Chapter Ten

Max walked through the deserted halls of Roswell High; it was lunch so the majority of students would be sitting in one of the two cafeterias. He stopped at his locker, pulling out the books he'd need for his next three classes. He was about to shut the locker when one of the few pictures that hung inside it caught his attention. It was a picture of him, sitting next to Tess at the Crashdown with Isabel and Michael sitting across from them. They were all smiling…though now he admitted it was mostly forced. It had been taken a few weeks after Tess arrived. He looked closely at the photo, he could see the strained way Isabel was smiling, Michael was smirking though not up to his usual standard. Max himself was smiling sadly; Liz had taken the photo so he smiled for her.

But now that he really looked at the picture, he could see something that he hadn't noticed in Tess' smile. Every time he glanced at it he'd thought that Tess was smiling. She was, but it wasn't the happy smile he had only seen a few times on her face, the one that seemed to reach her ears. As he looked now, he could see that it was a sad smile, like she was trying to hide something that was bothering her, but a thing that she didn't want people to worry about.

He realized now that even after a few days Tess could tell that no one had wanted her there. There she sat, surrounded by the people whom she was supposed to be with…separated from the people she wanted to be with…

He sighed, shaking his head, he'd been so stupid to keep pushing her away. He hadn't even tried to get to know her. Because of him, she'd been pushed out and treated like an alien.

He slammed his locker shut in disgust, turning to go head down the hall back to the Cafeteria where Liz awaited him. But he stopped short at the seen a few lockers down from the corner of the hall.

Tess was going through her locker…violently. She was pulling books out and slamming them back in, ruffling through papers before throwing them on the ground. Kyle was there as well; grabbing at the papers that Tess was throwing away. Max was too far away to hear just what they were talking about, but it was pretty obvious that they were arguing about something. Kyle was throwing his arms in the air, waving them around, shaking his head at her. He threw the papers down, pointing at himself…he must have said something that got to Tess. Even from his distance away he could see her shoulders straiten and tense. She grabbed the edge of her locker, knuckles turning white.

She slammed the locker shut, spinning around to face Kyle. She waved her hands around as if asking a question. She pointed to herself, face turning a shade of red formally unknown to mankind, then pointed down the hallway to where Max stood hiding on the other side of the corner. When Max looked back around, Tess was hiding her face in her hands, it was obvious to anyone that she was crying now just by the way her shoulders were shaking. Kyle shook his head, walking over to Tess and pulling her into a brotherly hug. After a few moments, Kyle let go of one arm, wrapping the other around her shoulder and leading her down the hall, saying something that made her laugh.

Max waited until the hall had been empty for a few moments before stepping out from around the corner, and looking down the hall to where a few papers and a partially closed locker remained. He walked over to the papers, picking up the few of them after shutting Tess' locker. There were some basic notes from classes and some printed out Instant Messages. One paper that caught his eye was a small photo hidden behind the papers. It was a picture of a younger Tess and Faith sitting in front of a cake. Max turned it over reading the back, 'Tess' birthday party'; he looked down at the date…it was today!

Max looked around the hall quickly, checking to see if anyone was watching as he put the picture in his backpack. He walked down the hall and right out the door…

Max sighed as he sat on a park bench, watching as the light faded around him. He had cut school and looked all day for the perfect gift for Tess. He had really screwed up with her, and he needed to do something to prove that he wanted to be with her…Max's thoughts paused, "That I want to be with her?" he asked himself, "No…no, I just…just want to apologize and hopefully be friends with her…No I don't want to be friends, I want something more…but what is more than friends?" He thought for a moment, before realizing his first thought was correct…he wanted to be with Tess…

But he needed something to prove that to her, to prove that he was truly sorry for anything and everything he had done to hurt her. But what?

He looked up, watching as the stars slowly started to show upon the darkening sky…and then it hit him…the perfect gift…

A knock upon the door was drew Willow's attention away from her book, she looked up waiting a few moments to see if the person at the door would knock again. No one did and so she went back to her book, she had gotten a few sentences through when the knocking was back louder and faster than ever. "Coming, coming…" Willow called as she set her book down and made her way over to the door. "I'm coming!" She shouted unlocking the door, "Hold your horses…" she opened the door to reveal Max Evans standing there breathing heavily as if he had run there. "What do you want?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I need…I need your help…" He said, taking deep breathes in between.

