Alex stared out the small window in Michael's apartment, watching as the sun slowly started to rise. He shook his head; thoughts of the peace that a sunrise brought would have to be put off till later, he had to tell the group before him the truth.
"Well, as you know, I died." Alex said, starting off the story. "I died because I knew none of you would be willing to help Tess with what she needed to do." He glared at them, still feeling disgust at their reaction to Tess. "Just before Nasaedo died, he helped Tess change me…so that I could survive on Antar for a short while. Enough time for me to help her out."
He could see the confusion in their eyes about why he would help her like that when all they wanted to do was ignore her. He shook his head at them, "You guys are the saddest bunch of humans I have ever seen. I helped her because, as is human nature, you'd like to help those in need. Funny how you three," he said, looking at the pod squad, "wanted to be so human that you ignored the first basic instinct, to look out for others."
He stretched, "So I helped, I changed, and we came up with a plan to get to Antar. I went to Las Cruces to start a translation of the book, while Tess worked on my slide show and story of Sweden. Yes, Liz," He said, cutting off the remark he knew was coming, "I knew exactly what she was up to, I helped her too. I sent her some pictures of Leanne to use for the show. I never thought that you'd think I was killed, so I never thought that Leanne would be involved in your 'murder investigation'. I came back with a good portion translated, and the key to translating the rest of it. Tess helped, and together we decoded the entire book." The excitement in his voice at accomplishing that goal was barely contained.
"It told us everything. The history of Antar, the reign of King Zan and Queen Ava, how to work the Granolith. Everything!" He was smiling now, remembering how happy they had been when they figured it out. "We were able to get to Antar, but we didn't know when or how we'd manage to make me disappear for a few months. So, I faked my death."
The group looked at him as if he were crazy. "But I couldn't heal you," Max said, "And Tess was with Kyle so she couldn't have mind warped me."
"True," Alex said, "But you can't heal something when there isn't anything to heal." He smirked as realization dawned on the group. "You know, I never realized how much ketchup could in fact look like blood." The simplicity of the plan was genius. Tess had come up with the ketchup gag as a joking suggestion, but Alex had gone for it. He reasoned that Max would come to heal him, just based on what the police report would say and what the car looked like, he'd already believe Alex dead. Not to mention, the dimness of the car had helped immensely, only a dark spot on his shirt indicating something like blood.
"So I was dead, and free to leave, and Tess…" He trailed off remembering why they had to make his death so abrupt. A few days later and Tess wouldn't have been able to survive the trip to Antar. "When she found out she was pregnant, she was so happy…but then she got sick. And we knew why, the baby couldn't breathe. We had to push the departure up as soon as possible. We were going to leave hints to let you guys know that I wasn't really dead but we didn't get a chance, we had to leave otherwise Tess would die breaking Atmo."
It finally hit Max just how sick Tess had really been. He had always thought that she'd be there for him, waiting…but she could have been gone forever. She could have…have died.
"So we left, we made it to Antar alright, landed just fine. We were taken in by a small Rebel force just outside the city. You guys cannot begin to imagine the scenery there, it's amazing. There are colors there that we can see here; the water is just like jello, oh man, and the food. God, the Pinkas fruit is so good, it's sweeter than a strawberry but with skin like an apple…it's just…" He trailed again; this was no time to be talking of food. "Tess was watched over by the women in the base, she was pretty pregnant by then, two weeks later she gave birth. You know, one thing I discovered, alien pregnancies only last about a month. It was really weird seeing Tess flat and then a few days later starting to bulge. But the women reassured me that it was perfectly normal. Some of the Antarian's speak English. A few loyalist families decided to learn the language that the Royal Four would be exposed to on Earth. They taught me Antarian. It's actually really easy to learn once you get the pronunciation…" He was doing it again. Trailing off in remembrance.
He sighed, "Zan's birth, though based on the screaming, a painful one, was a relief to the people of the base, the King had given an heir to the people, but they couldn't help but wonder where the king was. They knew I wasn't the king, but they didn't know when he'd arrive. None of you will ever be able to guess how strong of a person Tess really is. Only a day after the birth, she had to get up, before all the rebels, and tell them that the king would not be coming." He paused a moment as if listening for something.
