The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 26 - pg. 19 - 12 / 9 / 20

This is the place to post all your General Roswell fanfiction. Any Canon fics, which pick up directly from any episode of the show and that focus on Max/Liz, Michael/Maria, Isabel/Alex or Isabel/Jesse, Kyle/Tess, or all the couples together! Rule of Thumb: If Max healed Liz in the Crashdown in September 1999, then your fic belongs here. If it picks up from the show in any way, it belongs here.

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Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 18 - pg. 16 - 6 / 30 / 20

Post by xmag »

Misha, so good to see you back. I have already read and commented that part on Fanfiction.net, since I had subscribed to this story years ago. But I forgot to post about the scene between Max, Michael and Isabel in my review. It's good that they are confronting their past. Past is meant to be learned, so that we learn from it. Erasing it is dangerous because you know the saying: "Those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it".

By remembering their antarian past, talking about it, joking about it, confronting the bad moments and loving the good ones, Max, Michael and Isabel are more adult and knowledgeable persons. It's an advantage to know the past and not be victims of people who would want to use it to manipulate them.
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Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 18 - pg. 16 - 6 / 30 / 20

Post by Misha »

Yay! You're back, xmag!

Indeed, the Pod Squad's fears about their past lives couldn't be healthy. On the other hand, what kind of lives did they have in Antar? Being royalty and dealing with government sounds both awesome and boring :lol: And you're also right about Dave not being McKay, but since you're likely to follow the footsteps of your upbringing, I can see why Dave would panic for any perceived similarities.

Thank you so much for both reviews!!

And now, let's take a look at what's happening in the present 8)


Part 19 : Plan B
November 2nd, 2011 - New York


1 : Jet


As Jade would say, being a shapeshifter was a fine art. Every little detail mattered when it came to impersonating any target because the tiniest slip could mean death. Unfortunately, today was not the day to be a perfectionist. As Jet changed bodies for the fifth time in less than twenty minutes, he hoped the Unit had so much to deal with that they would overlook any odd behavior.

“Robinson! Where are the reports?” someone asked as Jet diligently walked towards the control room. Those cameras needed to be off before Kal could start his part of the plan.

“I sent them to Gomez for one final review,” Jet smoothly lied. Gomez had been his identity three agents ago.

“But he’s going to take forever!” the man said in despair, walking away. As he did, Jet took his form and continued to his destination.

Three floors below, Van had already been told to create a medical diversion, but that could take time. They also needed to minimize how many people would notice something was amiss, and that meant keeping dead bodies to a minimum. As much as Jet would gladly execute every single agent here, he needed them walking around and creating confusion. He just needed to avoid being seen twice.

“Green! What are you doing here? Where are the reports?” yet another agent stopped him.

“I asked Robinson the same thing. Can you believe he sent them to Gomez for some review?”

“What the hell? Why?”

“That’s what I said! I sent him to Gomez, but if you want those reports fast, you better go get them yourself.”

Out the agent went, and Jet shifted once again. He fleetingly wondered what was so important about those reports and if he should hunt those down. Every piece of information was important, especially if it helped him keep his cover.

Other agents crossed his path, but they weren’t Unit agents. He’d gathered this was a federal building of some kind, and he wondered if any of them knew aliens were walking among them. He bet none of them were happy with having the Special Unit taking over their quarters today, though. McKay was not a man who cared to make friends.

Everything about that man made Jet feel uneasy. Dave had managed to keep the Unit away from Zan and the others, but no one—not Dave, not Kal, and certainly not the Rebellion—had ever thought he would become a threat to Van. Now the rebel leader waited for their escape plan, and if they weren’t successful, chances were McKay would cut him into tiny pieces before the week was over.

Over my dead body, Jet darkly thought. He’d kill McKay before he could put his filthy alien hands on Van or Zan or any of his kin.

“I want those aliens!” someone roared behind the door Jet was walking by. It opened right that moment, and none other than the head of the Special Unit himself placed his heavy hand on Jet’s shoulder. “Where are the reports? Where is Max Evans right now?”

Suddenly, Jet knew precisely what to do with those reports. “We’ve got him, sir. Max Evans has just been captured not two minutes ago right in the same spot where the blinded prisoner was caught.”

McKay’s eyes shone like the Fourth of July. “Why are you telling me now?!”

“I was just in my way to report, sir. Gomez has the details, but…” Jet said, getting closer, “I think the field agents need your personal supervision?”

“Of course they do,” McKay said, his ego as big as the threat he represented. He turned into the room, yelled at everyone to get the hell out of there, and five minutes later, Jet was standing alone in the hall, watching the man go out on a wild-goose chase.

He allowed himself a moment of triumph before turning around to the control room. Those cameras were not going to malfunction on their own.


2 : Kal

The last time Kal Langley had planned and executed a royal escape, he’d been boarding a spaceship to Earth with four corpses and with nothing but unproven cloning technology as his last hope. Not exactly a stellar record, true, but that plan had given him sixty years of freedom, ensured a rebellion, and delivered one last chance to take Khivar down for good.

In a way, that plan was still in motion. He only needed to get Van out of here, reunite him with Max, witness how the half-brother somehow survived the crushing realization Zan was long dead, and then call it a day.

As Kal silently moved through the walls in search of Jake, a thousand thoughts swirled in his mind. When Max had commanded him to shapeshift ten years ago, Kal had lost decades of allowing his body to settle in one form and function somewhat normally. Once Van had entered the picture, Kal had lost any illusions that he was free to choose his life. What was it about royal brats that kept imposing on him and his plan of living free?

Oh yeah, I’m their goddamn Guard.

One didn’t retire from being an Invisible Guard. One died being one, which was the highest honor a shapeshifter could ever aspire to achieve in life. Six decades of civilian life, however, made the whole concept seem rather empty. Kal had given up on Antar the moment he’d realized the pods were not hatching, and the clones inside would be too alien to be thought of as Antarians. By the time Max had emerged, Kal had already surrendered any thoughts about taking the throne back and liberating his home planet.

He'd become human much in the way Zan had become Max.

Still, neglecting his guard duties was no longer an option. If not for Max, then certainly for the memory of Zan and everything Kal had sacrificed both back on Antar and here on Earth. Zan deserved better—and so did Antar.

But then again, just to picture Khivar’s infuriating smirk turning into complete horror as his reign comes to an end is more than a worthy cause. He’d forgotten how much he hated the man responsible for all of this. Zan might have wanted to do too much too soon, and Vilandra might have been a frivolous airhead, but Khivar had played them both. Khivar had brought Antar to its knees.

