Thanks for being so patient - I really think the world of you all!!!
Hope you enjoy. (Oh yeah - and a big Thank You to everyone 2 posts up.)
~~~
Part 28
The Queen led Max, Michael and Ava to a massive domed structure seemingly made of burnished metal. They entered through a small triangular
entryway to find a massive hall. There were no windows to be seen, yet it glowed as if sunlight still found its way in. The walls were ridged and decorated with ancient tapestries. They came to a small circular room at the end of the passageway where the Queen directed them to enter. Scanning the area, the only furniture they saw was a large table that sat to one side and a few upholstered chairs positioned around the rest of
the room. There were windows here formed in geometric shapes and covered with a thin translucent material instead of glass.
”Please make yourselves comfortable.” The queen motioned to the chairs that were positioned around the wall. “I will beckon Zan.”
Ava nodded and sat down in one of the chairs but Michael and Max continued to stand.
“Rand is to bring the boy to the solarium.” The queen ordered to no one.
“As you wish your majesty.” a disembodied voice answered.
She nodded and took a seat near Ava. Taking Ava’s hand in hers, she held it fondly. “Earth was not kind to you?”
Ava could feel the woman’s concern. Not knowing how to respond she finally just shook her head slightly.
With her long fingers, the Queen stroked her arm. “You will be happier now that you have returned home.”
Ava forced a hesitant smile. “I am sure I will be.”
A moment later the four looked up as Rand and Zan walked into the room. Max knelt to his son’s level and smiled. He was tall for his age, with sandy hair and hazel blue eyes, the boy exhibited maturity far beyond his age.
Bowing his head, Zan took a step towards his father. “Father?”
Max lifted the boy’s head and pulled him into an embrace. “There is no need to bow son.”
Unused to the human custom of hugging, Zan did not reciprocate his father’s actions but he did not pull away from him either. As his father continued to hold him, he turned his head and noticed the woman sitting by his grandmother. When Max let him out of his grasp, he walked over to the woman and knelt at her feet. Reaching for her hand he placed it on his face. “Mother.”
Ava felt her body react to the boy. Her mind knew this child was not hers but her heart did not seem to care. She smoothed her hand over his face and felt tears come to her eyes. “I am not . . .”
The Queen cut her off. “Your mother is overwhelmed with joy to see you Zan.”
Zan nodded and kissed the back of Ava’s hand, then he turned back to Max. “Father, I am pleased you are alive and I am here to serve you.”
Max shook his head. “I don’t want a servant Zan, I want a son.”
“I will do my best.”
Max smiled. “You will do fine.”
“Zan.” The Queen interrupted the reunion. “Please go outside. I must speak to your parents privately. Afterward, I will send your mother out to you.”
Zan nodded, bowed slightly and left the room alone.
The Queen looked at Ava. “Here on Antar, a child has an ingrained need for his mother. Fathers are rarely involved in a child’s life so a mother is everything to our children. Since you found your way to my son, I did not feel the need to tell him of his true mother’s fate.” She motioned towards Max and continued, “A fate that may cause animosity between him and his father.”
Ava understood. Her duty was not just to take Tess’ place with the Royal Four, but to also take Tess’ place as Zan’s mother. She realized then that this duty would be easy for her to fulfill, for at this moment she wanted nothing more then to love and care for the child. She nodded her agreement.
“Very well . . . and Ava, although you did not give birth to him, you are his mother in every other sense. Do not feel as if you are not. Now, if you go through the door and turn towards your right, there will be another room on your left. You will find your son in that room.” As Ava stood, the Queen added, “He may ask how he came to be on Antar. He is only to know that Khivar kidnapped him.”
Ava nodded again and walked through the door to find the child.
During this exchange, Michael had paid close attention to the man who still stood with them in the corner of the room. There was something familiar about him but he couldn’t place what it was.
The Queen finally noticed Michael’s attention to the man. “You sense his essence Rath. Do you not?”
Michael shrugged. “He seems familiar.”
“I did not know you were close on Earth.”
Max finally turned his eyes towards the man. He seemed familiar to him as well but like Michael, he didn't know why. Finally he asked what they both wanted to know. “Who is he?”
Rand walked towards Max and Michael while the Queen explained. “He is the one your bride killed. The one you called . . .”
“Alex.” Rand finished the sentence for the Queen.
