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Title: Destiny Will Have Its Way
Author: Liz Parker Evans aka Erica or me
Rating: Undetermined but be prepared for anything
Disclaimer: I don't own anything remotely related to Roswell outside my DVD's and my soundtrack. So please don't sue, I'm too poor.
Summary: This is based on a Challenge by Lullaby. Liz Parker was never shot that fateful septermber afternoon and now everything seems wrong. She knows she was meant to die and that death is no so easily cheated. You have to read the rest if you want to know what happens.
Prologue
Prologue:
Destiny. What a dirty word that turned out to be for me. Everything got messed up and I am afraid that I am the one that did it.
Ten years ago, my Max came to me from the future begging me to help him save the world. Just what any seventeen year old wants to hear. He told me our love drove Tess away and that is what started the chain of events that led to the deaths of everyone I love. I listened to what he told me; I believed him. I was stupid. I should have done what I promised Grandma Claudia I would do -- listen to and follow my heart. That night in my room, when I pretended to sleep with Kyle and drove a wedge between Max and I. I stopped doing exactly that. Because of the decision I made, Alex died; a lot of other people died.
I have had a fairly happy life since then, but I am afraid that I am the only one. I love Max as much as I always have but I see the stress and the sadness in his eyes. He feels guilty for forcing me into our new life. We are constantly running; there is no time for any of us to have a family, let alone explore even the possibility of it.
I see the regret in Maria’s eyes. She misses her mother. She misses the life that that she could have had, a life filled with music and love. She loves Michael, but even he can’t fill the void that is there. I chose this life but it is different for Maria.
I see the sadness in Isabel of the life that I took from her when I helped Future Max. We lost Alex because of it. She loved Jesse but it was because of Alex that she was able to. Alex accepted her for who and what she was, and she realized that the person she was was just fine.
I need to right a wrong. This life cannot continue, we cannot keep running from every shadow and every noise. Kyle left us all years ago, his supposed powers never emerging. It is just a matter of time before Isabel, Michael and Maria leave. I never can leave. My leaving would destroy Max. He feels responsible for me when it is me who is responsible…for everything.
We have located another Granilith, ironically in New York. It is one the Dupes never even seemed to know about I am going to use the Granilith and I am going to go back to where all the trouble began. There will be no need to hide from the FBI. There will be no signal sent out into the night sky calling Nasedo and Tess into our lives. I know what it is I am giving up but I would give up just about anything for Max…even my life.
A/N This prologue is very short and a little vague, it will make more sense after you read the next post. I have a few chapter already written out and I hope to update once a week. Feedback is very welcome
Last edited by Liz Parker Evans on Tue Apr 19, 2005 3:21 pm, edited 9 times in total.
“Max Evans is staring at you again.” Maria commented to Liz as she filled her drink order.
Liz looked up just in time to see Max staring back at his hamburger. “No way, Maria,” Liz said as she watched him out of the corner of her eye. “He is so not interested in me.”
“Whatever you say, Chica,” Maria said as she took her drinks and headed back to the table where two rather unseemly characters sat arguing. Maria really hated Roswell during the Crash Festival; it brought out all of the crazies and today was no exception. Maria placed the men’s drinks on their table just as their argument grew louder. Luckily, she had another table to attend to. Maria turned as the she heard a woman in the back of the café scream something about a gun. However the next moment went by in slow motion. The larger of the two men facing front of the café with a gun shining in the light.
“Liz!” Maria shouted, alerting her friend to the danger. Liz couldn’t move, couldn’t breath. Something flashed out of the corner of her eye. A cloaked figure bumped hastily into the man holding the gun causing it to go off. Liz fell to the floor in a panic. What the hell just happened, she thought to herself.
“Let’s get out of here!”
“Liz, are you all right,” Maria asked, coming to the aid of her friend. Maria helped pull Liz to her feet, noticing the bullet hole in the wall just behind where Liz had stood. If the bullet had been a fraction of an inch to the right, Liz would be dead. Liz stared out the window, watching the men disappear into the distance. A woman appeared in the window briefly; so quick in fact, that Liz was sure she was seeing herself because the face she had seen in the window was her own.
Liz started shaking violently, voices surrounding her becoming more and more faint until she was swallowed by darkness. She felt as if she were drowning and she couldn’t tell which way was up. Strange images appeared to her. She saw herself lying in a pool of her own blood and Max Evans standing over her, touching her bare skin. Healing her. Forever changing her destiny. She was supposed to have been shot and then something unexplainable was supposed to have happened. Something stopped it. Something changed her destiny. She was supposed to have died today, but the path had diverged. Liz now knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that death would be coming for her again, she was going to die.
“Liz? Liz, can you hear me?” The voice was warm and inviting and Liz struggled against the darkness to open her eyes.
“Max,” Liz asked confused. She forgot where she was for a moment. Then it all came crashing back to her. “Is everyone all right?”
“Lizzie,” Maria asked in a panic. “You’re really all right? You weren’t shot?”
“No,” Liz said as thought she almost disappointed. She looked at Max who reached out his hand and helped Liz to her feet.
“Are you sure you’re all right,” Max asked, his voice thick with concern.
“I’m fine.” She lied as she looked back at the wall where the bullet gleaned in the fluorescent light. “It was close though, wasn’t it?” She almost laughed. She felt strange, like she had stared the devil down and had come out on top. But she also knew something was very, very wrong. Liz got her bearings just in time as Sheriff Valenti came into the café, practically running to her.
“You all right, Liz?” he asked with obvious concern.
“I’m fine.”
“Do you think you can tell me what happened?” the sheriff asked as he escorted Liz over to a booth. She watched Max out of the corner of his eye. He walked back to where he had been seated, and leaned over and spoke quietly to his friend Michael Guerin.
“Um...Maria has just finished serving two men their drinks when I heard her scream. Then I heard a gun go off and I fell to the floor. I am sorry, Sheriff, but I really don’t know much more than that. Maria was their waitress, she would really be the one to ask.” Liz said but kept looking past the sheriff to Max and Michael. She noticed that Max sprinkled a little hot sauce into his drink and drank deeply. Sweet and spicy, Liz thought. He likes things that are sweet and spicy.
“All right, Liz. Why don’t you go upstairs and get some rest. I will probably have more questions for you later.”
Liz nodded as she stood and started to walk back to the stairs that led to her apartment. She stopped and watched as the sheriff questioned Maria and then Max and then Michael. She couldn’t stop herself from watching Max. She couldn’t help but think that she had just missed out on the most wonderful and awful of adventures. Sadly she turned and went into her house.
Max felt Liz watching him and it made him very uneasy. She was looking at him as though she knew something about him that she shouldn’t know. That she couldn’t know. But she stared at him as though she was saying, I know what you are afraid of and it’s all right. Max was sure it was just his imagination playing games with him.
“What is it?” Michael asked in hushed tones as they waited for Sheriff Valenti to let them go.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, that’s illuminating, Maxwell.” Michael said as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Are you all right?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I know how you feel about Parker. I mean we ALL know how you feel about Parker.”
“Shut up, Michael.”
“Shutting up. I’m just glad this ended the way it did. This could have real bad, Max. I know you and you wouldn’t have let her die. We could have all been exposed. Thank goodness for lousy shots.”
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost
Here is Chapter 2. I want to thank you all for your feedback thus far. Things hopefully will start to make a little more sense now. Again I would like to thankJo for being a GREAT beta!! Now...On with the show. See You all next week with the next part.
Chapter 2-Beginning of the End
Liz awoke early that morning. It was a day much like any other day. She took a shower, brushed her teeth and had a breakfast consisting of hot chocolate and toast. The only difference from this day was that it wasn’t just another day. This was the day after she should have been shot. This was a new beginning for Liz but she couldn’t shake the feeling that instead of a new beginning, this was the beginning of the end. She felt a dark cloud over her blocking out all the sun. She was going to die and it was going to happen soon.
She tried to clear her mind as she grabbed her bookbag, kissed her mom good-bye and jumped on her bike and rode to school. She pedaled hard, not the leisurely pace that she usually kept. It was almost manic, as though if she slowed down she would never get there. She was being chased by destiny and the thought made her sick. The large school of West Roswell High loomed just ahead of her. Students were already milling about. They went on without a care in the world. Boys and girls holding hands; friends laughing together as they shared a secret; dirty looks and mean words from rivals that were threatened by the other.
