A/N: My Roswell muse has not died, my friends, just been dormant for a while, but I swear I will finish this story.

Also, if you need other good news, google Roswell Reboot and bask in the news articles.

~x~

Chapter Twenty Four ~ What Is And What Should Never Be

And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand—
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep
While I weep—while I weep!
- A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allen Poe

Michael hadn't said anything else about the possibility of returning to Antar since they'd left the Granilith cave. She hadn't asked, mostly because she wasn't sure what she wanted to hear. From him or any of the others. It was still hard to believe that Kivar was dead, that peace was even an option. The idea of people she cared about, people she loved, travelling to another planet, well that had so many triggers attached to it that she was refusing to even think about it.

Did she want Michael to stay? Did she want him to stay for her? What if they didn't last, what if the connection they'd forged in the past months couldn't survive in a world that wasn't under the threat of war? If he stayed, if he gave up a chance to see the world he'd been searching for his entire life, and they fell apart or he regretted it, she would never forgive herself.

"Stop thinking so hard, we're supposed to be celebrating," Kyle said, invading her corner of the living room as he flung an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, the lightness of his tone contrasting with the darkness in his blue eyes.

"You know me, this brain never shuts up," she replied with an equally light voice, nudging him with her hip. "How's Isabel?"

"She's Isabel, worried but strong and thinking about her family instead of herself."

Liz smiled. "Sounds like someone else I know." He shrugged, lips quirking slightly, and her smile softened. "Have you told your dad?"

Kyle shook his head. "Not sure what to tell him, honestly. Is this good news? Because Canaich is the only one who looks happy, and I don't know if that's because she's missing something or we've all forgotten how to relax."

Liz chuckled, a sharp sound. "I think we're all missing something, but that might be because I've become a paranoid, crazy person this year, so…"

"You're in good company," Kyle told her solemnly, a faint twinkle lighting up his eyes as they shared a bittersweet smile tainted with a thousand memories of happier times. Something vibrated between them and Liz jumped.

"Is that your phone, or have your alien powers taken a new and interesting twist?"

Kyle shook his head at her with a mock frown of disapproval as he shifted just far enough away from her to pull his phone out of his pocket. He frowned at the mini-screen before flipping it open and holding it to his ear. "Dad, what's up?"

Liz's Granilith enhanced senses heard the answer at the same time he did and her body started to shake. Maria is missing; there is blood, a lot of blood. Kyle's eyes met hers, pupils blown with shock, and then she was gone, bending time and space until she was standing beside the sheriff in Maria's living room, standing on carpet tacky with blood and breathing in the taint of alien energy.

Not so paranoid after all and she had never hated herself more for not listening to her instincts, for letting Maria push her away. For forgetting that just because someone walked away from the alien abyss, that didn't mean it was going to let them go without a fight.

The Sheriff stared at her, eyes a little wide, but he shook it off fairly quickly and answered the question she didn't have the voice to ask. "The neighbors reported screams, by the time I got here she was gone. Amy-" his voice broke slightly before he managed to inject professional steel into it again. "Amy's out of town, I left her a voicemail. No one saw anything, and we have no idea what kind of vehicle they're using, if they're using one." His lips firmed into a straight line, like he was expecting her to argue with his next statement. "A description of Maria has been released to the media and every law enforcement agency in the state. If anyone sees anything, I'll get a call."

Before Liz could decide how she felt about that—relief, because she would take any help they could get to find Maria, or anger at the thought of innocents in danger, or worse, the FBI on their trail again—Michael stepped out of the air next to her, jaw tight with anger and eyes a little wild with fear as he looked her over before taking in the rest of the room.

'I told you to never do that again,' he growled in her head, the edge of terror beneath the genuine fury keeping her from snapping back something vicious about his own propensity for acting before thinking.

'It's Maria,' was all she said in response, and while his face didn't soften, his hand found hers and squeezed.

