Chapter One - Dreamcatcher
Disclaimer:
Don't own 'em, just borrowing…
Summary: This is an
alternate Universe Roswell, I have tried to follow the show as much
as possible without changing my plot. My story diverges from the very
first episode, although I will bring in certain aspects of the show
that fit with my story line.
This is the first part in a multi
part story. This fic is also a crossover with the TV Series First
Wave. Constructive criticism is welcome.
"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."
Lao Tzu
PART ONE: MISSING
Michael's scowl deepened when he saw the two walking towards him, they hadn't seen him yet because they were gazing into each others eyes as if there were no tomorrow, mindless of the flow of students around them.
It had been that way for months now, and it was getting very old very fast. They acted as if nothing else more important was going on around them…it was sickening.
Michael glared in disgust at the oblivious offenders, promising himself that he would never fall in love, and if he by some off chance did find himself caught up in a relationship, he would put her in her place pronto, before it reached this "coochie coo" stage.
"If the wind changes direction your face is gonna stay like that forever you know!"
Michael whipped around to find Isabel standing beside him, an amused expression on her face. His scowl deepened, if that were possible, so intense were his thoughts that he hadn't even heard her come up behind him.
Isabel smiled at the murderous look on his face, which he didn't take kindly because he abruptly turned his back on her to face Max and Liz as they made their way to where he was standing.
"Issy, Michael, whatsup?" questioned Max with barely a glance in their direction. His attention was still firmly on his beloved.
Michael pushed aside his irritation and answered "Maxwell we need to talk."
Barely nodding or removing his gaze from Liz, Max said "Okay, can it wait until after school? We can all meet at the Crashdown."
Michael nodded as he pushed himself away from the lockers and then made his way out of the school.
The three teens watched as he stalked out of the building, carelessly bumping into any unfortunate student who got in his way.
"Wow, that's the first time I've seen him at school all month" announced Liz as she turned away to unlock her locker.
Isabel frowned, she didn't like the fact that Michael had been missing so much school, it gave him more time to get into his usual trouble, never mind that they all needed to be as inconspicuous as possible, and so trouble was something they needed to avoid at all costs.
"What do you think he wanted to talk to us about?" She asked.
Max shook his head, his guess was that Michael wanted to have another meeting about finding out more about their origins.
Michael, unfortunately didn't have as carefree a life on earth as he and Isabel did, it was for this reason he had made it his sole purpose in life to find their home.
It wasn't that he or Isabel weren't interested in finding their home, it was just that they had more to loose if they did, and Max wasn't sure he would be willing to pay the price of leaving behind everything here for some far off place that he could not remember.
Max's thoughts briefly drifted to the dreams he had been having, before quickly dismissing them and returning his attention to Liz.
LATER AT THE CRASHDOWN
Liz grabbed a couple of menus and handed it
to an old couple in one of the booths and promised to be back in a
few minutes to take their order. Without thinking she automatically
glanced up to the door when the bell jingled indicating a new
customer, the customer was Max.
A slow smile crept across his
face as he saw her, a matching smile spread across her own face, she
shyly smoothed imaginary wrinkles from her uniform and made her way
to the booth he was heading for.
In her daze, Liz barely noticed as Michael and Isabel moved impatiently past Max to sit in the booth.
"Hey Max."
"Hey."
They smiled at each other, needing no further words to convey what they were thinking.
Isabel rolled her eyes in annoyance "I may possibly throw up!"
Michael didn't care who did what so long as they could get down to business instead of having staring contests every five minutes. It was like being in kindergarten "whatever!...Listen Maxwell, enough of the star crossed lover crap, we need to talk."
Reluctantly Max tore his gaze away from Liz's large brown eyes to look into Michael's troubled ones.
Sitting down at the booth and pulling Liz in beside him he focused his attention on Michael "'kay, so what did you want to talk about?"
All eyes were on Michael, which caused him extreme discomfort "I've been dreaming a lot lately of the crash, the pictures are all fuzzy and the emotions I keep picking up on are of confusion and fear and lots of people. I can't make any of it out, but then the dream shifts and it's calm and there's this green glow all around. It feels like I'm floating or flying, and there's just this constant feeling of relaxation…I've never felt that way in all my life Maxwell." His gaze locked with Max's before returning to his story "I think this place is in the desert and I think it's our way home, or possibly holds the clues to our way home…I'm not sure, all I know is that I NEED to go there, and every time I have this dream the need gets stronger."
Feeling embarrassed he stopped talking, his eyes shifting everywhere except into the faces of his friends, expecting laughter, or a sarcastic remark and getting only silence.
He lifted his gaze and caught the intense look Max was giving him, shifting in his seat he then turned to Isabel who was looking at him uncertainly.
"I don't understand Michael, you called an emergency meeting because of a dream you've been having?" She shook her head in irritation, was she the only normal one among them?
