Title: Tonight
Author: citrustwisted aka hauntedd
e-mail: citrus_twisted@yahoo.com
Rating: I don't know yet... we'll say MATURE
Disclaimer: Not mine, title comes from "Tonight, Tonight" by the smashing pumpkins (and yes, I was thisclose to calling it Move Bitch b/c I couldn't think of anything and I was listening to that song at the time)
Summary: Based on a challenge by Josee (Nscotian) over at PA, basically the world went to hell in 2014, and instead of Max going back in time to make Liz make him fall out of love with her, Michael goes back to make Liz fall in love with present day Michael.
Oh and I should have the the next part of Spark out by this weekend, this week has just been hell and this ended up being the only thing I wrote. (and who said summer VACATION? haha that sooo does not happen)
Um and yeah I used some spanish, so I will translate for you guys.
"Qué se va, se va" means "what will be will be"
"Pienso que tu esposa era una puta y le gusta joder Khivar antes de morir" means "I think that your wife was a whore and she liked to fuck Khivar before she died"
and "chingate" means "Fuck you"
Ok and that concludes my pathetic attempt at translation.
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Part 1
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2014
He sighed as he looked up at the dark sky, his only light a makeshift torch, not that it mattered, the scenery had been destroyed long ago. Now only shattered glass and rubble remained, littering the city streets. Although the town was never a bastion of architectural skill, it was still home, at least at some point. But that was a time he had decided not to remember, it was too painful, and made his reality of living day to day in a cave even harder.
But that would all change, that was if everything went to plan. He had never been one to hope, but he had to hold onto the belief that everything would work out in the end, it made living bearable. He frowned and looked at the makeshift calendar on the wall – July 12th, 2014. He hated that day; it was the one physical reminder of the day everything changed, the day that it all became real.
Four years, four years, it seemed like only yesterday, but the pain was raw, real. He had lost everything that day and this war became personal. Not that it was truly a war; it could never be that, it was annihilation. The war had ended in 2005; the witch hunt had begun not long after that.
In the end, they had taken everyone but him, although some had committed suicide in an attempt to avoid the torture that they knew would come with entrapment. Sometimes he wished she had chosen that route, but she had been convinced that she could escape, destroy them from the inside. Unfortunately, she had failed, but not before they had done everything possible to her, hoping to find something, anything, to further their cause. They had failed, but had managed to find a way to use her as a vessel, a way to bring the remaining members of the resistance down.
That was, of course, until he had killed her. Her blood was on his hands, just as Pierce had been all those years ago, and it tore him up inside. He had to constantly remind himself that while she had her face, her mannerisms, her cunning, she was not the girl that he had loved. Her eyes were dead and hollow, her face emotionless and he saw not a moment of recognition before she went in for the kill. He knew then it was kill or be killed, but it was her, the mother of his child, her, the girl who had once said that there would be nothing that would ever come between them, the girl who had believed so strongly in everything about them, even when he did not.
But even in death, she had surprised him, for moments before she died, she had managed to break free of whatever Khivar had done. Her body was sprawled out like a broken china doll on the desert sands as the sun set in the background, causing her blood to glisten against her paling skin, but her eyes were clear and focused on him. And it was then that she had motioned for him to come closer, her small hand firmly grasped his as her chest moved up and down with much effort, for he had crushed her ribs in the process. But she had managed to force down the pain and smile at him before rasping out her last words. “Thank you” she had whispered as she laid her free hand on his heart, the life dimming from her eyes. The image had haunted him every day since then, and every night after that he would sleep with an arm over where she had touched him. It made him feel closer to her.
He wiped the few stray tears from his eyes; it was not the time or the place for displays of emotion. But this day brought back painful memories, for not only had his wife been taken that day, but it caused him to remember the one contact he had with the other woman in his life. She had run fourteen years ago, run away from Roswell, taking Kyle Valenti with her. He sighed and scratched his eyebrow, only a few more hours till he would rewrite history; fix everything that had gone terribly wrong in the past. But he knew that it was not over, he still had to do the third most painful thing in his life, watch his ‘brother’ kill himself. It was for protection, so that the enemy never found out where the granolith was, or how to manipulate it to erase the past. But it still would hurt to watch the man he considered a brother die, although he knew that he owed him that much.
Sighing he looked back up at the sky, smiling slightly as he saw a shooting star race across the sky. His wife used to tell their son that each shooting star was good luck, and he would tease her later on about how she was so superstitious. He never believed it, but right now, he took it to be a good sign, he knew that he needed all the luck that he could get. And while he knew that it could not get any worse, he wanted to grow old with the woman he loved, to have a family. “If only she hadn’t left” he muttered as his mind wandered to the happy times between him and his wife.
