Jadefire305 and RedJewel2662 thankx for the nice feedback. You will both love this chapter, I promise.

Chapter 41 History lesson or how they come to be

Previously in the last chapter

But before someone could utter a word, the door flew open and a man stepped into the room.

" Finally all together again".

Everybody turned to the door and gasped. Maria brought just two words out. " Professor Potter?".

Professor Potter smiled at the picure in front of him. He waited so long to have them all in the same room again and now he was rewarded for his patience. He almost laughed when he saw that some things would never change. Michael and Maria were standing together in front of the others, like they wanted to protect them. They both looked like they would attack as soon as he made a wrong move. He was glad that old habits died hard. He eyed the others behind them. Tess and Isabel were keeping themself more in the background, while Max was pondering what they should do. " Hello Kids".

" What are you doing here?", Michael observed the man closer. He was checking if he was a threat or not. Strangly he just could feel a familiarity. But nothing dangerously.

Professor Potter walked closer to them and Maria lifted her hand instinctively in his direction. He was sure that she would blast him through the building every second. " I´m here to tell you something about you´re powers. Why you have them and how it came to be".

Michael relaxed slightly. Maybe they would finally find the answers they were looking for. " What do you know?".

Maria threw him a mean glare. How dumb was he? They couldn´t trust just anybody with their secret. Even if it appeared like the professor wasn´t here to harm them. But they had to be careful. If they would be alone she would have slapped him upside his head. " What he actually meant was, what are you even talking about?"

" Still the suspicous one I see. Does the name Marianna spark something in you?", professor potter observed the reaction to that name. And like he expected she startled for a moment before she tried to cover it quickly. Satisfied he turned to Michael. " Or Rath?", he faced Isabel and Tess " Or Vilandra and Ava?", after that his eyes wandered to Max " Or even Zan?".

Everybody looked at him like he just told them that they should mate with their siblings. What was this man and how did he know so much? Did he have something to do with their condition? Was he their creator? Or even related to them?

Max was the first to recover from the shock. He stepped around Michael and went closer to Professor Potter. " What are you? Are you like us?"

" No. I´m not exactly like you. I´m actually not from this planet", Professor Potter scratched his forehead nervously. He felt like he wanted to tell his children all about sex. How could he explain them something so that they would understand it. He wasn´t an egghead like his companion, who was probably sitting lazily in some town and let the sun burn on his body.

Maria´s curiosity arouse at these words. What was he implying with not from this planet? " What do you mean by that? Are you a creature from outer space?".

Professor Potter was close to laugh. She made him sounding like something from a science fiction movie, all slimey, extremely ugly and dangerous. " Something like that. I come from a planet called Antar".

Isabels face changed the expression by the mention of the name. She heard it in her dreams. The someone, who´s always calling her Vilandra, said she should come back to him, back to her home Antar. " I heard it before in my dreams".

The others turned to her instantly. They observed her confused and made her feel like she said something stupid. Angrily she glared at them and they paid attention to the man in front of them again.

" Yes. There´s a reason for that. You are starting to remember your past lifes", Professor Potter wasn´t sure what they knew already and what he should tell them. Judging after their expressions he thought it would be a long day. They seemed to be rather clueless about their powers or what happened before they came to this planet.

Tess pointed her finger at her brother. " I knew it. I knew it and you said I was crazy"

Michael rolled his eyes at her and then faced the professor. So what, he could be wrong sometimes. She didn´t have to make such a fuss about that. " Who are you?".

" My name on Antar was Nolak and I was the highest guard in the castle of King Salem. I was protecting the royal family there", at the last part his voice shook slightly with emotions. His eyes sparkled with unshed tears and he tried to hide this fact with looking into another direction.

Maria picked up the sadness and she immediately felt the urge to comfort him. Something told her that he failed at protecting his charges and he saw them all die or at least getting hurt. " What happened to them?".

Nolak looked up at her and he finally saw into her green eyes. The same like Marianna, but her face was different. " A war was breaking out and they all died".

Tess held her hand in front of her mouth totally shocked. Carefully she took a seat on her bed again, because she was sure that her legs wouldn´t carry her any longer. That was sounding so aweful. Seconds later she felt the mattress dip under her and someone laid an arm around her shoulders. Slowly she turned her head and looked into the comforting eyes of her brother. He seemed to be as stunned as herself.

