Homeless (UC, T/A Teen/Mature) Chapter 6 04/07/09 [WIP]

[rise of the rebels]

Title: Homeless
Author: Rise of the Rebels
Couples: Mainly Tess/Alex
Rating: Teen/Mature (mostly teen, probably all teen but just to be safe…)
Disclaimer: If you know it from the t.v. show, it’s not mine and never will be. So sad.
Summary: Tess comes slamming back into the gangs lives… literally. She’s on an important mission to find her one and only, but the only problem is: she needs the gangs help to find him! Now if only she could just stay conscious…
Author’s Note: Ok, this is my first Roswell Fanfic here and I’m a little nervous about it so if you could just give me feedback on what I could do better, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you times a thousand. Oh, yeah and everything that happened in the three seasons… happened. Right now it’s starting with a lot of hate from Max towards Tess but everything will unravel soon. The story takes place five years after the Tess “supposedly” blew herself up. And i'd love to thank the awesomely amazing pijeechinadoll for the banner and she also did my avatar. thank you.

Prologue:

When Tess was a little girl, Nasedo promised a trip to the hottest amusement park around. This wasn’t just any other amusement park; this was one that included the wildest, wettest, and wackiest water rollercoaster in the whole east coast. It would take two hours to get to the amusement park but to Tess it was worth the wait, she would get to go on a mini-adventure.

They packed their bags and headed on their way but an hour and a half into the trip Tess had to use the “little girl’s room”. After ten minutes of whining, Nasedo took the nearest exit, unknowingly, to a ghost/abandoned town. They rode around for five minutes looking for any sign of civilization when Tess spotted a glamorous hotel with bright pink and lime green Neon lights, not to mention the building sprouted up thirty stories high. It’s big bright neon yellow letters, which attracted Tess the most, were the words “Dreamer Hotel” and in smaller letters underneath were the words: We’re sure to make all your dreams and wishes come true. Tess had never seen anything so beautiful and promising, she was awestruck. How could something so amazing exist in something extremely pathetic? She hurried up and opened the car door while Nasedo came to an abrupt stop jamming on the brakes. Slowly walking to the building, trying to hold herself together, and opening the handle that was too big for miniature hands, she took a step inside the building and looked around.

It was abandoned. All her hopes of the hotel were crushed, the immagination of it being filled with lace, silk, spas, and beauitiful people were replaced with spider webs, dust, and rodents that decorated the lobby floor.

She didn’t have to go to the bathroom anymore. She didn’t need to go to the amusement park anymore.

Thinking back on this day, Tess knew her heart was much like the hotel: No vacancies just emptiness.
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“Where’s daddy? I want daddy!” The petite brunette five year old girl screamed at the top of her lungs while walking on the sidewalk holding her moms hand. “I need daddy!” Tess looked around at all the people staring at her intensely and with a slight hint of remorse. The older brunette picked up the screaming five year old.

“Sweetie, I told you that daddy had to go on a business trip.” The five year old shook her head furiously.

“Business trips don’t last a year, Mommy.” Her pigtails flying into Tess’s face and a stream of tears starting to come from the little girl’s bright blue eyes. “Why can’t we just go home? I want daddy! I want my brother. Where are they?” It pained Tess to see her daughter cry over her dad for the last year, the fact that Tess didn’t know where he was didn’t help either. The five year-olds bright blue eyes bore into Tess’s, they were desperately searching for a clear answer as to why he wasn’t with her.

“Where are we?” Tess said as she tried to tickle her daughter. “We’re home!” The little girl turned her head frantically searching and all of a sudden stomped her foot down on the pavement.

“Is daddy here?” Tess silently shook her head, “Then we aren’t home, you lied to me!” The little girl yelled at the top of her lungs causing more people to stop and stare.

“I’m not lying, Alex, we’re in Roswell,” Alex folded her arms.

“Roswell looks dinky.” This made the older brunette laugh.

“And how do you know what dinky is?” The little brunette girl rolled her bright blue eyes and sighed.

“Mom, everyone knows that dinky is the same as stinky because they rhyme, but you can smell stinky and see dinky,” Alex shrugged her shoulders and looked up to her mom.

“Well, does that playground look dinky?” The older brunette pointed to a playground and when the bright eyed girl twirled around to look, she was awestruck. The park was bright yellow with monkey bars, seesaws, swings, and multiple slides. It was every kid’s dream with the bright colors and the sand to go along with it. What caught Tess’s eye was the bench that was positioned a small distance away from the park. It was the same bench that Max and Tess had sat on while they gazed up at the stars and had meaningful conversations about what it would be like if they were Antar or how their past lives must’ve been.

Alex ran towards the playground without a thought in her head. All the lessons about looking both ways to cross the street, all the lessons about sticking close to Tess, all the lessons about not running in a dress just fled her mind as soon as she saw the playground. Alex ran like the wind, giving no chance to Tess to try and stop her. Tess’s mother instincts kicked up in due time and she ran out into the street.

The older brunette wasn’t so lucky.

A car came screeching to a stop but unfortunately it was far too late. Within the time span of thirty seconds, Tess was thrusted from her side causing her to roll up on the windshield and tumble off the side of the car. She came in contacted with the gravel… hard. Blood spilled from the gashes in her head and arms, staining the rocks underneath her with a deep red-brown color. Alex spun around and saw her mom laying there, lifeless and unconscious, and didn’t know what to do. The blood caught her eye and she couldn’t feel herself move or hear herself scream, she was in utter shock.

A man who was tall with dark black hair and a slender yet muscular body climbed out the car. He looked to be around twenty-two years old. Alex was awestruck, again. The man closed his cell phone and walked towards her mom with sense that he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. The strange man walked faster as he caught a sight of the blood on the brunette lying on the ground. When he was finally beside her, he knelt down and touched her stomach with his hand. Alex couldn’t take it anymore.

“What are you doing to my mommy?” Alex demanded as she walked towards the stranger who gazed upon her with a stupefied look, quickly taking his hands off the women. Alex cocked her head, “Did you make my mommy go bye-bye?” A lonely tear slipped down the cheek of the little girl with bright blue eyes and curly ponytails. “My daddy’s going to be really mad at you.” This seemed to intrigue the stranger.

"Where is your dad?" The little girl shrugged.

"On a buisness trip." This caused the man to raise his eyebrows.

“Who is your dad, we might be able to call him?” Alex furrowed her eyebrows and stomped her foot.

“I’m not supposed to tell strangers anything,” The man nodded his head; obviously she had the whole strangers 101 talk with her parents. That was just going to make everything harder.

“I can make your mom all better if you just turnaround and face the playground, is that ok with you uh,” Max grew a confused look, “what did you say your name was?” Alex folded her arms.

“I’m in kindergarten, you can’t fool me. I’m not supposed to give my name out to strangers.” The dark headed man groaned, silently losing his patience.

“Can you please just turnaround and face the playground, please?” The man couldn’t believe he was begging to a five year old. Alex stuck her finger in his face and waved it from left to right.

“No, No, No, I’m not supposed to take directions from a stranger, my mommy said so.” The twenty-three year old smiled; he couldn’t resist the cute vibe she was giving off. This made the little girl grow even angrier.

“Ok, then what can you do with strangers,” The tall man questioned. This seemed to stop the smart girl and put her in a deep thought, before she started to smile.

“I’m supposed to get someone to call 911,” she paused and looked around before looking back at him. “Can you call 911 and tell them that you’re a stranger?” She questioned the man; he just smiled and pulled out his cell phone. After dialing a couple of numbers and waiting for someone to pick up, someone on the other side said ‘hello’.

“Hey Sheriff Valenti, I was talking to Liz on my cell phone and I didn’t see this person coming and I accidently hit her and now I’m stuck here with her daughter and-”

“Slow down, Max. I’ll be on my way, just tell me where you’re at?” At that moment the little five year old snatched up the phone and turned to Max.

“You were just supposed to tell him that you were a stranger!” Alex exclaimed as she stomped her foot and put the phone too her face. “Mr. Sherri Balenty, that man made my mommy go bye-bye and then asked me for my name, you need take him to jail.” She heard a deep laugh on the other side.

“Ok, tell me your name and where you are,” The sheriff said in a stern voice.

“I’m by the bright yellow playground by a ufo center and me name is Alex, come quickly pleased. This guy is a stranger,” She shut the phone and turned to face Max. “Here’s your phone.”

Alex turned around and stared towards her eyes causing more tears to travel down her puffy cheeks. She strolled over towards the woman, sat and stared somemore. It finally dawned on her that staring wasn't going to work so she decided to change her tactics. She gently tugged on her mom’s sleeve, but nothing happened. “Don’t leave me, mommy. Don’t go bye-bye! Don’t be like Daddy!” The little girl started to scream at the woman lying on the pavement, not a clue in her mind of what had happened to her mom. The scene in front of Max simply tugged on his heart until he couldn’t take it anymore, this led him to take of his shirt and wrap it around the woman to at least stop the bleeding. He then walked over to the little girl, now realizing that he felt a strong connection to her, a strong pull to wrap his arm around her and cover her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see the eyesore in front of her. No five year old should have to deal with that amount of pain. The five year old kept screaming at the woman, not able to grasp the fact of what had happened.

