A Devastating End (CC, Mature) Complete 1/12

[starcrazed]

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Part 10

Jason watched from the window as the caravan of two SUVs and a truck pulled up in front of his house surprised they had found him so quickly and easily. First Michael and then Kyle slowly got out of their respective vehicles. Both carefully scanning the area, seeing that the streets were isolated gave them both an uneasy feeling but they had no choice. They were already there.

Michael rang the doorbell. A moment later he sucked in his breath as Tess Harding eye's meet his. He took in his nephew and saw he did indeed look identical to Max when he was 20, right down to the hair style.

"I'm Michael. This is Kyle." Jason nodded and shook the offered hands, "I'm Jason, Jason Alexander Parker." Kyle immediately burst into laughter, howling as he clutched his sides. Michael too found the irony in it and gave a small humorless smile. Noticing Jason's baffled look at Kyle, Michael shook his head, "Listen, kid it's a long story. Hopefully we'll have time to tell it to you, but we gotta get out of here. Do you know what you are?"

The bluntness of the question caught Kyle off guard who instantly stopped laughing to look at Jason.

"Not human." Michael smirked, "Yeah, welcome to the club."

Then he grabbed the kids arm and tugged him out the door towards the cars. When he got there he saw they had been completely rearranged. Maria was now in the black SUV with Maura and the Evans kids leaving the front seat open for Jason, Mark had jumped into Kyle's truck and everyone else was in the Guerin's SUV. Michael didn't know if he trusted Jason yet with his family, but there wasn't time to argue about it with Maria. Besides at the very least she would answer all the questions he was bound to have.

Michael made sure that Maria lead the way out of town with him right behind them and Kyle in the back. It was as they were about the get onto the highway out of Buffalo heading south that Michael looked into the rear veiw mirror and saw the dark car coming out of nowhere.

It was followed by four more. Instantly he beeped the horn twice and watched as Maria speed up to close to ninety going to the third location on the list they had memorized. Already Bella was rolling down her window and sticking her arm out, "What the hell are you doing?"

Briefly she turned towards her dad, "Trying to save my family."

With that she turned back around and started blast at the dark cars. She managed to take out one car aiming for the tires and was working for the second as Michael and James tried to switch places while going 40 mph. Michael managed to turn around outside the back window in time to see one of the black cars ram the truck. Michael took care of the car instantly. It exploded as his blast hit the engine. With only two cars left Michael was starting to relax. But then one of the cars sped up to reach them, its passengers also rolling down their windows to send blasts at them. Both Michael and Bella turned their attention towards the car that now threaten them.

Michael briefly noticed the truck surrounded by his son's blue shield and smiled like a proud father would. He aimed a final blast at the car that was now parallel to them, but the warning came to late. His son, Matthew gripped his head as the thoughts bombarded him barely allowing for him to yell out,

"DAD its a distraction!! The truck!!"

The car next to them exploded as his blast killed the driver sending the car to a wall. Michael looked up againn in time to notice his daughter scream as the truck rolled.

The dark car stopped; it's passengers getting out quickly. "Stop the car!" Michael yelled at James from the back already opening the door as Matthew and Lexi held on to the baby seat and he jumped out of the car rolling as he hit the ground.

As the group of men with dark eyes aimed a blast at the driver side door, Bella yelled again. Michael sent a blast killing the man and another one as he heard the horrified, pain filled screams of his Mark.

"Mark!!! Mark get the door." Desperately yelling at his son to free himself, Michael killed two more of the men as they took aim at the truck. One man sent a blast towards Michael hitting his shoulder. Momentarily distracted by the pain the last man had time to send a blast towards the truck. It exploded a second later.

Michael sent a blast at the men who murdered his child. Their howls of pain were drowned out as three more dark cars pulled up surrounding Michael.

He spun around like a cornered animal. He focused on his own telekinesis, something he always had trouble with. He shut the door he left open and sent the SUV rolling forward, after a moment it speed up away from him. Michael sighed in relief knowing that Bella understood, that his family was safe for now.

He turned around at glared at the men who were now out of the cars. The men who invaded his planet, destroyed its cities, took away his siblings, caused his wife grief, ended his friend's life, and murdered his child.

Michael's arms flicker with red energy. The men in the dark suits were not afraid.

Yet.

They sent a few blasts at Michael which he absorbed with his red shield.

Then he dropped the shield, holding out both arms as the energy was released from his body. Power fueled by pain, grief, and vengeance. Michael saw the fear on their faces and hear murmurs of "Commander."

He did not care.

He would show no mercy to these soulless bastards. They had already taken too much. They would not take any more. The raw energy crackled in the air for minutes after Michael had dropped to the ground with the dead bodies.

Not from weakness and lack of power, not from pain of the blast to his shoulder. He fell as anger made his legs tremble and sobs of grief made his chest quake.

On his knees, he crawled to the burning truck. He pulled first what was left of Kyle away from the burning rubble then went back and pulled Mark out. He sat in the middle of the street clutching the lifeless body of his son as he watched the burning truck. He gripped Kyle's limp hand in his own as he rocked back and forth with his son to his chest.

The sobs continued to erupt from his hoarse throat. It felt like only minutes, but it was actually hours before the fire from the truck died down. Before Michael had gained enough control to pull himself together. He found another truck in which he carefully placed the bodies in. Then Michael drove. Tears blurred his vision but he drove anyway. When he crossed into Pennsylvania he found a small grassy field. Michael pulled the truck over and got out. He raised his arm and used his power to dig two graves. Then he gently lowered first Kyle and then Mark's body's into the ground, covering them back up. Finding two stones he manipulated them into headstones that simply held their names. Maybe later they could come back and add more. Michael wiped the new tears from his face, he whispered a prayer of forgiveness and told Max to watch over his son now, that he would try to take better care of Max's than he did his own.

