okay, i'm so not sure where this is going, and this part is huge. It's Zan's story - I'm not sure what you all will think of it. Please be gentle, I'm still a UC newbie
Two Sides of the Coin
Rating: Teen/Mature
Part Two
Zan looked up at the headlights bearing down on him. He tried to react, tried to use his powers to stop it, but he couldn’t. It was happening to fast. He couldn’t react. Luckily for him, Ava could and did. She used her powers to stop the truck that Rath had sent on it’s collision course with his body, and she mind warped Rath and Lonnie into thinking their plan had been a success. In their mind, he was nothing but road candy laid out on the streets of New York.
He took off right away. At first, he didn’t know where he was going. He just knew he had to get out of New York, and get away from his so-called family. He’d miss Ava, but she was tough, she’d make it without him. They’d tried to hook up, but there just wasn’t a real connection between them.
It was his third day on the road when he made the decision to head to Roswell. He wasn’t sure why. He’d never believed the stories their stupid protector had told them about another set of pods. He’d figured it was just some stupid fairy story he’d made to keep them in line.
He didn’t know why he felt this whacked sense of obligation to help someone that probably didn’t even exist. But on the off chance it was true, he decided he owed it to the other him to warn him about Rath.
Getting out of New York was relatively easy. He had planned to steal a car and just drive all the way to podunksville, but something stopped him. He had never liked stealing they had done, but most of the time it had been a matter of survival. He wasn’t like Rath and Lonnie who had really gotten their rocks off on stealing.
He decided, instead, to try and stay on the right side of the law as much as possible. So he stuck out his thumb, in the tried and tested method of travel for the young, and caught a ride with a trucker heading out of New York.
Once he was free of the city, he found rides were fewer and farther between. It took one of the truckers calling him a punk, freak weirdo to clue him in. It was his appearance that was causing him some of the problems. In a truck stop outside of Columbus, Zan cut his hair and removed his various piercings. He hit a thrift store and managed to score some clothes and a bag to carry his crap in. He was ready, next stop, Roswell New Mexico.
Zan climbed out of the truck, shut the door and banged on it as a sign of thanks. He’d hooked up with this particular trucker somewhere in Oklahoma, and he’d dropped him on the outskirts of Roswell. Not quite curbside service, but better than nothing. He hefted the bag over his shoulder and started to walk, his feet kicking up puffs of dust on the side of the road.
A car sped past him, then slammed on its brakes and waited until he caught up with it.
“Hey, Evans! You need a ride? What’s the matter? Isabel get to the Jeep before you?” a voice from the car’s interior called out to him.
Zan quickly passed his hand across his face, and a scruffy blond beard appeared. Another touch of his hand, and his hair became shorter, and the color matched that of the beard. He quickened his pace and moved to stand beside the car.
“Hey,” he said to the driver.
“Oh, uh, you’re not Max,” the driver said, his voice tinged with fear.
“No, sorry, I’m not,” said Zan with a smile. “Can you tell me how much further it is to town?”
“Yeah, about three miles,” said the nervous kid in the car. “Look, I, uh, I thought you were a guy from school. I’m sorry, I’m not in to picking up hitch hikers.”
“No problem,” said Zan. “I don’t blame you. Have a great day.”
Zan watched as the car pulled out into the road and then peeled out in its haste to get away.
“Jackass,” he said, but he wasn’t angry. In fact, he was happier than he had been in quite a long time. He had a name to look for now, and confirmation that someone named Max Evans was running around Roswell, New Mexico with his face. He hefted his bag over his shoulder and started walking.
** * ** * **
It didn’t take him long to find out who Max Evans was. Max Evans was him. Or he would have been Max Evans if he had been raised in a house, with parents who loved him, and friends. He also found the other Vilondra, going by the name of Isabel. And the other Rath was there, as was the other Ava.
But these Royals were nothing like him and Lonnie or the others. Even he could tell how much they cared about each other. And more amazing to him was the fact that they had trusted humans with their secret. He couldn’t get over it. He watched them for several days, learning their secrets. He liked the chick that the other Rath had hooked up with. She was a real handful that was for sure. And the guy Lonnie had hooked up with. He wasn’t anything like the guys his Lonnie had thought were hot. This guy, this Alex, he was, well, he was nice. There wasn’t any other word for it.
