Roswell Fanatics

A/N: I am really sorry that it's taken me so long to update. I had the hardest time writing this part. Thank you all for reading and being patient with me. I have the best readers!!!!

Hope you enjoy this part. I promise to get another one up soon!

Holli
Twenty four years ago, a woman named Claudia Parker stumbled across a cave in the middle of the woods outside of Roswell, New Mexico. It wasn’t a strange occurrence to find Claudia Parker in weird places such as the woods, the desert, or a cave, for she was an adventurous woman who made a career of learning about different cultures, especially the ancient kind.

No, no one would have been shocked to find Claudia Parker in a cave; however they would have been shocked had they seen the things that Claudia had seen that night that she stumbled upon it. She hadn’t been looking for anything in particular, but what she found, would change her life forever.

She hadn’t initially been drawn to the cave, it hadn’t even been something she’d noticed until she heard yelling, lots of yelling, and her curiosity got the best of her. She crept quietly and stood outside of the cave and listened to the disagreement the three men were having.

“What would you suggest I do? It was the King’s plan!” A man shouted.

“She is not needed. The Royal four are intact the way Zan’s mother intended.”

“It’s not the way the King intended. I work for and only for King Zan. I must complete the task he asked of me.”

“King Zan is dead.” A third voice said.

There was silence for a second and Claudia Parker imagined the men staring at each other, trying to decide what to do about their predicament. Claudia, herself, was trying to make a decision about whether or not she should continue to eavesdrop or leave. She wasn’t sure what to make of this conversation involving kings and royalty. Instead of leaving, she decided to get closer, and peek in the cave.

She saw all three men standing in the cave, glaring at each other. She hid as best she could, hoping to not be seen.

“King Zan lives on, as will his late bride.” The first man said with authority.

“King Zan will be thirty years older than his wife. It takes many, many years for the hybrids to develop in the pods.” The second man argued.

The first man shook his head. “His bride will be completely human.”

“This is insane! “The second man yelled. “Completely insane! There’s a reason Zan died in the first place. He was a terrible king!”

“He was young. He did the best he could, and he and his bride are our only hope.” The first man was enraged by the others, and Claudia decided that it was probably time for her to go. This was not what she had been looking for.

She attempted to back out of the cave quietly and quickly, she did not want to be here any longer, she was actually a bit frightened. Her impatience, however, got the best of her, because she tripped over something and landed with a crash on the ground.

“What was that?” One of the men yelled.

Claudia got up as quickly as possible and started running, but she was suddenly frozen, unable to move. She tried to scream for help, but she couldn’t even open her mouth. She couldn’t even breathe. She was terrified.

“What do we have here?” The second man said as they circled around her. “A human.”

“Let her go at once Nasedo!” The first man demanded. “She is of no harm to us.”

“She knows our secret Larek!” The third man cried. “She must be disposed of!”

“NO!” Larek yelled. “No! We will not continue carelessly murdering humans for some pleasure you two get from it!”

Larek flicked his wrist towards Claudia and she felt her muscles begin to loosen and start to move.

“What are you people?” She asked breathlessly.

“I am sorry.” Larek told her. “We mean you no harm. You may go.”

“Wait!” The third man said. “Don’t you need a human incubator for the queen?”

Larek stood for a moment, thinking. “Cal, you may be on to something.” Larek turned to Claudia. “Could you help us?”

“What do you need?” Claudia asked, not having a clue what she was getting herself or her family into.

* * *

“You knew about this?” Liz turned angrily towards me, as Max explained the story that I had already heard, the story of how Liz could possibly be an alien queen.

“Yes.” I admitted.

“How could you keep this from me?” She cried. “You’re supposed to be my best friend!”

“I am your best friend!” I told her.

“We asked her not to tell you Liz. We thought you’d be safer if you didn’t know.” Max said, trying to defend me.

“I don’t care.” Liz said, standing up. “You should have told me Maria.”

“Liz, I’m so sorry.” I said, trying to keep the tears at bay. I had already been through so much this morning; just the thought of fighting with Liz was making me want to cry.