Oh yeah, to wipe that smirk away…

Which brought him to the here and now, with a blind Van and a lair full of enemies. He knew little about Van, but he’d liked what he’d seen. He respected his fellow shifters who were stationed here, knowing full well that any single one of them could be ordered to kill him for abandoning his post. Still, they were here for his ward, for Zan, and if all else failed, then Van would be king.

Van would defeat Khivar.

That was all that mattered, really. If at the end of all things Kal could go back to his house in LA and order people around in Hollywood, then he’d be pleasantly surprised, but he wasn’t holding his breath on that. He wasn’t counting on going back to his human life any time soon, if at all.

He absently took McKay’s form and swiftly entered the clinic where Jake was taking notes beside a microscope. Technically, Kal didn’t need to rescue Jake, but having the doctor would lend credence to their escape plan.

“Sir?” the agent guarding Jake asked, alarmed.

“It seems there are a few missing pieces our guest here is hiding from us,” Kal said, looking at Jake. Before he could elaborate, another alarm went off. “Find out why they haven’t fixed the goddamn alarms,” he said, tersely.

“Yes, sir!” The agent took off without a second glance. Standing in front of him, Jake narrowed his eyes.

“You’re not him,” the doctor whispered.

“No. Now, this is what we’re going to do to get you both out of here,” Kal said.


3 : Jake

The man who’d haunted Jake’s nightmares had a particular way of looking at him that the shapeshifter sitting in front lacked. It was the only giveaway, really, because everything else—the way he paused, the way he breathed, the way he leaned on the table—was exactly the same.

“What is Van’s blood telling you,” the alien asked in McKay’s voice, sending an icy whip down his spine.

“He’s not metabolizing the sedative particularly well, but it’s hard to tell,” Jake said, staring.

“He’s not getting his sight back anytime soon, then.”

“I don’t know, but I don’t think so,” Jake answered, still staring. “Who are you?” he finally asked.

“Zan’s Guard, apparently,” NotMcKay said in a rather cynical way. “There are two of us here, Jet is playing with the cameras, Van should be about to find his way back to this room. And then the fireworks will start.”

Outside, the alarms were cut off.

“That’s you.”

“That’s me. The building has already been cleared once when Dave escaped. People are ignoring the alarms this time around, thinking they’re just malfunctioning from the first time. We won’t get the cover of a crowd, so we need everyone to stay as far away from us as possible. Give them a reason to not stop us despite the fact we’re moving a blind man. I’d rather not waste time executing agents, but unless you have any other ideas, it might get violent.”

Jake thought for a moment. “Maybe I do. Can you make it look as if you’re suddenly injured, maybe even bleeding?”

McKay’s slow grin was as unsettling as it was reassuring. “I can make it look like anything you need. And I do mean anything.”

“In that case, we’re about to encounter a deadly alien power.”


4 : Van

Faking a medical problem was one of the oldest tricks in the world, so guards were always distrustful of anything that suspiciously looked like an escape plan. Van had known this since he’d been a little kid. In fact, he’d been taught the necessary skills of how to act injured, and then he’d been encouraged to imagine all kinds of ailments. Playing dead had been as much part of his childhood as dreaming of a better future had been part of his teenhood. And he was extremely good at both.

The irony here was that he was already injured: he was blind. His guards wouldn’t expect him to fake a secondary injury—especially if no amount of good acting was going to aid him in escaping. He was a prisoner of his own body, and everybody knew that.

So, let’s go with the eyes, Van thought. The most convincing prop was blood. One didn’t need much for people to react at the sight of it, and at the very least, guards would have to come close enough to examine him. Most importantly, it was something he could fake fast.

When the latest alarm went off, it was his cue to start his part of the plan: getting back to the infirmary. Antarian teeth were far sharper than human teeth, something he wasn’t aware of when he sliced open his ring finger, and liberally applied the royal blood of Antar around his eyes.

“Help…” he said in agony as he slowly stood up and tentatively stepped forward, having no sense where the door was. “Please, it burns,” he said louder, imagining what it would feel like if his eyes were suddenly bleeding right now.

It was the kind of thing that would rapidly build up into a full-blown panic attack, and that was exactly how he was playing it.

“Somebody, please! I can’t see, but this doesn’t feel right!”

He found a wall and placing his hands on it, he went searching for the door. His breathing increased, his hands searching with urgency a way of getting help. “It burns!” he yelled, and when his hands connected with the cold metal of the entrance, he banged on it as if his life depended on it.

Which it did.

“Shut up!” somebody said from the outside.

“It’s getting worse!” Van yelled.

“You have no idea how much worse it’s going to get,” the Guard said with the promise of dark things to come.

“I think I’m bleeding,” Van pleaded, fear leaking in his voice. “Please, just tell me is nothing, and I’ll shut up.”

Something metal slid open—a window of some sort, he guessed.

“If you think you can—oh my God, what did you do?!”

Yes!

“It just burns, I have no idea what’s going on,” Van said.

“Get on the ground, now!”

Van did. Soon, the door opened, feet came, curses were exclaimed, and finally, he was half-dragged out of his cell and on his way to the infirmary.

It was always nice when things worked out in his favor.


5 : Jake

As ironies went, Jake had to appreciate this one: he’d spent years working with Ray to develop strategies to help Max, Michael, and Isabel to use their powers to escape, and here he was, the unlikely planner of an unlikely team.

He had no idea what full-blooded Antarians could do, but curiously enough, that wasn’t going to be a problem.

The door slammed open as a panicked agent brought Van into the room, blood smeared all around his eyes. Both Jake and NotMcKay stood immediately, and for one strange moment, Jake really thought Van was getting worse.

“He says it burns,” the agent said.

“Don’t stand there, doctor. Do something!” NotMcKay sneered, promptly moving out of the way so Van’s guard could sit him down on the chair.

Jake took a penlight from one of the drawers and flashed it in Van’s eyes. No reaction, but most importantly, that blood was not coming from the rebel’s face.

“This—this isn’t good,” Jake said, fearful eyes turning to NotMcKay and then the agent. “I saw this with Max once. He had some allergic reaction, probably like Van’s having with the sedative. Fifty-two people died.”

“What do you mean died?” the agent asked, horrified.

“He started sending random psychic waves that interfered with our brains. People started blee—bleeding through their…eyes,” Jake stuttered, as NotMcKay started doing just that. The agent immediately moved as far away as he could, drawing his weapon.

“We need to kill him,” the agent said as Jake put himself between them.

“We’re not killing anyone,” NotMcKay said, wiping the blood off his face dismissively. “Knock him out,” he ordered Jake, who promptly moved to the drawer to fetch a syringe. “Get me an unmarked car, I’m personally moving him out of here—with you, doctor. You better pray this alien doesn’t die.”

