Born of the Stars

Author: Kath7

Category: M/L, Alex

Rating: PG-13 for now.

Summary: Post-Harvest. So basically everything that we hated about Season 2 never happened. From a challenge by Rachie B. A re-imagining of what those four extra pods in Summer of �47 meant.

Disclaimer: I don�t own the characters, nor the concept of Roswell. I�m just borrowing them, with thanks. Kate, Will, and Jack are my creations, however, and belong to me.

Part 1

November 2000 - Copper Summit, Arizona

The destruction was complete. When Nicholas called them, she had hoped that he was exaggerating, that something could be salvaged. But there was no way. It was all gone.

They had driven through the night to be in Copper Summit as quickly as possible, in order to rally their people before despair set in. But none of them had expected the absolute finality of what had happened. As was historically the precedent, where Zan went, chaos had followed. She should have known that things would not have changed simply because his face was different, just because the planet was new.

And, yet, she had hoped. Because without their people - their followers - how were they ever going to return home? How were they ever going to reclaim all that had been lost when Zan set in motion the events that had stranded them on Earth, over fifty years before?

It was hopeless now. Their people would die. Without the Harvest, they would all just fade away, gradually returning to the dust that had formed their skins in the first place.

She felt a brief flash of relief that she was not dependent on any skin, that she and her most loved ones were perfectly safe. On Antar, the half-human bodies they inhabited would possibly end up a liability. But here on Earth they were what kept them strong. They were what meant they would live to defeat Zan, so that they could all return home; so that the Golden Age of peace that had been prophesied with each of their births could come at last to their galaxy.

She stared at the dead husks for several more seconds, then turned, heading back up the stairs, and into the harsh Arizona sunlight.

Jack was waiting for her at the door. "It�s bad, huh?"

"Don�t go down there," she told her cousin firmly. "You don�t want to see it." Jack was sensitive. He would not be able to handle it. She didn�t want him to have to remember the end of all their hopes and dreams.

She knew that she wouldn�t be able to stop Will. He would look, feeling that it was his duty. It was always about duty with her brother, always about what had to be, not about what he really wanted.

But then Will had never wanted anything for himself after he lost Rowena. Even though it had been in another lifetime, he had never recovered. The only way he had gotten through it had been by struggling to do his duty - by focusing on nothing else. He was a king. It was his responsibility to go on.

Will remembered what had happened when Zan had let the personal interfere with duty after all. They all did. He had completely destroyed any hope of peace their galaxy had ever had.

"Where�s Will?" she asked Jack. "He�ll want to see." She swallowed, closed her eyes to the flash that appeared before her eyes of the lifeless husks, the skins that had been meant to protect her people for another fifty years. Until they could find the granolith, until they could take them home.

They had failed. Completely and utterly. In two lifetimes.

"He�s still in the church with Nicholas," Jack replied, running a hand through his blond hair and glancing behind her into the darkened shed, as though he wanted to ignore her advice. She could tell that he wanted to see for himself.

"No, Jack." She made her voice firm. He would not disobey a direct order.

He sighed. "Fine." He trailed after her as she hurried across the road towards the church. She had to speak to her brother. He had asked her to check out the damage and report back. He would go see for himself eventually, but, for the moment, Nicholas had the information they needed. Nicholas was Will�s first priority.

For the first time in fifty years they knew where to find Zan. Nicholas had even seen him. They had actually found him. It was almost incomprehensible to her. They had been looking for so long and suddenly he just popped up where they least expected him.

In the end, he had come to them.

Zan had been in Copper Summit, had destroyed the Harvest and had gone back to where he came from. But, this time, they could follow.

And where Zan was, the granolith could not be far away. There was still a chance to save their people.

She stopped abruptly when she sensed that Jack was no longer following her. Turning on her heel, she prepared to retrace her steps, to chase him down into the chamber under the shed where the Harvest had been hidden. Jack had never disobeyed an order before, but, then, nothing of this magnitude had ever happened before either. She almost didn�t blame him.

She should have known better though. Because Jack hadn�t gone anywhere, it not being his nature to go against her or Will. Instead, he was standing in the centre of the dusty road, a strange expression on his face.

She narrowed her eyes, watching him for a moment as he lifted his chin, closed his eyes and seemed to sniff the air. Finally, when she could take it no longer, she called to him. "Jack? What�s going on?"

He didn�t reply for a long moment. When he finally opened his eyes, she was shocked to see tears welling in the clear blue depths. "Oh my God. I can�t believe it." His voice shook.

"Jack? What?" She felt her heart enter her throat. He didn�t answer, merely rubbed a weary hand across his face, shaking his head in disbelief. She moved forward, grabbed his arm, shook him. "Jack! Answer me!"

He stared at her for a long moment and, then, the most amazing thing happened.

He smiled. And not just any smile. It was so completely beatific, it nearly blinded her.

How could he smile like that after what had happened? Had he gone crazy?

But when he spoke again, she knew he had not. "Kate, it�s a miracle." She blinked, wondered why her heart seemed to be beating at fifty times the normal rate.

When he finally told her though, she was not surprised. Not in the least.

"It�s Rowena. I saw her. She was here! Kate, she�s alive."

***

Roswell, New Mexico - Three days later

Liz Parker stood on her toes and peeked through the window on the door of her biology classroom.

She needed to know if he was in there, had to steel herself if he was. She had to be ready for the coldness that was going to come off him in waves at the sight of her, had to prepare herself for being ignored for the whole period.

"What are we looking at?"

Liz jumped about a foot, then whirled around and found herself face to face with her best friend, Maria Deluca. Her other best friend, Alex Whitman, stood directly behind the pretty strawberry blonde, a matching expression of curiosity on his face. Liz�s heart returned slowly to its normal rhythm as she exclaimed, "Maria!"

Maria grinned at her, raising an eyebrow. "I repeat, what are we looking at?"

But Liz couldn�t answer her. Because he was coming down the hallway towards her. And he wasn�t alone.

He was with Tess. Just like he had been every time she had seen him since the night she had pretended to sleep with Kyle. Since the night she had broken his heart.

He walked right past her without saying a word, no expression on his beloved face. He didn�t even look at her. He just headed straight into the classroom, Tess on his heels. Her nose was in the air.

He had not looked at her even once since they had returned from Arizona. Because, now that they were back, now that they had dealt with the Whittaker mystery and the Harvest, he didn�t need her anymore.

Now that he actually believed that she had slept with Kyle, for him, she had ceased to exist.

Because hadn�t she seen the exact moment that he had started to believe it? The expression on his face before he walked away from her on that street in Copper Summit� It was haunting her even more than the one he had worn the night he had come to her window with the tickets to Gomez, the night that she and Future Max had orchestrated the complete betrayal of everything that Max and Liz were supposed to be about. Because what he had said to her in Copper Summit had told her that until she flat-out told him that she and Kyle had made love, he had still held on to a shred of hope that it was not true. That she would explain things. That it would all go away.

What I saw can't be true, because it means everything I felt in my heart for the last year is a lie!

His voice ran through her mind, reminding her how she had almost broken in that instant, how she had almost told him the truth. She had never seen him that angry, that upset. And she was the one who had caused it. The last person who was supposed to hurt him, she had been the one who had completely demolished him.

But she had been strong. She had basically told him that he was right, that everything he had thought about her had been a lie.

Which was, of course, the biggest lie of all.

Liz closed her eyes, fighting the tears that threatened.

"Whoa." Alex�s voice managed to penetrate the miasma of despair within which she was beginning to get lost. "What the hell is going on between you two? That was a far cry from I�m coming for you, Liz. What happened?"

Liz swallowed, then opened her eyes. Both Maria and Alex were staring at her, matching expressions of confusion and disbelief on their faces. Because, of course, neither of them knew anything yet. With everything that had happened over the past week, there just hadn�t been time to tell them.

Not that she could tell them anything anyway. She couldn�t tell anyone.

A shiver ran down Liz�s spine. Finally she truly understood exactly how it had felt to be Max Evans in all those years before he had saved her life that day in the Crashdown.

The loneliness came crashing down on her like a wave. She could feel herself drowning in it.

"Liz!" Maria�s hand was on her arm, her expression terrified. "What�s wrong?"

She had to tell them something. They were never just going to leave it alone. They were her best friends after all. So this time she would just tell them the truth, which was, in the end, just another lie. "I slept with Kyle. Max caught us together."

Liz didn�t wait to see their reactions. She pushed her way into the bio lab as quickly as she could, her head lowered. She let her hair fall into her face, not looking at Max as she went to her place next to him. At least she could do that for him - leave him alone, not torture him with the chore of having to ignore her.

It was just typical that they had ended up as lab partners again. She had tried to switch at the beginning of the year, but when Ms. Hardy had demanded an explanation, asking her if Max had done something, she just couldn�t bring herself to tell their teacher that somehow it was Max�s fault. Plus she couldn�t have borne the expression on his face when he found out that she had asked for a new partner.

None of this was Max�s fault after all. At least not her Max�s. He was probably wishing by now that he had asked for a new partner.

With the train her thoughts were following, she was completely unprepared for the sound of his voice when he spoke to her. "Liz?"

Liz almost jumped out of her skin. His tone - it sounded like he had been trying to get her attention for a while. She turned her head, looked at him, feeling like she was in some kind of daze. Was this how she was going to feel for the rest of her life? Was it ever going to get better? Would it ever get easier? "Yeah?"

He looked�Liz didn�t know how he looked. She would have said annoyed, but when their eyes met, for one split second she saw something flash through them that looked like�was that worry? He had obviously noticed how out of it she was, how upset, and he was worried.

She had broken his heart and he was worried about her. Her heart swelled with all the love she felt for him.

But the moment was so fleeting, it barely registered before she realized that Max was nodding towards the front of the class where Ms. Hardy was staring at both of them. Oh God! Had the teacher spoken to her? Liz raised her voice, cringing inwardly at how weak it sounded. "Yes, Ms. Hardy?"

Ms. Hardy was frowning slightly. Liz saw a flash of concern run across her face. Of course she would be worried. Liz couldn�t remember the last time she had been caught not paying attention in class. Glancing around, Liz was relieved to see that the lab hadn�t really started yet. Their teacher clearly wanted to ask her something privately because she was motioning for Liz to join her at the front.

Liz hopped off her stool and wound her way through the tables. She felt Max�s eyes on her the whole way. Passing by the table Maria and Alex shared, Liz turned her head away from them, not wanting to see the likely still shocked expressions on her friends�s faces. She knew that they were not just going to let her out-of-nowhere announcement go, but, for now, she was safe from their questions.

It was then that she saw him, standing quietly beside Ms. Hardy, watching her approach.

He was tall - almost as tall as Michael - with pitch-black hair that was worn slightly long. He was standing near the teacher�s desk, a stack of notebooks and texts in his arms, like he didn�t have anywhere to dump some of it, which could only mean that he was a new student, one who hadn�t been assigned a locker yet.

She was about five steps away when their eyes locked. Liz blinked. His eyes were intensely, almost painfully, blue.

And, then, the most amazing thing happened. Something that she would never have believed was possible - not since Max. But, it actually happened.

Another boy made her heart skip a beat.

Part 2

"Liz, this is Will Spencer. He just moved to Roswell," Ms. Hardy said, causing Liz to break eye contact with the new guy. Her heart was still racing.

What on Earth was happening to her? She couldn�t actually be interested in another guy? She knew that it was impossible. After Max, there was just no way. No other boy could ever compare. And, yet, there was no denying that she was tingling from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.

Liz peeked at him again. She blushed when she realized that he was staring at her and quickly looked away. She attempted to tune in to what her biology teacher was saying. "�show Will to his locker and then he can join you and Max for the experiment today. We don�t have any singles left in the class and he�s going to need a partner, but for now it will be the three of you."

At the mention of Max�s name on her teacher�s lips Liz felt a flash of guilt so intense, she barely managed to suppress the tears that appeared unbidden in her eyes. She had just broken Max�s heart and here she was thinking about another guy! What the heck was wrong with her?

She turned her head slightly to the right, glancing in Max�s direction. He was watching her, no expression on his face. She sighed when Tess suddenly appeared at his elbow, distracting him. He turned his head to talk to the blonde, effectively shutting Liz out completely.

Suddenly getting out the classroom seemed like the best idea Liz had heard in a long time. She needed air. She was slowly suffocating in her own misery.

"Sure, Ms. Hardy," she managed to mumble. She didn�t look at Will again as she headed towards the door and out into the empty hallway, the final bell having rung. She instantly felt better.

It was the worst feeling in the world to know that she could breathe again because she was away from Max. At one time, she barely breathed unless she was with him. It was killing her to know what her deception was doing to them. Everything was upside down and just plain wrong.

"I can probably find it myself, if it�s a big pain."

Liz whipped her head around, staring at the new guy. His voice sent a shiver down her spine. It was soft but confident, and appealingly deep. "I�" She stumbled over the words. Their eyes met again and she felt the same tingling sensation. But this time she recognized the feeling. Or maybe it was more accurate to say that she somehow recognized him. Liz narrowed her eyes. "Do I know you?"

She saw something flare in his eyes. Was it pleasure? Liz felt her confusion grow. Because he didn�t seem to think it was crazy that she might ask him that - even though she knew she had never met this guy before. "I don�t think so," he finally replied, sounding a little hesitant if Liz was not mistaken. "I just moved here. But maybe we knew each other in another life?" He quirked a lopsided grin in her direction.

Liz felt herself blush slightly, not sure if it was because of how stupid her question had sounded or because he was teasing her. Or maybe it was that smile. It was boyish and, yet, completely sexy.

And suddenly she just admitted it to herself. Will Spencer was hot. He was a damn good-looking guy and there was nothing wrong with the fact that she had noticed. It didn�t mean she loved Max any less. It just meant she was a human female. Because anyone who didn�t notice his appeal would either be an alien - or dead.

"I�m sorry," Liz replied, more strongly this time. "I�m totally out of it this morning. You must think I�m a total flake." She held out her hand. "Do you have your locker number?"

"285," Will told her, making Liz pause for a moment and then just shake her head slightly. Apparently the cosmos were trying to make sure that Max was never far from her thoughts.

"Are you okay?" Will asked, sounding a little freaked. She didn�t blame him. She was behaving like a total psycho.

Stupid cosmos. For one split second she had not felt horrible, had felt like a normal person again. Apparently that was over.

It wasn�t fair. She had only done what she had to do to save the world. And she was going to suffer for it for the rest of her life while Max moved on without her - with Tess. The mere thought of it was enough to make her want to scream and pull out her hair, but she was a stronger person than that. The least she could do was enjoy a conversation with a good-looking guy! Liz tried again. "Where did you move from?"

"California," Will said promptly, "By way of Arizona."

Liz sighed. It was going to be a long day - or at least a long walk to Locker 285. Every word that came out of Will�s mouth reminded her of Max. "Arizona�s nice," Liz returned. "I was there recently. We better hurry. Max�ll need our help with the experiment."

"Whatever you want, Liz." The way her name rolled off his tongue�It sent another shiver through her frame.

She needed to get a hold of herself. There was no way that she was going to be able to get through biology with Will and Max at the same table if she didn�t. It was supremely ridiculous, but true. Her attraction to this new guy was enough that she was sure that Max would notice it.

There was no way she was going to let that happen. Not after all she had already done to hurt him. Liz glanced at Will and suddenly had a brilliant idea. It was going to get them both in trouble from Ms. Hardy, but the idea of facing Max again was just too, too exhausting. Plus she needed to spend some time with this guy, make herself see that there was nothing special about him, that he was just a regular teenage boy. "I know that this might seem like sort of a strange question�" Liz trailed off, unsure if she could really go through with it.

"What?" Will inquired, sounding interested. His eyes were warm on her face. Liz stared into their blue depths, literally feeling herself getting lost.

"Have you had breakfast?" she blurted, blinking to break the spell. "Because I know this great restaurant that has the best omelettes in the world�"

***

Liz never came back to Bio.

Max Evans managed to somehow sleepwalk his way through the experiment they had been assigned for the day, but his eyes spent more time on the door than on his microscope, as he waited impatiently for Liz to return. By the time the bell finally rang and she had never reappeared, he wasn�t sure whether he was worried or furious.

Well, both emotions were better than nothing. Because nothing was what he had managed to feel for the past week - ever since they had returned from Copper Summit. Ever since he had finally accepted that what he had seen with his own two eyes - Liz in bed with Kyle Valenti - had really happened.

He had known it was only a matter of time until he felt the complete and utter pain of what he had seen - until his heart finally caught up with his head. He just wanted it over with. The dull ache wasn�t enough. He wanted the agony, he wanted the complete despair.

He wanted to be able to move on. But he knew that he was going to have to grieve first; that he was going to have to mourn the loss of the dream that had been Liz Parker.

But fury and worry were not better than nothing he realized suddenly. Because they meant that he was still inextricably tied to Liz - that he still cared and had not, in any way, started to let her go.

Could his life suck any more?

He tried not to reflect on the main reason he was so potentially angry and worried at the same time.

Max had not missed the way Liz had stared at the guy to whom Ms. Hardy has introduced her. She had looked at him like she used to look at Max - in fact, the way she had looked at Max just this morning. Because he could not deny that she had seemed miserable, practically drowning in her guilt and sorrow when he had first seen her today. And underneath the guilt and sorrow he had, without a doubt, seen love.

He knew that Liz Parker still loved him. Which was what made what had happened even more unbelievable and inexplicable.

Apparently he was a glutton for punishment because he had actually felt horrible for her. He had felt her emotions coming off of her in waves as she had joined him at their table - her pain so deep it had almost drowned out his own. In spite of it all, their connection was still as strong as ever. It had taken all of his strength not to talk to her, not to comfort her.

Whatever had happened with Kyle, there was no doubting that she felt terrible about it, and that she maybe even regretted it. But it had still happened and Max knew that he would never understand why. Had she really been so desperate to be rid of him? When she had told him that night in his room that she wanted normal boys and that she didn�t want to die for him, he hadn�t believed her. The way she had looked at him this morning had told him that he had been right not to believe her.

None of it was the Liz he had fallen in love with. She could not have changed that much over the summer. It was just impossible. Yet, it had happened. She had given herself to Kyle Valenti, someone Max knew she wasn�t in love with. And she regretted it. There was no doubt.

Obviously she didn�t want his comfort though. If she did she wouldn�t have done what she had. She wouldn�t have tried so hard to drive a permanent wedge between them.

And, yet, she loved him. He knew she did.

