First, I just want to wish all my American readers a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope everyone has a wonderful day.
Once again, thank you all for the feedback. It keeps me motivated, it really does.
For those of you who have PM'ed or written me asking about broken links to some of my old stories on my website, well, I finally did something about it. All if the stories on my site were older versions, and now I've just updated to the most current versions I have.
Serendipity is not posted up there yet, and neither is He Said/She Said, but I plan to finish posting all of the parts to those sometime this weekend if all goes well.
Trouble - ColdPlay
Oh no, I see
The spider web is tangled up with me
And I lost my head
And thought of all the stupid things I'd said
Oh no, what's this?
A spider web and I'm caught in the middle
So I turn to run
And thought of all the stupid things I'd done
And I never meant to cause you trouble
I never meant to do you wrong
And ah, well if I ever caused you trouble
Oh, no I never meant to do you harm
Oh no, I see
The spider web and it's me in the middle
So I twist and turn
But here am I in my little bubble
Singing out
I never meant to cause you trouble
I never meant to do you wrong
And ah, well if I ever caused you trouble
Oh, no I never meant to do you harm
They spun a web for me
They spun a web for me
They spun a web for me
Part Twenty-Seven
*~Max~*
He sat in the back room, his head resting in his hands.
The store had been closed and dark, but he was sure that she would return. He used his powers to open the door and then locked it behind him again, walking to the back to wait.
He’d done everything to try to protect those he loved. He wasn’t angry with Liz for calling Isabel, but he knew it wouldn’t be long before she came looking for him.
One more reason he had to get out of the city.
He felt his heart tighten knowing that she was alive. It must have been Seeraynah. She’d healed them with the power of the Granolith. It was the only explanation.
“I was only doing as you asked,” a voice said behind him. Jeanine, just as he had suspected. “I protected them. I kept my promise.”
“Seeraynah,” he said in a low voice, turning to her.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” he asked. “You knew and you didn’t tell me. You knew everything.”
“Yes. You didn’t remember what had happened, and I knew Tess was in your head. I couldn’t chance it, her knowing I was here,” she said. “I couldn’t activate the Granolith soon enough while you were still on Antar, and she insinuated herself in your psyche. There was nothing I could do.”
His anger simmered, threatening to overpower him.
“You did this to me once. You let her manipulate me. And now you’ve just done it again,” he said angrily, standing.
“Max, you’ll understand everything in the end. It was meant to happen this way. It is the Granolith’s will,” she said. “I had to obey it.”
“I don’t give a damn about willof the Granolith!” he said. “I came here that first day and you knew, and you let Tess continue to torture me, and you did nothing!”
She held his gaze, unrepentant.
“I couldn’t help you, Max,” she said. “I was forbidden to interfere more than I already had. Up until now, everything has been done with careful thought to the consequences. There is always a balance that must be struck. You will see that everything that has happened since you reached Earth has been part of a bigger plan. The energy the Granolith gave you kept you alive.”
“Alive so that Tess could torture me,” Max retorted.
“Alive so that you would have a chance, a chance to get back everything you lost!” Seeraynah answered.
“I never had anything!” Max returned. “I hid here on Earth my whole life, because of what I was. I was kept in the dark about everything and then manipulated into some intergalactic war I don’t even remember!”
Seeraynah eyes were sad as she returned his fiery gaze.
“You lost so much, and you don’t even know it,” she said softly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he answered, shaking his head.
“You will, someday soon,” she said.
“I’m going to go to Maryland, and will probably wind up getting killed. My sister and Michael might be safe for awhile, but they’ll eventually be found. And Liz? I don’t want to even think what will happen to her if I fail,” he said miserably.
“Max, this is all a test, don’t you know that? When you came back here to Earth with the Granolith, you were dying. After you secreted it away, you expired. Surely you guessed that,” she said. “When I found your body, you had been dead for three weeks. Tess had leeched into your essence before you left Antar. I am not skilled yet in wielding the power. It was all I could do to restore you to the moment you died, and give you the energy that would protect you. Didn’t you wonder why you didn’t remember everything clearly? It takes time to restore what is lost in death, and your brain was badly decomposed. I was weak for days afterward.”
“The Granolith has a plan for you. It gave you the chance to get back everything you ever lost. It gave you life again, but everything has a price,” she said.
“Someday soon you will see that there is a reason for everything, if you choose to know the truth. Where you go from here is now up to you,” she said. “It will be a journey of knowledge, and it will not be an easy one if you choose to take it. But if you believe, if you have faith, you can have everything you ever dreamed of.”
“That’s not possible now,” he said, lowering his head. “You shouldn’t have interfered. “Why did you bring me back? Why couldn’t you have left things as they were?”
“Then what are you doing here, Max?” she asked, sitting on the cot. “Why did you come back?”
“I had to be sure it was you, that what I thought I heard in the alley last night was real,” he said. “I’m not staying. I have to leave before Isabel gets here. She’s coming.”
“Yes, she is,” Seeraynah nodded.
“Does she know of you?” he asked.
“No,” she said. “As far as she and Michael know, I died that day. I’ve kept my word, kept them protected.”
“Michael?” he whispered, not daring to believe he heard her correctly.
“He’s alive,” she said.
“God, I thought they were both dead,” he said, hanging his head.
“It was better that way. You know that, don’t you? If you knew, then Tess would have known,” she said.
“Tess knows about Liz,” he said in a low voice.
“But Liz knows about you too,” Seeraynah said.
“Not everything,” he answered.
“She knows enough, and she hasn’t run from you,” she said.
“She knows enough to get herself killed,” he muttered.
“But isn’t that what you wanted Max? Liz?” she asked.
“It’s not that simple,” he said, shaking his head, “you know that.”
“Love can be very simple Max. It’s only as complicated as you make it,” she said. “The rest of the world can be a complicated mess, but love...love is always simple.”
“If I don’t succeed in Maryland, then she’ll die,” he said.
“Yes,” Seeraynah answered. “It’s a great possibility.”
“The Granolith had reason to feel that you must prove yourself. It needed to know that what exists between you and Liz is worthy of the gift it was granting you. If you win this battle with Tess, the future is yours to do with as you wish,” she said.
“It’s too late for that,” he said, sadly. “Too much has happened. Liz may suspect why I am different, but there is so much more to it than that. She’s lost so much already because of me.”
Seeraynah was silent, thoughtful for a moment.
“I can’t tell you what to do. You’ll know in your heart what is right,” she said. “You’ve always known it, but you didn’t trust your instincts. Trust them, Max. They will not lead you astray.”
He wanted to believe, but he was afraid, afraid that the wrong decisions would cost the people he loved their lives, and he couldn’t accept that responsibility.
“I have to go,” he said quietly, putting his coat on.
She took some money out of her pocket and handed it to him.
“I won’t be there when you meet Tess again. Kal is with her now, making sure that she honors her agreement,” she said.
“Kal?” he asked, confused.
“Yes, he was here...he was Jeanine’s husband,” she said with a smile.
“Did Jeanine ever really exist?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Only for you,” she answered, with a small smile.
“Thank you, for taking care of Isabel and Michael,” he said.
She nodded.
“It was the least I could do. There are still many things I need to tell you, but it can wait until you finish what you need to. You know where to find me,” she said.
“Goodbye Seeraynah,” he said, leaving her sitting on the cot.
“Good luck Max,” she said softly.
*******
*~Liz~*
Liz sat at the bar with the others while they caught up with what was going on in Roswell, but her thoughts were a million miles away.
Max was probably long gone out of the city, and as each hour passed, she knew it grew more and more unlikely that she would ever find him again. But whom could she go to? Not the police. And it was obvious that he didn't want to be found, by her anyway.
She still couldn't believe her stupidity in calling Isabel, but she'd never expected her to show up like that, and with Michael.
She wondered what had happened to him that he needed a cane. She realized that she hadn't really kept up with anything going on in Roswell. She hadn't really cared to, and Kyle didn't volunteer much when she had talked to him.
In a way, she understood their hostility. If it was her parents, and she thought someone was deliberately keeping information from her, she might act the same way. It made her feel even worse that she had called in the first place.
She sighed, angry with herself. That one mistake had caused Max to run from her.
She felt restless sitting there, wanting to be out on the streets, searching for Max.
Finally, unable to sit anymore, she excused herself to use the ladies room.
She went into the bathroom, standing in front of the mirror studying her reflection in the mirror. She didn't look any different, and she didn't think Max had changed her in any physical way, and yet she knew she would never be the same.
Her tangled emotions were wreaking havoc on her heart. She'd thought her heart would never feel anything again after losing Justin, but what she had felt for him was nothing compared to what she had always felt for Max. She knew that now more than ever. It didn't diminish the loss she felt when Justin died, and she knew in her heart that she could have loved him, but it would have been a different kind of love, for her heart had always secretly belonged to Max Evans. She knew how crazy that sounded, because she never really knew him back then, but it was the truth.
She'd been ready to tell him she knew what he tried to do for her grandmother when Maria had walked in and freaked out.
There were so many things she needed to say to him, and now she'd probably lost her chance forever.
She sighed and tucked her hair behind her ear, knowing she needed to get back to the group.
She walked out of the restroom and started back to the bar, when one of the bartenders walked up to her.
"Are you Liz Parker?" he asked, and she nodded.
He pulled an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to her.
She gasped as she recognized the distinctive scrawl on the envelope.
"Someone left that for you," he said, and turned away.
She stopped him with her hand.
"Wait!" she said. "Did you see the person who left this?"
"Yeah," he said. "A redheaded woman. Very pretty."
He walked away and left her thinking furiously.
A redhead? She didn't know any redheads.
She tore the envelope and pulled out the letter.
Liz,
I know things appear to be hopeless at the moment, but all is not lost. The one you seek is still here, but not for long. He waits in Pennsylvania Station for a train that will take him far from this city, and from you. He needs to know how you feel. It’s imperative.
I told you that if you chose to follow your heart, it would open your heart to the real truth. You have learned some of the truth, so far partly wondrous and partly complex, but you have yet to discover the ugly. Do you have the courage to face that and still open your arms when it is all revealed? Do you love him enough?
I cannot lie. If you take this next step, you can never unlearn it, and you might wish with every fiber of your being that you could. But if you can overcome it, the rest of the wondrous lies within your reach.
That decision lies with you. I trust you'll make the right one.
S
She didn't even think twice about it.
She had to do this alone.
She walked back to the table and picked up her bag.
“I have to go,” she said, pulling her coat on.
Maria stared at her.
“Where are you going? I just got here,” Kyle said, exasperated, taking a sip of his beer.
“I have something I have to do. It won’t take me long. I’ll meet you all back at the apartment,” she said.
“Liz,” Alex started to protest.
“I’ve got to go,” she said, not waiting for further arguments from them, turning and making her way through the crowd. She never saw the note fall out of her bag.
“What the hell was that about?” she heard Alex say.
*****
She grabbed a cab once she reached the street, and sat impatiently in the back, willing the driver to go faster. Time was slipping away, and she knew that soon it would be too late. She might already be too late.
The cab stopped under the brightly-lit sign for Madison Square Garden, and she threw some money through the window to the driver, before hurrying to the escalator that took her down into the station. She pushed her way through the crowd, keeping her eye on the information kiosk ahead, before making a right and running down the stairs to the Am-track waiting room.
She ran around the hug glass enclosure, frantically searching for his face among the mass of people seated inside.
Maybe she'd made a mistake. Maybe he was taking the Metro-North to New Jersey. The letter hadn't been specific.
She had about been ready to turn around to run upstairs to the MN line, when she spotted the back of his head and his trench coat.
She faltered, back-tracking to the entrance to the waiting room.
She approached slowly from behind, afraid that he would run if he saw her.
Fear grew in her hear that he would turn her away, but she knew she couldn't walk away now. The words in the letter crossed her mind and she paused. Did she really want to do this?
But in her heart, she already knew the answer. She stepped forward again and closed the distance between them, feeling the humming once again in his presence.
"Max," she said softly, putting her hand on his shoulder as she peered around to see his face. She felt his shoulders rise and fall in a heavy sigh.
*********
See you Sunday.
Serendipity(Every Path Leads..) (AU, ML / Mature) (Complete)
Moderators: Itzstacie, Forum Moderators
Part 28
Kittens - The story is completed, but I haven't posted all of it anywhere yet. I am in the process of writing the epilogue/companion piece.
Now I'm going to post and run, 'cause I know this part is way angsty, and there's been so much angst already. But the Tess confrontation is coming Wednesday, if that makes you feel any better.
*Ducking and running* See you Wednesday.
Please Stay - Elvis Costello
If I got on my knees and I pleaded with you
Not to go but to stay in my arms
Would you walk out the door
Like you did once before
This time be different
Please stay don't go
If I call out your name like a prayer
Would you leave me alone with my tears
Knowing I need you so
Would you still turn and go
This time be different in some way
Don't go please stay
You took me away from the rest of the world
When you taught me to love you like this
Now I hang my head when I think how you lied
But I still can be saved by your kiss
I loved you before I even knew your name
I wanted to give you my heart
But when you came back after leaving me one time
Oh I knew, yes I knew that the heartaches would start
If I told you my life was a song
That was written for you, you alone
Would you hurt all my pride
Oh, till I cry this time be different
Please stay
Oh, this time be different in some way
Don't go please stay
Part Twenty-Eight
~*Max*~
She was here.
His shoulders rose and fell in a heavy sigh, and he closed his eyes.
He didn't know how she'd found him, but he had to convince her to leave.
"What are you doing here, Liz?" he asked wearily.
"I can't just let you walk away," she said. "I’m sorry I called Isabel. I didn’t know. I told her that it was stupid of me to call, that I was just being...sentimental, but I don't think she believed me. She showed up at my apartment this morning. Apparently it was dumb luck that they got on the same plane as Kyle. He came to visit for Christmas."
“She came,” he said, blinking back tears.
“Yes, and so did Michael,” Liz answered.
“Michael,” he said. Of course, he would have come with Isabel.
She nodded, and he closed his eyes.
“Max, I can't just let you leave as if nothing happened. You changed my whole world, " she said.
"That's exactly why I have to leave," he said.
"I don't understand," she said softly.
"I can't explain it to you," he said, his voice cracking. "Just go."
"No," she said, fiercely. "I'm not going anywhere until you explain to me why I felt everything you felt about me last night."
He looked at her quickly, and then his face reddened.
"I didn't mean for you to see that," he said, looking away.
"But I did," she said. "So what am I supposed to do with that?"
"Nothing," he said, looking down.
And then she said the thing that he'd been praying she wouldn't.
"It's not that easy, because I feel the same way about you," she said.
"Liz," he said in soft protest.
"No," she said fiercely, moving closer. "Don't tell me not to feel that way. Just don't. Max, I've been waiting for you my whole life. Don't tell me to walk away."
"It's not safe," he whispered, his eyes pleading with her to understand.
"I don't care," she answered.
"I do," he said. "I care too much to hurt you."
"Max, these past few years have been really...hard. I've lost three people that I loved, my best friend in college to a senseless accident, and my parents. My heart just shut down. I thought it had died. In fact, I was almost sure of it, until you healed me that day in the subway," she said. "You breathed life into my heart. You gave me a second chance. A chance to not take my life for granted, and a chance to tell you the things I never had the courage to say to you," she said.
Her words sliced through his heart, because she didn't know the whole truth. She didn't know that because he loved her, her parents had died.
"I've hurt everyone in my life that I ever loved," he said, his voice cracking, his eyes filling with tears. "I can't take that chance with you. You don't know what I am, or what knowing me will do...has done to your life."
"Do you mean the fact that you tried to heal my grandmother, even though you knew you might get caught?" she asked, her eyes boring into his.
He hadn't expected that. He didn't know she'd seen. He swallowed against the lump that had formed in his throat, knowing that now she knew part of the truth, it would be that much harder for her to let go.
"Yes, I saw that too last night. Do you have any idea what that means to me, that you would have risked everything to do that?" she said, cupping his cheeks with her hands.
"Liz, don’t,” he said, pulling away, turning from her.
“Don’t what? Tell you I care about you? That I always have?” she asked softly, and he pulled his eyes from hers, unable to look too long at the tenderness shining in them.
"I'm starting to believe there is a purpose to all of this. There's a reason for it. Someone wanted me to find you in that alley. Max there’s something else at work here. Someone else,” she said, pulling a crumpled paper out of her bag. She opened the paper to reveal a crystal. It was one of the crystals from the Granolith.
“Someone made this happen. I wouldn’t have known where to find you without this letter,” she said, shoving the crumpled paper and crystal into his hands.
He never looked at the letter, only seeing the crystal. His face hardened.
“Where did this come from?” he asked.
“I don’t know. It was left in my mailbox. It was how I found you,” she said.
"I can't believe she did this," he muttered.
"What?" Liz asked, confused. Who was "she"?
He crumpled the paper around the crystal and shoved it in his pocket.
A voice over the loudspeaker drew his attention.
The 12: 25 Amtrak # 347 is now boarding to Baltimore on Track 25...
“I have to go,” he said standing, keeping his eyes averted to the floor.
“No, wait!” she said, grabbing his arm.
“Let me come with you,” she said desperately.
He let out a deep breath. How he wished she could. How he wished that they could run together, run from all of this. But it would catch up with him. Tess would catch up with him, and when she did, he knew what would happen to Liz.
“You can’t,” he said forcefully.
“I know you care about me!” she said. “My heart can’t stand losing someone else, Max. I want to know you, everything about you. I don’t care what you are. I’m not afraid.”
“Liz, you don’t know anything about me,” he said, his anguished eyes looking into hers. “Believe me, you don’t want to. You’ll wind up hating me. I can’t stay here any longer. Where I’m going is not safe for me, never mind you.”
She looked up into his eyes which he knew were glistening with unshed tears. He blinked them back rapidly, closing his expression off.
“How could I hate you, after everything you’ve done for me? We can run together,” she said, her eyes searching his face.
“I’m not running,” he said in a low voice, turning his head.
“Yes you are,” she said angrily.
“You’re running from me! You spent your entire life hiding from me because you were afraid I would run from you, and now I’m telling you that I’m not afraid, that I’ll run with you, and you're just going to let that go?” she asked, incredulous.
He had no answer for her, because what she said was true.
But he had to let it go. He had no choice.
“Well I won’t let you,” she said, straightening her back and lifting her chin defiantly. He shook his head, and his jaw tightened.
“Liz, just let it go,” he said, his voice hardening. “We can’t ever be together.”
“Why not? Because we’re different?” she asked, not caring that she was causing a scene. “Didn't you hear me? I just told you that I don’t care.”
“You would, if you knew the truth,” he hissed.
Last call for the 12: 25 Amtrak # 347 now boarding to Baltimore on Track 25.
“Max, nothing you can tell me will change anything,” she said, gripping his arm.
Why couldn't she just let it go? Let him go?
This was it. He was going to have to break her heart, something he would rather die than do to her.
But she was leaving him no choice, and it was the only way. He didn't want to tell her like this. Not like this. But it would keep her safe, even if she hated him for the rest of her life. He couldn't take the chance that she would follow him. He would have to break her heart and in the process, kill his own.
"Nothing?" he grated, and she heard his voice crack with emotion.
"No," she said, shaking her head.
“You want to know the truth?” he asked, grabbing her arms, his voice hard, his heart breaking.
“Fine,” he said, pulling her closer, his fingers like an iron grip on her arms.
She shrank from him, unnerved by the tortured look on his face.
“Max,” she said in a pleading voice.
His head lowered toward her, his lips closing over hers.
"Didn't you wonder why the alarms never went off in the Crashdown the night of the fire, Max?"
“Your preoccupation with her became an annoyance. I just made sure that she was never coming back, and I made sure that you could never have her."
She was in the Crashdown, locked up for the night and dark. She turned to her right and saw Tess Harding approach the door from the sidewalk, looking both ways before opening the door with a stealthy click. She thought to herself that the door should have been locked. Her parents always locked the door.
"It was actually quite brilliant if you think about it."
She glanced around the restaurant in derision, her icy eyes glittering in the dark.
"I know you better than you know yourself. I know your weaknesses."
She walked toward the kitchen door, moving carefully, quietly. She pushed through the swinging doors and looked around the kitchen. She paused and moved toward the alarm box on the wall.
She walked over to the box and opened it, glancing around once again and placing her hand on the switches and wires before closing her eyes. Her hand appeared to glow brightly for a moment, and sparks exploded quietly from the box, the acrid smell of burning rubbed and plastic momentarily filling the air.
"You were getting close to letting her know how you felt. I sensed your thoughts of her all the time, even after she left for Harvard. You were growing more bold, telling yourself that maybe, just maybe you might find the courage to act on your feelings when she came back.”
She walked over to the grill, waving her hand over it, and a burst of flames rushed from the bottom of it, bathing the kitchen in the yellow glow of flames licking toward the ceiling. She moved quickly to the stairs and laid her hand on them, setting them ablaze. The dry wood caught quickly. She opened the back door that led to the alley, with one last satisfied look back, and shut the door.
"I just made sure it would never happen. I knew she wouldn't come back. And if she did, I had my trump card. You wouldn't have allowed yourself to become too close to her without telling her what you are. Who knows? Maybe she would have accepted it. She’s such a pushover. But would she have accepted that one of your own kind, one that you trusted, killed the two people she loved most in the world, because of you?”
She stood across the street in the shadows, watching the fire spread from the kitchen to the restaurant area. The flames consumed the whole room in a matter of minutes. A few moments later, the plate glass windows blew out in a spray of glass shards and she turned and walked down the sidewalk, the distant sound of sirens floating in the air.
His hands fell from her arms as tears streamed down her face, his heart breaking seeing the look of horror on her face.
She sank to the floor. His breath came in great horrible gasps, hating himself for what he'd just done to her.
“No,” she whispered, “not my parents. Not my parents!”
"I'm sorry," he said, his voice trembling. "I'm sorry..."
How he wanted to pull her into his arms, to whisper words of comfort, to take it all away. He craved it with every fiber of his being. The urge became so strong that he knew he had to get away from her, before he put her in any more danger.
And it was then that he ran, tears clouding his eyes, toward the platform, and away from the only girl he had ever loved.
*******
Max sat alone, trying to keep himself in control. He wanted to disappear. He hated himself for what he’d just done.
But she would be safe if she hated him. If she only knew how much he was tempted to just run away with her, to run from what he knew was coming.
But Tess would find them eventually, and no one would come to their aid if he ran from the agreement. They would be living on borrowed time.
He would be living a lie, and he couldn’t live with that. Not when it was Liz.
Why couldn't she just let it go? Let him go?
She left him no choice, and it was the only way. He hadn't wanted to tell her like that. Not like that. But it would keep her safe, even if she hated him for the rest of her life. He couldn't take the chance that she would have followed him. He had to break her heart and in the process, he tore his own apart.
He fought back the tears that filled his eyes, strangling back a sob. Even if he beat Tess, he would surely have to look over his shoulder for the Skins that still remained on Earth. He could never go back, never search out his family. It would be too dangerous.
He was alone, again.
He didn’t even register the shuffling behind him, so caught up in his own thoughts.
A hand fell on his shoulder, and for a moment, he was afraid to turn around, afraid that it was Liz.
His head turned slowly. It took him a moment to comprehend that what he was seeing was real, and as he looked upon two faces he hadn’t seen in two years, he could no longer hold the back the tears that had been threatening to fall since he’d walked away from Liz.
“Maxwell,” Michael said, quietly.
Isabel stood behind him in the aisle. She didn’t say anything, instead sitting down next to him and throwing her arms around him.
He didn't know how to react. Seeing them alive was almost like a dream, one he hadn't dared to hope for when he'd first awakened in the tunnel.
Michael sat heavily into the seat across from him, his eyes glistening as he looked upon his oldest and only friend.
“How could you do it, Max?” Isabel asked tearfully. “How could you just leave us like that? How could you just let us believe you were dead? I don't know whether to be furious at you for what you've done, or just grateful that you're alive.”
"You should leave," he said, trying to keep his voice steady, pulling away from Isabel, pasting a neutral expression on his face.
"What?" Isabel said outraged. "You can't be serious! We just found out that you're alive and you expect us to just go home? Are you out of your mind?"
"We're not going anywhere Max. Not until we get some answers," Michael said angrily. "You owe us that. I want to know where you've been. I want to know why you let us believe you were dead these past few years. And what the fuck were you doing with Liz Parker? Where's Tess?"
Max thought about what he'd just done to Liz, and realized he would have to do something similar to Michael and Isabel. It was the only way. After all that he'd been through, and all that had happened, he couldn't take the chance that Tess would harm them. If she knew they were alive....
His face tightened as he searched deep within himself for the courage to make them turn away, wondering what he had done to deserve this life, to be the one delegated to hurt everyone he loved to protect them.
"I don't have to explain anything to you. You shouldn't have come," He said in a flat voice, avoiding their eyes. "I don't want you here."
"Don't tell me that, Max," Isabel seethed, her eyes flashing. "I saw the look on your face when you turned around. I want you to tell us what's going on! I know that you wouldn't make us believe you were dead. You wouldn't have left like that without good reason."
"Good reason?" he scoffed with a sarcastic laugh, shaking his head. "You two are so self-absorbed. Everything is always about you, isn't it?"
"Excuse me?" Michael grated, leaning forward in his seat in menace. "It's always been about the three of us. Always. At least it was until you left without us."
"Oh bullshit!" Max snapped. "You didn't give a shit about me! Either one of you! Neither one of you cared how I felt about anything, until it affected your lives. You two knew that Tess was pushing herself on me, and you let her, because you thought it would be safer, because you thought that I'd forget about Liz."
"How can you say that?" Isabel asked, indignant. "We only wanted what was best for you."
"Because it's the truth," Max retorted, looking at Michael. "You never wanted to stay here. You never considered this your home. All you wanted was to go back where we came from. You think it's so much better up there? Well, let me give you a clue. It's not. They don't want us there. They'd have killed you as soon as looked at you."
Michael's jaw tightened.
"And you know this from personal experience," he said, furious.
"Yes, I do," Max said harshly. "Be glad you don't."
Michael's face reddened in fury, and with lightning speed he grabbed Max by the collar.
"You went without us?" he yelled. "You knew how long I waited to know anything about what we are and who we're from, and you went without us?"
He shoved Max back against the padded seat.
"You son of a bitch!" he grated. " How could you? You left me here a fucking invalid, both of us thinking you were dead!"
Max felt Michael's hands tighten around his neck. Max glared at Michael in defiance.
"Stop it Michael!" Isabel said, trying to push him off.
"Fuck you Max," he hissed, tightening his grip further. Max could feel his anger permeating the air around him, as his own oxygen supply was cut off. He tried to push Michael away, but the adrenaline rush of his anger gave him greater strength.
He choked as his vision blurred, and unbidden, he felt Michael push a connection between them. He hazily watched Isabel trying to pull Michael away from him.
Max tried to suppress the images that were pulled from his mind, but it was too late.
Through the connection, they saw everything he saw. They felt everything he’d gone through since he’d been captured on that dark highway by the FBI.
Images of the compound, if his time on Antar, Seeraynah, what Tess had done to Liz, the depth of her betrayal, and the weeks he’d been back on Earth tortured by Tess, slowly dying, passed between them. They saw him heal Liz, and then they saw her heal him. They saw those last moments between them, only moments before, saw how it had torn Max’s heart to give Liz those flashes.
The images faded and Michael pulled away from Isabel’s grip as she sank to the seat again beside Max, tears tracking down his face. He swiped at them, unaccustomed to them.
“Jesus, Max,” he said quietly.
Max wanted to tell them to leave. He wanted to be strong, but it was just too much.
Isabel sat looking out the window, her face soaked with tears.
He didn't know what to say to them. He didn't know where to begin.
“You were right about everything,” she whispered finally, in a trembling voice.
“We always thought that no one would understand. But she knows. She knows and she didn't run," she said in amazement.
“She didn’t know everything,” Max said hoarsely. Not by a long shot.
He felt Isabel's hand rest in a comforting squeeze on his arm.
“It wasn’t your fault. What Tess did wasn’t your fault,” she said, the venom toward the blond girl evident in her voice. "God, we've been so wrong about everything."
“Iz, it happened because of what I am, because I couldn’t let go of what I was feeling for her,” he said.
“I can’t blame her...” he trailed off, unable to voice that he’d destroyed her and walked away.
"What about Tess?" Michael asked. "What are we going to do about her? She's dangerous."
“She has to pay Max,” Isabel said in a cold voice. “We have to make her pay for what she did to all of us.”
Max heard the word “we” and shook his head.
“No, this is my fight,” he said, quietly. “You can’t go with me.”
“Fuck that!” Michael said angrily, and Max’s eyes shot toward him, shocked.
“You’re not leaving us behind again, Max. Not again,” he said with a furious glare.
“That’s not the deal that was made. She doesn’t know you’re alive,” Max said. “If you’re with me, she’ll know. And if I fail...”
“If we fail, we’ll do it together this time,” Isabel said, daring him to fight her. “I saw what Seeraynah said. She said you could use any resources you want. That means us.”
Max shook his head.
“Michael is in no shape to fight,” he said, looking at the cane propped against the seat next to him. "I don't think I can heal you."
“My powers are fine,” Michael said angrily. "We'll worry about the rest later."
He started to shake his head, and Isabel glared at him.
“Max, she said this was a test,” Isabel said. “Don’t you see the mistake you made every time? You took everything upon yourself. You made all of the decisions. Maybe it’s time we did it together.”
Max thought about her words and realized she was right. Maybe he’d needed help all along, and that’s where things had gone so very wrong. Maybe things would have been different if they had worked as a team. Or maybe Isabel and Michael would have been dead. There was nothing he could do about the decisions he'd already made, but he had a choice to make now. A choice that would affect all of them.
Looking first at Michael and then Isabel, he nodded.
“Ok,” he said finally. We do this together.”
His eyes moved from his sister's face, to Michael's, seeing the grim purpose on both of their faces, and realized that despite the arguments they'd had before he left, that they wanted to the same opportunity he had afforded himself when he'd faked his own death. They wanted to fight alongside him, to protect him as he had protected them.
He felt the bond he’d once had with him return once more, and he realized that he missed it more than he ever could have imagined.
******
*~Liz~*
"Don't go," she whispered, after his anguished whispered apology, but he was already gone.
Numbness took over her mind, the shock of what she'd just seen too overwhelming.
She didn’t know how long she sat there. It could have been minutes or hours. But suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Liz,” a soft voice said.
Her mind registered that it was Maria. Comforting hands lifted her from the floor, and Alex’s arms wrapped around her. She looked up and saw the faces of her three dearest friends in the world, yet she’d never felt more alone.
“Come on Liz, let’s go home,” Maria whispered.
She didn’t protest as Alex guided her away from the place she’d been left alone, alone with the cruel truth the letter had promised.
She felt Alex's arm around her, but it was as if she were disconnected from its warmth. She felt so cold, not a physical cold, but the cold pain of horror.
Tess had murdered her parents, and she'd done it because she perceived her to be a threat.
She felt the horrible pain of grief hit her all over again. She had come to terms with their deaths, accepted them as a horrible accident, but now, knowing that it had all been calculated, planned, opened those wounds all over again.
What she'd seen had come from Max's mind, but they weren't his memories. They were Tess's. And she was different too...like him.
But Max was nothing like her in any way that counted. Max was a healer, not a killer. She had seen into his soul, had seen his gentleness. She had seen him try to stop what was happening to her grandmother. She had felt him heal her as she lay dying on that subway platform.
He'd had nothing to do with the death of her parents, as much as he obviously blamed himself mercilessly for it. No wonder he hadn't answered her when she'd asked what had happened to Tess.
Her life had been ripped apart, and it had all been about jealousy. Tess had considered Liz a threat, despite the fact that she and Max barely spoke. Her parents paid for Tess' insecurity.
She felt a black rage fill her heart as she thought of the girl that she'd merely disliked in high school. She'd stood in that cemetery the day of her parents' funeral, and had stood beside Max with the knowledge that she had caused the whole thing. She had brought that pain on her, and she had the unmitigated gall to stand there watching as she buried two of the most important people in her life without batting an eye.
For the first time in her life, Liz actually felt as if she wanted to kill someone, and it horrified her.
Was Tess still alive? She supposed she would never know now.
Max had that answer, and he was gone for good, that he'd just walked away from her, leaving her to fall apart in the middle of a train station. It was only the quick flash of his pain and fear that had invaded her mind the last few seconds of their connection that kept her anger at bay.
Maria waved down a cab outside of Penn, and they headed downtown. There was an uneasy silence in the cab. No one knew what to say, and Liz was grateful for the silence. She had too much going on in her head at the moment, and couldn't even begin to think about coming up with an excuse for Alex or Kyle. Only Maria knew, and it would stay that way until she could figure out what she wanted to tell them.
Somewhere on the drive to the apartment building, her tears had ceased, leaving her feeling dead inside.
When the taxi stopped, Maria ushered Liz quietly up the stairs while Alex and Kyle paid the driver.
Maria pulled her key out and opened the door. Liz halted her in the foyer of the building.
"Maria, I can't explain any of this to them, not now," she said in a dull voice.
Maria nodded.
"Don't worry about it. Alex is going to know something's up, but I can put him off for awhile. I'll think of something. Just go into your room. I'll handle it," she said.
"Thanks," Liz answered in a trembling whisper.
They walked up the flight of stairs to the apartment and Liz went directly to her room and shut the door, walking across the room to her bed, lying on it and curling herself into a ball.
She hadn't bothered to turn the light on, lying there in the darkness, feeling her hot tears burning her cheeks, blocking out the murmured voices outside of her door.
Her mind was too consumed with what she'd seen within Max.
Random thoughts hit her all over again. Thoughts like, had her parents been awake? Did they suffer?
Why did Tess hate her that much? How could anyone hate someone so intensely that they would murder the people who mattered most to them? She'd barely ever spoken to her, and she'd been dating Kyle when she'd come to town.
She never even thought she had a chance with Max back in high school. Those faint glimmers hinting that he might have noticed her more than she'd thought weren't enough to convince her to put herself out there and risk making a fool of herself. She'd left town for college, and had barely been back. What would have possessed Tess to murder her parents in cold blood? But she already knew the answer to that. She'd felt how strongly Max had felt about her back then. Was it possible that Tess did too?
Her mind played back the bittersweet memories she kept of her parents, of Christmases and birthdays, the first day of school and the proud grins they would wear each time she would accomplish something new in school. Then her mind inevitably turned to those moments as a teen when she wanted nothing but to be far away from them. She knew that everyone felt like that, but she still felt the guilt wash over her at all of those moments she wasted being angry with them. If she'd only known how little time they'd had left. Rationally, she knew there was no way she could have known that, but the heart is never rational.
She buried her face in her pillow, stifling a sob.
She heard the slight creak of the door opening, but she couldn't bring herself to lift her head.
The padding of footsteps told her that it was Maria, and a few seconds later, she felt the mattress shift as she sat on the bed next to her, her gentle hand stroking her hair.
She rolled over onto her back, grateful for the dark.
"Want to talk about it?" Maria asked quietly.
"I don't even know where to start," Liz whispered. "How did you know where to find me?"
Maria sighed.
"You dropped the letter in the bar," she said. "Kyle found it. He had some questions...."
"Did you tell him?" Liz asked in a dull voice.
"The letter was vague, but I had to tell him something. He wanted to know who the mystery guy in the letter was," Maria said.
"What did you say?" Liz asked, fearing the worst.
"I told him that a stranger saved your life in the subway station and you'd been trying to find him, and that someone had been giving you vague hints to his whereabouts. Kinda tied nicely into the explanation for why you were so upset when we found you. I told him that you'd said he wasn't what you expected, and that he didn't want to be found and wasn't too appreciative of you tracking him down," Maria said. "Alex is going to want an explanation too. I know he noticed I didn't mention the whole 'healing' thing, but he didn't say anything. I'll handle him later."
"So tell me what happened," Maria prompted.
"It's pretty bad, Maria," Liz said in a trembling voice.
"What, did he turn you away?" she asked, sympathetically.
"No, it's so much bigger than that, and I don't...I'm still trying to get my head around it," she said, turning on her side.
"You know how I told you earlier that I saw things from Max? Like inside of him?" she asked.
"Uh huh," Maria said.
"I found him in the waiting room. He was going to leave on a train to Baltimore. I confronted him, and I tried to apologize for calling Isabel. I told him that I saw how he'd felt about me, and that I felt the same way. He told me it wasn't safe for us to...he pushed me away," she said. "He said that he had to leave, and I told him I'd go with him. He tried to spare me, but I kept pushing him, and then it happened..." she said.
"What happened?" Maria prompted.
"He showed me why. Maria, Tess Harding killed my parents," she said, her voice cracking.
"What?" Maria sputtered. "Liz, what...are you saying she set that fire?"
"She set it and disabled the alarms so they wouldn't wake up," Liz said.
"I saw it in Max's memories," she said, a sob catching in her throat.
"Max knew she did this?" Maria spat, furious.
"No, it wasn't his memory. It was Tess's. She's like him...different," Liz said.
Maria was silent for a minute.
"Why?" she asked, and Liz could hear her tears lacing her voice. "Why would she do something like that to you? She barely knew you."
"Because she knew how Max felt about me, and she considered me a threat," Liz said.
"A threat? You never even talked to the boy!" Maria seethed. "You have to call the police. You have to do something about this!"
"Maria, I can't prove any of it. She didn't dismantle anything the normal way. There was an investigation, and it was ruled no foul play," Liz said.
"It doesn't matter," Maria said stubbornly. "You can have her hauled in."
"Maria, technically she's dead," Liz said. "I don’t even know if she's still alive now."
"But if she is alive, it would be all the more reason they would believe you. If she can lie about being dead, then who's to say they won't believe you if you tell them about the fire?" Maria countered.
"Because they're gone, and it isn't going to bring them back," Liz said in a dead voice.
"No," Maria said angrily. "But she has to pay for this!"
"If I tell them that Tess is still alive, then they'll start looking for Max too. I can't do that to him. You read the letter, Maria. If they find him, they'll experiment on him and probably kill him," Liz said, shaking her head.
"Liz, you can't just let this go," Maria argued. "I know you think you owe something to Max, but she killed your parents! You're just going to let that go?"
"I owe him more than you think," Liz said quietly, wiping her eyes. "Do you remember I told you that I saw Max in the park that night before Grandma Claudia died?"
"Yeah," Maria said.
"That night after I left the park, he went to the hospital and he tried to heal her," Liz said. "He risked everything to try to save her because of me."
"But she did die," Maria countered, confused.
"Yes, she did, but Max almost killed himself trying to fix what was wrong with her," Liz said. "He didn't kill my parents. Tess did. And when I felt him...he's involved in something big. He's terrified for everyone he cares about. I felt it.”
“Where was he going?” Maria asked.
“The announcement was calling for the train to Baltimore, but he could have been going anywhere from there. Maria, I know that if he had any choice, he would have rather died than to show me what he did, but it was the only way to make sure I didn't follow him. Wherever he's going, he...he's afraid that he isn't coming back," Liz said.
Liz felt the bed shift as Maria moved restlessly.
"So you think that he's like, in danger or something," Maria said.
"It's not just him, but everyone he cares about. That's why he wanted Isabel to think he was dead. I don't know for sure, but I think Tess has something to do with it. It's the only logical explanation, unless she really is dead," Liz said, troubled.
"But you don't think she is," Maria added.
"I don't know," Liz sighed. "I'm afraid for him Maria."
Liz felt her friends arms slide around her, and finally let her tears flow freely.
“Baltimore, huh?” Maria whispered.
Now I'm going to post and run, 'cause I know this part is way angsty, and there's been so much angst already. But the Tess confrontation is coming Wednesday, if that makes you feel any better.
*Ducking and running* See you Wednesday.
Please Stay - Elvis Costello
If I got on my knees and I pleaded with you
Not to go but to stay in my arms
Would you walk out the door
Like you did once before
This time be different
Please stay don't go
If I call out your name like a prayer
Would you leave me alone with my tears
Knowing I need you so
Would you still turn and go
This time be different in some way
Don't go please stay
You took me away from the rest of the world
When you taught me to love you like this
Now I hang my head when I think how you lied
But I still can be saved by your kiss
I loved you before I even knew your name
I wanted to give you my heart
But when you came back after leaving me one time
Oh I knew, yes I knew that the heartaches would start
If I told you my life was a song
That was written for you, you alone
Would you hurt all my pride
Oh, till I cry this time be different
Please stay
Oh, this time be different in some way
Don't go please stay
Part Twenty-Eight
~*Max*~
She was here.
His shoulders rose and fell in a heavy sigh, and he closed his eyes.
He didn't know how she'd found him, but he had to convince her to leave.
"What are you doing here, Liz?" he asked wearily.
"I can't just let you walk away," she said. "I’m sorry I called Isabel. I didn’t know. I told her that it was stupid of me to call, that I was just being...sentimental, but I don't think she believed me. She showed up at my apartment this morning. Apparently it was dumb luck that they got on the same plane as Kyle. He came to visit for Christmas."
“She came,” he said, blinking back tears.
“Yes, and so did Michael,” Liz answered.
“Michael,” he said. Of course, he would have come with Isabel.
She nodded, and he closed his eyes.
“Max, I can't just let you leave as if nothing happened. You changed my whole world, " she said.
"That's exactly why I have to leave," he said.
"I don't understand," she said softly.
"I can't explain it to you," he said, his voice cracking. "Just go."
"No," she said, fiercely. "I'm not going anywhere until you explain to me why I felt everything you felt about me last night."
He looked at her quickly, and then his face reddened.
"I didn't mean for you to see that," he said, looking away.
"But I did," she said. "So what am I supposed to do with that?"
"Nothing," he said, looking down.
And then she said the thing that he'd been praying she wouldn't.
"It's not that easy, because I feel the same way about you," she said.
"Liz," he said in soft protest.
"No," she said fiercely, moving closer. "Don't tell me not to feel that way. Just don't. Max, I've been waiting for you my whole life. Don't tell me to walk away."
"It's not safe," he whispered, his eyes pleading with her to understand.
"I don't care," she answered.
"I do," he said. "I care too much to hurt you."
"Max, these past few years have been really...hard. I've lost three people that I loved, my best friend in college to a senseless accident, and my parents. My heart just shut down. I thought it had died. In fact, I was almost sure of it, until you healed me that day in the subway," she said. "You breathed life into my heart. You gave me a second chance. A chance to not take my life for granted, and a chance to tell you the things I never had the courage to say to you," she said.
Her words sliced through his heart, because she didn't know the whole truth. She didn't know that because he loved her, her parents had died.
"I've hurt everyone in my life that I ever loved," he said, his voice cracking, his eyes filling with tears. "I can't take that chance with you. You don't know what I am, or what knowing me will do...has done to your life."
"Do you mean the fact that you tried to heal my grandmother, even though you knew you might get caught?" she asked, her eyes boring into his.
He hadn't expected that. He didn't know she'd seen. He swallowed against the lump that had formed in his throat, knowing that now she knew part of the truth, it would be that much harder for her to let go.
"Yes, I saw that too last night. Do you have any idea what that means to me, that you would have risked everything to do that?" she said, cupping his cheeks with her hands.
"Liz, don’t,” he said, pulling away, turning from her.
“Don’t what? Tell you I care about you? That I always have?” she asked softly, and he pulled his eyes from hers, unable to look too long at the tenderness shining in them.
"I'm starting to believe there is a purpose to all of this. There's a reason for it. Someone wanted me to find you in that alley. Max there’s something else at work here. Someone else,” she said, pulling a crumpled paper out of her bag. She opened the paper to reveal a crystal. It was one of the crystals from the Granolith.
“Someone made this happen. I wouldn’t have known where to find you without this letter,” she said, shoving the crumpled paper and crystal into his hands.
He never looked at the letter, only seeing the crystal. His face hardened.
“Where did this come from?” he asked.
“I don’t know. It was left in my mailbox. It was how I found you,” she said.
"I can't believe she did this," he muttered.
"What?" Liz asked, confused. Who was "she"?
He crumpled the paper around the crystal and shoved it in his pocket.
A voice over the loudspeaker drew his attention.
The 12: 25 Amtrak # 347 is now boarding to Baltimore on Track 25...
“I have to go,” he said standing, keeping his eyes averted to the floor.
“No, wait!” she said, grabbing his arm.
“Let me come with you,” she said desperately.
