Chapter 2: You're breaking into separate parts

"Don't you understand?" the voice whispered. "Don't you see?"

See what? Understand what? Her head hurt.

"This is your fault," the voice turned sharper, "This is your punishment for changing the future."

Why? Was it so bad she changed the future? Why was it bad? It saved the world, right?

"Time to scream little Lizzie!"

Liz's head snapped up and screamed, startling everyone before her screams cut off and she vomited again.

Damn it, why was she being sick now? What the hell was going on?!

"Liz!" Isabel's hands were on her cheeks, nice and cool. The soft presence of caramel soothed her battered soul.

"Is she okay?" she could hear Kyle asking.

"Liz?" Hands were on her body, on her forehead and her cheeks, her neck and her arms.

Before she knew it, she was sitting on the couch with Max kneeling in front of her, his eyes searching hers.

Michael and Isabel were on either side of him, both also staring at her and she frowned, why did this seem so familiar?

She slowly reached out and touched Max's face, making him inhale sharply before she pulled her hand away, turning to Isabel, and getting the same reaction. Strange, she did it to Michael with her left hand. Again, the same reaction and she shook her head.

This…this…this…

'Tess has left Roswell,' snapped through her mind and her eyes snapped up to meet Kyle's wide blue ones.

"What happened to Tess?" Liz demanded.

"She left Roswell," Kyle repeated.

"Why?" Liz stood up, startling the trio into moving away from her.

"She had an argument with someone. She didn't tell me," Kyle explained. Liz shook her head as she slowly paced, her hands going to her head.

"Who did she argue with?" she looked at each member of their little group but she couldn't see anything that would tell her who it was.

They just stared at her, concern clear in their eyes and she shook her head. Damn it, they need to stop looking at her like that.

"Damn it! Who did she argue with?!" she finally broke under the pressure, startling everyone into staring at her with wide eyes.

"Not me," all six of them stated together before they looked at each other, confused. Liz shook her head.

This wasn't right…there was something wrong here.

"When did she leave?" Liz turned to look at Kyle.

"Last night."

"LAST NIGHT?!" she shouted as she moved closer to Kyle, making him back away from her with fear in his eyes. "What do you mean she left last night? Why are you only getting round to telling us this?!"

"Because I didn't know she was gone!" Kyle blurted out. "I thought she left for school early this morning. It wasn't until I noticed that everything was gone and I hadn't seen her at school that I…" he trailed off as Liz's glare hardened.

"And you didn't think it was important enough to mention it to Max at school?" she asked, her voice turning icy. Fuck being tired, fuck her nightmares, and fuck her nausea; this was taking priority.

"I…" Kyle stammered before he sighed, giving up. "I guess I didn't want to believe she left Roswell."

The tiredness in his tone, the way his shoulders slumped, and the defeated expression wore Liz down and she felt herself soften.

She had seen how close Kyle and Tess had gotten over the months they lived together. This was hurting him, badly and she closed her eyes, willing away the headache that was beginning to start up behind her eyes.

"Damn it," she whispered, rubbing her forehead.

"Lizzie," Maria inched closer to her best friend and Liz turned to see that concerned look on her face, "It's gonna be okay." She slowly reached a hand.

"Is it?" Liz finally gave voice to her fear.

It's your punishment for changing the future.

"Will it really be okay?" she felt tears well up in her eyes.

"We'll figure it out," Maria touched her shoulder.

"Time to scream little Lizzie!"

Liz flinched and Maria removed her hand. Nausea started up again and Liz had to turn away from the group, shaking her head.

"This…" she groaned; her headache was getting worse, "This isn't right."

Why couldn't she breathe? Why…why were her thoughts muddled?

"Lizzie…" Alex's voice sounded so far away.

"Scream Lizzie scream,"

Liz shivered violently as she backed up against the wall.

"Liz?" Isabel was at her side, hands on her cheeks and she drew Liz's face up so their eyes could meet.

