Chapter 60 History repeats itself

The enemy in disguise gulped nervously at the dark antarian eyes staring at him dangerously. Oh shit, before he had been having a slight chance to get out alive, but now he could kiss this world goodbye. Khivar had reassured him that Marianna wasn´t that powerful in her human form, because her body couldn´t handle alien strength and that she would give up as soon as she noticed everyone around her die. Unfortunately Rath hadn´t done a really good job and her parents were still alive, plus her brother and the annoying cousin had not even had a scatch on them. Her friends had her back no matter what and that was not good for their plan. Not good at all, an out of control antarian soldier such as her could do some damage on this planet.

" Now what? You want to kill me? We can work something out".

Marianna took the glowing stick and waved it in front of his face until he felt the heat gracing his skin. Her glance was cold and emotionless. Every human trait had been sucked out of her and at its place was now the younger generation of Khivar, like she would be his daughter. " I don´t work with traiters, sorry. That´s against my religion. But don´t worry, I won´t kill you. Yet".

The assassin tried to pull his head back to avoid getting branded from her. She was slowly scaring him with her cryptic messages. What did she mean with yet. Did she kill him after she knew what she wanted or did she wait for his answers to decide what to do with him? " What do you wanna know?".

" Oh you´re a quick learner, I like that. Okay, let´s lay down rules first. I´ll ask you a question and you answer. If I think you´re lying I will remodel your face until you look like a piece from Picasso. Do you undestand what I´m saying", to prove her point she held the hot tip close to his right eye before she pushed herself away from him to see his reaction. Satisfied she saw his nod to indicate he knew the rules. " Okay. What kind of poison is in Michael´s body and how can we heal him?"

The man on the chair was stunned. He thought she would ask who he was first and who gave the command. But some part of Maria was still in there somewhere. Slightly relieved he was breathing out inwardly. Maybe he would get out of here alive. " I don´t know. I was just told to kill you. Nicolai gave me this knife and said to stab you with it. Everything else would take care of itself".

Marianna looked deep in his eyes to see if he was honest. Not noticing anything, she held her hand over the tip of the stick and waited until it glowed brighter. Then she grinned at him. " Sorry that was the wrong answer", slowly and with all the time in the world she let the hot bar sliding over his sensitive skin of his right cheek. Steam was rising from it and the sound was sickening, even for her. The smell of burned flesh was hanging in the air as well as the scent of blood, which was dripping from his scratch. His teeth were tightly together to not give her the satisfaction of seeing him in pain. Seconds later she pulled the torture devise from his face and stepped back. " Okay, shall we start again? What kind of poison is in Michael and how can we heal it?".

" I don´t know. I swear I don´t know it", the not Hanson cried out scared. The cut was hurting like hell and throbbing. He could smell a slight iron and copper odor, he must be bleeding. Oh god, he didn´t want to die that way. Now he finally know how all his victims had felt when he played with them.

Marianna had pity with him. For such a dangerous soldier, he was pretty much a mommas boy, kinda embarrassing to watch. If she would have kept her soul, she would have shown mercy on this poor bastard. But unfortunately for him she left it in her room at home. " Alright. Then I will believe you for now", kneeling in front of him she took the rod and pointed with it on his crotch. One wrong move from him and he could say goodbye to his penis. " Who are you and what is your position?".

The wriggling traitor was sweating like a pig. Even now and then a drop of sweat was sliding over his open wound and it was really painful. He tried to muffle his screams by biting on his tongue. " My name is Hunter".

" I don´t wanna know your human name, scumbag", she took the free hand and made it into a fist before punching his face with it. His nose started to bleed immediately and it was bent a strange angle. The wail of pain was loud and thrilling, at least for her. " I want to know your birth name, your antarian name".

Hunter shook his head to clear his vision. He saw everything in blur and in double. He swallowed his nausea before making an attempt to speak. " I was called Hashna".

Marianna stumbled back shocked. She knew him, well she never meet him, but he had been the most cruelest person after Khivar. He had been trained that way before he could talk his first word. His parents had been put out of the way as soon as the boy had been born. He was raised in the castle, forced to have no contact to others and live the life as an outcast. If he wouldn´t have been behind the murder of so many people she would have had pity with him, because it wasn´t his fault that he got that way. " The assassin. You had been sent to handle the things nobody else wanted to do. I heard the stories about how you killed a man by letting him bleed to death for hours or the woman you raped again and again before slashing her from top to bottom".

