Title: Time After Time
Disclaimer: I don't own anything
Author's note: Just a reminder that in my story Nicolas is a lot older than on the show. Instead of being a teenager, he is an adult, in his mid-thirties or so.
Chapter Fifty-One: Ava
"So… who exactly are you?" Ava asked softly, hugging her arms tightly around herself as she stared at Nicolas from her perch on the edge of the hotel bed.
"You don't remember a whole lot of your past, do you?" Nicolas asked with a friendly smile obviously meant to put her at ease.
"Um… not much. Just… bits and pieces. Flashes." Ava chewed her lip worriedly, pushing at her cropped hair. The short strands fell through her fingers and flipped back into her eyes. She gave up with a huff of impatient, but did not take her eyes from Nicolas.
He sighed. "Do you remember Khivar?"
"He took Zan's throne," Ava replied, shivering a little at the name of the man she had killed. The bruises on her throat and cheek had faded slightly, but still shone out starkly against her pale skin. But it was the bruises that no one could see, the ones that layered over her soul and her spirit, that bothered her more.
"Right," Nicolas agreed. "Well, I'm his brother."
Ava was on her feet as soon as the words left his mouth, her eyes flashing with anger. "Then you're the enemy! You didn't tell me that." She spun away from him, feeling betrayed and hurt, but strangely not frightened. "But I suppose it explains how you so conveniently showed up right when I needed someone to turn to…"
"I'm not the enemy, Ava. I'm not your enemy," Nicolas replied patiently.
"Your brother killed us," Ava sneered, glancing at him over her shoulder. "Your brother stole Zan's throne and took over his planet…"
Nicolas walked quickly forward, but paused before he had reached Ava as though worried he might scare her. But she wasn't scared, and though she knew she shouldn't trust him, there was nothing about this situation that put her at ill ease.
"Your enemy," Nicolas said softly, "is the person who gave you those bruises."
She flinched and lowered her gaze, looking down at the carpet. Around Zan, she'd always felt a discomfort, a sense of perpetual worry. She was always slanting sideways glances at him, always waiting for the next angry glare, the next harsh word, the next threat, the next slap that knocked her to the ground. She loved him enough to stay with him for ten years…
…and she hated him enough to throw him in front of an oncoming vehicle.
Nicolas was standing directly behind her at that point, and he placed a hand tentatively on her shoulder. "What happened on Antar was… unfortunate. Believe me, this is not how we want everything to end. And I am not your enemy. "
"I loved him," Ava whispered.
"Did he love you?" Nicolas asked in reply, dropping his hand.
She didn't answer. She couldn't answer, not at the moment. She didn't know the answer to that question anymore, and she was far too confused to sort through her thoughts to figure it out.
"What do you want from me?" she murmured finally, wearily.
"There's another one, you know," Nicolas said. "Another Zan. There is another set of all of you."
She turned to look at him, a question in her eyes. "How is that possible?"
Nicolas shrugged. "The how is less important, Ava. But there is another Zan, and he goes by the name of Max Evans." He turned away from her and walked over to the desk near the door to the hotel bathroom. Taking a seat in the chair, he rested and elbow on the desk and continued to regard Ava as he explained, "And this Max is currently getting together with Rath and Lonnie."
Ava felt a thrill of fear at the mention of the other two. "Why?" she asked tentatively, not sure she even wanted to know the answer.
"They want to go home, Ava. Back to Antar. This Max Evans, he wants to reclaim his throne." He smiled at her, but the smile did not reach his eyes. They remained hard and sharp, filled with a calculating determination. "He wants to be king, Ava. And if he gets that, he'll have all the power on the planet. There will be no one who can stop him from doing what he wants."
She swallowed anxiously. "Max Evans might not be Zan."
"Well," Nicolas agreed cautiously, "that is true. But… he did team up with Rath and Lonnie. And if he gets power… they will, too."
And that comment, the very idea of Rath and Lonnie with power… that terrified her more than anything else.
Max gaped. There was little else he could do besides stare blankly at the girl before him. She looked so much like Tess, and yet there was something just a little bit off about her, something hidden in the depths of her eyes that worried him.
Lonnie was on her feet in an instant, taking a step towards Ava. "You…" she started, her voice a low hiss.
