Love Changes Everything ~M/L CC~ {COMPLETED}

[majiklmoon]

Love Changes Everything Chapters 1-15
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Thanks to Angel for the banner

Disclaimer: You know the drill…the characters aren’t mine. A lot of stuff in the beginning is taken from End of the World. God knows THAT’S not mine. Anything that makes sense and makes it all better, now that’s mine. Seriously, Roswell and all characters belong to Jason Katims, 20th Century Fox etc. I’m just borrowing them.

Rating: TEEN – possibly to MATURE

Chapter Sixteen – Invisible Touch


“He left his cell phone here,” said Liz, blankly. “How could he have done that?”
“Well, maybe it just fell out of his pocket,” said Maria, helpfully.
“Yeah, or maybe it was helped out of his pocket by that evil mind-warping hell beast,” said Alex. A small chuckle escaped from Liz, followed by laughter from Kyle and Michael, and Isabelle and Maria soon followed. Within seconds, the room was filled with laughter that did much to ease the tension that had previously filled the room.
“I’m guessing you don’t like her much,” said Ava.
“You got that right,” said Maria.
“Listen,” said Liz, as she contained her laughter. “We can trash Tess later. Right now, we need to find a way to warn Max. Isabelle, can you try dream walking him?”
“I-I don’t know,” said Isabelle. “I can’t dream walk someone if their awake.”

“You did it once before,” Michael reminded her as he sad down in the booth where Isabelle was sitting.
“That was different,” said Isabelle. “He was drugged then.”
“Isabelle, you have to try,” said Liz. “We don’t have any other options.” Isabelle nodded and reached into her pocketbook and removed her wallet. Opening it up, she removed a wallet sized school photo of Max and placed it on the table. Isabelle took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly, trying to bring her swirling emotions under control. She placed her fingers on the picture, and concentrated on Max. Once she was on the dream plane, Isabelle searched for the iridescent dream bubble that belonged to her brother. She located the bubble, and tried to enter it, but unlike the dream bubbles of people who were asleep, Max’s bubble felt as though it was sheathed in steel. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t penetrate it.

“I can’t do it,” she gasped at last. “I can’t get in.”
“Isabelle, you have to keep trying,” said Michael. “We have to warn him.”
“Damn it, Michael, don’t you get it? I tried. I can’t do it!” Across the room, Ava said something softly.
“What?” asked Kyle. “What did you say?”
“I said that Liz could do it,” said Ava, her voice stronger. “She can reach Max.”
“You’re crazy, Ava,” said Liz. “I don’t have any powers. I’m human, remember?”
“You said Max healed you, right? Well, when he did that, he changed you,” said Ava.”
“What do you mean, he changed me?” queried Liz, nervously.
“You were dead, right, or just about dead anyhow. When Max brought you back to life, he altered your physical make-up. He awoke a part of your brain that’s been dormant. Our powers come from our brains; we use more of our brains than you do. Except for if Max used his powers to bring you back to life, it’s kinda like he jump-started your heart, and your brain. It woke up a part of your brain that you don’t use. Frig it; I’m no good at explaining. Didn’t your protector explain any of this too you?”

“We never really knew our protector,” explained Michael. “At least, Max, Isabelle and I didn’t. Nascedo raised Tess, and they weren’t too forthcoming with the information. Anything we’ve learned, we figured out from the book.”
“How’d you translate the book without the help of your protector?” asked Ava.
“Alex did it,” said Isabelle, proudly. “He created a computer program that helped him translate the book.”
“Well, it’s not completely translated yet,” said Alex. “We’ve still got quite a bit to go.”
“Way to go, brainiac,” said Ava. “Lonnie and Rath have our book. They never let me see it.”
“Can we forget about the book for a minute and focus on Max!” shouted Liz. “We need to do something to warn him!”
“Right,” said Ava. “Come over here and sit down,” she said, indicating the booth where Isabelle sat.
“I don’t think I can do this,” said Liz, nervously. “I mean Isabelle, if you couldn’t get through to Max, what makes you think I can?”
“I know my brother, and I know that if there is one voice he will hear no matter where he is, no matter what he's doing, it's yours. Take my hand, Liz,” said Isabelle.


The summit had not gone well, and everyone was angry. Lonnie and Rath were pissed at Max for withholding information about the granolith from them, and Max was mad at them for trying to bully and cajole him into giving into Nicholas’s demands. Max could feel the anger burning in them, but it was Tess that surprised him the most. She was enraged with him, and doing her best to hide it behind a cheerful, supportive façade.
“I’m hungry,” said Rath. “Let’s get something to eat.”
“Not pizza,” said Lonnie. “I’m sick of pizza. Let’s go to Chinatown.”

The group turned a corner, and Max felt a hand slip into his and squeeze reassuringly. He looked down, expecting to see Tess walking next to him, her hand in his, but there was nothing there. He felt the slight pressure against his hand once again, and he looked up, and across the street. An image of Liz appeared across the busy city street. Without thinking, he stepped off the curb and headed towards her. Behind him, he heard a large banging noise. He turned to find that a window washer’s scaffold had fallen on the exact spot where he had been standing. He looked back across the street, but Liz was nowhere to be seen.
“Liz! Liz, where are you?” He turned to where Tess and the other’s had been standing, but they too were gone.

Max felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. He looked around once more and then ran down the street towards the subway entrance where Rath and Lonnie lived. He pushed past the crowds waiting for the train and walked down a deserted tunnel until he came to the abandoned area Rath and Lonnie called home. Tess sat on the floor, in the center of the room, staring at him intently.
“You only see me,”a voice in his head whispered. “You don’t see Rath and Lonnie sitting on the sofa.”
“Tess, what happened?” he asked, kneeling down on the floor next to her. He made sure his gaze didn’t focus on the sofa for too long. “Are you alright?”
“Tell King dork that we attacked you,” laughed Lonnie.
“Lonnie and Rath, they attacked me,” said Tess. “They tried to get inside my mind, and find out where the granolith was. But I stopped them.”
“How did you stop them Tess?” asked Max.
“I don’t know,” moaned Tess.
“Nice touch, babe,” said Rath.
“Where are they now, Tess?” asked Max, gently.
“I’ don’t know,” she moaned again. “They were just gone.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” said Rath, standing up. “Gone is where we’re goin’.” He walked over to a table and placed a gold book on it. “If you translate this friggin book before us, let us know. We’ll come back to Mayberry and use the granolith ourselves to get home,” said Rath.
“And if you get it translated before me?” questioned Tess. She smiled slightly as she spoke, enjoying the feeling of Max stroking her hair. He was completely taken in by her mind warp.
“Don’t worry,” said Lonnie, wrapping her arms round Rath. “We’ll take you with us. Any friggin fool could see you shoulda been with us right from the beginning. Ava always was too freakin human.”
“That’s right,” said Tess. “I go with you, and don’t you forget it. Nascedo made a deal with Kivar, and I’m going to uphold it!”
“Yeah, whatever,” said Rath, as he and Lonnie walked out of the room. “We’ll see you in Mayberry after you get the book translated.”

“It’s okay, Tess,” whispered Max, as he watched Lonnie and Rath leave out of the corner of his eye. “You’re alright, and I’m going to take you home.” He stood up and pulled Tess up with him, and helped her gather her things, and the two started to walk down the tunnel. Max stopped and turned back towards Lonnie and Rath’s hovel. “Wait here,” he said.
“What’s the matter Max?” asked Tess with concern.
“Nothing, well, nothing alien related,” said Max with a smile. “I left my back pack back there. You wait here, and I’ll just go grab it.” Max jogged back down the tunnel, into the large area Rath and Lonnie called home. He grabbed the backpack he had purposely left behind. He glanced around, to make sure nobody was watching him, and he quickly grabbed Rath and Lonnie’s copy of the Destiny Book off the table and buried it in his bag. He slipped the bag over his shoulder and jogged back to where Tess was waiting.
“Come on,” he said, smiling down at her. “I’m ready to go home.”[/img]

[majiklmoon]

Disclaimer: You know the drill…the characters aren’t mine. A lot of stuff in the beginning is taken from End of the World. God knows THAT’S not mine. Anything that makes sense and makes it all better, now that’s mine. Seriously, Roswell and all characters belong to Jason Katims, 20th Century Fox etc. I’m just borrowing them.

Rating: PG-13 – possibly to R

Chapter Seventeen ~ The End of Innocence

A subdued group sat around the table at the closed CrashDown as Max related the Tess edited version of their adventures to the others. While Max spoke, Liz went behind the counter and began to fill glasses with tonic for everyone to drink. When she was sure Tess wasn’t watching her, she slipped one of the glasses to Ava, who was hiding on the floor, behind the counter. Ava smiled her thanks and passed Liz a scrap of paper. Carefully Liz unfolded it and read Ava’s message. “She’s lying,” it said. Liz nodded to so she understood and slipped the note in her pocket. Grabbing the tray of drinks, she went back over to the others.