The other him was the luckiest homey on the face of this planet and probably on the face of Antar, too. He had hooked up with the hottest babe he had ever seen. Zan shook himself. He could see that it wasn’t just the hotness of Max’s girl. She was something special, and he found himself watching her more than he watched the others.
Then it happened one night, he was watching Liz – that was her name – in her bedroom and he saw
another him. He couldn’t believe it. He crept closer to her window to listen to what this third Zan had to say. And what he had to say was some kind of unbelievable that was for sure. That guy, the other him was from the future, and he was telling Liz that if she didn’t break up with the Max from now, their lived, and their planet would be in jeopardy.
Zan was certain that Liz wouldn’t do it. Even he could see that she was really jazzed for Max. But she did, she bought into it, and she did everything she could to drive Max away from her. That was when he fell in love with her, when he saw the sacrifice that she made to save him, to save
them. They didn’t know how lucky they were to have her on their side.
The night she did it, the night she finally drove Max away, Zan decided to reveal himself. He followed Max into a park. He was about to step out of the shadows when Ava – no, not Ava he corrected himself – Tess came and sat beside Max. Zan observed the two for quite a while. He decided he didn’t like their Ava at all. She was so cold, so hard. She looked like she’d do anything she had to do to get what she wanted. She reminded him a lot of Rath and Lonnie. They didn’t care what they did, as long as they got what they wanted in the end.
He waited until they left, and he followed Max to his house and waited outside until the house went dark. Once he was certain everyone was asleep, he knocked softly on the window he had previously identified as Max’s.
“Michael is that you?” a weary voice asked as the window opened. “Cause if it is, I’m sure as hell not in the - what the – who are you?” Max asked.
To say the conversation didn’t go well was an understatement, but after a long night of talking, Zan was able to convince Max of the truth, and to convince him that Rath and Lonnie would probably show up, and if they stayed true to form, probably try and kill him.
Zan stuck around, but he didn’t interact with any of them, ever again. He liked to tell himself he was just watching out over them, but the truth was, he was watching her. He was always watching her. He watched as she ‘betrayed’ Max in order to save them, and watched as Max betrayed her in the worst way possible. He watched them fall apart at the loss of a friend and grow back together again as their wounds healed.
And then he watched when the danger returned. This time not in the form of Rath and Lonnie. This time it was in the guise of government officials making the world a safer place. That was when it happened. He was there when they were graduating. He knew how much Liz valued education, and he wanted to be there to share some small part of her life. He watched as Max went up to the podium and saw the lights go out. He saw Liz and the others slip out one by one, and he was torn, should he follow his heart and go after Liz, or stay and make sure his other self was safe.
He decided to stay, he knew the others would protect Liz, and Max didn’t have anyone on his side. Still, he respected what his other self did to save the others.
He and Liz deserved each other, he thought with a pang to his heart.
Always sacrificing themselves for the others.
A loud roar caught his attention, and he watched in amazement as Michael’s motorcycle road up onto the stage. Max climbed on, and the two took off, riding out of the school. Zan managed to slip out in the chaos that followed and this time, had no compunction about stealing a car to follow them. He didn’t see the accident, they had gotten too much of a jump on him for that, but he heard the screeching of the tires and the clash of the metal. He rounded a curve in the road in time to see the black SUV pull away from the accident scene, and watched as a grief stricken Michael pushed his motorcycle back up the incline and on to the road. He used his powers to start it and took off down the road.
Zan pulled the car over, and climbed out and ran down the embankment, calling for Max. He found him lying on the ground, covered in blood. He knelt down beside him, and used his powers to try and heal the many wounds that covered Max’s body. One by one the wounds healed, but the internal damage was too great. Zan tried one last time to revive Max, and then collapsed beside him in a heap, tears streaming from his eyes.
Suddenly, the woods around him were filled with a glowing light. He looked up amazed to see Max standing there next to him.
“Are, are you?” he stammered.
