Ellie- Thank you for the feedback! I hope this part will infuse a little more hope!
Flamehair- glad I could!
clueless- Thank you! I certainly hope I can.
magikhands-
thanks for the wishes. And about GA-- of course-- first thing I noticed! 
[and heh heh yes "all hail the Christmas Nazi!"]cherie- I'm glad you think evil authors rock, since I apparently seem to be becoming more and more of one as this story progresses... but I will say certain things that you've all been asking for should start happening soon!
And the agents don't have a clear idea where Michael, Isabel or Liz are. But... by increasing their manpower now for that and having still kept tabs on Kyle and Maria (as well as all the parents) they just might start to have an idea...
But then again lets see how far they get.
Scottie- Thanks as always for your ever faithful daily check-in's (and for the wishes
)! And I have to agree, I thought of her in GA than in Roswell when I looked at that banner too! It really is amusing that the characters are so similar, though I think Izzy seems to have a bit more of a temper .Previously...
Her eyes were glazed as they fluttered open, but it was enough for him to connect. Within moments he was pulled into her memories, her waning life force slowly gathering strength from his. But he could still feel her life slipping away. He concentrated harder, knowing he had to save her—even if it meant losing his own. As his energy poured into her through his hand he began to feel a pull from deep within him. But then the sudden jolt of pressure in his stomach flung his mind back into reality. He took in her once again flawless skin, releasing a quick sigh of relief, “You’re all right. You’re all right.” [From The Pilot]
~ ~
The darkness began to fade around her as swirls of white light replaced it. She turned around in confusion and apprehension. *What was going on?* Just as the thought came to mind, she stood in shock. The image blurred in the swirling light appearing like a ghostly oasis. She couldn’t move, frozen in disbelief. But then she heard a voice she never thought she’d hear again call out, “Isabel?” Before she could respond the darkness came back in a forceful rush.
Her eyes blinked open refocusing on a disconcerted Kyle. Her mouth opened and closed silently, her voice still held captive by her shock. But finally it escaped to utter one devastated word, “Max?”
PART THIRTY
An hour earlier
Canada- Liz and Isabel’s house- Isabel’s bedroom
As soon as her brother’s name had escaped her lips, Isabel felt as if all the air had left her, had left the room. She sat in shock, her hands still in Kyle’s as she tried to focus on the blurry image of her brother that was already fading from her mind. Though the haunting sight began to disappear, his voice, her brother’s voice rang clearly in her mind. It hadn’t been Kyle, it wasn’t a trick…
Isabel snatched her hands out of Kyle’s now lax grip to hug herself as she tried to gain control over herself. But she could no longer think clearly. All she could think was—it was real. This was no mind warp.
Max was alive.
Her brother was alive.
And he was in more trouble than she could ever imagine.
“Oh God…” she sobbed out; her hands slipping from their wrapped position to cover her face.
Kyle felt the stinging sensation prick his eyes as he watched Isabel completely unravel before him. He gently reached out towards her shaking figure, but then her head shot up.
“We have to try again. I have to talk to him. I have to see him.” Her words raced out of her, denying her time to breathe.
“Isabel.”
“You have to help me get in again.” Her eyes wild with panic, she laid her hands out waiting for him to take it, refusing to answer his call of her name.
“Isabel.”
“You have to help me!” Her voice rose before she just collapsed into him, sobbing against his chest. Her cries seemed to breathe out the words— you have to, as her tears seeped through his shirt.
“I will, Iz. I promise. You just… you have to calm down first. We won’t be able to help him in this state.”
She couldn’t say anything as she continued to sob, the horrible truth continuing to crash into her mind and soul.
She had left Max to a fate worse than death.
~ ~ ~
“…help me!”
The best friends both turned towards the hallway hearing the muffled shout. In moments they were outside Isabel’s door about to barge in when they heard Kyle comfort Isabel.
