Author: Rie482
Rating: I dunno. Teen?
Summary: A one part sequel to Suffocating? Find out what happened next. Why did Tess change that night at Prom? Did Max and Liz ever make it? It's in Liz's POV.
It is a one part sequel to Suffocating? Found here:
viewtopic.php?t=14046
Yes... I know I only finished Suffocating? on thursday... but I so wanted to write this and post it asap. I also haven't made it an epilogue because it's not short like the other parts to suffocating? and I felt that it was a separate story in it's own right.
So here it is. I'd like feedback
Enjoy.
Today is a day of change.
Today is a new day.
My name is Liz and today it’s my 23rd birthday.
A point in time I didn’t think I’d ever reach.
I thought that the depression and loneliness that I felt that night at prom would slowly suffocate me. I didn’t feel like I had much life left in me. Then it happened. Things started to unravel and fall apart at the seams.
Every last word.
Every last action.
Every last lie
It all unfolded, exposing everything for Max to see. Even though it brought us together again, I didn’t really think much about my future when everything unfolded at prom. Even after all we had said to one another I still wasn’t stable. I was so unsure, so tentative and worried that things would go drastically wrong; I worried that I’d still cause the invasion.
But now, now I never think that way. I’m secure in where I am, about who I am. I don’t worry about the end of the world, I don’t worry of invasion.
That’s because I knew from the moment we told the guys about Future Max and the end of the world, I knew it would be okay.
I can remember Max’s hand strong and calm in my own as we neared the group, who were clustered around the table at the Crash. I remember sitting there waiting for Tess to bore her eyes straight into my head as she evilled me out and whispered the words ‘I told you so’. I had expected shouts of protest from Michael and Isabel at the mere thought of us being together because it would mean the end of the world.
That didn’t happen.
Things really had changed that night at prom, I hadn’t been imagining things. Tess had changed. Isabel had changed. Michael had changed.
We all changed.
We all had.
At prom.
But not only was there acceptance that day after prom, there was revelation as well.
“I have something I need to tell you.”
“What?”
“Alex was never in Sweden. There was no trip and there was no Leanna. He had been in Las Cruses the whole time. I’ve been mind warping Alex to decode the destiny book so I could hand you all over to Khivar.”
I can still feel my hand burning from the slap across her cheek. I can still taste the venom in my mouth as I screamed at her that I’d kill her in cold blood, as I struggled in Max’s arms that were holding me back so I didn’t rip her throat out. I can still feel the tears that had spilt over my lashes as I realised I could have lost my best friend because of Tess.
“I’ve changed!” She had screamed in defence as I stood over her, Max’s arms firmly around me. “You both saw that last night.” I remember the shock I felt as she looked in the direction of Kyle and whispered. “I’ve found home.”
That was the moment I finally realised the change in Tess that night at prom. She had found home – in Kyle. She had found home, family and acceptance. So she had been honest with us, she had to be or she’d have lost everything that had any meaning to her.
She would have lost the family she had come to love, the family she didn’t have whilst growing up. After a while I came to realise something that we had all over looked. She had been twisted and turned by Naseado, manipulated and used by a bitter old shapeshifter whose only goal was to get home at any cost. He didn’t care about Tess; about any of the royal four, so he didn’t give her the family she deserved. She didn’t know what a real family was like and was forced into believing that she had to turn in the ‘traitors’ of the Antarian throne, in exchange for her life. She was manipulated and lied to.
I’m not condoning what she did to us all; to Alex, my best friend. What she did was unforgivable and life threatening; Max had found horrendous damage in Alex’s head. But after a while we came to trust Tess again and bit by bit we managed to piece a family back together and over come obstacles whilst doing so.
Because of Tess needing to clear her conscious, we prevented the end of the world. Yes. You heard me right. We managed to stop it, before Khivar’s troops even started to move. That night after prom we had given Tess an ultimatum, tell us what you know and live, or don’t and die. At that point Max wasn’t happy. He was furious that some one he trusted had been fooling him again.
The first straw was me and my Future Max.
The final one was Tess.
She was going to kill him. Kill him and his family, the people who he cared about most in the world. She had been using him for her own gain and he had been furious. If he hadn’t of needed to hold me back at the Crashdown I think he would have killed Tess himself. But I managed to make him see sense and he only gave her the ultimatum.
One she quickly agreed to.