“So after I found Tess, we got the hell out of there,” said Max, concluding his tale.
“Why didn’t you take the opportunity to go back home with them?” asked Isabelle.
“Because Max knew that his home was here, with you and Michael,” said Tess, reaching out and squeezing Max’s arm. Maria rolled her eyes, and made a gagging motion to Liz, behind Tess’s back. Liz managed to hide her smile.

“Okay, well, good, you are all back, safe and sound, but we need to clear out of here, or my parents will freak out if you guys are here much longer.”
“Liz is right,” said Kyle, feigning a yawn. “Besides, I’m getting tired.”
Alex jumped slightly as if someone had kicked him and he chimed it. “I hope your not to tired to teach me that meditation technique you told me about Kyle,” he improvised. “Remember you said you were going to crash at my place and show it to me?”
“What? Oh yeah, right,” said Kyle, recovering quickly. “Tess, I can’t drive you home tonight. Do you want to take my car and I can have Alex drive me home in the morning?”

Tess scrunched her nose slightly and looked out the corner of her eye at Max.
“I’ll drive Tess home,” said Max, obeying the small voice he heard in his head. He nodded slightly to Michael to indicate that he would meet them all later at Michael’s apartment. He stood and slipped his hand under Tess’s arm and helped her from the booth. He looked down into her eyes and smiled slightly.
“Despite everything that happened on this trip, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.” He took her hand and led her to the door, but before he left the café, he turned and looked at Liz.
“I love you,” he mouthed to her.


Liz reached into the box and grabbed a slice of pepperoni pizza and lifted to cheesy gooey mess to her mouth and took a bite.
“Oh my God!” she gasped. “This is so good! Can someone please explain to me why Tess’s mind warps make me want to eat?” Liz looked from Alex, to Ava waiting for an answer, but none was forthcoming.
“Fine,” she said, her voice muffled as she took another bite of pizza. “Then can somebody tell me why Max hasn’t gained an ounce since we figured out about her mind warps? I feel like I’ve gained fifteen pounds since we figured out what she’s doing to us.”

“Well, I’d say good genes,” said Isabelle, taking a sip from her tonic, “But we’re still not really sure about our genes.”
“I think your jeans are great,” said Alex with a mock leer. “Actually, Liz, I’m not really sure, but we didn’t start the food fests until we started blocking her warps. I think the combination of her warp and our blocking it, does something to our brain chemistry and flips on the hungry switch.” He started to say something else, but stopped as the door to Michael’s apartment opened. Max stood in the doorway and surveyed his friends.
“She sold us out,” he said. “The bitch sold us out to Rath and Lonnie.”

“What!” the others cried in unison. Liz jumped up, crawled over Michael and Maria and flew into Max’s arms.
“Oh Max,” she said. “I was so worried. When Ava told us what they did to Zan, I was so afraid they would try and hurt you. We all were afraid.”
“How did you get to New York so quickly, Liz?” asked Max. “And what happened to you? I looked away for a second after that scaffolding fell, and you had disappeared.”
“I wasn’t really there Max. Look, it’s complicated, and you deserve an explanation, but right now, we all want to hear about what happened.”

“Max led Liz back over to where the others were sitting. He sat down on the sofa and pulled Liz onto his lap and began his tale.
“She had a mind warp on me almost from the time we left,” he said. “She was creating this rosy little paradise for her and I to exist in. She is so pathetic that it’s almost sad. Oh, and she wanted to try some memory retrieval techniques on me to see if I could remember our life on Antar.”
“You don’t remember Antar?” asked Ava, curiously.
“No,” said Isabelle. “None of us do. Do you?”
“I didn’t,” admitted Ava. “But our protector worked with all of us to help us remember what Antar was like. I wasn’t very good at it. Lonnie was the best at it. After a while, she could remember almost everything.”
“Tell me something,” said Max. “Did Antar have green skies, a double sun, and oceans so thick it was like swimming in Jell-O?”

Ava laughed, and again, the group was amazed to here such a delightful, unfettered sound coming from a face that so resembled Tess.
“No,” she said. “Antar looks just like Earth, as do the people. The shape shifters looked like what people on Earth think aliens look like, but our people look just like everyone else on Earth. Oh, and the ocean, it’s wet, not edible.”
“I can’t believe her,” said Max. “She took the one thing we all wanted to know, and she bastardized it!”
“What else happened, Maxwell?” asked Michael.
“What, before or after they tried to kill me?”
“After,” said Liz. “Unless something of vital interest happened at the summit, we can cover that later.”

“After I saw you, Liz, I turned around, and they were gone. I looked back to where you were standing and you were gone. I took off and ran back to that bat cave they call home. When I got there, Tess was sitting on the floor, trying to warp me. She wanted me to believe that she was there alone, and that Lonnie and Rath had attacked her. But they were right there telling her what to say. They want us to translate the destiny book for them.”
“We couldn’t ever figure out how to read it, and our protector couldn’t read it either. That was why he pushed the memory retrieval stuff. He wanted us to remember our language, but we never could.”
“So they never translated any of it?” asked Alex.
“No,” said Max. “And they never will.” He reached into his bag and removed the other copy of the destiny book. “I stole it from them. Now I want to know how Liz was able to appear to me in New York,” said Max.

“Well, it’s kind of complicated,” hedged Liz, looking at the others, her eyes begging for help. “After Ava told us about Zan, we knew you were in danger. We tried to call your cell phone, but you left it here. We found it wedged in a booth at the CrashDown. Isabelle tried dream walking you too, but that wasn’t working either, we didn’t know what to do.”
“That still doesn’t explain how you were able to appear over 2000 miles away,” said Max. Liz caught her lower lip between her teeth and thought for a second. She took a deep breath and blurted, “When you healed me Max, you changed me.”
“What, what do you mean, I changed you?”
“According to Ava, your alien powers come from a portion of your brain that people on Earth don’t use. When you healed me, you changed my physical makeup enough to wake up that portion of my brain.”
“I turned you into one of us,” Max said, flatly.
“Max, there is no us, or them,” said Liz. “We are all humans. You just have a brain that is more developed than most people.”
“And now, you do too,” said Max. “God, Liz, I am so sorry, I never meant…” his voice trailed off.
“Max, you saved my life. You risked everything for me. From where I stand, there aren’t any drawbacks.”
“You are incredible, Liz Parker,” said Max, hugging her to him. “And I will love you forever!”

[majiklmoon]

Disclaimer: You know the drill…the characters aren’t mine. A lot of stuff in the beginning is taken from End of the World. God knows THAT’S not mine. Anything that makes sense and makes it all better, now that’s mine. Seriously, Roswell and all characters belong to Jason Katims, 20th Century Fox etc. I’m just borrowing them.

Rating: PG-13 – possibly to R[/b]

Chapter Eighteen – Live to Tell

The ringing of the phone pulled Alex Whitman from a deep sleep. He rolled over in bed, and his arm crept out from under the blanket and reached blindly towards the nightstand. He banged around the nightstand until he found the phone. He grabbed the receiver and muttered an incoherent hello into the mouthpiece.
“Alex, is that you?” asked the voice on the other end of the line.
“Muwmph,” Alex yawned. “Yeah, it’s me,” he amended groggily. “Who is this?”
“Alex, it’s Tess.”
“Oh, hey Tess, what do you want?” asked the now wide-awake Alex. “And did you know it’s only 6:30 on a Sunday morning?”
“Oh, I woke you,” said Tess solicitously. “I’m sorry Alex, it’s just that I need some help, and you were the only person I could think of to ask.” Alex rolled his eyes, and reached over onto his nightstand and slipped the platinum ring that Isabelle gave him on his finger. “No problem Tess, what can I do for you?”
“I really need to talk to you, alone. Can we meet somewhere?”
“Mmmm, yeah,” said Alex, thinking quickly. “How about that new pancake house that opened up. It’s opened 24 hours. In about a half an hour?” he asked.
“Oh Alex, you’re a real lifesaver,” Tess cooed over the phone. “Is uh, Kyle still there?” she asked in a casual voice.
“Oh yeah,” lied Alex. “He’s sound asleep on my bedroom floor. Why, do you want to talk to him?”
“Oh, no, I just was wondering if he was still there, or on his way home?” said Tess.
“Don’t tell anybody that I called you or that we are meeting. It’s a secret,” said a voice in Alex’s head.
“I’ll just leave him a note telling him I went for a jog,” said Alex. I’ll see you in half an hour.”
“Thanks Alex,” said Tess. “You’re the best.”