Ava turned towards her, the same smirk fixed to her features. But Max saw a flicker of fear in the dupe Queen's eyes as she looked at Lonnie, and despite her attempts at bravery, it was obvious to him that she was apprehensive about this confrontation.
"Hello, Lonnie," she drawled, her voice laced with bravado.
"I thought she was dead," Tess whispered to Max, and he could only shrug, not understanding this either. But he looked quickly at Rath and Lonnie, and though they both looked surprised to see Ava standing there, neither looked all that amazed to see her alive.
He felt a sudden rush of anger at the realization. They had lied to him.
"What is she doing here?" Carla asked sharply, turning away from Ava and directing her question to the leaders of the other worlds.
"She is a Royal," Sero growled triumphantly.
"A royal reject," Carla shot back heatedly. "There was a reason the four of them were dumped in the sewers while the other got placed in Roswell and offered protection of the Granolith. You know she's just a mistake. A failed experiment. Nothing more."
Rath leaned forward and snapped, "Yo, get this! We ain't the rejects, alright?"
Nicolas ignored the dupe General as he addressed Carla smoothly, "Failed experiment or not, she does have royal blood. Royal DNA. That is all that would be necessary for us." He raised an eyebrow at Carla, as though daring her to contradict him. She lapsed into silence, a tense and uneasy quiet.
Max looked in between them, then over at Ava. "I don't understand…"
"You are the king, Max," Nicolas said, facing him with a cool smile, "but you are not the only royal. Don't you understand that simple fact?" He leaned forward, smile growing into a broad smirk, "You should hear them talk about the four of you. You're legends, myths. They think of you as gods. It would be a pity if the great King did not return to them… but a god is a god, no matter what. Or, in this case, a goddess. They'll settle for less." He jerked his head at Ava. "They'll settle for her."
Tess spoke up, her tone soft but underlined with a sharp edge, "You'll take Ava back to Antar. Have her call on our followers to lay down their weapons, to join you."
Nicolas nodded. "There will be some resistance, of course. Some fighting. It would be better if Max was there as well. But if he isn't…" He shrugged. "Not such a significant loss, actually."
"She isn't the right Queen," Carla said again, her face flushed darkly as she glared at Nicolas. "You need Tess…"
"Not really," Kathana cut in before Nicolas could answer. "Like Nicolas said, she has royal blood. Tess would be better, but I am sure Ava will do just fine." She turned to Ava with a faint smile and said, "I hope you don't mind that we are discussing your future so candidly."
Ava did not take her gaze away from Rath and Lonnie as she answered, "Better than having others try to manipulate me in secret, I suppose."
Rath rose to his feet and stepped close to Ava, leaning forward so that he was only a hair's breath away from her face. "Perhaps we should talk about this privately?" he asked with a suggestive wink. "I'm sure, between the two of us, we could work out some sort of… arrangement."
Nicolas was on his feet and at Ava's side in a heartbeat, pulling her away from Rath and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Do you really think intimidation will work?" he asked fiercely. "She's not so alone anymore, is she? You can't push her around like you used to."
Ava lifted her chin and said, "I've got my own support now."
Max looked at Tess, who seemed just as confused by the entire situation as he was. But her gaze was fixed on Rath, and her eyes were filled with loathing, her lips pressed into a thin line. It was obvious that Tess had picked up on the same subtle hints that Max had… and he was not entirely sure he wanted to dwell on that. On the type of person Rath had apparently been.
But pieces of the puzzle were falling into place… well, most of them, anyway.
"You told me Ava was dead," Max said, looking at Lonnie.
"That's what they wanted you to believe," Ava said, stepping away from Nicolas and past Rath so that she could face Max. "But I don't seem very dead, do I?"
"Why are you working with them?" Tess asked before Max had a chance to respond. "He's the enemy, don't you know that?"
Ava laughed bitterly. "The enemy? Hardly. I want to bring an end to this fighting. I want to bring about world peace. Trust me, that was never on Zan's agenda."
"As fascinating as this reunion is," Hanar cut in adroitly, "we do need an answer from you, Max. Do you take the proposal, or not?"
If he didn't take the proposal, Max knew exactly what would happen. Ava seemed to be completely under Khivar and Nicolas' control, and it was doubtful she would protect Antar. She would call for peace, bring about an end to the war… and leave the planet in Khivar's hands.
"I… need to think," Max said wearily.
