Roswell Fanatics

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Title: Solar Eclipse
Author: Max and Liz believer, a.k.a. Josephin
Disclaimer: You know the drill...I don’t own any of the Roswell characters, I’m just borrowing them for a while and I will return them when I’m finished.
Rating: MATURE
Category: M/L
Summary: Everything up to ”Max in the City” has happened. Liz is starting to get sick and no one knows what’s wrong. Simultaneously, she is haunted by nightmares - are they premonitions of the future or just dreams?
Author’s note: Okay, after reading tons of Roswell fanfic I decided to give it a try myself. So, I hope you’ll enjoy this fanfic just as much as I’ll enjoy writing it. Oh oh, and I LOVE feedback!
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Book 1
p. 1) Prologue, Chapter 31 thru Chapter 34

Book 2
p. 1) Chapter 1 thru Chapter 6
p. 2) Chapter 7 thru Chapter 14
p. 3) Chapter 15 and Chapter 16
p. 4) Chapter 17

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BOOK 1


Prologue

She could feel the distance decreasing between them, the sound of his footsteps growing nearer. He was gaining on her. Her breathing was labored and her chest ached. She didn't know how much longer she could keep this up. But she couldn't let him catch her.that would be the end.

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He awoke with a startle. Turning on the lamp on the bedside table he worriedly scanned the room. There was nothing there. His room was the same quiet room as ever. Why did he feel like he was in danger?

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A stone protruding from the ground put an end to her run and she tumbled to the ground, exhausted. She closed her eyes and waited for the end.

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Unsuccessful in trying to push away his feelings of threat, he stood up from his bed and crossed the floor to check on his sister.

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Someone, the person following her, turned her around as she was helplessly lying on the ground. She kept her eyes closed. She did not want to look at the man who held the same face as the man she loved more than life itself. The last thing she did in her life would not be to look into the same eyes that otherwise held so much love but now only held malice and hatred. She did not have any energy left to fight him. but she would not go without a fight, if it was the last thing she did. Groping in the dark, her bloody hands came into contact with a nose. "Just a little higher" she thought and found her target. Without a conscious thought, acting merely on survival instinct, she pressed her fingers into his eyes, feeling her nails sink deep into the vitreous body of his eyes. The man wanting her dead let out a cry in pain and released his grip on her, in order to examine the damage she had caused. Seizing the opportunity, she rolled out from underneath him and tried to stand up. But she was too weak. She could feel a numbness spreading in her body. "Nononononono" she thought on the verge on hysterics. She could not pass out know. She had to fight it. It was either that or her life. Then she felt it. The numbness in her body was being replaced with a burning pain, which started in the small of her back and started to spread throughout her whole body. It felt as if she was on fire. Her agonized cry of pain echoed in the black night.

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Walking back from his sister's room he suddenly felt an immense amount of pain in his back. He felt like he was being burned alive and he sunk to his knees with one agonizing cry, "Nooooo. Liiiiizzzz!!"

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That was the teaser.... If you want to read on, you can find chapters 1-30 here in the repost forum...

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Okay, people.... I'm gonna post chapter 31 first as a little reminder... But chapter 32 will be up soon after that


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Chapter 31

Kira put down the receiver.
”So, what did they say?” Michael asked him. They had not heard a word from neither Liz nor Max in the whole evening and it was getting late. Emma had fallen asleep in the bedroom. Max had wanted an evening alone with Liz, and they all had agreed that it was a good idea. Liz had seemed to be getting even worse, and Maria was worried that she didn’t have much time left.
Kira turned around and looked into the worried faces of two of Max’s best friends.
”They have fallen asleep on the roof,” he said.
”What?” Maria said, confused. ”What were they doing on the roof? I thought Max was the romantic type, why did he take her up on the roof?”
Michael chuckled.
”That dog!” he said with a smug on his face. ”He’s getting busy with Liz up on the roof. I gotta hand it to him, not even I would have come up with that!”
”Michael, stop it! Max isn’t getting busy with Liz anywhere! Haven’t you seen Liz lately? Do you really think she has the energy to do anything more than kissing?!”
”Well...”
”Forget I asked,” Maria said and turned towards Kira. ”Then when are you going home?” She brought up her hand and stifled a yawn. ”I need to get some sleep. I have two exams tomorrow.”
”Well, if they are asleep, then they’re probably finished with whatever they were doing,” Michael said, trying to keep serious but failed in keeping his voice stable as his mind conjured up all weird things you could do on a roof in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. He had to try that with Maria sometime.
”Michael...,” Maria said in a warningly tone.
”I didn’t say nothing,” Michael said, and turned to walk into the kitchen to get a snack.

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Kira opened the passenger door and carefully unbuckled the sleeping princess. When he had thought about the future, he had never seen himself with a child - at least not baby-sitting the king’s child. He put his arms under her legs and gently lifted her out of the car. He pushed the door close with his foot and walked towards the warehouse. The silence out here in the middle of nowhere was deafening to say the least, and due to the moon’s absence the darkness was much thicker. However, the sky was clear displaying millions of twinkling stars. One of his men met him at the door.
”Zan and Liz are sleeping in their bedroom, sir,” he said.
”Did you wake them?” Kira asked.
”No, sir. They came down by themselves about ten minutes after your call, sir.”
”And everything was clear tonight...nothing out of the ordinary? Nothing suspicious?”
”No, sir. Everything’s clear, sir.”
”Good. Call someone to change shift with you, and you can get some sleep.”
”Yes, sir. I’ll do that.”
”Great work. Now I’m heading off to bed with this little girl.”
”Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

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Kira opened the door to Max’s and Liz’s bedroom.
”Who is it?” he heard Max’s voice ask. His voice was marked with sleep, and Kira realized that he had probably waken up the second Kira opened the door. Max was always on his guard, almost like a watch dog - sleeping with one eye open.
”It’s Kira,” Kira answered in a hushed voice.
”Do you have Emma with you?” Max asked, matching the level of his voice with Kira to not disturb Liz in her sleep. Kira didn’t fail to notice the small hint of concern in his voice.
”Yes, she’s sleeping,” Kira said as he walked towards the bed. Max was laying on his back, his chest bare. Liz was sleeping with her head on his chest, one of her arms on Max’s shoulder and the other slung over Max’s chest.
”Is she okay?” Kira asked and nodded in Liz’s direction. A smile spread across Max’s face as he looked down at his soulmate sleeping soundly on his chest, the warmth of her body seeping into the cold lump of guilt inside of him - slowly dissolving it into nothingness.

”Yes,” he answered, and Kira wondered how much there really was behind that answer. Liz looked different - healthier, and more alive. Something had happened, and then he didn’t mean the thing that Michael had so happily alluded to earlier. But it was neither the right time nor place for that conversation. Kira gently lowered the sleeping form of Emma down beside Max. Emma sighed lightly and then snuggled up to her father’s warm body. Max reached out and pulled the covers over her as well. He put his arm around her and planted a loving kiss on her forehead. He turned his head towards Kira again, that looked very misplaced, and appeared utterly uncomfortable with it.
”Kira, thank you,” Max said, with emotion and emphasis in his voice that Kira had never before experienced.
”Don’t mention it,” Kira said. ”Good night, Max.”
”Good night,” Max said and listened to Kira’s retreating steps and to the sound of the closing of the bedroom door. With a satisfied smile on his face, and Liz’s feelings floating around him through the connection, he closed his eyes and surrendered his body to the world of dreams.

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Liz awoke, feeling the sunlight brush against her eyelids - teasing her to open her eyes. She felt the warmth radiating into her body. Warmth coming from another body laying beside her. She felt his arm wrapped securely around her, holding her close. She felt the air flow easily out and in of her lungs. She felt the heart pump the blood through her veins. Fresh blood, clean blood - healthy blood. Her head felt light, free from the tension, the aching and the thudding. Her joints did not ache, her eyes did not sting, her stomach didn’t burn. She drew a deep, cleansing breath - relishing in the feeling of the fresh air in her lungs, tasting the air, living it. She slowly opened her eyes and lifted her head slightly and with no effort to look at him.

Him.

The most humble and caring man she had ever known. The man who couldn’t hurt a fly...but still was destined to fight a long line of battles. The king of a planet he had no memory of. Her king. The man who had showed her love, and taught her what real love was. The man who she based her whole existence on. The man who had given her life in more ways than she could count.

She stretched up and gentle grazed his smooth, hard and warm chest with the touch of her unparched lips. She took another deep breath, breathing him in. She felt him waking through the connection, reaching for her. She felt herself being bundled up in warmth and love. She felt his whole essence filling her, scaring all insecurities and demons away. She smiled as he opened his eyes slightly.


She was so beautiful. The life floated out of her eyes, sparkling with energy. And she was smiling. For a second or two he wondered if he had died and gone to heaven. He could feel her all around him. He was wrapped up in her, wrapped up in something far older than just Liz Parker. Her soul was reaching out for him, filled with humbleness, care, gratitude and love. The very core of her being. No words were necessary as they lay there, a conversation older than time being transferred through their eyes, into their souls. She couldn’t stop smiling. He brought one of his hands up to her face and felt the soft touch of one of her strands of hair between his fingers. His hand left her hair, only to move to her forehead tracing each of the small wrinkles that had formed there as a consequence of time and hardships.

His hand traced the soft texture of her eyebrow to continue down the bridge of her nose, tracing every small detail of her features. His hand lingered on the top of her upper lip, only to slowly move to her right cheek. With a small smile he gently traced the blush on her cheek - a sign of health. He continued down to her chin, his touch as light as the wing of a butterfly. The travel of the hand turned north, lightly tracing her bottom lip with his index finger. Her beautiful mouth - the doors of breath and life. He slowly withdrew his hand from her face, closing his eyes as he did. He wanted to experience her with all his senses. He felt her scent - the scent that was so typical her. Not anything artificial, but natural and pure. He brought his hand up to her face again, cradling her soft cheek against his palm. With his eyes still closed, he leaned closer to her his whole being anticipating the moment his lips would be able to taste hers.

He could feel her lips on his even before they were actually melting together. Her softness, her warmth, and her love fused with him as their lips met in a kiss that signified so much more than just a kiss. It was a kiss of promises, a kiss of eternity, a kiss of completion. They broke apart slowly, both still with the tingling on their lips, the electricity running through them. She sighed in contentment and put her head back on his chest, her eyes never breaking communication with his. She could feel the presence of their daughter, the child of love, beside him and she smiled again. She had never felt any happier. She didn’t even own the words that could describe what she felt. Her heart seemed too small to hold all the feelings so they seemed to pour out of her, out of her every pore. She gave a new meaning to the concept of radiating with happiness.

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Kira looked up as the door opened to the bedroom. It was late in the morning, and for a while he had been worried why they all had slept so long. Not even Emma had woken up. He had to take a closer look at the...energy that was walking out of the bedroom. That was the only way he could describe her. Energy. She was not only a human any longer. She was an essence of altruism and love. She was a queen. She smiled at him, and her whole face shone up from the inside.

”Morning, Kira,” she said softly.
Kira cleared his throat, suddenly finding himself out of both the ability to use his voice and out of breath.
”Uhm..morning...Liz,” he said and watched as she walked closer.
”Did Emma have a good time yesterday?” Liz asked, as she started to search the cabinets after something to eat. She was famished.
Kira watched her in awe as she moved about the room. Her every movement was filled with gracefulness, and he once again shook his head trying to clear his mind.
”Kira?” Liz’s voice reached him and he shook his head again.
”I’m sorry, Liz. What did you say?” he asked.
”Emma. Did she have a good time yesterday?” Liz repeated, retrieving milk and eggs from the refrigerator.
”Uhm...yeah, she had a great time I think,” Kira answered.

”That’s really good,” Liz said, and Kira noticed how a smile spread over her face and then the bedroom door opened and Max walked out, dressed in sweat pants and T-shirt. And Kira was once again dumbfounded. There was definitely something different about Max too. His body was straighter, his shoulders were held high as if tons of lead had been removed from them. But what struck Kira as the biggest change about him was his face. Kira couldn’t quite put his finger on what actually was different. The only word he could find was peaceful. Max looked like he had found peace. He didn’t seem....lost any longer. His movements were assertive, his eyes strong and determined, yet tender and gentle.

”Morning, Kira,” Max said, and gave him a small nod of recognition.
”Mo-morning Max,” Kira stuttered and followed Max as he made his way over to Liz. He stepped up behind her, and wrapped his arms around her, his hands coming to rest - to peace - at her stomach. He leaned his chin on her shoulder, and so they stood. It was a mystery to Kira how they could stand like that as Liz continued making pancake batter and then making the pancakes on the frying pan, without separating from Max. They were like two pieces made to be together, and as they were together they worked the best. Completely in tune with each other.



And so the day elapsed. Kira found himself to be mainly a spectator to whatever wonder Max and Liz were. They didn’t talk much - there didn’t seem to be any need to do so. There were gentle smiles, small loving touches and caresses. They always seemed to be touching in some way. Even Emma seemed to notice the difference. She was quieter than usual, and Kira realized that she too seemed more at peace. A calmness had settled itself over the warehouse, and Kira went about the day feeling dazed. He couldn’t ignore the love that was vibrating through the house - a frankly he didn’t want to ignore it either.

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Liz had positioned herself on the couch, laying on her back and staring at the ceiling - her thoughts busy miles away. Max had left to tuck Emma in. He had insisted on doing that every night since they had moved to their isolated home. He saw it as one of the things he wanted to do to spend as much time as he could with his daughter. She heard Kira seat himself in the armchair and she angled her head a bit to be able to look at him as he spoke.
”Liz?”
”Yeah,” she answered.
”There is something I would like to talk to you about,” Kira said.
”Sure, what is it?”
”I can see that something is definitely different here,” Liz smiled a secret smile ,”and I was just wondering how you’re feeling today.”
Liz smiled warmly at him.
”I’m great, Kira,” she answered.
”So..all of the symptoms are gone?” Kira asked.
Liz nodded.
”That means...that the connection is open again?” Kira asked.
Liz nodded again.
”How- I mean, was it because of...uhm...”
Liz blushed.

”Yes, it was because of that,” she answered softly.
”Okay,” Kira said and leaned back in the arm-chair. He cleared his throat. ”That’s really good, Liz.”
Liz nodded, and then her eyes diverted to the bedroom door. Kira turned in the arm-chair, following here eyes. First he only saw the closed door, but two seconds later it opened and Max appeared.
”She’s asleep?” Kira asked.
”Yeah, she was pretty tired,” Max asked and walked up to the couch. Without a word, Liz straightened up from her horizontal position and left room for Max to sit down. Then she lay down again, now with her head in his lap.
”Maria asked me something yesterday,” Kira said.
He saw interest and attention settle over Liz’s beautiful face at the mention of her friend.

”What did she ask?” Liz asked. Even though she had never felt better, living with the love of her life and their common daughter, she missed Maria. She missed the girl talk... She was practically stuck with only men around (if you exclude Emma, since she fail to register as a potential girl talk participate). She hadn’t met Maria since they moved in here, and cut themselves off from the outside world, which was about a week ago.
”She was wondering if she and Michael could come and visit,” Kira answered.
Liz’s face shone up, and her eyes sparkled. She looked up into Max’s eyes, and he nodded with a small smile on his face - needing a little man to man talk himself with Michael.
”Tell them that it’s okay,” Liz said.
”When do you think that we should do it?” Kira asked, directing his question at Max.
”You decide. You know how the situation is with the guards and everything and you know more about organizing trips that aren’t to be discovered,” Max said. He hadn’t really put himself into the part of a leader yet. He had just got his soulmate back, and a child. All he could think about and concentrate on was their love and protecting them. Keeping them save. From the inside. The outside, and all the rules and leadership stuff he had left to Kira to take care of.
”Okay,” Kira said and nodded. ”I’ll check it out.”



Two days later

”Max! Max!”
Liz used the connection as a compass, tracing his presence to the bathroom. She lightly knocked on the door before she opened it slightly and poked her head in.
”Are you decent?” she asked, with a smirk on her face.
Max turned and looked at her.
”If I wasn’t, then it would already be too late, wouldn’t it, since you’re already half-way in here.”
Liz walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her, and took in the sight in front of her. Max was standing in front of the bathroom mirror - shaving. He was only wearing sweat pants - his upper body glowing in the soft daylight seeping through the high located small windows. She had tried to find Max in order to tell him something, but that was forgotten as soon as she laid her eyes on him.
”You’re right,” she said absent-mindedly as she traced the details of his chest with her eyes. His undressed state did funny things to her.
”But I guess you wouldn’t mind too much if I wasn’t decent,” Max asked, smiling too himself. He could feel her eyes on him, but he could also feel her increasing feelings of desire through the connection.
”Why do you use a razor?” Liz asked, as she stepped up behind Max’s back and unconsciously licked her lips as she now had an up-close and personal sight of Max’s back.