“Hey, Liz.”
Liz parked her biked and turned to see who was calling to her. It was Alex, one of her best friends. “How are you doing? I heard about what happened yesterday at the Crash from Maria. But you know Maria, she was very worried about you and just kept going on and on how you weren’t returning her calls and...” his sentence stopped before it should have. Liz turned and looked behind her to see what had caught her friend’s attention.
Isabel Evans was walking into the school surrounded by all the girls in the school which wouldn’t give Liz the time of day. Daisy Lawrence, Ellie Matthews, oh, and Liz’s personal favorite, Pam Troy. Pam Troy had made it her personal mission in life to make Liz’s as hellish as possible.
“Keep dreaming, loser.” Liz chided Alex as she playfully punched him in the arm. “She is sooo out of your league.”
“And just who is in my league?” he asked.
“Not sure. I’ll let you know when I find out.” Liz smiled, momentarily forgetting the darkness that clouded the edges of her vision. She grabbed her book bag and walked with Alex into the school.
“So, you’re really, all right?”
“I’m fine, Alex. Or I will be as soon as people stop asking me that. Do you have rehearsal tonight?”
“Yeah, unfortunately it will be a little one sided. Our singer quit, actually she got mono and had to quit.”
“Bummer.”
“Yeah.” They both looked at each other and laughed.
“Hey Liz.” This time is was Maria running up behind them. “Alex.”
“Hey Maria.” Liz said as she greeted her friend with a warm smile.
“Hey, Maria? That’s all you have for me? I called you last night...alot. You never returned my calls.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I just needed some time alone to think, you know. I’m fine though, Maria. Honest.”
“You need some cypress oil?”
Liz and Alex exchanged a look. “No thanks. I have to get to Biology, I’m afraid I didn’t study very much last night. I will talk to the two of you at lunch. Chow, baby.” Liz ran off in the direction of her first class.
“Chow baby?” Maria repeated. “That didn’t sound like Liz.”
“No it didn’t” Alex agreed. “But you know, Maria, she almost was shot yesterday. It is bound to have some sort of an effect on her. Give her a little time.”
Liz sat alone at her lab table waiting for her lab partner, Max Evans, to show up. The teacher began passing out slides for their experiment when Max quietly entered the room and took his seat next to her. Their teacher explained how they were going to be looking at skin cells today, and Liz took a swab from her mouth and placed it on the slide. She focused the microscope and then started to sketch what she saw. Her vision (The edges of the)became foggy and she was hit with an overpowering sense of deja vu.
This had happened before.
Liz felt ill, her head was spinning. She couldn’t get the image out of her head of the woman looking in through the Crashdown window. The woman with her face. She only saw her briefly but it was enough to know who she was. Liz quickly stood to her feet.
“Yes, Miss Parker?”
“I’m not feeling very well. Can I have a bathroom pass?”
“High maintenance today, aren’t we?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Liz quickly left the classroom and made her way to the closest bathroom to hide out until the bell rang, to ride out the remaining period. She closed her eyes and she instantly knew what was wrong. It all had to do with the shooting at the café yesterday. Something that was supposed to have happened didn’t. She was alive when she was supposed to have been dead. She heard the bell ring indicating the end of the period and quickly left the bathroom. Outside Max was standing at her locker and saw her run out. He could tell she was upset, that much he was aware of.
“Liz!” he called after her. “Liz, we need to talk!”
She turned around and looked at him. She had been crying, he could see the slight puffiness around her eyes. He took her by the hand and led her into the band room where they could speak in private. The room wasn’t empty though as Kyle Valenti, high school quarterback and the sheriff’s son, was playing the drums Kyle looked up and smiled as he saw Liz enter the room.
“Hey Liz.. I tried to call you last night to check and see how you were doing.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry I was just a little overwhelmed.”
“Oh hey, I got my costume for the Crash Festival. It is going to be awesome.” Kyle said adjusting his sunglasses and looking at Max. “Hey, Evans.”
“Hey.” Max replied wondering just what there was between her and Kyle Valenti.
“Kyle, could I talk to you about this later? Max and I came in here to find a place to study for our Biology midterm.” Liz wasn’t sure why she was lying to Kyle. She just felt that whatever she and Max were going to talk about, Kyle just shouldn’t be a part of it.
“Midterm…right.” He nodded, kissed Liz on the cheek. “Call me later, okay?” She nodded as he left the room. She didn’t miss the way he glanced at Max. When the door closed behind Kyle, a sense of dread filled her. I prefer the term, not of this Earth. She heard the words echoing in her head but she didn’t know what it meant.
“Are you all right, Liz? I mean, you have been through a bit of an ordeal. I was worried about you after you can out of Biology.”
“I’m…fine. You know, that really isn’t true but it has nothing to do with being shaken up after almost being shot.”
“What then?” Max asked. “Look, Liz. I know we’re just lab partners and all but I would like to think that we are friends. There is something bothering you and I just thought if you wanted to talk about yesterday, I would be more than willing to listen.” This was unlike him and he knew it. The only conversations that he and Liz had ever had dealt with class and phylum. They really weren’t friends as much as he wished things were different. Isabel and Michael never would allow him to be with Liz Parker. They didn’t stop him from dating if he wanted to; the problem was they knew that it wouldn’t be dating Liz Parker. He had been in love with her since they were eight years old. Once he started down that road with Liz Parker, there would be no turning back, so the distance helped him not miss what he couldn’t have. Talking to her was a bad idea.
“Okay. Maybe I will tell you.” Liz looked up and was momentarily caught off guard by Max’s warm eyes. She had always been attracted to Max but he was way out of her league so she never even attempted anything other than a scholastic relationship. But if she was going to die then she didn’t see any reason to hold back. “I think I was meant to die yesterday.”
“What are you talking about?”
Liz glanced behind her as though she were checking to make sure there was no one else listening to her. She knew how insane she sounded but it also felt good to say it to someone. Part of her knew she should have told either Maria or Alex but somehow, she knew they wouldn’t understand. Looking at Max, she felt that he would understand
“I know this sounds insane but that bullet yesterday, it was supposed to have hit me. I was supposed to have been killed and then something …else was supposed to have happened?”
“Like what?” Max said swallowing hard.
“I don’t know. But I keep hearing voices…now I really do sound certifiable. I can’t quite hear what they are saying. I hear are pieces of conversations I never had but that maybe I was supposed to have had. I feel like fate went off course last night and now it is trying to rectify the situation.”
“How do you mean?”
“I mean,” the words stuck in her throat. “I am going to die now.”
Max visibly paled. What she said sounded ridiculous but for some reason, he felt compelled to believe her. Who was he to doubt anything she said. In his mind nothing was impossible; after all, he was an alien teenager. “Die? Liz, that…”
“Sounds impossible, I know. It’s the truth, Max. I will be dead before the week is over. Fate will have its way.” The bell rang outside in the hall. “I better get going.”
She smiled sadly at Max as though it would be the last time she saw him. It would have been nice to have known whatever she was supposed to have learned from him. Liz grabbed her books and headed back to the door. She stopped suddenly, turned back around and walked purposefully up to Max. Without saying a word, she kissed him on the mouth, softly at first and then she felt him respond to her, something she didn’t think was going to happen. Everything around her faded away and she swore she saw herself as a child laughing inside her head. As quick as the kiss began it also ended just as quickly.
“If I’m going to die, I just wanted to know what it was like.”
Then she was gone, leaving Max in shock and confusion. The two prevailing thoughts that were running through his mind were that Liz Parker had kissed him and that she thought that she was going to die. As much as he wanted to believe that she was just scared after everything that happened yesterday, something in his alien soul told him she was right. Something was wrong and he had to figure out how to fix it. To fix it, he would need help. The only problem was he wasn’t sure whether Isabel and Michael would agree
********
Your world is coming to its end
But you dont have to be afraid - Im here for you
Save your happiness for tomorrow
And today well drown in your tears
A drop of your blood tastes like wine today
Come closer my dear
It is just the beginning of the end
Yes, Im here for you
Save your happiness for tomorrow
And today well drown in your tears
A drop of your blood tastes like wine today
And because I love you so
And Im here for you
Save your happiness for tomorrow
And today well drown in your tears
A drop of your blood tastes like wine today
Save your happiness for tomorrow
And today well drown in your tears
Your blood tastes like life today
Will you let it rain
Let it rain
So wont you let it rain
Oh, let it rain
Wont you let it rain
-HIM.
