Title: The End
Author: Zia
Rating: Adult
Summary: Its the year 2014. The war is about to end.
Disclaimer: I can dream, can't I? I don't own them.
Author's Note: I know, I have several works in progress, but I couldn't help myself. I was making some dinner tonight and CSI was on, and the song Mad World was playing, and it inspired this story, wholly.
Just to give you a little understanding, this is my take on what happened before Max used the Granilith to go back in time, in EOTW.
Maria stared out the window of the small run down apartment, that she had shared with the love of her life, for the last ten years. Granted, they hadn't always lived in that apartment, sometimes they had to go away, but they always came back. And she was there now, alone, waiting for him to come back.
Maria had been with Michael, off and on for fourteen long years. They had their good times, bad times. Horrendously tragic times. They'd broken each others hearts. Broken other peoples hearts. But they had always found their way back to each other.
She hadn't seen Michael in nearly two months. He had gone off on some last ditch attempt to defeat Khivar. The humans had been left behind. Which meant she'd been left behind. She was always left behind. Liz had been changed, she had powers. Just like Alex. So she had to stay behind, and wait. Wait for her soldier to return.
Anxiously she twisted her ring on her finger. The ring had once been on Michael's hand. One day, so many years ago, he pulled it off, closed his fist around it, and then placed it on her finger. It had transformed into a delicate ring, with an elaborate design engraved into it. He told her that it said 'I love you' in his alien language. "So you don't forget." He had said, pulling her into his arms, and kissing the top of her head. That was before the war had begun. They were married a week later, on a spur of the moment trip to Las Vegas. Not long after that the war was in full force on Earth.
They moved around a lot over the years. Hiding from Khivar, fighting Khivar, and his army of Skins. They had tracked down Rath and Ava at one point, and pleaded with them to join the fight. They had. And they died, horrible tragic deaths. Maria remembered crying all night after watching Rath die. Michael couldn't understand her reaction. She had hated him, and admitted it openly. And in the morning, as the sun came up, she confessed it was because she was afraid for him. Afraid for Michael. Seeing Rath, who looked so similar to Michael, dead, it had broken her heart.
Finally, Maria walked away from the window. Another night alone in bed. One of the things she absolutely hated was sleeping alone. All she had was Michael's pillow to clutch to all night while the nightmares plagued her. Slowly and methodically she changed into her pajamas, combed her hair, brushed her teeth, and then climbed into bed. She rearranged the pillows, her own under her head, Michael's stretched out beside her, she wrapped her arms around it, and shifted, moving her head down to rest on the pillow as if it were his chest.
Then, like every night, the tears began to fall. She cried, and sobbed. For Michael, for her mother. For her friends, and the child they almost had. Her shoulders shook, and just when she thought it would stop, Michael's voice would fill her mind and she would start all over again, until exhaustion would pull her under.
Michael ran his bruised hand through his bloody hair. Finally, back in Roswell. After... he wasn't sure how long it had been this time. He walked down the street. Most of the town had been abandoned years ago. Not many people stayed. The war had torn apart the Earth. So many human lives had been lost. People who had no idea what was happening. They weren't part of this war, at least they shouldn't have been. He lifted his head up and looked off into the distance, towards the desert. Explosions of light flew up into the air every few moments. They were loosing the battle.
Khivar would win, and he knew that. They didn't stand a chance. Michael walked up to the apartment, and it was dark. Fear swirled in his chest. What if something had happened to her. What if Khivar had come for her? What if someone else had just decided they didn't like her? He pushed open the door silently, and breathed deeply. He could smell her. That scent always brought him home. Honey and Cyprus oil. She had smelled like that for as long as he had known her. He knew with the war going on she practically bathed in the Cyprus oil, in any attempt to calm her nerves. It never worked. But the scent calmed his own nerves. Because he knew that she was okay. That scent, so strong, meant that she was alive, and well, and most likely sleeping in their bedroom.
Michael kicked off his dirty shoes, and looked down at himself. The living room was dark, save for the light trickling in through a crack in the blinds. His shirt was soaked with blood, as were his jeans. He needed to take a shower, before Maria saw this, but he knew when he walked into their room she would wake up. She would hear the water, and be pissed that he hadn't woken her up the second he got home.
With a heavy sigh he stripped out of his shirt, and his jeans before walking into their bedroom. She was curled up the same way he always found her, the blankets were on the floor, and she was holding onto his pillow desperately. "Baby." He whispered and crossed the room to the bed. He picked the blankets up from the floor and pulled them back up around her, while he climbed into bed behind her. He wrapped his arms around her small warm body, and buried his face in the back of her neck, breathing in her hair. "I'm home." He whispered.
