Title: Providence

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: So I've decided to clear something up. I know, in the series, that Rath and Vilandra are betrothed, not married. At the end of the last chapter, when Vilandra knows that siding with Khivar is a betrayal of her husband, I don't actually mean that she and Rath are married. They are still only betrothed at this point, but she is thinking about the future. She hasn't completely sided with Khivar yet, but if she does in the future after she is married, it will be a betrayal of her husband.

Is that clearer?

Also, sorry it took me so long to update. I feel kind of stupid about it, because I've actually had this chapter written for about a week, and just completely forgot about it. But better late than never, right?

Chapter Ten: Forgiven, Not Forgotten

They say time heals all wounds.

That is, of course, not true. There are some things that simply can't be healed with time. Some wounds that stay around, causing their bearer pain long after the skin has regrown and the blood has been replenished.

They tell you to forgive and forget.

How do you forget? When everything and everyone you love has been taken away from you, how do you forget? Do you think the Sudanese killed in Darfur, the Jews who lost everything in the Holocaust, the Tutsis of Rwanda who were brutally murdered by the Hutu extremists, the Native Americans killed in the name of Manifest Destiny, the Africans kidnapped from their homeland and sold as slaves, do you think they've forgotten?

You don't forget.

You forgive, if you can, and you move on with your life, if you can.

But you never forget.

When he first saw her, he thought she was the most perfect creature he had ever seen. The midwife assured him that all parents felt that way about their children, but he shook his head and told her it was different. Parents may all think that their children are perfect, but his daughter really was perfect.

She opened her eyes, and those beautiful hazel eyes, miniature replicas of her mother's, gazed up at him in wonder. He held her in his arms and felt her weight against his chest. Her tiny hand closed around his thumb, squeezing tightly. Her grip was strong, she was healthy.

She was his life. The loss of her mother was heartbreaking, and he would have given up then and there, but for the little child. He was all she had now, and she refused to leave her.

She grew, and he watched her every moment. He watched her through the first temper tantrums and tears, watched as she became a teenager and took an interest in boys, watched as she became a young adult and took an interest in life.

She was young, so young, when it happened.

There were many things he could have forgiven for. He did not believe himself a vengeful person, he always gave second chances.

But not now, not for this.

After she was gone, he could think of one thing, and one thing only, and that was to seek revenge.

And that began the long years that the Seeker spent hunting down the hybrid Queen.

Tess backed away from the man in front of her, and swallowed the fear that filled her chest. She was alone on this side street. The busy street behind her was too far away, there would be no one to hear her scream. Although, that could be a good thing, she reasoned, since there would be no one to see her use her powers.

Would there?

She chanced a quick glance at the houses around her, but they seemed empty.

"Who are you?" she demanded, her voice tense and authoritative.

"Don't you remember?" the man asked, his low voice filled with hatred. She flinched, the look in those eyes was so raw, so pained… "Oh, don't tell me you don't even know who I am?" His tone was mocking as he advanced on her. "Did my life, her life, mean so little to you that you don't even recognize my face?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tess replied, confused.

The man shrugged and said, "Your problem, not mine, Ava."

Tess shuddered as she inwardly marveled at the amount of disgust he had managed to impart as he uttered her past name. "I don't…" she began, inching backwards, but the other man started speaking before she could finish the thought.

"I screamed… I begged you not to and you…" he was at a sudden loss for words, so filled with fury that he could not form a coherent sentence. "How did someone like you ever become a Queen? What could Zan have seen in you?" he spat, his face twisted with rage.

Tess bit her lip to keep from screaming in frustration at the situation. "I don't remember anything of my past life," she said, silently praying that he would believe her. "I don't remember anything about Ava, or what she did."

The Seeker shook his head in disgust and sneered, "You think you lies will save you, little Queen?"

"They aren't lies," Tess replied stubbornly. "I don't remember." She knew it was reckless to stand here and argue with the man who wanted to kill her, but if she was going to die soon, she wanted to make sure that the world knew that she didn't remember what her crime was.

The man stared at her, seeming to debate whether or not she was telling the truth. Then he sighed and said softly, "But I remember. I've never been able to forget."

"I died," Tess whispered, concentrating on pulling her powers to the surface, hoping to distract him with her words. "Whatever it is I did… whatever it is Ava did, she died. Isn't that enough?" She felt energy pulse in the palm of her hand, knew she could attack him now if she needed to. But she didn't know anything about this man, or what powers he had, and she knew the only way she was going to survive this encounter was if she came up with a plan.

And quickly.

"Enough?" the man laughed bitterly. "How could it be enough? You died, yes, but so did she. Why should you get another chance at life while she lies cold in her grave?"

Tess raised her hand, and the other man went flying backwards. But he seemed to slow in mid air, and landed easily on his feet. Raising his own hand, he threw it forward, and Tess felt something hit her, knocking the wind out of her and forcing her to her knees. She struggled to fight off the strange force, but it pressed down on her, and she found she could barely breathe under the weight.

He was strong.

Tess closed her eyes and summoned all her strength, fighting off the pressure on her shoulders. It eased for a moment, and she struggled to her feet, turning to face her attacker.

