Title- In Destiny’s Shadow - Eidolon
Disclaimer- I do not own Roswell, and mean no infringement. It is owned by Melinda Metz, Jason Katims, UPN, WB, etc.
Category- CC, ALL
Rating- Teen, possibly hitting Mature later on.
Summary- This is the second book of In Destiny’s Shadow. The first was In Destiny’s Shadow – The Longest Day, and told of our heroes’ defense of themselves and Roswell when Nicholas and a small army of Skins arrived to ostensibly destroy them. But despite their successful defense of their home, it was not without price. It can be found here; The Longest Day
First a brief recap. Liz was captured and the enemy attempted to turn her. Maria was nearly killed, saved only by a fateful choice by Michael. Both Kyle and Isabel are forced to reconcile their ability to kill in defense of their friends. Tess has frightened both friend and foe by an incredible display of power, while she fears the growing potential that she senses in Liz, Kyle, and Maria. And Alex is already suffering under a mind warp that will see him accomplish a goal for Tess, all while he has unwittingly saved Isabel from a dire fate. Finally, in the process of healing his friends, Max learned that Liz and Kyle did not sleep together. But why she deliberately hurt him is not the only secret he must contend with, secrets that threaten to destroy many of the relationships in his life that make it worth living.
This is made more complicated by what our heroes have seen. For in addition to the stress that holding off the Skins has brought, the pod squad is starting to remember bits of their past lives. In addition, Liz has started receiving flashes, not only of the past and present, but also of the future that was.
They have survived the Longest Day, but there will be no respite. For Nicholas’s raid on Roswell was an ill conceived last minute addition to an intricate plot which is nearing completion. And as secrets are exposed and dreams stalk the day, as they must contend with their very own reflections; can they truly survive Eidolon?
A/N- Dreams and flashes are in bold, direct thoughts are in italics, indirect thoughts are not altered.
A/N- Below is an abbreviated character list. It will be updated from time to time as necessary.
The hybrids-
Max Evans- Formerly Zan Tarenon, King of Antar
Michael Guerin- Formerly Rath Targan, High General and Zan’s Second.
Isabel Evans- Formerly Vilandra Mitarin Tarenon, Sister to Zan, briefly Queen of Antar.
Tess Harding- Formerly Ava Mitharos Tarenon, Wife to Zan, Queen of Antar
Carlos ‘Zan’ Ibanez- Max’s double
‘Rath’ – Michael’s double
‘Lonnie’- Isabel’s double
‘Ava’- Tess’s double
The ‘I Know an Alien Club’
Liz Parker – Healed by Max, connected to Max
Maria Deluca – Held by Michael, Healed by Max, connected to Michael
Alex Whitman – Under a Mind warp, presumably by Tess, unwittingly connected to Isabel
Kyle Valenti – Healed by Max,
Sheriff Jim Valenti – Sheriff of Chavez County and father to Kyle
The Parents
Jeff and Nancy Parker – Owners of the Crashdown
Amy Deluca – local entrepreneur, owns a small alien gift shop. Also bakes pies for local establishments
Charles and Gloria Whitman -
Diane and Philip Evans – Local contract lawyers, Diane only works part time
The Abducted
Richard Williams – currently abducted by a ex-Mitharan agent, related to Ava. Happy here on Earth, father of three.
Brody Davis – Owner of the UFO Museum, multi-millionaire
The Rhyajhaelians (Skins)
Courtney Banks – ‘Michael worshipper’, Antaran name Karis, former aide to Vilondra
Nicholas Crawford – Former General, Former friend to Rath whom he later killed
T Greer – Project manager for the ‘Vilondra Project’ and the Harvest,
Congresswoman Vanessa Whitaker – High placed Skin agent, killed by Isabel
Ida Crawford – Nicholas’s Lieutenant, also pretends to be his mother
Zachary Jackson – Former supporter of Rath, betrayed the cause and carrying out the task of destroying them
The Tarans
Ragar - Ana’s bodyguard, killed by Michael
Khivar – Emperor of Antar, former lover to Vilondra, connected to Vilondra
Kathana – Cathian Ambassador
Sero – Padanian Ambassador
Hanar – Lemarcian Ambassador
Zan, Vilondra, and Rath were all Taran
The Mitharans
Ana – Personality Readjustment Specialist, in charge of making a fifth column on Earth
Larek – Former friend and councilor to Zan, current Ambassador from Arilan
Ava was Mitharan
The Shapeshifters
Nasedo – Project Military consultant for Earth mission, raised Tess, presumed dead
Dorian – Project Intelligence consultant for Earth mission, watched over Max, Isabel, and Michael
Natalie – Guardian for New York contingent of Royals, missing and presumed dead
Kalvin Langely – Ship Engineer of the Bezos, now works as a Hollywood Producer
Others
Samuel Byrnes – FBI Special Agent in Charge, helped eliminate the Special Unit, searching for Daniel Pierce
Roger Hart – FBI Agent, former member of the Special Unit
Lucia Ibanez – foster sister to ‘Zan’, Healed by Zan, missing and presumed dead
Alicia Ibanez Davis - former wife to Brody Davis, cousin to Lucia Ibanez
Marco Ruiz - originally known to Amy as Stephan Ross. Father to Maria. Now deceased.
Eidolon Prologue
It has been said that something as small as a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a chain of events leading to a disastrous storm far from where it flutters amongst the flowers. Is it possible then for someone who sees the oncoming storm, who can feel the rippling as the gentle flutter becomes a gale, to change the storms path, to stop it altogether? Could you take another butterfly, try to time it to stop the storm from forming? Would you take the risk?
Serena Goodwin thought you could. She also thought it was impossible too, but if a way could be found to travel in time to avert disaster…It should be done.
And it had been, although she knew it not. She had used an alien device to allow another to change the world. The ripples were even now reaching out across the world, and unbeknownst to most humans, beyond it. So far it had had little affect on her own life, as she prepared for tomorrows meeting. It was but the first in a series of encounters that would have led her to Harvard, to meet the Evans. Would the ripples change her fate as well?
Only time would tell.
But there were changes.
In an abandoned iron mine in Michigan, the first Rhyjhaelian Ark was being built on Earth. This would give Greer and his team a place to live without worry.
The attack on Roswell itself was part of one such ripple. It had not happened in the future that was. Max had had Liz, and was cautious about Whitaker. The Harvest had been a success and the Skins not so desperate. Courtney would disappear a few days after Whitaker’s funeral. And peace would come to Roswell, for a long while.
It left other ripples as well. Although they were unaware, both Zan and Max were linked through the Seal. And as Max’s trust was broken, Zan’s was as well. It was a subtle thing, nudging the native caution that their forbearer had been famous for. Zan was uncomfortable about how fast the Emissaries wanted things to move, not enough time to plan, not enough room for error. It was a trap.
So instead of returning to Antar in glory, only to be betrayed, he was instead betrayed on Earth. Setting forth ever more ripples and changes.
Serena’s wind was beginning to blow. But would it be enough to stop the coming storm, or would it just add to the violence? Only time would tell.
And overhead a fateful star burst into brilliance.
IDS Eidolon (CC ALL, Teen/Mature) Epilogue- 11/29/08
Moderators: Anniepoo98, Rowedog, ISLANDGIRL5, Itzstacie, truelovepooh, FSU/MSW-94, Forum Moderators
IDS Eidolon (CC ALL, Teen/Mature) Epilogue- 11/29/08
Last edited by PML on Sat Nov 29, 2008 10:20 pm, edited 52 times in total.
Thanks as always to everyone reading this story. Particular thanks go out to Sternbetrachter, dusk, RhondaAnn, and xmag.
Sternbetrachter- Thanks
dusk- Thanks
RhondaAnn- Thanks
xmag- Thanks, Serena will play a part in book two, but mostly as a cameo. Her part, may become significant in book three, definately in book four. What she did in timeline one was significant, as the granolith was not made to be a time machine.
Disclaimer- Roswell is not mine, and I intend no infringement.
Eidolon part 1
Alex-
Alex walked out of the UFO Museum. After a bumpy start, it had turned out to be a good day. Becky had been fun, but then he had realized that when they had gathered the data at the blast site. Brody had been funny too, a little weird, but not too strange. Of course, Alex’s vision of strange had changed a bit since he learned that aliens stalked the Earth, but still not too bad. Max outside of the perils and puzzles that went along with his heritage seemed okay too.
It wasn’t that he did not like the guy, but outside of a couple of occasions he had not really spent all that much time with him. It did not help that Max usually was either involved with Liz or brooding on how to become involved with her. He was more social than Michael, but not by much.
I bear some of the blame. Just as he is obsessed with Liz, I am obsessed with his sister. I keep expecting him to try to protect her from me. I am not sure whether I should be grateful about the fact he feels his sister is safe with me or not.
Speaking of which, if this were to be the perfect night she would show up and declare her undying love to me right here on this very curb. But no, we are just friends. I will likely get to hear how great her latest date with Grant was. True fun.
It was strange. Somehow he felt closer to her today than he had felt for a long while. Back to before those fateful days last May. Before Destiny pulled all of them apart. Today for the first time in a long time, he felt hope. Hope that she would one day return his feelings.
Hope. Alex sighed and looked to the stars. He could never look at them without thinking of her. She had come from somewhere out there. She truly had come from the heavens. How could he ever hope to be good enough for her?
And yet, that bubble of hope remained.
---
Max-
Max said goodnight to Brody and walked towards the exit of the UFO Museum. Alex was going to give him a ride home as Isabel had borrowed the Jeep to go to a party. Hopefully the party would let her wind down. She had sounded intense when he had talked to her. Not too much of a surprise after he heard that she had been visited by the FBI herself.
What were they looking for anyway?
Max sighed. It never ever ended.
At least he now knew that Kyle and Liz had not slept together. That his instincts were right… It made him angry, angry that she would do that to him. That she would so damage his confidence not only in her, but in himself.
He still loved her, still would do anything for her. But he wanted to know why. He would wait as long as it took, but he would find out why.
Maybe Maria would help him. He wanted Liz back.
He walked outside and looked across the street at the Crashdown. And there off to the side stood Michael. Michael stood there helmet in hand, staring up at the balcony.
Maria must be up there. Liz certainly is. Max paused momentarily, closed his eyes and felt the connection. She was there. He shook his head and looked around for Alex.
Alex was gazing at the sky. He glanced at Max for a moment, “Ready to go, Max?”
“Um, would it be okay if I talked with Michael for a second?”
“Yeah, sure, I’ll just be gazing at the stars.”
Max looked up. It was a crisp clear night and the stars were spangled across the sky. “Beautiful night for that. I will be right back.” He walked to the curb and checked for traffic.
“M-Max, l-look up there!”
Max turned back and looked at Alex. He looked up in the direction that Alex was pointing out and saw only stars. “Okay, Alex, what exactly am I supposed to be seeing?” Max said humoring him.
“That one on the left, it’s not supposed to be there. It, it just appeared.”
“Sure, whatever you say.” It did look bright though. Max could feel his head begin to swim. The star seemed to brighten, to become almost like headlights. And they were approaching fast.
The last thing he could see before the roaring pain engulfed his mind was a pair of merciless brown eyes.
----
Isabel-
Isabel was about a mile away from the Delany’s when she pulled off the road. She was not quite ready to assume her school persona. She just wanted to be regular Isabel for a few moments longer, to be able to admire the wonders of nature openly. To not care about her classmates and what they were doing or wearing.
So she looked up at the heavens, up to the stars. They were spectacular this far out of town, with so few lights to drown them out. She looked at all of her familiar autumn friends, familiar since she had memorized the star charts for Roswell after a fifth grade field trip to the Roswell Observatory. From time to time, when she had the chance and she was feeling a little lonely or blue, she would gaze at the sky and wonder. Where am I from? How far is home?
She remembered one night, when she had gone to stare at the sky when Alex had followed her. She shook her head, that disastrous camping trip. All to find Nasedo, all to find something that maybe it would have been better not to have found. Isabel shivered slightly, and not from the cold.
She looked and noticed something odd. There was an extra star. And it was very bright, too bright not to have been catalogued. She racked her mind, striving to figure out what it could be. She rapidly discarded most of the ideas, it flickered so it wasn’t a planet. It wasn’t moving noticeably compared to the other stars, so that canceled satellites or planes. Probably not a spaceship either. She stood there staring at the glowing dot.
A nova. Possibly a supernova. I should call Alex; he would want to see this. She reached for her cell phone and stopped. Alex cared about astronomy mostly because he knew that she loved astronomy. He would want to talk.
And would that be so bad? Talking to him would cheer her up. And maybe, maybe she could talk to him a little about what she had seen today. About what Whitaker had told her. It wasn’t like the situation that existed with her mom. He already knew and he could keep secrets.
But it would place him deeper into the whole mess. Max was right. What right do I have to place my friends deeper into trouble? Both Maria and Liz are in deep, and they got hurt today. Maybe if Alex knew, he might have gotten hurt too. I won’t risk it. I won’t risk him.
She sighed and put her phone away. She looked again at the nova and shivered once more. Part of her feared that star. The thought of the sheer violence that would have occurred in the neighboring area made her wince. Because of her heritage she knew that people lived up there. She hoped that no one had lived too close.
How was she to know that Antar existed less than a hundred light years from that brilliant point?
Part of her recognized that event. She got back into the Jeep and drove the rest of the way to the party. Anything to avoid the baleful glare of that fateful star.
----
Kyle-
Kyle had been surprised when Courtney had asked to be picked up. He would have thought that Maria, who he knew was going, would have gotten her. They had seemed thick as thieves earlier this afternoon. No big deal really.
So after he had gotten ready he snuck into Tess’s room and gave her a little kiss on the forehead. She would never know, and maybe, maybe it would help her in her nightmare. To know that someone cared.
He then hopped into his Mustang and drove to Courtney’s apartment. He walked up to her door and knocked. When Courtney opened the door he had to admire her. She looked stunning in a low cut white blouse and short skirt.
“Come in Kyle. Pardon the mess. I haven’t repaired everything yet.”
Kyle surveyed the devastation. Half of the apartment was completely trashed, with damaged furniture, broken glass, even holes in the walls. The other half looked tidy. “What happened here?”
“I happened here. Sorry about the mess, but I threw a little tantrum a couple of hours ago. I cleaned up about half of it before I realized I needed to get ready.” Courtney walked over to one of the holes in the wall, placed her hand over it for a moment and that section of the wall was repaired. “Just let me fix the holes and then we can go.”
Kyle walked over to where Courtney had just repaired the wall and ran his hand along it. It felt normal. Now that is just so cool. “Um if you can fix stuff this fast, how bad was it before?”
“Pretty bad. One problem with being able to fix stuff so easily is it makes it so much easier to destroy simple stuff. I mean you can always fix it right.” Courtney fixed a couple more holes in the wall. Then she stopped, turned, and focused her gaze on Kyle. Her eyes were bright with desire. “Of course, you know we don’t really have to go to that party. I have beers in the fridge and I can slip into something a little less …encumbering.”
Kyle could feel as his mouth went dry and his heart began to pound. He wanted her. But the desire… felt… wrong somehow. She was manipulating him! He took a step toward her waiting form, watched as she licked her lips in anticipation.
I have to stop this. Wait do I want to really? He took another step. She was only a few feet away, and he knew that as soon as he kissed her, he was done. His hormones would take complete control and he would be spending the evening at Chez Banks.
Would it really be so bad? His body said no, but a tiny screaming voice that was his mind said yes. She was an alien, she wasn’t a hybrid like Tess, and she was all alien. A sexy alien, but still. She was probably using a freaky alien power on him right now!
And so for a moment he stopped. He reached deep inside himself, to the calm spot he could sometimes reach in meditation. He was anything but calm at the moment, but he stopped. “Courtney, whatever you are doing, stop” His palms began to tingle.
Courtney looked at him and sighed. “Sorry, I should not have pushed so hard.”
And the desire faded. It did not disappear, but it became manageable. Or it would as soon as his heart stopped racing. “What did you do to me?”
“Artificial pheromones and applied psionics. I’m sorry; I should not have pushed you.” Courtney looked grief stricken.
“Okay, you lost me. What did you do and why, why have you done any of this?” Kyle gestured to the room as a whole.
“I’m dying, Kyle. My husk probably needs another year to mature properly and I’m not going to live that long. When Michael and Richard dropped me off, I thought I had accepted it. But it really hit me a few hours ago. I am going to die. And I’m not taking it so well.” By the end of her statement, Courtney was crying. “I just want to do something life affirming while I still can. I would understand if you were not willing to take me, but I beg you please. Please take me to that party.”
“Um, so let me get this straight. You want me to take you to the party at Vicki’s so you can get laid.”
“Basically, yes.”
---
Maria-
She was running down the Palace corridors. And she spotted no one. Not a single soldier, not a single courtier, not a single petitioner. That could only mean disaster.
Where were her allies, where were the soldiers? She could almost feel the enemy marching at her back.
She almost cried out in fear when she noticed the High Antaran Chapel door unguarded. No one was guarding the King. Not that she cared for him, but those she did were of his party. They would rise or fall with him. As would she.
She readied her already activated gauntlets and she slowly opened the door.
The room was a bloodbath. The Elite who had come to attend the wedding lay in piles where they had fought amongst themselves. So many dead.
But on the Dias, she could see the bride cradling the body of the groom in her arms. Vilondra’s gossamer gown was now coated in ash and blood. There was no sign of the King, but she could see the shattered body of the young Queen. As she moved closer she could see that Rath was also dead.
So many hopes crushed.
Maria could still feel as her hope began to die, feel as she began to mourn. And yet, those memories were not hers. She lay there quietly as the acrid smell of ash and blood began to fade, and she could hear voices arguing.
“Do you really think that is going to help? I mean she has already seen you, we are going to have to explain it anyway.” Said the Liz-like voice.
“It will cut down on the shock. Imagine how you would feel if you came across a perfect copy of yourself?” Said a Maria-like voice. This was strange because that voice sounded just like hers, and she wasn’t talking. She heard a distant sounding grumble and could see a bit of light peak through her closed eyelids. Maria then heard an Alex-like voice continue, “Plus if your parents came in it would be hard to explain.”
“I guess,” said Liz. “I am just trying to think of what I am going to say to her.”
“I thought you were going to tell her everything?” said Alex.
“I am, but do you really think she needs to know that she killed Isabel, Michael, and me in her previous life?”
What? Who are they talking about? Come on, you can not gossip with out me, Liz! She pushed herself awake and propped herself up onto one of the pillows on Liz’s bed. “What is going on?” Even as the words passed her lips, as she gazed at the two people in the room, something had changed. For a brief moment, Liz seemed outlined in blue-green, with a touch of gold and red. Alex glimmered gold, silver, and black. He looked… artificial. “Better yet what are you?” She directed at the Alex look-alike. Somehow he did not scare her, his presence felt… familiar.
The Alex look-alike looked at Liz for a moment, and said to Maria, “My name is Dorian. I am the Pod Squad’s protector. A shape shifter, like the one you knew of as Nasedo, only I am not an evil bastard.”
Maria glanced at Liz to see her reaction; her face looked similar to how it looked whenever she expected Maria to become hysterical. Liz did not have to worry this time. Maria was way beyond hysterical at this point. “So you have been watching over them for a while”
“Yes, I have watched over Max and Isabel since they were about six. I did not catch up to Michael until he was around eight.”
Liz spoke up “He is the one that rescued me from Ana. I still thought I was Emily,” Liz shuddered.
Maria got up from the bed and approached Dorian. “Okay, we’ll get to that in a minute. I just want to make sure I understand. You were in charge of keeping Michael, Max, and Isabel safe.”
“Yes, it wasn’t what I trained for, but I think I did an okay job.”
“An okay job.” Maria stood right in front of Dorian.
Liz should have seen the warning signs, but Dorian never knew what hit him, as Maria but all of the strength of her body and spirit into an open handed slap. Dorian was knocked to the floor. “That is for forcing Michael to grow up with Hank.”
Sternbetrachter- Thanks
dusk- Thanks
RhondaAnn- Thanks
xmag- Thanks, Serena will play a part in book two, but mostly as a cameo. Her part, may become significant in book three, definately in book four. What she did in timeline one was significant, as the granolith was not made to be a time machine.
Disclaimer- Roswell is not mine, and I intend no infringement.
Eidolon part 1
Alex-
Alex walked out of the UFO Museum. After a bumpy start, it had turned out to be a good day. Becky had been fun, but then he had realized that when they had gathered the data at the blast site. Brody had been funny too, a little weird, but not too strange. Of course, Alex’s vision of strange had changed a bit since he learned that aliens stalked the Earth, but still not too bad. Max outside of the perils and puzzles that went along with his heritage seemed okay too.
It wasn’t that he did not like the guy, but outside of a couple of occasions he had not really spent all that much time with him. It did not help that Max usually was either involved with Liz or brooding on how to become involved with her. He was more social than Michael, but not by much.
I bear some of the blame. Just as he is obsessed with Liz, I am obsessed with his sister. I keep expecting him to try to protect her from me. I am not sure whether I should be grateful about the fact he feels his sister is safe with me or not.
Speaking of which, if this were to be the perfect night she would show up and declare her undying love to me right here on this very curb. But no, we are just friends. I will likely get to hear how great her latest date with Grant was. True fun.
It was strange. Somehow he felt closer to her today than he had felt for a long while. Back to before those fateful days last May. Before Destiny pulled all of them apart. Today for the first time in a long time, he felt hope. Hope that she would one day return his feelings.
Hope. Alex sighed and looked to the stars. He could never look at them without thinking of her. She had come from somewhere out there. She truly had come from the heavens. How could he ever hope to be good enough for her?
And yet, that bubble of hope remained.
---
Max-
Max said goodnight to Brody and walked towards the exit of the UFO Museum. Alex was going to give him a ride home as Isabel had borrowed the Jeep to go to a party. Hopefully the party would let her wind down. She had sounded intense when he had talked to her. Not too much of a surprise after he heard that she had been visited by the FBI herself.
What were they looking for anyway?
Max sighed. It never ever ended.
At least he now knew that Kyle and Liz had not slept together. That his instincts were right… It made him angry, angry that she would do that to him. That she would so damage his confidence not only in her, but in himself.
He still loved her, still would do anything for her. But he wanted to know why. He would wait as long as it took, but he would find out why.
Maybe Maria would help him. He wanted Liz back.
He walked outside and looked across the street at the Crashdown. And there off to the side stood Michael. Michael stood there helmet in hand, staring up at the balcony.
Maria must be up there. Liz certainly is. Max paused momentarily, closed his eyes and felt the connection. She was there. He shook his head and looked around for Alex.
Alex was gazing at the sky. He glanced at Max for a moment, “Ready to go, Max?”
“Um, would it be okay if I talked with Michael for a second?”
“Yeah, sure, I’ll just be gazing at the stars.”
Max looked up. It was a crisp clear night and the stars were spangled across the sky. “Beautiful night for that. I will be right back.” He walked to the curb and checked for traffic.
“M-Max, l-look up there!”
Max turned back and looked at Alex. He looked up in the direction that Alex was pointing out and saw only stars. “Okay, Alex, what exactly am I supposed to be seeing?” Max said humoring him.
“That one on the left, it’s not supposed to be there. It, it just appeared.”
“Sure, whatever you say.” It did look bright though. Max could feel his head begin to swim. The star seemed to brighten, to become almost like headlights. And they were approaching fast.
The last thing he could see before the roaring pain engulfed his mind was a pair of merciless brown eyes.
----
Isabel-
Isabel was about a mile away from the Delany’s when she pulled off the road. She was not quite ready to assume her school persona. She just wanted to be regular Isabel for a few moments longer, to be able to admire the wonders of nature openly. To not care about her classmates and what they were doing or wearing.
So she looked up at the heavens, up to the stars. They were spectacular this far out of town, with so few lights to drown them out. She looked at all of her familiar autumn friends, familiar since she had memorized the star charts for Roswell after a fifth grade field trip to the Roswell Observatory. From time to time, when she had the chance and she was feeling a little lonely or blue, she would gaze at the sky and wonder. Where am I from? How far is home?
She remembered one night, when she had gone to stare at the sky when Alex had followed her. She shook her head, that disastrous camping trip. All to find Nasedo, all to find something that maybe it would have been better not to have found. Isabel shivered slightly, and not from the cold.
She looked and noticed something odd. There was an extra star. And it was very bright, too bright not to have been catalogued. She racked her mind, striving to figure out what it could be. She rapidly discarded most of the ideas, it flickered so it wasn’t a planet. It wasn’t moving noticeably compared to the other stars, so that canceled satellites or planes. Probably not a spaceship either. She stood there staring at the glowing dot.
A nova. Possibly a supernova. I should call Alex; he would want to see this. She reached for her cell phone and stopped. Alex cared about astronomy mostly because he knew that she loved astronomy. He would want to talk.
And would that be so bad? Talking to him would cheer her up. And maybe, maybe she could talk to him a little about what she had seen today. About what Whitaker had told her. It wasn’t like the situation that existed with her mom. He already knew and he could keep secrets.
But it would place him deeper into the whole mess. Max was right. What right do I have to place my friends deeper into trouble? Both Maria and Liz are in deep, and they got hurt today. Maybe if Alex knew, he might have gotten hurt too. I won’t risk it. I won’t risk him.
She sighed and put her phone away. She looked again at the nova and shivered once more. Part of her feared that star. The thought of the sheer violence that would have occurred in the neighboring area made her wince. Because of her heritage she knew that people lived up there. She hoped that no one had lived too close.
How was she to know that Antar existed less than a hundred light years from that brilliant point?
Part of her recognized that event. She got back into the Jeep and drove the rest of the way to the party. Anything to avoid the baleful glare of that fateful star.
----
Kyle-
Kyle had been surprised when Courtney had asked to be picked up. He would have thought that Maria, who he knew was going, would have gotten her. They had seemed thick as thieves earlier this afternoon. No big deal really.
So after he had gotten ready he snuck into Tess’s room and gave her a little kiss on the forehead. She would never know, and maybe, maybe it would help her in her nightmare. To know that someone cared.
He then hopped into his Mustang and drove to Courtney’s apartment. He walked up to her door and knocked. When Courtney opened the door he had to admire her. She looked stunning in a low cut white blouse and short skirt.
“Come in Kyle. Pardon the mess. I haven’t repaired everything yet.”
Kyle surveyed the devastation. Half of the apartment was completely trashed, with damaged furniture, broken glass, even holes in the walls. The other half looked tidy. “What happened here?”
“I happened here. Sorry about the mess, but I threw a little tantrum a couple of hours ago. I cleaned up about half of it before I realized I needed to get ready.” Courtney walked over to one of the holes in the wall, placed her hand over it for a moment and that section of the wall was repaired. “Just let me fix the holes and then we can go.”
Kyle walked over to where Courtney had just repaired the wall and ran his hand along it. It felt normal. Now that is just so cool. “Um if you can fix stuff this fast, how bad was it before?”
“Pretty bad. One problem with being able to fix stuff so easily is it makes it so much easier to destroy simple stuff. I mean you can always fix it right.” Courtney fixed a couple more holes in the wall. Then she stopped, turned, and focused her gaze on Kyle. Her eyes were bright with desire. “Of course, you know we don’t really have to go to that party. I have beers in the fridge and I can slip into something a little less …encumbering.”
Kyle could feel as his mouth went dry and his heart began to pound. He wanted her. But the desire… felt… wrong somehow. She was manipulating him! He took a step toward her waiting form, watched as she licked her lips in anticipation.
I have to stop this. Wait do I want to really? He took another step. She was only a few feet away, and he knew that as soon as he kissed her, he was done. His hormones would take complete control and he would be spending the evening at Chez Banks.
Would it really be so bad? His body said no, but a tiny screaming voice that was his mind said yes. She was an alien, she wasn’t a hybrid like Tess, and she was all alien. A sexy alien, but still. She was probably using a freaky alien power on him right now!
And so for a moment he stopped. He reached deep inside himself, to the calm spot he could sometimes reach in meditation. He was anything but calm at the moment, but he stopped. “Courtney, whatever you are doing, stop” His palms began to tingle.
Courtney looked at him and sighed. “Sorry, I should not have pushed so hard.”
And the desire faded. It did not disappear, but it became manageable. Or it would as soon as his heart stopped racing. “What did you do to me?”
“Artificial pheromones and applied psionics. I’m sorry; I should not have pushed you.” Courtney looked grief stricken.
“Okay, you lost me. What did you do and why, why have you done any of this?” Kyle gestured to the room as a whole.
“I’m dying, Kyle. My husk probably needs another year to mature properly and I’m not going to live that long. When Michael and Richard dropped me off, I thought I had accepted it. But it really hit me a few hours ago. I am going to die. And I’m not taking it so well.” By the end of her statement, Courtney was crying. “I just want to do something life affirming while I still can. I would understand if you were not willing to take me, but I beg you please. Please take me to that party.”
“Um, so let me get this straight. You want me to take you to the party at Vicki’s so you can get laid.”
“Basically, yes.”
---
Maria-
She was running down the Palace corridors. And she spotted no one. Not a single soldier, not a single courtier, not a single petitioner. That could only mean disaster.
Where were her allies, where were the soldiers? She could almost feel the enemy marching at her back.
She almost cried out in fear when she noticed the High Antaran Chapel door unguarded. No one was guarding the King. Not that she cared for him, but those she did were of his party. They would rise or fall with him. As would she.
She readied her already activated gauntlets and she slowly opened the door.
The room was a bloodbath. The Elite who had come to attend the wedding lay in piles where they had fought amongst themselves. So many dead.
But on the Dias, she could see the bride cradling the body of the groom in her arms. Vilondra’s gossamer gown was now coated in ash and blood. There was no sign of the King, but she could see the shattered body of the young Queen. As she moved closer she could see that Rath was also dead.
So many hopes crushed.
Maria could still feel as her hope began to die, feel as she began to mourn. And yet, those memories were not hers. She lay there quietly as the acrid smell of ash and blood began to fade, and she could hear voices arguing.
“Do you really think that is going to help? I mean she has already seen you, we are going to have to explain it anyway.” Said the Liz-like voice.
“It will cut down on the shock. Imagine how you would feel if you came across a perfect copy of yourself?” Said a Maria-like voice. This was strange because that voice sounded just like hers, and she wasn’t talking. She heard a distant sounding grumble and could see a bit of light peak through her closed eyelids. Maria then heard an Alex-like voice continue, “Plus if your parents came in it would be hard to explain.”
“I guess,” said Liz. “I am just trying to think of what I am going to say to her.”
“I thought you were going to tell her everything?” said Alex.
“I am, but do you really think she needs to know that she killed Isabel, Michael, and me in her previous life?”
What? Who are they talking about? Come on, you can not gossip with out me, Liz! She pushed herself awake and propped herself up onto one of the pillows on Liz’s bed. “What is going on?” Even as the words passed her lips, as she gazed at the two people in the room, something had changed. For a brief moment, Liz seemed outlined in blue-green, with a touch of gold and red. Alex glimmered gold, silver, and black. He looked… artificial. “Better yet what are you?” She directed at the Alex look-alike. Somehow he did not scare her, his presence felt… familiar.
The Alex look-alike looked at Liz for a moment, and said to Maria, “My name is Dorian. I am the Pod Squad’s protector. A shape shifter, like the one you knew of as Nasedo, only I am not an evil bastard.”
Maria glanced at Liz to see her reaction; her face looked similar to how it looked whenever she expected Maria to become hysterical. Liz did not have to worry this time. Maria was way beyond hysterical at this point. “So you have been watching over them for a while”
“Yes, I have watched over Max and Isabel since they were about six. I did not catch up to Michael until he was around eight.”
Liz spoke up “He is the one that rescued me from Ana. I still thought I was Emily,” Liz shuddered.
Maria got up from the bed and approached Dorian. “Okay, we’ll get to that in a minute. I just want to make sure I understand. You were in charge of keeping Michael, Max, and Isabel safe.”
“Yes, it wasn’t what I trained for, but I think I did an okay job.”
“An okay job.” Maria stood right in front of Dorian.
Liz should have seen the warning signs, but Dorian never knew what hit him, as Maria but all of the strength of her body and spirit into an open handed slap. Dorian was knocked to the floor. “That is for forcing Michael to grow up with Hank.”
Thanks to everyone reading this story. Particular thanks to Sternbetrachter, xmag, katydid, and RhondaAnn for their feedback.
Sternbetrachter- Unfortunately none of the bonds that our heroes share have the bandwidth to share emotions at a distance. Not yet anyway. But I think Alex's desire to please Isabel will still please her. She may not admit it, but part of her problem is she feels more than infatuation for Alex. That deep of an emotional commitment scares her.
Max will be okay in a part or two. But there is a reason for his reaction.
As to Maria's reaction to Dorian's pronouncement, well that is how I thought she would act.
xmag- Isabel has a tiny little connection open to Alex. It is not like the full bonds now shared by M/L or M/M but it is a start. Isabel is sadly fighting it, but only half heartedly. As always she doesn't want to fully let him go, but she is not ready to fully embrace him. Alex subconciously has noted the change, but only really notices it when Isabel tries to manipulate it.
Dorian states his case in this part.
As to what she remembers overhearing as she woke up, yes, but she is in a sort of denial. Expect that to explode in a couple of parts.