”What do you mean?” Max asked, somewhat confused. He lowered the razor in the water that he had tapped up in the sink, and cleaned of the lather before putting the razor back against his cheek. He could see Liz’s face in the mirror. He could see how she lifted her hand only to see the hand disappear behind his back. He gasped as he felt her light touch on his back.
”Uhm...why don’t you just like...wave your hand over your face and shave that way instead? Isn’t that less painful..and a much better time-saver?”
Actually, waving his hand over his face would make things so much easier right at this moment, because Liz’s touches on his back was making it very difficult for him to concentrate on not cutting himself with the razor. He was glad that he was nearly done shaving, because he had some other things in mind now than the removal of hair growth on his face.
”I found it better to learn how to shave properly - the human way, to avoid weird suspicions. And than I’ve just stuck with it..it’s become like brushing your teeth.”
”Really?” Liz said, her voice huskier than it was just a few moments ago. ”You mean you can avoid brushing your teeth as well and use some alien magic instead?”
”Y-es,” Max said, his voice pitching a little higher at the end of his answer due to the feel of Liz’s lips on his bare shoulder. She was leaving soft feather-like kisses like a trail of fire along his shoulder, moving up towards his ear.
”Well,” Liz said, her soft lips reaching his ear. Max put down the razor, realizing that it was a security risk to have razors in his hand as Liz was slowly driving him nuts. ”I think it’s good that you do those things the human way,” she started nibble his ear, and Max took a firm grasp on the sink at the sensations that rippled through him at her innocent touch, ”‘cause I think you look really sexy when you’re shaving.”

Max closed his eyes, and tried to hold on to the control he was quickly losing. But it was Liz he was fighting against here. Liz and her lips, and they were like poison to his self control. It did not take many nanoseconds before Max lost it and turned around with such swift movement that even Liz was startled. But before she could really register what was happening, his lips were crashing down on hers with a fierceness and passion unlike anything she had ever felt before. But she was gradually learning that Max had a million ways of pleasing her, and most of those methods involved his lips. He could kiss her in so many different way, but each kiss was always amazing in itself. He never stopped filling her with desire, passion and love. His lips were claiming hers, and his movements were fast. He pressed his body against hers and his lips traveled down her throat. Without stopping what he was doing he stretched out his hand towards the bathroom door and locked it. Moans of pleasure were erupting deep in her throat, and Max pined her against the wall, his lips never stopping in the exploration of her skin. She arched her head back at the emotions he was causing in her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, wanting him even closer. The outside world and all its problems was a long time ago forgotten, and they were once again drowning in each other.

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”So, where’s Liz?” Kira asked, not able to contain the smile that was tugging at the corners of his mouth from erupting, at the sight of a disheveled Max walking out of the bathroom. His hair was even more tousled than it had been when he stepped out of the bedroom an hour ago from a long night of sleep, and his cheeks were flustered.
”Oh, she’s taking a shower,” Max answered, and walked up to the kitchen table and took a bun. He took a bite from it and walked into the kitchen area to make some coffee.
”Did she tell you?” Kira asked.
Max poured water into the coffee machine while he looked at Kira.
”Tell me what?”
”I guess you got distracted, huh,” Kira said.
Max turned his back to Kira to take out the coffee from one of the cabinets, but not before Kira got the chance to see his smile.
”Uh huh,” Max said casual, his voice telling nothing but the posture of his body completely giving him away.
”Maria and Michael are coming here today,” Kira said.
Max put down the coffee on the counter and started to fill the coffee machine with the powder.
”That’s great,” he said. ”When?”
”I’m sending a man to pick them up at 6:30 sharp,” Kira said.
Max pressed the on-button on the coffee machine and walked back towards the table. He sat down across from Kira and looked him straight in the face. Max’s face had been transformed in a matter of seconds to the face of a leader.

”Kira, you have to make sure that no one, no one is following your man - neither on the way out of here and especially not on the way back here. This is a good hiding place, and I would like to keep it that way. I don’t want to rip Liz and Emma up by the roots again.”
”I assure you Max, we are taking extra precautions.”
Max held his gaze, and Kira didn’t look away. He knew that Max trusted him by now - otherwise he wouldn’t let him be anywhere near Emma or Liz, and especially not live under the same roof as him. But Max needed to trust him on this special matter.
Max’s eyes left his after some moments of pondering and he started to spread butter on his bun. Silence lowered itself over the table, as the men were lost in their separate minds.

A few minutes later Kira looked up at Max, as he suddenly gasped.
”Max?” he asked.
Max closed his eyes, his forehead creased in concentration and pain.
”Liz,” he murmured and bolted up from his chair. He run towards the bathroom, and ripped the door open. He could hear the water running in the bathtub, and he wasted no time on removing the shower curtain. He found her sitting at the end of the bathtub, her legs pulled up to her chest, the water running down her body.
”Liz,” he breathed, his voice marked with the hurt of seeing her like that. Without a second thought he climbed into the bathtub, turning off the water with his powers as he kneeled down beside her and put his arms around her. He could feel tremors cursing through her body, and she had her eyes closed.
”Liz,” he said again, but she didn’t react to him. She was completely unresponsive to his voice, his touch, him. All he could feel through the connection was fear and pain, and it was slowly destroying him. He couldn’t get through to her.
”Daddy?” he heard Emma’s small voice.
”Honey, go out to Kira,” Max said, his voice strained as he tried to break through to Liz.
”But mommy...” Emma started to protest. She too could feel the pain and the fear through the connection she had with her mother and it frightened her.
”Honey, mommy will be fine. Go out to Kira,” Max said gently.

Emma hesitated with her hand still on the doorknob, but then Kira came up behind her.
”Max, what’s going on?” he asked, and then he saw the naked form of Liz in the bathtub, cradled in Max’s arms. Even from where he was standing he could see the tremors cursing through her body.
”Kira, take Emma and get out,” Max ordered. That was the first time Max had ever given him a direct order and he took it without questioning. He took Emma by the hand.
”Emma, let’s go out,” he said.
”But somebing’s wrong with mommy,” Emma said, her eyes tearing up.
”Daddy is going to make her all right,” Kira said, ”but we have to leave them alone.”
”Okay,” Emma sniffed and let herself be lifted up by Kira. She trusted her daddy to make her mommy okay again. Kira pressed her sobbing body close to his and closed the door, his heart racing in his body. He hoped with his whole alien heart that nothing was wrong with Liz. She had been so happy the last two days and he hated to see that something had happened to destroy it.

Liz moaned deep in her throat - a moan of pain.
”Liz, you have to wake up!” Max said, his voice begging. His hand was repeatedly threading through her wet hair, drying it as well as trying to calm her down.
As her body suddenly went stiff, her back arching up Max thought his heart stopped in his chest. He tried to hold her still as her body started cramping.
”No, Liz. Please. Wake up!” he begged his voice hoarse.
The low cries that were erupting deep in her throat was nothing Max ever had heard and he didn’t ever want to hear them again. They made his heart go cold and shivers run down his spine. They were like the cries of a wounded animal, being tortured.
He frantically tried to get through to her. He reached deeply in the connection, concentrating hard on finding her. He started sending images of Liz’s life to her through the connection, trying to destroy whatever was happening to her with the strongest power he knew existed.

Love.

Her breathing was harsh in his ears, coming quick. Then her body relaxed, and instead she started gasping for air, making sounds as if she was suffocating.
Max had to focus very hard not to get distracted by her sounds of dying, as he concentrated on filling her mind with love. But it was hard as she was obviously suffocating to death right in his arms. He started to build up whatever energy he had inside of him - even energy he didn’t know he possessed - and focused it on reaching Liz, on bringing her back to him.

That’s when she stopped. Her body relaxed, and her breathing slowed down. Her cries of pain quieted, and she was instead clutching him to her, powerful sobs ripping through her entire being. Max felt the air fill his lungs again (he wasn’t even aware of the fact that he had held his breath), and his heart flutter to life again. He pulled her naked body close to his, feeling tears of relief running down his cheek. She was clenching his shirt in her fists, trying to shield herself from the reality in his arms.
”Liz, oh my God,” Max whispered. He had nearly lost her again. ”I was so afraid I’ve lost you. God, Liz. I can’t lose you. I love you so much. I love you so much.”
He started raining kisses over her face, tasting the salty tears.
”Liz, what happened?” he asked.
”I...I felt something,” she whispered, the sobs penetrating her every word.
”What did you feel?” Max asked, the fear sneaking its way back into his heart.
”It was so dark..and there was so much fear...and pain...and grief. Max...I think I was experiencing the future.”

Without further ado....



Chapter 32

They were all seated around the kitchen table. An alien king, his queen and his daughter, and their protector. She was wrapped up in a bathrobe, her daughter curled up in her lap. Her hand was tucked in his, gripping it tightly. He was worried - having once again been forced to realize the fragility of happiness, and life.
”Why is this happening to her?” he asked the protector, craving answers in order to be able to stop whatever was happening to his love.
The protector shook his head - not possessing any much more knowledge than his king.
”When you told me earlier that Liz had these...premonitions of her attack that revealed themselves in her dream state, I thought that it was just due to the fact that she was carrying Emma - and Emma was the source to it.”
”But Emma didn’t even exist when it all started,” she said, pulling Emma closer to her.
She felt her soulmate squeeze her hand and she welcomed the energy and reassurance he was sending her.
The protector rubbed his forehead with his fingers, an expression of confusion on his face.
”Yes...that’s what doesn’t make sense. And even if that had made sense, it had failed to explain what’s happening now..since you’re not pregnant now. Right?”
She shook her head. She would have known if she had been pregnant.
”Then what’s causing this?!” the king asked, starting to lose control over his emotions. ”She was dying!! We have to stop this! If it happens again it can kill her!”
”Okay,” the protector said and took a deep breath, trying to figure this out. ”This is the first time this has happened in an awake state, right?” He received a nod from her and he continued, trying to puzzle together his knowledge about his planets and his people with the knowledge he had collected about humans during approximately thirty years.

”According to my knowledge, you wasn’t even going to be able to carry Max’s baby. But something certainly changed when Max healed you, and opened up a connection between you. I believe that you two are bonded, something that once again is very rare on our planet. Therefore I have not much information in that area. I have tried to do some research on it these last couple of days, but there is not many who know anything. Not more than I do, anyway. However, I do know that powers can be shared between the connection-”
”What’s pwowers?” the princess’s small voice piped up. Her mother kissed the crown of her head.
”I will tell you later, pumpkin,” she whispered. ”Kira, please continue.”
”But somehow you haven’t used any of Max’s powers. So far you have used a power that Max doesn’t even possess. The power of foresight.”
”So there is a power like that?” the king asked.
”Yes,” his protector answered. ”There are some people on my home planet that have that power, yes. But what I can’t understand is why she is able to possess a power that she can’t get from you.”
”Maybe it’s one of Emma’s powers,” she proposed.
”No, as far as I know powers can only be shared through a connection between bonded individuals - not between a parent and their child. But that doesn’t mean that Emma is not in the possession of foresight. If that is a power possessed by you, Liz, then it can have been inherited to Emma. We know that Emma has inherited Max’s healing powers. There would have been a simple answer to all of this if Liz had been alien. But it always comes down to the same problem. Liz is human.”

”But if it’s a power, than why is it hurting her?” he asked.
”It’s probably due to the fact that she is human, and her body can’t handle the power,” the protector answered.
”But a power is suppose to help you, protect you,” he said, his heart filled with fear for something that was out of his control.
”In an alien body, where the powers are integrated in the DNA they are.”
”But in a human body the powers are treated like a virus, and the powers act like a virus,” the young woman who held the king’s heart whispered.
”Yes. The one thing I could resemble it to would be the human disease HIV. As the powers are progressing and are starting to become more or more rooted in your system your body will not be able to control it and the immune system will break down. Just like under the last stages of HIV-”
”You mean AIDS?” he asked.
The protector nodded.
”Oh my God,” she whispered.

-----------------------------------------------------------.

”Wait here,” the man who had been their escort for the evening said. He left the car and knocked on the door to the warehouse. The knocks held a code to the inhabitants. Maria leaned forward in the seat and looked at the man in front of the warehouse.
”Wow, you would think we were dealing with the president here,” she mumbled.
”In some respects we are,” Michael answered beside her.
”Right,” Maria said and leaned back in her seat again. The door to the warehouse opened, but the door shielded Maria’s curious eyes from perceiving who it was that had opened. She could see their escort talking with the unknown person and then the door was closed again, and the man walked towards the car. He opened the door on Michael’s side and motioned for them to get out.
”It’s clear, sir,” he said. Maria proudly hooked arms with Michael, feeling V.I.P:ish at being the girlfriend of a former ‘vice president’....or second-in-command as the aliens called it.
”Follow me,” the man said and they walked up to the warehouse. He opened the door and the first thing Maria saw was Liz. She shrieked and run straight into Liz’s arms.
Michael motioned inside, shaking his head. He was acting causal, but he couldn’t quite hide the grin that was threatening to break out on his face. The two girls hugged tightly, their voices mixing together as they told how much they had missed each other, asked how the other had been, and so on.

Max stepped up to Michael and gave him a brotherly hug.
”Hi Michael,” Max said.
”Hey,” Michael said and nodded towards the two babbling girls. ”I guess we shouldn’t let those two be separated for too long from now on.”
Max looked at the humans that meant so much to them, as Liz now had started to drag Maria around the warehouse to show her how it looked like.
”I guess not,” Max said smiling.
”Max... Liz looks...wow,” Michael said.
”I know,” Max said softly, love filling his voice.
”Yeah, of course you do. But to you she’s always beautiful, even if she would shave her head and dress in a black garbage bag. What I mean, Maxwell, is that there’s something different about her. Really different.”
Max turned around and followed Liz around the room with his eyes. She was always beautiful in his eyes, and that had never changed - but he knew that something was different about her.
”The connection is open again,” he said.
Michael Guerin, formerly known as a bona fide alien with a stone wall around his emotions, couldn’t stop himself from pull Max into another manly hug. But he was quick on letting go again. He straightened his shirt, and looked somewhere behind Max - somewhat embarrassed that he let his emotions get the best out of him. It was just that he knew how much it had been killing Max that the connection was blocked, that Max was unable to reach Liz. And Michael was just so happy for him.
”That’s really great, Maxwell,” he said.
Max grinned from ear to ear as he nodded.

”Then how did you guys manage to unblock it?” Michael asked, and watched as a red coloration started to spread in Max’s face. He arched on eyebrow.
”Oh, I get it! You did it, huh?! I knew it! Maria was going on and on about how Liz wouldn’t ‘cause she was so sick. But hah, I was right!” Michael had now a large smug draped over his features.
”Do you want something, Michael. Coffee, a coke, a snapple..?” Max said, quickly wanting to change the subject. What happened between him and Liz was private and holy, and he was not going to discuss it with Michael.
”Sure, a snapple would be great,” Michael answered and followed Max into the kitchen. ”So she’s like fully recuperated now?”
Max opened the refrigerator door to retrieve two snapples, but not before Michael had a chance to see his face glaze over.
”Yeah, all her symptoms are gone,” he answered and gave Michael one of the snapples and closed the refrigerator door.
”But....” Michael prompted. He knew that there was something else behind all this.
Max looked innocent.
”Nothing,” he said and shrugged.
”Maxwell,” Michael said, his voice holding a warning note. ”Don’t start keeping information from me again. If there is something else - something alien-related - I think I have the right to know.”

Max inhaled deeply.
”Liz has powers,” he said.
”So?” Michael said, not understanding what could be so wrong with that. Liz certainly had some powers already when she reached for Max in New York City five years ago. So what was the big deal?
”Her body can’t handle it,” Max said.
”What?” Michael sank down on the couch with a thud, eyeing Max for any information on what the hell he was talking about.
”She’s human, Michael. She isn’t suppose to even have powers,” Max explained.
”But she has had powers for a while now, right?” Michael asked.
”Well, theoretically no,” Max said. ”Kira explained to us a while ago that she didn’t actually have powers. She was just tapping in on them through the connection with me.”
”Heavy,” Michael said and opened his coke.
”But now that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.”
”Okay, Max. You’re stalling. Just tell me what it is already,” the impatient side of Michael said.
”This morning she had a premonition...you know, she think she saw the future. According to Kira, that’s a power. But I don’t possess it - neither of us do - so she couldn’t have acquired it from me.”
”Are you saying that powers are just mysteriously popping up inside of her?” Michael asked.
”Something like that,” Max said.
”But that’s good, Maxwell. It’s good that she has powers too so that she can protect herself.”
”No, it’s not,” Max said. He leaned back in the arm-chair, closing his eyes - his face worried.
”Then what?”

