Chapter Ten: Blood Stained Memories

March 28th, 1999

Ava and Zan were betrothed. They seem to like each other, but it is also about political alliance, trying to settle the unrest that certain factions of the Darrgeon government are instigating against the Antarians. The peace visit is over and the three have returned to Antar along with Avallin and her brother Larek, who as crown prince will represent Darrgeos in finalizing the betrothal arrangements. Ava and Lonnie have become great friends, but there seems to be some tension between Ava and Rath, I don't know why, the dreams have shown me nothing that would explain it.

Liz finished detailing the latest dream in the new journal she had purchased for just that purpose, and then capped her pen, tapping it against her lips in thought. The dreams so far had been in sequence, but they jumped around in time.

It wasn't like they had date stamps or anything, but she could tell that some were weeks or months after others, and some would show glimpses of the same day. They had also become more frequent, she had had one or more every night for the past two weeks. But there were still gaps, missing pieces of information that she knew were key.

Ever since they had discovered that Tess was in the dreams, or some incarnation of her, she had a burning need to analyze every detail. If she was not afraid of someone finding her notes, she would have worked up some charts and graphs, an urge her sister teased her about in her occasional attempts to lighten their frequently gloomy mood.

She could not help but stress over what the dreams meant, and why she was having them. They had known that Tess wasn't human for years,al though it hadn't meant much to them other than something to be hidden, so what had triggered the visions? Was it the same energy they had felt when they returned to Roswell? Why was knowing the past important, and how was it going to affect their present, or their future?

Her schoolwork was starting to be affected by her lack of sleep, and it was only a matter of time before someone noticed or commented on the obvious strain both of them were under. They needed answers and they needed them soon, or she just might go crazy and Tess would not be far behind.

April 4th, 1999

The door was shaking from the force of the blows against it and Avallin stood at the far back of the bathing room, hands empty of weapons but balled into fists, and cold fire blazing from her dark almond eyes. She had been the only one not in the main room, but she had heard the screams and locked herself in, knowing that it was futile, but not wanting to make her death easy on them.

The door finally broke and soldiers poured through; the first three burst into flames and died screaming on the stone floor. The two after that managed to get shots off and bloodied holes appeared in her gown as she slid down the wall. Her eyes never closed; even after her last breath escaped from her lungs, instead they burned into Liz's as the flames burned the room to ash.

Only the small hand over her mouth stopped her from screaming as she bolted awake, sweat matting her hair to her skull as she panted, her mind still clawing its way out of the dream. The images had been so vivid; so violent and intense, that part of her could not believe that they had only been a dream and not something she had actually witnessed.

Tess was staring down at her with concerned blue eyes and she removed her hand when it became clear that Liz was not going to scream and wake up their father. "What was it this time?"

Liz hesitated for a moment, her heart clenching with pain and her voice breaking over the words she finally spoke, "I saw you die."

Tess's eyes widened as she rocked back, her hand rising to her throat as her knees buckled and she collapsed suddenly onto the bed. She shakily tried for a smile, "I guess it wasn't peaceful?"

Liz shook her head wordlessly as she climbed over to sit by her, wrapping her arms around her sister to reassure herself that she was real, that it had just been a dream, and that even if it had actually happened, she was alive now and it was going to be okay.

'I don't think I want to see what you saw this time,' Tess said in their silent way, trembling slightly in her sister's embrace. Usually Liz shared the visions so that they could both see everything, and so that she could look for things Liz might miss, gain new perspective. But her own death? She didn't know if she could handle that.

'You don't have to,' Liz replied, hugging her tighter. 'I don't want you to.'

April 10th, 1999

They were having their semi-weekly dinner with their father, an attempt they had started to try and rebuild their relationship when they returned from Florida.

Usually they just discussed school and the restaurant, but that night he had brought up their mother, saying that they should not be afraid to talk about her, or remember the good times. They did not disagree, but they had been barely holding it together since Liz's most recent dream, and although she had not had one since, in fact had been experiencing a strange lull, they lived in fear of what would come next. Trying to process their grief on top of that, it was too much right then.

"We do remember her Dad, we don't want to forget her, ever," Tess stated gently, "But it…it's hard to talk about her."

Liz nodded her agreement and their father looked a little lost, obviously unsure where to go from there, and they both knew he was trying so hard to be there for them after being apart for so long.

They exchanged a long glance and then Liz reached across the table and took his hand, "How about next weekend we lock the doors and watch old home movies and go through the photo albums?"

He squeezed her hand and smiled, a spark of the fun loving man they remembered appearing in his eyes, "I'll bring the tissues; you guys bring the ice cream."

"It's a date," Tess said softly as she took his other hand, and all three smiled at each other, eyes glittering with tears both happy and sad.

Figuring out the dreams was important, but so was their family, and neither of the girls would accept losing the parent they had already lost once. Especially given their fears over what the future might bring.

April 16th, 1999

"Mrs. Hardy didn't tell me you needed tutoring Kyle," Liz stated quizzically as she looked at the second young man who had walked into the Biology classroom after school. She had been tutoring Brad all semester, but Kyle Valenti, though no academic, was doing well enough on his own as far as she knew.

"Oh she didn't assign me to you," he said with a charming smile as he leaned against the lab table next to her. "But I wanted to brush up before the test next week and Brad here told me how helpful you were,"

Liz eyed him doubtfully, not trusting that his motives were that simple, but he was nice enough and although Maria didn't like to admit it, he was most likely going to be practically family soon. "Well have a seat then, Brad is working on the experiment we did in class but once I get him set up, I can help you if you don't mind waiting."

"I definitely don't mind waiting for you, Liz," he replied with a wink, and much to her surprise, Liz found herself blushing as she turned to walk over to Brad. What was that about? She did not have time for flirting and even if she did, did she really want to flirt with Kyle?

As she helped Brad set up the beakers and corrected his measurements, she stole the occasional glance at the other boy in the room, wondering if she had lost her mind when the thought that he really was not that bad looking crossed her mind.

She had an emotionally draining weekend ahead, and mysterious dreams about her sister's past life and death as an alien princess to contend with, Kyle Valenti was just going to have to find someone else to charm. And neither Tess nor Maria could ever learn of his visit, or her thoughts that maybe she had enjoyed it, ever.