Max and Tess were sitting outside the pod chamber entrance. They were not foolish enough to actually go inside. When they're enemies came they would go back a ways and use the rocks in the area for cover. That would give them some advantage. At the moment they were just sitting there in silence. Max looked to be off in la-la land or something, alone in deep thought. Tess sat there not knowing what to do. Even she was weary of Max, now. There were things Max knew that she didn't remember, and part of her was unsettled by Max's new outlook on things. She wasn't frightened like Michael or Isabel at all. It was just such a sudden change for her. She had not prepared for things to change so drastically and so quickly. For the first time, she was afraid of dealing with the uncertainty of their future.
"Tess?" Max asked out of the blue, "do remember our wedding?"
Tess looked down, as if she had failed him in some way, then she said, "I'm sorry Max, but I still don't remember everything. Do you want to tell me about it?"
"We were both worried," Max explained, "we didn't know what our families would think of us. We thought we might mess up somehow. Everyone was watching. I remember waiting for you to come in during the ceremony – my heart was racing. Then, I saw you, you were so beautiful, and it made all the butterflies go away. Seeing you made me know that everything would turn out okay, and after that, I was able to relax that day."
"Do you remember what you said to me, at the wedding I think, but you always said it. Blow me a kiss…"
"…and I'll light you a fire," Max finished.
After this brief conversation took place, the two of them just sat there once more. No conversation, no words, not a sound could be heard. The scene was really quite peaceful. Tess was feeling much more comfortable now. All was tranquil, as the pair waited for events to unfold.
"Michael!" Maria exclaimed, "is it really you?"
"Yeah," said Michael, "who else would it be?"
"I thought you were dead!"
"Well, I'm not," said Michael, "who told you that anyway?"
"Larick," said Maria.
"Oh," said Michael, "well, he was wrong."
"Uh," said Maria, "yeah, I'm kinda figuring. Umm, why do you seem so distant?"
"Have you seen Isabel around?"
"Is that all you care about, Isabel? Aren't you even happy to see me?"
"Delighted," Michael retorted, "look, this is important."
"I saw Isabel downtown, she was with a friend or something, they were shopping for clothes."
"Downtown," Michael said in disgust, "It'll take me forever to get there on foot."
"Why do you need to see her anyway?"
"We have a lot to talk about," Michael explained, "and not a lot of time. Okay, Maria, I really need to borrow the Jetta."
"Okay," said Maria casually and tossed him the keys.
"Okay?" said Michael in shock, "just like that. You're not going to refuse because I always wreck it up, or insist that I bring you along even though you know I don't want you there?"
"Yeah Michael," said Maria, "when someone you care about is in a time of need, you have to help them out, even if you're not certain it's wise. I can't be sure you won't wreck up my mom's car, but I have to let you use it because I can tell you really need to."
"All right," said Michael, "thanks," and he ran off to get the car.
"Michael," Maria called after him, "you will be careful with that car! Do you hear me? I don't want to see one dent when you come back with it!"
Michael heard her, but this was no time to play around. He had to go and get Isabel. It was even more urgent than before. Maria helped him see things clearly, and he knew what he had to do. He only hoped that time would not abandon him.
Several hours later, Tess and Max were still sitting there in silence. They perked up when they heard something.
"Footsteps," said Max alertly, "lots of them. Get in position."
The two of them ran up to the rocks surrounding the pod chamber. They spread out as much as they could. They saw the army of silver suited aliens coming. Not that many lines, less than ten, but the lines were long.
"We're going to have trouble warding this off," Max cautioned, "try to focus on protecting our flank!"
"I'll try Max!"
The attack came, Max and Tess both fired their stun energy bursts quickly, but it was hard to get hits. They wouldn't be able to hold much longer. One of the silver suit aliens had broken through the line of defense Max and Tess were trying to hold and establish. Undoubtedly, he was just the first of many. He was climbing the rocks, coming very close to Max. Suddenly, a red Jetta came speeding in and stopped. Out stepped Michael and Isabel. Michael saw the alien approaching Max from his blind side.
"Max get down!" Michael shouted. Max ducked and the alien fired his weapon missing, but it was close. Michael used his powers to fly him back.
Isabel and Michael ran up to join Max. They managed to get to him and crouched beside him.
"Waiting for your orders," said Michael.
"Sir," added Isabel.
"We have to spread out," said Max.
Isabel got up and ran off. Michael started to, but then he saw Max use his new power.
"What's that?" Michael asked.
"It's just something that we can do," said Max, "it stuns our enemies, leaves them unconscious for a few hours."
"Oh," said Michael, "and can we shoot red x-ray beams from eyes too? 'Are we faster than a speeding, and can we leap tall buildings in a single bound?'"
"No," Max said, "none of that, but we are 'more powerful than a locomotive.' Now go, we must spread out."
The Royal Four fought as hard as they could. Working together, warding off the enemy as best they could. Yet, still, despite Michael's ability to knock down 5 men with one blow, despite Isabel's accuracy, and Tess and Max's ability to fire energy bursts, the Royal Four were losing. Max looked over at Tess, who did not seem down like Michael, Isabel, and himself. She blew Max at kiss. Max thought about it for a second, then he understood. He held out his hand, and started an enormous fire right where their enemies were standing. The fire blazed for several minutes, and then Max put it out. The Royal Four walked down and looked at the gruesome scene before them. The burnt corpses were all just lying there; it was a site of death.
