A/N: Thanks to everyone who had left feedback. I really appreciate it :) I promise that any questions will be answered in future parts, as I don't want to give away any spoilers at the moment ;)

*****

A beetle crawled across the stones and stopped as it reached the merry-go-round. Sitting on a swing across from it was Maria, and she watched as it decided to crawl under what had been the source of her enjoyment throughout her childhood, and the beetle hid inside the darkness. She frowned as she thought she saw an outer glow now emanate from the insect, and blinked but the beetle had now disappeared further under the merry-go-round.

Great. She was now seeing things too. Another weirdness to add to the ever growing number that had been happening to her lately.

She allowed herself to sway a little on the swing, which gave her little movement as her feet stayed firmly on the pebbles beneath her. She saw a pebble skittle across the playground and land a few feet from the merry-go-round. Maria turned to look at Michael standing at the monkey bars as he kicked another pebble.

He looked frustrated. She felt a pang of guilt knowing that she was the cause of his frustration.

She had been feeling guilt a lot lately, and she had this strange feeling that it wasn't only coming from her. She was sure she could feel what Kyle, Alex, Laurie and Sean were feeling. She didn't know how she could feel it, but she knew she was somehow connected to them. To their emotions. If one of them felt sad, she felt it too. If one of them was scared… well, she had been feeling that from them all to be honest.

Another pebble was kicked wildly across the playground, and Maria bit the inside of her cheek. She should probably add anger to frustration for the way Michael was feeling. She didn't even feel his emotions like she did the others, but she didn't have too. She was already attuned to the emotions of Michael Guerin. She had spent over a year working out how he was feeling, and even when he hid his emotions from everyone, to her he was now like an open book.

More pebbles landed next to the others. Now hurt was added to the list. She lowered her gaze so that she wouldn't be tempted to look at her boyfriend. She knew was hurting him, causing his frustration and making him pissed as hell. She was keeping secrets from him. She wasn't telling him everything. And at the moment, Maria wanted to tell Michael everything.

She couldn't. Something was holding her back. And what that was she didn't know.

She wanted to tell him about the blue room that she had flashes of back in his apartment. She wanted to tell him about the feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her that she really had been taken… by something. And she wanted to tell him that she felt something powerful go through her, changing within, and it scared her even more than being kidnapped. She wanted to tell Michael all of that, and the fact that she couldn't was killing her.

Maria knew what he was thinking. She knew ever since she had gotten visions from him, that he had been thinking that she didn't want to open up to him because he hadn't gotten any from her. He might have guessed that it was through whatever was happening to her now, but the fact that she wasn't talking to him… now she really was not opening up to him.

And she wanted to.

Dammit! Why did aliens have to choose to take her to God knows where? Why not someone else!

The sound of the pebbles bouncing against each other made Maria close her eyes. "Please stop this, Michael," she sighed.

After several minutes of silence, Maria opened her eyes to see Michael looking at her intently. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" he asked clearly confused at what her apology was for.

"For this. For not being able to tell you everything."

"You could if you wanted to?" Michael's gaze didn't falter.

Maria shook her head sadly. "I can't."

Michael paused as if wanting to say something, then nodded and glanced away. "Maybe later."

"No, Michael," Maria gripped the chain on the swing as he looked back at her. "I don't think… I don't know… if I ever can."

Michael's eyes darkened. He shook his head and turned away. "Fine."

"And now you're mad," she sighed.

"Well, what do you expect, Maria!" he turned back to her, and she could see the fury blazing in his eyes. "For over a year now I've been getting told that I'm not a good boyfriend, that I'm not how Max is with Liz or Alex was with Isabel. And now if there's anything that's important I've told you first, before Max, Isabel and Tess, and now that you've got something important going on, something that could hurt you, [i]you're[/i] shutting [i]me[/i] out…" Michael trailed off as he shook his head bitterly.

Maria gaped at him. She didn't expect this outburst. Then again maybe she did. "I want to tell you."

"Then why don't you?" Michael snapped.

"Because there's something happening inside of me that won't let me!" Maria exploded as she stood up, her anger getting the better of her and hoped that she could keep her tears at bay. "Don't you understand, I have no control over what's happening to me! I'm doing things that I shouldn't, and remembering things that scare the hell out of me, Michael, and I want to tell you everything!" She could feel the wetness of her tears on her cheeks now. "But I can't," she said dejectedly.

She quickly wiped her tears away. She didn't want to cry. At the moment Michael didn't deserve her tears. She was too busy trying to keep her emotions in check that she startled when she felt Michael's arms go around her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into her hair.

She wrapped her arms around his waist. "I don't know how to deal with this."

Maria closed her eyes as Michael gently kissed her forehead. "We'll get through this."

She nodded as she held his gaze and felt his thumb wipe away another tear, before he pulled her into an embrace and she finally let out all the emotions she had been feeling this past week as she sobbed in Michael's arms.

*****

Max Evans hadn't ever felt so helpless before in his young life. Here he was King of an entire planet, and he couldn't stop whatever it was that was happening to five innocent people. Some leader he was. If he couldn't help five people here on Earth then how was he supposed to help an entire race?