"Why do you always look so sad?" Liz whispered, her finger coming up to trace Isabel's cheek, Isabel's eyes widening with shock. "There is no need to be sad."

"Liz!" Isabel gently shook her and Liz snapped back before she frowned. Isabel looked over at Max and Liz followed her gaze to see Max was looking terrified. Michael looked like he was ready to blast something.

"What is going on with her?" Kyle asked Alex, who just shook his head when Liz looked in their direction.

"I need to find Tess," Liz straightened up, pulling Isabel's hands away from her face and ignoring the gasps that came from Isabel.

Funny, they sound like the gasps Max used to make when he got a flash from her.

"Liz," Michael stepped forward.

"I need to go," Liz stumbled out of the apartment. It felt stifling like the air was thick. When she hit the street, she stumbled over her two feet before she regained her balance and she frowned. She needed to concentrate.

Tess. Remember Tess. Her blonde curls. Her blue eyes, how they would sparkle with laughter. Her warm smile, how amusement would pull at the corner. Remember the way she used to reach. Remember the way she used to laugh.

Blood spilling from Tess's mouth. Blood soaking her blue top. Blood soaking her blonde hair.

"NO!" Liz screeched as her hands went to her head, shaking violently to get rid of the image.

"Time to run," the voice chuckled menacingly.

Liz ran.

~_TRWT_~

Liz scrabbled up the ladder, taking care not to alert her family as she quickly jumped over the ledge, and crossed the balcony, slipping through her window into her room and she looked around desperately.

Damn it, this wasn't supposed to happen. What the hell happened with Tess? None of the scenarios she thought up sat well with her yet none of them fit.

Tess and Max had become good friends even she had seen it. If Tess had a fight with someone, wouldn't she have gone to Max?

And that made her think that Max had the argument with Tess but about what?

No, there was something else going on. And it dawned on her. Tess didn't just leave Roswell…she ran. Something happened and Tess ran.

Damn it, Liz crossed the room to her dresser, yanking out the top drawer and she tossed the underwear around until she found the phone she had purchased a few months ago.

Closing her eyes, she held the phone to her chest before flipping it open and speed dialling the only number programmed in it.

She held the phone to her ear, her heart thumping erratically against her chest until there was a click.

"What's up cornball?" Ava's warm voice came over the line and Liz breathed a sigh of relief. "Liz?"

"I need a favour Ava," she told her.

"Whatever you need."

"I need you to help me find Tess."

~_TRWT_~

"Liz?!" Max bolted after Liz once he regained his senses and he sensed the others following him. They hit the street and spread out, each looking for Liz but came up empty.

"FUCK!" Max swore under his breath, running a hand through his hair before he turned to the others. "Michael, Isabel, I need you to go with Kyle to the house. See if you can get anything from anything Tess touched and find out why she left."

"Max…" Isabel shook her head.

"I know you are worried about Liz. That is why Alex and Maria are going to team up and look for her," he turned to their friends, who nodded. "Check all the usual places she would go. I'll check some of the places I know."

"Does someone want to explain to me what is going on?" Kyle asked, "What the hell was that about Liz?"

"She's scared," Isabel spoke up before she shook her head and looked at Max with tearful eyes, "Did you feel that?"

"She's fucking terrified," corrected Michael, his voice hoarse, "I didn't even know she could transmit that."

Max shook his head, "I don't think she knew what was she was doing."

"What do you mean?" Alex stepped forward. Max turned to face the taller boy.

"She sent us flashes," Max explained. Maria gasped.

"When she touched your face?" Maria moved closer to Max, grabbing the lapel of his jacket, "How?"

"I don't know," Max covered her hands with his, looking down her worried green eyes, "But it's not just her fears. Her nightmares are…" Max trailed off, unable to put it into words.

"Darkness," Isabel slowly spoke up and they looked toward her. Isabel wrapped her arms around her stomach. "That's the only word I can think of. It's just pure darkness and it's swallowing her whole."

