Chapter 52 Saying goodbye to the innocence
The inside of the library or what was left of it resembled a war zone after the army was through with it. Small fires were blazing at ripped pages, the broken bookshelfs and other equipment were mixed with bricks from the walls and most of the roof on the ground. Dust and thick smoke were hanging in the air like a heavy blanket and here and there an electric short cut flashed. At some places legs, arms or even heads were looking out from mountains of books and made aware that people had been in the building before it crashed. For a moment it appeared like a mass grave. But after the first shock was over, students started to dig their way out of their prison or helped their friends or classmates. Everywhere bookshelfs began to move or where pulled away, books got pushed off and glass splinter brushed off of clothes. General confusion meet the relieve to have survived the explosion. People eyed their limbs and touched their bodies for any injuries. Thankfully most of them just had small bruises, abrasions or bleeding wounds, sometimes even nasty goose eggs. Among all this chaos a young man was struggling to stand up from the ground. The right side of his face was red from all the blood flowing down from a wound on his head. Pretty weak on the legs he stumbled a little before he looked for his girlfriend. She had to be close to him because she had been with him when hell broke loose.
" Tess? Baby? Where are you?", Kyle put his hand on his injury, which was hurting like a bitch or maybe it was the sledge hammer beating on his head.
Slowly a hand was making its way out of a book mountain and was quickly followed from the body belonging to it. The usual blonde curls were blood stained and the beautiful face marred with scratches. The lower lip was bleeding and the left eye was swollen shut. " Oh my god. What the fk had just been happening?".
Relieved and happy Kyle bent down to save his girl from the mess around her. He was so damn glad to know that she was alive. " Are you alright?".
" If you call a headache like a heavy metal concert alright, then yes", Tess was sure that the whole wall had been falling down on her head, because it felt like someone had tried to smash it with a demolition ball. Whoa, note to herself, no direct eye contact with the light outside.
Kyle smiled at her while he pulled her towards him and gave her the biggest kiss ever. As long as she had breath to complain about things, she was fine. He never would have thought that he would be glad when he heard someone nagging one day, especially his girlfriend. " I´m so relieved that nothing happened to you".
Tess finally noticed the pretty nasty gash on her boyfriends head. Tenderly she stroked over it and tried to wipe the blood away. Thankfully it looked much worse than it was really, it wasn´t deep or big. He would survive it. " Yeah, me too", she let her gaze wander around them and eyed the destruction there. The picture was too gruesome to put into words. They could all be glad to be alive, because after the looks of it the crash had been pretty dangerous. Worriedly she detected that she couldn´t see her friends. " Where is my brother? Isabel and the others?".
" We will look for them. I´m sure they´re alright", at least he hoped that. After he surveyed the scene a little he was shocked to see that they were standing in a heap of ruins. The chances that everybody had survived was slim, although it appeared like most of the students could walk out on their own feets. A few had to be supported from friends. But it wasn´t assessable how many people were still buried under all this mess.
Tess held onto the hand of her boyfriend while they search for their missing friends. Here and there they had to be careful, because it wasn´t exactly safe to walk around. " Michael! Isabel! Where are you?! Alex! Liz! Max! Say something or make yourself noticeable at least!".
Suddenly Kyle stepped on something soft and that earned him a strangled sound. Startled he looked down and regnorized a hand peaking out from a bookshelf. He knew this hand, because he just knew one boy who was owner of a Star Wars Stormtrooper watch. Quickly he dropped to his knees. " Hey buddy. Are you still alive?".
" No man. I don´t think I made it", came the muffled reply instantly from the ground.
Kyle almost started crying when he heard the voice from his childhood friend. He and Tess immediately started to pull the bookshelf up and threw it aside, trusting that they wouldn´t hurt anybody else in the process. Then they cleared the bricks and books away. Seconds later they saw Alex lying on the ground. His face was strangly unharmed, except for two scratches on his cheek. His head didn´t seem to be bleeding or was hurt otherwise. But return his lower region had been not so lucky. His right leg was hurt pretty bad and blood was flowing freely from it. The jeans at the place was torn and revealed the ripped flesh. " Dude, don´t pull such a stunt again. Here I thought you were severe injured".
Alex just lifted his left hand and showed his friend the middle finger. If he could he would stand up and kick his ass. But he was afraid to move, he fell pretty hard on his back and he wanted to be sure that he didn´t break anything. " Eat my shorts, butthead".
" No not today, maybe next time we survive an explosion", Kyle was already mulling over how they could stop the blood flow and how they would get their friend out of there. There was just a small chance that Alex was able to walk out with his hurt leg, which meant they had to drag him. But with all this clutter lying around, it would be difficult.
Tess meanwhile had finally decided to take action and was already in the process to ripped off a part from her white designer t-shirt. Then she she took a chair leg from the destruction and kneeled besides the unjured man. " Can you move your legs?".
Alex looked from her to his friend, who was shooting worried glances at his feets. Alarmed he tried to move his legs what brought him just more pain and he screamed really loud. Slightly sweating he turned to the girl besides him again. " Can´t you use your mumbo jumbo and take away the pain?".
" I´m sorry. But I don´t have that ability. But I will try to be as careful as I can. I promise", Tess looked up at her boyfriend and told him with her eyes that he should keep his friend company while she tended the wound. As soon as Kyle started talking about something silly, she took care of the rest. Slowly she shredded the jeans a little more and shove it upwards, so that she had enough place to do her thing. With shaking hands she put the chair leg on the inside of his leg and then tied the small scrap around it. Unfortunately her construction didn´t hold like she thought it would and she had to rip another part from her t-shirt. After that the selfmade bandage was sitting in place. " So, I´m done. Is everything alright so far?".