They lightly knocked on the door, unsure if they should intrude. After a few seconds of hearing Isabel’s cries they heard Kyle answer, “Come on in.”
Slowly they pushed the door opened, their gazes filled with confusion and concern.
“Are you guys okay?” Liz finally asked in the thick silence as Isabel attempted to compose herself.
Kyle only glanced towards Isabel as if silently asking her for permission to answer.
Sniffling, Isabel answered instead. “It’s not a mind warp, Liz.”
Liz stood frozen unable to process Isabel’s hushed words. Somehow she found her voice to ask a strangled, “wh—what?”
“I saw him. Kyle and I tried together and I—”
“Wait,” Maria interrupted, not understanding. “I thought you guys tried before and it didn’t work?”
Kyle joined in then explaining, “That was when we were just mentally linked, I think we needed more power to break through whatever Max is blocking us with. The point is we finally did it. Well not completely, Isabel wasn’t able to see until…” Kyle trailed off as the memory of the agents shooting Max up gripped his mind.
“Until what?” Liz’s voice was flat as she focused all of her energy to stop the flood of emotions that threatened to overwhelm her.
Holding her gaze Kyle replied, “Until they drugged him.”
Before Liz or Maria could respond further, Isabel pleaded, “We have to contact him again, Kyle.”
“I know, Iz.” But he hesitated to do it so soon after the last. The drug was what caused Kyle to lose the connection this time and then… if the agents drugged Max who knew what they might be doing to him at this moment. Observing the precarious emotional state Isabel was in, he was extremely worried that whatever she would see, would feel; would push her over the edge.
“Kyle?” Isabel questioned again.
“Let’s get you some water first, okay?” he hedged.
Just as Isabel began to protest, Maria jumped at the opportunity to move. “I’ll get it.”
Swiftly she left for the kitchen, her own breaths beginning to spasm as the part of her heart that she believed to have died the day she bid Max goodbye seemed to beat again—sporadically, with hope.
Liz, remained in her spot, as she desperately searched Kyle’s and Isabel’s faces. Why did she feel nothing? Why was her soul just empty? How could she not know he was alive?
Memories of the first time she felt Max die flew in her mind leading her to one conclusion. She needed more than even Isabel’s confirmation of what Kyle continued to state. She needed to see him for herself, not just a projected image from either of them. She needed to feel his soul—the lost half of her own soul.
“Take me with you.”
“What?” Kyle asked in confusion, while Isabel glanced up through reddened eyes.
“When you try again, take me too.”
“Liz…”
“I need to know. I’m sorry that I can’t just believe you or even you, Isabel,” she briefly turned to face Isabel before meeting Kyle’s understanding gaze again. “I just… I need to know.” She couldn’t explain it better to them; she couldn’t express the need to relieve her soul of the deadness in its depths.
With a small nod Kyle agreed, his stomach clenching with dread on how the girls would react to whatever the agents were doing to Max this time. He tried to take a cleansing breath, centering himself as he attempted to not imagine the horrors Max was suffering. As his mind began to clear somewhat, another anxious thought came to mind—causing him to form a silent prayer, hoping that Max would still be there when they tried again.
~ ~ ~
Langley, Virginia
Warehouse- Sub-basement level- Containment Room
Gray lines swirled around him, attempting to connect before a sudden force separated them into opposite corners. He watched in fascination, trying to follow the path of a single line, easily losing track of it and then following yet another one. Once he thought he managed to catch one as it traveled across the room and he automatically lifted a hand to help trace its path, but then the unyielding bite upon his wrist dragged his mind back into reality.
He was still strapped to the table.
He was still alone.
All that was yet to come… was death.
~ ~ ~
Canada- Liz and Isabel’s house- Isabel’s bedroom
His arm around her, Kyle watched Isabel sip at the water. But her throat was too constricted to allow much passage of the refreshing liquid. She was still too distraught, her thoughts only of seeing Max. “Isabel, it may take awhile to get in. You’ll need it.”
