Chapter Nine: Unknown

A/N: Can you believe how long it's been since I updated? I'm really sorry about that. Real life got in the way, and I haven't been particularly inspired. But I read a few Cliffie fanfictions today--old ones, that I've already read a dozen times--and realized that I need to do my part and keep the ship alive. That means updating my fic no matter what, because so many of you have been so great and keep reading and reviewing no matter how long I neglect writing. Thanks so much for keeping with me. There'll be one more chapter after this one: the battley, resolutioney, endingy one. I'm done school for the summer so I can actually do some work on it now. I will. Seriously. Many thanks again to all of you nice enough to keep with me; I aim to give you a proper ending to this story, one that will make up for the loooooong wait times. A tiny spoiler (that's heavily hinted throughout anyway!): not all of the Podsquad will make it through. But I think you'll be happy with its ending. So sit back, and enjoy Chapter Nine...which is actually called the Unknown (and not because I couldn't think of a chapter name). Xs and Os to you all :0)

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I was born the eldest son to King Soren of Magna, the richest planet in our star system. I was called Larek in honour of my grand father, the first Magnan King to ever sign a peace accord with the Antarians. My family became their family from that day forward, and I spent a large part of my youth with the Antarian crowned prince. Zan and I learned politics and history from the finest university in our star system, and I was pained to watch as he went on to loose his hold on his planet. The single most crushing day of my life was the day I learned that Zan had died, his wife murdered, and his crown had been taken by Khivar. The next day General Rath's army, until then the most powerful in our star system, fell to Khivar's rebels, the enemy attacking from within. And Princess Vilandra, the planet's greatest jewel and final hope, betrayed her family to the rebels. Rath and Vilandra both perished, their young son vanished, and Antar ushered our star system into sixty years of war. Dark ages.

It was learned some years later that, aware of the rising rebellion, Zan's father, King Abram, had taken steps to ensure the survival of Antar's Royal Four, should the planet fall to the rebels. Abram's worst fears were realized, and Antarian-human hybrids were dispatched to a distant star system before the King died, where the hybrids could grow and ready themselves for the upcoming fight in relative safety. My planet, and the others in our star system, wait in an anxious limbo for the Royal Four to return to Antar, and to help restore the peace.

The best laid plans of mice and men fall short though. Antar's new hope did indeed survive, on a distant and much more primitive planet several galaxies away, however their memories of Antar were largely absent. Antar's famed Royal Four became scared children, alone and hunted with no memories of their previous lives, and far away from home. Since learning of their existence I have tried to keep in touch, have spoken to Zan, and have been waiting for them to return. But they seemed to have vanished as of late, and even my emissary on Earth hasn't been able to track them down.

Until today.

My secretary alerted me to an incoming coms transmission, a weak connection that set off alarms in the power stations in capital city. Earth was calling, and even as I hurried through my chambers to the coms room to receive the fractioned call I knew who it was.

And for the first time since the Summit meeting three years earlier, I had hope of a new life for Magna, for Antar, for all of us.

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He was different now, she could see it in his eyes, in the way that he looked at everyone, and it wasn't just because Lonnie was gone. Ava knew that there was something else, some other reason why Rath was acting different. He was kinder now, to her at least. And he spent a lot of time staring at Isabel with a far off look in his eye. Ava didn't know what to do for him, didn't really even know if she should try. He'd been awful to her, but him and Lonnie had both seemed to have turned themselves around. Despite it all, she couldn't stand to see him hurting like that.

'Zan would know what to do,' she thought to herself with a sigh. Ava looked up at the sky above her, their distance from the city allowing the vast open space to look even more overwhelming. She sat down on the Penner's deck. The blue paint was beginning to chip off on the worn path across the steps, and she scratched at it a bit with her nails. Then she waved a hand over a worn section and restored the blue colouring. She smiled a bit.

