Dust

Nicholas looked fearful as Zsar gave him an appraising look. Rath was still lying on the floor but he was now conscious. His eyes traveled to Max and then turned to Tess as she pushed herself up from the ground.

"Ava," Zsar smiled.

Zsar walked into the center of the room with ease. His complexion was pale and his eyes were haunting, a shade of gray that was not often found on this planet. He had an air of confidence about him and it was obvious he made the other aliens a bit unnerved.

Tess still didn't remember him but she felt like she should. She looked between him and Max, who was staring at the other alien with a fire in his eyes. "You remember him?" Her tone was surprised.

Max glanced at Tess then back at the man who now stood in front of them.

"Who is he Max?" Liz questioned, still standing next to Leanna who looked terrified of the other alien.

"Your majesty," Zsar said in a mocking manner before Max had a chance to answer Liz, returning the glare he was receiving. "You know who I am."

"I know who you are," Max said simply then turned to Tess, searching for signs that she remembered him also.

Tess nodded slightly.

"My Avalena," the pale man grinned with satisfaction. "It's really you. I'm sorry I didn't get back to Antar to protect you from Kivar."

"Have your alliances suddenly changed?" Max questioned sarcastically.

"It seems yours have," he looked to the brunette who had come to stand on the other side of Max.

"Who is he Max?" Isabel questioned.

"Always the confused princess, aren't we Vilandra?" Zsar's tone was condescending.

Michael had a scowl on his face and looked as if he were going to say something but Tess beat him to it.

"Don't call her that," her voice was commanding. "Why are you here?"

"Yes Zsar, what are you doing here?" Nicholas walked towards him. "I thought we had a deal; we get the baby and we'll bring you Tess."

"Her name is Avalena," his tone was serious.

"Avalena, Ava then," the man-child replied with a shrug. "Hey guy, you can have them both." He gestured towards Ava, still in her protective bubble with the baby.

"No one is taking anyone anywhere," Max suddenly felt very protective.

"You don't belong with them," Zsar turned towards Tess. "You belong with me."

"I'm not going anywhere," Tess said firmly.

"But Ava…" Zsar began but Max did not let him finish.

"You heard what she said," his tone was assertive.

"How concerned you seem to be about her now," Zsar looked him up and down. "Where was that concern when you sent her to Kivar?"

"Where was yours when you teamed up with him and got her killed?" Max countered.

"What is it with you skins thinking our women belong to you?" Michael crossed his arms over his chest.

"Our women?" Tess and Isabel both turned to look at him.

"Later," Michael looked between them, knowing he was going to catch hell for that when this was over. "Who the hell is this guy Maxwell?"

"Ava's ex-fiancé," Max said plainly.

"What?" Isabel ran a hand through her hair.

"It was a business arrangement," Tess said with confidence even though she had little to no memory of their relationship. Since Ava told her about him she'd tried some memory retrieval techniques but didn't come up with much.

"Is that what Zan has told you?" Zsar stepped closer to her but she backed up. "It was him who never really loved you; he doesn't love you now."

He reached for her but was stopped by the green shield Max put between him and her.

"Back up," Max annunciated both word as if alone they could both be sentences.

"Do you believe that could really stop me?" Zsar almost laughed. He rose his hand up and began wearing at Max's shield.

Michael stepped up but before he could do anything he felt a low voltage blast hit him in the chest. He turned to see two men that had entered the building, obviously skins with Zsar.

Zsar stopped abruptly, feeling he proved his point. He glanced over to the brunette standing on the other side of Max. "You're different." He looked her up and down, "Not a hybrid but not completely human."

"You stay away from my wife," Max got in between them.

"Which one?" Zsar gave a chuckle.

"Both," the word was out of his mouth before he thought about it.

Liz paid no attention, instead looking back at the pair of gray eyes that were staring through her. They were the same eyes she'd seen in her vision when she was speaking to Maria. He was the one who attacked Max; the one who had killed him.

"Michael," she turned back to look at him. "It's him." Liz wondered how she didn't realize it earlier but the vision had been so fast and then the Skins arrived just as quickly.