Ah the star I keep mentioning. It is actually canon, only its mentioned in passing as a black hole. Only I have decided to use it for more than just a passing referance to the relationship between Liz and Max. Isabel loves to stargaze, and has memorized every chart for the local region. She noticed it immediately, and the part of her that is Vilandra noted its significance. To Vilandra, this star is a historic event, one that had dire effects on Antar. This is why she fears it. Alex loves Isabel, and so has developed a love of astronomy. (He has it bad.) Max only slightly cares about the stars, but another event occured nearly simultaneously. There is a reason he saw headlights.
katydid- Thanks.
RhondaAnn- As to the star, see above. Isabel will keep vaccilating for a while. Once she makes up her mind she will pounce, but for now she is confused.
Poor Courtney indeed. As to those memories, blame them on Courtney. One of the things she did before she thought she was going to die in the church in IDS was give Maria some of her memories. To help her help Michael.
She remembers them, but she is still in denial.
Disclaimer- Roswell is not mine, and I mean no infringement.
Eidolon part 2
Michael-
Michael stared up at the balcony. She was up there, up there with Liz. It would take but a moment to scale up the ladder. He wasn’t quite sure what he would do then, but it probably involved lots of kissing.
He had almost lost her today. She had come so close to leaving him forever, to dying, that panicked him even now. He had not realized how much she meant to him, how much her presence meant to him until then. He had not known that he had a connection, through which he could feel her very presence until he felt it gone. Until he felt his heart grow cold and the world dim.
It had not been acceptable. He could not let her die. He. Could. Not. He had known it was impossible, that he would likely kill himself and probably her as well. But she was dying anyway, and for him without her life was not worth living. It was impulsive and stupid, but there was no way he would not try, no matter the cost. He had reached for her, had called her with all his being.
And she came. She actually came back, to him. He had known she had loved him, had known how much he had hurt her. The flashes told the whole story. He knew very well how much he had screwed up her life, of what knowing him and his secret had cost her. And yet she still somehow loved him. She came back, and with his power and her own will she had held on until Richard had placed her in stasis.
It had been so perilously close.
He walked up to the ladder and prepared to climb. He vaguely heard someone calling him, but his mind was still on Maria. Those kisses just had not been enough.
He was about halfway up the ladder when he heard Alex run around the corner.
“Michael, didn’t you hear me? I need your help.”
Michael paused briefly before continuing his climb.
“Michael! I need your help, Max needs your help. He’s just, well he just collapsed.”
Michael stopped and sighed briefly. He took one more longing look up at the balcony above and started the climb down. When he got down off the ladder, he looked at Alex and said, “Okay, where’s the Fearless Leader?”
“Max is across the street, come on you have to help me.” Alex walked back towards the UFO Museum.
Michael followed closely. “What is wrong with Max?”
“I don’t know, one moment he was talking about talking with you actually. I showed what seemed to be a new star. He got this look; I don’t really know how to explain it. It combined fear, sadness, and resignation. Then he just fell. It was the oddest thing.”
Michael was silent for a moment while they crossed the street. He then looked up and examined the sky. He had never been as interested in astronomy as Isabel had, but he had studied the sky on many a night. He did not really care what the humans called the constellations, he cared only that his real home had been somewhere up there.
And he saw it. A star that did not fit. I will have to talk with Isabel and find out what that is. I did not think stars just appeared like that, certainly not one that is so bright. Strange that Max would be affected, of all of us he stares at the sky the least. Even Tess loves the night sky here; she was thrilled when she found out about the Observatory.
“Michael, can you give me a hand? We should put him in my car and drive him home. I mean he’s breathing so he should be okay. He doesn’t have a fever like you did that one time either. Do you think he will spin a cocoon like you did?”
Michael walked over and checked Max. He just seemed unconscious. “He’ll be fine. We should take him back to my apartment though. The last thing we need are overprotective parents rushing him to the hospital.”
“Um, okay. But we should call Iz. She’ll want to know about Max. And about the star, maybe she will know what it is.”
Michael grunted an assent, and both of them carried Max to Alex’s car. After they loaded Max into the passenger seat, Michael walked over to his bike. He watched as Alex’s car pulled from the curb and headed towards his apartment. He took one last look at the Crashdown, and the upstairs apartment it contained.
Maria was still there.
With a sigh, Michael started his bike and followed Alex, back to his apartment.
----
Liz-
Liz was shocked, but not surprised at Maria’s sudden assault on Dorian. She could understand her reaction, why had Dorian let Michael suffer under Hank?
Dorian lifted himself off the floor and looked at Maria, “Are you done? Can we talk or do you want to hit me some more?”
Maria just nodded and went to sit by Liz on the bed.
Liz reached over and gave Maria a hug. Maria briefly hugged her back before focusing her attention on a now pacing Dorian.
Dorian stopped, turned towards Liz and Maria, and said, “Do either of you know how dangerous your friends are? Or how hard it has been to keep them out of sight from both alien and terrestrial authorities?” Dorian started pacing again. “I got unbelievably lucky with the Evans. They are if anything, better than the foster families we had planned for.”
Liz said, “So you did have people that you planned on raising them?”
“Of course. But our luck for this mission was horrible. Something happened during one of our jumps, and the Bezos received a huge power surge. It killed most of those in stasis, but luckily a few of us were awake for a planning session. I was one of them, in charge of intelligence operations for the mission.” Dorian shook his head. “That killed most of us, crew and mission group as well. Somehow we managed to get to this solar system, but the Bezos was finished.”
Maria looked at Liz and then back at Dorian, “Okay, so how does this relate to Michael being left in Hank’s care?”
Dorian shot a glare at Maria, “I am getting there. Patience. Where was I, oh, yeah, the Bezos’s destruction. The engines were shot and it took us well over seven days just to cross from where we had jumped into the system. We packed all we could into the last operational ship’s boat and prepared to land on Earth.”
“What happened to the Bezos?”
“We crashed it on the far side of the moon. Someday that should be quite the story. We entered Earth’s atmosphere somewhere over the Sea of Cortez. We flew over Mexico for a while, until we headed north, I think we were going to go somewhere in the Midwest. Someplace safe where we could get transportation and do the best we could to accomplish the plan.” He stopped for a second and chewed his lip. He briefly sighed and went on, “We had known that the US had been one of the victors in a major local war, and that it had come out in decent shape. We were able to avoid the crude radar stations, but had to reduce power to our own sensors. We were afraid they might notice. That is why we hit that stupid balloon. I swear we should have had a better pilot, I mean all that airspace and he hits a radar reflective air balloon? And we crashed.”
“I still don’t see how this relates,” Maria said.
“Out of fifty-two people that left Antar to reconstruct the Royal Four, only six made it to the planet. Two died shortly there after, and two were badly wounded and captured. There is more, but I really do not have time. I need to check up on those FBI Agents and see what they are up too.”
Maria looked ready to launch herself at Dorian again.
Liz held her back, but she needed to know too. Why would someone who was supposed to protect them, let one of them be abused. “Dorian we need to know. I feel I can trust you, but both of us need to know why you would let one of your charges be subject to neglect and abuse.”
“I had no choice. I lucked out with the Evans. Not only did they love their children, they overlooked some pretty odd things that happened. Max used to heal hurt animals and Isabel apparently would appear in dreams at odd times. They did not care, they loved their kids. They still do, I think they could actually tell them, and it wouldn’t bother them in the least. Michael had even less control, and would move things. I needed someone close, with skills Michael would need one day, and that would be willing to ignore the peculiarities that come with living with a young hybrid. Sadly Hank was it, he was the only one who lived close enough to let Michael go to school with Max and Isabel.”
Dorian continued, “You see at first I had lost him. I thought that he had either died or that Nasedo had gotten to him first. I did not worry that he had Tess, Ava was not really all that impressive on Antar. Of course, she did die very young. Having watched Tess a bit, I fear I may have made a mistake. But if Aric had gotten Michael, too… I shudder at what he could have made Michael into. So hate me if you must. I did what I thought I had to, to allow them to know and grow to love one another. To allow them to be themselves for a time, to allow them to grow and be safe.”
Both of the girls looked at each other, momentarily at a loss for words.
“Very well, I will take my leave of you. Know that both of you are under my protection now. I would appreciate if you would not tell my other charges about me. I would like to keep my freedom for a little while longer. Good night and take care. Do not hesitate to call me if I can help you or one of my other charges.” Dorian handed them a couple of cards with numbers on them. He then turned and left out the window.
After Dorian left Maria looked at Liz, “So do you believe him? I mean do you think he is here to help us?”
Liz sat there a moment in thought. “Yes, I mean I don’t know if you could feel it, but he felt really familiar. I saw lots of pictures of us, mostly of them of course, but of us as well. He has been watching over them, and well, I think if he meant harm he would have already done it.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. I felt like I know him. But do you think he’s just using some alien power on us to make us trust him. I mean, surely he could have done better than Hank.” Maria got up and walked over to Liz’s closet and surveyed the clothes inside.
Liz looked at Maria with suspicion, “Maria what are you doing?”
“I am looking for something for you to wear.”
“Why would I need something to wear?”
“For the party”
“What party?”
“The one we will be going to once you are ready. You know the one at the Delany’s”
“Maria! I am in no shape to be going to that party. And I work tomorrow. And I don’t have permission from my parents.”
“You don’t start until noon, and I already asked your mom. She said yes. So what do you think, hmm should it be this dress or that halter top and skirt.”
“Maria, that’s final, I am not going.”
“Oh, I suspect we’ll argue for a bit, but you are going. I mean come on, you just went through this totally tragic day and now you are not going to take the opportunity to blow off some steam. Come on, girl, live a little. We can’t let our lives be totally dragged under by all the alien chaos.”
“Maria, I can’t. I, I see things.”
“Right, you know, so do I. Hmm, I say the dress.”
Liz closed her eyes. How should she begin this? She did not want to hurt her friend, but if she was going to tell her the truth, to truly confide in her, she needed to tell her everything. Even the hard and painful things. “No, I get flashes from things.”
“Flashes from things other than Max? When did this start?”
“It started today. I think Ana did something, removed some sort of block. I started to feel this way a little in Florida this past summer, but it went away.”
“Wow, so what did you see?”
“Maria, this is serious. I think it is driven by intense emotion.”
“Yep, and you have been one tense ball of emotion since you got back. I tell you, this party is tailored just for you. I don’t know, flirt, dance, and do something to release all this tension. I mean, what you really need to do is go to Max Evans and declare your still obvious undying love for him. But that is too sensible, so let’s go party.”
Liz decided to change tactics. “Maria, did you see things when that time storm broke?”
Maria paused momentarily from her survey of Liz’s shoe collection, “Um that whiteness when normal Roswell returned? Yeah, I saw a memory from Michael’s past life. It was kind of cool.”
“I saw the future, the future that would have happened if Max, that is Future Max, had not come back. Wouldn’t you be more interested in hearing about that than going to a party?”
Maria paused for a moment. “No, party first, then you can spill your secrets.”
“Maria, are you okay?”
“No, Liz, I am not okay. I nearly died today. D I E D. You could be planning funeral arrangement right now, and getting ready to plant some flowers on top of me. I am not okay. I just want to do something normal, something that normal teenagers do. I, I understand if you don’t want to go, but I was really just hoping. Just hoping that you would come with me, I learned that it all can be taken from you in an instant. So I want to enjoy this moment, and I thought since you have always been with me, as my friend, that you would go with me.” Maria’s calm façade began to crack, and tears began to flow slowly down her cheeks. “But you have had a tough day too. I would understand if you did not want to go.”
Liz rushed over to hug her friend, “Of course I will go. Just let me take a quick shower.” She let go and walked to the bathroom.
“Liz, about that future, was I happy?”
“It is kind of complicated. You were a moderately successful singer, and I guess that you were not unhappy. That future was not all bad, but I would not care to repeat it.”
“And me and Michael?”
“It did not work out. That is one of many things I would like to see change.”
----
Ava-
Ava could not believe what they had done. How could they? Zan was one of their family. They had sworn to protect each other. And now this.
Once again she had failed. She had not paid attention at the wedding, she had not watched as a trusted member of the army betrayed them, killing Rath. This time she had seen the rage, had seen it coming, but could not believe it. How could they?
It had to be Lonnie. Rath may have done the deed, but he never would have had the courage, never would have wanted to hurt Zan. Ava had seen as darkness had slowly poisoned Lonnie’s soul. She had talked about it with Zan, had talked about how it had slowly spread to Rath. Not that Rath needed much help in that direction, his time as part of a gang had not helped his moral compass.
Without Zan to protect her, Ava was not sure how she would survive. Soon, only too soon, Rath would come to collect her. To claim the little that Zan still had now that he was gone. She would not be able to resist, not against both Lonnie and Rath. How she cursed that Ava had never had much combat training in her old life, that she had been protected and cosseted. She could not protect herself from both of them.
She wanted to run, but had nowhere to go. She wanted to fight, but she did not want to die. She would just have to wait for her chance, and to seize it when it came.
---
Maria-
Maria sat down on Liz’s bed again. She could hear the shower start. What Liz had told her bothered her. Oh the lack of specifics would be remedied later. It was her expression.
Maria had known Liz for such a long time, but tonight she had seen a first. She had often seen Liz afraid for her, but this was the first time she had seen Liz afraid of her.
She had heard something about the deaths of Michael, Isabel, and Liz. Surely she had not been involved. Maria felt a sudden chill. Liz’s fear had been real. She could tell.
But why? Why would Liz be afraid of her?
Sternbetrachter- Unfortunately none of the bonds that our heroes share have the bandwidth to share emotions at a distance. Not yet anyway. But I think Alex's desire to please Isabel will still please her. She may not admit it, but part of her problem is she feels more than infatuation for Alex. That deep of an emotional commitment scares her.
Max will be okay in a part or two. But there is a reason for his reaction.
As to Maria's reaction to Dorian's pronouncement, well that is how I thought she would act.
xmag- Isabel has a tiny little connection open to Alex. It is not like the full bonds now shared by M/L or M/M but it is a start. Isabel is sadly fighting it, but only half heartedly. As always she doesn't want to fully let him go, but she is not ready to fully embrace him. Alex subconciously has noted the change, but only really notices it when Isabel tries to manipulate it.
Dorian states his case in this part.
As to what she remembers overhearing as she woke up, yes, but she is in a sort of denial. Expect that to explode in a couple of parts.
Ah the star I keep mentioning. It is actually canon, only its mentioned in passing as a black hole. Only I have decided to use it for more than just a passing referance to the relationship between Liz and Max. Isabel loves to stargaze, and has memorized every chart for the local region. She noticed it immediately, and the part of her that is Vilandra noted its significance. To Vilandra, this star is a historic event, one that had dire effects on Antar. This is why she fears it. Alex loves Isabel, and so has developed a love of astronomy. (He has it bad.) Max only slightly cares about the stars, but another event occured nearly simultaneously. There is a reason he saw headlights.
katydid- Thanks.
RhondaAnn- As to the star, see above. Isabel will keep vaccilating for a while. Once she makes up her mind she will pounce, but for now she is confused.
Poor Courtney indeed. As to those memories, blame them on Courtney. One of the things she did before she thought she was going to die in the church in IDS was give Maria some of her memories. To help her help Michael.
She remembers them, but she is still in denial.
Disclaimer- Roswell is not mine, and I mean no infringement.
Eidolon part 2
Michael-
Michael stared up at the balcony. She was up there, up there with Liz. It would take but a moment to scale up the ladder. He wasn’t quite sure what he would do then, but it probably involved lots of kissing.
He had almost lost her today. She had come so close to leaving him forever, to dying, that panicked him even now. He had not realized how much she meant to him, how much her presence meant to him until then. He had not known that he had a connection, through which he could feel her very presence until he felt it gone. Until he felt his heart grow cold and the world dim.
It had not been acceptable. He could not let her die. He. Could. Not. He had known it was impossible, that he would likely kill himself and probably her as well. But she was dying anyway, and for him without her life was not worth living. It was impulsive and stupid, but there was no way he would not try, no matter the cost. He had reached for her, had called her with all his being.
And she came. She actually came back, to him. He had known she had loved him, had known how much he had hurt her. The flashes told the whole story. He knew very well how much he had screwed up her life, of what knowing him and his secret had cost her. And yet she still somehow loved him. She came back, and with his power and her own will she had held on until Richard had placed her in stasis.
It had been so perilously close.
He walked up to the ladder and prepared to climb. He vaguely heard someone calling him, but his mind was still on Maria. Those kisses just had not been enough.
He was about halfway up the ladder when he heard Alex run around the corner.
“Michael, didn’t you hear me? I need your help.”
Michael paused briefly before continuing his climb.
“Michael! I need your help, Max needs your help. He’s just, well he just collapsed.”
Michael stopped and sighed briefly. He took one more longing look up at the balcony above and started the climb down. When he got down off the ladder, he looked at Alex and said, “Okay, where’s the Fearless Leader?”
“Max is across the street, come on you have to help me.” Alex walked back towards the UFO Museum.
Michael followed closely. “What is wrong with Max?”
“I don’t know, one moment he was talking about talking with you actually. I showed what seemed to be a new star. He got this look; I don’t really know how to explain it. It combined fear, sadness, and resignation. Then he just fell. It was the oddest thing.”
Michael was silent for a moment while they crossed the street. He then looked up and examined the sky. He had never been as interested in astronomy as Isabel had, but he had studied the sky on many a night. He did not really care what the humans called the constellations, he cared only that his real home had been somewhere up there.
And he saw it. A star that did not fit. I will have to talk with Isabel and find out what that is. I did not think stars just appeared like that, certainly not one that is so bright. Strange that Max would be affected, of all of us he stares at the sky the least. Even Tess loves the night sky here; she was thrilled when she found out about the Observatory.
“Michael, can you give me a hand? We should put him in my car and drive him home. I mean he’s breathing so he should be okay. He doesn’t have a fever like you did that one time either. Do you think he will spin a cocoon like you did?”
Michael walked over and checked Max. He just seemed unconscious. “He’ll be fine. We should take him back to my apartment though. The last thing we need are overprotective parents rushing him to the hospital.”
“Um, okay. But we should call Iz. She’ll want to know about Max. And about the star, maybe she will know what it is.”
Michael grunted an assent, and both of them carried Max to Alex’s car. After they loaded Max into the passenger seat, Michael walked over to his bike. He watched as Alex’s car pulled from the curb and headed towards his apartment. He took one last look at the Crashdown, and the upstairs apartment it contained.
Maria was still there.
With a sigh, Michael started his bike and followed Alex, back to his apartment.
----
Liz-
Liz was shocked, but not surprised at Maria’s sudden assault on Dorian. She could understand her reaction, why had Dorian let Michael suffer under Hank?
Dorian lifted himself off the floor and looked at Maria, “Are you done? Can we talk or do you want to hit me some more?”
Maria just nodded and went to sit by Liz on the bed.
Liz reached over and gave Maria a hug. Maria briefly hugged her back before focusing her attention on a now pacing Dorian.
Dorian stopped, turned towards Liz and Maria, and said, “Do either of you know how dangerous your friends are? Or how hard it has been to keep them out of sight from both alien and terrestrial authorities?” Dorian started pacing again. “I got unbelievably lucky with the Evans. They are if anything, better than the foster families we had planned for.”
Liz said, “So you did have people that you planned on raising them?”
“Of course. But our luck for this mission was horrible. Something happened during one of our jumps, and the Bezos received a huge power surge. It killed most of those in stasis, but luckily a few of us were awake for a planning session. I was one of them, in charge of intelligence operations for the mission.” Dorian shook his head. “That killed most of us, crew and mission group as well. Somehow we managed to get to this solar system, but the Bezos was finished.”
Maria looked at Liz and then back at Dorian, “Okay, so how does this relate to Michael being left in Hank’s care?”
Dorian shot a glare at Maria, “I am getting there. Patience. Where was I, oh, yeah, the Bezos’s destruction. The engines were shot and it took us well over seven days just to cross from where we had jumped into the system. We packed all we could into the last operational ship’s boat and prepared to land on Earth.”
“What happened to the Bezos?”
“We crashed it on the far side of the moon. Someday that should be quite the story. We entered Earth’s atmosphere somewhere over the Sea of Cortez. We flew over Mexico for a while, until we headed north, I think we were going to go somewhere in the Midwest. Someplace safe where we could get transportation and do the best we could to accomplish the plan.” He stopped for a second and chewed his lip. He briefly sighed and went on, “We had known that the US had been one of the victors in a major local war, and that it had come out in decent shape. We were able to avoid the crude radar stations, but had to reduce power to our own sensors. We were afraid they might notice. That is why we hit that stupid balloon. I swear we should have had a better pilot, I mean all that airspace and he hits a radar reflective air balloon? And we crashed.”
“I still don’t see how this relates,” Maria said.
“Out of fifty-two people that left Antar to reconstruct the Royal Four, only six made it to the planet. Two died shortly there after, and two were badly wounded and captured. There is more, but I really do not have time. I need to check up on those FBI Agents and see what they are up too.”
Maria looked ready to launch herself at Dorian again.
Liz held her back, but she needed to know too. Why would someone who was supposed to protect them, let one of them be abused. “Dorian we need to know. I feel I can trust you, but both of us need to know why you would let one of your charges be subject to neglect and abuse.”
“I had no choice. I lucked out with the Evans. Not only did they love their children, they overlooked some pretty odd things that happened. Max used to heal hurt animals and Isabel apparently would appear in dreams at odd times. They did not care, they loved their kids. They still do, I think they could actually tell them, and it wouldn’t bother them in the least. Michael had even less control, and would move things. I needed someone close, with skills Michael would need one day, and that would be willing to ignore the peculiarities that come with living with a young hybrid. Sadly Hank was it, he was the only one who lived close enough to let Michael go to school with Max and Isabel.”
Dorian continued, “You see at first I had lost him. I thought that he had either died or that Nasedo had gotten to him first. I did not worry that he had Tess, Ava was not really all that impressive on Antar. Of course, she did die very young. Having watched Tess a bit, I fear I may have made a mistake. But if Aric had gotten Michael, too… I shudder at what he could have made Michael into. So hate me if you must. I did what I thought I had to, to allow them to know and grow to love one another. To allow them to be themselves for a time, to allow them to grow and be safe.”
Both of the girls looked at each other, momentarily at a loss for words.
“Very well, I will take my leave of you. Know that both of you are under my protection now. I would appreciate if you would not tell my other charges about me. I would like to keep my freedom for a little while longer. Good night and take care. Do not hesitate to call me if I can help you or one of my other charges.” Dorian handed them a couple of cards with numbers on them. He then turned and left out the window.
After Dorian left Maria looked at Liz, “So do you believe him? I mean do you think he is here to help us?”
Liz sat there a moment in thought. “Yes, I mean I don’t know if you could feel it, but he felt really familiar. I saw lots of pictures of us, mostly of them of course, but of us as well. He has been watching over them, and well, I think if he meant harm he would have already done it.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. I felt like I know him. But do you think he’s just using some alien power on us to make us trust him. I mean, surely he could have done better than Hank.” Maria got up and walked over to Liz’s closet and surveyed the clothes inside.
Liz looked at Maria with suspicion, “Maria what are you doing?”
“I am looking for something for you to wear.”
“Why would I need something to wear?”
“For the party”
“What party?”
“The one we will be going to once you are ready. You know the one at the Delany’s”
“Maria! I am in no shape to be going to that party. And I work tomorrow. And I don’t have permission from my parents.”
“You don’t start until noon, and I already asked your mom. She said yes. So what do you think, hmm should it be this dress or that halter top and skirt.”
“Maria, that’s final, I am not going.”
“Oh, I suspect we’ll argue for a bit, but you are going. I mean come on, you just went through this totally tragic day and now you are not going to take the opportunity to blow off some steam. Come on, girl, live a little. We can’t let our lives be totally dragged under by all the alien chaos.”
“Maria, I can’t. I, I see things.”
“Right, you know, so do I. Hmm, I say the dress.”
Liz closed her eyes. How should she begin this? She did not want to hurt her friend, but if she was going to tell her the truth, to truly confide in her, she needed to tell her everything. Even the hard and painful things. “No, I get flashes from things.”
“Flashes from things other than Max? When did this start?”
“It started today. I think Ana did something, removed some sort of block. I started to feel this way a little in Florida this past summer, but it went away.”
“Wow, so what did you see?”
“Maria, this is serious. I think it is driven by intense emotion.”
“Yep, and you have been one tense ball of emotion since you got back. I tell you, this party is tailored just for you. I don’t know, flirt, dance, and do something to release all this tension. I mean, what you really need to do is go to Max Evans and declare your still obvious undying love for him. But that is too sensible, so let’s go party.”
Liz decided to change tactics. “Maria, did you see things when that time storm broke?”
Maria paused momentarily from her survey of Liz’s shoe collection, “Um that whiteness when normal Roswell returned? Yeah, I saw a memory from Michael’s past life. It was kind of cool.”
“I saw the future, the future that would have happened if Max, that is Future Max, had not come back. Wouldn’t you be more interested in hearing about that than going to a party?”
Maria paused for a moment. “No, party first, then you can spill your secrets.”
“Maria, are you okay?”
“No, Liz, I am not okay. I nearly died today. D I E D. You could be planning funeral arrangement right now, and getting ready to plant some flowers on top of me. I am not okay. I just want to do something normal, something that normal teenagers do. I, I understand if you don’t want to go, but I was really just hoping. Just hoping that you would come with me, I learned that it all can be taken from you in an instant. So I want to enjoy this moment, and I thought since you have always been with me, as my friend, that you would go with me.” Maria’s calm façade began to crack, and tears began to flow slowly down her cheeks. “But you have had a tough day too. I would understand if you did not want to go.”
Liz rushed over to hug her friend, “Of course I will go. Just let me take a quick shower.” She let go and walked to the bathroom.
“Liz, about that future, was I happy?”
“It is kind of complicated. You were a moderately successful singer, and I guess that you were not unhappy. That future was not all bad, but I would not care to repeat it.”
“And me and Michael?”
“It did not work out. That is one of many things I would like to see change.”
----
Ava-
Ava could not believe what they had done. How could they? Zan was one of their family. They had sworn to protect each other. And now this.
Once again she had failed. She had not paid attention at the wedding, she had not watched as a trusted member of the army betrayed them, killing Rath. This time she had seen the rage, had seen it coming, but could not believe it. How could they?
It had to be Lonnie. Rath may have done the deed, but he never would have had the courage, never would have wanted to hurt Zan. Ava had seen as darkness had slowly poisoned Lonnie’s soul. She had talked about it with Zan, had talked about how it had slowly spread to Rath. Not that Rath needed much help in that direction, his time as part of a gang had not helped his moral compass.
Without Zan to protect her, Ava was not sure how she would survive. Soon, only too soon, Rath would come to collect her. To claim the little that Zan still had now that he was gone. She would not be able to resist, not against both Lonnie and Rath. How she cursed that Ava had never had much combat training in her old life, that she had been protected and cosseted. She could not protect herself from both of them.
She wanted to run, but had nowhere to go. She wanted to fight, but she did not want to die. She would just have to wait for her chance, and to seize it when it came.
---
Maria-
Maria sat down on Liz’s bed again. She could hear the shower start. What Liz had told her bothered her. Oh the lack of specifics would be remedied later. It was her expression.
Maria had known Liz for such a long time, but tonight she had seen a first. She had often seen Liz afraid for her, but this was the first time she had seen Liz afraid of her.
She had heard something about the deaths of Michael, Isabel, and Liz. Surely she had not been involved. Maria felt a sudden chill. Liz’s fear had been real. She could tell.
But why? Why would Liz be afraid of her?
Thanks to everyone reading this story. Particular thanks to Sternbetrachter, chanks_girl, RhondaAnn, and xmag for your feedback.
Sternbetrachter - Thanks
chanks_girl - Thanks
RhondaAnn - Maria doesn't really know what to think. Liz has been acting strange from her point of view for a couple of weeks. How she reacts once she realizes what actually had happened, well lets just say its going to be traumatic to her.
Dorian's actions towards Michael are totally self serving. He does have reasons for not wanting to directly intervene, but whether they are good enough. He probably has to justify it to himself too, particularly considering how Michael's treatment continued to deteriorate. And he still did not act.
As to Michael's actions, I just thought how he would have reacted to Alex's plea for help. It was only the thought of Max being hurt that made him give up on his quest to kiss Maria. (And that would have been an interesting scene as Dorian was still mimicing Maria at the time. What would Michael have thought of two Maria's?) I should also note, that the Pod squad is having to reevaluate their opinion of their human friends. Reevaluate them in a positive light.
Rath wants Ava. She was Zan's and Zan would not share.
xmag- To raise Michael, he would have to directly intervene and interact with Max and Isabel. Something he would like to avoid. His explanation, while true is totally self serving.
One of the disadvantages to getting flashes is that they convey not only imagery but also emotion. So when Liz saw herself get killed by her best friend, she felt every minute of it. So from Liz's time perspective, her best friend killed her about eleven hours ago. And while she knows it was not this Maria, it still is affecting her emotionally. She just had not had time to really let it sink in until after work. And yeah, it is not a good thing.
That flashback is in this part.
Disclaimer- Roswell is not mine, and I mean no infringement. Also there is one scene, in Ava's POV that is partly taken from Meet the Dupes.
Eidolon part 3
Alex-
Alex helped Michael carry Max to Michael’s apartment. For a change Michael seemed more quiet than sullen. Alex had tried to start a conversation with him before, but he had always just ignored him. But he just could not resist. “So, what were you doing going up that ladder? Is there something Max and Maria need to know?”
Michael shot Alex a hard look and opened the door. “Come on, we’ll put Max on the couch.”
Alex helped carry Max towards the couch when he noticed it was occupied. By a naked Courtney, with a blanket that barely covered her hips. He felt as his cheeks heated, only partly from embarrassment. He had thought Michael had changed, that if he tried with Maria again, he would not cheat on her. Maria had seemed so happy today… If she only knew what this alien bastard was doing to her…
Michael looked at the body with a sad expression. “I forgot. Let’s carry Max into my room.”
Alex felt as rage washed over him. Washed over him and left him cool and calm. The only thing slowing his immediate attack was Max’s unconscious body. But once he was lying safely on Michael’s bed, all bets were off. He grunted acceptance to Michael.
After they set Max down on the bed, Alex turned to face Michael. “How could you? I thought, Maria thought you cared for her. And yet Courtney is sleeping naked on your couch. Is that what you were going to tell her at Liz’s, that she did not matter to you? That you were dumping her for that tramp?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I told you, Maria is not just some girl you can abuse like that. She is special and deserves someone better than you.” Alex could feel the white hot rage that had engulfed him earlier that month, when Maria had cried on his shoulder and told him what Michael had done to her. Not again. That bastard is not going to do it to her again; I don’t care if it is some plot or something. Maria’s feelings matter!
Alex attacked, his fist swinging squarely towards a surprised Michael’s jaw. Only, just as fast, Michael wasn’t there anymore. And Alex found himself flying through the air, to crash into Michael’s messy closet.
Alex slowly picked himself up. His whole body ached from the impact and there was a coppery taste in his mouth. He looked back into the rest of the bedroom.
Michael glared at him and said, “What the hell was that for?”
“Are you going to finish me off now?” Alex said bitterly, “I am sure you and Courtney have a lot of catching up to do. Particularly as you have kept her waiting so long that she has fallen asleep!”
“What are you talking about? Courtney’s not here.”
“Oh yeah, then what of her body lying on your couch!”
“That is not a body, that’s her old husk. You mean, you thought…,” Michael ran his hands through his unruly hair. “Yeah that would explain it.” Michael sighed. “How much do you know about what we did at Copper Summit?”
“I know a little. Liz wouldn’t talk; she has shut down a bit since the beginning of the month. I’m actually a little worried about her,” Alex said absently. “But Maria said something about killing aliens’ bodies or something. And that Courtney had helped you guys. Why?”
“The Skins wear husks, sort of like spacesuits, they can not live long without them. The husks they have now are getting old, and they needed new ones. So they were growing them, preparing them for Harvest. When Max, Liz, Isabel, and Tess went there to investigate on Whitaker, they did not realize what they were getting into. Courtney told us, went with us when we tried to rescue our friends, and destroyed the Harvest to help us escape. This would have doomed her, too. But I grabbed her new growing husk, and took it with us.”
Alex was perplexed. “Michael, why are you telling me all this? Don’t get me wrong, I do want to know, but…”
“But you never thought I would be the one to tell you. Yesterday, yeah, I wouldn’t have. Tomorrow, well we’ll see. But today…today I feel I kind of have to. You humans have been good for us, you know. Max was right, we’ve been really lucky and well today, today I almost lost her. And, well, you’re a really good friend. You have been there for her when I couldn’t, when I wouldn’t…”
“Maria?”
“Yeah, it’s why I had to see her tonight. I just wanted to see her, to know she’s okay,” Michael closed his eyes for a moment, and it looked like he was concentrating on something, something that brought a small smile to his face. “And she is… Did Max tell you anything about today?”
“No, he didn’t really have a chance.”
Michael still looked a bit unfocused, as if he were seeing something off in the distance. On his face was a slight sad smile. “She saved me. Maria saved me today. She jumped in front of a blast that would have killed me, as it did kill her.”