"Much better," Max voice over her shoulder teased her, and he took a seat beside her. He smiled warmly at her before turning his gaze up at the vast sky above them.

Ava looked up too and found her eyes drawn to the familiar Ares constellation. "What are you doing out here?" he asked her. She looked at him briefly, then averted her gaze, unable to see his face when she'd just been thinking of Zan. It felt wrong somehow.

"Trying to remember," she told him, indicating to the sky. She decided not to tell him her thoughts about Rath; the guy was having a tough enough time right now without people bugging him about how he was acting. He wasn't a threat anyway.

"Any luck?"

She shrugged. "Nothing new," she admitted. "Nothing Zan and I didn't learn years ago. I still can't remember how to use the Granolith, or exactly what happened up there."

"Me neither," he said. Ava shivered a bit in the night's air and he reached out to rub her arms. She warmed up immediately, though his hands really generated very little heat in their motion.

"Have you tried though?" she asked with a teasing grin. "Really?"

"Not really," he admitted. "Not since Tess."

"Why not?" she asked. "Of all of the times to remember, now would be great. We could use all of the help that we can get."

"Tess was the only person that was ever really able to help me remember," Max sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I get flashes sometimes, but I don't remember things the way I did with her."

Ava nodded, because she understood that. She'd remembered things with Zan, glimpses of their wedding, meeting at a ball, playing with her younger sister. But she'd only ever got flashes from other things, no true memories. "Maybe we were just designed that way," she wondered aloud. "Everything just seems to work best when we're together."

He knew what she meant; they were all stronger, their powers all farther reaching, when they were together. The Royal Four. But as he looked into her eyes and nodded, she knew that he was saying more than just agreeing with her. It made her shiver again, but in a very different way than the cold air.

"What are you doing out here?" Ava asked after a long, slightly uncomfortable silence. A pause.

"I don't know," his answer was honest but filled with so much unsaid that it made her heart ache a bit. For him, for Zan, for herself, for Tess...for Liz. Their last night before their big battle and Ava knew that he should be inside with his wife. Instead he was out here with her...his other wife.

She couldn't bring herself to ask about Liz, or about what he thought about going to Antar. It was a possibility, they knew that. Nicholas said there was a ride coming, and they were still unsure if they'd be on it.

Zan had been the headstrong and silent type, and Ava knew exactly to deal with him. She figured that Max was very much the same.

So she didn't say anything, and instead she let her hand move over to rest on his forearm, hoping that he would just know that she supported him, no matter what. They were both a constant visual reminder of loved ones that they'd lost, and they both seemed to be drawn to each other despite the pain that it caused. She saw Zan and he saw Tess, but yet underneath it all they knew that there was something deeper there; something underlying and undeniable. They were meant for each other after all.

Max slid his hand over hers and they both stared up at the sky in silence. The memories started to come.

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The ground shook with the force of the explosions outside of the palace walls. Smoke billowed up from behind the stone barriers, looking to all of those inside like waving black pillars.

General Rath marched quickly down the lines of assembled soldiers, peering into their faces contemplatively. He hoped that they didn't see his anxiousness, but knew that they could hardly help but do so. Their King had fallen, and the breaking dawn was about to usher in a new day. Rath feared for the worst.

Khivar's men had breached the palace walls somehow, and he'd taken Zan hostage in the throne room. Ava was dead, her blood spilt by Khivar's military man, Nicholas, because of what she could do. Nicholas had the gift of knowing what was in one's mind, and very few people had been able to challenge his ability. Ava was one of them. So she was eliminated.

Rath was wracked with guilt over it, for he himself had promoted Nicholas to the rank of Captain. He'd been fooled by the sociopathic man, believed him to be a good soldier. And he supposed that Nicholas was a good soldier, he was just on the wrong side.