" I was trained to do that. I didn´t know anything else", Hunter pleaded pathetically, trying to convince her that the crimes he had done weren´t his fault . Khivar had made him what he was today and sometimes he looked into a mirror and he dspised the face staring back at him. But he was what he was and no matter what he did nothing would change that.

Marianna remembered the life she had been living. Her supposed "father" had been heartless and cold towards her, her brother hated her with a passion and would have rather slept with scorpions than talking to her, a fiance who didn´t believe in her powers and killed her and a mother who was mostly absent. It wasn´t the best, but she didn´t became a monster like Khivar, she was the exact opposite from him actually. " Don´t you dare use this as an excuse. We alone are responsible for our actions. You´re weak, that´s your problem. Not the way you grew up or how you were treated"

Hunter knew that his tactic to distract her backfired. Damn, he couldn´t move his arms, his legs were chained to the legs of the chair and no matter how much powers he used nothing happened. He felt his bounds cutting into his flesh with every jarring to get free. His wrist were slowly looking like he wanted to slash them with all the blood pooling on the ground. " That´s easy for you to say. You lived in a castle with attendants, friends and family. You could walk around freely, smell the air and feel the earth under your feet".

" That shows how much you don´t know me", Marianna noticed his attempt to loosen the thick rope keepin his arms prisoner. Either he really made it of course without his hand anymore or he would give up or he would kill himself by bleeding to death. The options didn´t look good right now. Quickly she rammed the rod with the spike directly in his hand and nailed it on the chair in the process. The scream of anguish was louder this time. " I´m terribly sorry. But I wanted to help you. You could have really hurt yourself with cutting your hand off. I can´t let you die before I got my answers first. So how much of Khivars people are in this base and in our ranks?".

Hunter almost bit his tongue off. The pain was almost unbearable and his sight was getting darker. He was hopefully on the way to faint, because he didn´t know how much longer he could endure this torture. " Just me and Lykus".

Marianna saw the fear in his eyes and smelled the scent of blood For a moment she felt her stomach getting slightly upset. Thankfully it was just a short episode and went by as quickly as it came. Rubbing her belly she circled around him to not see his grimacing face. " Are you telling the truth?"

" Yes! Oh god yes! Now get this thing out of my hand!", Hunter screamed, almost going crazy with the pain starting to spread now. His complete arm was feeling like it wanted to fall off any minute and he would even welcome it. Everything was better than what he had to go through at the moment.

Marianna put her hands on his shoulders and bent down to his left ear. She lowered her voice to a whisper. It was unfair from her to be so cruel to him without a solid reason. Oh wait she had one. " Now now, don´t scream so loud. People will think I hurt you or something", she pulled herself in a standing position again, opened and yanked the belt out of her pants in one swift move before she tied it around his throat. Carefully she tightened it until she felt a resistance, she didn´t want to kill him after all. " I don´t want you to attract too much attention to us. Besides your screams are very disturbing for my ears", tugging a little at the belt, she was pleased to hear his quiet whimper. Good, just how she imagined it. " Okay where were we? Oh yes, Khivar. Where is he and where is your base located exactly?".

Hunter noticed the leather biting into his skin and it was adding extra pain to his obvious discomfort of being choked by a piece of clothing. He never would have thought he could get into such situation and then even with a woman twice as small as him. " Khivar is still on Antar. He´s waiting for a sign from Nicolai to come down to the base in Copper Summit. Everybody is hiding underground at some old mine from a man called Crawford".

" You don´t have it a little more detailed, do you?", she hadn´t been in Copper Summit, hence she didn´t know what he was talking about and she didn´t have enough time to search for it. A mine, he was funny, the complete town was full of it.

Hunter shook his head. He had been there one time, but he didn´t know how he could explain it better to her. She had never been in this town and no matter what he told her, she wouldn´t know which way. " Maybe you get a map and I´ll show the way?".

Marianna mulled the idea over for a second before discarding it completely. Like she wanted to waste time with trying to read a map. It was still one thing she couldn´t do, even after all those years. Straining her memory she thought she could maybe find something in Marias mind. But obviously she never had to do with maps either. " I´ll have a better idea. I´ll snoop around your head for information. It will save time and be more painful for you".

" Please. Don´t do it. I´m done", Hunter had witnessed many times when Nicolai pumped his informants for new developements. It wasn´t a nice thing to see. The cries, the pain and the misery afterwards. The people unlucky to survive it, were most of the time a sad piece of themself, not even able to eat alone.