But, then, she had gone to the front of the room and everything had changed. Max had actually felt the charge that had run through Liz as she was introduced to the new guy. It had taken all of his strength not to jump to his feet to haul her away from him. Then Liz and the guy had disappeared into the hallway and had never come back and he had sat at his table and stewed, making a cursory attempt at his work.

Which was why he had spent the entire period trying to decide if he was supposed to be worried or angry. Because he really didn�t understand what his role was supposed to be in the farce that his life had become.

"Max, are you coming?" Tess� voice snapped him out of his stupor. He turned his head, looking at her and sighing. He really did appreciate how Tess had been there for him over the past week, but the way she was becoming his shadow was a little overwhelming. Every time he turned around she was beside him. Sometimes it got to be a bit much, even though he knew she was only feeling a little protective of him.

Tess was the only one who knew the truth of what had happened between him and Liz. He couldn�t bring himself to tell Michael and Isabel - not yet. He had the bad feeling that he was putting it off so that he could still pretend that it had never happened, in spite of the fact that Liz had demanded that he accept it in Copper Summit.

It was just that none of it made sense. Nothing Liz Parker had done over the past two weeks did - including ditching Biology with some new guy Ms. Hardy had just introduced her to.

"Yeah." He stood, followed Tess into the hallway.

Max was staring at his feet, trailing behind Tess, which is why it happened. He wasn�t watching where he was going and, before he knew it, he had rammed right into someone and he had not only dropped his books, but the other person�s had gone flying as well.

"Max!" Tess exclaimed, sounding concerned. But then she always sounded concerned. It was driving him bananas. He was almost beginning to wish he hadn�t said yes when she had asked him if he wanted her to stay that night in the park.

"Oh my God! I�m so sorry!" The melodic female voice made him look up abruptly from where he was already gathering together the other person�s stuff.

He blinked as his eyes met the soft blue gaze of a girl he had never laid eyes on before. She was slender with delicate features and pitch-black hair that tumbled down her back in a riot of curls. She was exquisitely beautiful, in an almost ethereal way. Max knew that he was staring, but he could not tear his gaze away from her.

And it appeared that she felt exactly the same way.

They locked eyes for a full minute. He watched in fascination as her face paled. Her eyes narrowed for a split second before she pasted a smile on her face. "Sorry �bout that," she repeated, practically grabbing her books from his hands. She jumped to her feet and almost sprinted past him down the hall.

Max climbed slowly to his feet, perplexed.

"What was that all about?" Tess asked, sounding equally as confused. "Was she weird or what?"

Max continued to stare down the crowded hallway in the direction the strange girl had disappeared so abruptly. He brought a hand up behind his neck and rubbed, frowning slightly, trying to understand what had just happened here.

And, yet, he somehow knew. Because the feeling was extremely familiar. After all, hadn�t he experienced it just six months before with the girl standing beside him now, a worried look on her face?

"Tess, I know that girl."

"What do you mean, Max? I�ve never seen her before in my life."

"I�" He paused, felt a frisson of fear descend his spine. "Tess, this is going to sound absolutely crazy, but I think that girl is one of us."

***

Alex Whitman followed Maria Deluca out of their biology class and towards the doors leading out of the school. It had definitely been the longest hour of his life. He had barely managed to sit there listening to Maria�s absolutely panicked chatter about Liz, while trying to calm his own fear.

There was something very wrong with his best friend, obviously. The Liz he knew would not only not announce that she had been caught in bed with her ex-boyfriend by her soulmate - announce it in a public place yet, which was just about the most insane thing Alex had ever heard - but she would not then disappear completely off the face of the planet, ditching class in the process, with a complete stranger.

"I still think we should check around here first, Maria. Liz wouldn�t just skip. We should have talked to Max." But instead they had come barreling out into the hallway and Max was likely gone by now.

Although how Alex was supposed to have asked Max Evans if what Liz had said was true - that he had caught her in bed with Kyle Valenti - well, it was a mystery for the ages. Max was a brooder at the best of times - and he was obsessed with Liz at the best and worst of times. If this was all real, then the guy had to be about ready to have a nervous breakdown - or kill himself. Alex would not put anything past Max when it came to Liz. He had seen his whacko behavior over Liz all summer after all. Max gave new definition to the term "lovesick."

But Alex had alsowitnessed the way that Max had frozen Liz out during their brief interaction in Biology, and knew that there had to be something incredibly wrong between them. Which made him realize that what Liz had blurted out had to be true.

But how? Why? It didn�t make any sense. Things didn�t often make sense in the alien abyss, but this was just loony-tunes!

"Alex, she was a basketcase. I�ll bet she went home." Alex could hear the tears in Maria�s voice. She was barely holding it together. Alex understood why. Maria depended on Liz to be the sane one, the normal one.

This was not Liz behavior. Something was incredibly wrong.

"But the guy Hardy introduced her to never came back either," Alex argued. "Maybe they�re together."

"Why would Liz go off with a complete stranger?" Maria demanded.

"Why would Liz sleep with Kyle?" Alex shot back.

Maria stared at him. "Maybe she�s been possessed?" And, then, her eyes widened. "Alex, you don�t think that guy was an alien? Maybe he was mindwarping her! Oh my God! We do need Max. And Michael." She turned abruptly on her heel and headed in the other direction. "Max is in English right now. Michael�s in shop."

"Maria, stop!" Alex called after her. "Could we please formulate a plan here? Shouldn�t we at least try to find Liz ourselves!"

But she was already gone.

Alex gripped the straps on his backpack, frowning after her. He knew he should follow her, but, for some reason, he didn�t. Instead he proceeded out the doors into the bright New Mexican sunshine, blinking against the glare. He would just head over to the Crashdown, to make sure that Maria had not been right, and that Liz wasn�t there.

He almost tripped over someone huddled on the stoop leading into the school. "Jeez! Sorry! I didn�t see you!" He glanced down at the girl sitting there, frowning again.

She was staring up at him, an absolutely unmistakable expression on her face. He had only ever seen the like once before - on both Liz and Isabel when Pierce had held Max in the White Room.

This was sheer, unadulterated, paralyzed terror. She was afraid.

"Hey! Are you okay?"

The girl blinked, shaking her head. Alex watched in amazement as she entire expression changed, as the fear he had seen disappeared more quickly than he could even comprehend. "Doesn�t anyone in this school ever watch where they�re going?" the girl muttered, standing up and tossing her head in a gesture that reminded Alex of someone. He followed the tumble of her dark curls with his eyes, fascinated in spite of himself.

It took him but a moment to realize of whom she made him think. It was in her height, in her stance, even in the way her blue eyes had frozen over abruptly. Her every mannerism was reflective of someone Alex had spent many years watching with admiration. She reminded him of Isabel Evans.

"Seriously," Alex repeated. "My name�s Alex Whitman. Are you okay? Can I help?"

The girl stared at him, her eyes narrowing. "I doubt it," she replied frostily. "No one can help me. No one can help any of us."

And, with that, she turned on her heel and stalked away.

Part 3

Kate Spencer was in turmoil. There was no other way to describe how it had felt to actually come face to face with Zan like that.

She had recognized him immediately. His eyes� They had not changed a bit. They were still the same dark amber, even though they looked slightly different in the human face he now wore. They still shone with intelligence and an innocence that masked his true nature so effectively, she had actually felt like throwing her arms around him before she remembered who he was.

He was Zan, the destroyer of her world. It didn�t matter that at one time she would have done anything for him. He was her enemy now. It was a choice he had made. There was no way to change it, even if she did remember how much she used to love him - like the brother Will had never found the time to be in that other life.

She had never expected it to happen so abruptly. She had not expected that they would track him down so easily, but when she had chased Will down to the high school, she should have known that the fates were aligning. That when her brother actually did something irresponsible and completely fool-hardy - for the first time ever - it meant that the apocalypse was well near nigh.

Zan had recognized her too. She had seen it in those eyes that would always betray who he was. She had barely managed to pull herself together enough to leave the scene before she did something she would regret later. Because, in the instant after she had moved past remembering how much she used to love him, she had wanted to kill him - right there in public.

She couldn�t though. This mission was too important! It was completely wrong to let emotion - to let memory - interfere. And, for the first time in this life - not to mention the last - it was what Will was letting happen.

Kate had known that it had hit Will hard to hear that Rowena had been found - that not only was she alive, but she was living in the same town as Zan, but that she was actually friends with her greatest enemy. Because apparently she was. She had been in Arizona with him, and had been working with him. When Jack had described her to Nicholas, the leader of the Copper Summit Skins, he had confirmed it.

The irony of it was not lost on any of them. Rowena had been found and she was working with the one person she should have absolutely known better than to have anything to do with.

Nicholas had filled them in on the little he had known about her. Apparently she was going by the name Liz Parker in this lifetime. Nicholas hadn�t paid much attention to her after all, sure that she was just one of Zan�s human minions, of which he apparently had several. But then Nicholas had never known Ro. He had only become Khivar�s right-hand man after Ro�s death.

The whole thing had freaked Will out - big time. He had been unable to hide his fear for Ro, that Zan was using her in an effort to gain a foothold over Will, just like he had before. It was the same fear that had made him lie to Kate and Jack. Kate knew this intellectually, but she still could not help the anger she felt at her brother. He was jeopardizing the whole mission in his quest to reclaim Rowena. Their first priority had to be the granolith. They needed to save their people. It was a miracle, as Jack had called it, that they were apparently going to be able to save Rowena at the same time, but it had to be secondary.

It just had to be. They could not fail their people again. Not like they had, so completely, before. They had been reborn to save them, to liberate them. It was their sole purpose, no matter how much Will wanted to recapture what he had known with Rowena.

Kate had chased her brother down to West Roswell High School to remind him of this pertinent fact, but, in the process had made things ten times worse. Because, in the end, wasn�t it she who had literally smacked right into Zan, alerting him to their presence?

Now she wandered the streets of Roswell, her heart beating irregularly. She realized that she was expecting Zan to pop out from behind every second tree, expecting him to come after her. It was what he would do after all. He would know that they were here for the granolith, and he would do everything in his power to protect it. And there was no question that Zan�s power was immense. Even connected with Will and Jack, she would be hard-pressed to defeat him if he truly wanted to win. And if Nicholas was right, then Zan had also brought together his Four Square. He, Ava, Vilandra, and Rath were all together. They were all bonded.

They were unbeatable.

Except that�

Suddenly Kate understood exactly why Will had been so desperate to reconnect with Rowena. Because, in the end, she was their only hope to defeat Zan.

Apparently her brother had not been merely a fool for love after all.

A smile of admiration broke across her face. Now all she had to do was find Will and tell him that she fully approved of his plan, that she fully supported any effort to bring Zan down before he could use the granolith and truly win.

With Rowena back in their camp, it was only a matter of time now. Zan of Antar�s days were numbered.

***

Alex pushed his way through the doors to the Crashdown, his eyes narrowing at the sudden dimness after the bright morning sunlight. When he finally managed to refocus, he felt his heart start to pound in a more regular rhythm as relief ran through him.

He had found Liz. She was all right. Thank God! He was going to kill her for practically giving Maria a conniption and taking a year off his own life. The restaurant was almost empty, so he opened his mouth to do just that when he realized that Liz was not alone.

She was sitting at the counter beside that new guy, the one Hardy had sent her off with, and apparently she was more than all right. Because, at the moment, Liz Parker was laughing her head off.

"LIZ!" Alex couldn�t help himself. He yelled her name, irritation and pleasure mixed in his tone in equal parts.

Liz looked up, blinking. "Alex?" she asked, barely managing to suppress another giggle. "Hi!" She glanced at the clock behind the counter. "What are you doing here? Aren�t you supposed to be in PE?"

"Aren�t you supposed to be in Chemistry?" Alex shot back. He eyed the guy sitting beside Liz with suspicion now. He was looking at Alex with an open expression on his face. Alex turned back to Liz, then raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest.

Liz�s face was slightly flushed, as though she was now a little embarrassed. "Well, yeah," she admitted grudgingly. "But Will�s new in town. I had to show him the best place to eat, didn�t I?"

"In the middle of Bio?" Alex asked, hard-pressed to stay mad at her. It was better to see Liz a little giddy and playing hooky than how he had seen her earlier that day. She had been practically drowning in her own misery not two hours ago.

But it still didn�t make any sense, this sudden happiness. Not with the way that Max and Liz had been behaving towards each other, and not with what Liz had told them about Kyle. Clearly something was wrong with Liz Parker and one fun breakfast with some new guy was not going to fix that. She was putting on an act. A very effective one, yes, but Alex was already beginning to see through it.

Liz was grimacing. "I just couldn�t�" She broke off, looking away. Alex knew that he was not the only one thinking about Max Evans now. He could have kicked himself. Because apparently Liz had managed to forget whatever disaster had befallen her star-crossed romance this week, even if only for a little while. And what had he done? He had brought it all crashing back down on her. Some friend he was!

Alex looked at Will again, this new guy apparently responsible for brightening Liz�s mood considerably, and suddenly felt much more charitable towards him. "Hey, sorry. I�m being totally rude." He extended his hand. "I�m Alex Whitman. Best friend and general worrywart with brotherly tendencies. It�s not like Liz to skip out of class, so I was freaking a bit."

"I can understand that," Will replied, accepting Alex�s hand in a firm grip, his blue eyes friendly. "Liz told me that herself actually, although I�m having a hard time buying the goody-two-shoes reports considering the fact that not only did she ditch Bio, she made me do it too!" He nudged Liz lightly, making her laugh again.

Alex stared at her. Was she actually blushing? Good Lord! Apparently this guy had not only improved Liz�s mood. He had also tilted the world off its axis, because there could be no other explanation for why Liz Parker would be looking at this Will character like�

Well, like he was Max Evans.

It was freaky. And Alex was suddenly very, very wary again. He remembered Maria�s comment that maybe this was a mindwarp on Liz; that this guy was somehow controlling her. Could his wacky friend actually be right? Because to have Liz looking at him like this so quickly, it was just completely wrong in a way Alex could not comprehend.

He was going to get to the bottom of this, immediately, if not sooner.

"Hate to be rude again," Alex began tentatively, "But, Lizzie, I really need to speak to you alone."

He watched Will closely. Was he imagining that he saw something flash in Will�s piercing eyes? He didn�t think so. That had looked entirely too possessive for Alex�s peace of mind - like the hesitation one would expect from a boyfriend when his girl was going to hang out with a guy that he didn�t know well.

Yup. Something was definitely rotten in the state of Roswell.

Alex was beginning to regret that he had run out of the school so quickly. Maria had been right. Maybe he should have waited for some Czechoslovakian back up.

But whatever it was Alex had seen on Will�s face was gone almost immediately. "Of course," Will shrugged. Alex frowned when he noticed that Will was staring over his shoulder. But when he turned around, whatever it was the new guy had been looking at was gone. "I need to get back to school anyway. I don�t want to get booted out on my first day."

Alex narrowed his eyes as Will brought a friendly arm up and gave Liz a squeeze. "I�ll see you later, Liz. We�re still on for tonight?"

"Totally." Liz beamed at him. "I�ll give you my ultra-deluxe tour of Roswell."

Will stood and sauntered toward the doors, glancing once more over his shoulder before he left. "Nice to meet you, Whitman."

Alex didn�t reply. He just nodded as he plunked himself down beside Liz, never taking his eyes off Will until the other guy left.

"What a nice guy!" Liz exclaimed as the doors swung shut behind Will. "Wasn�t he nice, Alex?"

Alex turned his head, regarding Liz seriously. "I don�t know, Liz. What makes you think so?"

Liz blinked. "I don� t know. There was just something about him."

"Okay, Parker, cut the crap." Alex knew he was being abrupt, but he didn�t care. His friend was behaving totally unlike herself and he was not going to put up with it a moment longer. He could not endure another morning like the one he had just had. Hell, he couldn�t endure another few months like the ones that had just passed! The alien abyss had a general propensity for angst, but it truly seemed that, ever since she had heard the destiny message after they had all saved Max from Pierce, Liz was bringing a lot of it on herself.

First she had walked away from Max, when clearly it was the last thing Max wanted. Then she had apparently slept with Kyle Valenti, someone Alex knew Liz didn�t care a fig for - well, certainly not as more than a friend. This had only been confirmed by how miserable she had been by the distance between her and Max this morning.

This new guy was just another example of it. Alex Whitman wanted the Liz Parker he knew and loved back and he wasn�t going anywhere until she was straight with him.

"What do you mean, Alex?" Liz asked, sounding mildly annoyed now. "I�m just telling you what I felt."

"What about Max?" No point in beating around the bush Alex decided. If she was going to be pissed at him, he might as well go for broke. "And what the hell did you mean when you told me and Maria this morning that you slept with Kyle? Liz, that is just not you and I refuse to believe it actually happened."

It was the wrong tactic though, because as he watched, Liz�s face shuttered, effectively shutting him out. "It happened Alex. I made a mistake and I regret that I hurt Max, but it�s over and I have to move on. Is it so wrong that I find another boy attractive? I can�t ever be with Max anyway and we both know why!" Her voice had lowered to a desperate whisper and, for the first time, Alex truly began to understand how completely devastated his best friend was.

She truly believed that she did not belong with Max Evans and it was killing her.

"Liz�" He reached out to take her hand, but she jumped off her stool and turned her back on him.

"I don�t want to talk about this ever again, Alex. I mean it. Max and I are never getting back together and it�s time for me to accept it and move on. And if the rest of you can�t deal with that, then I�m just going to have to find new friends."

And with that resounding, metaphorical, slap to his face, Liz stormed through the swinging door into the back, leaving Alex staring after her.

Part 4

"Michael�s in shop," Max told Isabel and Tess as he led them down the school corridor towards where his best friend could likely be found. If he wasn�t ditching of course, which, knowing Michael, and considering the fact that he presently had a dying Skin ensconced in his apartment, was a distinct possibility.

After returning from Copper Summit, Michael had refused to let Courtney return to her apartment alone. Max just let it go, knowing that it was only a matter of time until the alien girl disintegrated right out of their lives. He hated to be cavalier about it, but there was no way to help her. Even though Michael had taken her skin, there was no way for her to be transferred to it without the tools in Copper Summit, so it was a moot point anyway.

Michael understood that they were not going back there for any reason. In return, Max understood Michael�s desire to let Courtney die well, even more when Isabel told him about her past life � about how she had followed Michael, or some such nonsense. Max had no concerns that his best friend would betray him � he trusted him implicitly, as apparently he had also done in his past life � and had decided that he could allow him a little lee-way where Courtney was concerned, especially if it was going to appease Michael�s conscience about her fate.