”Like I said, it seems as if her body can’t handle the power. Her body can’t accustom itself to the power. Instead the power is making her immune defense turn against her.”
”You’re kidding, right?” Michael sighed. Would this ever end?
”God, Michael. You don’t know how much I wish I did,” Max mumbled.
”What are we going to do about it?” Michael asked.
”I don’t know. Kira doesn’t know. As far as he knows humans are neither able to bond nor get powers from aliens.”
”But now Liz is doing just that. Get Kira to look it up. He’s our damn protector, it’s his job to protect us. And if Liz is acquiring powers - then I think it certainly includes her too.” Michael was getting angry. They were stuck on this planet, and they had let fate play around with them for too damn long. It was absolutely not to soon to take some action. That man who called themselves their protector seemed to Michael as he didn’t know a shit, and it was making Michael really angry. He didn’t like putting his life, his security, and most importantly the people he cared about into someone’s hands that was clearly incompetent at doing his job. He couldn’t understand how Max could trust him.
”He’s trying, Michael,” Max said tiredly. ”He has his men on it, doing research. But this is the first time this has ever happened. They don’t know anything. And what they know they have informed me and Liz about.”
”That’s just crap,” Michael said. ”Why don’t you do something yourself, Max?”
”I wouldn’t know where to start looking, and I don’t feel comfortable leaving Liz and Emma alone. My hands are tied.”
”Are you just going to let her die?” Michael said, and put the can on the table with a bang.
”No, Michael,” Max said angry. ”I will not let her die!!”
”No? Then do something,” Michael demanded, raising from his seat, unable to sit as the feelings of annoyance and anger cursed through him.

”What are you doing?” Maria’s voice interrupting them. The two men were now standing about one meter from each other, looking hardly and challenging at each other.
Max felt a surge of calmness through the connection and turned his head to look into Liz’s chocolate eyes. Obviously she had felt him getting all worked up.
”You aren’t going to start to fight, huh?” Maria asked. ”We’ve only been here for about ten minutes and they are all ready hitting at each other with their sticks. Unbelievable!!”
”Max, what were you talking about?” Liz asked.
”Nothing,” Michael huffed.
Liz eyed him. He was looking at her differently. Like he was...worried about her.
”You were talking about me, right?”
Max walked up to her and encircled her in his arms. He needed her. Needed to be reminded that she was okay.
”Max, I’m fine,” she whispered reassuringly to him.
”What’s going on?” Maria asked, feeling left out.
Liz released herself from Max’s embrace and took Maria’s hand.
”Maria, there’s something I need to tell you,” she said.
”Why do I get the feeling that it’s something bad?” Maria murmured as she sat down on the couch, preparing her body for whatever weird things her already freaked out life was going to be filled with.

------------------------------------------.

Their leader sat behind the large desk, going through every document they had gathered on Zan. Their was a knock on the door, and one of the guards positioned by the door opened it.
”I have a message for Isacha,” a voice said - who the leader recognized as belonging to the highest commander among his men here on Earth.
”Let him in,” he ordered and the commander entered. His normally expressionless face revealed something else for once.
”What is it, Magnin?”
”I have news for you, sir,” Magnin said with a small smug on his face.
”Yes?”
”Sir, we have localized their position,” the man said.
”Then it’s time to put our plans into action.”



TBC....

Hey everyone!

I'm sorry if it takes me a while between the updates - my life is continuosly getting in the way

I'm happy to see several of the people from the old board here!! And even some new ones have found there way here..and to this fic!!


Thanks a million guys for the feedback...


woodwinds Ahem... *hides behind my chair* it's getting worse...

frenchkiss

Shari

Art

roswelluver

angeleyes

Gigo Gigo, thank you so much for your consistent bumping. It was you who got me thinking; "Eh, what the heck" and post another part This one is for you!!

Lynn

Snowdove30

VickiV Have you posted on my fic before? Or have you just changed your user name, because I don't recognize you Anyway, thank you so much for the feedback!!

Liz Hey, I'm so happy that you are still sticking around to read my story even though you probably spend most of your time over at Outer haven. I'm actually planning on posting TWOD there, but I was a little confused where to put it - if it belonged in the dreamer section or in the smut section, because I have some (very) mild NC-17 in one chapter. So I sent the chapter in question to Meagzie and asked her, but I'm still waiting for a reply. Maybe you know, since you're a moderator too...

Dreamer 17 Hey! Welcome to this fic, and this board!! I'm so happy to have you here!! Thank you so much for the fb!!

Katie Hey Katie! I've missed you!! I'm so happy that you found your way back here... when I got your e-mail I was afraid that perhaps there was something about the switch of the servers that unabled you to get into the board. I'm so happy that wasn't the case!! And I think the board is real cool, although I'm still a bit bugged out by the fact that you can't as easily keep track of your subscriptions... but there are a lot of things you can do here! I tell you about it later!!



Okay, people. The show must go on...




Chapter 33

The TV was on and the apartment was filled with the sounds of a hockey game. There was a knock on the door. Maria’s voice blended with the commentator’s voice on the TV, and reached Michael’s unreceptive ears.
”Michael!! Can you get the door? I’m painting my nails!!”
Michael huffed and stood up from his comfortable position on the couch, and moved towards the front door - one eye constantly glued to the screen. The safety chain drifted out of the latch by an invisible force, and then the doorknob was turning.
”Hi Michael!!” her voice chirped in his ears. He released his gaze from the TV screen and look at their ‘guest’ to see if it really was who he thought it was. Yep, it was her. Tess. The one person that had been ‘hanging out’ with them for about a week now. They couldn’t seem to get rid off her. And it was slowly killing both Michael and Maria, since they knew what Tess had been a part of but they still needed to act like they didn’t have a clue. Raise no suspicions, remember. Well, it sucked!

”Hi Tess,” Michael said tiredly.
Tess took the liberty to walk into the apartment and sat down on the couch in front of the TV.
”So, who’s winning?”
”No one it’s seems. It has been dead for ten minutes,” Michael said, standing in the middle of the room, staring at Tess and cursing whatever force that were responsible for putting Tess in his living room when there was a game on TV.
”Tess...did you want something?” Michael asked.

”Yeah, I was thinking that we could all do something together,” Tess said. ”You know, the old gang. I think we need a break.”
”A break from what?” Michael asked, already beginning to get worn out by Tess’s over-energized behavior. He walked into the kitchen to get a bag of chips. He was actually having a break until she walked in.
”Just a break,” Tess said innocently. ”Where’s Max anyway? I haven’t seen him in ages.”
”Well, he’s in his dorm, cramming for exams. You know him - he always took those things seriously.”

”Okay,” Tess said. She knew that Max was in this moment studying as much as she was right now. She knew that Max was with Liz, and that was why he had been missing in action the last couple of days. But she was going to pretend that she bought that explanation to Max’s whereabouts. She wasn’t going to push it and give off the appearance that she was suspicious. This had to run in accordance with the plan. And she was going to stick with the plan this time - and she would in the end get Max, just as she’d always wanted. She needed to get them out of the apartment, out of reaching radius.
”They’re having a rave at the old soap factory,” Tess said.
”Really?” Michael asked. He couldn’t be less interested.
”Yeah, and I’ve already talked to Kyle, and Alex. It would be so much fun if we could all go!”
”Go where?” Maria asked as she walked into the living room, unable to hide the venom in her eyes as she laid her gaze on Tess, sitting on the couch.

”Oh, hi Maria. We were all planning on going to this rave at the old soap factory.”
‘Oh, so now it’s we,’ Michael thought as he poured Tabasco sauce over the potato chips.
”We are?” Maria asked.
”Yeah, wouldn’t it be fun to do something together for once. I’ve called everyone, and Alex is going to ask Isabel.”
Maria thought about it. That sounded like a lot of fun. And she didn’t really need to spend so much time with Tess. Additionally, it meant that she would get Tess out of this apartment.
Michael thought about it. On TV they were playing a hockey game, which he had been just fine watching. He didn’t really feel like going out anywhere. But if it meant getting Tess out of this apartment then it was fine with him.
”But rave? Is that really us?” Maria asked.
Tess shrugged.
”I don’t know. But I’ve never tried it and it would be fun to try something new,” she said.
”Okay, how much time do I have to get dressed?”

-----------------------------------------

In an abandoned warehouse, outside of Roswell

”That’s why you’re special, honey,” Liz said, stroking Emma’s hair.
”And it’s not bad special, but good,” Max said - trying hard to believe it himself. This far all his origin had done for him was getting him into trouble, messed up his life - and was slowly killing his soulmate. He received a warning look from Liz, and he could almost hear her in his head, telling him to stop blaming himself.
”You can use your talents to help other people,” Liz said. ”Like when you healed my hand, and when daddy healed my stomach that we were telling you about earlier.”
Emma nodded. Trying hard to understand. Her parents had told her that she was special. That who she was and where she came from made her special - different from others, but different in a good way. That meant that she had special talents, and could do cool stuff. But they had also said that there was people out there who didn’t like her and her parents. That she couldn’t quite understand. She hadn’t done anything to them. She had never been bad to them. But one thing that had come through loud and clear was that she was a princess. Just like the sleeping beauty...or Cinderella.
”Mommy, why don’t we libe in a big cwastle?” she asked, the discussion about talents (as Max and Liz had decided to call the powers) forgotten for the time being.
Liz and Max smiled lovingly at their daughter.

”Soon, pumpkin,” Max promised, and hoped it with all his heart. ”Soon, we will have our own very castle. But not the way you imagine it. It will look like just another house. But it will be really great.”
Emma’s small lips formed into a small pout, disappointment written over her face.
”You see, Emma. Here on Earth, no one knows that you are a princess,” Liz tried to explain.
Emma looked surprised.
”No one knows dat you’re a king either?” she asked her daddy.
Max shook his head.
”That’s why we are going to live in a normal house,” Liz continued. ”But I’m sure you gonna like it anyway.”
”Can I have a dress?” Emma asked.
”Sure,” Max promised, and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. ”Now you have to go to sleep.”

”But I want to know more,” Emma protested, while she could barely keep her eyes opened.
”There’s a new day tomorrow,” Liz said, also kissing Emma’s forehead.
”Sweet dreams,” Max said. ”Nite, honey.”
”Nite, daddy,” Emma said. ”Nite, mommy.”
Liz smiled, and turned off the bedroom lamp.
”Nite, Em.”
Max took Liz’s hand and together they walked out of the bedroom.

----------------------------------------------

Liz felt herself drift up to the fringes of consciousness again. She was laying on the couch, her head on Max’s chest, his arms wrapped around her. There was something keeping her from completely falling asleep. There was something tugging at her consciousness, something that wanted to be known. A sense of dread. She pushed her head higher up to Max’s warm neck and breathed in his scent - trying to calm down her senses. She felt Max unconsciously wrapped his arms tighter around her, sensing her feelings of mischief. She closed her eyes anew, trying to surrender her body and mind to sleep.

--------------------------------------------

”There’s something wrong,” one of the guards said to his partner.
”What?” the partner asked.
”Can’t you feel that? It smells like smoke.”
The partner looked up at the sky, trying to see the smoke.
”I can’t see anything,” he said after scanning the sky.
”Everything is vibrating with bad energy - it’s like something is bound to happen, like something is awaiting to break the peace.”
”Kaleva, I know that you’re good at sensing energies, but I can’t smell any smoke.”
”Remember Zosima, your sense of smell is not as developed as mine. We need to contact Kira.”

”Are you sure? I don’t want to wake him up if nothing’s wrong.”
”I would rather wake him up one time too many...”
The two guards walked up to the backdoor, and as they got closer to the warehouse even Zosima had to admit that it did smell like smoke.
”Inform Kira, and I’ll inform the others,” he said.
Kaleva nodded and his partner was off in the darkness. Kaleva opened the backdoor - which was directly connected to Kira’s room. Kira was in front of him before he got time to open the door completely.
”What’s wrong?!” he demanded.
”We can smell smoke, sir,” Kira’s guard answered.
”Shit,” Kira murmured, and turned around to notify Max. His primary priority was to get Max, Liz and Emma out of immediate danger.

He opened the door, which led to the rest of the warehouse and his vision was immediately blocked by a thick gray smoke. He concentrated on separating the gas molecules from each other, pulling them apart so that he was able to see something. He pushed up the gas molecules to resemble a wall around him, while he could walk freely in a created lane free from smoke. Having the warehouse memorized to every millimeter he made his way to their bedroom, and opened the door. The bedroom was dark, but the smoke was not as thick in there as it was in the rest of the warehouse. Imagine his surprise when he found the bed to be empty.

He walked up to the bed to make himself absolutely certain that his eyes weren’t fooling him. The bed was unmade - it had been slept in. But now there was no one there. His mind started to think strategically. They could be anywhere in the warehouse, they could also be outside - having noticed the smoke and left. He made his way out of the bedroom and to the bathroom - only to find that empty as well. The smoke was only getting denser, and then he saw the coach - with Max and Liz sleeping on it. He quickly strode up to the coach and shook Max violently by the shoulder. He was difficult to wake up, the smoke had already started to fill his lungs, clogging his senses.

Max opened his eyes, and found Kira’s face hovering over him. Something was wrong. He started coughing, and blinking. His eyes were stinging. When he opened his eyes again, he saw that even though the air around them was clear - the rest of the warehouse was covered in thick smoke. His first thoughts were on Liz and Emma. He bolted upwards, and found Liz snuggled up to him. Feelings of relief flooded through him, until he noticed that Emma wasn’t there.
”Where’s Emma?” Max croaked, his voice hoarse. He doubled over as he was assailed by another violent cough. He shook Liz, trying to wake her up. She came to with a series of rough coughs.
”I don’t know,” Kira said.
Max started to entangle himself from Liz and stood up, staring at Kira. Liz looked at them confused - fear gripping her.

”Where’s Emma?” she asked. She tried to reach out for her daughter through the connection but she couldn’t get through.
”Max, something’s wrong. I can’t reach her,” Liz said.
Max wasted no time as he started to move towards the bedroom.
”I’ve already checked in there,” Max heard Kira yell after him. ”You need to get out. This place can blow up...”
Max ripped the door open and rushed to the bed. Even though he saw that the bed was empty, he still pulled at the covers - hoping against all odds that she was laying under them. Fighting of the feelings of horror, in order to not get slowed down, he kneeled beside the bed and looked under it. He pulled up his arm, and his palm radiated a white glow, illuminating the surroundings. It was empty. He rose again and stepped up to the closet, opening it and searched all the shelves - even though they were too small for Emma to be able to hide in. He scanned the room one last time, before he bolted out of it - heading towards where he thought the bathroom was. He didn’t even bother to take away some of the smoke to make it easier for him. All he could think about was Emma. Something had happened to his little girl. He pulled the bathroom door opened. He searched the bathtub, the space under the sink, and the corner between the toilet and the wall.

-----------------------------------------------------

”Liz, please. You have to get out. I will have my men do this,” Kira begged Liz as he tried to keep up with her as she too had started to search the warehouse for her daughter.
”NO!” she cried. ”My baby’s missing...and I need to find her!!” Her voice was determined, but Kira had never heard her so worried before...he had actually never heard anyone that worried before. He decided that it was no use fighting her, so he trailed after her - helping her in her search as much as he could by keeping the smoke away with his powers. He certainly hoped that the whole building wouldn’t collapse or explode.

--------------------------------------------------------

She felt him move towards her, and she looked up to see the door open. She rose from her kneeling position and run towards him. She crashed in his arms, and his arms went around her. They clung to each other. They were both covered in dust, their hands and faces black. Their hair, clothes, and skin reeked of smoke. But that went them unnoticed. Their daughter was gone, taken from them in the night. Abducted...



TBC...

Hi... *waves cautiously* I guess I kind of upset you with the last chapter .... But when you continue reading just always keep in mind that I’m a firm believer of happy endings, and also a true Dreamer !


Thank you all of you who have left feedback!! Can’t thank you enough! Love your reactions by the way


BehrObsession

Lynn

sweetygurl

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Liz

buffylicious

woodwinds

roswelluver

Shari

Gigo Hey... When I dedicated the last chapter to you I was sort of thinking that it perhaps wasn’t the best chapter to dedicate , but think that I dedicated the update to you instead - not the content of the chapter. Okay..? Okay. I’ll find a happier chapter to dedicate to you later instead, since you are my most fervent bumper

dreamer17

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Katie I like your reasoning, Katie. Blame it all on Tess...hehe, she sure can come in handy for some situation!!



Okay, and now for the last chapter.... whooops! Okay, calm down... Not the last last chapter... just the last chapter of the first part - since I decided to divide this fic into two parts (maybe more - I don’t know yet...) And don’t get too angry with me, please . Keep in mind what I said at the top of this post....





Chapter 34

Michael felt the cell phone vibrate against his thigh, and he reached down with his hand to pick it up. He didn’t recognize the number on the display. The music was hammering around him - the volume so high that he barely could hear what he was thinking. He quickly sought out the nearest green exit sign and moved towards it. As he opened the door and stepped outside - the door swinging shut behind him - the music was muffled and he took a breath in relief. He pressed the connect-button and put the phone to his ear.
”Yeah,” he answered.
”Michael, it’s Kira.”
Michael frowned. Why was Kira calling him?
”Tell Isabel to get ready, a ride is on its way to pick you up. Try to not be too conspicuous as you leave. And take Tess with you.”
”What’s going on?” Michael asked.
”Emma’s missing.”

