Part 37
"I think we're lost." Kyle told Max.
Max was standing about ten feet to his right staring off across the darkening desert, a strange look on his face. Kyle hated when he did that. It was at times like these that Kyle remembered that Max was NOT human. His tendency to become spaced out on a regular basis was so much more understandable now.
"I've been here before." Max said, not to Kyle but to the air in general.
Kyle rolled his eyes. "Whoopdedoo. The question is: have Liz, Tess and Jennetta been here recently?"
Max turned to eye him, a slight frown on his face.
Well, that made it official. Max might not remember him, but he DID know that he and Kyle were NOT friends. Sure they trusted each other - but there was too much history there for them to ever really become close.
Kyle still had not forgiven Max for stealing Liz from him or for preoccupying Kyle's father on a regular basis- nor had he forgiven him for being who he was - the one person standing between he and Tess.
Although, Kyle thought bitterly, its unlikely that Tess would want to be with me even if there was no Max Evans.
"Liz is nearby." Max replied, staring into the distance again. Kyle scowled again, shivered slightly. Max really was a freak and he had turned Liz into one as well. Kyle would never get used to the connection that existed between the two of them.
He had never stood a chance with Liz.
"Lead on oh mighty one." Kyle muttered as Max took off at a steady pace.
Kyle was almost positive that Max was leading him on a wild goose chase - until Evans stopped so abruptly Kyle almost rammed into his back. "We're here." Max told him unnecessarily.
"We're where?" All Kyle saw was desert. It was almost dark and the occasional scrub brush was shadowed and barely visible. Kyle wondered how he and Max were going to find their way back to the Reservation in the dark. "We're in the middle of nowhere." His eyes widened as Max's hand suddenly lit up, brighter than any flashlight Kyle had ever seen. "Jesus!"
Max crouched near a large rock, seemed to be peering under it. He turned back and smirked at Kyle. "Are you game Valenti?"
It was then that Kyle noticed the hole in the desert floor. It was almost hidden by the boulder, but was clearly visible now due to the light thrown by Max's hand. The shadows thrown by the darkening sky had hidden it from view.
"One hundred and seventy pounds of Greco-Roman wrestler at your service." Kyle replied, setting his jaw.
Max's expression was amused. "Fine. I'm in charge here. If you can't accept that then I suggest you stay here and wait for Michael, Isabel and the others."
Kyle rolled his eyes. "I'm not stupid Max." He paused and met his former nemesis' eyes straight on. "You can trust me."
"I know I can." Max replied seriously. "I have a feeling that we might now have gotten along in the past but I don't doubt that you care about Liz and Tess - and so I can trust you."
Max turned away, stared down into the hole again. "Well, I might have been here before but I DON'T remember how far a drop it is." He muttered wryly.
Kyle pushed past him. "There's only one way to find out."
Kyle was through the hole and had dropped the ten feet or so to the stone floor of the cave it led to before he could think about it.
If sports had taught him one thing it was to go with instinct first and think about the consequences later. He had landed himself in trouble a few times but had also ended up on more All-Star teams than he could count.
Fear was the enemy.
Fear would stand between he and saving his friends.
No fear.
Max landed softly beside him a moment later. He used his lit-up hand to examine the walls of the place in which they found themselves.
Kyle realized it was not so much a cave as it was a tunnel. The walls were completely smooth, had clearly been polished at one time as well. Dust covered the etchings that spread off in both directions.
The symbols on the wall were familiar to Kyle. He had seen Isabel wearing a necklace with one of them and he had also seen it on one of those damn blue orbs. He thought he had seen several more on some papers over at Tess'.
"Which way?" He whispered to Max.
Max motioned to footprints in the dust on the floor. "Follow me."
They walked for what felt like forever. Kyle knew that they were headed deep into the earth.
It was clear that this tunnel was NOT natural - and that it had been here for a long time. It was humbling to reflect on how long that meant Max's people had been connected to or on Earth.
Aliens had been among them for a long time - proving that the human race was pretty darn out of it.
The Crash of '47 had not been a beginning. More likely if had been an ending.
Max halted abruptly again. Kyle stumbled, scowled. "Will you please warn me the next time you're going to do that?" He growled softly.
Max shot him an annoyed look. "Quiet. We're close." He stared at the smooth walls on both side of the tunnels. "I can feel Liz nearby." He started to feel the walls for an opening of some sort.
Kyle did the same on the opposite wall. "Are you sure we shouldn't keep going?" He asked several minutes later.
"No." Max replied shortly. "Wait a minute." Kyle turned to watch as Max started to pass his hand gently over the wall, careful not to miss a spot.
"I don't think this is the time for dusting Evans." Kyle finally said when Max looked like he was never going to stop.
At that exact moment a silver hand-print appeared suddenly under Max's hand. Kyle blinked.
Max shot him a look over his shoulder. "Stay here and keep watch."
"The hell I will!" Kyle replied urgently. "You need me to watch your back."
"I don't know what we're going to find in there Kyle. If I'm not back in fifteen minutes I want you to head back to the surface and find Michael and Isabel." His gaze was steady. "You said that I could trust you."
I just knew he was going to throw that back in my face! Kyle reflected, annoyed. "Fine." He said shortly. "Fifteen minutes."
Max nodded, satisfied. He lifted his hand, fit it squarely on the silver hand-print. Kyle watched amazed as the stone wall slid away, revealing another smooth tunnel.
Kyle would never get used to all this alien hocus pocus.
Max was gone a moment later. Kyle sighed and pressed his back against the smooth wall, sliding down until he was seated on the floor of the tunnel. He was suddenly extremely weary.
It was pitch black now that Max had left with his magic hand. He was going to have to feel his way back up the tunnel if it came to that.
Kyle wondered how he was going to see his watch to know when fifteen minutes were up.
*************************************************************************************
Jaxon made his way carefully down the smaller corridor. He heard the wall slide back into place behind him but he ignored it.
All he was worried about was what was at the far end of this tunnel.
He knew Liz was nearby. He had sensed her flash of fear when he and Kyle had stopped to find the hand-print.
If he had doubted their connection before this, their was no doubt now.
There was a bond between he and this human that could not be explained - nor could it be denied. He understood now why he had fallen in love with her when he was Max Evans and he also understood why he could not resist her now.
They were two halves of the same soul. There was no other explanation.
He did not know what game Sabrya was playing, but somehow he knew that she was behind Liz and Jennetta's disappearance, had known it the minute he had become aware of the fact that they were missing.
Jaxon almost stumbled upon them without meaning too. The tunnel was still dark when it suddenly opened up into a huge lit cavern. The light was blinding after the blackness of the rest of the complex.
He heard Sabrya's voice before he saw her. "She is taken care of." Her tone was harsh.
"Good work Tessie. Now come here and help me get Jennetta prepared for the transformation."
Jaxon felt his heart stop. He was concealed behind a stone overhang, but he could hear everything that was happening. The voice of the other girl was familiar to him, just on the edge of his memory.
"I still don't understand why Jaxon wants me podded again. I don't know if my mother is going to like this." It was Jennetta. Jaxon allowed himself a slight breath of relief that she was apparently healthy at the moment. But when her comment penetrated his mind, he grimaced. They were using Jennetta's love for him to control her.
It was time to find out who was betraying him. He had to save his sister before they did whatever it was they were planning to do to her.
He was also concerned by the fact that he could no longer feel Liz anywhere. Had they moved her?
Jaxon stepped out from behind the overhang. "I don't want you podded Sweeting."
Jennetta was across the cavern. Sabrya was standing next to her, a hand on his small sister's shoulder.
Sabrya turned her blonde head, stared at him her eyes wide. She turned to her companion in confusion. Jaxon could not see the other girl as she was hidden by a bank of five transformation pods.
Jaxon frowned when Jennetta ignored him completely. She was waving her small hand across a lit pod. The organic sides opened and she stepped into it. It's side melded together behind her.
"Jennetta!" Jaxon rushed across the chamber, but it was too late. The pod had begun to fill with the clear liquid that was the transforming agent.
His sister was going to be cleansed. She was too young! It would kill her!
And yet there was nothing he could do to stop it. Once the transformation was begun, cutting it off in the middle was a guaranteed death sentence.
He clenched his jaw as he watched the pod fill completely. Jennetta's eyes closed calmly as the liquid covered her face. She looked peaceful - as though she was asleep.
A flash of intense anger stabbed through him.
Jaxon rounded on Sabrya. "What have you done?" He roared at her. His betraying former bride cringed away from him.
"Max! Please."