Michael got back into the truck and drove back to his family. Rethinking his plan of survival. Maybe it would be better just to take out as many of these bastards as he could. He would worry about that later though. Right now he just had to get to the rest of his family. See for himself that he had not failed them all.

TBC...

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[starcrazed]

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Part 11

It was two weeks later, another seemingly random Wednesday before the routine the weary travelers had fallen into was shaken again. For fourteen long days, an endless three hundred and thirty-six hours, the twelve family members grieved. Too lost in the sorrow to be very effected when they heard news of other small town attacks. They were becoming numb to it after such a short time.

In the two weeks since Michael and Maria had lost their oldest son and last remaining friend, hundreds of small towns throughout the world also lost their oldest sons and friends.

Once Michael had joined up with his family, more broken then Maria had ever seen him, he asked Jason what he could do. When Jason revealed he could mind-warp, granted he didn't know that's what they called it, Maria burst into a fresh set of sobs and ran off.

Michael thoughtfully nodded at the advantage that could give them before going off to find Maria.

Those were the last words Michael had spoken to anyone but Maria in two weeks. Conversations with her were short and whispered as they held onto each other for dear life in the middle of the night. Taking comfort over their shared loss. Maria fighting harder then when she was breaking down his stonewalls to convince him it wasn't his fault they lost Mark. It was Khivar's. She refused to let Michael blame himself. She tried to stop him, at least.

By now the scattered news reports coming in from the papers told of the numerous ships now monitoring the skies.

The military didn't know what to do. They didn't have anything that could reach the ships. There were no invaders wandering the planet that they knew of that they could fight either.

Political leaders didn't have any answer either. By now they were on the same level as civilians, scared for their lives. Nobody knew if the home they slept in at night would be rubble by morning.

It started off like any day of the past two weeks. By unspoken agreement Jason took one SUV with his step-siblings and the Rameriz children. All children still distraught over the loss of their parents. Maria and Michael were in the other SUV with their kids: Bella with tear streaks down her face; Matthew withdrawn into himself; Maura with a permanent frown upon her small pixie like features, green eyes swimming with liquid tears being held back; Mikayla quiet all the time, only whimpering when hungry or needing a changing. Maria managed to pull herself together during the day when they traveled for the sake of her other kids and Michael.

She had realized by now it would be most unlikely any of them would survive this pursuit. The men in the dark suits with their dark cars were very persistent. They had been on their trail for days. They had already escaped being seen by them twice thanks to Charlie's premonitions. Yet still, somehow the men in the dark cars managed to find them.

Today they would not be so lucky. At lunch time they stopped at a roadside diner. It was as they sat quietly eating with the normal sounds of a diner going on around them that Michael looked up.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he spotted the two dark cars. The air instantly crackled with his energy alerting all the children and Maria. Maria wiped the tears that dipped silently from her eyes, "Michael?"

"Take the kids out through the back, Jason keep them hidden, Jake guide him to the car as he warps." Two weeks ago Jason couldn't pull off that kind of mind-warp, but Michael forced him to practiced endlessly. Now it was no problem for him to hind them all from numerous observers.

They nodded and all stood up. Time was short now as Michael glanced first to Maria and then to Bella. Bella nodded her head and hugged her mother tightly before turning to watching the approaching men, her own energy crackling just below the surface. Michael's eyes to caught James's briefly, "I want to help Uncle Michael."

As if it pained him to do so Michael slowly nodded his head. He noticed Lexi holding open the back door as the twins slipped through it followed by Jason and Jake. He kissed the top of Maura's head and whispered his love for daddy's lil girl. He squatted down to Matthew's level, "Watch out for your sister, okay bud?" He nodded, "Daddy, those men, they want us all dead."

Michael grimaced at the information, even though it was something he'd known. It was just another burden to know his origins had cursed his son with such an ability. "I know buddy, but I'm gonna protect you. Promise." Matthew threw his arms around Michael and ran to catch up with his cousins taking Maura with him. Michael kissed Kayla onto of the head as he held Maria in his arms. He opened his mouth but she cut him off.

"Don't you dare apologize Michael Guerin. You've given me 18 wonderful years of marriage and five beautiful children. I'll love you with my dying breath, and I'm not sorry or regretful for any of it."

"Ditto. Take both cars, we'll get another. Meet up with you later." She smiled blindingly so and nodded before following the others out the back door into the cars unseen by the men in the dark suits who were now outside the dinner.

It was curious as all the other people seemed to vanish as Michael was evacuating his family. Good thing, wouldn't have to worry about innocent bystanders.

"You two stick together." It was the last he said before energy blasts were exchanged on both sides. The front window of the diner exploded as a blast sailed over Michael's head.

He took cover under a booth and managed to take out two of the ten men from his position. Bella and James at the counter were attacking a third guy who just walked in through the shattered door. Bella finished him off as James noticed the curious behavior of two more men outside who seemed to be attacking each other; a result of the mind-warp Jason had left before completely out of sight of the monsters. They finished off each other as Bella and Jason took care of a second man and Michael finished with his fourth opponent.

That left only three aliens, but the last three were a lot bigger than the rest, probably stronger too, which was proven a second later when Michael went flying through the air. He was stopped by the back wall of the building, sliding down as he struggled not to fall unconscious. The other two goons now had their hands around Bella's throat and on James chest. Michael sent a blast towards the one holding Bella since his back was facing him and he had better aim.

It killed him, but startled the other man who sent a burst of energy into James who collapsed onto the floor. Bella raised her own hand and finished James' attacker. She knelt by James checking for a pulse and finding one, weak but still holding.

