I don't own Roswell or any of its franchise – but Christmas is coming up, so maybe it'll be a different disclaimer next time, eh?

A/N Epic apologies for the wait. Real Life is not going so well and I haven't had time to sit down and write, plus said RL issues hasn't exactly given me any lust for writing so I've been a bit stumped lately. I finally got somewhere and decided to post. This chapter is definitely NOT worth the long wait, but I hope you'll bear with me despite it all and not hate it as much as I do right now. Have a great Christmas if you celebrate that and please try to enjoy this newest chappie...

Unbetaed, but please point out any glaring mistakes and I'll correct them as soon as possible. Thanks in advance.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Liz's POV

Although Liz had had a fitful night plagued with oddly familiar dreams, it was the alarm clock that brought her back to reality Monday morning. She opened her eyes wide the second the piercing sound of the alarm started beeping through her room and couldn't quite withhold a small groan of exhaustion.

Ever since the night in the desert where she'd reopened her connection to Max, Liz had been unable to escape some really peculiar dreams. Yawning, Liz finally threw aside her blankets and walked out to her bathroom to get ready for a new day at school.

She was in the middle of her shower, when she felt a sudden jolt inside her, making her aware of the fact that Max was now awake as well. Liz bit her lip when she felt him push cautious warmth through the bond to greet her a good morning and hated herself for her own weird, tumult emotions when she felt him almost sigh through their connection and gently mute the bond to respect her privacy.

Despite the violence that had led up to the reopening of her bond with Max, Liz didn't really regret it. She'd felt surprisingly safe in his arms as they'd stood together witnessing Isabel do her best to calm down a frantic Topolsky. It was only after Max had dropped her off at home later that night and Liz had gone to sleep that things had become even odder.

Dreams and flashes that she'd glimpsed through her kiss with Max kept interfering with her normal sleep cycle and she had a vague notion that the key to understanding her out of this world friends was hidden somewhere in those images.

I need to figure out what to do, Liz thought as she applied some makeup on the bags under her eyes, attempting to look at least a little human before going to school. There's no denying that there's a part of me that wants nothing more than to stay by Max's side all the time, but despite having had a crush on him ever since grade school, I barely know him.

Liz ignored the voice inside her that sounded surprisingly like her grandmother that firmly told her that one didn't need to know every little bit about someone to love them. Liz bit her lip as she exited her room and started making her way downstairs so she could walk to school. She knew there was no reason in hiding it from herself anymore; she was in love with Max; a boy that she had formed some sort of alien bond with and although it scared her scientist mind, she couldn't escape the fact that her heart fluttered and her breath hitched every time she thought about Max for too long.

But there are so many things that I can't explain, Liz thought a bit morosely, exiting the Parker apartment and walking towards the school, distractedly waving to some of the people that were on their way to work and that she'd known all her life. Ever since that darned kiss, Liz fought back a blush, because internally she knew that the kiss had been anything but a nuisance, I've just known things about him that I shouldn't possibly be able to know. I know that he loves strawberries with Tabasco sauce; I know that he's extremely ticklish behind his knees and I know that he's never let me leave our bed unsatisfied, which is preposterous because we've never shared a bed in the first place!

"Liz!"

Liz jumped out of her mind, fanning her warm cheeks in an attempt to hide her now beet red face. She glanced around and spotted Alex on his bike as he weaved by his dad's car on his way over to her.

"Alex," Mr. Whitman scolded with a small smile and a headshake from inside the vehicle, "watch where you're going; I don't want you to have a traffic accident because you were too busy to look at your surroundings."

Traffic accident. Nightfall. Alex. Big van. Max's defeated empty eyes. Grief growing inside her so rapidly that she could practically feel the nausea building by the second.

"Err, Liz," once again, Alex's voice brought the confused Liz back to the present. "You look a little green. Want my water?" he rummaged through his backpack and withdrew a bottle of water and handed it to her with a smile.

Liz closed her eyes and took a big gulp of water, trying her hardest to calm down. She didn't understand what was happening to her. Had the flash been some sort of premonition warning her of the future? No, Liz's pragmatic mind just didn't want to accept that, so she shook the theory away and slowly she started making a new plan to figure things out. If I'm ever going to find out if these dreams and mental flashes that I get are real, I'll have to do some field work first…

Having almost emptied the bottled water during her quick thought process, Liz took a deep breath and handed the mostly empty bottle to her frowning friend. "Thanks Alex, I needed that. I'm not feeling so good right now; actually, I think I'm gonna head home and see if I can sleep it away. I haven't been sleeping so well lately and…" Liz hesitated, but then used the one thing she knew Alex couldn't bear to talk about, "…and it's that special time of the month for me so-"

"Argh," Alex held up his hand, looking exceptionally eager for her to stop talking all of the sudden, "say no more. Please say no more. I'll tell Maria. Go home and we'll talk later or if nothing else, I'll see you tomorrow. I mean, "Alex smiled sheepishly, "if you are uhm, you know, feeling better and stuff. See you later."