Jaxon forced himself to take deep breaths. Completely losing control was not going to solve anything. "Where is Liz?"
"She's where Tess left her."
The other girl stepped out from behind the pods. Jaxon's eyes widened. It was the girl from the Crashdown who had approached him earlier that day - Pam Troy.
She was pointing across the cavern.
He didn't want to turn around. He knew it was going to be bad...
It was only now that he realized that he could not feel Liz's presence at all.
He stared at Sabrya for a moment longer. "What have you done?" He asked again, softly, shaking his head. Jaxon watched her blue eyes fill with tears. She broke his gaze, turned pleading eyes to Pam.
"Danala! Please! Explain it to him."
Jaxon swallowed. "Danala." He said evenly. "I should have known."
"Tarsus has told you about me I see." She smirked at him, but her eyes were flat with disdain.
"He lied about you - just as he lied about everything." Jaxon replied. He glared at her. "I don't have time for you."
He forced himself to turn around. His breathing was uneven as his eyes found Liz.
The sight of her felt like a physical blow.
She was curled up near the wall. Her hands were bound behind her and her feet were tied as well.
Her dark hair covered her face, but he knew that she was dead. There was no sign that she was breathing and the black mark in the centre of her chest told him all he needed to know.
He could not feel her. Her spirit was not present in this place at all.
She was gone.
The emptiness that welled within him was suffocating.
Jaxon felt his throat closing up. "Liz." His knees were giving out on him. He managed to stumble to the wall to support himself.
He had to go to her. He had to try and heal her. But he couldn't make his legs move.
His entire body was numb.
His entire being knew that it was too late.
He could not bring back the dead.
"Max!" It was Sabrya. She had moved behind him.
He managed to control his voice when she touched his shoulder. "If you touch me I will make your death VERY unpleasant." He told her through clenched teeth. He felt her flinch away from him. He turned blazing eyes on her. "You are going to die Sabrya - trust me, but HOW is still to be determined. I suggest you keep your filthy hands off of me."
"But don't you understand? It had to be! She bewitched you Max. Danala told me so! She was standing between us, preventing us from creating the child that is going to save our people." Tess' eyes were wide and glinting with tears. "I didn't want to do it - but I had to! Our destiny is to be together."
Tess and Jaxon both whirled as Danala broke into peals of laughter.
"As you can see Jaxon, she is just as stupid in this life as she was in the last." She was shaking her dyed blonde head. She was laughing and yet it was disturbing because there was no real humour in it.
Jaxon knew that after the cleansing Dernians did not truly understand humour.
"What - what do you mean?" Jaxon could see Sabrya staring at her sister, an expression of horror on her face.
"We've already got our chosen one little imbecile." Danala indicated Jennetta, floating peacefully in her pod. "Who do you think this is?"
"Then why?" Tess was staring at Liz's corpse, her eyes shining with guilt and terror.
"We kidnapped her for the simplest reason in the world." Danala replied. "To get our hands on Jaxon of course. It was just pure chance that she brought the little saviour of Illyria along with her."
She turned her dark eyes on Jaxon. "And you fell right into my trap "your highness." Prepare to die Jaxon Falconer."
Jaxon was listening to her, but his mind was elsewhere.
He could not stop his eyes from returning to Liz's form, so small and helpless.
How could such a fragile body have contained such a brave spirit, in fact his entire world?
And then he knew what had to be done.
He had failed.
His sister was going to die.
His Liz was already gone.
He did not want to live without her.
Jaxon turned back to Danala. "So be it." He told her without hesitation. "But I'm taking you with me."
Part 38
When Michael and Maria arrived at the Reservation, Isabel and Alex were already there.
Isabel was pacing beside the Jeep, her expression grim. Alex stood nearby, his arms folded across his chest. He was watching her with concern.
Michael could tell right away that the situation was not good.
"Finally!" Isabel exclaimed as Michael and Maria climbed out the Jetta. "Where have you been?"
Michael watched Maria rub her eyes frantically. "Don't even get me started. Let me just say, the next time ANYONE finds an orb..." Both Alex and Isabel turned to stare at her. "UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS ANYONE GOING TO TOUCH IT!" The last came out as a shriek.
Isabel eyed Michael. "Do I even want to know?" She asked wearily.
"There's no time." Michael replied abruptly. "Are they here?"
"Eddie said Kyle and Max took off across the desert about an hour ago. He hasn't seen them since." Alex replied.
"Let's go." Michael said, leaving no room for argument.
He had to find his daughter. It was all he cared about at the moment.
He and Maria had not exchanged a single word during the entire ride from Fraser Woods to the Reservation. Michael had not known how to broach the subject of telling her who Jennetta was, not to mention Maria had not exactly been in the most accommodating of moods. She was still furious at him for scaring the living daylights out of her with his little "orb incident," as she had started to refer to it.
He had sort of been relieved.
It wasn't that he didn't want Maria to know.
It was just that he sort of wanted to savor the secret to himself for a while. He knew that the minute Maria found out she was going to totally lose it, and while normally he sort of enjoyed dealing with her freak-outs, right now...
He had more important things to worry about.
He just knew that Jennetta was in danger and that had to be his first priority. He knew that Maria was going to be pissed at him, big time, but he would deal with that later.
As the foursome trekked across the desert Michael knew exactly where they were going.
Their destination was the transformation chamber - the place where this whole catastrophic chain of events had begun when he had allowed Tarsus to cleanse him.
Michael's guilt over his own stupidity in trusting Tarsus had been torturing him for months - ever since Max had first disappeared and Maria had first shown signs of illness.
The moment he had found out the truth about Jennetta his guilt had completely disappeared.
It was now clear that there had been a purpose to it all.
If the result of all that pain had been his daughter - well, then it had been worth it.
Now they just had to make sure that the whole affair didn't end tragically anyway.
Michael did not hesitate as he, Maria, Alex and Isabel plunged through the pitch-black night. The stars were out, but there was no moon to light their trajectory. They had only one flashlight between the four of them. He knew the route though, having taken it so many times with that bastard Tarsus.
He heard Alex trip on something, swear.
The stress was getting to them all. Michael could feel Isabel on his right, their connection through the four-square strangely strong at the moment.
She was wound up, clearly ready to explode at any moment.
Something was seriously wrong.
He tried to keep his voice low as he spoke to Isabel, hoping to keep Maria out of whatever was troubling Isabel for a while longer.
He was still concerned that all of this was too much for his so recently comatose girlfriend. He was trying to shield her from as much of the crap that was going down as possible, but of course Maria was having none of it.
"What's wrong?" He whispered.
He could see Isabel's head swing around to face him in the dark. She paused before replying. "I dreamwalked all of them Michael - Liz, Tess, Max - I even tried Jennetta. I couldn't get a thing."
"So, it's not like it hasn't happened before." Michael replied quietly, although he felt like he had been punched in the stomach.
If his daughter was hurt before he even got a chance to know her...well, someone was going to pay - big.
"This is different Michael." Isabel told him, her tone troubled. "I've always been able to get in a bit - even if people shut me out once I was in. This time it was like hitting a big wall. I couldn't break through at all."
Michael pressed his lips together, flinched as Maria tripped into his back.
He glared over his shoulder at her. "Eavesdrop much?" He demanded in annoyance.
"Oh put a sock in it Spaceboy." Maria flared back. "You're hiding something. I know it. Don't you think that the time for secrets is over? Secrets have done nothing but cause trouble."
"Really?" Michael asked evenly. "I have a feeling that I'm not the only one with a secret."
"Would you two please just stop?" Isabel asked, irritated. "We don't have time for your bickering."
"Amen." Alex added from somewhere on Michael's left.
Maria snorted, but shut up. Michael knew that she was glad to do so now that he had called her on the fact that she was keeping something from him.
He wasn't at dumb as he sometimes pretended to be.
Maria had been a little off ever since she had come out of the coma. Oh, she was Maria all right, but she was strangely quiet about how Jennetta had healed her.
He knew that there was more to it than just a good old Max miracle-type healing.
And it suddenly hit him like a bolt of lightening.
She knew. Maria knew.
She had known for the last twelve hours and she hadn't told him.
He rounded on her, his rage almost completely out of control. It took all of his strength not to grab her and shake her. "MARIA!" He couldn't stop himself.
Michael heard her stumble. Alex's voice indicated that he had caught her. "What the hell...Maria are you okay?"
Michael felt Isabel grab his arm. "Michael?"
Michael was glad that he couldn't see Maria's face. To see the knowledge of her lie written on her face...
Alex's flashlight was in his face. "What's wrong?" Alex demanded, sounding perplexed and not a little irritated himself.
