Only Hope (A/I, CC, Mature) Book One Complete

[nemsis]

Title: Only Hope

Author: nemsis

Disclaimer: I do not own Roswell so please don’t sue me. I’m just taking the characters out for a spin nothing more.

Rating: Mature

Coupling: A/I, CC

Summary: Post Heart of Mine. What happens when the sheriff come tells the gang about Alex being in a car wreck, only this time there was no body to be found? Is Alex really dead or is he out there somewhere? And what happened to him and why did it happen? Will Isabel and the others be able to find him in time? Follow her journey as she discovered that there are things in this world that will even surprise her.

AN: This is the first story in the Whisperings series, and the second part of this tale will be posted on the crossover forum as it’ll be crossing over with the show “Supernatural.” The third and final story will be posted back on the CC forum. Happy reading and I hope ya’ll like it.

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
'Cause sooner or later it's over
I just don't want to miss you tonight
~Iris by Goo Goo Dolls

Book One: “Only Hope”

Moonlight filtered through the window and filled the room slowly as the moon rose in the night sky. Pale light filled the room and it flickered briefly over the young woman slumbering on the bed. Honey blonde hair was spread across the bed like woven lace, and with a mutter comment she turned in her sleep, and the light trailed across the smeared tear tracks that curved around her cheeks. She started tossing and turning and suddenly with a gasp she lurched up with one word on her lips, “Alex.”

Gasping for breath she drew her knees to her chest and rested her head while trying to calm down and slow her heart beat down. She raised a shaky hand and pushed her hair back away from her face and wondered for the second time in two days why she was having these dreams or rather these nightmares. Ever since the prom after she had kissed Alex she had begun to have nightmares, about what she couldn’t remember, but she knew they involved Alex and something terrible had happened to him. She always woke up with tears on her cheek and his name on her lips and her heart aching for something that she couldn’t put a name too.

Finally her heart slowed down and she swung her legs over the side of the bed and took one more deep breath before standing up. Moving towards her window she grabbed her blanket and wrapped it securely around her as it would protect her from the demons that haunted her dreams. Sitting down on the window still she traced her finger along the cold window and looked wearily at the full moon. She continued to stare up at the moon until finally the sky lit up and the red blush of the sky announced the beginnings of a new day.

******

The Crashdown ~later that day

The bell rang as the door open signaling the arrival of another customer, Isabel looked up for what seemed to be the fifth time in one minute hoping that Alex would be walking through the door. Seeing that it was Mrs. Peterson from next door, Isabel gave her a brief smile and turned back around to stare at the photos in front of her. She smiled briefly at the picture of the whole group that had been taken at the Crashdown before they had all headed off to prom. She went back to sorting the pictures and putting them into their appropriate categories, couples, individuals, and groups. Hearing the bell rang again she looked towards the door with a smile on her face, but sighed as she saw that it wasn’t Alex but someone else again.

“Alex, where are you,” she asked the photo in front of her worriedly.

“Uh oh, you do know talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity right,” Maria asked as she sat on the stool next to Isabel.

“Well you would know,” Isabel quipped back. “From what I’ve seen you got tons of experience,” she grinned at her friend.

“Yeah well you go out with Michael Guerin and see how sane you stay,” Maria winked at her. Leaning over Maria grabbed a stack of the photos and started shuffling through them. “Oh wow, the pictures came out pretty good. I think I’ll take a few of these, and what’s in that other pile over there.”

Isabel passed Maria the stack she was pointing at and went back to staring at the picture of her and Alex dancing. She had talked to Alex earlier in the day and he seemed to be fine, and she knew that she shouldn’t let a few dreams dictate what she did in the real world, but those dreams, if you could call them that, were too dark for her to ignore. Something was going to happen and she was okay with that, it was when it would happen that worried her. You can’t plan for something if you don’t have a clue when it’s going to happen. She sighed again and started wishing that Alex would hurry up and get here. The sooner he’d arrive the less she would worry.

“Isabel!” Maria snapped her fingers in Isabel’s face.

Blinking Isabel looked at her, “What?”

“I’ve been calling you for about five minutes now and you were in trance or something. What were you thinking about that got you frowning and sighing so hard,” Maria searched Isabel’s face for clues as to what was going with her friend.

“Sorry. I was just wondering where Alex is at. He was supposed to meet here about ten minutes ago.”

“Well I would say that maybe traffic is backed up, but really this town isn’t that big for that to even happen. But I doubt Alex being a few minutes late is what got you frowning so badly. Now what’s really going on?”

Before Isabel could say anything, the bell rang and Isabel turned to see Sheriff Valenti come in and with a sense of dread she knew that the time had arrived all too soon before any of them could have prepared. She reached over and grabbed Maria’s hand all the while hoping that her nightmares were just that, nightmares not real. Valenti seeing the two girls reached up and took his hat off and headed their way. Stopping in front of them he said, “You two need to come with me. Is Liz here? Because she needs to come as well.”

