Liz was walking. She was saying goodbye to her home town. When she left, she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to come back. She wanted, no needed a fresh start to get her life back on track. She needed to get her powers under control. They made her feel extremely uncomfortable and itched like crazy. What Max had tried to do to help her that night had been pushed too far. She thought he needed to balance out her body and powers tonight, not to eradicate them entirely. But no, instead he had decided to push things and her too far.
While she knew Max was only trying to help by fixing things and making things right by trying to return her back to normal, Liz had known she was no longer normal. Ava had told her, had shown her by getting her to save Max when he was in New York with the help of Isabel's powers to astral project her warning to Max.
Still, he had kissed Tess five minutes after telling Liz he loved her and blamed Tess for it, not himself, as he should have done by admitting to it being his fault but it had never happened. Then to make it worse, after she had backed off thanks to his future self, almost wrecking her reputation in the process, by pretending to sleep with Kyle. Only Maria knew the almost full truth of what happened. She did have a promise to keep after all, even if it was killing her. That's why she had broken up with Max by her window that night, using the window to physically shut him out of her life and heart. She still couldn't believe she had said everything she had been holding in that night in one go. Things for her had exploded and she couldn't stop it. She had lost her control tonight and needed to get out now. She felt she had no choice left but to go. She couldn't ever completely forgive Max for his actions.
She was done with denial.
Thanks to Max's actions- either Max's- present and formerly future(now that thought even gave her a headache), Alex was dead, Tess was pregnant and had gone, taking the Granolith with her, almost killing the rest of the royal four in the process. If it wasn't for Maria, Kyle and herself, Michael, Isabel and Max would have been dead, killed by the actions of an unknown traitor that she herself had let in and had done everything in her power to ensure that the royal four would be a complete unit for when the time came.
She had even given up her future husband, happiness and marriage for her, for Tess, at future Max's request to help ensure the present Max would fulfill his destiny and protect the planet, saving lives- including Isabel's and Michael's ( her main reason for her actions in the end)- in the process. That was the other reason she had to go. She blamed herself for Alex's death. That was her price for saving the world, lives and ultimately a traitorous act of letting an enemy into the group.
She could never tell the others the truth now, especially not the protector and second in command, Michael. She honestly had no clue on how he would take it. He would never trust her again after this. Thank goodness Maria hadn't put it all together yet. Another reason to go. Max it seems was driving her out of town. She sighed. Then there was Isabel. Isabel had loved Alex and always would. He was her first love after all. Another reason to keep quiet. She didn't want to face Isabel's anger anymore than she wanted to face Michael's. She had unknowingly betrayed them. That comment about computers and Kyle still puzzled her.
Liz shook her head, looking up and saw Michael sat on a bench on his own. Swallowing at her thoughts, she turned to walk back. Michael stopped that action. He put his hand out and held her arm, much like he had done in Las Cruces, only instead of having her reaction before of fire and rebellion, he found her shoulders slumped in defeat and her body language told him she had given up fighting something, only he wasn't entirely sure what. Her wall wasn't up. Something had torn it down and smashed it to smithereens. He wasn't entirely sure what he thought about that.
Maria's chat with him tonight had given him some insight into her character he hadn't quite seen before. She stonewalled him and others to protect them. She hadn't told Maria about her powers in order to protect her, so to keep her focused on her record demo. She had covered their shifts at the diner to keep them available to handle any alien problems and come up with plans and cover stories to protect them all, including herself, to keep their secret. She had even setup a stonewall around herself to prevent anyone from getting into her life as a form of protection and to help her cope. He was sure Sean would love to help but she hadn't let him. She hadn't let anyone. She was as isolated as he was with as much of a front as he had. All to protect them.
Her thanks was being constantly hurt by Max as a result. As a group they really didn't deserve her and looking at her now, that look on her face in the half light, he suddenly knew what it meant. He realised she was nowhere near as frustratingly complicated as he had first thought in Vegas at all, just very good at putting up a front instead. Even when she could be dying.
Michael felt her move away and pulled her back. He really needed to get to the bottom of this NOW. ''Sit.'' He moved over and pulled her down next to him. ''So what's up?'' ''Nothing.'' Her tone was sharp, then she softened her tone. ''I'm leaving, she looked up at him, I'm going to the academy tomorrow. I'm already packed. The only reason I'm even out here tonight is to go for a walk to say goodbye to the town. She looked down again. Once I leave, I'm not coming back.'' Michael looked startled. "What?" His hand that had let go of her arm once she had sat down drifted from his lap to her shoulder in a mix of comfort, support and surprise with a look of alarm on his face. ''How did things go in the desert then? I thought Max was going to heal you tonight with Kyle's help.''
That must have been an uncomfortable car ride considering everything Michael thought while scratching his eyebrow in confusion at the present situation. One look at her face told him his answer, it had been. They had been bound together in this situation by her and she felt uncomfortable, grateful yet extremely uncomfortable based on the set of her shoulders and how tense she felt under his hand. He was about to move his hand away when hers gripped his in thanks of his unspoken support with a smile for him. There was still a trace of defeat in her face and a slight look of fear in her eyes but not as much as there was. 'Fear, where had THAT come from?' he thought, making sure not to let his thought show on his face. With a hesitant smile, she finally answered him, looking away.