Gripping his short hair in her hands she pulled his head back until he almost looked backwards. Angrily she held his jaw in a tight clutch and squeezed it. She hated it begging man, especially those who thought they were tough. It was so disgusting to see them fall. " I will decide when you´re done! You´re just speaking when I ask you a question".

Hunter felt the strain on his hairline and it distracted him from the pulsing pain in his hand, now slowly ebbing away. Maybe he was bleeding to death or shock had settled in. Either way he was thankful for the small break. " Okay".

" Good boy. Now hold still. I don´t want to damage too much", Marianna shook her wrists to relieve a little tension. Breathing deeply in she put her hands of either side of his head and tried to find the right position. Then she opened her mind to get into his. Immediately she was bombarded with visions, memories, dreams and fears. Strange the rough man was deadly afraid of flying. Some spaceman he was, scared to get into an airplane. He hoped to get back on Antar some day and built a home. His favourite part of the day was the morning, because a new day meant a new start. He loved peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, as well as chocolate cookies with caramell pieces on it. Pushing everything out of the way, she was looking for other information, something that would help her in any way. Suddenly she crashed against an invisible wall in front of her. Surprised she regarded the nothing, trying to find something solid. It seemed to be glass. Knocking on it, she knew that her first thought was right. Using a tiny bit of her powers she blasted the thing away before progressing further. Finally she founnd what she had hunted. She had a clear picture of the mine and the road to it, she even knew the location of the bathroom now. Satisfied she pulled slightly back, just to come across something that disturbed her more than anything. It had been a message from her half brother. Shocked she escaped his weak mind and went back into her own. Upset she stared at the shadow of a man sitting before her. That could not be, not now and not ever.

" What did you see?".

Marianna turned to the person that just spoke and was a little surprised to see Larek standing at the entrance of the room with a slight sad and slight scared expression on his face. She couldn´t blame him, it had to be hard to know that he trusted the enemy. " I have to get out of here. I have to warn everyone".

Larek was instantly alarmed at the messy state his friend was in, especially the fact that she turned to her past self. . Her feelings were all over the place and she was almost hysterical. Walking briskly towards her he grasped her shoulders and looked in her eyes. She had obviously seen something that terriefied her. " What is wrong? Tell me".

" Nicolai plans to destroy Roswell. He wants to kill every citizen of the town to show his power to Khivar", Marianna had seen so much in his twisted mind, a few things that didn´t even make any sense to her, but some she recognized and feared. Her half brother talking quietly behind his fathers back about taking over the throne as soon as the royals were out of the way, killing her before Khivar could get his hands on her and Rath, who put the bomb under her fathers car. But those things were not making her terriefied at the moment, although it was bad, she had to set priorities.

Larek stared at her opened mouthed. She had to be kidding, that couldn´t be true. Looking at his brother and the injuries she inflected on him, he was sure that it wasn´t a joke. Sighing loudly he turned his attention back to Marianna. She had to have a good reason to treat him that bad. " Did he tell you something, you know about why he tried to kill you?".

Marianna was slightly taken aback from this question. A whole town was on the brink to get destroyed and he was curious about that? Okay, if she thought it would be her brother, she would probably care more about him than something other. " I´m sorry. The guy you seeing isn´t your brother. He´s name is Hashna and he killed Reshak three years ago".

" Oh. Oh my god and I didn´t notice anything?", Larek shook his head sadly. All those times and he never realized any difference. He wasn´t a fool usually and he wondered why he oversaw that. Maybe he should have had paid more attention to his brother then he would have detected something sooner.

Marianna felt bad for her friend and embraced him shortly. Even if the apocalypse would be knocking at their door, time for consoling someone should always be there. " Don´t beat yourself up over that. I dated Lykus for over three years and never realized who he really was. They´re really good actors".

Larek was amazed over the power her hugs had. She didn´t need to use big words and yet everybody felt better, just with her presence. Someday he would ask her how she did that, but the moment wasn´t now. He had a reason for coming actually. " Tess send me to get you. Michael asked for you".

" Really? That´s finally good news", Marianna´s eyes sparkled and seconds later her appearance changed back into her human form. Now she was Maria again. The nice, lovable and stubborn person was back and she put her past self into the background until she would need her once more.