He let out a deep breath. How he wished she could. How he wished that they could run together, run from all of this. But it would catch up with him. Tess would catch up with him, and when she did, he knew what would happen to Liz.
“You can’t,” he said forcefully.
“I know you care about me!” she said. “My heart can’t stand losing someone else, Max. I want to know you, everything about you. I don’t care what you are. I’m not afraid.”
“Liz, you don’t know anything about me,” he said, his anguished eyes looking into hers. “Believe me, you don’t want to. You’ll wind up hating me. I can’t stay here any longer. Where I’m going is not safe for me, never mind you.”
She looked up into his eyes which he knew were glistening with unshed tears. He blinked them back rapidly, closing his expression off.
“How could I hate you, after everything you’ve done for me? We can run together,” she said, her eyes searching his face.
“I’m not running,” he said in a low voice, turning his head.
“Yes you are,” she said angrily.
“You’re running from me! You spent your entire life hiding from me because you were afraid I would run from you, and now I’m telling you that I’m not afraid, that I’ll run with you, and you're just going to let that go?” she asked, incredulous.
He had no answer for her, because what she said was true.
But he had to let it go. He had no choice.
“Well I won’t let you,” she said, straightening her back and lifting her chin defiantly. He shook his head, and his jaw tightened.
“Liz, just let it go,” he said, his voice hardening. “We can’t ever be together.”
“Why not? Because we’re different?” she asked, not caring that she was causing a scene. “Didn't you hear me? I just told you that I don’t care.”
“You would, if you knew the truth,” he hissed.
Last call for the 12: 25 Amtrak # 347 now boarding to Baltimore on Track 25.
“Max, nothing you can tell me will change anything,” she said, gripping his arm.
Why couldn't she just let it go? Let him go?
This was it. He was going to have to break her heart, something he would rather die than do to her.
But she was leaving him no choice, and it was the only way. He didn't want to tell her like this. Not like this. But it would keep her safe, even if she hated him for the rest of her life. He couldn't take the chance that she would follow him. He would have to break her heart and in the process, kill his own.
"Nothing?" he grated, and she heard his voice crack with emotion.
"No," she said, shaking her head.
“You want to know the truth?” he asked, grabbing her arms, his voice hard, his heart breaking.
“Fine,” he said, pulling her closer, his fingers like an iron grip on her arms.
She shrank from him, unnerved by the tortured look on his face.
“Max,” she said in a pleading voice.
His head lowered toward her, his lips closing over hers.
"Didn't you wonder why the alarms never went off in the Crashdown the night of the fire, Max?"
“Your preoccupation with her became an annoyance. I just made sure that she was never coming back, and I made sure that you could never have her."
She was in the Crashdown, locked up for the night and dark. She turned to her right and saw Tess Harding approach the door from the sidewalk, looking both ways before opening the door with a stealthy click. She thought to herself that the door should have been locked. Her parents always locked the door.
"It was actually quite brilliant if you think about it."
She glanced around the restaurant in derision, her icy eyes glittering in the dark.
"I know you better than you know yourself. I know your weaknesses."
She walked toward the kitchen door, moving carefully, quietly. She pushed through the swinging doors and looked around the kitchen. She paused and moved toward the alarm box on the wall.
She walked over to the box and opened it, glancing around once again and placing her hand on the switches and wires before closing her eyes. Her hand appeared to glow brightly for a moment, and sparks exploded quietly from the box, the acrid smell of burning rubbed and plastic momentarily filling the air.
"You were getting close to letting her know how you felt. I sensed your thoughts of her all the time, even after she left for Harvard. You were growing more bold, telling yourself that maybe, just maybe you might find the courage to act on your feelings when she came back.”
She walked over to the grill, waving her hand over it, and a burst of flames rushed from the bottom of it, bathing the kitchen in the yellow glow of flames licking toward the ceiling. She moved quickly to the stairs and laid her hand on them, setting them ablaze. The dry wood caught quickly. She opened the back door that led to the alley, with one last satisfied look back, and shut the door.
"I just made sure it would never happen. I knew she wouldn't come back. And if she did, I had my trump card. You wouldn't have allowed yourself to become too close to her without telling her what you are. Who knows? Maybe she would have accepted it. She’s such a pushover. But would she have accepted that one of your own kind, one that you trusted, killed the two people she loved most in the world, because of you?”
She stood across the street in the shadows, watching the fire spread from the kitchen to the restaurant area. The flames consumed the whole room in a matter of minutes. A few moments later, the plate glass windows blew out in a spray of glass shards and she turned and walked down the sidewalk, the distant sound of sirens floating in the air.
His hands fell from her arms as tears streamed down her face, his heart breaking seeing the look of horror on her face.
She sank to the floor. His breath came in great horrible gasps, hating himself for what he'd just done to her.
“No,” she whispered, “not my parents. Not my parents!”
"I'm sorry," he said, his voice trembling. "I'm sorry..."
How he wanted to pull her into his arms, to whisper words of comfort, to take it all away. He craved it with every fiber of his being. The urge became so strong that he knew he had to get away from her, before he put her in any more danger.
And it was then that he ran, tears clouding his eyes, toward the platform, and away from the only girl he had ever loved.
*******
Max sat alone, trying to keep himself in control. He wanted to disappear. He hated himself for what he’d just done.
But she would be safe if she hated him. If she only knew how much he was tempted to just run away with her, to run from what he knew was coming.
But Tess would find them eventually, and no one would come to their aid if he ran from the agreement. They would be living on borrowed time.
He would be living a lie, and he couldn’t live with that. Not when it was Liz.
Why couldn't she just let it go? Let him go?
She left him no choice, and it was the only way. He hadn't wanted to tell her like that. Not like that. But it would keep her safe, even if she hated him for the rest of her life. He couldn't take the chance that she would have followed him. He had to break her heart and in the process, he tore his own apart.
He fought back the tears that filled his eyes, strangling back a sob. Even if he beat Tess, he would surely have to look over his shoulder for the Skins that still remained on Earth. He could never go back, never search out his family. It would be too dangerous.
He was alone, again.
He didn’t even register the shuffling behind him, so caught up in his own thoughts.
A hand fell on his shoulder, and for a moment, he was afraid to turn around, afraid that it was Liz.
His head turned slowly. It took him a moment to comprehend that what he was seeing was real, and as he looked upon two faces he hadn’t seen in two years, he could no longer hold the back the tears that had been threatening to fall since he’d walked away from Liz.
“Maxwell,” Michael said, quietly.
Isabel stood behind him in the aisle. She didn’t say anything, instead sitting down next to him and throwing her arms around him.
He didn't know how to react. Seeing them alive was almost like a dream, one he hadn't dared to hope for when he'd first awakened in the tunnel.
Michael sat heavily into the seat across from him, his eyes glistening as he looked upon his oldest and only friend.
“How could you do it, Max?” Isabel asked tearfully. “How could you just leave us like that? How could you just let us believe you were dead? I don't know whether to be furious at you for what you've done, or just grateful that you're alive.”
"You should leave," he said, trying to keep his voice steady, pulling away from Isabel, pasting a neutral expression on his face.
"What?" Isabel said outraged. "You can't be serious! We just found out that you're alive and you expect us to just go home? Are you out of your mind?"
"We're not going anywhere Max. Not until we get some answers," Michael said angrily. "You owe us that. I want to know where you've been. I want to know why you let us believe you were dead these past few years. And what the fuck were you doing with Liz Parker? Where's Tess?"
Max thought about what he'd just done to Liz, and realized he would have to do something similar to Michael and Isabel. It was the only way. After all that he'd been through, and all that had happened, he couldn't take the chance that Tess would harm them. If she knew they were alive....
His face tightened as he searched deep within himself for the courage to make them turn away, wondering what he had done to deserve this life, to be the one delegated to hurt everyone he loved to protect them.
"I don't have to explain anything to you. You shouldn't have come," He said in a flat voice, avoiding their eyes. "I don't want you here."
"Don't tell me that, Max," Isabel seethed, her eyes flashing. "I saw the look on your face when you turned around. I want you to tell us what's going on! I know that you wouldn't make us believe you were dead. You wouldn't have left like that without good reason."
"Good reason?" he scoffed with a sarcastic laugh, shaking his head. "You two are so self-absorbed. Everything is always about you, isn't it?"
"Excuse me?" Michael grated, leaning forward in his seat in menace. "It's always been about the three of us. Always. At least it was until you left without us."
"Oh bullshit!" Max snapped. "You didn't give a shit about me! Either one of you! Neither one of you cared how I felt about anything, until it affected your lives. You two knew that Tess was pushing herself on me, and you let her, because you thought it would be safer, because you thought that I'd forget about Liz."
"How can you say that?" Isabel asked, indignant. "We only wanted what was best for you."
"Because it's the truth," Max retorted, looking at Michael. "You never wanted to stay here. You never considered this your home. All you wanted was to go back where we came from. You think it's so much better up there? Well, let me give you a clue. It's not. They don't want us there. They'd have killed you as soon as looked at you."
Michael's jaw tightened.
"And you know this from personal experience," he said, furious.
"Yes, I do," Max said harshly. "Be glad you don't."
Michael's face reddened in fury, and with lightning speed he grabbed Max by the collar.
"You went without us?" he yelled. "You knew how long I waited to know anything about what we are and who we're from, and you went without us?"
He shoved Max back against the padded seat.
"You son of a bitch!" he grated. " How could you? You left me here a fucking invalid, both of us thinking you were dead!"
Max felt Michael's hands tighten around his neck. Max glared at Michael in defiance.
"Stop it Michael!" Isabel said, trying to push him off.
"Fuck you Max," he hissed, tightening his grip further. Max could feel his anger permeating the air around him, as his own oxygen supply was cut off. He tried to push Michael away, but the adrenaline rush of his anger gave him greater strength.
He choked as his vision blurred, and unbidden, he felt Michael push a connection between them. He hazily watched Isabel trying to pull Michael away from him.
Max tried to suppress the images that were pulled from his mind, but it was too late.
Through the connection, they saw everything he saw. They felt everything he’d gone through since he’d been captured on that dark highway by the FBI.
Images of the compound, if his time on Antar, Seeraynah, what Tess had done to Liz, the depth of her betrayal, and the weeks he’d been back on Earth tortured by Tess, slowly dying, passed between them. They saw him heal Liz, and then they saw her heal him. They saw those last moments between them, only moments before, saw how it had torn Max’s heart to give Liz those flashes.
The images faded and Michael pulled away from Isabel’s grip as she sank to the seat again beside Max, tears tracking down his face. He swiped at them, unaccustomed to them.
“Jesus, Max,” he said quietly.
Max wanted to tell them to leave. He wanted to be strong, but it was just too much.
Isabel sat looking out the window, her face soaked with tears.
He didn't know what to say to them. He didn't know where to begin.
“You were right about everything,” she whispered finally, in a trembling voice.
“We always thought that no one would understand. But she knows. She knows and she didn't run," she said in amazement.
“She didn’t know everything,” Max said hoarsely. Not by a long shot.
He felt Isabel's hand rest in a comforting squeeze on his arm.
“It wasn’t your fault. What Tess did wasn’t your fault,” she said, the venom toward the blond girl evident in her voice. "God, we've been so wrong about everything."
“Iz, it happened because of what I am, because I couldn’t let go of what I was feeling for her,” he said.
“I can’t blame her...” he trailed off, unable to voice that he’d destroyed her and walked away.
"What about Tess?" Michael asked. "What are we going to do about her? She's dangerous."
“She has to pay Max,” Isabel said in a cold voice. “We have to make her pay for what she did to all of us.”
Max heard the word “we” and shook his head.
“No, this is my fight,” he said, quietly. “You can’t go with me.”
“Fuck that!” Michael said angrily, and Max’s eyes shot toward him, shocked.
“You’re not leaving us behind again, Max. Not again,” he said with a furious glare.
“That’s not the deal that was made. She doesn’t know you’re alive,” Max said. “If you’re with me, she’ll know. And if I fail...”
“If we fail, we’ll do it together this time,” Isabel said, daring him to fight her. “I saw what Seeraynah said. She said you could use any resources you want. That means us.”
Max shook his head.
“Michael is in no shape to fight,” he said, looking at the cane propped against the seat next to him. "I don't think I can heal you."
“My powers are fine,” Michael said angrily. "We'll worry about the rest later."
He started to shake his head, and Isabel glared at him.
“Max, she said this was a test,” Isabel said. “Don’t you see the mistake you made every time? You took everything upon yourself. You made all of the decisions. Maybe it’s time we did it together.”
Max thought about her words and realized she was right. Maybe he’d needed help all along, and that’s where things had gone so very wrong. Maybe things would have been different if they had worked as a team. Or maybe Isabel and Michael would have been dead. There was nothing he could do about the decisions he'd already made, but he had a choice to make now. A choice that would affect all of them.
Looking first at Michael and then Isabel, he nodded.
“Ok,” he said finally. We do this together.”
His eyes moved from his sister's face, to Michael's, seeing the grim purpose on both of their faces, and realized that despite the arguments they'd had before he left, that they wanted to the same opportunity he had afforded himself when he'd faked his own death. They wanted to fight alongside him, to protect him as he had protected them.
He felt the bond he’d once had with him return once more, and he realized that he missed it more than he ever could have imagined.
******
*~Liz~*
"Don't go," she whispered, after his anguished whispered apology, but he was already gone.
Numbness took over her mind, the shock of what she'd just seen too overwhelming.
She didn’t know how long she sat there. It could have been minutes or hours. But suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Liz,” a soft voice said.
Her mind registered that it was Maria. Comforting hands lifted her from the floor, and Alex’s arms wrapped around her. She looked up and saw the faces of her three dearest friends in the world, yet she’d never felt more alone.
“Come on Liz, let’s go home,” Maria whispered.
She didn’t protest as Alex guided her away from the place she’d been left alone, alone with the cruel truth the letter had promised.
She felt Alex's arm around her, but it was as if she were disconnected from its warmth. She felt so cold, not a physical cold, but the cold pain of horror.
Tess had murdered her parents, and she'd done it because she perceived her to be a threat.
She felt the horrible pain of grief hit her all over again. She had come to terms with their deaths, accepted them as a horrible accident, but now, knowing that it had all been calculated, planned, opened those wounds all over again.
What she'd seen had come from Max's mind, but they weren't his memories. They were Tess's. And she was different too...like him.
But Max was nothing like her in any way that counted. Max was a healer, not a killer. She had seen into his soul, had seen his gentleness. She had seen him try to stop what was happening to her grandmother. She had felt him heal her as she lay dying on that subway platform.
He'd had nothing to do with the death of her parents, as much as he obviously blamed himself mercilessly for it. No wonder he hadn't answered her when she'd asked what had happened to Tess.
Her life had been ripped apart, and it had all been about jealousy. Tess had considered Liz a threat, despite the fact that she and Max barely spoke. Her parents paid for Tess' insecurity.
She felt a black rage fill her heart as she thought of the girl that she'd merely disliked in high school. She'd stood in that cemetery the day of her parents' funeral, and had stood beside Max with the knowledge that she had caused the whole thing. She had brought that pain on her, and she had the unmitigated gall to stand there watching as she buried two of the most important people in her life without batting an eye.
For the first time in her life, Liz actually felt as if she wanted to kill someone, and it horrified her.
Was Tess still alive? She supposed she would never know now.
Max had that answer, and he was gone for good, that he'd just walked away from her, leaving her to fall apart in the middle of a train station. It was only the quick flash of his pain and fear that had invaded her mind the last few seconds of their connection that kept her anger at bay.
Maria waved down a cab outside of Penn, and they headed downtown. There was an uneasy silence in the cab. No one knew what to say, and Liz was grateful for the silence. She had too much going on in her head at the moment, and couldn't even begin to think about coming up with an excuse for Alex or Kyle. Only Maria knew, and it would stay that way until she could figure out what she wanted to tell them.
Somewhere on the drive to the apartment building, her tears had ceased, leaving her feeling dead inside.
When the taxi stopped, Maria ushered Liz quietly up the stairs while Alex and Kyle paid the driver.
Maria pulled her key out and opened the door. Liz halted her in the foyer of the building.
"Maria, I can't explain any of this to them, not now," she said in a dull voice.
Maria nodded.
"Don't worry about it. Alex is going to know something's up, but I can put him off for awhile. I'll think of something. Just go into your room. I'll handle it," she said.
"Thanks," Liz answered in a trembling whisper.
They walked up the flight of stairs to the apartment and Liz went directly to her room and shut the door, walking across the room to her bed, lying on it and curling herself into a ball.
She hadn't bothered to turn the light on, lying there in the darkness, feeling her hot tears burning her cheeks, blocking out the murmured voices outside of her door.
Her mind was too consumed with what she'd seen within Max.
Random thoughts hit her all over again. Thoughts like, had her parents been awake? Did they suffer?
Why did Tess hate her that much? How could anyone hate someone so intensely that they would murder the people who mattered most to them? She'd barely ever spoken to her, and she'd been dating Kyle when she'd come to town.
She never even thought she had a chance with Max back in high school. Those faint glimmers hinting that he might have noticed her more than she'd thought weren't enough to convince her to put herself out there and risk making a fool of herself. She'd left town for college, and had barely been back. What would have possessed Tess to murder her parents in cold blood? But she already knew the answer to that. She'd felt how strongly Max had felt about her back then. Was it possible that Tess did too?
Her mind played back the bittersweet memories she kept of her parents, of Christmases and birthdays, the first day of school and the proud grins they would wear each time she would accomplish something new in school. Then her mind inevitably turned to those moments as a teen when she wanted nothing but to be far away from them. She knew that everyone felt like that, but she still felt the guilt wash over her at all of those moments she wasted being angry with them. If she'd only known how little time they'd had left. Rationally, she knew there was no way she could have known that, but the heart is never rational.
She buried her face in her pillow, stifling a sob.
She heard the slight creak of the door opening, but she couldn't bring herself to lift her head.
The padding of footsteps told her that it was Maria, and a few seconds later, she felt the mattress shift as she sat on the bed next to her, her gentle hand stroking her hair.
She rolled over onto her back, grateful for the dark.
"Want to talk about it?" Maria asked quietly.
"I don't even know where to start," Liz whispered. "How did you know where to find me?"
Maria sighed.
"You dropped the letter in the bar," she said. "Kyle found it. He had some questions...."
"Did you tell him?" Liz asked in a dull voice.
"The letter was vague, but I had to tell him something. He wanted to know who the mystery guy in the letter was," Maria said.
"What did you say?" Liz asked, fearing the worst.
"I told him that a stranger saved your life in the subway station and you'd been trying to find him, and that someone had been giving you vague hints to his whereabouts. Kinda tied nicely into the explanation for why you were so upset when we found you. I told him that you'd said he wasn't what you expected, and that he didn't want to be found and wasn't too appreciative of you tracking him down," Maria said. "Alex is going to want an explanation too. I know he noticed I didn't mention the whole 'healing' thing, but he didn't say anything. I'll handle him later."
"So tell me what happened," Maria prompted.
"It's pretty bad, Maria," Liz said in a trembling voice.
"What, did he turn you away?" she asked, sympathetically.
"No, it's so much bigger than that, and I don't...I'm still trying to get my head around it," she said, turning on her side.
"You know how I told you earlier that I saw things from Max? Like inside of him?" she asked.
"Uh huh," Maria said.
"I found him in the waiting room. He was going to leave on a train to Baltimore. I confronted him, and I tried to apologize for calling Isabel. I told him that I saw how he'd felt about me, and that I felt the same way. He told me it wasn't safe for us to...he pushed me away," she said. "He said that he had to leave, and I told him I'd go with him. He tried to spare me, but I kept pushing him, and then it happened..." she said.
"What happened?" Maria prompted.
"He showed me why. Maria, Tess Harding killed my parents," she said, her voice cracking.
"What?" Maria sputtered. "Liz, what...are you saying she set that fire?"
"She set it and disabled the alarms so they wouldn't wake up," Liz said.
"I saw it in Max's memories," she said, a sob catching in her throat.
"Max knew she did this?" Maria spat, furious.
"No, it wasn't his memory. It was Tess's. She's like him...different," Liz said.
Maria was silent for a minute.
"Why?" she asked, and Liz could hear her tears lacing her voice. "Why would she do something like that to you? She barely knew you."
"Because she knew how Max felt about me, and she considered me a threat," Liz said.
"A threat? You never even talked to the boy!" Maria seethed. "You have to call the police. You have to do something about this!"
"Maria, I can't prove any of it. She didn't dismantle anything the normal way. There was an investigation, and it was ruled no foul play," Liz said.
"It doesn't matter," Maria said stubbornly. "You can have her hauled in."
"Maria, technically she's dead," Liz said. "I don’t even know if she's still alive now."
"But if she is alive, it would be all the more reason they would believe you. If she can lie about being dead, then who's to say they won't believe you if you tell them about the fire?" Maria countered.
"Because they're gone, and it isn't going to bring them back," Liz said in a dead voice.
"No," Maria said angrily. "But she has to pay for this!"
"If I tell them that Tess is still alive, then they'll start looking for Max too. I can't do that to him. You read the letter, Maria. If they find him, they'll experiment on him and probably kill him," Liz said, shaking her head.
"Liz, you can't just let this go," Maria argued. "I know you think you owe something to Max, but she killed your parents! You're just going to let that go?"
"I owe him more than you think," Liz said quietly, wiping her eyes. "Do you remember I told you that I saw Max in the park that night before Grandma Claudia died?"
"Yeah," Maria said.
"That night after I left the park, he went to the hospital and he tried to heal her," Liz said. "He risked everything to try to save her because of me."
"But she did die," Maria countered, confused.
"Yes, she did, but Max almost killed himself trying to fix what was wrong with her," Liz said. "He didn't kill my parents. Tess did. And when I felt him...he's involved in something big. He's terrified for everyone he cares about. I felt it.”
“Where was he going?” Maria asked.
“The announcement was calling for the train to Baltimore, but he could have been going anywhere from there. Maria, I know that if he had any choice, he would have rather died than to show me what he did, but it was the only way to make sure I didn't follow him. Wherever he's going, he...he's afraid that he isn't coming back," Liz said.
Liz felt the bed shift as Maria moved restlessly.
"So you think that he's like, in danger or something," Maria said.
"It's not just him, but everyone he cares about. That's why he wanted Isabel to think he was dead. I don't know for sure, but I think Tess has something to do with it. It's the only logical explanation, unless she really is dead," Liz said, troubled.
"But you don't think she is," Maria added.
"I don't know," Liz sighed. "I'm afraid for him Maria."
Liz felt her friends arms slide around her, and finally let her tears flow freely.
“Baltimore, huh?” Maria whispered.
Part 29
As always, thanks for the feedback everyone. 
Posted in three parts due to length.
3 Doors Down – Duck and Run
To this world I am unimportant
Just because I have nothing to give.
So you call this your free country
Tell me why it costs so much to live
Tell me why.
This world can turn me down
But I won't turn away, oh no
I won't turn around.
All my work and endless measures
Never seen to get me very far
Walk a mile just to move an inch now
Even though I'm trying so damn hard
I'm trying so hard
This world can turn me down
But I won't turn away
And I won't duck and run
Cause I'm not built that way.
When everything is gone there is nothing left to fear.
The world cannot bring me down
No cause I am already here, oh no!
I am already here,
Down on my knees
I am already here
Oh, no, I am already here.
I must have told you a thousand times I am not running away.
I won't duck and run
I won't duck and run
I won't duck and run
No I pass away.
This world can turn me down
But I won't turn away
And I won't duck and run,
Cause I'm not built that way
When everything it gone
There is nothing left to fear
This world cannot bring me down
No cause I am already here.
This world can turn me down
But I won't turn away.
And I won't duck and run
Cause I'm not built that way.
When everything is gone
There is nothing left to fear
This world cannot bring me down
No cause I am already here.
Part Twenty-Nine
*~Liz~*
Liz was physically and emotionally exhausted, but she struggled to keep her eyes open, blearily watching the blurred nightscape rush by.
"I can't believe that Joe let you use his car," she said, looking at Maria, who was concentrating on the road ahead.
Maria shrugged.
"He owes me big for covering for that no-show prima-donna 's set the other night," she said.
"Still..." Liz said.
"Don't worry about it. I made him a deal that when I make it big, I'd come back and play an exclusive set in the bar," Maria laughed.
Liz shook her head.
"So tell us again exactly why we're going to Baltimore the night before Christmas Eve?" Kyle said, with a raised brow.
"Yeah Liz, I'm sure we'd all love to hear this," Alex said dryly, and Liz glanced back at him, shamefaced.
Alex," she faltered, her eyes pleading with him to understand.
"No one told you that you had to come with us," Maria admonished.
"Oh yeah," Alex snorted. "Like we would let you just take off on your own."
"This has something to do with that guy, the one on the subway platform, doesn't it?" Alex asked.
"What guy is this?" Kyle asked, leaning forward.
"Alex!" Maria exclaimed.
"Maria!" he retorted in the same tone. "I'm not stupid. I know something weird has been going on."
"You wouldn't understand," Liz said quietly.
"Try me," Alex quipped. "The truth would be nice."
"What the hell am I missing here?" Kyle asked, looking at each of them.
"Look, this guy...saved me from a mugging in the subway, and I've been trying to find him and tonight I did, but..."
"And this is why we're going to Baltimore," Alex finished. "We're chasing after some homeless dude who obviously doesn't want to be found."
"Ok..." Kyle drawled sitting back in his seat.
"It's not that simple," Liz said shaking her head.
"Then explain it to me Liz. I want to understand," Alex said.
"It's not only my story to tell," she finished lamely.
"Fine," Alex snapped, sitting back, staring out the side window.
Liz felt her already swollen eyes fill with tears.
"Alex, just drop it. I trust Liz. I thought you did too," Maria said, reaching over to squeeze Liz's hand, giving her a sympathetic look.
"No one forced you to come. If you want me to drop your ass off at the nearest bus station, then that's fine. But if you're coming, then come to support Liz. Because she really needs all of our support right now," Maria said.
"That's not fair," Alex grumbled from the back seat. "I'm just concerned."
"And that's what being a friend is," Maria said. "So be her friend."
"I never stopped being one," Alex said. He reached forward to squeeze Liz's shoulder.
Liz covered his hand with her own without turning around, because if she did, if she met his eyes, she knew she would burst into tears.
"I promise, I'll tell you everything when I can," Liz said softly.
"Ok, I can live with that," Alex said, leaning back again.
"Screw it. Road trips rule," Kyle said. "So what if it turns out to be a wild goose chase? Sit back and enjoy it dude."
~*Max*~
The train arrived in Baltimore, and Isabel had managed to charm a rental agent into finding a car for them to travel to Milington, no small feat considering it was Christmas Eve.
Though they might well be approaching their own demise, Max felt oddly comforted by the presence of the two people who had been his family, the only ones to know his secrets for most of his life here on Earth.
Isabel had been quiet since they'd gotten off the train, and Max could see that something was bothering her, but he hadn't pushed her. Michael hadn't either, leaving her to her silence. But Max knew the time for conversations was quickly growing short, and it was this that made him break the silence that had settled between the three.
"We need to have some sort of plan," Max said. "She’s developed her powers more than we have, which will put us at a disadvantage."
"What do you mean?" Michael asked, frowning.
"My energy isn't what it was before I left Earth," Max answered. "It’s...different. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I don’t have the seal anymore. It feels like this energy is...I don't know, borrowed or something. But I'm not the same, and they’re not as powerful as they used to be. I don't feel myself getting any stronger than I was this morning."
"Michael, are yours..." he asked.
"Yeah, they're strong," Michael answered. "I wasn't dead that long I guess."
"Mine are the same too," Isabel added quietly from the back seat, with a troubled look.
"Isabel?" he said quietly, glancing in the rearview mirror and catching her eyes. "What is it?"
She was quiet for a moment, and then bit her lip, looking down.
"You were going to do this all alone. You were going to face her, for us...for Liz. I don't deserve it," she said, biting back a sob.
"I betrayed you Max," she said. "I saw it, what Seeraynah said happened in that other life. I turned on you. You almost died for us, and you did it knowing I betrayed you."
With a deep sigh, he pulled the car over to the side of the road, and put it in park, letting the engine idle.
He turned in his seat to look at her.
"Who you were then, isn't who you are now," he said meaningfully.
"None of us are those people anymore," he said, glancing at Michael, and then back to Isabel.
"I'm no King," he said, "you're not a princess, and Michael doesn't have to have any loyalties to me."
"I caused all of it," she said, tears filling her eyes. "I fed you to Khivar. I didn't care if you or Michael died, as long as I got what I wanted. I wanted Khivar."
"Iz," he said, "I saw the person closest to who Vilondra was, and she was nothing like you. She was heartless and cruel. She was with Khivar when she died. You, Michael and I...we're more human than alien. It's why the Granolith rejected me,” he said, studying his fingers.
“They said we were the defectives, but I don't think so. I think we got the better end of the deal. I...wanted what was best for my planet, but in my own way I was just as ruthless as you were. We all were," he finished in a soft voice.
"But he’s right Isabel, that isn't who we are now," Michael said.
"No," Max said shaking his head. "You two are the only people in the world who know everything about me. I trust the both of you with my life."
"We made things miserable for you Max, with Liz, with everything. You knew there was something off with Tess, and we didn't listen," she said, with a small sob. "And I was so terrible to her in New York, we both were."
"As much as I hated you telling me I couldn't be with Liz, in the end you were right," he said grimly. "You two saved her life. If I had told her how I felt back then, she'd probably be dead, along with her parents. Tess would have made sure of it."
"I made my own mistakes, Iz," he said softly. "I kept things from the two of you that I shouldn't have, because I was afraid of how you'd react. We all made mistakes, but the important thing is that we can forgive each other for them, and learn from them."
"How can you forgive something like that?" she scoffed. "I did the worst imaginable thing to you!"
"I put us all in danger," Michael said, staring out the window. "I went running half-assed into Copper Summit, and that started everything."
"You wouldn't have done that if I had been straight with you," Max reminded him.
"You don't know that," Michael grumbled.
"I didn't tell you two about Copper Summit, and let the both of you think I was dead. What I did was no better. We can't change any of it what happened. But we can go on from here," Max said, looking at both of them.
Michael nodded.
"The only thing we have going for us is the element of surprise," Max said. "She doesn't know that you two are alive."
"I'm not letting you face her alone," Michael said in stubborn determination. "I'm supposed to be your second. It's about time I start doing something about that."
With one look at Michael, Max knew it was pointless to argue with him.
"Okay," he said finally. He turned to Isabel.
"Have you gotten any better at dream-walking?" he asked.
"I've practiced a bit," she admitted.
"I tried to connect with you when we got home from the Quarry, but there was nothing,” she said. "I didn't want to believe...I wanted it to be a mistake, and I tried, but there was nothing."
“I was inside the Granolith,” Max answered. “That might have something to do with it.”
"I don't know. All I know is that I was trying to reach you, and got nothing, no sense of you at all," she said. "The dream-walking...it's evolved a little. Now, the person I'm connecting to doesn't need to be sleeping. It's become pretty easy for me, on humans anyway. With you it was harder. I used it the night Liz called, and I...felt you, barely, but from that I knew you were alive."
Max nodded, fighting back the tears that were forming in his eyes.
"Michael and I are going to need you. You should stay out of sight, but close enough to be able to connect with Tess. If she's mind-warping us, you'll be the only defense against that. She won't know you're there, so you'll be the only one seeing what's really going on," he said. "Just make sure she doesn't see you."
"Ok," she nodded.
"We're going to be ok," Max said, reaching over to squeeze his sister's shoulder, before turning back toward the front, putting the car into gear again. He wished he was as certain inside as he sounded.
But whatever happened, he couldn’t help but be grateful that he had the chance to see them once more, to know that they knew the truth of the heavy burden he’d carried alone for so long, and though they were hurt, they had forgiven him.
Isabel said that she was too grateful he was alive to be mad. Michael was just content with finally being able to be part of this fight Max had undertaken on his own for so long. He was supposed to be his second, he’d said, and it was high time he acted like one.
Max studied his friend in the passenger seat. His leg had never healed correctly from after that night in Copper Summit. Still, he had every confidence that he could hold his own.
They all could, despite their emotional and physical scars. He couldn’t afford to think otherwise, or else this whole thing would be over before it started, and he still had their own and Liz’s safety to think about.
His heart twisted as he thought of her. She might hate him forever, but he wouldn’t see her harmed again.
They weren’t sure where they were supposed to go once they got to Milington, but Max was sure there would be some sort of sign, some indication of where they had to be.
He had been right. As soon as they reached the area, a flash of blue light from behind a mass of trees told them where they needed to be.
He wasn’t nervous. He knew what he had to do. They all did. By the day’s end either Tess would be dead, or they would be no longer of this Earth.
They diverted onto an apparently seldom-used utility road, overgrown with weeds.
He had to ask them once more. He had to be sure, because once they reached the end of the road, there was no turning back.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked quietly, his eyes trained on the road. "She's more powerful than any of us."
“I’ve never been any more sure of anything in my life,” Isabel said from the back seat. "Maybe she's more powerful than each of us separately, but not together."
“We’ll finish this, the three of us, one way or another,” Michael said, looking at him with determination. Max glanced at him and nodded.
The trees cleared a little further down the road, and Max pulled the car over to the side of the road, turning the engine off.
Two figures stood in the middle of the field, and he knew that this was the end, the final chapter to this hell he’d been in for longer than he wanted to think about.
They got out of the car and walked toward them.
In every vision he’d had of Tess she had appeared just as he had known her in Roswell, but he knew now that it had only what she had been projecting.
Seeing her here, he saw that the burns she received during those last few moments of his time on Antar had healed, but she had not been able to repair them.
Heavy knots of rope-like pink scar tissue covered one side of her face, pulling the skin around her eye tightly.
But her disfigurement did not mask the shock he saw on her face at the sight of Michael.
Standing next to her, Max recognized the man from the store. He nodded at him, and Kal acknowledged him with an imperceptible lowering of his chin.
"He can't be here!" she hissed, turning to the Kal.
"Sorry to disappoint, but yes he can," Kal said.
"That wasn't the deal," she said, turning to him, furious.
"Let me refresh your memory," Kal said, putting his index finger to his lips. "Do the words 'with any resources he chooses to use' ring a bell?"
"That isn't fair!" she said.
"You agreed to the deal, not me," Kal said dryly. "You got anyone to back you, then you're more than welcome to ask them to come and join you."
"You help me," she ordered. "You were loyal to Khivar once..."
Kal shook his head.
"No can do," he answered.
"How's that for irony? Khivar goes and binds me with the oath to the monsters he thought he created, and in the end, he lost again. I don't have any loyalties to him," he said, nodding his head at Max, "or to you. My loyalty lies with the Zenshai. I don't want any part of this shit. I agreed to do this because I was guaranteed that after it's over, I would be released from my duties," he said, his tone almost gleeful.
"This was supposed to be a fair fight!" she grated. "I agreed to it assuming that it would be me and Max. I thought he was dead. How can it be fair to agree to something without all of the information?"
"I should ask you the same question," Kal retorted, motioning to Max, "since you pulled the same deal on Max. Believe me, you were cut more slack than you ever gave him. Now, get on with it."
Max couldn't help but feel that in some small way, the tables had turned in his favor. For the first time, he was prepared. For the first time, there was no dissent between he and Michael. Isabel was their trump card. For the first time, his eyes were wide open and he knew what he was walking into.
"It doesn't matter," Tess said, fixing her venomous gaze on him. "I've always been stronger than either of you."
"We'll see about that," Michael said, giving her a hard look. "We have more to live for than you ever will, because you don't care about anything other than yourself."
"That's my advantage," Tess countered.
"No, that's your weakness," Max answered, eyes blazing.
Kal stepped back.
"Let's get this show on the road kids. I gotta get back to L.A. tonight. I’ve been here way too long as it is," he said.
"There ain't no rules to follow. Whoever's alive at the end is the winner," Kal said.
"You," he said, motioning to Tess, "other side of the field."
"You two, go that way," he said. "As soon as I reach the trees, you're on your own."
Max nodded and swallowed, feeling his heart starting to race now that the moment was at hand. He turned and started to walk toward the other end of the clearing, Michael automatically falling in beside him.
When they reached the perimeter, he turned to see Kal getting close to the edge of the clearing an equal distance away from them, and from Tess at the other end of the clearing.
"Whatever happens Max," Michael said quietly, "I'm glad that I can fight with you this time."
Max turned toward him nodding, not needing to say a word, because Michael saw it in his eyes. Differences aside, in the end, they were there for each other, would fight to the death for each other.
A moment later, all hell broke loose. Max wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it wasn't anything like the reality he faced.
The sky grew dark, almost black, and the trees disappeared, swallowed in a dark gray mist. The ground beneath their feet, spongy an instant before was suddenly like cement under their feet.
"What the hell is this?" Michael asked grimly, looking around.
"It's Antarian," Max answered in a low voice, looking around.
"You're right," Kal's voice said, booming through the air. Max turned, looking around, trying to pinpoint where the voice was coming from, but Kal was nowhere to be seen.
An unearthly light seemed to emanate from the ground beneath, illuminating the area, washing Tess's figure in a bright green glow, seeming to draw a pattern on the ground, forming itself into the shape of the symbol that had emblazoned the orb Tess had possessed.
"What you see before you is a traditional Antarian dueling field. You've been brought into a separate dimension, outside of Earth's. It is a dimension created by the Granolith, to avoid detection of humans," Kal said. "If you're body expires here, you will cease to exist on Earth’s plane."
Max glanced over at Tess, her face miraculously untouched, her hands already glowing with the energy she was gathering in her body for the impending battle.
"Begin," Kal said.
*********
cont'd on pg. 25
Posted in three parts due to length.
3 Doors Down – Duck and Run
To this world I am unimportant
Just because I have nothing to give.
So you call this your free country
Tell me why it costs so much to live
Tell me why.
This world can turn me down
But I won't turn away, oh no
I won't turn around.
All my work and endless measures
Never seen to get me very far
Walk a mile just to move an inch now
Even though I'm trying so damn hard
I'm trying so hard
This world can turn me down
But I won't turn away
And I won't duck and run
Cause I'm not built that way.
When everything is gone there is nothing left to fear.
The world cannot bring me down
No cause I am already here, oh no!
I am already here,
Down on my knees
I am already here
Oh, no, I am already here.
I must have told you a thousand times I am not running away.
I won't duck and run
I won't duck and run
I won't duck and run
No I pass away.
This world can turn me down
But I won't turn away
And I won't duck and run,
Cause I'm not built that way
When everything it gone
There is nothing left to fear
This world cannot bring me down
No cause I am already here.
This world can turn me down
But I won't turn away.
And I won't duck and run
Cause I'm not built that way.
When everything is gone
There is nothing left to fear
This world cannot bring me down
No cause I am already here.
Part Twenty-Nine
*~Liz~*
Liz was physically and emotionally exhausted, but she struggled to keep her eyes open, blearily watching the blurred nightscape rush by.
"I can't believe that Joe let you use his car," she said, looking at Maria, who was concentrating on the road ahead.
Maria shrugged.
"He owes me big for covering for that no-show prima-donna 's set the other night," she said.
"Still..." Liz said.
"Don't worry about it. I made him a deal that when I make it big, I'd come back and play an exclusive set in the bar," Maria laughed.
Liz shook her head.
"So tell us again exactly why we're going to Baltimore the night before Christmas Eve?" Kyle said, with a raised brow.
"Yeah Liz, I'm sure we'd all love to hear this," Alex said dryly, and Liz glanced back at him, shamefaced.
Alex," she faltered, her eyes pleading with him to understand.
"No one told you that you had to come with us," Maria admonished.
"Oh yeah," Alex snorted. "Like we would let you just take off on your own."
"This has something to do with that guy, the one on the subway platform, doesn't it?" Alex asked.
"What guy is this?" Kyle asked, leaning forward.
"Alex!" Maria exclaimed.
"Maria!" he retorted in the same tone. "I'm not stupid. I know something weird has been going on."
"You wouldn't understand," Liz said quietly.
"Try me," Alex quipped. "The truth would be nice."
"What the hell am I missing here?" Kyle asked, looking at each of them.
"Look, this guy...saved me from a mugging in the subway, and I've been trying to find him and tonight I did, but..."
"And this is why we're going to Baltimore," Alex finished. "We're chasing after some homeless dude who obviously doesn't want to be found."
"Ok..." Kyle drawled sitting back in his seat.
"It's not that simple," Liz said shaking her head.
"Then explain it to me Liz. I want to understand," Alex said.
"It's not only my story to tell," she finished lamely.
"Fine," Alex snapped, sitting back, staring out the side window.
Liz felt her already swollen eyes fill with tears.
"Alex, just drop it. I trust Liz. I thought you did too," Maria said, reaching over to squeeze Liz's hand, giving her a sympathetic look.
"No one forced you to come. If you want me to drop your ass off at the nearest bus station, then that's fine. But if you're coming, then come to support Liz. Because she really needs all of our support right now," Maria said.
"That's not fair," Alex grumbled from the back seat. "I'm just concerned."
"And that's what being a friend is," Maria said. "So be her friend."
"I never stopped being one," Alex said. He reached forward to squeeze Liz's shoulder.
Liz covered his hand with her own without turning around, because if she did, if she met his eyes, she knew she would burst into tears.
"I promise, I'll tell you everything when I can," Liz said softly.
"Ok, I can live with that," Alex said, leaning back again.
"Screw it. Road trips rule," Kyle said. "So what if it turns out to be a wild goose chase? Sit back and enjoy it dude."
~*Max*~
The train arrived in Baltimore, and Isabel had managed to charm a rental agent into finding a car for them to travel to Milington, no small feat considering it was Christmas Eve.
Though they might well be approaching their own demise, Max felt oddly comforted by the presence of the two people who had been his family, the only ones to know his secrets for most of his life here on Earth.
Isabel had been quiet since they'd gotten off the train, and Max could see that something was bothering her, but he hadn't pushed her. Michael hadn't either, leaving her to her silence. But Max knew the time for conversations was quickly growing short, and it was this that made him break the silence that had settled between the three.
"We need to have some sort of plan," Max said. "She’s developed her powers more than we have, which will put us at a disadvantage."
"What do you mean?" Michael asked, frowning.
"My energy isn't what it was before I left Earth," Max answered. "It’s...different. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I don’t have the seal anymore. It feels like this energy is...I don't know, borrowed or something. But I'm not the same, and they’re not as powerful as they used to be. I don't feel myself getting any stronger than I was this morning."
"Michael, are yours..." he asked.
"Yeah, they're strong," Michael answered. "I wasn't dead that long I guess."
"Mine are the same too," Isabel added quietly from the back seat, with a troubled look.
"Isabel?" he said quietly, glancing in the rearview mirror and catching her eyes. "What is it?"
She was quiet for a moment, and then bit her lip, looking down.
"You were going to do this all alone. You were going to face her, for us...for Liz. I don't deserve it," she said, biting back a sob.
"I betrayed you Max," she said. "I saw it, what Seeraynah said happened in that other life. I turned on you. You almost died for us, and you did it knowing I betrayed you."
With a deep sigh, he pulled the car over to the side of the road, and put it in park, letting the engine idle.
He turned in his seat to look at her.
"Who you were then, isn't who you are now," he said meaningfully.
"None of us are those people anymore," he said, glancing at Michael, and then back to Isabel.
"I'm no King," he said, "you're not a princess, and Michael doesn't have to have any loyalties to me."
"I caused all of it," she said, tears filling her eyes. "I fed you to Khivar. I didn't care if you or Michael died, as long as I got what I wanted. I wanted Khivar."
"Iz," he said, "I saw the person closest to who Vilondra was, and she was nothing like you. She was heartless and cruel. She was with Khivar when she died. You, Michael and I...we're more human than alien. It's why the Granolith rejected me,” he said, studying his fingers.
“They said we were the defectives, but I don't think so. I think we got the better end of the deal. I...wanted what was best for my planet, but in my own way I was just as ruthless as you were. We all were," he finished in a soft voice.
"But he’s right Isabel, that isn't who we are now," Michael said.
"No," Max said shaking his head. "You two are the only people in the world who know everything about me. I trust the both of you with my life."
"We made things miserable for you Max, with Liz, with everything. You knew there was something off with Tess, and we didn't listen," she said, with a small sob. "And I was so terrible to her in New York, we both were."
"As much as I hated you telling me I couldn't be with Liz, in the end you were right," he said grimly. "You two saved her life. If I had told her how I felt back then, she'd probably be dead, along with her parents. Tess would have made sure of it."