"She knows." Michael replied, turning away. As though that would somehow explain everything to Alex and Isabel. But he knew Maria would understand.
Maria was now at his side, grabbing his other arm. "I know! Of course I know! Be mad at me Michael - at this point I don't care - but we have to get her back. That's all there is to it. You can't let this stand in the way." Her voice faltered slightly, but Michael was most amazed by what he didn't hear in it.
She wasn't at all sorry.
"It won't." He managed to bite out. "We'll discuss it later."
"Discuss what?" Alex demanded.
"It's between Maria and me." Michael replied, his fury still radiating through every vein in his body. He was taking deep breaths as he began to walk again.
"Well, then I suggest you keep your cave-man bellows to yourself." Isabel snapped. "Are we almost there?"
"I think so." Maria whispered. "I can feel it."
"What?" Alex asked.
"Nothing." Maria replied.
Michael shivered.
She was right. It felt like they were walking into a void.
It felt like the entire world had been sucked dry of life - of feeling, of emotion. Michael could feel the void tugging on his own senses, trying to force him to give his own up.
He swallowed. "We're here."
Alex shone his flashlight on the boulder Michael remembered that hid the entrance to the tunnels.
All four of them stared into the darkness for a long moment. The feeling of emptiness was coming from within the underground complex.
Michael straightened his spine. His child was in there and she was in danger. "Let's go." He said resolutely.
Not a single one of them argued.
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Kyle heard Max yell even through the stone wall that had slid back into place after Max had passed through it. He jumped to his feet, felt his blood run cold.
That shout had been unnatural - like the agony of every living being on Earth had come together in a cacophony of grief so intense it literally shook the foundations of Kyle's soul.
It could only mean one thing.
Something had happened to Liz.
Kyle had absolutely no idea how much time had gone by. The Max-proscribed fifteen minutes might have ended, but sitting in the dark had made him totally lose track of the passage of minutes.
For all he knew it might have been three seconds - or three hours.
All he knew was that he felt like he had been waiting forever.
He briefly considered actually following Max's orders and finding his way back to the entrance to the tunnels, to go in search of Michael and Isabel and a little Czechoslovakian fire-power.
But the memory of that yell still reverberated in his ears.
There was no time to go for back-up. He needed to get in there now.
Only one face was etched on his brain - Tess.
He didn't care what the hell she had done. He loved her. He had to get to her.
Kyle started to feel along the smooth stone, feeling for an opening of some sort. It had to be there somewhere!
"Dammit!" Kyle muttered to himself. He thrust his hands through his hair in frustration.
It didn't help that he couldn't see a bloody thing. His eyes couldn't even adjust to the dark. There was no light whatsoever to allow it.
He clenched his fists, glared at the offending wall.
Kyle had NEVER wanted to be an alien, but what he wouldn't give for even a smidge of alien voodoo at the moment.
He swiped his hand over the surface of the wall in irritation.
The hand-print suddenly shone out at him, its silver glow actually lighting up the tunnel in which he found himself.
Kyle blinked, stared down at his hand. "What the..."
Oh who the hell cares? He asked himself silently. Just go with it Valenti.
Kyle bit his lip as he moved forward and placed his hand squarely on the hand-print.
He was not at all surprised when the wall began to move.
He was past it the moment the space was big enough for him to squeeze through. He was half-way down the smooth corridor before it even occurred to him to mark the spot for the others.
He hurried back in the direction from which he had come, stuck his jacket in the between the entrance and the far wall just as the door began to slide shut.
Kyle could see light shining at the far end of the tunnel. As he moved closer he began to pick up voices.
"....you fell right into my trap your highness." Kyle paused, frowned. That voice sounded horribly familiar. "Prepare to die Jaxon Falconer."
Pam Troy! Pam frickin' Troy! He would know that whiny voice anywhere.
Kyle was so stunned he literally couldn't move for a moment.
He managed to shake off his stupor as her last words penetrated his brain. Prepare to die...
Well, it was clear that Evans DID need back-up. So much for his allmightiness.
But Max's response to Pam's taunt caused the hair on the back of Kyle's neck to stand on end.
"So be it." His voice was calm, but with an underlying note of steel that made Kyle damn glad that he was not facing down Max Evans at the moment. "But I'm taking you with me."
Oh crap. It was alien smackdown time.
He glanced back down the tunnel nervously, hoping that Michael and Isabel were on their way.
Kyle inched forward, found himself standing behind a stone overhang. He couldn't see a bloody thing.
He heard Tess before he saw her. "Can't we talk about this reasonably?" She was asking, her voice terrified.
"The time for talk is over Sabrya." Pam replied. "I have the chosen one. There is no need for any of you anymore. Your time has ended."
"What?" Tess' voice cracked. "But what about my destiny - my destiny with Max?"
"Oh will you shut up about that?" Pam asked. "Destiny, shmestiny. None of it matters now."
Kyle poked his head around the overhang, saw Max standing across the way, his back to him. Tess was standing behind him stiffly.
Pam was positioned in front of a bank of egg-shaped containers.
Kyle realized that these must be the infamous pods. He had never seen one before. Until this minute he had never fully accepted that Tess and the others had actually come from these things, but seeing them made it all too real.
His heart sank at the sight of the kid - Jennetta - floating in one of them. Her eyes were closed and she looked peaceful. Kyle wondered what Tess would have looked like in hers before she was born.
He shook his head, forced himself to focus.
He couldn't see Liz anywhere. He scanned the large chamber and felt a sigh of relief when he caught sight of her nearby, in fact only about ten feet to his right.
She was lying on her side, bound hand and foot. Her eyes were wide and staring at the scene playing out in front of her. "Max! Max! Listen to me!"
Max was ignoring her completely though.
Liz closed her eyes briefly, seemingly frustrated. She began twisting against her bonds. Kyle watched as her eyes passed over him briefly, then lit up.
Kyle realized that she had seen him. She was motioning him to come over to her with her head.
"It's okay Kyle! They won't see you! Hurry!"
Kyle paused, saw Tess glance behind her. Her blue eyes were unreadable as they came to rest on his face.
She blinked once and turned back to Pam.
What the...?
He hurried over to Liz's side, untied her. "What the hell is going on here Liz?" He demanded.
Kyle glanced nervously towards Max and the others. None of them had moved. Max and Pam were staring each other down in what must have been some sort of weird pre-"I'm going to fry you" alien ritual.
It was bizarre - like they were waiting for something.
"Tess is doing it Kyle." Liz explained, rubbing her wrists, clearly trying to get the feeling back into them. "Danala told her to kill me. Instead she began an illusion. I have no idea how she's keeping it up. Her power has totally increased."
"Then why can I see what's happening? And who the hell is Danala?" Kyle asked, perplexed.
"Pam is Danala." Liz told him, sounding exasperated. Well, excuse me - I came in a bit late, Kyle thought to himself. "Remember Tess has to tailor the illusion to everyone she wants to see it." Liz continued, moving towards the three others. "I have no idea what to do here." Liz moved past Max, stared up at his face in concern. He looked right through her, but his mouth was moving.
Kyle realized that some sort of conversation was happening between Max, Tess and Pam but he couldn't hear a word of it. Apparently, there wasn't a pre- "I'm going to fry you" ritual going on. Tess was shutting him out of whatever was happening.
And yet he could SEE it all. He just couldn't hear it.
"Liz! Get over here!" Kyle called to her. "We have to go find Michael and the others."
Liz looked over at him. "I'm not leaving Max." She said stubbornly. "He's going to lose it in a second Kyle. He almost attacked Tess a few minutes ago. I couldn't hear what they were saying but I saw the look on his face. I don't know what they told him." She was standing beside Max, was reaching up to touch his face. He was totally unaware of her.
"Liz...." Kyle moved forward to grab her.
At that exact moment he looked over at Pam and realized that she had pulled out a gun. Kyle froze. "OH MY GOD! Liz!"
Liz whipped her head around, sending her dark hair flying around her face. She saw the gun, saw exactly where it was pointed and screamed.
"MAX!"
Kyle tried to get to her. He really did. He made a diving leap, landed hard on his side about two feet away from her.
But it was too late.
Liz had thrown herself in front of Max, just as he saw Pam pull the trigger.
And the next thing Kyle knew, all hell broke loose.
Part 39
"Destiny, shmestiny! None of that matters now!" Pam was screeching at Tess, making Jaxon's ears ring.
Tess was still standing close behind him. He was still ready to kill her, but he had to deal with Pam first. It was clear that she was the real ring-leader here.