"You are weak," the man marveled as he walked towards her. "Ava would have thrown me across the street and killed me already."

"I'm not Ava," Tess struggled to say, the words choking in her throat as she fought to stay upright. He was barely moving, barely straining at all, and yet he still overpowered her easily. How?

"Is that it?" the man asked harshly, standing only inches in front of her, staring down at her petite form in disdaim. "Is this pathetic attempt at fighting all you've got?"

"No," a voice said, and both Tess and the other man turned to look at the person who suddenly appeared as though out of thin air. "She's got me," he snarled, and punched the strange alien across the face.

Surprised, the man stumbled backwards, and the force weighing down on Tess was instantly lifted. She slammed both fists forward, physically hitting him in the chest. He fell to the ground, momentarily stunned.

Then Tess did the only thing she could think of.

She gabbed her savior's hand, turned, and ran.

They made it out to the main street and ran an extra block, before Tess stopped to breathe. Then she glanced over at Kyle's worried face and said, "That was very, very stupid of you." He was a human, with no powers, attacking an alien, with an incredible amount of power, in an abandoned street. He could have been killed.

Kyle opened his mouth, found he had no idea what to say, and closed it.

Tess ran a hand through her hair and gave him a weak smile. "But thanks."

Kyle nodded. "What… who… what was that?" he asked at last, unsure as to whether or not the attacker should be qualified as a 'who' or a 'what.'

Tess shook her head slowly, her sapphire eyes clouded with worry. "I have no idea," she said quietly.

Kyle didn't know what to say to that, so he simply nodded and placed a hand around her shoulders. "Come on, let's go home," he suggested.

He had lost her.

He was furious.

How could he have let the Queen escape? How could he have let a simple human take him by surprise?

Nicolas had lied to him. They had all lied to him, played him for the fool. If they had given him the location of the real Queen, instead of the dupe, he would not have gone to New York. He would have reached Roswell, reached the true Ava earlier. And perhaps he would have been able to complete his revenge by now.

But now his quarry had escaped before he had a chance to finish his task. Would he ever get another opportunity? The Queen would certainly alert the others to his presence soon enough.

The only way he would get another chance was if he could stir things up a little, create enough chaos that the Royal Four had too much to deal with to actively hunt him out.

He had two enemies now, Khivar and the Queen. One had escaped him, but the other would not be as lucky. He could not hurt Khivar, he knew that, but perhaps he could ruin the skin King's plans.

He thought savagely that Khivar would find out what it felt like to be played, and let the skin King see how much he liked lies and manipulations then.

He had two enemies now, and at least one of them would be dealt with tonight.

Alex gathered up the last of his scattered textbooks and walked over to the shelf next to his desk. As he returned them to their rightful place, his mind went back to his earlier conversation with Tess when she had asked him to translate the Destiny Book. He hoped he had convinced her to let him do it. It was too good an opportunity to pass up.

She'll figure it out. Isabel's not stupid.

He groaned. That annoying presence that still lingered underneath this body's skin was getting to be a nuisance. He wished he could silent, if only temporarily.

But, unfortunately, he knew he could not.

You think she can't tell the difference between you and me?

If this was a normal possession, like he knew Larek did to Brody, then the voice would be gone. The inhabitant of this pathetic body would not trouble him, rather it would be completely unaware of what was going on.

But this was not a normal possession. In a normal possession, he would not be able to access said person's memories, and without those memories he would never be able to blend in.

You aren't blending in. They'll notice. They'll all notice.

He ran a hand through his hair and turned away from the bookshelf. He knew how to shut the voice up, if only momentarily. He knew who this person was and what they cherished, and he knew the right words to say to achieve merciful silence.

"You're right, of course," he said to the empty room, knowing the human conscious could hear him. "Isabel has noticed. Only she likes you better now, now that you are really me."

A gloomy silence was his only answer.

He gave a satisfied smile and walked from the room, shutting the door behind him. In the hallway, he listened to the sounds of footsteps from the floor below. Deciding it was best to avoid any conversations with anyone else at the moment, he moved silently down the stairs and slipped out the front door before he was seen. Then he started walking briskly towards the Crashdown, where he knew his… no, the human's… friends would be hanging out.

It was time to see if he could procure the Destiny Book.

Maria leaned back against the front counter and stared over at the far booth. Michael and Max were sitting there, discussing something in quiet undertones. Isabel was sitting across from them, looking through the front windows, clearly bored, clearly waiting for someone else.

Was it just Maria's imagination or did Michael look over at Isabel more frequently than was normal?

"Hey," Liz said softly, appearing next to Maria. "Kind of a slow day."

Maria nodded, looking around the almost empty diner. It was a slow day, which meant that she had no one to serve. Only the pod squad was here, and at any other point during the year, she would have chosen this opportunity to walk over to Michael and see what he was doing.

But something held her back.

"He loves you," Liz whispered, and Maria shook her head, always amazed at Liz's ability to read her mind.

But she didn't answer the comment. She didn't know what to say to that. She thought Michael loved her, but was he in love with her?