Because, with the destruction of the Harvest, there was only one fate to which Courtney was doomed. Death � and likely sooner rather than later. They had destroyed the skins and the means to transfer their enemies as well. There was no hope for the girl. Max felt bad for her, but it was just the way things were.

"I don�t understand why you won�t just tell me what this is about, Max," Isabel complained, as she hurried after him. "I really don�t appreciate being hauled out of class with a family emergency like that. I thought something terrible had happened to Mom or Dad."

"I�m sorry, Iz," Max replied. "But I couldn�t think of any other way to get you out of there and this is an emergency."

Especially after what happened in Copper Summit, Max reflected grimly. There had been too many terrifying encounters with the Skins recently for him to take potentially recognizing another alien lightly.

He was a king, whether he liked it or not, and he needed to start acting like one. He had never asked for this destiny, but he was beginning to understand that his enemies didn�t care about that. They were going to come for him and his loved ones whether he liked his position or not and, so, they had to be ready. He was responsible for the safety of his sister, and for Michael and Tess, especially since Nasedo�s death.

He couldn�t pretend that their human allies weren�t at risk either. Not anymore. It wouldn�t take a lot for them to investigate his life, for them to figure out exactly who and what were important to him. In spite of everything, he could not allow anything to happen to Liz.

He still loved her, and needed to make sure she was safe, but he also couldn�t let this thing between them mess him up any longer. He wanted to be with her, he wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on with her, but he couldn�t let it distract him anymore. Distraction was just what their enemies wanted. Because, somewhere deep inside him, in spite of their success at destroying the Harvest, despite the respite he felt they had earned, somehow he knew they weren�t going to get it.

This was all far from over. Coming face to face with that girl only a short while ago had more than told him so.

"But can�t you just tell me?" Isabel demanded. Max didn�t bother to answer her. He knew his sister was just being argumentative for the sake of it and decided to ignore her. He knew it was petty, but just because he had decided to abruptly get over his funk, it didn�t mean he was in the mood for her nagging. He got enough of that at home.

He knew that it wasn�t her fault, that Isabel was merely worried about him. She could see something was wrong. But he just couldn�t be the one to tell her about Liz and Kyle. He could not bear to see the I told you so expression on her face, although he knew she would try to hide it.

Plus, he wanted to give Liz as long as she needed to admit to him that none of it was true. Because that�s what he was really still hoping was going to happen, even though he was trying to ignore that fact. Even though he was trying to get himself to accept that no matter what he may have thought about Liz Parker, he had been wrong. She was not made for him. She was not his.

She wanted normal, and had told him so to his face, but he still couldn�t let go. A tiny part of him still hoped. And he couldn�t take the time to deal with Isabel right now, could not have that tiny hope crushed, especially after Liz�s behavior this morning. If that hope was gone, he didn�t think he�d be able to go on.

He could hear Izzy huffing in annoyance behind him. Tess hadn�t said anything since he had told her that he recognized the new girl, but now she was telling Isabel to just get over it, that she could wait to hear what was going on with Michael. He felt a flash of gratitude. As much as Tess annoyed him, he could not deny that ever since they had shared that moment in the park on the worst night of his life, she had done nothing but support him.

The part of him that found Tess� loyalty gratifying ashamed the rest of him, but he was too used to being constantly questioned and second-guessed by Isabel and Michael to not sort of like it. It didn�t mean he was any more attracted to Tess, but it did mean that he didn�t dislike her as much as he used to. It was a sick admission to make to himself, but at least he wasn�t trying to hide it.

They had reached Michael�s class by now, which was more workshop than anything. Max knew Mr. Collins. He had been in his class last term. He knew the teacher wouldn�t mind them coming in for a moment, as long as they didn�t distract the other students.

Unfortunately, they arrived just in time to witness Michael already involved in a discussion with someone else � one that had more than disturbed the class. In fact, it was one that had the attention of every other student, including Maria, who stood near Michael�s elbow looking pained.

"�demand an apology!"

"But I didn�t do anything!" Michael was protesting, an irritated note in his voice. "I was calmly standing here talking to my girlfriend. You�re the one who bumped into me!"

Max stared at the blond kid yelling at Michael in shock. He didn�t recognize him, but the expression on his face�

It was unadulterated hatred � and it was all for Michael.

"It�s ruined!" the blond kid yelled, motioning to something on the floor. Max watched Michael, Maria and Mr. Collins� eyes drop.

Michael looked up again and shrugged. "Listen, I�m sorry. But it wasn�t my fault."

"Just like nothing�s ever your fault, I�m sure," the other kid responded through gritted teeth. "Typical."

Michael was now beginning to look angry. Maria pulled on his arm, trying to draw him away, while Mr. Collins told the other kid to cool it or get out.

"Gladly." The blond kid glared at the teacher. He turned on his heel and stomped away.

"What was that all about, Mr. Guerin?" the teacher demanded as Michael�s nemesis stormed past Max, Isabel, and Tess, almost knocking Tess over in the process. Max flinched slightly when she reached out and grabbed his hand to steady herself. He looked back at Michael and the others just in time to catch Maria�s eyes on him. She scowled at his hand where it was linked with Tess, then at him, then away.

Max sighed, gently disentangling himself from Tess. He didn�t understand how he always ended up feeling like the ass. He wasn�t the one who had walked away from Liz, nor was he the one who had randomly slept with someone else � although he wasn�t sure if Maria even knew about that. But, still, it was the principle of the matter! Why was everyone always mad at him?

He was about ready to go somewhere and throw a real pit party for himself, he reflected ruefully as he watched Mr. Collins finish getting Michael�s side of the story, finally allowing Max�s best friend to join then just as the bell rang.

"Who the heck was that?" Isabel asked as Michael approached. Maria trailed behind, her expression now inscrutable. Max looked at her for a moment, wondering what she was thinking. She was looking at him very strangely again. Max was almost tempted to look down to see if his shirt was buttoned correctly.

"I have no idea." Michael thrust his hands into the pockets of his jeans, clearly perplexed. "Mr. Collins doesn�t even think that guy is in this class."

Max narrowed his eyes. "Weird." He shrugged. "You handled that well though, Michael." He didn�t know why he said it, but he really thought it. Michael�s temper was becoming much steadier lately and Max didn�t want him to think it was going unnoticed. He was taking his role as Max�s second-in-command seriously. There had been no more hare-brained schemes, no more necessity of asking Valenti to bail him out of jail. It was one load off Max�s mind at least.

"Thanks, Dad," Michael retorted, sounding embarrassed, but pleased. Max saw Maria reach forward, take Michael�s hand in her and squeeze. Max felt a flash of jealousy so intense, he momentarily had to look away.

It was all a supreme mystery to him why no one seemed to think it was strange that Michael and Maria were drifting back together, in spite of all that destiny crap and, yet, he and Liz couldn�t. It just wasn�t fair. Because somewhere inside him, Max was beginning to understand that whatever Liz had done with Kyle, it wasn�t because she didn�t love him, Max. Her misery that morning in Bio had more than proven it. She had done what she had done to drive him to Tess, she thought for his own good. The more he thought about it, the more he knew it had to be true, because hadn�t she been helping Tess right before it happened? Hadn�t he caught her in Whittaker�s office spying on him while she and Tess had been conspiring to make him fall for her?

That she would do that to herself�It made him furious, just not at her. He had brought her to that � to giving up her virginity to someone she didn�t even love because he had refused to leave her alone. But couldn�t any of them see that he just couldn�t turn to Tess, that he would be betraying his own heart? He didn�t love her. Why didn�t any of them get it?

As he had told Liz only a couple of weeks ago � although with all that had happened since it felt like years � Tess just wasn�t Liz. He was never going to love anyone like he loved Liz. He couldn�t even explain it to himself, but no matter what she did, he would always love her.

He had loved her from the first moment he had set eyes on her, and being with her last spring, even if for such a short time, had more than reinforced what he already knew. They were made for each other. They complimented each other in every way. He would never love anyone else, no matter what she did. She was right in Copper Summit when she told him that he put her on a pedestal. He knew she wasn�t perfect. She could be stubborn to the point of seriously frustrating him. She worried too much about others. But he didn�t care about any of that, because in his eyes, she was perfect. She could break the damn pedestal for all he cared � which he was beginning to see she had been trying to do with Kyle. He would still think she was perfect.

He loved her. It was as simple as that. And if it made him a pathetic fool, well, so be it. He knew that he and Tess weren�t meant to be, no matter what Nasedo had said, no matter what some stupid book had said.

No matter what Liz said.

But Liz was so desperate to make him face it, what she thought she knew had to be, she had completely destroyed herself. Ironic that. For the past week, he had felt like he had been the one who had shattered, but now he understood that it had been Liz. He could forgive her for sleeping with Kyle for his own sake, but he didn�t know if he�d ever be able to get past it for hers. She had taken all her dreams and had thrown them away to make Max embrace something he didn�t even want. It was just plain ludicrous.

Max knew that he had to talk to Liz again � soon. He had to tell her all of this. He had to reassure her that he would leave her alone if that�s what she wanted, but that he was in no way, shape or form going to turn to Tess just because of what had happened between her and Kyle. Even if it was what Liz wanted. He could be stubborn too.

He also knew that he just couldn�t. It was impossible and he knew it was wrong. Because everything he had felt in his heart for the past year � for the past ten years � had not been a lie. No matter what happened, she was still Liz and he still loved her. He would never stop.

"Excuse me? Your highness?" Isabel�s sarcastic tone penetrated Max�s thoughts, making him blink. "Your court is assembled. Can we please know what this is about now?"

"Oh�" Max shook his head, ignoring the concerned look Tess was sending him. "Sorry."

"What the hell is going on with you lately, Maxwell?" Michael demanded. "You�re zoning in and out all the time these days. Are you high?" Max rolled his eyes as his best friend scowled at him.

"I�m sure he has a lot on his mind." This came from Maria, startling Max because the tone she employed was sympathetic. He looked at her and suddenly understood that she knew. She knew what Liz had done and she felt sorry for him. "It�s why I came to see you, Michael," Maria went on. "I didn�t get a chance to talk to you before that weirdo freaked out." She continued to stare at Max, her brow knit. "There�s something seriously wrong with Liz."

Max felt his heart stop. "What do you mean?" Was there something going on with Liz besides the disaster of her having thrown away her virginity just to push him away?

"I think you know, Max," Maria replied. "She told me and Alex this morning what she did. I don�t buy it. Something is seriously wrong!"

"What did Liz do?" Michael asked, turning from Maria to Max.

"She slept with Kyle," Tess inserted. Max guessed that she was trying to be helpful but was annoyed anyway.

"She did not!" Maria screeched, outraged. "I know she didn�t! Max, you know she didn�t. Something�s wrong with her." She glared at Tess.

"She did Maria! She told me so herself!" Tess flared back. "She totally betrayed Max."

"Well�" Maria spluttered. "I know there�s more to it! She�s not acting like herself at all. Alex and I think she�s being mindwarped."

" What?" Tess shrieked. "What are you suggesting, Deluca?"

"You heard me, trollop," Maria returned evenly. "None of this would be happening if you had never shown your face here. And we all know you�ve done it before. Right, Max?"

" Whoa!" Max stepped between the two girls. Michael had his arm firmly wrapped around Maria by this time, although Max couldn�t tell if it was to warn her off or to keep her from physically attacking Tess. Isabel had grabbed the curly-haired blonde by the arm, but was staring at Max, her expression horrified.

"Max, is this true? Are you okay?"

"Of course he�s not okay," Tess snarled. "He�s the one who found them together."

"Because you made Liz do it! You or that new guy. Hey! I�ll bet you�re working together!" Maria cried triumphantly, as though the thought had just occurred to her.

"Max, why didn�t you tell me?" Isabel�s eyes were filling with tears, although Max couldn�t tell if it was because she was hurt for him or for herself because both Tess and Maria knew about this before her.

Max sighed heavily. "Enough, you guys," he said quietly, trying to make his voice as firm as possible. "This is not the time or the place." He regretted even coming here. He was suddenly exhausted � until what Maria had said about the new guy suddenly penetrated his weary brain.

" What about the new guy?" he asked abruptly. Maria was still stewing, but she raised her head to look at him. "The guy Liz left Bio with?" He had been trying not to think about that guy. Kyle more than enough at the moment.

"Well, yeah," Maria replied, frowning at him. "Don�t you think it�s weird that she never came back, Max?"

"Another new guy?" Michael interrupted, sounding as tired as Max felt.

"And a new girl," Max added pensively, thinking about the reason that he had sought out Michael and Isabel in the first place.

"Are you all saying that there are three new students?" Isabel�s voice was raised in disbelief. "In Roswell? No one ever moves here!"

"We need to find Liz," Max told the others grimly. " Now." He gut was suddenly churning with worry. "Alex, too. I don�t like this at all."

"Why, Max?" Tess sounded disdainful. "Who cares if she�s found someone new?"

Max eyed her in annoyance. " I care," he snapped. "I told you, Tess�I knew that girl."

"Max," Isabel whispered, sounding terrified. "What are you talking about?"

"Just what I said," Max told her impatiently. "I knew her. She�s like us and my guess is, so are these two guys. Which means that Liz is alone with a strange alien and she doesn�t even know it. And there can only be one reason for it," he added over his shoulder as he hurried out of the classroom and towards the parking lot, his group of friends on his heels. "They�re going to try to get me through her."

Part 5

Liz was not immediately sorry for what she said to Alex. As she stormed up the stairs to her family�s apartment, she was too upset for that to occur.

It wasn�t until she slammed her bedroom door and her eyes went instantly to the photo of her, Alex and Maria sitting on her vanity that she even understood the completely unfair nature of what she had told her best friend.

He was only worried about her. She knew she wasn�t acting like herself. How could she even pretend to be the Liz Alex knew and loved when she didn�t even know who that was anymore? She was living a lie, because of what Future Max had asked her to do, and it wasn�t just affecting her and Max anymore. It affected everyone she cared about - including Alex, who had every right to wonder what was going on with her.

After all, the last time she had behaved so weirdly around him, she had been hiding a secret - the truth about Max, Michael and Isabel - that was almost too big for her to deal with on her own. It had been too hard. She had felt overwhelmed by the three of them, knowing that Max would never hurt her, but certainly not knowing the same about Isabel or Michael. It was why she had told Maria the truth and, eventually, Alex. It had balanced things out, had made it three and three, had made it so that she could cope. Max had Michael and Isabel to depend on, and she had Alex and Maria. Because what had been happening between Max and Liz had just been too big for them not to need people to lean on - too all-encompassing.

It had been so right and, yet, so frightening at the same time, and, now, Liz knew why. What she and Max had set in motion the day they first connected had been the beginning of the end of the world. A countdown had started that day - fifteen years to go.

Maybe that knowledge had been there for both of them from the start, on some deeper level, and they had just ignored it, too wrapped up in the way they made each other feel. Maybe it was why Max had tried so hard to stay away from her at first. Maybe it was why she had walked away from him at the pod chamber that day.

Whatever.

Liz sighed heavily, flopping back on her bed. The point of all this was that Alex had been there for her through it all, even when he hadn�t known the truth. It was more than she could even say for Maria, who had been there largely for Michael after a while - in fact, almost from the very beginning. Not that Liz begrudged Maria that. But Alex had remained her friend first and foremost, behind Liz through it all, even in spite of his connection to Isabel.

Liz knew that if Alex ever had to choose between her and Isabel, he would pick Liz. She didn�t know if that would be the case with Maria anymore, not that Liz could fault her best friend for that. Hadn�t she picked Max over Alex for a long time? But Liz had to be honest with herself about Maria. She was so tangled up with Michael. She had even bonded with Max over the summer. Maria would stay loyal to the aliens now, even if Liz didn�t. Liz even understood.

She knew what it was like to love someone with your whole soul after all.

But this pertinent fact was also why Liz couldn�t tell Maria the truth about Future Max. Maria would try to convince her that just telling Max the whole story would fix everything. Maria would not understand that if Max knew the truth, he would never rest until they got back together, which would still result in Tess leaving and would still bring on the end of the world. Maria would think that love could conquer all. Because wasn�t that what was happening to Michael and Maria? In spite of all of his protestations that they couldn�t be together, Michael and Maria were together in every way that counted.

Liz knew the truth though. Love could not conquer Tess Harding. Michael and Maria had the luxury that Isabel didn�t want to be with Michael any more than Michael wanted to be with her. Isabel wouldn�t leave. Isabel was bonded to Max just as closely as she was to Michael and would never betray either of them.

The same could not be said for Tess. Tess wanted Max. He was all she wanted. She didn�t care about the rest of them. It was why Liz had so readily believed Future Max that Tess would leave. If she couldn�t have Max, Tess would want nothing to do with the rest of them.

And they would all die as a consequence of it.

It was why Liz couldn�t tell Maria the truth.

But, a small voice was beginning to prod her, she could tell Alex. Alex, who loved Isabel, but who was beginning to accept that she would never love him in the same way. Alex, who was Liz�s best friend first and stayed connected to the Czechs for her sake. Liz knew that Alex had a good enough sense of himself that he would not stay lost in the alien abyss if Isabel didn�t want him. He would never tell their secret, but Liz knew that he could move on without any of them. He had never really bonded with either Max or Michael, and he would never stick around to feel humiliated and hurt by Isabel. Liz knew that he was only hanging in there because of her�and Maria of course. He was watching out for their interests, and was trying to keep them safe.

And, so, maybe she could tell Alex and she wouldn�t feel so alone.

You�re not alone. You�ll never be alone.

Liz sat up abruptly, her heart in her throat, as the voice suddenly filled her head. It sounded like he was standing right next to her but, as her eyes darted around the room frantically � fearfully - she could see that she was still the only one in her room.

You�re imagining things, she told herself. But she brought her arms up, wrapping them around her middle to suppress the shiver that ran through her.

Because she recognized that voice. It was as familiar to her as her own - as familiar as Max�s, his being the only voice that had ever touched her in the way of the voice she had just heard.

It was that fact alone that told her who the voice belonged to, who it was that had reached out to her across whatever distance separated them.

"Will."

Liz closed her eyes and reached out for him, tentatively, but no longer afraid. Somehow she knew that he would never hurt her.

She was not at all surprised when she simply found him, so easily it was as though she had just called him on the phone.

Liz.

It went beyond anything she had ever experienced with anyone. So clear, so right�

So not right!

The thought slammed into her as her unseeing eyes suddenly focused on the set of pictures tucked into the mirror across the room. She and Max, smiling, laughing.

Meant to be.