What? “Michael, I saw her earlier on today at the Crash, she was very much alive. Happier than I have seen her in a while, to be honest. And you’re saying that she…”
“Died. Yes Maria died today, but as she saved me, I saved her. I, I still needed Max to heal her, but I wouldn’t let her go.” Michael took a quick look at Max, and then looked at the slightly battered Alex. “Come on, let’s let Maxwell get some sleep, and I will tell you of the day.” Michael walked back into the living room.
Alex followed. He walked over to the couch and took a closer look at the body on the couch. It looked like Courtney, but it was dried out, the skin cracking in places. The right arm was completely gone. He reached out and touched a part of the husk’s cheek, and it disintegrated, leaving a gaping hole in its face. Alex moved his hand back.
Michael called out from the kitchenette, “Snapple?”
“Um, yeah.” Alex reached over and pulled the blanket so that it covered the dead husk. He looked around and spotted a chair and made himself comfortable.
Michael tossed him a Snapple. In between sips, Michael told him what had happened, on how they had barely defeated the Skins. Liz’s captivity, Maria’s near death, the desperate fight at the school.
For the first time, Alex wished that it had just been a cult, had just been drugs that Maria and Liz had gotten into. This was so much more dangerous.
He would stand by them nevertheless. He would not abandon his friends, abandon his girls. The just wished he could be of more help.
The Plan.
Tess is right, they need more information. That book may have something that they need. I just wish I knew why all the need for secrecy.
What plan?
Sweden.
He would do anything for his girl’s. And while Isabel might never see herself as one of them, Alex did. He would do anything for them, anything for her.
For Isabel, he would do anything at all.
----
Liz-
Liz felt as the warm water soothed her anxieties. She had slipped up. She had tried to control her expression, tried to keep from hurting Maria. But it was so hard, that vision was so real.
Flash-
Liz stared at the Granolith, but Max was gone. Gone forever, and if he succeeded, everything they had done together would never have existed. The twins, little Amy would never be. She collapsed to her knees.
Instead, she would have to live a life without Max. Was it her own imagination, or could she feel the despair from her past self slowly consume her? Serena had not been sure what would happen next.
Liz heard as the outer door to the Chamber opened, heard as the stamping feet moved towards the Granolith. The last of their guards must have fallen. Earth had fallen.
They would be in the chamber soon, climbing through one of the pods the now dead Royals had been incubated in. And Liz waited for a change, for some sign that Max had succeeded. But how would she know if things had changed, her memories would change too. But she hoped, hoped that there would be a happier end. But her memories did not change.
She heard a few scuffles as someone entered the chamber.
“On your feet, human.”
Liz shivered at the sound of the Skins cold voice. But it was the second voice, a sweet familiar voice, which set her heart pounding in fear. Maria.
“Oh, no having her on her knees is so much more appropriate. Hello, girlfriend, it looks like I have finally caught up to you. Where is Moondoggie?”
Tears came to Liz’s eyes. Nothing had changed. Max had failed. “Why, Maria, why have you done all this? Why would you betray us?”
“Well, let’s see, there is the benefits package. And the power, let’s not forget the power. Oh, and Amy says hi, not that she’ll remember you much longer. I will raise and protect her much better than you ever could.”
Liz raised her palm and blasted at Maria. A stream of blue and green flew towards the blonde.
Who raised one hand and deflected the blast. “Liz, Liz, Liz, I thought you studied harder than that. You are supposed to do it like this.” Maria raised her palm, and with a flick of the wrist the room was filled with green and gold. Liz went flying into the wall.
Liz felt broken as she tried to move, tried to defend herself. She stared at her former friend. How had this happened, where had things gone wrong? She tried to ask, but it hurt too much to talk.
Maria walked over, “Oh, good, I did not kill you by mistake. That would have been simply tragic. There is so much in that little ugly head of yours that we need to know.” Maria began removing the red and gold gloves that covered her hands. “You wanted to know how this happened, why I chose to serve them. They were there, Liz. When I needed help, when I was alone, and you had abandoned me, they were there. Our friendship had always been about you, always about you and eventually about you and Max. There was never room for me, even with Michael I came second. I mean, we are talking about a man who had the opportunity to rule, and he refuses, all to protect a friend who can barely stand him. Not just in one life, but in two. Unbelievable. I was never important enough, never enough for any of you.”
Maria caressed her now ungloved right hand along Liz’s cheeks. Her bright emerald eyes glowed with enmity and a trace of regret. “Well we have come to the end, Liz. You are the last of my ‘friends’ from Roswell. It really is too bad I had to kill Nicky, he was so much better at this. But he still thought he was in charge,” Maria shook her head. “Well we are past that now.” Maria gripped Liz’s temples.
And the pain began as Liz could feel a foreign mind connect; it was Maria’s but different, altered. She tried to resist, but she felt as it cut through her defenses, as her very essence was ripped and torn. She could feel herself dying as her heart began to race, as it began to pound louder and louder. Until it burst.
As her eyes began to glaze over, and her torn and broken soul began its long journey, she saw one last image. Maria standing over her, sorrow painted on her face as she said good bye to her once best friend.
End Flash-
Liz tried to slow her now rapidly beating heart. How could she tell her? How could she tell Maria the truth without hurting her? But Maria would know if she held something back. How could Maria fully trust Liz if she tried to keep something so important from her?
For the first time, Liz realized why Future Max had been so evasive. Why he would not tell her of what had been. It was too horrible. But she had to find a way. She had too.
She could not have Max, but she was not going to lose Maria too. There had to be a way, there just had to.
---
Ava
Ava was glad that she’d been the one to arrange transportation. Not only had it gotten her out of their home, and given her a measure of momentary safety, the sports sedan she’d chosen was much more comfortable for a long drive than what Rath or Lonnie would’ve chosen. It wasn’t as flashy as what they would’ve chosen, but it still had enough power and speed to mollify him.
She’d disarmed the Lojack, changed the license plates and color. She had even changed some of the surface details to make it look more like a different brand of car. No need to draw more attention than necessary, particularly as Rath would likely draw enough attention with the speeding. Not that Lonnie was much better.
She would be so much happier when she could just leave them. But the bonds were still there, bonds that they had sworn to when they had reformed the Royal Four. They were weak, but strong enough for Lonnie or Rath to track her down. And kill her. That is what they would do, although Rath would likely rape her first.
She watched as they got on the bridge that would take her from her home, take her from New York, hopefully for forever. Her memories haunted her. She turned to Lonnie, “Lonnie he was your brother.”
Ava watched as Lonnie adjusted the mirror to see her better, “That’s right Zan was my brother, and Rath is my lover, so why are you living and breathing and riding in this car. Oh, because I love you. Ain’t that sweet.”
Ava did not even try to hide her fear. And she was afraid that they might just haul off and kill her for no reason. The darkness had consumed them, both of them. They were evil now. But inside, beneath the fear she felt a little joy, for the bonds had shifted again. She listened to them make their plans, their plans to betray the other Zan. To use him to get home.
Stupid Tarans. She was nearly free.
---
Isabel-
Isabel felt jittery as she sat back down from the last dance. At some point while she was dancing she had felt something move in her head. But she could not really examine while dancing or she’d be bumping into people. She had a reputation to maintain. As she sat down she gave herself a mini examination. And found nothing.
Except that maybe the filament connecting her to Alex was a little thicker. But surely that had to be her imagination. It must be. This whole day has made me jittery.
She looked at the party, watched as her school friends and acquaintances mingled. She tried not to think of the number of smiling faces, people that called her friend to her face but that secretly hated her. For a moment her vision shifted, and she was on Antar. The party was much the same, much grander, much more lavish, and yet the same. For there too, she had to pretend to be someone that she was not, and to waste so much of her time controlling the scene. All the work necessary just to be popular enough to be left alone, to be feared enough that no one would dare mention that she was different. The vision faded.
When would she have the chance to be just herself? She surveyed the party again and could not find a single person that actually knew anything real about her. She wished that Liz or Maria or Tess would show up. None of them were her favorite people, but they did know a little about her. She did not have to pretend with them.
She was tempted to ask Vicki if she could use her computer to check out if anyone had made any comments regarding that star. But that would let Vicki know she was interested in something more than the mundane ‘reality’ of high school life. And that would get around. She would have to wait until she got home, but maybe she should just go outside and gaze for a little while. That was non-threatening.
Then she saw Kyle. He was sitting alone on a bench, holding a glass and watching the crowd with an inscrutable expression.
He looked at her and said, “I did not sleep with her. And I don’t know why she did it so don’t ask.”
Isabel stopped for a moment and processed that bit of information. “But why did you help her?”
Kyle gave her a flat look, “She’s my friend. She asked me to. And it’s a pity, because I may have lost Tess because of it.”
“Why do you say that?”
“She’d been mad at how you all had been treating her. She even talked about leaving. She looked so hot,” Kyle shook his head remembering. “Tess and I, well we got to talking. Then Liz was at the door.”
“Was that when she asked you to fake having sex with her?”
“No, but it still cooled Tess towards me a bit. It was more like she was giving Tess advice on how to catch Max. It was really weird. But the next day, that is when Liz asked me to help her. The other funny thing is that, whatever she hoped to accomplish… Well I think the prank hurt her as much as it did him.”
“That is odd.” Isabel stopped for a moment and tried to think why Liz would do something like that. Either she has a reason for doing it, some deep serious reason that she can be noble about. Or Tess has her mind warped. Not a good situation either way. “And you really don’t know why.”
“Nope not a clue,” Kyle continued to watch the crowd, still with that enigmatic inscrutable look.
She watched him for a few moments when it clicked. He is scanning the party goers; he is looking to see if there will be any trouble. “Kyle, are you okay?”
“Oh yeah, I am just doing great. I came to this party to relax. But I still can’t get this day out of my head. I can’t relax, because I can’t be sure we got them all. I mean, how can we tell? I mean, it’s not like they wear signs saying that they’re evil aliens. I mean they look just like us on the outside.”
“That’s pretty paranoid don’t you think, Kyle?”
“Maybe, but tell me oh great alien princess ballerina, how many of these people do you really know. How many of them are from the local collage, or East Roswell, or… You get my point.”
Isabel started to notice how many of the people here she did not know and shook her head. “Look, you are right, there are a lot of people here I don’t know. But it’s still paranoid. Most of these people are normal.”
“Yeah, but it would take only one. But it’s worse than that, you see those guys over there. You know those jocks that are chugging beer? That is who I was, I was the stereotype. But I’m not anymore, I haven’t been since last May, and I just don’t fit in anymore. I’ve been at this party for over an hour and I am still on my first beer.” Kyle shook his head with disgust. “And I can’t drink more because I am afraid that I will need to be able to think, be able to react. I’ve actually looked at this room and planned out escape routes, planned the best places to take cover. Great Buddha, what is happening to me?”
“Um, I don’t think it’s healthy for you to be in here. I was about to go look at the stars, do you want to accompany me?”
“Sure it will give me a whole new landscape to obsess about.”
“That’s not exactly what I was hoping for.”
“Look, Isabel, I am not Alex. I don’t want you so much I would learn all this star crap.”
“Okay, so why are you coming?” Is that really why Alex is into astronomy; is it just to be closer to me? Why does he care about me so much? She glanced again at the filament. It really did seem denser.
“Because as cold and bitchy as you sometimes are, you are still my friend.” Kyle started to walk to the closest door.
Isabel just stood there. If they only knew the real me, the part of me that might have betrayed my family. The fact that I’m a killer. How could they love me then?
Kyle turned around and said, “Well are you coming?”
Isabel followed Kyle into the night.
----
Maria-
Maria felt tingly. Maria was not good at waiting, even under the best of circumstances, but now she felt like she was on a never ending sugar rush. She had felt like this ever since Max had healed her.
Maybe it was a reaction from the drug Richard had given her; certainly her sense of smell was still gone. Until it came back all of her aroma therapy stuff was useless. She needed another way to get calm, as kissing Spaceboy was out at the moment. She closed her eyes for a moment, yeah, he was probably at his apartment.
That sense of Michael was eerie, but she was starting to get used to it. It was nice to know that he was okay.
That still did not help her restlessness, however. So she wandered about the room a bit until she nearly tripped over a huge backpack. It wasn’t one she recognized either.
She paused a second and looked at the bathroom door. Liz won’t mind if I peek.
She opened the bag and was surprised. It was full of crystals and little metallic ovoids. She had the weirdest sense of déjà vu. She felt almost like she recognized this stuff. Which was just silly, most of it looked like the sort of New Agey stuff some of her mom’s friends would have.
She also saw a couple stacks of hundred dollar bills. She wasn’t about to count it, but there was a lot of money in there.
But what she found herself reaching for were some of the smaller crystals. As she touched them, she felt vibes off some of them. Most of them felt blank, but one felt… evil. Another felt like, well it felt like Liz.
And there was one, mostly green with flecks of gold, which seemed to call to her. As she cupped it into her hand, it just felt right. It felt like it had been made for her.
She felt a little silly, but she just sat there and concentrated on the stone. Somehow it just felt right. She closed her eyes and felt herself begin to calm.
With her eyes closed, it is no surprise that she did not see the training orb begin to glow.
Sternbetrachter - Thanks
chanks_girl - Thanks
RhondaAnn - Maria doesn't really know what to think. Liz has been acting strange from her point of view for a couple of weeks. How she reacts once she realizes what actually had happened, well lets just say its going to be traumatic to her.
Dorian's actions towards Michael are totally self serving. He does have reasons for not wanting to directly intervene, but whether they are good enough. He probably has to justify it to himself too, particularly considering how Michael's treatment continued to deteriorate. And he still did not act.
As to Michael's actions, I just thought how he would have reacted to Alex's plea for help. It was only the thought of Max being hurt that made him give up on his quest to kiss Maria. (And that would have been an interesting scene as Dorian was still mimicing Maria at the time. What would Michael have thought of two Maria's?) I should also note, that the Pod squad is having to reevaluate their opinion of their human friends. Reevaluate them in a positive light.
Rath wants Ava. She was Zan's and Zan would not share.
xmag- To raise Michael, he would have to directly intervene and interact with Max and Isabel. Something he would like to avoid. His explanation, while true is totally self serving.
One of the disadvantages to getting flashes is that they convey not only imagery but also emotion. So when Liz saw herself get killed by her best friend, she felt every minute of it. So from Liz's time perspective, her best friend killed her about eleven hours ago. And while she knows it was not this Maria, it still is affecting her emotionally. She just had not had time to really let it sink in until after work. And yeah, it is not a good thing.
That flashback is in this part.
Disclaimer- Roswell is not mine, and I mean no infringement. Also there is one scene, in Ava's POV that is partly taken from Meet the Dupes.
Eidolon part 3
Alex-
Alex helped Michael carry Max to Michael’s apartment. For a change Michael seemed more quiet than sullen. Alex had tried to start a conversation with him before, but he had always just ignored him. But he just could not resist. “So, what were you doing going up that ladder? Is there something Max and Maria need to know?”
Michael shot Alex a hard look and opened the door. “Come on, we’ll put Max on the couch.”
Alex helped carry Max towards the couch when he noticed it was occupied. By a naked Courtney, with a blanket that barely covered her hips. He felt as his cheeks heated, only partly from embarrassment. He had thought Michael had changed, that if he tried with Maria again, he would not cheat on her. Maria had seemed so happy today… If she only knew what this alien bastard was doing to her…
Michael looked at the body with a sad expression. “I forgot. Let’s carry Max into my room.”
Alex felt as rage washed over him. Washed over him and left him cool and calm. The only thing slowing his immediate attack was Max’s unconscious body. But once he was lying safely on Michael’s bed, all bets were off. He grunted acceptance to Michael.
After they set Max down on the bed, Alex turned to face Michael. “How could you? I thought, Maria thought you cared for her. And yet Courtney is sleeping naked on your couch. Is that what you were going to tell her at Liz’s, that she did not matter to you? That you were dumping her for that tramp?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I told you, Maria is not just some girl you can abuse like that. She is special and deserves someone better than you.” Alex could feel the white hot rage that had engulfed him earlier that month, when Maria had cried on his shoulder and told him what Michael had done to her. Not again. That bastard is not going to do it to her again; I don’t care if it is some plot or something. Maria’s feelings matter!
Alex attacked, his fist swinging squarely towards a surprised Michael’s jaw. Only, just as fast, Michael wasn’t there anymore. And Alex found himself flying through the air, to crash into Michael’s messy closet.
Alex slowly picked himself up. His whole body ached from the impact and there was a coppery taste in his mouth. He looked back into the rest of the bedroom.
Michael glared at him and said, “What the hell was that for?”
“Are you going to finish me off now?” Alex said bitterly, “I am sure you and Courtney have a lot of catching up to do. Particularly as you have kept her waiting so long that she has fallen asleep!”
“What are you talking about? Courtney’s not here.”
“Oh yeah, then what of her body lying on your couch!”
“That is not a body, that’s her old husk. You mean, you thought…,” Michael ran his hands through his unruly hair. “Yeah that would explain it.” Michael sighed. “How much do you know about what we did at Copper Summit?”
“I know a little. Liz wouldn’t talk; she has shut down a bit since the beginning of the month. I’m actually a little worried about her,” Alex said absently. “But Maria said something about killing aliens’ bodies or something. And that Courtney had helped you guys. Why?”
“The Skins wear husks, sort of like spacesuits, they can not live long without them. The husks they have now are getting old, and they needed new ones. So they were growing them, preparing them for Harvest. When Max, Liz, Isabel, and Tess went there to investigate on Whitaker, they did not realize what they were getting into. Courtney told us, went with us when we tried to rescue our friends, and destroyed the Harvest to help us escape. This would have doomed her, too. But I grabbed her new growing husk, and took it with us.”
Alex was perplexed. “Michael, why are you telling me all this? Don’t get me wrong, I do want to know, but…”
“But you never thought I would be the one to tell you. Yesterday, yeah, I wouldn’t have. Tomorrow, well we’ll see. But today…today I feel I kind of have to. You humans have been good for us, you know. Max was right, we’ve been really lucky and well today, today I almost lost her. And, well, you’re a really good friend. You have been there for her when I couldn’t, when I wouldn’t…”
“Maria?”
“Yeah, it’s why I had to see her tonight. I just wanted to see her, to know she’s okay,” Michael closed his eyes for a moment, and it looked like he was concentrating on something, something that brought a small smile to his face. “And she is… Did Max tell you anything about today?”
“No, he didn’t really have a chance.”
Michael still looked a bit unfocused, as if he were seeing something off in the distance. On his face was a slight sad smile. “She saved me. Maria saved me today. She jumped in front of a blast that would have killed me, as it did kill her.”
What? “Michael, I saw her earlier on today at the Crash, she was very much alive. Happier than I have seen her in a while, to be honest. And you’re saying that she…”
“Died. Yes Maria died today, but as she saved me, I saved her. I, I still needed Max to heal her, but I wouldn’t let her go.” Michael took a quick look at Max, and then looked at the slightly battered Alex. “Come on, let’s let Maxwell get some sleep, and I will tell you of the day.” Michael walked back into the living room.
Alex followed. He walked over to the couch and took a closer look at the body on the couch. It looked like Courtney, but it was dried out, the skin cracking in places. The right arm was completely gone. He reached out and touched a part of the husk’s cheek, and it disintegrated, leaving a gaping hole in its face. Alex moved his hand back.
Michael called out from the kitchenette, “Snapple?”
“Um, yeah.” Alex reached over and pulled the blanket so that it covered the dead husk. He looked around and spotted a chair and made himself comfortable.
Michael tossed him a Snapple. In between sips, Michael told him what had happened, on how they had barely defeated the Skins. Liz’s captivity, Maria’s near death, the desperate fight at the school.
For the first time, Alex wished that it had just been a cult, had just been drugs that Maria and Liz had gotten into. This was so much more dangerous.
He would stand by them nevertheless. He would not abandon his friends, abandon his girls. The just wished he could be of more help.
The Plan.
Tess is right, they need more information. That book may have something that they need. I just wish I knew why all the need for secrecy.
What plan?
Sweden.
He would do anything for his girl’s. And while Isabel might never see herself as one of them, Alex did. He would do anything for them, anything for her.
For Isabel, he would do anything at all.
----
Liz-
Liz felt as the warm water soothed her anxieties. She had slipped up. She had tried to control her expression, tried to keep from hurting Maria. But it was so hard, that vision was so real.
Flash-
Liz stared at the Granolith, but Max was gone. Gone forever, and if he succeeded, everything they had done together would never have existed. The twins, little Amy would never be. She collapsed to her knees.
Instead, she would have to live a life without Max. Was it her own imagination, or could she feel the despair from her past self slowly consume her? Serena had not been sure what would happen next.
Liz heard as the outer door to the Chamber opened, heard as the stamping feet moved towards the Granolith. The last of their guards must have fallen. Earth had fallen.
They would be in the chamber soon, climbing through one of the pods the now dead Royals had been incubated in. And Liz waited for a change, for some sign that Max had succeeded. But how would she know if things had changed, her memories would change too. But she hoped, hoped that there would be a happier end. But her memories did not change.
She heard a few scuffles as someone entered the chamber.
“On your feet, human.”
Liz shivered at the sound of the Skins cold voice. But it was the second voice, a sweet familiar voice, which set her heart pounding in fear. Maria.
“Oh, no having her on her knees is so much more appropriate. Hello, girlfriend, it looks like I have finally caught up to you. Where is Moondoggie?”
Tears came to Liz’s eyes. Nothing had changed. Max had failed. “Why, Maria, why have you done all this? Why would you betray us?”
“Well, let’s see, there is the benefits package. And the power, let’s not forget the power. Oh, and Amy says hi, not that she’ll remember you much longer. I will raise and protect her much better than you ever could.”
Liz raised her palm and blasted at Maria. A stream of blue and green flew towards the blonde.
Who raised one hand and deflected the blast. “Liz, Liz, Liz, I thought you studied harder than that. You are supposed to do it like this.” Maria raised her palm, and with a flick of the wrist the room was filled with green and gold. Liz went flying into the wall.
Liz felt broken as she tried to move, tried to defend herself. She stared at her former friend. How had this happened, where had things gone wrong? She tried to ask, but it hurt too much to talk.
Maria walked over, “Oh, good, I did not kill you by mistake. That would have been simply tragic. There is so much in that little ugly head of yours that we need to know.” Maria began removing the red and gold gloves that covered her hands. “You wanted to know how this happened, why I chose to serve them. They were there, Liz. When I needed help, when I was alone, and you had abandoned me, they were there. Our friendship had always been about you, always about you and eventually about you and Max. There was never room for me, even with Michael I came second. I mean, we are talking about a man who had the opportunity to rule, and he refuses, all to protect a friend who can barely stand him. Not just in one life, but in two. Unbelievable. I was never important enough, never enough for any of you.”
Maria caressed her now ungloved right hand along Liz’s cheeks. Her bright emerald eyes glowed with enmity and a trace of regret. “Well we have come to the end, Liz. You are the last of my ‘friends’ from Roswell. It really is too bad I had to kill Nicky, he was so much better at this. But he still thought he was in charge,” Maria shook her head. “Well we are past that now.” Maria gripped Liz’s temples.
And the pain began as Liz could feel a foreign mind connect; it was Maria’s but different, altered. She tried to resist, but she felt as it cut through her defenses, as her very essence was ripped and torn. She could feel herself dying as her heart began to race, as it began to pound louder and louder. Until it burst.
As her eyes began to glaze over, and her torn and broken soul began its long journey, she saw one last image. Maria standing over her, sorrow painted on her face as she said good bye to her once best friend.
End Flash-
Liz tried to slow her now rapidly beating heart. How could she tell her? How could she tell Maria the truth without hurting her? But Maria would know if she held something back. How could Maria fully trust Liz if she tried to keep something so important from her?
For the first time, Liz realized why Future Max had been so evasive. Why he would not tell her of what had been. It was too horrible. But she had to find a way. She had too.
She could not have Max, but she was not going to lose Maria too. There had to be a way, there just had to.
---
Ava
Ava was glad that she’d been the one to arrange transportation. Not only had it gotten her out of their home, and given her a measure of momentary safety, the sports sedan she’d chosen was much more comfortable for a long drive than what Rath or Lonnie would’ve chosen. It wasn’t as flashy as what they would’ve chosen, but it still had enough power and speed to mollify him.
She’d disarmed the Lojack, changed the license plates and color. She had even changed some of the surface details to make it look more like a different brand of car. No need to draw more attention than necessary, particularly as Rath would likely draw enough attention with the speeding. Not that Lonnie was much better.
She would be so much happier when she could just leave them. But the bonds were still there, bonds that they had sworn to when they had reformed the Royal Four. They were weak, but strong enough for Lonnie or Rath to track her down. And kill her. That is what they would do, although Rath would likely rape her first.
She watched as they got on the bridge that would take her from her home, take her from New York, hopefully for forever. Her memories haunted her. She turned to Lonnie, “Lonnie he was your brother.”
Ava watched as Lonnie adjusted the mirror to see her better, “That’s right Zan was my brother, and Rath is my lover, so why are you living and breathing and riding in this car. Oh, because I love you. Ain’t that sweet.”
Ava did not even try to hide her fear. And she was afraid that they might just haul off and kill her for no reason. The darkness had consumed them, both of them. They were evil now. But inside, beneath the fear she felt a little joy, for the bonds had shifted again. She listened to them make their plans, their plans to betray the other Zan. To use him to get home.
Stupid Tarans. She was nearly free.
---
Isabel-
Isabel felt jittery as she sat back down from the last dance. At some point while she was dancing she had felt something move in her head. But she could not really examine while dancing or she’d be bumping into people. She had a reputation to maintain. As she sat down she gave herself a mini examination. And found nothing.
Except that maybe the filament connecting her to Alex was a little thicker. But surely that had to be her imagination. It must be. This whole day has made me jittery.
She looked at the party, watched as her school friends and acquaintances mingled. She tried not to think of the number of smiling faces, people that called her friend to her face but that secretly hated her. For a moment her vision shifted, and she was on Antar. The party was much the same, much grander, much more lavish, and yet the same. For there too, she had to pretend to be someone that she was not, and to waste so much of her time controlling the scene. All the work necessary just to be popular enough to be left alone, to be feared enough that no one would dare mention that she was different. The vision faded.
When would she have the chance to be just herself? She surveyed the party again and could not find a single person that actually knew anything real about her. She wished that Liz or Maria or Tess would show up. None of them were her favorite people, but they did know a little about her. She did not have to pretend with them.
She was tempted to ask Vicki if she could use her computer to check out if anyone had made any comments regarding that star. But that would let Vicki know she was interested in something more than the mundane ‘reality’ of high school life. And that would get around. She would have to wait until she got home, but maybe she should just go outside and gaze for a little while. That was non-threatening.
Then she saw Kyle. He was sitting alone on a bench, holding a glass and watching the crowd with an inscrutable expression.
He looked at her and said, “I did not sleep with her. And I don’t know why she did it so don’t ask.”
Isabel stopped for a moment and processed that bit of information. “But why did you help her?”
Kyle gave her a flat look, “She’s my friend. She asked me to. And it’s a pity, because I may have lost Tess because of it.”
“Why do you say that?”
“She’d been mad at how you all had been treating her. She even talked about leaving. She looked so hot,” Kyle shook his head remembering. “Tess and I, well we got to talking. Then Liz was at the door.”
“Was that when she asked you to fake having sex with her?”
“No, but it still cooled Tess towards me a bit. It was more like she was giving Tess advice on how to catch Max. It was really weird. But the next day, that is when Liz asked me to help her. The other funny thing is that, whatever she hoped to accomplish… Well I think the prank hurt her as much as it did him.”
“That is odd.” Isabel stopped for a moment and tried to think why Liz would do something like that. Either she has a reason for doing it, some deep serious reason that she can be noble about. Or Tess has her mind warped. Not a good situation either way. “And you really don’t know why.”
“Nope not a clue,” Kyle continued to watch the crowd, still with that enigmatic inscrutable look.
She watched him for a few moments when it clicked. He is scanning the party goers; he is looking to see if there will be any trouble. “Kyle, are you okay?”
“Oh yeah, I am just doing great. I came to this party to relax. But I still can’t get this day out of my head. I can’t relax, because I can’t be sure we got them all. I mean, how can we tell? I mean, it’s not like they wear signs saying that they’re evil aliens. I mean they look just like us on the outside.”
“That’s pretty paranoid don’t you think, Kyle?”
“Maybe, but tell me oh great alien princess ballerina, how many of these people do you really know. How many of them are from the local collage, or East Roswell, or… You get my point.”
Isabel started to notice how many of the people here she did not know and shook her head. “Look, you are right, there are a lot of people here I don’t know. But it’s still paranoid. Most of these people are normal.”
“Yeah, but it would take only one. But it’s worse than that, you see those guys over there. You know those jocks that are chugging beer? That is who I was, I was the stereotype. But I’m not anymore, I haven’t been since last May, and I just don’t fit in anymore. I’ve been at this party for over an hour and I am still on my first beer.” Kyle shook his head with disgust. “And I can’t drink more because I am afraid that I will need to be able to think, be able to react. I’ve actually looked at this room and planned out escape routes, planned the best places to take cover. Great Buddha, what is happening to me?”
“Um, I don’t think it’s healthy for you to be in here. I was about to go look at the stars, do you want to accompany me?”
“Sure it will give me a whole new landscape to obsess about.”
“That’s not exactly what I was hoping for.”
“Look, Isabel, I am not Alex. I don’t want you so much I would learn all this star crap.”
“Okay, so why are you coming?” Is that really why Alex is into astronomy; is it just to be closer to me? Why does he care about me so much? She glanced again at the filament. It really did seem denser.
“Because as cold and bitchy as you sometimes are, you are still my friend.” Kyle started to walk to the closest door.
Isabel just stood there. If they only knew the real me, the part of me that might have betrayed my family. The fact that I’m a killer. How could they love me then?
Kyle turned around and said, “Well are you coming?”
Isabel followed Kyle into the night.
----
Maria-
Maria felt tingly. Maria was not good at waiting, even under the best of circumstances, but now she felt like she was on a never ending sugar rush. She had felt like this ever since Max had healed her.
Maybe it was a reaction from the drug Richard had given her; certainly her sense of smell was still gone. Until it came back all of her aroma therapy stuff was useless. She needed another way to get calm, as kissing Spaceboy was out at the moment. She closed her eyes for a moment, yeah, he was probably at his apartment.
That sense of Michael was eerie, but she was starting to get used to it. It was nice to know that he was okay.
That still did not help her restlessness, however. So she wandered about the room a bit until she nearly tripped over a huge backpack. It wasn’t one she recognized either.
She paused a second and looked at the bathroom door. Liz won’t mind if I peek.
She opened the bag and was surprised. It was full of crystals and little metallic ovoids. She had the weirdest sense of déjà vu. She felt almost like she recognized this stuff. Which was just silly, most of it looked like the sort of New Agey stuff some of her mom’s friends would have.
She also saw a couple stacks of hundred dollar bills. She wasn’t about to count it, but there was a lot of money in there.
But what she found herself reaching for were some of the smaller crystals. As she touched them, she felt vibes off some of them. Most of them felt blank, but one felt… evil. Another felt like, well it felt like Liz.
And there was one, mostly green with flecks of gold, which seemed to call to her. As she cupped it into her hand, it just felt right. It felt like it had been made for her.
She felt a little silly, but she just sat there and concentrated on the stone. Somehow it just felt right. She closed her eyes and felt herself begin to calm.
With her eyes closed, it is no surprise that she did not see the training orb begin to glow.
Thanks to everyone reading this story. Particular thanks to xmag, chanks_girl, and RhondaAnn for the wonderful feedback.
xmag- Alex knows about decoding the book, he has to as he is going to be the one to do it. He just can not tell anyone, and the stress from the level of lying he has to do has led him to not even admit what the real plan is even to himself. His mind has been twisted like a pretzel. Part of him is willing, the rest has been supressed by a warp, just like his desire to talk about it.
Those crystals will be covered in this post. They are not directly dangerous.
chanks_girl- Thanks
RhondaAnn- That gold flecked green crystal is a training orb, as is the blue-green one that Emily used in that story. It does help connect to the part of her mind where her powers originate, and the crystal is not innately evil. Maria grabbed the one that felt right for her, whether that was the right one remains to be seen.
Alex is a good friend. And this is only a couple of weeks since he punched Michael over Courney. He is protective of 'his girls.' After the results of the day, Michael and Max at least realize how much they need the humans. Michael was told how the humans may be targets now as well, it only makes sense he would want them to be alert.
Maria is in for a bad week. Hopefully her friends will be there for her.
Disclaimer- Roswell is not mine, and no infringement is intended.
Eidolon part 4
Liz-
Liz walked out of the bathroom, still rubbing her hair with a towel. She looked up and stopped.
Maria sat on her bed holding one of the crystals Liz had taken from Ana when she had escaped. Her eyes were closed and her lips were slightly parted. She had a look of sublime contentment. The room was lit by the dim green glow from the crystal in Maria’s hands..
A Solace Stone. That is what they were called, or at least what Emily called them. The Taran Elite admired stoicism, and had created a device that would calm the user. It was also used in training, as it required very little power. The other races used them less often, as they could be addictive. And there was something about how one could be used against you if it was in the wrong hands.
Emily had grabbed Ana’s, had known it might be useful. She had known of other items which might be useful, the palm blasters, the stunners, a couple of comms, even a blank Aide. And a handful of Solace Stones.