He heard the soft footsteps behind him and turned to see a girl with black curly hair approach him, and ran a shaky hand through his long hair, somewhat astonished with its length. He knew that he had grown haggard in the time since his wife’s death, but he never had noticed that his hair was matted and starting to fall down his back. He made a mental note to fix that before he went back, he did not want to scare her. “Serena” he grunted, somewhat angry with her sudden encroachment on his personal space, he needed time to reflect beforehand, to try and come to terms with things he knew he would never allow himself to forget.
Serena rolled her eyes; she had grown used to his cold demeanor and his need to isolate himself from everyone else. She hated how angry he had become, but understood, he had lost everything he had held dear in this war and was most likely only living for the chance to redeem his wife. That was, of course, until he had managed to come up with this plan to send himself back in time. While they all knew it was risky, she knew that he would try anything to get her back, and she hoped, for his sake, that it worked, because she was his heart, his soul and without her he was just a shell. “It’s time” she stated with a clear Spanish accent, something that she had never lost in all of this mess. It was useful, it had helped her to hide from the bounty hunters all these years, and they never had suspected a Hispanic person, after all the royal four were all Anglo-Saxon.
“Ok” he answered, his voice monotone and giving away none of the fear that he held inside himself. He needed to believe that this would work, otherwise, he would fail, and there was too much riding on this for that to occur. The fate of earth and that of his wife rested in his hands and it weighed on him, more than anyone would ever know. He cast his eyes downward as he made his way back inside, feeling no need to say another word to his brother’s fiancée.
Eventually they made it back inside, despite the fact that he could not recall how that had happened, the gravity of all that had happened and all that he wanted to change weighed on him. He sighed and looked up at the dark cone, its metallic glow beating down on him, a physical reminder of all that was to come. Turning, he saw his brother and his fiancée embracing for the last time, and the guilt tore at him. If this went according to plan, they would never be together. In fact, Serena would probably never even become involved with them at all. But she would live, something that could not be said for their present situation.
“So, this is it” the darker haired boy said as he made his way over to his brother, taking the sandy haired boy into his embrace. “Look, I know that things have been hard between us ever since this war started, I never was good with other people being right and you were right where I was wrong. I just want you to know that I’m proud of you and that even if it’s not by blood; you have always been and always will be my brother. I love you just as much as I loved Isabel, and I hope you knew that, I’m just sorry that the past got in the way of the present.” He paused and ran a hand through his shoulder length locks, trying to forget that he was about to die. “Well, maybe when you go back you can I don’t know, whip me into shape or something.”
“Honey, I couldn’t even whip you into shape, so I doubt that it is humanly possible. You are stubborn to a fault and that’s why I love you.” Serena joked, despite the fact that her voice was flat, betraying the light hearted nature of her comment. It was hard to watch this, after all, if Michael succeeded, none of this would exist and she would not have Max, some girl named Tess would. She wanted to be selfish and tell Max to order him to stop; in fact, she had done so many times in private. Yes, they all would die, but this would be over and she would never have to live a life without being the future Mrs. Maxwell Evans. “Qué se va, se va” she mumbled as her fiancée took her in his arms and planted a soft kiss on the crown of her head.
Max sighed into her hair and looked up at Michael, unable to read anything from his body language. He knew that this would happen, but he hoped to see at least a glimmer of remorse on his face, after all he was about to destroy the past fourteen years of his life. He wanted to be selfish, to order Michael to stop, but knew that if he did that Michael would not listen and they would all die anyway. He wanted his fiancée to live, even if it meant never knowing that at night she would whisper the most adorable phrases in Spanish, even if he could not understand a word of it. “She’s stubborn you know, so I hope that you can convince her, plus I was so persistent, so uh, good luck” he added, his hand rolling around the pills in his hand, knowing that soon he would be dead. It was a safety precaution really, but it failed to make that fact any easier to handle.
“I think I can handle it” Michael snapped, annoyed with his bravado, how dare Max doubt him even moments from death. Had he not moments ago said that he had been wrong countless times in years prior? He narrowed his eyes at Max, daring the shorter boy to say what he thought, that this was a bad idea and he’d rather the three of them die. If Max did that, if he dared to go back on his word now, Michael would lose the last of his respect for his ‘brother’ for not only would this fix everything that had gone wrong, it would also save the world. That was bigger than any of them, bigger than who would end up with who, that was irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
“I don’t doubt that” Max admitted, hoping to calm the air between them. This was not the time for them to be fighting, especially when in a few moments, none of this would even matter, at least not to everyone but Michael. He turned toward the granolith, which shimmered with immense power and he knew that it was time. “The granolith is ready, so I guess this is goodbye” he choked out, forcing back his tears. It was hard to deal with all that was to be lost, when he regarded what was to be gained with such disdain. He then took Serena in his arms and handed her a pill and she gave him a knowing look. “Goodbye” he whispered and swallowed, immediately falling to the ground, dead.
