Part 5 - Liz POV

I felt Max tense beside me as Nasedo suddenly appeared. Michael was gaping and Isabel's face had gone completely white.

"But.but.you were dead!" Michael managed to stutter.

Nasedo rolled his eyes, shook his head at Tess. "I cannot believe that you didn't manage to pull this off! They are all completely imbecilic! What is wrong with you?"

Tess scowled at him, tossed her blonde head. "I was doing fine until SHE got involved again." She glared in my direction.

"I thought you had neutralized her." Nasedo snapped. He looked at me, started advancing on me. His eyes lit on the pendant around my neck. "What is she doing with that?" He demanded.

I grasped it in my hand as he moved to take it away from me. I felt Max grab my arm and thrust me behind him. "Stay away from her." He told Nasedo coldly. He was staring at the shapeshifter. I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was absolutely furious. "What the hell is going on around here? I want answers and I want them now." He began to advance on Tess, who suddenly looked ill. "What did you do to me? And why? Why are you so desperate to get us back there?"

Tess bit her lip, glanced at Nasedo nervously. As I watched, I could see the wheels spinning in her devious mind. And then she began to talk. "It was his fault Max!" She said, pointing at Nasedo. "He made a deal with Nicholas." She moved towards Max. I felt disgust as tears began to well in her blue eyes. "Max, please, you have to believe me. I never agreed to help them! They were mind-warping me too!"

Nasedo snorted. "She's lying of course." He said, sounding completely disinterested. "She was the one who plotted with Nicholas. She's been doing it for months - since you all went to Copper Summit."

"But why?" Michael demanded. "What's in this for you? You're supposed to protect us!" He sounded absolutely devastated. I saw Maria move closer, put her arm around him.

It couldn't be nice to learn that the one person you had always believed was there to look out for you was a betrayer as well.

"Do you think I want to stay on this God-forsaken planet?" Nasedo demanded. "I've been trapped here for over fifty years! It was never supposed to be this long. Dealing with Khivar and Nicholas was the only way to get back there. I faked my death so that Tess could infiltrate herself further. I knew that the King would feel that she was his responsibility - that if we could only keep him away from that one," He nodded towards me, "We'd be able to make a deal with Khivar." He was looking at Max, Michael and Isabel in disgust. "You are all so weak! Like babes in arms! It was going to be years before you had matured enough to be able to take us home."

"They're going to kill us the minute we get back there, aren't they?" Isabel asked, her voice practically frozen with hatred. She eyed Tess with disgust. "You are such an idiot! They were going to kill us! And Nasedo wouldn't even care. He'd have had what he wanted. He would have been home." She sighed heavily. "I knew it was wrong. I knew it." She looked at Max, her lips pressed together. "We owe Liz and Maria our lives." She turned to me, then Maria, her eyes melting with emotion. "After all we've done to you, how can I ever thank you?"

"I think you just did." Maria replied, moving forward to hug her. "It's not your fault Isabel."

Max's sister began to cry. "It is. Poor Alex. He was killed because of us."

I looked at Max. He looked upset, like he was still trying to digest all of this information.

"What about Tess?" He asked, his tone barely controlled. He shook her hand off of his shoulder, where it had suddenly appeared. "What the heck do you have to gain out of any of this? I trusted you! What more did you want? Isabel is right. They would have killed us. All of us, including you."

"You." I said quietly. "She wanted you and she wanted to be the Queen." Max turned to look at me, his eyes unreadable. "She knew that if you stayed here, we would have eventually found our way back to each other." I smiled sadly. "It is what was meant to be all along I think. If not me than some other human." I added. I glared at Tess. "Isn't that right Tess? You aren't meant for each other at all anymore - are you? And because of that fact you were willing to take the slim chance that you MIGHT be able to survive a return to your planet."

Tess's face was a mask of hatred. "You'd like to believe that, wouldn't you Liz." But her tone indicated that I had hit the nail right on the head.

"It's too late anyway." Nasedo inserted, sounding long-suffering. "You'd lost him before you ever got him here." He told Tess.

"What?" She screeched. "What do you mean?"

Nasedo indicated the pendant I was still clutching in my hands. "He gave that to her. She is his queen now."

I heard Maria gasp, saw even Max's eyes widen with shock. I felt my heart stop.

And yet I wasn't surprised. Not at all.