Kyle looked back at his girlfriend and viewed what she had done. He was pretty impressed what she had managed under this condition. He couldn´t resist and smile at her proudly. " You did good. Now help me bring him back on his feets. We have to look for the others".
Tess went immediately to the other side of the lanky teen and gripped his shoulders with both arms. Together they pulled Alex up and supported his body with their strength. With slow and controlled steps the three made their way towards the exit. Relieved they heard the sirenes of the fire departement and the ambulance. Help was on the way and soon they could rest while their wounds would be treated.
" Oh my god Alex! What happened to you?", Liz and Max turned up, pretty much unharmed and very clean. It appeared like they had made it outside in the nick of time after all. But at closer looking, everybody saw a fine sheen of dust on their clothes.
Alex grinned despite his dilemma at being carried. He wanted to look like a hero in front of his friends, although he was glad that he had the excuse of a hurt leg, because he didn´t trust his legs to hold his weight right now. They felt like jello. " Oh you know, I went against a bookshelf and it won. But it´s no biggie".
Max glanced at the three faces and he noticed two people were still missing. One being his sister and the other was Michael. Concerned he scanned the ruins. " Where are the others?".
" No clue. We went looking for them, but then we found Alex and we thought it was more important to save private Ryan. But if you want to take our wounded here, we continue our search", Kyle was more than willing to pass his friend to the brain twins. They were looking relative all right and they seemed to have more strength than him. Besides Alex was heavier than he appeared. Damn, his pal should finally stop eating all this junk food.
Liz was instantly at their side and took over for Tess, who was looking more pale than a few minutes ago. She had to be losing too much blood through her headwound. " Hey Kyle, why don´t you search alone. I think your girlfriend needs medical treatment".
Kyle slung the arm of his friend over Max shoulder and then went to Tess. Worriedly he took her face in his hands and glanced in her eyes. Oh oh, that was so not good. " Baby, what is it?".
" I´m not feeling well", just as this sentence was finished Tess dropped like a stone to the ground. Thankfully Kyle had quick reflexes and could catch her before she could have hurt herself more. In a flash he had lifted her in his arms and made his way outside.
Max and Liz watched after him with confused expressions. Shouldn´t they look for their missing companions? In that moment a few men of the fire department stepped through the place where there had been a door before. They wore their uniforms and maskes, some of them even had an axe in their hands. One of the men came towards them and eyed their hurt friend.
" Do you need help?".
Max shook his head at the man. They would just make it to get Alex out of here. Luckily he discovered a new power, which had protected him and Liz from the falling objects. He could built a protective shield around him and the person in contact with him. " It´s okay. But we miss two of our friends. They have to be here somewhere".
The fireman looked at the mess. He was sure that if the person didn´t walk out, he or she hadn´t survived the explosion. But he saw the concerned expression on the young faces and he swallowed his instinct to be honest. " Don´t worry about that. We´ll find them and bring them out. Just get out of here".
" Thank you", Max turned to Liz and saw her looking at the place where they had been watching her best friend jumping at the guy she had been chasing. He knew what went through her head right now and he wanted to calm her. " Maria is fine. Believe me, if someone could kick somebodies ass it´s her".
Liz sighed loudly before facing her boyfriend. He was right, Maria was capable to defend herself. But that didn´t make her worry less. Especially after everything they learned the last few days. " I know".
Alex had finally enough to hang around like a sack of potatoes. Besides the shock was slowly ebbing away and his leg started to hurt pretty bad now. " Hello! Can we get out of here. I need a doctor and lots of painkillers".
" Yeah. Sorry".
Max and Liz carefully stepped over the debris and made sure that they didn´t walk over someone or set foot on something that could hurt them. After a pretty exhausting climbing and hiking tour through the mess that had been the library, the three were greeted from a huge crowd around campus. People were observing the spectacel, police officers tried to control the curious mass and paramedics were treating injured students. Further in the back Reporters and cameramen from local television stations were waiting for the chaos to die down so that they could get their interviews. Meanwhile they reported from far away and hoped they could get a good picture for the tv.
Liz was shocked about the whole fuss. She never had seen such a amount of people at one place and she was attending the annual Crash Festival in Roswell, where freaks and locals met and celebrated the day of the famous UFO crash. " Holy shit!".
" You can say that again", Alex felt like a celebrity with all the people standing around and watching the firemen doing their work. Great, just his luck that he would be in tv and looking like a dork with hanging between the lovesick pair.
Finally a paramedic discovered them eyeing their surrounding and immediately went towards them. " Bring your friend over there to the other wounded".
Max glanced at the pointed spot and noticed a long line of unjured people lying on the ground. Some were treated already, some waited to get treated and others were in the process to get treated. Relieved he and Liz steered their friend in the direction and laid him down besides a boy with a nasty head wound. " Thank god. A few more minutes and my shoulder would have fallen off".
" Hey! Do you imply that I´m fat?", Alex was glad to be out in safety and still alive. And it was nice to lie on something that didn´t poke him in the back all the time. If a doctor would come and gave him a pill for his pain he would be perfect.
Liz slumped besides her friend and groaned. Her body was throbbing at strange places and she felt like she had climbed the Mount Everest with all her friends on her shoulders. Maybe the adrenalin was gone and now she felt the strain of carrying Alex around. " No, but it was pretty hard to manhandle you out of the building and that has nothing to do with your weight".
Alex looked from her to Max, who was sitting on his other side and was scanning their surroundings. He better be ready to apologize. Man, where was the doctor with the meds? Damn, how long did it take to patch some people up? " It wasn´t a pleasure for me, too".