Isabel observed the siblings on the bed and she felt with them. She was in the same condition right now. Finally everything she was told was making sense to her. It was like a slap into her face. It wasn´t a dream she had, it was a memory. A memory in which she was the reason for the death of her family. Suddenly she felt the soft arms of Max around her. He was embracing her tightly and kissing her temple tenderly. For the first time she was glad that she and her brother had this twin connection.

Maria watched them all. She wished Kyle would be here to comfort her like she saw Max and Michael doing it to their sisters. She felt slightly out of place, like an outsider and she never felt that way. She was always surrounded by family or friends. But now she felt so alone, so abandonded and lonely. She regretted lying to her friends and sending them away. More than ever she would need them at her side. Slowly she walked to the window and stared out.

" I know it must sound really aweful to you right now and believe me it was worse. But I´m telling you that, because you have to know what happened before you came to be", Nolak was surprised that Michael went to his sister rather than Maria.

Maria watched the people walking around campus, busy with talking to their friends or meeting their significant other somewhere. But suddenly the scene changed and she just saw a field full of dead bodies. Blood was everywhere and here and there were lying some bodyparts. The air was filled with the smell of dead and an eerie silence. " Why are you telling us this now?".

Nolak turned around and looked at her. She was still standing with her back to him and the others. " Because it´s time you know the truth"

" Are we aliens, too?", finally Max uttered the question, which everybody had on the tip of their tongue, but was afraid to ask.

" No. You´re all human, just with a few extras", Nolak looked at the confused and yet curious faces of his former children. He had never known how much they meant to him until he lost them. He had always enjoyed to be near them, because they had been fun to observe. Rath, Zan and Larek with their pranks they played on the girls, Ava and Vilandra talking about the boys and giving them pet names. The three boys didn´t know it, but he overheard them one time and found out that Rath was grumpy, Larek was joker and Zan was smiley.

Max had been so sure about his assumption. But when they were human, how came it that they had powers? When they were no aliens, why were they so powerful then? Humans didn´t have this kind of gifts. " If that´s the truth, how did we receive this powers?".

Nolak expected the question and he had enough time to prepare a speech that would explain them everything they needed to know. But before he could open his mouth a ringing noise disturbed him. He looked around the room to find the reason for the interruption. However he didn´t find anything that would make such a sound. Suddenly he saw Maria reaching in her pants pocket and pulling a small thing out of it. At closer inspection it was just a cellphone. Slowly she eyed it before she pushed a button on it and held it at her ear.

" Hy".

" Maria, we´re waiting here. Where are you?".

Maria closed her eyes. She didn´t like it to lie to her friends and most to her family. But she knew that she didn´t have another option at the moment. " Kyle, I won´t make it anymore. Something came up".

" What is it? Is everything alright?".

" It´s nothing. I just don´t feel so good right now. But don´t worry, it will pass".

" Should we come back?".

" No you don´t need to come back. I can handle everything".

" Are you sure? I mean we could keep you company and take your mind off of your sickness".

" That´s not nessecary, but thanks for the offer. I will sleep a bit, I think that will help".

" Alright, then do that. We´ll see each other later".

" Yeah, see you later and have fun".

Maria waited until she only heard a signal noise on the other end before she put her cellphone back into her pocket. A little sad she rubbed her hands over her face and tried to keep the tears in. Why did it hurt to be dishonest to the people closest to her?

Nolak regnorized the stance, although Maria was standing with her back to him. But he kept an eye on her for so long that he memorized every gesture or every posture from her. She was upset over something. " Is everything alright with you?".

" Yeah. You can continue with what you wanted to tell us", Maria watched out of the window again. She didn´t want anyone to see her in this condition. But all of the sudden she felt a presence behind her and it was familiar. Before she could turn around to look who it was, two strong arms were wrapping around her middle and pulling her at a hard body. Immediately the scent of musk and davidoff drifted to her nose and she knew the person. She only smelt this when Michael was near her. For the second time within two days she found his closeness calming her.

Nolak smiled at the interaction between the two. It was nice to see that their feelings hadn´t change a bit. For a moment he got worried. But now he was relieved to see them like that again. Slowly his gaze wandered to Tess and Max, which weren´t even looking at each other. They both didn´t seem to feel anything towards the other. That was strange, because they had been so much in love on Antar and Zan had mourned so deeply for his beloved Ava. But now there wasn´t any sign of regnoration so far. Not even a little spark. " Maybe I should begin from the start".