Michael's anger rose "It's not just a dream, it's important, I can feel it."
Isabel changed her tone from one of irritation to one of sympathy "come on Michael, you're searching for clues of our past where there are none."
"I knew you wouldn't understand, none of you do. You're all so caught up in your perfect little existence that you won't face up to the fact that we don't belong here. We're different, and we'll never be one of them. They'll hate us, fear us, experiment on us, but they'll never accept us. Wake-up Isabel, you're not a normal teenager, you're a who-knows-how-old-alien, who can manipulate the molecular structure of objects and enter people's dreams…" he hissed, carefully keeping his voice low enough to not attract any unwanted attention.
Isabel shook her head nervously "this is silly.. Max…" she began, looking for her brother's support.
"No." Came his reply, his eyes never leaving Michaels form.
Isabel felt her confusion climbing as she watched the scene unfolding before her, but before she could voice her objections Max continued.
"This dream Michael's been having is similar to the one I've been having the last couple of nights.
"What?" Shouted Isabel
"And you're ONLY just telling us NOW!" Growled Michael.
Max squeezed Liz's hand, finding comfort from her presence "I didn't think it was important until now" he explained, knowing full well he should have said something earlier, and if his sister or Michael found out that Liz already knew about his dreams…well let's just say they would be livid.
Michael fumed, pointing his finger accusingly at his fellow aliens "that's what's wrong with the both of you, you never think any of this stuff is important! When will you realize that there is nothing else more important than this?"
Michael stood up, uncaring of any scene he might be causing and glared and his friends. Coldly his whispered "I will be leaving tomorrow to find this place, you can join me or not…"
He walked out the door, not bothering to wait for a reply.
Silence fell on the table, so when Liz's exclamation of "My customers!" was shouted, the remaining aliens felt themselves jolting in surprise.
Liz shot up from the table to serve the long awaiting customers of their dinner, Max watched her as she worked, his mind a whirl of thoughts and the sight of her was the only thing keeping him grounded and sane.
"This is so stupid, what is he gonna do, drive around until he finds this mysterious place? He doesn't even have a car" said Isabel before realizing her brother had not heard a word she'd said. "Max…Max! Are you even listening to what I'm saying?" she almost shouted in frustration.
"Hmm"
Isabel threw her hands up in anger "what am I even doing here? Obviously my opinion doesn't even count."
Isabel got up and stormed out the door.
Max lost track of his thoughts at his sister's outburst.
"Isabel!"
He picked up his keys, sending Liz an apologetic look before following Isabel out the door. This was definitely turning out to be the day of drama queens he thought wryly to himself as he prepared to offer Isabel an apology as well as a promise to do her chores if it would save him from what they all knew as her "hell on earth" treatment.
NEXT DAY AT SCHOOL
Max wasn't so sure it was a good idea to get his sister talking to him again, because now he was suffering for it.
He'd spent the last fifteen minutes giving her a word by word of his conversation with Michael the previous evening and yet she still demanded more.
Nazi
Shaking away his nasty thoughts, Max sighed as he was asked another pointless question by his sometimes-overbearing older sister.
"When I called Michael last night he said he'd be here."
"Well I don't see him, you don't think he went off by himself to try and find the place do you?" She asked for the third time.
"There's no telling what he'd do, you know how Michael gets when he gets something in his head" answered Max.
Isabel took a sip of her coke and looked around the quad again to see if Michael was there.
"Still no sign of him."
Liz stepped out of the school building and into the quad, her gaze flickering over the groups of students, searching for one student in particular. In her distraction she didn't notice the girl making her way towards her.
"Hey Liz, still hanging out with the weirdo's and delinquents of Roswell?" snarked Wendy.
She was referring to Max, Isabel and Michael of course. Liz ignored her and continued to make her way over to the table that she had spotted Max and Isabel sitting at.
It still hurt her to listen to Wendy's quips, once upon a time they'd been best friends, until that fateful day that Max had saved her when she had been shot.
That
had been the day her whole world had changed, she'd found out that
aliens did in fact exist and had made new friends, in turn loosing
her old ones because she could no longer confide in them.
At
first Isabel and Michael had snubbed her, which had been painful
because she was still smarting from the loss of her old friends. But
eventually they began to treat her as one of them, she now realized
that her friends now were truer than her friends previously had ever
been, but the loss still hurt.
Liz thought back to the day when she and Wendy had had that awful fight that led to their now ex-friends status.
begin flashback
"What's the matter with you Liz? Have you gone completely nuts?" Demanded Wendy, her shoulder length auburn hair flying around her head as she bobbed it in anger. "How could you break up with Kyle, for Max Evans of all people?"
Wendy had an obsession with popularity, and believed that Kyle Valenti, football and wrestling star of the school was their ticket to the top. She refused to believe that Liz was far from interested in being popular and had very little in common with her summer boyfriend.