Common sense returned to her instantly. The minute her eyes focused on Max�s beloved face, smiling, trusting, loving her.

What the heck was wrong with her?

Liz? She could feel the question in his tone, the concern. He seemed to somehow know that he was losing her.

"I�I can�t! Please! Just leave me alone!" With that, she slammed her mind shut. She jumped to her feet and hurried out the door.

She knew now that something was not right with the new boy, that they had not just made a random connection that morning. He was obviously not normal, which meant he had to be an alien. How else could he have done what he had just done?

And he had sought her out. There was no question. Which could only mean that he was Max�s enemy. Which made him her enemy. Because, no matter what happened between the two of them, even if he never knew it again, she would always side with Max.

But, because of Tess, because the current state of affairs between them was still so new and raw, he was not the one she could go to now, Liz realized, as she practically ran back towards the school. She could not be near him right now. Neither of them could handle it if that morning had been any indication. As heart breaking as it was, Max might not even believe her.

He thought she had betrayed him, that she had lied about everything that she had ever said to him. Why should he believe her? It was so far-fetched, so crazy. Why would his enemies try to get to Max through her? She was an insignificant human. If anyone, it was Tess they wanted. Hadn�t Whittaker already proven that once? They thought it was Tess he loved, Tess he would fight for.

For all Liz knew, that was really the case now anyway. But she also knew that she was right. The new boy was trouble and Max had to know. She ignored the pang of disappointment that it was true - that the first person she had actually considered getting to know since falling into the alien abyss turned out to be totally using her.

She shook her head, trying to clear it of the memory of Will�s clear blue eyes. They had been so guileless, so sincere, so completely focused on her.

But, then, Tess had seemed innocent at first too. And, while she had not turned out to be their enemy (well, not Max�s), it was highly unlikely the same thing would prove true twice.

If Will Spencer could communicate telepathically, he was an alien. Plain and simple. And Max had to know, plain and simple.

She needed an intermediary.

There was only one person she trusted to make sure that Max believed it.

Isabel.

And there was only one way to get to Isabel - particularly if Max�s sister had heard about Kyle and Liz, which she must have by now.

Alex.

Liz�s relief was like a boulder had been lifted off of her shoulders. Because now she had the excuse she needed to tell Alex at least part of the truth. She would help her figure this out.

She wouldn�t be alone anymore.

You�re not alone.

The memory of Will�s voice sent another shiver down Liz�s spine.

She ran faster.

***

Kate waited for her brother on the sidewalk outside the Crashdown.

He was speaking to the girl Jack was sure was Rowena, another boy hovering over her, staring at Will suspiciously. He looked familiar, that boy. It took her a moment, but she finally placed him as the guy who had almost tripped over her following her encounter with Zan.

He was friends with Liz Parker? It was almost too coincidental. Kate frowned slightly, moving deliberately so that Will would notice her.

Will�s eyes met hers through the glass and he seemed to wrap up his conversation, because moments later he was through the door and at her side. They started walking, both in silent agreement that they wouldn�t discuss what Will had done until they were sure they were alone.

"There�s a park down the road," Kate told him after a few minutes.

"Okay."

She glanced at Will curiously out of the corner of her eye. He looked pensive and, if she was not mistaken, a little sad. Kate bit her lip, hoping that Rowena had not hurt him. He had been waiting for her for so long, never giving up hope that they would find her, even when it had seemed unlikely, if not impossible. When they had lost her in the Crash, it had seemed as though Will was doomed to repeat the tragedy of their past lives � that he would never have the chance to be with the girl he loved.

They finally reached the park. Kate was about ready to jump out of her skin, the questions for her brother piling up in her mind. "Well?"

"It�s her." It was a simple reply, but the emotion in his tone more than reflected how deeply he had been affected by his encounter with the dark-haired girl named Liz.

"How could you tell?"

"Her eyes. They haven�t changed a bit. It is definitely her."

Kate remembered how she had recognized Zan immediately by his eyes as well. Interesting.

"Did she know you?"

There was a long pause. Kate looked at Will, worried for him. If she hadn�t�It was going to break his heart. "I�I think she knew me. There was a connection."

"But she didn�t recognize you for sure," Kate pressed.

"No." Will let out a long sigh, slumping down onto a bench they were passing.

"Oh, Will."

"But, it�s not what you think," Will continued. "I don�t think she even knows who she is. I don�t think she even knows she�s not human."

Kate frowned. "How can that be? That�s impossible, Will!"

Will rubbed a hand across his face. "I don�t know, Kate. I�ve been thinking. What if Ro was taken out of her pod too early? I mean, it would make sense, particularly if it was damaged."

Kate felt her eyes widen. "You mean�"

"It wouldn�t have had time to prepare her completely," Will said. "It makes sense. Our human half was the first to develop after all, then the alien, then our memories of our past life. If she was taken out too early�"

"She might be more human than anything." The enormity of this hit Kate squarely in the ribs. She collapsed beside her brother. "If that�s true, Will, then she�s of no use to us!" Without her powers, Rowena could not complete their Four Square. Zan would win.

Will�s head whipped around and he glared at her. "She�s still Rowena! It doesn�t make one shred of difference whether she has gifts or not. Her soul is the same."

Kate stared at her brother. "I know it, Will. I�m not saying I won�t still love her, or that you shouldn�t. What I am saying is that she won�t be able to help us." She narrowed her eyes at him. "You weren�t looking for her to help us at all though, were you?"

"No." His voice cracked and he buried his face in his hands. "I need her. I can�t do any of this without her. Not any longer. Not now that I know she�s still here."

Kate grimaced. She had never seen her brother break down, not even in the first days after Rowena�s death in their past life. He was always so strong. It wasn�t until this moment that she realized that he had remained strong because of the hope that he would find his true love again. That if he endured, they would earn the right to be together.

And now Rowena did not remember him. She did not even remember who she was.

Not used to comforting him, Kate awkwardly brought her arm up around his shoulders and patted him lightly. "We can make her remember, Will."

They sat in silence for a moment longer. Kate didn�t know what else to say to make her brother feel better. She didn�t like him like this. It scared her. He was always the strong one, the one who led. What if this thing with Rowena affected him to the point that he couldn�t function? What if she had to lead?

She needed to snap Will out of this, immediately if not sooner.

"I saw Zan." She said it bluntly, expecting the reaction she got.

"What?" Will�s head raised and he looked at her in disbelief. "What are you talking about?"

"I went to the school to find you," Kate admitted. "I ran into him." She grimaced. "Literally. I�I think he recognized me."

"Oh hell! Kate! There goes the advantage of surprise. What the hell were you thinking?" Will demanded, jumping to his feet.

"What were you thinking?" Kate countered. "We agreed we wouldn�t find Ro until we had the granolith in our possession. And, then, the first think you do once we reach this town is seek her out? How bright was that move?"

"I couldn�t help it," Will grumbled. "I just�I just had to see her, had to make sure." He sighed, started pacing. "Well, tell me."

"He�s definitely playing up the normal teenage boy angle," Kate admitted. "Nicholas was right about that. I never thought that Zan would be able to mask his arrogance enough to pull it off, but he has."

"Hmm." Will looked thoughtful. "I never did get a chance to ask Liz about her connection to Zan." He paused. "I guess we should get used to calling them by their Earth names. Max Evans." The name rolled off Will�s tongue like a curse. "Well, this just means we�re going to have to speed things up."

"I guess. Do you think the others will be as easy to sniff out?"

"Likely. Hiding in plain sight. It�s actually pretty smart," Will admitted grudgingly. "I don�t know why our protectors never thought of it."

Kate knew exactly what he was talking about. They had been well hidden in the countryside until the disaster at Copper Summit, their protectors feeling it unwise that they become too attached to the world of humans since they were not destined to stay on Earth for any great length of time. Their people had been sent out far and wide in search of Zan and the others. They hadn�t even known that they had been found until they were called to Arizona.

Their protectors had been in Copper Summit for the Harvest. They had been amongst the first to die when it failed. Kate knew that there were still many Skins alive, but it was only a matter of time until their protective sheathes gave out, until the three of them were all alone on this planet. For the first time, she regretted ever wishing they could have had more freedom, that they were not so dependent on others.

Now they had all the freedom in the universe and they were screwing it up already.

But they had found Rowena. That was something at least.

"What are we going to do?" Kate asked now, trying to mask her fear.

It didn�t take her long to realize that Will wasn�t even listening to her though. He had a strange expression on his face. He was staring off into the distance and clearly wasn�t at all focused on her. Kate stared at him. "Will?"

"She�s crying. I just�I felt her." He sounded amazed. "She�s�she�s lonely." He closed his eyes, seemed to be concentrating even harder.

"Will!"

His eyes snapped open. He looked disappointed. "She shut me out."

"Who?"

"Rowena of course."

"You just connected with her?" Kate blinked. "Without even trying?"

He smiled, suddenly smug. "It�s Ro. I just felt her."

Kate scowled. He knew she had always been jealous of how easily Rowena had been able to connect with people in their past life. It was her special gift, one which they could all access, but not like Ro. Ro had just understood others and, so, it has always been easy for her. It was why she had been such a great queen.

"So, if she connected with you�"

"It means she can still access her powers." Will finished. He looked at Kate again. "There�s only one thing to do, Kate."

Kate felt her heart start to beat more quickly. She had a feeling she wasn�t going to like this at all.

"We�re going to tell her the truth."

Part 6

Alex went back to school. He didn�t quite know what else to do after Liz�s blow-up and so he simply went to class, pretended that nothing had happened.

He thought about finding Maria, to tell his other best friend what had happened with Liz, but he knew that it would only upset Maria. And, somehow, he knew that Liz had not meant it, that she would apologize as soon as she calmed down.

There was now no question that she was hiding something though - and it worried him, big time. He remembered how difficult it had been for her to keep Max�s secret from him, Alex, last fall. By the time she finally told him the truth, when they had both been in jail after the bust at the rave, she had been practically hysterical. It was not a part of Liz Parker�s nature to lie.

And now she was lying to everyone she had always depended on. At least that last time she had Maria to confide in, and Max. Now she had absolutely no one. Which made Alex even more suspicious of this Will character. He knew that he had not imagined the possessiveness on that other guy�s face during their brief interaction at the Crashdown. There was something just off with the guy. Was he trying to take advantage of an obviously needy girl? It sure seemed that way to Alex.

So why did Alex not seek out Maria, or even Max and the others? Why was he keeping this to himself?

He had absolutely no idea, which was the most upsetting part of all. Had that guy done something to him too? Was Maria right? Was he a mind-warping maniac and was he already sucking Alex�s brains out, slowly but surely? He knew it was a paranoid thought, but he had heard all about the disintegrating aliens in Copper Summit from Maria only the night before on the phone. Brain-suckers didn�t seem quite so farfetched any longer.

Which was why he was currently staring at the algebra equations on the overhead at the front of the class, completely lost, and also trying to decide if he felt like his brains had been sucked. Despite his preoccupation, it had not escaped his notice that the only other member of their group who was in this math section with him - Isabel - was absent. He wondered briefly where she was. It wasn�t like her to miss school.

"Er, I don�t suppose you have an extra pencil?"

Alex blinked, turning to stare at the blond kid sitting next to him in surprise. He blinked again when he realized that he�d never seen the guy before in his life, which was a rare occurrence in Roswell. "Huh?"

"Pencil? Mine just broke." The kid held up his writing instrument and, indeed, the lead at the end was merely hanging on by a thread.

Alex stared at him. "Oh, yeah, sure." He reached into his back-pack, pulling out a pencil for his neighbour.

"Thanks." The kid sighed in relief. "I didn�t really want to go up to the front to sharpen it. Everyone�s staring at me enough today. You know, being new and all."

"Right." Another new kid? What the hell? And, yet, it went against Alex�s nature to be deliberately rude. It was extremely unlikely that every new face he encountered was an alien after all. He still had no proof that Will was an alien either! "I�m Alex by the way. Welcome to Roswell."

"Thanks." The other boy met his gaze squarely. "I�m Jack. It�s nice to meet you." He grimaced. "Can I just tell you, you�re the first person to actually speak to me today? Thanks for that."

"Oh, well." Alex shrugged. This kid was kind of weird. What normal guy went around thanking others for being nice? But, then, Alex wasn�t exactly your typical teenager either, so he wouldn�t hold it against Jack. "Where are you from?" He decided he could afford to be a little friendly. It would keep his mind off the Liz dilemma, at least for the moment.

"Arizona," Jack replied. "Not too far away, but if feels like a million miles."

"Well, I�ve lived in Roswell all my life and you�re not the first person to feel like they�ve beamed onto another planet," Alex told him wryly. "It can get a little creepy around here, with all the UFO tourists and stuff."

"I�d guess so," Jack grinned. "So, do you know any aliens?"

Alex did his best not to snort. "Sometimes I think so," he replied non-committally. Sometimes I wish I didn�t was what he was really thinking.

He shook his head, pushing the disloyal thought aside. In spite of the regular havoc wreaked on his life by his plunge into the alien abyss, he had to admit to himself that he wouldn�t trade the knowledge he had now for anything in the world. An image of Isabel, in all her glacial beauty, flashed through his mind, distracting him. It made him tired to even think about her though. Things were so far from where he wanted them in their relationship, he was trying lately not to think about her at all.

And, yet, it didn�t hurt nearly as much as it had only yesterday. He wondered why, frowning slightly when he realized that, apart from his worry about Liz, he had also been thinking about that mysterious girl from this morning - the one he had almost tripped over.

Interesting.

It took him a moment to realize that Jack was still talking. "See that chick?" he asked quietly, discreetly nodding in the direction of the girl at the front of the class. "She�s in two of my classes and if she�s not an alien, I don�t know who is."

Alex did snort this time. "That�s Pam Troy," he replied in an undertone. "And you know how to pick them, buddy�"

They passed the rest of the class in a very enjoyable game of making fun of the rest of the students around them. It wasn�t Alex�s usual style, but Jack had a wicked sense of humour that brought out his devilish side. In fact, he couldn�t remember the last time he�d had so much fun.

When the bell finally rang, Alex realized that he had wasted the entire period. Not only did he have no idea what he was supposed to do for homework, but he still hadn�t figured out what he was going to do about Liz. He felt a bit guilty about it, but didn�t regret the fact that he had made a new kid a little more comfortable.

Of course, the concern all came pouring back when he found Liz waiting for him in the hallway, shifting impatiently from one foot to the other. Alex met her gaze, raising an eyebrow questioningly. Liz�s eyes filled with tears, causing Alex�s heart to break.

"�headed off to the caf. Do you have lunch this period?" Jack was saying beside him. He seemed to notice that he had lost Alex�s attention though and stopped talking, following his gaze.

"I have to go," Alex told him quietly. "See you tomorrow, Jack. It was nice to meet you." He walked over to Liz, took her hand and led her into the Eraser Room, which happened to be right across the hall.

The instant the door shut behind them, Liz threw her arms around him and started to sob. "I�m so sorry, Alex." At least he thought that was what she said. It was a little hard to tell with all the hiccuping.

He pulled her against him, stroking her hair soothingly. "It�s okay, Lizzie. It�s okay." After several moments, when he felt her finally calming down, Alex stepped back, placed his hands firmly on her shoulders. "Okay, are you ready to tell me what the hell�s going on with you?"

Liz sniffled, her eyes still shining. "Yes. I can�t keep this to myself any longer. I just can�t." He could see her spine straightening, even as she said it. "But you have to promise me you won�t tell anyone."

Alex frowned. "Can you guarantee me that your life isn�t in danger? Because if you can�t, then I can�t promise. Max and Michael and the others are better equipped to protect you than I am. Even Valenti�s better equipped." He could not get the image of Will Spencer�s eyes out of his brain, which was why he asked. That proprietary air Alex had seen when it came to Liz sent a shiver down his spine even now.

Liz scowled at him. "Max is the last person who can know!" she exclaimed. "And if you don�t promise me, Alex, I�m not going to tell you."

"Liz�"

"Alex!" She moved towards the door, clearly ready to leave. He knew that it was the last thing he could allow.

"Fine," he sighed, knowing it was a mistake, but also knowing that she knew him too well. He had promised and now the ball was in her court. They were playing this Liz�s way.

Liz closed her eyes, sagging against the door in relief. "Thank you," she whispered. "Alex, I swear, I don�t think I�m in any physical danger." And he could see from the expression on her face that she truly didn�t. He breathed easier.

But wait a minute. There were other kinds of danger�mental, emotional.

"Is this about that Will guy?" Alex demanded.

Liz stared at him. "Well, yes, sort of. How did you know?"

"I didn�t like him. He creeped me out," Alex told her truthfully. "They way he was acting around you�"

"It was like he knew me," Liz finished for him, looking distant again.

"Well, that�s not exactly what I was going to say," Alex replied. "He looked like he thought he owned you."

Liz frowned. "What? Really?" She sounded disbelieving.

Alex folded his arms. "Yes, really."

"Weird." Liz was pensive for a moment and then she said, "He connected with me."

Alex felt his heart start to pound. "Like as in alien connect? As in what you and Max do?"

A spasm of grief crossed Liz�s face before she whispered, "Yes."

"So he�s an alien."

"I think so." Liz took his hand pleadingly. "I need you to go and tell Isabel, so that she can tell Max. They need to know about this."

Alex raised an eyebrow. So, finally, they were at the crux of the matter. "Why can�t you tell Max yourself - or Isabel?"

Liz sighed. "Because I don�t think Isabel would believe me - not anymore - but she would believe you." She paused, seemed to take a deep breath. "And Max and I aren�t really talking right now. You know�" She trailed off, pained.

"Because of the Kyle thing."

Liz swallowed, her face white. "Right. The Kyle thing."

"Are you going to tell me the truth about that?" Alex asked gently, squeezing her hand.

Her voice cracked as she struggled to reply. "I want to�so badly, Alex. But I promised him I wouldn�t tell anyone."

"Who? Kyle?" Alex had been wondering if approaching Kyle was the answer to all of this, but he had put it off, still hoping that Liz would confide in him on her own. Now he was glad that he hadn�t spoken to the other guy. Because if Kyle had blown the whole thing off, which it sounded like he had if he wanted Liz to keep it a secret, then Alex could not be held responsible for his actions. If Michael Guerin had been shocked to find himself on the wrong end of Alex�s fist the week before, Kyle would not survive the meeting.

"No, not Kyle," Liz sighed. "Max."

"Max didn�t want you to tell anyone that you slept with Kyle?" Alex asked, confused. "I don�t get it."

"Not my Max," Liz explained patiently. "Future Max."