“So, I know that if I tell you my name and you tell me your name, we won’t be strangers,” Max desperately exclaimed trying to attempt a conversation with the heartbroken little girl.

“I’m not a stranger. Strangers are bad, you’re a stranger,” The little girl’s bright blue eyes came in contact with Max’s and so did the feeling of hate.

“I’m not a bad guy if you give me a chance,” Alex just gave him an idiot look.

“You made my mommy go bye-bye… you’re a bad guy.” Alex wiped a tear that had fallen down her cheek. Max knew deep down inside he couldn’t argue with the little five year old. If she would just turn around and let him heal her mother, there could be a chance in salvaging their relationship, but that would never happen.

“My name is Max.”

“Me name is Alex.” Max nodded his head and just sat close to Alex. His eyes wondered all over and landed on the woman he hit with his car. He felt the need to study her and noticed that besides the brown hair and brown eyes, this woman could pass as someone he had tried to get out of his mind ever since Liz told him one morning that Tess had blown herself up.

Tess.

The name sparked so much hatred inside of him that it could’ve fueled a nuclear bomb. Ever since the day that she was pronounced “gone for good” the group went under drastic changes. The Valenti’s became distant except for holidays and a certain someone’s birthday when they became delirious and depressed. As for the other’s, it was a silent agreement never to talk about the woman that caused the whole group so much pain. Max had loved her and let her in just so she could betray him, Isabel had excepted her as a best friend, Michael accepted her as an acquaintance, she caused more pain on liz than on anyone else when she announce her pregnancy, and Maria hated her for killing her best friend… all in all, according to Max, more bad came out of her arrival than good.
Max was in such a deep thought that he didn’t hear the sheriff’s truck ride up along the gravel and stop. Alex, on the other hand, had watched it suspiciously before seeing the uniform the guy had on when he stepped on the gravel.

“An ambulance is coming for your mother,” he said as he knelt down to look the little girl in her eyes and motioned for Max to talk to him privately.

“No hopitals.” The sheriff’s eyebrows knitted together.

“No hospitals?” The girl’s pigtails bobbed up and down as she nodded. “Is there a reason why?”

“My mommy doesn’t believe them.” The sheriff smiled and engaged in a conversation with Max. In the end, they agreed to not use the ambulance and for the lady to go to Sheriff Valenti’s house while Max met Liz at the Crashdown for a party. It was also settled that the little girl would go with Max to the party so she wouldn’t have to see her mother in the sickening state. They settled the woman and child in the truck headed for the Crashdown, not realizing that they were also dragging the past back in their lives.

[rise of the rebels]

Chapter 2: Alex who?

Silence filled the backseat of Max’s new Lexus. The tension inside the car was so thick that even a butcher knife couldn’t cut through it. Max fidgeted at the wheel, desperately wanting to make conversation with the pig-tailed five year old.

In the backseat, the blue-eyed girl dropped her head and silently waited to arrive at the party at the Crashdown, wishing her mom was awake from her ‘nap’ as the sheriff had called it. It didn’t take long for them to reach their destination. Max let out a huge sigh as he reached for the door handle of the vehicle, got out, and circled to the little girl’s side. He opened the door and handed for her but she simply stared.

“I’m not leaving my mommy!” The older man simply stared as the sheriff came around.

“I know you like birthdays,” the sheriff exclaimed, “there’s birthday cake, balloons, and some of Max’s friends who aren’t mommy killers.” The sheriff smiled which made the five years olds eyes brighten before turning to confusion.

“What’s a killer?” The innocent girl’s eyebrows went up in questioning. This caught the sheriff off guard.

“Someone who doesn’t get to have birthday cake, you want birthday cake don’t you?” She nodded, “Then go dig in!”

“Birthday Cake! Birthday Cake!” Alex screamed as she went running to the door.

“Gee, thanks.” Max said turning to the sheriff.

“Hey, I’m just here to help, besides, i think that you just knocked this lady unconscious for about two hours, you didn't kill her.” The sheriff grabbed the unconscious woman from Max’s car and toted her to his truck. “I don’t know where I could put her, though.”

“What about Tess’s old room?” As soon as the words tumbled out of Max’s mouth, he immediately wished they weren’t said. Within a second, the sheriff’s eyes went from playful to dark and the ambiance changed drastically. Max had forgotten that Tess’s old room had been a “ghost” room for six years. No one ever walked in and no one ever dared to even touch the door knob, not even Kyle and it was his room. The Valenti’s all acted like it was invisible. Even when Jim married Amy, they decided to build two more rooms for Maria and Kyle just so no one would have to go inside Tess’s. Max just stared before working up the courage to say his next sentence, “It’s time we all move on, Jim. It’s been five years.”

“I know… but I don’t think I’ll ever be able too,” Was the short murmur that was supposed to be a reply. Max caught the words and just looked at the former sheriff with guilt. Jim just adjusted the weight of the surprisingly light lady, and turned around to walk to the old rusted truck. With that, they went their separate ways.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Happy Birthday!” Max couldn’t help but gleam with all of his perfectly strait white teeth showing. Even though he knew of the surprise, it was still overwhelming. The blue-eyed girl looked up and saw how happy the man was and this made her smile harder, it was contagious. She looked around to see three women and two men that looked to be the same age as the man, then there were four older people that seemed to be, well, older people.

“You guys didn’t have to do this.” Max said as he pointed to the billions of balloons and streamers that cascaded down from the ceiling of the Crashdown.

“We know,” a taller man with shoulder length brown hair answered while turning to glare at blonde woman, “but we were forced. Who knew that when it comes to birthdays, she makes her Christmas Nazi side look like an angel?” The blonde woman seemed to punch the guy playfully, while Max went over to hug both of them.

“Thanks, Isabel and Michael,” Max said smiling still, forcing back a laugh. For some reason, the guy who’s named seemed to be Michael appealed to Alex.

“Think of it as a happy-birthday-slash-ding-dong-the-skins-are-gone party.” Maria chimed in.

Alex slowly walked over to the guy named Michael with a look of confusion as the Max guy was kissing some lady named Liz. As soon as she came up to the guy, she latched on to his leg, holding it tight and making Michael jump.

“Your skin is leaving you, how will you live?” Everyone in the party slowly looked down towards the little girl with a tight hold on Michael.

“Who is the runt?” Michael yelled absentmindedly, making Alex laugh and smile. All of a sudden all eyes turned to the blue-eyed girl whom they hadn’t noticed before. Looks of confusion filled the entire room.

“Long story, but she’s with me,” Max replied calmly while running his hands through his hair.

Maria leaned over to Michael. “Looks like someone’s got a secret admirer, should I be worried?” She laughed knowing it would make Michael a little annoyed. Michael groaned.

"I don't think she's my type." Michael said forcefully still trying to get her off his leg.

"Your type of what?" The girl questioned. Maria burst out laughing while Michael grew impatient.

“Okay Max, start speaking; and get the runt off of me.” Max looked all around to see that everyone actually wanted to hear what he was going to say.

“I uh, I ran over her mother,” Max looked at all of the surprised faces.

“That’s funny, considering you drive slower than an old grandmother,” Michael sarcastically replied, “Now what’s the truth?”

“He made my mommy go bye-bye, then he asked me for my name, then Sherri balenti came, then we had to ride in the boring car and I couldn’t go to the park.” Alex stated sadly.

“Is what little Miss Sunshine said, over here, true?” Max slowly nodded. Isabel crouched down to the little girl’s side and saw strait into her strikingly beautiful blue eyes.

“What’s your name.”

“You’re pretty.” The little girl said in awe.

“Thank you, but what’s your name? Mine is Isabel.” Isabel continued to smile.

“It’s Alex. My dad’s name is Alex too.” That stopped Isabel in her tracks, the name alone brought back so many memories that it was hard to get a hold of herself. She started to shake a little before Jesse put his warm hands on her back to soothe her.

“That’s a pretty name… what’s your last name?”

“I’ll tell you if I get some cake.” This was the end of all conversations. Everyone gathered around the cake and sung happy birthday. Liz handed out slices to everyone, with an extra big piece for Alex because she insisted. They were talking about how happy they were about some skins leaving and how they were all gone, this just confused Alex even more.

“So, Alex, do you live in Roswell.” Liz questioned. The five-year-old just shook her head with a mouth stuffed full of cake… like she hadn’t eaten in days. “Where are you from?” The little girl chewed and swallowed before smiling.

“Californa, but then we went to New Pork to go see the Dupey’s. They look like you and you,” Alex’s tiny fingers pointed to Michael and Isabel, “but they’re more funny looking.” She started laughing. "But now we sleep on train's, it's fun!" The girl's eyes turned sparkly again and the blue in it stood out more than ever.

No one even noticed.

Everyone was thinking about something else that she said, something that sent chills up and down their spines. Isabel just stared before forming another question.

“You went to New York to see the Dupe’s?” Isabel tried to correct the little girl's speaking, but deep down inside she hoped she was wrong and the girl maybe had cousin’s who were named the Dupey’s.

“Yeah, the Dupe’s… that’s what I said, silly,” It felt like someone had literally punched Max in the stomach. Who knew about the other set of Aliens that hid by a sewer system, other than them?