Michael looked over in awe. “How can this be?”
The Queen smiled. “We knew of his importance long ago. When he was killed, we took his essence and combined it with an Antarian so he might live again.”
Max studied the Antarian who claimed to be the first person he could not save while Michael walked over to him to have a closer look. He didn’t look like Alex, though there were similarities. The facial expressions and mannerisms were the same, as was his height and build, though he looked rougher and larger somehow as if he seen his share of hard work. His hair was a touch lighter and his eyes were darker but when you looked into his eyes you saw the same wry, though playful, look in them that Alex always seemed to have.
Convinced that Rand was indeed their friend, Michael finally smiled. “Damn! Maria and Liz are gonna be thrilled when they find out. Not to mention Isabel.”
Isabel’s name brought any chance of a happy reunion to a halt. Instead, the three men stood in commiserative silence, thinking of how they would get the one they loved back from their joint enemy.
The Queen read their thoughts and was the first to break the silence. “We will get her back.”
Max looked towards the Queen skeptically. “Why don’t you start by telling me exactly how Khivar got his hands on her in the first place!?!” He demanded.
“What do you know?” She asked calmly.
“Why don’t you just start at the beginning and tell me all that YOU know!”
The Queen looked into her son’s eyes. “I am the one who found her on Earth, I am the one who went to Khivar and offered her to him.” She saw her son’s eyes burn with anger. Looking directly into them she added, “I will not apologize for my actions.”
Max took a step towards her, looking as if he might kill the woman, but Michael grabbed his arm. “Hear her out Max.”
Max glared at Michael but he knew he was right. He was angry but he needed her at least for now. He turned back to the Queen. “Why don’t you elaborate and maybe I won’t have to kill you.”
The Queen let out a noise that could only be described as a snort, dismissing his outburst with a wave of her hand. “You are no longer on Earth Zan. You cannot kill me as easily as you could the humans, but you are the king and I will tell you what you want to know.”
She paused for a moment, giving his anger time to subside before she continued. “Khivar had your son, the future of this monarchy. Zan is about to come of age and without the influence of our family, he would be lost to Khivar forever. I could not allow that to happen. So I weighed my options. I knew that Khivar would not hurt Vilandra and since she is already the woman she will become, I also knew that she would not be influenced by him.”
Alex had been standing in the corner of the room quietly listening but the Queen’s last line caused him to speak up. “That is not true. She has already been influenced by his evil.”
The Queen looked sternly at Alex. “How would you know of that?”
“I have been visiting her in her dreams. She grows weary and is succumbing to Khivar’s charms.” Alex spat.
Michael jumped in at this point. “Then we need go now – we need get her away from him!”
Alex nodded his head in agreement but the Queen stopped them. “Rand, your report as well as your action in this matter concerns me, but we will discuss that at a later time.”
Focusing her attention back on Max and Michael she asked, “Do you not think that I have tried to get her from his clutches? If I could get Vilandra out, then I could have just taken my grandson! But Khivar resides in the most fortified castle of Antar. I should know – I lived there for forty of your Earth years.”
Max listened to the exchange before asking, “Then you must know of its weaknesses?”
The Queen shook her head. “There are no weaknesses. We will have to fight all the way to his inner sanctum to retrieve my daughter.”
Max glared at her skeptically. “Tell me - how did Liz get out, then?”
Sighing, she tried to steer her son from the discussion that might ensue. She would tell him all he wanted to know about his heart, but it was a discussion best spoken in private. “It’s simple, Khivar made a mistake.” When the look on his face told her the answer she gave was not enough she added. “He believed her to be a weak human and let his guard down long enough for her to escape.” She knew that would not satisfy him, but she tried to convey with her demeanor that she would continue when they were alone.
Max was not happy about his mother’s evasive explanation but he understood that she would tell him later. He decided to wait for that time. He nodded his understanding before the Queen turned and pulled some papers from a compartment in the wall behind her. “Now we must go over what the resistance has been doing and what we can do to help them free the people of Antar as well as your sister.”
Max, Michael and Alex walked over to the table where she now lay out the papers in front of her, ready to listen and learn.
~~~
The six humans sat at the table, eating and laughing, renewing old friendships as well as making new ones.
“So this one, drunk as a skunk…” Serena pointed towards Liz, “…decides that if I show my breasts to the nice policeman he would let us go.”