He was doing his best to function normally, like the warrior king that he was.
It was almost impossible though. Every fibre of his being was telling him to just let them kill him. He felt like his entire heart had been ripped out of his body.
He was doing he best not to look over at Liz's body. It was difficult considering the only thing he wanted to do was go take her in his arms and then join her wherever her beloved spirit had gone.
But he had to save Jennetta first. It would be his last act.
She was destined to lead their people to greatness. Once she was saved, he would be free to go.
"I don't understand Danala! We're sisters! How could you betray me like this?" Sabrya sounded absolutely astounded.
"You were the one who betrayed me little one." Danala sneered. "You married HIM, even though you knew it was the last thing I would want. You chose our brother over me and you all paid for it with your lives." She paused, smirking. "It is time to pay the price of your stupidity in this life as well."
Tess touched him on the shoulder. Jaxon flinched away from her. "I told you not to touch me." He growled.
"I'm sorry Jaxon. I was so wrong! Please, you must save us both!" He had turned to stare at her.
"Are you crazy?" He asked, literally floored by her gall. She had murdered Liz in cold blood and she actually believed that he was going to save her?
Tess lowered her voice, gazed at him pleadingly. "It's not what you think. You have to trust me. MAX!"
"You're the last person I'd trust." He replied coldly, turning back to face Danala.
But it was too late. The brief distraction had been enough. Danala had a human weapon, a gun, in her hand and she had it pointed directly at him.
"Now it's time for you to die like the human dog you've become oh mighty one." Danala told him, no expression on her face. "It is time for me to take my rightful place as the right hand of the chosen one and for me to help her to lead our people to the rebirth you have denied us for so long."
"NOOOOOO!" Sabrya screamed. Jaxon felt her push him, but the gun had already gone off.
He braced himself for the impact.
The bullet never hit him.
Something slammed into him with force great enough to knock him to the ground, but it wasn't a bullet.
"What the..."
"Max! It's Liz!"
It was Tess who was screaming at him. He had no idea how this had happened but she was right.
Somehow Liz was alive and sprawled across him. She had clearly just jumped in front of the bullet meant for him.
She wasn't dead!
And yet she was well on her way to returning to that state. He felt her blood soaking the front of his shirt.
He managed to gently turn her over.
Liz's eyes were open. She was staring up at him. "Max!" She managed to gasp.
He swept his hands across her looking for the wound. "Shhh...you're going to be fine my love. Just tell me where you're hurt."
She didn't reply. Her eyes rolled up into her head.
"Ohmygod! Max, do something!"
Jaxon realized that it was Mirana's voice. He glanced up to see his sister, Kyle and Alex all gathered around, watching both he and Liz with horror. He realized quickly that they were actually encircling them protectively. He could hear Tristandor yelling nearby.
He had no time to wonder what was happening with Danala. He had to help Liz.
He already knew what it felt like to lose her. There was no way he was going to let it happen again.
Jaxon gently laid Liz down, ripped open her shirt. He grimaced at the blood welling up from the wound in her stomach.
"Liz, you have to look at me! Liz, please!"
Liz's eyes fluttered briefly. "Max..."
It was enough.
The connection was instantaneous as he placed his hand palm down on the gunshot wound.
Flash*
"You're not an al...an alien?"
Flash*
"I don't care."
Flash*
"You were the one person I really wanted to talk to."
Flash*
"I guess these are the things we do when we feel a certain way about someone."
Flash*
"You made me a part of this Max."
Flash*
"You saw my fantasy..."
Flash*
"I love YOU."
Flash*
"Max, I need you to promise me that you're coming back to me."
He concentrated on forcing the bullet to disintegrate into her bloodstream. When it was gone, he began to knit torn tissue and muscle together, until there was no wound left.
She was completely healed...and yet the connection continued.
He realized suddenly that what he had seen before had not been HER memories. They had been his.
He was aware of his surroundings, could feel Liz sitting up, felt her bring her hands up to his face.
But he was concentrating on the memories that were coming back in a great rush - as though a floodgate somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind had opened.
Flash*
He reached out to take Isabel's hand, determined not to be separated from her, even though Michael was too scared to come with them.
Flash*
He cried himself to sleep every night until his mother gave him a toy house telling him that he would always have a home.
Flash*
He climbed off the school bus, saw the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She was smiling happily at her friends. He knew that she was the one.
Flash*
Michael appeared at his window, asked if it would be all right if he slept on his bedroom floor.
Flash*
Liz weaved her way towards him, through the tables at the Crashdown. She had a welcoming smile on her face. He felt his heart speed up just at the sight of her.
Flash*
He and Isabel played basketball with their parents in the driveway, knowing that he was loved.
Flash*
Maria handed him a strawberry, a smirk on her face and yet a strange expression of acceptance as well.
Flash*
Alex and Liz laughed at the counter in the Crashdown, Liz's alien antennas bouncing merrily.
Flash*
Tess, Michael, Isabel and he stood in the desert with the new knowledge that Tess was one of them.
Flash*
Kyle handed him a flask, a challenging expression in his eyes, and yet a certain amount of understanding and sympathy as well.
Flash*
Liz smiled at him as she opened the note he had given her about meeting him in the Eraser Room for sixth period.
The memories began to flow more freely, returning to their rightful place.
They were HIS memories. He knew who he was.
He was Max Evans.
Flash*
"Max! What are you doing?"
"Let go of me!"
He had to get to her! His entire life would be over is she was gone. They didn't even really know each other, but she was the one. He knew it.
Flash*
"You're all right now. You're all right. You broke the bottle when you fell, spilled ketchup on yourself. Don't tell anyone...please."
"LIZ!"
"I'm right here! Max, look at me! I'm okay!"
He shook his head, stared into her beautiful face. Her eyes were glued on his face with concern.
How could he have forgotten her?
And yet he never had. He had always remembered how he felt about her. He just hadn't remembered why.
He did now.
"Are you okay?" He demanded, running his hands back to her stomach, feeling the sticky blood still but her skin was smooth, perfect. He glanced down.
A silver handprint was clearly visible on her abdomen.
Just like the first time.
He remembered how shocked he had been to see it. He had never healed anyone who had been so hurt before, had had no idea that he would mark her like that.
But she had already marked him. The love he had felt for her since the first moment he had seen her had marked his entire destiny.
It had all come down to that moment in the Crashdown. It was where it had all begun, it was where his loneliness had ended. It had been a beginning and an end.
And it had brought them down to this exact moment - again.
Her love saved him every day.
*************************************************************************************
Kyle had almost had a heart attack when he had seen that bullet slam into Liz. She had collapsed on top of Max, which had caused Tess to panic to such a degree that she had dropped the elaborate illusion that she had weaved to fool Danala.
Kyle felt a frisson of sheer dread when Danala become aware of his presence. She turned dark, emotionless eyes on him, rolled them as though he was some bug that needed to be stomped on.
A minor inconvenience, but annoying nonetheless.
He saw Max rip open Liz's shirt from the corner of his eye. He hurried over to stand guard over them while Max tried to save Liz's life.
And yet his entire attention had remained focused on Tess and Danala and the showdown about to take place.
"You betrayed me again!" Danala said to her sister, sounding mildly miffed.
Kyle could see that Tess was trembling as she replied, "I remember what false promises of family did to Michael. I wanted to believe you so badly, but when you wanted me to kill Liz, I knew that you didn't care about me at all. You had to know that I wouldn't turn on my REAL family to such a degree."
Danala quirked an eyebrow, looking somewhat interested by this explanation. "Hmmmm. I underestimated the strength of your human ties I suppose. It's interesting. But it doesn't change anything little one. You will still die."
"You'll have to kill me first." Kyle saw Michael come through the entrance into the cave. He looked absolutely infuriated. "You are not going to touch my sister."
"Michael! Jennetta is over there!" It was Maria, and she sounded absolutely horrified. "She's been podded!"
If possible, Michael's face became even more furious.
Danala looked pleased. "Tristandor! How convenient. Now I don't have to go in search of you. I can take care of you right here as well my treacherous brother."
Kyle saw that she still had the gun she had used to shoot Liz in her hand. She tossed it aside. "But this time I won't make the mistake of using these ridiculous human weapons."
Danala raised her hand, pointing it directly at Michael. It began to glow.
Kyle saw Michael grab Tess, who was standing close beside him.
It was the last thing he saw.
A flash of light so bright filled the chamber, Kyle had to close his eyes.
An explosion rocked the entire room, knocking Kyle into Isabel, who was standing close to him.
He hadn't even seen her come in.