Their guess was no one that was human. The realization made Max’s, Michael’s, and Isabel’s stomach do flip flops.

“So, are you going to tell us your last name, now?” Hoping the answers could suppress some of his question, even though he knew no answer ever could.

“Me name is Alex Pitman, wait, no, no, no; that’s not right.” The five year old froze in thought before her blue eyes sparkled more than the fifty billion stars at night. “It’s Alex wa... wa, uh, Whitman. Alex Whitman.” The girl was genuinely proud of herself and expected praise.

Praise that never came.

The world froze for everyone in the whole diner. All chewing and talking stopped, even jaws dropped, after those two simple words came out.

Alex Whitman.

Isabel, Maria, Liz, Maria, Max, and Michael didn’t know if they heard their ears right. Even the Parker’s and Evan’s looked up. Jesse dropped his food and froze, he may have been quiet the entire time but he knew what those two words meant.

The only words going through Isabel’s mind was ‘this is a sick, cruel joke’. They all looked towards Max but Max was in shock too, his fork literally fell to the ground after hearing those two words.

“Did I say something wrong?” Alex said with utter confusion. Little did she know, she said the worst two names in the world. She fiddled with a locket around her neck and finally got the locket to open. Inside was a simple picture.

She showed it to them.

“My daddy’s name was Alex Whitman too. Can you find him? I don’t know where he is.” Her cute little voice was hardly heard. After everyone saw the simple picture she held up, everyone froze.

Not a single breath was taken. It was so quiet that you could hear atom particles buzzing around.

Isabel and Maria felt tears coming down their cheeks while Liz couldn’t move any part of her. Max and Michael just stared. Inside the locket was a picture of Alex Whitman.

Their Alex Whitman. A pure ghost.

Not only that but he was hugging the little girl that was right beside all of them and a boy around the same age. Max had only one question…. One question that would prove his theory unbelievable, one question that, if the answer was as he thought, he’d be sent off into a catatonic state.

“Who’s the boy beside you?” Max questioned with a shivery voice. Max never had a shivery and shaken voice. It was always calm and assuring… not this time.

“That’s my brother… Zan,” Alex said with bright shining blue eyes. Isabel fainted and Max was thrown back.

“We’ve got to go!” The hybrid king established, with a look of distraction. “We need answers.”
__________________________________________________________________________________________________


The Sheriff had sat in his car in the garage for thirty minutes straight. For some reason he couldn’t take his eyes off the lady, he was attracted. He knew it wasn’t physical attraction but he just felt a strange urge of attraction to her and he was determined to find out what it was. But it seemed the more he stared, the more the lady looked like a young-adult version of the teenaged Tess.

He could only pick out two things that were completely different.

The first was definitely her hair. The blonde curly locks that were so full of life and bouncy had belonged to Tess but this lady had dark brown chestnut hair that was strait as a ruler and cascaded to her mid-back. The sheriff had nothing against brown hair but it was one thing that set this lady apart from looking like Tess. The second feature was her eyes. Tess had bright blue ones while this lady had dark brown ones that could almost pass for lifeless black eyes. All he came up with after forty-five minutes were two measly differences… two petty differences. Someone could easily dye their hair chestnut brown and wear blackish contacts, so it could be Tess…right? Except he checked the very bottom of the roots and it was natural, all natural brown… he checked her eyes and there were no contacts.

It was getting on his nerves… why couldn’t this be Tess? Why did she have to look like Tess? Her frame, her facial features, her height, it was all like Tess’s. Was she sent to taunt him?

“Dad you have been sitting here for almost an hour, come in; Amy’s getting worried.” At that precise moment Kyle decided to follow his father’s gaze.

“Whoa, she looks just like…” his voice trailed off. Even though it was unspoken, Jim Valenti nodded.

“But it isn’t,” Jim stated in a far away voice. Deciding to put his dad out of his misery, Kyle hoisted the lady in the air as she said two words. Two words that made them both freeze.

“Michael…. Guerin.” The voice was raspy.

[rise of the rebels]

Chapter 3- Who are you?

“Where is she?” The gang had rushed over to the sheriff’s house in 5 minutes flat, a new record timing for them. Max held up his hand prepared to burst in but Maria held up her house key, insisting that this way the little girl wouldn’t be screaming her head off. As soon as they all got in the door, Kyle came from around the corner.

“So, you guys know that there’s a strange woman here who’s unconscious and keeps mumbling Michael’s name, because I think I’m going insane? Michael, did you have any girlfriends before you and Maria hooked up or can I assume that she’s a Michael-obsessed-skin?” Michael just grew a confused expression.

“We need to wake her up, she’s got answers. Maria will tell you what’s going on. Where is she?” Max questioned impatiently, not to mention harshly.

“Do you know how dangerous it is to wake up someone who’s unconscious?” Max raised his hand to Kyle’s question and Kyle knew what that meant.

“She’s in Te… Te,” his voice choked up on her name, he couldn’t pronounce it, “her old room. My dad’s watching over her. Happy Birthday, Max.” Everyone left to go to the room except for Maria and a blue-eyed girl, Maria gave him the cliff notes version of what happened at the party and showed him the locket.

“Wow. That’s impossible.”

“No, it’s possible.”
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Max had walked in the room and saw the Jim Valenti staring at the mysterious woman. Liz gave him a short summary of the party.

Max had an intent to heal her just enough to make her wake up from her comatose state. He placed his hand on her stomach and focused all of his energy on the drained brunette. Since she wasn’t dead he knew he wouldn’t get flashes, even though he hoped he would; it would put a rest to some of the billions of questions he had pertaining to her. He guessed he had to do it the old-fashion way… to interrogate. He took his hand away after he felt her aurora coming back and stared while panting.

Tess had stirred, never had she felt weaker in her life. She slowly opened her eyes so it was a slight slit. She saw six ghost; people she wanted to believe were ghost. She had only come to Roswell for Michael and had told herself that she was to not bump into any of the others… but it looked like they bumped into her. As she looked closer she saw that they weren’t ghosts… they were real. She soared strait up so that she was sitting in an upward position and used her hands to scoot back to the headboard.

“Alex! Where’s Alex!?!” She moved her head from left to right and saw no sign of her daughter. Max had a since of déjà vu.

“That’s a question we all want to know.” Liz murmured.

“She’s safe.” Max stated. Tess let out a sigh, and then it occurred to her that they might not have a clue who she was since she changed her appearance. She decided to play her cards that way.

“Take me to my daughter, now, before I press charges. You guys are kidnappers and you,” she pointed a shaky finger to Max, “could’ve killed me. If you don’t release me now I’ll call the police.”

“I’m connected to the police.” She looked at the gruff voice and saw it belong to…

“Dad?” She was truly surprised. She looked around and saw that this was her exact room from five years ago. Everything was intact like she never left, from the posters to the bed to the wallpaper. If it wasn’t for the situation she was currently in, she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep her emotions intact.

“What did you just say?” The sheriff questioned as he took a closer look at this woman. It was a rhetorical question, he and everyone else in the room had all known what she said.

“Sheriff.” She corrected herself and let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“How do you know I’m the sheriff?”

“I uh, went to Roswell High a while back and um, you pulled me over.” She nodded her head, the last thing she wanted to do to the gang was lie to them… but desperate situations called for desperate measures.

“I don’t remember you,” Isabel cut in.

“I don’t think that matters,” she looked around, “why am I being held against me will?”

“Hey, we will ask the questions,” Michael yelled. Tess glared and folded her arms across her chest.

“Why would you name your daughter after her dad?” Isabel finally spoke, having gained the courage to speak up again. Tess took note that they already met her daughter.

“It’s not so uncommon.”

“It is when the name is Alex Whitman.” At that precise moment Kyle, Maria, and Alex came in the room.

“Mommy, you didn’t go bye-bye.” She ran towards Tess and engulfed her mom in a hug. Her mom didn’t pay any attention to her; she was too busy having a staring contest with the man Maria was talking to.

“Kyle?” The name slipped from her lips unconsciously, it was natural. It felt good to speak the name again without trying to imagine the face to go along with it.

“T-Tess?” It was amazing, she thought, that he was the only one that could tell who she was with her disguise on.
Kyle went into shock, he would’ve never known it was Tess if he hadn’t heard that voice. It was the voice that used to be so confident and innocent. The voice that always seemed to say the right things to him to make him feel better. The voice that told him that he was her favorite human. Her posture gave her away, too. The way she was looking at him made him want to give her a kiss or hug to make her feel better and he wanted to gently tell her it would all be okay. This was all before Maria tugged on his arm and pulled him back into reality; the reality where Tess wasn’t Tess anymore… the reality where Tess had changed. All he could do was simply look away.

“Mommy, how does he know your name?” Tess just looked down, Alex had blown her cover. The whole room took a gasp, they couldn’t believe that their worst enemy was alive and back in their lives. Their worst enemy was less than three feet in front of them. They couldn’t believe that she knew Alex or was connected to him somehow. Seeing all the shocked faces and the fact that Michael was suddenly holding Maria back while putting one hand up and Max holding Liz back from doing anything drastic, Tess turned to Isabel.