"Do you three know how much it hurt her to have to tell the people who looked to her for hope that their king chose Earth over Antar. They were upset to say the least, they wanted to give up. There was no point in fighting to return Antar to the rightful king if he wasn't even going to come help them. But Tess, she was…amazing. She gave them a speech, crying the whole time, about how she had come to help. The king's spirit living through her and her son. She would fight to free the people, fight to help them. She told them she did not care about her own life if it meant that the people could be happy. She gave them hope."
Alex shuddered; this was where it got bad. "Tess was walking down from her speech platform, when someone bumped into her. She got a flash; Kivar knew she was there. There was a mole in the base that was supposed to see if Queen Ava had returned. She ran to the small group of scientists hiding in the base, the ones who helped make you three. She had them help Zan, she knew that something bad was going to happen, she had them transfer the connection she had with Zan to the only other person she could think of…me."
Isabel gasped, she didn't know why but she had a feeling that what Alex had said was not a thing that any woman on Antar would want to go through.
"It was hell for her, the connection between mother and child is buried so deep, that if feels like your soul is being pulled out of you body in little pieces. It doesn't hurt the child at all, believe me, one of the scientists learned not to mess with Tess about Zan. One of them said that there might be pain for the child, and Tess went ballistic, the scientist was fine, very shaken at being threatened by a small blonde woman, but fine. Tess told them to do it, the Anza Malek, the great transfer. It's what they did with your souls," he said, looking at the pod squad, "It would have been really painful if you four hadn't already been dead. Now imagine, Tess going through that alive." Alex shuddered, recalling the screaming.
"There was no pain for Zan, none for me, but believe me, if I could have taken her pain I would have, the screaming…" He shuddered again. "It was a good thing that Tess did that then, the next day she was taken. The mole had orders to take the Queen, harm no one, just take the queen. He was a genius, Kivar was, to remove the Queen right out from under the rebels, without them fighting. That crushed their spirits. They didn't know what had happened, but the soon discovered. One of their spies in the palace was there when Kivar had Tess dragged down to the dungeons. No, their dungeons are not like what you're thinking. You actually had a close experience to an Antarian dungeon Max." Alex said looking at Max. "You remember the white room don't you?"
Max shivered, memories of the government room coming back to him.
"Oh but it was much worse than that Max." Alex said, voice tight with emotion. "They made you think you saw those you love die, correct?" Max nodded, "They made her live out every possible situation where Kivar could kill the ones she loved. He had the visions planted in her head. He made her feel what ever the visions involved, be it torture, betrayal, you name it. The sick bastard made her believe that everything was fine in one of them, that you three had come to rescue her, only to rip it away. That was almost as bad as the physical torture."
He paused again, listening for a moment before continuing, "Torture the mother, you torture the child, and in so doing torture the mother emotionally to know she is the cause of her child's pain. Tess endured the tortures, knowing that Kivar believed it to be hurting Zan, but it wasn't. Zan was connected to me for that time, and he was fine. But Tess, they beat her, starved her, whipped her, and the worst part. They healed her." The group looked confused at this part, why would healing the wounds be a bad thing.
Michael knew, he had a deep sense that those on Antar who wanted information would do anything to get it. Heal the wounds so that the cuts are fresh tomorrow.
"You understand Michael," Alex said looking at him, Michael nodded. "You heal the wounds so that the next day, the cuts hurt as if they were the first time. It allows the body no time to go numb, to go into shock so that you can't feel the pain anymore. Tess felt everything. This went on for two months. Two months of Hell, where the only way the Rebels even knew if Tess was alive was because of Zan. The connection can't be entirely broken, if Tess died, Zan would have too. He might not have felt her pain, but he would her death."
Alex took a deep breath, it was time to finish. "I don't know everything that they did to her, she wouldn't tell me. The doctors that took care of Tess, told me the basics of what Antarian torture was, but I honestly don't know what might have happened also. In the fourth month that we were there, Kivar decided to show the people their beloved Queen, whom he believed crushed and broken. He called a gathering of the people closest to the palace. He threw Tess in front of them, beaten and bloody, showing them what had become of their great Queen. He stepped in front of her, asking the people where their king was, why he had abandoned them. Tess snapped. I was there, I saw it. Before Kivar could react, Tess had shot a blast at his back. It took all her strength; she couldn't have fired another blast if she wanted. He fell to his knees. Tess stood, she was behind him…she, she snapped his neck. Before the people, the dictator Kivar fell to the ground dead. The people cheered, no one noticed Tess sway. She fell, I caught her. I brought her back to the base to be healed."