She refused to face him, not wanting to see the complete concern she heard in his voice. She knew that if she turned to be captured by his searching blue eyes, she would fall apart once more. Because she would see no blame in their steely depths. She would see no accusation that Max was suffering because she had been too afraid to try harder—to believe.
And now, that brief second when a part of her seemed to rise to life left her shattered with guilt. And her only way to function through it was to try harder than ever. Though for nine months she had slept fitfully, plagued with grief, she knew now that each moment her brother remained in that white hell she could not rest. She could not allow herself any relief that would feed the growing pit of guilt deep in her soul.
So she remained quiet, sipping just enough to give her the strength to try again, each cool drop steeling her to what she might see.
He sighed, rubbing slightly on her arm as she continued to sip lost in a trance. He saw her lip tremble and he wished to soothe its fear with a comforting kiss. But that thought only flickered in his mind as he instantly fought the small ache in his heart. He turned to Liz in hope of distraction and to see if she truly was ready.
Liz hovered by the bed, her arms wrapped around her torso. She had to do this, but it was hard to let go of her belief that Max was truly dead. Though she never expressed it to Isabel in those first early weeks after graduation, she had tried to hope that what she felt was wrong… that somehow Max would come back to her as he had before. But as each night had passed hearing Isabel cry in defeat, the deadness within her had grown. It had begun to consume her until she’d been forced to accept it. He was gone. And so from then on she had put all her focus on creating a life for herself and Isabel, to keeping safe, to ensure his death had not been in vain. And now… to think that all those months as she had attempted to live without Max, he had been there all along.
“Liz?” Kyle quietly called out, not wanting to startle her from her reverie.
“So how’s this going to work?” Needing the distraction from her tumultuous emotions, she focused on the mechanics of what they were about to do.
“Like it has when you’ve dream walked with Isabel, just with one more person—so it may take longer to connect.” Kyle shrugged, “I’m certainly no expert on this.”
Liz was about to speak when she saw Isabel place the glass of water on the table and so instead she joined the others on the bed. She sat awkwardly, her apprehension rocketing within her.
The three shifted upon the bed until they all faced each other, their knees just touching. Then silently they communicated and their hands reached out clinging to one another. After three breaths their eyes closed.
Before Maria could release her own tightly held breath, she heard her friends gasp. Their eyes flew open and they released their hands as Kyle called out to Liz.
“I’m sorry. I…” she trailed off, her face flaming with embarrassment, disappointment and fear. It was just like all those years back when they needed to heal Michael. Her fear prevented her from coming through in a time of crisis.
“You’re not ready,” Kyle stated simply, his eyes downcast, as weariness set in.
Though filled with urgency to reenter the dream world, Isabel held her tongue. After all these months with Liz, she knew Liz would ultimately follow through—all she needed was a moment to catch her breath, to order her thoughts, to steady her heart.
Liz glanced down at her hand, seeing the bareness of her left. She examined yearning for the dreamy shine of a promised love upon her finger. Her heart pounded, the deeply buried part of her soul calling out for Max. Then with a deep breath, she steadied the rapid beat before answering, “No. I am. Let’s do this.”
She pointedly grabbed their hands, squeezing in assurance that she truly was ready. Kyle and Isabel quickly held on to each other and, after taking a minute to focus on their memories of Max, their eyes closed once more.
Liz was first, her mind already lost in the beauty of her first true brush with Max’s soul. I have to touch you. His touch was gentle as he cradled her head in his life-saving hands. Try to let your mind blank out. At his breathy instruction she readily complied, her heart unable to refuse him.
Kyle counted silently as he focused on the dim UFO center setting. He saw a hand move away and then he heard himself ask, what the hell just happened to me? Though a question he had asked often over the years, he focused only on Max’s face, praying for it to change into the pale reality.
