Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, but to the writers and producers of Roswell
Spoilers: After Chant Down Babylon, changes happening where Max is successfully rescued,
and Michael was the one who broke up with Maria.
Loving Destiny Chapter Twenty Six
***
Let him go forth to duty while she weaves the spell which makes home a paradise to which he may return,
ever welcome, whether he is victor or vanquished..
- R. B. Hayes
***
"What do you want from us?" Max asked through gritted teeth.
"You need to come back to Antar one way or another Max," Tess sighed. It was like riding a merry-go-round. And she wished it would stop. How was she going to convince him that it was the best thing? How was she going to make him realize that his place wasn't here?
"You're like a broken record. I'm not a king."
Tess watched Max pull away from the conversation. He turned his back on her and leaned against the kitchen counter. "Is everything we've gone through so far been for nothing?" Tess asked frustratingly. "Do your people mean so little to you? Does Zander?"
"Don't use Zander to guilt me into this! I never signed up to be a father. That happened unexpectedly," Max pointed out warily. "You can't expect me to just drop everything to be king of a place where they killed you, Isabel, Michael and me!"
"They didn't," Tess protested. "Khivar did." How many excuses would they wade through? She wished she could just reach inside of Max and pull out the strong leader and King she knew was hiding in there. Tess began to pace back and forth, racking her brain for an answer.
"So what I'm hearing is that you don't care that the people you keep saving the Earth from are ruling over Antar and probably treating them exactly the same way they would have humans, if we hadn't stopped them?" Tess exclaimed wildly. "Or don't you remember the husks?"
"That is an exaggeration," Max said calmly. "Plus they were trying to kill me, so I wouldn't return to Antar. Don't rewrite the past Tess."
The blood began to rush to her face as he called her on the past events. Tess wasn't lying, she knew that Khivar would have taken over Earth too if he had the chance. "I'm not," she denied. "But do you feel okay that you've exiled your son to a place with people like that?"
"No! But you made that choice when you killed Alex," he argued softly.
"Again with Alex!"
Max turned around his eyes blazing. "Yes, again!" Max cried out incredulously. "How many times do we have to go over the same thing.…"
"You tell me," Tess interrupted. "I'm trying to tell you that hundreds of thousands of people are counting on you to rid them of Khivar, and you're cowering under the cloak that they don't need or want you?"
"They've done fine so far," Max declared hesitantly. "I mean what did they do for the past 18 years or more?"
Tess threw her hands up in the air and shook her head in disbelief. "You know what Max," raising her voice sharply, "I'll have a survey taken and get back to you on that!" As the adrenaline pumped through her veins, Tess walked away from Max, who was staring at her, and opened the balcony door. The soothing warm breeze wafted over her and once again, she regained her composure. Tess closed the door and returned to their debate.
"You know what I mean!" Max stated irritably.
"No. No I don't Max," Tess sighed. "If you're asking me how they survived, I think it's because they've been in hiding." She brushed back her long blonde locks over her shoulder. "They've pretended to be loyal to Khivar, all the while biding their time for our return."
Max pursed his lips as he tried to explain why he couldn't be king. "Why can't they pick someone else to be their hero or leader?" he cried out in frustration.
"Why can't a bird be a deer?" Tess mumbled sarcastically to herself. Tess tugged on her grey t-shirt as she shuffled into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door, revealing row upon row of Snapple fruity drinks.
"What?" Max asked, overhearing Tess' scorn. He turned around and once more leaned on the kitchen counter.
"Max we are who we are. We can't choose to be someone else. I know it's hard, I mean real hard, to wrap your mind around being the leader of thousands of people, but pull it together! We need to do this."
"Don't presume to know what I'm thinking or feeling about any of this. You don't know what this is like for me. I know they need me, but it's a people and a place that doesn't even seem real to me." Max turned around and began to pace back and forth. "And I don't even feel like I belong there."
"Well you would if you could come back and see it!" Tess coaxed. She grabbed a grape Snapple and popped the lid, taking a careful sip. "How else are you going to remember what we were fighting for and why we were fighting at all?" Tess manovoevered around the counter and closed the gap between her and Max. Tess set down the bottled fruit drink and reached up, resting her right hand on his shoulder. "Just consider it?" she whispered.
"But my home is here," he protested.