“Her name is Alexandria, Alexandria Whitman.” The end was meant for Max. Max sent Tess glares.

“Hold up. You had a baby with two of my best friends… that’s just wrong. In order for your story to be true, you didn’t kill Alex… you mind warped him so he could be yours. You’re sick, you know that! Sick and twisted and you really disgust me!” Maria screamed. She tried to break out of Michael’s grip but he was iron strong and she hated him for that. He may have been holding her back but he couldn’t stop her from voicing her opinion. “So, you made us all believe that you killed Alex, you broke the hearts of Kyle and my stepdad just so you can run off and ‘have a good time.’ Did you kill Alex afterwards… is the picture in the locket Photo shopped? You can never trust a liar.” Tess didn’t hear a word Maria screamed, she was too busy looking at the many expressions going through Max’s eyes. Hoping he wouldn’t figure out the inevitable.

“How old are you?” Max questioned. The little girl looked like she was about to cry because all the strangers were yelling at her mommy.

“I’m five.” She said forcefully, her eyes facing the ground.

“She’s mine.” It was a bold statement.

“Yeah, Max. Any little girl who you meet who says she is five is yours.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

“Zan is five.”

“I’m surprise you remembered the son you gave away.” This time she had grown cold and her voice was like ice. Her eyes narrowed and Kyle thought she was about to kill them all.

“How could you not tell me you were having twins! I had the right to know.” Max’s eyes were throwing daggers at her. How could she hide such important data, he thought.

“Okay, I think that you two need some time alone.” The sheriff said.

“I don’t think so,” Tess said sternly to the former Sheriff before turning her attention sourly to Max. “I also don’t think you have a son or a daughter, Max. The way I figure it, you gave up any kid you ever had the moment you signed Zan away to a psycho. A psycho, Max.” She turned her gaze to Michael, “You think Hank was bad… the guy Max signed Zan away to, made Hank look like an angel sent from above.” She turned her gaze back to Max, “Do you know how I felt when Alex told me that he saw a two year old boy out in a trailer park wondering around with more scrapes and cuts than imaginable. Do you know how angry I was when I found out that he was a foster kid and his real dad’s name was Max and his name was Zan. How furious I was when I let you take care of your son, reluctantly, and you just turn him in to an adopting agency! It took every ounce of me to give him to you Max and you… you… Max he was abused!” Alex was getting scared at how much her mother looked hurt and mad and how much she was screaming. Tess looked around, “And none of you tried to stop him,” it was aimed at the former sheriff. “So, from where I’m standing, you don’t have any kids, Max. Alex does.”

“Well, then you must be standing over in Africa because you sure are in denial.” Michael retorted. Max shot him a look before turning his attention back to Tess.

“I didn’t know Tess. I was so young, I couldn’t take care of him.” Max said sounding defeated.

“I took care of Alexandria.”

“You had Alex.”

“You had Liz.” She looked around, “You had Maria, Michael, Sheriff, Kyle, Isabel… you had family. I didn’t. Yet, I was able to take care of twins after I came from Antar! Antar! I don’t even think you guys want to know what happened on that planet. The pain I went through there. All this time you guys thought I was the bad guy, why don’t you take a look in the mirror? I’m gone, I don’t have to take this.” She got up with her daughter in hand and walked to the door which was suddenly slammed shut. Tess turned around. “Excuse me.”

“You’re not leaving.” It turned out to be Liz who used her powers. Maria was standing by her. “Not until we get answers about Alex.”

“I’m not talking to you.” Tess spit out with her arms folded.

“You don’t have your powers,” Tess swiveled around to meet Isabel’s eyes, it was such a random thing to say, but Isabel continued. “If you had your powers you would’ve mind warped us already so you wouldn’t have to answer anything. You would’ve been gone in a instant with your daughter, and when Liz shut the door you would’ve blasted a whole in the door or something. Why don’t you have your powers? Where’s Alex? Where’s Zan? Why aren’t you answering the questions we want to hear most? Answer Them!” Isabel yelled at her former best friend. “Answer them, I need to know.” She whispered. Tess grew confused before putting a defeated look on.

“I don’t have my power, that’s true, even though I know some of you won’t believe me when I say it,” Tess looked directly at Liz. “I’ll tell all of the answers I know of… but only to Michael.” Everyone looked stunned.

“I don’t think that’s fair… we all want to know what happened to Alex!” Liz spurted out.

“I don’t think it’s fair that I got ran over by a car. Should I sue?” Tess raised an eyebrow.

“Fine, you can have your time with Michael but only for five minutes… if you go even one second over we’re busting in.” Max said hesitantly.

“Way to make me feel welcome, Max.”

“You’re not welcome.” They started filing out slowly, most stopping to look at Tess like she was something they found on the bottom of their shoe.

“Kyle.” Tess said as she stopped him at the door by stepping in front of him. Kyle looked down at the ground, anxiously. After a while, he saw that she wasn’t going anywhere.

“You know, I, I get this crazy feeling that I don’t even know you anymore. The Tess I once knew wouldn’t have killed or pretended to kill a friend. The Tess I knew would’ve shown up long ago for an apology. The Tess I knew would’ve confided in me. You’re not that Tess, anymore. You’ve changed.” He avoided eye contact.

“Kyle, we all change. If you knew the truth, if you knew what I went through you would’ve changed too. You’re the only one I feel close to. Kyle, I need you to forgive me. I-I need you to understand…” Talking to him was heartbreaking. She didn’t know if she could keep up the façade much longer or if she would break down crying. There was just too much going on in her life and if he said he understood he could make it all go away. If he said he understood he could make her come out of her depressed state. If he said he forgave her, he could make all of her problems fade.

“I once said you were my favorite Martian…” he looked straight into her pleading sapphire eyes, “but now I take that back. Maria’s a true sister, unlike you.” It was like he put a knife through her chest and with every word kept twisting it so it would go in deeper until he finally walked out the door. She destroyed the best friendship she ever had over lies… lies to protect all of them. Lies which they couldn’t understand because they thought they were truths.

“I’ll take Alex,” Jim Valenti stated with a smile as he took the little girl’s hand. He saw how devastated Kyle made her and it was a fatherly instinct to make her smile, to make her happy. The fact that he acknowledged the little girl made Tess’s heart jump a little.

“Thank you.” She genuinely smiled for the first time in six months. After everyone had filed out, Tess went to sit on the bed and Michael stood, staring.

“Liar, murderer, killer, slut… there are so many names I could call you.”

“It’s nice to know that you haven’t grown up a bit.” Tess retaliated. He raised his hand.

“Take one step closer and I will blast you to bits. I swear. You hurt Maria more than anything has in her entire life.” She forced a laugh.

“You don’t have it in you.”

“Well, then I guess we’re about to find out.” He sent a blast towards Tess that thrusted her against the wall, banging her head hard on it. She slowly lifted her head back up, “I don’t believe that you don’t have your powers, you might be able to fool Isabel and Max… but not me.”

“So, I take it that you’re going to keep blasting me and when I’m finally dead, you’ll figure out if I was lying or not?” She grimaced, “You know, I thought you were smarter than that but obviously I gave you way too much credit. It’s actually kind of funny, I helped you develop your powers and now your using it against me.”

“Why me? Why did you need to talk to me?” She shrugged, causing Michael to send another blast out of his hand toward Tess. This time it was more abrasive and full of force and power, resulting in a huge colliding of her head and the headboard. Not to mention, plenty of blood.

“I’ve been in worst torture chambers than this, Michael. You’re going to have to try a lot harder to kill me. You’ve heard of the phrase ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’ Sad to say that’s the motto I live with now.” Michael simply rolled his eyes.

“Fine, let’s say I did believe that you don’t have powers. Who’s powerful enough to take them away?”

“Khivar.” Her eyes darkened and squinted in concentration. “He knew I’d have to come to you guys eventually after what happened, and he wanted you guys to kill me without me putting up a struggle. He said he wanted me to experience pain.”

“Poor Tess, why should a killer have to experience pain? Boo-hoo.” Michael stated with the sarcasm dripping from the words.

“So, I guess you forgot you killed, too. Does agent Pierce ring a bell?" She raised an eyebrow and Michael shot his hand out again. "Okayk,I need you because you’re the only one who can help me out with the skins.” She was fiddling with something in her back pocket.

“The skins are dead.” Michael said reassuringly. “We killed them all.” Tess shook her head.

“They’ll never be dead as long as our brother is in charge.” That stopped Michael in his tracks and made him make eye contact.

“You’re saying that Khivar is-”

“Our brother.”

“You’re lying, I don’t have a sister or a brother except for Laurie Dupree. Why do you always have to lie when you know you're going to get caught?” She walked up to him, placed a stone in his hand and sat back on the bed. Michael examined it and then stared at it like it was a ghost, finally turning his attention back at her, “You’re not lying.”

“About Laurie…” Her voice trailed off trying not trying to make eye contact with Michael.

“What about Laurie!” He raised his voice along with his hand. "Tell me!" He was about to go over and shake Tess. Tess’s eyes slowly and cautiously traveled from the floor to Michael’s frightened expression. Tess’s voice was stern and bitter.

“Michael, it’s war.”