Khivar on the other hand, Rath had never trusted. He'd never been promoted within Rath's army, and had gained his following based on his political ability. Khivar targeted the weak, and those that struggled under Antar's class system. Zan had been making moves to change the political system on Antar, and he'd been pushing for a quick change too, but when families struggle they have a tendency to latch onto the first person who promises an easy future for them. Khivar preyed on that weakness, and though he never found agreement with the majority of Antarians, he found a following with a large enough sector that he was able to raise a private army.

Rath tried to push those thoughts out of his head though, because he had bigger concerns at that moment. Khivar had Zan and a dozen of his men with him in the throne room. Rath had ordered the roads into the palace destroyed, to keep the rioters out of the grounds. The last thing he needed was to see his troops divided by having to deal with rioters while they waited to move to rescue Zan. The acrid smell of the smoke filled his nostrils and burned his eyes, but he ignored it.

He'd been trying to deal with Khivar, to play his game so that Zan got out safely. That was the ultimate goal. But he'd gotten no where.

The soldiers saluted in unison and Rath turned around in surprise. Vilandra hurried across the field from the palace, managing to look stunning and statuesque even in the middle of all of the chaos. Despite it all, he wanted to smile at the very sight of her. At least he did, until he saw the look on her face. She was scared, openly so.

Rath hurried to meet her half way, his hand reaching out to touch hers automatically. "What is it?" he asked in concern, his mind going first to their son. "Where's Luca?"

"He is with Myra," Vilandra assured him. "They are at your mother's. Rath the riots are growing out of control. There are reports coming in of damage to the city's infrastructure, hospitals, even the churches."

He signed in frustration. "I can spare some of the men," he concluded resolutely. "Khivar has only a couple of dozen men with him, and we need to protect the city." She nodded and looked like she wanted to say more, but she didn't.

"Okay," she said instead. Rath cupped her cheek with his hand briefly and then returned to relay the order to his men. He could feel her gaze on his back, burning into the back of his neck like a heat lamp.

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The room was dark, the sun having set a while ago, but she didn't care. Liz Parker sat in silence in the middle of the queen sized bed, hugging her bare legs to her chest and staring blankly into the dark nothingness. She was trying to remember how she'd got here. To this point. But it was escaping her.

It was with surprise that she realized that there were drying tear tracks lining her cheeks. She didn't wipe them away though, and they dripped off of her chin, wetting the fabric of her tank top once they landed.

Her husband wasn't there, he was outside somewhere, taking stock of his followers most likely. She was okay with that though, if she was honest. Things had been weird between them lately; they had been fighting a lot, and sometimes it was a challenge just to find something nice to say to each other, something good to talk about.

It felt like her world was collapsing around her. Or maybe it was just rushing forward, and no matter how fast she ran, she just couldn't keep up. And then there was Antar...

Rath's words earlier that morning had stung her, because she knew that he was right. The trip to Antar was inevitable, and she knew that her powers were now gone. Antar wasn't an option for her...and honestly, she didn't want to go. The idea of a foreign place, full of Nasedos and Khivars and Nicholases, scared her. She had no powers, and a husband that sometimes forgot her existence...how could she survive there?

She'd spent a lot of time in the last few days thinking about Kyle and Maria. What would have been different if she'd left with them? If she'd stayed with Kyle all of those years ago? Would they all be running? Would Alex still be here? Would she have ran away with Sean DeLuca? That had never sounded that appealing before, because she was so over the moon for Max. She'd given a lot to be with him, but it was starting to feel like too much. Like maybe the best thing for both of them-for all of them even-would be for her to go.

Liz Parker wanted her life back. Her old life. She loved her husband, she always would, but she wanted to do the things that she's missed out on. She wanted to go to school, become a scientist. She wanted to see her family again.

The clock on the wall ticked on softly, changing over into a new day. Liz wiped the tear tracks away now and steeled her shoulders, he mind made up. She knew what she had to do now. She just willed herself to be strong enough to go through with it.

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The sun shone down harsh and bright, glistening off of her golden locks and her shining gown, and warming her skin. It should have burned, but it didn't...

