Chapter 50 Fairytales are true

The last statement of Larek was meet with unbelievable glances, angry expressions and shocked faces. Exactly the reaction that was expected. It had to be a surprise to know that they had been lied to and things got withheld from them. Well it hadn´t been an easy decision to keep everything back until they thought it was time to drop the bomb on them and with that the truth about their destiny. Larek knew that the next news might be upsetting for a few attendants and he was nervous to continue. He looked around in the faces of past friends, new friends and his family. He was sure that it was the right thing to be honest with them. Besides they had to prepare for certain things, now that Nicolai made his first move. They hadn´t been sure if he already knew about the whereabouts of his halfsister or any other of the royal children. But that changed last night with the attack on Marias sister. Their enemies had been closer than everybody thought.

Michael held his hands up and his expression was revealing the confused state he was in. " Whoa. Hold on for a damn minute. What do you mean we´re not the only aliens here? Didn´t you tell us something completely different on our first meeting?".

" I know and I´m sorry for lying to you. But you had to deal with so much new informations and we thought we shouldn´t tell you about everything until you were ready to know about it or we had to step up our plan", Larek thought the latter was the case in this situation, because his former friends weren´t half prepared for the things they had to face. Besides Khivar was not stupid and he had infiltraded spies in their midst to get information. They had been there before Marianna even came to the castle of King Salem and nobody had noticed anything. Until now they didn´t know who was the traitor. Of course everybody had his speculations, but there wasn´t anything solid.

Maria had to sit down, because she didn´t trust her legs to keep her standing. Carefully she walked to the bed couch, where Liz and Max were already sitting, arms around each other. With a sigh she placed herself besides them and her best friend immediately took her hand to support her. Grateful she smiled at Liz before turning her attention to Larek. " I just have this tiny question. Are there more things we should know about? Or are we too young and too stupid to know about it? I mean you make us sound like children who are just learning to walk. We´re not five years old, we can handle bad news".

Larek saw the other royals nodding their heads approvingly. They seemed to have the same oppinion like Maria. All right, they wanted to know everything, he would give them everything. Then it was up to them what they did with it. " Okay, whatever you want. But don´t complain to me when you don´t like what you hear", he saw the disbelieving glances directed at him and he took a deep breath. He was grateful that at least Corly was at his side, who was encouraging holding his hand. She knew the story already and she had been in agreement with him that it was better to keep quiet for a while before telling them about it. " So everything started with the appearance of Marianna at the palace. We knew the day would come when she fell in our lifes and we also knew what part she had to play".

" What do you mean you knew I would be coming?", Maria was torn between listening to the answer or jumping to her feet and dart out of the room. On the one hand she wanted to learn as much as she could, but on the other maybe it wasn´t so bad to be in the dark about a few things. However if she could protect her family, she would do everything she could.

Larek was relieved that her anger was slowly ebbing away and she seemed to be more reasonable at the moment. Too bad that it wouldn´t stay that way, at least when she heard what he had to say, because everything started with her and it would end with her. " There was this myth about a lost princess, who would stray from her path because she learned what it meant to feel such pain that it would almost kill a person. A girl that had lived a thousand lifes and never really died. She had been cursed and she was forced to lose her beloved ones in every lifetime".

Maria could remember her mother telling her this story before she went to sleep. Sometimes she had imagined how the girl had looked like and how sad she had to be. She had thought it had to be aweful to see the people you love die, which she experienced herself later and she could say it was even worse than she originally imagined it. " What does that have to do with me?".

" You had been this princess", Larek knew that she wouldn´t believe it and it wasn´t such a wonder. " Wait here", without waiting for an answer he quickly walked out of his office and left the others pretty confused behind. They stared at each other and wondered what he was doing now.

Michael pushed himself from the wall he had been standing and walked towards Maria. She was looking so lost right now and although she was sitting besides two people she appeared to be alone. Carefully he kneeled in front of her and took her hands. " Are you sure you´re ready for this meeting? Everybody would understand if you want to go home".

Maria shook her head sadly. No matter how much she wished to be somewhere else, she had to know what she made wrong in her other life, so that she wouldn´t do it all over again and lose her family in the process. She had still enough guilt from her past self that it already extended for the next life. " I´m fine".

" That´s not entirely true, but I let it slide this time", Michael rose to his full height, pulled his girlfriend from the couch, sat on her place and dragged her on his lap. Now he was calmer knowing that she was sure that she wasn´t alone. Besides he needed the contact right now, because a feeling told him that it would get nasty soon.

Maria snuggled her head on her boyfriends shoulder and looked at her best friend, who was dreamily holding the hand of Max. Both faces were glowing happily and a slight blush was grazing their cheeks. The first evidence about the activity of them last night. Yeah, at least someone could enjoy the time at home. " So Maxie. How did you like the lingerie Liz brought for you?".

Max almost choked on his own tongue for a moment. His face was getting redder and he was two seconds away from a heartattack. Nervously he pulled at the collar of his sweater and started to stutter like a pubescent highschool boy. " It was a surprise".