Emily. She had hoped to forget all about her, about being her. Liz had been under Ana’s spell for mere hours, how much work had she put into future Maria. How much effort to have someone on the inside to betray them? How could she blame Maria, even in the last timeline when she knew what Ana could do?
Liz felt as her stomach started to flutter, it had been so close. As Emily I would have been happy to capture some of the Royals, to put an end to them. I would have used that stun shot on anyone who had tried to rescue me. If I had not gotten those flashes, if I had not checked that room… If Dorian had not rescued me, things could have been much worse.
Liz looked away from her friend and into her dresser mirror. For a moment it seemed her dark brown eyes were replaced by cobalt blue, and she shivered. It had been too close.
But it had been different too, nothing like this had happened in timeline one. The Skins had left them alone for a long time, seemingly content that the Royals were content with their human lives. Liz was not sure why, or what they had been doing, but they had not bothered her or Max until nearly 2012. And then the clandestine war began.
And lost. The Royals had already lost one of their number, had not really practiced any of the skills asked of them by the vision of their mother on that horrid day of Destiny. Without Tess, without any preparation at all it was little surprise at the outcome. Only Michael had been paying any attention, and who knew how much of his seemingly paranoid ravings had been correct. They had certainly seemed paranoid at the time.
Now things were different, things had changed. But had they changed for the better that was her worry. She bit her lip and looked again at her friend. Maria still sat there eyes closed, seemingly content. She looked peaceful, happy. Happy in a way that Liz had not seen in her friend in a while, Maria was happy without a care in the world. It was nice to see.
So what if some of it was artificial. The device was not directly harmful, and with everything going on, it would help her. It was a little worrisome that she could use it, that she could summon the power to activate the device, but that was a worry for another day. Liz was tempted to break out the Solace Stone she had used in Ana’s trailer earlier on in the day, but eventually Maria would come out of the induced trance and would still want to go to that party.
Liz quietly got ready. And said nothing when Maria sighed, tucked the crystal absently in her purse, and proceeded to help speed the process. Both of them kept the conversation light, deliberately avoiding anything to deal with the alien abyss. By the time they left both of them were giggling and ready for a little light fun.
----
Max-
It had become a little tradition that at noon every third day, Zan would meet his half-sister Vilandra in the Gardens. In the three years since she had accepted the King’s pardon, it had become one of the few ways he could persuade her to leave her laboratory. By order of his father, his sister was confined to the Palace compound, but was allowed with some supervision to pursue her rather arcane field of study.
Zan watched as Vilandra made her way to their table. He smiled as he saw her say a few things to one of the gardeners, flirting probably. He watched as she continued on her way, somehow still making that drab academic uniform look good.
“So, brother, how are you this morning?”
“Quite well, I see you are still trying to seduce the household staff.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say seduce, although I do maintain the household chief of staff does have good taste in gardeners” Vilandra got a strange look on her face as she began to scan the Garden. “Zan did you ditch your security team again?”
“Uh, no. Last time you wouldn’t speak to me for almost a week except to tell me I was an idiot.”
“You were. We’re in trouble, you might want to comm for help. Odds are it will be jammed, but they will have to make their move shortly regardless.” Vilondra fiddled with her tan dress gloves for a moment. “Likely they are trying to figure me out, because once they move they are going to have to take you out fast. They won’t have much time. And if they think I am a lightweight, they are sorely mistaken.”
Zan was worried, both for his sister and for him. He had some training, but had never really been in a true fight. He readied his defenses and eased out a couple of offensive and defensive emulators. They would strengthen his blasts and increase his defenses. He looked over at Vilondra and watched in awe as she added a couple of power crystals and melded them into her dress gloves.
“I’ve been doing more than studying in my lab, brother dear.”
The assassins attacked.
It amazed Zan how fast it all seemed to happen, and yet time seemed to slow to a crawl all at the same time. They had faced ten assailants and between his shield and his sister’s accurate gauntlet fire the enemy was down in seconds. Unfortunately so was his sister. Of the ten dead men lying on the ground she had killed eight, most with nice neat holes where their hearts would have been.
Zan watched as security personnel finally made their way to help him. “I will need a doctor for my sister.”
Frightening actually. Security would go insane at the idea that one of their prisoners had cooked up a military grade gauntlet from under their supervision. But she had shown her loyalty, at least to him. Maybe Father will lessen the restrictions on her? Surely she will not be punished for saving my life!
Only he wouldn’t. Zan could feel an immense pressure fill his head, could feel a fire as power leapt through his synapses. His father was dead. His family was dead. This morning he had been a comfortable fourth in line of succession.
Now he was King.
The security personnel were trying to move him to a more secure space but he would not leave his sister. Where was that doctor?
Zan was a healer, and as such knew his limitations. He could mend limbs, fix sprains and close the worst of wounds. But major trauma to the central body was not treatable by healing.
It was simple really. All molecular manipulation involved moving the molecules around, which invariably caused vibrations. Heat. The more dramatic the movements meant the more the power used and hence the more heat. In addition a living thing resisted severe change, causing the healer to use even more power, and causing more heat.
Zan could heal the damage Vilandra had sustained but in the process he would cook her internal organs, killing her. Not that it would matter if the doctors did not hurry. He could feel his sister dying. And when she did he would be alone.
He’d been far enough out in succession to not be rushed into early marriage, a fact he would have to rapidly remedy. But until then he would be alone unless he could somehow save his sister. And it would be hard enough to be King. There had to be a way.
And there was. He could feel the information on how to save her, how to heal her, slowly seep into his brain. From the Seal, the information had come to him through the Seal. It would require a connection, a breach in her mental defenses through which he would he could use her own body’s ability to maintain its temperature to help regulate excess heat. It would violate her privacy, allowing him access to her deepest memories and desires…
But it would save her. He ignored the bustle of security and reached out to her. One hand was placed near the wound to her abdomen, the other on her cheek. “Vilandra, you have to wake up. Vi, you have to open your eyes.”
Her eyes fluttered open, and he healed her.
Max woke with a start. He remembered be outside the UFO Center, walking to talk to Michael. And then headlights. He must have gotten hit by a car.
He certainly ached like it, although there did not seem to be any broken bones. He sighed and stared at the ceiling. That dream had seemed so real, as real as a memory.
It had been his memory.
Even on Antar he had not wanted to be King. He had been far enough down the line not to be forced to prepare, and so he had pursued his own hobbies, safe in the knowledge that he would not be called on to serve. But he had.
He had been King, had tried his hardest to hold the peace. It had been close to, he could not remember all of the details, but he had almost pulled it off. Almost.
And once again he found himself desiring to not be King, to just live as himself. And once again the Seal had chosen him. Once again, like it or not, he was King.
He could run, he could deny who he was. He could pretend to be just Max Evans and ignore it all. But would it ignore him? Could he truly shirk his duty, deny part of what he was?
For while he truly was Max Evans, and not Zan Tarenon, he was still King.
It was time to act the part.
----
Kyle-
Kyle had never understood some people’s fascination with the stars. They were just little flickering lights in the night sky. What was so special about that?
He understood Alex’s interest. For him it was all about Isabel. If Kyle could find something tolerable that Tess loved he would be all for it too. But he was not about to start reading those cheesy romance novels she loved. There were limits.
Surely there was something.
Kyle kept rubbing his arms. Something was wrong, he could feel it.
“Kyle, if you don’t stop twitching I am going to have to hurt you,” Isabel said, not taking an eye off the heavens.
“Sorry Isabel, it’s just something feels wrong. It’s like there is something out there.”
“Your paranoid behavior is starting to become wearying. Are you secretly Michael in disguise?”
Kyle kept quiet, but still the feeling persisted. Something was hunting. Not them, someone else, it did not feel personal. It would be happy to take them, too, if it could. But they were not the target. It was looking for someone else. “Courtney.”
“What, Kyle.”
“We need to get to Courtney, before it gets to her. Come on Isabel.”
Isabel just looked at him like he had grown a couple of extra heads.
Off in the distance, over the music, they could hear a woman’s scream. Kyle ran off into the night, hoping that Isabel would follow.
xmag- Alex knows about decoding the book, he has to as he is going to be the one to do it. He just can not tell anyone, and the stress from the level of lying he has to do has led him to not even admit what the real plan is even to himself. His mind has been twisted like a pretzel. Part of him is willing, the rest has been supressed by a warp, just like his desire to talk about it.
Those crystals will be covered in this post. They are not directly dangerous.
chanks_girl- Thanks
RhondaAnn- That gold flecked green crystal is a training orb, as is the blue-green one that Emily used in that story. It does help connect to the part of her mind where her powers originate, and the crystal is not innately evil. Maria grabbed the one that felt right for her, whether that was the right one remains to be seen.
Alex is a good friend. And this is only a couple of weeks since he punched Michael over Courney. He is protective of 'his girls.' After the results of the day, Michael and Max at least realize how much they need the humans. Michael was told how the humans may be targets now as well, it only makes sense he would want them to be alert.
Maria is in for a bad week. Hopefully her friends will be there for her.
Disclaimer- Roswell is not mine, and no infringement is intended.
Eidolon part 4
Liz-
Liz walked out of the bathroom, still rubbing her hair with a towel. She looked up and stopped.
Maria sat on her bed holding one of the crystals Liz had taken from Ana when she had escaped. Her eyes were closed and her lips were slightly parted. She had a look of sublime contentment. The room was lit by the dim green glow from the crystal in Maria’s hands..
A Solace Stone. That is what they were called, or at least what Emily called them. The Taran Elite admired stoicism, and had created a device that would calm the user. It was also used in training, as it required very little power. The other races used them less often, as they could be addictive. And there was something about how one could be used against you if it was in the wrong hands.
Emily had grabbed Ana’s, had known it might be useful. She had known of other items which might be useful, the palm blasters, the stunners, a couple of comms, even a blank Aide. And a handful of Solace Stones.
Emily. She had hoped to forget all about her, about being her. Liz had been under Ana’s spell for mere hours, how much work had she put into future Maria. How much effort to have someone on the inside to betray them? How could she blame Maria, even in the last timeline when she knew what Ana could do?
Liz felt as her stomach started to flutter, it had been so close. As Emily I would have been happy to capture some of the Royals, to put an end to them. I would have used that stun shot on anyone who had tried to rescue me. If I had not gotten those flashes, if I had not checked that room… If Dorian had not rescued me, things could have been much worse.
Liz looked away from her friend and into her dresser mirror. For a moment it seemed her dark brown eyes were replaced by cobalt blue, and she shivered. It had been too close.
But it had been different too, nothing like this had happened in timeline one. The Skins had left them alone for a long time, seemingly content that the Royals were content with their human lives. Liz was not sure why, or what they had been doing, but they had not bothered her or Max until nearly 2012. And then the clandestine war began.
And lost. The Royals had already lost one of their number, had not really practiced any of the skills asked of them by the vision of their mother on that horrid day of Destiny. Without Tess, without any preparation at all it was little surprise at the outcome. Only Michael had been paying any attention, and who knew how much of his seemingly paranoid ravings had been correct. They had certainly seemed paranoid at the time.
Now things were different, things had changed. But had they changed for the better that was her worry. She bit her lip and looked again at her friend. Maria still sat there eyes closed, seemingly content. She looked peaceful, happy. Happy in a way that Liz had not seen in her friend in a while, Maria was happy without a care in the world. It was nice to see.
So what if some of it was artificial. The device was not directly harmful, and with everything going on, it would help her. It was a little worrisome that she could use it, that she could summon the power to activate the device, but that was a worry for another day. Liz was tempted to break out the Solace Stone she had used in Ana’s trailer earlier on in the day, but eventually Maria would come out of the induced trance and would still want to go to that party.
Liz quietly got ready. And said nothing when Maria sighed, tucked the crystal absently in her purse, and proceeded to help speed the process. Both of them kept the conversation light, deliberately avoiding anything to deal with the alien abyss. By the time they left both of them were giggling and ready for a little light fun.
----
Max-
It had become a little tradition that at noon every third day, Zan would meet his half-sister Vilandra in the Gardens. In the three years since she had accepted the King’s pardon, it had become one of the few ways he could persuade her to leave her laboratory. By order of his father, his sister was confined to the Palace compound, but was allowed with some supervision to pursue her rather arcane field of study.
Zan watched as Vilandra made her way to their table. He smiled as he saw her say a few things to one of the gardeners, flirting probably. He watched as she continued on her way, somehow still making that drab academic uniform look good.
“So, brother, how are you this morning?”
“Quite well, I see you are still trying to seduce the household staff.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say seduce, although I do maintain the household chief of staff does have good taste in gardeners” Vilandra got a strange look on her face as she began to scan the Garden. “Zan did you ditch your security team again?”
“Uh, no. Last time you wouldn’t speak to me for almost a week except to tell me I was an idiot.”
“You were. We’re in trouble, you might want to comm for help. Odds are it will be jammed, but they will have to make their move shortly regardless.” Vilondra fiddled with her tan dress gloves for a moment. “Likely they are trying to figure me out, because once they move they are going to have to take you out fast. They won’t have much time. And if they think I am a lightweight, they are sorely mistaken.”
Zan was worried, both for his sister and for him. He had some training, but had never really been in a true fight. He readied his defenses and eased out a couple of offensive and defensive emulators. They would strengthen his blasts and increase his defenses. He looked over at Vilondra and watched in awe as she added a couple of power crystals and melded them into her dress gloves.
“I’ve been doing more than studying in my lab, brother dear.”
The assassins attacked.
It amazed Zan how fast it all seemed to happen, and yet time seemed to slow to a crawl all at the same time. They had faced ten assailants and between his shield and his sister’s accurate gauntlet fire the enemy was down in seconds. Unfortunately so was his sister. Of the ten dead men lying on the ground she had killed eight, most with nice neat holes where their hearts would have been.
Zan watched as security personnel finally made their way to help him. “I will need a doctor for my sister.”
Frightening actually. Security would go insane at the idea that one of their prisoners had cooked up a military grade gauntlet from under their supervision. But she had shown her loyalty, at least to him. Maybe Father will lessen the restrictions on her? Surely she will not be punished for saving my life!
Only he wouldn’t. Zan could feel an immense pressure fill his head, could feel a fire as power leapt through his synapses. His father was dead. His family was dead. This morning he had been a comfortable fourth in line of succession.
Now he was King.
The security personnel were trying to move him to a more secure space but he would not leave his sister. Where was that doctor?
Zan was a healer, and as such knew his limitations. He could mend limbs, fix sprains and close the worst of wounds. But major trauma to the central body was not treatable by healing.
It was simple really. All molecular manipulation involved moving the molecules around, which invariably caused vibrations. Heat. The more dramatic the movements meant the more the power used and hence the more heat. In addition a living thing resisted severe change, causing the healer to use even more power, and causing more heat.
Zan could heal the damage Vilandra had sustained but in the process he would cook her internal organs, killing her. Not that it would matter if the doctors did not hurry. He could feel his sister dying. And when she did he would be alone.
He’d been far enough out in succession to not be rushed into early marriage, a fact he would have to rapidly remedy. But until then he would be alone unless he could somehow save his sister. And it would be hard enough to be King. There had to be a way.
And there was. He could feel the information on how to save her, how to heal her, slowly seep into his brain. From the Seal, the information had come to him through the Seal. It would require a connection, a breach in her mental defenses through which he would he could use her own body’s ability to maintain its temperature to help regulate excess heat. It would violate her privacy, allowing him access to her deepest memories and desires…
But it would save her. He ignored the bustle of security and reached out to her. One hand was placed near the wound to her abdomen, the other on her cheek. “Vilandra, you have to wake up. Vi, you have to open your eyes.”
Her eyes fluttered open, and he healed her.
Max woke with a start. He remembered be outside the UFO Center, walking to talk to Michael. And then headlights. He must have gotten hit by a car.
He certainly ached like it, although there did not seem to be any broken bones. He sighed and stared at the ceiling. That dream had seemed so real, as real as a memory.
It had been his memory.
Even on Antar he had not wanted to be King. He had been far enough down the line not to be forced to prepare, and so he had pursued his own hobbies, safe in the knowledge that he would not be called on to serve. But he had.
He had been King, had tried his hardest to hold the peace. It had been close to, he could not remember all of the details, but he had almost pulled it off. Almost.
And once again he found himself desiring to not be King, to just live as himself. And once again the Seal had chosen him. Once again, like it or not, he was King.
He could run, he could deny who he was. He could pretend to be just Max Evans and ignore it all. But would it ignore him? Could he truly shirk his duty, deny part of what he was?
For while he truly was Max Evans, and not Zan Tarenon, he was still King.
It was time to act the part.
----
Kyle-
Kyle had never understood some people’s fascination with the stars. They were just little flickering lights in the night sky. What was so special about that?
He understood Alex’s interest. For him it was all about Isabel. If Kyle could find something tolerable that Tess loved he would be all for it too. But he was not about to start reading those cheesy romance novels she loved. There were limits.
Surely there was something.
Kyle kept rubbing his arms. Something was wrong, he could feel it.
“Kyle, if you don’t stop twitching I am going to have to hurt you,” Isabel said, not taking an eye off the heavens.
“Sorry Isabel, it’s just something feels wrong. It’s like there is something out there.”
“Your paranoid behavior is starting to become wearying. Are you secretly Michael in disguise?”
Kyle kept quiet, but still the feeling persisted. Something was hunting. Not them, someone else, it did not feel personal. It would be happy to take them, too, if it could. But they were not the target. It was looking for someone else. “Courtney.”
“What, Kyle.”
“We need to get to Courtney, before it gets to her. Come on Isabel.”
Isabel just looked at him like he had grown a couple of extra heads.
Off in the distance, over the music, they could hear a woman’s scream. Kyle ran off into the night, hoping that Isabel would follow.
Thanks to everyone reading this story. Special thanks to chanks-girl, xmag, Sternbetrachter, Natalie36, and RhondaAnn for their feedback.
chanks-girl- Thanks
xmag- He did not feel that Courtney was threatened. He just felt something hunting something alien, and since the only ones at the party alien related would be Isabel, him, and Courtney. Since it was not hunting them, Courtney would be the logical target. And yes this would be Kyle's powers just starting to express themselves. Don't expect miracles from him.
That orb is the alien equivalent of a training tool and Xanax all together. Yes it can be addictive.
Vilandra's studies do brush on what was done to the hybrids, but she was not responsible for their bodies being cloned. Max got the flash because Zan died, in a street 'accident.' This activated his Seal, and that lead to a memory of his Seal being activated in his previous life.
Sternbetrachter- Thanks. That would be quite a sight, but he'd have to be mindwarped to do it I think.
Natalie36- Thanks
RhondaAnn- Yeah, Maria is going to have a bad week indeed. This part sets some of that up. All of the above and more.
Disclaimer- Roswell is not mine and no infringement is intended.
Eidolon part 5
Tess-
Tess woke from her nightmare covered in sweat. It had been the same damn dream. Always the same. But lately she had felt a soft warm presence try to comfort her at the worst. Those feelings were strange, different from the cold calculation she was used to. She still tried to keep her cries down; even now that Nasedo was gone.
If they knew, as Kyle knew, that she had nightmares on most nights, they would think her weak. Undeserving of her rank as Queen, they hated her enough already without thinking that she could not handle the stress. The first time Kyle had spoken to her about it, Tess had been frightened, really frightened that he would tell. He was human; surely he would have no loyalty to her.
All through early October, Tess had waited for Isabel or Maria or possibly even Liz to ask how she was doing, how she was handling her nightmares. She waited in vain, for Kyle had not betrayed her. Not out of fear, not out of coercion, but simply out of respect. She almost felt guilty for doubting him.
And that feeling, that inkling of guilt felt… wrong, against all she had been taught. Nasedo had been contemptuous of the humans, their weakness, and their base venality. Humans were not worthy of trust.
But she trusted Kyle. She liked Kyle, maybe too much. From time to time she felt guilty about thinking about Kyle or watching him work out. It was like she was betraying Max. And she still wanted Max. It was Destiny.
Right?
Tess sighed. She opened her eyes briefly to stare at the ceiling before closing them again to Scan her surroundings. No one was home. Good I’ll make myself a quick sandwich and see if there is anything worth watching on Lifetime.
Tess walked out towards the kitchen and saw the box on the dining room table. She saw the small note with Richard’s number and the six bottles of vitamins. She opened one bottle and let a pill drop into her hand. She then analyzed the pill.
It was a multivitamin, of that there was no doubt. But mixed in was a chemical that most would not recognize, Valerium. Nasedo had used it on her from time to time. He had used it when he wanted to teach her a lesson and also to build up her immunity to the drug. It would solve her little problem with the humans developing powers, or at least delay it. Eventually they would build a resistance to it, like she had. It still made using powers hard, an act of conscious volition rather than an act spurred by instinct.
Now she only had to deliver the drug.
Vicki’s party, Maria had said she would be going. And where Maria goes, she usually drags Liz. This is too good an opportunity; I’ll pick something up to eat on my way home. I need to go now, before Liz has to go home and be a good girl. Maria has the transportation so she will have to leave to take Liz home.
Tess looked longingly at the bathroom. She really wanted to take a shower. But there was no time, so she used her powers to freshen up. It worked just as well, but it never gave her that clean feeling a good hot shower could. Tess shook her head, grabbed her shoes and keys, and walked to the car.
She looked again at her damaged SUV. The damage was superficial, but it would be expensive to fix. It could still move, and that was what counted now.
She drove first to the Crashdown as it was closer and looked at the situation. Planting the drug in the Parker residence was not so important. Of the three, Liz was the strongest, if only because she had been healed first. Richard’s stasis drug had sped up Maria’s development by a bit, so she was also a priority. In fact, as she noted the five humans still in the Crashdown and the upstairs apartment, Liz still had some of the drug from her last drop.
The Crashdown was their hangout. She would have other, better opportunities to drop off more of the Valerium at a better time. But Tess never visited Maria. This might be her best shot.
So she drove to the Deluca residence and Scanned it. Only one sleeping mind was present. The car was gone, so it was probably Maria’s mom Amy.
Tess parked across the street, walked up to the front door, and used her powers to open it. Just one of Maria’s friends dropping by.
She walked into the house quietly and looked around. The hall light was on, dimly lighting the main portion of the house. She saw Mrs Deluca lying on the couch, a blanket covering her. From the nearly empty bottle of whisky, and the slight smell of alcohol, Tess was pretty sure that Amy would be out for the night. Past her, she saw a bunch of papers on the dining room table. Tess looked again at the sleeping woman and wondered what had brought her to drink so heavily. Possibly nothing, she did not really know much about Maria’s mother. But then again maybe there was something in those papers…
She would check when she was done. She quickly checked all the places Maria might store her vitamins, finally finding them with her aromatherapy supplies in her bedroom. She examined the old pills, and used that template to change the shape and size of the pills Richard had given her. Just to be on the safe side, Tess took a bit of the old pills and used them to cover the new ones, so that Maria would not be able to tell even by taste.
Content, Tess walked back to the kitchen to see what all those papers were. It was only 10:30, so she still had time. She saw the folded flag, saw the pictures of an older, but still handsome man, apparently now deceased. A soldier, Maria’s father had been a soldier. Oh, the irony, she did not know Amy well, but even she had heard some of the rumors about her. She did not bother to scan the documents, it was amusing but not that important.
She was halfway through the improbable tale of Marco Ruiz, apparently known to Amy as Steven Ross… When she saw the FBI documents, saw the memos with the FBI letterhead. Regarding an Amy Deluca, referencing some of the reports she had sent to FBI headquarters, sent to the Special Unit.
Tess scanned the documents into her brain for later reference. She was too stunned to pay much attention to the details, but it would let her recall them later, when she was over the shock. She also did not hear the knock at the door.
Or the door opening. In truth, Tess just kept scanning in documents, oblivious to the world around her. Conscious only of how close the FBI had been to them, how close it still could be.
“Who the hell are you?” said an angry young male voice.
Tess looked up. It wasn’t who she had thought it would be.
----
Max-
Max got up from the bed and walked towards the living room. Michael and Alex were playing some game on Michael’s Playstation.
Alex looked up and said, “Max, you’re up! What happened?”
Michael looked up briefly but kept his focus on the screen. “Yeah, touchdown. You’re done Whitman. I’m up by 13 points and you have only 30 seconds.”
“Hey, that last play should not count. I mean it’s your former King who’s just gotten up from mysteriously collapsing… surely you can see that last play shouldn’t count.”
“Yeah, but I knew he would be okay. See he’s up and doing fine.” Michael looked from slightly bedraggled Max and a disbelieving Alex. “See I’m putting it on pause. So, Max, how are you feeling? Want a Snapple?”
“How else should I feel? I feel like I was hit by a truck,” Max deadpanned. “Thanks by the way to which ever of you pulled me out of the street though. Last thing we need is a repeat of last year’s hospital visit.”
Michael turned to Alex, “You did not mention him getting hit by a car…”
“That’s because he didn’t. I pointed out that new star to you, and you just stiffened and fell.”
“I wasn’t hit; I mean I remember the headlights. I remember feeling like there was no way I would get out of the way in time. I remember it hit and then, then nothing.” And he remembered those eyes, those dark hateful eyes. Instinctively he looked at both Michael and Alex, but they were just themselves. They would not want to hurt him. They were his friends.
So why did it feel like he had been betrayed. Been betrayed by the last person he would have thought possible. Max shook his head. He noticed the looks that both his friends were giving him. “No it’s okay, I’m fine. Now about that Snapple, can I have one Michael?”
“Sure thing, Maxwell.”
Alex turned to him. “So do you think it is some alien thing, something related to that star Max?”
Max took another seat. “I don’t know. I, I think someone was indeed hit by that truck. But why I saw it, why it was important for me to see it. I just don’t know. You know there is so much we don’t know about ourselves. I wish they had sent a hand book, something.”
“What about that book that Tess got out of the library, you know the Destiny book?” Michael said.
“Except that it is all in alien hieroglyphs, I don’t see how it is going to help us.” Max looked at Alex, who seemed oddly uncomfortable. “Do you think it would be possible to translate it, you know using computers.”
“Maybe someday. But with today’s computers, probably not. I’ve been looking for a good program to translate Swedish, and if we can not make a program that can real time translate a language we are familiar with… How can we hope to translate an alien language?” Alex looked at Michael and Max sheepishly, “Sorry, I have just given it some thought.”
“Well if you come up with a way to translate it, let us know.”
“Don’t worry, I will.”
So why did Max think Alex was lying? The streams of bizarre circumstances of the day must have just caught up to him. I mean, why would Alex of all people, lie about something like this.
----
Brody-
Brody woke with a start. He must have fallen asleep. Unless, unless it was happening again. Unless they were back. No one had ever found anything, but Brody was sure that he had been implanted with a chip. And under that chip, at times he would do things, things he later would not remember.
It was one of the reasons he had not contested Alicia’s demand for custody of Sydney. It killed him, but if they made him do something, if he lost track of his real life, he would not be there for Sydney when she might need him.
And he was right. The blackouts were coming back.
Brody sighed and called up the internal surveillance program. He recorded everything that happened in the UFO Museum. Of course, it would scare people if they knew so he never told anyone. And to be honest he really only used it to track his own movements.
Such was the case here He called up the files and watched as he stopped doing data analysis and began to search frantically for something. He watched as he walked throughout the Museum, searching through various exhibits. He also noted how blasé he seemed to be about the strange scorch marks scattered throughout the ravaged Museum. Brody watched as his body walked back into the office and into the storage room. And found what he had been looking for, that strange hexagon thing Richard swore was an alien artifact.
It had been lying on the floor, something that he would never have let happen. That thing had cost him a pretty penny. It always made him feel safe. So he backed up the recordings even more, to earlier in the day.
He watched as himself and all the normal people vanished at 10:30 am. He watched as a couple of people walked into the now unattended Museum. All of them seemed to have a bad skin condition. He watched as Maria Deluca and two other girls walked into the Museum, he watched as Maria walked into the inner office, and grabbed the device.
He watched her activate the device, watched as it destroyed the other who had been threatening her. He watched as the other two blondes fought against the other what to call it, alien? Those marks looked like something out of science fiction because they were out of science fiction.
He had come to Roswell to find aliens. He may have been more successful than he had ever dreamed.
chanks-girl- Thanks
xmag- He did not feel that Courtney was threatened. He just felt something hunting something alien, and since the only ones at the party alien related would be Isabel, him, and Courtney. Since it was not hunting them, Courtney would be the logical target. And yes this would be Kyle's powers just starting to express themselves. Don't expect miracles from him.
That orb is the alien equivalent of a training tool and Xanax all together. Yes it can be addictive.
Vilandra's studies do brush on what was done to the hybrids, but she was not responsible for their bodies being cloned. Max got the flash because Zan died, in a street 'accident.' This activated his Seal, and that lead to a memory of his Seal being activated in his previous life.
Sternbetrachter- Thanks. That would be quite a sight, but he'd have to be mindwarped to do it I think.
Natalie36- Thanks
RhondaAnn- Yeah, Maria is going to have a bad week indeed. This part sets some of that up. All of the above and more.
Disclaimer- Roswell is not mine and no infringement is intended.
Eidolon part 5
Tess-
Tess woke from her nightmare covered in sweat. It had been the same damn dream. Always the same. But lately she had felt a soft warm presence try to comfort her at the worst. Those feelings were strange, different from the cold calculation she was used to. She still tried to keep her cries down; even now that Nasedo was gone.
If they knew, as Kyle knew, that she had nightmares on most nights, they would think her weak. Undeserving of her rank as Queen, they hated her enough already without thinking that she could not handle the stress. The first time Kyle had spoken to her about it, Tess had been frightened, really frightened that he would tell. He was human; surely he would have no loyalty to her.
All through early October, Tess had waited for Isabel or Maria or possibly even Liz to ask how she was doing, how she was handling her nightmares. She waited in vain, for Kyle had not betrayed her. Not out of fear, not out of coercion, but simply out of respect. She almost felt guilty for doubting him.
And that feeling, that inkling of guilt felt… wrong, against all she had been taught. Nasedo had been contemptuous of the humans, their weakness, and their base venality. Humans were not worthy of trust.
But she trusted Kyle. She liked Kyle, maybe too much. From time to time she felt guilty about thinking about Kyle or watching him work out. It was like she was betraying Max. And she still wanted Max. It was Destiny.
Right?
Tess sighed. She opened her eyes briefly to stare at the ceiling before closing them again to Scan her surroundings. No one was home. Good I’ll make myself a quick sandwich and see if there is anything worth watching on Lifetime.
Tess walked out towards the kitchen and saw the box on the dining room table. She saw the small note with Richard’s number and the six bottles of vitamins. She opened one bottle and let a pill drop into her hand. She then analyzed the pill.
It was a multivitamin, of that there was no doubt. But mixed in was a chemical that most would not recognize, Valerium. Nasedo had used it on her from time to time. He had used it when he wanted to teach her a lesson and also to build up her immunity to the drug. It would solve her little problem with the humans developing powers, or at least delay it. Eventually they would build a resistance to it, like she had. It still made using powers hard, an act of conscious volition rather than an act spurred by instinct.
Now she only had to deliver the drug.
Vicki’s party, Maria had said she would be going. And where Maria goes, she usually drags Liz. This is too good an opportunity; I’ll pick something up to eat on my way home. I need to go now, before Liz has to go home and be a good girl. Maria has the transportation so she will have to leave to take Liz home.
Tess looked longingly at the bathroom. She really wanted to take a shower. But there was no time, so she used her powers to freshen up. It worked just as well, but it never gave her that clean feeling a good hot shower could. Tess shook her head, grabbed her shoes and keys, and walked to the car.
She looked again at her damaged SUV. The damage was superficial, but it would be expensive to fix. It could still move, and that was what counted now.
She drove first to the Crashdown as it was closer and looked at the situation. Planting the drug in the Parker residence was not so important. Of the three, Liz was the strongest, if only because she had been healed first. Richard’s stasis drug had sped up Maria’s development by a bit, so she was also a priority. In fact, as she noted the five humans still in the Crashdown and the upstairs apartment, Liz still had some of the drug from her last drop.
The Crashdown was their hangout. She would have other, better opportunities to drop off more of the Valerium at a better time. But Tess never visited Maria. This might be her best shot.
So she drove to the Deluca residence and Scanned it. Only one sleeping mind was present. The car was gone, so it was probably Maria’s mom Amy.
Tess parked across the street, walked up to the front door, and used her powers to open it. Just one of Maria’s friends dropping by.
She walked into the house quietly and looked around. The hall light was on, dimly lighting the main portion of the house. She saw Mrs Deluca lying on the couch, a blanket covering her. From the nearly empty bottle of whisky, and the slight smell of alcohol, Tess was pretty sure that Amy would be out for the night. Past her, she saw a bunch of papers on the dining room table. Tess looked again at the sleeping woman and wondered what had brought her to drink so heavily. Possibly nothing, she did not really know much about Maria’s mother. But then again maybe there was something in those papers…
She would check when she was done. She quickly checked all the places Maria might store her vitamins, finally finding them with her aromatherapy supplies in her bedroom. She examined the old pills, and used that template to change the shape and size of the pills Richard had given her. Just to be on the safe side, Tess took a bit of the old pills and used them to cover the new ones, so that Maria would not be able to tell even by taste.
Content, Tess walked back to the kitchen to see what all those papers were. It was only 10:30, so she still had time. She saw the folded flag, saw the pictures of an older, but still handsome man, apparently now deceased. A soldier, Maria’s father had been a soldier. Oh, the irony, she did not know Amy well, but even she had heard some of the rumors about her. She did not bother to scan the documents, it was amusing but not that important.