He felt her shift slightly in his arms, as consciousness sunk into her mind. "Michael?" Her voice was raw, and laced with sleep.
"I'm here." He pulled her tighter against his chest, and then felt her quickly turn around in his arms. Her arms wound around his shoulders, and she buried her face in his chest and began to sob. "It's okay. I'm here." Michael tried to reassure her. They didn't move for hours. Michael just rubbed his hands over her back, and murmured soft words against her ear while she cried.
"Is every one okay?" Maria finally asked in a small voice, and Michael didn't respond. He didn't know how to. He hated the idea of telling Maria, that one of her best friends was dead. She had already lost so much. First her mom, and then Kyle, who had become one of her best friends over the years. And more recently, worst of all, their own child. She had only been a few months pregnant when they had been out somewhere in Montana. A blast had rocked the whole building, and she had taken a tumble down the flight of stairs. "Michael?" She asked softly, her face a mask of pain and fear.
"Isabel." He finally whispered. "She..." He let out a heavy sigh. "Nicholas killed her."
Maria gasped, and the tears began again. "No." She shook her head violently. "No." Michael held her tighter, and felt her body shaking with silent sobs. Maria had cried so many tears, it amazed him that she had any left to shed.
"I'm sorry." He murmured against her ear.
As the sun came up, Maria was exhausted but she didn't want to sleep. Part of her was actually afraid to sleep. But the other part was so thankful that Michael was home, she didn't want to miss a second with him. "Sleep." He told her and she shook her head.
"No." She insisted.
"Maria..." He sighed, and relented. Like he always did. Maria always won their battles. "I need to take a shower." He told her, and Maria sighed and released him.
Maria watched as he climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom, before she quickly got up and followed him.
"Going to join me?" He asked, a slight coy smirk on his face.
"I'm going to watch you." She said, lifting herself up on to the counter.
"Maria-"
"Take your shower." She pointed to the glass door, and gave him a serious look. "I just need to be near you, that's all."
"Okay." He shook his head and turned on the water. "You sure you don't want to join me?" They were always very passionate people. They had been since their first met. Their fights. Their kisses. Their looks. Even their simple conversations. Making out, and sex came natural to them.
"I want to watch you. You can take me back to bed once you're clean." He nodded and she watched as he climbed into the stall, the steam from the hot water fogged up the window so she watched the outline of his body as he showered. Washed his hair, his body.
Finally he climbed out and wrapped a towel around his waist, and then scooped Maria into his arms and carried her back into the bedroom. He laid her out on the bed, and then dried off quickly before joining her.
"This is it, isn't it?" Maria asked softly, with her head resting on his chest. Listening to his steady heart beat. "This is the end."
"Maria-"
"Isn't it? Isabel is dead. There isn't any way that between you, Max, Liz and Alex... that you can defeat Khivar." Maria knew that Alex wouldn't be much use anymore, now that Isabel was dead. He had loved her for so long. Carried such a torch. "You know that Alex will kill himself now." Maria told him quietly. She was sure that the moment Isabel had died, Alex had already begun planning his own death. After all, she would do the same for Michael.
"I know." She heard Michael sigh.
"I want to be with you, when I die."
"Maria." Michael's voice was sharp.
She looked up at him and touched his face. "I love you." She whispered and pulled his mouth down to his.
Michael wasn't completely oblivious. He knew when his wife was trying to distract him. And after so long, he was more than willing to let her. In one swift movement he yanked her tank top over her head, and crushed their chests together. He felt her body tremble against his as his hands skimmed down her back and into the boxer shorts she wore. He cupped her ass and pulled her on top of him.
Her words were still in his head, though. Repeating, over and over. "I want to be with you, when I die." Even the thought of her ceasing to breathe made his chest ache. The idea of her dead made his world come apart at the seems.
"Michael." She gasped out against his lips. "Please." She begged him, and a part of him wondered just what she was begging for. The sex, or her own death.
Quickly he rolled her onto her back and had her pinned beneath him. Michael ripped her shorts off, and threw them to the floor. He heard her sharp intake of breath. He couldn't imagine going on without that sound. Without the sound of her heart beating. Her breaths. Without her scent. She couldn't die. She couldn't.