Liz swallowed a fond smile as she watched Alex drive off like he had the devil on his heels. It's nice to see that that hasn't changed at least. He's still such a boy. Liz sighed and turned around to go back home. She knew that her mother would've already left for work and that she could pretty much use the same excuse that she'd fed Alex when she talked to her father. That guaranteed her most of the day alone since her dad would be too freaked out to hound her too much.

Little over an hour later, Jeff Parker had placed a big plate of waffles and some hot cocoa on Liz's nightstand before fleeing in much the same manner as Alex had downstairs to the diner to work. Liz gathered the materials she knew she'd need on her self-appointed quest for answers and slipped out of her room unnoticed. Five minutes after that, she was digging out her own, very rarely used, bike from the storage shed in the alley behind the Crashdown and went on her way, trying to ignore the guilt over her lies to her father and Alex.

I really hope I don't find what I think I'm going to find, Liz thought to herself as she got on the bike and rode out of the town. When she was halfway to her destination, Liz almost fell off her bike when there was a sudden spike of emotions ramming into her from Max's end. Closing her eyes, Liz sent back a wave of tranquility and affection, hoping to calm him down from whatever it was that had sent him over the edge of reason. She debated whether or not to return home, but she knew that she needed answers and this way was the only way for her to get them without being influenced by Max or the others. I just hope there's not going to be a lot of drama; Liz prayed and went on her way full of renewed determination.

Kyle's POV

Pain was piercing through every part of his body, he could feel warm blood dripping down his torso from the gaping wound in his chest and all he could do was scream out his agony and sorrow. He wasn't really all that clear on what had happened. He tried to remember, ignoring the part of him that was screaming himself hoarse.

They'd been surrounded and Isabel and Max had been standing with their backs to his and that's why he'd seen Khivar first; He'd seen Khivar's dark eyes light up with vindictive glee at the sight of the hated royal Antarians and then raise his hand. Kyle had roughly pushed his close friends out of the line of fire before he'd even made a conscious decision to do so.

Through his agonized roaring, Kyle heard Isabel scream his name with despair. He turned his head, hoping against hope that she would stop his pain, and saw her battling five soldiers, trying her damndest to get to him. Max was right behind her, struggling with Khivar and his lieutenants all by himself; Max's eyes caught his briefly and Kyle halted his screaming abruptly.

It was no use, Kyle realized in that moment. He was going to die; the darkness was already growing around him, the pain disappearing bit by bit thankfully. He coughed up some blood that trailed down his chin and landed on the ground to mix in with the blood still pouring from his chest. An image of all of his already deceased loved ones came to him and Kyle's eyes started to burn with unshed tears.

"Tell my dad I love him," Kyle whispered hoarsely, praying with all his might that they'd hear his request. Isabel grabbed one of her opponent's head and twisted it ruthlessly and was almost by his side when someone tripped her and dragged her away from him. Her nails broke as she tried to claw her way to him without luck.

"You need to win," Kyle continued, his last ounce of strength going to the battling Max standing almost close enough to touch, "leave so you can survive…"

"Kyle, no!" Max's voice was filled with more emotion than Kyle had heard in months and he smirked a bit internally. Who knew Max Evans would turn out to be my best friend in the end?

"We're surrounded! You have to leave me here…" Kyle's voice was almost nonexistent after all his pained screaming, but clearly audible to his two remaining friends that were still fighting tooth and nail to get to him before it was too late.

Isabel was lying trembling on the floor next to his bleeding body, her eyes filled with tears that hadn't been shed in a long time. She was being beaten ferociously by her last remaining opponent. "Please," she practically whimpered, kicking the male weakly in the groin before turning to Kyle again, "not you too. Kyle, please hang on for me."

Kyle's lip twisted in dark humor even as the darkness around him grew more and more, making it almost impossible for him to see anything but Isabel's beautiful eyes, "I just died for you Woman, what else can I do?"

"Max will -" Isabel began, but Kyle mercilessly interrupted her before she could promise her brother's assistance.