A familiar, comforting hand came down, stroking the silky strands and cupping her cheek, angling her face up to his. She looked into his eyes and smiled, as she always did, rising to meet him. His hand stayed on her face, lovingly, as it always was.

When her lips met his she saw the sky above them change, the sun fading into the starlit sky that seemed to move rapidly overhead. He didn't notice, too wrapped up in the woman he was with. As he usually was. She was a show stopper, and he'd never known love or happiness before as he did with her.

He threaded his fingers through her hair and deepened their kiss, the taste of her, and the sweet smell of her skin invading his senses, his nerve endings sparking to life.

When they reluctantly separated he slid his hand down to her waist, frowning in confusion at the fuzzy fabric there. They both looked down...they were both suddenly wearing their pajamas.

He ignored it, because the sun raised up again in the sky, the process taking just seconds. The ground around them was suddenly covered in Antarian symbols. Isabel turned to her right, her fingers entwined with his, and pointed out a symbol by their feet. War...he knew that it meant war.

"Issy?"

She looked confused too. Then her eyes landed on something over his shoulder and her mouth opened in wonder. "Brody?"

Michael spun around then, sharing her surprise at seeing their old friend there.

"Vilandra," Brody greeted warmly. "General."

"Larek," Michael realized, both happy to see him and worried.

"I'm sorry to have to reach you this way," he told them with a regretful smile. "It is taking a while to generate enough power to send a message through my emissary on Earth."

"How can you reach us this way?" Isabel asked him.

"I have abilities similar to yours," he smiled again, his kind words and Brody's familiar face giving him a comforting presence. "It's important that I tell you, I got your message when this human body attempted to contact me. And I've sent you help in your fight against Khivar."

"You have?" Isabel looked so relieved that Michael had to smile. He squeezed her hand tighter.

"There are many people in our star system waiting for your return, and not just those on Antar," he explained. "Khivar has a ship coming, they will arrive in two days at the meet point in Nevada. Some of my most trusted men will be on board; they've been working undercover for Khivar's Army, in Nicholas's absence. You'll need to meet them in Nevada once they arrive. They'll be your ride home."

"Home?" Isabel repeated warily.

"Back to Antar," he clarified. They stared at each other awkwardly now, none of them quite sure what else to say. "You're going to need to hold off Nicholas and his men," Larek told them with a heavy sigh.

"We're not strong enough yet," Michael told him honestly. He hadn't wanted to admit the fact out loud, but he knew that it would be stupid to not tell Larek now, when the had the chance for help. "There's only the five of us left with any powers."

"The Royal Four has powers beyond those that any Skin possesses," Larek assured them.

"We still haven't learned how to use all of our powers," Isabel told him. "We don't remember what we can do."

"Go to the Granolith," Larek said. "It is capable of incredible healing, that is why it is worshiped. The Granolith can help you to remember; can help you to control your power."

Larek's image flickered then, as if he were a hologram that was fading away. "I have to go," he explained. "I still need to speak with your brother. Be safe Princess, and you General. I know that we will see each other again soon, when you are home."

He disappeared then, leaving them standing there on the cliffs, the wind rustling their pajamas and her hair.

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The granolith stood tall and looming, just as it had the last time they'd laid eyes on it. The day that Tess caught her ride home. Isabel felt dwarfed by its presence, as she had always been before. For something capable of such healing it was also amazingly intimidating. People started wars, burned cities and murdered children to get their hands on that relic...and they didn't even know what it could do.

"How many days has it been?" she found herself asking, knowing the question wasn't really appropriate, but finding that she had no other words.

Michael answered her softly, his eyes trained on the granolith as well. "Eight hundred and fifty-two."

Eight hundred and fifty-two days since they'd left, since they'd seen their families, since they'd all been together. It felt like a lifetime, and yet, staring up at that ageless artifact, she knew that it was nothing in the grand scheme of things. Nothing even in the course of her own life. It was humbling, to say the least.