------------------------------------

The three passengers of the dark Cheva could all see the smoke as a big dark cloud against the clear, dark night sky.
”Oh my God,” Isabel whispered. ”What’s going on?”
Tess was trying her best not to let her emotions shine through. Had everything gone according to the plan? Had Max, Liz and Emma been captured?

There was a large pang, like the sound of a gun being fired, and then the car was driving off the road. The three passengers looked terrified at their driver as he slumped over the steering wheel. Michael reached forward, and took a hold of the steering wheel. He felt something drip on his hand, and he looked down. His hand was gradually being stained with blood droplets.
”Oh shit!” he said.
”What?!” Isabel shrieked.
”He’s been shot,” Michael said, as he crouched down with his head - both in an effort to shield himself from whatever gun shoots might continue to be fired in his direction, and also to remove the dead driver’s foot from the gas pedal.

The car was heading out in the desert - bumping over stones and shrubs. With a shrill shriek it came to a halt. Michael climbed back in the backseat.
”Get down,” he ordered the girls. They complied, pressing their foreheads to their thighs - trying to make themselves as compact as possible.
In a crouching position, Michael scanned the surroundings.
”It’s clear,” he said and opened the door on his side. Just then he was knocked to the ground by an invisible force.

Isabel pulled the door close with her powers as she saw Michael slump on the ground. She motioned for Tess to open the other door and get the hell out of there. She had to help Michael. She saw Tess step out of the car, and then Tess was on the ground as well.
”No, please!” she cried. ”I did my job! I got them out of the apartment!”
Isabel pulled herself backwards, away from the opened car door. There was a crackle of energy, and the next thing she knew she was looking at a Tess that seemed to be on fire. There seemed to be electricity running through her, and her skin appeared was turning scorching red. And then there was Tess’s animalistic cries. Isabel’s couldn’t breathe as she witnessed how Tess was slowly melting - and then she was gone. A pile of dust everything that was left.

Isabel couldn’t move. She couldn’t see the attacker. All she could think about was that Michael was out there - with someone that had melted Tess - and Isabel was pretty exposed too. Her head jerked up, as she heard the sounds of energy jolts being fired. She heard someone cry out and then everything went silent again. Isabel could hear the blood pumping through her veins. Her breathing was labored and she was still unable to move.
”Vilandra,” a voice said, and then a face showed itself through the open car door.
Isabel gasped and suddenly got her mind working. At the same time as she was moving backwards in the backseat - until she felt the other door against her back - she put out her hand in front of her and fired. At the instant that Isabel fired, a purple force field was put up in front of the person - absorbing her energy jolt.
”What do you want?” Isabel demanded, her voice much calmer and authoritative to realistically represent her inner turmoil.
”Don’t worry, princess,” the man said. ”I’m on your side. I’m here to take you to your brother.”
Isabel furrowed her forehead.
”And why should I trust you?” she asked suspiciously.

The man reached out his hand towards her, and she instinctively shrunk back. He stopped in his movement and instead took his other hand to pull up his sleeve. He waved his hand over the arm, and their was a short flash - and then a symbol appeared. It was their symbol. The same symbol they had seen on the orbs, and the same symbol that had been on the pendant she had found at Atherton’s home.
”It means that I’m loyal to the king - King Zan,” the man explained.
”Tess was also suppose to be loyal to Zan, but she wasn’t,” Isabel said. She had a good feeling about the man. But she’d had a good feeling about Tess too when she had arrived to Roswell - so she wasn’t so sure she could trust her instincts when it came to aliens.
”How do I know that you’re just not mindwarping me into making me believe that I’m seeing that symbol, when I’m really not?” she asked.
The man searched her face, and realized that she needed more convincing. He put his hand in his pocket and picked up what looked like an ordinary stone. But then he waved his hand over it, and it turned into a communication device of some kind.
”Sir,” he said into the communicator. ”Come in, sir. We have a situation here.” Isabel didn’t like that it was referred to as a situation - it gave her the creeps.
”Kaleva? Where are you?” Isabel could hear Kira’s voice asking.
”We’re about two miles from the target location, sir,” the man Kira had called by the name of Kaleva answered.
”What happened?”

”They’re were attacked, and Ava was killed, sir.”
”Are Vilandra and Rath okay?”
”Yes, sir. The situation is taken care of. Although I need to convince Vilandra of my identity. Could she talk to Zan, sir?”
”Yes.”
The communicator went dead, and Isabel and the man stared at each other. Isabel had already been fairly convinced of the fact that the man wanted her no harm, since she had heard Kira for herself. But she wanted all evidence she could get. And a fake Max would never fool her.
”Isabel?” the communicator spoke.
The man offered Isabel the stone and she took it.
”Max?” she asked.
”Isabel, you have to go with the man. Trust me, it’s safe,” Max said.
”Max, what’s going on?” Isabel asked. Michael hadn’t told her anything, and neither had anyone else. She felt completely in the dark - having no clue to what was happening.
”It’s extremely important that you and Michael go with that man and come here. I need you.”
”But Max...”
”No, Isabel,” Max said, his voice harsh. ”We’re not discussing this any further right now. There is no time.”
Isabel might not know in full detail what was going on, but by the sound of her brother’s voice, she knew that she should expect the worst.

---------------------------------------------------

Isabel stepped out of the car, her eyes wide as she scanned the exterior of the warehouse, and its nearby surroundings. There was smoke boiling out of its every opening, the sky above dark. There were people running around outside the warehouse, but Isabel only had eyes for her brother. He was standing a few meters away, his back towards her, talking to what appeared to be one of Kira’s men. Isabel only had to take one look at Max tense stance to know that something was horribly wrong. Michael stepped up beside her, rubbing his forehead with his hand. He had a pounding headache after being knocked down.

“Max!” Isabel yelled, and started to walk quickly towards her brother.
He turned around immediately as he heard her voice. Isabel’s steps faltered a little in speed as she looked into his taut face.
“What’s going on, Max?” Michael asked.
“I need you two to search the building,” Max said. Isabel stared at him.
“Max, you better tell me what’s going on right now,” she demanded.
“I want you to search after Emma,” Max said. His voice was cold, emotionless, and he was giving them orders as if they were his soldiers.
“Haven’t you commanded all of your men to do that already?” Michael asked, his voice tight as he grew increasingly angry with Max’s bossiness.
“I need you to do it,” Max said, “I trust you.” His stone face fell for a fraction of a second, then he tiredly covered his face with his hand.
Isabel reached out and put a hand on his shoulder in an act of support.
“We’ll do everything in our power to find Emma,” she said. Isabel took away her hand and Max looked up into her face.
“Thank you, Isabel,” Max whispered, his voice cracking.
Isabel smiled weakly and then took a firm grip on Michael’s shirt.
“Come here, Michael,” she said.
”Yeah, yeah,” Michael huffed. Honestly, he didn’t have a problem with searching after Emma. He loved that girl already. She was like a niece to him. He had only for a second there fallen back into his resistance to be bossed around when it came to Max.

--------------------------------------------

They searched until the sun started to rise above the horizon. They searched as the sun made its ascent on the sky. They searched as the sun started its descent – acknowledging the end of another day. They were all searching – Max, Michael, Isabel, Liz and Kira and his army. Later even Maria, Alex and Kyle joined them. But Emma was nowhere to be found.

Liz stumbled to the ground. Her limbs ached, her head throbbed, and her throat was dry. But the physical ailments were nothing compared to the pain she was feeling in her heart. She closed her eyes and for about the million time since her little girl had disappeared, she concentrated on their connection, trying to reach her. The tears started to slide down her face, causing streaks to be formed in the dirt on her cheeks. She couldn’t reach her.

She felt him sit down beside her, and she felt his strong arms encircle her. She leaned into him.
“Can you reach her?” Max asked.
Liz shook her head. They grew silent. It seemed hopeless. They had searched for almost twenty-four hours – searched for anything at all. Any clue. But there was nothing. Max was certain that Emma was in the hands of their enemies – and it was slowly killing him that he had been unable to protect her. He tried to block it out – tried to shut off his feelings. Otherwise he was certain that he would not be able to move on. He would be incapable of leading any kind of search, and he would fail Emma once again.
“Max, don’t,” Liz whispered, and looked up at him with her tear-streaked face. Max looked into her eyes. The eyes he always found comfort in, and calmness. They were so different now. At the same time as they were still the same eyes as they had always been, they seemed colder – like life had vanished.
“They have our baby girl, Max,” Liz whispered, her voice cracking with emotions, “and we can’t get her back if we let guilt win.”
“I failed her, Liz,” Max said.
Liz too felt that she had failed her daughter. If only they’ve slept in the same room, Emma might still be with them. If only she had went to check on Emma when she had felt that deep sense of dread simmering through her body. But she couldn’t let that thinking drown her. She had fought that kind of thinking for a big part of her life – when every day was a struggle of sheer willpower to go on. She knew how that kind of thinking could destroy a person.
“Max, we have to think about her. We have to concentrate on her.”
Max swallowed – forcing down the sobs that threatened to erupt in his throat.

“Max, Liz! We’ve found something!”
Max and Liz eyes broke contact as the searched out Michael running towards them in the darkness.
“What is it, Michael?” Max asked, not being able to stop the hope from awakening inside of him.
Michael crouched beside Max and Max felt something cold being placed in his hand. He looked down and found himself looking at a stone – barely small enough to fit in his palm, with the appearance of amber. Its surface was shimmering. It looked as if water was floating over it. But that wasn’t possible – since the stone was completely dry.
“What is it, Michael?” Liz asked, her voice strained as she stared at the stone in Max’s hand.
“One of Kira’s men said it looked like a communicator,” Michael answered.
“It’s not communicating,” Max said in a low voice.
“No,” Michael shook his head, “we couldn’t get it to work either. Maria suggested that we should give it to you.”
“There definitely is something different about it,” Liz said and moved her hand to feel the texture of the mysterious stone. As soon as her hand brushed against the surface, an hologram sparkled up in front of them. Liz jumped back – startled – and her hand moved away from the stone.
“Liz, I think you need to touch it too to get it working,” Max said and gently took her hand in his. Liz looked into his eyes, and then she felt the cold stone against her fingertips once again and a white hologram appeared in front of them. She diverted her eyes away from Max and they both looked up at the hologram. Liz inhaled sharply as the image of Nicolas appeared on the screen. She could feel Max’s anger seething through the connection.

“Max. Liz,” the hologram of Nicolas said – looking straight at them. “I see you found the stone.”
“Nicolas,” Max breathed, his voice clouded in hatred. But Nicolas was neither able to hear nor see Max, since it was only a recorded message.
“I believe that you by now have noticed the absence of your child. She sure is beautiful, Max. I was planning on taking Liz as well – I could have had some fun with her – but I guess the plans changed.” Max pulled Liz closer to him. “By now you’ve probably been enlighten about the death of your mate, Max.” Max shivered, and took an even firmer grip around Liz. His fears were lessened a bit as Nicolas continued, and Max realized it wasn’t Liz that was being discussed. “Tess was always a weak individual, and she was not to be trusted – neither in this lifetime nor in the lifetime before.” Nicolas smiled smugly. “But now that problem is out of the way. I guess you are only happy about her death, Max... Now, I’m sure you are interested in what I have to say about your daughter. Yes, she’s with me. Unfortunately for you, she is not within your reach. Not within your reach at all I must say.” Nicolas smug was pure evil and gloating. “Our ships were loaded earlier today – as you were still searching I presume,” Max’s heart stopped, “And by the time you receive this message we are already on our way to Antar – with your daughter.”



END PART 1

A/N: The dialogue within * means that it is spoken in Antarian....

Chapter 2 (mild ADULT)

*What if she isn’t able to heal?*
*She’s Zan’s heir, and he has the ability to heal.*
*Yes, but healing is a recessive gene – that’s what’s making it so rare.*
*There’s something about her. She has the same aura about her that Zan had as he was younger. I’m almost positive that she has inherited the healing powers.*
*Then why didn’t she heal?*
*Because she’s a stubborn child?*
*She’s four - in human years. We offered her to meet her parents if she healed you. That would have convinced any child – especially if it is held against its will by people it doesn’t know. If she could heal, she would’ve.*
*Maybe it’s the block that shut down her powers. Maybe we’ve been wrong to where the healing powers are localized in her brain, and the block is preventing her from tapping into them.”
”We can’t remove the block – then she will contact her parents.*
*It’s not certain that she even has a connection. Her mother is human.*
*Yes...but we can’t risk that.*
*Just for a little while.*
There was a pause as the suggestion was pondered.
*Okay, but then you really have to have her co-operate with you – otherwise we are taking a great risk for nothing.*
*Yes, of course.*
*And we don’t inform Khivar of this – not until we know that it has worked. Because if it doesn’t, and he finds out – he’ll have us slained.*
The other man swallowed convulsively and nodded.

-----------------------------------------

She felt his lips brush against her forehead, and she slowly opened her eyes.
“Hey,” he greeted her softly. “How did you sleep?”
He was leaning over her, a gentle smile playing at the corners of his mouth. To see her waking up in the morning always made him smile.
Liz yawned, and then gave him a small smile.
“Actually pretty good,” she answered.
Max nodded.
“I could sleep tonight too,” he said.
Somehow this made Liz worried, and she bolted upwards from her horizontal position, almost knocking Max over. He looked at her – surprise etching his features.
“What?”
“I don’t know,” Liz said. “That just make feel so uneasy.”
Max frowned. He had learned to trust Liz’s instincts – they were often right.
“You haven’t been able to sleep for more than one hour tops since... “ She left it unspoken – to difficult to voice. “And now suddenly you can sleep – and on top of that I have a good night – free from dreams.”
Max sat down beside her on the ‘bed’, and took her hand.
“Try to reach out for her,” he prompted.

Liz closed her eyes and focused on the little brown-haired girl, with the deep and warm amber eyes. She focused on her sunny smile and her pearling laughter. She gasped as she felt her. She felt Max squeeze her hand – but he was far away. She was deep in her mind, trying to reach into her daughter’s mind. But she couldn’t get in. She crashed back to reality. She opened her eyes, and inhaled sharply as her lungs were filled with air.
“What happened?” Max asked – concern mixed with hope in his voice.
She swallowed and then lunged herself at him, curling up against his warm chest. Max could feel her conflicting emotions through the connection – the most evident being relief. He held her tightly to him – trying to calm her by shoveling his own feelings of anxiety to the side and focusing on sending her calmness.
“I felt her, Max,” Liz whispered.
“You did?” Max asked, his whispered voice cracking with emotion.
“But I can’t get inside her mind. She isn’t letting me in. But she’s alive....and she’s not in any pain.”
Max closed his eyes, feeling a part of his heart springing to life again as the much longed after feeling of relief started to take away some of the guilt that had infested itself in his whole being. They sat there in the silence and held on to each other, as their daughter was being pounded with questions some miles away.

------------------------------------------------

The man looked at the little girl who was curled up in one corner of the room – her eyes stubbornly squeezed shut.
“Why can’t you help me, Emma?”
She didn’t answer. She hadn’t given him an answer to anything he had said to her, since they had taken her out of that isolation cell. He began to wonder if it had been an effective decision or not to ‘punish’ her like that. She seemed more detached – more introvert. He was getting increasingly agitated that she was reaching out to her parents. He had to do something. He turned to the communicator that was put in the wall and called one of his men to bring the test subject.

Emma looked up as she heard the door open. Her eyes went wide as she saw a little puppy being handed to the frightening man.
“Look what I’ve got, Emma,” the man said and held up the puppy to her. The dog had been retrieved from Earth. They didn’t have dogs on Antar.
He could see the interest flash in her eyes – and he could see how desperately she tried to not show her excitement. They didn’t have much time – far too much time had already passed. So he moved his hand to the dog’s head, and squeezed. The puppy started to whimper, and Emma stood up quickly – moving towards the puppy. There was still caution in her steps – but her eyes were fixed on the puppy. She could feel its pain course through her body – she could feel it just by looking into those beautiful brown eyes.
“Stop it!” she cried. “You hurting him!”
He stopped and removed his hand, but there was now a wound on the top of the puppy’s head – above its head.
“You hurt him,” Emma said – tears shimmering in her eyes.
“You can make him feel better,” the man said. Emma looked at the mean man. She couldn’t understand why he would hurt that little puppy. It hadn’t done anything to him. But she could make it feel better, and that was what she was going to do.

She didn’t like the fact that she had to step closer to the frightening man – but her compassion for the little dog made her move her short legs. Her eyes were fixed on the puppy, and she failed to notice the smug that crept over the man’s face as he realized that she was going to do it. She looked into his sad eyes, as she slowly put her small hand over his ear – covering the wound. The dog whimpered some, then Emma removed her hand. The man looked down as Emma removed his hand. He had seen the glow radiating from her hand, and now he could no longer see any trace of the wound that was once on the top of the puppy’s head. He had never personally witnessed a healing, and he was awestruck with the powers of this little girl. Emma looked up at him with sad eyes.
“Don’t hurt him again,” she said. The man looked at her – not being able to hide the surprise that flashed by in his eyes. Her statement wasn’t a plea, but an order and the authority to her voice was clearly registered. He squinted his eyes in dislike and then put his hand to the side of her head. Before she could react he had formed the connection that would once again close the connection with her mother.