“I just can’t believe you’d keep this big of a secret from me.” She said, walking out of the room.

I followed her down the steps and out the back door, and for the second time today I found myself in the back alley fighting with one of the most important people in my life. “I wanted to tell you! I did! I just couldn’t! Michael made me promise!”

“I’m sure he did! Max made me promise not to tell you he was an alien eight years ago, but I did!”

“This is completely different Liz!” I argued. “They told me that you were safer not knowing! I thought I was helping keep you safe!”

“I don’t really care right now.” She said, obviously hurt by my betrayal.

I had expected Liz to be upset with me for not telling her what I knew, but I had never expected her to be this upset. I had really hurt her. I was apparently getting pretty good at hurting people.

“I am really sorry.” I told her, one last time.

She shrugged. “We’re not really best friends. Not anymore. I shouldn’t have expected anything from you.”

“What?” I asked, hoping I’d heard her wrong. Was I really going to have to go through this again today?

“It’s not like we’re as close as we were in high school.” She said calmly. “You rarely return my phone calls; you haven’t been home in years. Hell, we’ve spoken more in the past week than we have in the past year.”

“I’m sorry for that Liz. I’m sorry for everything!” I cried. “I really am.”

“I just really want to be alone right now.” She said, starting to cry a little bit.

“Liz, you shouldn’t…”

She held her hand up, stopping me. “I just want to be alone.”

“Okay.” I said, defeated.

I didn’t cry while I walked home which was good. I didn’t want to be seen crying in public. I wasn’t even sure if I could cry after the past few days. My tear ducts had to be out of tears, didn’t they?

As I walked I replayed the whole day in my head, and then the whole week in my head, and then the past six years. I really had done a great job of isolating myself, pushing everyone away. Maybe I wanted to be alone, maybe I wanted to be miserable.

Well, I thought to myself, you got your wish. You’re alone and miserable. Congratulations Maria.

There can’t possibly be a worse feeling than losing your best friend and the love of your life in the same day. And I would know, because this wasn’t the first time it had happened to me.

Six years ago, Max had gotten Tess pregnant, and left for another planet, leaving Liz heartbroken. Once we found out that it had been Tess that had killed Alex and we couldn’t stop them from leaving, it had pushed Liz over the edge.

I watched for months as my best friend deteriorated into nothing. She wasn’t Liz anymore; she didn’t act like Liz, she didn’t even look like Liz. She barely made an attempt at going through the motions, and finally her parents sent her to boarding school.

In one year I’d managed to lose one best friend to murder, two good friends and a boyfriend to an alien planet, and my very best friend to something I couldn’t even describe.

Suddenly, I felt like I was back in high school, back to that horrible place that I’d tried to forget, tried to move on from. Only this time, throw in one intergalactic alien war. I was in way over my head.

I tried to be strong, I really did, but after everything, I just wasn’t sure that there was much strength left in me. As much as I hated to admit it, I longed to be back in New York, back to the monotony of my life. I missed my studio apartment, I missed spending time with Cat, and I missed doing nothing with my life, as Michael had so kindly put it.

I knew from what I’d heard from Max, Michael, and Isabel that this stupid alien war was inevitable, but I didn’t care anymore. I was done letting the stupid aliens dictate my life. I had spent six years trying to forget Michael, and for good reason. Letting him go had been one of the hardest things I’d ever done. Watching him walk out the door, knowing that I would never see him again, hurt so badly that I thought I would die.

No, I couldn’t do this anymore. Michael had already walked away twice, and I needed to let him go. He had a mission, a destiny, and he had to fulfill that. I just wanted to go back to New York and live my life in ignorance, pretending that I had no idea that aliens were about to crash land on Earth.

* * *

“Are you sure you have to go now? Before the party? You and Kyle and Kara worked so hard.” Mom asked, sitting on my bed watching me pack with a frown.

“Don’t let Kyle fool you Mom, Kara did all the work.” I told her.