Nasedo shrugged, seeming resigned. "You are right Miss Parker. Tess lied. The four square were never meant to mate with each other. They were meant to bond with humans. The King is meant to have an heir with a human woman to create the ultimate ally. The entire human race." He added.

"Why are you telling us this now?" Isabel asked suspiciously. "Why should we believe you when all you've ever told us has been lies?"

"Believe what you will." Nasedo sighed. "I don't care. It doesn't look like I'm going anywhere." He sneered at Tess. "All because of you little idiot."

"We can still go!" Tess exclaimed. "We still know how the granolith works!" She looked at Max. "Come with me Max! You know you want to. Isabel, Michael! We can go home! We don't belong here."

I could see Michael staring her, his face a mask of disgust. Isabel was looking at Max though. "What are we going to do Max?"

"We're not going anywhere." Max said firmly. "Nasedo just told us we're meant to be here, meant to be with humans." I saw him glance at me quickly, than look away. "I believe it. In fact its what I knew all along. I just forgot for a while." He glared at Tess.

"But, what our mother said in her message." I could still hear tears in Isabel's voice. "Max, we have to go back eventually - don't we?"

Max was frowning. "I'm beginning to wonder how much of that message was real." He was eyeing Tess. "Mind-warping seems to be able to hide most truths, doesn't it Tess?"

Tess paled, but she pressed her lips together, refused to answer.

Nasedo spoke up again. He was leaning against the wall of the pod chamber wearily. "It was all true." He pointed at me. "She saw it, didn't she?"

I flinched. Had I ever. It had been one of the worst days of my life.

"So?" Max asked, clearly still hoping that his theory that the message was largely incorrect was true.

"She can't be mind-warped. Not if she's your chosen mate." Nasedo replied, sounding bored. "She's your strength and your protection. She will always see clearly, especially when you cannot."

"That sounds familiar." Maria muttered under her breath. I heard Michael snort.

Max seemed perplexed. "Well then I do have to be with Tess.don't I?" He looked at Michael and Isabel, then at me, his eyes meeting mine for a long moment. "Do any of you actually remember exactly what she said?"

"I for one don't remember her saying ANYTHING about us having to be together." Michael said quietly. He looked at Isabel. "We never bought it Iz. She never said we had to be together, just that we had been. Basically she just gave us a bunch of information that did us more harm than good, mainly because we jumped to conclusions." He looked embarrassed for a moment. "We're really good at that." He muttered. A saw Maria struggle to hide a smile.

"She told us to recognize our enemies by the evil within." Isabel added, glaring at Tess. "Gee, I wonder who she could have meant by that?" Tess sneered at her, tossed her blonde curls, not looking at all ashamed.

How on Earth could we have trusted her? Why hadn't we remembered how she had used manipulation and deception when she had first arrived in Roswell?

None of us had been thinking clearly for a long time. And at least Max had an excuse. He had been practically mind raped.

But I couldn't be mind-warped, if Nasedo was to believed, which was still questionable. What was my excuse? Why had I not seen that Max had not been acting like himself at all?

I flashed back briefly to that moment in the hallway, when I had been pursuing my investigation into Alex's death like a mad-woman. He had grabbed my arm, completely out of control. Even HE had been shocked by it. That had NOT been Max.

I glanced at Max out of the corner of my eye. He was listening to both Michael and Tess intently. Then he turned to me, his eyes still impossible to read. I could tell exactly what he was doing. He was shuttering himself from all of this, actually, for once, refusing to allow himself to make a decision until he had all the facts.

He was behaving like a leader was supposed to. For the first time in a long time.

He was back. MY Max was back.

"Liz?" I realized that he was talking to me. "What do you remember?" He didn't even bother looking at Tess as he continued. "I need to hear this from people I trust."

I swallowed, realized that his eyes were bright with some emotion, one I almost didn't recognize it had been missing from them for so long.

Respect.

For me.

"I don't remember her saying specifically that you had to be together." I admitted slowly. "I just know that we all assumed it."

"I'm done assuming. As far as I'm concerned that message is eradicated. It never happened. We are starting from scratch." Max said with finality. He turned back to Tess. "I want to know what you intend to do now but know that you are no longer welcome in Roswell."

Oh my God.

It had come back to this. What Future Max and I had done had not fixed anything.

"NO!" I managed to croak. "No! She can't leave."

Max whipped around to stare at me. "Liz?"

"Max! I told you! You need her! It'll all happen again if she goes! Alex." I felt a sob welling up in my throat. "Alex will have died for nothing!"