-----------------------------------------------

“No,” Liz said slowly, devastation in her voice, moving away from Max’s embrace.
“What? What?” Max asked, his heart missing a beat at the agony in her voice.
“I lost her,” Liz said slowly. “I lost her.”
Max searched her face and tried to push away the feelings of nausea that threatened to claim him. It had almost been better if they hadn’t gotten any contact with Emma. To have been able to experience hope, to just have it squashed again just as quickly was more painful than he could ever imagine. As he pushed back his feelings to the place in his mind where he could store everything that he couldn’t bare to deal with, he was able to focus on the emotions he felt floating through the connection. The feelings of disappointment, failure, and guilt from Liz.
“Honey,” he said and gently put a finger under her chin to direct her eyes to him. But she kept staring at some point behind him.
“I couldn’t hang on to the connection,” Liz said, her voice colder than Max had ever heard it and it chilled him to the bones.
“Liz, you did everything you could. Your powers aren’t as advanced yet. Don’t blame yourself,” Max said softly.
“What if they hurt her, Max?” Liz asked – her question turning Max’s blood into ice. “What if they kill her?”
“No, Liz,” he whispered. “We are not going to let them do that. We are going to find her. Do you hear me? We are going to find her, and bring her home.”

A sob erupted from Liz’s throat and she nodded slowly. It frightened Max that Liz was starting to doubt. Of course the doubts and insecurities were always present, but Liz never broke down. She always kept up a brave exterior – even though she knew that Max could feel the truth through the connection. It was more often Liz that comforted Max, when he was being devoured by guilt for not being able to protect his daughter from harm. He put his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. He planted small kisses at the side of her neck. He could feel her calming down through the connection, but only to quickly be replaced by something else. She pulled out of his embrace again, and locked her lips with his. He could taste her salty tears on her lips, as his passion for her (which was always to some degree there) flared open.
“I need you,” she whimpered in his mouth. Her desperate and lonely plea did weird things to him. He cradled the back of her head with his hand and angled her head so that he could get more access to her mouth. He felt the deepest sense of wanting to protect her, of wanting her. Wanting her to be safe, and happy. His lips brushed over hers, sending sparkles through their bodies. Their tongues tangled together, their hands rooming over their bodies. They were trying to find solace to the loneliness that was creeping into their bodies. Tears were still running down Liz’s face as she put her hands at Max’s hip, took a hold of the edge of his shirt and started to tug it upwards. Their lips only broke contact long enough to remove the article of clothing. Liz’s lips left Max’s and moved downwards. The stubble on his chin tickled her lips as they brushed over the texture, making her want for him even deeper. She needed to feel him. All of him.

“Liz,” he groaned as her lips touched his bare chest, warming his insides with her feathery touch.
His hands had crawled under shirt, caressing her back. His movements were restless. He needed to feel all of her - at the same time. He pulled out his hands from under the shirt, Liz gasping softly at the loss of his warm hands on her bare skin. He took hold of her shirt and pulled it upwards. She stopped loving his chest with her lips and lifted her hands upwards to help him to remove the shirt. She had nothing under the shirt and the shirt was quickly forgotten as soon as it left Max’s hands and floated to the ground. His hands found their way back to cradle her face, his thumbs gently moving against his cheeks. He started to kiss her tears away, gently trying to remove the traces of bitterness and hopelessness. His gently kisses made more tears well up in her eyes, and she sought his mouth out again. His hands fell to her bare back, his caressing heating her body. She unconsciously scooted closer to him, and they both gasped as her bare chest came into contact with his. The touch was electrifying. Their kisses became more passionate – grew more urgent. Max’s warm palm skimmed back and forth over her smooth skin, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. Their bodies were gradually heating up, and their breathing grew shallower - faster. Their feelings matched each others through the connection, the connection serving to amplifying the already intense emotions. They needed the comfort only the bonding of their bodies could provide. They needed to feel whole – complete.

Max kissed Liz’s last tears away as he lowered her down on her back on the mattress. Their hands never stopped touching. They needed each other in every way, and every touch was able to bring them some console. Max’s hands were strong and powerful hands. They had the ability to heal, but also to protect. The gentleness of his hands and his soul never stopped to amaze her. His palms spread a tingling warmth wherever they touched and as his lips followed the movements of his hands over her soft belly a charged current coursed through her body, making her hunger for him even greater. She moaned as he raked his teeth gently across a spot just below her ribs. Her breasts ached after his touch, her nipples painfully hard. His lips were caressing her skin with open-mouthed suckling kisses, while his thumbs were stroking the edge of her breast ever so tenderly. But it was driving her crazy.

”Max, please,” she whimpered, her body screaming out for him. Her plea was loud and clear in his mind, and he lifted his head to look at her. Her eyes were closed, some traces of tears still present in the corners of her eyes. Her mouth was slightly open, her lips red and swollen. Her hair was spread out around her face, but it was her face that caught him. It was the expression of pure pleasure on her face that in that moment made him want her more than he had ever wanted her. His hand moved to the side of her breast, the feathery touch making Liz arch her back up against Max - her head tilting backwards - a moan escaping her beautiful lips. He moved his hand slowly up over the swell of her breast, feeling the small tremors going through her body - feeling her feelings combined with his through the connection. It was a marvelous feeling. He could feel everything she was feeling, and she could feel everything he was feeling. They were one more now than in any other time. The only time they could really feel each other on this plane of fulfillment was when they were joined - when they were making love. And right now they needed to feel that connection more than they had ever needed before. His thumb brushed over her nipple, and they both gasped at the electric thrills jolting through their bodies at the contact. Images of their life together started to flash in front of their eyes, making their need for each other increase. Their feelings were bringing them to a climax just by the contact of their minds stimulating the other.

Liz’s hands dove into the dark soft curls that covered his head, urging his mouth down to hers. Their mouths came together in a silent explosion of need, their tongues seeking each other out and they were feeding on the taste of the other. Max leaned down on Liz - feeling her nipples brush against the hard planes of his chest - as he rested most of his weight on his elbows. The touches were sizzling, filled with electricity. He was pulling her close to him, as if he wanted to absorb her into his very flesh - his hand gently kneading her breast. Liz put her arms around him, her finger nails brushing against his skin making him shudder with lust.
”Liz,” he moaned, and his lips left hers to travel down her neck - brushing over her collarbone. Wanting to taste every millimeter of her. Nothing went unexplored under his touches. But Liz needed him now - she couldn’t wait any longer. Her body was aching for him. She needed to feel him inside of her. She needed him to complete her. His lips reached her breasts and he left hot trails of kisses along the soft skin - deliberately avoiding the dark nipple. His breathing matched hers, the quickening of their hearts acting simultaneously.

Liz’s hands moved down Max’s back to the edge of his pants, and found their way inside his pants brushing over his firm buttocks. God, she needed him. This strong man, with the gentle heart but powerful soul. The intensity of her need for him almost frightened her. He groaned her name as he felt her small hands touch him, the groan making his lips vibrate against her breast, making Liz arch her back against him again. He took her nipple in her mouth and she almost came right then.
”Max, ” her voice a raspy whisper. The tip of his tongue flickered over her nipple, making her breathing almost painful. She lifted her upper body, her movements urgent as she tried to remove Max’s pants. Max’s lips left Liz’s breast, the loss of his heat making her whimper. He put his hands over hers and took over the task of removing the last piece of clothing. His hands moved to her pants and pulled them down. Their movements were now urgent, the need for the other almost too much to bear. Max positioned himself at her entrance, and before he entered her he caught her eyes.

”I love you,” Liz whispered, her breathing shallow.
”My love,” Max whispered and captured her lips in a soft kiss that was in sharp contrast to the turmoil and intensity of feelings riveting through their bodies. He entered her slowly, his control being on the edge of unnatural. He wanted to love her slowly, gently. He needed her to feel all his love for her. He needed her to feel that she was his whole life. He needed her to feel his reassurance that everything was going to be all right. But he also needed to feel her love. Their bodies moved together, their minds melting together along with the movements of their bodies. Their bodies moved faster as they the pressure was increasing, and they tumbled over the edge almost simultaneously - both crying out as the waves of pleasure went through their bodies. Max collapsed on Liz, his arms around her. She pulled him close to her - their bodies molding together. He was still inside of her - still connected - and they soon feel asleep.



TBC...


________________________________


Lynn Thank you for explaining the mysteries of the Dutch language ! I was going to write "Thank you so much" - and when I came to translating 'so' there were dangerously many options - and I was actually hoping that the one I choose wasn't the one you actually said it was - namely "to sow"... Well, well.. I guess that Swedish isn't such a hard language. I've got the impression that Swedish and Dutch is pretty similar to each other. I stumbled across a Dutch website once and I could understand about 90 % of it. We do have genders - den/det... and I guess that is what foreigners found the most difficult. Katie has actually made some very brave attempts on writing to me in Swedish Dank je! .... That's correct?


Everyone I have written many chapters of this already, so I just gotta find the time to proof-read it and find the time to post it (it actually takes me about one hour to post, with thank yous and everything )...


Big hugs!!

Love,

Josephin

A/N: Just a quick reminder - The dialogue between * is spoken in Antarian...



Chapter 3

The halls were towering in front of her - their ceilings painted in the lightest blue, capturing the green glow of the sky outside in perfect harmony. Still, the same halls - with their supporting pillars lining the walls - were menacing to her. They were menacing because of everything they stood for - everything they represented: wealth, power, authority, greed, suppression, parsimony... death. The soft thudding of the soles of her shoes bounced off the walls, intensifying with each instant of impact. There were few Antarians in these halls. Antar was appearing increasingly desolate. Its inhabitants were hiding. Hiding from the very same things that resounded through these halls.

There were doors lining the hall on her left. On her right the upper part of the wall was replaced with a silverish substance that caught the light of the red sun and let it spill over the stone floor. A soldier from the King’s command guarded each door, their bodies frozen in position as if they weren’t even alive. But if you would try to sneak past them you would instantaneously be penetrated by one of their deathly strikes. The King’s men were strong and powerful. They were trained to be their best - but so was she. That’s why she had been summoned today. The Livenders had commanded her presence, and she could do nothing but comply. She reached the door at the end of the hall. This door was larger, and its dark appearance menacing. The bulky guard immediately stepped up to her as she approached the door.

*Your business here?* he huffed.
*I am to meet with The Livenders,* she said, her head taking on the correct angle to show her respect for the guard but at the same time not show insecurity or fear.
*Have they requested your presence?* the guard asked, a hint of hostility in his voice.
*Yes,* she answered.
*What is your name?*
*Serena.*
The guard put out his hands and let them hover over her, seeking out her essence - verifying her nature.
The guard announced, *You are free to enter the realm of The Livenders,* as he removed his hands from her body. With a wave of his hand the door disintegrated. She stepped through the slight mist that worked as a protection against intruders and found herself in a large room. The high ceiling was supported by pillars that were covered in the most rare and beautiful colors she had ever seen. The floor was black stone and the rays of the sun spilled over it - making it cascade in beams of soft red. There were no walls. It was as if she were outside. Nevertheless, she knew that it was all just an illusion - a creation of powerful minds and hands. There were walls, but just as in the hall you could see through them. In contrast with the walls in the hall - these walls appeared to be non-existent from the inside - but appeared to be stone walls seen from the outside.

*Emotival Serena,* a deep voice greeted her and she turned around to face the source of the voice.
The man was about her height, with dark eyes - almost pitch black. His features were strongly marked in his face. His lips were long and thin - his mouth quite big. She could read his calmness and subdued authority.
*Livender Laiko, master,* she responded, casting her eyes downwards while bowing her head slightly.
*I’m pleased to have you here.* His deep voice echoed in the nearly empty room. *Let’s move into the Lower Chambers.*
*Yes, master.* She followed him across the large floor into a little more restricted space where lumrosas were hovering in the air. She had heard some about these lumrosas. They were used to sit on - like chairs. As you sat on them, you could hardly feel that you were sitting - it was as if you were flying in the air.
*Take a seat, Emotival Serena,* Laiko said, waving his hand in the direction of the lumrosas.
Serena sat down on the hovering green lumrosa, feeling it shift under her weight - as if it were accustoming itself to her and her body. It was an amazing feeling. It was as if the lumrosa became a part of her, a part of her body.

*Time is of great importance, so I will inform you promptly of my reasons for summoning you.* Laiko positioned himself in the lumrosa across from Serena.
*Thank you, master.*
*You have been brought here in light of your reputation. Khivar has requested your assistance on a very delicate matter. Since you are known for your capability to register emotions, the King has found you a suitable match.*
Serena waited patiently for him to continue. She had a feeling this was something big. If the King himself had requested her, it must be a very important matter.
*We want you to take care of a child,* Laiko said.
*Excuse me, master?* she said in an inquisitive tone. Had she understood him correctly? Was the ‘delicate matter’ her baby-sitting?
*The prominence of this child is of high significance,* Laiko continued. *However, since the child arrived she has shown close to no co-operation. The King believes the child needs a female.*
*A female, master?*

*The child needs a substitute for her mother,* Laiko answered.
*Is the mother dead, master?* Serena asked, already feeling sympathy for this child.
*Yes,* Laiko answered. Serena furrowed her eyebrows slightly at this. She had sensed a flicker of deception in his emotional radiation. Her suspicion and curiosity were peaked to say the least. What was so special about this child?
*The child needs...uhm...love, * Laiko said. *Considering your own loss, you are even more qualified for the matter.*
*Yes, master,* Serena said, her thoughts swirling around in her head.
*Will you accept the offer?* Laiko asked.
Serena didn’t even need time to think about it. This whole matter intrigued her. She wanted to know what child they were talking about.
*Yes. Thank you, master,* Serena said.
*Then I thank you for your co-operation. You will be compensated in accordance with your accomplishments with the child.*

------------------------------------------------

She was surprised to find the door to be of a peasant quality. It did not disintegrate under the touch of the guard, but was instead unlocked and swung open inwards. She was prompted to go into the room, and the door swung close behind her, leaving her alone. But she wasn’t alone. The room was fairly small. It had a little bed, and a small wooden table with one little chair by one side of the room. There were no windows, but the room was nevertheless bathed in light. There were spotlights lining the edges of the ceiling where it met the walls. Serena had to blink repeatedly before her eyes grew accustomed to the intensity of the light. She was immediately struck by the emotions that were simmering in the room. Her eyes tried to seek out the source of the feelings - the child she was supposed to meet. She saw her sitting in the corner, behind the little wooden chair. Her knees were pulled up to her chest - her face hidden behind her knees. The little girl was dressed in a white dress, her bare legs looking pale in the white light. Her dark hair cascaded down her back, some of it shielding her face. She didn’t even look up as the sound of the door closing echoed through the room.

Serena slowly approached the small figure, and she winced as she saw the little girl flinch and press up even further against the wall as Serena stepped closer. Serena could both see and feel how frightened the girl was. What had made her so frightened? She kneeled beside the girl, although she left some distance between them. She didn’t want to frighten the child more than she already had.
”Hey,” she said softly. The human word felt unnatural on her tongue. She had been going through an intensive course to learn the Earth language American. She had been surprised to say the least to find out that the little girl was from another planet. However, as her eyes took in the appearance of the little girl she couldn’t see anything different about her from ordinary Antarians. She didn’t know much about Earth, but she would certainly try to find out as much as possible after this visit. She needed to know what kind of environment and culture this girl had been brought up in.

The girl didn’t look up but Serena could feel that her feelings were changing; some of her fear was dissipating.
”How are you feeling today,” Serena asked slowly, trying her best to form the words correctly.
The girl lifted her head slightly, and Serena could see the girl looking at her through her dark bangs.
”I see that you have a beautiful dress on today,” Serena continued. “Do you like dresses?”
The girl shook her head and Serena was happy that she had been able to trigger a response.
”What do you like to wear?”
The girl didn’t answer, but Serena wasn’t going to give up.
”I like dresses,” Serena continued. “But I want them to have a little more color. I love blue. Which color do you like?”
The girl nodded her head slightly.
”You like blue too?”
The girl nodded again, stealing another peek at Serena. The girl’s emotions were easy to access, but they were so multilevel that they were somewhat tricky to interpret.
”What else do you like?” Serena asked. She didn’t expect to get an answer, and was surprised to hear her little voice.
”Mommy,” she whispered.
”Mommy?” Serena repeated, as she quickly tried to find the word in the vocabulary she had learnt. “Your mother?” She asked the first word she could think about.