Isabel drew on her energy letting it flow towards Kyle and Liz to connect them all. As she felt it flow easily she allowed her mind to drift to the quarry, to a moment from four years back. I’m sorry. I just…I just wanted her to know. I wanted it so bad, her tearful voice echoed.
She felt warmth surround her and the deep timbre of her brother’s voice, a voice of comfort, of security—I know. I know you did. We have each other. We’re gonna be ok, Iz. We’re gonna be ok.
Lost in their memories of Max the three waited for the connection of their minds to complete, their breaths gradually coming in sync.
Maria watched in tense silence as her three friends gripped each other’s hands tightly, their breaths shallow. Her eyes darted to the clock, nine more minutes before she was to forcibly break them apart if nothing changed. However, as her eyes watched the movement of the clock’s hands, she missed the soft golden glow that built up from the stomachs of Liz and Kyle before flickering out between their linked hands.
~ ~ ~
Kyle?
Liz?
Isabel?
The three friends called out to each other through the thick clouds of fog. Their hands outstretched, they finally felt their way until all three stood together in confusion.
“Now what do we do?” Liz asked the others.
“Umm…” Kyle turned his head searching the clouds for some insight to that question, finding nothing he turned back to the others, “Isabel?” Hoping she would have an idea.
“You guys were all focusing on a memory of Max, right?” Confused about what happened and unable to sense where in the dreamscape she was, she tried to logically think her way out of it.
They both nodded, quickly adding a yes when they realized they couldn’t see each other clearly.
“Maybe we should all focus on the same one?” She was grasping at straws, but she had to do something. Her need to see her brother, to hear his voice again clawed within her.
“Sure. Which one?” Kyle asked.
They stood in silence trying to decide on a memory where all three had been present. Finally Liz looked pointedly in Kyle’s direction. “When he healed you. It’s because of you that we’ve come this far… and it’s your strongest memory of him, right?”
“Yeah.”
“All right then, let’s try this.” Isabel took over, reaching out to hold the others’ hands.
In moments the clouds blackened until they transformed into the memory of Kyle’s healing. As the three of them stood enraptured by the glow of Max’s hand, they did not realize the edges of the dreamscape were beginning to lighten to a blinding white.
Then as the image of Max fell back, their sight was flooded by the whiteness.
~ ~ ~
“What… what happened?” Liz moaned out as she held a hand to her head.
Isabel softly grunted as she scrambled to get up, feeling completely disoriented.
Kyle however, recognized the dizzying sensation immediately. They did it. They were in. “Max?” he called out.
Max slowly turned his head, hearing the voice of the ghost. Perhaps he was the one who would take him away.
“Kyle…” he slurred out. His tongue still felt incredibly heavy.
“Max?” Two hushed voices called out as they crowded on either side of Kyle.
Through the haze of white and gray they finally spotted Max’s inert body, and instantly they ran towards him.
“Oh my god. Max!!” they shouted.
Colors of gold swirled before him. He squinted, his eyes unable to absorb the shock of a color other than white or dull metal. For a moment he believed the assaulting yellow light to have returned, then suddenly his eyes focused on a heavenly vision.
The hellish world of white fell away and the hazy filter over his eyes lifted, revealing an image of beauty. Though he could not see her soft brown hair, the clearly defined features of her face revealed the loving eyes he had longed to see and the soft, sweet lips he yearned to touch. His soul cried out, pushing further through the fog in his mind, focusing purely on her, “Li—”
The door clicked open. He jerked his head towards the sound, but could not make out the figure from the white walls. Only when a gloved hand reached for his face, pulling at his eyelids did he realize the agents had returned. He knew he should feel fear and panic, but everything seemed muted in a haze of indifference. The gloved hand continued to touch, but his eyes could not follow its movement, tired out by the still swirling lines of gray. Hoping to stop the constant dizzying motions, he shifted his head to search for the vision. But she was gone.