" You both really did it? Oh my god", Maria was amazingly looking at her best friend. That little witch had been to third base and didn´t bother to tell her about it. That was unacceptable. They had to change that this evening.

Liz hid her face behind her hands and ignored the amused glances of the others in the room. Oh my gosh! Why couldn´t the ground beneath her open up and swallow everyone around her. And why were all staring at her like she was a hooker from the street. " Could you all do me a favour? Occupy yourself with something else".

Kyle grinned at her and made a thump up to Max. Then he turned to his other childhood friend. " Pay up Alex. I win".

" You did not bet on my brother, did you?", Isabel gazed annoyed at the two boys. She didn´t know what she had thought when she started to date Alex. He and Kyle were worse than herding cats. Incredibly she turned to Tess, who just shook her head at them.

Maria tried to cover her laughing by pressing her face into her boyfriends shoulder. She didn´t know them any different and that meant something, because they all grew up together. Those two had been up to no good in their childhood and a small part of it had survived their puberty. They appeared to be young adults from the outside, but on the inside they still were the same boys, who talked about Spiderman versus Batman for hours without getting bored. " What have I done to deserve such a brother?".

As if on cue Larek stormed back into the room with what looked like an old book in his hands. He dropped it on his desk with a loud bang. Now everybody was looking at the object like it was a toy for kids. Some eyed it with confusion and some with asking expressions. But two immediately regnorized the book. " I see you remember it".

" Why did you take it with you? I mean it had been pretty useless the last time we looked into it", Maria had been sitting up straight when she saw the familiar sign on the cover. It was the treasure she and Rath had to find on Antar. When they discovered the strange things standing in there, they had been disappointed.

Larek opened the book with the flick of his wrist and the sheets turned without anyone touching them. After a few seconds it stopped at a certain page. " Don´t say anything right now. Just listen and maybe something sounds familiar to you".

As the gods still walked on earth

There had been a goddess so beautiful

That no man could resist her.

Her voice was like gold and

Let man become slave to their hormones

Just one man was immune to her and

He fell in love with her despite his resistence

He was the equal to her and the only creature worthy of her

There was just one problem, the man had been no god

And their love was forbidden from the council of gods.

However the lovers didn´t care about the rules and

Performed their love in secret whenever they could.

One day the gods learned about the relationship and

Punished the goddess for her disregard.

She was cursed to find love for eternity and

Always lose this love again and

Never find true happiness forever.

Until a new life would set her free.

Isabel and Tess dreamily listened as the last sentenced finished. That had been so romantic and so sad at the same time. It was like Romeo and Juliet, just with godess and mortals. They should made a movie about this, because a love story is always a good things. In contrast the boys just thought it was a load of crap and that something like that was just a tale to let little girls believe that love would always find a way.

" That´s a beautiful story, but what does that have to do with us?", Maria didn´t see the connection between her past self and this godess. Although since she heard the story, pictures were floating around her head and made her remember things that felt so damn real. Something about a man with warm brown eyes, unshaved and a rare smile plastering his egded face.

Larek flipped the pages again and lifted his forefinger to indicate silence. " I´m not finished yet", then he started to read aloud again.

Once upon a time there was a princess, who was different than every other girl in her status. She was kind, lovely and always was nice to the town people. The citizen all loved her, although they despised her father, the most cruel creature the hell had spit out. He was cold, heartless and sucked the life out of everyone around him. Just his daughter was resistent against it and rivaled him with her brightness and her gift to warm everything just with a glance. One day the king made a mistake and killed the only person the princess loved dearly, her mother. From this point on, her life changed and she promised herself she would do everything in her powers to give her father back what he had done to her. Unfortunately the king ordered the murder of the princess and she had to escape her home and her friends to save her life. Although she was severely hurt, she made it to the other side and with that to the other kingdom. There her life was saved from the son of the commander. Since then they both developed a strange relationship. Everybody saw that they both were on love. But obstacles were blocking their path of happiness. The princess was too scared to love and lose it again and the commanders son had been promised to another woman. However despite their initial difficulties, their bodies couldn´t deny what the hearts wanted and so they both slowly built up their relationship until they formed an unstructable bond. For a short time they could enjoy their new found happiness. But then a tragedy striked and put their love through a hard test. In the end they won the insight that love could survive everthing, but lost their lifes in the process.

Larek looked up at the others and noticed that he had the attention of everyone. They all had silently listened to the tale. Isabel was holding her hand in front of her mouth and tried to keep her tears at bay, while Max shook his head slowly as the knowledge finally find the way into his brain. Tess turned her direction to her brother and her roommate, after all the story was about them. If they wanted it or not. Michael and Maria stared at each other for a moment before they faced their former best friend again. " Sounds pretty familiar? No wonder, everything is coming back onto you two. This book is full of tales about you both. You have lived a thousand lifes and everytime it started badly for you".

Maria stood up from the lap of her boyfriend and went to the desk where the book was lying. She eyed the opened side with disbelieve and browsed through the pages with anger. How could they withhold this information from her? How could they live with the knowledge that they doomed everybody in this room? Maybe even the whole planet. " Why didn´t you say something sooner? You knew about this all this time and you didn´t think it was important to tell us".

