Roswell Fanatics

Part 40: Crystal-Clear
November 2nd, 2011 - New York


1 : Jade

Of all the things Jade had envisioned happening today—presenting himself to Liz as her bodyguard, getting his answer to the Zan question, seeing Van after almost two years—returning to Antar was nowhere on that list.

In fact, returning to Antar was part of no list he would ever write. He’d decided a long time ago that Earth would become his adopted world. Shifters lived long lives, especially compared to humans, and Earth had so much to offer to one who wanted to roam free.

Even if Max had decided to leave Earth and rule Antar, Jade would be so far away from the Seal’s compulsion powers that forsaking his own world was more than welcome.

And yet… here we are, he thought as the wormhole opened in front of them. He and Luke were going to take point, ensuring the coast was clear. Not only was Van coming along with the Royal Seal of Antar safely stenciled in his brain, Max was also coming. If Khivar struck their arriving point by some seriously bad luck, then the Rebellion would be over.

He stepped in, not even blinking at the black engulfing door. He’d done this trip once, eight years ago. And just like then, it took but a heartbeat to step in and then step out on Antarian soil.

Home—or something like it.

The wormhole opened at a concealed structure tucked inside a mountain, far enough from the palace to not be picked up by Khivar’s energy scanners, but close enough to have access to the enormous electrical needs for this to work. There were only three points on the entire planet they could concealed themselves coming and going, and this was the farthest of them all.

Cold air met his skin, thinner and cleaner than New York’s air. The control room was deserted by Van’s command, hidden in shadows. As Jade stepped in, movement activated monitors that show strategic places around this safe house and the capital city.

In the distance, the palace’s purple and green banners shone under powerful lights pointing to the night sky. Khivar’s colors, so abhorrent even a decade later.

Jade dissolved himself into the floor and lost no time checking the perimeter. He’d been doing the same thing for Liz for years, but he’d never really expected to find trouble, and that had made him soft.

Now, though, all his nerves were firing at their max as he swept the entire room while Luke came in. Out they went, inspecting all the rooms in the perimeter, making sure this place had not been breached since Van had left this morning.

Two minutes later, Luke met him at the entrance, nodding. Luke sent the all-clear beacon while Jade moved to the control console. Once everyone was here, they had to recalibrate the machine to redirect the opening on Earth’s side somewhere away from New York. Calculations would take time, though, so he had to make a head start.

Violet came then, silently dissolving the moment she set foot here. Ash came after her, also disappearing as fast as he could. They were the Invisible Guard for a reason.

“They’re going to be a handful once they’re here,” Luke said as he stood to attention, waiting for Van’s arrival. Jade smiled. He bet Liz would get a kick out of this.


2 : Ray

It took him a while to reach what passed as a garage in this place, but Ray was finally inspecting the bikes and the car when Langley literally appeared from the wall.

“Jesus!” Ray said, reaching for a gun that wasn’t there.

“They messed the third exit by some freaky accident,” the shifter said, disregarding Ray’s sudden heart attack.

“That means—”

“We might just cross paths with them sooner rather than later if we don’t leave this place soon.”

“Are you okay?” Ray asked, concerned.

“No. I was too close to the explosion… I won’t be much help if we have to face them, so you better pick up some guns for the road,” Langley answered, pointing with a finger to a small armory at the end of the spacious garage.

Ray ran towards it without a second thought. If he needed to shoot his way out of here, he needed to be prepared. He was a descent shooter from a bike, and Kyle was not going to disappoint him, either. Dave and Jake had trained over the years, but they weren’t exactly top students under high stakes circumstances.

He wished he could have Michael by his side.

The door by his left opened at the exact same time he reached for the first gun, and he aimed without a second thought.

“Don’t—!” Kyle said, raising his arms in midair.

“Right,” Ray said, lowering his gun and then turning to look at the rest of his arsenal. He picked up two handguns, a couple of grenades, and then turned again as Kyle approached him, Dave and Jake in tow.

“What are you doing?” Kyle asked, urgency coloring his voice.