She was halfway through the improbable tale of Marco Ruiz, apparently known to Amy as Steven Ross… When she saw the FBI documents, saw the memos with the FBI letterhead. Regarding an Amy Deluca, referencing some of the reports she had sent to FBI headquarters, sent to the Special Unit.
Tess scanned the documents into her brain for later reference. She was too stunned to pay much attention to the details, but it would let her recall them later, when she was over the shock. She also did not hear the knock at the door.
Or the door opening. In truth, Tess just kept scanning in documents, oblivious to the world around her. Conscious only of how close the FBI had been to them, how close it still could be.
“Who the hell are you?” said an angry young male voice.
Tess looked up. It wasn’t who she had thought it would be.
----
Max-
Max got up from the bed and walked towards the living room. Michael and Alex were playing some game on Michael’s Playstation.
Alex looked up and said, “Max, you’re up! What happened?”
Michael looked up briefly but kept his focus on the screen. “Yeah, touchdown. You’re done Whitman. I’m up by 13 points and you have only 30 seconds.”
“Hey, that last play should not count. I mean it’s your former King who’s just gotten up from mysteriously collapsing… surely you can see that last play shouldn’t count.”
“Yeah, but I knew he would be okay. See he’s up and doing fine.” Michael looked from slightly bedraggled Max and a disbelieving Alex. “See I’m putting it on pause. So, Max, how are you feeling? Want a Snapple?”
“How else should I feel? I feel like I was hit by a truck,” Max deadpanned. “Thanks by the way to which ever of you pulled me out of the street though. Last thing we need is a repeat of last year’s hospital visit.”
Michael turned to Alex, “You did not mention him getting hit by a car…”
“That’s because he didn’t. I pointed out that new star to you, and you just stiffened and fell.”
“I wasn’t hit; I mean I remember the headlights. I remember feeling like there was no way I would get out of the way in time. I remember it hit and then, then nothing.” And he remembered those eyes, those dark hateful eyes. Instinctively he looked at both Michael and Alex, but they were just themselves. They would not want to hurt him. They were his friends.
So why did it feel like he had been betrayed. Been betrayed by the last person he would have thought possible. Max shook his head. He noticed the looks that both his friends were giving him. “No it’s okay, I’m fine. Now about that Snapple, can I have one Michael?”
“Sure thing, Maxwell.”
Alex turned to him. “So do you think it is some alien thing, something related to that star Max?”
Max took another seat. “I don’t know. I, I think someone was indeed hit by that truck. But why I saw it, why it was important for me to see it. I just don’t know. You know there is so much we don’t know about ourselves. I wish they had sent a hand book, something.”
“What about that book that Tess got out of the library, you know the Destiny book?” Michael said.
“Except that it is all in alien hieroglyphs, I don’t see how it is going to help us.” Max looked at Alex, who seemed oddly uncomfortable. “Do you think it would be possible to translate it, you know using computers.”
“Maybe someday. But with today’s computers, probably not. I’ve been looking for a good program to translate Swedish, and if we can not make a program that can real time translate a language we are familiar with… How can we hope to translate an alien language?” Alex looked at Michael and Max sheepishly, “Sorry, I have just given it some thought.”
“Well if you come up with a way to translate it, let us know.”
“Don’t worry, I will.”
So why did Max think Alex was lying? The streams of bizarre circumstances of the day must have just caught up to him. I mean, why would Alex of all people, lie about something like this.
----
Brody-
Brody woke with a start. He must have fallen asleep. Unless, unless it was happening again. Unless they were back. No one had ever found anything, but Brody was sure that he had been implanted with a chip. And under that chip, at times he would do things, things he later would not remember.
It was one of the reasons he had not contested Alicia’s demand for custody of Sydney. It killed him, but if they made him do something, if he lost track of his real life, he would not be there for Sydney when she might need him.
And he was right. The blackouts were coming back.
Brody sighed and called up the internal surveillance program. He recorded everything that happened in the UFO Museum. Of course, it would scare people if they knew so he never told anyone. And to be honest he really only used it to track his own movements.
Such was the case here He called up the files and watched as he stopped doing data analysis and began to search frantically for something. He watched as he walked throughout the Museum, searching through various exhibits. He also noted how blasé he seemed to be about the strange scorch marks scattered throughout the ravaged Museum. Brody watched as his body walked back into the office and into the storage room. And found what he had been looking for, that strange hexagon thing Richard swore was an alien artifact.
It had been lying on the floor, something that he would never have let happen. That thing had cost him a pretty penny. It always made him feel safe. So he backed up the recordings even more, to earlier in the day.
He watched as himself and all the normal people vanished at 10:30 am. He watched as a couple of people walked into the now unattended Museum. All of them seemed to have a bad skin condition. He watched as Maria Deluca and two other girls walked into the Museum, he watched as Maria walked into the inner office, and grabbed the device.
He watched her activate the device, watched as it destroyed the other who had been threatening her. He watched as the other two blondes fought against the other what to call it, alien? Those marks looked like something out of science fiction because they were out of science fiction.
He had come to Roswell to find aliens. He may have been more successful than he had ever dreamed.
Thanks to everyone who is reading this story. In particular thanks to TheAntarianKing, chanks_girl, xmag, RhondaAnn, and Sternbetrachter.
TheAntarianKing - Tess is not unsavable, it is more a question whether she will understand the need. But note that the last book's title is Redemption...
As to the antipsi drug, Valerium, yeah Liz will notice. She did not notice when they first started drugging her as she was in deep denial, and did not really know that she was displaying powers. There was a good reason for Nasedo to start dosing Liz, as this was after Max had told him to protect her as well as his normal charges. But now, she does not yet know how she got them, and suspects that Ana had a hand in it, but she's been getting a few too many flashes for it to be normal.
RhondaAnn got it right, it's Sean.
chanks_girl- Thanks. It is all a question of whether they catch his oddities in time. They only have a few days. And distractions are on the way.
xmag - How more unexpected can you get than anti-establishment Amy Deluca working for the Feds? She had a reason for doing it. If you take a look at the epilogue of IDS, where Agents Byrnes and Hart are talking - the woman they are talking about, the local informant was Amy...
Kind of scary for Tess who is apt to think of the Special Unit and the FBI as more of a threat than the Skins. (Nasedo seemed surprised at how fast the Skins got to Roswell, he may not have even known they were already on Earth.)
Thanks for the bump, hopefully I will be back on schedule.
RhondaAnn- You are right about Sean. As to Amy, Maria is not the only one who is going to have a rough week. Max is suffering some feedback from Zan's betrayal, hopefully it won't affect him too badly.
As to Brody, he is not Milton. That is all I will say about that now.
Sternbetrachter- Thanks, as to Max it is more a question whether he will remember in time...
Disclaimer- I do not own Roswell and no infringement is intended.
Eidolon part 6
Liz-
Liz sat quietly on the bench watching Maria chat with friends. In truth, she felt very tired. Plus, while she did like Julia, she really did not like Pam. Pam was still dressed like a Goth wannabe. Dressed in black, black, black. It was so easy to just see whatever ridiculous front she was wearing for the day. But she was as manipulative as Tess in her own way. If you looked closely you could see a camera bulging from a pocket, and odds were good she had a voice recorder as well.
Pam was nosy as hell and it drove Liz insane.
She looked up and saw Pam studying her, almost like she was looking at her from a new perspective. Great, I’m probably her next project to smear. Why doesn’t she just leave people alone, why does she always have to pry?
Liz could feel her anger build. Her palms began to itch and the room began to spin. The sound in the room became distorted, muted by the thunderous sound of her beating heart. As she slipped from the bench, she felt hands reach out to grab her.
Flash-
Pam saw her friends sitting near the school building. Maria’s normally laughing face was red and puffy. Maria had been crying, and Pam longed to reach out and hug her. But Pam was a good girl, and her mommy had told her not to. Maria’s daddy was bad and that made Maria bad too. So Pam watched as Lizzie tried to comfort Maria.
Pam walked over to them. It hurt, what she had to say. It hurt, but she had to say it. She was a good girl, and her Aunt Sally and mommy told her. She had to. Pam was a good girl. She never lied and always did what she was told. But it hurt.
Lizzie looked up and smiled a little at Pam. “Hi Pam, I knew you would come back.”
Maria just looked at Pam, still wary from the hurtful things Pam had said yesterday.
Pam’s eyes were downcast. “Lizzie, I talked to my mom about it yesterday. And Aunt Sally was there, and… and… I can’t be your friend either, Lizzie,” Pam finished in a rush.
Maria glared at Pam, “What are you too good for us Pammie? Your mom has something against alien themed restaurants now?”
Liz looked surprised, “Why?”
“Your daddy killed one of my aunts, before we were born. My mom said it was an, an accident. That he didn’t mean to, but that he did. Aunt Sally…” Pam shook her head remembering her aunt’s horror on learning that Pam was friends with Jeff Parker’s daughter. “I was, I was told I can’t be either of your friends. I’m sorry.”
“But my dad…” Liz looked surprised and hurt, a slight hint of tears forming in the corner of her eyes.
Maria looked at Liz, and then glared at Pam. “Go away Pammie. Go away, we don’t need you.”
Pam looked at her friends. She still loved them, still wanted to hug them. But she was a good girl, and did what she was told. But it hurt. “But… but.”
Maria walked up and pushed her slightly, “Go away Pam. I hate you.” Maria glanced at a now crying Liz, “We hate you.”
Pam walked away. When she looked back, she saw her two former friends hugging each other. Pam sat down, alone, and cried.
End Flash
Liz felt as hands grabbed her and helped her back onto the bench. She looked up and saw Pam’s cool calculating gaze as she helped Liz.
Maria was right there as well. “I’m so sorry. I never should have made you come.”
Liz just shook her head, “I’m alright, I just felt a little light headed there for a second. I think I just need some air.”
Pam stood up, “Right, well, I will leave you in Deluca’s capable hands.” She turned and started to walk away.
Liz unsteady got to her feet with a little help from Maria. Liz bit her lip, and said, “Thanks Pam.”
Pam stopped turned back, and once more looked at her with her cool grey eyes, backed up by too much dark makeup, “Think nothing of it Parker.” But there was a small smile as she turned away.
Maria just shook her head. “I will never understand that girl. She knows you hate her. And yet she reached you first. So do you just want me to take you home?”
“I just need a little air I think. Um, where did Julia go, and do you know why Pam was giving me those looks?”
“Yeah, well about that, I think I know unfortunately. We really need to talk about a particularly nasty rumor going about. It’s not really anything we can’t take care of, of course, but it is going to be a lot of work. I’m just trying to think how anyone would get that idea.”
Both Liz and Maria walked outside the ranch house.
Liz looked over to Maria who had a thoughtful look on her face, “So what is about?”
“It is totally ridiculous. It’s about you and Kyle, I mean come on. That’s like totally impossible. But we’ll find out who it was and squash’em flat. Feeling better?”
“Yeah, and about Kyle and me…”
Maria turned to face Liz, and would have given her all of her attention had not fate intervened. For both of them heard a girl’s scream over the now distant music.
---
Kyle-
Kyle had been an athlete for pretty much his whole life. Moreover he was good at it. He had talent and skill. And if his drive and motivation was sometimes missing, he had something immensely more valuable. Something with value in more than just athletics, for he had the right instincts.
This should be no surprise; both his father and grandfather had the same instincts, used in their respective cases for law enforcement. Sometimes it led them to trouble, as in his grandfather’s case, but more often it let them intuit things that others couldn’t. To see things that others would miss.
But Kyle’s were special, fortified by the changes to his mind and body by Max’s healing. For there was a flaw in the Skin stealth ability, while they could become invisible, humans could still sense them. It felt like someone was watching them, as the humans could literally feel the psionic emissions that the Rhyjhaelian used to see while invisible. So it had never be protected against, chosen for the very inability of Antarans to sense it.
Most humans had to be close, say within ten or twenty feet. The hybrids with their greater available psionic resources could theoretically sense father, but they were part Antaran, and so partly blind to it. Both Liz and Maria had some greater sensitivity, but their talents lay elsewhere.
Kyle’s range could be measured in miles. He had actually felt the assassin begin his approach on the ranch house, looking for a perfect opportunity shot. It had kept Kyle from relaxing, but as time passed his stressed mind began to process the new input. Which is why Kyle ran right past a screaming Vicky Delany.
He ran past Trent Goulding, a second year student at the local community college. Trent was rushing to see if he could help whoever was screaming, having rapidly gathered his clothing about him. How could he know that his departure after his tryst with Courtney was what the assassin had been waiting for?
Finally, Kyle ran past an oblivious Courtney. Courtney’s thoughts were still on Trent. Her clothes still askew from her recent actions, a fact Kyle would probably would have enjoyed if he were not in the process of saving her life.
For there was another flaw in Skin cloaking technology, it used up too much power. This meant to have a killing blast, the Skin would have to uncloak. Which is how Kyle saw a large man appear before him, and he cried out to Courtney. Not that she’d be able to react in time, nor did it matter as Kyle tackled the Skin.
Kyle quickly realized that the Skin was not only bigger than him, it was also much stronger. His only advantage lay in his superior knowledge of grappling. He suspected that this would end badly for one Kyle Valenti.
That was until the Skin burst into flakes right in his arms. He looked up at Courtney, “Took you long enough.”
“Your welcome, Kyle.”
“It’s never over with you people.”
“I don’t know Kyle. Nicky took some pretty bad casualties today. I would not have thought he would have risked anyone else. Well, I guess we will just have to be careful.”
Kyle sighed and stood up. “Well as much as I appreciate the view, you might want to straighten your clothing a bit better. I presume…”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, well, let’s go see what Vicky was screaming about.”
---
Isabel-
Isabel watched as Kyle ran off, toward the screams. She sighed and followed, wishing that she had more practical footwear. I was expecting to go to a party, not a footrace through the night!
Isabel stopped when she saw a group of people. The screams had stopped, and she saw both Liz and Maria comforting a distraught Vicky. There was another guy helping Paulie restrain an obviously intoxicated Malamud. But no Kyle.
Isabel was not even sure where Kyle had gone, he had been running fast. So she opted not to go running randomly into the desert. She would find out what was going on. “Hey Vicky, are you okay?”
“I, I’m just a little shaken up. I mean thanks you guys, I don’t know, I don’t want to know what could have happened.”
This was unacceptable. She drew the full mantle of her frosty title about her and turned her gaze on Malamud. Isabel walked over to where he was being held by Trent and Paulie.
Paulie took a half step back as he looked at Isabel’s demeanor. Everyone else was silent, waiting as for the Ice Princess to pass judgment. Isabel reached out and looked Malamud in the eye, “Funny I thought you were human, guess not.” She glanced at Paulie, “If you care for your friend, take this cretin home. I think he has done enough tonight.” With that she dismissed both of them out of her mind and walked back to Vicky, Liz, and Maria.
Paulie took his friend away, with more help from Trent.
“Vicky, I am sorry that tonight had been a bit of a bust. Thanks for the party though, I need to get home, it has been a long day.”
Maria turned to Vicky and said, “Yeah, I have to get going too. I need to take Liz home before she faints again.”
“Hey!”
Kyle and Courtney walked into the little group. Kyle said, “Hey if you are headed out, can you take Courtney. After I get done it won’t be safe for me to drive.”
Maria looked at him, “You don’t seem drunk to me.”
“Not yet.” Kyle turned to Vicky, “I hope you are okay? Would you like me to escort you back to the party?” Kyle held out his arm.
“Sure, Kyle.” Both of them left heading back to the party.
Maria just rolled her eyes. “Okay Liz let’s go.”
Isabel placed a hand on Maria’s arm and said, “Wait, why don’t I take her home, then you and Courtney can stick around for a little while.”
“No, she’s promised some answers.”
“What would it take, I mean you’ll see her tomorrow right?”
“Makeovers, one of your magical makeovers for both of us.”
“Hello, I’m standing right here?”
“It’s not magic, Maria, and deal. Come on Liz.”
Liz turned to Maria, “You are so going to pay for this.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow Liz.”
“Yeah, let’s hope so.”
Isabel was already ten feet away heading towards the parking area, she turned back and said, “Come on Liz.”
Liz followed, shaking her head, towards the parking lot.
----
Maria-
Maria watched as Liz and Isabel climbed into the Jeep and drove away.
Courtney was watching the same scene, “So do we follow them?”
“No if you do not mind, I am going to do a little investigating. I need to find out who started that rumor.”
“What rumor?”
“That Liz slept with Kyle.”
Courtney laughed.
Maria looked at the taller blonde, “Yeah, I think the same myself. It’s just not possible. It’s just… it’s just Julia seemed so sure…” Maria shook her head. “You don’t mind do you, staying a little longer?”
Courtney just smiled, “Not at all, I’ll even help you. After I get Trent’s number, of course.”
TheAntarianKing - Tess is not unsavable, it is more a question whether she will understand the need. But note that the last book's title is Redemption...
As to the antipsi drug, Valerium, yeah Liz will notice. She did not notice when they first started drugging her as she was in deep denial, and did not really know that she was displaying powers. There was a good reason for Nasedo to start dosing Liz, as this was after Max had told him to protect her as well as his normal charges. But now, she does not yet know how she got them, and suspects that Ana had a hand in it, but she's been getting a few too many flashes for it to be normal.
RhondaAnn got it right, it's Sean.
chanks_girl- Thanks. It is all a question of whether they catch his oddities in time. They only have a few days. And distractions are on the way.
xmag - How more unexpected can you get than anti-establishment Amy Deluca working for the Feds? She had a reason for doing it. If you take a look at the epilogue of IDS, where Agents Byrnes and Hart are talking - the woman they are talking about, the local informant was Amy...
Kind of scary for Tess who is apt to think of the Special Unit and the FBI as more of a threat than the Skins. (Nasedo seemed surprised at how fast the Skins got to Roswell, he may not have even known they were already on Earth.)
Thanks for the bump, hopefully I will be back on schedule.
RhondaAnn- You are right about Sean. As to Amy, Maria is not the only one who is going to have a rough week. Max is suffering some feedback from Zan's betrayal, hopefully it won't affect him too badly.
As to Brody, he is not Milton. That is all I will say about that now.
Sternbetrachter- Thanks, as to Max it is more a question whether he will remember in time...
Disclaimer- I do not own Roswell and no infringement is intended.
Eidolon part 6
Liz-
Liz sat quietly on the bench watching Maria chat with friends. In truth, she felt very tired. Plus, while she did like Julia, she really did not like Pam. Pam was still dressed like a Goth wannabe. Dressed in black, black, black. It was so easy to just see whatever ridiculous front she was wearing for the day. But she was as manipulative as Tess in her own way. If you looked closely you could see a camera bulging from a pocket, and odds were good she had a voice recorder as well.
Pam was nosy as hell and it drove Liz insane.
She looked up and saw Pam studying her, almost like she was looking at her from a new perspective. Great, I’m probably her next project to smear. Why doesn’t she just leave people alone, why does she always have to pry?
Liz could feel her anger build. Her palms began to itch and the room began to spin. The sound in the room became distorted, muted by the thunderous sound of her beating heart. As she slipped from the bench, she felt hands reach out to grab her.
Flash-
Pam saw her friends sitting near the school building. Maria’s normally laughing face was red and puffy. Maria had been crying, and Pam longed to reach out and hug her. But Pam was a good girl, and her mommy had told her not to. Maria’s daddy was bad and that made Maria bad too. So Pam watched as Lizzie tried to comfort Maria.
Pam walked over to them. It hurt, what she had to say. It hurt, but she had to say it. She was a good girl, and her Aunt Sally and mommy told her. She had to. Pam was a good girl. She never lied and always did what she was told. But it hurt.
Lizzie looked up and smiled a little at Pam. “Hi Pam, I knew you would come back.”
Maria just looked at Pam, still wary from the hurtful things Pam had said yesterday.
Pam’s eyes were downcast. “Lizzie, I talked to my mom about it yesterday. And Aunt Sally was there, and… and… I can’t be your friend either, Lizzie,” Pam finished in a rush.
Maria glared at Pam, “What are you too good for us Pammie? Your mom has something against alien themed restaurants now?”
Liz looked surprised, “Why?”
“Your daddy killed one of my aunts, before we were born. My mom said it was an, an accident. That he didn’t mean to, but that he did. Aunt Sally…” Pam shook her head remembering her aunt’s horror on learning that Pam was friends with Jeff Parker’s daughter. “I was, I was told I can’t be either of your friends. I’m sorry.”
“But my dad…” Liz looked surprised and hurt, a slight hint of tears forming in the corner of her eyes.
Maria looked at Liz, and then glared at Pam. “Go away Pammie. Go away, we don’t need you.”
Pam looked at her friends. She still loved them, still wanted to hug them. But she was a good girl, and did what she was told. But it hurt. “But… but.”
Maria walked up and pushed her slightly, “Go away Pam. I hate you.” Maria glanced at a now crying Liz, “We hate you.”
Pam walked away. When she looked back, she saw her two former friends hugging each other. Pam sat down, alone, and cried.
End Flash
Liz felt as hands grabbed her and helped her back onto the bench. She looked up and saw Pam’s cool calculating gaze as she helped Liz.
Maria was right there as well. “I’m so sorry. I never should have made you come.”
Liz just shook her head, “I’m alright, I just felt a little light headed there for a second. I think I just need some air.”
Pam stood up, “Right, well, I will leave you in Deluca’s capable hands.” She turned and started to walk away.
Liz unsteady got to her feet with a little help from Maria. Liz bit her lip, and said, “Thanks Pam.”
Pam stopped turned back, and once more looked at her with her cool grey eyes, backed up by too much dark makeup, “Think nothing of it Parker.” But there was a small smile as she turned away.
Maria just shook her head. “I will never understand that girl. She knows you hate her. And yet she reached you first. So do you just want me to take you home?”
“I just need a little air I think. Um, where did Julia go, and do you know why Pam was giving me those looks?”
“Yeah, well about that, I think I know unfortunately. We really need to talk about a particularly nasty rumor going about. It’s not really anything we can’t take care of, of course, but it is going to be a lot of work. I’m just trying to think how anyone would get that idea.”
Both Liz and Maria walked outside the ranch house.
Liz looked over to Maria who had a thoughtful look on her face, “So what is about?”
“It is totally ridiculous. It’s about you and Kyle, I mean come on. That’s like totally impossible. But we’ll find out who it was and squash’em flat. Feeling better?”
“Yeah, and about Kyle and me…”
Maria turned to face Liz, and would have given her all of her attention had not fate intervened. For both of them heard a girl’s scream over the now distant music.
---
Kyle-
Kyle had been an athlete for pretty much his whole life. Moreover he was good at it. He had talent and skill. And if his drive and motivation was sometimes missing, he had something immensely more valuable. Something with value in more than just athletics, for he had the right instincts.
This should be no surprise; both his father and grandfather had the same instincts, used in their respective cases for law enforcement. Sometimes it led them to trouble, as in his grandfather’s case, but more often it let them intuit things that others couldn’t. To see things that others would miss.
But Kyle’s were special, fortified by the changes to his mind and body by Max’s healing. For there was a flaw in the Skin stealth ability, while they could become invisible, humans could still sense them. It felt like someone was watching them, as the humans could literally feel the psionic emissions that the Rhyjhaelian used to see while invisible. So it had never be protected against, chosen for the very inability of Antarans to sense it.
Most humans had to be close, say within ten or twenty feet. The hybrids with their greater available psionic resources could theoretically sense father, but they were part Antaran, and so partly blind to it. Both Liz and Maria had some greater sensitivity, but their talents lay elsewhere.
Kyle’s range could be measured in miles. He had actually felt the assassin begin his approach on the ranch house, looking for a perfect opportunity shot. It had kept Kyle from relaxing, but as time passed his stressed mind began to process the new input. Which is why Kyle ran right past a screaming Vicky Delany.
He ran past Trent Goulding, a second year student at the local community college. Trent was rushing to see if he could help whoever was screaming, having rapidly gathered his clothing about him. How could he know that his departure after his tryst with Courtney was what the assassin had been waiting for?
Finally, Kyle ran past an oblivious Courtney. Courtney’s thoughts were still on Trent. Her clothes still askew from her recent actions, a fact Kyle would probably would have enjoyed if he were not in the process of saving her life.
For there was another flaw in Skin cloaking technology, it used up too much power. This meant to have a killing blast, the Skin would have to uncloak. Which is how Kyle saw a large man appear before him, and he cried out to Courtney. Not that she’d be able to react in time, nor did it matter as Kyle tackled the Skin.
Kyle quickly realized that the Skin was not only bigger than him, it was also much stronger. His only advantage lay in his superior knowledge of grappling. He suspected that this would end badly for one Kyle Valenti.
That was until the Skin burst into flakes right in his arms. He looked up at Courtney, “Took you long enough.”
“Your welcome, Kyle.”
“It’s never over with you people.”
“I don’t know Kyle. Nicky took some pretty bad casualties today. I would not have thought he would have risked anyone else. Well, I guess we will just have to be careful.”
Kyle sighed and stood up. “Well as much as I appreciate the view, you might want to straighten your clothing a bit better. I presume…”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, well, let’s go see what Vicky was screaming about.”
---
Isabel-
Isabel watched as Kyle ran off, toward the screams. She sighed and followed, wishing that she had more practical footwear. I was expecting to go to a party, not a footrace through the night!
Isabel stopped when she saw a group of people. The screams had stopped, and she saw both Liz and Maria comforting a distraught Vicky. There was another guy helping Paulie restrain an obviously intoxicated Malamud. But no Kyle.
Isabel was not even sure where Kyle had gone, he had been running fast. So she opted not to go running randomly into the desert. She would find out what was going on. “Hey Vicky, are you okay?”
“I, I’m just a little shaken up. I mean thanks you guys, I don’t know, I don’t want to know what could have happened.”
This was unacceptable. She drew the full mantle of her frosty title about her and turned her gaze on Malamud. Isabel walked over to where he was being held by Trent and Paulie.
Paulie took a half step back as he looked at Isabel’s demeanor. Everyone else was silent, waiting as for the Ice Princess to pass judgment. Isabel reached out and looked Malamud in the eye, “Funny I thought you were human, guess not.” She glanced at Paulie, “If you care for your friend, take this cretin home. I think he has done enough tonight.” With that she dismissed both of them out of her mind and walked back to Vicky, Liz, and Maria.
Paulie took his friend away, with more help from Trent.
“Vicky, I am sorry that tonight had been a bit of a bust. Thanks for the party though, I need to get home, it has been a long day.”
Maria turned to Vicky and said, “Yeah, I have to get going too. I need to take Liz home before she faints again.”
“Hey!”
Kyle and Courtney walked into the little group. Kyle said, “Hey if you are headed out, can you take Courtney. After I get done it won’t be safe for me to drive.”
Maria looked at him, “You don’t seem drunk to me.”
“Not yet.” Kyle turned to Vicky, “I hope you are okay? Would you like me to escort you back to the party?” Kyle held out his arm.
“Sure, Kyle.” Both of them left heading back to the party.
Maria just rolled her eyes. “Okay Liz let’s go.”
Isabel placed a hand on Maria’s arm and said, “Wait, why don’t I take her home, then you and Courtney can stick around for a little while.”
“No, she’s promised some answers.”
“What would it take, I mean you’ll see her tomorrow right?”
“Makeovers, one of your magical makeovers for both of us.”
“Hello, I’m standing right here?”
“It’s not magic, Maria, and deal. Come on Liz.”
Liz turned to Maria, “You are so going to pay for this.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow Liz.”
“Yeah, let’s hope so.”
Isabel was already ten feet away heading towards the parking area, she turned back and said, “Come on Liz.”
Liz followed, shaking her head, towards the parking lot.
----
Maria-
Maria watched as Liz and Isabel climbed into the Jeep and drove away.
Courtney was watching the same scene, “So do we follow them?”
“No if you do not mind, I am going to do a little investigating. I need to find out who started that rumor.”
“What rumor?”
“That Liz slept with Kyle.”
Courtney laughed.
Maria looked at the taller blonde, “Yeah, I think the same myself. It’s just not possible. It’s just… it’s just Julia seemed so sure…” Maria shook her head. “You don’t mind do you, staying a little longer?”
Courtney just smiled, “Not at all, I’ll even help you. After I get Trent’s number, of course.”
Thanks as always to everyone reading this story. And as always thanks to those leaving feedback.
xmag- Well hopefully I can keep Pam interesting. She does have a part to play. And yes, Jeff's first true love was Nadine Troy. Liz never asked her father or mother about any of this, and had at this point completely forgotten about it.
As for Courtney, not much here, but she does have a bit to say in part eight.
chanks_girl- Thanks. Isabel is not happy with Liz for what she believes Liz has done. Hopefully you do it interesting.
RhondaAnn- Yes Pam, Liz, and Maria were friends in the early part of elementary. But that scene formed a permanent rift between them. Pam used to be a stickler for paying attention to authority. She will play a small role in this story, but much more in Shadows.
Kyle and Courtney, well who knows. Just remember that Kyle is a little xenophobic, that's the reason he did not take Courtney up on her offer earlier.
emmanu- Thanks
kemkay- thanks
Disclaimer- I do not own Roswell, and no infringement is intended. Also a couple of nods to the writers of the episodes Surprise and End of the World.
Eidolon part 7
Tess
Tess stood next to her battered SUV, still trying to get over the shock. She had to start being more aware of her surroundings. She was being too careless, too confident her power would save her.
But she had been lucky, and as Nasedo had been want to point out, at some point luck wore out. She would have to start practicing more. It would be hard, particularly with Kyle and the Sheriff around all the time. But that in and of itself would constitute practice.
Her ‘friends’ had no clue how powerful her abilities could be.
Flash-
Ava Mitharos watched as the mansion that had housed her for all twelve of her years was pillaged. She watched as the Conservatory went up in flames. She had loved that room. Not for the instruments over which her parents made her toil, but rather the sheer beauty. The very walls seemed full of the very essence of music, and while music was not her Gift, from time to time while she was playing she could feel that essence call to her.
She would miss it, would miss all of it. All of it destroyed by the stupid Taries and their idiotic war to avenge a few Rajies. Like they mattered, and even if they did her family had opposed the annexation. So why did they come to burn her house?
“Ava Belana Mitharos get over her right this minute,” her mother called out to her. “If one of them sees you…”
Most of the Household staff had been away on various affairs, some involving politics, others the war. Only a few guards and the minimum staff to keep up the place had been in residence. They themselves had only been passing through on their way to safety in the Capital.
The guards had died to give them some time to escape. Now it was only herself, her mother, and one of her tutors. The tutor was quietly crying and moaning about her fate. Her mother was in deep silence, hopefully planning and not just praying.
And Ava was trying to desperately not think of what was happening to the few survivors left in her home. She had heard pleas and screams as they had fled, and she had seen pretty Sira, one of the housemaids being driven half naked away from the mansion. She had looked so shocked and scared.
Ava feared for her, for while her parents had tried to shield her from the darker realities, the war had been going on for several years. She knew what happened when one of the less disciplined Taran Legions took an area. She just wished there had been away to save her. But she would be hard pressed to save herself. Neither her mother nor her tutor had strong powers; it would be up to her to save them all.
If she could. For they had only been able to go less than a mile before the war caught up to them and they had to seek shelter. She was not sure who was fighting who, and she really did not care. She just wanted it to be over.
So she had kept a partial watch, and saw a group of soldiers slink up from their positions at the mansion towards their hiding spot. “Mother they are coming!”
“Come here, child. You will need to protect us; you will need to call upon the Eidolon, the waking dream to save us. Do you understand?”
“Y-yes, mother,” Ava looked up at her mother, lips slightly trembling. It would be hard, and the thought of touching those dark Taran minds made her feel slightly ill. But it would have to be done. She would have to hide them.
Her mother’s dark grey eyes looked at her with pride and love, “Don’t worry my sweet Ava, you will not have to hold them for long, Father is sending some help. There is another Taran unit nearby, friends. You just need to make sure you keep the enemy at bay, just hold them off. They can not know we are here.”
The tutor looked stunned, “You are going to trust other Tarans? After what they have done?” The tutor waved her arm back at the burning mansion and the ravaged countryside.
“We must. This whole war has been a terrible mistake, one our House fought adamantly against. Better to let the Inquisitors take those guilty for Drimordjian, even against all custom. What use is pride against such an immense sin, how could the Council think the Gods would smile upon us after what we had done?”
Ava looked stunned. How could her mother think they deserved this? She kept quiet, but luckily the tutor voiced the very denial she wished she had the courage to voice.
“But they were only Rajies! Why would the Powers on high care one whit for them?”
Lady Thirva Mitharos only smiled, “The Rhyjhaelians may be inferior to us, and they may be infidels. But they are still people, their souls still matter. Irregardless, the sin was ours, how many have to die for Tritoranan greed?” She shook her head, “Enough, now is not time for this. Ava, grab my hand. You too,” she directed at the tutor.
“Yes, mother.”
“Yes, Lady.”
“Now, Ava, link with us and use our strength to bolster yours. Remember that I love you and trust in you.”
Ava connected to the two women, their strength hers to use, their thoughts and emotions carefully blocked off. She blocked herself as well. She closed her eyes and began the warp, one that would have to hold until help arrived. Help from the enemy. She felt her mother kiss her lightly on the temple.
