Author's Note: This story is set after the end of season 2 of Roswell (after Tess has already left) and in the beginning of season 6 of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer- after Buffy and Spike have gotten together, but before Willow was addicted to magic and before Willow and Tara broke up. Also, Giles hasn't left yet. Sorry for the confusing time lines, but this worked best for my story.
A/N 2: Lots and lots of exposition in this part. I had to do lots of rewrites and it still feels kind of bogged down to me, but the exposition is necessary. Ah, well...
Chapter Sixteen - Involuntary Confessions
Buffy crossed her arms and looked at Quentin petulantly. "What is it exactly that you want? I thought I made myself perfectly clear the last time you showed up."
Travers' grin just got bigger. "Quite. But with the information we have, I thought you really would be glad to see us."
Xander snorted.
"Well, I see you are still working with these 'people' when your destiny is to fight alone."
"According to my 'destiny,'" Buffy held the word with disgust, "I should be in the ground."
"Yes, well, unforeseen things do occasionally happen," Quentin replied, looking at first at Xander, then at Willow.
Willow blushed slightly, while Xander just rolled his eyes.
"As amusing as this is, would you please get on with it? You say you have information for us. If we could see it, then you can just be on your way," Giles spoke up.
"It's not quite that simple," one of the Council's many flunkies hedged. "For you see, this goes beyond what you have dealt with before. This isn't just about the saving of the world; it is about the saving of two worlds."
The Scoobies just looked confused. The Podsters shared a worried look.
Quentin caught the Roswellians' look. "Yes, your 'highnesses,'" though the sneer he addressed them with could be called anything but respectful, 'this involves your world too.'
Willow looked at them curiously. "Are they some kind of royalty or something?"
"Some kind... You see, they are not exactly as they appear."
"What do you mean," Giles asked suspiciously.
Before he could answer, Max moved forward commandingly. "How do you know about us? Who are you?" He raised his hand and pointed it at the Council members, as did Michael and Isabel. Michael raised his hand out of habit, forgetting in the threat he felt to his family that he no longer could access those powers.
"Do you really want to harm me before I tell you what I know?" They lowered their hands slightly. "I thought not." He turned back to Willow, "Yes they are royalty, just not of the human kind."
"You mean they are some kind of demon royalty," Xander asked with a slight frown.
"I don't think so," Anya said, her face a mask of puzzlement. "I've never seen them before, and in my time, I got to know most of the higher ups."
Michael moved forward and glowered at Travers. "He asked you a question. Who are you?"
Quentin looked at him for a moment. "All in good time, boy. You must be Rath, the second in command. Your reputation for impetuousness precedes you." He turned back to the others. "No, they are not demon royalty, they are alien royalty."
"Aliens!" The exclamation came from several people at once.
For the first time, Spike spoke up. He looked at the shocked and disbelieving faces around him and chuckled softly, "So you lot can believe in vampires and demons, but aliens are a stretch?" The powers he now had were starting to make a whole lot more sense.
Giles looked slightly sheepish. "Spike does make a good point." He turned to Max, "Are you really aliens?"
Max looked at the rest of the Roswellians. The secret was out of the bag, they might as well fill in the details. Besides, who knew just how much these other people were going to reveal. "Yes, we are aliens. Only Michael, Isabel and I are though."
Buffy was thoughtful. Well, that explained at least part of her dream. She would definitely have to talk to Giles later.
Willow paused, "You are ... good ... aliens, right?"
Kyle jumped in, amused, "Yeah most of the time they are, just their whole luck for getting in trouble can be really annoying."
"Thanks Kyle," Isabel said dryly.
He just grinned back.
Michael, ever the paranoid one, just glared at Travers and the rest of the Council members more threateningly. "How do you know this?"
"We have our sources. A while ago we were in contact with a group called the Skins and I believe they were looking for you," Travers said with a small grin.
Max and Isabel's hands came up, while Michael now remembering his transformation (and not wanting to give them any more information than they already had, such as him now being a vampire) moved into an attack posture.
"You work with the Skins," Max asked tightly.
Travers looked affronted. "Not with so crass a group as that, no. We originally were interested in what they were doing here and what they wanted. When we found out all they cared about was you and the foolish war you had going on on Antar, we left them alone, only keeping tabs on them in case something else came up."
Buffy looked at the Roswellians' tense reactions. "Who are these Skins?"
Travers motioned to another flunky who took over. "You see, to understand the Skins, you need to know about Antar first. The planet was ruled by Zan," he gestured to Max, "who was king. With him was his sister, Vilandra," he pointed to Isabel, "and his second in command, Rath," he nodded to Michael. "There was also his bride, Ava, but we will get to her later," he said noticing the Roswell group's further intense reaction to the mention of her name.
The flunky continued, "Another, Kivar, wanted to be king and he had to royals murdered, with the help of the lovely Vilandra." Isabel shuddered and Max wrapped an arm around her. The Scoobies shared confused looks with each other. If she had betrayed them, why was she with them and why was her brother comforting her? For that matter, if they were murdered, what were they doing here?
Quentin picked up the story thread. "To save their planet, the four's DNA was cloned and mixed with human DNA to create human/ alien hybrids. This way they would be able to blend in on Earth where they could be safe until it was time for them to return."
Spike was thoughtful. If he had Michael's powers and he was second in command and therefore military on his planet, it kind of explained how he was able to blow up things. It made him wonder what else he could do.
Quentin looked at the Scoobies. "You've heard of the 1947 Crash in Roswell?" When they all nodded, he continued. "Yes, that was their ship driven by their protectors and covered up by the government. Unfortunately, the government wasn't able to stop the protectors from taking the pods which contained them and placing one set in New York and the other in Roswell."
Willow interrupted. "There are two sets of you guys?"
Max nodded slowly. "It was for insurance."
Willow's mouth formed a small 'o' and Tara nodded, lost in thought.
"The Skins were sent to Earth by Kivar to find the Royal Four and kill them."
Giles was confused. "Wait a moment, if the ship crashed in 1947, why do you look like 17 year olds?"
Isabel took this one, "We were in incubation pods until 1989 and when we emerged we looked like 6 year olds."
"They've aged normally since then," Maria put in.
"Well, we are half human," Max said with a shrug, while Michael just continued to glare around the room.
"What about this Ava girl," Xander asked.
"She betrayed us," Liz spat, the anger still coursing in her veins over Tess.
Max looked ashamed and guilty. "She used me to conceive an heir for Kivar and she... she murdered a dear friend to be able to get home." Even though Liz was still upset, she couldn't bear to see Max hurting like that and grabbed his hand in support. Kyle wrapped an arm around Liz and one around Isabel, knowing how much talking about her hurt both of them. Michael squeezed Maria briefly, before remembering it wasn't safe for him to be near her and moving away again.
Giles looked at Quentin harshly. "Why are you being so helpful and giving us so much information at this point? Usually we have to drag it out of you."
"That would be because of Ava, or Tess, as she was known here," Quentin answered. "It is because of her that we're here. Well, her and Kivar, and their plans for you... and the destruction of Earth..."
Cliffe! I shouldn't leave it here, but well... :)