Alex hung up the phone, and rolled out of bed. He threw on some clothes, brushed his teeth and reached for the phone. He punched in Michael’s number and tapped his foot impatiently while he waited for someone to answer.
“Kyle!” he said. “Yes, I do know it’s almost 7:00 a.m. Shut up and listen for a second. Tess called me.”
“What!” shouted Kyle, his voice still filled with sleep.
“Yeah, she has a favor to ask me and wants to meet with me right away, and she is trying to warp me into keeping it a secret. We’re meeting at the new pancake house that opened up. She was also looking for you. She wanted to make sure you were still here. I told her you were asleep.
“Thanks, man,” said Kyle. “Okay, I’ll spread the word about what’s up. Meet us at the CrashDown as soon as you can. You remember the code, right?”
“Yeah, how hard can it be to remember song N-17 on the jukebox if we need a meeting,” laughed Alex. “Listen, how’s Ava doing?”
“She’s okay,” said Kyle. “It’s weird, she looks so much like Tess, and there are parts of her that are like Tess too, but for the most part, she’s entirely different. She’s really nice.” Alex smiled as he listened to his friend’s voice soften as he spoke about Tess.
“Just remember, my parents are going away on that cruise next week. She’s more than welcome to stay here while they are gone. Tess might get suspicious if we keep her away from Michael’s apartment for too long.”
“Good thinking,” said Kyle. “Listen, you be careful with Tess. There’s no telling what she’s up to with this meeting.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not exactly hero material,” laughed Alex. “I’d better get going if I’m going to meet her on time. Oh, by the way, I told her I was leaving you a note saying I was going jogging. Take it easy,” said Alex as he hung up the phone.

Alex slipped out of the house, and drove across the quiet streets of Roswell. He parked several blocks down from the pancake house and walked to the restaurant, using the time to compose himself for what might lie ahead. A jingling bell announced him as he opened the door of the new restaurant. A cursory glance showed him that he and Tess, aside from a waitress and a cook, were the restaurants only occupants. He slid into the booth across from Tess, and quickly grabbed a menu to hide his nervousness.
“Hey,” he said, nodding.
“Hi Alex,” Tess replied. “Thank you so much for meeting me like this.”
“No problem,” he said. “I wasn’t really sleepy anyhow.”
“Liar,” she answered with a smile. “It was really selfish of me to wake you up so early on a Sunday morning, but what I have to ask you is really important, and I didn’t want to wait any longer.

“You two kids ready to order?” asked the waitress as she approached the table.
“Uh, yeah,” said Alex, glancing quickly at the menu. “I’ll have a short stack of buttermilk pancakes with blueberries, and a cup of coffee.”
“And you dear?” the waitress asked, turning towards Tess.
“That sounds good,” she answered. “I’ll have the same thing.” The waitress scribbled something down on her pad, and took the order over to the kitchen. She returned with a pot of coffee in her hand and made short work of filling the cups. Tess and Alex waited until the waitress was out of earshot before resuming their conversation.

“So,” said Alex, fiddling nervously with his spoon. “What did you need my help with?”
“Alex, you’re really smart,” said Tess. “And you’re really great with computers, so I was wondering, if you could possibly figure out a way to help me with a project of sorts?”
“I can try,” said Alex. “What’s it for, school?”
“I’d rather not say right now.”
“Okay, but it’s going to make helping you a bit difficult. Can you at least tell me what you want me to do?”
“It’s kind of like translation stuff,” said Tess vaguely.
“Oh you mean like from English to Spanish, or something?”
“More like something to English,” said Tess.
“Oh, said Alex faintly, knowing what she wanted.
“I’ll give you all the details later,” said Tess. “Just promise me that you’ll help me.”
“Uh, yeah, sure I will Tess,” said Alex.
“Thanks Alex,” said Tess, smiling faintly. She closed her eyes, and an intense look of concentration crossed her face. “And remember,” she added. “Don’t tell anybody about this.”

As she spoke, Alex could feel her probing his mind, trying to erase all vestiges of the conversation from his memory.
“I want this party to be a surprise for Max,” Tess said. “Don’t forget, don’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t tell anyone, Tess,” said Alex. “A surprise party won’t be a surprise if everyone knows about it.”
“You’re terrific, Alex,” said Tess, standing up to leave. “Thanks again. I’ll see you later.”
“Wait,” said Alex as she slid out of the booth. “What about your breakfast?”
“Oh, I’m not very hungry. Thanks anyway.”
“See ya,” said Alex, as he reached for the two plates the waitress placed on the table. “I’m glad she’s not hungry, because I sure am.”

[majiklmoon]

Disclaimer: You know the drill…the characters aren’t mine. A lot of stuff in the beginning is taken from End of the World. God knows THAT’S not mine. Anything that makes sense and makes it all better, now that’s mine. Seriously, Roswell and all characters belong to Jason Katims, 20th Century Fox etc. I’m just borrowing them.

Rating: PG-13 – possibly to R

Love Changes Everything

Chapter Nineteen – Deceptions

“Max, can you help me with something?” asked Tess softly. Max looked up from the notes he was studying.
“Tess, when did you get here?” he asked.
“Just a minute ago, your mother let me in,” Tess replied
“Oh, well come on in then,” said Max, pushing his chair away from his desk. “You were saying something about a favor?” he prompted.
“Yeah,” said Tess, smiling slightly. She walked over to him, straddled his legs, and sat down in his lap, facing him. She looped her arms around his neck and leaned in and kissed him deeply. “I have a favor, a really big favor. I need to borrow the destiny book from you for a while.”

Max suppressed a shudder as Tess kissed him again, and her tongue snaked its way into his mouth.
“Why do you want to borrow it?” he asked when she ended the kiss.
“Well, I’ve been having these dreams of our life on Antar lately, and I keep seeing images of me, reading. I can’t remember what it is after I wake up, but I’m hoping that maybe if I look at the book right after I wake up, it will help me to remember. Please Max?” she wheedled, leaning in to kiss him again. Max suffered her kiss silently, raging to himself because he knew he would have to give into her request.
“Sure Tess,” he said, standing up and sliding her from his lap. “I don’t have it here. The book is locked away, but I’ll get it too you tonight.”

“Thanks Max,” said Tess as she leaned in to kiss him fully on the lips again. As they kissed, Max saw flashes that Tess imprinted in his brain. He saw their wedding day; swimming in a Jell-O ocean, and a green sky with double suns. As she deepened the kiss, he began to receive other images; ones that he didn’t think were controlled by Tess. He saw Tess meeting with a strange man, and making love to him passionately. He saw soldiers storming a palace, and bodies strewn over the ground. He saw Michael’s lifeless body, his eyes staring at nothing, and Isabelle being whipped, her lifeless body being left for scavengers.
“Max, what is it?” asked Tess, sensing his withdrawal.
“N-nothing,” he said, recovering quickly. “I was just getting some flashes of our life on Antar. I can’t believe we really swam in an ocean like that,” he said, forcing a laugh.
“We did,” said Tess. “It was one of our favorite things to do!”
“I’m really glad I’m starting to learn more about our lives together on Antar,” said Max. “But if I don’t get back to studying, I’m not going to pass this test, and then I won’t have a life here on Earth.”
“I get the hint, Max,” said Tess with a laugh. “I’ll leave you to your studying. You won’t forget about the book, will you?”

“I won’t,” said Max, rising from his chair. “Come on, I’ll walk you to the door.” He escorted Tess to her car and watched while she drove back out of site. He walked back into his room and went over and opened the window.
“Come on in Michael, she’s gone.”
“Hey, Maxwell,” said Michael, as he climbed through the window. “How long did you know I was out there?”
“Not long,” said Max. “I caught a glimpse of you in the mirror. You heard, I assume?”
“Yeah, she wants the book, but I knew that anyhow. I heard back from Alex after their morning meeting. Are you going to give it to her?”
“Do I have a choice?” Max asked ruefully.
“Not that I can see,” said Michael.
“I didn’t think so,” said Max. “Listen, Michael, I need your help with something.”
“What? If it’s killing Tess, you already know I’m in.”
“No, it’s not that. I want to try and give you a flash of something I saw, and I want you to try and draw it for me.”
“Jesus, Maxwell, you don’t think small, do you?”
“I’m sorry, Michael. But I saw something when Tess killed me, and I don’t think it was something she generated in my head.”
“When she WHAT? When she killed you?”
“Sorry, I meant kissed me,” said Max.

Michael reached over to the desk and grabbed a notebook and pencil, and sat down on the bed. “Okay,” he said. “How do you want to do this?”
“I don’t know,” said Max, honestly. “I guess I’ll just try grabbing your hand and seeing if I can pass the flash on to you.” As he spoke, he grabbed Michael by the hand, and tried to concentrate on the image of the man he saw making love with Tess. Max tried to focus only on the stranger, and not of the vision of Michael lying on the ground, dead, but the image crept into his mind, no matter what he did. He could feel Michael trying to pull his hand out of Max’s grasp, but he wouldn’t let go, until Michael reached around with his free hand, and punched Max in the jaw. The connection severed, Max rubbed his jaw where Michael had hit him.
“I’m sorry, Michael,” said Max. “I didn’t mean for you to see everything.”
“My God,” said Michael. “What they did to Isabelle, I can’t believe it.”