With hardly any guidance Michael thrust inside of her, and Maria's eyes flew open as she stared up at him. Her breath caught in her throat, and they looked into each others eyes. As the flashes from Maria flew through his mind, he knew Maria was getting everything from him, he wished he could control it. He didn't want her to see Isabel die. But he knew she would.
The images from her blinded him for a moment. Her, about seven years ago, standing in the bathroom, dropping her birth control pill down the sink. He'd always known she'd lied about taking her pill. She wanted a child.
Her again, more recently, curled up on the floor of the kitchen, crying, a pot of spaghetti on the stove. The feeling of her desperate hope that he would come home.
The ideas of how she would end her own life, if she were to loose Michael.
"Michael." Her voice was more urgent this time. He blinked several times and focused on her face.
"I love you." He told her, and began to move his hips against hers, and she met him thrust for thrust. Her fingers dug into his back, holding him desperately. She opened her mouth and Michael crushed his down upon hers. He felt her moan, and tighten her grip on him. He needed to touch her. He had to touch her everywhere. One of his hands slid down and stroked her thigh, pulling it up around his waist, while the other clutched the back of her neck.
He pushed inside of her, deeper and deeper. In the back of his mind he wished everything was different. He wished that there wasn't some war. That he was just a normal human, and he could have given Maria everything she had ever wanted. The big wedding, the kids, the white picket fence. So many sacrifices she made, simply because she had fallen in love with him.
Maria held onto Michael as tightly as she could. Her nails dug into his skin as she clung to him. "Love." she gasped out. The intensity was almost too much. The flashes had taken her breath away. She felt his love, like she always did when she got flashes from him. But then she also had seen Isabel, and watched her die. Saw her sprawled out across the desert, blood on her lips, eyes vacant. But none of that mattered. Because she saw Michael. Inside of him. Felt everything he had ever felt for her, and she knew that she was his world.
She begged his name, and he began to move. She was walking a fine line. A wire. A thread. Teetering on the balance. She wanted that euphoric feeling. She wanted to scream his name as she came apart with him inside of her. But Maria wanted that moment to last forever. Because she knew it was the end. It was all over. "I love you!" She cried, and felt Michael's hand leave her thigh and dart between them. His fingertips rubbed over her clit and her whole body jerked in response.
"Oh!" She cried and arched her back. Maria felt Michael's mouth latch onto her throat, and she threaded one of her hands through his hair, while the other gripped his shoulder tightly.
"I love you, Maria." He said again, and Maria felt the tears welling up in her eyes. She knew, that he knew it was the end too. Because he rarely ever told her that he loved her. He just expected her to know. And she did. But for him to say the words. The reality set in, and she gasped.
This was the end.
His thrusts increased in speed and force. She couldn't hold on any longer. "Michael!" She screamed, her voice echoed off the walls, and her back arched off the bed and closer to him.
"Maria." His voice was quieter, but just as impassioned. His hips jerked several more times as her inner walls milked him completely.
His weight collapsed against her body and his face was buried in her throat. "I love you too, Michael." She told him quietly and curled her arms around him, and tangled one hand in his hair.
Maria wasn't sure how long they had been laying there, just breathing each other in. But the sun was trying to break through the dark curtains, trying to destroy their perfect world. Michael had shifted his weight to lay beside her, and gathered her in his arms. "I'm sorry." His voice was soft.
"For what?" Maria turned her head and looked at him.
"For everything. I always knew I would hurt you."
"You didn't-"
"Maria, all of this happened because of me. Because of what I am."
"Michael, I chose to be with you. I love you. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, or with any one else. You're my other half."
"There are so many things you wanted, that you never got. And its my fault." Maria sighed and grabbed his face between her hands.
"None of that would have meant anything, if I couldn't have had it with you." Maria sat up and looked at her hands. "I lied to you before."
"About what?" Michael asked sitting up as well, his arm slid around her shoulders.
"When I got pregnant... and said it was an accident. I'd stopped taking the pill."
"I know."
"How...?" Maria frowned and then rolled her eyes. Of course he knew. He had to have seen flashes. "Oh." His arms tightened around her. "You're not mad at me?"
"Of course I'm not. Why would I be?"
"I lied." She looked at him, confused. "I lied, and we agreed not to bring any kids into this... into this life. And I went behind your back..." Tears were rolling down her cheeks. He should be so mad at her for this.
"Maria, I've hurt you a lit, in all the years I've known you. I've always wanted to see you pregnant with my child. Maybe some day we'll still get that."
"Michael." Maria shook her head. "You know it's over."