As soon as Jake injected the saline solution, Van slid forward as he feigned falling asleep, all for the agent’s benefit.

“What are you waiting for?!” NotMcKay yelled in order to get the agent out of there. The man opened the door, just to be met by another agent, who was also bleeding through his eyes.

“My God!” the agent said, “You’re bleeding!”

“I’m what?” the second shapeshifter said, confused.

“Your eyes! We need to get that creature out of here before this affects the entire building!”

“I’m—I’m bleeding?” he said, wiping out the thick drops of blood. “I’m just here to give the reports…”

“Sir, are you sure we shouldn’t execute him right here, right now?”

“Get me. That. Car.”

The agent fled the infirmary, leaving all four co-conspirators alone for a brief moment.

“This might actually work,” Jake said, earning a fleeting smile from the newcomer.

“Get him in the wheelchair and wait here,” NotMcKay said.

“Where are you going?”

“People are bleeding through their yes, doctor. We need to be those people.” Both shapeshifters walked away, and Jake wondered how many agents they were going to fool.

“They’re not really burning, are they?” he asked Van, who was still pretending to be asleep on the chair.

“No, but I haven’t improved either.”

“Good thing we have a wheelchair, then,” Jake said as he got up to get the lonely chair by the corner. Once Van was seated and pretending again to be sedated, Jake nervously waited behind him.

Outside, the alarm went off again, but Jake had the curious sensation that this one was real—and yet no one was going to pay attention to it.

This might actually work, indeed.
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Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 19 - pg. 17 - 7 / 5 / 20

Post by xmag »

Pfff, what a charged chapter! That plan to escape was good, very good and I was tense reading it, hoping that everything would go according to plan. It looks like it did but I'm not singing victory too soon.

So Kal thinks that Zan is dead for good? He's going to be in a rude awakening then, since Max, Michael and Isabel are remembering and feeling like they were those past aliens. Of course, Kal's informations are outdated so I wonder what his take on on the situation will be, once he learns that?

Also, he thinks that Van will be king. I'm leaning more and more towards this ending. Although it's a bit tragic that Max, Michael and Isabel spent almost a decade to be prepared for anything, including going back and be leaders, all for nothing. Well, not nothing since they learned enough as if they were in college so they'll be able to live a normal life on Earth.

Still, I believe that being half-alien, they could give Van advices and also they could be like... diplomats? Represent Earth when there are summits with the other planets? Because I doubt that Antar will remain a secret aftter all that, right?
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Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 19 - pg. 17 - 7 / 5 / 20

Post by keepsmiling7 »

Finally an update. Thank you!
So another royal escape by Kal......
Van defeat Khivar???
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Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 19 - pg. 17 - 7 / 5 / 20

Post by Misha »

keepsmiling7, yes! I'm posting! Keep in mind this is the second chapter I posted, the first one is at the end of page 16 :mrgreen:
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Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 19 - pg. 17 - 7 / 5 / 20

Post by Stefuh »

I'm only on the third chapter of the first book, but I have to say, no wonder you're published, your writing is really amazing!
I'll try to catch up soon! :D
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Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 19 - pg. 17 - 7 / 5 / 20

Post by Misha »

Hey again!

If you've just joined us, keep in mind I started posting new chapters from part 18: Home, at the end of page 16 :mrgreen:

xmag, you're definitely right that Kal is in for a surprise, along with Dave. Given how much Max, Michael and Isabel don't want to go back, I think they would be okay with just staying :wink:

Stefuh, awwwwnnn thank you! I certainly hope you enjoy the story. The beginning is kind of odd :mrgreen:





Part 20: Forward
May 2009 – The Compound

1 : Jake


"I haven't had any flash in more than six months now," Max quietly said while they walked through the compound’s grounds. Max had seldom come to this place in the last year, and Jake had rarely left the compound. Liz was wrapping up the finish touches to her research, so here they were, talking.

It was always a small miracle for Jake to find himself openly talking with Max. Granted, he was the only one of the three half-aliens who confided in him, but one was all Jake thought he could handle, anyway.

"And you are relieved," Jake said after a moment went by. These flashes had been a love-hate affair for Max. They had become an unwanted reminder of his past, he'd told Jake about a year ago, but sometimes he'd gotten a flash that got Max thinking in unexpected ways. Keep him following Jake's initial advice that there was much to learn from Zan's life.

"I'm not sure how to feel about it, actually. I mean, I’m relieved that I won't have to keep hiding them from Liz," Max said, his eyes wandering to the lake. This was the part Max hated the most: the lying. The other main issue he had with these flashes was that he didn't have control over them. And for Max, not being in control was a death sentence.

"That's understandable. You'll still have to tell her about this sometime soon, or it'll eat you alive. Liz probably already knows something is going on. She knows you almost as well as you know yourself." Jake pointed out, making Max smiled.

"I know. I'm not sure how or when, but I know it'll be soon. I just want to make sure it's over for real."

"And if it's not? What other things are you hoping for? What other dangers could there be?"

"I thought—I thought that at some point, they would take over my life. That I would have a crystal-clear sense that I was Zan, not Max. That Max was a fantasy...a made-believe life that I had for a while. You know, like a vacation from being Zan."

"You've told me you feared that your life, Max's life as you put it, would be meaningless. Do you think if you regained Zan's sense of life, this life would seem meaningless to him?"

Max thought about it, the sounds of spring the background music for their talk. Finally, he shook his head twice. "He would be as conflicted as I am now, I think. But lately—I mean, if it hasn't happened, with all I already know, I don't think it will at all. Or it wouldn't really be like I thought in the beginning. As I see it now—" Max paused, turning in the direction of the compound, probably sensing something from Liz.

It never ceased to intrigue Jake, really, the way their bonds worked. All three of them had them with their significant others, and Liz, Maria, and Jesse seemed to think it was a sign of true love. Romance aside, Jake’s mind was far more curious on how these bonds occurred biologically speaking, and what evolutionary purposes they could have. Or were they just a side effect of their powers, of their need to feel connected, normal?

"As I see it now," Max continued, "is as if Zan was a character in this incredibly descriptive book. I know him. I can tell you what exactly he thought about everything. But I'm not him. I don't care for the same things he does—did," he hastily corrected, sighing in frustration a moment later. "Did." He repeated, almost to ascertain that to himself more than to Jake. "He feels like a person that has so many things in common with me, but when I look in the mirror, I always see me. And that me doesn't really include Zan."

Jake nodded, their leisurely path going round and round. "So, you're ready to move on," Jake said with a small smile. Max had lived with this fear for years now, and that couldn't be healthy.