“Michael,” began Max.
“Yeah, I know, I saw it,” said Michael, referring to his own death. “But that doesn’t seem as important as protecting you and Isabelle.”
“It’s funny,” said Max, though his voice lacked any humor. “I wasn’t worried about myself either. All I could think about was you and Isabelle.”
“And I’m sure if Isabelle saw the flash, she’d be more worried about us than herself,” said Michael.
“Did you see the other person?” asked Max. “The one with Tess?”
“Yeah, I did,” said Michael. “Do you have any idea of who he is?”
“No, do you think you can draw him?”
”I don’t know, but I’m going to try,” said Michael. He bent down and grabbed the notebook that had slid off the bed. He sketched rapidly, and then passed the notebook to Max.
“Is this him?” he asked.
“Yeah, it is,” said Max, his stomach sinking as he looked at the image. “Can you round everybody up?” he asked Michael. “I think we need to have another meeting.”
“Sure thing,” said Michael. “The quarry again?”
“No, your place, I think. I want Ava to take a look at this sketch. How’s she settling in, anyhow?”
“Great,” said Michael. “I like knowing that I have a sister, and her and Valenti are getting pretty tight too. I’m having fun playing big brother, threatening to blow him up if he messes with my sister and all that.”
“You better watch it, Michael. Kyle’s probably going to start developing powers too. He may be able to blow you up if you don’t watch out.”
“I know that, and you know that, but Valenti hasn’t realized it yet.” The two friends laughed together for a moment, before becoming serious once again.

“You round everybody up,” said Max. “I’ll go pick up some take out. How does Chinese sound this time?”
“Yeah, and the spicier, the better,” said Michael. “Alex added an entire bottle of jalapeno’s to his ice cream sundae today at the CrashDown. He said he was really craving spicy food after his meeting with Tess.”
“Great,” said Max. “Another side effect of her mind warps. Okay, I’ll get a double order of General Gau’s Chicken.” He watched as Michael climbed out the window and jumped onto his bike. Max picked up the drawing off the bed, and stared at it with a sense of foreboding. He folded it up, and slipped it into his back pocket, grabbed the keys to his Jeep and headed out of the house.

[majiklmoon]

Disclaimer: You know the drill…the characters aren’t mine. A lot of stuff in the beginning is taken from End of the World. God knows THAT’S not mine. Anything that makes sense and makes it all better, now that’s mine. Seriously, Roswell and all characters belong to Jason Katims, 20th Century Fox etc. I’m just borrowing them.

Rating: PG-13 – possibly to R

Love Changes Everything

Chapter Twenty – Kiss and Tell

Liz looked around to make sure she wasn’t being observed and then climbed quickly into the unlocked vehicle. She hunkered down on the floor of the back seat and waited. The minutes dragged on interminably. After what seemed like an eternity, she heard the car door open. The driver climbed in, placed some packages on the passenger seat, slammed the door and started the vehicle. The car drove down the street, stopping occasionally for what Liz could only assume were red lights. Suddenly, the car swerved sharply. Liz muffled a gasp as her weight shifted and she banged her head against the back of the passenger seat.

Liz heard the brakes squeal as the vehicle came to a sudden stop.
“Alright,” said the voice from the front seat. “Get the hell out of my car before I kill you. Liz felt a hand reach back and grab her roughly and pull her from the back of the car. The driver reached his arm back and prepared to punch her when he realized whom he held.
“Liz?” Max asked, incredulously.
“Sorry,” said Liz, with a small laugh. “I couldn’t resist when I saw your Jeep parked outside of Senor Chow’s. It seems like we never get any time alone lately, and so I saw an opportunity, and I grabbed it. Besides, I’ve had this feeling all afternoon that you were really upset. I wanted to see you for myself and find out if you were okay.”
“I’m fine,” said Max, pulling Liz to him so he could kiss her.

Several minutes passed as Liz and Max kissed passionately in the front seat of his Jeep. Liz leaned into Max and deepened the kiss. Her tongue slowly crept into his mouth, thrusting seductively back and forth. She withdrew her tongue and bit his lower lip lightly. Max groaned with desire and kissed her deeper. As he did, the images he received when he kissed Tess transmitted themselves to Liz’s open mind.
“Oh my God, Max. What was that?” she cried, ending their embrace.
“Damn,” swore Max, softly. “I didn’t mean for you to see those.”
“But Michael, Isabelle, God Max, are they okay. We have to do something. We have to find them!” Liz cried frantically.
“Liz, relax,” said Max, holding her down. “It wasn’t them.”
“But I saw them, it was them. Michael, he’s dead, and Isabelle, my God, she’s better off if she’s dead.

“Liz, it isn’t them. It’s not Michael and Isabelle. You’re seeing Rath and Vilondra. It’s how they died on Antar, or at least I think it is, anyhow. That’s what this meeting tonight is about.”
“What’s going on, Max? I’m afraid,” said Liz, her face white.
“Tess came by for a surprise visit today,” began Max. “She wanted a favor. She tried using her powers on me to convince me to give her the book. After I agreed, she kissed me. The first thing I saw was the images she had created in my head of Antar, Jell-o beach, green sky, the works. But then, I began to see other things. They were horrible.”
“Max, don’t, you don’t have to tell me what you saw,” said Liz. “I saw it too.
Max smiled at Liz, her thoughtfulness making him love her all the more, but he wasn’t able to suppress the images that filled his brain. Swallowing deeply, he continued his story.
“After I got rid of her, Michael showed up. I was able to let him see the visions, and he sketched them out. We’re going to show them to Ava tonight to see if she recognizes anything.”

Liz dropped her head into her hands and rubbed her face wearily.
“We have to stop her Max. We can’t let her take over our lives like this any more.”
“I know, Liz, I know. Right now, we have to go with what we have, and that isn’t much.”
“Well, then, let’s get this food to Michael’s and start brainstorming,” said Liz.
“You know,” said Max, looking at Liz reflectively. “I picked up the food kind of early. I was just going to hang out at Michael’s, so we have some time to kill.”
“Oh, so we could, oh, maybe take a ride out to say the quarry or something?” said Liz, suggestively.
“Yeah,” said Max. “Or something.” He turned the key in the ignition, and the Jeep roared to life. He checked quickly to make sure there was no traffic and he pulled the Jeep out onto the road. Fifteen minutes later, Max pulled the Jeep off of the road and parked it behind a large outcropping of rocks. Taking Liz by the hand, he led her up a small incline. He paused for a moment, and passed his hand over one of the rocks, and a glowing handprint was revealed, and a door slid open to admit them to a hidden chamber.

“Here Max?” Liz asked, questioningly. “Are you sure?”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life, Liz. This is where my life began, and it almost ended, thanks to Tess and her stupid mind warps. If we hadn’t found out the truth, we all would have gone on believing that Tess and I were destined to be together. I want to be with you here.” Liz said nothing; she simply took Max’s hand and pulled him to the ground. The couple made love passionately, but with a desperation as well. Max was desperate to erase the images he had seen earlier, and Liz was desperate to keep him safe.

“Max, that was incredible,” said Liz, her breath coming in short gasps. “I mean, the last time was incredible, as well, but this was a different kind of incredible. I feel so alive inside. It’s like I can feel you inside my cells, moving around.” Max propped himself up on one elbow and played with a strand of Liz’s hair.
“Do you think it has to do with the changes from my healing you?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” said Liz, a blissful smile on her face. “This is the most wonderful feeling I have ever had, and I don’t want it to end.”
“You’re what’s wonderful,” said Max, kissing her on the nose. “I wish we could just stay here, forever. Locked away from the rest of the world.”
“We’d get pretty hungry if we were locked in here forever,” said Liz, playing along.
“We have Chinese food out in the car. We can live on Alex’s double order of General Gau’s chicken.”
“Alex!” cried Liz, while at the same time Max said “Chinese food!”
“Oh God! How long have we been here?” asked Liz, scrambling into her clothes.
“Only a couple of hours,” said Max. “We’re not too late. If we hurry, we should be able to get there before they all start freaking out completely.”

The couple quickly left the pod chamber and climbed into the Jeep. On the outskirts of town, Liz climbed into the back seat and hunkered down on the floor again in case Tess was around anywhere. She shifted position, trying to find a comfortable place to sit, while holding the bags of now cold Chinese food on her lap. Outside of Michael’s apartment, Max looked around to make sure they were unobserved. He opened the Jeep door and allowed Liz, still holding the bags of food to rush up the steps to Michael’s apartment. She knocked on the door and walked in, followed by Max.
“Hi,” she said to the room in general. “Sorry we’re late, we got held up.”
“Don’t worry,” said Michael, reaching for the bags of food. “Man, this smells great, and it’s still hot too, good!”

[majiklmoon]

Disclaimer: You know the drill…the characters aren’t mine. A lot of stuff in the beginning is taken from End of the World. God knows THAT’S not mine. Anything that makes sense and makes it all better, now that’s mine. Seriously, Roswell and all characters belong to Jason Katims, 20th Century Fox etc. I’m just borrowing them.