"So," said Michael, in disbelief of what Max had done, "that's it. You just killed all of them?"
Max did not seem confident in his decision like he had all the other times he had made one since his memories were triggered. "It was the only way," he said. Then he looked at Tess. It was not a pleasant look; he looked at her if it was her fault.
"You did the right thing, Max," she told him.
"It doesn't feel like the right thing," Max said regretful toward his choice, "killing is never right."
"They would have killed us," said Tess,
"So instead we killed them," Max said, "how does that make us better?"
Without another word the four of them stepped into the Jetta and drove back to Roswell. During the entire trip, no one spoke, no one moved, no noise was heard, except for the soft breathing from each of them.
Arriving in Roswell, they went to the Crashdown Café to return Maria's car. Everyone got out after Michael parked the car on the side of the road.
"I'll go find Maria," said Michael.
"I'll come with you," Isabel said.
The two of them walked off. As this happened, Liz came running from the Crashdown.
"Liz!" Max said to himself, happy to see her.
"What happened to the man who greeted me in that space ship after getting back his old memories?" Tess asked him.
"I'm sorry Tess," Max said, "but that wasn't me. I am a culmination of two people: Max and Xan. Until recently, I didn't remember Xan, so it was just Max. Now Xan is a part of me too, but when I first got my memories, my mind was flooded with them. For a while, everything I said and did was as Xan. Now they've blended. I do care for you Tess, but in a different way than I might of let on."
Liz had to wait for traffic to clear before she could cross the street and join Max and Tess. By the time she reached them, Max had just finished telling Tess her bad news for the day.
"Liz," he saw a look on her face, kind of excited and kind of worried, "what's going on?"
"Come here, all of you need to see this," Liz said.
What Liz had to point out was horrible. Max had gathered Quandara, Isabel, Tess, and Michael to see it with him. He didn't know what they were in store for. There, in the back room of the Crashdown, Liz turned on the TV.
The reporters were going nuts. News was on every channel. They were all reporting one thing: "Aliens in Roswell." They had footage of the ship landing; they had footage of the recent battle with Max and the others using their powers. Max looked at Quandara.
"I think you know what needs to be done," Quandara told Max.
Max nodded, and all eyes fell on him. "We have to get the healing stones, and go to the pod chamber."
"Why?" asked Isabel.
"I'll explain everything when we get there," Max answered.
At the pod chamber, the five of them were sitting in a circle, all but Max, who, before sitting down, explained the situation. "Things are out of hand here. We have to make things right again. We're going to use the power of the stones and this room to travel back in time – to when before this all happened. Quandara, we will need you to help prevent the ship from making it to Earth."
"I know," she said, "I will give myself a memory tag, I will sabotage the ship."
"Everyone else here will forget that all of this happened. I wish I could make a memory tag to remember you," Max said to Quandara.
"But you know that you cannot."
"I know," said Max, "this time travel will set things right again. There will be things that aren't so good though. Tess, we may never end up finding you alive, and we may never uncover Ava's deception. Quandara," his voice softened from the hard commander to the caring child, "Mom, I fear I may never see you again," Max regained his commanding poise, "Okay, are we ready to do this?"
He looked around at each of them; they all nodded at him. Max sat down and they began to concentrate on their task.
Michael wished that he could have understood what really happened here. He felt better knowing that he wouldn't remember anything.
Quandara was worried that Max, the only with the ability, would make a memory tag, which is a way for them to block a portion of their brain off from being affected by all internal & external stimuli causing it to be impossible for someone to forget a tagged memory. She feared Max would do this memory tag thing, and jeopardize the future, but in the end, he never would.
Isabel was relieved that this would all be forgotten, she hated having to see Max deal with his new memories, she hated having to see her mother injured, and she hated the void her mother had reopened between Max and herself. The void they had patched up when they thought they'd be going home.
Tess didn't know what would happen to her. She wasn't afraid for her life so much as she was upset that Max and the others would mostly likely always think of her as the villain. Even in this timeline, she never really earned Isabel or Michael's trust, and in the end, although she thought that was different, she didn't really earn Max's either. He was disappointed with her for giving him the idea to start the fire. Tess felt like now, more than ever, that she was out of place, maybe because she saw that she would always remain that way – an outcast.
Max didn't know what to think. He had gone through a lot to get to the point of balance between Max and Xan – he was a new person. Yet, he had the death of Kavar and countless more aliens on his conscience. He had finally been able to step and be and leader, but he damaged his relationships with Michael and Isabel. He didn't know if would have ever been able to fix that. He also lost control by letting the media get that kind of footage. As the final moments of the ritual came, Max wondered if what he would gain by running back in time would outweigh what he was losing by not staying here now.
The healing stones in the hands of the five aliens began to glow brightly. The ritual was working. They could feel themselves getting pulled by forces even Quandara couldn't describe. They were being torn from their time, yanked back to a place they had been once before.
Max let go of Liz and started walking away from the pod chamber. Michael and Maria were standing there, Kyle too. Isabel turned around to face Max as he left, "What happens now Max?" she asked him, his back turned.
Max paused in his tracks, so did Liz. Kyle, Liz, Isabel, Michael, and Maria all looked at Max, awaiting his answer. "I have to save my son," he said, never even turning around to look back at Isabel or the others.
The End of my Story
To Be Continued this fall