Max turned to look at Jake, thoughtful. "I'm not sure if that's what this is. I think I'm ready to accept that it used to be me, but that I'll never be that person again. That I feel no responsibility towards his life."

“Well, if my advice is of any use,” Jake said with a hand on his shoulder, “I think that’s the best thing you can do.”


2 : Liz
September 2009 – Boston


For a long moment, Liz Parker stared at Harvard’s iron entrance and imagined the perfect life her younger self had envisioned: a full scholarship, four years of hard study with like-minded people, and graduating on a sunny morning. Most certainly, hanging her Master’s of Science diploma at her office as the head of the molecular biology department.

Maybe some guy named Bratt would have stolen her heart along the way. Maybe children? She could sure get used to living in a city like Boston.

“The road not taken, huh?” Maria said as she came back with two cups of coffee.

“It’s odd, you know?” Liz said as they both contemplated the university of her dreams for one last minute. “I know for a fact I eloped and married in Vegas in another timeline. And even if I think my life would be better without Max in it, it would only mean that I’d have bled to death on the floor when I was sixteen. It’s like I was never meant to be here.”

“You do realize that the people coming here are going to be studying your research for decades, right?”

Liz blushed. “Well, yeah, most likely…” she said, trying not to smile too broadly at the thought.

“Are you sure you’re okay with all your work not having your name on it?” Maria asked as they started to walk toward their hotel. Boston was a beautiful city, and they hadn’t seen each other for months.

“It’s the price I pay, I guess,” Liz said, shrugging. “Elizabeth Parker cannot give interviews or lectures or have her work peer-reviewed.”

“But your boss can,” Maria pointed out.

“Alan doesn’t like it, either. He always credits his team, and even offered to clarify the whole thing once my deal with Dave is over.”

“Right.”

“Exactly. Plus, once we disappear, I won’t be near a lab with the kind of technology Dave has. I have to hurry with as much as I can discover before this window closes. So, I’m never going to publish under my own name, but the research on Max’s cells is solid. This has the potential to help millions of people, Maria. That’s what matters. Elizabeth Parker, M.S. is part of that life that isn’t mine,” she said, shrugging again. She’d made her peace with that a long time ago.

“I sometimes wonder where I’d be if I had sold my soul to Dominique and the music industry.”

“You would have taken the world by storm.”

“Yeah, for sure!” Maria said, grinning. “I wouldn’t be here, though,” she said in a more subdued tone. “I would have been in New York or LA, or somewhere not Roswell, and would have never known what happened to you and Michael after graduation. It would have haunted me for life.”

“We would have reached out.”

“Yeah, without the details.”

Liz nodded, conceding the point.

“Do you think they think about their past lives?” Maria asked, frowning.

“Yeah. Maybe even more than that,” Liz said, taking a sip.

“Oh, thank God! I’m not crazy, then.”

“What? Why? What does Michael do?”

“What does Max do?” Maria fired back, not wanting to be the first to talk about something that sounded weird, even if they had both married aliens.

“Um…it’s complicated,” Liz said.

“It wouldn’t be Czechoslovakians if it wasn’t complicated.”

“He—he sorts of does these things…like quirks?” she started, raising one eyebrow in search of a better explanation. “Like, um, like he walks straighter when he’s entering a room full of people. Like he owns the place. Which is like the opposite of Max, you know? The hiding-in-plain-sight-I-hate-crowds Max. He never does it when it’s you guys or just us, so it’s hard to spot. I mean, assuming I’m not imagining it at all.”

“He gets quiet,” Maria said. “I mean, when Michael gets into a room full of people, he gets quiet. And we would walk through a buffet and by the time we sit down, he can tell you what half the people in the restaurant are doing, and who’s sitting with whom. I thought it was just Ray’s training, but there’s something just beneath the surface that is…odd.”

“And then he smiles or says something that’s pure Max and I just dismiss it.”

Maria nodded, sipping her coffee as they waited for a red light. “You think that’s who they used to be, back on Antar?”

“I think—I think it’s in their genes, you know? I mean, Antarians’ expected them to remember who they were, so they had to be reasonably confident that they could encode memories in their genes. Even if they don’t consciously recall who they were, those traits are bound to get expressed somehow.”

“So you’re saying Max gets Zan’s confidence and Michael gets Rath’s paranoia the same way you got brown eyes?”

“Something like that, yeah. I don’t think they’re aware of it—or maybe I just don’t want to deal with the whole destiny thing, you know? I want to put Antar back in the past, where it belongs.”

“Don’t ask, don’t tell,” Maria said approvingly. “I don’t know what I would do with a general from another planet. God, the whole thing would be so cliché.”

“Saved by the alien king,” Liz said, smiling. “You know, that’s a road not taken I wouldn’t mind revisiting.”

“Well, Queen Elizabeth Parker has a nicer ring to it than Elizabeth Parker, M.S.”

They both laughed. As long as her life included Max Evans in one form or another, she could deal with a few awkward moments where her husband seemed to be someone else. Things had to be strange from time to time, right? She had married an alien, after all.

An alien king who’d saved her life.


3 : Dave
October 2009 - Japan


"I don't think he's ready," Dave said, looking through the window to the unfamiliar Tokyo skyline. He'd seldom been here in the last few years, and it had certainly grown in unexpected ways.

"He's been six years under your roof, literally," Langley's voice came loud and clear on the phone even though they had an ocean in between.

"And he's learned a lot on matters he would have never even thought of. They all have. But he's not going to sit in a throne and rule an entire world. It just won't happen next week."

Silence. They both had known that going into this thing, there were no guarantees. That Max could very well remain Max for the rest of his life, and that no matter how many tantrums Van would throw, it wouldn't change the fact that their plan A had failed. Memories were a tricky thing, and it had been a surprise to discover that even such an advanced civilization had had so much trouble with "cloning" them. That Van believed as everybody else that memories were preserved intact for an entire life, was even more demoralizing.

"Even if Max were to remember everything right this moment, he has spent an entire lifetime here. It won't be what they want. He won't play Zan just because they want him to."

"He'll have to if he expects to survive," Langley quietly said on the other side of the world. "Khivar wants him dead now more than ever. He's become such a great symbol that even martyrdom seems preferable to the very real fact that Zan can and will take his throne back. Van might accept that his long-lost brother is very much lost, but he's not stupid. He'll use Zan's name to the Rebellion advantage, whether Max wants it or not."

Dave saw the tiny dots of people walking down the street, the cars moving in all directions. Did Antar look like this? With so many people unsuspecting that the fates of their lives were in a handful of alien hands?

"You know that, and I know that. But Max is no warrior. He can be a good leader, despite his constant self-doubt. He's already lost things dear to him as simple, old Max that he won’t stand still looking at how he loses even more. But to deal with an entire planet coming out of civil war seems to ask too much."