" You weren´t ready to know it. We all agreed to wait with it until we thought it was time", Larek knew that he should expect a hell of a reaction from her. She wasn´t someone who took it lightly to be left in the dark. It couldn´t even be ruled out that Michael would keep his cool.

Maria regarded the pictures of her, Rath, Vilandra, Ava and Zan. Sadly she stroked over the grim looking face of her past lover. It had all been her fault that everybody died. Her mother, her friends and her second family, all of them. Because she had been cursed in some life she didn´t even know about until now. Furious she took the book in her hand and threw it with all her might at the next wall and barely missed her brother´s head by inches. " Why did you allow them to go through with our plan when you knew about the outcome? You´re the reason my sister is sitting at home and is scared to step out of the house. You could have stopped all this and you didn´t do a damn thing".

Larek hadn´t even flinched when the book crashed against the wall. Calmly he went to the spot it was lying and lifted it up from the ground. Carefully he wiped the dirt from it and gave it to Corly, who was shocked about the outburst of her sister. She had never seen such a reaction from the other girl before. " That´s not exactly right. Firstly we didn´t know about this destiny until after your death and secondly the curse had been lifted before we sent your essence to earth. So if you want to blame someone, then blame another person".

" What do you mean, the curse had been lifted?", Maria thought back about the goddess tale. She was sure she heard the word forever in it, which meant the curse couldn´t just disappear. How could one lift a curse at all?

Larek turned to Corly to see if she was of the opinion as him about telling the secret they had been hiding. After he got a faint nod from his girlfriend, he faced his former friend and tried to get carefully out of reach. " When we prepared the bodies, we discovered that Marianna had been pregnant and this was the only way the curse could be broken".

Maria lost all of her anger at once and sat down on the desk. For a moment she thought she had to puke her food all over the floor, but she could catch herself right in time and keep everything where it should be. Tears were rising in her eyes and she hid her face in her hands. She didn´t cry like everyone expected, she was too angry with herself to do that. Suddenly strong arms were wrapping around her middle and pressing her at a warm body. She didn´t even need to look to know who it was. There was just one man who could give her this nice tingling feeling inside. She was so grateful that they could understand each other without words and that he always knew what she needed. " I killed our baby".

" Don´t say that. You didn´t know that you were pregnant", Michael slowly rocked her without noticing their audience. He was berating himself for not picking something up. He was an empath and he felt things before others even realized that something was wrong. How could he have ignored such a thing! A child, his child.

Maria looked up at him. How could he be so calm about everything? Because of a damn curse she got thousand of years ago she killed everyone around her. " I should have known it. Which mother doesn´t know that she´s pregnant?".

At that Liz, who had been quiet the whole time, spoke up. She didn´t want to destroy the private conversation between the lovers, but she had the urge to say something. " My mother noticed her pregnancy in her third month. She just realized that she was gaining weight and she got dizzy spells once in a while. It´s not unusual for a woman to not notice that she´s pregnant".

" Yeah, my mother was the same. My father picked up a gastric flu and puked his guts out all day. Then my mother started to vomit in the morning and in the evening, she thought she got infected from him. When her sickness didn´t go away after a three weeks she went to a doctor and he told her that she was eight weeks pregnant", Alex had no out of space powers, but even he could feel the tension in the air. He knew that this meeting wouldn´t be pleasant when he got the phone call this morning and he thought he already there was nothing in this world that could shock him anymore, but he got put right. He was fine with the fact that his best friend since childhood was not so normal like he always thought, he was all right with the whole past lifes of her and four other people. But he wasn´t okay with the way Larek handled things.

Maria smiled at her friends with gratitude. Even if they couldn´t take away her pain, which she still carried from her former self. But she was thankful that she at least tried to cheer her up. " Thanks guys".

Isabel left her comfy place and started to pace around the small office. There were still things she didn´t understand or they didn´t add up with everything. A feeling told her that there was more to this all then Larek was telling them right now. " Okay I get this destiny thing. But what has it to do with your first statement that we´re not the only aliens on earth?".

" Actually nothing, but you need to know the background before you tell a story and I wanted to get this out of the way before I got to the most important matter, which is telling you about our underground base here in Roswell", Larek hoped that he didn´t expect too much too soon from all of them. Half of the group had been through hell last night and they needed time to recover from it. But part of him knew that it was the right time to get everything out and prepare them slowly for the battle, which was lurking somewhere in the horizont.

At the mention of the underground base the guys listened and their interest was drawn. They always tried to appear like grown ups, but in their hearts they were still young boys loving to play with weapons. They already imagined wearing camo suits, paint their faces with colors and act like real soldiers. Finally they could take their knowledge from watching Rambo many times and put it into practise.

Now Hanson stood up and went to the west wall, where many pictures of sightings were hanging. Quickly he waved his hand over a spot and withing seconds the wall had disappeared. At its place there was a huge board with blinking red lights, green lights and orange lights. At some points were flags, white lines crossed from one side to the other and buildings got mentioned. " This is the newest technology earth created. We know where our allies are at the moment and we also know where our foes are. Our allies have green lights, foes are red and orange means you five".