The girl nodded again.
”You know what?” Serena said, “I liked my mother too.”
The girl tilted her head up and Serena found herself looking into the most beautiful eyes she’d ever seen. There was such depth in them, and an innocence that left her dumbfounded. They were of a color that she’d never seen in Antarian eyes. Antarian eyes were either green, light blue or black - never brown. These were brown with flickers of gold in them. The hurt and sadness she saw in those expressive eyes broke her heart and she wanted to take that little girl in her arms and hug her. Assure her that everything was going to be all right.
”I want my mommy,” the little girl said.
Serena felt tears stinging her eyes. The little girl’s mother was dead, and she obviously didn’t know.
”You miss your mommy, huh?”
The little girl nodded, tears forming in her eyes. “I want to go home.”
”I miss my mommy too,” Serena said.
”Your mommy’s gone too?” the little girl asked.
Serena nodded, scooting a little closer to the girl and felt some sense of joy and relief in her heart when the girl didn’t flinch as she moved closer.
”Yes,” Serena answered. “My mother died when I was little.”
Serena was amazed to feel sympathy flare through the little girl’s emotions. That this tiny girl could feel such genuine sympathy towards a grown up - a stranger - was beyond her.
”Were you as small as I am?” the girl asked tentatively.

Serena nodded. “Yes,” she answered. “You miss your mommy?”
The girl nodded her head.
”What’s your name?” Serena asked.
”Emma,” the girl answered.
”Emma,” Serena repeated, tasting the Earthly name on her tongue. “That’s a beautiful name. I’m Serena.”
”I’ve never heard that name before,” Emma said.
Serena smiled at her matter-of-fact tone. This girl was strong.
”No, it’s an unusual name,” Serena said, thinking that it was an alien name to an Earth girl. “It was nice meeting you, Emma.”
Emma’s head shot up, and fear flashed in her eyes.
”Are you leabing?” she asked.
Serena quickly got her mind around Emma’s mispronunciation of the word and answered in her best calming voice. “No, I’m not leaving.”

The relief she could feel oozing off the child was extremely intense. What had happened to this child? Her inquisitive mind was already going over all the different things that were wrong with this picture. Why would people on Antar be so interested in a child from Earth? And more importantly, why would a child be taken from Earth to begin with? Had the mother died on Earth or had she died here? If the latter alternative was true, why had they traveled here? Was it common knowledge on Earth that there was life on other planets? Was Earth as developed as Antar? In that case, why weren?t there more Earth habitants coming to Antar? And why was this little girl locked up in the palace with a guard and double locks on the door? Why did her room remind Serena of a laboratory with its strong lights and bare furniture? She had got to find more information on this. She felt the strongest urge to help this child.

-----------------------------------------------

She could feel his warm lips touch her forehead, brushing over her closed eyelids and stopping to linger at her lips that were curling up in a small smile.
”Morning,” Max said, as he could feel her wake up through their connection. She opened her eyes and smiled at him.
”I love waking up this way,” she murmured.
”Well, you don’t hear me complaining,” Max answered. “Are you hungry? Michael made breakfast.”
Liz curled up closer to his body, letting out a sigh of contentment as she felt his arms tighten around her.
”I guess not,” he said, planting a light kiss on her temple.
”I just wanna stay here for a while, and forget about everything,” Liz said. Max knew exactly what she meant. Neither one of them wanted to think about the fact that they were really laying on a thin mattress, positioned in a little tent, which was located someplace out in nowhere on a foreign planet in a foreign solar system.
”Hey! Are you awake in there?” Michael?s voice grunted outside the tent. They could see the contours of his body moving outside the tent, towards its opening.
”We’ll be right there,” Max answered.
”Okay, food’s gonna be cold, you know,” Michael huffed.
”We’ll be right there!” Max repeated.

Liz giggled as they watched Michael?s shadow disappear from the tent. “He’s getting a bit sensitive in old days, isn?t he?”
Max smiled, looking deeply into her eyes - once again mesmerized by her beauty - as he removed one of the strands of her dark hair from her forehead.
”Yeah, I’m actually starting to miss the whole I-don’t-give-a-shit-about-what-anyone-else-says attitude.”
He leaned down to give her a soft kiss. Liz closed her eyes, relishing in the taste of his lips.
”I guess we should get going,” Max said. “We have a long day ahead of us, and we should probably start off with a healthy breakfast.”
Liz sighed, hating the feeling of reality trying to seep into her dream world.
”You’re right,” she said. She knew that she had to do this. She was going to practice with her new powers. She had never tried to control them before, but she knew that she had to practice so that she could later use them to save her daughter. It was going to a long day all right. A very long day.




TBC...

A/N: This chapter is somewhat out of the ordinary... the fic will be returning to its original "style" in the next chapter



Chapter 4

Let me tell you a story. Like any good story it has princes, princesses, kings, queens and villains in it. It could even start with “Once upon a time...“ But this isn’t a fairy tale. There are certain elements that might tell you otherwise, such as the fact that the main characters in the story have powers. Yes, that’s right. They can do all these cool stuff just by thinking about it. If they one day wake up and take a look in their closet and they don’t like what they see, they can just wave their hand and they suddenly have a completely new wardrobe. And homework...well, that’s no problem. See, with their advanced minds, homework is no biggie! They can just skim through it once and they will remember it forever. But this story isn’t just about powers - you’ve probably already figured that one out.

This story goes way beyond that. Let’s go back in time, about eighty years. We travel through space, gracefully avoiding all of the planets (hey, it’s going really fast here, okay?!) and we suddenly find ourselves on a green planet. Well, that’s what it looks like on the outside, because the atmosphere consists of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and a lot of other trace gases. Some of you might stop here and think... Isn’t that the same gases that the atmosphere on Earth consists of? Well, right you are! However, on this far-away planet, the composition, and more specifically, the amount of the different gases is different from Earth. For instance, the gas called oxygen that is so important on Earth for metabolic reactions to occur is not as abundant on this planet.

The lack of oxygen has of course some ramifications on the appearance of the habitants. Due to the lack of oxygen, the processes in the body aren’t able to work as fast. Result; the inhabitants are smaller in height. However, they are also more healthy-looking. They have rosier demeanor than Earthlings, since more red blood cells (the ones that binds the oxygen and transport it to the different areas of our body through the blood) are produced to bind as much oxygen as possible. Otherwise, they are pretty similar to Earthlings. The importance of this similarity will show itself later.

So, let’s move on. We are now on that far away planet, and it’s a really exotic place. Let’s call it Antar. The sky is, as mentioned, green and the sun is red. The sun in this solar system is dying - but the inhabitants of this planet have existed for a long, long time. Let me put it into perspective. When the very first humans started traveling out from Africa to spread across the Earth’s surface, the Antarians had already invented highly advanced technology. However, there are some differences here of course, and this is where the royalties come in. We have our beautiful queen, and our handsome king. They are actually getting to rule the whole planet. Not just some part; they have to make decisions that affect the whole planet. We’re talking big responsibilities here.

As Earth is putting a time of hierarchy behind them, Antar is actually embracing the idea. We have the peasants: the poor people feeding off of the land, barely making it through the day. They live in cottages in their fields. We have the bourgeois - well, let’s call them that for now. They are in the middle class. They are often working in the defense sector, or as counselors to the royalty. Unfortunately, there is an abundance of the poor. Not all are peasants - some are fishermen or foresters. Also, there are the separatists… but I will come back to them later. Finally, we have the royal family. They are at the top of society, of course.

Remember this beautiful royal couple I mentioned? Well, they had two children; one boy and one girl. The boy was quiet and shy, whereas the girl was talkative and outgoing. They were as different as night and day, and sadly they never really got along. They couldn’t understand each other. It wasn’t just sibling rivalry. No, it was something much deeper than that. They grew up in the confines of the palace. They never really understood what was going on outside those walls. This is where the bad guys come in, the villains. Yes, we have to have a villain. See, there were other planets nearby. Since traveling through space was not as much of a problem anymore, another planet could be compared to another country to us Earthlings. Traveling to the neighbor planet was like traveling across the country border to the neighbor country. Quite simple.

But there was a war going on. There was a lot of politics in it too, but I’m not going to go into that. Notice how in every story there’s an arch-villain. Take for instance, another alien: Clark Kent, also known as Superman. Sure, he had a lot of enemies. Many wanted that guy killed, but the person who hated him the most was Lex Luther. Tumtada dum!! The arch-villain. Well, in this story there is also an arch-villain, by the name of Khivar. He wanted power. He wanted wealth. He wanted control. And he wanted Antar. He actually already had his own planet, but I guess that wasn’t good enough for him. He wanted more. Greed is an ugly trait, and it’s one not only possessed by humans. So he started to form a plan. He gathered men. He trained them. He made their hearts as cold as stone. He made their minds as sharp as a needle. While his men were being trained for battle, he was preparing for the ultimate goal: to bring down the king of Antar and his successors.

One day he actually succeeded. He killed the king. Remember the quiet and shy little boy? Well, he was now about eighteen in Earth years, so when his father was assassinated, that boy was in line to be the next king of Antar. But a king can’t rule alone; he needs a wife. On another planet close by there was a young girl who had just turned sixteen. The boy’s father, the king who was assassinated, had planned with his wife to have his son marry this young woman. It politically advantageous to unite the two planets through marriage; the girl was of royal blood, so through marriage the couple could rule both planets and would have more resources. The king died before he could see his son marry, but his wife wasn’t going to let the opportunity slip out of her hands.

At that moment in time, there was an even larger reason for the son and woman to join in marriage, as they were on a brink of war. They would have more men to fight on their side if they were to join the two planets. The boy was called Zan. The young woman was called Ava. Their marriage was to bring peace to not only their planets, but to the whole solar system. They were to make decisions side by side to stop the advance of the enemy. However, they were still children in many ways. They had never directly experienced the world outside the walls of the palace. What they knew they had acquired through learning programs, emotionless machines. They knew almost nothing of the world they were about to rule. The story takes a bad turn from here on out, but it isn’t over yet...

I also mentioned Zan’s sister. Her name was Vilandra, and she was very beautiful. Stunning. The men took one look at her and she captured them forever. She was everything you would expect from a princess. She had the beauty, she had the intelligence; she even had her white stallion. But this princess wasn’t like the princesses we love from our precious fairy-tales. She wasn’t a Cinderella, or a Snow-White. She didn’t find pleasure in helping children, or talking to animals. She watched her brother grow up, and the jealousy inside of her grew along with it. She wanted fame. She wanted attention. She wanted everyone to look at her, to admire her. She wanted them to want to be her, and to envy her. But most of all, she wanted power, because that was what was going to make her famous.

She had no greater interest in making boring decisions about the welfare of the planet. No. She was going to marry and let her husband rule, so that she could stand by his side and be envied. She could dress up for all the parties, and could feel the admiration from the women and men around her. She was going to marry Khivar. Yes. That was her plan. They both wanted the same thing. They wanted Zan out of the picture. Vilandra wasn’t aware of the fact that Khivar had actually murdered her father. Being the cunning villain that he was, Khivar had hidden his tracks well - making the assassination appear as if it was at the hands of the rebels. Yes, a form of separatists. Vilandra wasn’t completely evil. She was too blinded by jealousy and greed. She didn’t really wish her brother’s death but, sadly, she didn’t realize that until it was too late.

With those ominous words we move on to a happier occasion. At least that’s what it looks like on the outside. It was the day of Zan and Ava’s wedding. Let me tell you something about Zan. He never really wanted to be a leader. He wasn’t interested in power or wealth. He felt as if he were meant to do something else with his life. He wanted to go out among the people. He wanted to see the world, to experience the world, to drink in the world. Ironically, this was what made him a true leader. He was born a leader, not only by title, but also by his essence. He wanted a better world, and what better place to do that from than from the throne? But there was a void inside of him. He never truly felt alive. He missed something in his life - something he knew he was going to recognize as soon as he saw it. He was certain of one thing. The sixteen-year-old girl that was to be his wife wasn’t it.

You see, as in most stories where there are kings and queens, princes and princesses - we also have arranged marriages. Zan didn’t really have a choice. He had been secretly betrothed to Ava as a young man. You might think that now that he was the king he would be able to take that rule away and not marry Ava. But he also needed support. He needed someone to stand by him. He couldn’t rule by himself. He felt that his sister was turning away from him, and his mother was so persistent that he marry Ava. He didn’t have the will or strength to fight. He didn’t have anything to fight for. The wedding was beautiful. It was truly spectacular. Several Antarians were there to see their new royal couple because they had doubt in the capacity of these young people, but they were willing to let the new rulers prove them wrong.

I want to tell you that everything turned out all right. That perhaps Zan and Ava did learn to love each other, and that Zan found a purpose in his life. But I can’t. Vilandra was sneaking off in the middle of the night to have secret meetings with Khivar. They whispered plans in each other’s ears under the covers. They made plans for Zan’s destruction. The only support Zan could find was in his best friend Rath. He was the only one Zan trusted. Zan ruled well. He did everything by the book, as his father had told him, as the machines had taught him. But there was no feeling, and the planet was falling apart.

In one last attempt to bring his kingdom together, Zan suggested that Rath would take Vilandra as his wife. Rath accepted the request out of loyalty to his king. Vilandra protested - loudly. I guess you could say that the marriage was the final drop that made it all spill over. The plan was to kill Zan and Ava at a party. Everything turned into a big mess, ending with far more casualties than just the two planned. Vilandra, realizing what was going to happen to her brother, rushed straight into the line of fire. She died. Zan was hit by the next blast and was instantly killed. Rath died trying to protect Ava, after having failed to reach his king in time. Ava was killed shortly thereafter. Now, I know that in fairy-tales the good guys always win and the bad guys always lose. Well, this time the bad guys won. But just for then.

See, researchers had found that there was a planet similar enough to Antar in both atmosphere and in the appearance of its inhabitants. Guess which planet? I give you a clue. You’re on it. Yes, that’s right. Planet Earth. So an advanced plan was being formed. Actually, this plan had been under construction so to speak, since the older king had been assassinated. Because Zan was the last living heir to the throne, he was very important. As long as he lived, Khivar couldn’t take over the planet. Khivar knew that, so he had Zan murdered. However, Zan’s men also knew that. Without their king’s knowledge they started to experiment on humans.

Oh, right. I guess I should tell you about that one as well. You know all those people that we have thought were a bit crazy because they were talking about alien spaceships coming in the middle of the night and taking them away and doing experiments on them? Well, those aliens were Antarians doing research. But the researchers weren’t bad guys. They actually put the humans back. What? Wasn’t that nice enough? Well, they did have a planet to save. After acquiring enough information they found donors to provide genetic material to mix with the royals’ essences. They were going to create hybrids. And get this. They were going to look exactly like humans, so that they could grow up among humans. Hiding in plain sight, right? Well, that was the plan…

So, the royal four - as they were now called - were sent to Earth in their new forms, growing in pods. There were actually eight pods....hmmm.... Well, that was the safety plan. One set was made to look exactly like the original one, but it was made more alien on the inside. They were hidden away in New York, in the United States, on Earth. The other part stayed in Roswell. Oh, I forgot to tell you about that one. I pretty much suck at telling stories... Have you ever heard of an alien crash in Roswell, New Mexico? There was supposedly a crash in 1947 that was covered up by the military. They claimed it to be a weather balloon that fell. Yeah right! Guess what?! It was our aliens arriving. Something went wrong on the craft, and they hit ground with tragic repercussions. Several of the passengers were killed at impact, but some survived and were able to hide the pods. Now, they sent one set to New York, as I blurted out earlier, and the other one was hidden in a cave in Roswell.

Are you still with me? Remember that thing Zan was searching for? That he felt that he was missing? He found it. One regular day in 1991 he stepped off a yellow school bus - in his nine-year-old body - and saw her. Now we are coming to the princess part of the story. Where the prince falls head over heels in love with the princess. Okay, there actually weren’t any princesses or princes any longer. They were just normal school kids. Zan didn’t remember anything from the life he had lived on another planet. His name was now Max. Max Evans. And the greatest joy of his life was to sit in a restaurant and watch a dark-haired waitress in Star-Trek uniform all day long. Her name was Liz. Liz Parker. The girl he had loved ever since he first saw her that day. So...did Max get his Liz? Let me just say that there was some complications. Some very big complications. But this story is far from over yet...


TBC...

Hi all!

I'm happy you enjoyed the previous chapter. It was sort of an experiment... to do something entirely different. I guess having five younger siblings have a certain effect on how you explain things lol...

I was actually watching the last episode of S2 yesterday (they aired it on Danish TV, and living close to Denmark we're able to tap in on their channels), and my seven-year-old sister came and watched it with me. She's pretty good at reading the subtitles, but she couldn't then because it was in Danish...

Anywaaay... She knows that I always look at Roswell. Whenever I have the TV on, she takes one look at it and says something like "Oh, are you looking at that again!!" But yesterday she actually asked me what it was about. And believe me it was difficult to explain. "Well, they are really aliens, and they lived before on another planet. But they look like humans because...hmm...we have something inside of us that decide that you are going to have blonde hair and blue eyes instead of brown hair, and it's called DNA..." And so it went... I'm happy that I don't have to explain the basics to you guys


I haven't got the time to answer you individually today.. Chemistry test *sigh*...

But THANK YOU all for the feedback! It means tons to me!!!