Rating: PG-13 – possibly to R

Chapter Twenty-One That’s the Way the Fortune Cookie Crumbles

“No way man,” said Alex. “There is no way I want to go along with anything that mind warping hell beast comes up with! And, I think you are nuts to even consider it, Max. You want to give her the book? You’re insane!” Finished speaking, Alex shoveled several heaping spoonfuls of General Gau’s Chicken on his plate.
“What?” he asked as everyone stared at him, in shocked silence. “I’m hungry. Hey, you know what would go good with this, some chocolate syrup. Do you have any Michael?”

“Uh, I’ll get it,” said Maria, rising quickly and heading towards the kitchen, Michael hot on her heels.
“Man, what is wrong with Alex tonight?” asked Michael after he reached the relative quiet of the kitchen.
“Don’t you get it?” demanded Maria, her eyes filling up with tears. “That bitch is getting to him, despite the platinum ring he’s wearing. It’s starting to affect him. This has to stop, Michael, and it has to stop now, before Alex gets any worse. If you don’t stop it, I will. I don’t care if I have to kill the stupid bitch to do it!”

“That’s enough, Maria,” said Alex, from the doorway. “You’re not going to kill anybody. You can’t even kill the ants when we go on a picnic,” he added with a snort.
“Yeah, well, Tess is lower on the evolutionary scale than an ant,” grumbled Maria, wiping her tear-streaked face. “I could happily kill her for what she’s doing to you.”
“She’s not doing anything to me Maria,” said Alex, reaching for the chocolate syrup he spied on the counter. “Okay,” he amended, “She’s messing up my taste buds, but other than that, I’m fine.”
“But, you just exploded at Max in there,” said Maria. “That is so not like you.”
“Maria, that was very much like me. Especially if you take into consideration the fact that I haven’t slept more than 2 hours in the past two days. Kyle, Ava, Isabelle and I worked on the dupes book last night. I had just barely gone to bed when Tess called to set up our little breakfast tête-à-tête. I’m working on no sleep here, Maria. That’s all, I promise.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, Maria, I’m sure,” said Alex, raising his eyebrow as he spoke. “No sleep, that’s all. Now why don’t you go out into the other room? Max has something important he wants to tell us.”

Maria looked at Alex, her confusion apparent as she turned and left the room. Alex started to follow her when Michael reached out and grabbed his arm.
“Are you sure your okay?” he asked. “Cause Maria will totally freak if anything happens to you because of us.”
“Just Maria?” asked Alex, an amused expression on his face.
“Well, Liz and Isabelle too,” said Michael, squirming a little. Alex said nothing. He just stared at Michael, one eyebrow raised. Michael grimaced, and shook his head slightly.
“Fine,” he groused. “You want to make me say it, I’ll say it. We’ll all fall apart if anything happens to you.” Michael pushed past Alex and walked into the living room, his face suffused with color.
“Interesting,” said Alex, softly to the empty room. “Maria never gives up on anything that easily, but she stopped going on and on as soon as I thought it. And Michael would never in a million years admit that he cared about any of us, yet he just did, as soon as I pushed him. He said exactly what I wanted him to say. I wonder what it means?” Alex started to walk back to the living room, and stopped and reached back for the chocolate syrup and then headed back into the living room.

“Houston, we have a problem,” he deadpanned as he walked in the room.
“What’s wrong, Alex?” asked Isabelle, her face a mask of concern.
“I don’t know if wrong is exactly the word I would choose, but it is something,” said Alex.
“Well what is it?” demanded Max, impatiently.
“Max, don’t you feel like standing on the coffee table and singing, “What’s New Pussycat?” asked Alex.
“Alex, what the hell are you talking about?” asked Max. “It’s not like this is the best time in the world for fun and games. Alex just smiled, and gave a small shove with his mind, his eyebrow raising as he concentrated. Suddenly, Max stood up, and climbed up onto Michael’s dilapidated coffee table and began to sing the old Tom Jones standard.

“Alex, my God, what did you do to him?” cried Liz as she tried to get Max to get off the table, which groaned alarmingly under his weight.
“Max, you can stop now,” said Alex, his face wet with perspiration. As quickly as he had begun, Max stopped singing and climbed down off of the coffee table.
“You can mind warp,” he said, flatly. “Since when?”
“Since just now,” said Alex. “It started in the kitchen. “I got Maria to lay off of me, and I got Michael,” he paused, seeing the look of anger on Michael’s face. “Well, I got Michael to say something he usually wouldn’t,” said Alex. “Both of those things could have been a coincidence, so I figured I’d try something to totally weird, just to be certain. I’m sorry Max,” he added with a chuckle. “But if I were you, I wouldn’t quit your day job.”

“Well at least nobody else is showing any signs of developing powers,” said Isabelle. Kyle, what about you, any powers yet?”
“Nope,” said Kyle. “I’m clean. For now,” he added in a whisper.
“Maria, how about you?” asked Michael.
“Nothing that I know of, but if I’m going to have powers, can I blow stuff up, like Tess maybe?” asked Maria.
“Great,” said Isabelle, so all we have is this new trick of Alex. Liz did contact Max that time,” she added, “But I don’t thing that counts, I think that was more of a love thing than a power thing.”
“Don’t be too sure,” said Liz, passing her hand over Isabelle’s plate of congealed Chinese food. Steam began to rise from the food as Liz looked bleakly up at the others.

[majiklmoon]

Disclaimer: You know the drill…the characters aren’t mine. A lot of stuff in the beginning is taken from End of the World. God knows THAT’S not mine. Anything that makes sense and makes it all better, now that’s mine. Seriously, Roswell and all characters belong to Jason Katims, 20th Century Fox etc. I’m just borrowing them.

Rating: PG-13 – possibly to R

Chapter Twenty-Two Power Surge

“Well, what did you’se guys expect?” asked Ava. “I told you that you guys was changed.”
“Yeah, but Max didn’t ever heal me,” said Alex. Ava shot him a look that clearly said she couldn’t believe how stupid he was.
“I thought you was supposed to be the smart one,” she said, her voice rich with scorn. “Don’t you get it? It’s Tess, she’s workin’ her powers on you, and it’s wakin’ up the part of your brain that’s been sleepin’.”
“So you’re saying that anybody we’ve used our powers on is going to change?” Isabelle asked faintly, thinking of all the different people she’d dream walked in her life.
“No, I ain’t sayin that blondie,” snapped Ava. “I never claimed to be a brainiac about the whole thing. But I think maybe it depends on, like the strength of the powers that were used.”

“Right,” said Liz, slowly. “Max had to use a large amount of power to heal me, and I bet that Tess really pushed when she tried to mind warp Alex today. She knew he’d be resistant to anything she’d have to say on principle, so she put some extra effort into it, which is why his ability showed up so quickly. Plus who’s to say how long she’s been messing with our heads anyhow. That could also be affecting Alex’s sudden appearance of powers.”
“That makes sense,” said Alex. “But what about Kyle? Max healed him too. Why isn’t he displaying any powers?”

“Well, maybe he is, and he just doesn’t know it yet,” said Maria. “Kyle, are you sure you haven’t developed any powers yet?” Kyle rolled his eyes skyward, and sighed deeply before he answered.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” he answered.
“Are you really sure?” pressed Maria. Because, I mean, maybe you just didn’t realize that you did something. Maybe you can do something like dream walking.”
“Maria, I’m sure that I haven’t developed any powers,” said Kyle, his voice sharp.
“Maybe you can heal,” Maria said, her voice excited. “That’s not something that you would know about unless you tried it!”
“Maria! Will you SHUT UP!” Kyle yelled. “I do not have any powers!” As he yelled, three glasses that were sitting on the coffee table shattered, and the lamp next to Kyle’s exploded into a thousand pieces.
“Uh, well, maybe I was wrong,” said Kyle, sheepishly.

“Great,” said Maria, dryly. “Now we have two of you who can explode things when you’re angry. Can anyone guess just how safe I feel right now?”
“If you hadn’t been buggin him,” said Ave, “He wouldn’t have made everything explode. Jeez, cut him some slack why dontcha?”
“What, you think Tess is going to be all sunshine and light when she tries to fry his brain?” snapped Maria. “He’s going to have to learn to deal with the pressure.”
“Oh yeah,” scoffed Ava. “Just like Michael? I so don’t think so.”
“Why you little,” began Maria.
“Look Tinkerbelle, cut the crap. You don’t like me for some reason, and I could care less, but if you don’t lay off of Kyle, you ain’t gonna like what happens to that pretty little face of yours.”

