A King's Defiance (CC/ML, Teen) 1/1 - 04/15/10

[PML]

Title- A Kings Defiance

Author- PML, with an assist and beta by Mt. Gazer

Disclaimer- Roswell is not mine and no infringement is intended.

Category- CC-M/L

Rating- Mature

Summary- This is the seventh companion piece to A Kiss to Build a Dream On. As the others have detailed, this night has been a mix of glorious highs and horrific lows. This Companion occurs right after Isabel has finished her talk with Tess in the Evan’s kitchen. Already the horror she will face is starting.

And Isabel’s suffering could have catastrophic consequences as the next few parts will show. It is not crucial to read these to understand Kiss. But it will help.


Hope you enjoy.

Max-

Max slowly shut his eyes. He trusted her. He totally trusted Liz.

He should have before, just as she should have trusted him. But things always had gotten in the way. His insecurities, her insecurities, the sheer danger that their lives brought. He had wanted to keep her safe, to keep her out of it.

And she had sensed that, had sensed that there was a gap between them. And no matter how hard she had chased, that gap had never truly closed. And then came Tess. Right as Max had gotten his little patch of normal he was spending with Liz. Tess had snatched it away.

The hard won trust faded so fast. They had clung to each other even as events began to push him farther into the alien abyss. Liz had felt compelled to hold onto her normal self stronger, as he was pushed farther from normal.

The rip that came should have been expected. But he hadn’t seen it coming. He’d even uttered those damning words in the pod chamber.

Worst of it all is he had said them without even thinking about Liz. About how they would affect her.

It hadn’t seemed relevant.

And those words had crushed her. Had simply crushed her spirit and will to fight for him. Had he truly known what pain those words would cause, he would have done anything to call them back.

Those words had been so evident when he spoke them. It had been the Four of them as it had been on Antar.

Only he wasn’t Zan anymore. He hadn’t been then. He was Max. And as Max he needed Liz.

He NEEDED her. It had been so since he first saw her. And known. He’d known it was impossible, that they were inextricably different. But she made existence tolerable.

She made Earth tolerable, enough that his distant memories of his past, his past failures slowly faded. Slowly let him turn into Max Evans, from the shell of Zan he had been becoming. Had let his mind understand that being here, being here on Earth was not all bad.

Max’s mouth curved in a small smile. Not bad at all.

He could feel her beside him now. Struggling to control the Jeep on the snow covered roads.

But whereas once he would have been in the driver’s seat, determined to protect her, no matter what his personal state of exhaustion, he trusted her. He trusted her completely. She was competent. She could do the job herself, and if she needed help she would ask.

Moreover he would know. Would feel the growing annoyance and worry.

In a very real way they needed this. They needed him to just trust her. To let go. For him to not always be in control.

She would have to do the same with him.

Somehow he expected it would be as hard on her as it was on him.

“Max?”

“Hmmm?”

“So we should stop off at your house first? Before we go?’

“Yes. I need to talk with Isabel. Have her see if she can provide a cover for us. Or if she can get Tess to cover for us. Both of them are going to that party tomorrow.” His eyes flicked open and he looked over at her. He could see she was nervous.

“What about Nasedo? Can we really leave him behind us?”

Max slumped in his seat. He really wanted to just go. To just leave Roswell behind them and start over with Liz somewhere else. He knew that she felt the same way.

Despite the depths of their love for each other, their relationship was still somewhat fragile. In a real way they were fragile. Liz had issues with her self worth. And Max, he had his troubles too.

Troubles that had been pushed back a little bit by what he had done tonight. It hadn’t just been saving Maria. It had been the feeling of saving those others. Particularly that child.

That had felt good. Had made him feel good about himself and his powers. That he could do something really positive rather than being a hidden Sword of Damocles hanging over all of his family and friends.

But if healing all of them had put him in a positive frame, the mere continued existence of Nasedo threatened to take it all away. And more.

Because the monster had plans. Plans that he would try to impose on them from the outside. Plans to make them live the lives it wanted rather than the ones they wanted.

According to Liz, Kyle had been seeing Tess. That they were in love and that the incident that had happened between them last night had been as damaging to him as to her.

Well, he would deal with Kyle. This whole situation needed a long…. Discussion. Long and protracted. He’d even offer to heal him afterward.

But as for Aric…..

“Liz….”

“We can’t go, can we?”

“Not yet.” He expected more sorrow and angst along the bond. But no, just calm certainty.

Oh. She had already known what his response would be. She was already planning the next step. And the next. Liz was one of the few humans he had ever known that could out think him on occasion.

How he loved her brain!

Not to mention they would need it. He himself tended to fly by the seat of his pants. Oh, he had plans. Miles and miles of contingency plans. But he usually tried to react and ambush the enemy.

Heroics were after all best practiced after careful planning. (How do I get Michael to see that?)

But he often ended up conceding the initiative to his opponents. Let them strike first.

Liz put him to shame in the planning department. Plans upon plans. She had no problem with striking first. Of a preemptive strategy designed to deal with a situation before it happened. The whole Future Max debacle had depended on her willingness and ability to cold bloodedly and ruthlessly operate a plan against her own self interest, albeit in the name of the general good.

Her plans could get a little brittle, she wasn’t quite as good as he at coming up with a plan when everything fell apart. Too liable when it just focused on her and not others to flee to gain space and time. To regain personal control.

Together they covered each other’s weaknesses.

An epiphany struck him. If his planning style had been the same on Antar, conceding the initiative in favor of scads of contingency reaction plans….. It could be that he would have survived if he’d had Liz with him on Antar.

Tess might be a schemer and planner, but Ava had not been. Heck, he might have survived if he’d had Tess at his side.