“Yeah, I think I am,” Max said, looking down at his body. “This happened once before when Liz’s grandmother - Liz,” the shadowy image of Max seemed to fade a little. “What’s going to happen to her?”
“She’s strong,” Zan said. “She’ll make it.”
“Watch over her for me,” Max said. “You can do it.”
“Man, I don’t want any part of that,” said Zan, knowing full well, he’d do whatever he had to do to protect Liz.
“We’re two sides of the same coin,” said the shadow Max. “We’re the same, but different. I am you, and you are me. When you look in the mirror, you well see me, but you will not be me.”
“What, what are you talking about?” Zan said, masking his fear with a show of false bravado. “I don’t want any part of any of this shit.” He held out his hand as if to forestall any more conversation, and the shadow image of Max reached out and grabbed it. The glow that surrounded Max enveloped Zan. It slowly faded and the shadow image appeared to disappear.
“Son of a bitch!” Zan shouted to the empty woods. “What did he do to me?”
** * ** *
He sat several rows behind her on the bus, changing his appearance every time they changed busses, and always he waited and watched. He wanted to tell her, let her know, but he couldn’t. How could he tell her, he didn’t believe it himself. The chance came on a half filled bus heading toward New England. He saw her take her journal out of her bag, studying it intently.
When she drifted off to sleep, he took the chance and grabbed her journal, rapidly skimming the pages. His eyes grew wide when he realized that all this time, she had been aware of him. He knew he couldn’t come right out and tell her the truth, she was too fragile, and she wouldn’t be able to handle it.
Without conscious thought, he scribbled a copy of the tattoo sported by Rath, Lonnie, Ava and himself in her journal and returned it to the empty seat beside her. Back in his own seat, he took out a picture he had stolen from Max when he first came to Roswell and tried to dream walk Liz. It wasn’t his specialty, it was Lonnie’s, but he had a rudimentary ability.
He met her walking down a dark road. He watched the moonlight shining through the branches cast moving shadows on her face.
She was walking alone down a dark road. Moonlight filtered through the trees that lined the road, casting shadows on the road. A noise up ahead caught her attention and she looked up to see a familiar figure walking toward her. He stopped several feet away, so that his face was hidden in the shadows.
“Max, is that you?” she called. He turned back to look, and her heart lurched in excitement. It was Max.
“I’m not Max,” the shadow voice whispered in her mind. “And he is not me. We are two sides to one coin. The same, yet different. I am him, and he is me, but we are not each other. If I look in a mirror, I will see Max, but I am not Max.”
“I don’t understand,” Liz said. “Are you the Max from the Future?”
“No. No more questions, Liz. Just know that I am near, and I’m watching over you. I will protect you.”
“Wait, please, won’t you tell me who you are, really?”
The figure turned, and a shaft of moonlight hit his arm, and Liz’s eyes focused on a familiar tattoo. A square with four circles, one at each corner, connected by intersecting lines. Liz reached out to touch it, but the image shifted, and she found herself in the cave back on the reservation. She saw the Antarian images on the wall, one of them the same foursquare pattern. Again she reached out to touch it, but the image melted, and she was standing in the back doorway of the CrashDown, looking at the figure of a girl trying to sleep on the ground.
“Ava,” she whispered.
Her dream shifted again, and she was sitting at the counter of the CrashDown, and Ava was next to her crying. The image shifted again, and this time she was watching herself comforting Ava. “Zan,” she heard Ava cry. “They killed Zan.”
She cried out when she woke up, and it killed him not to reach out to her, but he didn’t, he couldn’t, she wasn’t ready. He watched a shaken Liz stand up and walk towards the bathroom at the back of the bus, her eyes searching each passenger as she passed. She paused slightly at his seat, but continued on passed him.
Zan held his breath as she walked past, afraid she knew and relaxed when she passed. He closed his eyes in relief, glad that he didn’t have to tell her. He wasn’t ready, she wasn’t ready. It wasn’t time yet.
“All right,” Liz said, her voice hard. She pushed into the seat next to him and glared at him, her eyes as cold and hard as ice. “I want to know who you are, and why you’re following me, and I want to know how in the hell you dream walked me.”