Serena let out a bloodcurdling scream and fell to the ground, it had been too much to watch him die. She looked up at Michael’s emotionless face and glared at him through her tears, unable to think of words to express the hatred that she had for him at that moment. He was the cause of this as far as she was concerned, not Khivar, not the skins, not even Tess, it was Michael. For he had been the one to bring up the talk of going back and fixing the past, he had even liked the idea a little, for what she thought were selfish reasons. Could he not see that she and Max wanted to die in peace, together? She knew it was selfish, but as far as the two of them had been concerned Earth had been dead already, what was the real point in saving it? Yes, millions of people had died, but millions of people die every day. “Pienso que tu esposa era una puta y le gusta joder Khivar antes de morir” she whispered, knowing that Michael understood exactly what she was saying, in fact, the two of them had conversed in the language a few times during the war. “Su sangre está a tus manos como la sangre de mi novio y yo. Adiós, puta del mundo.” She snapped, then took her pill before Michael had the chance to say anything to her, she would not give him the satisfaction of getting the last word, at least not this time.
Michael watched as she fell to the ground, dead, then whispered “chingate” before making his way over to the granolith. He never liked Serena as it was, she was just as selfish as Max, and although she had been on of his wife’s closest friends, she had immediately turned on her when she had been taken. He would never forgive her for that, and her speech just reminded him of that. “One less thing to worry about” he muttered and inserted the crystal into the granolith’s core. He gasped as he got sucked into the cone, somewhat surprised with how strange it all felt. His cells began to breakdown into particles and as he felt him evaporate into nothing but dust, his mind wandered to the words that both of the women in his life had told him at one time or another, and just as he was about to be sent across time and space he recited them. “Don’t worry, we are connected.”
2000
Liz pranced around her room with an old drapery wrapped around her head, a goofy grin plastered on her face. She had just gone to Madame Vivian today with Maria and Alex, and had learned that she and Max would not only get back together, but would probably be together forever, for he would choose love, he would choose her. She knew that Vivian had been vague and said a leader, but who else could she have possibly meant? She giggled when she looked in the mirror, she looked absolutely absurd, but it did not matter, because Max would choose her instead of Tess. It was not that she did not like Tess or anything, it was just that Max was her life, or had been for the past year. “I Elizabeth Parker, take Maxwell Evans” she began, wondering in the back of her head when exactly had she become one of those girls.
She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear and turned back to her mirror just as a blue light streaked across the sky. She screamed and turned towards her window, coming face to face with an older and drawn looking Michael Guerin. “Michael?” she screeched, clawing at her makeshift veil, realizing how ridiculous she must look.
Michael sucked in a breath as he looked at her, somewhat shocked to see her alive once more. She was even more beautiful than he remembered, and looked much more innocent than he could ever remember seeing her. He watched silently as she sunk her teeth into her supple lip and ran a hand through her dark locks, how he missed her. “Liz” he breathed, his eyes watering slightly as he forced himself to stand still and not race in there and take her into his arms. He scratched his eyebrow and met her questioning gaze, of course she was just not going to accept everything as was, and he cursed silently, wishing that he had paid more attention in science. “Look, Liz, I am Michael, but from fourteen years in the future. I came back in time using the granolith to stop the world from ending.” He paused when he noticed that she did not believe him, he had almost forgotten how easy she had been to read at this age. “I can explain all of this a little better if you come out her or if I come in there” he stated finally, and sighed in relief as Liz unlocked her window and motioned for him to come inside.
Liz watched as he entered her room, amazed with how much like Michael he looked, but knew that it was not him. If it was really Michael, he would have gone to Maria, not her, especially not her, they barely even spoke two words to one another. “Look, I don’t… I don’t know who you are, but you… you’re not Michael” she stammered under his strong gaze.
Michael smirked slightly, it was hard not to, she looked so adorable when she was unnerved by something. Although it hurt a little that she doubted him, he knew that if the situation was reversed, he would not trust her either, for this was a different world. “Parker, I know that this is hard to believe, I mean I would never believe it either, but I am Michael.”
Liz frowned, she knew that this was not Michael, that it could not be Michael, even if he called her Parker. “Michael, you expect me to believe that this… the granolith is like some sort of time machine? I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”
Michael groaned inwardly, he knew that this was going to be difficult, but he never expected to have to explain ways to defy science to a girl who wanted to be a molecular biologist. “It wasn’t originally supposed to be a time machine. But it does have an enormous amount of power, and we were able to modify it to artificially create a tear in time space.”