“Well did it work?” Alden piped.
Serena swatted Alden while Liz smiled slyly and answered. “Of course.”
The group giggled, seeing ‘straight-laced’ Liz acting so out of character.
“Well – just so you girls know – that will never work on me!” Jim interjected.
Kyle laughed. “Of course not dad – cause you are too old to appreciate them.”
Jim snorted. “I may be old son, but I’m not dead.”
“If you say so.” Kyle teased as he rolled his eyes.
Jim tried to force a stern look but a grin came to his face instead. “Watch it son, I can still take you over my knee.”
The grouped laughed some more before Maria rose from the table. “It’s been fun but this mommy to be needs to go to bed.”
”I’ll walk with you.” Jesse said as he stood up.
After a few minutes, Serena followed suit. “No sleep for me but,” she nudged Alden, “You and I need to get back to work.”
Alden nodded. “Grab some beer.”
“Got it.” Serena answered with it already in her hand.
As Alden stood, Jim caught Serena’s eye. “Mind if I come along? I’ve always wanted to see the granolith, but Max never thought I should.”
“Hell – why not.” Serena motioned to the older Valenti. “Come on.” Then she looked at Kyle and Liz, still sitting at the table. “You two be good now – you hear?”
Liz smiled and Kyle nodded his head. “Always.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” Serena winked as she walked out the door, followed by the two men.
“I like your friends.” Kyle said.
Liz grinned. “Yeah – they're great.”
Kyle and Liz sat quietly for a bit before Kyle decided to start the conversation. “So I don’t remember you being in Roswell.”
Liz looked over at him. “I know.”
“Want to tell me about it?”
Liz shook her head. “There isn’t much to tell – other then what I’ve already told you. I didn’t remember anything when I got there – you were helpful – Max came – I left with him and Ava mindwarped you.”
~~~
The Queen motioned to Alex that they were finished for the time being and that he could put away the plans. ”Now – would you like some sustenance?”
“Yes.” Michael said quickly but Max shook his head. His questions had still not been answered.
The Queen looked towards Alex. “Rand, take Rath to his quarters and get him something to eat.
Alex slightly irritated at the queen's insistence of the use of Rand began to correct her but decided against it, instead he just nodded.
Michael looked over at Max. “Do you want me to stay?”
Max shaking his head was all the incentive Michael needed to follow Alex from the room. “I will see you in the morning then.” He said as he disappeared out the door.
When he was completely gone Max looked over quizzically at the woman who kept telling him she was his mother. “Tell me what happened to Liz.”
The Queen nodded. “She has amazing strength for a human. I would never have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself. Khivar did awful things to her, when we found her; she had been hiding in the wilderness for days. Her bones had been broken many times over as well as her skin being torn from her body – he had killed her just to heal her so he could do it again. In the many years that I have watched Khivar and his brutality, I have never seen him take so much pleasure in hurting someone.”
Allowing himself to feel Liz’s pain once again, Max closed his eyes forcing away the moisture behind them.
She stopped in her tracks realizing that her son was feeling guilty for Khivar’s brutality. When he seemed to recover, she decided to focus on what happened after she found Liz, though she knew that would not be any easier for her son. “When she was brought here we healed her body but her soul was destroyed. She was lost in the memories of it all. At night she would wake screaming. At first I believed the memory of the torture was what tormented her, but it wasn’t.”
He could actually feel the pity his mother had for Liz as the woman continued. “The girl could not live with her betrayal of you.”
“I know all this!” Max spat, willing the woman to stop. “I saw it – I felt it – when I healed her from Onirus’ treachery.”
The Queen nodded her understanding. “Onirus’ act upon her was not sanctioned and since you saw fit to bring him with you, he will be punished. He misunderstood why her mind had been erased. He believed that it was done so she would not remember being with us, so she would not tell you, but it was not that. I took her memories so she would not relive the horror – so she could forgive herself for the betrayal she believed she had committed.”
Max felt the anger rise at her last sentence. “A betrayal you allowed me to believe she committed.”
“I did and I am not sorry for that. For years you let her be, you trained and learned to make the hard decisions necessary for our fight. You would not have done that if I would have corrected the deception too soon.”
This explanation did not ease Max’s fury; in fact it actually escalated it. “I could have killed her.”