The front door swung open, the bells jangling in the silence, and Alex entered. He glanced around once, gave Liz and Maria a brief smile, then walked over to Isabel. She seemed happy to see him, standing up and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Maria frowned. Was it just her imagination, or did Michael narrow his eyes at Isabel's display of affection?

Maria turned away and walked into the back room, not wanting to watch what was happening. Something in her stomach was twisting sharply at the scene, as though she had already resigned herself to losing Michael.

She told herself she was being paranoid. She always seemed to jump to the wrong conclusions with him, and this was probably just another case of that. But she couldn't quite dismiss the fear.

Liz watched her best friend disappear through the back door and sighed. She wanted to comfort Maria because she knew exactly what the other girl was going through. But just as she was about to leave, the front door swung open again, and a man entered.

Liz stopped short, her breath catching in her throat. It was the same man that she had seen before, the one that had been acting strangely, the one that Alex had almost seemed to know.

She stood, rooted to the spot.

Max's phone rang, and he answered it. He said something quietly, under his breath, and his face paled as he heard the response. Liz, knowing the look on her boyfriend's face meant that something was very wrong, hurried over to the booth. As she neared them, Max turned to the others and said in a low tone, "Tess was just attacked by another Czechoslovakian."

The strange man turned to look over at the group. His eyes settled briefly on Max as the alien King spoke his frantic words, and then three things happened at once.

The strange man raised a brightly glowing hand and pointed it at Isabel.

Michael and Max both jumped to their feet, crying out a warning to the hybrid Princess.

And Alex threw himself forward, knocking Isabel off of her feet and out of the way of the energy blast emitting from the stranger's hand, crying out, "Vilandra, look out!"

Time stood still.

Isabel twisted from her position on the floor, her eyes widening as she looked into Alex's suddenly inhuman eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but no sound came out. Michael and Max hesitated, clearly unsure of what to do. Liz felt a strange sensation bubbling up within her, a mix between the vindication of knowing she was right, and the overpowering fear for Alex's, the actual Alex's, safety.

"Alex…?" Isabel could barely form the name, and it came out as only a whisper.

Alex shoved himself to his feet, and turned to look at Michael and Max, who had now come out of their stupor long enough to realize the person in front of them was a threat. Then Alex chanced a look down at Isabel, and saw horror in her eyes. He wondered if she knew the truth.

Deep inside him, that annoying voice spoke up again, smug and satisfied.

Well, they'll certainly notice now…

By the time anyone remembered about the strange man who had attacked, he had already disappeared.

She met him quite by chance. She had heard him speak a few times before, but always in disguise, and always at a distance. She would hang at the back of the crowd, knowing she was safest there. Once he was done with his speech, he would smile at them, and she thought he was smiling straight at her.

He had that talent, the ability to make each and every person in the crowd think he was speaking directly to him, and no one else.

It was after one such talk when she met him. It was before he was really well known, while his rallies were attended mostly by locals, while he was still able to move about safely without having to worry about the Royal Guards. She was walking away from the meeting, and he happened to be walking in the same direction. She ran into him, quite literally, having not paid any attention to where she was going. He caught her easily, and steadied her, and she thanked him, blushing a deep red.

He asked her who she was, and she lied, so as not to reveal her true identity. They spoke for what seemed like only a few moments, but ended up being hours, and she was well and truly trapped by her love for him.

And, strangely, even without knowing who she was, he loved her back.

They met in secret, time and again, whenever he was near the Royal Palace. For a year, they kept up their affair, as she prepared to marry another man, and he prepared to take over a planet.

And then he learned who she truly was.

And he was furious. She had lied to him, played him for a fool. Here he was, trying to overthrow her brother, and all the while she was spying on him, probably caring reports back to the King and the Court.

She protested his accusation, she had never told her brother or her betrothed, she swore to this over and over. She begged him to believe her, but he turned and walked away. He could not believe her, not after all the lies, and he could not forgive her either.

So they separated, Khivar and Vilandra, each going their own way, each wanting to forget the other and let their broken hearts mend.

They tried. They moved on, Vilandra to her beloved Rath, Khivar to his campaign and his war. They left each other behind, and they forgot their love.

Until fate stepped in, and reminded them that some things are never truly forgotten.

Holding on to anger and bitterness, hatred and betrayal, only causes you to suffer in the end. You must forgive if you can, because it is the only way to move on with your life.

But forgiving is not the same as forgetting.

Rome attacked Carthage, burned the city to the ground, and salted the earth so that nothing could grow there. The Carthaginians fumed at their loss, their fate.

Time passed, and the anger lessened.

More time passed, and the anger was all but forgotten. And the war became a history lesson in a textbook, a thing of the past that no one really recalled enough to grieve over.

But the salted earth remembered, and no plants grew from its soil.

There are some things that cannot be forgotten, cannot be dismissed, cannot be disregarded, cannot be overlooked.

Once they happen, the line has been crossed, and try and you might, you can't ever go back.

Author's note: So we finally start to learn a little about the Seeker and why he seeks revenge. But I want to tell you all now, for anyone who doesn't like that Ava is responsible for whatever happened to the Seeker's daughter, not everything is as it seems (i.e. neither Tess nor Ava is evil).