"Is it really Max?" Tess caressed his face lightly. "If you saw it Max…the red sky, the purple sea. It's a magical place. When you sent me there, I didn't think I could adjust. I kept seeing all these strange people, and I had to keep reminding myself I wasn't in a dream or watching some sci-fi movie. Everyone was different; not in a Star Trek kind of way, but beautiful. It was nothing like we could have imagined on Earth."
Max held his position, her touch somehow comforting and relaxing. "How can I live in a place where people don't even look like people?"
"But there are!"
"Are what?" he asked curiously. "Humans?"
"No, Antarians who have human form. Apparently they can shape shift like we, and Nasedo could and can. I know it isn't where we grew up, but in a way it is." Tess watched as Max's face scrunched into one of disbelief and confusion. Though he looked upset, Tess thought she might have been getting through to him. But she was wrong.
"Look Tess, what do you want me to say?" Max groaned, pulling away from her touch. "I won't tell you that I'm coming back and be their king. I just can't. I'm human and belong here."
"You're half-human, and now who's sounding like a broken record?" Tess retorted, folding her empty arms across her chest.
"Stop," Max stated firmly. "You already have my answer."
"And my answer to yours is 'no'."
"What do you mean no?" he replied exasperatedly.
"No I don't accept it." Tess approached Max quietly.
"Well it's not like you have an option. You can't change my mind." Max pouted as a child would, disobeying a parent.
"You don't know what you want."
"You're unbelievable Tess," Max exclaimed. "I know exactly what I want."
"Do you?" Tess stopped short of being able to touch him. "Somewhere deep in side of you is a Max who made love to me in the observatory. But that never happened right?" Max remained silent, averting his gaze from her piercing blue eyes. "That same Max climbed into my bedroom one night and told me three words that gave me just a spark of hope. Do you remember what you said?" Tess asked, again drawing closer to Max, until he was only a few inches away. "You said, 'I remember you'." Max looked away guiltily, as if he felt ashamed.
"You can't tell me that Max doesn't understand the consequences of letting his people die! But this time they'll die without a King or leader fighting beside them," Tess declared.
She hoped she was getting through. Somewhere deep inside, Tess knew something worse was coming. Khivar had fought and killed to rule Antar the first time, but now, now it was something else. He was fighting to keep it. And to prove his power he needed to bend all it's people to his will.
Tess knew they were running out of time. She knew she was running out of time. Though Tess knew on Antar, time didn't quite work in the same plane as time did on Earth, she knew Khivar would soon be checking up on her. Tess hadn't been gone a long while by Antarian standards, Khivar was jumpy about his plans and she knew he was worried about her.
~~~
"That's quite a guilt trip," Michael muttered loudly, startling Tess and Max, who were immersed in their discussion. He and Isabel had thought they'd had enough time to talk certain things out.
"It's not a guilt trip. It's the truth," Tess said calmly.
"Well it might be one way to look at it," Michael growled. "But I'm sure there are other perspectives you might be leaving out."
Michael still didn't know what to do, or what direction to turn. He didn't think Tess was trying to lead them into a trap. It didn't make any sense. But he knew she had ulterior motives for wanting them to return. Whether they were dangerous or not was the question.
"It's the only way Michael," Tess sighed. "Look, I know you understand."
Michael's expression was one of skepticism. He watched as she moved toward him slowly, as if any sudden movement would chase him off. "Really?" he replied.
"Yes. You were always more connected to home than either Max or Isabel were," Tess reminded him. "You were like me. Nothing held you to this place except Max and Isabel."
Michael stuffed his hands in his pocket and looked at Isabel, and then at Max. She was right. Nothing kept him there except Max and Isabel. They were his family. But then Maria and Liz entered the picture. Kyle, Valenti and the Evans, all of them had gotten under his defenses, and he wasn't sure if he could leave now. Especially since he knew Isabel would have a hard time leaving Jesse.
"So?" he frowned. "Doesn't mean I agree to whatever you're demanding us to do."
"Don't you care about home?" Tess asked.
Everyone became silent, each hesitant on how to answer the question.
"Tess, you don't know what you're asking," Isabel lamented.
