Disclaimer: anything you recognize, I don't own. The original characters belong to James Fenimore Cooper, and Michael Mann. OCs are mine.

Taking a different approach, both writing wise and story telling. Hope you all enjoy this. Mostly canon (closer to the script) until the cliffs.

The Summer of a Thousand Dreams

Chapter One

Alice Munro felt herself jerked forward as the canoe continued to hurdle dangerously nearer to the rapids, the same rapids that led to the sharp incline of the falls. The deadly falls.

I am going to die.

Her stomach dropped so suddenly that, for several terrifying seconds, Alice thought they may have gone over the falls after all. She had a sudden vision of herself and her sister, eyes vacant, bloated, smashed against the wet rocks below.

Alice screamed in terror.

She felt her sister Cora's vice-like grip on her hand; she felt it but could not squeeze her fingers back in any show of solidarity.

I am going to die in this god-forsaken, savage land.

Several minutes- or perhaps it was mere moments- later, the canoe was beached into the rough, sandy banks.

Shuffling quickly out along with the others, Alice was pulled and pushed, stumbling as she went. She listened to the voices of the men and their murmurs, trying in vain to focus on anything to keep her flagging hopes up.

Craning her head back, she watched as Nathaniel pushed their canoe off the embankment, his mouth set in a grim line. Along with the other one Duncan had just dispatched, it crashed through the rollicking waves, and fell through the falls.

Alice shivered. The canoes were splintered somewhere far below them- in watery graves.

The hours passed as slowly as a funereal procession, as slowly as dying every minute.

Everyone was soaked to the bone. The tempers had flared among the men, confined as they all were in this dank, dark place. Nathaniel and Duncan, two of the more hot-headed men Alice knew. It was steel meeting iron. A continual clash of dislike and jealousy. And now… now they were all backed into this hole in a mountain, arguing over powder and English military law.

Cora sobbed on the ground, her knees to her chest, her dark hair wild and fanning around her with the mist of the careening falls. Alice wanted to crawl to her sister, but something stopped her. She did not want to feel her sister's half-hearted hugs, nor listen to her words of comfort. She was only forcing herself to be brave for Alice. There was no point in denying her the truth. Let Cora have her pain.

Now, there was only terror.

It hung above them all, a dark fog.

He is coming. Her nightmare had a face. The Huron.

Alice knew it; she knew it as well as she knew her own face, her name. Death was looming.

The cold was becoming unbearable. Alice stood shakily and began to walk towards one of the winding, dark turns of the labyrinthian cavern. She walked, and staggered, and walked, drawing her fingers against the walls as she went.

Very soon, she saw something that drew a lump in her throat.

Stars.

The stars of the night sky shone as a beacon would, beckoning her closer. A thing of beauty in this horrid country.

Alice felt dazed as she crept closer to the shimmering starlight. She lifted a hand, palm outstretched, feeling the spray of the falls saturate her anew.

She wanted to get as close as possible… She was teetering on the edge….. she wanted to touch it. She wanted to-

"Get back!"

The air left her body, and Alice was falling back. Her stomach lurched at the sudden sensation.

She screamed and struggled against the embrace that enveloped her, arms clasped so tightly around her slight frame.

Uncas. She realized it belatedly as his deep voice murmured her name. He pressed his warm lips to her brow with a tenderness that Alice had not expected. Sweeping her dripping hair from her face, he pulled her more securely against him, looking out to ascertain that she had not revealed their position.

Uncas.

His strong body had a warmth that she so craved. She had felt it that night when they had hidden at the burial ground. Seeing her struggle to contain her fear, Uncas had quickly dropped his rifle and rolled her beneath him, one large hand covering her mouth. He had smelled of grass and pine trees.

"Miss Alice," Uncas whispered, his breathing soft, "go to your sister." He began to loosen his arms.

At this, Alice's eyes opened and she craned her head back to stare at his shadowed black eyes. She didn't want to leave his embrace. She felt safe. He always made her feel so safe.

"Uncas…" was her faint response. She held onto his soaked shirt even tighter, shaking her head. She didn't want to go back. She didn't want to have to face what was out there. She wanted to remain in his embrace for as long as she could.

He gently began to unwind her hands. She clung onto him even as he continually whispered that she must return to the others. She must.

Without thinking, she brushed his hands aside and climbed onto him, her thighs around his hips.

His eyes widened. In the few short days that they had known each other, and despite all the dangers they had faced, this was the first time he looked startled.

It was not enough. Some impulse was guiding her actions, and all she could do was surrender herself to it.

Alice raised herself on his lap higher. She leveraged herself by placing her hands on his shoulders- her lips met his. Warm, inviting, seeking.

Uncas drew back, his eyes boring into hers. His resolve to send her back was still there, but it was his hands that betrayed him. His hands always did. Guiding her, helping her up, silencing her struggles; his hands betrayed his affection for an English girl. His hands now moved of their own accord around her slender waist, his thumbs roving-

He withdrew, his eyes contrite. He could not touch that which was not his.

Alice shivered. The horrific dread that had been building in her erupted. Suddenly her mind was careening. She let the fear wash over her. It erased everything from her memory, from her life. All she could see was him.

What happened next was so quick, and almost without reason. It was everything. It was her fear, her panic, her heartache. It was his hands, and his eyes, and his kindness.