" Holy shit! This is so cool", Alex jumped to his feets and walked to the glowing thing. Excited he eyed the work put into it and wondered how it was build, how many components it had and how long it took. He felt like a kid on christmas.

Maria left the security of her boyfriends embrace and followed her best friend to the board. But contrary to him she didn´t care about the technology used for it. She had more interest in knowing the location of Nicolai and his lousy lackeys. Bloody hell, her halfbrother had more people with him than she had originally thought. " I still don´t understand why you waited so long to tell us about this. Because I don´t think you have this knowledge since yesterday. This plan here needed much time to get performed. Which brings me to another question and believe me if I don´t get a honest answer I will blow up your building to Antar and back. Why do you know so much about Nicolai and his whereabouts?".

Larek noticed that anger bubbled in her and it wouldn´t need much to let her explode. Strange, usually that had been Rath´s traits. He was the hothead and not her. Maybe the mixed their essence together at some point. Or she picked it up from Michael. " Before we put your essence into the fetuses, we discovered that one of our people was playing against us and that he sold us out to the enemy. We still don´t know who was it, but we´re a little careful since then and that´s the reason why we kept a low profile for so long".

" But why didn´t you attack them when you knew where they had been? I mean you could have killed them without making a big fuss", Michael finally find his voice again to join the conversation. He still was in some kinda shock. They knew all along what would happen and they lived their happy life without thinking about how he and the others would feel when they learned about this.

Larek rubbed his face, now he was in huge trouble. It was bad enough to have one of them on his back, but them both? He should make his last will, because he felt like a defenseless lamb in the middle of two lions. " If it would have been so easy to wipe out the whole army of Khivar, we wouldn´t have needed to create you again. Just you five have the power to destroy our enemy and with that save Antar and probably earth, too".

Corly saw the struggle her boyfriend went through and went immediately at his side. Carefully she put her hand on his back and caressed it. Angrily she faced the two troublemaker. " Don´t attack him because you don´t understand everything. We all were in agreement to leave you in the dark and it hadn´t hurt you in any kind. You had a normal childhood and you could live your life in peace or would you have prefered to live in fear or think all day about saving your planet? We did everything possible to shield you from any harm and we lived for protecting you. So don´t come here and play the victims!".

" Oh yeah! We weren´t asked to be the token in your twisted game! We weren´t asked if we wanted to be reborn or if we wanted be thrust into a world in which people feared what they don´t know and that includes us. Do you think it was funny to grow up and to know that you were different than anybody else?", Michael let everything out and didn´t hold back any longer. He felt so much emotions at the moment and he didn´t know if they all belonged to him or if he picked up a few from the others. But part of it was his own pain and anger. His whole life he just wanted to know why he had this gifts and what purpose they had. Now he had his answers and he hated it. He hated it to be left out, to be the last to know everything.

Maria felt the ground beneath her shaking and loosely things started to jump in the air. The office door was opening and closing, which almost got Alex knocked out, because he was sitting near it. In an instant she took the face of her boyfriend in her hands and made him look in her eyes. " Calm down. You won´t solve anything if you start blow everything up".

Michael struggled a few seconds against the hold, but gave up when he realized she wouldn´t release him. Angrily he glared at her. " Aren´t you pissed that they interefered in our lifes, just like that? They played god and now they want us to save two planets".

" I can´t be mad at them. They just carried out what I wanted them to do. This", Maria pointed with her hand around them. " was my idea. I gave the order".

Michael´s anger hit a new level and his eyes darkened dangerously. Larek, Corly and Hanson stepped back to bring themself in a safe distance. Even Maria cringed at the sight. But before anyone could say something he stormed past his girlfriend and almost destroyed the door when he walked out of the office.

Kyle watched shocked after his roommate and wondered how much power he really possessed. He had felt the earthquake seconds ago and he knew that it was needed a lot of energy to do that. Suddenly he saw his sister following the angry alien and he snatched her arm. " What do you think you´re doing?".

" I have to sort a few things out with the hothead outside".

Kyle shook his head worriedly. He was completely against this idea, although he knew that Maria was strong. But with the state Michael was in, he was afraid that his sister wouldn´t survive this conversation. " Let him cool down a bit and then try talking to him".

Maria smiled at her brother. She was really touched about his protectiveness, but he shouldn´t be concerned about her. She went against other men, men with no conscience and no remorse. She would manage a little fight with her lover. " I know what I´m doing. Don´t worry about me. You heard what Larek read. I had been a goddess and we don´t die so easily".

" Be careful nontheless", Kyle didn´t want to explain to his father why his two daughters were hurt within two days. Especially when he couldn´t tell him exactly the truth about the situation.

Maria squeezed her brothers arm before she left the others behind. Immediately when the door closed behind her, she started to blew off her steam in a not so quiet volume. The reply was equally loud and matched the character. After that insults flew from both sides and even a few name were called. The remaining people in the office tried to stiffle their laughter, while appearing like they didn´t listen to everything.