[rise of the rebels]

A/N: First i want to wish all of you guys HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR'S!!!! Yes, i love the holidays... and now to the story... here ya go!!!!

Chapter 4- What’s The Plan?

“She’s in there giving Michael a slow and painful death; I know it! Whose bright idea was it to leave Michael in a room with a mass murderer? Oh, right, how could I have forgotten?” Maria stopped pacing back and forth to glare at Max, “It was Max’s. Whatever she does in there is all going to be on you, and unlike Liz, I’ll never ever be able to forgive you!” Maria screamed towards the shocked Max. Maria frantically paced the Valenti’s living room once again, not fully grasping the concept that a so called ‘killer’ was under the same roof as her. She stopped to glare at Max silently mouthing “How can you be such an idiot.”

“We don’t know for sure if she killed Alex, Maria. Look at the locket, he could still be alive.” He grabbed the locket from the hands of Isabel, who had been concentrating on the piece of jewelry intensely. Max didn’t even think she stopped to blink yet.

“Max, two words: Photo Shop. Any idiot who has a camera and a computer could’ve made that… Haven’t you seen the book Photo Shop For Dummies?” Maria jerked the fragile necklace from Max and shoved it in front of his eyes. “It’s not real!” Upon hearing the last sentence, Alex tugged on Maria’s sleeve.

“My picture is real. My daddy gave it to me before his business trip. We took the picture before we went to see Santy Clause a long time ago. Give me my necklace.” The little girl reached for it with pleading eyes. “Give me.”

“Don’t tell me that Tess has mind warped the little girl, too. That’s going too far.” Maria licked her lips and placed her hands on her hips with a raised eyebrow while Max slid past her and knelt down.

“I can put it on for you.” Max smiled, snatching the necklace from the brace of Maria’s hands.

“My mommy doesn’t look like she likes you. I don’t know if your good or not,” Alex stated with scrunched eyebrows. Her tiny minuscule hands inadvertently came down from the sleeve of Maria’s petite arms and into a cross around the chest. She quietly watched as the strange man’s facial expression went from one of transfixed hope to one of pure gloom with a flicker of hatred.

“So, you said you have a brother, right? Where is he?” Isabel questioned, finally snatching her eyes away from the locket and stopping her brother from saying anything he would soon regret when he had to face Tess.

“He’s with auntie Laurie, silly!” Alex exclaimed with her eyes going from a confused state to sparkling in less than a second.

“Aunt Laurie? Who’s that?” This time it caught Maria’s attention, she hoped that this kid was making up lies for the sake of all of them.

“Auntie Laurie Dupey.” The girl stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Another Dupe?”

“No, silly. Laurie Dupeey.” Alex shouted, joy in her eyes. “My auntie, Laurie Dupeey. She’s really funny and has a huge castle like she’s a princess.”

“Laurie Dupree, Michael’s sister. What is your brother doing there?” Once again, Alex saw the whole room become pin-drop quiet and wondered what she said wrong this time. That was before she saw the guy named Max stand up straight with a serious expression.

“More importantly, what has Tess been up to?” And with that he swiftly lifted his hand, shakily, up to the door and…
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tess sat cross-legged against the soft mattress of the twin bed beneath her, absent-mindedly stroking the comforter. Her stern ice cold eyes the colour of the night sky drastically shooting daggers towards Michael’s pleading chocolaty brown ones. The room was pin-drop silent and breathing was shallow... it seemed that at any given moment one would callously kill the other. Michael timidly crossed his muscular arms across his built chest which forced Tess to do the same. Tess put on her best poker face because in reality, she was relieved to see Michael and now knew in her mind that she had a fighting chance... she just couldn’t let Michael know that.

“What’s the story behind Alex?” Tess sucked in her breath and closed her eyes. She knew he meant Alex and not Alexandria, but the sheer thought of having to explain the inevitable all over again made Tess quiver inwardly.

“He’s... alive.” Michael watched her as she inhaled and exhaled, she seemed to be deep in thought with her eyes closed. Without being able to look into those void eyes of Tess’s he couldn’t be able to tell if she was telling the truth of not. He slammed a balled fist against the fragile chestnut brown dresser, causing Tess to jump slightly and wince. She opened her eyes immediately and glared.

“Why don’t I believe you?” Tess carelessly rolled her eyes signalling just how much she had had enough of his intensifying questionnaires.

“OK, the first three times you asked me that question, i simply thought you didn’t believe me because you still thought I was a liar but now I’m starting to believe...” Her voice trailed off as she leaned forward and deeper into his chocolate orbs, “You need me to be a killer. You need to feel anger and hatred towards me... but now my question is why? I would expect this from Liz or Maria... even Max; but never you. So tell me why?” Tess smirked as she saw his eyes darken with petrified detestation; she knew she was getting to him, finally. Now all she had to do was find proof that Michael should be on her side.

“Shut up, I wasn’t asking you.” Tess looked around amusingly.

“Yeah, Michael, because it was so obvious you were talking to the walls.” Tess sat back down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling, waiting for an answer.

“What I need is proof. If you can give me proof that Alex is still alive, I’ll do whatever you need me to do.” Michael started to scratch his right eyebrow and then look at Tess cautiously. Michael knew that she wouldn’t have any proof, especially since she didn’t have her powers. He inwardly smiled.

“Isn’t my word proof enough for you?” Tess questioned but knew, whole-heartedly, what the inevitable answer was. She just needed an accurate answer to tell where he truly stood. She slowly moved her eyes up to his again and proceeded to cock her head questioningly.

“Tess, your word is about as useless as Maria’s consistent nagging. Give me proof from someone I trust would never lie; which would be anyone in this house that isn’t related to you.”

“Including you?” Tess questioned. Michael spit out a little laugh.

“Stop stalling, I know you’ve got nothing. Everyone here is going to say that Alex is dead and you’re a lying murderer. After that, our only problem will be deciding how to get rid of you.” Tess nodded moving her eyes from Michael’s so she could gaze across the room. So many possessions brought back countless memories, like the magazines that were thrown on the bed or the dresser with all of her favourite lotions still packed neatly in the corner. She could clearly see that the Valenti’s either didn’t bother to go into the room once she left or just didn’t bother to clean it. As her eyes travelled and the memories kept playing she stopped on a poster. Not just any poster, the poster Kyle had given her to make the room feel a little more like hers. It was a crummy poster about some New York movie that they had seen a week before and she said it was the dumbest movie ever made but Kyle said she didn’t give it a chance to begin with and she didn’t see the “essence” of it, she just laughed it off and called him Buddha Boy. That crummy poster was a reminder of their first time “hanging out” and even though she thought it was crummy before all she wanted to do was wrap her hands around it and hold it tight. The stupid New York movie...

“Actually, no they won’t.” Tess retorted with a sparkle in her eyes. Michael followed Tess's gaze over to some stupid poster. He tried examining it so he could obtain some sort of vital information but after looking over it twenty times it still remained to be some stupid valueless picture. After realizing that the sentence probably had nothing to do with the poster, Michael slowly threw his hand up.

“So, you admit that you do have your mind-warp powers.” Tess’s eyebrow shot up.

“No, actually I have two things you don’t: a brain and proof. I am compatible without powers, you know.” Tess slowly got off the bed and strutted towards the door with confidence. She spun around seeing that Michael hadn’t moved an inch, her strait brown hair flying. “Are you coming?” Michael slowly nodded with curiosity filling his mind. Tess turned the knob, whipping the door open to see a surprised Max stumble forward.

“I-I was-” Max stuttered, at a loss for words.

“You were just worried that I was going to kill Michael, right? Don’t worry, in spite of what I’ve lead you guys to believe, I’m not a murderer and I’m here to prove it.” Tess claimed as she scooted pass Max into the middle of the room. Her gaze had landed on the Valenti’s and she let out a slight smile which was ignored by Kyle.

“We’ve got questions for you and you better answer them.” Maria said standing directly in front of the newly found brunette, with force.

“I better? I think you better step back!” Tess exclaimed, the smile slipping off her face and was unintentionally replaced with a stern practical expression.

“Hey, don’t talk to my sister like that.” Kyle yelled while coming over to Maria’s defence. Tess looked between the two with her mouth agape, five years ago he had defended her from Maria’s callous looks and verbal jabs... and now it was the other way around. Kyle had no idea how much pain he unconsciously placed inside Tess’s heart by yelling that simple sentence with force and meaning. Kyle had actually yelled at her! Tess! It threw Tess off guard and she absent-mindedly took a step back and breathed in. She then clenched her fist and closed her eyes. When Tess opened up her eyes again, they were void of life which made Kyle's stomach turn in surprise. Tess's aura had changed from enrage to a certain level of sadness he had never seen before, even when Max broke her heart. Tess then turned her head while showing no emotion and walked over to Isabel.

“You need proof Michael... here she is. She can tell you that Alex is alive.” Everyone looked towards Isabel who just looked up towards Tess. Then they all turned to Tess as if she was insane.

“What? Is this some sick joke?” It was known to everyone that Isabel had suffered and grieved the most from Alex’s death. The simple thought of what Tess was trying to get her to say made her go ballistic. Isabel rose from her seat with pure hatred in her eyes. “I can’t tell anyone that Alex is alive, thanks to you!” Tess smirked while Isabel stood less than one foot away with threat buried deep in her eyes.