He glanced at the time on the wall then rubbed the tiredness from his eyes. It was already after eleven. He was sitting in the Crashdown with Liz and Isabel, and since the café had closed for the night just over an hour ago they could freely talk about the situation at hand.

That was who had abducted Alex, Maria, Laurie, Kyle and Sean? They had come to the conclusion earlier that they must have been taken, because there was no other answer for it. The question now was who had taken them. And for what reason.

The obvious suspect at the moment was Kivar. He ruled Antar, the planet which Max was king of in a former life, and he could have taken the five of them. And it wouldn't surprise Max if Kivar's second in command, Nicolas, had arranged the abduction somehow. Max knew that the aliens had ways of abducting humans. His employer at the UFO Centre, Brody Davis, has had his body took over by Larek at various times. And at one point must have had his whole body taken somewhere to be cured of the cancer cells that had gripped him at one time.

Also each of the hybrids had human donors. So people like Laurie's grandfather who was Michael's human donor, also must have left this world for some period of time.

But why take these five people now? What was the purpose of that? Was it because they were close to himself, Michael, Isabel and Tess? If so then why take Sean instead of Liz? His thoughts trailed off as he thought of the encounter between Sean and Liz earlier that day.

Sean had the nerve to flirt with Liz in front of him! And why did Liz pull back her hand when she was touching his arm and look at Sean like that? Did she… like Sean?

Max tried to swallow the lump in his throat at the thought of the girl, who he had been in love with for most of his life, might have feelings for someone else. He glanced at her as she talked with Isabel about the abduction. The abduction?

Focus Max, he reprimanded himself. He had more important things to worry about at the moment than his love life. He still couldn't help the pain in his chest at the thought of Sean and Liz, but he had to push that to the back of his mind right now.

That was something to worry about later.

"But, even if it was Kivar then why would he want them?" Liz was saying, and Max shook his head to try and clear his thoughts and bring himself back into the conversation.

"Who knows how his mind works," Isabel said averting her eyes from both of them.

Max knew that the mere mention of Kivar was making his sister uncomfortable. She did once betray her family in a former life for the love of this man. And Max knew that she had been carrying the guilt of those past deeds around with her ever since she had discovered them.

"But when did he take them?" Liz bit on her lower lip as she considered her own question. "There's a possibility that Alex could have been taken sometime in Sweden, and perhaps Sean before he came to Roswell…"

Max wondered at that moment if Kivar really hated him that much? If he was the one who inflicted Sean DeLuca upon him, and actually made him come to town to begin with.

"Same can be said about Laurie," Liz continued, oblivious to Max's thoughts. "It could have happened just before or just after the crystals, but what about Maria or Kyle? They were here the whole time."

"What about Vegas?" Isabel wondered. "Were they with someone at all times?"

"Yeah, I think they were with Alex at one point or another." Realisation then hit the petite brunette. "Oh, my, God, they were with Alex…"

Isabel sighed. "Who was also abducted by aliens. I guess it happened there then."

"We should probably ask Amy DeLuca if Sean went missing at all when we were away," Max finally piped up.

Liz and Isabel nodded. Liz then looked around the empty café. "What I want to know is what made them see those things earlier today? What slowed down time for them? And what did that energy that they felt do?"

Max and Isabel shared a look wondering the same thing.

"What triggered it?"

Max shrugged. "Being in the same room?"

"No," Isabel shook her head. "Alex was standing at the door for a minute and nothing happened." She then glanced at the area. "There must be something else."

Liz stood up and looked towards the door. "Maybe it was how they were standing or sitting? Like in a formation? Alex was standing at the door, Kyle was walking towards him from this side," she pointed at the space next to Max at the booth. Laurie was over there in the corner, and at the other end Maria was walking over to Michael, and Sean was over there with us…"

"Liz…" Max stood up. Everything seemed clear now as he looked around, trying to imagine how the five of them were positioned. Of course, he should have seen it earlier. "Do you have a pen?"

Liz turned to him and frowned. "What?"

"I need something to write with," Max said in a hurry as he pulled out a napkin from the holder at the back of the table.

"Max, what is it?" Isabel asked curiously as she stood up.

As soon as Liz handed him a pen, Max quickly drew five circles in the formation that Liz had pointed out. He then drew two lines through the circles joining them up to form a triangle.

"Oh, my, God," Liz whispered, stunned at what she was seeing.

"It's the formation of the stars of our planets," Isabel seemed as stunned as Liz was.

Max nodded. He had a sinking feeling about why five humans that knew them had been taken. "We need to know what the energy bolt did…"

"It sent out a signal."

The three of them looked up to see Brody Davis standing at the door.

"How did you get in here?" Liz asked him suspiciously.

Brody shook his head with a smile. There was something about him that seemed different somehow. He soon realised that it wasn't his employer at all. It was Larek, an alien from one of the planets in the formation.

"What kind of signal?" Max asked with concern.

"One that's going to get your friends in a lot of trouble," Larek stated matter-of-factly. "And, it's not just Kivar who'll be coming for them," he added grimly.