She pressed herself against him in a frenzied motion, her knees contracting against his hips. She wanted more. She wanted to feel as much as she could. It was beyond thinking now.

Alice heard his breathing quicken. He looked down at his lap, his hands moving up slowly from her waist to her ribs.

It wasn't enough. She lifted her skirts.

The next several minutes were chaotic, a contrast of emotions- his carefulness with her unrestrained motions. She wanted to feel, and feel she did.

She felt the sharp sting that blossomed in her body, but which she ignored. She felt his tumescence and warmth and solidness filling her. As Alice whispered his name, she felt them both arching towards the other, his hipbones scraping hers, because they both must have felt the same sense of time running out.

Afterward, he held her against him, his breathing slowing to soft pants. She felt both of their fast beating hearts. She felt her descent back from her frenzied last few minutes. She was lightheaded, and with more than just fatigue.

Alice stiffened.

What have I done?

Uncas's hands steadied her, and he began to braid a section of her drenched, limp hair. They were still in the same position they had been. She hadn't moved since they had…had….

Wrenching free from his grasp, Alice stood quickly and, ignoring the man she had just laid with, made her way back to the others.

She could feel his gaze on her.

Alice resolved not to look at him again

The blinding sun flashed unforgivably down upon the world. A mockery. There was no more beauty left, only death.

Alice was being dragged like a piece of baggage by the Huron braves, who followed their leader in a silent procession up the winding mountain. When she stumbled and fell, there was no helping hand. She was dragged upon the ground, scraping herself roughly, until she was able to right herself.

Her father was dead. Her sister was dead. The last she had seen of their saviors, they had leapt into the roaring falls of their hideaway, hundreds of feet in the air. She doubted their survival. She hoped her death would be swift, for she was tired of the world. She was seventeen years old, and she wished for eternal rest.

A crack rent the air. It was a sound Alice had become only too accustomed to.

What she did not expect was to see Uncas barreling toward them, his face set in grim determination.

Uncas.

Her wide eyes scanned his appearance. He looked relatively unharmed, tough bloodied and bruised, his green shirt torn.

His eyes locked with hers. She could read it in his fierceness; I will save you.

Uncas dispatched the Hurons easily, one after the other, until the fight came to an impasse when he clashed head-on with Magua; the brutality and skill of the older man was truly shocking.

Alice, in her daze, could see that Uncas was growing tired, and was being outmaneuvered. Magua's knife glinted menacingly in the sunlight, winking at her, as he hacked and sliced into the flesh of his younger opponent.

At one point, Uncas staggered back and peered down at the blood pouring from his abdomen, his eyes lit with surprise at his injuries. In his determination and rashness, he had not anticipated being injured. His eyes jerked up to lock on hers. There was a stunned sort of apology in them.

With a sudden leap, Uncas sprang at the Huron captain, using the last of his ebbing strength to knock the other man off balance, and both of them slammed and rolled onto the promontory.

There was a reckless desperation in every move that Uncas made, and Alice, having grown up around soldiers, knew that he was on the losing side. Her heart pounded loudly in her ears, hope dwindling.

The Huron stood up, his bearing erect, his knife pointed menacingly towards his prey. He made no move to attack the injured man, instead allowed him to stagger to his feet to attempt one last assault.

He was losing. He would die, and with him would go her chance at salvation.

After standing, Uncas made one final lunge, which the Huron easily deflected. Just as quickly, facing him, Magua drove his blade into Uncas' side, causing him to cry out in pain as he tried to twist his body around.

Alice could no longer bear it. Squeezing her eyes shut, she turned away. Coward till the end.

The brave that gripped her arm suddenly squeezed her so tight that she gave a pained gasp. He released her and reached for his tomahawk. Alice was briefly jostled by the other braves as they, too, reached for their weapons. She flattened herself against the mountain wall.

What?-

The world exploded in a volley of rifle shots. The world seemed to tilt for the young English girl, and she grasped the rocks behind her in a mindless panic.

Chingachgook. He ran past them all in a blur of colors, lifting his war club, and gave a frightful war cry that rose to the heavens. He met Magua head-on, who turned to face this new opponent, dropping the limp body of Uncas onto the ground.

Nathaniel was not long in arriving, mere seconds, and he raised a rifle in each hand, shooting down his targets easily. Two Huron men contorted in the air and fell like rag dolls.

Magua knew that the circumstances had changed away from his advantage. His lips curled in a snarl as he attacked Chingachgook, and was blocked at every turn.

It was over with startling precision. Chingachgook spun, and caved the other man's back and spine in with his gunstock club. The crack his broken body made was as loud as a musket shot.

Alice, numb from shock and pain, looked around at the sudden silence. Dead men littered her line of vision.

Nathaniel and his father quickly knelt before an unconscious Uncas, assessing his injuries, carefully feeling his pulse. It must have looked grim, for Nathaniel's eyes were unnerved.

Alice took a single, faltering step towards Uncas, when she was almost knocked down with the force of her sister's embrace. She was stunned at her sudden appearance.

"Alice!"

Her sister was alive. Her dear sister. That was all that mattered.

Alice drew back from Uncas, unsure of anything now. Her heart beat fast at the sight of her would-be savior's injuries. Should she….

Cora clung to her tighter.

"It is over," she whispered to her younger sister.