“What’s going on,” Maria asked.

“Maria, please just go grab Liz because we don’t have much time.”

Maria stared at him for a second before getting up and hurrying towards the back room of the Crashdown.

Valenti watched her go then turned back to see Isabel gathering all the pictures together and placing them back into the envelope except for one picture. He watched curiously as she traced the picture then put it protectively in her coat pocket. Leaving the other pictures on the table she grabbed her coat and stood up. He wondered if she knew what was going on, whether something alien was involved, but kept his silence as he waited for the other two girls return. Soon Maria and Liz were standing in front of him and Isabel. Seeing that both girls wanted to ask questions he just held up his hand and told them, “We don’t much time, so we’ll save the questions for later.”

The girls looked at each other frighten as to why the sheriff was acting so mysteriously, and started following him out the door. A few minutes later the group was in the sheriff’s cruiser and heading down the highway and all too soon they found themselves next to Frazier Woods. Stopping the car, the four of them got out and the sheriff motioned to the three girls to follow him. As they walked through the woods, he finally spoke of why they were out there. “About twenty minutes ago the sheriff department received a call about a car driving off the highway into the woods and when we got here we found a car that had indeed been in some kind of accident. Checking the plates, we found that the car belonged to one Alex Whitman, but so far we haven’t found Alex or any signs as to where he went.”

“Alex’s been in a car accident?”

“What do you mean you can’t find him?”

“Has a search party been formed?”

"Blood?!"

The three girls shouted out different questions, and Valenti continued walking. “Okay time out. Yes we have a search team out looking for him, and as you’ll see in a moment we don’t have any signs of where he could have gone. It’s as if he wasn’t even in the car, but the car was definitely driven down here because of the tire tracks.” He halted at the clearing and caution the girls to be careful where they walked. The girls followed him down and saw that Michael, Max, Kyle, and Tess were already at the scene. The seven friends met up and looked at each other worried that something had happened to their friend.

“Isabel, do you think you can maybe dream walk Alex and see if he’s unconscious somewhere,” Valenti squinted at her. “It might be the best chance we have to find him. So far the tracking dogs haven’t found anything although they seemed to be afraid of something, but what I don’t know.”

“Sheriff, I don’t think it’s a good idea that Isabel tries to dream walk. If he’s unconscious there’s no telling what will happen if she tries to dream walk him,” Max stared at his sister who seemed to be unnaturally quiet and paler than he had ever seen her.

“It’s okay Max. If dream walking can help find Alex, then I want to do it. I guess it’s a good thing I brought a picture,” she slowly pulled the picture that she had placed in her pocket earlier out. “I just need somewhere to sit down away so I can concentrate,” she told Valenti.

He nodded and motioned to a tree that was a few feet away. She nodded her thanks and headed off towards the tree, but stopped when she saw that everyone was following her. “Guys I need to do this alone. I can’t focus if everyone is around me.” Seeing that they were going to protest she shook her head no.

“Isabel, you shouldn’t try to dream walk by yourself,” Max told her. “Maybe its better if at least one of us goes to sit next to you while you dream walk Alex.”

“Yeah I agree with Maxwell. Take one of the girls with you at least,” Michael frowned at her not sure why he was sensing that there was more to Isabel’s protests.

“Okay, I’ll take Liz with me since we tried something similar before,” she told the group and not waiting to see if they approved or not she headed off towards the tree.

Liz walked next to Isabel silently and waited for Isabel to sit down. Isabel sat down and leaned against the tree, and traced the picture once again. Turning to Liz, who had sat down next to her, she said, “Don’t worry I’m sure Alex is probably asleep somewhere making us worry for nothing.”

“I hope so Isabel, I hope so. Are you ready?”

“As ready as I can be,” she gave Liz a brief smile. Leaning back she closed her eyes and touched the picture and whispered, “I’m coming for you Alex so hold on.”

Beneath her fingertips, the picture started wavering and soon she was pulled into a dreamscape. She looked around and saw that she was in the desert and noticed that symbols were at her feet. The sky around her was pitched black except for a few sprinkles of stars. She worried about the stillness of the dream, but pushed it away and looked around for Alex. “Alex, where are you? Are you here,” she yelled and all that replied was an echo of her questions. She started walking around the symbols and the more she walked the colder it became, but still she continued on hoping that she would find some clue as to where Alex was at. “Alex,” she yelled his name again. She waited for his answer or even an echo, but what was replied scared her even more. “Forget me not,” were the words whispered to her.

“Alex is that you?”

“Forget me not,” the whispered voice replied again.

“Alex!” She screamed not sure what it meant, but knew that it couldn’t be anything good. “Where are you?”

She started to run, but soon the stars dimmed and the world turned black as she felt the dreamscape push her out. Before she woke up she heard the whispered voice tell her, “Forget me not.”