Liz opened and shut her mouth as she contemplated the possibility that maybe all of this was, in fact, true. It would defy science and anything was possible with aliens, but at the same time, time travel was impossible. “No! No! There is no such thing as time travel, ok, because it is against every rule of physics, of reality, of everything” she countered, glad that she was into science.
“Look Liz, I know this is a little crazy” he said, hoping that he could ease her into it.
She bit her lip nervously, he did look and sound exactly like Michael, despite the fact that he could use a shave and a shower. “No, you’re not Michael, ok? You… you’re like a shapeshifter. You are like some other kind of alien, with, like, the ability to look like Michael with that beard and those… those grey hairs.”
Michael smirked, knowing that while her words said one thing, her body language said another. She believed him, whether she was ready to admit it or not. “Do you really see grey? I’m only thirty!” he asked, hoping that he could lighten some of the tension between the two of them.
Liz rolled her eyes and snapped, “This isn’t funny, ok Uncle Jesse?”
Michael let out a small laugh, Uncle Jesse, he had to admit that was a good one. He wrapped his arms around her, forgetting for a moment that they were not even close at this point in time and whispered, “Hold on.”
Liz struggled in his arms, despite the fact that it felt right to be held by him. She frowned, knowing that if it was truly Michael, she would not feel comfortable being held by him. But then her mind wandered to the time he had hugged her when Max was in the white room – that had felt right as well. But this was not Michael, this was a shapeshifter. “No, let go of me!”
Michael blinked, realizing what he had just done. Of course she would be unnerved by this, after all he had only really held her one other time that he could remember, when Max was in the white room. “Sorry” he whispered, trying to hide the hurt in his voice, she did not even want to be held by him, which did not bode well for what they had to do.
Liz frowned slightly as she heard the hurt in his voice, if it was really a shapeshifter, he would not feel bad for what he had done. And she would not feel guilty for begging to be let go. “I’m sorry, it’s just a little weird, I mean if you really are Michael we really aren’t close, I mean not yet.”
“Yeah” Michael admitted, looking over to the clock, it was about time for Max to make an ass out of himself once again. “Look, if I were a shapeshifter, there’s no way I could tell the future. In about ten seconds, Max is going to show up outside of you window and start singing to you… accompanied by a mariachi band.”
Liz smirked at the thought of Max singing with a mariachi band, only Michael would come up with something so absurd. “Please, a mariachi band? Max wouldn’t do anything that cheesy.” Liz paused and heard the faint sound of music in the background and blushed slightly. “Oh god” she whispered, as she put a hand over her face in an attempt to hide her laughter.
Michael smirked slightly, the image of Liz laughing at Max’s attempts to romance her was somewhat encouraging. “He begged me to teach him a Spanish song, but I refused to be a part of his downfall. So he got Mr. Delgado at the Hardware store to do it, and ever since then Max has not been able to go in there without being teased for at least an hour.”
“Wow, that’s really embarrassing” Liz admitted, somewhat amused that Max would still get teased about it, even fourteen years later.
“Yeah, we can’t take Max anywhere” he stated, somewhat annoyed that Liz was paying the display more mind. “He said something about changing the flowers from red to white halfway up because you liked white roses, it drained him for at least two days after that.”
Liz watched as the roses changed from red to white in mid air, just as Michael had said. She gasped slightly and turned away from the window, thinking that she would never be able to look at Max with a straight face again. “So Michael, why are you here?”
Michael scratched his eyebrow and looked up toward the night sky, wanting to tell her everything, but knowing that he could not do that. “I can’t tell you too much, Liz… only what you need to know, but the world goes to hell in fourteen years.” He figured that was the easiest answer, because it was all going to be fixed anyway, there was no need to tell her that the war was actually years before that and they had lost their final attempt to save everything a month ago.
Liz looked at Michael with wide eyes, she did not want to think that by the age of thirty, they would all be enslaved or something. That did not exactly tug at her heartstrings, and she hoped that he was exaggerating, but she knew that would probably not be the case. “Uh, who’s taken over?”
Michael frowned slightly, he did not want to tell her the details of what would happen, that was hell and he would not wish living that on anyone, especially not her. She looked much too innocent to know the exact details of what happened. “Everyone. Earth. Look, it’s not important because the two of us are going to stop it from happening. See g… Parker, we’re going to change the future. What we do here has to be foolproof and we can’t afford any mistakes. No one, and I mean no one, not Maria, not Alex, not Max, and especially not the younger version of me, can know that I’m here.”
Liz sighed and flopped down on her bed, of course there would be an alien crisis not even hours after a fortune teller told her how her future would go. And it was not like Madame Vivian could say there will be a big blue light in the sky that will turn your life upside down. “So what do you want me to do?” she asked, somewhat afraid of what Michael would tell her.
Thanks for all the FB and I'm really glad that you all like this story 
I'm sorry this took so long, but I've been megga busy! -G