"I think we're lost." Kyle told Max.
Max was standing about ten feet to his right staring off across the darkening desert, a strange look on his face. Kyle hated when he did that. It was at times like these that Kyle remembered that Max was NOT human. His tendency to become spaced out on a regular basis was so much more understandable now.
"I've been here before." Max said, not to Kyle but to the air in general.
Kyle rolled his eyes. "Whoopdedoo. The question is: have Liz, Tess and Jennetta been here recently?"
Max turned to eye him, a slight frown on his face.
Well, that made it official. Max might not remember him, but he DID know that he and Kyle were NOT friends. Sure they trusted each other - but there was too much history there for them to ever really become close.
Kyle still had not forgiven Max for stealing Liz from him or for preoccupying Kyle's father on a regular basis- nor had he forgiven him for being who he was - the one person standing between he and Tess.
Although, Kyle thought bitterly, its unlikely that Tess would want to be with me even if there was no Max Evans.
"Liz is nearby." Max replied, staring into the distance again. Kyle scowled again, shivered slightly. Max really was a freak and he had turned Liz into one as well. Kyle would never get used to the connection that existed between the two of them.
He had never stood a chance with Liz.
"Lead on oh mighty one." Kyle muttered as Max took off at a steady pace.
Kyle was almost positive that Max was leading him on a wild goose chase - until Evans stopped so abruptly Kyle almost rammed into his back. "We're here." Max told him unnecessarily.
"We're where?" All Kyle saw was desert. It was almost dark and the occasional scrub brush was shadowed and barely visible. Kyle wondered how he and Max were going to find their way back to the Reservation in the dark. "We're in the middle of nowhere." His eyes widened as Max's hand suddenly lit up, brighter than any flashlight Kyle had ever seen. "Jesus!"
Max crouched near a large rock, seemed to be peering under it. He turned back and smirked at Kyle. "Are you game Valenti?"
It was then that Kyle noticed the hole in the desert floor. It was almost hidden by the boulder, but was clearly visible now due to the light thrown by Max's hand. The shadows thrown by the darkening sky had hidden it from view.
"One hundred and seventy pounds of Greco-Roman wrestler at your service." Kyle replied, setting his jaw.
Max's expression was amused. "Fine. I'm in charge here. If you can't accept that then I suggest you stay here and wait for Michael, Isabel and the others."
Kyle rolled his eyes. "I'm not stupid Max." He paused and met his former nemesis' eyes straight on. "You can trust me."
"I know I can." Max replied seriously. "I have a feeling that we might now have gotten along in the past but I don't doubt that you care about Liz and Tess - and so I can trust you."
Max turned away, stared down into the hole again. "Well, I might have been here before but I DON'T remember how far a drop it is." He muttered wryly.
Kyle pushed past him. "There's only one way to find out."
Kyle was through the hole and had dropped the ten feet or so to the stone floor of the cave it led to before he could think about it.
If sports had taught him one thing it was to go with instinct first and think about the consequences later. He had landed himself in trouble a few times but had also ended up on more All-Star teams than he could count.
Fear was the enemy.
Fear would stand between he and saving his friends.
No fear.
Max landed softly beside him a moment later. He used his lit-up hand to examine the walls of the place in which they found themselves.
Kyle realized it was not so much a cave as it was a tunnel. The walls were completely smooth, had clearly been polished at one time as well. Dust covered the etchings that spread off in both directions.
The symbols on the wall were familiar to Kyle. He had seen Isabel wearing a necklace with one of them and he had also seen it on one of those damn blue orbs. He thought he had seen several more on some papers over at Tess'.
"Which way?" He whispered to Max.
Max motioned to footprints in the dust on the floor. "Follow me."
They walked for what felt like forever. Kyle knew that they were headed deep into the earth.
It was clear that this tunnel was NOT natural - and that it had been here for a long time. It was humbling to reflect on how long that meant Max's people had been connected to or on Earth.
Aliens had been among them for a long time - proving that the human race was pretty darn out of it.
The Crash of '47 had not been a beginning. More likely if had been an ending.
Max halted abruptly again. Kyle stumbled, scowled. "Will you please warn me the next time you're going to do that?" He growled softly.
Max shot him an annoyed look. "Quiet. We're close." He stared at the smooth walls on both side of the tunnels. "I can feel Liz nearby." He started to feel the walls for an opening of some sort.
Kyle did the same on the opposite wall. "Are you sure we shouldn't keep going?" He asked several minutes later.
"No." Max replied shortly. "Wait a minute." Kyle turned to watch as Max started to pass his hand gently over the wall, careful not to miss a spot.
"I don't think this is the time for dusting Evans." Kyle finally said when Max looked like he was never going to stop.
At that exact moment a silver hand-print appeared suddenly under Max's hand. Kyle blinked.
Max shot him a look over his shoulder. "Stay here and keep watch."
"The hell I will!" Kyle replied urgently. "You need me to watch your back."
"I don't know what we're going to find in there Kyle. If I'm not back in fifteen minutes I want you to head back to the surface and find Michael and Isabel." His gaze was steady. "You said that I could trust you."
I just knew he was going to throw that back in my face! Kyle reflected, annoyed. "Fine." He said shortly. "Fifteen minutes."
Max nodded, satisfied. He lifted his hand, fit it squarely on the silver hand-print. Kyle watched amazed as the stone wall slid away, revealing another smooth tunnel.
Kyle would never get used to all this alien hocus pocus.
Max was gone a moment later. Kyle sighed and pressed his back against the smooth wall, sliding down until he was seated on the floor of the tunnel. He was suddenly extremely weary.
It was pitch black now that Max had left with his magic hand. He was going to have to feel his way back up the tunnel if it came to that.
Kyle wondered how he was going to see his watch to know when fifteen minutes were up.
*************************************************************************************
Jaxon made his way carefully down the smaller corridor. He heard the wall slide back into place behind him but he ignored it.
All he was worried about was what was at the far end of this tunnel.
He knew Liz was nearby. He had sensed her flash of fear when he and Kyle had stopped to find the hand-print.
If he had doubted their connection before this, their was no doubt now.
There was a bond between he and this human that could not be explained - nor could it be denied. He understood now why he had fallen in love with her when he was Max Evans and he also understood why he could not resist her now.
They were two halves of the same soul. There was no other explanation.
He did not know what game Sabrya was playing, but somehow he knew that she was behind Liz and Jennetta's disappearance, had known it the minute he had become aware of the fact that they were missing.
Jaxon almost stumbled upon them without meaning too. The tunnel was still dark when it suddenly opened up into a huge lit cavern. The light was blinding after the blackness of the rest of the complex.
He heard Sabrya's voice before he saw her. "She is taken care of." Her tone was harsh.
"Good work Tessie. Now come here and help me get Jennetta prepared for the transformation."
Jaxon felt his heart stop. He was concealed behind a stone overhang, but he could hear everything that was happening. The voice of the other girl was familiar to him, just on the edge of his memory.
"I still don't understand why Jaxon wants me podded again. I don't know if my mother is going to like this." It was Jennetta. Jaxon allowed himself a slight breath of relief that she was apparently healthy at the moment. But when her comment penetrated his mind, he grimaced. They were using Jennetta's love for him to control her.
It was time to find out who was betraying him. He had to save his sister before they did whatever it was they were planning to do to her.
He was also concerned by the fact that he could no longer feel Liz anywhere. Had they moved her?
Jaxon stepped out from behind the overhang. "I don't want you podded Sweeting."
Jennetta was across the cavern. Sabrya was standing next to her, a hand on his small sister's shoulder.
Sabrya turned her blonde head, stared at him her eyes wide. She turned to her companion in confusion. Jaxon could not see the other girl as she was hidden by a bank of five transformation pods.
Jaxon frowned when Jennetta ignored him completely. She was waving her small hand across a lit pod. The organic sides opened and she stepped into it. It's side melded together behind her.
"Jennetta!" Jaxon rushed across the chamber, but it was too late. The pod had begun to fill with the clear liquid that was the transforming agent.
His sister was going to be cleansed. She was too young! It would kill her!
And yet there was nothing he could do to stop it. Once the transformation was begun, cutting it off in the middle was a guaranteed death sentence.
He clenched his jaw as he watched the pod fill completely. Jennetta's eyes closed calmly as the liquid covered her face. She looked peaceful - as though she was asleep.
A flash of intense anger stabbed through him.
Jaxon rounded on Sabrya. "What have you done?" He roared at her. His betraying former bride cringed away from him.
"Max! Please."