"I made my own mistakes, Iz," he said softly. "I kept things from the two of you that I shouldn't have, because I was afraid of how you'd react. We all made mistakes, but the important thing is that we can forgive each other for them, and learn from them."
"How can you forgive something like that?" she scoffed. "I did the worst imaginable thing to you!"
"I put us all in danger," Michael said, staring out the window. "I went running half-assed into Copper Summit, and that started everything."
"You wouldn't have done that if I had been straight with you," Max reminded him.
"You don't know that," Michael grumbled.
"I didn't tell you two about Copper Summit, and let the both of you think I was dead. What I did was no better. We can't change any of it what happened. But we can go on from here," Max said, looking at both of them.
Michael nodded.
"The only thing we have going for us is the element of surprise," Max said. "She doesn't know that you two are alive."
"I'm not letting you face her alone," Michael said in stubborn determination. "I'm supposed to be your second. It's about time I start doing something about that."
With one look at Michael, Max knew it was pointless to argue with him.
"Okay," he said finally. He turned to Isabel.
"Have you gotten any better at dream-walking?" he asked.
"I've practiced a bit," she admitted.
"I tried to connect with you when we got home from the Quarry, but there was nothing,” she said. "I didn't want to believe...I wanted it to be a mistake, and I tried, but there was nothing."
“I was inside the Granolith,” Max answered. “That might have something to do with it.”
"I don't know. All I know is that I was trying to reach you, and got nothing, no sense of you at all," she said. "The dream-walking...it's evolved a little. Now, the person I'm connecting to doesn't need to be sleeping. It's become pretty easy for me, on humans anyway. With you it was harder. I used it the night Liz called, and I...felt you, barely, but from that I knew you were alive."
Max nodded, fighting back the tears that were forming in his eyes.
"Michael and I are going to need you. You should stay out of sight, but close enough to be able to connect with Tess. If she's mind-warping us, you'll be the only defense against that. She won't know you're there, so you'll be the only one seeing what's really going on," he said. "Just make sure she doesn't see you."
"Ok," she nodded.
"We're going to be ok," Max said, reaching over to squeeze his sister's shoulder, before turning back toward the front, putting the car into gear again. He wished he was as certain inside as he sounded.
But whatever happened, he couldn’t help but be grateful that he had the chance to see them once more, to know that they knew the truth of the heavy burden he’d carried alone for so long, and though they were hurt, they had forgiven him.
Isabel said that she was too grateful he was alive to be mad. Michael was just content with finally being able to be part of this fight Max had undertaken on his own for so long. He was supposed to be his second, he’d said, and it was high time he acted like one.
Max studied his friend in the passenger seat. His leg had never healed correctly from after that night in Copper Summit. Still, he had every confidence that he could hold his own.
They all could, despite their emotional and physical scars. He couldn’t afford to think otherwise, or else this whole thing would be over before it started, and he still had their own and Liz’s safety to think about.
His heart twisted as he thought of her. She might hate him forever, but he wouldn’t see her harmed again.
They weren’t sure where they were supposed to go once they got to Milington, but Max was sure there would be some sort of sign, some indication of where they had to be.
He had been right. As soon as they reached the area, a flash of blue light from behind a mass of trees told them where they needed to be.
He wasn’t nervous. He knew what he had to do. They all did. By the day’s end either Tess would be dead, or they would be no longer of this Earth.
They diverted onto an apparently seldom-used utility road, overgrown with weeds.
He had to ask them once more. He had to be sure, because once they reached the end of the road, there was no turning back.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked quietly, his eyes trained on the road. "She's more powerful than any of us."
“I’ve never been any more sure of anything in my life,” Isabel said from the back seat. "Maybe she's more powerful than each of us separately, but not together."
“We’ll finish this, the three of us, one way or another,” Michael said, looking at him with determination. Max glanced at him and nodded.
The trees cleared a little further down the road, and Max pulled the car over to the side of the road, turning the engine off.
Two figures stood in the middle of the field, and he knew that this was the end, the final chapter to this hell he’d been in for longer than he wanted to think about.
They got out of the car and walked toward them.
In every vision he’d had of Tess she had appeared just as he had known her in Roswell, but he knew now that it had only what she had been projecting.
Seeing her here, he saw that the burns she received during those last few moments of his time on Antar had healed, but she had not been able to repair them.
Heavy knots of rope-like pink scar tissue covered one side of her face, pulling the skin around her eye tightly.
But her disfigurement did not mask the shock he saw on her face at the sight of Michael.
Standing next to her, Max recognized the man from the store. He nodded at him, and Kal acknowledged him with an imperceptible lowering of his chin.
"He can't be here!" she hissed, turning to the Kal.
"Sorry to disappoint, but yes he can," Kal said.
"That wasn't the deal," she said, turning to him, furious.
"Let me refresh your memory," Kal said, putting his index finger to his lips. "Do the words 'with any resources he chooses to use' ring a bell?"
"That isn't fair!" she said.
"You agreed to the deal, not me," Kal said dryly. "You got anyone to back you, then you're more than welcome to ask them to come and join you."
"You help me," she ordered. "You were loyal to Khivar once..."
Kal shook his head.
"No can do," he answered.
"How's that for irony? Khivar goes and binds me with the oath to the monsters he thought he created, and in the end, he lost again. I don't have any loyalties to him," he said, nodding his head at Max, "or to you. My loyalty lies with the Zenshai. I don't want any part of this shit. I agreed to do this because I was guaranteed that after it's over, I would be released from my duties," he said, his tone almost gleeful.
"This was supposed to be a fair fight!" she grated. "I agreed to it assuming that it would be me and Max. I thought he was dead. How can it be fair to agree to something without all of the information?"
"I should ask you the same question," Kal retorted, motioning to Max, "since you pulled the same deal on Max. Believe me, you were cut more slack than you ever gave him. Now, get on with it."
Max couldn't help but feel that in some small way, the tables had turned in his favor. For the first time, he was prepared. For the first time, there was no dissent between he and Michael. Isabel was their trump card. For the first time, his eyes were wide open and he knew what he was walking into.
"It doesn't matter," Tess said, fixing her venomous gaze on him. "I've always been stronger than either of you."
"We'll see about that," Michael said, giving her a hard look. "We have more to live for than you ever will, because you don't care about anything other than yourself."
"That's my advantage," Tess countered.
"No, that's your weakness," Max answered, eyes blazing.
Kal stepped back.
"Let's get this show on the road kids. I gotta get back to L.A. tonight. I’ve been here way too long as it is," he said.
"There ain't no rules to follow. Whoever's alive at the end is the winner," Kal said.
"You," he said, motioning to Tess, "other side of the field."
"You two, go that way," he said. "As soon as I reach the trees, you're on your own."
Max nodded and swallowed, feeling his heart starting to race now that the moment was at hand. He turned and started to walk toward the other end of the clearing, Michael automatically falling in beside him.
When they reached the perimeter, he turned to see Kal getting close to the edge of the clearing an equal distance away from them, and from Tess at the other end of the clearing.
"Whatever happens Max," Michael said quietly, "I'm glad that I can fight with you this time."
Max turned toward him nodding, not needing to say a word, because Michael saw it in his eyes. Differences aside, in the end, they were there for each other, would fight to the death for each other.
A moment later, all hell broke loose. Max wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it wasn't anything like the reality he faced.
The sky grew dark, almost black, and the trees disappeared, swallowed in a dark gray mist. The ground beneath their feet, spongy an instant before was suddenly like cement under their feet.
"What the hell is this?" Michael asked grimly, looking around.
"It's Antarian," Max answered in a low voice, looking around.
"You're right," Kal's voice said, booming through the air. Max turned, looking around, trying to pinpoint where the voice was coming from, but Kal was nowhere to be seen.
An unearthly light seemed to emanate from the ground beneath, illuminating the area, washing Tess's figure in a bright green glow, seeming to draw a pattern on the ground, forming itself into the shape of the symbol that had emblazoned the orb Tess had possessed.
"What you see before you is a traditional Antarian dueling field. You've been brought into a separate dimension, outside of Earth's. It is a dimension created by the Granolith, to avoid detection of humans," Kal said. "If you're body expires here, you will cease to exist on Earth’s plane."
Max glanced over at Tess, her face miraculously untouched, her hands already glowing with the energy she was gathering in her body for the impending battle.
"Begin," Kal said.
*********
cont'd on pg. 25
Last edited by Majesty on Wed Dec 03, 2003 3:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
29 (con'td)
*~Liz~*
She'd drifted off to sleep, plagued by troubled dreams and Max's haunted mink-tinged gaze.
And then suddenly, she could feel him. Even in sleep her mind told her it was only a dream, but it felt so real.
His very spirit enveloped her, wrapping her in its warm embrace.
I'm sorry...so sorry...never meant to hurt you...love you...
And then he was pulling away from her.
Her mind cried out reaching for him desperately as he withdrew.
And she held on.
She felt herself being pulled with him.
Max....
*******
*~Max~*
Max threw up his shield as Tess threw the first blast. He'd barely had time before the energy rocked the shield and the ground around him. He looked over at Michael gathering his own energy in the palm of his hand, who longer had nor seemed to need his cane, and he realized that this realm, this battle was being carried on through a connection of their minds. Though they saw each other's forms, they did not really exist here. It was just their human mind's representation of their essence.
"Let the shield down," Michael said, ready to throw the next shot.
Max did as he said, letting down the shield just long enough for Michael to release the blast. Tess thwarted it with a blast of her own, and jumped to her right, seeming to vanish into thin air.
"Shit," Michael cursed, peering through the blur of the green shield. "Where is she?"
"She could be anywhere," Michael said in a low voice.
"She's here," Max said in a grim voice. "We just can't see her."
Out of thin air a blast shook the shield from behind, and Max turned, his hand shaking with the effort to hold the shield in place.
Tess's low laugh echoed in the air around them.
Within the space of seconds, a battery of successive shocks buffeted the shield.
Max felt the strain of keeping the shield up taking its toll on his body. Sweat broke out on his forehead and upper lip, and his limbs trembled violently.
"Are you all right?" Michael asked, glancing at him in concern before training his eyes back to the area surrounding him.
"I'll live," Max muttered thickly. He dared not mention Isabel's name in fear that Tess would hear it, but he prayed that she had started the dream walk. He wasn't sure how long they would be able to fight her.
In that moment, he thought of Liz, of her wondrous soul he had glimpsed when he healed her that day in the subway. It was so real, almost as if he could feel her in his arms.
Unbidden, the thought of what he'd done to Liz reappeared in his mind. A silent plea for forgiveness formed in his mind.
"I'm sorry...so sorry," he thought. "I never meant to hurt you. I love you..."
His momentary distraction was broken when again, his shield was hit with a blast more powerful than before. Max gasped as the shield wavered under its intensity. He hadn't expected to be able to hold the shield long, but this was much worse than he had anticipated.
But something else was happening. Liz was still with him. But it couldn't be....
"Drop the shield again, Max," Michael growled.
Max's head snapped toward him in uncertainty.
"Let me try this," he said with fierce determination, concentrating on his hands.
It had to be in his own head, but he could swear that he felt her inside of him.
Putting his trust in Michael, Max let the shield down with trepidation and a small sense of relief at the cease in the draw on his powers.
The air around Michael's hands grew brighter, blinding in its intensity. Multiple orbs of glowing energy rose from his hand, and Michael drew his breath in raggedly, pushing all of his energy toward the orbs. Max's eyes widened as he looked at them. When had he learned so much control over his power?
Michael released the orbs, and the exploded away from his hands in all directions in a shower of alien sparks.
An instant later, they heard a howl of rage, and Tess momentarily reappeared, clutching her stomach, before her form dissolved again.
"Got the bitch," Michael muttered, breathing heavily.
“Not quite!” Tess hissed as she momentarily reappeared, hitting Michael from behind, the force of her attack knocking him to the ground.
“Michael!” Max said, backing toward him, his eyes scanning the perimeter of the field for Tess’s next move.
“Michael,” he said again, glancing down at his friend.
Michael clutched his side, wincing, trying to get to his feet.
“You’re hurt,” Max said.
“I’ll be alright,” Michael grated.
Max didn't waste any time looking for her, knowing she would strike again.
He never expected what came next.
"Max!"
That familiar voice that tore at his heart reached his ears, and he froze.
A small figure seemed to be thrown violently through an invisible barrier of the arena, hitting the ground in the shadows of the perimeter with a resounding thud.
"Max," she whimpered.
"Liz?" he said in disbelief, his eyes darted around the area, frantic. This was what he'd feared, his worst nightmare.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, desperately. "You have to leave!"
"I just...I couldn't let go. I'm sorry, Max," she said, fear lacing her voice, and an evil chuckle filled the air around him.
"Well, well...this is interesting," Tess said, emerging from the shadows, her arm pulled across Liz's neck, her other hand at her throat.
"Max," Liz whispered, staring at him terrified.
" I tried to tell you that human feelings are a liability, and you didn't listen. You followed your heart, and now she's mine," Tess answered, with a smirk.
"Liz," Max said, stepping forward. Michael pulled him back.
"Don't Max, you'll be doing exactly what she wants," Michael said, glaring at Tess. “It’s got to be a mind-warp.”
"It's not," Max whispered, shaking his head.
"You're no fun, Michael," Tess pouted, tightening her hold on Liz's throat. “And Max is correct. It's not a mind-warp. But go ahead and test that theory of yours.”
"Let her go," Max said, furious. "You agreed to leave her alone until this was all over!"
"This will even things up again. I didn't bring her here, but now that she is," Tess spat, her fingers digging in to Liz's throat. "I'm going to have a little fun."
A short cry fell from Liz' lips as her airway was constricted, and she gagged a bit.
"Kal!" Max shouted, his eyes roaming the darkness surrounding them.
His cry received no answer.
Max saw the energy gathering in Michael's hands out of the corner of his eye.
"Michael!" he said angrily, turning toward him. "Don't."
"Max," he started to protest angrily.
"I said don't," he commanded, turning toward Tess.
Tess's cold blue eyes focused on Max.
"I'm going to be nice. I'll let her say goodbye to you before I kill her," she said with an evil smile, loosening her hold on Liz's throat. Liz choked and leaned forward, trying to pull air into her lungs.
Max instinctively moved forward, toward the girl he had loved for most of his life.
"Stop right there," Tess said, pulling Liz's arm and jerking her backward.
Max froze, and Liz lifted her head and met his eyes, confusion and fear swimming in them.
"Max," she said in a pleading, hoarse voice.
"I'll give you one chance, Max...just you and me. We fight to the end," Tess said, motioning toward Michael.
"He goes," she said.
"No," Michael said angrily. "I'm not fucking going anywhere!"
Tess ignored him, turning to Max.
"It's your choice," she said with a shrug, tightening her hold on Liz's arm.
Max turned to Michael.
"Go," he said quietly.
"No way, Max," Michael hissed.
Then Tess dug her fingers into Liz's windpipe.
"Please, go, Michael," Max interrupted, with a fierce look. "I know what w said, but I can't take the chance," he said, his eyes pleading with Michael to find Isabel. Only she could help now.
"If something happens to me and you want at her afterward, then fine. But this is what I want," he said. "I owe her."
A silent battle of wills ensued, Michael reluctant to leave Max. But he knew how important it was to Max that Liz should live. Max saw the change in his expression and knew he understood and would do what needed to be done.
Michael shook his head in disgust, playing along, and stepped back, waiting to be pulled from the field.
A cold smile crossed Tess's face.
"I knew you'd see it my way," she said, grabbing Liz's hair and jerking her head back.
Max turned his quickly to where Michael had stood, but he was gone.
He turned his gaze on Tess.
"Now let her go," Max said with quiet menace, his entire being filled with fury at Tess's treatment of Liz. He drew on his energy, pulling every last ounce of deadly force he had left in his body in preparation to face Tess. Losing was not an option.
He hadn't meant to bring Liz here, but it had happened, and now he was going to have to make sure that she remained safe.
"Fine," Tess said in a bored voice, and shoved Liz to the ground. Max heard the harsh raspy wheeze of Liz trying to catch her breath, but he pushed it to the back of his mind. He couldn’t afford to be distracted. The moment he was, Tess would take advantage of it.
He began to circle Tess, and she moved parallel to him, matching his every step with one of her own.
She smiled at him, taunting him.
"I've waited too long for this," she said, her hands clenching in anticipation.
"Max," Liz croaked, from the floor, trying to rise. "Don't..."
"Stay down Liz," he said, never taking his eyes off of Tess. “Just don’t move.”
He prayed that Isabel was out there, and could do something to help. She was the only advantage he had left.
****
Michael seemed to reappear at the edge of the field from thin air.
"Isabel!" he said, breaking into a run as he ran for the trees.
"Over here," Isabel called quietly.
"I can't get in," she said, frantic as he closed the distance between them.
"You've got to help them," Michael said, grabbing her arm.
"Them? What are you talking about Michael?" she asked.
"Liz Parker is in there with him," Michael said.
"What??" she cried.
"Look, if you can't get through to Tess, then try Liz," he said.
*******
Tess leered at Max, shaking her head. He hated her more in that moment than he ever hated anyone in his entire lonely life. If she was going to take him, she was going to go down with him. He'd make sure of it.
"Some things never change," she retorted.
"Shut up," he growled. "You wanted me? Well here I am! Make your move."
"Patience," she said with a grin. "That's something you never really had Max. It was one of your many shortcomings."
“I’ve been patient enough. It’s time you paid for everything you’ve done,” he growled.
Feeling his anger invade his senses, his energy pooled in his hands instantly, the last of the alien inheritance he'd had stored in his genes.
Tess laughed in derision.
“Do you really think you can beat me?” she asked. “Do you really think that I’ll let you have her? It’s not going to happen.”
She released a deadly bolt of energy on him, and he threw up his shield, blocking it.
“I see you’ve recovered,” she said.
“No thanks to you,” he answered, dropping his shield and returning a powerful blast of his own energy, which she barely ducked.
“You’re quick, I’ll give you that,” she said, as they circled each other.
“I have to be. I learned that from you,” he said, concentrating on the ground beneath them. Almost instantly, razor sharp crags of stone exploded through the ground, catching Tess’s feet and pushing her backward. As she fell she rolled, but not quick enough. A talon like peak rose up through the floor impaling itself in her hand.
She cried out and pulled her hand from the stone, stumbling to her feet, pulling the wounded hand across her abdomen, pressing it between her side and her elbow.
“That was lucky. You won’t get that lucky again,” she grated.
“We’ll see,” Max retorted. “What were your words? You were going to make me suffer, if you had to cross the Universe to do it? It looks like the tables might be turning on you.”
“Hah!” she said, breathing heavily. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with!”
“Oh yes I do,” Max answered. “For the first time, I know exactly who I’m dealing with!”
Tess glanced toward Liz, cowering in the shadows.
“What should I do to her first?” she asked, and raised her hand to strike.
Max didn’t wait for her move. His energy shot from his hand toward Tess, and she took advantage of it, turning the energy back on him.
It struck him with the force of a freight train, throwing him to the floor, searing heat racing through his veins, every muscle in his body seizing.
He lay still, curled in a fetal position, momentarily unable to move as Tess walked over toward Liz.
She'd drifted off to sleep, plagued by troubled dreams and Max's haunted mink-tinged gaze.
And then suddenly, she could feel him. Even in sleep her mind told her it was only a dream, but it felt so real.
His very spirit enveloped her, wrapping her in its warm embrace.
I'm sorry...so sorry...never meant to hurt you...love you...
And then he was pulling away from her.
Her mind cried out reaching for him desperately as he withdrew.
And she held on.
She felt herself being pulled with him.
Max....
*******
*~Max~*
Max threw up his shield as Tess threw the first blast. He'd barely had time before the energy rocked the shield and the ground around him. He looked over at Michael gathering his own energy in the palm of his hand, who longer had nor seemed to need his cane, and he realized that this realm, this battle was being carried on through a connection of their minds. Though they saw each other's forms, they did not really exist here. It was just their human mind's representation of their essence.
"Let the shield down," Michael said, ready to throw the next shot.
Max did as he said, letting down the shield just long enough for Michael to release the blast. Tess thwarted it with a blast of her own, and jumped to her right, seeming to vanish into thin air.
"Shit," Michael cursed, peering through the blur of the green shield. "Where is she?"
"She could be anywhere," Michael said in a low voice.
"She's here," Max said in a grim voice. "We just can't see her."
Out of thin air a blast shook the shield from behind, and Max turned, his hand shaking with the effort to hold the shield in place.
Tess's low laugh echoed in the air around them.
Within the space of seconds, a battery of successive shocks buffeted the shield.
Max felt the strain of keeping the shield up taking its toll on his body. Sweat broke out on his forehead and upper lip, and his limbs trembled violently.
"Are you all right?" Michael asked, glancing at him in concern before training his eyes back to the area surrounding him.
"I'll live," Max muttered thickly. He dared not mention Isabel's name in fear that Tess would hear it, but he prayed that she had started the dream walk. He wasn't sure how long they would be able to fight her.
In that moment, he thought of Liz, of her wondrous soul he had glimpsed when he healed her that day in the subway. It was so real, almost as if he could feel her in his arms.
Unbidden, the thought of what he'd done to Liz reappeared in his mind. A silent plea for forgiveness formed in his mind.
"I'm sorry...so sorry," he thought. "I never meant to hurt you. I love you..."
His momentary distraction was broken when again, his shield was hit with a blast more powerful than before. Max gasped as the shield wavered under its intensity. He hadn't expected to be able to hold the shield long, but this was much worse than he had anticipated.
But something else was happening. Liz was still with him. But it couldn't be....
"Drop the shield again, Max," Michael growled.
Max's head snapped toward him in uncertainty.
"Let me try this," he said with fierce determination, concentrating on his hands.
It had to be in his own head, but he could swear that he felt her inside of him.
Putting his trust in Michael, Max let the shield down with trepidation and a small sense of relief at the cease in the draw on his powers.
The air around Michael's hands grew brighter, blinding in its intensity. Multiple orbs of glowing energy rose from his hand, and Michael drew his breath in raggedly, pushing all of his energy toward the orbs. Max's eyes widened as he looked at them. When had he learned so much control over his power?
Michael released the orbs, and the exploded away from his hands in all directions in a shower of alien sparks.
An instant later, they heard a howl of rage, and Tess momentarily reappeared, clutching her stomach, before her form dissolved again.
"Got the bitch," Michael muttered, breathing heavily.
“Not quite!” Tess hissed as she momentarily reappeared, hitting Michael from behind, the force of her attack knocking him to the ground.
“Michael!” Max said, backing toward him, his eyes scanning the perimeter of the field for Tess’s next move.
“Michael,” he said again, glancing down at his friend.
Michael clutched his side, wincing, trying to get to his feet.
“You’re hurt,” Max said.
“I’ll be alright,” Michael grated.
Max didn't waste any time looking for her, knowing she would strike again.
He never expected what came next.
"Max!"
That familiar voice that tore at his heart reached his ears, and he froze.
A small figure seemed to be thrown violently through an invisible barrier of the arena, hitting the ground in the shadows of the perimeter with a resounding thud.
"Max," she whimpered.
"Liz?" he said in disbelief, his eyes darted around the area, frantic. This was what he'd feared, his worst nightmare.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, desperately. "You have to leave!"
"I just...I couldn't let go. I'm sorry, Max," she said, fear lacing her voice, and an evil chuckle filled the air around him.
"Well, well...this is interesting," Tess said, emerging from the shadows, her arm pulled across Liz's neck, her other hand at her throat.
"Max," Liz whispered, staring at him terrified.
" I tried to tell you that human feelings are a liability, and you didn't listen. You followed your heart, and now she's mine," Tess answered, with a smirk.
"Liz," Max said, stepping forward. Michael pulled him back.
"Don't Max, you'll be doing exactly what she wants," Michael said, glaring at Tess. “It’s got to be a mind-warp.”
"It's not," Max whispered, shaking his head.
"You're no fun, Michael," Tess pouted, tightening her hold on Liz's throat. “And Max is correct. It's not a mind-warp. But go ahead and test that theory of yours.”
"Let her go," Max said, furious. "You agreed to leave her alone until this was all over!"
"This will even things up again. I didn't bring her here, but now that she is," Tess spat, her fingers digging in to Liz's throat. "I'm going to have a little fun."
A short cry fell from Liz' lips as her airway was constricted, and she gagged a bit.
"Kal!" Max shouted, his eyes roaming the darkness surrounding them.
His cry received no answer.
Max saw the energy gathering in Michael's hands out of the corner of his eye.
"Michael!" he said angrily, turning toward him. "Don't."
"Max," he started to protest angrily.
"I said don't," he commanded, turning toward Tess.
Tess's cold blue eyes focused on Max.
"I'm going to be nice. I'll let her say goodbye to you before I kill her," she said with an evil smile, loosening her hold on Liz's throat. Liz choked and leaned forward, trying to pull air into her lungs.
Max instinctively moved forward, toward the girl he had loved for most of his life.
"Stop right there," Tess said, pulling Liz's arm and jerking her backward.
Max froze, and Liz lifted her head and met his eyes, confusion and fear swimming in them.
"Max," she said in a pleading, hoarse voice.
"I'll give you one chance, Max...just you and me. We fight to the end," Tess said, motioning toward Michael.
"He goes," she said.
"No," Michael said angrily. "I'm not fucking going anywhere!"
Tess ignored him, turning to Max.
"It's your choice," she said with a shrug, tightening her hold on Liz's arm.
Max turned to Michael.
"Go," he said quietly.
"No way, Max," Michael hissed.
Then Tess dug her fingers into Liz's windpipe.
"Please, go, Michael," Max interrupted, with a fierce look. "I know what w said, but I can't take the chance," he said, his eyes pleading with Michael to find Isabel. Only she could help now.
"If something happens to me and you want at her afterward, then fine. But this is what I want," he said. "I owe her."
A silent battle of wills ensued, Michael reluctant to leave Max. But he knew how important it was to Max that Liz should live. Max saw the change in his expression and knew he understood and would do what needed to be done.
Michael shook his head in disgust, playing along, and stepped back, waiting to be pulled from the field.
A cold smile crossed Tess's face.
"I knew you'd see it my way," she said, grabbing Liz's hair and jerking her head back.
Max turned his quickly to where Michael had stood, but he was gone.
He turned his gaze on Tess.
"Now let her go," Max said with quiet menace, his entire being filled with fury at Tess's treatment of Liz. He drew on his energy, pulling every last ounce of deadly force he had left in his body in preparation to face Tess. Losing was not an option.
He hadn't meant to bring Liz here, but it had happened, and now he was going to have to make sure that she remained safe.
"Fine," Tess said in a bored voice, and shoved Liz to the ground. Max heard the harsh raspy wheeze of Liz trying to catch her breath, but he pushed it to the back of his mind. He couldn’t afford to be distracted. The moment he was, Tess would take advantage of it.
He began to circle Tess, and she moved parallel to him, matching his every step with one of her own.
She smiled at him, taunting him.
"I've waited too long for this," she said, her hands clenching in anticipation.
"Max," Liz croaked, from the floor, trying to rise. "Don't..."
"Stay down Liz," he said, never taking his eyes off of Tess. “Just don’t move.”
He prayed that Isabel was out there, and could do something to help. She was the only advantage he had left.
****
Michael seemed to reappear at the edge of the field from thin air.
"Isabel!" he said, breaking into a run as he ran for the trees.
"Over here," Isabel called quietly.
"I can't get in," she said, frantic as he closed the distance between them.
"You've got to help them," Michael said, grabbing her arm.
"Them? What are you talking about Michael?" she asked.
"Liz Parker is in there with him," Michael said.
"What??" she cried.
"Look, if you can't get through to Tess, then try Liz," he said.
*******
Tess leered at Max, shaking her head. He hated her more in that moment than he ever hated anyone in his entire lonely life. If she was going to take him, she was going to go down with him. He'd make sure of it.
"Some things never change," she retorted.
"Shut up," he growled. "You wanted me? Well here I am! Make your move."
"Patience," she said with a grin. "That's something you never really had Max. It was one of your many shortcomings."
“I’ve been patient enough. It’s time you paid for everything you’ve done,” he growled.
Feeling his anger invade his senses, his energy pooled in his hands instantly, the last of the alien inheritance he'd had stored in his genes.
Tess laughed in derision.
“Do you really think you can beat me?” she asked. “Do you really think that I’ll let you have her? It’s not going to happen.”
She released a deadly bolt of energy on him, and he threw up his shield, blocking it.
“I see you’ve recovered,” she said.
“No thanks to you,” he answered, dropping his shield and returning a powerful blast of his own energy, which she barely ducked.
“You’re quick, I’ll give you that,” she said, as they circled each other.
“I have to be. I learned that from you,” he said, concentrating on the ground beneath them. Almost instantly, razor sharp crags of stone exploded through the ground, catching Tess’s feet and pushing her backward. As she fell she rolled, but not quick enough. A talon like peak rose up through the floor impaling itself in her hand.
She cried out and pulled her hand from the stone, stumbling to her feet, pulling the wounded hand across her abdomen, pressing it between her side and her elbow.
“That was lucky. You won’t get that lucky again,” she grated.
“We’ll see,” Max retorted. “What were your words? You were going to make me suffer, if you had to cross the Universe to do it? It looks like the tables might be turning on you.”
“Hah!” she said, breathing heavily. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with!”
“Oh yes I do,” Max answered. “For the first time, I know exactly who I’m dealing with!”
Tess glanced toward Liz, cowering in the shadows.
“What should I do to her first?” she asked, and raised her hand to strike.
Max didn’t wait for her move. His energy shot from his hand toward Tess, and she took advantage of it, turning the energy back on him.
It struck him with the force of a freight train, throwing him to the floor, searing heat racing through his veins, every muscle in his body seizing.
He lay still, curled in a fetal position, momentarily unable to move as Tess walked over toward Liz.
Last edited by Majesty on Wed Dec 03, 2003 3:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
29 (con'td)
********
“What’s going on Isabel? Do it...now!” Michael hissed. "Once you get her out, then we can finish this."
“I’m trying!” Isabel said frantically. “The energy that created the battlefield...it’s strong and I was having a hard time connecting to Tess. I can't feel Liz yet. It takes time."
“If you don’t do this now, this is going to be over really quickly,” Michael growled.
“Ok...ok,” Isabel said, taking a shaky breath and closing her eyes, concentrating on Liz's image in her mind, knowing that everything was riding on it.
*******
“I was thinking I should just kill you, but maybe I’ll torture her a little first before I do,” Tess said.
Max watched in horror as she put her hand on Liz’s head, and the sudden smell of ozone filled the air as Liz shrieked in pain.
“No!” Max said, stumbling to his feet, rushing Tess, knocking her across the ground with violent force.
She launched another shot of energy at him. Razor thin welts appeared across his forearms, the blood rising and trailing down his arms to his fingers.
He blocked the hot pain that burned in his arms and retaliated, feeling a certain satisfaction in hearing her scream as he heard a bone crack with the force of his hit. She clutched her stomach, panting.
“I think that might have been a rib,” he said, with a humorless smile.
“Fuck you,” she panted.
They circled each other warily.
“It seems we’re at an impasse, huh Max?” she said, her breath short.
“Seems like,” he answered. “But I’ve got more to lose than you.”
“Yes, you do,” Tess chuckled, waving her fingers at Liz, green lightning cracking against the walls, searching for its intended target.
Liz screamed and Max knew it was now or never. He drew on his power as he never had before, intending to finish this once and for all.
Suddenly Liz's brow furrowed as she seemed to stare at something he couldn't see.
"What are you doing here?" she whispered, and her eyes widened.
Green fire burst from Tess's fingertips and for a second, Max was sure he was too late. The deadly bolt flew toward Liz and hit...empty air.
She'd disappeared.
"What the hell?" Tess snapped, and turned her head toward him, and her eyes widened slightly as she registered the energy making his fingers crackle, and then narrowed again.
She smiled without a word or a scream, as he unleashed the power on her, green fire obliterating her features for a few seconds, before her body disappeared in a spray of dust.
He sank to his knees, spent, before the dust had even settled around him, drawing long weary breaths into his lungs.
"Liz?" Max called.
He couldn't feel her. It was as if she'd winked out in his mind.
"Liz!" he said again.
"Max?" Liz whispered.
His head shot up, looking for her automatically.
She stood alone, tears in her eyes, her chest heaving slightly.
He stood slowly, afraid to move closer; afraid she might run.
A tingling teased his mind and he felt another presence with him.
"Max! Don’t look at me, and don't say anything," Isabel said. "She can't see me. Don't move your eyes away from her. Trust me."
He could see her from the corner of his eye, but kept his eyes trained on Liz.
"She isn't Liz," Isabel said in a low voice, moving to stand him.
It was true that he couldn't feel Liz as he had before. But could he afford to be wrong?
"Max, I got her out. She got here because she was sleeping, and I woke her up," Isabel said, as he watched Liz walk toward him.
"Why did you leave me, Max?" Liz said, with a sob.
Isabel touched his arm, and his head was filled with images. He could see what Isabel saw, outside of the battlefield in Earth's reality. Michael stood beside her with a worried frown on his face.
"I've got him," Isabel said.
"This better work," Max watched Michael say. Then her eyes turned to the field.
The sun was shining brightly, and a slight breeze was blowing his own hair. He stood in the middle of the field, his face slack, watching Tess walk toward him.
Her hand pulled away from his arm, and he was back in the alternate realm.
"It's a mind warp," Isabel said.
He nodded slightly, just as "Liz" reached him.
"Please, hold me" she said, and he took a step closer.
She raised her hand to his chest, and touched it lightly. He resisted recoiling from it.
She was smart. He had to give her that. But he had Isabel, the one thing she wouldn't have counted on.
His hands fell to her hips, sliding up her waist, her arm, to her throat with deceptive gentleness.
"It's over," he whispered, and with alarming speed, his fingers tightened on her throat, pushing her to the ground, leaning over her with undisguised rage.
"Max," she tried to choke out. Though it was disconcerting to see his fingers pressed murderously against the throat of the person he'd loved from afar for as long as he could remember, he didn't withdraw.
"You're not going to win this time, Tess," he grated. "You almost had me. Almost."
She shook her head frantically, brown hair falling in a cascade around his fingers. Except it wasn't. It was all the machinations of Tess's mind on his.
"Max, please," she croaked, chocolate brown eyes pleading with him. "You're hurting me!"
"I'm going to kill you, Tess," he seethed. "I'm going to kill you with my bare hands, my human hands."
He tightened his grips further, his jaw clenched with his effort.
Full pink lips opened wide, trying to gain air into oxygen-starved lungs, mouthing his name in one last effort to make him stop, but it only pushed him further.
Her hands fluttered around his, before clenching them in a vice-like grip, trying to wrench them from her throat. Alien energy crackled from her fingertips, scorching his skin, but his grip didn't loosen.
Before his very eyes, the silky brown hair that fell in a cascade against the ground pulled itself into curls, lightening to a creamy blond.
Her face seemed to morph before him, brown eyes fading to blue, cheeks plumping, lips reshaping themselves.
Her body bucked underneath him violently, struggling to free itself from his death hold.
"How long were you going to let me believe you were her, before you killed me?" he raged. "How long would you have let it go on? I don't need any alien powers to kill you! I don't want them anymore! Everything about that side of me has brought nothing but pain to everyone I ever loved!"
"You fucking coward," she choked, her eyes narrowing. "You were never worthy of the power they gave you!"
"This is finished, right here, right now," he hissed, feeling his biceps clench with the effort of holding her down. "You had your chance to live here, to be safe, and what did you do? You destroyed everyone's lives to meet your own ends. It's over. You're over..."
"Fuck you!" she croaked. "She'll never...have you, Max! Never! Whatever.... happens to me, she'll hate you forever, but no more than you'll.... hate yourself for what.... you are. She's lost to you now. You couldn't live with yourself."
A short cackle burst from her throat.
His vision clouded with rage, as he slammed her head back against the ground. With almost inhuman strength, he squeezed further, feeling her whole body seize underneath him.
Everything around him faded as he watched her struggle beneath him, her face turning bright red, and then purple. He didn't notice the brightening of his surroundings. He didn't notice the grass that seemed to spring up around him. He didn’t see the scars that once again drew themselves across her face. He was focused on the widening of her eyes, of the gradual dilation of her pupils. He wanted her dead. He'd never wanted anyone dead in his life, but he wanted her gone for good.
Tears welled in his eyes as every vile thing she'd ever done once more played through his mind, yet hating himself for acting as his dupe might have, the killing monster that he’d feared he might be for as long as he cold remember.
"Max," a gentle voice said alongside of him, but even that did not waver his focus. He had to make sure she was dead. He continued to squeeze harder, even though her body had gone limp. It could be a trick. It could be a mind warp. If he let go, he would be at her mercy.
"Max," the voice said again. "It's over. Let go."
"No," he half-hissed, half-sobbed, and shrugged away the hand on his shoulder, staring at the rope-like scars that marred the face before him.
"Maxwell, she's gone," Michael said softly.
"Max, you have to let go," Isabel said, her hands pulling gently on his shoulders.
His face hardened, and he let them pull him away.
"It is done," Kal said from behind him.
Max whirled to face him, shoving him hard in the chest.
"Watch it boy. You don't want to piss me off," Kal growled.
Max stepped forward again and Michael grabbed his arm.
"You...you let this happen. You didn't answer. You didn't help," Max said in angry accusation.
"I told you I couldn’t interfere. Tess was using what she had available to her," Kal retorted. "You brought the girl in. Besides, you should have known something was up when you 'killed' Tess the first time. If she'd truly been dead, the realm would have disappeared."
"You had the advantage, and she knew it. So she used what she knew would get to you, what had always gotten to you. If you didn't have your sister, you would have been toast. They were right. You would have never been worthy of the Granolith. You're too human," Kal said, shaking his head.
"And you're jealous, because you'll never be human," Max fired back. "I never wanted to be King! I never wanted any of this. I didn't ask for any of it."
"And now you don't have to worry about it anymore," Kal said in disgust. "Kid, you were never cut out for this shit, in any lifetime. You should take another look at the crystal your lady-friend gave you. Believe me, you'll be thanking your lucky stars that things ended up as well as they did. All of you."
He glanced at Michael and Isabel and Michael glared at him in defiance.
Kal stepped back.
"I'm done here," he said.
"You're free to do whatever the hell you want. Pick up the pieces of your life and move on. You're done as far as the Antarians are concerned. You won't see Seeraynah again. She's gotta get rid of the rest of my compatriots here on Earth and then she's outta here, stupid bitch. Either way, there ain't nobody gonna bother you anymore. Good thing for you too, seeing as your abilities are gonna take a long time to make a reappearance again without the seal. You’ll never get ‘em back like you used to have ‘em. Now you'll have to rely more on those two to protect you, if something should happen," he said, motioning to Isabel and Michael.
He moved to stand above Tess' body, and waved his hand over it, turning it to dust. Without further word, he turned on his heel and left the three of them standing alone in the field.
Michael leaned heavily on his cane. Max felt both his and his sister's eyes on him.
"Is it true?" Isabel asked. "Are your powers...?"
Max paused and then nodded.
"They're pretty much gone," he said.
"Let's get out of here," Michael muttered.
With a last glance around the field, Max followed them toward the car.
*****
For the first time in what seemed like forever, Max didn't have to think about looking over his shoulder, or to worry whether he was going to live through another day of torture, and it left him feeling unsettled.
He sat in the backseat, allowing Isabel to drive, and Michael to take the passenger seat. His arms throbbed painfully where they had been slit and burned, but he knew that he didn't have the energy to heal it.
"Where do we go from here?" Isabel asked quietly. "Everyone thinks you're dead."
"Not everyone," Max reminded her with a sigh.
"Liz won't tell anyone will she?" Michael asked, twisting in the seat to face him.
"I don't think so," Max said, his heart twisting painfully at the mere mention of her name. "But Maria Deluca knows too."
"Christ, that motor-mouth?" Michael muttered, facing forward again.
"She took it pretty well, considering it was Maria," Max said wryly.
"Do we have to worry about her?" Isabel asked, glancing back at him with a worried expression.
"I don't think so," Max said, shaking his head.
"Isabel...does Liz...?"
"She'll think it was a dream. I got to her just in time. I think the only reason she got pulled in was because she was sleeping. I sort of woke her up, but I made sure she'll just think it was a bad dream," she said.
"How?" Max asked.
"A little of the power of suggestion," she said, shrugging. "It doesn't matter. You can explain it to her when you see her. You're going back to New York, aren't you?" Isabel asked.
"No," Max answered, shaking his head.
"Max, you're finally free to be with Liz, and you aren't going to take the chance?" Isabel asked in disbelief.
"Don't push him Isabel," Michael said, looking out the window.
"Don't tell me not to push him, Michael!" Isabel snapped. "This is all he's ever wanted, and you're just going to watch him give it up? You saw the same thing I did. You saw that she cares about him."
"That was before she knew the truth," Max said, lowering his head.
"Max, that wasn't your fault and you know it. If she has half a brain, she saw it too," Isabel said dryly.
Max glared at his sister in the rearview mirror.
"Don't talk like that about her," he said angrily.
"I'm just saying that I don't think you could have pulled her into that battlefield if she didn't want to come," Isabel said.
He focused on the passing landscape outside the window.
"We don't know that. I could have pulled her in against her will," Max said. "I could have gotten her killed. All I did was think about her, and it happened."
"Maybe there's a reason for that," Isabel said.
Max shrugged his shoulders, dismissing it.
"It doesn't matter anyway. Tess was right. I don't think that I could live with myself after what happened. It's my fault her parents are dead. They're gone because of me. I may not have set the fire, but I was the reason it happened in the first place," he said.
“Max, she protected you without a second thought. She may not know exactly what you are, but she knows enough to know that you’re different,” she said.
“She knows you’re different too,” Max said quietly.
“And yet she and Maria stood up to us. That has to count for something,” she said.
“I don’t know if I can face her,” Max said, almost in a whisper.
“Maybe it’s time you started to put your faith in other people,” Isabel said.
Max shifted in his seat, and felt something jab him in his hip.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the crystal wrapped in the letter from Seeraynah. Liz had kept this with her. He rubbed it absently, wondering what Kal had meant about taking another look at the crystal. He didn't feel a connection with it, as he once had with the Granolith's crystals.
"We'll look at it together later," Isabel said from the front seat, and his head snapped up. He hadn't realized she had seen it in mirror.
"What about your parents?" Michael asked interrupted. "Are you going to tell them, you know, that you're alive?"
"I don't know yet," Max asked. "Not right away. Not until I'm sure that no one is after us."
"Max, you have to see them," Isabel said. "You don't know what it's been like for the past few years. They haven't been the same."
"Iz, I don't want to talk about this now," Max said in a weary voice.
“We’re going to have to talk about it soon,” she said. “We’re going to have to talk about a lot of things soon.”
********
When they reached the airport, they turned the car in and caught a shuttle to a nearby hotel. Max was exhausted. They all were.
He could see the weariness written on the faces of his best friend and sister, and he was sure it mirrored his own.
Michael was favoring his side, and the drawn look on his friend’s face told him that he was in pain. He wished he could heal him, as he once would have been able to do, as he had done for Liz, but at the moment he no longer possessed the ability to do so, and didn’t know if he ever would again.
It was all too much.
The only thing he wanted to do was to sleep. He didn’t want to think about anything, least of all what he’d done to Liz. It was too painful. He would have to think about it soon enough.
Isabel checked them in to a clean hotel. Max took the letter, the crystal, and the little money he had out of his pocket and put it on the desk, and immediately went into the bathroom to clean up. Though he wasn’t physically dirty, he felt unclean after his encounter with Tess. He cleaned his wounds, but had nothing to dress them with. When he came out, Michael had already claimed the sofa, and lay with his leg propped up, his eyes closed.
Isabel sat at the small desk against the wall, a pensive look on her face. She hadn’t heard him come out of the bathroom.
“Iz?” he said softly, and she jumped.
She flashed him a smile that was too bright.
“Is Michael all right?” he asked, glancing at his friend, sleeping on the couch.
Isabel nodded.
“He’s just tired,” she said.
“You look exhausted too,” she said. “Why don’t you get some sleep?”
He studied her for a moment, and then nodded.
“What about you? You look just as tired as I feel,” he said, yawning.