Michael climbed to his feet shakily. The largest and last alien lumbering over him, but not making a move. Michael looked up into his cold black eyes.

"Why?" The alien looked at Michael oddly. Michael shook his head as if to realize the answer to his own question before raising his arm so fast and knocking the taller man down. It was the only leverage Michael needed as he sent a final blast into his chest.

"Bella?"

"James is hurt, bad. We need Jake now!"

With one arm he picked up James, the other he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Maria's number. He headed for a random car and carefully placed James in the back while telling Maria to stop and wait for them. By that point Bella was in the driver seat with the car started courtesy of alien powers. They pulled out of parking lot at thirty, by the time they were back on the highway they were up to eighty. Hopefully it would be fast enough. Fast enough to stop any more loss to a family that had already had so much taken from it. To a family, who as it would turn out, would lose so much more in the coming months.


TBC...

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[starcrazed]

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Part 12

"What happen?"

"I'm not sure, energy directly to the chest."

Jake nodded and squeezed into the back of the car with his cousin. He wasn't nearly as good at this as Max had been when he healed Liz Parker in the Crashdown so many years ago. And Liz Parker's wound was a lot less fatal then this.

The connection was instantaneous. So were the flashing and the overwhelming pain that hit Jake. Too much for an inexperienced healer to not break the connection.

"What's wrong?"

Jake ignored the question from his Uncle and went back to James forming the connection again, but this time ready for the waves of pain that were coming. He managed to move past that and focus on repairing all the damage done to the lungs, fixing them cell by cell it seemed. It took forever, but soon he was finished mending the ribs back together and getting the blood flow back to normal.

He pulled his hand away and Michael helped him out of the car raising an eyebrow in question. "He's okay, physically at least." Then Jake shrugged, he was 12 he couldn't explain the science of it like his mother could, it was instinct. So he followed that hoping it was enough to save James.


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They found a motel for the night to rest up in. James recovered by morning, a little more tired then usual but fine nonetheless. After breakfast they were back on the road getting as far away from the attack as they could. It was when they stopped for a short bathroom break that the next attack occurred.

Michael let Bella and Jason handle all the kids so he could discuss plans with Maria, ask her about confronting the men, taking out as many as possible. She was just about to go into another list of reasons as to why Michael couldn't go off and risk his life like that needlessly when Claudia appeared in the back seat of the car semi-transparent.

Michael and Maria turned around to see her, she mouthed "Help." Before disappearing again back into her body. As Michael was climbing out of the car Maria was climbing over into the driver seat ready to take off; she saw Maura and Matthew running for the car with Lexi behind them dragging a very reluctant Jake who struggled the entire way. That was until Michael passed him then he joined Lexi in the sprint towards the SUV Maria was driving.

Michael rushed into the small cabin divided in half for bathrooms to find Claudia and Charlie huddle in a corner, hands clasped and shield raised. James, Bella and Jason where on the other side of the room. James and Bella were throwing blasts at the men. Jason would bring up a shield for protecting every now and then. Michael was able to take in these details briefly before he once again went flying through the air as an energy blast tore into his shoulder. Michael growled almost wishing these bastards had better aim to hit their intended target. The men turned and jointly attacked Jason's shield which held for about another three seconds before it fell. Both Bella and James were ready though and they managed to take out three of the seven men.

Two of the men suddenly disappeared leaving the last remaining ones to stand off against Michael and the three kids, with Claudia and Charlie safe in the corner with their shield. Jason closed his eyes tightly, suddenly the two men with their dark suits didn't seem so scary as they clucked around like chickens. "I can't hold it long."

Instantly Michael took out the two men as Jason fell on Bella and James arms, "Still getting used to that trick."

Michael patted him on the back and was about to tell them to head to the cars when he heard Claudia scream. Michael spun around so fast his eyes took a second to catch up with him.

The two men who had disappeared had apparently gotten to Claudia and Charlie from behind them coming in through the wall; they had knocked a hole through it. Their shield still up Michael sent a blast towards them. But it was no use the strength of the twins shield was greater than his own, especially when they were scared. He was helpless, but to watch as their small necks were broken finally dropping their shield. Michael was quick to end the life to the two monsters behind them. Michael heard one of the kids behind him lose their stomaches another was dry heaving. He wasn't surprised when he found his eyes beginning to blur.

In a quiet voice he called to Bella, "Sweetie, I need you to get in the other SUV and follow your mother okay." She nodded, not really fully comprehending what her dad had told her.

Michael helped James and Jason to their feet and pulled them both towards the SUV. He went to Maria's and whispered in her ear. Immediately their were tears in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall yet. She nodded in Michael's directions.

Once again Michael found a car and gently he placed the twins bodies inside of it covering them with a mixed match blanket. Then he pulled back onto the high way and drove for about forty minutes before pulling back off. Knowing they hadn't been followed Michael pulled up to a small deserted park. Everyone piled out of the cars hesitantly, wondering what was going on, to blind by sorrow to really care.

Michael coughed in order to clear his throat, to stall for time to find words for an indescribable situation.

"After Uncle Kyle and Mark died, I took them out to a small field and buried them. I thought this time we could all bury little Claudia and Charlie together and grieve for them together. Some of the kids nodded, crying softly. Others just starred out into space. Jake was once again in the trance like stare Maura clinging to his left hand. Jason wasn't in much better state then Jake, only managing to blink every now and then.

Michael raised his right arm and dug two more small graves under the tree they had all gathered around. He went to the car and Jason seemed to shake himself out of it as he went to help Michael. Each one of them carried one of the twins back to the graves Michael had dug with his powers. They were so young, so innocent. They could almost pretend the twins were just sleeping. Taking the afternoon naps Liz used to force them to take when they were younger. But no, it was a cruel world they lived in, so the reality was worse.