“Don’t change the subject. Does this have to do with Michael?”

I sighed, she was too smart, knew me too well. It was annoying. “This has to do with the fact that my life isn’t here anymore. It’s in New York and it’s time I started living it.” She was silent. “I’m sorry I’m going to miss your party.”

“Maria, sit down.” She said, patting the bed. “I want to tell you something.”

“Ok.” I said sitting.

“You are my little girl, and I love you, and if you feel like you need to leave, if you honestly think that’s the best thing for you, then go. But please, please, please, don’t go back to New York and sit around wondering what would have happened if you’d stayed in Roswell, wondering whether or not you and Michael would have worked out.

“By choosing to get on that plane, you’re saying goodbye to Michael. You’re saying that you want a different life, and if that’s what you want, then go get it. You are smart and talented and beautiful and I know that you can do anything you want to do, so go do it.

“So if you are going to leave, then go knowing that you made the only decision that was right for you and knowing that you have to live with it. You have to commit to something Maria, whether it’s committing to a life with Michael or a life without him, that’s up to you, but I can’t watch you flip flop back and forth anymore. It’s time to make a decision and stick by it.”

I nodded, tears trickling down my cheeks, knowing that she was right. It was time for me to make a decision and to live my life.

“You will always have a home here, Maria. I love you.” She said, wrapping her arms around me.

“I love you too.” I told her, crying. “And I know what I have to do.”

* * *

“Can we stop by the CrashDown Café on our way to the airport please?” I asked my taxi driver.

“Sure, no problem lady.” He said. He pulled up to the CrashDown and I jumped out.

“I’ll just be a second!” I told him.

As I walked towards the alley, I caught sight of Isabel standing at the corner across the street from the Crashdown. She was looking around nervously.

“Isabel.” I called. “What are you doing?”

Her head snapped towards me. “What?” She asked, startled.

“Is everything okay? You seem kind of tense.” I said, walking towards her.

“Yeah, everything’s just fine.” She said. “Just waiting for uh…” she stopped for a second as though she was thinking. “…Michael.” She finally added.

She was acting weird. Maybe it was because she knew I wouldn’t want to see him, or rather, he wouldn’t want to see me. “I should probably go then.”

She nodded quickly. “Yeah, you should.” Her voice was harsh, very unlike the Isabel that had been comforting me just hours earlier.

As I started walking away I couldn’t shake the feeling I had that something was wrong, but when I turned back around towards Isabel, she was gone. I bit my bottom lip, deciding that whatever it was, it wasn’t my problem. I had decided to let go of the alien nonsense, and that’s exactly what I planned to do.

As quickly as possible I taped two letters on the back door. One addressed to Liz, one addressed to Michael. I hoped they would understand one day, why I had to leave, why I had to put all of this behind me.

I was still on the side of building and as I turned the corner towards the front entrance towards my cab, Isabel and Michael walked out the front doors. I pressed my body against the wall, hiding myself from their sight.

Something strange was going on. Hadn’t Isabel just been across the street? And in a completely different outfit?

I started to peer around the corner, when I was suddenly jerked back, a hand over my mouth.

“Do not say a word.” A familiar voice whispered in my ear, and fear coursed through my body. This was not good.

A/N: Sorry it's been so long since the last update! Thanks for hanging in there with me. I had a hard time figuring out how to write this part, so today I sat down at my computer for three hours and forced myself to get it out. I'm really happy with how it turned out! Hope you enjoy it!!!




I ran, fists clenched, arms pumping, lungs bursting. I ran as fast as I could, as fast as my legs would carry me. The adrenaline coursing through my body was the only thing that kept me going, as my legs should have given out a long time ago. I ignored the pain, the screaming from my muscles to stop, and kept running. My life depended on it. All of our lives depended on it.

I'd never been in the middle of anything important. Always on the outside. I was never the hero, always the sidekick, and at times it had been something that bothered me. Today however, I was wishing that it had been me on the outside, me waiting for the outcome instead of being the only hope.

