This was written in response to the Departure Debacle contest/challenge at Majik's World of Fan Fic. My submission is just for fun, since I couldn't pass up the chance to make it all better lol.

Disclaimer: You know the drill…the characters aren't mine. A lot of stuff in the beginning is taken from End of the World. God knows THAT'S not mine. Anything that makes sense and makes it all better, now that's mine. Seriously, Roswell and all characters belong to Jason Katims, 20th Century Fox etc. I'm just borrowing them.

Rating: PG-13 – possibly to R

Love Changes Everything


Chapter One – End of the World – Revisited

Tess was worried. Nothing she did made Max look at her the way he looked at Liz. She picked up a photograph of Max and stared at it intently.
"There has got to be something I can do," she said to her empty bedroom. "Something that will turn him away from her, to me."
But no matter how hard she thought she couldn't come up with anything severe enough to make Max fall out of love with Liz.
"She's such a noble, stupid bitch," she said. "She never screws up, never does anything wrong. She would do anything for Max."

She took the picture that was in her hand, and hurled it across the room, watching with satisfaction as the glass shattered into a thousand miniscule pieces. With a sigh, she used her powers to reassemble the bits of glass. She picked up the picture and started to lean over to place it on her nightstand when an idea came to her. The picture fell, unnoticed, out of her hands, shattering once again, as she conceived of the perfect plan to drive a permanent wedge between Max and Liz.



Liz sat in her room, writing in her journal, when a tapping at the window caught her attention. She smiled, and went to the window to open it and Let Max into her room. She covered her mouth to contain the scream that threatened to spill out. It was Max, but it wasn't. His hair was so much longer, and pulled back from his face. But it was his eyes that frightened her the most. They were so hard, so dark and uncaring.
"Liz, it's me, its Max," said the strange apparition before her.
"Max? No, I don't understand, but you're not Max," said Liz.
"I am, it's me, I came from the future. There are things I have to tell you."
"No, you're not from the future, you are some sort of shape shifting alien, but you aren't Max."
"If I were a shape shifter, there is no way I could tell the future. In about ten seconds, I am going to show up outside your window, serenading you."

Much to her amazement, several seconds later, Max appeared on the street below her window, along with a mariachi band and began to serenade her in Spanish. A bouquet of roses flew from his hand up to her window, changing from red to white in mid-air. Liz, with the help of her father, quickly got rid of Max, and turned to the other Max.
"Okay, maybe you are telling the truth, why are you here?"
"I can't tell you much Liz. This is strictly a limited knowledge thing. The more you know, the more danger you could be in."
Liz didn't say anything for a minute, opened her mouth to speak, stopped and then started again.
"Max, don't you have anything else to say to me? I mean, you come in here, supposedly from the future, tell me you can't tell me anything else, and I'm just supposed to follow your lead blindly?"

Future Max looked taken aback for a moment, while he paused to regroup and formulate his thoughts.
"No, Liz, that's not it, exactly. There are things I can tell you, but I may not be able to answer your all your questions. But I can tell you this. Fourteen years in the future, our enemies attack Earth, and we are totally overtaken. I need you to help me change the future. Will you help me?" he asked, holding his hand out to her.
"I don't know Max, wouldn't it just make more sense to go get you, I mean, the other you, the younger you, and explain it all to him?"
"NO!" shouted Future Max. "Nobody, especially my younger self can know that I am here. It could put this whole mission in jeopardy."
Liz took a step back, shocked by his vehemence, and waited for him to continue. Future Max explained about their growing closer and closer, inseparable, allowing nothing to come between them, how badly he treated Tess.
"It eventually drove her out of town, Liz," he said. "And when she left, we began to fall apart. Michael, Tess, Isabelle and me, we all have different powers. We complimented each other. When Tess left, we weren't as strong. You have to make me fall out of love with you Liz, it's the only way."

I can't. I can't do that. Isn't there some other way?
"Don't you think if there was, I'd do it? You're not the only one who loses if you do this Liz. If you can convince Max that you don't love him any longer, the man I am, my reality ceases to exist. That means Michael and Isabelle will still have a chance to live!"
"What?" cried Liz.
"Twenty five minutes before I came here, I held Michael in my arms as he died. Isabelle died two weeks before that. If you can convince him to fall out of love with you, and turn to Tess, it will erase all of that."
Liz hung her head in her hands, her body trembling as she struggled to hold back the tears.
"Is there anything else you can tell me, Max? Anything at all?"
"No, I've told you too much already, Liz. I can't tell you anything else."

"Max, do you remember the night, you and I went to dinner with Isabelle, Alex, Michael and Maria?" asked Liz.
"What?" asked Max, started by the apparent change of subject.
"You know, the night we used your parent's membership at the country club. We got all dressed up. I wore that red dress. You know, the one you love so much."
"That's right," said Max. "You looked so beautiful. I love it when you wear red."
"Right," said Liz, smiling. "Anyhow, that night, the six of us vowed that we would do whatever it took to keep each other safe. I guess this is the kind of thing that falls into the category of keeping each other safe. Okay," she said, sitting up. "I'll do it, I'll help you. I love Max, the other Max, but he risked everything to save me. I can do the same for him." Liz stood, and walked away from future Max, missing the feral grin that spread across his face.