"I will keep you informed of things on my end," the Sheriff said, interrupting their silent communication. "And since you've apparently picked up some new tricks, I expect you to keep me informed if and when you learn anything. And I do mean anything."

Liz nodded, an abrupt gesture as she held in her own sharp words, then squeezed Michael's hand and pulled them both away. She took them to the Granilith chamber, but didn't commune with it at first. Instead she buried her face in Michael's chest, her breathing ragged and a headache building behind her burning eyes. Guilt was swamping her, threatening to drag her under with all too detailed visions of what Maria might be going through.

Maria had been the one to walk away, but Liz had let her. Liz could have fought harder to maintain that relationship, could have done more to stay close to her best friend. The girl who'd shared her sippy cup with Liz back in preschool, when that asshole Tommy Hoeig threw hers in the sandbox. The girl who'd punched Pam Troy in the face when she'd called Liz names in fifth grade. The girl who'd been Liz's first kiss when they were thirteen and nervous about doing it wrong. Maria had been there for her through everything and it would never stop hurting that Alex's death and the alien abyss had driven her away, but she knew Maria was hurting just as much—more probably, since she didn't have Michael and Ava and Kyle and all their other friends.

Maria had been all alone when they came for her, when they hurt her, and it made Liz want to scream.

Michael's arms were snug around her and she realized he was surrounding her with his aura, a comforting dark-gold light, filled with his determination and protectiveness and every ounce of feeling he had for her. She blinked back tears, smiling into his shirt. She refused to feel guilty for this, for what she'd found with Michael, and she hoped he felt the same.

Reaching up, she tangled her fingers in the unruly curls at the back of his neck and pulled him down for a kiss, warm and soft and everything she needed.

She pulled away, brushing him with her own aura so he could feel the joy and peace she felt with him, and then reached out for the Granilith.

'We need to find Maria. I think,' she paused, an energy signature that had been present at Maria's house—unnoticed by her at the time thanks to her overwhelming fear—finally registered. 'I think it was Rath, and maybe Lonnie.

Michael stiffened beside her and she could feel the sudden anger surging through his part of the connection. 'Why would they come back now? And why take Maria?'

'Kivar is dead now. He was their ticket out of here, if Lonnie could convince him to take her back. They must have heard, and know the Granilith is here, with us. And Maria's the only one without powers,' she said, not liking the picture her words painted, but pretty sure she was right.

'The only vulnerable one,' Michael said grimly, hints of his own guilt flavoring his thoughts. 'Because we left her alone.'

Liz smiled sadly, unable to combat the self-recrimination in his tone when she felt it herself, and laced their fingers together, squeezing his hand in an attempt to comfort.

'I cannot find them through my power, the clones have no connection to me. But you have met them, have felt their energies even if you did not know it at the time. And I can augment your powers, show you how to look for them,' The Granilith told them.

Liz and Michael exchanged glances, then nodded their assent before closing their eyes to sink deeper into the connection. It was similar to the trance state used to access the memories of the pod squad's past life, and Liz felt an unexpected surge of awe as they rose up, out of the cave, their consciousnesses hovering above Roswell. The energy they had seen when Ava first showed them how, the flickers in every bit of life, were spread out below them. It was like a glowing map, overlaying the physical terrain, and after a moment Liz started to recognize things.

She could see her and Michael, like small, incandescent fires in the cave. The Granilith was nearly blinding in its brilliance and she looked away, toward Roswell. Michael's apartment was the brightest spot in town, Isabel, Kyle, Ava, Max, and Canaich's energies all glowing with power. She could feel Michael beside her, seeing what she saw, and it was he who spotted the anomalous sparks of power.

'There!' he said, mental voice harsh with anger and grim determination. 'The old soap factory.'

Liz smiled with the same grim determination and followed him back to their bodies. It was long past time for Rath and Lonnie to pay for their crimes, and this time exile wouldn't be an option.