanced around, making sure that no one was paying attention to them before he reached out and slid his hand into Kris’s, nodding at Matt and Anoop as they moved behind them, blocking their hands from view. Megan, Archie, and Allison moved to stand around them as Mike and Lil moved to stand in front of them.

As they began to head to breakfast, Adam smiled as he felt Kris squeeze his hand.

Kris would be fine.