Once again Michael lower each body into the ground. Lexi stepped forward and dropped two small flowers in each grave before stepping back. Maura despite being only four seemed to have a pretty good grasp of what was going on. She tugged at Jake's hand and pulled him forward with her.

First she walked to grave closest to her, "Good by Charlie. I'w miz you." Then she walked to the further one, "Good by Claudia. I'w miz you too." Then she looked up at Jake and tugged on his arm until he looked down at her. "Say good by Jake, they go see their mama and dada now."

Despite himself he gave a soft smile and nodded lifting Maura up into his arms. He mumbled good bye under his breath before tossing in handfuls of dirt over each body. Then Michael finished filling the dirt back up. This time it was Jason who managed to find two stones and alter them into headstones. Smooth as glass with matching pattern of stars. The inscription had their names and their date of birth and death. Bella stepped forward and placed her hand on each headstone. It glowed briefly and when she pulled back the smallest replica of the Royal Seal of Antar could be seen.

"It's part of who they are. Part of who we all are despite how much it's taking from us." It seemed the only explanation necessary as she turned back towards the car. The others slowly followed until only Michael and Maria were left standing by the small graves.

"Michael... I'm not going to be able to survive burying all my children because of Khivar. It will destroy me."

Michael looked down deep into her green eyes. He found her pain of loss mirroring his own, "I know Ria. It will destroy the both of us."

She nodded as he tucked her away into his side and started walking slowly back to the SUVs.

It would be months before it actually happened, but as it turned out Maria wouldn't have to see all her children buried. She wouldn't survive that long.

TBC...

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[starcrazed]

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Part 13

The tears had long since dried. But that didn't make the sorrow any less or the pain go away. They still grieved only now they did it without tears. There was another close call a few days after they buried the twins. Michael still didn't know if he wanted to trust this girl they had picked up, but Maria seemed so certain of it.

She had appeared out of nowhere as Michael was cornered by six guys in the dark suits with very little energy left. Michael blinked and the six men where gone. She smirked at him, her dark as midnight eyes meeting his own.

"Hi," hesitantly she went on, "Michael Guerin right? Formally known as..."

By then Michael had cut her off, "Who the hell are you?"

Despite his lack of energy he raised an arm. He could hear both Maura and Mikalya crying in the background Lexi too he was sure.

"Oh, well I'm Serena. Serena Langley."

Michael jaw had dropped open as did Maria's but for very different reasons.

If anything this answer seemed to make Michael trust the young woman less as he squinted his eyes at her and demanded Jason to get the kids out of there. By then Maria was tugging at his arm and the crying had stopped.

"Spaceboy, it's Serena!" Michael looked down at Maria blankly seeing the spark in her eye, "You know SERENA." Michael frowned at the way Maria stressed the name. Why should he have been familiar with such an odd name.

"SERE..." Michael cut her off at that point just annoyed, "Maria, you keep saying the name isn't going to make me understand it any better."

She huffed, "Future Max's Serena."

It suddenly clicked in his brain. His brows furrowed together. "How do we know this is the right one? The time frame doesn't really seem to match up, 2014 she was what, 15?"

Serena huffed herself at this, "I was 18 thank you very much! Look I just want to help. You have no idea how hard it has been to track you people down."

"Why do you want to help us?"

Serena rolled her eyes, "In case you didn't notice, big bad aliens are destroying the Earth. Kinda makes me think only good aliens can stop him. Pretty sure we're the only ones left of that breed. You can connect with me if you don't believe me."

Michael glared at her for a full three minutes before sighing. "Get in the SUV. Stay between Bella and James and no sudden movements until we can further discuss this at a safer location."

She nodded and climbed quietly into the car.

That was three weeks ago. By now both Lexi and Matthew had confirmed for him that Serena had good intentions. Bella and her were becoming fast friends and Jason looked at Serena a way that was very reminiscent of how Max Evans used to stare at Liz Parker. Maria busted out the pom poms for the girl every time Michael even glanced at her suspiciously.

He had to admit though she was starting to gain his trust. Michael had discovered she was the illegitimate love child of one of Kal's affairs. He didn't know she existed until two months ago. He was on his way out of L.A. when she bumped into him. He stared into her eyes for a minute and then said, "I'll be damned. Thought I was sterile."

Serena had laughed throwing him completely off guard. For the next week had had caught her up on her history and trained her with her powers which she had at that point gained semi-control over the basics. Two weeks later he was back in L.A., only said to find the Royals if anything bad should happen. Serena informed them she considered unfriendly visitors blasting away half the population bad and set out to find them.

But still there was something at the back of his consciousness that was trying to warn Michael. Some sixth sense he's always had, always trusted. It was trying to tell him something about Serena and her good intentions.

After all wasn't the road to hell paved with them?

TBC...

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[starcrazed]

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Part 14

Another confrontation with the men with dark eyes had Michael and the rest of his family burying four more of it's members; Jake, Lexi, James, and Matthew where killed in the middle of the night. Not being able to escape the hotel in time with the others.

Serena had tried to go and get them out with her gift, but when she got there she saw Lexi standing tall in front of the dead forms of Jake and James her blue shield radiant. Matthew's small hand was on the back of hers lending energy. When Serena went to call out to Lexi, the enemies attacked killing her instantly.

Then there was an explosion that sent both Serena and Matthew flying through the air. Serena heard Matthew's skull crack as it hit the wall. Her own gifts to bend space and time allowing her to get out just before her head too met the wall.