Here is the next part. I want to thank you all for your wonderful feedback and I would like to thank Jo for being a great beta. I am not completely happy with this chapter but it is kind of the beginning of a transition before we can get to the really fun stuf..
See you all next week!
Chapter 3
Liz sat in relative silence, eating her lunch. She tried to drown out the endless questions that were being assailed at her by Maria. Maria wanted to know what was going on with Liz. Maria knew something was up or off as she had put it. Liz had been different since the shooting and Maria wasn’t crazy; she knew her friend was keeping something from her. Liz just couldn’t bring herself to tell Maria what she believed in her soul to be true. Ironically, she knew that Maria would believe her if she told her the truth it would also make it just that much more real, but she also knew the hysteria that would be sure to follow and Liz just didn’t want to deal with it.
“Come on, Liz. Talk to me, tell me what you are thinking.” Maria looked earnestly at her friend. Liz was hiding something from her and she knew it. That just wasn’t like Liz. There were too many questions going through Maria’s head, like what was bothering Liz and why was Liz seen going into the band room alone with Max Evans? Max was someone Maria knew Liz had been interested in since the dawn of time but he was also someone that Liz would never approach in anything outside of school matters. But Maria had seen it: Liz casually talking to Max Evans.
“Maria, let me ask you something. If you knew you were going to die, I mean you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, what would you do with your final days?”
Maria looked at Liz in shocked silence before answering. “Why would you ask such a thing, Liz?”
“No reason, just forget I said anything.” She pushed away from her seat and quickly gathered up her books. “I have to get going. I have a Trig test that I am likely going to fail, not that it really matters anyway.”
Liz left before Maria could say anything. Maria knew now there was something major going on and she was determined to find out what it is. Across the quad, she spotted Max and his friends sitting by a tree eating lunch. She had never exchanged more than a couple of words with Max and absolutely none with Isabel and Michael. Michael always made her nervous; there was something very raw and dangerous about him. Maria walked over to where Max was seated with a purpose and without even waiting for an entrance into the conversation, she began. This was about Liz and for that she would swallow her confusion and apprehension where Michael Guerin was concerned.
“What the hell is going on with Liz, Max?” Maria said, louder than she had intended.
“What are you talking about, Blondie?” Michael asked surprised that the small blonde girl had even approached them. But yet here she was standing over them and yelling at Max.
Maria ignored him, entirely focused on her task at hand of trying to find out exactly what was going on with her best friend. “Max, I saw you and Liz go into the band room together and she hasn’t been acting the same since. Just what did you do to her?”
“Do to her? I didn’t do anything to her, Maria.” Max protested. “She was upset and I thought she could use a friend to talk to.” He wasn’t about to tell her the rest, especially with Michael and Isabel listening to every word. He wasn’t going to tell Maria that Liz was convinced that she would be dead within the week and that he felt she could be right and he was not about to tell Maria and the others about the brief kiss the two of them had shared and how he felt that something was about to happen that would change all of their lives. He was so use to hiding everything from everyone that the lies were easy but under the scrutiny of Maria DeLuca, it was harder to hide things.
“Something’s wrong with her, Max, and she won’t talk to me about it.” Maria smiled sadly and turned and walked slowly away.
“What the hell was that about?” Isabel Evans asked her brother. As far as she knew Max had little to no social dealings with either Maria DeLuca or Liz Parker, although she had long suspected that he would like very much for that to be different, especially where Liz was concerned.
“Nothing. Liz just needed a friend, that’s all.” Max told his sister never once looking at her.
“Okay, Maxwell, spill it. You might as well tell us now because we will find out eventually.” Michael said with his arms crossed.
Max sighed deeply. “I was in the band room earlier with Liz.” Max confessed. “She seemed really upset, like she was about to lose it emotionally. I offered to listen to her and she took me up on it. She told me that yesterday she was supposed to have been killed in the shooting.”
“She sounds like she is still in shock.” Isabel offered.
“It’s more than that. She thinks she will be dead before the week ends and the crazy thing is, I think I believe her. She is acting way out of character for Liz Parker.”
“How?” Michael demanded.
“She kissed me and for a brief moment I felt…I can’t put words to it.”
“That’s hormones, Max. Pure and simple, hormones. I would say I was happy for you but you know nothing can come of this. You can’t date Liz Parker. If anyone finds out who and what we are, it’s over.”
“Calm down, Michael. I just want to help her (I am not planning on dating her but I am planning on helping her.) She believes that she will be dead by the end of the week and I am determined to make sure that that doesn’t happen.
The blonde girl looked up from the magazine she was reading. She had waited her entire life to hear those words. Destiny had finally come to call and she was ready to answer. Her father had prepared for this day for as long as she could remember.
“How do you know where they are?” she asked.
“I have always known where they were. The King is getting ready to enter his cycle in which he will declare his queen.”
“But I am his queen.” She protested.
“You were his queen in another life on another planet, my dear. That means nothing to him. None of them have any memories of their previous lives. But you remember don’t you, my dear?”
“I remember everything, Nasedo. I know what it is I have to do.”
AN: Here is the next part...we are entering into a transition phase. Getting some things to happen that need to take place before any real story progession can happen. Now to some acknowledgments
DestinyDreamer - I'm glad you are enjoying it! dreamer19 - You guessed it. The problem with rodents is they keep coming back. Smac - Glad I made you happy. I seem to be incapable of writing anything but Dreamer. Jo - Thanks for the great editing. Luvya - Thanks for reading Buffsteraddict - Thanks for reading. Lullaby - Thanks for the challenge. I am really enjoying this one. Gives me an excuse not to study my Chemistry
Chapter 4 -
There's such a fooled heart
Beatin' so fast
In search of new dreams.
A love that will last
Within your heart.
I'll place the moon
Within your heart.
As the pain sweeps through,
Makes no sense for you.
Every thrill is gone.
Wasn't too much fun at all,
But I'll be there for you-ou-ou
As the world falls down.
-David Bowie
Alex sat at the counter watching Liz half-heartedly served drinks to her customers. She was preoccupied and making mistakes and mixing up the orders. Luckily, all the customers were regulars and really didn’t seem to mind. Alex was trying to figure out just what was bothering his friend. He knew that it must have been a little strange for her to be back at the café after almost getting shot yesterday, but her distraction seemed to go further than that.
He and Maria looked at each other, briefly acknowledging their shared concerned over their friend. Liz had been their best friend since the fifth grade and they had always been close, always shared all their secrets. Alex knew Liz had a secret she wasn’t sharing. She hadn’t spoken about anything important since before the shooting. Alex thought she was preparing for something but she wouldn’t tell them what. He had asked her earlier if she was doing all right only to be faced with her enigmatical response. Liz was never very mysterious but he felt that she was hiding something from him.
The door of the Crashdown opened and Max Evans along with his sister Isabel and friend Michael Guerin entered and took a seat in the nearest booth. Liz glanced up to see Max and his friends enter and for a second, she smiled a shy, secret smile. In that moment Alex at least figured out part of her secret. Liz had a crush on Max Evans. Max was just as much out of Liz’s league as Isabel was out of his. Max may not have been Mr. Popularity, unlike his sister but he was just as unobtainable. He was never seen with anyone other that Isabel and Michael, never seen at parties, never went on dates. The man was an enigma.
“Can I get you something?” Maria asked as she stood in front of Max’s table.
“Cherry coke.” Max ordered trying to watch Liz out of the corner of his eye without drawing the attention of his friends. Maria looked at him with the question in her eyes that he didn’t have the answer to. He knew Maria wanted to know what they had spoken about, she thought that Liz had confided in him about what was bothering her and she had but he couldn’t tell Maria that.
“Same here.” Isabel piped up.
Maria only got a grunt in agreement from Michael. “Quite the vocabulary you have there, Guerin.” Maria said as she turned and went to fill their drink orders.
“You know, you’re not fooling anyone.” Isabel announced to her brother.
“What do you mean?”
“I have been watching you not watch Liz Parker for years. You think I can’t tell when actually are looking at her?” Max wanted to respond to Isabel but quite frankly he didn’t know what to say. “I told you before, Max. Nothing can come of this.”