“I’m still a little wired,” she said, running her hand through her hair. “You know me, it takes me forever to calm down enough to sleep. Don’t worry about me. I’m not far behind you.”
His fatigue was too powerful. He turned and sat heavily on one of the two queen sized beds.
He leaned back against the pillows with an exhausted sigh, closing his eyes.
“I’m glad she’s dead,” Isabel said.
He cracked his eyes open to look at her.
“So am I,” he said softly. “So am I.”
“I won’t push you anymore Max,” she said, “about Liz.”
He nodded, closing his eyes.
“Maybe you should give it a little time. Come back with Michael and I to Santa Fe. You can think about it there, about what you’re going to do, with everything,” she said.
He was silent for a moment. He hadn’t thought past today, afraid to hope that things would turn out as they did, but now he realized that he had to start making decisions concerning the rest of his life.
“Ok,” he said finally.
“Get some sleep,” she said softly. “You have all the time in the world now.”
He fell into sleep, images of the broken-hearted girl he’d left in New York haunting his dreams.
*******
See you all on Sunday.
“What’s going on Isabel? Do it...now!” Michael hissed. "Once you get her out, then we can finish this."
“I’m trying!” Isabel said frantically. “The energy that created the battlefield...it’s strong and I was having a hard time connecting to Tess. I can't feel Liz yet. It takes time."
“If you don’t do this now, this is going to be over really quickly,” Michael growled.
“Ok...ok,” Isabel said, taking a shaky breath and closing her eyes, concentrating on Liz's image in her mind, knowing that everything was riding on it.
*******
“I was thinking I should just kill you, but maybe I’ll torture her a little first before I do,” Tess said.
Max watched in horror as she put her hand on Liz’s head, and the sudden smell of ozone filled the air as Liz shrieked in pain.
“No!” Max said, stumbling to his feet, rushing Tess, knocking her across the ground with violent force.
She launched another shot of energy at him. Razor thin welts appeared across his forearms, the blood rising and trailing down his arms to his fingers.
He blocked the hot pain that burned in his arms and retaliated, feeling a certain satisfaction in hearing her scream as he heard a bone crack with the force of his hit. She clutched her stomach, panting.
“I think that might have been a rib,” he said, with a humorless smile.
“Fuck you,” she panted.
They circled each other warily.
“It seems we’re at an impasse, huh Max?” she said, her breath short.
“Seems like,” he answered. “But I’ve got more to lose than you.”
“Yes, you do,” Tess chuckled, waving her fingers at Liz, green lightning cracking against the walls, searching for its intended target.
Liz screamed and Max knew it was now or never. He drew on his power as he never had before, intending to finish this once and for all.
Suddenly Liz's brow furrowed as she seemed to stare at something he couldn't see.
"What are you doing here?" she whispered, and her eyes widened.
Green fire burst from Tess's fingertips and for a second, Max was sure he was too late. The deadly bolt flew toward Liz and hit...empty air.
She'd disappeared.
"What the hell?" Tess snapped, and turned her head toward him, and her eyes widened slightly as she registered the energy making his fingers crackle, and then narrowed again.
She smiled without a word or a scream, as he unleashed the power on her, green fire obliterating her features for a few seconds, before her body disappeared in a spray of dust.
He sank to his knees, spent, before the dust had even settled around him, drawing long weary breaths into his lungs.
"Liz?" Max called.
He couldn't feel her. It was as if she'd winked out in his mind.
"Liz!" he said again.
"Max?" Liz whispered.
His head shot up, looking for her automatically.
She stood alone, tears in her eyes, her chest heaving slightly.
He stood slowly, afraid to move closer; afraid she might run.
A tingling teased his mind and he felt another presence with him.
"Max! Don’t look at me, and don't say anything," Isabel said. "She can't see me. Don't move your eyes away from her. Trust me."
He could see her from the corner of his eye, but kept his eyes trained on Liz.
"She isn't Liz," Isabel said in a low voice, moving to stand him.
It was true that he couldn't feel Liz as he had before. But could he afford to be wrong?
"Max, I got her out. She got here because she was sleeping, and I woke her up," Isabel said, as he watched Liz walk toward him.
"Why did you leave me, Max?" Liz said, with a sob.
Isabel touched his arm, and his head was filled with images. He could see what Isabel saw, outside of the battlefield in Earth's reality. Michael stood beside her with a worried frown on his face.
"I've got him," Isabel said.
"This better work," Max watched Michael say. Then her eyes turned to the field.
The sun was shining brightly, and a slight breeze was blowing his own hair. He stood in the middle of the field, his face slack, watching Tess walk toward him.
Her hand pulled away from his arm, and he was back in the alternate realm.
"It's a mind warp," Isabel said.
He nodded slightly, just as "Liz" reached him.
"Please, hold me" she said, and he took a step closer.
She raised her hand to his chest, and touched it lightly. He resisted recoiling from it.
She was smart. He had to give her that. But he had Isabel, the one thing she wouldn't have counted on.
His hands fell to her hips, sliding up her waist, her arm, to her throat with deceptive gentleness.
"It's over," he whispered, and with alarming speed, his fingers tightened on her throat, pushing her to the ground, leaning over her with undisguised rage.
"Max," she tried to choke out. Though it was disconcerting to see his fingers pressed murderously against the throat of the person he'd loved from afar for as long as he could remember, he didn't withdraw.
"You're not going to win this time, Tess," he grated. "You almost had me. Almost."
She shook her head frantically, brown hair falling in a cascade around his fingers. Except it wasn't. It was all the machinations of Tess's mind on his.
"Max, please," she croaked, chocolate brown eyes pleading with him. "You're hurting me!"
"I'm going to kill you, Tess," he seethed. "I'm going to kill you with my bare hands, my human hands."
He tightened his grips further, his jaw clenched with his effort.
Full pink lips opened wide, trying to gain air into oxygen-starved lungs, mouthing his name in one last effort to make him stop, but it only pushed him further.
Her hands fluttered around his, before clenching them in a vice-like grip, trying to wrench them from her throat. Alien energy crackled from her fingertips, scorching his skin, but his grip didn't loosen.
Before his very eyes, the silky brown hair that fell in a cascade against the ground pulled itself into curls, lightening to a creamy blond.
Her face seemed to morph before him, brown eyes fading to blue, cheeks plumping, lips reshaping themselves.
Her body bucked underneath him violently, struggling to free itself from his death hold.
"How long were you going to let me believe you were her, before you killed me?" he raged. "How long would you have let it go on? I don't need any alien powers to kill you! I don't want them anymore! Everything about that side of me has brought nothing but pain to everyone I ever loved!"
"You fucking coward," she choked, her eyes narrowing. "You were never worthy of the power they gave you!"
"This is finished, right here, right now," he hissed, feeling his biceps clench with the effort of holding her down. "You had your chance to live here, to be safe, and what did you do? You destroyed everyone's lives to meet your own ends. It's over. You're over..."
"Fuck you!" she croaked. "She'll never...have you, Max! Never! Whatever.... happens to me, she'll hate you forever, but no more than you'll.... hate yourself for what.... you are. She's lost to you now. You couldn't live with yourself."
A short cackle burst from her throat.
His vision clouded with rage, as he slammed her head back against the ground. With almost inhuman strength, he squeezed further, feeling her whole body seize underneath him.
Everything around him faded as he watched her struggle beneath him, her face turning bright red, and then purple. He didn't notice the brightening of his surroundings. He didn't notice the grass that seemed to spring up around him. He didn’t see the scars that once again drew themselves across her face. He was focused on the widening of her eyes, of the gradual dilation of her pupils. He wanted her dead. He'd never wanted anyone dead in his life, but he wanted her gone for good.
Tears welled in his eyes as every vile thing she'd ever done once more played through his mind, yet hating himself for acting as his dupe might have, the killing monster that he’d feared he might be for as long as he cold remember.
"Max," a gentle voice said alongside of him, but even that did not waver his focus. He had to make sure she was dead. He continued to squeeze harder, even though her body had gone limp. It could be a trick. It could be a mind warp. If he let go, he would be at her mercy.
"Max," the voice said again. "It's over. Let go."
"No," he half-hissed, half-sobbed, and shrugged away the hand on his shoulder, staring at the rope-like scars that marred the face before him.
"Maxwell, she's gone," Michael said softly.
"Max, you have to let go," Isabel said, her hands pulling gently on his shoulders.
His face hardened, and he let them pull him away.
"It is done," Kal said from behind him.
Max whirled to face him, shoving him hard in the chest.
"Watch it boy. You don't want to piss me off," Kal growled.
Max stepped forward again and Michael grabbed his arm.
"You...you let this happen. You didn't answer. You didn't help," Max said in angry accusation.
"I told you I couldn’t interfere. Tess was using what she had available to her," Kal retorted. "You brought the girl in. Besides, you should have known something was up when you 'killed' Tess the first time. If she'd truly been dead, the realm would have disappeared."
"You had the advantage, and she knew it. So she used what she knew would get to you, what had always gotten to you. If you didn't have your sister, you would have been toast. They were right. You would have never been worthy of the Granolith. You're too human," Kal said, shaking his head.
"And you're jealous, because you'll never be human," Max fired back. "I never wanted to be King! I never wanted any of this. I didn't ask for any of it."
"And now you don't have to worry about it anymore," Kal said in disgust. "Kid, you were never cut out for this shit, in any lifetime. You should take another look at the crystal your lady-friend gave you. Believe me, you'll be thanking your lucky stars that things ended up as well as they did. All of you."
He glanced at Michael and Isabel and Michael glared at him in defiance.
Kal stepped back.
"I'm done here," he said.
"You're free to do whatever the hell you want. Pick up the pieces of your life and move on. You're done as far as the Antarians are concerned. You won't see Seeraynah again. She's gotta get rid of the rest of my compatriots here on Earth and then she's outta here, stupid bitch. Either way, there ain't nobody gonna bother you anymore. Good thing for you too, seeing as your abilities are gonna take a long time to make a reappearance again without the seal. You’ll never get ‘em back like you used to have ‘em. Now you'll have to rely more on those two to protect you, if something should happen," he said, motioning to Isabel and Michael.
He moved to stand above Tess' body, and waved his hand over it, turning it to dust. Without further word, he turned on his heel and left the three of them standing alone in the field.
Michael leaned heavily on his cane. Max felt both his and his sister's eyes on him.
"Is it true?" Isabel asked. "Are your powers...?"
Max paused and then nodded.
"They're pretty much gone," he said.
"Let's get out of here," Michael muttered.
With a last glance around the field, Max followed them toward the car.
*****
For the first time in what seemed like forever, Max didn't have to think about looking over his shoulder, or to worry whether he was going to live through another day of torture, and it left him feeling unsettled.
He sat in the backseat, allowing Isabel to drive, and Michael to take the passenger seat. His arms throbbed painfully where they had been slit and burned, but he knew that he didn't have the energy to heal it.
"Where do we go from here?" Isabel asked quietly. "Everyone thinks you're dead."
"Not everyone," Max reminded her with a sigh.
"Liz won't tell anyone will she?" Michael asked, twisting in the seat to face him.
"I don't think so," Max said, his heart twisting painfully at the mere mention of her name. "But Maria Deluca knows too."
"Christ, that motor-mouth?" Michael muttered, facing forward again.
"She took it pretty well, considering it was Maria," Max said wryly.
"Do we have to worry about her?" Isabel asked, glancing back at him with a worried expression.
"I don't think so," Max said, shaking his head.
"Isabel...does Liz...?"
"She'll think it was a dream. I got to her just in time. I think the only reason she got pulled in was because she was sleeping. I sort of woke her up, but I made sure she'll just think it was a bad dream," she said.
"How?" Max asked.
"A little of the power of suggestion," she said, shrugging. "It doesn't matter. You can explain it to her when you see her. You're going back to New York, aren't you?" Isabel asked.
"No," Max answered, shaking his head.
"Max, you're finally free to be with Liz, and you aren't going to take the chance?" Isabel asked in disbelief.
"Don't push him Isabel," Michael said, looking out the window.
"Don't tell me not to push him, Michael!" Isabel snapped. "This is all he's ever wanted, and you're just going to watch him give it up? You saw the same thing I did. You saw that she cares about him."
"That was before she knew the truth," Max said, lowering his head.
"Max, that wasn't your fault and you know it. If she has half a brain, she saw it too," Isabel said dryly.
Max glared at his sister in the rearview mirror.
"Don't talk like that about her," he said angrily.
"I'm just saying that I don't think you could have pulled her into that battlefield if she didn't want to come," Isabel said.
He focused on the passing landscape outside the window.
"We don't know that. I could have pulled her in against her will," Max said. "I could have gotten her killed. All I did was think about her, and it happened."
"Maybe there's a reason for that," Isabel said.
Max shrugged his shoulders, dismissing it.
"It doesn't matter anyway. Tess was right. I don't think that I could live with myself after what happened. It's my fault her parents are dead. They're gone because of me. I may not have set the fire, but I was the reason it happened in the first place," he said.
“Max, she protected you without a second thought. She may not know exactly what you are, but she knows enough to know that you’re different,” she said.
“She knows you’re different too,” Max said quietly.
“And yet she and Maria stood up to us. That has to count for something,” she said.
“I don’t know if I can face her,” Max said, almost in a whisper.
“Maybe it’s time you started to put your faith in other people,” Isabel said.
Max shifted in his seat, and felt something jab him in his hip.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the crystal wrapped in the letter from Seeraynah. Liz had kept this with her. He rubbed it absently, wondering what Kal had meant about taking another look at the crystal. He didn't feel a connection with it, as he once had with the Granolith's crystals.
"We'll look at it together later," Isabel said from the front seat, and his head snapped up. He hadn't realized she had seen it in mirror.
"What about your parents?" Michael asked interrupted. "Are you going to tell them, you know, that you're alive?"
"I don't know yet," Max asked. "Not right away. Not until I'm sure that no one is after us."
"Max, you have to see them," Isabel said. "You don't know what it's been like for the past few years. They haven't been the same."
"Iz, I don't want to talk about this now," Max said in a weary voice.
“We’re going to have to talk about it soon,” she said. “We’re going to have to talk about a lot of things soon.”
********
When they reached the airport, they turned the car in and caught a shuttle to a nearby hotel. Max was exhausted. They all were.
He could see the weariness written on the faces of his best friend and sister, and he was sure it mirrored his own.
Michael was favoring his side, and the drawn look on his friend’s face told him that he was in pain. He wished he could heal him, as he once would have been able to do, as he had done for Liz, but at the moment he no longer possessed the ability to do so, and didn’t know if he ever would again.
It was all too much.
The only thing he wanted to do was to sleep. He didn’t want to think about anything, least of all what he’d done to Liz. It was too painful. He would have to think about it soon enough.
Isabel checked them in to a clean hotel. Max took the letter, the crystal, and the little money he had out of his pocket and put it on the desk, and immediately went into the bathroom to clean up. Though he wasn’t physically dirty, he felt unclean after his encounter with Tess. He cleaned his wounds, but had nothing to dress them with. When he came out, Michael had already claimed the sofa, and lay with his leg propped up, his eyes closed.
Isabel sat at the small desk against the wall, a pensive look on her face. She hadn’t heard him come out of the bathroom.
“Iz?” he said softly, and she jumped.
She flashed him a smile that was too bright.
“Is Michael all right?” he asked, glancing at his friend, sleeping on the couch.
Isabel nodded.
“He’s just tired,” she said.
“You look exhausted too,” she said. “Why don’t you get some sleep?”
He studied her for a moment, and then nodded.
“What about you? You look just as tired as I feel,” he said, yawning.
“I’m still a little wired,” she said, running her hand through her hair. “You know me, it takes me forever to calm down enough to sleep. Don’t worry about me. I’m not far behind you.”
His fatigue was too powerful. He turned and sat heavily on one of the two queen sized beds.
He leaned back against the pillows with an exhausted sigh, closing his eyes.
“I’m glad she’s dead,” Isabel said.
He cracked his eyes open to look at her.
“So am I,” he said softly. “So am I.”
“I won’t push you anymore Max,” she said, “about Liz.”
He nodded, closing his eyes.
“Maybe you should give it a little time. Come back with Michael and I to Santa Fe. You can think about it there, about what you’re going to do, with everything,” she said.
He was silent for a moment. He hadn’t thought past today, afraid to hope that things would turn out as they did, but now he realized that he had to start making decisions concerning the rest of his life.
“Ok,” he said finally.
“Get some sleep,” she said softly. “You have all the time in the world now.”
He fell into sleep, images of the broken-hearted girl he’d left in New York haunting his dreams.
*******
See you all on Sunday.
Part 30
Sorry about the delay guys. The holidays are kicking my ass. I read through this again quickly but maintain the right to edit at will at a later point, if I don't like the way it flows.
I just didn't want to keep you all waiting any longer.
Elizabeth - I got the beta'd document and starting after this point, will incorporate the edits you suggested. Some of this has changed since I had sent you that version.
The coming parts are where everything starts to pull together, and some questions start getting answered.
I'll just shut up now and let you read.
Empty – The Cranberries
Something has left my life
And I don’t know where it went to
Somebody caused me strife
And it’s not what I was seeking
Didn’t you see me, didn’t you hear me
Didn’t you see me standing there
Why did you turn out the lights
Did you know that I was sleeping
Say a prayer for me
Help to feel the strength I did
My identity has it been taken
Is my heart breaking on me
All my plans fell through my hands
They fell
through my hands on me
All my dreams it suddenly seems
Empty
Part Thirty
*~Liz~*
Three weeks later, Liz had almost had almost managed to convince herself that she had closed off her battered heart.
She decided that it had been foolish for her to think that things might have worked out between she and Max.
Kyle was merely curious, but Alex knew it had something to do with the man who had saved her life. He didn’t say a word, but his eyes said everything that remained unspoken. Still, he stayed true to his word and he didn't prod her for what she wasn't ready to give. But it didn't hurt that their search had come up empty either.
She had been so sure that if she had just gone to Baltimore, been in the same city, that she would sense him somehow. That she would find him.
Deep in her heart, she had expected a letter from the mysterious “S”, somewhere.
But it never happened.
She'd had a dream in the early morning hours, one she only remembered bits and pieces of. She knew it was bad, but the details eluded her. One thing she remembered clearly about it was that she'd felt Max. That part was so real it was almost painful. Even now, the lingering warmth of the depth of his love mixed with the terrible anguish he was battling with.
But it couldn't have been real, because she also remembered strange images of Pam Troy, whose body morphed into a toad...and Paulie, whose face started to take on simian features before it turned completely into an ape's head.
She'd awakened frightened, feeling a foreboding sense of dread that something terrible was about to happen, but she couldn't remember any of it clearly.
She awakened with a gasp to find that they had reached the Baltimore city limits.
But she still felt the same, merely empty, and she was suddenly certain that this time, she wasn’t going to find Max. Maria and Liz spent the day checking the trains, the bus terminals, train stations and the airports, with a clueless Kyle and Alex in tow and found nothing. In the beginning, Maria had tried to be as positive as Liz that they would find him. But by the end of the day, she knew it would be fruitless.
Maria finally convinced Liz of what she hadn't ready to admit, that they weren’t going to find "the stranger" again unless he wanted them to. Liz realized that he could have been long gone from there, hundreds of miles away. There was nothing to do but go home.
They returned that same night. Liz went straight into her room and took to her bed.
She’d been a fool.
On Christmas morning, after they had opened their presents, they had originally planned to take in the mass at St. Patrick’s with Kyle and Alex, but Liz begged off and went back to bed. Alex had been worried and had stayed behind, despite her protests.
Kyle had been watching her all morning, a concerned look on his face, but Liz didn’t have the heart or the courage to tell him the truth. She was pretty positive he wouldn't believe it, and would have most likely thought her certifiable.
Kyle had asked her about the man on the platform, and why she hadn’t told him she’d been in trouble. She hadn't told him because there was no point in worrying him in Roswell, when she was fine. Alex had worried enough for everyone.
All she'd wanted was to find him to thank him, but he hadn't wanted to be found. When she'd confronted him the in the train station, he'd been less than happy. But she was convinced there was a reason for it, because of the letters.
Maria added that the mysterious "S" must have been there in the station that day, and had seen what had happened.
That had elicited a pointed stare from Alex, but he remained silent when he saw the forlorn look on Liz's face. There was one part of her that hated lying to them.
But what would be the point in telling them the truth?
But Kyle and Alex knew most of it anyway, the parts that mattered. The mystery man had not been what she’d expected, and he wasn’t happy to have been found.
Why should she involve them when it would only complicate matters? There was no point. Max was gone, but he had left her with images that had shattered her world all over again.
So after the holidays, Kyle had returned to Roswell, and Liz had forced herself to go back to work. But her heart wasn't in it. Her heart wasn't in anything, feeling like nothing more than a piece of lead in her chest.
All she wanted to do when she got home was to go to bed, to sleep it off. She wasn't eating right, and now she'd caught a cold. Maria was keeping a close eye on her, and Liz knew that unless she snapped out of this funk she was in soon, Maria was going to go into Drill Sergeant mode.
But pulling herself out of that funk was easier said than done. Today, she'd stayed home from work, unable to drag herself out of bed in the morning, and was planning to just bury herself under the covers, wanting nothing more than to hide from her life, but it wasn't going to be that easy.
Alex had taken the afternoon off to "keep an eye" on her, much to her annoyance. At that very moment, he was in the living room, watching television after she'd assured him she just needed a nap. She knew he was worried that she would revert to the state she was in after her parents died.
But the truth was, she was just numb.
A knock came on the door, but Liz barely acknowledged it.
She heard Alex’s voice and the sound of a female voice speaking softly muffled behind the closed door.
Maybe it was the girl Maria had told her that Alex had met at the bar the other night. Liz wasn’t sure she really cared who it was, as long as there was a chance the woman would distract him, and maybe get him out of her apartment.
A moment later, the door creaked open, and Alex poked his head in.
“Liz? Are you awake?” he whispered, and she rolled over to face him.
“Yeah,” she said, her voice cracking.
“Someone’s here to see you,” he said, leaning against the doorjamb.
She shook her head with a sigh.
“Alex, I’m really not feeling well. Can you just tell whoever it is that I’m really not up to it?” she asked.
“I think you should see her,” he insisted.
“Who is it?” she asked.
Alex pushed the door open, and behind him she saw Isabel Evans.
Liz sat up slowly, and Isabel stepped in, glancing self-consciously at Alex.
“I’ll just leave you guys alone,” he said, and closed the door behind him.
There was an uncomfortable silence between them for a minute, and then Isabel cleared her throat.
“Alex said you weren’t feeling well,” she said, shifting from one foot to another. Liz would have laughed seeing the ice-queen Isabel Evans uncomfortable, if she weren’t so shocked to see her.
“Sit down,” Liz said in a scratchy voice, motioning to the bed.
Isabel moved to the bed and sat down stiffly.
“What are you doing here, Isabel?” Liz asked.
"Well, for one thing...I want to apologize for the way Michael and treated you the last time we were here," Isabel said.
Liz shook her head.
"It was understandable. I would have acted the same way if it were my parents and I thought you were hiding something, and the truth was...I was hiding Max from you," Liz admitted.
"It doesn't excuse our behavior," Isabel said. "We followed you and the others, to that bar and to the train station. That's how we found Max. If it weren't for you...."
Isabel turned to look at her and Liz noticed tears in her eyes.
“I’m glad you found him,” Liz said in a low voice, fingering the quilt on the bed.
"Is he...ok?" she asked, unable to stop herself from voicing the question.
“He’s...he’s probably feeling no worse than you are,” Isabel said.
“Liz, I know what he, uh...showed you in the train station. I can’t imagine what that did to you. I don’t know how I would feel, but you have to know that Max would never, ever do anything to hurt you if he could help it at all,” she said, and Liz looked up at her, seeing the sincerity in her eyes.
“I know that,” Liz said quietly. “I know that he blamed himself for what happened, but it wasn’t his fault. It was her.”
Isabel nodded.
“She’s dead, if that’s any consolation,” Isabel said.
Suddenly more pieces of the dream she'd had before they'd reached Baltimore fell into place.
Tess. Max...a battlefield unlike any she'd ever seen. And Isabel....she was there, telling her to wake up.
"The dream," Liz whispered, turning to look at Isabel. "You were there...."
"Yeah," Isabel admitted, a guilty look crossing her face.
"It was real, wasn't it?" Liz asked. "All of it."
"Except for Pam Troy and Paulie," Isabel said in a low voice. "That was me."
“He killed her,” Liz asked in a dull voice. “I heard what she said, about me...and Max. That was where he was going. She was going to kill him and then me.”
“That was why Max was pushing you away,” Isabel said, nodding. “He was trying to protect you.”
Liz couldn't believe the way her life had twisted upside down in a matter of weeks. She never thought she would feel satisfaction at the death of someone else, especially considering her own losses over the past few years. But she couldn't help feel relieved that Tess was gone.
“I’m glad she’s dead,” Liz said in a cold voice, her face hardening.
“I know. I don’t blame you. I’m glad she’s dead too,” Isabel said. "The things she did to Max, to all of us..."
There was an uncomfortable silence for a long moment, and then Isabel broke it.
“Liz, he never tried to tell you how he felt because of us...me and Michael. That was our fault, because we were afraid. But we were wrong. I know that now. Max...he loves you, more than you can probably imagine. There’s so much you don’t know...” she started, sitting down next to her.
“It doesn’t matter now,” Liz said, her voice devoid of emotion.
“It does,” Isabel said quickly. “It does matter. You just said that you don’t blame him, so it has to matter.”
Liz shook her head slowly.
“I don’t blame him for what happened to my parents, but he left me there alone, Isabel,” she said. “I would have gone with him, I did go...I would have done anything...but he left. He pushed me away.”
Isabel ducked her head quickly, and then looked at her again.
“Liz, just try to put yourself in his place. If he had taken you with him, even if he could have, even if he could have kept you safe, how would you have reacted to what Tess had done to your family when he told you? He would have had to tell you. He was trying to protect you. He still loves you Liz. He’s always loved you,” she said.
“Isabel, back in high school, that would have been a dream come true. But so much has happened, and I know things now. I’m not sure that it’s enough,” Liz said, her voice cracking.
“It has to be,” Isabel said, with conviction.
"Why?" Liz asked. "I can't take my heart being broken; not again. It's just not worth it. I thought it was, but every time I open myself up, I'm the one who gets hurt in the end."
“Sometimes the hurt is worth it," Isabel answered. "I have something for you, something that you should see.”
Liz looked on curious, as Isabel pulled a cloth out of her pocket.
Isabel unfolded the cloth and Liz’s eyes widened with recognition as she saw the crystal that had accompanied the first letter she’d received from “S”.
"Did he give that to you?" Liz asked.
Isabel shook her head, a guilty look in her eyes.
"I took it," she said. "I had to. You need to understand what happened, why this is so important. Max has, and if it were up to him, you'd never know. He wouldn't allow it."
"What do you mean?" Liz asked, confusion crossing her features.
"He doesn't know I'm here Liz, or that I have this with me. He thinks I'm in California right now, looking at a school," Isabel answered in a low voice.
"Why not?" Liz asked warily. "What is that thing?"
"I can't explain it. I just have to show you. He found out what it was the night before we left Baltimore. You need to see it, to understand why he hasn't come back to New York, to you," Isabel said. “Do you trust me?”
Liz hesitated, and then nodded. She did trust Isabel, only she wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was purely due to her relation to Max, but she sensed on an elemental level that Isabel meant her no harm.
"This isn't going to be easy for you to see, but you need to know...all of it. You need to know why what the two of you feel for each other, or could feel, is so special," Isabel said.
“Give me your hand,” Isabel said.
Liz paused and then Isabel placed the crystal in her hand, and took Liz’s, cushioning the crystal between their palms.
"God, I hope I'm doing the right thing," Isabel muttered to herself.
“Just look at me, and let your mind blank out,” she said.
Liz looked into Isabel’s eyes and felt herself pulled into the images stored in the crystal.
********
Liz saw many lifetimes at once, narrated by the silent voice of the Granolith. She witnessed everything from different points of view; hers, Max's, Seeraynah's, and somehow it all made sense.
She took it all in with amazement. They had all been a team. In those other lifetimes, Maria had married Michael, and Isabel was Alex's wife. Kyle and the Sheriff knew that Max, Isabel and Michael were aliens.
Aliens!
It began with a shooting and resulted in the end of the world as they knew it, an event that repeated itself in two different timelines. The two paths that led to Armageddon were different, but in the end, the result was the same, and this was why she and Max were never together in this lifetime.
She found that if she concentrated on specific images, they became clearer.
******
The first set of images she focused on was this timeline through Seeraynah's eyes. She saw everything Max had been through on his planet, what Tess and Khivar had done to him, and how he had wound up in New York.
Seeraynah had been sent back to Earth to protect Michael and Isabel, and presently found herself the new guardian of the Granolith.
The dust of fallen rock bathed everything in darkness. She had to find Isabel and Michael. She’d promised Max.
She’d promised.
Power coursed through her body, and unaccustomed to it, her skin seemed to burn with it. It was painful in its intensity, rendering everything she looked at in vivid color, every noise magnified, every smell more pungent.
So this is what it felt like to be kindred to the Granolith. It was as if the universe whispered every secret time had ever kept within her mind.
As the dust settled, she searched the floor with eyes now armed with preternatural vision that pierced the darkness.
Nothing had survived the collapse of the rock ceiling as the Granolith’s power had burst into the chamber. The guards had fallen victim to the crushing weight of the stone that had fallen upon their bodies. Some had turned to dust, and some lay still beneath the stone, their limbs coated in gray death.
She would have been dead too, if not for the shield of power that surrounded her body as everything around her collapsed. The icon, light years away, projected its energy through the cosmos at a speed almost incomprehensible, protecting her from harm as its energy joined with her own.
She gasped as another surge of energy coursed through her body. She dropped to her knees, overcome by it. Information flooded her brain and she fought against it. It was too much at once. Images of every moment that had ever transpired on countless planets in innumerable galaxies blinded her to all but Its beckoning call.
Through sheer force of her own will, she reigned the images in, pushing them away to accomplish what she’d vowed she would.
This was meant. She knew it now. Max knew it, even when she hadn’t wanted to believe it. He had followed the Granolith’s greater plan. He was wiser than he had imagined.
Isabel and Michael's bodies were lifeless, in another realm. Their souls were no longer here on Earth, but the Granolith was guiding her toward their corporeal forms beneath the rock. It wanted what Max had wanted all along, to set things right.
Without any conscious effort on her part, the rubble in front of her began to glow and dissolve, revealing the bodies of the two she had promised to protect.
Their broken bloody forms made her want to weep, but she didn’t have time for that. There was too much to do, and if she what she suspected was correct, soon there would be nothing to weep for.
The three had born witness to so many betrayals, and had betrayed each other in so many ways, because they lacked faith in each other, because love and deceit had torn them apart in multiple timelines. It had tainted their bloodlines, and it had been time for a changing of the guard. But much heartbreak and sacrifice had brought them to this one moment, to the moment in which the Granolith passed to a new guardian and the start of a new era. There were outside influences that had colored the events that had transpired in all of the timelines, but in the end, It knew that Max's heart was inherently good and compassionate.
Seeraynah. Serenity; so similar to the English Earth word. For the first time in ages, she felt serene. There were still tests to be passed, as was the Granolith’s greater plan. It was out of her hands now. She could only be its instrument, its messenger.
Healing energy poured from her fingers as she stood above the two prone figures, breathing life where there was none, calling their souls back to their home.
She felt it the moment blood began circulating through their veins, the moment first trembling breaths were drawn as skin re-knit itself and broken bone became whole.
She needed to move. Now. Away from Michael and Isabel.
She picked her way through the rubble to the door and moved down the hall. The Granolith had commanded her that it was imperative that neither of them see her. She hid herself deep in the cavern beneath the earth, knowing that Michael and Isabel would be driven to move above ground immediately.
She didn't understand the reasoning behind the commands, but she obeyed them without question.
She must be physically reunited with it in order to fully capture the power. Her mark had to be given for the full transfer of power. Until then, she was vulnerable.
The Granolith called to her. Max was in danger. She had to get him off of Antar immediately.
Sending all of her power to the Granolith, she activated it pulling Max toward it. But Tess was within him. It all happened so fast, and she was green at commanding this new power.
She saw Max enveloped by the Granolith in her mind's eye, and realized that Tess was still within his mind. But it all happened too quick, and the icon was hurtling toward Earth before she could separate them. Max would safeguard it until she could get there. It had told her so.
The sheer magnitude of the power she used to do what needed to be done drained her until she fell into unconsciousness.
When she woke, her first imperative was to find Max, but she couldn't feel him, nor sense him at all.
She had a long journey and thousands of miles before she reached it.
Michael and Isabel were gone.
It was not in the Granolith’s plan for Isabel and Michael to know she still lived. Not yet. It was best for them to think she perished for now. The time was not right.
Max's journey to Earth with the Granolith was short, a mere day in human time; much quicker than their journey had been to Antar. Her Antarian genetics powered the Granolith as Max's could not, and she'd sensed the moment the Granolith made its appearance once again on Earth.
She left the chamber to begin her journey east, her body guided by the Granolith's siren call.
***************
It took her seven days to reach her destination, the great city built upon the tiny island made of rock.
Seven days of traveling by land vehicles through the kindness of strangers, remaining inconspicuous. It was best not to draw attention to herself, not until she found the Granolith. She needed to be reunited with it, to physically bind herself to it before she could truly take possession of it.
It was seven days of fearing the worst for Max, for she could not feel even his soul, as she had with Isabel and Michael. The Granolith was not ready to divulge that one secret; not quite yet.
The sights and sounds of the city were deafening to her heightened senses, but the Granolith called to her above the din, guiding her to long-abandoned tunnels beneath the prospering metropolis.
The sounds were dulled as she walked the concrete-clad tunnels, feeling its presence stronger than ever.
She discovered Max before she found what he had been protecting.
Decay had marred his body and stiffened his limbs, lending an unhealthy blue pallor to his skin. It was only the cold that had prevented any further damage. She felt its energy pulsing behind the wall Max had it hidden behind, but for the moment it was put aside in momentary mourning for her King.
Was this its plan all along? Why was Max to once again die for it?
Tears filled her eyes as she looked upon her brave King, still in death. He’d died broken and alone, as he had on Antar. It wasn’t fair, she thought angrily.
A whisper filled her ears, giving her the answers she sought.
She nodded to the unspoken voice, moving to the wall and dissolving it with minimal effort, revealing that which she had vowed to keep.
Soft pulses of light filled the small chamber that contained it, and without hesitation, knowing it was now her destiny, she reached out to touch the cool skin of its surface, completing the union between guardian and icon.
A brilliant burst of light filled the chamber, melding her energy with its own permanently, for as long as she remained alive.
Some time later she left the chamber to kneel beside her fallen King.
With a smile filled with peace and comfort, she laid her hands on his face.
“My beloved Zan,” she whispered, channeling the voice of the Granolith.
“You have sacrificed so much, witnessed so much pain in your union with me. Your family's servitude is now at an end. It ended with Vilondra's betrayal, when you sent me to Earth, away from Khivar and the chaos in our galaxy. You had no heir to bequeath to, no one living that you could trust, and I felt your weariness in serving me, the pain of your loss. I felt your relief in the decision to end your life to protect me, not only because you fulfilled your responsibility to me, but also because of what it cost you, your loved ones. In death you would have been free."
"Khivar took that from you when he used your essence to recreate beings that would bend to his will. But you didn't bend. Neither did the duplicate Zan in the end, as warped as he was, and that was because of who the two of you were when you served me on Antar. Who you were then is part of who you are now."
"I could adapt to accommodate human genetics, with the knowledge that the part of you that is Zan would feel duty bound to me, despite his relief at the end of his time on Antar. It wasn’t what he wanted any longer, and it is because of this that I remain unchanged. I have never once forced my own safe-keeping on a Zenshai, and will not do it now. Zan had always protected me faithfully. I have decided that the Zensad are worthy to take the task."
"It has taken three timelines to get to this moment, where I am united with Seeraynah. Three lifetimes lived by you as you are now, Max Evans. Lifetimes filled with lies, deception and betrayal, lifetimes in which you never realized that you were to pass the responsibility to Seeraynah, and another where you couldn't. A lifetime in which you lost much, including those you loved, and the bond between you and the human girl you loved so much."
"The part of you that is still Zan was weary of it, of the responsibility of being Zenshai and the responsibility to me. Yet you still protected me, because of who he was. It is for this reason that I set you free."
"It is time for you to begin anew,” she said, her fingers beginning to glow against his skin, making it transparent, infusing him with its energy.
“I give you that which you have wished for. You are born again, as if a child, to learn once again all that you have seen. I give you the chance that you so desperately wished for, because you loved so deeply, because the one you loved sacrificed that which meant the most to the both of you, for the love of others,” she said.
“But there will be a price, a test. Your journey will not be easy. Your body has lain here too long, and the energy I give you will turn on you eventually. It must be purified, filtered, used in a selfless act," she said.
"There are those who wish you dead. They will tempt you with lies. There are timelines that cannot be completely erased. There are lessons to be learned from them. To truly begin again, you must finish what has begun in this one, and you must do it on your own. You must remove the obstacles that stand between you and what you desire. You will learn the terrible truths of past mistakes. You must learn them so that you might truly cherish the love you once knew. If you and she can truly know all that was once between you and still love, then, and only then, will you will finally be free to do so," she said.
"You will have help. Your path will be set in motion, but ultimately it is you that will have to make choices, choices that will affect the rest of your days here," she said, her fingers sliding to his chest, regenerating spoiled tissue through shear force of the Granolith's will.
His brave heart pumped its first beat, staggering at first in its rhythm before settling into a steady cadence. Newly regenerated lungs drew in their first shaky breath.
She raised her hands to his temples, searching out the deteriorated tissue. It was as it had thought.
The decay had progressed even with the cold temperature. She could repair the cells, but time would be needed before his memory returned completely.
It was then she sensed Tess.
She called for the Granolith's guidance, but her energy was again waning.
For now at least, there was nothing to be done about it.
Seeraynah voiced the question that plagued her.
What am I to do for him?
He will sleep for some time. Possibly days.
She nodded.
What am I to do with the knowledge you have given me?
Use the memory crystal.
She left Max's side, walking back into the chamber. Running her hand over the base of the Granolith, a drawer was revealed.
She chose the purple shard without hesitation, preparing to transfer her newly acquired awareness to it.
She concentrated on Max's image in her mind, drawing on his many experiences in several timelines, etching them into the molecules of the crystal.
Images materialized of another lifetime. Seeraynah had known Max in two other timelines in which he’d been in love with the young human girl named Liz.
One of those versions of Max had come to this timeline to prevent the shooting. He had succeeded altering the bullet in the gun while it lay concealed in the man's belt. Such was his power.
In this timeline, the bullet had never torn Liz's flesh. She had never known the healing power of the King's hands. She had never known the warmth of his love.
This timeline was much different.
In the others, he had risked everything he was to save her...
I just didn't want to keep you all waiting any longer.
Elizabeth - I got the beta'd document and starting after this point, will incorporate the edits you suggested. Some of this has changed since I had sent you that version.
The coming parts are where everything starts to pull together, and some questions start getting answered.
I'll just shut up now and let you read.
Empty – The Cranberries
Something has left my life
And I don’t know where it went to
Somebody caused me strife
And it’s not what I was seeking
Didn’t you see me, didn’t you hear me
Didn’t you see me standing there
Why did you turn out the lights
Did you know that I was sleeping
Say a prayer for me
Help to feel the strength I did
My identity has it been taken
Is my heart breaking on me
All my plans fell through my hands
They fell
through my hands on me
All my dreams it suddenly seems
Empty
Part Thirty
*~Liz~*
Three weeks later, Liz had almost had almost managed to convince herself that she had closed off her battered heart.
She decided that it had been foolish for her to think that things might have worked out between she and Max.
Kyle was merely curious, but Alex knew it had something to do with the man who had saved her life. He didn’t say a word, but his eyes said everything that remained unspoken. Still, he stayed true to his word and he didn't prod her for what she wasn't ready to give. But it didn't hurt that their search had come up empty either.
She had been so sure that if she had just gone to Baltimore, been in the same city, that she would sense him somehow. That she would find him.
Deep in her heart, she had expected a letter from the mysterious “S”, somewhere.
But it never happened.
She'd had a dream in the early morning hours, one she only remembered bits and pieces of. She knew it was bad, but the details eluded her. One thing she remembered clearly about it was that she'd felt Max. That part was so real it was almost painful. Even now, the lingering warmth of the depth of his love mixed with the terrible anguish he was battling with.
But it couldn't have been real, because she also remembered strange images of Pam Troy, whose body morphed into a toad...and Paulie, whose face started to take on simian features before it turned completely into an ape's head.
She'd awakened frightened, feeling a foreboding sense of dread that something terrible was about to happen, but she couldn't remember any of it clearly.
She awakened with a gasp to find that they had reached the Baltimore city limits.
But she still felt the same, merely empty, and she was suddenly certain that this time, she wasn’t going to find Max. Maria and Liz spent the day checking the trains, the bus terminals, train stations and the airports, with a clueless Kyle and Alex in tow and found nothing. In the beginning, Maria had tried to be as positive as Liz that they would find him. But by the end of the day, she knew it would be fruitless.
Maria finally convinced Liz of what she hadn't ready to admit, that they weren’t going to find "the stranger" again unless he wanted them to. Liz realized that he could have been long gone from there, hundreds of miles away. There was nothing to do but go home.
They returned that same night. Liz went straight into her room and took to her bed.
She’d been a fool.
On Christmas morning, after they had opened their presents, they had originally planned to take in the mass at St. Patrick’s with Kyle and Alex, but Liz begged off and went back to bed. Alex had been worried and had stayed behind, despite her protests.
Kyle had been watching her all morning, a concerned look on his face, but Liz didn’t have the heart or the courage to tell him the truth. She was pretty positive he wouldn't believe it, and would have most likely thought her certifiable.
Kyle had asked her about the man on the platform, and why she hadn’t told him she’d been in trouble. She hadn't told him because there was no point in worrying him in Roswell, when she was fine. Alex had worried enough for everyone.
All she'd wanted was to find him to thank him, but he hadn't wanted to be found. When she'd confronted him the in the train station, he'd been less than happy. But she was convinced there was a reason for it, because of the letters.
Maria added that the mysterious "S" must have been there in the station that day, and had seen what had happened.
That had elicited a pointed stare from Alex, but he remained silent when he saw the forlorn look on Liz's face. There was one part of her that hated lying to them.
But what would be the point in telling them the truth?
But Kyle and Alex knew most of it anyway, the parts that mattered. The mystery man had not been what she’d expected, and he wasn’t happy to have been found.
Why should she involve them when it would only complicate matters? There was no point. Max was gone, but he had left her with images that had shattered her world all over again.
So after the holidays, Kyle had returned to Roswell, and Liz had forced herself to go back to work. But her heart wasn't in it. Her heart wasn't in anything, feeling like nothing more than a piece of lead in her chest.
All she wanted to do when she got home was to go to bed, to sleep it off. She wasn't eating right, and now she'd caught a cold. Maria was keeping a close eye on her, and Liz knew that unless she snapped out of this funk she was in soon, Maria was going to go into Drill Sergeant mode.
But pulling herself out of that funk was easier said than done. Today, she'd stayed home from work, unable to drag herself out of bed in the morning, and was planning to just bury herself under the covers, wanting nothing more than to hide from her life, but it wasn't going to be that easy.
Alex had taken the afternoon off to "keep an eye" on her, much to her annoyance. At that very moment, he was in the living room, watching television after she'd assured him she just needed a nap. She knew he was worried that she would revert to the state she was in after her parents died.
But the truth was, she was just numb.
A knock came on the door, but Liz barely acknowledged it.
She heard Alex’s voice and the sound of a female voice speaking softly muffled behind the closed door.
Maybe it was the girl Maria had told her that Alex had met at the bar the other night. Liz wasn’t sure she really cared who it was, as long as there was a chance the woman would distract him, and maybe get him out of her apartment.
A moment later, the door creaked open, and Alex poked his head in.
“Liz? Are you awake?” he whispered, and she rolled over to face him.
“Yeah,” she said, her voice cracking.
“Someone’s here to see you,” he said, leaning against the doorjamb.
She shook her head with a sigh.
“Alex, I’m really not feeling well. Can you just tell whoever it is that I’m really not up to it?” she asked.