Jaxon forced himself to take deep breaths. Completely losing control was not going to solve anything. "Where is Liz?"
"She's where Tess left her."
The other girl stepped out from behind the pods. Jaxon's eyes widened. It was the girl from the Crashdown who had approached him earlier that day - Pam Troy.
She was pointing across the cavern.
He didn't want to turn around. He knew it was going to be bad...
It was only now that he realized that he could not feel Liz's presence at all.
He stared at Sabrya for a moment longer. "What have you done?" He asked again, softly, shaking his head. Jaxon watched her blue eyes fill with tears. She broke his gaze, turned pleading eyes to Pam.
"Danala! Please! Explain it to him."
Jaxon swallowed. "Danala." He said evenly. "I should have known."
"Tarsus has told you about me I see." She smirked at him, but her eyes were flat with disdain.
"He lied about you - just as he lied about everything." Jaxon replied. He glared at her. "I don't have time for you."
He forced himself to turn around. His breathing was uneven as his eyes found Liz.
The sight of her felt like a physical blow.
She was curled up near the wall. Her hands were bound behind her and her feet were tied as well.
Her dark hair covered her face, but he knew that she was dead. There was no sign that she was breathing and the black mark in the centre of her chest told him all he needed to know.
He could not feel her. Her spirit was not present in this place at all.
She was gone.
The emptiness that welled within him was suffocating.
Jaxon felt his throat closing up. "Liz." His knees were giving out on him. He managed to stumble to the wall to support himself.
He had to go to her. He had to try and heal her. But he couldn't make his legs move.
His entire body was numb.
His entire being knew that it was too late.
He could not bring back the dead.
"Max!" It was Sabrya. She had moved behind him.
He managed to control his voice when she touched his shoulder. "If you touch me I will make your death VERY unpleasant." He told her through clenched teeth. He felt her flinch away from him. He turned blazing eyes on her. "You are going to die Sabrya - trust me, but HOW is still to be determined. I suggest you keep your filthy hands off of me."
"But don't you understand? It had to be! She bewitched you Max. Danala told me so! She was standing between us, preventing us from creating the child that is going to save our people." Tess' eyes were wide and glinting with tears. "I didn't want to do it - but I had to! Our destiny is to be together."
Tess and Jaxon both whirled as Danala broke into peals of laughter.
"As you can see Jaxon, she is just as stupid in this life as she was in the last." She was shaking her dyed blonde head. She was laughing and yet it was disturbing because there was no real humour in it.
Jaxon knew that after the cleansing Dernians did not truly understand humour.
"What - what do you mean?" Jaxon could see Sabrya staring at her sister, an expression of horror on her face.
"We've already got our chosen one little imbecile." Danala indicated Jennetta, floating peacefully in her pod. "Who do you think this is?"
"Then why?" Tess was staring at Liz's corpse, her eyes shining with guilt and terror.
"We kidnapped her for the simplest reason in the world." Danala replied. "To get our hands on Jaxon of course. It was just pure chance that she brought the little saviour of Illyria along with her."
She turned her dark eyes on Jaxon. "And you fell right into my trap "your highness." Prepare to die Jaxon Falconer."
Jaxon was listening to her, but his mind was elsewhere.
He could not stop his eyes from returning to Liz's form, so small and helpless.
How could such a fragile body have contained such a brave spirit, in fact his entire world?
And then he knew what had to be done.
He had failed.
His sister was going to die.
His Liz was already gone.
He did not want to live without her.
Jaxon turned back to Danala. "So be it." He told her without hesitation. "But I'm taking you with me."
Part 38
When Michael and Maria arrived at the Reservation, Isabel and Alex were already there.
Isabel was pacing beside the Jeep, her expression grim. Alex stood nearby, his arms folded across his chest. He was watching her with concern.
Michael could tell right away that the situation was not good.
"Finally!" Isabel exclaimed as Michael and Maria climbed out the Jetta. "Where have you been?"
Michael watched Maria rub her eyes frantically. "Don't even get me started. Let me just say, the next time ANYONE finds an orb..." Both Alex and Isabel turned to stare at her. "UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS ANYONE GOING TO TOUCH IT!" The last came out as a shriek.
Isabel eyed Michael. "Do I even want to know?" She asked wearily.
"There's no time." Michael replied abruptly. "Are they here?"
"Eddie said Kyle and Max took off across the desert about an hour ago. He hasn't seen them since." Alex replied.
"Let's go." Michael said, leaving no room for argument.
He had to find his daughter. It was all he cared about at the moment.
He and Maria had not exchanged a single word during the entire ride from Fraser Woods to the Reservation. Michael had not known how to broach the subject of telling her who Jennetta was, not to mention Maria had not exactly been in the most accommodating of moods. She was still furious at him for scaring the living daylights out of her with his little "orb incident," as she had started to refer to it.
He had sort of been relieved.
It wasn't that he didn't want Maria to know.
It was just that he sort of wanted to savor the secret to himself for a while. He knew that the minute Maria found out she was going to totally lose it, and while normally he sort of enjoyed dealing with her freak-outs, right now...
He had more important things to worry about.
He just knew that Jennetta was in danger and that had to be his first priority. He knew that Maria was going to be pissed at him, big time, but he would deal with that later.
As the foursome trekked across the desert Michael knew exactly where they were going.
Their destination was the transformation chamber - the place where this whole catastrophic chain of events had begun when he had allowed Tarsus to cleanse him.
Michael's guilt over his own stupidity in trusting Tarsus had been torturing him for months - ever since Max had first disappeared and Maria had first shown signs of illness.
The moment he had found out the truth about Jennetta his guilt had completely disappeared.
It was now clear that there had been a purpose to it all.
If the result of all that pain had been his daughter - well, then it had been worth it.
Now they just had to make sure that the whole affair didn't end tragically anyway.
Michael did not hesitate as he, Maria, Alex and Isabel plunged through the pitch-black night. The stars were out, but there was no moon to light their trajectory. They had only one flashlight between the four of them. He knew the route though, having taken it so many times with that bastard Tarsus.
He heard Alex trip on something, swear.
The stress was getting to them all. Michael could feel Isabel on his right, their connection through the four-square strangely strong at the moment.
She was wound up, clearly ready to explode at any moment.
Something was seriously wrong.
He tried to keep his voice low as he spoke to Isabel, hoping to keep Maria out of whatever was troubling Isabel for a while longer.
He was still concerned that all of this was too much for his so recently comatose girlfriend. He was trying to shield her from as much of the crap that was going down as possible, but of course Maria was having none of it.
"What's wrong?" He whispered.
He could see Isabel's head swing around to face him in the dark. She paused before replying. "I dreamwalked all of them Michael - Liz, Tess, Max - I even tried Jennetta. I couldn't get a thing."
"So, it's not like it hasn't happened before." Michael replied quietly, although he felt like he had been punched in the stomach.
If his daughter was hurt before he even got a chance to know her...well, someone was going to pay - big.
"This is different Michael." Isabel told him, her tone troubled. "I've always been able to get in a bit - even if people shut me out once I was in. This time it was like hitting a big wall. I couldn't break through at all."
Michael pressed his lips together, flinched as Maria tripped into his back.
He glared over his shoulder at her. "Eavesdrop much?" He demanded in annoyance.
"Oh put a sock in it Spaceboy." Maria flared back. "You're hiding something. I know it. Don't you think that the time for secrets is over? Secrets have done nothing but cause trouble."
"Really?" Michael asked evenly. "I have a feeling that I'm not the only one with a secret."
"Would you two please just stop?" Isabel asked, irritated. "We don't have time for your bickering."
"Amen." Alex added from somewhere on Michael's left.
Maria snorted, but shut up. Michael knew that she was glad to do so now that he had called her on the fact that she was keeping something from him.
He wasn't at dumb as he sometimes pretended to be.
Maria had been a little off ever since she had come out of the coma. Oh, she was Maria all right, but she was strangely quiet about how Jennetta had healed her.
He knew that there was more to it than just a good old Max miracle-type healing.
And it suddenly hit him like a bolt of lightening.
She knew. Maria knew.
She had known for the last twelve hours and she hadn't told him.
He rounded on her, his rage almost completely out of control. It took all of his strength not to grab her and shake her. "MARIA!" He couldn't stop himself.
Michael heard her stumble. Alex's voice indicated that he had caught her. "What the hell...Maria are you okay?"
Michael felt Isabel grab his arm. "Michael?"
Michael was glad that he couldn't see Maria's face. To see the knowledge of her lie written on her face...
Alex's flashlight was in his face. "What's wrong?" Alex demanded, sounding perplexed and not a little irritated himself.