"I have every intention of leaving." Tess sneered. "I'm going home, whether any of you are coming or not."

"Good riddance!" I heard Maria murmur.

"NO! Please!" I felt my knees beginning to give out on me. I could see the smirk of satisfaction on Tess's face. That I was going to have to beg HER, of all people, to stay.

I had never hated as much as I hated in that instant.

The world was spinning. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to scrape my nails across her smug face! I wanted to tie her up, make her stay.

I wanted to kill her.

For the first time in my life I actually wanted to kill another living being.

And suddenly everything came back into focus. I blinked.

Max was kneeling in front of me, his hands gently cupping my face. "Liz! It's okay! We don't need her! I swear its going to be okay."

"Max! You do! You need her!"

"No." He said firmly. "I'll never need her. As long as I have you, I'll never need anyone else. Didn't you hear Nasedo? YOU'RE my strength. We don't need her."

He was so sure. I almost believed him.

But I couldn't quite let myself let go of my terror.

"You are the one Liz. I've told you that so many times, but I don't think you ever believed me." Max was saying, his tone low so that only I could hear him. "I knew it from the first moment I laid eyes on you. I'm beginning to realize that it was fate that separated us from Tess. She is NOT one of us. It's you. You're the one." He ran his fingers through my hair. I felt myself becoming mesmerized by his voice, just like in those heady days when we had first fallen in love.

"Max."

"You are my queen Liz. You are the fourth. I know it."

"But I'm human." I protested. "It can't be!"

Max just smiled slightly. "I'm human too.mostly." He amended. "And I'll never forget it again either. Exploring my.er. alien side - proved to be a bit more than I ever bargained for. It was wrong. On every level. As for you being one of us, it CAN be. It is. I know it. And we're going to prove it." He spoke over his shoulder. "Michael. Get the orbs."

Max stood up, pulled me to my feet. All I could do was stare at him incredulously. "It was you who helped me find this in the first place Liz." Max said quietly as Michael handed him one of the orbs. "I should have realized it at the time, but it was a clue. It was the proof that you had already taken your place as one of us."

He looked over at Isabel and Michael. "We're going to try this again. And this time we're going to get the right message." He glared over at Tess. "If I see even one hint that you're doing something, you're going to pay. Do you understand me?" Tess scowled at him. Max narrowed his eyes. "Maria, please watch her."

"With pleasure." My best friend replied, looking like she'd be perfectly willing to toss Tess off the pod chamber cliff with very little urging.

Max stepped closer to me, gently took my hands and placed them around the orb with his. His touch was enough to make my heart start to beat faster. "Now close your eyes and concentrate." He instructed.

It happened almost instantly. The minute I closed my eyes, I felt the orb beginning to heat up in my hands.

Moments later, the beautiful woman was with us again. The one whose words had completely destroyed my world the year before. And yet she didn't look evil. Not at all.

The message began exactly as it had the last time.

"If you are seeing me now, it means that you are alive and well. I take this form because it will be familiar to you, and it will help you to understand what I am about to say. You have lived before. You perished in the conflict that enslaves our planet but your essence was duplicated, cloned, and mixed with human genetic materials so that you might be recreated into human beings. My son, you were the beloved leader of our people. I have sent with you your young bride. My daughter, the man you were betrothed to, and your brother's second-in-command."

I felt a shudder pass through me at those horrifying words, almost instantly felt Max's presence in my mind. **It's all right Liz! It doesn't mean anything! Listen to her words with your heart, not your mind.**

"Our enemies have come to the Earth. You will know them only by the evil within. Learn enough to use your skills, your knowledge, your leadership to combat the enemy so that you can come back and free us."

It was then that the message changed.

Something had been missing the last time.

"Spend your time on Earth wisely. You were sent there for a reason my beloved children. Do not allow what you believe to be true to blind you from what you KNOW to be true. Find the ones who are meant to help you, the ones that you are destined to trust that I may once again hold you both in my arms. I live for that moment. Help us. I love you."

I opened my eyes, felt my breath return to my body. Max's eyes were open too. His pleasure was reflected on his face.

"It's all true Liz." He finally said quietly after we had stared at each other in silence for quite a while. "I knew it all along but I did exactly what she just told us not to. I didn't trust myself." He looked ashamed. "And I didn't trust you."

I didn't reply, just brought my hand up to his face in an attempt to comfort him. I had had enough of guilt.