She came out of the dream walk with a start and a scream trapped in her throat. Taking a deep breath she saw that Liz was holding her hand while her other friends were now surrounding her.

Seeing the expectations on everyone’s face, she dropped her head and whispered, “I didn’t find him at all. I just ended up somewhere in the desert looking up at stars.” She turned to Liz, “He has to be alive. I wouldn’t have been able to dream walk if he wasn’t alive. If he was dead all I would have gotten was a black scene. So he’s not dead, just lost somewhere.” She turned to the others and asked, “Right? He’s just lost not dead.”

No one wanted to say differently nor believe it so they all nodded their heads .

The sheriff walked over to them to inquire about the dream walk but seeing the look on their faces guessed what the result was. “The teams are still combing the woods for clues and hoping that the dogs will pick up his scent. While they’re doing that I was wondering if maybe Michael would be willing to see if he could pick up some kind of flash or something from the car. Maria told me how you once picked up a flash from a key and I’m hoping that maybe you’ll get a clue or something.”

“Alright I’ll give it my best try and see what happens,” Michael followed the sheriff back towards the car. Max leaned down and helped Isabel stand up and reached back down to help Liz.

Are you sure you’re okay,” Max asked Isabel as he watch her try to stay steady on her feet.

“I’m fine. It’s okay really.” She gave him a weak smile and rested against the tree for a moment before pushing away and following Michael and the sheriff.

“Something is wrong,” Max said as he looked at Isabel walk slowly behind the others.

“Do you think she saw something,” Liz asked as she too follow Isabel’s slow progress across the path.

“Maybe, but whatever it is she’s not ready to tell us.” Shaking his head he offered Liz his hand and she grabbed it after a brief hesitation and the two started walking.

“You know I got a bad feeling about all this,” Kyle rubbed his hand over his face. “A really bad feeling and it’s only going to get worst.”

“Yeah I hear you and Buddha help us all if it does get worst,” Tess frowned. “We better get down and see if we can help.”

Kyle nodded and soon they were standing next to the others as Michael ran his hand over the car hoping to get a flash or something. Minutes went by and still Michael received no flashes, then Max tried and nothing happened either and Tess tried with the same results.

“Maybe I should give it a try,” Isabel moved next to the car.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea Iz. You just came out of a dream walk and you haven’t even rested,” Maria told her.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m fine and maybe I can pick up a clue to find Alex,” she ignored the calls of the others to not do it and laid her hand on the car with a deep breath. Like the three before her she didn’t receive a flash either, and when she tried again nothing happened. “I don’t understand why none of us are getting flashes. It doesn’t make sense. It’s as if nothing has happened here when there are car tracks everywhere, the car is totally wrecked, and there’s blood all on the driver seat. Where is Alex? What’s going on?” Her voice had turned into a scream as she shouted her frustration at the situation and finally a sob as she pressed her hands against her face to keep it all in.
The girls hurried to her side and tried to offer what comfort they could as the guys looked on uncomfortably aware that what Isabel spoke was truth. That the whole situation made no sense and the fact that there was no clues, no nothing to point to where Alex had gone only made the situation worst.

“We’ll get him back Iz. I promise,” Max gathered his sister into a hug and soon the whole group made promises to find Alex.

The sheriff looked on as the friends stood reassuring each other and making promises that he hope would come true because as it stood it was as if Alex Whitman had never existed. Waiting until the group calmed down he cleared his throat and suggested that they all head home and leave the rest of the search to the department. The guys protested that they should help with the search but Valenti told them kindly to go home and watch over the girls. He waited until the group left and turned back to the car and removed his hat. Closing his eyes he said a quiet prayer and with that hurried off to join the rest of the search and rescue team.

******

A month later

The seven friends stood together as they watch a casket that symbolized their missing friend being lowered into the group. It had been a month since Alex’s disappearance and still there were no clues, nothing to show what had happened to their friend. The sheriff department had called off the search even though unofficial Sheriff Valenti was still looking to find out what had happened to Alex. Everyone presumed that Alex either didn’t want to be found or that Alex was no longer with the living.

“And so we say goodbye to one of our own and hope that in the next life he finds peace in God’s loving embrace. Let us taking this time to say our goodbyes one by one,” the priest motion to the mourners and one by one people picked up a rose and whispered their goodbyes.

Isabel moved next to Liz and Maria and the three girls held hands and one by one each picked up a rose to say their goodbyes. Isabel closed her eyes as the wind tugged at her hair and opened her eyes when she felt something hit her in the face. Looking down she saw the white flower at her feet and she bent down to pick it up. As her fingers touched the petals she got a flash of darkness, Alex’s sleeping face, and a voice whispered to her “forget me not.”
She trembled as she realized that here was the first clue for Alex was out there somewhere and waiting for them, rather her to find him.

End of Book One

[nemsis]

AN: Thanks so much for the wonderful feedback. Alright upon request, book two has been posted. Whispers (Book II)

Happy reading! Hopefully it won't suck.