“I’m still in contact with the dupes.”
“Who else?”
“Nicholas. He’s in New York again in a week. I’m supposed to meet him there.”
So we had come up with a plan, but we knew we couldn’t do it on our own. We needed as much help as possible so we contacted Larek and asked him for it.
Which he gave gladly, pointing us in the direction of a devise that would eliminate Nicholas’ powers completely so we could have the upper hand on him. So we planned to storm in with guns and kill each and every single one of the people in the room. Then the plan was we would take the communication devise so we could monitor what Khivar was going to do. It seemed easy enough and it later became obvious we really didn’t think about what it meant.
It meant murder.
I remember the attack so well.
It was quick and easy.
It was horrifying.
The look of pure horror on Nicholas’ face as we shot him in the arm, completely penetrating his husk, will be one that I shall remember forever. I could see his face contort with pain as the thing inside the husk started to die and the howl he made was one that still wakes me up screaming in the middle of the night.
I didn’t like the fact we had to kill him.
We had to.
For our survival, to stop the end of the world. It was the first attack that would ultimately prevent the invasion.
But it still haunts me.
After the success of the first attack we had many many many exhausting meetings with the governors of the other four planets planning for hours on end to stop Khivar in his tracks. Unfortunately that meant they had to go back to Antar, they couldn’t possibly have stopped Khivar and taken Antar back without it. It was going to rip us all apart, but it had to be done.
We all knew it.
We just didn’t see it until it was too late.
I remember Max’s words that night to me after we made passionate and tender love, for the first time, under the stars.
“I have to go back.”
“You promised me you wouldn’t leave me again. You promised that you weren’t going anywhere.”
“I know I did. But I have to do this… or we will end the world. I have to do this for us. I will be coming back to you Liz.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I feel it in every fibre of my being.”
I trusted him. I knew he’d come back to me but it still didn’t stop the ache that took hold of my heart. Max was missing. Over the short time we had been back together after prom we had formed such a deeper connection and it physically hurt at times to not have Max around, lying beside me every night. I’d go out onto my balcony and cry out into the midnight air as I thought about him.
Yet instead of taunting me, like they did at prom, the stars brought me comfort. I knew he was up there somewhere, looking up at the stars above him thinking about me, so I’d sleep out on the balcony every so often and feel like he was there with me.
It calmed me.
It soothed me.
It supposed to be just three weeks. He was only supposed to be gone three weeks and I had been counting down the days, the hours, the minutes and the seconds. I counted them so I could keep some hope in my life. So I wouldn’t have to focus on the pain that was there while he was gone. But those three weeks turned into a month, then turned into three months and then into six. Even though time passed so slowly, I didn’t let go of the small amount of hope I felt. I knew he’d be coming back to me and just before my 19th birthday, he did.
I remember I was stood by the lake in Frasier woods, just looking out onto the water and remembering the times in which we sat by the water and just talked away for hours. I was holding myself as I cried at the fact it was my birthday the next day and yet Max wasn’t back yet.
I hadn’t heard anything.
Larek hadn’t contacted us humans at all.
So we had been left worrying.
Waiting.
I had closed my eyes as I listened to the running of the water beside me, feeling the breeze rush past me. I could just about hear Max’s voice, full of happiness and contentment as he spoke to me. I was remembering the laughter and then I just knew. Something had changed in the air and suddenly my heart felt whole all over again. I remember opening my eyes and there stood on the opposite side of the lake was Max. His now long hair blowing gently in the wind as he stood tall and mighty across from me.
We stayed there frozen in time as we just took in each other. Time and space had separated us for just about a year but through that one moment we knew that our love still existed.
Our love was still intact.
Suddenly he started moving towards the lake and dived in. I too started to move towards the water as he swam quickly towards me. I walked in, ignoring the chill of the water that was soaking through my clothes, until I was waist high.
I stood there waiting.
And he came back to me.
He stopped swimming and started walk through the water. He stopped the second he was just inches away from me. We stayed there, unable to move and reach out just in case it was our figment of our imagination; that the other one wasn’t really stood there.
Until I couldn’t take it any longer and threw myself into his arms crying his name over and over again as I held him tightly.
“I told you I would come back to you.”