Rath was staring at the thing in reverence, as if he was fighting the urge to kneel before it. Isabel had the strangest feeling that he knew more about it than he was letting on.

Max reached forward and pressed a hand to the slick black surface. "Be careful," Liz warned him, but made no move to stop him. Isabel didn't blame her. The girl wanted out, it was obvious to all of them, and Isabel knew that she was anxious to see something, anything, happen.

Nothing did though. The granolith didn't activate, or glow, or sparkle, or anything. It just stood there, onyx coloured and almost grotesquely massive; oppressive yet still inspirational.

"You're forgetting the on button," Rath told them, a hint of his old snark peeping through. He held up a black crystal, a gift from Brody (well, actually, from Larek), to remind them. Max rolled his eyes but stepped aside. Rath waved a hand over a spot on the base of the granolith, and inserted the crystal into the hand-print that appeared there. The granolith switched on...or at least, as close as it could come to switching on. The glowing that they'd seen years before filled the chamber again, the energy pouring forth and filling the room with the steady hum of high-powered electricity.

"Last time it took a day to generate enough power," Max reminded them. "I don't know if we have that long."

"We don't need that long," Rath shook his head, watching the relic with a sad smile. "We just need it to heal."

"Remind me again what we're healing here?" Valenti asked, looking mightily impressed with the thing. Isabel had to remind herself that he'd never seen the granolith before.

"Them," Rath waved his hand towards Max, Isabel, Ava and Michael. "Their powers have been diluted from being on Earth for so long. The granolith will help to restore them."

"Just them?" Valenti questioned. "What about you?"

"I remember enough," Rath replied vaguely, prompting frowns of confusion from the others. "It's beautiful...both destroyer and healer of worlds."

"That's beautiful?" Liz asked incredulously.

Rath nodded but otherwise ignored her comment. Isabel sort of understood him though. There was something tragically beautiful about the unknown power that it possessed.

"How long should it take then?" Max asked him.

"Not too much longer," Rath assured them. "I can already feel the waves coming off it stronger. Larek's crystal packed quite a punch."

"So we wait then?" Isabel asked him. For her he tore his eyes away from the granolith and spared her a small smile.

"We wait."

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"Sheriff?" Liz Parker approached the older man cautiously. They had stepped into the pod chamber, away from the others who stood with the granolith waiting. Valenti looked at her, concern for them all crinkling the lines around his eyes. She knew that he'd aged a decade in the last couple of years. She didn't blame him though, it was going around.

"Liz?"

"I-I need you help Sheriff," she told him shakily. Valenti looked concerned but nodded quickly.

"Of course, anything."

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"It's ready," Rath's voice cut through the fog in Michael's brain and shook him to attention. All thoughts of running, of fighting, of Lonnie, of Isabel, of Antar left him and he looked up to the granolith. It was time to change things. It was time to give them the advantage in this game.

The hybrids formed a circle around the granolith wordlessly, Rath standing back a bit and Liz and Valenti pressing themselves against the cavern walls, as far away from the relic as they could get. Michael could feel the energy in the room, humming like high-voltage electricity. It made his skin break out in goosebumps, the hair on his arms standing on end.

Max, Ava, Michael and Isabel reached out and pressed a hand to the slick, shining surface. Michael immediately felt an energy pouring through him, starting in his hand and working its way throughout his body. He vaguely heard Liz gasp behind him, and he knew that it was because of the light. The bright, blinding light that encompassed the four of them, obscuring their vision. He didn't need to see anyway, because his mind was racing, filling with new information, remembering things he had long forgotten. Things from his life on Earth, when he was a child, and things from before.

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A dozen soldiers followed Nicholas as he climbed out of the SUV, the bright sun reflecting off of the dark tinted windows. He looked around at the dunes and cliffs in front of them. He could feel the fight that was coming.