"Take ham and flee while you have the chance," Kyle muttered drowsily, ignoring both of his friends cries, while he used the remainder of his power to grab the last of those grenades that Serena and Michael had invented together. "I-n-never…" Kyle struggled getting the words out, "…regretted…a-anyt-thi-ng…I-I'm-"

Kyle pressed the button on the grenade just as everything turned black. In the distance, he heard Max dragging a now sobbing Isabel away, muttering repeatedly, "It's too late now. He's gone." The beeping grew louder and Kyle kindda liked how quickly everyone around him suddenly moved in an attempt to avoid dying alongside him. I just hope I take Khivar with me, was the last thing Kyle thought as a huge blast suddenly erupted around him and ending everything.

"Kyle!"

Kyle's eyes snapped open and he struggled the best he knew, trying hard to escape the hands on his shoulders that were holding him down. He was gasping for air and the horrific nightmare he'd just had was still blaringly clear to him.

"Kyle, Son! Relax; it's just me, Boy." Finally, Kyle recognized his father's voice and he stopped fighting his hold and relaxed back in to the bed.

He could feel sweat pouring down his naked torso and the feeling was eerily reminiscent to the dream where it had been blood instead of salted water that trailed down his body. What the hell was that all about? Kyle thought and did his best to calm down.

After a few minutes, he opened his eyes and locked gazed with the concerned ones of his father. "I'm fine now, Dad," Kyle stated and sat up when Jim almost reluctantly removed his hands from him. "It was just a bad dream, that's all."

"Son," Jim said, rubbing a hand over his brow with a sigh, "that was more than just a dream. I could hear you screaming all the way from the front yard. I almost had a heart attack coming in here, seeing you flaying about like that. You looked scared to death." Jim tried to smile, "anything you wanna talk to me about, Kyle?"

Kyle shrugged, eager to put the whole mess behind him, now that he was awake and could see the morning sunlight shining into his room, illumination everything and chasing away the fear from his nightmare. "I'm good. I'm gonna go take a shower and then I'll better get to school. I promised Johnny I wouldn't be late today. See ya tonight, okay?"

Not giving his father a chance to reply or disagree, Kyle practically jumped out of his bed and made his way to the bathroom. If he trembled a bit as the warm water cascaded down on his body, it was just because he was a bit shocked over his rude awakening. At least, that's what the teenager told himself repeatedly after almost dropping his shampoo bottle twice.

0o0o0

A little while later Kyle pulled up to the curve where Johnny was waiting with a sour expression on his face. Kyle rolled his eyes as his teammate jumped into the car, muttering his usual complaints about missing his own vehicle.

The moment he finished rolling his eyes, Kyle wished he hadn't done it in the first place. His eye pounded and he sighed, gingerly touching the bruised eye that he had no memory of getting in the first place.

"What happened to you, Man?" Johnny asked, finally noticing that Kyle wasn't paying the least bit attention to him. "You look like you've walked into a door or something."

"Yeah, I actually don't remember," Kyle confessed with a rueful smile as he pulled into the school's parking lot. "I woke up and when I looked in the bathroom mirror it was there. I think I must have, I don't know, whacked myself or something. I had this weird dream."

"Yeah, I know all about weird dreams," Johnny immediately launched into a detailed description of his own dream, something about green, shimmering walls and flailing window blinds. Kyle quickly lost interest in Johnny's tale; in fact, it was like he had to restrain himself from pushing the other jock out of his car in anger.

Why am I so angry? Why does every little thing that Johnny says annoy me today? Kyle wondered mutely, and exited his car without waiting for his supposedly best friend. He walked so fast that he'd left Johnny in the dust within seconds and despite his small speck of guilt, Kyle didn't really regret ditching the other guy.

Instead of going back and waiting for Johnny, Kyle walked over to his locker and grabbed the books he knew he'd need for his first class. He ran into the new girl, Tess just as he closed the locker with a bang.

The small blond looked up at him with such a beaming smile, that Kyle couldn't help but return it. "Hi," he greeted her warmly. He was a bit confused over the girl's happiness, after all, she'd spent a long time avoiding him whenever she could, but somehow he was feeling better just being around her.

Although, Kyle straightened up suddenly, nearly dropping his book, there's this part of me that's angry with her too. What is going on? Am I PMS'ing today or what?

"Are you okay?" Tess asked, suddenly looking a lot more concerned than the sheriff's son had ever seen her. "You look a bit…constipated."

"Gee thanks," Kyle smiled thinly, his earlier warmth slowly ebbing out of him, leaving him irritated at the blond newcomer for some reason. "Look, I'd better go; I promised a friend that I'd meet him, so….err." He trailed off, knowing it was a flimsy excuse at best, but Tess seemed to buy it, because she nodded and quickly walked in the other direction.