“While Max and I were in New York, the dupe’s tried to kill Max. Only one thing stopped them from succeeding. I always thought he dodged the falling glass because he wanted to live for my love but Khivar opened my eyes. While I was in one of his torture chambers he forced me to look at clips of Max and Liz and how deep in love you two were. I hated it, it was pure torture. One clip I will never forget was how Liz saved Max’s life and i realized that you helped Liz, Isabel. You went into Max's mind with Liz. Am I right?”

“Y-Yes, but I can only do it with someone who is living.” Isabel claimed hoping she had stumped the confident brunette. She saw where this was going and didn’t like it.

“Exactly! If you two are able to travel inside Alex’s mind and talk to him, communicate with him... it would be proof. Since you brought Liz on one of your ‘adventures’ before, I’m sure you can bring Michael and he could see for his self that Alex is alive. Now, the only question is: Michael, do you trust Isabel?” Tess looked at the faces of all her former friends to see... shock. Was she really asking a lot? Tess didn’t think so. Leaving the gang to ponder about her miraculous plan, Tess rushed to her daughter’s side to embrace her in a hug. She hadn’t really talked by her daughter ever since the accident and wanted to make sure Alex was alright. Tess grew a bright smile when she wrapped her arms around Alex’s fragile body before releasing it.

“How would we know you’re not mind warping them?” Maria blurted out. Tess glanced around.

“All of you know that I need my eyes closed and I have to concentrate in order to mind warp. So, I will keep up a whole conversation with Sheriff Valenti with my eyes open which would make it impossible for me to mind warp anyone, is that ok?” Tess enquired; a simple goal in her mind. She picked up her five year old daughter and walked towards the Sheriff.

“Go inside Alex’s mind?” Isabel rhetorically questioned in a catatonic state. It seemed so simple, yet so complicated and filled with such truth. Isabel never thought that dream walking could ever be so important that it would decide the fate of the whole gang.

“It’s worth a try.”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
A/N: Please tell me what you think!!!

[rise of the rebels]

Disclaimer: If you know it from the show, it’s not mine. I wish because if it was, Tess would have never been blown up.

Chapter 5: A New Train of Rosy Thoughts

“May I have this dance, my wonderful princess?” An outstretched hand reached for the blond beauty as she sat on a royal blue cushioned chair at the Damarus Diamond restaurant. Other than the King and Queen, there was nobody else to be found in the entire room and all of the lights were dim except for the one magical spot in the middle of the dance floor. The scene was one straight out of a fairy tale and both participants hoped that it would forever stay that way. The tall slender man wore an intricate black Tuxedo while the petite elegantly dressed lady wore a glimmering, shimmery, silver gown that flowed down to the floor. The man decided to pull the lady up to her feet and took a slight bow.

“I believe, now, it’s Queen Ava,” the blonde whispered swiftly to the man in front of her, a slow smile creeping up to her lips that she just couldn’t seem to help. The grown man laughed tenderly before he seemingly pulled a rose from the mist of the air and held it up to her. Next, he decided to clench it with his teeth before jumping back because of an intense sharp pain.

“Ouch! Crap, that hurt!”The rose dropped from the man’s mouth as he quickly put his hand on his lip to stop the bleeding. “They never warn you about the stupid thorns of a rose in the romance movies!” The dark eyed man yelled out while the woman sat back down and laughed.

“I think they don’t tell you because it’s a little thing called common sense!” The blue eyed woman smirked and waited for the man to come up with a comeback.

“Ha-ha, very funny.” The man said even though he had a smile the size of a watermelon located on his face.

“You’re right, it’s not funny. I mean, just because its common sense doesn’t mean it’s Alex proof, right?” Tess grabbed a glass of water and gulped it down before continuing. “You know they say every rose has its thorn.” Tess raised an eyebrow as if she was challenging Alex, but Alex decided to take the bait.

“Oh, really? Well then, I think they are wrong.” Alex held his hand out again and this time Tess took it and they proceeded to the dance floor. Out of nowhere, a soft song came on and Alex took the lead.

“How do you think they are wrong?” Tess questioned, almost stopping the flow and rhythm Alex had set.

“I think of you as a rose but I have yet to see any thorns.” Tess’s heart skipped a beat which caused her to step on Alex’s foot. Tess simply turned her head so he wouldn’t see blushing of any sort. “What was that for?” Alex questioned, he didn’t think he said anything wrong.

“For lying, I know you see thorns... everyone thinks I have thorns. I mean, I lie-” Alex rolled his eyes.

“Only to protect others.”

“I kill-”

“You only killed in battle and that was to protect your country... so we’ll call that a defence mechanism. Defence mechanisms didn’t count as killing last time I checked, so your all clear.” Alex flashed a million dollar smile while looking into Tess’s blue eyes. “Anything else?” Tess laughed.

“You actually think I’m going to believe that? If so, I don’t think you know me too well.” Alex smiled.

“I think I know you better than anyone out there in the world... wait, um, let’s make that... galaxy. Did I ever tell you how pretty you are tonight?” He watched as her eyebrows went up and she shook her head.

“No.” Tess stated while her blonde curls bounced around.

“Really? Well, in that case I think you’re extremely beautiful tonight. I think that right now, you’re even prettier than... Isabel?” At that precise moment Isabel’s figure, along with Michaels’, appeared at another table. At first, Alex’s expression was one of surprise but then grew to one of anger and hatred in the blink of an eye, which made Isabel and Michael step back. All of a sudden the scenery began to fade away, slowly. Alex’s eyes darted back and forth as he watched objects, one by one, disappear right before him... until the last thing left in front of him was Isabel, Michael, and Tess. “Tess, don’t leave me!” He grabbed onto her arm, his voice bursting with panic; he was well aware of what was going to happen next. “Tess, hold on, don’t fade! Don’t leave!!” Alex screamed in agony even though it served no point. “Tess!” Alex yelled frantically once more before falling to his knees to stare up at the baby blues eyes above him. “Don’t... don’t!” The silhouette of the blond Queen opened up her mouth as if to scream but couldn’t find her voice. The two stood frozen in that spot, one on his knees and another on her feet. In that minute, Alex gulped in every feature, every curve, and every minuscule spot on her body, for it could’ve been his last look for a while, but as soon as he took the time to blink his eyes, the beauty was gone.

Alex took slow, firm, deep breaths before turning his glance back towards the source of his pain.

“Shape-shifting into Michael and Isabel still won’t work Khivar and Nicholas... I’ll still fight you. I just can’t believe that you guys stooped so low as to come in my head and ruin the only time I have with Tess. But then again, you guys are a special kind of ruthless.” Alex spat while training his focus on the two familiar figures, but to his surprise they didn’t form a counter attack. Much less, their expressions were that of a person who just saw a ghost of someone who had been dead for years. “From the stupefied expressions, I’m guessing that you’re not really Khivar and Nicholas. So... who are you?”

“Alex? It’s really you!?!” The figure that looked similar to Isabel screamed. “Y-your actually alive! Tess was actually telling the truth!” Isabel yelled as she ran up to Alex. Ten million thoughts were racing through Alex’s mind at one time but only one word came out...

“Uh-oh,” Alex’s eyes grew big and he immediately turned around, this was not good... far from good as any scenario could possibly get.

“What do you mean by ‘uh-oh’? You are real, aren’t you?” Michael questioned as he walked up to Alex, still as stunned as Isabel but with a dash of curiosity.

“I mean uh-oh as in Tess actually found you, does she know how much danger she put herself in? I mean, you guys could have killed her and then where would I be? You guys didn’t kill her did you? I swear if you killed her...” The darkness came back in Alex’s eyes along with rage as he held his hand up. “Tell me!” Immediately, Michael jumped in front of Isabel.

“No! We didn’t kill Tess... but if you don’t answer some questions that might change. I believe that she brainwashed you. Don’t worry, we can get you help, just tell us where you are.” Michael cautiously spoke, slowly backing away from Alex.

“I-I can’t believe she actually found you guys. She’s defiantly gone insane, either that or it’s rock bottom for all of us and if that’s the case... we’re never going to make it out alive.” Alex groaned and ran one of his slender hands through his short black hair. “What are we going to do? Does she have a plan?” Alex questioned, finally turning his weary eyes back to the duo in front of him.

“Y-You’re Alive? Y-You’re really alive? Y-You’re standing in front of me? You... how can... it’s not possible?” The blonde questioned, still in the state of awe. Her eyes glued on the vision in front of her without so much as a blink of the eye. Her hands absentmindedly coming up to her agape mouth that was covered in glittery lip gloss.

“Really, finding out that I’m alive should be the least of your problems. If Tess came to you guys... we’re in severe trouble.” Alex groaned, not realizing the serious trouble they were in until this very second. It was like someone just implanted a bomb inside him, then gave him a cookie and said ‘It’s Chocolate Chip! Have a nice last meal!’