"Are you listening to yourself, Dave?" Langley cautiously asked. "It's not your decision to see if Max is fit to rule. But it certainly is part of your deal to make sure his Majesty is going to be ready for the trial. One way or another, Van will meet him, and it's in everyone's best interest that Van approves. Even if Max doesn't cut it as Zan, Van cannot be disappointed."

Dave internally sighed. He'd worked hard on getting the six of them to know the world. To travel. To love this planet. He knew just as Langley had said that one day Van would sit down with Max and would pass judgment on Earth. If Max said the wrong thing—if he didn't want to go to Antar—Van could very well see it as if this planet had killed the only king he wanted. Politics were a very slippery slope when it came to negotiations. And Van was as much motivated by politics as he was to his sense of family and duty.

"You know Van better than I do. If Max doesn't pass, what would he do?"

"I know him better, but not by much," the shifter replied. "The last Unit Agent died last week, at least that's what Luke reported to me. They are leaving Earth for now, leaving only their bodyguards behind."

Dave swallowed that hard. Twenty-three people had died as the fallout of Max's capture back in May of 2000. All had been in the list Ray had given him six years ago. And all of them would have killed Max at first sight. That the twenty-three agents were already replaced was clear on Dave's mind, but at least, if they were smart and stayed out of Max's and Van's way, they would live.

"But if Max is a disappointment,” Langley continued, “Van might do something rash, starting with my head and yours. Beyond that, I don't think he would bother. Earth is too far away for a planet like Antar with such a huge internal conflict to set their eyes on. And if the Earth is not a threat, then this planet is safe."

So, in the end, all this might have been for nothing but a convoluted way to get myself killed... Dave thought, placing a hand on the cold glass.

"Of course, if Max remembers—" Kal started.

"He doesn't," Dave quickly cut that line of thought. He'd been watching them, and none of them ever said anything Antar related. Jake had said nothing about it, and if anyone had known, that would have been Jake.

"But if he would—let's say, half remember, then Van would do everything in his power to bring the rightful king back. And that might be something as easy as kidnapping him, to something as harsh as to wipe out everything Max holds dear here to show Zan what’s really important.”

“Charming,” Dave muttered.

“You don’t know how Antar is, or how Antarians are, Dave,” Langley warned him. “But our worst-case scenario might be the most unlikely as well. That Max actually fully remembers Zan and acts accordingly.”

Dave frowned. “That doesn't make sense. I thought Zan had been a descent ruler until his death. That's why they want him back.”

“He was, stubborn and idealistic, but he was giving it his best. No, the problem here is that Zan died over seventy years ago. Do you think the Zan in Van’s head is the real Zan? You think the Rebellion’s previous leaders didn’t take it upon themselves to make Zan everything everyone wants him to be?”

“But Zan would know how to play this game,” Dave argued back, “He is the king, after all.”

“Zan was a king of peace times. He wouldn’t know what to do with a Rebellion in his hands, people dying in his name, and sending even more people to their deaths. Zan was a pacifist to a T.”

“Well, it doesn’t really matter what you or I think, does it?” Dave said after a minute passed by. “Our part of the deal was to keep Max alive until the Rebellion could safely get him back. Whatever Max does, we’ll have to keep pushing him forward. He might not care about Antar, but he sure cares about Earth.”

“So says you,” Langley pointed out, then sighed. “Max will make the right choice, no matter what you or I have been trying to do. He knows this day will come, or at least is smart enough to know there’s a good chance it might happen. We just bought him a few years of freedom before he has to go back to reality.”

With that, Kal hung up. Max was a good kid, a smart one. He would do whatever he had to do to ensure the safety of his family, even if it meant sacrificing himself or going to another planet. That much Dave knew and had planned for. Max just didn’t have any other choice. Not with Van. Not with a Rebellion fighting in his name.

I’m sorry, he whispered. There had never been a choice, Dave knew, but it didn’t mean he had to like it. It had never meant that Max had to like it, either.
"There's addiction, and there's Roswell!"
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Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 20 - pg. 17 - 7 / 8 / 20

Post by xmag »

“I don’t know what I would do with a general from another planet. God, the whole thing would be so cliché.”

“Saved by the alien king,” Liz said, smiling. “You know, that’s a road not taken I wouldn’t mind revisiting.”

“Well, Queen Elizabeth Parker has a nicer ring to it than Elizabeth Parker, M.S.”
Foreshadowing???

Apart from that, interesting window into Van's mind. He is ruthless, which was obvious from the previous parts. But here, it's more focused on his reactions to Max being Zan or not Zan or half-Zan and it's not really encouraging. I had hoped that after knowing his brother a little, and Earth, too, he would be less... antarian about if, if you get my meaning. But he just seems so dangerous. Of course, he has led a life of battles, wars, tortures, lack of freedom. He fought for his people, his planet and in his brother's name. His loyalty is admirable. I just hope he won't go all crazy and kidnap Max, Michael and Isabel, or find a way to force them to go back.

Van is more equiped to deal with Antar than Max. Although I think he can benefit from the human's part of our trio. Earth is not a paradise, but at least in some of our nations, we have freedom of speech, we have equality, we have freedom to choose what we want to do or be, democracy, those values could be transported into Antarian's society.
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Michael : From day one, I knew you were the girl for me, I never wanted anyone else.
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Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 20 - pg. 17 - 7 / 8 / 20

Post by keepsmiling7 »

I loved the "Queen Elizabeth Parker" myself.......Why not?
Of course the E.Parker, MS is a great achievement from Harvard.
Thanks for the new part.
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Re: The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 20 - pg. 17 - 7 / 8 / 20

Post by Misha »

Hey!

xmag, I won't confirm or deny if that was foreshadowing, but I can tell you Van is a tactical man. At the very least, he'll get Zan's Trademark to use it at home :lol: Also, here's hope you approve the following Michael scene :mrgreen:

keepsmiling7, thanks! I think Liz is cheated out of her public accomplishments, but there's no way around it with this kind of life :cry:

In other news, my short novel The Librarian: A First Contact Story is free on Amazon today, July Friday 17th. Leave an honest review on Amazon if you can! I promise there will be aliens 8)




Part 21: Ancient History
2011 – New York


1 : Michael


“Why didn’t you move on?” Michael pointedly asked as Ray took the wheel of their stolen car with newly shifted plates. Luke sat with Michael in the backseat, right where Michael could see him.

“Move on?” Luke asked, confused.

“Once we died, once Zan was gone.”

“But you’re not dead, General,” Luke answered with raised eyebrows.