Lynn Suske and Wiske... no, I haven't read them. I looked them up on the internet and I didn't even recognize them. Maybe they're not so common here in Sweden. Here we are brought up by Astrid Lindgren (Pippi Longstocking...)

frenchkiss70

sweetygurl

Shari Just gotta say that I love your avatar!

Gigo Asking the good and important questions as always... Haven't thought about Ava's roll in it anymore.... I have to get back to you on that. When I get some free time (in the future sometime) I'm going to re-read Solar Eclipse, because I have left a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of loose threads everywhere that needs to be tied up...

roswelluver

Jeni

BehrObsession

Katie Hey, happy to have you back!!

kissme4ever123 Hey! Welcome to this fic!!! I'm so happy to have you joining us!!

woodwinds

LizzieEvans

nusacme

Lorena



And now.. back to normal... ehh Well, as normal as it gets in their life....




Chapter 5


*We have received news that Zan is back on Antar.*
*What?!* Aldonis exclaimed. *I thought Zan was dead.*
*Zan isn’t dead. He’s been hiding on planet Earth ever since the assault on the Royal Family.*
*Then why haven’t we been informed? Why is it that we haven’t heard anything of this until now? We have heard nothing of his arrival until now.*
*It has all been kept very secret. Hardly anyone knew of these plans, but we have received word that Khivar is aware of them.*
*How is this even possible? Zan died. I saw it with my own eyes. The energy strike hit him straight in the stomach, and almost ripped him apart. There is no possibility that he can be alive.*
*There were some researchers working in secret on a highly advanced and elaborated plan to save our planet from destruction by taking care of his essence.*
*His essence?*
*Well, I don’t completely understand it myself, but basically Zan’s essence; his soul, what defined him, was mixed with Earthling DNA and he was recreated into a human being.*
*So Zan has lived on Earth all these years? Why hasn’t he returned earlier? People have been dying here. People are still dying!*

*I don’t know what has kept him away for so long. The original plan was to have him hide on Earth until he had reached maturity and had trained his powers and then return to free us from the horrors of Khivar. But I guess something went wrong.*
*Where is he?*
*We are trying to locate him as we speak, but he seems to be hiding carefully. We don’t think he’s alone.*
*Who’s with him. Other loyalists?*
*No, it is under my belief that Rath, Ava and Vilandra were also recreated.*
*You mean that the whole Royal squad has been recreated and are on this planet right now?*
He received a nod as reply.
*Then it is of great importance that we find him as soon as possible and prepare our men for action. This can be what we have all been waiting for, for years.*
*There is still hope.*

------------------------------------------------------------

*Hi honey,* he greeted her as she walked through the old wooden door. The house was small and plain, but they wouldn’t want it any other way. There were several reasons it served them to keep it that way. It was a way for them to hide out in plain sight. They blended in with the poor people, and there were no suspicions raised against them. They were both involved in the Loyalist movement. They were both being trained to be able to stand up to the soldiers of the king, to break through the monarchy and bring peace to a starving planet.
She placed a lingering kiss on his lips and smiled tiredly.
*Are you okay?* he asked, concern etching his face.

She sighed as she sat down across from him. *You will never believe what happened to me today.*
His curiosity was peaked. *What?*
*I was summoned to the palace..*
*The palace? Why?* He was suddenly worried about her. What did the men in the Palace want from her?
*They wanted me to take on this...uhm...case.*
*You’re working for the Palace?* he asked.
She gave him a faint smile. *I guess I am.*
He rose quickly, frustration oozing off him. *I can’t let you work there!* he said forcefully, his fists clenching at his sides.

Watching him with worry, she answered *I have to.“
She knew that he was worried about her, and she knew that she was putting her life at stake just by putting one foot inside the palace.

He turned around, fire blazing in his eyes. He was angry. It was that familiar anger that so easily could put its claws in him. He wasn’t angry with her. It was the whole situation. The way they were living. She was the only bright light in his life, and he wasn’t going to just passively watch as they pulled her away from him. Because if she were working at the Palace, it wouldn’t take long until they found out where her loyalties lay. And it was no secret that Khivar didn’t think highly of people who sympathized with his enemies. He had shown this many times to the people. He had burnt down whole villages at night; whole families burning to death as the smoke prevented them from waking up and escaping. Only to prove his point of what it meant to stand up to him.

His voice softening somewhat as he saw the sad look in her eyes, he said *I don’t want you in there.*
*I know...but I can’t let this mission go,* she said slowly, wanting him to understand. Needing him to understand. She needed to have him on her side in this. She wasn’t prepared to not have his support, but she wasn’t prepared to give up on what she had been assigned to do at the Palace either.
*Why?* he asked her, wondering what could be so important to her to risk her life for.

*The case concerns a little girl....a human girl...from the planet Earth.*
She was surprised by his reaction. She had expected him to look at her in disbelief and start to question her sanity, but there was only interest in his eyes. Almost excited curiosity...but also fear.
*From Earth?* he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
*Yes,* she answered, trying to figure out his reaction.
*Why would there be a girl here from Earth?* he asked her. *And why is she at the Palace?*
*That’s what I want to find out,* she said. *I just took an intensive course this morning to acquire her language to be able to communicate with her.*
*You’ve met her?* he asked, his voice raising in intensity.
*Yes...she looks just like an Antarian,* she answered.
*How old is she?*
She shrugged her shoulders. *I’m not sure... maybe two moontravels.*
He looked surprised. *She’s that small?!*
She thought about it some more and then nodded. *Yes, if the aging process isn’t different on Earth I’m certain she must be of that age... What’s going on, Aldonis?*

He rubbed his forehead, his green eyes momentarily lighting up as he came to kneel in front of her. He took her hands in his and looked her into her eyes.
*Serena, we have strong evidence to believe that Zan is here on Antar.*
*What?! Zan? As in Zan, the King?* Serena was astonished. Was Zan alive?
*Yes,* Aldonis answered, excitement in his eyes. *He’s been on Earth all these years, preparing to help us.*
*Are you serious?* she asked, her mind still trying to gasp the information.
He nodded. *Don’t you think it’s a little suspicious that as rumors are going around that Zan has returned, a human girl turns up at the Palace?*
*You don’t think they are connected somehow?* Serena asked, thinking about the terrified little girl who had already captured her heart.
*Nobody knows why Zan decided to return now...and why he hadn’t come any sooner. What if this little girl has something to do with his arrival. Why would the Palace be so interested in a human girl anyway? There must be something special about her.*
Serena stared into her mate’s eyes, as her thoughts were lingering on the girl with the amazing eyes. She had known deep in her heart already from the very first glance at her that she was special. Was she connected with the long lost King? And in that case...how?

--------------------------------------------

The translucent image of Liz’s body started to disintegrate into the humid breeze.
“Did it work?“ Michael asked, startling Max.
Max turned around and faced Michael.
“Yeah,“ he answered before he brushed past Michael to get to Liz.
“Where are you going?“ Michael asked.
“I need to check up on Liz,“ Max said over his shoulder.
“But it worked, right?“ Michael asked, trailing after Max to the tent Max and Liz shared.
Max didn’t answer as he disappeared inside the tent. Michael followed close by and found Max kneeling beside Liz’s still figure on the ground. Michael was worried for a second that something had gone wrong, but then he saw Liz move under Max’s hands.


“Come back to me,“ Max said gently, unable to hide the hint of guilt and worry in his voice. His fingertips gently brushed against her forehead, where there was evident perspiration from the strain of the astral projection. He could feel that she was all right through the connection, but she was exhausted. She had tried too hard. She had pushed herself too hard. She needed to sleep, but she wasn’t asleep right now. She was floating in some state between sleep and consciousness, and Max was afraid that some part of her was still left in the astral projection. He could see how she struggled to open her eyes, making her eyelids look very heavy. He was staring at her, longing to see those beautiful brown eyes of her that would tell him that she was okay.

“Yes, honey. That’s it,“ he coaxed, “You can do it. I’m right here.“
Her heavy eyelids slowly slipped away, and she looked up at him.
Relief marked his features as he said, “That’s good, Liz.“
He kissed her lightly on her forehead, before he trapped her eyes with his to stop her from sinking down into that semi-unconscious state again.
“How are you feeling?“ he asked.
“Really tired,“ Liz said slowly, her words carrying a little slur due to the difficulty to form words in her exhausted state. Her eyelids blinked heavily, and she yawned.
“Liz, I need you to concentrate on me,“ Max said.

He was terrified that she would fall back into that comatose state. He needed her to fall asleep, but he was afraid that she needed his help to be able to do that. Her eyes rolled back in her head, before her eyelids fell back down. Max could feel her fall back from the connection, and he was surrounded with the feeling of how it had felt before, when their connection was blocked. He quickly tucked his hand under her head and lifted it up, shaking her by the shoulder with his other hand while he simultaneously tried to keep the connection from slipping away in his mind.
“Liz! Liz! Look at me!!“
Michael moved inside the tent and hunched over Liz’s form on the bed. Max gave a start as Michael clapped his hands hardly together above Liz’s face. The sound jerked Max out of his concentration and he looked angrily at Michael.
“What the hell are you doing?“ he demanded.
“I was waking her up,“ Michael answered matter-of-factly, and pointed at Liz. Max turned his head back to Liz and found her looking at him again. Max firmly gathered his concentration. He wasn’t going to let her slip away from him again.

“Look into my eyes, Liz, and let your mind go blank,“ Max said slowly, careful that she heard his every word and understood what he was saying. She moved her head slightly, indicating that she had heard him. But she was just so tired. Max didn’t waste any time, and soon he was deeply connected to her. He was deeply agitated as he found the disrupted and torn state of her mind. She had pushed herself far too hard, and she didn’t know how to come back from the use of powers. She didn’t know how to turn it off - and now her mind was dispersed, some of it disappeared in the connection to Max, where her mind had linked with his. Some of her mind was still inside of Max’s, and that was wrong. He focused on pulling her mind together, of molding the parts together. As he pulled out of her again they both gasped at the loss of contact. But as Max looked into her eyes again he found the presence and consciousness in her eyes that he had missed earlier.
“Now, get back to sleep,“ he urged her gently. She yawned again as her eyelids fell down. She was asleep even before she had finished the yawn. Max leaned down and kissed her on the forehead before he pushed himself to his feet and signaled for Michael to go outside.

“What was that, Maxwell?“ Michael asked as they walked away from the tent.
“She pushed herself too hard,“ Max answered, “She was in the astral projection for too long and she couldn’t pull her mind back together.“
Michael looked at Max sternly. “She can’t push herself that hard.“
“No, she can’t. But don’t say anything about it to her,“ Max ordered Michael. He didn’t want Michael scolding Liz for something that she hardly had any control over. Not yet.
Michael stared at him. Didn’t Max know that Liz would kill herself if she kept doing this?
“I’m going to talk to her,“ Max said, “But I’m guessing that she already knows that she went too far. She doesn’t need a lecture.“
“Fine,“ Michael huffed. They walked in silence up to a little area further away where there were a lot of stones piled up. This was their ‘training area’. Under comfortable wordless communication they started to practice their powers, molding their movements together into a gradually improved complete fighting unit.

-------------------------------------------------

Max tried his best to be quiet as he walked into the tent. It was now growing dark outside, and he was exhausted. He had been practicing his powers the whole day, and he barely had enough energy to do simple things, like heat a cup of water. Liz was lying on the bed, her body still recuperating from the astral projection that could have had disastrous ramifications. He pulled off his shirt and kneeled over the bowl of manipulated water in the corner of the tent to wash his face. Next he made his way over to Liz. He pulled the blanket away and crawled down beside her. She immediately shifted position as she felt him beside her, and curled up against his side. Max put his arm around her and pulled her close, planting a kiss at the crown of her head, relishing in the scent of her hair.
“Are you okay?“
He was surprised to hear her soft voice. He was obviously a lot more tired than he thought, having missed to feel her waking up through the connection. “Yeah, I’m just tired. How are you feeling?“
“Better, but still tired,“ she murmured, her warm breath brushing against his bare chest. She had positioned herself with her head on his shoulder and her fingers were now idly moving over his chest, drawing invisible unintelligible figures.

“I’m sorry about earlier,“ she said. “I guess I wanted too much.“
“You aren’t ready for that much yet,“ he said softly, capturing her moving hand with his and lacing their fingers together. They lay there in silence for a while, almost too tired to fall asleep.
“I want her here too.“ His voice was barely above a whisper. He could feel her sadness through the connection. “But you can’t help her if you wear yourself out.“
“I could say the same thing to you,“ Liz whispered, and Max could hear the weak smile in her voice. She was right. Again. He had pushed himself a little too hard today as well. They both wanted their little girl back, and they were both willing to do whatever it took to make that a reality. Nevertheless, they had learnt today that they should probably slow down some. Wearing themselves out to the brink of unconsciousness was not the solution.



TBC...

Hi all!!

Phew... I finally made it back... There are still some things I need to fix in my chapters, but I think I have about three chapters that are ready for posting (just needs proof-reading and editing ) And I have one chapter ready for you today!


THANK YOU!!

Shari

frenchkiss70

LeighAnn

BehrObsession

Lynn

nusacme

woodwinds

Gigo

Jeni

roswelluver

LizzieEvans

Buffylicious

Lorena

moonlight (Are you caught up yet...? lol)

girlie_girl Hey! Welcome to this fic!! And thank you sooooo much for the feedback!!


And to all the bumpers (especially Lynn and Elizabeth! Love ya, guys!!), who kept this story alive even though I was absent!

Lynn

Gigo

frenchkiss70

Shari

buffylicious

LizzieEvans

nusacme

mareli



Okay, let’s review, shall we?

This is what has happened so far. As a consequence of Future Max arriving in Liz’s bedroom one night, Liz sets out to try to have Max fall out of love with her. Even though Max’s trust in Liz and what they once shared was badly wounded when he had to witness Liz in bed with Kyle, Max continues to watch over Liz. Liz is suffering from nightmares, and she’s almost always suffering from excruitiating headaches. Being Liz, she’s trying to put up a facade that everything is okay. But Max isn’t fooled. He tries to convince her to connect with him. She’s afraid to let him do it because of what he might find out about Future Max, and thereby everything she has worked for - all the hurt she has been going through - would be for nothing.

However, as we all know, the bond between Liz and Max is powerful, and it doesn’t take long for them to get together again. Liz realizes that she feels better in Max’s company. It’s as if the headaches which are constantly plaguing her vanish whenever he’s near. But then something goes very wrong.

Nasedo and Tess are working on finding a way home, and at the same time make their allies happy. These two conditions both involve the Granolith, which they need Max in order to activate. But to have Max activate it, he has to be willing to let go of his Earthly life, and he is not ready to ever let go off Liz. So Nasedo and Tess tries mindwarps to damage the bond between Max and Liz. They are unsuccessful. Hence, another plan takes form. Nasedo shapeshifts into Max, and plans on raping Liz while impersonating Max. Liz would never forgive Max for something like that. They didn’t count on the strong connection between Max and Liz though, and Liz has somehow been reliving the moments up to the rape in her nightmares, so she’s more or less prepared. But something goes wrong, and Nasedo hurts Liz so badly she almost dies.

Tess mindwarps Max, Michael and Isabel that they are seeing the dead form of Liz, while Liz is really held prisoner, unconscious, in a motel room with Nasedo. Everyone believes that Liz is dead, and so does even Max. Liz escapes from Nasedo and Tess, and starts a whole new life in Santa Fe. She suffers from amnesia; she can’t even remember her own name. And she finds herself pregnant with a child, without having a clue to who the father is. Four years pass, and eventually Max meet up with his daughter - Emma, which leads him into finding Liz again. Her memories start to come back to her. But she’s sick. Really sick, and she isn’t getting better even though Max tries healing her.

During Liz’s absence a new protector has showed up - Kira. He is the real protector to the four squad. Nasedo was an imposter. By compiling facts about what has happened, and what Kira knows about his race, they reach the conclusion that Liz is sick because she’s (involuntary) blocking her connection to Max.

Okay, is it all starting to come back to you? I’ll go on either way... lol

They are concerned about their safety. Kira has men all around the US, and they are reporting that their enemies are preparing for something. When she was unaware of her identity, Liz received a strange phone call, the person asking things about her daughter. Since someone are after them, Max, Liz and Emma goes into hiding - at a warehouse. During their short stay there, Max and Liz make love and the connection flare to life between them again. Liz’s body slowly starts to heal itself. But then one night, Emma is taken from them, and they find out that she has been taken by Nicolas, to Antar.

So, we leave for Antar. Phew...this ”summary” is getting long .. Not too much has happened yet on Antar. We have learnt of a person named Serena, who has been assigned to work with a mysterious human child held at the palace (Emma). Her mate, Aldonis, is the leader of the group loyal to Zan (or Max). Both Serena and Aldonis are part of this secret organization to free the planet from the ruling of Khivar. Liz is trying to connect to her daughter through the connection they share, but she can’t get through. The connection is blocked. Michael and Isabel are also on Antar, and Alex and Maria are left behind on Earth. The hybrids are living in a small camp together with Kira and some of his men, trying to organize how to free Emma, and get them back to Earth.