“Maria, Ava, stop it, the both of you,” said Liz. “We all need to calm down and just focus on what’s going on.” She stopped, interrupted by the ringing of Max’s cell phone. Max reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
“Hello?” he said. “Oh hey Tess. No, I don’t have the book yet. I need Michael to help me get it, and he’s out with Maria tonight. Kyle? No, I haven’t seen him, isn’t he home tonight?” Max looked over at Kyle who made motions like he was bowling. “Oh, wait, I think he said something about going bowling tonight. I’ll get that book to you, I promise. Isabelle? Yeah, she’s around here somewhere. I think she’s organizing her sock drawer or something. Liz? Why would I know or care where Liz Parker is?” Max reached over and squeezed Liz’s hand gently. “No, I’m with you know Tess, Liz is a thing of the past. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Max ended the call and looked at the faces of his friends who waited expectantly to hear what he had to say.

“That was Tess,” he said unnecessarily. “She wanted to make sure I got the book to her, and she was checking up on everybody’s whereabouts.”
“That’s exactly what she was doing,” said Kyle, grimly. “I told her before I went out tonight that I was going bowling, and my car is parked over by the bowling alley. She’s just scamming for information.”
“Enough about Tess,” said Isabelle. “Unless she had something interesting to say, Max?”
“No, nothing,” said Max.
“Fine, then I have an idea,” said Isabelle. “Max, I know you had something important you wanted to talk to us about, and I’m not saying we should forget about it, but can we put it aside for a while?”
“Yeah, I guess,” said Max, images of his sister’s broken body flitting through his mind. “What did you have in mind?”
“I was thinking about a little practical application in using powers,” she said, gesturing toward the shards of glass that littered the coffee table and end table.

After an hour of hard work, Liz, Alex and Kyle stood proudly in front of two reassembled glasses and a working lamp. Maria, frustrated, sat on the couch, with a broken glass in front of her.
“Why can’t I do it?” she asked. “Why don’t I have any powers?”
“Relax, Maria,” said Liz, rubbing her back. “Don’t forget, Max hasn’t healed you, and luckily, it looks like Tess isn’t pushing to hard into your mind.”
“Isabelle, maybe you could dream walk me a few million times or something?” Maria asked hopefully.
“I don’t know, Maria,” said Isabelle. “Dream walking doesn’t take a lot of effort, for me. It’s not a big power drain, if you know what I mean.”
“Max, maybe you could, I don’t know, heal something on me or something?”
“Maria, there’s nothing you need to have healed,” said Max.

“Maybe I can do something’,” said Ava. “If you’se trust me, that is?”
“What?” asked Maria, a tinge of fear in her voice.
“Give me your hands,” said Ava, and just relax. She reached out and took Maria’s hands, and concentrated, focusing all her energy and attention on Maria. “There, that should do it,” she said.
“What did you do?” asked Liz.
“Well, I tried to take the energy I’d use to mess with someone’s mind, and focus it on her brain. I kinda gave it like a nudge or something’.”
“You what!” exploded Michael. “What gives you the right to mess with her head that way?”
“Michael, stop it,” said Maria, jumping up. “She didn’t mess with my head. I could feel her in there. It was just like when Tess tries to mind warp us, but this was more, I don’t know, gentle or something. She told me what she was doing, she wasn’t trying to put any images in my mind or anything. It’s okay. But I love you for coming to my defense.”

Maria stepped over to the glass and held her hand over it and concentrated. Everyone stared at the table and held their breath while they waited to see what happened. After several seconds, Maria dropped her hand in frustration.
“Nothing,” she said.
“Give it time, Maria,” said Alex. “Maybe it will take a little time to develop. Don’t get upset.”
A soft snort of laughter came from Isabelle.
“What, you think this is funny?” asked Maria.
“No, it’s not funny, Maria. It’s just that last year, you were totally freaked when you found out about us, and now, here you are, upset that you’re not like us.” The truth of Isabelle’s statement struck the Roswellians, and they all began to laugh uncontrollably. Ava watched, a slight smile on her face.
“You are all such cornballs,” she said.

[majiklmoon]

Disclaimer: You know the drill…the characters aren’t mine. A lot of stuff in the beginning is taken from End of the World. God knows THAT’S not mine. Anything that makes sense and makes it all better, now that’s mine. Seriously, Roswell and all characters belong to Jason Katims, 20th Century Fox etc. I’m just borrowing them.

Rating: PG-13 – possibly to R

Chapter Twenty-Three Four Squared

The next morning, the group met at the same pancake house that Alex had gone to with Tess. After their orders arrived, Max explained n an expressionless voice what he had seen when Tess kissed him.
“How do we know they aren’t just more images planted by Tess?” Maria asked, her arm wrapped protectively around Michael.
“We don’t k now for certain,” admitted Max. “All I do know is that it didn’t feel forced, like the other images. It felt real, more real, more genuine. Anyhow, I managed to show Michael the images, and he drew some sketches of what I saw. Ava, “he continued, turning towards the other girl, “I was wondering if you would look at them for me. You seem to remember the most about our other life. I was kind of hoping something would ring a bell with you.

“No way!” exclaimed Ava. “Do I look like a friggin Magic Eight Ball to you? Come on Kyle, I wanna blow this joint.” Kyle slipped his arm around the petite blonde and whispered something in her ear. She shook her head vehemently several times, then slowly nodded.
“Okay,” she acquiesced. “I’ll look at your stupid pictures, but I ain’t makin any promises.”
“We’re not asking for any Ava, we just want your help,” said Max, his expression grateful.
“Guys,” said Maria suddenly. “Let’s not do this here.”
“Maria,” snapped Michael. “What’s wrong with here? We’re all here.”
“Well, we can be in a here that’s elsewhere too,” said Maria. “I’m just not getting a good feeling about being here. It’s like the vibes are all wrong or something.”
“Go sniff some cedar oil or something will you,” said Michael. He turned to ask Liz to talk some sense into his girlfriend, but Liz was throwing money down on the table to cover their bill. Michael’s gaze moved to Isabelle, who was shrugging into her coat and grabbing her purse. Ava stood poised by the side of the table, ready to walk out of the restaurant.

“So, I guess we’re leaving then,” said Alex.
“Forget it,” snapped Michael. “I’m not leaving.”
“Then don’t,” said Maria, sliding out of her chair. “Go ahead, do your stupid withdrawal thing, I don’t care, I’m not sticking around.” Wordlessly, Kyle and Alex stood up from their seats and began to follow Maria as she stormed out of the pancake house. Liz hung back to look at Max and Michael.
“Michael, won’t you just listen to Maria. She could be right you know, she’s gotten feelings like this before. We were at a party one time, and she was positive we should leave. Right after we did, the police and the parents showed up. Half the freshman class was grounded for a month.”

“I don’t care,” said Michael, his voice adamant. “I’m staying.”
“Whatever,” said Liz. She nodded to Isabelle and Ava and the two walked out of the restaurant and joined the others by the car. Liz turned to look at Max.
“Max, what about you?” she said asked.
“Liz, I believe Maria, and make sure she realizes that. But I don’t feel right leaving Michael here by himself. I’ll hang here with him, and we’ll talk for a while. We’ll catch up with you in a bit.” Liz caught her lower lip between her teeth for a moment, then nodded.
“Okay, but be careful, both of you,” she said. She spun around on one heel and walked out the door to of the restaurant to where the others were waiting.

“Michael, what the hell was that all about?” demanded Max, once Liz was out of earshot. Around them, conversation swelled and ebbed with the arrival of new customers. Max toyed with the knife in front of him; the sweet smell of syrup was so thick, that he wanted to gag.
“Look, I believe Maria believes that something isn’t write, but unless I see it, I don’t believe it.”
“Well believe it,” said Max, pointing to the door, where Tess stood. “Here comes trouble.”


Liz waited until Isabelle parked the Jeep, because serious conversation was next to impossible when riding in the open-air vehicle.
“Are you alright, Maria?” she asked, concerned for her friend.
“Michael Guerin is such a jerk,” sniffed Maria,
“Maria, you already knew that,” said Liz.
“Yeah, well, he’s more of a jerk than usual,” said Maria. “But, in a way, I can’t blame him. He’s lived his whole live trusting his own instinct. It isn’t easy for him to trust anybody. He’s getting better about it, but sometimes, he regresses.”

“Maria, listen,” said Isabelle. “Michael was a jerk back there, but try and see it from his perspective, warped though it may be. For years, the only person he ever had to count on was himself. He wasn’t even very good at trusting Max and I. Now, suddenly, he has all these people who know his secret. He’s trying, but sometimes, he messes up.”
“Did any of you think that maybe he’s the one who’s right?” asked Ava, as she approached the Jeep parked next to Kyle’s car. “Zan trusted Lonnie and Rath, and look what that got him; dead. Maybe we’re all just better off not trustin nobody.”

“That’s too bad,” said Kyle, his voice full of hurt. “Maybe if you let somebody in, you’d find that it’s a nice feeling
“Yo, Kyle, man. I didn’t know you was right behind me like that,” said Ava, her face red.
“So, it doesn’t sound like it would have mattered if I was or wasn’t,” said Kyle. “According to you, you don’t need anybody. I guess that includes me.” He turned abruptly to Isabelle. “Why are we here? I can think of better places to meet than beside this big pile of rocks.”