Alex stared at her. "Pardon me?"

Liz was breathing unevenly, her hands clenched in front of her. "I�m going to tell you, Alex, but I need you to promise again that you won�t tell anyone. Not even Maria."

"Maria�s worried about you, Liz," Alex said, although he was really thinking about the cryptic statement Future Max. Was Liz losing her marbles as well as her morals?

"She can�t know, Alex," Liz told him firmly. "She just can�t. Not until I know everything�s okay and I know that Max is doing what he�s supposed to do."

"You mean Future Max?"

"No, my Max!"

The way she said that - my Max - Alex could hear how much she still loved her ex-boyfriend in that simple pronoun, which only made the whole situation in which they currently found themselves more ludicrous. Which was why he needed to know the truth. So that he could help his best friend and so that she could be happy. Because, without Max, he just knew that she would never be happy.

Lord knew that he had always had a crush on Isabel, that it had been the best time of his life back in the spring, when she had decided that she wanted to be with him, but their relationship had never been like what Max and Liz shared.

Max and Liz�What they had been to each other had been otherworldly - and, no he was not trying to make a pun. Their love for each other was almost something mystical. And it wasn�t just the alien thing either - because Michael and Maria loved each other too, but they certainly were not like Max and Liz. Alex had never been jealous of it though, never expecting that he would find the same thing. It had been, rather, almost gratifying to be a part of it at all, to see two people who were so right for each other come together, to see them make each other come to life like that. Alex loved Liz and he had been happy for her, and it didn�t hurt that he actually thought Max was a good guy, even if they didn�t know each other very well.

It had made it even clearer to Alex that what he had with Isabel was nowhere near the same thing. And, he suddenly realized, he wanted what Max and Liz had, even if he was unsure that he could have it, that maybe a love that burned like that was only for a lucky few.

For the past few weeks he had been wondering if maybe he could still share something with Isabel, but since she started dating Grant Sorenson, hope was dwindling. If she could go out with someone like that bohunk, she would never be happy with someone like Alex. He was tired of being second best.

And, yet, even now that he was beginning to understand that Izzy would never see him as more than a good friend, he wasn�t too choked up about it. It was disappointing, but he knew that he could move on eventually. He was ready to crawl out of the alien abyss, once and for all. He could be a part of the secret without having it make every decision for him, without having to build his life around it. It made his heart jump a bit to think about the possibility.

But as long as Liz was miserable, he was stuck. Because he could not leave her like this. And, so, he was going to have to understand exactly what the hell "Future Max" meant and why his best friend seemed to be losing her mind, because the whole sleeping with Kyle angle seemed to indicate that even more strongly than the babble about Future Maxes.

Alex sighed wearily. He wanted out. He had never seen it more clearly than he did in that instant. And it made him sad. But it was time to move on with his life. Because as long as he was attached to the aliens, he would forever be linked with Isabel. It was just the way the cookie crumbled in their little band. Alien with human. Max with Liz. Michael with Maria. Even Tess and Kyle were becoming synonymous in his mind.

Which left Alex and Isabel. Which also gave the explanation for why he had performed that humiliating striptease at her birthday weeks before. He had thought that if he reminded her how he could make her laugh, how he would do anything for her, she would wake up and realize that they should be together.

But she hadn�t. As far as he knew, she was still dating Grant, and he was tired of doing all the work. There were plenty of fish in the sea! In fact, hadn�t a new goddess almost tripped over him just that morning?

He remembered that girl, with her long curly hair and her cryptic statements. She had reminded him of Isabel, had definitely been his type. Maybe she would turn out to be his soulmate. Maybe not. But the idea that she could be was liberating.

The thought of soul mates snapped him back to reality with a crash though. What the hell was he doing, worrying about his love life, when his best friend needed him? Even now she was looking at him in concern, wondering where he had disappeared to on her.

"Sorry," he muttered. "All of these mentions of Maxes are frying my brain."

Liz frowned. "Alex, I know it sounds weird, but I need you to focus here. I need you."

He folded his arms firmly. "I�m all ears. Now tell me. What the hell is going on?"

Part 7

Kate and Will returned to the Crashdown immediately after Will�s announcement that they were going to tell Rowena the truth about who she was. Kate tried the entire way to convince her brother that it was a terrible idea, that they still didn�t know what Ro�s connection was to Zan, that approaching her too quickly might screw everything up even more, but Will was determined.

"I know it�s the right way to go," he told her firmly. "It�s best to just get it all out in the open. She felt something. I know she did. If we don�t talk to her, she�s going to get scared. We have to make her see that we�re not a threat to her."

"But Will! She�s friends with Zan! And we fully intend to be a threat to him!" Kate snapped back, despite knowing that she was arguing in vain. Will was the leader, had always been the leader. His decisions were final. They always had been, they always would be. It didn�t mean she wasn�t going to make sure that she was going to have the chance to say I told you so later. "And what about Jack? Where is he anyway?"

"Undercover," Will replied. "He�s pretending to be a student at West Roswell too. And if you see him, you�re not to talk to him. You�ve already screwed up enough, Katie, letting Zan see you like that. We need to keep all our tricks up our sleeves for as long as possible. As of right now, we don�t know Jack. At all."

"Will! Jack can�t handle this on his own. He�s going to crack for sure!"

Will looked at her, his eyes narrowed. "When are you going to realize that Jack isn�t quite the same person he was in our last lives? He�s more than capable."

Kate glared at him. "You�re wrong, Will. He�s completely innocent. He�s going to go right up to one of them and introduce himself, I�m telling you. He still doesn�t quite believe they�re our enemies, just like last time! Even after Copper Summit. We have to keep him on a short leash."

"I said to leave him alone, Kate, and that�s final," Will told her, pushing his way into the Crashdown. He approached the man behind the counter, who had longish salt and pepper hair and a kind face. Kate blinked when Will introduced himself. "Hi, are you Mr. Parker?" Rowena lived in the restaurant? Because apparently the man was her father.

The man finished wiping his hands dry on a towel and grinned. "I am. And who might you be? We�re not hiring right now if that�s why you�re here."

Will grinned charmingly, making Kate stare at him in amazement. She hadn�t been aware that her brother was capable of smiling. "No thanks. I actually just wanted to know if Liz was still at home." He indicated Kate. "My sister and I are new in town and I met Liz this morning. I wanted to introduce her to Kate." He paused. "My name is Will Spencer by the way."

"Hi, Will," Mr. Parker replied. "Kate. Nice to meet you. I haven�t seen Lizzie this morning but I was in Albuquerque picking up some supplies." He frowned slightly. "I�m assuming she�s at school where she�s supposed to be. Should I be thinking differently?" he asked suspiciously.

Kate rolled her eyes. Trust Will to get Liz into trouble. He was such a moron when it came to dealing with humans. He had never had to answer to anyone, except for their guardians when it came to their protection, but it certainly not been a parental relationship. He had always known he was a king and had always been treated that way. Their protectors had always been subservient because they had never had any reason to be anything else. All three of them remembered what had happened to them in their past lives when they hadn�t been careful. They had never given their protectors any cause for concern.

"Er, no." Will sounded slightly embarrassed. "Liz just told me that she sometimes comes home for lunch. I thought she might be here."

Mr. Parker was still frowning. "Hmmm. Well, I haven�t seen her but I�ll tell her you dropped by." He paused. "Maybe I�ll just call upstairs to see if she�s there. She has been looking a little out of sorts lately. Maybe she decided to come home early after all."

As Liz�s father moved away to the phone, Kate elbowed her brother. "Smooth."

"Shut up."

Kate smirked at him. "What next, oh great leader?"

"We go back to the school of course," Will replied impatiently. "She probably did go back there."

"And right to Zan to tell him that you connected with her, I�ll bet," Kate told him, her heart starting to beat more quickly. "We are so dead, Will."

Will didn�t seem concerned. "Kate, why hasn�t Zan come after us yet?" he asked. "How are you so positive that he recognized you? Shouldn�t he be here if he did? He�s not an idiot, as much as I would like to say that he is."

Kate shrugged. "He�s probably gathering his forces."

"What forces? Nicholas told us he had the other three and a couple of humans with him in Copper Summit. Do those sound like forces to you?"

She didn�t get a chance to answer though. Mr. Parker was coming back. "Nope. No answer. She must be at school. Sorry. She usually eats with Alex and Maria, if that helps." He glanced at the clock on the wall and shrugged. "But lunch should be about over by now."

"Thank you anyway," Will said politely. "Well, it was nice to meet you, sir."

"You too. Welcome to Roswell."

Neither said another word until they were back on the street. "So, back to the school?" Kate asked, still annoyed that Will didn�t believe her that Zan had recognized her. She knew he had! He had stared right at her and his eyes had told her so.

"I guess so." Will sighed. "We�re going to have to be careful though." Kate could hear the note of worry in Will�s voice. She glanced at him.

"You�re worried Ro did go to Zan."

Will grimaced. "No."

"Will, it�s a possibility. They�re friends. You connected with her and she obviously knows who Zan and the others are. Of course she went to him." Kate closed her eyes. "This is a complete disaster!"

"It�s not," Will insisted. "It only makes it more obvious that we have to tell Liz who she is right away, so that she�ll stop hanging around Zan. He�s dangerous to her. We both know that."

There was a long pause as Kate thought about the strangeness of the fact that Rowena didn�t seem to know anything about who she was, but certainly knew who Zan was. "Why did he tell her the truth I wonder?" she finally asked her brother as they hurried back in the direction of West Roswell High. "If she�s human in almost every way, how did they find each other?"

"I don�t know," Will told her, sounding determined. "But we�re going to find out."

***

"Liz Parker and Alex Whitman are in the Eraser Room!"

Max whipped his head around as he hurried back through the front doors of the school. He and Izzy had taken the Jeep to the Crashdown and through half of Roswell looking for Liz and the mysterious Will. Tess had pulled Kyle out of class to fill him in, although Max had been tempted to tell her not to. The last person Max wanted to talk to was Kyle Valenti, but he knew he was being stupid. Kyle would care if Liz was in danger. That was all that mattered at the moment. And so, Tess and Kyle had taken the other half of town.

In some ways it had been a relief to get rid of Tess for a while. Max couldn�t stand the way she was constantly breathing down his neck lately. It was driving him insane and if pulling Kyle into this meant a little peace from Tess, he realized that he was more than willing. Michael and Maria had stayed at the school in case Liz came back and to locate Alex.

That was all two hours ago though. Max was practically frantic now. He had known the instant that Liz had not come back to Bio that something was wrong. In fact, he had known it for the past ten days - ever since he had seen her in bed with Kyle. Yet, he had allowed his jealousy and his hurt to rule him and he hadn�t made her tell him the truth. And now something had happened to her. He just knew it. Particularly when Mr. Parker had told them at the Crashdown that they were the second set of siblings to come in asking for Liz in the past half an hour. Max and Isabel had stared at each other. He had seen Isabel�s eyes widen in horror. When he had casually asked for the names of the two kids looking for Liz, he had been forced to clutch the counter, his knees suddenly weak with fear.

Will and Kate. So now they had names for the girl Max had plowed into in the hallway and for the new guy. And they were connected, just as they had suspected. This was all bad. The only good thing about it was that Liz was clearly not with Will any longer. But she was still missing.

What if they had done something to her already? What if they were just covering their tracks by asking Mr. Parker about her so that when Liz didn�t come home today, Will could safely say he had no idea where she was?

Of course, based on the whisper Max was sure he had just heard - in fact had likely been meant to overhear - Liz and Alex were going to be found in the last place any of them would have ever thought to look for them. It also seemed that they weren�t in any danger at all. But why wouldn�t Max�s heart stop pounding, in some way knowing that they were?

"Max?" Isabel whispered, sounding horrified. "Did you just hear that?" It took Max a minute to even process why his sister was upset. All he knew was the he was glad that they now had a definite location for both of their friends.

But taking one look at Isabel�s face, he realized that Alex and Liz in the Eraser Room was indeed a bit odd. Not that he thought anything would be going on between them, but they had to have known that people were going to talk about it. And Isabel seemed to be taking it to heart if her face was any indication.

"I think so. Go ask that girl, Isabel. She�ll tell you." Max barely had to say it though. His sister was already on her way. Within seconds she was in conversation with the two sophomores who had been speaking far too loudly. He decided to ignore the way the blonder of the two stared at him, a slightly assessing look on her face, as her friend whispered frantically to Isabel, apparently slightly in awe that the popular junior was deigning to speak to her.

The other one was probably trying to see if he was jealous. Max rolled his eyes. He knew he was obvious that he was in no way over Liz, but could people not just leave him in peace? Sometimes he really hated school. Most of the time he wished his problems were a simple as those of all his peers - who was dating who, who had made the cheerleading squad and who hadn�t. He didn�t even know that girl�s name! Why did she care if he was upset or not?

No, he wasn�t upset. Because he wasn�t a typical high school boy pining for an ex-girlfriend. Instead, he was an alien king dealing with complete and utter heartbreak because his soul mate had slept with someone else. Oh ,yeah. And also dealing with the fact that he was somehow supposed to save a planet in another galaxy from a bunch of enemies, most of whom he had no idea how to find - or how to avoid.

Nope. Not upset at all.

And the stupidest part of it all was that he was jealous. Not because he thought that there was anything going on between Alex and Liz, but because they had obviously had something of a serious enough nature to discuss in private that they had felt compelled to use the Eraser Room. The entire student body respected the Eraser Room. They wouldn�t be bothered there. Which meant that Liz was confiding in Alex. It meant that there really was something wrong and she had turned to someone else and he hated it.

He was almost tempted to go straight there, pull open the door and demand that Liz finally tell him the truth about what was going on with her. Because he really couldn�t take much more of this. The more he reflected on her behavior that morning, the more he was sure that there was more to the Kyle thing than she was letting on. She wouldn�t feel as bad about it as she did if there weren�t. Because hadn�t she brutalized him to his face right before the Kyle thing, telling him that she didn�t want to die for him? She hadn�t felt bad then.

Which, he was beginning to realize, meant it was a lie. She hadn�t felt bad because she knew that he wouldn�t believe her. And he hadn�t. But now that she thought he did believe her, she felt bad. Because she was upset that he believed it, that she had hurt him.

How could he have been so stupid?

Max stood in the middle of the virtually empty hallway with his mouth hanging open in disbelief. Isabel was wrapping up her conversation as the final bell for sixth period was ringing. The two sophomores hurried off to class, but Max saw none of this. He could feel a smile beginning to break across his face.

She did still care about him. There was no other explanation for it. Something else was going on. He just knew it.

"Well?" He raised an eyebrow at Isabel as she rejoined him.

"Max, they�ve been in there for three periods!" Isabel exclaimed, her tone slightly hysterical. "What are they doing in there?"

"We�re going to find out," Max replied grimly. "Let�s go."

Isabel called after him. "Max, I don�t know if this is such a good idea. Has Liz gone crazy or something? First Kyle, and now Alex?"

He looked over his shoulder impatiently. "Iz, let�s go. You know it�s nothing like that!"

"Right. Alex wouldn�t do that." Isabel nodded firmly. "You�re right. I know him." Which, of course, implied that she didn�t know Liz, that she wouldn�t put it past Liz to be shacked up in the Eraser Room with Alex. Max sighed. This was another reason he hadn�t wanted Michael or Isabel to know about the Kyle thing. Even after everything Liz had done for them, they were always ready to believe the worst of her, so protective of him, they couldn�t help themselves. It was extremely frustrating, particularly because Max knew how really wonderful she was.

But Max knew Liz and he knew that what Isabel was imagining couldn�t be true. Alex was like her brother. It would be like Isabel and Michael�Or�Okay, now that was just too gross to even contemplate. He was not going there. But he knew that how he and Michael felt about Izzy was how Liz felt about Alex.

She was confiding in him. Somehow Max just knew it. Which meant she had something to confide. He was almost gleeful as he climbed the stairs to the second floor, Isabel on his heels.

Liz was stubborn, Max knew, but when he confronted her with all of his evidence, she was going to have to admit the truth - that she was keeping something from him. It was only a matter of time now until things could go back to normal, back to the way they were supposed to be, back to the way he had known deep in his heart they were meant to be from the first moment he had laid eyes on Liz that day in the playground.

Fate had brought them together. He wasn�t going to let whatever it was upsetting Liz keep them apart. Not anymore. They were connected on a level deeper than they would ever be with anyone else. If she had broken and was telling Alex, he could get her to tell him. He just knew it.

He was practically jogging now, unable to slow down, desperate to make Liz tell him the truth. He rounded the corner to the corridor where the Eraser Room was located and stopped so abruptly, Isabel crashed into his back.

Apparently he and Isabel were not the only ones to hear the Liz and Alex were in the Eraser Room. Because standing at the far end of the hallway were the new guy and girl, who had both come to an sudden halt as well, at the sight of him and Isabel.

Will and Kate. The two new students - the ones they had all convinced themselves were aliens. But as Max stared at them, he couldn�t help but reflect that they looked just as human as everyone else in West Roswell High. They didn�t look like Skins. They weren�t itching or dropping pieces of themselves all over the place for one thing. And if they were Skins, their sheaths had to be just about ready to fall off. Max had seen Courtney at Michael�s the night before. None of those aliens were long for this world.

Had they all just become paranoid? Were they losing it and couldn�t even accept that two new students might be just that - two new students?

"Max?" Isabel whispered urgently. "That�s them, isn�t it?" Max remembered that his sister hadn�t seen either of the newcomers yet.

Will and Kate were still staring at them too and the way they were staring at them�Max remembered the flash of recognition he had seen in Kate�s eyes when he had slammed into her in the hallway earlier that morning. He was not wrong. These two kids knew him. He could see it on both of their faces. Which could not be a good thing. Even now he was beginning to feel something in the air, something charging up, as though merely being in their presence was setting something into motion.

This was very, very bad.

"It�s them," Max muttered back. "Do they seem at all familiar? Can you feel it, Iz?"

"I feel it." Isabel shivered. "Who are they? It�s different than with the Skins, Max. It�s just�weird. It feels like.."

"I know, Iz. It feels like when we first saw Michael�and Tess."

Isabel nodded fearfully. "Are they here for Liz?"

"I think so." Max clenched his fists at his side.

"Why? If they�re like Michael and Tess�" Isabel trailed off, no longer sounding afraid but, instead, confused.

"I don�t know. But if they�re trying to get at me through her, they�ve got another thing coming. They�re going to take her over my dead body."

With pleasure, Zan.