Oh, and not to forget! Tess is nowhere in sight, because she melted - at the hands of the people she worked for...

And then there are some slight problems. For instance, they are on a foreign planet, without any knowledge about the language or the people. Max feels helpless because he can’t make any decision without knowledge, leaving him at the mercy of Kira, who he is almost forced to trust completely in. He has no other choice. Then we have Isabel and Michael. While Liz and Max have each other, they are alone, and they are starting to realize how much the humans they were close to (Maria and Alex) mean to them. On top of all this, there is a development of Liz’s powers, that Max healing somehow brought forward. The problem is that she can’t control her powers, and the one and only premonition she had (before going to Antar) almost left her dead...

So, there are still many things to be dealt with....






Chapter 6


The air felt heavy and fluid. It stuck to his clothes, to his bare arms, to his face. He twirled around, laughter echoing around him. His heart was slamming in his chest so hard it felt as if it wanted to get out. But it was trapped inside of him, just like his mind was trapped in the confines of this body.
“Daddy!!“
He turned around, his eyes fervently searching for her, but he was still alone. The laughter around him grew in intensity and there were whispers growing louder and louder. He put his hands to his ears, the sharp sound of the loud whispers slicing his hearing.
“No!! Noo!!“ Suddenly the laughter was close, behind him. He turned around and tumbled backwards as he looked into a pair of coal black eyes.
“Where’s Emma?!“ he asked the man.
The man just laughed at him. Max took a hold of the collar of the man’s shirt. “Where is Emma?!!“ The man stopped laughing and stared at him.
“She’s dead.“


Liz woke up to the sound of his agonizing whimper. She opened her eyes, and found him lying on his side, his back facing her.
“Max...“ she said.
She could hear him mumbling, his legs restlessly moving around under the covers.
“Max!“ This time more forcefully.
“Noooooo!!“
His agonizing cry made a part of her heart go numb, and she quickly put her arms around him, pressing his back into her chest.
“Max!“ she said loudly in his ear. “Max! Wake up!“
She heard him take a deep breath and then he relaxed his tense body against her. His erratic breathing evened out and Liz closed her eyes against his shoulder, warm tears running down her cheeks.

<center>---------------------------------</center>

Serena pushed the door open to the small windowless room. The little girl was sitting by the small table, crayons spread out on the table surface. She looked up with fear in her eyes as the door opened, but when she saw who it was some of the fear disappeared and was replaced with curiosity. Serena felt the girl’s eyes on her as she turned around to close the door.
“Hi Emma,“ Serena greeted.
The little girl gave her a faint smile and without a word she returned her attention to the drawing in front of her.
“What are you doing?“ Serena asked.
“Painting,“ Emma said.

“What are you painting“ Serena asked, cautiously moving closer to Emma. She was still afraid that she would scare the little girl. She came up beside Emma and peeked down at her paper. It was the work of a child to be sure, but it was not difficult to see what it was supposed to be.
“Is that you?“ Serena asked, and pointed at the short figure Emma had painted. Emma nodded. The figure consisted of a round head with black long hair and a round body with arms. Emma had actually not painted any legs, only the feet, which she had put directly on the body. The figure made the corners of Serena’s mouth to move upwards. It looked really cute. But her smile grew faint as she saw the two larger figures standing at the little figure’s side.

“Who is that?“ she asked Emma, although she could already guess the answer.
“That’s mommy,“ Emma explained, pointing to the figure who looked like a copy of the little figure, only bigger, “and that’s daddy.“ She pointed on the figure standing by the little figure. She had drawn her family.
“You don’t have any siblings?“ Serena asked.
Emma shook her head. “No. Only me, mommy and daddy.“
Serena kneeled down beside the table and searched out Emma’s eyes from under her bangs when Emma ducked her head.
“You like your mommy and daddy very much, huh?“ she asked.

Emma nodded her head. There was so much Serena wanted to ask her about her parents. But she wasn’t sure Emma even knew the answers to those questions. Serena wanted to have the information that could confirm what she and Aldonis had been discussing the other night. That Emma was somehow related to Zan. The most logical relation being that Emma was his child. If she was, then Serena was afraid for the little girl’s safety. She was the heir to the throne in case of Zan’s death, and Khivar certainly didn’t want an heir to the throne.

The only reason Serena could think of that Emma would be of any greater importance to Khivar was that he would train her into becoming the ruler he wanted to replace him. Khivar wasn’t married, and he didn’t have any children of his own. There were, however, rumors going around that there were many bastard children out there, children brought into the world through rape. Their mothers were often concubines or servants to Khivar who he had come upon during his fits of anger and subjected them to his physical urges. It would be in Khivar’s interest to raise an heir that would continue to rule Antar as he had.

Serena searched the girl’s innocent face and wondered if she was really a princess. But she was human. Did that mean that she didn’t have any powers? Everyone on Antar is born with the capacity to develop powers, but without training that potential often sank into oblivion. On Antar only royalty and men of command had powers. Serena had powers, but only because she had been trained through the Loyalists. If this little girl was half human, or even more than half human because Zan was mostly human, did she know how to bring forward those powers that ordinary people on Antar had such difficulties to access and utilize without training? The Levitars hadn’t said anything about Emma having any powers, but on the other hand they had given her almost no information on anything. Should she just ask Emma or should she wait? She watched Emma for a while as she added black color to the hair on the figure portraying her mother.

“Your mommy is beautiful, isn’t she?“ Serena asked.
“She’s pwetty,“ Emma said. “She lubs me.“
Serena concentrated on translating what Emma’s child language meant.
“Daddy lubs me too,“ Emma continued. Loves...that what she meant. Love. Love was a rare concept on Antar. For ages it had been judged to accompany one of those strong feelings that needed to be restrained in order to enhance and develop one’s capabilities to the fullest. Love was never discussed. Even though it was a difficult emotion to actually retain, that didn’t mean it wasn’t present. However, Antarian children were never told about love. They were instead taught about loyalty. You were loyal to your parents, but you didn’t love them. As she watched the dark-haired little girl, her heart once again went out to her. She had obviously been taken from a loving family. Serena hoped with all her might that Emma’s mother wasn’t dead as the Levitars had told her.

“When was the last time you saw your mommy?“ Serena asked. To her surprise, Emma’s eyes lit up, excited about the memory.
“Mommy was putting me in bed,“ she said. “And daddy too. And she told me that I was special.“
“You were special?“ Serena asked.
Emma nodded enthusiastic.
“How were you special, Emma?“
Emma opened her mouth to answer, but then she stopped herself. Serena could literally see the excitement disappearing from her eye, like a lamp had just been switched off. Emma liked the woman who was kneeling there on the floor beside her. She was the nicest one of all the people that had come into this room, but she couldn’t tell her why she was special. It was her secret. And those other people – like that mean man - had known about her secret and he had hurt that puppy. She didn’t want that to happen again. She didn’t want the woman to know her secret.
“Emma?“

Emma looked down at her paper in front of her and put her drawing away, only to reveal a new white piece of paper underneath. She took a blue crayon and started to draw. She didn’t want to answer any more questions. She just wanted to draw. It was fun to draw. She could draw everything she remembered. In the world of her drawings and her imagination, she could do whatever she wanted. She could be wherever she wanted, and she could be with whoever she wanted.
Serena observed Emma closely. Emma was obviously reluctant to answer her questions. She decided to let it go for now. Hopefully Emma would trust her enough to tell her later.

<center>----------------------------------------------</center>

“Michael! Michael!“
Michael jerked his head towards Max, and snapped, “What?!“
“What the hell are you doing?!“ Max strode up to him and, looking past Michael, saw a fire feasting on the dry shrubs and trees. The thick smoke filled the air and blended with the sparking sound of fibrous twigs breaking and turning into ashes.
“What does it look like I’m doing?! What you told me to!!“
Max stared at him, balling his fists in anger. “I didn’t tell you to blow up the entire site. Don’t you realize that by doing that you are sending out a beacon to everyone to just come and find us!“
Max stretched out his hand in front of him and, with a subdued whizzing sound, the oxygen to the fire was cut off, which put an end to the blazing conflagration.
“You just want us to practice on blowing up small stones, Maxwell!! How do you think that we are going to be able to protect ourselves from our enemies if we haven’t been taught to use more energy?!!“

“I didn’t say small stones,“ Max said, “I said not to do anything too conspicuous! And then you almost set an entire forest on fire! I’m sorry if I don’t agree with your idea of being conspicuous!“
“Don’t you fuck with me,“ Michael said coldly.
Max furrowed his eyebrows in anger. “What the hell is wrong with you?!“
“Nothing, oh fearless leader,“ Michael sarcastically replied and walked off without another word, leaving Max staring at his back. The anger was simmering down and was replaced with frustration over this whole situation.

<center>---------------------------------</center>

The water on Antar was probably one of the things that Liz had the most trouble getting used to. It was thicker than Earth water, and you couldn’t drink it. Sometimes Liz would have this indescribable longing for water. Just to feel its cool and refreshing texture on her tongue and feel it running down her throat. Water was something you took for granted if you had access to it everyday. Liz had acquired a new understanding for people living in countries were fresh, and especially, clean water was scarce. She still had not figured out what the people did on Antar to keep clean, because this water wasn’t really something you could wash yourself with.

Max manipulated the structure of Antarian water, trying to make it similar to Earth water. Trying to take away its gelatin structure and make it thinner, but it was difficult. They had constructed a substitute for a bathtub out of some kind of metal. Max would help Liz carry the water to the tub and fill it up. Then he would change the molecular structure of the water molecules - rearranging the covalent bonding - and lastly, he would heat the water to a comfortable temperature. The whole process was pretty tiring for Max, and Liz’s baths became increasingly rare because she didn’t want to wear Max out.

Nevertheless, Liz felt greatly in a need of a bath today. Actually, she would much rather have a warm shower at home on Earth, but the greenish water was the next best thing and she would take it. Max was off to practice his powers somewhere and it was getting late. The three moons in the green sky were slowly becoming more and more evident as the green turned darker and the red sun descended. Liz had to carefully focus her vision to be able to see in the growing darkness as she made her way from the river to the little tent that served as the ‘bathroom’. Some of Kira’s men were nearby. One of them was walking behind her with two buckets of the heavy water. They had been intruding on her personal space the entire day and it was beginning to get to her, even if it was because Max had ordered them not to let her out of their sight for an instant. She was irritated, and it felt as if all of her nerves were on the outside of her body. It was only a matter of time before she snapped. She walked into the tent and poured the sluggish liquid into the tub. The other man stepped up behind her and poured the contents of his two buckets in the tub as well.

“Can you please change the structure of the water?“ Liz asked him. The man looked at her confused.
“What do you mean, my lady?“ he asked.
Liz let out a frustrated sigh. It wasn’t just that he was calling her ‘my lady’, which made her feel twice her age, but since her level of patience wasn’t very high at the moment, it annoyed her greatly that he couldn’t understand that simple request.
“Make it into the same structure as Earth water,“ she clarified tightly.
“Yes, my lady,“ the man answered, and put his hand down in the water. His palm started to glow and then the area surrounding his palm became more translucent. The area grew larger and larger and soon the water had a texture more similar to Earth water. Liz dipped her hand into the water to feel its structure.

“It’s cold,“ she said. “Could you please heat it?“
“Yes, my lady,“ the man answered flatly and Liz had to stop herself from strangling him. God! Couldn’t they stop with this ‘my lady’ crap already?! She had begged them a thousand times (just today) that she wanted them to call her Liz and nothing else. But she had to give up since they obviously couldn’t understand that simple request. The man removed his hand from the tub and Liz put her hand down in it, only to quickly pull it up again with a squeal.

“It’s too hot!“ she cried. Aliens weren’t as sensitive to hot and cold as humans were. Max’s body was basically human. However, he often wasn’t as susceptible to cold as Liz was.
“Sorry, my lady,“ the man mumbled, feeling the negative energy coming off of Liz in waves. He really didn’t want to upset her. If he upset her, than he was sure he had to deal with Zan...and he really didn’t feel up to that.
“Problems?“
Speak of the devil... The man turned his head towards the opening of the tent and saw his leader standing there with a grin on his face.

“Max! Could you please heat this water to a normal temperature?“ Liz asked, glaring at the man. The man eased away, hoping that he hadn’t upset the king. The man didn’t know this king though. The man had known Zan, not Max. If he had known Max, he would have known that Max wouldn’t punish anyone for something as trivial as this.
“Could you leave the two of us alone please?“ Max politely asked the man while stepping into the tent.
“Of course, your Highness,“ the man said, bowing his head slightly in respect before he hastily scurried out of the tent. Max only shook his head in amusement. That poor man looked really frightened.

“How did you manage to scare him like that?“ Max asked Liz, stepping closer to her. He had been feeling her increasing annoyance through the connection the entire day and so he had hurried home. He knew that she was near her breaking point.
“It’s about damn time you showed up!“ Liz said and pointed toward the tub. “I really need a bath. Where have you been?!“
“Sorry, Liz. I guess the practice took a little longer than expected,“ Max apologized.
“No kidding,“ Liz said under her breath, pretending to be interested in the tub. She needed to calm down. Max looked at her, feeling her inner turmoil. Without taking his eyes of her he put his hand in the scalding water and lowered the water temperature.
“Better?“ he asked Liz. Without looking at him, Liz put her hand in the tub.
“Much better,“ she answered. Max frowned as she pulled up her hand again. It was unnaturally red.
“Liz, did you burn yourself?“ he asked.
“Well, the water was pretty hot. I wasn’t expecting it, so I put in my whole hand. That stupid alien can’t do anything right!!“
“Let me see,“ Max said, stepping closer to Liz.
Liz put her hand behind her back. “No, Max. It’s nothing.“

Max searched her face while trying to figure out what was going on with her.
“Just let me see,“ he said again. There was a pause as Liz juggled with her emotions. Then she sighed in resignation and stretched out her red hand to Max. Max tried to capture her eyes but she kept looking into the tub. He sighed and carefully took her hand.
“Let me heal it,“ he said.
Liz pulled her hand away. “No, Max. It’s okay.“
Max stared at her. “Okay. What’s wrong?“
“Nothing,“ Liz answered. “Now can you please go outside? I need to take a bath.“
“It’s because of me, right?“ Max stated. Liz looked up at him. “You don’t want me to use my energy so much.“ He could feel from their connection that he had made the right conclusion.

“Liz, it’s only a burn. It’s not a problem for me to heal.“
“Yes, Max. It’s only a burn. I can live with it,“ Liz said and turned away from him, starting to unbutton her shirt. Max looked at her back, knowing that she was making this his cue to leave. But there was something else to this. He knew it. He stepped up behind her and put his arms around her waist. His hands captured hers, stilling her movements.
“Liz. Tell me.“
There was a pause.
“I don’t want you having any nightmares,“ Liz said. Max leaned his chin on her shoulder, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer against him.

“Honey, I don’t have any nightmares,“ Max said, and he actually thought he was telling her the truth.
“Yes, you do,“ Liz said, and Max could hear the tremble in her voice. “Every time you come back from training and you’re exhausted you have these nightmares. You toss around...you’re so scared, Max.“
Max just stood there completely paralyzed. He wasn’t even aware of the fact that he had any nightmares.
“It hurts me so much to see you like that...and you don’t even remember it. It’s so terrible that your mind represses it.“
“Liz...“ Max said, his breath catching in his throat.
“When you don’t wear yourself out, you don’t sleep as deeply, and you don’t have any nightmares. I don’t want you to use anymore of your energy.“
Her voice was trembling from emotion, but her statement was firm and adamant.
“Please Liz. Let me heal you.“
“Max, I can handle it.“

He couldn’t bear seeing her hurt. But he also knew that she couldn’t bear seeing him hurt either. He took a deep breath and planted a soft kiss at the crook of her neck.
“Okay,“ he said, releasing his grip on her. He could feel her relax through their connection, but under the feelings of relief he could also feel a hint of the pain the burn was causing her. He moved his hands to her tense shoulders, starting to rub them. A small moan of pleasure escaped her lips as he applied some healing warmth to her sore neck. She tilted her head slightly forward, giving him a better access to her shoulders. He started to rain light but lingering kisses over her neck, his hands moving under the fabric of her shirt.

“Can I join you?“ Max asked huskily, his warm breath floating behind her ear. Liz tilted her head to the side, coaxing him into continuing his healing touches with his lips and hands.
“Mmmm, I think I’m in a desperate need of a full body massage,“ she breathed, already losing herself in him.
“Yes, I agree. You need to relax,“ Max said, his hands moving lightly down her arms, barely touching her. She could feel the heat of his fingers even through the fabric. His hands changed direction, wrapping around her again and coming to a stop on top of her hands, which had stilled in their task of unbuttoning her shirt as Max’s otherworldly massage began. He slowly removed her hands from the buttons, his mouth tasting the soft skin of her neck, and began the task of unbuttoning her shirt himself.
“Relaxation is not exactly what I had in mind,“ Liz said.


TBC...