Larek´s complete expression fell at her words, indicating that it wouldn´t be good. " They can´t find an antidote for him and the poison is spreading fast. We think he hasn´t much time left. Everybody is with him at the moment and tries to say their goodbye without him noticing it".

Maria´s eyes filled with tears at the thought to lose him a second time. She had to get to him, maybe she could help. If not, she was at least with him when he died, like she was on Antar. Just this time it would be worse, because it would be her fault. She was the one stabbing him. " I´ll have to go. Tell the soldiers they have to evacuate the town. I don´t want to lose more innocent then necessary".

" I will do that", Larek watched her disappear behind the heavy door before turning to the bastard killing his brother and then having the nerve to play him. He seemed like a nice guy, but if angered he could rival Rath in his temper. " So now that we´re alone, I will continue what my friend started"

Hospital wing

Maria almost ran down the hall, driven by the thought to come too late already. The scene where Rath died under her hands played over and over in her head and everytime she felt the same sadness sweeping over her. Tears were spilling from her eyes when she thought she had to go through that once again. It had been hard to lose her sister and her parents were as good as dead, but Michael would be the final stab into her human heart. She wouldn´t survive another loss in her condition. Wiping her eyes dry, she stopped in front of the door of the room where everybody was waiting for her. Laying her forehead on the cool metal, she tried to get her emotions under control. Breathing deeply in and out she remembered the words her real father had told her before she escaped the castle. " Don´t let anybody see your true feelings, because they could hurt someone else". She would stick to that and if it would kill her. Banning her bad feelings into the back she put on her mask and opened the door. The sight greeting her was worse than she had thought. Michael was half sitting and half lying in a bed, his face white as a ghost, his lips dry and his eyes closed. Tess was at his side holding his hand and trying not to cry, although her red rimmed eyes were telling another story. Kyle was standing behind her and giving her comfort by stroking her back. Isabel was sitting on the ground at the wall and was hiding her face behind her hands while Alex stood in front of her with his wheelchair and rubbed her arms tenderly. As soon as she closed the door they stopped what they were doing and stared at her like they would see her for the first time. Surprised she wondered if she forgot to change back into her human shape, but when she looked down at her body to see if her boobs were still bigger ( a sign that she would be still Marianna ) she saw the reason for the strange glances thrown her way. Her hands as well as her t-shirt were stained with blood. Great she wiped her eyes, she probably had blood in her face and was looking like a crying blessed virgin Mary right now. No wonder they were so stunned.

" How is he?".

Kyle shook his head indicating that it was as bad as it could get. But he didn´t said anything, afraid to upset his girlfriend, who was scared to lose her brother and with that the only family, besides her grandfather she still had. " We´re waiting for Max and Liz. They´re testing the poison and trying to find an antidote".

Maria nodded, only now realizing that two of their friends were gone. Slowly she walked towards Michael and eyed him sadly. She stopped in front of him and the scene was hitting home too much. Choking a sob she turned around and escaped the memories haunting her. Barely making it to the bathroom in the back, she lost the food she had eaten this day. A few seconds she retched everything out that ever passed her gullet until nothing was coming anymore. Then she flushed it down before putting her head down on her arms, which were lying on the toilet seat and trying to find the strength to stand up again. Her body felt so weak all the sudden and everything hurt. Her face was burning up while the rest of her was freezing, her vision was fuzzy and her head pounded painfully. She was afraid to faint on the spot and lose valuable time. She didn´t have the luxury to sleep now, she had to get up because her friends were counting on her. Pushing herself into a standing position she grasped the sink to keep upright. Looking into the mirror before her she startled at the gruesome sight. Her eyes were indeed slightly covered with blood, but it wasn´t that bad. It was probably the white teint, the tired expression and the nasty shape she was in. She was looking like the walking dead right now. Feeling her legs getting stronger she dared to release her hold on the sink and turned the faucet to wash her face and get finally rid of the blood on her hands. Minutes later she didn´t feel any better, but at least she passed as a human being again. Glancing for the last time in the mirror to see if her mask was back on, she emerged from the bathroom and was immediately greeted from Isabel and Alex, both worriedly staring at her.

" Feeling better?".

Maria noticed the words her best friend didn´t dare to speak out. The expression telling her everything she needed to know. They were concerned about her mental condition, if they had to expect a breakdown in the next few hours or not. Swallowing her slight anger at them, she concentrated on the task at hand. " I had worse days".