"The Royal Four," Zsar shook his head. "It's almost funny."

Tess had had enough of his arrogance. "What do you want?" She squinted her eyes at him, irritated.

"You," he answered simply. "Kivar has agreed to reinstate you as queen."

"In name only," Nicholas added, "provided you give us the child."

"You want my baby?" Tess looked at them both like they were insane. "I'm not letting Kivar kill my child."

"No one's taking Zan," Max replied.

"Kivar has decided against killing him now," Nicholas said matter-of-factly. "Zsar has made a deal and we will honor that."

"Well Zsar does not speak for me or my son," Tess spat, moving closer to where Ava stood with the baby. "And if anyone comes near him, I will kill you!"

"Avalena," Zsar's tone was calm. "Do what Nicholas says, otherwise they'll just take him and kill as many of you as they can."

"Let them try," Tess glanced at Ava.

"I can weaken the force field she has created," Zsar gave her a wicked smile. "Please don't make me."

Ava let the shield down just long enough for Tess to step inside and hold the barrier with her.

"I'm sorry you have to die again my love," Zsar said in a sympathetic tone and quickly shot an energy bolt at the bubble surrounding them.

Max blasted Zsar backwards into a wooden beam, his body breaking through it as if it were a twig.

Within a few moments the fighting had broken out again but this time they were slightly outnumbered.

Nicholas was concentrating on the force field that Tess and Ava were maintaining around baby Zan. It continued to shock him but he was persistent in his attacking, knowing that eventually he would be able to get in.

Leanna blasted Liz with an energy ball, smacking her into the brick wall that was behind her. She stumbled, falling onto her hands and knees. As she began to get up, the blonde alien blasted her again, slamming her body into the floor.

"Liz!" Max tried to blast Leanna in the back but missed as he was stung in his own back by Zsar.

Michael turned just as Leanna was standing over Liz. "Stay down Liz!" he yelled as be broke the window out behind her.

The shards of glass flew inside, cutting the enemy alien all over her body as she fell to the floor in agony.

One of the skins who entered with Zsar blasted Michael across the room. He quickly rose to his feet and returned the attack. The two of them were soon ensued in their own fight.

Rath propelled an energy ball towards Isabel but she dashed out of the way. She turned and flung her arm to the side, knocking Michael's dupe away from her.

The other skin attacked Isabel with a stream of small but painful bright yellow balls of light. Soon the other unknown skin was attacking Isabel from the other side and after she could take no more, her body fell with a thump against the concrete floor.

Zsar and Max continuously exchanged blows but it was no mystery who was winning. Max had numerous cuts as well as burns but Zsar hardly had a scratch on him. The pale alien launched what seemed liked lighting at the alien king but he deferred them with his shield. He returned the attack with a stream of energy balls but Zsar avoided them.

Liz finally rises from the floor, her body bruised and beaten, as she makes her way to her sister in law. She's weak but she manages to force some energy to the surface and blast both the skins looming over Isabel before collapsing to the floor.

"Liz," Isabel crawls to her body. "Liz, get up."

Max turns as he hears Isabel calling his wife's name. Zsar uses the distraction and thrusting a stream of blue energy from his hand and entraps Max in the flow. He raises the beam, as well as the young man trapped inside of it, up against the wall causing Max's body to hover a few feet off the ground.

Michael, who's been knocked to the floor by Rath, blasts his mirror image from the ground. He attacks him with a strong flow of energy balls and Rath is knocked out of the broken window. He rushes to help Max but Nicholas intervenes, tossing Michael across the room.

"I have to do something," Tess turned to Ava then back at Max and Zsar.

"You have to protect your son," Ava gave her a half smile. Her mind went to the conversation they'd had before Max and all the others arrived there.

"What will you do after you defeat Loni?" Ava asked while packing their things.

"I don't know," Tess shrugged. "Be normal for a change I guess." She paused thoughtfully. "All I ever wanted was to find out where I belong but when I went to Antar I found out I didn't belong there either."

"So you think you belong here?" Ava questioned, sitting down next to her.