"What makes you think I'd help you?" Willow asked, she didn't want to do anything for the boy before her, not after what he had done to Tess.

"It's for Tess…" he said.

"Tess?" Willow said, her attention grasped, "What? What's wrong? Did something happen to Tess?"

"No…no, I just… you can do magic right?" Willow nodded, "Can you do anything about my memories of Zan?"

Willow shook her head, "Oh no…no, no, no, I am not helping you get rid of them…not a chance in he…"

"No!" Max interrupted, startling her, "I…I want to remember…"

It was a decision he had come to just recently. He knew he wanted to remember, but he just didn't know how. As he thought about Tess' birthday, it just seemed right. She always wanted him to remember, what better gift could he get.

Willow looked at him skeptically, "Are you sure?" she asked. She remembered when she had helped Tess remember…that was one of the worst experiences she had ever had with magic. Nasaedo had told Tess about all the great things about Antar, about Zan…he never told her about her life before being Queen of Antar or how they died…So she had done the spell and Tess' memories returned, with the good came the bad.

It had been too much for Tess at first; she'd had nightmares for months after that. Her life before being Queen was not a fairy tale in any way. She'd been of a low class family, and bandits killed her parents as they made a journey for a better life. Tess was orphaned with her older brother, but he died of the sickness only two years after that. Tess was found wandering around on her own and sold to the Slave Traders. When she was around the Earth age of 19, King Mirtith, Zan's father disbanded the trade. He took all the Slaves in Tess' quarter to come heal at the Palace. Tess always was a spitfire, in any life; it got her in a lot of trouble because she refused to submit to the personal whims of her masters. She'd been beaten many times as a result, as had many of the Slaves in her quarter. King Mirtith had them moved, and personally helped in the healing process along with his son Zan. That was how Zan and Ava met…

Willow shuddered at the memories of waking up to Tess' screams of terror…it was horrible.

"I'm sure." Max answered firmly.

"As you wish…" Willow said, motioning for Max to take a seat next to her so she could begin…

The rock wall of the Pod chamber opened with a whir alerting the only other person inside that she was no longer alone.

Tess glanced over her shoulder to see Max bathed in the gentle light of the Pod chamber. She turned to look back at the pods, hers in particular. She had been there for a while, thinking about her decision, standing before her pod as if it held the answer.

She waited a few moments; Max hadn't said anything, neither had she. For once, it was a comfortable silence that fell between the two of them.

Tess sighed, "You know Max, all my life, I've wanted to be normal, like you. I never got that chance, all the people I grew up with weren't normal, neither was I; I guess that's why we fit together so well. Nasaedo told me when I was younger that I wasn't noble born on Antar. He told me that not many people believed I should have been the one that Zan chose for a wife, that they believed I wasn't good enough." She laughed, "I thought, that's probably how you felt now. So I worked and worked to get better, I pushed myself to be good enough for you."

She glanced at him before looking back at the pod, as Max stepped closer. "I trained with Buffy and Faith to build up my strength, my endurance, my fighting skills. I worked with Willow to focus my energy, I worked with Xander to learn basic skills I'd need in the world. I studied, I trained, I learned. I did everything I could think of to better myself. I learned to fight, to cook, to sew, to dance, to sing, to draw, to act, to skate. I learned gymnastics, piano, violin, flute, guitar, harp, ballet, tap. I learned how to speak Italian, German, Spanish, Gaelic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, French, and even Arabic…for you. I worked with my powers so I could teach you and protect you…but everything I did just wasn't good enough was it?"

She laughed slightly, but Max could hear the tears in it as he stepped behind her. "It's ironic isn't it? The one thing that I couldn't learn, the only thing I couldn't be, was the one thing you wanted me to be…human."

"I don't want a human Tess." Max said.

Tess turned, walking away from him, "Then what do you want?" she whispered from the edge of the chamber

"You…" Max said, as Tess stepped out into the chilled Roswell air.

"Too late…" He heard her mutter as she paused by the exit. "You know Max, when I was just coming out of my Pod I was happy, because I knew you'd be there…only you weren't. None of you were. And I remember asking myself, why? Why'd you leave me alone? Was I not good enough?' Now I know, I'll never be…" She shut the door behind her. He shook his head; he didn't even get a chance to tell Tess that he remembered her, that he remembered everything…

A/N – I know, it's a really bad ending…and probably a messed up chapter. The next one will be the last one with a shock and a mission for Max.