This time there were no bodies to put into simple graves with delicate headstones.

Michael retreated within himself after the last of his best friends' children where lost. The guilt he felt at failing them in this way almost over powered him, making him want to give up. That, added to the loss of his last son was enough to send Michael into depression. But then Maura would climb up onto his lap and hug his neck, or Maria's own tears would soak through his t-shirt and he would find the will power to go on. For his surviving children, for Max's oldest son, for Maria. Because even if he didn't remember who he was in his last lifetime he didn't think Rath would die without a fight. He knew Michael Guerin wasn't going to surrender so easily.

Time stopped mattering. Who really cared what day it was, what time it was when all over the world there were cities in flames. The UFOs in the skies had not stopped attacking cities and towns around the world. Michael was actually surprised there were still civilized areas left to be destroyed. Long ago they had stopped staying in anything that resembled civilization. An event that was starting to aggravate everyone including him. In his head he still chanted survival, but at this point it was more to convince himself not to stop running and hiding. To not go off half-cocked leaving his family without him.

The days started to get colder and it wasn't long before snow started to fall heavily in the northwestern states they were currently hiding out it. They got enough supplies to hide out in the mountains through the winter and it wasn't until the snow started melting that they considered moving on. When they did retreat from the mountains it was to a different world.

Dark smoke filled the skies rising from all directions as the rubble left behind was burning.

There was no more mass communication through the media. No communication at all.

UFOs in the skies looked a lot closer now than they had in September.

For Michael's family, they too had become different people.

The spark that Michael fell in love with in Maria was diminished now, having to bury two of her children. Very rarely did he ever see that spark. There was no more bickering between the two; it would require more energy then they could spare.

Mirabella had stopped talking. For as much as she was like her father, the one thing that left nobody doubting she was Maria's daughter was her fondness for constant rambling.

Maura and baby Mikayla were more subdued. There was less laughter from the both of them. They were aware of the scary situation, but being so young protected them from realizing how dangerous their world had become.

Jason and Serena fell in love. They didn't do anything about it though. They never told anyone, not even each other. But you could see it in the longing glances they would give each other. Gazes laced with hope. Hope that if they lived in a different time, a different world; then they could have been something more.

Each day Michael began to resemble the War Commander he used to be on Antar. He wasn't planning battles or strategic fights, just ways of escaping, ways to keep his family alive. Something that would multiple tenfold in the next week because of the loss of his wife.

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It was so wrong that it happened at all, let alone on a day like it.

It was a beautiful day. The type of day Maria loved. It was sunny with a slight breeze requiring one to wear a light jacket. It smelled like rain as the birds chirped from their perches far up in trees.

Maria had run into the abandoned gas station to use the washroom. Jason and Serena waiting in the small car they traded the SUV for. Bella was sitting in the passenger seat of the SUV turned around trying to feed Kayla as Michael poured over the map.

On her way back to the car Maria stopped, closed her eyes, and tilted her head back towards the sky drawing in a deep cleansing breath. Michael looked up from the map at this point and smiled at Maria's antics. It reminded him of something she used to do when they were on the road the first time after Graduation. She grinned then lowered her head opening her eyes.

From across the parking lot her gaze met Michael's and she smiled at him, a smile he hadn't seen in far too long. He continued to smile back at her as love was exchanged in such a simple glance. So many words, thoughts, feelings all shared in that moment.

In the next one, his girls were screaming as Maria's body crumpled to the pavement. The small car Jason and Serena were in suddenly exploded throwing Michael into action. He threw the car into drive. Jason and Serena suddenly appeared in the very back seat.

"That's one freaky power you got Serena."

"It just saved your life so I'd keep your comments to myself if I were you." Jason nodded. Michael was already pulling out of the parking lot, his eyes looked back at Serena from the rear view mirror.

She read the question in his eyes easily through all the grief. She nodded her head, "Meet me ten miles south of here."

Michael nodded but she barely saw him as she bent the space around her and materialized by Maria's form. She knelt down and grabbed the lifeless hand as she saw the dark cars driving up towards the gas station from where they had been hidden. She watched as four of them exploded, impressed with Michael's aim from so far away, before she vanished to the meeting place.

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It was nightfall by the time Serena saw the SUV pull up. Michael got out of the car alone. Serena raised an eyebrow in question, which he shook off. He told her were he had dropped of the others to bury Maria's body.

"Michael..."

"Just go Serena."

"You're not gonna...not going to do anything stupid right? I mean you're going to meet us there?"

Michael gave her a look filled with so much pain it was suffocating to see.

He nodded his head slowly. "I still have family to protect. I can't let these bastards have me yet."

Serena left then, leaving Michael alone to grieve the loss of his Maria.

For minutes Michael just stood there staring in the space that used to hold Serena before turning to see Maria's body resting gently under the tree.

He slide down the length of the tree so he ended up sitting next to her. As he dropped to the ground, the tears began to leak from his eyes.

"Maria..." It was whispered, and filled with such emptiness. It was all Michael got out before the heart wrenching sobs broke through his throat and the street lights nearby exploded. The tree itself wavered and the metal benches at the park melted.

He pulled Maria's body onto his lap and rocked back and forth holding her protectively. He mumbled into her cold neck all his apologies, the regrets he had in this lifetime because in the last few months he managed to rake in quiet a few. Then the words of love that were always so hard to form when they were together fell from his lips. In the past when actions showed Maria how much he loved her, it was now only words that would be able to express his love. His last actions not enough to save her.

Hours later Michael picked Maria up and laid her softly in the car and drove off to the rest of the kids in order to bury her.

When he got there a grave was already buried. He looked around surprised, but Jason pointed to little Maura, his little girl who had turned 5 a week ago and now had to bury her mother.