Larek nodded, finally lifting his gaze to meet Max's stare. "I'd be surprised if you didn't. But be quick about it. Holding onto these bodies isn't easy. In fact, it's chewing up huge amounts of our resources. Twenty minutes, Max. Then we need an answer."
Max glowered at Larek as he answered, "You'll have it." Then he rose to his feet, and walked stiffly from the room, knowing that Tess was just a few steps behind him.
Ava watched the two leave the room, then turned her gaze back to Lonnie and Rath. "What's the matter?" she asked tauntingly. "Didn't you miss me?"
She had no idea where the strength was coming from or how she managed so much bravado. But she met Rath's gaze without flinching, even though it meant lifting her head to look up at him. She was no longer as afraid, and perhaps it had to do with having Nicolas at her side, offering her protection from them.
It helped, also, that she knew she was taking away what they wanted, pulling it out of their grasps just as they thought they had finally obtained a way home. She knew what it was like, remembered the number of times that she had thought she'd found a way out, only to have one of them mockingly pull her back in, dragging her away from her freedom.
The leaders of the other four worlds had all risen from their chairs and were wandering about the room, waiting for Max and Tess to return. Carla, too, had moved away from the reject hybrids, and Ava watched her briefly, wondering what the skin was thinking.
Then she looked back and Rath and Lonnie. Nicolas was still at her side, but other than that, they were alone.
No Zan.
His absence resonated all around them, his death a reminder of just how far she had been driven, just how desperate she had been for a way out.
There was no way out for them, not anymore. She'd made sure of that. It had not taken much for Nicolas to convince her that this was the right path, the only path. If Rath and Lonnie found a way back to Antar… she shuddered at the thought.
"Do you really think Nicolas can protect you?" Rath whispered, lowering his voice and leaning close to her. "Do you think the leaders of the other worlds would accept you if they knew what you had done? Murdering a king is treason, after all."
Ava raised one eyebrow, heart hammering in her chest as she answered, "I have no idea what you are talking about, Rath."
Lonnie rolled her eyes and asked, "We saw what happened, Ava."
"Do you have proof?" Ava retorted. When Lonnie and Rath could not answer, she smiled and said, "Hm… didn't think so."
"So, what's your plan?" Rath sneered. "Go back to Antar and pray that you get a better deal there than you did here?" He placed a hand on her shoulder, his grip tight. "You really think that will happen? Because life here doesn't have to be that bad for you…"
She shrugged off his hand. "You really think it won't?" She looked up into Rath's eyes and felt her insides go cold. She was not afraid of him, but she still could not quite stop the instinctive cringe that crushed her stomach and circled her heart when he stared at her in that way, with that lascivious gaze.
She felt Nicolas' hand on the small of her back and reminded herself that she was not alone.
"I don't think I can do this," Ava whispered, pausing before the building.
Nicolas turned to her, a reassuring look in his eyes. "Ava, listen to me. I know you are afraid. But you aren't alone anymore. You've got me, and that means you have my brother and all of his influence also. You don't need to be scared of them. You're stronger than they are."
She chewed her bottom lip and lowered her gaze with a slow nod. "I know," she murmured, "but I still… I'm torn. I am afraid, and I want to run. Run and never look back. But I also…"
"You want to make them hurt," Nicolas said when Ava drifted off and could not finish the sentence.
She nodded. "Does that make me a bad person?" she asked, more to herself than to him. Revenge had never really been her style, and though she had certainly always entertained thoughts of leaving Zan and the others, she had never really dwelled on what it would be like to turn the tables on them.
So why was she thinking about it now?
"It's a normal response," Nicolas answered. "And that desire will fade with time. But you know as well as I do that this isn't about getting revenge. This is about making sure that they never have a chance to hurt anyone else the way they hurt you."
She looked up at him. "You're right," she agreed finally, her voice growing firm. "I can do this."
She did not care about the power. She did not care if she was royalty or not, did not really want to spend her entire life being a Queen anyway. All that Nicolas could offer her, it was nice, but it wasn't why she was doing this. It wasn't even about getting home, although she could not deny that she was looking forward to that.
It was about stopping Rath and Lonnie before they hurt others.
Nicolas smiled proudly at her. "Good," he said with a nod. "Remember that. Remember that, no matter how scared you are, you can do this."
Ava smiled in reply. "And I am stronger than them."