"She knows." Michael replied, turning away. As though that would somehow explain everything to Alex and Isabel. But he knew Maria would understand.
Maria was now at his side, grabbing his other arm. "I know! Of course I know! Be mad at me Michael - at this point I don't care - but we have to get her back. That's all there is to it. You can't let this stand in the way." Her voice faltered slightly, but Michael was most amazed by what he didn't hear in it.
She wasn't at all sorry.
"It won't." He managed to bite out. "We'll discuss it later."
"Discuss what?" Alex demanded.
"It's between Maria and me." Michael replied, his fury still radiating through every vein in his body. He was taking deep breaths as he began to walk again.
"Well, then I suggest you keep your cave-man bellows to yourself." Isabel snapped. "Are we almost there?"
"I think so." Maria whispered. "I can feel it."
"What?" Alex asked.
"Nothing." Maria replied.
Michael shivered.
She was right. It felt like they were walking into a void.
It felt like the entire world had been sucked dry of life - of feeling, of emotion. Michael could feel the void tugging on his own senses, trying to force him to give his own up.
He swallowed. "We're here."
Alex shone his flashlight on the boulder Michael remembered that hid the entrance to the tunnels.
All four of them stared into the darkness for a long moment. The feeling of emptiness was coming from within the underground complex.
Michael straightened his spine. His child was in there and she was in danger. "Let's go." He said resolutely.
Not a single one of them argued.
*************************************************************************************
Kyle heard Max yell even through the stone wall that had slid back into place after Max had passed through it. He jumped to his feet, felt his blood run cold.
That shout had been unnatural - like the agony of every living being on Earth had come together in a cacophony of grief so intense it literally shook the foundations of Kyle's soul.
It could only mean one thing.
Something had happened to Liz.
Kyle had absolutely no idea how much time had gone by. The Max-proscribed fifteen minutes might have ended, but sitting in the dark had made him totally lose track of the passage of minutes.
For all he knew it might have been three seconds - or three hours.
All he knew was that he felt like he had been waiting forever.
He briefly considered actually following Max's orders and finding his way back to the entrance to the tunnels, to go in search of Michael and Isabel and a little Czechoslovakian fire-power.
But the memory of that yell still reverberated in his ears.
There was no time to go for back-up. He needed to get in there now.
Only one face was etched on his brain - Tess.
He didn't care what the hell she had done. He loved her. He had to get to her.
Kyle started to feel along the smooth stone, feeling for an opening of some sort. It had to be there somewhere!
"Dammit!" Kyle muttered to himself. He thrust his hands through his hair in frustration.
It didn't help that he couldn't see a bloody thing. His eyes couldn't even adjust to the dark. There was no light whatsoever to allow it.
He clenched his fists, glared at the offending wall.
Kyle had NEVER wanted to be an alien, but what he wouldn't give for even a smidge of alien voodoo at the moment.
He swiped his hand over the surface of the wall in irritation.
The hand-print suddenly shone out at him, its silver glow actually lighting up the tunnel in which he found himself.
Kyle blinked, stared down at his hand. "What the..."
Oh who the hell cares? He asked himself silently. Just go with it Valenti.
Kyle bit his lip as he moved forward and placed his hand squarely on the hand-print.
He was not at all surprised when the wall began to move.
He was past it the moment the space was big enough for him to squeeze through. He was half-way down the smooth corridor before it even occurred to him to mark the spot for the others.
He hurried back in the direction from which he had come, stuck his jacket in the between the entrance and the far wall just as the door began to slide shut.
Kyle could see light shining at the far end of the tunnel. As he moved closer he began to pick up voices.
"....you fell right into my trap your highness." Kyle paused, frowned. That voice sounded horribly familiar. "Prepare to die Jaxon Falconer."
Pam Troy! Pam frickin' Troy! He would know that whiny voice anywhere.
Kyle was so stunned he literally couldn't move for a moment.
He managed to shake off his stupor as her last words penetrated his brain. Prepare to die...
Well, it was clear that Evans DID need back-up. So much for his allmightiness.
But Max's response to Pam's taunt caused the hair on the back of Kyle's neck to stand on end.
"So be it." His voice was calm, but with an underlying note of steel that made Kyle damn glad that he was not facing down Max Evans at the moment. "But I'm taking you with me."
Oh crap. It was alien smackdown time.
He glanced back down the tunnel nervously, hoping that Michael and Isabel were on their way.
Kyle inched forward, found himself standing behind a stone overhang. He couldn't see a bloody thing.
He heard Tess before he saw her. "Can't we talk about this reasonably?" She was asking, her voice terrified.
"The time for talk is over Sabrya." Pam replied. "I have the chosen one. There is no need for any of you anymore. Your time has ended."
"What?" Tess' voice cracked. "But what about my destiny - my destiny with Max?"
"Oh will you shut up about that?" Pam asked. "Destiny, shmestiny. None of it matters now."
Kyle poked his head around the overhang, saw Max standing across the way, his back to him. Tess was standing behind him stiffly.
Pam was positioned in front of a bank of egg-shaped containers.
Kyle realized that these must be the infamous pods. He had never seen one before. Until this minute he had never fully accepted that Tess and the others had actually come from these things, but seeing them made it all too real.
His heart sank at the sight of the kid - Jennetta - floating in one of them. Her eyes were closed and she looked peaceful. Kyle wondered what Tess would have looked like in hers before she was born.
He shook his head, forced himself to focus.
He couldn't see Liz anywhere. He scanned the large chamber and felt a sigh of relief when he caught sight of her nearby, in fact only about ten feet to his right.
She was lying on her side, bound hand and foot. Her eyes were wide and staring at the scene playing out in front of her. "Max! Max! Listen to me!"
Max was ignoring her completely though.
Liz closed her eyes briefly, seemingly frustrated. She began twisting against her bonds. Kyle watched as her eyes passed over him briefly, then lit up.
Kyle realized that she had seen him. She was motioning him to come over to her with her head.
"It's okay Kyle! They won't see you! Hurry!"
Kyle paused, saw Tess glance behind her. Her blue eyes were unreadable as they came to rest on his face.
She blinked once and turned back to Pam.
What the...?
He hurried over to Liz's side, untied her. "What the hell is going on here Liz?" He demanded.
Kyle glanced nervously towards Max and the others. None of them had moved. Max and Pam were staring each other down in what must have been some sort of weird pre-"I'm going to fry you" alien ritual.
It was bizarre - like they were waiting for something.
"Tess is doing it Kyle." Liz explained, rubbing her wrists, clearly trying to get the feeling back into them. "Danala told her to kill me. Instead she began an illusion. I have no idea how she's keeping it up. Her power has totally increased."
"Then why can I see what's happening? And who the hell is Danala?" Kyle asked, perplexed.
"Pam is Danala." Liz told him, sounding exasperated. Well, excuse me - I came in a bit late, Kyle thought to himself. "Remember Tess has to tailor the illusion to everyone she wants to see it." Liz continued, moving towards the three others. "I have no idea what to do here." Liz moved past Max, stared up at his face in concern. He looked right through her, but his mouth was moving.
Kyle realized that some sort of conversation was happening between Max, Tess and Pam but he couldn't hear a word of it. Apparently, there wasn't a pre- "I'm going to fry you" ritual going on. Tess was shutting him out of whatever was happening.
And yet he could SEE it all. He just couldn't hear it.
"Liz! Get over here!" Kyle called to her. "We have to go find Michael and the others."
Liz looked over at him. "I'm not leaving Max." She said stubbornly. "He's going to lose it in a second Kyle. He almost attacked Tess a few minutes ago. I couldn't hear what they were saying but I saw the look on his face. I don't know what they told him." She was standing beside Max, was reaching up to touch his face. He was totally unaware of her.
"Liz...." Kyle moved forward to grab her.
At that exact moment he looked over at Pam and realized that she had pulled out a gun. Kyle froze. "OH MY GOD! Liz!"
Liz whipped her head around, sending her dark hair flying around her face. She saw the gun, saw exactly where it was pointed and screamed.
"MAX!"
Kyle tried to get to her. He really did. He made a diving leap, landed hard on his side about two feet away from her.
But it was too late.
Liz had thrown herself in front of Max, just as he saw Pam pull the trigger.
And the next thing Kyle knew, all hell broke loose.
Part 39
"Destiny, shmestiny! None of that matters now!" Pam was screeching at Tess, making Jaxon's ears ring.
Tess was still standing close behind him. He was still ready to kill her, but he had to deal with Pam first. It was clear that she was the real ring-leader here.