So he told them from the day when a badly bruised girl was found from Rath. A girl with no memory and no family. How she entered the life of the people in the castle and changed it, or rather changed them and got part of them all. Then how everybody found out who she was and that she lied to them. The realisation that she was the daughter of the enemy and she had to escape from her home to survive. Nolak didn´t leave anything out and even told them from the forbidden love affair between Rath and Marianna and that everybody knew it. When he came to the part of the attack on the castle, he paused for a moment. It was still painful even after all this many years. He described the battle in all details and how much they lost that day. A little tear ran down his face when he remembered the funeral. Tess and Isabel were crying openly, while Max seemed to be in shock. Maria was intently listening and trying to remember everything. Michael just held onto her and let the story wash over him. Nolak finally came almost to the end. He was at the last battle between them and their enemies. How they all died together in it. And lastly how Larek and he himself had prepared their essence to be injected in some human babies to save some part of them. They put all their hope in this miracle to change the future for their slowly dying planet. After he got everything out he watched the reaction from everyone. Like expected a defeaning silence fell over the room and nobody knew how they should behave, now that they had all their answers. Isabel hid her face behind her hands and cried harder than before, Tess had propped her ellbows on her knees and was looking at the ground and Max just shook his head horrofied. Michael and Maria didn´t move and were only staring out of the window together.

" I know it´s much to take in", Nolak hated to wait for some kind of response. But it didn´t look like anyone would say something for a while.

Finally Maria ripped herself away from Michael and walk towards Nolak. Her eyes were sparkling dangerously and her face was twisted into a angry mask. " Why us? There are billions of people on this god damned planet and you choose to mess with our lifes. How did you decide who would get the essence? With a fing coin?".

Nolak was taken aback from the verbal attack, but at the same time he was relieved to get a reaction out of someone. He would have liked it more when it would have been someone other than Maria, because he knew her temper and it wasn´t smart to piss her off. " I´m not the one you should ask that. It wasn´t my task to choose the mothers. If you want an answer you have to approach Larek".

" Great. And how do I find this genius?", Maria could barely control her powers. She was so furious that she was close to beat someone to a bloody pulp. She had her fist into a tight grip that her fingernails were digging painfully into her flesh. She was sure that she would start to bleed soon. But she didn´t want to break something or hurt somebody in this room.

Nolak felt the air crackling with powers. He noticed out of the corner of his eyes the books and the things on the shelf slightly shaking. It wouldn´t take any longer and everything would either fly around the room or fall on the floor. Maria had obviously the same gift as her former self, if not more. " I don´t know where he is exactly. But I´m always in contact with him".

Marias eyes were constantly changing from green to black. She tried to keep the rage inside, but it looked like she was losing that battle. She watched her hands, which were crackling with energy and immediately a new emotion joined her anger. Deep ruted fear. Shocked she looked at the others in the room. Nobody seemed to notice anything different with her or they were too busy with thinking that they didn´t realize something. Slowly she shook her head. " I can´t be here right now".

With that she pushed Nolak out of her way and ran as fast as her feets could carry her through the door. Past her friends, which had been walking in the direction of her room and out of the building. She didn´t hear them screaming her name or the fast following steps of someone behind her. Actually she didn´t notice anything going on around her. Neither the many people on campus, which were staring after her confused nor the rain that started as soon as she stepped a foot out. The only thing she picked up was the changing pictures in her head. It was like a bad movie playing around her mind over and over again. A man with cold eyes staring at her with disdain and hate. A chase through a strange forest. Pain and fear mixed together. A boat and darkness. Waking up in a white room. More fear but strangly no pain. A man stepping into the room, who got almost choked to death. A blossoming friendship between the mention man. Happiness and worry. The friendship changing to deeper feelings. Getting part of a family. Love and pride. A bloody battle. Losing part of the family. Anger and pain. Preparing a counter attack. Standing together with people she loved in front of many others. Hope mixed with worry. Again a battle, seeing everybody she cared for dying around her. Her lover lying at her feet, slowly bleeding to death. Unbelievable fury and unbearable pain. Maria was living through all emotions again and it was almost too much for her. Her body couldn´t handle everything at once and released a pretty amount of power. Thunderbolts were flashing across the sky, a few even crashed in nearby trees. One striked in front of her feets and startled her so much that she stumbled back. Shocked she looked at the spot were the thunderbolt had left a big black mark. A little more and he would have hit her instead of the sidewalk. She eyed her hands once more and realized that they stopped crackling and were now looking normal again.