She then winced as a twinge of pain from a power surge hit her, her hand tightening momentarily on his before it passed and she sighed in relief. He was instantly alarmed. He'd thought her power surges had been stopped, instead it seemed they had been made worse. He frowned as Liz answered.
''Tonight helped to a certain extent, only Max pushed it too far. Instead of bringing my body into balance, he tried to eradicate my powers completely, forgetting that my powers are a part of me. It hurt. My powers rejected what he was doing, my mind and body couldn't take the pain and I blasted him away from me instead of achieving the balance he had looking for in me to happen.'' Liz shrugged. Her hand slipping from his and he grabbed hers, slipping his fingers into hers to tighten his grip, not wanting to lose their physical connection and let her lose the feeling of comfort he could tell she desperately needed.
He brought their joined hands between them onto the bench to breach the hidden wall between them and felt her hand squeeze his lightly in response to his gesture of solidarity between them. She graced him with a smile when he squeezed back a 'you're welcome' while saying out loud with his own smile ''no problem, then his smile slipped into a frown, I'm sorry I helped to cause you pain.'' Her eyes flew to his in surprise.
Her tone gave her away when she spoke but once again she was stopped in her tracks by a shot of pain and she waited for it to subside before speaking. At the look of pain on her face, Michael grew concerned.
Liz spoke again. This time in reassurance. ''Michael, don't. Tonight wasn't your fault, it was Max's for pushing it. You and Kyle did the right thing by helping and Kyle did the right thing when he stopped Max 3 times from hurting me by taking things too far for me, trying to fix things as per usual, only to hurt me again.'' He swallowed hard at that. Her tone spoke volumes as far he was concerned. Add that to what Max had told him before and the fact she was on the verge of running from him from the sound of it. He tried not to let it show but he was mad at Max for hurting her when she had done nothing but help, had her own ideas and instincts that most of the time was right- like with Alex's death- and it seemed all Max wanted to do was keep her safe by putting her up onto a pedestal.
''How high up has he put you?'' came his short reply and to Liz, even though it was a loaded question, she got what he meant by it perfectly.
She laughed ''You mean can I still see the ground or am I in the clouds yet?'' Michael nodded, scratching his eyebrow uncomfortably at the thought he had just worked Liz Parker out and had her confirm the fact a minute later. Neither realised they were still holding hands and their latent connection was growing with both their joined hands now green.
''Yeah'' 'The truth?' 'Yeah' Michael just looked at her, his eyes serious, he spoke directly with his thoughts to her 'Don't you dare stonewall me on this one Parker, just tell me the truth...this time' His expression was intense with his meaning, as he reminded her of Las Cruces. Liz looked away and swallowing down her guilt and pain, nodded. Her mental reply of 'Ok' was so quiet in his mind he barely heard it but nodded his thanks to her anyway. It was then he noticed a mental change in their connection. Her wall was slowing coming crashing down at his request. The more it crumbled, the more their connection grew until it became fully fledged and glowed in between their hands. It also prompted their powers to unexpectedly meet without either of them realising. One power had connected to the other and then finally the wall was gone. A shield stood transparent in it's place to block the more personal stuff out, leaving just her feelings, emotions and the truth behind. Letting out a shaky laugh tinged with bitterness, she finally answered a stunned Michael.
''Well all I could see was clouds for a while, she shrugged and he got the distinct feeling it wasn't just grief and Max but bucket loads of denial combined with her own guilt that had put her there, but I came back down to Earth tonight. I've left Max, Michael. I took myself off it tonight.'' She had looked at Michael as she told him and then felt almost too open, so looked away. ''I shut the window on him tonight and told him I have to work through this on my own.'' ''But you're not on your own.''
Her mind screamed at him that she was, then she gasped and her thoughts were slammed behind the wall, causing him to flinch at her actions. Liz gasped in horror at her own thoughts. 'Kyle had been the original Alex. Kyle was no good with computers. The Super Computer at Las Cruces. Tess had left, not because of her and Max entirely but due to not being able to complete the mission, had killed Kyle, which was why Future Max probably hadn't mentioned him again. He would have been part of the group. She was sure of it. Tess left and so the others had no clue she was a traitor. Tess had played them all now twice. So that as what that cryptic comment had meant all along. It had been a warning. She had killed Alex!
By her own actions, she had unwittingly helped Tess, she had betrayed...' Liz couldn't finish that thought. She felt sick. She was still connected to Michael, the protector. 'Shit!' was the one thought Michael had heard through her emotions of pain, betrayal, suffering and grief. He was freaked out. Liz knew she had to go home NOW before she lost control and Michael saw everything.
As she got up to leave, Michael panicked. All he knew was something big wasvery wrong with Liz and it wasn't to do with her powers. That scared him. Liz went to speak ''Thanks for the talk Michael. I need to go.''