“I think you should see her,” he insisted.
“Who is it?” she asked.
Alex pushed the door open, and behind him she saw Isabel Evans.
Liz sat up slowly, and Isabel stepped in, glancing self-consciously at Alex.
“I’ll just leave you guys alone,” he said, and closed the door behind him.
There was an uncomfortable silence between them for a minute, and then Isabel cleared her throat.
“Alex said you weren’t feeling well,” she said, shifting from one foot to another. Liz would have laughed seeing the ice-queen Isabel Evans uncomfortable, if she weren’t so shocked to see her.
“Sit down,” Liz said in a scratchy voice, motioning to the bed.
Isabel moved to the bed and sat down stiffly.
“What are you doing here, Isabel?” Liz asked.
"Well, for one thing...I want to apologize for the way Michael and treated you the last time we were here," Isabel said.
Liz shook her head.
"It was understandable. I would have acted the same way if it were my parents and I thought you were hiding something, and the truth was...I was hiding Max from you," Liz admitted.
"It doesn't excuse our behavior," Isabel said. "We followed you and the others, to that bar and to the train station. That's how we found Max. If it weren't for you...."
Isabel turned to look at her and Liz noticed tears in her eyes.
“I’m glad you found him,” Liz said in a low voice, fingering the quilt on the bed.
"Is he...ok?" she asked, unable to stop herself from voicing the question.
“He’s...he’s probably feeling no worse than you are,” Isabel said.
“Liz, I know what he, uh...showed you in the train station. I can’t imagine what that did to you. I don’t know how I would feel, but you have to know that Max would never, ever do anything to hurt you if he could help it at all,” she said, and Liz looked up at her, seeing the sincerity in her eyes.
“I know that,” Liz said quietly. “I know that he blamed himself for what happened, but it wasn’t his fault. It was her.”
Isabel nodded.
“She’s dead, if that’s any consolation,” Isabel said.
Suddenly more pieces of the dream she'd had before they'd reached Baltimore fell into place.
Tess. Max...a battlefield unlike any she'd ever seen. And Isabel....she was there, telling her to wake up.
"The dream," Liz whispered, turning to look at Isabel. "You were there...."
"Yeah," Isabel admitted, a guilty look crossing her face.
"It was real, wasn't it?" Liz asked. "All of it."
"Except for Pam Troy and Paulie," Isabel said in a low voice. "That was me."
“He killed her,” Liz asked in a dull voice. “I heard what she said, about me...and Max. That was where he was going. She was going to kill him and then me.”
“That was why Max was pushing you away,” Isabel said, nodding. “He was trying to protect you.”
Liz couldn't believe the way her life had twisted upside down in a matter of weeks. She never thought she would feel satisfaction at the death of someone else, especially considering her own losses over the past few years. But she couldn't help feel relieved that Tess was gone.
“I’m glad she’s dead,” Liz said in a cold voice, her face hardening.
“I know. I don’t blame you. I’m glad she’s dead too,” Isabel said. "The things she did to Max, to all of us..."
There was an uncomfortable silence for a long moment, and then Isabel broke it.
“Liz, he never tried to tell you how he felt because of us...me and Michael. That was our fault, because we were afraid. But we were wrong. I know that now. Max...he loves you, more than you can probably imagine. There’s so much you don’t know...” she started, sitting down next to her.
“It doesn’t matter now,” Liz said, her voice devoid of emotion.
“It does,” Isabel said quickly. “It does matter. You just said that you don’t blame him, so it has to matter.”
Liz shook her head slowly.
“I don’t blame him for what happened to my parents, but he left me there alone, Isabel,” she said. “I would have gone with him, I did go...I would have done anything...but he left. He pushed me away.”
Isabel ducked her head quickly, and then looked at her again.
“Liz, just try to put yourself in his place. If he had taken you with him, even if he could have, even if he could have kept you safe, how would you have reacted to what Tess had done to your family when he told you? He would have had to tell you. He was trying to protect you. He still loves you Liz. He’s always loved you,” she said.
“Isabel, back in high school, that would have been a dream come true. But so much has happened, and I know things now. I’m not sure that it’s enough,” Liz said, her voice cracking.
“It has to be,” Isabel said, with conviction.
"Why?" Liz asked. "I can't take my heart being broken; not again. It's just not worth it. I thought it was, but every time I open myself up, I'm the one who gets hurt in the end."
“Sometimes the hurt is worth it," Isabel answered. "I have something for you, something that you should see.”
Liz looked on curious, as Isabel pulled a cloth out of her pocket.
Isabel unfolded the cloth and Liz’s eyes widened with recognition as she saw the crystal that had accompanied the first letter she’d received from “S”.
"Did he give that to you?" Liz asked.
Isabel shook her head, a guilty look in her eyes.
"I took it," she said. "I had to. You need to understand what happened, why this is so important. Max has, and if it were up to him, you'd never know. He wouldn't allow it."
"What do you mean?" Liz asked, confusion crossing her features.
"He doesn't know I'm here Liz, or that I have this with me. He thinks I'm in California right now, looking at a school," Isabel answered in a low voice.
"Why not?" Liz asked warily. "What is that thing?"
"I can't explain it. I just have to show you. He found out what it was the night before we left Baltimore. You need to see it, to understand why he hasn't come back to New York, to you," Isabel said. “Do you trust me?”
Liz hesitated, and then nodded. She did trust Isabel, only she wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was purely due to her relation to Max, but she sensed on an elemental level that Isabel meant her no harm.
"This isn't going to be easy for you to see, but you need to know...all of it. You need to know why what the two of you feel for each other, or could feel, is so special," Isabel said.
“Give me your hand,” Isabel said.
Liz paused and then Isabel placed the crystal in her hand, and took Liz’s, cushioning the crystal between their palms.
"God, I hope I'm doing the right thing," Isabel muttered to herself.
“Just look at me, and let your mind blank out,” she said.
Liz looked into Isabel’s eyes and felt herself pulled into the images stored in the crystal.
********
Liz saw many lifetimes at once, narrated by the silent voice of the Granolith. She witnessed everything from different points of view; hers, Max's, Seeraynah's, and somehow it all made sense.
She took it all in with amazement. They had all been a team. In those other lifetimes, Maria had married Michael, and Isabel was Alex's wife. Kyle and the Sheriff knew that Max, Isabel and Michael were aliens.
Aliens!
It began with a shooting and resulted in the end of the world as they knew it, an event that repeated itself in two different timelines. The two paths that led to Armageddon were different, but in the end, the result was the same, and this was why she and Max were never together in this lifetime.
She found that if she concentrated on specific images, they became clearer.
******
The first set of images she focused on was this timeline through Seeraynah's eyes. She saw everything Max had been through on his planet, what Tess and Khivar had done to him, and how he had wound up in New York.
Seeraynah had been sent back to Earth to protect Michael and Isabel, and presently found herself the new guardian of the Granolith.
The dust of fallen rock bathed everything in darkness. She had to find Isabel and Michael. She’d promised Max.
She’d promised.
Power coursed through her body, and unaccustomed to it, her skin seemed to burn with it. It was painful in its intensity, rendering everything she looked at in vivid color, every noise magnified, every smell more pungent.
So this is what it felt like to be kindred to the Granolith. It was as if the universe whispered every secret time had ever kept within her mind.
As the dust settled, she searched the floor with eyes now armed with preternatural vision that pierced the darkness.
Nothing had survived the collapse of the rock ceiling as the Granolith’s power had burst into the chamber. The guards had fallen victim to the crushing weight of the stone that had fallen upon their bodies. Some had turned to dust, and some lay still beneath the stone, their limbs coated in gray death.
She would have been dead too, if not for the shield of power that surrounded her body as everything around her collapsed. The icon, light years away, projected its energy through the cosmos at a speed almost incomprehensible, protecting her from harm as its energy joined with her own.
She gasped as another surge of energy coursed through her body. She dropped to her knees, overcome by it. Information flooded her brain and she fought against it. It was too much at once. Images of every moment that had ever transpired on countless planets in innumerable galaxies blinded her to all but Its beckoning call.
Through sheer force of her own will, she reigned the images in, pushing them away to accomplish what she’d vowed she would.
This was meant. She knew it now. Max knew it, even when she hadn’t wanted to believe it. He had followed the Granolith’s greater plan. He was wiser than he had imagined.
Isabel and Michael's bodies were lifeless, in another realm. Their souls were no longer here on Earth, but the Granolith was guiding her toward their corporeal forms beneath the rock. It wanted what Max had wanted all along, to set things right.
Without any conscious effort on her part, the rubble in front of her began to glow and dissolve, revealing the bodies of the two she had promised to protect.
Their broken bloody forms made her want to weep, but she didn’t have time for that. There was too much to do, and if she what she suspected was correct, soon there would be nothing to weep for.
The three had born witness to so many betrayals, and had betrayed each other in so many ways, because they lacked faith in each other, because love and deceit had torn them apart in multiple timelines. It had tainted their bloodlines, and it had been time for a changing of the guard. But much heartbreak and sacrifice had brought them to this one moment, to the moment in which the Granolith passed to a new guardian and the start of a new era. There were outside influences that had colored the events that had transpired in all of the timelines, but in the end, It knew that Max's heart was inherently good and compassionate.
Seeraynah. Serenity; so similar to the English Earth word. For the first time in ages, she felt serene. There were still tests to be passed, as was the Granolith’s greater plan. It was out of her hands now. She could only be its instrument, its messenger.
Healing energy poured from her fingers as she stood above the two prone figures, breathing life where there was none, calling their souls back to their home.
She felt it the moment blood began circulating through their veins, the moment first trembling breaths were drawn as skin re-knit itself and broken bone became whole.
She needed to move. Now. Away from Michael and Isabel.
She picked her way through the rubble to the door and moved down the hall. The Granolith had commanded her that it was imperative that neither of them see her. She hid herself deep in the cavern beneath the earth, knowing that Michael and Isabel would be driven to move above ground immediately.
She didn't understand the reasoning behind the commands, but she obeyed them without question.
She must be physically reunited with it in order to fully capture the power. Her mark had to be given for the full transfer of power. Until then, she was vulnerable.
The Granolith called to her. Max was in danger. She had to get him off of Antar immediately.
Sending all of her power to the Granolith, she activated it pulling Max toward it. But Tess was within him. It all happened so fast, and she was green at commanding this new power.
She saw Max enveloped by the Granolith in her mind's eye, and realized that Tess was still within his mind. But it all happened too quick, and the icon was hurtling toward Earth before she could separate them. Max would safeguard it until she could get there. It had told her so.
The sheer magnitude of the power she used to do what needed to be done drained her until she fell into unconsciousness.
When she woke, her first imperative was to find Max, but she couldn't feel him, nor sense him at all.
She had a long journey and thousands of miles before she reached it.
Michael and Isabel were gone.
It was not in the Granolith’s plan for Isabel and Michael to know she still lived. Not yet. It was best for them to think she perished for now. The time was not right.
Max's journey to Earth with the Granolith was short, a mere day in human time; much quicker than their journey had been to Antar. Her Antarian genetics powered the Granolith as Max's could not, and she'd sensed the moment the Granolith made its appearance once again on Earth.
She left the chamber to begin her journey east, her body guided by the Granolith's siren call.
***************
It took her seven days to reach her destination, the great city built upon the tiny island made of rock.
Seven days of traveling by land vehicles through the kindness of strangers, remaining inconspicuous. It was best not to draw attention to herself, not until she found the Granolith. She needed to be reunited with it, to physically bind herself to it before she could truly take possession of it.
It was seven days of fearing the worst for Max, for she could not feel even his soul, as she had with Isabel and Michael. The Granolith was not ready to divulge that one secret; not quite yet.
The sights and sounds of the city were deafening to her heightened senses, but the Granolith called to her above the din, guiding her to long-abandoned tunnels beneath the prospering metropolis.
The sounds were dulled as she walked the concrete-clad tunnels, feeling its presence stronger than ever.
She discovered Max before she found what he had been protecting.
Decay had marred his body and stiffened his limbs, lending an unhealthy blue pallor to his skin. It was only the cold that had prevented any further damage. She felt its energy pulsing behind the wall Max had it hidden behind, but for the moment it was put aside in momentary mourning for her King.
Was this its plan all along? Why was Max to once again die for it?
Tears filled her eyes as she looked upon her brave King, still in death. He’d died broken and alone, as he had on Antar. It wasn’t fair, she thought angrily.
A whisper filled her ears, giving her the answers she sought.
She nodded to the unspoken voice, moving to the wall and dissolving it with minimal effort, revealing that which she had vowed to keep.
Soft pulses of light filled the small chamber that contained it, and without hesitation, knowing it was now her destiny, she reached out to touch the cool skin of its surface, completing the union between guardian and icon.
A brilliant burst of light filled the chamber, melding her energy with its own permanently, for as long as she remained alive.
Some time later she left the chamber to kneel beside her fallen King.
With a smile filled with peace and comfort, she laid her hands on his face.
“My beloved Zan,” she whispered, channeling the voice of the Granolith.
“You have sacrificed so much, witnessed so much pain in your union with me. Your family's servitude is now at an end. It ended with Vilondra's betrayal, when you sent me to Earth, away from Khivar and the chaos in our galaxy. You had no heir to bequeath to, no one living that you could trust, and I felt your weariness in serving me, the pain of your loss. I felt your relief in the decision to end your life to protect me, not only because you fulfilled your responsibility to me, but also because of what it cost you, your loved ones. In death you would have been free."
"Khivar took that from you when he used your essence to recreate beings that would bend to his will. But you didn't bend. Neither did the duplicate Zan in the end, as warped as he was, and that was because of who the two of you were when you served me on Antar. Who you were then is part of who you are now."
"I could adapt to accommodate human genetics, with the knowledge that the part of you that is Zan would feel duty bound to me, despite his relief at the end of his time on Antar. It wasn’t what he wanted any longer, and it is because of this that I remain unchanged. I have never once forced my own safe-keeping on a Zenshai, and will not do it now. Zan had always protected me faithfully. I have decided that the Zensad are worthy to take the task."
"It has taken three timelines to get to this moment, where I am united with Seeraynah. Three lifetimes lived by you as you are now, Max Evans. Lifetimes filled with lies, deception and betrayal, lifetimes in which you never realized that you were to pass the responsibility to Seeraynah, and another where you couldn't. A lifetime in which you lost much, including those you loved, and the bond between you and the human girl you loved so much."
"The part of you that is still Zan was weary of it, of the responsibility of being Zenshai and the responsibility to me. Yet you still protected me, because of who he was. It is for this reason that I set you free."
"It is time for you to begin anew,” she said, her fingers beginning to glow against his skin, making it transparent, infusing him with its energy.
“I give you that which you have wished for. You are born again, as if a child, to learn once again all that you have seen. I give you the chance that you so desperately wished for, because you loved so deeply, because the one you loved sacrificed that which meant the most to the both of you, for the love of others,” she said.
“But there will be a price, a test. Your journey will not be easy. Your body has lain here too long, and the energy I give you will turn on you eventually. It must be purified, filtered, used in a selfless act," she said.
"There are those who wish you dead. They will tempt you with lies. There are timelines that cannot be completely erased. There are lessons to be learned from them. To truly begin again, you must finish what has begun in this one, and you must do it on your own. You must remove the obstacles that stand between you and what you desire. You will learn the terrible truths of past mistakes. You must learn them so that you might truly cherish the love you once knew. If you and she can truly know all that was once between you and still love, then, and only then, will you will finally be free to do so," she said.
"You will have help. Your path will be set in motion, but ultimately it is you that will have to make choices, choices that will affect the rest of your days here," she said, her fingers sliding to his chest, regenerating spoiled tissue through shear force of the Granolith's will.
His brave heart pumped its first beat, staggering at first in its rhythm before settling into a steady cadence. Newly regenerated lungs drew in their first shaky breath.
She raised her hands to his temples, searching out the deteriorated tissue. It was as it had thought.
The decay had progressed even with the cold temperature. She could repair the cells, but time would be needed before his memory returned completely.
It was then she sensed Tess.
She called for the Granolith's guidance, but her energy was again waning.
For now at least, there was nothing to be done about it.
Seeraynah voiced the question that plagued her.
What am I to do for him?
He will sleep for some time. Possibly days.
She nodded.
What am I to do with the knowledge you have given me?
Use the memory crystal.
She left Max's side, walking back into the chamber. Running her hand over the base of the Granolith, a drawer was revealed.
She chose the purple shard without hesitation, preparing to transfer her newly acquired awareness to it.
She concentrated on Max's image in her mind, drawing on his many experiences in several timelines, etching them into the molecules of the crystal.
Images materialized of another lifetime. Seeraynah had known Max in two other timelines in which he’d been in love with the young human girl named Liz.
One of those versions of Max had come to this timeline to prevent the shooting. He had succeeded altering the bullet in the gun while it lay concealed in the man's belt. Such was his power.
In this timeline, the bullet had never torn Liz's flesh. She had never known the healing power of the King's hands. She had never known the warmth of his love.
This timeline was much different.
In the others, he had risked everything he was to save her...
Last edited by Majesty on Mon Dec 08, 2003 11:37 am, edited 2 times in total.
Part 31A
All right, most of this chapter is old news. You can probably skip most of it if you have no desire to rehash Season One and Season Two up until EOTW.
I did add some scenes at the end to account for the summer after Destiny, but most of this stuff is just going over the show's storyline.
Both Future Max's timeline and the show's timeline were the same up until they split when Future Max returned and convinced Liz to change the show's storyline.
This will be posted in three parts due to length.
Season One and Two Up Until EOTW
The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning Lyrics – Smashing Pumpkins
Send a heartbeat to
The void that cries through you
Relive the pictures that have come to pass
For now we stand alone
The world is lost and blown
And we are flesh and blood disintegrate
With no more to hate
Is it bright where you are
Have the people changed
Does it make you happy you're so strange
And in your darkest hour
I hold secrets flame
We can watch the world devoured in it's pain
Delivered from the blast
The last of a line of lasts
The pale princess of a palace cracked
And now the kingdom comes
Crashing down undone
And I am a master of a nothing place
Of recoil and grace
Is it bright where you are
Have the people changed
Does it make you happy you're so strange
And in your darkest hour
I hold secrets flame
We can watch the world devoured in it's pain
Time has stopped before us
The sky cannot ignore us
No one can separate us
For we are all that is left
The echo bounces off me
The shadow lost beside me
There's no more need to pretend
Cause now I can begin again
Is it bright where you are
Have the people changed
Does it make you happy you're so strange
And in your darkest hour
I hold secrets flame
We can watch the world devoured in it's pain
Strange
Strange
Strange
Part Thirty One (A)
He'd heard Maria cry her name, and he could no more stop himself from going to her than he could stop himself from breathing. She was everything; a living breathing, unattainable dream; one that had captured his heart from the moment he had looked upon her angelic face.
And now, she was dying. He couldn't let her die.
He pleaded with her to look at him, to kindle the connection he needed to heal her body. Nothing could have prepared him for the moment when his soul connected with hers. It wasn't just the memories that coursed through his mind's eye. It was everything, everything she was, just as beautiful on the inside as she appeared on the outside.
Her soul, everything she was filled his heart, almost tactile to him. Kindness, intellect, drive, compassion, loyalty, passion...all were muted without the connection, but unfettered now, colorful in their intensity.
His hand healed her body, while his heart took in all that she was, and she was so much more than he had ever dreamed.
It was this moment that was a turning point in both of their lives, as well as the lives of their friends and families.
******
For a time, the timelines ran parallel to each other, identical in every way.
Maria discovered their alien status shortly after Max told Liz. Sheriff Valenti was suspicious of what had happened that day in the Crashdown, and contacted the FBI.
Kyle had taken notice of Max's interest in Liz, as did his friends, who had taken it upon themselves to corner Max one dark night as he left the Crashdown. They beat him, an unfair fight, many against one, warning him to stay away from Liz.
Max knew that things were getting out of hand. Michael was furious at the boys who had beaten Max.
Max knew he couldn’t heal himself. It would have drawn unwanted attention. He decided to take a step back from Liz.
But then her Grandmother had a stroke.
Michael got his revenge against the boys, with harmless alien pranks, at least until Max caught on, knowing that only Michael could have melted Kyle's locker shut.
Things were getting out of hand.
Max had been lying in bed one night when his phone rang, and he heard Liz's voice on the machine. She was at the hospital, and she sounded so scared. He couldn't stay away.
But when he got there, he realized that it was a mistake. Kyle was there, and the situation was wholly uncomfortable.
He could see the gratitude in Liz's eyes, just as he noted Kyle's suspicious stare.
He made a lame excuse about his cousin getting into an accident, and quickly bowed out. But Kyle followed him and confronted him outside.
He warned Max to stay away from Liz.
Kyle found out what his friends had done to Max, and told Liz he had nothing to do with it, thinking Liz had known about it. But Max had told Liz he'd tripped and fell.
Liz knew that she was falling for Max, and her anger over this was the catalyst in breaking up with Kyle.
Liz's grandmother had taken a turn for the worse, and she came to see him. She asked if there was anything he could do for her grandmother. As much as Max wished he could, he told her wasn't God.
Oddly it was Isabel, who Maria had convinced to come help at the Crashdown in Liz's absence, who had convinced Max to go to Liz; Isabel, who had been so wholly against him having anything to do with the human girl.
And so Max went to the hospital, trying to bring her grandmother back. But his efforts were futile, or so he thought.
Liz's Grandma Claudia appeared to her, to say goodbye, telling her to follow her heart.
And then she passed on.
This was a turning point for Max and Liz.
As he took her home that night, he walked her to the door, his heart aching for her, his failure at taking away her pain tearing at his heart.
She started to thank him, tears running down her face, and he silenced her with a finger on her velvet lips.
She said goodnight, and started to the door, and the next moment she was in his arms. He'd wondered how it would feel for so many years, but he never imagined it would happen under such sad circumstances.
He held her as she cried for the loss of her grandmother, knowing that this small act was the only thing he could do for her.
How could he have known how much what he'd tried to do had meant to her?
*****
It was Riverdog who informed them of the existence of Nasedo, after they found the pendant in the dome.
Maria and Michael shared their first impulsive kiss shortly after they all discovered Atherton's dome and that Ms. Topolsky was an FBI agent.
They found a pendant in the dome. The symbol on it was familiar to Max and Isabel. Liz and Max had gone to see Riverdog, after the Evans' house was robbed, and files were taken from Max's room. A deputy had spotted the pendant on Isabel and said he hadn't seen anything like that since he'd been on the reservation.
The first time Liz went alone, and Riverdog told her the pendant meant death.
When Riverdog sent word that he wanted to meet her that night, Max refused to let her go alone. They followed Riverdog out to a cave in the desert, and when the cave went black, Max instinctively used his power to illuminate the cave, to protect Liz.
It was then that Riverdog told him of Nasedo's existence.
That same night, Michael and Maria shared their first kiss, waiting for Max and Liz to return.
*****
Liz and Max had ditched school one afternoon, but they couldn't have known how dangerous that would turn out to be. A horse stepped into the road, causing Max to run the jeep into a ravine.
She was knocked unconscious momentarily, waking to find Max slumped across the steering wheel, unconscious.
Liz used her cell phone to call for help.
The ambulance came fairly quickly, and ss Liz watched Max being loaded into the ambulance, she'd never been so scared for anyone in her life. She stood there helplessly as they moved Max onto a body board, and secured his head in a neck brace. She wasn't sure how badly he was injured.
When the others arrived at the hospital, they all knew that this could spell disaster if any tests were run on Max.
Liz met Max's parents for the first time and under the worst circumstances.
Michael and Isabel were panicked that blood had been drawn from Max.
One idea came into Liz's head as she spotted Alex in the waiting room. At that moment, she knew she had no choice but to ask Alex for help, Michael replacing his blood for Max's.
Liz had never been more relieved than when Max awakened, and seemed to be all right. The terror she'd felt not knowing if he was all right made her realize the depth of her feelings for him.
It was awhile before he finally learned Alex truth about Max. When Alex exposed Topolsky as an FBI agent, he demanded the truth from Liz, and when she refused, he pulled away from her.
One hot night, Liz went down to the kitchen to get something to drink, and she caught Maria and Michael kissing passionately behind the counter in the café.
Liz felt hurt and betrayed.
All of this time, she thought she and Max couldn't be together...that it was a physical impossibility. But she saw that Michael didn't seem to be concerned about it that night. It was really starting to bother her that Max kept his distance from her, when she knew his feelings were the same as hers.
She danced around the subject by bringing up Michael and Maria, and was dismayed to see Max's unhappiness in discovering their secret. Why was he so afraid of the possibility of taking things further with her?
Liz confronted him with it one day in lab.
She asked him why they couldn't be together.
He looked at her with gentle eyes, torn between the love he felt for her, and the danger he knew he could present to her.
He told her that he wasn't afraid that they would try it and it would work out, he was afraid to try because it might end up badly. He didn't want her hurt her.
But it wasn't just his decision to make, she responded. He acquiesced in a soft voice that maybe she was right.
It was magic, that moment when his fingers brushed hers, and their lips moved closer, so close....
And then the moment was broken when their teacher interrupted them.
It was around this time that Isabel dream-walked Alex, and started to realize that he wasn't like most of the boys in Roswell. He really saw "her".
There was a party going on at the old soap factory, and Isabel asked Alex to meet her there.
That night was a disaster for all of them.
Michael pulled away from Maria, telling her he couldn't afford to have any ties.
Alex got the wrong idea about why Isabel had asked him to meet her there, and thought she was trying to pump him for information.
Liz and Max had gone outside to be alone, and the police showed up.
Alex and Liz were unwittingly caught with liquor, and arrested. Max was panicked, afraid that everything was going to blow up in their faces. What if the Sheriff intimidated Alex? There was no way that he was going to keep quiet.
But Isabel thought differently. Somehow she was sure that Alex was all right, that they could trust him.
Liz and Alex were incarcerated by the Sheriff, and Liz was forced to tell Alex the truth when he threatened to tell the Sheriff everything.
Alex got them out, by threatening the Sheriff with a lawyer.
From then on, things were better between Liz and Alex.
Max had come to her on her balcony that night, telling himself he just wanted to see if she was all right. He had convincing himself that he was no good for her, that being together would only put her in danger, as it had done tonight.
But all of that resolve fell away the moment he looked into her eyes. He knew he should have gone, but he was so tired of fighting the way he was feeling.
They shared their first kiss, tender and passionate all at the same time.
It turned their whole worlds upside down.
******
Michael visited Riverdog and joined a sweat ceremony and started to grow ill.
They brought him to Liz's room, and Max and Liz went to the reservation to see if they could find out what happened.
Max told her that none of them had ever been sick. He could see the fear in her eyes.
He knew she was worried that this could happen to him too.
Riverdog gave them the healing stones, and told them to bring Michael to th cave.
All joined the circle, except Liz. Together, they pulled Michael through, Michael seeing each of them in a vision, including Liz, who was not part of the circle.
Michael finally realized that he could trust the humans. But it was Liz's reluctance to join the circle that had driven Max and Liz apart for a time. He said that he'd felt off balance since they'd been together, and he needed to take a step back.
During that time Max had nearly exposed what he was to his mother when a fire started in the kitchen. He put it out using his powers. The Sheriff started questioning what happened, and his mother realized that something was strange. Then she showed Max a videotape in which he apparently healed a bird with a broken wing.
For a time, Max and Isabel were at odds with each other, because Isabel wanted to tell her mother, and Max and Michael wouldn't allow it. It finally got to the point where Max spoke with his mother, asking her not to ask him about his secrets.
*****
An explosion in the woods, and a strange account from an eyewitness was cause enough for a nearby forest to be sealed off.
Liz had gone on the father/daughter camping trip with her father every year, but this year she just wasn't into it, but she couldn't disappoint her father. She bribed Maria into going with her.
Maria had decided that the aliens were nothing but trouble, and that she and Liz needed to give them something to think about, so she told Max that she and Liz had dates with college boys that weekend.
Max and Isabel decided to go on the same father/child school camping trip, using it as a guise to look around the woods, and were quite surprised to find Liz and Maria on the camping trip, and not on their alleged dates. Alex was also there with his father. And they were not at all pleased to see Sheriff Valenti on the trip either.
Isabel and Alex sat watching the stars, and Isabel was forced to tell Alex that they could never be a couple.
Michael and Riverdog had sneaked into the woods to see if they could find what the cause of the disturbance in the forest was.
Michael thought that Riverdog was Nasedo and that Nasedo was his father. He was soon to find out that this wasn't the truth.
Max and Isabel crept off after everyone was asleep, and Liz followed them. Soon Maria caught up with her.
Max and Isabel were dismayed to find the two girls following them. Liz insisted on going with them, but Maria floundered for a moment. Liz told her that she had to pick a side, and Maria chose one, going with them.
The sound of police dogs signaled trouble and Maria and Liz stayed behind to throw them off the trail, while the others went on.
The two girls told the officers they'd been lost in the woods.
Max and Isabel met up with Riverdog and Michael near the cave that they'd healed Michael in.
On the ground was a symbol. When they held their palms out to it, it glowed blue. They'd barely had time to make it disappear before the Sheriff saw it.
********
When a man named Everett Hubble came into town the week of the UFO Convention, it threw everything into chaos. Hubble believed an alien had killed his pregnant wife years back, and he had his eyes on Max. He managed to get him away from the convention, asking him to go with him to his hotel under the agreement that he would be a panelist at the convention, at which Max was working.
Hubble had him pull over at an abandoned gas station, and pulled a gun on Max, convinced that he was the alien that had killed his wife. Michael showed up just to see this happening.
And then the Sheriff came. Hubble drew his gun on Max, and the Sherrif fired on Hubble, killing him. The Sheriff was starting to see that things weren't as they seemed, and maybe the kids weren't the bad guys. He told them to leave before other authorities arrived.
*****
As hard as Liz wanted to, she couldn't let go of Max and how she felt about him. Maria had entered her into a radio station contest to be set up with a blind date.
Kyle was still stung over Liz, and was working under the assumption that Liz had dumped Max.
Liz wound up taking the date with Doug Shellow, an archeological major.
Kyle came to Max's house with his friends, drunk, and Max wound up driving them back into town. It was there that he caught his first glimpse of Liz with Shellow.
Kyle goaded Max into taking a sip of alcohol, which had a very disturbing effect on an alien's physiology.
Max became fearless, nearly exposing himself for what he was to Kyle. Fortunately, Kyle was too drunk to really think too intently on what he'd seen.
Together, they decided they were going to win Liz back.
They climbed her balcony, just as she and Doug were coming into her bedroom.
She took one look at Max and knew something was wrong.
This Max was fearless and bold. She dragged him out to the balcony, and saw the neon hart with their initials painted on the wall.
She knew she had to get him away until he sobered up. She convinced him to climb down to the street with her, leaving Kyle and Doug behind.
"Max! Max, please. We have to stop. Please, we have to stop," she said.
"Let's just keep running, you and me, away from here, away from everything. I see everything so clearly now. We'll go someplace where no one knows us. As long as we're together, nothing else matters," he said.
Oh how Liz wished that they could. Things had gotten so difficult lately, and the distance between them was painful. But they couldn't. Where Max was bold from the liquor, Liz was grounded in reality.
"You're drunk. Nothing that you're saying is true," she said.
"It's all true, Liz. It's how I really feel. It's all just magic when I think about you," he said, touching a lamp post, its top erupting with patterned light.
She was thrilled and scared all at the same time. This Max wasn't afraid to be with her, but the way he was showing her was dangerous.
"Max, turn it off. Anyone can see," she said.
"And when I'm not with you...I go crazy," he continued.
He put his hand on the car next to him, and the alarm started to blare.
"Max," Liz pleaded.
"When you're here..." he began softly, his power turning the alarms to the tinkling of a music box.
"Oh, Max. Please," Liz whispered.
" You're my dream girl, Liz," he said with a smile.
"And what if I believe you tonight?" she asked.
"Then we live happily ever after," Max murmured.
"And then what about tomorrow...when you go back to realizing who you really are, and all of your fantasies go away," she said sadly.
"I'll still have you," he whispered.
"This can never be normal, Max," Liz said, shaking her head.
Max touched the tops of some parking meters, and they start sparkling.
"What's so great about normal?" he challenged, with a smile.
******
The radio station's van passed and Max flagged them down as Liz was trying to call for a cab. Maria was due to sing with Alex's band that night, and it was supposed to be the end of her and Doug's evening. Instead, she found herself on stage with Max, Doug, and a very drunk Kyle.
When the announcer asked her which man she would choose, Max took her in his arms and captured her lips with a searing kiss. Images of their stolen moments over the past six months were shared by both of them, until Max broke the kiss, shaken.
He didn't remember anything of the evening...at all.
Liz's disappointment was written all over her face. All of the promises, all of his declarations, and he remembered none of it.
Max, shaken, apologized for ruining her night, and left her standing alone.
********
Michael's stepfather Hank grew more violent and Michael found himself gravitating toward Maria, despite his fear. He and Isabel had started to try to contact the alien they knew was out there, and Nasedo responded, watching from afar, biding his time.
Michael showed up to see Max one day with bruises on his face. He couldn't take it any more.
Maria was his only solace when he left Hank in a rage one night. As badly as he had treated her, she took him in and let him stay the night with her.
Michael was ready to leave Roswell, and in fact had already hitched a ride, when he realized that he couldn't he had ties there, like it or not.
He returned, and Mr. Evans helped him to emancipate himself.
Hank had suddenly disappeared and made a re-appearance in the Sheriff's office, telling him that he had a job in another town. The Sheriff didn't know that it wasn't Hank, but Nasedo. When Hank started to beat Michael, Nasedo eliminated him, and covered his tracks.
*********
The calling of the orb brought Max and Liz back together again, their feelings stronger than ever. It was as if they couldn't keep their hands off of each other.
First they got detention for their antics in class, and then they got into trouble for getting caught making out in the eraser room. Their parents were called in, and were none too pleased.
But Liz thought there was a reason for all of it. When Max kissed her, she saw a galaxy, and then the Crash of 1947, Max's ship.
Michael had just moved into his new apartment, and when the three discussed what was going on between Liz and Max, Michael thought that maybe that kind of contact was supposed to wake them up, make them remember things.
But Max didn't want to use Liz.
Michael decided to try it out with Maria. Maria lied about flashes she was receiving, and when she finally told Michael, he was furious.
Liz and Max decided to meet at Michael's apartment. to see if they could figure out what was going on between them. The magnetic pull toward each other was almost impossible to resist. Their desire and emotions were spinning out of control, and they probably would have made love if Maria hadn't interrupted them.
Maria took Liz home, and she drew the tower she had seen when Max had been kissing her earlier. Max had come to her balcony. She showed him the drawing and he said that he knew where it was, and that he had to get Michael. But Liz wanted to go with him.
In the desert that night, they discovered the orb and it released its energy. They fell asleep in each other's arms, and woke to find a strange man studying them. He told them to leave, that it was private property.
Isabel too realized her growing feelings for Alex. As hard as she tried to deny it, she was falling for him. She went to his house under the guise of trying to get some info through a flash from Alex. She kissed him.
Maria went to Michael's worried about Liz. She felt like she had nowhere else to go. Maria told him why she lied to him about the flashes, because she wanted them to be close.
Michael had lied and said he hadn't seen anything from her the day before when they had their argument, but her words struck a chord in him, and he told her the truth, that he had seen. He explained in detail about her red sneakers and the dog he had seen.
Max kissed her once more after parking the jeep near the Crashdown.
"Any flashes?" he asked, trying to gain control of his breathing.
"No. And you?" she asked.
"Don't think so," he said, with a smile, getting out of the jeep to open her door.
Liz had to voice what had been troubling her.
"Max...everything that we did, everything we felt...was it...was it all just about this...this thing?" she asked, holding the orb.
" You know, we don't even know what it is," she said.
"Yet," Max added.
"Max, was it ever just about us? You and me? Because a person could feel like they just served their purpose. You know, like being used," she said.
"Is that what you think? Because you're not the only one who could worry about being used. I mean, some girls would give a lot to see themselves fly through outer space. You know, I'm sure it doesn't compare to other things you could be doing, like watching Kyle barf after a beer blast," he joked.
"I can't believe you just said that," Liz said, nudging him as they started to walk to the café.
"Why not?" Max asked.
"Because it really happened," Liz laughed.
"You're kidding me," Max said.
"No. I swear. Last summer. It was a really hot night," she started.
"You know what? No, no...don't tell me," Max said, shaking his head.
"Ok, so what you're saying is that you saved me from a life of watching Kyle barf," Liz said, turning to him.
"Liz Parker...I don't think that was ever gonna be your destiny," he answered, with a small grin.
" No?" Liz asked.
"No," Max answered, looking into her eyes.
"Ok. Fine. If you know so much, then tell me, Max...what's my destiny?" she said with a cute smile.
"I only know the part I'm hoping for," he said, taking her hand as he noticed both sets of parents were waiting for them in the cafe. They had a lot of explaining to do.
*******
I did add some scenes at the end to account for the summer after Destiny, but most of this stuff is just going over the show's storyline.
Both Future Max's timeline and the show's timeline were the same up until they split when Future Max returned and convinced Liz to change the show's storyline.
This will be posted in three parts due to length.
Season One and Two Up Until EOTW
The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning Lyrics – Smashing Pumpkins
Send a heartbeat to
The void that cries through you
Relive the pictures that have come to pass
For now we stand alone
The world is lost and blown
And we are flesh and blood disintegrate
With no more to hate
Is it bright where you are
Have the people changed
Does it make you happy you're so strange
And in your darkest hour
I hold secrets flame
We can watch the world devoured in it's pain
Delivered from the blast
The last of a line of lasts
The pale princess of a palace cracked
And now the kingdom comes
Crashing down undone
And I am a master of a nothing place
Of recoil and grace
Is it bright where you are
Have the people changed
Does it make you happy you're so strange
And in your darkest hour
I hold secrets flame
We can watch the world devoured in it's pain
Time has stopped before us
The sky cannot ignore us
No one can separate us
For we are all that is left
The echo bounces off me
The shadow lost beside me
There's no more need to pretend
Cause now I can begin again
Is it bright where you are
Have the people changed
Does it make you happy you're so strange
And in your darkest hour
I hold secrets flame
We can watch the world devoured in it's pain
Strange
Strange
Strange
Part Thirty One (A)
He'd heard Maria cry her name, and he could no more stop himself from going to her than he could stop himself from breathing. She was everything; a living breathing, unattainable dream; one that had captured his heart from the moment he had looked upon her angelic face.
And now, she was dying. He couldn't let her die.
He pleaded with her to look at him, to kindle the connection he needed to heal her body. Nothing could have prepared him for the moment when his soul connected with hers. It wasn't just the memories that coursed through his mind's eye. It was everything, everything she was, just as beautiful on the inside as she appeared on the outside.
Her soul, everything she was filled his heart, almost tactile to him. Kindness, intellect, drive, compassion, loyalty, passion...all were muted without the connection, but unfettered now, colorful in their intensity.
His hand healed her body, while his heart took in all that she was, and she was so much more than he had ever dreamed.
It was this moment that was a turning point in both of their lives, as well as the lives of their friends and families.
******
For a time, the timelines ran parallel to each other, identical in every way.
Maria discovered their alien status shortly after Max told Liz. Sheriff Valenti was suspicious of what had happened that day in the Crashdown, and contacted the FBI.
Kyle had taken notice of Max's interest in Liz, as did his friends, who had taken it upon themselves to corner Max one dark night as he left the Crashdown. They beat him, an unfair fight, many against one, warning him to stay away from Liz.
Max knew that things were getting out of hand. Michael was furious at the boys who had beaten Max.
Max knew he couldn’t heal himself. It would have drawn unwanted attention. He decided to take a step back from Liz.
But then her Grandmother had a stroke.
Michael got his revenge against the boys, with harmless alien pranks, at least until Max caught on, knowing that only Michael could have melted Kyle's locker shut.
Things were getting out of hand.
Max had been lying in bed one night when his phone rang, and he heard Liz's voice on the machine. She was at the hospital, and she sounded so scared. He couldn't stay away.
But when he got there, he realized that it was a mistake. Kyle was there, and the situation was wholly uncomfortable.
He could see the gratitude in Liz's eyes, just as he noted Kyle's suspicious stare.
He made a lame excuse about his cousin getting into an accident, and quickly bowed out. But Kyle followed him and confronted him outside.
He warned Max to stay away from Liz.
Kyle found out what his friends had done to Max, and told Liz he had nothing to do with it, thinking Liz had known about it. But Max had told Liz he'd tripped and fell.
Liz knew that she was falling for Max, and her anger over this was the catalyst in breaking up with Kyle.
Liz's grandmother had taken a turn for the worse, and she came to see him. She asked if there was anything he could do for her grandmother. As much as Max wished he could, he told her wasn't God.
Oddly it was Isabel, who Maria had convinced to come help at the Crashdown in Liz's absence, who had convinced Max to go to Liz; Isabel, who had been so wholly against him having anything to do with the human girl.
And so Max went to the hospital, trying to bring her grandmother back. But his efforts were futile, or so he thought.
Liz's Grandma Claudia appeared to her, to say goodbye, telling her to follow her heart.
And then she passed on.
This was a turning point for Max and Liz.
As he took her home that night, he walked her to the door, his heart aching for her, his failure at taking away her pain tearing at his heart.
She started to thank him, tears running down her face, and he silenced her with a finger on her velvet lips.
She said goodnight, and started to the door, and the next moment she was in his arms. He'd wondered how it would feel for so many years, but he never imagined it would happen under such sad circumstances.
He held her as she cried for the loss of her grandmother, knowing that this small act was the only thing he could do for her.
How could he have known how much what he'd tried to do had meant to her?
*****
It was Riverdog who informed them of the existence of Nasedo, after they found the pendant in the dome.
Maria and Michael shared their first impulsive kiss shortly after they all discovered Atherton's dome and that Ms. Topolsky was an FBI agent.
They found a pendant in the dome. The symbol on it was familiar to Max and Isabel. Liz and Max had gone to see Riverdog, after the Evans' house was robbed, and files were taken from Max's room. A deputy had spotted the pendant on Isabel and said he hadn't seen anything like that since he'd been on the reservation.
The first time Liz went alone, and Riverdog told her the pendant meant death.
When Riverdog sent word that he wanted to meet her that night, Max refused to let her go alone. They followed Riverdog out to a cave in the desert, and when the cave went black, Max instinctively used his power to illuminate the cave, to protect Liz.
It was then that Riverdog told him of Nasedo's existence.
That same night, Michael and Maria shared their first kiss, waiting for Max and Liz to return.
*****
Liz and Max had ditched school one afternoon, but they couldn't have known how dangerous that would turn out to be. A horse stepped into the road, causing Max to run the jeep into a ravine.
She was knocked unconscious momentarily, waking to find Max slumped across the steering wheel, unconscious.
Liz used her cell phone to call for help.
The ambulance came fairly quickly, and ss Liz watched Max being loaded into the ambulance, she'd never been so scared for anyone in her life. She stood there helplessly as they moved Max onto a body board, and secured his head in a neck brace. She wasn't sure how badly he was injured.
When the others arrived at the hospital, they all knew that this could spell disaster if any tests were run on Max.
Liz met Max's parents for the first time and under the worst circumstances.
Michael and Isabel were panicked that blood had been drawn from Max.
One idea came into Liz's head as she spotted Alex in the waiting room. At that moment, she knew she had no choice but to ask Alex for help, Michael replacing his blood for Max's.
Liz had never been more relieved than when Max awakened, and seemed to be all right. The terror she'd felt not knowing if he was all right made her realize the depth of her feelings for him.
It was awhile before he finally learned Alex truth about Max. When Alex exposed Topolsky as an FBI agent, he demanded the truth from Liz, and when she refused, he pulled away from her.
One hot night, Liz went down to the kitchen to get something to drink, and she caught Maria and Michael kissing passionately behind the counter in the café.
Liz felt hurt and betrayed.
All of this time, she thought she and Max couldn't be together...that it was a physical impossibility. But she saw that Michael didn't seem to be concerned about it that night. It was really starting to bother her that Max kept his distance from her, when she knew his feelings were the same as hers.
She danced around the subject by bringing up Michael and Maria, and was dismayed to see Max's unhappiness in discovering their secret. Why was he so afraid of the possibility of taking things further with her?
Liz confronted him with it one day in lab.
She asked him why they couldn't be together.