Nicholas didn't fear a fight, he relished it. He'd been born to be a soldier, he'd always known that, and war was a part of life for him. He welcomed the conflict, because more than anything now, Nicholas wanted to go home. He had been away from Antar for sixty long years now, and he would do anything now to get back there.

His men paused behind him, following his gaze up to a particular rock formation. This was it, they all knew it. They couldn't see the Granolith, or the Royal Four, but they were being drawn in. The relics energy was pulsating, throbbing rhythmic waves out over the sand, through their skins. They advanced automatically, their bodies unconsciously trying to move closer to the source of that power, towards the thing that an entire star system had been searching for.

There was an obvious path up the cliff that they found easily, however they were stopped by an impenetrable wall of rock, and no visible door. Nicholas growled in frustration, knowing that he couldn't open the door. This was why he'd hoped that Lonnie would be on their side...

"We'll wait," he told his men. "They have to come out eventually, and when we do we'll end this and get off of this damn rock."

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Isabel Evans stared down at her hand pensively, watching her fingertips light up in succession as she flickered them. She smiled and sent an arc of energy from her thumb to her pinkie finger. Her gaze flicked up and met Liz's wide-eyed stare; Liz averted her eyes quickly. Isabel smirked.

Michael was watching her silently, his expression even more unreadable than usual. His gaze was heavy, and probing, and oddly...proud? She understood though, because she felt different. She was still undeniably Isabel, but now she remembered more. She remembered Vilandra.

Most importantly, she remembered what had happened on Antar.

All she wanted was to talk to him, to touch him. She felt herself reach out, her hand closing on his forearm silently and her gaze turning up to his. They had an entire conversation without speaking.

Michael ran a finger down the side of her face softly, letting it come to rest on the moonstone necklace that lay nestled against her collarbone. The flash hit her strong, its intensity magnified by their newly discovered powers. Her eyes closed and her breathing grew heavier, mixing with his. His touch burned her skin like a heat lamp, scorching wonderfully. She moaned and moved into his touch, pressing her palm against his chest and stepping closer to him still. He moaned and ran a hand down her arm, his fingertips leaving a trail of silver, making her skin glow where his fingers pressed.

When the flash ended Isabel became suddenly aware of Liz, Jim and Rath watching them. Liz and Jim were both wide-eyed, and Rath just smirked forlornly. Isabel stepped away from Michael, averting her eyes awkwardly. He cleared his throat, obviously embarrassed, and gave her hand a soft squeeze before turning to Max.

Her brother had that look, the one she'd only seen when they found themselves in great peril. But this time it was different: Isabel knew that it wasn't just Max staring back at her now. Zan was there now too, and he was pissed.

"We've lost enough time," Max declared. "Nicholas and his men are--"

"Here," Ava interrupted him, her eyes closed in concentration. "They're here. I can feel him, waiting outside."

"Oh God," Liz's voice shook. Jim lay a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"They know we're here," Rath said, confirming what they were all fearing. "He wouldn't have found it otherwise. As soon as we activated it they were able to follow the signal."

"I can get us out of here without them seeing it," Ava told them.

Max considered that. "Okay, everyone knows the plan right?" They nodded and Max sighed. "All right Ava," he put a hand on her shoulder. "It's your turn."

Ava took a deep breath and let her eyes glaze over; Isabel knew that she was setting up the mind warp. In less than a minute she turned to the rest of the group. "It's done, lets go."

Rath led the way to the door, checked to make sure that the others were following, and then waved a hand to open it. He stepped out into the bright sunlight and disappeared around the corner, Max, Ava, Liz and Jim hot on his heels. Isabel made to follow them, but Michael reached out and grabbed her hand.

"Be smart," his eyes pleaded with hers and his voice was low and husky. "Be careful." Isabel nodded and he pressed a quick kiss to her lips--too quick. Then they followed the others out, closing the door behind them and sealing the relic away from the world.

TBC...