"Alright, let's get moving!" barked Michael, "Clearly Tess leaving Roswell is connected to Liz's behaviour. Solve one; we should solve the other, right?" Max could see the worry in his best friend's eyes and knew the same reflected in his.

They had to solve this before they lost anyone.

"Everyone keep in contact," Max ordered them as Maria and Alex got into the Jetta. Michael, Isabel, and Kyle into the Mustang and Max jogged over to his jeep, shoving his keys into the ignition.

All at once, the three cars started up and peeled out of their parking spots, going in different directions.

Max tried all the different places, he tried the UFO centre, he tried the Crashdown earlier only to be told that Liz hadn't come by, he tried the library, the small park they used to meet at, even senior chow just to be on the safe side but he came up empty.

Phone calls from Maria told him the same, they couldn't find Liz and they even tried the school.

Isabel had contacted him to say that Tess had been careful. She didn't leave anything behind which just frustrated Max.

He had asked Alex to go by Valenti's house and check the computer to see if Tess had used it while asking Maria to take either Michael or Isabel and see if they could get a flash off something that belonged to Liz.

They were fast running out of time and they still yet to tell the older Valenti anything.

Max closed his eyes, resting his forehead against the steering wheel, wishing he knew where Liz was, wishing he knew what was going on between the two missing girls.

"Damn it," he muttered to himself, parking in front of the Crashdown once more. Maybe she would have come home by now and they just happened to miss her.

Max climbed out of the jeep and into the Crashdown, looking around for the familiar dark-haired woman only to come up empty.

With a frustrated hiss, he strode toward the back, peering through to see Jose was working the grill.

"Hey Jose," the cook turned to face him, "Have you seen Liz?"

"Not since last night," he told him, turning back to the grill.

"Thanks," he decided to go up to the apartment and he knocked on the door, shoving his hands in his pockets, feeling nervous.

It had been a while since he knocked on the door; usually, he preferred the ladder but with what was happening with Liz, he didn't feel it was a good idea.

The door swung open to reveal a harassed looking Jeff Parker and he glared at Max.

"Where the hell is my daughter?!" He demanded.

"What?" Max took a step back, his eyes widening.

"You heard me, where is my daughter?!"

Max shook his head, bewildered when Nancy appeared at her husband's side, grabbing his arm.

"Jeff, if Max is here, then clearly he doesn't know where Liz is!" she reminded her husband, who only glowered at Max before pulling away from his wife and stormed back into the apartment.

Max turned confused eyes toward Nancy, his heart pounding. Liz wasn't here, that was obvious but…

"Please come in Max," Nancy stood to the side, allowing the confused boy to step in only to stop short when he saw Sheriff Hanson in the living room.

"What…what's going on?" He looked toward Jeff who was now pacing before turning to look at Nancy who stood next to him and his blood ran cold.

"Liz has run away."

~_TRWT_~

Max entered his house, closing the door behind him and leaning against the wood with a heavy sigh then shaking his head, grateful that his parents weren't home.

He had gone through a gruelling interview regarding Liz's whereabouts and actions. He had to phone the rest of the gang and all of them turned up at the Sheriff's station to their own interviews.

Maria had been hysterical when she found out that Liz had run away, Isabel had nearly shut down that it had taken Max to comfort her before she could answer any questions.

Michael was frustrated; he could see it in his best friend while Alex just sat quietly, head in his hands.

Kyle didn't know where to go, what to say or do. His world turned upside down in a matter of 24 hours that Max felt sorry for him.

Max, on the other hand, was near sick with worry and he slid down the door, drawing his knees up to his chest and buried his hands in his hair.

What the hell was going on?! First Tess disappears without a word; all of her clothes were gone, even personal items.

Then Liz shows up looking like she had been through a wringer then there is her behaviour at Michael's apartment. It had scared him to see her looking so…broken. It seemed like she barely knew where she was half the time.

