Title: Providence

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: So, I decided not to include Sean in this story. I know he is sort of important at the end of Season Two, but I wrote him out of my version because he didn't really fit. Forget that he exists, he will not show up at all in this story. Also, a make a reference to Maria thinking that Michael slept with Juanita. For those of you who don't remember, Juanita was his dance teacher, and Maria thought they were having an affair, although she didn't have any proof. Italics are thoughts, and pay attention to the POV.

Chapter Two: Foreshadowing

Isabel POV

Isabel closed her locker and glanced around the hallway. It was packed with students milling about and gossiping with each other about the previous Saturday night's Prom. Rumors were flying through the air, stories about who danced with whom, and who hooked up with whom, and whose heart was broken. It was so… trivial… that it suddenly bothered her, and she turned abruptly, determined to walk away.

Isabel had only taken a few steps when she ran straight into Tess, who was just turning the corner. The smaller girl stepped backwards in surprise and dropped her books.

"Oh, sorry Tess," Isabel said quickly, bending down to retrieve the books.

Tess shrugged and grabbed her books quickly. "It's fine," she replied, straightening up.

There was an awkward silence, and Isabel glanced around, trying to think about something to say. Ask her how her weekend was. No, that's a bad idea because Max and Liz got back together. Ask her about something that doesn't have anything to do with Max. Or destiny. Or aliens. "Are you going to class?" Okay, that was just pathetic.

Tess held up her books. "That's the plan," she replied in a tone which clearly indicated that the answer should have been obvious. Why else would she be wandering through the halls with a handful of books?

"Oh. Well, I've got my class now, so I guess I'll see you at lunch," Isabel stammered, slightly flustered. Tess nodded, gave Isabel a hard stare, and turned and walked away.

Isabel stood in the hallway for a moment, thinking. Things with Tess were always complicated, but now that Max and Liz were truly back together… Everything is going to be so awkward.

But whatever thoughts Isabel was entertaining about Tess were erased as soon as Alex appeared in the hallway. He saw her and smiled, walking towards her quickly. He was dressed in jeans and a casual polo shirt, and his hair was neatly combed. Isabel blinked a couple times as she stared at him, finding herself wondering, yet again, where his new confidence had come from.

"Hey, Isabel," Alex greeted her. He reached out and linked his arm through hers, and she felt a shiver of energy crawl up her spine. "May I accompany you to class, dear lady?" he asked grandly.

That's strange. I've never felt that electricity with Alex before. Isabel laughed softly, and replied, "It would be most appreciated, good sir."

The two set off towards class. They walked in silence, a comfortable silence, and Isabel let her mind wander to other thoughts. At first, her thoughts settled on Max and Liz again. Her brother had been so happy after the Prom, and it had not taken much to coax the story out of him. She heard all about how he and Liz had made up, and she was glad that things were working out well for him.

Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly caught sight of Michael. He was standing with her back towards them, talking to Maria about something. She was too far away to hear the conversation, but from their body language, she knew the two were arguing.

Again.

Michael turned away in frustration, and caught Isabel's eye. She gave him a brief smile, and he returned it with a grimace before storming away.

"Looks like Michael and Maria are arguing again," Alex commented with a dry laugh.

Isabel nodded. "Seems to be happening a lot," she agreed. She watched Maria walk away and sighed, shaking her head. Some relationships she simply did not understand, and that was one of them. There was no doubt in her mind that Michael and Maria cared a great deal for each other, but how could they date when they couldn't even be in the same room together?

"Some relationships don't make sense to the people on the outside," Alex remarked suddenly. He and Isabel locked gazes for a moment, and Isabel nodded slowly.

How did he know what I was thinking? Am I that obvious? "Yes, you are right about that." They paused outside the door to the classroom and unlinked arms. Isabel sighed and walked into the class, unable to shake the feeling that there was something very wrong, and very obvious, staring her straight in the face and she was completely missing it.

Kyle's POV

Kyle watched as Tess entered the classroom and looked around. He smiled slightly as her eyes settled on him and she walked towards the empty desk next to him that she knew was reserved for her.

"Hey," Tess greeted, pushing a blonde curl behind her ear and smiling.

"Hey," Kyle replied. It had been a long weekend for them both. Kyle had seen Max and Liz slip out of the dance together, and he had suddenly realized that things were well and truly over between him and Liz. He had known it all along, but after Liz had pretended to sleep with him, he had harbored some hope that things could go back to the way they were before the shooting.

And, of course, Liz and Max leaving together had dashed all of Tess' hopes as well.