Max felt his eyes widen as the voice suddenly penetrated his thoughts, out of absolutely nowhere. It was a male voice, one he had never heard before, but he knew instantly that it was the other guy at the end of the hallway speaking to him, despite the fact that Will�s mouth had not opened.

Okay then. No doubts now. Aliens. Check.

And suddenly what that voice had said hit home.

Yup, this was very, very bad.

"MAX!" Isabel�s scream made him react instantly. He brought his arm up and the green plasma shield Tess had helped him hone over the summer appeared out of nowhere, protecting him and his sister as a bolt of green lightening seemed to shoot right out of Will�s upraised hand. It bounced innocently off the shield though. He and Isabel were completely protected.

But the assault went on and on. Max couldn�t drop his arm, but could feel his energy being drained. He was still aware enough to watch in horror as the Eraser Room door slammed open, the sudden chaos in the hallway obviously bringing Alex and Liz out to see what was going on.

Why couldn�t they have stayed where they were safe? Didn�t they know better by now? Max thought desperately, wondering how he was going to protect them and still keep Isabel safe too. He didn�t know if he could keep the shield up much longer, let alone use it to protect Liz and Alex too.

"MAX!" He heard Liz scream his name. Alex�s head was whipping back and forth between the two sets of aliens, horror written on his face. Max felt a stab of relief as he saw Alex grab Liz, ready to pull her back into the Eraser Room. Good old Alex.

But it was too late. While Max and Isabel were cowering behind his shield, Kate made her move. She had been ready for Max�s two friends when they had come out and now she grabbed them both by the wrist. Liz and Alex were both fighting her, but it seemed to do no good.

Will was moving towards them now, still casually flinging lightening towards Max and Isabel so that they couldn�t move. Max could only watch helplessly as Will placed his hand on his Kate�s shoulder.

And, an instant later, Liz, Alex, Will and Kate all disappeared into thin air.

Part 8

Liz woke up with a splitting headache. She groaned, bringing her fingertips gingerly to her temples. What the hell had happened to her? Memory returned slowly as consciousness seeped in.

The last thing she remembered clearly was the shocked and dazed look that had gradually come over Alex�s face as she told her best friend the entire story of Future Max. At first he looked like he was humoring her, his face displaying the same expression it had when she had told him about Max and who he really was, when they were in jail during the heat wave. But, as he slowly started to accept that what she was saying was true - that a future version of Max Evans had really come back to tell her that she needed to push him and Tess together or the world would end - his face had taken on the same overwhelmed expression he had worn for a good two weeks after the original revelation of aliens living among them.

She remembered what a relief it had been to finally get it all off her chest, even if Alex wasn�t going to buy it at first. And he didn�t. Right before they heard all that noise out in the hallway, he had started grilling her with questions - asking her things that she had asked herself a million times already.

"Maria thinks that someone is mindwarping you. Are you sure it�s not that? This could be Tess playing with your mind," and "What about a shapeshifter? It could have been a shapeshifter!" And, finally, just because he was Alex, "You�re on drugs again, aren�t you?" That one made her giggle, despite herself.

As for the other questions, Liz calmly answered them all with the same response. "It was Max. I know it."

Finally, Alex threw his hands up in frustration. "Liz, how can you be sure? How?"

"His eyes." It was the first time she actually understood how she had known, but she was right. It had been Future Max�s eyes. He was Max. There was no doubt in her mind. His eyes had told her so. They had been the same gentle, loving eyes she had always known - the eyes that spoke to her soul.

It was as this revelation hit that chaos had erupted on the other side of the Eraser Room door. She and Alex had stared at each other, equally confused and, then, stupidly, they had gone barreling into the corridor. Because who would believe that a full-fledged alien smackdown was taking place right out in public? Right in school for God�s sake!

But it was. After that, everything happened so quickly, it was mostly images, little more. To one side Liz saw Max and Isabel cowering behind the shield that Max had used to protect her and Tess in Copper Summit. Turning her head she saw Will, the new boy, sending lightening bolts flying at the two Evans siblings, his face an emotionless mask. Liz had looked back at Max, terror for him making her stomach churn. She had seen the pain on his face as he struggled to keep the shield in place, could see his fear, and she had screamed his name despite herself. She was unaware as Alex grabbed her, trying to pull her back into the Eraser Room. Then everything had gone dark.

"You�re all right now." The voice penetrated the pain, familiar and, yet, frightening. "I�m sorry that had to happen."

She felt a cool cloth against her eyes. It was enough that when it was taken away, she managed to slit her eyes open. Her heart started to beat erratically as she met Will Spencer�s blue-eyed gaze. She could see concern melt into relief as he became aware of the fact that she was truly awake.

Liz sat up and moved away from him so quickly, he almost fell over backwards off the bed. "Stay away from me!" she told him urgently. She pushed herself back against the headboard, terror making her want to scream but, as her eyes darted around the room in which she found herself - were they in a motel? - she wondered if there was anyone around to hear her.

"Liz." Will was steadily on his feet now, reaching out to her. "Please, it�s not what you think."

"Not what I think?" Liz almost screamed at him. "You�re an alien! Aren�t you? And you kidnapped me! Didn�t you? I think it�s exactly what I think!" She could feel shivers beginning to claim her body. The only time she had ever been more afraid in her life was when Max was taken by Pierce.

The thought of Max actually calmed her down slightly. At least if she was the one who was kidnapped, Max was safe. Even with how bad things were between them presently, she could not have borne it if something happened to him again. She had barely been able to deal with it the last time. Flashes of all that he had endured in the white room passed through her mind, making her feel ill, as they always did.

At least Max was safe. It was a small comfort, but comfort nonetheless.

Unless he was being kept somewhere else. The new, horrible thought penetrated her relief, making her heart thunder again.

Or unless he was dead. Images of his fear before she had blacked out ran through her mind, making her stomach churn.

"What do you want?" Liz demanded. "Where is Max?"

Will�s eyes flickered slightly. He had been watching her helplessly, but now his face hardened. "Not here."

Liz stared at him. "You didn�t take him?"

"No."

"So this is a trap then? Max comes after me and you do something awful to him then?"

"It�s you we want." Will�s voice was quiet. He carefully sat back on the bed. "Liz, please. You need to listen to me. We never intended to have to teleport you out of there. We were just coming to talk to you. We had no idea that they would be there." The way he emphasized they - it did nothing to mask his hatred of Max and Isabel. It upset Liz even more. She was right then. Will was Max�s enemy.

It took a moment, but she finally remembered what he had said about it being her they wanted. Who was they anyway? And what did they want with her, if it wasn�t to trap Max? Liz narrowed her eyes, staring at him for a long moment. He was watching her with those intense blue eyes, obviously trying to figure out what she was thinking.

"Why me?" she whispered. "Don�t you know that he doesn�t love me anymore?"

Will frowned. "Who doesn�t love you?"

"Max. I broke his heart." Her voice trembled slightly as Max�s words in Copper Summit replayed themselves in her brain, just as they had a million times since he had said them.

What I saw can't be true, because it means everything I felt in my heart for the last year is a lie!

Liz closed her eyes against the painful memory. Why was it getting harder to deal with the fact that she was lying to Max? Shouldn�t it be getting easier? Wasn�t time supposed to heal all wounds?

"Liz?" She felt his hand on her knee, flinched away. Her eyes flew open and she berated herself for becoming distracted. She needed to be strong, needed to find out as much as she could about these enemies so that she could warn Max. She needed to figure out a way to escape before Max came for her, so that he wouldn�t put himself in danger. So that he wouldn�t suffer anymore on her behalf. "Are you okay?" Will asked, making her grimace. She did not want her enemy - Max�s enemy - to sound sympathetic.

It was all an act anyway.

"Why would I be okay?" Liz demanded. "You kidnapped me!" A memory managed to make its way past the confusion that she felt. "And Alex! Where is he? Did you hurt him?" Oh God! Alex! This was her fault. She had brought him into it all by weakening, by telling him the truth.

"Your friend Alex is fine," Will reassured her quickly. "He�s with Kate."

"I want to see him." Liz pressed her lips together, folding her arms against her chest, and lifting her chin.

"Will it make you feel better?" Will sounded a bit disappointed, like he liked being alone with her. She remembered suddenly what Alex had said to her, about how he had not liked the way Will looked at her - possessively, as though she belonged to him.

She bit her lip, staring at him. "Who are you?" she whispered, curiosity finally winning over fear.

"It�s not really about who I am, Liz," Will replied, looking away. "It�s about who you are." He turned back, a slight frown on his face. "What did you mean when you said that you broke Max�s heart? Were you two together?" The last word was said slowly, as though he desperately wanted her to deny it.

She wasn�t sure which course to take. If Will understood just how important Max was to her, would it make things better or worse? She eyed him for a long moment, trying to read him. She remembered the way she had felt when she had spent those few short hours with him this morning - God! Was it really only this morning? She had felt that she could trust him. It was the first time she had felt that since she first connected with Max.

Liz realized that this was what she found the scariest about Will. She had never imagined that there were two people who could make her feel the same way, had never thought in a million years that anyone could replace Max. And, yet, this boy had actually made her wonder if the possibility existed, if even for a short while. She knew now that it had all been a lie, a ruse, but it had worked. She had found herself opening up to him earlier and she wanted to do the same now.

Somehow she just knew in her heart that he would never hurt her. She knew him and she wanted to know why.

"We were together," she told him shortly. "I love him."

Liz watched in wide-eyed fascination as Will stared back at her. A shudder ran through his entire body, making her flinch. She actually felt sorry for him, for what reason, she couldn�t understand. He was a complete stranger. She couldn�t be hurting him by telling him this.

"Why does it matter to you?" she asked him quietly, reaching out a hand to comfort him, despite herself. He shivered again when she touched him gently on the cheek. "Who are you?"

Will clenched his hands in his lap, turning away so that his forearms rested on his knees and he was staring at the floor. "It doesn�t matter," he spat out a moment later, as though whatever had hurt him was now turning into an anger so deep, he couldn�t look at her.

"It does matter. I don�t understand any of this." She touched him again, this time on the back, urging him to look at her. "Please tell me what�s going on."

He stood up abruptly, turning on her. "I�ll tell you what�s going on! You are sleeping with the enemy and you�ve betrayed everything I�ve ever believed about you."

"What?" Liz whispered, staring at him in horror. "You are my enemy. Any enemy of Max�s is my enemy too. Max is my soul mate." Her voice lowered. "Even if we can�t ever be together, he is the one I am supposed to be with."

Will snorted. "He has truly fooled you, hasn�t he, Rowena?"

Liz was very frightened again. She backed away from him, not understanding any of this. "What are you talking about? My name is Liz. Are you confusing me with someone else?"

"I wish." His voice cracked slightly. "I wish I was. I can�t believe this is happening. How can this actually be happening?"

It was a rhetorical question, but Liz answered him anyway. "I can�t tell you anything until you tell me who you think I am." Because she understood that this was what was happening. He obviously thought she was someone else, was making a mistake because she had been close to Max. Maybe he wasn�t Max�s enemy at all. He was obviously an alien, but he was just as obviously not a Skin. Maybe he was as confused as Max and Isabel and Michael and Tess were. Maybe she could help him.

But when Will turned back, his face expressionless, he said the absolute last thing she expected. His voice was calm and cold as he stated the words that were destined to change her life forever.

"You are my wife and you have betrayed me by falling in love with the person I most hate in the universe."

***

"Max! Max, are you all right?"

"Does he look all right, Tess? He practically just drained himself!" Isabel screeched.

"I can see that, Isabel!" Tess flared back. It took Max a moment to realize that he was slumped against a bank of lockers and that he was at school. He wasn�t quite sure how he had ended up so out of it, but he was slowly coming back to himself. When he was fully able to focus again, he saw that Isabel and Tess were kneeling beside him, both frantically running their hands over his body to see if he was hurt. Kyle was standing behind them, his arms folded across his chest, a scowl on his face.

Max�s eyes narrowed. He pushed the two girls away, climbing unsteadily to his feet. "I�m fine! Leave me alone!" Suddenly he remembered exactly how he had drained himself so completely that he had momentarily lost consciousness.

Liz!

Isabel seemed to understand why he was frantically looking around. "They�re gone, Max." He could hear the tears in his sister�s voice. "Both Liz and Alex just disappeared into thin air."

"But not before the two new aliens on the block made a huge scene, with a little help from both of you," Kyle added. He looked around uncomfortably. "You�re both lucky that Tess and I came into the school just as you guys were running up here. We followed you, and Tess was able to mindwarp so that no one else saw."

Max grimaced slightly as he realized that Kyle was right. He had just openly displayed his powers, but there had been no choice. Both he and Izzy would have been fried to a crisp if he hadn�t. The other two - Kate and Will - had obviously not cared a bit if they were seen. It was weird and extremely unsettling.

"We have to find them," he finally said, knowing that it was obvious, but wanting to focus his thoughts. "Now. If anything happens to either of them, I�ll never forgive myself." He turned on his heel and hurried towards the stairs. Max knew that they needed to find Michael and Maria and split up so that they could cover more territory.

"I just don�t get it, Max," Isabel told him, as the other three trailed after him. "We were both right here and we obviously couldn�t have held them off for much longer. Why did they take Alex and Liz? It doesn�t make any sense!"

"I know," Max replied. It was what was freaking him out more than anything. What did these new kids want with Liz? Because it was now more than obvious that it was Liz that Will wanted. "I don�t understand any of this, Iz." He frowned, frantically searched his brain for any hint as to what the other two wanted. "He called me Zan." Max shook his head in confusion. "What does that even mean?"

Tess spoke up at this. "It sort of sounds like a name, don�t you think?"

Max turned his head abruptly when he heard Isabel gasp. "Maybe," he answered Tess, distracted by the look on his sister�s face. "Izzy?"

Isabel was completely white. "Vilandra." She stopped walking, closed her eyes and swallowed. "My name was Vilandra."

"What?" Max demanded, staring at her. "What are you talking about?"

When his sister opened her eyes again, there were tears shining, threatening to fall. "I�I�"

"Isabel, what do you know?" Max asked quietly. Because the terror on his sister�s face was actually making his knees quake a little bit.

"I didn�t want to tell you!" Isabel�s voice cracked. "I thought when we destroyed the Harvest it was all over. You didn�t need to know�"

"Know what?" Max placed his hands firmly on Isabel�s shoulders. "Isabel, calm down and tell me. What do you know?"

Isabel stared at him for a long moment, sighed once, a shudder running through her tall frame as she took a deep breath. "Whittaker told me a little bit about what happened to us in our past lives."

"Isabel!" Tess exclaimed. "How could you not tell us this?"

"Tess." Max said her name firmly, causing the small blonde to snap her mouth shut. "Isabel, what is it? Why couldn�t you tell me this?"

"Max, it�s really awful," Isabel replied, her voice toneless. "It�s�I just really couldn�t bear for you to know."

Max frowned. "I don�t understand. Why are you thinking differently now?"

"Because if that guy called you Zan - and I heard him do it�in our heads Max!�then it means it�s not over. If Tess is right, and that was your name before, it might still happen�" She trailed off, looking away. If Max was not mistaken, she could not meet his eyes.

"What might still happen, Isabel?" It was like pulling teeth, but Max could see how upset his sister was. She truly did not want to tell him whatever it was she was hiding.

"I will betray you. Because I did," she finished quietly. "Before."

"Hey guys! Finally! Michael and I can�t find Alex anywhere!" Maria�s voice broke the dead silence that followed Isabel�s statement. Max was still staring at his sister in dumbfounded disbelief as Michael and Maria hurried over to join them, having come in from the quad.

Michael took one look at them all standing around with their mouths hanging open and demanded, "What the hell happened?"

"Your past lives are coming back to haunt you," Kyle replied, shaking his head. "I think."

"Huh?" Michael looked at Max. "Maxwell, what�s he talking about?"

Max was still trying to process what his sister had said. I will betray you. Why did Isabel sound so certain? What exactly had Whittaker told her? And why did that phrase make him think about Liz again, think of her face when he had found her in bed with Kyle?

Betrayal. He did not believe that Isabel was capable of it and he knew that Liz wasn�t either. He had always known it. They were the two people he trusted the most in the world. How could he doubt - have doubted - either of them, if even for a moment?

Max turned his head, looking at Kyle, a slight frown on his face. Was it his imagination or would Kyle not meet his eyes? "I�m tired of secrets," he said, ignoring Michael�s question. "And I�m tired of running away from the truth." He started walking again, this time towards the parking lot. "C�mon," he called over his shoulder to his friends. "Let�s get this resolved once and for all."

"Max? Max!" Isabel�s voice called after him as they all raced to keep up with him. "What about Liz and Alex?"

"This is a way to find them. We need to know who these people are who took them, what they want," Max replied. "We need answers, once and for all. And I know just where to get them."

Part 9

Liz stared at Will in open-mouthed astonishment. "You�re crazy," she finally whispered, her heart beating a nervous tattoo against her chest. "I�m not your wife. I�m a human. You�ve made a mistake, Will." If there was one thing she knew it was that. He had to be mistaken - or lying. What game was he playing? This was obviously some gigantic ruse Max�s enemies had devised to torture him. There was no other explanation.

Max would not be hurt again. Not if she had anything to say about it. She felt her spine stiffening as she prepared to accuse him of being the liar she knew he was.

And, yet, she found herself fascinated at the same time. She wanted to hear more, wanted to see how far he would take this. She stared into his eyes and the familiarity she had felt since she had first seen him ran through her again.

Will was obviously trying to get control of his emotions. "You don�t remember anything. I know it�s true, but it�s so hard to accept, because I remember it all." He paused, rubbing a hand across his eyes. "I�m sorry I yelled." He lowered himself onto the bed again. "Can I just ask you a couple of questions?"

Liz narrowed her eyes at him. "Why?"

"Because I think you might find it easier to hear the truth if you think about some stuff first."

She stared at him, her mind whirling in a thousand different directions. Her heart was still pounding, but she was not going to waste this opportunity. She needed to find out as much as she could - for Max�s sake. "Okay. But first I want to ask you a few things."

Will started, then grinned. Liz could not believe it. Why was he amused? "Why am I not surprised?" he asked.

"What?" Liz demanded, a little annoyed.

"You haven�t changed at all. Strange things never frightened you. You always just wanted to know more about them." He shook his head. "And, trust me, I know this is strange."

Liz grimaced at the fairly accurate description of her character. But she didn�t comment, just asked, "Why do you hate Max?"

Will�s eyes darkened but he answered readily enough, "Because he was a tyrant who destroyed our galaxy."