Isabel stepped closer to her to give her some sign of support. But after the other girl flinched away from her, she stayed where she was. Furthermore she said goodbye and walked back to the others, leaving the friends alone.

" Tell me the truth, do we have to fear losing you, too?", Alex had never thought he would see her that way, so weak and without any hope. Everything that made her Maria seemed to have gone from her. At this place was now a stranger to him, someone he didn´t think he wanted to get to know better.

Maria wasn´t sure where the anger was coming from but she knew she had to let it out before she exploded. " What do you want from me? Huh? I just lost almost all of my family, the man I love is as close as dead, everyone expects me to be the salvation to some kinda war and to top of that I´m pregnant. So excuse me if I´m not in my best shape right now", furiously she pushed past her best friend and stormed out.

She ignored her friends looking at her shocked, having probably heard her outburst and slammed the door shut behind her. As soon as she was alone in the hall she screamed out her pain, her anger and her sorrow. The walls started to shake at that, the ground was moving as well and every light exploded, which put the hall in absolute darkness. Spent she slumped to the floor under her and held her head, trying to prevent herself from losing her mind. She didn´t know which way she had to go, it was like everything pulled her in different directions and wanted a solution for their problems. She was still a child dammit, didn´t they understand that. She was too young to take care of so much people and to make the right decisions. Oh how much she wished her father would be here, he would have the answers or would at least stand at her side to guide her. Chuckling quietly she remembered all the fight she had with him, because he treated her like a damn kid. And now she would be glad to have the chance to tell him that he was right and she still wasn´t mature enough to make her own mistakes. Sadly she would never be able to do that. Everyone was slowly dying around her and it was just a matter of time before the world would follow. This time she wouldn´t fight it, she would yield up to her fate and let everything run its way. Hopefully she would be dead at that moment and didn´t had to witness it. Suddenly she startled when the lights came on again. Confused she glanced at the undamaged illumination and wondered how that was possible, she had destroyed them a few minutes ago.

" What happened here? Did we get attacked?", Corly was running down the hall with a few soldiers at her back. A weapon was in her hand and she was wearing an army uniform, complete with boots. But as soon as she saw her sister sitting on the ground with she knew what had been going on. Stopping in her tracks and almost causing a collision with the men, she gave them a sign to retreat. " Leave us alone. But maybe you could look for Larek".

The soldiers saluted obediently before turning around and walking swiftly away. Maria watched them marching off and then drew her attention to the girl storming towards her. Sighing loudly she knew that she had to explain a few things and she really didn´t have the nerve to do that at the moment. " I´m sorry for destroying the lights, but I swear I would have repaired them. Someday".

Corly shook her head at her sister. Like she cared about the few damaged bulbs, they were replaceable. " That doesn´t matter now. I´m just worried how they got that way".

" If you start asking about my condition I will explode and believe me this time I will take the whole base with me. I´m so sick of people staring at me like I would be cracking every moment. I´m not made out of glass, I won´t break", Maria didn´t feel like listening to someone telling her how concerned they were about her and that she looked like a corpse. She knew those things alone, she didn´t need anyone pointing it out to her.

Corly sat besides her carefully, knowing that the other girl was serious about her statement. The exploded bits of glass were proof enought for that. Without a word she put her right arm around her sister and pulled her closer until her head was lying on her shoulder. Seconds later she heard sobs coming from Maria and her body was shaking slightly. " Shh. I´m here for you. You´re not alone".

Maria was sure that it was just a figure of speech, because she felt alone. Even with all these people around her she never had felt so lonely and so empty. She was never aware how it was to have no motivation anymore or to not care what happened next. But now it was clear to her. " I can´t fight a battle I know I won´t win any longer. It already cost me too much, I can risk losing someone else".

" Don´t you dare give up now!", Corly was enraged hearing those words coming out of the other girls mouth. How could she just sit there and tell her such things? People were expecting her to lead them or at least fight at their side. But if she just stopped, everybody would lose hope and the war would be short and without victory. " If you do that I will personally beat you to a bloody pulp!".

Maria wouldn´t mind that, as long as it was a quick. Maybe she just should walk into the midst of the enemy and they would finally pull her out of her misery. She should have let Nicolai kill her when he was there, it would have spared her enough heartache. " Don´t you understand. I can´t escape this destiny. Everybody will die again. I don´t want to witness it. I´d rather die before".