"Not really but I want Zan to feel like he belongs," Tess looked down at her son's face. "In a way I envy Max, Michael and Isabel."

"Okay," Ava gave her an inquisitive look. It was a strange comment coming from Tess.

"They got to figure out who they are without worrying about who they were; I never had that luxury." She elaborated. "Everyone in my life has been in it because of who I was before but I'm not exactly her. It can be…"

"Suffocating," Ava continued for her. "You want to be free." It was almost a question.

Tess nodded. "I just want to make sure that my son is; I want him to have peace of mind."

Tess and Ava looked at each other, each knowing what the other was thinking. They let the force field come down.

Michael watched as the two skins approached Isabel and Liz from behind. He held his arm up and shook the beam above them. The building rattled slightly as he concentrated on loosing it. After one last surge of power, the beam came crashing to floor below, smashing both skins into nothing but a moss colored dust.

At that precise moment, Zsar had just released the huge ball of energy that had been forming in his hand. He shot it at his adversary who was still pinned to the wall from the stream that engulfed him.

"No!" the petite blonde screamed as she dove into the blue light and Max dropped to the floor. The energy ball hit her instead, slamming her body into the wall before she slid down to the cold concrete below.

"Tess!" Max hurried to her side.

Zsar stands dumb founded; his face whiter than before. "My Avalena," his voice was barely above a whisper.

"Oh my god," Liz said as Isabel helps her up, repeating the sentiment.

Kyle runs out of the tiny room followed by Maria. He runs to be at her side and Maria makes her way to Michael and then to Liz who turns to hug her.

"It's gonna be okay," Max hovers over her. "Look at me Tess."

"Ava," Zsar calls in an almost breathless tone.

Max could sense him coming from behind. He could feel his body filling with rage and his blood felt like it was boiling. He'd never been as angry as he was in that very moment. His body was overflowing with an intensity he never experienced before. This was primal, this was powerful, this was alien.

He turned back and let his hand connect with Zsar's chest. Everything he was feeling, all the power that he felt flowing within him he let burst to the surface in a stream of fiery energy that blew Zsar into a gray mist in a matter of seconds.

"Wow," Nicholas said quietly to himself before swiftly disappearing through the hole in the wall.

No on noticed.

Max let his focus return to the female hybrid with the gaping wound in her abdomen. He placed his hand over it and cradled her head with the other hand so she could look at him. He concentrated deeply, willing himself to heal her but nothing happened.

He took a deep breath in as the others looked on, silently praying for this to work. Max tried to focus harder, and spreading his hand across her stomach, he tried again; Still nothing.

"C'mon Tess," Max went to place his hand over the wound again when he felt her hand grab his.

"Not even you can save me from this," she tried to force a smile through the pain. "It's okay."

"No," Max shook his head, fighting back tears. He regretted not knowing the truth sooner and now it was too late.

Her twin kneeled down next to her with Zan in her arms.

"I will cherish every moment with you." She reached out to brush his small hand. "Now you'll keep him safe." Her chest was becoming tighter.

"Tess…" Kyle was at a loss for words.

"I know," She looked back at Max who was now holding her hand.

Kyle leaned over and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead. "You will always be my sister."

"I'm so sorry for not protecting you from this," Max paused briefly. "I…"

"Shh," She said breathlessly, her eyes traveling over all of them, then back to Zan and then Max. "My Zan," Max's face was the last thing she saw before the darkness crept in. "It doesn't hurt anymore."

"Tess…"

"The-They're," it had become almost impossible for her to speak now but she had to tell them what she was sensing. "They're," her chest heaved up and down, air coming through her words. "They're …coming."

"Who is?" Max questioned. "Tess."

Her eyes rolled upwards, revealing only the whites as her head fell to the side. And just like that, she was gone.

Liz put her hand on Max's shoulder but he did not move. He stared at the body in silence until all that was left of the hand he'd been holding was dust.

A/N: Please don't shoot me! I know you are all like "what the?" but things aren't always as they seem. The epilogue should be up either tomorrow or Wednesday so bear with me :)