Kyle sighed and turned to walk to his classroom, I might as well be a bit early today. Kyle was almost at his destination, when Isabel came walking towards him with Max right beside her. Inexplicably, Kyle's heart rate doubled at the sight of the Evans' siblings, the memory of his horrible dream exploding inside of him harshly and he quickly dove into the boys' restroom to try and get himself together again. He walked over to the sinks and splashed some cold water on his face with a small groan. "What the hell is wrong with me today?" Kyle muttered, looking at his reflection tiredly.

It was like something was missing inside of him and he didn't know how to get it back. You can do this, Kyle told himself, trying to relax his face enough to look at least passable for normal, You're Kyle frigging Valenti and you're not scared of some bad dream. Because, Kyle glared at himself in the mirror, as if daring his reflection to argue, that's all it was; a stupid dream! Now go out there and show everyone that you're Valenti the popular jock and not some scared little girl!

Feeling a little bit better about himself after his little pep talk, Kyle took a deep breath and exited the restroom. Only to run right into Max and Isabel, who had clearly been waiting for him to come out.

"Whoa…err, mornin'," Kyle blurted out, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the matching set of intense look the siblings were giving him.

"Hi Kyle," Isabel smiled at him with a friendly look in her eyes, "We wanted to see how you were doing. I mean, we didn't hear from you this weekend, so I hope you're not freaking out about everything."

"But," Max added, and to Kyle's immense surprise, the Evans boy looked almost teasing; it was something that Kyle had never seen on the other guy's face to be honest, "if you're freaking out, we can handle it. You can't be worse than Maria when she found out."

Kyle raised a questioning brow and asked a bit roughly, "Found out what?"

Isabel and Max traded a quick glance before turning their full attention back on him. Kyle had to restrain himself from stepping right back into the restroom behind him. There was just something so…primal about them that he wanted to escape. "You know," Isabel eventually replied, looking around to see if there was anyone listening in on their conversation, "about everything I told you."

"Look," Kyle's patience snapped, obviously his earlier pep talk hadn't exactly helped him get over his funny mood, "I don't know what the hell you're talking about, Evans. I'm tired, my brain feels like it's trying to pound its way through my skull and I'm just not in the mood to try and decipher any of your weird coded messages. Go hang out with Guerin, maybe he'll understand what you're getting at."

Having said his piece, and not feeling any guilt what so ever, because he wasn't, Kyle firmly told his conscience when it acted up a bit, he grabbed his backpack and quickly walked away from the two siblings. He was trying to ignore the way the crestfallen look in their eyes reminded him eerily of his nightmare where they'd both screamed his name with such desperate grief etched in their voices.

Kyle forced himself not to look back when he heard a bang behind him, and he had to restrain himself even more from breaking into a run when he could feel a flare of choking heat behind him, and he tried to ignore the way Isabel's curse rang in his ears. "I'm gonna kill Tess!"

When he entered the classroom he needed, Kyle sat down and placed his now pounding head in his arms and tried not to think about what the hell Tess had to do with anything, and why he felt a brief flicker of anger towards her. It's probably nothing; he told himself and tried to focus on what his just arrived teacher said.

Isabel's POV

After loudly having proclaimed her intentions towards Tess, Max sent Isabel a scathing glare to get her to be quiet. "Not here," he stated, looking pretty angry himself in Isabel's opinion.

"But she-" Isabel started, pointing at the retreating Kyle in the distance, but was interrupted promptly by Max, who was looking at their surroundings, making sure they weren't drawing attention to themselves.

"If you seek her out now, you'll use your powers and blow everything we've worked so hard for to pieces. We've put too much into this whole ordeal for you to ruin it in a temper."

"In a temper?" Isabel repeated, indignation pouring out of her every pore, "I can't believe you're not more upset, Max. She mindwarped him even after we specifically told her not to. This is just another proof of her evil soul. She'll do whatever she wants and end up getting us all killed in the end!"

Max sent Isabel such a cold look, that she found herself instinctively looking down in submission. "You think I'm not upset? Iz, if I see her within the next few minutes, I'm in danger of blowing our cover myself. I need you to stay focused, so I can stay focused. We'll deal with her after class. Now, I'm gonna go find Michael and warn him about this and then we'll have had a few hours to calm down a bit before talking with Tess."

Isabel watched her brother disappear silently for a few minutes and then she took a big breath and exhaled.

