Roswell Fanatics

~Michael~

Rath's kid. Like I said I have no family and thing diffintaly. The boy says something about people wanting us dead. GREAT. Just like old times. I'm glad when Nate comes to back me up. Aleast he isnt' like his father who left me to go have a little chit chat with Ava and the weird boy.

I'm just about to beat some answers out of the stranger when the pretty girl Nate had his arm around shoulders past me. The girl has guts...I already like her.

*Max*

Zan laughs, assuming I'm an imposter looking for money. I knew this wasn't going to be easy. Ava starts explaining about her Zan, saying he was my 'twin.' Funny, I was thinking to describe Tess as Ava's 'identical twin,' as well.

I can handle the disbelief and the shouting, but then Zan tries to leave. I half expect him to use his powers to open the door, but he doesn't. Maybe he doesn't know how. He breaks for the window and all I can think of is the balcony and beyond that, the fire-escape and then who-knows-where. I can't let him go yet.

I rush to stand between him and the window. "No, Zan. Please. Nobody's going to hurt you. I don't want your money. I just want to talk," I tell him, speaking quickly as I weave back and forth to stay in front of him, spreading my arms to catch him if he tries to get past. I only hope he's hearing me.

"There's so much I want to tell you. Things you need to know. Please. Zan, I'm sorry."

Something takes a part of me,
Something lost and never seen,
Everytime I start to believe,
Something's raped and taken from me

Zander

"No, Zan. Please. Nobody's going to hurt you. I don't want your money. I just want to talk," Max says blocking my way to freedom as I try to get past him. But I’m not listening to a word he’s saying. I have to get out of here. I feel like I am suffocating.


"There's so much I want to tell you. Things you need to know. Please. Zan, I'm sorry." He says. Sorry for what? Sorry for me being born? Yeah, I’m fuckin sorry about that too. “Get out of my way!” I scream and I know I’m starting to hyperventilate. This isn’t happening. It’s just another nightmare, that’s all. Granted I’ve never had one so real, but who’s for details?

Ava comes up behind me and I don’t know she’s there until she lays, what I suppose to be comforting, hand on my shoulder but I about jump out of my skin. “Don’t touch me! Don’t you fuckin’ touch me, you BITCH!!!”

I have to get out of here. I can’t seem to catch my breath. I fake going to the right and then swerve to the light and I get past him. All those years of running from schoolyard bullies has finally paid off. I am almost to the window when suddenly there is something green in front of me. I rear backwards in an attempt not to hit…whatever it is and almost fall backwards, but someone’s hands keep me from falling.

I straighten up quickly and look curiously at the thing that blocked my exit. It looks like some sort of electric shield. I reach out hesitantly to touch it (probally not the smartest thing to do) when I touch it it doesn’t shock me like I expected but it doesn’t give either when I push on it. I turn and look at the other occupants of the room. “Start talking.” I all I say.

*Max*

Zan falls into my hands before I can take down the shield. No flashes this time. He’s understandably freaked and he jumps up right away, reaching out to touch it. Fighting my instinct to get rid of it instantly, I let him touch it. I can't help but remember what it was like when Nate and Natalie were little and I played with them using the shield.

It feels so strange to expose myself to him this way and I never would have done it if I hadn’t seen his powers in that flash downstairs. He’s not normal. He’s seen weird things he’s done and with Ava around, maybe he’s seen other things he couldn’t explain. He needs to know.

“Start talking,” he says.

I close my hand and the shield dissipates. Maybe I should have let him run. He believed me, I know. Maybe he would have come back when he was ready. Well, what’s done is done. At least he’s ready to listen. I step forward and open Liz’s window, letting a warm breeze in. “We can step out to talk if you like,” I say. I know he’s not leaving now, although I am still a bit concerned about people on the street level being able to overhear us.

I sit down on the edge of Liz’s desk, and force myself to go forward with what he wants to know. Or maybe it's just what I need to tell him. He may be more interested in the shield but I have to think he'd be curious about the basics, too. “I was seventeen when you were born. Your mother was named Tess. She was Ava’s … identical twin sister. So while you may be only cousins with Dominique, on a genetic level, she is your half-sister.” By the time this conversation is over, I expect that I’ll have explained about the clones, but I stick to the twin explanation for now.

I pick up the photo and look at it, remembering the little baby he was. Who would have guessed he’d become this hurt and angry androgynous teen in front of me? “I couldn’t keep you, although I wanted to. I wanted it more than anything. I loved you and I’ve never stopped loving you.” I look up at Zan then, hoping he believes me.

“I’m adopted and my parents are wonderful. I wanted that for you. A wonderful family. A safe place. They promised me they’d give that to you.” Zan was safe from the FBI and from Khivar, but there were other threats he didn’t escape. “I’m sorry it didn’t happen.”

Life's always gotta be messing with me,
Can't it chill and let me be free?
Can't I take away all this pain?
I try to everynight, all in vain, in vain.