" Oh my god. I´m so glad to see you", Isabel stormed towards them without a scratch or some other injury. She was looking like she did before, absolute perfect. Well except for the worried expression on her face. " I already imagined the worst".
Instantly Max jumped to his feet and embraced his sister relieved. He had been so concerned about her. He was happy that it was for nothing. " Where have you been? We searched for you".
Isabel wiped a few tears from her face. She had seen the building crash and she knew that whoever was still in there wouldn´t survive it. Then she noticed that nobody of her friends were with her and she feared that they were all dead. " I thought you were behind me and pushed my way through the crowd. I think I hurt a few people in the process".
" Don´t worry about them. We´re just glad that nothing happened to you", Max breathed easier now. At least he knew that all his friends and his sister were alive and healthy. Well, at least they were alive, because Alex, Tess and Kyle had been at the receiving end and didn´t get off so lightly.
Now Isabel finally saw her boyfriend lying on the ground and the weird bandage on his leg. Worriedly she kneeled besides him and eyed him thoroughly. " Oh baby. What happened to you?".
Alex forgot for a moment his pain and enjoyed that someone showed a little sympathy for him. Yeah, he needed it and he would savor it as long as it lasted. " I wanted to save a girl from a falling beam and pushed her away. Unfortunately the beam hit me instead and almost destroyed my leg".
" Oh you´re so brave", Isabel bent over him and gave him a quick kiss. " Did a paramedic already look after you?".
Alex would have felt like a damn king, if his leg wouldn´t hurt like someone was trying to chop it off with a spoon. Ok, the story was a lie and he was just hit from a falling bookshelf. But he didn´t want to come off as a loser in front of his girls eyes, even if she didn´t put too much value on that. " No. I´m still waiting for someone to find the time to check my wounds".
Isabel lifted her head and let her glance curve over the whole chaos of running people, ambulances driving away with blinking lights and blaring horns, wounded person looking for their friends and firemen trying to keep everything under control. But she couldn´t see a damn paramedic close by. Making a decision she turned back to Alex. " I will see what I can do about that. There has to be a doctor here somewhere. Be right back".
" Poor bastard. When my sister is through with him, I don´t think he´still be able to do anything", Max watched Isabel searching the crowd. She wouldn´t give up until someone would look after Alex, lucky bastard. And that after telling this tale about saving a girls life.
Liz meanwhile hadn´t heard anything her boyfriend said. She was too busy with observing the rescue mission near the building. Obviously they found a boy in there, still alive but pretty hurt. He was unconcious and hadn´t responded to anything they did. Possibility of head trauma or worse. Suddenly she gasped loudly when she saw who was lying on the stretcher. " Max. They found Michael. He looks bad. Really bad".
Max turned to the place his girlfriend pointed and was shocked to see his friend in this shape. Shit, shit, shit. He was already in the process to walk over there and check what he could do for his friend, when he realized that Kyle and Tess had beat him to it. They both went briskly besides the paramedics in the direction of the nearest ambulance. Within seconds they were gone.
" You don´t think he won´t make it?", Liz would be devasteted if something would happen to Michael and Maria was not there with him.
Max felt fear slowly climbin up his stomach and trying to choke him. He didn´t know anything at the moment. But he had known Rath and he wouldn´t let himself defeat so easily. He would fight until the end. If the same went for Michael was doubtful. " I don´t know".
Liz sat down besides her friend again and put her face on her knees. Michael was hurt pretty bad, Maria went missing, Alex could lose his leg and they almost died. Finally succuming to her feelings, she started to weep bitterly. Seconds later she felt a hand caressing her head and that made her cry harder, because she knew that what happened today would just be the beginning and she feared what would happen next.
Other side of campus
Maria was still sitting on the ground and stared sadly at the ruins that had been the library. The tears she had been shedding earlier were now dried and she just felt numb, like the life had been sucked out of her the moment she saw the building collapse. She couldn´t grasp that her friends had been in there and were probably dead or pretty hurt at least. Disbelieving she shook her head. She shouldn´t think like that. Until she had proof she would still believe that her friends had survived and were surely waiting for her. But what if it wasn´t like that? What should she do then? How could she explain their parents that their son was dead? And what about Liz´ parents? A new wave of sorrow was washing over her and she was relieved when she saw the paramedics and firemen do their work. They could probably help those trapped in the clutter. Happily she regnorized students walking out of the debris and getting treated. Suddenly she heard squeaking tires behind her and turned around. Annoyed she found out that the press got wind of this incident and were now arriving in flocks to report about the tragedy.
" What a spectacle, huh?".
Maria had almost forgotten that she wasn´t alone and whirled around angrily at the guy wearing her former lovers face. Furious she jumped to her feet and stormed towards him. He had to be the one behind this attack. With a boost of her powers she gripped him at his throat and lifted him a few feet from the ground. " You´re behind this, aren´you? You´re the reason for this".
The calm man just smirked at her like he expected her reaction already. " Hey easy love. You won´t get your answers if you kill me".
" Don´t play any games with me. I´m not in the mood for it right now. So either you tell me what you know or I will make sure that you won´t be alive in the next minutes", Maria was two seconds away to snap the neck of this scumbag. In her condition it wouldn´t need much to drive her over the edge and let her do something that was pretty unusual for her. And she wouldn´t even regret doing it in the first place.
The hanging male was slowly starting to get a little blue in the face and the smug expression vanished all of the sudden. The grip around his throat was tightening, just to stress the point and his heart began to beat weaker. At this moment a tiny bit of panic was crawling up his spine. " Let me down and I´ll tell you what you want to know"
Maria was pondering if it was smart to react to the suggestion. But then she remembered that firstly she was powerful and to top of it all majorly pissed, which made her even stronger and secondly too many people were around, especially reporter with cameras to do something stupid like stiring up a fight. Despite her good reasons, she was careful when she dropped him back onto the ground and released his hold on him. " So. Talk if you value your life".