I could remember only one other time in my life when I had run this fast, when lives depended on me. I was too late that day. I couldn't be too late this time. If I failed here today, we were all going to die, and it would be no one's fault but my own.

* * *

"Kyle!" I yelled as I ran towards my parents' house. I saw him and Kara standing in the front yard talking. "Kyle!"

It was a miracle that I had enough oxygen to form words, enough energy to speak. It wasn't an extremely long distance from the CrashDown to my house, but I was not a runner, in fact, I didn't really have any athletic abilities at all.

"Maria!" Kyle exclaimed, grabbing me before I collapsed on the ground. "What happened?"

"Oh my God, you're bleeding!" Kara cried.

I had fallen several times, scratching up my hands and my knees pretty bad, as well as a few other scrapes. It looked worse than it was, but there was blood smeared all over my dress and in my hair from pushing it out of my face as I ran.

"Get Max!" I gasped, my voice barely making a sound. "Get Max now!"

She looked at Kyle anxiously and he nodded eagerly. She hurried into the house.

"Isabel…" I mouthed. Words forming on my lips, but no sound escaped.

"Maria… what is going on?"

I looked up at my brother with wide eyes, the adrenaline leaving my body and the fear and exhaustion taking over. "They're here." I told him and then everything went black.

* * *

"Do not say a word." Tess whispered in my ear. "If they see you, they will kill you."

She took her hand away from my mouth and I turned towards her. "What the hell is going on?" I hissed.

She pulled me quickly but quietly behind a trash dumpster so that we were well hidden, but able to see what was going on. "I don't know."

"Please, you probably planned all of this." I snapped.

"If I had planned this, trust me, I would have let them kill you."

I narrowed my eyes, trying to figure out if I could trust her or not.

"They have Isabel." I told her.

"I know." She said.

"Well can't you like do your mind thing on them?"

"I can't use my powers." She told me quietly. "Max forbid me, remember?"

"You mean that's real? You really have to do what he says?" I had kind of figured it was something Max just told us to make us feel better about Tess being around.

She rolled her eyes. "You have to go get Max. I can't go farther than this." She said, as we watched dupe Michael persuade Isabel to get into my taxi. "You have to go get Max now. All our lives depend on it!"

"But how… my cab…" I started.

"Run!" She cried as a loud explosion ripped through the peaceful silence of the night. I didn't have time to look back to see the bright orange colored flames and black smoke that took its place.

* * *

I had walked the streets of New York thousands of times. There was something about getting lost in the masses that calmed me, comforted me. It was familiar, yet strange all at the same time.

This had started like any other walk home, at least, from what I could remember, but as I continued on my way, the swarms of people seemed to disappear, little by little until I was alone.

I stopped and looked around. Times Square. I never walked through Times Square on my way home. I didn't even live in Manhattan.
I turned around trying to figure out what was going on when a figure a few hundred feet in front of me grabbed my attention.

"Michael?" I called, walking towards him.

He didn't respond, didn't even flinch. "Michael!" I called again, this time louder. Nothing.

I started to run. My footsteps on the pavement echoed through the empty night. I ran as fast as I could, but he kept getting further and further away.

I stopped suddenly when a shot pierced the silence. Michael crumpled to the ground. Where had the fire come from, I thought as red, orange, and yellow flames danced around Michael's body.

Black smoke enveloped the area, suffocating me.

* * *

My eyes flew open and I sat up quickly gasping for air. "Michael!" I choked out. My head was spinning, dizziness quickly taking me over, but I tried my best to ignore it.

I looked around quickly and realized I was in my front yard surrounded by curious and concerned looks. I searched the faces for Michael's, but he wasn't there.

"Maria, what happened?" I could tell from the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes that my friend Max was long gone. The King of Antar had taken his place and was anxiously awaiting my response.

"Isabel… Tess… Crashdown" I stuttered, trying to gather my thoughts.

Max looked at me intently. "Maria… what happened?"

I looked around at my friends and then back at Max. "It's Isabel." I said.

"What about Isabel?" He asked.

"She's dead."