Kyle looked at the guys in the room. " I bet 10 dollars on Michael winning this fight".

Isabel turned to him and wondered how he made it so far in his life. The guy was always thinking like a little boy. He couldn´t make bets on people fighting with each other, especially when one of them was his sister. " Do you have nothing better to do then making bets on everything? Besides Maria will so kick his ass that he gives up on his own free will".

" Do you wanna bet on that?", Kyle stretched his hand out and held it towards her with a mischievously grin on his face. He already imagined what he could do with the money he would win, because his buddy wouldn´t back down this time.

Isabel slapped his hand away. Urrggg, he was just so immature. She had pity with Tess. What her friend saw in this prime example of getting a lesbian, she didn´t know. Poor Maria was even related to this walking airhead. " I´m not betting on my friends".

Kyle smiled confidental at her. He would get her to make a bet on her friends and if it was the last thing he did on earth. She wasn´t so nice like she appeared. Even she had a dark side and he would tickle it out of her. " Yeah, because you´re afraid to lose against me".

" No, because I´m the mature one of us", after she received an unbelieving glance from him, she bristle about to obvious mocking. Sending him her iciest glare she pulled her wallet out of her jeans and took a ten dollar bill out of it. " Alright. You want to lose your money, that´s your problem. I´m holding your bet".

Kyle ripped the money out of Isabels grasp and put it to his. Then he eyed the others in the room. " Anybody else interested?".

Alex, much to everybody´s surprise, snatched 10 bucks from his pants and gave it his friend. He couldn´t leave his best buddy alone with his idea. Besides he could use the money right now. " I place on Michael".

" Well, then I bet on Maria", Liz felt her jeans for her wallet. But unfortunately she had left it at home. " I´ll give you the money later".

Max was amazingly starring at his girlfriend. He wouldn´t have thought that she was do something so childish. Quietly laughing he shook his head, because he couldn´t believe what he was in the process to do. He took a ten dollar bill out of his wallet and held it up. " I´m with Alex and Kyle".

Tess rolled her eyes at the stupid behaviour everybody was showing. But unfortunately she didn´t want to be the one ruining the whole fun of this and get money from her purse. " Then I´m with Isabel and Liz".

" That makes three votes for Michael and three for Maria", Kyle faced the four other people, who had watched the interaction with a touch of amusement, but hadn´t commented on it. " What about you?".

Larek quickly glanced at his girlfriend to see her reaction. She knew about his past and his obsession about gambling. She even was the one getting him out of trouble in Vegas. The story he told Maria wasn´t a lie at all. It really happened and almost cost him his sanity and his money. Thankfully she thought this little bet was not dangerous and nodded at him. " Ok. Ten bucks on Maria".

Corly chuckled at his choice. She had thought he would place on his former best friend. But he was obviously the opinion that it was safer to bet on Maria. " I´m with him".

" Sorry bro, but I have to disagree with you there. I place my money on Michael", Hanson heard enough rumours about Rath on Antar to know that it wasn´t healthy to stand up against him. Even if he picked up a few people talking about the mystery of a girl brave enough to not back down from him.

Lykus felt a little jittery since Maria went out the door and faced the beast alone. Well he knew that Rath wouldn´t hurt her in any kind, because he loved her, but that didn´t make him less concerned. " I place on Maria".

Kyle finally moved his butt out of his chair and get a piece of paper and a pencil from Lareks desk. Then he wrote the names, their bets and how much money in the pot was on it. " So, we have 6 votes for Maria, 4 for Michael and a pot of 100 Dollars".

" How do we actually know who won the fight?", Tess was sure that they couldn´t exactly ask them that. Firstly they wouldn´t even get a straight answer and secondly nobody would have the guts to ask in the first place.

Kyle pointed at the door with his forefinger. " When Maria and Michael step together through this door, we know Maria has won. If she´s alone, Michael won".

Everybody kept an eye on the door and listened to drama unfolding behind it. The couple was still in the name calling phase and was loudly expressing what they thought of each other. The girls silently cheered for their friend while the boys hoped that their buddy wouldn´t cave in like it was usual when a pair was fighting. All of the sudden the voices outside disappeared and for seconds there was absolutely silence. Even the people in the office were holding their breath. Until a loud bang was startling all and got them in action immediately. Fastly they stormed out of the room and into the showroom from where the noise had been coming from. A little shocked they noticed a overthrown wall with pictures scattered on the floor and two embarressed people lying besides the mess. Michael almost covering Marias right side and body slight shooking.

" What did you do to my exhibit about the 1947 crash?", Larek didn´t care if they were fighting or not and who won it. But now they destroyed his work and he would need time to clear away the clutter they created.

Maria had problems keeping the corner of her mouth under control. The urge to laugh was just too great, considering the way they had to look. " You have to ask my partner that, because he was the one attacking me".

Larek turned his attention to Michael while he crossed his arms over his chest and angrily tapped his feets on the floor in a steady rhythm. His face was a mask of absolute fury and it appeared like his head wanted to explode every moment. " So! What is your explanation for this mess?".