" You didn´t change a bit. Still the same tough girl you had been on Antar", the guy rubbed the spots where her fingers dug into his skin. Damn, he forgot how much strenght she had in her gentle small hands.
Maria felt uncomfortable to look into the face of Rath and to know that it wasn´t him. It was probably some sick twisted move from Nicolai to scare or weaken her. Bastard, the next time she would see him she would remember to thank him properly for that. Maybe with a nice facial or helping lose a few points of entrails. " You don´t know me. So don´t talk to me like that. You´re not Rath, even if you wear his face".
That earned her a nice deep chuckle from her counterpart before he nodded at something behind her. Within seconds Maria felt a pretty hard knock on her head and after that everything went black for her. Rath bent down to her and whispered in her ear. " You´re wrong. I´m real", then he arose again and stared at Nicolai standing opposite him with a small steel rod in his right hand and wearing a paramedic uniform. " Let´s get her away from here".
A while and a miles later
Maria carefully opened her eyes and closed them immediately. The light was too bright for her and her head was pounding like a jackhammer. Besides she saw everything in a blur and it was making her slightly nauseous. After she took a few deep breaths she tried again to open her eyes. Thankfully this time she could do it without any pain and she could finally see her surroundings. Scanning the area around her she didn´t regnorize where she was. It was looking like a abandoned warehouse or something close to that. Dust was covering old dirty blankets concealing some big things underneath, the floor was totally damaged from years of using it and the paint on the walls was chipping off. For a moment she thought she saw a few rats crawling through holes, but that could be just her imagination, besides the hall was so filthy that it was hard to make a difference between living things and trash. The windows were almost black due to the mud glued to the panes, just a few spots were letting sunbeams through and the smell was a mix between a restroom at a disco just before closing and trash lying around for three years in the heating sun. Maria made a face and wanted to pinch her nose to prevent the good aweful stench from hurting her sense of smell. But surprised she realized her hands were tied behind her back and she noticed that she was sitting on an uncomfortable chair.
" Well, well. Sleeping beauty finally awoke from her deep slumber".
Maria´s head snapped upwards and she saw Rath standing besides Nicolai, who seemed to have shred his human skin and was now looking like she had known him all her life on Antar. The same traitorous creature with the same cold grey eyes and the black hair, which were a bit longer than she remembered. " Now, if it´s not Tweedledee and Tweedledum. How come I get the pleasure of your visit?".
Nicolai smirked at his half sister and her dumb lines. She thought she was so smart and so fearless, but in truth she was just a little girl trying to be more than she was. " Don´t say you´re not delighted to see us? We already looked forward with anticipation for this meeting".
" Great. Then why couldn´t you provide a nicer atmosphere and at least a chair with a more comfortable seat? And I would fire your maid, because it´s smells like something died in here years ago", Maria was trying to distract the boys while she worked on the ropes keeping her hands tied together. Strangly nothing happened and her bonds were not budging one bit. Usually she could free herself from cuffs within seconds and without any problems. But these were different and got tighter the more she fought to loose them.
Rath watched her battling with the thick ropes around her wrist. Slightly amused he saw them cutting into her skin and blood dripping on the ground beneath her. Smiling like a damn lunatic he kneeled in front of her. " You can stop fighting against your bonds, because you can´t free yourself from them. They´re alien proved. You just hurt your delicate arms in the process".
Maria was so feed up with this nasty version of her past lover. Angrily she bent forward until she was as close as she could without really touching him. She stared into his eyes and was surprised to see the same things reflecting there like she remembered it from Rath. A gentleness that was hidden behind his indifference and his hard exterior. " Take this face off or I will personally do it!".
" Sorry honey, can´t do", Rath stood up from his crouched position and pointed at his face. " This is me. This is how I looked before and how I want to look now. Not like this wannabe punk pretending to be me", he had seen enough of his replacement and it had been a shock to see that he was just a young boy.
Maria shook her head unbelieving. Yeah right and the next thing she got told was that Elvis was still alive. And even if there was a tiny part of truth behind this statement, how came that he was working for the other side now? " You´re lying! Rath is dead. I was there when he died".
Rath chuckled at the naive girl in front of him. So much like Marianna and yet so far away from the person she had been. If not for the green eyes, he wouldn´t have even recognized her anymore. She wasn´t as attractive as she had been before, but for human standards pretty passable. " Yeah. Now that you mention that, I want to thank you for getting me killed and let my family die. I can´t express how much that meant to me".
" If you would be Rath, you would know that I did what I could to save everyone", Maria tried to quell the urge to cry. He had hit her weak spot. Still today she was blaming herself for the death of her second family. And it got worse when she was told that it was true for a small part, that it was a little her fault.
Rath started to laughed loudly at the statement. It was a deep and sarcastic tone. So unusual for him and it was scary. Then suddenly he stopped and bent down to look into her eyes. For a moment it appeared like he wanted to burn her with his angry glance, but he took her face in his warm hands and caressed it with his thumbs. " Sweet Marianna. You never had what it needed to be a good soldier. You were too weak, too emotionally and most of all too feminine. The only use you had was to entertain us and give us some eye candy".
Maria´s lips began to tremble slightly and tears were shooting in her eyes. But she took all her powers to prevent herself from crying in front of this two bastards. They were trying to play their mind games with her and they almost managed to hurt her. Thankfully Kyle choose this moment to chime into her mind and tell her that everyone was alive and at the local hospital. Alex had a broken bone which got fixed, Tess a small bruise on her head and he himself a small concussion with a few scratches. Michael on the other hand had been more injured but she shouldn´t worry, because the doctors were working on him. Just before her brother could asked about her whereabouts, she was thrown out of her connection. Startled she looked at the annoyed faces of her kidnapper.