“Selecting our last chance to get out of here. Langley has just joined us,” he said, signaling the car with his head. “He says the third exit is no longer an option,” he added, handing Kyle a handgun as well. Out of all of them, Kyle had always been his brightest shooter. “You and I are going to play cover, while Dave and Jake get out of here by car. Langley, where are you going to be?” Ray asked as he finished handing guns and walking back to their escape vehicles.

“The car. I don’t have much energy left, but I can burst a few cars still,” he said as he opened the passenger door.

Dave got on the driver’s side, and Jake opened the copilot door. Ray was about to turn the bike on when a loud explosion shook them enough to reach for the wall for balance.

“What the hell?” Ray said, turning to look at the entrance where Kyle had come. It was still holding.

“They’ve set the compound to self-destruct,” Dave said as he turned on the car. “I don’t think this parking garage has too much time left, either.”

Dave floored the gas and got out towards the exit, and so did Kyle after him. Looking one last time at the entrance, Ray floored it as well.

Aliens, agents, whoever was chasing them, they were going to be sorely disappointed.


3 : Dave

Alien technology was too much of a wild card to leave it lying around while the Special Unit was lurking. Once enough breaches occurred, the place would automatically destroy the most sensitive parts of the compound.

He had no idea if Daniel’s little prison was part of that or not. Honestly, knowing that the little brat had ratted out Sybelle’s location had killed something inside Dave that he hadn’t even known was there. Maybe some sort of paternal instinct, maybe thinking that Daniel and himself were the same. Whatever it was, it was now dead and very much buried.

In the back seat, Langley looked outside the window, searching for anyone following them. They had narrowly escaped a roadblock by a couple of minutes, and New York’s million lights called them into the safety of anonymity and shadowy corners.

Kyle and Ray weaved through the traffic lines on their bikes, the dark helmets protecting their identities well. That Kyle had stayed to help find Sybelle had warmed Dave’s heart, he was not going to deny that. Part of him knew his goddaughter would settle one day, but this was happening all too soon. Was Kyle a good choice, though?

As long as Dave had a deal with them, the answer was no. Alas, hadn’t all that changed this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. when Max Evans had walked into the Empire State Building to meet his brother? By all accounts, Kyle Valenti was no longer indebted to him, and wasn’t that a revelation?

They entered New York City with one destination in mind: JFK airport. Even if his Network was barely working right now, Dave had enough contacts to get a private jet and get everyone out.

“You sure you’re okay?” Jake asked Langley.

“I’ll be. I’ve been in tighter situations. Where are we going, exactly?”

“England,” Dave answered. “Sybelle is still there, and I’ve managed to disrupt the Unit’s communications for a while. We’ll get her and then disappear.”

“That’s a six hour flight,” Langley warned.

“McKay will have his hands full with the imploding compound back there,” Dave said confidently. Langley shook his head.

“He’d left. Before the explosion, I saw his team leaving.”

“That makes no sense,” Dave said, briefly taking his eyes from the road to turn to look at Langley behind him.

“You should find where he went before we make any plans regarding England,” Langley warned.

Dave shook his head. He was going to go get his goddaughter one way or another. Out loud, he said, “You should rest. You really look like crap.”

The fact that Langley didn’t rise to the bait was the most worrisome part. It even looked as if the shifter was already asleep.

“You should have Ray training her,” Jake said at length as they made their way through New York’s traffic.

“I don’t want her thinking she’s Wonder Woman and taking on the bad guys…” Dave said, the lied he’d been telling himself for years now.

“I think she’s smart enough to know when to use deadly force…” Jake trailed off at Dave’s warning eyes. He didn’t need this right now. Not the what ifs and should haves.

“Is it too late to not be in her life so she’s not a target?” he asked. A rhetorical question and they both knew it. Even if he were to disappear, now that the Special Unit knew about her, she would never be safe.

Not until the Unit was gone.


4 : Max

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Michael asked. Max’s connection was still running low, and the little he’d tested his powers wasn’t encouraging.

“I’ll be,” he evasively answered. If they had to fight the Unit head on, he doubted they would last long.

“Are you okay?” Michael asked Maria, who was playing with her wedding ring.

“Sure. Just your run of the mill alien planet you’re visiting every other weekend,” she answered, not taking her eyes from the dark shadow of a portal that was the wormhole entrance.