“Don’t play dumb with me,” Michael warned, irritated. “Kings fall and rise all the time, in all five planets. What is it about him that you can’t let go?”

“He saw the future before anyone else,” Luke said, above a whisper.

“For all the good it did him,” Michael muttered, frustrated. “No one wanted Zan’s ideas and policies when he was king. I fail to see them wanting them now.”

“You wanted them,” Luke pointed out.

“And I still advised against them.”

“You did?” Ray asked from the front seat, clearly taken aback.

“Of course, I did. The change Zan wanted had to be done slowly, but he had no patience for people to catch up to what he knew was right. Not easy, not popular, just right.”

He could see it so clearly: Max reading his father’s early declarations while making notations on the sides, muttering to himself about the things that needed change. He wished he could’ve stopped Zan, slowed him down, something.

“I don’t know if you can picture this, sir, but it’s been seventy years of going backward. Khivar destroyed everything that could threaten his throne, and most of that came with a high price for our civilization. But you knew Khivar, you knew them both. You were by Zan’s side, and although all we have are a few records, half of our planet still remembers Zan’s actions.”

“And the Rebellion spread the news he was alive, didn’t it?” Michael asked. Rath had been a military man, and this was nothing but tactics and politics. Khivar needed to win an ideological war that had turned into a guerrilla war that he could no longer push back. But that also meant the Rebellion needed support—plenty of it. Resources of all kinds, like money, equipment, and men, were not easy to get. The only way Rath could see for the Rebellion to survive was to have a hero to follow. A dead hero was good, but a live one waiting on the sidelines to reclaim what was his? That was golden.

“Very few believed you would come back, including the Queen Mother. The bodies of the Royal Four had been taken decades ago, and no news ever came from Earth. Then Van was born, the first real chance of getting the Rebellion going. By that point, Khivar had already attempted to take over two planets, and the alliance was in jeopardy. All four planets boycotted trade with Antar, and things started deteriorating fast. And since his greed knows no boundaries, all peace treaties fall through.”

Khivar. In Michael’s memories, Khivar looked like the miserable idiot that had been “abducted” on Isabel’s honeymoon. Still, he knew that was just his mind playing tricks. He remembered despising that man’s smile, that all-knowing, cynical smirk that knew he was getting under Zan’s skin and gaining popularity with the kingdom.

Antar didn’t deserve Zan if they had so cheerfully sided with his exact opposite.

“And then, eleven years ago, a signal,” Luke said, hope shining for a moment at the memory. Michael remembered all too well what that had felt like. How hearing he had a purpose in life, a whole planet to take care of, had given him closure to so many open wounds. And later, it had given him so many questions, right there with months of arguing with Max about how to handle things. They had both been so at odds with each other back then.

“Those microwave signals?” Ray asked from the front. It was odd to talk about life before Dave and the compound and their offer. For eight years, it had always seemed as if Dave, Ray, and Jake knew everything there was to know about them, everything but their memories of Antar.

“Yeah. We were barely kids playing with things we didn’t know,” Michael honestly said.

“Because you didn’t remember back then,” Luke said.

“But you do now,” Ray said, meeting Michael’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “This is about that, isn’t it? The test Luke mentioned earlier, about Max’s memories?”

“How do you know about that?” Michael asked.

“Jake said something about it earlier. Don’t ask me how or when, but Dave thought Max wasn’t going to pass. Jake said he was wrong. I’m beginning to think Jake was right—General.”

“Don’t start,” Michael said, glaring. That Dave had been running with aliens was clear from the moment Luke had confessed the Rebellion was using Dave’s network. Still, Michael would deal with that later, there were more pressing questions that needed answers. “What happened after the signal arrived? What did Khivar do?”

“He tried to play it as a hoax, of course, even if all the other planets confirmed the signal had come from here. By the time the Summit came not even a year later…You have no idea what that meant for us, General. Not just us, the Rebellion, but to everyday citizens. The other leaders all said the Summit had been a waste of time, that Zan was not the Zan we all thought. That Khivar was very much still playing behind the scenes. We had no way of knowing what was true and what was lies. At the risk of his own life, Van arranged to talk with Larek, just to hear three devastating words: he doesn’t remember. And yet, with the same breath, he added, ‘but he has the Seal.’ That was all we needed to know.”

“What Seal?” Ray asked puzzled. They were finally leaving New York behind, even if Michael’s mind was light years away from there, literally.

“The Royal Seal of Antar,” Luke and Michael said at the same time.

“It’s stenciled in his brain or something. It certifies Max is the rightful king,” Michael clarified.

“It also certifies that Zan is alive,” Luke added. “But yes, whoever has the Seal is the rightful king of Antar. Khivar doesn’t have it and has been trying for decades to diminish its meaning. He couldn’t risk anyone remotely connected to Zan having it, so he wiped out every single member of the Royal House of Antar.”

“For real?” Ray said. Luke nodded somberly.

“Nowadays, he’s been trying to produce his own, but decades of destroying the science and the scientists behind it has left him with no answers. Besides, the Rebellion is dead set against him gaining a Seal, so we’ve made it our main target to destroy every advance on that. He would turn us into mindless creatures otherwise, waiting for his every whim. A secret police like no other. Shapeshifters have been steadily abandoning Khivar’s side in the last decade, and we’re all rooting for Zan.”

An army of shapeshifters would be useful, but Michael knew Khivar would have never allowed their numbers to grow that much. Shapeshifters had to be bioengineered, after all.

“And then,” Luke said, “we had a reality-check: the Queen arrived.”


2 : Luke

“The Queen?” Ray asked frowning. “Liz was in Antar?”

“Tess,” Michael said.

“Ava,” Luke corrected.

“Oh right,” Ray said as both men looked uncomfortable. “I’d forgotten about her.”

“What sort of lies did she tell you?” Michael asked, visibly angry. And when Michael got angry, things tended to explode.

Back in Antar, the General had his own security personnel. Not as impressive or as skilled as the Royal family, but certainly guards of the highest quality. Here on Earth, though, the Rebellion just didn’t have any more to spare. The good news was that Rath usually walked with Zan, so the Invisible Guard had a rounded idea of who Michael was. Best of all, Zan and Rath talked about Antar when they were alone, and from those conversations came their most valuable information.

And their hope.

“I don’t think they were lies,” Luke said, thoughtful. “She was quite pragmatic about her situation. She knew she was a symbol, maybe not as well-beloved as her husband had been, but Ava knew she had power. She had every intention of working with Khivar, though, and that didn’t sit well with the Rebellion.”

“You wanted Ava to fight,” Michael said. Behind them, New York City shone with a million lights over the river. They had crossed one of its many bridges, but Luke was anxious to go back. Van was there, somewhere. Zan was, too.