Lady Thirva said softly for Ava’s ears only, “Worry not sweet, for I have seen the future. One day I shall see you crowned Queen of all Antar.”
If her eyes had not been closed, Ava surely would have rolled them. But somehow, in this time and place, she felt oddly comforted by her mother’s strange superstitions. She began the warp.
End Flash-
Tess opened her eyes. To have a mother, to have someone who cared so much for her, who dreamed such grandiose dreams for her. She looked again at the Deluca household, at the woman who had made such dire choices who slept therein. Would Lady Thirva have done the same for Ava?
Yes, she would have done anything to protect her, to protect me.
For the first time, Tess felt envy, not just for Liz, who still held Max’s heart, but for Isabel and Maria as well. For in this life they had had mothers, they had been loved, loved and cherished like Ava had been. Until now she had never truly known what that had felt like, had not known the huge hole in her life…
She stoically got into her battered SUV and proceeded to drive home. She was able to drive but a single block before she had to pull over.
And she cried.
----
Maria-
Maria’s investigation was going nowhere. None of her friends was really willing to talk about the rumor with her. They knew how she would react, and Maria got the distinct impression that this rumor had been floating about for a little while. There just was no way that Liz would sleep with Kyle. I mean she has this whole soul mate thing going on with Max. She just couldn’t, wouldn’t do that to him.
Would she…
I mean the whole vibe between them has been soooo awkward. And Max said that Liz had hurt him, hurt him to almost breaking.
And she’s been keeping secrets…
No it is not possible. Liz and Kyle. No. I will not believe it. It’s like impossible. She would never do that, not in a million billion years would she do something like that.
Do something like that and not tell me…
Maria stood there her thoughts getting more and more agitated as she watched the party. Her breath began to speed up as she began to hyperventilate.
“Hey, Maria I thought you had left,” Kyle said. He had obviously had a few more drinks, his old Kyle patented smirk on his lips. “Do you need some seed oil or something?”
Maria had forgotten what a jerk Kyle could sometimes be. Usually when drunk, which used to be often. She preferred the new Kyle, misquoting Buddha any day. Her mind switched from possible panic attack to just plan attack. “Kyle. You and me, outside.” When she noticed him just blinking at her she added, “NOW!” And she walked outside, daring him to not follow.
She heard him make a comment with his friends who then burst out laughing. But she knew that he was following her. She noticed Courtney, who had been casually mingling around the room, talking with Pam. The look of intentness on Pam’s face worried Maria, as did the cool glance Pam sent her as she left the room. Pam was interested in something, some story was unfolding that she wanted to chronicle.
Not what they needed right now.
She was still lost in thought when she heard Kyle’s abrupt statement.
“No.”
Maria whirled to face him, “What do you mean by no. You can’t just expect me to like read your mind or something. I have serious questions and you will answer them.”
“And the answer is no. I did not sleep with Liz. Max did catch us in bed together though.”
“Excuse me? You were in bed together with Liz. I mean what were you hoping to accomplish? Were you like naked or something, was this you trying to get back at Max.” Maria looked at Kyle with complete scorn. “The man saved your life.”
“And was the cause of all the danger. I mean none of that would have happened if he were just some self absorbed rich preppy kid now would it? But no he is some alien hiding out in Roswell, for heaven’s sake. Couldn’t they have picked a less clichéd town? I mean our lives are totally changed, totally.”
Maria looked at Kyle, the old Kyle, the jock was gone, and the new Kyle was back. She was not sure, not really sure what to make of him, “And Liz would be dead.”
Kyle sighed and looked down at the ground, “Yeah. And Liz would be dead.” Both of them were silent for a moment before Kyle resumed. “You know the thing is, it’s not just the changes in our lives. Or the knowledge that aliens not only exist; but are walking and talking among us. Even that we may have to fight off them at a moments notice, Courtney and I killed one not more than a quarter mile from this spot tonight. Not it’s that, well that, I…” He paused and scuffled the dirt a bit. “I feel, well, I feel…”
“Different.”
“Yeah, um I never got to ask you. You know after he healed you do you feel, you know?”
“Different?” Maria paused, opened her mouth to say that no, nothing was different. But Kyle was a friend, she had not always liked him, had not always trusted him. But lately, the new Kyle… And maybe a bit of the old, there had to be something that Liz had seen in him… She felt she could trust him, if only a little. She herself looked down before looking back at Kyle, who was looking expectantly at her. “Yes, a little. It, it is like, like I can hear things I can’t really hear and see things I can’t really see. I, I don’t really know. And then there is Michael. I can feel him, even all the way out here.”
“Okay, well, I think we are done here for now.”
“You don’t feel drawn to anyone.”
“No more than usual.”
“Oh. Does it help that it makes the kisses feel magical.”
“Now that is too much information. And considering all the strings that all the Martian stuff brings, I think I will stick with normal human kisses. Which if we are done here, I am going to try to get some of.” Kyle turned around and headed back towards the party.
“Kyle? You never did answer me. Why did you do it?”
Kyle stopped and sighed. He turned around and said, “Liz asked me to. If you want to know why she asked me, ask her.” With that he continued on back into the party.
Maria just stood there watching as he left. Damn, Isabel would get the answers before I will. Those makeovers better be worth it. She watched as Courtney talked briefly with Kyle and then headed straight for her.
Courtney had a slight smile on her face as she walked up. “So how did your questioning go?”
“Alright I guess. I did not find out who started the rumor, but I did get to talk with Kyle. With no help from you I might add.”
“It was Julia. She overheard a conversation between Tess and Max. She then observed the tension in your group, put two and two together and…”
“But Julia is our friend, why would she do that.?”
“Not sure. If I had a bit more time and a free run of the campus during school, I could probably find out though.” Courtney looked deeply at Maria, “Maybe I should have added some spy craft to the memories I gave you.”
“What?”
“It’s going to be a long conversation, and I doubt something you really want your friends to see. Particularly Pam, she may be a problem.” Courtney shook her head, “Why don’t you drive me home, and I will tell you all about it.”
“No, what did you mean.”
“Look Maria, this touches on Czech issues, it’s not really safe out here.”
Maria just looked at the older girl, “Okay, but I expect a full explanation.”
Both of them walked towards the car.
---
Liz-
Liz fought to keep her emotions under control. For it seemed that whenever she let them loose, she would get a flash. In the brief five minutes they had been driving so far she had already seen three flashes. One of them had been of Max, Michael, and Isabel fighting over Max’s telling Liz. Liz had never realized how much Isabel had considered that a betrayal. The second was just Eww. She tried to scrub her mind of a younger Amy Deluca’s giddy thoughts as she kissed a handsome blonde stranger. Somehow Liz knew that it would have been a worse sight if she had been sitting in the back seat. Just something she so did not want to see…
The third…
Flash-
Sergeant Romero Ibanez tried to contain his irritation as he drove out into the middle of nowhere on a hot New Mexico afternoon. The brass had wanted hard working men who could keep their mouths shut, and so he and some of his men were ‘volunteered’ to a detail on some ranch north of Roswell.
It was times like these when he really questioned his decision to stay in the service after the War. Sure he really had not had much to go back to in New York, and sure it let him play with the newest shiny toys the Army Air force had to offer. But still, those over paid flyboys would be sorry if he and his men were not there to service those birds. Engine three on the plane he had been working on worried him, it sounded okay and it worked, but something about it. Well he would worry about it when he got home.
All such thoughts faded in importance as the Jeep rounded the hill. And he saw it. It was like no aircraft he had ever seen. “My God.”
“What do you think it is Sarge?” one of his men asked.
“Not our place to say. Let the eggheads do the guessing, we’ll find out ourselves. Let’s move out.”
It was days like this he was happy he had stayed in the Army.
Endflash-
When Liz regained her senses she realized the Jeep had stopped. Isabel would be badgering her soon for answers. She tried to calm her nerves, to sooth her emotions, she had to stop these flashes. There had to be a way.
Liz felt prickles of energy flow up and down her arms and her hands tingled. She was careful not to touch anything. She closed her eyes and tried to desperately to calm down, but the anger, resentment, and fear wouldn’t stop.
She heard as Isabel softly said, “Liz, are you alright?” And then she felt as Isabel’s hand gently touched her arm.
Flash-
Liz watched as Isabel clambered from her pod and stared at the other. She knew him, they had been… friends. She looked back and saw another boy fighting his way out of the pod. And knew him. Her brother. He was her brother.
Flash-
Liz felt the curiosity and aggravation that Isabel felt as she watched Liz, trying desperately to understand how Liz affected her brother so much…
Flash-
Isabel walked away in wonder from Alex’s house after rousing him to get a kiss to find Max and Liz. Michael had been right, the feelings and the flashes had poured into her. It had been intoxicating, for Alex loved her. He really loved her, and that feeling filled her with wonder and happiness and ambivalence…
Flash-
Isabel felt all the emotions build within her as she grabbed a rock and smashed it through her own pod. Why wasn’t her mother here? Why were they so alone? And God, the look on Alex’s face when he saw Grant, saw that they were going on a date. That all the embarrassment he had gone through to make her smile was wasted. The pain in his eyes…
And Tess. And Whitaker. Those lies Whitaker had told her. They had to be lies, her mind shrieked. But she knew, not the details, but there was truth there. Some kernel of truth to all that Whitaker had said and it made her mind burn. The idea that she could betray her family, betray her brother…
She looked again at her now damaged pod, the place that had sheltered her until she, Michael, and Max had left Tess alone… There was a hole in the back of the pod. There was something behind it. She got down on hands and knees and looked closer, crawling through the hole.
And saw as metal door slid open. She saw it open up a round chamber that was full of barely concealed power and might. All housed in a large inverted black cone.
Isabel stood up and looked in wonder. She knew what it was, it called to her. “The Granolith”
End Flash-
Liz ripped her arm away angrily and opened the Jeep door. She gave a withering look to a surprised Isabel as she got out of the Jeep and started walking home. It couldn’t be more than six or seven miles back to the Crashdown.
----
Ava-
Ava kept driving trying to ignore the moaning and groaning coming from the back seat. Lonnie and Rath were enjoying the extra space the more sensible choice Ava’s vehicle had given them.
They were so disgusting, more like animals than people. She thought of Zan, and what they had done to him, of how they had denied her the pleasure they were so adamant about having right here, right now, while she was driving. They had killed her mate, had murdered Zan, and expected her to take care of them.
They were fools. But they were dangerous fools, so very dangerous.
She felt the last strands of love she had for them fray. The bonds that had been forged in love, that had made them the Four Square, the Hope of Antar. They were almost gone now, and she was almost free.
She wondered what she would do when she felt the last bond break. Would Rath or Lonnie even notice? Would she be able to just slink away, escape from her now psychopathic former friends?
She would stay for now, she decided. For even if she hated them, she wondered about the Others. Those who had been made in their image, but made more human… What would they be like?
Would the Darkness have claimed them too? Would they be like Lonnie and Rath had been or like they were now? She missed her friends. Or would they be completely different?
She wanted to know. And so for now would play nice. They could not get to Roswell fast enough.
----
Isabel-
Isabel stared in shock as Liz angrily stalked away from the Jeep towards Roswell. What was up with the small brunette anyway? She got out of the Jeep and called out to her, “Liz, where do you think you are going. You owe me answers.”
Liz just kept walking.
Isabel ran after her, and grabbed her shoulder, “Liz, I am not going to let you go until you answer some questions.”
Liz stiffened and gasped. She desperately tried to shake Isabel’s grip. “Please, I will tell you anything. Just please… please don’t touch me.”
Isabel let Liz go, and Liz dropped to her knees and started crying.
“Liz, what is wrong with you?”
“Ana did something to me, and now I see flashes.” Liz tears were flowing down her cheeks as she began to laugh bitterly. “I know too much. I know the future; oh I am such a fool to have wanted to know. And now the flashes…”
“Liz, do I need to call Max?” Isabel said fishing her phone out of one of her purse. She checked it for a signal and got ready to call Max.
“No, no don’t call Max. It’s bad enough, I have failed badly enough. I don’t think I could stand Max right now.”
Isabel kept the phone in her hand and watched the hysterical girl. Something was wrong with her, and Max, well Max should be able to help her. She wanted to reach out, to comfort her. And hit her for hurting Max like she had, but she could do that after Liz was cognizant of her displeasure. Isabel did not like to see people in so much pain.
“I know you want to know, Iz. I know so much, too much now. But you have to promise me, you have to promise me you will not tell Max. I want to tell him, he should hear it from me.”
“Liz, you know that…”
“Promise Isabel or I will tell you nothing.” Liz stared up at her with an incredible intensity.
For the first time Liz made her nervous. Not nervous in the sense of what she could do to affect Max, but rather to affect her. Something was different with Liz, there was a power there, and her words would bind her. Bind her as much as a promise to Max or Michael. But she had to know, “I promise I won’t tell Max, or anyone else for that matter. Not unless you release me.”
Liz visibly calmed down. “And I promise I will tell him. That I will tell him soon, I just don’t know how to start.”
“How about at the beginning?”
“Not you too. Max said the same thing to me earlier. He knows you see that I did not sleep with Kyle. That he had been set up.”
Isabel shook her head. “It was something Dad said when we would stall trying to tell him whatever stupid thing we had done while growing up. And just like us, you are stalling.”
Liz sighed. “At least you know about the Granolith, although I am a little angry that none of you shared that knowledge with me. Then I could be sure it wasn’t just some evil hallucination or something.”
“Liz,” Isabel said impatiently.
“Look, there is a lot to tell. I will tell you the basics, things I haven’t even told Maria about. And I promise I will tell you everything when we do those makeovers you promised Maria, say on Wednesday. We’ll be out of school, so we can make a sleepover of it.”
“Fine Liz, that is fine now get on with the story.”
“It began with me, Maria, and Alex going to a fortune teller on Halloween. Hey, Isabel, don’t get that look, this really is part of the story. You know, I consider myself a budding scientist, and well even knowing some of the stuff you guys can do, well fortune telling is pretty far fetched. But she was right. She told Maria that her relationship with Michael would never prosper, that Alex never had a chance with you, and that I, that I would have Max.” Liz’s voice took on a dreamy quality, “That despite his destiny, despite his duty, that he would give it all up. Give it all up for me.” Liz blushed a little, “That I would not be found wanting for intimacy with him.”
“Liz is this really relevant?” Surely she would not have always been so cold to Alex, surely at some point she would have opened, even if just a little to him. And if how Michael and Maria had been carrying on today, surely there was some hope for them.
“Yes, and when I got home, I knew how silly I was being. I mean, come on, fortune telling shill here. But I bought it, she seemed so intense, so surprised by the reading. And I thought I… felt something. Anyway, I actually went home and dressed up in front of the mirror with some bed linens, pretending to be a bride. Max’s bride.” Liz stopped, and the dreamy quality left a harsh sadness replacing it. “That was all truly what was to be. Really and truly, until today I was not sure, but now…”
“Liz I don’t understand how this would lead you in a million years to hurt Max, if anything… I mean if you thought he loved you, and he does, the poor fool still does.”
“Did you see something today, when the time storm broke, did you see anything?”
Isabel said quietly, “I saw a little of my past.”
“Your past?”
“On Antar.”
“Oh, well I just had to see, had to see if he had been telling the truth. I had to know. You see, I saw the future, what our future could have been if I had not taken steps. It was not all unpleasant, not until near the end. Until a very bitter end indeed. You wonder how I could do what I did to Max. I had to, he told me I had to, and what is worse.” Liz’s voice hitched a little, “He was right.”
“Who, you keep mentioning a him? Who are you talking about?”
Liz burst out with bitter laughter and as she stared into Isabel’s eyes, a ocean of unwept tears lurked, “Oh, Izzie, how I wish we were truly friends. If we were you would know, you would know the only person in the world that could persuade me to hurt Max so much. You see, I had a visitor that night. I had a visitor from the future, one who told me what would happen if I let events carry on unchanged.” The tears began to flow. “It was Max, and he told me that we could never be. That we were happy, married and happy, but that the price was too high.”
“No, there is no way Max would do that. It must have been a Skin or a shapeshifter or maybe, maybe Tess was getting desperate…”
“It was Max, Isabel believe it. Trust me, I tried to deny it, oh how I tried… When Nasedo captured me, when he tried to use me as bait to draw the Special Unit from all the rest of you, it took one kiss and I knew. We have this, I don’t know connection. And for a brief while, there were two of him. He told me we could never, never be together, that it would cause the end of the world. And from what I saw today, from my little glance into the future, he was right.”
xmag- Well hopefully I can keep Pam interesting. She does have a part to play. And yes, Jeff's first true love was Nadine Troy. Liz never asked her father or mother about any of this, and had at this point completely forgotten about it.
As for Courtney, not much here, but she does have a bit to say in part eight.
chanks_girl- Thanks. Isabel is not happy with Liz for what she believes Liz has done. Hopefully you do it interesting.
RhondaAnn- Yes Pam, Liz, and Maria were friends in the early part of elementary. But that scene formed a permanent rift between them. Pam used to be a stickler for paying attention to authority. She will play a small role in this story, but much more in Shadows.
Kyle and Courtney, well who knows. Just remember that Kyle is a little xenophobic, that's the reason he did not take Courtney up on her offer earlier.
emmanu- Thanks
kemkay- thanks
Disclaimer- I do not own Roswell, and no infringement is intended. Also a couple of nods to the writers of the episodes Surprise and End of the World.
Eidolon part 7
Tess
Tess stood next to her battered SUV, still trying to get over the shock. She had to start being more aware of her surroundings. She was being too careless, too confident her power would save her.
But she had been lucky, and as Nasedo had been want to point out, at some point luck wore out. She would have to start practicing more. It would be hard, particularly with Kyle and the Sheriff around all the time. But that in and of itself would constitute practice.
Her ‘friends’ had no clue how powerful her abilities could be.
Flash-
Ava Mitharos watched as the mansion that had housed her for all twelve of her years was pillaged. She watched as the Conservatory went up in flames. She had loved that room. Not for the instruments over which her parents made her toil, but rather the sheer beauty. The very walls seemed full of the very essence of music, and while music was not her Gift, from time to time while she was playing she could feel that essence call to her.
She would miss it, would miss all of it. All of it destroyed by the stupid Taries and their idiotic war to avenge a few Rajies. Like they mattered, and even if they did her family had opposed the annexation. So why did they come to burn her house?
“Ava Belana Mitharos get over her right this minute,” her mother called out to her. “If one of them sees you…”
Most of the Household staff had been away on various affairs, some involving politics, others the war. Only a few guards and the minimum staff to keep up the place had been in residence. They themselves had only been passing through on their way to safety in the Capital.
The guards had died to give them some time to escape. Now it was only herself, her mother, and one of her tutors. The tutor was quietly crying and moaning about her fate. Her mother was in deep silence, hopefully planning and not just praying.
And Ava was trying to desperately not think of what was happening to the few survivors left in her home. She had heard pleas and screams as they had fled, and she had seen pretty Sira, one of the housemaids being driven half naked away from the mansion. She had looked so shocked and scared.
Ava feared for her, for while her parents had tried to shield her from the darker realities, the war had been going on for several years. She knew what happened when one of the less disciplined Taran Legions took an area. She just wished there had been away to save her. But she would be hard pressed to save herself. Neither her mother nor her tutor had strong powers; it would be up to her to save them all.
If she could. For they had only been able to go less than a mile before the war caught up to them and they had to seek shelter. She was not sure who was fighting who, and she really did not care. She just wanted it to be over.
So she had kept a partial watch, and saw a group of soldiers slink up from their positions at the mansion towards their hiding spot. “Mother they are coming!”
“Come here, child. You will need to protect us; you will need to call upon the Eidolon, the waking dream to save us. Do you understand?”
“Y-yes, mother,” Ava looked up at her mother, lips slightly trembling. It would be hard, and the thought of touching those dark Taran minds made her feel slightly ill. But it would have to be done. She would have to hide them.
Her mother’s dark grey eyes looked at her with pride and love, “Don’t worry my sweet Ava, you will not have to hold them for long, Father is sending some help. There is another Taran unit nearby, friends. You just need to make sure you keep the enemy at bay, just hold them off. They can not know we are here.”
The tutor looked stunned, “You are going to trust other Tarans? After what they have done?” The tutor waved her arm back at the burning mansion and the ravaged countryside.
“We must. This whole war has been a terrible mistake, one our House fought adamantly against. Better to let the Inquisitors take those guilty for Drimordjian, even against all custom. What use is pride against such an immense sin, how could the Council think the Gods would smile upon us after what we had done?”
Ava looked stunned. How could her mother think they deserved this? She kept quiet, but luckily the tutor voiced the very denial she wished she had the courage to voice.
“But they were only Rajies! Why would the Powers on high care one whit for them?”
Lady Thirva Mitharos only smiled, “The Rhyjhaelians may be inferior to us, and they may be infidels. But they are still people, their souls still matter. Irregardless, the sin was ours, how many have to die for Tritoranan greed?” She shook her head, “Enough, now is not time for this. Ava, grab my hand. You too,” she directed at the tutor.
“Yes, mother.”
“Yes, Lady.”
“Now, Ava, link with us and use our strength to bolster yours. Remember that I love you and trust in you.”
Ava connected to the two women, their strength hers to use, their thoughts and emotions carefully blocked off. She blocked herself as well. She closed her eyes and began the warp, one that would have to hold until help arrived. Help from the enemy. She felt her mother kiss her lightly on the temple.
Lady Thirva said softly for Ava’s ears only, “Worry not sweet, for I have seen the future. One day I shall see you crowned Queen of all Antar.”
If her eyes had not been closed, Ava surely would have rolled them. But somehow, in this time and place, she felt oddly comforted by her mother’s strange superstitions. She began the warp.
End Flash-
Tess opened her eyes. To have a mother, to have someone who cared so much for her, who dreamed such grandiose dreams for her. She looked again at the Deluca household, at the woman who had made such dire choices who slept therein. Would Lady Thirva have done the same for Ava?
Yes, she would have done anything to protect her, to protect me.
For the first time, Tess felt envy, not just for Liz, who still held Max’s heart, but for Isabel and Maria as well. For in this life they had had mothers, they had been loved, loved and cherished like Ava had been. Until now she had never truly known what that had felt like, had not known the huge hole in her life…
She stoically got into her battered SUV and proceeded to drive home. She was able to drive but a single block before she had to pull over.
And she cried.
----
Maria-
Maria’s investigation was going nowhere. None of her friends was really willing to talk about the rumor with her. They knew how she would react, and Maria got the distinct impression that this rumor had been floating about for a little while. There just was no way that Liz would sleep with Kyle. I mean she has this whole soul mate thing going on with Max. She just couldn’t, wouldn’t do that to him.
Would she…
I mean the whole vibe between them has been soooo awkward. And Max said that Liz had hurt him, hurt him to almost breaking.
And she’s been keeping secrets…
No it is not possible. Liz and Kyle. No. I will not believe it. It’s like impossible. She would never do that, not in a million billion years would she do something like that.
Do something like that and not tell me…
Maria stood there her thoughts getting more and more agitated as she watched the party. Her breath began to speed up as she began to hyperventilate.
“Hey, Maria I thought you had left,” Kyle said. He had obviously had a few more drinks, his old Kyle patented smirk on his lips. “Do you need some seed oil or something?”
Maria had forgotten what a jerk Kyle could sometimes be. Usually when drunk, which used to be often. She preferred the new Kyle, misquoting Buddha any day. Her mind switched from possible panic attack to just plan attack. “Kyle. You and me, outside.” When she noticed him just blinking at her she added, “NOW!” And she walked outside, daring him to not follow.
She heard him make a comment with his friends who then burst out laughing. But she knew that he was following her. She noticed Courtney, who had been casually mingling around the room, talking with Pam. The look of intentness on Pam’s face worried Maria, as did the cool glance Pam sent her as she left the room. Pam was interested in something, some story was unfolding that she wanted to chronicle.
Not what they needed right now.
She was still lost in thought when she heard Kyle’s abrupt statement.
“No.”
Maria whirled to face him, “What do you mean by no. You can’t just expect me to like read your mind or something. I have serious questions and you will answer them.”
“And the answer is no. I did not sleep with Liz. Max did catch us in bed together though.”
“Excuse me? You were in bed together with Liz. I mean what were you hoping to accomplish? Were you like naked or something, was this you trying to get back at Max.” Maria looked at Kyle with complete scorn. “The man saved your life.”
“And was the cause of all the danger. I mean none of that would have happened if he were just some self absorbed rich preppy kid now would it? But no he is some alien hiding out in Roswell, for heaven’s sake. Couldn’t they have picked a less clichéd town? I mean our lives are totally changed, totally.”
Maria looked at Kyle, the old Kyle, the jock was gone, and the new Kyle was back. She was not sure, not really sure what to make of him, “And Liz would be dead.”
Kyle sighed and looked down at the ground, “Yeah. And Liz would be dead.” Both of them were silent for a moment before Kyle resumed. “You know the thing is, it’s not just the changes in our lives. Or the knowledge that aliens not only exist; but are walking and talking among us. Even that we may have to fight off them at a moments notice, Courtney and I killed one not more than a quarter mile from this spot tonight. Not it’s that, well that, I…” He paused and scuffled the dirt a bit. “I feel, well, I feel…”
“Different.”
“Yeah, um I never got to ask you. You know after he healed you do you feel, you know?”
“Different?” Maria paused, opened her mouth to say that no, nothing was different. But Kyle was a friend, she had not always liked him, had not always trusted him. But lately, the new Kyle… And maybe a bit of the old, there had to be something that Liz had seen in him… She felt she could trust him, if only a little. She herself looked down before looking back at Kyle, who was looking expectantly at her. “Yes, a little. It, it is like, like I can hear things I can’t really hear and see things I can’t really see. I, I don’t really know. And then there is Michael. I can feel him, even all the way out here.”
“Okay, well, I think we are done here for now.”
“You don’t feel drawn to anyone.”
“No more than usual.”
“Oh. Does it help that it makes the kisses feel magical.”
“Now that is too much information. And considering all the strings that all the Martian stuff brings, I think I will stick with normal human kisses. Which if we are done here, I am going to try to get some of.” Kyle turned around and headed back towards the party.
“Kyle? You never did answer me. Why did you do it?”
Kyle stopped and sighed. He turned around and said, “Liz asked me to. If you want to know why she asked me, ask her.” With that he continued on back into the party.
Maria just stood there watching as he left. Damn, Isabel would get the answers before I will. Those makeovers better be worth it. She watched as Courtney talked briefly with Kyle and then headed straight for her.
Courtney had a slight smile on her face as she walked up. “So how did your questioning go?”
“Alright I guess. I did not find out who started the rumor, but I did get to talk with Kyle. With no help from you I might add.”
“It was Julia. She overheard a conversation between Tess and Max. She then observed the tension in your group, put two and two together and…”
“But Julia is our friend, why would she do that.?”
“Not sure. If I had a bit more time and a free run of the campus during school, I could probably find out though.” Courtney looked deeply at Maria, “Maybe I should have added some spy craft to the memories I gave you.”
“What?”
“It’s going to be a long conversation, and I doubt something you really want your friends to see. Particularly Pam, she may be a problem.” Courtney shook her head, “Why don’t you drive me home, and I will tell you all about it.”
“No, what did you mean.”
“Look Maria, this touches on Czech issues, it’s not really safe out here.”
Maria just looked at the older girl, “Okay, but I expect a full explanation.”
Both of them walked towards the car.
---
Liz-
Liz fought to keep her emotions under control. For it seemed that whenever she let them loose, she would get a flash. In the brief five minutes they had been driving so far she had already seen three flashes. One of them had been of Max, Michael, and Isabel fighting over Max’s telling Liz. Liz had never realized how much Isabel had considered that a betrayal. The second was just Eww. She tried to scrub her mind of a younger Amy Deluca’s giddy thoughts as she kissed a handsome blonde stranger. Somehow Liz knew that it would have been a worse sight if she had been sitting in the back seat. Just something she so did not want to see…
The third…
Flash-
Sergeant Romero Ibanez tried to contain his irritation as he drove out into the middle of nowhere on a hot New Mexico afternoon. The brass had wanted hard working men who could keep their mouths shut, and so he and some of his men were ‘volunteered’ to a detail on some ranch north of Roswell.
It was times like these when he really questioned his decision to stay in the service after the War. Sure he really had not had much to go back to in New York, and sure it let him play with the newest shiny toys the Army Air force had to offer. But still, those over paid flyboys would be sorry if he and his men were not there to service those birds. Engine three on the plane he had been working on worried him, it sounded okay and it worked, but something about it. Well he would worry about it when he got home.
All such thoughts faded in importance as the Jeep rounded the hill. And he saw it. It was like no aircraft he had ever seen. “My God.”
“What do you think it is Sarge?” one of his men asked.
“Not our place to say. Let the eggheads do the guessing, we’ll find out ourselves. Let’s move out.”
It was days like this he was happy he had stayed in the Army.
Endflash-
When Liz regained her senses she realized the Jeep had stopped. Isabel would be badgering her soon for answers. She tried to calm her nerves, to sooth her emotions, she had to stop these flashes. There had to be a way.
Liz felt prickles of energy flow up and down her arms and her hands tingled. She was careful not to touch anything. She closed her eyes and tried to desperately to calm down, but the anger, resentment, and fear wouldn’t stop.
She heard as Isabel softly said, “Liz, are you alright?” And then she felt as Isabel’s hand gently touched her arm.
Flash-
Liz watched as Isabel clambered from her pod and stared at the other. She knew him, they had been… friends. She looked back and saw another boy fighting his way out of the pod. And knew him. Her brother. He was her brother.
Flash-
Liz felt the curiosity and aggravation that Isabel felt as she watched Liz, trying desperately to understand how Liz affected her brother so much…
Flash-
Isabel walked away in wonder from Alex’s house after rousing him to get a kiss to find Max and Liz. Michael had been right, the feelings and the flashes had poured into her. It had been intoxicating, for Alex loved her. He really loved her, and that feeling filled her with wonder and happiness and ambivalence…
Flash-
Isabel felt all the emotions build within her as she grabbed a rock and smashed it through her own pod. Why wasn’t her mother here? Why were they so alone? And God, the look on Alex’s face when he saw Grant, saw that they were going on a date. That all the embarrassment he had gone through to make her smile was wasted. The pain in his eyes…
And Tess. And Whitaker. Those lies Whitaker had told her. They had to be lies, her mind shrieked. But she knew, not the details, but there was truth there. Some kernel of truth to all that Whitaker had said and it made her mind burn. The idea that she could betray her family, betray her brother…
She looked again at her now damaged pod, the place that had sheltered her until she, Michael, and Max had left Tess alone… There was a hole in the back of the pod. There was something behind it. She got down on hands and knees and looked closer, crawling through the hole.
And saw as metal door slid open. She saw it open up a round chamber that was full of barely concealed power and might. All housed in a large inverted black cone.
Isabel stood up and looked in wonder. She knew what it was, it called to her. “The Granolith”
End Flash-
Liz ripped her arm away angrily and opened the Jeep door. She gave a withering look to a surprised Isabel as she got out of the Jeep and started walking home. It couldn’t be more than six or seven miles back to the Crashdown.
----
Ava-
Ava kept driving trying to ignore the moaning and groaning coming from the back seat. Lonnie and Rath were enjoying the extra space the more sensible choice Ava’s vehicle had given them.
They were so disgusting, more like animals than people. She thought of Zan, and what they had done to him, of how they had denied her the pleasure they were so adamant about having right here, right now, while she was driving. They had killed her mate, had murdered Zan, and expected her to take care of them.
They were fools. But they were dangerous fools, so very dangerous.
She felt the last strands of love she had for them fray. The bonds that had been forged in love, that had made them the Four Square, the Hope of Antar. They were almost gone now, and she was almost free.
She wondered what she would do when she felt the last bond break. Would Rath or Lonnie even notice? Would she be able to just slink away, escape from her now psychopathic former friends?
She would stay for now, she decided. For even if she hated them, she wondered about the Others. Those who had been made in their image, but made more human… What would they be like?
Would the Darkness have claimed them too? Would they be like Lonnie and Rath had been or like they were now? She missed her friends. Or would they be completely different?
She wanted to know. And so for now would play nice. They could not get to Roswell fast enough.
----
Isabel-
Isabel stared in shock as Liz angrily stalked away from the Jeep towards Roswell. What was up with the small brunette anyway? She got out of the Jeep and called out to her, “Liz, where do you think you are going. You owe me answers.”
Liz just kept walking.
Isabel ran after her, and grabbed her shoulder, “Liz, I am not going to let you go until you answer some questions.”
Liz stiffened and gasped. She desperately tried to shake Isabel’s grip. “Please, I will tell you anything. Just please… please don’t touch me.”
Isabel let Liz go, and Liz dropped to her knees and started crying.
“Liz, what is wrong with you?”
“Ana did something to me, and now I see flashes.” Liz tears were flowing down her cheeks as she began to laugh bitterly. “I know too much. I know the future; oh I am such a fool to have wanted to know. And now the flashes…”
“Liz, do I need to call Max?” Isabel said fishing her phone out of one of her purse. She checked it for a signal and got ready to call Max.
“No, no don’t call Max. It’s bad enough, I have failed badly enough. I don’t think I could stand Max right now.”