As hard as it was for him to hear, he knew that his sister was right. He was just grateful that Michael had the decency to keep his mouth shut; he really wasn’t in the mood for an all out confrontation with them right now. He risked an overt glance at Liz. She looked tired and a little haunted. Max couldn’t forget that Liz had told him that she believed that she was going to die. He was having a hard time reconciling whether or not it was just her over active imagination as a result of going through a traumatic experience. Somehow, he believed her. He needed to speak with her alone again, and to pull that off would be a bit of a trick. He knew that neither Isabel nor Michael would just let him get up and take her someone alone. His only option was to wait till after closing t and come back here and hope and pray that she would even see him again.
“Here you go.” Maria said as she unceremoniously sat the drinks down in front of them. She lingered for just a moment. She wasn’t sure what she was waiting for but she had a feeling that her answers would be coming from them.
“What are you waiting for, Blondie?”
“Nothing.” Maria grunted as she joined Alex over by the counter. “He is such a weirdo.”
“Who?” Alex asked.
“Michael ‘I’m too cool to own a comb’ Guerin.” Maria grumbled. Alex laughed at his friend as he looked over to the table where Isabel sat. The three of them were a secretive bunch. As far as he could tell, they didn’t have any other friends outside of each other. They always seemed to be waiting for something to happen. He knew the story of how Max and Isabel were found wandering in the desert when they were eight years old. He could only imagine that being abandoned like that would definitely leave them with some trust issues. He didn’t know very much about Michael’s situation and if he were honest with himself, he really didn’t want to know. Michael Guerin was moody and intense and to some degree intimidated the hell out of him. Of course, it really didn’t take that much to intimidate him. In fact everyone at that table intimidated him. Michael in his powerful presence, Max in the way he seemed to know the answer to every question ever put to him at school, and Isabel intimidated him the most. She was the most distant of the three. She was the most popular of the three, had the right sort of friends, wore the right clothes, dated the right kind of boy. He couldn’t escape the feeling that that was all a mask and he wondered not for the first time if anyone really knew Isabel Evans.
CRASH!
The sound of breaking glasses caught Alex’s attention. He turned and saw Liz desperately trying to pick up the pieces. Normally he would have laughed and made some sort of sarcastic comment to her but just as he was about to open his mouth, he noticed that she was in tears. Maria was right; there was something going on with her. Liz Parker just didn’t start to cry because she happened to break some dishes. He suspected that she may have broken the dishes because she was crying.
“Liz?” Alex asked as he quickly went to help her. “Let me get a broom.”
“It’s okay, Alex. I can do this…I really can do this. I’m not going to die today.” Liz mumbled under her breath but Alex really wasn’t sure what she was talking about. He didn’t think it was about some dishes.
“Liz, why don’t you go upstairs and lie down. How long has it been since you slept?”
“The night before the shooting.” She admitted readily.
“That was over thirty-six hours ago. “He took her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Go to bed I will take care of this.”
“But, I have customers.” She argued feebly.
“No, I have customers.” He corrected her as he took her order book from her and stood staring at her until she finely relented under his gaze. She smiled at him and lightly kissed his cheek.
“You’re a good friend, Alex Whitman. Don’t you forget that.” She turned and quickly ran up to her apartment. She didn’t trust herself to look at Alex another moment. She was going to miss him so much. She wondered not for the first time if the dead missed the loved ones they left behind. It was these kind of thoughts that had kept her up all night, these thoughts and the nightmares.
Alex watched as Liz ran out of the diner, and he could tell she was visibly upset. Maria quickly walked over to Alex, bringing a broom and dustpan with her. She and Alex just looked at each other, neither one saying a word until the silence became unbearable.
“What’s wrong with her, Alex?” Maria asked.
“I think she is just shell-shocked, Maria. I mean, she was almost killed yesterday. It has to have taken its toll.” He didn’t sound convinced but he didn’t know what else it could be. Liz was a rational, level headed girl and she was acting out of character. He could feel her pulling away from him and Maria and he hadn’t a clue as to why. He glanced back over to the table where Isabel and the others were seated, Michael and Isabel pretending as if they hadn’t seen Liz fall apart, then his eyes landed on Max and he saw the same concern mirrored in his eyes.
“It’s more than that, Alex, and I am going to find out what it is.” Maria took out a small vial of cedar oil and breathed deeply before taking the dust pan in the back to throw out the shards of glass.
Liz tossed restlessly on her bed. She tried to take a nap when Alex sent her to her room but it seemed to be all in vain. Her mind was racing, she was trying to figure out when and where her death would occur. She couldn’t shake the feeling that it would not be of natural means. It would be violent and extreme, perhaps with another shooting. Hers was not to have been a painless death. She shook the fatigue from her head, took her journal which lay on her desk next to her bed and climbed out through the open window of her room onto the balcony. It was September and the weather was still hot. She preferred to heat to the cold; there was something about it that made her feel alive and maybe even a little bit sensual. If she were to admit that to Maria, her friend would have just said she needed to get herself a new boyfriend and she supposed that that was true.
September 24, 1999
My name is Liz Parker and I am going to die. I am not saying that I will die someday in the far off future as most teenagers my age are only vaguely conscious of. I am saying that I will be dead by the end of the week. I do not know how or even why I know this but I know it just the same. I have only admitted it to one person and it was the person I least expected to ever confide anything in. I told Max Evans and then I did the most uncharacteristic thing I have ever done. I kissed him. It somehow makes it seem more real to write it down. When I kissed Max it was unlike any other kiss. It has…hypnotic. I am not saying this to make me sound like some lovesick girl, but it was different. For a brief moment I thought I saw something but I am not sure what it was. It was like a picture in my head, a place in the desert, a boy and girl walking alone in the dark. I am sure I was just imagining things. I can’t help but…
“Liz?” a voice called her from the bottom of the ladder that led to her balcony. Liz walked over to the edge and looked over and saw Max standing below and she smiled. “Can I come up and talk to you for a moment?”
“Okay.” Liz responded. She stepped back from the edge as she heard him climbing the metal stairs. Unconsciously she smoothed down her hair.
“Hi,” Max said as he reached the top. “I just wanted to make sure that you were doing all right?”
“I’m fine, Max.” She lied.
“Do you still feel that you are going to…”He couldn’t quite bring himself to say it.
“Die? Yeah, I do. Look, Max, I want to thank you for listening to me about all of that and for not telling Maria or Alex or anyone.” Liz said as she sat herself down on her lawn chair.
“No problem.” He responded. He wanted to say more to her. He wanted to tell her that he believed her and that he would do whatever he had to do to keep her safe, that he had the power to do it. He wanted to tell her that he was an alien and that he wanted to trust her with that information just as she had trusted him. The words stuck in his throat and would not budge.
“I do owe you an apology, however.” Liz couldn’t quite bring herself to look at him as she said this. She felt she had to say it, in order to make him feel a little more comfortable around her but she really didn’t mean it. “I want to apologize for kissing you like I did in the band room today.”
“I wish you wouldn’t.” Max argued. Liz risked looking at him and for a moment she was lost in his warm eyes and for an instant she forgot to breathe and started to wish that things could be different. “Would you like to take a walk with me?”
“Yeah, I’d like that.” Liz answered and took hold of his outstretched hand.
TBC....I should be posting the next chapter sometime next week....It all depends on how quickly I get through Chapter 6...I like to stay at least one chapter a head. I hope you all enjoyed Chapter 4
AN: Okay, I am weak, I admit it. I haven't yet finished Chapter six but I had to post this next part because this is the transition where everything else has to happen can happen. I should be done with Chapter six hopefully before Wenesday so I can get it to my beta and hopefully post it next week.
Chapter 5
I will move heaven.
I will move hell and earth to be where you are.
I will move heaven.
And it may take one life,
And it may take forever,
But I promise you
-Judith Owen
Liz hadn’t spoken a word since she and Max left the Crashdown, not that he had really expected her to. The situation was strange enough without bringing teenage hormones into play and alien ones at that. He knew intellectually that the kiss in the band room didn’t mean anything. It was brief and could be easily forgotten without Liz to remind him that it was real. Just her presence was a constant
reminder. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy the kiss but the feelins that it had awakened scared him, it was something he felt would be forgotten. But something was stirring within him, something unnatural, alien threatening to claim him. It was this something that made Max feel like that being alone with Liz was ill advised. He should have listened to Isabel or Michael and just left well enough alone, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. It was if he was a lock and Liz Parker was the key to all his questions.
Liz stopped walking and took a deep, breathy sigh. “What are you trying to do here, Max?”
