Disclaimer: You know the drill…the characters aren't mine. A lot of stuff in the beginning is taken from End of the World. God knows THAT'S not mine. Anything that makes sense and makes it all better, now that's mine. Seriously, Roswell and all characters belong to Jason Katims, 20th Century Fox etc. I'm just borrowing them.

Chapter Seventy-Four – Nondeparture

Liz awoke, and looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. She yawned, as her sleep fogged mind struggled to remember where she was. Finally, she remembered. She was in the pod chamber. Che'koth had helped her calm down, and not do anything stupid. After she had calmed down, he suggested that she try and get some rest, while he went to town and told Max where she was. She'd lain down in the chamber, which used to house her husband, and drifted off to sleep.

She slid out of the chamber, and folded the blanket that Che'koth had covered her with while she slept. Liz began to wander aimlessly around the pod chamber when she began to worry.

"Something doesn't feel right," she said to the empty room. She looked around the room for a place to hid, and remembered Maria telling her that she once hid behind the pods. Quickly Liz crossed the room, and wedged herself in behind the pods, and held her breath. The door to the pod chamber slid open, and Tess walked in, followed by Lonnie.

"Will you hurry up!" Tess said. "The last thing we need is for some stupid hick driving down the road to see you carrying in the bodies."

At the word bodies, Liz exhaled with a loud whoosh of air. She covered her mouth with her hands, and hopped that they hadn't heard her. She watched as Rath walked in and unceremoniously dumped Michael's dead body on the ground. Liz shoved her hand in her mouth to smother the scream that threatened to explode.

"Go get the other one," Tess demanded as she looked around the chamber. Without a word, Lonnie and Rath went outside, and came back. This time Michael carried Isabelle's lifeless body in his arms. He dumped it on the ground next to Rath's body.

"Anything else, Queenie?" Rath spat out contemptuously.

Tess ignored him for a moment, and made her way over to the pod chamber where Liz had slept. She picked up the blanket that Liz had folded so carefully and looked at it.

"Yeah, she said, after several minutes had passed. "Go move the car behind the rocks. I don't want anybody to know we're here right now."

"Your wish is my command, Queenie," said Rath. "C'mon Lonnie, let's go move the car for her majesty.

Tess waited until the left, then went to the control panel beside the door and passed her hand over it.

"You can come out now," she said to the room. I know you're here, and I'm not leaving. There's no way out, and those two idiots can't get back in."

Liz tried to move further back behind the pod chambers, but her burgeoning stomach wouldn't allow it.

"I know you're here," taunted Tess. "So come out come out wherever you are.' As she spoke, she walked around the room, trying to find the place that hid the intruder. She didn't know WHO was here, but she knew they didn't belong here. This was her chamber, and in it was the secret to getting home. Max had promised her they were going home, and she wasn't going to let some intruder stop it from happening. She just needed to find where they were hiding, and then kill them.

"Yoo hoo," she called in a singsong voice. "Ally ally oxen free! Oh, come on, if you're not going to come out when I call home free, will you at least give me a clue?" As she spoke the word clue, she pointed her hand at the pod chambers and used her powers to push it away from the wall, revealing Liz hiding behind it.

"Well, well, well," said Tess. "What do we have here?"

"Oh, Please," said Liz. "Spare me the dramatics. Theater obviously isn't your strong suit."

"Stand up bitch," snarled Tess. "I want the pleasure of watching your body crumple to the ground when I kill you."

Liz stood up, her hands placed protectively over her protruding stomach.

"You bitch!" screamed Tess. "You really are pregnant. Who is the father, Kyle?"

"Tess, how can you be so stupid?" said Liz. "You know whose baby this is. Max is the father, and my husband."

"You lie!" screamed Tess. "Max loves me, not you! I made sure of it. He doesn't want you; he wants me. We're going home, to Antar."

"God, you sicken me, Tess," said Liz. "You are so warped, you don't know which of your lies to believe. You got so caught up in the world you created that you don't know what's real any more. Well, I'll tell you what is real. I'm real, and Max is real, and our love is real. Do you get it yet?"

"No, you dumped Max, for Kyle, and I was there to comfort him," said Tess.

"Don't you mean, you created a mind warp to convince me to dump Max?" said Liz. "Well news flash you stupid jerk, it didn't work. None of it did."