Isabel kept the phone in her hand and watched the hysterical girl. Something was wrong with her, and Max, well Max should be able to help her. She wanted to reach out, to comfort her. And hit her for hurting Max like she had, but she could do that after Liz was cognizant of her displeasure. Isabel did not like to see people in so much pain.
“I know you want to know, Iz. I know so much, too much now. But you have to promise me, you have to promise me you will not tell Max. I want to tell him, he should hear it from me.”
“Liz, you know that…”
“Promise Isabel or I will tell you nothing.” Liz stared up at her with an incredible intensity.
For the first time Liz made her nervous. Not nervous in the sense of what she could do to affect Max, but rather to affect her. Something was different with Liz, there was a power there, and her words would bind her. Bind her as much as a promise to Max or Michael. But she had to know, “I promise I won’t tell Max, or anyone else for that matter. Not unless you release me.”
Liz visibly calmed down. “And I promise I will tell him. That I will tell him soon, I just don’t know how to start.”
“How about at the beginning?”
“Not you too. Max said the same thing to me earlier. He knows you see that I did not sleep with Kyle. That he had been set up.”
Isabel shook her head. “It was something Dad said when we would stall trying to tell him whatever stupid thing we had done while growing up. And just like us, you are stalling.”
Liz sighed. “At least you know about the Granolith, although I am a little angry that none of you shared that knowledge with me. Then I could be sure it wasn’t just some evil hallucination or something.”
“Liz,” Isabel said impatiently.
“Look, there is a lot to tell. I will tell you the basics, things I haven’t even told Maria about. And I promise I will tell you everything when we do those makeovers you promised Maria, say on Wednesday. We’ll be out of school, so we can make a sleepover of it.”
“Fine Liz, that is fine now get on with the story.”
“It began with me, Maria, and Alex going to a fortune teller on Halloween. Hey, Isabel, don’t get that look, this really is part of the story. You know, I consider myself a budding scientist, and well even knowing some of the stuff you guys can do, well fortune telling is pretty far fetched. But she was right. She told Maria that her relationship with Michael would never prosper, that Alex never had a chance with you, and that I, that I would have Max.” Liz’s voice took on a dreamy quality, “That despite his destiny, despite his duty, that he would give it all up. Give it all up for me.” Liz blushed a little, “That I would not be found wanting for intimacy with him.”
“Liz is this really relevant?” Surely she would not have always been so cold to Alex, surely at some point she would have opened, even if just a little to him. And if how Michael and Maria had been carrying on today, surely there was some hope for them.
“Yes, and when I got home, I knew how silly I was being. I mean, come on, fortune telling shill here. But I bought it, she seemed so intense, so surprised by the reading. And I thought I… felt something. Anyway, I actually went home and dressed up in front of the mirror with some bed linens, pretending to be a bride. Max’s bride.” Liz stopped, and the dreamy quality left a harsh sadness replacing it. “That was all truly what was to be. Really and truly, until today I was not sure, but now…”
“Liz I don’t understand how this would lead you in a million years to hurt Max, if anything… I mean if you thought he loved you, and he does, the poor fool still does.”
“Did you see something today, when the time storm broke, did you see anything?”
Isabel said quietly, “I saw a little of my past.”
“Your past?”
“On Antar.”
“Oh, well I just had to see, had to see if he had been telling the truth. I had to know. You see, I saw the future, what our future could have been if I had not taken steps. It was not all unpleasant, not until near the end. Until a very bitter end indeed. You wonder how I could do what I did to Max. I had to, he told me I had to, and what is worse.” Liz’s voice hitched a little, “He was right.”
“Who, you keep mentioning a him? Who are you talking about?”
Liz burst out with bitter laughter and as she stared into Isabel’s eyes, a ocean of unwept tears lurked, “Oh, Izzie, how I wish we were truly friends. If we were you would know, you would know the only person in the world that could persuade me to hurt Max so much. You see, I had a visitor that night. I had a visitor from the future, one who told me what would happen if I let events carry on unchanged.” The tears began to flow. “It was Max, and he told me that we could never be. That we were happy, married and happy, but that the price was too high.”
“No, there is no way Max would do that. It must have been a Skin or a shapeshifter or maybe, maybe Tess was getting desperate…”
“It was Max, Isabel believe it. Trust me, I tried to deny it, oh how I tried… When Nasedo captured me, when he tried to use me as bait to draw the Special Unit from all the rest of you, it took one kiss and I knew. We have this, I don’t know connection. And for a brief while, there were two of him. He told me we could never, never be together, that it would cause the end of the world. And from what I saw today, from my little glance into the future, he was right.”
Thanks to everyone reading this story. And special thanks to RhondaAnn and xmag for the feedback.
RhondaAnn- Thanks. As for Tess, part of this goes to a question TheAntarianKing asked me last part: Can Tess be saved? The answer of course is yes, but she has to want to. Whether she will have a change of heart in time... Well that remains to be seen, but the humanizing process has begun.
In this part Maria will get more answers, but I doubt she will like them all. And Liz is just a short step from a total breakdown.
And yes the Dupes are on the way.
xmag- Something happened to Lonnie a couple years back, and it corrupted her, what it was may come up in later parts. She in turn corrupted Rath, not that she had to try hard. Ava was protected by Zan, and now that he is not here... Mind you, it is part of Ava's gift to see these things so clearly, Zan wouldn't have seen a thing. To Ava's point of view, Tarans are simply blind.
In this story Liz can get flashes easier than anyone else. Usually they are gotten only when the user experiences intense emotion, and usually it has to be an intense experience that is emoted from the object as well. (As an aside this is also why they get so many flashes during intense makeout sessions...) Liz's emotions are totally out of control. As are her powers, her senses are sharper than normal due to the damping effect that the drug that Tess was dosing her with was wiped out by Ana during her capture. So this morning she had a significant amount of Valerium in her system, and its all gone now. Think of how bright the sun would look if you came out of a dark room...
Add this to her high flying emotions and she is recieving flashes from just about everything. Those visions in the Jeep before Isabel touched her? Those are from the Jeep itself. It is US Army surplus, and old, so I made it old enough to have been at the Crash site... Ibanez was there to investigate the Crash itself.
Okay, enough rambling for now. Thanks for the feedback as always.
Disclaimer- Roswell is not mine and no infringement is intended.
Eidolon part 8
Max-
Max watched as his friends played the last and final game in the little mini tournament they had held. Max had expected to get trounced by Michael but Alex had surprised him. As he was surprising Michael now, Alex had the lead and time was running out.
The game itself was unimportant, but spending time with Alex… That could prove priceless in the future. For Max was sure he could be counted on, and that was priceless. He really needed to rethink a lot of how he had been treating the whole human situation. Maybe, just maybe Isabel was right about their parents. Maybe they should know.
Liz had been targeted, and she was human. Max was not sure why they had taken her, why they had tried to brainwash her but they had. Until he knew they would have to watch the humans they were with, to protect them. Pushing them away would do no good if they were already targets. It would take some thought.
He looked again at his friends, Alex pumping his hand in the air at his victory over Michael. What tied them all together outside of the secret? While a secret must be kept, it did not drive the passion that would lend strength in adversity. No that had be drawn from what a secret protected.
The girls. All three of them would do anything to protect Liz, Maria, and Isabel. But it was an unspoken thing, a quiet understanding… Useful in its own way, but still not something that would draw loyalty to each other. And the future may demand their mutual support rather than their scattered efforts, even if it was all to the same goal.
Max cleared his throat. He watched as Alex halted mid victory dance to an annoyed Michael sulking on the couch staring at the game console that had betrayed him. Max said, “Hey Alex, hate to stop you from enjoying your victory, but after you are done can you take me home?”
Michael looked at Max, his head cocked slightly to the side.
“Sure thing, Max. Are you feeling okay, I mean you did collapse a little while ago.”
“No, no I’m fine Alex.”
“Spit it out, Maxwell.”
Alex’s head whipped from Michael to Max, “Huh?”
Michael just shook his head, “Our fearless leader has a speech to make. I’ve seen the signs from my long experience, so out with it Maxwell.”
Alex looked at curiously. “Go on, Max.”
Max looked down for a moment and sighed softly. “Michael’s right, I do have something to say. Today was a trial, and one that you were lucky to avoid. If you stick with us, well you may not be so lucky.” Max lifted his gaze to look directly at Alex. “So I have to ask you, as of all of our friends you have the best opportunity to make a break. You can still escape this fate; still go about your normal life. We would miss you, all of us, but you still can make that choice…”
Alex was furious, “You know I can’t do that. I can not believe you could think I would turn my back on any of you, let alone any of my girls. I thought we talked about this Max.”
“We did, but I had to offer you one last chance. Both Michael and I can not escape this fate, nor can Isabel. I think Liz and possibly Maria and Kyle may be stuck as well. But you, you could still have a normal life. And, and if you accept my offer, well there will be no going back.”
Michael reached up and rubbed and eyebrow. “What are you thinking about, Max?”
Alex looked again at the two hybrids, “Okay, I will listen. But Max, please don’t insult me like that again.”
“Sorry Alex, but it had to be said. I had to give you one more chance. For what I propose is that we actually swear to do what all of us would do anyway, protect the girls.”
“Are you crazy Maxwell, I mean do you think it will even work? In case you haven’t noticed Alex is human. And anyway weren’t you the one who broke the last one? What makes you think you’ll be able to carry this one out either?”
Alex had a smile on his face. “Okay, the clueless human is going to assume this is more than just a bunch of words that said protectees would kill us over.” At Max’s and Michael’s look he continued, “Hey, you know them, Liz might let us off with a stare, you know that both Maria and Iz would not stop there at the idea they needed to be protected.”
Michael smirked, “He’s got you there. I can just picture Isabel and Maria’s reaction.”
“Which is why we will never tell them. And be honest, Michael, you have to admit that things turned out okay:”
“Yeah, but it was a rough ride, and who knows if we are out of all the fallout yet. But you know I forgive you for all that. I mean after today, I totally understand.” Michael grew quiet for a second. When he continued he his voice was soft, “And I never would have known Maria. Liz would be dead. We would all be alone, not even knowing, not really knowing what we could have. But it was such a risk.”
Max looked down, “I wish there had been another way. But I had no choice, she was dying. I, I couldn’t let that happen. And, and I know that they would all be mad at me.” He lifted his gaze again to take in his two friends, “That does not mean it should not be done. Alex this will tie you to us, and as long as your word is true, it may provide some strength to know that others stand with you. The same will apply to us. There is no guarantee that any of us will truly be able to protect them, just as there is no guarantee we will be loved by them. I for one am not sure if I will ever have Liz be mine again. And Alex, while I know that my sister cares for you, that does not mean that she will ever open up to you, or that you two will ever be a successful couple. And Michael, even if you think you hold Maria’s heart for now, given how volatile your relationship with her has been there is no guarantee that it will last.” Max looked as they realized the truth of his words. “But we love them, and that I doubt will change. So I say we should swear that we will protect and aid them as we can, for that is what we would do anyway, separately.”
Alex looked thoughtful and nodded. He reached out his hand to Max.
Michael got up from the couch and walked over, “I am still not sure that this will work. And we will still need to watch Liz, to make sure that Ana did not make her an enemy.” Michael closed his eyes for a moment, “But what the hell…” Michael reached out his hand to Max.
And with their layered palms glowing gold (and a basically undetectable amount of blue-green) they swore to protect their friends.
----
Maria-
Maria got into the Jetta and opened the passenger door for Courtney. Courtney slid into the car a little unsteadily, her face covered in a lopsided smile. Maria looked over and asked, “Courtney did you have a drink. I mean I know that you aliens have problems with alcohol…”
“First, yes I did have a couple of drinks. Two, unlike most of the party goers tonight, I am old enough to drink. Third, Rhyjhaelians handle alcohol better than you humans do, I’m not even buzzed. Lastly, what gives you the idea that I would have a problem anyway?”
“Um, okay, well Max at the very least has some issues with the stuff. I’ll have to tell you about last Valentine’s Day later.” Maria started the car. “You said you had some stuff to tell me.”
“Yes, you do plan on keeping your promise don’t you?”
“Promise?”
“You will protect Michael; keep him from killing himself on some hair brained scheme to save Max. Or anything else really, I do not expect to be here to protect him. So I want you to. You love him don’t you?”
Maria was silent for a moment, trying to remember how she had hated this woman only a day before. But she didn’t, not anymore. Not after today. “Yes, yes, I do love him.”
“Well, there you go, the promise should be easy to keep. There is so much I want to tell you. But first I want to apologize for what I did to you in the bell tower.”
“W-what did you do to me?” Is she why I feel so strange, did she use some alien whammy on me for some nefarious reason? Of course Kyle said he felt weird after Max had healed him, so maybe that’s it. I, I just don’t know, everything feels so… strange.
Courtney sighed, “I can only plead that I thought I was dying at the time and that I was desperate. I gave you some of my memories. Uh, Maria the road!”
Maria looked back at the roadway and pulled off onto the shoulder. “Okay, explain. I mean you like poured your thoughts into my brain. Am I like going to be thinking like you? Were you like trying to take my body over or something…”
“No, no, no. I was, well I was trying to help you. There was a technique that was pioneered by Vilondra, Isabel’s former persona, by the way, it allowed for a temporary bond to open up and transfer data to another person. She was working on developing it for practically use; I guess you would call it a form of telepathy. We never really got it to work right, but this we could do.” Courtney looked thoughtful for a moment. “In fact it may be this technology that they used to infuse the essence and memories of their predecessors into the embryos. Fascinating, I wish I had some of the tools I used to, or some of the skills I have lost along the way.”
Silence fell upon the car. Maria looked at Courtney who seemed lost in thought. She wished Michael was here to hear this. He had always wanted to know so much about the past; it seemed almost unfair that she would hear it before him. A part of her wanted to demand Courtney head directly over there and talk it out between both of them, but part of her, a large part just wanted to know now. To ask while she had the chance to know, to understand what drove him, Max, and Isabel. She wanted to ask why Courtney was telling her this, but was afraid that she would stop. That the chance would pass, one that might never come again. “So Isabel was a researcher as well as a princess.”
Courtney laughed for a moment before resuming. “Vilondra was no princess. None of them were who they probably see themselves as. Zan was a dilettante who had been far enough away from the throne that he could spend more time healing than learning statecraft. Ava was the daughter of the richest and most influential of the Merchant Princes of Mithar. Rath was a good general, a decent politician, but he owed his position more to his ridiculous level of loyalty than to his skill. And Vilondra, sometime scientist and full time political agitator, some would say terrorist. No their lives were much different than they suppose.”
“But how could that be, I mean isn’t she Max’s sister? How could she be his sister and not be a princess if he was heir to the throne. I mean in that hologram Liz described, it clearly said she was his sister. That she was her daughter.”
“So the old Queen Mother left a message for them, huh. Was that when they activated the orbs? Stupid thing to do by the way, it drew us all in. Personally I am surprised no one from Antar has dropped by. As to your question, both are true, but Vilondra was not daughter to the old King. Her mother was a lady in waiting to the King’s second wife, and while it was a scandal at the time, she kept her out of wedlock child. The King forbade anyone from conducting tests to find the father, although there are some obvious candidates. The only test he allowed was on him, which came back negative. She did not have an easy childhood. Not even when the King adopted her after he married her mother.”
“Um, wow. Um, and the memories you gave me, are they about stuff like this. I mean am I going to just suddenly remember stuff?”
“No, we never got that far, but some things will seem familiar to you. You will recognize things, and just know how to use them. To use them well you will have to practice, but well it will help you start.”
“Okay, and what about…” Maria’s phone rang. “Um, hold on just a sec Courtney let me get this call.”
Courtney just nodded and looked out the window.
Maria picked up the phone; the connection was bad, but still clear enough. “Hello?”
“Maria, this is Pam, if you still love Liz you might want to save her from Isabel… I just passed them and Liz was huddled on the ground with Isabel standing over her.”
“Pam, why didn’t you stop?”
“Right, and get between the Ice Princess and her prey. I think not. Let me know if there is anything you can tell me. I am just dying to know…”
Maria sighed, “Okay, thanks Pam. I might not be able to tell you much, but what I can…”
“Thanks. See you at school Monday.” The phone went dead.
“I will never understand that girl. Sorry Courtney, this conversation is going to have to wait a bit. I have to go save Liz.”
----
Sean-
Sean was a little disorientated. He felt like he had been standing there motionless for some time. He could have sworn he had been talking to someone. And she had been one hot chick.
Just his imagination. Too bad.
He shook his head and checked on Aunt Amy. She was the cool aunt in the family, a bit of a black sheep to the other Delucas. But who was he to judge, he was a bit of one himself. He had moved here to get away from his old life in Albuquerque. Not so much to settle down. God knew that Roswell was the last place he would want to live in long term. But it would get him away from his old haunts and friends that might lead him astray once more.
He had a second chance and he was going to take it.
His aunt was lying on the couch with a blanket over her. She was sleeping away. Em was nowhere to be seen. Probably out with her friends, maybe even Liz.
His gaze wandered over to table with the papers. He knew he should ignore them, that reading them would just cause trouble. But he was cursed with the Deluca curiosity gene, as much as Maria was.
So he fixed himself a cup of coffee and got to reading.
----
Isabel-
Isabel was close to wits end regarding Liz. She just lay there completely distraught. Every time Isabel tried to comfort her, to touch her even, Liz would cry out. To make matters worse her cell phone was dead.
She couldn’t call for help even if she wanted to. She could not just leave the hysterical girl either, although it was tempting.
There has to be a way. Let’s see she said she has been getting flashes, from everything. If she gets them the same way we do, under intense emotion… Well I can’t really see how her emotions could get more intense. If she doesn’t know how to close herself off…
Isabel paused in thought, trying desperately to find a way to help Liz. An idea popped in her head, she wasn’t sure if it would work but it was worth a try. So she walked back to the Jeep and grabbed a blanket from the back. And she raised her hand and, well sanitized it of residue would be the best way to look at it. How she did it, how she knew how to do it, Isabel did not know. But she could she how it could be useful in the future. Her powers were like that; sometimes she would just know how to do something.
It was odd, but she was used to it.
Isabel walked over to the shuddering girl, right as a car screamed past on her left. She wrapped the blanket around Liz, and held her, making certain that she did not directly touch Liz except through the blanket.
Slowly Liz began to calm down.
Isabel longed to wipe some of the tears away from Liz, but was afraid to touch her, afraid to set her off again. So as she saw Liz recover she grabbed a small cloth and after sanitizing it, handed it to Liz. “Here you go. So you’ve been getting flashes.”
Liz nodded and in a slightly hoarse voice said, “Yeah, and they seem to get stronger as I lose control of my emotions. Sorry Iz, it just got too much.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really, but I should though. You know a little more than Maria though.”
“You know I don’t believe it. Annoying as you and my brother got, I can not believe your love would single handedly destroy the world. What was my brother thinking? Why didn’t he visit me or Michael?”
Liz sighed and sniffled a little. “It’s about Tess. Apparently on the night I faked sleeping with Kyle, which by your expression you already knew. Kyle told you I presume? Never mind rhetorical question. Yeah, supposedly according to Future Max, when my Max failed to get me to go to the Gomez concert he, well he pleaded his case. And I broke, I gave in. We started kissing, one thing led to another and well…”
“Okay, I can picture it from there. I’ll need therapy for the image mind, so no need to elaborate. But I still don’t understand.”
“Tess was unhappy here, for all I know she still is. After Max and I… after we make love, we became inseparable. You know how she is pushing for Destiny, she wants Max bad. And there is a twist, something he didn’t mention and I can’t recall… But anyway Tess and Max started fighting, and it got pretty nasty. And Tess left, and at some point we needed her. Moreover we all started to drift apart. Everything that has happened since Whitaker died, didn’t happen. We did not go to Copper Summit, and let me tell you that drove Michael nuts. They never attacked us. We had peace.”
“That, that sounds nice…”
Both girls were so engrossed in the story that neither heard another car pull up and two doors open. Let alone the crunch of gravel as two people walked towards them.
“It was nice I guess, but as I said we drifted apart. I had Max, and well it was peaceful so we stopped meeting so much. You graduated early and went to a College in San Francisco. Alex followed you to California, he went to Stanford. You were friends, but you never closed the gap, and Alex married someone else. Max and I got married and went to Harvard together. Maria and Michael stayed in Roswell. Kyle wanted nothing to do with us.”
Both girls remained oblivious to their new audience.
“Did I, did I ever get married? And how do you know all this anyway.”
“You were engaged a couple of time, but you couldn’t really ever open up. You broke off all the engagements before you got married. As to how I know, I told you. During the time storm I connected with my future self, and now, now I just know stuff. It’s kind of strange.”
“I can imagine, the visions of the past are no treat for me either. So how does it end, I mean, it doesn’t sound perfect, but not enough to travel in time to stop.”
“We were betrayed.”
“Betrayed?” Oh please, how could I do it? I, I can’t imagine betraying Max once more!
“Ana, the woman who captured me, was here last timeline too. Only it wasn’t me she captured. It was Maria. Oh, God she killed me! I can, I can still feel her ripping my mind apart, tearing at my very soul… Isabel she killed us all!” Liz ended with a wail.
Both Isabel and Liz could easily hear Maria now. “No, there is no way. No I, I couldn’t do that. Not to you Liz. No tell me it isn’t true.”
Isabel looked at the smaller blonde as she stared deep into Liz’s eyes. And at the growing despair in her gaze.
Isabel watched as Maria burst into tears and ran off into the night.
RhondaAnn- Thanks. As for Tess, part of this goes to a question TheAntarianKing asked me last part: Can Tess be saved? The answer of course is yes, but she has to want to. Whether she will have a change of heart in time... Well that remains to be seen, but the humanizing process has begun.
In this part Maria will get more answers, but I doubt she will like them all. And Liz is just a short step from a total breakdown.
And yes the Dupes are on the way.
xmag- Something happened to Lonnie a couple years back, and it corrupted her, what it was may come up in later parts. She in turn corrupted Rath, not that she had to try hard. Ava was protected by Zan, and now that he is not here... Mind you, it is part of Ava's gift to see these things so clearly, Zan wouldn't have seen a thing. To Ava's point of view, Tarans are simply blind.
In this story Liz can get flashes easier than anyone else. Usually they are gotten only when the user experiences intense emotion, and usually it has to be an intense experience that is emoted from the object as well. (As an aside this is also why they get so many flashes during intense makeout sessions...) Liz's emotions are totally out of control. As are her powers, her senses are sharper than normal due to the damping effect that the drug that Tess was dosing her with was wiped out by Ana during her capture. So this morning she had a significant amount of Valerium in her system, and its all gone now. Think of how bright the sun would look if you came out of a dark room...
Add this to her high flying emotions and she is recieving flashes from just about everything. Those visions in the Jeep before Isabel touched her? Those are from the Jeep itself. It is US Army surplus, and old, so I made it old enough to have been at the Crash site... Ibanez was there to investigate the Crash itself.
Okay, enough rambling for now. Thanks for the feedback as always.
Disclaimer- Roswell is not mine and no infringement is intended.
Eidolon part 8
Max-
Max watched as his friends played the last and final game in the little mini tournament they had held. Max had expected to get trounced by Michael but Alex had surprised him. As he was surprising Michael now, Alex had the lead and time was running out.
The game itself was unimportant, but spending time with Alex… That could prove priceless in the future. For Max was sure he could be counted on, and that was priceless. He really needed to rethink a lot of how he had been treating the whole human situation. Maybe, just maybe Isabel was right about their parents. Maybe they should know.
Liz had been targeted, and she was human. Max was not sure why they had taken her, why they had tried to brainwash her but they had. Until he knew they would have to watch the humans they were with, to protect them. Pushing them away would do no good if they were already targets. It would take some thought.
He looked again at his friends, Alex pumping his hand in the air at his victory over Michael. What tied them all together outside of the secret? While a secret must be kept, it did not drive the passion that would lend strength in adversity. No that had be drawn from what a secret protected.
The girls. All three of them would do anything to protect Liz, Maria, and Isabel. But it was an unspoken thing, a quiet understanding… Useful in its own way, but still not something that would draw loyalty to each other. And the future may demand their mutual support rather than their scattered efforts, even if it was all to the same goal.
Max cleared his throat. He watched as Alex halted mid victory dance to an annoyed Michael sulking on the couch staring at the game console that had betrayed him. Max said, “Hey Alex, hate to stop you from enjoying your victory, but after you are done can you take me home?”
Michael looked at Max, his head cocked slightly to the side.
“Sure thing, Max. Are you feeling okay, I mean you did collapse a little while ago.”
“No, no I’m fine Alex.”
“Spit it out, Maxwell.”
Alex’s head whipped from Michael to Max, “Huh?”
Michael just shook his head, “Our fearless leader has a speech to make. I’ve seen the signs from my long experience, so out with it Maxwell.”
Alex looked at curiously. “Go on, Max.”
Max looked down for a moment and sighed softly. “Michael’s right, I do have something to say. Today was a trial, and one that you were lucky to avoid. If you stick with us, well you may not be so lucky.” Max lifted his gaze to look directly at Alex. “So I have to ask you, as of all of our friends you have the best opportunity to make a break. You can still escape this fate; still go about your normal life. We would miss you, all of us, but you still can make that choice…”
Alex was furious, “You know I can’t do that. I can not believe you could think I would turn my back on any of you, let alone any of my girls. I thought we talked about this Max.”
“We did, but I had to offer you one last chance. Both Michael and I can not escape this fate, nor can Isabel. I think Liz and possibly Maria and Kyle may be stuck as well. But you, you could still have a normal life. And, and if you accept my offer, well there will be no going back.”
Michael reached up and rubbed and eyebrow. “What are you thinking about, Max?”
Alex looked again at the two hybrids, “Okay, I will listen. But Max, please don’t insult me like that again.”
“Sorry Alex, but it had to be said. I had to give you one more chance. For what I propose is that we actually swear to do what all of us would do anyway, protect the girls.”
“Are you crazy Maxwell, I mean do you think it will even work? In case you haven’t noticed Alex is human. And anyway weren’t you the one who broke the last one? What makes you think you’ll be able to carry this one out either?”
Alex had a smile on his face. “Okay, the clueless human is going to assume this is more than just a bunch of words that said protectees would kill us over.” At Max’s and Michael’s look he continued, “Hey, you know them, Liz might let us off with a stare, you know that both Maria and Iz would not stop there at the idea they needed to be protected.”
Michael smirked, “He’s got you there. I can just picture Isabel and Maria’s reaction.”
“Which is why we will never tell them. And be honest, Michael, you have to admit that things turned out okay:”
“Yeah, but it was a rough ride, and who knows if we are out of all the fallout yet. But you know I forgive you for all that. I mean after today, I totally understand.” Michael grew quiet for a second. When he continued he his voice was soft, “And I never would have known Maria. Liz would be dead. We would all be alone, not even knowing, not really knowing what we could have. But it was such a risk.”
Max looked down, “I wish there had been another way. But I had no choice, she was dying. I, I couldn’t let that happen. And, and I know that they would all be mad at me.” He lifted his gaze again to take in his two friends, “That does not mean it should not be done. Alex this will tie you to us, and as long as your word is true, it may provide some strength to know that others stand with you. The same will apply to us. There is no guarantee that any of us will truly be able to protect them, just as there is no guarantee we will be loved by them. I for one am not sure if I will ever have Liz be mine again. And Alex, while I know that my sister cares for you, that does not mean that she will ever open up to you, or that you two will ever be a successful couple. And Michael, even if you think you hold Maria’s heart for now, given how volatile your relationship with her has been there is no guarantee that it will last.” Max looked as they realized the truth of his words. “But we love them, and that I doubt will change. So I say we should swear that we will protect and aid them as we can, for that is what we would do anyway, separately.”
Alex looked thoughtful and nodded. He reached out his hand to Max.
Michael got up from the couch and walked over, “I am still not sure that this will work. And we will still need to watch Liz, to make sure that Ana did not make her an enemy.” Michael closed his eyes for a moment, “But what the hell…” Michael reached out his hand to Max.
And with their layered palms glowing gold (and a basically undetectable amount of blue-green) they swore to protect their friends.
----
Maria-
Maria got into the Jetta and opened the passenger door for Courtney. Courtney slid into the car a little unsteadily, her face covered in a lopsided smile. Maria looked over and asked, “Courtney did you have a drink. I mean I know that you aliens have problems with alcohol…”
“First, yes I did have a couple of drinks. Two, unlike most of the party goers tonight, I am old enough to drink. Third, Rhyjhaelians handle alcohol better than you humans do, I’m not even buzzed. Lastly, what gives you the idea that I would have a problem anyway?”
“Um, okay, well Max at the very least has some issues with the stuff. I’ll have to tell you about last Valentine’s Day later.” Maria started the car. “You said you had some stuff to tell me.”
“Yes, you do plan on keeping your promise don’t you?”
“Promise?”
“You will protect Michael; keep him from killing himself on some hair brained scheme to save Max. Or anything else really, I do not expect to be here to protect him. So I want you to. You love him don’t you?”
Maria was silent for a moment, trying to remember how she had hated this woman only a day before. But she didn’t, not anymore. Not after today. “Yes, yes, I do love him.”
“Well, there you go, the promise should be easy to keep. There is so much I want to tell you. But first I want to apologize for what I did to you in the bell tower.”
“W-what did you do to me?” Is she why I feel so strange, did she use some alien whammy on me for some nefarious reason? Of course Kyle said he felt weird after Max had healed him, so maybe that’s it. I, I just don’t know, everything feels so… strange.
Courtney sighed, “I can only plead that I thought I was dying at the time and that I was desperate. I gave you some of my memories. Uh, Maria the road!”
Maria looked back at the roadway and pulled off onto the shoulder. “Okay, explain. I mean you like poured your thoughts into my brain. Am I like going to be thinking like you? Were you like trying to take my body over or something…”
“No, no, no. I was, well I was trying to help you. There was a technique that was pioneered by Vilondra, Isabel’s former persona, by the way, it allowed for a temporary bond to open up and transfer data to another person. She was working on developing it for practically use; I guess you would call it a form of telepathy. We never really got it to work right, but this we could do.” Courtney looked thoughtful for a moment. “In fact it may be this technology that they used to infuse the essence and memories of their predecessors into the embryos. Fascinating, I wish I had some of the tools I used to, or some of the skills I have lost along the way.”
Silence fell upon the car. Maria looked at Courtney who seemed lost in thought. She wished Michael was here to hear this. He had always wanted to know so much about the past; it seemed almost unfair that she would hear it before him. A part of her wanted to demand Courtney head directly over there and talk it out between both of them, but part of her, a large part just wanted to know now. To ask while she had the chance to know, to understand what drove him, Max, and Isabel. She wanted to ask why Courtney was telling her this, but was afraid that she would stop. That the chance would pass, one that might never come again. “So Isabel was a researcher as well as a princess.”
Courtney laughed for a moment before resuming. “Vilondra was no princess. None of them were who they probably see themselves as. Zan was a dilettante who had been far enough away from the throne that he could spend more time healing than learning statecraft. Ava was the daughter of the richest and most influential of the Merchant Princes of Mithar. Rath was a good general, a decent politician, but he owed his position more to his ridiculous level of loyalty than to his skill. And Vilondra, sometime scientist and full time political agitator, some would say terrorist. No their lives were much different than they suppose.”
“But how could that be, I mean isn’t she Max’s sister? How could she be his sister and not be a princess if he was heir to the throne. I mean in that hologram Liz described, it clearly said she was his sister. That she was her daughter.”
“So the old Queen Mother left a message for them, huh. Was that when they activated the orbs? Stupid thing to do by the way, it drew us all in. Personally I am surprised no one from Antar has dropped by. As to your question, both are true, but Vilondra was not daughter to the old King. Her mother was a lady in waiting to the King’s second wife, and while it was a scandal at the time, she kept her out of wedlock child. The King forbade anyone from conducting tests to find the father, although there are some obvious candidates. The only test he allowed was on him, which came back negative. She did not have an easy childhood. Not even when the King adopted her after he married her mother.”
“Um, wow. Um, and the memories you gave me, are they about stuff like this. I mean am I going to just suddenly remember stuff?”
“No, we never got that far, but some things will seem familiar to you. You will recognize things, and just know how to use them. To use them well you will have to practice, but well it will help you start.”
“Okay, and what about…” Maria’s phone rang. “Um, hold on just a sec Courtney let me get this call.”
Courtney just nodded and looked out the window.
Maria picked up the phone; the connection was bad, but still clear enough. “Hello?”
“Maria, this is Pam, if you still love Liz you might want to save her from Isabel… I just passed them and Liz was huddled on the ground with Isabel standing over her.”
“Pam, why didn’t you stop?”
“Right, and get between the Ice Princess and her prey. I think not. Let me know if there is anything you can tell me. I am just dying to know…”
Maria sighed, “Okay, thanks Pam. I might not be able to tell you much, but what I can…”
“Thanks. See you at school Monday.” The phone went dead.
“I will never understand that girl. Sorry Courtney, this conversation is going to have to wait a bit. I have to go save Liz.”
----
Sean-
Sean was a little disorientated. He felt like he had been standing there motionless for some time. He could have sworn he had been talking to someone. And she had been one hot chick.
Just his imagination. Too bad.