I suddenly became aware of the bickering that was taking place behind us. ".her out of here! We don't need her." Michael was saying, sounding relieved.

"I have every intention of going." Tess replied snootily, sticking her nose in the air.

I could not believe her. Even now she didn't believe that she had done anything wrong!

"Not so fast." I said. "You still have some explaining to do Tess. What you did is criminal. We need to know exactly what you did and when. We deserve that much."

Tess just laughed nastily. "Like I'm going to tell you anything." Her expression changed suddenly, a speculative gleam in her icy blue eyes. "Well, maybe I'll tell you one little thing.but only if you help me get the granolith ready first." She smiled sickeningly. "After all, with all of your silly investigating Nancy Drew, I guess you did find out something useful - how to get me home. The least I can do is give you the answer you REALLY want."

I felt the bottom drop out of my world again.

Alex.

She knew what had happened to him.

I felt the rage beginning to build within me again.

I wanted to kill her. I knew I was not the only one either. Michael was holding on to Maria, like he expected her to attack Tess if he let go. He actually looked like he wouldn't have minded having a go at her either.

And Isabel. Well, steam was practically coming out of her ears.

But I wanted to know the truth more than I wanted revenge. I owed my beloved Alex that much.

We all did.

"Fine." I said evenly. "I hope you realize that it will give me great pleasure to see the back end of you." I couldn't help but add, completely against my usual practice of biting my tongue.

But then the last few weeks had changed me.

I was not the same malleable Liz I had once been. My job was to see clearly. Nasedo had told us as much.

I looked over at the shapeshifter who was watching the proceedings without a shred of interest. Max apparently noticed the direction in which I was staring because he said, "Are you planning to join her?"

Nasedo just shrugged. "I don't feel like committing suicide today." He replied. "Khivar is going to be one peeved usurper when she arrives without you."

I saw Tess flinch, but she stuck her chin in the air to hide it. She refused to back down, refused to admit that maybe they were not meant to go back to their planet, ever.

Her entire existence had revolved around the idea. She had committed heinous acts to advance her goal. She would not ever admit that perhaps she had been wrong.

Tess stepped over to the granolith. I followed her, the crystal Michael had handed me in my grasp.

"Tell me Tess." I ordered as she turned to look at me.

Her eyes glittered with something completely inhuman for a moment. I shuddered, realized that I was looking into the depths of pure evil. It had nothing to do with her being an alien either. Evil was evil, whatever form it came in. "Alex didn't commit suicide Liz." She said. "In fact he was on his way to tell you all what he had discovered."

"How do you know this?" I demanded.

Tess just smiled serenely. "How do you think?"

And in that instant I knew. She had killed him. I just stared at her in shock as she laughed merrily, as though she had just told me a good joke.

She was insane.

I was still frozen with horror when she grabbed the crystal out of my hands and thrust it into the granolith's mechanism.

And it was in that instant that I remembered what was going to happen.

"OH MY GOD!" I shrieked. "Tess! Get out of there!" I whirled, grabbed Max by the arm, hauling him over to me. "Max! We have to get her out of there! I totally forgot! That's why we came here in the first place! The granolith is going to explode!"

Max's face whitened. "Liz! Are you sure?"

"I'm sure!" I yelled. "She might be evil, but we can't let her DIE!"

Max apparently believed me though because he was already closing his eyes, clearly going to try and connect with Tess, trying to warn her.

But it was already too late. Even now it had started to smoke.

"Hell! C'mon you two! There's nothing we can do! It's too late!" It was Michael. He was grabbing both Max and I by the wrists, hauling us out through the empty pods, although we both struggled against him.

We barely made it out of the cave before the explosion rocked the entire rock formation. Michael, Max and I were all sent flying.

"OH my God!" I felt tears well up in my eyes as smoke continued to billow out of the pod chamber entrance. "I killed her! I let her die!"

I was a murderer. I had known what was going to happen and I hadn't done anything to stop it.

Max was already grabbing me by the shoulders, pulling me against him. "No Liz. It's not true. It was an honest mistake. You couldn't have stopped her anyway. She wouldn't have believed you if you had told her."

I was still sobbing. "Alex! Oh my God! Max, she killed him! She told me as much!"

I felt Max flinch against me. His hands were combing through my hair, trying to console me. "Then she got what she deserved." He finally said evenly.

It scared me to the quick when I realized suddenly that I agreed with him.

What had she done to us?