“Yes. To avenge her death, at the very least. She was no Vilandra, so Khivar didn’t consider marrying her. Ava had no Royal standing without Zan. Her son, on the other hand, was a perfect puppet-in-waiting. A gift to unite Antar’s many factions in Zan’s name.”

“Why did Khivar reject that plan?” Michael asked, clearly seeing the same value as Ava once had.

Luke chuckled. “We might have said a thing or two before Ava’s child was born. You see, Khivar is against all genetic manipulation, proclaiming it’s against nature and the natural way of life. That’s how he keeps us enslaved because we’re not natural. And people in general thought that Zan had escaped to Earth but was still Antarian. Cloned, sure, but still one of them. So we let it slipped that Zan was far more alien than Antarian, just as Ava, and their son was not going to be of Royal blood. He was going to be an alien.”

“You created a PR nightmare,” Ray said, approvingly.

“Yes, and so much more. We had to do whatever it took to prevent Khivar from legitimatizing his power. But in the process, we brought Ava’s reputation down, along with the romanticized idea of the Royal Four.”

Luke always looked back at those days with despair. Zan’s heir meant Van would have no direct claim to the throne. Ava, the Queen they had been waiting to return with Zan, was nothing like they expected. Ava had been known for being resourceful, though. Part of him respected her, even if she’d sided with the opposite crowd. She’d played her cards the best way she’d known how in a situation where she was utterly alone. No one to trust, no one to help her.

“And when Khivar rejected the kid for being too human,” Michael said, “she managed to get herself back to Earth.”

“Yes,” Luke sighed. “In reality, we don’t know if once Zan dies his son will get the Seal—”

“He won’t,” Michael said. “The Seal goes to me if Zan dies, so you don’t have to worry about that,” Michael said seriously, and then his eyes glazed over. He turned to look behind as if he could hear something that no one else could. “Maria is coming this way, too.”

“As she should,” Ray said. “Everyone should be coming this way.”

“What about Zan?” Luke asked, anxious. Michael concentrated for a moment. “He’s moving, but I can’t tell if he’s coming this way or not. He’s alert, though. He must be safe.” Another pause. “Isabel is…right ahead,” he said, confused.

“She must have arrived first,” Ray guessed.

“If she did,” Luke cautiously started, “there might be something you should know first, General. We didn’t just bring Ava’s reputation down. We brought Vilandra’s crimes to light as well. As far as the Rebellion is concerned, she’s a wanted war criminal. If she got here first, she might not be all that well.”

“You better pray she’s unharmed,” Michael said with deadly intent. It was easy to see Rath lurking behind those eyes. It was easy to see why the Guards reported that Zan and Rath remembered and that those memories were the answer to end Khivar.

What was not easy, though, was to think Luke had come all this way just to die in the General’s hands. He hoped with all his being that Vilandra was well and alive.


3 : Dave

Daniel wasn’t joking. He honestly expected Max Evans to drop everything and willingly and cheeringly place his hand on his body and heal him. Whatever ailment Danny was dealing with, it had to be something beyond modern medicine. Or maybe he was just looking for a shortcut. That was Danny’s modus operandi, indeed.

“Max doesn’t heal,” Dave said. They were barely getting out of Manhattan, but it already felt as if they had been driving around for hours.

“He does. When he thinks it’s worth it, he does heal,” Daniel stubbornly said. “Look, I got you out of there because I know you can bypass all the Antarians and get me a minute with Wonder Boy there. Otherwise, his Invisible Guard or whatever you call it will have my head in a platter in two minutes. What? You think I didn’t keep an eye on your conversations? You’re the one who told me I reminded you of yourself at my age. You would have followed yourself at that age.”

Yes, I would, Dave fleetingly thought. “Is there something you actually don’t know about Antar?” he asked. After all, soon they would be at Dave’s warehouse, meeting with the Rebellion face to face. And if Van or Max are not well and alive, what exactly am I walking into?

“I don’t know what the attempt on Max is going to be, but I’m sure if I don’t hurry, he might be either dead or gone. So, I hurry.”

“Why do you need Max? What kind of sickness do you have?”

“None of your business,” Daniel evasively said. “But I know Max can heal it. Theoretically, Jake thinks Max’s healing abilities are far-reaching. That’s all I need to know.”

“Jake thinks? What do you know about what Jake thinks?”

Daniel tried to suppress a smile, which just ended up being a smirk. “You never peeked, did you?” he asked quietly.

“Peeked? Peeked what?” Dave asked, thoroughly confused.

“Jake’s files. He sent a report to you but kept a private one to himself.”

Uneasiness crept on Dave’s back. “Jake sent whatever was relevant to me. I have no interest in his private notes.”

Daniel chuckled condescendingly. “Whatever. You might be interested to know a few things, though. Like the fact that Max—”

“No, I don’t,” Dave said firmly. “I don’t care what you got out of Jake’s hard drive.”

Silence invaded the car, the sullen, oppressive kind.

“Max heals,” Daniel said at length. “He doesn’t like it, but he does it.”

“Okay. Let’s say he does. What makes you think that by doing a favor to me, you’ll be getting a favor from him?”

Daniel’s knuckles turned white. He slowly exhaled. “I have information.”

Dave raised a skeptical eyebrow. “That I don’t?”

Daniel shook his head. “I’ve been keeping an eye on Max’s earthly enemies, something you haven’t been doing lately, by the way,” he pointed out, taking the exit to the place they were going. “You’ve been neglecting following McKay and the Unit closely. Although I gotta admit, I didn’t know the Unit could work so fast…” he muttered.

Realization hit Dave like a freight train. “It was you! You told them where to find me this morning! Where to find all of them!”

“Not—not intentionally, not exactly. I knew McKay had to have something you, or the rebels, or even Max wanted. Something that I could bargain with. So I started to pay close attention; gave McKay a sense that I was on his side. It all started as a little anonymous tip here, a hint there. McKay is really good at sniffing clues, though,” Daniel said, shrugging. As if this was out of his hands, so why should he feel responsible about it?

“What did you do? Daniel, what exactly did you do?”

“Like I said, I have information about the Unit. I can tell you how to dismantle it for good—I think. Look, McKay thinks I’m working to bring you down as a personal vendetta, so he gave me access to a lot of stuff that is useful, okay?”

“What did McKay ask in return? What did you give him back?”

“Don’t give me that look. I didn’t go selling the only alien on this planet capable of helping me. But I had to trade something to prove myself. I showed McKay the only backdoor I ever found to your network. It’s not my fault you left a nice crumb trail for the Rebellion to have a way of tracking down their royalty through their phones. I honestly had no idea that was there! So, that’s on you, Dave.”