“It’ll be a windowless room. Nothing to get excited about,” Van said apologetically as the console received Luke’s second green light.

“It’s another planet,” Liz said, torn between excitement and fear. “I know you communicate between five planets and space travel is this everyday occurrence, but for us? I’m—I’m speechless, that’s what I am, even if it’s just a windowless room.”

“I wish you could get to see Antar at its best,” Max said, holding her closer as Rose and the other two shifters went through. They needed all their fire power to contain Khivar if he was waiting on the other side.

A third green light came in, signifying all was going according to plan.

“I’m just amazed by the idea of it all,” Liz said, her anxiety spiking as their time to walk through the wormhole got closer.

“You’ll always be welcomed to visit,” Van said, his eyes softening as he looked at Max. He knew Van had gotten flashes of his life, and he wondered if Van finally understood the strong bonds that tied Max to Earth: friends, family, love.

“One thing at a time, though,” Maria said, finally snapping out of her trance. “You need to get the throne back, and then we can go vacationing on Antar.”

Van gave her a genuine smile at that and then walked into the wormhole.

Michael hugged her then. “I am sorry for screwing up our vacation.”

“Once this is all over, Space Boy—” she trailed off with a raised eyebrow as he walked in.

Another green light came a minute after. “Are you sure you want me to be the first human to walk—” Maria asked Liz.

“Go!” Liz said, almost giggling. Still hesitant, her best friend walked into the void.

“Your Majesty, we’ll be right behind you,” Jet said as a loud rumble passed them over.

“You know I don’t have the Seal anymore,” Max said, “You don’t need to address me like that.”

“You will always be our king, sir. Across the galaxy, in an alien body, with a different name—you’ll always be Antar’s king.”

I don’t deserve this devotion, Max thought, but knew better than to belittle this man’s sentiment with denial. Zan had been a good man, and by Max’s estimation, a decent king. As he gripped Liz’s hand and walked into true Antarian soil, all he could hope for was for these people—his people—to find in Van what they were looking for.

So that's it, they are on Antar. Or soon going to be, except for Kyle, Langley (I don't think he minds too much staying on Earth) and Sybelle. I guess the fight will be on Earth between Langley and his nemesis, and on Antar, Van/Max/Michael and co vs Khivar.

I feel like Van sincerely likes Maria. Not in a sentimental way, but he seems to trust her, and to treat her well, and to like what she proposes to him. He is not too far from proposing her a job as his counselor !

Poor Max. I mean, he is no longer the king, but that doesn't mean that antarians have lost all hope about Zan. But now, the seal is with Van so I think the transition for the antarians won't be too difficult, especially since Van is Zan's brother and has Zan's approval to be the next ruler.

Misha, Misha, Misha...You have continued to reinforce why I love fanfiction.

Great authors like you, that can take readers to a place that the original work didn't or couldn't take us to.

I'm all for whatever you dish out, I'm here for the journey.

Great work once again, thumbs up.

Meka

Sorry for the long delay! Scenes needed to be written or rewritten but here I am!

Meka, thank you for your kind words! As I'm finishing this story, another one is already popping up in my head. Albeit, I'll aim for something shorter... As we wrapped this one down, this trilogy is about to cross half a million words

xmag, well, in Van's words, it's only a windowless room...




Part 41: Revolution
Antar


1 : Liz

Once upon a time, a small-town girl had gazed upon the stars and wondered which one was his. Remote as it was, at the back of her mind, Liz had always entertained the idea of getting to know Max’s planet. Not the royal politics and intrigues that had landed Max eating at the Crashdown Café one September afternoon, but everything else about an alien civilization: the landscape, the architecture, the culture.

Walking down the path towards the wormhole entrance, she realized her wish was about to come true.

Since Max had Zan’s memories, he knew everything there was to know about Antar. Being king meant that Zan would have been extensively schooled on all sorts of geopolitical matters and historical events, of course, but also that Zan would have been in rooms and spheres that no one else had gotten to see.

The fact that, just three hours after hearing Max say he remembered Zan, she found herself walking into his home world was nothing short of dizzying.

They would only stay there for however long it took the machine to recalibrate and send them back, which in Luke’s estimation was no longer than a couple of hours, but those were two hours where Liz Parker was going to walk on alien grounds, breathe in alien air, and see alien skies.