"Ready for another scintillating discussion on the history of…whatever we're talking about in this class?" Kyle asked.

Tess rewarded his attempt at humor with a dry smile that did not quite mask the hurt in her eyes. It had been there all weekend, the pain of realizing that everything she had dreamt about was not going to come true.

They had both seen Max and Liz in the hallway that morning, laughing and talking quietly. Liz had been leaning back against the locker, and Max had been standing in front of her, leaning inwards, one hand resting against the metal near her head. Liz had been so animated, and Max had looked truly happy, and Tess had taken one look at them, and turned and walked away. Kyle had hesitated, torn between following his sort-of sister or walking over to Max and smashing his fist into the hybrid king's face. He had finally decided to follow Tess, but as he left, he had seen Max turn around and catch sight of Tess' retreating figure.

And Kyle could have sworn that he had seen guilt in Max's eyes.

I'm going to kill Max. First he steals Liz, then he breaks Tess' heart. I am going to… no, Buddha says that physical violence is not the path to enlightenment. Physical pain is transient, peace in enduring. Kyle sighed and glanced towards the front of the room where there teacher was standing, waiting for everyone to take their seats.

"Alright, class," the teacher called out. "Settle down so we can get started."

"I don't know," Kyle muttered. "I'm fine with not starting class."

"Hey, history is important," Tess admonished softly. She pulled out a notebook and a pencil and glanced over at Kyle. "If you don't pay attention to the mistakes people made in the past, how can you hope to avoid them in the future?"

I wonder if knowing more about their pasts could help them defeat the skins? Maybe that's why Tess is always so dead set on having everyone remember as much about their pasts as possible. It was certainly a more flattering view than that she simply wanted Max to remember his love for her. Although, the other aliens seemed resistant, especially Max and Isabel, so it was hard to say if anything would ever come of her efforts.

Kyle glanced down at his own notebook. He had scrawled notes across it, and filled the margins with doodles. He grabbed a pencil and shot another glance over at Tess, but she wasn't looking at him anymore.

"We are going to continue our lecture on the Persian Gulf War," the teacher announced in a cheerful tone. Next to him, Tess started taking notes, but Kyle stared blankly ahead, not interested in the lecture.

Maria POV

Maria stormed through the hallway towards her class, fuming. She was tired of this perpetual arguing with Michael, tired of the fact that they never seemed to be able to get along for more than a few days at a time. It was lunch time now, and although they had made tentative plans to meet at the tables near the north end of the quad, Michael had not shown up.

So Maria had stalked into the school, prepared to find her boyfriend and berate him for his complete and utter lack of…

She turned the corner and slammed right into Michael's tall form. Backpedaling, she managed to retain her balance, but still got the wind knocked out of her.

"Hey," Maria protested. "Watch it, Space Boy."

"Sorry," Michael said gruffly. "But you ran into me," he added as an afterthought.

Maria opened her mouth to retort, then shook her head and sighed, realizing no good would come of it. "Where have you been?" she asked instead. "I was waiting for you by the tables but you didn't show."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Michael replied airily. "I forgot."

He forgot? "You forgot?" Maria asked in disbelief. "That's the best excuse you can come up with?"

"It's the truth," Michael shot back angrily, pushing past Maria and making his way down the hall.

"Hey! Don't walk away from me when we are in the middle of an argument," Maria called after him, hurrying to catch up with the alien's long strides. Why won't he just listen to me for two seconds?

"Why bother staying?" Michael asked. "All you do is yell at me."

"Only when you deserve it," Maria quipped, a smile playing around the corner of her lips. Michael glanced down at her and smiled slightly, although his eyes betrayed the fact that he was still annoyed. Maria sighed and shook her head. "You forgot about our lunch date, Michael," she stated simply.

"Yeah, well, you automatically jumped to the conclusion that I was sleeping with Juanita," Michael shot back. It was a bad idea to bring that up, as he well knew, but he couldn't help but say it anyway. Even if it was petty.

"I'm sorry, I'm an idiot," Maria replied, earning another smile from Michael.

"Michael?" Isabel's voice floated down the hallway, interrupting the conversation. Michael and Maria both turned to see the tall blonde walking towards them. She smiled at Maria then turned her attention back to Michael. "You got a minute? Max has something he wants to talk to us about."

"Something Czechoslovakian?" Maria asked in interest. Did something happen? Is everyone okay?

Isabel shrugged. "I don't know. He just asked for me to find you because he needed to talk to the two of us." She glanced at Maria apologetically. "Just the two of us."