Or perhaps she did believe, but didn't care. Either way Liz's break-up with the popular jock and her newfound relationship with Max was causing serious damage to her climb up the popular ladder, in fact they were now heading on a one way ticket to outcastsville.
Sure, Max was cute, but cuteness didn't factor into popularity.
"Wendy, you don't understand, Max is different, we have a connection, something I never had with Kyle, or any other guy for that matter."
A dreamy look came upon her face as she considered all the wonderful qualities that made Max so unique.
Wendy almost erupted in flames "you've got that much right! The man is completely abnormal, he doesn't have any friends apart from his sister and that delinquent. He's always hiding in the shadows, totally apart from the world around him. I know you've had this unexplainable crush on him since like third grade, but how can you even compare him to Kyle, c'mon Liz, get some sense into yourself."
Liz gritted her teeth in anger. She'd never believed that her best friend could be so cold hearted and vindictive. "Enough!" She shouted "as my best friend you should be able to see how happy he makes me and how unhappy I was being Kyle's trophy girlfriend. You should know me better than anyone else…know how much I detest the world that Kyle belongs to. You should be happy for me, not angry at me because I won't date who you want me to date. I don't think you were ever my friend, because you don't know me at all."
"Some friend you are, you won't even tell me the truth about that day at the Crashdown, and now you spend all your time with that group of weirdo's, Martyr Max, Ice queen Isabel, who thinks she is so above the rest of us, how special can she be if her only friend is her brother, unless you count misfit Michael, now that guy has absolutely no social skills, he's a borderline suicidal case from the wrong side of the tracks." She paused, her green eyes flashing in anger "You're right about one thing…I don't think we were ever friends…"
It was at that point Liz had realized that her friendship with Wendy was over.
end flashback
Liz came back into the present to find herself standing next to Isabel and Max's table, with Isabel looking at her quizzically.
"What?" She wondered if she'd said something out-loud, hence the quizzical expressions on Max and Isabel's face.
Isabel arched an eyebrow and remained silent.
Max gave his sister an annoyed look before turning back to Liz and explaining "you've been standing there for about five minutes totally oblivious to everything else."
He said nothing else, but his eyes asked her if she was okay.
Liz blushed, she hadn't realized her trip back in time had been so obvious to everyone else. She quickly sat down next to Max and tried to change the subject, to her relief she was successful at it.
"So where's Michael? I thought he was supposed to meet us here?"
"Right
here, didn't know you guys were missing me so much" came the usual
sarcastic reply.
He flopped down onto the seat next to Isabel,
who was about to tell him off when Max interrupted.
"I think we should all try and find that place from our dreams today, Liz has already managed to get off work, so it would be a perfect time."
Michaels normally expressionless face showed surprise, he'd come here expecting for them to try and convince him it was pointless. The last thing he'd expected was for them to be eager to leave on a road trip in search of the mysterious place from his dream.
"There goes the bell, we'll meet you in the parking lot after school, in the meantime those of us who actually attend classes, have to get back inside" said Isabel, making a point of mentioning his lack of attendance.
Michael shrugged and stood up, he didn't see how American History would be of any use on his home planet, but refrained from saying so, knowing full well what Isabel's reaction to that statement would be.
It was then that Wendy, and her newest friend, Pam walked by, identical looks of vindictiveness on their faces.
"Oh look, it's the annual meeting of the losers, that's l-o-o-s-e-r-s" said Pam, not realizing that her childish behaviour was making her look exactly like a child.
Isabel snickered, but said nothing of Pam's spelling abilities. Instead she gave them her patented cold shoulder.
Although it didn't sound dangerous, it had scared the daylights out of many a person.
Both Wendy and Pam could feel their confidence waver.
Michael watched the scene with a sense of irritation. He had no patience for the giggling, childish, stupidity of most high school girls. Half of their conversations were pointless and made no sense, and their need to be mean spirited and vindictive for no other reason than to be able to gossip about it later was beyond his understanding.
Girls like Wendy and Pam were a complete waste of time and oxygen.
"Go away…" he growled, his frown an indication of his impatience.
One look at his face, and the girls didn't spend a second contemplating it, they shot off, obviously looking for safety in numbers.
Liz burst out laughing, shortly followed by Max and Isabel, Michael just gave his usual smirk and walked off, although as soon as his back was to them a full out grin spread across his face, he felt really good, not just about the road trip, but because in a small way he'd made it up to Liz for the hard time he'd given her when she'd first started hanging around with Max.
Doesn't mean I approve of it he thought to himself, he still firmly believed Max shouldn't have shared their secret but he admitted to himself he couldn't have chosen a better person to fall in love with
Isabel began walking back into the school "I guess Michaels bad boy persona comes in handy sometimes huh?"
Liz started giggling again "can you believe the look on Pam's face? She was positively petrified!"