"I know Isabel," Tess sighed, lowering her eyes. They still didn't understand how hurt she was when she left the three people in her life that were 'family' to her. Tess swallowed hard and continued on. She had to convince them, and now was the time. "And I also know I've given you no reason to trust me in the past, but I know that they need you guys," she pleaded. "They need us."
"How could they?" Isabel protested. "Look how we screwed things up the last time! I don't even know why they want us back." Isabel rested her forehead on the nearby wall. "I betrayed my family and got us all killed. What could we possibly do to change the past?"
Michael walked over to Isabel and pulled her into an embrace. "It's not your fault remember Isabel."
Suddenly Max exclaimed. "Exactly!" He glanced at all the faces in the room. "How much better could I do than Zan, who was groomed and raised as king?"
Tess shook her head and looked at him adoringly. "I think you are stronger than ever Max," she objected. "There was a reason we were all sent down here." Tess' gaze made contact with each of the Royal Three. "You've learned things here that as a prince you would never have faced. You know what it is to be one of the people rather than a king exacting his idea of what paradise and right and wrong are. You now know what the people need."
"How do you keep coming up with this stuff?" Max asked incredulously. "It seems to me that you should be the one to rule Antar. You know and love the people obviously."
"I do," Tess admitted. "The limited amount of people I've met, have become a part of me and I don't want to see them hurt or killed, but they need a king Max."
"Well I don't remember and that's a problem when it comes to ruling a whole race of people, isn't it?" Max exclaimed.
"How hard have you tried?"
Max shrugged. "That's not the point."
"It's exactly the point."
"So we could remember if we just tried harder?" Michael retorted, shaking his head in aggravation. "Why didn't we think of that?" The sarcastic tone was more out of frustration at the whole situation rather than at Tess, although she wasn't absolved for bringing it about in such a blunt fashion.
"Look guys, you remember a lot of what you want to remember. It depends on how motivated you are to remember your life back then," Tess explained.
"But why would we want to remember a past where we died?" Michael exclaimed. "What I have remembered I'd like to forget!"
"Not that easy when we're the Royal Four and have a whole race of people depending on us though," Tess answered facetiously.
Michael groaned. "It's getting really late." He opted to change the subject, in fact, he opted to stop talking at all about this.
"Uh, yeah I guess," Max agreed, briefly glancing at the clock which hung on the kitchen wall. "Maybe we should be getting home?"
Michael tilted his head to the side and closed his eyes. His neck was sore and stiff and he was tired. Michael rubbed his nape of his neck and nodded slowly. "I'll drop you guys off," he murmured, walking over to the door and grabbing his keys off the kitchen counter.
"I guess I'll wait here!" Tess smiled innocently.
All three of them shook their heads. "You're coming with us," Max exclaimed. "We don't want you to bolt off."
Tess frowned. "Cause the fact that I've spent the entire night telling you that I'm not leaving without you Max doesn't seem like a good indication that I am going to wait for you?"
Michael watched Max shift uneasily at the reminder. "Let's go," Max muttered, ducking under Michael's arm, which was holding the door open.
"This is going to be a long night," Michael sighed to himself.
Tess followed after Max and Michael waited until Isabel exited before locking the apartment up behind him.
~~~
Jesse pressed the talk button on his cell phone and rested the small silver receiver to his ear. "Hello?" he said anxiously.
"Yes?" a man's voice answered on the other line.
"It's Jesse. We need to talk."
"I thought you had everything under control?" he asked mockingly.
"Just meet me at the abandoned apartment on Delany, all right?" Jesse growled irritably. "We need to talk about Isabel and the other three."
Silence filled the airwaves. "What do you mean three?"
Jesse looked up from the wheel and found himself jerking the wheel to the right, swerving quickly, just in time to miss an on coming vehicle. "Look, I'll be there in five. I'll fill you in then."
He squinted in the dark vehicle, his thumb searching for the end button. As he set the cell phone down on the passenger side seat, Jesse felt himself tense up. Jesse couldn't believe this was happening. He had to set up this meeting before they found out about all of this.
As he stepped on the gas pedal, Jesse shifted his body until he was almost leaning over the steering wheel. He prayed to God that he was doing the right thing. Jesse tapped his signal lever and passed the quickly approaching vehicle in front of him. If he could just make another deal…
~~~
Isabel didn't know what to expect when arriving home that night. There was so much to think about, so many burdens weighing on their shoulders. And talking about it for the past hour hadn't done a thing to resolve any of it. They were stuck right back where they were when Liz and Maria had left the apartment.