So the war was over. Max had killed Khivar after months of war and fighting, something that still plagues his dreams to this day. He can’t sleep any more unless I am by his side holding him tightly as I did that night in the bus. He is haunted, not by Khivar but by a small child. He had killed Khivar in cold blood in front of a child. He didn’t want to do it, but he had to because Khivar had Isabel cornered up against a wall her throat in his hands. He still can’t stop hearing that child’s screams of grief when he hears a child cry.
The war had traumatised him.
The war had traumatised everyone.
Even Tess came back shell shocked.
But everything had gone to plan and we were finally free of the invasion that had been weighing heavily over us since prom. But it had taken longer than it was supposed to and I found out Larek didn’t contact us because he couldn’t. The moment Khivar had found out about the royal four returning to Antar, he had Larek killed.
That’s why we had been left waiting and wondering.
But it was finally over and we had learnt what it was like to live again.
We’ve all settled down, got ourselves an education and jobs. We built ourselves our own little houses and rebuilt our family. Isabel is still with Alex and Michael with Maria. Tess still has her home with Jim and Kyle.
And I. I have the most wonderful man in the world sat next to me right at this moment. He keeps looking at me as I sit here, blushing away at the way he’s staring at me and leaning over whispering, “I love you.” It’s amazing that after all this time, after everything that has happened between us, Max still loves me.
We both smile brightly at each other as we hear the familiar beat of our song. The song that had ripped me apart at the seams but the song that had helped to bring us together again.
I shall believe.
Come to me now
And lay your hands over me
Even if it's a lie
Say it will be alright
And I shall believe
He takes my hand and we stand up from the table and move towards the dance floor, our eyes locked together in the same way they were that night at prom. We hold each other tightly as we sway to the music and I feel so complete that I start to cry.
I'm broken in two
And I know you're on to me
That I only come home
When I'm so all alone
But I do believe
Max’s face shows concern and before he moves his thumb to the tears I place a finger to his lips.
“These are happy tears Max.” I whisper to him, smiling as we dance. Everyone’s eyes are on us, yet we don’t notice it. We never do. We are always so involved, so committed to the moment that we just get lost and ignore the world outside our bubble.
That not everything is gonna be the way
You think it ought to be
It seems like every time I try to make it right
It all comes down on me
Please say honestly you won't give up on me
And I shall believe
And I shall believe
“It’s just so overwhelming as I’m finally realising that we have made it. We haven’t caused an invasion. I haven’t caused the end of the world because I love you and you love me.” I move into his body and rest my head against his shoulder. “I feel so complete. I feel so at peace now.”
“Me to.” He whispers in my ear. “I never thought it would feel like this. At prom I thought that it couldn’t get any better than it was. Granted, it had to get worse before it got better; but it did. I felt that we were supposed to be together. I knew I was supposed to be with you and we have proved it. Now here we are. You make me complete, there is nowhere I’d rather be.”
Open the door
And show me your face tonight
I know it's true
No one heals me like you
And you hold the key
“You look beautiful tonight,” Max whispers for the hundredth time today and I can’t help but smile.
“I always feel beautiful around you.” I say with a bright smile on my lips.
“That’s because you are always beautiful.”
Never again
would I turn away from you
I'm so heavy tonight
But your love is alright
And I do believe
“Even when I crawl out of bed, my make up all over my face, because I couldn’t be bothered to take it off the night before, and with my hair all over the place?”
“Especially then.”
“Freak.” I laugh at him. How can he love that look and handle the grumpiness that is me first thing in the morning?
“No… Liz – I’m an alien… get it right.”
I slap him on the arm and before I can slap him again he spins me out across the floor.
That not everything is gonna be the way
You think it ought to be
It seems like every time I try to make it right
It all comes down on me
Please say honestly
You won't give up on me
And I shall believe
I feel so happy at this moment that I just smile as I spin and spin and spin around. I just let my body carry me where it wishes to go; I’m not worrying because I know Max will be there when I stop spinning out of control. I know he will always be there.
Until death do us part.
That not everything is gonna be the way
You think it ought to be
It seems like every time I try to make it right
It all comes down on me
Please say honestly
You won't give up on me
And I shall believe
We dance the night away with our song resounding in our ears. The song that has ripped me apart, the song that brought us together and the song that will forever make me smile. Our wedding song.
I shall believe
And I shall believe
Today is a day of change.
Today is a new day.
My name is Liz and today it’s my 23rd birthday.
A point in time I didn’t think I’d ever reach.
My wedding day