He looked at her with gentle eyes, torn between the love he felt for her, and the danger he knew he could present to her.
He told her that he wasn't afraid that they would try it and it would work out, he was afraid to try because it might end up badly. He didn't want her hurt her.
But it wasn't just his decision to make, she responded. He acquiesced in a soft voice that maybe she was right.
It was magic, that moment when his fingers brushed hers, and their lips moved closer, so close....
And then the moment was broken when their teacher interrupted them.
It was around this time that Isabel dream-walked Alex, and started to realize that he wasn't like most of the boys in Roswell. He really saw "her".
There was a party going on at the old soap factory, and Isabel asked Alex to meet her there.
That night was a disaster for all of them.
Michael pulled away from Maria, telling her he couldn't afford to have any ties.
Alex got the wrong idea about why Isabel had asked him to meet her there, and thought she was trying to pump him for information.
Liz and Max had gone outside to be alone, and the police showed up.
Alex and Liz were unwittingly caught with liquor, and arrested. Max was panicked, afraid that everything was going to blow up in their faces. What if the Sheriff intimidated Alex? There was no way that he was going to keep quiet.
But Isabel thought differently. Somehow she was sure that Alex was all right, that they could trust him.
Liz and Alex were incarcerated by the Sheriff, and Liz was forced to tell Alex the truth when he threatened to tell the Sheriff everything.
Alex got them out, by threatening the Sheriff with a lawyer.
From then on, things were better between Liz and Alex.
Max had come to her on her balcony that night, telling himself he just wanted to see if she was all right. He had convincing himself that he was no good for her, that being together would only put her in danger, as it had done tonight.
But all of that resolve fell away the moment he looked into her eyes. He knew he should have gone, but he was so tired of fighting the way he was feeling.
They shared their first kiss, tender and passionate all at the same time.
It turned their whole worlds upside down.
******
Michael visited Riverdog and joined a sweat ceremony and started to grow ill.
They brought him to Liz's room, and Max and Liz went to the reservation to see if they could find out what happened.
Max told her that none of them had ever been sick. He could see the fear in her eyes.
He knew she was worried that this could happen to him too.
Riverdog gave them the healing stones, and told them to bring Michael to th cave.
All joined the circle, except Liz. Together, they pulled Michael through, Michael seeing each of them in a vision, including Liz, who was not part of the circle.
Michael finally realized that he could trust the humans. But it was Liz's reluctance to join the circle that had driven Max and Liz apart for a time. He said that he'd felt off balance since they'd been together, and he needed to take a step back.
During that time Max had nearly exposed what he was to his mother when a fire started in the kitchen. He put it out using his powers. The Sheriff started questioning what happened, and his mother realized that something was strange. Then she showed Max a videotape in which he apparently healed a bird with a broken wing.
For a time, Max and Isabel were at odds with each other, because Isabel wanted to tell her mother, and Max and Michael wouldn't allow it. It finally got to the point where Max spoke with his mother, asking her not to ask him about his secrets.
*****
An explosion in the woods, and a strange account from an eyewitness was cause enough for a nearby forest to be sealed off.
Liz had gone on the father/daughter camping trip with her father every year, but this year she just wasn't into it, but she couldn't disappoint her father. She bribed Maria into going with her.
Maria had decided that the aliens were nothing but trouble, and that she and Liz needed to give them something to think about, so she told Max that she and Liz had dates with college boys that weekend.
Max and Isabel decided to go on the same father/child school camping trip, using it as a guise to look around the woods, and were quite surprised to find Liz and Maria on the camping trip, and not on their alleged dates. Alex was also there with his father. And they were not at all pleased to see Sheriff Valenti on the trip either.
Isabel and Alex sat watching the stars, and Isabel was forced to tell Alex that they could never be a couple.
Michael and Riverdog had sneaked into the woods to see if they could find what the cause of the disturbance in the forest was.
Michael thought that Riverdog was Nasedo and that Nasedo was his father. He was soon to find out that this wasn't the truth.
Max and Isabel crept off after everyone was asleep, and Liz followed them. Soon Maria caught up with her.
Max and Isabel were dismayed to find the two girls following them. Liz insisted on going with them, but Maria floundered for a moment. Liz told her that she had to pick a side, and Maria chose one, going with them.
The sound of police dogs signaled trouble and Maria and Liz stayed behind to throw them off the trail, while the others went on.
The two girls told the officers they'd been lost in the woods.
Max and Isabel met up with Riverdog and Michael near the cave that they'd healed Michael in.
On the ground was a symbol. When they held their palms out to it, it glowed blue. They'd barely had time to make it disappear before the Sheriff saw it.
********
When a man named Everett Hubble came into town the week of the UFO Convention, it threw everything into chaos. Hubble believed an alien had killed his pregnant wife years back, and he had his eyes on Max. He managed to get him away from the convention, asking him to go with him to his hotel under the agreement that he would be a panelist at the convention, at which Max was working.
Hubble had him pull over at an abandoned gas station, and pulled a gun on Max, convinced that he was the alien that had killed his wife. Michael showed up just to see this happening.
And then the Sheriff came. Hubble drew his gun on Max, and the Sherrif fired on Hubble, killing him. The Sheriff was starting to see that things weren't as they seemed, and maybe the kids weren't the bad guys. He told them to leave before other authorities arrived.
*****
As hard as Liz wanted to, she couldn't let go of Max and how she felt about him. Maria had entered her into a radio station contest to be set up with a blind date.
Kyle was still stung over Liz, and was working under the assumption that Liz had dumped Max.
Liz wound up taking the date with Doug Shellow, an archeological major.
Kyle came to Max's house with his friends, drunk, and Max wound up driving them back into town. It was there that he caught his first glimpse of Liz with Shellow.
Kyle goaded Max into taking a sip of alcohol, which had a very disturbing effect on an alien's physiology.
Max became fearless, nearly exposing himself for what he was to Kyle. Fortunately, Kyle was too drunk to really think too intently on what he'd seen.
Together, they decided they were going to win Liz back.
They climbed her balcony, just as she and Doug were coming into her bedroom.
She took one look at Max and knew something was wrong.
This Max was fearless and bold. She dragged him out to the balcony, and saw the neon hart with their initials painted on the wall.
She knew she had to get him away until he sobered up. She convinced him to climb down to the street with her, leaving Kyle and Doug behind.
"Max! Max, please. We have to stop. Please, we have to stop," she said.
"Let's just keep running, you and me, away from here, away from everything. I see everything so clearly now. We'll go someplace where no one knows us. As long as we're together, nothing else matters," he said.
Oh how Liz wished that they could. Things had gotten so difficult lately, and the distance between them was painful. But they couldn't. Where Max was bold from the liquor, Liz was grounded in reality.
"You're drunk. Nothing that you're saying is true," she said.
"It's all true, Liz. It's how I really feel. It's all just magic when I think about you," he said, touching a lamp post, its top erupting with patterned light.
She was thrilled and scared all at the same time. This Max wasn't afraid to be with her, but the way he was showing her was dangerous.
"Max, turn it off. Anyone can see," she said.
"And when I'm not with you...I go crazy," he continued.
He put his hand on the car next to him, and the alarm started to blare.
"Max," Liz pleaded.
"When you're here..." he began softly, his power turning the alarms to the tinkling of a music box.
"Oh, Max. Please," Liz whispered.
" You're my dream girl, Liz," he said with a smile.
"And what if I believe you tonight?" she asked.
"Then we live happily ever after," Max murmured.
"And then what about tomorrow...when you go back to realizing who you really are, and all of your fantasies go away," she said sadly.
"I'll still have you," he whispered.
"This can never be normal, Max," Liz said, shaking her head.
Max touched the tops of some parking meters, and they start sparkling.
"What's so great about normal?" he challenged, with a smile.
******
The radio station's van passed and Max flagged them down as Liz was trying to call for a cab. Maria was due to sing with Alex's band that night, and it was supposed to be the end of her and Doug's evening. Instead, she found herself on stage with Max, Doug, and a very drunk Kyle.
When the announcer asked her which man she would choose, Max took her in his arms and captured her lips with a searing kiss. Images of their stolen moments over the past six months were shared by both of them, until Max broke the kiss, shaken.
He didn't remember anything of the evening...at all.
Liz's disappointment was written all over her face. All of the promises, all of his declarations, and he remembered none of it.
Max, shaken, apologized for ruining her night, and left her standing alone.
********
Michael's stepfather Hank grew more violent and Michael found himself gravitating toward Maria, despite his fear. He and Isabel had started to try to contact the alien they knew was out there, and Nasedo responded, watching from afar, biding his time.
Michael showed up to see Max one day with bruises on his face. He couldn't take it any more.
Maria was his only solace when he left Hank in a rage one night. As badly as he had treated her, she took him in and let him stay the night with her.
Michael was ready to leave Roswell, and in fact had already hitched a ride, when he realized that he couldn't he had ties there, like it or not.
He returned, and Mr. Evans helped him to emancipate himself.
Hank had suddenly disappeared and made a re-appearance in the Sheriff's office, telling him that he had a job in another town. The Sheriff didn't know that it wasn't Hank, but Nasedo. When Hank started to beat Michael, Nasedo eliminated him, and covered his tracks.
*********
The calling of the orb brought Max and Liz back together again, their feelings stronger than ever. It was as if they couldn't keep their hands off of each other.
First they got detention for their antics in class, and then they got into trouble for getting caught making out in the eraser room. Their parents were called in, and were none too pleased.
But Liz thought there was a reason for all of it. When Max kissed her, she saw a galaxy, and then the Crash of 1947, Max's ship.
Michael had just moved into his new apartment, and when the three discussed what was going on between Liz and Max, Michael thought that maybe that kind of contact was supposed to wake them up, make them remember things.
But Max didn't want to use Liz.
Michael decided to try it out with Maria. Maria lied about flashes she was receiving, and when she finally told Michael, he was furious.
Liz and Max decided to meet at Michael's apartment. to see if they could figure out what was going on between them. The magnetic pull toward each other was almost impossible to resist. Their desire and emotions were spinning out of control, and they probably would have made love if Maria hadn't interrupted them.
Maria took Liz home, and she drew the tower she had seen when Max had been kissing her earlier. Max had come to her balcony. She showed him the drawing and he said that he knew where it was, and that he had to get Michael. But Liz wanted to go with him.
In the desert that night, they discovered the orb and it released its energy. They fell asleep in each other's arms, and woke to find a strange man studying them. He told them to leave, that it was private property.
Isabel too realized her growing feelings for Alex. As hard as she tried to deny it, she was falling for him. She went to his house under the guise of trying to get some info through a flash from Alex. She kissed him.
Maria went to Michael's worried about Liz. She felt like she had nowhere else to go. Maria told him why she lied to him about the flashes, because she wanted them to be close.
Michael had lied and said he hadn't seen anything from her the day before when they had their argument, but her words struck a chord in him, and he told her the truth, that he had seen. He explained in detail about her red sneakers and the dog he had seen.
Max kissed her once more after parking the jeep near the Crashdown.
"Any flashes?" he asked, trying to gain control of his breathing.
"No. And you?" she asked.
"Don't think so," he said, with a smile, getting out of the jeep to open her door.
Liz had to voice what had been troubling her.
"Max...everything that we did, everything we felt...was it...was it all just about this...this thing?" she asked, holding the orb.
" You know, we don't even know what it is," she said.
"Yet," Max added.
"Max, was it ever just about us? You and me? Because a person could feel like they just served their purpose. You know, like being used," she said.
"Is that what you think? Because you're not the only one who could worry about being used. I mean, some girls would give a lot to see themselves fly through outer space. You know, I'm sure it doesn't compare to other things you could be doing, like watching Kyle barf after a beer blast," he joked.
"I can't believe you just said that," Liz said, nudging him as they started to walk to the café.
"Why not?" Max asked.
"Because it really happened," Liz laughed.
"You're kidding me," Max said.
"No. I swear. Last summer. It was a really hot night," she started.
"You know what? No, no...don't tell me," Max said, shaking his head.
"Ok, so what you're saying is that you saved me from a life of watching Kyle barf," Liz said, turning to him.
"Liz Parker...I don't think that was ever gonna be your destiny," he answered, with a small grin.
" No?" Liz asked.
"No," Max answered, looking into her eyes.
"Ok. Fine. If you know so much, then tell me, Max...what's my destiny?" she said with a cute smile.
"I only know the part I'm hoping for," he said, taking her hand as he noticed both sets of parents were waiting for them in the cafe. They had a lot of explaining to do.
*******
Last edited by Majesty on Wed Dec 10, 2003 3:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Part 31A (con'td)
Soon after, Tess came to town with Nasedo. Isabel took to her right away at first, but soon realized that something was off. Topolsky came back to town to try to warn them about the FBI. She contacted Liz first, and then the Sheriff, and finally Michael, telling him she would give him the other orb if he met her.
Michael went to meet her and Maria insisted on going with him, but not before she left a note for the group. Max and the others followed them, and met the Sheriff and Topolsky's alleged psychiatrist out in the woods. But it was not a doctor that met them at all. It was Kal. Topolsky showed up a short time later, only to be taken by Agent Pierce of the FBI. She was dead two days later, killed in a suspicious fire. This was what started to change the Sheriff's thinking on who were the good and bad guys.
*****
Max started to feel an unnatural pull toward Tess. It scared him. It was as if he had no power to resist her.
He began to have visions of kissing her, both in school and when he was with Liz. It scared him.
Liz was starting to notice it.
Michael only made it worse in his annoyance with Max's reticence in investigating Tess. He had already seen Army MP's moving in and out of the Harding house.
In his annoyance, he snapped at Max about his girlfriend Tess bringing the army to town. Liz overheard him.
That night, in the rain, Max came to the Crashdown.
Liz unlocked the door to let him in.
"What's going on, Max?" Liz asked, searching his eyes for an answer.
"I wanna talk," he said.
"About what?" she said, trying to sound non-committal.
"Liz, about what Michael said before, about Tess, I just...I want you to know that I don't feel anything for her. I look at you, and I know you're the person I'm supposed to be with. I've always known it. What happened here that day, when you got shot, and how that brought us together...it's fate. Look at me. You're the one, Liz...the only one. I could never be with anyone else," he said, taking her into his arms.
He left the Crashdown and it was then Tess made her move, pushing him to kiss her against his will with her mind, while unbeknownst to him, Liz was watching from the Crashdown.
" Max! My car broke down. Can you believe it?" she asked.
"No," Max said, afraid of the pull she was having on him.
"No?" Tess asked, looking confused.
"No, I don't believe it," Max answered.
"What are you talking about?" Tess asked, looking at him as if he were crazy.
"You planned this," Max said in accusation.
"I planned what?" Tess said in feigned innocence.
"To be out here," he said.
"Max, you sound a little crazy," she said, shaking her head.
"You're doing something to me," he said, his voice trembling, angry.
"Max, my car broke down. I'm waiting for somebody to help me. I didn't plan anything," she answered.
"I'm with Liz," Max said.
"I know you are," Tess said.
"We belong together," Max said desperately.
"I'm sure that's true," Tess said, looking up at him.
"I don't want anyone but her," Max said, feeling a further pull toward her against his will.
"I'm sure you don't," Tess agreed.
And then they kissed. Max saw himslef and Tess in the desert holding hands.
Liz stood watching the kiss from the door to the café, and then backed away.
"Who are you?" Max asked.
*****
Liz had never felt so hurt or betrayed in her life.
When Max tried to explain that it was unnatural, that he had gotten a flash from Tess, it only made Liz feel worse.
He had followed her into the back room of the Crashdown after she pointedly ignored him sitting in the booth.
"Liz," Max said.
"I saw you, Max," Liz said in a dull voice, interrupting him.
"Liz, it's not what you think," he began.
"How could you kiss her?" she asked.
"I don't know. I don't know what's happening," he said.
"You know all those thing you said to me, Max? Were any of them true?" she said, trying to hold back her tears.
Liz... Liz, you've got to believe me. It wasn't me. She was there. She was waiting for me," he said.
"Oh, so it's her fault," Liz said caustically.
"Liz, something is going on with her. I'm telling you, something is not right about her," he said.
Liz turned to face him.
"Not right about her, Max! What are you talking about?" she practically yelled.
"The way I'm drawn to her, it's not just attraction. It's something else. Please, Liz, you have to have faith in me. In us," he pleaded.
"To have faith?" she asked in derision.
"Yes. Until I figure out what's going on. I'm telling you, when I kissed her, I saw things. I had a flash," he said.
"You had a flash when you kissed her, Max? Like when you kissed me? I guess I'm not so special after all, huh?" she asked, fleeing the room.
Liz knew that though her head was telling her that Max was cheating on her, her heart told her he would never do that.
She decided she needed to find out.
Earlier, Isabel had gone went to visit Tess and thought it was strange that she wouldn't let her help carry a box of photographs. Liz had taken the camera Michael and Max had found in Michael's apartment, intending to bug the Harding house, under the guise of finding out what was going on between Tess and Max.
Max came to get her when he found out what she'd done.
Later, after they'd gotten out, they discovered that Tess was like them, when watching the footage from the camera. They saw Tess re-mold the statue Liz had broken while she was in the house.
Max confronted her, thinking she was Nasedo, but she revealed the Antarian book to him, showing him that she was engineered, intended to be his mate. She was not Nasedo. Nasedo was the shape-shifter that was posing as her father, Ed Harding.
There was barely time to dwell on it before Liz was taken captive by Nasedo, who had shape-shifted himself to look like Max.
Max and the others followed, and the Sheriff was close behind when they found them at the fairgrounds. But the FBI was waiting, and Max was captured.
Nasedo took Liz and the others from the grounds, and they tried to figure out a way to rescue Max, who was now being tortured and by Pierce at the Eagle Rock compound. Isabel had seen it when she dream-walked him. Pierce had the orb, and was threatening the lives of everyone Max loved, including Liz, unless he told them how it worked.
It was the image of a blood-covered Liz being dragged along the ground that had nearly driven Max insane.
The aliens left the humans in Roswell to get Max out of the compound, but after hours of hearing nothing, Liz decided to turn to the Sheriff.
Tess got Michael and Isabel into the compound, but they saw that it was nearly impossible for them to get past the security. A fingerprint and bone scan device prevented anyone unauthorized from getting into the area that they were holding Max.
An agent had driven Isabel, Michael and Tess into the morgue, where for a frightening moment, they were sure they would find Max dead under a sheet on the metal slab. But it was an agent.
An agent entered the morgue and revealed himself as Nasedo. They quickly went over their plan to rescue Max and Isabel and Tess left to wait for their next move.
It was Michael's job to meld the dead agent's fingerprint onto his own finger, for he had the human bone structure to pass through the security checkpoint, where Nasedo did not.
Michael thought that Nasedo was his father, but was soon proved wrong. Nasedo was ruthless, inhuman. Together the four rescued Max, wounding Pierce in the process. Nasedo was taken down.
Max was helped into the Jetta, with the FBI hot on their heels. Together, the two of them escaped by jumping from a bridge into the river.
They spent the night in an abandoned van, Liz heartbroken over the fact that Tess was meant to be his mate. She was afraid for Max and for what he'd been through, but was also afraid for what the future held for the both of them.
She kissed him and received flashes of what they had done to him in the compound.
But Max was having none of it. He didn't believe in destiny or that his life was to be mapped out for him. He loved Liz. He'd loved her all of his life, and it was only the thought of her that had gotten him through the torture he'd endured at Pierce's hand.
Her heart sang at as he voiced his love for her for the first time, and she returned those words. Their lips met in that moment, with no secrets between them.
But a single day changed everything. The Sheriff and Michael picked up Max and Liz just as they were to be run down by the FBI, and Michael used his powers in full view of the Valenti.
The Sheriff was awestruck. He'd only suspected Max, and now he'd come to find out that it was Isabel and Michael as well. Max told him he needed to know that he could trust him. The Sheriff agreed to help.
They formulated a plan to capture Pierce, to find out the whereabouts of Nasedo.
They cornered him in the UFO museum, and bound him to a chair. It took every ounce of will Max had not to kill him on the spot for what he'd done to him, for what he'd threatened to do to the people he loved. Isabel dream-walked him and discovered that Nasedo was dead and his body was being transferred by truck.
They didn't know that Kyle had followed them to the museum. Pierce convinced Kyle to untie him, and to give him the gun he was carrying, and told him to leave. But Kyle didn't. He remained hidden behind a curtain.
When Max and the others came back into the room, Pierce raised his gun and the Sheriff fired at him, missing his target. Michael took Pierce down with his powers.
Pierce was dead, but they soon found out that he wasn't the only casualty. The Sheriff spotted his own gun and heard a moan behind the curtain.
Kyle lay bleeding behind it. The Sheriff had unwittingly shot his own son.
With an anguished cry, he pleaded with Max to help his son.
Max healed Kyle and saved his life, earning the Sheriff's unquestioning loyalty in that timeline.
At the same time, Michael was reeling from what he had done to Pierce, and now saw the damage his powers could do. While Max's power was to heal, his was to kill, and he had no control over it. He hadn't meant to kill Pierce. He saw that he was going to fire at Max, and didn't think, he just acted.
Max had said it wasn't his fault, but he was consumed with what had happened. Max could heal. He was a killer.
His panic grew as he thought of what his powers could do to Maria. What if he got angry with her one day? He could kill her with a flick of his hand.
Maria had tried to comfort him, and he told her to stay away from him.
She said that he needed her. He told her it wasn't safe.
She was visibly angry when she asked how he could just throw her away. Max and Liz couldn't bear to be apart, but he could just let her go. Why?
How could he put into words why he acted the way that he did? How could he tell her how much her presence in his life had meant to him?
When he spoke, his answer left her stunned.
Because he loved her too much.
He kissed her and said goodbye, leaving her standing alone. Alex stayed behind. Only Liz accompanied the four to get Nasedo's body back.
They devised a plan to ambush the truck to get Nasedo back, and once they had his body, they took it to the pod chamber, and with the healing stones, they brought him back to life.
Max wanted to activate the orbs, and Nasedo warned them against it, saying that they didn't know who they could be contacting when they did so. But the four agreed that they wanted answers.
Nasedo shape-shifted into Pierce's likeness, and left them to monitor the Special Unit's activities.
Max and Liz thought that they had finally overcome the obstacles which kept them apart, but that was only the beginning.
When the aliens activated the orbs, the revelation left Liz devastated. It was everything she had feared and more. An image of their mother appeared before them and revealed what they had been searching for, for so long. Max was the King of an enslaved planet and Isabel a Princess. Michael was his second and command, and Tess was Max's wife.
They were killed in an uprising, and their essence was combined with human DNA, and they were sent here to Earth to mature until they could come back and save their planet.
Max had a destiny, a destiny that Liz wasn't meant to be a part of. She saw that when Max accepted Tess into the fold of the people he was closest to, the people who were like him. Liz had no place in it.
Tess took Max's arm saying she knew that it was meant to be, and Liz couldn't bear to stay to watch the two of them.
She tried to leave without being seen, but Max could feel her heartbreak, as he had always been able to since the day he'd healed her.
No, he said, pulling away from her and moving toward Liz, toward the one person who had always held his heart. He didn't remember that other life with Tess, and he didn't want to. What he wanted, was Liz.
He told Liz that everything he'd told her was still true.
How she wanted to believe that. Deep in her heart she knew it was, but the Universe had suddenly grown so much bigger.
She told him that he did have a destiny, and that she couldn't stand in the way of it.
She knew that she couldn't live with herself if the fate of another planet was altered because a half-breed alien King loved a human girl. Their problems were so much bigger than hers, and so much more important.
But you mean everything to me, he said, his eyes pleading with her to believe him. For a split second, he thought she would stay as she leaned up and placed a bittersweet kiss on his lips.
But that hope was dashed when she said goodbye and disappeared through the chamber door.
She felt her heart shatter into a million pieces as she ran down the hill, tears staining her cheeks. How cruel was Fate that it had done this to them? Max had saved her life and took her heart, and she his, only for them to realize what neither had wanted to believe, that they weren't meant to be together.
She heard him call her name and she turned, unable to resist the call of his voice, and took one last lingering look at his face before turning and running down the hill.
Max moved to follow her, and Michael stopped him, telling him that he had to let her go.
Max spent the rest of the summer regretting not running after her, for Liz seemed to disappear. It took him days to drag it out of Maria that she'd gone to her Aunt's in Florida for the summer.
Alex and Maria stayed in Roswell, but neither of them saw much of Michael or Isabel outside the Crashdown. Maria only saw Michael when they were on the same shift, and Alex would occasionally catch Isabel with Max and Tess in the restaurant.
The first month was tense, worrying if the FBI was going to swoop down on Roswell to take them away. Maria began to talk to Max about Michael, and he was glad of it, because at first it seemed to take his mind off the fact that Liz wasn't there, as well as their worries with the FBI. He took to meeting Maria after work in order to avoid Tess, who had started to conveniently come over the house to see Isabel around the time he got off of work.
The thought of being engineered to be with Tess disgusted him. It wasn't that she was unattractive, but she wasn't Liz, the girl he'd lost his heart to long before he'd even really realized what that meant.
He listened patiently to Maria when she would try to analyze what had happened with Michael and why he was acting the way he was. Max offered his insight where he could, without betraying Michael's trust. Michael was dealing with the fact that he had killed another human being, and feared himself a monster.
They had set Pierce’s body alight in the desert, burying it where they thought no one would find it. The Sheriff had come with them, making himself an accomplice.
Max grew ever more quiet, the weight of the FBI looming, and Liz's departure sitting heavily on his mind. In July, he took to his room when he finished work, and barely left the house except to go back to work. Maria came to see him a few times, but she never mentioned Liz. When Tess came around, he acted like she didn't exist. He didn't want to give her the wrong idea, because if she was thinking that he might come to her, it was never going to happen.
Michael was getting angry at Max's withdrawal. They now knew what they were there for. They knew that they were in danger, and it was as if Max had completely ignored it. He ignored his alien side and didn’t want to talk about it.
Tess was the only one who wanted to work to build their alien skills and so Michael started to meet her to practice. He wouldn’t allow himself to admit that it was a good way to avoid Maria.
Max's parents began to grow concerned and insisted that he got to see a psychologist. Max protested at first, but then realized he wasn't going to win the argument, and so he went to the sessions, talking as little as possible, making up average teen problems as he went along.
One night, Maria came over and came into the room without knocking, sitting squarely on the bed next to him.
She frowned as she listened to the music coming from his CD player.
She reached over and turned it off with a frown.
"Geez, no wonder you're so depressed," she said in disgust. "Look what you're listening to?"
Max turned onto his side with a sigh, covering his eyes with his forearm.
"What are you doing here, Maria?" he asked in a low voice.
"Nice to see you too," she grumbled.
He didn't answer.
"Ok Max, I'm not going to bullshit you. Isabel told me that your parents are sending you to a shrink, and that they're all worried about you, and I..."
"What?" Max asked in irritation. "What the hell, is everyone having conversations about me behind my back? And no offense, but why would she tell you?"
"Maybe because she's worried about you and you won't talk to her, and she can't talk to Tess," she snapped, her eyes flashing.
He sighed.
"I'm sorry I snapped at you," he said. "I'm fine. You can tell her that. I've just got a lot on my mind."
There was a short pause, and the next words out of her mouth caused him to stiffen.
"Liz called," she said.
He pulled his arms from his eyes and sat up, the concern and longing evident in his eyes. Maria immediately felt bad.
"How is she? Is she ok?" he asked. "Why did she take so long to call you?"
"Max, you know why she went away, and....this isn't the first time I talked to her," she said.
"What? Why didn't you say anything?" he said, dropping back to his pillow.
"Because you didn't ask, and I didn't know whether I should say something or not. I wasn't sure what was going on between the two of you, and I didn't want to bring it up if you were trying to move on. She hasn't really talked about it. Whenever I bring it up, she changes the subject. I didn’t want to hurt you by telling you that she hadn’t asked. And you never talk about it. You don't talk about anything. And with this whole FBI thing, I just...I figured you would have asked if you wanted if you wanted to know," she said.
"I didn't ask because I thought you would have told me," Max said defensively.
Maria lay down next to him.
"We're both pathetic, aren't we?" she asked. "I know you aren’t over her. I know she isn't over you either. And here I've been, just blabbing on and on about Michael when you're in the same position as I am and I didn't even ask. I am so not a good friend."
For the first time in ages, a small smile appeared on Max's face.
Maria looked at him, her brow furrowed.
"What?" she asked.
"If you had told me a year ago that you and I would be friends, I would have definitely thought you were nuts," he said.
"Why?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest I defiance. "I'll have you know I normally make an excellent friend. Ask Alex. That is, I did make an excellent one until Michael pulled me into the alien abyss."
"Things will work out between you and Michael," Max said, "just give him some time to work through it."
"Work through what? How he's going to go back to his planet?" Maria asked, rolling her eyes. "Maybe Liz was wrong to worry about Tess and you. She seems to be spending more time with Michael than anyone lately."
The pained look on Max's face at the mention of his former wife's name made Maria wince, contrite
"Sorry, bad subject," she said, wrinkling her nose. "You know, I know this is going to sound really bitchy of me, and I swear it's not because of Liz, but I just can't warm up to that girl. There's something like...wrong with her or something."
"Think about what you'd be like if you were raised by Nasedo," Max said, trying to be reasonable.
"Yeah I guess," Maria conceded, "but still...."
"How is she?" Max asked interrupted, not wanting to talk any further about Tess. "Liz I mean...."
"She says she's doing ok. I hear from her about once a week. But I know she's just as messed up as you are," Maria said.
"Thanks," Max said dryly.
"I didn't mean it that way. Look, I just wanted to apologize for being so caught up with Michael that I didn't even ask how you were doing," she said.
"I wouldn't have told you anyway," he said, with a shrug, staring at the ceiling.
"You were hiding it pretty well for awhile there, listening to me ramble on," she said.
"I didn't mind. I know how Michael can be," he said. "Anyway, I prefer your company to Tess."
"Don't blame you there," she said smirking.
"So... how are you doing Max? Really?" she said.
"I don't know," he said softly. "I miss her."
"She misses you too. She won't say it, but I can hear it in her voice. She's miserable down there," she said.
"Maybe it was best she left. Who knows what could happen with the FBI," he said, shrugging.
"Nothing's happened yet, and I don't think it will," Maria answered. "And there's no way she's better off being away from you."
"It's my own fault," he said. "I let her walk away."
"You're right about that," she agreed. "Why did you let her walk away, Max?"
He was quiet for a moment.
"Because I saw how hurt she was, and I knew I caused it. I don't know, I was so confused by everything that had happened. I just found out I was a King, and I have all of this responsibility. We're all dangerous to you. Liz had already been questioned by the police and kidnapped, and I couldn't live with myself if she got hurt because of me, because of what I am," he said.
"That day, I thought she was right, but not because of me, but because I felt that maybe I didn't have the right to ask her to give up her safety to be with me," he said.
"And now?" she prodded.
"Now I know that I can't live without her. I know it's selfish, and I know it's wrong for me to feel that way, but I love her so much, I just...I can't imagine her not being in my life. She's everything to me. By the time I realized that, she was gone," he said.
"Max, the two of you are stubborn. You think you're putting her in danger because of what you are, and she thinks she'd be messing with some greater plan if she allows herself to be with you. But I know one thing, you're going to have to convince her. Putting one person in danger is a lot different than forsaking a whole planet and a purpose that you were recreated for," she said.
"I know we could work it out somehow, if only she'd give us a chance," he said. "I just can't accept that I was engineered to be someone's mate. It's all too calculated. I love Liz. I'll never love Tess."
"Look, I'll work on Liz, but the first thing I think you need to do is to stop avoiding Tess, and have a little chat with her to set things straight. She needs to be really clear on the fact that there's no chance of anything happening between you and her. Otherwise, you're only going to wind up having problems when Liz comes back, if you're really serious about convincing her you two need to be together," Maria said.
He nodded reluctantly.
"You're right. I've been avoiding her," he said. "I don't want to hurt her. But I can't feel the way she wants me to."
"Well maybe if you're really clear on that, she'll finally accept it," she said.
She paused and then spoke again.
"You know, today Liz did ask about you...I mean just you. It's the first time she's done that. She was casual about it, but it was so obvious," Maria said. "Now all you have to do is to convince her that the two of you together is much better than the two of you apart."
"How could she think that the way we feel about each other is wrong?" he asked in a forlorn whisper. “It’s the only thing right I’ve had in my life.”
“Just work on Tess,” Maria said in a dry voice.
"I'll try," Max said, not enthused with the idea.
"Good enough," she answered, sitting up and moving off the bed.
"I have some thinking to do. I'll get back to you," she said, waving before closing the door behind her.
******
(cont'd on pg. 29)
Michael went to meet her and Maria insisted on going with him, but not before she left a note for the group. Max and the others followed them, and met the Sheriff and Topolsky's alleged psychiatrist out in the woods. But it was not a doctor that met them at all. It was Kal. Topolsky showed up a short time later, only to be taken by Agent Pierce of the FBI. She was dead two days later, killed in a suspicious fire. This was what started to change the Sheriff's thinking on who were the good and bad guys.
*****
Max started to feel an unnatural pull toward Tess. It scared him. It was as if he had no power to resist her.
He began to have visions of kissing her, both in school and when he was with Liz. It scared him.
Liz was starting to notice it.
Michael only made it worse in his annoyance with Max's reticence in investigating Tess. He had already seen Army MP's moving in and out of the Harding house.
In his annoyance, he snapped at Max about his girlfriend Tess bringing the army to town. Liz overheard him.
That night, in the rain, Max came to the Crashdown.
Liz unlocked the door to let him in.
"What's going on, Max?" Liz asked, searching his eyes for an answer.
"I wanna talk," he said.
"About what?" she said, trying to sound non-committal.
"Liz, about what Michael said before, about Tess, I just...I want you to know that I don't feel anything for her. I look at you, and I know you're the person I'm supposed to be with. I've always known it. What happened here that day, when you got shot, and how that brought us together...it's fate. Look at me. You're the one, Liz...the only one. I could never be with anyone else," he said, taking her into his arms.
He left the Crashdown and it was then Tess made her move, pushing him to kiss her against his will with her mind, while unbeknownst to him, Liz was watching from the Crashdown.
" Max! My car broke down. Can you believe it?" she asked.
"No," Max said, afraid of the pull she was having on him.
"No?" Tess asked, looking confused.
"No, I don't believe it," Max answered.
"What are you talking about?" Tess asked, looking at him as if he were crazy.
"You planned this," Max said in accusation.
"I planned what?" Tess said in feigned innocence.
"To be out here," he said.
"Max, you sound a little crazy," she said, shaking her head.
"You're doing something to me," he said, his voice trembling, angry.
"Max, my car broke down. I'm waiting for somebody to help me. I didn't plan anything," she answered.
"I'm with Liz," Max said.
"I know you are," Tess said.
"We belong together," Max said desperately.
"I'm sure that's true," Tess said, looking up at him.
"I don't want anyone but her," Max said, feeling a further pull toward her against his will.
"I'm sure you don't," Tess agreed.
And then they kissed. Max saw himslef and Tess in the desert holding hands.
Liz stood watching the kiss from the door to the café, and then backed away.
"Who are you?" Max asked.
*****
Liz had never felt so hurt or betrayed in her life.
When Max tried to explain that it was unnatural, that he had gotten a flash from Tess, it only made Liz feel worse.
He had followed her into the back room of the Crashdown after she pointedly ignored him sitting in the booth.
"Liz," Max said.
"I saw you, Max," Liz said in a dull voice, interrupting him.
"Liz, it's not what you think," he began.
"How could you kiss her?" she asked.
"I don't know. I don't know what's happening," he said.
"You know all those thing you said to me, Max? Were any of them true?" she said, trying to hold back her tears.
Liz... Liz, you've got to believe me. It wasn't me. She was there. She was waiting for me," he said.
"Oh, so it's her fault," Liz said caustically.
"Liz, something is going on with her. I'm telling you, something is not right about her," he said.
Liz turned to face him.
"Not right about her, Max! What are you talking about?" she practically yelled.
"The way I'm drawn to her, it's not just attraction. It's something else. Please, Liz, you have to have faith in me. In us," he pleaded.
"To have faith?" she asked in derision.
"Yes. Until I figure out what's going on. I'm telling you, when I kissed her, I saw things. I had a flash," he said.
"You had a flash when you kissed her, Max? Like when you kissed me? I guess I'm not so special after all, huh?" she asked, fleeing the room.
Liz knew that though her head was telling her that Max was cheating on her, her heart told her he would never do that.
She decided she needed to find out.
Earlier, Isabel had gone went to visit Tess and thought it was strange that she wouldn't let her help carry a box of photographs. Liz had taken the camera Michael and Max had found in Michael's apartment, intending to bug the Harding house, under the guise of finding out what was going on between Tess and Max.
Max came to get her when he found out what she'd done.
Later, after they'd gotten out, they discovered that Tess was like them, when watching the footage from the camera. They saw Tess re-mold the statue Liz had broken while she was in the house.
Max confronted her, thinking she was Nasedo, but she revealed the Antarian book to him, showing him that she was engineered, intended to be his mate. She was not Nasedo. Nasedo was the shape-shifter that was posing as her father, Ed Harding.
There was barely time to dwell on it before Liz was taken captive by Nasedo, who had shape-shifted himself to look like Max.
Max and the others followed, and the Sheriff was close behind when they found them at the fairgrounds. But the FBI was waiting, and Max was captured.
Nasedo took Liz and the others from the grounds, and they tried to figure out a way to rescue Max, who was now being tortured and by Pierce at the Eagle Rock compound. Isabel had seen it when she dream-walked him. Pierce had the orb, and was threatening the lives of everyone Max loved, including Liz, unless he told them how it worked.
It was the image of a blood-covered Liz being dragged along the ground that had nearly driven Max insane.
The aliens left the humans in Roswell to get Max out of the compound, but after hours of hearing nothing, Liz decided to turn to the Sheriff.
Tess got Michael and Isabel into the compound, but they saw that it was nearly impossible for them to get past the security. A fingerprint and bone scan device prevented anyone unauthorized from getting into the area that they were holding Max.
An agent had driven Isabel, Michael and Tess into the morgue, where for a frightening moment, they were sure they would find Max dead under a sheet on the metal slab. But it was an agent.
An agent entered the morgue and revealed himself as Nasedo. They quickly went over their plan to rescue Max and Isabel and Tess left to wait for their next move.
It was Michael's job to meld the dead agent's fingerprint onto his own finger, for he had the human bone structure to pass through the security checkpoint, where Nasedo did not.
Michael thought that Nasedo was his father, but was soon proved wrong. Nasedo was ruthless, inhuman. Together the four rescued Max, wounding Pierce in the process. Nasedo was taken down.
Max was helped into the Jetta, with the FBI hot on their heels. Together, the two of them escaped by jumping from a bridge into the river.
They spent the night in an abandoned van, Liz heartbroken over the fact that Tess was meant to be his mate. She was afraid for Max and for what he'd been through, but was also afraid for what the future held for the both of them.
She kissed him and received flashes of what they had done to him in the compound.
But Max was having none of it. He didn't believe in destiny or that his life was to be mapped out for him. He loved Liz. He'd loved her all of his life, and it was only the thought of her that had gotten him through the torture he'd endured at Pierce's hand.
Her heart sang at as he voiced his love for her for the first time, and she returned those words. Their lips met in that moment, with no secrets between them.
But a single day changed everything. The Sheriff and Michael picked up Max and Liz just as they were to be run down by the FBI, and Michael used his powers in full view of the Valenti.
The Sheriff was awestruck. He'd only suspected Max, and now he'd come to find out that it was Isabel and Michael as well. Max told him he needed to know that he could trust him. The Sheriff agreed to help.
They formulated a plan to capture Pierce, to find out the whereabouts of Nasedo.
They cornered him in the UFO museum, and bound him to a chair. It took every ounce of will Max had not to kill him on the spot for what he'd done to him, for what he'd threatened to do to the people he loved. Isabel dream-walked him and discovered that Nasedo was dead and his body was being transferred by truck.
They didn't know that Kyle had followed them to the museum. Pierce convinced Kyle to untie him, and to give him the gun he was carrying, and told him to leave. But Kyle didn't. He remained hidden behind a curtain.
When Max and the others came back into the room, Pierce raised his gun and the Sheriff fired at him, missing his target. Michael took Pierce down with his powers.
Pierce was dead, but they soon found out that he wasn't the only casualty. The Sheriff spotted his own gun and heard a moan behind the curtain.
Kyle lay bleeding behind it. The Sheriff had unwittingly shot his own son.
With an anguished cry, he pleaded with Max to help his son.
Max healed Kyle and saved his life, earning the Sheriff's unquestioning loyalty in that timeline.
At the same time, Michael was reeling from what he had done to Pierce, and now saw the damage his powers could do. While Max's power was to heal, his was to kill, and he had no control over it. He hadn't meant to kill Pierce. He saw that he was going to fire at Max, and didn't think, he just acted.
Max had said it wasn't his fault, but he was consumed with what had happened. Max could heal. He was a killer.
His panic grew as he thought of what his powers could do to Maria. What if he got angry with her one day? He could kill her with a flick of his hand.
Maria had tried to comfort him, and he told her to stay away from him.
She said that he needed her. He told her it wasn't safe.
She was visibly angry when she asked how he could just throw her away. Max and Liz couldn't bear to be apart, but he could just let her go. Why?
How could he put into words why he acted the way that he did? How could he tell her how much her presence in his life had meant to him?
When he spoke, his answer left her stunned.
Because he loved her too much.
He kissed her and said goodbye, leaving her standing alone. Alex stayed behind. Only Liz accompanied the four to get Nasedo's body back.
They devised a plan to ambush the truck to get Nasedo back, and once they had his body, they took it to the pod chamber, and with the healing stones, they brought him back to life.
Max wanted to activate the orbs, and Nasedo warned them against it, saying that they didn't know who they could be contacting when they did so. But the four agreed that they wanted answers.
Nasedo shape-shifted into Pierce's likeness, and left them to monitor the Special Unit's activities.
Max and Liz thought that they had finally overcome the obstacles which kept them apart, but that was only the beginning.
When the aliens activated the orbs, the revelation left Liz devastated. It was everything she had feared and more. An image of their mother appeared before them and revealed what they had been searching for, for so long. Max was the King of an enslaved planet and Isabel a Princess. Michael was his second and command, and Tess was Max's wife.
They were killed in an uprising, and their essence was combined with human DNA, and they were sent here to Earth to mature until they could come back and save their planet.
Max had a destiny, a destiny that Liz wasn't meant to be a part of. She saw that when Max accepted Tess into the fold of the people he was closest to, the people who were like him. Liz had no place in it.
Tess took Max's arm saying she knew that it was meant to be, and Liz couldn't bear to stay to watch the two of them.
She tried to leave without being seen, but Max could feel her heartbreak, as he had always been able to since the day he'd healed her.
No, he said, pulling away from her and moving toward Liz, toward the one person who had always held his heart. He didn't remember that other life with Tess, and he didn't want to. What he wanted, was Liz.
He told Liz that everything he'd told her was still true.
How she wanted to believe that. Deep in her heart she knew it was, but the Universe had suddenly grown so much bigger.
She told him that he did have a destiny, and that she couldn't stand in the way of it.
She knew that she couldn't live with herself if the fate of another planet was altered because a half-breed alien King loved a human girl. Their problems were so much bigger than hers, and so much more important.
But you mean everything to me, he said, his eyes pleading with her to believe him. For a split second, he thought she would stay as she leaned up and placed a bittersweet kiss on his lips.
But that hope was dashed when she said goodbye and disappeared through the chamber door.
She felt her heart shatter into a million pieces as she ran down the hill, tears staining her cheeks. How cruel was Fate that it had done this to them? Max had saved her life and took her heart, and she his, only for them to realize what neither had wanted to believe, that they weren't meant to be together.
She heard him call her name and she turned, unable to resist the call of his voice, and took one last lingering look at his face before turning and running down the hill.
Max moved to follow her, and Michael stopped him, telling him that he had to let her go.
Max spent the rest of the summer regretting not running after her, for Liz seemed to disappear. It took him days to drag it out of Maria that she'd gone to her Aunt's in Florida for the summer.
Alex and Maria stayed in Roswell, but neither of them saw much of Michael or Isabel outside the Crashdown. Maria only saw Michael when they were on the same shift, and Alex would occasionally catch Isabel with Max and Tess in the restaurant.