She was dazzled and on the edge of hyperventilating a little when she stepped through the darkness of the wormhole—and into the brightness of the rebels’ control room on the other side.

I thought Van had said windowless, Liz thought, as a floor to ceiling window covered the far side, allowing her to see Antar’s capital city in the distance. Against the shadow of night, its white lights made it shine like a gem, with many purple and green banners hanging from white skyscrapers in all directions. In the middle, the highest of all buildings had a silver roof that reached the sky like a needle.

That must be the palace, she guessed, turning to look at Max for confirmation. Beside her, Max’s eyes glazed for a moment.

He remembers this place, she realized, as every time Max’s eyes had lost focus around her came back to her mind. He’d been remembering something about Antar then, and now here he was, seeing with his own eyes what he’d only glimpsed in memories.

Then, the “window” changed from showing Antar’s hundreds of elegantly curved, thin buildings to another city, equally alien, except the sun shone on it.

“It’s a screen,” she said, as Van stepped in front of it, facing the changing image. Max moved to stand beside him without hesitation, looking very much in control. That was Zan walking in to see his kingdom, no matter how Max felt about it, leaving her a few steps behind. Several other screens came to life on the rest of the walls, illuminating the large room they were in. Eight different places caught her attention, as she spun in a vain attempt to see them all at once.

“It’s a direct link to all mayor cities on Antar,” Jade said, suddenly by her side. “Even if you weren’t aware of it, they’re all part of your kingdom, Your Majesty.”

She smiled, knowing how much this meant to Jade even if they both knew she was never going to be queen, not in any way that mattered, anyway.

I wonder if their history books will even mention me…

“I used to imagine a medieval city for some reason,” she said, staring at the closest screen of a megacity by a green-blue sea. Several towers displayed green and purple banners flapping in the breeze. The screens did not have any sound, but she could almost hear the waves breaking in the rocky shores while seagull-like-creatures cried in the distance.

“Picture it but with silver and blue colors,” Jade said. “Zan’s colors. You can get arrested on the streets for wearing them in combination, that’s how powerful Zan’s image remain. The Royal House of Antar has many symbols, and they’re all forbidden by the usurper.”

“He really is afraid of Zan,” she said, fears of a world calling and holding her husband filling her mind.

“Now that Zan has been pronounced dead, though… Khivar released the news a couple of hours ago. We’ve just broadcasted Van’s message, so we’re monitoring the cities where the impact will be felt the most. Cities that are friendly to the Rebellion despite Khivar’s warnings will be the first to react. In a way, I guess today is the day when the Rebellion either dies in obscurity—or rises for a golden age.”


2 : Max

A thousand memories came to life in Max’s mind as he stared at the screen.

Antar.

It was Max’s wonder mixed with Zan’s pride that looked at those cities. It felt as if he could extend his hand and touch them. Every single one of those places had only existed in what-ifs and half-remembered dreams for Max. Sometimes, he wasn’t even sure if he was imagining things, changing the past and creating new scenes that had never happened.

Here, standing in front of what his past used to be, Zan truly became real.

“You lived in that tower,” Van said, intently looking at the silver skyscraper.

“He died there, too,” Max whispered, the painful memory of a sunrise without king still haunting him.

“We fight for this land, for these people,” Van kept talking, ignoring Max’s words. “I always dreamed of this moment, where you would stand beside me, looking upon your kingdom, ready to take it back.”

Max looked at Van, then. “I truly am sorry your brother isn’t here.”

They stayed silent for a long moment, both contemplating the past they could not change, and the future that still remained unknown.

“The idea of him was the compass that guided every action I ever took,” Van confessed, looking back at Max. For the first time, it felt like Van had finally accepted that there would never be a Zan by his side. That he was now king and Max was just human.

“I stand by what I said earlier,” Max said, turning to look at the city once more, “I will always answer any questions you have about what Zan thought or did in his life. I will carry his memories until the day I die. All I ask in return is that you keep true to your vision of what Antar should be. Regardless of what you think Zan wanted, this is your kingdom now.”

Van looked at the city intently, nodding once at some internal resolution.