"We had a date," Maria protested. Figures something Czechoslovakian would get in the way.

At the same time, Michael asked, "And not Tess?"

Isabel shook her head. "No, not Tess, just the three of us. Max is being his usual 'what I say takes precedence over everything else' self," she explained with a shrug. "I had plans with Alex also, but…"

Michael turned to Maria. "Sorry," he said stonily. "When the king calls…"

Maria huffed but nodded, knowing that if it was something important, she didn't want to keep Michael away. But it was frustrating, watching Michael constantly disappear on some alien mission. She hated that her relationship was taking a back seat to everything else, but what could she do. It wasn't like the aliens had a choice in any other this either. They certainly didn't ask to be thrown into the middle of a battle. Don't be mad, this isn't their fault. Don't be mad, this isn't their fault. Don't be mad…

Maria stood up on her tiptoes and gave Michael a kiss on the cheek. "Fine, go," she said, giving an understanding nod. Michael flashed her a smile and followed Isabel through the hallway, leaving Maria to watch her boyfriend walk away with the woman who would have, at some point in the past, been his wife.

They look good together.

It was a treacherous thought that appeared before she could push it away. They did look good together, Isabel's stunning beauty complementing Michael's bad boy good looks. She was flawlessly made up and perfectly dressed, and he was rough around the edges, and it just looked…

Maria sighed and turned away. What am I talking about? They aren't together like that. Stop being so paranoid. They don't have those feelings for each other. You know they don't.

She turned and walked back outside, not quite able to totally ignore the vague worry that still plagued her thoughts.

Normal POV

It was a strange sensation, as though there was something blatantly obvious that she should be noticing, but wasn't. She paused on the sidewalk and glanced back and forth, trying to figure out what it was that was bothering her so much. But she couldn't figure out what it was, and after a few moments of confusion, she shrugged it off as paranoia, and continued walking.

She pushed a strand of blonde hair out of her sapphire eyes and shivered. The air was damp, but not cold, last nights rain had all but faded away, and the sun was starting to poke through the gray clouds.

The sound of footsteps on gravel caused her to slow, her heart hammering wildly in her chest. She turned and looked around, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. A man was standing by the bus stop near the end of the block, and two women were just leaving a shop on the right. A young boy ran a few steps ahead of his mother, who called out a warning as he neared the street.

She shook her head, blonde strands falling over blue eyes yet again, and sighed. Unable to completely shake the fear that plagued her, she continued walking.

She turned the corner into a side street, out of sight of those on the crowded street behind her, looked up at the man who was suddenly standing in front of her, and opened her mouth to scream.

But no sound ever came.

The blast of energy hit her in the chest, and the world faded to black as she fell to the ground.

The man looked at her for a moment, then leaned down and touched her face with one hand, tracing a finger of her features. His brown eyes were cold, like slits of dark ice, as he realized he had made a mistake.

This was not the right Queen.

He straightened slowly and looked around. He was unsure if anyone had seen him use his powers, but he did not care. If these pathetic humans came after him, they would discover that he was no naïve teenager. He was a force to be reckoned with, more so than those pathetic hybrids who called themselves the Royal Four.

He had killed the wrong Queen. That realization left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth. But more than that, it was the realization that he had been played. Nicolas had told him that the true Queen had broken off from the others and come to New York when she realized that her family would never accept her. Nicolas had lied to him, and would pay for that betrayal.

But first…first it was time to find the true Queen.

And right the wrong that had been committed so many years ago.

He turned and walked away.

On the other side of the country, Tess awoke in bed with the vague feeling that something important had just happened, if only she could figure out what it was.

Every story has foreshadowing. Little clues that hide between the lines, answers to questions that haven't yet been asked. Bits and pieces of the plot that only a perceptive reader will pick up on, or blatant clues that scream out the truth to anyone who opens the book.

Life isn't like that.

No matter how much we may want those little clues, they do not exist. No author bends over this script, carefully constructing a maze of hidden answers. There is no reader to figure out beforehand what will happen. The villain does not pause to give five page soliloquies revealing his master plan, and the hero does not turn to us and discuss his innermost thoughts.

And no one gives foreshadowing.

Life is not a story, it has no literary device to follow, no rules about run-on sentences and misplaced modifiers, no need for a beginning, middle, and end. And as such, in the rare instance that the answer is revealed before the question is asked, we do not recognize it for what it truly is. We do not understand the answer, having no concept of the question. We miss the clue, content to live in the present without thinking ahead to the future.

We simply miss it all.

And when the truth finally comes, when it stands before us completely revealed, we are caught unawares.