" Hey! I was talking to you. Can´t you answer or did you swallow your tongue?".
Maria stretched her feets out and leant against the backrest, well as much as her restraints would let her. Calmly she smiled at Rath´ furious looking expression. Her friends and her brother were alive. And who cared what these two were thinking about her? They didn´t know her anymore and their oppinion was irrelevant. The people around her mattered and nobody else. " What do you wanna hear from me? You want me to start crying me eyes out and beg for your forgiveness? I don´t beg and the real Rath knew that fact".
Now Nicolai joined the conversation. He was so sick of watching them, he wanted action. " He is real. That´s your former lover standing in front of you".
" And how did you do that? I mean you´re not bright enough for something so difficult", Maria observed Rath more precisely. Everything was correct, the mimic, the gestures, the damn twinkle in his eyes and the slightly cocky stance. But how was this possible? Larek and his eggheads were the most smartest men she had known and they only had managed to put their essence in a human fetus. And yet they had the memory and the powers, but not the appearance.
Nicolai stepped forward and striked her cheek with the flat of his hand pretty hard. Her head snapped with much force to the other side. When she turned her face in his direction again, he saw a nice red handprint on her skin and blood dripping from her mouth, which she licked off with satisfaction. Cursing himself for falling into her trap, he put more distance between him and her. Although he felt a little better after he could give in to temptation and do something he wanted to do since they saw each other in Roswell. " Sorry, reflex", shaking his wrist he went to his place besides Rath again. " Pretty neat what our scientist created with a bit of his blood and a few hair. We cloned your precious commander and changed his brain a bit. Now he´s a loyal follower of Khivar and our strongest ally so far".
Maria tried to digest the information and was shocked how far her halfbrother would go to win. He even created his own Rath to have a advantage. And the worse at this statement, it was true, they had one of the strongest person on their side, but he was not better than her. They both had been equals, in strength and powers. Suddenly the last part of the sentence drifted into her mind. What did Nicolai mean with so far? " Wait. So far? Don´t tell me you want to make a clone of Marianna? That would be really icky"
" Finally we come to point of this little get together", Nicolai rubbed his hand happily. He had waited long enough to submit this offer. To damn bad that his father couldn´t be here to see all this. He would be proud. " We, meaning me and Rath, want to make a deal with you".
Maria prepared herself for some dumb little joke. Deal? What could she have that they wanted and what in contrast could they have what she wanted? Because a deal consisted of give and take. " Alright. Give it to me".
Rath walked closer to her and kneeled at her feet. Grinning he put his ellbows on her thighs and looked deep into her eyes. " You join our side and we guarantee you a safe position".
" Are you serious?", Maria expected much, a threat to her life or maybe her families life. But this was too much. She just had to laugh, there was no way around it. The laughter was loud and came direct from the bottom. Tears were streaming down her face and she knew that her belly would be hurting in the morning. After a few seconds she controlled herself again, when she noticed that she was the only one finding this funny. She saw the sober expressions. " Oh my god! You really mean it, don´t you?".
Rath arose in a standing position and circled around her. He knew that she was stubborn and she wouldn´t agree immediately to the suggestion. But he could with that, because deep down she was the same woman he fell in love with. " Yes. We could be together again. Side by side fighting against those losers. They´re loosing this war, Marianna. But we give you the chance to reconsider your oppinion and live a happy life with us".
Maria shook her head. Did she step into the twilight Zone or had the knock on her head killed her and this was her private hell? Because this couldn´t be real. Oh shit, maybe she was sleeping and this was just a nightmare. Forcefully she tugged at her ropes and pain was shooting through her arms. All right, not a dream. Well then she had to handle the situation different. " First of all my name is Maria and this chica is not working with gutless bastards such as you. And secondly you don´t really expect me to believe you, do you?".
" Obviously you don´t understand the implication of this deal. You have two options. You either accept or you don´t. But remember that a bad decision could cost you what you love the most", Nicolai knew that she had one weakness and that was her family. He saw it when he picked her sister up for a date. She would do anything to protect them, even if it meant killing someone or getting killed herself.
Maria´s complete aura changed after that. Her eyes turned to a darker shade of green, it looked almost black, her body was tensing to the point that it appeared like she would explode every minute and her yaw was moving angrily. " I hope for you that this isn´t a threat against my family, because then I have to kill you. And believe me when I say that this time nothing will stop me from doing it".
Nicolai was aware that she was dead serious, after all she didn´t have the sibling bond like the last time and she knew what happened when she would let him alive, because she lived it once and she wouldn´t do the same mistake again. But he had Rath on his side and that would make a difference. Slowly he went behind his half sister and bent his down to her ear. " I won´t touch your family. Yet. But if you choose the wrong side, I will take care of them".
" We´ll give you time to think about everything. But don´t take forever. We´ll see each other again and then we expect an answer", Rath nodded at his partner and together they walked calmly out of the warehouse.
After they both had been out of sight, the ropes holding Marias hands prisoner fell from her wrist. Immediately she jumped to her feet to storm after them, but as soon as her legs had to carry her weight, they refused to do their job. Slightly weak on the feets she plopped down onto the chair and waited until her body was finally doing what he was supposed to do. Then she scratched off her first instincts to go after Dumb and Dumber and went to find her friends instead.