I'm not going to kill Tess, she kept thinking on repeat inwardly. A part of her realized that she probably didn't look all that normal in that moment, standing iron straight with closed eyes in the middle of the hallway, muttering soundlessly into thin air, but she was too angry to really care about what her fellow students thought about her.

Despite her internal dialogue, Isabel could still feel her anger bubbling in her belly, spraying cold drops of ice cold rage out in her every limb and as she made her way to her first class of the day, she could feel Alex's confusion and concern grow through their connection. It took a lot of effort, but eventually Isabel managed to mute her emotions a bit and send what she hoped was reassurance back to him. There was no way she wanted him involved in anything regarding Tess, so Isabel knew she had to make sure that Alex's good heart wouldn't make him interfere when he felt her anger and fear. Although he didn't know all about them yet, Isabel knew he was intelligent enough to figure out that she had something to do with his feelings.

After all, Isabel mused, reaching the door to her class, we're talking about the kid that hacked into Topolsky's computer, and who was the one to translate our book…He's far from stupid.

A moment later, Isabel had walked into the half full classroom and found herself locking eyes with Alex in person and she broke out into a big smile instinctively. He quickly lost the frown on his face and returned the grin eagerly.

Isabel flipped her long hair over her shoulder and practically sauntered over to the empty seat next to him. All her anger towards Tess was temporarily put on hold, she was too happy to be near Alex. "Is this seat taken?" she asked sweetly and swallowed a smile at the dazed look he sent her.

"Alex?" Isabel leaned forward a bit and placed her hand on his forehead teasingly, "are you sick? You look a bit flushed all of the sudden."

"Wha-I'm-you know-sure-no, I'm fine," Alex blurted out incoherently and gestured violently to the empty seat, indicating that he really, really wanted her to claim said seat.

Isabel smiled and gracefully folded her long limbs into the chair, completely ignoring the raised eyebrows she could see from her former friends out of the corner of her eyes. Isabel was too mature and way too wise to follow any high school etiquette regarding popular kids and geeks. She just wanted to spend all her time with the boy she loved and save him from dying too soon this time around.

Isabel shared two classes with Alex, so it was a few hours before she was free to go seek out Michael and see how he'd taken Max's news about Tess and Kyle. She found him standing next to Maria, who was looking up at his solemn face with narrowed eyes.

As Isabel drew nearer, she heard Maria whisper intently, "I can feel that there's something wrong, Michael. Cut the act and tell me what's going on." Maria scanned her surroundings and met Isabel's gaze briefly before looking back up at Michael. "If it's something that's potentially dangerous for us non Czechoslovakians, you'd tell me, right?"

Michael's entire body tensed and Isabel decided to interrupt, before he blurted out everything about the time travel and what kind of person Tess had been in that other timeline. "Hey, Maria. Can I borrow Michael for a minute?"

Normally, Isabel hated the look of fear that always flew through Maria's eyes whenever Isabel was around, but for once she used it to her favor, knowing full well that the blond wouldn't dare disagree with her. We haven't had our little bonding trip yet, but I'm gonna make sure it happens somehow once we've dealt with Tess, Isabel promised Maria mutely as she all but dragged Michael with her.

A few minutes later, Isabel released her once upon another lifetime husband and turned him around so she could look him dead in the eye. "Don't," Michael objected before she even got a word in. "I'm not gonna go after her until Max has made sure that no one will see. He said something about getting Nasedo to make her stay home after school. Then we'll all deal with her at their place."

Isabel didn't know whether to approve of the plan and Max's foresight or hate the fact that the once rash Michael couldn't be swayed into bullying Tess, not even a little bit. "Fine," she eventually huffed out, knowing that her fellow hybrids had the right idea.

After all, if even the densest human got any suspicious ideas about them, everything could go to hell and even Isabel's angry side wanted nothing to do with a repeat of history. But I'm gonna make her regret ever laying her slimy paws on Kyle, so help me God.

Apparently, Isabel's inner lust for vengeance was shining through her, so Michael didn't stray from her side once for the rest of the school day. He even grabbed her wrist tightly to keep her seated once in the cafeteria when Tess had walked in behind some laughing jocks to get her own lunch.

When the day finally ended and the last bell rang, Isabel shot out of her stool so fast that Michael had barely reached down for his backpack. Isabel didn't really care, too consumed with getting her hands on Tess. She was so occupied that not even Alex's presence could calm her; she actually bumped into him on the way out of the school, mumbling a quick, distracted apology, before she was down the steps and on her way to the parking lot where she had spotted Max standing next to the jeep, waiting for her. She heard Michael repeat her apology when he too ran smack into the now thoroughly confused Alex.