Her question caught him off guard. He wasn’t quite sure what he had hoped for when he asked her to take a walk with him. Neither had spoken and now that the spell of silence had been broken, he still found it hard to find his voice. “I mean, thank you for saving me from the solitude of my own thoughts but this isn’t going to change anything.”
“Change? You just seem too willing to give into what you think is your fate. You are stronger than that, Liz Parker.”
“Am I?” Liz asked looking up at Max. “because I am not feeling very strong at the moment.”
“Liz, do you…”
“Max, please don’t ask me if I still believe I’m going to die. I do believe it and there is nothing that can be done to change it.”
It was in this moment that Max realized what he had to do, what he wanted to do. He had to let Liz know that there was hope, that he would be able to help her and to protect her. But in order for her to
believe him, he would have to tell her the truth about who and what he really was. He knew that Michael and Isabel would not understand. They would probably hate him for telling Liz the truth but for once in his life, he was going to make a decision that did not require a committee. Both Isabel and Michael were so fearful of anyone finding out about their secret and Max usually agreed but something in his soul told him he could trust Liz. That she would keep his secret and in return he would move heaven and earth to save her.
“Liz, I want to tell you something but before I do you have to promise me not to tell anyone. Not Alex and not Maria.” Definitely not Maria, Max concluded in his head. He liked Maria well enough. He really didn’t know her very well but from everything he had seen, she was fiercely loyal where Liz was concerned. It was that same loyalty to Liz that worried Max. Maria's loyalty could make her a threat the Max and his friends. She might do something stupid in order to protect Liz and Max believed it was better if Liz kept his secret.
Liz saw the look of fear in Max’s eyes and while it scared her, it somehow seemed familiar, like she had been in a similar situation with him before. Suddenly, with that small grain of knowledge Liz was not quite so scared.
“All right, I promise, Max.”
Max took several deep breaths trying to find his courage which had all but abandoned him but he was determined to stay the course. He had made this decision in the hopes of helping her and he was not going to turn back now. “I’m not from around here.” Max said, groaning inwardly. That was the best he could come up, his mind screamed in response, but Max knew it was simplistic of him to think that that
small sentence would explain everything.
“What are you talking about, Max?”
“Come here.” He led her to the bench and took her hands in his, amazed at their feel. They were soft and warm and their touch sent a
small spark of excitement through him. “You know how Isabel and I were found wandering along the side of the road when we were about six?” Liz nodded. Everyone knew the story of how the Evans had found Max and Isabel in the desert and had adopted them. “Well, nobody knows where we come from. We...Isabel, Michael and me... awoke in these...pods. When I say we're not from around here, Liz, I mean I am not from around
here.”
“Max, are you telling me you are a...an alien? That you, Michael and Isabel are all...aliens?”
Max nodded and cast his eyes down toward the ground. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her, to see the disgust he was sure would be there.
Liz sat in silence for several moments trying to make sense of what Max had just told her. He was an alien. Isabel was an alien and so was Michael Guerin. If Maria knew, she would have told Liz that everything made perfect sense. Liz almost laughed out loud. Why wasn’t she more shocked? Why did it feel like she already knew this or should have known this? Liz was overcome once again with the sense that things weren’t as they should be. She looked at Max sitting there in silence waiting for Liz to say something, to say anything.
“I don’t know what to say, Max.”
“Do you believe me?”
“Yes.”
“Why aren’t you running away as fast as you can?”
“Because it's you. I’m not afraid of you, Max.“ He actually smiled when she said that. “I just wish I could really understand what it means.”
“Me too. We really don’t know anything about where we came from. All we know is that we are from somewhere out there. We all have the ability to manipulate matter and we all have individual powers as well. Beyond that, we are still searching for answers.”
“Wait, what does manipulate matter mean?”
Max took his free hand because he didn’t want to remind her that he still held hers in his hand. He passed his hand over a large rock that was next to the bench where they sat and the fact of the jagged
rock went completely smooth. He heard her gasp in amazement as he returned to the rock to its original form. When he looked back at her was surprised to see excitement in her eyes.
“Max, don’t take this the wrong way but why would you tell me this. I mean, this has to be the biggest secret of your life. Hell, it’s the biggest secret of anyone’s life. Why would you trust me?”
“I want you to know that I am not going to let you die. I won’t let it happen because it's you, Liz.” Liz swallowed hard and tried to
ignore the tightness in her chest. The very air around her tingled and she knew that things were changing, possibly forever. “I want to try something if you will let me.”
“What?” Liz asked nervously.
“I want you to see that I am still me and that this doesn’t really change anything.” Max turned to Liz and brushed the hair out of her face and cupped her face in his hands. Liz heard what sounded like the wind roaring in her ears and then the images began. She couldn’t think of another word to describe them other than flashes. She saw images of Max pass before her eyes. Max as a young boy getting off the bus for the first time. She felt his fear. She felt his surprise as he saw her for the first time and couldn’t tear his eyes away from her. The vision changed to that of Liz and Maria laughing in the hallway, Max watching as he walked by them. Liz was astounded by the feelings of attraction and recognition that she was being bombarded with and felt suddenly cold and alone when Max broke the connection.
“Is it all right?”
Liz found it difficult to speak and merely nodded her head and smiled at him. “I want to believe that you can save me.”
“Trust me.” He said as he found himself holding Liz in his arms and decided there was nowhere else he would rather be. He was going to enjoy the moment because in the morning, he would have to deal with the fallout of his actions.
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
They watched from the shadows as Zan sat with the small Earth girl.
Tess was livid at seeing the two of them together. Tess kept mumbling to herself that the girl was going to mess everything up and that she would not allow her to interfere. Zan is her Destiny and you can’t stop what it meant to be Zan’s time was coming, he was preparing to choose his queen whether he knew it or not and by the look of it if Nacedo and Tess didn’t play this just right Zan would chose this little girl instead of Tess and that would spell disaster for all of them. The deal that he had made with Khivar would all be for naught. Zan had to claim Tess as his queen and they had to return to Antar along with Rath and Vilandra. Khivar would then take Vilandra to be his and claim Zan and Tess’s child as his heir apparent. As for Zan and Rath, they were very expendable. Rath had virtually no use to Nacedo or to Khivar and Zan had one purpose and one purpose only and that was to sustain the royal bloodline, only with that lineage could Khivar’s position be assured. Then all the riches of the galaxy would be Nacedo and Tess would have her place as Khivar’s consort, a position she was more than familiar with. Ava had been nothing if not predicitable. She went where the power was. Zan had never been enough for her. The marriage had been arranged and for a while Zan seemed content in the match if not happy. He always seemed to be looking for something, for someone, which was why this girl bothered her so much. She could sense Zan’s blood starting to change and it was for this girl that it was happening. If she proved to be a threat they would eliminate her.
“What do we do?” Tess asked as she looked up at Nacedo. He just smiled coldly back at her.
Maria sat waiting in the darkness of Liz’s room. She had come to check on Liz to make sure she was all right after the Crashdown had closed. She had expected to find Liz asleep in her bed or writing in her journal outside on the balcony, but Liz was not there. Maria decided to wait, there were only so many places that her friend could be hiding. What bothered Maria the most was the fact that Liz had left without telling her where she was going. If it had been her parents to check in on her and not Maria, all hell would have broken loose. Maria stood on the balcony, the breeze blowing through her short blond hair when she noticed Liz’s journal sitting on the lawn chair. She walked over and picked it up, debating with herself for a full thirty seconds before she decided to read what Liz had written. If Liz wouldn’t talk to her about what was going on, Maria was pretty sure Liz would write it down. At least that way, Maria would be able to read about it. Even though she knew she was alone she glanced back over her shoulder to make sure she was alone. She felt a momentary stab of guilt over what she was going to do but her curiosity was stronger than her knowing that what she was doing was wrong. She turned the page of the journal back two days.
There was a shooting at the Crashdown today, no causalities but it was close, too close and I think it all went wrong. I don’t really know how to explain this but after the gun was fired, the world around me began to slow down and change. I saw my own face, a bit older but it was still my face looking back at me through the front window. She was the one that bumped into the gunman making him miss. She was the one who altered my future. But it isn’t going to work, I am still going to die. I can feel it to depth of my soul and there is nothing that can be done about that. Right after it happened and time began to flow at normal speed again, I watched as Max Evans and his friend watch me from their booth. I couldn’t shake the feeling that whatever that was supposed to have happened before directly involved Max.