Hospital
Kyle was sitting on the brown plastic chair in the waiting room and watched the entrance door with tension. He hated to not know what happened to his sister. She was alright, that much he knew, but it was strange that their connection just snapped like that. He was worried about her, more than usual and he didn´t like the feeling. Tess besides him seemed to sense his discomfort and squeezed his hand, although she was extremly nervous herself. After all her brother was in one of this rooms and nobody could or wanted to tell her about his condition. Biting her nails on her other hand she let her gaze wander to Max and Liz opposite them. They both were quietly talking to each other. Probably about the explosion and who was behind it. Or how the actually managed to come out of the mess without a scratch on them. Isabel was on the way to nail a doctor, who could finally tell her what happened to her boyfriend and how bad it was. Everybody knew she just wanted to distract herself from worrying about Alex and his injured leg, which they knew was broken, but had to be operated because the bone broke through his skin and now they had to set the fracture. It could take a while, judging after the many people lining at the walls or sitting on stretchers.
" Oh thank god", suddenly Kyle jumped to his feets and waved like a damn lunatic with his arms.
Tess surprised about the sudden move of her boyfriend glanced in the direction and saw her roommate coming towards them. Maria was fastly storming in their direction and smiled relieved at them. With a squeal she threw herself in her brothers arms and squeezed him tightly. Tess could just hear something that sounded like they both were glad that they were alright.
Maria pushed herself back from Kyle to look properly at him. She was a little disturbed about the small patch on his forehead. Tenderly she stroked over it. " Shit, what happened?".
" It´s nothing. Hamlet just fell on my head", he shrugged uncomfortable and cursed himself for not thinking about a cool story he could tell his sister. But Tess was with him and she would have blow his lie immediately. Besides he didn´t need to play the hero with her, she knew him better than that.
Maria smiled through the happy tears shining in her eyes. She was so relieved to see him alive and just barely hurt. Okay, he was the one getting in contact with her via their sibling bond, but now she had visible proof. " I told you Shakespear would be too hard for you".
Kyle rubbed over his wound and grinned sheepishly. Yeah, if he had known how hard he would have told Tess to go in the science fiction section instead. Well, now he had made a new experience and knew that you never made out in the classical literature area of the library. " Great, like it´s not embarrassing enough that I got knocked out from a book, now I got mocked from my own sister".
" Oh poor bro, I´m sorry for not taking you serious", she ruffled his hair playfully and then turned her attention to the girl standing up from her chair and shyly smiling at her. Instantly she went to her roommate and embraced her. " How are you?".
Tess sniffed loudly at that and when she parted from her friend she wiped a few tears from her face. " I´m good. But Michael is still in one of those rooms and nobody wants to tell me anything. I´m worried and those damn doctors don´t see that".
Maria took the others girl face in her hands and tried to calm her a little. After all it wouldn´t be good for her if she made a big deal out of everything and then she would notice it was for nothing. " He will be fine. He´s stronger than that and he´s a fighter".
" I know that. But I´m still scared", Tess was glad that her roommate was with them again. She was the only one aside from her brother who could make her feel better. Well Kyle could do that, too. But with him it was different. Maybe it was the fact that he was human and didn´t have the mental abilities like them.
Suddenly a Dr. Ross lookalike was walking towards them with a chart in his hand. His expression wasn´t giving away what happened. All females immediately watched how nicely the doctor coat suited him. White was his color. " Relatives of Michael Dupree?".
Tess instantly went to the hottie and noticed that he even looked better from close up. And his deep rough voice was sending chills up and down her spine. But then she remembered why she was here in the first place and snapped out of her trance. " I´m his sister".
" I´m Dr. Williams and I was the one treating your brother. I have to say he has to have someone up there who really likes him. He was lucky. Except for a small concussion and two broken ribs everything is fine. A few days of rest and he will be as good as new".
Tess breathed out relieved and even managed a small smile at the doctor. She would have rather squeezed the older man, but she thought it wasn´t properly and her boyfriend was not far away. " Thank you. When can we see him?".
Dr. Williams eyed the chart in his hand shortly and then focused his vision on the girl in front of him. " He´s awake right now, so I think you can see him. He´s in room numer 285. But don´t stress him too much.".
" No problem and thank you again", Tess took Kyle´s hand and dragged him in the direction of her brother. She had to see for herself that he was fine and maybe yell a little at him for scaring her.
Maria watched them both disappear in the loud crowd and let out a quiet sob. She was so happy that Michael was alright and not hurt too badly. Even if she had tried to reassure her roommate about his condition, she hadn´t been so sure about it herself. But now she knew that everything was fairly good, at least in her little world. Finally she recognized her best friend and her boyfriend staring at her. Composing herself she walked over to them and sat besides the brunette. " Sorry I didn´t see you right away".
Liz didn´t say anything and huged her friend tightly. She had been recalling her mantra since childhood, everything will be fine, repeatedly and she probably had broken Max´ hand by squeezing it too hard. But now a load was taken from her mind. " I had been so worried about you".
" Although I told her that it was pointless, because you´re the least of us that we should worry about", Max chimed in. Despite the teasing in his voice, he was glad that all his friends were around him. Most of them unharmed and the others just slightly hurt.
Maria released herself from the strong hold of her best friend and smiled at him. She didn´t know if she should take it as a compliment or as an insult. But either way, it didn´t matter and he was kinda right about that. She didn´t had to fear anything at the moment, because Nicolai and Rath wouldn´t kill her. Yet at least. " Oh you know me. I´m Teflon Babe, nothing can hurt me", she scanned the area around her and realized that two people were still missing from the bunch. " Hey, where are Alex and Isabel?".
Liz finally saw the red marks on her friends wrist and wondered where she got them. It didn´t look like it had been caused from the accident. They were rather appearing like she had been bound and had tried to free herself. " What is that? How did it happen? And most importantly where have you been?".