He shivered as he remembered the letter Nancy had given him, it was in an evidence bag, but it was clearly Liz's handwriting.

"Sorry, I need to run. I need to save her."

That was all she wrote, no name, no information; he couldn't even take the paper out the bag to see if he could get a flash off it.

Damn it, Liz, he thought, his hands falling to his knees and his head falling back as the tears finally fell. The last time he felt this helpless was the white room and he thought Liz was dead.

The horrific memory was a band around his heart and he shook his head. What the hell was he supposed to do now?

He didn't think Isabel would up for dream-walking any of the girls, not that he would ask her to. Seeing her fear when she got the flash from Liz was enough without knowledge that Liz was missing.

Max scrubbed at his face, trying to wipe out Maria's tearful face from his mind. She had collapsed into Michael's arms when given the news that Liz had left.

He tried to forget the way Alex slammed his fist into the wall before he stormed off.

He willed away Kyle just standing there, confused and lost.

He hated the sheer frustration on Michael's face as he just held Maria, his eyes locked onto Max's, begging for an order, for answers, for anything and it broke Max's heart knowing he didn't have anything.

Isabel's face was the one seared into his memory. The terrified look in her eyes, the way she clung to him when he hugged her, the way her body shivered as she tried to get warm.

All of them looked at him, hoping that he could give them answers and Max just felt as lost.

Slowly Max got up from his spot on the ground and forced himself to walk to his bedroom, stripping his jacket off as he did. He flung it on his bed while shutting the door.

Max stopped when he saw the package on his bed with an envelope on top of it. He frowned, looking around his room but nothing else was out of the ordinary.

Moving closer to the bed, his eyes widened when he spotted Liz's familiar handwriting. She had been here.

He grabbed the envelope, staggering under the flash of her tearful face and overwhelming emotions before he sat down on the bed, breathing heavily.

Swallowing, Max ripped open the letter with shaky hands, pulling out the sheet and felt his heart clench at the teardrops staining the paper.

'Dear Max,

Stupid way to start this letter I know but I don't know what other way to start it. I am going after Tess. There is too much at stake and we need her, you need her. But there is another reason why I am going after her.

Remember my nightmares, the ones I said I couldn't remember when I woke up? I lied, I remember them, so clear, and vivid it was like watching a film.

Tess was in my nightmare and she was hurt, Max. I know she and I are not the best of friends but I can't let anything happen to her. Before you start, my nightmares always started with Kyle telling me she left Roswell.

So, when Kyle told me she left Roswell, I knew deep in my heart that it was just the start of my nightmare and that was when I made my choice. I am going after Tess, but I don't know if I will come back alive.

I never see how my nightmares end, I always wake up before that point but something deep inside of me, I know something bad is going to happen.

The reason why I didn't let you all know what was happening is because you are needed in Roswell. You need to protect Roswell. You need to protect yourself.

Max…

You asked me once if you could read my journal and I told you no.

Read my journal, Max, it will give you all the answers you need but I will give you one answer here and now.

I never slept with Kyle that night. I knew you were coming to see me and I set it up.

My journal will explain everything and you will, I hope in time, understand why I am doing this.

You once told me that I was your destiny, and I walked away.

You are my destiny Max Evans, but I need to walk away once more because Tess needs me.

I love you, don't ever doubt that and I will try and come back to you.

But until then, love and trust the others, help them and let them help you. You are all stronger together than apart.

You have my heart, always.

Liz.'

Max re-read the letter so many times, trying to absorb everything Liz was telling him and what she wasn't.

The heavy tension that had settled around his heart since October lifted but his fear overshadowed with the other information she has given him.

Her nightmares were coming true and Tess was hurt. He frowned. The last time Tess had been hurt, Max had been the one to find her. Before that, it had been Isabel.

So…why was Liz getting the vision of her being hurt? Why did Liz need to be one to save her?

Then there was that comment…she didn't know if she would come back alive. Max fought back the tears as the memory of Pierce showing him that picture of Liz dead came back to him.