" What are you thinking running away like that?", she had been too occupied with her thoughts, that she hadn´t noticed someone following her. Slowly she turned around and saw Michael with an angry expression storming towards her.

" I...I can´t...".

Michael stopped in front of her and observed her condition. Her hair was wet and sticking to her face. Her eyes were speaking from fear and sadness. " Can´t what? Accepting the fact that you´re choosen for something greater? That you were giving another chance to change something?".

Maria shook her head and troplets of rain were splashing to all sides. She was glad that it was raining right now, so that nobody could see that she was crying. " It´s not that".

" What is it then?", Michael didn´t understand her reaction. They wanted answers and they got them, even if it wasn´t what they expected.

Maria couldn´t talk to him when he was like that. He wouldn´t get it anyway, he didn´t have to live through the hell she called her life again. He didn´t see the people he loved dying or felt what it meant to lose everything. " Go away".

Michael grasped her arm roughly with his hand. Oh no she wouldn´t get the chance to leave him without answers. " No. If you want it or not we´re in this together. What affects you affects us all".

Maria wrenched her arm from his grip. " Please, can´t you just do what I tell you for once?".

" Not before you tell me what you´re afraid of".

Maria turned her back on him. She didn´t want him to see that he hit her sore spot. Fear. It´s a pretty strange thing. At times it is the only protection against harm and most of the time it is a sign of weakness. A weakness that had cost her too much already. She lost her mother, her second family and her lover. She wouldn´t survive it if something like that would happen once more. " I...I...You wouldn´t understand it".

Michael walked around her and lifted her face with his hand. He could see so much sadness in her glance that it almost broke his heart. " Try me".

" I can´t do this again. I went through all this shit once and I don´t have the strenght to put myself through it for a second time. I couldn´t bear to see everyone around me dying again", Maria felt so tired. Like she was actually there in the battle and fought until she was spent. Her body was weak and screaming for something comfortable.

Michael placed his hand, which had raised her head seconds ago, on her cheek and caressed it with his thump. He knew exactly how she felt, because he remembered everything, too. He saw the destruction in the castle after the fight. The worrying about his lover. His family lying dead on the floor or his last moments alive. He experienced every emotion he felt and at times it was like he wouldn´t stand this much pain and fear. But it was part of them now and it was a reminder that they had to be more careful. " You don´t have to. We were sent here to change the future. It doesn´t have to happen like the last time".

Maria´s eyes were glistening with tears. Slowly she put her hand over his and enjoyed the warmth of his skin. " I saw you dying and I felt so helpless. I watched your soul leaving your body and I couldn´t do anything to stop it. I don´t want to live through that again. My heart can´t take it".

Michael smiled at her. He could still remember her anger towards his armour, which wouldn´t open, no matter how hard she tried. " This time we will make everything different".

Maria took her hand away from his and turned her head in another direction. She already regretted the words which would be leaving her mouth soon. But she knew that if they wanted to do everything right, a few sacrifices had to be made. They had to correct the wrongs they did in their past. " Yeah. And the first difference is that we don´t continue what we started".

" What do you mean?", Michael hoped that it wasn´t what he thought. She couldn´t just make such a decision without him.

Maria backed slowly away from him. She couldn´t think clear when she was near him. " This attraction between us had to stop. We know what happens when we give into our feelings. People get hurt or die. I don´t want to make the same mistake again".

Michael´s eyes were blazing suddenly. His normal chocolate brown eyes were appearing almost black and his whole aura seemed to get darker. His jaw was slowly moving, like he wanted to squash something with his teeth. His carotid was pumping visible. " Great. Let me just check where I can find the fing button where I can switch off my feelings! Oh I´m sorry something like that doesn´t exist in human bodies!".

" Why I´m not surprised that you would react like that? Can´t you just stop thinking with your dick and be reasonable! I´m trying to do the right thing here and you have nothing better to do than attacking me!", Maria felt the same rage crawling through her body again. But this time not just her hands were crackling with energy, but her whole body. The ground beneath her feet was shaking slightly and the wind had picked up speed. The trees around them dipped dangerous close to the earth.