Michael let out a heavy breath. He did know. "I don't want you to die. I want you to run as far as you can away from all the fighting."
"I can't, it's everywhere. Besides, I'm not leaving you. I meant it when I said I wanted to die in your arms."
"Maria-" He shook his head angrily. He did not like that. "No. I can't -"
"Please, Michael." She begged him, with tears rolling down her cheeks. "I mean it, I don't want to die alone... I don't want you to be off on some... battle, and me here... I need that, Michael. I need to be with you."
"I can't." He choked out. He cupped her face and stared into her eyes. His whole world was wrapped up in this small woman. Michael couldn't imagine what it would be like without her. And he never wanted to find out. But she was right. He knew that. They lost this war over half a decade ago on Antar. "Maria I don't... I don't think I can..."
"Please." Her voice was quiet, she sounded terrified.
Slowly Michael laid them back down, and gathered her in his arms. "You know I love you."
"I know." She sobbed out. "I love you too." Her hands were clinging to him, her right hand was wrapped around her waist, clutching his right hand that he had wrapped around her. His left hand cupped her face, while her left arm wrapped around his chest. "I want to be with you." She repeated.
"You will be." But he couldn't bring himself to do it. The idea, it was so simple. Stop her heart. Not a hard thing to do. But, to her? To his Maria? His wife. The love of his existence.
"It'll be okay." She told him, but the tears were still rolling down her face. He knew it wouldn't be okay.
"I love you so much, Maria."
"I love you too, Michael."
Maria stared up into his eyes, focusing on the deep chocolate brown beautiful eyes that were gazing down at her, with so much pain. The pain would be over soon. She laced her hand with his, and then brought her right hand up to clasp onto his hand that was touching her face. Ever so slowly she dragged it down, and pressed it to her chest, directly over her heart. She was terrified. But she knew there was nothing else they could do. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
"I love you." His voice filled her ears again, and she felt flashes from him enter her mind. She felt how much he loved her, and cherished her, and what she meant to him. This was exactly what she had wanted.
The family that Michael had always wanted with her filled her minds eye. Three beautiful children. The oldest a boy, and two beautiful little girls with blond, curly hair, and green eyes. Amy was there. And Alex, Isabel, Liz, Max, Kyle, and Jim. Even Rath and Ava. "I love you." His voice was in her ear once more. And then everything was gone.
Michael choked on a sob as Maria's head fell to the side. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He cried and wished he could take it back. He wanted nothing more than to take it back. "I love you, I'm so sorry, Maria." He clutched her as tightly as he could. "You're safe now." He whispered, and climbed out of bed. She was still beautiful. Her hair was fanned out around her face, and he could see the faintest smile on her lips.
Michael pulled the sheet up, and carefully covered her completely. And that was the end. She was gone. He pulled on his clothes, and took one last look at her before walking out of the bedroom. He slammed his fist as hard as he could into the wall. Anger, and fury taking over. He was supposed to take care of her, not kill her. Keep her safe, not stop her from breathing.
He walked out of the apartment he shared with her and sped on his bike across town to Liz and Max's apartment. He pounded on the door and waited for it to open. "Maria is dead." Michael told Max once the door cracked open.
"What?"
"What?!" Liz shrieked and pushed past Max. "What happened."
"She's dead." Michael repeated. "And I'm going to go find Khivar."
"Michael, don't be stupid." Max cautioned.
"I think this is one of the smartest decisions I've ever made." And he turned and quickly left.
"Go after him, Max." Liz urged. "You have to." Max watched as Michael and his bike disappeared into the distance towards the desert. He grabbed the keys for the jeep and ran to it. He jumped in and quickly sped after Michael. He wasn't far behind. But he was far enough behind.
By the time Max found him, Michael was on his hands and knees, dying. Trying to drag himself away. "Michael!" He ran to him and did his best to help him to his feet.
"I need to be with Maria." Michael choked out.
"Let me heal-"
"You can't." Michael scoffed, and shook his head. "Take me to Maria... please." Michael begged. Max looked at his friend and then nodded.
"Okay." He helped him to the jeep and then sped back towards town as quickly as he could. Michael was getting weaker by the second, and Max wasn't sure he would get back him back to Maria before he died. He slammed the jeep into park and rushed around to help Michael who was already struggling to get out.
Inside the apartment, Michael fell onto the bed with Maria, he struggled to pull the blanket down to see her one last time. "Love." He choked out and laid his head down on her cold chest and closed his eyes.
The End