"How, why?" said Tess.

"How, why?" snapped Liz. "God, you really are pathetic, aren't you," said Liz. "Do you really need it all spelled out for you, well fine, I'll do it. We figured out how to break through your mind warps, AND we figured out how to mind warp you. All those time you thought you were with Max, well it was just a fantasy in your feeble little mind."

"No, Max loves me," said Tess. "He does, and we're having a baby, not you."

"Wrong Tess," said Liz. "You're grand night of passion at the observatory, well it never happened. It was a mind warp."

"No, it happened, it did!" insisted Tess.

"Fine, if that's the way you want it," said Liz. She closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Max," said Tess. "Tell her, tell her you love me, and not her!"

"Love you?" said Max. "I never loved you, kissing you made me want to puke. You are disgusting."

"Max, why are you saying these things to me?" Tess cried. "You love me."

"I don't love you, Tess, in fact, I don't do anything, because I don't really exist," said the image of Max as he began to fade away.

"How the hell did you do that?" Tess yelled. "What did you do to Max?"

"I didn't do anything, Tess. He isn't real. Don't you get ityet?" said Liz. "It wasn't real. It was all a mind warp."

"You can't mind warp," said Tess. "Your stupid human brains can't do it."

"Well, you see, Tess, that's where you're wrong. Very very wrong," said Liz. She backed away from Tess, slowly, but never allowed her eyes to leave Tess' face. "See, the thing is, you are just as human as I am. Yes, you do use more of your brain than the average human. Well, I'm not too sure that you do, but your average Antarian does. The funny thing is, when Max healed me, it speeded up the development of my brain or something. So you see, I have powers too, and the Max you just saw was a mind warp. I'm not as adept as mind warping as you, but I'm getting better. See, the thing is, Tess, I would never ever use a power like that for evil, like you did. You've done nothing but try and destroy people that wanted to help you. We wanted to be your friend, Tess, but all you had to have it your way."

"You're lying," said Tess. "You don't have any powers. You're nothing, Liz Parker, just some weak worthless human. I'm going to kill you now, and you can rot in hell with Michael and Isabelle."

Tess raised her hand and shot a bolt of energy at Liz, but Liz was able to raise a shield, and the bolt of energy deflected off of her, and hit the bodies on the floor.

"I told you," said Liz, her voice smug. "Oh, and by the way, it's Liz Parker Evans now. I told you, Max is my husband."

"You – you did this. You mind warped Max to make him love you," said Tess. "Max and I are destined to be together, or we were, until you came along."

"God, you really are sick, Tess," said Liz. "You just don't get it. Max and I loved each other long before you came along. What happened on Antar was another time, another life. Maybe Zan and Ava belonged together, but you and Max don't. He doesn't love you Tess, and he never did. Now why don't you just leave? Leave Roswell, and leave all of us alone."

"I'm leaving Roswell," said Tess. "I'm going back to Antar, with Max, Rath and Lonnie."

"Fine, leave, go back to Antar, just leave Max and I alone!" yelled Liz. She closed her eyes again, concentrating as hard as she could.

"Tess, I was your friend," said Isabelle. "Why did you kill me?"

"Tess, you helped me learn about my powers," said Michael. "How could you do this to me?"

"Stop it!" cried Tess. "Just stop it!" She closed her eyes and scrunched up her nose and concentrated. Smiling triumphantly, she opened her eyes and looked at Liz.

"It's not working," Tess. "You're mind warps can't touch me any longer. We figured out how to stop them a long time ago. For some reason, platinum blocks the mind warps. We all wear platinum jewelry all the time. In fact, my wedding band is made of platinum," said Liz, holding up her left hand."

"I took all of those away," said Tess. "I replaced them with duplicate pieces of jewelry."

"Yeah, and as usual, you were really inefficient," said Liz, backing slowly towards the entrance of the Granolith Chamber. "You screwed up with Michael's ring. Maria figured it out. How about that, Tess, another of us 'lowly humans' figured out what you were up to. One thing we all wondered about, though, was how YOU knew about it."

"Nescado told me a long time ago," said Tess. "He thought it might be useful someday. How did you figure it out?"

"Oh, we all have to have our little secrets, don't we," said Liz. She threw up a shield to deflect the blast that Tess aimed at her, and dove into the Granolith Chamber. She tried to activate the panel to lock Tess out, but she wasn't quick enough, and Tess followed her into the chamber.