The Queen shook her head. “I know you as only a mother can know a child. You may have thought you were able to kill her, but you were not.”
Max took a long breath. He did not share his mother’s faith in himself.
The Queen had to be honest with her son but tried to diffuse the situation. “Although she cannot be your wife – marriage to Ava is a necessity – she will make a fine consort when you ascend the throne.”
Max looked at the woman incredulously. “I will not marry Ava and Liz will not be my consort!”
“You have given Antar the heir it needs and in the eyes of the people you are already married to Ava, so there is no reason why your heart cannot come to live with you here once our world is free. She will give you the strength as well as the moral center that you will need to rule.”
Furious Max shook his head. “Although I take full responsibility for my actions, you have played me madam and it has worked to your advantage, but you will not control my life any longer. I will not bring Liz to Antar and force her to live as a second to Ava or anyone else.”
“Consorts very rarely are perceived as a second. The first marriage to a crowned prince is arranged, seen by the people as just a way to continue the line, her place is defined by being the mother of the heir. The consort, or second marriage, is seen as one of love and she is respected as such.”
Max shook his head. He didn’t even know why he was arguing this point. Didn’t he already tell Liz, and believed it, that he would not return. That she should find another life and another love. “It doesn’t matter. Liz will not be returning to Antar. I have no intention of ever seeing her again.”
~~~
“I guess that’s what I don’t understand!” Kyle could hear the annoyance in his voice. “I assume I told you how evil he had become, how he probably wanted you dead, so I want to know why the hell did you go with him?”
Liz shrugged and looked down at the floor. “You did but . . .”
“Holy shit Liz!” Exasperated, Kyle ran his hand through his hair. “You went with him because you still love him.”
Liz spoke emphatically, “No – that wasn’t it. I was worried about . . .”
“Damn it Liz. You were worried about me – weren’t you?”
“You and Serena.”
“Ok – I can accept that – but why . . . why did you stay?”
Liz looked up at Kyle, knowingly.
“You stayed because you loved him.” Kyle rolled his eyes.”
“Not anymore though.”
“Uh – huh.” Kyle didn’t believe that but he knew Max. He knew that Liz would never be happy with the man he had become and he had to convince her of that. She had to let the memory of who Max used to be go so she could move on with her life. “He’s not worth the trouble, Liz.”
“I know.”
”I don’t think you do.” Kyle stopped until Liz looked into his eyes. “He treats people like dirt . . .”
Not wanting to hear the list of Max’s sins, yet again, Liz cut him off. “I know.”
Kyle ignored her. “He threatened Maria – tried his own sister’s sanity. These are people he is supposed to love for God’s sake!”
Liz felt tears in her eyes. She had known what Max had done but she still didn’t want to hear it. “I know Kyle.” She croaked out.
Even though he wanted to continue, to tell her about Tracy, Kyle felt guilty for his brutal honesty so instead he waited for Liz to calm herself.
Liz took a cleansing breath. “He’s done more.” She said softly. “I thought he had changed. I thought he loved me. I thought he was trying to be the man we all once cared about . . . but then he left us.”
That was the one thing that Kyle would have expected the old Max to do. Leave the humans behind while the aliens left Earth to fight a war. It might have been the wrong decision, but it was one that Max would have made years ago. He would have insisted that the journey or Antar or whatever was too dangerous for the humans. If any of them had argued, he would have just ordered them to stand down and the amazing thing about that is that the humans would obey.
Liz saw Kyle’s confusion and began again. “I told you I could see the future. Well, I saw Maria’s and the baby will not survive. Max should have stayed – in case something like that happened – he should have known there was a possibility . . .”
As Liz’s voice dropped off she was interrupted by Kyle’s father who had made his way back from the granolith cave. “How was he supposed to know? Did you tell him?”
Liz shook her head. “I didn’t know.”
“Liz, Max wouldn’t have any reason to believe the child wasn’t going to be completely healthy. His son was fine when he was born. Why would he think Michael and Maria’s baby would be any different?” Jim asked. “I’m not saying that he was right, but he made a decision based on what he knew. He didn’t know that Maria’s child would die and . . . “
He stopped short as they heard the scream from the next room.
"NO!”
~~~
Actually as we get closer to the end a lot of the parts may be just one big scene like this one. So if you are a fan of a different couple . . . don’t worry . . . your time will come. 
Kiss My Ass Pooh!!!