He shook his head and checked on Aunt Amy. She was the cool aunt in the family, a bit of a black sheep to the other Delucas. But who was he to judge, he was a bit of one himself. He had moved here to get away from his old life in Albuquerque. Not so much to settle down. God knew that Roswell was the last place he would want to live in long term. But it would get him away from his old haunts and friends that might lead him astray once more.
He had a second chance and he was going to take it.
His aunt was lying on the couch with a blanket over her. She was sleeping away. Em was nowhere to be seen. Probably out with her friends, maybe even Liz.
His gaze wandered over to table with the papers. He knew he should ignore them, that reading them would just cause trouble. But he was cursed with the Deluca curiosity gene, as much as Maria was.
So he fixed himself a cup of coffee and got to reading.
----
Isabel-
Isabel was close to wits end regarding Liz. She just lay there completely distraught. Every time Isabel tried to comfort her, to touch her even, Liz would cry out. To make matters worse her cell phone was dead.
She couldn’t call for help even if she wanted to. She could not just leave the hysterical girl either, although it was tempting.
There has to be a way. Let’s see she said she has been getting flashes, from everything. If she gets them the same way we do, under intense emotion… Well I can’t really see how her emotions could get more intense. If she doesn’t know how to close herself off…
Isabel paused in thought, trying desperately to find a way to help Liz. An idea popped in her head, she wasn’t sure if it would work but it was worth a try. So she walked back to the Jeep and grabbed a blanket from the back. And she raised her hand and, well sanitized it of residue would be the best way to look at it. How she did it, how she knew how to do it, Isabel did not know. But she could she how it could be useful in the future. Her powers were like that; sometimes she would just know how to do something.
It was odd, but she was used to it.
Isabel walked over to the shuddering girl, right as a car screamed past on her left. She wrapped the blanket around Liz, and held her, making certain that she did not directly touch Liz except through the blanket.
Slowly Liz began to calm down.
Isabel longed to wipe some of the tears away from Liz, but was afraid to touch her, afraid to set her off again. So as she saw Liz recover she grabbed a small cloth and after sanitizing it, handed it to Liz. “Here you go. So you’ve been getting flashes.”
Liz nodded and in a slightly hoarse voice said, “Yeah, and they seem to get stronger as I lose control of my emotions. Sorry Iz, it just got too much.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really, but I should though. You know a little more than Maria though.”
“You know I don’t believe it. Annoying as you and my brother got, I can not believe your love would single handedly destroy the world. What was my brother thinking? Why didn’t he visit me or Michael?”
Liz sighed and sniffled a little. “It’s about Tess. Apparently on the night I faked sleeping with Kyle, which by your expression you already knew. Kyle told you I presume? Never mind rhetorical question. Yeah, supposedly according to Future Max, when my Max failed to get me to go to the Gomez concert he, well he pleaded his case. And I broke, I gave in. We started kissing, one thing led to another and well…”
“Okay, I can picture it from there. I’ll need therapy for the image mind, so no need to elaborate. But I still don’t understand.”
“Tess was unhappy here, for all I know she still is. After Max and I… after we make love, we became inseparable. You know how she is pushing for Destiny, she wants Max bad. And there is a twist, something he didn’t mention and I can’t recall… But anyway Tess and Max started fighting, and it got pretty nasty. And Tess left, and at some point we needed her. Moreover we all started to drift apart. Everything that has happened since Whitaker died, didn’t happen. We did not go to Copper Summit, and let me tell you that drove Michael nuts. They never attacked us. We had peace.”
“That, that sounds nice…”
Both girls were so engrossed in the story that neither heard another car pull up and two doors open. Let alone the crunch of gravel as two people walked towards them.
“It was nice I guess, but as I said we drifted apart. I had Max, and well it was peaceful so we stopped meeting so much. You graduated early and went to a College in San Francisco. Alex followed you to California, he went to Stanford. You were friends, but you never closed the gap, and Alex married someone else. Max and I got married and went to Harvard together. Maria and Michael stayed in Roswell. Kyle wanted nothing to do with us.”
Both girls remained oblivious to their new audience.
“Did I, did I ever get married? And how do you know all this anyway.”
“You were engaged a couple of time, but you couldn’t really ever open up. You broke off all the engagements before you got married. As to how I know, I told you. During the time storm I connected with my future self, and now, now I just know stuff. It’s kind of strange.”
“I can imagine, the visions of the past are no treat for me either. So how does it end, I mean, it doesn’t sound perfect, but not enough to travel in time to stop.”
“We were betrayed.”
“Betrayed?” Oh please, how could I do it? I, I can’t imagine betraying Max once more!
“Ana, the woman who captured me, was here last timeline too. Only it wasn’t me she captured. It was Maria. Oh, God she killed me! I can, I can still feel her ripping my mind apart, tearing at my very soul… Isabel she killed us all!” Liz ended with a wail.
Both Isabel and Liz could easily hear Maria now. “No, there is no way. No I, I couldn’t do that. Not to you Liz. No tell me it isn’t true.”
Isabel looked at the smaller blonde as she stared deep into Liz’s eyes. And at the growing despair in her gaze.
Isabel watched as Maria burst into tears and ran off into the night.
Thanks to everyone reading this story. Paritcular thanks to xmag, RhondaAnn, and katydid for the the feedback.
xmag- In regards to Alex, they are not one hundred percent sure what happens when Max heals someone. Michael has shared Richard's suppositions with Max, but there is no definate proof. (They do not know yet about Liz's flashes) And anyway, why would he have to worry about hurting Alex. If he sticks around he's liable to get hurt anyway. Max healed everyone else in IDS. Most were minor injuries, but still, Max was busy.
With Vilondra, well the King was still married to his second wife when Vilondra was born. Maybe this was the King's way to keep little Vilondra out of the path of the assassins that basically end up killing everyone else. It made her childhood uncomfortable in the extreme, but she was safe... Most people believe that the King lied about the test. He never accepts her as one of his official children however, merely as adopted into the family. Before Zan, the King had six children, of which only four were still alive when Zan was born. And possibly Vilondra. There is no doubt about the mother though, Zan and Vilondra definately share the same mother.
Maria can and will use the Solace Stone. And yes it could pose problems in the future. Don't forget Liz has one as well.
RhondaAnn- Unfortunately none of the bonds are yet strong enough to feel emotions at long range. It will take a while for Maria to truly recover. Unfortunately for her the hits will keep right on coming.
Pam and Maria are friends of a sort, and both work on the Yearbook, as does Liz. Pam is incredibly nosy, and drives Liz nuts constantly butting into other peoples business. Pam enjoys annoying Liz too, that certainly does not help. Maria loves to gossip, Pam knows most of the best gossip... They don't have lunch together or ever go out, but they do talk.
katydid- Liz's secrets are leaking like a sieve. Hopefully they can all just talk it all out and move on. Of course it's never that easy. And they are running out of time.
Disclaimer- Roswell is not mine, and no infringement is intended.
Eidolon part 9
Isabel-
Isabel turned and watched as a hysterical Maria ran off into the night. Well at least she is handling the shock well. It was all she could do to hold onto Liz as she frantically tried to follow.
Liz twisted around in the blanket. “NO! COME BACK! PLEASE, please Maria. I can’t do this without you too, please come back.” Liz stopped resisting Isabel. She started to rock back and forth and huge wracking sobs began shake her body. In between sobs Isabel could make out the occasional word. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I just want you back. I just want you both back.”
Isabel stood up and glanced at Courtney. “Well aren’t you going to follow Maria?”
Courtney shot Isabel a wan smile, “I would if I could, but I would probably only make a few dozen yards. I doubt she will have run far though, it has been a long day for all of us.”
Isabel looked down again at her now slightly scuffed but fashionable heels. The mere thought of chasing after a hysterical Maria in them after racing after Kyle earlier made her ankles ache. She turned around and looked back at the Jeep and smiled.
She could feel Courtney’s questioning gaze follow her as she walked past the Jetta to the Jeep.
“You’re not going to chase after Maria in the Jeep are you? You might hit her.”
“Tempting as that may be, no.” Isabel reached into the back of the Jeep and pulled out a set of hiking shoes. She waved her hand over them cleaning and repairing them before putting them on. They were a legacy of a few times she had spent with her brother and Michael, when they would drive out and look for anything the Army may have missed at any of the speculated Crash sites.
Sure they were guys and there was mountains of stuff they did not understand, but they still had been like her. And before the secret had been blown, before Liz and Maria, and finally Tess came into her life, they had really been all she had. Part of her was so tired of having to manage the lie, to never let the real Isabel show lest it be used against her. Even with Tess she had to keep her guard up. But maybe she had been wrong about the humans. Liz had trusted her.
Isabel slipped off her heels and slipped the hiking shoes on. Less than a month ago she had run barefoot through a power plant and across the desert. The mere fact she had been able to heal the damage afterward did not alter the pain she had felt. It may be heresy, but she would rather be a temporary fashion victim than step on a cactus or something. At least out here in the middle of nowhere…
Now she had to think of a way to find Miss Deluca. She had an idea but she was not sure it would work. People left a residue on things that they used, more if they felt strongly about either it or what it presented. Or if it were frequently used, it was from that residue that she and her brothers, and apparently now Liz, would get flashes. This residue faded over time and disuse, but strong emotions could linger for a very long time. There was a spot in the Crashdown that Isabel would not stand in, lest she once again feel Liz get shot…
Maybe she could use that, not in getting flashes, they were always of the past. But rather to get a feel of Maria and see if she could sense her, sort of like a waking dreamwalk. Isabel walked over to the Jetta and looked inside. The car itself had impressions, and Isabel smiled as she remembered Maria driving her to the power plant. But it would be better if it were small, something she could carry and check periodically.
And she saw the keys. Maria’s car keys still had the little alien doll on the end of her key chain. That would be perfect. Isabel could still remember Maria saying she would get her mom to stop making them right before they crashed into the Sheriff. Who was yet another human they had come to rely on.
Isabel pulled the keys out of the ignition and felt them. And she could feel the love Maria had for them; feel the freedom that she felt by having them. Isabel grabbed onto that residue, that pool of Marianess and reached out, reached out like she would with a dream walk.
And she felt something, felt a response from the direction that she had seen Maria run off to. It worked.
As she walked back towards the spot that Maria had left from, she could feel Courtney’s gaze once more upon her.
“You and your friends constantly surprise me. All of you give me hope that maybe something can be salvaged. I will take care of Liz while you are gone.”
Isabel just smiled slightly at Courtney and reached down towards Liz. “Liz, don’t worry, I will bring her back.”
Liz just looked up at her with her tear laden eyes and nodded.
Just as Isabel was about to leave, Liz reached up and gave Isabel a hug and said in a thick voice, “Thank you.”
Isabel just hugged her back and patted her briefly on the shoulder. She turned and walked away into the night to find Maria.
And then it hit her. Liz trusted her completely. Outside of her parents, Max, and Michael, she had never felt that level of trust. Max was right and Tess wrong. The humans brought more than risk and liability. Outside of all the aid they had provided they provided something much more valuable. Hope.
Feeling ten feet tall, Isabel walked into the night to find her missing friend.
---
Maria-
Maria had no clue how long she had been running, trying to escape the look of mingled love and fear that had been in Liz’s eyes. Liz believed it all, all that she had seen in the future.
I killed her! I killed them all!
She stumbled and fell. She looked up and saw her purse lying in front of her. She scrabbled up to it and reached into it to grab some of her aromatherapy oil. And it was still useless; she could still not smell anything.
She felt so empty and cold. Loyalty to family and friends had always been a touchstone with her. The idea that that could change, that she could actually come to hurt Liz, hurt any of them… She loved them all. Well maybe some of them more than others. And there was Tess…
But still how could I actually hurt them… kill them… How?
She reached deep inside mind to the little knot where a piece of Michael seemed to be lodged. How she wished he were here, wished he would hold her. That he would hold her and kiss her senseless, and turn her fear and confusion to passion.
And yet would he still love her? Once he knew the truth, knew how she had betrayed them. Or would betray them. Or whatever, the very idea of time travel made her brain hurt.
The very thought of him viewing her not with anger, not with passion, but with contempt brought further tears to her eyes. They would all hate her now. They would see into her and see the wrongness that had driven her father away, that somehow would someday make her into a killer. Make her kill all her friends.
Did I kill him, too? Will I kill Michael too?
Maria began to hyperventilate at the very idea. She had certainly had said that she would, particularly after he had done something so brainless or insensitive. But the idea that she could, that at some point would snuff out that wonderful insufferable presence…
For the first time in her young life, Maria felt true despair. Her friends, the ones she truly loved, would never want to see her again. And Michael, Michael would chase her away, chase her for being a danger to them all.
Maria frantically searched her purse and pockets for anything, anything that might dull the pain. And came across the crystal she had grabbed in Liz’s bedroom. She had not realized that she had taken it.
It called to her and she gazed deeply into its green interior marveling at the flecks of gold that seemed to swim within it. She poured all of her pain and fear into it, and watched in wonder as it began to glow. And she felt her thoughts begin to calm, the pain fading. It did not disappear, the wounds did not heal, but it felt like a soothing balm had been placed on her.
She closed her eyes and felt the wondrous buzzing that seemed to course through her body. She closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated on that buzzing feeling, concentrated and remembered…
She walked into the Chapel. She was not Taran, and did not share their beliefs, but still it seemed sacrilegious for so many to be lying dead in the Hall of Light. This was supposed to be a glorious ceremony, one that held the possibility of hope for so many.
Instead, all hope was gone, and bodies littered the Chapel. The Hall of Light had become an abattoir, as all the different factions that would have been tied together by this union, this last grasp towards a golden age, had fought each other.
But why? How could it possibly have started? Her gaze flicked over to Khivar, who still breathed, albeit with difficulty. Had he been unable to let go, had he started this travesty? Her gaze then went to the dazzling woman at the altar as she reluctantly gave up her once future husband’s body to the medics.
Rath was dead. Zan was dead. Ava, too, although that mattered little. To whom then did the mantle pass, to whom would the Seal pass. She would herself serve no foreign Royal.
Karis could not stifle a gasp as Vilondra faced her. For Vilondra was a Tarenon in truth, not merely by adoption but by blood apparently. For across her right cheek the five dots of the Seal of Antar glowed.
Vilondra was Queen.
Maria shook her head to clear it of the strange dream. It faded away but a new odd feeling stayed. She could feel everything around her. She could sense it, she could not quite understand what it was trying to tell her, but she could almost touch everything in a ten foot radius. She opened her eyes, and a gasp of wonderment passed her lips.
The darkness was gone, and in its place everything that lived glowed. It, it is so beautiful.
Her left hand cupped the orb gently as her right hand reached up to brush some hair out of her eyes. She glowed too. Her hands glowed blue-green, although underneath it all ran rivers of molten gold and green. Her eyes tried to follow the dizzying patterns that made her, the patterns that were her.
She felt more than heard another approach. She was outlined in blue and green as well, but inside dwelled a complex pattern of crimson and gold. There were parts that seemed grafted on, not totally organic. But where the crimson and gold met blue and green formed a pattern that she knew. Knew and once long ago feared. Isabel.
“Why did you follow me, Isabel?”
“Not much choice really. Courtney is sick. And apparently the only thing that has been keeping her together is her determination not to lose you too. She’s too despondent to do much but cry.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’ll be better when we get back.”
“I can’t go back. I, I can’t face her, not now.”
“You did not do anything!”
“I killed her Isabel,” Maria sighed and finished softly, “I killed everyone.”
Isabel looked away, “Do you remember my birthday? You know, when you dropped me off to save Tess?”
Maria felt a small smile grace her lips, “Yeah the night Alex stripped for you.”
Isabel’s face briefly had an answering grin, before it faded into insecurity. “Yeah. Well, before I, before I killed Whitaker, she told me things. That I betrayed my family, betrayed Max. Betrayed my entire people. All for a man named Khivar. Nicholas told me much the same, in different terms in Copper Summit.”
Maria walked over and gave Isabel a hug. “Oh, honey, you can’t trust what the enemy tells you. They’re just trying to manipulate you.”
“But Maria, I have, I’ve had visions today. Of being with Khivar, of loving him.”
“Okay, and have you seen yourself betraying Max for him?”
“No,” Isabel grew thoughtful, “I was leaving him because he was starting to directly fight my family. I, I surrendered to the Crown. To a general named Rath.”
“Rath, you mean you surrendered to Rath as in Rath Targan?”
“Um, yeah. Uh, how do you know his Antaran name?”
“You know that freaky thing that happened after everything went crazy today?”
“You mean when the time storm broke?”
“Yeah, I guess, I popped in his head. I saw one of his memories, and not a happy one. Someone that he loved had just died.” Is that one of the reasons he keeps pushing me away, is he subconsciously afraid that I will suffer Reyla’s fate? “You surrendered to Michael.”
“Yeah, and let me tell you Rath was hot. I mean if I had not been basically mourning my life with Khivar, I would have totally asked for his number, or whatever you do on Antar. I certainly would have flirted with him more.”
“Isabel!” Michael is MINE!
“Don’t worry, Michael is yours. In as much as he’s anyone’s anyway. But Rath knew how to dress.”
Maria nodded. Of course her mother would be horrified at the thought of her daughter having a fantasy about Michael dressed up in an Antaran Legionary uniform. In fact… her mind began drifting in that very direction when she felt Isabel tap her on the shoulder.
“Earth to Maria, we have to get back. And please don’t tell anyone about Khivar.”
“I won’t. At some point you should let them know.” Maria frowned for a moment, “Do you still love him, I mean are you afraid that it will influence you even now.”
Isabel looked bleakly at Maria, “Yes. I think part of me still does.” Isabel sighed and looked at a slightly stunned Maria, “I think, I think in that life he was my soul mate. Here and now, I just don’t know.”
“Okay. Well I have to say that was unexpected. You would think I would get used to this. The leader of the enemy was the soul mate of one of my friends, and apparently I’m gonna go rogue and kill everyone. Time travel. Aliens. Mind Control. Men in Black. My friend is developing psychic powers. Of course I’m holding a glowing alien crystal, so hey, who am I to judge.”
“Maria.”
“Yes.”
“You’re babbling.”
“You know Isabel; somehow I think I have earned the right.” Maria looked around. “Um, Isabel, do you know the way back to the car?”
Isabel just shook her head, “Follow me.”
----
Brody-
Brody sipped another Jolt Cola. Hoping that the caffeine would keep him awake just a little bit longer so that he could figure out exactly what had happened.
It could be little coincidence about the increased activity on the East Coast. Someone was reaching out to someone in New York City. He just wished his friends could refine the data a little more. He had some data of his own to send back.
Then there were the tapes he had of what had to be almost six extra hours to the day. He had saved all the data to a secure file, highly encrypted. That he would trust to no one, not until he figured out what was going on. He knew some of the people on the tapes. Courtney Banks worked with Maria at the Crashdown, the streams of yellow fire she had shot at the other alien had not been normal. The other blonde looked familiar, someone he had seen about the town. Michael Guerin had appeared briefly as had Kyle Valenti.
The idea that the local Sheriff might be involved too, frightened him a little. It showed a level of local political infiltration that could be troublesome.
And Maria… Oh to be seventeen again… The last thing he wanted was to tell someone who might hurt her. He had to be careful. He just had so much to do. And those blank moments, they could be involved too.
He drained the last of the cup of highly caffeinated soda. At this point he really could not trust anyone.
Not even himself.
xmag- In regards to Alex, they are not one hundred percent sure what happens when Max heals someone. Michael has shared Richard's suppositions with Max, but there is no definate proof. (They do not know yet about Liz's flashes) And anyway, why would he have to worry about hurting Alex. If he sticks around he's liable to get hurt anyway. Max healed everyone else in IDS. Most were minor injuries, but still, Max was busy.
With Vilondra, well the King was still married to his second wife when Vilondra was born. Maybe this was the King's way to keep little Vilondra out of the path of the assassins that basically end up killing everyone else. It made her childhood uncomfortable in the extreme, but she was safe... Most people believe that the King lied about the test. He never accepts her as one of his official children however, merely as adopted into the family. Before Zan, the King had six children, of which only four were still alive when Zan was born. And possibly Vilondra. There is no doubt about the mother though, Zan and Vilondra definately share the same mother.
Maria can and will use the Solace Stone. And yes it could pose problems in the future. Don't forget Liz has one as well.
RhondaAnn- Unfortunately none of the bonds are yet strong enough to feel emotions at long range. It will take a while for Maria to truly recover. Unfortunately for her the hits will keep right on coming.
Pam and Maria are friends of a sort, and both work on the Yearbook, as does Liz. Pam is incredibly nosy, and drives Liz nuts constantly butting into other peoples business. Pam enjoys annoying Liz too, that certainly does not help. Maria loves to gossip, Pam knows most of the best gossip... They don't have lunch together or ever go out, but they do talk.
katydid- Liz's secrets are leaking like a sieve. Hopefully they can all just talk it all out and move on. Of course it's never that easy. And they are running out of time.
Disclaimer- Roswell is not mine, and no infringement is intended.
Eidolon part 9
Isabel-
Isabel turned and watched as a hysterical Maria ran off into the night. Well at least she is handling the shock well. It was all she could do to hold onto Liz as she frantically tried to follow.
Liz twisted around in the blanket. “NO! COME BACK! PLEASE, please Maria. I can’t do this without you too, please come back.” Liz stopped resisting Isabel. She started to rock back and forth and huge wracking sobs began shake her body. In between sobs Isabel could make out the occasional word. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I just want you back. I just want you both back.”
Isabel stood up and glanced at Courtney. “Well aren’t you going to follow Maria?”
Courtney shot Isabel a wan smile, “I would if I could, but I would probably only make a few dozen yards. I doubt she will have run far though, it has been a long day for all of us.”
Isabel looked down again at her now slightly scuffed but fashionable heels. The mere thought of chasing after a hysterical Maria in them after racing after Kyle earlier made her ankles ache. She turned around and looked back at the Jeep and smiled.
She could feel Courtney’s questioning gaze follow her as she walked past the Jetta to the Jeep.
“You’re not going to chase after Maria in the Jeep are you? You might hit her.”
“Tempting as that may be, no.” Isabel reached into the back of the Jeep and pulled out a set of hiking shoes. She waved her hand over them cleaning and repairing them before putting them on. They were a legacy of a few times she had spent with her brother and Michael, when they would drive out and look for anything the Army may have missed at any of the speculated Crash sites.
Sure they were guys and there was mountains of stuff they did not understand, but they still had been like her. And before the secret had been blown, before Liz and Maria, and finally Tess came into her life, they had really been all she had. Part of her was so tired of having to manage the lie, to never let the real Isabel show lest it be used against her. Even with Tess she had to keep her guard up. But maybe she had been wrong about the humans. Liz had trusted her.
Isabel slipped off her heels and slipped the hiking shoes on. Less than a month ago she had run barefoot through a power plant and across the desert. The mere fact she had been able to heal the damage afterward did not alter the pain she had felt. It may be heresy, but she would rather be a temporary fashion victim than step on a cactus or something. At least out here in the middle of nowhere…
Now she had to think of a way to find Miss Deluca. She had an idea but she was not sure it would work. People left a residue on things that they used, more if they felt strongly about either it or what it presented. Or if it were frequently used, it was from that residue that she and her brothers, and apparently now Liz, would get flashes. This residue faded over time and disuse, but strong emotions could linger for a very long time. There was a spot in the Crashdown that Isabel would not stand in, lest she once again feel Liz get shot…
Maybe she could use that, not in getting flashes, they were always of the past. But rather to get a feel of Maria and see if she could sense her, sort of like a waking dreamwalk. Isabel walked over to the Jetta and looked inside. The car itself had impressions, and Isabel smiled as she remembered Maria driving her to the power plant. But it would be better if it were small, something she could carry and check periodically.
And she saw the keys. Maria’s car keys still had the little alien doll on the end of her key chain. That would be perfect. Isabel could still remember Maria saying she would get her mom to stop making them right before they crashed into the Sheriff. Who was yet another human they had come to rely on.
Isabel pulled the keys out of the ignition and felt them. And she could feel the love Maria had for them; feel the freedom that she felt by having them. Isabel grabbed onto that residue, that pool of Marianess and reached out, reached out like she would with a dream walk.
And she felt something, felt a response from the direction that she had seen Maria run off to. It worked.
As she walked back towards the spot that Maria had left from, she could feel Courtney’s gaze once more upon her.
“You and your friends constantly surprise me. All of you give me hope that maybe something can be salvaged. I will take care of Liz while you are gone.”
Isabel just smiled slightly at Courtney and reached down towards Liz. “Liz, don’t worry, I will bring her back.”
Liz just looked up at her with her tear laden eyes and nodded.
Just as Isabel was about to leave, Liz reached up and gave Isabel a hug and said in a thick voice, “Thank you.”
Isabel just hugged her back and patted her briefly on the shoulder. She turned and walked away into the night to find Maria.
And then it hit her. Liz trusted her completely. Outside of her parents, Max, and Michael, she had never felt that level of trust. Max was right and Tess wrong. The humans brought more than risk and liability. Outside of all the aid they had provided they provided something much more valuable. Hope.
Feeling ten feet tall, Isabel walked into the night to find her missing friend.
---
Maria-
Maria had no clue how long she had been running, trying to escape the look of mingled love and fear that had been in Liz’s eyes. Liz believed it all, all that she had seen in the future.
I killed her! I killed them all!
She stumbled and fell. She looked up and saw her purse lying in front of her. She scrabbled up to it and reached into it to grab some of her aromatherapy oil. And it was still useless; she could still not smell anything.
She felt so empty and cold. Loyalty to family and friends had always been a touchstone with her. The idea that that could change, that she could actually come to hurt Liz, hurt any of them… She loved them all. Well maybe some of them more than others. And there was Tess…
But still how could I actually hurt them… kill them… How?
She reached deep inside mind to the little knot where a piece of Michael seemed to be lodged. How she wished he were here, wished he would hold her. That he would hold her and kiss her senseless, and turn her fear and confusion to passion.
And yet would he still love her? Once he knew the truth, knew how she had betrayed them. Or would betray them. Or whatever, the very idea of time travel made her brain hurt.
The very thought of him viewing her not with anger, not with passion, but with contempt brought further tears to her eyes. They would all hate her now. They would see into her and see the wrongness that had driven her father away, that somehow would someday make her into a killer. Make her kill all her friends.
Did I kill him, too? Will I kill Michael too?
Maria began to hyperventilate at the very idea. She had certainly had said that she would, particularly after he had done something so brainless or insensitive. But the idea that she could, that at some point would snuff out that wonderful insufferable presence…
For the first time in her young life, Maria felt true despair. Her friends, the ones she truly loved, would never want to see her again. And Michael, Michael would chase her away, chase her for being a danger to them all.
Maria frantically searched her purse and pockets for anything, anything that might dull the pain. And came across the crystal she had grabbed in Liz’s bedroom. She had not realized that she had taken it.
It called to her and she gazed deeply into its green interior marveling at the flecks of gold that seemed to swim within it. She poured all of her pain and fear into it, and watched in wonder as it began to glow. And she felt her thoughts begin to calm, the pain fading. It did not disappear, the wounds did not heal, but it felt like a soothing balm had been placed on her.
She closed her eyes and felt the wondrous buzzing that seemed to course through her body. She closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated on that buzzing feeling, concentrated and remembered…
She walked into the Chapel. She was not Taran, and did not share their beliefs, but still it seemed sacrilegious for so many to be lying dead in the Hall of Light. This was supposed to be a glorious ceremony, one that held the possibility of hope for so many.
Instead, all hope was gone, and bodies littered the Chapel. The Hall of Light had become an abattoir, as all the different factions that would have been tied together by this union, this last grasp towards a golden age, had fought each other.
But why? How could it possibly have started? Her gaze flicked over to Khivar, who still breathed, albeit with difficulty. Had he been unable to let go, had he started this travesty? Her gaze then went to the dazzling woman at the altar as she reluctantly gave up her once future husband’s body to the medics.
Rath was dead. Zan was dead. Ava, too, although that mattered little. To whom then did the mantle pass, to whom would the Seal pass. She would herself serve no foreign Royal.
Karis could not stifle a gasp as Vilondra faced her. For Vilondra was a Tarenon in truth, not merely by adoption but by blood apparently. For across her right cheek the five dots of the Seal of Antar glowed.
Vilondra was Queen.
Maria shook her head to clear it of the strange dream. It faded away but a new odd feeling stayed. She could feel everything around her. She could sense it, she could not quite understand what it was trying to tell her, but she could almost touch everything in a ten foot radius. She opened her eyes, and a gasp of wonderment passed her lips.
The darkness was gone, and in its place everything that lived glowed. It, it is so beautiful.
Her left hand cupped the orb gently as her right hand reached up to brush some hair out of her eyes. She glowed too. Her hands glowed blue-green, although underneath it all ran rivers of molten gold and green. Her eyes tried to follow the dizzying patterns that made her, the patterns that were her.
She felt more than heard another approach. She was outlined in blue and green as well, but inside dwelled a complex pattern of crimson and gold. There were parts that seemed grafted on, not totally organic. But where the crimson and gold met blue and green formed a pattern that she knew. Knew and once long ago feared. Isabel.
“Why did you follow me, Isabel?”
“Not much choice really. Courtney is sick. And apparently the only thing that has been keeping her together is her determination not to lose you too. She’s too despondent to do much but cry.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’ll be better when we get back.”
“I can’t go back. I, I can’t face her, not now.”
“You did not do anything!”
“I killed her Isabel,” Maria sighed and finished softly, “I killed everyone.”
Isabel looked away, “Do you remember my birthday? You know, when you dropped me off to save Tess?”
Maria felt a small smile grace her lips, “Yeah the night Alex stripped for you.”
Isabel’s face briefly had an answering grin, before it faded into insecurity. “Yeah. Well, before I, before I killed Whitaker, she told me things. That I betrayed my family, betrayed Max. Betrayed my entire people. All for a man named Khivar. Nicholas told me much the same, in different terms in Copper Summit.”
Maria walked over and gave Isabel a hug. “Oh, honey, you can’t trust what the enemy tells you. They’re just trying to manipulate you.”
“But Maria, I have, I’ve had visions today. Of being with Khivar, of loving him.”
“Okay, and have you seen yourself betraying Max for him?”
“No,” Isabel grew thoughtful, “I was leaving him because he was starting to directly fight my family. I, I surrendered to the Crown. To a general named Rath.”
“Rath, you mean you surrendered to Rath as in Rath Targan?”
“Um, yeah. Uh, how do you know his Antaran name?”
“You know that freaky thing that happened after everything went crazy today?”
“You mean when the time storm broke?”
“Yeah, I guess, I popped in his head. I saw one of his memories, and not a happy one. Someone that he loved had just died.” Is that one of the reasons he keeps pushing me away, is he subconsciously afraid that I will suffer Reyla’s fate? “You surrendered to Michael.”
“Yeah, and let me tell you Rath was hot. I mean if I had not been basically mourning my life with Khivar, I would have totally asked for his number, or whatever you do on Antar. I certainly would have flirted with him more.”
“Isabel!” Michael is MINE!
“Don’t worry, Michael is yours. In as much as he’s anyone’s anyway. But Rath knew how to dress.”
Maria nodded. Of course her mother would be horrified at the thought of her daughter having a fantasy about Michael dressed up in an Antaran Legionary uniform. In fact… her mind began drifting in that very direction when she felt Isabel tap her on the shoulder.
“Earth to Maria, we have to get back. And please don’t tell anyone about Khivar.”
“I won’t. At some point you should let them know.” Maria frowned for a moment, “Do you still love him, I mean are you afraid that it will influence you even now.”
Isabel looked bleakly at Maria, “Yes. I think part of me still does.” Isabel sighed and looked at a slightly stunned Maria, “I think, I think in that life he was my soul mate. Here and now, I just don’t know.”
“Okay. Well I have to say that was unexpected. You would think I would get used to this. The leader of the enemy was the soul mate of one of my friends, and apparently I’m gonna go rogue and kill everyone. Time travel. Aliens. Mind Control. Men in Black. My friend is developing psychic powers. Of course I’m holding a glowing alien crystal, so hey, who am I to judge.”
“Maria.”
“Yes.”
“You’re babbling.”
“You know Isabel; somehow I think I have earned the right.” Maria looked around. “Um, Isabel, do you know the way back to the car?”
Isabel just shook her head, “Follow me.”
----
Brody-
Brody sipped another Jolt Cola. Hoping that the caffeine would keep him awake just a little bit longer so that he could figure out exactly what had happened.
It could be little coincidence about the increased activity on the East Coast. Someone was reaching out to someone in New York City. He just wished his friends could refine the data a little more. He had some data of his own to send back.
Then there were the tapes he had of what had to be almost six extra hours to the day. He had saved all the data to a secure file, highly encrypted. That he would trust to no one, not until he figured out what was going on. He knew some of the people on the tapes. Courtney Banks worked with Maria at the Crashdown, the streams of yellow fire she had shot at the other alien had not been normal. The other blonde looked familiar, someone he had seen about the town. Michael Guerin had appeared briefly as had Kyle Valenti.
The idea that the local Sheriff might be involved too, frightened him a little. It showed a level of local political infiltration that could be troublesome.
And Maria… Oh to be seventeen again… The last thing he wanted was to tell someone who might hurt her. He had to be careful. He just had so much to do. And those blank moments, they could be involved too.
He drained the last of the cup of highly caffeinated soda. At this point he really could not trust anyone.
Not even himself.