Corly did something she didn´t even know she had it in her. She slapped her sister with as much force as she could muster. The sound echoed through the hall and startled her. Shocked she noticed the red handprint on the white skin. " Oh god! I´m sorry, I didn´t mean that. I would never hurt you, you know that".

" Thank you. I think I needed that", Maria sensed the panic and the crushing feeling in her chest ebbing away. Maybe all she needed was a really hard kick in the ass to get back on her feet. Kissing Corly on the cheek she jumped up, ready to face the others again. Without waiting any longer she opened the door and stepped into the room.

Her friends stared at her slightly afraid when they realized she was with them again. She couldn´t really blame them, she had reacted like a royal bitch. Slowly she glanced at everybody and hoped they would see how bad she felt for her behaviour. Making eye contact with Alex she tried to tell him with her eyes that she was sorry for blowing up at him earlier. A barely recognizable nod showed that he understood and that he accepted her apology. Smiling a little she went to the bed, where Michael was lying in. Surprised she noticed he was awake and looking at her. Giving his sister a sign he waited until everyone except of course Maria were out of the room before indicating that she should take a seat.

Michael took her hand as soon as she sat and his hand was really hot and his skin dry. He coughed painfully for a few seonds. Then he wet his lips to talk. " Where were you? I was waiting for you".

" I had been taking care of some business. But nothing you have to worry about", Maria slid to the edge of the chair and rested her ellbows on the bed besides him. One hand stretched out and started caressing his cheek. He was still too hot and his breath was unregular and sounded like a steam locomotive.

Michael could barely keep his eyes open, but he refused to go back to sleep, scared he wouldn´t get the chance to say what he wanted to get out before it was too late. Forcing his lids to stay up, he fought a battle he knew he would lose sometime. " I hope you´re being careful. I don´t want you or our children hurt".

Maria finally realized that they both hadn´t even had the time to celebrate her pregnancy. Everything had been going so quick. And with the whole chaos around them, there wasn´t time. She regretted breaking up with him. If she had known what happened she wouldn´t have done it. Unfortunately no one knew the future beforehand and so she only had this last moments with him. " I´m always careful, especially now".

" I´m sorry for leaving you behind again", Michael felt the end was coming closer and closer. The others had said their farewell already, although they tried to make it not so obvious. But when so much people told you they loved you or told you what a great person you are, then you´re on the brink to die.

Maria cupped his face tenderly and turned him in her direction. Instantly she saw the truth in his eyes, time was precious and in their case not enough of it. She wouldn´t just let him die like that again. She would fight tooth and nail to keep him here. " Don´t talk like that. I won´t let you go this time. They have to remove you forcefully from my side".

Michael took one of her hands and kissed the palm. They wasted so much time with fighting temptation and struggling against the inevitable, time they could have spent together. Now it was too late and they had to pay the price. " I wish we would have the chance to go back at the beginning. I would change so much things in my life, like the relationship with my grandfather and with you. I thought I should let you go, give you space then everything would work out. Thinking about it now, I should have chained you to my side and never let go".

" You didn´t do anything wrong. At least with us. I made the mistakes. I had been scared to lose you and wanted to keep you away from me, because I thought you would be safer that way. You see how far we´ve got", Maria felt tears prickling in her eyes. She was stunned that she even had left any fluid in her body. All she did in the last time was crying, but thankfully she had a really good excuse with her pregnancy. Everybody would pin the blame on her hormones.

Michael saw the glitter in her eyes and wanted to say something comforting. But what could he really say? Everything will work out after I´m gone or something like time heals all wounds. Bullshit, that were just empty phrases for people not knowing how it feels to lose someone you love so deeply that the thought he wasn´t with you was unbearable. " We both made mistakes. But the only thing I regret is not seeing our children grow up, being a Dad to them and missing so much of their lifes".

Maria lost the battle with her emotions and fat tear drops slid down her face. She didn´t want to talk about that any longer, the possibility that he would really die was painful. Her heart felt like it was in a iron grip, her stomach was unsettled and her mind screamed for it to be a nightmare. " You will see them growing up and you will be the best Dad a child could wish for and you won´t miss one day of their lifes".

" I wish it would be true, but we both know it´s unrealistic. I will die and nobody can change that", Michael remembered the last minutes of his life as Rath and he was feeling the same way now. There was this calmness again as well as the lightness of his body. It was a wonderful. He wasn´t scared, just sad, because there had been so much he wanted to do in his life. One of them was finally making Maria a respectable woman and asking her father for his permission to give him the hand of his daughter.