Michael finally caught up to Isabel, yelling as he jumped unceremoniously into the Jeep just as Max's started it, "Damn it girl; don't forget to breathe, Tess is still at her house, I checked with Nasedo, so chill!"

Isabel rolled her eyes, but didn't respond, because she knew her friend was right and she was acting nothing like the icy and levelheaded female that she'd been for years. Max didn't say anything; he was too busy weaving in and out of traffic to scold her, something which was always a good thing in Isabel's eyes.

Ten minutes later, the trio of time traveling hybrids arrived at Tess and Nasedo's house. Tires squealing as the Jeep came to an abrupt halt at the curve in front of the other two aliens' house. Isabel was the first one out of the vehicle, closely followed by a silent Max and a more or less snarling Michael; it would seem that his anger had returned tenfold now that he no longer had to watch out for Isabel's wrath.

The door opened before Isabel could bang it open to reveal Nasedo, looking as emotionless as ever. His eyes scanned them all quickly; lingering a bit on Isabel's flushed face and clenched fists with a raised brow. He looked over at Max and finally spoke, "She's in the living room; as ordered I didn't warn her about your arrival."

Isabel could see the small hint of resentment that the older alien had for that order and had she been in a better frame of mind, she might even had understood how hard it would be for him to basically betray the closest thing he had to a family, but she didn't care. And this way, Isabel thought vindictively, mentally rubbing her hands together with delight, she'll know what it feels like to be betrayed by someone she trusts.

Max was the first to push past Nasedo and enter the living room. Isabel could see that his back was tensed and by the way he was holding himself straight, it was easy to see that he too was pretty close to losing his control and Isabel spared a brief prayer, praying that he above all else didn't lose it. Last time he did that, Isabel remembered with a faint shudder, he almost killed Michael and the rest of us without even touching us.

The next moment put an end to Isabel's quick, nausea inducing trip down memory lane, because she'd stepped up next to Max and was now able to see Tess herself.

The small blond hybrid was sitting frozen on the couch facing towards them; her face showed her every emotion. Especially the blunt horror at witnessing an angry Max and Isabel vaguely recalled how Tess' views on Max had changed since seeing him all but kill her guardian mercilessly.

Well, it's not him she needs to worry about, Isabel thought and roughly pushed Max to the side and catapulted over to the still seating Tess, slamming her fist into her face and relishing in the snapping sound that told everyone that Tess' nose had been broken.

"I told you," Isabel began, following the now fleeing Tess, "that I would kill you if you laid a hand on Kyle and what do you do?"

Tess tried to stop her nose from bleeding unsuccessfully as she scrambled away from Isabel; only to whine in fright when she realized that she was now within arm's reach of both Max and Michael. "You don't understand," she tried to explain, finally finding some semblance of cover behind the TV, "He's only human, he can't possibly handle everything; I didn't want your gullibility to come back and bite us all in the ass!"

Isabel saw Max raise his hand to undoubtedly use some of his more inventive methods of inflicting pain, but she held up a hand of her own. "Don't Max, I got this."

To Isabel's relief, she noted that her brother was actually letting her have her way while he stood by and watched. Even Michael didn't verbally object to her statement, he just walked over to Nasedo and leaned up against the wall casually.

Tess seemed to grow back into her spirit when she too realized that she wasn't about to engage in a three against one combat. She stood up and hissed angrily, "I'm not just a little normal girl, Isabel. I've been brought up by a soldier, who's trained me intensively all my life, so stand down and accept that I'm going to take back my mindwarp on Kyle. And," Tess added, smirking, now full of confidence, "I'm not going to heel to you when it comes to my powers. If I think someone needs to forget something to protect our common secret, I'll use my abilities and I don't care what the hell you think about it. Because I'm not soft and weak like you seem to be."

"Tess," Nasedo tried to intervene, obviously a bit more knowledgeable when it came to judging ones opponent. "Be careful what you say-"

"No," Tess interrupted, spitting out some blood that had seeped into her mouth, "I'm not gonna follow your orders anymore. I'm the queen, remember? I might not have a king by my side in this life, but I'm still your ruler."

"Oh that's where you're wrong," Isabel pointed out through gritted teeth, her whole body shaking with repressed need to hurt the curly haired female in front of her, "forget the fact that you actually think he's gonna listen to you when Max and I are the only true blooded royalty in this room and let's go back to the point where you called us weaklings. I've got half a mind to show you just how not weak I am."