Maria quickly turned the page and continued on to the next entry.
September 24, 1999
My name is Liz Parker and I am going to die. I am not saying that I will die someday in the far off future as most teenagers my age are only vaguely conscious of. I am saying that I will be dead by the end of the week.
The words caught Maria off guard, of all the things she expected to have read in Liz’s journal, Liz’s belief that she would be dead was the last thing that Maria had expected to read. She didn’t believe for a moment that Liz was going to die but the fact that Liz believed it scared her. She continued to read.
I do not know how or even why I know this but I know it just the same. I have only admitted it to one person and it was the person I least expected to ever confide anything in. I told Max Evans and then I did the most uncharacteristic thing I have ever done. I kissed him. It somehow makes it seem real to write it down here. I am not sure why I did it but I did it just the same and it was unlike anything I have ever experience. I am not saying that I have never been kissed because I would be lying if I said that was the case. I kissed Kyle over the summer when we were trying to see what it would be like to be more than friends and that was nothing but a horrid debacle. There have been a few others but in all honestly, not that many, but when I kissed Max it was unlike any other kiss. It has…hypnotic. I am not saying this to make me sound like some lovesick girl, but it was different.
Maria began to read outloud. “For a brief moment I thought I saw something but I am not sure what it was. It was like a picture in my head of a place in the desert, a boy and girl walking alone in the dark. I am sure I was just imagining things. I can’t help but…” The entry ended abruptly.
“I can’t help but what?” Maria asked out loud.
“I can’t help but wonder what my best friend is doing reading my journal.” Liz said heatedly as she climbed back onto her balcony. She couldn’t remember being more angry at Maria than she was right now.
“Liz …”
“What, Maria? You weren’t getting the answers you wanted so you decided to go snooping?”
“Liz, I’m sorry I…You know what? I’m not sorry, You won’t talk to me about this. You won’t talk to Alex either. I know what happened the other day was scary but you have gone off the deep end.” Maria hands Liz back her journal. “What did you mean that you saw your own face? That you were going to die? And did I read something about kissing Max Evans? Is that what you were doing the in band room? Making out?”
Liz rubbed her hands over her tired eyes. She felt her anger at Maria ebbing away as quickly as it had come. Maria was her best friend and had gone from talking about the shooting to kissing Max Evans in 0.2 seconds flat. For some reason, all Liz wanted to do was laugh. It was the first time that she had felt normal since all of this had started.
“Maria, sit down.” Liz ordered. Maria took the seat next to the lawn chair. “I want to be honest with you but I swear if I even see a hint of hysterics, that is it. “ Maria nodded and quietly positioned herself in the vinyl chair. “I am going to die, Maria. I don’t mean that I am dying, I am perfectly healthy. I just mean that I am going to die soon. Time is running out and I just wanted you to know…to know.” The words began to fail Liz as she watched the horror stricken look on Maria’s face. She didn’t know whether Maria believed her or not but either way, it didn’t matter. For the first time since all of this happened, Liz realized that she would have to say goodbye to everyone she loved. She would have to say goodbye to her parents, to Alex, to Maria. She prayed that Max was right and that he would be able to save her, or that somehow she would be strong enough to save herself. Rubbing her eyes, she could feel the darkness growing. It had been slight when this had first happened but tonight at the park, the darkness loomed larger than it ever had before. She swore she felt someone watching her and it was that someone that scared her more than anything.
“Liz, I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I, Maria. I just want you to know how much you have meant to me. You have been my best friend even before I knew what it meant to have a friend. I am…”
“Oh no you don’t, Liz Parker!” Maria yelled. “You do not get to say goodbye to me. That is NOT going to happen. I will not let you die.”
This was the second time tonight that someone had said that to her and for the second time, it filled her with warmth. She had been feeling alone as though no one would believe her if she told them the truth and now both Max and Maria both took her word as truth.
As Maria threw her arms around Liz’s neck, neither girl noticed the flash of a camera going off from the rooftop across the street.
The next day at school was hard for Max. He knew that he should have told Isabel about what had happened between he and Liz but somehow, he just never could bring himself to do it. To say it out loud would have been like a betrayal and then once Isabel knew, Max knew Michael would find out and he would be livid. Part of him believed that just maybe he could get away without telling anyone anything. Liz wouldn’t say anything to anyone so he shouldn’t have to either. The only problem was that he needed both Isabel and Michael in order to save Liz. For Liz, he would risk the wrath of his sister and their best friend. He would tell them tonight before he left for the Crash Festival. That is where he was sure Liz was going to be. It would be dark and crowded and an ideal place for what Liz thought was destiny to catch up with her. Max had other plans for destiny.
Max saw Liz talking quietly at the far end of the hall with Maria. Maria looked upset. He could only assume that Liz had finally told her best fried what was going to happen. He was glad that Liz had told Maria because he knew that Liz needed a friend right now. He was not in the position to be that friend yet. Watching Liz and Maria again, Max saw that Alex sat with his back against the wall as Liz continued to talk to Maria, Alex looking as distraught as Maria did. Max caught Liz’s eye and she threw him a quick smile as he turned and walked into his biology class. He needed to talk to Liz but luckily they both shared this class together. He was just glad it was the first class since the school would only be open half a day thanks to the Crash Festival activities. This would be his only chance to see her before tonight.
Max took his notebook out of his book bag and proceeded to read over the notes that he had taken the last time he was in class. They were dreadfully incomplete after everything that had been happening. Liz entered the almost empty room and took her seat by him.
“Hi.”
“Hi.” He replied feeling really stupid all of a sudden. After everything that happened the night before all he seemed to be able to master was hi. “So, you told Maria and Alex about what you told me?”
“Yeah. Maria was waiting for me when I got home last night, I didn’t really have a choice and then she convinced me to come in early and tell Alex. He isn’t taking it so well but Maria has been surprisingly strong about the whole thing. I think she might even be a little mad at me for dying.”
There was that word again but what Max really didn’t like was that she used it in the present tense. “That is not going to happen, Liz.” She just smiled at him not really knowing what else to say. “Are you going to go to the Crash Festival tonight?”
“Yeah, I kind of feel like I have to. Kyle got our costumes and everything, and I really don’t want to disappoint him.”
How stupid could he be, He was getting excited about the prospect of maybe being able to be with Liz and all the while he had forgotten one big detail. She was dating Kyle Valenti and Kyle Valenti was the son of the Roswell Sheriff. “So, you’re dating Kyle?”
Liz heard the words that he didn’t want to say in those four words. “No, it’s not like that. We’re just friends and we made these plans long before any of this happened.”
“Oh.” Max sounded relived at the knowledge that there was no romantic involvement with Kyle. He had nothing against the guy but he was far from good enough for Liz. Of course, in Max’s quixotic mind no one was good enough for her.
“Liz, no matter what happens tonight, I don’t want you to be alone. Stay with someone, with Maria, Alex or Kyle.”
“Max?” Liz asked a little confused.
“Don’t you get it? If someone wants to kill you, what better place that in a place where they can disappear into the crowd. Promise me you will not go anywhere alone tonight.”
“I promise, Max.”
“Get ready, Tess. Tonight we get rid of that girl and make sure that Max claims you as his queen.”
“I am ready.” She had been born for this moment. Since the time she had come out of her pod to Nacedo’s not so loving arms, she had been preparing for this moment and nothing and no one, especially not some mousy little human girl, was going to spoil it for her.
Thanks to Smac, Timelord31 and Chione for their feedback. Once again thanks to Jo for her being an awesome beta.
Chapter 7
The festival was a buzz of activity as Liz walked through the crowd trying to fight off her ever growing sense of dread. Kyle was walking with her, cracking stupid alien jokes. Given Max’s revelations of the previous night, she no longer found Kyle’s jokes amusing. She didn’t want to be here; more precisely, she didn’t want to be here with Kyle. She liked him and they had been friends for a long time but in her heart, she knew that he wanted more from her than she could give him because she had already given it to someone else and to the cause of keeping Max’s secret} As they walked, Liz kept glancing behind her, trying to shake off the feeling that she was being followed but there were too many people all clad in similar costumes, making it impossible to tell one stranger from another.
“You having fun?” Kyle asked, trying to drag Liz into the jovial mood of the occasion. Sure, he knew The Crash Festival was one of the dumber traditions but this was Roswell and Roswell was known for nothing if not for its aliens. Liz nodded at his question but still didn’t speak.