Maria knew that, but she didn´t want to accept it, because it would mean she had to look in a future as a single mother. " I just don´t wanna lose you. I love you so much that it rips me apart to be without you".

Michael would always hold this moment in his heart, no matter where he was and where he would be going. This moment nobody could steal him. He swallowed the lump in his throat while he fought tears of his own. He didn´t want to go either, but nobody asked them. When their time was up, the time was up. " I love you, too. I can´t even find words for how much I love you. You´re the best thing that happened to me in both lifes and I would never trade this memories with you for all the money in the world".

" I feel the same way. I wouldn´t trade it either. You were the first man looking behind my beauty and saw the real me and still loved me. I will forever treasure this moments with you until it is my time to go, too. I will never love someone like I love you for the rest of my life", and the last statement was not an exaggeration. Maria couldn´t imagine another man at her side besides Michael. She didn´t know if she wouldn´t compare everyone with him or look for same expressions or gestures.

Michael felt all his troubles and worries dropping down from him. He was ready for his last journey. He just hoped that Maria would be okay without him, that she would move on. Pulling her face down to his he kissed her for the probably last time. He laid all his emotions and passion in this kiss. A minute or so later he released her. " That was to make sure you never forget me".

Maria would have smiled if she wouldn´t know that she would never feel a kiss like this again. How could she let him go now? Nobody could ever replace him, no matter how much time passed. They were destinied, soulmates, partners for life. Nothing would ever feel that way. " I won´t. I promise".

" I´m so tired. Will you stay at my side when I sleep?".

Maria nodded hearbroken, not trusting her voice to get a tone out. Brushing her fingers through his hair she took her free hand to took his. She wanted as much contact with him as she could. Feeling lonely and so absolutely scared she started to sing a lullaby from her mother. For hours she sat at his side and watched him sleep. Once in a while the others would look after her and Michael. But most of the time they both were alone. At one point she began to tell him some funny stories about her childhood. About the day when she tried to jump over a fench and her skirt caught in something and she hung headfirst there while her best friends just laughed at her. Or the time when she had tried to get into the junior football team, but the coach refused because she was a girl and she talked him into the ground. In the end she got a uniform, which she gave back because she didn´t want into the team anymore. Or her first bleeding nose, which she owed to Paul Simmons. He said she was too weak to defend herself. To proof him wrong she had punched him, which in return got her a punch, too. Thankfully she didn´t get expelled from school for that. But from then on, nobody said she was weak, even Paul. At this point Maria noticed Michaels hand getting colder. Eyeing his chest she realized he had stopped breathing. Looking up, she saw his lips had turned blue and he was white as a ghost. A sob escaped her when she detected that he had died during her talking. Laying her head on his chest, she started to cry uncontrolledly. Loud and deep sobs wracking her body, which attracted the attention of the people sitting outside and waiting for news. Instantly everyone stormed into the room and watched her mourn over the loss of her lover. Isabel and Alex went towards her right away to comfort her, although they knew there wouldn´t be such thing. Tess broke down while Kyle tried to support her weight.

" Any news?", Larek stepped into the room, having noticed the audience in front of the door had disappeared. As soon as he saw the many crying people he knew that his friend was dead. Feeling a stab into his heart, he relieved the memory from the day he saw his best friend die. Quickly he turned to Maria, who was clinging to him. " Oh god. I´m too late" and for the first time he cried.

A few seconds later the door opened again and Max came in with Liz at his side. Their faces telling them that they hadn´t succedded. After they noticed the sorrow in this room, they saw that it was to late anyway and began to mourn like everyone else.

Maria meanwhile sensed something changing in her. Something that was dark and dangerous, but it didn´t feel like Marianna. It was different, more older. With a cry she was ripped from Michael´s side and crashed against the wall behind her. Wriggling to get down she saw the others staring at her shocked. Kyle even made an attempt to help her, but Larek held him back. It seemed he know what happened. Maria started to scream, because her entrails felt like they wanted out of her body. A light was blinding her while she tried to stay consciousness, even through the pain was almost too much for her. Then suddenly everything stopped and she dropped down to the ground again. She felt powerful and invincible like she could take the world out of its hinges. And her energy was so high that she could have powered every planet from here to Pluto with it.

" Oh shit", Larek couldn´t believe it. He never had the pleasure to see a true goddess in her real shape. Until now.

TBC