“Well, Kyle, it’s funny you should mention trust,” said Isabelle. “I’m trusting you, and everybody else with something.” She passed her hand over the side of the large sandstone outcropping, a glowing handprint appeared, and a panel slid back, allowing them access to the chamber inside the rocks. Isabelle led the way in to the pod chamber, and then into the chamber that concealed the granolith.

“Wow,” said Ava, walking around the chamber. “It’s real.”
“What is that thing?” asked Kyle.
“It’s the granolith,” said Isabelle. “But beyond that, we don’t know much of anything. But I brought you all here, to lay our proverbial cards on the table. We need to work together, and to trust each other. Resentment and secrets won’t do anything but hold us back. Now I can’t speak for Michael, but I trust all of you, and I know you’d do anything to protect us, and I hope you know that I’d do anything to protect you.”

“Nice speech sunshine,” said Ava, her eyes flashing. “But how do I know it’s true?”
“You don’t,” said Liz. “But I’ve known Alex, Maria and Kyle most of my life, and I know I’d trust them WITH my life.” As she spoke, Liz reached out and took one of Kyle’s hands in hers, and Alex’s hand in the other. Instinctively, the two guys reached out to grab Maria’s hands, the four of them creating a square around Isabelle and Ava. The granolith began to glow slightly, and Liz became aware of green bolts of energy shooting from her hands, into the hands of Kyle and Alex. She watched as they traced a path through their bodies and traveled into Maria’s body.

Liz became aware of a soft humming noise that came from the granolith, its low even pitch was soothing, and helped to eliminate some of the fear she was feeling. She felt herself relaxing, and images began to fill her mind, but they flew too fast for her to identify them. She allowed herself to relax even more, and let the images and the sound fill her.

Isabelle looked at her friends, and she panicked. She tried to break through the square made by her friends, but she couldn’t release their grasp. She ducked under Alex and Maria’s arms and then turned and looked at the granolith. The light in it dimmed a little. Holding her breath a little, she ducked back under Alex’s outstretched arm and stood facing him. She glanced up at the granolith and noticed that the light inside of it grew slightly stronger. She reached out and grabbed Ava by the arm, and pulled her out of the square. The light in the granolith faded to almost nothing, and the humming noise disappeared. As one, Alex, Kyle, Maria and Liz released their hands, and the light in the granolith disappeared completely.

[majiklmoon]

Disclaimer: You know the drill…the characters aren’t mine. A lot of stuff in the beginning is taken from End of the World. God knows THAT’S not mine. Anything that makes sense and makes it all better, now that’s mine. Seriously, Roswell and all characters belong to Jason Katims, 20th Century Fox etc. I’m just borrowing them.

Rating: PG-13 – possibly to R

Chapter Twenty-Four – Memories

The group reassembled at Alex’s house, where his computer was busy printing out page after page of the other destiny book. Alex grabbed a stack of pages from the printer and threw himself down on his bed and began to read, comparing the new pages to the translation of the original destiny book.
“What’s it say?” asked Kyle.
“A lot,” replied Alex, absentmindedly.
“Well, no duh,” said Maria, her voice filled with scorn. “We can see that by the amount of paper, but what does it say?”
“Maria, give him a break,” said Isabelle. “He just started looking at it.”
“I’m sorry,” said Maria. “I just want to know what happened back there.”
“We all do, Maria,” said Alex. “But just chill out. We’ll figure it out eventually.

Maria sat down on a chair next to Alex’s desk, and reached over in the corner and picked up his guitar. Idly, she began to pluck the stings, and a soft haunting melody filled Alex’s bedroom.
“What’s that?” asked Isabelle, her face pale.
“I don’t know?” answered Maria. “Do you like it?”
“No, I don’t think I do,” admitted Isabelle. “It’s giving me a really funny feeling in my chest.”

Across the room, a voice began to sing, a strange lilting accompaniment to the eerie tune Maria played. Liz turned towards the sound, surprised to see the sweet, albeit, strange words coming from Ava. Liz closed her eyes, and allowed the combination of Ava’s voice and Maria’s music to sweep over her. The music seemed to fill soul, the same way the sound from the granolith did. She relaxed even more, and tried to make sense of the words Ava was singing.

Isabelle stood abruptly, crossed the room and pulled the guitar out of Maria’s hands.
“Stop it!” she cried, the tears streaming down her face. “Just stop it!”
“Isabelle, what is it?” asked Alex as he leapt from the bed. He wrapped his arms around Isabelle and held her tightly. “What’s wrong? What is it?”
“That song. It – I, I just couldn’t listen to it,” whispered Isabelle, shaking uncontrollably.
“Why?” asked Alex.
“Because that’s the song that was playing the day we died,” said Ava, flatly. “It was the anthem of the Royal House of Antar.”


“Trouble at twelve o’clock,” said Max, pointing to Tess, who had just walked in the door of the now crowded pancake house.
“Just follow my lead,” whispered Max, as Tess approached.
“Hey, Tess,” said Max, sliding over in the booth to make room for her. “What are you doing here?”
“I was headed to the video store down the street, when I saw you and Michael in side, so I decided to come in,” said Tess.
“I’m glad you did,” said Max, smiling warmly. His gaze took in her tousled blond curls, the blue crochet top she wore over a white tank top and the short blue denim mini skirt she wore. “You look great today.”
“Thanks Max,” said Tess, running her fingers through her hair. “You are just so sweet. Aren’t you going to say hello Michael?” she asked, looking across the table.
“Hello, Michael,” he deadpanned, raising an eyebrow sardonically. She turned back to face Max, and stroked his face gently with her hand.

“Do you have the book for me yet?” she asked as she continued to run her fingers against his cheek, and using her mind to nudge both him and Michael.
“Well, not here with me,” hedged Max, stalling for time. “Actually, I,”
“Actually,” interrupted Michael, “I put the book in a safe deposit box in a bank in Las Cruses. We were planning on going down tomorrow after school to get it.”
“Why not tomorrow morning?” she asked, her voice petulant.
“Because we have school tomorrow,” explained Michael slowly, as if talking to a simpleton.
“Michael really needs to put in an appearance at school every once in a while,” added Max, reasonably.
“Yeah, and Mr. Seligman has really been on my class for missing so many classes,” added Michael. “I really do need to be there tomorrow.”

“I don’t know why all of you are so hung up on following the rules,” said Tess. “This isn’t our world, we don’t belong here. What do you care if you graduate high school, or not.” Max slammed his hand down on the table, causing the silverware to jump.
“He does it, we all do it, because I’m the king, and I say to do it,” said Max, his voice hard and full of anger. “Damn it Tess, we’ve survived this far by getting along, following the rules, and fitting in as much as possible. Michael will draw too much attention to himself, and the rest of us if he keeps skipping school.”

Tess gazed at Max, her gaze narrowing thoughtfully for a minute. Suddenly, she smiled, and pressed her body against his.
“Max, do you remember, we had an argument similar to this on Antar. Please tell me you remember.” She closed her eyes for a minute and both Max and Michael could feel her planting a false image inside their minds.
“I very much wanted to go to a neighboring town for a festival, but you wouldn’t allow it because there was nobody there to escort me. So I went to Michael, I mean Rath, and asked him to do it. You overheard me asking him and you got so angry. You said you were the king, and your word was law. Max, Michael, please tell me you remember.”

Michael glanced at Max for guidance, unsure of how to answer. He felt the images Tess fed into his mind, but he was unsure of how to react. He looked at Max again, and Max nodded slightly.
“I might,” said Michael, slowly. “I think I can. It’s almost like trying to remember a song that you haven’t heard for a long time. I can kind of feel it floating there, on the fringes of my memory, but I can’t quite get a grip on it.” Michael paused for a moment and allowed his mind to review the images Tess had planted in it. “Wait, you were wearing something blue, weren’t you?”
“Yes, she was,” said Max, smiling down on Tess. “Blue was, is, the color I love best on you.”
“Oh Max, you do remember,” said Tess, her eyes shining. She threw her arms around him, and hugged him tightly.

“Well, I don’t remember much,” admitted Max. “So far, I can only remember things you’ve reminded me of. I guess this means we’ll have to spend a lot of time together, until I can start remembering things on my own.” He hugged Tess tightly against his body, and made a face over her head at Michael, who was making gagging gestures at him.
“Don’t worry, Max,” said Tess. “I’m sure the time will come when you, when all of you,” she said, including Michael in her gaze, “will remember everything about our lives on Antar.”

[majiklmoon]

Disclaimer: You know the drill…the characters aren’t mine. A lot of stuff in the beginning is taken from End of the World. God knows THAT’S not mine. Anything that makes sense and makes it all better, now that’s mine. Seriously, Roswell and all characters belong to Jason Katims, 20th Century Fox etc. I’m just borrowing them.