Tess' eyes narrowed and her upper lip curled in contempt and anger, "I'm waiting with baited breath!"

She barely got the last word out before Isabel had slung an energy ball at her, forcing her to leap backwards and to the side. The sphere still grazed her arm though and Tess' scream of pain was pure gold to Isabel. She saw Max and Michael jump in front of Nasedo, muttering what was no doubt an order to stay out of the fight entirely and she smirked much like Tess had done moments before.

The next few minutes went by in a colorful blur; the two hybrids fought viciously and there was no denying that the longer the fight went on, the more deadly it became. Isabel had to force back some of her old tricks, knowing that even Max couldn't heal Tess if she used some of the techniques she'd perfected during the war with Khivar.

"I can't believe you're so upset about this," Tess panted, narrowly dodging Isabel's power infused circle kick, punching Isabel hard in the stomach, "you barely know him; he's just a kid in your school. It's not like I did anything to those humans you stupidly told the truth."

"And you never will," Isabel swore, sending off a small fireball, "I'll kill you before you even get the chance!"

"They'll never fully trust you! They're not from your world; we're not supposed to care about humans!" Tess screamed, slamming her foot down and causing the floor to shake, making Isabel unsteady on her feet.

"You don't know anything, if you didn't care about Kyle's feelings then why did you mindwarp him in the first place?" Isabel asked, now panting a little herself. I definitely need to work out more; I'm way more out of shape than I thought I was if I can't even keep up with Tess.

Tess raised her hands and sent off an invisible energy ball, much like the one Nasedo had used on Max during their fight, although a lot weaker. "Shut up! I don't care about him or any humans for that matter. If you don't believe me, just wait until I get my hands on that tall, gangly one that you always follow around!"

Although Tess clearly was just spewing out idle threats to get to Isabel, Isabel lost any and all control over herself the second Tess began threatening Alex; her vision zeroed in on the rapidly paling blond with an intensity that she'd seldom experienced and Isabel knew only one thing in that moment, which was that she was going to end that miserable being's life once and for all for even thinking about hurting the one human she loved above all others.

Isabel clenched her teeth, almost growling like an animal in her fury and used one of her old moves that would put some deep gashes through Tess' small body and cause her to die in agony in (sadly) only a few minutes time.

Just as she'd released the powerful attack from her hands, Isabel watched as in slow motion as the most horrifying thing happened. She had missed Tess completely because out of nowhere, Alex suddenly appeared next to Tess and jumped in front of her, taking the barely visible blow himself.

Isabel stood frozen with her hands still lifted, watching numbly as her attack rammed into the young man that she hoped to one day spend her life with, pushing him harshly into the wall while several deep wounds sprouted from his body as he screamed in pain, piercing her heart ruthlessly.

Tess was the first one by his side, holding her hands over one of his deepest wounds, applying pressure to help staunch the blood flow. For all her earlier words about not caring about humans, the former queen looked pretty damn concerned for the still screaming one in front of her and all of Isabel's hate for Tess seemed to ooze out of her slowly, like an infected wound being cleansed. If her quick actions helped save Alex, Isabel would never utter another word against her, mindwarping be damned.

Isabel felt Michael grabbing her waist and pulling her up. When did I fall to the floor? She wondered as though in a daze. He supported her weight without a sound and helped her forward so she could watch everything barely breathing as the guilt and shame and sorrow washed over her in tidal waves.

Then Max seemed to finally have come out of his own moment of shock; it probably hadn't lasted more than a few seconds, but it seemed like it had been forever since Isabel had watched her own attack pierce through Alex's body like a knife through bread.

Please save him, Max, Isabel thought frantically, completely unaware of the fact that she was now sitting next to a blood covered Tess and was gently being held by her, while muttering over and over again, "Please save him Max, please, I'm sorry, please save him."

Max's POV

The warm blood was pouring out of Alex's tall body with a speed that would've proved fatal to the human if Max hadn't been the one holding his hands over his wounds.

Max didn't even hesitate when he leaned forward; releasing Alex's gaping cuts and gripping his face firmly with his bloody hands leaving frightening prints on the human's pale face.

"Alex," Max's voice was almost inaudible in the middle of Isabel's broken whispers and pleas and Alex's now gurgling moans of pain. "You have to look at me. Come on, Whitman."

Holding his breath, hoping that his one second of hesitation and shock hadn't caused him to be too late to save his sister's loved one for the second time, Max twisted Alex's head so he could lock eyes with him and begin the healing.

In the background Max heard Nasedo's mildly spoken objection to the healing; that it was an irresponsible idea to risk heal another human; that it would be safer to let him die. Surprisingly, it was Tess' voice that told the older alien to shut up and Max filed that away to ponder on later.