"You won't get away with this," Lonnie whispered, keeping her voice low as she looked around the room, letting her gaze fall over the other leaders and Carla. "You won't win."
But Ava shook her head and smiled. "I already have."
"What do you think?"
Tess ran a hand through her hair and shrugged in response to Max's question. "I think everyone's got an agenda, and we don't know what they are."
Max shook his head and clarified, "I meant, what do you think about Ava?"
With an ironic chuckle, Tess answered, "She looks pretty good for a dead girl."
"No kidding," Max muttered.
They were both quiet for a moment, and Tess tried to wrap her head around what had just happened. But it had all happened so quickly, and she had not had any time to process it. How did they expect her and Max to make a decision now?
"Something's going on between Rath and Ava," Max said finally. "Did you see that? It was like…"
He didn't finish the sentence, but Tess nodded anyway. "Yeah. And Lonnie, too, but it was less obvious. They've got an unpleasant history." She considered this for a moment, then added, "And if they lied about Ava, do you think they were telling the truth about Zan?"
Max leaned against the wall in the hallway and scuffed his feet on the carpeted floor. "I don't know. And I don't like not knowing. Not with this much at stake."
Tess looked behind her, back the way they had come. "I want to talk to Ava," she said slowly, thoughtfully. "We're not going to get answers from Rath or Lonnie, and obviously Carla and Nicolas aren't going to go out of their way to be helpful either. But Ava… she might be able to tell us something."
"She's siding with Nicolas," Max protested pointedly. "She's hardly trustworthy either."
But Tess countered, "At the moment, she's the only one in the room who hasn't lied to my face." At Max's doubtful expression, she added, "I'm not saying I'm going to take everything she says at face value. But I want to hear what she's got say."
"What makes you think she'll talk to you?"
Tess smiled as she answered, "Because I am her. Same DNA, both alien and human. I'm what she could have been, if we'd been switched. And she… she's what I could have been."
That thought was more disconcerting than she would have liked to admit, particularly given what she had seen of Ava's interactions with Rath. She had her suspicions for what her double's life might have been like, and she didn't want to think about them. She didn't want to contemplate the fact that that could have been her.
"We don't have much time," Max warned. "And how are you going to convince her to talk to you without Nicolas tagging along?"
"You're going to distract him for me," Tess answered, patting Max on the shoulder as she walked past him towards the council room.
"What…? Wait! Tess, hold on a second. How exactly…?" Max's protests followed her down the hall, but she just smiled to herself and kept walking.
"Any word from Max?" Liz asked, shifting the phone from one hand to the next.
"Liz, it's the middle of the night," came Isabel's protest from the other end of the line.
Liz sighed. "I know, I know. But they left this morning, and we haven't heard anything… I got a couple of missed calls on my cell phone from Max, but he didn't leave a message. Did he call you?"
"No." There was worry in Isabel's voice, but she continued, "If something was wrong, he would have left a message, Liz. And he would have called more than just you. I'm sure he's fine."
"Are you?" Liz whispered, her voice catching in her throat. "Are you, really?"
Isabel did not answer.
Liz glanced around room. She had to be quiet to keep from waking up her parents, because the last thing she wanted was to explain why she was on the phone to her boyfriend's sister this late at night.
She didn't feel all that upset about calling Isabel, because she knew perfectly well that Isabel wasn't actually asleep prior to the call. It was obvious that Isabel was just as worried, and her reassurances were just as much meant to convince herself as to convince Liz.
"He's with Tess," Isabel said finally.
"Which only means that they could both be in trouble," Liz retorted before she could stop herself.
Isabel sighed. "Last year, when Hank and Michael got into that fight… we knew. Max, Tess, and I. We could feel it. It's… a connection. I can't really explain it, but… Liz, if Max or Tess were in life-threatening danger… or, at least, more danger than to be expected, given where they are… I would know. I would feel it, and so would Michael."
Again, a silence.
Finally, Liz said, "Will you just…"
"Call if I hear anything?" Isabel finished the question. "Yeah, of course. Call me if he does get through to you, okay?"
"Okay."
They hung up, and Liz placed the phone on the table by her bed. Then she leaned back on her pillows and stared up at the ceiling, wishing the anxiety in her chest would ease just a little, wishing sleep would come to her. But she was still afraid for Max, and that would not leave her alone.
Next Chapter: In the Sewers
Due: Sun 5/17