" I´m sorry dude. I just had been too boisterous and the wall couldn´t hold on", Michael turned his body around and the others instantly knew what happened. After all he had glittery lips and part of the lip gloss had ended beneath his nose. And if that wouldn´t be evidence enough the tent in his jeans was showing what could have happened if they hadn´t been coming here.

Kyle groaned disgusted and covered his eyes with his hand. Arrggghhh, why couldn´t they behave like every other couple and exchange bodyfluids within the safety of their own rooms or maybe at a different house in a state far away. " Oh god. Can´t you people just hold back for a little and act responsible?".

Isabel snorted amused at him. " Yeah. Great words coming from someone betting on his sister".

" Hey you were betting, too!", Kyle wouldn´t just take all the blame for something that everbody was also doing. He just started the whole thing, but the others went with it, which meant he wasn´t the only one guilty here.

Maria just shook her head at her brother. He wouldn´t grow up in a long while with this behaviour, although she loved his slightly childish character. It always made her laugh. " And who won?".

Michael actually find the time to get his body in a standing position and held his hand out to help his girlfriend back on her feet, too. Then he waved his hand over the chaos and brought everything in its original condition, so that his friend could finally stop with his death glare. " What was the bet about anyway?".

" About who would win the fight. You or Maria", Kyle admitted unashamedly and a little disappointed in his roommate. Damn him for losing against his sister and damn her for using her charme to get her way in everything. He could kiss his money goodbye.

Maria faced her lover with a raised eyebrow and a smirk on her face. Instantly the expression was replied from him and without a word they both turned their backs on their friends and walked calmly to the office again.

Kyle glanced around in the confused faces of the others. What had been going on here? Did he miss something? Quickly he went after his sister and her boyfriend. " Hey. Don´t just walk away from us. We want to know who won".

" Nobody. Because this wasn´t a fight. It had just been a little discussion, which we cleared", Michael threw over his shoulder all the while keeping a steady pace. Damn all this people in his life and the stupid fake wall for leading him to the conclussion that it was safe to lean on it.

Maria meanwhile smiled at the mention of their "discussion". It had been pretty harsh at first and they both screamed things that would have hurt other people. But then something changed and the air started to prickle with energy. The more they let their anger out, the more aroused they both become. Until Michael couldn´t contain himself any longer and pounced on her. Unfortunately the wall behind them hadn´t withstand their weight and crashed with a loud noise to the ground. " Let´s look how much money they were betting and who bet on who"

Michael liked the idea and quickly watched over his back at the others following them. Kyle was the only one close enough to see what they would be doing. So with a little flick of his wrist he let his roommate trip over his own feet and fall on the floor. After he heard the loud cursing, he pushed Maria quickly in the office and closed the door behind them. " And?".

" Aha, found it", Maria snatched up the piece of paper lying on Kyle´s chair and read over it. " The pot is 100 dollars. 6 People placed on me and just 4 on you".

Michael couldn´t believe that. He obviously had misheard what his girlfriend had been trying to tell him. No, that couldn´t be true. With a slight perplexed expression he step closer to her and took the paper out of her hand. He looked at the bets and the names behind it. Damnit. " Larek, that little bastard. He betted on you instead of me. Just wait until I get my hands on him".

Just in that moment the others decided to grace them both with their presence again. Kyle was furious glowering at his roommate and what he thought had been a friend. Jerk had made him fall and almost break something. Not that he hurt himself, because he was pretty resistant, but part of his ego suffered. He must have looked like Whitman when he nearly kissed the floor. Still glaring he planted his butt forcefully on his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. Tess tried to comfort him by stroking his leg, all the way keeping the smile off of her face. Isabel and Alex took their places at the door and hid their amused expression behind their hands. Max and Liz were busy talking quietly to each other that they probably hadn´t even noticed the little stunt from Kyle. Corly, Hanson and Lykus just shook their heads at the younger generation. And the last one through the door was Larek, who seemed to be still a little pissed.

" Can you explain that! Why did you bet against me!", Michael stepped closer towards his friend and put the paper in front of his face.

Larek swallowed visibly and looked around for some kinda help. But everyone was staring in another direction, either in agreement with Michael or because they had done the same. Slightly sweating he turned his attention to Maria, who smiled warmly at him. " Because she´s scarier than you", to prevent some punishment afterwards he winked at her to show that he wasn´t serious. " And admit it, you are totally whipped when it comes to her".

Michael whirled around when he heard snickers behind his back. Sending them all a death glare he slumped on the nearest chair and acted insulted. Although he knew it was true sometimes, he wouldn´t ever admit it to anyone, at least of all to his friends. " I´m not whipped. Alex and Max maybe. And definitely Kyle. But not me".

" Stop it. We don´t have time for this now", Maria interfered just in time. She already saw her brother starting to protest and the others would have gladly joined him. But they weren´t here for fun and there were still question unanswered. Slowly she faced Larek and Corly " I think you were just in process to tell us about Khivar´s army and why my ex lover, who I thought was playing against us is suddenly an ally".