Suddenly a thunderbold striked directly besides them. Immediately Michael grasped Maria and pulled her away from harms way. He embraced her tightly and turned her around to shield her with his body. For a moment both looked at the ground. Surprised they saw the word Destiny burned into the pavement at the spot where the thunderbolt had striked. Confused they both faced each other. The moment their eyes meet the connection which had been formed on Antar between them sprang to life again. All the love and the happiness was in this glance and they both seemed to be trapped in time and space. The world around them disappeared, the rain was gone and replaced with the warmth of a red sun, to be exact three suns and the air smelled sweet. Slowly Michael bent his head down and kissed Maria, which awaited his warm lips eagerly. For just one instant they felt complete and carefree. Like two normal people, who just discovered the joy of love. But the moment went away as fast as it came and they both were standing in the pouring rain in the middle of a sidewalk somewhere near the campus again. Michael was the first who broke their kiss. With a smile he watched Maria´s eyes clearing and assuming their green colour, he loved so much.

" And you really want to throw that all away?".

Maria sighed deeply. Her first instinct was to say no, because that was what her heart was telling her. But she knew that she couldn´t let her feelings dictate her actions. She had to think about the consequences and they hadn´t changed in the last minutes. Even if she wished it would be different. " We have to".

Michael felt a light tug at his heart. He had to admit that he lost this battle with her. But the war was still going on and he would make sure that he won it. He would give her what she wanted. At least for a while. After that she had to prepare herself for a hell of a fight. He wouldn´t just give her up so easily and forget what they once had. " As you wish".

Maria was relieved that he finally come to his right mind and saw things her way. But at the same time she was hurt that he gave in without a fight. She had expected more from him and not just a simple -as you wish-. What kind of response was that anyway? Carefully she stepped away from him and noticed for the first time that it had stopped raining. The sun was finally coming up behind the clouds and was shining on them. All of the sudden she regnorized movement behind Michael. All her friends were running towards them, soaked to the skin and majorly worried.

" Holy shit, we finally found you", Kyle was the first to arrive. He was slightly out of breath and had to fight to get air in his lungs. It had been a long time that he exercised that much.

Liz and Alex were the next who appeared. They seemed to be in better shape than Kyle, although Alex had problems standing upright. His feets felt like jello. " Why did you run away like that?".

Before Maria could tell them some tale she would regret as soon as it left her lips, Isabel came to a halt in front of everybody. She was pretty wasted and her face had a few red spots. Obviously she didn´t have so much exercise. She turned to the other three and send them a glare. " Why couldn´t you wait on me?".

Kyle meet her glance dead on. " Because you were to slow".

Isabel pointed at her feets, which were in high heels. " Have you ever tried running with these shoes? Their not made for something like that".

" Then you should have taken them off", Kyle prevented himself in time to roll his eyes at her. She didn´t seem to be the smartest in the bunch. He couldn´t even understand why girls would wear such uncomfortable shoes. Alright, they looked hot at certain woman, he had to admit that.

Maria smiled at the interaction between the two and immediately she was reminded about the friendship she had with Larek. They were like that, too. Even if she was sure that Kyle wasn´t secretly in love with Isabel. " Where did you leave Max and Tess?".

Isabel let her gaze wander to Kyle for a short moment. She didn´t feel too comfortable to discuss this in front of him. Because it could be something he wouldn´t like. " They´re still in the room. They wanted to talk about some things".

Maria understood the meaning instantly and she got worried about her brother. If Max and Tess felt just some of the things she and Michael felt, than Kyle didn´t have a chance. She turned to Michael, because he had been so quiet the whole time. He was standing besides her with an emotional face and his arms crossed in front of his chest. His glance was directed at some point far away and he didn´t seem to be with them actually.

" What happened that had you running like the marathon man?", Liz observed her best friend while the others talked. She saw that something went totally wrong, she could regnorize it in her eyes, which were looking with so much sadness. In all the time they knew each other, she hadn´t seen her friend like that.

" I´ll tell you later. But I´m actually starving right now. Contrary to you, I didn´t have something to eat since this morning", Maria went to her best friend and linked arms with her. She would be honest with them. At least the part with her. The others had to decide for themself to tell them their secret or not.

Isabel looked at the boys with a smile on her face. " I don´t assume that someone would maybe carry me back?".

Kyle and Michael snorted loudly before they followed the girls. What did they look like? Donkeys?

Just Alex stayed behind and returned her smile. It would him give finally the chance to erase his first impression. " It would be my pleasure to do that".

" That´s so sweet. Thank you", Isabel bent down to take her shoes off. They were killing her feet. After that she went behind Alex and climbed carefully on his back. She was surprised about the strength he actually had. She hadn´t expected that after his appearance. Hm, maybe she finally found her prince charming after all.