The group had gone very pale at this. The girls were crying and the boys felt like vomiting. To think of the hell that Tess had gone through for them to be happy…
"But that's not all. A week later, Kivar's followers had been mostly captured; destroy the leader the followers fall into chaos. A few of the remaining ones broke into the base. They went after Tess, who was watching over Zan. His cries and screams alerted us to something being wrong. We got to them to see three of Kivar's men beating the living daylights out of Tess. Zan was screaming, not because of the connection, but because he understood what was happening to his mother. Tess wanted to be sure that all of Kivar's men were gone before she returned the connection, Zan was safe. Tess almost died, they'd broken a few of her bones, and cut her badly."
Alex paused, holding back the tears he felt about to spill. "She was fine, and the kingdom was back to how it had been, but Tess knew that the people really needed just to know that the king still cared even the smallest bit about them. She agreed to come back here, to see if she could ask you three to come back, just for a day or two, to just speak to the people. She returned the connection with Zan; it didn't hurt any of us this time. Since the connection wasn't really mine to begin with, it didn't hurt me that much. We came back."
"And the jet attacked you." Michael added, as Alex paused to listen to something again.
"Yes," Alex replied. "We awoke as the military was about to take Zan. Tess distracted them as I got Zan out. We agreed to meet in the cabin that I had been hiding in when I was supposedly dead. If Tess wasn't back in a week, I was to come find you three and get you to save her. She came to the cabin a few days later, limping and beaten. I tried to help her, but I'm not a healer, I couldn't even get a C in First Aid. Zan had cried the entire time, he could feel the little pain that the military had inflicted on Tess. But he was fine once she came back. She mind warped the scientist to think she had died on the table. They left the body to be disposed of, and she mind warped the crew to think they burned the body. Tess told me the next day that she was going to find you three, to tell you what had happened. She said she'd call me when it was time to come. But when I didn't hear from her for hours, I got worried, thinking maybe she had been recaptured, so I came after her, and here I am."
The group was silent. They couldn't get the words that were in their heads out. The guilt, the anger, the sadness, nothing.
Alex sighed, "And that's the truth."
"I…" Isabel started, "I can't believe she…for us…how…"
Alex shook his head, "She loves you guys, and she loves her people."
"I can't believe I was going to…" Maria started before an ear-piercing scream tore through the room.
"TESS!" Alex shouted, jumping up from the couch and running into the room where she was sleeping. The group followed to see Tess tossing and flailing on the bed, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"No!" She shouted, twitching, "NO! Please, not Zan! NO! STOP! PLEASE! Don't TOUCH ME! Stop, stop! Let GO! Leave me ALONE!"
Alex had grabbed onto her shoulders, "Tess!" He shouted, "Wake up! It's just a dream! WAKE UP!"
"LET GO!" She cried, "Please, please…let go…" her eyes drifted open, glistening with tears. She looked up seeing Alex. "Oh, god, Alex…" She buried her head in his chest, as he wrapped his arms around her, comforting her, protecting her as best he could. "They were…but I didn't…I couldn't tell them…and they…"
"Shhh," Alex muttered hugging her tighter, "Shhh, it's alright, it was just a dream…"
The group stared, watching as Alex tried to comfort the strongest member of their group. The humans, turned away, unable to bear watching the woman who had saved them all cry like that. The aliens watched, disgusted in themselves. It was their fault, if they had only gone with her…
A small whimper escaped Tess as her tears died down, a small whimper that matched the one Zan had just let out. Max walked over to his son…his son. He picked up the small bundle, looking down into the eyes of blue, the same as the mother. The eyes he had grown to miss. Max looked back at Tess, who was babbling to Alex about something.
Alex shushed Tess, laying her back down on the bed, and tucking her in as if she were a child. He stroked her hair as she fell back asleep.
He turned and headed out of the room followed by the group, "See," He said, sitting down on the couch with a grunt, "Hell…"
A/N: Hope you guys like the story, I probably won't be able to update till next weekend. School's winding down and I have a Memorial Day parade to prepare the Color Guard for (YAY Marching Band!).
Next chapter: Will Tess reveal what happened? Will Max remember his past? What will the aliens do?