Prying Alex's eyes open as quickly, but gently as possible, Max finally got the window he'd been hoping for and he threw everything into the healing that he could spare. The explosion of images from Alex's life told Max that he'd succeeded even as he felt his powers trickle through Alex's body and putting it back together in a painstakingly slow manner. Images of the first time Alex had seen Isabel went through Max's mind, memories of joyous days and evenings spent with Liz and Maria flew through him as well, the barely processed memory of hearing Michael proclaim that they were going to Tess' house and seeing Isabel so furious, and then when the barrage of images slowed after what seemed like an eternity, Max broke the connection with a loud gasp.

He'd never had to work so hard to heal anyone; not even the children in Phoenix. A scientific and rational part of Max had a theory that it was because he was working against his sister's powers, trying to undo something she'd done.

Max blinked out of his head and realized that he was still engaged in a staring contest with Alex, who was looking at him with a mixture of confusion, relief and fear. "It's okay now," Max murmured, letting go of Alex's face and straightening up a bit, "You're okay now…"

Black spots danced in front of Max's face and he shook his head, watching how Michael and Nasedo frowned at him when they noticed. Tess and Isabel were too preoccupied with Alex to see anything other than him.

"-used too much," Nasedo's voice sounded lower than usual and drawn out like he was dragging the words out. Michael nodded in slow-motion and Max lost consciousness, the last thing he felt was Liz's concern, and surprisingly something akin to anger.

0o0o0

When Max woke up it was dark outside and the first thing he noticed was that he was filled with anger that wasn't his own and he sighed. Haven't this day been bad enough already? He looked around, noticing that he was lying on the couch in Nasedo's living room. He spotted Isabel sleeping on a mattress on the floor next to a cleaned Alex, who was sleeping soundly as well.

He could hear hissed voices from the hallway and sat up with a sigh. Running a hand through his hair, Max made his way to the arguing people on the other side of the closed door. The closer he got, the more sure he was that Liz had somehow tracked him down. He wasn't really surprised.

Just as he opened the door, he heard Michael say, "Look, you've seen him, he's sleeping and whatever it is you're so obsessed about talking to him about, it'll have to wait until he's awake and alert. Liz, we've had a really long day."

"So have I," Liz countered, crossing her arms over her bulging backpack. "I'm- Max," she noticed him first and immediately stopped talking to Michael. "I need to talk to you."

Max traded a look with an obviously exasperated Michael and a clearly irritated Nasedo, who was standing by the front door, which was still open from when Liz had forced her way in. Evidently the alien didn't quite dare deny his King's chosen mate anything. "It's okay; we'll just go outside for a minute," he said quietly and walked over to the door without waiting for Liz to follow.

"Well, I'm going to bed," Michael announced and Nasedo closed the door after Max and Liz's exit, muttering something about calling Topolsky to make sure she hadn't been left alone too long for her own good.

Once outside, Max took a deep breath, forcing the memory of Alex's injuries out of his mind and ignoring the squeamish part of him that proclaimed that it could still smell the blood in the air. After another cleansing breath, he turned to Liz with a soft smile on his lips, because no matter how many breaths he took, she was the only thing in the universe that could truly bring calm to his soul.

"What's wrong Liz? Why are you feeling so angry all of the sudden?"

Liz's lips thinned momentarily before she opened her backpack and started rummaging around inside of it. "I think you've been too busy today to get a clear handle on my emotions, Max, because I'm not angry. I'm feeling so many things that I can't even begin to describe it. But," she shrugged with her hand still inside the backpack, "that's not really important. Ever since you and I kissed and reopened the bond between us, I've been having weird dreams. Dreams that couldn't possibly be true…or so I thought."

Max's heart almost stopped, dreading what she'd say next. "I need you to be honest with me, Max."

Liz's brown eyes were piercing Max to the bone and he spoke without really noticing it, "Of course Liz…" Then Liz finally took out what it was she'd been searching for in her backpack and this time, Max's heart felt like it'd been laced with led.

In Liz's small dainty hands was a silver, bluish orb that had a clearly non-earthly glow to it. "What is this exactly and why did I know where to find it today without even hesitating? Because I'm pretty damn sure I've never seen this thing before in my life."

TBC…

A/N...yeah, well, I'm off to try and get my life back together, so...I hope you liked it and that it was worth the (very) long wait. Please take a moment to review, it'll be a light in the darkness for me, I swear.

Until Next Time

Ditte Mai