Liz blinked. "You knew him? Before I mean?" She felt her heart leap with joy for Max. All the answers they had been chasing after for months were suddenly right at her fingertips. But the expression on Will�s face quickly reminded her that he hated Max. There was no way of knowing if he was telling the truth.

"Certainly," Will replied. "We were never close friends, but we did communicate regularly, especially after we both took our respective thrones."

"Why were you allied with a tyrant?" Liz asked logically.

"Tradition. Antar has always held the high kingship of the system." Will shook his head. "The kings and queens of Antar have generally ruled fairly and wisely. It was only when Zan took the throne that things changed."

"Changed how?"

"He wanted more power. He tried to depose the rulers of the four other planets, hoping to set up puppets in their place. Basically he intended to change the whole status quo. He wanted control of my planet - Sardica - in particular. Sardica is the centre of commerce for the system. Zan didn�t like that. He always felt that it should be Antar and, if it couldn�t be, then he wanted Sardica more closely under his thumb." Will straightened his spine. "The kings of Sardica have always been their own rulers though. We resisted the controls he tried to impose."

"You rebelled?"

"Yes. Another planet - yours - joined us. It made sense of course. We were already allied through our marriage. Zan destroyed Valonia, your home, and made his move on Sardica. We managed to repel them for several months, but, in the end, we had to surrender."

"Why?"

"Because he captured you." Will�s voice cracked. "You went up to his ship to parlay for peace and he broke all the codes of warfare that have governed our galaxy since the beginning of time. He held you captive and I was forced to hand over the government of Sardica."

Liz swallowed. The bleakness in his tone made her pity him, despite herself. "Why are you so positive that I�m who you say I am?" she asked, shaking her head firmly to erase her sympathy for him. "I�m telling you, I have always been Liz Parker. I was born Liz Parker. My parents even have pictures from the delivery room."

"You are Rowena," Will replied firmly. "My cousin has the gift of reading essences. It is a vital power - one that we have used many times to identify our enemies. He read yours in the imprint you left in Copper Summit when you were there with Zan. I don�t know how to explain how you ended up with the Parkers. You were obviously removed from your pod early for some reason I don�t understand."

Liz stared at him, disbelieving, but willing to humor him for the moment. "You came out of a pod too?"

"Yes. Kate and I are hybrids - half-human, half-Sardican�"

"And you think I am as well," Liz finished for him when he trailed off.

"Yes. Well, half-human, half-Valonian. " He paused. "Do you think I can ask you some of my questions now?"

Liz frowned. "No, I�m not done." Will looked amused again, which only irritated her. She thought for a moment. "How did this whole podding thing come about in the first place?"

Will sighed. "It�s a long story. Suffice it to say, we won. Zan died but his mother refused to accept that his reign of terror was over so she cloned him, intending that he would be podded until maturity and that he would one day retake the Antarian throne. She combined his DNA with that of some human samples they had in their possession and sent him to Earth to keep it a secret."

"But why are you here?" Liz asked. "If you won, why didn�t you stay and rule."

"I had well placed spies," Will said. "One of them contacted me and we sent in a team to retrieve the pods and to stop the plot." He closed his eyes. "We were too late though. And it was much worse than we could have imagined. She hadn�t only cloned Zan. She had also cloned his sister Vilandra, Zan�s wife, and Vilandra�s husband as well."

"Isabel, Michael and Tess?" Liz felt her heart drop at the confirmation that Max had indeed been married to Tess in his past life. She wondered why it still hurt so much. She had known it for months now and, yet, she could not accept it.

"Yes, those are their names now, according to Nicholas."

Liz started. "Nicholas! What does he have to do with any of this?"

Will looked startled. "Oh, I thought you knew. Nicholas works for me."

She stumbled to her feet, away from him. "What? He tried to kill Isabel! He ordered all those Skins to hurt Max!"

"They are his enemies, Liz," Will replied mildly. "He was only doing it to protect my people."

"The Skins are your people?" Liz gasped, horrified. "They�re horrible! Murderers! They killed Nasedo!"

"Who�s Nasedo?" Will asked, confused.

"He�s their protector. He was the only one who could help them to find out who they are!" Liz exclaimed. "A Skin disguised herself as a congresswoman and she killed him."

"Wait a minute." Will held up his hands. "What do you mean he was the only one who could help them find out who they are?" He stared at her. "Are you trying to tell me that they don�t know?"

"They know they�re aliens, but they have no idea about all this past life stuff. I swear it. Whoever you think Max and the others were in their past lives, whatever they did, they can�t be held responsible for it now! They don�t remember," Liz insisted.

Will looked stunned. "How is this possible?" he muttered, clearly confused. "Are you sure? How do you know this?"

Liz wilted slightly as she thought about all she and Max had shared through the flashes that were unique to their relationship. She knew everything about him because of those flashes. It was one of the reasons it was so hard to let him go. She knew how wonderful he was and also knew that she would never find anyone like him again. "We�ve connected," she whispered, tears filling her eyes. "I�ve seen his soul and it�s beautiful. He�s not evil. He could never be evil."

"Then you must believe me! About who you are, Liz! If you�ve managed a connection with Zan, you must understand that you aren�t completely human." Will sounded excited. "That is your gift you know - the ability to see people clearly - to judge them by connecting with them."

Liz shook her head. "You don�t understand, Will. My ability to connect with Max has nothing to do with alien DNA. I could never do it before."

"Before what?"

"Before he saved my life," Liz told him quietly. "If it wasn�t for Max Evans I would have died more than a year ago."

Will stared at her in shock. "What? Oh my God! Ro!" He moved towards her, grasped her by the upper arms. "Are you trying to tell me that I almost lost you before I even found you?"

Liz flinched away from him. "Don�t call me that! I am not this Rowena. My name is Liz Parker and the only reason I have any sort of alien power at all is because of Max Evans. Don�t you understand? I love him! And he has loves me - or at least he used to. He loved me for his entire life! If I was his enemy, how could that even be possible? He has always been with Isabel, but he recognized Michael and Tess almost immediately upon knowing them. If I was an alien too, wouldn�t he have known?"

"How could he have known the others if he doesn�t remember anything?" Will asked, ignoring the main part of her speech, which annoyed Liz. But as his words penetrated her irritation, she realized what she had just said.

Max Evans had loved her for his entire life.

She blinked. "He just did," she murmured. Her mind was whirling, memories of the first connection she had ever made with Max flying through her head. She remembered how special and beautiful she had felt because that�s how he had seen her. But she also remembered how Max had loved her from the moment he had laid eyes on her as a little boy on that playground. She had been unaware of him, but in that connection she had felt how he had felt on that day.

He hadn�t just loved her. He had recognized her. The realization slammed into her, making her knees weak. She stumbled to a chair in the corner of the room, collapsing into it, then staring at Will.

"Oh my God."

"Liz, what?" Will was crouching in front of her, worry in his blue eyes. "What�s wrong?"

"He knew me," Liz whispered. "And he got it all mixed up. He was only a little boy. Of course he wouldn�t have any idea that he was supposed to hate me."

"Liz! Please!"

Liz swallowed, her heart pounding in disbelief. As she looked at Will, she narrowed her eyes, tried to remember him. She tried to remember anything. She tried but all she encountered were all the memories she had always had - of growing up in Roswell, of discovering that aliens were real, of falling in love with Max Evans, of giving him up and breaking her own heart in the process. She only had memories of being Liz Parker.

Yet, as she stared at Will, she knew it with every part of her being. She knew that he was telling her the truth.

She was not human. And, in that moment, Liz could think of only one thing to do. She screamed.

***

Kate nearly jumped out her skin when she heard movement behind her. She had been sitting on the end of the bed, staring off into space, wondering how they had ended up in such a mess, when Alex Whitman�s voice penetrated her thoughts. "Where am I?" His throat sounded scratchy, like he needed a glass of water. She jumped to her feet and poured him one from the bottle sitting near the television.

Rowena�s friend had been unconscious for so long, Kate was extremely worried. The last thing they wanted to do was hurt innocent bystanders. That was more Zan�s style and they had always done everything in their power to make sure they were nothing like Zan. Kate wasn�t even sure why she had brought the tall, dark-haired boy with them when she had teleported Liz and Will out of the school. She could have easily left him behind after all. There had been no need to bring him.

As she handed him the glass of water, she watched him take a sip, wondering how he was going to react when he realized what had happened to him. She and Will had discussed the matter at length after they brought Liz and Alex to the motel on the highway leading out of Roswell. They weren�t sure how much Alex knew. Will called Nicholas to find out if he had been in Copper Summit. As far as their general recalled, he hadn�t. But, according to Will, it was also clear that Alex Whitman was one of Liz�s closest friends. It seemed unlikely that he didn�t at least know something about Zan and the others.

In the end, they decided to keep him with them, if only to make sure Zan stayed away. Alex might lead their enemy right to them. Will also thought that it might make Rowena feel more secure to have someone she trusted around. Kate had pressed her lips together. All Will cared about at the moment was Rowena and her feelings. He didn�t seem to have grasped at all that they had come face to face with Zan and Vilandra and that they had won. Even though Zan had a complete four square, he had not been able to stop them from taking Rowena.

Kate didn�t understand it at all. It made no sense to her. Did they not know how powerful they were? She could not remember a single time that Zan had ever been on the defensive. Even when he died, he had been on the attack. But that�s what had happened this time. Zan had barely managed to protect himself and Vilandra from Will�s assault. There had been no chance of saving Rowena. What could it possibly mean?

Kate continued to eye Alex. Could he tell her more about the four they had come to Roswell to defeat once and for all? Was he loyal to them? Did he even know about the existence of aliens?

Well, if he hadn�t known before, he certainly knew something now, she reflected wryly. She remembered the way he had offered to help her that morning, not even knowing her or what was upsetting her. As she stared at him now, she could see that he did not look frightened at all - merely resigned.

"Are you feeling okay?" she asked tentatively, not sure what to say to him.

"I could use a little of Max�s healing touch," Alex replied. At the confused look Kate was sure crossed her face, he added, "I have a headache." So he knew Zan was a healer, which meant he likely did know about the others. "And I�m worried about Liz. Is she okay?"

"She�s fine. She�s with Will." Kate grimaced. "He�s telling her the truth."

"What is the truth?" Alex asked quietly. "Who are you? I know you�re aliens."

Kate�s eyes widened that he stated it so bluntly. "You don�t seem shocked."

"I�ve been caught in the alien abyss for too long to be shocked by anything anymore," Alex said wryly. "I�m not even scared, which I know is stupid. I�ve just come to accept that this is what my life is going to be like from now on. No control - ever." He paused, narrowing his eyes. "You�re not going to kill me, are you?"

"NO!" Kate exclaimed, horrified. "We don�t do that!"

"You were trying to kill Max and Isabel," Alex reminded her. "Why should I doubt that you would do the same to me?"

"Zan is evil!" Kate replied heatedly. "He deserves to be killed. And Vilandra has obviously lost whatever courage she once had. She isn�t defying him any longer."

Alex�s eyes flashed, uncomprehending for a moment. "You mean Max and Isabel? Those are their real names, aren�t they?" He paused and then his face whitened. "Are they dead? Did you kill them?"

"No. We should have," Kate muttered. "We had the upper hand. But Will wanted to get Liz out of there." She started, realizing that she had said more than she had meant to. Why did she feel it was so easy to open up to this boy? He was listening quietly. She could almost see his mind at work. She pressed her lips together, determined that she would say no more.

Alex closed his eyes wearily. "Why? What does he want with Liz? Is he trying to torture Max? Is that it?" He opened his eyes and looked directly at her. "Because it won�t work. They�re not together anymore."

Kate could tell he was lying. He did not do it gracefully. His cheeks were turning a charming shade of red and she could see a nervous pulse beating through the vein on his neck. Zan would obviously care that Rowena had been taken. In fact, it sounded like they had been a couple. She couldn�t believe Zan�s gall. He had seduced Rowena without even telling her who she really was! It was even more despicable than what he had done in his past life. At least then he had only killed her. This time he was using her first.

"They were together?" Kate asked, wanting confirmation that any honour she had, perhaps, in her weaker moments, thought Zan still possessed was non-existent.

Alex snorted. "Oh yeah." He rolled his eyes. "As my friend Maria would say, they had the whole �staring into your eyes soul mate thing� going on." He paused, grimacing. "Not that they do anymore," he continued hastily. "Like I said, they broke up. So you can just let Liz and I go." He stood up slowly. "Because, really, I just think this is all a big mistake."

Kate pressed her hands together. This boy - he truly did not seem to know what Zan and the others were really like. He was their friend. How could she just let him go without telling him the truth, without warning him that any association with the Royal Four would just end in disaster?

"Alex, how did you find out about Zan and the others?" she asked bluntly. He turned to look at her, his eyes unreadable.

"Why do you think they�re evil?" he asked back. "Because they�re not. They�re my friends." He narrowed his eyes at her. "I don�t think you�re evil either. Shouldn�t you guys be working together?"

"Work with Zan! You must be crazy!" Kate exclaimed. She paused when he just looked at her, frowning. "Why don�t you think I�m evil?��

"I�m a good judge of character," Alex replied. He paused. "Plus you�re not leaving pieces of your skin all over the place," he added, "Which means you�re not a Skin."

Kate�s eyes widened. "What do you know about the Skins?" she asked. She felt a lump entering her throat at the thought of her poor people. Her poor people who were dying slowly but surely, the Earth�s atmosphere killing them because they couldn�t go home.

"They�re killers," Alex said evenly. "They killed Nasedo and one of them almost killed Tess and Isabel."

"Nasedo?"

"Their protector - a shapeshifter." Alex offered.

Kate sighed. "So it is true then. The Wendarians did join with Zan." She shook her head. "We were never sure." She frowned. "I wonder why Nicholas didn�t tell us this."

"Huh?"

"The Wendarians," Kate explained. "They are the shapeshifters in our galaxy. They are from Wendar. Just as I am from Sardica and your friends,"she couldn�t keep the disdain from her voice, "are from Antar." She paused. "Well, not Rath. He�s from Valonia, but he has always pretended to be Antarian. Ever since he married Vi."

"Ooookay." Alex let out a long breath, stood up and started to pace. "You know, I think I�m starting to panic now. I knew I was way too calm before." Kate watched in amazement as he began to melt down right in front of her. "I think I was in shock." He was muttering to himself, clearly looking for an explanation. She blinked when he stopped pacing his erratic movements abruptly and stared right at her. "You really do hate my friends, don�t you?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"They are evil."

Alex grimaced. "I�m telling you. They�re not. I know them. They don�t even know who they are! You just gave me more information than they�ve managed to uncover in ten years!"

Kate stared at him. "What are you saying? You�re trying to tell me that they don�t remember?" She snorted. "Right. Then why is Zan using Rowena if he doesn�t know? He would have no reason to pretend to love her if he didn�t know who she was."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Alex demanded, staring openly at her. "Who is Rowena?"

A piercing scream interrupted Kate before she could tell him. She watched Alex�s eyes widen. "Liz!" He turned on his heel and bolted for the door before Kate could stop him.

By the time she caught up with him, he was already pounding on the door to the room across the hall - the room where Will was talking to Liz. "Let me in dammit! Liz!"

The door flew open suddenly and Kate watched in astonishment as Liz threw herself at her friend. "Alex! We need to get out of here. I�m telling you. We need to."

Alex rubbed her back in comfort but glared over her dark head at Will. "What did you do to her? I thought you didn�t hurt people?" He looked back at Kate accusingly. "Isn�t that what you said?"

"You told her then?" Kate asked Will wryly.

Will sighed. "She didn�t believe me right away but then I think she remembered something." He was upset, that was clear, but Kate thought it was more because he didn�t know how to calm Liz down then because of why she was upset.

"What did you tell her?" Alex demanded. Liz was completely silent by now. Kate stared at her as she clutched at Alex�s shirt as though trying to crawl into his skin. It was beyond disturbing. "It�s okay, Liz! I�m here." He paused, glaring at both Will and Kate in turn. "You know what? Forget it! I don�t care. You can take your damn alien feud and shove it. I�m getting Liz out of her."

Kate was beyond surprised when Will allowed Alex to take Liz by the hand and lead her away.

"They�re going to go straight to Zan," Kate told him. "We should go after them."

Will narrowed his eyes. "I don�t think so." He pressed his lips together.

"Will, this is a bad idea."

"Give her time." And, with that, her brother re-entered his room and slammed the door in Kate�s face.

Part 10

"Just let me check on her first, Maxwell," Michael insisted as he turned the key in his front door and pushed it open. "She sleeps a lot. Her skin is totally giving out on her. I have to vacuum at least three times a day."

Michael owns a vacuum? Max thought inanely. His mind was in turmoil, his concern for Liz and his fear of these new aliens, who were obviously stronger than any of them, making him feel jittery and unable to focus. When he realized that Michael was waiting for a response before moving out of the way, he said, "Fine. But we can�t put this off, Michael. I need to talk to her right now."

"I know." Michael pressed his lips together. "She�s not our enemy though. Just remember that."

"Not your enemy," Max said wryly. "She wants to overthrow me, remember?"

"Not yourseither," Michael shot back. "She didn�t know you before, Max. She was just some kid caught up in something she didn�t understand. I explained to her�"

"That I�m not a psycho killer?" Max sighed. For all he knew, he had been a psycho killer in his past life. Although he didn�t think so. Hadn�t his mother called him the beloved leader of his people in the message from the orb? Of course, that could have been a mother�s love speaking. Caligula�s mother had probably loved him too.

"I don�t think she thinks you were a psycho killer, Maxwell," Michael retorted impatiently. "She just thinks I�d make a better king." He grinned, in spite of the dire circumstances in which they presently found themselves. "I don�t think she knew me very well either. She just loved me from afar."

Max shrugged. "Who knows what any of us were like before, Michael. Maybe you were the one more suited to rule. That�s what we�re here to find out."

Max was a little ashamed that he hadn�t thought of questioning Courtney about their past lives before, but he had been so wrapped up in the giant mess that was his relationship with Liz, it hadn�t even dawned on him that they had a font of information right at their fingertips. It was only now that Liz and Alex were in danger that it had even crossed his mind that they were wasting a valuable resource. It had taken them almost a year to discover what little they did know about themselves. To not find out all they could from Courtney before she died, even if it was filtered through the Skin girl�s own prejudices and loyalties, would be almost a crime.