"The Granolith," said Tess, her voice filled with awe. "It really exists. Nescado told me it did."

"But he never told you where it was," said Liz. "Why do you think that is?"

"He didn't know," said Tess. "He was my protector, but the Queen had doubts about his loyalty, and never told him."

"The Queen is smart," said Liz. "Oh, and speaking of the Queen, Max knows that the whole hologram thing you created is false, but back to the Granolith. Do you know what it does? Never mind, don't tax your little brain, I'll tell you. One of the things it does is help the members of the Royal Family find their soul mates. Oh, and do I need to tell you who it picked for Max?"

"SHUT UP! screamed Tess. "I don't want to hear any more of your lies."

"My lies?" asked Liz, incredulously. "My lies? Tess, will you come out of the dream world now. Real life is calling. Max doesn't love you, he never did. Wake up and smell the Tabasco Sauce, will you?"

"He loves me!" shouted Tess.

"No, I don't," said Max entering the Granolith Chamber behind Tess.

"Max," said Liz, moving forward.

"Stop it!" shouted Tess, hitting Liz with a bolt of energy.

Liz, distracted by the appearance of Max, didn't put up her energy shield, and got hit by the bolt. With a scream she flew back against the Granolith, which began to hum.

"Liz!" shouted Max. "You bitch, why did you do that to her?"

"You don't love her, you love me. We belong together. It's our destiny."

"I don't love you, Tess, you need to accept that," said Max.

"No, you need to accept that you're going back to Antar, with ME, Max. With me, Rath and Lonnie."

"Rath and Lonnie are dead, Tess," said Max. Those are their bodies out there."

"You idiot, that's Isabelle and Michael."

"I'm afraid not," said Michael, walking into the chamber, followed closely by Isabelle.

"You are just too gullible, Queenie," said Isabelle, sounding like Lonnie.

"No, it isn't possible," cried Tess. "Lonnie and Rath killed you."

"No, Alex and I killed Lonnie and Rath," said Maria, walking into the chamber with Alex. "Keep up, will ya Tess?"

"You-you're dead," said Tess, pointing at Alex. "I know you're dead. I didn't mean to kill you. Really I didn't, it just happened. His mind was weakened by the mind warps." She turned to Max. "You have to believe me, Max. I didn't mean to kill Alex."

"The only mind that's been weakened by mind warps is yours, Tess," said Kyle, walking in with Ava. "It's a funny thing, Ava has all the same powers as you. Smile, you're on mind warp camera."

"No, this can't be happening," said Tess.

"It is," said Max. He looked behind Tess to Liz, watching as she pulled herself up off of the floor. "I don't love you, I never have, and I never will. Accept it, will you?"

"If I can't have you, then nobody can," said Tess, pointing her hand at Max.

"Wrong again, bitch," said Liz. "Say goodbye!" she pointed her hand at Tess and blasted her with a bolt of energy. At the sound of Liz's voice, Tess spun around, and the bolt of energy caught her directly in the chest. Without a word, she collapsed on the floor, her sightless eyes staring at the Granolith.

"Liz!" cried Max, stepping over Tess' lifeless body. "Are you alright? She hit you, didn't she?"

"Yeah, but junior here, threw up his own shield. Can we get rid of her body please? I never want to see her disgusting face again."

Ava gave a small cry, and ran from the Granolith Chamber back into the chamber that housed the incubation pods.

"Ava wait!" Liz cried, running after her. She knelt down next to where Ava knelt on the floor. "Ava, stop, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. Don't you understand, you don't look anything like Tess. You have an inner beauty that shines through and lights up. She didn't have that. All you could see in her was the darkness that lived inside of her."

"I- its just so hard," said Ava. "I know how all of you feel about her, and every time I look in the mirror, I see her face."

"That's funny," said Liz. "Because every time I look at you, I see your heart. Ava, you have become one of my dearest friends, and I hate to think that my careless remarks hurt you. Will you forgive me?"

The two girls hugged awkwardly on the floor. Ava pulled away first and stood up and held out a hand to help Liz up.

"Come on," she said. "Let's get the others and figure out what to do next."

They began to walk towards the Granolith chamber when suddenly; Liz clutched her stomach, and sank back down on the floor.

"Get Max," she gasped.