“Zan’s colors—our family’s colors will hang from Antar’s many walls once more. I’ll see to that.”


3 : Isabel

A lifetime ago, Vilandra opened a door and let doom walk into her palace, ruining her life, the monarchy, and changing Antar’s history forever. Yet nothing could have prepared her to look up at the wall-size screen in front of her and see Antar’s buildings displaying Khivar’s colors.

It was her fault and it was so wrong and she wanted nothing but to blast that man into oblivion.

“Isabel…” Jesse said, coming behind her, “you’re not her. You never were.”

“I wish I could go out and tell everyone the truth of who that man is, what he did. I wish so much I could change everything,” she whispered with barely suppressed anger tinging her voice. She hated that man. She hated seeing what he’d done to her world. “I wish I could do something,” she said, her skin crawling with helplessness.

“You did. For what I heard, you saved Max’s life not two hours ago, and in doing so—” Jesse said, looking at the palace on the screen, “—you gave the Rebellion new reasons to fight him.”

The screens silently flashed red for a moment, some sort of alarm system going off.

“That can’t be a good thing,” Jesse mustered, looking at another screen as alien text started to appear by the corners.

“These symbols…” Isabel whispered.

“We know these symbols…” Michael said, coming closer to the screen as well.

The main monitor that overlooked the capital city with the Royal Palace in the middle suddenly changed to Van’s face.

They all turned to look at Van. Luke waved his hand and audio started playing low. They couldn’t risk being heard from the outside world.

“It’s the recording of my earlier speech,” Van explained, looking self-conscious for once. “It’s… being broadcasted through the emergency channels,” he added, frowning. All screens had synced now, showing Van’s speech.

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Maria asked.

“These are Khivar’s emergency channels. Someone inside his ranks is transmitting it to, well, everyone. The entire planet is watching this.”

“What does it say?” Liz asked, pointing at the moving symbols on the screen.

Van looked perplexed for a moment. “It says—it says, ‘the true king calls.’”


4 : Michael

A part of him—dormant and buried—got the gist of what the speech was about: sacrifice, fighting, resilience. But another part of him, the Rath in him, knew what it meant: rebellion.

“This is the spark that ignites the world,” he said, astonished. And then he turned to look at his wife, “and it had to come from you,” he said with pride. They both smirked at that.

“Sometimes, the best ideas come from the unlikeliest of places,” Van said with a nod of his head. “Such a brilliant mind tucked away in such a small planet,” he added. Maria smiled coyly at that.

“I mean, it is too early to tell,” she said, “but at least Max dying is now Khivar’s nightmare, not the Rebellion’s.”

“And aren’t we grateful for that,” Violet said. By the console, Luke ended the emergency transmission in favor of multiplying the number of places showing on the screens all around them. Michael knew those places, important, strategic cities, looking both alien and familiar at the same time.

“How long until the portal reopens?” Ray asked, ever the practical man.

“About two hours,” Luke said from the console. “It will open near Niagara Falls, the Canadian side. With a little luck, it will be about fifty feet from one of your safe houses.”

“Are you confident you can reclaim the Seal from me?” Van said, looking at Max yet commanding the entire room’s attention. Those words, spoken by any other man, would have been a threat to Max, Michael knew.

“Yes,” Max said, “but no one deserves that Seal more than you do, Van. It’s the right choice.”

“The Seal will legitimize my claim to the throne and the Rebellion’s belief that Khivar does not belong there, I know. But once the fight is over, I will come for you.”

For the longest moment, Michael could see their lives being still entangled with Antar’s politics, where the idea of the Royal Four would never die until Michael himself was dead—and maybe even then he would be cloned again and again.

“Van—” Max started, clearly feeling that weight as well.

“No. I will come for you, and you will destroy it.” The shifters in the room all gasped. No one seemed to be even breathing. “Many things need to happen before it,” Van added, looking apologetically at Luke’s shocked face, “but this needs to end. If Antar’s future rulers can’t lead without controlling shifters’ every move, then they don’t deserve to rule at all.”

Max breathed a sigh of relief. And so did Michael.

“Antar might have been the harshest of places for you to grow up, Van,” Max said, “but it forged in you the kind of wisdom this world is in desperate need to have. When you come, I’ll be ready.”