He might not want to know about his past life, but he finally understood that he had to find out what he could. If he didn�t know why his enemies hated him, if he didn�t know who he had been, he couldn�t protect the people he loved, nor could he make the right decisions for everyone. As much as he didn�t want the responsibility of it, every day his friends were turning to him more and more to make the major choices. Even Michael was doing so and that fact alone told Max that he had to start accepting that his new role was permanent and unchangeable. If all his friends accepted it, he had to as well, if only for their sakes.

All in all, it sucked to be the king, Max thought now as he watched Michael tap on his bedroom door and then enter to see if Courtney was okay. He was sure he wasn�t the first to think so either. Power was coveted by many, but, in the end, the responsibility of it all - the inability to think about what you really want because so many people are depending on you - was so exhausting, he was beginning to want to go to sleep and never wake up. The sheer irony of it was that having power and wanting to use it for good was the most scary proposition he had ever encountered.

It hadn�t been this way when he had been with Liz. Then he had felt strong and eager to face each new day, eager to solve any problem that came their way, if only so that he could go back to being blissfully happy that she loved him as much as he loved her. Even what he had endured in the white room had been bearable because she had been waiting for him when he escaped. The thought of her had helped him survive it, and being with her after had healed him in a way that nothing else could have. Without Liz�s love, her concern, he would likely still be dealing with the psychological ramifications of what had happened to him there. But loving her had gotten him through it because he would have lived through the torture of a thousand Pierces if it meant keeping her safe. And now the only way to save her - to make sure she was never threatened again - was to find out exactly who and what they were fighting. It scared him to learn who he had been. It was likely why he hadn�t approached Courtney before, but he would do it now for Liz. He would do anything for Liz.

Michael appeared on the threshold of his bedroom, his face grim. "Okay, Maxwell." Max grimaced, understanding that Michael�s concern meant that Courtney�s death was only a matter of time now. He felt bad about it, but couldn�t see how they could do anything to help her besides what Michael was already doing in trying to make her as comfortable as possible as she faced her demise. Any chance of saving her had been destroyed with the Harvest.

Max followed his friend through into the darkened bedroom, blinking to adjust his eyes. Michael crossed the room and leaned against the wall beside the head of the bed, his arms crossed as he waited expectantly for Max to speak.

"Hi," he said quietly to the blonde girl sitting up against a pile of stacked pillows on Michael�s bed. He tried not a flinch at the peeling skin on her face or the way she couldn�t help but reach up and pull some of it off as he watched. It was revolting but certainly wasn�t Courtney�s fault.

Courtney was staring at him, her blue eyes wary. "Hi. Gross, huh? Trust me. It�s better underneath. I was a babe at home. Not that you�ll ever see that." She smiled weakly. Max relaxed slightly, could see that she was still trying to keep up the facade of being the sassy waitress he was used to. "Michael said you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah. Two of our friends are in trouble and I think you can help us find them."

Her eyes narrowed. "I�m surprised you would trust me enough to ask." She glanced at Michael. "I�m assuming you know who I am."

"I know that you�re loyal to Michael," Max replied evenly. "And he�s just as worried about them as I am."

"It�s true," Michael put in here. "They�re my friends too, Courtney."

"Is it the two girls?" Courtney asked. "Isabel and Tess I mean? Is they why they�re not here?"

"No, Liz and Alex," Max told her, glad that he had asked the others to wait for him and Michael at the Crashdown. "I came alone. I�m not trying to threaten or scare you, Courtney. I just want answers."

She continued to gaze at him steadily, assessing, weighing. "You guys really do care about humans, don�t you?" she finally asked, sounding slightly surprised. She looked at Michael. "I thought you were just using Maria to get your kicks."

Michael�s gaze darkened, but all he said was, "No."

Courtney smiled at him. "I should have known better. It wouldn�t have been like you before either. I guess I was just messed up because it would have been like Zan and I�ve seen him do it this time too - playing both Tess and Liz."

Max felt a flash of anger, but kept it in check by taking a deep breath. "You don�t know me," was all he said, trying to keep his tone mild. "Whoever I was before, I�m not the same now."

"Max isn�t like that," Michael added. "I�ve told you that, Courtney."

She shrugged. "I know what I know."

"So you do know more about who we were then?" Max asked. "Because that�s why I�m here. I want to hear it all. I want to know everything you know."

"Of course I know who you are," Courtney replied. "I�m still the same person I was on Sardica. I wasn�t reborn like you were."

Max moved forward, trying to ignore the way Courtney�s eyes narrowed with dislike. "Can I ask you some questions?"

"Sure," she said, slightly flippant.

"Okay." Max started pacing, trying to get his thoughts in order. "You just mentioned Sardica. Is that where we�re from?"

"No. Sardica was my planet. You were the king of Antar. Antar holds the high kingship of the system. The king of Sardica is Khivar. He held that planet by your leave, but now he holds both Sardica and Antar. There are five planets in the system," she added as an afterthought. "Antar, Sardica, Wendar, Valonia and Knosis. You were high king of them all, although you only ruled Antar directly."

Max frowned. He knew a little bit about feudalism from the world history course he had taken as a freshman. It sounded like where they came from was governed in that fashion. It was a little strange that a population advanced enough to have mastered space travel should be using such an outdated system, but it wasn�t really important at the moment. He could deal with his inherent issues with monarchy later. "So my name was Zan? Is that right?"

"Yes. Your sister is Vilandra, your wife Ava, and your second-in-command," she looked over at Michael, "is Rath." Max saw Michael�s eyes narrow. It suddenly occurred to Max that it was a little strange that Michael hadn�t asked Courtney anything about who he was before this. It also showed how much Michael had changed. He was generally more concerned about keeping those he cared about safe these days than about finding out about their past. It was a major shift in Michael�s personality and one Max would talk to his friend about later.

He also realized that Courtney referred to all of them being these people he had never heard of in the present tense. Because to her it was who they still were. It only reinforced to him how dangerous it was for them not to know exactly how their enemies viewed them. He and the others knew that they weren�t dangerous or evil, but beings who remembered them before didn�t. It was a strange thought, but one he was going to have to get used to - the idea that people could hate him without even knowing him. And it brought his next question easily to his lips. "What can you tell me about the Skins? Why do they hate us? And why don�t you work with Nicholas and the others?"

"The Skins are Sardicans," Courtney replied. "They support Khivar and chased you down here to kill you for his sake. They defeated you last time, but your mother cloned you and the Antarians refuse to accept Khivar as the high king because they all believe that you will come back some day. So even though you died, you are still tearing the system apart."

"But you don�t support Khivar?" Max asked. "Why?"

"Khivar is an idiot," Courtney sighed. "He�s more concerned about getting Rowena back than he is about facilitating the golden age we were right on the verge of reaching. He�s no better than Zan, even if we are from the same race."

"Rowena?"

"Rowena was Khivar�s wife. She was your cousin by the way," Courtney told Michael. "You�re not Antarian. You�re from Valonia, but you were raised in Zan�s court because you were betrothed to Vilandra pretty much at birth. It was why you were our choice to rule the system in Zan�s place. You knew Antar, its politics and its people. They loved you almost as much as they loved Zan. With Vilandra as your wife, they would have accepted you. She was Zan�s heir anyway."

Max tried to take in all this information, tried to keep it straight in his head. "Okay, so you want Michael to rule. Why? You don�t seem to have anything against Antar being in charge or any particular loyalty to your planet. What is your issue with Zan?" He tensed, almost afraid to hear what she was going to say.

"I have the same problem with Zan I have with Khivar. You both worry about your personal lives more than you do about your people." She rolled her eyes. "You were forced by your father into a betrothal you didn�t want and so you proceeded to make everyone in the system miserable as a consequence. Once you were king, you spent so much time trying to finagle a way out of the marriage treaty, you ignored your real job, which was to govern. So many splinter groups popped up as a result, it�s going to be years before they�re all appeased and we can get the system back on track," she finished bitterly.

"So I didn�t want to marry Tess?" Max couldn�t help but feel a twinge of satisfaction. Somewhere, deep inside, he had known it. He knew that he didn�t love Tess. The attraction he had felt for her when she had first arrived in Roswell had been the result of a combination of mindwarping and the recognition factor that had pulled him towards Michael the first time he had met him too. She was like him after all, even if he didn�t love her. But, apparently, he had been just as unwilling to be with her before as he was now.

"No. It was a political match. Ava was the sister of the king of Knosis," Courtney replied. "You fought it for years, although no one really knew why. Ava was a nice enough girl and she loved you. She was raised with you, just like Rath was, and no king or queen ever married for love. It�s all about alliances, which Rath and Vilandra knew and accepted. It�s why we wanted them on the throne instead of you. They would have fixed things." She glanced at Michael, her eyes softening. Max saw his best friend shift uncomfortably.

"But Zan obviously gave in," Max told her. He wondered if he should start saying I instead of referring to the king of Antar in the third person. It was just too weird though. He didn�t feel like Zan. He didn�t remember being Zan. He was listening to a story about a far off place he didn�t recall at all and felt very little loyalty to. Although, maybe that wasn�t so strange. It didn�t sound like he had cared particularly about being king before either.

"Yes. Right before you were killed you accepted it. The war was going so badly, you desperately needed Knosis�s support."

"What was the issue with Khivar?" Michael asked when Max stayed quiet, thinking about what this all meant. "What did he have against Zan?"

Courtney frowned slightly. "I�m not really sure actually. Sardica is the central commerce planet of the system. I think Zan allowed some tariffs to go through that shouldn�t have?" This last was phrased more like a question, as though Max or Michael might have been able to answer her, which of course they couldn�t. She shrugged. "I�m telling you, a lot of it was pretty petty. Big egos and little concern for the well-being of the populations affected. It was yet another reason that Rath would have made a great king. He was a man of the people, having served in Zan�s army for years. He wouldn�t have let his personal problems interfere with the best interests of the system."

Max and Michael exchanged a look. "Well, it�s not going to happen, so you might as well just forget it," Michael finally said firmly, his eyes still locked with his king�s. Max knew that Michael would never betray him. When he had first heard about the "Michael worshippers" it hadn�t even crossed his mind as anything other than a strange little bit of trivia. The implacable expression on his best friend�s face now meant that Max was right. Michael didn�t care about leading. He just wanted to make sure that Max did it right. Suddenly all of his arguments with Michael over the years made perfect sense. He had been his advisor and friend in a past life and it had bled over into this one. The teenage human hormones tossed into the mix this time likely made his friend a bit more pissy than he had been as Rath, but he was still essentially the same.

Which meant that Max and the others were essentially the same as well.

He wasn�t surprised about himself. He didn�t want to be king. He was still more concerned about his personal life than about his people. Even now, when all this information was being thrown at him, deep down he was thinking about how it affected things with Liz, how she would take this stuff. Because, deep down, in places he didn�t like to think about, she was really all he cared about. He knew that it was the last thing she would want - that she wouldn�t want him to throw away his responsibilities or his destiny for her sake - but it was what he really wanted to do.

And, yet, he knew he couldn�t. So he wondered what it all meant for him and Liz and hoped that it really meant nothing. Because if he hadn�t loved his wife - Tess - in their past lives, what difference did it make if he loved her now?

"What about all these marriages and stuff?" Michael asked, as though reading Max�s mind. "I don�t still have to be with Isabel do I? I never bought that," he directed this comment to Max. The way he said it showed Max that he was actually asking on his king�s behalf, not his own. Michael knew how little Max wanted any of the destiny crap to be necessary. He knew that it was the main issue standing between Max and Liz and he cared that they were both miserable - or at least it had been until the Kyle debacle. Max wondered if Michael suspected as he did - that if Liz had actually slept with Kyle, it had all been an elaborate plan to push Max away and to make him accept his future with Tess. "I never bought it, Maxwell," Michael repeated, and this time Max knew he wasn�t talking about destiny at all. Somehow Max knew he was talking about Kyle and Liz. Michael set his jaw and continued in a rush. "Remember when Liz�s journal was missing?"

Max blinked, but nodded, unsure why Michael was bringing that up at the moment.

"I stole it. I asked Liz not to tell you and from the look on your face, I can see she didn�t." Michael grimaced. He threw his hands up. "Before you get your panties in a twist, let me just tell you why I did it."

"Fine," Max replied through gritted teeth, his outrage on Liz�s behalf barely contained.

"I needed to know what she was thinking, what she was about - if we could trust her," Michael said, not sounding sorry, even now. "And I found out what I needed to know about Liz Parker from that book."

"What is the point of this, Michael?" Max asked, more confused now than angry.

"Liz loves you. If she did the nasty with Valenti, it was for you." He paused. "Which is kind of disturbing actually, but I know it has to be true. The last thing that girl would ever do is deliberately hurt you."

Max felt a flash of gratitude towards his best friend, even though he was still angry that Michael had violated Liz�s privacy like that. And, yet, he couldn�t help but like what Michael said. He took a deep breath and said what Michael needed to hear. "Thank you. It�s what I suspected too, but I wondered if I was just kidding myself, coming up with excuses so that I could deal with it, so that I wouldn�t have to accept that she doesn�t love me anymore. Hearing you say that means a lot."

Michael nodded stiffly and looked away, obviously slightly embarrassed now. He addressed Courtney gruffly. "So what about the marriages?"

Max felt his heart start to beat more quickly as he waited for Courtney�s answer.

She shrugged, looking slightly wary after the exchange Michael and Max had just shared. Max wondered about it, but brushed it aside for the moment. "Well, I would assume that keeping the treaties that the marriages represent would be important to the Antarians, although Valonia is on Khivar�s side anyway because of Rowena�s marriage to him and because of what happened there."

"What happened?" Max asked.

"It was virtually destroyed by Antarian sky forces," Courtney replied darkly. "Under Zan�s command, not Rath�s," she added pointedly.

"And, yet, Rath still remained loyal? After Zan demolished his home?" Max demanded in disbelief.

"He loved Zan. He was loyal to the end."

The question of loyalty made Max think of Isabel and her certainty that she would betray him, that she had done it before and they were all doomed to follow the same paths they had trod before. He knew that his sister would never turn on him, and so it was the next thing he wanted to know about - why Vilandra had joined the enemy the last time. "What about Zan�s sister? Vilandra. We�ve been told that she betrayed her brother. Is that true?"

Courtney�s face lit up with admiration. "Vilandra was a good woman. After the razing of Valonia, she felt she had no choice. She took her forces and joined with Khivar. She tried to convince Rath to do the same, but he wouldn�t."

Michael was frowning when Max looked at him as he spoke next. "So what I don�t get is why you�re still so loyal to me? It sounds like Rath made some pretty bad choices. If Zan was the asshole this story seems to say he was, what was my deal?"

"You insisted, at the Tribunal of the Five Planets, that Zan had no control over the Antarian Sky Army, that he had trusted you to command them and you failed him by allowing what happened at Valonia. Basically you took responsibility for the whole thing and refused to allow Zan to be blamed." She paused. "In fact, you even wanted to prove that Khivar was really behind it, although no one believed that because of his love for Rowena. He would never have hurt her people."

"What was my proof?" Michael asked, frowning slightly.

"I have no idea. They halted your testimony. The judge said it was ridiculous and that everyone knew that Khivar had nothing to gain by destroying Valonia. It was his only ally."

Michael looked at Max. "I think we need to find out exactly what happened on Valonia, Maxwell. It might be the key to everything." Max could almost see the wheels turning in his best friend�s head as Michael Guerin started to transform back into the general he had once been.

"You�re probably right," Max agreed. "But right now we need to worry about Alex and Liz." He sat down on the bed beside Courtney. She didn�t flinch away from him as Max half-expected her to do, but continued to gaze at him steadily. "There are two new aliens in Roswell. They don�t look like Skins to me because they weren�t peeling�" He trailed off, grimacing at the fact that he had reminded her of the state in which she currently existed.

Courtney smiled slightly. "Don�t worry. I�ve accepted that my time has come. And you�re right. With the Harvest gone, most of the Skins are likely dead by now. Any left would be too weak to be any threat to you." She narrowed her eyes. "Were they shapeshifters? We know that the Wendarians have a faction down here too. There were two sent with you in your ship." This comment reminded Max that they still hadn�t asked Courtney about how they had all died and why they had been sent to Earth. But as she continued, he realized there would be time for that later. For right now, it was more important to find Liz and Alex and to understand who Will and Kate were. "Michael told me that you were in contact with one of them."

"Nasedo," Michael agreed. "But he�s dead."

Courtney looked perplexed. "Maybe there were more of them?"

Max shook his head, sighing. "I don�t know. They didn�t shapeshift in front of us. It was weird. I felt like they were like us. Seeing them - especially the girl - I felt like I knew them. I was even sort of happy to see her the first time I ran into her�" He trailed off, totally perplexed, as he voiced aloud exactly what he had felt when he had crashed into Kate that morning in the school hallway.

"They tried to kill you, Maxwell," Michael reminded him. "I�m doubting she felt the same way."

"If that happened, they weren�t Wendarians," Courtney added, sounding sure. "Antar and Wendar are allied." She paused, seemed to be thinking. "How did they try to kill you?"

Max quickly explained how Will had been capable of throwing lightening bolts and how he had spoken to him in his head. He also added that Kate had apparently teleported her brother and their two captives away, revealing her gift. Max watched in fearful fascination as Courtney�s face whitened.

"What is it?" Michael demanded when she reached out and clutched his hand.

"I don�t understand. It doesn�t make any sense," she muttered.

"What doesn�t?" Max asked, his heart thundering in his chest.

"Well, those gifts�" Courtney trailed off. "But it is impossible. He�s on Antar. I know he is! I know that Nicholas communicated with him there a lot over the years." She seemed to be working a problem out in her mind, muttering to herself rather than speaking to Max or Michael. "It might be her. She died soon enough." There was another long pause and then, "There�s no other explanation though."

Michael glanced at Max, worried. Max just shrugged, but his hope that she would be able to give them the answer they needed had increased as he tried to follow the train of her thoughts.

Courtney finally looked directly at Max again. "I don�t think you�re going to like this."

"Tell me. Please."

"It just seems wrong somehow - in fact I know it is wrong because he�s still alive on Antar - but those gifts�" Courtney pressed her lips together and finally just blurted it out. "It sounds like you faced Khivar himself this morning."

Before this information could even penetrate Max�s muddled brain, a piercing ring made him practically jump out of his skin. Michael visibly flinched as well, but he seemed to realize more quickly that it was the phone. He hurried out of the room and was back a moment later, his expression perplexed.

"Michael, what is it?" Max demanded.

"That was Izzy at the Crashdown," Michael replied, sounding dumbfounded. And then he said what made Max�s entire being sing with relief, something that made him forget momentarily the significance - and terror - of what Courtney had just told them. "It�s Liz and Alex. They�re back."