" Oh it´s nothing. I just had a quarell with my past", Maria shrugged unconcerned and glanced at her wrists. Thankfully her healing power had already kicked in and most of her small injuries had been gone. It would have just caused more question when she would have appeared with two bleeding hands and a pretty blubber lip.
At that Max looked alarmed, because he knew the implication of the sentence. It was probably Nicolai again. Damn, why couldn´t the little troll stay away from them? Did he have a death wish or what? " What did the bastard want?".
Maria felt extremly uneasy with all the question. She didn´t want to frighten anyone and she didn´t want to keep something from them. But it was better to talk with someone with more experience before she spread the news around. " Oh you know the usual. He threaten my existence and called me names. Nothing I haven´t heard before".
" Guys. Alex came through the operation and everything went well", Isabel finally appeared with the biggest smile the world ever saw on her face. Her usual tidy hair was sticking in every direction and it appeared like she had cried.
Liz and Maria stood up immediately and went to their friend. Happily they embraced each other and enjoyed this moment of relieve. Max remained seated and watched the three girls holding onto the other like there was no tomorrow.
Suddenly a voice came over the speakers with an announcement and everybody stopped talking to hear it.
" A phonecall for Maria or Kyle Valenti. I repeat. A phonecall for Maria or Kyle Valenti".
Maria was confused about that. Who would call her here? And who would know that she would be here at all? She noticed the worried glances of her friends around her. They seemed to think the same thing right now. A little wigged she walked to the reception, which took her a tad bit longer than she thought, because of the many people standing in her way. When she made it through the crowd she saw a slight overweight black woman standing behind a counter and shuffling through papers. On her nose were white glasses and made her look a little funny. Slowly she stepped closer to her. " Hy. My name is Maria Valenti".
The woman looked up from her work and eyed her. Then she pointed besides her with her eyes. " Yeah. Someone´s calling for you".
" Thanks", Maria took the receiver lying on the counter with shaking hands. Who would be on the other side? Did she want to know it at all? Breathing out nervously she put the phone at her ear. " Hello?".
" Oh thank god your alive. I´m already trying to reach you or Kyle for almost two hours now. Do you know how worried I have been".
Maria chuckled with ease. She was so glad to hear her father on the line, even if he was slightly hysterical or at least he sounded like that. " Dad, calm down. We´re fine", then she wondered how he knew what happened. " How did you know where we are?".
" I´ve got a friend in the Las Cruces Police Departement. I told him that he should inform me if something should happen. He called me immediately when he learned about the explosion and when I couldn´t reach you or your brother I phoned every hospital in the proximity".
Maria should have known that he would set the local police on his children, to keep an eye on them and check that they wouldn´t do something stupid or illegal. Their father was such a control freak. It was a wonder that he even allowed them to go to college in another town. " Now you can relax. Kyle and me are healthy", she stopped in midsentence when she heard the door in her fathers office burst open and she catched the voice of her mother, who was hysterical telling her husband about the accident and that she couldn´t reach the kids.
" Amy stop, sit down and breath deeply in and out", a little pause. " Now calm down. The kids are fine. I´m talking to Maria right now.
Maria listened as her mother demanded the phone from her husband. She wanted audible proof that her children were unhurt. " You better give her the phone or she will let you sleep on the couch for a very long time".
" Don´t remind me. Here´s your mother", a quiet rustle was heard and then Amy spoke. " Honey are you alright?".
Maria rolled her eyes and wondered if her mother knew what she was doing. Of course she was alright when she talked with her father. " Yeah. Like I told Dad already, Kyle and I are perfectly fine".
" And why couldn´t you call me and tell me that immediately? You had me worried sick with fear. If Jeff hadn´t seen the news we still wouldn´t know about the accident at your college. Don´t do that again, young lady or I will ground you until your too old to enjoy your life anymore".
Maria was glad to have a long distance between her and her mother, because she was sure that it would be more dangerous to be near her than be in a room with poisonous snakes." I´m sorry. Everything was so frenzied and chaos everywhere, that I didn´t get the chance to call you".
" I´m just glad that nothing happened to you or your brother. How are the others?".
Maria saw Tess and Kyle stepping out of a room. They seemed to be looking for something. Then they stopped with Max and Liz, who talked to them for a minute before pointing in her direction. After that her brother came towards her. " They´re fine. Well Alex has a broken leg, but that will heal soon".
" That´s good to know. I´ll tell Charles that. He will be glad to know that his son is alright".
Maria didn´t listen any longer to her mother. She was too occupied with watching her brother walking in her direction. His face was expressionless and didn´t gave away what was going on. And quite frankly it was scaring her. " Sorry Mom. Can you wait a minute? Kyle wants to talk to you", then she took the receiver from her hear and stared at him when he stopped in front of her. " What´s up?"
Kyle crossed his arms over his chest and glanced at her with a raised eyebrow. Then his face broke out in a smile. " Your boyfriend send us out to find you. He wants to see for himself that you´re in one piece and unharmed"
" All right", she pushed the phone towards him and grinned satanic." Mom wants to have a word with you", perfectly knowing that he would get the same lecture about giving her a heartattack in her young age, she walked away.
Minutes later she stood in front of Michael´s room and tried to find the guts to step inside. She was dreading going in there. For one thing she didn´t want to see her boyfriend lying injured in some hospital bed and that because of her. Secondly she feared that he would blame her for the explosion. But she knew that she had to do it, otherwise it would look strange. Looking up she send a prayer to the big man above before she took a deep breath and knocked softly. Carefully she opened the door and peered in the room with her head. Relieved she saw her boyfriend sitting up in his bed and glancing at her. " Hey".