He slowly lowered Maria's body into the grave her own child dug for her. Then waited as first Jason and then Serena tossed in handful of beautiful wildflowers. Mikayla at this point was screaming so Michael took her from Bella and she instantly quieted down. Michael threw a handful of dirt onto of the flowers.

"Maybe in our next lifetime baby."

Then he stepped back and was preoccupied with Mikayla. Perhaps if it wasn't such an emotional time he would have caught the look exchanged by Jason and Serena at his words, but as it was he missed it.

Bella sat down next to the grave and cried. Then she started to yell at the stars in furry until Jason and Serena pulled her up and away trying to comfort her.

Michael looked down to find Maria's green eyes starring at him in his daughter. "Say goodbye to Mommy sweetheart."

The tears pooling in her green eyes fell. "Daddy, why does everybody keep leaving us?" It was an understandable question for a five year old, but it still broke Michael's heart. That is, what was left of it at this point.

"They're going to a better place then this Maura angel. A happy place where they are all together."

She smiled a little then, "Do we get to go there too daddy."

He nodded his head distractedly. "Soon?"

Michael looked at her. The answer was yes. It would make her happy. Hell, it would make him happy too. Was it wrong to be happy about the ending of one's life?

"Probably sooner than we would have liked Maura."

His little girl knelt in the grass as it started to rain, her blonde hair becoming damp and matted to her head as she whispered into the ground, something that broke the rest of Michael's heart, "We love you Mommy. Don't worry though I'll see you soon, daddy said so and daddy doesn't ever ever lie."

Michael raised his arm and began to fill in the dirt. Maura too lifted her small arm, her hand caked with mud as she pushed dirt into the grave covering up Maria's body. Michael saw the headstone one of the other's must have made ready to be set in the dirt. It read: Maria DeLuca Guerin~ Loyal Friend, Beloved Wife, Dedicated Mother~

Mikayla was asleep on Michael shoulder as he made her more comfortable and reached down his other arm to grab Maura's, "Come on sweet pea, time to go."

"Go see mommy?"

"Soon baby, real soon."

TBC...

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[starcrazed]

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Part 15

After that Michael began to live a bit more dangerously. He would go out hunting, as Serena called it. During the day they traveled. At night while the kids slept and Bella and Jason watched over them. Michael would go out and find the men in dark cars, with their dark eyes and dark souls. Then men who weren't really men at all, the aliens without souls. He found them group by group and eliminated them all.

When he returned in the mornings they would head out again to another small town. Now they only had the last SUV. Serena would drive as Jason, Bella, and Michael caught up on sleep.

A few times Michael would stumble in at dawn with injuries. Some were pretty severe. It was when he was holding Mikayla one of those mornings that they discovered she could heal. Her ability was pretty minimal so far, but she got rid of the pain and any visible cuts or bruises.

The beginning of Spring turned into Summer and Michael's hunting continued. What Michael didn't know was that sometimes Bella would go out and do a little hunting of her own. She was after all her father's daughter. Yet she was much less reckless than Michael was, only seeking out individual men with dark eyes, but she too needed an outlet for all the pain that was building up inside her.

Despite her carefulness, luck was not on Bella's side. One night when she tried to ambush a dark eyed man who appeared to be alone. He wasn't. She managed to take out six of the fifteen men before they killed her though.

Michael who was on the opposite side of town and just finished killing a group of twenty or so of them when he felt the energy blast hit Bella's chest as if it was happening to him. He fell in shock to his knees, grateful that he had already finished with the group of men he had found. Sometime around morning he found Bella's body lying at an impossible angle in the middle of the street. He cried silently as he picked up his eldest daughter and carried her back to the hotel. As the sun rose completely over the horizon Michael finished filling in the dirt from her grave. Jason set the headstone at the top: Mirabella Guerin ~Daughter, Sister, Cousin, Friend~

For the next week after that, Jason and Serena watched carefully as Michael seemed to lose the last of his sanity.

By July, Michael had grabbed baby Mikayla and Maura, he told Jason and Serena to wait for him and he would be back here in four days. When he returned he was alone.

Serena and Jason never asked where Michael had taken them. He said they were safer away from him for however short of time they had left, it would be even shorter if they stayed with their father. It was the beginning of August when Michael almost crashed the SUV. He got out of the car and walked five feet away from it. The glass windows exploded outwards and Serena and Jason barely ducked down as the nearest buildings lost all there windows. One building actually exploded and fell to the ground. An hour later Michael got back in the car. The tear tacks still evident on his face. "Maura's gone." Serena wiped away her own tears as Jason solemnly nodded his own head in acceptance.

"Uncle Michael." It was the first time Jason had called him anything, but Michael. "Yeah, Jas?"

"Where exactly are we going?"

"Roswell." A beat of silence followed this answer.

"Why are we going to Roswell?"

"It's the only safe place left."

Jason seemed to shrug his shoulders and give up the questioning, but Serena was just getting started, "Roswell was one of the first placed turned to rumble, how is that safe?"

It was quiet for a long time after that. They began to think he hadn't heard the question, far too gone in his grief, but finally he spoke.

"Tess came home in a ship. A piece of it broke off which I grabbed. I think it's a piece of the Granilith. We can use that."

"Use it for what Michael?"

"To save the world."

TBC...

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AN: Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you know there are only three parts left of this horribly sad story. Though, I hope you are enjoying it nonetheless.

[starcrazed]

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Part 16

There was nothing left of Roswell. It was a big pile of rumble, like most cities and town nowadays.

The Pod Chamber however remained standing.