The first month was tense, worrying if the FBI was going to swoop down on Roswell to take them away. Maria began to talk to Max about Michael, and he was glad of it, because at first it seemed to take his mind off the fact that Liz wasn't there, as well as their worries with the FBI. He took to meeting Maria after work in order to avoid Tess, who had started to conveniently come over the house to see Isabel around the time he got off of work.
The thought of being engineered to be with Tess disgusted him. It wasn't that she was unattractive, but she wasn't Liz, the girl he'd lost his heart to long before he'd even really realized what that meant.
He listened patiently to Maria when she would try to analyze what had happened with Michael and why he was acting the way he was. Max offered his insight where he could, without betraying Michael's trust. Michael was dealing with the fact that he had killed another human being, and feared himself a monster.
They had set Pierce’s body alight in the desert, burying it where they thought no one would find it. The Sheriff had come with them, making himself an accomplice.
Max grew ever more quiet, the weight of the FBI looming, and Liz's departure sitting heavily on his mind. In July, he took to his room when he finished work, and barely left the house except to go back to work. Maria came to see him a few times, but she never mentioned Liz. When Tess came around, he acted like she didn't exist. He didn't want to give her the wrong idea, because if she was thinking that he might come to her, it was never going to happen.
Michael was getting angry at Max's withdrawal. They now knew what they were there for. They knew that they were in danger, and it was as if Max had completely ignored it. He ignored his alien side and didn’t want to talk about it.
Tess was the only one who wanted to work to build their alien skills and so Michael started to meet her to practice. He wouldn’t allow himself to admit that it was a good way to avoid Maria.
Max's parents began to grow concerned and insisted that he got to see a psychologist. Max protested at first, but then realized he wasn't going to win the argument, and so he went to the sessions, talking as little as possible, making up average teen problems as he went along.
One night, Maria came over and came into the room without knocking, sitting squarely on the bed next to him.
She frowned as she listened to the music coming from his CD player.
She reached over and turned it off with a frown.
"Geez, no wonder you're so depressed," she said in disgust. "Look what you're listening to?"
Max turned onto his side with a sigh, covering his eyes with his forearm.
"What are you doing here, Maria?" he asked in a low voice.
"Nice to see you too," she grumbled.
He didn't answer.
"Ok Max, I'm not going to bullshit you. Isabel told me that your parents are sending you to a shrink, and that they're all worried about you, and I..."
"What?" Max asked in irritation. "What the hell, is everyone having conversations about me behind my back? And no offense, but why would she tell you?"
"Maybe because she's worried about you and you won't talk to her, and she can't talk to Tess," she snapped, her eyes flashing.
He sighed.
"I'm sorry I snapped at you," he said. "I'm fine. You can tell her that. I've just got a lot on my mind."
There was a short pause, and the next words out of her mouth caused him to stiffen.
"Liz called," she said.
He pulled his arms from his eyes and sat up, the concern and longing evident in his eyes. Maria immediately felt bad.
"How is she? Is she ok?" he asked. "Why did she take so long to call you?"
"Max, you know why she went away, and....this isn't the first time I talked to her," she said.
"What? Why didn't you say anything?" he said, dropping back to his pillow.
"Because you didn't ask, and I didn't know whether I should say something or not. I wasn't sure what was going on between the two of you, and I didn't want to bring it up if you were trying to move on. She hasn't really talked about it. Whenever I bring it up, she changes the subject. I didn’t want to hurt you by telling you that she hadn’t asked. And you never talk about it. You don't talk about anything. And with this whole FBI thing, I just...I figured you would have asked if you wanted if you wanted to know," she said.
"I didn't ask because I thought you would have told me," Max said defensively.
Maria lay down next to him.
"We're both pathetic, aren't we?" she asked. "I know you aren’t over her. I know she isn't over you either. And here I've been, just blabbing on and on about Michael when you're in the same position as I am and I didn't even ask. I am so not a good friend."
For the first time in ages, a small smile appeared on Max's face.
Maria looked at him, her brow furrowed.
"What?" she asked.
"If you had told me a year ago that you and I would be friends, I would have definitely thought you were nuts," he said.
"Why?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest I defiance. "I'll have you know I normally make an excellent friend. Ask Alex. That is, I did make an excellent one until Michael pulled me into the alien abyss."
"Things will work out between you and Michael," Max said, "just give him some time to work through it."
"Work through what? How he's going to go back to his planet?" Maria asked, rolling her eyes. "Maybe Liz was wrong to worry about Tess and you. She seems to be spending more time with Michael than anyone lately."
The pained look on Max's face at the mention of his former wife's name made Maria wince, contrite
"Sorry, bad subject," she said, wrinkling her nose. "You know, I know this is going to sound really bitchy of me, and I swear it's not because of Liz, but I just can't warm up to that girl. There's something like...wrong with her or something."
"Think about what you'd be like if you were raised by Nasedo," Max said, trying to be reasonable.
"Yeah I guess," Maria conceded, "but still...."
"How is she?" Max asked interrupted, not wanting to talk any further about Tess. "Liz I mean...."
"She says she's doing ok. I hear from her about once a week. But I know she's just as messed up as you are," Maria said.
"Thanks," Max said dryly.
"I didn't mean it that way. Look, I just wanted to apologize for being so caught up with Michael that I didn't even ask how you were doing," she said.
"I wouldn't have told you anyway," he said, with a shrug, staring at the ceiling.
"You were hiding it pretty well for awhile there, listening to me ramble on," she said.
"I didn't mind. I know how Michael can be," he said. "Anyway, I prefer your company to Tess."
"Don't blame you there," she said smirking.
"So... how are you doing Max? Really?" she said.
"I don't know," he said softly. "I miss her."
"She misses you too. She won't say it, but I can hear it in her voice. She's miserable down there," she said.
"Maybe it was best she left. Who knows what could happen with the FBI," he said, shrugging.
"Nothing's happened yet, and I don't think it will," Maria answered. "And there's no way she's better off being away from you."
"It's my own fault," he said. "I let her walk away."
"You're right about that," she agreed. "Why did you let her walk away, Max?"
He was quiet for a moment.
"Because I saw how hurt she was, and I knew I caused it. I don't know, I was so confused by everything that had happened. I just found out I was a King, and I have all of this responsibility. We're all dangerous to you. Liz had already been questioned by the police and kidnapped, and I couldn't live with myself if she got hurt because of me, because of what I am," he said.
"That day, I thought she was right, but not because of me, but because I felt that maybe I didn't have the right to ask her to give up her safety to be with me," he said.
"And now?" she prodded.
"Now I know that I can't live without her. I know it's selfish, and I know it's wrong for me to feel that way, but I love her so much, I just...I can't imagine her not being in my life. She's everything to me. By the time I realized that, she was gone," he said.
"Max, the two of you are stubborn. You think you're putting her in danger because of what you are, and she thinks she'd be messing with some greater plan if she allows herself to be with you. But I know one thing, you're going to have to convince her. Putting one person in danger is a lot different than forsaking a whole planet and a purpose that you were recreated for," she said.
"I know we could work it out somehow, if only she'd give us a chance," he said. "I just can't accept that I was engineered to be someone's mate. It's all too calculated. I love Liz. I'll never love Tess."
"Look, I'll work on Liz, but the first thing I think you need to do is to stop avoiding Tess, and have a little chat with her to set things straight. She needs to be really clear on the fact that there's no chance of anything happening between you and her. Otherwise, you're only going to wind up having problems when Liz comes back, if you're really serious about convincing her you two need to be together," Maria said.
He nodded reluctantly.
"You're right. I've been avoiding her," he said. "I don't want to hurt her. But I can't feel the way she wants me to."
"Well maybe if you're really clear on that, she'll finally accept it," she said.
She paused and then spoke again.
"You know, today Liz did ask about you...I mean just you. It's the first time she's done that. She was casual about it, but it was so obvious," Maria said. "Now all you have to do is to convince her that the two of you together is much better than the two of you apart."
"How could she think that the way we feel about each other is wrong?" he asked in a forlorn whisper. “It’s the only thing right I’ve had in my life.”
“Just work on Tess,” Maria said in a dry voice.
"I'll try," Max said, not enthused with the idea.
"Good enough," she answered, sitting up and moving off the bed.
"I have some thinking to do. I'll get back to you," she said, waving before closing the door behind her.
******
(cont'd on pg. 29)
Last edited by Majesty on Wed Dec 10, 2003 3:58 pm, edited 5 times in total.
Part 31A (cont'd)
The summer dragged on for Liz, who spent a lot of time brooding on the beach by herself. She longed for the comfort of Max's embrace, knowing that she could never have that again.
When she'd first started to call Maria, her friend had tried to swing the conversation toward Max. Liz told her firmly that she didn't want to talk about it, that she was trying to put him behind her, adamant that Maria not talk about him.
And she had tried. She'd tried to enjoy the sand and surf, and the landmarks. She tried to enjoy the balmy relaxed atmosphere on her mini-trip to Key West. She'd tried to enjoy the boat rides and the restaurants and the new people she met. But everywhere, a glimpse of shiny dark hair, or a certain mannerism of a stranger would snap her thoughts back to Max, and what she could never have with him.
It was eating her alive. She wondered what he was doing, if he was with Tess, if he even thought of her now that she was gone.
She reached a low point in July when she called Maria, forcing cheerfulness, trying to convince her friend as well as herself that she was having a good time.
"How's Max?" she asked with carefully controlled indifference.
"He's not with Tess, if that's what you're asking," Maria said.
"That’s not what I asked," Liz said flatly.
"But you want to know," Maria said.
"No, Maria I didn't. I just wanted to know if he was ok," she protested.
"Liz, I've been keeping you up with the general alien stuff. Everything's fine. So just ask if you want to know," Maria said.
"I don't," Liz said.
"You don't care whether he's with Tess," Maria said, baiting her.
"It's not a matter of whether I care!" Liz exclaimed, indignant. "It has to be that way. She's his destiny."
"Liz, Max has been walking around practically in a coma for the past month. Right after you left, he would come to the Crashdown after work, but he's stopped doing even that. He doesn't talk to anyone. He doesn't go out. He avoids Tess like the plague. It doesn't look like destiny to me," she said dryly.
"He has to move on," Liz said.
"Like you did?" Maria retorted.
“That’s not fair!” Liz said angrily.
“Isn’t it?” Maria asked. “You know, I would give anything to have with Michael what you have with Max. He pushed me away. You know Max loves you. You know that. You know he doesn’t want Tess. You know it in your heart.”
Liz sighed.
“What I know and what is right are two different animals, Maria. I can’t live with the possibility that a whole planet is suffering because I stood in the way,” she said.
“How do you know that you would be in the way? How do you know that Max will be able to be everything he needs to be without you?” she asked.
“Because he has Tess,” Liz said in a dull voice.
“Liz,” Maria started.
“Look, let’s just drop this, ok? I don’t want to talk about it,” Liz said in a clipped tone.
“Ok, ok,” Maria answered.
“I’ve got to go. I’ll call you soon, ok?” she said in a weary voice.
“All right. Take care of yourself, will you?” she asked.
“I will,” Liz said.
“Love you, girl,” Maria said.
“Same here,” Liz said, and hung up the phone.
***********
As much as she didn’t want to admit it, Maria’s words haunted her for days. Max still loved her. He wasn’t with Tess. For a short time, she actually entertained the idea that maybe things could work out between them and not mean the end of another world millions of miles away.
But in the end, she knew she couldn’t live with the consequences if she were wrong.
It was time to move on, time to make a change. She had to once again start thinking about the future, a future that didn’t include Max.
Determined to follow through on her decision, she started to think about school, doing research, trying to find something that would take her mind off of Max, while helping her to plan her life without him.
The perfect solution fell into her lap, an interview for a position with a local congresswoman, Vanessa Whitaker. It would keep her out of the Crashdown and away from the others. Her parents were thrilled. That type of position looked great on college transcripts. Now, she just needed to convince the Congresswoman that she was the girl for the job.
***********
Max watched his friends quietly, as he always did, wondering where everything had gone so wrong. Michael was avoiding Maria whenever possible. Isabel had cut Alex off. And Tess...well Tess was a whole other can of worms.
He kept his word to Maria and finally had the talk with her one night at the park. He had expected anger. He’d expected hurt. What he hadn’t expected was a blank stare, and unaffected responses.
“Tess, I don’t mean to hurt you. I know Nasedo raised you to believe that we were meant to be together, but that was another life, and we were different people,” he started.
“I know,” Tess said.
“It’s not that I don’t like you. But I don’t remember you. I can’t stop the way I feel about Liz, and I don’t want to,” he said, hoping he was conveying his conviction.
“I know that,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” he said, looking down at his hands.
“Don’t be. You’ll see the error of your ways, eventually,” she said.
“No....I won’t,” he answered, giving her a fierce look. “I will never, ever think of what I have with Liz as a mistake.”
“Fine,” she said, shrugging. “Only time will tell, and I’ll be here if it happens.”
She laid her hand on his arm, and he forced himself not to jerk it away. Instead he carefully took her fingers and removed them.
“Can we be friends?” he asked.
“Whatever you want,” she answered indifferently, standing. “I should get home. It’s late.”
“Do you want me to walk you?” he asked.
“No, I think I have some thinking to do, but thanks,” she answered.
“Night Max,” she said, without a backward glance, walking down the path until she disappeared into the murk.
Max watched her leave, wondering if it was going to be that easy.
*******
Maria didn’t hear from Liz for another month, and Liz was never at home when Maria tried to call herself. She suspected that Liz was there and was not taking her calls.
It had been hard to tell Max every time he’d asked, and she started to believe that maybe she’d made an error in judgment. Maybe she’d been wrong to plant that hope in Max’s mind.
He had become even more determined to get her back. She started to realize what she must have sounded like when she’d sat for hours, talking about Michael and trying to pick Max’s brain for a way to make him realize he needed her.
Michael and Max were at odds all summer. Now that Michael had found out what they were, and what their purpose for the future was, he wanted that future to begin now. But Max insisted they lay low, waiting for word from Nasedo.
They started to bicker whenever they were in each other’s presence, Michael resentful of the limbo they seemed to be in, and Max wanting nothing more than for the whole thing to go away.
He worked on his powers with Isabel with half-hearted effort, the only incentive for him being the thought that he would need to protect Liz when she came back and he convinced her that they needed to be together. He knew that she would realize that. He just had to give her some time.
Isabel tried to walk the fine line keeping Alex in her life without giving him the wrong impression, because she knew that what she wanted to have with him could never be. She pushed her feelings deep within her, where they wouldn’t let her falter from the decision she’d made. Things were complicated enough. She couldn’t afford an entanglement.
For his part, Alex hadn’t given up so easily. He made a habit of showing up at the Crashdown when she was there with Max. He knew she felt something for him. It had been she that had initiated that kiss between them the night that Max and Liz had disappeared into the desert and emerged with the orb. It was he that she had looked to for reassurance when she tried to dream-walk Max when he was taken hostage by Pierce. It was he that she’d wanted with her when she dream-walked Pierce for the location of Nasedo’s body.
He knew that despite her aloof manner that she couldn’t just turn off her feelings. He knew that she wanted everyone to believe she was shallow and fickle, but he knew better. He knew her better, and he couldn’t just let it go.
At the end of August, they’d all met at the Crashdown to watch the hearings of the findings of the Special Unit. One Congresswoman Whitaker, Rep. Roswell, was trying to get top the bottom of the Special Unit’s spending. based on an old murder and the discovery of a substance called Cadmium X. Nasedo, appearing as Pierce, denied the existence of Cadmium X and the existence of aliens.
Max had heard Maria on the phone with Liz in the break-room, and he confronted her with it. Maria told him to play it cool, to let Liz come to him. She’d really grown a soft spot for Max, because they’d been put in the same position. They were both equally pathetic.
Isabel had just said no to a movie with Alex for probably the hundredth time that summer when Grant Sorenson walked into the Crashdown looking for the Sheriff’s office. He was rakishly handsome, older, and not part of this whole mess. Isabel found herself immediately attracted to him. She wouldn’t admit to herself that it was a diversion from Alex. But when he’d asked about the Sheriff, warning flags immediately went up.
They soon found out that he’d found Pierce’s bones in the desert.
Michael and Max argued about whether to call Nasedo, and Max told him no.
Michael went out to the excavation site to see what was happening and then spotted a piece of papery skin on the ground. It disintegrated when he touched it. His alien instinct told him that their enemies were near.
Max had been walking with Isabel when he spotted Liz on the sidewalk in front of them. As soon as he saw her, the whole world narrowed to just her, just as it always had.
She looked more beautiful than she had when she’d left, if that was possible. Nothing had prepared him for seeing her again. He thought he would be, and he had dreamed over and over of what he would say to her to convince her that they were meant to be together. But all those scenarios flew out of his mind when he saw her standing there, her hair blowing softly in the late August breeze.
She was absolutely radiant.
Her name fell from his lips without realizing he’d spoken it. She’d said hello, clearly uncomfortable, and his heart clenched. It was him that made her uncomfortable.
When he asked how long she’d been back, he realized that Maria had kept it from him. She’d been back a few days. He should have expected it, after all Maria was her best friend. But he was disappointed that he could have spent a few more days convincing her that they needed to be together. School was starting.
But it didn’t matter. She was here, and she looked...different.
He stuttered through an explanation, trying to reassure her that nothing weird had happened over the summer, and that he thought everything was going to be ok.
She said she was happy for them, all of them.
It was at that moment, he chose to bring up Tess.
He told her that it was over, and he didn’t have feelings for her. He said he’d told Tess and she understood, and though it might be irrelevant, he just wanted to put it out there.
Liz said she’d decided to get a fresh start and Max’s heart fell a little. Max couldn’t bear to hear her say what he thought she was going to say, and interrupted her, telling her that she looked great. She said she was interviewing for a job.
His heart fell a little further as he asked about the Crashdown. He wouldn’t be able to see her as much as he’d thought he would. He’d counted on spending time there, being around her. He’d thought if she saw him there, that maybe she’d realize she needed him too. But now...
They were interrupted and when Max looked at the person who’d done so, he felt the air rush out of his lungs.
Congresswoman Whitaker? She was going to work for Whitaker? Immediately he was on guard. There was something going on, and he was afraid Liz was unknowingly going to be caught up in it.
Isabel decided to check out Sorensen on her own and went out into the desert to find him. It appeared that he was just a geologist surveying for a big corporation.
Deputy Hansen found Michael’s pocket-knife in the desert, and the Sheriff was forced to bring him in for questioning.
Michael got scared and called Nasedo.
Whitaker happened to be with the Sheriff when the Sheriff was told that the bones are human. She went with him when he visited the Coroner, and the Coroner told them that the bones were fused together, and that the only was that could happen is by a concentrated unimaginable burst of power.
Whitaker ordered the bones to be tested.
Hanson mentioned bringing Michael in again for questioning, and Whitaker insisted that he be arrested. The Sheriff had no choice but to bring him in.
Nasedo showed up as Pierce and then shape-shifted into the form of Ed Harding. He met the others in the back of the Crashdown.
He revealed that he knew about Whitaker because he was sleeping with her as Pierce.
When he announced that he needed to kill all humans who knew about the bones, Liz interrupted, asking wasn’t that how they got into the mess they were in, in the first place? Max could see the disgust in her eyes as she left the room, and he gave Nasedo an order that no one was going to be killed. They would find the bones and he would take care of it.
Liz had decided to help them, convincing herself that it was for everyone, not just Max.
Nasedo, again disguised as Pierce, drew the Whitaker out of the office late one night, and Max met her there.
They found nothing in the office.
Max’s frustration hit an all-time high, and he slammed the file cabinet. Liz looked away, and he immediately regretted it. He knew she was just trying to help.
He said that if he could just fix this, then everything could go back to normal. She said she didn’t think it could.
Max knew the meaning behind her words, but he wasn’t going to give up that easily on her, or the idea that he could have a normal life.
When Liz mentioned the particle physics lab at Las Cruces, he felt the first twinge of hope that they might get Michael out of this mess.
With the help of Isabel and Tess, Max broke into the lab just as they were getting ready to scan the bones. He changed them just in time.
Later that night, they all met at the Crashdown, but Liz was conspicuously absent.
Maria again noticed the new waitress Courtney hitting on Michael. She couldn’t resist making a comment.
She needed to know why he was avoiding her. Was it because he was destined to be with Isabel?
He said it was because he was destined to be a soldier and he couldn’t afford to have anyone waiting for him.
She told him she missed him. He said he knew, but not to.
Max had given up on Liz showing up and decided to head home. But as he walked out the front door, she was getting ready to walk back in.
He needed to ask her the question that had been haunting his mind all summer.
He knew she’d said that things couldn't go back to the way they were, but could she pretend they could for just one second. Could they back, too?
Liz said she couldn’t pretend.
She turned to go inside, and in a bold move, Max grabbed her arm, sending her images of every precious moment they’d had together in the past year, the memories of those the only thing that had kept him sane while she was gone. He willed every ounce of love he’d felt for her into those images, hoping she’d see how much he needed her, how much they needed each other.
When he saw her face, he knew that she had.
He left to go home, now convinced that it would only be a matter of time before they were together.
But that happiness was short-lived, for Nasedo had come to his window, dying, and told him that the Skins were among them. Nasedo died on his bedroom floor. He ran blindly to the Crashdown, afraid for those he loved, afraid that whoever the Skins were had gotten to them first.
He fell hard on the sidewalk, but he barely felt it, his worry for them so complete.
As he burst into the Crashdown he fell to the floor. He told them that Nasedo is dead and that there was another alien among them.
As Liz knelt before him, she saw the terror in his eyes, and then noticed he was hurt. Tess healed the cut on his face. He barely paid attention to it, but it once more drive home what Tess could do for Max, that she couldn't.
They helped him up to get Nasedo out of his room. As they took him through the back, he glanced back at Liz, who stood with Maria and Alex, and she saw the longing in his eyes.
She knew that she was fighting a losing battle. She’d seen those images he’d sent her, and wasn’t sure if he’d done it on purpose, but it had poignantly reminded her of what they’d had.
******
Nasedo could not be brought back with the healing stones.
Tess knew that Khivar had ordered Nasedo’s elimination. He was infatuated with Whitaker despite his denial, and Khivar considered him careless. He should have taken care of the bones before he left. Now, despite their efforts, Whitaker had been forced to try to publicly discredit the Special Unit, drawing unwanted attention.
It hadn’t bothered her in the least. In fact, she knew she could use Max’s compassion against him, and she played it to the fullest.
Liz had seen them together and it had only increased her insecurity about Max.
But Tess hadn’t counted on Max being so obstinate.
As Liz walked through the Crashdown, he followed her. He told her that he didn’t care about his destiny, or about any of it. He loved Liz, and he was coming for her. It made Tess want to vomit.
And it also made her desperate. She decided Isabel needed to know the truth of her deception of Max in her Antarian life. She had to drive a wedge between all of them.
The night of Isabel’s eighteenth birthday, she and Whitaker had planned to start. They would take Isabel hostage if she didn’t remember her true self. Either way, they would have Max.
Tess sent images of herself wounded to Isabel, and Isabel came after her. Tess hadn’t counted on her strength. She used her powers and destroyed the Congresswoman, but not before they had planted the seeds of her betrayal in her mind. Whitaker had been turned to dust by the time Max and the others showed up.
Isabel, distraught at what Whitaker had told her, went to the Pod Chamber to feel closer to her otherworldly mother, and inadvertently had found the Granolith.
Now, Tess just had to get to Max.
She didn’t know it at the time, but Max himself would step in, making everything fall into place.
A future version of Max returned to Roswell to convince Liz that the world depended on her. Everything depended on Liz making this Max fall out of love with her.
Liz's deception, allowing Max to believe that she had slept with Kyle caused the timelines to split into two different courses, but both had the same result, the end of the world as they knew it.
I'll be back on Sunday.
When she'd first started to call Maria, her friend had tried to swing the conversation toward Max. Liz told her firmly that she didn't want to talk about it, that she was trying to put him behind her, adamant that Maria not talk about him.
And she had tried. She'd tried to enjoy the sand and surf, and the landmarks. She tried to enjoy the balmy relaxed atmosphere on her mini-trip to Key West. She'd tried to enjoy the boat rides and the restaurants and the new people she met. But everywhere, a glimpse of shiny dark hair, or a certain mannerism of a stranger would snap her thoughts back to Max, and what she could never have with him.
It was eating her alive. She wondered what he was doing, if he was with Tess, if he even thought of her now that she was gone.
She reached a low point in July when she called Maria, forcing cheerfulness, trying to convince her friend as well as herself that she was having a good time.
"How's Max?" she asked with carefully controlled indifference.
"He's not with Tess, if that's what you're asking," Maria said.
"That’s not what I asked," Liz said flatly.
"But you want to know," Maria said.
"No, Maria I didn't. I just wanted to know if he was ok," she protested.
"Liz, I've been keeping you up with the general alien stuff. Everything's fine. So just ask if you want to know," Maria said.
"I don't," Liz said.
"You don't care whether he's with Tess," Maria said, baiting her.
"It's not a matter of whether I care!" Liz exclaimed, indignant. "It has to be that way. She's his destiny."
"Liz, Max has been walking around practically in a coma for the past month. Right after you left, he would come to the Crashdown after work, but he's stopped doing even that. He doesn't talk to anyone. He doesn't go out. He avoids Tess like the plague. It doesn't look like destiny to me," she said dryly.
"He has to move on," Liz said.
"Like you did?" Maria retorted.
“That’s not fair!” Liz said angrily.
“Isn’t it?” Maria asked. “You know, I would give anything to have with Michael what you have with Max. He pushed me away. You know Max loves you. You know that. You know he doesn’t want Tess. You know it in your heart.”
Liz sighed.
“What I know and what is right are two different animals, Maria. I can’t live with the possibility that a whole planet is suffering because I stood in the way,” she said.
“How do you know that you would be in the way? How do you know that Max will be able to be everything he needs to be without you?” she asked.
“Because he has Tess,” Liz said in a dull voice.
“Liz,” Maria started.
“Look, let’s just drop this, ok? I don’t want to talk about it,” Liz said in a clipped tone.
“Ok, ok,” Maria answered.
“I’ve got to go. I’ll call you soon, ok?” she said in a weary voice.
“All right. Take care of yourself, will you?” she asked.
“I will,” Liz said.
“Love you, girl,” Maria said.
“Same here,” Liz said, and hung up the phone.
***********
As much as she didn’t want to admit it, Maria’s words haunted her for days. Max still loved her. He wasn’t with Tess. For a short time, she actually entertained the idea that maybe things could work out between them and not mean the end of another world millions of miles away.
But in the end, she knew she couldn’t live with the consequences if she were wrong.
It was time to move on, time to make a change. She had to once again start thinking about the future, a future that didn’t include Max.
Determined to follow through on her decision, she started to think about school, doing research, trying to find something that would take her mind off of Max, while helping her to plan her life without him.
The perfect solution fell into her lap, an interview for a position with a local congresswoman, Vanessa Whitaker. It would keep her out of the Crashdown and away from the others. Her parents were thrilled. That type of position looked great on college transcripts. Now, she just needed to convince the Congresswoman that she was the girl for the job.
***********
Max watched his friends quietly, as he always did, wondering where everything had gone so wrong. Michael was avoiding Maria whenever possible. Isabel had cut Alex off. And Tess...well Tess was a whole other can of worms.
He kept his word to Maria and finally had the talk with her one night at the park. He had expected anger. He’d expected hurt. What he hadn’t expected was a blank stare, and unaffected responses.
“Tess, I don’t mean to hurt you. I know Nasedo raised you to believe that we were meant to be together, but that was another life, and we were different people,” he started.
“I know,” Tess said.
“It’s not that I don’t like you. But I don’t remember you. I can’t stop the way I feel about Liz, and I don’t want to,” he said, hoping he was conveying his conviction.
“I know that,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” he said, looking down at his hands.
“Don’t be. You’ll see the error of your ways, eventually,” she said.
“No....I won’t,” he answered, giving her a fierce look. “I will never, ever think of what I have with Liz as a mistake.”
“Fine,” she said, shrugging. “Only time will tell, and I’ll be here if it happens.”
She laid her hand on his arm, and he forced himself not to jerk it away. Instead he carefully took her fingers and removed them.
“Can we be friends?” he asked.
“Whatever you want,” she answered indifferently, standing. “I should get home. It’s late.”
“Do you want me to walk you?” he asked.
“No, I think I have some thinking to do, but thanks,” she answered.
“Night Max,” she said, without a backward glance, walking down the path until she disappeared into the murk.
Max watched her leave, wondering if it was going to be that easy.
*******
Maria didn’t hear from Liz for another month, and Liz was never at home when Maria tried to call herself. She suspected that Liz was there and was not taking her calls.
It had been hard to tell Max every time he’d asked, and she started to believe that maybe she’d made an error in judgment. Maybe she’d been wrong to plant that hope in Max’s mind.
He had become even more determined to get her back. She started to realize what she must have sounded like when she’d sat for hours, talking about Michael and trying to pick Max’s brain for a way to make him realize he needed her.
Michael and Max were at odds all summer. Now that Michael had found out what they were, and what their purpose for the future was, he wanted that future to begin now. But Max insisted they lay low, waiting for word from Nasedo.
They started to bicker whenever they were in each other’s presence, Michael resentful of the limbo they seemed to be in, and Max wanting nothing more than for the whole thing to go away.
He worked on his powers with Isabel with half-hearted effort, the only incentive for him being the thought that he would need to protect Liz when she came back and he convinced her that they needed to be together. He knew that she would realize that. He just had to give her some time.
Isabel tried to walk the fine line keeping Alex in her life without giving him the wrong impression, because she knew that what she wanted to have with him could never be. She pushed her feelings deep within her, where they wouldn’t let her falter from the decision she’d made. Things were complicated enough. She couldn’t afford an entanglement.
For his part, Alex hadn’t given up so easily. He made a habit of showing up at the Crashdown when she was there with Max. He knew she felt something for him. It had been she that had initiated that kiss between them the night that Max and Liz had disappeared into the desert and emerged with the orb. It was he that she had looked to for reassurance when she tried to dream-walk Max when he was taken hostage by Pierce. It was he that she’d wanted with her when she dream-walked Pierce for the location of Nasedo’s body.
He knew that despite her aloof manner that she couldn’t just turn off her feelings. He knew that she wanted everyone to believe she was shallow and fickle, but he knew better. He knew her better, and he couldn’t just let it go.
At the end of August, they’d all met at the Crashdown to watch the hearings of the findings of the Special Unit. One Congresswoman Whitaker, Rep. Roswell, was trying to get top the bottom of the Special Unit’s spending. based on an old murder and the discovery of a substance called Cadmium X. Nasedo, appearing as Pierce, denied the existence of Cadmium X and the existence of aliens.
Max had heard Maria on the phone with Liz in the break-room, and he confronted her with it. Maria told him to play it cool, to let Liz come to him. She’d really grown a soft spot for Max, because they’d been put in the same position. They were both equally pathetic.
Isabel had just said no to a movie with Alex for probably the hundredth time that summer when Grant Sorenson walked into the Crashdown looking for the Sheriff’s office. He was rakishly handsome, older, and not part of this whole mess. Isabel found herself immediately attracted to him. She wouldn’t admit to herself that it was a diversion from Alex. But when he’d asked about the Sheriff, warning flags immediately went up.
They soon found out that he’d found Pierce’s bones in the desert.
Michael and Max argued about whether to call Nasedo, and Max told him no.
Michael went out to the excavation site to see what was happening and then spotted a piece of papery skin on the ground. It disintegrated when he touched it. His alien instinct told him that their enemies were near.
Max had been walking with Isabel when he spotted Liz on the sidewalk in front of them. As soon as he saw her, the whole world narrowed to just her, just as it always had.
She looked more beautiful than she had when she’d left, if that was possible. Nothing had prepared him for seeing her again. He thought he would be, and he had dreamed over and over of what he would say to her to convince her that they were meant to be together. But all those scenarios flew out of his mind when he saw her standing there, her hair blowing softly in the late August breeze.
She was absolutely radiant.
Her name fell from his lips without realizing he’d spoken it. She’d said hello, clearly uncomfortable, and his heart clenched. It was him that made her uncomfortable.
When he asked how long she’d been back, he realized that Maria had kept it from him. She’d been back a few days. He should have expected it, after all Maria was her best friend. But he was disappointed that he could have spent a few more days convincing her that they needed to be together. School was starting.
But it didn’t matter. She was here, and she looked...different.
He stuttered through an explanation, trying to reassure her that nothing weird had happened over the summer, and that he thought everything was going to be ok.
She said she was happy for them, all of them.
It was at that moment, he chose to bring up Tess.
He told her that it was over, and he didn’t have feelings for her. He said he’d told Tess and she understood, and though it might be irrelevant, he just wanted to put it out there.
Liz said she’d decided to get a fresh start and Max’s heart fell a little. Max couldn’t bear to hear her say what he thought she was going to say, and interrupted her, telling her that she looked great. She said she was interviewing for a job.
His heart fell a little further as he asked about the Crashdown. He wouldn’t be able to see her as much as he’d thought he would. He’d counted on spending time there, being around her. He’d thought if she saw him there, that maybe she’d realize she needed him too. But now...
They were interrupted and when Max looked at the person who’d done so, he felt the air rush out of his lungs.
Congresswoman Whitaker? She was going to work for Whitaker? Immediately he was on guard. There was something going on, and he was afraid Liz was unknowingly going to be caught up in it.
Isabel decided to check out Sorensen on her own and went out into the desert to find him. It appeared that he was just a geologist surveying for a big corporation.
Deputy Hansen found Michael’s pocket-knife in the desert, and the Sheriff was forced to bring him in for questioning.
Michael got scared and called Nasedo.
Whitaker happened to be with the Sheriff when the Sheriff was told that the bones are human. She went with him when he visited the Coroner, and the Coroner told them that the bones were fused together, and that the only was that could happen is by a concentrated unimaginable burst of power.
Whitaker ordered the bones to be tested.
Hanson mentioned bringing Michael in again for questioning, and Whitaker insisted that he be arrested. The Sheriff had no choice but to bring him in.
Nasedo showed up as Pierce and then shape-shifted into the form of Ed Harding. He met the others in the back of the Crashdown.
He revealed that he knew about Whitaker because he was sleeping with her as Pierce.
When he announced that he needed to kill all humans who knew about the bones, Liz interrupted, asking wasn’t that how they got into the mess they were in, in the first place? Max could see the disgust in her eyes as she left the room, and he gave Nasedo an order that no one was going to be killed. They would find the bones and he would take care of it.
Liz had decided to help them, convincing herself that it was for everyone, not just Max.
Nasedo, again disguised as Pierce, drew the Whitaker out of the office late one night, and Max met her there.
They found nothing in the office.
Max’s frustration hit an all-time high, and he slammed the file cabinet. Liz looked away, and he immediately regretted it. He knew she was just trying to help.
He said that if he could just fix this, then everything could go back to normal. She said she didn’t think it could.
Max knew the meaning behind her words, but he wasn’t going to give up that easily on her, or the idea that he could have a normal life.
When Liz mentioned the particle physics lab at Las Cruces, he felt the first twinge of hope that they might get Michael out of this mess.
With the help of Isabel and Tess, Max broke into the lab just as they were getting ready to scan the bones. He changed them just in time.
Later that night, they all met at the Crashdown, but Liz was conspicuously absent.
Maria again noticed the new waitress Courtney hitting on Michael. She couldn’t resist making a comment.
She needed to know why he was avoiding her. Was it because he was destined to be with Isabel?
He said it was because he was destined to be a soldier and he couldn’t afford to have anyone waiting for him.
She told him she missed him. He said he knew, but not to.
Max had given up on Liz showing up and decided to head home. But as he walked out the front door, she was getting ready to walk back in.
He needed to ask her the question that had been haunting his mind all summer.
He knew she’d said that things couldn't go back to the way they were, but could she pretend they could for just one second. Could they back, too?
Liz said she couldn’t pretend.
She turned to go inside, and in a bold move, Max grabbed her arm, sending her images of every precious moment they’d had together in the past year, the memories of those the only thing that had kept him sane while she was gone. He willed every ounce of love he’d felt for her into those images, hoping she’d see how much he needed her, how much they needed each other.
When he saw her face, he knew that she had.
He left to go home, now convinced that it would only be a matter of time before they were together.
But that happiness was short-lived, for Nasedo had come to his window, dying, and told him that the Skins were among them. Nasedo died on his bedroom floor. He ran blindly to the Crashdown, afraid for those he loved, afraid that whoever the Skins were had gotten to them first.
He fell hard on the sidewalk, but he barely felt it, his worry for them so complete.
As he burst into the Crashdown he fell to the floor. He told them that Nasedo is dead and that there was another alien among them.
As Liz knelt before him, she saw the terror in his eyes, and then noticed he was hurt. Tess healed the cut on his face. He barely paid attention to it, but it once more drive home what Tess could do for Max, that she couldn't.
They helped him up to get Nasedo out of his room. As they took him through the back, he glanced back at Liz, who stood with Maria and Alex, and she saw the longing in his eyes.
She knew that she was fighting a losing battle. She’d seen those images he’d sent her, and wasn’t sure if he’d done it on purpose, but it had poignantly reminded her of what they’d had.
******
Nasedo could not be brought back with the healing stones.
Tess knew that Khivar had ordered Nasedo’s elimination. He was infatuated with Whitaker despite his denial, and Khivar considered him careless. He should have taken care of the bones before he left. Now, despite their efforts, Whitaker had been forced to try to publicly discredit the Special Unit, drawing unwanted attention.
It hadn’t bothered her in the least. In fact, she knew she could use Max’s compassion against him, and she played it to the fullest.
Liz had seen them together and it had only increased her insecurity about Max.
But Tess hadn’t counted on Max being so obstinate.
As Liz walked through the Crashdown, he followed her. He told her that he didn’t care about his destiny, or about any of it. He loved Liz, and he was coming for her. It made Tess want to vomit.
And it also made her desperate. She decided Isabel needed to know the truth of her deception of Max in her Antarian life. She had to drive a wedge between all of them.
The night of Isabel’s eighteenth birthday, she and Whitaker had planned to start. They would take Isabel hostage if she didn’t remember her true self. Either way, they would have Max.
Tess sent images of herself wounded to Isabel, and Isabel came after her. Tess hadn’t counted on her strength. She used her powers and destroyed the Congresswoman, but not before they had planted the seeds of her betrayal in her mind. Whitaker had been turned to dust by the time Max and the others showed up.
Isabel, distraught at what Whitaker had told her, went to the Pod Chamber to feel closer to her otherworldly mother, and inadvertently had found the Granolith.
Now, Tess just had to get to Max.
She didn’t know it at the time, but Max himself would step in, making everything fall into place.
A future version of Max returned to Roswell to convince Liz that the world depended on her. Everything depended on Liz making this Max fall out of love with her.
Liz's deception, allowing Max to believe that she had slept with Kyle caused the timelines to split into two different courses, but both had the same result, the end of the world as they knew it.
I'll be back on Sunday.
Part 31
This part, Future Max's timeline one I created for them. I kind of struggled on this part the first time around, and then went back and added more to it this past week. It's posted in two parts.
Everlasting - Remy Shand
My reflection of all the things you would say
And the hopeless vision of how you move me that way
Oh, but everybody sees someone
How these contradictions got me out of my head
For understanding, let me lay it on the line
For all decisions, we ain't got but a little time
A-all you needed, you can't say that I didn't try
You're everlasting and I would do it over again
Do it over again
All or nothing baby, is a feeling I know,
This contemplation's turning up on it's own
Your body 's churning, when living is rough
But are you yearning or are you giving it up
For understanding, let me lay it on the line
For all decisions we ain't got but a little time
A-all you needed, you can't say that I didn’t try
You're everlasting and I would do it over again
Do it over again
Divine emotion
Sanctified and true
What's worth saving if your not feeling it too
No compromising could be ready for change
If your feigning with devotion
and know it's never too late
For understanding, let me lay it on the line
For all decisions we ain't got but a little time
A-all you needed, you can't say that I didn’t try
You're everlasting and I would do it over again
Do it over again
For understanding, let me lay it on the line
For all decisions, we ain't got but a little time
A-all you needed, you can't say that I didn’t try
You're everlasting and I would do it over again
Do it over again
Future Max's Timeline
Part Thirty-One (B)
Tender and passionate moments intermingled with heart wrenching pain and paralyzing fear. This was the thought she was left with, that her life had been lived for mere moments after the day Max had saved her in the café.
It had been hard for Liz to see everything that this alternate version of herself experienced, but she suspected it had been much worse for the girl that she was in that timeline. For she. As she was now, saw the whole picture; she saw how afraid Max was of Tess's hold on him. That Liz had never truly known what he had experienced, and though she forgave him, some small part of her still held on to the fact that Max hadn't resisted the girl's pull, and that perhaps he wasn't as opposed to finding out what Tess would mean to them.
But as she watched the events unfold, she knew that he had tried to fight her, with everything he had. Where that Liz had not heard his words to Tess in the rain, she did. He didn't want anyone but Liz. He and Liz were together. She wished that Liz had heard that. She was sure it would have softened the blow of Max's apparent betrayal.
In the space of months, Max had become the center of her world. His safety was paramount to her, as hers was to him. He had endured the tortures at the hands of Pierce because he was trying to keep her safe. She had put herself at risk in going to the Sheriff for help to get him out of the compound.
And those stolen moments wrapped in the warm comfort of his embrace, moments when he took her hand and she felt like all was right with the world, even when it was apparently coming down around them.
Moments when his lips captured hers and his hands roamed her body, tentative and at times restrained.
Moments when he came just because she knew he needed her.
Moments when he held her as she mourned her grandmother, unable to stop himself from taking her in his arms, even when everything he thought he knew at the time told him that it was wrong.
Moments during their first date when he said the sweetest things, and took her in his arms to dance, but it didn't feel like dancing at all. It felt like floating on air.
Moments like the one in the abandoned van, when all she could think of was how she'd ended his life, and he whispered that she had made it begin. When he whispered that he didn't care about some destiny he didn't know anything about, because she was his destiny, and he loved her.
Moments when he'd tried to win her back, tried to convince her that they were meant to be together. He continued to try, even as she pushed him away. She wasn't sure that that version of herself had really known how miserable Max had been without her, how certain he was that they were supposed to be together.
She had never known someone to care for her like that, to put his own life at risk to save hers. And she had done it for him too. That kind of love was rare, and something that they fought for with all they had.
She remembered Seeraynah's words...
Three lifetimes lived by you as you are now, Max Evans...
Lifetimes filled with lies, deception and betrayal...
A lifetime in which you lost much, including those you loved, and the bond between you and the human girl you loved so much....
Now she witnessed images of the Earth, soil burnt, cities in ruin, their friends and family dead. She had to know why. She had to know what had happened and what it had to do with them.
She concentrated on the timeline from which the future version of Max came from, and now, for the first time, she saw a time that another alternate incarnation was never witness to....
**********
In 2014, most of life on Earth as they knew it ceased to exist. The Skins had overrun the planet, destroying everything in their path, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
All of their loved ones perished, until it was only Max and Liz left of their original group.
************
In the spring of 2000, Liz had tried to push Max away, toward his destiny, toward the girl intended to be his mate once again, because it was what he was made for. He had a purpose, to save his planet.
But Max had been determined to make her see that no preconceived destiny was going to change what he'd always known in his heart, that he and Liz were meant to be together.
Whitaker had lured Isabel out to a deserted factory, intending to turn her to the Skins side. Tess sent Isabel images of herself battered and bloody, drawing her from her birthday party to find her.
Whitaker had not expected "Vilondra" to be so uncooperative. She had thought that once her treu nature was revealed, she would see things as they were meant, that she was Khivar's ally.
But she had underestimated Isabel's ties to Max and Michael, and her humanity.
Isabel overpowered Whitaker, turning her to dust with her alien power.
Upset at the revelation of her betrayal of Max, Isabel had kept her knowledge of Vilondra to herself. After that night, a rift grew between Isabel and her brother.
******
Max couldn't stand the thought of being without Liz any longer, and truthfully Liz didn't want to be without him either.
This latest incident with Whitaker made her realize that she could lose him, and it weakened her resolve.
He'd come to her with concert tickets to see a band they'd both loved, Gomez. The night was magical, filled with promise and hope. As Liz listened to the music, she couldn't keep her eyes off of Max. His gaze plainly asked her why she was fighting it. This was the boy she'd dreamed about, and he loved her. And she realized she was crazy to throw that away.