He was doing his best to function normally, like the warrior king that he was.
It was almost impossible though. Every fibre of his being was telling him to just let them kill him. He felt like his entire heart had been ripped out of his body.
He was doing he best not to look over at Liz's body. It was difficult considering the only thing he wanted to do was go take her in his arms and then join her wherever her beloved spirit had gone.
But he had to save Jennetta first. It would be his last act.
She was destined to lead their people to greatness. Once she was saved, he would be free to go.
"I don't understand Danala! We're sisters! How could you betray me like this?" Sabrya sounded absolutely astounded.
"You were the one who betrayed me little one." Danala sneered. "You married HIM, even though you knew it was the last thing I would want. You chose our brother over me and you all paid for it with your lives." She paused, smirking. "It is time to pay the price of your stupidity in this life as well."
Tess touched him on the shoulder. Jaxon flinched away from her. "I told you not to touch me." He growled.
"I'm sorry Jaxon. I was so wrong! Please, you must save us both!" He had turned to stare at her.
"Are you crazy?" He asked, literally floored by her gall. She had murdered Liz in cold blood and she actually believed that he was going to save her?
Tess lowered her voice, gazed at him pleadingly. "It's not what you think. You have to trust me. MAX!"
"You're the last person I'd trust." He replied coldly, turning back to face Danala.
But it was too late. The brief distraction had been enough. Danala had a human weapon, a gun, in her hand and she had it pointed directly at him.
"Now it's time for you to die like the human dog you've become oh mighty one." Danala told him, no expression on her face. "It is time for me to take my rightful place as the right hand of the chosen one and for me to help her to lead our people to the rebirth you have denied us for so long."
"NOOOOOO!" Sabrya screamed. Jaxon felt her push him, but the gun had already gone off.
He braced himself for the impact.
The bullet never hit him.
Something slammed into him with force great enough to knock him to the ground, but it wasn't a bullet.
"What the..."
"Max! It's Liz!"
It was Tess who was screaming at him. He had no idea how this had happened but she was right.
Somehow Liz was alive and sprawled across him. She had clearly just jumped in front of the bullet meant for him.
She wasn't dead!
And yet she was well on her way to returning to that state. He felt her blood soaking the front of his shirt.
He managed to gently turn her over.
Liz's eyes were open. She was staring up at him. "Max!" She managed to gasp.
He swept his hands across her looking for the wound. "Shhh...you're going to be fine my love. Just tell me where you're hurt."
She didn't reply. Her eyes rolled up into her head.
"Ohmygod! Max, do something!"
Jaxon realized that it was Mirana's voice. He glanced up to see his sister, Kyle and Alex all gathered around, watching both he and Liz with horror. He realized quickly that they were actually encircling them protectively. He could hear Tristandor yelling nearby.
He had no time to wonder what was happening with Danala. He had to help Liz.
He already knew what it felt like to lose her. There was no way he was going to let it happen again.
Jaxon gently laid Liz down, ripped open her shirt. He grimaced at the blood welling up from the wound in her stomach.
"Liz, you have to look at me! Liz, please!"
Liz's eyes fluttered briefly. "Max..."
It was enough.
The connection was instantaneous as he placed his hand palm down on the gunshot wound.
Flash*
"You're not an al...an alien?"
Flash*
"I don't care."
Flash*
"You were the one person I really wanted to talk to."
Flash*
"I guess these are the things we do when we feel a certain way about someone."
Flash*
"You made me a part of this Max."
Flash*
"You saw my fantasy..."
Flash*
"I love YOU."
Flash*
"Max, I need you to promise me that you're coming back to me."
He concentrated on forcing the bullet to disintegrate into her bloodstream. When it was gone, he began to knit torn tissue and muscle together, until there was no wound left.
She was completely healed...and yet the connection continued.
He realized suddenly that what he had seen before had not been HER memories. They had been his.
He was aware of his surroundings, could feel Liz sitting up, felt her bring her hands up to his face.
But he was concentrating on the memories that were coming back in a great rush - as though a floodgate somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind had opened.
Flash*
He reached out to take Isabel's hand, determined not to be separated from her, even though Michael was too scared to come with them.
Flash*
He cried himself to sleep every night until his mother gave him a toy house telling him that he would always have a home.
Flash*
He climbed off the school bus, saw the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She was smiling happily at her friends. He knew that she was the one.
Flash*
Michael appeared at his window, asked if it would be all right if he slept on his bedroom floor.
Flash*
Liz weaved her way towards him, through the tables at the Crashdown. She had a welcoming smile on her face. He felt his heart speed up just at the sight of her.
Flash*
He and Isabel played basketball with their parents in the driveway, knowing that he was loved.
Flash*
Maria handed him a strawberry, a smirk on her face and yet a strange expression of acceptance as well.
Flash*
Alex and Liz laughed at the counter in the Crashdown, Liz's alien antennas bouncing merrily.
Flash*
Tess, Michael, Isabel and he stood in the desert with the new knowledge that Tess was one of them.
Flash*
Kyle handed him a flask, a challenging expression in his eyes, and yet a certain amount of understanding and sympathy as well.
Flash*
Liz smiled at him as she opened the note he had given her about meeting him in the Eraser Room for sixth period.
The memories began to flow more freely, returning to their rightful place.
They were HIS memories. He knew who he was.
He was Max Evans.
Flash*
"Max! What are you doing?"
"Let go of me!"
He had to get to her! His entire life would be over is she was gone. They didn't even really know each other, but she was the one. He knew it.
Flash*
"You're all right now. You're all right. You broke the bottle when you fell, spilled ketchup on yourself. Don't tell anyone...please."
"LIZ!"
"I'm right here! Max, look at me! I'm okay!"
He shook his head, stared into her beautiful face. Her eyes were glued on his face with concern.
How could he have forgotten her?
And yet he never had. He had always remembered how he felt about her. He just hadn't remembered why.
He did now.
"Are you okay?" He demanded, running his hands back to her stomach, feeling the sticky blood still but her skin was smooth, perfect. He glanced down.
A silver handprint was clearly visible on her abdomen.
Just like the first time.
He remembered how shocked he had been to see it. He had never healed anyone who had been so hurt before, had had no idea that he would mark her like that.
But she had already marked him. The love he had felt for her since the first moment he had seen her had marked his entire destiny.
It had all come down to that moment in the Crashdown. It was where it had all begun, it was where his loneliness had ended. It had been a beginning and an end.
And it had brought them down to this exact moment - again.
Her love saved him every day.
*************************************************************************************
Kyle had almost had a heart attack when he had seen that bullet slam into Liz. She had collapsed on top of Max, which had caused Tess to panic to such a degree that she had dropped the elaborate illusion that she had weaved to fool Danala.
Kyle felt a frisson of sheer dread when Danala become aware of his presence. She turned dark, emotionless eyes on him, rolled them as though he was some bug that needed to be stomped on.
A minor inconvenience, but annoying nonetheless.
He saw Max rip open Liz's shirt from the corner of his eye. He hurried over to stand guard over them while Max tried to save Liz's life.
And yet his entire attention had remained focused on Tess and Danala and the showdown about to take place.
"You betrayed me again!" Danala said to her sister, sounding mildly miffed.
Kyle could see that Tess was trembling as she replied, "I remember what false promises of family did to Michael. I wanted to believe you so badly, but when you wanted me to kill Liz, I knew that you didn't care about me at all. You had to know that I wouldn't turn on my REAL family to such a degree."
Danala quirked an eyebrow, looking somewhat interested by this explanation. "Hmmmm. I underestimated the strength of your human ties I suppose. It's interesting. But it doesn't change anything little one. You will still die."
"You'll have to kill me first." Kyle saw Michael come through the entrance into the cave. He looked absolutely infuriated. "You are not going to touch my sister."
"Michael! Jennetta is over there!" It was Maria, and she sounded absolutely horrified. "She's been podded!"
If possible, Michael's face became even more furious.
Danala looked pleased. "Tristandor! How convenient. Now I don't have to go in search of you. I can take care of you right here as well my treacherous brother."
Kyle saw that she still had the gun she had used to shoot Liz in her hand. She tossed it aside. "But this time I won't make the mistake of using these ridiculous human weapons."
Danala raised her hand, pointing it directly at Michael. It began to glow.
Kyle saw Michael grab Tess, who was standing close beside him.
It was the last thing he saw.
A flash of light so bright filled the chamber, Kyle had to close his eyes.
An explosion rocked the entire room, knocking Kyle into Isabel, who was standing close to him.
He hadn't even seen her come in.