It had taken them the rest of summer into fall to get back to Roswell. In that time they had taken out many more of the invaders. Not nearly all of them, but enough to put a dent in the numbers and have Khivar take notice.

Time had long ago stopped meaning anything to them, but if they were still worried about such trivial information like the date they would have found it ironic that it was once again September 18th as they climbed up to the Pod Chamber.

It was as they reached the door that Michael was hit with a blast. The rock door slide open and Michael managed to shove first Serena and then Jason in.

"You both know the plan, if that thing actually works, if not...if not, I'm sorry that we ever had to meet." Then Michael slapped his hand on the silver hand print sealing them inside and altering the molecules so even he couldn't open the door again.

He sealed himself to death, but that wasn't much of a surprise He hadn't really been living since Maria died.

Jason turned to Serena both realizing that Michael was trading his own life for theirs. It didn't seem fair after how much he had already lost. But then again long ago they had stopped assuming that life was fair.

They sat huddled in the corner waiting, it would be an hour before the outside fell silent and Jason would open the door to find Michael Guerin, finally beaten.

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As the door sealed itself off to all but Jason, Michael spun around and came face to face with Khivar.

"Commander, it's a pleasure to finally see you again face to face."

Michael responded by blasting the cars below them. All six exploded into flames, a few of the men in dark suits came running out with flames covering their body before they dropped to the desert ground dead.

Khivar observed all this in silence.

"Very well. You know this is very tiresome for me too Commander. Had you and your bothersome podmates died in that crash like you were supposed to I wouldn’t have had to come here to take care of you. I wouldn't have needed to do this to your precious Earth."

Michael threw an energy blast at Khivar this time. When hit, Khivar stumbled back a few steps.

"Much stronger I see then when I came for Vilandra."

"Isabel."

Khivar waved it off, "You're still not strong enough to take me out though." He proved this by hitting Michael with an energy blast of his own.

The energy hit Michael and cursed up and down his body causing him to tremble and fall to his knees. As he fell he threw two more quick, but powerful blasts at Khivar that managed to cause substantial damage.

"You know Commander, for all the trouble I went to get the Granilith, you'll be happy to know it doesn't work for me. Doesn't work for anyone up on Antar. You see that's why I need baby Zan, while guess he isn't really a baby any more is he. And a lot less human than I thought too."

"Not while I'm alive."

Khivar chuckled, "Why, Michael...is it? That can all be arranged. You see within a week the rest of Earth's population will be gone and my Skins and I will be back to Antar. With Zan and the Granilith."

"Leave the rest of them alone." Khivar smirked at him then. "Well, I'll see I guess."

Khivar was then distracted by his own imagination as Michael pulled energy together. Fueled by his anger, his grief, but most importantly by his love. When Khivar finally did turn around Michael was standing. He only had a moment, but in that moment he registered Khivar's fear as the blast impacted him turning him to dust.

Michael again fell to his knees zapped of all energy. A few remaining men in dark suits approached him. They only got so close before they to exploded from Michael's anger. The last one kept his distance as he sent a final blast towards Michael Guerin, the last one that fatally wounded him and caused his slow, agonizingly painful, yet welcomed death.

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Jason opened the door and fell to Michael's side as the man took one last breath. Jason's hand dropped to Michael's chest and he was hit with a series of flashes. Flashes that told to him the story of Michael, his aunt, and his father. He saw them fall in love as they lived in fear. Jason saw them grow up and have children. Every little detail flew into Jason's mind. He tried to heal Michael. His father could have done it, but he had his mother's powers and so did the only thing he could. He warped Michael to a peaceful place, where his children surrounded him and his siblings where still alive, where his wife's laughter filled the room as she chatted with her best friend.

Michael took one last breath and died with Maria's name crossing his lips.

Serena pulled him away after a few minutes. "Jason we have to do this now, we have to go back."

He nodded his head and pulled himself away. "Did you find the piece he was talking about?"

She looked at him almost guilty. "We don't need it. You know I can get us back there."

"You can take us back to when Max healed Liz."

The guilt only increased at this statement.

"No Jason, we're not going back to there. We have to go further. I already explained it, stopping Max from healing Liz, won't save the world."

"What will?"

So Serena told him.

It was unthinkable, but what else could they do?

TBC...

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[starcrazed]

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Part 17

It was the hardest decision he ever made. The regret and guilt that overcame him as the decision solidified in his mind. It was almost overpowering. Almost. He looked up into the black gaze of Serena as she gathered her power and he nodded his head.

What he was doing was technically suicide. It was suicide and murder and accomplice to murder and so many other horrible things, but hopefully, in the end it would be the right thing. Any other way, Khivar would still come to Earth in search of them, leading to the end.

This was the only way to make sure Khivar didn’t have any reason to come to Earth. If not, if Khivar still traveled the Universe to come to Earth and destroy it, Jason took relief in knowing Serena would still exist in that world. She would know about the pods. And if the world should ever feel the wrath of Khivar again she would go to Roswell. She would go to the Pod Chamber and receive the flashes of the horrible thing he was about to do and she could go back again and change it.

He grabbed her hand as the sight of death and smell of destruction dissolved before his very own eyes. When they reformed, his eyes were blurry with tears. It would be the last time he would see Serena after all and they had grown close in the past few months. The stress of never ending life and death situations tend to bring people together. He pulled her too him in a passionate kiss. A kiss he wanted to place on her lips the moment they found her. She was that beautiful and her passion was that tangible. It was present in the air. Serena pulled away first smiling into his soft blue eyes.

"Jason, if circumstances were different, if life was different, I'd image we'd have a love as passionate as Michael and Maria, as soulful as Max and Liz, as honest and true as Isabel and Jesse, but circumstances aren't different. This is our life. We were only meant to grace each other with our presences for a short time."