"It was priceless" agreed Isabel.
Both girls erupted into giggles again.
Max smiled, it was good to see his two favorite girls getting along, and it was also nice to see Isabel so happy. Isabel had never really had a close friend to do all the things girls do together with, and although she'd tried to hide it, she'd been really lonely. Liz was like this bright light that had come into all of their lives and brightened it just by her very presence. He couldn't believe how lucky he was, that Liz Parker actually loved him, boring dull Max Evans, and her, stunning, clever, wonderful, amazing Liz was his girlfriend.
Hey, you are anything but boring Startled, Max looked at Liz, he kept forgetting that she could sometimes hear his thoughts, it was a development from the connection he'd made when he's saved her that day at the Crashdown.
Up until that day he had only been able to communicate telepathically with Michael and Isabel, so it was taking some getting used to.
He sometimes found it strange that with Isabel and Michael he always had to consciously project his thought for them to hear, whereas with Liz, his thoughts were often projected without any conscious effort.
Stranger still, was the fact that Liz was unable to communicate telepathically with his fellow aliens, it appeared that whatever changes she'd undergone did not include the full blown telepathic ability, which led him to believe that her silent communication power was more of a heightened connection between him and her, due to the connection he'd made when he'd healed her, rather that an actual psychic power development.
Whatever the changes were, it was still very disconcerting, as they had no way to know if there would be any further changes to come.LATER THE SAME DAY
After school, the four met at the Evans jeep, each feeling some form of excitement and nervousness.
Isabel however only felt trepidation and fear. She still felt unsure about the dreams, especially because she hadn't had them. She wondered if it was a 'boy' thing before dismissing the theory as ludicrous. Isabel also worried that she might be loosing touch with her powers, as she was the one that was normally stronger in the dream area, whilst Max was stronger at the healing and Michael…was still developing his powers. For the moment his powers were highly erratic, which he seemed to have trouble controlling.
The teens climbed into the vehicle silently, Michael climbed in the back next to Isabel, leaving the passenger seat open for Liz, another small apology in his own way. She accepted it silently, knowing that any verbal acknowledgment would make the boy uncomfortable.
"So, Where do we start?" Questioned Liz as she climbed in to her seat.
"In the desert" came the simultaneous reply from Michael and Max
Isabel arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow and looked at Liz questionably, Liz shrugged before turning to face the front again.
The group fell into silence again as Max pulled the jeep out of the school grounds and headed out of town and into the desert, with no destination on hand he allowed instinct to lead him.
After a while on the road Isabel asked "Uh, Liz, are you still looking for someone to replace Wendy at the Crash?" Her voice was neutral, not giving anything away as she asked the seemingly innocent question.
"Yeah, I've had to work overtime 'cause we're so short staffed."
Max was not fooled, he knew his sister was hinting at the job and wondered why. It was not the typical Isabel Evans workplace. He wondered if Isabel's question had a double meaning, was Isabel looking to replace Wendy in more ways than just as a waitress?
"Do you think I could apply?" Asked Isabel.
Michael snorted, and was poked in the ribs by Isabel for it.
"What's that supposed to mean? Don't you think I could handle it?" Demanded the offended Isabel.
"No offence Is, but I can't picture you in an alien uniform, much less serving anybody" cut in Max before an argument could develop, he was well aware of Michael's tactlessness and wasn't in the mood for a grumpy sister.
"Well I guess you just don't know me that well, and anyway, I could always do with the extra cash" sniffed Isabel, holding her head up high.
Liz was quick to break up the tension "I think it's a good idea, why don't you come around tomorrow and I can show you the ropes, it'll be fun."
Michael ignored the conversation and continued to stare out into the vast planes of the desert. The terrain was monotonous and he could feel himself zoning out when suddenly something caught his attention. He squinted, in the distance he could make out a rock outcropping "Over there" he shouted, pointing over Max's shoulder causing Isabel to be unceremoniously shoved to the side. He ignored her outcry as he continued to shout; "stop Max...that's the place there!"
"Michael are you sure? It looks just like a bunch of rocks to me" even as Isabel asked the question she already knew the answer. It was like the very air hummed around her. Her senses intensified whilst her heartbeat increased. Her very soul was crying out in recognition so loud that she could not ignore it.
Michael gave her a look, his face telling her that he felt it too.
There was no going back.
The group fell into silence as they climbed
out the jeep, Michael lead the way up the rocks, climbing slowly,
carefully making his way lest he fall because it was a treacherous
journey at best.
He stopped when they reached the top, Max passed
him and unhesitatingly made his way to a wall of rock, without
pausing he waved his hand over it, both Isabel and Liz gasped when
they saw a glowing handprint materialise on the rock face.
Max placed his hand in it and to the group's amazement the wall of rock rolled away to form an opening to a cave.