The blonde just continued to walk forward... ignoring every word the dark-haired man claimed. “Do you know how bitter, distressed, and heartbroken you made us? Do you know how many times we cried over you, how many times we wished events was turned around just so you could be alive? How depressed everyone is because of you? How we all fell apart because of you? How much I hated myself and blamed myself because of your death? How ambivalent I was? Do you?” Isabel glared at him before continuing. “How I felt when some little girl had a picture and said you were alive? No, you will never know how we all felt when we heard you were dead and then six years later, your magically alive! Never! And now I’m standing here, in front of you, after I’ve grieved so much... after we’ve all grieved so much, and all you can ask is how Tess is doing?” Isabel’s tone grew stern before she punched him in his chest. “Tess! You had us believing a sick lie and all you can think about is Tess! Oh my goodness, I hate you! How could you do that... How could you...” Isabel stepped back until she was an inch in front of Alex, looking straight into his dark chocolaty eyes. “How could you be so insensitive, so apathetic, so lethargic, so... answer me!” Isabel screamed as a tear slid down her cheeks. She wasn’t one to get so emotional and she hated how he was making her feel. The only thing she could do was pound on his chest, whispering, “Answer me!” She felt trickles of hot tears travelling down her cheeks, now, as she pounded against his chest harsher, “Why!”

At that particular moment, Michael couldn’t take it anymore and ran to Isabel’s side. He gently wrapped his hand around her waist and tried to drag her away. Isabel kept pounding Alex but as soon as she felt Michael’s hand she looked back. Seeing his face, she pushed his hand away and backed up. “Tell me!” Isabel’s voice went from rage to soft.

Alex rose his chocolaty eyes to meet Isabel’s blue ones. “I-I did it because none of you would! I did it because all of you... chose love instead of destiny!”
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Tess sat on the familiar olive green couch with her knees pressed against her chest and her chin gently rested on her knees. Her eyes were glued to the eggshell white walls ahead of her as she was deep in thought. She knew that her five-year old rested silently on the bed on the other side of the wall but she still felt a need to watch her, wishing she could see through walls. Lately, she had felt drained of all strength and that only happened when... no, she wasn’t going to think of it. That could never happen, so what purpose would it be to think of it? Tess shook her head and shivered trying to get the topic out of her head, which just made her more aware of the stares and ice-cold glares she was getting from the other recipients in the room.

“If you have a question to ask... just ask it, I hate when people stare. That is if you trust me enough to think I’ll tell the truth.” Tess blatantly stated without taking her eyes off the wall, she was trying to break the ice but just wound up startling everyone. This made her smirk a little. After what seemed like hours of silence (but was actually three minutes) Tess smiled. “If you have no questions, then I would prefer that-” Tess was rudely cut off.

“So... when did you start to like Alex?” This time it was Tess’s turn to be startled, the whole room saw her facial expression go from arrogance to cautious. Her whole body froze at the mention of his name; this clearly not being one of the million questions Tess had prepared to answer. Slowly the former-blonde turned her head to meet the only other brunette lady in the room.

Liz.

Liz had been the one to ask the question that Tess had put an “off-limits” sign across. Tess could’ve said many different things at that point “Why do you care”, “None of your business”, or “You just proved that there are such things as stupid questions” but she simply held herself back and answered it truthfully. “When I first realized that out of all of you, he was the only one that didn’t judge me from the start, that’s when I started to really like him.” Tess said as she stared at the walls, once again, but this time with an evident smile on her face.

Maria simply rolled her eyes. “And since you liked Alex so much, you went and had Max’s children. Such a great, classical love story!” Maria sarcastically exclaimed before Liz stepped on her foot. “Ouch! I’m just stating the facts.”

Tess turned around and smirked. “Exactly! I said that you guys could ask questions, not list facts that, as far as I’m concerned, aren’t true.” The room turned silent as Tess fixed her eyes back on the wall.

“Did you and Alex... get married?” Tess was yet again startled, this time it wasn’t by what was said but who said it.

Sherriff Valenti.

Dad.

Tess embraced the smile that was creeping up on her lips again. “Trust me, if we did get married, you and Kyle would’ve been the first people to get an invitation.” Tess answered while she looked back at her former legal guardian with sparkling eyes.

Kyle cleared his throat. “So why didn’t you? Get married, I mean.” Tess’s eyes went from sparkling to icy cold within a second. Her gaze was now on the floor with a frown on her face. Tess’s brunette hair covered her face as she put her hands over her face and massaged her temples... if only they knew.

“We...We don’t have that option.” As she saw Liz open her mouth she added, “When I said you could ask questions, I meant about Antar and not about Alex and I.” Her monotone voice seemed to shut up almost everyone in the room. She didn’t mean to come off as such a... well, you know, but they were bringing up a past that was painful.

“Okay, say you are right and Alex is alive. What makes you think that we are willing to leave with you? Willing to fight Khivar?” Tess looked straight in Max’s eyes wondering if he was serious. When she saw that he wouldn’t waver, she simply burst out in laughter.

“You’re not serious are you?” Tess said in between breaths, still laughing harder than she had in a month. She still saw Max in his normal serious manner. “Oh, you’re really serious? Max, how pathetic do you think I am? Of course I didn’t come here for you. I just came back for my brother, his assistance is all I need.” Tess had put a hand over her mouth to stop her from laughing. No one in the whole room seemed to think it was funny at all.

Max grew a confused expression. “Your brother?”

“Yes, my brother. You know him as Michael Guerin.” She said with a smirk on her face. “He knows.”

“If Michael goes, we all go!” Max demanded, taking a step towards her but not intimidating her in the least.

“When you think I need you, you don’t want to come but when you know I don’t need you, you demand to come... interesting.” Tess said looking him up and down. “You’re still not coming.” This time she slowly pushed herself up, putting on an expression that screamed don’t-mess-with-me!

“You don’t even have powers and when Michael is mad, there’s no telling what he will do! Putting you two together would be a recipe for disaster. We are definitely coming!” Max’s stern expression just made Tess furious, who was he to boss her around like that?

Tess’s voice grew cold and her eyes slanted as she looked up furiously, “Says you and what army?”

“I’m King and that should be enough for you!” Max exclaimed in almost a yelling format, practically waking up the peaceful five year old in the back room and startling all of the recipients in the current room.

“That’s where you’re wrong. You’re not King anymore and besides, if you were King you’d be a very pitiful one: choosing Love over your people. No, you were never and will never be King.” Tess let out a laugh.

“Alex is king now!”
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A/N: Wow, I’m so sorry for the delay... I have too many things on my mind for my own good. Well, I hope you loved this chapter and please give me some feedback so I feel that some people actually read my story. And for those of you who already gave me feedback... LOVE YA!!! Thanks so much for reading and please tell me if you feel anyone is out of character or if I should continue. Hope you had a Happy New Year!!!

[rise of the rebels]

Disclaimer: If you know it from the show, it’s not mine. I wish because if it was, Tess would have never been blown up.
A/N: I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU GO BACK AND READ THE LAST CHAPTER SINCE IT’S BEEN SO LONG!!! SORRY, that I made all of you wonderful fans wait so long. If I were you I would’ve started to send hate emails by now. LOL (thank goodness you didn’t). Anyways, I’m going to try to update a whole lot faster now... it’s just that everything’s been hectic. But I hope you like the chapter and thanks for still reading. If I don’t get a lot of reviews, I understand. I’ll probably stop the story if you guys don’t like it...
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Chapter 6- Former King, Max Evans

Two Years ago in the Antarian Palace...


Queen Ava stood on the balcony of her palace facing the glorious triple sunset; just the sight of it made her feel guilt for all she was about to do. She slowly placed her arms on the balcony rails as she leaned on it so that her hands could gently cup her face. Sighing as she came to the reality that she was about to betray the one person who truly ever trusted, believed, and even loved her on both Antar and Earth. How did her life manage to get so screwed up? More importantly, how did she manage to lose all control of it?

“A penny for your thoughts?” A masculine voice whispered softly into her ear, causing her to soar a foot away while her heart did a jump start. “No need to tense Tess, Alex isn’t here.” The gentleman murmured seductively. She carefully spun around to confirm her worst fear at the moment.

“That is so not funny.” Tess exclaimed as the male chuckled softly.

“Really... personally, I thought it was hilarious! So tell me what you’re really thinking.” The man uttered with a smirk on his face.

"Trust me; you don’t want to know what’s going on in my thoughts.” She claimed as the tall man proceeded to walk closer to her, his expression going from light-hearted to grim.

“Trust me; I already know what is going on up there.” The man watched as Queen Ava’s breath became shallow and her eyes become wider, “Sometimes I wonder what Alex ever did to end up with such a backstabbing, betraying, selfish, scumbag like you. I, honestly, don’t know what he ever saw in you!” The tall man scathed as he watched the blonde breathe in deeply and blink her, now glossy, eyes about seven times.

“That’s not fair, Larek! You know I’m doing this for a reason!” Ava screamed as her knuckles turned white from gripping the rail a little too hard.