Her eyes wide open, staring up at nothing and he fought the urge to vomit, leaning forward, and breathing heavily.

She needed to come back alive, he couldn't live without her, couldn't live in a world where she was dead.

Taking a deep breath, Max forced himself into a sitting position and turned to the one book he had always wanted to read since he first found out about it.

Liz's journal. She had misplaced it once and he had asked if he could read it when she told him that a good friend had returned.

She had refused and he had asked her if it was because if he read it, he would learn the true extent of her feelings for him, how she truly saw him.

Now…here it was and it held all the answers he needed.

Max shifted so his back was against the wall, lifting up the journal and he took a deep breath before he opened it, Liz's familiar handwriting coming into view.

"I'm Liz Parker and five days ago I died. After that, things got really weird..."

~_TRWT_~

Max wasn't sure how long he sat there, reading the journal but when he reached the last page, his heart felt heavy with emotions, his head pounded with a headache behind his eyes and his eyes felt gritty from the tears.

She had been through so damn much, and he had put her through so damn much yet she loved him. Even after everything, she still loved him.

Now he had answers to her mysterious actions that day in October and it nearly broke him to read it, to know she went through so much just to save everyone and now he understood her actions regarding Tess leaving.

If Tess left them, it would mean the end of the world, and it would mean Liz had gone through hell for nothing.

But nothing told him where Liz had gone to, nothing told him of any leads Liz had found regarding Tess yet she seemed to know where Tess was…so what was he missing?

Damn it, he rested the back of his head against the wall and frowned.

Liz knew Tess was in trouble due to her nightmares. She left Michael's apartment and disappeared. She obviously went back to her room after she ran away given that her journal is here and the note she left for her parents.

Yet…did she know where to find Tess?

Max frowned as he tried to dig deeper into the tangle that was forming in front of him. She knew Tess was in trouble before any of them; before Kyle told them Tess had left. The nightmares during the day were evidence enough.

So…did Tess reach Liz in desperation? Did she try to reach one of them but could only reach Liz?

He vaguely remembered something Rath had said when they were in New York. Something about Liz being susceptible. Did he mention flashes?

He then remembered Rath asking Michael if he wanted Rath to deal with the problem with Maria left with Brody.

It had struck him funny at the time, especially considering none of them was in a relationship with any of the humans at the time.

Then there was Liz's reaction when Rath greeted her and it dawned on him.

Rath had kissed Liz and obviously gotten a flash from her. Pushing his anger aside at the thought of the asshole putting his hands and lips on someone he shouldn't have, he concentrated on Rath's words about Liz.

He had been talking to Lonnie how the human girl had given him the flashes, how he was able to get the layout. How he managed to block her from getting flashes from him.

At first, he had thought Rath had been talking about Maria but now everything made sense.

And Ava had said Liz had changed when he healed her back that fateful day. She had managed to project herself to him in New York and saved his life.

What if…Max sat up straight as horror shot through him…what if the flashes had been a part of her abilities the whole time?

He needed to find Liz. And he knew of the perfect person to help him.

~_TRWT_~

Max knocked on the door, shoving his hands into his jean pocket and waited for the answer.

Soon the door opened to reveal Sean DeLuca. He arched an eyebrow when he spotted Max standing on his doorstep.

"If you are looking for Maria, she's not here," Sean reminded. Max nodded.

"I know; it's you I'm looking for."

"Me?" Sean leaned against the doorjamb. "Are you going to accuse me of kidnapping Liz too?" Max arched an eyebrow inquiringly and Sean rolled his eyes. "Maria has a big mouth and told the 'rents that I flirted with Parker."

"Ah," Max nodded before he shook his head. "No, I'm here to ask you for something."

"Ask away," Sean gesture with a hand between them before he frowned. "Though I thought you would be out looking for Parker."

"That's what I'm here for." Sean arched an eyebrow. "I need you to help me find Liz."

TBC