But he would never have been happy. Would always have been looking for Liz. For the person who made him feel complete. He and Tess would have made a dynamite political team, but their marriage would have turned cold.

What was that saying he’d heard in history class the other day describing the lack of fidelity in the old political marriages. Oh yes. Where there is marriage without love there will surely be love without marriage.

No it was better this way. He would always be true to Liz. As she would to him.

It would take a powerful outside source to crack them apart for long.

Still he would hope that Tess would stay. She made a valuable ally. And if she could be enticed to stay, perhaps with Kyle…. It would make them all just that little bit safer.

Thinking about Kyle brought up other questions. Would his healing effect the jock as it had Liz? Would stress bring out alien like abilities? And if so, then what about Maria and the others he had healed tonight?

Was there a threshold or some sort?

Max sighed. He was avoiding the issue. He could feel Liz patiently waiting for him to continue. To tell her what his plan was.

“Liz I know you want this, that we need this. But we can’t. Not now.”

Liz nodded. “Yeah. I started thinking about it after we talked with Michael.” She glanced over at him. “Do you think Aric will strike at Isabel or Alex. He killed Grant, do you think he might hurt Alex? Alex’s parents aren’t home. He’s all alone tonight. Do you think we can stop by there, and make sure everything is okay?”

“Yes. But I’m worried about Isabel. This weather is not natural.”

Liz quickly glanced at him before turning her gaze back onto the road. “Max….. You can’t mean what you’re implying. This was a massive storm. You guys can’t do that can you? Make it snow?”

Max grin became wry, “I couldn’t. And I doubt that Michael could manage the focus. But Isabel is the Ice Princess for a reason….”

“Max!”

“Sorry, could not resist. No. If anyone could do this, it would be my sister. But I never imagined on this scale…. We don’t really know our limits, Liz. Or yours.”

She nodded. “Its just, Max, this is, this is incredibly powerful. You know, just a little scary.”

“Sorry.”

“Max! I don’t mean it like that, I am happy to share this world with you. It levels the playing field more, you know? It’s just, what kind of world did you grow up in if all of this was so common?”

Max shook his head, “I don’t think it is. I think we were already powerful on Antar, and they made us stronger. Now me and Michael, we’re afraid of our powers. I’d never admit that to anyone but you Liz, and I doubt Michael would admit it at all. But it is true. I have seen Isabel making dust devils in the desert for fun, for recreation. Huge things towering into the sky….. She’s not afraid of it like we are.”

“But why would she be tapping into her power on such a scale right now?”

Max scowled for a moment, “I don’t really know.” He continued slowly, “Maybe she is excited. But this is so quiet and placid. Pure almost.”

“Do you think something happened?”

“The last time I saw this, this much snow. It was a magical time for me and Isabel. I just don’t know. We need to go and find out I guess.”

“Uh, Max? I think something just went seriously wrong.”

“Why? My…..” The sky that had seemed silvery and shimmering with the falling snow had changed. Had become black and boiling. There were several spots that seemed to be rotating. “We need to get there fast, Liz!”

The wind suddenly shrieked like a lost soul as it swirled around the Jeep. It shook and swayed under its force.

Liz called out over the furious sound, “Max is there anything you can do about this? I don’t know if I can control the Jeep like this!”

Max reached out and gasped. The level of power! Isabel, even Isabel had to be killing herself using this much. “We have to hurry!” He dove into his now slender reserves and began to pull at the storm.

He focused on the spinning clouds, trying to slow them, to change their swirling furious force.

Air is heavy. It’s not something you notice on a daily basis, but it weighs down on everyone. Moving air is not different, even with powers. The trick is to find the little spots where a tiny bit of leverage can play with the upper swirling winds. Where a tiny bit of power can cause cascade effects far outside their normal strength.

But everywhere he reached, Isabel was already there. And the force was astounding in its implacable strength.

Lighting began to rain on the town of Roswell. One crisp bolt after another, as the wind’s incredible force swept the streets.

Liz shrieked as a flash of light struck not far from them. A tree came crashing down, but luckily Liz was able to slide the Jeep out of the way. They spun and for a moment it seemed all was lost.

The thunder and chaos above them could not be stopped, could not be halted. Hail began to pound on the canvas roof.

And they spun.

With one hand he reached for Liz, his hand resting on one of hers on the wheel. The other stretched out in front of him as he pulled strength from some unknown well.

The Jeep began to glow with a green nimbus. And it hit another tree as it slid off the road.

But the shield held, slowing them and keeping them safe.

Liz turned and clung to him. And for just a moment they savored the other, savored their continued existence and gathered their collective breath.

Liz kissed him, and backed away. “Can you hold that shield, it would make it easier for me to drive. I can’t see too well, but I know where we are.”

“About a block away. I will do what I can, Liz. Just, Liz?”

“Yes, Max?”

“I love you! I love you so much.” He ran his hand through her hair. “I never told that to you enough. Never could find the strength. But you need to know it, you need to hear it.”

Even in the near darkness, lit up only by the dash board, he could see her broad smile. And the small tear glittering in her eye. “I love you too Max. I do. I tried so hard to push you away, it nearly killed me! I promise, I promise to never do that again. Together, Max. We face the future together, forever.”

“Yes.”

“Now, can you hold that shield?”

There was still a nimbus of green surrounding the Jeep. The sounds of nature’s fury seemed muted.

They were safe.

And that deep well seemed like it would hold. A river of strength flowing from him into his shield. A part of that river, although only a part came from her. From them.

Their being together was important. Fated.

“I will do it Liz. Just get us there. Something horrible has happened. Something we need to stop.”

Liz maneuvered the Jeep away from the tree and back into the snowy streets. And slowly made her way as fast as she could towards the Evans.

And Max shielded them from the storm.