“Liz, are you all right? You haven’t said two words all night.”
“I’m sorry, Kyle. I don’t mean to be such a downer. I guess I just have a lot on my mind.” Liz sighed deeply and tried to muster up a smile. “Okay, I promise I will try to be in a better mood.”
Kyle smiled at Liz’s effort even though he could tell her heart wasn’t it. Maria ran up to them with Alex not far behind. Both of them had two cotton candies in each of their hands.
“Hey, we got these for you guys.” Maria said excitedly as she handing Liz a mass of fluffy pink candy and smiled at Kyle as Alex handed him one.
“Thanks, guys.” Kyle muttered, not really wanting the other two musketeers to be tagging around. He knew a lot would have to happen in order for him to make any sort of progress with Liz but having her best friends along on what he considered a date was not helping.
“Are you doing okay?” Maria asked quietly so that Kyle wouldn’t hear her.
“I’m okay, Maria, just a little distracted. I keep thinking….never mind.”
“No, what, Liz?”
Liz stepped closer to Maria. “I keep thinking someone is following me.”
“Ah.” Maria said with a smile. “I believe that would your Mr. Max Evans.”
“Max?”
“Yeah, he has been watching you for the last half hour. It’s like he’s afraid to let you out of his sight. Liz, what is going on with you two?”
“I’m not really sure.”
“Hey, what are you two chickadees talking about?” Alex asked having run out of conversation with Kyle.
“Why, you of course, my darling.” Maria drawled as she draped her arm around Alex. “Do a girl a favor and take me on the tilt-a-whirl? I have an overwhelming need to throw up.”
Liz watched as Alex and Maria ran off to the rides. Kyle smiled and was glad that he was once again alone with Liz. He wanted to talk to her about the possibility of she taking him seriously. Up ahead he spotted his father and knew that before he could have a serious discussion with Liz, he would at least need to check in with his dad. “Hey, there’s Dad. You want to say hello with me?”
“Actually, I need to find a bathroom.”
“Okay.” Kyle nodded. “I will just meet you back here.” He smiled at her as he turned to run over to his father. It was at this moment that Liz realized that she was alone. She scanned the crowd trying to see if she could locate where Max was hiding but she caught no sight of him. Cold washed over her and she fought the urge to turn and run but she vowed she wasn’t going to be fearful even though Max had warned her not to be alone. She really didn’t think anything would happen and she did in fact need to find a bathroom. She quickened her pace and headed toward the bathrooms. On the way, she came across a large purple tent with a sign that said “Madame Vivian’s Fortunes-$5.00”. She knew it was stupid but she couldn’t resist and she knew that Maria would be proud.
Max scanned the crowd for Liz, having just seen her talking to Kyle. He had turned away for an instant to glare at Michael for saying once again how utterly ridiculous this ceremony was and why the hell they even bothered to attend. When he had turned back around, she was gone. He wasn’t worried initially until he had spotted Kyle talking with his father and no sight of Liz. Max’s heart began to beat wildly and an irrational anger took over. He had told her to stay with someone and not go off alone. Why didn’t she listen?
“I have to find her.” He muttered.
“Who?” Michael asked as he threw a handful of popcorn heavily laden with Tabasco sauce into his mouth.
“Who do you think, Einstein?” Isabel said harshly. “Max has lost sight of Little Miss Parker. You think I didn’t notice we have been following her all night. This is really getting sad, Max.”
“Shut up, Isabel. It isn’t what you think.”
“Then enlighten me.”
“You are in a lousy mood, Iz. Why did you even come tonight?”
“It certainly wasn’t to watch you drool all over some girl.”
“Guys, hey, knock it off. It’s bad enough I had to come to this thing but don’t make me listen to another lesson in sibling rivalry. It almost makes me glad that I hid from the Evans that night.”
The hairs on the back of Max’s neck stood up on end. Someone was here and they weren’t human. He looked again at Michael and Isabel and noticed that they felt it too. They were not alone.
“You feel it too, don’t you?” Isabel asked scanning the crowd in the hopes of recognizing something or maybe even someone.
“Did you see where she went?” Tess asked Nacedo as they walked purposely by Zan and the rest without even giving them a backwards glance. There would be time enough for them to start bonding. But tonight had another purpose. Tonight they were going to kill the girl before Zan had a chance to claim her as his queen. He didn’t know that the process had already started, all that was left was for him to bestow her with his seal, even though both Tess and Nacedo were fairly certain he didn’t know he possessed it or even how to give it away.
“She went that way.” Nacedo pointed towards the main concourse that was lined with games and specialty tents. He smiled coldly at Tess as he handed her a small picture that he had taken the night before when the girl returned to her house.
“Her name is Liz Parker and I have identified the blond as Maria DeLuca. You know what we need to do. She cannot be a distraction for the young king. With her around, he will never claim you as queen no matter what was true in your past lives.”
Tess nodded. She didn’t like the idea of killing anyone but she was not going to let anyone stand in the way of getting what should be hers, what should have always been hers.
“She’s in there.” Nacedo snarled, his disgust evident. Tess looked up to see the scripted letters. ‘Madame Vivian’s Fortunes.’
Liz sat uneasily in the chair as Madame Vivian dealt out the tarot cards. Liz never put much stock in this sort of thing, it was really much more Maria’s mantra but for some reason she felt compelled to find out as much as Madame Vivian could tell her.
“This is very strange.” Madame Vivian said as she turned over a card. “These readings aren’t making any sense.”
“Why?”
“Well, according to the way the cards are falling death is coming for you but I am also showing that that is not the end of your journey but merely the beginning. Of course, there is the argument that there really is no such thing as death, that it is merely a transition from this life to the next.” Madame Vivian pointed to the death card and them flipped over the card that symbolized love.
“Great.” Liz mumbled. She really didn’t want a discussion in philosophy. She was scared enough as it was and here was some charlatan lecturing her.
“There is great love and great danger all connected together.”
“I’m not in love with anyone.” Liz protested.
“But you will be. See, that is why the cards are confusing. This great love is coming and yet the cards state that you will be dead.”
There was that word again. Dead. Liz was sick of hearing it, sick of feeling like a victim. She had had enough of that. She paid Madame Vivian five dollars and opened up the flap of the tent to leave only to come face to face with a tall man in his early fifties and a very pretty blond about her own age.
“Sorry, I was just leaving.”
“I don’t think that is going to happen, Miss Parker.”
Nacedo walked purposefully into the tent and closed the flap of the tent behind him. Liz felt her blood run cold. “How do you know who I am?” Liz asked uncertain.
“I know everything about you. Straight A student, President of the Science club, Parents own the Crashdown café, a very tacky alien themed establishment if I do say so myself.”
“I-I don’t understand.” Liz said trying to quell the fear. She silently called out for Max knowing that it was stupid to think that he could hear her. He may have been an alien but she hadn’t a clue what kind of powers he possessed.
“Let me explain it to you then, little girl.” Nacedo snarled. Liz caught a quick glance of the blond standing there in the room in silence. She wondered why Madame Vivian hadn’t said anything since they had entered the room. In fact, Madame Vivian looked as though she hadn’t even noticed their presence.
“I will not have all of my work be for nothing. Zan will not claim you as his queen. You will not be his and the only way I can ensure that is to make sure you are dead.” With that he raised his hand and pressed it against her stomach. What felt like a flash of white heat filled Liz and she felt as though she was being torn apart. She felt her life flowing out her and she could do nothing to stop it. Images passed through her mind, her childhood, her parents, her friends and then blackness took over with her last thought being ‘This is how it ends, this is how it feels to be killed by an alien.’
A/N....This was originally a much longer chapter but I decided to break it into two parts...look for the second part next week. I hope you enjoy...Again feedback is very welcome...Just don't make me cry...LOL
I just want to thank everyone for their wonderful feedback. Just a very quick note in regards to Alex...I am going with his family background from the books, not the show. So, his father and family are military...it will come in to use later on. So, don't expect the dorky dad for INTO THE WOODS...Anyway, on with the show!