Zander

How many people are twins around here? Didn’t Ava just say that Max had a twin too. Something isn’t right but I let it slide for now. “I couldn’t keep you, although I wanted to. I wanted it more than anything. I loved you and I’ve never stopped loving you.” He says and I just stand there with my face completely blank this is so fucked up it’s not even funny.

“I’m adopted and my parents are wonderful. I wanted that for you. A wonderful family. A safe place. They promised me they’d give that to you I’m sorry it didn’t happen.” He says and I wonder what makes him assume that? What do I have victim written across my forehead or something? I actually had an okay childhood I guess, besides the bullying and my parents constantly fighting. After my parents got divorced is when it all went to hell.

“My parents are great.” I say somewhat truthfully. Me and my Dad talk on the phone a lot more than me and my mom. He lives in Paris with his new wife and her kids. He just went right out and got a whole new family, but we do keep in touch.

I try and change the subject by asking, “You didn’t explain to me the freaky…” I say and finish off by waving my hand in the air. I’m not really sure how he did it but I would definitely like to know more about that before anything else. I don’t really know what he expects from me. I mean I technically have parents already and we’re a little fucked up family but I do have all the family I need with the band. Music has become my life, my salvation in a way, I don’t think there is room for anything else.

I’m not as pissed as I am at him as I thought I’d be. I found out I was adopted when my parents were going through there divorce but I had never really wondered about my birth parents. I figured they were both dead I guess. But now it seems they were both just young. I wonder about what happened to my birth mother but I don’t ask right now.

*Max*

He says his parents are great, but in that brief flash, I didn't see a single instance of happiness or peace. I'm sure he had some, but they must not be strong memories for him and that makes me sad.

“You didn’t explain to me the freaky…” he says, gesturing helplessly.

"Right," I say. Turning my hand up, I generate the shield energy again. This time, I shape it as a sphere, floating over my hand. I glance over at Ava, wondering what she's thinking about all this.

"Obviously, I'm not exactly normal." I decide to keep it as just me for now. I could mention Tess but as I've already said she was identical to Ava, I don't know if I should. I wonder what I can say to him and not have him think I'm crazy. He's not normal himself but it's still a bit of a stretch to believing in aliens. I close up the shield energy again, looking at Zan.

"And neither are you. Tess told me that you were going to be normal but that's not true, is it? You can do things that other people can’t do,” I say.

I’d done a blood-test for him and it had certainly seemed normal at the time. I’d tried to use my powers, too, but all that told me was that he was healthy. I didn’t know then that those traits didn’t show up until later. The other kids didn’t show any signs until they were almost five. Still, it had been possible that Zan, or any of them, might be human. I had imagined that whatever test they'd done on Antar, it was better than a blood smear. Either that was wrong or Tess lied.


.

Maybe we're victims of fate
Remember when we'd celebrate
We'd drink and get high until late
And now we're all alone


Zander

"Obviously, I'm not exactly normal." He says and I can’t help but think that is the biggest understatement I’ve ever heard, especially as I stare at the neon green glowing ball thingy.

"And neither are you. Tess told me that you were going to be normal but that's not true, is it? You can do things that other people can’t do,” he says and I wonder what gave him that idea, I also wonder what other abilities he has. “I’ve noticed strange things happen around me but not anything like that.”

“Max, your positive about this?” Ava asks and I wonder what part she’s referring too. “I mean maybe you should double check.”

Then it hits me. We don’t know for sure anything. So far its all been one guess. “What do you want to do a blood test or something?” I ask

Ava’s shaking her head no though. “There is another way, Max can make a connection with you, but you have to let him Zan. You have to sort of open up to him, mentally.”

I don’t think I like the sound of that or not but if we will know for sure then maybe I can handle it. After a few moments I finally say, “Alright what do I have to do?”

*Max*

“I’ve noticed strange things happen around me but not anything like that,” Zan says, wide-eyed. I nod. It’s possible he didn’t inherit the shield ability – or maybe he’d just never felt threatened enough to have discovered it. I wonder if any of the ‘strange things’ he’d seen were things that Ava or even Dominique had done, but that’s not important right now.

“Max, you’re positive about this?” Ava asks. “I mean maybe you should double check.”

Zan asks about a blood test. A logical question and one that would work, actually. although it would only show that he was a hybrid, not that he was my son. Still the fact that he mentioned it means he’s opening up to the idea. I’m guessing it’s not something he’d agreed to readily with the other ‘gold-digging daddies’ he’d mentioned. If he had, the odd results would have been trouble for him. On some level, he already knows it’s true, if only because it explains what’s been odd about himself.

Ava explains about making a connection. Zan looks a bit uncertain but then that vanishes to be replaced by an odd sort of determination, “Alright what do I have to do?”

“I’m sure, Ava. But it probably would be a good idea to make that clear to both of you,” I tell her, not explaining fully about the earlier flash because I don’t want to freak Zan out any more than he is. Turning to my son, I speak in re-assuring tones as I step forward. “Relax, Zan. It won’t hurt. I won’t even need to make a full connection.”