~ ~ ~
All three collectively gasped as they broke from the dream walk. Maria was instantly on her feet asking if they were all right.
After a minute of dazed silence they turned towards her and breathlessly responded, “He pushed us out.”
“What?” Maria immediately turned to her best friend and on seeing her stiff form, asked, “Liz?”
“He…” she trailed off as she suddenly pushed herself off the bed. “I was so wrong. I was… I was so wrong,” she whispered despondently as she fled the room.
The rest of them watched her, wanting to follow, but knowing that she needed space.
~ ~ ~
Liz and Isabel’s House- Liz’s bedroom
After quietly shutting the door she leaned against it, sliding towards the floor.
He was there.
He was there.
The thought resounded in her head, shocking all breath out of her.
She held the sides of her head, squeezing her eyes shut hoping to rid her mind of images of the white room, images she hadn’t seen in years. But one after another the images repeated themselves—the sight of ice, whiteness and his struggling form filled her mind, while his screams echoed in her ears.
Her body soon began to tremble under her effort to not cry. Her arms soon lowered to wrap around herself, as her mind dwelled on the images from Max’s first capture. And that time… had only been one day.
A sob tore through her throat at the thought. She covered her mouth, instinctually trying to suppress it. For months she had buried her feelings, afraid she would never recover if she didn’t. And now, she needed to keep a clear head if she was to help Max. But the realization that for the past eleven months Max had been suffering beyond even the horror of his first capture… left her frozen.
Her breaths were short, her mind still in utter shock. Tears slowly built up in the corners of her eyes, but they could not fall.
She did not know how long she sat there, but finally her breaths slowed and she vaguely became aware of tears slowly trailing down her cheeks. Her thoughts, though still gripped by morbid memories of Max’s torture, gradually shifted to the brief connection she had just experienced.
The sensation of being immersed in his soul had lasted mere seconds, but it had been enough to fill the void within her. Feelings of love, guilt and desire poured into the empty depths of her soul, as once again the amazing, loving soul of Max brought hers to life.
Her tears flowing freely, she sat there in awe at the capacity his soul had to bear the guilt of the world, and above all, to love.
Her petite body shuddered, her knees moving closer to her chest, small sobs escaping her. In the back of her mind she knew she needed to clear her mind, but her emotions were fighting for release. For moments she lost herself to them, indulging the tears she had held back for months.
Only the quiet call of her name brought her back, her cries beginning to lessen. Liz...
As she clung to his love and the reverent, phantom whisper of her name, she began to calm, regaining her control.
She lifted her left hand using the back of it to wipe the tears from her cheeks. As her hand settled into her lap, she gazed at it, forlornly.
She yearned to feel his soul again, to try and reconnect. But she could not do it alone and Kyle and Isabel needed some time to regain their strength.
Then suddenly her eyes widened and she scrambled to her bedside table, yanking open a drawer. Only when the ring was in sight did she hesitate, but only for a moment.
Taking a deep breath she reached out, closing her eyes.
Instantly she released her breath, her eyes opening with disappointment.
How could there still be nothing? She knew she had connected with him, time unable to dim the familiarity of his soul.
She lightly traced the edge of the ring, the memory of his earnest face easily coming to mind. Her lips lifted slightly at the sight; though her eyes still held the pain and grief she had hidden for months.
Though her mind still held doubt that what she had seen tonight had just been her imagination, her heart refused to listen to the denial. Her soul, now revived by the brief touch with his, could finally feel. But this time, instead of being plagued with grief and helplessness, hope stirred within its depths.
Opening her necklace, she slipped the ring on, allowing the symbol of love to touch her heart. Placing her hand over where it lay, she breathed slowly, concentrating on her memories of Max. Still upon her knees, she whispered with absolute determination, “Hold on Max. We’ll find you. I promise—we’ll find you.”
thank you for checking in so much! I do hope your final went well! I certainly know the temptation of reading fanfic when I should be studying VERY well. 