“Charming.”

“Look, I might have inadvertently helped McKay pin you today, but I’m also the reason you’re free right now. But even if that’s not enough, even if the information I’m bringing is not good enough for Max and Van—well, as I see it, you’re going to make Max heal me unless you want me to babble to Van and his merry band of assassins that this day has been hell because you were careless with your network.”

The threat hurt, but not as much as Dave might have thought. Maybe because Daniel was no longer a teenager and his selfishness was no longer cute or tolerated, so Dave could see this in a practical manner. The only thing he cared about in this confession was that Danny boy had medical reasons to blackmail him, instead of a political agenda or a power-hungry ego. He could work with that.

“To be honest, Daniel, the miracle here is not if Max accepts to heal you or not before his world falls apart. The miracle will be if I’m alive by the end of this day, no matter if you open your mouth or not.”

“Well, if there was something you taught me well was that everything is impossible until it’s done. So, I’ll take you there, and then we’ll talk with aliens, and then I’ll get healed. Easy-peasy.”

Daniel accelerated as they crossed the bridge out of Manhattan—and into Antarian territory.


4 : Max

Ray had taught them well, Max thought as they were slowly making their exit from Manhattan and into the Rebels’ headquarter. There are three basic rules to survive out there: Don’t panic. Look for opportunities to work with. Always act like you belong.

Max Evans did not belong in this car. King Zan of Antar did. As his Guards drove him out of New York City, Max swiftly recalled every bit of knowledge he had on how the Invisible Guard worked, and what they would expect from Zan in a situation like this.

The first part was easy, but he came up blank with the second one—Zan was never in a situation like this.

“How long,” Max asked from the back seat, looking at his driver through the rearview mirror, “have you been guarding me?”

“About six years, your Highness,” Ash answered, turning from the front seat. The dark color of his skin was peculiar. Ash reminded him of an African hunter. “Every time you left the compound, everywhere but your private space.”

That meant every conversation he ever had outside his room would be known to his Guards. On Antar, they would be bound by a vow of silence to never reveal the many delicate conversations they had to overhear as they were keeping watch. But with Van in the picture, all bets were off.

“That’s why Van’s here,” Max said, “You know we remember.”

“He’s been looking forward to meeting you for a long time,” Violet answered as she looked at him from the rearview mirror. “He knows as well as we do that although you remember, you’re conflicted about your dual identities.”

“That’s an understatement,” Max said. For a moment, he saw Antar’s capital city from his balcony, saw the sun rising, and the many glistering blue and silver banners that adorned their buildings. Antar’s colors. His colors.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” he said, knowing full well the weight of the Seal, “but why are you here? Not you, as the Rebellion, but you, as individuals? Why is it worth it to come back for a king that hasn’t set foot on his world for seventy years?”

“The Shifter Declaration,” Ash said, solemnly.

Max frowned. He knew those words, he knew they were important. “The end of mandatory military service for shapeshifters,” he said, the words finally coming to his mind. It had been an unpopular decision back then because people didn’t want shapeshifters without the military’s leash. They thought they were too dangerous for civilian life. Larek’s words at the Summit echoed from the past: I told you, you were trying to do too much too soon, that change takes time. But you wouldn't listen.

No, Zan hadn’t listened, not when those decisions were the right ones.

“Khivar brought it back the very next day after he executed you,” Ash said, bitterly. “You were—you are the best opportunity we have to be recognized as equals.”

“Is that why you are here, too?” Max asked Violet, who was navigating between cyclists, taxis, and unruly pedestrians.

“No, although that is important, of course. We weren’t born when you ruled, your Highness, but we’ve heard the tales, searched the records. Van believes you are the rightful ruler precisely because you did many things like The Shifter Declaration. Antar wasn’t ready for it then, but it is more than ready now. Van says it’s your vision that guides him, and you should be the one to see it forward.”

“You’re following Van’s dream.”

Violet shook her head. “I’m here to see if that dream has a chance to become a reality.”

“Smart thinking,” he said, making her blush. “What about the others? Shade and…Jet?”

“Jet is…a pragmatic man,” Violet diplomatically said. “Basically, he’ll believe you’re the right ruler once he sees you ruling.”

“But,” Ash added, “he’s here because he believes the Rebellion will win, one way or another.”

“So he’s basically checking out Khivar’s replacement,” Max said with the ghost of a smile.

The last of his Invisible Guards was also in the car, Max remembered, but his duty was to remain hidden at all costs, except when Zan’s life was in imminent danger.

“Shade,” Max called, “you have permission to show yourself.”

Out of the car’s ceiling, a form dropped on the seat beside him, in the exact creamy color of the upholstery as it took human shape. A Latino teenager with deadly serious eyes formed. Danger emanated from him. This kid was capable of anything, absolutely anything.

He's not a kid, Max reminded himself, and his job is to keep me alive.

“Your Highness,” Shade said in a soft voice. Being always invisible had to be hard, Max thought. A rule meant to protect the king that disregarded any discomfort for the shapeshifter. The kind of rule that Zan would abolish.

“Why did you join the Rebellion, Shade? Why are you here?”

“I like playing hide and seek,” Shade said with a small smile. “Under Khivar’s ruling, I’ve seen many things while hiding, things that those below him will help blossom. I seek change, your Highness, the kind that scorches evil to its roots. In my wanderings, I found the Rebellion, and I’ve seen the kind of desperation in their eyes that I’ve seen in mine. They are my kin, your Majesty, my family. In order to protect them, I protect you.”

For freedom, for family, for the future. All heavy burdens on any leader’s shoulders, all worthy causes to fight for.

“And you all think that I’m the man you’re looking for?”

Violet exchanged glances with Ash. Beside him, Shade tensed. They were dangerously walking a fine line between speaking their minds and committing treason.

“We’ve watched you for six years, Your Highness,” Violet started. “As I said, we know you’re conflicted. You built a life on Earth before you knew about Antar, one that taught you about hardships and living in fear of what you are, much the same we live in fear as shapeshifters. We know how fiercely you protect yours, how passionately you love—and how well you can lie. You’re a complicated person. Antar is a complicated place that needs a king who’s lived a complicated life. Max or Zan, we know one thing for certain: you will do what’s best for Antar.”

And therein lay the problem, didn’t it? It was not about Zan and definitely not about Max. It had always been about the planet that had created him, that fought a gruesome civil war, that still called him back home. It had always been about Antar, and no matter who he chose to be, his decisions would always impact an entire planet.

After all this time, it seemed like his destiny would always catch up with him.
"There's addiction, and there's Roswell!"
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