Chapter 8[
Max heard a ringing in his ears and took off in full out run. Michael and Isabel watched as Max took off and took off after him, having difficulty keeping up. Liz was in danger, Max could feel it in his bones. He caught sight of Alex and Maria in his panic, Liz’s friends were standing together in a long line at the concession stand. Despite running as fast as he could, Max understood Alex and Maria recognized his fear and he heard Maria gasp. Max was still not completely sure of what his relationship with Maria would be but he felt relieved when, as he arrived at Madame Vivian’s tent. He hadn’t realized where he was going until he got there. Something was leading him here, Liz was leading him. He felt her call out to him and he had no choice but to respond. Max cautiously opened the tent flap, it was dusty inside from all the wind blowing over the dirt roads at the fairgrounds but nothing looked to be out of order. Sitting on the rickety table was an impressive looking crystal ball which he half expected to find a scene of New York or someplace else that could have easily been obtained at any airport. There was also a pack of tarot cards strewn haphazardly across the table and a multitude of silk colored scarves layed piled on the floor. Max looked quickly around the rest of the room searching for some sign of what brought him here.. Liz wasn’t here. No one was here. He was beginning to think that maybe he was imagining things. He didn’t understand why he felt like Liz was in trouble or what had lead him to the fortune teller’s tent. But the unusual feeling still hung in the air, its unnatural, alien veins creeping through his brain.
“What’s going on, Maxwell?” Michael asked, out of breath as he, Isabel and Maria came running into the tent.
“What is she doing here?” Isabel asked noticing the presence of Maria DeLuca.
“Oh, my God, Liz!” Maria exclaimed. Sticking out from behind the desk were a pair of slender legs. Max watched in horror as Maria quickly ran around to the other side of the table, she looked like she was going to be sick. Max was on his knees in front of Liz in an instant. He didn’t quite know what to do. He had promised he wouldn’t let anything happen to her and here she was lying in a heap on the floor like someone’s garbage. Max felt the bile rise in his throat as he felt for a pulse and he really wasn’t surprised when he didn’t find one. He had prayed he would be able to get to her in time but as it was the case with some many things in his life, it just wasn’t meant to be. His hands were starting to shake with anger that was threatening to break through. Who could have done this to her?
“Max, what is that?” Maria asked pointing to a large silvery handprint sticking out from underneath Liz’s shirt. It was unmistakable and filled him with a deep coldness that he had never before experienced. Her skin appeared silvery. He pushed the edge of her shirt up to reveal a silvery handprint.
Max looked apologetically at Isabel and Michael, he knew that he didn’t need to tell them in words what he was about to do. Isabel and Michael looked at each other in a panic, they didn’t say anything. They didn’t quite know what to say with Maria present.
“Liz?” Max said quietly knowing that she wouldn’t be able to hear him. He looked apologetically back at Michael and Isabel.
“Max, you can’t!” Michael grumbled. “You know what this will mean.” Max did know what it would mean. It would mean their safe little world would be gone, that their secrets would be revealed to all in this room. The more people that knew the truth the more the chance that the wrong people would find out about them. Like the Sheriff who was wandering around somewhere through the festival.
“I have to Michael. This is Liz, I can’t let her die.”
“Max…”Michael warned but didn’t physically move to stop him. Before Michael could hide what Max was going to do from Maria, Max placed his hand over the handprint already visible and concentrated on Liz. He had never tried to heal anyone before, at least nothing serious. A couple of bruises that Hank hand inflicted on Michael or the occasional wounded bird, but this was the first time that it had really mattered. He concentrated on Liz, on trying to get entry into her consciousness. He knew that there was a small window of opportunity before the soul left her body and he only needed to bind her soul there in order to start to breathe life back into her. He felt for it, everything around him felt cold and distant and then there in the middle of the darkness was one small spark -- weak but it was there. He stroked it with his own soul, willing the spark to grow. He was amazed at how little effort it took and how much he recognized the feel of Liz’s soul. It was warm and inviting, and he wanted nothing more than to curl up and drown in it. He was safe in this place but as safe as he felt, he knew he needed to bring Liz back. Slowly images began to flow through him. Max and Liz as children in a playground, she was laughing as he watched her on the swing. Walking though the halls of the high school as some boy flirted with her and he wished that that could have been him. There was more recent images embedded there of he and Liz in the band room when he had kissed her and their walk through the park last night. There was also a chilling picture in her head of a man and a woman whose faces were hidden. The last thing he saw was a star formation in the shape of a V.
Michael and Isabel stared at each other in horror. They had figured that even with Max healing Liz that they would somehow be able to convince Maria that it was not what it seemed. But something strange was happening to Max and Liz as Max continued to heal her. A bright blue aura had begun to surround them; it swirled and danced until it had completely engulfed Max and Liz. Michael reached out to try to touch Max on the shoulder but whatever had surrounded them would not allow Michael’s hand to pass through. For a brief moment, he hoped that Maria hadn’t seen what was happening, that it was only something that only an alien could see but one look at her horror-stricken face told him otherwise. He quickly took a hold of her hand, for some reason he wanted to reassure her that everything was all right but he also wanted reassurance himself. He had never been one for physical contact, mostly because the contact he had received had been in the form of right crosses from his foster father. But standing here with Maria, engulfed in the raw fear that ebbed into his bones, he felt the need for that contact. She looked up at him and tried to manage a smile but what he saw there were questions but there were no looks of disgust as he had always imagined.
The shield that had been surrounding Max and Liz seemed to dissipate as quickly as it had formed. Max collapsed to the side of Liz with an audible thud and the giant intake of breath was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. He was shaking when he broke the connection and saw Liz’s eyes flutter open. She stared at him for a moment without moving or speaking. The silence in the room was palatable.
“Liz?” Maria rushed forward and gathered Liz into her arms. “Thank God you are all right.” She pulled back from Liz and looked at Max. She hadn’t a clue what just had happened but she knew that Max had saved her friend and for that she would be forever grateful. “I don’t know what you did, and I don’t care. Thank you.”
“What the hell is going on in here?!” Alex Whitman burst into the tent having followed Maria as she ran to follow Max as he had passed by them earlier.
“This is none of your business, Whitman.” Michael growled.
“The hell it isn’t. If this concerns my girls then it concerns me!” Alex was not usually forceful but seeing Liz sprawled on the floor in a crumpled heap, the battered look of Max lying next to her and the tears running down Maria’s face made Alex realized that he had just walked into something big and something he was going to get the answers to. Earlier Liz had told him that she was going to die and now she looked as though she was close to death. He didn’t believe her at the time, thought she had been going through some sort of hallucinogenic episode brought on by the stress of the shooting but now he didn’t know what to think.
“It’s all right, Alex.” Isabel said speaking to him in a soft tone of voice that made him feel very apprehensive.
“Don’t try to misdirect me, Isabel.” Alex chided. “Normally you may be able to wrap me around you little finger with the batting of your eyelashes but someone is going to tell me what the hell is going on here or I am going to head out here and get the Sheriff.”
Michael and Isabel glanced nervously at Max and Liz wondering just what they should do and just what they should tell them.
“Michael,” Maria said softly unaware that she was still holding on to his hand. “You can trust him. You can trust us. I don’t care what it is you guys are hiding. You saved her life here tonight, you all did. You could have stopped Max from helping her if you had really wanted to, Michael. But I think both Alex and I deserve to know the truth.”
Max nodded to Michael as he tried to sit up. His strength had been all but taken from him in healing Liz. She had been so close to death that he had been fearful that he wouldn’t be able to save her, that he would not be able to keep his promise to her. Maria and Alex became a part of their world tonight when they stepped into the tent. There would be no going back.
“Fine, we’ll tell you the truth, but not here.”
Max still couldn’t speak, he was weak and felt an overwhelming sense that something profound happening, he just wasn’t sure what it was.
“Max, we should get out of here.” Michael said as he quickly looked outside at the crowd. It was beginning to disperse. “The crowd’s thinning out there. The re-enactment must be getting ready to start. Now is the time to get out of here.”
Max still wasn’t responding, his eyes were locked on Liz’s. He knew her life was in danger but he had never suspected it was from another alien. That was the only explanation to the handprint. There was another alien in Roswell and it wasn’t one like them. This one was a killer who had seen Liz as some sort of threat.
“Max.” Liz managed to get out in a whisper. He crawled over to her and took her hands into his.
“I’m here, Liz.”
“You were right. You didn’t let me die.”
How can you see into my eyes like open doors
Leading you down into my core where I’ve become so numb
Without a soul my spirit’s sleeping somewhere cold
Until you find it there and lead it back home