Michael instantly brightened up when he saw her. He had been so worried about her when the others told him that they didn´t know where she was. " Hey yourself".
Maria smiled at him, relieved that he wouldn´t hold anything against her. Without saying a word she stormed at his bed side and embraced him tenderly. She would have squeezed the life out of him if she wouldn´t have been so afraid that she could hurt him with it. Happy tears were dropping from her face. " I´m so glad that you´re alright. I was so scared when I saw the building collapse".
" I´m fine. You know it needs more than a few stones to get me out of the way", Michael felt at ease, knowing that everybody he cared about where alive and near him. Especially Maria. Now he could finally rest a little.
Maria released her hold on him, kissed his slightly swollen lips and then took a seat on the chair besides the bed. Not once letting go of his hand. With her free hand she wiped the tears from her face, because she didn´t want him to see her with tearstained eyes. " You´re hurt nontheless", she stroked over a few of his more obvious scratches on his face. Thankfully they would heal soon and if not, he would look hot with light scares.
Michael shrugged his shoulders. He survived worse things in his life. Besides his alien genes really helped his healing process, although not so fast like it did with Maria. " It´s not so bad actually"
" And I´m glad for that small miracle", Maria felt for the first time the strain of the last few days and she was thankful that she was sitting. Otherwise she would be already lying on the ground, because she was sure that her legs would have given up on her.
Michael noticed the weariness in her eyes. He knew that the last days hadn´t been exactly stress free and it had happened so much in such a short space. But there was something that made him a little uneasy. " Where have you been? The others didn´t see you at the spot you had been. And who was the guy you chased?".
Maria had waited for this question already. But she didn´t think it was the time or the place for this conversation. Besides they had enough time to talk about it and prepare something, thanks to the deal of Nicolai. " Don´t worry about that right now. Just concentrate on getting better. Everything else we can discuss at a later date".
" Are you sure? Don´t think I haven´t seen the wounds on your wrist", they had been bothering him when he noticed them and he immediately knew how they got there. Something had been happening to her. However he was aware that she hadn´t told him anything, which either meant it was over or it was no big deal to her.
Maria looked at the red marks and her mind wandered to the threat Nicolai had made towards her. If she didn´t do what he wanted, he would go after her family. That included Michael, too. She couldn´t watch him die again. " Don´t worry about that. If it would have been serious I would have told everybody about it already, don´t you think?".
Michael caressed the back of her hand with his thumb while staring at her clear eyes. All right, he would her believe for now. But that didn´t mean he wouldn´t ask again anytime soon. Nodding at her he dropped the topic and concentrated on their linked hands. He enjoyed the light touches from her delicate fingers and it made him realized how much he really loved her. She had been the last thought in his head when the bomb exploded and the first when he woke up. " I love you".
" Oh shit, the knock on your head had caused damage to your brain", Maria tried to cover her surprise with a joke. She hadn´t expected him to say it to her, especially not at this place and not like that. Just so out of the blue and without advanced notice. He couldn´t just blurt something out like that, in the middle of a hospital with the smell of antiseptic hanging in the air.
Michael felt a pang of hurt at her words. It wasn´t the reaction he imagined when he declared his love for her. He thought she would tell him the same or at least be moved about it. " It´s ok if you don´t feel the same way about me. I just thought I´d tell you how I feel".
Maria dropped his hand on the white blanket and stood up. She couldn´t sit still when she voiced what was going through her head. How much fear she felt just at the thought of expression her feelings for him. The last time she had done that, he had died. And after the accident today, she was sure that it would be like that again. They would kill him just to destroy her. " It´s not that. I love you more than anything on this planet. So much that I don´t even find words for that".
" Why do I sense a but?", Michael followed her movements with his eyes and wondered what was going on with her. It should be great that they both felt the same towards each other. Nothing to be worried about. Or was he wrong about that?
Maria faced him and she knew exactly what she had to do to keep him safe. He wouldn´t like what she would say and it would probably break her heart. But when it meant he would be alive to see his grandchildren grow up, then they had to bear with the pain. " I don´t want to see you getting killed. Not because of me or because of this stupid curse. You just mean too much to me and I can´t take this risk again".
Michael realized what she was trying to tell him and he couldn´t even stand the thought. She couldn´t just come to a decision without even asking him about it. That wasn´t how a relationship worked. Quietly cursing his hurting body, he tried to get on his feet. Unfortunately his broken ribs wouldn´t let him do that. " Great. And you think when you´re breaking up with me it will be better? Do you think the danger will disappear just because we´re not together anymore?".
" No. Why do you have to fight with me about every little thing. I want to protect you and make sure that you live to see the next day. It has nothing to do with feelings", Maria rubbed her face tiredly. She was so damn sick of this whole shit. All she ever wanted was to be normal, to live a life like anybody else. Go to school, find a job, get a man, marry and have a few kids. But no, destiny had to screw with her. She hated the gods for giving her this curse.
Michael would have like the sight of her angry side if the situation wouldn´t be so serious. " You don´t need to protect me. I´m not defenceless, you know. I can take care of myself".
Maria shook her head, she knew that fact herself. But she was desperate, they barely escaped an explosion directed at her. The next time it could be deadly for someone and she was afraid it could be him. She would rather suffer from seperation than from sorrow. " There´s nothing you can do to change my mind. It´s over", quickly she turned around to hide her tears and made a hasty departure.
Michael watched her disappear from his sight. He wouldn´t let her go through with her silly little plan. If she wanted him gone from her life, she had to do more than just breaking up with him. Namely shooting him with a space ship into the cosmos or killing him. Nothing was over yet. Not as long as he was still breathing.
TBC