“That’s not fair?” Larek questioned before he raised his voice to a scold, “What’s not fair is that Alex is going to come home after a long day of making sure that YOUR world is safe and see that his fiancé is missing. What’s not fair is that YOU’RE running away with his whole family and everyone he ever cared about, Alex and Zan, without leaving him so much as a NOTE! What’s not fair is that your ditching him to go to ANOTHER world to meet your EX-LOVER on the day before both of you are supposed to get MARRIED!!! And what’s really not fair, Tess, is that you want ME, his best friend, to feed him lies about the whole situation, and watch him be humiliated tomorrow in front of all of Antar when you don’t show up at the alter tomorrow! That’s what’s not fair!” Larek rebuked and, instantly, Tess knew that she had gotten Larek heated, but she didn’t know what else to say except...

“Tell him I’m sorry, but I have to do this!” Tess stated sternly before she swivelled around to head for the door. “I’ll be gone in less than an hour, Larek. Bye.” A frown located on the Queen’s lips, talking to Larek certainly didn’t make the guilt go away as she had expected.

“That’s it; just tell him you’re sorry? Are you kidding me?”

“No!” Tess voiced halfway out the door. “I’m not kidding you. You may think I’m kidding around but the reality of it all is that I’m trying to save a world, here... and as sad as it makes me, my world comes before Alex!”

“You may tell yourself that, but you don’t believe it.” Larek pronounced.

“It doesn’t matter what I believe; it never mattered what I believed. You’re either going to help me or not.” Tess expressed; her voice void of any expression.

“Wait!” At the sternness of Larek’s voice, Tess stopped in her tracks. “If I do that, if I tell him that you’re sorry and somehow convince him that you’re a good person just trying to do the right thing... you have to promise me something.”

“I’ll promise anything you want.” The queen answered, trying to hold back tears of shame. The sheer fact that Larek was going to help even though he knew the whole situation was immoral... meant something.

“You have to promise me that you will never tell you ex-lover, Max, or any of his friends—including the Royal four—that Alex is the King here on Antar. It will cause confusion and chaos and that can never happen! You have to promise me, and really mean it; under no circumstances will that information ever reach their ears.”

“I Promise they will never know Alex is king. Trust me, Larek; those words will never come out of this mouth.”
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Present Time on Earth


“Alex is what?” Liz cried, being the only one whose voice could actually make a sound at the moment. The room had been quiet numerous times before but never had the tension been so frightening. It was as if the people in the room were waiting for a “just kidding” that never came.

“It’s obvious that she’s lying.” The man in front of Tess said with dark void lifeless eyes staring at her amused sky blue ones.

“Am I, Max? If you gave the time to think about it, do you really think so? Or is it that you don’t want to believe that the inevitable was bound to happen?” This seemed to only make Max furious.

"How could he ever be qualified for that position?” At this statement, Tess couldn’t help but to let her facial expression falter, everyone could tell she was fuming.

“No Max, how were you ever qualified for that position? Alex was beyond qualified, he did what you would never do in your wildest dreams... he gave up his world. He gave up his family, he gave up his friends, and unlike you... he gave up his former love; something that would send chills down your spine just too even think about. On top of all of that, he did the scariest thing of all, he presumed his self dead. Do you know how devastated that made him? Imagine forcing Isabel, Michael, Maria, and Liz to believe that you’re dead... you probably couldn’t do it.” Tess spat with a look of disgust, “What really makes Alex qualified, you ask? The answer is that he is everything you’re not!” Max took a step back, as if it was a blow to his stomach.

“Harsh.” Kyle stated, still in a daze.

“You’re just saying this to get me angry, trust me, it’s not working.” Max said, shaking his head back and forth... still not believing the words that left the newly found brunette’s mouth.

“What I said in the granolith 5 ½ years ago was to get you mad, this... this is just being brutally honest with you.” Tess argued while all eyes in the room were glaring at her, wondering how she could’ve ever spoken to Max like that.

“This still doesn’t answer the question of why you don’t want us going on the trip.” Max stated, trying hard to change the subject. “I don’t understand what I did to you; I did love you at one time until you made me believe that you murdered Alex. What did I do to deserve your hatred; if anything I should be hating you?”

“You believed me.” Tess inquired.

“What?”

“When I told you I was a killer; you believed it. You believed it instantaneously... it didn’t even take five minutes.” Tess looked up at the ceiling, “But when Liz supposedly slept with Kyle, you refused it to be true. She gave you a horrible speech and proof but still, somewhere inside, you refused it. You couldn’t think it was or would ever be true; and for two weeks you thought this. Two weeks! And even when you finally let yourself believe it was true... you still loved her. For me, I pretend to kill and gave you no proof, yet, you are able to accept it in less than the flicker of an eye. You hated me instantly and always needed a reason to get rid of me, so you accepted it. You, just like Michael, needed me to be a killer. That’s what you did, Max. You let me go; can you really blame me for letting you go, also? Can you really blame me for hating, abhorring, and even detesting you? Truth be told... I only need Michael’s help. I don’t need you, ever!” Tess scathed; every word brimming with hatred.

“You may not need me, but Antar does.” Max inquired sternly.

“Antar needed you when you didn’t want them, now they don’t need or want you because they’ve found someone ten times better, so give up.” Tess knew she should have eased up on the blame she kept continuously putting on Max, but she couldn’t stop doing it. He crossed the line when he proclaimed Alex as “unqualified.”
It now seemed as if the whole room was staring at her, in awe of how much insight she spilled in five minutes. Amazed at how she really felt; this whole time they always thought of themselves as the victims, never had they imagined that Tess was traumatized as much by the experience as they were.

“Antar has created technology for humans to sustain life on the planet, right?” Max questioned, a suspicious intention buried deep in his chocolaty brown eyes.

“Yes.” Tess answered, clearly not knowing what trouble she was getting herself into.

“Well then, I will go up there and take back my identity as King... making Liz my Queen.” And in that moment, Tess understood why Larek never wanted them to find out that Alex was King. “And Tess, you’re going to lead us there!”
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Alex sat on one of the cushioned chairs at the Demarus Diamond Restaurant with a million emotions running through mind. How he could feel emotions in a dream, he would never know. He sat facing a pair of faces he thought he would never witness again, in his entire life. They had finally calmed Isabel from her emotional, unforgettable tirade a few moments ago. She seemed calmer and under control now, but Alex still thought she could have another outburst at any given moment. Michael, on the other hand, sat glaring at Alex.

“How twisted do you have to be to make every one you care about, believe you’re dead?” Michael questioned, after a few moments of silence.

“As I said before, I did it because none of you cared for the millions of Antarians that were dying in war waiting for The Royal Four to show up; the same royal four who were never going to show up. I did it to spare your names while all of you chose love. Tess and I have been fighting a war while you were going on road trips, we were protecting innocent people from Khivar while you were going to college, and we were governing five different planets and restoring peace while all of you were getting your first jobs, but it’s all over now. If Tess actually came to you, we have no hope left.” Michael nodded as the reality of it all hit him. It was as if they were tackling the kiddie rides while Tess and Alex were tackling Disney World; big difference.

“So, where are you right now?” Isabel probed, finally able to speak up.

“Are we playing twenty questions here? I think that one of you should ask a question then I ask one and so on... so it’s fair.” Alex smiled when he received unanimous nods from the duo. “How is Tess doing?”

“What do you mean?” Isabel questioned; Alex simply snickered.

“You can’t answer a questioned with a question.” Alex smirked, slowly getting anxious about finally finding out what Tess had been doing for the past two years instead of marrying him. He needed to figure out her master plan. “But to answer your question, I haven’t seen her in over two years. She just kind of took off.” Alex reminisced, blatantly leaving out the fact that she “took off” the day before the most important day of his life. “She’s never contacted me since.”

“Yeah, that might have something to do with her powers being taken away.” Michael sarcastically inquired.

“H-her powers have been taken away? By who?” Alex said worriedly, eyebrows scrunched as if he had no idea.

“That’s what she says, we thought you could tell us if it’s true or not.” Isabel answered, finally speaking again.

“If Tess said it, it has to be true.” When Alex finished speaking, the two participants on the other side burst out in hysterics, causing Alex to grin. “Okay, unless it’s a dire situation... then she’ll lie.”

“Yeah, okay. So when she ‘took off’, did she tell you or was she just in a dire need to get away from you?” Isabel teased. Alex sighed, it seemed as if the tension from Izzy had finally been lifted. He then smiled.

“I guess she was in a dire need to get away from me. It must be that bad to see me every day when you wake up.” Alex joked.

“You both are married?” Michael quizzed, this time intrigued. Upon hearing this question, Alex’s eyes went from sparkling to soft.

“I, uh, honestly don’t know what we are anymore. Getting back to the important stuff, why did Tess send you here?”

“Tess sent us here for proof, but we have questions to ask you.” Isabel answered. Alex’s eyes all of sudden grew enormous, causing Isabel and Michael to grow puzzled looks.

“Khivar’s coming, you have to go! I’ll be find but don’t come into my head for a while. Remember, do anything Tess tells you.” The two recipients nodded as they watched objects rapidly disappear from the dream sequence. They started to feel a force pushing them away as Alex gently whispered with gleaming eyes,

“Don’t tell Tess that Khivar’s got me.”
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A/N: Wow, I’m so sorry for the delay... I have too many things on my mind for my own good. Review to tell me if I should really continue. Be honest!!! Thanks for all the support! Luv you guys!!!