Lykus finally walked away from his place at the wall and went towards his great love. He hadn´t been lying about his feelings for her in either lifes, he really loved her more than anything. But he had accepted that he wasn´t the one she wanted and needed. " I can tell you the reason for my change of heart. It is remorse".

Maria wrinkled her forehead. What could the scumbag have to regret? Treating her like some piece of shit maybe? Or the way he made her feel like she was the one treating him badly? Or was it that he had been dumb enough to piss her off? " And what could possibly cause you to feel something? I mean to have remorse you have to have a heart, don´t you think?"

" Don´t talk like that about me. I´m not Nicolai. I loved you and I still do and part of me probably always will. But I let rage overpower me and do the most aweful thing a person can do", Lykus relived the faithful day every night since it happened and it still pained him to see the arrow going through Mariannas head. Every night he saw her slumping lifeless on the ground and bleeding all over her lover. After he almost went crazy because of his nightmares, he offered his help to Larek and Nolak. He didn´t expect them to take his offer, he just wanted everything to stop and he knew they would do it. Either with letting him help them or kill him. Unfortunately they choose the harder path for him. " I´m the one that killed you and there´s not a day I don´t regret it or suffer for doing it".

At that Michael jumped to his feet and put his body protectively in front of his girlfriend. Within seconds Kyle was at his side and both you men lifted their fist in case the bastard tried to something silly, like hurting Maria. Although the chances that something like that happened were slim to none, because Lykus wouldn´t hurt her and the room was full of her friends, who wouldn´t hesitate to kill him without flinching.

Larek barged between the males and their little testosterone battle. He didn´t fully trust Mariannas ex lover himself, but he had been a great help so far. He was working for both sides and provided them with facts they needed. In return they didn´t kill him. " Guys. Do you think I would put him in the same room as Maria if I would known that he could hurt her in any kind? Have some faith in me, even if you don´t have any in him. He´s our spy and he gets the inside scoop from the enemy first hand. We need him for now".

" Whatever. But if he as much as move a wrong finger I will blast him into million tiny pieces without thinking twice", Michael relaxed his stance slightly, but he was still keeping an eye on Lykus. As much as he wanted to believe his friend, he couldn´t. Not when it involved Marias life. However he would play nice for the time being. Until he had a good reason to kill the wanker.

Lykus glanced steadily at Michael and he saw Rath in those eyes staring back at him. So much that it was almost scary, because they both looked different. The same rage about touching his property and the same madness. In a normal life he would swear those were the eyes of a psychopath. " Oh yeah. Do you think if I had really wanted to kill her, I would have done it already? I had enough possibilies and I had been intimate with her, which means I could have killed her without her knowing what was happening until it would have been too late".

Michael lunged forward to rip the head off of that damn motherfer. But thankfully he was hindered by Maria and Kyle, who were holding him at his arms and prevented him from doing something stupid. If Larek thought they would need Lykus, they had to believe him and forget their anger. They all were on the same side, until they had proof it wasn´t like that. Then they could still deal with problem.

" Michael! Keep yourself together. He´s not worth it get your hands dirty. Be the smart on and ignore him", Maria whispered in his ear soothingly. She always had been having a talent to settle Rath´s inner beast just with a touch or her voice. Nobody knew how she did it and in reality she herself didn´t know it either, but she could do it.

Larek saw that the crazy look disappeared from the other mans face and he was glad that Maria still the power to sooth him. " Lykus, go ahead to the base and tell everybody that we´re coming", maybe that would ease the tension completely. It was always dangerous when two alpha males clashed against each other.

Lykus rolled his eyes at the obvious booting out. Great, he had waited almost 20 years to see a teenage punk trying to play soldier and saving the world with his pissy attitude. But to spare his angel the worry, he decided to do what he got told and went without a word out the door. Everybody breathed out relieved when he disappeared and they were among themself again. Maria and Kyle even released Michael from their clutches.

" Holy crap! He´s still a creep", Isabel had been having a hard time matching the name to the face on Antar. It had taken a little longer for her to remember everything, but when she did she wished she could erase it. The guy had given her goosebumps in both lifes now.

Larek smiled in her direction. He already knew which scene she had in mind, because it had been the first pictures popping in his head, too. Besides it was the only time that they got to know Lykus. " Yeah. But we need him. If everything is over and we´re still alive, you can do with him whatever you want".

Michael clapped his hands together in anticipation. He had first dips at the guy and if he left something over, the others could fight over the rest. " That´s sounds like a plan".

" Now we should go. It´s getting late and we want to show you everything before it´s getting dark outside", Larek cleared papers from his desk and hid it in one of his drawers. Corly and Hanson helped him letting everything alien related disappear from sight and put it away where nobody would find it, in case someone was stupid enough to try to rob the UFO-Center.

The others stood up from their places and went out from the office to wait outside. Before the door closed behind them, Larek could hear Kyle. " What did he mean with if everythings is over and we´re still alive? Does he think we´re not making it out of this little adventure alive?".