I don’t even need to touch him, I know, but I want to. I want to touch him and to hold him and somehow help to heal the hurts he’s known. I start by putting my hands on his face and I’m pleased when he lets me. He’s starting to trust me and this crazy story just a little.

“Last time I saw you, I gave you something. Two things. One was a memory and the other …” I lift one hand and pass it over his forehead, activating the memory and the mark. Light sparkles dance in the air a few inches in front of him, coalescing into the whirlwind symbol. It hovers there for a moment and then it’s gone.

“Do you remember?” I ask.

.

~Natalie~

“Trouble,” Nate begins to explain to me and I glance around worried. “Zan jumped me and now this other kid is trying to sneak in here.”

“I don’t have family. Who’s your dad kid?” Uncle Michael ends up saying to the kid and I note out of the corner of my eye that Micah seems to tense. What is going on with him and Uncle Michael? It seemed to me that the last few years things had really changed even more with them. Micah was always surley around his dad and whenever I saw him there seemed to be times when he simply wanted to hide away.

"Well, doesn't surprise me that age has caught up with ya Duke... my pops is Rath... or was Rath anyway... bad accident and shit, but yeah, my pops is gone," the stranger replies.

Rath? I remember dad telling us about Rath. What is his son doing here? How did Rath die? Those questions begin running through my head just before the kid continues, "But, hey... ya don't want me here... when I've got some news about people wantin' ya and yo's dead..."

Dad looked towards us and spoke briefly, "Be careful. I'll be right upstairs if you need me," then he was gone, that worried me.

“Go on,” I hear my brother say and turn to look at Dominique, who looks as exotic as her name sounds. I didn't really have the chance to observe her face to face earlier with the chaos in the cafe'. "Maybe we can get a chance to talk later," he adds toward her and I can't help but wonder what's going on there.

“You,” Nate's now directed at the strange kid, “Spill it. Who are you? What are you talking about?"

Dominique ends up coming to stand near me and Anya and I give her a brief smile, not wanting her to think badly of me even though I was now tense and wondering just what sort of danger we'd have to face. The stories dad had told us had haunted me for some time, especially when I started being able to do things...

My brother seems to be making a mess of things if he has an interest in Dominique because he kind of orders her to leave with the guy's. But, her response was something that I respected, "Listen here buddy, First off I take orders from no one. Suggestions yes, orders no. Secondly I'm not going to leave my mother and Zan upstairs in some very bizarre little town. So I'll be staying until Zan comes down." The glare she gave Nate could have curdled milk.

"And maybe if you and your uncle would talk to the freakin boy instead of staring at him like he is going to do a magic trick that conversation might go a little better." She shoulders past my brother and uncle and stands in front of the new guy.

"I'm Dominique Royals. Ava Royals daughter."

Taking her lead, I walk behind her and move to stand beside her as I spoke, "I'm Natalie Evans." The boy smiles as he looks both of us over with appreciation before speaking towards Dominique.

"Technically, Dominique, I'm your cousin somewhat... Drake Landry. From what my pops said, Ava was like a sister to him, kind of like my mom's sister-in-law for some time."



~Drake~


I'm rather surprised when both girls come over to me being polite after how the Duke and this kid were simply trying to be threatening and all that jive. I really couldn't care less what either of them did with themselves. The girls however, it's nice to have them being nice. I hold out my hand to shake theirs before I continue, "How much do you know about... being different?" I decide to ask the girls bluntly, wondering how much their parents had told them.

"Enough..." Natalie hedges, looking on curiously. Another boy comes up, the one that I'd taken as being Duke's son and puts a hand on her shoulder, "This is Micah Guerin." Natalie introduces.

"Pleasure, Micah. Might as well say we're brothers, specially since your pops was a copy of mine."

Micah glared at me as he spoke rather roughly, "I think we would all rather hear what you mean about people wanting us dead and why. Not to mention, how the hell you know about it."

I can't keep from smirking, "I's always believed that boys were never as pleasing as women when it comes to conversation." I laughed and before I said anything else I glanced around to the others in the room, my eyes landing on another girl and I wondered who she was and why she wasn't saying much. "Epic."

Micah followed my gaze and then turned, I saw his fists balling up, "That's my sister Anya, don't you even think about it."

"Ooh, I'm shaking." I chuckled and stepped closer to Dominique, "So, as I was saying, how much do you know about your moms? I don't wanna be the one to throw ya for a loop."

*Nathaniel*

The kid starts talking about copies and then I remember. Rath wasn't just Uncle Michael's other name. It was the name of his dupe... but I though the dupes were all killed decades ago! Somebody's lying here.

And there' something else I know. This isn't something that I think we should be talking about in front of strangers. I'm about to try to kick them out again but Drake, as he calls himself, starts talking to Dominque like he knows something about her. After the way she got upset at me before and the way Drake is talking, I'm guessing I can't get rid of her, but I definately want Danny and Sam out of here.

"Danny, Sam? I think you guys need to wait for us in the dining room," I say. "This is kinda private."