Jason looked deep into her dark gaze, "Far too short. Doesn't mean I didn't love you anyway."

Serena gave a small smile, reaching a hand to cup his cheek softly. "Ditto." With that Serena was gone across the country to the sewers of New York City to take care of her own part of the plan.

Jason turned around resigned, remorseful as he faced the glowing pods. Inside peacefully slept his father and mother, his aunt, and an uncle who had died protecting him. A group who gave up everything and now he was going to take it all away before they even had it.

Tears continued to run from his blue eyes as he placed his right hand in the center of the four pods. At the point where the four square connected. He was hit with flashes as he sent the energy through the pods instantly eliminating the helpless hybrids. He dropped to his knees as the glow from the pods faded. Jason gulped for air as he felt the world around him shift his own molecules becoming unstable as this time-line rushed to make corrections.

As he fell flat on his back looking up at the cave ceiling he saw Liz Parker get shot and die on the Crashdown floor. The entire town, her parents, Kyle, Alex, and Maria were all devastated.

But they lived.

They lived and Earth survived.

The Skins searched for ages to find the Royals, but they never did. Finally, believing that they were lost in the Crash, and after fifty years on Earth their husks expired and they all faded away into dust.

Khivar losing many great men to the worthless search on Earth, continued to reign on Antar. Never again did he set his sights on Earth because it wasn't long before the Rebels learned their precious Royals were in fact dead. Their devastation fueled the upraising as they finally took back their planet.

TBC...

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AN: Just hoping you're all not hating me right now. One more part and then all this sadness is done.

[starcrazed]

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Life went on for them. For Antar and Earth. The Antarians realizing what was lost with the death of the Royals. But humankind would never have the privilege to feel that loss.

Eventually, Kyle opened up his own garage, again, this time closer to Roswell where his dad and step-mom Amy lived.

Kyle became a great older brother, spoiling his youngest brothers and sister. All the while being very protective of them and Maria. He married a girl he fell in love with at college. She possessed Liz's kind heart, Isabel's protective side, and Ava's passionate spirit. A girl he never met in that other life because they were on the run from the agents. Kyle didn't know all of this though. He did become a proud father of four though with three boys and a girl. He never lost touch with Alex and Maria, not only because Maria was now family, but also because the loss of Liz earlier in life had tied them together forever. They knew what that loss felt like and it bonded them in the years that followed. Through the ups and downs, the joys and sorrows, triumphs and difficulties. Through all their lives they were the best of friends, more than that they were family.


Alex graduated from high school. He never went to Sweden or anywhere else for that matter until college. He became famous in the technological world. He also kept his high school band. They were well known through the local area, not world wide famous like his almost sister Maria, but good enough. He never married though. Had a few serious relationships, but would always tell Maria they were somehow off. It was too easy for the girl to let him in. For some reason he felt the person he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with would be more afraid and cautious of letting him in. Alex had a great tale Maria loved to hear about his Ice Queen whose heart he melted. But it wasn't really meant to be.


There was a moment after Liz was shot that Maria looked directly at the booth Max and Michael would have been sitting at.


An unknown fear for the Sheriff suddenly cropped up. At times Maria would take long road trips out of state in her red Jetta, against her mother’s wishes. There would be times when she would pause looking around as if someone was missing; someone besides her childhood friend. More than once Maria would stop in the middle of the hallway at school close her eyes and spread out her arms: checking the atmosphere for vibes that she never found.

It was years later after she finished college, when she was doing a small tour in Rochester, Minnesota that Maria, now thirty-five crossed ways with a twenty year old woman with eyes as black as midnight. Turns out the twenty year old had the vibes Maria had searched for most of her life. Maria and Serena became good friends despite the 15 year age difference. It was three years before Maria actually saw Serena use her powers.

If Jason had known this, he would have found it ironic that at the same age Maria died in his life time, she discovers aliens in another.

Serena told Maria great stories about life on another planet, about a Royal Family brutally destroyed by a tyrant. A society so advanced they cloned their precious Royals and sent them away for protection. Sent them away to grow up happy and live a life they never got to on their home world because of the evils of Khivar. The ship crashed though and the Royals were left dead, no sign of them ever found. They never got their happy end. It was in fact, quite devastating.

On a trip home to Roswell one autumn, Serena joined Maria. It was then she felt the call to the Pod Chamber. She took Maria with her to the cave and together they found the four pods covered in spider webs and dust.

Four seemingly sleeping six year olds inside of them.

For support as the grief overwhelmed her, Serena touched the center, where the four pods connected, the same spot Jason touched changing the world. All the knowledge of his world passed into her mind.

For hours Serena and Maria sat in the chamber. Serena told Maria another story about a boy who loved a girl and risked his own life for her. Intertwining the lives of six which would eventually become nine only to waver off again to six on the road before branching out to twenty-five at its peak. Serena told Maria about trips to Marathon, Texas and tales of alien conspiracies. She told Maria all about running from the FBI, breaking laws, and falling in love. Maria listened with tears in her eyes as the others suffered unbearable amounts of pain until death finally took them. Love being the only way they managed to make it as far as they did. She mourned for the loss of her childhood friend, of friends that she would never know now, for the loss of a husband she never loved, and children she would never have. Serena cried with her for the loss of the possibilities with Jason, for the cruelty of the world.

In the Pod Chamber, on the anniversary of the Crashdown shooting when Liz Parker lost her life because Max Evans and the others never lived, Maria and Serena sobbed in heartache for all that was, and all that would never be.

It was a day that in any lifetime apparently had the power to change the world; to impact the lives of so many, even if they never knew.


THE END

~Thanks for Reading.~