Night time

Michael, Kyle, Tess and Maria were just coming from the underground base. They had been given the whole tour through all rooms and every spot important for them in the future. They got to know a few people and meet Nolak again. He had been in the process to train a few men, who just got there when they saw him. Everybody had been shocked about the size of the base, because it had been pretty gigantic and mighty equipped with the newest weapons and technology. And it was a surprise to see so much soldier walking around, let alone scientist and doctors. Nobody had expected so much people down there. Larek explained that most of them escaped Khivar´s reign or had to flee for their safety. Some of them even had been on earth before everything went downhilll on Antar. They were the ones creating this place under the huge rocks in the desert. In time the size got bigger, the more person came to them. It was just like a little colony with everything neccessary. They had a cafeteria, a hospital ward, a movie theatre and even a hair salon. Alex almost fainted when they discovered the computer room. He had wanted to move in there and have its babies, to which Isabel had just shook her head. Max and Liz got really excited when they saw the many scientiest and they admired the work done. They couldn´t wait to help one day. Kyle just showed interest when the came to the mess hall and the many food lined up on tables, while Tess was annoyed that it didn´t give enough healthy food, but she found out that almost just men were living here on this base, so she stopped complaining. Maria and Michael started to drool when they saw the collection of weapons and the trainings room. They even discovered their laser lying on one of the racks. The others had to use all their persuasiveness to get them out of the base actually. When they finally managed it, they had to hear all the glory details about the weapons during the ride home. And they were still in the process to tell stories, even after they finally arrived at the Valenti residence.

" I can´t believe Larek had kept Shena all this years", Maria had been wanting to take her sword with her. But her brother pointed out that their father would start to wonder if she was coming home with a deadly weapon, which she could understand. It would moot too much questions.

Michael turned to his girlfriend with a confused expression. He hoped it was not what he thought it was. " Shena? You named your sword?".

Maria looked up when she noticed that everybody was staring at her curiously. What? Why were they glancing at her like she had grown a second head. " Yeah. So what?", why was it okay for boys to name their penis, but for her it was strange that she named her sword. Besides it was an antarian name and it meant fellow, because it had been given her to protect her.

" You are really a strange one", Michael kissed his girlfriend quickly. That was actually the reason why he fell in love with her in the first place. She wasn´t like any other girl he ever meet in his life, well in both lifes.

Kyle cleared his throat loudly to let the other two know that they were still present. All right, he had to admit he already got used to this kissing thing with his sister, but that didn´t mean that he liked it. " Cut it out. I´m tired and just want to crash in my bed. But unfortunately I have no keys".

Tess, who looked like she was more asleep than awake, dragged her boyfriend at the door and opened it. She just laid her hand over the look and within seconds they could enter the house. They both immediately steered in the direction of the stairs and with that the bedrooms. It had been a long day for them.

Michael and Maria laughed quietly about the sissies while they carefully followed their siblings up. Just before they made it to the stairs, Jim came out from the kitchen and walked towards them.

" Hey Dad. We were just in the process to get sleeping".

Jim´s expression was unreadable and it scared Maria. Her father was making her nervous with his glance. " I have to talk to you", he let his gaze wander to Michael. " Alone".

Maria´s heart started pounding at that. Her instinct told her that it wouldn´t be a pleasant talk. Oh god, hopefully it wasn´t about the incident from last night. Maybe someone had seen something and told him something. " What is it?".

" You will find out. I´m waiting in the kitchen for you", Jim turned around and calmly went away.

Michael stared worriedly after the older mans back. That hadn´t sounded so good, not good at all. " You don´t think it has something to do with us, do you?".

Maria breathed deeply out before facing him. She was trying to calm down or else she would probably blow her cover by destroying something in the house. Besides she didn´t want to appear guilty. Maybe it was just a small thing and nothing to worry about. Yeah right. Nothing in her life was easy anymore. Why should it be different with her family. " Only way to find out", and without looking at Michael she marched through the hall toward her destination. When she stepped over the threshold, she was immediately assaulted with an angry glare from her father.

" Sit down", he pointed at the chair he had reserved for her. He himself kept in a standing position while he waited until his daughter was sitting. " You know I thought we had a really good relationship and we could talk about everything. I mean I always thought we had this special bond with each other, not just Father and daughter, but friends".

Maria´s heart started to ache. She always thought the same, but she knew that there were limits. Things she couldn´t tell her father, although she wanted to. " That´s still like that. Nothing had changed".

Jim put his hands on the table and stared at his daughter. She was lying to him since she was old enough to talk. He had tried to be understanding, because he thought she was scared to tell him about her uniqueness. But his patience had a boundary and it had been overstepped. " Really. Than why do I have the feeling you keep secrets from me and I´m not just talking about last night".

" I don´t know what you mean. What do you want to hear from me?".

Jim went to the counter nearest him and took something from it. Then he threw it on the kitchen table and watched the reaction from his daughter carefully. " I want an explanation for this".

Maria looked at the folder in front of her and her heart stopped beating for a moment, her face lost all the color and she was close to lose her food. In front of her were lying her x-ray, the matching report and the destroyed uniform from Liz when she had been shot years ago.

TBC