She knew right then that she could no longer push him away.
That night they made love in her room.
Though Max had thought about it a lot, and had been prepared for anything, neither had really imagined things would go that far. Max truly hadn't intended to seduce her. But Liz wouldn't have taken back one second of it. Max's touch had always set her mind and her heart on fire, but nothing in her most secret dreams had prepared her for the reverent touch of his hands, the whispered murmurs of devotion, the way Max had set her entire body aflame. She was left in awe discovering how a mere brush of her fingers against Max's skin could strike him breathless.
From that night, until the very end, were never apart again. A bond opened between them, borne of trust, nurtured by their love, a wondrous and powerful connection unlike anything either of them had ever known. As their bodies became one, their souls entwined, a sacred and beautiful joining that changed everything. Even years later, the awe of their joining still left them humbled.
Their love was once in a lifetime. They were soul-mates. It was meant to be forever.
*******
They'd all seen the report about Whitaker's "funeral" in Copper Summit, and the account that she'd died in a car accident.
They had no choice but to go. They had to know what was going on, and Liz being her employee was their only legitimate excuse for being there.
Maria had been noticing Courtney, the new waitress, making a play for Michael, and caught him at Courtney's apartment the same night Max and Liz had made love for the first time.
But it wasn't what she's thought. After Max and the others left for Copper Summit, she and Michael spied on her and found out that she was a rebel skin, loyal to Michael and the Antarians.
Max and the others soon discovered that Copper Summit was overrun with Skins. Isabel had felt a creepy recognition toward Whitaker's younger brother Nicholas, and they soon found out what the townspeople really were; the enemy.
Isabel had been cornered by Nicholas, and Liz, Tess and Max were by other townspeople.
Michael and Courtney saved them all and destroyed their husks. Now it was only a matter of time before the elements destroyed them, or so they thought.
But there was so much that they didn't know.
The day after Copper Summit, Courtney was killed by Nicholas.
Later that night, after Max dropped Liz off at the Crashdown, Tess came to see Max, intent on driving home that they were destined to be together.
But it was too late.
“Why can’t you see what’s right in front of your face Max? The Skins aren’t all gone. You know that! We belong together, the four of us, you, me Isabel and Michael! Without all of our powers, you’ll never defeat him!” she said.
“You and I don’t have to be mates for that. I can’t be what you want me to be, Tess. I don’t feel that way about you. I never will,” he said quietly.
“How can you choose her, a human, over me?” she raged. “Max, it's time to get your head out of the sand. You and I were meant to be. We were sent here together. You are my mate!”
“No.... I’m not,” Max answered. “I know that’s what you want, but I’m not that person anymore, Tess. I don’t love you. I love Liz. I always have.”
Tess’ face contorted into a mask of rage.
“How can you be this stupid? How can you turn your back on your people for...for that bitch?” she sputtered.
Max’s hand flew to her neck and he had her pinned against the wall trembling with fury.
“Don’t you ever talk like that about Liz again. Ever!” he grated.
She stared at him, her cold blue eyes regarding him in defiance.
“I’m done playing these games with you, Max. Nasedo is dead, and you need me now more than ever. You have no idea what you’re dealing with when it comes to Khivar. I won’t play second anymore. It’s either her or me. Either she goes, or I do,” she threatened.
For Max, there was no decision to be made, for it had been made long ago, the moment he had first kissed Liz on her balcony and completely lost his heart.
He slowly pulled his hand away from her throat.
“Then I guess it’s time for you to leave,” he said, dismissing her.
“You need me!” Tess hissed. “Without the Four Square, you all are nothing!”
Max remained silent a stony expression on his face.
“You fool!” she said, trembling as she stepped away from him.
“Mark my words Max Evans, the day will come when you will need me, and I won’t help you, even if you’re on your knees begging!” she stormed, slamming the door behind her.
Tess left town that night for good, and Max had gone to Liz, as he always had since he’d healed her. He'd hidden what had happen from her through their connection. He needed to tell her himself.
He climbed up her balcony and tapped on her window.
She was waiting for him, having sensed his troubled thoughts. She turned toward the window and gave him a small smile.
The smile faded as she saw his face, her brow furrowing in concern as she moved to the window to open it for him.
He climbed in without a word and pulled her into his arms.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, running her hands up and down his back in a soothing motion.
“Tess is gone,” he said, burying his face in her hair and closing his eyes, feeling at peace for the first time that night in her embrace.
“What happened?” she asked.
He was silent for a moment. He knew Liz wasn't going to be particularly happy with what he had to say. Despite the fact that they were together, she still thought they needed Tess.
“She forced me to choose, and I chose you,” he said.
She pulled away to look him fear lacing her eyes.
“Max, this can’t be good. She’s the only one who knows the most about what you are. She had answers....” she began.
“None that I want to hear,” he said roughly. “I didn’t make her leave. I told her that I couldn’t feel the way she wanted me to feel. She didn’t have to go. She backed herself into a corner.”
“Max, it can’t be easy for her,” Liz said, shaking her head, thinking of Tess, who had been raised to think that she was Max's bride.
“It’s not like I haven’t been up front with her, Liz,” he said, running a hand through his hair as he moved across the room to sit on her bed.
“I’ve been clear from the beginning. There is no Four Square, not anymore, not the way she wants it to be,” he said. “Maybe it's better that she left.”
Liz sat beside him on the bed.
“Are you sure about that?” she whispered.
He turned to look into her eyes, tracing her cheek with his fingers.
“Liz, I won’t believe that what I feel for you isn’t meant. It is. I know it with all of my heart, and no damned book is going to change that,” he said pulling her into his arms. “You’re everything to me, and I won’t believe that this is wrong. I know you don’t believe that either.”
“You know I love you Max,” she murmured.
“Maybe I should have talked to her, tried to be nicer to her...” she sighed.
“It wouldn’t have changed anything,” he said, shaking his head. “Nasedo raised her to believe we were supposed to be together. Nothing you could have said to her would have made a difference. Believe me, I tried too.”
They lay down on the bed together, Liz wrapping her arms around him.
“Everything is going to be ok,” he whispered, brushing his lips against her forehead. “I promise.”
************
For awhile, life had continued on as normal.
Liz had originally thought of dropping her dream of going to Harvard, but Max wouldn't hear of it. He hadn't needed to convince Michael to stay in Roswell with Maria, to keep an eye on their families, as Michael finally realized that he needed Maria more than he realized. But Michael hadn't wanted Max to leave Roswell. But he realized that Max wasn't going to bend, and these people were important to all of them. Maria wouldn't leave her mother to run things in the store by herself, so going along with Max and Liz was out of the question.
So Liz went on to Harvard, and Max followed with her, his grades and a recommendation from one of his father's colleagues his ticket into the Ivy League University. The two resided in the dorms, spending most of their free time in Liz's room, which was a single. Max had a roommate who he hardly ever saw, for he most nights were spent with Liz.
Isabel had decided to attend Boston University. Alex had gone on to MIT, just like he had planned. Maria and Michael had moved in to an apartment together in Roswell, much to the dismay of her mother. Kyle had remained in Roswell after attending the Police Academy. He'd suddenly decided he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps. Liz hadn't been surprised.
Things had gone well at BU, until Max had been unwittingly discovered in Liz's dorm room by Liz's RA. They were warned of expulsion, and needless to say their parents were less than thrilled. They knew that there was nothing they could do to keep them apart when they were literally thousands of miles away, but there was tension with both of their sets of parents, who hadn't forgotten their rebelliousness in high school, staying out all night.
Liz argued with her mother constantly about Max. Nancy thought she was getting too serious too soon. For awhile, Liz drifted apart from her parents.
Max hadn't fared much better at home. His parents now thought that the only reason he wanted to go to Harvard was because of Liz. And maybe that had been true in the beginning, but he now found that he truly liked his law classes. He found them challenging and the intricacies of the legal system intriguing. But his parents didn't quite believe that when they got into trouble their first semester.
Their grades went a little way toward softening their attitudes, but not much.
Still, Max and Liz had known such love in the years they'd spent together. At nineteen, during their Christmas Break, they'd returned home to Roswell and soon after, eloped to Las Vegas, and finally speaking aloud the vows that they'd coveted long before that moment.
Liz imagined that to most girls, the ceremony would have been a disappointment. It was devoid of the fanfare, the flowers and the expensive gifts. But to her, it was almost perfect. The only thing missing was their parents. They knew that they'd be furious if they'd told them, and decided they'd face their wrath afterward rather than dealing with the arguments beforehand. Both of them knew it was right, and it was meant. Their parents couldn't possibly understand what they'd known since freshman year.
They hadn't even dared to call their friends until they'd arrived in Vegas. They'd invited them for a weekend away, and when they'd arrived, they'd found out the true reason for being there. At first Isabel was angry at them for keeping it from them, and then she cried with happiness. Maria had much the same reaction. Michael was his usual stoic self, and Alex was genuinely happy for them.
They stood in the small chapel, amongst their closest friends, people they considered family, and professed their vow to honor each other.
Liz wore a simple white sleeveless dress she'd seen in one of the casino's boutiques, Max a rented tuxedo. Neither of them had ever looked more beautiful or more radiant than they did that night.
Liz's eyes shone with tears as Max spoke in his quiet way at the altar.
"Liz, you've been in my heart from the moment I saw you all those years ago. Not a day went by when I didn’t think about you, that I didn't wonder what it would be like to hold you in my arms. I used to dream about what it would be like to know you, to love you and be loved by you," he said, his eyes sparkling with tears even as he smiled and took her hand.
"I never dreamed that I would have this moment, that you could feel...what you feel for me. I didn't dare to. You've made all of my dreams come true, and I promise, I am going to spend the rest of my days making sure yours come true too," he vowed.
Tears of happiness slid down her cheeks. She struggled to find the words that she needed to say, without giving away the truth the to minister standing before them.
"But they have, Max. You saved my life in so many ways, and you've opened up a whole new world; one that I never knew existed. Every minute I've spent with you has been worth it. I know that you worry about that, but don't. I love you, and the only time I feel complete is when I'm with you. I love you so much," she whispered.
Moments later, they were declared man and wife amidst the smiles and tears of their friends.
They danced into the night in celebration.
That happy time was soon shadowed with the war, but would remain forever burned in their hearts as one of the most perfect nights of their lives.
Though there was never a safe time to consider having children, they counted their blessings in each other, and their extended family of friends.
******
In 2010, they started to see signs that something was off.
Though most of them left Roswell to pursue their dreams, oddly enough, they all wound up moving back, with the addition of Seeraynah.
Seeraynah had been sent to Earth by the rebels to assist the King and the Princess after word came through their network that Tess was returning to Antar, and that she wasn't alone.
She had brought the duplicate Zan, after seducing him in New York.
Lonnie and Rath had been on the verge of killing him, because he was so uncooperative, but Tess had arrived and changed his mind. She eliminated Ava, which didn't seem to upset any of them, and tempted Zan with the promise of riches and comfort, fabricating a plan to overthrow Khivar. She lied about a secret legion of Skins, loyal to him and that would help him to overpower Khivar if he accompanied her to Antar. She knew if she could get Zan to Antar, that the tables would turn in Khivar's favor. Zan did not care for his sister or his second, but he did care about his own neck, and Tess had counted on that.
Nicholas, who had survived the disaster at Copper Summit due to Tess's mind-warp on the others, and a spare husk he'd secreted away, represented Khivar at the Summit, and Zan played nice. Nicholas had offered Zan compensation in return for the seal and the Granolith, and Zan accepted.
To the Loyalists, that meant disaster. If Zan went through with Khivar's plans, there was no hope for the galaxy.
But unbeknownst to all of them, Zan had his own plans.
Seeraynah carefully monitored Zan in those first days after he arrived on Antar to publically tell the Antarians he was passing the Granolith to Khivar, and found that the Loyalist's worst fears were true. Zan, even in all of his arrogance, soon realized that Tess had lied to him, and that there was no army to help him. He did not know how to access the Granolith from Antar and so he gave in. An official ceremony was planned, on Earth, a ceremony in which Zan would formally hand over permanent control to Khivar, remaining a figurehead for Antar with Tess at his side, to appease the people.
The Loyalists had no choice but to initiate his elimination.
It was to happen the day of the ceremony. Seeraynah's mate was to be the assassin. She and her mate Turuk had ingratiated themselves with Khivar, and were to be present for the ceremony, chosen to be among the small group which would travel to Earth.
Tess knew where the Granolith was secreted away in the pod chamber. A wormhole was set up to transport them to Earth for the transferal.
It was certain now that there was little chance Turuk would make it out alive, but they all knew that he would be giving his life for the greater good. Their only hope now was the remaining duplicate on Earth. His name was Max Evans. Seeraynah was to travel there, to protect both Max and the Granolith at all costs.
The ceremony began with Zan drawing a crystal from the base, but he never got the chance to use it
Seeraynah's mate was successful in his attempt, and died seconds later at the hands of Khivar's guards.
A great explosion rocked the inside of the chamber, and Zan was torn limb from limb as the shrapnel of a superior Antarian bomb erupted at his feet. Khivar, Tess, Lonnie and Rath escaped through the wormhole, leaving a few of his guards to deal with Seeraynah.
Seeraynah knew that once they reached the other side, they would have a nasty surprise. Their wormhole technology had been tampered with, and disabled. The Loyalists had devised a virus that would eat through the coded data, rendering it useless.
But that was a thought for later. Seeraynah had to move fast once she was sure Zan was dead, for now they knew she too was a traitor.
A trained warrior, she fought the guards off efficiently, knowing their weak spots, hammering the plugs with calculated efficiency, avoiding their weapons as she disintegrated them with calculated precision.
Soon there was nothing left of them but dust.
Seeraynah sealed the chamber. She could not chance moving the Granolith and raising the suspicions of the hybrid King, nor his sister or second in command.
Khivar was temporarily hampered, but she knew it was only a matter of time before he sent a convoy of ships after her and the remaining dupe. He would not wait for the wormhole device to be repaired. In fact, she knew that it could not be repaired after the Loyalist's tampering; at least not without help from the other planets. She knew they would not voluntarily provide the technology to him.
She shape-shifted her appearance to that of a young human girl, and set off to Roswell, the last known location of Max Evans.
She discovered that Zan's second was living in Roswell, but Max and Isabel Evans were nowhere to be found. She learned quickly that she dared not reveal her identity to Max's second, Michael. She could see that he was distrustful by nature.
She was able to determine from Max Evans' scholastic records that he had gone to the East Coast, to Harvard University.
Her journey led her across the country, locating him in Boston with a human girl named Liz. It was her duty to keep him alive, for he commanded the Granolith.
She watched Max from afar, so different from his duplicate, so much more like the King she had pledged her loyalty to. They had recently married, and he seemed to be leading an ordinary life, filled with classes and kisses and heartfelt embraces with the human girl, a short, demure girl with expressive eyes and a quiet smile. As she watched them, she came to understand why her King had chosen her. With her heightened alien senses, she could see the power that coursed between them, made stronger with their unity. It was fierce and beautiful, yet invisible to the human eye, hinted at only in the looks, touches and kisses shared between the two.
Her King had found his balance, his other half.
She remained in the shadows for months, until an attempt was made upon his life. A rogue Skin had survived Copper Summit and had found the two in Boston. The Skin made his move one late night as they crossed the deserted Quad.
It was Seeraynah that felled him, for neither was prepared for the attack. One moment they were walking arm in arm, lost in each other, and the next, they were standing in a cloud of dust.
Max raised his hand toward her, his fingers crackling with alien energy, and she held her hands up in submission.
“Please, I’m not here to harm you. I’m here to protect you!” she said, and he slowly lowered his hand. "I serve you...Max Evans."
"Who are you?" he asked with narrowed eyes.
"A friend," she answered.
From that moment on, Seeraynah was with them always, their protector, their confidant.
*******
They had always known their enemies were out there. They didn't realize that Tess would betray them. Seeraynah told them that they would come. It was only a matter of time, and they had to be prepared. They decided it wasn't safe for Max, Michael and Isabel to be separated any longer.
They returned to Roswell with Isabel, introducing Seeraynah to the rest of the group. Seeraynah began to tutor him in the workings of the Granolith. Some of it was instinctive, and some was ancient Antarian knowledge.
Max realized that he could not command the Granolith as he should have been able to. As hard as he tried, his mastery of its workings was spotty at best. But Seeraynah did the best that she could in instructing him, though his incomplete mastery was a puzzle to her, for he bore the seal. He was its Keeper.
Years passed. Alex moved back to Roswell to be near Isabel, and they married in 2006. Michael and Maria married shortly afterward.
Liz took a job at a local laboratory. Max did paralegal work for his father to pay the bills, while he finished his degree at ULC. They had almost started to believe that Khivar was not coming.
But in 2012, their worst fears were realized as Antarian battleships entered Earth’s atmosphere. Chaos erupted throughout the world and communications were cut. The United States Air Force attacked the ships, resulting in a devastating release of firepower. All US artillery, aircraft and naval ships were destroyed with ease, their weapons deflected by the advanced Antarian battle technology with little effort. Millions of soldiers from countries all over the world were killed in combat.
Max and the others went into hiding in Arizona, secreting the Granolith into the mountains. For two years, guerilla warfare was Earth's solitary defense, humans against the Skins.
Despite those dark times, neither Liz nor Max would have taken back the time they’d had together for anything.
Until now, even the war had not torn them apart.
But the past few weeks had changed everything. Now, each and every person they had ever loved, their parents, Michael, Maria, Isabel, Alex, the Sheriff, Kyle, had all had perished under Khivar's wrath.
A whole planet had been torn apart in Khivar's efforts to hunt down the exiled King, and Tess had been his right hand.
Their parents had died in the initial combat two years before.
Max knew that it was imperative that he was able to harness the power of the Granolith. And at times he was able to. It was the only reason they were still alive. Its power allowed them to evade Khivar’s army.
Many humans had joined in the cause to rid the planet of the Skins, and the group spent most of their time on the run, traveling from camp to camp, always on the move, always looking for an opportunity to catch Khivar off guard.
In the first months of the year 2014, their chance had come. Human Intelligence, as the network of spies had been named, had discovered where Khivar was hiding. Max knew it might be their only chance to end the Holocaust that had overtaken Earth. He had no choice but to go, with Michael and Isabel by his side.
He insisted that Liz stay with the others in the abandoned cabin in Colorado. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to focus on what had to be done if he was worried for Liz’s safety.
He and Liz had argued bitterly over his decision to leave them behind. Maria hadn't helped matters by taking Liz's side. The humans thought that they should all remain together, while the hybrids wanted to protect them.
In the end it was decided that Seeraynah would stay with them in the cabin. She had been injured in a night battle, and was the least equipped to fight at the moment.
Max, Michael, and Isabel had hoped that this would finally be the beginning of the end of the war.
They found out too late that it was a trap.
An hour later when the arrived at the camp Khivar had allegedly been based, the area was deserted.
He felt Liz’s fury and fear, sudden and tangible, clouding his mind until it almost suffocated him, and he knew instantly that they'd just made a grievous error. They'd drawn the three away from their safe-house to get to the humans, their weakness.
Liz called out to him frantically through their connection, and his sense of helplessness had threatened to drive him insane.
"Do you feel Maria?" Max asked, turning to Michael.
Michael drove their battered pickup truck at suicidal speed, all of them feeling the building terror from their other halves.
Suddenly Isabel stiffened and a gasp echoed through truck.
"Oh my God, Alex!" Isabel cried out, and he knew.
Max grabbed her, pulling her into his arms as she choked back a sob. Max had already known what had just happened.
Alex was gone.
**********
continued in next post.
Everlasting - Remy Shand
My reflection of all the things you would say
And the hopeless vision of how you move me that way
Oh, but everybody sees someone
How these contradictions got me out of my head
For understanding, let me lay it on the line
For all decisions, we ain't got but a little time
A-all you needed, you can't say that I didn't try
You're everlasting and I would do it over again
Do it over again
All or nothing baby, is a feeling I know,
This contemplation's turning up on it's own
Your body 's churning, when living is rough
But are you yearning or are you giving it up
For understanding, let me lay it on the line
For all decisions we ain't got but a little time
A-all you needed, you can't say that I didn’t try
You're everlasting and I would do it over again
Do it over again
Divine emotion
Sanctified and true
What's worth saving if your not feeling it too
No compromising could be ready for change
If your feigning with devotion
and know it's never too late
For understanding, let me lay it on the line
For all decisions we ain't got but a little time
A-all you needed, you can't say that I didn’t try
You're everlasting and I would do it over again
Do it over again
For understanding, let me lay it on the line
For all decisions, we ain't got but a little time
A-all you needed, you can't say that I didn’t try
You're everlasting and I would do it over again
Do it over again
Future Max's Timeline
Part Thirty-One (B)
Tender and passionate moments intermingled with heart wrenching pain and paralyzing fear. This was the thought she was left with, that her life had been lived for mere moments after the day Max had saved her in the café.
It had been hard for Liz to see everything that this alternate version of herself experienced, but she suspected it had been much worse for the girl that she was in that timeline. For she. As she was now, saw the whole picture; she saw how afraid Max was of Tess's hold on him. That Liz had never truly known what he had experienced, and though she forgave him, some small part of her still held on to the fact that Max hadn't resisted the girl's pull, and that perhaps he wasn't as opposed to finding out what Tess would mean to them.
But as she watched the events unfold, she knew that he had tried to fight her, with everything he had. Where that Liz had not heard his words to Tess in the rain, she did. He didn't want anyone but Liz. He and Liz were together. She wished that Liz had heard that. She was sure it would have softened the blow of Max's apparent betrayal.
In the space of months, Max had become the center of her world. His safety was paramount to her, as hers was to him. He had endured the tortures at the hands of Pierce because he was trying to keep her safe. She had put herself at risk in going to the Sheriff for help to get him out of the compound.
And those stolen moments wrapped in the warm comfort of his embrace, moments when he took her hand and she felt like all was right with the world, even when it was apparently coming down around them.
Moments when his lips captured hers and his hands roamed her body, tentative and at times restrained.
Moments when he came just because she knew he needed her.
Moments when he held her as she mourned her grandmother, unable to stop himself from taking her in his arms, even when everything he thought he knew at the time told him that it was wrong.
Moments during their first date when he said the sweetest things, and took her in his arms to dance, but it didn't feel like dancing at all. It felt like floating on air.
Moments like the one in the abandoned van, when all she could think of was how she'd ended his life, and he whispered that she had made it begin. When he whispered that he didn't care about some destiny he didn't know anything about, because she was his destiny, and he loved her.
Moments when he'd tried to win her back, tried to convince her that they were meant to be together. He continued to try, even as she pushed him away. She wasn't sure that that version of herself had really known how miserable Max had been without her, how certain he was that they were supposed to be together.
She had never known someone to care for her like that, to put his own life at risk to save hers. And she had done it for him too. That kind of love was rare, and something that they fought for with all they had.
She remembered Seeraynah's words...
Three lifetimes lived by you as you are now, Max Evans...
Lifetimes filled with lies, deception and betrayal...
A lifetime in which you lost much, including those you loved, and the bond between you and the human girl you loved so much....
Now she witnessed images of the Earth, soil burnt, cities in ruin, their friends and family dead. She had to know why. She had to know what had happened and what it had to do with them.
She concentrated on the timeline from which the future version of Max came from, and now, for the first time, she saw a time that another alternate incarnation was never witness to....
**********
In 2014, most of life on Earth as they knew it ceased to exist. The Skins had overrun the planet, destroying everything in their path, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
All of their loved ones perished, until it was only Max and Liz left of their original group.
************
In the spring of 2000, Liz had tried to push Max away, toward his destiny, toward the girl intended to be his mate once again, because it was what he was made for. He had a purpose, to save his planet.
But Max had been determined to make her see that no preconceived destiny was going to change what he'd always known in his heart, that he and Liz were meant to be together.
Whitaker had lured Isabel out to a deserted factory, intending to turn her to the Skins side. Tess sent Isabel images of herself battered and bloody, drawing her from her birthday party to find her.
Whitaker had not expected "Vilondra" to be so uncooperative. She had thought that once her treu nature was revealed, she would see things as they were meant, that she was Khivar's ally.
But she had underestimated Isabel's ties to Max and Michael, and her humanity.
Isabel overpowered Whitaker, turning her to dust with her alien power.
Upset at the revelation of her betrayal of Max, Isabel had kept her knowledge of Vilondra to herself. After that night, a rift grew between Isabel and her brother.
******
Max couldn't stand the thought of being without Liz any longer, and truthfully Liz didn't want to be without him either.
This latest incident with Whitaker made her realize that she could lose him, and it weakened her resolve.
He'd come to her with concert tickets to see a band they'd both loved, Gomez. The night was magical, filled with promise and hope. As Liz listened to the music, she couldn't keep her eyes off of Max. His gaze plainly asked her why she was fighting it. This was the boy she'd dreamed about, and he loved her. And she realized she was crazy to throw that away.
She knew right then that she could no longer push him away.
That night they made love in her room.
Though Max had thought about it a lot, and had been prepared for anything, neither had really imagined things would go that far. Max truly hadn't intended to seduce her. But Liz wouldn't have taken back one second of it. Max's touch had always set her mind and her heart on fire, but nothing in her most secret dreams had prepared her for the reverent touch of his hands, the whispered murmurs of devotion, the way Max had set her entire body aflame. She was left in awe discovering how a mere brush of her fingers against Max's skin could strike him breathless.
From that night, until the very end, were never apart again. A bond opened between them, borne of trust, nurtured by their love, a wondrous and powerful connection unlike anything either of them had ever known. As their bodies became one, their souls entwined, a sacred and beautiful joining that changed everything. Even years later, the awe of their joining still left them humbled.
Their love was once in a lifetime. They were soul-mates. It was meant to be forever.
*******
They'd all seen the report about Whitaker's "funeral" in Copper Summit, and the account that she'd died in a car accident.
They had no choice but to go. They had to know what was going on, and Liz being her employee was their only legitimate excuse for being there.
Maria had been noticing Courtney, the new waitress, making a play for Michael, and caught him at Courtney's apartment the same night Max and Liz had made love for the first time.
But it wasn't what she's thought. After Max and the others left for Copper Summit, she and Michael spied on her and found out that she was a rebel skin, loyal to Michael and the Antarians.
Max and the others soon discovered that Copper Summit was overrun with Skins. Isabel had felt a creepy recognition toward Whitaker's younger brother Nicholas, and they soon found out what the townspeople really were; the enemy.
Isabel had been cornered by Nicholas, and Liz, Tess and Max were by other townspeople.
Michael and Courtney saved them all and destroyed their husks. Now it was only a matter of time before the elements destroyed them, or so they thought.
But there was so much that they didn't know.
The day after Copper Summit, Courtney was killed by Nicholas.
Later that night, after Max dropped Liz off at the Crashdown, Tess came to see Max, intent on driving home that they were destined to be together.
But it was too late.
“Why can’t you see what’s right in front of your face Max? The Skins aren’t all gone. You know that! We belong together, the four of us, you, me Isabel and Michael! Without all of our powers, you’ll never defeat him!” she said.
“You and I don’t have to be mates for that. I can’t be what you want me to be, Tess. I don’t feel that way about you. I never will,” he said quietly.
“How can you choose her, a human, over me?” she raged. “Max, it's time to get your head out of the sand. You and I were meant to be. We were sent here together. You are my mate!”
“No.... I’m not,” Max answered. “I know that’s what you want, but I’m not that person anymore, Tess. I don’t love you. I love Liz. I always have.”
Tess’ face contorted into a mask of rage.
“How can you be this stupid? How can you turn your back on your people for...for that bitch?” she sputtered.
Max’s hand flew to her neck and he had her pinned against the wall trembling with fury.
“Don’t you ever talk like that about Liz again. Ever!” he grated.
She stared at him, her cold blue eyes regarding him in defiance.
“I’m done playing these games with you, Max. Nasedo is dead, and you need me now more than ever. You have no idea what you’re dealing with when it comes to Khivar. I won’t play second anymore. It’s either her or me. Either she goes, or I do,” she threatened.
For Max, there was no decision to be made, for it had been made long ago, the moment he had first kissed Liz on her balcony and completely lost his heart.
He slowly pulled his hand away from her throat.
“Then I guess it’s time for you to leave,” he said, dismissing her.
“You need me!” Tess hissed. “Without the Four Square, you all are nothing!”
Max remained silent a stony expression on his face.
“You fool!” she said, trembling as she stepped away from him.
“Mark my words Max Evans, the day will come when you will need me, and I won’t help you, even if you’re on your knees begging!” she stormed, slamming the door behind her.
Tess left town that night for good, and Max had gone to Liz, as he always had since he’d healed her. He'd hidden what had happen from her through their connection. He needed to tell her himself.
He climbed up her balcony and tapped on her window.
She was waiting for him, having sensed his troubled thoughts. She turned toward the window and gave him a small smile.
The smile faded as she saw his face, her brow furrowing in concern as she moved to the window to open it for him.
He climbed in without a word and pulled her into his arms.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, running her hands up and down his back in a soothing motion.
“Tess is gone,” he said, burying his face in her hair and closing his eyes, feeling at peace for the first time that night in her embrace.
“What happened?” she asked.
He was silent for a moment. He knew Liz wasn't going to be particularly happy with what he had to say. Despite the fact that they were together, she still thought they needed Tess.
“She forced me to choose, and I chose you,” he said.
She pulled away to look him fear lacing her eyes.
“Max, this can’t be good. She’s the only one who knows the most about what you are. She had answers....” she began.
“None that I want to hear,” he said roughly. “I didn’t make her leave. I told her that I couldn’t feel the way she wanted me to feel. She didn’t have to go. She backed herself into a corner.”
“Max, it can’t be easy for her,” Liz said, shaking her head, thinking of Tess, who had been raised to think that she was Max's bride.
“It’s not like I haven’t been up front with her, Liz,” he said, running a hand through his hair as he moved across the room to sit on her bed.
“I’ve been clear from the beginning. There is no Four Square, not anymore, not the way she wants it to be,” he said. “Maybe it's better that she left.”
Liz sat beside him on the bed.
“Are you sure about that?” she whispered.
He turned to look into her eyes, tracing her cheek with his fingers.
“Liz, I won’t believe that what I feel for you isn’t meant. It is. I know it with all of my heart, and no damned book is going to change that,” he said pulling her into his arms. “You’re everything to me, and I won’t believe that this is wrong. I know you don’t believe that either.”
“You know I love you Max,” she murmured.
“Maybe I should have talked to her, tried to be nicer to her...” she sighed.
“It wouldn’t have changed anything,” he said, shaking his head. “Nasedo raised her to believe we were supposed to be together. Nothing you could have said to her would have made a difference. Believe me, I tried too.”
They lay down on the bed together, Liz wrapping her arms around him.
“Everything is going to be ok,” he whispered, brushing his lips against her forehead. “I promise.”
************
For awhile, life had continued on as normal.
Liz had originally thought of dropping her dream of going to Harvard, but Max wouldn't hear of it. He hadn't needed to convince Michael to stay in Roswell with Maria, to keep an eye on their families, as Michael finally realized that he needed Maria more than he realized. But Michael hadn't wanted Max to leave Roswell. But he realized that Max wasn't going to bend, and these people were important to all of them. Maria wouldn't leave her mother to run things in the store by herself, so going along with Max and Liz was out of the question.
So Liz went on to Harvard, and Max followed with her, his grades and a recommendation from one of his father's colleagues his ticket into the Ivy League University. The two resided in the dorms, spending most of their free time in Liz's room, which was a single. Max had a roommate who he hardly ever saw, for he most nights were spent with Liz.
Isabel had decided to attend Boston University. Alex had gone on to MIT, just like he had planned. Maria and Michael had moved in to an apartment together in Roswell, much to the dismay of her mother. Kyle had remained in Roswell after attending the Police Academy. He'd suddenly decided he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps. Liz hadn't been surprised.
Things had gone well at BU, until Max had been unwittingly discovered in Liz's dorm room by Liz's RA. They were warned of expulsion, and needless to say their parents were less than thrilled. They knew that there was nothing they could do to keep them apart when they were literally thousands of miles away, but there was tension with both of their sets of parents, who hadn't forgotten their rebelliousness in high school, staying out all night.
Liz argued with her mother constantly about Max. Nancy thought she was getting too serious too soon. For awhile, Liz drifted apart from her parents.
Max hadn't fared much better at home. His parents now thought that the only reason he wanted to go to Harvard was because of Liz. And maybe that had been true in the beginning, but he now found that he truly liked his law classes. He found them challenging and the intricacies of the legal system intriguing. But his parents didn't quite believe that when they got into trouble their first semester.
Their grades went a little way toward softening their attitudes, but not much.
Still, Max and Liz had known such love in the years they'd spent together. At nineteen, during their Christmas Break, they'd returned home to Roswell and soon after, eloped to Las Vegas, and finally speaking aloud the vows that they'd coveted long before that moment.
Liz imagined that to most girls, the ceremony would have been a disappointment. It was devoid of the fanfare, the flowers and the expensive gifts. But to her, it was almost perfect. The only thing missing was their parents. They knew that they'd be furious if they'd told them, and decided they'd face their wrath afterward rather than dealing with the arguments beforehand. Both of them knew it was right, and it was meant. Their parents couldn't possibly understand what they'd known since freshman year.
They hadn't even dared to call their friends until they'd arrived in Vegas. They'd invited them for a weekend away, and when they'd arrived, they'd found out the true reason for being there. At first Isabel was angry at them for keeping it from them, and then she cried with happiness. Maria had much the same reaction. Michael was his usual stoic self, and Alex was genuinely happy for them.
They stood in the small chapel, amongst their closest friends, people they considered family, and professed their vow to honor each other.
Liz wore a simple white sleeveless dress she'd seen in one of the casino's boutiques, Max a rented tuxedo. Neither of them had ever looked more beautiful or more radiant than they did that night.
Liz's eyes shone with tears as Max spoke in his quiet way at the altar.
"Liz, you've been in my heart from the moment I saw you all those years ago. Not a day went by when I didn’t think about you, that I didn't wonder what it would be like to hold you in my arms. I used to dream about what it would be like to know you, to love you and be loved by you," he said, his eyes sparkling with tears even as he smiled and took her hand.
"I never dreamed that I would have this moment, that you could feel...what you feel for me. I didn't dare to. You've made all of my dreams come true, and I promise, I am going to spend the rest of my days making sure yours come true too," he vowed.
Tears of happiness slid down her cheeks. She struggled to find the words that she needed to say, without giving away the truth the to minister standing before them.
"But they have, Max. You saved my life in so many ways, and you've opened up a whole new world; one that I never knew existed. Every minute I've spent with you has been worth it. I know that you worry about that, but don't. I love you, and the only time I feel complete is when I'm with you. I love you so much," she whispered.
Moments later, they were declared man and wife amidst the smiles and tears of their friends.
They danced into the night in celebration.
That happy time was soon shadowed with the war, but would remain forever burned in their hearts as one of the most perfect nights of their lives.
Though there was never a safe time to consider having children, they counted their blessings in each other, and their extended family of friends.
******
In 2010, they started to see signs that something was off.
Though most of them left Roswell to pursue their dreams, oddly enough, they all wound up moving back, with the addition of Seeraynah.
Seeraynah had been sent to Earth by the rebels to assist the King and the Princess after word came through their network that Tess was returning to Antar, and that she wasn't alone.
She had brought the duplicate Zan, after seducing him in New York.
Lonnie and Rath had been on the verge of killing him, because he was so uncooperative, but Tess had arrived and changed his mind. She eliminated Ava, which didn't seem to upset any of them, and tempted Zan with the promise of riches and comfort, fabricating a plan to overthrow Khivar. She lied about a secret legion of Skins, loyal to him and that would help him to overpower Khivar if he accompanied her to Antar. She knew if she could get Zan to Antar, that the tables would turn in Khivar's favor. Zan did not care for his sister or his second, but he did care about his own neck, and Tess had counted on that.
Nicholas, who had survived the disaster at Copper Summit due to Tess's mind-warp on the others, and a spare husk he'd secreted away, represented Khivar at the Summit, and Zan played nice. Nicholas had offered Zan compensation in return for the seal and the Granolith, and Zan accepted.
To the Loyalists, that meant disaster. If Zan went through with Khivar's plans, there was no hope for the galaxy.
But unbeknownst to all of them, Zan had his own plans.
Seeraynah carefully monitored Zan in those first days after he arrived on Antar to publically tell the Antarians he was passing the Granolith to Khivar, and found that the Loyalist's worst fears were true. Zan, even in all of his arrogance, soon realized that Tess had lied to him, and that there was no army to help him. He did not know how to access the Granolith from Antar and so he gave in. An official ceremony was planned, on Earth, a ceremony in which Zan would formally hand over permanent control to Khivar, remaining a figurehead for Antar with Tess at his side, to appease the people.
The Loyalists had no choice but to initiate his elimination.
It was to happen the day of the ceremony. Seeraynah's mate was to be the assassin. She and her mate Turuk had ingratiated themselves with Khivar, and were to be present for the ceremony, chosen to be among the small group which would travel to Earth.
Tess knew where the Granolith was secreted away in the pod chamber. A wormhole was set up to transport them to Earth for the transferal.
It was certain now that there was little chance Turuk would make it out alive, but they all knew that he would be giving his life for the greater good. Their only hope now was the remaining duplicate on Earth. His name was Max Evans. Seeraynah was to travel there, to protect both Max and the Granolith at all costs.
The ceremony began with Zan drawing a crystal from the base, but he never got the chance to use it
Seeraynah's mate was successful in his attempt, and died seconds later at the hands of Khivar's guards.
A great explosion rocked the inside of the chamber, and Zan was torn limb from limb as the shrapnel of a superior Antarian bomb erupted at his feet. Khivar, Tess, Lonnie and Rath escaped through the wormhole, leaving a few of his guards to deal with Seeraynah.
Seeraynah knew that once they reached the other side, they would have a nasty surprise. Their wormhole technology had been tampered with, and disabled. The Loyalists had devised a virus that would eat through the coded data, rendering it useless.
But that was a thought for later. Seeraynah had to move fast once she was sure Zan was dead, for now they knew she too was a traitor.
A trained warrior, she fought the guards off efficiently, knowing their weak spots, hammering the plugs with calculated efficiency, avoiding their weapons as she disintegrated them with calculated precision.
Soon there was nothing left of them but dust.
Seeraynah sealed the chamber. She could not chance moving the Granolith and raising the suspicions of the hybrid King, nor his sister or second in command.
Khivar was temporarily hampered, but she knew it was only a matter of time before he sent a convoy of ships after her and the remaining dupe. He would not wait for the wormhole device to be repaired. In fact, she knew that it could not be repaired after the Loyalist's tampering; at least not without help from the other planets. She knew they would not voluntarily provide the technology to him.
She shape-shifted her appearance to that of a young human girl, and set off to Roswell, the last known location of Max Evans.
She discovered that Zan's second was living in Roswell, but Max and Isabel Evans were nowhere to be found. She learned quickly that she dared not reveal her identity to Max's second, Michael. She could see that he was distrustful by nature.
She was able to determine from Max Evans' scholastic records that he had gone to the East Coast, to Harvard University.
Her journey led her across the country, locating him in Boston with a human girl named Liz. It was her duty to keep him alive, for he commanded the Granolith.
She watched Max from afar, so different from his duplicate, so much more like the King she had pledged her loyalty to. They had recently married, and he seemed to be leading an ordinary life, filled with classes and kisses and heartfelt embraces with the human girl, a short, demure girl with expressive eyes and a quiet smile. As she watched them, she came to understand why her King had chosen her. With her heightened alien senses, she could see the power that coursed between them, made stronger with their unity. It was fierce and beautiful, yet invisible to the human eye, hinted at only in the looks, touches and kisses shared between the two.
Her King had found his balance, his other half.
She remained in the shadows for months, until an attempt was made upon his life. A rogue Skin had survived Copper Summit and had found the two in Boston. The Skin made his move one late night as they crossed the deserted Quad.
It was Seeraynah that felled him, for neither was prepared for the attack. One moment they were walking arm in arm, lost in each other, and the next, they were standing in a cloud of dust.
Max raised his hand toward her, his fingers crackling with alien energy, and she held her hands up in submission.
“Please, I’m not here to harm you. I’m here to protect you!” she said, and he slowly lowered his hand. "I serve you...Max Evans."
"Who are you?" he asked with narrowed eyes.
"A friend," she answered.
From that moment on, Seeraynah was with them always, their protector, their confidant.
*******
They had always known their enemies were out there. They didn't realize that Tess would betray them. Seeraynah told them that they would come. It was only a matter of time, and they had to be prepared. They decided it wasn't safe for Max, Michael and Isabel to be separated any longer.
They returned to Roswell with Isabel, introducing Seeraynah to the rest of the group. Seeraynah began to tutor him in the workings of the Granolith. Some of it was instinctive, and some was ancient Antarian knowledge.
Max realized that he could not command the Granolith as he should have been able to. As hard as he tried, his mastery of its workings was spotty at best. But Seeraynah did the best that she could in instructing him, though his incomplete mastery was a puzzle to her, for he bore the seal. He was its Keeper.
Years passed. Alex moved back to Roswell to be near Isabel, and they married in 2006. Michael and Maria married shortly afterward.
Liz took a job at a local laboratory. Max did paralegal work for his father to pay the bills, while he finished his degree at ULC. They had almost started to believe that Khivar was not coming.
But in 2012, their worst fears were realized as Antarian battleships entered Earth’s atmosphere. Chaos erupted throughout the world and communications were cut. The United States Air Force attacked the ships, resulting in a devastating release of firepower. All US artillery, aircraft and naval ships were destroyed with ease, their weapons deflected by the advanced Antarian battle technology with little effort. Millions of soldiers from countries all over the world were killed in combat.
Max and the others went into hiding in Arizona, secreting the Granolith into the mountains. For two years, guerilla warfare was Earth's solitary defense, humans against the Skins.
Despite those dark times, neither Liz nor Max would have taken back the time they’d had together for anything.
Until now, even the war had not torn them apart.
But the past few weeks had changed everything. Now, each and every person they had ever loved, their parents, Michael, Maria, Isabel, Alex, the Sheriff, Kyle, had all had perished under Khivar's wrath.
A whole planet had been torn apart in Khivar's efforts to hunt down the exiled King, and Tess had been his right hand.
Their parents had died in the initial combat two years before.
Max knew that it was imperative that he was able to harness the power of the Granolith. And at times he was able to. It was the only reason they were still alive. Its power allowed them to evade Khivar’s army.
Many humans had joined in the cause to rid the planet of the Skins, and the group spent most of their time on the run, traveling from camp to camp, always on the move, always looking for an opportunity to catch Khivar off guard.
In the first months of the year 2014, their chance had come. Human Intelligence, as the network of spies had been named, had discovered where Khivar was hiding. Max knew it might be their only chance to end the Holocaust that had overtaken Earth. He had no choice but to go, with Michael and Isabel by his side.
He insisted that Liz stay with the others in the abandoned cabin in Colorado. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to focus on what had to be done if he was worried for Liz’s safety.
He and Liz had argued bitterly over his decision to leave them behind. Maria hadn't helped matters by taking Liz's side. The humans thought that they should all remain together, while the hybrids wanted to protect them.
In the end it was decided that Seeraynah would stay with them in the cabin. She had been injured in a night battle, and was the least equipped to fight at the moment.
Max, Michael, and Isabel had hoped that this would finally be the beginning of the end of the war.
They found out too late that it was a trap.
An hour later when the arrived at the camp Khivar had allegedly been based, the area was deserted.
He felt Liz’s fury and fear, sudden and tangible, clouding his mind until it almost suffocated him, and he knew instantly that they'd just made a grievous error. They'd drawn the three away from their safe-house to get to the humans, their weakness.
Liz called out to him frantically through their connection, and his sense of helplessness had threatened to drive him insane.
"Do you feel Maria?" Max asked, turning to Michael.
Michael drove their battered pickup truck at suicidal speed, all of them feeling the building terror from their other halves.
Suddenly Isabel stiffened and a gasp echoed through truck.
"Oh my God, Alex!" Isabel cried out, and he knew.
Max grabbed her, pulling her into his arms as she choked back a sob. Max had already known what had just happened.
Alex was gone.
**********
continued in next post.