Authors Note: I’m not very happy with the way the excerpt from the destiny book came out. It will probably be rewritten very very soon. But, as bad as it is, I think I managed to convey my point.

Rating: PG-13 – possibly to R

Chapter Twenty – Five United

Max’s cell phone rang. He shifted is weight, using the opportunity to get some distance between him and Tess, and answered his phone. After a quick hello, he was silent. Finally he said, “We’ll be there in twenty minutes.” He stuffed his phone in his pocket and reached for his coat.
“Tess, Michael and I have to go. Isabelle was out in the Jeep and it broke down. We need to get out there and fix it for her.”
“Why doesn’t she just use her powers to fix it?” complained Tess.
“Because to fix it, she still needs some understanding of how an internal combustion engine works. Isabelle doesn’t care how it works, as long as it does,” explained Max.

“Well, why don’t I drive you out to wherever she is, and after you fix it, we can go do something, alone,” said Tess.
“Because I don’t have any comprehension of how an internal combustion engine works either,” improvised Max. “But Michael does. That’s why he and I need to go.”
“Well why can’t Michael go then?” whined Tess.
“Because the last time I tried to fix a car with my powers,” interjected Michael, “I fried the entire electrical system in Maria’s Jetta. Her mother still hasn’t forgiven me.”
“I don’t get it then, how do you expect to fix the car?”
“It’s simple,” explained Max. Michael figures out what’s wrong and tells me how its supposed to work, and I use my powers to fix it.

“It sounds stupid to me, Max,” said Tess in a whiney voice that grated on Max’s ears. “When are we ever going to get to spend any time together?”
“Soon, Tess, soon. I promise,” said Max. “But right now, Michael and I really need to get going. Do you want us to walk you to the video store before we leave?”
“Video store?” asked Tess, blankly. “Why would I want to go there?”
“Remember, you said you were on the way to the video store when you looked in and saw King Charming through the window?” asked Michael.

Tess froze for a second. She quickly closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to erase the last few minutes from the minds of Max and Michael. After several seconds passed, she opened her eyes and smiled, confident that she had erased the faux pas from their minds.
“I guess you two had better be going if you are going to go rescue Isabelle,” said Tess, smiling innocently. “But before you leave, would you walk me down to the video store? I promised the Sheriff that I’d return some rentals for him.”

“So, what’s really up?” asked Michael, once Tess was safely inside the video store.
“I don’t know for sure,” said Max. “That was Kyle on the phone, and he sounded totally freaked out. He was going on and on about the granolith, and vibrations and music. And I think he said something about Antar too, but it was hard to keep everything straight, the way he was going on and on.”
“Is Maria alright?” asked Michael, his voice alarmed.
“Yeah, according to Kyle, they’re all okay, at least physically they are. Emotionally, that sounds like it’s another story all together.”
“Where are they, my place?”
“No they were at Alex’s house, but Kyle said they’d meet us at the pod chamber.”
“Why there?” asked Michael, as they strapped on their helmets and climbed on the motorcycle.
“I’m not sure,” said Max. “He said he thought they needed the Granolith.” After Max finished speaking, Michael kick started the motorcycle, and the two roared out of site


A short while later, Michael pulled the bike in along side the Jeep, hidden behind a large sandstone outcropping of stones. The hot desert sun beat down on their backs as the climbed the path to the rock that concealed the pod chamber. Max passed his hand over the rock, and the door slid open and he and Michael walked inside.
“What’s the matter? What’s wrong?” asked Max, while Michael moved across the chamber and took Maria in his arms.
“Are you alright, Maria?” he asked.
“I am now that you’re here,” said Maria, holding him tightly.
“Liz, Isabelle, what’s going on?” demanded Max, looking around the pod chamber. “Kyle sounded seriously upset when he called.”
“Relax, Max,” said Liz, taking his hand in hers. “Kyle was upset, we all were, but we think we figured out.”
“Figured what out?” asked Max. “Liz, what are you talking about?”

Liz and the others explained what happened both in the granolith, and in Alex’s bedroom. Max and Michael listened to their story in amazement.
“So, Maria started playing an Antarian song on Alex’s guitar?” asked Michael. “But how, how would she know the music for that?”
“We think being in the granolith chamber triggered something,” explained Isabelle. “We want to try it again, but we need all of us to try it.”
“Why all of us?” asked Max. “It happened before without Michael and I.”
“It’s something I read in the translation of the Dupes book,” said Alex. “There is a destiny alright, and we’re all involved in it.”

“Wait,” said Michael. “Before we do anything else, I want to say something. Maria, I’m sorry I didn’t believe you before, at the pancake house. You were right; we shouldn’t have stayed. Right after you left, Tess showed up.” The other seven stared at Michael, amazed that he would admit that he was wrong and Maria was right.
“Wh-what did you say?” asked Maria.
“I said you were right, we should have left the pancake place together. I’m sorry I doubted you.”
“That’s what I thought you said,” said Maria. “I love you Space Boy. But why are you doing this now?”
“Well, I figure whatever you guys want to try is either going to blow us all up, or worse, and if it does, I don’t want to die with that on my conscience.”
“Works for me,” said Maria. She stood on tiptoe and kissed him deeply.

“Look, as much as I’m enjoying this little mini episode of Moonlighting,” said Kyle. “I’d really rather just get on with this.”
“Yeah,” agreed Ava. “Too much of this will send me into sugar shock.”
“Okay, we’re done,” said Maria. “For now,” she whispered, so that only Michael could hear her. “Lead on McDuff.”

Isabelle led the group into the chamber that hid the granolith. The imposing structure stood before them, silent.
“Okay,” said Liz. “Isabelle was standing here,” she said, moving the taller girl into position. “And Ava was over here. Kyle, you were here, facing Ava, and Alex, you were standing here, on the outside, facing Isabelle. Max, I want you to go stand over there, on the other side of the granolith, over by Isabelle, and Michael, you need to be here, next to Ava.” Liz continued to arrange everybody until she was satisfied with their positions. “Okay, Maria, you know what to do, right?” she asked. Maria nodded and went and stood facing Michael. Liz double-checked something against a paper she was carrying and nodded, they formed two squares around the granolith, the aliens stood with their backs to the granolith, while the Earth contingent faced the aliens, and the granolith.
“Ready everybody,” she asked as the granolith began to glow. “I’m going to step into position now. Remember, don’t break the squares, no matter what happens.” Liz placed the two copies of the destiny book onto the console in front of the granolith. She dropped the paper she was holding and stepped into the square, facing Max.

The granolith began to glow. The light started at the base of the granolith and moved up the shaft, climbing higher and higher. When it reached the top of the granolith, it burst out in a dazzling display. Beams shot out and enveloped each member of the two squares in individual chambers of light. Liz looked at Max, and then slid her eyes to Ava who stood next Max, and Kyle who stood next to her. They seemed to glow, as though the light had penetrated them and was now reaching out. As she watched, beams of light shot out, connecting the eight chambers of light. Liz could feel the power and knowledge fill her soul. She felt stronger than she ever had before, and it was if she knew the secrets of both her world, and Antar.

Suddenly it felt as though the Earth began to shake. Liz looked around, and saw that the chamber of light containing Kyle had begun to move. As she watched, she realized that she too was moving. The chamber of light containing Liz shifted so that she was standing next to Max. She looked and saw that Kyle was now standing next to Ava. Beams of light shot out and joined their individual chambers, creating one large chamber of light. More beams of light shot up to the top of the granolith, and the light that had once contained them all, began to travel back into the granolith. The light in the granolith burned bright for a minute, and then slowly began to fade darkening first at the top. The darkness moved down the granolith to the base and into the console. The two destiny books burned brightly for a minute and then faded out.

“What the hell was that?” asked Max, as he looked around at the others. Instead of the two squares that Liz had arranged them in; they now made one square. Each of the four corners was comprised of a couple consisting of one Earthling, and one alien, and they now all faced the granolith.
“Oh my God,” said Liz. “It worked.”
“What worked?” asked Max. “What?”
Liz didn’t say anything, instead she walked over to the granolith and picked up one of the two destiny books and passed it to Max.
“Read it,” she said.
“Read it?” said Max. “I can’t read it, or can I?” He opened the book, and began to read out loud, in Antarian. After he read several passages, he went back and read them again, this time in English.

“We did not send you to Earth to live in solitude,” Max read from the book. “Nor do we plan for you to stay together in your four square, segregated from the rest of your new world. In this world, you will find many opportunities for love. When you find those that you are destined to be with, you will know what to do. Their power, coupled with yours will activate the granolith and reveal all to you. No matter how many times you try this, unless you are with those which you are destined to spend eternity, the granolith will not activate.” Max stopped reading, and looked around the room, his gaze settling on Liz. “Us?” he asked, his voice incredulous. “We’re destined to be together?”
“We all are,” said Liz. “We formed two squares, and activated the granolith and became one. We’re supposed to be together,” she said. “Forever.”