Michael dropped them off at Evans'. She saw that he'd waited until they had entered the house before driving off with Tess. Isabel hoped that she wouldn't badger Michael anymore about going back to Antar. There was no way that they could go. Isabel ran her hands through her hair as she snuck into the dark house. It felt like only yesterday that she had just turned 16 and the boys had finally started to notice her enough to ask her out and she had to sneak in and out of the house to go for a joy ride. Isabel swallowed as she lifted her left hand and gazed at the shimmering diamond setee encircled on her finger.
"Isabel," Max whispered. "Do you think we should wait until morning to do this?"
As they both stumbled down the hallway, Isabel pondered the question until she realized that if their story was to be believed, they needed to wake their parents up. "I think we need to let them know now," she said in a low raspy voice. "They would wonder why we didn't wake them up tonight if I just found you."
Isabel took a deep breath and steadied herself for the onslaught of questions her parents would probably ply them with. She took a look at Max, whose hair was disheveled and he had the start of bags under his eyes. He nodded to Isabel, signaling that he was ready to play the part of the abducted patient.
"Mom! Dad! You'll never guess what happened!" Isabel squealed breathlessly as she rushed into her parents' room.
The look of shock and surprise were plastered on their groggy faces. Isabel flipped on the light switch and began to pull her mother and father out from the warm covers. "What on earth are you doing Isabel?" Mr. Evans cried out indignantly.
"You'll see," Isabel said, pouring on the emotion. She had learned during her teen years how to make herself tear up. And it was a talent she found very useful at the moment.
With her parents in the lead, Isabel guided them forcefully into the kitchen. Max was sitting on one of the kitchen chairs, his head resting on the table. "It's Max, Mom!" Isabel whispered through her 'tears' of joy. "He's back!"
She watched as both her parents stood there quietly, frozen, as if afraid to move. Then suddenly her mother rushed to Max's side, her hands wandering all over his face, arms and chest, as if trying to find some sign of injury. "Max," she began to sob. "Is it really you?" The stalwart mother Isabel had witnessed over the course of several weeks had broken down and she was a mass of tears. "I couldn't…I couldn't even…" Isabel watched her mother stumble over her words, trying to express the whirlwind of emotions.
"You're not…you're not dead," she exclaimed in a state of shock. "I knew it!" And again Mrs. Evans broke down into a sobbing mess, as if she were able to grab just enough composure to say those three words.
Isabel then realized that the tears that now slid down her cheek were real tears of joy. She was relieved that in the midst of lying to her parents about Max's whereabouts, she could at least bring him home to them. As she wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, Isabel walked up behind her father, who still hadn't managed to move an inch towards Max.
Isabel wrapped her arms around her father's chest and rested her chin on his shoulder. "I told you he'd come back Daddy." Then as she glanced up at her father, Isabel saw the glitter of tears streaming down his cheeks. Isabel had never seen him cry.
"I thought…" Suddenly he began to choke on his tears. Isabel felt her father's large strong hands pat her arm. "He's back," he finally managed to choke out.
Isabel smiled and slowly began pushing him over to the tearful reunion Maxwell and their mother were having. She stood on the side as she watched Max and their father stand silently before each other. They had tears in their eyes and they didn't seem to want to move. "Will you just hug already?" Mrs. Evans' laughed through her tears.
Finally after a moment, they broke their silence and Mr. Evans wrapped his arms around his son. Isabel watched him give Max a bear hug. She smiled and felt a pair of eyes on her. It was Mrs. Evans beaming at her. "I've got all of you back again!" she sniffled, as she quickly reached behind her and grabbed a few Kleenx.
Isabel was finally overwhelmed by this pure, untouched moment of happiness. All of the troubles and worries were forgotten and they were happy for this one moment. Isabel found herself staring at her mother, father and Max, who were waiting for her to join in the wonderful embrace. "I'm glad you're home Max," Isabel whispered. It was something she'd forgotten to say in all the commotion at the Granolith chamber.
Suddenly Isabel found herself in a single embrace with her brother, while their parents tried to absorb the reality of their son returning home unharmed. "Me too," Max answered happily.
~~~